Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: Equivalence, Toilets, Hundredth
Screenshots to show the boss. Jim Hall writes: "The other day, I downloaded OpenOffice build 628C for Linux and for Windows. I use Red Hat Linux (7.1) at home, and I already use StarOffice (5.2) for my regular office needs. It works great. I think my main complaint with OpenOffice is the silly desktop. Other than that, I consider it a fully functional office suite that can replace my MS Office needs anytime.
I didn't see any cool OpenOffice screenshots, so I made my own of the text document program. I didn't do any (yet?) of the spreadsheet program, or presentation software. These were really captured for the benefit of my brother, but I'm posting them here so that others can see them."
When I was a boy, we didn't have "archives" ... jbrw writes "Occasionally complaints will pop up that the archives at groups.google.com aren't complete enough. Well, here's your chance to help. Google is conducting an archive hunt to find some CDs from the "NetNews CD Series" pre-dating 1995, to help fill out their archive. I'm sure there's a whole heap of useful information hidden away in there, so it would be nice if it was available for all. Google says they will pay a spotter's fee for any of the CDs they don't have yet. I imagine the /. crowd would be more impressed with some sort of custom t-shirt, but there you go..."
We've mentioned this before, but it looks like they're still looking, or at least haven't updated the page.
Pinch your salt well, folks. Sir_Real writes "The RIAA wants to re-establish the CPRM standard. It is also lobbying lawmakers to make the ISP responsible for content shared by the people they provide for. Sound Cards are being targetted also. If Ms. Rosen has her way, "Watermarked" content will not be rippable because of hardware protection implemented in the new cards. The Register has the full story."
My advice would be to take this one more as a thought experiment than anything else, though it would be interesting if some sort of substantiation emerges.
The site named after a game show noise hits a milestone. Zanthrax writes: "ZZZ Online just got their 100th edition out ! You should go see this site if you allready haven't. Lots of cool stuff on the site gets submitted to /. , Like their ornithopter story which was on a lot sooner than here on /."
Just good, clean, vicarious bathroom fun. random-nerds writes: "Following a suggestion from a Slashdot reader, we built and installed a display in our bathroom so all you crazy Int0rnet junkies can send us messages while we're in our bathroom. Now the MIT Bathroom Server is fun for the whole family. Check it out at http://neurosis.mit.edu/foo/"
There's something wrong there.
My favorite quote:
Or alternatively, consumers may simply start listening to bands from alternative labels that do most of their promoting with free music samples over the Internet. The fact of the matter is that the record labels are not nearly as useful as they were when distributing music meant putting vinyl records on shelves, and promoting it required convincing radio stations to give it air time.
I personally have steered clear of this whole MP3 craze. So I couldn't care less what happens. But history and simple economics would suggest that the time is ripe for alternatives to the current music distribution scheme.
If some legislation like this becomes law, what happens to hardware manufactured outside the US, for use outside the US? Are you guys gonna be making trips to Europe to buy non-crippled hardware or will economies of scale ensure that everyone gets copy-protecting hardware?
Sorry, but those open office screenshots look identical to Star Office 5.2 .. the only difference we can see is the title bar.
Isn't there anything wild and new that would convince me to try out the beta and dump Star Office 5.2??
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
The way how the RIAA is set up they could never make explicit comments about specific technologies. They can only make general comments about 'concerns on developments' and potentially use the IFPI to document potential solutions without rating them against each other....
There is no way that they could have a meeting like that, especially since all of them are lawyers that are very skilled at avoiding anti-trust problematic issues, neither would there be any way that a high-profile execs would join such a 'secret' meeting.
I mean why did the Register post this? Is it April Fool's day in some bizarre religious calendar?
Here's a log file!
If you celebrate Xmas, befriend me (538
As much as I hate to admit it, the one MS product that is pretty good at what it's supposed to do is Word (and to a lesser extent, the other office modules). I think it pretty much goes without saying that Office applications are also the primary thing holding Linux back in the so-called "desktop wars". I can't tell you how many times I hear people around me say, "well, I *would* use Linux, but I need Word docs, PowerPoint, blah blah blah...". :) Hopefully, it will suck *less* than the latest StarOffice, and then it'll be one substantial victory for Linux users everwhere.
I have tried using StarOffice on and off again pretty much since it was released to the general public. And each time, it sucks a little bit less. I'm going to give OpenOffice a shot tonight, and if I see a little "start menu" and a fake Windows-ish desktop, it's gonna be curtains.
"Quoting famous computer scientists out of context is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming." - K
I have already ripped most of my ~300 CDs to high-quality MP3. The server is mounted on all my computers around the house, so no matter where I am I can pull up my favorite music.
I certainly intend to boycott any CDs that have that ridiculous protection on them...not just because I can't MP3 them but because pretty much every CD player I own outside my car stereo (and that is even debatable) is actually a CD-ROM drive and probably won't play the disc anyways.
I wish the RIAA would wake up and smell the burning plastic. Hell, if I could pay for and download albums on-demand and they were in standard MP3 format I'd buy MORE than I do now, simply because of the convenience factor. Yes, people are going to trade songs no matter what you do; I think the solution is to just make it so CHEAP AND EASY to pay for the music legit that there isn't a whole lot of reason to get pirated copies. Something like emusic.com but with a decent selection.
You know I really resent the fact that the RIAA and MPAA automatically treats me as a criminal. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? The hundreds of CDs and DVDs in my possession should be ample proof that I'm willing to pay for what I use.
I just don't know folks. I am really starting to feel like my country has completely sold out.
The lines haven't crossed for photographies, but I'm sure that won't take too long.
Really? So I take it you've never heard of a scanner? Companies like have developed technologies like "digital watermarking" which makes embeds copyright information into photographs in such a way that they are not visible to the naked eye, but scanners and other copying devices will pick them up. Put into an application like Photoshop, this copyright information can be read, and information about the copyright owner can be displayed. If all image editing and viewing applications supported such technology, it would be possible to prevent copying and modifying these copyrighted images.
My journal has hot