With Mandriva and others rejecting Microsoft's Linux payoff deal, there is a lot of talk lately about Microsoft's new Patent Infringement Protection Plan and how it might not be the “you scratch our backs and we won't stab you in yours” plan that it was initially thought to be."
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Anybody up to writing good directory software?
Tue, 2007-02-20 11:17 — David JonathanSince the very beginning, directories (of any kind) have had a very central role in the internet. (I have recently grown fond of Free Web Directory. Even Slashdot can be considered a directory: a collection of great news and invaluable user-generated comments. As far as software is concerned, doing a quick search on Google about software directories will return the free (as in freedom) software directories like Savannah, SourceForge, Freshmeat and so on, followed by shareware and freeware sites such as FileBuzz, PCWin Download Center and All Freeware (great if you're looking for shareware and freeware, but definitely less comprehensive than their free-as-in-freedom counterparts).
Is better education the key to finding better software?
Sat, 2007-03-03 03:25 — Edward RusselI read David Jonathon's article Anybody Up To Writing Good Directory Software? the other day, which got me thinking about software directories in general. As David mentioned, many of the software directories one finds when doing a quick google search are free as in beer, not as in freedom. But what interests me is the software directories that already exist, providing a combination of both free as in beer software, and open source software. Sites such as Freeware Downloads and Shareware Download don't advertise themselves as providing free as in liberty software, but each of them have a good selection of open source software available... if you know where to look.
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peacemaker
4 years 47 weeks 5 days 9 hours ago
“you scratch our backs and we
“you scratch our backs and we won't stab you in yours”
I think that should read:
“you scratch our backs and we won't stab you in yours. Unless our lawyers say we can get away with it, in which case, consider your back stabbed.”
aboutblank
4 years 47 weeks 5 days 18 min ago
Microsoft's real agenda is preventing
Microsoft's real agenda is preventing people from migrating away from Windows altogether. This means that they won't mind people using alternatives as long as the people choose to remain to be subject to Microsoft. Their interoperability means getting Windows apps working with Linux but not getting Linux apps working with Windows files and protocols. How do I know this - all Microsoft needs to do is publish their file and protocol specifications as well as support open standards as actions to show real interoperation. When they do this, we will all be able to interoperate but they refuse to do the minimun of publishing their specs.