Free CD

[kaspaas]

Hi,

Mark Shuttleworth and others started an Open Source promotion.

Visit http://www.go-opensource.org/

and you can order a free CD with - it seems - mostly free MS-Windows stuff on it.



South Africa needs World Class Broadband at World Competitive Prices.

[mbs]

I just don't get it - it makes no sense to offer Open Source software on a CD meant for use on a proprietary platform. Sure, perhaps the intention is to expose Windows users to Open Source freedoms, but that's an ethical contradiction which is completely misplaced, in my opinion. If anything, it departs from the underlying Open Source ethic, in that it can be seen as a not very transparent attempt to do exactly that which Microsoft does, viz. user lock-in to a particular computing paradigm. They should've released the Open Source offerings on Windows and *nix platforms simultaneously, which would've truly been in line with Open Source principles...

[Karnaugh]

Most open source programs are portable by defenition - you have the source, so compile it for your platform.


- Colin Alston
colin at alston dot za dot org

"Getting traffic shaping right is easy and can be summed up in one word: Dont." -- George Barnett

[mbs]

Except that they're not distributing the source, but instead the binaries for Windows - they should've released either just the source (which would've been self-defeating, as Windows users need their hands to be held, rather tightly too), or binaries for both Windows and *nix...

[kaspaas]

What OS is your cellphoen running?

I honestly don't care as long as it is working. I doubt if 1% of people on this list knows which OS makes their cellphones tick.

That is the same attitude most people have about the "windows-linux fight".

They don't care about the OS, as long as they can get the results. They don't care about compiling etc. Too much trouble.

This CD with Windows Apps will go a long way to introduce the concept that OSS is quality stuff that can be trusted.



South Africa needs World Class Broadband at World Competitive Prices.

[antowan]

I think it is a good step toward opening the eyes of the average Windows PC user to the opportunities of Open Source. It should not take them long to start thinking about alternative Operating Systems as well...

Somebody using Linux is kinda already aware of the power of Open Source, not so?

Cheers
Antowan

He who does not understand the value of war at the right time, cannot comprehend the value of life at any time - Anonymous

[mbs]

OK guys - I concede: the launch is a good thing. I was actually venting about the ethical aspect of the launch, given the ideals of Open Source and its assured freedoms. It still seems to me that clear adherence to such ideals demanded a non-specific OS platform launch, or, at the very least, availability of your OS of choice.

Ah well, I suppose this must be seen in the light of the intention to expose Open Source to Windows users, so I suppose being dogmatic about it will not really achieve anything, and could actually be counter-productive to this objective.

Another thing - I tend to view any involvement by a commercial organisation with a jaundiced eye - their motives are usually suspect, and invariably conflict with Open Source ideals...

KASPAAS: I use a Motorola A008 purchased 2 years ago - one of the first units able to run Java apps. I've never bothered to investigate what OS it uses - it's probably Motorola's proprietary one, based on something like Symbian. That's the beauty of Java - if there's a run-time available, your app will run. Regrettably I ran into the problem of cost - GPRS/WAP is just too bloody expensive for my shallow pockets, so I use it as not much more than a handset, these days...

[regardtv]

What I found interesting is that when I DID request the cd - my mail bounced - seems the infosat mail server didn't want to relay the message ....

Anyone else experience this ?

R

************************************************** **********
The views expressed on this site are my own and NOT those of my employer.

[buriedUnderGround]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by regardtv</i> - my mail bounced....
Anyone else experience this ?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
mine seems to have gone through fine... maybe you should try sending it again? [:p]