"...which also managed to obtain a copy of the draft Digital Agenda (DOC). It's currently supportive of both open source and open standards — but for how much longer?"
Why am I even surprised that the agenda is in MS-Word's old binary file format? Maybe they're just supportive of open standards for other people, or for hypothetical people in a hypothetical world, perhaps.
"show us the patents" is probably off base too, because the patents are right here. [link to MPEGLA]
While it's possible that one of the patents listed on the MPEG website is what Mr. Horn is talking about, note that he only said that they (which I read as an official stance of the MPEG-LA) believe that some patent holders (which may be one of the MPEG partner groups) hold patents that Ogg infringes:
Ozer: It sounds like you are saying that some of your patent holders own patents that are used in Ogg. Is that correct?
Horn: We believe that there are patent holders who do.
He was about as vague as possible there. Talk about FUDmongering.
They almost certainly don't have any responsibilities (or freedom to talk about the situation)
Sure, the constituent companies may keep him on a short leash, but he can't be stupid enough to believe that making vague statements about Ogg infringing patents isn't going to cast doubt on the use of Ogg, right?
I mean if he just said "I can't legally talk about Ogg," or "I won't talk about Ogg because I can only talk about some aspects but not others," then at least he'd have a leg to stand on. He would have drawn a line about what he would talk about so that he wasn't in a position of bashing "the other guy's formats."
But that's not what he did. He opened his mouth and made a comment about Ogg being infringing. And then later he (with the MPEG-LA) replied with "no comment". It just sounds like he's running away and hiding under the coattails of his organization.
According to the article here, MPEG LA CEO Larry Horn said this (emphasis mine):
In addition, no one in the market should be under the misimpression that other codecs such as Theora are patent-free. Virtually all codecs are based on patented technology, and many of the essential patents may be the same as those that are essential to AVC/H.264. Therefore, users should be aware that a license and payment of applicable royalties is likely required to use these technologies developed by others, too.
When asked directly about the MPEG patent holders:
Ozer: It sounds like you are saying that some of your patent holders own patents that are used in Ogg. Is that correct?
Horn: We believe that there are patent holders who do.
Okay, Horn: Who are the patent holders and what the patent numbers?
Ozer: It sounds like you’ll be coming out and basically saying that to use Ogg, you need to license it from MPEG LA. Is that correct?
Horn: That is not what we said. We said no one in the market should be under the misimpression that other codecs such as Theora are patent-free.
Ummmm... You're just spreading FUD and trying to be coy about it. But you just look like a smarmy used-car salesman. I call bullshit.
I have a good deal of respect for people like Monty who get this kind of shit thrown at them day-in and day-out from whatever weak-willed, money-over-morals, cardboard-cutout figurehead the MPEG-LA props up today to go and do their dirty work.
Mr. Horn, your arguments are hollow and your acts of fear-mongering are unbecoming of any man. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call your actions reprehensible had you not graduated from Yale and then gone on to get a J.D. from Columbia. I mean, honestly, is the quantity of cash they're throwing at you so large that you can pile it on top of your morals like steel weights in a flower press, keeping your inner sense of honor pressed down so it doesn't jump up and kick your ass for being a manipulative and deceitful businessman?
even staying with Evil H.264, the video-tag/HTML5 is still a huge moral win over Evil Proprietary Flash.
I agree that using the video tag would be preferable to using Flash, at least for just an online movie player (ala YouTube), but I largely believe in taking a multi-pronged approach here.
First, there's a huge quantity of Flash content out there and people developing using Flash. Free Software enthusiasts can't even play that stuff unless they have some kind of tool, and that's why stuff like Gnash and Lightspark must be important parts of our overall roadmap.
For web video we need to start pushing the video tag in conjunction with free formats. Ogg Theora is one possibility, trying to get Google to open the vp8 codec for YouTube is another. I think that there's still a hope (small, but possible) to get widespread support for Ogg Theora alongside widespread support for H.264.
And of course there's the software patent front: We need to chug forward and get the courts (or legislature, if necessary) to get rid of software patents once and for all. Getting rid of software patents would make codec support possible for thing such as H.264, mp3, Sorenson Spark, and vp6, and would remove the threat of shakedowns from companies like Microsoft for things like the FAT patents.
We need to push forward on all of these fronts if we want to make real progress towards our twin goals of free and open formats on the web and the ability for FOSS browsers to implement all relevant technologies without fear of patent litigation.
"My plan is to have each room connected to a 6-outlet power strip which powers all the devices in that room (each kill-a-watt can measure up to 15A, or about 1800W, which is plenty!). That way I can track room-by-room usage, for example "kitchen", "bedroom", "workbench", and "office"."
But when I got to the wiktionary.org main page I didn't see any kind of note or warning.
Couldn't they have at least put up some kind of warning box, hopefully with a list of IP addresses underneath so that one could directly access the services when in dire need?
. . . . .
(I'm not really sure what constitutes "dire need" of wikimedia services, but I'm sure someone can come up with a list of relevant circumstances)
there are a lot of parents that don't want naked pictures of their perfect child floating around the school...the state doesn't want to look like they're soft on crime.
If the naked pictures are, in fact, perfect, wouldn't the state be more worried about looking like they're getting hard on crime?
When I was a teen we sent back and forth nude pictures of ourself with my girlfriend, and I suspect many others did too.
So she really got around, eh?
Much funnier with that part left in...
Re:Sounds rather disappointing, really
on
Hollow Spy Coins
·
· Score: 1
Use red paint to mark a clear X on all your spy coins.
Does anyone know how to get red paint off of coins really, really quickly?
I've tried to follow your instructions on using red paint to mark all 5 of my spy coins, and every time I do it the "X" comes out red, not clear.
My handler is going to be super upset that I just ruined a bunch of his spy swag. I'm supposed to drop off some ACURA... ATCA.. some kind of international treaty stuff to my contact tonight and all of my coins looks like I got them from Freddy Krueger.
Is there some kind of special trick to how you paint them?
My friend got a new cell phone number and he gets constant calls from collection agencies because the previous holder of the number owed money.
1. Ask the collection agency for their name, and ask for the name of the person calling. Now you can ID them. 2. Inform the collection agency that the number no longer belongs to that party, and that you do not wish to use any of their services or have any further business relationship with them. Notify them that future communications from them will be regarded as harassment and they will be taken to (small claims?) court.
Obviously you'll have to take this step for each one of the different agencies, but keep good records. I believe that a sympathetic judge would rule in your favor, and with any luck you have the treble-damages thing, so you'll get good money back from them. Given that they approached you and are taking up your time with this crap, I'd bill them a reasonable consultant fee for semi-skilled labor, say, $50/hour or so, billed in increments of half an hour (and yes, I'd count every phone message they leave on your answering machine).
So if a given agency calls 3-4 times in one month, that's 1st call -> you notify them ($0 fee) 2nd call -> notify again ($25) 3rd call -> notify ($50) 4th call -> notify ($75).
If you have treble damages, that would come out to 3 * $75 = $225. They'll probably stop calling after that...
People are dying all the time. Heck, you might even be able to get away with something that isn't a finger, like a rubbery mold made from someone else's finger.
Get the finger-like tool, then use it to clock-in and clock-out. If you ever need to be AFO (that's Away From Office), just hand the finger-like tool to your buddy at work and take off. Of course, if your manager is actually a human being you can probably just talk to them and change around the hours you work in the day so you can get your appointments and other stuff done while also completing your work.
Also, in related news: (try to) Get a different job. Preferably one that doesn't make you give them biometric data, implant an RFID chip in your bicep, etc...
Hmmmm.... yes, I must agree with the_linux_geek. My first glance at the article didn't raise (m)any red flags in my brain, perhaps because I was reading a book review on Slashdot. Upon further examination, I found several problems with the article. Some sentences were potentially grammatically acceptable, but didn't flow right off my tongue -- you know, the way that large carpets sometimes have a bit of a hernia in the middle, and no matter how many times you roll over them with the vacuum cleaner, you just can't get them to flatten out. Both the carpet hernia and these sentences are just waiting to trip you up.
Here are some of the sentences that did not pass muster in my book, and you know this guy really seems to enjoy run-on sentences however we should perhaps cut him a bit of slack, the editors of the article however should have a serious talking to.:-)
Notable things that were missing from the book were any kind of use of Blender Compositing features, while this is surprising given the aim of the book, there was really no choice given the page count.
Now it is important to point out that I am not blaming Mr Brito for the grammar issue, the editors of the book however should have a serious talking to.
I bought the ebook version and that is what I am using to base this review on, this caused me a slight problem because the ebook mentioned some resources and graphics that were available to download from the Packt site, however on going to site the resources are not available for download
Notable things that were missing from the book were any kind of use of Blender Compositing features, while this is surprising given the aim of the book, there was really no choice given the page count.
You won't be a Yaf(a)Ray or LuxRender guru but it gives enough to get you going.
I am a Linux Fedora user and had to compile my version of the Renders from source and the book does not cover this, so if you in this position you are out of luck.
I was recently worried they'd both wither on the vine trying to compete against Android and filling almost exactly the same space.
I've been especially excited about the fact that the n900 runs what roughly amounts to Debian inside. Google's neutering of key parts of the Linux kernel and subsystems really put a damper on people hacking on those internals of Android or porting existing software to the mobile OS.
Especially if they stay with the mainline kernel, which Google isn't interested in doing
It was quite disheartening for Google to make that choice. Google's decision was probably based on some kind of cheapest-bang-for-the-buck calculation, but the funny thing is that Google often goes the extra mile, such as their Data Liberation Front team that helps people migrate data out of Google services. By segregating the Android OS from mainline kernel development Google has shot themselves in the foot. Maybe hardware vendors will see this as well and choose another OS, such as MeeGo, for their future phones.
This bit is very encouraging:
MeeGo also means compatibility and full compliance with leading open source projects. We will not fork projects if we can possibly avoid it. We will work with leading open source projects using the open source best practices.
As a final parting shot, I have the most experience with Debian and Ubuntu system, so I would have preferred that they choose apt and.debs over yum and.rpms, but certainly more important than the package manager is the hope that they'll continue to maintain a free and open system.
But not really any more. Mostly I'm a Git guy now. It's just so much easier. It's just so stupid-easy to use.
Hope they get on the subversive's case for having that little red book. Subversive red beans. I heard they even put a bean on the cover, and I know that one. Yup. Shure do. That's the symbol when they're trying to be all racialist on the Mexicans.
Good thing I don't have to register with the state. Too much trouble, anyhow.
I had to do some network analysis last year to try to track down the source of massive overload on our firewall. The domain 1e100.net came up a few times, and it took me a second before I figured out the clever naming choice.
I guess I never thought that the name was a big enough deal to be worthy of a whole Slashdot story.
Here, let me go dig up the Ubuntu motto or whatever you're calling it now.
The Ubuntu promise
Ubuntu will always be free of charge, along with its regular enterprise releases and security updates...Ubuntu core applications are all free and open source. We want you to use free and open source software, improve it and pass it on.
So they took a Free Software application out and replace it with a non-Free application from Google. What a great idea!
Although an office suite isn't necessary for one to run Ubuntu, being able to create and consume office documents is admittedly a very common task. Making UNR able to interoperate "right out of the box" seems like a very high priority.
Bradley Kuhn was spot-on when he recently said "It seems clear that one of Canonical's top goals is to convince every Ubuntu user to rely regularly on new proprietary software and services". Bradley's solution to the problem? Go back to Debian.
My experience with Ubuntu has been, on the whole, a rather pleasant one, so I wish that Ubuntu would find a better solution to this problem. OOo might take up a certain amount of space on netbooks, sure, so perhaps they should install a stripped-down package that doesn't install extra fonts until you need them. Or maybe just prompt the user during the install, letting them know how much space OOo will take up?
I've been willing to deal with non-free drivers and binary blobs in the past, as that has sometimes been the only way to get key parts of my system up and running. But when the only limitation to using a completely Free program is a few hundred MB of disk space, in nearly all cases one could (and should) just get a little more disk.
One might not be sued for patent infringement for modifying the single copy of the software on their phone, but their freedom to share the software running on it (as I mentioned above) may be enjoined by patent holders, especially if the "infringing" changes are picked up and used by large numbers of other people.
I did not even know that a saddle/vibrator with that name existed, before I read your post.
Just think how much easier it would be if the company had called themselves "Saddle plus Vibrator", "Saddle-ator", or "Vibraddle". Heck, I think we'd still get the picture if they were "Unicorn (Uniporn?) Saddles, Unlimited".
And so do, I guess, 99.999% of the population. ^^
So sad... maybe people would be happier if they knew about it.
According to the FAQ you can now get all the source and can (at least theoretically) build the OS and various applications. Groovy.
Setting aside the fact that just building all of the pieces is complicated (see the FAQ), and also setting aside the fact that many phones will refuse to run homemade, un-signed builds, you might run into issues with patents:
Q: Is any of this code covered by patents? Can I get patent licenses from the Symbian Foundation? A: Yes, some of the code implements techniques and ideas which may have been patented. Becoming a member of the Symbian Foundation entitles you to certain patent licences from other members as set out in our patent policy. For further information, please contact info@symbian.org.
Having the source under an open license is just one step on the path to personal control over your phone and freedom to use, share, and modify the software running on it.
...according to the article his code only supports the SWF 1.0 format, and he's currently working on adding support for the SWF 2.0 file format.
Adobe Flash 1 and Flash 2 (which I'm going to guess might roughly line up with SWF 1.0 and 2.0), were released in 1996 and 1997, respectively. As in, over a decade ago.
Much larger, more long-term projects like Gnash have been working on completing a compliant Flash client for several years and still don't have support through Flash 8, 9, and 10. It's apparently a lot of work to support all of the different pieces of Flash, especially as it turns out that the SWF spec has been completely overhauled several times over the past decade, resulting in wide differences between things like ActionScript 1, 2, and 3.
So while I wish this effort all the best, it would require a lot of time/energy/talent to make this client have the coverage necessary for, say, internet video sites to work.
Computers are supposed to make life easier. Leave it to the soul-suckers to design computers that actively fight against their owners.
Whatever you do, please don't let these people team up with the military divisions of iRobot or Foster-Miller. The end result of robots + guns + don't trust owners could be deleterious to our health.
Slashdot Mirror
"...which also managed to obtain a copy of the draft Digital Agenda (DOC). It's currently supportive of both open source and open standards — but for how much longer?"
Why am I even surprised that the agenda is in MS-Word's old binary file format? Maybe they're just supportive of open standards for other people, or for hypothetical people in a hypothetical world, perhaps.
"show us the patents" is probably off base too, because the patents are right here. [link to MPEGLA]
While it's possible that one of the patents listed on the MPEG website is what Mr. Horn is talking about, note that he only said that they (which I read as an official stance of the MPEG-LA) believe that some patent holders (which may be one of the MPEG partner groups) hold patents that Ogg infringes:
Ozer: It sounds like you are saying that some of your patent holders own patents that are used in Ogg. Is that correct?
Horn: We believe that there are patent holders who do.
He was about as vague as possible there. Talk about FUDmongering.
They almost certainly don't have any responsibilities (or freedom to talk about the situation)
Sure, the constituent companies may keep him on a short leash, but he can't be stupid enough to believe that making vague statements about Ogg infringing patents isn't going to cast doubt on the use of Ogg, right?
I mean if he just said "I can't legally talk about Ogg," or "I won't talk about Ogg because I can only talk about some aspects but not others," then at least he'd have a leg to stand on. He would have drawn a line about what he would talk about so that he wasn't in a position of bashing "the other guy's formats."
But that's not what he did. He opened his mouth and made a comment about Ogg being infringing. And then later he (with the MPEG-LA) replied with "no comment". It just sounds like he's running away and hiding under the coattails of his organization.
According to the article here, MPEG LA CEO Larry Horn said this (emphasis mine):
In addition, no one in the market should be under the misimpression that other codecs such as Theora are patent-free. Virtually all codecs are based on patented technology, and many of the essential patents may be the same as those that are essential to AVC/H.264. Therefore, users should be aware that a license and payment of applicable royalties is likely required to use these technologies developed by others, too.
When asked directly about the MPEG patent holders:
Ozer: It sounds like you are saying that some of your patent holders own patents that are used in Ogg. Is that correct?
Horn: We believe that there are patent holders who do.
Okay, Horn: Who are the patent holders and what the patent numbers?
Ozer: It sounds like you’ll be coming out and basically saying that to use Ogg, you need to license it from MPEG LA. Is that correct?
Horn: That is not what we said. We said no one in the market should be under the misimpression that other codecs such as Theora are patent-free.
Ummmm... You're just spreading FUD and trying to be coy about it. But you just look like a smarmy used-car salesman. I call bullshit.
I have a good deal of respect for people like Monty who get this kind of shit thrown at them day-in and day-out from whatever weak-willed, money-over-morals, cardboard-cutout figurehead the MPEG-LA props up today to go and do their dirty work.
Mr. Horn, your arguments are hollow and your acts of fear-mongering are unbecoming of any man. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call your actions reprehensible had you not graduated from Yale and then gone on to get a J.D. from Columbia. I mean, honestly, is the quantity of cash they're throwing at you so large that you can pile it on top of your morals like steel weights in a flower press, keeping your inner sense of honor pressed down so it doesn't jump up and kick your ass for being a manipulative and deceitful businessman?
Show us the patents or shut up.
even staying with Evil H.264, the video-tag/HTML5 is still a huge moral win over Evil Proprietary Flash.
I agree that using the video tag would be preferable to using Flash, at least for just an online movie player (ala YouTube), but I largely believe in taking a multi-pronged approach here.
First, there's a huge quantity of Flash content out there and people developing using Flash. Free Software enthusiasts can't even play that stuff unless they have some kind of tool, and that's why stuff like Gnash and Lightspark must be important parts of our overall roadmap.
For web video we need to start pushing the video tag in conjunction with free formats. Ogg Theora is one possibility, trying to get Google to open the vp8 codec for YouTube is another. I think that there's still a hope (small, but possible) to get widespread support for Ogg Theora alongside widespread support for H.264.
And of course there's the software patent front: We need to chug forward and get the courts (or legislature, if necessary) to get rid of software patents once and for all. Getting rid of software patents would make codec support possible for thing such as H.264, mp3, Sorenson Spark, and vp6, and would remove the threat of shakedowns from companies like Microsoft for things like the FAT patents.
We need to push forward on all of these fronts if we want to make real progress towards our twin goals of free and open formats on the web and the ability for FOSS browsers to implement all relevant technologies without fear of patent litigation.
http://www.ladyada.net/make/tweetawatt/
"My plan is to have each room connected to a 6-outlet power strip which powers all the devices in that room (each kill-a-watt can measure up to 15A, or about 1800W, which is plenty!). That way I can track room-by-room usage, for example "kitchen", "bedroom", "workbench", and "office"."
Get a kit with the guts of the project for $90 here (currently on back-order):
http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=32&products_id=143
Then you'll need a Kill-a-Watt meter (Get one from Amazon.com w/free shipping for $20).
You can have it upload data to pretty much any web service you want -- or just keep it in a local database, if that's how you roll.
But when I got to the wiktionary.org main page I didn't see any kind of note or warning.
Couldn't they have at least put up some kind of warning box, hopefully with a list of IP addresses underneath so that one could directly access the services when in dire need?
.
.
.
.
.
(I'm not really sure what constitutes "dire need" of wikimedia services, but I'm sure someone can come up with a list of relevant circumstances)
Several gigs seems a bit bloated for a text based browser
Yeah, well screens are bigger now, so the text on them is much bigger, and therefore so are the fonts...
This is why I tell my friends to choose computers with a smaller screen size.
there are a lot of parents that don't want naked pictures of their perfect child floating around the school...the state doesn't want to look like they're soft on crime.
If the naked pictures are, in fact, perfect, wouldn't the state be more worried about looking like they're getting hard on crime?
Did you accidentally clip the end of the quote?
When I was a teen we sent back and forth nude pictures of ourself with my girlfriend, and I suspect many others did too.
So she really got around, eh?
Much funnier with that part left in...
Use red paint to mark a clear X on all your spy coins.
Does anyone know how to get red paint off of coins really, really quickly?
I've tried to follow your instructions on using red paint to mark all 5 of my spy coins, and every time I do it the "X" comes out red, not clear.
My handler is going to be super upset that I just ruined a bunch of his spy swag. I'm supposed to drop off some ACURA... ATCA.. some kind of international treaty stuff to my contact tonight and all of my coins looks like I got them from Freddy Krueger.
Is there some kind of special trick to how you paint them?
My friend got a new cell phone number and he gets constant calls from collection agencies because the previous holder of the number owed money.
1. Ask the collection agency for their name, and ask for the name of the person calling.
Now you can ID them.
2. Inform the collection agency that the number no longer belongs to that party, and that you do not wish to use any of their services or have any further business relationship with them. Notify them that future communications from them will be regarded as harassment and they will be taken to (small claims?) court.
Obviously you'll have to take this step for each one of the different agencies, but keep good records. I believe that a sympathetic judge would rule in your favor, and with any luck you have the treble-damages thing, so you'll get good money back from them. Given that they approached you and are taking up your time with this crap, I'd bill them a reasonable consultant fee for semi-skilled labor, say, $50/hour or so, billed in increments of half an hour (and yes, I'd count every phone message they leave on your answering machine).
So if a given agency calls 3-4 times in one month, that's
1st call -> you notify them ($0 fee)
2nd call -> notify again ($25)
3rd call -> notify ($50)
4th call -> notify ($75).
If you have treble damages, that would come out to 3 * $75 = $225.
They'll probably stop calling after that...
People are dying all the time. Heck, you might even be able to get away with something that isn't a finger, like a rubbery mold made from someone else's finger.
Get the finger-like tool, then use it to clock-in and clock-out. If you ever need to be AFO (that's Away From Office), just hand the finger-like tool to your buddy at work and take off. Of course, if your manager is actually a human being you can probably just talk to them and change around the hours you work in the day so you can get your appointments and other stuff done while also completing your work.
Also, in related news: (try to) Get a different job. Preferably one that doesn't make you give them biometric data, implant an RFID chip in your bicep, etc...
Hmmmm.... yes, I must agree with the_linux_geek. My first glance at the article didn't raise (m)any red flags in my brain, perhaps because I was reading a book review on Slashdot. Upon further examination, I found several problems with the article. Some sentences were potentially grammatically acceptable, but didn't flow right off my tongue -- you know, the way that large carpets sometimes have a bit of a hernia in the middle, and no matter how many times you roll over them with the vacuum cleaner, you just can't get them to flatten out. Both the carpet hernia and these sentences are just waiting to trip you up.
Here are some of the sentences that did not pass muster in my book, and you know this guy really seems to enjoy run-on sentences however we should perhaps cut him a bit of slack, the editors of the article however should have a serious talking to. :-)
Notable things that were missing from the book were any kind of use of Blender Compositing features, while this is surprising given the aim of the book, there was really no choice given the page count.
Now it is important to point out that I am not blaming Mr Brito for the grammar issue, the editors of the book however should have a serious talking to.
I bought the ebook version and that is what I am using to base this review on, this caused me a slight problem because the ebook mentioned some resources and graphics that were available to download from the Packt site, however on going to site the resources are not available for download
Notable things that were missing from the book were any kind of use of Blender Compositing features, while this is surprising given the aim of the book, there was really no choice given the page count.
You won't be a Yaf(a)Ray or LuxRender guru but it gives enough to get you going.
I am a Linux Fedora user and had to compile my version of the Renders from source and the book does not cover this, so if you in this position you are out of luck.
let the sun shine...
the sun shine in.
I was recently worried they'd both wither on the vine trying to compete against Android and filling almost exactly the same space.
I've been especially excited about the fact that the n900 runs what roughly amounts to Debian inside. Google's neutering of key parts of the Linux kernel and subsystems really put a damper on people hacking on those internals of Android or porting existing software to the mobile OS.
Especially if they stay with the mainline kernel, which Google isn't interested in doing
It was quite disheartening for Google to make that choice. Google's decision was probably based on some kind of cheapest-bang-for-the-buck calculation, but the funny thing is that Google often goes the extra mile, such as their Data Liberation Front team that helps people migrate data out of Google services. By segregating the Android OS from mainline kernel development Google has shot themselves in the foot. Maybe hardware vendors will see this as well and choose another OS, such as MeeGo, for their future phones.
This bit is very encouraging:
MeeGo also means compatibility and full compliance with leading open source projects. We will not fork projects if we can possibly avoid it. We will work with leading open source projects using the open source best practices.
As a final parting shot, I have the most experience with Debian and Ubuntu system, so I would have preferred that they choose apt and .debs over yum and .rpms, but certainly more important than the package manager is the hope that they'll continue to maintain a free and open system.
Why is the title bar red?
Forced Evolution, duh!
Haven't you been paying attention?
But not really any more. Mostly I'm a Git guy now. It's just so much easier. It's just so stupid-easy to use.
Hope they get on the subversive's case for having that little red book. Subversive red beans. I heard they even put a bean on the cover, and I know that one. Yup. Shure do. That's the symbol when they're trying to be all racialist on the Mexicans.
Good thing I don't have to register with the state. Too much trouble, anyhow.
I had to do some network analysis last year to try to track down the source of massive overload on our firewall. The domain 1e100.net came up a few times, and it took me a second before I figured out the clever naming choice.
I guess I never thought that the name was a big enough deal to be worthy of a whole Slashdot story.
What the everlasting f*ck, guys?
Here, let me go dig up the Ubuntu motto or whatever you're calling it now.
The Ubuntu promise
Ubuntu will always be free of charge, along with its regular enterprise releases and security updates...Ubuntu core applications are all free and open source. We want you to use free and open source software, improve it and pass it on.
So they took a Free Software application out and replace it with a non-Free application from Google. What a great idea!
Although an office suite isn't necessary for one to run Ubuntu, being able to create and consume office documents is admittedly a very common task. Making UNR able to interoperate "right out of the box" seems like a very high priority.
Bradley Kuhn was spot-on when he recently said "It seems clear that one of Canonical's top goals is to convince every Ubuntu user to rely regularly on new proprietary software and services". Bradley's solution to the problem? Go back to Debian.
My experience with Ubuntu has been, on the whole, a rather pleasant one, so I wish that Ubuntu would find a better solution to this problem. OOo might take up a certain amount of space on netbooks, sure, so perhaps they should install a stripped-down package that doesn't install extra fonts until you need them. Or maybe just prompt the user during the install, letting them know how much space OOo will take up?
I've been willing to deal with non-free drivers and binary blobs in the past, as that has sometimes been the only way to get key parts of my system up and running. But when the only limitation to using a completely Free program is a few hundred MB of disk space, in nearly all cases one could (and should) just get a little more disk.
Software Freedom is worth it!
for (competing app Apple forbids the name of)
Wouldn't that be competing platform ?
One might not be sued for patent infringement for modifying the single copy of the software on their phone, but their freedom to share the software running on it (as I mentioned above) may be enjoined by patent holders, especially if the "infringing" changes are picked up and used by large numbers of other people.
I did not even know that a saddle/vibrator with that name existed, before I read your post.
Just think how much easier it would be if the company had called themselves "Saddle plus Vibrator", "Saddle-ator", or "Vibraddle". Heck, I think we'd still get the picture if they were "Unicorn (Uniporn?) Saddles, Unlimited".
And so do, I guess, 99.999% of the population. ^^
So sad... maybe people would be happier if they knew about it.
According to the FAQ you can now get all the source and can (at least theoretically) build the OS and various applications. Groovy.
Setting aside the fact that just building all of the pieces is complicated (see the FAQ), and also setting aside the fact that many phones will refuse to run homemade, un-signed builds, you might run into issues with patents:
Having the source under an open license is just one step on the path to personal control over your phone and freedom to use, share, and modify the software running on it.
...according to the article his code only supports the SWF 1.0 format, and he's currently working on adding support for the SWF 2.0 file format.
Adobe Flash 1 and Flash 2 (which I'm going to guess might roughly line up with SWF 1.0 and 2.0), were released in 1996 and 1997, respectively. As in, over a decade ago.
Much larger, more long-term projects like Gnash have been working on completing a compliant Flash client for several years and still don't have support through Flash 8, 9, and 10. It's apparently a lot of work to support all of the different pieces of Flash, especially as it turns out that the SWF spec has been completely overhauled several times over the past decade, resulting in wide differences between things like ActionScript 1, 2, and 3.
So while I wish this effort all the best, it would require a lot of time/energy/talent to make this client have the coverage necessary for, say, internet video sites to work.
Are still DRMed out the wazzoo.
Computers are supposed to make life easier. Leave it to the soul-suckers to design computers that actively fight against their owners.
Whatever you do, please don't let these people team up with the military divisions of iRobot or Foster-Miller. The end result of robots + guns + don't trust owners could be deleterious to our health.