Robots Take Cars Hostage

Can't get your car? Try rebooting It amazes me that some folks have zero understanding of how we relate to software, technology, and it's creators. The robot that parks cars at the Garden Street Garage in Hoboken, New Jersey, trapped hundreds of its wards last week for several days. But it wasn't the technology car owners had to curse, it was the terms of a software license. The garage is owned by the city; the software, by Robotic Parking of Clearwater, Florida. In the course of a contract dispute, the city of Hoboken had police escort the Robotic employees from the premises just a few days before the contract between both parties was set to expire. What the city didn't understand or perhaps concern itself with, is that they sent the company packing with its manuals and the intellectual property rights to the software that made the giant robotic parking structure work. Tags:software Robot Garage

I shall suck-it-up no more

I have begun the conversion from standard, closed source, payware to open-source shareware and freeware. My hesitation had been based on concerns about reading certain documents and media, but I was simply wasting my time with that. I've found a reader for PDFs, and Democracy Player for all media EXCEPT Real Media. Given that I don't have an RM player installed at the moment, and have not felt any particular loss for it, I am unworried. Actually, Democracy Player may be way more than I need, but its fun and fine for now. Open Office, of course, is next. I contemplated Linux, and may still dual boot to it, but I need to make sure I have a Windows system for work (yes, yes, it would probably be fine in Linux, but I try not to muck with that which makes me monies) Tags:software freeware shareware open-source