I understand the author's point in that "transparency == quality", but COMPLETE transparency will probably have couter-productive effects in the capitalist, real world.
OSS are developed by people who care about sharing and improving and other ideologies. This is great, but what's the percentage of idealists in all human beings? 10%? 20%? Most people just try to get ahead/by. I'd go so far to say that most companies just try to get ahead/by. And that means building competitive advantages and making money.
If tomorrow the government make it a law for all software to go open source, I'll bet that 80% of the companies will figure that they'll make more money selling groceries than writing software.
How's that progress? Like it or not, proprietary code drives competition, just like greed drives civilizations. Necessary evil if you will.
I know it is very tempting to just trust a brand, but shouldn't consumers be doing their homework before taking the hit?
If we all just buy without "cracking open the cover", we'd all be using Microsft everything.
And now you won't buy any O'Reilly book without cracking open the cover either. I am sure it's their loss to lose customers like yourself, but you might also be missing out if you just blindly trust/don't trust a brand.
As long as we are on this subject, there is a hugh ruin(?) discovered off the coast of Japan.
http://www.morien-institute.org/yonaguni.html
I said '?' is because nothing distinctly man-made (e.g. writings etc.) has been found, but a large number of structures that are too rare to happen just by erosion. Stuff like a perfect cube "stages" and lots of right-angled platforms just boggles the mind.
As a Chinese myself, I can testify that Crouching Tiger was definitely not inspired by Matrix - the fighting style and storyline is typical of Hong Kong TV shows probably since TV programs were produced there. I grew up in Hong Kong in the 70's but as a kid I've seen re-runs with people flying around and where the heros/heroines were idoits when it comes to expressing feelings!.
While I do think that the fighting sequence was cool, I found it over done and the film was really lacking in story. I think the movie can be summed up in six words: "it's all about an unpredictable teenager". As far as movies with teenagers possessing destructive powers, I think the X-Men was way better!
One last anal observation: I found the historical timing in the film all wrong. The story was supposed to be around 200AD (according to the movie, Green Dynasty sword was supposed to be crafted around the Han Dynasty and then lost for 400 years). But Beijing was nothing more than a village (if even that) until the Mogolian controlled China and made it the capital city(1300 AD). And then the clothing and hair style in the movie was of Quing Dynasty (1700 AD).
I know this is a mood point, but I was still rather expecting more from a famed director such as Ang Lee.
As a side note, I saw Chocolat the day right after I saw Crouching Tiger. I had a much, much more enjoyable time with Chocolat than with Crouching Tiger, and I am surprised it is not mentioned by Jon at all. It has a great story and the filming was done beautifully. Maybe I'm getting old, but I find myself looking for a story in a movie rather than cool fighting sequence.
Just my.02
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Why don't they do my taxes for me? They do that in England!
why should the software industry?
I understand the author's point in that "transparency == quality", but COMPLETE transparency will probably have couter-productive effects in the capitalist, real world.
OSS are developed by people who care about sharing and improving and other ideologies. This is great, but what's the percentage of idealists in all human beings? 10%? 20%? Most people just try to get ahead/by. I'd go so far to say that most companies just try to get ahead/by. And that means building competitive advantages and making money.
If tomorrow the government make it a law for all software to go open source, I'll bet that 80% of the companies will figure that they'll make more money selling groceries than writing software.
How's that progress? Like it or not, proprietary code drives competition, just like greed drives civilizations. Necessary evil if you will.
You can get the Sharp Zaurus
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http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_gen.php?form
I know it is very tempting to just trust a brand, but shouldn't consumers be doing their homework before taking the hit?
If we all just buy without "cracking open the cover", we'd all be using Microsft everything.
And now you won't buy any O'Reilly book without cracking open the cover either. I am sure it's their loss to lose customers like yourself, but you might also be missing out if you just blindly trust/don't trust a brand.
As long as we are on this subject, there is a hugh ruin(?) discovered off the coast of Japan.
http://www.morien-institute.org/yonaguni.html
I said '?' is because nothing distinctly man-made (e.g. writings etc.) has been found, but a large number of structures that are too rare to happen just by erosion. Stuff like a perfect cube "stages" and lots of right-angled platforms just boggles the mind.
As a Chinese myself, I can testify that Crouching Tiger was definitely not inspired by Matrix - the fighting style and storyline is typical of Hong Kong TV shows probably since TV programs were produced there. I grew up in Hong Kong in the 70's but as a kid I've seen re-runs with people flying around and where the heros/heroines were idoits when it comes to expressing feelings!. While I do think that the fighting sequence was cool, I found it over done and the film was really lacking in story. I think the movie can be summed up in six words: "it's all about an unpredictable teenager". As far as movies with teenagers possessing destructive powers, I think the X-Men was way better! One last anal observation: I found the historical timing in the film all wrong. The story was supposed to be around 200AD (according to the movie, Green Dynasty sword was supposed to be crafted around the Han Dynasty and then lost for 400 years). But Beijing was nothing more than a village (if even that) until the Mogolian controlled China and made it the capital city(1300 AD). And then the clothing and hair style in the movie was of Quing Dynasty (1700 AD). I know this is a mood point, but I was still rather expecting more from a famed director such as Ang Lee. As a side note, I saw Chocolat the day right after I saw Crouching Tiger. I had a much, much more enjoyable time with Chocolat than with Crouching Tiger, and I am surprised it is not mentioned by Jon at all. It has a great story and the filming was done beautifully. Maybe I'm getting old, but I find myself looking for a story in a movie rather than cool fighting sequence. Just my .02