You are comparing a case like this with product-liability cases where the prospect of a 25% cut of sky-high punitive damages keeps lawyers happily working.
I don't see where money is to be made in proceedings like we have now.
Thank God there are advocacy groups like the EFF that can provide help or foot the bill. I don't see too many lawyers working pro-bono on an issue like this.
I didn't feel offended... well, OK, I'll admit, for the first 30 seconds I was... There's a lot of stuff to like about the U.S. but the judicial system surely ain't one of those. If Americans felt that great about the judicial system, there wouldn't have been a reason for all those attempts at tort reform.
Sounds nice in theory, but it would never work in real life.
Here's why: every piece of software has tons of third-party code in there that is not discontinued, and the authors of this code wouldn't be too happy to have the fruits of their labour released into the free software world. Think graphics libaries, C++ template libraries, database toolboxes etc. that make up significant parts of modern applications.
In many cases this third-party code is either interweaved with the to-be-opensourced code or is not even identical anymore to the original third-party code because generations of developers made small modifications.
Not to even talk about the impossibility to buy, let alone "get for free", older versions of some third-party toolboxes or libraries that just happen to be still used by the software because no one ever bothered to upgrade to a newer library.
[[ Having some trouble posting. Have the Feds already busted Slashdot? ]]
I've been saying this for a long time: While we Europeans are still allowed to do everything not prohibited by law, we have laws against everything.
The only thing the movie industry has going for it is the end user license agreement.
No, the only thing the movie industry has going for it is the U.S. judicial system and the price tag involved in fighting for your right. It's great to win in court, but if you're bankrupt afterwards, the victory is a bit shallow.
If it were only the shrinkwrap agreements, they'd probably be laughed out of court. That is, if they even dare to put end user license agreements to a court test. This is something the software industry seems to have skillfully avoided over the years.
The European Union passed laws several years ago that explicitly _allow_ disassembly and reverse-engineering "to ensure interoperability" between systems.
Now, if this weren't a David vs. Goliath issue but a clash between European and American corporate behemoths, this might lead to a nice discussion on restraint of trade for the next GATT talks... -Martin
Title says it all -- I want undelete/salvage built right into the file system. Not a trashy trashcan like Windows NT (where it only works for files deleted in Explorer) but deep down in the file system.
This is the feature that my users have been longing for since we replaced our Novell file server with a Linux machine
Slashdot Mirror
I don't see where money is to be made in proceedings like we have now.
Thank God there are advocacy groups like the EFF that can provide help or foot the bill. I don't see too many lawyers working pro-bono on an issue like this.
I didn't feel offended ... well, OK, I'll admit, for the first 30 seconds I was ... There's a lot of stuff to like about the U.S. but the judicial system surely ain't one of those. If Americans felt that great about the judicial system, there wouldn't have been a reason for all those attempts at tort reform.
Please moderate this up to funny.
Yep, that must be the reason why Dragon NaturallySpeaking told "you have 2.87 minutes of training left".
Here's why: every piece of software has tons of third-party code in there that is not discontinued, and the authors of this code wouldn't be too happy to have the fruits of their labour released into the free software world. Think graphics libaries, C++ template libraries, database toolboxes etc. that make up significant parts of modern applications.
In many cases this third-party code is either interweaved with the to-be-opensourced code or is not even identical anymore to the original third-party code because generations of developers made small modifications.
Not to even talk about the impossibility to buy, let alone "get for free", older versions of some third-party toolboxes or libraries that just happen to be still used by the software because no one ever bothered to upgrade to a newer library.
[[ Having some trouble posting. Have the Feds already busted Slashdot? ]]
The only thing the movie industry has going for it is the end user license agreement.
No, the only thing the movie industry has going for it is the U.S. judicial system and the price tag involved in fighting for your right. It's great to win in court, but if you're bankrupt afterwards, the victory is a bit shallow.
If it were only the shrinkwrap agreements, they'd probably be laughed out of court. That is, if they even dare to put end user license agreements to a court test. This is something the software industry seems to have skillfully avoided over the years.
They sold it off to a bunch of dBASE consultants bent on building the "next big database company".
These are the three places where old software goes:
* it is junked
* it becomes open source
* or is relegated to the backbenches of the Internet (see Superbase, dBASE or, gasp, Framework
They have an extremely expensive Delphi Client/Server edition whose major claim to fame is the database stuff with Interbase being an integral part.
Borland/Inprise/WhateverTheyAreCalledThisWeek just don't want to foot the bill for continued InterBase development while still selling Delphi C/S.
Great. Then what's the fuss all about?
The European Union passed laws several years ago that explicitly _allow_ disassembly and reverse-engineering "to ensure interoperability" between systems.
Now, if this weren't a David vs. Goliath issue but a clash between European and American corporate behemoths, this might lead to a nice discussion on restraint of trade for the next GATT talks... -Martin
Yeah, great site! I especially love the graphics and the animation.
>> Have you checked out TECHNOCRAT.NET? Yeah, great site! I especially love the graphics and the animation.
Title says it all -- I want undelete/salvage built right into the file system. Not a trashy trashcan like Windows NT (where it only works for files deleted in Explorer) but deep down in the file system.
This is the feature that my users have been longing for since we replaced our Novell file server with a Linux machine