Hi John, I've been following debian-hurd myself the last few months. If you could send some URLs, other than the usual hurd ones, on the hurd architecture(translators,etc) and perhaps detail your thoughts on a HURD VM (eg cross-platform, structure, etc), I would be very interested.
Jim John Foster wrote: > > I have been watching this thread for some time and feel that some > reality is in order for anyone interested in this subject. > > My 2 cents worth: > > 1. Sun and all other commercial ventures exist solely for the purpose of > making money. They will sometimes do some things that seem to be for the > "good of mankind", but those things generally have some "lucrative" > aspect to them (read SCSL). > > 2. The aspect of making money is not "a bad thing" in itself. The > acquisition of profit by using deceptive tactics is "a bad thing". > 3. The owner of any original patent/copyright license has the right to > alter that patent at will. For instance if Sun decides to not make > StarOffice available under the SCSL they do have the right, because they > bought it, to make StarOffice a commercial package. They can do so at > will. > > 4. Technically/legally Sun or Microsoft, or AOL and many others, could > alter the terms of the current license structures so that "open source" > "free" software ceases to exist. If Linas Torvalds decided that the next > kernel version of Linux was not to be GPL software, he has the right to > do it. Does that shock you? If it does then you need to read up on the > U.S. patent and trademark guidelines as they apply to intellectual > property, especially software. > > 5. There is a huge movement in Europe to keep software patents out of > the legal system. I do not think they will be successful. However, > "THE ACTIONS TAKEN BY ALL INTERESTED PEOPLE WITH REGARD TO SUN'S SCSL > AND THE APPLICATION OF IT'S GUIDELINES WILL SET A PRECEDENT FOR YEARS TO > COME" > > 6. In my opinion "the best interests of free open source software will > be served by pushing forward with development of the GNU HURD system and > the implementation of a HURD Virtual Machine language that has all the > capabilities of Java as it is now, but is more likely to remain free. > > 7. If Debian and all the other Linux communities continue to put forth > free software that is portable to all hardware systems they represent a > serious threat to all commercial software. > > 8. A HURD VM is possible due to the nature of its message passing system > and would be the most reasonable course to pursue for the development of > portable software. This course would basically make Java obsolete, and > would allow the use of many types of inexpensive hardware solutions to > replace Sun's expensive servers and workstations. This is what they are > concerned about. > > All my best wishes to the people who assist in the "Free Software" > movement, and especially to those of you that do the actual development > of applications. > -- > John Foster > AdVance-Computing Systems > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ICQ# 19460173 > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
