teslatug - Slashdot User

Submission + - Google reinvents Wikipedia (blogspot.com) 1

Submitted by teslatug on Friday December 14, 2007 @12:30AM

teslatug writes: Google appears to be reinventing Wikipedia with their new product that they call knol (not yet publicly available). In an attempt to gather human knowledge, Google will accept articles from users who will be credited with the article by name. If they want, they can allow ads to appear alongside the content and they will be getting a share of the profits if that's the case. Other users will be allowed to rate, edit or comment on the articles. The content does not have to be exclusive to Google but no mention is made on any license for it. Is this a better model for free information gathering?

Submission + - Would you date Microsoft?

Submitted by teslatug on Friday September 15, 2006 @10:57PM

teslatug writes: Channel9 has an interview with Bill Hilf of the Open Source Software Lab at Microsoft. Hilf argues that the majority of companies advocate open source solely so that they can drive customers to their core business which is not open source. He calls this his "donut theory." Hilf also sees RedHat in this model with support being their core. He compares this to dating, where you have to offer your date value in order to entice them, and Microsoft offers developers a platform where they can make money selling their software. The virtues of free as in freedom and the value of open source to the desktop users are skirted, but he makes an interesting point about big businesses like IBM and Oracle.

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