Posts from — May 2003

Today is World no Tobacco Day. If you consume tobacco, then please consider kicking the habit. You have one life. Whats the fun in smoking it out?!

I fully agree with what Jeffrey Wigand (played by Russel Crowe) in the movie, The Insider, says to the Lowell Bergman (played by Al Pacino)… that the tobacco industry is in the “nicotine delivery business“.

Novell Jumps to Linux Rescue

While SCO is gung-ho about collecting license fees from Linux users (which I personally think is a silly idea to harbour even for a moment), Novell has jumped into the fray in this game of corporate one-upmanship.

Companies are suddenly mounting a vigorous counterattack to SCO Group’s claims that the Linux operating system is polluted with code misappropriated from Unix, and that Linux users should pay SCO license fees for their use of SCO-owned Unix code.
The most damaging blow so far came from Novell, which on Wednesday said that it, not SCO, owns the key Unix copyrights and patents in question, and will challenge SCO’s claims that Linux illegally contains chunks of misappropriated code.

SCO responded to Novell’s claims by reiterating its stance and claiming that it intends to “aggresively continue” with its legal actions.

The open-source community is watching this corporate war with great interest. While many of them feel that this war is getting funnier by the day, there are others who are outraged by this petty-minded commercialization of open-source efforts.

“We wrote our Unix and Linux code as a gift and an expression of art, to be enjoyed by our peers and used by others for all licit purposes both nonprofit and for-profit,” open source software advocate Eric Raymond wrote in a position paper about this fray. “We did not write it to have it appropriated by men so dishonorable that after making profit from our gift for eight years they could turn around and insult our competence.”

Well said Mr. Raymond!!

In quotes : Reasons for the Iraq war

US and UK leaders floated many reasons for the war on Iraq before it began, from Saddam Hussein’s oppression of the Iraqi people to his refusal to release prisoners of war he was said to be holding.
But Iraq’s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction - in defiance of United Nations resolutions - was among the most frequently mentioned.

Now one of the leading proponents of the war, US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, has said that while there were many reasons to go to war, the Bush administration chose to focus on weapons of mass destruction because it was the one issue behind which all factions could unite.

But we already knew that didn’t we?! ;-)

This article also gives a selection of reasons, for the military action in Iraq, put forth by various people at various times starting from September last year. It makes for an interesting reading!!
link via Technorati Breaking News Cosmos

Virtual is real

A study conducted by the The Work Foundation in UK has concluded that the Web is much more localised, more honest and far less chaotic than it is usually given credit for.

Online communities get real

So-called social software - e-mail, messaging systems, weblogs and shared online diaries - is allowing people to make the net work for them and bring the virtual world home.

New phenomena such as weblogs have allowed people to share their interest and passions with a wider audience but often provide a quite mundane and honest view of life.

The report also mentions that the existing notions that people would thrive on false personas over the impersonal Net are being borne out as people are using social software to support real world interaction and to enhance face-to-face contact rather than departing from it.

Another key aspect of online communities is the ability to generate and build up public opinions.

And people power is also being helped by online communities such as epinions.com, a site which allows consumers to give their views on any products they have bought.

“As knowledge management and access to information have become central to all of our social and economic well being, so it has happened that social networks have grown in power,” said Will Hutton, Chief Executive of The Work Foundation.

Will Davies of The Work Foundation sums it up best when he says, “People are finally ditching the two-worlds view, which separates the internet from everyday life and now realise the two are part of one picture“.

Take on Gates, Kalam tells Indian techies

President A P J Abdul Kalam on Wednesday urged Indian IT professionals to develop and specialise in open source code software rather than use proprietary solutions based on systems such as Microsoft Windows.

Now that is an interesting thing to say!! Politicians are generally loath at saying something so drastic. But then… President APJ Abdul Kalam isn’t a politician!! Thank god for that!!

He made this statement at IIIT (International Institute of Information Technology) at Hinjewadi in Pune. IIIT was dedicated to the nation on Wednesday.

President Kalam also made a reference to his conversation with Bill Gates…

He said that during a discussion with Microsoft CEO Bill Gates at the Rashtrapati Bhavan a few months ago, he had discussed the issue of software security and the need to look for open source codes. “Our discussions became difficult since our views were different,” Kalam said.

Wow!! this man can sure talk straight!! :-)

The entire text of his speech can be found here.
link via Slashdot