Diary of a Network Geek

With subpoenas this time, not just FUD.

(That’s Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, by the way.) Well, according to this article on ZDNet, SCO has filed subpoenas with the U.S. District Court in Utah, targeting Novell; Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel; Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation; Stuart Cohen, chief executive of the Open Source Development Labs; and John Horsley, general counsel of Transmeta.
The article said that IBM responded to the Linux-related lawsuit by asking a federal judge to order SCO to identify illegal source code and serving four other companies with subpoenas of its own. Though it wasn’t clear if they filed before or after SCO. In either case, I hope this gets resolved soon. I’m tired of hearing about it and anyone who knows Linux knows that they have no leg to stand on. Oh, well, at least it gets Linux in the news….

The tides of change are lapping at the “offshore”.

At least, according to this article on YahooNews, IBM is catching a lot of flack from both employees and politicians for their plan to move a significant number of programming jobs “offshore”. They don’t specify where, but they won’t be jobs for Americans. But, I see this as a good sign.
First, politicians are finally starting to take notice of their constituant’s problems and concerns. This has been going on for quite a while now, but not too many folks have been willing to speak out about it, much less do anything about it.
Second, IBM is getting pressure, both political and social, to change their policy. This, in my opinion, is the way to handle these issues. Social pressure, economic pressure and political pressure can all be brought to bear on these decisions. We, the American Workers, can influence this stuff. And we should.
And, third, there’s been talk of an IT union again. Now, I grew up in Chicago, so I know about unions and some of the problems that can go with them, but… But, once upon a time, unions protected the American Worker from business and politics that would have chewed them up and spat them out. So, even though I’m not a big fan of unions, maybe it’s time for one.

In any case, it’s a great article and it does show that we can make a difference!

Has mac finally figured out the PC’s secret?

I’ve seen articles about it before, but it looks like they finally have a site up and running. HappyWare is selling a device that they call CORE, which is, basically, a cheaper clone of a Mac. I’d say that it’s about time. After all, it was the proliferation of cheap clone PC hardware that led to it’s dominance in the market. Apple made the first real personal computer, but kept the hardware proprietary and, therefore, doomed themselves to being the “number 2” personal computing solution. IBM, on the other hand, really let loose and, through decentralization, took over the market. All of which is what let Bill Gates dominate the software market. Damn Apple!
Anyway, now you can get a cheaper Mac clone. I say, go for it! If I only had money, I would. I’ve always secretly craved a Mac, just because they have nice graphics. Maybe one day….