ah but you see the lawyers have a slightly different view of that particular quote.
Since the quote came from one of a small band of illiterate craftsmen who wished to overthrow the rule of law, disagreeing with that quote and taking the opposite viewpoint is akin to siding with Truth, Justice, and the American Way.
Just goes to show how the lawyers can put a spin on just about anything.;)
everyone is acting all pissed at him because THEY misunderstood the license
Well, I've seen Darren act awfully pissy at people who were trying to get him to clarify the licence. These guys were trying to understand what the licence means, and Darren's flaming them!
Personally, I don't think Darren's any better than Theo in the personality dept. And pissiness aside, Theo has the moral high ground on this issue. The software in a BSD kernel must be free.
I think it matters. Its true that Mozilla won't make a dent in Windows browser usage, unless it turns out to be a significantly better browser than IE, which is unlikely.
However, since I started using komodo, which was built on top of Mozilla I realized Mozilla has a really great potential for writing cross platform applications. Check it out. Also, if you primarily write server-side web apps, as I do, you can use browser components as the shell of your app, say to handle files and printing, while the bulk of your application runs on your web server.
I'd also have to give Mozilla the award for being the single best source of sample code out there in the open source world. Because everything is in there, there is a very good chance that you can learn about what you are trying to do by looking at the code. Hopefully, universities will pick up on this and use Mozilla to help teach CS. That would lead to more Mozilla users(and coders).
Additionally, having a complete, open-source browser suite forces MS to keep on their toes and release a high-quality, standards compliant browser, while at the same time preventing them from having a total monopoly on the browser market.
Give us the name of a single company that is successfully selling GPL'd software.(not a flame, I actually would be interested to learn more about such an organization)
I like the freedom that OSS provides, but to say its a good business model is unproven.
Actually, Bruce hit the nail on the head when he mentioned software that differentiates your business from your competitors and non-differentiating software. ASPs will be a big player in non-differentiating software.
However, in many cases, you won't want a cookie-cutter website or other generic software the ASP's will provide. You will want your software to provide an edge on your competition. Therefore, independent software companies and consultants will still thrive, even in the face of the giant ASP's were bound to have in the next 5-10 years.
The concept of ASP's used to scare me, as they represent a threat to my livelihood(if software is only produced by giant megacorps, it means I either sell my soul or get a new profession). Bruces distinction was helpful for me - I now realize that there will likely always be a market for custom software.
how does the GPL work if you're selling a hardware product? Say you're selling a toaster and you want to keep your proprietary toasting algorithm private, but its running on Linux. Can you do that since you are really selling hardware? Or do you have to GPL your software as well?
>> These all build profitable software on top of Free Software quite successfully.
Not trying to argue the point really, but MS singled out the GPL. You can't build your software on top of GPL'd code and then sell it as a proprietary product. Clause 2b("You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this License. ") of the GPL expressly forbids this.
What I don't quite get is the number of people who insist that the GPL is compatible with building software for a profit. It is incompatible - you must sell services or hardware or something other than the GPL'd software to make money.
So unfortunately, in a limited sense, MS is right. The GPL is incompatible with selling software as a stand alone product. I doubt if anyone can seriously refute that statement, but I would be very interested if someone could.
folks in Redmond really don't give a rat's ass about the GPL
By the same token, many of the folks creating software for proprietary devices don't give a rat's ass about Microsoft. They'll use Linux because it works, and its free.
Not only that, but wake up. Linux already runs on PS/2, and its pretty doubtful that MS will be able to prevent the inevitable hack that will get Linux running on the Xbox.
Now go back to trolltalk and come up with something better next time.
Flood the stores with Xboxes and make sure everyone has the opportunity to buy one.
I still can't go into Walmart or CompUSA and find a PS/2 on the shelf. I'm not paying $500 for an overpriced "game pack", I'm not placing a special order, and I'm not going to buy one on Ebay. If I could find one on the shelf at the store, I probably would have bought a PS2. But after 7 months of waiting, and its still not on the shelf, well I changed my mind. Sony, kiss my $299 goodbye. It could have been yours.
Don't make me go through hoops to buy your product. If MS follows this simple rule, they will experience an order of magnitude more sales.
well, you got me there. Yes everything is inherited from IUnknown.
However, lil ol' me(who, incidentally writes many COM components in C++) doesn't program giant component models(as of yet), having only done little 100,000 line web projects. I personally have never needed to use inheritance, and unfortunatly, although you've shown me a good example of what, don't say why.
yeah, well I just got done looking at a book - Interactive UML Developent with VB 6.0(sorry, no link) The forward was written by Grady Booch, who actually praised VB as a language.
Yes, in 1982 BASIC was pretty crippled, however its current incarnation only lacks inheritance to be a full OO language(this can be worked around from what I understand, however in my 7 years as a programmer I still haven't seen a truly valid reason to use inheritance). Inheritance will be a feature of the next version of VB.
So the next time you decide to put down VB, remember that you are deriding a compiled, object-oriented language. Java can't even claim to be that.
In Word you can use: Tools->Options->Track Changes.
It's already in Word, it will show you what changes have been made and who changed them. Its a feature heavily used in the book publishing industry where entire books are passed around between the author and various editors. Your question didn't indicate that you need anything more robust than that.
It's already there and its easy to use, so why not?
When you can find high-quality solutions to just about any kind of programming problem on Google? Seriously. Need a parser that loads vectors of doubly-linked lists onto a balanced binary tree? Its in there. How about a hash table that uses the Holtzmann-Stempel method of collision detection for use in a spell checker? In there too.(OK, these are partial BS examples, but you get my point.) There are a ton of great examples out there and most professional programmers immediately take to the web when confronted with something they don't know how to do.
And if that fails, you can always submit your question to "Ask Slashdot".
Look at this page on the MSDN site. They have incorporated regular expressions into their scripting languages.
They have so closely copied the Perl regular expressions, that there is nearly no difference. I've even tried undocumented things like matching underscore characters which, although not documented, work in the MS implementation.
So, it appears to me they have taken the Perl source code to implement regular expressions in their scripting languages. Yet, they haven't even bothered to credit the original author, much less provide source code to their implementation.
Anyone know if they have violated the Perl artistic licence or not?
Here is something I still haven't been able to resolve for myself.
Is the GNU organization and the GPL at heart anti-captialist?
I believe that it is. I believe that the ultimate goal of GNU is to provide in abundance the goods needed by humanity and provide them for free. I believe software is only the first step - they dream of robotic farms and mines to produce physical goods for free as well. I've heard these guys and they want to save the world and end poverty.
So once again, is the GNU really anti-capitalistic? Then, if the answer is yes, you should prepare for all-out war in the years to come if you decide thats where your loyalty lies. Captitalism is not just going to fade away, it will put up a HUGE fight.
I think we as a group are ignoring this important question, and if we really want to end captitalism, then we have poorly defined what we want to replace it with and how it will be done.
I won't argue your point about the BSD licence, however, thats not really the point of the article.
Apple is posturing themselves as a good-guy open source company. They are not. There are several things they could be doing which would greatly help the open-source community, such as releasing the code to Quicktime or their True-Type font technology.
The point is, they are pretending to be part of the community, while at the same time they are keeping the source closed to a few things the community could desperately use. Not that there is anything wrong or illegal with that. Its just deceptive that they are passing themselves on as nice-guy open-source type of people when they have no intention of giving back to the community.
So, if this company goes bankrupt, who's to say the judge won't declare their source their only asset and refuse to give it to you? Like what happened to the poster of this comment?
You should at the very least maintain/backup your data separately, and have contigency plans to replace the ASP's application. You cannot be sure you will be able to retrieve the ASP's source code.(in addition to the possibility of the judge shafting you, what if its lost in a fire, or deleted by a disgruntled coder?)
Your company spent 250K on this system. What would be the cost of replacing it if you couldn't get to the source?
I'll be tarred and feathered for saying this, but its a great option for what you are trying to do.
First, with VB, you can use ADO to do all the database work. An ADO recordset has support for paging, so you can easily separate your report into pages. It has an easy to use Printer object(which seems to be there by default, I didn't have to declare an object). At the end of each page, all you have to do is call Printer.Print and Printer.NewPage. At the end of your document, call Printer.EndDoc. Presto. A paginated database report, with no external(read: $$$) component. You can further refine your report by setting fonts, etc, but the above outlines the basics.
Another cool thing about VB is that you can drag a WebBrowser control onto your form to make an instant browser. You can then host your web based app in this form. The only reason I recommend doing the printing with VB instead of the web based app is that you generally have to display everything you print if you do it all on the web page, whereas VB you can print things without necessarily displaying them.
I'm hoping Mozilla has the same functionality, as I've done this, with the majority of the application logic in the (cross-platform) web app, using VB only to display the application and to print. If Mozilla has the same functionality, I'll have a powerful application that is cross-platform and updateable without needing to send clients install programs.
Why, I had no sooner finished up my last set of mod points when I was given 5 more! Hell, I had to mod up a troll(it was a funny troll, so I modded it funny) to get rid of my last ones.
Now, I can't find anything that hasn't either been modded up too much already or modded into -1 land. Its been two months since my last set of points, now I don't know what to do with the ones I have.
You've got to love the fact that the site with the largest tech community also updates their code, on the fly, on live servers. It wasn't cracked. It is a simple case of them installing untested code on their live site. They will then tweak the code until once again they acheive the balance they are looking for. Its pretty amusing, but for those of us looking to glean a little knowledge(of both what to do and what not to do on a site) its also pretty informative.
>> If the govt wants you i dont care how many fucking guns you have, you dont have a chance.
OK, its time somebody put an end to this inane argument
Yes, if the government is coming after you, you don't stand much of a chance, no matter how many guns you own.
However, if the government suddenly decides to change to fascism, or resort to Tinnamen Square style crackdowns on its citizens well then it has a big problem: 80 million+ freedom-loving gunowners. We don't really have to worry about an oppressive goverment here.
The U.S. system of government is all about checks and balances to prevent abuses. The right of the people to be armed is very much a powerful check against the possibility of opressive government - something countries who have banned their citizens from owning guns are now susceptible to. It would not surprise me to see a semi-fascist state(complete with the loss of any individual rights) with a charismatic leader rise out of the EU. What would the people of Europe do to prevent another Hitler? An armed, organized resistance would be out of the question. Not so here in the U.S.
Well I never said that you couldn't compile software on Red Hat. Or that you couldn't install binaries on Debian. Its just that(in my experience) most people use binaries in RH and compile things in Debian/Slack.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, since .NET is an open spec there is nothing to prevent Sun or IBM from porting Java to it.
However, because of Sun's stranglehold over Java, Microsoft cannot legally do this themselves. Someone else must do this.
Don't blame MS for leaving Java out of .NET. It's really Sun who is "forcing" this, as you put it.
Since the quote came from one of a small band of illiterate craftsmen who wished to overthrow the rule of law, disagreeing with that quote and taking the opposite viewpoint is akin to siding with Truth, Justice, and the American Way.
Just goes to show how the lawyers can put a spin on just about anything. ;)
Please don't use this as an excuse to steal music because its not true. Support the music you love by buying the records.
As a side note, I believe Napster helps sell records, however its the selling of records that keeps a band alive.
Well, I've seen Darren act awfully pissy at people who were trying to get him to clarify the licence. These guys were trying to understand what the licence means, and Darren's flaming them!
Personally, I don't think Darren's any better than Theo in the personality dept. And pissiness aside, Theo has the moral high ground on this issue. The software in a BSD kernel must be free.
Bring on OpenIPF.
Distilling someones mistrust sounds like a way to start a bar fight.
However, since I started using komodo, which was built on top of Mozilla I realized Mozilla has a really great potential for writing cross platform applications. Check it out. Also, if you primarily write server-side web apps, as I do, you can use browser components as the shell of your app, say to handle files and printing, while the bulk of your application runs on your web server.
I'd also have to give Mozilla the award for being the single best source of sample code out there in the open source world. Because everything is in there, there is a very good chance that you can learn about what you are trying to do by looking at the code. Hopefully, universities will pick up on this and use Mozilla to help teach CS. That would lead to more Mozilla users(and coders).
Additionally, having a complete, open-source browser suite forces MS to keep on their toes and release a high-quality, standards compliant browser, while at the same time preventing them from having a total monopoly on the browser market.
Yes, I'd have to say that Mozilla matters.
I like the freedom that OSS provides, but to say its a good business model is unproven.
However, in many cases, you won't want a cookie-cutter website or other generic software the ASP's will provide. You will want your software to provide an edge on your competition. Therefore, independent software companies and consultants will still thrive, even in the face of the giant ASP's were bound to have in the next 5-10 years.
The concept of ASP's used to scare me, as they represent a threat to my livelihood(if software is only produced by giant megacorps, it means I either sell my soul or get a new profession). Bruces distinction was helpful for me - I now realize that there will likely always be a market for custom software.
how does the GPL work if you're selling a hardware product? Say you're selling a toaster and you want to keep your proprietary toasting algorithm private, but its running on Linux. Can you do that since you are really selling hardware? Or do you have to GPL your software as well?
Not trying to argue the point really, but MS singled out the GPL. You can't build your software on top of GPL'd code and then sell it as a proprietary product. Clause 2b("You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this License. ") of the GPL expressly forbids this.
What I don't quite get is the number of people who insist that the GPL is compatible with building software for a profit. It is incompatible - you must sell services or hardware or something other than the GPL'd software to make money.
So unfortunately, in a limited sense, MS is right. The GPL is incompatible with selling software as a stand alone product. I doubt if anyone can seriously refute that statement, but I would be very interested if someone could.
By the same token, many of the folks creating software for proprietary devices don't give a rat's ass about Microsoft. They'll use Linux because it works, and its free.
Not only that, but wake up. Linux already runs on PS/2, and its pretty doubtful that MS will be able to prevent the inevitable hack that will get Linux running on the Xbox.
Now go back to trolltalk and come up with something better next time.
I still can't go into Walmart or CompUSA and find a PS/2 on the shelf. I'm not paying $500 for an overpriced "game pack", I'm not placing a special order, and I'm not going to buy one on Ebay. If I could find one on the shelf at the store, I probably would have bought a PS2. But after 7 months of waiting, and its still not on the shelf, well I changed my mind. Sony, kiss my $299 goodbye. It could have been yours.
Don't make me go through hoops to buy your product. If MS follows this simple rule, they will experience an order of magnitude more sales.
However, lil ol' me(who, incidentally writes many COM components in C++) doesn't program giant component models(as of yet), having only done little 100,000 line web projects. I personally have never needed to use inheritance, and unfortunatly, although you've shown me a good example of what, don't say why.
Yes, in 1982 BASIC was pretty crippled, however its current incarnation only lacks inheritance to be a full OO language(this can be worked around from what I understand, however in my 7 years as a programmer I still haven't seen a truly valid reason to use inheritance). Inheritance will be a feature of the next version of VB.
So the next time you decide to put down VB, remember that you are deriding a compiled, object-oriented language. Java can't even claim to be that.
It's already in Word, it will show you what changes have been made and who changed them. Its a feature heavily used in the book publishing industry where entire books are passed around between the author and various editors. Your question didn't indicate that you need anything more robust than that.
It's already there and its easy to use, so why not?
That gives you everything except the comments. If you want reduced bandwidth on the comments, try light mode.
And if that fails, you can always submit your question to "Ask Slashdot".
They have so closely copied the Perl regular expressions, that there is nearly no difference. I've even tried undocumented things like matching underscore characters which, although not documented, work in the MS implementation.
So, it appears to me they have taken the Perl source code to implement regular expressions in their scripting languages. Yet, they haven't even bothered to credit the original author, much less provide source code to their implementation.
Anyone know if they have violated the Perl artistic licence or not?
Is the GNU organization and the GPL at heart anti-captialist?
I believe that it is. I believe that the ultimate goal of GNU is to provide in abundance the goods needed by humanity and provide them for free. I believe software is only the first step - they dream of robotic farms and mines to produce physical goods for free as well. I've heard these guys and they want to save the world and end poverty.
So once again, is the GNU really anti-capitalistic? Then, if the answer is yes, you should prepare for all-out war in the years to come if you decide thats where your loyalty lies. Captitalism is not just going to fade away, it will put up a HUGE fight.
I think we as a group are ignoring this important question, and if we really want to end captitalism, then we have poorly defined what we want to replace it with and how it will be done.
Apple is posturing themselves as a good-guy open source company. They are not. There are several things they could be doing which would greatly help the open-source community, such as releasing the code to Quicktime or their True-Type font technology.
The point is, they are pretending to be part of the community, while at the same time they are keeping the source closed to a few things the community could desperately use. Not that there is anything wrong or illegal with that. Its just deceptive that they are passing themselves on as nice-guy open-source type of people when they have no intention of giving back to the community.
You should at the very least maintain/backup your data separately, and have contigency plans to replace the ASP's application. You cannot be sure you will be able to retrieve the ASP's source code.(in addition to the possibility of the judge shafting you, what if its lost in a fire, or deleted by a disgruntled coder?)
Your company spent 250K on this system. What would be the cost of replacing it if you couldn't get to the source?
First, with VB, you can use ADO to do all the database work. An ADO recordset has support for paging, so you can easily separate your report into pages. It has an easy to use Printer object(which seems to be there by default, I didn't have to declare an object). At the end of each page, all you have to do is call Printer.Print and Printer.NewPage. At the end of your document, call Printer.EndDoc. Presto. A paginated database report, with no external(read: $$$) component. You can further refine your report by setting fonts, etc, but the above outlines the basics.
Another cool thing about VB is that you can drag a WebBrowser control onto your form to make an instant browser. You can then host your web based app in this form. The only reason I recommend doing the printing with VB instead of the web based app is that you generally have to display everything you print if you do it all on the web page, whereas VB you can print things without necessarily displaying them.
I'm hoping Mozilla has the same functionality, as I've done this, with the majority of the application logic in the (cross-platform) web app, using VB only to display the application and to print. If Mozilla has the same functionality, I'll have a powerful application that is cross-platform and updateable without needing to send clients install programs.
Now, I can't find anything that hasn't either been modded up too much already or modded into -1 land. Its been two months since my last set of points, now I don't know what to do with the ones I have.
You've got to love the fact that the site with the largest tech community also updates their code, on the fly, on live servers. It wasn't cracked. It is a simple case of them installing untested code on their live site. They will then tweak the code until once again they acheive the balance they are looking for. Its pretty amusing, but for those of us looking to glean a little knowledge(of both what to do and what not to do on a site) its also pretty informative.
OK, its time somebody put an end to this inane argument
Yes, if the government is coming after you, you don't stand much of a chance, no matter how many guns you own.
However, if the government suddenly decides to change to fascism, or resort to Tinnamen Square style crackdowns on its citizens well then it has a big problem: 80 million+ freedom-loving gunowners. We don't really have to worry about an oppressive goverment here.
The U.S. system of government is all about checks and balances to prevent abuses. The right of the people to be armed is very much a powerful check against the possibility of opressive government - something countries who have banned their citizens from owning guns are now susceptible to. It would not surprise me to see a semi-fascist state(complete with the loss of any individual rights) with a charismatic leader rise out of the EU. What would the people of Europe do to prevent another Hitler? An armed, organized resistance would be out of the question. Not so here in the U.S.
Well I never said that you couldn't compile software on Red Hat. Or that you couldn't install binaries on Debian. Its just that(in my experience) most people use binaries in RH and compile things in Debian/Slack.