Sun shows a deft PR touch in its pitch to developers on Google.

Applied apostasy

The November issue of Linux Journal is out, and in it is an editorial that does not endorse Ralph Nader. I'm breaking rank with a lot of friends on this one, but hey.

If Ralph loved the world we're building here just 1/100th as much as he hates corporations, I might think about backing him. I just went to his site to see if it's any more timely than it was a month ago, when I wrote the editorial.

Nope.

Take The Nader Letter. Please. THE NADER LETTER is an eight-page monthly newsletter devoted to raising awareness on these issues. It is published by Essential Information and editor Jake Lewis, and each issue features a topical column written by contributing editor Ralph Nader, the Letter's home page (at http://www.ralphnader.org) says. Click on "Current Issue" and what do you get?

How old is that in Internet time? Hell, in political years? Was Bush the Younger even a candidate then?

Ralph is a great advocate of all kinds of Good Things and an American hero. But I don't think the guy listens.

Of course, neither do the other guys. I'm not endorsing them, either. I kinda like Jello Biafra frankly.

discuss

This evokes my anger. It's so revisionist and clueless, I wish you and other open source promoters would stop and study the history of software, and see that the technical innovations that make the Internet possible come from SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS, not the small club annointed by O'Reilly, Raymond and yourself. Your algorithm is as defective as the one you decry. You say you love the market, love it for real, by speaking truthfully and not taking shortcuts like this.

discuss

Software developers of all kinds deserve the credit. And not just of the "we put the dot in the dot-com" sort that Sun advertises.

What matters is that together we make a place that works around a space that's open and free. That's the space that software and business patents (for example) infringe. The open source and free software guys deserve credit for going a long way toward helping shape and define that space -- and for starting conversations about it that might not otherwise have happened. Unfortunately, we have arguments right now that are framed in what Esther Dyson calls "I'm right, you're evil" terms. Or worse, "you're doomed" or "you're hopeless." I catch this myself from the open/free guys, just because I happen to like Internet Explorer and PowerPoint. Also that I use Mac and Windows for stuff they do best, or stuff that just isn't done on other platforms. Like it matters.

Which it does, if commercial software developers get proper credit.

By the way,I've also got feedback from people saying the Net's credits need to include BBN, the research departments of commercial hardware and software companies (including Sun), and (yes) patents.

So I guess I have the beginnings of my next editorial here. Thanks!

discuss

Software developers of all kinds deserve the credit. And not just of the "we put the dot in the dot-com" sort that Sun advertises.

What matters is that the new world we make together gives equal and fair respect to What's Mine and What's Ours. This is hard stuff to sort out (and why I kind of miss your "Ask not..." line at the top of Scripting.com). What's Ours is the space that software and business patents (for example) infringe. The open source and free software guys deserve credit for going a long way toward helping shape and define that space -- and for starting conversations that might not otherwise have happened. Unfortunately, we have arguments right now that are framed in what Esther Dyson calls "I'm right, you're evil" terms. Or worse, "We're right, you're doomed" or "We're right, you're hopeless." I catch this kind of stuff myself from some (not all) of the open/free guys, just because I happen to like, say, Internet Explorer, GoLive, PhotoShop, PowerPoint and Manila. Also that I use Mac and Windows for stuff they do best, or stuff that just isn't done on other platforms. My using that stuff does nothing to contaminate what's ours, but it gets treated like it does, because it rewards the perceived enemies of free/open source software.

By the way,I've also got feedback from people saying the Net's credits need to include BBN, the research departments of commercial hardware and software companies (including Sun), and (yes) patents.

Anyway, I guess I have the beginnings of my next editorial here. Thanks!

discuss

Software developers of all kinds deserve the credit. And not just of the "we put the dot in the dot-com" sort that Sun advertises.

What matters is that the new world we make together gives equal and fair respect to What's Mine and What's Ours. This is hard stuff to sort out (and why I kind of miss your "Ask not..." line at the top of Scripting.com). What's Ours is the space that software and business patents (for example) infringe. The open source and free software guys deserve credit for going a long way toward helping shape and define that space -- and for starting conversations that might not otherwise have happened.

But conversations still tend to go toward sides. This gives us too many arguments framed in what Esther Dyson calls "I'm right, you're evil" terms. Or worse, "We're right, you're doomed" or "We're right, you're hopeless."

I catch this kind of stuff myself from some (not all) of the open/free guys, just because I happen to like, say, Internet Explorer, GoLive, PhotoShop, PowerPoint and Manila. Also that I use Mac and Windows for stuff they do best, or stuff that just isn't done on other platforms. My using that stuff does nothing to contaminate what's ours, but it gets treated like it does, because it rewards the perceived enemies of free/open source software.

I've also got feedback from people saying the Net's credits need to include BBN, the research departments of commercial hardware and software companies (including Sun), and (yes) patents.

We need to care about what's ours. To me that's what the Green Party ought to be about. That's what Ralph ought to be about. But because he hates business -- sees it as evil -- we get a lot of partisan flag waving.

Anyway, I guess I have the beginnings of my next editorial here. Thanks!

discuss