I think most Mac users (certainly most I know) wanted some of the features they are getting with "Mac OS X" (it's really Openstep ver. something, at the very least they should drop the damn X and call it Mac OS 10... but I ramble) - they want the power and stability of it, some of them even care about having the underlying command line, though others dont, and even though the Mach kernel is a slow dog (why didn't they use a true BSD kernel? anyone have a clue?) the new Macs are so fast very few will even care about that.
But the one thing you won't see Mac users asking for is a new and totally unfamiliar interface. Aqua is an incredibly stupid move for Apple, given their customer base. It's pretty eye candy, but a very poor UI, and certainly not the one that Mac fans adore and expect. Sure, it impresses Windows (and Enlightenment) users, but to the stalwarts of Apples user base it can hardly be less than sacrilige.
Firstly well written configure scripts are rarely a problem, and well written code makes just fine. Assuming you aren't trying to port it, of course, in which case you should be expecting a few problems.
Secondly, but perhaps more importantly, you're assuming tarball == source tarball - which is totally incorrect. Here's how it goes with a binary tarball.
Much simpler. Yes, there can be problems. There can be problems with other package managers too. In my experience, this is the best. If you like another one, that's fine, use it. But don't go around pretending to know how tarball package management works when you don't - or deliberately building straw men, whichever you did in this case.
Dependency management is an important feature of package management systems.
In your opinion. That opinion is widespread but certainly not universal.
But tools such as rpm or dpkg have
limited handling of dependencies. They're limited to figuring what dependencies a package has and telling the user that an operation
effecting that package cannot be performed until all dependencies are met.
Nope. What you say is true of rpm. The main feature of apt that debian heads think makes it so much better than rpm is that it actually does grab the dependencies for you. A major factual error on your part.
Debian KDE packages are packaged by people that like and use KDE - they have no reason to sabotage it like that. That's totally absurd.
It also doesn't explain why I have the same experience under RedHat and Mandrake - the last of which is a distro that defaults to KDE contributes to KDE aggressively and quite clearly is in love with KDE.
Gnome has it's drawbacks too. I don't use either on a regular basis personally - I use both occasionally (usually for a few days after the release of a major rev) so as to be familiar with them in case I need to support them. So I consider myself fairly objective on the issue. Other than aesthetic preferences, there isn't much difference from the end-user perspective. KDE has bit fuller complement of applications, Gnome is more customizable and happier about working with other WMs... *yawn*. It's just silly that so many KDE people (not just random slashbots, but posters on the official KDE site do this on a regular basis too) continuously assert their technical superiority, and come up with all these wild conspiracy theories to explain why even though they have the clearly superior product some people choose to use something else.
The answer is simple. The product isn't so clearly and self-evidently superior as you want to think. Get over your bad self. Do what causeth you not to wilt and all that stuff - but for your own sake, lose the superiority/inferiority complex and the conspiracy theories, or at least learn to keep them to yourself. They just make you sound like a kook.
Those who called for the boycott thought that it would be better for them (SDMI) to go ahead and waste a ton of money implimenting this technology before it was cracked. I happen to agree with them. But look what's happened. Even though some people didn't honour the boycott, and the "crackability" of their technology has been demonstrated prematurely, the boys in charge seem set on denying reality and pushing it to market anyway.
This is priceless. Go SDMI! After the media companies throw a few billion dollars down the drain on this snake oil, maybe the suits will finally start to realise they have to adapt to reality, not the other way around.
I don't know about KDE, I use Slack 7 with WindowMaker and Gnome and they work just fine.
To go back to the original poster, I agree, the materials on the slackware site are GREAT - regardless of distribution, they cover the basics very well.
While you are absolutely correct as far as you go, ther are two things I think should be clarified. First, the poster is explicitly looking for non-commercial material, given his situation. Secondly, while there is nothing at all wrong with you charging for your product per se (yes, we all have to eat;^) it had better be a damn good product, and very well maintained, else it's not worth the money. Free documentation (libre) has a major advantage in a world of Free software that changes constantly - it can be updated without legal problems. As long as you are actively maintaining your materials, updating them as frequently as the products you describe are updated, you can stay competitive, but that can be a tall order at times.
A suggestion - as time goes on, any material you decide you can't or won't actively maintain and update should be Freed - allowing it to stay useful, be used by more people, and gaining you goodwill and publicity for your for profit offerings.
I'm afraid you misunderstood, the ruling affirmed the injunction against enforcing this law while it's validity is being challenged in court. You wrote as if you thought this was a bad thing?
I'm happy the injunction was upheld, I hope the law is overturned eventually. You are either a proponent of censorship, or simply misunderstood the article. After looking at your page, and applying Occams razor, I am guessing the latter.
If the former is true, I will be truly sad... an intelligent (and beautiful, not that that's pertinent, but it had to be said;^) woman like yourself really should be on our side.
First off, the story was wrong, and the correction predated your post, which makes me go hmmm...
Anyway, your analogy is backwards. The Free software projects are the trees. They may grow better one year than another, but they rarely die... they are the stable base that the vines can grow on. Things like Linux, Apache, Free/Net/OpenBSD, Xfree, GTK, Glibc, GCC, and so many other things - things developed by GNU, by the BSD teams, and so many other groups and individuals that that contribute to the community that any attempt to name them all would take hours and still be sadly incomplete. The commercial apps only exist on the basis of this infrastructure. They can grow and flourish, or shrivel and die, but the community and the infrastructure lives and grows nonetheless.
I have to agree with you - I used Ventura and Framemaker and greatly prefer Ventura. However, Corel is in deep trouble, their attempt to make a comeback via Linux failed (perhaps, in part, because of the sadly negative reaction from so many Linux users, another story) and finally MS bailed them out. So don't expect them to go any further with Linux. Damn shame too, second edition Corel Linux is probably the finest distro for the non-technical windows user crowd in existence. Anyhow... don't expect Ventura for Linux at this point.
The good news is that TeX LeX and LaTeX are here, they are free, they work very well. Yes, they could be more user friendly. But hanging a GUI on a solid mature product is a lot easier than reinventing the wheel.
I'm with you on this - I want my sub-notebook, but I want it running *nix, I could care less about windoze.
As I understand it, the crusoe 3k series is fully 32bit. It doesn't work well with Win9x because of all the legacy 16 bit code that survives in that line of software. The 5k series has extra hardware to handle the 16bit code, making it more complicated and expensive. Bad news is that all the notebooks are using the 5ks, because they generally ship with win9x (ME in this case, same junk.) These chips should run *nix fine - they just have extra stuff that isn't needed for any true 32 bit OS.
This is why things like the AOL device are Good Things [TM] - if those things take off production on the 3k series should ramp up, and the speeds should improve, and that could conceivably lead to 3k based notebooks with better cost/performance ratios for those of us that don't need 16bit code support. I know, I'm dreaming;^), but without the 3k based appliances this is impossible - with them it's merely improbable. The 3k may be objectively less expensive in every way, but economies of scale will destroy that advantage if they can't sell them in quantity.
I spent about half an hour a couple days ago looking for notebook vendors that are Linux-friendly - Emperor Linux sells a variety of laptop/notebook sized 'puters, with optimised Linux install (choice of Redhat Slack or Debian IIRC, custom kernel and X install, all hardware set up and working) and they have the Sony/Crusoe model available. Anyone know anyone else doing this?
Slackware, the original linux distro, and in the opinion of many still the best linux distro, uses BSD inits.
You are entitled to your opinion, however I disagree strongly. SysV is easier for automated installation scripts to handle, perhaps, but IMOP it is infinitely more difficult for a human administrator to keep track of. Opening and reading one file is far easier than following link after link through a number of files.
At any rate, preferences aside, your assertion that Linux==SysV init is false. Linux is not wedded to either system. BSD inits were in use before SysV inits on linux systems, and continue to be used on linux systems.
Well, technically you're correct. The big issue is hardware with open specs though. Open Hardware is hardware where the necessary information to write fully functional drivers is available. Support in Gnu/Linux and other Free Operating Systems usually follows the release of specs rather quickly - but some hardware manufacturers (*cough*NVidia*cough*) refuse to release the information, so OS support is made artificially difficult.
... we shouldn't be indoctrinating anyone. The title of this article is just horrible. Microsoft is doing something so we should too? Perish the thought.
That said, the content, once I got past that idiotic title, was good, and thought provoking. Everyone should read that second link, and the idea of building an armoury of Free textbooks and coursework for learning to use Free systems and tools is a fine one. I know there are already a few works like this available, a site that simply linked those already existing, and new ones as they become available, would be a great contribution.
I'm 15, and I am currently learning the *nix stuff. I am learning to code C. While I enjoy this, I have so much else to do, it is
impossible to learn at the same time as study.
Good for you, and I know where you are coming from - school was a horrible impediment to my education. All that wasted time...
I also cannot afford a *nix box; I only get access to learn by shelling and by using my boyfriend's box. Therefore, I would like to ask
how would you make it possible for the kids to complete their work? Would free shells be provided?
Linux and BSD are both Free, and run on the same hardware that runs windows. Of course, in your case, you may not have a machine with the requisite disk space available (or permission to delete the bugware to make room;^) but in general *nix is becoming very accessible. A lot of schools have hardware that is considered obsolete in the 'doze world, but can still do marvelous things with Free *nix.
Free shells, of course, are not a bad idea either - and there are quite a few out there. Amber.org.uk used to run one, if that's changed look around... and btw, anyone reading this with a static connection and some excess horsepower, please consider opening your system up for educational guest accounts.
Also, I am in the UK. I am sure
that it would be impossible for me to gain access to a teacher, unless over IRC or some other electronic media.
I don't think the UK is that backwards, surely? There are plenty of *nix oriented sites in the UK, LUGs and so forth... that said, IRC and electronic media are great resources also.
I have been a Windowsee all my life (the only choice in my house) and I have converted. So those poor retched souls may have a
chance in the big bad world
The holder of the copyright for the code in question has the power to offer such a deal. I.E. if you hold sole copyright over the piece of code MS wants to use in your example, it is completely within your power to offer them a separate license in return for a donation of a certain size to the FSF.
The original poster misspoke. The GPL does not prevent linking with other free software - the MIT and BSD (as amended) licenses, among others, are perfectly compatible and can be freely linked.
The notion that Slackware doesn't have package management is a falsehood - the fact that it's commonly repeated doesn't make it any less false. Slack package management is, IMHOP far better than RPM, and I've used both extensively. The supposedly "advanced features" of the RPM system have more than once gotten in my way, and many times have gotten in the way of newbies that came to me seeking help as well. The slack pkgtool may be more "primitive" in that it doesn't check dependencies - but checking dependencies can easily cause more problems than it solves. Particularly if you ever install things from source. Slackware package management does just what a package manager should do, installation and removal of packages, and does it very well, with no hassle. It gets an A+ from me - it was the biggest reason I switched to slack.
If you have new 32 processor SUN enterprise box, you probably don't want to do this. On the other hand, if you have a uniprocessor SUN workstation, particularly an older one, Linux will kick Slowaris' butt on it. So, no, it's not a toy, and it's not worthless, it's just not the best solution to every problem. Neither is Solaris.
The icons along the left side are not at all a windowmaker dock, or trying to look like it. They are a windowmaker clip - an attractor for icons. The window decorations are clearly E with the blue-steel theme. The clip is a separate chunk of WM, so it isn't too outrageous to think that it might be able to run under E, although I have never tried it or even thought about it until seeing this shot. Very interesting.
Given the number of pro-gun replies my post recieved, this seems to be a
logical conclusion, that the mojority of Geeks in the US are Right Wing Gun owners. This would also seem to be a
contridiction though, as most Geeks on Slashdot are also Open Source advocates. As Open Source is by it's very nature, a
Socialist, Left Wing ideal, how can so many Geeks also be Right Wing?
This whole post is based on false assumptions. The excerpt above is the closest you come to actually stating them.
Owning a gun does not make someone "right wing." Traditional liberalism is about personal liberties, and the right to keep and bear arms is the lynchpin of all other personal liberties. The right to keep and bear arms was historically the product of the radical left, and many of it's strongest champions hark from that point of view. Elitism tends toward the view that only a few should be allowed the privelige of arms, it is egalitarianism (historically a "left" or "liberal" position) that leads to the view that everyone has the right to arm and if necessary defend themselves.
Free Software, and, to a lesser degree, Open Source, are also coherent expressions of an egalitarian perspective, that believes not just some select elite, but everyone, should have the ability to learn from, and modify, the programming of their computers. These are actually very similar positions.
Now to get back to the topic of the article, one must ask oneself whether UCITA is an expression of the sort of egalitarian worldview that produced the RKBA and Free Software, or of the right-wing elitism that holds that the people cannot be trusted with weapons or with source code? I must submit that it is an expression of the latter, and furthermore it is blatant rent-seeking, an attempt by big business to gain power over their customers by act of legislature. Those of use that believe in the RKBA and Free Software should therefore also oppose UCITA strongly and vocally. Call your state representatives people. Call or write, dead-tree mail, not email, and let them know you are a registered voter in their district, why you don't want UCITA to pass, and that you WILL be looking at how they vote when it comes up.
a Laissez Faire City service, sounds like what you are looking for. Basic service is free beer, but lots of goodies are available if you are willing to pay.
Disclaimer, this is hearsay, I don't actually use the service. Since I'm a little less worried about security than you sound to be, MailandNews.Com has served my needs fine. Secure connections, pop, imap...
Slashdot Mirror
I think most Mac users (certainly most I know) wanted some of the features they are getting with "Mac OS X" (it's really Openstep ver. something, at the very least they should drop the damn X and call it Mac OS 10... but I ramble) - they want the power and stability of it, some of them even care about having the underlying command line, though others dont, and even though the Mach kernel is a slow dog (why didn't they use a true BSD kernel? anyone have a clue?) the new Macs are so fast very few will even care about that.
But the one thing you won't see Mac users asking for is a new and totally unfamiliar interface. Aqua is an incredibly stupid move for Apple, given their customer base. It's pretty eye candy, but a very poor UI, and certainly not the one that Mac fans adore and expect. Sure, it impresses Windows (and Enlightenment) users, but to the stalwarts of Apples user base it can hardly be less than sacrilige.
Firstly well written configure scripts are rarely a problem, and well written code makes just fine. Assuming you aren't trying to port it, of course, in which case you should be expecting a few problems.
Secondly, but perhaps more importantly, you're assuming tarball == source tarball - which is totally incorrect. Here's how it goes with a binary tarball.
wget this_package.tar.gz
installpkg this_package.tar.gz
Much simpler. Yes, there can be problems. There can be problems with other package managers too. In my experience, this is the best. If you like another one, that's fine, use it. But don't go around pretending to know how tarball package management works when you don't - or deliberately building straw men, whichever you did in this case.
In your opinion. That opinion is widespread but certainly not universal.
Nope. What you say is true of rpm. The main feature of apt that debian heads think makes it so much better than rpm is that it actually does grab the dependencies for you. A major factual error on your part.
This is ridiculous.
Debian KDE packages are packaged by people that like and use KDE - they have no reason to sabotage it like that. That's totally absurd.
It also doesn't explain why I have the same experience under RedHat and Mandrake - the last of which is a distro that defaults to KDE contributes to KDE aggressively and quite clearly is in love with KDE.
Gnome has it's drawbacks too. I don't use either on a regular basis personally - I use both occasionally (usually for a few days after the release of a major rev) so as to be familiar with them in case I need to support them. So I consider myself fairly objective on the issue. Other than aesthetic preferences, there isn't much difference from the end-user perspective. KDE has bit fuller complement of applications, Gnome is more customizable and happier about working with other WMs... *yawn*. It's just silly that so many KDE people (not just random slashbots, but posters on the official KDE site do this on a regular basis too) continuously assert their technical superiority, and come up with all these wild conspiracy theories to explain why even though they have the clearly superior product some people choose to use something else.
The answer is simple. The product isn't so clearly and self-evidently superior as you want to think. Get over your bad self. Do what causeth you not to wilt and all that stuff - but for your own sake, lose the superiority/inferiority complex and the conspiracy theories, or at least learn to keep them to yourself. They just make you sound like a kook.
Those who called for the boycott thought that it would be better for them (SDMI) to go ahead and waste a ton of money implimenting this technology before it was cracked. I happen to agree with them. But look what's happened. Even though some people didn't honour the boycott, and the "crackability" of their technology has been demonstrated prematurely, the boys in charge seem set on denying reality and pushing it to market anyway.
This is priceless. Go SDMI! After the media companies throw a few billion dollars down the drain on this snake oil, maybe the suits will finally start to realise they have to adapt to reality, not the other way around.
Huh?
I don't know about KDE, I use Slack 7 with WindowMaker and Gnome and they work just fine.
To go back to the original poster, I agree, the materials on the slackware site are GREAT - regardless of distribution, they cover the basics very well.
While you are absolutely correct as far as you go, ther are two things I think should be clarified. First, the poster is explicitly looking for non-commercial material, given his situation. Secondly, while there is nothing at all wrong with you charging for your product per se (yes, we all have to eat ;^) it had better be a damn good product, and very well maintained, else it's not worth the money. Free documentation (libre) has a major advantage in a world of Free software that changes constantly - it can be updated without legal problems. As long as you are actively maintaining your materials, updating them as frequently as the products you describe are updated, you can stay competitive, but that can be a tall order at times.
A suggestion - as time goes on, any material you decide you can't or won't actively maintain and update should be Freed - allowing it to stay useful, be used by more people, and gaining you goodwill and publicity for your for profit offerings.
I'm afraid you misunderstood, the ruling affirmed the injunction against enforcing this law while it's validity is being challenged in court. You wrote as if you thought this was a bad thing?
I'm happy the injunction was upheld, I hope the law is overturned eventually. You are either a proponent of censorship, or simply misunderstood the article. After looking at your page, and applying Occams razor, I am guessing the latter.
If the former is true, I will be truly sad... an intelligent (and beautiful, not that that's pertinent, but it had to be said ;^) woman like yourself really should be on our side.
First off, the story was wrong, and the correction predated your post, which makes me go hmmm...
Anyway, your analogy is backwards. The Free software projects are the trees. They may grow better one year than another, but they rarely die... they are the stable base that the vines can grow on. Things like Linux, Apache, Free/Net/OpenBSD, Xfree, GTK, Glibc, GCC, and so many other things - things developed by GNU, by the BSD teams, and so many other groups and individuals that that contribute to the community that any attempt to name them all would take hours and still be sadly incomplete. The commercial apps only exist on the basis of this infrastructure. They can grow and flourish, or shrivel and die, but the community and the infrastructure lives and grows nonetheless.
I have to agree with you - I used Ventura and Framemaker and greatly prefer Ventura. However, Corel is in deep trouble, their attempt to make a comeback via Linux failed (perhaps, in part, because of the sadly negative reaction from so many Linux users, another story) and finally MS bailed them out. So don't expect them to go any further with Linux. Damn shame too, second edition Corel Linux is probably the finest distro for the non-technical windows user crowd in existence. Anyhow... don't expect Ventura for Linux at this point.
The good news is that TeX LeX and LaTeX are here, they are free, they work very well. Yes, they could be more user friendly. But hanging a GUI on a solid mature product is a lot easier than reinventing the wheel.
I'm with you on this - I want my sub-notebook, but I want it running *nix, I could care less about windoze.
As I understand it, the crusoe 3k series is fully 32bit. It doesn't work well with Win9x because of all the legacy 16 bit code that survives in that line of software. The 5k series has extra hardware to handle the 16bit code, making it more complicated and expensive. Bad news is that all the notebooks are using the 5ks, because they generally ship with win9x (ME in this case, same junk.) These chips should run *nix fine - they just have extra stuff that isn't needed for any true 32 bit OS.
This is why things like the AOL device are Good Things [TM] - if those things take off production on the 3k series should ramp up, and the speeds should improve, and that could conceivably lead to 3k based notebooks with better cost/performance ratios for those of us that don't need 16bit code support. I know, I'm dreaming ;^), but without the 3k based appliances this is impossible - with them it's merely improbable. The 3k may be objectively less expensive in every way, but economies of scale will destroy that advantage if they can't sell them in quantity.
I spent about half an hour a couple days ago looking for notebook vendors that are Linux-friendly - Emperor Linux sells a variety of laptop/notebook sized 'puters, with optimised Linux install (choice of Redhat Slack or Debian IIRC, custom kernel and X install, all hardware set up and working) and they have the Sony/Crusoe model available. Anyone know anyone else doing this?
Slackware, the original linux distro, and in the opinion of many still the best linux distro, uses BSD inits.
You are entitled to your opinion, however I disagree strongly. SysV is easier for automated installation scripts to handle, perhaps, but IMOP it is infinitely more difficult for a human administrator to keep track of. Opening and reading one file is far easier than following link after link through a number of files.
At any rate, preferences aside, your assertion that Linux==SysV init is false. Linux is not wedded to either system. BSD inits were in use before SysV inits on linux systems, and continue to be used on linux systems.
Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.
Well, technically you're correct. The big issue is hardware with open specs though. Open Hardware is hardware where the necessary information to write fully functional drivers is available. Support in Gnu/Linux and other Free Operating Systems usually follows the release of specs rather quickly - but some hardware manufacturers (*cough*NVidia*cough*) refuse to release the information, so OS support is made artificially difficult.
The .net tld was intended for ISPs. In a few cases it's actually used correctly, check out bellsouth.com and bellsouth.net for instance.
... we shouldn't be indoctrinating anyone. The title of this article is just horrible. Microsoft is doing something so we should too? Perish the thought.
That said, the content, once I got past that idiotic title, was good, and thought provoking. Everyone should read that second link, and the idea of building an armoury of Free textbooks and coursework for learning to use Free systems and tools is a fine one. I know there are already a few works like this available, a site that simply linked those already existing, and new ones as they become available, would be a great contribution.
Good for you, and I know where you are coming from - school was a horrible impediment to my education. All that wasted time...
Linux and BSD are both Free, and run on the same hardware that runs windows. Of course, in your case, you may not have a machine with the requisite disk space available (or permission to delete the bugware to make room ;^) but in general *nix is becoming very accessible. A lot of schools have hardware that is considered obsolete in the 'doze world, but can still do marvelous things with Free *nix.
Free shells, of course, are not a bad idea either - and there are quite a few out there. Amber.org.uk used to run one, if that's changed look around... and btw, anyone reading this with a static connection and some excess horsepower, please consider opening your system up for educational guest accounts.
I don't think the UK is that backwards, surely? There are plenty of *nix oriented sites in the UK, LUGs and so forth... that said, IRC and electronic media are great resources also.
Good for you, and good luck to you.
The holder of the copyright for the code in question has the power to offer such a deal. I.E. if you hold sole copyright over the piece of code MS wants to use in your example, it is completely within your power to offer them a separate license in return for a donation of a certain size to the FSF.
The original poster misspoke. The GPL does not prevent linking with other free software - the MIT and BSD (as amended) licenses, among others, are perfectly compatible and can be freely linked.
The notion that Slackware doesn't have package management is a falsehood - the fact that it's commonly repeated doesn't make it any less false. Slack package management is, IMHOP far better than RPM, and I've used both extensively. The supposedly "advanced features" of the RPM system have more than once gotten in my way, and many times have gotten in the way of newbies that came to me seeking help as well. The slack pkgtool may be more "primitive" in that it doesn't check dependencies - but checking dependencies can easily cause more problems than it solves. Particularly if you ever install things from source. Slackware package management does just what a package manager should do, installation and removal of packages, and does it very well, with no hassle. It gets an A+ from me - it was the biggest reason I switched to slack.
If you have new 32 processor SUN enterprise box, you probably don't want to do this. On the other hand, if you have a uniprocessor SUN workstation, particularly an older one, Linux will kick Slowaris' butt on it. So, no, it's not a toy, and it's not worthless, it's just not the best solution to every problem. Neither is Solaris.
It's trivial to get your SB16 to work in slackware. Edit /etc/rc.d/rc.modules, scroll down to this line:
...and uncomment the appropriate line below that.
The icons along the left side are not at all a windowmaker dock, or trying to look like it. They are a windowmaker clip - an attractor for icons. The window decorations are clearly E with the blue-steel theme. The clip is a separate chunk of WM, so it isn't too outrageous to think that it might be able to run under E, although I have never tried it or even thought about it until seeing this shot. Very interesting.
This whole post is based on false assumptions. The excerpt above is the closest you come to actually stating them.
Owning a gun does not make someone "right wing." Traditional liberalism is about personal liberties, and the right to keep and bear arms is the lynchpin of all other personal liberties. The right to keep and bear arms was historically the product of the radical left, and many of it's strongest champions hark from that point of view. Elitism tends toward the view that only a few should be allowed the privelige of arms, it is egalitarianism (historically a "left" or "liberal" position) that leads to the view that everyone has the right to arm and if necessary defend themselves.
Free Software, and, to a lesser degree, Open Source, are also coherent expressions of an egalitarian perspective, that believes not just some select elite, but everyone, should have the ability to learn from, and modify, the programming of their computers. These are actually very similar positions.
Now to get back to the topic of the article, one must ask oneself whether UCITA is an expression of the sort of egalitarian worldview that produced the RKBA and Free Software, or of the right-wing elitism that holds that the people cannot be trusted with weapons or with source code? I must submit that it is an expression of the latter, and furthermore it is blatant rent-seeking, an attempt by big business to gain power over their customers by act of legislature. Those of use that believe in the RKBA and Free Software should therefore also oppose UCITA strongly and vocally. Call your state representatives people. Call or write, dead-tree mail, not email, and let them know you are a registered voter in their district, why you don't want UCITA to pass, and that you WILL be looking at how they vote when it comes up.
MailVault
a Laissez Faire City service, sounds like what you are looking for. Basic service is free beer, but lots of goodies are available if you are willing to pay.Disclaimer, this is hearsay, I don't actually use the service. Since I'm a little less worried about security than you sound to be, MailandNews.Com has served my needs fine. Secure connections, pop, imap...