I think some of this is due to the CATB difference...
OSS is done out in the open; it's 'slow, incremental' progress. (Actually, it can proceed at breakneck speed, but still, it's perceived as slow.) There are no surprises in OSS, since features, even new, whiz-bang features are tried and tested in the open and *everyone* knows about them long before they're ready.
Closed source, is, well, closed. It springs upon the world in all its glory, and many of its features are *designed* to be whiz-bang. Consider the Aero interface; it's pure eye candy, and was intended to be the 'gotta have it' hook by which to draw people to Vista.
So, yes, there is a huge amount of original thinking in software development, both OSS and closed. And remember, just because it's original, doesn't mean it's good. Vista is certainly original in its DRM management; I'd bet few would argue that it is 'good'.
Hey, the airlines gotcha covered. Just pay an extra $500 for the seat with the 'convenience jack'.
Think I'm kidding? The last flight I was on wanted a $30 premium for the exit row seat, and $2 for a ubag of chips.
I just invented that word - ubag == microbag - those tiny bags the airlines used to call 'snacks' and give away when they stopped serving real food. Now they're selling them for $2....
The cosmetics that used to come in 8 oz. sizes are now "NEW AND IMPROVED" - same size bottle, same price, but only 3.4 oz.
Lesse... Last night, I was shutting off the various computers:
Living Room: mythfrontend playing an HD stream Kitchen: Mythfrontend playing music stream Kids' study: Mythfrontend playing an SD stream Parents' study: Mythbackend recording one SD and one HD stream, playing an HD stream, and burning a DVD
All of this from one backend, which also serves as the frontend for the Parents's study, with a multiseat setup. CPU usage: 60%, mostly due to ffmpeg hogging one CPU core.
Interface: no problem, no glitches.
Net cost for software: $0, plus about a year's worth of my time in getting it all tweaked.....
Last I heard, a school is supposed to be a place for learning. Learning is not a top-down activity. Learning is a many-to-many mapping.
The teacher and the principal(s) who signed this should be required to sit in a class taught by the students - on any topic of the students's choosing. They would be surprised by how much the kids know.
So far they've taught this kid that might makes right, and that "it's my way or the highway". That's not exactly great preparation for today's multi-faceted, coopoerative world.
Heh. If you read the Russian, Chechnya (or however you spell it in western alphabet) has the highest turnout - 10,000% - and a perfect score - 100% - in voting for Putin.
Lesse - last I heard, they were still fighting the Chechen rebels, nyet?
Or they just cross-licensed some proprietary stuff and threw in the 'linux' word for fun. Kyocera has been working with MS since at least the TRS Model 100 days - they built the hardware, MS supplied the software and that was - what - 25 years ago?
The beauty of open source is that it lets people like me contribute little dribbles here and there. I've probably touched a couple of dozen projects; typically only contributing a single fix or small feature, even something as small as the ability to daemonize hot-babe.
Now by itself that's not much, and in the context of progress it's miniscule, but it adds a tiny feature. Certainly I'm not a cathedral builder, I'm more of the guy who comes in and sweeps up the dust by one door.... But with enough sweepers pretty soon the whole place is clean.
So your argument is predicated on the need for cathedral builders, but there are many, many more sweepers like me who contribute one small thing here and there.
That's what closed source is missing. There's no room for the sweepers; the folks who scratch that one minor itch.
BMI tags me as obese. Calipers tell me my bodyfat is 21%. I'm a pretty good athlete, but not a health nut.
BMI is easy, but IMHO totally worthless. I did one of those "health day evaluation" things and the tech doing the BMI was all into getting me signed up in weight loss programs.
As a certified personal trainer, I can tell you that BMI is used mostly as a marketing tool by 'weight loss clinics' with no relevance to any real medical condition.
I agree with all of the above and I'm gonna add my $0.02.
I like floating or network licenses. In other words, install a single license manager app on a server somewhere, and then have all of the clients authenticate against it. That way you only have one machine to maintain and to 'call home'. Once all licenses are checked out, no new clients can connect. You can install the software on as many machines as you want with no restrictions and no individual keys, but the number of concurrent users is limited to the number of licenses you have. This also means you don't need to tie an expensive license to a single machine.
If the software is expensive enough, consider short term leases; say a full license costs $10,000. I need to add one user for 6 weeks for a short term project; I'm not going to buy a license for him/her. I would like to lease a license for that duration, for, say, $1,200. Now you've made some money, the company stayed legit, and everyone is happy.
The RIAA 'sues' over $3,000. A half-decent law firm won't even answer the phone for that. Litigation (and preparation for litigation) is *extremely* expensive. The RIAA has been able to extort money from people by threats of litigation, without actually doing any of the real work of preparing for litigation.
People are finally getting the idea that the RIAA is weak in prepartion. Suing someone over something you don't own is a bad thing. If other lawyers start doing this kind of research, all of the sudden you may find that Tonya Anderson's class action lawsuit is a lot closer to reality....
I've flown in Japan. The security is far less intrusive, far more professional, and far more efficient than in the US. And typically friendlier and better looking too...
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I think some of this is due to the CATB difference...
OSS is done out in the open; it's 'slow, incremental' progress. (Actually, it can proceed at breakneck speed, but still, it's perceived as slow.) There are no surprises in OSS, since features, even new, whiz-bang features are tried and tested in the open and *everyone* knows about them long before they're ready.
Closed source, is, well, closed. It springs upon the world in all its glory, and many of its features are *designed* to be whiz-bang. Consider the Aero interface; it's pure eye candy, and was intended to be the 'gotta have it' hook by which to draw people to Vista.
So, yes, there is a huge amount of original thinking in software development, both OSS and closed. And remember, just because it's original, doesn't mean it's good. Vista is certainly original in its DRM management; I'd bet few would argue that it is 'good'.
Humph....
Last I flew Delta, they didn't even offer the chance to buy food.... On a 5 hour flight. No snack, no food, no movie....
Crap. Me, I want the TGV, Shinkansen (with the cute blue uniformed snack girl), or the German equivalent.
Hey, the airlines gotcha covered. Just pay an extra $500 for the seat with the 'convenience jack'.
Think I'm kidding? The last flight I was on wanted a $30 premium for the exit row seat, and $2 for a ubag of chips.
I just invented that word - ubag == microbag - those tiny bags the airlines used to call 'snacks' and give away when they stopped serving real food. Now they're selling them for $2....
The cosmetics that used to come in 8 oz. sizes are now "NEW AND IMPROVED" - same size bottle, same price, but only 3.4 oz.
Never underestimate the ability to make a buck.
Lesse... Last night, I was shutting off the various computers:
Living Room: mythfrontend playing an HD stream
Kitchen: Mythfrontend playing music stream
Kids' study: Mythfrontend playing an SD stream
Parents' study: Mythbackend recording one SD and one HD stream, playing an HD stream, and burning a DVD
All of this from one backend, which also serves as the frontend for the Parents's study, with a multiseat setup. CPU usage: 60%, mostly due to ffmpeg hogging one CPU core.
Interface: no problem, no glitches.
Net cost for software: $0, plus about a year's worth of my time in getting it all tweaked.....
Last I heard, a school is supposed to be a place for learning. Learning is not a top-down activity. Learning is a many-to-many mapping.
The teacher and the principal(s) who signed this should be required to sit in a class taught by the students - on any topic of the students's choosing. They would be surprised by how much the kids know.
So far they've taught this kid that might makes right, and that "it's my way or the highway". That's not exactly great preparation for today's multi-faceted, coopoerative world.
Heh. If you read the Russian, Chechnya (or however you spell it in western alphabet) has the highest turnout - 10,000% - and a perfect score - 100% - in voting for Putin.
Lesse - last I heard, they were still fighting the Chechen rebels, nyet?
Or they just cross-licensed some proprietary stuff and threw in the 'linux' word for fun. Kyocera has been working with MS since at least the TRS Model 100 days - they built the hardware, MS supplied the software and that was - what - 25 years ago?
Yabut...
The beauty of open source is that it lets people like me contribute little dribbles here and there. I've probably touched a couple of dozen projects; typically only contributing a single fix or small feature, even something as small as the ability to daemonize hot-babe.
Now by itself that's not much, and in the context of progress it's miniscule, but it adds a tiny feature. Certainly I'm not a cathedral builder, I'm more of the guy who comes in and sweeps up the dust by one door.... But with enough sweepers pretty soon the whole place is clean.
So your argument is predicated on the need for cathedral builders, but there are many, many more sweepers like me who contribute one small thing here and there.
That's what closed source is missing. There's no room for the sweepers; the folks who scratch that one minor itch.
BMI tags me as obese. Calipers tell me my bodyfat is 21%. I'm a pretty good athlete, but not a health nut.
BMI is easy, but IMHO totally worthless. I did one of those "health day evaluation" things and the tech doing the BMI was all into getting me signed up in weight loss programs.
As a certified personal trainer, I can tell you that BMI is used mostly as a marketing tool by 'weight loss clinics' with no relevance to any real medical condition.
I agree with all of the above and I'm gonna add my $0.02.
I like floating or network licenses. In other words, install a single license manager app on a server somewhere, and then have all of the clients authenticate against it. That way you only have one machine to maintain and to 'call home'. Once all licenses are checked out, no new clients can connect. You can install the software on as many machines as you want with no restrictions and no individual keys, but the number of concurrent users is limited to the number of licenses you have. This also means you don't need to tie an expensive license to a single machine.
If the software is expensive enough, consider short term leases; say a full license costs $10,000. I need to add one user for 6 weeks for a short term project; I'm not going to buy a license for him/her. I would like to lease a license for that duration, for, say, $1,200. Now you've made some money, the company stayed legit, and everyone is happy.
Bingo!
The RIAA 'sues' over $3,000. A half-decent law firm won't even answer the phone for that. Litigation (and preparation for litigation) is *extremely* expensive. The RIAA has been able to extort money from people by threats of litigation, without actually doing any of the real work of preparing for litigation.
People are finally getting the idea that the RIAA is weak in prepartion. Suing someone over something you don't own is a bad thing. If other lawyers start doing this kind of research, all of the sudden you may find that Tonya Anderson's class action lawsuit is a lot closer to reality....
I've flown in Japan. The security is far less intrusive, far more professional, and far more efficient than in the US. And typically friendlier and better looking too...