It never ceases to amaze me, perhaps because I’m learning-impaired, that people continue to try to rip off Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and then sell it as proprietary commercial software. Is there some alternate universe in which this is clever? Or is it really possible to be so completely devoid of any semblance of ethics, to the point where you actually believe this is OK?
Well, in a delightful cautionary tale involving CherryOS hotpants, borrowed Porsches (shades of Magnum, P.I. - even a lovely Hawaiian setting), painted nipples, mysterious Ukrainian hosts, annoyed Pakistani CEOs, and a whole lot of rather pathetic lies and deceipt, Drunken Batman nails the offenders’ bodies to the city walls.
[Eschewing almost all of the "where-have-I-been" crap in favor of just starting up again, I say...] Jim Geraghty at the increasingly-inaptly-named Kerry Spot has precisely nailed my discontent with George Lucas, and by now the entire SW franchise. Excerpts:
…I can’t be the only one who finds a stunning disconnect between the messages of Lucas’ films and the decisions he’s actually made in his life and work. [...] Let me get this straight. [...] I’m being warned about the dangers of capitalism from a man who made perhaps more money from merchandising than any other man in history. I’m getting lectured about the dangers of greed from man who authorized, “C-3POs” breakfast cereal, “The Star Wars Christmas Special” featuring Bea Arthur’s musical number, and not one but two Ewoks made-for-TV movies.
Ouch. More:
Technology is bad, soulless, dangerous, and dehumanizing. Mmm-hmm. This from a man who replaced a tall man in a hairy suit, a projecting the human-eyed loyalty and sadness of Chewbacca, with the CGI cinematic war crime that is Jar-Jar Binks.
Or
I’m being warned about the dangers of a “you’re either with me or against me” attitude, and the viewing of the world in a black and white morality, from a filmmaker who has his villain dress entirely in black, choke the life out of helpless pilots, and blows up entire planets. This from a man whose nuanced moral view required an edit to make Greedo shoot first.
[Insert witty close here that won't sound vapid and pointless following JG's inspired skewerings] [As soon as I think of one.]
