Yeah, I overgeneralized. I meant specifically the $100 laptop project, but that's not what I wrote.
You can have your money back
on
The CVS Cop-Out
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Most of these people are volunteers! The ones who aren't are probably not working for you.
Seriously, if you aren't happy for the support you're getting, I'm sure there are a lot of people who would be willing to help you with whatever problem you're having, for a fee. Heck, go to a meeting of your local LUG, or any other advocacy group, and you might even get help without paying anything!
As far as I can tell, Debian doesn't have an official stance on the licensing yet, and debian-legal is quite unimpressed with it. The package was accepted into unstable/non-free prematurely, and has a good chance of being withdrawn soon. The article alleges support that really isn't there.
Unless it's my $100 going to pay for third-world laptops, the program isn't going to work.
Consider this hypothetical scenario:
If I could get a hold of a $100 laptop, I'd probably buy two. So would others. Demand for the hardware would skyrocket. FOSS developers' interest in the platform would increase, simply because they have the hardware themselves. The amount of free software that's actually suited for the platform would increase, thus making the platform more valuable. More people buy the laptops.
To meet the demand, manufacturers would increase production. Competition and economies of scale would start to kick in. Prices go down.
Eventually, even a new computer architectures could be developed. Since the entire platform depends *only* on free software, the software is trivially ported to the new architectures. Demand goes up; Production increases; More economies of scale kick in; Prices go down.
Even if the prices of the laptops don't drop enough for the third world to be able to afford them, you can only use so many laptops. Eventually, you'll get tired of the current models (because you want increased battery life, or the screen is scratched, or whatever) and instead of pitching them into the trash, you can send your old laptops to the third world.
I see sub-$100 laptops as being very useful for the first world, and I think, at least hypothetically, that there is some plausibility in the claim that they could help the third world (or, more likely, "developing" countries).
That's a good argument, but not a good one for *only* giving them free software. What about the idea of giving them the best tool for the job?
What will be the best tool for the job in 5 years? In 20 years? Will Sun still be developing Java for Linux in that amount of time? If so, will it be compatible with these $100 laptops (which will probably not be replaced until the equipment wears out completely)?
Free software is the best tool for the job when your job has very long-term goals, and Negroponte knows it.
I call Debian open source, because by RMS's definition, it includes things that are not Free Software.
Eh? Like what? Stuff in non-free doesn't count, since it has been long established that non-free isn't part of Debian proper, but is rather a set of extra stuff that's maintained by the Debian project for the short-term benefit of Debian users.
Open source, in general (although there are exceptions), isn't reliable or dependable. In fact, I find it utterly amazing that a multi-billion dollar company, which has been specializing in software for more than a decade, can't compete on quality against a rag-tag team of squabbling volunteer code monkeys who can barely manage a release schedule.
/* * [...] Note that 120 sec is defined in the protocol as the maximum * possible RTT. I guess we'll have to use something other than TCP * to talk to the University of Mars. * PAWS allows us longer timeouts and large windows, so once implemented * ftp to mars will work nicely. */
Yes... Gates is right, the 'commodity' PC has got lots more years left. OTOH, the drive towards 'specialized PC packages' - which include Hardware AND Software tailored to the needs of specific segments like Hotels, Hospitals etc. will gain momentum.
I find Flash is most useful for headlines (it's the only way to render arbitrary text in an arbitrary size on the user's machine in a specific font they don't have, which, as a graphic desinger, I want to do a LOT of the time)
FYI, it looks terribly unprofessional when you do this.
Slashdot Mirror
-1, Troll? WTF? Mod the parent up, please!
"... oh wait, those are just dead pixels. Sorry; Our bad."
Yeah, I overgeneralized. I meant specifically the $100 laptop project, but that's not what I wrote.
Seriously, if you aren't happy for the support you're getting, I'm sure there are a lot of people who would be willing to help you with whatever problem you're having, for a fee. Heck, go to a meeting of your local LUG, or any other advocacy group, and you might even get help without paying anything!
You are not entitled to be catered to. Grow up.
As far as I can tell, Debian doesn't have an official stance on the licensing yet, and debian-legal is quite unimpressed with it. The package was accepted into unstable/non-free prematurely, and has a good chance of being withdrawn soon. The article alleges support that really isn't there.
Consider this hypothetical scenario:
If I could get a hold of a $100 laptop, I'd probably buy two. So would others. Demand for the hardware would skyrocket. FOSS developers' interest in the platform would increase, simply because they have the hardware themselves. The amount of free software that's actually suited for the platform would increase, thus making the platform more valuable. More people buy the laptops.
To meet the demand, manufacturers would increase production. Competition and economies of scale would start to kick in. Prices go down.
Eventually, even a new computer architectures could be developed. Since the entire platform depends *only* on free software, the software is trivially ported to the new architectures. Demand goes up; Production increases; More economies of scale kick in; Prices go down.
Even if the prices of the laptops don't drop enough for the third world to be able to afford them, you can only use so many laptops. Eventually, you'll get tired of the current models (because you want increased battery life, or the screen is scratched, or whatever) and instead of pitching them into the trash, you can send your old laptops to the third world.
I see sub-$100 laptops as being very useful for the first world, and I think, at least hypothetically, that there is some plausibility in the claim that they could help the third world (or, more likely, "developing" countries).
What will be the best tool for the job in 5 years? In 20 years? Will Sun still be developing Java for Linux in that amount of time? If so, will it be compatible with these $100 laptops (which will probably not be replaced until the equipment wears out completely)?
Free software is the best tool for the job when your job has very long-term goals, and Negroponte knows it.
Eh? Like what? Stuff in non-free doesn't count, since it has been long established that non-free isn't part of Debian proper, but is rather a set of extra stuff that's maintained by the Debian project for the short-term benefit of Debian users.
Yes, Microsoft software is that bad.
Hah! Priceless: The post, and the "Informative" moderation...
I guess that's a hint at where I fall in the distribution...
By definition, no. However, assuming a normal (Gaussian) distribution of intelligences, that's a reasonable approximately.
But with Sony's latest shenanigans, do we have any reason to believe anything they claim?
Ah, never mind. This looks basically like an "apt-get upgrade" for drivers, rather than some new ABI.
Well I hope it is! The last thing we need is a whole bunch of obscure binary blobs running in kernel mode!
The zlib bug was much easier to fix in Debian than it was on to fix Windows, because there were much fewer copies of zlib to update.
Sounds like a cheap cut-down version of the Lamer Exterminator for the PC.
Real Christians use Jesux.
Sounds a lot like IBM's business model...
Well, "supposedly", the only blind person I know uses Lynx with a Braille terminal, hence the comment.
No, the fonts are fine. It's when you make your site an order of magnitude harder to use, just so that you can get those fonts, that's unprofessional.
FYI, it looks terribly unprofessional when you do this.
You are if you need blind people to be able to read your website, you insensitive clod!