the spread of different kinds of disease.212 In a common source epidemic, as where members of a
population contract a non-contagious disease from a poisoned well, the disease spreads only by
exposure to the common source. If one eliminates the source, or closes the contaminated well, the
epidemic is stopped. In a propagated outbreak epidemic, on the other hand, the disease spreads from
person to person. Hence, finding the initial source of infection accomplishes little, as the disease
continues to spread even if the initial source is eliminated.213 For obvious reasons, then, a propagated
outbreak epidemic, all other things being equal, can be far more difficult to control.
This disease metaphor is helpful here. The book infringement hypothetical is
analogous to a common source outbreak epidemic. Shut down the printing press (the poisoned well)
and one ends the infringement (the disease outbreak). The spread of means of circumventing access
to copyrighted works in digital form, however, is analogous to a propagated outbreak epidemic.
Finding the original source of infection (e.g., the author of DeCSS or the first person to misuse it)
accomplishes nothing, as the disease (infringement made possible by DeCSS and the resulting
availability of decrypted DVDs) may continue to spread from one person who gains access to the
circumvention program or decrypted DVD to another. And each is infected, i.e., each is as capable
of making perfect copies of the digital file containing the copyrighted work as the author of the program or the first person to use it for improper purposes. The disease metaphor breaks down
principally at the final point. Individuals infected with a real disease become sick, usually are driven
by obvious self-interest to seek medical attention, and are cured of the disease if medical science is
capable of doing so. Individuals infected with the disease of capability of circumventing measures
controlling access to copyrighted works in digital form, however, do not suffer from having that
ability. They cannot be relied upon to identify themselves to those seeking to control the disease.
And their self-interest will motivate some to misuse the capability, a misuse that, in practical terms,
often will be untraceable.214
These considerations drastically alter consideration of the causal link between
dissemination of computer programs such as this and their illicit use. Causation in the law ultimately
involves practical policy judgments.215 Here, dissemination itself carries very substantial risk of
imminent harm because the mechanism is so unusual by which dissemination of means of
circumventing access controls to copyrighted works threatens to produce virtually unstoppable
infringement of copyright. In consequence, the causal link between the dissemination of
circumvention computer programs and their improper use is more than sufficiently close to warrant
selection of a level of constitutional scrutiny based on the programs functionality.
While all the information on Linux moving to small devices is really interesting, I need a ruggedized embedded system / network appliance.
One of my clients is having us write apps on Teclogix and Intermec units which come in various flavors of M$. This is the only part of the app not on a *NIX.
Palm clones and PDA's are cool and all, but the real money is in ruggedized hardware. Hand helds that can be dropped from 6 ft onto a warehouse floor and have built in 802.11 and PCMCIA slots are what we deal with. This things are priced in the $3000-$5000 range. I would think that someone would be doing this with Linux.
I've searched most of the places on the Net and I only seem to come up with PDA style devices.
Tangible Benifits to Open Source Development
on
Why Do Open Source?
·
· Score: 3
I own a small development/services company. I try to work in Open Source software as much as possible, which has become the majority of our work.
The biggest benifit we have had with all the Linux IPO's was people asking questions. Most people don't understand Open Source at all, especially those in the traditional IT world.
I have had the most success with finding and explaining tangible business advantages to companies with using and contributing to Open Source projects.
One benifit is that of remote development expertise and tools. In today's labor market it can be very difficult to lure good talent to a location for 3,6 or 12 months, and remote development is not always a great option when using traditional software for development also the quality of these people can be questionable, no matter how good the resume looks. Mozilla's biggest achievement so far is a litany of tools that assist in managing distributed software development. When I can point to Mozilla, Linux, Apache, Perl, GNOME and KDE and talk about how these projects were developed and are maintained through the Internet by distributed developers, business types get big eyes. The pool of developer's is now larger to pull from for development talent, because distributed development is a reality.
Another problem facing companies, is the method with which they go about finding talent. Most use headhunters, you know the schmucks who can do nothing more than match keywords they know nothing about and pick up a phone (It's amazing how many of these people who can't use email). Headhunters manage to deliver dubious quality and tend to be expensive. There are many small businesses such as mine that can perform the work but who lack the inside contacts to get the job. Having internal IT departments use Open Source and participate in the community introduces them to a whole bunch of labor that may or may not be looking for work, or who may know someone who is. Typically one can lean on these relationships to find labor, and have a better idea of the quality they are getting.
One reason that I push for companies to sponsor Open Source projects has a lot of the same reasons as listed above. One project that I am pushing with a client, is remote automated remote administration and maintenance for a large number of database/webservers that will be located at customer sites internationally. They have looked at Tivoli from IBM but it looks like it will not meet their needs. Most likely they will have to develop the project in house. I have proposed that they develop the project as an Open Source project after the initial development is done. Why? Well the initial development will be done by a couple of internal developers that may leave, or move on to other work. If they sponsor the project as Open Source, if this comes around, finding a replacement developer may be as simple as posting to the mailing list for the project. Secondly, what if they need people to do administration and implementation work? Rather than hiring people with general skills and training them, they can simply find people who may already be offering these services as part of their own business. It will generally be much cheaper to contract them out than handle it all in house. Secondly it acts as PR and marketing for the company in question, like the Cluetrain says marketplaces are conversations and conversations create markets.
Another client is a small ISP who needs a lot of management and automation software for their lowest common denominator employee's to manage some of the day to day stuff. The owner is a software developer, and his first thought was to sell this software as a network management system something similar to NetMax and Cobalt et al. My suggestion was that this was not his core business and he would then have to compete with those guys, so why not make it an Open Source project, using the exposure to promote his core business and the find more talent for his core business. This would be preferable than entering a new market to compete with NetMax and Cobalt and everyone else who wants to play this game. After all he is probably the least capitalized out of all the players in question.
I have moral and philisophical reason's to prefer Free (as in speech) Software, but owning a business means that I have to make a business case if I want to stick to my convictions. I think this can be done, and there are many more business idea's that can be extrapolated from the Open Source movement. I don't think that most of them involve "ego-boo" and the less tangible economic benifits that ESR and company have espoused. I think that ESR was the first to try and formalize why this works and really explain it, but I also believe that we are far from understanding all the models that will make Open Source profitable.
So keep banging away guys, we all know deep down inside that Open Source makes sense, we just have to figure out how to explain it to everyone else. After all, appearently even the economists don't quite get it.
For those of you who haven't taken the time to go read the source material, this *rumor* comes from a radio interview with Lucas last week. The upcoming DVD, which is in production will most likely have previously cut scenes from TPM.
George Lucas has a myth that he wants to tell in the way he sees fit, that is why he left the large studios after Star Wars. This artistic vision is the reason he does some things that seem out of whack, why he waited 15 years to start the prequels, why he wants to do something special for the DVD. I personally feel that the reason that TPM seemed quirky and chopped up in some ways, is that it will only seem complete when the other two prequels come out.
Some may say that this film should stand on it's own, but I want to see Lucas' vision. This is also the reason that I haven't gotten into much of the extended universe literature that has come out surrounding Star Wars.
I read the Salon article that a reader posted earlier, and I thought it had some valid points, but I believe the author missed some others.
Star Wars takes place in a world where democracy is collapsing and racist dictators are plotting with greedy corporations to carve out their own empires. Star Trek takes place in a world with a strong democratic government that, while having threats to it's stablility, are not in the same mortal peril as the Star Wars universe.
The reason that conflicts are waged in the Star Wars universe with active warring rebellions vs. the Star Trek one with civil discourse and so on is the setting. Let's face it, Star Trek devolves into kill 'em all every time the Borg show up. In Star Wars there isn't even the mystery of where the enemy comes from. The enemy is something that has existed in that universe for millenia.
As for the demigod status that the Star Wars universe confers upon it's heros, it is demigods that inspire. For me, I always saw the ascetic Jedi as something to live up to. To fight the good fight, but to do so with honor and to not allow fear and anger to cloud a morally just cause. Quite frankly I've never been inspired by Star Trek, yes I've always agreed with most resolutions to moral quandries put forth in the various stories, but the characters always seemed more distant to me than those in Star Wars.
I think it has more to do with the universe that these to fantasies are set in, with Star Wars being one where there is a complex story of governments, history, religion and culture that mirror much of what has happened on Earth. A world where farm boys and smugglers find their path in life that leads to a righteous struggle. Not only is it a righteous struggle, but they must carry out this struggle in a certain manner in order to maintain righteousness. Studying history, I see more parallels with Star Wars than Star Trek, and so that universe always felt more real, or personal. Of course, there are others who may feel the same way about Star Trek.
To me the question of Vader's redemption at the end of ROTJ is more about the belief that anyone can change, and be personally redeemed. Was justice served? Did Vader pay for his crimes? Of course not, but that is not what the story is about, it's about personal choices and struggles.
A question that the author of the Salon article forgot, was what is Hitler was captured, and then became a devout Christian, believing that Jesus had died for his sins. Even if Hitler paid for his crimes against humanity with his life, according to Christian beliefs, he would have gone to heaven.
I am eagerly awaiting the DVD, and the next two movies, which may be the only reason I break my boycott against the MPAA. I have faith in Lucas' artistic vision to present an interesting way to give us a morallity tale. I think that the Salon author goes for some of the easier shortcomings of the Star Wars story without exploring many of the explanations and perspectives that have evolved around the story.
I was rather intriuged by the explanation of how SciFi in general goes against much of the storytelling tradition in our world. I found it a very interesting discussion and I must say that I agree with the author on many of his points. I do however disagree with the insinuations that our age old tradition of creating heros to overcome our enemies no longer has value. I believe that these heros do much to show that one person can make a difference in the world and inspire people, especially children, to become more like those ideals.
In the end, I'd say it's all about perspective. Much like whether or not Obi-Wan and Yoda lied to Luke or merly offered a way of looking at the fall of Anakin. You can say that the Star Trek is a more mature universe and the the egalitarian views are more noble, and I might agree, but I think that Star Wars has always held the personal inspiration for me to attempt and forward those ideals.
I guess you could say, Star Wars for personal insperation and Star Trek for an ideal of what our society should strive for. But remember, it's all perspective. So.... May the force be with you!, oh yea and, Live Long and Prosper!
Am I the only person boycotting the MPAA?!!!
on
Review: "Scream 3"
·
· Score: 2
< RANT > WTF, after they sent freaking storm troopers to harass our fellow programmers, have tied up our resources (time and $$), and are threatening our rights to Fair Use, you people are going to give them money!!!! WTF???
And Katz, who I normally tolerate can have outspoken opinions on the evils of the MPAA then go and review their f**king products, giving them publicity on a well visited board???!!!
If you people think we are ever going to make a change in this god-forsaken nation, then you have to actually do something, not just whine about it.
I've had to make repeated arguments to my wife about why we cannot go to the movies for the past couple of months. I'm doing my part, and I will continue to. I actually believe in the issues and discussions going on here.
and I'll be damned if I'm working on my off hours.
< sarcasm > Yea, me too. I bet Linus, Miguel and RMS all feel the same way as well. Screw working for free for the community. I mean if those bastards don't want to pay for my talent, let them twist in the wind! I mean what has anyone done for me lately? Those losers on Freshmeat are just suckers anyway. </sarcasm >
Between some of the stories on Slashdot, comments and a discussion at my local UG last night the following conspiracy theory has bubbled up.
<conspiracy> Janet and the FBI want a 40% increase in their budget mainly for fighting Cybercrime.
Soon afterwards massive DoS attacks hit the major consumer sites. No government or foriegn (non US) sites are hit. The attacks take place during offtimes for most sites; Etrade before the market opens, Ebay during dinnertime.
The attacks are of the scariest type, not much protection for the victim, shows a vast number of systems connected to the net are easily compromised.
Two days later the FBI has a 'solution' to the help alleviate the problem, available to all. </conspiracy> Whether or not you trust the FBI or the Federal Gov., this attack has been very convienent for the FBI and Federal law enforcement. I directly helps their position in Congress and in the public eye.
Most of the time we have seen script kiddies attack government sites and high profile sites in the Internet 'community' as opposed to just hitting big commercial sites. This may be a new strain of the script kiddie 'virus' or it could be your favourite spooks (maybe the FBI is coordinating with the NSA, sorry, more conspiracy) advancing their collective agenda.
Remember: the price of freedom is eternal vigilence. (the price of getting a quick post on/. is bad spelling)
Just some food for thought (or mental masturbation, your choice)
I was intrigued by the comments about trying to get games on similar codebases and his thoughts on Open Source Games. I've always thought that producing games has always been akin to making a movie. That is, making a movie where you had to make your own film, camera, lights, productions environment and projector.
I don't think that Open Source games will be entire titles developed and distributed for free (beer or speech, your choice), but rather Open Source engines (CrystalSpace among others) that will be added to with a couple of libraries and maybe the core executable with the proprietary section being the images, story, characters (actors), audio and so on.
This would bring down the ROI for people to make games that were more content focused. People could still add on to engines or write there own to produce the Quake III's of the genre.
I think that this would open up the market, and allow for more experimentation, thus growing the market (hopefully) and allowing larger investments in riskier envelope expanding projects.
It amazes me that the LDP can go through all these changes and still not accept docbook HOWTO's. It's frustrating enough to get all the tools together to generate proper docbook DTD's right now, as most tools are in a period of transition. But to be unable to submit the final documents to the LDP is a bit depressing.
Linuxdoc has been officially supplanted by docbook in the community by most authoritative sources. Why hasn't the LDP started accepting docbook HOWTO's?
I don't mind writing docs, and I love being able to help out those who are looking for answers, but that fact that the most recognized resource for getting information is not staying up to date with the community is utterly frustrating.
The reason I've become so passionate about Open Source is the fact that it embodies Democracy, Freedom, Self-Determination and many of the other ideals that were espoused by the founders of the US and the thinkers of the Enlightenment. The WTO is a non-democratic organization with power over it's members that erodes national sovereignty, created by democratic processes. The problem is that any company can accuse a country of imposing 'barriers to trade' that may be due to environmental or workers rights legislation. The offended country may then impose trade sanctions or payments if the WTO council decides that said legislation does in fact create a barrier to trade. Keep in mind, no member of the WTO is elected, and many members are corporations. However there are no non-govermental organizations (NGO's) in the WTO, these are usually the watchdogs that protect citizens rights. All WTO decisions are also final, with no way of appealing to a higher authority, such as the UN.
Now, where is the proof that this is a bad thing? After all, isn't increased trade good?
Take the Nestle Infant Formula in Ecuador as one example. Nestle gave Infant Formula to UNICEF for impoverished, uneducated Ecuadoran mothers. The package had a picture of a plump, healthy baby that led these illiterate women to believe that the Infant Formula was better than breast feeding for their babies, which is very far from the truth. Both UNICEF and the Ecuadoran government passed legislation (democratically) that banned the use of packaging that might be considered misleading. Nestle complied until the creation of the WTO, when Nestle brought charges of unfair trade barriers against Ecuador. Ecuador repealed the legislation due to threats of severe economic sanctions, undoing the protections for the most vulnerable segment of the population.
Something I just learned about listening to Democracy Now! at Pacifica News was that the Australian Beef Industry has charged the US with trade barriers due to the fact that the USDA must inspect beef. The US government has decided to accept Corporate Inspected Beef as the equivalent of USDA Prime, complete with stamp. That means you can no longer trust USDA beef as having passed certain standards. If your wondering what the problem with that is, please go find out why the USDA was created and look at many of the causes for food labeling and standards that began being passed at the turn of the century. You'll lose your appietite.
Another example is the EU and the opposition of the European public to accept hormone treated beef. The US has imposed massive trade sanctions against EU exports due to legislation (democratically passed) banning the import of hormone treated beef. While you may not see anything wrong with hormone treated beef or other products, Europe does, and Europeans have every right not to accept it on the same terms they accept non-treated beef. Yet the WTO seems to think otherwise.
You can argue that no-one has to join the WTO, but look at the pressure the US and other developed countries have put on those who do not seem eager. Not joining the WTO can limit foriegn aid, foriegn investment and trade at all.
I believe that peoples rights come before corporate rights, and that none of the things we do in this world are worth anything unless it helps the common good in one way or another (yes helping yourself can help the common good). Pushing corporate profits is not more important than helping humans better themselves. I also think that those that have more ability and resources have a moral duty to help those that don't. I live by this and I think that anyone who wants to be seen as a truly productive member of society should believe this principle true to some extent. We are all part of a system on this planet, with the environment and with each other and we are only as strong as our weakest link. We can't help everyone, but we can ensure equal oppurtunity for most. The WTO is not about that or any of the other principles that the US or most democracies were founded upon. Please get more info before passing judgement on the protestors in Seattle, they may be saving your health and your freedom.
This is serously sounding more and more like the Salem Witch Trials, the Inquisition and McCarthy everday. I'm getting married in a couple of weeks and kids are most likely going to wind up in the picture. My options for raising a family are looking grimmer and grimmer unless I move out of the US. However I feel that I have a duty to change the system for the better, but quite frankly I don't want to traumitize my children in the process.
Is there a legal remedy for this? Does it fall under any existing legislation concerning civil rights? Is there a lawyer in the house that can perhaps shed some light?
A cousin of mine told me about these guys. He brought over a CD that they had done which had the world's best song and the world's worst song. They both sucked beyond a shadow of a doubt. The world's best song sounded like that male/female duet from 'An American Tale' that was so popular a few years ago. Appearently that's what most people like. It was roughly five minutes of male/female duet in harmony with a love theme.
The world's worst song was over 20 minutes and had opera, bagpipes, and long instrimentals. You might think for a minute that this could be good, especially if you like experimental music or have other odd tastes. No it really sucked. It was definitely the absolute worst thing I have ever heard, no redeeming value what so ever.
Check it out if you can, it was pretty funny to hear what most people like and dislike about music.
Looks interesting, but strangley no code and no mention of GPL, Apache, BSD or similar license. It looks snazzy but I don't see anything.
Also I'd like to know how this application differs from Minivend, besides better graphics on the website. Minivend has been in development for over 3 years and seems well suited for e-commerce. Plus it's very configurable and allows for many different backends.
I'd also like to know how easily this will migrate into the GNU Enterprise project down the road. It will be really interesting if this project is a GPL'd Enterprise level e-commerce system. I'll definately get my hands dirty in that.
Uhhh, I fail to see your connection between Appeasement and redirecting resources from military use to the building of public infrastructure both domesticly and for our former enemies. My point is that we create many of our enemies by allowing corporate America (and England, Canada plus a few others) to sell weapons to them, training their military, instead of their teachers and supporting dictators (the Shaw was considered a ruthless dictator and the Ayatollah gained power when grassroots secular groups opposing the Shaw used him as a rallying point for opposition). Most of the leftist guerilla groups in Latin America are populists fighting against ultra-right wing facists who are in colusion with US corporations (Chiquita) to take peasants land and force them to work on plantations.
The US and it's support of unethical multi-national corporations foster's popular support for groups we later identify as enemies.
To take a quote from St. Paul "If you want peace, work for justice"
Study history a bit more, use alternative sources. You will find many examples of the broad principles I'm talking about.
You remember that peace dividend we were supposed to get after the cold war? Remember when Reagan was pumping most of our annual budget into the military to outspend the Commies? We were supposed to be able to cut back that spending dramaticly after the Cold War was over. After WWII the US military budget dropped by 90%. Most of that $ went to the Marshall plan to rebuild Japan and Western Europe. It also went to the GI Bill which produced the most romanticized and idyllic time in most American's memories.
But didn't we cut back on military spending after the Cold War and close all those bases? Yeah, about 15% of our top Cold War spending levels. During 1998 we spent over $321 Billion on National Defense. We currently have over 8,600 combat aricraft, 10,000 tanks, 18 aircraft carriers, 120+ subs, 3600+ Ballistic Missiles and over 725000 other missiles. Source
Now compare that to the 50 Billion we spent on education and training, the 23 Billion NASA got and the fact that China, only spent 40-60 Billion on their National Defense. As a percentage of our GDP we spend 6 times what countries in Western Europe (England, France) who have also been participating in our policing operations around the world.
We need to take a chunk of that money and invest in the public infrastructure (education, health care, public utilities, small business resources) in our country and many 'pontential rogue nations' in the former Soviet Union, Africa, Asia and South America. Once our people and other people are able to trade with one another, make a living for their families and provide a future for their children, I garuntee that the liklihood of war is 0.000000000000000000001.
History has shown that we have created many of the dictators we have had to overthow (Noriega, Suharto, Sadam) and we have managed to help countries get on their feet (W. Europe, Japan). We are at that crossroads again and must decide how to spend our money. Investing in Peace is always a better idea than investing in War.
For a group of people who pride themselves on being knowledgeable about many things, and fair about most, this sort of reasoning defies logic. Appearently you do not pay attention to the world outside your immediate surroundings.
If there was racial equality or sexual equality in America then roughly 13% of Fortune 500 CEO's would be black, over 50% would be women, and over 12% would be Hispanic. This assumes that you believe race and sex do not equal natural ability. The Fortune 500 got it's first black CEO last year. You could probably count the number of women on your fingers.
Poverty rates among blacks and hispanics are still disproportionate to whites, 1/4 of all black males in the US are felons and no longer have the right to vote.
Unless you are a racist or blinded by your insulated lifestyle, you cannot ignore that affermative action, government programs to help the poor, and special education programs for minorities and women are not needed today.
I personally think that we geeks are not racist or sexist at heart and are often idealistic and tend to not believe something non-scientific until we see or experience it firsthand. Just because whites don't openly harass blacks on the street everyday, and just because we've got some legislation, doesn't mean the problems gone away.
It's sad that we're still fighting this inequality in America almost 40 years after the Civil Rights Movement won it's major victories. I personally think America has gone from hating minorities to hating the poor. If you think these problems are to complex or to expensive to fix, there are more people willing to sacrifice their lives to promote peace and unity than there are geeks to write open source. If you want to know where the resources are to help these people, read this
>If I say it's got a Class 10 armor on it, which is probably four times the strength of any armor out there, that's because we've tested it in sections.
Why would anyone think they could get away with selling Class 10 armor for 1.2 million ca (obviously that is a typo and they mean cp. Weird Canadians, why can't they use gp like everyone else). Sheesh anyone with a good old Player's Handbook knows that even a plain old cloak will get you a Class 9. Heck, you could get cheap old chain mail and get a whole Class 5 and that might cost 10000 cp (100 gp, but those Canuks?!). I personally would want some decent Plate Mail for a wonderful class 3 (and at only 30000 cp, a comparative steal).
Is this thing some sort of artifact? Am I missing something?
The Net is not changing politics, the money in politics is changing the net... If you are concerned about democracy:
Contact you Senator about the legislation that just passed the House banning soft money. Tell him to support it and that you think corporate money has no place in a democratic election.
Contact your representatives and tell them that the Nazi's in the Indosian military must be brought to justice for their crimes of genocide in East Timor.
Support populist movements in South America, or anywhere for that matter.
Go get arrested protesting the School of the America's, the US training grounds for Death Squads in Central and South America.
Tell your Congressman and anyone who will listen that $255 Billion is way more $ than the military needs this year and that you object to your hard earned dollars going to buy bombs when our schools are in such disrepair and 15 million US children live below the poverty level.
Get pissed off and do something instead of just bitching
To believe that we will unite the world's philosophical, social and various non-technical differences under the sun is a bit grand. When I first started using Linux, it was simply because there was a free version of Unix available for my dad's 486/80. Relearning skills I had gained growing up on a Tandy Model 16's MS-XENIX, allowed me to get a job at developing websites at a cash-poor webhosting provider (they ran totally on Linux and BSD) rather than flip burgers. After they (like many small, early web businesses, circa 95) went out of business I used those skills to administrate Solaris and IRIX servers and watched M$ takeover the world. I thought for a while I might be doomed to M$ for the rest of my career.
Today Linux (and every other piece of free software I've learned along the way) competes with M$ and the commercial Un*ices on technical merit. What free software doesn't have, they will get, as long as they wind in it's sails does not die.
This wind comes from all the users and developers who have contributed over the years, more so for necessity and technical reasons than political, philosophical (except FSF) or financial. The momentum of Free software (open source, whatever) has come to this point because of those reasons. It will conquer the world because of those reasons. ESR's essays made sense before the 'critical mass' was reached, it just looked as if for a brief second we were united users and developers, under ESR,RMS and Open Source. In truth, the honeymoon is over, were starting to notice differences and the bumps and warts of our new friends (allies?) and it's time to get back to work. We all have our own raison d'être. We should not let philosophical differences tear apart the public goodness that has arisen from our collective work. The whole point of free software is that it will be free for any use.
The beauty of free software and the community that builds it, is that, like the Internet, when it comes across damage, it routes around it. If Apple screws up OSS, if Mozilla is a burden, we will build something that routes around it. Linux for PPC will get a better Mac interface (speaking on hearsay here, example, put away flame-thrower), there will be a better, GPL'd browser built from GTK or something. If M$ tries to subvert our commodity protocols, we will build better implementations of their broken products (Storage+, whatever... SAMBA runs faster).
We will only do this if we remain united under the flag of better technology, the best hack and not fractionalize under the flags of Perens, Raymond and Stallman. OSI was an attempt to make sure M$ and everyone else didn't subvert our ideals (names, ideas, words???). I personally don't care if OSI brands something or doesn't, I will continue to use the best software for the job, be it commercial, open source, GPL'd, BSD'd or APSL'd, I don't care. If Eric was correct in his essays, then Open Source and Free Software are the paths that lead to the best software. That is what brought me here and that is what will make me stay. A nice side effect may be a political or social agenda that I support being pushed, but that is a secondary side effect. Remember we must stay focused on our common cause......
(please excuse any errors, rambling, or lost focus within this writing, I wanted to get it down before the fire was gone from this thread)........
I learned vi at age 8 on a Tandy Model 16 running MS-Xenix, this was roughly 15 years ago. I still use it today, people look at me funny but vi is the BEST example of efficiency and elegance when it comes to editors. Oh BTW this reminds me of a really lame college computer class I took in high school where the instructor actually marked me incorrect for using the term text editor instead of word processor!? WTF Anyway... just my little vi ancedote
First of all, Ayn Rand is the only one who should listen to Ayn Rand. Anyone who has such a simplistic world-view has lost what separates man from animal.
On the subject of idea's as property....
To assert that invention only comes to fruition or is the child of promised riches is silly. The carrot in front of the carriage is a flawed and simplistic view. No promised amount of riches has enabled my brain to come up with anything patent-able or any invention. I have always created out of necessity, as have all inventors. If not out of a necessity to solve a problem, the necessity for my own mental well-being. For the same reasons an artist must paint, sing, act, write, etc.,etc.,... I must think, I must solve problems and I must do things. Sometimes I call it an art sometimes it is work.
People work because idleness leads to unbearable insanity and depression. Otherwise why would we ever do anything. (Remember, in an Ayn Rand world 'duty' doesn't exist) The argument that a corporation should monopolize ideas or else nothing would be invented is ludicrous at best!!! This thinking is nothing but a large stick wrapped in the packaging of 'principles of justice' that moneyed interests (the haves) use to subjugate the have-nots. If you don't believe you live in slavery you are either naïve or in denial. Corporations are not human, and do not have compassion. Corporate law is setup to shield humans involved in running and managing corporations from liability. If you don't believe that ask any lawyer the pros and cons between setting up various types of corporate entities. If you assert the 'justice' of one to accrue vast wealth while others starve and are subjugated then you have NO Justice and NO Humanity.
BTW, I believe genes cannot be patented simply because somewhere in the Old Testament God says the world is the domain of humanity, so isn't that the original GPL?? (Could I get clarification of at least a precise quote?)
Just my 2 cents and one large stick
lay off the crackpipe
on
Linux on CNN
·
· Score: 1
When was the last time somebody rolled out 200 copies of NT for $40?
It gets a little slow in places but was an exellent companion when I was learning the SSLeay libraries. Use this book in conjunction with a good sockets book and there is much fun to be had...
Slashdot Mirror
the spread of different kinds of disease.212 In a common source epidemic, as where members of a population contract a non-contagious disease from a poisoned well, the disease spreads only by exposure to the common source. If one eliminates the source, or closes the contaminated well, the epidemic is stopped. In a propagated outbreak epidemic, on the other hand, the disease spreads from person to person. Hence, finding the initial source of infection accomplishes little, as the disease continues to spread even if the initial source is eliminated.213 For obvious reasons, then, a propagated outbreak epidemic, all other things being equal, can be far more difficult to control.
This disease metaphor is helpful here. The book infringement hypothetical is analogous to a common source outbreak epidemic. Shut down the printing press (the poisoned well) and one ends the infringement (the disease outbreak). The spread of means of circumventing access to copyrighted works in digital form, however, is analogous to a propagated outbreak epidemic. Finding the original source of infection (e.g., the author of DeCSS or the first person to misuse it) accomplishes nothing, as the disease (infringement made possible by DeCSS and the resulting availability of decrypted DVDs) may continue to spread from one person who gains access to the circumvention program or decrypted DVD to another. And each is infected, i.e., each is as capable of making perfect copies of the digital file containing the copyrighted work as the author of the program or the first person to use it for improper purposes. The disease metaphor breaks down principally at the final point. Individuals infected with a real disease become sick, usually are driven by obvious self-interest to seek medical attention, and are cured of the disease if medical science is capable of doing so. Individuals infected with the disease of capability of circumventing measures controlling access to copyrighted works in digital form, however, do not suffer from having that ability. They cannot be relied upon to identify themselves to those seeking to control the disease. And their self-interest will motivate some to misuse the capability, a misuse that, in practical terms, often will be untraceable.214
These considerations drastically alter consideration of the causal link between dissemination of computer programs such as this and their illicit use. Causation in the law ultimately involves practical policy judgments.215 Here, dissemination itself carries very substantial risk of imminent harm because the mechanism is so unusual by which dissemination of means of circumventing access controls to copyrighted works threatens to produce virtually unstoppable infringement of copyright. In consequence, the causal link between the dissemination of circumvention computer programs and their improper use is more than sufficiently close to warrant selection of a level of constitutional scrutiny based on the programs functionality.
While all the information on Linux moving to small devices is really interesting, I need a ruggedized embedded system / network appliance.
One of my clients is having us write apps on Teclogix and Intermec units which come in various flavors of M$. This is the only part of the app not on a *NIX.
Palm clones and PDA's are cool and all, but the real money is in ruggedized hardware. Hand helds that can be dropped from 6 ft onto a warehouse floor and have built in 802.11 and PCMCIA slots are what we deal with. This things are priced in the $3000-$5000 range. I would think that someone would be doing this with Linux.
I've searched most of the places on the Net and I only seem to come up with PDA style devices.
I own a small development/services company. I try to work in Open Source software as much as possible, which has become the majority of our work.
The biggest benifit we have had with all the Linux IPO's was people asking questions. Most people don't understand Open Source at all, especially those in the traditional IT world.
I have had the most success with finding and explaining tangible business advantages to companies with using and contributing to Open Source projects.
One benifit is that of remote development expertise and tools. In today's labor market it can be very difficult to lure good talent to a location for 3,6 or 12 months, and remote development is not always a great option when using traditional software for development also the quality of these people can be questionable, no matter how good the resume looks. Mozilla's biggest achievement so far is a litany of tools that assist in managing distributed software development. When I can point to Mozilla, Linux, Apache, Perl, GNOME and KDE and talk about how these projects were developed and are maintained through the Internet by distributed developers, business types get big eyes. The pool of developer's is now larger to pull from for development talent, because distributed development is a reality.
Another problem facing companies, is the method with which they go about finding talent. Most use headhunters, you know the schmucks who can do nothing more than match keywords they know nothing about and pick up a phone (It's amazing how many of these people who can't use email). Headhunters manage to deliver dubious quality and tend to be expensive. There are many small businesses such as mine that can perform the work but who lack the inside contacts to get the job. Having internal IT departments use Open Source and participate in the community introduces them to a whole bunch of labor that may or may not be looking for work, or who may know someone who is. Typically one can lean on these relationships to find labor, and have a better idea of the quality they are getting.
One reason that I push for companies to sponsor Open Source projects has a lot of the same reasons as listed above. One project that I am pushing with a client, is remote automated remote administration and maintenance for a large number of database/webservers that will be located at customer sites internationally. They have looked at Tivoli from IBM but it looks like it will not meet their needs. Most likely they will have to develop the project in house. I have proposed that they develop the project as an Open Source project after the initial development is done. Why? Well the initial development will be done by a couple of internal developers that may leave, or move on to other work. If they sponsor the project as Open Source, if this comes around, finding a replacement developer may be as simple as posting to the mailing list for the project. Secondly, what if they need people to do administration and implementation work? Rather than hiring people with general skills and training them, they can simply find people who may already be offering these services as part of their own business. It will generally be much cheaper to contract them out than handle it all in house. Secondly it acts as PR and marketing for the company in question, like the Cluetrain says marketplaces are conversations and conversations create markets.
Another client is a small ISP who needs a lot of management and automation software for their lowest common denominator employee's to manage some of the day to day stuff. The owner is a software developer, and his first thought was to sell this software as a network management system something similar to NetMax and Cobalt et al. My suggestion was that this was not his core business and he would then have to compete with those guys, so why not make it an Open Source project, using the exposure to promote his core business and the find more talent for his core business. This would be preferable than entering a new market to compete with NetMax and Cobalt and everyone else who wants to play this game. After all he is probably the least capitalized out of all the players in question.
I have moral and philisophical reason's to prefer Free (as in speech) Software, but owning a business means that I have to make a business case if I want to stick to my convictions. I think this can be done, and there are many more business idea's that can be extrapolated from the Open Source movement. I don't think that most of them involve "ego-boo" and the less tangible economic benifits that ESR and company have espoused. I think that ESR was the first to try and formalize why this works and really explain it, but I also believe that we are far from understanding all the models that will make Open Source profitable.
So keep banging away guys, we all know deep down inside that Open Source makes sense, we just have to figure out how to explain it to everyone else.
After all, appearently even the economists don't quite get it.
For those of you who haven't taken the time to go read the source material, this *rumor* comes from a radio interview with Lucas last week. The upcoming DVD, which is in production will most likely have previously cut scenes from TPM.
George Lucas has a myth that he wants to tell in the way he sees fit, that is why he left the large studios after Star Wars. This artistic vision is the reason he does some things that seem out of whack, why he waited 15 years to start the prequels, why he wants to do something special for the DVD. I personally feel that the reason that TPM seemed quirky and chopped up in some ways, is that it will only seem complete when the other two prequels come out.
Some may say that this film should stand on it's own, but I want to see Lucas' vision. This is also the reason that I haven't gotten into much of the extended universe literature that has come out surrounding Star Wars.
I read the Salon article that a reader posted earlier, and I thought it had some valid points, but I believe the author missed some others.
Star Wars takes place in a world where democracy is collapsing and racist dictators are plotting with greedy corporations to carve out their own empires. Star Trek takes place in a world with a strong democratic government that, while having threats to it's stablility, are not in the same mortal peril as the Star Wars universe.
The reason that conflicts are waged in the Star Wars universe with active warring rebellions vs. the Star Trek one with civil discourse and so on is the setting. Let's face it, Star Trek devolves into kill 'em all every time the Borg show up. In Star Wars there isn't even the mystery of where the enemy comes from. The enemy is something that has existed in that universe for millenia.
As for the demigod status that the Star Wars universe confers upon it's heros, it is demigods that inspire. For me, I always saw the ascetic Jedi as something to live up to. To fight the good fight, but to do so with honor and to not allow fear and anger to cloud a morally just cause. Quite frankly I've never been inspired by Star Trek, yes I've always agreed with most resolutions to moral quandries put forth in the various stories, but the characters always seemed more distant to me than those in Star Wars.
I think it has more to do with the universe that these to fantasies are set in, with Star Wars being one where there is a complex story of governments, history, religion and culture that mirror much of what has happened on Earth. A world where farm boys and smugglers find their path in life that leads to a righteous struggle. Not only is it a righteous struggle, but they must carry out this struggle in a certain manner in order to maintain righteousness. Studying history, I see more parallels with Star Wars than Star Trek, and so that universe always felt more real, or personal. Of course, there are others who may feel the same way about Star Trek.
To me the question of Vader's redemption at the end of ROTJ is more about the belief that anyone can change, and be personally redeemed. Was justice served? Did Vader pay for his crimes? Of course not, but that is not what the story is about, it's about personal choices and struggles.
A question that the author of the Salon article forgot, was what is Hitler was captured, and then became a devout Christian, believing that Jesus had died for his sins. Even if Hitler paid for his crimes against humanity with his life, according to Christian beliefs, he would have gone to heaven.
I am eagerly awaiting the DVD, and the next two movies, which may be the only reason I break my boycott against the MPAA. I have faith in Lucas' artistic vision to present an interesting way to give us a morallity tale. I think that the Salon author goes for some of the easier shortcomings of the Star Wars story without exploring many of the explanations and perspectives that have evolved around the story.
I was rather intriuged by the explanation of how SciFi in general goes against much of the storytelling tradition in our world. I found it a very interesting discussion and I must say that I agree with the author on many of his points. I do however disagree with the insinuations that our age old tradition of creating heros to overcome our enemies no longer has value. I believe that these heros do much to show that one person can make a difference in the world and inspire people, especially children, to become more like those ideals.
In the end, I'd say it's all about perspective. Much like whether or not Obi-Wan and Yoda lied to Luke or merly offered a way of looking at the fall of Anakin. You can say that the Star Trek is a more mature universe and the the egalitarian views are more noble, and I might agree, but I think that Star Wars has always held the personal inspiration for me to attempt and forward those ideals.
I guess you could say, Star Wars for personal insperation and Star Trek for an ideal of what our society should strive for. But remember, it's all perspective.
So....
May the force be with you!, oh yea and, Live Long and Prosper!
WTF, after they sent freaking storm troopers to harass our fellow programmers, have tied up our resources (time and $$), and are threatening our rights to Fair Use, you people are going to give them money!!!! WTF???
And Katz, who I normally tolerate can have outspoken opinions on the evils of the MPAA then go and review their f**king products, giving them publicity on a well visited board???!!!
If you people think we are ever going to make a change in this god-forsaken nation, then you have to actually do something, not just whine about it.
I've had to make repeated arguments to my wife about why we cannot go to the movies for the past couple of months. I'm doing my part, and I will continue to. I actually believe in the issues and discussions going on here.
WTF???!!!! /RANT >
<
< sarcasm > /sarcasm >
Yea, me too. I bet Linus, Miguel and RMS all feel the same way as well. Screw working for free for the community. I mean if those bastards don't want to pay for my talent, let them twist in the wind!
I mean what has anyone done for me lately? Those losers on Freshmeat are just suckers anyway.
<
Hmmm....
What great use for the Slash code.
Between some of the stories on Slashdot, comments and a discussion at my local UG last night the following conspiracy theory has bubbled up.
/. is bad spelling)
<conspiracy>
Janet and the FBI want a 40% increase in their budget mainly for fighting Cybercrime.
Soon afterwards massive DoS attacks hit the major consumer sites. No government or foriegn (non US) sites are hit. The attacks take place during offtimes for most sites; Etrade before the market opens, Ebay during dinnertime.
The attacks are of the scariest type, not much protection for the victim, shows a vast number of systems connected to the net are easily compromised.
Two days later the FBI has a 'solution' to the help alleviate the problem, available to all.
</conspiracy>
Whether or not you trust the FBI or the Federal Gov., this attack has been very convienent for the FBI and Federal law enforcement. I directly helps their position in Congress and in the public eye.
Most of the time we have seen script kiddies attack government sites and high profile sites in the Internet 'community' as opposed to just hitting big commercial sites. This may be a new strain of the script kiddie 'virus' or it could be your favourite spooks (maybe the FBI is coordinating with the NSA, sorry, more conspiracy) advancing their collective agenda.
Remember: the price of freedom is eternal vigilence.
(the price of getting a quick post on
Just some food for thought (or mental masturbation, your choice)
I don't think that Open Source games will be entire titles developed and distributed for free (beer or speech, your choice), but rather Open Source engines (CrystalSpace among others) that will be added to with a couple of libraries and maybe the core executable with the proprietary section being the images, story, characters (actors), audio and so on.
This would bring down the ROI for people to make games that were more content focused. People could still add on to engines or write there own to produce the Quake III's of the genre.
I think that this would open up the market, and allow for more experimentation, thus growing the market (hopefully) and allowing larger investments in riskier envelope expanding projects.
Just a couple of thoughts from an avid gamer
The Open Source Writer's Group only has docbook. This means two divergent resources for documentation.
Linuxdoc has been officially supplanted by docbook in the community by most authoritative sources. Why hasn't the LDP started accepting docbook HOWTO's?
I don't mind writing docs, and I love being able to help out those who are looking for answers, but that fact that the most recognized resource for getting information is not staying up to date with the community is utterly frustrating.
Excuse the rant, just a frustrated docs author.
Now, where is the proof that this is a bad thing?
After all, isn't increased trade good?
Take the Nestle Infant Formula in Ecuador as one example. Nestle gave Infant Formula to UNICEF for impoverished, uneducated Ecuadoran mothers. The package had a picture of a plump, healthy baby that led these illiterate women to believe that the Infant Formula was better than breast feeding for their babies, which is very far from the truth. Both UNICEF and the Ecuadoran government passed legislation (democratically) that banned the use of packaging that might be considered misleading. Nestle complied until the creation of the WTO, when Nestle brought charges of unfair trade barriers against Ecuador. Ecuador repealed the legislation due to threats of severe economic sanctions, undoing the protections for the most vulnerable segment of the population.
Something I just learned about listening to Democracy Now! at Pacifica News was that the Australian Beef Industry has charged the US with trade barriers due to the fact that the USDA must inspect beef. The US government has decided to accept Corporate Inspected Beef as the equivalent of USDA Prime, complete with stamp. That means you can no longer trust USDA beef as having passed certain standards. If your wondering what the problem with that is, please go find out why the USDA was created and look at many of the causes for food labeling and standards that began being passed at the turn of the century. You'll lose your appietite.
Another example is the EU and the opposition of the European public to accept hormone treated beef. The US has imposed massive trade sanctions against EU exports due to legislation (democratically passed) banning the import of hormone treated beef. While you may not see anything wrong with hormone treated beef or other products, Europe does, and Europeans have every right not to accept it on the same terms they accept non-treated beef. Yet the WTO seems to think otherwise.
You can argue that no-one has to join the WTO, but look at the pressure the US and other developed countries have put on those who do not seem eager. Not joining the WTO can limit foriegn aid, foriegn investment and trade at all.
I believe that peoples rights come before corporate rights, and that none of the things we do in this world are worth anything unless it helps the common good in one way or another (yes helping yourself can help the common good). Pushing corporate profits is not more important than helping humans better themselves. I also think that those that have more ability and resources have a moral duty to help those that don't. I live by this and I think that anyone who wants to be seen as a truly productive member of society should believe this principle true to some extent. We are all part of a system on this planet, with the environment and with each other and we are only as strong as our weakest link. We can't help everyone, but we can ensure equal oppurtunity for most. The WTO is not about that or any of the other principles that the US or most democracies were founded upon. Please get more info before passing judgement on the protestors in Seattle, they may be saving your health and your freedom.
This is serously sounding more and more like the Salem Witch Trials, the Inquisition and McCarthy everday. I'm getting married in a couple of weeks and kids are most likely going to wind up in the picture. My options for raising a family are looking grimmer and grimmer unless I move out of the US. However I feel that I have a duty to change the system for the better, but quite frankly I don't want to traumitize my children in the process.
Is there a legal remedy for this? Does it fall under any existing legislation concerning civil rights? Is there a lawyer in the house that can perhaps shed some light?
A cousin of mine told me about these guys. He brought over a CD that they had done which had the world's best song and the world's worst song. They both sucked beyond a shadow of a doubt. The world's best song sounded like that male/female duet from 'An American Tale' that was so popular a few years ago. Appearently that's what most people like. It was roughly five minutes of male/female duet in harmony with a love theme.
The world's worst song was over 20 minutes and had opera, bagpipes, and long instrimentals. You might think for a minute that this could be good, especially if you like experimental music or have other odd tastes. No it really sucked. It was definitely the absolute worst thing I have ever heard, no redeeming value what so ever.
Check it out if you can, it was pretty funny to hear what most people like and dislike about music.
Looks interesting, but strangley no code and no mention of GPL, Apache, BSD or similar license. It looks snazzy but I don't see anything.
Also I'd like to know how this application differs from Minivend, besides better graphics on the website. Minivend has been in development for over 3 years and seems well suited for e-commerce. Plus it's very configurable and allows for many different backends.
I'd also like to know how easily this will migrate into the GNU Enterprise project down the road. It will be really interesting if this project is a GPL'd Enterprise level e-commerce system. I'll definately get my hands dirty in that.
Uhhh, I fail to see your connection between Appeasement and redirecting resources from military use to the building of public infrastructure both domesticly and for our former enemies. My point is that we create many of our enemies by allowing corporate America (and England, Canada plus a few others) to sell weapons to them, training their military, instead of their teachers and supporting dictators (the Shaw was considered a ruthless dictator and the Ayatollah gained power when grassroots secular groups opposing the Shaw used him as a rallying point for opposition). Most of the leftist guerilla groups in Latin America are populists fighting against ultra-right wing facists who are in colusion with US corporations (Chiquita) to take peasants land and force them to work on plantations.
The US and it's support of unethical multi-national corporations foster's popular support for groups we later identify as enemies.
To take a quote from St. Paul "If you want peace, work for justice"
Study history a bit more, use alternative sources. You will find many examples of the broad principles I'm talking about.
You remember that peace dividend we were supposed to get after the cold war? Remember when Reagan was pumping most of our annual budget into the military to outspend the Commies? We were supposed to be able to cut back that spending dramaticly after the Cold War was over. After WWII the US military budget dropped by 90%. Most of that $ went to the Marshall plan to rebuild Japan and Western Europe. It also went to the GI Bill which produced the most romanticized and idyllic time in most American's memories.
But didn't we cut back on military spending after the Cold War and close all those bases? Yeah, about 15% of our top Cold War spending levels. During 1998 we spent over $321 Billion on National Defense. We currently have over 8,600 combat aricraft, 10,000 tanks, 18 aircraft carriers, 120+ subs, 3600+ Ballistic Missiles and over 725000 other missiles. Source
Now compare that to the 50 Billion we spent on education and training, the 23 Billion NASA got and the fact that China, only spent 40-60 Billion on their National Defense. As a percentage of our GDP we spend 6 times what countries in Western Europe (England, France) who have also been participating in our policing operations around the world.
We need to take a chunk of that money and invest in the public infrastructure (education, health care, public utilities, small business resources) in our country and many 'pontential rogue nations' in the former Soviet Union, Africa, Asia and South America. Once our people and other people are able to trade with one another, make a living for their families and provide a future for their children, I garuntee that the liklihood of war is 0.000000000000000000001.
History has shown that we have created many of the dictators we have had to overthow (Noriega, Suharto, Sadam) and we have managed to help countries get on their feet (W. Europe, Japan). We are at that crossroads again and must decide how to spend our money. Investing in Peace is always a better idea than investing in War.
For a group of people who pride themselves on being knowledgeable about many things, and fair about most, this sort of reasoning defies logic. Appearently you do not pay attention to the world outside your immediate surroundings.
If there was racial equality or sexual equality in America then roughly 13% of Fortune 500 CEO's would be black, over 50% would be women, and over 12% would be Hispanic. This assumes that you believe race and sex do not equal natural ability. The Fortune 500 got it's first black CEO last year. You could probably count the number of women on your fingers.
Poverty rates among blacks and hispanics are still disproportionate to whites, 1/4 of all black males in the US are felons and no longer have the right to vote.
Unless you are a racist or blinded by your insulated lifestyle, you cannot ignore that affermative action, government programs to help the poor, and special education programs for minorities and women are not needed today.
I personally think that we geeks are not racist or sexist at heart and are often idealistic and tend to not believe something non-scientific until we see or experience it firsthand. Just because whites don't openly harass blacks on the street everyday, and just because we've got some legislation, doesn't mean the problems gone away.
It's sad that we're still fighting this inequality in America almost 40 years after the Civil Rights Movement won it's major victories. I personally think America has gone from hating minorities to hating the poor. If you think these problems are to complex or to expensive to fix, there are more people willing to sacrifice their lives to promote peace and unity than there are geeks to write open source. If you want to know where the resources are to help these people, read this
>If I say it's got a Class 10 armor on it, which is probably four times the strength of any armor out there, that's because we've tested it in sections.
Why would anyone think they could get away with selling Class 10 armor for 1.2 million ca (obviously that is a typo and they mean cp. Weird Canadians, why can't they use gp like everyone else). Sheesh anyone with a good old Player's Handbook knows that even a plain old cloak will get you a Class 9. Heck, you could get cheap old chain mail and get a whole Class 5 and that might cost 10000 cp (100 gp, but those Canuks?!). I personally would want some decent Plate Mail for a wonderful class 3 (and at only 30000 cp, a comparative steal).
Is this thing some sort of artifact? Am I missing something?
the money in politics is changing the net...
If you are concerned about democracy:
Just my
They wouldn't have lost all of that money if they were Open Source....
To believe that we will unite the world's philosophical, social and various non-technical differences under the sun is a bit grand. When I first started using Linux, it was simply because there was a free version of Unix available for my dad's 486/80. Relearning skills I had gained growing up on a Tandy Model 16's MS-XENIX, allowed me to get a job at developing websites at a cash-poor webhosting provider (they ran totally on Linux and BSD) rather than flip burgers. After they (like many small, early web businesses, circa 95) went out of business I used those skills to administrate Solaris and IRIX servers and watched M$ takeover the world. I thought for a while I might be doomed to M$ for the rest of my career.
Today Linux (and every other piece of free software I've learned along the way) competes with M$ and the commercial Un*ices on technical merit. What free software doesn't have, they will get, as long as they wind in it's sails does not die.
This wind comes from all the users and developers who have contributed over the years, more so for necessity and technical reasons than political, philosophical (except FSF) or financial. The momentum of Free software (open source, whatever) has come to this point because of those reasons. It will conquer the world because of those reasons. ESR's essays made sense before the 'critical mass' was reached, it just looked as if for a brief second we were united users and developers, under ESR,RMS and Open Source. In truth, the honeymoon is over, were starting to notice differences and the bumps and warts of our new friends (allies?) and it's time to get back to work. We all have our own raison d'être. We should not let philosophical differences tear apart the public goodness that has arisen from our collective work. The whole point of free software is that it will be free for any use.
The beauty of free software and the community that builds it, is that, like the Internet, when it comes across damage, it routes around it. If Apple screws up OSS, if Mozilla is a burden, we will build something that routes around it. Linux for PPC will get a better Mac interface (speaking on hearsay here, example, put away flame-thrower), there will be a better, GPL'd browser built from GTK or something. If M$ tries to subvert our commodity protocols, we will build better implementations of their broken products (Storage+, whatever... SAMBA runs faster).
We will only do this if we remain united under the flag of better technology, the best hack and not fractionalize under the flags of Perens, Raymond and Stallman. OSI was an attempt to make sure M$ and everyone else didn't subvert our ideals (names, ideas, words???). I personally don't care if OSI brands something or doesn't, I will continue to use the best software for the job, be it commercial, open source, GPL'd, BSD'd or APSL'd, I don't care. If Eric was correct in his essays, then Open Source and Free Software are the paths that lead to the best software. That is what brought me here and that is what will make me stay. A nice side effect may be a political or social agenda that I support being pushed, but that is a secondary side effect. Remember we must stay focused on our common cause......
(please excuse any errors, rambling, or lost focus within this writing, I wanted to get it down before the fire was gone from this thread)........
I learned vi at age 8 on a Tandy Model 16 running MS-Xenix, this was roughly 15 years ago. I still use it today, people look at me funny but vi is the BEST example of efficiency and elegance when it comes to editors. Oh BTW this reminds me of a really lame college computer class I took in high school where the instructor actually marked me incorrect for using the term text editor instead of word processor!? WTF Anyway... just my little vi ancedote
First of all, Ayn Rand is the only one who should listen to Ayn Rand. Anyone who has such a simplistic world-view has lost what separates man from animal.
On the subject of idea's as property....
To assert that invention only comes to fruition or is the child of promised riches is silly. The carrot in front of the carriage is a flawed and simplistic view. No promised amount of riches has enabled my brain to come up with anything patent-able or any invention. I have always created out of necessity, as have all inventors. If not out of a necessity to solve a problem, the necessity for my own mental well-being. For the same reasons an artist must paint, sing, act, write, etc.,etc.,... I must think, I must solve problems and I must do things. Sometimes I call it an art sometimes it is work.
People work because idleness leads to unbearable insanity and depression. Otherwise why would we ever do anything. (Remember, in an Ayn Rand world 'duty' doesn't exist) The argument that a corporation should monopolize ideas or else nothing would be invented is ludicrous at best!!! This thinking is nothing but a large stick wrapped in the packaging of 'principles of justice' that moneyed interests (the haves) use to subjugate the have-nots. If you don't believe you live in slavery you are either naïve or in denial. Corporations are not human, and do not have compassion. Corporate law is setup to shield humans involved in running and managing corporations from liability. If you don't believe that ask any lawyer the pros and cons between setting up various types of corporate entities. If you assert the 'justice' of one to accrue vast wealth while others starve and are subjugated then you have NO Justice and NO Humanity.
BTW, I believe genes cannot be patented simply because somewhere in the Old Testament God says the world is the domain of humanity, so isn't that the original GPL?? (Could I get clarification of at least a precise quote?)
Just my 2 cents and one large stick
When was the last time somebody rolled out 200 copies of NT for $40?
I did but don't call 1-800-RU-LEGIT...
I don't want them to know!
It gets a little slow in places but was an exellent companion when I was learning the SSLeay libraries. Use this book in conjunction with a good sockets book and there is much fun to be had...