I am talking about the controversy about Microsoft dropping the support for House bill 1515 which failed by one vote in the washington state. Nothing could be farther from the truth if anyone accuses Microsoft of discrimination or trying to push policies to that effect. Microsoft is probably the only company on the planet that fosters employee diversity more than any company and does not tolerate discrimination based on anything. If anyone of you ever had the opportunity to read his e-mail to employess today, no one would question or doubt microsoft's commitment. His statement pretty much boiled down to "Over my dead body" regarding any compromise on diversity and he expressed his personal support to the bill.
If you have been following my blog, you would realize that I am critical of Microsoft on many aspects. But on this issue, please give Microsoft the credit it deserves for doing the right thing. Despite its excellent track record on diversity, it cannot and should not take sides on social issues like this one for the reason that it would alieniate one group for the other.
Friday, April 22, 2005
Saturday, April 09, 2005
About GPL and open source
I like their free spirited developers who contribute to open source without expecting any monetery benefits and instead contribute their time and knowledge to the overall betterment of software. Open source (As I see it) is not about competing with propritiery code. It isn't and shouldn't be aimed at commercializing and capturing market share. It is about going about doing what people are passionate about which is building world class software without the limits imposed by the propritiery code. It is all about the freedom to tinker with the existing code and creative derivative works. It is about focusing on one thing which is to build great software rather than focussing on interests of shareholders.
What I don't understand is why Sun's President Jonathan Schwartz is critical of GPL. If he understands the purpose and the tenets of GPL, he wouldn't be critizing it. I sure don't agree with some one taking a GPLed code and create a derivative that is proprietiery.
And I really really think that the core tenet of GPL which requires all the derivative works to be free as well should be preserved. Without that I ask, what is the purpose of open source? Without it, Open source would be a way for companies to hire developers for free and take all the profit without giving anything back. If it really needs to be amended, I suggest requiring the derivative works to give 50% of their profits back to the community :-)
The only thing I hate is the MS bashing the OSS advocates do which is contrary to their mission. They seem to get their motivation out of this bashing which isn't appealing to me.
My comments shouldn't be taken as my disagreement with propritiery source. I am part of it but I salute those who give their time to a common good and expect nothing in return. This is like saluting the soldiers who defend the country putting their lives at risk because chose to do so.
What I don't understand is why Sun's President Jonathan Schwartz is critical of GPL. If he understands the purpose and the tenets of GPL, he wouldn't be critizing it. I sure don't agree with some one taking a GPLed code and create a derivative that is proprietiery.
And I really really think that the core tenet of GPL which requires all the derivative works to be free as well should be preserved. Without that I ask, what is the purpose of open source? Without it, Open source would be a way for companies to hire developers for free and take all the profit without giving anything back. If it really needs to be amended, I suggest requiring the derivative works to give 50% of their profits back to the community :-)
The only thing I hate is the MS bashing the OSS advocates do which is contrary to their mission. They seem to get their motivation out of this bashing which isn't appealing to me.
My comments shouldn't be taken as my disagreement with propritiery source. I am part of it but I salute those who give their time to a common good and expect nothing in return. This is like saluting the soldiers who defend the country putting their lives at risk because chose to do so.
Friday, April 01, 2005
How could one hot dog be more expensive than 2?
Well it is and it only happens in U.S.A. At least that is what the FCC said when it was asked to study and report about requiring cable companies to provide "A La Carte" option to the consumers. Here is the WashingtonPost article. Excerpts:
..However, the study found, most households regularly watch an average of 17 channels, including traditional broadcast staples such as ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. Under the a la carte plan studied, consumers would see their monthly bills rise between 14 and 30 percent if they purchased 17 channels, the report said...
So 17 channels cost more than 100 channels that I pay for? I watch at most 10 channels and it is frigging waste of my money to pay $40+/mo and get 100+ channels just because the the lower plan does not have all I want.
You would think that free market would provide consumers with more choices but in reality, it is the other way around. When market matures and is dominated by the big players, the choices become fewer and prices become predatory.
Note: This is a bit of old news but I have been pondering about this news for a while!!
..However, the study found, most households regularly watch an average of 17 channels, including traditional broadcast staples such as ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. Under the a la carte plan studied, consumers would see their monthly bills rise between 14 and 30 percent if they purchased 17 channels, the report said...
So 17 channels cost more than 100 channels that I pay for? I watch at most 10 channels and it is frigging waste of my money to pay $40+/mo and get 100+ channels just because the the lower plan does not have all I want.
You would think that free market would provide consumers with more choices but in reality, it is the other way around. When market matures and is dominated by the big players, the choices become fewer and prices become predatory.
Note: This is a bit of old news but I have been pondering about this news for a while!!
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