Wow. Not only do 90% of the commenters miss the point, they are woefully uninformed as to the goals and the outcome of the project.
First of all, the FSF did not just mail the Free Ryzom project a cashier's check for $60,000. The *pledge* has conditions: mainly that the software and artwork be released under entirely free licenses. Many commenters seem to be particularly confused as to what is free and what is not: let me clarify. The goal of the Free Ryzom project is to license the client, the *server*, and all of its related content, code and technology under free software licenses. All of it. The entire thing. Ryzom's Social Contract is modeled on Debian's, with slight modifications - including the assertion, which is rather revolutionary as far as MMORPGs are concerned, that the avatar belongs to the player.
This would be an entire commercial MMORPG - client, server, libraries, artwork, models, etc - entering the free software realm. People who can't understand the utility in this need to have their heads examined. As another commenter put it, I'm sure a bunch of other people said "What good is Netscape, anyways?" many years ago.
The project proposal would create a French non-profit that will function as the caretaker of the existing Ryzom shards. The players will determine how Ryzom will evolve as a game. And, again, 90% of the people commenting are missing the big picture, and why the FSF made its pledge: this will enable anyone to build MMORPGs using the Ryzom engine as a base. The FSF sees this as a stellar opportunity to push the advancement of free software gaming - a typically neglected arena. This is also a wonderful opportunity to bring the tools for making MMORPGs back into the hands of the users, and allow anyone to set up a world and modify it however they like. The FSF feels that this donation will encourage, in time, a vast collection of unique worlds, all based around the same basic toolkit.
An auxilliary effect will hopefully be to help advance the cause of free software drivers. After all, complex 3D applications are pretty good for testing, eh?
If you see it as a delivery tool for useless Flash content, pornography, and pirated software, then it is.
If you see it as a way to link up diverse groups of humans across the globe, then it is.
If you see all of this as completely irrelevant, and see the Internet as an exchange platform for network traffic and bandwidth (the only thing that really matters), you are probably evolving.
What is ironic is that we are using the tool for corporate distribution to talk about the tool for corporate distribution.
How the corporations wish to use the Internet and how they wish it to be used is totally irrelevant. Commercials on websites? Stop going to the websites. Spam mailing from companies? Never buy anything from them again. Corporations rely on the fact that no one will stop using the Internet because it's suddenly become critical to existence. The Internet is a utility, just like power or water, only - instead of being measured in KW/h or gallons, it's measured in bits per second. And the great thing about it is that yes, Virginia, you can turn it off.
Stop thinking that the content on the Internet matters. The usage of the network is nothing compared to the continued existence of the network itself. As long as that exists, what anyone else wants is irrelevant. It's what you and your IPSEC peers want and need that is important.
The response to this garbage is to make the Internet into what it was meant to be: loosely connected confederations of smaller networks. I don't know about you, but I could live without 90% of web content. The other 10% is not generated by corporations. They can have "The Internet". I'll take the bandwidth, please.
As far as film goes - even film today is degrading at amazing rates. The reason why it's not a problem is because we can archive the film digitally, and reprints can be made and sent to theatres. However, film itself is an unstable media. For instance, the campus cinema has to send back the film immediately after they are done or pay for it - because it will have degraded a couple days afterwards, if not immediately returned to an archive state. A good example of this is when they were going to show Army Of Darkness - the only reel they could find had disintegrated beyond repair. (Bummer, as it's one of my favorite films). As for worrying about our civilization being remembered....Who the hell cares? You think they want an archive of www.mcdonalds.com and www.lotsaporninc.com? No. Civilization does not hinge on the Internet. Instead of worrying about what will be found 3,000 years from now...how about worrying what will be found 10 years from now? Live in the present, because that's the only way to live.
Slashdot Mirror
Wow. Not only do 90% of the commenters miss the point, they are woefully uninformed as to the goals and the outcome of the project.
First of all, the FSF did not just mail the Free Ryzom project a cashier's check for $60,000. The *pledge* has conditions: mainly that the software and artwork be released under entirely free licenses. Many commenters seem to be particularly confused as to what is free and what is not: let me clarify. The goal of the Free Ryzom project is to license the client, the *server*, and all of its related content, code and technology under free software licenses. All of it. The entire thing. Ryzom's Social Contract is modeled on Debian's, with slight modifications - including the assertion, which is rather revolutionary as far as MMORPGs are concerned, that the avatar belongs to the player.
This would be an entire commercial MMORPG - client, server, libraries, artwork, models, etc - entering the free software realm. People who can't understand the utility in this need to have their heads examined. As another commenter put it, I'm sure a bunch of other people said "What good is Netscape, anyways?" many years ago.
The project proposal would create a French non-profit that will function as the caretaker of the existing Ryzom shards. The players will determine how Ryzom will evolve as a game. And, again, 90% of the people commenting are missing the big picture, and why the FSF made its pledge: this will enable anyone to build MMORPGs using the Ryzom engine as a base. The FSF sees this as a stellar opportunity to push the advancement of free software gaming - a typically neglected arena. This is also a wonderful opportunity to bring the tools for making MMORPGs back into the hands of the users, and allow anyone to set up a world and modify it however they like. The FSF feels that this donation will encourage, in time, a vast collection of unique worlds, all based around the same basic toolkit.
An auxilliary effect will hopefully be to help advance the cause of free software drivers. After all, complex 3D applications are pretty good for testing, eh?
The Internet is what you make of it.
If you see it as a delivery tool for useless Flash content, pornography, and pirated software, then it is.
If you see it as a way to link up diverse groups of humans across the globe, then it is.
If you see all of this as completely irrelevant, and see the Internet as an exchange platform for network traffic and bandwidth (the only thing that really matters), you are probably evolving.
What is ironic is that we are using the tool for corporate distribution to talk about the tool for corporate distribution.
How the corporations wish to use the Internet and how they wish it to be used is totally irrelevant. Commercials on websites? Stop going to the websites. Spam mailing from companies? Never buy anything from them again. Corporations rely on the fact that no one will stop using the Internet because it's suddenly become critical to existence. The Internet is a utility, just like power or water, only - instead of being measured in KW/h or gallons, it's measured in bits per second. And the great thing about it is that yes, Virginia, you can turn it off.
Stop thinking that the content on the Internet matters. The usage of the network is nothing compared to the continued existence of the network itself. As long as that exists, what anyone else wants is irrelevant. It's what you and your IPSEC peers want and need that is important.
The response to this garbage is to make the Internet into what it was meant to be: loosely connected confederations of smaller networks. I don't know about you, but I could live without 90% of web content. The other 10% is not generated by corporations. They can have "The Internet". I'll take the bandwidth, please.
-k
Actually, the comment is:
"Those who desire to give up liberty in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either."
And it was by Thomas Jefferson, not Ben Franklin.
As far as film goes - even film today is degrading at amazing rates. The reason why it's not a problem is because we can archive the film digitally, and reprints can be made and sent to theatres. However, film itself is an unstable media. For instance, the campus cinema has to send back the film immediately after they are done or pay for it - because it will have degraded a couple days afterwards, if not immediately returned to an archive state. A good example of this is when they were going to show Army Of Darkness - the only reel they could find had disintegrated beyond repair. (Bummer, as it's one of my favorite films). As for worrying about our civilization being remembered....Who the hell cares? You think they want an archive of www.mcdonalds.com and www.lotsaporninc.com? No. Civilization does not hinge on the Internet. Instead of worrying about what will be found 3,000 years from now...how about worrying what will be found 10 years from now? Live in the present, because that's the only way to live.