That’s right. It’s finally over. The lawsuit between SCO and Novell. After over seven years of litigation, accusation and discovery it’s over. And Novell won. The U.S. District Court decision delivered on Mar. 30, 2010, the jury confirmed that Novell, not SCO, own Unix‘s copyrights. SCO had made bogus claims that Linux code was in Linux; they made a lot of noise about collecting licensing fees from all Linux users. But since they do not own any of the copyrights to Unix, their claims are baseless and they don’t have the right to charge fees to Linux users.
The main reason, in my opinion, that SCO lost is the tireless efforts of one person: Pamela Jones, affectionately known in the Open Source world as PJ. She runs a website that first showed up on Radio Userland (kind of like a precursor to FaceBook) and now at Ibiblio.org that goes by the name Groklaw. In the words of Carla Schroder of Linux Today:
PJ dug through the mounds of manure and obfuscation and uncovered what was really going on. She analyzed and posted reams of court filings, challenged Darl’s ridiculous claims (which should have aroused skepticism in anyone with an ounce of sense), and inspired hordes of volunteers to attend court sessions, transcribe grotty PDF transcripts, and do additional research. She preserved archives of SCO’s own online documents which later disappeared, or were changed. She also inspired a number of journalists to go beyond the sound bites and do some digging of their own. Groklaw awakened an interest in the law in a lot of its followers, and gave a fascinating inside look into how the law works.
She did all this despite ongoing harassment and threats. That takes bravery, and not many people would have persisted. Thank you PJ, what you have achieved with Groklaw is a very big deal. We owe you a lot.
Darl, referred to in the first paragraph, is Darl McBride, former CEO of SCO who they let go in October of 2009. He is the one who began making outlandish claims of SCO’s ownership of Unix and how all Linux users will have to pay SCO Group license fees for using Linux. Thank God he’s now a blip on the radar screen.
And now I can run OpenSuSE Linux on my laptop without fear of having to pay a license fee to SCO. Open Source forever!
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Now playing: Rob Zombie – Living Dead Girl
via FoxyTunes
I think this quote defines compassion:
“I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it”. – Benjamin Franklin
Unfortunately, our government is “making them easy in poverty” and has been for about 50 years now.
So the health care bill passed. Ouch. Yeah, we’ll regret that long before it’s secrets have been revealed. I say secrets because Obama’s campaign promises of transparency and all just didn’t happen to this one. But that’s not what I’m posting about. Yeah, I’m disappointed about it being passed… by why all the hate? ESPECIALLY against all those who wanted this monster passed. That’s what I’m most puzzled about. Of course, if I honestly look at the last 40-50 years of rhetoric from the Democratic party I shouldn’t be surprised at all. They have been pushing class envy since I’ve been alive. All of this rich vs. poor mentality really comes to a head on the Yahoo postings. Here’s a few examples:
First, from a poster named “Calvin”:
I can understand why some people would be against this bill. Heck they’re the one who’s going to have to pay more taxes to cover the cost of this bill. But you know what…they make enough money to secure themselves financially for the rest of their lives so go ahead…cried and moan all you want….RICH PEOPLE…..you finally get what you deserve…The war of the classes between rich and poor is getting a little bit narrower now thanks to this bill. I don’t mind one bit seeing a spoil little rich guy have to give a little bit of his money to help out his own citizens if u know what I mean.
OK, the bill (according to the Democratic Party leaders) is to mainly be funded by those who make more than $200,000 per year. I am not in that group, but I am simply appalled by this mentality. The rich “finally get what they deserve”? Really? So, Calvin, none of these people worked hard all their lives to get where they are so they can enjoy the fruits of all their years of hard work? Or did they work so that the government can take an inordinate amount of their money from them so that others can have health care? People who make that kind of money are NOT to be despised; they are to be admired. Isn’t that why we work in the first place? To get on the path to becoming “rich”? And now you want to punish them for working like that? Jeez.
Next, from a poster called “Georgia Girl”:
about time 200.000 and over pays i payed for 40 years i was called middle class now bush took my job and the tea party people are here so now they can pay for voteing for bush.my job left in 1999
Now this is just silly. About time they paid? So they haven’t been paying? Really? Bush took your job? So you were President? Your job left in 1999… what have you done since then to get another? All you want to do is punish those who make $200,000 or more and that’s just hateful.
Next is a popular sentiment from a poster called “Jasmine”:
So individuals are motivated to prosper by greed? Those individuals really need to grow up. And if requiring health insurance is unconstitutional, then so is requiring car insurance.
No, I’m not motivated to prosper out of greed. I want to provide for my family. I don’t want my family to worry about me or have to take on any financial burden when I retire. If that’s greed, then I guess I’m greedy. And the car insurance analogy just doesn’t make sense. It has NEVER made sense, even when Obama used it as a reference. We will be forced to have health insurance – to buy it essentially – simply by being a citizen of the United States. And if Jasmine stopped and thought about it, she’d realize that you do not HAVE to carry auto insurance. You can have a driver’s license and not have auto insurance. Only when you BUY a car do you have to carry auto insurance; well, when you register the car anyway. There are literally millions who do not own a car but rely on public transportation, walking and bicycling to get around – no required auto insurance there. But this disaster of a health care bill REQUIRES everyone to have health insurance. And for those of you who want to say it won’t be required, why can the IRS levy fines against those who don’t have it?
Next, a poster going by the handle “Sparky”:
You people who say, “Health care is not a right” are the biggest whack jobs of them all. People wonder why the rest of the world looks at us as “ugly americans”?!?!?! What ever happened to being one nation, under god?? Wake up righty…
Well, Sparky, I hate to burst your bubble but health care is not a right. Look in the Constitution. Where does it say anything about health care? (Where does it state anything about separation of church and state? Well, that’s another argument entirely.) It doesn’t. I’m not saying health care isn’t necessary, I’m just saying it isn’t a right. Food is also necessary, but it’s not a right – I have to work to make money to get food. What’s next, Sparky? Are we going to make food a right?
Next up, a poster named “Lawrence”:
Agreed. i have more faith in Obama than i ever had trust in Bush. This is not some self serving act.
No it isn’t a self-serving act. If it were then Congress, the White House, the Supreme Court and all staffers would be subject to this bill – BUT THEY AREN’T! I’m quite proud of one of my own US Senators, Charles Grassley, for introducing an amendment to the bill that would require all on Capitol Hill to have to use the plan they are pushing on the good people of this country. However, Harry Reid has said that what Grassley is doing is just a stall/delay tactic. (sarcasm on) SMART, Harry! Real SMART! (sarcasm off)
Well, this post has gone on long enough. I can’t say I’m happy with the bill being passed, but it was. I can only hope that our Congress figures out what exactly is in the bill and then repeals most of it and gives us our choices back.
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Now playing: Spatterdash – Vander Veer
via FoxyTunes
I saw this on a reply thread for a blog out there:
Let me get this straight……we’re trying to pass a health care plan… written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn’t understand it,… passed by a Congress that hasn’t read it …but exempts themselves from it,… to be signed by a president that also hasn’t read it …and who smokes, …with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn’t pay his taxes,… all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, …and financed by a country that’s broke.
What could possibly go wrong?
Interesting indeed!
For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Many citizens had no idea that members of Congress could retire with the same pay after only one term; that they didn’t pay into Social Security; that they specifically exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed (such as being exempt from any fear of prosecution for sexual harassment) while ordinary citizens must live under those laws.
The latest is to exempt themselves from the health care reform that is being considered…in all of its forms. Somehow, that doesn’t seem logical. We do not have an elite that is above the law. I truly don’t care if they are Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever. The self-serving must stop. This is a good way to do that. It is an idea whose time has come.
Ask each person contact a minimum of Twenty people on their address list, in turn ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one proposal that really should be passed around.
Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution:
Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States
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Listening to: Theory Of A Deadman – Bad Girlfriend
via FoxyTunes
- You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
- You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
- You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
- You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
- You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
- You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence.
- You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.
……..Abraham Lincoln
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Listening to: Weezer – Pork & Beans
via FoxyTunes
Happy Birthday, KC!
You are my life, my one true love, my soul mate. I thank God each day for the blessing he has granted me in you.
Hacking Through the Jargon Jungle
I’ve worked in a computer company for the last few years, I’ve gained an insider’s perspective. I’ve decided to share my knowledge with the uninitiated by creating the following brief, handy glossary:
- Alpha
- Software undergoes alpha testing as a first step in getting user feedback. Alpha is Latin for “doesn’t work.”
- Beta
- Software undergoes beta testing shortly before it’s released. Beta is Latin for “still doesn’t work.”
- Computer
- Instrument of torture. The first computer was invented by Roger “Duffy” Billingsly, a British scientist. In a plot to overthrow Adolf Hitler, Duffy disguised himself as a German ally and offered his invention as a gift to the surly dictator. The plot worked. On April 8, 1945, Adolf became so enraged at the “Incompatible File Format” error message that he shot himself. The war ended soon after Hitler’s death, and Duffy began working for IBM.
- CPU
- Central propulsion unit. The CPU is the computer’s engine. It consists of a hard drive, an interface card and a tiny spinning wheel that’s powered by a running rodenta gerbil if the machine is a 286, a ferret if it’s a 386, a ferret on speed if it’s a 486 and a Tazmanian devil with a scalpel in its scrotum if its a Pentium.
- Default Directory
- Black hole. Default directory is where all files that you need disappear to.
- Error message
- Terse, baffling remark used by programmers to place blame on users for the program’s shortcomings.
- File
- A document that has been saved with an unidentifiable name. It helps to think of a file as something stored in a file cabinetexcept when you try to remove the file, the cabinet gives you an electric shock and tells you the file format is unknown.
- Hardware
- Collective term for any computer-related object that can be kicked or battered.
- Help
- The feature that assists in generating more questions. When the help feature is used correctly, users are able to navigate through a series of Help screens and end up where they started from without learning anything.
- Input/Output
- Information is input from the keyboard as intelligible data and output to the printer as unrecognizable junk.
- Interim Release
- A programmer’s feeble attempt at repentance.
- Memory
- Of computer components, the most generous in terms of variety, and the skimpiest in terms of quantity.
- Printer
- A joke in poor taste. A printer consists of three main parts: the case, the jammed paper tray and the blinking red light.
- Programmers
- Computer avengers. Once members of that group of high school nerds who wore tape on their glasses, played Dungeons and Dragons, and memorized Star Trek episodes; now millionaires who create “user-friendly” software to get revenge on whoever gave them noogies.
- Reference Manual
- Object that raises the monitor to eye level. Also used to compensate for that short table leg.
- Scheduled Release Date
- A carefully calculated date determined by estimating the actual shipping date and subtracting six months from it.
- User-Friendly
- Of or pertaining to any feature, device or concept that makes perfect sense to a programmer.
- Users
- Collective term for those who stare vacantly at a monitor. Users are divided into three types: novice, intermediate and expert:
- Novice Users
- People who are afraid that simply pressing a key might break their computer.
- Intermediate Users
- People who don’t know how to fix their computer after they’ve just pressed a key that broke it.
- Expert Users
- People who break other people’s computers.
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Listening to: Wreckless Eric – Whole Wide World
via FoxyTunes
Muscatine, IA
