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<TITLE>The Future of Linux: Audience Q&A II</TITLE>
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<LINK REV="made" HREF="mailto:newt@pobox.com">
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<!-- Copyright (c) 1998 Greg Roelofs. -->
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<IMG WIDTH=165 HEIGHT=76 BORDER=0
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ALIGN="right" SRC="./gx/roelofs/linux-dont-fear.jpg" ALT="[Don't Fear the Penguins.]"></A>
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<H1 ALIGN="center"> The Future of Linux </H1>
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<H3 ALIGN="center"> 14 July 1998 </H3>
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<BR CLEAR="all">
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<HR>
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<P>
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<H3> More Audience Questions and Answers </H3>
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<FONT COLOR="#006600">Again, these are somewhat paraphrased, either because
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I couldn't hear the exact question or couldn't write fast enough. (Then again,
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most of this report is paraphrased.)</FONT>
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<P>
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<I>What if price were factored out of the <A HREF=
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"http://www.redhat.com/redhat/datapro.html">Datapro survey</A>? How would
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Linux fare then?</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI><B>Larry Augustin</B> pointed out that Linux not only won overall but
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also in specific categories like reliability and technical support (in
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which NT was at the bottom).
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<LI><B>Robert Hart</B> noted that the survey covered hard-core IS folks at
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corporate data centers, for whom price would be less of an issue anyway.
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</UL>
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<P>
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<I>There's no consolidated Linux answer source--how can I deal with management's
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need to ``feel secure'' about their software?</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI><B>Robert Hart</B> note that there's <I>lots</I> of commercial support
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available (including from Red Hat).
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<LI><B>Linus Torvalds</B> felt that the question was ``somewhat of a red
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herring''--managers just want to have heard of it and are really using
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the issue as a weapon, not as a real reason. If a manager is secure
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enough about the need for Linux, he'll do so.
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<LI><B>Jeremy Allison</B>: ``I know a fair amount about NT and security
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and would convince your manager not to feel secure about NT.''
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</UL>
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<P>
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<I>What about the perception that Linux users don't like paying for
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software?</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI><B>Robert Hart</B> handled this one; he said it's ``not an issue''--among
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other things, Red Hat wouldn't be in business if that were true, since
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the $50 Red Hat distribution can be downloaded for free from many ftp
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sites.
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</UL>
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<P>
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<I>Why is Open Source important to the public?</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI><B>Jeremy Allison</B>: It's the same as open government; you can check
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up on it.
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<LI><B>Linus Torvalds</B>: The public should be relieved that it
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exists--most will never need it, but the <I>option</I> to look at it
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is there and provides a level of safety (not just the feeling of safety).
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</UL>
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<P>
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<I>For Linus: who of the major RDBMS's have talked to you about ports?</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI><B>Linus Torvalds</B>: ``No one has talked to <I>me</I> about it.'' He
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went on to say that, when originally asked, his reaction was that RDBMS's
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are ``an example of something so boring that they will never be free.''
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(``I was wrong about that--some people find them really exciting. I'm
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just not one of them.'')
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<LI><B>Larry Augustin</B> said he thought we'd probably see ports becoming
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available over the next year (or something like that).
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<LI><B>Linus Torvalds</B>: ``He's saying that he knows but can't talk about
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it.'' <FONT COLOR="#006600">[<I>Note the previously mentioned InfoWorld
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Electric articles on the soon-to-be-announced <A HREF=
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"http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?980717.whinformix.htm"
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>Informix</A> and <A HREF=
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"http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?980717.whorlinux.htm"
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>Oracle 8</A> Linux ports. Also keep in mind that <A HREF=
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"http://www.cai.com/">Computer Associates</A> announced a Linux port of
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<A HREF="http://www.ingres.com/"><B>Ingres II</B></A> earlier this
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month, available in September.</I>]</FONT>
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</UL>
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<P>
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<I>From one of the <A HREF="http://www.gimp.org/">GIMP</A> developers: what
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does the Open Source world do about patent issues, such as the Pantone color
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management system and LZW algorithm used in GIF and TIFF?</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI><B>Linus Torvalds</B> said that patents, especially software patents,
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are ``a can of worms'' and are probably the biggest danger to Open
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Source. They do eventually expire, but it's looong time. His suggestion
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was to come up with an even better algorithm that's patent-free.
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<LI><B>Larry Augustin</B> asked developers who run into such problems to
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make them known to Linux International.
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<LI><B>Jeremy Allison</B>: ``It's really hideous.'' But he noted that the
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``most insane'' patents are in the US, which means the US effectively
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ends up exporting jobs and development to other countries. Encryption
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is a prime example of this sort of thing
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<FONT COLOR="#006600">[<I>although that's more an
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issue of regulation than of patents</I>]</FONT>.
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</UL>
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<P>
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<I>From a C|Net admin: I would like a better BIOS, like Sun's.</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI><B>Sunil Saxena</B> said that that's coming next year.
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<LI><B>Larry Augustin</B> said he's got a stack of BIOS-related NDAs on his
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desk...
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<LI><B>Robert Hart</B> commented that modern BIOS support (e.g., remote
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upgrades) is ``<I>really</I> important for 1000-node clusters.''
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</UL>
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<P>
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<I>Will we see wide use of Internet clusters as supercomputers? Will Linux
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have a 3D user interface like <FONT COLOR="#006600">[vapor-]</FONT>Chrome?</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI><B>Larry Augustin</B> pointed out that 3D apps like POV-Ray and Quake II
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running on the Mesa OpenGL clone library were being demoed in the rear.
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<LI><B>Linus Torvalds</B> said that clustering software like <A HREF=
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"http://www.beowulf.org/">Beowulf</A> is great for 3D rendering
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<FONT COLOR="#006600">[<I>and many large scientific
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applications</I>]</FONT> but not well suited to business apps.
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<FONT COLOR="#006600">[<I><A HREF="mailto:ejr@cise.ufl.edu">Jason
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Riedy</A> pointed out on <A HREF=
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"http://slashdot.org/articles/980719/1413242.shtml">Slashdot</A> that
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distributed database systems are one category of business application
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for which Beowulf <B>is</B> well suited.</I>]</FONT>
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<!-- I thought Jeremy was responsible for this one, but the questioner,
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Dan Kaminsky (effugas@best.com), wrote and said it was Linus. -->
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</UL>
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<P>
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<I>Will Willows provide a Win32 subsystem for Linux?</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI><B>Linus Torvalds</B> said that the software he was looking for is WINE;
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it's not perfect (in fact, ``it does very few things perfectly''), but it
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does a good job, and there are people using it to run Quicken and Word.
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<LI><B>Jeremy Allison</B> disagreed; he said that WINE and Willows may get
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to the point that they're OK for some apps, but Quicken and other old
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apps ``are not what people want.'' Samba is OK because it's only based
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on wire protocols, and Microsoft can't change those without pissing off
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their huge customer base. But ``<I>every app</I> is an OS
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upgrade''--Microsoft can mutate the APIs faster than developers can keep
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up.
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</UL>
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<P>
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<I>From a web-site developer: I have to have two machines, a Linux-based web
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server and a Windows box for Photoshop--how much longer will I have to do that?
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Also, a marketing question: there's a Microsoft talking Barney; when will we
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see Talking Tux?</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI>A <B>SVLUG guy</B> took the second question first; he said he knows an
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engineer who is hacking the weak encryption built into Barney (i.e., one
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will be able to write Linux apps for it).
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<LI><B>Larry Augustin</B> pointed to the <A HREF="http://www.gimp.org/"
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>GIMP</A>, a free, Photoshop-like application running on some of the
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demo machines.
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<LI><B>Robert Hart</B> mentioned Corel's conversion to Linux, including
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CorelDRAW 8, and I think suggested that Adobe will have to respond to
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that or lose market share.
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</UL>
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<P>
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<I>From a business-applications perspective, what can we do to get Microsoft to
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do native ports of Excel, Word, Powerpoint, Exchange, etc.?</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI><B>Robert Hart</B> responded: you can already read and write the files
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created by those apps; as for Exchange, ``we have something called
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Sendmail...'' <FONT COLOR="#006600">[<I>chuckles from the admins in the
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audience</I>]</FONT> One of the panelists commented that if Microsoft
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ports their apps, ``we've won.'' <FONT COLOR="#006600">[<I>Of course,
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Apple didn't win...</I>]</FONT>
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</UL>
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<P>
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<I>How about Linux branding on boxes to assure that shrink-wrapped apps are
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tested and safe?</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI><B>Larry Augustin</B>: Linux International is considering several such
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approaches, including the Linux Standard Base.
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</UL>
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<P>
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<I>There's a proposed change to US state laws about reverse-engineering;
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what impact will it have?</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI>A <B>lawyer in the audience</B> stood up and gave some background:
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<A HREF="http://www.law.upenn.edu/library/ulc/ulc.htm#ucc2b">Draft
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Article 2B</A> of the proposed update to the Uniform Commercial Code
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(UCC), under consideration beginning <A HREF=
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"http://www.nccusl.org/busag1.htm">26 July 1998</A>, has provisions that
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would prohibit ``Fair Use'' copying and reverse engineering, both of
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which are currently protected by US law.
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<FONT COLOR="#006600">[<I><A HREF=
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"http://www.institute.ieee.org/INST/dec97/law.html">IEEE summary for
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software engineers</A>; thanks to <A HREF="http://www3.hmc.edu/~mcope/"
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>Michael Cope</A> for the links</I>]</FONT>
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She also mentioned a bill that supposedly would abolish software patents
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and urged the Linux community to become politically active and look up
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addresses and phone numbers of government representatives on the web.
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<FONT COLOR="#006600">[<I>I've searched <A HREF="http://thomas.loc.gov/"
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>Thomas</A> for such a bill, and the closest thing I can find is <A HREF=
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"http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d105:HR00400:">H.R.400</A>, a
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major bill to update Title 35. But I don't see anything in either the
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<A HREF="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d105:HR00400:@@@D"
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>summary</A> or the amendments (moving link, sorry) about software
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and/or algorithmic patents, so perhaps I misheard or she
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misspoke.</I>]</FONT>
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<LI><B>Jeremy Allison</B> pointed out that you can find documentation for
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all of Microsoft's file formats on their web site. He also said that in
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the case of compound (e.g., linked/embedded/active) documents, reality
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and posted documentation differ.
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<LI><B>Linus Torvalds</B>, clearly disgusted with US law as a whole, noted
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that the US, like France and Iraq, ``has a reputation for stupidity'' in
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such things as encryption (and patents and other legal issues).
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</UL>
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<P>
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<HR>
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Click here to return to the <A HREF="./roelofs.html">main <I>Future of
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Linux</I> page</A>.<BR>
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<HR>
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<I>Last modified 29 July 1998 by
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<A HREF="mailto:newt@pobox.com">newt@pobox.com</A> , you betcha.</I>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE="-1">
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Copyright © 1998 Greg Roelofs.
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</FONT>
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</BODY>
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</HTML>
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