I have to say this is a pretty good article. Most of the critical comments and flames about the author are speculative.
I don't think this article was written with the open source community as the intended audience. I read the article more than once and I think he's pretty clear about wanting to acquaint developers in closed shops with open source methods.
He seems to be talking to development shops and saying, this methodology frees you up to collaborate.
I wonder if he's doing Open Source a disservice since many of the readers he'll reach will be more experienced with Open Source as a cultural phenomenon.
Still, no one creates marketing collateral for Linux and Open Source - at least to my knowledge. So, this is a good read for people wanting to know more.
The letter from the CIO explains a lot to me. He's got a fairly good handle on some open source concepts as to coding, etc. He's just confused about some concepts and the "ad hoc" stuff sort of pissed me off. Not that the CIO said it, but that so many people believe it.
The stuff about grammar and spelling indicates that this guy has a background in non-US English. I don't know if it's a second language but most of the critical comments about his spelling were wrong.
I like the fact that the writer wrote in a slower mode that most technical people do. It didn't have to look up every word and re-read every sentence to understand what he was saying.
His example of a closed source development environment looks like a COBOL oriented IBM shop. I worked in those for a decade. That's pretty much the way they looked.
Overall, I still consider it a good read and I wouldn't speculate about his motives. As far as his trying to promote himself, he doesn't have to do that. I've seen his writing since 1999. A quick look at Google says this guy writes a lot. 4200+ hits.
Having never met the man, I would rather take him as genuine than to judge him harshly, but then it's easier to judge him harshly than took at the message.
I tend to be skeptical. I don't like Microsoft because they tried to bust me. But, I also see past my anger and I believe open source works for the common good.
I hope I'm right about the guy. I feel I'm right about the article.
Sorry. You obviously don't have a clue. You're using some "old" concepts from the early 1990's and attempting to get someone to buy it. Or, you may have used hercules and loaded a Linux distro on an Intel box. Since you mentioned REXX, I doubt the latter.
You can use an IFL and run Linux bare to the metal without using VM at all. The architecture of the zSeries segregates CPs into various roles. It doesn't work like a PC at all.
The zSeries has a processor for I/O and the CP runs without having to manage a lot of the hardware.
People ramble on about things they do know. Why? I hate it when that happens.
Exactly. I find it interesting when people comment out of the space of speculation. The original question was for someone with "experience". That doesn't mean that he wanted uninformed opinions based on some notion of logic. If someone hasn't sailed the boat, don't tell me how to do it.
I sold and installed the very first Linux application on the S/390 --a Multiprise running VM and it worked great. We used the TurboLinux port and then finally wound up with SuSE.
We compiled the source code and it ran just like it did on a big Intel box. IBM helped with hardware issues which related to load balancing amongst the VM instances. One of their business partners supported the customer, Winnebago Industries with regard to Linux and OS 390.
IBM wasn't much of a factor as far as needing support. They supported the mainframe, the OS and VM just fine. SuSE installed without a single issue.
Some other issues arose in getting the user to learn IBM mainframe lingo, such as IPL instead of boot, and DASD. But, that didn't require much effort. The IBM Redbook on running Linux on the S/390 was all we needed to transfer knowledge. We downloaded it for free in pdf format.
The main benefit I discovered was the ability to consolidate servers. We replaced a bunch of M$ Exchange servers and ran a suite of Open Source apps such as Cyrus IMAP, Open LDAP, Exim, Apache, etc. We were able to get rid of a bunch of distributed servers and put them on one instance.
I suggest that IBM can help, but I don't think you'll be dependent on them. They're very expensive. With Linux on the zSeries or S/390 you can do everything yourself. -- That might not be what IBM wanted, but then they championed Linux, didn't they!
I have to acknowledge them for a good business move.
They have obviouly looked at the retail market and made the same observation as the rest of the software world: Don't attempt to compete with Microsoft in the channel.
Understand that Microsoft eats software companies for lunch by luring them into a den where the buyers for Office Depot, CompUSA, Best Buy, etc.don't know RedHat, Corel, Claris, etc. from the $1 CD's they sell from CD Specialists, Inc.
Microsoft pulls software companies into the retail space just to watch them LOSE money. Red Hat has decided to stop the bleeding.
Here's Another Point:
Nothing in this announcement says that Red Hat will stop providing media. They will continue to provide media just like every other software company you haven't heard about does.
Have you ever seen AIX on the retail store shelf?
This is a very smart move for Red Hat. You'll find the media out there, but someone else will provide ala Mandrake.
Red Hat has a tight lip. They don't elaborate. Yet they keep gaining market share.
Their timing here is impeccable.
People bash Red Hat all the time and Red Hat people just don't answer. They don't get into the frey. But Red Hat developers are on all the mailing lists and they're giving us their time and expertise. That's RH encouraged. I'm an old timer and it's taken me a long time to discover what Red Hat is doing. I may use a different Distribution, but they are good for Linux.
This project is laden with hurdles and I'd be very careful before contributing to it or deploying it. In fact, it needs a serious technical review. We've heard this story before.
Bynari, who has actually replaced Exchange with a Linux server running on the IBM S/390 had some problems with Ximian. Any plugin for Ximian required that one gives the code to Ximian, lock stock and everything.
The Ximian connector no work with anything but Exchange 2000 in "web mode". Not all functionality is present.
In an article in Linux Journal, February, 2003 page 52, the author outlines the components necessary for create this product.
Outlook only works natively with Bynari's Exchange Client Extension and it's Global Address Book. Otherwise, you're looking at an internet mode of Outlook and nothing special exists with that.
MAPI no longer runs the Exchange server, instead the monster runs XML-RPC. It will accommodate some legacy Outlook software, but not much.
Outlook 2000 service pack 3 running on Windows 2000 or XP desktop enables most of the functionality. But Microsoft has pulled off another lock in to obsolete Outlook 97 and 98 and will required installing the.Net framework to enable Outlook 2000 which will wind up on the chopping block once Office 2003 makes it's debut.
I wouldn't want to tackle this project. While the intentions appear good, it's just another me too.
Now, Colab - the German government's well funded project already works albeit with their own client and Bynari's connector which took the place of Steltor after Oracle bought Steltor.
I hope these guys succeed. But look at the carnage. Ever look at the Open Exchange Project. Abandoned by Luke. What about Sendmail.com's fierce announcement that it was going into groupware -- two years ago?
This is a tough customer. One of the worse development glitches, you need Microsoft developers to build parts of the product. Ooh, they just don't mix.
Well, the secret is out. But guess whose been making all those Linux white box systems? VIA, same people. Wall-Mart, Fry's Great Quality, Sam's, Microtel, Wintergreen, Sub300, Neo Computers, Galaxy, Tranquil and Newron all have VIA motherboards and processors. I won't forget that VIA was once Cyrix. I bought three of them and they work great. They came with ThizLinux - an RPM based OS from Hong Kong, but they took everything I threw at them: Slackware, RedHat, Gentoo, SuSE, Debian, Xandros and Solaris 9.
Hat's off to them for engineering their systems for Linux. I put XP on one and it worked OK, but not like it does with Linux. So off came XP.
Figuratively speaking, five minutes might be a little long for this event.
The Press Release is an insideous manuver to set Linux up. The primary reason for the release involves a large order HP received for X stations. They have turned that into a publicity front not stunt to look like they plan to retail the product.
Few people know that they've done the same thing in Europe and Korea with the Presario. They are available through account representatives for business accounts. This isn't a retail offering at the store front level.
Insideous: Moving in a slow and inapparent manner with evil inentions.
Mandrakesoft: The least likely company to sue and the one which HP could terminate the easiest. I even wonder if they have penalty clauses in the contract.
Mandrakesoft's primary source of income hasn't changed since inception. Macmillan has sole distribution rights in North America. That guarantees Mandrakesoft revenue. That's the only source of revenue on which Madrakesoft bases its business model. Other efforts to establish markets in Europe, Africa and South America failed and that's why they had to reorganize their business.
Great enterpreneurs, Mandrakesoft is not.
The venture money raised by Mandrakesoft went to ward the company's bet they could succeed in other markets outside North America. Unfortunately, they did not have instant distribution which is what they expect whatever they do. Distribution channels take up to five years to mature and show profits. Mandrakesoft has significant financial and management weakness resulting from various efforts to create markets. It's difficult to adjust to reality when the first deal came so quickly (Macmillan).
HP's biggest money maker is NSI, its service provider. The primary product of NSI is rolling out Microsoft Exchange and doing migrations from NT to Windows 2000 and 2003 server. They have the largest staff of MSCE's in the world. They also have the largest percentage of the Exchange market.
In fact, HP sold its highly rated OpenMail product for peanuts to Samsung. That operating unit's former personnel actually found Samsung and pursuaded them to buy OpenMail. They live in England. But they were laid off and desperate for a period of serveral months. The former unit members found the Samsung deal, not HP.
Meanwhile, HP corked its own mail system and installed Exchange on a company wide basis. Why? To please Compaq and Microsoft.
HP has no incentive to make Linux great vs Microsoft. They do have an incentive to replace Sun and SGI rendering farms. They've done that well.
That's also a bit of a set up since Windows 2000 Pro and XP have found their way into those rendering farms. I personally know of bait and switch deals. One large engineering firm sold me a nice SGI workstation as it auctioned its fleet. They reason, they went over to Windoze.
Do not underestimate the lengths to which either M$ or HP will go with their business practices now that they're under the radar of a federal government focused on the aftermaths of 9-11-2001.
HP and compaq have never been a consumer's friend. They have a long history of selling cheaply at the storefront and charging more than the original cost of a machine for upgrades. That's right, they do that. Put a non-HP memory stick in your computer and find out how quickly your warranty goes away.
Dell did a similar thing. Michael spoke as a keynote at LinuxWorld. They invited me to Austin to discuss an OEM deal and financing shortly afterward. I put a team of developers in motion for a speculative drive to produce an application in which they had interest.
I called to order several Laptops only a couple of days after the Austin trip. The specialist on the phone said "We don't do Linux!"
I don't believe that it's because Microsoft put its foot down. My read from the people with whom I worked at Dell was simply, "we know who butters our bread and pays us bigger marketing rebates (spiffs) than we expect to earn in any Linux venture."
Five minutes. It hurts me deeply, but we don't even have 5 minutes.
Where does SCO, Novell, Center 7 and the Canopy Group live and work and have their being? Utah!
The Canopy Group, a Utah firm with investments in dozens of companies owns the controlling interest in SCO. That's right, SCO.
Do you consider Hatch's proclamation coincidental to the Copyright issues Canopy has brought up against IBM and Linux as SCO's alter ego? This is a classic special interest lobby created to move public interest in a daring direction.
This senator has some interesting harmonics in his small world.
Historically, incumbents in the US Senate rarely lose an election, regardless of what they do.
A special investigator found evidence proving Senator Robert Packwood of Oregon in violation of campaign finance. The investigation yielded a scandal as Packwood's address book yielded names and address of his many mistresses.
Still, he resigned. No one voted him out.
The power base of a US Senator self perpetuates. During elections, they will be working on a major initiative or project. They will head a major committee. The voters will not vote them out. The state could be conservative and the Senator a liberal and he'll still win.
Senator Hatch has a self perpetuating power base and a very loyal constituency in a state where religion rules.
He's like the basketball player Karl Malone, he'll never retire.
Here's the danger: This guy has the ability to influence state, federal and local legislation.
And he is not demonstrated support for open source.
In our world, he's a butt-head. In the world of the uninformed, he's as right as right can be.
Utah politics is not more complacent or different than any other state.
It is however the power base of software firms and big, big dollars that are not our friends.
Yes and no. A few years back, the IRS used to audit people and make it a horrible experience. The few neighbors you had that got an audit made it so sooooo bad, people stopped cheating. Then 60 Minutes did a feature on this lady dying of a heart attack in an IRS office (all she had was a W-2and a 1040A) and then people going into mental hospitals. Some people went to prison. Prison?
BSA does audit, and they get you all upset because a few businesses got hammered in the local paper. Then they buy these big clean mailing lists of businesses and send out the letter. And people pay them.
If you have any "former" friends, they can trigger an audit and then it's skid row. AND they are ruthless. Unyielding and mean. The legal fees can put a business out of business.
Some guys have started a reform movement both in Europe and here. They say if this isn't tyranny, then what is?
Have you bought or sold software on eBay? Think about it.
Zap your hard drives and use free software. Their audit software picks up data even if you uninstalled it and reformatted your drive.
No, it's not a scam and for those of us who've lived through it, you either pay the price or spend two years in a BSA hell. I fought it (legal background).
The way to beat this is: do not download their stinking audit software. Do not respond to their letters. That will make any drop-by visits an invasion of privacy.
Next, wipe your every hard drive and use a Microwave to melt their CD roms. (Dangerous unless you've made coasters before.) Get a big fence cutter and break any floppies you have.
Get rid of everything.
I was arrogant. I gave away my rights agreeing to their amnesty.
I let them do an audit on us because we didn't have any M$ stuff. Woooops. A secretary had Windows 98 running. We paid for and produced receipts for all the software, but got hung up on an upgrade. We got something bundled with a piece of hardware, long since broke and gone. That software bundle costs thousands.
Now, we knew the piece of hardware, we knew the box, the packing slip, had the receipt and the packing materials. But, noooooooooo, we were criminals.
Use the grace period (hehe) and get rid of your stuff.But don't agree to or sign anything. And don't imagine your lawyer knows as much as the Boy Scouts of America (BSA - right?)
Will they audit you? Will the IRS?
Probably not. But do't think beause they have bigger fish to fry that they won't show up.
You might get 5 out of 6 on your lottery ticket. Or 6 out of 7. If you get 7 out of 7 look out.
Oh and if you do get a good lottery ticket, tell all your friends and they will buy thousands of lotto's. Heck, just get on stage on TV and thank everyone for contributing to you and lotto sales go through the roof.
That's the BSA's theory.
They're making big money!You think that $43 Billion Macrosoft has in the bank came from innovation? Innovation in the field of legal tyrany.
BTW, you won't find any on my Post. I go around and Zap the drives of anyone in my company that uses the stuff.
It's time for your Senator and Congressman to come to the aide of our Country and reform the damn copyright and patent laws.
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I think they mean: the guy asked a lot of questions and put the interviewee on the spot. One question they forgot to ask: Do you use Linux?
I have to say this is a pretty good article. Most of the critical comments and flames about the author are speculative.
I don't think this article was written with the open source community as the intended audience. I read the article more than once and I think he's pretty clear about wanting to acquaint developers in closed shops with open source methods.
He seems to be talking to development shops and saying, this methodology frees you up to collaborate.
I wonder if he's doing Open Source a disservice since many of the readers he'll reach will be more experienced with Open Source as a cultural phenomenon.
Still, no one creates marketing collateral for Linux and Open Source - at least to my knowledge. So, this is a good read for people wanting to know more.
The letter from the CIO explains a lot to me. He's got a fairly good handle on some open source concepts as to coding, etc. He's just confused about some concepts and the "ad hoc" stuff sort of pissed me off. Not that the CIO said it, but that so many people believe it.
The stuff about grammar and spelling indicates that this guy has a background in non-US English. I don't know if it's a second language but most of the critical comments about his spelling were wrong.
I like the fact that the writer wrote in a slower mode that most technical people do. It didn't have to look up every word and re-read every sentence to understand what he was saying.
His example of a closed source development environment looks like a COBOL oriented IBM shop. I worked in those for a decade. That's pretty much the way they looked.
Overall, I still consider it a good read and I wouldn't speculate about his motives. As far as his trying to promote himself, he doesn't have to do that. I've seen his writing since 1999. A quick look at Google says this guy writes a lot. 4200+ hits.
Having never met the man, I would rather take him as genuine than to judge him harshly, but then it's easier to judge him harshly than took at the message.
I tend to be skeptical. I don't like Microsoft because they tried to bust me. But, I also see past my anger and I believe open source works for the common good.
I hope I'm right about the guy. I feel I'm right about the article.
Sorry. You obviously don't have a clue. You're using some "old" concepts from the early 1990's and attempting to get someone to buy it. Or, you may have used hercules and loaded a Linux distro on an Intel box. Since you mentioned REXX, I doubt the latter.
You can use an IFL and run Linux bare to the metal without using VM at all. The architecture of the zSeries segregates CPs into various roles. It doesn't work like a PC at all.
The zSeries has a processor for I/O and the CP runs without having to manage a lot of the hardware.
People ramble on about things they do know. Why? I hate it when that happens.
Exactly. I find it interesting when people comment out of the space of speculation. The original question was for someone with "experience". That doesn't mean that he wanted uninformed opinions based on some notion of logic. If someone hasn't sailed the boat, don't tell me how to do it.
I don't believe you. That's completely opposite of my experience.
I sold and installed the very first Linux application on the S/390 --a Multiprise running VM and it worked great. We used the TurboLinux port and then finally wound up with SuSE.
We compiled the source code and it ran just like it did on a big Intel box. IBM helped with hardware issues which related to load balancing amongst the VM instances. One of their business partners supported the customer, Winnebago Industries with regard to Linux and OS 390.
IBM wasn't much of a factor as far as needing support. They supported the mainframe, the OS and VM just fine. SuSE installed without a single issue.
Some other issues arose in getting the user to learn IBM mainframe lingo, such as IPL instead of boot, and DASD. But, that didn't require much effort. The IBM Redbook on running Linux on the S/390 was all we needed to transfer knowledge. We downloaded it for free in pdf format.
The main benefit I discovered was the ability to consolidate servers. We replaced a bunch of M$ Exchange servers and ran a suite of Open Source apps such as Cyrus IMAP, Open LDAP, Exim, Apache, etc. We were able to get rid of a bunch of distributed servers and put them on one instance.
I suggest that IBM can help, but I don't think you'll be dependent on them. They're very expensive. With Linux on the zSeries or S/390 you can do everything yourself. -- That might not be what IBM wanted, but then they championed Linux, didn't they!
I have to acknowledge them for a good business move.
They have obviouly looked at the retail market and made the same observation as the rest of the software world: Don't attempt to compete with Microsoft in the channel.
Understand that Microsoft eats software companies for lunch by luring them into a den where the buyers for Office Depot, CompUSA, Best Buy, etc.don't know RedHat, Corel, Claris, etc. from the $1 CD's they sell from CD Specialists, Inc.
Microsoft pulls software companies into the retail space just to watch them LOSE money. Red Hat has decided to stop the bleeding.
Here's Another Point:
Nothing in this announcement says that Red Hat will stop providing media. They will continue to provide media just like every other software company you haven't heard about does.
Have you ever seen AIX on the retail store shelf?
This is a very smart move for Red Hat. You'll find the media out there, but someone else will provide ala Mandrake.
Red Hat has a tight lip. They don't elaborate. Yet they keep gaining market share.
Their timing here is impeccable.
People bash Red Hat all the time and Red Hat people just don't answer. They don't get into the frey. But Red Hat developers are on all the mailing lists and they're giving us their time and expertise. That's RH encouraged. I'm an old timer and it's taken me a long time to discover what Red Hat is doing. I may use a different Distribution, but they are good for Linux.
Et tu Brutus?
This project is laden with hurdles and I'd be very careful before contributing to it or deploying it. In fact, it needs a serious technical review. We've heard this story before.
Bynari, who has actually replaced Exchange with a Linux server running on the IBM S/390 had some problems with Ximian. Any plugin for Ximian required that one gives the code to Ximian, lock stock and everything.
The Ximian connector no work with anything but Exchange 2000 in "web mode". Not all functionality is present.
In an article in Linux Journal, February, 2003 page 52, the author outlines the components necessary for create this product.
Outlook only works natively with Bynari's Exchange Client Extension and it's Global Address Book. Otherwise, you're looking at an internet mode of Outlook and nothing special exists with that.
MAPI no longer runs the Exchange server, instead the monster runs XML-RPC. It will accommodate some legacy Outlook software, but not much.
Outlook 2000 service pack 3 running on Windows 2000 or XP desktop enables most of the functionality. But Microsoft has pulled off another lock in to obsolete Outlook 97 and 98 and will required installing the .Net framework to enable Outlook 2000 which will wind up on the chopping block once Office 2003 makes it's debut.
I wouldn't want to tackle this project. While the intentions appear good, it's just another me too.
Now, Colab - the German government's well funded project already works albeit with their own client and Bynari's connector which took the place of Steltor after Oracle bought Steltor.
I hope these guys succeed. But look at the carnage. Ever look at the Open Exchange Project. Abandoned by Luke. What about Sendmail.com's fierce announcement that it was going into groupware -- two years ago?
This is a tough customer. One of the worse development glitches, you need Microsoft developers to build parts of the product. Ooh, they just don't mix.
Well, the secret is out. But guess whose been making all those Linux white box systems? VIA, same people. Wall-Mart, Fry's Great Quality, Sam's, Microtel, Wintergreen, Sub300, Neo Computers, Galaxy, Tranquil and Newron all have VIA motherboards and processors. I won't forget that VIA was once Cyrix. I bought three of them and they work great. They came with ThizLinux - an RPM based OS from Hong Kong, but they took everything I threw at them: Slackware, RedHat, Gentoo, SuSE, Debian, Xandros and Solaris 9. Hat's off to them for engineering their systems for Linux. I put XP on one and it worked OK, but not like it does with Linux. So off came XP.
Figuratively speaking, five minutes might be a little long for this event.
The Press Release is an insideous manuver to set Linux up. The primary reason for the release involves a large order HP received for X stations. They have turned that into a publicity front not stunt to look like they plan to retail the product.
Few people know that they've done the same thing in Europe and Korea with the Presario. They are available through account representatives for business accounts. This isn't a retail offering at the store front level.
Insideous: Moving in a slow and inapparent manner with evil inentions.
Mandrakesoft: The least likely company to sue and the one which HP could terminate the easiest. I even wonder if they have penalty clauses in the contract.
Mandrakesoft's primary source of income hasn't changed since inception. Macmillan has sole distribution rights in North America. That guarantees Mandrakesoft revenue. That's the only source of revenue on which Madrakesoft bases its business model. Other efforts to establish markets in Europe, Africa and South America failed and that's why they had to reorganize their business.
Great enterpreneurs, Mandrakesoft is not.
The venture money raised by Mandrakesoft went to ward the company's bet they could succeed in other markets outside North America. Unfortunately, they did not have instant distribution which is what they expect whatever they do. Distribution channels take up to five years to mature and show profits. Mandrakesoft has significant financial and management weakness resulting from various efforts to create markets. It's difficult to adjust to reality when the first deal came so quickly (Macmillan).
HP's biggest money maker is NSI, its service provider. The primary product of NSI is rolling out Microsoft Exchange and doing migrations from NT to Windows 2000 and 2003 server. They have the largest staff of MSCE's in the world. They also have the largest percentage of the Exchange market.
In fact, HP sold its highly rated OpenMail product for peanuts to Samsung. That operating unit's former personnel actually found Samsung and pursuaded them to buy OpenMail. They live in England. But they were laid off and desperate for a period of serveral months. The former unit members found the Samsung deal, not HP.
Meanwhile, HP corked its own mail system and installed Exchange on a company wide basis. Why? To please Compaq and Microsoft.
HP has no incentive to make Linux great vs Microsoft. They do have an incentive to replace Sun and SGI rendering farms. They've done that well.
That's also a bit of a set up since Windows 2000 Pro and XP have found their way into those rendering farms. I personally know of bait and switch deals. One large engineering firm sold me a nice SGI workstation as it auctioned its fleet. They reason, they went over to Windoze.
Do not underestimate the lengths to which either M$ or HP will go with their business practices now that they're under the radar of a federal government focused on the aftermaths of 9-11-2001.
HP and compaq have never been a consumer's friend. They have a long history of selling cheaply at the storefront and charging more than the original cost of a machine for upgrades. That's right, they do that. Put a non-HP memory stick in your computer and find out how quickly your warranty goes away.
Dell did a similar thing. Michael spoke as a keynote at LinuxWorld. They invited me to Austin to discuss an OEM deal and financing shortly afterward. I put a team of developers in motion for a speculative drive to produce an application in which they had interest.
I called to order several Laptops only a couple of days after the Austin trip. The specialist on the phone said "We don't do Linux!"
I don't believe that it's because Microsoft put its foot down. My read from the people with whom I worked at Dell was simply, "we know who butters our bread and pays us bigger marketing rebates (spiffs) than we expect to earn in any Linux venture."
Five minutes. It hurts me deeply, but we don't even have 5 minutes.
Where does SCO, Novell, Center 7 and the Canopy Group live and work and have their being? Utah!
The Canopy Group, a Utah firm with investments in dozens of companies owns the controlling interest in SCO. That's right, SCO.
Do you consider Hatch's proclamation coincidental to the Copyright issues Canopy has brought up against IBM and Linux as SCO's alter ego? This is a classic special interest lobby created to move public interest in a daring direction.
This senator has some interesting harmonics in his small world.
Historically, incumbents in the US Senate rarely lose an election, regardless of what they do.
A special investigator found evidence proving Senator Robert Packwood of Oregon in violation of campaign finance. The investigation yielded a scandal as Packwood's address book yielded names and address of his many mistresses.
Still, he resigned. No one voted him out.
The power base of a US Senator self perpetuates. During elections, they will be working on a major initiative or project. They will head a major committee. The voters will not vote them out. The state could be conservative and the Senator a liberal and he'll still win.
Senator Hatch has a self perpetuating power base and a very loyal constituency in a state where religion rules.
He's like the basketball player Karl Malone, he'll never retire.
Here's the danger: This guy has the ability to influence state, federal and local legislation.
And he is not demonstrated support for open source.
In our world, he's a butt-head. In the world of the uninformed, he's as right as right can be.
Utah politics is not more complacent or different than any other state.
It is however the power base of software firms and big, big dollars that are not our friends.
Yes and no. A few years back, the IRS used to audit people and make it a horrible experience. The few neighbors you had that got an audit made it so sooooo bad, people stopped cheating. Then 60 Minutes did a feature on this lady dying of a heart attack in an IRS office (all she had was a W-2and a 1040A) and then people going into mental hospitals. Some people went to prison. Prison?
BSA does audit, and they get you all upset because a few businesses got hammered in the local paper. Then they buy these big clean mailing lists of businesses and send out the letter. And people pay them.
If you have any "former" friends, they can trigger an audit and then it's skid row. AND they are ruthless. Unyielding and mean. The legal fees can put a business out of business.
Some guys have started a reform movement both in Europe and here. They say if this isn't tyranny, then what is?
Have you bought or sold software on eBay? Think about it.
Zap your hard drives and use free software. Their audit software picks up data even if you uninstalled it and reformatted your drive.
No, it's not a scam and for those of us who've lived through it, you either pay the price or spend two years in a BSA hell. I fought it (legal background).
The way to beat this is: do not download their stinking audit software. Do not respond to their letters. That will make any drop-by visits an invasion of privacy.
Next, wipe your every hard drive and use a Microwave to melt their CD roms. (Dangerous unless you've made coasters before.) Get a big fence cutter and break any floppies you have.
Get rid of everything.
I was arrogant. I gave away my rights agreeing to their amnesty.
I let them do an audit on us because we didn't have any M$ stuff. Woooops. A secretary had Windows 98 running. We paid for and produced receipts for all the software, but got hung up on an upgrade. We got something bundled with a piece of hardware, long since broke and gone. That software bundle costs thousands.
Now, we knew the piece of hardware, we knew the box, the packing slip, had the receipt and the packing materials. But, noooooooooo, we were criminals.
Use the grace period (hehe) and get rid of your stuff.But don't agree to or sign anything. And don't imagine your lawyer knows as much as the Boy Scouts of America (BSA - right?)
Will they audit you? Will the IRS?
Probably not. But do't think beause they have bigger fish to fry that they won't show up.
You might get 5 out of 6 on your lottery ticket. Or 6 out of 7. If you get 7 out of 7 look out.
Oh and if you do get a good lottery ticket, tell all your friends and they will buy thousands of lotto's. Heck, just get on stage on TV and thank everyone for contributing to you and lotto sales go through the roof.
That's the BSA's theory.
They're making big money!You think that $43 Billion Macrosoft has in the bank came from innovation? Innovation in the field of legal tyrany.
BTW, you won't find any on my Post. I go around and Zap the drives of anyone in my company that uses the stuff.
It's time for your Senator and Congressman to come to the aide of our Country and reform the damn copyright and patent laws.
Jeeze.
- Dal