[wplug] Recent news: IBM's commitment to Linux

[David Ostroske]

Lots of corporate bashing on the list lately.

> Actually, this is what I hope for.  Linux has always appealed to those
> with a
> greater degree of intelligence and ability than your typical WinBlows
> sychofant.  My hope is that this intelligence and ability will allow us
> to
> maintain a quality system in spite of corporate pressures to the
> contrary.

Yeah, IBM's stupid because they're backing Linux. Wait... wait, that's not 
right...

The intelligence and robustness of design is what makes Linux so popular, what 
makes it such a powerful *technical* solution. (Probably why it's so popular in 
embedded devices.) Open source allows intelligence to spread in the most 
efficient and effective ways possible. Even some of the smart people working in 
corporations recognize that fact. I say, wherever the good ideas come from, let 
them come. And whenever we see bad ideas coming, well, they're really easy to 
ignore. Don't forget, Linux can't be controlled!

>From what can be seen lately, a lot of the corporate pressure to change the 
kernal development model (have a steering committee, etc.) has about as much 
impact on the hacker community as a slap in the face with a wet trout. What's 
technically best will always win out, and whatever holds the community together 
allows this to happen. Who knows, someone out there might just like the taste 
of trout...

> As for IP rights, this will indeed prove interesting.  I hold that the
> developer of software holds the rights to it, even if it is similar to
> other
> software, whether it is released prior to or subsequent to the release
> of the
> software to which it is similar (the author of the first computer-based
> word
> processor does not hold rights to computer-based word processing in
> perpetuity,
> for example).  >SNIP<

That's the issue of patents, and that's a completely different kettle of fish. 
If anything, the threat of patents makes the documentation of open-source 
programs essential. No one can say that their technology is new and worthy of 
patent protection if the hacker community can point to who made it work first. 
Heck, patents are an *incentive* to create. We've got PNG to replace GIFs. Ogg 
Vorbis was made to outdo MP3. And both are better technologies in the context 
of their most common applications.

Hagbard, what you mention here, how developers hold the rights to their own 
software, is touched upon in Eric Raymond's Homesteading the Noosphere. ESR's 
tried to show the big corporations how open-source development can help them 
out, by simultaneously appealing to the open-source community. He has tried to 
make them appreciate their employees and teach them how to respect hacker 
mores. And just because a few of them don't get it is no reason to hang them 
all.

The way they talk, some of them are perfectly capable of hanging themselves.

--- Dave Ostroske
    eksortso at telerama.com