So really, what everyone here is saying, is that it's OK to crack proprietary code ("code must be free"), steal copyrighted works ("music must be free") and get away with it.
You have it all wrong. We are saying that on top of all that, the companies who's code he cracked should pay him.
What I would like to see... is a serious discussion of exactly what Bill Gates has done to earn an honor of this magnitude.
What I mean is an examination from an alternative viewpoint, not for the sake of making a favorable impression of Microsoft -- but as an academic exercise.
While we are at it, I would like a 17 inch powerook, a plasma tv, and a porsche 911.
Hmmmmm, doesn't look like I am going to get it. I guess there are some things you just can't ask for on slashdot.
All the plans to bury stuff in X tons of concrete under Y miles of rock are to my mind amazingly naeive, assuming as they do that we can accuratly predict the geology, tectonics, water flows etc thousands of years into the future
Think back 1000 years ago. Think about the kinds of technical issues that people worried about back then. How far you can ride a camel. How to make a strong sword. How to make strong rock walls. All of these issues, which probably seemed pretty important back then, are completely meaningless now, because technology has advanced well beyond them.
Why do we assume that 1000 years from now, technology will still be similar? Nobody can predict the advances we will make in 50 years, yet people are confident that we wont have a solution for nuclear waste in 1000 years.
On top of that, current nuclear waste repositories are certified to last for something like 10,000 years, and expected to last for 100,000 years. Those orders of magnitude make the "issue" meaningless.
Not to mention the fact that your average coal burning plant simply doesn't have the potential to cause a catastrophe on the scale of Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, etc
Chernobyl, yes. Three Mile Island no. I have never done the numbers, but I would be willing to bet that if you had a picnic next to the Three Mile Island Reactor, you would have received less radiation than if you had flown to Denver for the day. Ironically, Three Mile Island is one of the best arguments for the safety of nuclear power. Everything that could go wrong did, and yet there was no damage to the environment or people around it. This is what we are supposed to be afraid of?
Please, for the love of god people, take a course on critical thinking, or a discrete math course where boolean logic is taught.
Yes, because we all know that company executives and spokseman speak in logical and exact language.
I think the grandparent posters attempt to make some reasonable assumptions and read into what Novell said was alot more intelligent then your silly attempt to ignore the real world and pretend that companies always say exactly what they mean and what they believe.
No matter what your opinion of TV, my point was that his Tivo really isn't doing it's job very well.
Yea, I knew what your point was, but it is alot easier to get modded up by taking something out of context and making a snide remark than actually dealing with a complex issue.
On the other hand, the ultimate goal of any product should be to improve the lives of the people who buy it. And the dude who somehow weaned himself off simpsons reruns by overdosing seems to think that his life is better for having the Tivo. Maybe he is right.
My Microsoft hating credentials are as good as anyones. As I posted before, every computer I own runs linux. I have a letter in public record with the Federal Government stating that I believe that Microsoft is a monopoly, and that the punishment handed down to them was not severe enough. On to the content though:
Now I'm not sure if you're a troll or just a young know-it-all
None of the above. I prefer to classify myself as a young know-nothing.
your knowledge of the industry seems to begin with and center around MS Windows.
Unfortunately, as long as I have been buying computers, MS has dominated the industry. It's not something I like, but it is true.
I assure you that MS-DOS had a monopoly marketshare of the IBM compatible market right from the start.
That's a silly statement. Right know, Apple has 99% of the Operating System marketshare for Apple Computers. That doesn't make it a monopoly marketshare, though, because that is only one type of computer. At the time when IBM introduced their PC's, there were plenty of other computers running different OS's to choose from. Furthermore, the software market was not concentrated around one operating system like it is now.
I can tell from your last paragraph that Gates is your hero
It is hard for me to reply to that without laughing. I strongly dislike Bill Gates, and everything that he stands for. When I think of heros, I think of RMS or Linus. Defiently not Gates.
All that said, I do think that Bill Gates is a business genius (as I originally said). However, I dont consider calling someone a business genius a complement. In fact, I am very disdainful of people to devote their lives to the persuit of money (the definition of a businessman).
That explains why you cling to those outdated Microsoft marketing lines
I don't remember saying "Where do you want to go today" in this thread (or anywhere else). What exactly are you talking about?
I (wrongly) assumed that you were referring to IBM giving up on OS2.
The Microsoft monopoly had next to nothing to do with MS-DOS being distributed with IBM PC's. It wasn't until Windows 3 and Windows 95 that Microsoft's monopoly was cemented. Before that, there were just another compnay producing another operating system which ran on some of the computers people bought.
Up until Microsoft trounced IBM in marketing, and Windows 95 trounced OS2 in marketshare, the battle for personal computer operating systems was up in the air.
Bill Gates was born with alot of money, and I am sure it made his life easier in some abstract way, but I don't really think that it helped him in a practical sense. He didn't even bother to finish his Harvard degree that his daddy paid for. From the first, he made good business moves (selling DOS for much more then he bought it for...) and that is why he is rich today.
IBM gave Gates a monopoly back in the early eighties lock, stock, and barrel
They gave them a monopoly by developing OS2, a competing operating system?
Aside from that strange statement, you are in general correct. Gate's strengths were in securing monopolies, and making sure that the government didn't take them away. I don't see how this makes him less of a business man though.
Look at it this way: the goal of business is to make money. Bill Gates has made more money then anyone else in recent history. And he did it starting from scratch - something which is almost unheard of.
Sure, he didn't write the software himself, he scrounged around and got it from other people (suckers?) who were much better coders then him, but much worse businessmen.
Look, I hate Microsoft as much as anyone on Slashdot. I run linux exclusively. I hate big corporations in general. But none of that changes the fact that Bill Gates is an incredibly bright business man.
Pardon me, but the article seems like a bunch of half-assed opinions with no facts to back them up, mixed in with a little bit of good old fashoned flaming/ranting.
I couldn't agree more. The article is a masterpiece.
Seriously, though, companies that have a sound business model and intelligent leaders do not just "fall apart" as the author seems to think. Sometime in the next 5 years, the OS wars will grind to a halt. There will be so many freely available OS's that nobody in their right mind would pay for one. The question is whether Microsoft will have moved on by then. Gates may not be a technological visionary, but he is a business genius. I highly doubt Microsoft will just collapse as long as he is still around.
Slashdot Mirror
So really, what everyone here is saying, is that it's OK to crack proprietary code ("code must be free"), steal copyrighted works ("music must be free") and get away with it.
You have it all wrong. We are saying that on top of all that, the companies who's code he cracked should pay him.
He deserves it. They wasted enough of his time and money.
If that logic held, Slashdot would owe me millions of dollars by now.
hmmmmmm - anyone out there looking to start a class action lawsuit?
What I would like to see... is a serious discussion of exactly what Bill Gates has done to earn an honor of this magnitude.
What I mean is an examination from an alternative viewpoint, not for the sake of making a favorable impression of Microsoft -- but as an academic exercise.
While we are at it, I would like a 17 inch powerook, a plasma tv, and a porsche 911.
Hmmmmm, doesn't look like I am going to get it. I guess there are some things you just can't ask for on slashdot.
This was proven long ago when the RIAA sued a 12 year old for downloading the theme song to Full House
You can sue people have having bad taste in music now?
Yes
All the plans to bury stuff in X tons of concrete under Y miles of rock are to my mind amazingly naeive, assuming as they do that we can accuratly predict the geology, tectonics, water flows etc thousands of years into the future
Think back 1000 years ago. Think about the kinds of technical issues that people worried about back then. How far you can ride a camel. How to make a strong sword. How to make strong rock walls. All of these issues, which probably seemed pretty important back then, are completely meaningless now, because technology has advanced well beyond them.
Why do we assume that 1000 years from now, technology will still be similar? Nobody can predict the advances we will make in 50 years, yet people are confident that we wont have a solution for nuclear waste in 1000 years.
On top of that, current nuclear waste repositories are certified to last for something like 10,000 years, and expected to last for 100,000 years. Those orders of magnitude make the "issue" meaningless.
Not to mention the fact that your average coal burning plant simply doesn't have the potential to cause a catastrophe on the scale of Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, etc
Chernobyl, yes. Three Mile Island no. I have never done the numbers, but I would be willing to bet that if you had a picnic next to the Three Mile Island Reactor, you would have received less radiation than if you had flown to Denver for the day. Ironically, Three Mile Island is one of the best arguments for the safety of nuclear power. Everything that could go wrong did, and yet there was no damage to the environment or people around it. This is what we are supposed to be afraid of?
Please, for the love of god people, take a course on critical thinking, or a discrete math course where boolean logic is taught.
Yes, because we all know that company executives and spokseman speak in logical and exact language.
I think the grandparent posters attempt to make some reasonable assumptions and read into what Novell said was alot more intelligent then your silly attempt to ignore the real world and pretend that companies always say exactly what they mean and what they believe.
Jesus has about a billion hours of Enya and Gregorian chants in his head
No wonder he was willing to sacrifice himself. I would do anything to get Enya out of my head.
Jesus, so don't buy an iPod.
I think you should careful about telling Jesus what to do. Who is Steve Jobs to tell the son of God what format his music must be in?
Actually, can God make a reality distortion field so strong that even He believes His own hype?
No matter what your opinion of TV, my point was that his Tivo really isn't doing it's job very well.
Yea, I knew what your point was, but it is alot easier to get modded up by taking something out of context and making a snide remark than actually dealing with a complex issue.
On the other hand, the ultimate goal of any product should be to improve the lives of the people who buy it. And the dude who somehow weaned himself off simpsons reruns by overdosing seems to think that his life is better for having the Tivo. Maybe he is right.
Thanks to Tivo, you haven't been introduced to new shows that you might like
Not exactly the pursuasive argument you were going for, now is it?
Wow, he is really missing out. All that time he is spending doing constructive things, he could be watching TV.
I think you are missing the point.
The only part you got right is the ROTFL
My Microsoft hating credentials are as good as anyones. As I posted before, every computer I own runs linux. I have a letter in public record with the Federal Government stating that I believe that Microsoft is a monopoly, and that the punishment handed down to them was not severe enough. On to the content though:
Now I'm not sure if you're a troll or just a young know-it-all
None of the above. I prefer to classify myself as a young know-nothing.
your knowledge of the industry seems to begin with and center around MS Windows.
Unfortunately, as long as I have been buying computers, MS has dominated the industry. It's not something I like, but it is true.
I assure you that MS-DOS had a monopoly marketshare of the IBM compatible market right from the start.
That's a silly statement. Right know, Apple has 99% of the Operating System marketshare for Apple Computers. That doesn't make it a monopoly marketshare, though, because that is only one type of computer. At the time when IBM introduced their PC's, there were plenty of other computers running different OS's to choose from. Furthermore, the software market was not concentrated around one operating system like it is now.
I can tell from your last paragraph that Gates is your hero
It is hard for me to reply to that without laughing. I strongly dislike Bill Gates, and everything that he stands for. When I think of heros, I think of RMS or Linus. Defiently not Gates.
All that said, I do think that Bill Gates is a business genius (as I originally said). However, I dont consider calling someone a business genius a complement. In fact, I am very disdainful of people to devote their lives to the persuit of money (the definition of a businessman).
That explains why you cling to those outdated Microsoft marketing lines
I don't remember saying "Where do you want to go today" in this thread (or anywhere else). What exactly are you talking about?
I (wrongly) assumed that you were referring to IBM giving up on OS2.
...) and that is why he is rich today.
The Microsoft monopoly had next to nothing to do with MS-DOS being distributed with IBM PC's. It wasn't until Windows 3 and Windows 95 that Microsoft's monopoly was cemented. Before that, there were just another compnay producing another operating system which ran on some of the computers people bought.
Up until Microsoft trounced IBM in marketing, and Windows 95 trounced OS2 in marketshare, the battle for personal computer operating systems was up in the air.
Bill Gates was born with alot of money, and I am sure it made his life easier in some abstract way, but I don't really think that it helped him in a practical sense. He didn't even bother to finish his Harvard degree that his daddy paid for. From the first, he made good business moves (selling DOS for much more then he bought it for
IBM gave Gates a monopoly back in the early eighties lock, stock, and barrel
They gave them a monopoly by developing OS2, a competing operating system?
Aside from that strange statement, you are in general correct. Gate's strengths were in securing monopolies, and making sure that the government didn't take them away. I don't see how this makes him less of a business man though.
Look at it this way: the goal of business is to make money. Bill Gates has made more money then anyone else in recent history. And he did it starting from scratch - something which is almost unheard of.
Sure, he didn't write the software himself, he scrounged around and got it from other people (suckers?) who were much better coders then him, but much worse businessmen.
Look, I hate Microsoft as much as anyone on Slashdot. I run linux exclusively. I hate big corporations in general. But none of that changes the fact that Bill Gates is an incredibly bright business man.
Pardon me, but the article seems like a bunch of half-assed opinions with no facts to back them up, mixed in with a little bit of good old fashoned flaming/ranting.
I couldn't agree more. The article is a masterpiece.
Seriously, though, companies that have a sound business model and intelligent leaders do not just "fall apart" as the author seems to think. Sometime in the next 5 years, the OS wars will grind to a halt. There will be so many freely available OS's that nobody in their right mind would pay for one. The question is whether Microsoft will have moved on by then. Gates may not be a technological visionary, but he is a business genius. I highly doubt Microsoft will just collapse as long as he is still around.
Others have pointed out your are wrong, but I think that you deserve props.
Anyone that has the balls to declare that Linus is flat-out-wrong on Slashdot deserves to be commended for his bravery.
55 operating systems, still one button on the mouse.
As a 15-18 year-old
Does that make you minus 3 years old?