Re: Blake Stowell said Linux ABI is not infringing!

From: Tony Lawrence (apl_at_shell01.TheWorld.com)
Date: 12/27/03 

Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2003 20:20:06 +0000 (UTC)

JamesDad <mewnewsARROGANCE@mailandnews.com> wrote:
>On Sat, 27 Dec 2003 12:42:35 +0000 (UTC), Tony Lawrence
><apl@shell01.TheWorld.com> wrote:

>>In the larger view, I do believe that Open Source and Linux
>>are the right path for the world, and I don't like those
>>who are trying to prevent that. However, I recognize that this
>>is a political opinion, and that there are arguments to be
>>made for proprietary, patented, copyrighted, locked up
>>commercial software.

>Tony, there *are* some of us who do understand what you're talking about
>and aren't looking to use your choice of words to harass you and provoke
>needless argument.

>If I may say so, the epithet "Tony the Thick" used recently against you is
>one you can turn around and wear with pride. Not thick-headed, like you're
>a dummy, but thick-skinned, as in you get hit with all kinds of crap here.
>Yet you maintain your balance and your convictions and continue to
>contribute to the group in a healthy way. I admire you for that.

Well, thank you, but my hide is thick. I'll explain some
of why at the end so that those with little interest can ignore
the off-topic parts.

Beyond that, I understand the anger and frustration that these
people feel. I wish they'd rise above it and see the larger picture,
but I do have empathy for them. They perceive, quite rightly,
that SCO is threatening something very important. The larger
picture, of course, is that there are tremendous political
currents surrounding all of this, but it's hardly atypical
for someone whose home is threatened by a forest fire not to
want to discuss the ecological implications of controlled
burning.

If it gives them some relief to have a devil to castigate, that's
OK. They read what I say to search for opportunities to slander,
but perhaps now and then the words actually sink in.

Still, the dialog of open source vs. proprietary, and the related issues
of patents, copyrights and all that, is important. This little SCO
silliness might get a footnote someday when the history of all this is
written, but it won't be a watershed event. Let's hope that the footnote
describes this as a small bump on the road to openness rather than the
first indication of overwhelming success for the proprietary side.

*** off topic part

When I entered school, I was considered to be slightly
retarded, and was put in a special class of other cast-offs. Some
of them truly were stupid, but most probably just were dyslexic or
had other learning disabilites. My problem was that I was very
near sighted; actually legally blind without corrective lenses.

Later, they found that, corrected it, gave me IQ tests, and moved
me to a "gifted and talented" program run by a woman named Celista Dow.
Many years later, my youngest daughter was in the very last of Celista's
classes. Interesting, I thought.

Anyway, my point is that I'm probably one of the few people in the
world who have been taunted both for being stupid AND for being smart :-)

That made me pretty tough, both mentally and physically. More
importantly it taught me that other people's judgments of
worth are unimportant, and that many of societies dregs are
actually interesting people well worth knowing. For the most
part, I liked the "retards" better than I liked the geniuses.. 

-- 
tony@aplawrence.com Unix/Linux/Mac OS X  resources: http://aplawrence.com
Get paid for writing about tech: http://aplawrence.com/publish.html

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