It is illegal to distribute closed source apps without the license. It doesn't matter if you think what you are doing is not for profit or doing any 'harm'. Google is even required by law to enforce its copyright. The answer is not to complain about google doing evil or about how it is 'harmless' to use this software illegally but to make free software clones of the apps and avoid the legal non-sense altogether. And in most cases, you don't even need to make them... they are already done.
This is something that must be understood. Some "alternative" GNU/Linux distros out there love to include things like Skype and flash without any license. It is illegal doing so, and the reason most of the major distros don't do it. (Some of them don't do it because they don't like proprietary software, but most of them really do it just to avoid the copyright infrigement).
Mein gott... No, even the most advanced modding = basically just working around tons of black boxes. OLPC's vision = constructivism through completely transparent code. You can't even compare them. Sorry. For education, modding would be just a joke in comparison to what the OLPC is looking for.
Though maybe modding is a better way to "train" kids rather than making them learn. Modding will train them for a world in which real programming, real freedom and real rule-setting is made by some faceless council of more 'special people', and you just get the black box version in which you have to comply with everything they say while trying to work around everything. At the end of the day you truly have no idea how things work, you just know that if you do X , Y happens. You are given the impression you can express yourself, but you actually can't do it beyond the closed canvas imposed by the random council... You are free to do as much as you stay inside the box. Great training.
Anyway, windows 7 = "almost" as fast as XP, XP = not fast enough for netbooks and definitely not the OLPC. Also have to consider the real cost of windows is, MS ULTRA CHEAP OMG WINDOWZ LIZENZES are actually meant to be paid for real later...
The essential implication seems to be that your longevity in employment has absolutely nothing to do with your actual work. Rather, it has everything to do with someone else's perception of you, and said perception doesn't necessarily need to have any honest or factual relationship with your work output whatsoever.
You may call it corruption but this is 95% of how life works.
I think a better question than 'Why bother' would be 'could they at least bother?'.Your theory that FOSS developers may not like MS trying to get more open source with confidence may be true or not, who knows? But we may never know... Since so far MS has not even tried to do so...
I mean seriously, what the hell is this? It looks like some attempt to make OS more patent friendly. Honestly, patents and open source mix just as well as a clown and the pope.
Meh , you would wonder if Icaza is intentionally misleading or just clueless. He is a capable developer so I'll pick the former. There is no campaign to rename 'Linux' into GNU/Linux, but a campaign to actually name the OS completely. Linux does not do any code compilation, Linux is not a shell, etc. Miguel Icaza should know better what a kernel is and what it isn't.
It is fair to argue that "Linux" is the defacto name of the whole OS, but Icaza shouldn't be claiming that GNU/Linux is an attempt to rename Linux... It is just an attempt to give credit to GNU for the tools that make the kernel actually usable. People calling the OS GNU/Linux, have not changed the kernel's name. I would have no qualms if Icaza simply said that it was an attempt to give GNU more credit than it deserved, I guess it is arguable. But to call it an attempt to rename Linux is simply misleading, and that's the problem . Icaza lately has been playing too much for the other side, so I am not even sure anymore if he is being intentionally misleading or if it was just a honest mistake from his part.
That's funny. I do it on a daily basis. It's your understanding of how science happens that needs a bit of reworking. Or maybe just a groking of the difference between "data" and "proof"..
Actually, you seem quite a lot off. There are drastic differences between Post_hoc_ergo_propter_hoc (Y happened after X, therefore X causes Y) and what the gp pointed out (and what you are reducing to the absurd "I did X and Y happened" stuff.
That's funny. I do it on a daily basis. It's your understanding of how science happens that needs a bit of reworking. Or maybe just a groking of the difference between "data" and "proof".
Are you one of the "vaccines cause autism" scientists?
Really? You mean like "after the development of the automobile, the global climate started getting warmer"?
Like "after I crossed one pea having quality X with another pea having quality Y, a pea with both X and Y was produced"? Like "after I mixed solution A with solution B, a yellow precipitate formed"? Like "after I dropped a small marble and a large rock from the balcony of this tilting building, they both hit the ground at the same time"? Like "after I bombarded a lead target with a high-energy beam of electrons, a bunch of particles were produced"? Like "after I stood in front of the radar antenna, the bar of chocolate in my pocket was melted"?
Aw come on, do you happen to remotely understand the science behind any of the topics you mentioned? "global warming"? genetics?, Physics? Or are you just throwing out strawmen intentionally?
You are mixing up two different meanings of "insurance"... Anyway, if you did that and your computer was able to perform as great as the medical alternative while still being cheaper than it. Would it make any sense not to?
Hmnn as a developer, which of these could you live without: Garbage collection or breakpoints? Wow, that sounds like the subject of a new geeky flamewar.
I am amazed at the changes that have occurred for the company, for the team I belonged to, and the sentiments of the industry.'. It's a statement which, 46 months ago, few Slashdotters would have thought could come true!
So, the point is that nothing changed?
With Sam leaving, can Microsoft's positive momentum into open source continue successfully?
Ok, honestly, when VMWare released GPLed drivers LOOOOOOOOONG ago, how many blogs did we have talking about how VMWare is contributing code to Linux, and how many people needed to state that those were simply self-serving drivers for VMWare? Nooone... These are self-serving, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with it, they wanted their virtualization stuff to be able to run GNU/Linux, and they released drivers. It is not an 'evil' move but simply a logical one. But for sure it is not a 'contribution' to Linux. It is nothing out of the ordinary and honestly, I am tired of having to read countless of stories about...
Yeah, that's right. Because this means that MS is that something the whole FOSS community has done these last years has worked and MS now actually feels threatened by it and the need to train salesman into fighting it. It is also good news because after all, there is no such thing as bad advertisement, and this is just going to spell out "Streissand effect".
Linux and OS/X can for sure compete with win7 and they already do.
Do notice that many Linux distros (most likely the ones that gave you your "informed" opinion) have a much different target market than OS/X.
Don't forget that MS' recognition that they need this specific advertising to stop users from picking a GNU/Linux distro over windows7 is proof that the competition is no longer a travel to the candy store for MS. We are all users, and the competition can only do good for us. It is nice to have a competition, isn't it?
I think you may be mistaken. There happen to gather and agricultural societies in the USA, Europe and Japan. And there are also "socities that advanced into the bronze age and beyond" in "Africa, South America, Africa".
You would think that after the i4i ruling MS would have acquired some common sense about how the whole idea of software + patents is incredibly lame. BUt now, they actually want the idea to go global.
Anyway, I am not worried. Pigs will fly before this ever happens, you just need to use the fact that this will effectively raise medicines' prices worldwide as a great way to prevent this from ever happening... But whatever, Imaginary solutions to protect imaginary property...
Slashdot Mirror
It is illegal to distribute closed source apps without the license. It doesn't matter if you think what you are doing is not for profit or doing any 'harm'. Google is even required by law to enforce its copyright. The answer is not to complain about google doing evil or about how it is 'harmless' to use this software illegally but to make free software clones of the apps and avoid the legal non-sense altogether. And in most cases, you don't even need to make them... they are already done.
This is something that must be understood. Some "alternative" GNU/Linux distros out there love to include things like Skype and flash without any license. It is illegal doing so, and the reason most of the major distros don't do it. (Some of them don't do it because they don't like proprietary software, but most of them really do it just to avoid the copyright infrigement).
"-1 false dichotomy. "
THAT doesn't make any sense.
Mein gott... No, even the most advanced modding = basically just working around tons of black boxes. OLPC's vision = constructivism through completely transparent code. You can't even compare them. Sorry. For education, modding would be just a joke in comparison to what the OLPC is looking for.
Though maybe modding is a better way to "train" kids rather than making them learn. Modding will train them for a world in which real programming, real freedom and real rule-setting is made by some faceless council of more 'special people', and you just get the black box version in which you have to comply with everything they say while trying to work around everything. At the end of the day you truly have no idea how things work, you just know that if you do X , Y happens. You are given the impression you can express yourself, but you actually can't do it beyond the closed canvas imposed by the random council... You are free to do as much as you stay inside the box. Great training.
Way to miss the point.
Anyway, windows 7 = "almost" as fast as XP, XP = not fast enough for netbooks and definitely not the OLPC. Also have to consider the real cost of windows is, MS ULTRA CHEAP OMG WINDOWZ LIZENZES are actually meant to be paid for real later...
You may call it corruption but this is 95% of how life works.
I think a better question than 'Why bother' would be 'could they at least bother?' .Your theory that FOSS developers may not like MS trying to get more open source with confidence may be true or not, who knows? But we may never know... Since so far MS has not even tried to do so...
I mean seriously, what the hell is this? It looks like some attempt to make OS more patent friendly. Honestly, patents and open source mix just as well as a clown and the pope.
It is fair to argue that "Linux" is the defacto name of the whole OS, but Icaza shouldn't be claiming that GNU/Linux is an attempt to rename Linux... It is just an attempt to give credit to GNU for the tools that make the kernel actually usable. People calling the OS GNU/Linux, have not changed the kernel's name. I would have no qualms if Icaza simply said that it was an attempt to give GNU more credit than it deserved, I guess it is arguable. But to call it an attempt to rename Linux is simply misleading, and that's the problem . Icaza lately has been playing too much for the other side, so I am not even sure anymore if he is being intentionally misleading or if it was just a honest mistake from his part.
Actually, you seem quite a lot off. There are drastic differences between Post_hoc_ergo_propter_hoc (Y happened after X, therefore X causes Y) and what the gp pointed out (and what you are reducing to the absurd "I did X and Y happened" stuff.
Are you one of the "vaccines cause autism" scientists?
Aw come on, do you happen to remotely understand the science behind any of the topics you mentioned? "global warming"? genetics?, Physics? Or are you just throwing out strawmen intentionally?
Why We Need Science: "I saw it with my own eyes" Is Not Enough Please read it. Thanks.
You are mixing up two different meanings of "insurance"... Anyway, if you did that and your computer was able to perform as great as the medical alternative while still being cheaper than it. Would it make any sense not to?
May I question why don't they use AOT for the Mono apps inside Linux distros?
There's no support yet.
Hmnn as a developer, which of these could you live without: Garbage collection or breakpoints? Wow, that sounds like the subject of a new geeky flamewar.
So, the point is that nothing changed?
What are you smoking?
Hang around a world full of ponies and lack of reality much?
Any thinking user would have figured that much a long time ago...
Ok, honestly, when VMWare released GPLed drivers LOOOOOOOOONG ago, how many blogs did we have talking about how VMWare is contributing code to Linux, and how many people needed to state that those were simply self-serving drivers for VMWare? Nooone... These are self-serving, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with it, they wanted their virtualization stuff to be able to run GNU/Linux, and they released drivers. It is not an 'evil' move but simply a logical one. But for sure it is not a 'contribution' to Linux. It is nothing out of the ordinary and honestly, I am tired of having to read countless of stories about...
You are free to be morons. Just like I am free to say you are morons.
Thank you.
Dear dbIII,
You run a server/research computer thingy. I want to run a home desktop. That's the difference.
Thank you.
Yeah, that's right. Because this means that MS is that something the whole FOSS community has done these last years has worked and MS now actually feels threatened by it and the need to train salesman into fighting it. It is also good news because after all, there is no such thing as bad advertisement, and this is just going to spell out "Streissand effect".
Don't forget that MS' recognition that they need this specific advertising to stop users from picking a GNU/Linux distro over windows7 is proof that the competition is no longer a travel to the candy store for MS. We are all users, and the competition can only do good for us. It is nice to have a competition, isn't it?
I think you may be mistaken. There happen to gather and agricultural societies in the USA, Europe and Japan. And there are also "socities that advanced into the bronze age and beyond" in "Africa, South America, Africa".
Anyway, I am not worried. Pigs will fly before this ever happens, you just need to use the fact that this will effectively raise medicines' prices worldwide as a great way to prevent this from ever happening... But whatever, Imaginary solutions to protect imaginary property...
So, your solution is ? Have Russia invade Venezuela and then US nuke em?