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Re: [ba-ohs-talk] Apache's Plan 9


Jack Park wrote:    (01)

> http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2002/0918.plan9.html
> 
> "Microsoft's XML extensions form the basis for the Passport single 
> sign-on service but are fundamentally inconsistent with SGML principles. 
> In contrast, Plan 9's factotum authentication management offers an 
> elegant and effective open source alternative. "    (02)


 From the same source:    (03)

   "The dominance of the Apache toolset means that Microsoft won’t
    have the votes to enforce its approach over technologists’
    objections or in spite of customers’ legal risks.    (04)

    Open source [...] continues to gain ground as part of
    the solution. A rapid public win by factotum over Passport
    may be enough to flip attitudes in the mainstream press
    from near automatic approval of Microsoft press releases
    to due cynicism."    (05)

Only insofar as the source of their revenues changes markedly.
I'm myself pretty cynical about the general computing press.
That article was interesting but full of factual and editorial
mistakes, which is pretty typical.    (06)

But on the subject of the Plan 9 authentication management system,
one of the benefits will be that, as opposed to either Passport or
Liberty, Apache's will grow in popularity because it works. If
not, it won't ever get off the ground, since open source projects
live or die based on their quality and usability, not marketing
muscle.    (07)

Murray    (08)

......................................................................
Murray Altheim                  <http://kmi.open.ac.uk/people/murray/>
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK7 6AA, UK    (09)

      Stop the Bush-Cheney Reign of Terror:  no war in Iraq!
      2800 people dead in New York? 1 million in Iraq, about
      half a million of them children. Sanctions against Irag
      include vaccines and even chlorine -- end the sanctions!
      http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/MiddleEast/Iraq.asp    (010)