Re: [debian-knoppix] knopper.com
On April 29, 2003 06:12 pm, Thomas Arnall wrote:
> Hi, all!
>
> I tried 'knopper.com' from i'net explorer a bit ago (don't like to
> use ms, but the us gov' is in bed with the trash). To me, the
> following details are interesting:
(...)
> Another one of crazy bill's pranks?
You knows? Today, when relaoding, I get:
<frame SRC="direction.aspx?g=%ed%88%ae%ee%82%b4%e3%8b%9f%ed%a5%93 etc.
but I do get to Knoppix's page just the same!!
This is beyond me but I didn't like this yesterday, I don't like it
more today. Usually, squatters are not there to give you a hand.
But Klaus says he's not concerned about this and he's the boss. He
also doesn't seem overly concerned about security.
I'm not the boss, I'm not even a programmer. I'm a fool on the hill,
the one fool who, in the midst of the bubble, told Gaël Duval he was
spending too much. But Duval was set to wage a blitzkrieg and get a
grip on the world. Finally, it seems his creditors will get a grip on
him.
I'm the one fool who told some Ian Murdock's lieutenant that a distro
selling at twice the price of Mandrake would never make it, that
they'd better forget about the big book and come up with just a CD
with a little booklet selling at 2/3 Mandrake's price. Progeny went
belly up less than a year later. I have seen 1 copy at Camelot in
Montreal and it never sold. It finally turned out that Debian had
finally caught up and Progeny wasn't needed. :)
Of course, Linux is making great strides in the server area. But as a
certain Lundell said this week: ""Most Linux people don't want to
admit it, (but) that's the only way to get a following -- a desktop
that's user friendly."
http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/129477
In other words, in the long run, the desktop determines the server,
not the opposite.
Another little paragraph I found interesting yesterday:
"Now consider an evil alternative. Say Microsoft assigns a team of
programmers to help some Open Source project. Maybe this time that
team isn't specifically identified as being from Microsoft, perhaps
it is a Microsoft-funded startup. This team, because of its vitality
and funding, quickly takes control of the project and goes running
off in some particular technical direction, taking with it the rest
of the suddenly re-energized team. But what if this new direction is
not a good one? Even worse, what if the team gets far down that
lonely road only to have Microsoft suddenly pull the plug, removing
its team from the game? Would the project survive? It is hard to say,
but if I was Microsoft that's how I would compete with Open Source,
by subverting it."
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20030424.html
This is not as far-fetched as it seems. I've seen it happening at a
local non-profit ISP that would have been the perfect test bench for
Linux. It is called Communications Accessibles Montréal (CAM) and was
the first private ISP in Montreal. At the time, all the knowledgeable
people were still there and, though I wasn't using Linux at the time,
I was trying to suggest that a little Linux club could be put in
place, that standard cgi scipts could be written for the many
companies that were CAM's clients, etc.
Then this one guy, an avowed Microsoft disciple who was considered an
authority in the non-profit organisations field, comes along, hires
his little friends, makes deals you can't refuse to other non-profit
organisations, and tells everybody "Sleep tight, I'm taking care of
everything!"
Is there anything simpler that having somebody tell you you don't have
to worry about anything? That certainly "suited" the experts who just
wanted to keep on hacking their little programs, unshamefully
explaining that whenever CAM wouldn't fulfill their needs, they'd
just leave. (Not only Big Blue's employees are "suits", believe me!)
The companies soon found out that the little friend's scripts were
pretty crappy and cost a fortune. They asked for that fabulous server
that handled the "magical" FrontPage extensions. And so was it that
NT servers were introduced because there was no alternative, clients
didn't stop asking for them... without the members ever being
consulted.
The local newsgroup, cam.general was never publicized and, out of 9000
members at the time, barely 1% showed at annual assembly. Today,
there is almost nothing left of CAM. All the people I know who were
members have left, save one of my cousins. Instead of increasing,
membership has more than cut in half as the offer is now amongst the
least Accessible in Montreal.
All it took is one man who knew nothing about programming! So
believing that hacking good code will make Linux succeed is IMHO a
fairy tale misconception. This game will never be played straight.
A lot of energy is again being put into Knoppix, and maybe more in
projects evolving around Knoppix. Vigilance and good administration
are a must.
GP
--
La Masse critique
http://pages.infinit.net/mcrit
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