Northern California secedes from the union. A journalist from the US travels in after a few years. It's realistically portrayed, but it's a matter of debate how possible such a society is. Still, interesting read for those that dabble in utopianism.
Do I think it's a possible society... would it work? Parts were quite interesting in that way. More likely than Atlas Shrugged's world working out to it's promise. Of course, I'm biased because looking at history it's clear we've already tried Ayn's system, and it ended up in Feudalism and falling apart.
That is the question. The "best tool" for the job can include lots of criteria. The question is, is the best tool always open. Don't tell me "not always" before you realize that the openness is one of the qualities. That is... there may be a bolt that holds better, but the "lesser bolt" being up to the specification, and being standard, is actually more available. In wartime or some other emergency situation, this availability would be the difference between having enough bolts (the lesser ones) or not having any bolts (the greater ones).
Anticipating problems in supply is totally VALID! As a software engineer for 15 years using predominantly commercial tools for that time (until recentlly) I'm tired of getting screwed when a company, that had the "best" tool, goes out of business/gets bought out/etc/ and their stuff is.
Although open source is not always the best based on functional requirments, it also is virtually impossible for it to get worse or go away. In commercial code it is common (meaning you use 10-20 commercial product and work for 5 years a couple will totally disapear, leaving no upgrade path, possibly no way to get versions if your media goes bad, etc. Headaches.)
Having said that I don't think that California can use mySQL. I think they need oracle and/or sybase, etc. So the proposal is very impractical unless it includes exceptions. That is... a requirment to check out open source solutions or use open source solutions "wherever possible".
I'm a software engineer working in science again after 10 years working for commercial network companies. I did work a long time at single companies, the companies did succeed in various degrees (well, the last folded early when the board realized there was no more IPO market). Still, although I am proud of the code I wrote in the private sector and it's still in use and widely deployed, many of the incidental things I did in science still had more romantic appeal. In science I watched Voyager approach neptune by daily grabbing Voyager images from JPL via DecNET, I was listed as coauthor on scientific papers, etc. But I think the main thing I like is the "big picture" aspect. There is a long term set of goals toward which progress will be made. The problems are unique.
Pay wise I'm making half of what I made previously (I've been here about a year), but more than when I was unemployed (little joke/joke there). It's not a happy happy world, there are some politics and aggravations because it's still just life. BUT: the goal is cooler, the value of long term thinking is stronger, and the resources are fantastic. Internet2 anyone?
My previous employer... hey that crook Dennis Kozlowski from Tycho was on the board... made us all sign non-compete clauses. You cannot WORK for a similar company for six months. I signed it because I was told it was unenforceable in California, where I was located. When the IPO market started to tank, they closed shop two weeks before christmas. I think that I really was still not supposed to work for any competitor... how astonishing really, that there could be a clause like that, saying you cannot work in your field! Pardon?!? How am I going to eat?
Man, I was a little bitter about it but now it's kind of nice to say, "that board member was a crook" and not only is it true but it's all over CNN (well, -was-). Can't call it sour grapes, can you? Two weeks before Christmas is fitting, looking back on it.
Face it, people sign these things as a gamble... that it will be them quitting, not the company folding, that it will be illegal in your state, etc. etc. You gamble because you are thinking about what happens when everything works out, not what happens when it all goes down hill.
The extreme case we were discussing was killing something in a cruel way just to watch it happen. Killing cockroaches because they bring disease is also a good enough reason that still does not imply that you can do just anything you want to anything you want to destroy for no good reason.
Accidentally killing something with your car does not obligate you to eat it. If you hit a person in your car, I'm not saying you have to eat it... but that example also doesn't justify killing a person on purpose, does it!?
Your logic seems to be... I can kill for a good reason, therefore I can kill for no reason at all. Doesn't follow.
I disagree. I think I can support animal rights and still eat them. Just treat them nice while they are here... that's all I ask. Don't kill them for fun... just kill them to eat. Summed up easily enough for you?
I am also going from colleagues that have been working on HB1 visas. The case I was thinking of most was a case where the person was going for citizenship and could not leave the company because they would have to start the process over again.
As for their abilities etc., I have no complaints to make, I think they are individuals and their work ethic is all over the map, except they may work harder because they have more to lose.
Yes it's by personal choice... as was indentured servitude! The comparison is apt, espc. because indentured servitude was volluntary as well, and turned out beneficial to individuals in many cases! It's still contrary to the rights workers should expect in the modern world.
Why not just give citizenship to anyone skilled enough to be remotely recruited!? Just let them be citizens if they like, they have already proven their value to the economy. Would you have a problem with that?
... is not the competition, you have to just deal with that. The problem is for the HB1 workers... it's practically indentured servitude. It's difficult to leave the company you are supposed to work for. The company gains a level of control over the persons personal life that is anathema to the basic freedoms modern workers should expect.
no I wouldn't say the same about those Windows Applications (that they are worthless). I wrote some of them! But also, (shocking!) I wouldn't even say that Windows is worthless, it's just that the worth is in the lines of code, the fact they compile at all and what it provides.
A windows compatible OS made by a third party is a holy grail for OS competition, there is a great deal of doubt any desktop OS can have even the smallest chance without at least some amount of compatibility (able to run certain key apps, or 95% or so).
I could believe this if it was all Bill Gates idea to return to his roots and steal Windows into a new company, he could quit Microsoft and take over the rest of the world. Win 98 is the slow target. With 75% of the desktops software makers still produce new software compatible with it.
While you post is interesting as moderated, I have to say that there is no way you could recreate it just from the API specification... the value of windows is in all the layers of kludging and the whole constantly refactored heap of millions of lines of code. It's burden and only asset. The design of windows as a whole is worthless.
Windows 98 is the most widely used operating system in the world. Windows XP + Windows 2000 + Windows ME all together don't even come close to Win 98, which is about 75% of all desktops.
I think they are most likely to use linux to achieve this goal. What else? They could easily claim this now if by compatible with Office they mean.doc files. If this is the case, they may well be able to add quite a bit of finish in a year. Or even just futz around and just make a distribution by then.
Remember when it comes to the government don't assume it'll really be compatible. A year long project is not nearly long enough to build something like this. You might be able to design it in that amount of time.
So, either linux or they have the microsoft source code on some ultra-secret deal with Bill Gates.
Slashdot Mirror
Northern California secedes from the union. A journalist from the US travels in after a few years. It's realistically portrayed, but it's a matter of debate how possible such a society is. Still, interesting read for those that dabble in utopianism.
Do I think it's a possible society... would it work? Parts were quite interesting in that way. More likely than Atlas Shrugged's world working out to it's promise. Of course, I'm biased because looking at history it's clear we've already tried Ayn's system, and it ended up in Feudalism and falling apart.
but imagine the DoS using compromised mowers.
"Reports today indicate that no one can enter or exit Acme Headquarters today due to thousands of internet controlled lawn mowers swarming there."
That is the question. The "best tool" for the job can include lots of criteria. The question is, is the best tool always open. Don't tell me "not always" before you realize that the openness is one of the qualities. That is... there may be a bolt that holds better, but the "lesser bolt" being up to the specification, and being standard, is actually more available. In wartime or some other emergency situation, this availability would be the difference between having enough bolts (the lesser ones) or not having any bolts (the greater ones).
Anticipating problems in supply is totally VALID! As a software engineer for 15 years using predominantly commercial tools for that time (until recentlly) I'm tired of getting screwed when a company, that had the "best" tool, goes out of business/gets bought out/etc/ and their stuff is.
Although open source is not always the best based on functional requirments, it also is virtually impossible for it to get worse or go away. In commercial code it is common (meaning you use 10-20 commercial product and work for 5 years a couple will totally disapear, leaving no upgrade path, possibly no way to get versions if your media goes bad, etc. Headaches.)
Having said that I don't think that California can use mySQL. I think they need oracle and/or sybase, etc. So the proposal is very impractical unless it includes exceptions. That is... a requirment to check out open source solutions or use open source solutions "wherever possible".
I'm a software engineer working in science again after 10 years working for commercial network companies. I did work a long time at single companies, the companies did succeed in various degrees (well, the last folded early when the board realized there was no more IPO market). Still, although I am proud of the code I wrote in the private sector and it's still in use and widely deployed, many of the incidental things I did in science still had more romantic appeal. In science I watched Voyager approach neptune by daily grabbing Voyager images from JPL via DecNET, I was listed as coauthor on scientific papers, etc. But I think the main thing I like is the "big picture" aspect. There is a long term set of goals toward which progress will be made. The problems are unique.
Pay wise I'm making half of what I made previously (I've been here about a year), but more than when I was unemployed (little joke/joke there). It's not a happy happy world, there are some politics and aggravations because it's still just life. BUT: the goal is cooler, the value of long term thinking is stronger, and the resources are fantastic. Internet2 anyone?
Go to science if you can!
My previous employer... hey that crook Dennis Kozlowski from Tycho was on the board... made us all sign non-compete clauses. You cannot WORK for a similar company for six months. I signed it because I was told it was unenforceable in California, where I was located. When the IPO market started to tank, they closed shop two weeks before christmas. I think that I really was still not supposed to work for any competitor... how astonishing really, that there could be a clause like that, saying you cannot work in your field! Pardon?!? How am I going to eat?
Man, I was a little bitter about it but now it's kind of nice to say, "that board member was a crook" and not only is it true but it's all over CNN (well, -was-). Can't call it sour grapes, can you? Two weeks before Christmas is fitting, looking back on it.
Face it, people sign these things as a gamble... that it will be them quitting, not the company folding, that it will be illegal in your state, etc. etc. You gamble because you are thinking about what happens when everything works out, not what happens when it all goes down hill.
Going to a University to get an MSCE seems like a little bit of overkill... doesn't it?
Or would I rather make the joke about this being Microsoft's Waterloo?
Can't decide.
they do not need to ensure that GPLed stuff can't connect to SMB shares, sorry, that's ridiculous.
this means nothing to me....
tell me how many libraries of congress it can hold.
she had a gun...?! I don't remember reading that.
Ground Force!
It made perfect sense to send John Glenn in space.
I wrote that (GO on TSN, that is).
what law should they use?
...damn clever of them.
clever but pointless.
The extreme case we were discussing was killing something in a cruel way just to watch it happen. Killing cockroaches because they bring disease is also a good enough reason that still does not imply that you can do just anything you want to anything you want to destroy for no good reason.
Accidentally killing something with your car does not obligate you to eat it. If you hit a person in your car, I'm not saying you have to eat it... but that example also doesn't justify killing a person on purpose, does it!?
Your logic seems to be... I can kill for a good reason, therefore I can kill for no reason at all. Doesn't follow.
I disagree. I think I can support animal rights and still eat them. Just treat them nice while they are here... that's all I ask. Don't kill them for fun... just kill them to eat. Summed up easily enough for you?
I am also going from colleagues that have been working on HB1 visas. The case I was thinking of most was a case where the person was going for citizenship and could not leave the company because they would have to start the process over again.
As for their abilities etc., I have no complaints to make, I think they are individuals and their work ethic is all over the map, except they may work harder because they have more to lose.
Yes it's by personal choice... as was indentured servitude! The comparison is apt, espc. because indentured servitude was volluntary as well, and turned out beneficial to individuals in many cases! It's still contrary to the rights workers should expect in the modern world.
Why not just give citizenship to anyone skilled enough to be remotely recruited!? Just let them be citizens if they like, they have already proven their value to the economy. Would you have a problem with that?
... is not the competition, you have to just deal with that. The problem is for the HB1 workers... it's practically indentured servitude. It's difficult to leave the company you are supposed to work for. The company gains a level of control over the persons personal life that is anathema to the basic freedoms modern workers should expect.
well put... I missed the details you tracked but still gleaned the impression (from the time scale) that this was Linux + StarOffice + (maybe Wine).
I also submitted this story yesterday, but I think I used the wrong font.
no I wouldn't say the same about those Windows Applications (that they are worthless). I wrote some of them! But also, (shocking!) I wouldn't even say that Windows is worthless, it's just that the worth is in the lines of code, the fact they compile at all and what it provides.
A windows compatible OS made by a third party is a holy grail for OS competition, there is a great deal of doubt any desktop OS can have even the smallest chance without at least some amount of compatibility (able to run certain key apps, or 95% or so).
I could believe this if it was all Bill Gates idea to return to his roots and steal Windows into a new company, he could quit Microsoft and take over the rest of the world. Win 98 is the slow target. With 75% of the desktops software makers still produce new software compatible with it.
While you post is interesting as moderated, I have to say that there is no way you could recreate it just from the API specification... the value of windows is in all the layers of kludging and the whole constantly refactored heap of millions of lines of code. It's burden and only asset. The design of windows as a whole is worthless.
Windows 98 is the most widely used operating system in the world. Windows XP + Windows 2000 + Windows ME all together don't even come close to Win 98, which is about 75% of all desktops.
I think they are most likely to use linux to achieve this goal. What else? They could easily claim this now if by compatible with Office they mean .doc files. If this is the case, they may well be able to add quite a bit of finish in a year. Or even just futz around and just make a distribution by then.
Remember when it comes to the government don't assume it'll really be compatible. A year long project is not nearly long enough to build something like this. You might be able to design it in that amount of time.
So, either linux or they have the microsoft source code on some ultra-secret deal with Bill Gates.
I predict the Chinese release their "1.0" version right after they buy a copy of Lindows and scrawl some Chinese characters on it.
My thoughts exactly.
Well, not exactly, but the differences are negligible.