13 Apr
2005
13 Apr
'05
6:29 p.m.
Hello,
An interesting Slashdot article:
http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/05/04/13/164257.shtml?tid=109&tid=106
<quote>
Torvalds launched a blast against OpenOffice.org, and defended
Microsoft's right to keep its binary Office formats proprietary. 'I'm
happy with somebody writing a free replacement for Microsoft Office. But
I'm not fine with them writing a free replacement just by reverse
egineering the proprietary formats,' said the Linux founder. 'Microsoft
has its own reasons for keeping them proprietary, and I can't argue with
that.'
</quote>
Greetings, Patrick Kaell
13 Apr
13 Apr
6:38 p.m.
Update: 04/13 17:24 GMT by T: As reader Daniel Callahan points out, this is a goof.
"The Register article made up the Torvalds quote.
The article offers the quote and then continues:
'Actually he didn't - we just made that quote up. But what Torvalds really did
say this weekend is only slightly less bizarre.'"
Le Mercredi 13 Avril 2005 20:29, Patrick Kaell a écrit :
Hello,
An interesting Slashdot article:
http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/05/04/13/164257.shtml?tid=109&tid=106
<quote>
Torvalds launched a blast against OpenOffice.org, and defended
Microsoft's right to keep its binary Office formats proprietary. 'I'm
happy with somebody writing a free replacement for Microsoft Office. But
I'm not fine with them writing a free replacement just by reverse
egineering the proprietary formats,' said the Linux founder. 'Microsoft
has its own reasons for keeping them proprietary, and I can't argue with
that.'
</quote>
Greetings, Patrick Kaell
_______________________________________________
Lilux-info mailing list
Lilux-info(a)lilux.lu
http://lilux.lu/mailman/listinfo/lilux-info
--
Surfez avec Firefox !
http://www.mozilla-europe.org/fr/products/firefox/
7:05 p.m.
Frederic wrote:
Update: 04/13 17:24 GMT by T: As reader Daniel
Callahan points out, this is a goof.
"The Register article made up the Torvalds quote.
The article offers the quote and then continues:
'Actually he didn't - we just made that quote up. But what Torvalds really did
say this weekend is only slightly less bizarre.'"
There is even another problem I see. The Register article says:
<quote>
If McVoy thinks that reverse-engineering is so 'dishonest', then why did
he offer to give free tools to a worldwide project whose primary focus
is to reverse-engineering an entire OS?
</quote>
This is simply not true! Linux is not about reverse-engineering an
proprietary OS. Linux is about reimplementing an open standard (POSIX)
just like gcc is a free implementation of standardized ANSI C/C++ and
not a reverse-engineered Visual C++!!!! ;-)
Greetings, Patrick Kaell
18 Apr
18 Apr
8:30 p.m.
could it be this is April 1st related ?
On Wed, 2005-04-13 at 21:05 +0200, Patrick Kaell wrote:
Frederic wrote:
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Serge Marelli, Luxembourg
E-mail : serge.marelli(a)linux.lu
----------------------------------------------------------------------
LiLux - http://www.lilux.lu/
Defending Innovation against Patent Inflation http://swpat.ffii.org/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Update: 04/13 17:24 GMT by T: As reader Daniel
Callahan points out, this is a goof.
"The Register article made up the Torvalds quote.
The article offers the quote and then continues:
'Actually he didn't - we just made that quote up. But what Torvalds really did
say this weekend is only slightly less bizarre.'"
There is even another problem I see. The Register article says:
<quote>
If McVoy thinks that reverse-engineering is so 'dishonest', then why did
he offer to give free tools to a worldwide project whose primary focus
is to reverse-engineering an entire OS?
</quote>
This is simply not true! Linux is not about reverse-engineering an
proprietary OS. Linux is about reimplementing an open standard (POSIX)
just like gcc is a free implementation of standardized ANSI C/C++ and
not a reverse-engineered Visual C++!!!! ;-)
Greetings, Patrick Kaell
_______________________________________________
Lilux-info mailing list
Lilux-info(a)lilux.lu
http://lilux.lu/mailman/listinfo/lilux-info 
6:05 a.m.
Hi,
On Mon, Apr 18, 2005 at 10:30:17PM +0200, Serge Marelli wrote:
IMHO, Evilsoft is turning the words of Linus in such a way, so that they
correspond to their ideas.
The usual FUD.
Al
could it be this is April 1st related ?
Nope, it ain't, unfortunately.
Greets Eric
_______________________________________________
Lilux-info mailing list
Lilux-info(a)lilux.lu
http://lilux.lu/mailman/listinfo/lilux-info
6:37 a.m.
On Tuesday 19 April 2005 08:05, Alex Loes wrote:
Actually, in this case, it was The Register which did the twisting of
Linus' words...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/11/torvalds_attack/
The actual comments of Linux were not about MS Word, but about
Bitkeeper. The Register however transposed them to Word, for effect
(and later in the article retracted the fake quote... "actually, he
didn't - we just made that quote up." but many people only read the
first paragraph anyways). However, rumor is that even the supposedly
real quote about Bitkeeper has been twisted or taken out of context in
some way...
Alain
Hi,
On Mon, Apr 18, 2005 at 10:30:17PM +0200, Serge Marelli wrote:
IMHO, Evilsoft is turning the words of Linus in such a way, so that they
correspond to their ideas.
The usual FUD.
Al could it be this is April 1st related ?
Nope, it ain't, unfortunately. 
7:08 a.m.
Hi,
On Tue, Apr 19, 2005 at 08:37:46AM +0200, Alain Knaff wrote:
Actually, in this case, it was The Register which did
the twisting of
Linus' words...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/11/torvalds_attack/
The actual comments of Linux were not about MS Word, but about
Bitkeeper. The Register however transposed them to Word, for effect
(and later in the article retracted the fake quote... "actually, he
didn't - we just made that quote up." but many people only read the
first paragraph anyways). However, rumor is that even the supposedly
real quote about Bitkeeper has been twisted or taken out of context in
some way...
I sure have to side with Bruce Perens on that one - there's no logic
in criticising Andrew for reverse-engineering BitKeeper's protocol,
when doing the same for SMB/CIFS is fine.
Linus is very obviously only human - and sometimes plain wrong.
Peace and long life, Eric (not pointy-eared)
7:29 a.m.
On Tuesday 19 April 2005 09:08, Eric Dondelinger wrote:
Hi,
On Tue, Apr 19, 2005 at 08:37:46AM +0200, Alain Knaff wrote:
Actually, in this case, it was The Register which
did the twisting of
Linus' words...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/11/torvalds_attack/
The actual comments of Linux were not about MS Word, but about
Bitkeeper. The Register however transposed them to Word, for effect
(and later in the article retracted the fake quote... "actually, he
didn't - we just made that quote up." but many people only read the
first paragraph anyways). However, rumor is that even the supposedly
real quote about Bitkeeper has been twisted or taken out of context in
some way...
I sure have to side with Bruce Perens on that one - there's no logic
in criticising Andrew for reverse-engineering BitKeeper's protocol,
when doing the same for SMB/CIFS is fine. From what I understood, the purpose of Linus comments
was to calm the
situation with Bitkeeper, rather than to state that reverse
engineering is wrong. AFAIU, the comment was made out of political
considerations, in order to keep good terms with Larry McVoy (who is a
well known name in the Unix community).
Personnally, I do hold the opinion that reverse engineering should be
legal and acceptable, however I can understand Linus' remark if his
goal is to avoid upsetting people at Bitkeeper which he still
perceives as being on "our side".
Linus is very obviously only human - and sometimes
plain wrong.
Peace and long life, Eric (not pointy-eared)
_______________________________________________
Lilux-info mailing list
Lilux-info(a)lilux.lu
http://lilux.lu/mailman/listinfo/lilux-info
Alain
6970
days inactive
6976
days old
8 comments
7 participants
participants (7)
-
Alain Knaff -
Alex Loes -
Eric Dondelinger -
Eric Dondelinger -
Frederic -
Patrick Kaell -
Serge Marelli