I think that, more than anything, this project shows two things: 1) that national (or even international) borders do not hinder great minds collectively working as though side by side, and 2) that the private and academic sectors will be where the future of defense, communications, etc will come from and not the government.
I'm particularly excited about the success of this project because it ties into a project that I've been researching for a few weeks now but thought was impossible. Basically, it's using temporary subdermal GPS technology coupled with sats to enable the easy location and rescue of those who go missing in a hot zone (with my current focus being on Iraq/Afghanistan). Until today when I read this article, I was convinced that this would never see the light of day because -- even though I understood what needed to be done and could probably assemble a good group of people to do it -- I would run into government hurdle after government hurdle and the costs would simply be too high to do it privately. After reading this story though, I realize that isn't true and am quite excited about seriously pursuing this project! Now, to recruit, research, build and deploy.
I know there are people here who poo-poo this as something "already" done by the ham folks. But I believe that there is something substantially different about this success. On one hand, I think that we're going to see a lot of positives come from this. On the other hand I think there will be some negatives as governments start to realize that they no longer hold the monopoly on "gee-whiz" technology simply because they employ top scientists. They will be forced to sit up and take notice of private projects now and that could be a double edged sword. I suppose we'll have to wait and see.
You have just appeared on Slashdot as the asshole of the day today (09 October 2004), the largest geek news website. Expect many many more e-mails and possibly telephone calls and faxes from other geeks like me!
I'll never understand why it is that some people can't seem to express themselves without using some sort of profanity. Do you really believe that makes Mr. Hayes sit up and take notice because you are obviously really frustrated and outraged? It doesn't.
Most people tend to dismiss others who can't seem to communicate or express feelings withouth profanity. I'm sure that Hayes will do the same. Why should anyone listen to what you have to say when you don't say it in appropriate ways?
While he might indeed hear from other geeks on this matter, I do hope that they can express themselves a bit better or else I fear their letters may do more harm than good to the fired employees cause.
You can infect all the computers you want, just so long as they aren't networked across state lines.
The wording that includes "computers used in interstate commerce" is largely irrelevant. The moment someone connects to your site via the internet they are "networked across state lines". Even if I am connecting to my neighbors computer, chances are I am crossing state lines to do it.
This is a suggestion that I made to the DoD over their website the other day. It's a good example of how I believe spy and tracking technology could be used in a positive way:
1: Implant TEMPORARY subdermal GPS enabled microchips into evern millitary and civillian person working or serving in the middle eastern hotzone (or any hotzone for that matter. But right now, it's Iraq). This will allow you to pinpoint with a very high level of precision the exact location of personnel should they be kidnapped.
3: Rescue the hostage and have a much better chance of killing the kidnappers.
Yes, I realize the privacy implications and the conspiracy implications of it all but, at some point, there IS a tradeoff between unabridged rights and personal and group safety.
I'm really not sure why I'm responding to this post being that it's off topic and definately doesn't belong on this thread. I guess I'm board...
1) Is it correct to charge for removing bugs from the apartment - as a charge on the security deposit?
Yes. If he were doing bug removal prior to you moving in or if he had noted a bug problem before you'd moved in then probably not. After you move in, the bugs are probably your fault. It is within his rights (in the USA anyway) for him to charge to correct anything you caused or did.
2) The landlord is falsely claiming that we did not return the keys, and charging us for it. What kind of a legal recourse do we have to counteract this?
If you can prove that you actually returned the keys then you could take him to small claims court for your rental deposit. Otherwise, there is nothing you can do.
IMHO, unless you have proof that you returned the keys the court will assume you are just another deadbeat renter who messed up a property (and made it have bugs) then lost the key or is trying to hold onto it for some strange reason.
If you're really bent on getting your money back (and, since you're a student, I can understand that totally) I'd head to your university's library and look up state laws that deal with rental property. You don't need a lawyer here but you might need a court.
No, you own the right to use that copy of the software. You do not own the software. The copyright holder still owns the software.
If you owned the software then the copyright holder could not place limits on your use of that software. If I WRITE a program or if the rights to a program are acquired by me then I "own" the program. I can do with it as I please. OTOH, if I "own the right to use" the program, then I can only use the software within the boundries set by the copyright holder.
It's a rule. I'm not sure if it's a federal law or an individual state one. I do know that my state, Oklahoma, does the same thing and the last places I lived (Texas and Oklahoma) did too. So I bet it's a federal thing.
I don't know how much of an inconvenience registering to vote here in the USA is. When I was 18, I was dropping off mail to the post office one day and noticed that, right near the mail drop, there were voter registration forms. I grabbed one, took it home, waited like two weeks, finally filled it out and dropped it in the mail next time I was out. Didn't even have to pay for the stamp.
I'm not sure how feasible the "auto registering" that Denmark does would be here. Here, we HAVE to register as a republican, democrat, or independent and that registration will restrict when we vote in primaries, etc. So auto registration would break down there.
but we still can't all go back to "borrowing" music from our friends instead of each purchasing our own copy.
It always gives me a chuckle when I see someone call outright stealing "borrowing". Let's look at two key differences between the two:
1: When one borrows something it usually deprives the lender of the objects use until the borrowed item is returned. This is true of borrowing a CD. Your friend no longer has use of that CD until you return it.
2: When something is borrowed, it is usually returned or expected to be returned.
"Borrowing" music from a friend in the form of a copied CD or MP3 or downloading music from strangers (and no, they are NOT your "friends") on the internet does not meet the definitions of borrowing.
I believe music SHOULD be able to be freely copied, shared, etc across the net. I think it's a viable revenue stream for the artists and labels and that most people will go and buy the CD eventually if they really like it. But let's not muddy the waters just to appease our own guilty minds: it isn't borrowing and it's not sharing music between friends because you consider the entire world your friend. It's stealing. Let's at least be honest.
If you want a rock solid FS without the chance of losing your data why not create a Usenet FS that functions similar to this? If all of the files were encrypted, UU Encoded then encrypted again using strong encryption it should be safe enough for your data to be out in the wild. Think this could work?
Actually, law enforcement can hold you without charges for 48 hours afterwhich they must either charge you or let you go. There are ways to extend that 48 hours under certain circumstances.
Additionally, once you are charged I believe the law says that you must be arraigned within 24 hours or the charges could be invalidated. But I know many judges who don't ever take notice of that.
If you are a big enough threat to the standing powers or if you annoy them enough, they will find ways to get you. When has the Constititution ever prevented the government our from going after citizens? You must be new around here...
I don't think that GFS is a Google creation (unless the author works with Google and I am not aware of that). It looks like an independent project that targets GMail since it has all of the nice storage. But still, I see your point.
My question is: Why GMail? Why not target one of the other large space providers? Surely this is as easy with them (perhaps more so) as it is with GMail.
Switch to PostgreSQL? Employs 0 people. Pays $0 taxes. That's just one off the top of my head.
But jobs *are* created because of PostgreSQL. My company, for example, is currently working with a major Oklahoma state agency to migrate all of their data away from Oracle and SQL Server into PostgreSQL. We're getting paid quite handsomely for it too and we'll pay income tax on that income. I have five other projects waiting in the wings to see if this migration is successful. If it is, they want us to migrate them too. Each of these contract will come with a six figure fee. All of which we'll pay income tax on.
So PostgreSQL as a company might not pay U.S. income tax. But it sure has its hand in helping others generate a lot of tax revenue.
I've been programming professionally since I was around 15 and have a CompSci degree under my belt along with probably a few million lines of code. I know what it takes to develop a large scale application and I'm definately willing to put in the work to learn a new language. I've learned solid principles of OOP and undertand where Java is coming from and trying to accomplish. I even took the time to learn it a few years back just to have it under my belt.
Java is a good language. Yes, there are issues, but they could be resolved by Sun fairly easily. But, in most cases, Java simply isn't needed. Statistics show that the vast majority of software applications being developed are not "mass market" type apps but rather stuff that is used in house. Most shops have standardized around one platform or another so cross platform isn't really an issue. And, when it is, it's usually trivial to edit C code and recompile for the new arch.
Lastly, let me tell you a little story: I am currently launching a new startup aimed at developing a kiosk for the entertainment industry. Originally, everyone said I simply *had* to write my software in Java because of an infinate number of reasons. Even as an experienced programmer, I was dumb enough to buy into it and try. Within a few weeks the software had become so slow and bloated that I knew I had to find something else. Where do you think I went?
Python with the WX extensions.
Python offers me everything Java can (WORA, Speed, Good GUI enviroment, etc) and is absolutley painless to learn. In fact, I am LEARNING the language AS I write the new software and it's not slowing me up at all. There are times I have to go back and fix things but usually it's pretty straightforward. Python is, to me at least, a Java killer.
I think that Java has some strong points. But, ultimately, it's no stronger that some other languages out ther (think C++, Python) and in some ways weaker. Sun needs to do something to get Java back on track. They can save the language but they need to drop the arrogance and get back down to basics.
By the way, when's the last time you saw Microsoft.com go down? Surely that website is hit harder than most anything on the next. Don't believe me? Everyone click here [microsoft.com]. Just saying, don't treat operating systems like religions.
I'm sure the MS website experiences problems all the time. The difference is that, because it's such a large scale website and the company took the time to plan for failure, there is a lot of redundancy.
Microsoft has *at least* three levels of redundancy on the corporate web site and possible more on the MSDN side of things. It doesn't *appear* to go down but, believe me, it does.
That said, realize that while it might be popular to try to blame the OS for this failure it really has nothing to do with the OS. Be it Linux, Windows, Solaris, Unix, or even Mac, one CAN build a stable and reliable system with nearly 100% uptime if you take the time to plan, plan, plan. This isn't a software failure as much as it is a human one.
That's one of the built-in checks and balances of open systems: Alan and Linux do scan all the source to make sure nothing bad gets in but there are also thousands of other eyes doing the same who would definately catch anything malicious that either one of them slipped in.
That is why this articles assertions are so silly. The government is in MUCH more danger buying closed system where they have to trust the vendor than open systems where they can do a complete audit themselves.
I love the statements about a country introducing bugs that nobody in the community could find. I mean *HELLO*! If someone can devise it and write it there is someone else out there smart enough to find it in plain sight. For goodness sake: we have people reverse engineering closed systems like Windows where they don't have the source. We're to believe these people are too dense to catch cleverly hidden bugs in software they HAVE the source too?
America is not the centre of the world. Diversity is ok. Multi-culturalism is ok
Multi-culturalism is okay? Even here in the USA? Guess it was a little hard to tell what with all of the blacks, hispanics, asians, arabs, and other nationalities running around. We have no problem with multi-culturalism. But that isn't even what this issue is about...
The Americans aren't demanding that everyone speak *American English*. They are simply wanting people to speak *English* The language wasn't invented by nor is it owned by the Americans. Is their demand wrong? I don't think so being that a good amount of the entire *worlds* communication happens in English every day AND seeing that the company that owns Orkut is an *American* company.
and if someone says something bad about one then they are either attacked as being MS sheep or assaulted by a series of suggestions on how to fix the situation.
So then, if someone is making an inaccurate, unfair, or uneducated statement or judgement about a particular product due to their own ignorance of how fix the problem AND is probably passing the "X software SUCKS" line to all of their friends and family thereby causing harm to the product we should sit back and allow them to continue in and SPREAD their ignorance?
The reality is that most products "suck" to a particular person because they simply don't understand how to accomplish something they want to do. It doesn't matter if the product *can* actually do said function or not, it sucks because THEY couldn't make it do it and therefore it's the products fault.
Why is dispelling unfounded assumptions, myths, and judgements a bad thing?
I wouldn't rule out the idea that google is trying to become the "new" usenet here, and I actually believe they could pull it off.
As a supporting example, I know at least 30-40 people who have told me "Oh, I read this thing on Google Groups" to which I sometimes replied "Yeah, Usenet can be great" and their response is "What is Usenet? This was on Google!"
Google is doing to Usenet what MS has done to the whole OS concept for a lot of people. Many people don't even realize there *are* other operating systems aside from MS Windows. In this case, many people don't realize there is a seperation between Google and Usenet. They don't understand that all Google does is provide an interface to a *much* older network that has been around since before many of them were even born. *That* my friends is strong branding. Google might not be muddying the waters on purpose but it's still pretty scary isn't it?
This "the customer is always right" nonsense is indicitive of our modern commerce system. Plainly stated, the customer is *not* always right and it is our job as consultants, salespeople, or whatever role we function in, to assist the customer in making proper decisions. If the customer *was* always right, we could easily design a near totally self service store (with the exception of stockers) and allow customers to shop, select products, and check out all by themselves.
Statements like this one really proves that we are a sales culture dominated by snake oil salesmen and "yes" men/women. We'll agree with any decision the customer makes regardless of if it's really in their best interests or not because it makes us money. Sometimes, our modern commerce system is absolutely disgusting.
My experience, and probably the experience of anyone who's ever actually dealt with customers, is that they are usually ill-informed or partially informed because most customers don't actually take the time to do the necessary research that is needed in order to make a good buying decision. It is *our* duty as salespeople, consultants, etc to assist them in understanding and defining their needs. It is our duty to guide the customer into what is "right" based on their real needs and not perceptions.
I once saw someone take apart a simple four line "Hello World" program and explain how it could be used to compromise security if certain conditions were satisfied. In reality, it is impossible to write "bug free" code. No matter how many members you have on your team and no matter how good of a coder you are you WILL have some bugs. Only someone who is a total newbie coder, never worked on a large project, or has never programmed before, would believe that one can write totally bug-free code.
Maybe MS is finally taking the feedback I've provided them via their website seriously: dump the Win32 Kernel, adopt the BSD Kernel, keep the great Windows GUI and concentrate on that. Maybe the "open sourcing" thing is a cover for that? Nah, not in a million years. But it's nice to dream. LOL
Re:Nice idea, won't work though
on
Linux in Iraq
·
· Score: 1
Where piracy thrives, open source starves.
While that might be true to a very small degree, you should also remember that piracy thrives in Iraq right now because there are no formal laws against it. They are, and possibly have completed, writing new copyright laws right now and you can bet that piracy will be cracked down on hard.
Linux has an excellent opportunity in Iraq (and in every developing country around the world) right now. It's of *much* more value in developing countries than it is in the USA and UK. In our countries, it's a matter of saving more money. In developing countries it often enables them to have technology at all.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm particularly excited about the success of this project because it ties into a project that I've been researching for a few weeks now but thought was impossible. Basically, it's using temporary subdermal GPS technology coupled with sats to enable the easy location and rescue of those who go missing in a hot zone (with my current focus being on Iraq/Afghanistan). Until today when I read this article, I was convinced that this would never see the light of day because -- even though I understood what needed to be done and could probably assemble a good group of people to do it -- I would run into government hurdle after government hurdle and the costs would simply be too high to do it privately. After reading this story though, I realize that isn't true and am quite excited about seriously pursuing this project! Now, to recruit, research, build and deploy.
I know there are people here who poo-poo this as something "already" done by the ham folks. But I believe that there is something substantially different about this success. On one hand, I think that we're going to see a lot of positives come from this. On the other hand I think there will be some negatives as governments start to realize that they no longer hold the monopoly on "gee-whiz" technology simply because they employ top scientists. They will be forced to sit up and take notice of private projects now and that could be a double edged sword. I suppose we'll have to wait and see.
I'll never understand why it is that some people can't seem to express themselves without using some sort of profanity. Do you really believe that makes Mr. Hayes sit up and take notice because you are obviously really frustrated and outraged? It doesn't.
Most people tend to dismiss others who can't seem to communicate or express feelings withouth profanity. I'm sure that Hayes will do the same. Why should anyone listen to what you have to say when you don't say it in appropriate ways?
While he might indeed hear from other geeks on this matter, I do hope that they can express themselves a bit better or else I fear their letters may do more harm than good to the fired employees cause.
The wording that includes "computers used in interstate commerce" is largely irrelevant. The moment someone connects to your site via the internet they are "networked across state lines". Even if I am connecting to my neighbors computer, chances are I am crossing state lines to do it.
1: Implant TEMPORARY subdermal GPS enabled microchips into evern millitary and civillian person working or serving in the middle eastern hotzone (or any hotzone for that matter. But right now, it's Iraq). This will allow you to pinpoint with a very high level of precision the exact location of personnel should they be kidnapped.
3: Rescue the hostage and have a much better chance of killing the kidnappers.
Yes, I realize the privacy implications and the conspiracy implications of it all but, at some point, there IS a tradeoff between unabridged rights and personal and group safety.
1) Is it correct to charge for removing bugs from the apartment - as a charge on the security deposit?
Yes. If he were doing bug removal prior to you moving in or if he had noted a bug problem before you'd moved in then probably not. After you move in, the bugs are probably your fault. It is within his rights (in the USA anyway) for him to charge to correct anything you caused or did.
2) The landlord is falsely claiming that we did not return the keys, and charging us for it. What kind of a legal recourse do we have to counteract this?
If you can prove that you actually returned the keys then you could take him to small claims court for your rental deposit. Otherwise, there is nothing you can do.
IMHO, unless you have proof that you returned the keys the court will assume you are just another deadbeat renter who messed up a property (and made it have bugs) then lost the key or is trying to hold onto it for some strange reason.
If you're really bent on getting your money back (and, since you're a student, I can understand that totally) I'd head to your university's library and look up state laws that deal with rental property. You don't need a lawyer here but you might need a court.
Hope it helps...
No, you own the right to use that copy of the software. You do not own the software. The copyright holder still owns the software.
If you owned the software then the copyright holder could not place limits on your use of that software. If I WRITE a program or if the rights to a program are acquired by me then I "own" the program. I can do with it as I please. OTOH, if I "own the right to use" the program, then I can only use the software within the boundries set by the copyright holder.
It's a rule. I'm not sure if it's a federal law or an individual state one. I do know that my state, Oklahoma, does the same thing and the last places I lived (Texas and Oklahoma) did too. So I bet it's a federal thing.
I'm not sure how feasible the "auto registering" that Denmark does would be here. Here, we HAVE to register as a republican, democrat, or independent and that registration will restrict when we vote in primaries, etc. So auto registration would break down there.
Photo's wouldn't work because WM gift cards can also be used online.
It always gives me a chuckle when I see someone call outright stealing "borrowing". Let's look at two key differences between the two:
1: When one borrows something it usually deprives the lender of the objects use until the borrowed item is returned. This is true of borrowing a CD. Your friend no longer has use of that CD until you return it.
2: When something is borrowed, it is usually returned or expected to be returned.
"Borrowing" music from a friend in the form of a copied CD or MP3 or downloading music from strangers (and no, they are NOT your "friends") on the internet does not meet the definitions of borrowing.
I believe music SHOULD be able to be freely copied, shared, etc across the net. I think it's a viable revenue stream for the artists and labels and that most people will go and buy the CD eventually if they really like it. But let's not muddy the waters just to appease our own guilty minds: it isn't borrowing and it's not sharing music between friends because you consider the entire world your friend. It's stealing. Let's at least be honest.
If you want a rock solid FS without the chance of losing your data why not create a Usenet FS that functions similar to this? If all of the files were encrypted, UU Encoded then encrypted again using strong encryption it should be safe enough for your data to be out in the wild. Think this could work?
Additionally, once you are charged I believe the law says that you must be arraigned within 24 hours or the charges could be invalidated. But I know many judges who don't ever take notice of that.
If you are a big enough threat to the standing powers or if you annoy them enough, they will find ways to get you. When has the Constititution ever prevented the government our from going after citizens? You must be new around here...
Anthony
My question is: Why GMail? Why not target one of the other large space providers? Surely this is as easy with them (perhaps more so) as it is with GMail.
But jobs *are* created because of PostgreSQL. My company, for example, is currently working with a major Oklahoma state agency to migrate all of their data away from Oracle and SQL Server into PostgreSQL. We're getting paid quite handsomely for it too and we'll pay income tax on that income. I have five other projects waiting in the wings to see if this migration is successful. If it is, they want us to migrate them too. Each of these contract will come with a six figure fee. All of which we'll pay income tax on.
So PostgreSQL as a company might not pay U.S. income tax. But it sure has its hand in helping others generate a lot of tax revenue.
Java is a good language. Yes, there are issues, but they could be resolved by Sun fairly easily. But, in most cases, Java simply isn't needed. Statistics show that the vast majority of software applications being developed are not "mass market" type apps but rather stuff that is used in house. Most shops have standardized around one platform or another so cross platform isn't really an issue. And, when it is, it's usually trivial to edit C code and recompile for the new arch.
Lastly, let me tell you a little story: I am currently launching a new startup aimed at developing a kiosk for the entertainment industry. Originally, everyone said I simply *had* to write my software in Java because of an infinate number of reasons. Even as an experienced programmer, I was dumb enough to buy into it and try. Within a few weeks the software had become so slow and bloated that I knew I had to find something else. Where do you think I went?
Python with the WX extensions.
Python offers me everything Java can (WORA, Speed, Good GUI enviroment, etc) and is absolutley painless to learn. In fact, I am LEARNING the language AS I write the new software and it's not slowing me up at all. There are times I have to go back and fix things but usually it's pretty straightforward. Python is, to me at least, a Java killer.
I think that Java has some strong points. But, ultimately, it's no stronger that some other languages out ther (think C++, Python) and in some ways weaker. Sun needs to do something to get Java back on track. They can save the language but they need to drop the arrogance and get back down to basics.
I'm sure the MS website experiences problems all the time. The difference is that, because it's such a large scale website and the company took the time to plan for failure, there is a lot of redundancy.
Microsoft has *at least* three levels of redundancy on the corporate web site and possible more on the MSDN side of things. It doesn't *appear* to go down but, believe me, it does.
That said, realize that while it might be popular to try to blame the OS for this failure it really has nothing to do with the OS. Be it Linux, Windows, Solaris, Unix, or even Mac, one CAN build a stable and reliable system with nearly 100% uptime if you take the time to plan, plan, plan. This isn't a software failure as much as it is a human one.
That is why this articles assertions are so silly. The government is in MUCH more danger buying closed system where they have to trust the vendor than open systems where they can do a complete audit themselves.
I love the statements about a country introducing bugs that nobody in the community could find. I mean *HELLO*! If someone can devise it and write it there is someone else out there smart enough to find it in plain sight. For goodness sake: we have people reverse engineering closed systems like Windows where they don't have the source. We're to believe these people are too dense to catch cleverly hidden bugs in software they HAVE the source too?
Multi-culturalism is okay? Even here in the USA? Guess it was a little hard to tell what with all of the blacks, hispanics, asians, arabs, and other nationalities running around. We have no problem with multi-culturalism. But that isn't even what this issue is about...
The Americans aren't demanding that everyone speak *American English*. They are simply wanting people to speak *English* The language wasn't invented by nor is it owned by the Americans. Is their demand wrong? I don't think so being that a good amount of the entire *worlds* communication happens in English every day AND seeing that the company that owns Orkut is an *American* company.
Need a great Linux laption? Email me for details!
So then, if someone is making an inaccurate, unfair, or uneducated statement or judgement about a particular product due to their own ignorance of how fix the problem AND is probably passing the "X software SUCKS" line to all of their friends and family thereby causing harm to the product we should sit back and allow them to continue in and SPREAD their ignorance?
The reality is that most products "suck" to a particular person because they simply don't understand how to accomplish something they want to do. It doesn't matter if the product *can* actually do said function or not, it sucks because THEY couldn't make it do it and therefore it's the products fault.
Why is dispelling unfounded assumptions, myths, and judgements a bad thing?
As a supporting example, I know at least 30-40 people who have told me "Oh, I read this thing on Google Groups" to which I sometimes replied "Yeah, Usenet can be great" and their response is "What is Usenet? This was on Google!"
Google is doing to Usenet what MS has done to the whole OS concept for a lot of people. Many people don't even realize there *are* other operating systems aside from MS Windows. In this case, many people don't realize there is a seperation between Google and Usenet. They don't understand that all Google does is provide an interface to a *much* older network that has been around since before many of them were even born. *That* my friends is strong branding. Google might not be muddying the waters on purpose but it's still pretty scary isn't it?
Ummm, you *do* realize that we're not talking about scheduling like the Windows Task Scheduler right?
Statements like this one really proves that we are a sales culture dominated by snake oil salesmen and "yes" men/women. We'll agree with any decision the customer makes regardless of if it's really in their best interests or not because it makes us money. Sometimes, our modern commerce system is absolutely disgusting.
My experience, and probably the experience of anyone who's ever actually dealt with customers, is that they are usually ill-informed or partially informed because most customers don't actually take the time to do the necessary research that is needed in order to make a good buying decision. It is *our* duty as salespeople, consultants, etc to assist them in understanding and defining their needs. It is our duty to guide the customer into what is "right" based on their real needs and not perceptions.
I once saw someone take apart a simple four line "Hello World" program and explain how it could be used to compromise security if certain conditions were satisfied. In reality, it is impossible to write "bug free" code. No matter how many members you have on your team and no matter how good of a coder you are you WILL have some bugs. Only someone who is a total newbie coder, never worked on a large project, or has never programmed before, would believe that one can write totally bug-free code.
Maybe MS is finally taking the feedback I've provided them via their website seriously: dump the Win32 Kernel, adopt the BSD Kernel, keep the great Windows GUI and concentrate on that. Maybe the "open sourcing" thing is a cover for that? Nah, not in a million years. But it's nice to dream. LOL
While that might be true to a very small degree, you should also remember that piracy thrives in Iraq right now because there are no formal laws against it. They are, and possibly have completed, writing new copyright laws right now and you can bet that piracy will be cracked down on hard.
Linux has an excellent opportunity in Iraq (and in every developing country around the world) right now. It's of *much* more value in developing countries than it is in the USA and UK. In our countries, it's a matter of saving more money. In developing countries it often enables them to have technology at all.