Posted by Eric
Tue, 13 Aug 2002 00:00:00 GMT
Steve Sheldon sent me a URL to the RedHat
bill which I mentioned yesterday.
I can't find anything on Mandrake's, IBM's or Linux International's
websites, so I'll assume that they're innocent until proven guilty (I
don't trust the CNET fact checkers, and I seriously doubt that Linux
International's corporate
members would approve of this silliness).
So what's going on? It looks like somebody in RedHat's Open Source Now
division is trying to pull a publicity stunt at the Linux World Expo.
I'm not convinced that RedHat's management seriously supports this bill;
they have a lot of partnerships with
companies such as Oracle.
garym has has
written a scathing
satire about this bill. And I have reason
to believe that Linus would hate it: And I personally refuse to
use inferior tools because of ideology. In fact, I will go as far as
saying that making excuses for bad tools due to ideology is
stupid, and people who do that think with their gonads, not
their brains.
Posted by Eric
Tue, 13 Aug 2002 00:00:00 GMT
I notice that many Radio
UserLand weblogs include a coffee mug icon. This icon allows Radio
users to subscribe to a weblog with a click or two, instead of fooling
around with RSS feeds manually. It's a good idea, and I'd like to add
this feature to my site. One problem: I've dug around quite a bit, and
I can't find any documentation.
Can non-Radio weblogs participate in this system? And if so, how?
I'm perfectly willing to spend $40/year on Radio, if that's what's
required, but I'd like to keep using my own tools.
Posted by Eric
Mon, 12 Aug 2002 00:00:00 GMT
According to CNET (via LWN), IBM, RedHat and several others are
backing a bill which would prohibit the California government from
purchasing proprietary software. If this is true, these companies have
taken leave of their senses.
I write free software for a living, and I would be adamantly
opposed to any such legislation. This is bad strategy (it would only
alienate potential users), bad policy (there aren't open source
products in many important markets), bad politics (it makes the
sponsors look like self-serving fools without even a chance of
victory), and bad business (running to the government when you can't
compete in the market is tacky).
I have a hard time believing that RedHat is this dumb--or that IBM
is this united behind a single proposal--so I'll wait a few days and
see if CNET is misquoting the sponsors. But if the bill really says
what CNET claims, I'm ready to oppose it.
