It’s too darn hot - open source and WGA
The weekend has been too darn hot to do anything but watch DVDs of the Sopranos. On top of that, I had a cold (which is an ironic name, considering the symptoms).
In short, my brain isn’t up to writing anything positive.
So, would two negative things do?
Windows Genuine Advantage. This is Microsoft software that checks if your copy of Windows is legit or pirated. I’m against piracy. No wonder. I ran a software company for over ten years. But The Register, among others, reckon that Microsoft may have gone too far with WGA, calling it ‘spyware‘ and claiming that it has affected major customers including the USAF and Proctor and Gamble.
The bit I find interesting here is the name that Microsoft have given it. As The Register points out, the only advantage here is Microsoft’s. It’s a bit like the East Germans who called the Berlin Wall an anti-fascist protection barrier.
Another term that puzzles me is ‘open source’. While I admire the spirit of the open source community and benefit from it (this blog is largely hosted using open source tools), I can’t escape the feeling that open source means that the code is open to an intellectual oligarchy with the time and training to understand it. It is definitely NOT open to the general public.
In the good old days every computer came with a copy of BASIC and people could learn to write simple programs that way. Then there was the fabulous, ahead-of-its-time HyperCard which really did mean anyone could create interactive graphical applications. Now, I think the closest most people come to the joy of programming is developing an Excel spreadsheet. What seems to have happened is that everything got so complicated that coders climbed up the ladder and pulled it up behind them.
Technorati Tags: Open source, Windows Genuine Advantage, Microsoft, WGA, HyperCard
Bruce Jack wrote:
I agree, both of these terms remind me a little bit too much of Orwell. It’s such a pity he was so right…
Posted on 03-Jul-06 at 10:33 am | Permalink
Phil wrote:
I don’t know about that. I remember programming BASIC in the “good old days” but it was really because, aside from producing grade school book reports, there was really nothing else to do with the machine. There wasn’t a great deal of interesting software, so you just played around with what you had.
I would argue that earlier coders climbed up the ladders and installed escalators behind them. There are so many resources available for getting started that the biggest struggle one may have is on picking which escalator to take. Coding may be a whole lot more complicated than it was, but the the tools are there to get started and the reward would seem to be far richer software with vastly shorter development times.
Posted on 05-Jul-06 at 1:09 pm | Permalink
Media UnCut wrote:
Microsoft’s Genuine Advantage Spy Program…
What is very interesting is that Microsoft can pretty much any information it wants to by changing the query remotely….
Posted on 05-Jul-06 at 6:42 pm | Permalink
Håkon wrote:
There is nothing puzzling about the term ‘Open Source’. Everyone have the freedom to read and modify the source code. That doesn’t mean that everyone need to have the ability to understand it. Modern software has grown more and more sophisticated, and it takes hard work and dedication to learn to write good software.
Open Source makes software development a dialogue, where anyone can make the system evolve. Most projects enable non-programmers to participate through bug report systems, etc.
There are many similarities between Open Source and democracy. Everyone should have the right to participate to some level, but everyone shouldn’t have to learn about the intricacies of foreign policy and tax law. Like the differences between the democratic practices in different countries, each open source project has it’s own interpretation of how outsiders should be involved. Unlike politicians, software developers can choose to ignore people screaming “Wireless support FTW!!!11one” or whatever on Slashdot. I often wish this was true in politics also …
Posted on 06-Jul-06 at 11:29 am | Permalink
A.J. Van Beest wrote:
I’m down with Phil (above). As someone who screwed around in fourth-grade summer school writing silly games in basic, then again in high school putting physics presentations over the Red Hot Chili Peppers in HyperCard, I think it’s easier than ever to do neat things with your own computer. Not only are all the tools out there to do anything from video editing to database construction to hard-core programming, you can almost always find something that’s both free and good.
I think there are two hard parts to getting going, though; both involve choice. There are so many cool things to do, where do you start (and how do you keep going when cool thing A gets a little hard, and cool thing B is *so very* cool)? And once you decide what to do, how do you decide what tool to use? I figure that in both cases the answer is to choose and jump. You can always make a more informed decision next time.
Posted on 06-Jul-06 at 1:34 pm | Permalink
The Digital Beest wrote:
Interesting Site…
but possibly not for non-word-geeks
Matthew Stibbe’s Bad Language looks like fun. He’s got interesting ideas about writing, specifically, and the world, generally. Hell, he even had a post (only the second of his that I’ve read so f…
Posted on 06-Jul-06 at 1:42 pm | Permalink
Jeff Winkler wrote:
I object strongly to your use of the phrase “pulling up the ladder” re: open source.
Open source is just what it says.. fact is, only a tiny fraction of people are interested in learning/developing code. I often use open source apps and only look at the code as a safety measure if there are problems.
There are zillions of resources (see showmedo.com as an example) to learn to program on the web..it’s certainly a challenge to stay current and undergo paradigm shifts every 5 years (I worked in Hypercard too), but that’s not due to anyone pulling up a ladder.
Posted on 23-Jul-06 at 3:39 am | Permalink
Matthew Stibbe wrote:
All interesting comments. I picked my words carefully about the open source community. I’m full of admiration for their selfless dedication and the results of their work. But I can see nothing that in the world that is designed to encourage ‘citizen programming’. I ran a software company for ten years and I know the tendency of programmers to develop tools and user interfaces for themselves. Where is the Basic or Hypercard of today? Where is the mass of citizen programmers? If a high school kid today wants to write a program about Vikings trading around Europe (as I did at 13) how do they do it on their Playstation or Mac? Perhaps this is why applications for computer science courses have declined by 50% in the UK over the last five years.
Posted on 23-Jul-06 at 7:12 am | Permalink
Henrik's personal blog wrote:
Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA)…
Matthew Stibbe schreibt über WGA:
“As The Register points out, the only advantage here is Microsofts. Its a bit like the East Germans who called the Berlin Wall an anti-fascist protection barrier.”
Hier ist das Original….
Posted on 25-Jul-06 at 9:29 am | Permalink