So basically you're saying that it's alright for nintendo to do this. It's not ok to buy equipment and use it as you see fit; thats what it boils down to. It's wrong to use your gba for anything other than it's intended purpose with nintendo being the one that sets the intended purpose.
This isn't a knee-jerk reaction to the DMCA.. The DMCA is here already, if it wasn't here Nintendo wouldn't have a legal leg to stand on and even then they still don't. Why exactly do you think exists today? Comapnies like Nintendo, MPAA etc etc all lobbied for it.
If they wanna fight things like someone using the GBA for development or to copy games then they shouldn't allow the equipment to perform any other function than the one they want. If they can't do that then tough shit. I BUY the equipment and once I do that I will use it as I please. If I buy a cd and feel like using it like a frisbee thats what I want to do and will do until it's illegal and I become an outlaw throwing a cd around.
The DMCA might not be sinister (at least to you) but it sure as hell is OPPRESSIVE; if I can't do what I want with the stuff I buy, whether it be with a computer, gba, music or keyboard. Get it? I think maybe you need to look at the bigger picture. The effects of disregard are great; as they say. Never, ever, let your guard down.
But in practice I just don't see how it's gonna be any different in the long wrong. I mean with the xml you'll be able to do alot more stuff, a simple database etc it starts to get a little bit big for a porting system. How long until this becomes obsolete because the database is too big to search effectively.. I like it but i just think that it's implementation is gonna be the hard part. Then again implementation is always the hard part.
>Publicly available, or under NDA as a company-certified developer? Makes a difference if you consider the proprietary nature of the cartridge connector as a copy protection device, therefore covered under the DMCA.
Using that logic, you'll have to ban every connector from rj45 to rj45 serial connectors, db25, male, female.. all of it would fall under "copy protection device". Dell adds a serial port to your computer and you use it, you don't go to jail. Nintendo has no case, especially since they allow gameboy development kits IIRC.. there are plenty around the place. If you own the hardware, what you do with it is your business, if you break it; your business. If you write an ide for it and program games for it; your business.
>Nice gesture of defiance, but that won't help against well-paid lawyers.
Doesn't have to, the lawyers know they have no case so they'll move on, no money involved. Like I said nintendo's best bet if they wanna make cash off of this is to make this guy an offer. It's also a cheaper business decision in short and long term. Or at least leave it alone all together as they are really kinda late to be pulling shit like this.
DMCA or no, your IDE allows people to write programs like napster/morpheus/p2p protocols/viruses. Legally right or wrong, it's a pretty rude thing to have on ones computer.
You think software companies are writing programs for the mental excercise of it?! They write the programs you just consume what they write.. You don't write your own shit buddy.
There is no reverse engineering going on here. Everything regarding the technical know how to do this is available from Nintendo themselves. SamMichaels is it? Tell Nintendo to take the DMCA and shove it up their ass. While you're at it send them a flash linker and tell them to make you a deal you can't refuse. Otherwise; tough shit for them. All of this could of been avoided with a simple, we'll buy all the flash linkers you have and pay you not to make any for the next 5 yrs. Maybe they could of thought of something like this first, but when you are late to the market don't pull this DMCA shit outta your ass Nintendo. We know what it is, we don't like it and we don't like big companies thinking they can do whatever they want flashing the DMCA in everyones face when it doesn't apply; especially when it's something you should of thought of yourself and now wanna knock the small guy down so you can then make money off his idea. Fuck you; I feel like returning my Gamecube and denouncing up down up down left right left right a b start.
Feature creep == security holes and bugs.. whats your point? Like I said.. it had to compensate for features which were never originally planned for. Qmail on the other hand was built with security in mind from the ground up PLUS those features most users wanted.
I'm still not understanding what your point is reading this comment.
"We're not suggesting that Microsoft must give up all proprietary rights to its protocols and interfaces, or allow anyone to implement or use its standards. We are saying that they must be public, not secret."
Why is that? I would finally love to be able to mount (read&write) a NTFS partition should the need arise. Now they don't have to give up properiatary rights to their protocols or interfaces; thats fine. They can have (c) Microsoft etc; however people SHOULD be able to implement and use it's standards for interoperability, so I disagree with that statement. The protocols/interfaces/records/structures should be public and people should be able to interoperate with a Windows machine without having to reverse engineer protocols and structures.
Maybe it's because of the slashdot effect? Many sites go down because of it, and they are here in America, so how does this make Africa a 3rd world country, when infact South Africa has the most resources and most precious materials on the face of the earth? The gov't and people are fucked up but if you've ever actually been to South Africa, you'd see that it's far from 3rd world. Different, yes. 3rd world?, there are people in Africa that would make Bill Gates look cheap. As for reported income, that'll just get a corrupt gov't to tax you far more than they already do.
A userspace application is just that a userspace application. An operating system is defined by what makes you able to run those apps.. The kernel. End of story, no justification can skew what an operating system is and thats exactly what it is. If what you say is true then we could start skewing all types of shit. What is a gun? A gun by itself is about as useful as an empty bottle, add bullets (apps) and it becomes useful but what exactly is a gun? A tool that when applied with appropriate user space stuff can be used. Same thing goes for an operating system.
You fail to see that this isn't about patches or any of that. The case isn't about making windows better or more secure. It's about Microsoft and then making a "slimmer version of windows" available to the public at lower cost. As for whitehat and blackhat hackers looking for holes to plug and holes to exploit that does nothing but allow for a more secure operating system and considering Microsoft's goals of entering "services" it'd probably good to have a secure OS handling said services.
You sir, have your head far up in your ass cavity. KDE is not apart of Linux. No matter how you compare functionality I've never seen a patch for KDE in my Linux kernel config. It's userspace and it's modular. Don't you think IE should be the same way? Modular, userspace, so that if I end up on a windows box "I" don't have to use it??
I think you are missing the big picture, if you are even looking at the same picture at this point.
Ummm.. IANAL but asking Microsoft to release the windows source code publically for review is probably a good idea. You get experts in the field from different scopes AND/OR firms from different scopes funded by the states to read the source and to make a technological feasibly sound decision as to whether it can be slimmed down or not.
Microsoft doesn't have to worry about any IP being compromised as the firms and/or people are usually bound by court rules. This is evidence, not the public release of source code to some company; and evidence in a case doesn't HAVE to be disclosed to the public. As you've said above.
I believe that this does alot of good for "Joe Sixpack" as even though he might not care, people like me would like to know one way or another with no doubt that Microsoft is lying. Not only will it help the states case against Microsoft but it will truly put an end to Microsoft as trustworthy; which will have dramatic effects on future projects from Microsoft. (ie:.NET)
With the Source released for review, Joe Sixpack gains what matters to them most. Slimmer version of windows, cheaper price and or just peace of mind, knowing not to trust wholeheartedly things from Microsoft (buyer be wary).
Without the release.. Microsoft gets to keep Joe Sixpack blind.
Yes, extra compatability is nice.. Microsoft has some pretty cool things to offer. However they don't want others using those cool things. As for Linux being "alienated" from the corporate market that has nothing to do with compability. It has everything to do with service and support, if a Linux Company (ie: RedHat) offered the quality and support of say another Unix (ie: Sun Microsystems) you'd see alot more Linux deployed. RedHat should be looking into offering kickass support, maybe they should of even bailed or helped VA keep it's hardware business afloat. However the head honchos don't see it this way and thats why even though RedHat is staying afloat now it needs to make a decisive move into a market, while still concentrating on things like embedded support. Without a decisive move Redhat won't exist in it's current form for long. If VA could of cut a deal with Redhat and offered the support for hardware while Redhat offered support for software, VA Linux would still be around and Redhat + VA would be cutting into Sun Microsystems. Instead VA chose to create their own Linux distribution instead of buddying up with a "brand" (In advertising BRAND is everything) This is easier said than done however and unfortunately for VA it's too late, and soon to will Redhat go the way of the dinosaur without a decisive and substansial move to support one of the many things they currently DO support. In other words, i'm an admin and I have alot of machines to look over, I want to use Linux in the corporate enviroment but can't because there is no vendor to truly support my hardware and then Redhat might not support my machine based on what I buy if I piece it together.. So Linux stays out except for some tiny machines. Sun Microsystems supports my hardware and if I have a problem with Solaris they will support that as well.. We pay a lumpsum of cash for the support even if we don't need any. When we do need it, it's prompt and efficient; Infact it's damn near immediate. The above is what keeps Linux out of the corporate enviroment.
I just read, your "What Happened To The Censorware Project". I wouldn't want to see this on the front page. My reasons are simple enough, if you had a webmaster that removed all materials without your consent (or anyone elses) at that point if possible a full mirror of the site should of been made REGARDLESS of what went on or who says what. There is no one else to blame but yourself. Not only that but this is an essay more about people's behavior; I don't necessarily cares what goes on behind the scenes. I don't necessarily think whining is going to change much of anything either. Do your best to get what material you have left and maybe see if google has cache, try to get all relevant information and move on. The explanation isn't without need however, but I don't think this is news for nerds, stuff that matters if you don't make a significant effort to recoupe whatever was lost, then; and only then.. does anyone care. If you don't care enough to get something back up why should I care enough to read about it? Granted slashdot does post absolute nonsense, at least I think they do sometimes. That's a diff issue..
Don't put words into my mouth.. I never said java is a longterm standard. It's a standard and it has changed and it is GOING to change again very soon.
As for Miguel adopting any idea which his team really likes. That's fine with me as well, so long as it doesn't impose on my rights not to use it. Which means if.NET/MONO becomes a part of Gnome, I will use a fork or fork it myself. 95% of other gnome developers feel the same way. So pretty much I don't care.
You don't know what you're talking about.. Read the fucking licenses or STFU. I've read this comment and another comment of yours and both of them are bullshit
I have two things I would like to point out to you. Actually after preview it's alot of things.
So when you copy your binary from Windows that was compiled with the Visual Studio.NET and run it on your Unix platform, it will just integrate nicely with your GNOME desktop.
How exactly do you plan on doing that, as I'm aware of, at least right now. Microsoft hasn't submitted a full spec to the ECMA. Again; I will mention that Microsoft has never done something like this in the past; they've always blocked people out.
Your ideas on writing pieces of code in different languages is agreeable except in this case. Writing chunks of programs or pieces of code vital to the overall program in a different language which may or may not work to spec is just asking for trouble. (IE: using asm for sound routines etc etc many examples)
The.NET Framework stands on it's own feet, and developers in the Windows world love it....... We are witnessing the creating and deployment of a new standard...
A standard that we will have to fight to operate with in the long run. Instead of unix camp supporting those ideals we should be supporting things like java or creating or own stuff. Just because windows developers love it doesn't mean it's not java with a couple of addons. If it was wildly different in any manner I would agree that we should be looking to use it; however this is not the case. A standard already exists and that standard is java
The only restriction is that all of our work has to be free software. But other than that, I am ready to take money from anyone or listen to any kind of proposals for making this happen
We all know nothing involving money comes without a price. Don't blind yourself to that. If someone gives you money, they want something. For Microsoft it'd be whatever it took to end the free software movement; period. Try not to be a pawn in their game, try not to play the game period.
Your comment that follows above italicized voids most of what you said earlier regarding inteoperability.
I sincerely think that you need to assess what your true goal is. This isn't nirvana, this isn't a place where you can walk into the middle of the street and not get hit by a car. This is a cruel world, I fear your intentions are good and your heart and mindset is in the right place but don't be fooled, Microsoft and others make this a very cruel industry. There are certain things that you can and can't do and currently they set the rules, this is what we are trying to break so that we don't have to worry about if a standard is submitted and we base our code on said standard that it will work across the board. Building upon their standards which do nothing to help that only helps them.
Thanks for your clarification it did clear up a couple of points though.
You should support stuff you like with fucking money. I love free software but if some company decides that they'll wrap the shit up and add pretty icons or make it easier to use and I like it; I'll pay for it. Mostly to support said company in their effort in promoting free software, not only that but if whatever they are doing saves me some damn time so that I could go fuck my girl every now and then it's good for me (IE: whatever you do with your time is your business). Not only that but if they make it affordable and don't overly inflate the price it's a good deal all around. I sincerely disagree with Miguel's intention on adding or even suggesting.NET so I will now never support Ximian again. This is how you make a difference, put your money where your mouth is.
Yeah it's only a couple of API's.. We don't know if there are any others and we aren't gonna start reverse engineering until MS changes things.. I give it 1 yr max. By the way, we are already behind.
Actually it shows how little you know about the industry; no offense. Unix people would love to coexist with whatever possible, unix programmers write programs that are portable across many platforms, many of the projects on sourceforge originally written for unix have windows counterparts etc etc. Microsoft on the other hand doesn't like Unix people, they don't like anyone except their investors and bottom line. They'll jump through hoops to lock out anything. NTFS, Certain internal windows-only calls.. etc etc. This has absolutely nothing with being fanatical but the industry.. mainly open-source only people are TIRED of having to fight to co-exist with windows. We are fed up of trying to co-exist.. This will just be more of the same and I'm tired tired tired of it.
Slashdot Mirror
So basically you're saying that it's alright for nintendo to do this. It's not ok to buy equipment and use it as you see fit; thats what it boils down to. It's wrong to use your gba for anything other than it's intended purpose with nintendo being the one that sets the intended purpose.
This isn't a knee-jerk reaction to the DMCA.. The DMCA is here already, if it wasn't here Nintendo wouldn't have a legal leg to stand on and even then they still don't. Why exactly do you think exists today? Comapnies like Nintendo, MPAA etc etc all lobbied for it.
If they wanna fight things like someone using the GBA for development or to copy games then they shouldn't allow the equipment to perform any other function than the one they want. If they can't do that then tough shit. I BUY the equipment and once I do that I will use it as I please. If I buy a cd and feel like using it like a frisbee thats what I want to do and will do until it's illegal and I become an outlaw throwing a cd around.
The DMCA might not be sinister (at least to you) but it sure as hell is OPPRESSIVE; if I can't do what I want with the stuff I buy, whether it be with a computer, gba, music or keyboard. Get it? I think maybe you need to look at the bigger picture. The effects of disregard are great; as they say. Never, ever, let your guard down.
Maybe you should read what we are talking about before responding or posting to a thread? Just a suggestion.
But in practice I just don't see how it's gonna be any different in the long wrong. I mean with the xml you'll be able to do alot more stuff, a simple database etc it starts to get a little bit big for a porting system. How long until this becomes obsolete because the database is too big to search effectively.. I like it but i just think that it's implementation is gonna be the hard part. Then again implementation is always the hard part.
>Publicly available, or under NDA as a company-certified developer? Makes a difference if you consider the proprietary nature of the cartridge connector as a copy protection device, therefore covered under the DMCA.
Using that logic, you'll have to ban every connector from rj45 to rj45 serial connectors, db25, male, female.. all of it would fall under "copy protection device". Dell adds a serial port to your computer and you use it, you don't go to jail. Nintendo has no case, especially since they allow gameboy development kits IIRC.. there are plenty around the place. If you own the hardware, what you do with it is your business, if you break it; your business. If you write an ide for it and program games for it; your business.
>Nice gesture of defiance, but that won't help against well-paid lawyers.
Doesn't have to, the lawyers know they have no case so they'll move on, no money involved. Like I said nintendo's best bet if they wanna make cash off of this is to make this guy an offer. It's also a cheaper business decision in short and long term. Or at least leave it alone all together as they are really kinda late to be pulling shit like this.
DMCA or no, your IDE allows people to write programs like napster/morpheus/p2p protocols/viruses. Legally right or wrong, it's a pretty rude thing to have on ones computer.
You think software companies are writing programs for the mental excercise of it?! They write the programs you just consume what they write.. You don't write your own shit buddy.
I hope you never program your own shit again.
There is no reverse engineering going on here. Everything regarding the technical know how to do this is available from Nintendo themselves. SamMichaels is it? Tell Nintendo to take the DMCA and shove it up their ass. While you're at it send them a flash linker and tell them to make you a deal you can't refuse. Otherwise; tough shit for them. All of this could of been avoided with a simple, we'll buy all the flash linkers you have and pay you not to make any for the next 5 yrs. Maybe they could of thought of something like this first, but when you are late to the market don't pull this DMCA shit outta your ass Nintendo. We know what it is, we don't like it and we don't like big companies thinking they can do whatever they want flashing the DMCA in everyones face when it doesn't apply; especially when it's something you should of thought of yourself and now wanna knock the small guy down so you can then make money off his idea. Fuck you; I feel like returning my Gamecube and denouncing up down up down left right left right a b start.
Feature creep == security holes and bugs.. whats your point? Like I said.. it had to compensate for features which were never originally planned for. Qmail on the other hand was built with security in mind from the ground up PLUS those features most users wanted.
I'm still not understanding what your point is reading this comment.
"We're not suggesting that Microsoft must give up all proprietary rights to its protocols and interfaces, or allow anyone to implement or use its standards. We are saying that they must be public, not secret."
Why is that? I would finally love to be able to mount (read&write) a NTFS partition should the need arise. Now they don't have to give up properiatary rights to their protocols or interfaces; thats fine. They can have (c) Microsoft etc; however people SHOULD be able to implement and use it's standards for interoperability, so I disagree with that statement. The protocols/interfaces/records/structures should be public and people should be able to interoperate with a Windows machine without having to reverse engineer protocols and structures.
It had to compensate for features which were never originally planned for
Maybe it's because of the slashdot effect? Many sites go down because of it, and they are here in America, so how does this make Africa a 3rd world country, when infact South Africa has the most resources and most precious materials on the face of the earth? The gov't and people are fucked up but if you've ever actually been to South Africa, you'd see that it's far from 3rd world. Different, yes. 3rd world?, there are people in Africa that would make Bill Gates look cheap. As for reported income, that'll just get a corrupt gov't to tax you far more than they already do.
I wasn't aware Linus was maintaning 2.4 anymore. I believe some young hacker is actually maintaining 2.4
Ahhh opensource.creative.com?
I dunno, those kde3.x shots compared to my desktop shot .. I'd go with mine.. However I'm biased :)
A userspace application is just that a userspace application. An operating system is defined by what makes you able to run those apps.. The kernel. End of story, no justification can skew what an operating system is and thats exactly what it is. If what you say is true then we could start skewing all types of shit. What is a gun? A gun by itself is about as useful as an empty bottle, add bullets (apps) and it becomes useful but what exactly is a gun? A tool that when applied with appropriate user space stuff can be used. Same thing goes for an operating system.
You fail to see that this isn't about patches or any of that. The case isn't about making windows better or more secure. It's about Microsoft and then making a "slimmer version of windows" available to the public at lower cost. As for whitehat and blackhat hackers looking for holes to plug and holes to exploit that does nothing but allow for a more secure operating system and considering Microsoft's goals of entering "services" it'd probably good to have a secure OS handling said services.
You sir, have your head far up in your ass cavity. KDE is not apart of Linux. No matter how you compare functionality I've never seen a patch for KDE in my Linux kernel config. It's userspace and it's modular. Don't you think IE should be the same way? Modular, userspace, so that if I end up on a windows box "I" don't have to use it??
I think you are missing the big picture, if you are even looking at the same picture at this point.
Ummm.. IANAL but asking Microsoft to release the windows source code publically for review is probably a good idea. You get experts in the field from different scopes AND/OR firms from different scopes funded by the states to read the source and to make a technological feasibly sound decision as to whether it can be slimmed down or not.
.NET)
Microsoft doesn't have to worry about any IP being compromised as the firms and/or people are usually bound by court rules. This is evidence, not the public release of source code to some company; and evidence in a case doesn't HAVE to be disclosed to the public. As you've said above.
I believe that this does alot of good for "Joe Sixpack" as even though he might not care, people like me would like to know one way or another with no doubt that Microsoft is lying. Not only will it help the states case against Microsoft but it will truly put an end to Microsoft as trustworthy; which will have dramatic effects on future projects from Microsoft. (ie:
With the Source released for review, Joe Sixpack gains what matters to them most. Slimmer version of windows, cheaper price and or just peace of mind, knowing not to trust wholeheartedly things from Microsoft (buyer be wary).
Without the release.. Microsoft gets to keep Joe Sixpack blind.
Yes, extra compatability is nice.. Microsoft has some pretty cool things to offer. However they don't want others using those cool things. As for Linux being "alienated" from the corporate market that has nothing to do with compability. It has everything to do with service and support, if a Linux Company (ie: RedHat) offered the quality and support of say another Unix (ie: Sun Microsystems) you'd see alot more Linux deployed. RedHat should be looking into offering kickass support, maybe they should of even bailed or helped VA keep it's hardware business afloat. However the head honchos don't see it this way and thats why even though RedHat is staying afloat now it needs to make a decisive move into a market, while still concentrating on things like embedded support. Without a decisive move Redhat won't exist in it's current form for long. If VA could of cut a deal with Redhat and offered the support for hardware while Redhat offered support for software, VA Linux would still be around and Redhat + VA would be cutting into Sun Microsystems. Instead VA chose to create their own Linux distribution instead of buddying up with a "brand" (In advertising BRAND is everything) This is easier said than done however and unfortunately for VA it's too late, and soon to will Redhat go the way of the dinosaur without a decisive and substansial move to support one of the many things they currently DO support. In other words, i'm an admin and I have alot of machines to look over, I want to use Linux in the corporate enviroment but can't because there is no vendor to truly support my hardware and then Redhat might not support my machine based on what I buy if I piece it together.. So Linux stays out except for some tiny machines. Sun Microsystems supports my hardware and if I have a problem with Solaris they will support that as well.. We pay a lumpsum of cash for the support even if we don't need any. When we do need it, it's prompt and efficient; Infact it's damn near immediate. The above is what keeps Linux out of the corporate enviroment.
I just read, your "What Happened To The Censorware Project". I wouldn't want to see this on the front page. My reasons are simple enough, if you had a webmaster that removed all materials without your consent (or anyone elses) at that point if possible a full mirror of the site should of been made REGARDLESS of what went on or who says what. There is no one else to blame but yourself. Not only that but this is an essay more about people's behavior; I don't necessarily cares what goes on behind the scenes. I don't necessarily think whining is going to change much of anything either. Do your best to get what material you have left and maybe see if google has cache, try to get all relevant information and move on. The explanation isn't without need however, but I don't think this is news for nerds, stuff that matters if you don't make a significant effort to recoupe whatever was lost, then; and only then.. does anyone care. If you don't care enough to get something back up why should I care enough to read about it? Granted slashdot does post absolute nonsense, at least I think they do sometimes. That's a diff issue..
Don't put words into my mouth.. I never said java is a longterm standard. It's a standard and it has changed and it is GOING to change again very soon.
.NET/MONO becomes a part of Gnome, I will use a fork or fork it myself. 95% of other gnome developers feel the same way. So pretty much I don't care.
As for Miguel adopting any idea which his team really likes. That's fine with me as well, so long as it doesn't impose on my rights not to use it. Which means if
You don't know what you're talking about.. Read the fucking licenses or STFU. I've read this comment and another comment of yours and both of them are bullshit
I have two things I would like to point out to you. Actually after preview it's alot of things.
.NET Framework stands on it's own feet, and developers in the Windows world love it....... We are witnessing the creating and deployment of a new standard...
So when you copy your binary from Windows that was compiled with the Visual Studio.NET and run it on your Unix platform, it will just integrate nicely with your GNOME desktop.
How exactly do you plan on doing that, as I'm aware of, at least right now. Microsoft hasn't submitted a full spec to the ECMA. Again; I will mention that Microsoft has never done something like this in the past; they've always blocked people out.
Your ideas on writing pieces of code in different languages is agreeable except in this case. Writing chunks of programs or pieces of code vital to the overall program in a different language which may or may not work to spec is just asking for trouble. (IE: using asm for sound routines etc etc many examples)
The
A standard that we will have to fight to operate with in the long run. Instead of unix camp supporting those ideals we should be supporting things like java or creating or own stuff. Just because windows developers love it doesn't mean it's not java with a couple of addons. If it was wildly different in any manner I would agree that we should be looking to use it; however this is not the case. A standard already exists and that standard is java
The only restriction is that all of our work has to be free software. But other than that, I am ready to take money from anyone or listen to any kind of proposals for making this happen
We all know nothing involving money comes without a price. Don't blind yourself to that. If someone gives you money, they want something. For Microsoft it'd be whatever it took to end the free software movement; period. Try not to be a pawn in their game, try not to play the game period.
Your comment that follows above italicized voids most of what you said earlier regarding inteoperability.
I sincerely think that you need to assess what your true goal is. This isn't nirvana, this isn't a place where you can walk into the middle of the street and not get hit by a car. This is a cruel world, I fear your intentions are good and your heart and mindset is in the right place but don't be fooled, Microsoft and others make this a very cruel industry. There are certain things that you can and can't do and currently they set the rules, this is what we are trying to break so that we don't have to worry about if a standard is submitted and we base our code on said standard that it will work across the board. Building upon their standards which do nothing to help that only helps them.
Thanks for your clarification it did clear up a couple of points though.
You should support stuff you like with fucking money. I love free software but if some company decides that they'll wrap the shit up and add pretty icons or make it easier to use and I like it; I'll pay for it. Mostly to support said company in their effort in promoting free software, not only that but if whatever they are doing saves me some damn time so that I could go fuck my girl every now and then it's good for me (IE: whatever you do with your time is your business). Not only that but if they make it affordable and don't overly inflate the price it's a good deal all around. I sincerely disagree with Miguel's intention on adding or even suggesting .NET so I will now never support Ximian again. This is how you make a difference, put your money where your mouth is.
Yeah it's only a couple of API's.. We don't know if there are any others and we aren't gonna start reverse engineering until MS changes things.. I give it 1 yr max. By the way, we are already behind.
Actually it shows how little you know about the industry; no offense. Unix people would love to coexist with whatever possible, unix programmers write programs that are portable across many platforms, many of the projects on sourceforge originally written for unix have windows counterparts etc etc. Microsoft on the other hand doesn't like Unix people, they don't like anyone except their investors and bottom line. They'll jump through hoops to lock out anything. NTFS, Certain internal windows-only calls.. etc etc. This has absolutely nothing with being fanatical but the industry.. mainly open-source only people are TIRED of having to fight to co-exist with windows. We are fed up of trying to co-exist.. This will just be more of the same and I'm tired tired tired of it.