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Cute as...

Credit: Maciej Stachowiak

posted Fri 20 Jun 2003 in /blogs/mjs | link

Poland as LOTR setting

Credit: Maciej Stachowiak

posted Fri 20 Jun 2003 in /blogs/mjs | link

Groggy on Byte interview with Sontag

Greg wrote a good analysis of Chris Sontag's claims in the recent Byte interview.

posted Fri 20 Jun 2003 in /issues/sco-vs-linux | link

Thomas Keller interview

Interview with Thomas Keller. (Who is, for those of you less into gastronomy than others, the Chef of The French Laundry, reputed one of the best restaurants in the world.)

Where do I want you to be after you've eaten something? I want you to be thinking, "God I wish I had a little more of that." Your memory of that taste is excellent. Also, it's more healthy - in the Japanese way - to extend the meal for a longer period of time. It helps your body digest the food instead of packing your body with so much food that you're uncomfortable for hours afterward. This way, you're able to taste better and you know when you've had enough. The law of diminishing returns is the most important part of that. [...]

[O]nce in a while you might see me at In and Out Burger; they make the best fast food hamburgers around.

posted Fri 20 Jun 2003 in /food/people | link

SCO owns the World?

LWN has an excellent article about SCO's claims, and how they show that proprietary licensing is at least as "viral" and contagious as the GPL, if not more so.

Paid registration is required to read this for the next few weeks. I recommend you register. LWN has the best editorial control and commentary of any Linux news site I know.

According to some opponents of free software, users of that software are taking grave risks. The GPL, it is said, is "viral" and can cause the loss of a company's intellectual property. And free software users are exposed to the possibility that somebody, somewhere, may have incorporated tainted code, exposing users and distributors to unexpected liabilities. The solution to these problems, of course, is to simply stick with safe, licensed, proprietary software. It costs, and you sign away a lot of rights, but the warm, fuzzy feeling that comes from signing that license agreement is worth it.

Except it's increasingly clear that things are not that way. We all owe SCO a debt of gratitude for showing us how unsafe proprietary software can be. That company is using proprietary licensing to press a truly staggering set of claims over the work of others and power to disrupt organizations worldwide.[...]

SCO, it would seem, owns everything. Compared to that claim, the allegedly "viral" nature of the GPL (if you distribute something derived from a GPL-licensed product, the derived product must also be licensed under the GPL) seems weak indeed. SCO is laying claim to decades of work done by dozens of proprietary Unix vendors, and that's just the starting point.[...]

All of those AIX customers did exactly what they are supposed to do: they signed a proprietary license, paid their fees, and went off with the idea that they had bought the right to use the system on their machines. Now it appears that Unix users, at SCO's whim, can be deprived of the software upon which they have built their businesses. Proprietary Unix, it would seem, is a foundation built upon sand. Given that Microsoft felt the need to buy a Unix license from SCO, it is not clear that Windows users are in any better shape. One might assume that SCO would not try to pull the plug on Windows, but the possibility exists regardless. We look forward to the forthcoming warning from the Gartner Group.

posted Fri 20 Jun 2003 in /issues/sco-vs-linux | link

Senator Hatch Introduces Bill to Burn People's Eyes Out

From JZip:

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) today introduced legislation authorizing the use of high-powered microwave lasers to burn out the eyes of non-paying viewers of copyrighted material. "If we could develop technology which just burned out the parts of their brains where the illegal memories are stored, that'd be fine with me--but we can burn their eyes out right now!" said Hatch, while introducing the Hatch/Hollywood Eyeball Evisceration Act.

posted Fri 20 Jun 2003 in /issues/copyright | link

Heard around Canberra

"The university that has the most rules against cheating is the one that's teeming with it."

It disgusts me to hear of the amount that goes on. Overseas students seem particularly prone to it, though I'm sure they're not the only ones. It makes a mockery of the idea of assessment or academic integrity. Does the administration not know, or not care?

posted Fri 20 Jun 2003 in /random | link

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