This is the unfortunate side effect of the stupidity of the masses. The media frequently tries to play up anything which takes a less-than-mainstream approach as bad by linking it to something like this.
The author of the article apparently didn't understand the difference between sharing copyrighted music and letting someone look at and modify code for which you have given them permission to do so under some given license (GPL, BSD take your pick).
I have found that people, for the most part, are inherently stupid and they want to remain that way. So the simple idea of sharing music files, to them, equates to sharing *ANY* kind of file for whatever reason. Once they latch on to that idea, it's difficult to change public perception.
The FSF does not hold the copyright on all GPL software. You can, for instance, release your software under the the GPL, but retain the copyright yourself.
GNU/Linux is not an FSF sponsored project. FSF owns no copyright interest in GNU/Linux whatsoever.
This, sadly, shows that MS's influence is too great. Do you think that he would have been fired if he had said the same thing about Linux or Mac OS X? NO! He would have been applauded.
Lo the huddled, ignorant masses that as so damn willing to cow-tow at the feet of the monopoly which is Microsoft.
It's time that we as a community realized this. While Sun does support a number of Open Source efforts, it does so only to further it's own goals and not to help the community at large.
What else can we expect from a large company? All companies act in their own interests only.
Sun's take seems to be "here's our Linux, take it or leave it, but we really want you to use Solaris". Sun is just another example of a company using the community to it's advantage without really giving back.
Sun also realizes that while SCO is in trouble, it's next. Sun has watched in horror as Linux has beaten it out of portions of the server market. The VP can say "Linux doesn't have a place in the server" all he wants. The fact is that Linux has been sucessfully beating Solaris out of the server space for the past two years, hands down.
Sun needs to get a clue. They need to join us before they become the next SCO which starts bitching and whining and suiing everyone in site. Congratulations folks, we've made it to the big leagues. The home of litigation and name calling.:)
Darl is doing exactly what he's been doing the whole time. He has taken a great deal of what ESR and Bruce Perens have said out of context and twisted it around. Take a look at SCO's site for more examples of how they've done this with other Open Source and Free Software leaders.
Also, he seems to paint the DoS attack as something backed by the community. Tell me.. when an MS programmer writes a virus is this considered to be an attack from Microsoft? Or even all microsoft users?? Why, then should an attack from one person be considered an attack from the entire community?
The rest is just a restatement of SCO's weak claims.
There is nothing new here. The "open letter" described in an ealier post simply twists some facts and re-states the same old story we've been hearing from SCO from the start.
Okay, at first I might have been okay with the idea of buying a Dell, but now I won't ever buy a Dell. I believe that custom built machines are better anyway.
The first few times I saw this form filled posting it was funny. The second and third time it was amusing, the 10000th time it's not funny anymore, just f*cking annoying.
Windows has a great deal of exposure. Therefore more people hack it. Windows also was not designed to be secure. This is apparent in some of the things you see in it every single day, like how a single Window's box handles multiple users (not cleanly in my opinion).
GNU/Linux was designed to be secure, but doesn't have as much exposure although it is doubling pretty much every 12-18 months. If this moore's law like trend, let's call it Greg's Law;), keeps up then I predict we will see more security vulnerabilities showing up in GNU/Linux as time progresses.
The assertion that less worms implies more secure is a logical fallacy to begin with. If no one is writing worms for your OS (that is not to say no one is *using* it... lots of people are including myself) then any security issue you've got won't be apparent.
Read the fine article. Only SOME CD-Rs are affected by this. Basically, all of those that you can get for a 5 cents per disc are absolutely worth what you're paying for them. Diddly and squat.
If you buy a name brand, like Verbatim or Memorex, you should be okay.
1) can't code without copying and 2) aren't smart enough to organize ourselves without help from a big corporation.
This guy just keeps the suprises coming, doesn't he? He must really be the old-school, everything-is-done-by-companies-and-for-a-buck type.
What a bunch of idiots you are, SCO.
The truth is NO ONE could hold back the community from reacting to you the way it has. This is how the community has chewed up and spat out ever other challenge to GNU/Linux in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Take heed. You and your execs will be facing jail time once we're done with you.
SCO is trying to make out like IBM is the only enemy?? Does this play into their "silent majority" theory? I keep wondering when they'll be through deluding themselves and I keep being suprised by them.
I actually started using it because it seemed, at the time, to be a better built, better thought out, more standards compliant (again... at the time) distro than Red Hat.
Also, I am a GNUstep maintainer, so RedHat's use of the 2.96 gcc compiler in one of their releases worried me as 2.96 was non-standard and not an official release. It also didn't help that 2.96 had a broken Objective-C compiler.
I have worked with plenty of PhDs. I believe that and most are, like myself, highly motivated and adaptive people. It all depends on the person. Maybe some of the PhDs you've met in the past have been like this, but I think you are generalizing which is ALWAYS a bad thing to do.
You need to be more open-minded and rather then pigeon-hole someone because they have a certain level of education you should try to look upon that person with an unbiased eye.
Slashdot Mirror
This is the unfortunate side effect of the stupidity of the masses. The media frequently tries to play up anything which takes a less-than-mainstream approach as bad by linking it to something like this.
The author of the article apparently didn't understand the difference between sharing copyrighted music and letting someone look at and modify code for which you have given them permission to do so under some given license (GPL, BSD take your pick).
I have found that people, for the most part, are inherently stupid and they want to remain that way. So the simple idea of sharing music files, to them, equates to sharing *ANY* kind of file for whatever reason. Once they latch on to that idea, it's difficult to change public perception.
GJC
The FSF does not hold the copyright on all GPL software. You can, for instance, release your software under the the GPL, but retain the copyright yourself.
GNU/Linux is not an FSF sponsored project. FSF owns no copyright interest in GNU/Linux whatsoever.
GJC
This, sadly, shows that MS's influence is too great. Do you think that he would have been fired if he had said the same thing about Linux or Mac OS X? NO! He would have been applauded.
Lo the huddled, ignorant masses that as so damn willing to cow-tow at the feet of the monopoly which is Microsoft.
GJC
Can anyone tell me that??
GJC
It's time that we as a community realized this. While Sun does support a number of Open Source efforts, it does so only to further it's own goals and not to help the community at large.
:)
What else can we expect from a large company? All companies act in their own interests only.
Sun's take seems to be "here's our Linux, take it or leave it, but we really want you to use Solaris". Sun is just another example of a company using the community to it's advantage without really giving back.
Sun also realizes that while SCO is in trouble, it's next. Sun has watched in horror as Linux has beaten it out of portions of the server market. The VP can say "Linux doesn't have a place in the server" all he wants. The fact is that Linux has been sucessfully beating Solaris out of the server space for the past two years, hands down.
Sun needs to get a clue. They need to join us before they become the next SCO which starts bitching and whining and suiing everyone in site. Congratulations folks, we've made it to the big leagues. The home of litigation and name calling.
Yours truely. GJC
Darl is doing exactly what he's been doing the whole time. He has taken a great deal of what ESR and Bruce Perens have said out of context and twisted it around. Take a look at SCO's site for more examples of how they've done this with other Open Source and Free Software leaders.
Also, he seems to paint the DoS attack as something backed by the community. Tell me.. when an MS programmer writes a virus is this considered to be an attack from Microsoft? Or even all microsoft users?? Why, then should an attack from one person be considered an attack from the entire community?
The rest is just a restatement of SCO's weak claims.
GJC
This would be a valid point, if X were an official part of the UNIX OS, which it's not. Case in point: Mac OS X.
GJC
There is nothing new here. The "open letter" described in an ealier post simply twists some facts and re-states the same old story we've been hearing from SCO from the start.
Poor Darl didn't get his way. GJC
This was mainly because, despite Be's protestations to the contrary, BEOS borrowed many concepts from UNIX.
GJC
It's just more evidence of his refusal to understand the whole thing. He obviously doesn't "get it".
GJC
Okay, at first I might have been okay with the idea of buying a Dell, but now I won't ever buy a Dell. I believe that custom built machines are better anyway.
GJC
This is not the way to fight back. If this is a set of GNU/Linux users, then please understand that they do not represent the majority of us.
GJC
The first few times I saw this form filled posting it was funny. The second and third time it was amusing, the 10000th time it's not funny anymore, just f*cking annoying.
Please take this offtopic stuff somewhere else.
GJC
Read the latest Wired.
;)
The Diamonds used were probably created in a lab for about $5 a karat.
GJC
To say otherwise would be a lie.
;), keeps up then I predict we will see more security vulnerabilities showing up in GNU/Linux as time progresses.
Windows has a great deal of exposure. Therefore more people hack it. Windows also was not designed to be secure. This is apparent in some of the things you see in it every single day, like how a single Window's box handles multiple users (not cleanly in my opinion).
GNU/Linux was designed to be secure, but doesn't have as much exposure although it is doubling pretty much every 12-18 months. If this moore's law like trend, let's call it Greg's Law
The assertion that less worms implies more secure is a logical fallacy to begin with. If no one is writing worms for your OS (that is not to say no one is *using* it... lots of people are including myself) then any security issue you've got won't be apparent.
GJC
No one can accuse Sun of not making an attractive GUI. Although it does look a lot like Windows. :)
GJC
Read the fine article. Only SOME CD-Rs are affected by this. Basically, all of those that you can get for a 5 cents per disc are absolutely worth what you're paying for them. Diddly and squat.
If you buy a name brand, like Verbatim or Memorex, you should be okay.
GJC
So far, according to Darl McIdiot, we:
1) can't code without copying and
2) aren't smart enough to organize ourselves without help from a big corporation.
This guy just keeps the suprises coming, doesn't he? He must really be the old-school, everything-is-done-by-companies-and-for-a-buck type.
What a bunch of idiots you are, SCO.
The truth is NO ONE could hold back the community from reacting to you the way it has. This is how the community has chewed up and spat out ever other challenge to GNU/Linux in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Take heed. You and your execs will be facing jail time once we're done with you.
Sincerely, GJC
If IBM wins, SCO cannot go after GNU/Linux. They can't make the argument of infringement twice.
GJC
The evidence is too much against their position. IBM will have an easy day in court.
SCO is trying to make out like IBM is the only enemy?? Does this play into their "silent majority" theory? I keep wondering when they'll be through deluding themselves and I keep being suprised by them.
It's amazing. It's also amazingly funny..
GJC
I actually started using it because it seemed, at the time, to be a better built, better thought out, more standards compliant (again... at the time) distro than Red Hat.
Also, I am a GNUstep maintainer, so RedHat's use of the 2.96 gcc compiler in one of their releases worried me as 2.96 was non-standard and not an official release. It also didn't help that 2.96 had a broken Objective-C compiler.
GJC
I have worked with plenty of PhDs. I believe that and most are, like myself, highly motivated and adaptive people. It all depends on the person. Maybe some of the PhDs you've met in the past have been like this, but I think you are generalizing which is ALWAYS a bad thing to do.
You need to be more open-minded and rather then pigeon-hole someone because they have a certain level of education you should try to look upon that person with an unbiased eye.
GJC
Which means that I, or anyone else can come out with my own distro anytime I want!
THAT's what Linux means. Nothing else.
I use SuSE because I think it's one of the best distros, but SuSE's attitude is a little off-putting especially with the whole SCO thing going on.
GJC
I invite it. Let them try. We've seen how flimsy their claims are, it would only help us to show them up in court!!
GJC