Sam Gentile's Blog

Jashua Allen Nails It On GPL and Its Prophets

Joshua Allen nails it on the contraditons of the GPL and its prophets:

One cranky coder has taken exception to this particular argument in my "No Love for GPL" post, replying, "insuring that something you give as a gift to the community remains collective property is not organized crime."  Pleasantly, this statement shows an understanding of GPL that is lacking in many OSS advocates.  GPL philosophy is that intellectual property should be collective property.  I don't believe that collectivism is criminal, or even wrong in all cases.  But I think that collectivism is best used sparingly.  Collectivism (the rejection of individual property rights) is the antithesis of freedom.  When RMS champions a collectivist platform and cynically says it embodies "free as in freedom", it's not exactly the end of the world.  Naive, pathetically retro, and cynical are adjectives that come to mind. 

But I am concerned that so many otherwise bright developers fail to see the obvious incongruencies in GPL philosophy.  Computer people are smart; we are supposed to be able to figure things out.  So why is it that nobody is throwing a compiler error on a guy who says (collectivism == freedom)?  Not only do they fail to see the typo in that statement, they even cut-and-paste the equation into every ZDNet forum they can find.  The other major bug in GPL philosophy relates to my comments about transparency.  GPL advocates often assert that ((IP == secretive) && (GPL == transparent)).  This equation is only true in a very narrow scope that is mostly irrelevant (source code) to most developers, and is exactly opposite in most places where it matters.  This flawed equation is basically the same as saying that ((capitalism == secretive) && (collectivism == transparent)).  Asserting such is like saying that down is up and up is down - capitalism has produced some secretive and shady folks, but collectivism brought us Pol Pot and Josef Stalin.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm not saying that GPL is "a threat to mankind".  I am simply pointing out that it should be self-evident that ((capitalism == transparent) && (collectivism == secretive)).  When someone suggests that collectivism (GPL) is the way to encourge more transparency, while insinuating that capitalism (IP law) encourages secrecy, my mind suffers severe cognitive dissonance.  I believe that most people are pretty intelligent, and have honorable intentions.  So it is really difficult for me to understand how someone could truly believe that GPL promotes transparency.  Initially, I rationalized the GPL as being a typical cute prank pulled by a clever social engineer (in the spirit of Church of Subgenius).  But the fact that nobody has called the bluff for so many years leads me to believe that a whole lot of people are just plain duped, and have some very fundamental defects in their understanding of democracy and freedom.  I am sure that GPL is not the cause of this deficiency, but rather a symptom.  Our schools don't teach civics or logic anymore.  And that isn't good for democracy.

9:11:43 PM    

Don Box on XML and Inclusion

XML and Inclusion. "I just read your 'Object vs. XML' post on the spout and I'd be pleased if you would allow me to respond with my own personal spoutlet. Here goes:" [sellsbrothers.com: Windows Developer News]

Personally, I'm in the XML Schema camp. I totally see the value in having loosely formed XML documents as well, but having a schema enables much richer integration with other environments.[Drew's Blog]

8:57:52 PM    

More on MC++ FAQ

I thought about it, but Charles wrote me and said he had been working on one for the past few days... However, I'm thinking we all probably have different things we want to say, so, why not join efforts all three? I think together (along with anybody else interested), we could probably get something good running in no time (heck, I've got four or five different useful entries written up already).

[Commonality]

Hey that almost sounds like a plan-))

8:56:21 PM    

Rotor Update

8:51:38 PM    

A hitchhiker's guide to alternate .NET languages

Microsoft's big claim with the .NET platform is that the developer's choice of language has become a matter of personal taste. The platform brings things like easy code reuse, a powerful class library, and platform independence�in theory anyway�within reach of any programming language. At least, as long as your chosen language is C++, C#, or VB, right?
You may be tempted to assume that this is the case, since the "big three" get all the attention, but you would be wrong. The truth is, several language vendors and even a few enthusiasts have been working on .NET-enabled versions of non-Microsoft languages for some time.

Update: Forgot the URL

8:30:54 AM    

Survey Sample: Development of an ASP.NET Web Form

Summary: Describes the steps taken to implement the design of a survey Web Form sample and includes a code sample. (8 printed pages)

8:29:32 AM    

Survey Sample: Development of an ASP.NET Web Form

Summary:Describes the steps taken to implement the design of a survey Web Form sample and includes a code sample. (8 printed pages)

8:28:15 AM    

Help Authoring in .NET

8:27:27 AM    

Testing Mobile application with Device Emulators

8:26:26 AM    

BCL or FCL Printing Framework Coverage

.NET Printing Framework Coverage

C# Printing Functions. In .NET, simple printing is simple, but functions such as choosing which printer to use or printing more than one copy are more complex. This tutorial shows how to use System.Drawing.Printing for these functions. [O'Reilly Network Articles] via [Sam Gentile's Radio Weblog]

They titled it C# printing Functions, but that really makes me cringe. It's really got nothing to do with C# specifically, other than the fact that that's the language the author chose to write their examples in. Other than that, it's a great article that covers the System.Drawing.Printing namespace quite well.

[Drew's Blog]

You are 1000% right. I should have re-titled it myself. That was the subject of my rant. People just fail to get Its the Runtime Stupid and all this stuff is in the BCL (or FCL). People just don't get that none of this stuff is in the languages.

8:24:05 AM    

MC++ FAQ?

If not, I've been thinking about getting one up and running... I think there are quite a few interesting and not-so-well known MC++ issues (and ahh... bugs) worth covering in a FAQ, but I'd like to know if anyone would find it a useful resource (or if anyone else would like to contribute).

[Commonality]

No, I haven't seen one, but then again, I haven't seen much interest in MC++ - sign (-. Chris Sells tells me I should have written a C# book and then I would have a big market. Well, that doesn't interest me. Judging from how much you helped me during the book, I bet you and I could start one. How about it?

8:19:22 AM    

We all struggle

Argh!!  Have you ever just wanted to disappear?  To become instantly anonymous?  For the past couple of weeks I've felt like that.  I just want to disappear.  I want to unsubscribe to every mailing list I'm on.  I want to stop posting to this weblog.  I want to quit my job where they expect me to have every answer to every problem.  I just want to start over. ....[Justin Rudd's Radio Weblog]

Justin, this is brilliant and heart-felt writing. I feel like that most every day! I feel most days that my writing is crap and not as good as Don, Brad, Chris, Peter or whoever who "really know what they're doing." But you know what? Its wrong. I know what I'm doing. You know what you're doing. Do you know how many millions of software people there out there unable to communicate what they are doing? Or teach new things? You are a valauable voice in this community Justin, don't give up.

8:16:32 AM    

New Don Box Home Page

The New Don Box Home Page. I think this one will stick for a while. : ) [sellsbrothers.com: Windows Developer News] [System.Error.Emit]

For all of us getting 404s on www.donbox.com here's why. As usual, Don brands the "team" page with his own unique humor.

8:09:15 AM