On 9/24/05, Andrew Baudouin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The software industry is not protected in the same manner that doctors and > lawyers are.
Only because the insurance industry hasn't quite figured out how to corner developers. Besides, if I write a tool that eveyrone likes, even if it's closed source, > everyone still gets to use it....just not for free-forever-and-always like > RMS wants. Or on platforms that you didn't code it for, like future and alternative platforms. If it is a likable tool but not free then I have no way of getting "your tool" to work for me if my platform differs from your intended target and you don't intend to or cant target the platform I wish the tool to run on. Ill use skype as an example, everyone seems to like skype. Skype claims to be "free". I want to but I cannot use skype. I'm shit out of luck because its not free software, there are only free binaries. I've asked the "owners" to target a build for me to use but it has gone unanswered. Giving away code that took manhours to write is not supportive of any kind > of industry whatsoever. I make good money supporting programs built from free code. Enough to feed my family of 5. Not enough to be jealous of but that's mostly because I like to spend time with friends and family and don't really care to be greedy, dishonest, or hard to work with. I grew up in a family business, I know exactly how to make millions. Hard workers + "good" politicians. Its all about money and who you know. Industry is a side effect. There were doctors before there were hospitals, and they used to make house calls. This country was built without insurance only *now* is it required. Children used to know how to read, write and do simple arithmetic before they went to school. I do find it hard to dismiss my History professor's assertion that evolution could be BS IF only because the world is in fact devolving. Doctors and lawyers would quickly go out of business if their treatment > methods and cases were freely reusable forever. Lawyers will never be out of business. They ensure this. Doctors will still be doctors if there aren't any hospitals. Good natured humans have proved this. I'm not giving away any code that I write for my company. Neither is my > company. They have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into me and my > code. Why should people who have paid no money get to take what I've written > and use all of it for their own ends? Why not? Greedy? <hero>We must protect the business!</hero> It's called contributing to the advancement of world intelligence. Businesses rights damn near equal the rights of individuals. How would you feel if your employer sued you and your new employer every time you got another job as a software developer? Or even worse sued you out of business should you try to develop on your own? Maybe you need insurance?! So I guess the company and I suffer from intellectual retentiveness. If it doesn't fit I must acquit. The problem, for everyone, is big software and other publishers. They buy and > sell other people's work. They want to own the very idea behind that work > and keep real developers from being able to compete. > > This isn't true. They own implementations of ideas. It is true. They are granted a right that legally prevents anyone they deem unworthy from recreating their invention/creation/idea. They can also be granted a patent that protects the invention/creation/idea from being implemented in anyone else's (even an original) invention/creation/idea. The problem as I see it is that no one seems to recognize that anything broadcasted music/speech/publications/distributed-works can be protected from copying. If you don't want anyone copying it keep it to your self. If your company sells software they they are in fact a software publisher. You cannot broadcast and prevent it from being copied. Broadcasting property is not possible. So publications cannot be property. *cop?y?right* (kp-rt)*n.* The legal right granted to an author *pat?ent* (ptnt)* n.* A grant made by a government that confers upon the creator of an invention the sole right to make, use, and sell that invention for a set period of time. ***In?tel?lect* (ntl-kt)* n.* The ability to learn and reason; the capacity for knowledge and understanding.* prop?er?ty* (prpr-t)* n.* Something owned; a possession. TiVo does not own a video time-shifting recorder device idea. Then they were too slow to patent it. They own their proprietary bolt-ons to the Linux base system and their > implementations of hardware. Which is their right. But once they publish it why should the government of the people(remember businesses) allow businesses to target people who have "copied" these ideas? If another company takes an idea, all is fair in business and war. But if TiVo does own the patent for a video time-shifting recorder device and I make one like it and GIVE IT AWAY, I should not be treated as a business who stole intellectual "property". I am not making money off of their idea, but I am breaking the law. <beavis>breakin the law, breakin the law</beavis> Trusted Computing prevents pirated software from being run and *may* prevent > the Linux operating system from being run. Trusted Computing prevents software from running. Its like putting a governments lock onto your home. You own the home why should someone else tell you when you can use it? If I do in fact own my hardware, no one else should have control over what I use it for. When they try they do it with the useless excuse that they are protecting me from me they are pushing irresponsibility. (As an aside I refuse to believe the Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers > will sell retail boxed motherboards and cpus that cannot have LInux > installed on them) The Taiwanese will build what they are paid to build. If the government outlaws non compliant hardware shipments of "the good stuff" will become illegal. This has nothing to do with the ideal of "all software should be free" which > is ridiculous IMHO. It should be unless you are worried about someone knowing something that only you know. In which case you should keep the code to your self and no one will ever suspect you know. Unless you have shifty eyes. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/general_brlug.net/attachments/20050928/c5678d2a/attachment-0001.htm From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Wed Sep 28 18:35:53 2005 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Adam J. Hogan) Date: Wed Sep 28 18:46:24 2005 Subject: [brlug-general] 1,000 Used Computers Needed for Hurricane Relief; Other Tech Relief Projects Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Just passing this along. > Baton Rouge (LA) needs 1,000 Computers / How Techies Can Help / > PublicWebStations.com > > 1. BATON ROUGE NEEDS USED COMPUTERS: [The following note is from > Nancy Jo Craig, the Executive Director of CACRC in Baton Rouge. > Please consider forwarding this to anyone involved in the disposition > decisions for excess used equipment in your school or organization.] > > "The Capital Area Corporate Recycling Council (CACRC) is a non-profit > electronic recycler/refurbisher currently helping in the Hurricane > relief effort. The demand is ever growing for computers. Displaced > non-profits from New Orleans and the southern parishes are in need of > computers for start-up. Shelters from Louisiana and Mississippi are > asking for computers and there will be a long term need for displaced > families to have computers in their new homes. The FEMA trailer parks > will need to have technology available as well. > > "The CACRC would like to be able to provide at a minimum 200 > computers to non-profits, 300 to 500 to shelters around the region > (we had a request for 100 today), and another 500 for displaced > families. We have ~ 100 computers on hand. > > "We can use Pentium II and up with working monitors. Our warehouse > can upload and download pallets of equipment. The CACRC can provide a > letter of donation to any donor requiring one. > > "Thanks for your assistance in this. Help down this way is deeply > appreciated. We are in this for the long haul. > > "Sincerely, Nancy Jo Craig Executive Director CACRC 225 379-3577 > [EMAIL PROTECTED]" > > 2. WHAT TO DO IF YOU WANT TO DONATE ONE OR TWO COMPUTERS: > www.DIYparts.org has been managing a geographical database of > individuals who want to donate, trade, or sell computer equipment. > Specifically, they have helped tremendously with the hurricane relief > effort. You can visit their website and list your equipment. > > 3. WHAT TO DO IF YOU WANT TO DONATE YOUR TECHNOLOGY EXPERTISE: > www.TechVolunteers.com is registering technology people who want to > help. The Red Cross also contacted us and asked us to send tech > volunteers to http://www2.redcross.org/flash/course01_v01/ where you > get their "Introduction to Disasters" online course, and can then > contact the local chapter to get into their system. (Note that this > link only appears to work in Microsoft Internet Explorer and not in > Firefox.) > > 4. HAVE A LOCAL SHELTER NEAR YOU THAT NEEDS QUICK & EASY INTERNET > KIOSKS? Visit our hurricane humanitarian website, > www.PublicWebStations.com, to download a CD-based program and set up > a bullet-proof Firefox web station on an older computer in less than > 5 minutes. Publicized nationally, including by ABCnews.com. > > Thanks for taking the time and for your consideration, Steve Hargadon > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] phone: 916-791-2200 web: > http://www.technologyrescue.com -- Adam J. Hogan [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------------------------------------------- | Join FSF as an Associate Member at: | | <http://member.fsf.org/join?referrer=3607> | -----------------------------------------------
