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Monday, August 20, 2012

Tech What Do You Think: Is Disney Declaring War on Open Source Code Via Annoying Child Actors?

Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 4:42 PM

A truly terrible Disney sitcom called Shake It Up included a throwaway line suggesting that open source code has viruses in it. Now some on Reddit think Disney is trying to discourage future generations from using or developing open source code. BetaBeat says:

But why would Disney want kids to think that open source is evil? The hope that they’ll grow up believing in patents and copyright and thus not illegally download episodes of Shake It Up seems like a rather tenuous argument.

More than likely, the writers of the show just had no idea what “open source” actually means. It’s a buzzword that, when uttered by a nerdy-looking little kid, sounds like believable computer speak.

Here's the video:

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Comments (15) RSS

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People are freaking out about stupid shit on Reddit?!

Posted by Zebes

on August 20, 2012 at 4:48 PM

Where's the "who could possibly give a fuck" option

Posted by Reader01 on August 20, 2012 at 4:59 PM

There was lots of discussion of this on Boing Boing. One commenter referenced Walt Disney Animation Studios' open source page, which begins as follows:

Open Source Software has a special meaning for Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS). The Studio has a deep history of technological innovation, ranging from pioneering the use of digital methods for creating hand-drawn animation using the Academy Award® winning software, CAPS, to developing 3D painting and rendering techniques in Deep Canvas, also Academy Award® winning software. Through the years, the Studio has continued to innovate in all aspects of creating animated works. As the state of the industry has changed, allowing Open Source Software to become a common foundation for many technologies, WDAS has championed the use of and now contributes to such software. In short, we want to contribute back to the community; therefore, we have established this platform. We encourage you to investigate and use the technologies we are sharing. We also very much welcome your collaboration and contribution in these areas.

It goes on to describe and link to Ptex, BRDF Explorer, SeExpr, Reposado, Partio, Munki, and Dynamica.

Posted by Phil M

on August 20, 2012 at 5:06 PM

Hide virus... in open source?

That's like attempting to hide soldiers inside a plexiglass trojan horse.

Posted by Westlake, son! on August 20, 2012 at 5:30 PM

These polls just keep getting more and more inane...

Posted by bigyaz on August 20, 2012 at 5:30 PM

Open Source ftw!

Posted by Will in Seattle

on August 20, 2012 at 5:33 PM

Now you're worrying about this?

How about last year, when during "Hurricane Irene", nearly 95 percent of US Representatives and Senators plus your favorite President, rushed a complete ideological revision to our patent system through in order that we could be "more like other countries".

The big difference is that we now recognize First to Patent over First to Create.

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on August 20, 2012 at 5:34 PM

Now, if you told me Disney was moving to Sqrrl ...

Posted by Will in Seattle

on August 20, 2012 at 5:43 PM

@5
118 and counting...more and more inane.... is good....the kids love it

Posted by dnt trust me on August 20, 2012 at 5:53 PM

It was a stupid joke in a stupid show that means nothing and this is a stupid slog post.

Sorry.

Posted by michael bell on August 20, 2012 at 5:58 PM

Good job, Redditors! Now go through all of Star Trek and parse what kind of conspiracies they're revealing about the synaptic inductors and trilithium crystals.

Posted by Andy on August 20, 2012 at 7:10 PM

I think anyone who can give me an correct definition of open source vs. closed source software is smart enough not to be profoundly influenced by a single line from a shitty Disney show.

Posted by Swearengen on August 20, 2012 at 7:28 PM

I am a software developer who currently makes his living managing a website dedicated to open source software components for the iPhone (a closed-source platform, in contrast to, say, Android). (http://www.cocoacontrols.com in case you're curious.)

This is fucking stupid. Next story please.

Posted by aaronbrethorst

on August 20, 2012 at 10:27 PM

@4 FTW. I hate when shows featuring science-y or technical-ish things are written by idiots. How much could it cost to pay some random nerd to be their tech-speak advisor?

Posted by Brooklyn Reader on August 21, 2012 at 2:46 AM

Gee, either everyone in here is an elitist douchegeek who knows exactly what open source is and assumes everyone else in the world (or at least in their techno-hipster clique) knows what it is, or they have no notion of people who don't know what open source means but will recognize those two words when displayed on a software's download page and will associate the terms with whatever half-baked / bullshit pop-culture references they last heard them from.

People who don't know what open source is will now think that it means "virus laden", and avoid it, thus continuing to prop up closed-source bugware/bloatware/rootkits/spyware/ripoffware, perpetuate demand for it, and lead to its greater dominance pushing out open-source options.

And God forbid a congressman watch this show with their trust fund kids and decide that the best thing for his political career is to find a Great Evil to singlehandedly outlaw, and choose the menace of virus-laden open source software to be it.

Of course, that won't happen, because the people that make decisions in this world are all North Seattle / Bel-red technoyuppies. And stuff.

Posted by K on August 21, 2012 at 1:34 PM