Laura Didio mentioned having been issued with death threats by Linux users.
Laura Dido is far from a credible source. Granted - it doesn't mean she didn't really get said threats. But I would be really careful about making generalized, sweeping statements about people based on Didio's claims.
Side note, I'll bet this post hits rock bottom like any other post that says something positive about Microsoft
Sometimes I get this petty little feeling that there should be a "-1, Martyr Complex" mod option. But of course, this only feeds said complex. And that's the problem with a lot of moderations - sometimes its more effective responding with why an opinion might be missing something.
Having said that - responding is also only so effective. The linked example works well to demonstrate it. In the responses this down-modded post got, someone took the time to point out to you that "free" was not an issue of cost. Your entire post was derailed. Now you moan and groan about the injustices visited upon you due to anti-Microsoft sentiment. You're either refusing to listen, are slow on the pick-up, or are intentionally trolling.
Back on point...
Sure - there's a fair amount of anti-Microsoft sentiment here. I like it. You'll have to excuse me if I don't gush about Microsoft's latest venture like so much of the rest of the industry. But I will agree that we must be guarded to ensure we don't allow ourselves to get too carried away.
Next time - have the conviction in your opinion to state it without the cheap mod / martyrdom ploy.
I'm sure this guy is faithfully repeating what he was told. These concepts don't just spring out of the air. Just like Internet tubes, the meme being expressed here is an echo of someone's PR campaign. I would expect it all comes from a fancy dinner or lunch during a Powerpoint presentation.
I am curious. Whom do they support? Should they tell the user that they support WOW only on paticular brands of Linux? Or should tbey just throw Linux versions out there on "best of luck"?
None of the commercial, proprietary games for Linux that I have require a specific distribution (yeah, yeah... precious few to pick from). Yet they have all worked fine for me. Your question strikes me as something akin to asking which version of Windows does one pick when writing a game.
8. Cancellation of the Halo Movie we already knew was cancelled.
9. The Halo movie is actually going in to realease and was secretly being devoloped as a joint project with Pixar under the working tittle "Duke Nuke'm Forever". The movie engine and content will be release to game stores in 3 months after release and fans are invited to "play the movie."
I don't know anyone who actually likes those dumb ads, in fact it usually makes them hate Macs even more.
I like them. They don't make me want to buy a Mac. I guess its not an effective commercial for my demographic. I prefer commodity hardware (even if I occasionally buy it as a pre-assembled package) and a commodity OS.
I can see how these commercials would really piss off Windows fans. In fact - I've seen some of the Windows fanboy spoofs on YouTube... and I have to chuckle at how much it apparently gets under their collective skins. In a very negative way - I guess that edears me to the commercials even more. People claim the "Mac guy" is arrogant and smug. There's more than enough of that to go around (myself included it would seem).
As much as I respect Macs for what they are and do, for all of their "We're different" attitude, they just can't seem to stop with the "Me, too!" actions.
Hell yeah! I mean... heck... who wants compatability! Who wants the option to use data and applications from other platforms? That's just crazy talk.
Maybe you should stop hanging out with your Mom's friends if you're starting to consider hippies == average.
I'm genuinely curious - what makes the Mac guy a "hippie"? You've already dismissed folks who asked about his clothes as being "shallow" basing things on appearances. So what is it? Can't be his physical build, haircut, grooming... that's shallow appearances. Maybe its him doing creative things with his computer of choice? Or is it just because.. ya know... he's the Mac guy?
And you are positively certain that the way in which the US does the above has no relevance as to how the rest of the world reacts? And you are just as certain that a change in political leadership can/will have no effect on US international policy?
Oh - it certainly will have SOME effect. The sooner we can clear the Bush administration out of the diver's seat of US policy the better. But this is no silver bullet.
The issue goes beyond our current political situation. Changing US political leadership is not going to stop Baywatch from being syndicated around the world. It's not going to stop Coke from peddling to every conceivable market. It's not going to stop various rights groups and interests from nagging about woman's rights. It's not going to stop Christian missionaries from spreading their particular religious meme. Our culture presses against others in the world despite US politics.
US culture enrages fundamentalist Muslims who see their cultures eroded. Osama bin Laden has written on the subject. If you can believe these writings as true reflectoins of his, and others of his ilk, feelings on the matter you will come to understand that politics are just one aspect of the current situation. I agree that we need political change. I'm not so sure we should be forcing such an overhall of our culture.
It should also be noted that we've had difficulties in the Middle East for decades now - under both Republican and Democrat leadership.
Actually this new leadership and the new body of lawmakers just elected has the opportunity to show the world that Americans don't deserve to be attacked (and therefore we won't).
The United States is an economic and cultural machine that touches almost every part of the world. The economics drives that reach. And our culture is pervasive. The United States is a threat to other cultures. And there are those who will see that threat as a reason to take up arms. You are not going to stop attacks on the US through a change in political leadership.
By putting this on the front page of/. taco, you're merely assisting MS's propaganda machine further demonize the GPL and Linux in general.
I'm glad this stuff gets posted from time to time. I don't read Dvorak's writings. But plenty of other people do. Its not a bad thing to have some idea of what memes this guy (and others of his ilk) are putting out there. Otherwise the first I hear of this silliness is during some IT strategy meeting or whatnot. Having read the article, I'll know what Dvorak claims and know exactly what his flaws in reasoning are - and be prepared to point them out.
Of course to the average Slashdotter, who doesn't RTFA or does any research, this means Microsoft is going to start suing other Linux companies that aren't blessed by Microsoft. But again how can Microsoft sue over patents when they don't own any in regards to the Linux kernel or Linux development stack. Even Wine is safe from Microsoft. It's just some portions of Mono which deal with.NET and Windows.Forms. Perhaps some other technologies as well that have to do with Microsoft Office.
I doubt your "average Slashdotter" really expects a lawsuit from Microsoft any time soon. But your typical risk-adverse Enterprise IT guy isn't going to be getting warm fuzzies over the possibility... the hint... that Microsoft might be suing their Linux vendor some time in the future. And that's the intent of FUD.
Oh... sure... maybe Ballmer is just misunderstood. Maybe he's just not good at making clear statements. Of course, he's been really rather bad at it for years. This is not the first time Ballmer has made vague threats. I'm inclined to believe he's a sharp guy who knows exactly what he's saying.
As much as I like to bash Microsoft, this whole "Microsoft is the next SCO" is bullshit.
...
Microsoft is basically saying "If you want to run your ASP.NET app with open source software then Novell is your only choice". Microsoft is not saying "Novell Linux is the only safe Linux distro from Microsoft lawsuits" because Linux is inherently safe as long as you don't run Microsoft's crappy.NET software on it.
I missed the quote that actually mentions ASP.NET. What I do see is Steve Ballmer saying:
"This does not apply to any forms of Linux other than Novell's SUSE Linux. And if people want to have peace and interoperability, they'll look at Novell's SUSE Linux. If they make other choices, they have all of the compliance and intellectual property issues that are associated with that."
And that sounds far more like the ficticious second quote you're discounting.
Maybe history will prove it does? There were (and as far as I know still might be) societies where pederasty, which most people believe = pedophilia today besides not technically fitting the definition, was accepted. Who really knows what the future holds? It's not a cause I'm gonna rally for, but societies change.
It's certainly possible that society will change. But let's talk about here and now.
The big discrepancy to comparing interracial relations or homosexuality to relations with underage partners (if "pedophilia" is either not accurate or too harsh for your tastes) is that of consenting adults. The three are simply not the same issue.
I only mention this because many people consider morality to be immutable and universal.
I don't consider morality to be immutable and universal. I am asking the anonymous parent to come out and state what they have implied. My own implication is to defend the position.
In any case, let's be sure to keep the distinction between committing sexual acts with (and against) children and discussing similarly themed desires with like-minded people. The acts are immoral, most of us would agree. But is the discussion?
Great point. Good question. Irrelevant. The parent said nothing about the legality of discussion. When you're showing up at a location because you think you're meeting an underage parter for sex, you've gone far past the point of discussion. But that's not the point.
The issue at hand is equating relations between adults with one between an adult and child.
They do millions of ATM transactions FLAWLESSLY every day
Of course, ATMs are capable of providing a paper receipt and the accuracy of ATM actions are routinely audited by average citizens with a vested interest in the accuracy of an ATM's tabulations.
For all practical purposes, the war was over but let's look at some technicalities anyway.
You are entirely incorrect. Over the 10 year period of the cease-fire, UN forces continued to patrol No-Fly Zones in accordance with the cease-fire agreement. You'll note that occasionally there would be news of a MiG being shot down or SAM site being attacked. What you don't hear about is the number of times weapons tracking and lock-on was detected by US forces and not acted on. It should be noted that UN weapons inspections were also an ongoing action of the cease-fire agreement. Actions stemming from the 1990 Gulf War were certainly continuing whether the public payed attention or not.
Second, there is the question of international law. With respect to the terms of the ceasefire concerning WMD's there are two questions. The first question is whether the possiblity that Iraq had WMD's justified the U.S. attack on Iraq as self defense. The second question is whether Iraq's conduct with respect to WMD inspections was a sufficient violation of either the ceasefire agreement or other U.N. resolutions to justify a "resumption" of hostilities on the part of the U.S.A.
As far as the international consensus and, more formally, the U.N. was concerned, the answer to both questions was no. Then you get into quibbling about who actually had the authority to interpret the ceasefire agreement and the U.N. resolutions.
I can mostly agree with this point. Although I would argue that the WMD issue is a rather large question and not the entire argument (or at least shouldn't have been).
There will always be people who justify their behavior based on technicalities in the letter of the law rather than the intent and spirit of the law. From where I stand, it sure looks like the Bush administration was being sleazy and gaming the technicalities.
From where I stand, the Bush administration was sleazy trying to link Iraq with Al Quaeda and claiming WMDs in Iraq would be handed to fundamentalist terrorists.
Yes because the US is in the habit of not signing peace treaties but rather "cease fires". The Korean War is technically still on.
This is true - although it should be noted that the Korean War Armistace was between UN forces and North Korea / China. This wasn't particularly a US action (although the US was certainly heavily involved). The US maintains a presence in support of Sourth Korea at the North/South DMZ.
As is WWII... the US signed "cease fires" there, too.
The US also signed peace treaties officially ending hostilities with involved parties of WWII.
Oh and the US doesn't "declare war" anymore either, except on abstract concepts.
I somewhat agree - I wish US politicians would stop this practice.
Of course - none of this has much bearing on what's going on in Iraq.
Slashdot Mirror
Laura Dido is far from a credible source. Granted - it doesn't mean she didn't really get said threats. But I would be really careful about making generalized, sweeping statements about people based on Didio's claims.
Sometimes I get this petty little feeling that there should be a "-1, Martyr Complex" mod option. But of course, this only feeds said complex. And that's the problem with a lot of moderations - sometimes its more effective responding with why an opinion might be missing something.
Having said that - responding is also only so effective. The linked example works well to demonstrate it. In the responses this down-modded post got, someone took the time to point out to you that "free" was not an issue of cost. Your entire post was derailed. Now you moan and groan about the injustices visited upon you due to anti-Microsoft sentiment. You're either refusing to listen, are slow on the pick-up, or are intentionally trolling.
Back on point...
Sure - there's a fair amount of anti-Microsoft sentiment here. I like it. You'll have to excuse me if I don't gush about Microsoft's latest venture like so much of the rest of the industry. But I will agree that we must be guarded to ensure we don't allow ourselves to get too carried away.
Next time - have the conviction in your opinion to state it without the cheap mod / martyrdom ploy.
They all live by the whims of a yellow submarine.
I'm sure this guy is faithfully repeating what he was told. These concepts don't just spring out of the air. Just like Internet tubes, the meme being expressed here is an echo of someone's PR campaign. I would expect it all comes from a fancy dinner or lunch during a Powerpoint presentation.
None of the commercial, proprietary games for Linux that I have require a specific distribution (yeah, yeah... precious few to pick from). Yet they have all worked fine for me. Your question strikes me as something akin to asking which version of Windows does one pick when writing a game.
I was kind of thinking of a spleen singing "Born Free."
9. The Halo movie is actually going in to realease and was secretly being devoloped as a joint project with Pixar under the working tittle "Duke Nuke'm Forever". The movie engine and content will be release to game stores in 3 months after release and fans are invited to "play the movie."
He would be an "innovator".
Cute. Just for giggles - do one now about "real" sports.
Eh - sometimes its fun to feed the troll. See how good they really are. Seems this one can't make it past 1 level of trolling. Pitty.
I like them. They don't make me want to buy a Mac. I guess its not an effective commercial for my demographic. I prefer commodity hardware (even if I occasionally buy it as a pre-assembled package) and a commodity OS.
I can see how these commercials would really piss off Windows fans. In fact - I've seen some of the Windows fanboy spoofs on YouTube... and I have to chuckle at how much it apparently gets under their collective skins. In a very negative way - I guess that edears me to the commercials even more. People claim the "Mac guy" is arrogant and smug. There's more than enough of that to go around (myself included it would seem).
Hell yeah! I mean... heck... who wants compatability! Who wants the option to use data and applications from other platforms? That's just crazy talk.
I'm genuinely curious - what makes the Mac guy a "hippie"? You've already dismissed folks who asked about his clothes as being "shallow" basing things on appearances. So what is it? Can't be his physical build, haircut, grooming... that's shallow appearances. Maybe its him doing creative things with his computer of choice? Or is it just because.. ya know... he's the Mac guy?
Oh - it certainly will have SOME effect. The sooner we can clear the Bush administration out of the diver's seat of US policy the better. But this is no silver bullet.
The issue goes beyond our current political situation. Changing US political leadership is not going to stop Baywatch from being syndicated around the world. It's not going to stop Coke from peddling to every conceivable market. It's not going to stop various rights groups and interests from nagging about woman's rights. It's not going to stop Christian missionaries from spreading their particular religious meme. Our culture presses against others in the world despite US politics.
US culture enrages fundamentalist Muslims who see their cultures eroded. Osama bin Laden has written on the subject. If you can believe these writings as true reflectoins of his, and others of his ilk, feelings on the matter you will come to understand that politics are just one aspect of the current situation. I agree that we need political change. I'm not so sure we should be forcing such an overhall of our culture.
It should also be noted that we've had difficulties in the Middle East for decades now - under both Republican and Democrat leadership.
The United States is an economic and cultural machine that touches almost every part of the world. The economics drives that reach. And our culture is pervasive. The United States is a threat to other cultures. And there are those who will see that threat as a reason to take up arms. You are not going to stop attacks on the US through a change in political leadership.
I'm glad this stuff gets posted from time to time. I don't read Dvorak's writings. But plenty of other people do. Its not a bad thing to have some idea of what memes this guy (and others of his ilk) are putting out there. Otherwise the first I hear of this silliness is during some IT strategy meeting or whatnot. Having read the article, I'll know what Dvorak claims and know exactly what his flaws in reasoning are - and be prepared to point them out.
I doubt your "average Slashdotter" really expects a lawsuit from Microsoft any time soon. But your typical risk-adverse Enterprise IT guy isn't going to be getting warm fuzzies over the possibility... the hint... that Microsoft might be suing their Linux vendor some time in the future. And that's the intent of FUD.
Oh... sure... maybe Ballmer is just misunderstood. Maybe he's just not good at making clear statements. Of course, he's been really rather bad at it for years. This is not the first time Ballmer has made vague threats. I'm inclined to believe he's a sharp guy who knows exactly what he's saying.
I missed the quote that actually mentions ASP.NET. What I do see is Steve Ballmer saying:
And that sounds far more like the ficticious second quote you're discounting.
It's certainly possible that society will change. But let's talk about here and now.
The big discrepancy to comparing interracial relations or homosexuality to relations with underage partners (if "pedophilia" is either not accurate or too harsh for your tastes) is that of consenting adults. The three are simply not the same issue.
I don't consider morality to be immutable and universal. I am asking the anonymous parent to come out and state what they have implied. My own implication is to defend the position.
Great point. Good question. Irrelevant. The parent said nothing about the legality of discussion. When you're showing up at a location because you think you're meeting an underage parter for sex, you've gone far past the point of discussion. But that's not the point.
The issue at hand is equating relations between adults with one between an adult and child.
Of course, ATMs are capable of providing a paper receipt and the accuracy of ATM actions are routinely audited by average citizens with a vested interest in the accuracy of an ATM's tabulations.
You're claiming that pedophilia has the same moral impact as interracial marriage and homosexuality?
That doesn't mean they would elect Saddam.
You are entirely incorrect. Over the 10 year period of the cease-fire, UN forces continued to patrol No-Fly Zones in accordance with the cease-fire agreement. You'll note that occasionally there would be news of a MiG being shot down or SAM site being attacked. What you don't hear about is the number of times weapons tracking and lock-on was detected by US forces and not acted on. It should be noted that UN weapons inspections were also an ongoing action of the cease-fire agreement. Actions stemming from the 1990 Gulf War were certainly continuing whether the public payed attention or not.
I can mostly agree with this point. Although I would argue that the WMD issue is a rather large question and not the entire argument (or at least shouldn't have been).
From where I stand, the Bush administration was sleazy trying to link Iraq with Al Quaeda and claiming WMDs in Iraq would be handed to fundamentalist terrorists.
This is true - although it should be noted that the Korean War Armistace was between UN forces and North Korea / China. This wasn't particularly a US action (although the US was certainly heavily involved). The US maintains a presence in support of Sourth Korea at the North/South DMZ.
The US also signed peace treaties officially ending hostilities with involved parties of WWII.
I somewhat agree - I wish US politicians would stop this practice.
Of course - none of this has much bearing on what's going on in Iraq.