Well, at least in regards to it being an "intellectual property" destroyer. Intellectual property, for Stallman, is the commoditizing of information, which the GPL exists to prevent. So, I don't think he'll object to the statement, what he (and I) object to, is the rather flawed conclusion that this clarification makes.
Why should our governments contribute to closed-source development? It doesn't benefit their citizens, on the other hand, Expect is great tool that came from Government open source (it's public domain, mind you)
Also, it's convenient for Microsoft to support the BSD license, as it's a frequent source of Microsoft applications. (Run 'strings' on ftp in Windows NT/2k and you'll see)
The GPL prevents this, hence, Microsoft cannot easily 'embrace and extend' GPL software.
In no way am I against the BSD license, but it does facilitate the opposite of what the GPL represents.
According to eweek (printed version, hence no link), the promise of releasing Kylix has boosted their stock by 35% (Symbol will change to BORL). Also, they are promising three different versions. A 'server' version, a 'desktop' version, and a free version, that will include GPL'ed versions of the libraries, therby forcing you to write GPL'ed software with it. Sounds pretty decent to me. (For more information, check out this editorial on the subject at Linux Today.)
I've been using ReiserFS on a few machines. Primarily, it is the filesystem on my 40gb MP3 drives, and when 2.4.0 and the corresponding Reiserfs patch arrived, I actually switched my/usr partition over... it does feel noticeably faster, but I use it with certain caveats. First, these are personal machines, not multi-user, and second, I have backups of my data offsite.
It's great for my purposes, but it's not a true journaling filesystem, it simply journals metadata, which, while allowing for fast fscks, it doesn't protect your data as well as IBM's filesystem or SGI's will.
There is a positive. At this point, while the Open Source community is quite supportive of this technology, the majority of the world is still fixated on MP3.
Likely, the lawsuit will be dismissed, or at least won by Ogg Vorbis, but the damage to MP3 will be that Ogg Vorbis will suddenly be well known to people who aren't neccessarily going to hear about it in the community.
It's free advertising via a nuisance lawsuit... sounds like a case of "Any publicity is good publicity to me." (Excuse the cliche)
Couple of problems. Since the original developers licensed the program that had cddb code in it under a fairly free license, doesn't that mean, that they can't later revert it?
Second, the actual database itself is composed of submissions. Unless, I explicitly disclaim ownership of the submitted data, how can cddb claim to own it? As far as I know, you need to explicitly give away rights, they cannot be taken. Also, none of the CDDB programs have any sort of EULA about this?
I don't claim to be a lawyer (sorry, IANAL sounds weird) but this doesn't seem like it holds a lot of water.
p.s. don't bother making (Funny +5) comments like "I'm going to patent breathing or whatever" We've heard it before.
I think it's a little disturbing that Chumbawumba's site was banned, and not because it has anything to do with music, which it likely doesn't. More likely, it's due to the fact that Chumbawumba has extremely leftist views, something a lot of conservatives are obviously not comfortable with.
While I might not agree with all their politics, this is tantamount to banning Nader's site, or Buchanan's for that matter.
I honestly don't see any other reason for them to be lumped in with more 'shock' oriented artists like Marilyn Manson and ICP; they share little musically, or lyrically, or even in their videos. The one 'shocking' thing about Chumbawumba is the politics.
If this is the reason they're blocked, then someone please save me from the Information Retrieval Agency, because I'm a wee bit scared.
I suppose any discussion of Intel will require the mention of AMD. While Intel has frequently admitted that this new chip will run non-native (i.e. not explictily compiled for it) code slower than current chips, AMD claims their 64-bit processor will actually run it faster through a smoother translation layer.
The question is, will developers jump on board and start recompiling? It's not as simple for other OS's as it is for Linux since the code is not available for you to do it personally.
If this chip actually runs code slower, and suffers poor backwards compatibility, what motivation is there for people to port to it? I can see specialized apps, but until Windows 2000 or other popular, but closed source Server operating systems and applications are ported, it's just an academic processor.
I guess we'll have to see if Intel can get the developers excited; but based on my purely anecdotal survey of developers in my group of friends, there isn't a lot of excitement about anything Intel does anymore, especially not this chip.
* mention of Windows 2000 as a server Operating System in no way endorses that as a Good Idea(tm)
1. It should be Open Source
2. Linus is too boring
3. (Offtopic) Gore/Bush sucks.
Ok, here's my point. This actually sounds interesting. Every interview Linus has given has shown him to be more articulate and interesting than the majority of people in the so-called technology industry today. His story is interesting to me, and he doesn't have to be 65 to have lived an exciting life. I'm not completely sure why people think you have to be old to have really experienced much. We're talking about an individual who in university started writing some code that is now on over 5% of the computers out there right now. The amount of fame, and infamy he has simultaneously recieved is astounding.
Also, I'd love to hear his take on the amount of hype, money and politics surrounding Linux, especially considering how he has long avoided those issues.
There are a few programmers I really respect (among Michael Abrash, Carmack, Linus and Stallman) and of those, I have enjoyed reading their writings, technical or otherwise; I'm looking forward to this book, even if I can't download it for free off the internet.:)
Well, I upgraded to X4 yesterday via apt, and the packager did an amazing job. First of all, there is a nice dialog-style configuration tool called Dexter which builds a config file easily. However, there are a couple of caveats:
(1) If you're using DRI with a Voodoo3, you need to modify your XF86Config-4 to use a default depth of 16... maybe it's obvious to some people, I didn't make the conclusion instantly. (Voodoo3's only support 3D in 16-bit color)
(2) You need to find ttmkfdir if you want to use Truetype fonts, mkfontdir doesn't do it. I don't know if there is a Debian package either.
(3) Voodoo3 support is buggy, I don't know if it's the Glide, the DRI modules, or X itself, but some things (like a few xmms plugins) crashed my box HARD, as in, I needed a hard reboot.
Anyway, those issues aside, this is a remarkably well-packaged version of X4, and most people will have little or no trouble with a smooth upgrade via apt. Much props to Branden for packaging them so well.
If you do upgrade, believe me, there is a noticeable speed increase, and Tuxracer is playable:) Don't forget to build that 2.4-test10 kernel too.
Ahh... so a logical argument loses foundation when the person has a stake in it? Everyone has a stake in something they make an argument for. The fact that he's on the other side makes him a good person to make the argument. Would it be preferable to ask an uninformed bystander
There were a couple of responses here that say things along the lines of "No honest citizen would need this information." Well, to them I say this: I hope you're all headed down to the police station to give your fingerprints, because no honest citizen would have an issue with that. And, while you're at it, please let me know who you're planning on voting for, because no honest person would mind sharing that information, or anything else. Every so-called freedom that exists, is there not just for the honest, but for the dishonest as well. If we play the 'only outlaws do X' game, we might as well abandon all of our freedoms.
This sounds like a cool deal, especially for the less technically inclined, but someone with a little patience could build a similar system from:
DVD-Rom Drive
TV Out Card
Soundblaster Live or similar high-end sound card
QNX RTP (when and if it supports DVD)
NIC
30gb hard drive
A cool case
Celeron 400 w/128mb of RAM and a Motherboard
I've got my very own ZapStation clone sitting in my stereo cabinet. It uses a X10 Mouse remote, and while it doesn't do DVD yet (it's running Linux and I have an APEX) everything else is pretty simple to implement.
Still, for non-techies, it's a cool idea, but a wee bit expensive...
Paypal is a great system, of course, this is in theory, since it is currently not possible to use it in Canada. So, basically, I can't use it. For that matter neither can a European, Asian, or anyone else. I think it's a little presumptuous to assume that the success of Paypal in the US is any indicator of whether this is actually useful in the real world. By that, I mean, the entire world.
It is. When you look at the best shows on TV, they're almost consistently cartoons. South Park, is consistently witty, and manages to address major issues without being preachy, or seeming like it's trying to push an agenda. Take a look at Futurama, arguably, the best written Fox show now that the Simpsons is lagging a bit. Finally, shows like the Family Guy and the Simpsons are still better than 99% of the crap on TV nowadays. (Who actually watches Everyone Loves Raymond, it's god awful)
There are minor exceptions, in the form of shows like the West Wing, but the intelligent drama always ends up getting cancelled in favour of the 30 minute sitcoms which permeate.
Before you moderate me as offtopic, I think all these shows owe a bit of a debt to anime. I should mention that I'm not a big fan of anime, but the anime community as a whole has maintained forever that cartoons are not just for children. And even if I don't like most of their output (mostly because they go for the epic most of the time) I can see the value of this opinion. As a former animation student, I can definitely see the value of such incredible artistic talent, though to be fair, I think South Park is brilliant just because it doesn't try to have any.
So I'm rambling. I guess I should summarize what I'm saying for those of you who just read the first two lines and moderate -1. Anime, and American cartoons in general have one basic thing in common. They allow the writer to focus on the story, rather than the bloated egos of most television actors, and that is why those of us who have, or like to think we have, a clue tend to enjoy them more.
"...But that's NOT why people watch TV! Clever things make people
feel stupid and unexpected things make them feel scared!
...You see? TV audiences don't want anything original. They
want to see the same thing they've seen 1,000 times before". - Philip J. Fry (Futurama)
There are so many things that make Debian the best. I was a Stampede developer a while back, and I made the move to Debian after frustration with the way Stampede was going. but I digress...
There are a couple of issues people have with Debian, first, they claim that it's always late. How is it late? Unlike some other distros that release 'betas' every once in awhile, Debian maintains a very stable stable, and a more risque devel version. I personally use the devel (woody) release, but when I'm building a server, or a workstation for work, I use the stable. Best of both worlds... you can have the most current versions of everything, or stick with the tried and true. Sounds like it's fair to me. The releases are immaterial for the most part, seeing as an apt-get upgrade -u keeps your packages current, or bugfixed.
Next people complain about the way Debian sticks to their Free Software Guidlines. It's important to stick to morals, which is important with all these gigantic Linux companies. Someone has to set the standard and do the Right Thing. I can't believe they don't get more respect considering how they've defined morals, and stuck to them, in spite of backlash over KDE et al, and everything else. It's truly admirable.
Fact is, I can convert an RPM package or install a third-party package if I want, so it's not like running Debian locks me out of proprietary software. I run Codewarrior, and ApplixOffice without any problems. I've even tried some betas of KDE2, all install and work perfectly. Another benefit of the extensive testing I mentioned earlier.
So, don't flame Debian. Even if you don't run it, you can respect their tenants. Doing the right thing, building a stable solid distro and ignoring commercial interests is what matters to them, and I have nothing but respect for them.
(Incidentally, I've bought a bunch of Debian merch, like a very nice T-shirt which has a slogan that I think applies very well to Debian "Code matters more than commercials" Seems like a laudable goal to me)
I've noticed some people saying that this isn't a big deal. After all we have tons of open source software for linux. The big difference is that Win32 has been a bastion of shareware, and closed-source freeware with very little open source software. The last program I compiled from source on Win32 was NotifyCD, released in 1998. It's not a common occurance, and it's rarely as high profile as this. After all, Winamp is arguably one of the most popular pieces of software ever, and for them to publically release Windows source is a big deal because it sets the stage for others to do the same.
Also, lest we forget, the installed base of Windows is much bigger, yet there is little free open source software for it, so this will get to a great deal more people.
While it hasn't recieved the press that other file managers have, and it doesn't have a browser built it, the Enlightenment File Manager is pretty remarkable.
It's very early in it's development, but it does the one thing that file managers never seem to do right. It acts as an interface to the system, less of a file manager, and more like a graphical shell.
Mandrake, one of the developers actually forced himself to avoid using the CLI for some time to figure out what EFM needed to do to replace it. And even now, it does reduce the amount of time I spend in the command-line drastically.
For example, you can still type using the typebuffer, so if you want to install an RPM, just type rpm in the dir to select the rpm and it'll open a term, show you the output, wait for you to type something and close. Honestly though, it also excels in the eye-candy realm, with full alpha-blended windows (true transparency, not the faux viewport stuff we're used to) and anti-aliased fonts. If you're looking for a file manager, I'd give it a look, over at enlightenment.org.
You are right about Epitaph, and most Fat bands, however, Propagandhi refused to be distributed by the company that normally distributes Fat's stuff, so they are not in the same boat. They are distributed by Rotz.
Well, it's not quite that simple. QT and GTK both use different mechanisms for communication between windows. Not the least of which is the fact that GTK is a C library, while QT is C++. Yes, I know that there is a C++ wrapper for GTK, but the interfaces are really different.
While your somewhat anecdotal assertion that QT is inferior may be true in some regards, many programmers prefer it's models, while others (like me) prefer GTK. To move everything to one toolkit denies freedom of choice, even if it might make things easier. Just use a GTK theme in KDE so you can have the look, and you don't have to force people to use the same toolkit.
I would totally disagree. The code itself protests a law. To put it another way, the Buddhist monk who set himself on fire to protest the war was not claiming that the fire was free speech, however, you cannot deny that the combination of fire, and the monk was a powerful free speech image. Perhaps that's a slightly intense image, but in this case, this 'code' alone is not free speech, but in combination with what it means and what it does, it is.
Don't expect any amazing insights here, but let me say this. This ruling could be a great thing. This lawsuit is ridiculous for a number of reasons. First, most companies either have patents or trade secrets. Each affords different protections. You can only bring a trade secret violation to court if it is leaked, which isn't the case here. Patents need to have algorithms published, of course, this isn't the case either. So what the MPAA is trying to do is make a buffet out of these regulations and pick and choose what they'd like to use.
Which brings up the second point, which is that the DCMA provides for this type of unfair practice.
So, the MPAA losing here would be a great blow to this ridiculous law.
I also agree that this is freedom of speech. Some people would disagree here, but this type of hack is not only a technical breakthrough, but it also indirectly protests an unfair law. You must admit that the thousands of people mirroring the code, are doing it out of principle. The fact is, they should be able to mirror it, because it is both a message that the DCMA and MPAA are wrong in denying us fair use. In that way, it is freedom of speech, and it ought to be protected. I doubt those who are mirroring it are doing it for the technical validity of the code.
On a more personal level, I have a laptop with a DVD player, and I'm stuck running Windows on it. The potential legality of DeCSS could lead to a good Linux DVD player, which means I can eliminate the last bastion of Microsoft in my home. Which will be a victory for me, anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, at least in regards to it being an "intellectual property" destroyer. Intellectual property, for Stallman, is the commoditizing of information, which the GPL exists to prevent. So, I don't think he'll object to the statement, what he (and I) object to, is the rather flawed conclusion that this clarification makes.
Why should our governments contribute to closed-source development? It doesn't benefit their citizens, on the other hand, Expect is great tool that came from Government open source (it's public domain, mind you)
Also, it's convenient for Microsoft to support the BSD license, as it's a frequent source of Microsoft applications. (Run 'strings' on ftp in Windows NT/2k and you'll see)
The GPL prevents this, hence, Microsoft cannot easily 'embrace and extend' GPL software.
In no way am I against the BSD license, but it does facilitate the opposite of what the GPL represents.
Hmm... sounds familiar... almost as if he cut and paste it from the one _I_ wrote. I'm outlyer on kuro5hin.org too...
According to eweek (printed version, hence no link), the promise of releasing Kylix has boosted their stock by 35% (Symbol will change to BORL).
Also, they are promising three different versions. A 'server' version, a 'desktop' version, and a free version, that will include GPL'ed versions of the libraries, therby forcing you to write GPL'ed software with it. Sounds pretty decent to me.
(For more information, check out this editorial on the subject at Linux Today.)
I've been using ReiserFS on a few machines. Primarily, it is the filesystem on my 40gb MP3 drives, and when 2.4.0 and the corresponding Reiserfs patch arrived, I actually switched my /usr partition over... it does feel noticeably faster, but I use it with certain caveats. First, these are personal machines, not multi-user, and second, I have backups of my data offsite.
It's great for my purposes, but it's not a true journaling filesystem, it simply journals metadata, which, while allowing for fast fscks, it doesn't protect your data as well as IBM's filesystem or SGI's will.
There is a positive. At this point, while the Open Source community is quite supportive of this technology, the majority of the world is still fixated on MP3.
Likely, the lawsuit will be dismissed, or at least won by Ogg Vorbis, but the damage to MP3 will be that Ogg Vorbis will suddenly be well known to people who aren't neccessarily going to hear about it in the community.
It's free advertising via a nuisance lawsuit... sounds like a case of "Any publicity is good publicity to me." (Excuse the cliche)
Couple of problems. Since the original developers licensed the program that had cddb code in it under a fairly free license, doesn't that mean, that they can't later revert it?
Second, the actual database itself is composed of submissions. Unless, I explicitly disclaim ownership of the submitted data, how can cddb claim to own it? As far as I know, you need to explicitly give away rights, they cannot be taken. Also, none of the CDDB programs have any sort of EULA about this?
I don't claim to be a lawyer (sorry, IANAL sounds weird) but this doesn't seem like it holds a lot of water.
p.s. don't bother making (Funny +5) comments like "I'm going to patent breathing or whatever" We've heard it before.
I think it's a little disturbing that Chumbawumba's site was banned, and not because it has anything to do with music, which it likely doesn't. More likely, it's due to the fact that Chumbawumba has extremely leftist views, something a lot of conservatives are obviously not comfortable with.
While I might not agree with all their politics, this is tantamount to banning Nader's site, or Buchanan's for that matter.
I honestly don't see any other reason for them to be lumped in with more 'shock' oriented artists like Marilyn Manson and ICP; they share little musically, or lyrically, or even in their videos. The one 'shocking' thing about Chumbawumba is the politics.
If this is the reason they're blocked, then someone please save me from the Information Retrieval Agency, because I'm a wee bit scared.
I suppose any discussion of Intel will require the mention of AMD. While Intel has frequently admitted that this new chip will run non-native (i.e. not explictily compiled for it) code slower than current chips, AMD claims their 64-bit processor will actually run it faster through a smoother translation layer.
The question is, will developers jump on board and start recompiling? It's not as simple for other OS's as it is for Linux since the code is not available for you to do it personally.
If this chip actually runs code slower, and suffers poor backwards compatibility, what motivation is there for people to port to it? I can see specialized apps, but until Windows 2000 or other popular, but closed source Server operating systems and applications are ported, it's just an academic processor.
I guess we'll have to see if Intel can get the developers excited; but based on my purely anecdotal survey of developers in my group of friends, there isn't a lot of excitement about anything Intel does anymore, especially not this chip.
* mention of Windows 2000 as a server Operating System in no way endorses that as a Good Idea(tm)
Here are the mandatory comments:
:)
1. It should be Open Source
2. Linus is too boring
3. (Offtopic) Gore/Bush sucks.
Ok, here's my point. This actually sounds interesting. Every interview Linus has given has shown him to be more articulate and interesting than the majority of people in the so-called technology industry today. His story is interesting to me, and he doesn't have to be 65 to have lived an exciting life. I'm not completely sure why people think you have to be old to have really experienced much. We're talking about an individual who in university started writing some code that is now on over 5% of the computers out there right now. The amount of fame, and infamy he has simultaneously recieved is astounding.
Also, I'd love to hear his take on the amount of hype, money and politics surrounding Linux, especially considering how he has long avoided those issues.
There are a few programmers I really respect (among Michael Abrash, Carmack, Linus and Stallman) and of those, I have enjoyed reading their writings, technical or otherwise; I'm looking forward to this book, even if I can't download it for free off the internet.
Looking at these comments, it seems other people DO care about Linux, and the position of different applications on it's desktop.
I'm resisting the temptation to describe how people vary in many ways. Different finger prints, different OS choices, different hair EVEN.
People talk about what they want to;
Welcome to democracy.
Well, I upgraded to X4 yesterday via apt, and the packager did an amazing job. First of all, there is a nice dialog-style configuration tool called Dexter which builds a config file easily. However, there are a couple of caveats: :) Don't forget to build that 2.4-test10 kernel too.
(1) If you're using DRI with a Voodoo3, you need to modify your XF86Config-4 to use a default depth of 16... maybe it's obvious to some people, I didn't make the conclusion instantly.
(Voodoo3's only support 3D in 16-bit color)
(2) You need to find ttmkfdir if you want to use Truetype fonts, mkfontdir doesn't do it. I don't know if there is a Debian package either.
(3) Voodoo3 support is buggy, I don't know if it's the Glide, the DRI modules, or X itself, but some things (like a few xmms plugins) crashed my box HARD, as in, I needed a hard reboot.
Anyway, those issues aside, this is a remarkably well-packaged version of X4, and most people will have little or no trouble with a smooth upgrade via apt. Much props to Branden for packaging them so well.
If you do upgrade, believe me, there is a noticeable speed increase, and Tuxracer is playable
Ok, hands up... how many people saw the title and thought this was a book about Sun's OS?
Ahh... so a logical argument loses foundation when the person has a stake in it? Everyone has a stake in something they make an argument for. The fact that he's on the other side makes him a good person to make the argument. Would it be preferable to ask an uninformed bystander
There were a couple of responses here that say things along the lines of "No honest citizen would need this information." Well, to them I say this: I hope you're all headed down to the police station to give your fingerprints, because no honest citizen would have an issue with that. And, while you're at it, please let me know who you're planning on voting for, because no honest person would mind sharing that information, or anything else. Every so-called freedom that exists, is there not just for the honest, but for the dishonest as well. If we play the 'only outlaws do X' game, we might as well abandon all of our freedoms.
This sounds like a cool deal, especially for the less technically inclined, but someone with a little patience could build a similar system from:
DVD-Rom Drive
TV Out Card
Soundblaster Live or similar high-end sound card
QNX RTP (when and if it supports DVD)
NIC
30gb hard drive
A cool case
Celeron 400 w/128mb of RAM and a Motherboard
I've got my very own ZapStation clone sitting in my stereo cabinet. It uses a X10 Mouse remote, and while it doesn't do DVD yet (it's running Linux and I have an APEX) everything else is pretty simple to implement.
Still, for non-techies, it's a cool idea, but a wee bit expensive...
Perhaps they were afraid that, by including the GNU tools, Stallman would badger them into calling it GNU/MacOS X :)
Paypal is a great system, of course, this is in theory, since it is currently not possible to use it in Canada. So, basically, I can't use it. For that matter neither can a European, Asian, or anyone else. I think it's a little presumptuous to assume that the success of Paypal in the US is any indicator of whether this is actually useful in the real world. By that, I mean, the entire world.
It is. When you look at the best shows on TV, they're almost consistently cartoons. South Park, is consistently witty, and manages to address major issues without being preachy, or seeming like it's trying to push an agenda. Take a look at Futurama, arguably, the best written Fox show now that the Simpsons is lagging a bit. Finally, shows like the Family Guy and the Simpsons are still better than 99% of the crap on TV nowadays. (Who actually watches Everyone Loves Raymond, it's god awful)
There are minor exceptions, in the form of shows like the West Wing, but the intelligent drama always ends up getting cancelled in favour of the 30 minute sitcoms which permeate.
Before you moderate me as offtopic, I think all these shows owe a bit of a debt to anime. I should mention that I'm not a big fan of anime, but the anime community as a whole has maintained forever that cartoons are not just for children. And even if I don't like most of their output (mostly because they go for the epic most of the time) I can see the value of this opinion. As a former animation student, I can definitely see the value of such incredible artistic talent, though to be fair, I think South Park is brilliant just because it doesn't try to have any.
So I'm rambling. I guess I should summarize what I'm saying for those of you who just read the first two lines and moderate -1. Anime, and American cartoons in general have one basic thing in common. They allow the writer to focus on the story, rather than the bloated egos of most television actors, and that is why those of us who have, or like to think we have, a clue tend to enjoy them more.
"...But that's NOT why people watch TV! Clever things make people
feel stupid and unexpected things make them feel scared!
...You see? TV audiences don't want anything original. They
want to see the same thing they've seen 1,000 times before". - Philip J. Fry (Futurama)
There are so many things that make Debian the best. I was a Stampede developer a while back, and I made the move to Debian after frustration with the way Stampede was going. but I digress...
There are a couple of issues people have with Debian, first, they claim that it's always late. How is it late? Unlike some other distros that release 'betas' every once in awhile, Debian maintains a very stable stable, and a more risque devel version. I personally use the devel (woody) release, but when I'm building a server, or a workstation for work, I use the stable. Best of both worlds... you can have the most current versions of everything, or stick with the tried and true. Sounds like it's fair to me. The releases are immaterial for the most part, seeing as an apt-get upgrade -u keeps your packages current, or bugfixed.
Next people complain about the way Debian sticks to their Free Software Guidlines. It's important to stick to morals, which is important with all these gigantic Linux companies. Someone has to set the standard and do the Right Thing. I can't believe they don't get more respect considering how they've defined morals, and stuck to them, in spite of backlash over KDE et al, and everything else. It's truly admirable.
Fact is, I can convert an RPM package or install a third-party package if I want, so it's not like running Debian locks me out of proprietary software. I run Codewarrior, and ApplixOffice without any problems. I've even tried some betas of KDE2, all install and work perfectly. Another benefit of the extensive testing I mentioned earlier.
So, don't flame Debian. Even if you don't run it, you can respect their tenants. Doing the right thing, building a stable solid distro and ignoring commercial interests is what matters to them, and I have nothing but respect for them.
(Incidentally, I've bought a bunch of Debian merch, like a very nice T-shirt which has a slogan that I think applies very well to Debian "Code matters more than commercials" Seems like a laudable goal to me)
I've noticed some people saying that this isn't a big deal. After all we have tons of open source software for linux. The big difference is that Win32 has been a bastion of shareware, and closed-source freeware with very little open source software. The last program I compiled from source on Win32 was NotifyCD, released in 1998. It's not a common occurance, and it's rarely as high profile as this. After all, Winamp is arguably one of the most popular pieces of software ever, and for them to publically release Windows source is a big deal because it sets the stage for others to do the same.
Also, lest we forget, the installed base of Windows is much bigger, yet there is little free open source software for it, so this will get to a great deal more people.
While it hasn't recieved the press that other file managers have, and it doesn't have a browser built it, the Enlightenment File Manager is pretty remarkable.
It's very early in it's development, but it does the one thing that file managers never seem to do right. It acts as an interface to the system, less of a file manager, and more like a graphical shell.
Mandrake, one of the developers actually forced himself to avoid using the CLI for some time to figure out what EFM needed to do to replace it. And even now, it does reduce the amount of time I spend in the command-line drastically.
For example, you can still type using the typebuffer, so if you want to install an RPM, just type rpm in the dir to select the rpm and it'll open a term, show you the output, wait for you to type something and close. Honestly though, it also excels in the eye-candy realm, with full alpha-blended windows (true transparency, not the faux viewport stuff we're used to) and anti-aliased fonts. If you're looking for a file manager, I'd give it a look, over at enlightenment.org.
You are right about Epitaph, and most Fat bands, however, Propagandhi refused to be distributed by the company that normally distributes Fat's stuff, so they are not in the same boat. They are distributed by Rotz.
Well, it's not quite that simple. QT and GTK both use different mechanisms for communication between windows. Not the least of which is the fact that GTK is a C library, while QT is C++. Yes, I know that there is a C++ wrapper for GTK, but the interfaces are really different.
While your somewhat anecdotal assertion that QT is inferior may be true in some regards, many programmers prefer it's models, while others (like me) prefer GTK. To move everything to one toolkit denies freedom of choice, even if it might make things easier. Just use a GTK theme in KDE so you can have the look, and you don't have to force people to use the same toolkit.
I would totally disagree. The code itself protests a law. To put it another way, the Buddhist monk who set himself on fire to protest the war was not claiming that the fire was free speech, however, you cannot deny that the combination of fire, and the monk was a powerful free speech image. Perhaps that's a slightly intense image, but in this case, this 'code' alone is not free speech, but in combination with what it means and what it does, it is.
Don't expect any amazing insights here, but let me say this. This ruling could be a great thing. This lawsuit is ridiculous for a number of reasons. First, most companies either have patents or trade secrets. Each affords different protections. You can only bring a trade secret violation to court if it is leaked, which isn't the case here. Patents need to have algorithms published, of course, this isn't the case either. So what the MPAA is trying to do is make a buffet out of these regulations and pick and choose what they'd like to use.
Which brings up the second point, which is that the DCMA provides for this type of unfair practice.
So, the MPAA losing here would be a great blow to this ridiculous law.
I also agree that this is freedom of speech. Some people would disagree here, but this type of hack is not only a technical breakthrough, but it also indirectly protests an unfair law. You must admit that the thousands of people mirroring the code, are doing it out of principle. The fact is, they should be able to mirror it, because it is both a message that the DCMA and MPAA are wrong in denying us fair use. In that way, it is freedom of speech, and it ought to be protected. I doubt those who are mirroring it are doing it for the technical validity of the code.
On a more personal level, I have a laptop with a DVD player, and I'm stuck running Windows on it. The potential legality of DeCSS could lead to a good Linux DVD player, which means I can eliminate the last bastion of Microsoft in my home. Which will be a victory for me, anyway.