[Top][All Lists]
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
www/philosophy kragen-software.html
|
From: |
Yavor Doganov |
|
Subject: |
www/philosophy kragen-software.html |
|
Date: |
Mon, 30 Apr 2007 09:23:12 +0000 |
CVSROOT: /web/www
Module name: www
Changes by: Yavor Doganov <yavor> 07/04/30 09:23:12
Modified files:
philosophy : kragen-software.html
Log message:
Templated.
CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/kragen-software.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.6&r2=1.7
Patches:
Index: kragen-software.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/kragen-software.html,v
retrieving revision 1.6
retrieving revision 1.7
diff -u -b -r1.6 -r1.7
--- kragen-software.html 31 Mar 2007 15:30:37 -0000 1.6
+++ kragen-software.html 30 Apr 2007 09:22:39 -0000 1.7
@@ -1,49 +1,14 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
-<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
- "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd";>
-<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"; xml:lang="en">
-
-<head>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
<title>People, places, things and ideas - GNU Project - Free Software
Foundation (FSF)</title>
-<meta http-equiv="content-type" content='text/html; charset=utf-8' />
-<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/gnu.css" />
-<link rev="made" href="mailto:address@hidden"; />
-</head>
-
-<!-- This document is in XML, and xhtml 1.0 -->
-<!-- Please make sure to properly nest your tags -->
-<!-- and ensure that your final document validates -->
-<!-- consistent with W3C xhtml 1.0 and CSS standards -->
-<!-- See validator.w3.org -->
-
-<body>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
+<h2>People, places, things and ideas</h2>
-<p><a href="#translations">Translations</a> of this page</p>
-
-<h3>People, places, things and ideas</h3>
<p>
by <strong>Kragen Sitaker
<a href="mailto:address@hidden";><address@hidden></a></strong>
</p>
-<p>
-<a href="/graphics/philosophicalgnu.html">
-<img src="/graphics/philosophical-gnu-sm.jpg"
- alt=" [image of a Philosophical Gnu] "
- width="160" height="200" /></a>
-</p>
-
-<h4>Table of Contents</h4>
-<ul>
- <li><a name="TOC1" href="#SEC1">Software</a></li>
- <li><a name="TOC2" href="#SEC2">The past and the present</a></li>
- <li><a name="TOC3" href="#SEC3">Software locked up: the future?</a></li>
- <li><a name="TOC4" href="#SEC4">Why I don't like this</a></li>
- <li><a name="TOC5" href="#SEC5">How to fight it</a></li>
- <li><a name="TOC6" href="#SEC6">Other Texts to Read</a></li>
-</ul>
-
-<h4><a name="SEC1" href="#TOC1">Software</a></h4>
+<h4 id="SEC1">Software</h4>
<p>
Software is ideas. Information. It's different from people, places,
and things; it's infinitely reduplicable like fire, at almost no cost.
@@ -60,19 +25,19 @@
essentially the same CD from CheapBytes for $2.
</p>
-<h4><a name="SEC2" href="#TOC2">The past and the present</a></h4>
+<h4 id="SEC2">The past and the present</h4>
<p>
The traditional way to deal with this is to lock ideas up inside
-people, places, and things. A lawyer can get quite a bit of money simply
-for spitting out the appropriate ideas, not doing any actual creative
-work, or simply for applying rote procedures -- most wills reportedly
-fall in this category. I have to go to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum to
-see old Georgia's paintings, because they don't allow photography.
-Then they can charge me admission. (Great museum, by the way. If you
-go there, don't get the four-day pass; their collection is rather
-small.) A book can be sold for more than the cost of printing it
-because the ideas are difficult to separate from their physical
-manifestation.
+people, places, and things. A lawyer can get quite a bit of money
+simply for spitting out the appropriate ideas, not doing any actual
+creative work, or simply for applying rote procedures — most
+wills reportedly fall in this category. I have to go to the Georgia
+O'Keeffe Museum to see old Georgia's paintings, because they don't
+allow photography. Then they can charge me admission. (Great museum,
+by the way. If you go there, don't get the four-day pass; their
+collection is rather small.) A book can be sold for more than the
+cost of printing it because the ideas are difficult to separate from
+their physical manifestation.
</p>
<p>
Software makes it much easier to separate ideas from people, places,
@@ -80,22 +45,23 @@
make fractals, I don't have to buy a new fractal machine. I just have
to download some fractal software. If I want to calculate the yield
force of a strut, I don't have to hire a structural engineer; I can
-download some FEA software and simulate stressing it until it yields.
-I don't have to go to a museum to look at my neighbor's fractals; I can
-just pull them up on my screen. (Once I download them, of course.)
+download some <abbr title="Finite element analysis">FEA</abbr>
+software and simulate stressing it until it yields. I don't have to
+go to a museum to look at my neighbor's fractals; I can just pull them
+up on my screen. (Once I download them, of course.)
</p>
<p>
This is a spectacular change.
</p>
-<h4><a name="SEC3" href="#TOC3">Software locked up: the future?</a></h4>
+<h4 id="SEC3">Software locked up: the future?</h4>
<p>
And it was the nature of computer applications, in general, until
recently. But now we have the Web, and people are talking a lot about
application-specific embedded computers. Suddenly people can deliver
applications like the ones they used to deliver as computer software,
-but they can lock up the software -- the ideas -- inside places and
-things.
+but they can lock up the software — the ideas — inside
+places and things.
</p>
<p>
As an example, I have a CD-ROM containing aggregated US phone
@@ -111,13 +77,15 @@
</p>
<p>
There are also several web sites containing the same set of phone
-listings, or newer versions. I can't do any of these things with these
-web sites, because the phone listings -- an idea -- are locked up in
-the web site -- a place or a thing, depending on how you look at it.
+listings, or newer versions. I can't do any of these things with
+these web sites, because the phone listings — an idea —
+are locked up in the web site — a place or a thing, depending on
+how you look at it.
</p>
<p>
-Another tack is to lock information up in things. The NSA's Skipjack
-algorithm was classified for several years; implementations were widely
+Another tack is to lock information up in things. The
+<abbr title="National Security Agency">NSA</abbr>'s Skipjack algorithm
+was classified for several years; implementations were widely
available, but only in special hardened devices. This allowed them to
deploy it widely behind the iron curtain that surrounds classified
research, and they intended to deploy it widely in the outside world,
@@ -128,7 +96,7 @@
for more.)
</p>
-<h4><a name="SEC4" href="#TOC4">Why I don't like this</a></h4>
+<h4 id="SEC4">Why I don't like this</h4>
<p>
Having the phone book myself gives me more freedom. On the other hand,
it also requires me to install software on my machine, giving that
@@ -148,9 +116,9 @@
</p>
<p>
I'm somewhat worried about this trend. I like using general-purpose
-computers -- though admittedly they are often difficult to use. I like
-the freedom it gives me. The computer is just an extension of my
-mind.
+computers — though admittedly they are often difficult to use.
+I like the freedom it gives me. The computer is just an extension of
+my mind.
</p>
<p>
Web sites and special-purpose hardware are not like this. They do not
@@ -167,11 +135,11 @@
database behind it.)
</p>
<p>
-I believe that software -- open-source software, in particular -- has
-the potential to give individuals significantly more control over their
-own lives, because it consists of ideas, not people, places, or
-things. The trend toward special-purpose devices and remote servers
-could reverse that.
+I believe that software — open-source software, in particular
+— has the potential to give individuals significantly more
+control over their own lives, because it consists of ideas, not
+people, places, or things. The trend toward special-purpose devices
+and remote servers could reverse that.
</p>
<p>
What does it mean to have free software burned into a ROM? Is the
@@ -183,7 +151,7 @@
with PCs.
</p>
-<h4><a name="SEC5" href="#TOC5">How to fight it</a></h4>
+<h4 id="SEC5">How to fight it</h4>
<p>
It's more expensive to buy a new device than it is to download software
and install it on my machine. So people won't use special-purpose devices
@@ -200,12 +168,12 @@
<p>
Another big issue is that they just work. General-purpose computers
often don't, particularly when running Microsoft OSes. Even in the
-best case, you still have to do a couple of seconds of irrelevant stuff
-before getting to work on what you want to work on -- typing a letter
-or whatever. More typically, you have to click around for ten seconds
-or so. At worst, you have to reinstall Windows and the application,
-reconfigure some peripherals, and reinstall their drivers before you
-can get anything done.
+best case, you still have to do a couple of seconds of irrelevant
+stuff before getting to work on what you want to work on —
+typing a letter or whatever. More typically, you have to click around
+for ten seconds or so. At worst, you have to reinstall Windows and
+the application, reconfigure some peripherals, and reinstall their
+drivers before you can get anything done.
</p>
<p>
A third big issue is that they require software installation. If I
@@ -226,71 +194,39 @@
This will require different hardware as well as different software.
</p>
<p>
-The forces behind remote servers are similar -- ease of use because of
-uniform interfaces through a web browser, "just working", and no
-installation -- just using. But they have a couple of other advantages
-as well: they can provide services that require massive storage or
-computational resources that can't reasonably be provided on your own
-machine, unless you want to spend wads of cash. (Downloading
-AltaVista's database every day would be a very inefficient way to
-search the Web.)
+The forces behind remote servers are similar — ease of use
+because of uniform interfaces through a web browser, “just
+working”, and no installation — just using. But they have
+a couple of other advantages as well: they can provide services that
+require massive storage or computational resources that can't
+reasonably be provided on your own machine, unless you want to spend
+wads of cash. (Downloading AltaVista's database every day would be a
+very inefficient way to search the Web.)
</p>
<p>
I think these extra advantages are probably impossible to overcome at
-the moment -- although I'm interested in research on distributing big
-computational jobs over many machines.
+the moment — although I'm interested in research on distributing
+big computational jobs over many machines.
</p>
-
-<hr />
-<h4><a href="/philosophy/philosophy.html">Other Texts to Read</a></h4>
-<hr />
-
-<div class="translations">
-<p><a id="translations"></a>
-<b>Translations of this page</b>:<br />
-
-<!-- Please keep this list alphabetical, and in the original -->
-
-<!-- language if possible, otherwise default to English -->
-<!-- If you do not have it English, please comment what the -->
-<!-- English is. If you add a new language here, please -->
-<!-- advise address@hidden and add it to -->
-<!-- - in /home/www/bin/nightly-vars either TAGSLANG or WEBLANG -->
-<!-- - in /home/www/html/server/standards/README.translations.html -->
-<!-- one of the lists under the section "Translations Underway" -->
-<!-- - if there is a translation team, you also have to add an alias -->
-<!-- to mail.gnu.org:/com/mailer/aliases -->
-<!-- Please also check you have the 2 letter language code right versus -->
-<!-- http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/IG/ert/iso639.htm -->
-
-[
- <a
href="/philosophy/kragen-software.zh-cn.html">简体中文</a>
<!-- Chinese (Simplified) -->
-| <a
href="/philosophy/kragen-software.zh-tw.html">繁體中文</a>
<!-- Chinese (Traditional) -->
-| <a href="/philosophy/kragen-software.html">English</a>
-| <a href="/philosophy/kragen-software.fr.html">Français</a> <!--
French -->
-]
-</p>
</div>
-<div class="copyright">
-<p>
-Return to the <a href="/home.html">GNU Project home page</a>.
-</p>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
+<div id="footer">
<p>
Please send FSF & GNU inquiries to
<a href="mailto:address@hidden";><em>address@hidden</em></a>.
-There are also <a href="/home.html#ContactInfo">other ways to contact</a>
+There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
the FSF.
<br />
-Please send broken links and other corrections (or suggestions) to
+Please send broken links and other corrections or suggestions to
<a href="mailto:address@hidden";><em>address@hidden</em></a>.
</p>
<p>
Please see the
-<a href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
+<a href="/server/standards/README.translations">Translations
README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting
translations of this article.
</p>
@@ -298,10 +234,39 @@
<p>
Updated:
<!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2007/03/31 15:30:37 $ $Author: yavor $
+$Date: 2007/04/30 09:22:39 $
<!-- timestamp end -->
</p>
</div>
+<div id="translations">
+<h4>Translations of this page</h4>
+
+<!-- Please keep this list alphabetical. -->
+<!-- Comment what the language is for each type, i.e. de is German. -->
+<!-- Write the language name in its own language (Deutsch) in the text. -->
+<!-- If you add a new language here, please -->
+<!-- advise address@hidden and add it to -->
+<!-- - /home/www/bin/nightly-vars either TAGSLANG or WEBLANG -->
+<!-- - /home/www/html/server/standards/README.translations.html -->
+<!-- - one of the lists under the section "Translations Underway" -->
+<!-- - if there is a translation team, you also have to add an alias -->
+<!-- to mail.gnu.org:/com/mailer/aliases -->
+<!-- Please also check you have the 2 letter language code right, cf. -->
+<!-- <URL:http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/IG/ert/iso639.htm> -->
+<!-- Please use W3C normative character entities. -->
+
+<ul class="translations-list">
+<!-- English -->
+<li><a href="/philosophy/kragen-software.html">English</a> [en]</li>
+<!-- French -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/kragen-software.fr.html">Français</a> [fr]</li>
+<!-- Chinese (Simplified) -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/kragen-software.zh-cn.html">简体中文</a> [zh-cn]</li>
+<!-- Chinese (Traditional) -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/kragen-software.zh-tw.html">繁體中文</a> [zh-tw]</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+</div>
</body>
</html>
| [Prev in Thread] |
Current Thread |
[Next in Thread] |
- www/philosophy kragen-software.html,
Yavor Doganov <=