Who cares if its an attempt to compete against free software? Its a win-win for non-profits and MS, and if free software can't compete purely on features (minus the price advantage), then it should lose. Its the free market at work. Get over it.
I have doubts about that reasoning. Yes, some people will tinker with science for the noble reason you stated, but history shows us that recognition, ownership, and wealth are what drive the majority of innovation and discovery.
Re:Do we always have to scream "FIRST!"?
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Life on Mars? Why Not?
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· Score: 2, Interesting
This isn't how science works. Its sort of like the free market, but instead of money being the reward, its recognition. Without it, there would be little motive for PhD's to study anything.
My comments were based on the example of the Moneydance product being bad because it does not subscribe to the free/open source ideas.
Sighting Microsoft is a red herring. That is one exception in a huge list of successes in the software market.
Also, the open source/free software movement is very communal. People contribute their efforts for the collective benefit of the group. My comment relating free software to communism was related to this characteristic. The free/open source movement does have its own benefits, with the users of the technology being intimately involved in the development. However, the profit incentive of the free market (commercial software) is so important in developing innovative products that I would put the free market (commercial) up against the free software community any day of the week. Without that incentive, innovation would suffer.
All software shall not and should not be free. Remember, a well-known government tried to use that model for all things, and it failed. Applied to the software industry, we'd all be stuck with long development cycles with little features. Commercial software is important in motivating the free (as in beer) software movement.
The reason why North Korea isn't as dangerous as Iraq is because this is par for the course with North Korea. They do this to get attention. When South Korea starts to really worry, then I'll worry about North Korea.
Iraq, on the other hand, is ruled by a vengeful tyrant, who wants nothing more than payback for kicking him out of Kuwait. He would love to cause mass damage to the American government (people). Remember, he has a history of this sort of behavior. The only thing stopping him is his lack of capability to do it, and the fear of getting caught, which would result in a quick nuclear response if he was found out. That's why these terrorists are so intriguing to Saddam, and why the USA needs to fix this time-bomb that will eventually go off.
Don't you understand that such a rule would only effect the free nations of the world? This would have no bearing on the traditional foes of the US. I bet that Linux is being used TODAY to develop new weapons in China, Iraq, and North Korea, and probably in support of these countries "noble" causes (sweatshops, slave camps, etc). What you are suggesting is that we cripple the free nations of the world in their use of technology, but the China's, North Korea's, etc, can have free access to such technology in their noble causes.
Your comparison of course is ridiculous. Of course, volunteering is everyone's right. This is a For-Profit organization trying to recruit free labor in the interest of making a profit. IMO, people who volunteer for this are foolish. If you don't think so, I have a large web development project that you can help me with. Hey, it involves Linux, so that means you'll work for free, right?
This is another example of an organization trying to take advanage of vast work done in the name of free computing. Of course, this instance is a silly attempt to get someone to work for free in the interest of making a profit. Sadly, many will volunteer. While this of course is not an OSS effort, it is attempting to ride in the wake of OSS success.
The OSS community must come to grips with the true goal of OSS. Is it to provide free software to For-Profit organizations, or is it to provide for the free computing of individuals? Of course, these are differing goals. For-Profits cannot be allowed to milk the OSS community for all its worth. Having For-Profits adopt OSS wholesale may sound like a successful outcome for OSS, but the ramifications for the programming profession may be huge.
The economic reality is that a "total success" for OSS will turn the programming profession into a hobby. All of us who depend on software development to put food on the table should consider this. Maybe it is time that For-Profit organizations be required to contribute economically for the value they derive from the free efforts of OSS developers, not because it can make money, but because OSS software should not steal from commercial software mearly because it is free. That is not the goal of OSS. If commercial software industry is to exist long term, we must have economic balance. Otherwise, the software development industry might not be viable.
Don't listen to most of the people here. Remember, most eveyone on Slashdot are Microsoft-haters, so getting objective information regarding anything Microsoft is mostly not going to happen. If you want to learn web development, your current plan is fine. If you want to learn operating system development, then maybe assembly is a good choice. If you want to stay away from Microsoft because they have insulted you in the past, then Java and JSP is a good choice.
Being able to get your Ada code to run on a Java VM does not make Java language independent. Given enough force, you can always move a square peg through a round hole. You simply had a powerful enough hammer to ram that Ada code through the sift. It was not natural. You might as well say that MS is platform independent because you could run MS solitare under Wine. The herd mentality over here is thick.
I am not a Hotmail fan, but I do use it for resume postings (don't want recruiters getting my every day email address). Anyway, my Hotmail account gets much less spam then my Yahoo account, so I don't understand why everyone is so negative about Hotmail and spam. Perhaps people have not enabled the spam filter?
I noticed a change recently with the amount of spam that my Yahoo email is collecting. Previously, a spam emails trickled in, but now, I am getting more spam which are obviously aimed at circumventing the spam filter. They all use the same technique -- adding unusual characters into the subject text. I am suprised that Yahoo has yet to figure this trick out. And Yahoo's spam reporting feature has had no visible effect on the spam volume in my inbox.
Slashdot Mirror
Who cares if its an attempt to compete against free software? Its a win-win for non-profits and MS, and if free software can't compete purely on features (minus the price advantage), then it should lose. Its the free market at work. Get over it.
I have doubts about that reasoning. Yes, some people will tinker with science for the noble reason you stated, but history shows us that recognition, ownership, and wealth are what drive the majority of innovation and discovery.
This isn't how science works. Its sort of like the free market, but instead of money being the reward, its recognition. Without it, there would be little motive for PhD's to study anything.
Bzzzzzzz!
Sorry. You just failed the "Am I capable at running a business" test.
Would you also throw out your life preserver because it was produced with closed-source software?
My comments were based on the example of the Moneydance product being bad because it does not subscribe to the free/open source ideas. Sighting Microsoft is a red herring. That is one exception in a huge list of successes in the software market. Also, the open source/free software movement is very communal. People contribute their efforts for the collective benefit of the group. My comment relating free software to communism was related to this characteristic. The free/open source movement does have its own benefits, with the users of the technology being intimately involved in the development. However, the profit incentive of the free market (commercial software) is so important in developing innovative products that I would put the free market (commercial) up against the free software community any day of the week. Without that incentive, innovation would suffer.
All software shall not and should not be free. Remember, a well-known government tried to use that model for all things, and it failed. Applied to the software industry, we'd all be stuck with long development cycles with little features. Commercial software is important in motivating the free (as in beer) software movement.
And I thought that the Spice Girls were gone forever. When will the madness stop?!
The reason why North Korea isn't as dangerous as Iraq is because this is par for the course with North Korea. They do this to get attention. When South Korea starts to really worry, then I'll worry about North Korea. Iraq, on the other hand, is ruled by a vengeful tyrant, who wants nothing more than payback for kicking him out of Kuwait. He would love to cause mass damage to the American government (people). Remember, he has a history of this sort of behavior. The only thing stopping him is his lack of capability to do it, and the fear of getting caught, which would result in a quick nuclear response if he was found out. That's why these terrorists are so intriguing to Saddam, and why the USA needs to fix this time-bomb that will eventually go off.
Get a clue!
Don't you understand that such a rule would only effect the free nations of the world? This would have no bearing on the traditional foes of the US. I bet that Linux is being used TODAY to develop new weapons in China, Iraq, and North Korea, and probably in support of these countries "noble" causes (sweatshops, slave camps, etc). What you are suggesting is that we cripple the free nations of the world in their use of technology, but the China's, North Korea's, etc, can have free access to such technology in their noble causes.
Your comparison of course is ridiculous. Of course, volunteering is everyone's right. This is a For-Profit organization trying to recruit free labor in the interest of making a profit. IMO, people who volunteer for this are foolish. If you don't think so, I have a large web development project that you can help me with. Hey, it involves Linux, so that means you'll work for free, right?
This is another example of an organization trying to take advanage of vast work done in the name of free computing. Of course, this instance is a silly attempt to get someone to work for free in the interest of making a profit. Sadly, many will volunteer. While this of course is not an OSS effort, it is attempting to ride in the wake of OSS success.
The OSS community must come to grips with the true goal of OSS. Is it to provide free software to For-Profit organizations, or is it to provide for the free computing of individuals? Of course, these are differing goals. For-Profits cannot be allowed to milk the OSS community for all its worth. Having For-Profits adopt OSS wholesale may sound like a successful outcome for OSS, but the ramifications for the programming profession may be huge.
The economic reality is that a "total success" for OSS will turn the programming profession into a hobby. All of us who depend on software development to put food on the table should consider this. Maybe it is time that For-Profit organizations be required to contribute economically for the value they derive from the free efforts of OSS developers, not because it can make money, but because OSS software should not steal from commercial software mearly because it is free. That is not the goal of OSS. If commercial software industry is to exist long term, we must have economic balance. Otherwise, the software development industry might not be viable.
Of course it was mentioned. Your quick scan was insufficient, as it was noted by yours truely on page 5 or 6 of mass of replies.
Although not a movie, Dilbert is the most accurate representation of the programmer/engineer, and the crap he encounters day in and day out.
Don't listen to most of the people here. Remember, most eveyone on Slashdot are Microsoft-haters, so getting objective information regarding anything Microsoft is mostly not going to happen. If you want to learn web development, your current plan is fine. If you want to learn operating system development, then maybe assembly is a good choice. If you want to stay away from Microsoft because they have insulted you in the past, then Java and JSP is a good choice.
Being able to get your Ada code to run on a Java VM does not make Java language independent. Given enough force, you can always move a square peg through a round hole. You simply had a powerful enough hammer to ram that Ada code through the sift. It was not natural. You might as well say that MS is platform independent because you could run MS solitare under Wine. The herd mentality over here is thick.
I am not a Hotmail fan, but I do use it for resume postings (don't want recruiters getting my every day email address). Anyway, my Hotmail account gets much less spam then my Yahoo account, so I don't understand why everyone is so negative about Hotmail and spam. Perhaps people have not enabled the spam filter?
I noticed a change recently with the amount of spam that my Yahoo email is collecting. Previously, a spam emails trickled in, but now, I am getting more spam which are obviously aimed at circumventing the spam filter. They all use the same technique -- adding unusual characters into the subject text. I am suprised that Yahoo has yet to figure this trick out. And Yahoo's spam reporting feature has had no visible effect on the spam volume in my inbox.