Cuba Loves Hippie Software

Newsmax ^ | 3/9/07 | Humberto Fontova

[slickeroo]

Cuba Loves Hippie Software

Humberto Fontova

Friday, March 9, 2007

Take in equal parts: lyrics from John Lennon's "Imagine," Steve Miller's "Fly Like An Eagle" and simmer.

Then add a pinch from "Age of Aquarius." Now you have the manifesto of The Free SoftWare Foundation, founded by software guru Richard Stallman, famous foe of commercial avarice and stalwart friend of freedom.

"Copyright laws violate basic morality," writes the shaggy MIT graduate. "People should be free to use software in ways that are socially useful. When a program has an owner, the users lose freedom to control part of their own lives."

"The issue is freedom," stresses Stallman. "Freedom for everyone who's using software, whether that person be a programmer or not. Free software — rree society — free as in freedom."

Stallman himself looks like a cross between Arlo Guthrie (circa Woodstock) and Wavy Gravy.

Stallman was the recent guest of honor of Cuba's Stalinist regime.

This year's International Conference on Communications and Technology was held in Havana on Feb. 14, and attended by 1,300 delegates from 58 nations. Stallman was a keynote speaker.

An intrepid bunch, these delegates. Much like those 2.4 million tourists who visit Cuba annualy, these delegates also somehow foiled the the fiendish "Yankee Blockade of Cuba!"

The official host of this conference was Ramiro Valdez, Cuba's spanking new minister of information and technology.

Everyone familiar with Cuban history (this naturally excludes all the MSM Cuba experts) know Ramiro Valdez as the Cuban regime's Lavrenti Beria, with a dash of Heinrich Himmler. This was a position he inherited when his chum Ernesto "Che" Guevara was promoted from Cuba's chief executioner to minister of the economy, where he murdered the Cuban economy as efficiently as he had murdered hundreds of defenseless Cuban men (and boys.)

You will search the hundreds of mainstream media stories on the Valdez appointment, and on his hosting of the conference, in utter vain for any mention of this gentleman's background.

Imagine the Nazis signing a peace accord" with Britain in 1941 and the regime surviving.

Imagine Heinrich Himmler then promoted to Germany's information minister and nary a mention of his background in the London Times or The New York Times. Heck, imagine J. Edgar Hoover appointed by Nixon as U.S. press secretay and his background ignored in all media pronouncements of the event.

Alas, regarding Cuba news in the mainstream media, we've come to expect different standards. The standards Alice found behind her Wonderland's looking glass seem rational in comparison.

Keynote speaker Richard Stallman was obviously tickled that a Stalinist regime had adopted his "Open Source Software" and worked the multinational audience of hipsters and geeks into a froth.

As usual, the mainstream media, the writers for John Stewart, Stephen Colbert, David Letterman, Bill Maher, etc. found no material worthy of their bosses' smirky irony in the scene. Here's a man adamant about people having "the freedom to control every part of their lives" as guest of honor for a regime that mandates what its subjects, read, say, earn, and eat (both substance and amount), and where they live, travel, or work.

Here's a hippie-dippy spokesman for peace, love, and total freedom who regards copyright laws as intolerably oppresive smiling gratefully — while being introduced onto the podium by a secret police chief for a KGB and STASI-trained force who jailed and tortured more political prisoners as a percentage of population than Stalin's police under Lavrenti Beria, and who executed at a higher rate than Hitler's pre-war Gestapo under Heinrich Himmler.

Here's a fanatic for free information flow accepting accolades from a regime that jails the most journalist per capita on planet earth.

According to the Paris-based (not Miami — please note!) Reporters Without Borders, Cuba (a tiny nation of 11 million people) today holds 20 percent of the world's jailed journalists. Imagine Castroite repression with China's population! Cuban "Law 88," passed in February 1999, cranked up the repression several notches, mandating up to 20 years in prison for "providing information that could be useful to U.S. policy."

Imagine a similar law in the U.S. that jailed reporters for "providing information useful to Al-Qaida polcy!" Imagine the news: "An eerie silence enshrouds New York's near-empty newsrooms and editorial offices as long queues of fresh convicts shuffle into the nation's federal prisons . . ."

Today, Cuba — a nation that in 1958 had more TVs and telephones per capita than any continental European country — has fewer Internet connections than Uganda, the lowest number in the hemisphere.

Reporters Without Borders (NOT the Cuban-American-National-Foundation — please note!) scoffs: "The (Cuban) authorities' chief reason for keeping citizens away from the Internet is to prevent them from being well-informed."

Ramiro Valdez claimed that his Cuban Internet crackdown (not that there's much to crack down on) was to prevent, "the diffusion of information promoting terrorism, racism, fraud, and . . . fascist ideologies."

A Freudian slip, I think this could be labeled. Valdez seemed to be reading from the Cuban regime's very resume.

Valdez referred to Internet technology as a "wild colt to be broken and tamed." Needless to say, nary a murmur of protest issued from the reverential attendees, including Stallman, much less the MSM. (Imagine the media hullabaloo if, say, Attorney General Gonzalez blurted something of the sort!)

A courageous Cuban human-rights activist and samizdat reporter named Guillermo Farinas recently sent an open letter to the regime requesting the same Internet rights for Cubans as enjoyed by every Latin-American citizen. (Chances are, he would have gladly settled for those enjoyed by the citizens of of Red China.)

Ex-secret police chief Valdez responded quickly and decisively.

His goon squads ambushed Farinas just last week. The mob's odds against the unarmed (but you knew that because he lives in Cuba) Farinas were typical for the gallant Castroites, about 20 to one. From the Bay of Pigs through the Escambray rebellion to Angola it's the same story of this sort of unrelenting bravery and chivalry.

These sadists — in the pay Charles Rangel's favorite Latin regime and directed by Richard Free as in "freedom!" Stallman's smiling host — bashed Farinas to the ground and pummeled him fearfully. A grisly picture of him just smuggled out of Cuba was posted on the blogs Uncommon Sense and Babalu.blog.

Stallman — if interested in the genuine rationale for his Cuban hosts enthusiasm for his "Open Source Software" — might take a look.

Humberto Fontova is the author of "Fidel; Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant," a Conservative Book Club "Main Selection."

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I can't understand how something that's discovered can be patented.

Affirmative action in the USPTO at work for you.

[Screamname]

Incredible. Once I figure out how to download it I`ll check it out, but again, why would someone work on this for free? Is it a college credit type of thing?

[theFIRMbss]

We need a contest
to decide who's CRAZIER--
The "VISTA's evil"

chowderheads or the
"open software's communist"
Bircher wannabes . . .

[Revolting cat!]

Is there a Communist inside your computer?!

[DreamsofPolycarp]

People contribute to open source software for an infinite variety of reasons:

Altruism
Misguided hippie idealism
Hatred for Microsoft
Desire to undermine MS --> IBM, Sun, Novell and several big companies would like to see MS's stranglehold on the mkt broken and are big supporters of open source
Different business model -->making money from custom designing "applications of applications" (most OS database stuff)
A realization that it is the best out there for what it does, and you want to custom fit it to your project -->mostly for server software. Most servers are OS.

[DreamsofPolycarp]

We need a contest
to decide who's CRAZIER--
The "VISTA's evil"
chowderheads or the
"open software's communist"
Bircher wannabes . . .

Vista is not "evil." It is bloated, insecure, lame, predatory priced, a resource hog and a shill for the DRM crowds, but not "evil."

[DreamsofPolycarp]

Free Republic: a Hippie Haven

From Netcraft:

Organisation FreeRepublic.LLC, Jim Robinson, P.O. Box 9771, Fresno, 93794, United States Nameserver Organisation Robinson-DeFehr Consulting, John Robinson, P.O. Box 1745, Fresno, 93721, United States

List of servers, addresses and what they run

NTT America, Inc. 8005 South Chester Street Suite 200 Centennial CO US 80112 209.157.64.200 Linux Apache 1-Mar-2007
NTT America, Inc. 8005 South Chester Street Suite 200 Centennial CO US 80112 209.157.64.200 Linux Apache 17-Jan-2007
NTT America, Inc. 8005 South Chester Street Suite 200 Centennial CO US 80112 209.157.64.201 Linux Apache 2-Dec-2006
NTT America, Inc. 8005 South Chester Street Suite 200 Centennial CO US 80112 209.157.64.201 Linux Apache 18-Oct-2006
NTT America, Inc. 8005 South Chester Street Suite 200 Centennial CO US 80112 209.157.64.201 unknown Apache 17-Oct-2006
NTT America, Inc. 8005 South Chester Street Suite 200 Centennial CO US 80112 209.157.64.200 Linux Apache 3-Sep-2006
NTT America, Inc. 8005 South Chester Street Suite 200 Centennial CO US 80112 209.157.64.200 Linux Apache 4-Jun-2006
NTT America, Inc. 8005 South Chester Street Suite 200 Centennial CO US 80112 209.157.64.200 Linux Apache 4-Jan-2006
Verio 209.157.64.201 Linux Apache 11-Jul-2005
Verio 209.157.64.200 Linux unknown 10-Jul-2005

EVERY ONE of them running LINUX. Those Commies are EVERYWHERE, I tell you.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

Originally stated:

^^^^^^^^^^Open Source = Commieware^^^^^^^^^

It was noted:

^^^^^^How insulting... unlike communism, open source software actually works.^^^^^^^^^

To further that notion, not only does OSS actually work, but nobody's forcing you to give your product away. Unlike communism.

It's(OSS) actually very capitalistic. If you want to give it away, you're highly foolish, but as an individual you have that right.

http://www.capitalism.org/
1. What is capitalism?
Capitalism is a social system based on the principle of individual rights.

That's the most simplistic yet accurate explanation of capitalism that I've ever seen. And it fits OSS fairly accurately.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't see how you have much of a choice.

Stallman is a leftist.
Jobs is a leftist.
Gates is a leftist.

We *ALL* have communists in our computers!!!!!!!! LOL

[Golden Eagle]

Capitalism is a social system based on the principle of individual rights.

ROFL, there you are again putting up that funky defintion of Capitalism you found on a .org site. Capitalism isn't a "social" system, it's an economic system, based on private ownership and the profit motive. At it's best, free software is a form of Altruism, which can compliment capitalism in society, but not as a complete replacement for it like leftist "the father of free software" nutjob Richard Stallman are intent on implementing. For you to try to equat that green party whacko to the richest guy in the world Bill Gates, or to another true pioneer of the digital age Steve Jobs, shows how far out in left you are too.

[theFIRMbss]

>Is there a Communist inside your computer?!

------------------------------------------------

I see red
Hurts my head
Guess it must be something
That I read

It's the color of your heartbeat
A rising summer sun
The battle lost or won
The flash to fashion
And the pulse to passion
Feels red
Inside my head
Truth is often bitter
Left unsaid
Said red, red
Thinking about the overhead
The underfed

Couldn't we talk about something else instead?

We've got Mars on the horizon
Says the National Midnight Star
(It's true!)
What you believe is what you are
A pair of dancing shoes
The Soviets are the blues
The Reds
Under your bed
Lying in the darkness
Dead ahead

And the mercury is rising
Barometer starts to fall
You know it gets to us all
The pain that is learning
And the rain that is burning
Feels red
Still . . . go ahead
You see black and white
And I see red
Red
(Not blue . . .)

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

So you tell me I'm wrong, then you agree with me:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^At it's best, free software is a form of Altruism, which can compliment capitalism in society^^^^^^^^^^

Altruism is more capitalistic than it is communistic. It still requires free will, the most important ingredient that's missing from communism. Free will is the most important ingredient of both capitalism and altruism.

^^^^^^^^^^For you to try to equat that green party whacko to the richest guy in the world Bill Gates, or to another true pioneer of the digital age Steve Jobs, shows how far out in left you are too.^^^^^^^^^^^

I didn't say that Gates nor Jobs was the same kind of leftist that Stallman is. Heck, Jobs isn't the same kind of leftist that Gates is.

But like it or not, what I said is 100% accurate. Gates is a leftist. Stallman is a leftist. So is this guy:

[Golden Eagle]

We *ALL* have communists in our computers!!!!!!!! LOL

Get real, Stallman was down in Cuba last month again, where were Steve Jobs and Bill Gates? SELLING computers, not giving them away to commies like you guys seem to prefer.

Microsoft? $40 billion a year. Apple? $20 billion a year. Stallman? Commie.

[Golden Eagle]

[E. Pluribus Unum]

"Incredible. Once I figure out how to download it I`ll check it out, but again, why would someone work on this for free? Is it a college credit type of thing?"

For one thing, open source has evolved to the point where not everybody working on it is working for free.

All software requires an underlying operating system to run. When your software runs on a proprietary operating system, you are beholden to the owner of that operating system, and things the owner does to that operating system can really mess you up. Microsoft has been suspected of tweaking their operating system so that other peoples' applications don't run as well as theirs.

IBM, Oracle, Sun, Novelle and many other major IT firms are contributing code to the Linxux kernel and Open Office because open source software gives them control over the environment. Linux is now Oracle's preferred platform. The most important feature of Open Office (http://openoffice.org/ is its ODF (Open Document Format) which will allow the free exchange of data among any applications you want. This is a tremendous advantage to everybody except Microsoft. Microsoft would like for everyone to be tethered to its proprietary document formats so that they are forced to use windows.

Another reason people develp open source projects is because sometimes no commercial software offers the features they want. One person might start a project that does a few things to photos, easily and quickly. He releases it as open source, and someone else who uses it likes it but it is lacking a few features he wants, so he writes some code and sends it to the original developer who adds it, and now they and anybody else who wants it has an even better litte application to use.

The GIMP is composed of all sorts of features that have been written by a number of people. Other projects have taken GIMP code and branched off into other areas, like video.

The open source model is, first and foremost, a way for people to cooperate to achieve a common goal. Open source software is documented to have fewer errors than commercial software. Microsoft has become so bloated and bureaucratic that multiple committees and years were spent on the login screen of Windows Vista alone. They are seriously trying to mimic the open source process now because it is more efficient and results in higher quality code.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

^^^^^^^^^^Get real, Stallman was down in Cuba last month again, where were Steve Jobs and Bill Gates?^^^^^^^^^^

So what?

As I've posted before, I'm a torvaldsist.(yes, I know. bad ist/ism) He's a pragmatist. Use the best product because it's the best.

^^^^^^^^Microsoft? $40 billion a year. Apple? $20 billion a year. Stallman? Commie.^^^^^^^^^^

How many billions a year does Soros make? Do you really wamt me to make you a list of millionaire and billionaire leftists?

I'll still start my list with gates and jobs, just because I've seen how much it pisses you off. And because I'm absolutely right. They're both leftists.

Why does it bother you that I've accurately labeled gates a leftist?
Why does it bother you that I've accurately labeled jobs a leftist?

What's the big deal? A leftist is a leftist. A tiger is a tiger.

That doesn't make them bad people. They're just leftists.

So when are you going to get the communist out of your computer?

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

Reagan shook hands with alot of leftists. Doesn't mean he agreed with their ideology. Here's another:

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

One more thing. Did you know that the leftist named jobs absolutely refuses to advertise on Rush's program?

Imagine that.

I doubt that the leftist named Gates would either.

What do you think?

[Mr J]

The secret of success is knowing the right time to take credit for the labor of others. ;-)

[Golden Eagle]

They're both leftists.

You've failed to prove that point, while I've easily established they're both Americans and both capitalists, verses the many foreigners and communists that back Linux, as do you.