In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Roy Schestowitz
<newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote
on Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:21:04 +0000
<1582189.NiLo7HqeAO@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>
> U.S. Presidential candidates and open source
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Yesterday, I was just roaming around the ?interwebz? when I came across a
> | poll asking which U.S. presidential candidate is most likely to support open
> | source. This intrigued me. I decided to do a little bit of research into the
> | issue so I could report it here. Now this is not me putting my political
> | beliefs on top of my Linux (and open source) soap box. This is me finding
> | facts (and opinions) and drawing a fairly simple conclusion. It was also a
> | chance to do a little digging.
> `----
>
> http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/opensource/?p=283
I strongly suspect that the initial conclusion is in error;
a more likely configuration is that there's a proxy involved,
with that proxy running Linux. Netcraft does have a FAQ on
this issue:
http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/accuracy.html#impossible
However, neither candidate appears horribly clued-in on
the phenom that is Open Source; it's simply not been a
significant factor in the campaigns, since there are far
greater issues involved; the elephant in the room is
the current economic crash, plus such interesting issues
as whether Obama can field-dress a moose after shooting
it, and how elitist John McCain is -- or how elitist John
McCain can make Obama appear to be. And then there's
the case of the missing lapel pin...oh the horror.
The Democratic and Republican National Convention
streaming videos are instructive, if inconclusive.
Democrats rejected attempts from Linux. Republicans
accepted them. I do not know what conclusions one can
draw therefrom at this time, apart from perhaps dumb luck
on the Republican's part.
The good news: the article goes on to explain that
Obama is in discussions with Google on several issues
relating to open source formats and standards.
The bad news: I have no idea how this will translate to
streaming in 2012. I hope someone gets a clue well
before then. ;-)
To his credit McCain is against regulation of the Internet,
though Net Neutrality is apparently too specific for him.
(Net Neutrality is, AIUI, the issue that each and
every router should treat packets without concern for
their source or destination except to route them -- no
throttling, basically. There are some interesting issues
here, some of them relating to extra payments to expedite
certain packet classes if they can be proved to some from
subscribers. Such may result in some less-than-desirable
results.)
>
> Human Rights Arts and Film Festival (HRAFF) Profile
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | The Human Rights Arts and Film Festival (HRAFF) will be taking place across
> | Australia next month, showcasing engaging content from around the world that
> | will encourage people to create positive change together.
> `----
>
> http://www.engagemedia.org/Members/sjlobo/news/human-rights-and-film-festival-hraff-profile/view
>
>
> Recent:
>
> Linux.com's guide to the 2008 US presidential candidates
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Both Barack Obama and John McCain have position papers on their campaign Web
> | sites that deal with technology and other issues. In addition, both national
> | parties have their official platforms available for download in PDF format.
> | All of the information below comes directly from these documents.
> `----
>
> http://www.linux.com/feature/148436
>
Boiled down, at least on this one subissue:
Obama: for Net Neutrality.
McCain: against Net Neutrality.
Presumably McCain can justify his position on the grounds
of allowing the major players more flexibility in pricing
plans, but I for one think that Net Neutrality is a better
idea generally, if only so that the little players don't
get locked out by malfunctioning routers.
There's also the issue of price gouging.
There are other issues of course: copyright infringement,
government accessability through the Internet and the Web,
and antitrust violations.
>
> Related:
>
> Obama backtracks on technology
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | It now appears that the changes to the Science, Technology & Innovation
> | position now reflect the position of both the Senator and his running-mate
> | Joe Biden. Biden is a sock-puppet for the entertainment industry and has a
> | history of proposing laws that favour security forces' demands for snooping.
> `----
>
> http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/09/23/obama-backtracks-technology
>
Wonderful. :-P
[snip for brevity]
>
> BSA lobbies Obama for software patents at the Democratic Convention in Denver
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | IP-watch tell us that BSA went to lobby Obama at the Democratic Convention in
> | Denver with a list of principles, where the first one is "inspire creativity
> | and innovation through strong, comprehensive, and enforceable intellectual
> | property policies, including copyright, patent and trademark laws." Software
> | patents are definitely on the top of the agenda of American multinationals.
> | BSA does not has any small software company in its members, and Microsoft
> | more active then the other members in using the association as a vector for
> | its purposes.
> `----
>
> http://stopsoftwarepatents.org/forum/t-86815/bsa-lobbies-obama-for-software-patents-at-the-democratic-convention-in-denver
> http://tinyurl.com/68wgn9
>
And remember, software patents are good for the US, as they
allow for innovation by Microsoft.
(FSVO "good", "innovation", and "allow", anyway.)
>
> Microsoft Word Now Knows the Difference Between Osama and Obama
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | In my post yesterday, I quoted a frustrated reader who couldn?t believe that
> | Microsoft Word still proposes ?Osama? as a corrected version of ?Obama.? He
> | wanted to know why Microsoft didn?t update its dictionary.
> `----
>
> http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/15/microsoft-word-now-knows-the-difference-between-osama-and-obama/?ref=personaltech
>
>
> Microsoft tries to fix big glitch on Obama
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | One mixup, with potentially vast effect, apparently belongs to the
> | unintentional category and gained wide currency this week: The spell-checker
> | in Microsoft's Hotmail e-mail software recommends that users replace the
> | word "Obama" with "Osama."
> |
> | 'Can of worms'
> `----
>
> http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/president/19875329.html?location_refer=Most%20Viewed:Homepage
>
Nice. Of course this issue has been a Republican talking
point for some time -- Obama's middle name is "Hussein",
and he does have some associations with Jakarta, Indonesia
local schools (having lived there as a youngster in
1967 or thereabouts). Since Indonesia is known for its
Muslim activity (although I think the state is officially
secular), the more rabid righties are trying to make hay
out of what is essentially a non-issue.
And then there's that mixup in Troy County, NY --
apparently someone's brain slipped. (The 's' key is
under the left ring finger, 'b' right index, with a
slight extension to reach the key; therefore, a keyslip is
insufficient to explain this issue. Tyops and misprtins
do happen, though usually nowhere near this visibly.)
>
> Obama Campaign Hopes for Better Web Security
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | The requirements are pretty much what you'd read in any e-commerce security
> | help-wanted ad: VPN (virtual private network) and Unix or Linux experience,
> | along with a "deep understanding" of LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and Perl)
> | development. And of course, the successful candidate must be willing
> | to "respond off-hours to high urgency security situations."
> `----
>
> http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/146997/obama_campaign_hopes_for_better_web_security.html
>
It was in retrospect hopelessly naive for the Internet
standards bodies to define certain protocols without
protection against simple eavesdropping (computers after
all were far less capable back then, and modern encryption
is a relatively intensive problem computationally).
Sigh.
>
> Obama Voices Support for ODF
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | OpenDocument Format supporters are welcoming presidential hopeful Sen. Barack
> | Obama's promise to put government data online in universally accessible
> | formats should he be elected.ODF a National Standard in Korea
> `----
>
> http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2219248,00.asp
A minor issue, all things considered -- but good to see, nonetheless.
--
#191, ewill3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Useless C++ Programming Idea #110309238:
item * f(item *p) { if(p = NULL) return new item; else return p; }
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