To SCO, Mr. McBride, and the Open Software Community,
I take exception with Mr. McBride's assertions about GPL and Open Software. He clearly has no comprehension of the meaning of freedom in America. If a collective of programmers wishes to pool their talents to create a greater good, how can this be against the US Constitution and Patent Law? The situation is analogous to Barn manufacturers sueing the Amish to prevent barn raisings! American government does not endorse socialism, but it should not prevent individuals from collectivism. SCO and its lawyers have a contract case with IBM that needs to be resolved on its own merits. Their attack on GPL and OSF in an effort to make their case is irresponsible, unwarranted, and frankly unAmerican. If SCO didn't like GPL, why in heavens name did they sell Linux? This one goes down with the "nouveau legal" premise that when something bad happens, someone with money has to pay. Clearly, nobody in SCO or their legal staff has ever taken a course in formal logic or ethics! I sometimes have trouble resolving my 22 years in military service against some of the idiots I was working to defend. I hope that Mr. McBride gets canned, SCO loses, that its lawyers lose money for the effort, and that contributing personal efforts to a common good never goes out of style! Hooah!
Has anyone considered whether a small suborbital vehicle could be used in conjunction with a space elevator? I suspect extending the elevator down to the surface might have serious problems (aircraft collisions, wind effects, etc.) What if a small suborbital vehicle could climb up to and capture the end of the elevator, from which it could be hauled up to higher orbit. Now you have a practical space transportation system! Any rocket scientists out there think this makes sense?
If you want to read about real technology development and transition (in this case in aviation) read "Skunk Works" by Rich and Janos. Covers development of U-2, SR-71, and F-117. Good stuff includes gov't-industry interaction, 90% engineering and Kelly Johnson's rules of acquisition (developed before there were Ferengi).
If you want to read a scary book, read Blackhawk Down by Bowden. It is about the battle of Mogudishu Somolia and is much more detailed and terrifying than the movie.
Typical response of a gov't bureaucrat. how can any learned man advocate not distributing knowledge in any fashion. 1) Fire him 2) Hire someone who is not technico phobic, preferredly someone with a slashdot account 3) start digitizing in any format NOT advocated by bill gates 4) read to your hearts content
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To SCO, Mr. McBride, and the Open Software Community,
I take exception with Mr. McBride's assertions about GPL and Open Software. He clearly has no comprehension of the meaning of freedom in America. If a collective of programmers wishes to pool their talents to create a greater good, how can this be against the US Constitution and Patent Law? The situation is analogous to Barn manufacturers sueing the Amish to prevent barn raisings! American government does not endorse socialism, but it should not prevent individuals from collectivism. SCO and its lawyers have a contract case with IBM that needs to be resolved on its own merits. Their attack on GPL and OSF in an effort to make their case is irresponsible, unwarranted, and frankly unAmerican. If SCO didn't like GPL, why in heavens name did they sell Linux? This one goes down with the "nouveau legal" premise that when something bad happens, someone with money has to pay. Clearly, nobody in SCO or their legal staff has ever taken a course in formal logic or ethics! I sometimes have trouble resolving my 22 years in military service against some of the idiots I was working to defend. I hope that Mr. McBride gets canned, SCO loses, that its lawyers lose money for the effort, and that contributing personal efforts to a common good never goes out of style! Hooah!
Has anyone considered whether a small suborbital vehicle could be used in conjunction with a space elevator? I suspect extending the elevator down to the surface might have serious problems (aircraft collisions, wind effects, etc.) What if a small suborbital vehicle could climb up to and capture the end of the elevator, from which it could be hauled up to higher orbit. Now you have a practical space transportation system! Any rocket scientists out there think this makes sense?
If you want to read about real technology development and transition (in this case in aviation) read "Skunk Works" by Rich and Janos. Covers development of U-2, SR-71, and F-117. Good stuff includes gov't-industry interaction, 90% engineering and Kelly Johnson's rules of acquisition (developed before there were Ferengi).
If you want to read a scary book, read Blackhawk Down by Bowden. It is about the battle of Mogudishu Somolia and is much more detailed and terrifying than the movie.
Typical response of a gov't bureaucrat. how can any learned man advocate not distributing knowledge in any fashion. 1) Fire him 2) Hire someone who is not technico phobic, preferredly someone with a slashdot account 3) start digitizing in any format NOT advocated by bill gates 4) read to your hearts content