Of course Gimp doesn't count. You want a spreadsheet program for that, or at least a calculator. There's plenty of calculators for Linux. If you're really really into counting and arithmetic, there's that program from Wolfram that will run on Linux.
The BBC article calls the overturned award a fine, but this seems incorrect. A judge and/or a jury awards damages in a tort case, they don't fine anyone. I expect such ignorance on slashdot, but on the BBC? I guess journalism is deteriorating internationally, not just in the US.
It's a mistake to put your unconditional trust in any organization or institution, no matter what branding or happy face they show to the world. Organizations follow their own inner logic and patterns and have their own psuedo-biological agendas. I'm not saying that organizations are inherently evil, rather that they are inherently amoral. Nor am I suggesting that they have a mind of their own. Rather, what passes for a mind is a sort of weighted group consensus made up of individuals and blocs within the organization (according to their power, of course).
Let me put this in a simpler, non-sociological way. Do you give unconditional trust to strangers? If no, then why give it to a group of strangers? (Hell, I don't think one should automatically give it to a group even if you know and trust the individuals that make up that group.)
Your concrete suggestion is not a bad one. Why not use or support other browsers part of the time? Competition is one of the things that is supposed to keep organizations honest. As Reagan said, in speaking of arms control agreements with the Soviet Union, "Trust, but verify".
No, I say that the secret diary was done by a professional journalist with an agenda. Someone else don't agree with the 'humour' either. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're out to get you. I guess. Also, humor is subjective, so it's no surprise that some do not see humor where others do. However, the link you provided is a criticism of Lyons' other blog, so I don't see how it is apropos.
I still don't understand your argument against The Secret Diary. So, Lyons is a professional journalist with an agenda by day. By night, he's Fake Steve Jobs. Are you proposing that Batman shouldn't be allowed to be Batman because he's really Bruce Wayne? Or that transvestites shouldn't be allowed to cross dress because most of the time they were "gender appropriate" clothing?
Again, if you don't want to read The Secret Diary because you find Lyons offensive, fair enough. I just don't get where his "professionalism" enters into it. I put that in quotes, because I find is straight writing to be unprofessional and crap.
Re:I thought my Linux education was going well...
on
Creative Documentation
·
· Score: 1
OK, this is just getting weird. Who knew that grue was part of the BSD userland?
Last login: Sat Aug 4 16:49:07 on ttyp2 Welcome to Darwin! [ohreally_factor~:] ohreally% grue tcsh: grue: Command not found. There is no grue here. [ohreally_factor~:] ohreally% man grue grue(1) grue(1)
NAME grue, egrue, fgrue - print lines matching a pattern
The grue is a sinister, lurking presence in the dark places of the earth. Its favorite diet is adventurers, but its insatiable appetite is tempered by its fear of light. No grue has ever been seen by the light of day, and few have survived its fearsome jaws to tell the tale.
OPTIONS -E Eaten by a grue
[ohreally_factor~:] ohreally% n It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue. [ohreally_factor~:] ohreally% n Oh, no! You have walked into the slavering fangs of a lurking grue!
**** You have died ****
Re:I thought my Linux education was going well...
on
Creative Documentation
·
· Score: 1
You must have come across this:
{ /* Wildcard not in map but now is */ - if (wild & (CHE_OK || CHE_UPDATED)) + if (wild & (CHE_OK | CHE_UPDATED))
source->stale = 1;
}
pthread_cleanup_pop(1);
- if (wild & (CHE_UPDATED || CHE_OK)) + if (wild & (CHE_UPDATED | CHE_OK))
return NSS_STATUS_SUCCESS; /* It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue */
}
You're not suggesting that The Secret Diary is professional journalism, are you? Or are you suggesting that a person can only do one job? Once you work as a journalist, you are not allowed to engage in any other sort of work? Help me out here. I want to assume that you're intelligent and not, uh, you know, free . . . =)
And other than the abusive language, what fault do you find with his reasoning? Perhaps you find the name calling so offensive that you don't even want to try and decipher his point. Fair enough. Shall I put it into less offensive language? FSJ's contention is that it is whining to complain that MS is undercutting Linux by charging $3 for a copy of Windows and Office because Linux is free as in beer.
[Steven J. Vaughan Nichols] says Microsoft is "dumping products on the market at far below cost." Um, is that not exactly what Linux vendors have been doing? Enabled by rich subsidies from IBM and other hardware players? And has it not occurred to you that the reason IBM pumped one billion dollars (visualize pinkie in corner of Palmisano's mouth) into Linux was precisely so that it could force Microsoft to cut prices on Windows and thereby choke off Microsoft's oxygen supply? Whether or not you agree with the argument, you should admit that it's at least a plausible line of thinking. I don't believe anyone thinks that IBM is supporting Linux and using Linux because they're really nice guys.
I can understand being turned off by the name calling. If someone is engaging in personal attacks, likely as not, I'll ignore them. But I don't think you should take these attacks personally. I don't take it personally when he makes fun of Mac users, like when he pointed out that they're the sort of people who would pay an extra $500 for something shiny white. But whatever. It's not for me to say how you should feel about someone calling your tribe names.
Just thinking out loud, but my guess is that they've started out with designs for nuclear subs, which are much smaller than large scale generators and have tackled design and safety issues that are at least similar to some of the ones for space.
Dude, he portrays everyone in a bad light. Look at the posts tagged "microtards". There are more posts with that tag than with any other. He calls iPhone people iTards. He really really rips on Scott McNealy, Bill and Balmer, Larry Elison, other Apple execs, the list goes on and on. If you think it's too over the top to be funny, that's fine. Some people thought the Hans Reiser joke on Everybody Loves Eric Raymond was too much and in bad taste. But the evidence, with a single exception*, shows he is an equal opportunity asshole.
*That single exception was the bit on PJ, which is clearly grudge related and has nothing to do with the FSJ character. But, hell, there's even a PJ joke on ELER. Not the same, I know, and it's more poking fun at ESR.
He pretty much bashed everyone. The only time I think he got out of line was when he went after PJ at groklaw. It makes sense now, but it's even sleazier knowing it was Lyons. He shouldn't have let a personal grudge that was not in character into the blog. One might say that she's fair game because she's a public figure, but it just didn't fit and it was cowardly to hide behind his FSJ persona.
His freetard posts are pretty funny. If you don't think so, it could be because you take yourself and the FSF much too seriously. He would just as ruthlessly bash mac users and windows users, and he states (as Dan Lyons) that he is a Mac user. And he was merciless against corporate execs, corporate culture, tech pundits, politicians (read his post on the Clintstones), fellow billionaires and multi-millionaires, and the hip-eoise.
If the authors remain silent, that doesn't mean that they "extended grace", it means that you continue to operate without a license and can be sued. I didn't mean to imply anything of the sort. Thanks for the clarification, just the same. Hopefully in this case, Valve or iD will approach the DOSbox guys with appropriate contrition and also sweeten the deal for them as a peace making gesture. I don't think any of the DOSbox guys work at it full time nor realize any profit beyond satisfaction at creating cool software. From reading the DOSbox forum, it's clear that Valve or iD did a lousy job. Seems it would be to everyone's benefit if Valve or iD paid the developers for consulting or proper implementation.
But you're right. It's no way to run a business. DOSbox should have been consulted with from the outset. It's not a legal requirement, but it's both courteous and smart to do so.
As I said at the outset, I'm really not in a position to judge. More explicitly, I'm incredibly lazy in every sense, not just intellectually. (There is a very good chance that my purpose here on earth is to be an object lesson.)
NASA is working on just such a fission reactor as that which you're thinking: Project Prometheus. Unfortunately, the project's budget has been drastically cut. So the technology isn't quite there for space use yet, and it looks like it will be delayed.
OK, you do have a grasp on the problems with the idea. You should have specified the problems instead of just dismissing the idea. OTOH, I'm glad I wasn't more of a dick. =)
However, I think you're mistaken about the "fact is that modern nuclear reactors are compact, safe, and work in the absence of random passing space rocks". I think you're thinking of Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators which work off the natural decay of radioactive materials, not fission.
The attitude and sloppiness and axegrinding should have no place in serious journalism, which is probably why they're qualities so evident over at Forbes. That is, if you can get past the intrusive advertising to actually read the content. Bleh. On the other hand, these very same attributes are what gave Fake Steve Jobs his charming quality. And if there was an axe to grind, you can be sure he'd grind everyone's axe, even and especially Apple's. Here's a choice quote from one of his posts entitled Regarding my management style:
I told them, Look, the Apple keyboard is not small enough. So instead of a regular qwerty keyboard, we're going to make it like a cell phone keypad, where each key has three letters. Right away we cut the alphabet portion by two-thirds. Sure, people will have to re-learn how to type. But if we make this keyboard beautiful enough, and if we charge enough money, like say maybe five hundred bucks, they'll switch. You know they will. Remember: these are people who spend 500 bucks extra, on average, just because a computer is shiny white.
Yeah, he's that Dan Lyons. Total scumbag hack. This is possibly what made him such a great Fake Steve Jobs.
Then he did something that I still can't believe. He picked up a marker and started drawing on my whiteboard. Which everyone knows is a huge pet peeve of mine. It's my whiteboard. Which I was standing at, holding a marker, writing things like, Wrong, Stupid, Clueless, Dumbass, No Friggin way, and so forth. So he started drawing on the whiteboard, things like Money, Mine, and Shut up, and I'm just standing there like, Oh. My. God. I can't believe I'm seeing this. What the frig? I could feel the veins in my eyes starting to swell up like they might explode. And I was like, Put. Down. The. Friggin. Marker. Now. Seriously, man, before I do some aikido moves and rip out your friggin heart and eat it in front of you, still beating. Or take your friggin head off. How dare you? How dare you? This is my whiteboard. That's it. Take your stupid money and don't let the door hit you on the butt on the way out. I'll do my own blog, on my own terms. Now, despite all this, I did say "Peace" as he left. -- From the post God it feels so good to fire people.
So, Dan Lyons the reporter? Douchebag should choke on his own cock. Dan Lyons the satirist? Artist. It's too bad he's folding The Secret Diary into Forbes. He should quit his job there, leave the douchebaggery behind him, and strike out on his own.
I feel a bit pissed at the NYT for spoiling the party, but I guess it was going to get spoiled sooner or later, and if not the NYT, then some other rag. The race was on.
I pretty much can't stand Mr. Lyons as a journalist, but as a parody SJ he was awesome. Thanks for the lulz, Dan. You'll always be FSJ in our hearts.
Way too much trouble for way too little return. Just use some type of nuclear power; I'm sure that we will eventually figure out a way to get energy from fusing the garden-variety hydrogen that is available pretty much everywhere. Until then, plain old fission power is probably the best source of energy for long-term space exploration.
1) He was offering you a proof-of-concept of how one might harvest the energy in angular momentum. A very interesting and creative proof, I might add.
2) On what basis did you determine that it was "too much trouble for way too little return"? You mean, as compared to flipping a switch on your turnkey nuclear generator? Or will we be able to generate energy from all the "eventually figure out a way to get energy from fusing the garden-variety hydrogen" hand waving?
There are other difficulties in the idea presented by networkBoy, but at least he expended thought on the matter. I'm really in no position to judge (despite my harsh tone*), but I'd say his response betrays a scientist's outlook, while yours demonstrates that of a sciencefictionist.
Interesting! I'd like to think that this particular case was an inadvertent error that can and will be quickly remedied. There doesn't seem to be any indication that copy.txt and author.txt were omitted in an act of bad faith, although we'll find out soon enough.
So, in a worst case scenario, if non-compliance were due to a technical glitch (say, copy.txt was corrupted), what are the legal ramifications? What if the technical glitch was corrected in a day? In an hour?
Of course, much of this depends on the reaction of the authors/licensors and whatever temporary grace they will extend towards the licensee.
I keep hearing about this nebulous "Spirit of the GPL", which in the Tivo case, seems to be nothing more than the FSF intruding where it has no business.
The GPL ver.2 was written by the FSF, so I think they pretty much have a business here.
The intent of the GPL ver.2 is to give end-users the 4 freedoms... to use for any purpose, to redistribute, to modify, to redistribute changes. In Tivo's case, the freedom to modify the software is taken away.
You may say that the source code is available... but what's the point if I can't run it on my Tivo ? Should I invent my own Tivo clone just to run the modifications I make ? I'm well aware that the FSF wrote the GPL 2. That doesn't give them rights to interfere between a licensor and a licensee. Your contention that the FSF has any business interfering is FALSE.
You are changing the language of the GPL 2 by appending "end" to users. The actual text of the GPL 2 reads: the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. You (and the FSF) are reframing the debate by changing the language and covering up this maneuver with "spirit of the GPL" hand waving. If you want to be honest, you need to change the language to read some users and not all users.
Again, your ability to modify the software is fully present. To represent otherwise repeatedly is dishonest. Repetition of a falsehood does not make it true.
You may say that the source code is available... but what's the point if I can't run it on my Tivo ? Should I invent my own Tivo clone just to run the modifications I make ?
I don't say it's available. It is available. Again, you are manipulating the debate to cast fear, uncertainty, and doubt on Tivo, rather than forthrightly framing your objections.
Designing and developing your own hardware would be an admirable solution to the question of what to do with modified Tivo source code. You could even create an open source design of your own, which would further technological development in general. Instead, you seem to be arguing that if I hardware designer wants to use open source software, then he should be forced to design hardware to your liking. There is already a mechanism to "force" a manufacturer to design hardware that suits the user. That mechanism is called the free market.
Perhaps you don't trust the concept of the free market. Perhaps you don't trust users ability to choose what is best for themselves. It would then make sense that you would wish to protect the user from himself. I don't know about you, but I love the idea of the FSF protecting me from myself. I'll happily give up my freedoms to the safekeeping of the FSF. We can trust them because they say they're defending my freedom.
nobody is forcing the Linux developers to switch
Well, they're certainly putting a lot of pressure on the developers to switch, including trolling the LKML, engaging in character assassination, making factual misrepresentations about others, shifting definitions to suit today's agenda, etc.
GPL ver.3 respects the 4 freedoms that Free Software licenses must respect
I disagree. GPL 3 carves away some of Freedom 0 that was present in GPL 2, as I've stated multiple times.
Nobody is complaining as much about the Microsoft's Shared Source initiative... which makes me think... how many FSF opponents are not corporate shills ?
Please don't try this tactic with me. Do you really believe that anyone who disagrees with the FSF is a corporate shill? And you wonder why I get angry? I get angered by intellectual dishonesty. I don't like it when someone pees on my leg and then tells me it's raining. I'll get to the o
Slashdot Mirror
Of course Gimp doesn't count. You want a spreadsheet program for that, or at least a calculator. There's plenty of calculators for Linux. If you're really really into counting and arithmetic, there's that program from Wolfram that will run on Linux.
iirc, the 802.11x and bluetooth card was a daughter cared, so no need for a MB redesign. Looks like it still has the 950 graphics, though. Oh, well.
The BBC article calls the overturned award a fine, but this seems incorrect. A judge and/or a jury awards damages in a tort case, they don't fine anyone. I expect such ignorance on slashdot, but on the BBC? I guess journalism is deteriorating internationally, not just in the US.
It's a mistake to put your unconditional trust in any organization or institution, no matter what branding or happy face they show to the world. Organizations follow their own inner logic and patterns and have their own psuedo-biological agendas. I'm not saying that organizations are inherently evil, rather that they are inherently amoral. Nor am I suggesting that they have a mind of their own. Rather, what passes for a mind is a sort of weighted group consensus made up of individuals and blocs within the organization (according to their power, of course).
Let me put this in a simpler, non-sociological way. Do you give unconditional trust to strangers? If no, then why give it to a group of strangers? (Hell, I don't think one should automatically give it to a group even if you know and trust the individuals that make up that group.)
Your concrete suggestion is not a bad one. Why not use or support other browsers part of the time? Competition is one of the things that is supposed to keep organizations honest. As Reagan said, in speaking of arms control agreements with the Soviet Union, "Trust, but verify".
Damn, k-daw, you're quick. This wasn't posted more than 30 seconds before you supermodded it down to -1.
It's Open Source Software. Therefore sandals, not flip flops.
Does Mike Schaver have kids, and if so, does he call them "Little Schavers"?
I still don't understand your argument against The Secret Diary. So, Lyons is a professional journalist with an agenda by day. By night, he's Fake Steve Jobs. Are you proposing that Batman shouldn't be allowed to be Batman because he's really Bruce Wayne? Or that transvestites shouldn't be allowed to cross dress because most of the time they were "gender appropriate" clothing?
Again, if you don't want to read The Secret Diary because you find Lyons offensive, fair enough. I just don't get where his "professionalism" enters into it. I put that in quotes, because I find is straight writing to be unprofessional and crap.
OK, this is just getting weird. Who knew that grue was part of the BSD userland?
Last login: Sat Aug 4 16:49:07 on ttyp2
Welcome to Darwin!
[ohreally_factor~:] ohreally% grue
tcsh: grue: Command not found.
There is no grue here.
[ohreally_factor~:] ohreally% man grue
grue(1) grue(1)
NAME
grue, egrue, fgrue - print lines matching a pattern
SYNOPSIS
grue [options] PATTERN [FILE...]
grue [options] [-e PATTERN | -f FILE] [FILE...]
DESCRIPTION
The grue is a sinister, lurking presence in the dark places of the earth. Its favorite diet is adventurers, but its insatiable appetite is tempered by its fear of light. No grue has ever been seen by the light of day, and few have survived its fearsome jaws to tell the tale.
OPTIONS
-E
Eaten by a grue
[ohreally_factor~:] ohreally% n
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
[ohreally_factor~:] ohreally% n
Oh, no! You have walked into the slavering fangs of a lurking grue!
**** You have died ****
And other than the abusive language, what fault do you find with his reasoning? Perhaps you find the name calling so offensive that you don't even want to try and decipher his point. Fair enough. Shall I put it into less offensive language? FSJ's contention is that it is whining to complain that MS is undercutting Linux by charging $3 for a copy of Windows and Office because Linux is free as in beer. [Steven J. Vaughan Nichols] says Microsoft is "dumping products on the market at far below cost." Um, is that not exactly what Linux vendors have been doing? Enabled by rich subsidies from IBM and other hardware players? And has it not occurred to you that the reason IBM pumped one billion dollars (visualize pinkie in corner of Palmisano's mouth) into Linux was precisely so that it could force Microsoft to cut prices on Windows and thereby choke off Microsoft's oxygen supply? Whether or not you agree with the argument, you should admit that it's at least a plausible line of thinking. I don't believe anyone thinks that IBM is supporting Linux and using Linux because they're really nice guys.
I can understand being turned off by the name calling. If someone is engaging in personal attacks, likely as not, I'll ignore them. But I don't think you should take these attacks personally. I don't take it personally when he makes fun of Mac users, like when he pointed out that they're the sort of people who would pay an extra $500 for something shiny white. But whatever. It's not for me to say how you should feel about someone calling your tribe names.
Just thinking out loud, but my guess is that they've started out with designs for nuclear subs, which are much smaller than large scale generators and have tackled design and safety issues that are at least similar to some of the ones for space.
Dude, he portrays everyone in a bad light. Look at the posts tagged "microtards". There are more posts with that tag than with any other. He calls iPhone people iTards. He really really rips on Scott McNealy, Bill and Balmer, Larry Elison, other Apple execs, the list goes on and on. If you think it's too over the top to be funny, that's fine. Some people thought the Hans Reiser joke on Everybody Loves Eric Raymond was too much and in bad taste. But the evidence, with a single exception*, shows he is an equal opportunity asshole.
*That single exception was the bit on PJ, which is clearly grudge related and has nothing to do with the FSJ character. But, hell, there's even a PJ joke on ELER. Not the same, I know, and it's more poking fun at ESR.
I admit it. I blew up a van. The same van twice, in fact.
He pretty much bashed everyone. The only time I think he got out of line was when he went after PJ at groklaw. It makes sense now, but it's even sleazier knowing it was Lyons. He shouldn't have let a personal grudge that was not in character into the blog. One might say that she's fair game because she's a public figure, but it just didn't fit and it was cowardly to hide behind his FSJ persona.
His freetard posts are pretty funny. If you don't think so, it could be because you take yourself and the FSF much too seriously. He would just as ruthlessly bash mac users and windows users, and he states (as Dan Lyons) that he is a Mac user. And he was merciless against corporate execs, corporate culture, tech pundits, politicians (read his post on the Clintstones), fellow billionaires and multi-millionaires, and the hip-eoise.
But you're right. It's no way to run a business. DOSbox should have been consulted with from the outset. It's not a legal requirement, but it's both courteous and smart to do so.
As I said at the outset, I'm really not in a position to judge. More explicitly, I'm incredibly lazy in every sense, not just intellectually. (There is a very good chance that my purpose here on earth is to be an object lesson.)
NASA is working on just such a fission reactor as that which you're thinking: Project Prometheus. Unfortunately, the project's budget has been drastically cut. So the technology isn't quite there for space use yet, and it looks like it will be delayed.
OK, you do have a grasp on the problems with the idea. You should have specified the problems instead of just dismissing the idea. OTOH, I'm glad I wasn't more of a dick. =)
However, I think you're mistaken about the "fact is that modern nuclear reactors are compact, safe, and work in the absence of random passing space rocks". I think you're thinking of Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators which work off the natural decay of radioactive materials, not fission.
So, Dan Lyons the reporter? Douchebag should choke on his own cock. Dan Lyons the satirist? Artist. It's too bad he's folding The Secret Diary into Forbes. He should quit his job there, leave the douchebaggery behind him, and strike out on his own.
Yeah, barring some miracle, it's over.
I feel a bit pissed at the NYT for spoiling the party, but I guess it was going to get spoiled sooner or later, and if not the NYT, then some other rag. The race was on.
I pretty much can't stand Mr. Lyons as a journalist, but as a parody SJ he was awesome. Thanks for the lulz, Dan. You'll always be FSJ in our hearts.
Way too much trouble for way too little return. Just use some type of nuclear power; I'm sure that we will eventually figure out a way to get energy from fusing the garden-variety hydrogen that is available pretty much everywhere. Until then, plain old fission power is probably the best source of energy for long-term space exploration.
1) He was offering you a proof-of-concept of how one might harvest the energy in angular momentum. A very interesting and creative proof, I might add.
2) On what basis did you determine that it was "too much trouble for way too little return"? You mean, as compared to flipping a switch on your turnkey nuclear generator? Or will we be able to generate energy from all the "eventually figure out a way to get energy from fusing the garden-variety hydrogen" hand waving?
There are other difficulties in the idea presented by networkBoy, but at least he expended thought on the matter. I'm really in no position to judge (despite my harsh tone*), but I'd say his response betrays a scientist's outlook, while yours demonstrates that of a sciencefictionist.
*I apologize in advance for being a dick.
I thought Planck Time was when you knocked of work, stopped off at the bar on the way home, and tossed down a few icy cold Planck Beers.
Life is variable. Your beer shouldn't be. Planck Beer.
Interesting! I'd like to think that this particular case was an inadvertent error that can and will be quickly remedied. There doesn't seem to be any indication that copy.txt and author.txt were omitted in an act of bad faith, although we'll find out soon enough.
So, in a worst case scenario, if non-compliance were due to a technical glitch (say, copy.txt was corrupted), what are the legal ramifications? What if the technical glitch was corrected in a day? In an hour?
Of course, much of this depends on the reaction of the authors/licensors and whatever temporary grace they will extend towards the licensee.
I keep hearing about this nebulous "Spirit of the GPL", which in the Tivo case, seems to be nothing more than the FSF intruding where it has no business.
The GPL ver.2 was written by the FSF, so I think they pretty much have a business here.
... to use for any purpose, to redistribute, to modify, to redistribute changes.
The intent of the GPL ver.2 is to give end-users the 4 freedoms
In Tivo's case, the freedom to modify the software is taken away.
You may say that the source code is available ... but what's the point if I can't run it on my Tivo ?
Should I invent my own Tivo clone just to run the modifications I make ? I'm well aware that the FSF wrote the GPL 2. That doesn't give them rights to interfere between a licensor and a licensee. Your contention that the FSF has any business interfering is FALSE.
You are changing the language of the GPL 2 by appending "end" to users. The actual text of the GPL 2 reads: the GNU General Public
License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. You (and the FSF) are reframing the debate by changing the language and covering up this maneuver with "spirit of the GPL" hand waving. If you want to be honest, you need to change the language to read some users and not all users.
Again, your ability to modify the software is fully present. To represent otherwise repeatedly is dishonest. Repetition of a falsehood does not make it true.
You may say that the source code is available ... but what's the point if I can't run it on my Tivo ?
Should I invent my own Tivo clone just to run the modifications I make ?
I don't say it's available. It is available. Again, you are manipulating the debate to cast fear, uncertainty, and doubt on Tivo, rather than forthrightly framing your objections.
Designing and developing your own hardware would be an admirable solution to the question of what to do with modified Tivo source code. You could even create an open source design of your own, which would further technological development in general. Instead, you seem to be arguing that if I hardware designer wants to use open source software, then he should be forced to design hardware to your liking. There is already a mechanism to "force" a manufacturer to design hardware that suits the user. That mechanism is called the free market.
Perhaps you don't trust the concept of the free market. Perhaps you don't trust users ability to choose what is best for themselves. It would then make sense that you would wish to protect the user from himself. I don't know about you, but I love the idea of the FSF protecting me from myself. I'll happily give up my freedoms to the safekeeping of the FSF. We can trust them because they say they're defending my freedom.
nobody is forcing the Linux developers to switch
Well, they're certainly putting a lot of pressure on the developers to switch, including trolling the LKML, engaging in character assassination, making factual misrepresentations about others, shifting definitions to suit today's agenda, etc.
GPL ver.3 respects the 4 freedoms that Free Software licenses must respect
I disagree. GPL 3 carves away some of Freedom 0 that was present in GPL 2, as I've stated multiple times.
Nobody is complaining as much about the Microsoft's Shared Source initiative ... which makes me think ... how many FSF opponents are not corporate shills ?
Please don't try this tactic with me. Do you really believe that anyone who disagrees with the FSF is a corporate shill? And you wonder why I get angry? I get angered by intellectual dishonesty. I don't like it when someone pees on my leg and then tells me it's raining. I'll get to the o