"Metallica may invoke the protection of their art, but lawsuits like this have a chilling effect on free speech and, in this case, on the use of software to transmit information freely."
Is it just me or does Katz love to use the phrase, "chilling effect"?
Are the boxes going to be physically in a different location? Are the beta servers located where they are going to be when they go live? The traceroutes from my location are MUCH different from me to www.slashdot.org and beta.slashdot.org. Ah well, just wondering. It probably isn't a very complete beta test if the beta servers are going to be moved to a new location before they do go live.
Many of these so called "Showdowns" or "Benchmark tests" are very similar. They get a few OSs, run a few benchmarks and then make general statements about performance and usability. What I can't figure out is how can you do a NOS comparison without doing detailed tests on security and stability? This is just a publicity article for Win2K. Redhat Linux was probably "thrown in" to get someone to actually READ the article. And btw, if it was meant to be journalistically accurate and unbiased they probably should have waited for the release of Solaris 8 to do the test. God knows they waited on Win2K long enough!
I have a really hard time seeing how Microsoft can use Linux as a defense in Microsoft's "we're not a monopoly" statements and then print this FUD shortly after the closing remarks have been made in the trial. Is Linux a viable alternative to NT or not? According to the trial, yes. According to this article, no. What gives and how does Microsoft get away with this talking out both sides of their mouth?
Like alot of the people who feel so strongly about this subject, I've been visiting/. for a long time. I've seen the quality of posts deteriorate and I totally approve of the moderation system. The only thing I have a problem with is the fact that moderators can't post and moderate in the same thread. I think this is kind of self-defeating to/. because it prevents the very people who should be posting in a thread from posting. If I have to make a choice between moderating down a childish, derogatory, flamebait post and posting a comment of my own, I'll choose moderation every time. Why? Because there ARE alot of good posts on/. but I feel that the bad posts are more detrimental to 'the cause' than the good posts are helping us. This is supposed to be a forum for technical, reasonable and informed discussion./. was never intended to be a voice for every bitch and whine that each individual has. I believe in Free Speech but just as Americans don't have the right to threaten the President's life or slander someone and cause them damage, I feel that Slashdotters don't have the right to intentionally damage the credibility of Slashdot and public forums in general. I really hope that this situation resolves itself, but it didn't for Mac wierdos and it didn't for crazy Amiga fanatics. I just hope we don't start alientating and 'turning off' the very people we are trying to bring 'into the fold'.
You know, we hear this same type of FUD almost everday now. "Oh no! Redhat has IPOd! Oh no! VA might IPO! Oh no! Oh no! Linux has sold out to the man! Somebody is making money off Linux! Linus has sold his soul to Redmond! OH no!". Am I the only one sick of hearing this crap? You can't compare Linux to other types of software, especially other operating systems. You can't tell me that bugs in a NIC driver aren't going to get fixed because it isn't a profitable or highly visible or "sexy" piece of coding. I see hundreds of bugs get fixed with each kernel revision. I see more and more software appearing on Freshmeat And you know what? The vast majority of that software is still free (as in beer AND speech) and is better (or will be better) than it's commercial equivalent. And not all of it is "cool" or "fun" software. I'm continually amazed at the number of utilities and productivity tools (like billing systems, spreadsheets, etc...) that pop up on Freshmeat every day. I know that people are basically greedy. And I know that given the opportunity, a greedy group of individuals could drive even the most stalwart company or concept into the ground. But please stop feeding me these FUD-bars for breakfast. Redhat is not Linux. VA Research is not Linux. Caldera is not Linux. And even Linus will tell you that he isn't Linux. No single company or group of companies is going to dictate the general course that Linux takes. Linux's future will be dictated by it's user base and by the 1000s of individual developers who dontate their time to Linux because they love Linux and they do believe that Open Source software is a good thing.
I totally agree with an earlier post: You can talk all you want about how much these guys have contributed to OSS and Free Software and Linux and blah, blah, blah. But this kind of behavoir embarrasses the crap out of me. Every time I hear footsteps in my cubicle, I flinch because I just KNOW that one of my wonderful IT/NT buddies is getting ready to "rib" me about the latest flame war/holy crusade/bitch-fest going on in the Community. Linux people aren't the only people who read Slashdot and newsgroups, Bruce and Eric. The whole world is watching, and you guys are showing your asses. Please guys, for the sake of the Community, if your going to disagree at least do it in a civilized manner. And if you can't keep it civilized, then for God's sake at least keep it private.
This is exactly what I was thinking when I read her article. Be honest: How many Windows users out there have ever even seen the Windows installation process, much less installed it themselves? Sure, Linux takes a little PC knowledge to install, but no more than Windows does (to install from scratch). This is truly one of the most annoying types of FUD. Any one of the problems she mentioned could (and usually does) pop up during the Windows install process or during everyday use. And what is up with her IDE CDROM story? It was plugged into the sound card IDE port instead of the mobo IDE port? And it wasn't even enabled in the BIOS? This sounds more like a PC manufacturer problem than a Linux install problem.
It's easy to start "dogging" Sun for what appears to be an attempt get end-users/developers to start doing Sun's development for them. But this could end up being a Really Good Thing for Solaris users. If you work in a Solaris shop, or use apps that only run on Solaris, then you are going to be paying for Solaris anyways. A semi-open license may not be as good as a true GPL, but at least it will allow Solaris users a chance to make their OS work better for them. And who knows, if this works well for Sun maybe they will be more apt to semi-open other software. Most people don't mind paying for software that works the way they want it to. So they would be much more willing to pay for software that allows them access to the source code. Good for Sun, good for Sun's customers.
Slashdot Mirror
"Metallica may invoke the protection of their art, but lawsuits like this have a chilling effect on free speech and, in this case, on the use of software to transmit information freely."
Is it just me or does Katz love to use the phrase, "chilling effect"?
Are the boxes going to be physically in a different location? Are the beta servers located where they are going to be when they go live? The traceroutes from my location are MUCH different from me to www.slashdot.org and beta.slashdot.org. Ah well, just wondering. It probably isn't a very complete beta test if the beta servers are going to be moved to a new location before they do go live.
Many of these so called "Showdowns" or "Benchmark tests" are very similar. They get a few OSs, run a few benchmarks and then make general statements about performance and usability. What I can't figure out is how can you do a NOS comparison without doing detailed tests on security and stability? This is just a publicity article for Win2K. Redhat Linux was probably "thrown in" to get someone to actually READ the article. And btw, if it was meant to be journalistically accurate and unbiased they probably should have waited for the release of Solaris 8 to do the test. God knows they waited on Win2K long enough!
I have a really hard time seeing how Microsoft can use Linux as a defense in Microsoft's "we're not a monopoly" statements and then print this FUD shortly after the closing remarks have been made in the trial. Is Linux a viable alternative to NT or not? According to the trial, yes. According to this article, no. What gives and how does Microsoft get away with this talking out both sides of their mouth?
Like alot of the people who feel so strongly about this subject, I've been visiting /. for a long time. I've seen the quality of posts deteriorate and I totally approve of the moderation system. The only thing I have a problem with is the fact that moderators can't post and moderate in the same thread. I think this is kind of self-defeating to /. because it prevents the very people who should be posting in a thread from posting. If I have to make a choice between moderating down a childish, derogatory, flamebait post and posting a comment of my own, I'll choose moderation every time. Why? Because there ARE alot of good posts on /. but I feel that the bad posts are more detrimental to 'the cause' than the good posts are helping us. This is supposed to be a forum for technical, reasonable and informed discussion. /. was never intended to be a voice for every bitch and whine that each individual has. I believe in Free Speech but just as Americans don't have the right to threaten the President's life or slander someone and cause them damage, I feel that Slashdotters don't have the right to intentionally damage the credibility of Slashdot and public forums in general.
I really hope that this situation resolves itself, but it didn't for Mac wierdos and it didn't for crazy Amiga fanatics. I just hope we don't start alientating and 'turning off' the very people we are trying to bring 'into the fold'.
You know, we hear this same type of FUD almost everday now. "Oh no! Redhat has IPOd! Oh no! VA might IPO! Oh no! Oh no! Linux has sold out to the man! Somebody is making money off Linux! Linus has sold his soul to Redmond! OH no!". Am I the only one sick of hearing this crap? You can't compare Linux to other types of software, especially other operating systems. You can't tell me that bugs in a NIC driver aren't going to get fixed because it isn't a profitable or highly visible or "sexy" piece of coding. I see hundreds of bugs get fixed with each kernel revision. I see more and more software appearing on Freshmeat And you know what? The vast majority of that software is still free (as in beer AND speech) and is better (or will be better) than it's commercial equivalent. And not all of it is "cool" or "fun" software. I'm continually amazed at the number of utilities and productivity tools (like billing systems, spreadsheets, etc...) that pop up on Freshmeat every day.
I know that people are basically greedy. And I know that given the opportunity, a greedy group of individuals could drive even the most stalwart company or concept into the ground. But please stop feeding me these FUD-bars for breakfast. Redhat is not Linux. VA Research is not Linux. Caldera is not Linux. And even Linus will tell you that he isn't Linux. No single company or group of companies is going to dictate the general course that Linux takes. Linux's future will be dictated by it's user base and by the 1000s of individual developers who dontate their time to Linux because they love Linux and they do believe that Open Source software is a good thing.
I totally agree with an earlier post: You can talk all you want about how much these guys have contributed to OSS and Free Software and Linux and blah, blah, blah. But this kind of behavoir embarrasses the crap out of me. Every time I hear footsteps in my cubicle, I flinch because I just KNOW that one of my wonderful IT/NT buddies is getting ready to "rib" me about the latest flame war/holy crusade/bitch-fest going on in the Community. Linux people aren't the only people who read Slashdot and newsgroups, Bruce and Eric. The whole world is watching, and you guys are showing your asses.
Please guys, for the sake of the Community, if your going to disagree at least do it in a civilized manner. And if you can't keep it civilized, then for God's sake at least keep it private.
This is exactly what I was thinking when I read her article. Be honest: How many Windows users out there have ever even seen the Windows installation process, much less installed it themselves? Sure, Linux takes a little PC knowledge to install, but no more than Windows does (to install from scratch). This is truly one of the most annoying types of FUD. Any one of the problems she mentioned could (and usually does) pop up during the Windows install process or during everyday use.
And what is up with her IDE CDROM story? It was plugged into the sound card IDE port instead of the mobo IDE port? And it wasn't even enabled in the BIOS? This sounds more like a PC manufacturer problem than a Linux install problem.
It's easy to start "dogging" Sun for what appears to be an attempt get end-users/developers to start doing Sun's development for them. But this could end up being a Really Good Thing for Solaris users. If you work in a Solaris shop, or use apps that only run on Solaris, then you are going to be paying for Solaris anyways. A semi-open license may not be as good as a true GPL, but at least it will allow Solaris users a chance to make their OS work better for them. And who knows, if this works well for Sun maybe they will be more apt to semi-open other software.
Most people don't mind paying for software that works the way they want it to. So they would be much more willing to pay for software that allows them access to the source code. Good for Sun, good for Sun's customers.