Comment GNU.Free (Score 1) 117
I wonder if they plan to pick GNU Free up , seeing as it's something that already, you know, exists. Otherwise I would suspect them to just use some proprietary program.
Comment Re:Forcing authors to lose rights over work (Score 1) 391
On the contrary, I think that in our current situation, shortening copyright term would only make things worse for the GPL. Think of it this way, the GPL was designed to keep software from going proprietary, and once the work has been out for 5 years or whatever, it'd be in the public domain. That means a company like Microsoft can just paste GPLed code in. Yes, the code may not be the most up-to-date version, but the initial release is probably all the company needs--patching up the program themselves to suit their needs is not that big of a deal. Plus, after that, you get patches going into the public domain on a daily basis. Also, what if they infringe upon the GPL and use works before it goes into public domain? It's difficult to tell if the company wrote the feature or if they used a patch illegally, and there's a good chance that the work will have gone to public domain before legal threat is over as long as it's not a really new feature.
On the other hand, proprietary vendors do not release sourcecode so we'll never see sourcecode, ever. Even if it goes in the public domain. In addition, they still have other terms we have to agree to like EULAs and terms of use. At the end of the day, I think a proprietary vendor being forced to give up their object code in the public domain does not actually hurt them but does hurt the GPL.
On the other hand, proprietary vendors do not release sourcecode so we'll never see sourcecode, ever. Even if it goes in the public domain. In addition, they still have other terms we have to agree to like EULAs and terms of use. At the end of the day, I think a proprietary vendor being forced to give up their object code in the public domain does not actually hurt them but does hurt the GPL.
15-Year-Old Student Discovers New Pulsar 103
For the second time in as many years, a student has made a discovery while participating in the Pulsar Search Collaboratory (PSC), a joint program between the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and West Virginia University designed to get students and teachers involved in analyzing data from the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT). This time it was high school sophomore Shay Bloxton, who discovered a brand new pulsar. "For Bloxton, the pulsar discovery may be only her first in a scientific career. 'Participating in the PSC has definitely encouraged me to pursue my dream of being an astrophysicist,' she said, adding that she hopes to attend West Virginia University to study astrophysics. Late last year, another West Virginia student, from South Harrison High School, Lucas Bolyard, discovered a pulsar-like object called a rotating radio transient. His discovery also came through participation in the PSC."
Not Enough Women In Computing, Or Too Many Men? 686
itwbennett writes "Do geeks really 'drive girls out of computer science,' as the headline of a LiveScience article contends? Blogger Cameron Laird doesn't think so. In fact, 'I don't think "gender issues in computing" is important enough to merit the attention it gets,' says Laird in a recent post. And maybe the problem isn't that there are too few women in computing, but that there are too many men. 'I'm waiting to read the headline: "Women too smart for careers with computers,"' says Laird, 'where another researcher concludes that only "boys" are stupid enough to go into a field that's globally-fungible, where entry-level salaries are declining, and it's common to think that staying up all night for a company-paid pizza is a good deal.'"
