The ever buisy leaders

The way the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has instructed its members has gradually changed and expanded though time. At first the prophet directly taught everyone. As the church grew the prophet could only visit the members from time to time, which grew less frequent as the number of people steadily increased. Technology evolved and the church could send images of the prophet and apostles all over the world through television and the internet. For some, these broadcasts are the only chance to see the leaders of the church. L Tom Perry's article "Thou Shalt Give Heed unto All His Words", and Lubeck's "The Church and Computers: Using Tools the Lord has Provided" really show how pervasive technology has become in disseminating the word of the Lord to his followers. And only through the continued wise use of technology will members be able to interact with their leaders.

Finding the Middle Ground

Revolution OS discusses the development of open source software, more particularly Linux, from the perspective of the open source community. They depict Microsoft as the big bad guy, when this wasn’t the case. Microsoft tried to protect their investments, their programs, and did so by locking down their code and copywriting it. The open sources thought all code should be shared so it can be improved. However they also lock down their code: they made a licensing agreement that could be used to charge people for what they use. This is the same that Microsoft was doing. The only difference was the availability of the source code. So rather than what Microsoft was doing being inherently evil, it went too far. They brought up the analogy in the movie of bringing snacks to school, yet use it in a distorted way. When kids go to school and take a snack the teacher would say I hope you brought enough for everyone and require the kid to share it. Now the kid isn’t giving out the recipe for the snack, nor is he taking more from the store without buying them; he is sharing the one version he had bought. This would be like bringing Windows in on a machine and letting everyone play on that machine and use Windows. Not giving out copies of Windows. So where do you draw the line.  By letting people have the source code they may take it, copy it and redistribute it without paying, but they can then find errors and improve upon the program they have to fill the needs they have.

Helping Too Late

The inability of state and federal agencies to act is highlighted in "the Cuckoo's Egg" by Cliff Stoll. They agreed that the guy's position was just, but they couldn't help him, either it was out of their jurisdiction or not worth their time. At least they believe this. Sometimes part of the solution would fall under one agency but they don't believe they have the power to act. The early members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints faced a similar issue when trying to gain redress for religious persecution. "When approached by Joseph Smith in 1839 seeking financial redress for the injustices suffered by the Saints in Missouri, President Martin Van Buren replied, "Gentlemen, your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you." Documentary History of the Church, 4:80" (obtained from lds.org).  Yet years later the president makes a decision to free the slaves, something not backed by the constitution, though equally right and unpopular. We are so focused on not being the one to set a precedent for extending power to the government, that we will sometimes let injustices go on for years.