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Software vendors urge limits on open source
CNET News.com ^ | 28 November 2002 | CNET

Posted on 11/28/2002 11:47:05 AM PST by chilepepper

The Initiative for Software Choice, which counts Microsoft, Cisco Systems and Intel among its backers, said in comments filed Tuesday that the department should "avoid crafting needless and potentially detrimental IT policy to promote the use" of open-source software. "Open source" means every software developer can view the source code for software, modify it, and use it for free.

The initiative, which launched in May and is chaired by a group called CompTIA, an organization that has close ties to Microsoft, is worried about a recent report that concluded the Defense Department relies on open-source software and recommended its further adoption.

(Excerpt) Read more at rtnews.globetechnology.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Philosophy; Technical
KEYWORDS: doublethink; linux; microsoft; monopoly; opensource; orwell
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To: Bush2000
Has anybody got a free Ebonics translator/reader?

Check the next Linux distro...

81 posted on 11/29/2002 2:12:11 PM PST by TomServo
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To: chilepepper
Try MySQL under Linux. *very* nice for WWW applications and very well integrated w/ Apache and PHP

Unless, of course, you need it to scale like Oracle or SQL Server.
82 posted on 11/29/2002 3:06:42 PM PST by Bush2000
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To: Bush2000
Unless, of course, you need it to scale like Oracle or SQL Server.

Is that why Oracle is so popular? Gee whiz.

83 posted on 11/29/2002 3:09:25 PM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts
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To: Karl B
Take your thorazine and get back in line with the rest of drooling Chronics and Acutes.
84 posted on 11/29/2002 3:09:43 PM PST by Bush2000
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To: Bush2000
So your sarcascisms only show a really awkward MS state of mind...

Yeah buddy. Better watch those sarcascisms. The Moderators will be down on you in no time.

85 posted on 11/29/2002 3:12:22 PM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts
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To: beavus
i'm sure DELL and Gateway would have a lot to say about Microsoft's power of persuasion as you so artfully put it (guffaw guffaw). DELL stopped supporting Linux once already on desktops under pressure from the evil software empire

M$ is starting to play rough with their competition now, which is both Open Source and... government agencies (at the levels of nations, states, and munincipalities)

so at what point does a government cut a deal with Microsoft to 1) either allow official snooping 2) allow official filtering 3) allow official control over the machine?

item two is already happening in Red China, thank you Microsoft, Cisco and SUN.

86 posted on 11/29/2002 3:42:48 PM PST by chilepepper
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To: TomServo
cool!
87 posted on 11/29/2002 3:43:53 PM PST by chilepepper
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To: chilepepper
i'm sure DELL and Gateway would have a lot to say about Microsoft's power of persuasion as you so artfully put it (guffaw guffaw). DELL stopped supporting Linux once already on desktops under pressure from the evil software empire

Oh now I see why you compare Bill Gates with a war mongering totalitarian dictator modelled after Josef Stalin. At first I thought you were just being irrational.

Not that this stale issue hasn't been argued before, but yes, Dell and Gateway preferred to keep the discount on MS products rather than buying MS products at the same price everyone else does. Your anger in this case is completely misplaced and should instead be against Dell and Gateway for not offering a more expensive MS-free product.

Sorry I misunderstood. I guess you DON'T know the difference between persuasion and brute force. Pity.

88 posted on 11/29/2002 3:56:07 PM PST by beavus
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To: Bush2000
Yah, except mySQL is free and scales quite well.

if you need more, you can get Oracle under Linux and a whole slew of other DB's which put M$ offerings to shame.

SOLID, Sybase, Informix and probably even DB/2 already run on Linux or will soon...

remember that all the real big IBM clusters are being tied together now with...Linux

surely you've heard of BEOWULF and CONDOR culstering software? ...all Open Source and rock solid.

89 posted on 11/29/2002 4:11:33 PM PST by chilepepper
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To: beavus
yah, but what about the Microsoft assisting the Red Chinese government in controlling the internet?
90 posted on 11/29/2002 4:16:52 PM PST by chilepepper
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To: chilepepper
Is that link supposed to persuade me that Bill Gates is like Josef Stalin? Give me some reason for judging your links worth pursuing. There aren't enough hours in a day to pursue every link associated with a ridiculous posting.
91 posted on 11/29/2002 4:45:00 PM PST by beavus
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To: beavus
i was thinking bill gates is more on the lines of saruman. maybe steve balmer is more like stalin, or genghis khan...
92 posted on 11/29/2002 5:00:57 PM PST by chilepepper
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To: chilepepper
"i was thinking bill gates is more on the lines of saruman. maybe steve balmer is more like stalin, or genghis khan..."

Well said. I'll check out that link now...
93 posted on 11/29/2002 5:06:59 PM PST by beavus
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To: chilepepper
I had read that article. The question is whether MS should screen its customer base so that it doesn't directly sell to someone who will use its product for immoral purposes.

I wouldn't blame MS or any of the other hundreds of US companies that trade with China if they stopped selling on moral grounds. However, policing is the purvue of government. As far as I can tell, MS does not trade with Cuba, in compliance with US law. Presumably US chemical companies obey laws proscribing them from trading with Iraq.

I don't have a good answer for what MS should do. However, MS is by no means unique in this matter. China is one of our biggest trading partners.

Are all companies that trade with China, in your eyes, evil? Perhaps you should avoid their products.
94 posted on 11/29/2002 5:18:00 PM PST by beavus
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To: chilepepper
Yah, except mySQL is free and scales quite well.

Surrrrrrre, it does. FR uses it, and it fell over on election night. Nice DB.

if you need more, you can get Oracle under Linux and a whole slew of other DB's which put M$ offerings to shame.

If the tables were turned, you'd be comparing Larry Ellison to Adolph Hitler right about now...
95 posted on 11/29/2002 5:18:35 PM PST by Bush2000
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Comment #96 Removed by Moderator

To: Bush2000
Oracle is pretty lousy. Sybase much better, SOLID even better, but watch out for IBM's DB/2.
97 posted on 11/29/2002 6:41:22 PM PST by chilepepper
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To: Bush2000
Comparing Larry Elison to Adolf Hitler? Hmmmm... you may have a point.
98 posted on 11/29/2002 6:43:15 PM PST by chilepepper
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To: beavus
So you don't think there's anything morally wrong with selling products and services to a government that intends to use them to strip its population of civil rights?
99 posted on 11/29/2002 6:48:26 PM PST by dheretic
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To: beavus
I have genuine mixed feelings on this point since on the one hand capitalism is helping many chinese surge ahead, but on the other hand there are undoubtedly many slave factories run by the PLA which make the stuff that gets sent to wal-mart and help keep the repressive ruling elite in power.

my gut feel is that if enough chinese get rich enough to have a computer, get on the internet and talk to one another, that no amount of filtering and repression will be able to stop them from turning into a truly democratic country.

the risk that they do not is of course a war between us and them almost too horrible to contemplate instigated by a ruling elite unwilling to bend to the will of their own people...

a computer and a network are just tools, but if they are controlled by the wrong hands they can become a tool of repression and that is what my nightmares consist of...

100 posted on 11/29/2002 6:56:48 PM PST by chilepepper
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