Grass is a powerful package -- really powerful -- but it is a stupendous pain in the ass to compile and build. I hope and pray that 5.0 will be easier to configure and compile than 4.2.1 -- after trying mightily to compile it on SCO and Linux, I finally gave up and installed the binaries. (yeah yeah, but I have deadlines, see?)
If 5.0 can be built by mere mortals I'll make an RPM out of it, no problem. There's a nice tutorial for GRASS at
Think about what you just said. If you clone their seeds, you have violated their patent and (should you be discovered) Monsanto will come down on you like a ton of bricks. If your crops are cross-pollinated by their seeds, and a jury can be convinced that you were really using their technology without paying for it, they will come down on you like a ton of bricks. If you're a competitor to Monsanto, and they can set you up in such a fashion, THEY WILL COME DOWN ON YOU LIKE A TON OF BRICKS. I trust this is enough repetition.
The problem is not the technology but the patent, and the side effects of it. If the plants cross-pollinate, Monsanto can (and will) likely claim any plant with said "contiminated" genes as evidence of patent infringement. They don't have to play fair, be honest, or give a rat's ass whether parts of the world are starving. But they sure will make a lot of money, so IT MUST BE OKAY.
Or were you not holding up this patent as a bright shining example of capitalism, similar to Microsoft's admirable business practices and IBM's past habits? Because in each case, what looks on the surface to be defensible was not, in fact, free, nor was it in the interests of the consumer. This patent is probably the worst I've ever seen granted, regardless of the amounts invested in developing it, because of its potential for use by Monsanto as a legal weapon after "accidentally" allowing crops grown with other companies' seeds to be cross-pollinated. They WILL use it.
since, although Monsanto can say "you don't HAVE to buy OUR genetically engineered seeds", it is obvious that a farmer not doing so will put him/herself at a competitive disadvantage relative to the guy that does. Once their products are locked-in as the standard, Monsanto can cash in.
And make no mistake about it -- Monsanto's products will only get better. IBM and Monsanto are in a partnership right now to continue development on a pattern-finding algorithm "Teresias" (not recognition as in a parser, or comparison, but FINDING NEW CLUSTERS OF SIMILARITY by mathematical criteria) which will likely make Monsanto's overbearing power in the agricultural industry almost total. The last time IBM had folks at Watson work on this stuff, the result was FLASH, the fastest parallel string searching algorithm yet developed. They are very, very good.
As someone else mentioned, be afraid. Be very, very afraid. This is extremely scary stuff that can ONLY be justified in terms of short-term bean counting; Monsanto is hoping that by pleading for "respect" for their investment, they can divert attention from the negative reality of this patent.
(sorry for the double post, I fucked up the first one)
since, although Monsanto can say "you don't HAVE to buy OUR genetically engineered seeds", it is obvious that a farmer not doing so will put him/herself at a competitive disadvantage relative to the guy that does. Once their products are locked-in as the standard, Monsanto can cash in.
And make no mistake about it -- Monsanto's products will only get better. IBM and Monsanto are in a partnership right now to continue development on a pattern-finding (not recognition as in a parser, or comparison, but FINDING NEW CLUSTERS OF SIMILARITY by mathematical criteria) which will likely make Monsanto's overbearing power in the agricultural industry almost total.
As someone else mentioned, be afraid. Be very, very afraid. This is extremely scary stuff that can ONLY be justified in terms of short-term bean counting; Monsanto is hoping that by pleading for "respect" for their investment, they can divert attention from the negative reality of this patent.
which comes on the LinuxPPC distribution CD last time I checked. You can download and install Mk/Linux (I did this when I first started out) but it's a pain in the ass; just get the CD, you'll thank yourself later. (it's only $32 and you support a bunch of great people)
Trust me on this one. Once you get MkLinux up and running, it works pretty much like any other RPM-using Linux (from a user perspective, that is). It comes with the usual stuff -- Apache, Sendmail, etc.
Slashdot Mirror
If 5.0 can be built by mere mortals I'll make an RPM out of it, no problem. There's a nice tutorial for GRASS at
Leicester University's GRASS Seeds Tutorial
and the place where I got the binaries was the
Grass 4.2.1 Main Page
at the University of Hanover. Why? Because my boss said to... ;-)
Incidentally, getting the TclTkGrass menu interface (and building it from within Grass) is a Good Thing to do if you're a clod like me.
Think about what you just said. If you clone their seeds, you have violated their patent and (should you be discovered) Monsanto will come down on you like a ton of bricks. If your crops are cross-pollinated by their seeds, and a jury can be convinced that you were really using their technology without paying for it, they will come down on you like a ton of bricks. If you're a competitor to Monsanto, and they can set you up in such a fashion, THEY WILL COME DOWN ON YOU LIKE A TON OF BRICKS. I trust this is enough repetition.
The problem is not the technology but the patent, and the side effects of it. If the plants cross-pollinate, Monsanto can (and will) likely claim any plant with said "contiminated" genes as evidence of patent infringement. They don't have to play fair, be honest, or give a rat's ass whether parts of the world are starving. But they sure will make a lot of money, so IT MUST BE OKAY.
Or were you not holding up this patent as a bright shining example of capitalism, similar to Microsoft's admirable business practices and IBM's past habits? Because in each case, what looks on the surface to be defensible was not, in fact, free, nor was it in the interests of the consumer.
This patent is probably the worst I've ever seen granted, regardless of the amounts invested in developing it, because of its potential for use by Monsanto as a legal weapon after "accidentally" allowing crops grown with other companies' seeds to be cross-pollinated. They WILL use it.
since, although Monsanto can say "you don't HAVE to buy OUR genetically engineered seeds", it is obvious that a farmer not doing so will put him/herself at a competitive disadvantage relative to the guy that does. Once their products are locked-in as the standard, Monsanto can cash in.
And make no mistake about it -- Monsanto's products will only get better. IBM and Monsanto are in a partnership right now to continue development on a pattern-finding algorithm "Teresias" (not recognition as in a parser, or comparison, but FINDING NEW CLUSTERS OF SIMILARITY by mathematical criteria) which will likely make Monsanto's overbearing power in the agricultural industry almost total. The last time IBM had folks at Watson work on this stuff, the result was FLASH, the fastest parallel string searching algorithm yet developed. They are very, very good.
As someone else mentioned, be afraid. Be very, very afraid. This is extremely scary stuff that can ONLY be justified in terms of short-term bean counting; Monsanto is hoping that by pleading for "respect" for their investment, they can divert attention from the negative reality of this patent.
(sorry for the double post, I fucked up the first one)
since, although Monsanto can say "you don't HAVE to buy OUR genetically engineered seeds", it is obvious that a farmer not doing so will put him/herself at a competitive disadvantage relative to the guy that does. Once their products are locked-in as the standard, Monsanto can cash in.
And make no mistake about it -- Monsanto's products will only get better. IBM and Monsanto are in a partnership right now to continue development on a pattern-finding (not recognition as in a parser, or comparison, but FINDING NEW CLUSTERS OF SIMILARITY by mathematical criteria) which will likely make Monsanto's overbearing power in the agricultural industry almost total.
As someone else mentioned, be afraid. Be very, very afraid. This is extremely scary stuff that can ONLY be justified in terms of short-term bean counting; Monsanto is hoping that by pleading for "respect" for their investment, they can divert attention from the negative reality of this patent.
which comes on the LinuxPPC distribution CD last time I checked. You can download and install Mk/Linux (I did this when I first started out) but it's a pain in the ass; just get the CD, you'll thank yourself later. (it's only $32 and you support a bunch of great people)
Trust me on this one. Once you get MkLinux up and running, it works pretty much like any other RPM-using Linux (from a user perspective, that is). It comes with the usual stuff -- Apache, Sendmail, etc.