I'm concerned about the long-term reliability of the software I use, and that depends on the license. Does the copyright belong to a company, such that it might choose to close the software later (as Lutris did with Enhydra)? If the copyright does belong to a company, does the company have a track record of trustworthiness (unlike Lutris)? In the worst case, am I allowed to fork off a version of my own?
Of course, any product that fails to satisfy that last criterion is neither free software by the FSF definition nor open-source software by the OSI definition. However, there are plenty of packages that claim to be "free" or "open" and in fact are not. (Consider Sun's SCSL, used for Java, or SSH's read-only licenses, used for ssh.)
In short, the question I ask myself when evaluating a piece of software is "Will this seemingly free software fuck me over in the future?" If I used Debian, I'd have an easy answer to that question, without having to check each package myself.*
*In fact, I don't use Debian, because I prefer RPM and the BSD ports as package formats, but that's another story.
For almost every question asked, his response boils down to, "Yep, we already have that. It was released a while ago. Here are the classes involved..."
--Q
Now that you're no longer with NAI (and now that they own the PGP code, part of which is closed), what is your stance on GPG (a.k.a. GnuPG)? Are you planning to come out with your own new OpenPGP implementations, or are you content to let the peer-review process work on GPG?
By the way, I commend you for quitting NAI when they started closing source and talking about putting back doors in PGP. It can't have been an easy decision. Thanks for standing up to corporate as well as government attacks on freedom for so many years.
Shirky is obviously a smart cookie, and he's obviously been thinking about peer-to-peer technologies for a long time. Just this relatively short glimpse into his ideas is very though-provoking.
However, it contained the dumbest phrase I have read in weeks, clearly proof that the smartest people make silly mistakes from time to time:
Not only do I think that's inevitable, I think that any energy spent attempting to avoid that is probably pointless.
Well, if it's inevitable, then by definition trying to avoid it is pointless (not just "probably pointless", pointless).
As the subject says, intent to harm someone's reputation is
only half of the legal definition of slander. The other half
is that the accusation must be false! The same goes for
libel. Actually, since this employee made his or her
statements in written form, I think it's libel, not slander,
that the company could charge.
By the way, this is the way Liberace got back at reporters
for implying that he was gay. He actually went to court and
swore that he was straight! Since no one could find evidence
to the contrary, he won the case.
Vovida, OS VoIP Beer recipe: free! #Source Cold pints: $2 #Product
I will not play at tug o' war.
I'd rather play at hug o' war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.
-- Shel Silverstein, "Hug o' War"
Of course, adults tend to be better than children at playing
this kind of game...;)
Vovida, OS VoIP Beer recipe: free! #Source Cold pints: $2 #Product
That story icon is supposed to be used for stories about
the late lamented Digital Equipment Corporation, not for any
story about digital media. The icon is DEC's old corporate
logo. I don't know if you could get into legal trouble for this,
but it's misleading, so you shouldn't do it anyway.;)
Cheers,
Vovida, OS VoIP Beer recipe: free! #Source Cold pints: $2 #Product
The endo-kernel, however, runs its OS in micro-kernel userspace processes
Actually, the Hurd is disturbingly like that... it pushes all
kinds of functionality traditionally relegated to the kernel
into user space, so individual users can run their own
filesystems and the like. I think RMS likes the idea because
it allows users almost complete freedom to hack their
environments, right down to the kernel itself. Personally,
when it comes to OS fun, I'd much rather buy a
machine of my own than time-share the Hurd with a bunch
of maniacal user-space kernel hackers...
Vovida, OS VoIP Beer recipe: free! #Source Cold pints: $2 #Product
Before I went to work for IBM, they not only made me take a urine test for drugs, but also made me sign releases allowing them to check up on my financial history and "manner of living".
Somehow I doubt this is going to change soon.
Luckily, it was just an internship. I learned
a lot of valuable things, including why not to
work for IBM.
Vovida, OS VoIP Beer recipe: free! #Source Cold pints: $2 #Product
The article doesn't mention it, but that Greek form of writing
was used interchangeably with left-to-right script writing
like the kind we do in English. Sometimes you find steles
or tablets that switch into or out of boustrophedon in the
middle. I'm not sure if there are instances where the writer
switches several times in the course of a document, but
I wouldn't be surprised if there were.
Obviously the ancient Greeks had a different way of thinking
about writing. Why this is the case is anyone's guess.
It wasn't unfamiliarity with writing; almost all the free population
of Periklean Athens, male and female, learned to read and
write in public schools.
Does anyone know of other languages where this phenomenon
occurs?
Vovida, OS VoIP Beer recipe: free! #Source Cold pints: $2 #Product
I mean, imagine if he had made something that you could transmit to other Palms and it would modify itself (or the "user/viewer" could modify it). It's interactive, it's distributed--THAT would be new and interesting.
You're right: That would be really cool. I have been teaching myself
Palm OS programming (using the O'Reilly book:) ), and I just
might take this and run with it as a fun exercise. I will credit you
in the source and the About screen if I do so. Thanks!
Vovida, OS VoIP Beer recipe: free! #Source Cold pints: $2 #Product
Art doesn't have to be "about" something. A work of art
doesn't have to be a representation of something else. It can
just be a cool-looking or emotionally provocative artifact of its
own.
I know, there's a bug knee-jerk reaction against this idea
because most modern art is ugly. People tend to fight you
over the idea until they are presented with an example that
they actually like, like the Celtic abstract designs popular in
tattoos, or the Eiffel Tower, or [insert your favorite piece
of instrumental music].
If you don't like these works, that's fine, but don't try
to justify your personal preference by bashing abstract
expressionism.
By the way, these scribbles do mean something to the
artist. As it says in the article, they're part of his "fascination"
with the process of writing. So maybe they are really
"about" a deep reverence for the human form, its manner of
moving, and the way those movements can be captured
on paper. Or maybe the artist was stoned and got into
a groove on writing. I don't know. The point is, it's not
devoid of meaning.
Vovida, OS VoIP Beer recipe: free! #Source Cold pints: $2 #Product
He didn't "throw a bunch of Palm Pilots together"; he just
used his Palm Vx as the medium for making the sketches,
which he printed out and arranged in a grid afterwards.
You wouldn't compare Casablanca and Battlefield
Earth without first watching them, right?
Sheesh.
Vovida, OS VoIP Beer recipe: free! #Source Cold pints: $2 #Product
Homophones, homonyms, and a side of Taco
on
"e-mail" vs "email"
·
· Score: 2
Personally I'm too lazy to care about the proper use of homonyms
Apparently you're also too lazy to care about the meaning
of homonym. A homonym is a word that is written exactly like another word, but has a
different meaning, e.g. wind (the noun), which looks
just like wind (the verb). For what it's worth, a
homophone is a word that sounds exactly like another word,
but has a different meaning, e.g. bear versus bare.
email and e-mail are neither homophones nor homonyms.:)
Sorry, I can't resist a little pedantry in the morning...
Vovida, OS VoIP Beer recipe: free! #Source Cold pints: $2 #Product
Aaargh. I look to the election news, and all I see are stories
and more bland, recycled stories about the presidential
candidates. Folks, if you have any political ideals at all,
your choice for president should be a no-brainer. Those
of you who are still saying the two candidates are the same
obviously are listening to their campaign rhetoric, and not
looking at the way Texas has been run lately or the way
Gore has voted in his days as a Representative.
The races that are harder to decide, and ultimately just
as important, are the local and U.S. Congressional races.
As usual, they've been badly ignored in the news media
this year. It's up to you to seek out information on them
(and hurry!) The composition of the House and Senate
makes more difference in upcoming legislation
than the next president. Don't like the DMCA? Wish
we could export crypto binaries? Want better Federal
education funding? Think Social Security monies should
be invested in the stock market? and what about environ-
mental reform? You'd better make an informed choice in these
races. All the social programs that Gore and Bush are kicking
around require legislation to address. Even the ones that
could be addressed through Administration programs are
going to need to get their funding somewhere.
The same goes for your state. In my experience, geeks tend
to think about politics in abstract and focus on large-scale
issues. That's as it should be, but please don't ignore
what is going on around you! Public education is
still funded mostly by property taxes, so it's largely a
state and local issue (and maybe you take issue with the whole
idea of rich neighborhoods getting better-funded schools;
I certainly do). Your city council controls development;
it alone will decide how to deal with issues of conservation,
affordable housing, and urban sprawl. Your local school
board may be gearing up to install censorware or ban sex
education. Your city may not allow you to carry a gun.
Many of you live in states where it's still against the law to
be gay. These are major points of contention, and they're
being played out at the state and local level.
The politics of coalition-building are quite a bit different at
this level, where many factions and lobbies have to be represented, and as
a result these elections are often more interesting than
presidential ones: the candidates are more differentiated.
Also, you might have a chance of electing a third-party
candidate in your state, as opposed to voting for one
as a protest gesture.
So there's my appeal. It may seem obvious, but it's easy
to lose sight of your full voting power while watching the
presidential races. You can't vote early, but you can
vote often. Make sure your views are represented in
your school board, your city council, your state house
and senate, and the chambers of Congress. Then
punch the line for president. If that last one is the hardest
decision you make this year, you're not paying attention.
Vovida, OS VoIP Beer recipe: free! #Source Cold pints: $2 #Product
You've asked a question near and dear to my heart. I graduated from IU last year with
a double major in classical studies and cognitive
science, and only a minor in computer science.
After an internship at IBM (coding Java--bleah),
I moved back to the Silicon Valley and got a job
as a programmer here at Vovida, a partly open-source voice over IP company. (Now I
spend most of my time coding Perl [not CGIs
as you might think, but GUI apps]. Ahh, much better.;) )
What is the point of this story? If you're interested in going into industry, you shouldn't
bother going to grad school. You will likely
learn more in the field actually creating real-
life, commercial sites than you will learn
doing projects in grad school. You'll be paid
well rather than subsisting on a stipend, and I can guarantee you that x years of experience will look better on your resume than x years of grad school.
Do you feel you have the skills you need to
do your work? I would suspect
you do. I am certainly able to do my work with
only a CS minor (though, in fairness, I am
largely self-taught. Pretty much nothing I
learned in school has any relevance to my work).
Remember, you need just the skills, not the
experience. The experience will come from
actually working in the field.
My answer, then, is that you shouldn't go to grad school unless you have
a compelling reason. I can see only two good reasons to go to
grad school, and both involve getting a Ph.D.
The first would be that you want to be a professor someday. The second would be that
you want to work in research, in a place like
Bell Labs, one of IBM's research centers, or
analogous entities within other large companies.
Good luck. I know you'll make the decision
that's right for you. I hope this post makes
it a little easier.:)
Vovida, OS VoIP Beer recipe: free! #Source Cold pints: $2 #Product
Last I heard, my alma mater, IU, had banned
Napster. Initially they banned it out of network bandwidth
concerns; then they reconfigured things somewhat to
segregate Napster-able networks from ones used for
serious research, and re-enabled Napster; then they
disabled it again after being threatened with a lawsuit.
Maybe this announcement will cause them to turn
the tables once more.;)
Vovida, OS VoIP Beer recipe: free! #Source Cold pints: $2 #Product
From what I have read about Gnutella they also "scale by seperation", meaning that messages do not actually reach the entire network, but only to some Nn number of nodes (this what they refer to as the horizon). Optimally, you would want to choose Nn so that you get equality in the equations from my last port. That may work, but as soon as you have hit Nn number users, you loose the network effect as new users joining will no longer bring any additional value to other users - which defeats the entire purpose IMHO.
Isn't that what IRC does, thus causing the dreaded netsplits?
Actually, I'd be interested to know how IRC addresses similar
problems. It works pretty well most of the time.
IETF RFC page, here I come...
Vovida, OS VoIP Beer recipe: free! #Source Cold pints: $2 #Product
Your attitude astounds me. Perhaps you think
we should be thankful to the government for being
"magnanimous enough" to give us freedom
of speech and assembly, and stop whining about
not being allowed to reverse-engineer code? Or maybe
you think we should get down on our knees and laud
its magnaminity for seeing fit to take some money away
from the Pentagon and sock it away for Social Security?
In a democracy, the government is run
by and for the people. The purpose of the government
is to serve our collective needs; that's the reason we
created it and invested it with power. Geeks are people, as are business types.
(I know this latter may come as a shock to some.;) )
The government, whose officers we elect and whose
taxes we pay, should be a tool for us to solve problems
too big for one individual or one corporation to solve.
Since the problem here is immigration laws, and an
individual can't change the country's laws
by fiat, this seems like a very obvious place
for a legislative solution. What else is the government for?
Vovida, OS VoIP Beer recipe: free! #Source Cold pints: $2 #Product
It is a very ambitious project. The goal is to make a single format not only for project metadata but also for package metadata,
abstracting over RPMs, debs, ports, and
the like. The leaning is toward making it
XML-based.
The leader of the project,
SF Perl Mongers' own Rich Morin, is being very circumspect about it, trying to gather lots of information from experts in different OSs and distributions, and of course working on it in his free time, so the product is not there now--but if you're interested in contributing to such an effort, this would be the place to help out.
Vovida, OS VoIP Beer recipe: free! #Source Cold pints: $2 #Product
At my last job (at the Unix Workstation Support Group at Indiana University--go UWSG!), I
knew a guy who still had his Altair. IU ended up signing a big bulk-license agreement with Microsoft, and as part of the deal Bill
Gates came and gave a big speech in the stadium.
My colleague was really annoyed that he had
thrown out his pirated BASIC punch-tape--he wanted to ask Bill to sign it.;)
For what it's worth, there were people in
penguin suits protesting outside the stadium,
and another one of my colleagues attended and
ask Bill a hard question about open source
(which he dodged). We did what we could.;)
Vovida, OS VoIP Beer recipe: free! #Source Cold pints: $2 #Product
Slashdot Mirror
Of course, any product that fails to satisfy that last criterion is neither free software by the FSF definition nor open-source software by the OSI definition. However, there are plenty of packages that claim to be "free" or "open" and in fact are not. (Consider Sun's SCSL, used for Java, or SSH's read-only licenses, used for ssh.)
In short, the question I ask myself when evaluating a piece of software is "Will this seemingly free software fuck me over in the future?" If I used Debian, I'd have an easy answer to that question, without having to check each package myself.*
*In fact, I don't use Debian, because I prefer RPM and the BSD ports as package formats, but that's another story.
http://www.advogato.org/article/343.html
;)
I send you this URL in order to have your advice.
For almost every question asked, his response boils down to, "Yep, we already have that. It was released a while ago. Here are the classes involved..."
--Q
By the way, I commend you for quitting NAI when they started closing source and talking about putting back doors in PGP. It can't have been an easy decision. Thanks for standing up to corporate as well as government attacks on freedom for so many years.
However, it contained the dumbest phrase I have read in weeks, clearly proof that the smartest people make silly mistakes from time to time:
Well, if it's inevitable, then by definition trying to avoid it is pointless (not just "probably pointless", pointless).
Sorry, I couldn't resist pointing this out.
--Q
By the way, this is the way Liberace got back at reporters for implying that he was gay. He actually went to court and swore that he was straight! Since no one could find evidence to the contrary, he won the case.
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
I'd rather play at hug o' war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.
-- Shel Silverstein, "Hug o' War"
Of course, adults tend to be better than children at playing this kind of game... ;)
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
Actually, the Hurd is disturbingly like that... it pushes all kinds of functionality traditionally relegated to the kernel into user space, so individual users can run their own filesystems and the like. I think RMS likes the idea because it allows users almost complete freedom to hack their environments, right down to the kernel itself. Personally, when it comes to OS fun, I'd much rather buy a machine of my own than time-share the Hurd with a bunch of maniacal user-space kernel hackers...
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
Obviously the ancient Greeks had a different way of thinking about writing. Why this is the case is anyone's guess. It wasn't unfamiliarity with writing; almost all the free population of Periklean Athens, male and female, learned to read and write in public schools.
Does anyone know of other languages where this phenomenon occurs?
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
You're right: That would be really cool. I have been teaching myself Palm OS programming (using the O'Reilly book :) ), and I just
might take this and run with it as a fun exercise. I will credit you
in the source and the About screen if I do so. Thanks!
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
I know, there's a bug knee-jerk reaction against this idea because most modern art is ugly. People tend to fight you over the idea until they are presented with an example that they actually like, like the Celtic abstract designs popular in tattoos, or the Eiffel Tower, or [insert your favorite piece of instrumental music].
If you don't like these works, that's fine, but don't try to justify your personal preference by bashing abstract expressionism.
By the way, these scribbles do mean something to the artist. As it says in the article, they're part of his "fascination" with the process of writing. So maybe they are really "about" a deep reverence for the human form, its manner of moving, and the way those movements can be captured on paper. Or maybe the artist was stoned and got into a groove on writing. I don't know. The point is, it's not devoid of meaning.
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
You wouldn't compare Casablanca and Battlefield Earth without first watching them, right?
Sheesh.
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
Apparently you're also too lazy to care about the meaning of homonym. A homonym is a word that is written exactly like another word, but has a different meaning, e.g. wind (the noun), which looks just like wind (the verb). For what it's worth, a homophone is a word that sounds exactly like another word, but has a different meaning, e.g. bear versus bare.
email and e-mail are neither homophones nor homonyms. :)
Sorry, I can't resist a little pedantry in the morning...
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
The races that are harder to decide, and ultimately just as important, are the local and U.S. Congressional races. As usual, they've been badly ignored in the news media this year. It's up to you to seek out information on them (and hurry!) The composition of the House and Senate makes more difference in upcoming legislation than the next president. Don't like the DMCA? Wish we could export crypto binaries? Want better Federal education funding? Think Social Security monies should be invested in the stock market? and what about environ- mental reform? You'd better make an informed choice in these races. All the social programs that Gore and Bush are kicking around require legislation to address. Even the ones that could be addressed through Administration programs are going to need to get their funding somewhere.
The same goes for your state. In my experience, geeks tend to think about politics in abstract and focus on large-scale issues. That's as it should be, but please don't ignore what is going on around you! Public education is still funded mostly by property taxes, so it's largely a state and local issue (and maybe you take issue with the whole idea of rich neighborhoods getting better-funded schools; I certainly do). Your city council controls development; it alone will decide how to deal with issues of conservation, affordable housing, and urban sprawl. Your local school board may be gearing up to install censorware or ban sex education. Your city may not allow you to carry a gun. Many of you live in states where it's still against the law to be gay. These are major points of contention, and they're being played out at the state and local level.
The politics of coalition-building are quite a bit different at this level, where many factions and lobbies have to be represented, and as a result these elections are often more interesting than presidential ones: the candidates are more differentiated. Also, you might have a chance of electing a third-party candidate in your state, as opposed to voting for one as a protest gesture.
So there's my appeal. It may seem obvious, but it's easy to lose sight of your full voting power while watching the presidential races. You can't vote early, but you can vote often. Make sure your views are represented in your school board, your city council, your state house and senate, and the chambers of Congress. Then punch the line for president. If that last one is the hardest decision you make this year, you're not paying attention.
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
of course, this mode of searching requires much more user interaction. :P
Starting my morning the right way,
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
You've asked a question near and dear to my heart. I graduated from IU last year with a double major in classical studies and cognitive science, and only a minor in computer science. After an internship at IBM (coding Java--bleah), I moved back to the Silicon Valley and got a job as a programmer here at Vovida, a partly open-source voice over IP company. (Now I spend most of my time coding Perl [not CGIs as you might think, but GUI apps]. Ahh, much better. ;) )
What is the point of this story? If you're interested in going into industry, you shouldn't bother going to grad school. You will likely learn more in the field actually creating real- life, commercial sites than you will learn doing projects in grad school. You'll be paid well rather than subsisting on a stipend, and I can guarantee you that x years of experience will look better on your resume than x years of grad school.
Do you feel you have the skills you need to do your work? I would suspect you do. I am certainly able to do my work with only a CS minor (though, in fairness, I am largely self-taught. Pretty much nothing I learned in school has any relevance to my work). Remember, you need just the skills, not the experience. The experience will come from actually working in the field.
My answer, then, is that you shouldn't go to grad school unless you have a compelling reason. I can see only two good reasons to go to grad school, and both involve getting a Ph.D. The first would be that you want to be a professor someday. The second would be that you want to work in research, in a place like Bell Labs, one of IBM's research centers, or analogous entities within other large companies.
Good luck. I know you'll make the decision that's right for you. I hope this post makes it a little easier. :)
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
Isn't that what IRC does, thus causing the dreaded netsplits? Actually, I'd be interested to know how IRC addresses similar problems. It works pretty well most of the time.
IETF RFC page, here I come...
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
In a democracy, the government is run by and for the people. The purpose of the government is to serve our collective needs; that's the reason we created it and invested it with power. Geeks are people, as are business types. (I know this latter may come as a shock to some. ;) )
The government, whose officers we elect and whose
taxes we pay, should be a tool for us to solve problems
too big for one individual or one corporation to solve.
Since the problem here is immigration laws, and an
individual can't change the country's laws
by fiat, this seems like a very obvious place
for a legislative solution. What else is the government for?
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
The leader of the project, SF Perl Mongers' own Rich Morin, is being very circumspect about it, trying to gather lots of information from experts in different OSs and distributions, and of course working on it in his free time, so the product is not there now--but if you're interested in contributing to such an effort, this would be the place to help out.
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product
For what it's worth, there were people in penguin suits protesting outside the stadium, and another one of my colleagues attended and ask Bill a hard question about open source (which he dodged). We did what we could. ;)
Vovida, OS VoIP
Beer recipe: free! #Source
Cold pints: $2 #Product