Ultimately, the entire mess of 'IP' really
can gets down to a simple fact: the species
known as homo sapiens is the only life form
known that can be creative enough to write software. Unfortunately, this same species
is also the only life form known that
attempts to control others for their own
personal gain.
Since the courts, congress, bush, and big business
are on the controlling side, and those of us
that are creative and support GPL (and possibly
other nearly fully free licenses) are mainly on the
other side, the forces at work are not really
in balance. The current SCO vs IBM case is
truly indicative of that. There will be many
battles, but ultimately, the forces of freedom
will have to prevail.
Why, you ask?
Because, if the rights to be creative are taken
away, then there is no reason for the species
known as homo sapiens to exist.
Having copper to you with power supplied by the
local telco is great. But with fibre, the power
will be on your nickle. Never drop use of plain
ol' copper completely.
In the meantime, point out that if they really
want it to grow, they need to cut out the rules.
They are just there to maintain the pricing
structure, which is really a major ripoff for
the user. Make the charges truly relate to the
costs (ex: 3WC), allow anyone to run servers
(it's their own fault if they don't secure them
properly, if they fail to do so, you cut them off
until they can demonstrate they are not a zombie),
and provide decent upstream bandwidth at a reasonable cost. And please, when dealing with
costs, be fair, and segregate hardware costs
vrs software costs. We know when those are out of line.
It doesn't matter if they compile the code,
and it works. It doesn't matter if the binaries match. It doesn't matter that inspection
of the source does not reveal any security problems.
The bottom line is that they will never see all
of the source, so there is no way to verify that
lower level DLLs don't have security issues/backdoors.
This entire 'handout' from MS is nothing more
than a ploy to taint those reviewers, and to
hopefully lock those governments into MS.
And if you grok on Groklaw enough, (I'm not doing it now), IIRC, someone who was there, in the trenches, said that they did *NOT* use the libraries.
(well, I tried to find it, but gave up)
Hell, I get buried on Groklaw because I
do read all of the comments. I've found new respect
for those managing a law firm. Just keeping
track of everything in a case like SCO vs IBM
has to be challenging.
Which is why you should build your own router.
And if you have to have Windows machines around,
put them on their own lan, keeping your Linux
machines separate. Look to defend with iptables
against inside attackers as well as outside attackers.
Now what is disturbing is how the media is too wimpy and broke to really stand up to the bush administration. It's amazing how the bush
administration consisently says how liberal
the media is, and that the liberal media is always
bashing the bush administration. Nothing is farther
from the truth. The media has bent over backwards
since 9-11 to allow the bush administration to
say what they want, rarely questioning or providing alternate views.
Slashdot Mirror
Right?
The big deal is that Baxter (the chimp) is a proud Linux hacker, and had previously refused to touch any machine with MS software.
It the universe is expanding due to the Big Bang, then why would galaxy clusters ever meet?
Since the courts, congress, bush, and big business are on the controlling side, and those of us that are creative and support GPL (and possibly other nearly fully free licenses) are mainly on the other side, the forces at work are not really in balance. The current SCO vs IBM case is truly indicative of that. There will be many battles, but ultimately, the forces of freedom will have to prevail.
Why, you ask? Because, if the rights to be creative are taken away, then there is no reason for the species known as homo sapiens to exist.
In Missouri, the republicans are asking for lists of voters that have requested absentee ballots. Here's one story.
Yep, here too.
Having copper to you with power supplied by the local telco is great. But with fibre, the power will be on your nickle. Never drop use of plain ol' copper completely.
In the meantime, point out that if they really want it to grow, they need to cut out the rules. They are just there to maintain the pricing structure, which is really a major ripoff for the user. Make the charges truly relate to the costs (ex: 3WC), allow anyone to run servers (it's their own fault if they don't secure them properly, if they fail to do so, you cut them off until they can demonstrate they are not a zombie), and provide decent upstream bandwidth at a reasonable cost. And please, when dealing with costs, be fair, and segregate hardware costs vrs software costs. We know when those are out of line.
Wait. They said 'talked on the phone'.
You're OK since you only use the phone for dialup.
The 'wave function' is leaning to the story being true simply because bush has made no effort to refute them.
It's too late. Sun has already gotten in bed with MS.
The bottom line is that they will never see all of the source, so there is no way to verify that lower level DLLs don't have security issues/backdoors.
This entire 'handout' from MS is nothing more than a ploy to taint those reviewers, and to hopefully lock those governments into MS.
PP should be modded 'insightful'.
Also, because what will become the worst of the spammers (Big Biznuss) will never be prosecuted anyway.
'It' being the newer stuff, not the stuff you had trouble cleaning up, right?
</pedant>
Damn, why does SCO come to mind here?
It was the SCO puppetmaster that said the GPL is viral.
Fortunately, SCO can only fish in the skating rink for a limited time.
(well, I tried to find it, but gave up)
Hell, I get buried on Groklaw because I do read all of the comments. I've found new respect for those managing a law firm. Just keeping track of everything in a case like SCO vs IBM has to be challenging.
Of course, you don't need a license to say:
Go fuck yourself SCO!
I heard the veep say something like that.
Remember, if you hack on Linux (or plan to), you best not review the code.
Even cheaper, burn a Knoppix CD.
Which is why you should build your own router. And if you have to have Windows machines around, put them on their own lan, keeping your Linux machines separate. Look to defend with iptables against inside attackers as well as outside attackers.
Then what do you call this?
Now what is disturbing is how the media is too wimpy and broke to really stand up to the bush administration. It's amazing how the bush administration consisently says how liberal the media is, and that the liberal media is always bashing the bush administration. Nothing is farther from the truth. The media has bent over backwards since 9-11 to allow the bush administration to say what they want, rarely questioning or providing alternate views.
I now point you to more recent news regarding USB.
Actually, it's a two point swing in the bigger picture.