I used to work in the UC Berkeley library's conservation department, and what they did for scanning purposes--really, archiving rare works to microfilm--was to set the to-be-preserved books in a frame, manually flip a page, lower a non-glare glass cover over it to flatten the book, and snap a picture from a camera above.
I imagine that the process is the same for precious books now, just with digital cameras instead of microfilm.
Value or no, a company can cause you all sorts of inconvenience if they take you to court. I was working for a company that downsized, didn't want to lose me, but didn't want me to be a full-time employee anymore, either, so even though it was in California, before I accepted the new terms, I revisited the non-compete with them, because, as I explained to my boss, there was no way that I could work in the industry the way it had been worded.
When I had signed it, I was right out of school and just happy to get a good job, and he had assured me it was boilerplate. When we had that downsizing conversation, he reiterated that he would never sue me, so I pretty much said, "Prove it," and handed him some new verbiage.
Luckily, I was in a position to so; if I hadn't been, and if he hadn't liked some of the consulting work I did while working part-time, he could have made my life very hard.
As it was, the next year, until I got a new full-time gig, was really great. Part time with one company, part time consulting, and doing substitute teaching 2-3 days per week, just to have some experience in a totally different line of work. I was working 60 hours a week to do it all, but it was a lot of fun.
To take your point a little further, I'd say either try to get out of the non-compete clause altogether, or have them agree to pay in perpetuity. In fact, I'd suggest forcing the company to establish a trust fund such that, in case the company goes under, this programmer continues to get the agreed-upon sum for not working on the FOSS in his own time.
I like the way you see the trend: the more talented programmers find their way into good jobs--even if they are with proprietary software companies--the more people will see contributions to FOSS as a means to an end. It's all well and good that there are people who see FOSS as an end in and of itself, but if more people can be convinced to contribute, so much the better.
A lot of people use the term "cloud computing" in a lot of ways, but for me, the key is that there's an abstraction layer that removes the traditional constraints surrounding physical hardware.
Even if it's as simple as server virtualization (i.e. Amazon's EC2), which allows you to automatically spawn new servers as you require load, that's a lot different from a simple managed colocation vendor, where they have to build you a box and plug it in, and they charge you a minimum fee just for the privilege of using their rack space and power.
But even more interesting to me are the ones that even do away with the concept of virtualized servers, such as Google's AppEngine. Write your app using Python, Django, and the Google datastore, and as long as your logic is good, it scales automatically and you pay by the byte and cycle, not some monthly fee for space and power.
What makes this truly exciting and different is that it potentially makes the barrier to entry low enough that anyone with a good idea, some programming skills, and access to a computer could make the next great web-based application.
This is a bit OT because it has nothing to do with RMS's comments, but my point is that while CC is often just jargon to make something old seem new, there are some services which truly do things differently, which deserve a new name, and CC fits the bill, IMHO.
Actually, the original title was not so much wrong as it was British. The Brits tend to think of groups (i.e. a band, a corporation) as a plural. We Americans think of them as a singular.
British: Pink Floyd are coming to town!
American: Pink Floyd is coming to town!
British: Google unveil the first Android model.
American: Google unveils the first Android model.
Of course, I don't know the original poster; they may not have been British; they may have, in fact, been wrong.
I don't know as much about Feynman as I probably should, but my impression of him is that, even his trouble-making side came out of intellectual curiosity, not self-destructive escapism. There's a big difference between someone who causes trouble through elaborate pranks and someone who is only interested in getting so drunk they can't remember the weekend.
"Riiiight. Because nobody who has had a picture taken holding a can of beer could possibly benefit from a higher education, or be a net positive for society."
Point taken, but such a student may indeed be far less likely to contribute to that university's Nobel Prize count. However, of course, that doesn't seem to have an effect on the count of US Presidents that come from a student body, although I'm thinking that Yale might be a little ashamed of #43.
Slashdot Mirror
I used to work in the UC Berkeley library's conservation department, and what they did for scanning purposes--really, archiving rare works to microfilm--was to set the to-be-preserved books in a frame, manually flip a page, lower a non-glare glass cover over it to flatten the book, and snap a picture from a camera above.
I imagine that the process is the same for precious books now, just with digital cameras instead of microfilm.
s/Value/Valid/
Value or no, a company can cause you all sorts of inconvenience if they take you to court. I was working for a company that downsized, didn't want to lose me, but didn't want me to be a full-time employee anymore, either, so even though it was in California, before I accepted the new terms, I revisited the non-compete with them, because, as I explained to my boss, there was no way that I could work in the industry the way it had been worded.
When I had signed it, I was right out of school and just happy to get a good job, and he had assured me it was boilerplate. When we had that downsizing conversation, he reiterated that he would never sue me, so I pretty much said, "Prove it," and handed him some new verbiage.
Luckily, I was in a position to so; if I hadn't been, and if he hadn't liked some of the consulting work I did while working part-time, he could have made my life very hard.
As it was, the next year, until I got a new full-time gig, was really great. Part time with one company, part time consulting, and doing substitute teaching 2-3 days per week, just to have some experience in a totally different line of work. I was working 60 hours a week to do it all, but it was a lot of fun.
To take your point a little further, I'd say either try to get out of the non-compete clause altogether, or have them agree to pay in perpetuity. In fact, I'd suggest forcing the company to establish a trust fund such that, in case the company goes under, this programmer continues to get the agreed-upon sum for not working on the FOSS in his own time.
I like the way you see the trend: the more talented programmers find their way into good jobs--even if they are with proprietary software companies--the more people will see contributions to FOSS as a means to an end. It's all well and good that there are people who see FOSS as an end in and of itself, but if more people can be convinced to contribute, so much the better.
I know this already got modded funny, but I just wanted to thank you for making me laugh this morning.
would signify the collapse of the Universe by 2020
Woah. It would be nice to have 2020 hindsight in this case, wouldn't it?
...that shows you how truly wonderful the world is now compared to the world of 2008
Wait... when is now, then?
A lot of people use the term "cloud computing" in a lot of ways, but for me, the key is that there's an abstraction layer that removes the traditional constraints surrounding physical hardware.
Even if it's as simple as server virtualization (i.e. Amazon's EC2), which allows you to automatically spawn new servers as you require load, that's a lot different from a simple managed colocation vendor, where they have to build you a box and plug it in, and they charge you a minimum fee just for the privilege of using their rack space and power.
But even more interesting to me are the ones that even do away with the concept of virtualized servers, such as Google's AppEngine. Write your app using Python, Django, and the Google datastore, and as long as your logic is good, it scales automatically and you pay by the byte and cycle, not some monthly fee for space and power.
What makes this truly exciting and different is that it potentially makes the barrier to entry low enough that anyone with a good idea, some programming skills, and access to a computer could make the next great web-based application.
This is a bit OT because it has nothing to do with RMS's comments, but my point is that while CC is often just jargon to make something old seem new, there are some services which truly do things differently, which deserve a new name, and CC fits the bill, IMHO.
Good meta-review. I usually skip... Ok, you get the joke.
Like Tony Blair!
Looks like it's all better now :)
Actually, the original title was not so much wrong as it was British. The Brits tend to think of groups (i.e. a band, a corporation) as a plural. We Americans think of them as a singular. British: Pink Floyd are coming to town! American: Pink Floyd is coming to town! British: Google unveil the first Android model. American: Google unveils the first Android model. Of course, I don't know the original poster; they may not have been British; they may have, in fact, been wrong.
totally with you; I've got a 50" TV, and my upscaling dvd player is just fine.
I don't know as much about Feynman as I probably should, but my impression of him is that, even his trouble-making side came out of intellectual curiosity, not self-destructive escapism. There's a big difference between someone who causes trouble through elaborate pranks and someone who is only interested in getting so drunk they can't remember the weekend.
Point taken, but such a student may indeed be far less likely to contribute to that university's Nobel Prize count. However, of course, that doesn't seem to have an effect on the count of US Presidents that come from a student body, although I'm thinking that Yale might be a little ashamed of #43.
Seconded.
Touche!
For extra credit, does the apostrophe go before or after the s? And where might one put an extra comma in for greater readability?
Better yet, lease it to them and retain control of the domain...
Of course, I was joking :)
I kind of can't believe I got +5 Insightful.
Ray, you're a good man.
Metamod! The cruelest joke of all!
Not only did you mark it as a joke, but your satire of the earlier exchanges was clear, and the joke was funny, to me at least.
:/
I guess we can assume that the flamebait modding is effectively someone else playing a joke on you
Not AC? Now that's commitment to a bit!
...Everyone knows you make them sign the agreement *before* making an offer!