It's a little more complex than that. The software industry is very dynamic -- so even with open standards, it's easily possible for someone to get the jump on the rest of the market.. at least temporarily.
Yeah, you're right about the scarcity tie in, but you also have to take into consideration the elasticity of demand and price.
As far as capitalism collapsing, have you ever looked at employment statistics of the past 30 years? Guess what % is in teh service industry?:) Tangibles may be the backbone, but services will always have a close to preferred balance with other sectors. Business markets may have more profits on services than ever -- but the consumer markets are still highly based on consumer goods. Businesses need many goods to fuel their services businesses as well. Profits may be more narrow in some industries -- but they're still there.
If you really want something to worry about, watch stock market trends coupled with future inflationary worries as per multiplying core cpi and gdp deflator. ----------
yup. Once linux moves up to enterprise scalability, reliability and performance at a level comparable to sun at prices a hundred times cheaper; there goes their market share.
IBM is trying to do the same thing with their "solutions" and linux as well though. Competition and more market information will eventually soften those prices up however. ----------
Actually, in the automobile industry's case, it's an oligopoly with some limited price fixing as per the current years price leader. They may innovate some, but their goal is just to keep a stable market share. Ford would get completely burned if they tried that one year. There are other elements to that industry (yay labour unions), but that basically summarizes it.
Therefore, it is a pretty good metaphorical comparison. In the future, as more companies move to the open source paradigm, the more the ones that don't will feel its pull and the consequences of not following it. The advantages are just too good to completely miss out on. However, this market is *HIGHLY* competitive -- unlike the auto industry -- and anything can happen (most likely a large number of mid-sized competitors; unless someone comes up with a better business plan to direct customers to themselves instead of competitors).
As for COTS, I'm really not sure. Companies like products guaranteed to work -- and support to match. They also like solutions. Open Source alternatives can potentially and essentially provide the same thing; though, I don't think they will overtake closed solutions any time soon. Their business plan isn't in a standstill either -- it's just a matter of momentum which no one can predict though.. ----------
That's where all the big boys who have just recently started offering linux support come in:) Guess where a very large chunk of future redhat revenue will be? Also note that there are a ton of other companies jumping in to support the OS now. Many have key linux and open source developers on staff -- so obscure problems can be solved in good time. ----------
Yep. I'd like to see something like this finally come to FreeBSD. However, some problems arise with this completely unified system. The userland is easy enough (we already have package and src ports management with dependency checking -- but the basic userland, kernel and surrounding source are pretty integrated; so it's not as easy as just upgrading a certain part of the base system. Actually, it kind of hurts stability doing that -- so cvsup seems to be the best way right now.
If someone could get something running like the USWest hosted current.freebsd.org with daily -CURRENT and -STABLE builds -- but instead have up to date binary updates for the latest release with specified high, medium, low security/stability/features/upgradeability settings that the user could interact with; it would be very nice. Too bad I'm up to my ears in about 6 months worth of work -- otherwise I'd try and write some preliminary proposed specifications:)
Don't get me wrong here though; I love cvsup. I use it daily to upgrade certain parts of the system and to make sure they agree with the 50+ personal patches I have on my systems (which then eventually gets distributed to the src on all the other servers). It's just that I could use binary upgradeability for certain things that I don't get my hands wet with (as well as the preferred setup for most end-users):) ----------
Counter-strike is better than any other mod out for HL IMO:). Can't wait for beta 4:) Beats crappy q3 and unreal games any day. Hopefully TF2 will be as good as CS is. ----------
The actual players are implemented completely in software. All Software DVD players already lock on their region after 5 or so discs. All Software based DVD players are also easily modified to change regions.
I seriously doubt pioneer PC DVD drives would try to arbitrarily read and find a region on every disc inserted into the drive. ----------
If you're buying a hardware DVD player you may not be able to change the region (without a lot of tinkering at least if at all possible). The implementation probably differs per manufacturer as to how they set up their regions.
If anyone has a windows based software DVD player it's easy to change the region. It's a simple egistry entry change for directshow engine based players (Cinemaster[this includes ATI]/WinDVD/Mediamatics/Newer Zoran players).
There are also other region selectors for Creative hardware based DVD players as well as Hollywood+. I'll leave it up to the unscrupulous to find the files themselves though:) ----------
"Why do people criticise, say, checkpoint firewalls, for giving out the fact that they are checkpoint firewalls, when you telnet into them?"
Probably because the admin controlling it is a nitwit and is perhaps reducing security because you doesn't know how to implement a proper rule set?
As for potential exploits -- there are probably many that can be devised by people looking through apache source code as well as those "freebies" from the alerts on their security notification page.
Yes, it was obviously a joke -- however, I'm getting a little tired of the "it's redhat 4.x,5.x,6.x so it must be insecure" attitude paired with the "I've seen that movie hackers so it must be easy to hack" jokes. ----------
Yeah, and only with port 80 open I wonder how any OS exploits are even relevant (well besides remote tcp/ip DOS attacks).
As for the apache problems, good luck. Half the potential exploits listed there are conditionals that probably don't apply -- then that leaves us ones that may allow you to overwrite files in its path and within ownership -- which means you may be able to change files in the web root.. oh gee, wow, now don't we feel special changing a web page that will be changed back in about 30 minutes. ----------
Heh. I don't know why people try do invalidate a concept with an explanation of how it works. It's like saying that a movie isn't really moving because 24 frozen frames are being displayed a second. Well, according to my perception it is. It doesn't matter how it came to be:). ----------
I've posted this before in a previous slashdot article -- but in case anyone missed it. This site has some slides on Barry Caplins FreeBSD@USWest talk at FreeBSDCon.
FreeBSD has been in use in the USWest.net core infrastructure for years. The stability, reliability, performance, and security of the Operating System are major factors for its use. There are additional regulatory requirements that make our ISP environment unique and FreeBSD fits these needs. This presentation will cover the regulatory and technical environment at U S WEST Internet Services. We will discuss how we got to where we are now, where we're going to go tomorrow, and how FreeBSD fits into our big picture. ----------
this may help. I haven't tried it myself yet though, because I run Oracle on Solaris. I heard that they haven't released it as a native binary yet because they were having performance problems that were only recently fixed in the latest release and -CURRENT. I have no idea how one would get ahold of them if one wanted a native FreeBSD version.
It's also rumoured that Oracle's Network Computer division is using FreeBSD for their Oracle 8i appliance. ----------
Well put. Though it was obvious that he was referring to the term "suits" in a particular connotation that has often been seen on this forum and its respective social circles. If I really wanted to be anal, I would complain about your use of the word "aberration" where "deviation" would be better -- considering widely used connotation as well as diction. His intention (I think), was to use the terms connotation as a metaphor to explain an abstract industry situation. As long as his point is made effectively, english language usage should not matter. Heck, ask any number of english professors about the word "usage" and you'll get arguments both ways on whether "use" or "usage" is the better. In other words, audience is important -- which brings us to your remaining comments, which I, for the most part completely agree with.
His unsubstantiated claims did seem hollow, given he was presenting it as a potential reality. I think its questionable to expect to have a specialist present a story such as this though. Unless you want to find an economist who can supposedly make substantiated claims as to possible future market conditions (hah) as well as the willingness to post to slashdot.
Even if we could find such as person, I doubt anyone on slashdot would like to hear him or her ramble on about falsely believed productivity increases given our current productivity analysis statistic systems, although many economists have been arguing are fundamentally flawed due to lack of knowing any number of variables, as well as the fact that we could just be in an extended bull run as compared to the invention and implementation of north american train routes that increased productivity and market conditions due to the ability to send capital and consumer goods anywhere in the country -- which seems to substantiate that we might have a productivity boom because information dissemination is now hundreds of times faster -- but then we realize that inventions such as the internet at work have decreased productivity because employees are spending 2 hours of the companies time reading web pages such as slashdot, as well as having to read hundreds of e-mails a day that are both redundant and useless -- as well including the fact that the current labour shortage will probably be completely forgotten when the business cycle takes its long overdue dip since we have reached peaks never before seen by the economy -- as well the fact that we may just be inflating the economy with such things because they really don't increase profit or productivity but increase costs in every industry -- then as well entering the global economy, profits in some particular service industries will be more spread out all over the world creating competition that has the potential to benifit everyone but may not preserve our current standard of living if other countries can keep up and siphon money from our domestic economy -- but then again we haven't been analyzing economic data long enough to see a technology revolution such as this take place -- so we might have no idea what we're talking about in the first place -- as seen in last years guesses as to where the economy was headed as per economic indicators that are probably fundamentally flawed as well...
Perhaps arguing that the poster should have researched more would be a little more realistic? I'm as concerned as you about submitted content -- but come on..:) ----------
Every country has trade barriers. See recent nafta disputes as well as trade embargoes against cuba. It's a fact of life when trying to balance domestic and foreign economies as well as keep support in particular industries.
* keep a majority of what they earn? I'm an american iving in Canada and having to pay almost 50% of what I earn is often complained about. However, Canadians view these social systems (such as health care) as a big part of their national identity. Yes, it's socialist, but I'm willing to give part of my income to benifit the majority (even if half of it is lost bureaucratically). If quality of life is maintained then I won't be mad.
* own a gun?
In half the western european countries I've visited, many people have guns. I, however, won't argue about the american mentality as per self protection though -- Human nature just presents itself differently under the strain of history and teachings.
etc etc,
As for the other comments, I don't know how to respond. I will however state that it is impossible for a country to please the majority, the individual, as well as the minority. Every decision the government makes is opposed by someone.
I completely agree with you on the point that ESR (if he really is an extreme libertarian) doesn't undertand government regulation. In a system where self interest is the main clause to adhere by, there must be well thought out moderation. Economic systems don't just work. They have the be babied with fiscal and monetary policies as well as with sometimes needed authority to keep a smooth business cycle.
There are just some industries where the leader fortifies the barriers to entry then abuses their power in having the consumer captive by jacking prices up and fighting off the occasional competitor who thinks they will muscle their way into the business. Is this behavior abberant? No. It's perfectly logical under our system. We just need some moderation to ensure subjective fairness takes place.
The story is the same with Oil company oligopolies. Even if they weren't colluding (and they are), an oligopoly by nature will try and keep prices high. If one of its members lowers prices, the rest will most likely follow -- however if one raises prices, the rest will most likely not. So they usually just keep prices static in hopes of keeping market share.
Now when they illegal collude (OPEC). The government must do all it can to combat them. It was incredibly smart of the government to keep a strategic reserve to prevent OPEC from holding the economy captive by arbitrarily raising prices. I don't see how some people think that government regulation doesn't have its place.
As for socialism, the subject is a little touchy. If you ask most people about this problem, they will say that they want to benifit without giving anything in return. Well you just can't do that. So when we accept that we have to give some to ensure some security, we then realize that the government is partially corrupt or is mismanaging that money to boost an immenent election campaign etc.. we say that socialist ideas are stupid. Unfortunately you can't really have it both ways. Human self interest just won't let it happen (no I'm not stating that it's bad -- just that it's a reality). I support countries with whichever mix of the two they pick. As long as the people are moderately happy. ----------
As much as we like to label, I think some people are taking the simplistic route and that will lead to a fault in coherent judgement.
From what I've seen, most of the people in the OSS movement are doing what they do for fun as well as expecting recipricol value back. As well. most are also doing projects which will directly benifit them in their work. Just because the recipricol rewards aren't money doesn't make it particularly socialist. It may be socialist minded, sort of like some mixed economies, but for all intensive purposes it is a compartment that is designed to outperform our choice economic system. Once the benifits that come with this system dissapear, so will the people who support it. However, I don't see it fundamentally flawed as other systems, as self-regulation is defnitely possible because there are simple alternatives. In government the system is bound by majority, but since this isn't a macro-economic system -- we have the right to do exactly as we please.
Now, people such as ESR have their own interests. This is acceptable since we live in a free economy. In case you people haven't noticed, this guy sits on the board of directors for VA Linux. The purpose of their business is to make profit. Their business plan is to leverage the lower costs and distributed software model of OSS to divert profits going in other directions to their hardware and solutions business. IBM, SGI and redhat are doing the exact same thing with different strategies. There's nothing wrong with it, It will actually benifit the community at large (albeit some market shifts and changes).
As for ESR stating that he is opposed to Microsoft's business practices; I am as well. However, I am partially opposed to his views on the invisible hand. The free market system isn't perfect. It is open to abuse. Therefore some government regulation is needed from time to time to assure that the consumer isn't defrauded of the primary objective that the system was cenceived for. Unfortunately there aren't any simple answers to these problems. Do we cater to the individual, the majority, or everyone? Each in itself has problems as well as benifits. The system is just too complex to strike perfect balance (see gap between rich and poor).
Anyway, I'm getting a little off track here. Back to Microsoft. Remember, monopoly isn't illegal. Abusing that power to leverage dominance in other industries is. If they are found guilty of doing such things, then they deserve to suffer the consequences.
Articles such as the one ESR responded to show that the community is finally questioning the system that they subscribe to. This is good. Understanding of the problem and presented solution provides refinement and response to the threats of that system. Hopefully some of what I've seen on slashdot in the past is blind advocacy. A "socialistic" compartment in an economy is acceptable -- as long as it benifits its members. I think I may have partially misjudged ESR in the past because in the world of PR, you have to be extreme to gain support -- however, I think he does see the big picture (although I do not welcome some of his other extreme beliefs).
Talks of World Domination are just attempts to get the community riled up and driven into a movement that the rest of the world notices. It doesn't necessarily mean he beleives that Open Source software must rule the industry. From his response to my comment in his question story last week, he proves that he does know what he is talking about. He agree's that open source is part of our economic system -- not some stupid socialist movement. I believe the key words to success in this (and almost every other instance) is that balance is the ultimate goal -- not an extreme. ----------
Actually that's false. @home has a/12 in that range. Roadrunner has two/13's. Contintental Cablevision has 4/16's. A bunch of other cable providers have some smaller ranges. RipeNIC has a/13 as well.
But yeah, I have noticed some very large ranges allocated to companies that can never possibly use them. example: Ford with 136.1.0.0 - 136.140.0.0. ----------
Yeah, it was an unofficial operation at that point. To men just arrived unnanounced and asked to have images of his hard drives. I don't think they suspected him of anything serious since they called the first time to ask if he knew anything about it.
Though, they did admit that they had his ISP monitor all his traffic for weeks before. ----------
"It is common knowledge that BSD marketshare is in an ongoing decline"
*cough* false. It is estimated that for every 6 new linux users there is one FreeBSD user. As well, I don't see many people leaving the FreeBSD scene once they get a taste of the OS. They may use other operating systems as well, but FreeBSD is gaining users. Remember also, that the open source buzz has definitely generated an interest in all OSS operating systems. There isn't just one small static market flying over to linux (or any other OS for that matter. Not that you needed a rational explanation, since the comment is obviously stupid and false.
As for the second statement, I have no idea if that is true (will ask Jordan). However, if it's a trademark problem, then the guy can definitely just rename the product to whatever he wants. If this is true (and I'd like proof), then it is extremely easy to get around this.
As well, hackers have accounts on thousands of boxes. I once got smurfed by a university in Hong Kong and found the next day that several of their boxes had been compromised. I doubt students of that college would knowingly connect to US DOD computers without using an intermediary. If they did, they are either stupid or laughing in the face of the US govt (which i doubt). If they were working for the russian military I think they would want them to be a little more inconspicuous.
Sadly, I know some people who have accounts on hundreds of university, nasa, large and small corporation, and personal boxes. Once someone gains access to a box and installs a sniffer, it is fairly easy to gain a large number of accounts.
If I was to exploit a problem in a DOD computer, I would sure as hell use 2-5 intermediaries and possibly some wingates. Also note that the majority of people breaking into these computers really don't give a shit about the sensitive information included on them. For them, its primarily just a digital playpen where you have status for having root on one of those systems. ----------
I know a friend who is just now being accused of breaking into a naval base computer with sensitive information and installing a sniffer a year after it supposedly happened. Apparently they haven't gotten around until now to read their vast log files. He isn't guilty though. We were just playing with a 2000 dup broadcast problem that they had on site to smurf each other (though I see the error of my ways now, so don't criticize me).
So far, they just questioned him and took images of his hard drives. ----------
Actually. someone could get money from support (but of course, others can as well). Also, the GPL is also useful when you are developing a product that isn't part of your core business but you wish to gain community support so that all parties involved can gain. It, again, is also useful for the majority of small apps you see on freshmeat. It's also preferred, as shown by companies such as redhat; that once you reach a certain level of commodities of scale with GPL software, then profit with support is also a viable option.
Of course, I also like the BSD license because I can at any time take any BSD licensed code and include it in my proprietary software or solutions. If I was writing software myself, I might choose the BSD license to give to the community -- as well as developing a codebase that I (and others) could turn into commercial products (whether competitively or in completely different products).
Now, If I was developing anything particularly big (time and complexity) from which I want to directly profit from; I may choose something completely or even partially closed. If money didn't matter I might just develop it and put it under the GPL or BSD. If I think I can make money writing something for a company not directly in the software business -- then I do any of the 4.
That's how I see current licensing schemes.. ----------
Slashdot Mirror
What's even more interesting is asking someone to say the alphabet backwards as fast as they can forwards :)
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It's a little more complex than that. The software industry is very dynamic -- so even with open standards, it's easily possible for someone to get the jump on the rest of the market.. at least temporarily.
:) Tangibles may be the backbone, but services will always have a close to preferred balance with other sectors. Business markets may have more profits on services than ever -- but the consumer markets are still highly based on consumer goods. Businesses need many goods to fuel their services businesses as well. Profits may be more narrow in some industries -- but they're still there.
Yeah, you're right about the scarcity tie in, but you also have to take into consideration the elasticity of demand and price.
As far as capitalism collapsing, have you ever looked at employment statistics of the past 30 years? Guess what % is in teh service industry?
If you really want something to worry about, watch stock market trends coupled with future inflationary worries as per multiplying core cpi and gdp deflator.
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yup. Once linux moves up to enterprise scalability, reliability and performance at a level comparable to sun at prices a hundred times cheaper; there goes their market share.
IBM is trying to do the same thing with their "solutions" and linux as well though. Competition and more market information will eventually soften those prices up however.
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Actually, in the automobile industry's case, it's an oligopoly with some limited price fixing as per the current years price leader. They may innovate some, but their goal is just to keep a stable market share. Ford would get completely burned if they tried that one year. There are other elements to that industry (yay labour unions), but that basically summarizes it.
Therefore, it is a pretty good metaphorical comparison. In the future, as more companies move to the open source paradigm, the more the ones that don't will feel its pull and the consequences of not following it. The advantages are just too good to completely miss out on. However, this market is *HIGHLY* competitive -- unlike the auto industry -- and anything can happen (most likely a large number of mid-sized competitors; unless someone comes up with a better business plan to direct customers to themselves instead of competitors).
As for COTS, I'm really not sure. Companies like products guaranteed to work -- and support to match. They also like solutions. Open Source alternatives can potentially and essentially provide the same thing; though, I don't think they will overtake closed solutions any time soon. Their business plan isn't in a standstill either -- it's just a matter of momentum which no one can predict though..
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That's where all the big boys who have just recently started offering linux support come in :) Guess where a very large chunk of future redhat revenue will be? Also note that there are a ton of other companies jumping in to support the OS now. Many have key linux and open source developers on staff -- so obscure problems can be solved in good time.
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Yep. I'd like to see something like this finally come to FreeBSD. However, some problems arise with this completely unified system. The userland is easy enough (we already have package and src ports management with dependency checking -- but the basic userland, kernel and surrounding source are pretty integrated; so it's not as easy as just upgrading a certain part of the base system. Actually, it kind of hurts stability doing that -- so cvsup seems to be the best way right now.
:)
:)
If someone could get something running like the USWest hosted current.freebsd.org with daily -CURRENT and -STABLE builds -- but instead have up to date binary updates for the latest release with specified high, medium, low security/stability/features/upgradeability settings that the user could interact with; it would be very nice. Too bad I'm up to my ears in about 6 months worth of work -- otherwise I'd try and write some preliminary proposed specifications
Don't get me wrong here though; I love cvsup. I use it daily to upgrade certain parts of the system and to make sure they agree with the 50+ personal patches I have on my systems (which then eventually gets distributed to the src on all the other servers). It's just that I could use binary upgradeability for certain things that I don't get my hands wet with (as well as the preferred setup for most end-users)
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Counter-strike is better than any other mod out for HL IMO :). Can't wait for beta 4 :) Beats crappy q3 and unreal games any day. Hopefully TF2 will be as good as CS is.
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The actual players are implemented completely in software. All Software DVD players already lock on their region after 5 or so discs. All Software based DVD players are also easily modified to change regions.
I seriously doubt pioneer PC DVD drives would try to arbitrarily read and find a region on every disc inserted into the drive.
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If you're buying a hardware DVD player you may not be able to change the region (without a lot of tinkering at least if at all possible). The implementation probably differs per manufacturer as to how they set up their regions.
:)
If anyone has a windows based software DVD player it's easy to change the region. It's a simple egistry entry change for directshow engine based players (Cinemaster[this includes ATI]/WinDVD/Mediamatics/Newer Zoran players).
There are also other region selectors for Creative hardware based DVD players as well as Hollywood+. I'll leave it up to the unscrupulous to find the files themselves though
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"Why do people criticise, say, checkpoint firewalls, for giving out the fact that they are checkpoint firewalls, when you telnet into them?"
Probably because the admin controlling it is a nitwit and is perhaps reducing security because you doesn't know how to implement a proper rule set?
As for potential exploits -- there are probably many that can be devised by people looking through apache source code as well as those "freebies" from the alerts on their security notification page.
Yes, it was obviously a joke -- however, I'm getting a little tired of the "it's redhat 4.x,5.x,6.x so it must be insecure" attitude paired with the "I've seen that movie hackers so it must be easy to hack" jokes.
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Yeah, and only with port 80 open I wonder how any OS exploits are even relevant (well besides remote tcp/ip DOS attacks).
As for the apache problems, good luck. Half the potential exploits listed there are conditionals that probably don't apply -- then that leaves us ones that may allow you to overwrite files in its path and within ownership -- which means you may be able to change files in the web root.. oh gee, wow, now don't we feel special changing a web page that will be changed back in about 30 minutes.
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Unfortunately I don't have that kind of money to dole out for flight to and back as well as conference costs.
Some of the programs look really interesting.
Barry Caplin, USWest
"Running an ISP on FreeBSD"
Fred Sanchez, Apple
"FreeBSD and the Darwin Project"
Jeff Chase, Duke University
"Gigabit networks with FreeBSD"
ARGH !
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Heh. I don't know why people try do invalidate a concept with an explanation of how it works. It's like saying that a movie isn't really moving because 24 frozen frames are being displayed a second. Well, according to my perception it is. It doesn't matter how it came to be :).
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I've posted this before in a previous slashdot article -- but in case anyone missed it. This site has some slides on Barry Caplins FreeBSD@USWest talk at FreeBSDCon.
FreeBSD has been in use in the USWest.net core infrastructure for years. The stability, reliability, performance, and security of the Operating System are major factors for its use. There are additional regulatory requirements that make our ISP environment unique and FreeBSD fits these needs. This presentation will cover the regulatory and technical environment at U S WEST Internet Services. We will discuss how we got to where we are now, where we're going to go tomorrow, and how FreeBSD fits into our big picture.
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this may help. I haven't tried it myself yet though, because I run Oracle on Solaris. I heard that they haven't released it as a native binary yet because they were having performance problems that were only recently fixed in the latest release and -CURRENT. I have no idea how one would get ahold of them if one wanted a native FreeBSD version.
It's also rumoured that Oracle's Network Computer division is using FreeBSD for their Oracle 8i appliance.
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Well put. Though it was obvious that he was referring to the term "suits" in a particular connotation that has often been seen on this forum and its respective social circles. If I really wanted to be anal, I would complain about your use of the word "aberration" where "deviation" would be better -- considering widely used connotation as well as diction. His intention (I think), was to use the terms connotation as a metaphor to explain an abstract industry situation. As long as his point is made effectively, english language usage should not matter. Heck, ask any number of english professors about the word "usage" and you'll get arguments both ways on whether "use" or "usage" is the better. In other words, audience is important -- which brings us to your remaining comments, which I, for the most part completely agree with.
:)
His unsubstantiated claims did seem hollow, given he was presenting it as a potential reality. I think its questionable to expect to have a specialist present a story such as this though. Unless you want to find an economist who can supposedly make substantiated claims as to possible future market conditions (hah) as well as the willingness to post to slashdot.
Even if we could find such as person, I doubt anyone on slashdot would like to hear him or her ramble on about falsely believed productivity increases given our current productivity analysis statistic systems, although many economists have been arguing are fundamentally flawed due to lack of knowing any number of variables, as well as the fact that we could just be in an extended bull run as compared to the invention and implementation of north american train routes that increased productivity and market conditions due to the ability to send capital and consumer goods anywhere in the country -- which seems to substantiate that we might have a productivity boom because information dissemination is now hundreds of times faster -- but then we realize that inventions such as the internet at work have decreased productivity because employees are spending 2 hours of the companies time reading web pages such as slashdot, as well as having to read hundreds of e-mails a day that are both redundant and useless -- as well including the fact that the current labour shortage will probably be completely forgotten when the business cycle takes its long overdue dip since we have reached peaks never before seen by the economy -- as well the fact that we may just be inflating the economy with such things because they really don't increase profit or productivity but increase costs in every industry -- then as well entering the global economy, profits in some particular service industries will be more spread out all over the world creating competition that has the potential to benifit everyone but may not preserve our current standard of living if other countries can keep up and siphon money from our domestic economy -- but then again we haven't been analyzing economic data long enough to see a technology revolution such as this take place -- so we might have no idea what we're talking about in the first place -- as seen in last years guesses as to where the economy was headed as per economic indicators that are probably fundamentally flawed as well...
Perhaps arguing that the poster should have researched more would be a little more realistic? I'm as concerned as you about submitted content -- but come on..
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* buy beef from the US?
Every country has trade barriers. See recent nafta disputes as well as trade embargoes against cuba. It's a fact of life when trying to balance domestic and foreign economies as well as keep support in particular industries.
* keep a majority of what they earn?
I'm an american iving in Canada and having to pay almost 50% of what I earn is often complained about. However, Canadians view these social systems (such as health care) as a big part of their national identity. Yes, it's socialist, but I'm willing to give part of my income to benifit the majority (even if half of it is lost bureaucratically). If quality of life is maintained then I won't be mad.
* own a gun?
In half the western european countries I've visited, many people have guns. I, however, won't argue about the american mentality as per self protection though -- Human nature just presents itself differently under the strain of history and teachings.
etc etc,
As for the other comments, I don't know how to respond. I will however state that it is impossible for a country to please the majority, the individual, as well as the minority. Every decision the government makes is opposed by someone.
I completely agree with you on the point that ESR (if he really is an extreme libertarian) doesn't undertand government regulation. In a system where self interest is the main clause to adhere by, there must be well thought out moderation. Economic systems don't just work. They have the be babied with fiscal and monetary policies as well as with sometimes needed authority to keep a smooth business cycle.
There are just some industries where the leader fortifies the barriers to entry then abuses their power in having the consumer captive by jacking prices up and fighting off the occasional competitor who thinks they will muscle their way into the business. Is this behavior abberant? No. It's perfectly logical under our system. We just need some moderation to ensure subjective fairness takes place.
The story is the same with Oil company oligopolies. Even if they weren't colluding (and they are), an oligopoly by nature will try and keep prices high. If one of its members lowers prices, the rest will most likely follow -- however if one raises prices, the rest will most likely not. So they usually just keep prices static in hopes of keeping market share.
Now when they illegal collude (OPEC). The government must do all it can to combat them. It was incredibly smart of the government to keep a strategic reserve to prevent OPEC from holding the economy captive by arbitrarily raising prices. I don't see how some people think that government regulation doesn't have its place.
As for socialism, the subject is a little touchy. If you ask most people about this problem, they will say that they want to benifit without giving anything in return. Well you just can't do that. So when we accept that we have to give some to ensure some security, we then realize that the government is partially corrupt or is mismanaging that money to boost an immenent election campaign etc.. we say that socialist ideas are stupid. Unfortunately you can't really have it both ways. Human self interest just won't let it happen (no I'm not stating that it's bad -- just that it's a reality). I support countries with whichever mix of the two they pick. As long as the people are moderately happy.
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As much as we like to label, I think some people are taking the simplistic route and that will lead to a fault in coherent judgement.
From what I've seen, most of the people in the OSS movement are doing what they do for fun as well as expecting recipricol value back. As well. most are also doing projects which will directly benifit them in their work. Just because the recipricol rewards aren't money doesn't make it particularly socialist. It may be socialist minded, sort of like some mixed economies, but for all intensive purposes it is a compartment that is designed to outperform our choice economic system. Once the benifits that come with this system dissapear, so will the people who support it. However, I don't see it fundamentally flawed as other systems, as self-regulation is defnitely possible because there are simple alternatives. In government the system is bound by majority, but since this isn't a macro-economic system -- we have the right to do exactly as we please.
Now, people such as ESR have their own interests. This is acceptable since we live in a free economy. In case you people haven't noticed, this guy sits on the board of directors for VA Linux. The purpose of their business is to make profit. Their business plan is to leverage the lower costs and distributed software model of OSS to divert profits going in other directions to their hardware and solutions business. IBM, SGI and redhat are doing the exact same thing with different strategies. There's nothing wrong with it, It will actually benifit the community at large (albeit some market shifts and changes).
As for ESR stating that he is opposed to Microsoft's business practices; I am as well. However, I am partially opposed to his views on the invisible hand. The free market system isn't perfect. It is open to abuse. Therefore some government regulation is needed from time to time to assure that the consumer isn't defrauded of the primary objective that the system was cenceived for. Unfortunately there aren't any simple answers to these problems. Do we cater to the individual, the majority, or everyone? Each in itself has problems as well as benifits. The system is just too complex to strike perfect balance (see gap between rich and poor).
Anyway, I'm getting a little off track here. Back to Microsoft. Remember, monopoly isn't illegal. Abusing that power to leverage dominance in other industries is. If they are found guilty of doing such things, then they deserve to suffer the consequences.
Articles such as the one ESR responded to show that the community is finally questioning the system that they subscribe to. This is good. Understanding of the problem and presented solution provides refinement and response to the threats of that system. Hopefully some of what I've seen on slashdot in the past is blind advocacy. A "socialistic" compartment in an economy is acceptable -- as long as it benifits its members. I think I may have partially misjudged ESR in the past because in the world of PR, you have to be extreme to gain support -- however, I think he does see the big picture (although I do not welcome some of his other extreme beliefs).
Talks of World Domination are just attempts to get the community riled up and driven into a movement that the rest of the world notices. It doesn't necessarily mean he beleives that Open Source software must rule the industry. From his response to my comment in his question story last week, he proves that he does know what he is talking about. He agree's that open source is part of our economic system -- not some stupid socialist movement. I believe the key words to success in this (and almost every other instance) is that balance is the ultimate goal -- not an extreme.
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Actually that's false. @home has a /12 in that range. Roadrunner has two /13's. Contintental Cablevision has 4 /16's. A bunch of other cable providers have some smaller ranges. RipeNIC has a /13 as well.
But yeah, I have noticed some very large ranges allocated to companies that can never possibly use them. example: Ford with 136.1.0.0 - 136.140.0.0.
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Yeah, it was an unofficial operation at that point. To men just arrived unnanounced and asked to have images of his hard drives. I don't think they suspected him of anything serious since they called the first time to ask if he knew anything about it.
Though, they did admit that they had his ISP monitor all his traffic for weeks before.
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"It is common knowledge that BSD marketshare is in an ongoing decline"
*cough* false. It is estimated that for every 6 new linux users there is one FreeBSD user. As well, I don't see many people leaving the FreeBSD scene once they get a taste of the OS. They may use other operating systems as well, but FreeBSD is gaining users. Remember also, that the open source buzz has definitely generated an interest in all OSS operating systems. There isn't just one small static market flying over to linux (or any other OS for that matter. Not that you needed a rational explanation, since the comment is obviously stupid and false.
As for the second statement, I have no idea if that is true (will ask Jordan). However, if it's a trademark problem, then the guy can definitely just rename the product to whatever he wants. If this is true (and I'd like proof), then it is extremely easy to get around this.
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this site has the slides accompanying Barry Caplin's FreeBSD@USWest talk to be presented at FreeBSDCon. I found them rather interesting.
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As well, hackers have accounts on thousands of boxes. I once got smurfed by a university in Hong Kong and found the next day that several of their boxes had been compromised. I doubt students of that college would knowingly connect to US DOD computers without using an intermediary. If they did, they are either stupid or laughing in the face of the US govt (which i doubt). If they were working for the russian military I think they would want them to be a little more inconspicuous.
Sadly, I know some people who have accounts on hundreds of university, nasa, large and small corporation, and personal boxes. Once someone gains access to a box and installs a sniffer, it is fairly easy to gain a large number of accounts.
If I was to exploit a problem in a DOD computer, I would sure as hell use 2-5 intermediaries and possibly some wingates. Also note that the majority of people breaking into these computers really don't give a shit about the sensitive information included on them. For them, its primarily just a digital playpen where you have status for having root on one of those systems.
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I know a friend who is just now being accused of breaking into a naval base computer with sensitive information and installing a sniffer a year after it supposedly happened. Apparently they haven't gotten around until now to read their vast log files. He isn't guilty though. We were just playing with a 2000 dup broadcast problem that they had on site to smurf each other (though I see the error of my ways now, so don't criticize me).
So far, they just questioned him and took images of his hard drives.
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Actually. someone could get money from support (but of course, others can as well). Also, the GPL is also useful when you are developing a product that isn't part of your core business but you wish to gain community support so that all parties involved can gain. It, again, is also useful for the majority of small apps you see on freshmeat. It's also preferred, as shown by companies such as redhat; that once you reach a certain level of commodities of scale with GPL software, then profit with support is also a viable option.
Of course, I also like the BSD license because I can at any time take any BSD licensed code and include it in my proprietary software or solutions. If I was writing software myself, I might choose the BSD license to give to the community -- as well as developing a codebase that I (and others) could turn into commercial products (whether competitively or in completely different products).
Now, If I was developing anything particularly big (time and complexity) from which I want to directly profit from; I may choose something completely or even partially closed. If money didn't matter I might just develop it and put it under the GPL or BSD. If I think I can make money writing something for a company not directly in the software business -- then I do any of the 4.
That's how I see current licensing schemes..
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