Then the suit came along. The lawsuit was seen as indirect supporting our position on the value of IP. Since other software vendors who depend on software licenses haven't been exactly falling all over themselves to support our position, seeing something that supported it was welcome. The idea of going ahead with the license was initially motivated by wanting to make a statement reinforcing everything we've been saying about IP.
Translation: SCO was looking to f*** over Linux and IBM, and we liked that. Most of the other software vendors, traitorous bastards that they are, have been all too happy to port their stuff over to Linux.
I'm an IT manager. I am using Linux systems and one old SCO system in my organization. I have no worries about Linux, but clearly the time has come to look for a replacement for the SCO system. I don't think they'll be around for much longer.
My organization remains ultra-casual in it's dress. If you're meeting with a client, then you're expected to wear something like khakis and a decent shirt. Right now I'm wearing torn jeans and a t-shirt.
If you come for an interview here, I'll tell you in advance that you shouldn't dress up. If you show up in a suit or something similar, I'll think there's something wrong with you.
Although we dress casually here, you are expected to have good communication skills. If you're a technical wizard, but have some serious social deficits, you will have a pretty hard time working here. If I had a position for a head-down coder who didn't talk to anyone, then I wouldn't care about communication skills, but I don't have such positions here.
The problem is that people might not be able to release things freely. To do this, you'll have to be able to participate in the DRM system to mark your stuff as "free". But they're may be licensing fees or other barriers that prevent small independant parties from participating in DRM.
Per-seat licensing of a Linux product seems like an obvious marketing suicide attempt. As an admin, one of the big attractions of Linux is freedom from licensing worries. Given the easy licensing optiona available from Red Hat, Debian, et al., I think a United Linux-based distro would have to offer some unbelievable added value in their distro to get me to buy it.
I don't think we should focus on forcing proprietary formats into public domain. Instead, we should make an effort to aquire and use software that uses open formats, and we should encourage others to so the same.
I'd like to see the use of open formats touted as a feature to the consumer, and for consumers to think of it as desirable.
I'm a sysadmin, and my emphatic advice is to go to college. Here's why:
A college degree will open many doors to you. Even if you can get in the door without a degree, you may have a harder time advancing.
There is a ton of stuff you don't know yet. In a good college program, you will learn more stuff in less time that at any other time in your life.
Today you want to be a sysadmin, but in a few years you might change your mind. A college education will make you more versatile and give you more options.
The parties are great, and you'll meet lots of attractive members of the opposite sex (or the same sex, whatever floats your boat).
We could probably work this into a good idea for a movie script, sort of a fuure-gone-wrong sci-fi thing...maybe we could get Charleton Heston to star in it.
Sure it's not an exclusive license. I don't ever give my clients exclusive licenses, and I've never been asked to do so. Unless the client plans to resell the code, they don't get any extra value out of an exclusive license, and I'd expect them to pay more if they wanted one.
There is a big mix up here. "Open source" does not mean "give away the code for free". It means that when you give (sell) the clients their license, you give them the source code, and the permission to use, modify, and redistribute the code as they please.
That gives me an idea. How about a nice Outlook worm that finds mp3's or similar files on your system and "shares" them with everbody in your address book? Next thing you know, we'll have Hilary Rosen testifying before Congress to have Outlook outlawed.
I've had to call my DSL provider a couple of times. One thing I've learned: DO NOT tell the tech support guy that you are a sysadmin. I don't know why, but I always do better when I play dumb. I'd love it if somebody who has worked tech support could explain it from his or her perspective.
I know that, but I thought my point needed to be made. It annoys me when websites don't tolerate my browser. For example, my alma mater's website, http://www.seattleu.edu, throws a nasty vbscript error when I try to view it with any of the browsers I commonly use (Galeon, Mozilla, Lynx). I emailed the webmaster, and his suggested workaround was to install a different browser. How do people like that even get jobs?
Good point, but I think for Passport's needs, 1.0 should be current enough. Also, I don't see why I should have to lie to the web server. I'm happy using Galeon and I see no reason to hide the fact.
I don't want to see any new legislation on this. Congress does not have a good track record on such issues. In particular, we need to be free to use cryptography to protect our systems. We also need to be free to disseminate information, so repealing the DMCA would be helpful.
I started out as a developer at a small company where I had to do some sysadmin tasks as well. When I started looking around for a new job, I found a cool opportunity as a sysadmin.
I come from a traditional geek background (CS degree, programming experience), but I think you can make a good go of it too. It would be really helpful if you could find an experienced sysadmin mentor, perhaps at a LUG meeting or the like.
I love the work, and I encourage you to give it a try, but it's not for everybody. Good luck.
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Translation: SCO was looking to f*** over Linux and IBM, and we liked that. Most of the other software vendors, traitorous bastards that they are, have been all too happy to port their stuff over to Linux.
I'm an IT manager. I am using Linux systems and one old SCO system in my organization. I have no worries about Linux, but clearly the time has come to look for a replacement for the SCO system. I don't think they'll be around for much longer.
I work for a small company in the ski/snowboard industry.
My organization remains ultra-casual in it's dress. If you're meeting with a client, then you're expected to wear something like khakis and a decent shirt. Right now I'm wearing torn jeans and a t-shirt.
If you come for an interview here, I'll tell you in advance that you shouldn't dress up. If you show up in a suit or something similar, I'll think there's something wrong with you.
Although we dress casually here, you are expected to have good communication skills. If you're a technical wizard, but have some serious social deficits, you will have a pretty hard time working here. If I had a position for a head-down coder who didn't talk to anyone, then I wouldn't care about communication skills, but I don't have such positions here.
The problem is that people might not be able to release things freely. To do this, you'll have to be able to participate in the DRM system to mark your stuff as "free". But they're may be licensing fees or other barriers that prevent small independant parties from participating in DRM.
>Microsoft doesn't take Word format resumes on their website .. they insist on ASCII only. Now isn't that interesting?
They're probably worried about getting macro viruses.
There is an important difference: David Skoll doesn't claim to be unbiased. Bias is not inherently bad as long as you're honest about it.
Yes, I know that they are free to choose their own pricing models. I'm arguing that per-seat licensing would be a poor choice.
Per-seat licensing of a Linux product seems like an obvious marketing suicide attempt. As an admin, one of the big attractions of Linux is freedom from licensing worries. Given the easy licensing optiona available from Red Hat, Debian, et al., I think a United Linux-based distro would have to offer some unbelievable added value in their distro to get me to buy it.
I don't think we should focus on forcing proprietary formats into public domain. Instead, we should make an effort to aquire and use software that uses open formats, and we should encourage others to so the same.
I'd like to see the use of open formats touted as a feature to the consumer, and for consumers to think of it as desirable.
We could probably work this into a good idea for a movie script, sort of a fuure-gone-wrong sci-fi thing...maybe we could get Charleton Heston to star in it.
Sure it's not an exclusive license. I don't ever give my clients exclusive licenses, and I've never been asked to do so. Unless the client plans to resell the code, they don't get any extra value out of an exclusive license, and I'd expect them to pay more if they wanted one.
There is a big mix up here. "Open source" does not mean "give away the code for free". It means that when you give (sell) the clients their license, you give them the source code, and the permission to use, modify, and redistribute the code as they please.
How is that not a great deal for the client?
That gives me an idea. How about a nice Outlook worm that finds mp3's or similar files on your system and "shares" them with everbody in your address book? Next thing you know, we'll have Hilary Rosen testifying before Congress to have Outlook outlawed.
I've had to call my DSL provider a couple of times. One thing I've learned: DO NOT tell the tech support guy that you are a sysadmin. I don't know why, but I always do better when I play dumb. I'd love it if somebody who has worked tech support could explain it from his or her perspective.
Anybody else see the banner ad for the Christian mime troupe? What's up with that?
The articles I mentioned were sympathetic to the users' perspective.
I did see some pieces about the DMCA and SSSCA (or whatever we're calling it now, perhaps DACPA - Disney Anti Computer Programming Act) in Newsweek
I know that, but I thought my point needed to be made. It annoys me when websites don't tolerate my browser. For example, my alma mater's website, http://www.seattleu.edu, throws a nasty vbscript error when I try to view it with any of the browsers I commonly use (Galeon, Mozilla, Lynx). I emailed the webmaster, and his suggested workaround was to install a different browser. How do people like that even get jobs?
Good point, but I think for Passport's needs, 1.0 should be current enough. Also, I don't see why I should have to lie to the web server. I'm happy using Galeon and I see no reason to hide the fact.
I tried it. I get the helpful "browser not supported" page. I'm using Galeon 1.0, so I don't know why it tells me to try a more "current" browser.
I don't want to see any new legislation on this. Congress does not have a good track record on such issues. In particular, we need to be free to use cryptography to protect our systems. We also need to be free to disseminate information, so repealing the DMCA would be helpful.
You know, I have one simple request, and that is to have penguins with frickin laser beams attached to their heads.
I started out as a developer at a small company where I had to do some sysadmin tasks as well. When I started looking around for a new job, I found a cool opportunity as a sysadmin.
I come from a traditional geek background (CS degree, programming experience), but I think you can make a good go of it too. It would be really helpful if you could find an experienced sysadmin mentor, perhaps at a LUG meeting or the like.
I love the work, and I encourage you to give it a try, but it's not for everybody. Good luck.