Comment Slackware should be a Federal Public Project (Score 2) 206
It's a shame that public financing of private efforts like Slackware is so passZ now, because they could benefit a lot from true Public ownership and financing.
In the 1930s, Roosevelt spearheaded federal subsidies for the arts and sciences, and the postwar economic booms can be directly traced to these government programs. Though some of the very best (such as the Federal Theatre Project) were slashed in bouts of partisan bickering, the system as a whole benefitted greatly from FDR's vision and the Federal purse.
Free software is ideal because it doesn't belong to any single individual. It's a golden drop of communism that can be realized in our time and under our terms. With true Federal subsidies and ownership, we wouldn't have to worry about whether WindRiver will keep the project going or whoever buys them out next. (Whether that would be an antitrust concern is a different matter entirely.)
Each one of us would be able to run a truly American operating system emblazoned with the American flag flying in the wind and symbolizing freedom and liberty. We would call it "AmericanX", a play both on the words "American" and more specifically on "Americana", which the system would be a hallmark example of in all its glory.
It's time to look past the lost battles of yesterday. Distribution wars are a thing of the past. We can either continue hating Microsoft and try punishing them through the court system, which we can't seem to do without violating their rights or each other's, or we can just do the right thing and make a public operating system a reality. If Microsoft wants to compete with AmericanX, then they can do so, just as the private schools compete with public schools.
The answer is clearly more government. We need to show the rest of the world that America still has what it takes to lead into this next millennium. For about $500million in annual fiscal expenses, we could pull it off. I don't think that's too much to ask.
In the 1930s, Roosevelt spearheaded federal subsidies for the arts and sciences, and the postwar economic booms can be directly traced to these government programs. Though some of the very best (such as the Federal Theatre Project) were slashed in bouts of partisan bickering, the system as a whole benefitted greatly from FDR's vision and the Federal purse.
Free software is ideal because it doesn't belong to any single individual. It's a golden drop of communism that can be realized in our time and under our terms. With true Federal subsidies and ownership, we wouldn't have to worry about whether WindRiver will keep the project going or whoever buys them out next. (Whether that would be an antitrust concern is a different matter entirely.)
Each one of us would be able to run a truly American operating system emblazoned with the American flag flying in the wind and symbolizing freedom and liberty. We would call it "AmericanX", a play both on the words "American" and more specifically on "Americana", which the system would be a hallmark example of in all its glory.
It's time to look past the lost battles of yesterday. Distribution wars are a thing of the past. We can either continue hating Microsoft and try punishing them through the court system, which we can't seem to do without violating their rights or each other's, or we can just do the right thing and make a public operating system a reality. If Microsoft wants to compete with AmericanX, then they can do so, just as the private schools compete with public schools.
The answer is clearly more government. We need to show the rest of the world that America still has what it takes to lead into this next millennium. For about $500million in annual fiscal expenses, we could pull it off. I don't think that's too much to ask.
