Had Aldus been able to get a hold of our source code, Quark's trade secrets, along with the enormous amount of money we had invested in R&D to develop QuarkXPress 3 would have been for naught.
There's nothing easier than copying a software software. Gone are the days of C. Speed is a non-issue. The R in R&D is what matters. I can choose between dozens of languages to write what Quark did. Nowadays you can implement the "algorithms" (from Joe's words) in PHP or Python.
It's not the source code, stupid.
Dreamweaver, for example, had a fantastic feature whereby it would preserve the source code formatting that an HTML developer typed in. FrontPage didn't have it. GoLive didn't have it. PageMill didn't have it. NetObjects Fusion didn't have it.
Hire me. I can write a HTML parser in one day.
We spent a lot of time and money developing that feature, and it ended up being a key competitive advantage for us.
That's because you made it first.
How much investment capital do you think you'll get? How many customers?
Oh yeah, like if code matters when selling a software. That's why most of the financial transactions from major banks and credit card companies depend on either Cobol or Java.
Not every company in the world can just become a services company and compete on price.
A proven 32-bit cutting-edge state-of-the-art industrial-strength Y2K-compliant zero-administration plug-and-play industry-standard Java-enabled internet-ready multimedia professional personal-computer Operating System that is even newer and faster yet compatible, with a user-friendly object-oriented 3D graphical user interface, amazing inter-application communication and plug-in capability, an enhanced filesystem, full integration into Enterprise networks, an exclusive way to deploy distributed components, seamless network sharing of printers and files.
Well, most people aren't desorganized creative. They like to find what they need. If they can't they are always complaining "I need to be more organized".
A computer is supposed to hold your high-school friend's telephone number. Expect no mercy when an user tries to find it and it's behind hundreds of other documents.
Face it, most people still use the computer as a tool. They want a sorted list of their data. Business apps are generally forms and information retrieval. And THAT'S where the money lives, not the home user.
Yes, this is true. Let me be serious? Doesn't matter where the benefit goes? Why does an american worker deserves a job more than anyone else in he world? It doesn't because we're all equal.
I know that from a personal point of view, this is sad, but the world is huge:)
Yes, it will mean that brazilians will be more able to find holes on Open Source and Linux solutions.
Also, it means that they will be able not only to find them, but also to fix them.
Do brazilians 'hack' a lot? Sure, they do. Bu not because the tech is there, the same reason why people don't commit murder because there's a kitchen knife there.
There are good and bad sides of these observations. Why did you pick up the bad? Brazilians would know how to crack, and also how to fix it.
I remember a few weeks ago someone from the Xbox team critized a japanese game developer (I forgot his name, the one who did Mario (what kind of geek am I?)), because he made games which are supposed to be fun, and weren't "pushing the (game) industry" to the next level, without gore or 3D graphics.
People, this is just PR. Xbox person X comes and say to you that games shouldn't be fun. Everyone goes BOOOO... few weeks later Xbox person X comes and say games should be fun.
Don't think that now the Xbox team will concentrate on fun games, high playability, and all this kind of cool stuff. Don't think that the graphics' driven industry will change.
I don't support SCO neither I am justifying their actions, but suppose they are right about IBM copying some code. Now, users are protected, since they didn't know they were using other company IP.
Let's just focus on a remote possibility, still, it might be true. SCO proves that IBM (and only IBM) did something wrong. They sue and 'win'. What message does this gives to other companies?
"Support Linux and you might get screwed"
Because there's no really good formal control of what code goes in the kernel (and of course, IMHO, shouldn't be, it's the coder responsability to do this). But we're talking about IBM, a company which has invested one billion on its Linux business.
Imagine other development companies watching this mess with a giant company.
The SCO strike might be unsucessful on our side. But I worry about the psycological net effect of these things. What if company X doesn't let their programmers touch GPL software afraid that they will slip their code on it?
SCO doesn't even have to prove that IBM did something wrong. Just showing that this is possible, makes some companies back off GPL'ed code.
Ps: Of course this is all speculation, but it's fun to imagine different scenarios and prepare yourself. *SPECIALLY* on a business meeting with clients. I've had clients disputing with me my right to use Mysql because they thought my program *had* to be GPL too.
It's all FUD, loud and clear, but affects hundreds of business decisions worldwide.
Good idea... something like a plus and a minus sign next to each article or comment. It's just for saying what you like or you don't... and new stuff checks against the database and it's sorted accordingly to your rules.
Slashdot Mirror
From the "Not opening everything" return:
Had Aldus been able to get a hold of our source code, Quark's trade secrets, along with the enormous amount of money we had invested in R&D to develop QuarkXPress 3 would have been for naught.
There's nothing easier than copying a software software. Gone are the days of C. Speed is a non-issue. The R in R&D is what matters. I can choose between dozens of languages to write what Quark did. Nowadays you can implement the "algorithms" (from Joe's words) in PHP or Python.
It's not the source code, stupid.
Dreamweaver, for example, had a fantastic feature whereby it would preserve the source code formatting that an HTML developer typed in. FrontPage didn't have it. GoLive didn't have it. PageMill didn't have it. NetObjects Fusion didn't have it.
Hire me. I can write a HTML parser in one day.
We spent a lot of time and money developing that feature, and it ended up being a key competitive advantage for us.
That's because you made it first.
How much investment capital do you think you'll get? How many customers?
Oh yeah, like if code matters when selling a software. That's why most of the financial transactions from major banks and credit card companies depend on either Cobol or Java.
Not every company in the world can just become a services company and compete on price.
That's why Linux isn't ready for the desktop.
Source code exists to serve the programmer, not the user (or costumer).
hehehe, this guy's speech reminds me of this:
A proven 32-bit cutting-edge state-of-the-art industrial-strength Y2K-compliant zero-administration plug-and-play industry-standard Java-enabled internet-ready multimedia professional personal-computer Operating System that is even newer and faster yet compatible, with a user-friendly object-oriented 3D graphical user interface, amazing inter-application communication and plug-in capability, an enhanced filesystem, full integration into Enterprise networks, an exclusive way to deploy distributed components, seamless network sharing of printers and files.
I only disagreed with a few points raised on it. For example, where it [an error occurred while processing this directive], it was kinda dumb.
On the next page, the analisys [an error occurred while processing this directive], again, very dumb.
Overall, a good article. But in the next time, I think we could see [an error occurred while processing this directive]
But one of the reasons that Google "did it better than anyone else" is: They have principles.
And after everyone thinks you're the smartest one around propose to stop with the rating system.
There's a drupal module that does that. Coded by kerneltrap webmaster.
Mandrake 10.0 (which has a RC already) will feature the 2.6 Kernel.
Nobody expects the Finnish Jurisdiction!
Because the end does not justify the means.
Well, most people aren't desorganized creative. They like to find what they need. If they can't they are always complaining "I need to be more organized".
A computer is supposed to hold your high-school friend's telephone number. Expect no mercy when an user tries to find it and it's behind hundreds of other documents.
Face it, most people still use the computer as a tool. They want a sorted list of their data. Business apps are generally forms and information retrieval. And THAT'S where the money lives, not the home user.
Play Daisy for me.
We will soon be replacing our market analysits and physicians with programmers!
Just like market analysts replaced 'pure luck' and 'guessing' and just like physicians replanced 'religious belief' and 'priests'.
Without computer, we might _never_ been able to solve these problems? Isn't that cool? We finally can move on to tougher stuff.
Or IHBT?
There is no source.
Yes, this is true. Let me be serious? Doesn't matter where the benefit goes? Why does an american worker deserves a job more than anyone else in he world? It doesn't because we're all equal.
:)
I know that from a personal point of view, this is sad, but the world is huge
Brazil never was in flush with cash.
FUD!
Yes, it will mean that brazilians will be more able to find holes on Open Source and Linux solutions.
Also, it means that they will be able not only to find them, but also to fix them.
Do brazilians 'hack' a lot? Sure, they do. Bu not because the tech is there, the same reason why people don't commit murder because there's a kitchen knife there.
There are good and bad sides of these observations. Why did you pick up the bad? Brazilians would know how to crack, and also how to fix it.
Open source let the citizens understand what the software does.
It is valid in Portuguese, pr_BR. I just got an(other) email with it...
But basically all that he gets in a broken file.
Until you get penicillin. Really, sometimes innovation and invention come from unexpected places.
I remember a few weeks ago someone from the Xbox team critized a japanese game developer (I forgot his name, the one who did Mario (what kind of geek am I?)), because he made games which are supposed to be fun, and weren't "pushing the (game) industry" to the next level, without gore or 3D graphics.
People, this is just PR. Xbox person X comes and say to you that games shouldn't be fun. Everyone goes BOOOO... few weeks later Xbox person X comes and say games should be fun.
Don't think that now the Xbox team will concentrate on fun games, high playability, and all this kind of cool stuff. Don't think that the graphics' driven industry will change.
NOT a bit. It's just PR.
An old military strategy is not to get on the way of your opponent when he is making mistakes.
In other words, SCO is digging their own grave, and more evidence is being accumulated to, when necessary, strike a final blow.
The tale is telling, is it not?
Nope. Home users don't have sysadmins to baby-sit their systems.
When you have a 90% market share, things differ on scale from one compromised FTP server.
I don't support SCO neither I am justifying their actions, but suppose they are right about IBM copying some code. Now, users are protected, since they didn't know they were using other company IP.
Let's just focus on a remote possibility, still, it might be true. SCO proves that IBM (and only IBM) did something wrong. They sue and 'win'. What message does this gives to other companies?
"Support Linux and you might get screwed"
Because there's no really good formal control of what code goes in the kernel (and of course, IMHO, shouldn't be, it's the coder responsability to do this). But we're talking about IBM, a company which has invested one billion on its Linux business.
Imagine other development companies watching this mess with a giant company.
The SCO strike might be unsucessful on our side. But I worry about the psycological net effect of these things. What if company X doesn't let their programmers touch GPL software afraid that they will slip their code on it?
SCO doesn't even have to prove that IBM did something wrong. Just showing that this is possible, makes some companies back off GPL'ed code.
Ps: Of course this is all speculation, but it's fun to imagine different scenarios and prepare yourself. *SPECIALLY* on a business meeting with clients. I've had clients disputing with me my right to use Mysql because they thought my program *had* to be GPL too.
It's all FUD, loud and clear, but affects hundreds of business decisions worldwide.
Anyone have tips on this new google gem?
1 89
Look, look:
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/8/14/21307/5
Good idea... something like a plus and a minus sign next to each article or comment. It's just for saying what you like or you don't... and new stuff checks against the database and it's sorted accordingly to your rules.