Did he slug you in the mouth for quoting from a closed source binary?
That's really not his style. I've never heard of him taking a swing at anyone. He's more likely to launch into an extended diatribe until you get tired of it and walk away.
Actually, having had a lengthy private conversation with the gentleman, I think I can say that RMS is a sane fellow
Sane, perhaps. But still wrong.
The first time I met him, I mentioned an interest in writing an emulator for PDP 8 through 11 for NeXTSTEP. He tried to convince me that I should write an x86 emulator instead, and give it away for all the usual bullshit altruistic reasons. I told him that if I ever gave code away, it would be code that I enjoyed writing.
they have a guranteed market for a program and would have to cock it up REALLY, REALLY bad for that market to shrink to a noteworthy degre
Well, they've certainly done so, for many years running now. Isn't the power of inertia amazing? It's keeping them up now, but once they hit the tipping point, there'll be no saving them.
The chief benefit I see would be the convenience of joining devices together with a length of fishing line, which could simply be cut to length with no need for connectors. Slice it with an x-acto knife, and it's ready to go.
I've built a lot of cables in my time, and it's a nuisance.
Fiber channel isn't really what I'm describing. I'm talking about extremely cheap media, here. Polyester monofilament, which doesn't need to be capable of carrying signals for kilometers.
I have worked in data centers, and that's why it seems to me that FDDI is overkill in many situations. I should be able to get Gigabit-Ethernet equivalent speeds over short runs of plastic fiber.
I've wondered why nobody's developed a fiber standard for things like connecting external disk drives to personal computers? Wouldn't it be great to just snip an unjacketed monofilament line to length, and stick it into a grab-and-hold fitting? I'd love to see cheap plastic fiber replace cat-5 cabling for any runs from 1 to 100 meters.
The dept of Homeland Security has been worried for some time about the possibility of foreign nationals creating botnets which might allow them to ddos critical online national assets.
I disagree. If it serves to punish Sony, then it will help to deter future crimes of this nature. Heck, ever since the Pinto disaster, you can be sure that Ford doesn't skimp on fuel tank construction anymore.
The Corporate Veil limits civil liability, not criminal culpability. If an ambitious DA cares to extradite the head of Sony BMG from wherever he lives, he could do time for this. The problem is, prosecutors have budgets, and bringing this guy down would be horrendously expensive.
Were Apple to put the x86 version of its operating system on general release, Dell would begin to manufacture Apple clones. And lose MS' favor? I highly doubt it. New techs needed, new marketing, a bifurcated customer base? Keep bullshiting, ye who know not business.
Dell's already said that they'd sell OS X if they could. That happened within the week of the Apple intel announcement.
Slashdot Mirror
Did he slug you in the mouth for quoting from a closed source binary?
That's really not his style. I've never heard of him taking a swing at anyone. He's more likely to launch into an extended diatribe until you get tired of it and walk away.
-jcr
It's asinine to reject an excellent product offered free of charge for silly doctrinaire reasons.
-jcr
Actually, having had a lengthy private conversation with the gentleman, I think I can say that RMS is a sane fellow
Sane, perhaps. But still wrong.
The first time I met him, I mentioned an interest in writing an emulator for PDP 8 through 11 for NeXTSTEP. He tried to convince me that I should write an x86 emulator instead, and give it away for all the usual bullshit altruistic reasons. I told him that if I ever gave code away, it would be code that I enjoyed writing.
-jcr
However, in the long run it is always better not to compromise on your beliefs.
What if those beliefs are asinine, as in this case?
-jcr
It is akin to offering cigarettes to school children for free.
WHAT? OS X causes lung cancer? I'm SHOCKED!
I borrowed this from Stallman
Didn't you get the memo? RMS is a crazy hippie.
-jcr
Also dabbled in GURPS Cyberpunk a little bit.
It's all fun and games until somebody gets raided by the FBI.
-jcr
I would have figured you for an iChat fan, given your Mac use...
I am. i use iChat, too.
-jcr
I think you have Pat Buchanan mixed up with David Duke.
-jcr
even preaching the murder of another.
Drop dead.
-jcr
I also want to know why Mr. Gonzales thinks he's a legislator now. His job is not to propose laws, that's the job of elected officials.
-jcr
they have a guranteed market for a program and would have to cock it up REALLY, REALLY bad for that market to shrink to a noteworthy degre
Well, they've certainly done so, for many years running now. Isn't the power of inertia amazing? It's keeping them up now, but once they hit the tipping point, there'll be no saving them.
-jcr
What's the need?
The chief benefit I see would be the convenience of joining devices together with a length of fishing line, which could simply be cut to length with no need for connectors. Slice it with an x-acto knife, and it's ready to go.
I've built a lot of cables in my time, and it's a nuisance.
-jcr
Fiber channel isn't really what I'm describing. I'm talking about extremely cheap media, here. Polyester monofilament, which doesn't need to be capable of carrying signals for kilometers.
-jcr
I have worked in data centers, and that's why it seems to me that FDDI is overkill in many situations. I should be able to get Gigabit-Ethernet equivalent speeds over short runs of plastic fiber.
-jcr
Fibre cables can't have sharp bends in them because the photons would literally not make it around the bend if it is too tight.
Because of this the cable has to be carefully laid. You can't just string it anywhere.
This is true for today's high-bandwidth glass fibers, but is it necessarily the case? I'm not talking about multi-kilometer signal paths.
-jcr
I've wondered why nobody's developed a fiber standard for things like connecting external disk drives to personal computers? Wouldn't it be great to just snip an unjacketed monofilament line to length, and stick it into a grab-and-hold fitting? I'd love to see cheap plastic fiber replace cat-5 cabling for any runs from 1 to 100 meters.
-jcr
Sounds like a pack of trolls looking for money.
Skype rocks!
-jcr
Ok, what the hell else can we do?
Paint Texas white?
-jcr
That's nothing; some nice people called "Linksys" already offer free unregulated wireless broadband in *any* large conurbation.
Don't forget "NETGEAR" and "Wireless". I see them all over the place, too.
-jcr
The dept of Homeland Security has been worried for some time about the possibility of foreign nationals creating botnets which might allow them to ddos critical online national assets.
Possibility? That's a fait accompli!
-jcr
Sure, a class action won't help consumers much
I disagree. If it serves to punish Sony, then it will help to deter future crimes of this nature. Heck, ever since the Pinto disaster, you can be sure that Ford doesn't skimp on fuel tank construction anymore.
-jcr
Corporations limit the liability of individuals.
The Corporate Veil limits civil liability, not criminal culpability. If an ambitious DA cares to extradite the head of Sony BMG from wherever he lives, he could do time for this. The problem is, prosecutors have budgets, and bringing this guy down would be horrendously expensive.
-jcr
"The technology also lends its self to the creation of high end presentation software - think 3D Power Point."
God forbid.
-jcr
I wonder why modern crocs have elongated jaws. Does it give them any particular advantage in hunting?
Any zoologists care to weigh in?
-jcr
Were Apple to put the x86 version of its operating system on general release, Dell would begin to manufacture Apple clones. And lose MS' favor? I highly doubt it. New techs needed, new marketing, a bifurcated customer base? Keep bullshiting, ye who know not business.
Dell's already said that they'd sell OS X if they could. That happened within the week of the Apple intel announcement.
-jcr