Posted on 11/23/2005 7:03:10 PM PST by Halfmanhalfamazing
This month, SAP's Shai Agassi referred to open-source software as "intellectual property socialism." In January, Bill Gates suggested that free-software developers are communists. A few years earlier, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer called the open-source operating system Linux "a cancer."
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Who said I hated it. I just don't want it given to foreign governments to duplicate which threatens the security and economy of the US. I don't want foreign adversaries looking over our source code for free. No idea why you disagree, haven't given any good reasons yet.
I can assure you most of the OEM software distributed to the military is already being secured, audited, and controlled with limited distribution. Downloads of "freeware" are in many cases specifically being blocked, either from download or install. As it should be, obviously (to anyone but you).
Beowulf, the free collection of software to link to gether an okay supercomputer, also has worldwide contributors.
But most of it came from NASA, here in the US. What a pleasant thought, the Russian and Chicom supercomputers all run software they get legally and free from NASA. /ridiculous
The proprietary UNICOS/mp runs the latest Crays, where Linux would fail miserably.
Even Cray has gone to clusters. "Red Storm" they call them, how perfect you must think, almost just like "Red Flag".
No, you can't assure me. Most of what the military uses is exactly what any business would use. They buy enterprise licenses or individual copies for commercial software just like everybody else does. They secure it like any other enterprise, audit for licenses like any others. They may check it to make sure it doesn't mess with the network or call home when it's not supposed to, but that's also what any decent enterprise IT department would do.
What a pleasant thought, the Russian and Chicom supercomputers all run software they get legally and free from NASA. /ridiculous
And yet it wouldn't be in the state it is today were it not for foreigners.
Even Cray has gone to clusters.
Cray has a cluster solution, but a lot about them is proprietary. Their big machines are still proprietary. And for the best results, it can help to have the big machine: "If you were plowing a field, which would you rather use? Two strong oxen or 1024 chickens?" -- Seymour Cray.
You believe it's communist.
You believe it's dangerous to our software companies
You believe it is dangerous to our national security
You don't like that China gets to have it along with everyone else
If you have so much against it, why don't you stop using it?
Not if they follow the rules, which are getting only tighter. One day it's going to be real hard to download anything at all yourself. As it should be, of course.
For the same reason you Bill Gates haters keep using Microsoft, because it would be impossible not to, especially if you work in this field.
I don't hate Bill Gates (I disagree with some of his tactics, but that's not hating the person) and I have no problem with the commercial software business model. Using Windows and Visual Studio creates no conflict for me, and I've even left positive comments about both, and Visio, on this board.
Now, why do you use something you think is endangering our country? Why don't you be true to yourself and stop? Come on GE, be a man.
If you're talking about a person sitting on a military computer downloading and installing software, well, duh. That's simply good security policy, nothing special to the military. You wouldn't want a user to download some commercial software that calls home all the time without telling you it does.
If you're talking about the general public, that's rediculous. Just because the military uses the same software that millions of others use doesn't make suddenly subject to special distribution restrictions.
Not if you want your computers to be secure it's not. Limit what you install to trusted sources, not software from hackers who came from who knows where.
That's not what you were talking about, which was that the military should be able to limit the distribution of software to all because of national security reasons.
, not software from hackers who came from who knows where.
Some of those hackers are quite trusted and preeminent in their field. Have you figured out the Russian software that's in most 'nixes?
The government should better control proliferation of software technology, and is beginning to as the ability to improves. The no-borders software crowd led by Stallman and the UN will slowly lose out to the content and patent owners in the US. Again, as it should.
I see you haven't figured it out. That's probably because you know nothing about 'nix, especially Linux.
Again, if it's so dangerous to US, bordering on traitorous, why don't you stop using it?
Do you have any experience with the various GUIs on a BSD variant? If so, how do they compare to the linux desktop distros you like?
I'm installing fBSD servers all over the place and want to have a desktop running a Unix variant, but am not sure which one to use.
Still talking about anything other than free software from NASA that goes straight to communist governments I see. And no, I don't care who your favorite Russian hacker is.
No, I don't have any experience on the BSDs.
But I'm sure that KDE and GNOME on BSD are very similar to their linux counterparts.
You might want to give this one a try if you're looking for one that's easy to use.
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=pcbsd
Or you could just stick with freebsd, the tried and true.
As far as linux's go I normally recommend SuSE or Fedora. Keep in mind that linux has more corporate support than the BSDs do. For example, video drivers from nVidia.
^^^^^^^^^Still talking about anything other than free software from NASA that goes straight to communist governments^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Why has it never bothered you when Microsoft's software goes straight to communist governments?
Were you bothered when Microsoft showed the chicoms their win-source-dows?
Actually, it goes out into the scientific community, and as the scientific community is generally open, people like China can use it too. BTW, I don't believe China is doing Beowulf. As you found out in a response to another of your lying posts, they're using proprietary Myrinet and a customized commercial Linux.
And no, I don't care who your favorite Russian hacker is.
You don't care about Russian hacker software being in much of the military's 'nix installations? I thought you were worried about that kind of thing. Face it, you simply don't know what you're talking about. Your xenophobia is completely unrealistic in this modern world where some very good software originates outside of this country. And if it's open source, a government doesn't have to worry about back doors (which is the reason China wanted a peek at the Windows code).
So when are you going to stop using that which is so inferior and damaging to our economy and our nation's security? You're contributing to our downfall by continuing to use it.
It does bother me, greatly, why wouldn't it? But they only did it as a response to Linux, and of course don't allow everyone the right to view, modify and redistribute the source. Somehow Stallman has brainwashed you to the point you can't tell the difference?
Not a very good reason for us to give communists and terrorists the legal right to access, modify, and redistribute under a different name. Limit access to legitimate trustworthy researchers only, not Iranians who want it to build an atomic bomb to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth, exactly as they claim they want to do, etc.
A different name means nothing for our security. It is only a trademark issue between companies.
Limit access to legitimate trustworthy researchers only
I like how you ignore the other points, especially that some of the supercomputing software is foreign-written.
And when are you going to stop using this commie software that's so dangerous?
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