7. NK Nuclear test mountain collapsed in on itself and would require significant resources to rebuild. Resources that they no longer have the economic means to acquire.
Agreeing to denuclearize means they get a win without having to substantiate it....
Some could consider this a troll, and I apologize to them since this is an honest question based on this statement, but with regards to abortion - Would killing a female fetus be even more egregious?
This is why I won't buy a kindle.
One of the dangers that this shows is straight from 1984...
How can we trust history when it can be deleted or altered at whim. How can we be sure if the books we download are not altered in any way - At least in Non-DRM form, they can be archived to ensure the consistency of the text over the passage of time
After all, We've always been at war with... (checks kindle) EastAsia
But we need to do something besides crop dusting. Look at the deadzone in the Gulf of Mexico if you have any doubt.
Because of high concentrations of pesticides - If you could spray more frequently, you would not need the high concentrations, therefore less run off... A UAV could be as cheap to operate as any other farm implement without needing specialized training to operate.
Postal/parcel delivery of perhaps the most important things, like organ transplants or something. Otherwise the use is over the top.
Have you ever tried to get next-day delivery to a rural area? There are many parts of the country still that are over 200-300 miles from any major airport. Private pilots are often contracted by the USPS to ferry mail back and forth to these areas.
Search and rescue, maybe. Would Steve Fossett have been found any sooner?
Quite possibly - Pilots are limited to how long they can fly per day. Because there is a shortage of qualified pilots, it limits the time and increases the expense of search and rescue operations.
I believe that it would be more than niche applications. There are many areas in aviation where UAV's would be a boon.
For example, UAV's could be used for fire suppression applications - Whenever there are forest fires (or even the threat of), UAV's could be prepositioned and in the air in a matter of minutes.
Crop Dusting - UAV's could perform this function with better precision, for longer hours.
Post/Parcel delivery
Search and Rescue
All these applications are prone to pilot fatigue and are dangerous commercial applications - I am sure there are many, many more applications where UAV's would make more sense and improve aviation safety.
At the university I work at, this question has also been brought up. In a time when university budgets are getting tighter, IT directors always want to cut costs, and outsourcing email seems to be a hot topic. However, there are some serious considerations:
1. FERPA: Outsourcing email opens up the university to all kinds of possible litigation in regards to the federal FERPA regs. How is this addressed?
2. LEA Compliance: Along a similar line, there are time when an institution is required to produce email to law enforcement. How is this handled, what is the process, how long does it take, and what safeguards are in place to protect the students privacy? These are valid questions that, from a monetary standpoint, can cost the institution much more than they would save by outsourcing if not handled correctly. And that would be from a single instance - any sizable institution will have this situation occur multiple times per school year.
3. Security: As we have seen with the recent scandle with Gov. Palin, it is not very hard to crack an email account - Within an institution, attempts to access the account can be monitored, even limited to specific addresses if need be. If the university is doing any kind of research, outsourcing could open up the institution to IP theft not only from other institutions, but from foreign agencies... Just one breach could end up costing the institution millions in research grants. So, the question to ask would be how would this be addressed?
4. User support: At the institution where I work, our help desk staff provides support 24X7 - when there is a problem, how accessible is the companies' help, and how is that support billed??? Is there a phone number that can be called for support?
5. Along with the user support, how does the company handle user education? Yes, it is easy and intuitive for users to use gmail, yahoo, etc... but do these companies do any kind of proactive user education (such as preventing them from replying to known phishing sites...)??? At the institution I am at, we proactively try to handle spammers, phishing, etc... to protect our users (and the university).
These are just things off the top of my head... I am sure I can come up with much, much more of an argument to keep university email inhouse (this doesn't even address future possibilities such as integrated messaging - i.e. tying voicemail to email, etc....)
I must admit that I am biased, however... I am the email administrator at a major university (and I *LIKE* my job;-) )
I have believed this for years - All digital information is ultimately a number, and by definition, is not copyrightable. Claiming that a file is copyrighted is equivalent to saying that int((243579!/pi)*27) is copyrighted... (Try it out - no really! I swear it sounds just like Brittany Spears latest single....)
FTA:
The defendant in that case, Travis Carter, suggested that any of the neighbors could be using his wireless network. (The public defender's office even sent out an investigator who confirmed that dozens of homes were within Wi-Fi range.)
So even though this could have actually been done by any number of neighbors, passerbys, etc.... it still is probable cause? Better secure your WiFi access points people...
It has been my experience that the DoD is generally antagonistic towards the use of Free/Open Source Software in the commands.
Do you envision a wider adoption of Open Source systems in your command, or will it be a.Net-centric (or Microsoft flavor of the day) environment?
Additionally, will you be looking to Civilian contractors to supplement the Active Duty service members?
My question would be, has the validity of the evidence ever been directly challenged?
Consider this:
Mp3 files (as well as most other compression codecs) are a lossy compression codec. Therefore, the resulting file is not a true reproduction of the copyrighted song in question - This would be the equivilant of taking a digital photograph of the Mona Lisa, blowing it up to original proportions (make sure that the pixilation is noticable), and claiming it as the original. Change the Mona Lisa to a copyrighted photograph to make the example more germane.
My other thought is on the nature of digital media. When you look at a digital file in a binary editor, you see a string of 1's and 0's - about 30 million of them in your average mp3 file. However, this string of binary digits is just a number (a very large number, but still a number.) Does this mean that pi can be copyrighted? How about the square root of 2?
Both of my children have type 1, and while this might make the insulin a little cheaper, it's a drop in the bucket compared to the expense of an insulin pump, testing strips, infusion sets, etc.... However, as any parent would agree, the expense means nothing if it keeps our children healthy and happy.
Even though new technology to make managing IDDM easier is constantly coming out, it still doesn't come close to providing a true "cure".
<rant>
And to the idiot who mentioned pancreatic transplant as a "cure", do you realize that you're trading a lifelong dependence on insulin for a lifelong dependence on immunosuppresants to keep the body from rejecting the transplant? I thought not....
</rant>
A weak case has never stopped Clarence Briggs before. If you look up "Litigious Bastard" in the dictionary, you will find his name.
I used to work for this Asshole when it was first started, and when I quit, I was served with an injunction preventing me to go to work for my new employer, two days after christmas. It didn't matter that NC is a right to work state, and that the company I was going to work for was a consulting company that had NOTHING to do with web hosting - He was just pissed that I had the audacity to leave my low-pay, high stress job for something better. And, from my observations while working there and from what I have heard from people afterwards; unless you leave the company on his terms and with his blessings, you can expect to get sued. BTW - even though the injunction was immediately thrown out when it was heard by a judge, It ended up costing me about 10 grand in lost pay, and legal fees
Which was why, I assume, one of the first things he did when he went "corporate" was NOT to pay the people who got him that far any better, but instead directly hire a lawyer to his staff...
It's my opinion that Clarence Briggs is the Darl McBride of the Web Hosting industry - in fact, when the whole SCO vs IBM litigation was started, I almost had to wonder if Darl wasn't being advised by CB.
To tie this into the parent - It wouldn't occur to them that a large majority might be from proxies... You would have to be experienced enough/smart enough to infer this, And most people that I know who meet these requirements are also smart enough to stay away from AIT. Besides, when has the facts ever been relevant to people like Briggs and McBride
I won't go into how his entire web hosting business is built off of free software...
I wouldn't be suprised if he tried suing me again, just for posting this, - and yes, he has/had little butt warts who's only job (as far as I knew) was to google his name/troll newsgroups for bad press about him or AIT, then spread FUD/Sue/or attempt to discredit the poster.)
btw, this is all my opinion and protected by the first amendment, so FOAD Briggs
I am not sure if you are trolling or if you really are missing the point, so I will give you the benefit of the doubt.
Lets take two scenarios:
Scenario 1: You write a killer app. You keep it a closed source model, and some greedy big company decides it likes your software and wants to make money from it. Whats to stop them from doing a little reverse engineering, decompiling, and then "adapting" it to make it look like they wrote it? It's not very hard to do, really. And, since your source is closed, the only person that can really prove that SomeBigCo stole your software is you.
What is your recourse? You sue SomeBigCo for copyright infringement. However, you have to prove that you wrote it in the first place, which may or may not be an easy thing to do. SomeBigCo can also throw lots of lawyers at it and it will plod through the legal system. If your lucky and you win, you may see some money in a decade or so. In the mean time, you will need to spend your hard earned money on legal fees.
Scenario 2: You write a killer app. You open source it and use the GPL for the license. You are making money not on sale of the software (although that could be done), but on service, support, and perhaps customizing the software for others. Others have seen your software, liked it and have sent helpful patches and features to you, thereby enhancing your product. SomeBigCo sees it and wants it for their own. They have a choice then - they can either follow the GPL and release any changes as open source (thereby leveraging their developers to your effort), or they adapt it and try to make it their own.
If they release their enhancements as opensource, that is fine because you can incorporate it into your source tree. Since you are making money off service and support, you still have a revenue stream off of your software and that will not diminish by SomeBigCo helping your development.
If they try to make it their own, then you still have copyright law to enforce the copyright of your software. Only this time, since it is GPL, you stand a good chance of getting the Free Software Foundation's lawyers involved, rather than paying for your own. Additionally, a company may have no qualms about stealing software from an individual or even a small company, but only the foolhardy would risk a GPL lawsuit.
How does this protect you from "Open Source Vultures"? By using a service and support model, you will have a steady stream of income regardless of whether you are doing the development. No matter what, if SomeBigCo decides to try and steal your software, you still will need to litigate the issue. However, with a closed source model, your legal expenses will be your burden. Also, don't forget you will need to pay a lawyer to write your license for you, and if not written correctly it could allow SomeBigCo to take your software through a legal loophole. The GPL is a very stong license, and although it is not fully tested in court it is strong enough to considered formidable by the Nazgul of Armonk (IBM's lawyers).
Finally, think of it this way - writing software is very much like the pursuit of scientific research. The very act or reading this is a culmination of work and ideas created by others, all built upon one another to create this gestalt called slashdot;-)
Perhaps I should have made myself a little more clear - reaction mass would be a better term. The energy needed to react with the paint and eject the CO would externally supplied. Again, you are carrying your reaction mass with you, defeating the purpose of the solar sail.
The only difference is that a traditional chemical rocket has the energy needed to eject the reaction mass self contained.
However, since the energy source is externally applied, it can be controlled and can prevent nasty runaway exothermic reactions... (i.e. Boom!)
And this is different from a conventional chemical rocket in what way?
Think about it - you still would need the coating on the sail (fuel) that would then be externally "ignited" by the microwave energy. So you still run into the problem of carrying your fuel source with you. The whole concept of solar sails is supposed to eliminate that need.
Now, whether this may be a more efficient chemical rocket is different topic...
DirectTV uses a digital signal also - I would only experience rain fade during severe thunderstorms and hurricanes... Unfortunately, these were the times I had it tuned exclusively to the weather channel...
I could see a similar situation happening with this
I've pondered the same solution for several years. One of the best points is that it would require that existing laws be enforced. The drawbacks that I have come up with, however, would be attaching "riders" to bills - If a $500 billion spending bill was attached to a law making murder a crime, then anyone voting against it would be supporting murderers and "undermining the rule of law".
You could even make federal laws "permanent" by requiring them to go through the same process as a constitutional amendment. I could see this reducing the "cruft" in the legal system today, and allow unpopular/knee-jerk laws to fade away after, say, six years (to keep it in step with senate terms)
At one time, musicians/composers were supported by patrons (usually nobility) who used their wealth to further the arts.
Perhaps this would be an extension of that idea - only instead of nobility, we have corporations sponsoring musicians to keep the serfs^H^H^H^H^Hconsumers happy...
Interesting that this promotion is precisely the business model that radio has been for all these years...
So, when this ends and downloads slow down, will Fritos, KFC, etc. be the next to give away music downloads? And how long do you think it will take until all music downloads are sponsored by advertising dollars?
First off - if you haven't already, read the EFI specs: http://www.intel.com/technology/efi/index.htm
This has a good overview of what efi is and entails, as well as the specifications for it.
There are some good things about it - hardware drivers are easier to develop for it, it allows booting off of non-standard devices, and in some ways very similar to openFirmware. There is also linux support for efi (at least on IA64)
However, it has some serious drawbacks:
The potential is there to implement DRM, and attempt to "lock out" non-signed binaries, etc...
It requires a 100 Mb efi (FAT) partition (so it appears useless for diskless servers)
It appears to me at least that there are some potential serious security flaws to the implementation
Overall, EFI doesn't add anything that LinuxBIOS doesn't (except that EFI has been "blessed" by Microsoft), and it appears to be intel's way of locking in the BIOS market.
I wonder if the primary purpose of the new fund would be to finance a class action suit by kernel developers against SCO for GPL violations? Think of it - Many individual developers could not afford to bring suit on their own against SCO, but they could if they were part of a class action suit funded by RedHat.
The wording is kind of vague, but that is what the announcement implies to me.
Slashdot Mirror
I would add:
7. NK Nuclear test mountain collapsed in on itself and would require significant resources to rebuild. Resources that they no longer have the economic means to acquire.
Agreeing to denuclearize means they get a win without having to substantiate it....
Some could consider this a troll, and I apologize to them since this is an honest question based on this statement, but with regards to abortion - Would killing a female fetus be even more egregious?
Really miss OMG Ponys!!!! Think that was the best slashdot 4/1 ever....
I thought it was the "next" season of Arrested Development (At least, if memory serves me, was the first Popular "Episode Dump" that I remember...
This is why I won't buy a kindle.
One of the dangers that this shows is straight from 1984... How can we trust history when it can be deleted or altered at whim. How can we be sure if the books we download are not altered in any way - At least in Non-DRM form, they can be archived to ensure the consistency of the text over the passage of time
After all, We've always been at war with... (checks kindle) EastAsia
But we need to do something besides crop dusting. Look at the deadzone in the Gulf of Mexico if you have any doubt.
Because of high concentrations of pesticides - If you could spray more frequently, you would not need the high concentrations, therefore less run off... A UAV could be as cheap to operate as any other farm implement without needing specialized training to operate.
Postal/parcel delivery of perhaps the most important things, like organ transplants or something. Otherwise the use is over the top.
Have you ever tried to get next-day delivery to a rural area? There are many parts of the country still that are over 200-300 miles from any major airport. Private pilots are often contracted by the USPS to ferry mail back and forth to these areas.
Search and rescue, maybe. Would Steve Fossett have been found any sooner?
Quite possibly - Pilots are limited to how long they can fly per day. Because there is a shortage of qualified pilots, it limits the time and increases the expense of search and rescue operations.
I believe that it would be more than niche applications. There are many areas in aviation where UAV's would be a boon.
For example, UAV's could be used for fire suppression applications - Whenever there are forest fires (or even the threat of), UAV's could be prepositioned and in the air in a matter of minutes.
Crop Dusting - UAV's could perform this function with better precision, for longer hours.
Post/Parcel delivery
Search and Rescue
All these applications are prone to pilot fatigue and are dangerous commercial applications - I am sure there are many, many more applications where UAV's would make more sense and improve aviation safety.
At the university I work at, this question has also been brought up. In a time when university budgets are getting tighter, IT directors always want to cut costs, and outsourcing email seems to be a hot topic. However, there are some serious considerations:
;-) )
1. FERPA: Outsourcing email opens up the university to all kinds of possible litigation in regards to the federal FERPA regs. How is this addressed?
2. LEA Compliance: Along a similar line, there are time when an institution is required to produce email to law enforcement. How is this handled, what is the process, how long does it take, and what safeguards are in place to protect the students privacy? These are valid questions that, from a monetary standpoint, can cost the institution much more than they would save by outsourcing if not handled correctly. And that would be from a single instance - any sizable institution will have this situation occur multiple times per school year.
3. Security: As we have seen with the recent scandle with Gov. Palin, it is not very hard to crack an email account - Within an institution, attempts to access the account can be monitored, even limited to specific addresses if need be. If the university is doing any kind of research, outsourcing could open up the institution to IP theft not only from other institutions, but from foreign agencies... Just one breach could end up costing the institution millions in research grants. So, the question to ask would be how would this be addressed?
4. User support: At the institution where I work, our help desk staff provides support 24X7 - when there is a problem, how accessible is the companies' help, and how is that support billed??? Is there a phone number that can be called for support?
5. Along with the user support, how does the company handle user education? Yes, it is easy and intuitive for users to use gmail, yahoo, etc... but do these companies do any kind of proactive user education (such as preventing them from replying to known phishing sites...)??? At the institution I am at, we proactively try to handle spammers, phishing, etc... to protect our users (and the university).
These are just things off the top of my head... I am sure I can come up with much, much more of an argument to keep university email inhouse (this doesn't even address future possibilities such as integrated messaging - i.e. tying voicemail to email, etc....)
I must admit that I am biased, however... I am the email administrator at a major university (and I *LIKE* my job
Mods: +1 Insightful
I have believed this for years - All digital information is ultimately a number, and by definition, is not copyrightable. Claiming that a file is copyrighted is equivalent to saying that int((243579!/pi)*27) is copyrighted... (Try it out - no really! I swear it sounds just like Brittany Spears latest single....)
Sir,
.Net-centric (or Microsoft flavor of the day) environment?
It has been my experience that the DoD is generally antagonistic towards the use of Free/Open Source Software in the commands.
Do you envision a wider adoption of Open Source systems in your command, or will it be a
Additionally, will you be looking to Civilian contractors to supplement the Active Duty service members?
Consider this: Mp3 files (as well as most other compression codecs) are a lossy compression codec. Therefore, the resulting file is not a true reproduction of the copyrighted song in question - This would be the equivilant of taking a digital photograph of the Mona Lisa, blowing it up to original proportions (make sure that the pixilation is noticable), and claiming it as the original. Change the Mona Lisa to a copyrighted photograph to make the example more germane.
My other thought is on the nature of digital media. When you look at a digital file in a binary editor, you see a string of 1's and 0's - about 30 million of them in your average mp3 file. However, this string of binary digits is just a number (a very large number, but still a number.) Does this mean that pi can be copyrighted? How about the square root of 2?
Both of my children have type 1, and while this might make the insulin a little cheaper, it's a drop in the bucket compared to the expense of an insulin pump, testing strips, infusion sets, etc.... However, as any parent would agree, the expense means nothing if it keeps our children healthy and happy.
Even though new technology to make managing IDDM easier is constantly coming out, it still doesn't come close to providing a true "cure".
<rant>
And to the idiot who mentioned pancreatic transplant as a "cure", do you realize that you're trading a lifelong dependence on insulin for a lifelong dependence on immunosuppresants to keep the body from rejecting the transplant? I thought not....
</rant>
I used to work for this Asshole when it was first started, and when I quit, I was served with an injunction preventing me to go to work for my new employer, two days after christmas. It didn't matter that NC is a right to work state, and that the company I was going to work for was a consulting company that had NOTHING to do with web hosting - He was just pissed that I had the audacity to leave my low-pay, high stress job for something better. And, from my observations while working there and from what I have heard from people afterwards; unless you leave the company on his terms and with his blessings, you can expect to get sued. BTW - even though the injunction was immediately thrown out when it was heard by a judge, It ended up costing me about 10 grand in lost pay, and legal fees
Which was why, I assume, one of the first things he did when he went "corporate" was NOT to pay the people who got him that far any better, but instead directly hire a lawyer to his staff...
It's my opinion that Clarence Briggs is the Darl McBride of the Web Hosting industry - in fact, when the whole SCO vs IBM litigation was started, I almost had to wonder if Darl wasn't being advised by CB.
To tie this into the parent - It wouldn't occur to them that a large majority might be from proxies... You would have to be experienced enough/smart enough to infer this, And most people that I know who meet these requirements are also smart enough to stay away from AIT. Besides, when has the facts ever been relevant to people like Briggs and McBride
I won't go into how his entire web hosting business is built off of free software...
I wouldn't be suprised if he tried suing me again, just for posting this, - and yes, he has/had little butt warts who's only job (as far as I knew) was to google his name/troll newsgroups for bad press about him or AIT, then spread FUD/Sue/or attempt to discredit the poster.)
btw, this is all my opinion and protected by the first amendment, so FOAD Briggs
The book you are thinking of is Friday by Robert A. Heinlein
I am not sure if you are trolling or if you really are missing the point, so I will give you the benefit of the doubt.
;-)
Lets take two scenarios:
Scenario 1: You write a killer app. You keep it a closed source model, and some greedy big company decides it likes your software and wants to make money from it. Whats to stop them from doing a little reverse engineering, decompiling, and then "adapting" it to make it look like they wrote it? It's not very hard to do, really. And, since your source is closed, the only person that can really prove that SomeBigCo stole your software is you.
What is your recourse? You sue SomeBigCo for copyright infringement. However, you have to prove that you wrote it in the first place, which may or may not be an easy thing to do. SomeBigCo can also throw lots of lawyers at it and it will plod through the legal system. If your lucky and you win, you may see some money in a decade or so. In the mean time, you will need to spend your hard earned money on legal fees.
Scenario 2: You write a killer app. You open source it and use the GPL for the license. You are making money not on sale of the software (although that could be done), but on service, support, and perhaps customizing the software for others. Others have seen your software, liked it and have sent helpful patches and features to you, thereby enhancing your product. SomeBigCo sees it and wants it for their own. They have a choice then - they can either follow the GPL and release any changes as open source (thereby leveraging their developers to your effort), or they adapt it and try to make it their own.
If they release their enhancements as opensource, that is fine because you can incorporate it into your source tree. Since you are making money off service and support, you still have a revenue stream off of your software and that will not diminish by SomeBigCo helping your development.
If they try to make it their own, then you still have copyright law to enforce the copyright of your software. Only this time, since it is GPL, you stand a good chance of getting the Free Software Foundation's lawyers involved, rather than paying for your own. Additionally, a company may have no qualms about stealing software from an individual or even a small company, but only the foolhardy would risk a GPL lawsuit.
How does this protect you from "Open Source Vultures"? By using a service and support model, you will have a steady stream of income regardless of whether you are doing the development. No matter what, if SomeBigCo decides to try and steal your software, you still will need to litigate the issue. However, with a closed source model, your legal expenses will be your burden. Also, don't forget you will need to pay a lawyer to write your license for you, and if not written correctly it could allow SomeBigCo to take your software through a legal loophole. The GPL is a very stong license, and although it is not fully tested in court it is strong enough to considered formidable by the Nazgul of Armonk (IBM's lawyers).
Finally, think of it this way - writing software is very much like the pursuit of scientific research. The very act or reading this is a culmination of work and ideas created by others, all built upon one another to create this gestalt called slashdot
Perhaps I should have made myself a little more clear - reaction mass would be a better term. The energy needed to react with the paint and eject the CO would externally supplied. Again, you are carrying your reaction mass with you, defeating the purpose of the solar sail.
The only difference is that a traditional chemical rocket has the energy needed to eject the reaction mass self contained.
However, since the energy source is externally applied, it can be controlled and can prevent nasty runaway exothermic reactions... (i.e. Boom!)
And this is different from a conventional chemical rocket in what way?
Think about it - you still would need the coating on the sail (fuel) that would then be externally "ignited" by the microwave energy. So you still run into the problem of carrying your fuel source with you. The whole concept of solar sails is supposed to eliminate that need.
Now, whether this may be a more efficient chemical rocket is different topic...
DirectTV uses a digital signal also - I would only experience rain fade during severe thunderstorms and hurricanes... Unfortunately, these were the times I had it tuned exclusively to the weather channel...
I could see a similar situation happening with this
My question is: Anyone who has/had DirectTV understands "rain fade" - will there be a similar degredation of signal whenever there are thunderstorms?
I've pondered the same solution for several years. One of the best points is that it would require that existing laws be enforced. The drawbacks that I have come up with, however, would be attaching "riders" to bills - If a $500 billion spending bill was attached to a law making murder a crime, then anyone voting against it would be supporting murderers and "undermining the rule of law".
You could even make federal laws "permanent" by requiring them to go through the same process as a constitutional amendment. I could see this reducing the "cruft" in the legal system today, and allow unpopular/knee-jerk laws to fade away after, say, six years (to keep it in step with senate terms)
At one time, musicians/composers were supported by patrons (usually nobility) who used their wealth to further the arts.
Perhaps this would be an extension of that idea - only instead of nobility, we have corporations sponsoring musicians to keep the serfs^H^H^H^H^Hconsumers happy...
Interesting that this promotion is precisely the business model that radio has been for all these years...
So, when this ends and downloads slow down, will Fritos, KFC, etc. be the next to give away music downloads? And how long do you think it will take until all music downloads are sponsored by advertising dollars?
Just my $.02
First off - if you haven't already, read the EFI specs: http://www.intel.com/technology/efi/index.htm
This has a good overview of what efi is and entails, as well as the specifications for it.
There are some good things about it - hardware drivers are easier to develop for it, it allows booting off of non-standard devices, and in some ways very similar to openFirmware. There is also linux support for efi (at least on IA64)
However, it has some serious drawbacks:
The potential is there to implement DRM, and attempt to "lock out" non-signed binaries, etc...
It requires a 100 Mb efi (FAT) partition (so it appears useless for diskless servers)
It appears to me at least that there are some potential serious security flaws to the implementation
Overall, EFI doesn't add anything that LinuxBIOS doesn't (except that EFI has been "blessed" by Microsoft), and it appears to be intel's way of locking in the BIOS market.
I wonder if the primary purpose of the new fund would be to finance a class action suit by kernel developers against SCO for GPL violations? Think of it - Many individual developers could not afford to bring suit on their own against SCO, but they could if they were part of a class action suit funded by RedHat.
The wording is kind of vague, but that is what the announcement implies to me.