Raw Matter

The Android developers seem to feel that they have been singled out for a level of criticism which few other embedded vendors — including those demonstrating much worse community behavior — have to deal with.

This is from Jonathan Corbet's coverage of the Collaboration Summit and matches my impression. I guess what some Google folks don't necessarily see is that they work for a company that has a big sign outside that effectively says “we are not Microsoft or Apple or Sony or the RIAA/MPAA” (implied: we're the good guys.) If you put up such a sign, and then disappoint people's expectations, you got to live with the consequences. (Google's marketing was once more successful with their recent actions in China. Get lots of good press coverage, get rid of quite a few critics, and pull out of a market where you didn't make big money in any case.)

The friend who lent me his “Kottan ermittelt” DVDs gave me the 1981 movie (cinema, not TV) Den Tüchtigen gehört die Welt. I guess a warning is in order: if you liked the TV series, it's possible that you'll share my disappointment with this film. There are reports of a new movie to be made this year, and I also haven't seen the first 9 episodes of the TV series yet, so I'll probably report on Kottan again some time in the future.

I was surprised but liked the film: There's a coherent plot and even a happy end. And it's till a film by David Lynch: Wild at Heart. Also by Lynch: the very early Eraserhead. Now this is Lynch (at least for me, since I started with “Lost Highway” and “Mulholland Drive”), and I really like the hairstyle of Henry Spencer.

Something completely different: Harold and Maude, or what happens when a bored high society youth falls in love with an 80 years old eccentric who shares his hobby of going to funerals of some random people.

Conditions for ordering: Not yet. The umbrella will be available ca. end of May, I'll give details about ordering it then. Information so far: CHF 25 per umbrella (ca. EUR 17 / USD 23), including ca. CHF 6 donation to Debian (via debian.ch); at least at first, I plan to ship in lots of 5 or more to save postage. International travellers should coordinate... (if you're close to Basel, Switzerland, you will obviously be able to get one directly as well.)

Update 2010-06-15: I got the umbrellas now, so you can order them.

The answer is probably “no way!” I like the way Jon Corbet put it (article will be free in a few weeks):

The SCO affair is kind of like a bad zombie movie; the plot is implausible, the acting is horrible, and, even though you know the good guys must win in the end, that obnoxious zombie just keeps coming back and ruining the party.

Realistically, what will happen? The judge in the Chapter 11 case has so far been quite interested in helping SCO succeed, so I guess there will be an appeal on this. The contract claims in the cases surrounding this are probably not very relevant, so I'm not sure how much press they'll get (although I'm sure Pam will continue to cover the issue — although I think the Apple vs. HTC patent cause should be the one that should be in the center of attention right now.)

And, of course, there's the Canonical vs. SPI lawsuit coming up. I find it very difficult to tell in what direction that will get decided, but I hope it won't take as long as the SCO case.