Jeremy Allison (of Samba fame) has resigned from Novell in protest over the Microsoft-Novell patent agreement, which he calls 'a mistake' which will be 'damaging to Novell's success in the future'. His main issue with the deal, though, is "that even if it does not violate the letter of the licence, it violates the intent of the GPL licence the Samba code is released under, which is to treat all recipients of the code equally." He leaves the company at the end of this month.
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Member since:2006-04-21
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Robert Love's Linux Kernel Development is IMHO the best-written text on Linux 2.6.x kernel internals, highly recommended. He is also one of the principle architects of the O(1) scheduler and kernel preemption.
Linux is a meritocracy, and its success has encouraged the free software movement at large to follow suit. Self-aggrandizement is cool (and necessary) in a meritocracy.
Being a free software developer means putting yourself out there, for better or worse, much like a celebrity. Most successful free software developers try to avoid the philosophies and the politics because it's too easy to rub someone the wrong way. The only sure way to please you users is to get back to the roots of the movement: release early, release often.
Expect some more Novell employees to leave over the patent covenant, but not before they find greener pastures elsewhere (as anyone who's experienced Google's burrito bar will attest). Smart people don't just quit being paid to do what they love, even if they feel like they're going down in a sinking ship.
Luckily, the market for established Linux developers is very strong and flexible. Google (for example) has built an empire based on creating an ideal environment for developers and then hiring the best away from their biggest competitors. In a similar way, Linux developers will eventually flow to whatever company offers the more appealing overall experience.
Member since:2006-04-21
I agree with everything you said except this:
Linux is a meritocracy, and its success has encouraged the free software movement at large to follow suit. Self-aggrandizement is cool (and necessary) in a meritocracy.
Self-aggrandizement is NOT necessary (or cool) in a meritocracy unless the competition is between self-aggrandizers. But the competition in Linux is between coders. If your code or your documentation speak for themselves, you've no need to self-aggrandize.
Notice that I didn't say "no need to advertise", or "no need to promote". Self-aggrandizement is either of those + arrogance.
Leave self-aggrandizement to Microsoft where it belongs. They're much better at it anyway
Edited 2006-12-22 10:56
"So in summary... Google has pulled the plug on support on a protocol they've helped popularize, after years of promising interoperability, for reasons that are dubious at best, and in a way that leaves people who don't jump to the new Hangouts app unable to talk to their contacts without any feedback that their IMs aren't getting through... And they've done that with no warning to anyone. I imagine there's a bunch of people out there wondering where some of their buddies have gone, or why their messages aren't getting responses, because this isn't documented anywhere." Google really messed this up. Such a dick move.
The Tizen Greek Community has some screenshots of a very recent build of Tizen running on a Samsung GT-i8800. It looks wholly unremarkable.Joint statement to The Next Web from Microsoft and Google: "Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new YouTube for Windows Phone app to enable compliance with YouTube's API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks. Microsoft will replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time." Good to know these children stopped acting like little pricks. Can we have full Google support in Windows 8 now, please?
Yahoo is acquiring Tumblr, the microblogging and social networking website, for $1.1 billion USD. Tumblr offers little revenue but lots of eyeballs if Yahoo can monetarize them. Now Yahoo is bidding for Hulu, the streaming video service. After years of ineffective responses while Google, Facebook, and others took large chunks of the online advertising market, Yahoo is fighting back. Can Yahoo reignite the momentum it had at the turn of the century? What do you think?
"Sources have described iOS 7 as 'black, white, and flat all over'. This refers to the dropping of heavy textures and the addition of several new black and white user interface elements." I couldn't be happier.
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues."
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently."In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies."The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing.
Member since:
2006-04-21
I hadn't, but even if I had heard of him before Microvel, the following sentence would be enough to "disendear" him to me:
I wrote a book, Linux Kernel Development, a tour de force on hacking and understanding the Linux kernel, now in its second edition. You should help feed my starving family and buy a copy or two and carry them with you everywhere you go.
Self-aggrandisement is uncool, even if you are a genius.