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Samsung Acquires Joyent

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Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#141
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point being that Samsung give a shit about contributing to open-source projects at all.

They are legally bound to contribute their modifications back to Linux (if they distribute them), it may be a different matter when they don't have to. I can't say I know either way, however I do recall their Tizen SDK licensing not being accepted as open source due to it only granting the right to use certain components on 'Tizen Certified Platforms'.

No.. they are obliged to provide the source... not contribute them back. (Although the cost of maintaining patches internally, makes it cheaper to contribute them back)

Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#142
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having worked in a Samsung office for enough time to have an informed opinion, I can emphatically say that the "hardware focused history" has nothing to do with their lacking on the software front. They have some amazing engineers (especially at HQ in Korea), but the main obstacles are partly Korean culture in general (especially as it pertains to engineers) and partly the management practices of the company. The bes…

> They have some amazing engineers (especially at HQ in Korea), but the main obstacles are partly Korean culture in general (especially as it pertains to engineers) and partly the management practices of the company. Can you explain the cultural aspects (and management shortcomings) in more detail for those of us who haven't experienced Korea? Thanks.

It's been a while since I was there but as a lowly US Army Private stationed there and working closely with Koreans old and young as an ambulance driver, there are a few things I still remember clearly.

Basic courtesy and being polite are pretty much universal, so try to be humble and keep an open mind and observe. Older people often are more experienced and savvy about how to handle something so being deferential to them is a no-brainer. You'll spot the incompetent ones soon enough and so continue being polite but ignoring their guidance.

One thing that drove me nuts but took a little while to figure out was that people would almost never say no to a request. I would ask if something was possible and they would pretty much always say yes, not wanting to disappoint, but I would have been better off hearing a 'no, sorry'. I wanted a realistic answer and theirs were often far too optimistic.

Me: "Mr Son, can we make it to Osan in 30 minutes?"

Him: "Yes" (always yes)

An hour later we show up late to another hospital with a very impatient air crew idling and waiting for our patient transfer. We would have all been better off hearing a "No, it takes an hour". Just one small example but this scenario repeated frequently.

I learned that when speaking to a group or doing a presentation it was customary to apologize for your inexperience on the subject and promise to do your best. Tim Berners-Lee could start a talk with "I'm sorry I don't know much about the World Wide Web..." for example and Westerners would laugh but the locals would be like "He's off to a good start".

Understanding this helped me get more realistic answers though. Even if I thought I knew an answer I would keep the question more open-ended to solicit a better response.

Me: "Mr Son, I'm sorry but I forget how long it takes to get to Osan, can you remember?" (said even after making the trip solo dozens of times in often difficult and stressful conditions).

Him: "Ah yes, there is new road construction halfway there so I'll teach you an alternate route to bypass it. We'll be there in about 40 minutes".

Had I not learned to ask a better question, I never would have learned his faster alternate route.

Korea was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed hanging out with the older Koreans who worked on our base, they were a constant source of good info once learned how to talk to them. I also had a 'ration card' entitling me to buy the occasional bottle of Crown Royal on base and give them, which always helped!

Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux has a specific amendment to the GPLv2 stating that it must always be distributed under the terms of the GPLv2, not the GPLv3 or any later version.

Honest question, how is anyone expected to keep up with all of this? Software licenses are not all that interesting to me, I just like making things, but now I have to also read pages and pages of legalize for every single dependency. I thought it would be good enough to know most mainstream licenses, but apparently Linux has a modified version of the GPLv2? I would never notice that, nor would I trust myself to even…

Just use BSD/MIT licensed things and you can stop worrying

Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know fascism is a political/economic system that advocates a nationalistic war focused culture and foreign policy, a military aristocracy and sort of mid-level command economy right? Which is to say literally nothing like any possible outcome of the GPL.

Actually the way you described it it sounds exactly like the GPL license reads. It even promises to preserve my freedom instead of taking it away.

Goodness, fascism at its worst, promising to preserve your freedom!

Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#145
post #93
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point being that Samsung give a shit about contributing to open-source projects at all.

The Samsung TV I got came with a pirated copy of linux, which is quite a feat (came with a copy of the GPL 3, which is a clear breach of the GPL 2 only license of linux).

About 3 years ago Samsung realised that they were having trouble understanding how to deal with free and open source software. They were actively recruiting people to help them improve on that area.

Source: I applied for the job. I didn't get it ;-)

Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#146

In case anyone's curious, I blogged about the backstory of the acquisition.[1] tl;dr: We at Joyent are elated, and we believe that this will be a huge win for our customers, for our technologies and for the communities that they serve! [1] https://www.joyent.com/blog/samsung-acquires-joyent-a-ctos-p...

Nice win. SaaS M&A so hot right now ;)

We use Joyent for nodejs microservices, chiefly any server side DOM manipulations (using jsdom), and it's been solid! Currently evaluating docker container management and will give Triton a go...

Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#147
post #103
post #74

Hey, maybe Joyent can finally afford to refund the people who supported it when it was textdrive and then went back on their word! Snarky I know but I'm still bitter about how it was all handled..

As a fellow early textdrive supporter, I'm pretty happy with the value I got out of the deal. I'm still using my free strongspace account 10ish years later. I think there was some email about a free hosting account I could theoretically use with some company, but I never looked into it. Honestly, textdrive's hosting was never really of a quality I could use in a professional context anyway. I understand some bitterne…

> I think there was some email about a free hosting account I could theoretically use with some company, but I never looked into it.

We were offered either one or three free years of hosting on a Joyent SmartMachine, depending on what your initial investment was. After this free trial, you would be converted to a regular customer.

Adding my voice to the bitter-parade. Joyent wouldn't be where they are today without us early bootstrap investors. It was basically a Kickstarter campaign before Kickstarter existed. Not only do I feel like I failed to receive my early investor benefits, but WORSE off was how the whole situation was handled. We had to beg and plead to get our data back. The company essentially went dark to all of their oldest, most loyal customers.

Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#148

Samsung is a typical asian electronics company (has a hardware focused history and very good at it, but doesn't understand or respect software). I'm so glad that node.js is not under Joyent control.

Having worked in a Samsung office for enough time to have an informed opinion, I can emphatically say that the "hardware focused history" has nothing to do with their lacking on the software front. They have some amazing engineers (especially at HQ in Korea), but the main obstacles are partly Korean culture in general (especially as it pertains to engineers) and partly the management practices of the company. The bes…

I've heard that too, I remember a story from a worker who said they put all the Engineers into a room and said they can't leave until an issue was fixed. Took them two days.

Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#149

Samsung is a typical asian electronics company (has a hardware focused history and very good at it, but doesn't understand or respect software). I'm so glad that node.js is not under Joyent control.

Having worked in a Samsung office for enough time to have an informed opinion, I can emphatically say that the "hardware focused history" has nothing to do with their lacking on the software front. They have some amazing engineers (especially at HQ in Korea), but the main obstacles are partly Korean culture in general (especially as it pertains to engineers) and partly the management practices of the company. The bes…

> Having worked in a Samsung office for enough time to have an informed opinion

That's Samsung proper. Not their incubator setup, which is different. Companies like Mapzen were bought by Samsung, but have a completely different culture.

Re: Samsung Acquires Joyent

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux has a specific amendment to the GPLv2 stating that it must always be distributed under the terms of the GPLv2, not the GPLv3 or any later version.

Honest question, how is anyone expected to keep up with all of this? Software licenses are not all that interesting to me, I just like making things, but now I have to also read pages and pages of legalize for every single dependency. I thought it would be good enough to know most mainstream licenses, but apparently Linux has a modified version of the GPLv2? I would never notice that, nor would I trust myself to even…

This is why I won't use any third party library that's not available under a MIT/BSD style license (and likewise, when I release source it's always under a very permissive license.) I hate wasting time trying to parse legalese and I hate being strongarmed by viral licenses, and I wouldn't inflict either on anyone else.
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