Using Linux I've been able to: * literally use my home desktop at work using VNC * log into a choice of window managers depending on my whim (kde, gnome, xfce) * customise the behaviour of my window manager in a couple of clicks (eg I like to have the close window icon on the left so I won't accidentally close when I want to minimise) * switch between multiple virtual desktops (and that Powertools copy M$ provide is not an equivalent, it's so slow its unusable) * use the Filer I want to (currently ROX) and still be able to consistently drag and drop between applications
There are plenty more innovations but those are the first of the top of my head. Just because they aren't high-profile doesn't mean they aren't there. For example I'm thinking of doing some Home Automation and am looking at owfs. With it I can type "cat */temperature" and it will make all the temperatures sensors on a 1-wire twisted pair connected to a serial port measure and print their data. Since these devices look to the OS like normal files, I can use them easily from any language from bash to C to Python.
If a group of people want to make available some of their favourite software that exists on other platforms then I think that's also innovative and an interesting intellectual challenge. It's not "Linux trying to play catchup", it's "I'd like to be able to do this so why don't we create it".
I have had a similar experience, I suppose, starting out on DOS/Win 3.11, moving through Windows 9x and then finding Linux as a hope-inspiring alternative back in, oooh, about 1998.
Oh please, Win95 was a cheap look-alike of RiscOS 2, task bar and all, though vastly inferior in every way. The Start button isn't M$ original (RISCOS2 was around '89, half a decade before Win95). Very little M$ have done has been original, it's been either copied (Apple, Xerox, etc) or assimilated. And even though they are a poor copy and steal ideas from everyone else... so what? Good for them! As a competative company you should be looking at what your rivals are doing and then providing them for your customers.
As for the rest of your drivel, there is plenty enough quality software that suits all MY needs. In fact several of my favourites are cross-platform so it doesn't even matter which OS I'm using (Firebird, Abiword, MySQL, etc). If it doesn't suit your needs then don't use Linux. If there are some Linux users that also use MacOS X but want to use their iPOD when booting into Linux, if they are intelligent and innovative enough to get Linux to support the iPOD then good for them. The more hardware supported the better.
Legal ecstasy tablets probably would include an information sheet detailing safe usage practicesm and this would never have happened. However, the government, breweries and the tobacco companies all would prefer for you to believe that she was killed by a tab of ecstasy.
Taking ecstacy plus water = death. Drinking same amount of water != death. Ergo she WAS killed by the tab of ecstacy. There are a number of women each year that commit suicide by taking a bottle of sleeping pills then drinking alcohol. We still say she died of a pill overdose. Clearly labelling the tabs with instructions would help (no reason why it needs the government, in a capitalist market those that sell the tabs should have an interest in keeping their clients alive and so instructing them) but it won't stop accidents from happening. It's a shame but the people that take them now know the risk (as they do with alcohol and cigarettes).
Try using ROX, the Filer comes up nearly instantly even on a low spec machine. It would be great if the user could configure which file selector the GTK toolkit uses, then you could configure globally for all applications.
Besides, if I have both mplayer and xine installed, how does the One File Browser know which one to launch ? Or Emacs and Vi ? Or whatever ?
The way Windows does it is when you install a program it asks if you want it to be the default for certain file types. Most file types you will always use the same application to open that file type.
And yes, I realize you can set this in preferences; but suppose you want to use different tools for different tasks, despite the file format being the same ? Or if I just want to try out a new program ?
If you want to use another application, then open that application and drag the file onto it.
Because that would mean resizing application windows to fit them besides the directory windows, and be a lot more hassle than simply using a selector window ? [snip] No, it's a useability feature. Lacking a separate file selector would give users unneccessary grief.
I totally disagree. Having used both I find the file selector such a drag on productivity it makes the desktop unusable compared to the drag and drop. You DON'T resize applications to fit them next to directory windows, that would be a crazy thing to do. You only need part of the window to be showing, but if you have a small monitor and are in desperate need of space then you leave it in the background and alt-tab or use task bar to make it jump to front when you need to save. If you have 3-4 on the task bar then it's instant to bring up the directory you want to save to, as opposed to tediously clicking your way through the selector EVERY SINGLE TIME. In my opinion, it's the worst thing that Linux desktops share with Windows. At a pinch you can always drag onto pinboard, then drag and drop the pinboard icon into a directory later. I'm talking about general principles here, not Gnome in particular (I use xfce4 + rox atm)
I think it's actually easier now to reinstall Linux than to reinstall Windows.
I think distros could also take advantage of the fact they normally put/home on a different partition by default. Provide the options in an easy to read format such as: * I would like to reinstall the operating system but keep my personal files * I would like to create a fresh install of my machine
One of the biggest pains in Windows is having to back up all your stuff first (especially if you have GBs of movies and music). Often you forget something, such as your web bookmarks or your FTP client config file that has all the passwords in that you need.
I think the clearly marked ability to do this will go down a storm with both home users and with small businesses.
You make a very salient point about why Open-Source software may be less vulnerable to attack than proprietary software. Basically, if you discover a vulnerability in a closed-source program, there is NO honorable way to get recognition or respect for your digging... the best you can do is quietly report it to the company and hope they fix it, knowing they will not usually acknowledge you for reporting it.
Not only that, if you are too enthusiastic about getting them to fix their vulnerability you also risk going to jail.
This is what happens when you post 1.30am on not enough sleep. Bad example I gave. The original crypto document was discovered by someone in a library, which was then diffed against the published version. This is from (sleepy) memory. I have read several cases though, and maintain that you should be prompted as to whether you want to retain meta-data each time you save. It would serve as a good warning before you click on the 'attach' button.
Okay I have to bite on this one. Word has the ability to track changes to a document. Exactly how is this a Microsoft security breach?!
Because the user has no indication each time he saves that this is happening. It's irresponsible imho, and has caught a number of people out in well publicised cases. The Australian government was shamed when someone took their crypto policy, undid the changes, and then published a diff with the original... seeing the censorship so starkly was eye-opening.
Hrm.. Let's see here. Eclipse, the IDE, keeps an internal history repository of my source code. Damn security breach!
That's a poor analogy. You always want to keep the history of a repository... it's the main reason for having one. It would be more like: I clicked on compile in Eclipse and distributed the binary, but Eclipse embedded all the source code and so people can see what my patch was doing and write exploits.
Stop karma whoring by bashing Microsoft with stupid crap. If you're going to bash them for security holes, pick a real exploit.
You are welcome to your point of view, but I think the sheer number of people that have been embarassed (fired?) by this 'feature' inadvertently merits the label "security breach". Blame human stupidity if you will, but it falls into the same category of executing everything in the preview pane of Outlook: in a perfect world it would be fine but the fact is that it causes a lot of damage.
To temper my above statement, I do not expect quick e-mail notes to have much spit-and-polish, but spell checkers are a standard feature. Just push the little icon and accept the corrections.
Don't accept too hastily. I remember struggling to grasp a paragraph in engineering until I realised the person had used a spell-checker and turned "asynchronous" into "a synchronous".
To be a bit more specific, SVG encompasses so much that a fully compliant implementation must support not only the massive spec, but also ECMA Script, SMIL, MathML, etc.
Mozilla already supports Javascript. SMIL isn't needed unless you want to do Flash-like animations. It only needs to render 2D images to satisfy most people.
The only one I am aware of at the moment is a Corel Product. It costs about 15 grand (USD), or it did the last time I checked.
Plenty of people have already mentioned completely free packages such as Sodipodi and Inkscape.
Complex 2d graphics in non binary form? Honestly, I don't know.
I presume you mean rendered into a binary form as opposed to the source being stored in a binary format instead of XML? How can you not? It can be scaled to any resolution, you can zoom in without losing quality, it will be a fraction of the size for many large images (eg architectural drawings or circuit diagrams), etc.
Having the ability to render 2D images in this way is great, as anyone that has used an Acorn and embedded a Draw document in a web page will testify. And we've been able to do that since the mid-90s! Once we are able to embed SVG into web pages then we will also see less need for PDF imho.
He certainly has a point. Civil disobedience is not a good business model.
No-where does he mention anything along the lines of civil disobedience. No court has found against anyone of any wrongdoing, not IBM, not EV1, or anyone else. There is nothing to be disobedient AGAINST.
Consider this, though: They care enough about their customers and their own business that they're willing to take this "voluntary" hit of over a million bucks just to protect themselves and their customers. Even if SCO isn't right (preaching to the choir, I know) then they've still made a major step in the direction of "we'd take a bullet for you."
Many other posters have already pointed out that they did NOT do it for their customers. And others have pointed out that they are volountarily funding the SCO campaign of intimidation and fraud. It's obvious that they DON'T care about their customers and will shaft them for cheap publicity.
Not only that, not all software that *this guy* writes has to be free. I definitely disagree with the article writer's assumption that "fame" won't get you a job - in CS, employers want porfolios, and working on Open Source is a great way to get that experience before someone will pay you.
Indeed, it's OS projects that I developed in my spare time that secured me both my first and my last jobs. You can use OS to show off your prowess, technical ability, project management, etc.
Doing stuff for free is great, as long as it doesn't interfere with putting food in my belly and doesn't stop me from living my life the way I want to. I think a lot of the people who are screaming free everything haven't yet had the pleasure of being on their own, or being responsible for their house, car, food, clothing, utils, wife, etc.
Most of the people who are writing the software for free DO have jobs, wives, food on the table, etc. They write the software because they need it themselves, or just to teach themselves something new. If they can release it to the world and make it a better place then... hey... why not? Other people go further and prefer to spend time writing software that improves peoples lives, sacrificing that new car and driving a second hand one instead. If it makes them happy then good for them! If someone prefers to write code than go down the bar every night and shoot pool then that's what they enjoy. Don't try and pidgeon-hole everyone as it won't work, people do open-source for such a wide variety of selfish and unselfish reasons. Unrelated, it was an open source project on my CV that got me my first job.
Thankyou, you made the point I was going to. Add Gentoo to the list where I can't simply "emerge j2sdk" (instead I have to go through a convoluted process including going onto the web, trying to find the damn download, clicking on license agreements before I can download a binary which has to be put into a certain place etc)
The Bat! is the best email client I've used, and is one of the few Shareware apps I've found worth paying for. I've forced the office here to buy a copy so I don't have to listen to them complaining about virus problems. I've no intention of paying to upgrade, the version I purchased years ago still does me fine. The one thing that justifies its purchase price on that feature alone is the 1-click backup (does everything in one go, saves your email and your settings, compresses and password protects) and 1-click restore. Fantastic.
I thought the South Park movie dragged quite a lot. For me a big success was "Beavis and Buthead the Movie". I detest the cartoon. I don't find it in the slightest bit funny. I was dragged kicking to the cinema to watch it by a girlfriend. Possibly one of the funniest ever animated films. The movie is hilarious.
Although, after the Hutton reporty, I am suprised that the BBC would let him get away with statements such as "There's no proof, of course".
Didn't, once upon a time, the phrase "There's no proof" come from an editors mouth to tell the journalist "There's no story"? Or have I just watched too much tv?
No, you obviously don't, because if that's all you believed you'd release your code under the BSD licence, or simply into the public domain - both of which would do just as good a job at it.
The point of releasing under the GPL is to require other people using GPLed code as a base to develop and distribute their own work to also GPL *their* code. It has nothing whatsoever to do with "preserving the freedom" of *your* code.
Both of you are correct imho. The GPL is not there to make code free, it's there to protect the intellectual property of the author. It prevents code from being stolen from the author and used commercially without compensating its author.
The original poster was correct in that GPL advocates don't want to make software free, ie force everyone to relinquish their code to the GPL, they use the GPL to make sure their code will always be free to all to use under the condition they are happy with (take it but in return I want you to share your modifications so we all benefit).
drsmithy has a point that the original poster fell into the trap that the dubious BBC article laid in suggesting the GPL is simply only about code being free, which it's not.
Personally, I think the Open Source community should set up a fund to add to the reward SCO is offering because of the black eye it gives the community if he was.
You can. I'm not taking personal responsibility for millions of individuals because just because they happen to also be interested in writing software. I'll just let the police do their job.
Indeed. I started a software company and: * my office was donated rent free * I already had half dozen computers available * the staff, including myself, worked without wages * we lived off meagre savings, no unemployment benefit * lived with parents, except one staff who slept in a shed at the end of our garden
After over one year I'd already used $30-40k of borrowed money. The moment the software was developed and ready the tech crashed happened and every promised sale fell through (as half the clients also disappeared). Fortunately I have an understanding family that have classified it as an 'indefinite' loan.
It was certainly a hard learning experience, which I don't regret for a moment, but I started from a very priveledged position and even from there I ended up worse off than I started. Expenses included the server, artwork, travel expenses, equipment upgrades, etc. Everything was spent according to budget and a business plan. The fact is that you need to outlay as you can't sell your software until you have a product, though we did mini-projects alongside the main one to generate a nominal income.
This is obviously a strange new use of the word "intuitively" which I've never encountered before. Highlighting text intuitively implies making a copy of it? Absolutely no way.
I think you are in a minority. Many times have I selected to 'copy' a text area, closed the window to reveal the window I want to paste into, then found that paste didn't work and I've lost my work.
It's not a question of intuitiveness. It's a matter of people having gotten used to the (braindead and ugly) Windows way of doing things.
I personally disagree. If I 'copy' something then I expect to be able to access it upon the next paste.
Cut-and-paste works fine for me between the applications I use: GNU Emacs, Galeon, Sylpheed, OpenOffice, and gnome-terminal.
It screws up a lot between applications I use, including Firebird, Evolution, SCiTE, konsole, and others.
Slashdot Mirror
Using Linux I've been able to:
* literally use my home desktop at work using VNC
* log into a choice of window managers depending on my whim (kde, gnome, xfce)
* customise the behaviour of my window manager in a couple of clicks (eg I like to have the close window icon on the left so I won't accidentally close when I want to minimise)
* switch between multiple virtual desktops (and that Powertools copy M$ provide is not an equivalent, it's so slow its unusable)
* use the Filer I want to (currently ROX) and still be able to consistently drag and drop between applications
There are plenty more innovations but those are the first of the top of my head. Just because they aren't high-profile doesn't mean they aren't there. For example I'm thinking of doing some Home Automation and am looking at owfs. With it I can type "cat */temperature" and it will make all the temperatures sensors on a 1-wire twisted pair connected to a serial port measure and print their data. Since these devices look to the OS like normal files, I can use them easily from any language from bash to C to Python.
If a group of people want to make available some of their favourite software that exists on other platforms then I think that's also innovative and an interesting intellectual challenge. It's not "Linux trying to play catchup", it's "I'd like to be able to do this so why don't we create it".
Phillip.
I have had a similar experience, I suppose, starting out on DOS/Win 3.11, moving through Windows 9x and then finding Linux as a hope-inspiring alternative back in, oooh, about 1998.
Oh please, Win95 was a cheap look-alike of RiscOS 2, task bar and all, though vastly inferior in every way. The Start button isn't M$ original (RISCOS2 was around '89, half a decade before Win95). Very little M$ have done has been original, it's been either copied (Apple, Xerox, etc) or assimilated. And even though they are a poor copy and steal ideas from everyone else... so what? Good for them! As a competative company you should be looking at what your rivals are doing and then providing them for your customers.
As for the rest of your drivel, there is plenty enough quality software that suits all MY needs. In fact several of my favourites are cross-platform so it doesn't even matter which OS I'm using (Firebird, Abiword, MySQL, etc). If it doesn't suit your needs then don't use Linux. If there are some Linux users that also use MacOS X but want to use their iPOD when booting into Linux, if they are intelligent and innovative enough to get Linux to support the iPOD then good for them. The more hardware supported the better.
Phillip.
Legal ecstasy tablets probably would include an information sheet detailing safe usage practicesm and this would never have happened. However, the government, breweries and the tobacco companies all would prefer for you to believe that she was killed by a tab of ecstasy.
Taking ecstacy plus water = death. Drinking same amount of water != death. Ergo she WAS killed by the tab of ecstacy. There are a number of women each year that commit suicide by taking a bottle of sleeping pills then drinking alcohol. We still say she died of a pill overdose. Clearly labelling the tabs with instructions would help (no reason why it needs the government, in a capitalist market those that sell the tabs should have an interest in keeping their clients alive and so instructing them) but it won't stop accidents from happening. It's a shame but the people that take them now know the risk (as they do with alcohol and cigarettes).
Phillip.
Try using ROX, the Filer comes up nearly instantly even on a low spec machine. It would be great if the user could configure which file selector the GTK toolkit uses, then you could configure globally for all applications.
Phillip.
Besides, if I have both mplayer and xine installed, how does the One File Browser know which one to launch ? Or Emacs and Vi ? Or whatever ?
The way Windows does it is when you install a program it asks if you want it to be the default for certain file types. Most file types you will always use the same application to open that file type.
And yes, I realize you can set this in preferences; but suppose you want to use different tools for different tasks, despite the file format being the same ? Or if I just want to try out a new program ?
If you want to use another application, then open that application and drag the file onto it.
Because that would mean resizing application windows to fit them besides the directory windows, and be a lot more hassle than simply using a selector window ? [snip] No, it's a useability feature. Lacking a separate file selector would give users unneccessary grief.
I totally disagree. Having used both I find the file selector such a drag on productivity it makes the desktop unusable compared to the drag and drop. You DON'T resize applications to fit them next to directory windows, that would be a crazy thing to do. You only need part of the window to be showing, but if you have a small monitor and are in desperate need of space then you leave it in the background and alt-tab or use task bar to make it jump to front when you need to save. If you have 3-4 on the task bar then it's instant to bring up the directory you want to save to, as opposed to tediously clicking your way through the selector EVERY SINGLE TIME. In my opinion, it's the worst thing that Linux desktops share with Windows. At a pinch you can always drag onto pinboard, then drag and drop the pinboard icon into a directory later. I'm talking about general principles here, not Gnome in particular (I use xfce4 + rox atm)
Phillip.
I think it's actually easier now to reinstall Linux than to reinstall Windows.
/home on a different partition by default. Provide the options in an easy to read format such as:
I think distros could also take advantage of the fact they normally put
* I would like to reinstall the operating system but keep my personal files
* I would like to create a fresh install of my machine
One of the biggest pains in Windows is having to back up all your stuff first (especially if you have GBs of movies and music). Often you forget something, such as your web bookmarks or your FTP client config file that has all the passwords in that you need.
I think the clearly marked ability to do this will go down a storm with both home users and with small businesses.
Phillip.
You make a very salient point about why Open-Source software may be less vulnerable to attack than proprietary software. Basically, if you discover a vulnerability in a closed-source program, there is NO honorable way to get recognition or respect for your digging... the best you can do is quietly report it to the company and hope they fix it, knowing they will not usually acknowledge you for reporting it.
Not only that, if you are too enthusiastic about getting them to fix their vulnerability you also risk going to jail.
Phillip.
Rather than making me wade through that long paragraph, couldn't you have just written "I run Windows"?
Phillip.
This is what happens when you post 1.30am on not enough sleep. Bad example I gave. The original crypto document was discovered by someone in a library, which was then diffed against the published version. This is from (sleepy) memory. I have read several cases though, and maintain that you should be prompted as to whether you want to retain meta-data each time you save. It would serve as a good warning before you click on the 'attach' button.
Phillip.
Okay I have to bite on this one. Word has the ability to track changes to a document. Exactly how is this a Microsoft security breach?!
Because the user has no indication each time he saves that this is happening. It's irresponsible imho, and has caught a number of people out in well publicised cases. The Australian government was shamed when someone took their crypto policy, undid the changes, and then published a diff with the original... seeing the censorship so starkly was eye-opening.
Hrm.. Let's see here. Eclipse, the IDE, keeps an internal history repository of my source code. Damn security breach!
That's a poor analogy. You always want to keep the history of a repository... it's the main reason for having one. It would be more like: I clicked on compile in Eclipse and distributed the binary, but Eclipse embedded all the source code and so people can see what my patch was doing and write exploits.
Stop karma whoring by bashing Microsoft with stupid crap. If you're going to bash them for security holes, pick a real exploit.
You are welcome to your point of view, but I think the sheer number of people that have been embarassed (fired?) by this 'feature' inadvertently merits the label "security breach". Blame human stupidity if you will, but it falls into the same category of executing everything in the preview pane of Outlook: in a perfect world it would be fine but the fact is that it causes a lot of damage.
Phillip.
To temper my above statement, I do not expect quick e-mail notes to have much spit-and-polish, but spell checkers are a standard feature. Just push the little icon and accept the corrections.
Don't accept too hastily. I remember struggling to grasp a paragraph in engineering until I realised the person had used a spell-checker and turned "asynchronous" into "a synchronous".
Phillip.
To be a bit more specific, SVG encompasses so much that a fully compliant implementation must support not only the massive spec, but also ECMA Script, SMIL, MathML, etc.
Mozilla already supports Javascript. SMIL isn't needed unless you want to do Flash-like animations. It only needs to render 2D images to satisfy most people.
The only one I am aware of at the moment is a Corel Product. It costs about 15 grand (USD), or it did the last time I checked.
Plenty of people have already mentioned completely free packages such as Sodipodi and Inkscape.
Complex 2d graphics in non binary form? Honestly, I don't know.
I presume you mean rendered into a binary form as opposed to the source being stored in a binary format instead of XML? How can you not? It can be scaled to any resolution, you can zoom in without losing quality, it will be a fraction of the size for many large images (eg architectural drawings or circuit diagrams), etc.
Having the ability to render 2D images in this way is great, as anyone that has used an Acorn and embedded a Draw document in a web page will testify. And we've been able to do that since the mid-90s! Once we are able to embed SVG into web pages then we will also see less need for PDF imho.
Phillip.
He certainly has a point. Civil disobedience is not a good business model.
No-where does he mention anything along the lines of civil disobedience. No court has found against anyone of any wrongdoing, not IBM, not EV1, or anyone else. There is nothing to be disobedient AGAINST.
Consider this, though: They care enough about their customers and their own business that they're willing to take this "voluntary" hit of over a million bucks just to protect themselves and their customers. Even if SCO isn't right (preaching to the choir, I know) then they've still made a major step in the direction of "we'd take a bullet for you."
Many other posters have already pointed out that they did NOT do it for their customers. And others have pointed out that they are volountarily funding the SCO campaign of intimidation and fraud. It's obvious that they DON'T care about their customers and will shaft them for cheap publicity.
Phillip.
Not only that, not all software that *this guy* writes has to be free. I definitely disagree with the article writer's assumption that "fame" won't get you a job - in CS, employers want porfolios, and working on Open Source is a great way to get that experience before someone will pay you.
Indeed, it's OS projects that I developed in my spare time that secured me both my first and my last jobs. You can use OS to show off your prowess, technical ability, project management, etc.
Phillip.
Doing stuff for free is great, as long as it doesn't interfere with putting food in my belly and doesn't stop me from living my life the way I want to. I think a lot of the people who are screaming free everything haven't yet had the pleasure of being on their own, or being responsible for their house, car, food, clothing, utils, wife, etc.
... hey ... why not? Other people go further and prefer to spend time writing software that improves peoples lives, sacrificing that new car and driving a second hand one instead. If it makes them happy then good for them! If someone prefers to write code than go down the bar every night and shoot pool then that's what they enjoy. Don't try and pidgeon-hole everyone as it won't work, people do open-source for such a wide variety of selfish and unselfish reasons. Unrelated, it was an open source project on my CV that got me my first job.
Most of the people who are writing the software for free DO have jobs, wives, food on the table, etc. They write the software because they need it themselves, or just to teach themselves something new. If they can release it to the world and make it a better place then
Phillip.
Is it really a good idea to put a screen above a fireplace? Surely the heat rising would distort the image?
Phillip.
Thankyou, you made the point I was going to. Add Gentoo to the list where I can't simply "emerge j2sdk" (instead I have to go through a convoluted process including going onto the web, trying to find the damn download, clicking on license agreements before I can download a binary which has to be put into a certain place etc)
Phillip.
The Bat! is the best email client I've used, and is one of the few Shareware apps I've found worth paying for. I've forced the office here to buy a copy so I don't have to listen to them complaining about virus problems. I've no intention of paying to upgrade, the version I purchased years ago still does me fine. The one thing that justifies its purchase price on that feature alone is the 1-click backup (does everything in one go, saves your email and your settings, compresses and password protects) and 1-click restore. Fantastic.
Phillip.
I thought the South Park movie dragged quite a lot. For me a big success was "Beavis and Buthead the Movie". I detest the cartoon. I don't find it in the slightest bit funny. I was dragged kicking to the cinema to watch it by a girlfriend. Possibly one of the funniest ever animated films. The movie is hilarious.
Phillip.
Possibly too late in the thread to be read, but things I would like to see to make it an IE killer:
* SVG support
* Privoxy available as a plug-in
For Thunderbird:
* spam-assasin and dspam available as plug-in options
Phillip.
Although, after the Hutton reporty, I am suprised that the BBC would let him get away with statements such as "There's no proof, of course".
Didn't, once upon a time, the phrase "There's no proof" come from an editors mouth to tell the journalist "There's no story"? Or have I just watched too much tv?
Phillip.
No, you obviously don't, because if that's all you believed you'd release your code under the BSD licence, or simply into the public domain - both of which would do just as good a job at it.
The point of releasing under the GPL is to require other people using GPLed code as a base to develop and distribute their own work to also GPL *their* code. It has nothing whatsoever to do with "preserving the freedom" of *your* code.
Both of you are correct imho. The GPL is not there to make code free, it's there to protect the intellectual property of the author. It prevents code from being stolen from the author and used commercially without compensating its author.
The original poster was correct in that GPL advocates don't want to make software free, ie force everyone to relinquish their code to the GPL, they use the GPL to make sure their code will always be free to all to use under the condition they are happy with (take it but in return I want you to share your modifications so we all benefit).
drsmithy has a point that the original poster fell into the trap that the dubious BBC article laid in suggesting the GPL is simply only about code being free, which it's not.
Phillip.
Personally, I think the Open Source community should set up a fund to add to the reward SCO is offering because of the black eye it gives the community if he was.
You can. I'm not taking personal responsibility for millions of individuals because just because they happen to also be interested in writing software. I'll just let the police do their job.
Phillip.
Indeed. I started a software company and:
* my office was donated rent free
* I already had half dozen computers available
* the staff, including myself, worked without wages
* we lived off meagre savings, no unemployment benefit
* lived with parents, except one staff who slept in a shed at the end of our garden
After over one year I'd already used $30-40k of borrowed money. The moment the software was developed and ready the tech crashed happened and every promised sale fell through (as half the clients also disappeared). Fortunately I have an understanding family that have classified it as an 'indefinite' loan.
It was certainly a hard learning experience, which I don't regret for a moment, but I started from a very priveledged position and even from there I ended up worse off than I started. Expenses included the server, artwork, travel expenses, equipment upgrades, etc. Everything was spent according to budget and a business plan. The fact is that you need to outlay as you can't sell your software until you have a product, though we did mini-projects alongside the main one to generate a nominal income.
Phillip.
This is obviously a strange new use of the word "intuitively" which I've never encountered before. Highlighting text intuitively implies making a copy of it? Absolutely no way.
I think you are in a minority. Many times have I selected to 'copy' a text area, closed the window to reveal the window I want to paste into, then found that paste didn't work and I've lost my work.
It's not a question of intuitiveness. It's a matter of people having gotten used to the (braindead and ugly) Windows way of doing things.
I personally disagree. If I 'copy' something then I expect to be able to access it upon the next paste.
Cut-and-paste works fine for me between the applications I use: GNU Emacs, Galeon, Sylpheed, OpenOffice, and gnome-terminal.
It screws up a lot between applications I use, including Firebird, Evolution, SCiTE, konsole, and others.
Phillip.