To the extent that he denies a software author the right to do with his code as he pleases, the man is a maniac.
RMS has ever said anything like that.
You can release your code under any license you want - RMS just advises users to be aware of all the restrictions and lock-ins associated with proprietary software.
Even if you release code under the GPL you still own the copyright and can do whatever you want with it including making derived works which you exclusively own and can try to sell under other licenses.
Using topographical software, we could tell that the lay of the land between the tower and our building in Sebastopol looks clear. We still can't tell if there are trees or buildings in the path, but at least the land is, apparently, going to cooperate.
Coudln't you just use a telescope? You should be able to see the blinking light on the tower.
Yeah, well, I'm sure Xemacs had good technical reasons for forking from Xemacs and any enhancements to Xemacs will be folded back into Xemacs - or vice versa.
What's interesting about these categories of SPAM (Diplomas, Credit fixing, Spy software, Get-rich-quick, Gambling, Weight loss, Sex enhancement) is that they must attract an endless supply of suckers ("one born every minute") willing to send actual cash somewhere - otherwise the SPAMmers wouldn't bother. This must leave a "paper trail" or electronic trail leading to the SPAMmers. Most of these seem to be illegal in some way so it should not be difficult to bust them.
Is the problem that the "authorities" responsible for enforcement are technologliallyclueless?
He cited the history of Unix, which has been replete with incompatible versions.
Of course the forking was caused by vendors trying to differentiate their closed, proprietary versions. One of the great advantages of free software is that forking will not occur unless there is a good technical reason (i.e. different versions for embedded devices and big iron). Any enhancements made in a forked version of free software can always be folded back into other versions.
I will give a 4 inch plush penguin to any Microsoft employee who will send me the the source code to Windows. Of course that's copyrighted confidential company information but so are the RFQs Microsoft is requesting (the RFQ documents are copyright whoever submitted them).
The NY prosecuters and many people here seem to be thinking of a newsgroup as if it was like a physical meeting room or a dead-tree magazine which can be closed or banned.
A "newsgroup" is really just a keyword attached to a post by its originator. When you read a newsgroup it's like doing a search on that keyword. If ISPs can be prosecuted for allowing you to read messages labeled "alt.erotica.whatever" then it it is a small step to prosecute search engines for allowing you to search for pages containing the words "sex" and "teen".
"Sorry, you are not allowed to search for that - try a different search string"
This was posted to comp.os.linux.hardware on 10/14/1999, reacting to efforts to help out the third world:
Well, I read some of the responses and got tired of the arrogance and ignorance. We are running an internetcafe in "the third world". We run a Master, connected by modem to the internet with a 233 Pentium. We have different terminals, one of them is an old 486, 66 MHz, 16MB RAM, 560 MB harddisc. Thew master runs squid as proxy server.
On the 486 we installed a basic Redhat 5.2, did need more than 300MB. Our windowmanager is fvwm2. Netscape 4.08 is our browser. It takes a long time to start up, Java and Javascript are causing problems but besides of this: IT WORKS WELL!!!
-even gringos say that our internet is superfast!
Your main problems will be different, caused in poor education: Users won't be able or willed to typw even simple commands like "startx". What happens after a power shortage? (Here we have at least five per week, usually it goes fine but sometimes you spend hours on fsck....)
So: We installed Linux because the government of Colombia was confiscating hundreds of computers just in this city because of the use of illegal software. (The government does this service for Microsoft to receive guns...) But no one here was able to install or operate our system. This will be your main problem. -As someone who did't even now what is a RAM I had to learn it myself.
Your most important problem will be: Will you find people that have the ability to learn Linux and operate this system.
Hardware is the second question. -I spended weeks to find a Linux compatible modem: They import just the cheap windows hardware.
--Well, it's no fun, but in the end it works. Even with a 486 and 16MB Ram...
so long as one company doesn't gain a monopoly over all ISP's then we will still have a choice.
What choices do you have for high speed service? For most people it is the cable company, period. In Canada this is a government regulated monopoly.
What bugs me is that they are allowed to bundle things like email, web hosting, news and Windows support with the service. There would be an opportunity for "mom'n'pop" to provide these services and do a better job if we were not forced to buy them from the cable company.(I have had email delayed 3 weeks by shaw@home)
Also, with "always-on" cable modems and ipv6 there is no technical reason we could not have permanent IP addresses and operate our own servers (subject to bandwith limitations). The cable monopolies will not allow this, they want you to be a passive consumer.
in the real world, companies spend a lot of money to make their shops accessable to disabled people and to make it appeal to as many potential customers as possible and most of them spend huge amounts of money just to attract customers.
One positive development is that governments are developing standards for accessibility of public sites for those with visual and other impairments.
In practice this means the sites should be usable with any standards compliant browser.
As these standards become implemented there will be pressure on private sites to comply.
Why should the government step in and legislate to solve a problem between you and a business?
It depends whether you actually have a choice. In the case of voice phone or cable modem services you don't - in most places governments give a monopoly to one company. I don't think these monopolies should be allowed to put arbritrary restrictions on my use of the services.
OTOH, anyone can set up a dialup ISP without any government permit or approval AFAIK so they should be able to set any terms they want. If I don't like their terms I can take my business elswhere (although my choices may be very limited in rural areas).
What is the situation for wireless internet? Can anyone set up a competing service?
Earlier this year the Calgary Public Library spent $18,480 on BESS censorware.
"Since June 1 parents applying for new cards for their children, or renewing old ones, are asked what level of internet access they will permit."
The result:
Children (12 & under)
Total cards 89,886
Unrestricted 93.5%
Filtered only 5.0%
No access 1.5%
Young Adult (13-17)
Total cards 37,496
Unrestricted 98.6%
Filtered only 1.1%
No access 0.3%
One alderwoman received 180 emails in favour of censorware. She was never able to reach any of the authors and now suspects they were all sent by just two or three people.
Tom Crites of the Canada Family Action Coalition "doubts most parents understood what they approved" and says unfiltered access for pre-teens "shouldn't even be a potential question".
-----------
Shortly after the BESS purchase I received a letter from the Public Library Foundation asking for donations to help buy books.
Doing the "bare minimum"... may work for now, but... it'd only be a matter of time before Congress adjusts the requirements to say something like "effectively blocks most objectionable content" or whatever.
The best way to fight censorship is to force the process out into the open and make the proponents of censorship specify exactly what is to be censored. Of course this is very difficult (they probably won't agree among themselves).
And a good way to force the issue is to do the "bare minimum" and let the courts try to figure out exactly what the law requires - or toss it out if they think it's too vague.
So please eth1, bash it out and GPL it and put it up on Freshmeat before schools and libraries are forced to spend billions on censorware snakeoil.
My gripe with gov.ca sites is that they are always breaking links by fooling around with URL's and domains. This has the side effect of filling up the search engines with broken links (like the proverbial elephant, search engines never forget). If you find a good link, chances are it's an orphan page like this
weather forecast for May 1
The storage and distribution of MP3 format files via the Company network is prohibited.
I don't know how much clearer it can get.
It may be clear to you, but remember this is a service for ordinary consumers. Suppose I am using some web-authoring tool where I sing into my computer mic and it makes a little music icon, which I drag onto my website. Then Half Price Hosting blows away my song so I take them to court.
If I'm lucky I'll get a computer illiterate judge who thinks "MP3 format file" is some kind of arcane technical jargon that no ordinary person could be expected to understand.
If you were the Half Price lawyer how would you explain this to the judge? Perhaps you would start by explaining what a "file" is, and when he understands that you could explain "format" and then "MP3".
Suppose you bought a Toyota. No, suppose the company gave you a Toyota. It came with instructions saying "Use only Toyota Gasolene in this vehicle". You take the car home, and it works great, but the nearest Toyota Gas Station is 18 miles from your house which is inconvenient.
Toyota sent me a newsletter warning about cheapo oil filters. They said that only Totoya brand oil filters meet manufacturers specs because Toyota doesn't publish the specs.
They didn't go so far as to say I would void the warranty if I used filters from other companies who have reverse-engineered them.
But when dealing with a foreign company that simply imports products, what will the EC do? Impose tariffs? Fines? It is difficult for them to remedy or ameliorate the situation without harming their consumers.
There are other possibilities. For example I believe Germany has a law that invalidates some provisions of EULA's so that Germans are allowed to resell OEM software. This is not related to antitrust but something like that could be an effective antitrust measure. It would be harder to maintain an OS monopoly if all the people switching to other OS's could legally sell their OEM Windows.
In the case of such Intellectual Property that is related to the Internet browser, the license shall not grant the Operating Systems Business any right to develop, license, or distribute modified or derivative versions of the Internet browser.
As I read it, Windows Inc. is not allowed to develop a browser based on IE code (or patents, if any) but they would not be prevented from writing a new browser from scratch or incorporating browser functionality into Windows.
The Titanic might not have hit an iceberg if the captain had not gone full steam through Iceberg Alley. Even if it did it would not have suffered such a large gash if there was better quality control on the hull rivets. Even so it might not have taken on water if it had double-hull construction (available at the time but considered too expensive and bulky). Even so it might have only flooded one or two compartments if the bulkheads had extended well above water level (this was considered too much of an inconvenience for passengers moving around the ship). Even if the ship still sank the loss of life would have been less terrible if there were enough lifeboats and the crew was trained to deploy them.
So who's to blame? The newspapers of the time initially blamed the captain for speeding. The other problems came out during the inquiry and recent expeditions to the wreck. The companies that built and operated Titanic were liable and had to pay damages. The industry was more safety conscious after that - for a while.
If you send a stamped self -addressed envelope to us at the Free Beer Foundation we will send you a free barley seed and a pinch of yeast (neither containing patented genes). You may copy these any number of times using our free growing HOWTOS and then turn them into beer using our free malting and brewing HOWTOS.
Slashdot Mirror
To the extent that he denies a software author the right to do with his code as he pleases, the man is a maniac.
RMS has ever said anything like that.
You can release your code under any license you want - RMS just advises users to be aware of all the restrictions and lock-ins associated with proprietary software.
Even if you release code under the GPL you still own the copyright and can do whatever you want with it including making derived works which you exclusively own and can try to sell under other licenses.
Using topographical software, we could tell that the lay of the land between the tower and our building in Sebastopol looks clear. We still can't tell if there are trees or buildings in the path, but at least the land is, apparently, going to cooperate.
Coudln't you just use a telescope? You should be able to see the blinking light on the tower.
Yeah, well, I'm sure Xemacs had good technical reasons for forking from Xemacs and any enhancements to Xemacs will be folded back into Xemacs - or vice versa.
What's interesting about these categories of SPAM (Diplomas, Credit fixing, Spy software, Get-rich-quick, Gambling, Weight loss, Sex enhancement) is that they must attract an endless supply of suckers ("one born every minute") willing to send actual cash somewhere - otherwise the SPAMmers wouldn't bother. This must leave a "paper trail" or electronic trail leading to the SPAMmers. Most of these seem to be illegal in some way so it should not be difficult to bust them.
Is the problem that the "authorities" responsible for enforcement are technologliallyclueless?
He cited the history of Unix, which has been replete with incompatible versions.
Of course the forking was caused by vendors trying to differentiate their closed, proprietary versions. One of the great advantages of free software is that forking will not occur unless there is a good technical reason (i.e. different versions for embedded devices and big iron). Any enhancements made in a forked version of free software can always be folded back into other versions.
I will give a 4 inch plush penguin to any Microsoft employee who will send me the the source code to Windows. Of course that's copyrighted confidential company information but so are the RFQs Microsoft is requesting (the RFQ documents are copyright whoever submitted them).
Is it a crime to make this sort of offer?
Microsoft apparently thinks not.
The NY prosecuters and many people here seem to be thinking of a newsgroup as if it was like a physical meeting room or a dead-tree magazine which can be closed or banned.
A "newsgroup" is really just a keyword attached to a post by its originator. When you read a newsgroup it's like doing a search on that keyword. If ISPs can be prosecuted for allowing you to read messages labeled "alt.erotica.whatever" then it it is a small step to prosecute search engines for allowing you to search for pages containing the words "sex" and "teen".
"Sorry, you are not allowed to search for that - try a different search string"
This was posted to comp.os.linux.hardware on 10/14/1999, reacting to efforts to help out the third world:
Well, I read some of the responses and got tired of the arrogance and ignorance. We are running an internetcafe in "the third world". We run a Master, connected by modem to the internet with a 233 Pentium. We have different terminals, one of them is an old 486, 66 MHz, 16MB RAM, 560 MB harddisc. Thew master runs squid as proxy server.
On the 486 we installed a basic Redhat 5.2, did need more than 300MB. Our windowmanager is fvwm2. Netscape 4.08 is our browser. It takes a long time to start up, Java and Javascript are causing problems but besides of this: IT WORKS WELL!!!
-even gringos say that our internet is superfast!
Your main problems will be different, caused in poor education: Users won't be able or willed to typw even simple commands like "startx". What happens after a power shortage? (Here we have at least five per week, usually it goes fine but sometimes you spend hours on fsck....)
So: We installed Linux because the government of Colombia was confiscating hundreds of computers just in this city because of the use of illegal software. (The government does this service for Microsoft to receive guns...) But no one here was able to install or operate our system. This will be your main problem. -As someone who did't even now what is a RAM I had to learn it myself.
Your most important problem will be: Will you find people that have the ability to learn Linux and operate this system.
Hardware is the second question. -I spended weeks to find a Linux compatible modem: They import just the cheap windows hardware.
--Well, it's no fun, but in the end it works. Even with a 486 and 16MB Ram...
Good luck...
Enrique
so long as one company doesn't gain a monopoly over all ISP's then we will still have a choice.
What choices do you have for high speed service? For most people it is the cable company, period. In Canada this is a government regulated monopoly.
What bugs me is that they are allowed to bundle things like email, web hosting, news and Windows support with the service. There would be an opportunity for "mom'n'pop" to provide these services and do a better job if we were not forced to buy them from the cable company.(I have had email delayed 3 weeks by shaw@home)
Also, with "always-on" cable modems and ipv6 there is no technical reason we could not have permanent IP addresses and operate our own servers (subject to bandwith limitations). The cable monopolies will not allow this, they want you to be a passive consumer.
in the real world, companies spend a lot of money to make their shops accessable to disabled people and to make it appeal to as many potential customers as possible and most of them spend huge amounts of money just to attract customers.
One positive development is that governments are developing standards for accessibility of public sites for those with visual and other impairments.
In practice this means the sites should be usable with any standards compliant browser.
As these standards become implemented there will be pressure on private sites to comply.
Why should the government step in and legislate to solve a problem between you and a business?
It depends whether you actually have a choice. In the case of voice phone or cable modem services you don't - in most places governments give a monopoly to one company. I don't think these monopolies should be allowed to put arbritrary restrictions on my use of the services.
OTOH, anyone can set up a dialup ISP without any government permit or approval AFAIK so they should be able to set any terms they want. If I don't like their terms I can take my business elswhere (although my choices may be very limited in rural areas).
What is the situation for wireless internet? Can anyone set up a competing service?
True. You'd have to get a life.
Or more likely you'd be:
chatting on your ham radio
playing pinball
watching TV
spinning 45's
:^)
This just appeared in the Calgary Herald:
Earlier this year the Calgary Public Library spent $18,480 on BESS censorware.
"Since June 1 parents applying for new cards for their children, or renewing old ones, are asked what level of internet access they will permit."
The result:
Children (12 & under)
Total cards 89,886
Unrestricted 93.5%
Filtered only 5.0%
No access 1.5%
Young Adult (13-17)
Total cards 37,496
Unrestricted 98.6%
Filtered only 1.1%
No access 0.3%
One alderwoman received 180 emails in favour of censorware. She was never able to reach any of the authors and now suspects they were all sent by just two or three people.
Tom Crites of the Canada Family Action Coalition "doubts most parents understood what they approved" and says unfiltered access for pre-teens "shouldn't even be a potential question".
-----------
Shortly after the BESS purchase I received a letter from the Public Library Foundation asking for donations to help buy books.
Doing the "bare minimum" ... may work for now, but ... it'd only be a matter of time before Congress adjusts the requirements to say something like "effectively blocks most objectionable content" or whatever.
The best way to fight censorship is to force the process out into the open and make the proponents of censorship specify exactly what is to be censored. Of course this is very difficult (they probably won't agree among themselves).
And a good way to force the issue is to do the "bare minimum" and let the courts try to figure out exactly what the law requires - or toss it out if they think it's too vague.
So please eth1, bash it out and GPL it and put it up on Freshmeat before schools and libraries are forced to spend billions on censorware snakeoil.
My gripe with gov.ca sites is that they are always breaking links by fooling around with URL's and domains. This has the side effect of filling up the search engines with broken links (like the proverbial elephant, search engines never forget). If you find a good link, chances are it's an orphan page like this weather forecast for May 1
The storage and distribution of MP3 format files via the Company network is prohibited.
I don't know how much clearer it can get.
It may be clear to you, but remember this is a service for ordinary consumers. Suppose I am using some web-authoring tool where I sing into my computer mic and it makes a little music icon, which I drag onto my website. Then Half Price Hosting blows away my song so I take them to court.
If I'm lucky I'll get a computer illiterate judge who thinks "MP3 format file" is some kind of arcane technical jargon that no ordinary person could be expected to understand.
If you were the Half Price lawyer how would you explain this to the judge? Perhaps you would start by explaining what a "file" is, and when he understands that you could explain "format" and then "MP3".
If Linus' school had these policies where would Linux be today? Probably on a floppy (version 0.1) in a forgotten storage room at Helsinki U.
How much of the free software we use daily was written by students and academics?
Of course you can't read it without a very expensive subscription.
I wonder who funded the research on which this report is based and paid the salaries of the people who wrote it?
Most of it came from taxpayers in various countries, I'll bet.
He had them setting up windmills to power electric heaters to warm up the planet. Of course, the energy of wind ultimately turns into heat anyway.
He also had them covering the floor with computer printouts - he didn't say what they used for paper.
Lov Grover, who proposed the theory, has a website with links to his publicatiions.
I couldn't figure out from the abstracts which paper EE Times was referring to.
Suppose you bought a Toyota. No, suppose the company gave you a Toyota. It came with instructions saying "Use only Toyota Gasolene in this vehicle". You take the car home, and it works great, but the nearest Toyota Gas Station is 18 miles from your house which is inconvenient.
Toyota sent me a newsletter warning about cheapo oil filters. They said that only Totoya brand oil filters meet manufacturers specs because Toyota doesn't publish the specs.
They didn't go so far as to say I would void the warranty if I used filters from other companies who have reverse-engineered them.
There are other possibilities. For example I believe Germany has a law that invalidates some provisions of EULA's so that Germans are allowed to resell OEM software. This is not related to antitrust but something like that could be an effective antitrust measure. It would be harder to maintain an OS monopoly if all the people switching to other OS's could legally sell their OEM Windows.
In the case of such Intellectual Property that is related to the Internet browser, the license shall not grant the Operating Systems Business any right to develop, license, or distribute modified or derivative versions of the Internet browser.
As I read it, Windows Inc. is not allowed to develop a browser based on IE code (or patents, if any) but they would not be prevented from writing a new browser from scratch or incorporating browser functionality into Windows.
The Titanic might not have hit an iceberg if the captain had not gone full steam through Iceberg Alley.
Even if it did it would not have suffered such a large gash if there was better quality control on the hull rivets.
Even so it might not have taken on water if it had double-hull construction (available at the time but considered too expensive and bulky).
Even so it might have only flooded one or two compartments if the bulkheads had extended well above water level (this was considered too much of an inconvenience for passengers moving around the ship).
Even if the ship still sank the loss of life would have been less terrible if there were enough lifeboats and the crew was trained to deploy them.
So who's to blame?
The newspapers of the time initially blamed the captain for speeding.
The other problems came out during the inquiry and recent expeditions to the wreck.
The companies that built and operated Titanic were liable and had to pay damages.
The industry was more safety conscious after that - for a while.
If you send a stamped self -addressed envelope to us at the Free Beer Foundation we will send you a free barley seed and a pinch of yeast (neither containing patented genes). You may copy these any number of times using our free growing HOWTOS and then turn them into beer using our free malting and brewing HOWTOS.
Enjoy.