Sudo is patented by Microsoft

[Ole Juul]

Re: Sudo is patented by Microsoft

A few miscellaneous comments:

I think it is mistaken to think that Government is in control. I think that ranting at the govt. is a mistake and only allows those in power (which is not govt) to get on with it. No, I'm not talking about any conspiracy, just keeping my eye on the ball.

I don't know about the details of "wanting people to buy health care"that BigCityCat talks about since I'm not in the privileged group that can afford any kind of insurance. But is seemed like an interesting comment. I suppose it's a bit like mandatory automobile insurance for all drivers, or paying for other shared services that not all people need. One could even argue that no government services are needed because not everyone needs all of them all the time - if one believed that. To my mind, the Patent Office would be the first to go.

[askrieger]

Re: Sudo is patented by Microsoft

Now I feel impelled to add my $0.02: All the practical politicians in the democracies are close to the center. That where the votes are. The "extreme right" are intolerant, true believers like the Nazis or Al Qaeda. The "extreme left" are the "fruit and nut" people who believe that people should live like herds of grazing animals taking in low quality foodstuff at one end and producing fertilizer at the other. In my day, they were "flower children" and lived in communes under the influence of "prophets" on power trips.

There can be little dispute that all politicians in democracies are on the take. They have to be to finance their reelection campaigns. The only way to get adequate funds to win an election is to attract big donors. If a million people gave their favorite candidate $10, she couldn't afford the television ads she needs to get elected. This gives "special interests" a level of influence that the eighteenth century theorists could not have predicted.

[andybleaden]

Re: Sudo is patented by Microsoft

Really interesting to hear you people in the US and elsewhere discussing this issue and the wider issues of the world's woes.

We are consuming too much and we are running out of oil. Our solutions for food shortage have increased our reliance on oil. We use foreign policy to solve that issue (security of supply) at the moment at the peril of many.

Water may soon be ( some say already is) an issue. What happens then is anyones guess.

How we get around these issues has little to do with left/right (or even hippy!) wing politics and more to do with self awareness and awareness of what is going on around you.

Where does your food come from and at what cost and to whom?

Where do your cheap clothes come from and at what cost and more importantly to whom?

How much oil does it cost to produce your bottled water. Secondly ask yourself how much water does it take to manufacture it?

How come we need to employ people so cheaply from abroad either based in your country or theirs and who is harmed most by this? Why have people who do this in your country been viewed as illegal?

Exploitation of others makes us richer, fatter, gives us the ability to buy cheap goods or services and able to consume more. Consume less and you will exploit less surely?

As for microsoft they have created (low) standards and force others via court action to use them which is a shame. Just think how much better the internet could be or your work pc could operate if they did not have so many controls.

Anyway it is Friday here and I have a few hours left of work until I can go home and yes consume ...I preach no lessons here. Sat on my laptop, during my lunch break eating cheap food produced in somewhere by someone paid less than they deserve no doubt.

:-X

[Jook_roberts]

Re: Sudo is patented by Microsoft

It is funny to hear Americans talk about their fear of Government vs their fear of Corporate America. As an outsider I see them as one and the same. There is so much corporate financial influence in America's government, that their governments policies are Corporate America's policies.
What America needs is true democracy, were the voters make policy. Yes you get to vote for a new government, but their election platform will be based on what their financial backers wish to pay for.

We have the same problem in Canada, but we have very low party donation limits. No one corporation/lobby group can really make a difference with cash. There are back room deals, off the radar, that influence policy. This type of corruption exists in all governments.

I am interested in hearing a counter argument to this opinion of the US government. If I am way off base, I would like to be enlightened.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Sudo is patented by Microsoft

It is funny to hear Americans talk about their fear of Government vs their fear of Corporate America. As an outsider I see them as one and the same. There is so much corporate financial influence in America's government, that their governments policies are Corporate America's policies.

It's called a "Cartel" and it has plagued America since before Eisenhower warned us. It began with the rise of the "Robber Barons" of the late 18th and early 19th century. That's why I referred to the "revolving door" between management at corporate America and the gov bureaucracies.

What America needs is true democracy, were the voters make policy. Yes you get to vote for a new government, but their election platform will be based on what their financial backers wish to pay for.

Most Americans believe we have a democracy ruled by a direct vote of the majority, but we are not. We are a republic ruled by laws made by elected representatives. A Republic is supposed to avoid the "tyranny of the masses", but it seems its weakness is that the elected representatives forget whom they are representing.

.....

I am interested in hearing a counter argument to this opinion of the US government. If I am way off base, I would like to be enlightened.

I can't argue against that which I believe is true.

[MoonRise]

Re: Sudo is patented by Microsoft

It is funny to hear Americans talk about their fear of Government vs their fear of Corporate America. As an outsider I see them as one and the same. There is so much corporate financial influence in America's government, that their governments policies are Corporate America's policies.

It's called a "Cartel" and it has plagued America since before Eisenhower warned us. It began with the rise of the "Robber Barons" of the late 18th and early 19th century. That's why I referred to the "revolving door" between management at corporate America and the gov bureaucracies.

What America needs is true democracy, were the voters make policy. Yes you get to vote for a new government, but their election platform will be based on what their financial backers wish to pay for.

Most Americans believe we have a democracy ruled by a direct vote of the majority, but we are not. We are a republic ruled by laws made by elected representatives. A Republic is supposed to avoid the "tyranny of the masses", but it seems its weakness is that the elected representatives forget whom they are representing.

.....

I am interested in hearing a counter argument to this opinion of the US government. If I am way off base, I would like to be enlightened.

I can't argue against that which I believe is true.

Ture. So True!

[????]

Re: Sudo is patented by Microsoft

Steve Ballemer, Microsoft employee, warned Linux "that this project uses our property is a problem for shareholders". However Linux is still running so I will continue with it. If it was illegal then Microsoft would sue the Linux Foundation! As Linus Tolwards said "May the best code win!".

I wonder what is the point of an expired patent?

[????]

Re: Sudo is patented by Microsoft

Sorry empty!

[askrieger]

Re: Sudo is patented by Microsoft

Steve Balmer (only one 'l' and one 'e') is not just a M$ employee. He was the FIRST employee to join the company after Bill Gates and Paul Allen. He may have been a resident of the same House at Harvard as the other two. He certainly lived in the same motel in New Mexico . He is now the CEO. I believe that if Bill Gates was the salesman, and Paul Allen was the code geek, Balmer was the SOB. But I may be wrong here, Gates doesn't seem like the salesman type.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Sudo is patented by Microsoft

Bill Gates management style:

Management style
.....
As an executive, Gates met regularly with Microsoft's senior managers and program managers. Firsthand accounts of these meetings describe him as verbally combative, berating managers for perceived holes in their business strategies or proposals that placed the company's long-term interests at risk.[34][35] He often interrupted presentations with such comments as, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"[36] and, "Why don't you just give up your options and join the Peace Corps?"[37] The target of his outburst then had to defend the proposal in detail until, hopefully, Gates was fully convinced.[36] When subordinates appeared to be procrastinating, he was known to remark sarcastically, "I'll do it over the weekend."

Does he think the Peace Corp was for, or full of, incompetents?

At least he didn't invite them to a dinner and then take a baseball bat to any of them.

[askrieger]

Re: Sudo is patented by Microsoft

Based on the reference supplied by GreyGeek, I must correct my earlier post with information from this Wikipedia artcle. The man's name is Steve Ballmer (2 l's). He lived on the same floor of the same House at Harvard, but was not a room-mate. He was M$'s 24th employee, well after the company moved to Seattle. While Gates was the SOB, Ballmer was and is apparently the "crazy guy".