Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> ____/ Mark Kent on Friday 20 July 2007 18:19 : \____
>
>> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>>> ____/ Mark Kent on Friday 20 July 2007 13:32 : \____
>>>
>>>> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>>>>> TG Daily Special: Leaving Redmond, WA in 24 hours
>>>>>
>>>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>>>>| This is the first install of what will be a periodic, ongoing series on
>>>>>| how migrate from Microsoft's Windows to other Operating systems. This
>>>>>| first article provides insight in the much discussed Ubuntu Linux.
>>>>> `----
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/32967/113/
>>>>
>>>> There are literally thousands of developers contributing profit up
>>>> to Linux all the time. Not all of them are paid to do so either.
>>>> Most are simply zealots who,
>>>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>>> |
>>>> |
>>>> Is this some yank thing? Why is someone who writes software for a free
>>>> operating system a zealot? Perhaps they just want to?
>>>
>>> I had an argument about this in Digg last week. I said that zeal is
>>> associated with religion and people begged to differ, citing some
>>> dictionaries. I hate that word as well. Desire for freedom and human rights
>>> to be honoured as a form of fanaticism? Naa...
>>
>> Zealot, zeal, zealotry all have somewhat fanatical meaning. I don't
>> think most people who write open-source software are fanatical, in fact,
>> very few are - most of them are interested in freedom, and reward in
>> their currency of interest, that being source-code and recognition. The
>> zealots are those who wish to use a "high priesthood" to create software
>> which only "high priests" are allowed to investigate, everyone else has
>> to accept it, use it, and remain locked-in. Those are zealots, they
>> have high-priests.
>>
>>>
>>>>> March of the Desktop Penguins
>>>>>
>>>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>>>>| The suitability of Linux as a desktop alternative to Windows depends on
>>>>>| your applications, your hardware and your attachment to Microsoft
>>>>>| applications, formats and protocols.
>>>>> `----
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2160628,00.asp
>>>>
>>>> This article is very interesting. It notes in particular that linux
>>>> desktops need to interwork in an environment where Microsoft has made
>>>> most of the rules, and has kept the rule-book hidden. After quite a bit
>>>> of analysis, though, the article makes this extremely prescient statement:
>>>>
>>>> "The best way for companies interested in carving out a
>>>> compatibility zone for Linux and other non-Windows platforms is
>>>> to stick to creating formatting-heavy documents with applications
>>>> that run on multiple platforms, such as OpenOffice.org."
>>>>
>>>> The warning sign here should be that for all businesses, it makes sense
>>>> to start moving everything onto OpenOffice.org as quickly as possible,
>>>> in order that any future migration from Windows to Linux will be far
>>>> more painless. Clearly, this is what Microsoft are hoping that HMG
>>>> will help prevent happening, by forcing the National Archives, British
>>>> Library and BBC onto proprietary-only formats, thus ensuring that their
>>>> services will only be available to people who pay the Microsoft tax as
>>>> well as the HMG tax.
>>>
>>> Yes, I wrote about this on Monday...
>>>
>>> http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/article.php/3688891
>>>
>>> I think the document debate is hugely important and I spend a lot of time
>>> writing about it right now. In the past week alone, ODF has celebrated many
>>> wins. It's looking good. It's all about education and the ability to expose
>>> those who are influenced by the Microsoft money (Portugal, Italy, and the US
>>> got **busted** this week).
>>>
>>
>> I think that the more we expose these issues here, the more they will be
>> seen in mainstream media, and the more they will influence those who
>> should /know/ what is being done with their money, and/or in their name.
>> In many cases, I'm fairly certain that incompetence rather than malice
>> is the driving force for those making the decisions, however, those
>> lobbying rely very much on that incompetence, and will do little or
>> nothing to ameliorate it.
>
> Spotted a couple of minutes ago (via Technorati):
>
> http://www.oreillynet.com/xml/blog/2007/07/bribery_watch.html
>
> I'm just flattered to be mentioned among names like Weir and Marbux.
>
It does prove that the audience is out there, and is listening very very
hard indeed. Once upon a time, the oft-quoted mantra was that anyone
saying such a thing was a "zealot" or other such extremist. Now, it's
being taken very seriously indeed.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
| Cola faq: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/linux/advocacy/faq-and-primer/ |
| Cola trolls: http://colatrolls.blogspot.com/ |
| My (new) blog: http://www.thereisnomagic.org |
|
|
