[OFB Cafe] Tech Buzz: Who Deserves the Tech Vote?

[Fred Smith]

On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 1:47 PM, Fred A. Miller <fmiller at lightlink.com> wrote:
> McCain's greatest weakness is the transparency issue, but overall he
> looks better positioned than Obama on issues that matter most to
> innovators in the tech community.
>
> Obama, on the other hand, has multiple weaknesses, particularly when it
> comes to taxes, property rights, labor and government waste that harms
> America's tech sector.
>
> http://www.technewsworld.com/story/64250.html
>
> --
> Linux is an old Latin word meaning, "I don't have
> to support your Windows anymore."

I can't even fathom the thinking that goes into someone supporting
both Linux and McCain's technology policy. And then on top of that, to
cite a technology opinion article written by anti-open source writer
Sonia Arrison.

http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=2808
http://www.soniaarrison.com/blog/2006/12/12/the-difference-between-proprietary-and-open-source-software/
there are plenty of other articles;  google if you care.

Anyway, here's where McCain's technology policy is bad for Linux and
good for proprietary software:

Net Neutrality is key issue for open source developers and users.  In
McCain and Comcast's world, software development has no place at home,
and tube clogging Linux tarballs and isos would be blocked in order to
make room for on-demand pay per view.   Net Neutrality is the key to
stopping the internet of today from reverting into the "internet" of
CompuServe and AOL days.

Anti-trust enforcement, while a "waste of time" for Arrison, is
critical in keeping PCs pre-loaded with Linux available as the Linux
desktop becomes more and more prevalent.  If you don't remember, there
was a time when Microsoft told PC makers that if they didn't pre-load
linux on 100% of their systems, they couldn't pre-load it on any of
them.  Anti-trust actions by the DOJ under Clinton made Microsoft stop
that policy.

Universal internet service, which both McCain and Obama support is, in
my opinion, a bad idea, but McCain's suggestion of having government
take over the ISPs is just ridiculous.

It's funny that a candidate so against immigration in any form would
support additional H1-B Visas. Having worked with a number of H1-B
visa holders, I can tell you that they're not all that helpful in
spurring on innovation, they're mostly helpful in wasting money.
However, that's a lesson that the government shouldn't be protecting
us from.

On every single point, McCain's tech plan fails for the Linux community.

-Fred