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User: Paul+Crowley

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Comments · 1,017

  1. This makes sense to me. on ESR Wants to Retire · · Score: 1

    I don't think you need to have written Linux, or open source software, to promote it. The more important qualification is that you love it and want it to succeed. In many ways suits (and other users) would listen more sympathetically to someone who can say "as a 'mere user' I love this stuff and want to introduce everyone else to its beauty and power".
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  2. What's wrong with PDF? on some DjVu source available under AT&T license · · Score: 1

    PDF files seem to me to be an excellent fit for the problem they are designed to solve, and there are several independent implementations of the standard. Why do you want DjVu to replace them?

    cheers,
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  3. Dump Katz, get Wood: <aol>me too</aol> on Assorted Katz Hype · · Score: 2

    Seconded. Or pohl. Or anyone who is actually *of the Slashdot community* who writes well. I'm just astonished that Rob would have the poor taste as to let the guy anywhere near here.
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  4. It wasn't Microsoft who patented XOR. on RMS Immature, Slashdot and Community Arrogant? · · Score: 1

    Factual error. IIRC the XOR cursor plotting trick was patented by a company called "CADTRAK"; in any case it definitely wasn't Microsoft.

    I disagree with pretty much everything you say, BTW.
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  5. Both of these followups miss the point. on Miscellaneous GNU News · · Score: 1

    Bruce's short comment has received two responses, both of which miss the point.

    Tim isn't merely disagreeing with RMS's precise ethical stance.

    Tim is explicitly disagreeing with the very idea of raising ethical considerations in these discussions. He thinks talking about ethics at all is simply unscientific.
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  6. The strength of invoking Godwin's Law on Miscellaneous GNU News · · Score: 2

    I think it's a good idea to discourage people from raising the Nazis as examples. It's just too obvious and too emotive. I think the people who raised slavery in parts of Africa chose better.

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  7. shred will do the Right Thing. on Miscellaneous GNU News · · Score: 1

    Shred is by Colin Plumb, who was at one stage one of the main PGP implementors (may still be) and Knows What He's Doing.
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  8. "Morality vs. Science" is a dishonest opposition on Miscellaneous GNU News · · Score: 2

    Tim O'Reilly's position that morality is incompatible with science is a breathtakingly unpleasant and dishonest position. Science may guide you on the consequences of particular behaviour, but it can't tell you which consequences are desirable or what behaviour is acceptable. O'Reilly caricatures all attempts to advocate ethical behaviour as religious posturing - as if all atheists are bound to act amorally.

    When he argues that free software should be "teted in the marketplace", he doesn't feel the slightest need to justify his belief that this will lead to consequences in the common good; whatever consequences emerge, they will be good simply because they're the ones blessed by the magic market, even if it might seem to those who don't have faith in the market that they require unethical behaviour from the participants. So who's got religion now?

    How he can pretend to imagine that his position and RMS's are not so different when moral arguments are at the heart of RMS's stance is beyond me. It's almost enough to turn me into a fundamentalist Stallmanist.
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  9. As a Debian user, I think RH are all right. on Is Red Hat the Next Microsoft? · · Score: 2

    I've no reason to be a fan, but from what I can observe of their behaviour it's only possible to think that they're some sort of Microsoft if you imagine that they're ill-thought-of just because their software is popular, ie if you have utterly failed to take in just how nasty MS really is.

    And they do support the LSB. And they fund free software development. And they support standards. I think their behavour is pretty much exemplary.

    I still prefer Debian though...
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  10. DejaNews runs Linux. on Dell start selling PC's with Linux · · Score: 2

    That's one.
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  11. SPI website needs updating... on Response to the APSL · · Score: 1

    Bruce links to the SPI Website, but it hasn't been updated since the "Consultation about the Open Source trademark" document went up on 24 Nov 1998. The consultation documents haven't appered as promised, and nothing new has arrived. What gives?
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  12. ...and winners never quit, but... on Response to the APSL · · Score: 1

    those who never win and never quit are idiots.

    (I got this message from a rather wonderful "demotivational calendar" I saw online and then forgot...)
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  13. vmailer and qmail on The Danger of License Termination Clauses · · Score: 1

    "vmailer isn't targetted at qmail users anyway -- it's targetted at sendmail users. "

    This isn't the way it comes across to me. From much of the Vmailer/Postfix/Secure Mailer documentation I get the impression it was always meant as a direct, targeted, Qmail killer.
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  14. Linux people should all sign each other's keys on Ask Slashdot: Is There a PGP Key Repository? · · Score: 1

    Perhaps you should gain an understanding of what these signatures mean before posting such comments. Cheers,
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  15. Better than Katz... on Feature:Distortions · · Score: 1

    but I still voted to ditch him.
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  16. The DTI paper itself is here on UK Government dropping Key Escrow? · · Score: 1

    You can read it for yourself: http://www.dti.gov.uk/cii/elec/elec_co m.html
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  17. SPKI on Ask Slashdot: Is there an Open PKI initiative? · · Score: 1

    Be sure to check out this draft IETF standard, the Simple Public Key Infrastructure:

    http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/spki-charter.h tml
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  18. Watch out for the amendments! on Clueful Crypto Legislation · · Score: 1

    Just to emphasise a point others have made: in the past such bills have been amended to the extent that crypto freedom campaigners have had to campaign against them. Make sure you know which version you're supporting.
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  19. How do I find out the keyboard codes? on Ask Slashdot:Ergo Keyboards · · Score: 1

    I'd like to build my own bizarre keyboard, and I don't think I want to emulate the standard layout in order to use cannibalized components from a standard keyboard. How do I find out more about the interface between the keyboard and the PC, and the codes the keyboard sends?
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  20. What would you know, Guy? on Review:Open Sources · · Score: 1

    You're a raving NT supporter and spreader of FUD. You're about as well qualified to rate ESR against RMS as Jim Falwell is to choose the next head of Atheists of America.

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  21. RMS doesn't get paid by FSF funds -Fact. on Bruce Perens Resigns From OSI · · Score: 1

    Yes. He won an enormous award a few years ago and has lived off it ever since.

    I'm not as sure about this part, but I think MIT also throw some money his way, not for specific work, but on the grounds that he's a Good Thing.
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  22. Memory? on Light Traveling at 38 Miles an Hour · · Score: 1

    Turing used cycling mercury delay lines on his first computer. Anyone want to calculate how much this thing can store as a cycling optical signal? Include an overhead for error correction...
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  23. Aargh! on Bruce Perens Resigns From OSI · · Score: 1

    Bruce Perens has done a lot of good work and made a lot of things happen, but while some people need to take a deep breath and count to ten, it seems that higher numbers would suit Bruce's purposes better.

    I hope that everyone involved can sort out their differences and get back to the useful work they all do.
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  24. Emperor Ming, the season has been hard on us... on Compaq Denies Being a Microsoft Victim · · Score: 1

    ..."we have no offering to make but our fierce and undying loyalty to your royal highness."

    "Very well, show me this loyalty. Fall on your sword."

    No amount of money could be enough to pay for the complete destruction of dignity that this represents, dancing in front of the court like a trained monkey on a leash, goaded by whips to say you're there on you free will. Next: tearing limb from limb by jackals aka David Boise.
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  25. Fake O'Reilly Book - description from ora.com! on Full Quickie Disclosure · · Score: 1

    Why do people write such perfectly tuned satire and then fail to put their names to it?

    Never mind...
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