[nmglug] Re: nmglug Digest, Vol 20, Issue 19

[Jason Davis]

On Thu, 2005-05-26 at 14:52 -0600, Andres Paglayan wrote:
> I think he was just being pragmatic,
> the tool is free (for them to use), it speeds up stuff, let's use it.
> (BTW the article says that BK was built for Linus, want more free 
> advertising than that?)
> now, the tool is no longer free, f__k yeah, let's build our own, that's 
> how open source works.
> 


Open Source is *not* about making software because you can't get it
for free from somewhere else. Open source is actually not about money 
at all. It's about *source* code that is *open*. BK is not open.
Who cares if it is free. But this is not what I am debating nor
do I feel Linus's pragmatic decision a bad one. I just 
don't like him whining about BK getting reverse engineered.

jd


> 
> Jason Davis wrote:
> 
> >>theregister.co.uk is not that supportive of Linux, and neither are
> >>linuxbusinessnews or linuxinsider.  And probably others.  Anyone can
> >>buy a linux URL and try to appear to be Linux friendly, and instead use
> >>it to try to hold Linux at bay as long as possible.  For a lot of
> >>people, it is their job that is threatened by Linux, and when something
> >>that important is threatened, something will be done about it. 
> >>Whatever they can think of.  Perhaps illegal and/or violent.
> >>
> >>So this Register guy is spinning the story, and this already happened
> >>quite a while ago.  He needs to make it sound dramatic or nobody will
> >>read it.
> >>
> >>It is interesting that they say that the BK program found a back door
> >>that some programmer was trying to put in.  Well, BK might put in a
> >>back door and not find it.  Putting in a back door is quite common. 
> >>Many kernel hackers probably have the ability to do it.  
> >>
> >>I just thought Linus had mixed feelings about BK.  It is proprietary,
> >>but it works so much faster than anything else, he just wanted to use
> >>it.  It is like he can have a clean car that maxes out at 20 mph
> >>(without BK), but (with BK) he can go 75 mph in a car that had 10
> >>gallons of yogurt spilled all over the inside of it.  There is a
> >>general disadvantage of the smell of it (like having to use proprietary
> >>to develop open source), but if you roll down the window and stick your
> >>head out while driving, you can still go 75, and its not too bad.  
> >>
> >>    
> >>
> >
> >I don't really have a problem with closed source software. I believe one
> >should use the best tool for the job (this is why I code with Java ..
> >and not C). I am not upset that Linux was using BK , it's a nice tool.
> >But I do have a problem with Linus giving Andrew Tridgell any flack at
> >all. Reverse engineering is how stuff gets built in the open source
> >world .You don't hear Linus complaining about Samba or the many programs
> >that will read and write word docs. That's all I was getting at.
> >
> >jd
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
> >  
> >
>