Seriously, arguing against software freedom in 2007 is just absurd. We've all had this discussion already. I'm sorry you missed 1998, but we're really not interested in reliving it. Go read The Cathedral And The Bazaar and all the other stuff written back then.
I think he's refering to gnome-cups-manager.. which is pretty weak in some parts at the moment. I believe there are some improvements in the GNOME CVS tree that have yet to filter down.
Why would you feel the need to post a "translation" when you have no idea what you are talking about?
The fact that people are willing to write Open Source software without charging a fee for their services is hardly a new concept, but Greg did the smart thing of treating it like it is and, in doing so, attracted the attention of people who thought that it wasn't the case.
This was one of the biggest problems with the Free Software movement before Open Source came along.. no-one talked about the benefits that businesses could get from the community. For a while, no-one talked about anything else, and then it went quiet again. RMS will tell you that we need to talk about freedom. I happen to agree, but we also need to talk about the practical advantages of open software development too.
Yes, you are absolutely right. This statement:
While one developer of a competing open source operating system has criticized the NDA approach, developers are free under the GPL to use the Linux driver as the documentation for a new one as long as they don't copy the actual code. in attempt to be diplomatic has just added confusion. Allow me to clarify:
one developer = Theo de Raadt.
competing open source operating system = OpenBSD
criticized = profanity
So to rewrite the sentence so it actually make sense:
While Theo de Raadt, has slung profanities at the NDA approach, he is free to write a driver for OpenBSD if he wants by using the Linux driver as documentation, but he best not copy any of the code from the Linux driver if he wants to avoid having to GPL it (which he almost certainly does).
Which makes this comment:
"The drivers are generally better written than the specs," Kroah-Hartman says. make a lot more sense. But what the hell, I'll translate that too:
Theo, stop moaning about specs.. these companies are not going to give us blueprints to the damn hardware.. and whatever they do give us is going to be confidential. That's the reality. Deal with it. If you refuse to enter into a non-disclosure agreement with these companies then don't complain when the only documentation you have is a Linux kernel driver. The specs aint that great anyway.
Perhaps you could fund an effort to get the patent invalidated.. or to buy a blanket license for linux.. or to get the patent owner to publically waive their right to sue anyone who distributes the codec or something..
As for CUPS, maybe you could narrow down the exact problem and submit a bug report.. or put together an effort to fund someone to work on it.
Executive: "Mr Gates, our plans against the Open Source community are progressing nicely! We're also making great new technology to turn the Microsoft userbase into a police state! Soon we'll be even richer than we already are!"
Gates: "Umm, yeah, you do that." [Goes back to swimming in a vault full of gold coins, Scrooge McDuck style.]
Meh, if you're forcing your morality on someone else instead of just letting people get along without hurting each other, you're living in a poor society.
IIS 6 hasn't had a public remotely exploitable bug in it. Ever. That's bullshit anyway, I've got dozens of remote exploits for IIS 6.
Oh, you said public.. hehe, forget I said anything.
Re:Distributing Linux
on
Piracy Economics
·
· Score: 4, Informative
It worked for DirectX support in WINE.
Was a time when WINE was distributed under a BSD-like license. A few developers decided they didn't like Open Source anymore, so they split off and formed this company, Transgaming, taking the code base with them and slapped a slightly more restrictive license on it (restrictive enough that you couldn't call it Open Source anymore).
Their idea was that people pay a subscription which gives them voting rights. Whatever they voted on, the developers would work on. The big thing the users wanted was DirectX support for popular games. So that's what they worked on. Then the problem was copy protection systems.. so they started bundling some proprietary components with the software which made the copy protection work under Linux.
Meanwhile, over in the WINE camp, they decided to switch their license to GPL because the Transgaming people (and the cross-over Office people) weren't giving their changes back. In fact, the next time someone asks you why the GPL is more popular than the BSD license, tell them about WINE. Anyway, all that work that Transgaming and the others did really inspired a lot of people to join the WINE project. It provided proof that WINE could do what people had been saying for years that it could do.
As yet, WINE is still not at the 1.0 stage.. It's still not easy for users to get an obscure "vertical market" piece of software working under WINE.
I know this isn't exactly what you were thinking.. but it does show that the ability to take Open Source in directions that the original authors are reluctant or otherwise slow to go really is a great strength.
No. That's how you end up with oppressive religious regimes.
If we're going to call for legal reform (and we should be, I agree) then let's call for a dedication to liberty. Live and let live. If you wanna do something that I consider immoral, and you're not hurting anyone, then I should have no say over what you do. Unlike the world we currently live in where the law has a say over what you do with your body, your mind and your copying devices.
You are welcome to drop by anytime.. just bring your physical object copying device from the future with you ok? Speaking of which, can I have a copy of that?
Re:Where's the raping and pillaging?
on
Piracy Economics
·
· Score: 1
I wonder, what's the software equivalent of a privateer?
Re:Sounds like they're doing it right
on
Dell Linux Details
·
· Score: 1
Hopefully Dell will start funding some Open Source developers to work on these drivers.. nothing gives you better driver support than having it integrated with the kernel.
I love that screenshot.
GStreamer extra plugins Codecs to play mp3, sid, mpeg1, mpeg2, AC-3, DVD (without encryption)
GStreamer ffmpeg video plugin Codecs to play mpeg, divx, mpeg4, ac3, wmv and asf files
GStreamer plugins for aac, xvid, mpeg2, faad Codecs to play Average user:
"What the fuck is a GStreamer?!? Hmm.. Guess I'll just install the first one.. oh wait, no, the second one says divx and wmv files, maybe that's what I want."
Then they probably notice the box down the bottom which gives them a description of what the package contains.. and it says what?
GStreamer plugins from the "ugly" set. GStreamer is a streaming media framework, based on graphs of filters which operate on media data "Huuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhh? What the hell does that mean? This is way too complicated.. I don't think this GStreamer thing is what I want to install."
A Wizard that assumes you are a wizard, brilliant!
Slashdot Mirror
Seriously, arguing against software freedom in 2007 is just absurd. We've all had this discussion already. I'm sorry you missed 1998, but we're really not interested in reliving it. Go read The Cathedral And The Bazaar and all the other stuff written back then.
Maybe you should try some humility instead of phrasing your question like you're a know-it-all.
I think he's refering to gnome-cups-manager.. which is pretty weak in some parts at the moment. I believe there are some improvements in the GNOME CVS tree that have yet to filter down.
Uhhh.. no he wasn't. He wasn't lying at all.
Why would you feel the need to post a "translation" when you have no idea what you are talking about?
The fact that people are willing to write Open Source software without charging a fee for their services is hardly a new concept, but Greg did the smart thing of treating it like it is and, in doing so, attracted the attention of people who thought that it wasn't the case.
This was one of the biggest problems with the Free Software movement before Open Source came along.. no-one talked about the benefits that businesses could get from the community. For a while, no-one talked about anything else, and then it went quiet again. RMS will tell you that we need to talk about freedom. I happen to agree, but we also need to talk about the practical advantages of open software development too.
If only there was a casino that would cover this kind of action.. you could make a lot of money betting on things that happened 5 months ago.
one developer = Theo de Raadt.
competing open source operating system = OpenBSD
criticized = profanity
So to rewrite the sentence so it actually make sense:
While Theo de Raadt, has slung profanities at the NDA approach, he is free to write a driver for OpenBSD if he wants by using the Linux driver as documentation, but he best not copy any of the code from the Linux driver if he wants to avoid having to GPL it (which he almost certainly does).
Which makes this comment: "The drivers are generally better written than the specs," Kroah-Hartman says. make a lot more sense. But what the hell, I'll translate that too:
Theo, stop moaning about specs.. these companies are not going to give us blueprints to the damn hardware.. and whatever they do give us is going to be confidential. That's the reality. Deal with it. If you refuse to enter into a non-disclosure agreement with these companies then don't complain when the only documentation you have is a Linux kernel driver. The specs aint that great anyway.
Or, at least, that's what I read.
1. They're loadable modules.
2. You should maybe leave the kernel development to the kernel developers.
Perhaps you could fund an effort to get the patent invalidated.. or to buy a blanket license for linux.. or to get the patent owner to publically waive their right to sue anyone who distributes the codec or something..
As for CUPS, maybe you could narrow down the exact problem and submit a bug report.. or put together an effort to fund someone to work on it.
It's community software.
the volunteers write them without charging the OEMs, yes.
Actual conversation:
Executive: "Mr Gates, our plans against the Open Source community are progressing nicely! We're also making great new technology to turn the Microsoft userbase into a police state! Soon we'll be even richer than we already are!"
Gates: "Umm, yeah, you do that." [Goes back to swimming in a vault full of gold coins, Scrooge McDuck style.]
I'm sure a dozen Microsoft-funded surveys have concluded that Microsoft sucks.
They just don't publish those ones.
So what? Everyone knows virgins write the best love songs.
Meh, if you're forcing your morality on someone else instead of just letting people get along without hurting each other, you're living in a poor society.
Just look at the war on drugs.
My point was that BSD causes fragmentation at the expense of the original effort.
But I think you knew that.
Oh, you said public.. hehe, forget I said anything.
It worked for DirectX support in WINE.
Was a time when WINE was distributed under a BSD-like license. A few developers decided they didn't like Open Source anymore, so they split off and formed this company, Transgaming, taking the code base with them and slapped a slightly more restrictive license on it (restrictive enough that you couldn't call it Open Source anymore).
Their idea was that people pay a subscription which gives them voting rights. Whatever they voted on, the developers would work on. The big thing the users wanted was DirectX support for popular games. So that's what they worked on. Then the problem was copy protection systems.. so they started bundling some proprietary components with the software which made the copy protection work under Linux.
Meanwhile, over in the WINE camp, they decided to switch their license to GPL because the Transgaming people (and the cross-over Office people) weren't giving their changes back. In fact, the next time someone asks you why the GPL is more popular than the BSD license, tell them about WINE. Anyway, all that work that Transgaming and the others did really inspired a lot of people to join the WINE project. It provided proof that WINE could do what people had been saying for years that it could do.
As yet, WINE is still not at the 1.0 stage.. It's still not easy for users to get an obscure "vertical market" piece of software working under WINE.
I know this isn't exactly what you were thinking.. but it does show that the ability to take Open Source in directions that the original authors are reluctant or otherwise slow to go really is a great strength.
No. That's how you end up with oppressive religious regimes.
If we're going to call for legal reform (and we should be, I agree) then let's call for a dedication to liberty. Live and let live. If you wanna do something that I consider immoral, and you're not hurting anyone, then I should have no say over what you do. Unlike the world we currently live in where the law has a say over what you do with your body, your mind and your copying devices.
You are welcome to drop by anytime.. just bring your physical object copying device from the future with you ok? Speaking of which, can I have a copy of that?
I wonder, what's the software equivalent of a privateer?
Have you considered the possibility that other people might think differently to you?
You're absolutely right. The best way to tell yourself that it is fine is: there's nothing they can do to stop me.
Please stop confusing legality with morality.
Hopefully Dell will start funding some Open Source developers to work on these drivers.. nothing gives you better driver support than having it integrated with the kernel.
Codecs to play mp3, sid, mpeg1, mpeg2, AC-3, DVD (without encryption)
GStreamer ffmpeg video plugin
Codecs to play mpeg, divx, mpeg4, ac3, wmv and asf files
GStreamer plugins for aac, xvid, mpeg2, faad
Codecs to play Average user:
"What the fuck is a GStreamer?!? Hmm.. Guess I'll just install the first one.. oh wait, no, the second one says divx and wmv files, maybe that's what I want."
Then they probably notice the box down the bottom which gives them a description of what the package contains.. and it says what? GStreamer plugins from the "ugly" set.
GStreamer is a streaming media framework, based on graphs of filters which operate on media data "Huuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhh? What the hell does that mean? This is way too complicated.. I don't think this GStreamer thing is what I want to install."
A Wizard that assumes you are a wizard, brilliant!