Call for Compliance of Java(tm) Technology with the 4 Freedoms of Software

While being asked about JavaFX and whatever other Oracle, Google or
whatever technology, all I can say: I don’t really care – as long it’s free
and complies w/ the 4 freedoms of software.

Lately Oracle even made the proposal JEP 178: Statically-Linked JNI Libraries,
allowing Java applications using JNI within a statically deployed runtime. Read: May work on Apple’s iOS. Continue reading “Call for Compliance of Java(tm) Technology with the 4 Freedoms of Software”

Pirates may Save YOUR Freedom (Happy 4th of July)

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.Then they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
I did not protest;
I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out for me.

Martin Niemöller, 1892-1984 Continue reading “Pirates may Save YOUR Freedom (Happy 4th of July)”

Patents, Copyrights & Life Today

Assume you feel the urge to write a book, software, music – conserving your mood and ideas. You might want to preserve your mind set for yourself only, not to forget your ingenious ideas. But most likely you would love to share and debate it with others, or just hope others might be indulged with your spirit. Now the question occurs how to deploy your work ?

In history this was quite of a harsh undertaking, you may give it away in a pub with a few beers, write a letter in the newspaper, or find an exclusive publisher. Different expensive media were utilized, stone slabs, paper, vinyl records maybe even celluloid film. Producing your ideas onto the media were just the beginning. They had to be advertised & distributed to be spread to the public. The biggest obstacle of this undertaking: Resources. All mentioned stages of deployment were quite expensive, human resources and material. In the end all costs had to be compensated and paid. It turned out that the artists original motivation of sharing the work, were contradicted by the costs of deployment. Potential addressees of the work had an intrinsic obligation to pay for it, due to the high costs of it’s deployment itself, even if the artist did not had any financial profit in mind. Continue reading “Patents, Copyrights & Life Today”