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Rants & Raves
Open and Shut
I am a serious Linux/Unix user, and I've got to say, Russ Mitchell has a point ("Open War," Wired 9.10, page 134). Like I told my broker when she suggested buying Red Hat at $35 - I don't think Mr. Gates has a thing to worry about. But I also am stone thankful for the Linux desktop. Being able to work at home on my own system turned me from a casual Unix user into a demon hero capable of hacking the C-3 security on an abandoned DEC Alpha, bringing it back from the dead, and rescuing $200K worth of data for my "eternally grateful" employer. Unix has a new lease on life because of the Linux lovers out there. You can set up a system and count on finding operators.
It's true that most people are buffaloed by Linux, but most people are buffaloed by Windows as well (they just call the nearest power user when they run into trouble). I think the logical market for desktop Linux is the upper-level power user. You get a great toy to play with, free software, a whole circle of "friends," and you don't have to start over every 18 months.
And the KDE screens are just too beautiful for words!
Jon Norstog
thursday@allidaho.com
Russ Mitchell misses the point of the open source movement he claims to be so familiar with. He saddles Linux with irrelevant goals: It wasn't created to battle Microsoft; it was the product of curiosity, intelligence, and the quest for freedom. Those developing GUI environments for Linux, like KDE and Gnome, do so because they want to scratch an itch. They are men and women who love to code and give countless hours to projects that Mitchell loudly declares "don't matter" because MS has already won the desktop war. As one such developer, I would say: "You don't matter." I certainly don't share his agenda. If he wants to battle MS so badly, I suggest he begin coding.
Sean Whiteman
swhiteman@mac.com
"Open War" reads like Russ Mitchell had determined his conclusion before doing any research. Despite his assurances to the contrary, Linux is ready for enterprise and will be ready for the desktop once production-quality releases of StarOffice 6 and Mozilla are available this spring.
The company I work for employs about 1,500 people. We use Linux servers to distribute print jobs across 17 locations in the US and Canada. Our Linux email server uses Sendmail, OpenLDAP, and Cyrus IMAPd to provide IMAP mail, virus scanning, a company directory, and Web mail to our users, and centralized authentication to other Linux servers and network devices such as VPN and dialup. Almost everything we use is completely free software, but we do buy commercial apps when necessary. For example, the virus-scanning package is Trend Micro's Linux version of InterScan VirusWall.
Our company is among the early open source adopters, but I guarantee many other outfits are eagerly looking forward to avoiding spending thousands of dollars on software that gets used for basic apps like email and word processing.
Of course, there will be a learning curve, and there will be interoperability issues with companies that are slower to jump on the boat. Change is expensive, but I guarantee that converting to Linux will be a lot less expensive than continuing to pay Microsoft's increasingly ridiculous licensing fees.
Jules Agee
julesa@pcf.com
Licentious Behavior
No need to tear the perforation on "Licensed to Bill" (Wired 9.10, page 140), my Wired friends. You can simply use some long-forgotten hacker kung fu - the steaming kettle. That's right, just steam the seal, like hackers of the snail mail generation, and let the Man do without his precious Reader's License Agreement. Hackers/readers unite! All hail low tech solutions!
Jay Oatway
jay_oatway@jackmorton.com.hk
Wow! "Licensed to Bill" enlightened me as to the great things that DRM will give me, the consumer. Let me just make sure I've got it straight: First, I'll need a broadband pipe or a whole lot of patience. Then, I'll need one player for each consortium that I am "licensing" from. (I'm sure that Microsoft will have one that works reliably on my Mac.) Then, I'll whip out my credit card, and I'll be more or less ready to start downloading. OK, let's go licensing!
Of course, even with my big fat pipe, I'm noticing that the audio sounds compressed and somewhat inferior. Hmm. Now, if I want to put that inferior audio on an actual CD and not just my hard drive, I see that I get to pay more for the opportunity. Same for my MP3 player, my car stereo, and my office PC. Oh, and the absolute best part is that now my email is cluttered with spam for "highly targeted buy-in opportunities" for posters and DVDs and concert tickets and "other artists we think you'll like."
You know, on second thought, I'll stick to CDs.
Matthew Mizenko
mattmiz1@home.com
Ring of Fire
Erik Davis took on a dragon when he wrote about Tolkien and virtual worlds in "Fellowship of the Ring" (Wired 9.10, page 120). I found the first part of his article interesting yet debatable, since Tolkien had based his world upon far older invented realities, such as Norse and Old English mythologies (for example, the name Middle-earth being derived from Midgard, perhaps). However, the rest of Davis' writing is extremely well researched (he's read his Humphrey Carpenter), comprehensive, and most of all, fair.
Davis' careful delineation of the difference between purist and revisionist fans is well executed, as is his coverage of fandom through the ages and his depiction of the Lord's (Tolkien's) own reaction to the success of his creation. He has done justice to this dragonish topic, at the very least.
We can only hope he'll still have all of his limbs when the inevitable flurry of fan letters dies down.
Achariya Tanya Stone
tanya@gtf.org
I'm curious about the assertion "Tolkien was a devout Catholic, but he avoided the Christian symbolism that mars his friend C. S. Lewis' Narnia series." To "mar" something has some pretty negative connotations (for example, to damage, disfigure, spoil, blemish, et cetera). The statement doesn't particularly offend me, and it is a minor misstep in an otherwise enjoyable piece, but it does seem harsh. The subject of religion seems to stir some of the strongest feelings people are capable of possessing, and disrespecting religion has certainly led to some of the biggest displays of hatred and violence our world has witnessed - recent events included. Thus, it seems somewhat imprudent to speak of anyone's faith with derision, especially when referring to the works of an author whose devotion to Christianity was so plainly manifest.
Ben Galbraith
ben@galbraiths.org
Drive Me Crazy
I'm generally amused by how West Coast folks act like they're way beyond the rest of us when it comes to tech, but I just couldn't let this one slide. The Street Cred on San Francisco City CarShare (Wired 9.10, page 166) mentions that similar programs "are starting" in other parts of the country, and that they use paper-and-pencil logs. Actually, Cambridge-based Zipcar (www.zipcar.com), which maintains a large fleet of cars (also mostly Volkswagens), has been in operation throughout the Boston metro area for a year. The company employs a suitably high tech Internet-and-electronics access and logging system.
Matthew Miller
mattdm@mattdm.org
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