The GPL exists to restrict your freedom to use software the way you want, but with the aim being to protect "greater freedoms" - such as right to modify derivatives.
It could be argued that restricting the software to non-military uses might also be protecting more important rights - such as the right to life. After all there are between 10,000 and 40,000 dead Iraqi civilians who can no longer exercise their rights to use free software.
Does the fact that your software may be used by the military in a rescue operation offset the dead civilians in some way?
The most important part of XP and Agile techniques in my opinion is rolling out the most basic thing you can early on that people can actually use. Then keep on making incremental improvements to it whilst adding more functionality and tests and rolling it out to more people. This does require support from the client and a change in the relationship from 300page legally binding technical specifications to an iterative approach based on trust and early feedback. You are right most companies that claim to be doing XP aren't doing it properly since their relationship with the client has not switched to an iterative basis.
Pretty much the worst way to develop software is write a a 300 page legally binding ironclad specification which you give to a bunch of contractors along with a "release date". Then get a bunch of architects togethor to design a system handing over the details to some junior developers whom by 80% into the project almost all know the project is going wrong but don't care because they are still going to get paid - and blame it on management.
The biggest problem XP solved was the way of working with the cusomters incrementally without big upfront design, but this still isn't happening in these big contracts. Companies are more interested in writing specs and "handing off" to the contracting company and then sueing them when it all goes tits up. The fact that so much was written down and checked by lawyers means that people can cover their arses and people are more interested in covering their arses with big fuck off contracts than developing software in an incremental way which allows for changing requirements and reduced risks.
Big companies haven't really brought in to this aspect of agile/XP development and is another reason why people say "XP failed" when actually they have ignored the bits of XP that would have most benefited them. Change in this regard is of course hard as a whole fucked up system has developed around tendering and specifications and lawyers, lot's and lot's of lawyers. CEOs and governments feel confortable with the existing system even though they know it doesn't work.
I have a HP omnibook 6000 and the connection near the laptop started to short. There is a lot of pressure on this part of the connector as you move about with your laptop. Probably the inner wires can rub bare before you notice any damage to the exterior.
I was wearing boxers and the shorting wires were against my naked leg when i discovered the problem, so I have limited sympathy for this guy with his burnt paper.
2. They're burning through money and, so far as we've seen, don't really have a plan for how to stop burning through money.
They'll run adverts, and it will be very profitable.
And Google knows it.
Re:I fear a repeat of the Bison fiasco...
on
The FSF, GPLv3 and DRM
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· Score: 3, Interesting
DRM will be used to attempt to restrict users rights to read documents, share documents, listen to music, watch films and possibly connect to other systems.
Microsoft, the RIAA and the MPAA have wanted to be able to do this for a long time.
We will then need a blessed versions of Linux that has been signed by a major financial backer like IBM who could give kickbacks to the right cartels just to be able to access the content we can currenly use and to read files sent to us from Microsoft machines.
I don't know if Richard Stallman stands much chance against the tide of monopolies and cartels that want to use DRM to restrict our rights(RIAA/MPAA) and kill competition (Microsoft).
Also Microsoft has a schizophrenic relationship with Apple.
They want to sell more copies of Windows and directly compete with apple for market share but every time they get prosecuted for being a monopoly they want to show that they aren't unfairly locking people into Windows. They keep releasing stuff for Apple like media player and office so they can pretend they have "real" competition and aren't using proprietary file formats as a lock-in.
There are many people focussed on getting stuff out the door including Apple and Microsoft, of course MS has not been so good at it lately:) but they have shipped a lot of software over the years.
I use GNU/linux because of the rights i am given to use and modify the whole platform. If linux is not protected from DRM abuses and my ability to modify and use my system the way i want is restricted then I will move to another platform when it comes along.
I'll even start testing a buggy Hurd kernel if I have to.
There are questions as to whether the current GPL is "good enough", I don't know all the nitty gritty about the DRM issues but I suspect RMS is right. If he is, then eventually we'll need a GPLv3 Kernel or a kernel released under a similar license. By then we could have wasted a lot of time as people have their rights slowly erroded by the DRM restrictions and one by one give up on Linux. This could result in a lot of wasted time in continued development on a dead end linux kernel.
I'm a software developer, I'm used to looking at worst case scenarios.
The difference between the Israelis killing Arabs and Arabs killing Israelis is that the Arabs wrap their children in high explosives and send them off to blow themselves up in crowded public areas without warning and without mercy.
A large number of those Arabs have been involved in a long running war with Israel whom they consider to have stolen their land and destroyed their livelihoods. They are fighting an enemy massively better funded and armed (by the United States) who employ tactics deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice and condemned by the Secretary General of the United Nations.
As a British person I accept that Israel exists and we must practically do everything we can to stop the violence. However, I also accept that Brtiain broke a lot of promises to Arabs in the Balfour Declaration and today the US and the UK continue to supply weapons to Israel that kill innocent women, children and now UN workers, despite the fact that Israel is in breach of international law.
Looking at the history of it and the current situation, I would have to say "we" (US/UK in particular) are responsible for a lot of deaths on both sides.
While doubtlessly you are technically correct, for desktop computing i'm not sure it makes much difference. Since only the windows hash will allow secured files to be open and secured apps to be run.
Microsoft will easily be able to convince the MPAA/RIAA that the only safe hash is the windows one and make the office formats "secured" to the windows hash. Some organisations like debian may not wish or be able to restrict peoples rights to their own machine so there will be no reason for anyone to value their hash (also you can bet microsoft will give kickbacks to companies that allow their formats to only play back under a windows hash).
Ultimately everything that normal users want like to read files, play music, watch films, read emails could result in requiring a windows hash, at what point microsoft might as well just be doing all the signing with their own Root key all other OS hashes are useless. Except this way is slightly preferrable to Microsoft because the technology looks platform neutral.
The 10% claim for shares is also complete garbage from the get-go because it ignores taxes and fees.
I live in the UK where I reckon we've averaged about 6% after inflation and fees for a cheap index tracker in a government approved non-taxable wrapper(ISA) which is actually a pretty good risk/return if you are investing for at least 10 years. Possibly the only safer/better long term one is buying a house that you also live in.
I think the strongest argument you have is that we don't know if past performance will continue, maybe there is a major change due. My personal opinion is that Gillette and Coke are going to be raking it in for a long time to come and shorting the NASDAQ is just a pure gamble - even if an interesting one.
No no, I think the he's sensible to wait in this case.
I was going to buy a Z1 (Konrad Zuse) originally, but decided to wait a while for the price of vacuum tubes to fall, then it looked like I was better holding off for a "transistor" based machine. To cut a long story short, now I'm waiting for a quad-core machine.
I've saved a fortune by playing it safe over the years and just think how stupid I'd look now if I *had* brought that Z1!
A) To prove that it is illegal in britian. B) So that they can increase political pressure on the Russian Government. ie "AllofMp3.com is operating illegally in other countries please bring your laws in line with ours or we'll continue to impose tarrifs on XXX Russian goods." (Obviously this isn't a direct a plea by the MPAA but one made through other governments and possibly made through the WTO as the result of lobbying)
It doesn't *always* denote importance. however, if a tiered storage system improves performnce a large enough percentage of the time then I'd live with a drop in performance on the odd occasion. Similarly to using spare memory for IO/file caching.
Heh, sometimes they do - but you'd be amazed at what goes on in the online advertising world. One advertising company I used to work for once had a request to configure an ad campaign to run each advert for 30seconds then switch the advert the user was viewing to a different one.
Only later did we discover it was to bypass a websites manual safety check, where they check each advert complies with their rules by watching it for 20 seconds.
Most people are about as likely to install a new Operating System on their PC as they are to upgrade the firmware on their DVD player.
If an OEM wants to actually advertise and push pre-installed Linux so that people could try it without having to install themselves then that OEM would have it's windows license rebate cut to the point they can't compete.
In the unlikely event a user knows what an Operating System is and wants to try a different one then he has to do the install and sort out any driver problems himself (since the OEM won't).
If he succeeds in fixing the various install issues then he will find Microsoft has made it's Office Documents impossible to reliably read in anything other than Windows and with the aid of governments and the media cartels is actively trying to ensure that as much media content as possible will be DRM locked to only play on Windows - with a prison sentence if you try and play it back on Linux.
Let's remove these unfair market manipulations and check where we are.
Now there is a common office format reliably readable/writable across both linux and windows and the same applies to all media formats. Every machine is sold without an Operating System by default and if users want to buy Windows/Office they pay for it- Linux remains free.
Slashdot Mirror
The GPL exists to restrict your freedom to use software the way you want, but with the aim being to protect "greater freedoms" - such as right to modify derivatives.
It could be argued that restricting the software to non-military uses might also be protecting more important rights - such as the right to life.
After all there are between 10,000 and 40,000 dead Iraqi civilians who can no longer exercise their rights to use free software.
Does the fact that your software may be used by the military in a rescue operation offset the dead civilians in some way?
Depends somewhat on your view of morality.
The most important part of XP and Agile techniques in my opinion is rolling out the most basic thing you can early on that people can actually use. Then keep on making incremental improvements to it whilst adding more functionality and tests and rolling it out to more people. This does require support from the client and a change in the relationship from 300page legally binding technical specifications to an iterative approach based on trust and early feedback.
You are right most companies that claim to be doing XP aren't doing it properly since their relationship with the client has not switched to an iterative basis.
Pretty much the worst way to develop software is write a a 300 page legally binding ironclad specification which you give to a bunch of contractors along with a "release date". Then get a bunch of architects togethor to design a system handing over the details to some junior developers whom by 80% into the project almost all know the project is going wrong but don't care because they are still going to get paid - and blame it on management.
The biggest problem XP solved was the way of working with the cusomters incrementally without big upfront design, but this still isn't happening in these big contracts. Companies are more interested in writing specs and "handing off" to the contracting company and then sueing them when it all goes tits up.
The fact that so much was written down and checked by lawyers means that people can cover their arses and people are more interested in covering their arses with big fuck off contracts than developing software in an incremental way which allows for changing requirements and reduced risks.
Big companies haven't really brought in to this aspect of agile/XP development and is another reason why people say "XP failed" when actually they have ignored the bits of XP that would have most benefited them. Change in this regard is of course hard as a whole fucked up system has developed around tendering and specifications and lawyers, lot's and lot's of lawyers. CEOs and governments feel confortable with the existing system even though they know it doesn't work.
That's the question the rest of us are asking :)
Basically "The Web" is in beta - better get used to it.
I see your point, but a balance has to be found between irritated travellers and dead travellers.
I have a HP omnibook 6000 and the connection near the laptop started to short. There is a lot of pressure on this part of the connector as you move about with your laptop. Probably the inner wires can rub bare before you notice any damage to the exterior.
I was wearing boxers and the shorting wires were against my naked leg when i discovered the problem, so I have limited sympathy for this guy with his burnt paper.
2. They're burning through money and, so far as we've seen, don't really have a plan for how to stop burning through money.
They'll run adverts, and it will be very profitable.
And Google knows it.
DRM will be used to attempt to restrict users rights to read documents, share documents, listen to music, watch films and possibly connect to other systems.
Microsoft, the RIAA and the MPAA have wanted to be able to do this for a long time.
We will then need a blessed versions of Linux that has been signed by a major financial backer like IBM who could give kickbacks to the right cartels just to be able to access the content we can currenly use and to read files sent to us from Microsoft machines.
I don't know if Richard Stallman stands much chance against the tide of monopolies and cartels that want to use DRM to restrict our rights(RIAA/MPAA) and kill competition (Microsoft).
But I'm glad someones trying.
However, let me say that the new Intel Core Duo Mac Mini has been rock solid. I have two of these. I also have an Intel iMac which is also rock solid.
Yay. just ordered mine yesterday!
Yeah, I run windows it's been around for ages so it's nice and secure.
Also Microsoft has a schizophrenic relationship with Apple.
They want to sell more copies of Windows and directly compete with apple for market share but every time they get prosecuted for being a monopoly they want to show that they aren't unfairly locking people into Windows. They keep releasing stuff for Apple like media player and office so they can pretend they have "real" competition and aren't using proprietary file formats as a lock-in.
There are many people focussed on getting stuff out the door including Apple and Microsoft, of course MS has not been so good at it lately :) but they have shipped a lot of software over the years.
I use GNU/linux because of the rights i am given to use and modify the whole platform. If linux is not protected from DRM abuses and my ability to modify and use my system the way i want is restricted then I will move to another platform when it comes along.
I'll even start testing a buggy Hurd kernel if I have to.
There are questions as to whether the current GPL is "good enough", I don't know all the nitty gritty about the DRM issues but I suspect RMS is right. If he is, then eventually we'll need a GPLv3 Kernel or a kernel released under a similar license. By then we could have wasted a lot of time as people have their rights slowly erroded by the DRM restrictions and one by one give up on Linux. This could result in a lot of wasted time in continued development on a dead end linux kernel.
I'm a software developer, I'm used to looking at worst case scenarios.
I sure hope you don't use the same dvd rental scheme as me.
The difference between the Israelis killing Arabs and Arabs killing Israelis is that the Arabs wrap their children in high explosives and send them off to blow themselves up in crowded public areas without warning and without mercy.
A large number of those Arabs have been involved in a long running war with Israel whom they consider to have stolen their land and destroyed their livelihoods. They are fighting an enemy massively better funded and armed (by the United States) who employ tactics deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice and condemned by the Secretary General of the United Nations.
As a British person I accept that Israel exists and we must practically do everything we can to stop the violence. However, I also accept that Brtiain broke a lot of promises to Arabs in the Balfour Declaration and today the US and the UK continue to supply weapons to Israel that kill innocent women, children and now UN workers, despite the fact that Israel is in breach of international law.
Looking at the history of it and the current situation, I would have to say "we" (US/UK in particular) are responsible for a lot of deaths on both sides.
While doubtlessly you are technically correct, for desktop computing i'm not sure it makes much difference.
Since only the windows hash will allow secured files to be open and secured apps to be run.
Microsoft will easily be able to convince the MPAA/RIAA that the only safe hash is the windows one and make the office formats "secured" to the windows hash. Some organisations like debian may not wish or be able to restrict peoples rights to their own machine so there will be no reason for anyone to value their hash (also you can bet microsoft will give kickbacks to companies that allow their formats to only play back under a windows hash).
Ultimately everything that normal users want like to read files, play music, watch films, read emails could result in requiring a windows hash, at what point microsoft might as well just be doing all the signing with their own Root key all other OS hashes are useless. Except this way is slightly preferrable to Microsoft because the technology looks platform neutral.
The 10% claim for shares is also complete garbage from the get-go because it ignores taxes and fees.
I live in the UK where I reckon we've averaged about 6% after inflation and fees for a cheap index tracker in a government approved non-taxable wrapper(ISA) which is actually a pretty good risk/return if you are investing for at least 10 years. Possibly the only safer/better long term one is buying a house that you also live in.
I think the strongest argument you have is that we don't know if past performance will continue, maybe there is a major change due. My personal opinion is that Gillette and Coke are going to be raking it in for a long time to come and shorting the NASDAQ is just a pure gamble - even if an interesting one.
No no, I think the he's sensible to wait in this case.
I was going to buy a Z1 (Konrad Zuse) originally, but decided to wait a while for the price of vacuum tubes to fall, then it looked like I was better holding off for a "transistor" based machine. To cut a long story short, now I'm waiting for a quad-core machine.
I've saved a fortune by playing it safe over the years and just think how stupid I'd look now if I *had* brought that Z1!
I expect they are doing this for two reasons:
A) To prove that it is illegal in britian.
B) So that they can increase political pressure on the Russian Government. ie "AllofMp3.com is operating illegally in other countries please bring your laws in line with ours or we'll continue to impose tarrifs on XXX Russian goods." (Obviously this isn't a direct a plea by the MPAA but one made through other governments and possibly made through the WTO as the result of lobbying)
If he lived in the UK we'd have already accidentily shot him.
You americans have such slack security.
What happens when they decide block the sun and the earth cools too fast, or photosynthesis doesn't occur like it's supposed to?
Quite right. We seriously need to think this stuff through a bit better.
That's exactly why I'm researching a planet sized space-heater and flashlight.
Frequency of use does NOT denote importance.
It doesn't *always* denote importance. however, if a tiered storage system improves performnce a large enough percentage of the time then I'd live with a drop in performance on the odd occasion. Similarly to using spare memory for IO/file caching.
Your absolutely right.
It's really more like a Transformer!
Heh, sometimes they do - but you'd be amazed at what goes on in the online advertising world.
One advertising company I used to work for once had a request to configure an ad campaign to run each advert for 30seconds then switch the advert the user was viewing to a different one.
Only later did we discover it was to bypass a websites manual safety check, where they check each advert complies with their rules by watching it for 20 seconds.
I assumed that MSN search proxied *all* requests through to Google.
:)
Perhaps the MSN servers serve a cached response 20% of the time
Most people are about as likely to install a new Operating System on their PC as they are to upgrade the firmware on their DVD player.
If an OEM wants to actually advertise and push pre-installed Linux so that people could try it without having to install themselves then that OEM would have it's windows license rebate cut to the point they can't compete.
In the unlikely event a user knows what an Operating System is and wants to try a different one then he has to do the install and sort out any driver problems himself (since the OEM won't).
If he succeeds in fixing the various install issues then he will find Microsoft has made it's Office Documents impossible to reliably read in anything other than Windows and with the aid of governments and the media cartels is actively trying to ensure that as much media content as possible will be DRM locked to only play on Windows - with a prison sentence if you try and play it back on Linux.
Let's remove these unfair market manipulations and check where we are.
Now there is a common office format reliably readable/writable across both linux and windows and the same applies to all media formats. Every machine is sold without an Operating System by default and if users want to buy Windows/Office they pay for it- Linux remains free.
How long does Microsoft brand loyalty last now?