[sldev] The criminalization of open source

[Gordon Wendt]

I agree, and that's why I've been arguing vehemently over this even with
Torley against the panic mongering crowd pushing the issue.  Unfortunately
since they are trying to social engineering it to make it seem like a huge
bug (they reversed my change to feature request) based on the fact that they
would rather false security LL seems content to pander to their ilk.

-G.W.

On Dec 17, 2007 10:22 PM, John Hurliman <jhurliman at wsu.edu> wrote:

> Jason Giglio wrote:
> > I was very disappointed with the Linden Lab response to VWR-1919.  For
> > background, James has committed code to remove the ability to get
> > texture UUIDs from the client UI.
> >
> > This caving to the ignorant is tantamount to Firefox removing "Save
> > Image As..." in order to "discourage infringement".
> >
> > It also serves to make open source less legitimate.  No open source
> > viewer build is going to cripple this functionality the way Linden Lab
> > has.
> >
> > My point is made by this comment on the bug: "And here is a prime
> > example of why open sourcing the client was a noble failure and
> > exactly why secondlife needs to be closed to unauthorized clients".
> >
> > If Linden Lab is going to cater to the "we want a false sense of
> > security" crowd, it damages the open source community.
> >
> > This is only the tip of the iceberg:
> >
> > 1. Hiding sculptie textures on the UI.
> > 2. Hiding media URLs in the about land box.
> > 3. Having "permissions" on textures in the first place.
> >
> >
> > All these do is create an expectation of protection and a false sense
> > of security.  It turns "open source" into the "evil tool of hackers
> > and scammers".
> >
> > The problem here isn't a technical one, it's that Linden Lab seems
> > content allowing the expectation of the users to be unreasonable, and
> > even going as far as supporting their fantasy world by hiding the
> > truth from them.
> >
> > It was this same mismanagement of perceptions and false sense of
> > security that lead to the big copybot outcry.  Linden Lab could learn
> > a lesson from that and stop creating these unreasonable expectations.
> > Instead, from the resolution of VWR-1919, it's obvious that nothing
> > was learned.
> >
> > -Jason
>
> Remember to vote on http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-3835
>
> John
>
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