You know how BSD advocacy folks like to tell you they "don't like politics"? It's kind of like the story in the Onion about that guy who keeps telling people he doesn't own a television and how much more fulfilling his life is, even when no one asked. BSD advocacy folks are _just as political_ as the GPL crowd.
The reason to use GCC isn't performance, it's the only free compiler that supports a multitude of target architectures. And that's very very useful. Dropping utility over licensing kind of smacks of the thing GNU is accused of when BSD advocacy folks get all snooty about technical superiority.
The kernel developers don't seem to agree on the right way to fix this, whether at the kernel level or in userspace. However, it may affect the performance of the kernel if it's done in kernelspace, and it is impractical to have everyone rewrite their userland software, as someone else pointed out. The "patch" which is available for FreeBSD to fix this problem only disables hyperthreading and does not provide a real fix.
We can currently download Beagle for open source operating systems and desktops, and it's already somewhat usable. It's written in C# and requires Mono, and I think it's one of the killer apps for OSS too. We've also see it ported to Windows so things are getting very interesting here.
So between Spotlight and Longhorn and Google and Beagle, it's not just a 2-way battle:)
One of the selling points of OSS businesses is that it's (usually) cheaper than proprietary closed-source software, but that point is negated by the fact that piracy is so rampant here that every piece of software is "free". Therefore, Windows wins out since it has the most hardware support, and all the (warezed) games run on it, and that it also runs MS Office.
Sure, OO.o and all that is available, but MS has a head start with their stranglehold, and everyone just uses what everyone else uses. Price isn't an issue. For home users, support isn't an issue either since computer hardware shops that sold you the computer will do the support for you (whether that copy of Windows is licensed or not). Basically, what a typical home user does when his box is messed up is take it to the shop, and some bored technician will just reformat and reinstall things.
For big businesses, they want a "reputable" brand and therefore go Microsoft. MS has a lot of mindshare, plus they have a monopolistic stranglehold on the iT industry anyway, so Windows and MS is accepted way of running computers.
It's not all bleak though... OSS is getting momentum around these parts. In Malaysia, there has been a drive by the government to OSS-ify their IT infrastructure (this made a few Microsofties cry;) ). Governments are getting more aware of the issues involved with security and transparency of software systems. I think the future is bright, but it'll take time getting there.
However, Con Kolivas maintains a patchset for desktop users which incorporates a fix that allows the nVidia drivers to work at his kernel patch page. If you don't want the other stuff and just the nVidia fix, you can find the patch split out, and instructions on which patches to apply in his announcement of his patchset release. Check out the -ck patch though, it has a lot of cool stuff.
(yay, I actually got a story submission in...hi mom!)
On a somewhat related note, IBM has released rhype, it's research hypervisor as open source under the GPL. This should spice up the free hypervisor community. First Xen, now IBM's rhype. Choice is so good:)
Correction, there was a site with over 80 screenshots (claiming more to come) that shows the story line of the upcoming Star Wars Episode 3. But after Lucasfilm's agents posted it to/. it is no more. Clever fellow, that George.
I'm really looking forward to Dashboard (not mentioned in the article), the desktop app that uses Beagle to gives relevant information that it's collected on your computer about your current activity. It sounds really cool, and Open Source hackers came up with this before Microsoft did.
...HP technicians report that the new HP Flying Glider prototype and flight suit are missing, and a lab tech has been found dead. It is rumoured that a cackling evil-looking figure was seen flying around on the missing glider screaming for "revenge".
If you want the hare-brained opinions of the analysts doing magic 8-ball predictions at Gartner you gotta buy their document. Wonderful. Who listens go Gartner anyway? It's opinion is no better than Slasdot's. I bet if you dressed up the average trolling Slashdotter in a suit and have him work for Gartner selling comments, PHB's would still believe it because it came from a guy in a suit.
The first kind is where each version of the software is slightly different, yet ABI compatible with one another. That's what the Linux kernel is, and Linus and co. have tried hard to maintain this. In essence, every time a developer sets up his own tree, it's a "fork" of the Linux kernel, but that's ok because binary compatibility is still maintained, and those changes will probably be merged back upstream anyway. Good news all round.
The second kind is where a substantial group of developers get into a messy political argument and take the codebase in a wildly different direction and becomes a new project in itself. This isn't necessarily a bad thing either, as you'll see cross-pollination between projects (like in the BSD's). However this may be what the FUD-mongerers are hinting at. I have yet to see any signs that this will happen though - it's downright impractical to fork the Linux kernel in a wildly incompatible fashion with the rest of the developer community - for one thing, there's a whole shitload of drivers you now have to maintain yourself. Not an easy job.
As for distros being different...well it's always been this way. Yet Linux's growth has been phenomenal, and with efforts like the LSB in place you won't find that distros diverge too far from one another.
Things look bright for Linux, any way you go. Don't listen to the FUD mongerers.
Where Old Biff steals the DeLorean and gives the Sports Almanac to young Biff? Then Doc and Marty come back to a hellish timeline where Biff is a billionaire.
I think something like that happened, where old Bill goes back in time and gives young Bill some tips on how to get lucky in the IT world, plus some source code for Windows 3.0. And we're living in the nightmarish timeline that was created.
Only Doc and Marty can save us now. Or Linux. Whichever does it first:)
My company's biggest complaint with GPL is anything developed using GPL libraries must be GPL and released.
That's why we have LGPL libraries. But I think your company misses the point of GPL. GPL'ed code is like public property, nobody should be able to deny others access to the code, and if you use this property you are obliged to contribute back to the community. Making it "optional" would mean a lot of greedy folks wouldn't do it at all, which is against the intent of the GPL.
Linus Torvalds himself has blessed DRM
on
TCPA Support in Linux
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Linus himself said DRM is ok, as long as it's used in the interests of the user. This is a good thing, think about it; EvilCorp(tm) wants to use DRM to cripple computers, but the PR guy will say "it's for the user". Of course their intent is nothing of the sort, but the Linux folks are the only ones who will actually implement something that *is* in the interest of the user. Then EvilCorp won't be able to lobby making Linux illegal, since Linux also uses DRM which does what EvilCorp claims it's doing "for the users". Well, hopefully.
Is this thing GPL-compatible? It doesn't say...all I could find is the following:
The terms and conditions of these licenses differ in material respects. We believe you can distribute your program under many open source software licenses so long as you include the notices described in the licenses for the Office 2003 XML Reference Schemas. On the other hand, some open source licenses may include specific constraints or restrictions that might preclude development under the Office 2003 XML Reference Schema licenses. You should check with your legal counsel if you have questions about a particular open source software license.
"That may preclude development" sounds fishy. Knowing MS hates the GPL, they might have made it GPL-incompatible. I can't wait till Pamela Jones scrutinizes this. Before I read the Groklaw version, I'm holding back the celebration.
Slashdot Mirror
This isn't even a thorough article. Slashdot has jumped the shark so bad since the last time I was here.
You know how BSD advocacy folks like to tell you they "don't like politics"? It's kind of like the story in the Onion about that guy who keeps telling people he doesn't own a television and how much more fulfilling his life is, even when no one asked. BSD advocacy folks are _just as political_ as the GPL crowd. The reason to use GCC isn't performance, it's the only free compiler that supports a multitude of target architectures. And that's very very useful. Dropping utility over licensing kind of smacks of the thing GNU is accused of when BSD advocacy folks get all snooty about technical superiority.
The kernel developers don't seem to agree on the right way to fix this, whether at the kernel level or in userspace. However, it may affect the performance of the kernel if it's done in kernelspace, and it is impractical to have everyone rewrite their userland software, as someone else pointed out. The "patch" which is available for FreeBSD to fix this problem only disables hyperthreading and does not provide a real fix.
Adamantium claws. Telepathy. Electromagnetism. Weather control. Yeah you read it right, they'll discover that there is a gene that controls weather.
And they'll dress in spandex and fight each other for survival and/or world supremecy.
I for one, will be very entertained by our new mutant overlords.
Pass the popcorn.
Microsoft brings us Orwell's grand vision of 1984, but 21 years late. Slipped deadlines, that is so typical of Microsoft.
We can currently download Beagle for open source operating systems and desktops, and it's already somewhat usable. It's written in C# and requires Mono, and I think it's one of the killer apps for OSS too. We've also see it ported to Windows so things are getting very interesting here.
:)
So between Spotlight and Longhorn and Google and Beagle, it's not just a 2-way battle
You can find it in his own subdirectory on kernel.org at:
g kh/v2.6.11/
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/gre
It includes tiny fixes such as a Dell laptop keyboard fix and a raid6 compilation fix for ppc.
One of the selling points of OSS businesses is that it's (usually) cheaper than proprietary closed-source software, but that point is negated by the fact that piracy is so rampant here that every piece of software is "free". Therefore, Windows wins out since it has the most hardware support, and all the (warezed) games run on it, and that it also runs MS Office.
;) ). Governments are getting more aware of the issues involved with security and transparency of software systems. I think the future is bright, but it'll take time getting there.
Sure, OO.o and all that is available, but MS has a head start with their stranglehold, and everyone just uses what everyone else uses. Price isn't an issue. For home users, support isn't an issue either since computer hardware shops that sold you the computer will do the support for you (whether that copy of Windows is licensed or not). Basically, what a typical home user does when his box is messed up is take it to the shop, and some bored technician will just reformat and reinstall things.
For big businesses, they want a "reputable" brand and therefore go Microsoft. MS has a lot of mindshare, plus they have a monopolistic stranglehold on the iT industry anyway, so Windows and MS is accepted way of running computers.
It's not all bleak though... OSS is getting momentum around these parts. In Malaysia, there has been a drive by the government to OSS-ify their IT infrastructure (this made a few Microsofties cry
They're making yet another Star Trek movie!
However, Con Kolivas maintains a patchset for desktop users which incorporates a fix that allows the nVidia drivers to work at his kernel patch page. If you don't want the other stuff and just the nVidia fix, you can find the patch split out, and instructions on which patches to apply in his announcement of his patchset release. Check out the -ck patch though, it has a lot of cool stuff.
(yay, I actually got a story submission in...hi mom!)
On a somewhat related note, IBM has released rhype, it's research hypervisor as open source under the GPL. This should spice up the free hypervisor community. First Xen, now IBM's rhype. Choice is so good :)
...that I click on "Read More" to find out about matter that's invisible to us and all I get is:
"Nothing for you to see here. Please move along."
Brilliant.
Correction, there was a site with over 80 screenshots (claiming more to come) that shows the story line of the upcoming Star Wars Episode 3. But after Lucasfilm's agents posted it to /. it is no more. Clever fellow, that George.
I'm really looking forward to Dashboard (not mentioned in the article), the desktop app that uses Beagle to gives relevant information that it's collected on your computer about your current activity. It sounds really cool, and Open Source hackers came up with this before Microsoft did.
The internet is shit
Seriously, why is such a big deal being made of blogging?
...HP technicians report that the new HP Flying Glider prototype and flight suit are missing, and a lab tech has been found dead. It is rumoured that a cackling evil-looking figure was seen flying around on the missing glider screaming for "revenge".
If you want the hare-brained opinions of the analysts doing magic 8-ball predictions at Gartner you gotta buy their document. Wonderful. Who listens go Gartner anyway? It's opinion is no better than Slasdot's. I bet if you dressed up the average trolling Slashdotter in a suit and have him work for Gartner selling comments, PHB's would still believe it because it came from a guy in a suit.
For Slackware users who love Gnome (like me), they can still use Dropline's Gnome distribution. It should work out of the box for Slackware 10.1 too.
The first kind is where each version of the software is slightly different, yet ABI compatible with one another. That's what the Linux kernel is, and Linus and co. have tried hard to maintain this. In essence, every time a developer sets up his own tree, it's a "fork" of the Linux kernel, but that's ok because binary compatibility is still maintained, and those changes will probably be merged back upstream anyway. Good news all round.
The second kind is where a substantial group of developers get into a messy political argument and take the codebase in a wildly different direction and becomes a new project in itself. This isn't necessarily a bad thing either, as you'll see cross-pollination between projects (like in the BSD's). However this may be what the FUD-mongerers are hinting at. I have yet to see any signs that this will happen though - it's downright impractical to fork the Linux kernel in a wildly incompatible fashion with the rest of the developer community - for one thing, there's a whole shitload of drivers you now have to maintain yourself. Not an easy job.
As for distros being different...well it's always been this way. Yet Linux's growth has been phenomenal, and with efforts like the LSB in place you won't find that distros diverge too far from one another.
Things look bright for Linux, any way you go. Don't listen to the FUD mongerers.
Where Old Biff steals the DeLorean and gives the Sports Almanac to young Biff? Then Doc and Marty come back to a hellish timeline where Biff is a billionaire.
:)
I think something like that happened, where old Bill goes back in time and gives young Bill some tips on how to get lucky in the IT world, plus some source code for Windows 3.0. And we're living in the nightmarish timeline that was created.
Only Doc and Marty can save us now. Or Linux. Whichever does it first
My company's biggest complaint with GPL is anything developed using GPL libraries must be GPL and released.
That's why we have LGPL libraries. But I think your company misses the point of GPL. GPL'ed code is like public property, nobody should be able to deny others access to the code, and if you use this property you are obliged to contribute back to the community. Making it "optional" would mean a lot of greedy folks wouldn't do it at all, which is against the intent of the GPL.
Linus himself said DRM is ok, as long as it's used in the interests of the user. This is a good thing, think about it; EvilCorp(tm) wants to use DRM to cripple computers, but the PR guy will say "it's for the user". Of course their intent is nothing of the sort, but the Linux folks are the only ones who will actually implement something that *is* in the interest of the user. Then EvilCorp won't be able to lobby making Linux illegal, since Linux also uses DRM which does what EvilCorp claims it's doing "for the users". Well, hopefully.
Is this thing GPL-compatible? It doesn't say...all I could find is the following:
The terms and conditions of these licenses differ in material respects. We believe you can distribute your program under many open source software licenses so long as you include the notices described in the licenses for the Office 2003 XML Reference Schemas. On the other hand, some open source licenses may include specific constraints or restrictions that might preclude development under the Office 2003 XML Reference Schema licenses. You should check with your legal counsel if you have questions about a particular open source software license.
"That may preclude development" sounds fishy. Knowing MS hates the GPL, they might have made it GPL-incompatible. I can't wait till Pamela Jones scrutinizes this. Before I read the Groklaw version, I'm holding back the celebration.
...welcome our new British internet-inventing overlords.
What? What do you mean "it was Al Gore"?
Yeah, he's the 2nd cousin twice removed of General Protection Fault.