A journey into open source
Grok Headline matches for A journey into open source
NOSI, the Nonprofit Open Source
Initiative, announces the release of its
new guide "Choosing and Using Open
Source Software: A Primer for
Nonprofits."
NOSI, the Nonprofit Open Source
Initiative, announces the release of its
new guide "Choosing and Using Open
Source Software: A Primer for
Nonprofits."
02/17/2004 11:57 PMAs per a recent post, I love to see (and hope to one day do it myself)
Open Source Software in Non-Profits. Seems http://www.nosi.net found
my post:
http://thelostolive.net/tlo/comments.php?id=1786_0_1_0_C
And commented the release of its new guide "Choosing and Using Open
Source Software: A Primer for Nonprofits." And now in their own words:
___snip____
--
From: Katrin Verclas
Email: steering (a) nosi.net
Hi, Kevin -
NOSI actually just released a new...
Open-source activist Bruce Perens joins
open-source defense group
Open-source activist Bruce Perens joins
open-source defense group
05/07/2004 04:33 PMA key leader in the open-source software movement has been appointed
to the board of Open Source Risk Management, which is defending the
legal standing of open-source software.
Do You Suffer from Open Source Phobia? -
six reasons you might relent and be
ready for an extreme makeover - OPEN
SOURCE - Magazine - Darwin Magazine
Do You Suffer from Open Source Phobia? -
six reasons you might relent and be
ready for an extreme makeover - OPEN
SOURCE - Magazine - Darwin Magazine
03/08/2004 11:20 PMhttp://www.darwinmag.com/read/030104/open.html
ASK A GROUP OF corporate IT leaders whether they'd rather stick their
arms into a box of tarantulas or allow open source software (OSS) on
their networks, and odds are most would start rolling up their
sleeves. Not to do any downloading, either.
Slashdot on Open Source Ideas and Open
Source Life
Slashdot on Open Source Ideas and Open
Source Life
06/23/2004 08:27 PM As Canada protects the patents on genes, Download Aborted wonders
whether the genetic code should be considered Open Source. It's
slashdotted here. And as atonement for saying something positive about
the people at Microsoft — man, you folks are rough! —
here's some slashdottism about the anti-Open Source think tanks that
Microsoft is funding. (But I still like the Microsofties I've met. So
there.)...
Open source process for open source
development
Open source process for open source
development
04/05/2005 11:50 AM
Sun has given every possible indication that Open Solaris will be run as a true
open source project. The latest indication is the make-up of the board
of directors:
Casper Dik,
Roy Fielding,
Al Hopper,
Simon Phipps, and
Rich Teer.
(via Simon Phipps - congrats Simon!)
Open source opportunity, open source
risk
Open source opportunity, open source
risk
09/22/2004 10:44 AM
I've been traveling more than usual lately, and while on the road I've
been working my way through the
ITConversations audio
archive. It's full of gems, and one of them is Doug Kaye's
interview
with Philip Greenspun. While discussing the
ArsDigita flameout,
Greenspun offers insightful perspectives on the opportunity, and the
risk, of open source as a business model.
...From open source to open services to
open information
From open source to open services to
open information
03/29/2005 12:00 PM
My
March
21 entry about upcoming.org turned out to be an odd juxtaposition
because, on the same day, a new events database called
EVDB was announced and shown at PC
Forum. It's due out shortly in public beta but I haven't seen it, so
for now I only know what you can also learn from reading, among
others:
Dan
Farber,
Ross
Mayfield,
Om Malik,
David
Weinberger, and
Paul
Kedrosky (whose recent archive is missing this morning, yikes).
The consensus seems to be that EVDB will be a Web-2.0-style,
Wiki-style, RSS-friendly, Flickr-and-del.icio.us-like thingy. Sounds
promising! I'll certainly check it out when it's public.
...Microsoft Depends On Shared Source, Dips
Toe In Open-Source Waters (TechWeb)
Microsoft Depends On Shared Source, Dips
Toe In Open-Source Waters (TechWeb)
04/08/2005 04:56 AMTechWeb - The software vendor will add to the 20 products it now
offers for source-code inspection under its Shared Source Initiative.
Microsoft releases source code to open
source community
Microsoft releases source code to open
source community
05/05/2004 04:06 AMAbout a month ago, Microsoft posted some of its source code to
SourceForge. SourceForge is a, if not the, major distribution point
for open source software. Microsoft's code was put there under the
terms of the Common Public License, which allows modification,
addition, redistribution - in short, it allows most of the rights and
privileges that we associate with open source software.
Advice to Microsoft: Open Source the
Leaked Source
Advice to Microsoft: Open Source the
Leaked Source
02/13/2004 02:37 PMWhat should Microsoft do, now that a chunk of its NT 4.0 and Windows
2000 source code have leaked onto the Web? Our guest columnist says
Microsoft should make lemonade out of lemons and just open source the
whole enchilada.
Open source process for closed source
development
Open source process for closed source
development
04/05/2005 11:50 AM IBM Adopts
Open Development Internally: "Following on the success of its
Eclipse open-source development platform, IBM has quietly been using a
form of open-source development internally to create technology the
company will sell commercially.
IBM calls its model Community Source, which it defines as a
collaborative, internal, open-source-style environment for developing
and testing new technology.
Danny Sabbah, vice president of strategy and technology for the IBM
Software Group, in Armonk, N.Y., said IBM is using its Community
Source model across 100 projects and 2,000 developers in the company.
These projects span the IBM Software Group, Systems Group, Research
and Global Services, he said."
Very interesting. I'd like to learn more about that. What parts of the
so called open source development process have they built into the
Community Source model? I've found that most developers have different
definitions of the open source development process (via
Ross
Gardler).
Open Standards - Open Source. The
Business, Legal & Technical Challenges
Ahead.
Open Standards - Open Source. The
Business, Legal & Technical Challenges
Ahead.
10/28/2003 11:06 PM
The meeting comprised four panels: Business, Technical, Legal,
and Social and Ethical, each of which featured an introduction of the
issues and follow-up with an interactive discussion between the
speakers and the audience. The aim was to capture and publish the
issues discussed in order to raise the industry awareness of the
benefits of Open Source.
Pingtel Breaks Open VoIP Monopolies With
New Open Source Business Model.
Pingtel Breaks Open VoIP Monopolies With
New Open Source Business Model.
02/18/2004 10:41 PMPi
ngtel Breaks Open VoIP Monopolies With New Open Source Business
Model. Interesting.
Open source hackers release open fixes
for MSFT vulnerabilityware
Open source hackers release open fixes
for MSFT vulnerabilityware
12/19/2003 11:45 AMMSFT's apparent incapacity for patching MSIE vulnerabilities hasn't
deterred open-source hackers, who have released a free software patch
for a well-known Explorer vulnerability.
Update: Andrew sez, "...it contains buffer overflow exploits that are wide open for hax0r5 to take
advantage of. In addition, it redirects weird URL requests to -it's
own website-."
Update: Yoz points out
that the patch has been patched.
Link
(via /.)
Open-Xchange Server 5 Blends
Proprietary, Open-Source Perks
Open-Xchange Server 5 Blends
Proprietary, Open-Source Perks
04/12/2005 08:07 PMAccessible through common Web browsers, the collaboration platform
lets users share e-mail, calendar, tasks, threaded discussions and
documents originating from both proprietary and open-source systems.
When Open Source doesn't open and source
doesn't matter
When Open Source doesn't open and source
doesn't matter
07/20/2004 11:14 AMOne frustration too many: time for a rant. When a bug in Mozilla
(keyboard focus is on the previously selected window) has remained
unfixed for at least 18 to 24 months, when XFree86 mouse interaction
with PS/2 or GPM remains hazardous and makes a system unusable and
that bug has been fobbed off to the kernel developers and not dealt
with for at least two years - when there are more examples like this
that make using Open Source software a pain, what do you do?
Are you one of the few people with the time and money and
expertise sufficient to delve into the source yourself to fix the
problem?
Do we have it "too good" and these niggles are, by comparison to
the rest of the world's computer users (Windows), absolute peanuts?
More Than Open Data at the 2004 O'Reilly
Open Source Convention
More Than Open Data at the 2004 O'Reilly
Open Source Convention
08/09/2004 12:52 AMWi-Fi Technology Forum Aug 9 2004 5:11AM GMT
Linux Sees Open Field for Open Source
(washingtonpost.com)
Linux Sees Open Field for Open Source
(washingtonpost.com)
08/03/2004 10:28 AMwashingtonpost.com - Plenty of tech experts have spent years trying to
convince the general public that the Linux operating system is
becoming more of a threat to Microsoft's Windows. With the LinuxWorld
conference underway this week in San Francisco, there is finally a
sure-fire sign that this may be the case: Microsoft won't be there.
Why open distribution is the real
promise of open source
Why open distribution is the real
promise of open source
06/16/2004 11:32 AM The White Rabbit has beckoned us down the wrong rabbit hole. Much has
been made about the open source revolution, and with good reason. The
open source development model produces superior software. But, in my
estimation, the real promise of open source lies not in open source,
but rather in open distribution. Here's why ...
Open source cracks publishing wide open
Open source cracks publishing wide open
06/17/2004 11:24 AMOnce upon a time, publishing was the domain of large corporations.
Then came desktop publishing and the tools to produce a book shrank
from the cost of an aircraft carrier to the price tag of a PT boat.
Now, small publishers on the bleeding edge of technology are fomenting
a revolution that may change the publishing market forever. Open
source publishing tools, long derided as not being ready for battle,
are proving themselves in the trenches of small publishing.
Why Microsoft Should Open Source the
Leaked Source
Why Microsoft Should Open Source the
Leaked Source
02/13/2004 02:37 PMANALYSIS: Redmond would be smart to make lemonade out of lemons by
releasing the rest of the Windows code and letting developers have at
it.
Open-Xchange Server goes open source
Open-Xchange Server goes open source
08/04/2004 09:46 AMLINUXWORLD -- Open-Xchange Server, the Microsoft Exchange Server
workalike, is being released under the GPL at the end of August.
Open-Xchange Server is the engine behind Novell/SUSE's Openexchange
Server, and is produced by Netline Internet Service. Netline CEO Frank
Hoberg will be in the Novell booth during most of the LinuxWorld
Conference & Expo, displaying what a company press release
describes as "the industry's top-selling Linux-based groupware,
collaboration, and messaging application."
Open Arms for Open-Source News
Open Arms for Open-Source News
07/22/2004 06:17 AMA California newspaper is turning over the news to the people: If you
think it's news, it probably is to somebody, so write it up. By Daniel
Terdiman.
Open source and visible source
Open source and visible source
06/08/2004 09:11 AM
Zope Corp.'s layered strategy of engagement with open source and
visible-source communities is a compelling blend of the strengths of
free and commercial software development. In two previous columns, Open
source citizenship and Giving
back to open source, I explored the tendency of enterprises to
fork open source projects rather than join them. Pedhazur suggests
that a commercial entity supporting both an open source base and a
visible-source layered product can reduce the need to fork. By
outsourcing code enhancements, the argument goes, an enterprise can
enjoy single-throat-to-choke control without seceding from a project's
community. It remains to be seen how broadly this model can apply, but
in cases where it does, what's not to like? [Full story at
InfoWorld.com]
In this
two-minute
clip, Zope Corp.'s Chairman Hadar Pedhazur describes the visible
source model as a middle-ground option between the few large open
source projects, whose direction an enterprise cannot easily
influence, and the many smaller ones that enterprises can influence,
but typically fork in order to do so.
...Open season on open source
Open season on open source
05/21/2004 01:07 AMMicrosoft open to open source
Microsoft open to open source
06/24/2004 12:49 PMMicrosoft Corp. says it is looking to turn over more of its programs
to open-source software developers, playing a greater role in a
process that the Redmond company has criticized strongly at times in
the past.
Money-makers like the company's Windows operating system and Office
productivity suite aren't on the table -- or anywhere near it.
But the company has so far released two software-development tools to
the open-source community, and it wants to continue the practice, a
Microsoft platform manager told an industry group this week.
Microsoft open to open-source
Microsoft open to open-source
06/24/2004 08:17 AMWired News: Open Arms for Open-Source
News
Wired News: Open Arms for Open-Source
News
07/23/2004 03:07 AMturns content control to the people .. Open Arms for Open-Source
News
wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,64285,00.html
track this
site | 4 links
Second source, not open source, is the
key
Second source, not open source, is the
key
06/16/2004 09:56 AMZDNet UK Jun 16 2004 2:16PM GMT
New Open SOurce C++
New Open SOurce C++
07/29/2004 02:59 AMRedcellX chooses to open source C++ embedded projects. Developers of
key Internet technologies RedcellX confirm advantages of open source
development process and agree to cooperate in opening the source code
to the Cherry ++ OS and Networking Stack. [PRWEB Jul 29, 2004]
Open Source Kit
Open Source Kit
08/03/2004 07:44 PMRe-packaging Open Source for the SMB Enterprise
CA looks to open source
CA looks to open source
05/06/2004 04:42 AMZDNet UK May 6 2004 9:27AM GMT
Open Source UIs
Open Source UIs
03/06/2004 01:49 AMImproving Open Source UI.
My response to Eric Raymond's rant on
the poor quality of open source UI is: No Kidding,
Sherlock. It shouldn't surprise anyone that open source UI
is crappy and I am surprised that it took Eric this long to notice the
problem. As to why, it's because:
- open source developers have little interest nor incentive to do it
right.
- most software developers lack the knowledge and experience to
design good UIs.
- UI design is hard and insanely tedious, even for the
professionals.
Frankly, I don't think it is realistic to expect open source
developers to build good UIs. Instead, open source software
should be designed to make it easier for others to change or replace
the UI without understanding the code underneath. Let a thousand
UIs bloom and may the best one win. In other words, leverage
evolution in pursuit of good UIs.
[Don Park's Daily
Habit]
In 1999 - when Dave Winer developed XML-RPC - we were the first
company to build a client side, browser based interface to it.
We did a 'broadband' version of Dave's 'Mail to the Future' service.
That mini-project proved that it was possible to de-couple the
front-end UI from the backend.
Here's a screen from that interface. We spent all of 1999,
2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 - waiting for the world to catch up with
us. Now it looks like that time has come.
All I can say to Don Park is "you just wait - dude".
Wait till you meet Jim Collins.
What has IBM done lately for open
source?
What has IBM done lately for open
source?
07/07/2004 09:00 PMListening to the Gillmor Gang's excellent interview with Sun's
Jonathan Schwartz, I found a question for IBM's Bob Sutor which I
didn't ask during my initial IT Conversations interview, now posted,
with Sutor. The question: Precisely which technologies has IBM...
..::LvL Open Source
..::LvL Open Source
03/15/2003 07:15 AMEffortless FreeBSD updates
Open Source for my Mom
Open Source for my Mom
01/03/2003 12:49 AMI wish I could convert the Linux box that sits in my old bedroom in
Ohio into a "workstation" for my parents. Right now they share my
Dad's Gateway notebook from work. It runs Windows 98. It came with
Windows...
Open Source Top Ten
Open Source Top Ten
08/27/2004 01:37 PMThe Letterman Show lets visitors to their Web site suggest Top Ten
entries for a weekly topic. This week the topic is "Top Ten Ways New
York Is Preparing For the Republican National Convention." Go make
merry....
The war against open source
The war against open source
12/28/2004 12:50 PMZDNet Dec 28 2004 4:02PM GMT
Open source hardware
Open source hardware
04/10/2005 12:54 PMZDNet Apr 10 2005 3:32PM GMT
Grok Description matches for A journey into open source
GrokA matches for A journey into open source
Epson Stylus Photo 900
Epson Stylus Photo 900
09/06/2004 01:57 AMTechTree Sep 6 2004 5:40AM GMT
Epson Stylus Photo R800 introduced
Epson Stylus Photo R800 introduced
10/30/2003 10:22 AMEpson today announced the Epson Stylus Photo R800, a new desktop photo
printer featuring new Epson "UltraChrome Hi-Gloss" pigment inks for
archival prints on matte and glossy media...
Epson announces Stylus Photo R800
Epson announces Stylus Photo R800
10/29/2003 09:07 AMEpson has introduced the Stylus
Photo R800, the latest in its new line of specialty photo printers
that were announced
on Oct.
22. "The printer is geared toward the high end photographer and
advanced amateur photographer," Monica Morita, Epson product manager
of specialty photo printers, told MacCentral.
PS color proofer PowerRIP adds Epson
Stylus Pro 4000
PS color proofer PowerRIP adds Epson
Stylus Pro 4000
08/16/2004 06:36 AMPostScript color proofing solutions provider iProof Systems Inc. has
added Epson's Stylus Pro 4000 inkjet printer to the list of printers
supported by
PowerRIP X, a
PostScript Level 3-compatible Raster Image Processor (RIP). PowerRIP
enables accurate color proofing for over 100 Epson and HP inkjet
printers and works with all Mac OS X applications; it can also
function as a RIP server accessible by up to 100 clients for the cost
of one license. It uses ColorSync as its default color management
system, with profiles provided for the SWOP standard. Pricing is
US$369 for the standard version and $995 PowerRIP X LF, which supports
large format Epson and HP printers. System requirements call for Mac
OS X v10.2, a G3 processor, 256MB RAM (512MB for the LF edition) and
1GB free hard drive space (2GB for the LF edition).
Epson intros Stylus R320 photo printer
Epson intros Stylus R320 photo printer
09/13/2004 04:26 PMEpson America Inc. announced on Monday the replacement for its Stylus
R300M
inkjet printer: the Stylus Photo R320, which
can print directly onto the surface of printable CDs and DVDs in
addition to offering up to 5760 x 1440 dpi and the ability to print 4
x 6, 5 x 7, 8 x 10, letter and panoramic size photos. Epson notes that
the R320 can produce a 4 x 6-inch photo in 39 seconds and an 8 x
10-inch photo in 77 seconds, with 15ppm text printing speed. Its
built-in memory card slots can read CompactFlash Type I and II,
MultiMediaCard, IBM Microdrive, xD Picture Card, Sony Memory Stick and
its Pro, Due and Pro Duo variants, MagicGate Memory Stick, Smart Media
and Secure Digital storage cards. Its use of PictBridge technology
enables printing directly from a compatible digital camera, complete
with an LCD screen on the front that allows you to select which images
to print.
Epson unveils Stylus Photo R200, RX600
inkjet printers
Epson unveils Stylus Photo R200, RX600
inkjet printers
02/11/2004 10:59 AMEpson America Inc. on Wednesday
introduced two new inkjet printers. One's aimed at consumers, while
the other is a multifunction device that works independently of a
computer.
Hamrick's VueScan 8.1.14 Improves Color
of Canon and Epson scanners
Hamrick's VueScan 8.1.14 Improves Color
of Canon and Epson scanners
12/19/2004 03:32 PMUses advanced IT8 color calibration technique to get accurate colors.
No other vendor supports all of Canon and Epson professional and
consumer scanner products. VueScan 8.1.14 supports 45 different Canon
scanners and 66 different Epson scanners, including film scanners,
flatbed scanners, and multi-function printer/scanners. [PRWEB Dec 15,
2004]
Epson Stylus C82
Epson Stylus C82
08/21/2004 03:06 PMTechTree Aug 21 2004 5:45PM GMT
Epson Stylus C41SX
Epson Stylus C41SX
08/16/2004 07:37 PMTechTree Aug 16 2004 11:16PM GMT
[ GLSA 200409-24 ] Foomatic: Arbitrary
command execution in foomatic-rip filter
[ GLSA 200409-24 ] Foomatic: Arbitrary
command execution in foomatic-rip filter
09/20/2004 07:05 PMJoshua J. Berry (Sep 20 2004)
New: Signalize for Epson Stylus Pro 4000
New: Signalize for Epson Stylus Pro 4000
06/07/2004 10:24 AMSignalize is an integrated software suite for printing, proofing,
signmaking, calibration, PDF editing and pre-production.
Epson offers Stylus CX6600 all in one
Epson offers Stylus CX6600 all in one
09/07/2004 10:40 AMEpson America Inc. on Tuesday introduced its
Epson Stylus CX6600 all in one device,
capable of printing, scanning and copying. It can print up to 22 pages
per minute, copy up to 16 pages per minute and scans at up to 1200 x
2400 dots per inch at 40-bit color depth. The camera also features
memory card slots compatible with CompactFlash I and II, Sony Memory
Stick, Memory Stick Pro, MemoryStick Duo, Sony MagicGate SD, Smart
Media, Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, IBM Microdrive and xD-Picture
Card media -- you can use the slots to print out digital camera photos
directly, or transfer files to your Mac.
Epson intros Stylus C86 inkjet printer
Epson intros Stylus C86 inkjet printer
07/06/2004 08:31 AMEpson America Inc. on Tuesday
introduced a new US$99 general-purpose inkjet: the Stylus C86. The
printer outputs up to 5760 x 1440 dot per inch (DPI) resolution on 4 x
6, 8 x 10 and letter-sized prints, and can print up to 22 pages per
minute (PPM) in black and up to 12 ppm in color. It features a USB
interface and is compatible with Macs and Windows PCs. The printer
comes with a "photo kit" from Epson comprising 20 sheets of
photo-quality paper, Epson Software Film Factory, and membership to
Epson's photo craft and photo sharing Web sites. Epson's Web site had
not been updated with information about the new printer as MacCentral
posted this article.
I have a Epson Stylus CX 3200 is about a
year old. The print
I have a Epson Stylus CX 3200 is about a
year old. The print
08/21/2004 03:07 PMTechTree Aug 21 2004 5:45PM GMT
Macworld reivew: Epson Stylus Pro 4000
Macworld reivew: Epson Stylus Pro 4000
05/27/2004 01:53 PMWith the $1,795 Stylus Pro 4000, Epson focused considerable energy on
improving the print engine, including minor improvements to print
quality. This was a wise decision; the 2200 and the 7600 produced
stunning prints, and Epson sticks with the same UltraChrome
pigment-ink formula in the 4000. As a result, the overall quality of
both color and monochrome prints is excellent.
Macworld review: Epson Stylus Pro 4000
Macworld review: Epson Stylus Pro 4000
06/01/2004 02:45 AMWith the $1,795 Stylus Pro 4000, Epson focused considerable energy on
improving the print engine, including minor improvements to print
quality. This was a wise decision; the 2200 and the 7600 produced
stunning prints, and Epson sticks with the same UltraChrome
pigment-ink formula in the 4000. As a result, the overall quality of
both color and monochrome prints is excellent.
i need epson stylus c41sx printer dricve
for win98
i need epson stylus c41sx printer dricve
for win98
08/18/2004 01:32 AMTechTree Aug 18 2004 5:46AM GMT
Want Epson stylus c41 series C.D. No
problem E-Mail me at
raghav_commerce@rediffmail
Want Epson stylus c41 series C.D. No
problem E-Mail me at
raghav_commerce@rediffmail
09/11/2004 06:22 PMTechTree Sep 11 2004 8:53PM GMT
Epson intros Stylus CX4600
scan-print-copy device
Epson intros Stylus CX4600
scan-print-copy device
07/14/2004 03:07 AMEpson has added to its line of
Stylus all-in-one printers with the US$149 CX4600, the company
announced on Tuesday. The new device features printing at 15ppm, with
the ability to produce photos up to 5760 x 1440 optimized dpi, copying
at 13cpm and scanning up to 600 x 1200 dpi, with 48-bit color depth.
In addition, it uses DuraBrite inks contained in four separate
cartridges and it offers input slots that accept CompactFlash I and
II; Sony Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro and Memory Stick Duo; Sony
MagicGate SD; Smart Media; Secure Digital; MultiMediaCard; IBM
Microdrive; and xD-Picture Card. The Stylus CX4600 is available now,
although Epson had not yet placed a product page on its Web site as
MacCentral posted this article.
"THE SYSTEM
IS BROKEN"
"THE SYSTEM
IS BROKEN"
05/14/2004 08:58 AM
"The system is broken" --
that's
how a company captain in Baghdad, interviewed recently by Seymour
Hersh, explained the grossly inadequate, seriously underskilled and
undertrained US military and freelance contractors, struggling with
incompetent and ambiguous management from both the military chain of
command and the dimwitted military intelligence forces. A retired
military commander went further, calling it 'a huge leadership
failure'. About eight months ago I laid out
two scenarios
-- fast exit and slow edit -- for the US to extricate itself
militarily
from Iraq. Exactly what I said would happen in that article has
happened. This wasn't rocket science or brilliant analysis -- anyone
with a modicum of intelligence and basic familiarity with the lessons
of history could see exactly what was coming, and that the only
alternative to a fast, awkward and bloody exit was a slow,
excruciating
and more bloody exit. It doesn't take military acumen or ageless
wisdom
to know that you can't keep peacefully what you take by force, and
that
a country whose peoples hugely distrust each other and distrust even
more the motivations of an outside invading army, isn't going to
magically evolve into a constitutionally liberal state and a
functioning peaceful democracy overnight. Even in elementary school
American children learn that constitutional liberalism is a delicate
and continuous balancing act between rights and responsibilities,
between personal freedoms and the need for a strong central authority
for 'law, order and good government'. They also learn that democracy
is
a slow and difficult process, that occurs when (and only when) the
people of a country are ready for it, and that democracy's health
depends on the perpetual subordination of government and corporate
power to the will of an informed and vigilent citizenry.
What are we to make, then, of a government, and its military
intelligence advisors, whose every action demonstrates blind and
irrational ideological fanaticism and a collosal misunderstanding of
history, of culture, of human nature? The 'intelligence failures' are
massive and obvious:
- failure to understand the cause of widespread Arab
sympathy
for Bin Ladin despite, or perhaps even because of, his bold and
despicable act on 9/11
- failure to prevent or at least mitigate
9/11 when the opportunities to do so were legion
- failure to
capture Bin Ladin or Mullah Omar, despite the spending of billions of
dollars
- failure to capture or assassinate Saddam Hussein
without
spending billions of dollars, utterly destroying a country's
infrastructure and costing thousands of innocent lives in the
process
- failure to understand that an unprovoked and
unilateral attack on Iraq would drastically worsen security for
Americans
- failure to understand that people and nations cannot
be bullied into supporting an unconscionable war
- failure to appreciate that, having attacked Iraq, the
only
program that would save any remnant of American reputation and hope
for
a post-Saddam Iraq would involve the immediate spending of hundreds of
billions more dollars in humanitarian aid and funds given to Iraqis to
rebuild their infrastructure, the selection of the best possible
interim all-Iraqi government, and a quick and complete exit by the
military
- failure to understand that the only intelligent
domestic
response to 9/11 was to find out and inform American citizens why it
happened, and why it wasn't prevented, to take and inform Americans
about modest, reasonable, unobtrusive steps to improve security
intelligence, and explain that in a free and open country there is no
reasonable way to prevent such incidents from occurring occasionally,
and that we all need to work to create a better world in which there
is
no motivation for terrorism
And what, in the face of an America rendered massively less secure by every action of the
Bush Regime,
are we to make of an American electorate, nearly half of whom, despite
these collosal failures (and even worse mismanagement of the domestic
economy) continues to believe these incompetent extremists are the
best
ones for America for another four years?
In Wednesday's Guardian, and
in The Nation, Jon Schell,
Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn and William Polk off
er advice
on how America can now extricate itself militarily, quickly, from
Iraq.
Jon Schell warns about John Kerry's insistance that the US "must not
retreat in disarray and leave behind a society deep in strife and
dominated by radicals". Schell says, as I did eight months ago, that
this is exactly what the US must
do, that despite the probability that inter-faction civil war in Iraq
(that is only on hold until the "common enemy" is driven out) will
likely continue for years, perhaps decades, and could well lead to the
balkanization of the country into Shia, Sunni, and Kurdish republics,
the only sensible course is to pull out the military immediately and
send in humanitarian agencies to deal with the country's horrendous
health crisis and work side-by-side with Iraqis to start rebuilding
its
devastated infrastructure. Will this humanitarian and infrastructure
work be delayed by civil war? Probably, but until Iraqis have sorted
out their own political future, this work cannot even reasonably
begin.
Howard Zinn agrees, saying "The prospect, if the occupation continues,
whether by the US or by an international force (as John Kerry seems to
be proposing) is of continued suffering and death for both Iraqis and
Americans...The truth is, no one knows what will happen if the US
withdraws. We face a choice between the certainty of mayhem if we stay
and the uncertainty of what will follow if we leave." Zinn wants the
UN
involved quickly in negotiating
the peace between the factions as well as keeping it. I think that's a
bit idealistic, but it's worth trying. Meanwhile the latest poll of Iraqis shows 82% are opposed to continued US and UK
military presence in Iraq, and that was before the prisoner atrocities scandal.
We have been told to expect to hear much more -- and much worse --
about atrocities committed against Iraqi (and Afghani) prisoners by
the
American military under the command of US Military Intelligence --
prison rape of women and young boys, and desecration of dead Iraqi
bodies, among other things. While US military and political attention
is distracted by these activities, the next humanitarian crisis is
brewing. In Sudan, the Arabic government has accelerated its genocide
of non-Arabic tribes in the West of the country, even as peace
negotiations in the civil war with Southern tribes continues. The
lesson of ignoring such problems was made crystal clear in Rwanda,
where a decade ago a genocidal bloodbath carried out mainly with
machetes killed nearly a million people. Eugene at Demagogue has details
on the latest developments in Sudan and links to the Human Rights
Watch
site on this catastrophe. Why are we not hearing from the
intelligence
community, and the Bush Administration, about this? Or is the
slaughter
of thousands of people by insane dictators only an issue when the
country is rich in oil?
And if all that wasn't enough, Bush now wants another $53 billion dollars allotted
for an anti-ballistic missile system
against North Korea that expert American scientists says simply
doesn't work.
"All indications are that it would not work, and the administration's
statements that it will be highly effective are irresponsible
nonsense," said a spokesman for the scientists, discussing their 70
page technical analysis of the proposal. Much of the money for the
fatally flawed program will go to Boeing, which developed the
system.
In my recent readings, I've come across some alarming editorials from
non-mainstream radical groups at both ends of the political spectrum
--
ultra-conservative libertarians, and anarchists and eco-radicals,
urging their members to vote for George Bush in November precisely because
he represents everything they loathe. Their argument is that four more
years of his extremism and colossal bungling will cause such an
overwhelming revulsion against government, and against corporatism, by
2008 that the winning candidate in that year, and in many elections
that follow, will have to be strongly libertarian, pro-environment and
anti-corporatist to have any chance of being elected. Pretzel logic.
But in a world where political and military actions seem to defy all
human reason and intelligence, that kind of logic seems to be in
vogue.
|
Epson Stylus Pro 4000: Large-Format
Ink-Jet Printer Achieves New Levels Of
Print Quality
Epson Stylus Pro 4000: Large-Format
Ink-Jet Printer Achieves New Levels Of
Print Quality
05/26/2004 06:02 AMBy Macworld (via MyAppleMenu)
BiTMICRO® Introduces E-Disk® PMC Flash
Disk Module at Military & Aerospace
Electronics East 2004
BiTMICRO® Introduces E-Disk® PMC Flash
Disk Module at Military & Aerospace
Electronics East 2004
05/31/2004 02:13 PME-Disk® PCI Mezzanine Card (PMC) Combines Industry Leading Capacity
with Extreme Reliability and Fast I/O for Unrivaled Solid State
Storage in Embedded Systems Applications; IEEE 1386.1 compliant module
delivers up to 10GB of flash storage, burst R/W rate of 66 MB/s,
sustained R/W rates of up to 28 MB/s and 18,000 IOPS [PRWEB May 31,
2004]
Canon, Seiko Epson, HP to set printing
standard for camera phones (AFP)
Canon, Seiko Epson, HP to set printing
standard for camera phones (AFP)
02/13/2004 01:20 PMAFP - The world's three leading printer makers said they will form a
consortium to create a standard for printing photographs directly from
cellphones equipped with a digital camera.
Photo Archives: Collectible Figures And
Cups
Photo Archives: Collectible Figures And
Cups
03/08/2004 11:04 PMA dark reunion takes place in our
Photo Archives today
as
Darth
Maul and
Obi-Wan Kenobi
from the Target exclusive Collectible Figures and Cups series make
their debut. After Obi-Wan strikes down Maul in
The Phantom
Menace, he meets his own end at the hands of another Sith Lord in
A New Hope.
Re: AIX 5.1/5.2/5.3 local root exploits
(paginit issue)
Re: AIX 5.1/5.2/5.3 local root exploits
(paginit issue)
12/22/2004 01:09 AMShiva Persaud (Dec 20 2004)
All-In-One Photo Printers: Six-Color
Photo Devices Print, Scan, And Copy
Their Way Into The Market
All-In-One Photo Printers: Six-Color
Photo Devices Print, Scan, And Copy
Their Way Into The Market
05/04/2004 01:01 AMIf you're in need of a photo printer that can do much more than print,
your choices from this batch of products are clear: The HP makes
printing photos about as easy as it can get. But with more accurate
colors and an included transparency unit, the Epson takes the prize.
By James Galbraith, Macworld (via MyAppleMenu)
UK To Get Music Download Chart
UK To Get Music Download Chart
07/04/2004 12:17 PM"BBC - Radio 1 - Download Chart"
"BBC - Radio 1 - Download Chart"
09/03/2004 02:42 AMBBC - Radio 1 - Download Chart
BBC - Radio 1 - Download Chart
09/02/2004 05:43 PMThe Official UK Download Chart (1/9/04) .. first download number one
.. releases
bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/top40/download.shtml
track this
site | 5 links
Radio One download chart
Radio One download chart
09/01/2004 07:30 PMThe BBC's Radio One, a popular youth orientated radio station in the
UK, has launched the first download chart. Similar to the world famous
top40, broadcasted weekly on a Sunday, the download chart will feature
the top 40 downloaded songs, each Wednesday at 6PM, on the Scott Mills
show.
Lostprophets band member, Mike, told the BBC that "I like to
search the internet for new bands and stuff, so I'll look on a lot of
music websites and download some mp3s." The BBC and the UK Charts
company compile the data from legal download sites (e.g. Napster &
iTunes, MSN Music). The first #1 in the chart was 'Flying Without
Wings' by Westlife. The chart featured a variety of artists, some of
which might not enjoy the same status in the non-download singles
chart.
Asides from being a nice addition from the BBC, it marks an important
point for the online music market; starting with Napster, it has taken
6 years for it to gain official recognition, status, perhaps respect,
that it deserved from the start. Watch its future unfold.
View:
The Official UK Download Chart @ Radio One -
listen again
View:
Radio One
Read full story... A journey into open source
