Grumble ...

Hi Folks,

A Grumble ...

The message I just sent to R-help about "The hidden costs of GPL ..."
has evoked a "Challenge" response:

  Hi,
  You??ve just sent a message to diagnosticando at uol.com.br
  In order to confirm the sent message, please click here

  This confirmation is necessary because diagnosticando at uol.com.br
  uses Antispam UOL, a service that avoids unwanted messages like
  advertising, pornography, viruses, and spams.

  Other messages sent to diagnosticando at uol.com.br won't need to
  be confirmed*.
  *If you receive another confirmation request, please ask
  diagnosticando at uol.com.br to include you in his/her authorized
  e-mail list.

I won't be responding to this. Let the recipient simply not receive
the mail. Of no great importance in this case, but a disadvantage
to the recipient in the long run.

I disapprove strongly of this mechanism, and want to oppose it.
There must be a few thousand subscribers to R-help. If the
"Challenge" mechanism became widespread, then I would receive
thousands of such messages. Rather than respond to all these,
I would quit the list (and of course probably many others).
The "Challenge" mechanism would destroy the mailing-list community
if it became widely adopted.

One reason I am posting this grumble to R-help is in the hope
that I get a challenge to this one too. In that case, once and
for all, I shall respond, so that the recipient will see this
message and (I hope) do something about it, to eliminate the
"Challenge" responder (I can't find the true recipient's
email address from the "Challenge").

The recipient may be able to recognise themselves from the
fact that they receive this message but not the message which
triggered the response, which began:
=======================================

Off hand, the costs of GPL'd software are not hidden at all.
R for instance demands that a would be user sit down and
learn the language. This in turn pushes a user into learning
more about statistics than the simple overview that Stat 1
presents a student.

I'd see this as less a cost than a benefit!
=======================================

My apologies for bothering you with this if you didn't want to
know about it.

Best wishes to all,
Ted.


--------------------------------------------------------------------
E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding at nessie.mcc.ac.uk>
Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861  [NB: New number!]
Date: 24-Nov-04                                       Time: 10:36:35
------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------