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We used it like Free Software
By wolfgangj, Section Diaries
Posted on Fri Oct 3rd, 2003 at 11:40:20 GMT
There was a time before I knew about GNU, Free Software and GNU/Linux. Back when me and my friends more-or-less happiely used and programmed on DOS, something interesting happened. Microsoft distributed an interpreter for a dialect of the BASIC programming language with their operating system, and they included two games as example programs.

 

As we had the source code, we modified at least one of these two games (the other one was not that interesting). We added our own levels, modified existing ones and changed a few other details. We also distributed our changes to other people. That was the way how we were dealing with code in general. There was a lot of code around, not only from Microsoft, which we used in our own programs. Often we didn't even know where it came from.

Of course it was not allowed to modify the Microsoft games, or most of the other code. However, neither me nor my friends ever wasted a single thought on this topic. If someone would have told us that we did something illegal when we modified these programs and distributed the modified copies, we probably would have been shocked to hear that. It's not that we didn't care whether it was illegal. We just did not think about it at all. We just used the code as it pleased us, as if this would be the most natural thing of the world.

Did I just write "as if this would be"? Well, it *IS* the most natural thing of the world, actually. I know because I felt that it was. So in some way I have to be thankful about what Microsoft did in two very different ways: Of course they also showed me how proprietary software sucks (and I am not speaking about technological issues here), but they showed me how wonderful a world of sharing code can be, just by delivering an interpreter rather than a compiler.

Cheers,
GNU/Wolfgang
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We used it like Free Software | 4 comments (4 topical, editorial) | Post A Comment
[new] I like this entry very much... (#1)
by dyfet (#43) () on Tue Feb 10th, 2004 at 20:17:52 GMT
(User Info) http://www.gnu.org/software/bayonne

Many years ago, in fact prior to Microsoft "DOS", and certainly prior to my knowledge of Free Software, I wrote and sold games, for Ohio Scientific computers, through Aardvark Technical Services, typically written in a mixture of Basic and 6502 assembler. I was quite happy to write games and have others modify them, or to receive games from others that I could then modify. This experiance of sharing was killed one day when suddenly the games I bought no longer included source that could be modified, for someone had added a new technology to cassette basic to enable the source content to be shrouded and obscured from user modification. This "feature" to hide source from others, incidently, was added by Microsoft to their casette basic.

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[new] I read gnu-friends.org a lot more than I post. (#2)
by a member of the hurd (#-1) on Mon Nov 15th, 2004 at 05:39:38 GMT

I read gnu-friends.org a lot more than I post. Sure, I post occasionally (and have submitted stories in the past), but I figure that my biggest contribution to the signal-to-noise ration is to simply keep my mouth shut when I don't have much to say. However, I _do_ try to contribute to the site, by meticulously rating all of the comments I read. I try to give ratings intelligently, and hope that this will help guide later readers to the more insightful posts.























































































































































































































































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Great site,keep it up, thanks ! Here is my site, you can found some resource at there : ÁÄÌ칤¾ß ÐÅʹ¹¤¾ß ICQרÇø IMU¼´Ê±Í¨ ÍøÂçµç»° MSNרÇø OICQרÇø ÆäËüÈí¼þ ´«Õ湤¾ß µç»°Ñ°ºô ÂÃÓβÍÒû ÐÐÕþ¹ÜÀí ÉÌҵóÒ× Éó¼ÆÆÀ¹À ÎïÁ÷Öнé ÓÃÒ×Èí¼þ Å©ÒµÏà¹Ø ÆäËüÐÐÒµ ÆäËüÐÐÒµ ÆäËüÈí¼þ °ì¹«Èí¼þ ±£ÏÕÐÐÒµ ²ÊƱ¹¤¾ß ²ÍÒûÂÃÓÎ ²ÆÎñ¹ÜÀí ³ö°æÓ¡Ë¢ ·ÄÖ¯·þ×° ·¨ÂÉ·¨¹æ ¸¨ÖúÉè¼Æ ¹ÉƱ֤ȯ ¹¤³Ì½¨Öþ »úеµç×Ó ¼ÇʹÜÀí ½¡¿µÒ½Ò© ½»Í¨ÔËÊä ¿Í»§¹ÜÀí ×â½è¹ÜÀí ÊÖ»úÈí¼þ ϵͳ¹¤¾ß ÍøÂçͨÐÅ ÍøÂçͨÐÅ ÕÆÉÏÓÎÏ· ÕÆÉÏÓÎÏ· Ó¦ÓÃÈí¼þ PalmOS PDAÆäËü WinCE ÆäËüÈí¼þ ÖÐÎÄϵͳ µç×ÓÔĶÁ ¶àýÌåÀà ¿ª·¢¹¤¾ß ×ÀÃæÈí¼þ CPUÏà¹Ø DOS¹¤¾ß жÔØÇå³ý жÔع¤¾ß Êó±ê¼üÅÌ Éý¼¶²¹¶¡ Êý¾Ý±¸·Ý ϵͳÉèÖà ϵͳÔöÇ¿ ϵͳ±¸·Ý ϵͳ²âÊÔ ÏµÍ³¸¨Öú Äڴ湤¾ß ÆäËüÈí¼þ ÖÐÎÄƽ̨ °²×°ÖÆ×÷ ±¸·Ý¹¤¾ß ´ÅÅ̹¤¾ß ¹âµú¹¤¾ß ¼ôÌù¹¤¾ß ½µÎ³ÌÐò ¿ª¹Ø¶¨Ê± ×ÀÃ湤¾ß 3DÖÆ×÷Àà CADͼÐΠͼÏñä¯ÀÀ ͼÏñÖÆ×÷ ͼÏñ²¶×½ ͼÏñ¹ÜÀí ͼÏñת»» ͼƬѹËõ ͼ±ê¹¤¾ß ÆäËüÈí¼þ ±à¼­Èí¼þ ¶¯»­ÖÆ×÷ ¼ôÌù¹¤¾ß ÀëÏßä¯ÀÀ ÐÂÎÅÔĶÁ ÐÅÏ¢·¢²¼ ÐÅÏ¢·¢²¼ ÊéÇ©¹¤¾ß ËÑË÷ÒýÇæ ËÑÑ°ÒýÇæ FTP¹¤¾ß ÏÂÔع¤¾ß IP¹¤¾ß Îļþ¹²Ïí ÍøÂ縨Öú ÍøÂç¹²Ïí ÍøÂç¼à²â ÍøÂç¼ÓËÙ ÍøÂç¼Æʱ ÍøÒ³¸¨Öú ÍøÕ¾Íƹã JAVA³ÌÐò ÓʼþȺ·¢ Óʼþ´¦Àí Óʼþ¼ì²â Óʼþ¼ì²é Ô¶³ÌµÇ¼ Ô¶³ÌµÇ¼ TelnetÀà ÆäËüÈí¼þ ä¯ÀÀ¸¨Öúä¯ÀÀ¹ýÂËÖ÷Ò³ä¯ÀÀÖ÷Ò³ÖÆ×÷²¦ºÅ¼Æʱ´«ÕæÈí¼þ·þÎñÆ÷Àà·þÎñÆ÷Çø Èü³µ¾ºË٠ȤζÈí¼þ FlashÓÎÏ· ÌåÓý¾º¼¼ ÍøÂçÓÎÏ· ÓÎÏ·¹¤¾ß ÒæÖÇÓÎÏ· PCÄ£ÄâÆ÷ ÆåÅÆÓÎÏ· ÆäËüÈí¼þ Ä£ÄâÆ÷Àà ÖÇÁ¦ÓÎÏ· ²â×ÖËãÃü ¶¯×÷Éä»÷ ·½¿éÓÎÏ· ÐéÄâ¹âÇý ÐÅÏ¢¹ÜÀí ʱÖÓÈÕÀú Îĵµ¹ÜÀí ÎļþÐÞ¸´ Îļþ·Ö¸î Îļþ¸üÃû Îļþ¹ÜÀí ÎÄ×Ö´¦Àí ѹËõ½âѹ ÔÓÀ๤¾ß ÆäËüÈí¼þ ´òÓ¡¹¤¾ß µç×ÓÔĶÁ ¹âÇý¹¤¾ß ºº×ÖÊäÈë ¼üÅÌÊó±ê ¼ÆËãÆ÷Àà ×ÖÌ幤¾ß ת»»·­Òë С´ÏÈí¼þ Linux¹¤¾ß ÆäËü¹¤¾ß ÃÜÂëÆƽâ ÃÜÂë¹ÜÀí ÃÜÂë»Ö¸´ ϵͳ°²È« ϵͳ¼àÊÓ ÍøÂ簲ȫ Íø°É¹ÜÀí ÆäËüÈí¼þ ä¯ÀÀ°²È« ²¡¶¾·ÀÖÎ ¼ÓÃܹ¤¾ß ýÌå¿Ø¼þ DBF¿Ø¼þ Êý¾Ý¿âÀà ʱ¼ä¿Ø¼þ Îļþ¿Ø¼þ ϵͳ¿Ø¼þ ͼÏñ¿Ø¼þ ͼ±í¿Ø¼þ ÍøÂç±à³Ì ÍøÂç¿Ø¼þ ѹËõ¿Ø¼þ ÆäËüÈí¼þ ÆäËü¿Ø¼þ °²×°ÖÆ×÷ ±àÒ빤¾ß ±à³Ì¹¤¾ß ²¹¶¡ÖÆ×÷ µ÷ÊÔ¹¤¾ß ½çÃæ¿Ø¼þ ×ۺϿؼþ ýÌåÆäËü ýÌåÖÆ×÷ ýÌå²¥·Å ýÌåµã²¥ ýÌå¹ÜÀí CD²¥·Å ÊÓƵ´¦Àí ÊÓƵת»» ÊղعÜÀí ÍøÂçµçÊÓ MIDI¹¤¾ß MP3ÖÆ×÷ MP3²¥·Å ÒôƵ´¦Àí ÒôƵת»» WINAMPÇø ÆäËüÈí¼þ ¹âÅ̼̿ ×ÀÃæÖÆ×÷ Àí¿Æ¹¤¾ß ÍâÓïѧϰ ÍâÓ﹤¾ß ÌìÎĵØÀí ÎĿƹ¤¾ß ѧǰ½ÌÓý ÆäËüÈí¼þ µçÄÔѧϰ µç×Ó½ÌÊÒ ½ÌÓý¹ÜÀí ¿¼ÊÔϵͳ ÆäËüÈí¼þ ÄÖÁåʱÖÓ ²¼¾°±£»¤ ×ÀÃ渨Öú

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[new] fiberglass (#3)
by a member of the hurd (#-1) on Sat Dec 4th, 2004 at 06:54:31 GMT

flashlights,GOOGLEÅÅÃû,ÍøÕ¾½¨Éè,welding,fabrics,fiberglass,fiberglass,fiberglass yarns,ceramic fiber,ceramic fiber,ceramic fiber,tadpole,pneumatic,pneumatic,solenoid,pneumatic,pneumatic,treatment unit,ÆøÃÅ×ì,fan belt,timing belt,v-belt,fuel hose,oil seal,radiator hose,rubber hose,GOOGLEÅÅÃû,ÍøÕ¾½¨Éè,lost wax casting,Carbon Steel casting,iron casting,precision casting china,investment casting china

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[new] fiberglass (#4)
by a member of the hurd (#-1) on Sun Dec 19th, 2004 at 04:02:32 GMT

angle grinder,bearings,blower vac,chain saw,magnets,pallet jack,polisher,shredder,washing machine,water dispenser,wheels,wrench,washing machine,magnetic system,electrical fan,electric kettle,heater,sport shoes,chinese clothing

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We used it like Free Software | 4 comments (4 topical, editorial) | Post A Comment
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