Linux-Advocacy Digest #189, Volume #34 Fri, 4 May 01 14:13:03 EDT
Contents:
Re: Why Linux Is no threat to Windows domination of the desktop ("John W. Stevens")
Re: Why Linux Is no threat to Windows domination of the desktop (Roberto Alsina)
Re: IE ("Ayende Rahien")
SIIA Responds to Microsoft Statement on Open Source (David Mohring)
Re: De we need (or is there) a GPL Legal Defense Fund ? ("Mikkel Elmholdt")
Re: Justice Department LOVES Microsoft! ("Seán Ó Donnchadha")
Re: Linux is paralyzed before it even starts ("Mart van de Wege")
Re: Bill Hudson admits that he, Dave Casey, V-man and Redc1c4 ("Aaron R.
Kulkis")
Re: SIIA Responds to Microsoft Statement on Open Source (Dave Martel)
Re: Linux has one chance left......... ("Mart van de Wege")
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "John W. Stevens" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: soc.men,soc.singles,alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
Subject: Re: Why Linux Is no threat to Windows domination of the desktop
Date: Thu, 03 May 2001 13:37:28 -0600
Matt Kennel wrote:
>
> On Wed, 02 May 2001 12:42:40 -0400, Aaron R. Kulkis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> :
> :So, to summarize, you believe that homosexual attraction is genetically
> :determined.
>
> The twin and brother studies seem to indicate that it is
>
> :In other words, it is a birth defect, just like congenital mental retardation.
>
> Or being black or lithuanian.
>
> Its persistence in humans despite an obvious sexual reproductive
> advantage implies to me that the most likely genetics is that it is an
> unintended consequence of a combination of genes that are otherwise
> selected for.
Yet another theory:
The vast majority of human beings are bisexual, with most of them
having a preference for one sex or the other. The decision to label
yourself homo or hetero sexual is actually more a cultural thing, as
this culture seems to force peopleto "polarize"; in effect, choose
one label or the other.
Consider, then, the obvious advantage in primitive cultures to
being bisexual with a preference: sexual activity is a bonding
activity, so occasional homosexual acts would tend to strengthen
the bonds of a group, while having very little negative "natural
selection" impact, since even those who prefer homosexual contact
will still occasionally engage in heterosexual contact.
And, as anybody who has studied baboons will tell you, groups
are stronger than any single individual. The ability to form
and maintain supportive, cooperative groups, or "tribes", is
an evolutionary advantage.
And since very, very few people are truly "homosexual" (in other
words, very few people will NEVER have sexual contact with members
of the opposite sex), and since it only takes a small number of
sexual contacts to pass on ones "genes", it seems clear that
natural selection will place only a very small "cost" on a
preference for same sex contacts, while at the same time, natural
selection will consider *some* homosexual activity to be an advantage.
In short, sexual preference is more shades of gray, than pure
black or white, and I believe the discussions of homosexuality
re: evolution place the wrong weights on the wrong things.
--
If I spoke for HP --- there probably wouldn't BE an HP!
John Stevens
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Roberto Alsina)
Crossposted-To: soc.men,soc.singles,alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
Subject: Re: Why Linux Is no threat to Windows domination of the desktop
Date: 4 May 2001 16:58:11 GMT
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
John W. Stevens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Ray Fischer wrote:
>>
>> Aaron R. Kulkis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> >Clue for the clueless.
>> >
>> >Homosexuality is a defect,
>>
>> Says who?
>
>Says reality.
Did reality tell you this by phone or in person?
>> > as it interferes with the organism's ability
>> >to successfully reproduce
>>
>> You assume that that makes homosexuality a defect. An assumption
>> without any supporting evidence.
>
>Homosexuality obviously is a defect. Only a very small percentage of
>the population are truly homosexual, indicating that homosexuality has
>a low survival rate.
An even smaller percentage of the population have physics degrees,
write programs, play football well, or cook a decent soufflè.
I suppose they have a low survival rate, too.
>Oh, and as a clue, you should realize that most people who define
>themselves as homosexual or heterosexual are in actuality bisexual
>with a preference for one sex over the other. That preference may
>be quite strong, but it isn't absolute. One need simply look at
>the increased incidence of homosexual contact in enforced, single
>sex environments to discover that.
>
>It is bisexuality, not homo or hetero sexuality, that is survival
>oriented and should be considered "normal". Any objective, factual
>study will show that most so-called hetero and homo sexuals will
>actually engage in sexual behavior with both sexes, albeit with a
>preference for one sex over the other.
>
>> >(yes, your only TRUE purpose is to pass your
>> >DNA on to the next generation)
>>
>> Says who?
>
>Says reality.
What a sorry life, if all you want to do is breed.
--
Roberto Alsina
------------------------------
From: "Ayende Rahien" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: alt.linux,alt.destroy.microsoft
Subject: Re: IE
Date: Fri, 4 May 2001 19:47:22 +0200
"T. Max Devlin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> Said Ayende Rahien in alt.destroy.microsoft on Fri, 4 May 2001 17:56:06
> >"T. Max Devlin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> >news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> >> Said Michael Pye in alt.destroy.microsoft on Wed, 2 May 2001 16:31:41
> >> >"T. Max Devlin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
> >> >
> >> >> I'm sorry, there is a rather large amount of doubt there, as far as
I
> >> >> can determine. It is undoubtedly a better *platform*, since
Netscape
> >> >> isn't a platform, but a browser. As a browser, I have never seen
> >> >> anything suck as much as IE, simply because it is not a browser, but
a
> >> >> platform.
> >> >
> >> >A valid point. But an interpreter of HTML pages including CSS and
> >> >Javascript, I have never seen anything suck as much as NS4...
> >>
> >> Works fine for me, better than any alternative.
> >
> >Try reading alt.netscape.buggy-products posts, then.
>
> Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. Why would I do that, Ayende?
Shake you up from NS better than any alternative.
> [...]
> >> Using IE causes the computer to behave unpredictably; Netscape just
> >> crashes. That's what counts to me: I don't use the Internet because it
> >> is fast, and NS displays pages just fine, and far more reliably.
> >
> >Not on my machine.
>
> Well, it is monopoly crapware, so its pretty much a crap-shoot (no pun
> intended, but I guess it was so inevitable I should apologize anyway.)
> If we could tell on which machines and when it was going to fail, it
> would just be buggy, like Netscape.
Let me put it differently, not on any machine that I've seen in the last 6
months.
And that include couple of hundreds.
> >A> IE *rarely* crashes. One in a blue moon.
>
> More often then Netscape, in all my experience on dozens of different
> machines.
Not in my experiance, nor in the experiance of anyone I talked to since IE4.
> >B> IE going down merely mean that IE going down. Not the shell.
>
> I've never ONCE seen IE die without seriously compromising the system.
> It is, after all, bolted into the OS. Not the shell.
No, again, learn about what you are saying, IE is itegrated into the shell,
not the OS.
> >C> On the odd chance that IE takes the shell, it will restart itself.
>
> On the extremely odd chance that something malfunctions, yet
> mysteriously doesn't malfunction. Doh!
No, please *read* what I said.
I said that *even* if IE takes down the shell, which I've not seen it do in
a *long* time, the shell will restart itself.
> >D> Logging off & on always fix the problem with the taskbar losing it's
> >icons.
>
> In my book, see, "fixing" a software problem means it doesn't come back.
> You, you're just wasting time making up for monopoly crapware, this way.
The problem *was* fixed, there is a list of conditions here, each of them is
highly unlikely.
The *only* problem that IE can cause is losing the taskbar icons, a problem
that is *highly* unlikely to occur.
The disappearing of the icons occur because there is no way the new shell
will know what icons where registered on the killed shell, it can't be
fixed.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (David Mohring)
Subject: SIIA Responds to Microsoft Statement on Open Source
Date: Fri, 4 May 2001 17:08:45 +0000 (UTC)
The most scathing commentary on Microsoft executive Craig
Mundie speech, comes not from the Open Source "zealots"
but from Ken Wasch, president of the Software & Information
Industry Association (SIIA), who represent a fair sized
chunk of the software industry (
http://www.siia.net/glance/members.asp )
Quoting http://www.siia.net/sharedcontent/press/2001/5-3-01.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - May 3, 2001 Ken Wasch, SIIA
President (202) 452-1600 ext. 310
SIIA Responds to Microsoft Statement on Open Source
(Washington, D.C.) The Software & Information Industry
Association (SIIA) today responded to statements critical of the
Open Source model for software made by Microsoft executive Craig
Mundie.
"Microsoft is once again publicly making the case that innovation
in the software industry should happen only at the discretion and
direction of Microsoft," said Ken Wasch, SIIA president. "There is
no 'one size fits all' solution for the software needs of
corporations throughout the world. Yet Microsoft is employing
public relations tactics to incite fear among businesses that are
considering migrating to the Open Source model."
"Furthermore, Microsoft's assertions that its business model
embodies the open-source movement through current practices of
sharing source code is incredulous," continued Wasch. "While it is
certainly reasonable for a software publisher to maintain
proprietary practices regarding the sharing of source code, it is
safe to say that Microsoft shares certain, but not all,
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), and only does so when
it is in the best interests of the company, not in the interest of
dynamic innovation within the industry."
"If we could offer some friendly advice to the Microsoft PR
effort, we would suggest an approach such as 'We [Microsoft]
welcome competition from the Open Source movement, and through
that competition, customers will recognize the superiority of our
[Microsoft's] solution.' Instead, they seem to be saying, 'we win
when customers have no choices.'"
The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) is the
principal trade association of the software code and information
content industries. SIIA represents more than 1,000 leading
high-tech companies that develop and market software and
electronic content for business, education, consumers and the
Internet. For further information, visit http://www.siia.net.
------------------------------
From: "Mikkel Elmholdt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: De we need (or is there) a GPL Legal Defense Fund ?
Date: Fri, 4 May 2001 19:29:33 +0200
"Flacco" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:IFhI6.5176$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> what can a lightweight GPL author do if a corp decides to use his GPL'd
> code contrary to the terms of the GPL?
>
> Is there a legal fund established anywhere that covers this (inevitable?)
> eventuality?
>
> Are there legal analyses of GPL available anywhere?
Most of the replies to this post concerns themselves with legal aspects.
There is however some more practical issues that could void the GPL. Before
you can take a case to court, you have to find out about someone mis-using
your GPL'ed code. And how are you going to do that? A company bound on GPL
misuse would probably not go around and brag about it. If your code is
wrapped up in a binary distribution, you are not going to find out just by
looking at it. And it would also be easy to tweak the code to deflect any
binary comparisons, just by switching function order, changing a for() loop
to a while() loop here and there, change variable and function names
globally, change names of executables, and such.
It would of course be more difficult with GPL'ed products, which has a
recognizable look-and-feel (like GNOME). That would need a lot of tweaking.
I feel that the GPL is more like a gentleman's agreement than a iron-clad
clause you can take to court anyday.
Mikkel
------------------------------
From: "Seán Ó Donnchadha" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy,comp.sys.mac.advocacy,comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy
Subject: Re: Justice Department LOVES Microsoft!
Date: Fri, 4 May 2001 13:31:19 -0400
"T. Max Devlin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> >It doesn't get me punched. Confused looks, sure, but
> >that's something else. :D
>
> The phrase "gibbering idiot" comes to mind.
>
Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. It's comments like that from people like you
that make it all worthwhile. I hate to suggest that if trolls call you
a gibbering idiot, the spanking they're taking must be getting to them. I
could be
wrong, of course, but as a rule of thumb it seems to work.
Chew on that for a while, psycho.
------------------------------
From: "Mart van de Wege" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Linux is paralyzed before it even starts
Date: Fri, 04 May 2001 19:48:24 +0200
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Terry Porter"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
<snip>
>
>
>> (Note to developers: clearer error messages are better. Hmmm, I might
>> just volunteer for a few of my favourite projects)
>
> Now posts like this are just a pleasure to read! Good on you Mart :))
>
Well, yes. Unfortunately my busy life means I have not a lot of time to
look at the code, so aside from trying to help on linux.debian.user as
much as I can with my limited experience, I won't be doing much until I
can take a a break from work for a few weeks (due Real Soon Now).
Mart
--
Gimme back my steel, gimme back my nerve
Gimme back my youth for the dead man's curve
For that icy feel when you start to swerve
John Hiatt - What Do We Do Now
------------------------------
From: "Aaron R. Kulkis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
alt.destroy.microsoft,us.military.army,soc.singles,soc.men,misc.survivalism,alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
Subject: Re: Bill Hudson admits that he, Dave Casey, V-man and Redc1c4
Date: Fri, 04 May 2001 13:51:17 -0400
"T. Max Devlin" wrote:
>
> Said billh in alt.destroy.microsoft on Fri, 04 May 2001 01:13:36 GMT;
> [...]
> >You're and idiot. Learn to read. [...]
>
> Learn to take flame-wars to email. You're boring the shit out of me,
> here.
>
That's Bill's primary purpose in life.
> --
> T. Max Devlin
> *** The best way to convince another is
> to state your case moderately and
> accurately. - Benjamin Franklin ***
--
Aaron R. Kulkis
Unix Systems Engineer
DNRC Minister of all I survey
ICQ # 3056642
L: This seems to have reduced my spam. Maybe if everyone does it we
can defeat the email search bots. [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
K: Truth in advertising:
Left Wing Extremists Charles Schumer and Donna Shalala,
Black Seperatist Anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan,
Special Interest Sierra Club,
Anarchist Members of the ACLU
Left Wing Corporate Extremist Ted Turner
The Drunken Woman Killer Ted Kennedy
Grass Roots Pro-Gun movement,
J: Other knee_jerk reactionaries: billh, david casey, redc1c4,
The retarded sisters: Raunchy (rauni) and Anencephielle (Enielle),
also known as old hags who've hit the wall....
I: Loren Petrich's 2-week stubborn refusal to respond to the
challenge to describe even one philosophical difference
between himself and the communists demonstrates that, in fact,
Loren Petrich is a COMMUNIST ***hole
H: "Having found not one single carbon monoxide leak on the entire
premises, it is my belief, and Willard concurs, that the reason
you folks feel listless and disoriented is simply because
you are lazy, stupid people"
G: Knackos...you're a retard.
F: Unit_4's "Kook hunt" reminds me of "Jimmy Baker's" harangues against
adultery while concurrently committing adultery with Tammy Hahn.
E: Jet is not worthy of the time to compose a response until
her behavior improves.
D: Jet Silverman now follows me from newgroup to newsgroup
...despite (C) above.
C: Jet Silverman claims to have killfiled me.
B: Jet Silverman plays the fool and spews out nonsense as a
method of sidetracking discussions which are headed in a
direction that she doesn't like.
A: The wise man is mocked by fools.
------------------------------
From: Dave Martel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: SIIA Responds to Microsoft Statement on Open Source
Date: Fri, 04 May 2001 11:43:42 -0600
On Fri, 4 May 2001 17:08:45 +0000 (UTC), [EMAIL PROTECTED]
(David Mohring) wrote:
>The most scathing commentary on Microsoft executive Craig
>Mundie speech, comes not from the Open Source "zealots"
>but from Ken Wasch, president of the Software & Information
>Industry Association (SIIA), who represent a fair sized
>chunk of the software industry (
>http://www.siia.net/glance/members.asp )
>
I like this one from LinuxToday:
<http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-05-03-005-20-NW-CY-MS-0010>
Jeremy Allison Subject: Shared Source ( May 3, 2001, 17:33:32 )
Well I'm all for shared source. I wonder if
Microsoft would share some of their source to make
interoperability with Microsoft Windows 2000 domain
controllers easier for Samba ? I'm eagerly waiting
the first "shared source" release of that code. I
wouldn't even need to change any of it - just read
it :-).
Or is it all about control of intellectual
property.......
No - surely Microsoft wouldn't be so disingenuous :-)
:-). After all, look at their open and honest dealings
with the Kerberos community about their modifications
to the TGT...
Oh. Wait...... "
:-).
Regards,
Jeremy Allison,
Samba Team.
------------------------------
From: "Mart van de Wege" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Linux has one chance left.........
Date: Fri, 04 May 2001 19:55:28 +0200
In article
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
"GreyCloud" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>>
>> On Thu, 3 May 2001 14:46:51 +1200, Matthew Gardiner
>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>
>>
>> >Do you have ANY IT experience?
>> >
>> >Matthew Gardiner
>>
>> You would be amazed if I told you where I was in 1979, but I won't. I
>> will say that I was 19yo so at least you have a clue as to how long I
>> have been involved in I/T.
>>
>> flatfish
>
> Hell, you're still wet behind the ears!
>
Hey! Can it, old man! I was merely 7 at that time. :)
<low mournful voice>I resent that</low mournful voice>
Mart
--
Gimme back my steel, gimme back my nerve
Gimme back my youth for the dead man's curve
For that icy feel when you start to swerve
John Hiatt - What Do We Do Now
------------------------------
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