YA comment

WRT the guest speaker - it's interesting to hear someone in Mike's position, but maybe in future your email invitations could add 'turn off Skype & gchat blips' to the list that presumably already includes 'turn your mobile off and lock the kids in the bathroom'.

WRT the claims about users of free software not contributing. And you think this is something that's only happened in the past 12 months? I read a spiel, probably around a decade ago, about the benefits of people who were 'merely' users of free software. Advocacy, for starters, but even just being passively observed to be using an alternative to the incumbent is good press for that alternative.

I tend to agree with this observation - it's hard to prove, yes absolutely, and there definitely are a number of grumpy people who don't appear to contribute materially, but for as long as they're the minority they can be happily ignored.

Quoting one of the guys (all you yanks sound the same to me, sorry ;)

"There's that mix of .. where people have that struggle with open-source versus free software ... I think what you were getting .. was people misinterpreting these comments about open-source always having to be free."

Maybe rms is right - the usage of the phrase 'open-source' really does confuse the [primary] issue. I couldn't understand the above comment at all, and if anything I'm even more convinced that the speaker doesn't understand what free software means (or is meant to mean, if you prefer).

Free software development .v. games. I've yet to work out how you could write a multiplayer game using free software *and* prevent ne'er-do-wells from subverting the environment. In the absence of a punkbuster-esque utility (which by definition needs to be non-free software) it doesn't seem possible to protect the game's community. An interesting algorithmic conundrum for someone, perhaps.

Entirely agree with AC above - the cost of entry to the games market now must be astonishing. When I were a lad .. I had a part time job helping the guy next door (a TRS-80 games programmer) make copies of his games on cassettes. His cost of entry was his TRS-80, an assembly language reference, and a high-speed tape-dubbing machine. Oh my - I need a lie down now.

But as usual, of course, I did enjoy the show .. mostly. :)

Re: clarification

Hey Dave,

The hatchet will be buried very soon, but I appreciate the un-named shout out on Open Season, just so we're clear, I don't contribute code to OSS projects and don't have money to spend on sponsoring OSS projects, but do have an interest in where the OSS market goes. Its a potential source of income for me, somewhat like it is for u today...

Our little "fight" was on a request for u to clarify why Sun does not "get" open source, which u have, AFAIK, to this day, yet to answer. Maybe I missed it, or perhaps u just don't have the time to do it, but i think its different than your claim that I accused u of not getting OSS and Java. Maybe I'm splitting hairs, or maybe your lumping me in to a discussion on OSS 'bile' is legit, but at least be accurate and/or make an explanation...

Paul

You have managed to hit the nail on the head and miss the point entirely in one fell swoop.

Ru speaketh the truth.

Steven R

Mines the one with 'Ha-Do-Ken' scrawled on the back in Blankas blood.