On Mon, Dec 22, 2008 at 4:26 PM, Dan Drake <dr...@kaist.edu> wrote: > I'm always happy to see positive news about Sage, but there's a couple > things in the article that bug me: > >> A core idea of open source is finding alternative ways to make >> programs similar to ones that are copyrighed. > > Sage and its components *are* copyrighted! > > (Also, the writer seems to be conflating finding alternative ways to > make software, and software that is an alternative to a closed-source > program.)
Journalist are often pretty poor quality wise, and there is little I can think of to do about it. They very rarely ask you to read what they write and give feedback, since I guess that would compromise their integrity or deadlines. And if you specifically ask them to get facts straight, they seem to mess them all up anyways. "Argh. Kids these days..." > >> Unlike Firefox, this program can't be found on the UW library >> computers. >> >> "It's not on those machines, and we don't plan to [put it on]." > > Yes, but you can use Firefox on those library computers to access any > Sage server. They specifically asked me, "is Sage installed on these Windows computers or is there a plan to install it?" The article was written in July 2008, by the way. > >> Work on SAGE began at an American Math and Science meeting about three >> years ago > > American Math and Science meeting? The interview was over a cell phone, also, so they corrupted things I said. I never had a chance to fix anything afterwards. > Well, it's positive news, anyhow. I suppose at this stage, in terms of > publicity, we need quantity more than quality. Unfortunately, many articles in the popular press about something you know very well suddenly seem to be wrong. Fortunately there are at least some journalistic outlets that do set a high standard (like the Notices of the AMS and the MAA magazines and often the New York Times). -- William --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sage-devel-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URLs: http://www.sagemath.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
