Oh please
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| SFN Nov 06, 2006 6:06 AM EDT |
So anybody who chooses to use non-free software or, in this case, says that they like a distro that utilizes non-free software is a sellout? Heaven forbid that Ladislav have his own opinion. This is just a case of a non-conformist being upset with another non-conformist not conforming to the chosen level of non-conformity. (Somebody else said that before but I can't remember who) |
| dcparris Nov 06, 2006 6:41 AM EDT |
I think he was saying that Ladislav seems a little hypocritical in light of his "anti-Novell/MS deal" rant. I have long felt that more people should be willing to take a stand against non-libre software, but I don't have the kind of control/influence to sway folks, so that leaves us where we are. ;-) |
| SFN Nov 06, 2006 7:27 AM EDT |
I don't see Novell's MS deal as being at all the same as using non-free software. The Novell deal seems to be an anti-competitive measure on the part of Novell (reference Ladislav's quote of Steve Ballmer). Distros that use non-free software don't impinge on the abilities of other distro's to exist. The Novell/MS pact does or at least is being presented that way by one of the deal makers. |
| Alcibiades Nov 06, 2006 7:33 AM EDT |
No he hasn't sold out. Yes the MS/Novell hookup is different. Its different because of the implied threat to turn Open Source into a Microsoft poodle. This is not threatened, or only peripherally threatened, by Mandriva's inclusion of limited proprietary stuff. Agreed, its a slippery slope. But its on a whole different mountain! |
| SFN Nov 06, 2006 7:36 AM EDT |
Thinking that I may have mistook the blog entry, I just re-read it and Quoting:Ladislav seems a little hypocritical in light of his "anti-Novell/MS deal" rant is not at all what it says. There is a reference to the desire for MP3 support being hypocritical but the rest of the entry specifically accuses him of skewing his review for money, ending up with this: Quoting:Perhaps Mr. Bodnar just sold out to Mandriva, pocketing some dough for a favourable review on one of the most popular GNU/Linux news and info websites. |
| sxf Nov 06, 2006 10:45 AM EDT |
On Distrowatch Weekly there is a sort of raffle whose prize is a Mandriva PowerPack (together with a prominent image of the software packaging). Elsewhere in the issue, the PowerPack itself gets a glowing review. Assuming (I repeat, assuming: I don't know if this is the case) that Ladislav received money from Mandriva, then it is what several low-quality magazines and websites do all the time: endorsing the products of their advertisers (the infamous "advertorials") So the blogger would be right in charging Ladislav with scarce professionalism. There should at least be a disclaimer disclosing the conflict of interest. Alternatively, the review should be entrusted with an independent third party (this would be even better, as it ensures impartiality) In the past there have been similar incidents: when Lad started to write a column for Linux Format, there were a few advertorials focusing on Linux Format as well. |
| incinerator Nov 06, 2006 11:28 AM EDT |
Btw, it's me who wrote that blogpost. It seems I did not made that clear enough, for which I want to apologise.
Indeed, my main criticism was about this "strange" coincidence with the review and the raffle. SXF is quite right, this wasn't the first time such a thing happened on distrowatch. The LinuxFormat issue was clear enough for everyone to figure out. In this case however, a potential connection is not disclosed. The fact that he was praising some of Mandriva's features that put the user into potential danger of patent ligitation whilst criticising the novell-ms deal is ironic indeed. I haven't done deep research on whether Mandriva indemnifies their users against patent ligitation, but I doubt that Mandriva pays licensing fees to Thomson/Frauenhofer for instance. However, I have more or less given up on the issue making non-free components available during the default install already. Looking at the real world, it's hard to convince people to try out GNU/Linux if they can't keep playing their mp3 files and watching their dvds. To me, Ladislav Bodnar has never made the impression to be the most clueful person to me when it comes to the political, legal or ethical aspects of Free Software. Sometimes his opinions seem to be a wee bit superficial to me. For instance his coverage of the debian-mozilla debate about trademarks and the firefox->icewease name change did not seem very thorough to me. Calling Debian having a "turbulent existence" doesn't really sound well thought-up, either. (link: http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20061009#news ) |
| hughesjr Nov 06, 2006 1:20 PM EDT |
Well ... I think that the blog post is silly. Ladislav is doing a great service to the Linux/BSD community ... AND ... he also needs to pay his rent. I do not think that a donated raffle prize is going to affect his review of the software. Also, the problem with MP3 files was one of paying for patent use ... which, if I am not mistaken, has been resolved and newer Linux distros now have that capability. So, lets just say that I strongly disagree :P |
| incinerator Nov 06, 2006 1:48 PM EDT |
I can't see how that mp3 issue could possibly have been resolved. The Thomson/Frauenhofer collect royalty payments for every single instance of an mp3 encoder or decoder. Almost every vendor selling mp3-capable cd players pays, so do many companies that sell non-free software with mp3 playback or encoding capability. For big unit sizes you get discounts of course. However, everyone utilising a Free Software mp3 decoder or encoder is theoretically liable to these royalty payments. Thomson/Frauenhofer haven't gone after projects like lame, but that doesn't mean they won't in the future. Also, it's not the raffle donation that worries me. Who knows if some more "compensation" was part of this nor not. Conflict of interest is a problem, not only in journalism. It has happened before, vendors trying to "persuade" the media to give their products favourable reviews. Newspapers and magazines have been bullied into favourable reviews by vendors threating to withdraw paid-for advertisements, for instance. For a recent example, just read the blogpost referred to below, a real eye-opener: http://www.aeropause.com/archives/2006/10/alienware_throw.ph... And that's a harmless example for a change. If you are someone who consults product reviews in order to make up your decision whether to buy a certain product or not you should have the right to know about a conflict of interest, even if it is only potential one. |
| sxf Nov 06, 2006 2:18 PM EDT |
"Ladislav is doing a great service to the Linux/BSD community ... AND ... he also needs to pay his rent." Quite right. But I think he needs to separate clearly the content from the ads to be a credible source. "I do not think that a donated raffle prize is going to affect his review of the software." The raffle is a clue that something is going on. It is probably just an excuse to show a huge picture of the PowerPack on the Distrowatch Weekly page. I put it together with the glowing review, and became suspicious of some agreement with Mandriva. |
| jdixon Nov 06, 2006 4:10 PM EDT |
> I put it together with the glowing review, and became suspicious of some agreement with Mandriva. The agreement is that Mandriva supplies the software packages in return for the publicity of the raffle. I doubt very much the glowing review had anything to do with it. Mandriva probably approached him with the idea of the raffle. |
| dcparris Nov 06, 2006 5:49 PM EDT |
When I did the MadTux LivePC review, there was no input from the MadTux team with respect to expecting a nice review. I did offer a positive review, but it's kind of difficult to give it a bad review if it works as advertised. You're not likely to get a nasty review from me unless your product/software is really screwed up, or something actually irritates me. |
| hughesjr Nov 07, 2006 2:11 AM EDT |
@dcparris - as it should be ... an honest review :) In reality, some people probably don't like MadTux LivePC and think you are a sell out. Others understand that a product might work for you and not for them. Some people like the product and your review ... that is, as they say, real world :) ------------------------------------------------------ WRT this issue at distrowatch, there was not even a donation. The powerpak was purchased by distrowatch to give away in the contest. Even if it were a donation, there would not be a problem. But in this case, there was not. If someone wants to donate a piece of software to a magazine/website to do an honest review and then give the software away in a contest, there is absolutely no problem with that. For crying out load ... get over the conspiracy theories. |
| hughesjr Nov 07, 2006 2:17 AM EDT |
@ incinerator WRT the mp3 issue ... The issue could be solved if the patent holder allowed free playback on free software. I thought they had based on this article: http://www.fluendo.com/press/releases/PR-2005-05.html However, I might have been in error. I am not sure that the above product is a legal way to distribute a software mp3 player. I am the Lead Developer for CentOS-4, so I am somewhat familiar with this issue. |
| incinerator Nov 07, 2006 2:56 AM EDT |
hughesjr:
http://www.mp3licensing.com/ quote from http://lame.sourceforge.net/about.php "Using the LAME encoding engine (or other mp3 encoding technology) in your software may require a patent license in some countries." Also: http://www.mp3-tech.org/patents.html The Fluendo press release doesn't mention anything at all related to royalty payments to Thomson/Frauenhofer. It is not clear whether Fluendo made such payments or not, not to mention the question about liability when re-using their code. I don't think Thomson/Frauenhofer would have agreed to such a deal. Fluendos decoder is licensed under an MIT-style license. You could take that code and legally integrate it into a non-free solution. That would effectively shut off Thomson/Frauenhofer's revenue stream of royalty payments. Now that would be very stupid of them, wouldn't it? Distrowatch.com is giving away four mandriva 2007 powerpack boxes, not one. Mandriva sells them for 85,- $US per piece plus shipping. I doubt Ladislav Bodnar would spend so much money on a raffle for his "faithful" readers. And please, please cut out this attitude about Ladislav being such a selfless person who altruisticly provides such a "great service" to the community. He doesn't run distrowatch.com as a charity. The site is quite heavy loaded with ads. I'm sure he makes a good deal of money out if it. |
| hughesjr Nov 07, 2006 11:50 AM EDT |
He said in a follow in post that he DID buy them ... he also said that mandriva didn't pay him anything. Sure, his site makes money now, but it did not the first 3 years he was running it. Who the heck are you to call people who provide the services to the Linux Community a liar ... and based on what evidence to you make that claim. |
| hughesjr Nov 07, 2006 11:55 AM EDT |
@incinerator : concerning the mp3 issue ... I do agree with you that the fluendo license seems at the very least questionable ... and maybe even dishonest. I would need to research that issue much more closely before I would feel comfortable using their code. |
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