So, are you the actual Bungi or an impersonator?:)
> If you want to contact Miguel [...]
Sometimes I think I should contact him, he was quite inspiring in his day. Other times I think I should concentrate on my own work.
I probably will contact him soon but I'll give serious thoughts to my wording. I wonder if he will stumble across this thread while tracking the miss deeds of the imposter...
Your response is an easy one. It takes no reseach to make a statement like this.
It's funny, critism only requires a dislike of one aspect of a person/movement but supporting a person/movement requires you to defend every aspect.
If you have a specific question about the practicality or benefits of Free Software then I'd be happy to discuss it with you (here, or by private email, my address isn't hard to google for).
If your issue is that you didn't like my "self-righteous cunt" tone, then I partly agree with you. My original post to "miguel" was fueled by the comments of an imposter and was posted quickly because, like I said, this forum ignores slow responders.
On reflection, and disregarding the comments of the imposter, I was overly hard of a man who has contributed greatly to Free Software and the operating system that I use daily.
I just checked. Your right, that wasn't the real Miguel. The real Miguel has username: The Bungi (221687)
This is quite funny because about 2 years ago, the real Miguel advocated removing the community posting section of gnome.org because someone claiming to be him had been posting there. Now here I am being caught out by an imposter and I'm thinking: Should slashdot remove this persons account?
The quick answer is yes but this does not create a good environment. Maybe slashdot should be GPG-enabled so that people can verify the identity of other posters (if they want), and posters can assert their identity (if they want).
Maybe people who are irritated by this problem should write an auto-reply script to disclaim ownership of false comments. (or maybe people important enough to be victims are too busy coding other things.)
I stand by some of my comment to "miguel" but the tone and content were affected by my research of other comments made by this imposter.
Damn.
I'll keep monitoring this thread but I'm assuming the real miguel won't see it. A well written retraction and a version-2 of my original post would probably therefore be a waste of time (and would just amuse the fake miguel).
There was a time, maybe 4 years ago, that you were an inspiring Free Software advocate. I used to read your speechs online after you gave keynotes at conferences.
I remember a particular one about the trade that developing nations (like your homeland) make for the proprietary software of the richest continent. If I recall correctly, Mexico gave America 24 barrels of oil for every copy of Microsoft Windows plus Microsoft Office. This sort of speech is what inspired me to go on to become a Free Software advocate (through speechs and development).
The amount and completeness of Free Software is one of the most amazing creations of the last 20 years. (by the people, for the people, and it can't be removed from the people.) We have achieved so much. Though I may have become active later than others, I'm very glad to become part of this movement.
I assume you still hold beliefs of social justice, since you recommend "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" on you website. (I read this book on your recommendation. A real eye-openner, especially about the IMF.)
You have great fame in the Free Software community. People listen to you (like they did 4 years ago). I think I remember your activity log from about 2 years ago saying that your only contact with RMS was an occasional mail from him to ask you to say "GNU/Linux". I think you commented that this was annoying you. RMS can be abrasive but I hope you weren't put off from advancing the public good by his emails.
It can be argued that the software Ximian packages with GNOME is not as harmful because it comes at no monatary cost but this ignores that issue of control. Does RealPlayer snoop on users? Will Flash 7 delete my mp3s? will a future Java Runtime have silly incompatibilities and a new price tag?
Debian has a non-free section. I don't use the non-free section but I advocate using Debian. Ximian can package RealPlayer without endorsing the format or business tatics.
There are many in this world that have power to take justice out of society. There are a few that can organise the masses to fight against this. You have fame, credibility, and proof-of-code in this community. You know the issues and people will listen to you. You have every opertunity possible. If you won't stand up for freedom, who will?
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"
Ciaran O'Riordan (I wish I had longer to repeatedly re-read my post but this forum ignores slow responses.)
P.S. I don't mean to take away from your contributions, I sure I run some of you code almost everyday. Thanks.
On the use of proprietary video streaming
on
GU4DEC Live On The Web
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
I emailed the organisers about the use of proprietary video formats for streaming video. Here's the response I got:
I fully agree with you, Ciaran. I think in this case it may have been a
matter of under-staffing (or under-volunteerism) to organize the event.
I've searched the foundation-list mailinglist and have found no discussion about the use of this format.
In short: the use of this video format was not a decision of the GNOME Foundation.
Free Software has proven that it is a viable alternative to proprietary systems. We have come too far to now ask people to compromise on the
beliefs that have gotten us to where we are today.
I hope future decisions are given a public discussion.
> I'd like to see proof with links that ANY part of QT is GPL.
It took me 30 seconds to find this: http://www.trolltech.com/download/index.htm l and specifically the parts that KDE uses: http://www.trolltech.com/download/qt/x11.ht ml
They're dual licensed under the QPL (non-Free) and the GNU GPL. When you obtain the software you can choose to use and distribute it under either license.
This smacks of flame bait but in case you're serious:
The parts of QT that KDE uses are available under the GNU GPL. GNOME does have the the blessing of the Free Software Foundation, since it's a GNU project, but the important thing is to use Free Software.
QT-embedded and some other TrollTech software is proprietary, I'd advise people not to use it, but KDE is Free Software.
It is counter-productive for Free Software projects to fight against eachother. Deep divides are just what M$ and the proprietary world wants to see. Lets beat them together.
I know you were only joking but I thought I'd mention that this is impossible.
BEOWULF support has to be compiled into an application for it to be used. MySQL doesn't have BEOWULF support, and I don't see a patch for it on the web.
OpenMosix performs kernel level clustering. You apply the OpenMosix patch to Linux, compile, reboot, and Linux will now migrate processes automatically to other OpenMosix enabled computers on your network.
Beowulf is more efficient, but it would probably take a month or so to program MySQL to use it. OpenMosix takes about 30 minutes to set up and it then works with every application you run.
It would be almost impossible to get rid of patents.
Most developed countries have signed the TRIPs agreement, article 33 of which states that patents must be availble for inventions and must last a minimum of 20 years.
Reduced term patents (3 or 5 years) will not happen due to this World Trade Organisation agreement.
More realisticly, we can try to prevent the adoption of software patents in europe, thus preventing them from being a completely global "commodiy".
We can also ask for reform of the patent review system. No country is going to revoke current patents but it could be possible to prevent such frivolous patents in the future.
M$ software will only run on Trusted Computers. RIAA music will only play on Trusted Computers. MPAA(?) movies will only play on Trusted Computers. M$ & Friends will pressure other software companies to require Trusted Computers, under the name of Security or Reliability or Legal-clarity.
Option two is that non-Trusted computers could be made illegal, there is a draft of a proposal to make this law in USA. Will it happen? The RIAA, M$, and MPAA will claim it's necessary to prevent the growing "piracy" trend.
If you do have the option of buying a general computer, you may find it's not much use. And if you put up with that, don't expect Joe Public to stand with you in solidarity, he'll be too busy bopping away to his new "enhanced" Hooty and the Blowfish CD.
Patents last 21 years in most countries. A company can hold a patent and stay silent until it becomes popular one good example being the LZW compression and the GIF format.
another example being the JPEG extension that was patented quietly for the last 10 years and then invoked against one of the large digital camera manufacturers (Fujitso?). The patent holder, having done zero development of the research, netted $30 million from the infringement case.
Also, a company could license the patent under RAND ("Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory") terms. Such as charging a tiny amount per licensed copy, mabe 4cent.
The company looks like it's being a good member of the software industry but Free Software cannot mandate a fee per license so it effectively gives access all except Free Software. M$ love this style of licensing.
Europeans: the EU patents vote will be held on June 18th.
Don't wait for you opinion to be asked, it won't be. Don't wait for the open debate, there isn't any. Don't waif for someone else to do it. *Very* few people are doing anything.
The deal: There are 626 MEPs that are going to vote on *your* rights, most of them will have never heard the bad effects of Software Patents. They have been asked to "unify", "harmonise" and "remove legal grey areas" from the European Patent Convention (EPC, article 52). Unless educated, they are going to say "yes" to patents. (M$ have patented their video format in the US, we are never allowed to write a player for their format. Promoting progress?)
Germany has 99 MEPs GB, France, and Italy have 87 MEPs each. Ireland has 15 (I can't remember the other countries of the top of my head)
Get informed, read the (lengthy) docs at ffii.org and contact your MEPs.
Right now I'm campaigning against software patents in Europe and I keep seeing EU proposals saying that a patent directive allowing patents will "unify" our patent laws, "harmonise" us with others, "remove legal grey areas", and allow Europe to "benefit from the protection of patents"....and in June ~600 MEPs are going to vote on this issue without reading IBM's "Thick Lines" patent or the blinking cursor patent.
Dear nerdlyone,
I felt obliged to reply since you wrote such a long post. I started off by explaining each problem you had with Stallmans essay. I couldn't understand how you could have missinterpretted so much, it was as if you were doing it on purpose. I was so shocked at you ability to miss the point that I decided to look at your previous slashdot postings (to see if you were a M$ or IBM employee or similar).
It turns out that bashing Stallman, promoting patents, and not understanding software patents are three of your call signs. I notice that all of your posts (with one exception) have a score of 1, so obviously you're not convincing others.
Also, you're posts are often quite long. Is this because you are passionate about the software patents issue? How could you be so lost if you are so passionate? Are you a mechanical engineer who knows the patent system but doesn't know what computer programming is like?
Answer these: Amazons "one click shopping": how much did they spend to think of this? is it unobvious? is a 20 year patent on ideas this simple necessary to promote research?
The no-patents argument that Stallman presents probably seems impractical to you but this is only suggested as a better solution than the current hyperactive patent system. If patents were really only allowed for "useful, unobvious, and original" ideas and they only lasted 3 years (for software) then they would not be a problem.
On Wednesday (7th May) I'll be meeting up with a bunch of europeans for a hearing/conference/demonstration against software patents. The venue is the European Parliment in Brussels and the speakers include Stallman, Lawrence Lessig, and Alan Cox. As a Free Software developer, I'm looking forward to this event.
I think I know the paper you're talking about. It was about the use of command line environment verses gui environment. Users believed they got the work done faster when they did it from the command line but in fact they had take slightly longer.
As for Dvorak, I used to use it (for about two weeks). It was taking me a while to regain my speed and constantly moving from different computers and OSs made it inconvenient so I switched back. THAT's when it hit me. QWERTY is horrible, my hands are like dancing spiders. I'll go back to Dvorak someday and I won't come back.
(studies or no studies. Anecdotal evidence mightn't *prove* anything, but then again, is this a provable matter?)
Ciaran O'Riordan this post, sadly written on a QWERTY layout;_(
> to clarify: I ment "what exactly could be patented?"
Whole applications won't be patentable, algorithms will.
This sucks because M$ could patent the algorithim used to write a certain file format. Then we wouldn't be allowed to reverse engineer, say, MS Word Docs.
This makes their monopoly much tougher. For a great read, try: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/stallman-pate nts.ht ml or http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/stallman-mec -india.h tml
Stallman gives a very clear explanation of the history, stupidity, uselessness, and problems of software patents. (he's really an excellent speaker & writer.)
There is a huge difference between these two licenses in what freedoms they grant you but I think the freedoms they grant others are more important.
Most people aren't programmers. Most programmers don't have time to fix every bug or add every feature they want.
That the GNU GPL gives *you* these freedoms isn't the important part, it's that it gives *everyone* these freedoms.
MS EULA treats people as lone individuals and prohibits sharing/helping. The GPL expects this and flourishes when sharing and helping occur.
Ciaran O'Riordan
have you read the FSF doc about this?
on
Free as in Marketable?
·
· Score: 3, Informative
I should assume you have read this document but I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere: (Releasing Free Software if you work at a University) http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/univers ity.html
any guesses? well, they're going to "Open Source" the software, and they are a "company", so my guess it they will invent their own stupid license and keep squashing down the corners until they can fit it past the OpenSourceInitiative license endorsment monkey.
Then they can join the ranks of the successful OpenSource companys, right up there with RealNetworks.
He also won some chinese award that came with $836,000. The "Taekdo Award" or something like that....and he gets paid for giving speeches (and he gives a lot of speeches). Probably never a millionaire but he was definitely close.
On receiving the Taekdo award he said he would "invest" it but never elaborated any further (to my knowledge).
He lives cheaply (staying in friends houses in most countries he visits). The FSF's back account didn't shoot up when he got the money.
Either way, it's his money and it hasn't changed him. The man has dedicated his life to the promotion and maintenance of freedom, I'm sure he has/will put the money to good use.
I was at the FSF annual associate member meeting in February and I met some of the staff.
GPL Compliance guy: David "Novalis" Turner Copyright Assignment Clerk: Jessica Natale Free Software Directory (catalogger): Janet Casey GNU Press/Business manager: Lisa "Opus" Goldstein Speeches & talking to Politicians: RMS Speeches & lawyering/GPL thinking: Eben Moglen Excutive Director: Bradley Kuhn Treasurer: Sys admin (internal + savannah&maillists): Can't-remember Can't-remember-position;): Henri Poole Digital Speech + business development: Ravi Kahna (hope I haven't left anyone out) They also have interns in from time to time to do fidly programming/sys-admin stuffs.
Another person replying to this comment asked if they are paid well: I don't have numbers but I can tell you they'd all be monitarily more wealthy working in other companies, they work for FSF because it's FSF.
Slashdot Mirror
So, are you the actual Bungi or an impersonator? :)
> If you want to contact Miguel [...]
Sometimes I think I should contact him, he was quite inspiring in his day. Other times I think I should concentrate on my own work.
I probably will contact him soon but I'll give serious thoughts to my wording. I wonder if he will stumble across this thread while tracking the miss deeds of the imposter...
Ciaran O'Riordan
Your response is an easy one. It takes no reseach to make a statement like this.
It's funny, critism only requires a dislike of one aspect of a person/movement but supporting a person/movement requires you to defend every aspect.
If you have a specific question about the practicality or benefits of Free Software then I'd be happy to discuss it with you (here, or by private email, my address isn't hard to google for).
If your issue is that you didn't like my "self-righteous cunt" tone, then I partly agree with you. My original post to "miguel" was fueled by the comments of an imposter and was posted quickly because, like I said, this forum ignores slow responders.
On reflection, and disregarding the comments of the imposter, I was overly hard of a man who has contributed greatly to Free Software and the operating system that I use daily.
Ciaran O'Riordan
I just checked. Your right, that wasn't the real Miguel. The real Miguel has username: The Bungi (221687)
This is quite funny because about 2 years ago, the real Miguel advocated removing the community posting section of gnome.org because someone claiming to be him had been posting there. Now here I am being caught out by an imposter and I'm thinking:
Should slashdot remove this persons account?
The quick answer is yes but this does not create a good environment. Maybe slashdot should be GPG-enabled so that people can verify the identity of other posters (if they want), and posters can assert their identity (if they want).
Maybe people who are irritated by this problem should write an auto-reply script to disclaim ownership of false comments. (or maybe people important enough to be victims are too busy coding other things.)
I stand by some of my comment to "miguel" but the tone and content were affected by my research of other comments made by this imposter.
Damn.
I'll keep monitoring this thread but I'm assuming the real miguel won't see it. A well written retraction and a version-2 of my original post would probably therefore be a waste of time (and would just amuse the fake miguel).
Ciaran O'Riordan
Miguel.
There was a time, maybe 4 years ago, that you were an inspiring Free Software advocate. I used to read your speechs online after you gave keynotes at conferences.
I remember a particular one about the trade that developing nations (like your homeland) make for the proprietary software of the richest continent. If I recall correctly, Mexico gave America 24 barrels of oil for every copy of Microsoft Windows plus Microsoft Office. This sort of speech is what inspired me to go on to become a Free Software advocate (through speechs and development).
The amount and completeness of Free Software is one of the most amazing creations of the last 20 years. (by the people, for the people, and it can't be removed from the people.) We have achieved so much. Though I may have become active later than others, I'm very glad to become part of this movement.
I assume you still hold beliefs of social justice, since you recommend "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" on you website. (I read this book on your recommendation. A real eye-openner, especially about the IMF.)
You have great fame in the Free Software community. People listen to you (like they did 4 years ago). I think I remember your activity log from about 2 years ago saying that your only contact with RMS was an occasional mail from him to ask you to say "GNU/Linux". I think you commented that this was annoying you. RMS can be abrasive but I hope you weren't put off from advancing the public good by his emails.
It can be argued that the software Ximian packages with GNOME is not as harmful because it comes at no monatary cost but this ignores that issue of control. Does RealPlayer snoop on users? Will Flash 7 delete my mp3s? will a future Java Runtime have silly incompatibilities and a new price tag?
Debian has a non-free section. I don't use the non-free section but I advocate using Debian. Ximian can package RealPlayer without endorsing the format or business tatics.
There are many in this world that have power to take justice out of society. There are a few that can organise the masses to fight against this. You have fame, credibility, and proof-of-code in this community. You know the issues and people will listen to you. You have every opertunity possible. If you won't stand up for freedom, who will?
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"
Ciaran O'Riordan
(I wish I had longer to repeatedly re-read my post but this forum ignores slow responses.)
P.S. I don't mean to take away from your contributions, I sure I run some of you code almost everyday. Thanks.
I emailed the organisers about the use of proprietary video formats for streaming video. Here's the response I got:
I fully agree with you, Ciaran. I think in this case it may have been a matter of under-staffing (or under-volunteerism) to organize the event.
I've searched the foundation-list mailinglist and have found no discussion about the use of this format.
In short: the use of this video format was not a decision of the GNOME Foundation.
Free Software has proven that it is a viable alternative to proprietary systems. We have come too far to now ask people to compromise on the beliefs that have gotten us to where we are today.
I hope future decisions are given a public discussion.
Ciaran O'Riordan
> I'd like to see proof with links that ANY part of QT is GPL.
m lt ml
It took me 30 seconds to find this:
http://www.trolltech.com/download/index.ht
and specifically the parts that KDE uses:
http://www.trolltech.com/download/qt/x11.h
They're dual licensed under the QPL (non-Free) and the GNU GPL. When you obtain the software you can choose to use and distribute it under either license.
Ciaran O'Riordan
This smacks of flame bait but in case you're serious:
The parts of QT that KDE uses are available under the GNU GPL. GNOME does have the the blessing of the Free Software Foundation, since it's a GNU project, but the important thing is to use Free Software.
QT-embedded and some other TrollTech software is proprietary, I'd advise people not to use it, but KDE is Free Software.
It is counter-productive for Free Software projects to fight against eachother. Deep divides are just what M$ and the proprietary world wants to see. Lets beat them together.
Ciaran O'Riordan
(a GNOME user)
I know you were only joking but I thought I'd mention that this is impossible.
BEOWULF support has to be compiled into an application for it to be used. MySQL doesn't have BEOWULF support, and I don't see a patch for it on the web.
OpenMosix performs kernel level clustering. You apply the OpenMosix patch to Linux, compile, reboot, and Linux will now migrate processes automatically to other OpenMosix enabled computers on your network.
Beowulf is more efficient, but it would probably take a month or so to program MySQL to use it. OpenMosix takes about 30 minutes to set up and it then works with every application you run.
I thought this was interesting.
Ciaran O'Riordan
huh? Read my post again :p
I never said it was a: "bootloader" front-end script
Like you, I said it was a: "bootloader front-end script"
(My disagreement was with the title of the article)
anyway...
I forgot to also include a URL in my first post for the GRUB BSD hackers request, so here it is.
Ciaran O'Riordan
Heh, great research. He's written a "bootloader front-end script that allows one to enable/disable acpi". Not a boot loader.
He says later that "[if] the script cannot start, it might leave your loader unable to load the kernel".
For people interested in actual boot loaders, GRUB is looking for people to work on the BSD loading code (it works but needs some updating).
Ciaran O'Riordan
It would be almost impossible to get rid of patents.
Most developed countries have signed the TRIPs agreement, article 33 of which states that patents must be availble for inventions and must last a minimum of 20 years.
Reduced term patents (3 or 5 years) will not happen due to this World Trade Organisation agreement.
More realisticly, we can try to prevent the adoption of software patents in europe, thus preventing them from being a completely global "commodiy".
We can also ask for reform of the patent review system. No country is going to revoke current patents but it could be possible to prevent such frivolous patents in the future.
Ciaran O'Riordan
Unfortunately, It's not that simple.
There are two possibilities:
M$ software will only run on Trusted Computers.
RIAA music will only play on Trusted Computers.
MPAA(?) movies will only play on Trusted Computers.
M$ & Friends will pressure other software companies to require Trusted Computers, under the name of Security or Reliability or Legal-clarity.
Option two is that non-Trusted computers could be made illegal, there is a draft of a proposal to make this law in USA. Will it happen? The RIAA, M$, and MPAA will claim it's necessary to prevent the growing "piracy" trend.
If you do have the option of buying a general computer, you may find it's not much use. And if you put up with that, don't expect Joe Public to stand with you in solidarity, he'll be too busy bopping away to his new "enhanced" Hooty and the Blowfish CD.
Ciaran O'Riordan
Patents last 21 years in most countries. A company can hold a patent and stay silent until it becomes popular one good example being the LZW compression and the GIF format.
another example being the JPEG extension that was patented quietly for the last 10 years and then invoked against one of the large digital camera manufacturers (Fujitso?). The patent holder, having done zero development of the research, netted $30 million from the infringement case.
Also, a company could license the patent under RAND ("Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory") terms. Such as charging a tiny amount per licensed copy, mabe 4cent.
The company looks like it's being a good member of the software industry but Free Software cannot mandate a fee per license so it effectively gives access all except Free Software. M$ love this style of licensing.
Ciaran O'Riordan
Europeans: the EU patents vote will be held on June 18th.
Don't wait for you opinion to be asked, it won't be.
Don't wait for the open debate, there isn't any.
Don't waif for someone else to do it. *Very* few people are doing anything.
The deal:
There are 626 MEPs that are going to vote on *your* rights, most of them will have never heard the bad effects of Software Patents. They have been asked to "unify", "harmonise" and "remove legal grey areas" from the European Patent Convention (EPC, article 52). Unless educated, they are going to say "yes" to patents. (M$ have patented their video format in the US, we are never allowed to write a player for their format. Promoting progress?)
Germany has 99 MEPs
GB, France, and Italy have 87 MEPs each.
Ireland has 15
(I can't remember the other countries of the top of my head)
Get informed, read the (lengthy) docs at ffii.org and contact your MEPs.
Ciaran O'Riordan
good point.
...and in June ~600 MEPs are going to vote on this issue without reading IBM's "Thick Lines" patent or the blinking cursor patent.
Right now I'm campaigning against software patents in Europe and I keep seeing EU proposals saying that a patent directive allowing patents will "unify" our patent laws, "harmonise" us with others, "remove legal grey areas", and allow Europe to "benefit from the protection of patents".
It would be easier to give up now. heh.
Ciaran O'Riordan
Vax users everywhere are crying. All eight of them.
Dear nerdlyone,
I felt obliged to reply since you wrote such a long post. I started off by explaining each problem you had with Stallmans essay. I couldn't understand how you could have missinterpretted so much, it was as if you were doing it on purpose. I was so shocked at you ability to miss the point that I decided to look at your previous slashdot postings (to see if you were a M$ or IBM employee or similar).
It turns out that bashing Stallman, promoting patents, and not understanding software patents are three of your call signs. I notice that all of your posts (with one exception) have a score of 1, so obviously you're not convincing others.
Also, you're posts are often quite long. Is this because you are passionate about the software patents issue? How could you be so lost if you are so passionate? Are you a mechanical engineer who knows the patent system but doesn't know what computer programming is like?
Answer these:
Amazons "one click shopping": how much did they spend to think of this? is it unobvious? is a 20 year patent on ideas this simple necessary to promote research?
The no-patents argument that Stallman presents probably seems impractical to you but this is only suggested as a better solution than the current hyperactive patent system. If patents were really only allowed for "useful, unobvious, and original" ideas and they only lasted 3 years (for software) then they would not be a problem.
On Wednesday (7th May) I'll be meeting up with a bunch of europeans for a hearing/conference/demonstration against software patents. The venue is the European Parliment in Brussels and the speakers include Stallman, Lawrence Lessig, and Alan Cox. As a Free Software developer, I'm looking forward to this event.
Ciaran O'Riordan
Hello.
;_(
I think I know the paper you're talking about. It was about the use of command line environment verses gui environment. Users believed they got the work done faster when they did it from the command line but in fact they had take slightly longer.
As for Dvorak, I used to use it (for about two weeks). It was taking me a while to regain my speed and constantly moving from different computers and OSs made it inconvenient so I switched back. THAT's when it hit me. QWERTY is horrible, my hands are like dancing spiders. I'll go back to Dvorak someday and I won't come back.
(studies or no studies. Anecdotal evidence mightn't *prove* anything, but then again, is this a provable matter?)
Ciaran O'Riordan
this post, sadly written on a QWERTY layout
> to clarify: I ment "what exactly could be patented?"
e nts.ht mlc -india.h tml
Whole applications won't be patentable, algorithms will.
This sucks because M$ could patent the algorithim used to write a certain file format. Then we wouldn't be allowed to reverse engineer, say, MS Word Docs.
This makes their monopoly much tougher. For a great read, try:
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/stallman-pat
or
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/stallman-me
Stallman gives a very clear explanation of the history, stupidity, uselessness, and problems of software patents. (he's really an excellent speaker & writer.)
Ciaran O'Riordan
There is a huge difference between these two licenses in what freedoms they grant you but I think the freedoms they grant others are more important.
Most people aren't programmers. Most programmers don't have time to fix every bug or add every feature they want.
That the GNU GPL gives *you* these freedoms isn't the important part, it's that it gives *everyone* these freedoms.
MS EULA treats people as lone individuals and prohibits sharing/helping. The GPL expects this and flourishes when sharing and helping occur.
Ciaran O'Riordan
I should assume you have read this document buts ity.html
I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere:
(Releasing Free Software if you work at a University)
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/univer
Hope this helps.
Ciaran O'Riordan
What are the chances they GPL the lot?
any guesses?
well, they're going to "Open Source" the software, and they are a "company", so my guess it they will invent their own stupid license and keep squashing down the corners until they can fit it past the OpenSourceInitiative license endorsment monkey.
Then they can join the ranks of the successful OpenSource companys, right up there with RealNetworks.
Heh heh, I rule.
Ciaran O'Riordan
He also won some chinese award that came with $836,000. The "Taekdo Award" or something like that. ...and he gets paid for giving speeches (and he gives a lot of speeches). Probably never a millionaire but he was definitely close.
On receiving the Taekdo award he said he would "invest" it but never elaborated any further (to my knowledge).
He lives cheaply (staying in friends houses in most countries he visits). The FSF's back account didn't shoot up when he got the money.
Either way, it's his money and it hasn't changed him. The man has dedicated his life to the promotion and maintenance of freedom, I'm sure he has/will put the money to good use.
Ciaran O'Riordan
I missplled Ravi Khanna's name.
Ciaran O'Riordan
> but what does the FSF really do?
;)
I was at the FSF annual associate member meeting in February and I met some of the staff.
GPL Compliance guy: David "Novalis" Turner
Copyright Assignment Clerk: Jessica Natale
Free Software Directory (catalogger): Janet Casey
GNU Press/Business manager: Lisa "Opus" Goldstein
Speeches & talking to Politicians: RMS
Speeches & lawyering/GPL thinking: Eben Moglen
Excutive Director: Bradley Kuhn
Treasurer:
Sys admin (internal + savannah&maillists): Can't-remember
Can't-remember-position;): Henri Poole
Digital Speech + business development: Ravi Kahna
(hope I haven't left anyone out)
They also have interns in from time to time to do fidly programming/sys-admin stuffs.
Another person replying to this comment asked if they are paid well: I don't have numbers but I can tell you they'd all be monitarily more wealthy working in other companies, they work for FSF because it's FSF.
That's all I know, I swear
Ciaran O'Riordan