After takin' a swig o' grog, Gregory Shearman belched out
this bit o' wisdom:
> On 2009-05-15, wispygalaxy <wispygalaxy@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>
>>> Where does Obama stand on open source?
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>> | So far the President?s record on open source is mixed.
>>> `----
>>>
>>> http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=4214
>>
>> I hope Obama sticks with his plan for an open government. As a result, OSS
>> will be favored and implemented more often.
>
> Open government? The Australian government has secret talks with
> Microsoft.
>
> The E-tax online tax return system *only* works on PCs running Windows.
> This is unlikely to change in the future. I've lobbied for years to get
> the E-tax system to be OS agnostic but the Australian Tax Office informs
> me that it is too hard, even though many other countries seem to manage
> this OK. So... I continue to submit paper forms and ignore the Tax
> Office when it exhorts taxpayers to use their E-tax system.
In reading "Codev2" by Lawrence Lessig, it struck me just how powerful is
the motivation to have a single system to which user-control can be added
for reasons of security, user-tracking, and business interests. By layering
code on top of the internet, the government can get the monitoring and
security functions it wants, business can get the tracking and payments it
wants, and the consumer gets controlled without even realizing it.
Microsoft Windows is that system.
--
Swerve me? The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails,
whereon my soul is grooved to run. Over unsounded gorges, through
the rifled hearts of mountains, under torrents' beds, unerringly I rush!
-- Captain Ahab, "Moby Dick"
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