From all appearances, they appear to be doing handstands to try and comply with the GPL, and yet still maintain control over their IP. Seems like that's okay to me - how many companies have just ignored the license completely?
While we should continue to look at the possibility of these types of attacks, I worry that we are moving towards a mindset of mass hysteria in relation to terrorism. Remember back in the 80's when the child-care/abuse hysteria occured? That hysteria turned out to be mostly FUD. While not downplaying the seriousness of recent terror attacks and possibilities, it is important to remember that FUD can make things worse, not better....
One of the lone bright spots from events such as this is that they bring attention to the issue (both good and bad). However, we shouldn't forget that the DMCA is not the only piece of legislation that scares the bejeepers out of people; UCITA is still alive and kicking (a good link on the issues surrounding UCITA is http://www.ala.org/washoff/ucita/index.html
Agreed - I happen to work on a phylogenetic project, which heavily uses PERL and other Open Source technologies. I believe O'Reilly's other book, "Developing Bioinformatics Skills" makes some mention of phylogeny, but it is rather limited, to be sure.
On the other hand, my guess is most of the big money is in genomics at this point, so I can understand the heavy emphasis in that area at this time. Perhaps the increased attention given to this area will allow for increased interest in other biology-related arenas....
I currently work at a research university, and one of the foremosts issues we face is not in a number of useful tools and projects which promote research and education, but how to get these tools and systems to interoperate. It would be great if a student could log in with their student ID, and access any of the tools and services that might be available to them. These might be electronic reserves, their class registration, their course's website, the campus bookstore (for ordering books), a central file storage area particular to that student, etc. I'm not aware of any university which has seemless integration of learning and research tools.
Libraries are in dire need of programmers and system administrators - the values of libraries closely resemble the values of the Open Source movement, and libraries have traditionally been the overseers of information. Now, with the corporate sector moving in, the face and nature of libraries and librarians is changing. Unfortunately, librarians are slow to accept these changes, due to the need of a new set of skills, overprotectiveness of their traditional duties and roles, and because the unknown is always a scary thing. The more librarians-to-be who acquire technology skills in relation to libraries, the better chance libraries will continue to thrive and maintain their role as champions of the freedom of information.
From what I understand (and I'm not an expert by any means), it is not easy to self-identify as a member of a passive-power group. You have to understand the concept, to begin with, and you have to admit to having passive power, something that is very difficult for individuals, much less organizations, to do on their own. Has anyone actually stated to Microsoft, or Mundie, or anyone who matters, that Microsoft is in a position of having passive power on a level that just by existing and operating, they inherently disadvantage the other "minorities" in the technology world?
Tim has talked about not going after a winner-takes-all approach, but an everyone wins approach. I wonder how many OSS / Free Software advocates agree with this? My take on Microsoft and it's understanding (or lack thereof) of the Open Source community is very similiar to the historical dominent culture experience; when you are the dominent culture, you often don't understand or even see the passive power you posess; only those who are not part of the dominent group can see that. From today's "debate", I am prone to think that perhaps a similiar mindset is current in Microsoft as the dominent culture. (reference: The Color of Fear, a program / documentary on cultural-race differences)
While there are no set-in-stone standards for describing electronic media, including code, there are some evolving standards in this area. One place to start would be to look at the Dublin Core website - this is a descriptive schema that provides a 'core' or basis for metadata schemes. Also look at the work on RDF (links can be found from the Dublin Core site) for info on structuring metadata.
Koha is probably the most complete system out there. 2 other projects that are attempting this (and also trying to work together) are the Open Source Digital Library System, which in fact maps MARC into a relational database, and the Avanti project is a project that is building an API for a library circulation system. These two projects are now looking at how they can interact together, so as not to duplicate effort. Both also could use help from interested developers, btw:-).
Slashdot Mirror
Hmmm, I guess I own a bit of slashdot, as I contribute to its content, and test out new articles as they get posted....
From all appearances, they appear to be doing handstands to try and comply with the GPL, and yet still maintain control over their IP. Seems like that's okay to me - how many companies have just ignored the license completely?
I've always been confused by this - if I tried to patent my own DNA, couldn't someone use me as an example of prior work?
While we should continue to look at the possibility of these types of attacks, I worry that we are moving towards a mindset of mass hysteria in relation to terrorism. Remember back in the 80's when the child-care/abuse hysteria occured? That hysteria turned out to be mostly FUD. While not downplaying the seriousness of recent terror attacks and possibilities, it is important to remember that FUD can make things worse, not better....
One of the lone bright spots from events such as this is that they bring attention to the issue (both good and bad). However, we shouldn't forget that the DMCA is not the only piece of legislation that scares the bejeepers out of people; UCITA is still alive and kicking (a good link on the issues surrounding UCITA is http://www.ala.org/washoff/ucita/index.html
Agreed - I happen to work on a phylogenetic project, which heavily uses PERL and other Open Source technologies. I believe O'Reilly's other book, "Developing Bioinformatics Skills" makes some mention of phylogeny, but it is rather limited, to be sure.
On the other hand, my guess is most of the big money is in genomics at this point, so I can understand the heavy emphasis in that area at this time. Perhaps the increased attention given to this area will allow for increased interest in other biology-related arenas....
I currently work at a research university, and one of the foremosts issues we face is not in a number of useful tools and projects which promote research and education, but how to get these tools and systems to interoperate. It would be great if a student could log in with their student ID, and access any of the tools and services that might be available to them. These might be electronic reserves, their class registration, their course's website, the campus bookstore (for ordering books), a central file storage area particular to that student, etc. I'm not aware of any university which has seemless integration of learning and research tools.
Libraries are in dire need of programmers and system administrators - the values of libraries closely resemble the values of the Open Source movement, and libraries have traditionally been the overseers of information. Now, with the corporate sector moving in, the face and nature of libraries and librarians is changing. Unfortunately, librarians are slow to accept these changes, due to the need of a new set of skills, overprotectiveness of their traditional duties and roles, and because the unknown is always a scary thing. The more librarians-to-be who acquire technology skills in relation to libraries, the better chance libraries will continue to thrive and maintain their role as champions of the freedom of information.
From what I understand (and I'm not an expert by any means), it is not easy to self-identify as a member of a passive-power group. You have to understand the concept, to begin with, and you have to admit to having passive power, something that is very difficult for individuals, much less organizations, to do on their own. Has anyone actually stated to Microsoft, or Mundie, or anyone who matters, that Microsoft is in a position of having passive power on a level that just by existing and operating, they inherently disadvantage the other "minorities" in the technology world?
Tim has talked about not going after a winner-takes-all approach, but an everyone wins approach. I wonder how many OSS / Free Software advocates agree with this? My take on Microsoft and it's understanding (or lack thereof) of the Open Source community is very similiar to the historical dominent culture experience; when you are the dominent culture, you often don't understand or even see the passive power you posess; only those who are not part of the dominent group can see that. From today's "debate", I am prone to think that perhaps a similiar mindset is current in Microsoft as the dominent culture. (reference: The Color of Fear, a program / documentary on cultural-race differences)
It's time we stood up and disallowed this sort of thing. ABRIDGE CENSORSHIP!
While there are no set-in-stone standards for describing electronic media, including code, there are some evolving standards in this area. One place to start would be to look at the Dublin Core website - this is a descriptive schema that provides a 'core' or basis for metadata schemes. Also look at the work on RDF (links can be found from the Dublin Core site) for info on structuring metadata.
Koha is probably the most complete system out there. 2 other projects that are attempting this (and also trying to work together) are the Open Source Digital Library System, which in fact maps MARC into a relational database, and the Avanti project is a project that is building an API for a library circulation system. These two projects are now looking at how they can interact together, so as not to duplicate effort. Both also could use help from interested developers, btw :-).