[lug] SSSCA to make all open source software illegal

[J. Wayde Allen]

On Sun, 21 Oct 2001, John Karns wrote:

> This whole issue is just another reason why it would be advantageous /
> mandatory to have Linux in the mainstream, IMO.  Contrary to some of what
> was said here in relation to a thread a few months back, where some
> perceive this would have a negative impact on the OS, such as diluting it
> for a lowest common denominator e.g., improved ease of use vs. flexibility
> / control over the OS, 

Hmmm ... the only thing that I can remember like this was the discussion I
was pushing where I questioned some of the driving forces behind the
simplification of Linux.  I don't think we were saying that making the
system easier to use was bad.  At least that wasn't exactly the point I
was trying to make.  

I guess the problem I have with the "it's got to be easier" battle cry is
that no one knows exactly what is meant by "easier".  What concerns me is
that this is usually interpreted as being graphical.  I'm not convinced
that the GUI is a necessary and/or sufficient condition for the system
being easier to use.  Please by all means prove me wrong.

> I argue that it is not an inevitability.

I don't think anyone is arguing this either.

> Furthermore, the potential gains far outweigh the risks.

OK, but in any case I think we have to be careful about what we wish
for.  Linux built on the Unix toolbox philosophy is powerful, open, and in
many ways unique.  Linux built on the concept of GUI based interaction,
simplified configuration based on the most likely encountered scenario,
and targeted exclusively at the business desktop is really not that much
different than MSWindows, or MacOS.

> I think it is an important issue for the survival of Linux (and thus
> open source) that this comes about.

I'm not sure I believe this.  Predicting the demise of Linux and
OpenSource simply on the basis of it not dominating the commercial market
seems to ignore a good many basic human traits as well as the underlying
principles of the scientific method.

Don't get me wrong.  I do think that fighting the DMCA and the SSSCA is
important.  However, I also think that they are only small pieces of the
puzzle.  The problem is much bigger than both of these items.  At the top
of this fight is the issue of ownership of intellectual property.  This
goes far beyond the world of computing.  It strikes at the very heart of
who owns what you think?  Is an idea something to be bought and sold?  Is
truth a commodity?  Until recently we used to work on the old adage that
invention is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.  Today, the push is to
control the inspiration.  There is currently a lot of drum beating to try
and make this happen.  I'm not at all convinced that any of this control
is however real.  My "guess" is that an attempt at such control will tend
to destroy competiveness by eliminating the willingess of people to share
their ideas.  As such this may be self limiting as the companies seeking
to impose such control discover just how elusive real control actually
is.  Let's put it this way, scheduled break throughs tend to be specious
at best.

> Currently Linux has few real allies in the
> corporate world.  Linux in the mainstream would mean that there would be
> significant investment of corporate resources which would render the
> question of abolishing Linux / open source impractical.

If you consider IBM, HP, SUN, NASA, NOAA, NIST, Red Hat, VA Linux, etc. to
be inconsequential then maybe.  The reality of much of what is being
proposed is that its enforcement is unrealistic.  It is unlikely that you
can enforce a law when it means reworking the space program, changing the
the design and construction of the nations fundamental standards,
re-developing the environmental models used by the national weather
service, or redesign and redeployment of 1000's of embeded systems and
servers.

I'm rambling a bit, but this is a good fight, and I encourage everyone to
get involved.  However, there is also another old adage that might also be
worth remembering:  "there is a difference between illegal and against the
law - one is just a sick bird".

- Wayde
  (wallen at lug.boulder.co.us)