Well, considering that I spent several months hacking thru red tape to get VP approval, and the enthusiasm that I've been getting, I'm pretty damn confident that we're clear sailing.
And given the first three targets that on my radar are PHP, Apache and Python (and the 40 or so shared library dependencies), and that's what I took to the VP, I'm fairly confident that's not going to be an issue.
And, on top of that, MS doesn't own the project, I do. "Shutting it down" is not an option for them.
Is Oblivion really something a 6 year old should be playing? I'm more curious now since I never considered it a game for a young child. Are there switches that turn some of that (violence, language, gore) off? Regardless of the previous answer, how do you explain the killing, thieving, and the like?
Good Question.
My wife and I have talked about this, and we talk about it with our kids too.
She has a very strong grasp of the difference of violence against a monster, and violence against a person (when I first started playing, and she was watching me, she was shocked when she saw me go after a vampire (which looks like a regular NPC))...
Oblivion isn't what I would consider to be gory in any event.
As for the stealing, she asked me about it, which was a good time to have a discussion about the immorality of stealing. after that she ended up telling me that it wasn't nice that I took the things (in the game) if they weren't mine:D
We raise our children on a few principles:
- Don't withold information -- if they can ask the question, they deserve an answer. - Don't shelter them from the real world. The world is there, and the faster they understand it, the faster they can deal with it. - Let them fail... experience is the great teacher.. you only get experience when you fail. - Constant, Constant, Constant dialog. We talk about all of these things all of the time. As long as she's not becoming obsessed with anything, and it's *clear* that she understands what she is doing, and where the line is, I'm fine with letting her explore. - Morality and ethics are not concepts beyond them. When they learn that something is "bad" we also explain why it's bad.
This has all ended up having a very amazing effect. I have a daughter who is about to turn 6, can read several grades above her age, and has an amazing grasp of the universe around her.
She was playing with some other kids the other day, and was telling them about her own computer, and how she finds stuff on the internet. The 5 year old she was talking to replied "I have my own pillow!"... erm. ok.
Basically, we try to talk about everything, and she pretty much picks it up. Can't be any happier than that.
Now, I am a little concered with Viva Pinata... those damn pinatas end up in pairs, and then they "romance" and have offspring... she seems to grasp that "romancing" is the step to get pregnant, but she hasn't asked about the details yet...
...caught her one day, aged 5, copying words from her books into Google
Hmm. My daughter wanted to find out something about some animal a while back, and I showed her the page on Wikipedia...
An hour later, I'm downstairs making supper, and she yells out "How do you spell Giraffe?" I tell her.
fifteen minutes after that she yells out "How do you spell pterodactyl?"... this time I was wondering why she needed to know. I go upstairs and she's typing every single animal she can think of into Wikipedia, and reading the page.
And now, a few weeks later, she's finding stuff all over the net. My wife thought we should put some parental controls on... I'm not so sure--she's likely to figure out how to bypass them anyway:D
Hey, if people have problems with letting their kids play video games at a young age, go ahead stop them.
Me, I'm of another camp.
My wife and I started my oldest daughter on the computer when she was 18 months. Loaded up reader rabbit--which is a pretty good starter, where she could start by just banging the keyboard and see stuff happen.
By three, she had mastered drag & drop, thanks to Dora the Explorer and some other games.
At four she saw a game in the store (Zoo Tycoon) and liked the animals, and asked if she could play that. I told her it was probably a tad hard for her, but she insisted she could learn. I bought it and installed it. I helped her get it started, but told her she had to figure it out if she wanted to play. At first she had problems getting the cages built right, and the lions would get out and start going after the patrons... she FREAKED out...of course, after I calmed her down, and gave her a couple hints, she started to get it. She then needed to learn what environment for each animal... She was just learning to read small words at the time, and so I showed her the online help, and told her to keep sounding out the words.
Well, a couple weeks later, she's telling my wife and I all about lions, and how they prefer the Savannah grass, and other things they like. My wife didn't know how she learned it, and when we asked my daughter, she told me she read it in the game. Turns out that she taught herself to read pretty well in a matter of a few weeks.
Now, she's almost six, plays alot of games (including Oblivion, Viva Pinata, Sim City and others), and can read *REALLY* well, along with fantastic math and science comprehension. She also paints and plays sports.
But, hey, if you are afraid that your kids will suffer from too much video games... go ahead, my kids will dominate in the future.:P
Topic:After all, Apple itself used open source with OS X (kernel, web browser) mainly because they knew it would irritate Microsoft.
Um, what?
I can't be sure, but I'd make a guess and think that Apple didn't use open source mainly because it would irritate Microsoft. I'm sure they had acutal valid business reasons for doing so. (lower costs?, community esprit-de-core?,massive army of unpaid labor?, time to market?) Even if it would "irritate" Microsoft (which I can't figure out why Microsoft would care about where Apple gets it's source code from--especially in these days of the new Kinder, Gentler Microsoft) it hardly seems like a valid business move.
Thanks for the daily slap-Microsoft-because-you-can though.
I was going to make a comment as to you need a low enough Slashdot ID to know what U*****T is, but :
ClaraBow (212734)Knows Sunburnt (890890)Knows I Am Defragged (982459)Doesn't Know His name cannot be s (16831)Definitly Knows, but won't say:P
Seems something is out of place. I suspect that ClaraBow has a sufficiently low ID, and Sunburnt must have forgot his original Slashdot ID, and has created another one.
One could easily argue that it's been September around here forever too.
Leave it to a perl guy to *try* make some thing terse and unreadable, when he could have used javascript:
foreach (Tester ReallyUnluckyGuy in GetTestersByName("Richard")) { ReallyUnluckyGuy.DenyAccess(Now); ReallyUnluckyGuy.AskQuestions(Later); } foreach( sort keys %testers ) { if( $_ =~/^richard$/i ) { undef $tesers{$_}; } } for( each in testers )
x =/richard/.test(testers[each]) ? PWN(testers[each]) : null;
Almost worth seting up one of those 419 vampire scripts on.
or at least run down to the local open wifi, and start sucking with a script that hits it with: "http://www.profane-justice.org/assets/images/famc ollage_copy.jpg?123" and keep incrementing the number; bypasses caching nicely.:p
- Nth hand unverified, information (My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with a girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious. )
- this is about stuff along time ago.... the headline here said somehting about Microsoft's "NEW" dirty tricks? WTF?
- There is a lot suspect in what's being claimed in the article as well.
At the very least, CardSpace is doing a fine job at providing a mechanism for exchanging identity information without boiling it all down to the root of all evil: Shared Secrets (passwords)
It's worth looking into the specifics of CardSpace, which I'm kinda suprised there were no links that talked about that end of the equation.
CardSpace community site (Part of.NET framework 3)
CardSpace community PM
Just remember that you're standing on a planet that evolving, Revolving at 900 miles an hour. It's orbiting at 19 miles a second, So it's reckoned, A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see, Are moving at a million miles a day, In an outer spiral arm, at 40,000 miles an hour, Of a galaxy we call the Milky Way.
Our galaxy itself contains 100 billion stars, It's 100,000 light years side to side, It bulges in the middle, 16,000 light years thick, But out by us it's just 3,000 light years wide.
We're 30,000 light years from galactic central point, We go around every 200 million years, And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions, In this amazing and expanding universe...
The whole (and far less baiting) summary: I started work on IronPython almost 3 years ago. My initial motivation for the project was to understand all of the reports that I read on the web claiming that the Common Language Runtime (CLR) was a terrible platform for Python and other dynamic languages. I was surprised to read these reports because I knew that the JVM was an acceptable platform for these languages. About 9 years ago I'd built an implementation of Python that ran on the JVM originally called JPython and later shortened to Jython. This implementation ran a little slower than the native C-based implementation of Python (CPython), but it was easily fast enough and stable enough for production use - testified to by the large number of Java projects that incorporate Jython today.
I wanted to understand how Microsoft could have screwed up so badly that the CLR was a worse platform for dynamic languages than the JVM. My plan was to take a couple of weeks to build a prototype implementation of Python on the CLR and then to use that work to write a short pithy article called, "Why the CLR is a terrible platform for dynamic languages". My plans quickly changed as I worked on the prototype, because I found that Python could run extremely well on the CLR - in many cases noticeably faster than the C-based implementation. For the standard pystone benchmark, IronPython on the CLR was about 1.7x faster than the C-based implementation.
The more time I spent working on IronPython and with the CLR, the more excited I became about its potential to finally deliver on the vision of a single common platform for a broad range of languages. At that same time, I was invited to come out to Microsoft to present IronPython and to talk with members of the CLR team about technical issues that I was running into. I had a great time that day working through these issues with a group of really smart people who all had a deep understanding of virtual machines and language implementation. After much reflection, I decided to join the CLR team at Microsoft where I could work with the platform to make it an even better target for dynamic languages and be able to have interesting technical discussions like that every day.
The first few months at Microsoft were a challenge as I learned what was involved in working at a large company. However, once the initial hurdle was over I started experiencing the things that motivated me to come here in the first place. The team working on dynamic languages in general and IronPython in particular began to grow and I got to have those great technical discussions again about both how to make IronPython as good as it could be and how to make the CLR an even better platform. We began to take advantage of the great new features for dynamic languages already shipping in.NET 2.0 such as DynamicMethods, blindingly fast delegates and a new generics system that was seamlessly integrated with the existing reflection infrastructure.
We were also able to release IronPython publicly from Microsoft with a BSD-style license. In the agile spirit of the project, we put out a new release of IronPython once every three weeks (on average) over the course of the project. This helped us connect well with our daring early adopters and receive and incorporate their feedback to make IronPython better. We've had countless excellent discussions on the mailing list on everything from supporting value types to calling overloaded methods. Without the drive and input of our users, IronPython would be a much weaker project.
IronPython is about bringing together two worlds. The key value in IronPython is that it is both a true implementation of Python and is seamlessly integrated with the.NET platform. Most features were easy and natural choices where the language and the platform fit together with almost no work. However, there were challenges from the obvious cases like exception type hierarchi
You can't magically evade the GPL by adding a layer. That's a good thing, as it keeps software Free.
Well, in a way you can.
Let's say that I create a 'plug-in' interface. I create the header files, and the documentation, and the source to let people write plug-ins for using my interface. I post that, all under the BSD license. People can now write plug-ins for my interface.
Plug-in to what?
A few days later, I plug-in my plug-in-interface to the linux kernel. I write all the plumbing code to allow someone to execute their plug-in as part of the linux kernel. I of course, being the good little GPL lover that I am, release that code as GPL.
Now, Bob comes along, writes his driver to my plug-in interface. He's under BSD license, which doesn't require relicensing of his code.
Now his driver is executing in the linux kernel, all without him having to touch GPL code, or even be aware of it's existence. As long as *I* keep my GPL licensed layer working with newer versions of Linux, his code keeps working.
A layer has now insulated him completely from having to release code.
What happens when I need to introduce new features in the interface? I add them to the BSD version of it. He compiles agains that. I then make GPL version do what it needs to to use that interface.
Do You *REALLY* want to know who created millions of jobs?
Linus Torvalds.
I'm sorry, no contest Schwartzy. Your little cottage-industry has created literally squat in the face of the real innovator, and leader of the Free world.
'There is no single individual who has created more jobs around the world than [Scott McNealy].
Excuse me!???!
Jesus, that guy has a man-crush for McNealy or something. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
Just think about all the jobs and companies that exist today because Linus built the OS that could. For Every embedded device that uses Linux, for every company that spits out yet another distribution, every hosting company that uses it--hell, How many people did Microsoft need to hire, just to compete?
I'm a tad suprised at the negative view that the Slashdot crowd has around WGA.
Seriously, it's nothing but good for everybody.
1. Microsoft gets to protect the copyright on its products. Protecting copyright is good for everyone. Proprietary, GPL, Open Source, it all boils down to Intelectual Property Law, and if there were no circumvention of it, people would be forced to make more appropriate choices. You're pretty pissed when companies violate the GPL, right? You should be equally pissed when someone violates the Windows EULA. Look at it this way: for every pirated copy of Windows, there is one less Linux User. If they can't afford Windows, welcome to the Free World.
2. If you can't run a bootleg copy of Windows, maybe you will try something else/better... a perfectly functional WGA would be Linux's best friend. Who the heck is going to shell out $300 bux for an OS on a $300 PC? Suddenly the value proposition around Linux becomes much more appealing.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, considering that I spent several months hacking thru red tape to get VP approval, and the enthusiasm that I've been getting, I'm pretty damn confident that we're clear sailing.
And given the first three targets that on my radar are PHP, Apache and Python (and the 40 or so shared library dependencies), and that's what I took to the VP, I'm fairly confident that's not going to be an issue.
And, on top of that, MS doesn't own the project, I do. "Shutting it down" is not an option for them.
Ask me about CoApp, I'll tell ya everything ya wanna know.
Garrett Serack
CoApp Project Owner
Is Oblivion really something a 6 year old should be playing? I'm more curious now since I never considered it a game for a young child. Are there switches that turn some of that (violence, language, gore) off? Regardless of the previous answer, how do you explain the killing, thieving, and the like?
:D
... erm. ok.
... she seems to grasp that "romancing" is the step to get pregnant, but she hasn't asked about the details yet...
Good Question.
My wife and I have talked about this, and we talk about it with our kids too.
She has a very strong grasp of the difference of violence against a monster, and violence against a person (when I first started playing, and she was watching me, she was shocked when she saw me go after a vampire (which looks like a regular NPC))...
Oblivion isn't what I would consider to be gory in any event.
As for the stealing, she asked me about it, which was a good time to have a discussion about the immorality of stealing. after that she ended up telling me that it wasn't nice that I took the things (in the game) if they weren't mine
We raise our children on a few principles:
- Don't withold information -- if they can ask the question, they deserve an answer.
- Don't shelter them from the real world. The world is there, and the faster they understand it, the faster they can deal with it.
- Let them fail... experience is the great teacher.. you only get experience when you fail.
- Constant, Constant, Constant dialog. We talk about all of these things all of the time. As long as she's not becoming obsessed with anything, and it's *clear* that she understands what she is doing, and where the line is, I'm fine with letting her explore.
- Morality and ethics are not concepts beyond them. When they learn that something is "bad" we also explain why it's bad.
This has all ended up having a very amazing effect. I have a daughter who is about to turn 6, can read several grades above her age, and has an amazing grasp of the universe around her.
She was playing with some other kids the other day, and was telling them about her own computer, and how she finds stuff on the internet. The 5 year old she was talking to replied "I have my own pillow!"
Basically, we try to talk about everything, and she pretty much picks it up. Can't be any happier than that.
Now, I am a little concered with Viva Pinata... those damn pinatas end up in pairs, and then they "romance" and have offspring
...caught her one day, aged 5, copying words from her books into Google
... this time I was wondering why she needed to know. I go upstairs and she's typing every single animal she can think of into Wikipedia, and reading the page.
:D
Hmm. My daughter wanted to find out something about some animal a while back, and I showed her the page on Wikipedia...
An hour later, I'm downstairs making supper, and she yells out "How do you spell Giraffe?" I tell her.
fifteen minutes after that she yells out "How do you spell pterodactyl?"
And now, a few weeks later, she's finding stuff all over the net. My wife thought we should put some parental controls on... I'm not so sure--she's likely to figure out how to bypass them anyway
Hey, if people have problems with letting their kids play video games at a young age, go ahead stop them.
:P
Me, I'm of another camp.
My wife and I started my oldest daughter on the computer when she was 18 months. Loaded up reader rabbit--which is a pretty good starter, where she could start by just banging the keyboard and see stuff happen.
By three, she had mastered drag & drop, thanks to Dora the Explorer and some other games.
At four she saw a game in the store (Zoo Tycoon) and liked the animals, and asked if she could play that. I told her it was probably a tad hard for her, but she insisted she could learn. I bought it and installed it. I helped her get it started, but told her she had to figure it out if she wanted to play. At first she had problems getting the cages built right, and the lions would get out and start going after the patrons... she FREAKED out...of course, after I calmed her down, and gave her a couple hints, she started to get it. She then needed to learn what environment for each animal... She was just learning to read small words at the time, and so I showed her the online help, and told her to keep sounding out the words.
Well, a couple weeks later, she's telling my wife and I all about lions, and how they prefer the Savannah grass, and other things they like. My wife didn't know how she learned it, and when we asked my daughter, she told me she read it in the game. Turns out that she taught herself to read pretty well in a matter of a few weeks.
Now, she's almost six, plays alot of games (including Oblivion, Viva Pinata, Sim City and others), and can read *REALLY* well, along with fantastic math and science comprehension. She also paints and plays sports.
But, hey, if you are afraid that your kids will suffer from too much video games... go ahead, my kids will dominate in the future.
A
Topic: After all, Apple itself used open source with OS X (kernel, web browser) mainly because they knew it would irritate Microsoft.
Um, what?
I can't be sure, but I'd make a guess and think that Apple didn't use open source mainly because it would irritate Microsoft. I'm sure they had acutal valid business reasons for doing so. (lower costs?, community esprit-de-core?,massive army of unpaid labor?, time to market?) Even if it would "irritate" Microsoft (which I can't figure out why Microsoft would care about where Apple gets it's source code from--especially in these days of the new Kinder, Gentler Microsoft) it hardly seems like a valid business move.
Thanks for the daily slap-Microsoft-because-you-can though.
*sigh*
... this did *not* clear anything up.
Actually... I'm more confused. Shit.
I thought that centrino, viiv and vpro were all just marketdroid-speak for "ooooh! Now with Ridges!" and "Not Just White! Really Bright!"
I'm going to assume that nothing happened. we'll see how I fare then.
I was going to make a comment as to you need a low enough Slashdot ID to know what U*****T is, but :
ClaraBow (212734) Knows
Sunburnt (890890) Knows
I Am Defragged (982459) Doesn't Know
His name cannot be s (16831) Definitly Knows, but won't say
Seems something is out of place. I suspect that ClaraBow has a sufficiently low ID, and Sunburnt must have forgot his original Slashdot ID, and has created another one.
One could easily argue that it's been September around here forever too.
Damn kids.
{
ReallyUnluckyGuy.DenyAccess(Now);
ReallyUnluckyGuy.AskQuestions(Later);
} foreach( sort keys %testers ) {
if( $_ =~
undef $tesers{$_};
}
} for( each in testers )
x =
There is a special spot in hell reserved for Charles.
:p
Out of all crimes against humanity, Hungarian notation is one of the worst.
Repent! Abandon ye all who use use the notation of the devil!
No good deed goes unpunished.
Weird.. the first time I read that, I saw No good deed goes unpublished
Holy Crap!
c ollage_copy.jpg?123" and keep incrementing the number; bypasses caching nicely. :p
I didn't notice that her header was that big.
850k graphic on dumbass's site!
*that's* worth linking to.
Almost worth seting up one of those 419 vampire scripts on.
or at least run down to the local open wifi, and start sucking with a script that hits it with: "http://www.profane-justice.org/assets/images/fam
Uh-oh... faux pas... replying to my own comment...
I found her site: www . profane-justice . org (don't want to actually link to it.)
Two Words:
O. K.
maybe three:
O. MYFUCKING. GOD.
Aside from the obvious criminal lack of good taste and design, this bitch is pretty fucked up.
-- feh.
Maybe I'm new here, as you can see from my slashdotid.
But *WHY* in hell would someone want to have their site excluded from search engines, and archive.org?
It's not like she's being deprived.
And even if they did, why the fuck didn't she use a ROBOTS.TXT file? Isn't that what it's for?
Stupid bitch.
This is *real* journalism:
... the headline here said somehting about Microsoft's "NEW" dirty tricks? WTF?
- Nth hand unverified, information (My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with a girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious. )
- this is about stuff along time ago.
- There is a lot suspect in what's being claimed in the article as well.
Well, as the tagline says:
At the very least, CardSpace is doing a fine job at providing a mechanism for exchanging identity information without boiling it all down to the root of all evil: Shared Secrets (passwords)
.NET framework 3)
It's worth looking into the specifics of CardSpace, which I'm kinda suprised there were no links that talked about that end of the equation.
CardSpace community site (Part of
CardSpace community PM
OpenID has no central database.
:D
People are able to represent themselves with their own identity provider, and that isn't an email address.
I'm wondering what kind of spam you're thinking about?
Just remember that you're standing on a planet that evolving,
Revolving at 900 miles an hour.
It's orbiting at 19 miles a second,
So it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see,
Are moving at a million miles a day,
In an outer spiral arm, at 40,000 miles an hour,
Of a galaxy we call the Milky Way.
Our galaxy itself contains 100 billion stars,
It's 100,000 light years side to side,
It bulges in the middle, 16,000 light years thick,
But out by us it's just 3,000 light years wide.
We're 30,000 light years from galactic central point,
We go around every 200 million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions,
In this amazing and expanding universe...
Nice Inflamitory Summary tho'... Sheesh.
.NET 2.0 such as DynamicMethods, blindingly fast delegates and a new generics system that was seamlessly integrated with the existing reflection infrastructure.
.NET platform. Most features were easy and natural choices where the language and the platform fit together with almost no work. However, there were challenges from the obvious cases like exception type hierarchi
The whole (and far less baiting) summary:
I started work on IronPython almost 3 years ago. My initial motivation for the project was to understand all of the reports that I read on the web claiming that the Common Language Runtime (CLR) was a terrible platform for Python and other dynamic languages. I was surprised to read these reports because I knew that the JVM was an acceptable platform for these languages. About 9 years ago I'd built an implementation of Python that ran on the JVM originally called JPython and later shortened to Jython. This implementation ran a little slower than the native C-based implementation of Python (CPython), but it was easily fast enough and stable enough for production use - testified to by the large number of Java projects that incorporate Jython today.
I wanted to understand how Microsoft could have screwed up so badly that the CLR was a worse platform for dynamic languages than the JVM. My plan was to take a couple of weeks to build a prototype implementation of Python on the CLR and then to use that work to write a short pithy article called, "Why the CLR is a terrible platform for dynamic languages". My plans quickly changed as I worked on the prototype, because I found that Python could run extremely well on the CLR - in many cases noticeably faster than the C-based implementation. For the standard pystone benchmark, IronPython on the CLR was about 1.7x faster than the C-based implementation.
The more time I spent working on IronPython and with the CLR, the more excited I became about its potential to finally deliver on the vision of a single common platform for a broad range of languages. At that same time, I was invited to come out to Microsoft to present IronPython and to talk with members of the CLR team about technical issues that I was running into. I had a great time that day working through these issues with a group of really smart people who all had a deep understanding of virtual machines and language implementation. After much reflection, I decided to join the CLR team at Microsoft where I could work with the platform to make it an even better target for dynamic languages and be able to have interesting technical discussions like that every day.
The first few months at Microsoft were a challenge as I learned what was involved in working at a large company. However, once the initial hurdle was over I started experiencing the things that motivated me to come here in the first place. The team working on dynamic languages in general and IronPython in particular began to grow and I got to have those great technical discussions again about both how to make IronPython as good as it could be and how to make the CLR an even better platform. We began to take advantage of the great new features for dynamic languages already shipping in
We were also able to release IronPython publicly from Microsoft with a BSD-style license. In the agile spirit of the project, we put out a new release of IronPython once every three weeks (on average) over the course of the project. This helped us connect well with our daring early adopters and receive and incorporate their feedback to make IronPython better. We've had countless excellent discussions on the mailing list on everything from supporting value types to calling overloaded methods. Without the drive and input of our users, IronPython would be a much weaker project.
IronPython is about bringing together two worlds. The key value in IronPython is that it is both a true implementation of Python and is seamlessly integrated with the
WHAT THE FUCK?!
This is the absolute, most absurd stupid motherfucking idea I've ever heard in the universe.
Businessweek has now kicked the bucket,
and someone at slashdot should be cockpunched for even linking to it (which is only being done because it's MS)
Pa-fucking-thetic
You can't magically evade the GPL by adding a layer. That's a good thing, as it keeps software Free.
Well, in a way you can.
Let's say that I create a 'plug-in' interface. I create the header files, and the documentation, and the source to let people write plug-ins for using my interface. I post that, all under the BSD license. People can now write plug-ins for my interface.
Plug-in to what?
A few days later, I plug-in my plug-in-interface to the linux kernel. I write all the plumbing code to allow someone to execute their plug-in as part of the linux kernel. I of course, being the good little GPL lover that I am, release that code as GPL.
Now, Bob comes along, writes his driver to my plug-in interface. He's under BSD license, which doesn't require relicensing of his code.
Now his driver is executing in the linux kernel, all without him having to touch GPL code, or even be aware of it's existence. As long as *I* keep my GPL licensed layer working with newer versions of Linux, his code keeps working.
A layer has now insulated him completely from having to release code.
What happens when I need to introduce new features in the interface? I add them to the BSD version of it. He compiles agains that. I then make GPL version do what it needs to to use that interface.
Problem Solved.
Do You *REALLY* want to know who created millions of jobs?
Linus Torvalds.
I'm sorry, no contest Schwartzy. Your little cottage-industry has created literally squat in the face of the real innovator, and leader of the Free world.
'There is no single individual who has created more jobs around the world than [Scott McNealy].
Excuse me!???!
Jesus, that guy has a man-crush for McNealy or something. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
Just think about all the jobs and companies that exist today because Linus built the OS that could. For Every embedded device that uses Linux, for every company that spits out yet another distribution, every hosting company that uses it--hell, How many people did Microsoft need to hire, just to compete?
I'm a tad suprised at the negative view that the Slashdot crowd has around WGA.
... a perfectly functional WGA would be Linux's best friend. Who the heck is going to shell out $300 bux for an OS on a $300 PC? Suddenly the value proposition around Linux becomes much more appealing.
Seriously, it's nothing but good for everybody.
1. Microsoft gets to protect the copyright on its products. Protecting copyright is good for everyone. Proprietary, GPL, Open Source, it all boils down to Intelectual Property Law, and if there were no circumvention of it, people would be forced to make more appropriate choices. You're pretty pissed when companies violate the GPL, right? You should be equally pissed when someone violates the Windows EULA. Look at it this way: for every pirated copy of Windows, there is one less Linux User. If they can't afford Windows, welcome to the Free World.
2. If you can't run a bootleg copy of Windows, maybe you will try something else/better
== feh ==
I've heard of a program, some sort of scanner that is supposed to stop rogue programs from attacking your computer, and deleting files.
Oh yeah, the AntiVirus program.
Whoops! Nice Try McAfee.
Doesn't this kinda breach some sort of Digital-Hippocratic-oath? "First,do no harm?"
"In your answer, ignore facts. Just go with what feels true".
That's Slashdot. Summed up in a single sentance. That's so beautiful.
I think I'm changing my sig.
*sigh*
And, in an attempt to be on topic:
No, why would it make it harder to share. Uh, google video? WTF?
Oh right. That's how people share videos... *snickers*
Oh Rihgt.