No subscribing via url. No opml import/export. No playlists. It has the advantage over Google Play Music that I can actually use it (I'm not in the US) but I'll stick with Pocket Casts for now.
The Phoenix OS kernel is a derivative work of the Linux kernel. Linux is released under GPLv2. Therefore under the GPL they must release the source for their changes.
The only way it would be possible to release their modifications under a different license would be:
a) Go back and get agreement from everyone who has copyright in the Linux kernel and persuade them to agree to re-releasing under a new license. b) License their changes under a GPL-compatible license - which would mean releasing their source anyway.
It's quite easy to not know about a technology from before your time. In this day and age, with information literally at one's fingertips, there is no excuse for not being informed on a multitude of subjects. If you don't know something, you look it up..
In order to look something up you have to know it exists.
He has a valid opinion and is right about some factual points. However most of what he talks about is a political/moral approach to life, not an issue of pure fact. Therefore I consider it a category error to say he is "right" (or "wrong" for that matter). I think it's more appropriate to talk about where I agree or disagree and why.
I don't hate him, but I do find him hard to listen to because he'll never concede any opposing view point has any validity at all. Also he sees things in black and white terms. For example he talks a lot about freedom as if a) freedom is an absolute and b) has an agreed definition. We compromise freedom all the time. We balance different kinds of freedom. We negotiate freedom of one individual or group against another. Acknowledgement of this kind of nuance seems missing from his analysis. Software is either Free or it's not, un-Free is bad and it's unethical to use it, regardless of other factors. That's too simplistic for me.
As someone said the technical FAQ is light on details, however they also link to this article from 2007 http://www.freerepublic.com/fo... which is how far back Hellwig's complaints about GPL violation go.
Based on that, it wasn't a case of whether VMware had included Linux code in their binaries, so much as they were distributing binaries which depended wholly on Linux to run but not GPLing them.
Here's something that happens to me a lot. I get an IM asking me a question, in order to answer it I need a bit more information so I ask a question. I wait. Just at the point where I think there's no reply coming and I can re-focus on whatever I was doing before I get an answer. I reply, adding a further request for information. Repeat a couple of times until I finally say "Send me an email".
If that was a phone conversation the person would generally answer immediately or at least I would know what was happening. Silence on IM might mean they're thinking about my question, or it might mean they've been distracted by an email.
The problem with IM for me is that it's somewhere between email and phone in terms of being "live". It can come across as passive agressive because it demands attention right now but the person at the other end can more easily split their attention across other things. A phonecall would require both my and the other person's attention equally. An email requires my attention but I can prioritise when I reply.
a) we're talking about a lot of money to fill even a small proportion of the missing apps
b) for the health of the Linux software eco-system there needs to be many developers of such apps, not just IBM and a few other big corporations
Thing to realise is this is a keynote speech at a conference. Despite the tone of "I'm tired of waiting" he's not really talking about what applications he personally, or IBM as an organisation want/need, he's trying to throw out a challenge to the community in general. I'm sure if there are specific apps that IBM need on Linux they are willing and able to develop them.
Indeed "I'm tired of waiting" sounds to me like an attention-grabbing phrase rather than anything else.
It's no more a violation of the GPL than any company using modified GPL software for competitive advantage. Replace the website above with a call-centre where you phone in your question and staff use the program in-house to answer your queries. What's the difference? And that's always been possible with the GPL.
It doesn't even have to be a service industy - you could, in theory, make kernel changes that improve your linux performance that has the knock-on effect of allowing you to make an extra widget an hour (unlikely, but theoretically possible). And no-one else would have that advantage because you don't have to release those changes unless you distribute your new kernel.
It seems to me that if what you really want is to always get the changes returned back to you then you should write that into your license (and there are already licenses that do this).
What is important is that it is there forcefully bundled regardless do you want it or not
It's no more 'forecfully' bundled than any other update. You should be checking what updates are being installed as a matter of course anyway. I had this update yesterday, here's what happened:
1) Windows Update informed me it had updates to install
2) Lazily I clicked on the popup and choose 'express install'
3) After a few minutes the new search bar popped up, with a "welcome to windows search" balloon.
4) "bugger that" I thought, remembering the impact google desktop has had on my machine in the past. So I went to Control Panel, Add/Remove programs and removed it
5) A few moments later Windows Update informed me of the update again, this time I chose 'custom install'
6) It gave me a list (of one) of the updates and I unchecked the search bar.
7) I was asked whether I wanted to ignore this update in future and I choose yes
So really, how forceful is that? OK I had to uninstall it but that was my own laziness and not properly checking what was being installed in the first place. If I'd been more careful (as I usually am) The process would have been 1), 5), 6) 7).
Everybody has a cause for which they believe it is worth the loss of 'smaller' liberties. But for whatever liberties we have (that do not infringe on the liberties of others), they are NEVER worth giving up.
The problem is though that all liberties are compromises between the liberty of one group and another. To say one should never give up liberties sounds wonderfully principled but it ignores the reality that you already do.
I don't mean to be insulting, but I've seen this problem over and over and more often than not it boils down to that stereotype that is proven true time and again: techies often have poor people skills and don't realize it and end up blaming other people because they don't teach the points well or communicate clearly.
One major point I learned as a teacher: it is the responsibility of the teacher to present the material appropriately to the student, not of the student to figure out poorly presented teaching.
Which is fine but why is the techie at fault for not having teaching skills any more than the non-techie is for not having computer skills? Being a good teacher, being able to identify what someone is failing to understand, why and how best to explain it is a whole set of non-trivial skills in itself. I'd've thought as a teacher you wouldn't under-value those skills by referring to them as generic "people skills".
That's because Linus is talking about hardware specs. His view is that it's better to trust reality (how the device actually behaves) than a spec (how it's documented to behave). And he's right about that.
Outside the world of OS kernels there are many software projects where the 'reality' is much more changeable, much less solid. Reality in the case of a Purchasing application or your KDE/Gnome desktop applet or the latest FPS game is likely to be a case of 'what the customer/user wants'. That's something you really need to pin down. Doesn't mean it can't change but it needs to be clearly defined.
I couldn't agree more. I also installed it without any problems - on non-Sun hardware. Maybe I was lucky with my hardware - or maybe the reviewer was unlucky.
I also agree with your comment about servers. Low to mid size servers has been a huge growth area for Linux. I think Sun wants some of that pie not the desktop. Microsoft has got the desktop sewn up for the forseeable future anyway (until Jobs sees the light and releases x86 OS X;) )
I once returned a £2000 laptop to PC-World and they didn't even open the box! (Mind you it was 5 minutes to closing and he'd already got his coat on).
Then there was the time I wanted to buy a modem at Dixons. I asked one of the sales assistants if it had a particular feature (can't remember what now) and he proceeded to pick up the box and read off the back of it. Obviously the average Dixons customer is not able to read.
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No subscribing via url. No opml import/export. No playlists. It has the advantage over Google Play Music that I can actually use it (I'm not in the US) but I'll stick with Pocket Casts for now.
The Phoenix OS kernel is a derivative work of the Linux kernel. Linux is released under GPLv2. Therefore under the GPL they must release the source for their changes.
The only way it would be possible to release their modifications under a different license would be:
a) Go back and get agreement from everyone who has copyright in the Linux kernel and persuade them to agree to re-releasing under a new license.
b) License their changes under a GPL-compatible license - which would mean releasing their source anyway.
It's quite easy to not know about a technology from before your time.
In this day and age, with information literally at one's fingertips, there is no excuse for not being informed on a multitude of subjects. If you don't know something, you look it up..
In order to look something up you have to know it exists.
He has a valid opinion and is right about some factual points. However most of what he talks about is a political/moral approach to life, not an issue of pure fact. Therefore I consider it a category error to say he is "right" (or "wrong" for that matter). I think it's more appropriate to talk about where I agree or disagree and why.
I don't hate him, but I do find him hard to listen to because he'll never concede any opposing view point has any validity at all. Also he sees things in black and white terms. For example he talks a lot about freedom as if a) freedom is an absolute and b) has an agreed definition. We compromise freedom all the time. We balance different kinds of freedom. We negotiate freedom of one individual or group against another. Acknowledgement of this kind of nuance seems missing from his analysis. Software is either Free or it's not, un-Free is bad and it's unethical to use it, regardless of other factors. That's too simplistic for me.
I changed my video card to one that had HDMI audio.
So not a "newbie" then.
"Semi-unlimited" (with quotes) was a phrase used by the article not Scribd. So it may be BS but it's not (Scribd) marketing BS.
... Alphabet's new "personal re-vivification" project is making good progress. The project leader, V.Frankenstein was unavailable for comment however.
As someone said the technical FAQ is light on details, however they also link to this article from 2007 http://www.freerepublic.com/fo... which is how far back Hellwig's complaints about GPL violation go.
Based on that, it wasn't a case of whether VMware had included Linux code in their binaries, so much as they were distributing binaries which depended wholly on Linux to run but not GPLing them.
Hardly a surprise since theoldreader was set up when Google dropped the social side of Reader (in favour of G+ integration).
But they are different kinds of conversation.
Here's something that happens to me a lot. I get an IM asking me a question, in order to answer it I need a bit more information so I ask a question. I wait. Just at the point where I think there's no reply coming and I can re-focus on whatever I was doing before I get an answer. I reply, adding a further request for information. Repeat a couple of times until I finally say "Send me an email".
If that was a phone conversation the person would generally answer immediately or at least I would know what was happening. Silence on IM might mean they're thinking about my question, or it might mean they've been distracted by an email.
The problem with IM for me is that it's somewhere between email and phone in terms of being "live". It can come across as passive agressive because it demands attention right now but the person at the other end can more easily split their attention across other things. A phonecall would require both my and the other person's attention equally. An email requires my attention but I can prioritise when I reply.
Use Calibre to convert it.
A digital camcorder that fits in your pocket in 1994? They'd go crazy for it.
Thing is even if they did (are?)
a) we're talking about a lot of money to fill even a small proportion of the missing apps
b) for the health of the Linux software eco-system there needs to be many developers of such apps, not just IBM and a few other big corporations
Thing to realise is this is a keynote speech at a conference. Despite the tone of "I'm tired of waiting" he's not really talking about what applications he personally, or IBM as an organisation want/need, he's trying to throw out a challenge to the community in general. I'm sure if there are specific apps that IBM need on Linux they are willing and able to develop them.
Indeed "I'm tired of waiting" sounds to me like an attention-grabbing phrase rather than anything else.
It's no more a violation of the GPL than any company using modified GPL software for competitive advantage. Replace the website above with a call-centre where you phone in your question and staff use the program in-house to answer your queries. What's the difference? And that's always been possible with the GPL.
It doesn't even have to be a service industy - you could, in theory, make kernel changes that improve your linux performance that has the knock-on effect of allowing you to make an extra widget an hour (unlikely, but theoretically possible). And no-one else would have that advantage because you don't have to release those changes unless you distribute your new kernel.
It seems to me that if what you really want is to always get the changes returned back to you then you should write that into your license (and there are already licenses that do this).
What is important is that it is there forcefully bundled regardless do you want it or not
It's no more 'forecfully' bundled than any other update. You should be checking what updates are being installed as a matter of course anyway. I had this update yesterday, here's what happened:
1) Windows Update informed me it had updates to install
2) Lazily I clicked on the popup and choose 'express install'
3) After a few minutes the new search bar popped up, with a "welcome to windows search" balloon.
4) "bugger that" I thought, remembering the impact google desktop has had on my machine in the past. So I went to Control Panel, Add/Remove programs and removed it
5) A few moments later Windows Update informed me of the update again, this time I chose 'custom install'
6) It gave me a list (of one) of the updates and I unchecked the search bar.
7) I was asked whether I wanted to ignore this update in future and I choose yes
So really, how forceful is that? OK I had to uninstall it but that was my own laziness and not properly checking what was being installed in the first place. If I'd been more careful (as I usually am) The process would have been 1), 5), 6) 7).
Don't equate protocol-level advertisements with human-level advertisements, because they're not at all the same.
Well said. So many people on this thread are confusing this point. Shame I don't have mod points today.
What he definitely didn't say was to infringe Universal's copyright and trademarks.
Everybody has a cause for which they believe it is worth the loss of 'smaller' liberties. But for whatever liberties we have (that do not infringe on the liberties of others), they are NEVER worth giving up.
The problem is though that all liberties are compromises between the liberty of one group and another. To say one should never give up liberties sounds wonderfully principled but it ignores the reality that you already do.
or just download VMWare Server.
>And the rather horrific mental image is because I find the idea of drinking one's own bodily fluids rather gross.
You never bit your lip and swallowed some blood?
Have you ever seen a DVR that you can fit in your pocket?
Yes
I don't mean to be insulting, but I've seen this problem over and over and more often than not it boils down to that stereotype that is proven true time and again: techies often have poor people skills and don't realize it and end up blaming other people because they don't teach the points well or communicate clearly.
One major point I learned as a teacher: it is the responsibility of the teacher to present the material appropriately to the student, not of the student to figure out poorly presented teaching.
Which is fine but why is the techie at fault for not having teaching skills any more than the non-techie is for not having computer skills? Being a good teacher, being able to identify what someone is failing to understand, why and how best to explain it is a whole set of non-trivial skills in itself. I'd've thought as a teacher you wouldn't under-value those skills by referring to them as generic "people skills".
That's because Linus is talking about hardware specs. His view is that it's better to trust reality (how the device actually behaves) than a spec (how it's documented to behave). And he's right about that.
Outside the world of OS kernels there are many software projects where the 'reality' is much more changeable, much less solid. Reality in the case of a Purchasing application or your KDE/Gnome desktop applet or the latest FPS game is likely to be a case of 'what the customer/user wants'. That's something you really need to pin down. Doesn't mean it can't change but it needs to be clearly defined.
I couldn't agree more. I also installed it without any problems - on non-Sun hardware. Maybe I was lucky with my hardware - or maybe the reviewer was unlucky.
;) )
I also agree with your comment about servers. Low to mid size servers has been a huge growth area for Linux. I think Sun wants some of that pie not the desktop. Microsoft has got the desktop sewn up for the forseeable future anyway (until Jobs sees the light and releases x86 OS X
I once returned a £2000 laptop to PC-World and they didn't even open the box! (Mind you it was 5 minutes to closing and he'd already got his coat on).
Then there was the time I wanted to buy a modem at Dixons. I asked one of the sales assistants if it had a particular feature (can't remember what now) and he proceeded to pick up the box and read off the back of it. Obviously the average Dixons customer is not able to read.