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IRC: #boycottnovell @ FreeNode: June 14th, 2008



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moparxI leave for a bit and miss a good conversation :(Jun 14 00:09
moparxhow's it going [H]omer?Jun 14 00:09
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[H]omermoparx, helloJun 14 00:36
moparx:)Jun 14 00:37
[H]omeryes I'm back :)Jun 14 00:37
[H]omertyping one handed is not easy (coffee)Jun 14 00:37
moparxhahaJun 14 00:37
[H]omerI lie in bed with the laptop. I'm lazy that wayJun 14 00:38
moparx:pJun 14 00:39
[H]omerI think I'll repost my comments about SLED to BN comments sectionJun 14 00:40
[H]omerhttp://boycottnovell.com/2008/06/...Jun 14 01:18
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schestowitzGroklaw has found this: http://wigital.spaces.live.com/bl...Jun 14 06:08
schestowitz"I attended an online class today (given by Microsoft) to help better educate Partners on what Microsoft is doing to help promote interoperability with Open Source, Linux, Java and Standards bodies. Here are my notes with some links from the session.... *Microsoft patenst in these protocols will be made available on RAND terms at very low royalty rates *Covenant not to sue open source developers for development and non-commercial distributioJun 14 06:08
schestowitzn of implementations of these Open Protocols."Jun 14 06:08
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tessierhttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/09/opinio...Jun 14 07:17
tessierCheck out the discussion of MS's change of heart regarding software patents at the beginning of this articleJun 14 07:17
tessierVery interestingJun 14 07:18
tessierThey used to be anti-software patents back in 1991Jun 14 07:18
tessierhttp://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/col...Jun 14 07:19
tessierThat's a good read tooJun 14 07:19
schestowitzDid you find it in Don's Marti's article (via Linux Today)?Jun 14 07:22
tessierYeahJun 14 07:23
schestowitzI quote those bits from Gates quite often. It's a shame that most people don't know how Microsoft resisted intellectual monopolies before entering those garden walls.Jun 14 07:23
tessierWhat do you think of RedHat's patent troll solution?Jun 14 07:24
tessierI wonder how much RedHat had to pay and how they ever got the troll to agree to such terms.Jun 14 07:24
schestowitz$800,000Jun 14 07:25
schestowitzI was going to write a post about swpatents later. It's getting worse, scope-wise. Even human thought and bedheads are seen as patentable. How long before "a method of inhaling oxygen..."?Jun 14 07:26
tessierMost Intelligent Customers Realize Our Software (or Standards) Only Fools Teenagers.Jun 14 07:27
schestowitz<tessier>, watch what I've just posted. Good find on Apple (the one I mentioned here yesterday). I needed to copy some text by hand, but the GTK-based PDF viewer was helpful in extracting some (KPDF won't do and I don't use Acrobat).Jun 14 09:58
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schestowitzI'm not sure if I've just spotted an open source faker. There's this project called Eucalyptus, which Sam Dean raved about a week ago. It got some bloggers a little excited and while it claims to have adopted a BSD licence, there are warning signs, e.g. discussion about software patents (IP) in the forums.Jun 14 11:24
schestowitzI downloaded the files, studied the site, looked everywhere on the site and even asked questions only to be told: "The goal of the project is to promote open-source community development of cloud computing services and features as well as to foster cloud computing research in the computer science and computational science research communities."Jun 14 11:24
schestowitzI was also apparently slapped down (modding) by people who gamed Digg for promotion (probably project members). It sounds like casting collaboration as "open source" for marketing purpose.Jun 14 11:25
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schestowitzOBS: PJ has put a couple of articles about the BECTA scam up in news picks (UK media and Glyn): http://www.groklaw.net/newsitems.php . Mark Ballard watches BECTA and Newham like a hawk. At the end of the day, FOSS is winning. We just be patient and vigilant. The UK and US will be last to adopt FOSS.Jun 14 17:51
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Eruaranhi guysJun 14 17:58
schestowitzwb, <Eruaran>. Anything new?Jun 14 18:01
EruaranNot reallyJun 14 18:01
schestowitzThe eet troll came back today.Jun 14 18:02
Eruaranthe big market movement to a 64bit platform is startingJun 14 18:02
EruaranAnd people don't want VistaJun 14 18:02
EruaranSome of our clients are Architects and designersJun 14 18:02
EruaranI was talking to one of them today... they've hit the wall with 32bit OS's, it just can't address the memory they need anymore and they wont touch 64bit Vista cause they hate it and everything they use is OpenGLJun 14 18:04
EruaranThey use 3dsMax a lot so I suggested they have a look at Blender and see if they like it, and if they do they can switch to 64bit UbuntuJun 14 18:05
EruaranOnce PC users start looking to 64bit operating systems to overcome memory limitations, its Vista or Linux... And Vista is none to popularJun 14 18:06
Eruaran*tooJun 14 18:07
schestowitzInteresting. A lot of graphical design is done on GNI/Linux workstations with proprietary software.Jun 14 18:09
schestowitzHollywood uses it extensively and Novell's SLED  was picked by a French car maker becase of the 3D capabilities (Compiz at the time).Jun 14 18:10
EruaranEric Raymond wrote about big platform shiftsJun 14 18:11
schestowitzActually, if you require it, I have a lot of references showing that chip design and other form sof modeling (e.g. cars as in the case above) are designated for 64-bit Linux laptops. Late 2006 and early 2007 had loads about it.Jun 14 18:11
EruaransureJun 14 18:11
EruaranHave a read of this: http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/worl...Jun 14 18:14
EruaranI think Eric and Rob just about nailed it with this paper because we're just starting to see it happen now, right smack in the middle of 2008.Jun 14 18:15
schestowitzI read it briefly (bits of it) when he first published it. It wasn't well received by all. It was interpreted as playing up Linspire, which he worked for at the time (board member), IIRC.Jun 14 18:17
EruaranWhatever 64bit platform gains the momentum early on when people are looking for a platform that can make best use of their hardware, thats the one the market will shift to and stay with for a long time.Jun 14 18:19
schestowitzJust looked at it again. It's an oversimplification, yet a convincing one. The headline gives it all away: world domination. It doesn't work that way. O/ses that are modular and insular get spread in many different areas. There is no _one_winner. This is not a baseball league. It's also a road to freedom (not market share). Remember that ESR is synonymous with open source, not FS.Jun 14 18:21
EruaranyesJun 14 18:21
schestowitzAlso... 64-bit is an issue only when precompiled. Well, in a way. To Linux, these are not issue. Look at Debian's extensive h/w support.Jun 14 18:22
EruaranI also don't agree that 2008 is a 'hard deadline', but I do think they are right about when and why major platform shifts occurr.Jun 14 18:22
Eruaran*occurJun 14 18:23
schestowitzI think there is a lot to be learned from this (I never read it properly), but he uses too much drama (deadline/domination/whatever).Jun 14 18:23
schestowitzMoreover, things like Adobe Flash are a barrier and we no longer look at expansions just in desktops. ARM processor run a lot of the mobile devices that increasingly gain traction.Jun 14 18:24
schestowitz*processorsJun 14 18:24
EruaranI agree, but when I looked at the history for myself I couldn't fault their analysis of platform shifts in the past... and yet indeed, the new emerging markets based on ARM and Intel's Atom are unprecedented... though, Windows is still not getting a huge amount of traction in those marketsJun 14 18:26
schestowitzThe deadline as it turns out is less *technical* and more legal. Think along the line of patent terrorism, s/w patents in India/EU, ACTA, DMCA, procurement. Standards come too. There are many factors at play, which is why -- again -- it seems like an oversimplification. ODF is hugely important.Jun 14 18:26
schestowitz*linesJun 14 18:26
EruaranyesJun 14 18:27
EruaranI can't help thinking of the guy I was speaking to todayJun 14 18:27
schestowitzA lot of reporters still concentrate on the wrong issues, in my very humble opinions, and I mentioned those issues only in the *links* that I post in BN. The bigger questions are not technical, but IANAL either.Jun 14 18:27
schestowitz*opinionJun 14 18:28
EruaranHis attitude was that he didn't care what OS it was, so long as it worked well for what they needed it for... And Windows doesn't.Jun 14 18:28
EruaranI think that after all the huff and puff of monopolists like Microsoft, people will use what works.Jun 14 18:29
schestowitzIt's often imposed from above. But that's why *governments* must adopt FOSS first, then have it decend to businesses and homes. It's not as Mark S puts it, where #1 bug is just market share. Another major bug is a corrupt system.Jun 14 18:29
Eruaranyes thats a major issueJun 14 18:30
schestowitzPJ/Groklaw told Infoworld that Microsoft is the next SCO, but they are likely to use shells to do the job. We shall live and see.Jun 14 18:32
EruaranYes, I can't see Microsoft doing it except through proxies... the bad publicity is something they know is counter productive to their aimsJun 14 18:33
EruaranBut I really believe the world is changing, and even corrupt corporations and politicians can't hold back that change forever.Jun 14 18:35
schestowitzSCO, Apple... remember how Apple too has ignored Linux for a long time and how it needed to have its feet dragged for ODF support. Microsoft invests in whoever it could use as a weapon. Wealth gives influence. Let me find a quote...Jun 14 18:40
EruaranApple still ignores Linux... or at least Ext3 supportJun 14 18:41
schestowitzhttp://antitrust.slated.org/www.... ... "Gathering intelligence on enemy activities is critical to the success of the Slog. We need to know who their allies are and what differences exist between them and their allies (there are always sources of tension between allies), so that we can find ways to split ‘em apart Reading the trade press, lurking on newsgroups, attending conferences, and (above all)Jun 14 18:41
schestowitz talking to ISVs is essential to gathering this intelligence."Jun 14 18:41
schestowitzContext: that's Microsoft speaking about the tactic of creating civil wars among rivals.Jun 14 18:42
EruaranyesJun 14 18:43
EruaranBut I don't think they're as smart about it as they have been in the pastJun 14 18:44
schestowitzHow so? Some people reckon that they flame BSD folks against GNU/FSF/LinuxJun 14 18:46
Eruaranthe brain drain at MicrosoftJun 14 18:48
EruaranAnd look who is CEOJun 14 18:48
Eruaran=pJun 14 18:48
schestowitzHe is not so stupid. He is just too passionate/envious. He responds to hate, not to rationale. Hubris if you like...Jun 14 18:48
EruaranPersonally I've never seen any real issues between the BSD crowd and Linux usersJun 14 18:49
schestowitzOpenBSD?Jun 14 18:49
EruaranSuccess for GNU/Linux is good for FreeBSD/OpenBSD etc as wellJun 14 18:49
schestowitzYes, I like BSDs. They give us a lot like OpenSSH. I think they were angered by Stallman's remark on firmware. He told he won't go down that route again. It's not against Linux that they go but against the GPL. Same thing when GPLv3 came out... Jem Matzan for example attacked... later came Theo de Raadt with bad language.Jun 14 18:51
Eruaranyeah, but I don't really see those as big issuesJun 14 18:52
Eruaranmore a storm in a tea cupJun 14 18:52
schestowitzNo, not quite at all.Jun 14 18:52
schestowitzYes.Jun 14 18:52
schestowitzNo to your first message, yes to the second. :-)Jun 14 18:52
EruaranReminds me of what Eben Moglen saidJun 14 18:52
schestowitz...Jun 14 18:53
Eruaranthat all this looked at over a longer time scale is just static on the airwavesJun 14 18:53
Eruaranits just low level noise and nothing significantJun 14 18:53
EruaranAnd the flames over BSD v Linux tend to be about technical merits and not given to silliness really... people know when someone is just trollingJun 14 18:55
schestowitzOh, speaking of which...Jun 14 18:55
schestowitzJust second ago I watched again Bruce Perens' response to Nokia. It's something I write twice about in BN. I trust Ari because a friend of mine knows him and he's a real Linux guy, but I suppose you know about Microsoft-Nokia. In light of the criticism and *ahem* education (DRM, SIM, swpatents), one might wonder.Jun 14 18:57
EruaranyesJun 14 18:58
EruaranI don't think I've seen Bruce Peren's response to NokiaJun 14 18:59
schestowitzSummary of connections (incomplete, off the top of my head): 1) Nokia's Windows DRM (deal last year), another Microsoft deal, flirt about Windows mobile, the Ogg/HTML5 fiasco (former Microsoft employee in Nokia), swpatent lobby in Europe, Qt takeover.Jun 14 18:59
schestowitzhttp://technocrat... ( Ari Jaaksi of Nokia Wants to Educate the Linux Community ). IOW, Nokia's issue may be a non-issue, i.e. a storm in a tea cup.Jun 14 19:01
Eruaran*reads*Jun 14 19:02
EruaranYeah I really don't know about NokiaJun 14 19:09
schestowitzYou were part of the discussion about this the other day, no? Impact on KDE and all...Jun 14 19:10
Eruaranyes thats rightJun 14 19:10
EruaranWhat I mean is I really don't know where Nokia is coming fromJun 14 19:11
schestowitzKoffice alpha9 is going with ODFJun 14 19:11
schestowitzStrongly so...Jun 14 19:11
EruaranyesJun 14 19:11
schestowitzOops. I meant KOffice 2Jun 14 19:11
EruaranI've downloaded it but havent installed it yetJun 14 19:11
schestowitzIBM isn't much better with their 'open' suite.Jun 14 19:12
EruaranyesJun 14 19:12
EruaranI was going to download it one day till I discovered I had to agree to a bunch of licening nonsense and registerJun 14 19:13
schestowitzI spoke about it to a friend the other day. Bits of interest: Jun 14 19:15
schestowitz"IBM is in serious doo-doo as well. They'll try to change laws, so we must fight. [...] What's IBM been up to? Smphony. I avoid it like I avoid Opera. [...]  Standards against your freedom and wallet. [...] Well let them. Most ppl will still use OOo in preference anyway. Free and free [...] marbux gave them some slap. I'll pass you the mail (via E-mail) [...]"Jun 14 19:15
schestowitz"[...] The IBM people try to sell ice to Eskimos. Such a stupid company. I told them to open it up. [...] What parts of Symphony have they made proprietary? [...] Re: Symphony, not so sure. They take a penguin and dump it in a cage. They are CLUELESS. They need clueless CIOs.... brand name.. can't get fired for buying IBM... closed = secure... you know the gig :-)"Jun 14 19:15
schestowitzEventually, like Sun, they realise that there is no such thing as "half pregnant". You can be /sorta/ open. ODF is good, but ignoring users' freedom is pulling a Google... or an Oracle.Jun 14 19:17
EruaranIts disappointingJun 14 19:17
EruaranIt seemed at one stage that IBM groked free softwareJun 14 19:18
schestowitzDon't worry. Symphony isn't needed. IBM will soon have another dinosaur in the sandbox... maybe even two (Microsoft for sure and Sun maybe... unless they drop that CDDL and finally /compete/ with Linux on equal footing. See this new one:Jun 14 19:18
schestowitzhttp://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/0...Jun 14 19:19
schestowitz"Not helping its case is the fact Sun put OpenSolaris under its own license - Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL). Sun joins a league of other vendors including Microsoft who have written their own licenses rather than use existing open-source licenses. Debian, by contrast, got to its position in the industry using a spread of different, and existing, licenses. Another complication is the Sun-domination of the OpenSolaris workJun 14 19:19
schestowitz."Jun 14 19:19
EruaranI think with Sun its just a matter of timeJun 14 19:21
schestowitzEben Moglen: "Everybody is connected to everybody else, all data that can be shared will be shared will be shared: get used to it."Jun 14 19:22
EruaranI love listening to Eben MoglenJun 14 19:22
schestowitzThe other day the moguls, diplomats and clueless ISPs began killing (well, blocking) USENET. Why, you ask? Because in a few of them there *might* be child porn. Perfect excuse, eh? Oh noes!!!1 TERRORISM.Jun 14 19:23
EruaranHe described Microsofts patent FUD as the annual, "be very afraid tour".Jun 14 19:24
schestowitzAs if that'll stop spreading of bad files. Sure. Yes, really! It will. It's also like the media industry with DRM failures. Now they turn to ACTA gestapo Later on, on the software front, they i'nvent' swpatents and DMCA, then 'harmonise' to spread.Jun 14 19:24
EruaranThe stupidity is stupifyingJun 14 19:25
schestowitz"Greed know no bounds" (Microsoft said this last year)Jun 14 19:25
schestowitzNew: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/osta...Jun 14 19:26
EruaranHave to get going, will be back laterJun 14 19:36
schestowitzOBS: Linux Journal is deteriorating in terms of quality: http://www.linuxjournal.com/cont...Jun 14 19:36
schestowitzWill do.Jun 14 19:36
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schestowitzwb,  PetoKraus.Jun 14 19:52
PetoKraushello royJun 14 19:52
PetoKrausanything new and breaking i should really know about?Jun 14 19:53
schestowitzNot quite. Been nothing disruptive over the weekend. Have you had a second look at that script by any change. :-DJun 14 19:54
schestowitz*chance?Jun 14 19:54
PetoKrausnot really, been offline for most of the timeJun 14 19:55
PetoKrausenjoying the summer, you can imagine.Jun 14 19:55
PetoKrausand the fact how the Dutch own the Euro 2008 so far.Jun 14 19:55
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schestowitzA shame for those whose Web access to the games requires Microsoft XAML.Jun 14 19:57
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schestowitzJust spotted: Palamida teaches us about the dangers of FOSS... http://ostatic.com/164998-blog/interview-... ( Interview: Palamida on the Risks of Undocumented Source Code ). They have a dilemma. They sell services around /risk/.Jun 14 19:57
PetoKrausman the EEEs are crapJun 14 20:05
PetoKrausthere are so many issues with them that give Linux a bad nameJun 14 20:06
PetoKrausi'll write a blogpost about it in few daysJun 14 20:08
schestowitzI won't buy one because it's a derivative of Xandros. Just put something usable on it... about a dozen distros are confirmed to be working on it.Jun 14 20:09
schestowitzOpen Source Troller alert (??): "Fonality's patented hybrid-hosted architecture, call center applications, as well as a rich set of unified communication applications, have helped fuel the company's success. A hybrid-hosted approach combines the benefits of a hardware PBX with the affordability and ease of use of a hosted offering." http://www.centredaily.com/business...Jun 14 20:09
PetoKrausschestowitz: it's not "just put"Jun 14 20:20
PetoKrausyou know, when experienced users like me shit their pants bashing and hacking on that thingJun 14 20:20
PetoKrausand still can't get WPA encryption working properlyJun 14 20:21
schestowitzHeh. The reviews seem good. I am going to post a couple later.Jun 14 20:22
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alexcs786well, I subscribed to your rss channelJun 14 21:02
alexcs786you guys say things that gives me the creeps about the novell-microsoft dealJun 14 21:03
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mib_glv104reading http://boycottnovell.com/2008/06/11/sled-no... i don't understandJun 14 21:06
mib_glv104how is it not free software?Jun 14 21:06
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EPO Strikes Are Already Working
Campinos is already going "into hiding"
Microsoft Windows Falls to Another New All-Time Low in Guatemala, It is a Bottomless Pit
Maybe users come to realise that Windows means back doors and those doors are open to a regime that ought not be trusted
"XBox" Will Become Slop After Mass Layoffs
When all else fails, "AI it"
Links 22/02/2026: Hardware Price Hikes Across the Board, "Microsoft Issues Statement on Potential Layoffs"
Links for the day
Microsoft "Layoffs Incoming"
This transition isn't about promoting games; it's about canning the console
Links 22/02/2026: "Bloat of Modern Fitness Apps" and Wikipedia Deprecates Archive.today
Links for the day
Our IRC 5-Year Anniversary (for Self-Hosted) is Fast Approaching
A week from now it's March already
Gemini Links 22/02/2026: Dream Job Gone and Slop in Taskwarrior
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, February 21, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, February 21, 2026
GNU/Linux Grew a Lot in Nicaragua
We've not noticed until today
Techrights Has Over 1,000 Good Articles 'in the Tank'
Drafts, notes, and lengthy documents
New Article Challenges Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for Choosing the Wrong SLAPP Cases to Investigate
The one point we can agree on is that SRA does not know how to correctly select the worst culprits/offenders
The Brand 'Watsonx' is a Terrible Name for IBM 'Hey Hi' (Chatbots) Because Watson Agreed With Adolf Hitler
Almost a century has passed and IBM still believes that selling "intelligence", chatbots in particular, should be done under the name "Watson"
Why IBM is Still Scary and Dangerous
Keep a distance from "Big Blue" Bully
Measuring the Growth of Our Mission and Community
Something between experiment and prototype
Richard Stallman in the United States - Part III - Georgia Tech Did a Fine Job Upholding Free Speech Principles
The real problem was social control media (toxic)
Debian's Master is Deleting Criticism of SystemD and Other Things (On-Topic and Published by Debian Developers), Resorts to the Excuse Messages Are "Too Long"
Censorship serves nobody except the masters that control this censorship
Digg's Latest Incarnation Already Failed, It's Infested With LLM Slop
Many submissions go to slopfarms and some get summarised by slop
Gemini Links 21/02/2026: Veganism and DeskPi RackMate T0
Links for the day
On The Web, XBox Already a Dying Breed
Down to about 0.05% on large machines, based on statCounter [...] Microsoft will never publicly admit or say how many billions it lost on the XBox
2026 a Year of 'Top-Down' Microsoft Layoffs (Management First)
Stay tuned for what comes next
Your "Likes" Aren't Yours and They're Mostly "Worthless Clicks"
Social hermits are not popular, irrespective of how many "Facebook friends" or "likes" they get
Waggener Edstrom/Frank Shaw Lied, There Are Definitely Microsoft Layoffs
Microsoft never issued a formal statement, it made allusions by proxy
Microsoft-Controlled Media With Embargo and Press Operatives
This won't be the last example of media manipulation for narrative control or face-saving "damage control"
Slop Hype Makes Our Core Technology Less Reliable and Far Less Resilient (We Pay for the Catastrophe That Follows)
Only slop-free projects can be trusted
Going for 1,000 (Days of Uptime)
universal records are vastly better
Firefox is No-Go in China, Not Even 1% "Market Share" Anymore
Given Mozilla's utterly rubbish marketing these days (politics over technical aspects), set aside the cheerleading for slop, there's hardly a chance of Mozilla Firefox reaching or exceeding 10% again
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part III - It's in His Eyes
Workers are free to draw their own conclusions
Links 21/02/2026: Tensions Over Iran and Illegal Cheeto Tariffs, Presidential Approval Sags
Links for the day
Links 21/02/2026: "Moving Away From Cloudflare", Many Layoffs or Shutdowns in Games (Including XBox/Microsoft)
Links for the day
GNU Linux-libre is a Grown-Up Today
"before that, every distro that wanted to respect its users' freedom had to remove itself all of the binary blobs that were distributed as part of the kernel Linux's so-called sources"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, February 20, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, February 20, 2026
Gemini Links 21/02/2026: "The Evil of Action" and Slop Bots Causing Great Harm Online (Not Just the Web)
Links for the day