is it just me or does it not matter what OS's are being supported? I remember in the mid to late 90s there were a few polls on this kind of thing regarding supporting OS/2 systems over Windows. Back then, UNIX, Netware, and OS/2 owned the server rooms. I remember there was a huge help desk system for some appliance company with a lonely repairman where it was said that they required many times more admins for the Windows computers when there were only 25% or so of their help desk systems running Windows compared to OS/2. I've heard the same kinds of things regarding UNIX shops with some Windows boxes. Maybe that's changed 10-15 years later but from knowing people in government IT, they are still dealing with wanked Windows Registries and tons of security issues along with way too many servers because they've not moved to virtual machines. When Windows became accepted in the server room, it was as if rabbits were let loose in there. A few UNIX boxes turned into hundreds of Windows Server boxes.
Over the years, I've worked at a few places where the desktop computers numbered in the hundreds( over 500 ) and they were UNIX based. I never saw the admins working on a desktop but, as a developer, interfaced with them by email and phone for access to applications. In all cases, I could count the number of admins on one hand. From talking with computer users over the past 20 years, most have no understanding of the kind of uptimes we used to have and they still know darn well what Ctl-Alt-Del means and it's not login.
I agree. Too bad there's no IQ test required for having a child nor driving a multi ton vehicle. No doubt over 50% of those out on the road don't know where the stop/caution/go lights are on the tree.
But there was a big sale at the store and green means I get there faster. It was dumb for that person to assume the light was what they wanted it to be without regarding oncoming traffic. There are way too many morons out there and way too many thinking they are the only ones on the road. We really need auto pilots in these cars and fast.
at what angle? For what speed do they determine the angle to be valid for? I new hood might work but I think directing the viewing angle is a tough one considering the varying speeds and distances drivers must see the light at and from.
the snow piled up on the lower edge of the sun shield should reflect back way more of the LED light so they just need to add a simple circuit( micro ) to use a few of the existing LEDs as sensors and if snow is sensed, temporarily enable either a heating element/resistor or figure out some way to add a little more heat to the current operation.
this only uses extra power when needed but it does require a new design. IMO the companies who sell these LED lights as a full kit should pay for this since it is a design flaw because it does not replace the existing/old lights features.
Headly, nice try but the deal is that I've been following what they've been doing for a few decades. Even the title of the toplevel thread is a joke if you have only followed Microsoft's actions with retards to open file formats over the last decade. The facts are that some people, some businesses, and some governments are using Open Office instead of Microsoft Office so none of those claims are relevant just for that reason and the reason I mentioned.
so what did you add to the debate? nothing, a big ZERO. Thanks for playing the game.
It looks like they've got one of their guys doing online training here.
FYI, none of that matters because there are enough people, businesses, and governments using Open Office that it is a threat just for its potential. It is a classic "innovators dilemma" situation. Besides, it also runs across platforms so that one there there puts it on the 'it is a potential threat' list with its uptake bumping it to the 'it IS a threat' list.
time for a short break from this training session.
Google apps running on Windows is one thing but Google apps running on a non-Windows box is what releases the MS attack squads. It's bad enough that Google is stomping on Windows Mobile on phones but it's another story when they enter the PC or PC-like space as the netbooks do.
It's going to be a clash of titans for sure and I expect Microsoft to end up in court again. They won't let Google come in and walk into their game field and actually compete for the first time. Microsoft is a dirty fighter and always has been so it will be interesting to see what Google really has to pull off this fight. 2010 looks to be a very interesting year.
the subsidized price is from 3G network connectivity contracts so the device can get on that Inter web thing people keep talking about. I think Google needs that Inter web thing around. And it might not be so easy as putting another distro in it. Reports have said that Google wants this thing booting in under 10 seconds and that elimination of the standard BIOS is one way to shave a few seconds. It's not impossible but it won't be as easy as using a standard LiveCD.
I'm all for opening up the playing field to competition and seeing ARM, PPC, and others gain marketshare but we are talking about a standard computer type of device and that's not going to fly with Microsoft. Mostly because of what you stated, they don't have Microsoft Windows to put on it. We have already seen a big hardware company CEO apologize for showing an ARM based netbook at this years CompuTex trade show and he did it with Microsoft on stage with him. We also saw the head of the largest manufacturing association say that they fear Microsoft and say something like non PC stuff is ok for them but PC stuff is scary for them because of Microsoft. If you remember Netscape, they know how to kill babies before they get a chance to grow into something tougher to kill. Just look at how they took a Linux platform, the netbook, and turned it into a Windows XP platform in just over one year. Sure Linux is still on 30% of those netbooks sold worldwide but the press tells everyone Windows is _the_ netbook OS and mom and pop believe them.
There's bucket loads of potential and capabilities in ARM on netbooks but Microsoft will not let that grab hold if they have any say in it. So there's a good chance we'll see more illegal activities by them and will probably see them in court again in 5 years. But we may also see that ARM netbook start to blossom and then get mowed down by MS. Intel is no saint either so it's going to be a backroom battle once again. IMO.
but can the BSA be sent after them in this case? what I mean is that they now would have to send out a different team and make up a whole new set of legal documents and procedures to go after the copyright infringements. It's not going to be the same MiB squad who has been running around looking for software pirating infractions. If anything, those people will have to be trained on handing the new issue here and now they won't be able to just look at the screen, see Windows XP, and as for the license. They'll be wasting time on these decoy systems.
Surprisingly, they really went about it the wrong way though. They should have made Windows look like Linux so when these people see computers which don't look like they are running Windows, they'll just keep on walking.
I see, the old 'Windows is easy and Linux isn't' misconception again. How about a race? On one side you have a Linux box and you have to configure, build, and install an application from a source tarball and on the other side, you have to clean up an infected Windows box.
Guess which one will probably take up more of your time. hint: it does not begin with Win.
I've seen it over and over where developers will zing me for how much time it may take me to do some strange experiment on a Linux box when they may not even be able to do it on their Windows box or, they'd have to go out and purchase software( and fill all the paperwork for that ) and install all the software when they get it themselves. Or what's worst, they'll spend way more time fixing Windows Registry fiasco's and dealing with anti-virus issues. Every time, they don't see their own time spend dealing with maintaining Windows as an expense of using the system but they see me tracking down an added library package to get a task completed as unproductive. They will often use this as an excuse to say that Linux takes more time to use than Windows so they're sticking with Windows.
"ignorance is bliss" as they say or maybe it's "you can't teach an old dog new tricks". Whatever it is which keeps these people from seeing the costs of running on the Microsoft treadmill, I do see more and more younger people willing to try this Linux stuff.
he is beaten silly trying to put his pants out. Remember the person who dropped their iPod down the toilet and tried to get it out and even asked the stewardess for help or explained what happened? they considered that a terrorist act until they "got to the bottom of it". Literally. There are a few other examples of how obvious things got turned into terrorist acts until the "investigation" was concluded and quietly, if you looked, you'd find that it was nothing.
I'm not saying that there isn't a chance something harmful was intended but there's lots of evidence which shows people are pretty dumb about this stuff. Erroring on the side of caution is one thing, believing the common person on a plane to understand what really happened or to let the press tell it is asking for getting it wrong. IMO.
for close to two decades, if you talked with a Java developer he/she didn't want to talk about the client side of things. In the early years, client side Java was the buzz but Microsoft did a good job at killing that by initially diluting its portability and then spreading FUD to Windows developers regarding its value on the client. In the last 5 years, I've finally seen the server side folk start talking about the client but it's now pretty much AJAX and Flash.
As far as Java being complicated goes, that is not true but when you talk to Java enterprise developers they will probably start talking way over your head because of all the tools and systems required to make a robust, secure, and scalable enterprise system. So while Microsoft markets their VisualBasic type stuff at the low lying fruit/masses there's nobody talking about or marketing Java Servlets or better yet, Java Server Pages( JSP ). Microsoft is a great marketing company and they have an army of people/companies who wait to hear from them and use only their software. You know, the "We're a Microsoft shop" crowd. So while the worlds hard core developers were building enterprise software using complex Java based tools, Microsoft started marketing their their replacement for Java to the lower lying Visual Basic type crowd and Sun, IBM, and others had moved beyond that in the previous decade.
This is a standard method Microsoft uses to grow its replacement technologies when it's time for them to attack a threat to their monopoly. The document trail of court documents shows that MS.Net was the next tool used to battle cross platform Java. It was devised as the main method of attack after changing Visual J++ to a polluted version of Java was first released. They most likely knew that the license they signed with Sun would end up in court once they changed VJ++ from compliance to non-compliance with the license.
So even if Sun came up with a lightweight version of the vm and a "simpler" language it was/is the marketing and developer face time which is missing. Microsoft is the king of marketing to the 'good enough' crowd and that has done them well for over 20 years. And Sun still would have the big problem of getting the jvm pre-installed on desktops. It wasn't just the browser which turned Microsoft's guns on Netscape. It was the fact that they were partnering with Sun and getting Java pre-loaded with the browser and all that CORBA and other cross platform development APIs getting loaded on desktops. The plan in the 90s was for the browser to become the platform and that was/is a threat to Microsoft's cash cow, Windows. You don't mess with Microsoft's cow and live to tell about it. IMO
MS Office for Mac only exists because of the anti-trust issues they had. It's one product and MS Sliverlight is not on Linux and if it is on Mac, it's temporary at best just like MS IE for Mac was to kill off Netscape and then was terminated.
where are their iPhone apps? Where are their Android apps? Where are their Apache modules or app servers? Please don't refer to a token as proof, it's not.
um, despite YOUR narrow view I'm not offended that OSS exists on Windows. It's just that Microsoft is behind this and given their history, it's not about enabling anyone but their platform and more likely it'll harm someone. They have a history of limiting choice to protect their monopoly. That's not a tenant of competition I like. BTW, I've handed out The OpenCD and often recommend OSS for Windows users. This is about who's backing this Codeplex Foundation. that's it.
excuse me but I just figured that this Codeplex Foundation was a Microsoft project and seeing you are the President... Let me go look at the Board for a minute.... Wow, it sure looks like it is very much a Microsoft org. Here is the public listing for the Codeplex Foundations board members: Sam Ramji, President _note: there is no corporate affiliation listed_
Bill Staples, Vice President Microsoft
Stephanie Davies Boesch, Secretary & Treasurer Microsoft
Miguel de Icaza Novell
D. Britton Johnston Microsoft
Shaun Bruce Walker DotNetNuke
Looking at the list, out of six there are 3 current Microsoft employees, you were with Microsoft and their Linux Lab so you're still labeled a Microserf IMO, Miguel has wanted to be a Microsoft employee for years, and Shawn looks to be pretty much tied to Microsoft's.Net platform. It kind of looks like this is a Microsoft designed and orchestrated project to me.
The list of Advisors also lists about 50% Microsoft employees so this is pretty much a Microsoft project Sam so your position at a company which uses Linux has little value.
A quick read of your comments in the article made the hair on the back of my neck stand up with your comments about the Codeplex Foundation helping assist businesses with open source software and what really got me was the bit about the organization having ownership of code in the projects. As we've seen with some GPL'ed projects, the owner of the code is still that, the owner of the code and that owner has the legal right to change the license at any time. So is this really just a place for Microsoft to dump code, say it's "open source" and trick businesses into handing their code over to Microsoft while all the time letting them think it is not a Microsoft game to subvert GPL'ed software. Or better yet, Microsoft implements various GPL'ed projects in MS.Net and uses the Codeplex Foundation to get businesses to work from Microsoft's code instead of any existing GPL'ed project. hmmm, sure makes me wonder what you and the crew are up to here with Micrsoft.
And Sam, what exactly does this mean? "While I was at Microsoft I focused on helping the company understand the range of options with open source strategies." specifically this, "understand the range of options with open source strategies". When one looks at the big picture of how Microsoft views and acts on open standards and open source software under the GPL this seems pretty vague. Was your job at Microsoft to help them understand how to work with open source software outside of the vast number of GPL'ed projects? I suppose that without GNU/Linux Microsoft would probably care very little about the GPL and open source so that has to be part of the game too.
The Codeplex Foundation looks to be designed to dilute what GPL'ed open source software is to businesses and to actively present them with a carrot of a Microsoft designed and controlled process instead but hiding that fact. Very much like OASIS was cause for MS Office Open XML and all that taking over of the ISO committees etc. Not stuff to give a warm fuzzy about trusting Microsoft or any of their projects. IMO
Something about the article seemed strange to me since I thought this guy had left Microsoft and that he was one of their internal trainees via Microsoft's Linux Lab. I found articles about his departure from Microsoft in September of this year for a SV startup but this says that he's still with Microsoft. I even found a blog by Hilf, another MS trainee on how to defend against OSS using the MS Linux Lab which talks about Ramji's departure from Microsoft.
So who has more history on this guy? And given Microsoft mantra of Windows everywhere and the fact that they don't write software for anything but Windows, "working with OSS" from this guy or any Microsoft exec is their way of saying 'working to diminish OSS in the marketplace'.
So anything this guy says, as a Microsoft employee, is hogwash and worth less than the electrons used to xmit it. IMO
a woman is pulled from the boarding line for 'routine' questioning and when the TSA people continue to ask pretty obviously dumb questions the woman starts getting upset with their wasting of her time. This give the TSA people more motivation to hold her longer and she misses the flight. But, her bags are still on the plane. When the plane lands, the pilot is directed to taxi to a remote area of the airport where her bags are pulled off the plane because she never boarded and bags without a passenger are a no-no. Remember, they didn't catch this before the plane took off, they did this after the plane landed at its destination. They then blew up her luggage to make sure it was harmless. Remember, this is after the plane landed and hours after the TSA questioning incident.
Sometimes, people with more power than intelligence do dumb things.
Unfortunately, this is how the system works and it is just one reason why people who've noticed this stuff dislike the company so much. Add too it how they continually drag their feet working out a solution just like they did here. It took them 12 months to get to this "solution" after Microsoft proposed having Internet Explorer already installed and used as the method to display the selection. I don't doubt that this "solution" is also going to take over a year to implement and test so don't hold your breath that any change is going to happen soon.
IMO, the OS war still rages on and Microsoft knows the legal system can do little to contain their battle techniques.
all this says is the the EU accepts their proposal for something as simple as giving users a choice of browser when first starting their computer or changing their browser. And it only took 12 months to get to this point. Now, in typical Microsoft fashion, the length of time it'll take to implement this is most likely going to be out about 18 months. I say 18 months because that's the norm for them implementing things which enable customers to use some other companies product(s). IMO
then the 17 years of protection by the patents is pretty much over. And if they published this information before they filed the patent then it's now in public domain anyways.
I'd read that our atmosphere was once mostly CO2 and nothing could live in it until something triggered some plant life which could and the plants generated the O2 while storing the Carbon in their structures. Massive plant growth absorbed massive amounts of the CO2 and that's where our oil comes from. We're now putting that CO2 back in the atmosphere by burning that oil. If there's anything to that then the question should be, what put so much CO2 in our atmosphere and at what point will the CO2 levels need to be to eliminate or diminish life as we know it? And maybe also was the Hydrogen already in the atmosphere and the plants also gave off H2O?
Slashdot Mirror
is it just me or does it not matter what OS's are being supported? I remember in the mid to late 90s there were a few polls on this kind of thing regarding supporting OS/2 systems over Windows. Back then, UNIX, Netware, and OS/2 owned the server rooms. I remember there was a huge help desk system for some appliance company with a lonely repairman where it was said that they required many times more admins for the Windows computers when there were only 25% or so of their help desk systems running Windows compared to OS/2. I've heard the same kinds of things regarding UNIX shops with some Windows boxes. Maybe that's changed 10-15 years later but from knowing people in government IT, they are still dealing with wanked Windows Registries and tons of security issues along with way too many servers because they've not moved to virtual machines. When Windows became accepted in the server room, it was as if rabbits were let loose in there. A few UNIX boxes turned into hundreds of Windows Server boxes.
Over the years, I've worked at a few places where the desktop computers numbered in the hundreds( over 500 ) and they were UNIX based. I never saw the admins working on a desktop but, as a developer, interfaced with them by email and phone for access to applications. In all cases, I could count the number of admins on one hand. From talking with computer users over the past 20 years, most have no understanding of the kind of uptimes we used to have and they still know darn well what Ctl-Alt-Del means and it's not login.
LoB
I agree. Too bad there's no IQ test required for having a child nor driving a multi ton vehicle. No doubt over 50% of those out on the road don't know where the stop/caution/go lights are on the tree.
LoB
But there was a big sale at the store and green means I get there faster. It was dumb for that person to assume the light was what they wanted it to be without regarding oncoming traffic. There are way too many morons out there and way too many thinking they are the only ones on the road. We really need auto pilots in these cars and fast.
LoB
at what angle? For what speed do they determine the angle to be valid for? I new hood might work but I think directing the viewing angle is a tough one considering the varying speeds and distances drivers must see the light at and from.
LoB
the snow piled up on the lower edge of the sun shield should reflect back way more of the LED light so they just need to add a simple circuit( micro ) to use a few of the existing LEDs as sensors and if snow is sensed, temporarily enable either a heating element/resistor or figure out some way to add a little more heat to the current operation.
this only uses extra power when needed but it does require a new design. IMO the companies who sell these LED lights as a full kit should pay for this since it is a design flaw because it does not replace the existing/old lights features.
LoB
Headly, nice try but the deal is that I've been following what they've been doing for a few decades. Even the title of the toplevel thread is a joke if you have only followed Microsoft's actions with retards to open file formats over the last decade. The facts are that some people, some businesses, and some governments are using Open Office instead of Microsoft Office so none of those claims are relevant just for that reason and the reason I mentioned.
so what did you add to the debate? nothing, a big ZERO. Thanks for playing the game.
LoB
It looks like they've got one of their guys doing online training here.
FYI, none of that matters because there are enough people, businesses, and governments using Open Office that it is a threat just for its potential. It is a classic "innovators dilemma" situation. Besides, it also runs across platforms so that one there there puts it on the 'it is a potential threat' list with its uptake bumping it to the 'it IS a threat' list.
time for a short break from this training session.
LoB
Google apps running on Windows is one thing but Google apps running on a non-Windows box is what releases the MS attack squads. It's bad enough that Google is stomping on Windows Mobile on phones but it's another story when they enter the PC or PC-like space as the netbooks do.
It's going to be a clash of titans for sure and I expect Microsoft to end up in court again. They won't let Google come in and walk into their game field and actually compete for the first time. Microsoft is a dirty fighter and always has been so it will be interesting to see what Google really has to pull off this fight. 2010 looks to be a very interesting year.
LoB
the subsidized price is from 3G network connectivity contracts so the device can get on that Inter web thing people keep talking about. I think Google needs that Inter web thing around. And it might not be so easy as putting another distro in it. Reports have said that Google wants this thing booting in under 10 seconds and that elimination of the standard BIOS is one way to shave a few seconds. It's not impossible but it won't be as easy as using a standard LiveCD.
I'm all for opening up the playing field to competition and seeing ARM, PPC, and others gain marketshare but we are talking about a standard computer type of device and that's not going to fly with Microsoft. Mostly because of what you stated, they don't have Microsoft Windows to put on it. We have already seen a big hardware company CEO apologize for showing an ARM based netbook at this years CompuTex trade show and he did it with Microsoft on stage with him. We also saw the head of the largest manufacturing association say that they fear Microsoft and say something like non PC stuff is ok for them but PC stuff is scary for them because of Microsoft. If you remember Netscape, they know how to kill babies before they get a chance to grow into something tougher to kill. Just look at how they took a Linux platform, the netbook, and turned it into a Windows XP platform in just over one year. Sure Linux is still on 30% of those netbooks sold worldwide but the press tells everyone Windows is _the_ netbook OS and mom and pop believe them.
There's bucket loads of potential and capabilities in ARM on netbooks but Microsoft will not let that grab hold if they have any say in it. So there's a good chance we'll see more illegal activities by them and will probably see them in court again in 5 years. But we may also see that ARM netbook start to blossom and then get mowed down by MS. Intel is no saint either so it's going to be a backroom battle once again. IMO.
LoB
but can the BSA be sent after them in this case? what I mean is that they now would have to send out a different team and make up a whole new set of legal documents and procedures to go after the copyright infringements. It's not going to be the same MiB squad who has been running around looking for software pirating infractions. If anything, those people will have to be trained on handing the new issue here and now they won't be able to just look at the screen, see Windows XP, and as for the license. They'll be wasting time on these decoy systems.
Surprisingly, they really went about it the wrong way though. They should have made Windows look like Linux so when these people see computers which don't look like they are running Windows, they'll just keep on walking.
LoB
I see, the old 'Windows is easy and Linux isn't' misconception again. How about a race? On one side you have a Linux box and you have to configure, build, and install an application from a source tarball and on the other side, you have to clean up an infected Windows box.
Guess which one will probably take up more of your time. hint: it does not begin with Win.
I've seen it over and over where developers will zing me for how much time it may take me to do some strange experiment on a Linux box when they may not even be able to do it on their Windows box or, they'd have to go out and purchase software( and fill all the paperwork for that ) and install all the software when they get it themselves. Or what's worst, they'll spend way more time fixing Windows Registry fiasco's and dealing with anti-virus issues. Every time, they don't see their own time spend dealing with maintaining Windows as an expense of using the system but they see me tracking down an added library package to get a task completed as unproductive. They will often use this as an excuse to say that Linux takes more time to use than Windows so they're sticking with Windows.
"ignorance is bliss" as they say or maybe it's "you can't teach an old dog new tricks". Whatever it is which keeps these people from seeing the costs of running on the Microsoft treadmill, I do see more and more younger people willing to try this Linux stuff.
LoB
he is beaten silly trying to put his pants out. Remember the person who dropped their iPod down the toilet and tried to get it out and even asked the stewardess for help or explained what happened? they considered that a terrorist act until they "got to the bottom of it". Literally. There are a few other examples of how obvious things got turned into terrorist acts until the "investigation" was concluded and quietly, if you looked, you'd find that it was nothing.
I'm not saying that there isn't a chance something harmful was intended but there's lots of evidence which shows people are pretty dumb about this stuff. Erroring on the side of caution is one thing, believing the common person on a plane to understand what really happened or to let the press tell it is asking for getting it wrong. IMO.
LoB
for close to two decades, if you talked with a Java developer he/she didn't want to talk about the client side of things. In the early years, client side Java was the buzz but Microsoft did a good job at killing that by initially diluting its portability and then spreading FUD to Windows developers regarding its value on the client. In the last 5 years, I've finally seen the server side folk start talking about the client but it's now pretty much AJAX and Flash.
.Net was the next tool used to battle cross platform Java. It was devised as the main method of attack after changing Visual J++ to a polluted version of Java was first released. They most likely knew that the license they signed with Sun would end up in court once they changed VJ++ from compliance to non-compliance with the license.
As far as Java being complicated goes, that is not true but when you talk to Java enterprise developers they will probably start talking way over your head because of all the tools and systems required to make a robust, secure, and scalable enterprise system. So while Microsoft markets their VisualBasic type stuff at the low lying fruit/masses there's nobody talking about or marketing Java Servlets or better yet, Java Server Pages( JSP ). Microsoft is a great marketing company and they have an army of people/companies who wait to hear from them and use only their software. You know, the "We're a Microsoft shop" crowd. So while the worlds hard core developers were building enterprise software using complex Java based tools, Microsoft started marketing their their replacement for Java to the lower lying Visual Basic type crowd and Sun, IBM, and others had moved beyond that in the previous decade.
This is a standard method Microsoft uses to grow its replacement technologies when it's time for them to attack a threat to their monopoly. The document trail of court documents shows that MS
So even if Sun came up with a lightweight version of the vm and a "simpler" language it was/is the marketing and developer face time which is missing. Microsoft is the king of marketing to the 'good enough' crowd and that has done them well for over 20 years. And Sun still would have the big problem of getting the jvm pre-installed on desktops. It wasn't just the browser which turned Microsoft's guns on Netscape. It was the fact that they were partnering with Sun and getting Java pre-loaded with the browser and all that CORBA and other cross platform development APIs getting loaded on desktops. The plan in the 90s was for the browser to become the platform and that was/is a threat to Microsoft's cash cow, Windows. You don't mess with Microsoft's cow and live to tell about it. IMO
LoB
thanks for summarizing and it sounds like a good move for the project.
LoB
sounds like they really don't know who they are up against. ie, they don't know their enemy and that tends to be a very bad thing.
LoB
MS Office for Mac only exists because of the anti-trust issues they had. It's one product and MS Sliverlight is not on Linux and if it is on Mac, it's temporary at best just like MS IE for Mac was to kill off Netscape and then was terminated.
where are their iPhone apps? Where are their Android apps? Where are their Apache modules or app servers? Please don't refer to a token as proof, it's not.
LoB
um, despite YOUR narrow view I'm not offended that OSS exists on Windows. It's just that Microsoft is behind this and given their history, it's not about enabling anyone but their platform and more likely it'll harm someone. They have a history of limiting choice to protect their monopoly. That's not a tenant of competition I like. BTW, I've handed out The OpenCD and often recommend OSS for Windows users. This is about who's backing this Codeplex Foundation. that's it.
LoB
excuse me but I just figured that this Codeplex Foundation was a Microsoft project and seeing you are the President... Let me go look at the Board for a minute.... Wow, it sure looks like it is very much a Microsoft org. Here is the public listing for the Codeplex Foundations board members:
.Net platform. It kind of looks like this is a Microsoft designed and orchestrated project to me.
.Net and uses the Codeplex Foundation to get businesses to work from Microsoft's code instead of any existing GPL'ed project. hmmm, sure makes me wonder what you and the crew are up to here with Micrsoft.
Sam Ramji, President
_note: there is no corporate affiliation listed_
Bill Staples, Vice President
Microsoft
Stephanie Davies Boesch, Secretary & Treasurer
Microsoft
Miguel de Icaza
Novell
D. Britton Johnston
Microsoft
Shaun Bruce Walker
DotNetNuke
Looking at the list, out of six there are 3 current Microsoft employees, you were with Microsoft and their Linux Lab so you're still labeled a Microserf IMO, Miguel has wanted to be a Microsoft employee for years, and Shawn looks to be pretty much tied to Microsoft's
The list of Advisors also lists about 50% Microsoft employees so this is pretty much a Microsoft project Sam so your position at a company which uses Linux has little value.
A quick read of your comments in the article made the hair on the back of my neck stand up with your comments about the Codeplex Foundation helping assist businesses with open source software and what really got me was the bit about the organization having ownership of code in the projects. As we've seen with some GPL'ed projects, the owner of the code is still that, the owner of the code and that owner has the legal right to change the license at any time. So is this really just a place for Microsoft to dump code, say it's "open source" and trick businesses into handing their code over to Microsoft while all the time letting them think it is not a Microsoft game to subvert GPL'ed software. Or better yet, Microsoft implements various GPL'ed projects in MS
And Sam, what exactly does this mean? "While I was at Microsoft I focused on helping the company understand the range of options with open source strategies." specifically this, "understand the range of options with open source strategies". When one looks at the big picture of how Microsoft views and acts on open standards and open source software under the GPL this seems pretty vague. Was your job at Microsoft to help them understand how to work with open source software outside of the vast number of GPL'ed projects? I suppose that without GNU/Linux Microsoft would probably care very little about the GPL and open source so that has to be part of the game too.
The Codeplex Foundation looks to be designed to dilute what GPL'ed open source software is to businesses and to actively present them with a carrot of a Microsoft designed and controlled process instead but hiding that fact.
Very much like OASIS was cause for MS Office Open XML and all that taking over of the ISO committees etc. Not stuff to give a warm fuzzy about trusting Microsoft or any of their projects. IMO
LoB
Something about the article seemed strange to me since I thought this guy had left Microsoft and that he was one of their internal trainees via Microsoft's Linux Lab. I found articles about his departure from Microsoft in September of this year for a SV startup but this says that he's still with Microsoft. I even found a blog by Hilf, another MS trainee on how to defend against OSS using the MS Linux Lab which talks about Ramji's departure from Microsoft.
So who has more history on this guy? And given Microsoft mantra of Windows everywhere and the fact that they don't write software for anything but Windows, "working with OSS" from this guy or any Microsoft exec is their way of saying 'working to diminish OSS in the marketplace'.
So anything this guy says, as a Microsoft employee, is hogwash and worth less than the electrons used to xmit it. IMO
LoB
a woman is pulled from the boarding line for 'routine' questioning and when the TSA people continue to ask pretty obviously dumb questions the woman starts getting upset with their wasting of her time. This give the TSA people more motivation to hold her longer and she misses the flight. But, her bags are still on the plane. When the plane lands, the pilot is directed to taxi to a remote area of the airport where her bags are pulled off the plane because she never boarded and bags without a passenger are a no-no. Remember, they didn't catch this before the plane took off, they did this after the plane landed at its destination. They then blew up her luggage to make sure it was harmless. Remember, this is after the plane landed and hours after the TSA questioning incident.
Sometimes, people with more power than intelligence do dumb things.
LoB
Unfortunately, this is how the system works and it is just one reason why people who've noticed this stuff dislike the company so much. Add too it how they continually drag their feet working out a solution just like they did here. It took them 12 months to get to this "solution" after Microsoft proposed having Internet Explorer already installed and used as the method to display the selection. I don't doubt that this "solution" is also going to take over a year to implement and test so don't hold your breath that any change is going to happen soon.
IMO, the OS war still rages on and Microsoft knows the legal system can do little to contain their battle techniques.
LoB
all this says is the the EU accepts their proposal for something as simple as giving users a choice of browser when first starting their computer or changing their browser. And it only took 12 months to get to this point. Now, in typical Microsoft fashion, the length of time it'll take to implement this is most likely going to be out about 18 months. I say 18 months because that's the norm for them implementing things which enable customers to use some other companies product(s). IMO
LoB
put a bigger fan in it. lol
LoB
then the 17 years of protection by the patents is pretty much over. And if they published this information before they filed the patent then it's now in public domain anyways.
LoB
I'd read that our atmosphere was once mostly CO2 and nothing could live in it until something triggered some plant life which could and the plants generated the O2 while storing the Carbon in their structures. Massive plant growth absorbed massive amounts of the CO2 and that's where our oil comes from. We're now putting that CO2 back in the atmosphere by burning that oil. If there's anything to that then the question should be, what put so much CO2 in our atmosphere and at what point will the CO2 levels need to be to eliminate or diminish life as we know it? And maybe also was the Hydrogen already in the atmosphere and the plants also gave off H2O?
LoB