Government is not here to support businesses.
on
MS VP Speech Online
·
· Score: 5
What you fail to realize is that the whole concept of copyright protection is something that the governement/people gives to businesses so that the people will benefit. Not so that companies can benefit -- that's just the means to the end. Microsoft is implying that the government needs to protect the means, even if the end is no longer being achieved. But that doesn't make sense to the people unless there is some benefit the people will get. But Free Software already provides that benefit.
There are several problems with getting a lawyer to help us in the Open Source / Free Software community.
1) Who is going to pay for the lawyer? It's going to cost a ton of money to fight against Sony's lawyers.
2) Damages for a Free Software product are going to be minimal and hard to prove. The only punitive damages you can get is $10,000, and only if you register the work with the Library of Congress.
That said, there are some lawyers already involved in the community who are already helping us. The FSF has a lawyer, and the EFF has been very helpful with similar court cases.
I think the best use of a lawyer in this case would be to send Sony a Cease and Decist letter. It's cheap, and usually quite effective. Why not give the big corporations a taste of their own medicine?
Yes, there is a big difference. TiVo provides the source and patches to the GPLed programs that they use in their products -- you can download them off their web site. And TiVo doesn't require you to agree to a license saying that you cannot modify the GPLed programs.
What's wrong with icons on the desktop is that the desktop usually has other windows in front of it. If you put the icons in a regular window, you can bring that window to the front when you need to access it. And if you put things in a toolbar, you can keep the toolbar in front at all times so that you can easily access the menu.
About the only solution that works for icons on the desktop is the Windows 98 "hide all windows" toggle button. But still, if you're going to go hit that button, why not just put a menu on that button?
Not to be paranoid, but a lot of companies want to restrict your access to free information as well. Take a look at AOL/TW and all the others that want to lock you into their section of the Internet. And there are plenty of plans out there to allow sites to charge for content. Unfortunately, a couple of those are likely to end up working, causing some of the content on the Internet to become fee-based.
What a stupid name to use for their new motherboard chipset. They had previously used the i860 name for a series of CPUs (which are not compatible with the x86 series). The i860 was widely used for embedded applications. It's successor, the i960, is still available for Intelligent I/O (I2O) usage. Searching for i860 on Intel's web site is really going to be confusing.
The bumper stickers with Linuxgruven on them were not from Linuxgruven. They were from Linuxcare. Linuxgruven came up with the name after they saw the bumper sticker. I don't think Linuxcare was too happy about that.
Hey, isn't it a bit late to be making April Fools jokes? Like anyone would be stupid enough to put an Ethernet connection on an air conditioner! Next thing you know, they'll web-enable a fridge.
Yes, I actually lug around a system in a rackmount case for presentations. Rackmount cases are designed to take a lot of abuse. They usually come with some nice handles on the front, making them easy to carry. I'd recommend a 2U system. Personally, I have a 4U system, which allows for a full ATX system, but it is pretty heavy.
The best solution would be to charge for the print copies, and then release the contents to the web a year or so later. That way, anyone who NEEDS the info right away can get access to it. Everyone else will also be able to access it, but may have to wait a while for it.
Me and my lab partner came up with a negative index of refraction in a Physics lab in college. It was at that point that I realized that I should change my major from Physics to Computer Science.
The CFO was someone that the CEO had previously worked with. On Monday or Tuesday, he looked at the books and realized that there wasn't enough money to make payroll for the preceeding Friday.
The CEO apparently tried to solve the problem (not clear on this part) and on Wednesday or Thursday sent an email to all the employees saying that the owners were going to step back and that some people had been promoted. (No mention of financial difficulties.) Then on Thursday night the management all resigned. It is unclear what happened between the email and the resignations, and nobody's talking.
Interesting theory, except for the fact that the person who made the statement (Kara) was not conned into giving up money to get hired -- she was hired because she already knew Linux. She was instead conned into thinking that the company was a legitimate Linux services company.
I think the point she was making is that the owners were not intending to screw their employees, but were not terribly experienced at business, and have to suffer for their decisions, including the executive managers they chose.
Re:CEO, CTO, CFO, VPs - Management Team @ Linuxgru
on
Linuxgruven Deorbits
·
· Score: 2
Very interesting thoughts. Almost as if they had come directly from the ex-CEO himself. Fortunately for the ex-CEO, he knew that he had no legal responsibility as CEO. Another interesting thing to note is that the CTO had no Linux experience. That would seem to make it difficult to make technology decisions regarding Linux.
The management claims that they were trying to change the train-to-hire program, yet I have emails of them defending the train-to-hire program as recently as February 28. Even after they realized the money was not available to pay the employees, it took them several days to resign. I'm very curious to find out why that is, but they have been silent on that issue. (They've been rather vocal on other issues.)
The key is to get highly targeted ads, like was recently proposed on Slashdot. With targeted ads in categories (and even particular ads) chosen by the viewer, the actual click-through and purchase rates will be phenomenal. Ad agencies would die for something that good.
While targeted ads are easy for a site like Slashdot, where you have a good idea of the average viewer, they are not as easy on big sites like MSN. The problem then would be getting the viewers to register their preferences. You'd almost have to track users from site to site like Double-Click already does, which brings up privacy concerns.
OK, this is getting out of hand. Linus has barely had 9 years of Linux experience.
I would hope that anyone with over 5 years of actual IT experience, much less actual Linux experience would be able to find a job for better than $45K.
The CEO started the new training docs and was the one that said they would be opensource.
I was hired by the owner to create those new training docs long before Matthew Porter was made CEO. I had found a page where James Hibbits had announced that they were going to be open-sourced, but I can't find it at the moment. I believe that was before Matthew Porter or I even worked for the company.
Have you done the numbers? if you have 100 people paying 3150 dollars in one month but you only hire 1 out of every 20 then you should not have to depend on a VC check the day of payrole.
I will attempt to run the numbers for our viewers. 200 students (a high estimate) times $2500 (the new price) = $500,000 revenue a month (maximum). 106 employees times $4500 a month (a low estimate of $54K a year -- higher than the advertised $45K, but some people obviously make more than that, and you have to figure in insurance and employers' portion of taxes) = $477,000 labor (minimum). That leaves $23,000 (maximum) a month for rent on (by my count) 20 offices. I can gurantee you that rent averages more than $1000 a month. Did you want electricity with that? How about computers?
Now re-do the math with 80 employees. That saves you $117,000 a month, giving you a much better chance of being back in the black.
So at a minimum, you need to have 2 students in class for every person you hire (2*$2500 > $4500). From the numbers I have seen, there were about 106 employees and between 150 and 200 students. That doesn't cut it. And correct me if I'm wrong, but if you keep each employee for 12 months, you'd only be able to hire 1 out of 24 students or else the numbers start going exponential. (Or am I just tired?)
Disclaimer: All numbers are available in the public record. I do/did work for Linuxgruven, but this math was not sanctioned by them.
Re:St. Louis LUG meeting is next Thursday!
on
Linuxgruven Layoffs
·
· Score: 2
I thought you meant info about Thrusday's meeting, not the group itself. And that's what I had just updated. You are right, the web page is terribly out-of-date. I'm working on getting an account to try to fix that. And we somehow lost our link to the "parent" organization: SLUUG (www.sluug.org). There's plenty off info there, but the Linux group is just a SIG of SLUUG, and our Linux SIG information is not so great.
We should take this discussion off-line. You can reach my via my URL above, or via my User Info page.
That post is a criminal offense. It would qualify as a hit list, which has recently been found by the Supreme Court to be considered a threat. I hope Slashdot traces your IP address and you are prosecuted.
Not to mention the fact that that car is NOT a company car, but belongs to an employee who happened to like the company he worked for.
Re:St. Louis LUG meeting is next Thursday!
on
Linuxgruven Layoffs
·
· Score: 1
Sorry, I still misunderstood. You meant that there was no information on the chairperson running the Linux SIG. Except for the name at the top of the front page, you are probably correct.
Craig
Re:St. Louis LUG meeting is next Thursday!
on
Linuxgruven Layoffs
·
· Score: 2
OK. I apologize. I only updated the front page and the InstallFest pages. And that was a pain in the ass, since I don't have an account on that machine and had to email them in.
But the meeting information that you first mentioned is up-to-date on the front page.
Re:St. Louis LUG meeting is next Thursday!
on
Linuxgruven Layoffs
·
· Score: 2
Aparently you did not bother to look at the web site before commenting that it is out of date. It was recently updated to include the synopsis for the presentation I will be giving, and everything on the front page is current.
Matthew Porter was the CEO of Linuxgruven until he resigned on Thursday. His volunteer work running the user group began before he was hired at Linuxgruven, and I would expect him to be there continuing in that effort. I don't think the meeting is the proper forum to discuss company matters in depth, but I am expecting my presentation to be on the short side as far as time available to me.
Craig Buchek
Disclaimer: I am a Linuxgruven employee, but I obviously do not speak for them.
Slashdot Mirror
What you fail to realize is that the whole concept of copyright protection is something that the governement/people gives to businesses so that the people will benefit. Not so that companies can benefit -- that's just the means to the end. Microsoft is implying that the government needs to protect the means, even if the end is no longer being achieved. But that doesn't make sense to the people unless there is some benefit the people will get. But Free Software already provides that benefit.
There are several problems with getting a lawyer to help us in the Open Source / Free Software community.
1) Who is going to pay for the lawyer? It's going to cost a ton of money to fight against Sony's lawyers.
2) Damages for a Free Software product are going to be minimal and hard to prove. The only punitive damages you can get is $10,000, and only if you register the work with the Library of Congress.
That said, there are some lawyers already involved in the community who are already helping us. The FSF has a lawyer, and the EFF has been very helpful with similar court cases.
I think the best use of a lawyer in this case would be to send Sony a Cease and Decist letter. It's cheap, and usually quite effective. Why not give the big corporations a taste of their own medicine?
Yes, there is a big difference. TiVo provides the source and patches to the GPLed programs that they use in their products -- you can download them off their web site. And TiVo doesn't require you to agree to a license saying that you cannot modify the GPLed programs.
Umm, the CDs are the coasters. The CD-ROM drive is the drink holder. Two completely different tech support issues.
What's wrong with icons on the desktop is that the desktop usually has other windows in front of it. If you put the icons in a regular window, you can bring that window to the front when you need to access it. And if you put things in a toolbar, you can keep the toolbar in front at all times so that you can easily access the menu.
About the only solution that works for icons on the desktop is the Windows 98 "hide all windows" toggle button. But still, if you're going to go hit that button, why not just put a menu on that button?
Not to be paranoid, but a lot of companies want to restrict your access to free information as well. Take a look at AOL/TW and all the others that want to lock you into their section of the Internet. And there are plenty of plans out there to allow sites to charge for content. Unfortunately, a couple of those are likely to end up working, causing some of the content on the Internet to become fee-based.
What a stupid name to use for their new motherboard chipset. They had previously used the i860 name for a series of CPUs (which are not compatible with the x86 series). The i860 was widely used for embedded applications. It's successor, the i960, is still available for Intelligent I/O (I2O) usage. Searching for i860 on Intel's web site is really going to be confusing.
The bumper stickers with Linuxgruven on them were not from Linuxgruven. They were from Linuxcare. Linuxgruven came up with the name after they saw the bumper sticker. I don't think Linuxcare was too happy about that.
Hey, isn't it a bit late to be making April Fools jokes? Like anyone would be stupid enough to put an Ethernet connection on an air conditioner! Next thing you know, they'll web-enable a fridge.
Yes, I actually lug around a system in a rackmount case for presentations. Rackmount cases are designed to take a lot of abuse. They usually come with some nice handles on the front, making them easy to carry. I'd recommend a 2U system. Personally, I have a 4U system, which allows for a full ATX system, but it is pretty heavy.
The best solution would be to charge for the print copies, and then release the contents to the web a year or so later. That way, anyone who NEEDS the info right away can get access to it. Everyone else will also be able to access it, but may have to wait a while for it.
Me and my lab partner came up with a negative index of refraction in a Physics lab in college. It was at that point that I realized that I should change my major from Physics to Computer Science.
Will it run DOS?
The CFO was someone that the CEO had previously worked with. On Monday or Tuesday, he looked at the books and realized that there wasn't enough money to make payroll for the preceeding Friday.
The CEO apparently tried to solve the problem (not clear on this part) and on Wednesday or Thursday sent an email to all the employees saying that the owners were going to step back and that some people had been promoted. (No mention of financial difficulties.) Then on Thursday night the management all resigned. It is unclear what happened between the email and the resignations, and nobody's talking.
Interesting theory, except for the fact that the person who made the statement (Kara) was not conned into giving up money to get hired -- she was hired because she already knew Linux. She was instead conned into thinking that the company was a legitimate Linux services company.
I think the point she was making is that the owners were not intending to screw their employees, but were not terribly experienced at business, and have to suffer for their decisions, including the executive managers they chose.
Very interesting thoughts. Almost as if they had come directly from the ex-CEO himself. Fortunately for the ex-CEO, he knew that he had no legal responsibility as CEO. Another interesting thing to note is that the CTO had no Linux experience. That would seem to make it difficult to make technology decisions regarding Linux.
The management claims that they were trying to change the train-to-hire program, yet I have emails of them defending the train-to-hire program as recently as February 28. Even after they realized the money was not available to pay the employees, it took them several days to resign. I'm very curious to find out why that is, but they have been silent on that issue. (They've been rather vocal on other issues.)
The key is to get highly targeted ads, like was recently proposed on Slashdot. With targeted ads in categories (and even particular ads) chosen by the viewer, the actual click-through and purchase rates will be phenomenal. Ad agencies would die for something that good.
While targeted ads are easy for a site like Slashdot, where you have a good idea of the average viewer, they are not as easy on big sites like MSN. The problem then would be getting the viewers to register their preferences. You'd almost have to track users from site to site like Double-Click already does, which brings up privacy concerns.
Damn, and I'm the one who took a hit on my karma for telling people not to go fuck with someone's car. Why does that make me the troll?
I have over 15 years of Linux experience!
OK, this is getting out of hand. Linus has barely had 9 years of Linux experience.
I would hope that anyone with over 5 years of actual IT experience, much less actual Linux experience would be able to find a job for better than $45K.
I was hired by the owner to create those new training docs long before Matthew Porter was made CEO. I had found a page where James Hibbits had announced that they were going to be open-sourced, but I can't find it at the moment. I believe that was before Matthew Porter or I even worked for the company.
I will attempt to run the numbers for our viewers. 200 students (a high estimate) times $2500 (the new price) = $500,000 revenue a month (maximum). 106 employees times $4500 a month (a low estimate of $54K a year -- higher than the advertised $45K, but some people obviously make more than that, and you have to figure in insurance and employers' portion of taxes) = $477,000 labor (minimum). That leaves $23,000 (maximum) a month for rent on (by my count) 20 offices. I can gurantee you that rent averages more than $1000 a month. Did you want electricity with that? How about computers?
Now re-do the math with 80 employees. That saves you $117,000 a month, giving you a much better chance of being back in the black.
So at a minimum, you need to have 2 students in class for every person you hire (2*$2500 > $4500). From the numbers I have seen, there were about 106 employees and between 150 and 200 students. That doesn't cut it. And correct me if I'm wrong, but if you keep each employee for 12 months, you'd only be able to hire 1 out of 24 students or else the numbers start going exponential. (Or am I just tired?)
Disclaimer: All numbers are available in the public record. I do/did work for Linuxgruven, but this math was not sanctioned by them.
I thought you meant info about Thrusday's meeting, not the group itself. And that's what I had just updated. You are right, the web page is terribly out-of-date. I'm working on getting an account to try to fix that. And we somehow lost our link to the "parent" organization: SLUUG (www.sluug.org). There's plenty off info there, but the Linux group is just a SIG of SLUUG, and our Linux SIG information is not so great.
We should take this discussion off-line. You can reach my via my URL above, or via my User Info page.
That post is a criminal offense. It would qualify as a hit list, which has recently been found by the Supreme Court to be considered a threat. I hope Slashdot traces your IP address and you are prosecuted.
Not to mention the fact that that car is NOT a company car, but belongs to an employee who happened to like the company he worked for.
Sorry, I still misunderstood. You meant that there was no information on the chairperson running the Linux SIG. Except for the name at the top of the front page, you are probably correct.
Craig
OK. I apologize. I only updated the front page and the InstallFest pages. And that was a pain in the ass, since I don't have an account on that machine and had to email them in.
But the meeting information that you first mentioned is up-to-date on the front page.
Aparently you did not bother to look at the web site before commenting that it is out of date. It was recently updated to include the synopsis for the presentation I will be giving, and everything on the front page is current.
Matthew Porter was the CEO of Linuxgruven until he resigned on Thursday. His volunteer work running the user group began before he was hired at Linuxgruven, and I would expect him to be there continuing in that effort. I don't think the meeting is the proper forum to discuss company matters in depth, but I am expecting my presentation to be on the short side as far as time available to me.
Craig Buchek
Disclaimer: I am a Linuxgruven employee, but I obviously do not speak for them.