Re: Asm For Nerds

Robert Redelmeier wrote:
SpooK <spook@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in part:
Robert Redelmeier wrote:
Surely you know the story of RMS and the Xerox printer driver.

Yes, and technical information is what the docs/specs and
EE degrees are for...

Sure. When docs/specs are available. When not, what do
you suggest, oscilloscoping a printer? Closed-source is an
excellent way to hide docs & specs. I don't think RMS had
docs, otherwise, we'd've had emacs printer drivers!

asking for the source code is just asking the "cook" how they
interpret and execute said "recipe".

It is that. But it is also a fully detailed look at just how
the recipe is properly executed, bugs, undocs and all. The IBM
PC architecture would not have succeeded without IBM original
publication of full specs _and_ full BIOS source code in the
Reference Manual.

Which do you really think was more influental... the specs or the BIOS
source code??? I am willing to bet that the PC architecture would have
flourished even with only the specs, and would have died out with only
the source code available.

There is no problem in asking other people to share their
source code, just don't blame them for your failure as an
engineer/programmer.

I do not consider my unwillingness to run an oscilloscope
any kind of failure.

Then consider it a failure in your understanding of the various methods
and concepts used in the field of EE (even back then).

I think most railing against the GPL is laziness, an
unwillingness to write fresh code. Is that not a failure?

No, just an unwillingness to write code related to the GPL cause... and
I consider each case of that to be a mild victory in terms of *real*
freedom. Those who openly contribute to the GPL cause because they
believe in it (as opposed to the "grin and bare it" crowd), is what I
also consider a mild victory in terms of *real* freedom.

Of course, some people just don't want to release their
own code under GPL. That is perfectly respectable.

Except when extremist zealots try to inject their
ethical/moral/political views via the license and force-feed everyone
mounds of bull***, like Rene has. This is when the point of
"neutrality" is gone... and the foundation that provides the ground for
such people to "flourish" gets attacked.

No one likes to be the victim of natural selection,
but the concept exists in nature for a reason ;)

The same may be said of predators. Perhaps including
the sniping you suffer at Rene's hands.

Is this a joke??? Rene has to learn how to control his own dribble
before he gets to have any sort of "ego points" for pissing on others.

Herbert Kleebauer wrote:
The world can
only be free if the USA no longer has the freedom to do anything
they like to other countries.

If this means that the USA is also no longer the world's crutch, only
to be stabbed in the helping-hand after it is emptied... then I am all
for that arrangement :)

Dragontamer wrote:
but they are going to encourage
more developers with a cheaper dev system.

Yeah, it would be stupid for them to ignore it. It costs them nothing
to maintain the tools, and techinically they don't have to formulate
any professional support for it either. Just a company taking advantage
of a pre-exisiting asset (i.e. DUH), IMHO... nothing more.

I'd take GPL code over propriatary, PD/MIT/BSD over GPL.

(Quite frankly; I don't see any big disadvantage for BSD/MIT over PD.
Its kinda nice though, that it is guarenteed to keep your name on it,
so its nice to use MIT)

--Dragontamer

I'd about agree with you on that order of precedence.

BSD/MIT is definitely the way to go if you want to keep your name/image
attached to a particular piece of software/source without any
restrictions. I've been contemplating the use of many types of licenses
for DynatOS. I started with reading the GPL, because I thought anything
that attributed to the way Linux spanned-out couldn't be a bad idea. As
I read more into it though (the fine print), I found the GPL is simply
not for me. I proceeded to find the BSD license, and I liked it
immediately... short, sweet and to the point. Right now, I am probably
going for a MIT style license for my DynatOS source code... if any...
but only to achieve the concept of PD + my name attached to it...
otherwise I would just go with PD.


Betov wrote:
Too bad they do not seem to have news, in the USA.


Betov.

< http://brokeasm.org >

We do, but then you would just claim that our news services are
extremely biased and/or inferior. No one can live up to your elitism
Rene, not even yourself :P

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