Agree with Ranton. I know Mr. Atkinson pretty well, and he is certainly not writing this as a simple "invest in IT" propaganda piece.
The main idea is that IT has been the key driver of growth in productivity rates around the world (despite some stupid IT investment by companies/governments). However, his conclusion is not that the world should just spend indiscriminately on IT. Instead, companies and governments should take their investments in IT more seriously because of the value of intelligent IT investment can have on businesses and the economy as a whole.
Seriously? Are we really devoid of innovative digital solutions right now? And is the cause really software patents?
Sure. There is a lot of work to be done to ensure stupid obvious patents related to software don't make it out of the world's patent offices...but, there is no evidence that software patents are currently having a real, deleterious effect on innovation in the software industry.
If you've ever worked in customer support, you'd realize how much smarter you are than most people.
I know a lot of people with no technical experience at all that thought they could hack their Tivo's without any help. It usually ends up in a disaster...and they all tried calling Tivo to help them fix it afterward.
Sure, but those who didn't modify their GPL license (the way Linus did), may have no control over whether they move to GPL v3. The standard GPL v2 license includes an auto-update clause that automatically upgrades the license to v3 or any other successor license to the GPL. Those projects that didn't change that language are SOL.
There is definitely a need to clarify the definitions of DRM, but I did mean more than PNG signing. It doesn't outlaw all encryption per se, but it would prevent its use to limit access to any type of document/media - which is really dangerous when you think about it.
What about your medical records? Do you not approve of "disallowing others" to access your medical history? Would you not approve of "disallowing others" to review your bank statements? What about "disallowing" the NSA from reviewing your emails with friends overseas? Under the current GPL 3 definition of DRM, all these applications would be forbidden for use by GPL'd code.
We need to stop railing against the technology and start focusing on the unacceptable behavior of the media companies like Sony. Banning the tools of access contro/DRM/whatever you want to call it will eventually hurt us more than it hurts big media.
But, you're missing the point of this article. The religious debate is NOT between commercial and open source communities, but between the Free Software and Open Source communities. We often like to pretend like we're all one big happy family, but the reality is that we're not. And, the GPL 3 is set to widen that gap.
In the end, you're right... the open source community portrays itself as practical and not idealistic/religious. However, are you REALLY suggesting that Stallman and the FSF are not idealistically/religiously driven? Isn't Stallman a self-proclaimed saint? If the author was talking about the Open Source community being entirely religious, that would be senationalistic... but he isn't. If you read carefully, this is targeted solely at the Stallman and the FSF, who wear it as a badge of honor.
Here is the problem with excluding DRM from GPL - DRM is not simply the Sony CD rootkit. DRM is not the tool solely of Big Media, Hollywood, and the Recording Industry. We need to get past that myth... the technology isn't evil, their application of it is.
DRM is also a tool for us. DRM is just as much about preserving your privacy and mine. It may be the only thing that keeps our private information out of the prying hands of the Bush Administration. Calling out DRM itself as evil is the same as calling the entire concept of encryption evil.
The existing DRM provision in GPL 3 is the epitome of "throwing the baby out with the bathwater. As a reasonable guy, I'm sure that you can see that.
Slashdot Mirror
Couldn't agree more with this post...so would the authors of the paper.
Agree with Ranton. I know Mr. Atkinson pretty well, and he is certainly not writing this as a simple "invest in IT" propaganda piece.
The main idea is that IT has been the key driver of growth in productivity rates around the world (despite some stupid IT investment by companies/governments). However, his conclusion is not that the world should just spend indiscriminately on IT. Instead, companies and governments should take their investments in IT more seriously because of the value of intelligent IT investment can have on businesses and the economy as a whole.
Seriously? Are we really devoid of innovative digital solutions right now? And is the cause really software patents?
Sure. There is a lot of work to be done to ensure stupid obvious patents related to software don't make it out of the world's patent offices...but, there is no evidence that software patents are currently having a real, deleterious effect on innovation in the software industry.
If you've ever worked in customer support, you'd realize how much smarter you are than most people. I know a lot of people with no technical experience at all that thought they could hack their Tivo's without any help. It usually ends up in a disaster...and they all tried calling Tivo to help them fix it afterward.
Sure, but those who didn't modify their GPL license (the way Linus did), may have no control over whether they move to GPL v3. The standard GPL v2 license includes an auto-update clause that automatically upgrades the license to v3 or any other successor license to the GPL. Those projects that didn't change that language are SOL.
There is definitely a need to clarify the definitions of DRM, but I did mean more than PNG signing. It doesn't outlaw all encryption per se, but it would prevent its use to limit access to any type of document/media - which is really dangerous when you think about it.
What about your medical records? Do you not approve of "disallowing others" to access your medical history? Would you not approve of "disallowing others" to review your bank statements? What about "disallowing" the NSA from reviewing your emails with friends overseas? Under the current GPL 3 definition of DRM, all these applications would be forbidden for use by GPL'd code.
We need to stop railing against the technology and start focusing on the unacceptable behavior of the media companies like Sony. Banning the tools of access contro/DRM/whatever you want to call it will eventually hurt us more than it hurts big media.
But, you're missing the point of this article. The religious debate is NOT between commercial and open source communities, but between the Free Software and Open Source communities. We often like to pretend like we're all one big happy family, but the reality is that we're not. And, the GPL 3 is set to widen that gap.
In the end, you're right... the open source community portrays itself as practical and not idealistic/religious. However, are you REALLY suggesting that Stallman and the FSF are not idealistically/religiously driven? Isn't Stallman a self-proclaimed saint? If the author was talking about the Open Source community being entirely religious, that would be senationalistic... but he isn't. If you read carefully, this is targeted solely at the Stallman and the FSF, who wear it as a badge of honor.
Here is the problem with excluding DRM from GPL - DRM is not simply the Sony CD rootkit. DRM is not the tool solely of Big Media, Hollywood, and the Recording Industry. We need to get past that myth... the technology isn't evil, their application of it is.
DRM is also a tool for us. DRM is just as much about preserving your privacy and mine. It may be the only thing that keeps our private information out of the prying hands of the Bush Administration. Calling out DRM itself as evil is the same as calling the entire concept of encryption evil.
The existing DRM provision in GPL 3 is the epitome of "throwing the baby out with the bathwater. As a reasonable guy, I'm sure that you can see that.