[sclug] Cheap'n'nasty Tesco Linux machines

[Tom Carbert-Allen]

Yes we are way off the topic in the subject line.... and probably off 
the topic of linux for quiete alot of them too. BUT if you look at the 
archives, March is now the biggest since Sept 2005 even after gzipping 
(which should factor out people including/cutting the pervious posters 
text in replies)

TCA

Jason Rivers wrote:
> is it me or have we drifted off topic a little....?
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 6:51 PM, Alex Butcher <lug at assursys.co.uk> wrote:
>
>   
>> On Mon, 17 Mar 2008, Tom Carbert-Allen wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> originator? does someone claim title to the concept of open source
>>>       
>> software?
>>     
>>> If so, I don't accept this. Are you talking about this Eric Raymond
>>>       
>> bloke
>>     
>>> that someone else mentioned?
>>>       
>> Yup. Eric and Bruce Perens founded the Open Source Initiative in 1998.
>> Before then, it was all Free Software, Freeware, Public Domain and
>> Shareware. Eric wanted a term that didn't have some of the connotations of
>> 'Free Software' which might deter business from getting involved. The term
>> 'open source' did exist before then, but in an entirely different context
>> -
>> the use of publicly available information (e.g. newspapers) for
>> Intelligence
>> purposes.
>>
>>     
>>> Personally I describe myself as an anarchist, but don't have the
>>>       
>> academic
>>     
>>> knowledge of politcal systems to label my particular branch of
>>>       
>> anarchism. As
>>     
>>> by and large learning this was of no benefit to me. I tend to develop a
>>> variation of my beliefs for each interaction anyway.
>>>
>>> If you guys think communism has a bad name, try telling people you are
>>>       
>> an
>>     
>>> anachist then defend yourself....
>>>       
>> Actually, that's the only reason I dropped the names of Bakunin and
>> Proudhon! Everyone thinks anarchists are a bunch of petrol-bomb throwing,
>> flag-waving, balaclava-wearing black-clad hooligans. Well, they're right
>> about the black-clad in this case... :-)
>>
>>     
>>> I was pondering on the idea of setting a maximum time limit on copyright
>>> though? Maybe 0.5-3 years depending on the type of software? Does that
>>>       
>> work?
>>
>> There are limits to the terms of the protections provided by copyright,
>> patent and trademark legislation. Generally, powerful owners repeatedly
>> seek
>> to have them extended. I think any fixed term enshrined in (generally
>> slow-changing) legislation is probably a bodge, and at the risk of
>> complicating an already complicated system, I'd like to see what would
>> happen if an attempt was made to make the system self-tuning; say, by
>> making
>> the term of protection proportional to the annual growth in the median
>> number of creative works per capita within that class. As that measure
>> goes
>> down, the term of protection is extended so as to (hopefully) stimulate
>> production, and vice versa. Of course, just like inflation, setting the
>> 'ideal' rate of growth would be more of an art than a science...
>>
>>     
>>> TCA
>>>       
>> Best Regards,
>> Alex.
>> --
>> Alex Butcher, Bristol UK.                           PGP/GnuPG
>> ID:0x5010dbff
>>
>> "[T]he whole point about the reason why I think it is important we go for
>> identity cards and an identity database today is that identity fraud and
>> abuse is a major, major problem. Now the civil liberties aspect of it,
>> look
>> it is a view, I don't personally think it matters very much."
>>  - Tony Blair, 6 June 2006 <
>> http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page9566.asp>
>>
>>