Remind us what SCO's legal case is all about please...
Under your "logic" I can start tomorrow demanding to be paid for every hamburger in the universe while suing Mc Donalds for stealing my secret formula for makind ground meat. According to you I would be a winner....
I, in the other hand, have experienced support situations in which you have an Engineer helping for several days, 24/day, if necessary re-assigning the problem to a person in a different time zone so you are always in touch with somebody that is fresh and not as knackered as yourself.
USENET? Yeah, first place to look, it solves many problems, but the tricky ones *have* to be solved by the software provider or a competent support provider.
... but access to somebody that knows what he is doing, can go and check the code, provide a patch and work with you, provided undistracted attention to your problem until it is solved.
A volunteer OSS developer in general will not do that for you.
... to use unauditable, non transparent tools?(encumbered by NDAs, copyrights, patents,etc).
Whenever any organization requests bidders for a project, wether you like it or not, some resrictions have to be put, according to the project.
In the case of a goverment, transparency (the freedom to check that a software tool is fit for the task) and accountability (to ensure that anybody can check that a given tool does whay it says it does) are obviously restrictive factors. Closed source companies should be grateful that many foverments for many years did not care about these basic issues related to software procurement.
Thank goodness goverments are selective (i.e. restrictive) when choosing the tools they need for a given task.
And as a citizen of a democratic country I do not believe the results some software is issuing.
How can I request for an audit of the software if the source code is not available?
Closed source software should be considered a stop-gap measure that allowed goverments to have access to modern software tools. With the availability of similar tools in the FLOSS world there is little justification for using closed source software.
Goverments have normally to take into account different things when choosing a tool. Price is one of them, but accountability and transparency should be even more important in my opinion. Form that point closed source software are not a realistic choice for responsible goverments.
In a country with unemployment levels so low as in the US only the lazy, ill or stupid do not find work.
Having lived in places where a job is the last of the concerns of people it really irks me the sheepesh middle class conformity of being willing to do anything in order to keep a job.
What would be your opinion of somebody using a cellphone while using a gun?
Well, let me brake these news to you, your car is a lethal weapon that can cause death and destruction for many people in one go (actually it can be far more devastating than a regular gun).
I don't want you or anybody else using a potentially dangerous contraption while distracted discussing why your marketing department screwed up.
There is a point where you have to draw a line, a line that your job responsibilities should not cross. This seems like an ideally suited ocassion.
In regards to talking to passengers you are right, conversation is also a distraction and should be avoided, specially if the subject is taxing. Nevertheless, in this situation at least you have more eyeballs looking at the road, which makes it a tad less dangerous, but that can still be reckless.
In regards to the other activities I tend to agree with you, I think it would be time to check the wisdom of including all these gadgets in cars.
Most proficient musicians can sit down, listen to the music, write it down, and play it back, for further distribution, "illegal" or otherwise.
What I am saying is tha the recordign companies are wasting their time, should give us what we want (access to their hughe libraries of music without DRM crap, they have a competitive advantage that will last for a while, tehy could in the meantime figure out that the only ones making moneys will be the good artists and then realize that their only legitimate role in the future may be is as a PR company or managing agent, not as a distributor or copyright holder.
Why should I have a mobile that costs 100-150 US$ (I am in the UK) for which I have to pay double or triple the cost of the line rental when compared to a landline?
I don't need to be contactable all the time, my ansewring machine at home can take care of that, and for contacting people I use an old mobile with Pay as you Go capabilities, or I call form my office or home phone, places where I spend at least 18 hours a day?
There are far too many people out there rushing to buy this stuff for no good reason whatsoever.
At the same time a PDA has been quite convenient and I would not like to be without one.
I don't think there is any good reason to link both devices in all conditions, for pople like me it is far more convenient to have differentiated devices, for others it may be the opossite, I believe there is space for both situations and market big enough to allow for them.
Many underdevelopped countries (3rd word countries is so passe) have clear property rights. The problems lie elsewhere.
Yeah, there are some countries where property rights could not be warranted, but they are mostly countries in which that did not matter much since other slightly more worrying issues like widespread famine or ethnic cleansing was keeping people's minds occupied.
Media corporations? Like who? Like the movie studios that are moving to free software?
Wall street? That during the dot crom frenzy poured enormous amounts of cash in companies based in OS projects?
Millison of employees of propietary softawre companies? That save millions by using free software as a development platform (and which are the minority of programmers anyway, since most programming work is in in-house applications).
Retirees? Tell me why please. I need to be amused.
Investment bankers? Ha,ha,ha. I work with one. We have a standard Linux environment. Next.
Intelligence agencies? Because they can check all the code?
Slashdot Mirror
... turn your allegoric filter on.
Thank you.
Remind us what SCO's legal case is all about please...
Under your "logic" I can start tomorrow demanding to be paid for every hamburger in the universe while suing Mc Donalds for stealing my secret formula for makind ground meat. According to you I would be a winner....
I, in the other hand, have experienced support situations in which you have an Engineer helping for several days, 24/day, if necessary re-assigning the problem to a person in a different time zone so you are always in touch with somebody that is fresh and not as knackered as yourself.
USENET? Yeah, first place to look, it solves many problems, but the tricky ones *have* to be solved by the software provider or a competent support provider.
... but access to somebody that knows what he is doing, can go and check the code, provide a patch and work with you, provided undistracted attention to your problem until it is solved.
A volunteer OSS developer in general will not do that for you.
Organized, available when you need it, accountable support.
If we were discussing a rape case you would be playing devil's advocate saying that we should not be so biased against the *convicted* rapist.
Heck, I am sure an AC like you would even suggest that it is the victim's fault.
Pathetic.
... to use unauditable, non transparent tools?(encumbered by NDAs, copyrights, patents,etc).
Whenever any organization requests bidders for a project, wether you like it or not, some resrictions have to be put, according to the project.
In the case of a goverment, transparency (the freedom to check that a software tool is fit for the task) and accountability (to ensure that anybody can check that a given tool does whay it says it does) are obviously restrictive factors. Closed source companies should be grateful that many foverments for many years did not care about these basic issues related to software procurement.
Thank goodness goverments are selective (i.e. restrictive) when choosing the tools they need for a given task.
And as a citizen of a democratic country I do not believe the results some software is issuing.
How can I request for an audit of the software if the source code is not available?
Closed source software should be considered a stop-gap measure that allowed goverments to have access to modern software tools. With the availability of similar tools in the FLOSS world there is little justification for using closed source software.
Goverments have normally to take into account different things when choosing a tool. Price is one of them, but accountability and transparency should be even more important in my opinion. Form that point closed source software are not a realistic choice for responsible goverments.
... a CD as "a broadcast"???
In a country with unemployment levels so low as in the US only the lazy, ill or stupid do not find work.
Having lived in places where a job is the last of the concerns of people it really irks me the sheepesh middle class conformity of being willing to do anything in order to keep a job.
What would be your opinion of somebody using a cellphone while using a gun?
Well, let me brake these news to you, your car is a lethal weapon that can cause death and destruction for many people in one go (actually it can be far more devastating than a regular gun).
I don't want you or anybody else using a potentially dangerous contraption while distracted discussing why your marketing department screwed up.
There is a point where you have to draw a line, a line that your job responsibilities should not cross. This seems like an ideally suited ocassion.
In regards to talking to passengers you are right, conversation is also a distraction and should be avoided, specially if the subject is taxing. Nevertheless, in this situation at least you have more eyeballs looking at the road, which makes it a tad less dangerous, but that can still be reckless.
In regards to the other activities I tend to agree with you, I think it would be time to check the wisdom of including all these gadgets in cars.
... at least you have an additional pair of eyes scanning dangers.
Cell phones should be banned on cars, Period.
Why should you be wondering, when you can actually know ?
Is cd burning part of the OS? The direct instructions that control the burner, yeah, the pretty interface, nay.
Web browser? You must be joking, but hopefully you have been educated....
Goverments do not affect the economy.
To inccur in a debt of 87 billion US$ to "reconstruct" a foreign country will have neither a positive nor negative effect in the US economy.
To protect US steel producers will have no effect on the economy.
To ignore the Kyoto agreement will have no effect on the economy.
NAFTA did not have any effect on the economy.
Man, thanks for letting me know, I was under such false impressions that I now feel ashamed of my ignorance.
It is just that the politicians have legalized it and you, the US citizens, even defend such rotten state of affairs.
... don't ejaculate such nonsense.
Anonimity is the only thing that ensures people can vote according to their beliefs and not to social pressures.
The two sets of skills (politician, critic) do not necessarily intersect but bot are necessary.
Our brain and musical skills.
Most proficient musicians can sit down, listen to the music, write it down, and play it back, for further distribution, "illegal" or otherwise.
What I am saying is tha the recordign companies are wasting their time, should give us what we want (access to their hughe libraries of music without DRM crap, they have a competitive advantage that will last for a while, tehy could in the meantime figure out that the only ones making moneys will be the good artists and then realize that their only legitimate role in the future may be is as a PR company or managing agent, not as a distributor or copyright holder.
Why should I have a mobile that costs 100-150 US$ (I am in the UK) for which I have to pay double or triple the cost of the line rental when compared to a landline?
I don't need to be contactable all the time, my ansewring machine at home can take care of that, and for contacting people I use an old mobile with Pay as you Go capabilities, or I call form my office or home phone, places where I spend at least 18 hours a day?
There are far too many people out there rushing to buy this stuff for no good reason whatsoever.
At the same time a PDA has been quite convenient and I would not like to be without one.
I don't think there is any good reason to link both devices in all conditions, for pople like me it is far more convenient to have differentiated devices, for others it may be the opossite, I believe there is space for both situations and market big enough to allow for them.
Don't be parochial, I could claim the same and I am not USian neither live in the US thus I don't abide to those laws.
I would rightly be struck down by the international treaties in the matter that in broad terms forbid these kind of stunts.
Many underdevelopped countries (3rd word countries is so passe) have clear property rights. The problems lie elsewhere.
Yeah, there are some countries where property rights could not be warranted, but they are mostly countries in which that did not matter much since other slightly more worrying issues like widespread famine or ethnic cleansing was keeping people's minds occupied.
A beowulf cluster of... what?... there is only one in the world?...never mind...
.... it is ridculous to claim that there are companies producing milk. Everybody knows that only cows produce milk....
The worst thing that could happen is unemployment.
Which in some places (SCO has offices in some countries) like Germany is far better than flipping burgers.
Good one, honestly.
Let me humor you, iam such a nice chap.
Media corporations? Like who? Like the movie studios that are moving to free software?
Wall street? That during the dot crom frenzy poured enormous amounts of cash in companies based in OS projects?
Millison of employees of propietary softawre companies? That save millions by using free software as a development platform (and which are the minority of programmers anyway, since most programming work is in in-house applications).
Retirees? Tell me why please. I need to be amused.
Investment bankers? Ha,ha,ha. I work with one. We have a standard Linux environment. Next.
Intelligence agencies? Because they can check all the code?
try again please.