Re: The Corporation for Public Software/Natianal Endowment for the Bits

[franklin@ideas4you.com]

  In <349E2012.67A133D2@blarg.net>, on 12/22/97 
     at 03:08 AM, Mark Hinds <zoro@blarg.net> said:
  
  >I've been thinking of how to get Uncle Sam to create something like PBS
  >(CPB) for Software. It would be very helpful if most of the groups
  >developing the various bits and pieces (GNU tools, Linux kernel, Xfree,
  >Apache, Samba, etc.) could get grants or some such so that they could
  >actually work on these projects full time.
  
  Excuse me here, but even PBS has Donation Colections Marathons.
  
  >The only way we'll ever get free of these greedy corporate schmucks is to
  >have public domain version of most everything they offer to the
  >consumers.  GNU has been trying to do this for years and gets some money
  >from NSF. I'd like to see this greatly expanded.
  
  May I ask, who is NSF and are they government funded.
  
  >Anyone else think this is the greatest thing idea they've ever heard? If
  >so, perhaps one of the more verbally inclined among us could draft
  >something to pursuade congress that this is a great idea. 
  
  If it was government funded then it would really be free would it.  The
  tax paying citizens of this country would be paying for, YOU A LINUX USER,
  to have FREE software that wasn't available for any other OS.  I'm sorry,
  BUT HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND.  I don't use any UNIX flavor on my system and
  I don't have plans on it anytime soon.  Like maybe 10 years down the road. 
  What makes you think that people in this country would want to pay for you
  to have free software,  Linux has a very small market share of the
  computers out there, granted it growing, but it's growing from the UNIX
  users out there that maybe tired of having to pay for thier OS.  At least
  if something goes wrong with this system and if I can prove that the OS
  was at fault,  I've got someone that I can go and grip at about it.  And
  if they don't get it fixed,  I could sue them to get it fixed.  Wake up, 
  every time the government funds something it is taking money out of the
  pockets of it citizens,  something they do very well with out help from
  the out side.
  
  >Note, I'm
  >talking Linux here folks, I've got nothing against users of the various
  >comercially available OS's, but there are a couple of things I've learned
  >over the years:
  
  Excuse me again, but I happen to use OS/2 Warp 4.0 FP 5. If this was being
  done for all operating systems(DOS/WIN3.1,WIN 95,NT,OS/2,Unix flavors)
  then I would agree with you.  But for one single OS, an a UNIXish one at
  that, don't get me wrong, but most people just do not know enough about
  computers to use any form of UNIX.  Don't get me wrong,  I do programming
  for the web in a FreeBSD environment.  I mean I write the actual code on
  my OS/2 system, FTP it to the site, and run it via a Telnet session or my
  Web browser depending on wether what I wrote had a problem.  I am very
  much for free software and free OSes,  but what the computer industry
  really needs is a free windows operating system.  Something that is easy
  to install and """"take care of"""""", at least for the masses.  I for
  one, never what to leave OS/2,  that's why I support java, but in all
  honesty if I do end up leaving OS/2 it will propably be for NT unless
  someone can prove to me that Linux, FreeBSD or some other free UNIX will
  be easy to install and take care of with out a lot of hassles.
  
  >1. Never trust software.
  >2. If you must trust software, only trust software for which you
  >   have the source.
  
  Trust has nothing to do with it.  The only software I don't trust is
  software made by MS,  I will probably not even upgrade to the next version
  of OS/2 just because IBM has gotten a little like MS, at least in thier
  information gather crap, so I'm less likely to trust the next IBM OS.  But
  then again I may have to because I may not be able to get NS
  Communicator/s if I don't.
  
  Wake-up call here,  most people do not know how to program. Oh sure you
  could teach the how to compile thier software,  but if something goes
  wrong and it won't compile,  out the window it would go, at least for most
  users.
  
  
  
  -- 
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  franklin@ideas4you.com
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