...swimmin' pools, moovee stars

Salon has a provocative article on the DSSA today, Buy Linux. It's the Law, detailing the attempt to make Open Source a legislated and mandated by law "standard". I am aghast that the silent majority of people who actually write code and create what these public and attention-seeking talking heads are going on about would allow this travesty to continue. I find it amusing that the irony is lost on those who are hoping this comes to pass and terrified to think of what will come should they succeed in doing so.

While Tim O'Reilly put a polite spin on the whole circus I have but one question: Are you people out of your fucking minds?! Laws don't make you free, they make you an obedient servant to the hive. And software is only a tiny percentage of the actual cost of computing, just think of the billions of dollars of training and support the State of California will need in order to make this transition. I would almost be willing to bet that those who are the most eager to see this legislation pass have their eyes on the training and support cash pipeline.

I and every other entity should have the right to choose whatever software we think will serve us best even if it is, by popular and professional opinion, an inferior or poor choice. People would be ready to march on Washington if this were Microsoft so why aren't people similarly incensed by this ludicrous attempt to scam the public into thinking that it will save government money and make information be free when it will, in reality, cost them far more. It is a lie borne of an ideal which will fail and should be rejected.

I'm not a religious person but maybe I'll rub my lucky Sun Enterprise server key in hope that the quiet ones, the people who do most of the work, the people who avoid the spotlight and license skirmishes will get pissed off at the arrogance and the politics which are being weilded in the name of 'freedom' and fight back before it becomes 'hypocrite source'.

And remember, the nice thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from.