Saturday, February 18, 2006 I wanted to download the newest version of Oracle database, but their license terms really pissed me off, so I gave up, sticking to MySQL. The first two items read, - You are not a citizen, national, or resident of, and are not under control of, the government of Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Libya, North Korea, Syria, nor any country to which the United States has prohibited export. - You will not download or otherwise export or re-export the Programs, directly or indirectly, to the above mentioned countries nor to citizens, nationals or residents of those countries. The first thought crossed my mind on reading this is unfriendly to the America people, against my principle either. Neither have I anything to do with those countries, nor do I like any of them. I don’t have much knowledge of them, but I do know a little about North Korea. No need to judge its father-me-son dictatorship. I remember when I was a child, about 10 years ago, I visited a border city. I was wandering around with daddy and then across the river, armed soldiers bumped into my eyes. I wondered why they guarded this border so seriously, for we even didn’t have a troop on our side. Later, I learned that it’s for preventing their citizens from escaping to our country, for the river isn’t wide and anyone could swim can cross it. And sometimes our government won’t send them back because they’ll receive unhuman punishment. I’m sure their conditions have been improved a lot. And its citizens are allowed to use cell phones now. The words above are not for telling my dislike of them. It’s the unfortunate truth, which is used by some politicians to achieve their dirty goals. Sure, a politician should do his best for his country, even through dirty means. I mean, if you assassinate the leader of a hostile country, it’s ok. If you fight a war with them, it’s ok. But, there is a boundary. You should not target the innocent citizens. The best way to destroy a country is not by military, but to destroy its economy and to destroy its ability to develop. So there are embargos, there are sanctions. But it’s their people that suffer. You see, they are not allowed to use a database system! What’s your purpose? You wanna keep them at a low productivity. So they keep undemocratic and you still have your excuse. For I tell you, it’s my theory, that how a country democratically developed is mainly depend on how it economically developed. A poor country won’t have a solid democracy, it won’t stand turbulence. You can’t expect most people, though there are some, to fight for democracy when they are still unsuccessfully fighting for their daily bread. Under this circumstance, when a dictator comes, with the ability to help them with their bread, it’s understandable he get wide support. Remember, this is how Hitler got his support. I know I’m sounding cynical and bloodcurdling. But I’ve talked with people from America, from Europe, from Japan; all are friendly and peace-lover. How come that they’re more than cruel when they become a leader? Lost in the static of statistics. Which is worse, immoral or amoral?
I have installed Oracle 10g and a few of us laughed when we read the statement "you will not use our product for international terrorism". First of all how powerful do Oracle perceive their database to be. As good as it is it cannot be used to set off bombs or nuke people. Secondly if you are Osama and your sat in a cave with your laptop and you are thinking of loading Oracle onto the machine and you read the statement "You will not use this software for international terrorism" would you a) Install the software anyway b) say "Best not agree to those conditions" and not install the product. Its as bad as companies like Sony creating DVD writers and then putting on the packaging "this product must not be used to copy commercial films". Why the fuck else would you buy a DVD writer.
