Why we pray

[TWPonKubuntu]

Bill Gates enters the confessional and kneels before the small grating. Speaking in a quiet voice, he says:

"Forgive me Richard, for I have sinned."

The voice through the grating says, in reply:

"Linus and I have noticed this and have prayed that you might to see the error in your code."

Bill responds:

"Thank you Richard but I fear the consequences of my actions. Please tell me how I can make amends."

The voice again replies:

"Bill, as near as we can tell, the only major consequence is that Hell has frozen over and all drinks in your bar are now being served over ice. Bar revenue in Hell is up over 200 percent. How could there be any need to make amends for this blessed state?"

Bill again replies:

"But, perhaps you don't understand, the EULA on my code specifically states that any upgrade will become free when Hell freezes over. Our business model is failing and our profit margin has gone to zero. We are going bankrupt and can no longer deliver Hell to our customers."

From the grating comes a quiet chuckle and the words:

"Well my son, our prayers have been answered. It would seem that you have but one option; you must start giving your Hell code away for free and charge only for online tech support and the cost of any direct media deliveries."

Bill's face goes pale and he draws a slow breath before a small smile forms on his face.

"Are you saying that I may create Hell on Earth for my customers AND charge them for hard copy of my code?"

Again the quiet chuckle through the grate and the reply:

"We knew you would finally see it our way in the end. As penance, you must say three Richard Stallmans each night before bed and deactivate the single boot restriction in all your Hell code."

"ARRRGH! Now I truly can create Hell on Earth for my customers. Thank You Richard!"

The voice through the grating says:

"Oh, don't forget that all of your support personnel must use Babelfish for translations, but we noticed that you already had that support feature in place. Go and sin no more than necessary."

[GreyGeek]

Which GPL project charges for source code?

[TWPonKubuntu]

Sorry GG, I knew my irreverence might step on toes... Didn't aim at anyone in particular. I've paid for hard copy (the media itself) and for printed source, again the cost of the document reproduction/printing, NOT for the code itself... I didn't just fall off the turnip truck.

Joke intended

Although some of the newer license agreements (non-GPL) do seem to be getting into "warmer" territory. I suppose I should go confess more often than I do. I hear they even have coffee and dough-nuts in the waiting rooms now. BUT NO SPRINKLES!

I'll check out the M$ Mission statement and see if they can make a better offer. Doubt it, but miracles have been know to happen... Yeah, I know "when Hell freezes over"...

[GreyGeek]

I wasn't offended at the attempt at a joke, which was humorous. (I've read several with similar veins) I was seriously asking if some folks were trying to charge others for the source (not the media) of an open source project, since the source HAS to be available with the binary, if not physically, then a link to a server from which it can be downloaded.

Even RH couldn't get around the GPL, but they tried. Back in the early 2000's my employer began switching from Novel servers to Linux servers running RH. Of course they bought into the "paid support" and paid, IIRC, $1,750 per server for the installer CDs and two huge 3 ring binders of man pages. My job, since I was the one that convinced them to switch to Linux, was to install RH and maintain it until they could send an IT guy to RH's school.

Out of curiosity I went to the website to see the source code. It was there, alright, in around 800+ files. Each file was tarred, then zipped, then each zipped file was combined with others into another giant zip file. All of it free and freely downloadable, which I did. CentOS used these files to create their distro. However, what was NOT in the files is another story. There was no file hierarchy arrangement to the files. Most had no internal documentation beyond that which RH got when they expropriated the source. Many of the names were esoteric and gave no clue as to what the program did, as is customary for many programmers. No development tools. No scripts used to compile, etc., and no branding. If you were not a programmer VERY experienced in distro development your odds of using those files to generate your "own" server OS was almost zero.

[TWPonKubuntu]

Ah! I'm relieved then.

RE source access vs the ability to actually use it; I've been known to pull a full source download and archive it in case, in some future world, it might be of use. At this point, doing a compile just to get a working installation is far too much work for any minor adjustments which I might make to the source. I'll leave that to those who enjoy it. Call me a User.

I hope that the faithful, who perhaps blindly follow Richard and Linus, recognize that they too are only human. At least their (RS and LT) intentions are honorable, unlike those who worship at the Redmond temple (IMNSHO).

[GreyGeek]

Thus, "The Cathederal vs The Bazaar" ! ESR nailed it.

[jlittle]

...I hope that the faithful, who perhaps blindly follow Richard and Linus...

You imply two leaders of the same church, but I imagine there'd be fireworks if you put the pompous self-appointed hierarch and the rebellious, shrill iconoclast together. I doubt it'd be possible to blindly follow both. Or Torvalds at all, he'd leave banana skins in your way.

[TWPonKubuntu]

You imply two leaders of the same church, but I imagine there'd be fireworks if you put the pompous self-appointed hierarch and the rebellious, shrill iconoclast together. I doubt it'd be possible to blindly follow both. Or Torvalds at all, he'd leave banana skins in your way.

Perhaps I should have said: "...Richard, Linus or Bill..." Nor would I classify this joke as taking place within a church. I just juxtaposed the pomp and ceremony of some religions (without naming any in particular) and the virtual piety of a few leaders of the software community.

Remember: the best way to kill a joke is over-analyze it. I declared this attempt at humor to be deceased. Services will be held at the nearest barbecue pit which serves alcoholic beverages. I'm sure Richard and Linus will approve, but not sure about Bill.

[GreyGeek]

Bill will approve only if you sign a Non-Disclosure Document and pay a monthly fee in perpetuity.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TWPonKubuntu]

But, but, but... It's just a simple meeting of good buddies, Right? Didn't M$ just join the Linux Foundation? I thought they were our friends now... Could I be mistaken? (Dusting off my pants as the turnip truck moves off into the distance).

[GreyGeek]

LOL!

(M$ "joined" a lot of things: OOXML, OLPC, European FOSS Report, etc... Notice a pattern among those? They are defunct.

[TWPonKubuntu]

Cue the ominous background music...

Are we seeing the 'M$ touch of death' effect?

[GreyGeek]

Cue the ominous background music...

Are we seeing the 'M$ touch of death' effect?

Yep, it used to be called "Embrace, Extend and Extinguish". It's how Bill took down a LOT of his competitors. He almost pulled if off with MONO, but then the Blue Screen of Death illuminated the ceiling of the BirdNest at the Chinese Olympics, and the London Stock Exchange, running a .NET "solution", crashed hard for the 2nd time and cost the LSE over $1 Billion. The LSE ended up buying a Linux stock market solution that had been running for five years without a single failure and at speeds 5 times faster than M$'s .NET solution was tring to reach.

[TWPonKubuntu]

The would be funny, except that it is Linux in the crosshairs... Well, the Linux Foundation anyway. Not sure if that would be a catastrophic loss or not...