Open Visions
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.
Open Freedom Report
Saudi Arabia: Blogger Fouad Alfarhan Released
Prominent Saudi blogger Fouad Alfarhan was freed today. He is back home in Jeddah after 137 days in custody.
In Saudi Arabia, there is no guarantee that you won't be arrested because of your frankness and speaking your mind on your blog.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Open Symbiosis: Linux & Windows
This isn't a conflict...
I caught myself typing the title of this post as 'Linux vs. Microsoft' and I realized that "vs." is the real problem. Somewhere along the line somebody insisted that Linux and Microsoft were in competition. Now it is easy to understand how this might have come about. I have certainly contributed many glowing Linux endorsements and many vitriolic slams against Microsoft. From my rhetoric alone it would be easy to assume some gladiatorial Life-to-the-Victorious Death-to-the-Vanquished drama being played out in the coliseum of world PC computing.
After long reflection and introspection I have come to realize that the battle, the 'vs.' just isn't so. Oh, I will not dismiss certain interested parties and passionate extremists their claims. I will say that when I shed the purple rhetoric and reflect on the reality of my situation I can say that there is no battle. Alas, there are only casualties.
Allow me to lay out the terrain of this non-battle.
Through all of my experience in PC computing runs the thread of Microsoft. I was able to parlay an interest in PCs into a career and a profession as an Information Systems Manager. I have seen the business computing environment evolve from Win3.x and Novell to XP-Pro and Server2003. Windows is a business reality.
A little more than a decade ago I became interested in Linux, Slackware 4.1 to be exact. Alone in this mid-western wilderness I struggled. A user group, if there were any, was 1-3 hours away. So I was content to find my way through How-To's and man pages alone. As I progressed I came to realize a very important fact - in those early months and years of struggling with Linux I learned more about computers and computing than I had in the previous decade.
My point is that I wear two hats. My business hat is decidedly Microsoft. My PC hat is Slackware Linux. I am bi-lingual if you will. I am comfortable in each camp. I recognize the merit of each Operating System and computing environment. But it was not always so clearly delineated. As I have ashamedly acknowledge elsewhere I spent my first 18 months trying to bend Linux into some sort of Windows replacement (Ah, the heady days of new wine. - Sorry, geek joke.) It was then that I first realized the linguistic and almost Jungian collective-consciousness connection between PC computing and Microsoft Windows.
This morning I read a rather pointed criticism of Open Source Software (OSS). This particular article was speaking to the viability of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and its dependence on OSS. The future of OLPC seems to be drawn into question because of the functionality of OSS. In short the article observes that OSS is not Windows and as such OLPC will either fail or have to adopt a Windows solution to survive.
Now we see that OLPC may switch to Windows XP, as Negroponte says that the open source Sugar GUI on the Linux-based OLPC is inferior in several ways, including being able to run the Flash files common to educational Web sites.
Negroponte is right to move away from the utopian vision that led OLPC to an all-open-source-based approach. Kudos for trying, but the OLPC experience shows that good intentions don't necessarily lead to good software.
Look how long the concept of desktop Linux has been around: a decade. Now look at how few desktop Linux PCs there are. Red Hat and Novell have pulled away from the consumer-oriented desktop Linux development, leaving Ubuntu to cheer on the cause to its small clique.
With all the antipathy toward Microsoft over the years, you'd think the open source community could have developed a credible desktop OS and related application stack during the past decade. But it has not.
InfoWorld: OLPC's open source qualms underscores a larger limit
Before going any further I feel it is imperative to acknowledge how emotionally charged the OLPC issue is separate from the Linux (OSS) & Windows issue. I don't believe that anyone is really against the OLPC initiative. That young people everywhere should have access to affordable computing infrastructure is laudable.
I believe the real issue is value.
Where is the value?
From a business view point, wearing my MIS hat, the value is with my customer's (user's) familiarity with a complex piece of business equipment. Being able to place a PC in front of a worker and have an almost instantaneous return is cost effective. Some will say that such familiarity is due to training and indoctrination by school systems that teach exclusively Microsoft systems. Systems that are significantly (economically) supported by Microsoft. I will counter by saying that for all the training that such education facilities offer the average user only comes away with a functional understand of the application stack, the business tools. From a business stand point that is all I really want - a familiarity with the tools that will promote my business-line objectives.
Another value criticism leveled is that "the Linux-based OLPC is inferior in several ways, including [not] being able to run the Flash files common to educational Web sites." (I added the "not" for syntactic clarity.) This is a classic example of a value issue. Flash technology is an Adobe product. Adobe, as a for-profit entity, is fully within their rights to expect to license and sell their product. The fact that it has become the de-facto standard for website animation does nothing to diminish their entitlement. The value of Flash is directly due to Adobe's willingness risk investing in an otherwise unknown technology.
The other side of this same value issue is the economic support for known technologies. It is widely understood that products need to be developed for known markets. That is why, for example, video subsystem manufacturers make such large investments in Microsoft drivers for their video cards. They know that if the do not invest in compatible drivers then their core product business will not flourish. While I sited video subsystems as my example this is true of every aspect of PC hardware. Aside from goodwill there is very little economic incentive for manufactures to develop software drivers that will not provide a clear return on their investment.
"With all the antipathy toward Microsoft . . ."
Linux and the OSS initiative evidently holds HUGE influence over an otherwise weak and trembling giant. Linux is reported as holding only 0.061% of the market share of Operating Systems. Yet the reporting of their efforts is couched in David [the Linux winner] verses Goliath [the Microsoft loser] prose. It is with this disparity of image verses reality in mind that the discussion should return to value. Linux for me both personally and professionally has been well worth the investment. Having taken the personal initiative to come to terms with it I can easily enumerate and quantify the value of Linux and the greater OSS community. I can also cite the expense incurred in having taken such an initiative.
TANSTAAFL Linux is not free.
Linux and OSS may be 'free-as-in-beer' (a distinction which is a confusing as it is clarifying) but the Total Cost of Owership (TCO) is much more expensive than desired. Free, in this case, is the value often used to describe the difference between the licensing costs of commercial products and the relative cost of OSS. Some of the more hidden cost centers that must be accounted for include user-ability, compatibility and interoperability. All these accounts must be paid before real price of Linux and OSS can be determined.
Regarding the difference between licensing costs of respective operating systems and software stacks
it is important to acknowledge that we have a moral and ethical responsibility to pay for commercial products. Theft by conversion, or "borrowing" commercial software is a crime in the same way as stealing it is a crime. By the way, stealing from a rich man is the same crime as stealing from a poor man.
The OSS community has sought to decriminalize the sharing/loaning/giving of software to others by instituting licensing agreements (which are no less binding than commercial licenses) that offer free access to and distribution of such software. Accordingly we can use the software with no obligation to pay for it.
This is where I take certain exception with the OSS community. I do not refute any part of the philosophy that is the foundation for OSS. Rather I believe that we as users have a moral and ethical responsibility to return value-for-value support of the OSS community. As such we, as individuals and business entities, should find ways to both socially and economically support OSS initatives.
The first and most important way that we can support the OSS community is to not engage in theft-by-conversion or the borrowing of illegal software. On the surface this might seem antithetical but lets examine the downstream effects.
- Either by paying full license costs or by accepting the OSS standard I am assuming a correct moral and ethical position. I am no longer a criminal or involved in criminal behavior.
- By choosing to value specific commercial software I endorse the legitimacy of the infrastructure necessary to support such software.
- By choosing to NOT value specific commercial software I am NOT endorsing the legitimacy of the infrastructure necessary to support such software.
- By choosing to not use commercial software I am bringing valid market pressure to bear on all OS and software developers.
Hidden Cost: User-ability
The average mainstream user makes little or no distinction between the PC and the OS and software stack. I have had a user go so far as to say, "I don't use spreadsheets I use Excel." It is unrealistic to assume that such a user or the majority of users will accept what appears to be large changes in their computing environment. Management, who are often as not average mainstream users, are prone to the same feelings. Unfortunately in this day and age of technological advances the users may well be the least sophisticated components of a computing environment.
Hidden Cost: Compatibility
With my business hat on I am quick to acknowledge issues of compatibility. File formats are of chief concern. This is true even between revisions of the same software application. With the complexity of evolving "Standards" some of which are proprietary and some are "open" the cost of compatibility rises quickly.
Hidden Cost: Interoperability
As any software developer or webmaster will tell you having to accommodate multiple computing platforms contributes to the complexity of a project by orders of magnitude. This complexity is raised to an almost insurmountable level with the introduction of proprietary "standards" or protocols.
In the face of all that where is the symbiosis?
Buried in the "This is the secret that makes the mighty Microsoft giant tremble." and "David [the Linux winner] verses Goliath [the Microsoft loser]" rhetoric lays the essential seed of this symbiotic relationship. Microsoft, for all its FUD and bluster, is a weak and trembling giant. From a business stand point if it doesn't evolve it will die. The driving force of that evolutionary process is the pending David [the Linux winner] threat.
Microsoft is under enormous pressure to simply stay alive. Businessweek reported that in 2005 Microsoft employed 60,000 people. Using that number and calculating an average of $52,000 per year per employee equals a payroll of $60,000,000 USD per week. ( $3,120,000,000 USD per year.) Then there are all the overhead costs of running the business. It is not surprising that Microsoft is concerned about mainstream average people looking seriously at Linux and the OSS community.
Another scenario that strikes fear into Microsoft's heart is the end of the XP cycle. Microsoft knows that if XP is discontinued before a viable alternative is brought to market then a significant percentage of the 91% of computer users will look seriously at an OS and application stack the will run on their older hardware.
The most ironic aspect of this entire situation is that Microsoft the giant is in a fight for its life while Linux and the OSS community are just enjoying the show. There is no contest. Linux and the OSS community have never been "beating" Microsoft. Everyone knows there is no point in beating a dying horse . . . even if it is before the cart.
[Addendum 4/25/8: In its fiscal third quarter earnings call Thursday, Microsoft met the Street's expectations but saw quarterly profit drop 11 percent from the year-ago quarter. - ChannelWeb ]
(Creds & Props: This post was composed in Firefox 3Beta5 running in a Slackware v12 custom compiled kernel running on an IBM R51 (duly licensed for XP-Pro according to the sticker on the bottom - XP dogs, Slackware Rocks!))
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Open Mesh, Another Microsoft Mess!
I have to admit that The Mesh appears appealing. Having access to all my files, any where I am seems like a great idea ... except for a couple of wee small issues.
#1: Microsoft has all your stuff!!!
So, when I say "all your stuff" I mean ALL YOUR STUFF. All your stuff are belong to Microsoft.
Now this is certainly of little concern to Aunt Jane and her recipe for stuffed cabbage. But what of the road warrior? Innocently 'uploading' the sales presentation for the pitch to Acme Corporation to the Mesh. Or that conscientious administrative assistant who 'uploads' that spreadsheet to the Mesh so she can finish working on it over the weekend. That spreadsheet detailing the coming lay-offs and resultant savings in wages and salaries.
"I'd like to listen to my music at work, just like I do at home."
The Microsoft Mesh becomes the largest repository of ripped music on the planet. I bet that RIAA is preparing subpoenas as I type.
#2: You have to use Microsoft's sub-standard products to access your stuff.
Sadly, this is the most insidious aspect of the appealing Microsoft Mesh. This is just one more in a very long litany of ploys to lock unsuspecting users into the family of Microsoft substandard products. Just like a drug dealer offering the first "high" for free - the intent is to addict the user. Make them dependent. Make them climb into the "box" then convinces them that as mediocre as it is there is nothing better out side. All the while making them pay for the privilege of being an addict.
Could this be Microsoft's new business philosophy?"There is a sucker born every minute."
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Open Title: Barack Obama Saved My Life
Until just recently I had been committing suicide very slowly . . . by bacon. Bacon & Eggs, Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato, Triple Bacon Cheeseburger, Bacon wrapped shrimp, Bacon wrapped scallops, Bacon wrapped ... anything. Oh, and did I mention an all time personal favorite, Grilled Bacon and Peanutbutter sandwich - it is to die for... er, literally.
My cardiologist would be the first to confirm my self-destructive tendency. His assertion is that consumption of excessive amounts of animal fat, tri-glycerides and sodium would have just such an effect; Death. Slow death by bacon.
Then I began to pay attention to the presidential primaries. Soon my attention was drawn to the Senator from Illinois, a young man by the name of Barack Obama. An idealist in the realm of American politics believing that in fact any young person can grow up to be President. A realist in daily American life understanding and being willing to speak the truth. A man willing to speak truth to power. An advocate for change.
The more I listened the more I wanted to hear. The more I heard the better I felt. The weight of disenfranchisement began to fall away. Enduring over 20 debates bolstered my stamina. Seeing Barack Obama successfully challenge the good-ol'-girl political machine gave me courage. I am no longer depressed. I am ready and willing to fight. I want to live ... to see Barack Obama elected to office of President of the United States of America.
...and that gentle reader is how Barack Obama Saved My Life.
[Disclosure: I probably will go back to eating bacon. After all some of my best friends are Mega-Agri-Corporate Republican pig farmers who have insisted on their share of don't-grow-the-crops farm subsidies and other pork-barrel projects.]
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.
Open Advice
Dictators and despots, particularly those who came to power as "Revolutionaries", should, no, must remember the rule:
If Mama is not happy then nobody is happy!(Let me spell it out for you in no uncertain terms - the revolution worked once before when the people became unhappy. Learn your lessons before you are fed you own dog food.)
Marc Frank , Reuters
Published: Monday, April 21, 2008HAVANA (Reuters) - A group of Cuban women peacefully demonstrating for the release of their jailed husbands were roughed up by a mob and arrested on Monday near the offices of President Raul Castro.
The 10 women, members of an organization known as the "Women in White," gathered at a park Monday morning at the edge of Cuba's Revolution Square, where the government and Communist Party headquarters are located.
They wore white T-shirts emblazoned with the faces and names of their loved ones, but carried no signs.
View Larger Image
Members of the group "Ladies in White" are being removed by police from a park near Havana's Revolution Square April 21, 2008. REUTERS/Enrique De La Osa
"We are here to demand the release of our husbands and won't leave until they are free or they arrest us. We have waited long enough, we want to talk to the new president," group leader Laura Pollan said.
Moments later, a bus pulled up and about 20 female corrections officers tried to arrest the women, who sat on the sidewalk, clasped arms and refused to move.
"They are dying, they are dying," one women yelled with tears in her eyes as the corrections officer tried to move her toward the bus.
A mob of about 100 government supporters, mainly women from nearby government buildings, quickly entered the fray, pushing the women, picking them up, throwing them into the waiting bus and yelling insults.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.
Open Train Wreconomics
On April 14 Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov held a government meeting, which addressed the results of the first quarter of 2008 as well as the future strategy for improving the country’s socio-economic development.In particular, a decree “On introducing the redenomination (changing the currency value) of the national currency of Turkmenistan” was adopted. The session also highlighted that a unified dollar exchange rate is scheduled to replace the state-controlled аnd commercial rates.
The next day the news caused panic among the Turkmen residents. Starting from May 1 (or throughout May) a new dollar exchange rate will allegedly be introduced. One dollar is expected to equal 10,000 manats whereas according to other sources one dollar will equal 17,000-18,000 manats. People rushed to the currency exchange offices to exchange their foreign currency savings. However, referring to a manat shortage, the exchange offices allow each person to sell up to 100 dollars at a time. In order to exchange as much cash as possible, people bring their relatives and friends. Huge hour-long queues have formed at the currency exchange offices.
Taking advantage of the boom and difficulties in exchanging foreign currency, illicit market traders yield cash by buying dollars at a rate of 18,000-17,000 manats.
Oh my God! Who would want to be a president of this country?
Today the Zimbabwean dollar is trading at $200 million to £1. Yes that's true, 200 million dollars for one British pound. Not at all surprising to most Zimbabweans. The Zimbabwean dollar as well as the whole economy has been on free fall, collapsing like a sand castle.
So who would want to be the captain of this sinking titanic? Unless one has a sound turn around strategy. So I'm surprised given the current state of affairs in the Zimbabwean economy some people still claim to be the best custodians of our economy. Given their track record in managing the economy they still want us to believe they are the best Zimbabwe have! Give us a break! They have failed us, why can't they just leave and let someone try and sort this mess?
So for every one pound you get 200 million Zimbabwean dollars?
In God We Trust!
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Open Portfolio
Worthy of note... Mary Adam Art
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.
Open Shadows
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Open Attention, somebody is paying
Food crisis on agenda of G-8 summit
04/18/2008
BY YUSUKE MURAYAMA AND SHINYA MINAMISHIMATHE ASAHI SHIMBUNThe government on Wednesday decided to put the global food crisis, which has sparked riots and political unrest, on the agenda of the Group of Eight summit in July, sources said.
The government plans to convey the plan to G-8 delegates attending a meeting in Japan next week to prepare for the summit at Lake Toyako, Hokkaido.
Officials hope a set of emergency measures to ease food shortages and other problems caused by soaring prices can be worked out at the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Yokohama in May.
Those steps would be followed by mid- to long-term measures, such as setting international rules to stabilize food prices and increasing food production, to be unveiled at the G-8 summit.
Food prices have been rapidly rising due to a combination of factors: growing demand from China, India and other emerging economies; speculative investments into the grains market; and increased crop diversion to biofuel production.
Staple food prices have increased by as much as 80 percent from 2005 levels, according to the World Bank.
In March, the price of rice hit its highest level in 19 years while wheat reached a 28-year high.
The World Food Program, a United Nations aid agency that distributes food to poverty-stricken people, has reported a $500-million (50-billion-yen) shortage in its budget due to rising procurement costs.
"The rapidly escalating crisis of food availability around the world has reached emergency proportions," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said in a speech Monday.
The inability to access staple food has hit the poorest hard and brought about unrest in many developing countries.
Haiti's prime minister was dismissed early this month after widespread looting on shopping streets in the Central American nation.
Protests over food shortages have broken out in Egypt, Cameroon and other countries, leading to injuries and deaths.(IHT/Asahi: April 18,2008)
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.
Open Desire
|
I always hope that it is you.
That somehow you are able to spend a few minutes here.
That somehow we are closer for your red spot.
[P.S. NZ is visible on the original pic I uploaded.]
That somehow you are able to spend a few minutes here.
That somehow we are closer for your red spot.
[P.S. NZ is visible on the original pic I uploaded.]
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.
Openly nerdy, seldom tardy
I admit to being nerd-like but I am not often late! Except with this post. It has been long overdue.
I believe there are particular words (and derivations) that have no place in polite society. I am not talking about your run-of-the-mill "Hell" or "Damn". I don't even have much concern for Bart Simpson's use of the word "Ass". I can even say that I have become desensitized to the pervasive cable-TV "F*ck" (even though I cannot bring myself to type in the actual word).
There are words that are so reprehensible that they just plain don't get used.
I believe that "tard" is one of the words that not be used in polite society.
Growing up the clinical label "retarded" was applied to people who were developmentally challenged. Literally their development was retarded.
When the term "retard" was used in common language it was indicative of a speaker who was intent on demonstrating his/her ignorance as well as insensitivity. It was well understood that the person abusing the word "retard" was demonstrating their own lack of social development, their own retardation.
I recently came across the term "freetard" in reference to the Open Source Software movement. I believe it was meant to suggest that proponents of Free/Libre Open Source Software are in some way developmentally challenged. (See above, same rules apply.)
My real and underlying concern in this matter is that words carry with them the entire weight of their history. In our socially glib ignorance we insist that we know what any given word means and so we insist on unfettered license to use then at our discretion.
How willing are we to quickly insult another while undermining the very fabric of our culture and society.
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.
Open News(?) Concerns
I am not sure what concerns me more ...
Chinese troops are on the streets of Zimbabwean city, witnesses say
or that I am not seeing it reported in the U.S.A. press.I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.
Open Casualties
The Greek tragic dramatist Aeschylus (525 BC - 456 BC) said...
In war, truth is the first casualty.So it is that we find ourselves in another war, a new war. Herbert Hoover said, "Old men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die." These young people are the very promise of our future. To lose even one young person is a tragedy.
Today's war, the new war is one declared by old men and old women. Today's war is the new 'Civil' war. True to form our new war is one that is dividing our country. It is pitting interested parties against one another. It is a war that is bringing to the fray the most grievous weapon; deceit.
... But it is the young that must fight and die.
Here lies the travesty, the real catastrophe of our new war. That our young will succumb to the ravages of deceit. That they will be trained in the new warfare. That they in turn will believe that only by relying on and promoting fear and ignorance can victory be achieved. Then in turn, when they are old men and women, they will declare yet another new war.
Oxymoron-of-the-day: civil war
Go here, read this: Mining Nuggets: Listen, with the possibility of being changed
I am William "Papa" Meloney and I endorse this message.
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