Like I said, there's room for amusing invective, and Raymond's done a fine job of replying to McBride's paranoid rant about IBM orchestrating the anti-SCO campaign.
If you find sarcasm sophomoric, it's probably because you're incapable of using sarcasm creatively, and feel threatened by people who use the language more capably than you do.
If to appear mature you have to discard sarcasm and literary raspberries, I'll happily enter my second childhood despite the rapid approach of my 40s.
I detest some of Raymond's politics, but respect his idealism and commitment, and admire his crisp writing style.
"He had always determined, deep down in his resolute heart, that nothing would ever induce him to allow his daughter to wed a Mormon. Such a marriage he regarded as no marriage at all, but as a shame and a disgrace. Whatever he might think of the Mormon doctrines, upon that one point he was inflexible. He had to seal his mouth on the subject, however, for to express an unorthodox opinion was a dangerous matter in those days in the Land of the Saints."
If you could be arsed to read to the bottom of your link, Raymond is credited with condemning the attack.
He may have said that he knew who was responsible, but that's a long way from endorsement.
Remember, you're reading a repor, written by a reporter, not Raymond's own words.
Personally, I thought the open letter fair, balnced and highly amusing - it needs to be viewed in the light of the SCO PR output, rather than any legal cases pending.
One that the lawyers like? That the politicians like? That passes for polite conversation at a Mormon fondue party? That is neutered, sterile and grey?
Come off it - when someone is personally maligned as Eric Raymond was by Darl McBride, the use of invective and sarcasm is not only justified, but almost mandatory.
SCO is trying to destroy the Open Source movement for their own greed - if that doesn't make you angry enough to react properly, then nothing will.
And IBM can handle the 'effective and professional resistance' to the lawsuit, while those with wit and style (like Raymond and Torvalds) fight the PR battle.
He's old enough to use the word 'pellucid' correctly - hence probably older than thou.
For my part, I thought it a well constructed, amusing, angry rant, worthy of the widest possible dissemination - perhaps you need to read it again with your brain in gear.
All well and good, if the music is analog to start with.
Most of the shit that passes for music these days is produced digitally, and loses nothing from digital reproduction (and even less from non-reproduction).
For real music, made by real musicians, vinyl and tubes are a prerequisute.
I don't think that DVDs come under the Founders idea of a 'useful Art' - their conception of 'useful Art' would be better viewed as a technique, or a recipe, or invention.
Novels, idle entertainments, and the like were far less prevalent than they now are, and to the extent that the authors of such works were intended to be protected, we need only look at the copyright provisions - the grant of exclusivity for limited periods.
DeCSS does not conflict with Clause 8 - being reverse engineered, it contains nothing taken directly from the original work, and it applies, in any case, to works other than those intended to be protected under the Constitution.
It is even possible to purchase tea blended for the water in your local area without resorting to specialist tea shops.
I call BS.
It is impossible to make a decent cup of any tea with the filthy sludge that passes for water in London. I guess you think that 'Yorkshire Tea' is designed for 'Yorkshire Water', rather than being a collection of rank floorsweepings as it is.
Here in the North West, however, we have sweet water that can make a nice Oolong, Darjeeling or Ceylon (on its own, no milk, sugar or lemon), and is even delicate enough for a decent cup of Gunpowder or similar green tea.
As for Earl Grey, though - I have to admit it's not to my taste (putting it politely).
I was rather hoping this would spread, so that I could create havoc in my local Tesco by picking up items and hiding them round the store, tying up the security staff in fruitless searches and costing them more than the level of theft they were previously experiencing.
er - if you RTFA properly you'll see that one of the selling points is the reuse of old hardware.
This means he's probably running a server based setup, with either X or VNC providing the desktops, which can then be as slow as you like (hell, a 486 with 64 MB can probably be coaxed into satisfactory performance).
Just spend the money at the server end, and use any old POS on the desktop.
If you don't mind paying for it, Sage products can be run on Linux - it's not the best package in the world, but it's pretty comprehensive - IIRC they were getting close to producing a decent ERP system too.
Disclaimer - I don't work for Sage. I used to install Sage systems on SCo, though...
The real correct answer is "Legalise Pot because it's stupid to have it illegal".
But as it is illegal, it's not in any politician's interest to stir up controversy when most of those who would benefit aren't in the vocal, coke-snorting conservative chattering classes.
The law refers to the integrity of computer systems, not their percieved integrity.
The integrity of the computer systems was in no way affected by the publication of information regarding the vulnerabilities - they were vulnerable to begin with, and although the publication of the vulnerabilities may have increased the likelihood of a breach of security, it did not by any stretch of the imagination affect the integrity of the systems.
There is an argument (akin to the 'shouting "Fire" in a crowded theatre' restriction to the 1st Amendment) that what he did was excessive and malicious, but under the law on which he was prosecuted, the judge made a foolish extrapolation of the meaning of the law.
Slashdot Mirror
But they have the ring of truth, and there's a world of difference between sloppy and frank.
If you find sarcasm sophomoric, it's probably because you're incapable of using sarcasm creatively, and feel threatened by people who use the language more capably than you do.
If to appear mature you have to discard sarcasm and literary raspberries, I'll happily enter my second childhood despite the rapid approach of my 40s.
I detest some of Raymond's politics, but respect his idealism and commitment, and admire his crisp writing style.
Arthur Conan Doyle did, in 'A Study in Scarlet':
"He had always determined, deep down in his resolute heart, that nothing would ever induce him to allow his daughter to wed a Mormon. Such a marriage he regarded as no marriage at all, but as a shame and a disgrace. Whatever he might think of the Mormon doctrines, upon that one point he was inflexible. He had to seal his mouth on the subject, however, for to express an unorthodox opinion was a dangerous matter in those days in the Land of the Saints."
That's precedent, and a damn good one too.
internet news
He may have said that he knew who was responsible, but that's a long way from endorsement.
Remember, you're reading a repor, written by a reporter, not Raymond's own words.
Personally, I thought the open letter fair, balnced and highly amusing - it needs to be viewed in the light of the SCO PR output, rather than any legal cases pending.
One that the lawyers like?
That the politicians like?
That passes for polite conversation at a Mormon fondue party?
That is neutered, sterile and grey?
Come off it - when someone is personally maligned as Eric Raymond was by Darl McBride, the use of invective and sarcasm is not only justified, but almost mandatory.
SCO is trying to destroy the Open Source movement for their own greed - if that doesn't make you angry enough to react properly, then nothing will.
And IBM can handle the 'effective and professional resistance' to the lawsuit, while those with wit and style (like Raymond and Torvalds) fight the PR battle.
Chill out, square daddy!
For my part, I thought it a well constructed, amusing, angry rant, worthy of the widest possible dissemination - perhaps you need to read it again with your brain in gear.
This is the country where they can't even engineer cars to go round corners, so being number one isn't much of a challenge ;-/.
Most of the shit that passes for music these days is produced digitally, and loses nothing from digital reproduction (and even less from non-reproduction).
For real music, made by real musicians, vinyl and tubes are a prerequisute.
OK, so it's an amplifier now, but the fact that it'll switch at that speed makes diamond processors more and more attractive...
I don't think that DVDs come under the Founders idea of a 'useful Art' - their conception of 'useful Art' would be better viewed as a technique, or a recipe, or invention.
Novels, idle entertainments, and the like were far less prevalent than they now are, and to the extent that the authors of such works were intended to be protected, we need only look at the copyright provisions - the grant of exclusivity for limited periods.
DeCSS does not conflict with Clause 8 - being reverse engineered, it contains nothing taken directly from the original work, and it applies, in any case, to works other than those intended to be protected under the Constitution.
I call BS.
It is impossible to make a decent cup of any tea with the filthy sludge that passes for water in London. I guess you think that 'Yorkshire Tea' is designed for 'Yorkshire Water', rather than being a collection of rank floorsweepings as it is.
Here in the North West, however, we have sweet water that can make a nice Oolong, Darjeeling or Ceylon (on its own, no milk, sugar or lemon), and is even delicate enough for a decent cup of Gunpowder or similar green tea.
As for Earl Grey, though - I have to admit it's not to my taste (putting it politely).
How else do we explain Darl's paranoid theory about all these free thinkers suddenly being part of a Big Blue conspiracy?
Please, will someone start a fund to send Darl to the Betty Ford clinic?
But then I'm just a bastard like that.
And the real penalty is being chainsawed in the bath.
This means he's probably running a server based setup, with either X or VNC providing the desktops, which can then be as slow as you like (hell, a 486 with 64 MB can probably be coaxed into satisfactory performance).
Just spend the money at the server end, and use any old POS on the desktop.
Disclaimer - I don't work for Sage. I used to install Sage systems on SCo, though...
But as it is illegal, it's not in any politician's interest to stir up controversy when most of those who would benefit aren't in the vocal, coke-snorting conservative chattering classes.
Doubleplusgood!
Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Or, reflecting on a loss:
He reads much; He is a great observer, and he looks Quite through the deeds of men.
A. Father's Day in Utah.
The law refers to the integrity of computer systems, not their percieved integrity.
The integrity of the computer systems was in no way affected by the publication of information regarding the vulnerabilities - they were vulnerable to begin with, and although the publication of the vulnerabilities may have increased the likelihood of a breach of security, it did not by any stretch of the imagination affect the integrity of the systems.
There is an argument (akin to the 'shouting "Fire" in a crowded theatre' restriction to the 1st Amendment) that what he did was excessive and malicious, but under the law on which he was prosecuted, the judge made a foolish extrapolation of the meaning of the law.
It's a screw-mount lens.