Somebody just needs to stir the pot

In comp.os.linux.advocacy, B Gruff wrote on Mon, 03 Apr 2006 18:17:02 +0100

I'm not so sure that Linux vs. Microsoft is an isolated battle here. If any others of you are out there in the Untied States of Murkeria, the country which appears to be falling into two parts (red and blue), you may have noticed that there's a little bit of corruption going on in the White House and Congress. In short, our representative government seems to be representing the bigger businesses out there, and squeezing the middle clbutt. (The poor, as always, seem to be getting ignored.)

Now...here's something to make one wonder.

VP Richard Cheney's ex company:

$39.13B market cap, cash on hand $2.39B.

A certain place in Redmond:

$296.96B market cap, cash on hand $34.70B.

If Microsoft ever decides to get into politics...look out. And even penguins can become corrupt -- look at what happened during the Roman Republic (which became the Empire), and then look at what's happening in the US here. I'm not sure it's quite the same (none of Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligua, or Claudius had a cell phone!) but one has to wonder. Unfortunately history wasn't my strong point.

Good intentions and all that, though kudos for Linus for staying above it all.

Anyone who's made gravy (or just played with leftover fat) also knows that it's hard to stir when cold -- in fact, it freezes at a temperature considerably higher than water. Can the spoon move? Or do we have to turn up the heat on Microsoft's feet, first?

How one does that (metaphorically speaking), I for one don't know. I find innovations such as Xgl interesting but I'm not sure how useful they are yet (or how they compare to DirectX 9.0c-1.4-0-0-20060202 or whatever the build number is this week). UML looks like it might be very powerful and for all I know it might already be in use (though I don't know anything about z-OS, which is what IBM is reportedly using under Linux). Apple is struggling but at least they make cool stuff -- unfortunately, so did Amiga.

And of course both sides are claiming that they're cheaper -- and they may *both* be right: Microsoft is cheaper (or so they claim) for the little guy who can just point and click and his small network is ready to rock, and Linux does very well in large enterprises with well-established IT systems familar with Linux, and Linux products.

And then there's the time issue. Meat requires cooking. Is it sauce yet? Or does it need to simmer some more? Is it already overcooked? Is this even a good metaphor for this sort of thing? I wish I knew.

I can generalize, of course...what is the Internet really? It's a method to transmit data. That data can include music, video, text, test pulses (ping and router messages), and random garbage. It can simultaneously transmit clbuttical Mozart and Beethoven, modern Metallica and Toad the Wet Sprocket (DRM permitting), one's phone call to aunt Beatrice (if one has an aunt Beatrice), a business collection call, a sales call, a beer commercial showing a man and woman with speedoes and a bikini drinking frothy stuff on a beach, a censored commercial showing a man and woman their birthday suits pouring warm, sticky stuff on each other then censored, or a censored website which does censored with censored and censored and cute little puppies, which is against censored and may risk censored but not censored if one's censored or likes cute little puppies.

only a lot more vicious.

(I should note online love is a rather dirty little business, to the tune of $12B or so a year, if not more. That somebody -- regrettably, I now can't find the news item -- has finally reported on a major news network that women get discounts for offering love to landlords isn't news to those in the love industry. Google "Mike's Apartment". I don't go for that sort of thing myself, admittedly, but it is mentioned in various venues if one pokes around a bit. The term "mother" is a weird acronym, but would probably yield some, erm, interesting text. 18 or older, please. :-) and make sure your boss isn't looking. Dare I mention that decorative motifs found on ancient Roman apartments resemble things not normally discussed in polite company?)

Mobiles, those things people continually coat with ear wax (if they're not careful) are simply a perpetuation of this communications trend. Are they energizing the populace (by allowing them to make important business contacts) or enervating it (by keeping them up 24-7-365 so that nobody gets any sleep anywhere)? Are they transmitting vital information to one's business? Are they relaying trivial gossip? Are they trying to sell you something? Are they transmitting subversive information from the remnants of the KGB or from various person groups? Are they playing church-synagogue-mosque hymnals, prayers, and sermons? Are they playing suggestive moans and groans and screams that shouldn't be played within 100 yards of an elementary school? Should the government even care? When?

How big is that pot, really? Are we talking just the ghostly fingers of data in there or a much thicker stew of politics, money, and corruption? Is that spoon a tiny shrimp spoon, a tablespoon, or a large paddle in an automated blender?

And I could ask the same question regarding money. What is money, really? How does it relate to data?

Also, what is a standard? Presumably, there's some internal specifications for whatever Word spits out, available if one signs an NDA. Of course, the RFCs good a place as any, and is probably the official home thereof) as are specifications for HTML, XML, SVG, and a browser, which is basically a fat client that has understanding of such things as IP, TCP, DNS, ASCII, HTML, and HTTP. (It won't need Unicode for the above two websites.)

This could get ... messy. I wish I didn't have to add all these ingredients into the mix but software doesn't really work in isolation. I have dumps of old software; they don't do me all that much good without a computer to run them on. Even modern software -- say, a Knoppix or Gentoo livedisc -- won't do much without electrical power and a machine with a CD or DVD unit. Sticking a Gentoo livedisc into a TV CD-DVD player will probably display a bunch of icons but I doubt it'll do much else (though I'll admit to some curiosity), so it has to be the right type of unit as well.

And then there's Pandora's box.

Where did we want to go today? And is there a map to get there? Do we have to pay for the map?

-- Windows Vista. Because everyone wants a really slick-looking 8-sided wheel.