What makes you think you, or anyone else for that matter, is capable of resisting the temptations of corruption? Microsoft after all is in the unique position ot tempt and corupt almost anyone... (You know the old joke "How much money to get you to kill some one?") So in other words... What is your price?
What is the problem? Ok so VA is charging for a product... Open Source is about free speech not free beer!!
So what if VA want's to turn a profit. Good for them. They aren't 15 year olds working out of their parents basements. They need to make a living & running the OSDN has got to be frightfully expensive. Some one has got to pay for it. Servers cost money, bandwidth costs money, and no amount of pleading is going to change that.
But even after all that, and all that awful capitalism, VA still donates huge amounts of money to the operation of OSDN, so that Software Libre can continue.
NO ONE ever complains when IBM spends huge amounts of money on promoting and developing Open Source. Why do they spend all that money? So they can make even more... yes those evil bastards that have given us so much support actually expect to make money, for shame!!
Kudos to VA!! It's an excellent business model! They show off their software as the largest CVS repository in the world, and then sell it to corporations that want the same abilities. All at the same time giving back to the OS community.
So stop whining and lend a helping, or at least an applauding hand to VA, because they give so much back to us, there benefit is ours as well.
This is the first major bug problem in a while and it's being delt with in the open.
MS security flaws on the other hand have a tendency to get buried, untill months later when MS releases a patch, that it's own system admins are to slow to apply.
Plus MS gets the ire of hackers everywhere. MS is more likley to be exploited, because they are such a poria than anyone else.
Hyporite sheep... LambChop Returns (this time it's personal)
Tax is something you have to pay to continue to exist. Like income tax to live in this country (that's a good thing).
As a programmer, it's a tax to me! I have to buy this thing and learn it in the hope that I will someday use it to pay my bills. MS has a tendancy to force people down it's migration path. In other words, in 5 years I wont have the option of developing in VC++ (like I want to now) anymore. I will HAVE to use what MS has said I must. They don't provide options, they dictate terms. Ask VB developers that have been freeking out ever since VB.Net went into beta.
So it is a tax.
Sorry for misquoting SNL.
Inserting identification data into a file without telling the user is draconian. I wouldn't mind so much if they just docmented the "feature" or gave us a switch to shut if off. Some times I don't want all of my data's origins reveald, and not necesarily for duplicitous purposes. I sure as hell don't my registration data included in every resume (word docs) I send out, which is what happens now.
As to inertia: I meen the inertia of Windows development and the necesity of people like me retaining jobs. We have to program for Windows because we need a Job. Or that Applications must be developed in what MS dicatates for them to operate properly in windows (with some eceptions, Java, GTK etc..). Inertia of the whole cycle, not just the.Net platform. You do realize they will slowly be choking off older development platforms right?
Anybody remember the old SNL skit about the phone company and a particularly rude operator.
"Were the phone company, we don't care"
Welcome to monopoly abuse. They figure that they have such inertia that they no longer have to be nice to developers. It's an interesting theory. What comes first the chicken or the egg = Do IT departments make decisions based on a suporvisory dictator ship, or do they consult their programers on what they would be most productive at.
.Net is going to be a facinating piece of development software to work with, but will that facination be enough to overcome the tendancy to use what is at hand.
As a third rought will Visual Studio.Net just get pirated like VS6 and spread that way as a defacto standard... go figure piracy could actually help MS. But given their recent draconian behavior I'd be on the lookout for coded lags intended to identify pirates by thier compiled code (MSWord 2000 already does it). In this case you could develop apps, but couldnt release them untill you payed a tax to MS.
And keep in mind, indvidual developer arguments are not really effective. MS doesn't care about individuals, only corporations. And other posters haven nailed it on the head:MS wants easy to control corps that can be predicted and culled.
BTW: Are the advantages of.Net that great? To justify such a steep migration path? Will this herald much larger tarifs in the future?
Microsoft couldn't make a decent product to save their lives.
But don't sweat, go ahead and buy an XBox. Next year MS will sell you the fix...er upgrade.
But seriosly. MS's buisness model is based on the idea of continuous upgrade (fixes), to poorly designed products (that may be a bit of a stretch, but not a big one). However the machines themselves are loss leaders for MS. How can they make money by selling an inferior piece of equipment, and it's fix/upgrade. If ever time the user buys one it costs MS money??
You can find most any anti-OS argument you want off of MS website. But if you want a realy nasty, and indepth argument against OS look at the October Documents. They are a collection of emails meant to remain internal to MS. They list all of the things MS finds good and bad (From their unique perspective). It's more than you would ever need for a college thesis.
Also try looking into CNet and ZDNet they've both run frequent articles about how much they think OSource sucks.
Were going to spend billions putting new satalites in orbit, and no one bothered to let the DOD know what the comercial market really needed out of GPS.
I've done allot of tracking software, for sporting events etc. We've always wanted a GPS system taht would let us put a simple unit on the back of an athlete and just report back his GPS position. Unfortunatly GPS has never been acturate enough to actually use for that.
But 36 meter's still doesn't solve bigger issues. Like useing it for car navigation systems, or tracking city bound objects (like children, convicts, laptops, cellphones, weapons etc). Im not proposing some orwelian oversight system, but something that would allow us to take GPS and use it as a system for tracking day to day issues. Not quite "Where did I loose my keys?" but "Where did I lose my laptop?" High res systems could also be used for created EXTREAMLY quick and acturate maps, and even building up 3D models of real world enviroments.
I know high resolution (down to 1 meter or less) is VERRY difficult, but with the kind of money that goes into satalites is it really imposible??
If your a Mac user, you must be really screwed.
The only program on that list available to Mac users is MSOutlook which retails at over $100.
How nice!! I gues I won't be able to get email with a Linux box either...
But all in all I'm happy, now I don't have to spend 2 seconds aday deleting anyone elses SPAM other than Microsoft (or x10).
My MSN account (yeah I just got it to use there SMTP for a day, I keep it as a joke) Gets more SPAM than my other 15 combined!!!(I use filters) And most of it's from MS!!
Uh... expensive does not even begin to describe this set up.
The scanning mirrors have to be ultralight, and verry refined (may be able to skip this since your not using such a pure beam). Then the motors to drive them are EXPENSIVE and FINICKY!!
Now that being said, the best scan rate anyone has ever managed with lasers was about 64 lines (Don't hold me to that, it's been a while), and the control board capable of this is only manufactured by one company, in Orlando (whom I used to work for). Top notch equipment if you can afford it. And even they can't do a video projection for TV yet. (www.pangolin.com)
Yeah! Of course it's always those darn jewish groups!!!
Nah... you never hear super-sensitive claims of prejudice from the NAACP, Muslims, Rightwing christians, Athiests ("Those right wingers keep passing moral legislation! I feel so oppressed!"), Wiccans (Ok, they got some real gripes), or Catholics (yeah, even they feel persecuted, go figure).
Do you know why these groups, jews in particular, are so super sensitive?
Because humans as a spieces have never deomstrated the smallest capacity for tolerance, ever. Just like dogs, we need our "No No's" rubed in our face, repetedly otherwise we'll just go back to killing of people who aren't like us... er pissing on the carpet.
Now is an intesting time to look around... the semonal event of pure evil (WWII) of the last 100 years is now fading in our memory... we've gotten comfortable with it... it's something in a history book. Like the Roman conquests, the Roman Catholic Churches Xenocide, the Mongol Hoards, the Dark Ages, the Crusades, the Spanish Inquesition, the pursecutions of the Black Plauge, the Pogroms, the multiple exulsions of "outsiders" (including and especialy jewS), the Masacer of Native Americans, 300 years of Racial Slavery, the Japanese opression of mainland Asia, and on and on and on...
You forget... You always forget...
Bad dog! Bad dog!
No question about it. NT's scalablity has never been verry good, but that's the problem with refrain, if you say something enough times, eventually people start to believe you.
NT's multi-cpu and native SMB support don't make up for it's internal memory bugs and enevitable system failures.
In my mind there is no question that Linux's (or really any Unix) superb range of database support, combined with the reliablity of Apache (or Tux) and PHP as a development language is a fantastic combination. Linux out scales NT easily not only in it's culstering capablities but also it's portablity (most anything developed on Linux can be ported in short order).
But the problem lies not in reality, but perception. Nerds can scream at the wall's till there throughts are bare, but it wont impress the suit's that sign the checks. All they understand is MS is a big company that makes good-enough software that they "understand" (read hand holding). No one ever got fired for buying Microsoft (I'd fire the f#cker!!) And that's the real problem.
And we think were adicted to broadband!!!
Heck right now I can't find a place to eat without the internet, and now were getting this much closer to wireing ourselves into the network.
Can you imagine what having SlashDot on the brain will be like once this technology get's some where? (of course we'll need a better way to get rid of flame bait)
Of course then MS will come out with Windows '84 and it will only crash your mind once in a while... "Passport for your brain! It's just not for violating your financial privacy any more!!"
This is a verry good trend when you stop to think about it.
One of the key issue technical column writers have been b!tching about is that Linux lacks enterprise server credibility.
With Linux driving mainframes and massive Credit Card / insurance company type machines who could complain about Linux's capabilities to handle their buisness demands. (if it can balance the budget for a fortune 500, it can host your stupid ASP/Intranet/fileserver/DB)
Think about the (Ugh! I'm gonna be sick) marketing angle... the average small buisness, or even home user, can have access to the same toys as multi-billion dollar corporations and goverments. (barring the obvious memmory and other hardware limits, this is about perception after all)
And it's not about a free OS. It's about the ability to develop the app on a PC and recompile it to run on a computer that makes Deep Thought look like Rain Man. And on top of all that the big system will work just like any other linux box running X. So it's easy to administer (wow! Who would have thought to say that about Linux!!)
1) Microsoft commits purgery in Judge Jacksons court (no wonder he hates them!) by sumitting a doctored video tape.
2) Microsoft bribes the senate to lower the funding for the Department of Justice, that at the time just happens to be threatening them with a monopoly break up.
3) Microsoft sends in fake "ground swell" protest letters, from DEAD PEOPLE!!
I know I'm preaching to the quire here at/. but lets get real... To anyone who still had a doubt weather Microsoft was just a legitimatly agressive buisness doing it's best to further competition this should be the last straw.
If they show no remorse about undermining one of the fundemental processes of liberty and freedom this country (by keeping in touch with our senators we keep them "honest" and in touch with the people, hopefully). Microsoft has now 3 times undermined the basic tenents of freedom and first amendment rights in this country (I'm not even counting their lobbying support for the DMCA, here and abroad).
This is what every futurist has feared, the rise of the mega corp into an unethical, bohemoth that mows over citizens in the pursuit of one more buck, or even more power.
Normally I'm against theft. I do think STEALING software is wrong. But this changes things. In a big way. Microsoft isn't just trying to expand it's market, it's attacking consumers. By attacking our freadom of speech they are atacking one of our fundamental civil liberties. SO I SAY STEAL, PIRATE, RIP, BREAK, AND CRACK EVERY PIECE OF MICROSHAFT SOFTWARE THAT COMES YOUR WAY!! Microsoft complains about billions in losses from piracy now, imagine how tough we could really make it for them if we all coppied every piece of MS software that we see, and then encouraged our NON-Geek friends to copy from us. Every "Mundane" out there has at least one geek friend that keeps his/her computer running. I say we use that. Every geek should encourage piracy amongst his friends, and buisness associates. Let's hit MS in the only place they care about, their wallet!!!
?? Can software piracey be protected under the first amendment as a political protest ??
It's imperative because to make the move to the desktop, linux needs a wide range of applications, not just for the office, but for entertainment. Currently Linux is sorely lacking in multimedia and entertainment in general.
Loki isn't a bad company. Just one that's ahead of it's time. In another year or two Linux will be making it's bid for the desktop, and it will need gamers to help build it's consumer base.
Also consider the idea of Linux based gaming consoles. Not so far fetched when you think about it.
Finally I really don't want to read another months worth of articles about how Linux companies are all going to die, and that OS is bad for business. (the reports of Nautalis's death, are greatly exaggerated)
For all these reasons and more we should through our support to Loki, or any other OS supporting business. Unless you want to be a Redmond love monkey for the rest of your life.
Why not start a campaign, launched here from Slashdot to help revive Loki.
If only a quarter of the members of slashdot each bought ONLY ONE product from Loki, it could pump much needed funds into their caufers, and at the same time we all get at least one cool game out of the deal (wether or not we actually play video games, I'm sure we can find something entertaining to do with it).
And what will it cost us? $30-$50 bucks a person? Big deal! So we'll spend a little bit of the money we all saved on not paying the Micro$haft tax. And in the long run we all save money, because Loki is a shining example in the Linux word of what a company can do.
Let's not let them go the way of Easil just because the Linux market is still too young to support them. It's companies like Loki that will make or break Linux when it comes of age on the desktop (not long now, we hope and pray).
Smart Tags alow microsoft to link various key words to content of their chooseing. At the moment they are telling people that just meens a sort of integrated dictionary. Later I'm sure it will inlcude airline tickets, scooters, cars or what ever else microsoft wants the hock this week.
But my point is that I as the author of a web page, have designed it in a particular way, that I want it. What right is it of any one elses to take an change it (assumeing I didn't GPL it)? Can I turn SmartTags off in the HTML? Or as usuall am I stuck with them? If I"m stuck with them then MS is violating my Intelectual property without permission.
Slashdot Mirror
What makes you think you, or anyone else for that matter, is capable of resisting the temptations of corruption? Microsoft after all is in the unique position ot tempt and corupt almost anyone... (You know the old joke "How much money to get you to kill some one?") So in other words... What is your price?
What is the problem? Ok so VA is charging for a product... Open Source is about free speech not free beer!!
So what if VA want's to turn a profit. Good for them. They aren't 15 year olds working out of their parents basements. They need to make a living & running the OSDN has got to be frightfully expensive. Some one has got to pay for it. Servers cost money, bandwidth costs money, and no amount of pleading is going to change that.
But even after all that, and all that awful capitalism, VA still donates huge amounts of money to the operation of OSDN, so that Software Libre can continue.
NO ONE ever complains when IBM spends huge amounts of money on promoting and developing Open Source. Why do they spend all that money? So they can make even more... yes those evil bastards that have given us so much support actually expect to make money, for shame!!
Kudos to VA!! It's an excellent business model! They show off their software as the largest CVS repository in the world, and then sell it to corporations that want the same abilities. All at the same time giving back to the OS community.
So stop whining and lend a helping, or at least an applauding hand to VA, because they give so much back to us, there benefit is ours as well.
FORTRAN, Anthrax... which is worse?
Linux bugs tend to get fixed.
This is the first major bug problem in a while and it's being delt with in the open.
MS security flaws on the other hand have a tendency to get buried, untill months later when MS releases a patch, that it's own system admins are to slow to apply.
Plus MS gets the ire of hackers everywhere. MS is more likley to be exploited, because they are such a poria than anyone else.
Hyporite sheep... LambChop Returns (this time it's personal)
So how long untill there is a major incedent with WindowsXP? How long till a virus like code red flushes through there number?
Granted XP is horid enough that a virus would seem kind.
Tax is something you have to pay to continue to exist. Like income tax to live in this country (that's a good thing).
.Net platform. You do realize they will slowly be choking off older development platforms right?
As a programmer, it's a tax to me! I have to buy this thing and learn it in the hope that I will someday use it to pay my bills. MS has a tendancy to force people down it's migration path. In other words, in 5 years I wont have the option of developing in VC++ (like I want to now) anymore. I will HAVE to use what MS has said I must. They don't provide options, they dictate terms. Ask VB developers that have been freeking out ever since VB.Net went into beta.
So it is a tax.
Sorry for misquoting SNL.
Inserting identification data into a file without telling the user is draconian. I wouldn't mind so much if they just docmented the "feature" or gave us a switch to shut if off. Some times I don't want all of my data's origins reveald, and not necesarily for duplicitous purposes. I sure as hell don't my registration data included in every resume (word docs) I send out, which is what happens now.
As to inertia: I meen the inertia of Windows development and the necesity of people like me retaining jobs. We have to program for Windows because we need a Job. Or that Applications must be developed in what MS dicatates for them to operate properly in windows (with some eceptions, Java, GTK etc..). Inertia of the whole cycle, not just the
Anybody remember the old SNL skit about the phone company and a particularly rude operator.
.Net just get pirated like VS6 and spread that way as a defacto standard... go figure piracy could actually help MS. But given their recent draconian behavior I'd be on the lookout for coded lags intended to identify pirates by thier compiled code (MSWord 2000 already does it). In this case you could develop apps, but couldnt release them untill you payed a tax to MS.
.Net that great? To justify such a steep migration path? Will this herald much larger tarifs in the future?
"Were the phone company, we don't care"
Welcome to monopoly abuse. They figure that they have such inertia that they no longer have to be nice to developers. It's an interesting theory. What comes first the chicken or the egg = Do IT departments make decisions based on a suporvisory dictator ship, or do they consult their programers on what they would be most productive at.
.Net is going to be a facinating piece of development software to work with, but will that facination be enough to overcome the tendancy to use what is at hand.
As a third rought will Visual Studio
And keep in mind, indvidual developer arguments are not really effective. MS doesn't care about individuals, only corporations. And other posters haven nailed it on the head:MS wants easy to control corps that can be predicted and culled.
BTW: Are the advantages of
Microsoft couldn't make a decent product to save their lives.
But don't sweat, go ahead and buy an XBox. Next year MS will sell you the fix...er upgrade.
But seriosly. MS's buisness model is based on the idea of continuous upgrade (fixes), to poorly designed products (that may be a bit of a stretch, but not a big one). However the machines themselves are loss leaders for MS. How can they make money by selling an inferior piece of equipment, and it's fix/upgrade. If ever time the user buys one it costs MS money??
You can find most any anti-OS argument you want off of MS website. But if you want a realy nasty, and indepth argument against OS look at the October Documents. They are a collection of emails meant to remain internal to MS. They list all of the things MS finds good and bad (From their unique perspective). It's more than you would ever need for a college thesis.
Also try looking into CNet and ZDNet they've both run frequent articles about how much they think OSource sucks.
Were going to spend billions putting new satalites in orbit, and no one bothered to let the DOD know what the comercial market really needed out of GPS.
I've done allot of tracking software, for sporting events etc. We've always wanted a GPS system taht would let us put a simple unit on the back of an athlete and just report back his GPS position. Unfortunatly GPS has never been acturate enough to actually use for that.
But 36 meter's still doesn't solve bigger issues. Like useing it for car navigation systems, or tracking city bound objects (like children, convicts, laptops, cellphones, weapons etc). Im not proposing some orwelian oversight system, but something that would allow us to take GPS and use it as a system for tracking day to day issues. Not quite "Where did I loose my keys?" but "Where did I lose my laptop?" High res systems could also be used for created EXTREAMLY quick and acturate maps, and even building up 3D models of real world enviroments.
I know high resolution (down to 1 meter or less) is VERRY difficult, but with the kind of money that goes into satalites is it really imposible??
If your a Mac user, you must be really screwed.
The only program on that list available to Mac users is MSOutlook which retails at over $100.
How nice!! I gues I won't be able to get email with a Linux box either...
But all in all I'm happy, now I don't have to spend 2 seconds aday deleting anyone elses SPAM other than Microsoft (or x10).
My MSN account (yeah I just got it to use there SMTP for a day, I keep it as a joke) Gets more SPAM than my other 15 combined!!!(I use filters) And most of it's from MS!!
They do this for laser light shows.
Uh... expensive does not even begin to describe this set up.
The scanning mirrors have to be ultralight, and verry refined (may be able to skip this since your not using such a pure beam). Then the motors to drive them are EXPENSIVE and FINICKY!!
Now that being said, the best scan rate anyone has ever managed with lasers was about 64 lines (Don't hold me to that, it's been a while), and the control board capable of this is only manufactured by one company, in Orlando (whom I used to work for). Top notch equipment if you can afford it. And even they can't do a video projection for TV yet. (www.pangolin.com)
Moving parts suck.
Yeah! Of course it's always those darn jewish groups!!!
Nah... you never hear super-sensitive claims of prejudice from the NAACP, Muslims, Rightwing christians, Athiests ("Those right wingers keep passing moral legislation! I feel so oppressed!"), Wiccans (Ok, they got some real gripes), or Catholics (yeah, even they feel persecuted, go figure).
Do you know why these groups, jews in particular, are so super sensitive?
Because humans as a spieces have never deomstrated the smallest capacity for tolerance, ever. Just like dogs, we need our "No No's" rubed in our face, repetedly otherwise we'll just go back to killing of people who aren't like us... er pissing on the carpet.
Now is an intesting time to look around... the semonal event of pure evil (WWII) of the last 100 years is now fading in our memory... we've gotten comfortable with it... it's something in a history book. Like the Roman conquests, the Roman Catholic Churches Xenocide, the Mongol Hoards, the Dark Ages, the Crusades, the Spanish Inquesition, the pursecutions of the Black Plauge, the Pogroms, the multiple exulsions of "outsiders" (including and especialy jewS), the Masacer of Native Americans, 300 years of Racial Slavery, the Japanese opression of mainland Asia, and on and on and on...
You forget... You always forget...
Bad dog! Bad dog!
No question about it. NT's scalablity has never been verry good, but that's the problem with refrain, if you say something enough times, eventually people start to believe you.
NT's multi-cpu and native SMB support don't make up for it's internal memory bugs and enevitable system failures.
In my mind there is no question that Linux's (or really any Unix) superb range of database support, combined with the reliablity of Apache (or Tux) and PHP as a development language is a fantastic combination. Linux out scales NT easily not only in it's culstering capablities but also it's portablity (most anything developed on Linux can be ported in short order).
But the problem lies not in reality, but perception. Nerds can scream at the wall's till there throughts are bare, but it wont impress the suit's that sign the checks. All they understand is MS is a big company that makes good-enough software that they "understand" (read hand holding). No one ever got fired for buying Microsoft (I'd fire the f#cker!!) And that's the real problem.
And we think were adicted to broadband!!!
Heck right now I can't find a place to eat without the internet, and now were getting this much closer to wireing ourselves into the network.
Can you imagine what having SlashDot on the brain will be like once this technology get's some where? (of course we'll need a better way to get rid of flame bait)
Of course then MS will come out with Windows '84 and it will only crash your mind once in a while... "Passport for your brain! It's just not for violating your financial privacy any more!!"
This is a verry good trend when you stop to think about it.
One of the key issue technical column writers have been b!tching about is that Linux lacks enterprise server credibility.
With Linux driving mainframes and massive Credit Card / insurance company type machines who could complain about Linux's capabilities to handle their buisness demands. (if it can balance the budget for a fortune 500, it can host your stupid ASP/Intranet/fileserver/DB)
Think about the (Ugh! I'm gonna be sick) marketing angle... the average small buisness, or even home user, can have access to the same toys as multi-billion dollar corporations and goverments. (barring the obvious memmory and other hardware limits, this is about perception after all)
And it's not about a free OS. It's about the ability to develop the app on a PC and recompile it to run on a computer that makes Deep Thought look like Rain Man. And on top of all that the big system will work just like any other linux box running X. So it's easy to administer (wow! Who would have thought to say that about Linux!!)
Wow! Geek perfection! Cold to LILO in 0.8 seconds. Women will flock to me!
Now if I can just get LILO working again...
Strike 3!
/. but lets get real... To anyone who still had a doubt weather Microsoft was just a legitimatly agressive buisness doing it's best to further competition this should be the last straw.
1) Microsoft commits purgery in Judge Jacksons court (no wonder he hates them!) by sumitting a doctored video tape.
2) Microsoft bribes the senate to lower the funding for the Department of Justice, that at the time just happens to be threatening them with a monopoly break up.
3) Microsoft sends in fake "ground swell" protest letters, from DEAD PEOPLE!!
I know I'm preaching to the quire here at
If they show no remorse about undermining one of the fundemental processes of liberty and freedom this country (by keeping in touch with our senators we keep them "honest" and in touch with the people, hopefully). Microsoft has now 3 times undermined the basic tenents of freedom and first amendment rights in this country (I'm not even counting their lobbying support for the DMCA, here and abroad).
This is what every futurist has feared, the rise of the mega corp into an unethical, bohemoth that mows over citizens in the pursuit of one more buck, or even more power.
Normally I'm against theft. I do think STEALING software is wrong. But this changes things. In a big way. Microsoft isn't just trying to expand it's market, it's attacking consumers. By attacking our freadom of speech they are atacking one of our fundamental civil liberties. SO I SAY STEAL, PIRATE, RIP, BREAK, AND CRACK EVERY PIECE OF MICROSHAFT SOFTWARE THAT COMES YOUR WAY!! Microsoft complains about billions in losses from piracy now, imagine how tough we could really make it for them if we all coppied every piece of MS software that we see, and then encouraged our NON-Geek friends to copy from us. Every "Mundane" out there has at least one geek friend that keeps his/her computer running. I say we use that. Every geek should encourage piracy amongst his friends, and buisness associates. Let's hit MS in the only place they care about, their wallet!!!
?? Can software piracey be protected under the first amendment as a political protest ??
It's imperative because to make the move to the desktop, linux needs a wide range of applications, not just for the office, but for entertainment. Currently Linux is sorely lacking in multimedia and entertainment in general.
Loki isn't a bad company. Just one that's ahead of it's time. In another year or two Linux will be making it's bid for the desktop, and it will need gamers to help build it's consumer base.
Also consider the idea of Linux based gaming consoles. Not so far fetched when you think about it.
Finally I really don't want to read another months worth of articles about how Linux companies are all going to die, and that OS is bad for business. (the reports of Nautalis's death, are greatly exaggerated)
For all these reasons and more we should through our support to Loki, or any other OS supporting business. Unless you want to be a Redmond love monkey for the rest of your life.
This is the stuff, doing something instead of just giving lip service.
We need an article like this posted on the front page of Slashdot!!
Imagine getting Slashdoted, but instead of sucking up HUGE amounts of BW, your deluged with orders!!!
Seems like the perfect way to bail out members of the OS community, and build a commercial base for Linux.
Right on!
I've neve bought or used a Loki game (don't play games) but I'm going to buy one just to put my 2 cents (or $50) where it will do some good.
Talk is cheap. Lets do something!!
Why not start a campaign, launched here from Slashdot to help revive Loki.
If only a quarter of the members of slashdot each bought ONLY ONE product from Loki, it could pump much needed funds into their caufers, and at the same time we all get at least one cool game out of the deal (wether or not we actually play video games, I'm sure we can find something entertaining to do with it).
And what will it cost us? $30-$50 bucks a person? Big deal! So we'll spend a little bit of the money we all saved on not paying the Micro$haft tax. And in the long run we all save money, because Loki is a shining example in the Linux word of what a company can do.
Let's not let them go the way of Easil just because the Linux market is still too young to support them. It's companies like Loki that will make or break Linux when it comes of age on the desktop (not long now, we hope and pray).
Smart Tags alow microsoft to link various key words to content of their chooseing. At the moment they are telling people that just meens a sort of integrated dictionary. Later I'm sure it will inlcude airline tickets, scooters, cars or what ever else microsoft wants the hock this week.
But my point is that I as the author of a web page, have designed it in a particular way, that I want it. What right is it of any one elses to take an change it (assumeing I didn't GPL it)? Can I turn SmartTags off in the HTML? Or as usuall am I stuck with them? If I"m stuck with them then MS is violating my Intelectual property without permission.
Web pages are essentialy the IP of their author's. Isn't it illegal to change someones Copyrighted material without their explicit permission?
Wouldn't this leave MS open to a huge class action?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the BSD license REQUIRE that you acknowledge that you used their code?
If this is the case, then hasn't MS violated their copyright?