I do vote, but the candidates generally suck. As for getting into politics, not likely. I don't go to church or follow any particular religion. That alone is probably sufficient to keep me from winning any elections in this country.
Doesn't matter to me why DeCSS was created. As long as I have full access to the DVDs I purchase. Just as I have access to VHS tapes and CDs, etc. I don't plan on having the MPAA or anyone else tell me when, where, or how I can view the material on those DVDs. If I want to rip them to my hard drive, then I will. If I want to watch them using Linux, then I'll do that too. It doesn't really matter what they want me to do with the DVD anymore than it matters what a book publisher wants me to do with the book. I will do what I want (within the bounds of fair use rules) because I bought it and it's mine. As long as I'm not distributing copies or holding public screenings of movies, then I haven't broken the law (except the DMCA perhaps, but hopefully that bit of idiotic legislation will get dumped by the courts). Of course I'm rather tempted to throw all copyright laws out the window seeing as how we've all been screwed over by the government as they keep extending, even retroactively, the copyright term. They're ripping us off, we should be able to rip them off too.
You can use the juke-cd-... for other things, as a backup system, or whatever.
Are you trying to advertise juke-cds or what? What difference does it make what I could do with a juke-cd if I already have a T3 line and use it to download mp3s rather than ripping them myself?
and i don't think they will find that "getting out of the way" is an acceptble market strategy.
They can have whatever strategy they want. I don't care. I plan to continue writing to Congress and supporting those that want to change the way the system works. It's broken because it does not serve artists or fans anywhere near as well as it serves the record companies. This needs to be rectified and it will probably involve the record companies getting out of the way, or at least taking a back seat and learning their new place in the world. They don't create a damn thing, and they should not be the ones to be profiting so highly from the work of those that do create. It's time to fix things. Whether they like it or not makes no difference to me, just as they don't care whether I like their practices or not.
(and if you have a T3 or something, it's still faster, because you can have a multi-cdrw-dvd-jukebox-60x-whatever cheaper than the cost of the T3).
That assumes that I pay for the T3 solely for the purpose of downloading MP3s. If I have the T3 for work, or some other purpose, then it doesn't become a cost factor when comparing the cost of downloading versus ripping my own mp3s.
because if they close napster, a dozen similar sites will appear
Do you even know what Napster is? Hint: It's not a website.
Of course, if at some point it would be easier to me downloading all the cd rather than buying it
Many of us download mp3s AND buy the cd. This seems to be supported by the Jupiter study. This will probably become much more prevalent if we could get the damn record companies out of the way. Then we could more directly support the artists we like.
Instead, they should try to make the buying thing easier, and give it added value(maybe you buy mp3 on the net and get some merchandising?), so people will still prefer buying it than pirating it.
They also need to drop the prices quite a bit. They've been screwing us over for far too long. At least the FTC finally caught them on something (price fixing). Too bad they didn't have to refund the $400+ million they overcharged consumers.
Then the thing I'd really like to see (but is probably the most unlikely of all) is for them to start giving the artists better deals, allowing them to retain ownership of their music, and paying them more. The contracts that most artists have today are a sad, sick joke. Whether the artists are to blame for signing or not, the industry is definitely taking advantage of its position of power and screwing most artists over. Would be even more nice to see artists abandoning the industry and working out a new system so that we fans can deal with them more directly. We would get the music cheaper and they would get paid more, while retaining ownership of their music.
(I think many do, but the lawyers are telling them that if they don't defend their "rights" they will lose them, and SO FAR the companies are listening more to the lawyers).
Any lawyer saying something like this should be disbarred. It's patently false. If their lawyers don't have any more of a clue than that, then they are in desperate need of new lawyers. There is absolutely no chance of losing your copyright or the right to enforce it just because you don't enforce it in all cases. Those rules apply ONLY TO TRADEMARKS. They can selectively enforce their copyrights as much as they like. There is nothing forcing them to go after Napster users. They are doing it because they want tighter control over the music they distribute. End of story.
Ok, I guess that answers my question. I agree that KDE and Gnome have not progressed as far as Win95, but they are also much younger. Seems like nobody really thought something like them was needed until a couple of years ago. It seems like the whole "Linux on the desktop" thing is basically a reaction to the fear that Microsoft will continue to take more and more advantage of its monopoly position on the desktop and begin proprietizing the standards so that it becomes difficult to impossible to make another OS viable and competitive without paying through the nose. If Linux can provide some competition, it could help prevent such things from happening.
Forgive my ignorance on the distinctions between the various pieces of software available, but don't Gnome and KDE provide the higher level layer that you're referring to? Or is there something else missing? Know of anyplace I could read up on this sort of thing? I'd do a search, but I'm not exactly sure what to look for.
You're getting into a chicken and egg routine here. He's saying that the Win32 API is the standard because Windows is the standard, not the other way around. I think he's technically correct on that since Win32 forced everyone to rewrite all their Win16 software. Why did they rewrite all that software? Because everybody runs Windows.
This may be slightly OT, but this seems like the best place to post it since I doubt it would get a story of its own. Got this from the SANS Institute. Apparently another problem involving IE 4+ and Access 97 or 2K on just about every Windows platform. Don't think I've seen this one posted here. You can read about it here.
You can find plenty of information about copyright and its origins, as well as its evolution here in the US and in other countries. Aside from basic facts like those (which you can find links to on the eff.org site), you're not likely to find any "unbiased" interpretations of what it all means. Everyone has their own bias and every document I've read (I'm doing some research for a speech I've got to do for one of my classes) shows a certain bias in its take on why certain things were done and what certain things mean. I haven't found anything that could be considered unbiased, and I don't expect to. Like anything else, you just have to read both sides and try to extract bits of truth from the rhetoric.
I was doing some research and was trying to get to the EFF's website and it was taking for-fragging-ever to load. Took me a minute.. but then I checked/. and sure enough... found the reason. What timing. Thanks a lot Taco!
I wouldn't need any permission from Lord McDonald to open such a restaurant in the US. He has no legal grounds to stop me. McDonald's Corporation would, however, put a stop to it real quick. I doubt I could open a McDonald's laundromat without facing their lawyers.
Not always true. If the trademark is sufficiently famous (as decided by the court), then nobody can use it. Try opening a business called "Microsoft Burgers" and see how long it lasts.
According to the email they sent me when I signed up, they're supposed to send me a PIN via snail mail. Then I use that, combined with my ID to verify my membership. It's been 2 weeks and I haven't received my PIN yet. Has anyone else gotten theirs? How long did it take?
Canada already has busses running on fuel cells. Made by Ballard, they're also running in Chicago. They say they'll have a car engine ready in the next few years.
From what I've read lately, today's IC engines generally top out at around 30% efficiency. So far, fuel cells range from around 40 - 60% efficiency. The problem is still heat. When a fuel cell is large and stationary, it can get up to 90% efficiency through cogeneration, which is using the heat that is produced to turn turbines to create more electricity.
Now, if they can just get them small and cheap enough to work well in a car, we'll be getting somewhere.
Electricity. It's basically an electric car. The only advantage I see from this one is that instead of using an electric motor to compress the air (as you would do when it's parked at home), you can go to a fueling station and have it filled with compressed air directly, cutting down on refueling time.
True. Several companies are working on fuel reformers to allow fuel cells to run on gasoline. Of course there are many other companies working on alternatives. Since pure hydrogen is much too expensive, some sort of less pure fuel will have to suffice. It's just a matter of finding the fuel that is cheap, easy to store, safe, and yields the most hydrogen. In the end, the fuel used will probably depend a lot on what the fuel cell will be used for and where it will be located. Some fuel cells are already running on gasses produced by landfills and wastewater treatment plants. There will probably be a lot of different fuels and a lot of different fuel reformers to allow these various fuels to be used.
This is what I heard too. Actually when I read it they said something to the effect of "If the government would put more money into research, fuel cell engines for cars could be produced within 3-5 years."
I just had to give a short speech for a speech class last week. I did it on fuel cells. There are a lot of interesting developments going on with that technology. Apparently the only commercially ready fuel cells are phosphoric acid fuel cells (originally developed by NASA about 30 years ago I believe). There are several other types that should be ready within the next 5 years though.
They're also coming up with some interesting ideas for fuel sources. Powerball Technologies had one of the more interesting ideas.
Slashdot Mirror
I do vote, but the candidates generally suck. As for getting into politics, not likely. I don't go to church or follow any particular religion. That alone is probably sufficient to keep me from winning any elections in this country.
Doesn't matter to me why DeCSS was created. As long as I have full access to the DVDs I purchase. Just as I have access to VHS tapes and CDs, etc. I don't plan on having the MPAA or anyone else tell me when, where, or how I can view the material on those DVDs. If I want to rip them to my hard drive, then I will. If I want to watch them using Linux, then I'll do that too. It doesn't really matter what they want me to do with the DVD anymore than it matters what a book publisher wants me to do with the book. I will do what I want (within the bounds of fair use rules) because I bought it and it's mine. As long as I'm not distributing copies or holding public screenings of movies, then I haven't broken the law (except the DMCA perhaps, but hopefully that bit of idiotic legislation will get dumped by the courts). Of course I'm rather tempted to throw all copyright laws out the window seeing as how we've all been screwed over by the government as they keep extending, even retroactively, the copyright term. They're ripping us off, we should be able to rip them off too.
n/t
Same thing in Texas. That's good to know.
You can use the juke-cd-... for other things, as a backup system, or whatever.
Are you trying to advertise juke-cds or what? What difference does it make what I could do with a juke-cd if I already have a T3 line and use it to download mp3s rather than ripping them myself?
and i don't think they will find that "getting out of the way" is an acceptble market strategy.
They can have whatever strategy they want. I don't care. I plan to continue writing to Congress and supporting those that want to change the way the system works. It's broken because it does not serve artists or fans anywhere near as well as it serves the record companies. This needs to be rectified and it will probably involve the record companies getting out of the way, or at least taking a back seat and learning their new place in the world. They don't create a damn thing, and they should not be the ones to be profiting so highly from the work of those that do create. It's time to fix things. Whether they like it or not makes no difference to me, just as they don't care whether I like their practices or not.
(and if you have a T3 or something, it's still faster, because you can have a multi-cdrw-dvd-jukebox-60x-whatever cheaper than the cost of the T3).
That assumes that I pay for the T3 solely for the purpose of downloading MP3s. If I have the T3 for work, or some other purpose, then it doesn't become a cost factor when comparing the cost of downloading versus ripping my own mp3s.
because if they close napster, a dozen similar sites will appear
Do you even know what Napster is? Hint: It's not a website.
Of course, if at some point it would be easier to me downloading all the cd rather than buying it
Many of us download mp3s AND buy the cd. This seems to be supported by the Jupiter study. This will probably become much more prevalent if we could get the damn record companies out of the way. Then we could more directly support the artists we like.
Instead, they should try to make the buying thing easier, and give it added value(maybe you buy mp3 on the net and get some merchandising?), so people will still prefer buying it than pirating it.
They also need to drop the prices quite a bit. They've been screwing us over for far too long. At least the FTC finally caught them on something (price fixing). Too bad they didn't have to refund the $400+ million they overcharged consumers.
Then the thing I'd really like to see (but is probably the most unlikely of all) is for them to start giving the artists better deals, allowing them to retain ownership of their music, and paying them more. The contracts that most artists have today are a sad, sick joke. Whether the artists are to blame for signing or not, the industry is definitely taking advantage of its position of power and screwing most artists over. Would be even more nice to see artists abandoning the industry and working out a new system so that we fans can deal with them more directly. We would get the music cheaper and they would get paid more, while retaining ownership of their music.
(I think many do, but the lawyers are telling them that if they don't defend their "rights" they will lose them, and SO FAR the companies are listening more to the lawyers).
Any lawyer saying something like this should be disbarred. It's patently false. If their lawyers don't have any more of a clue than that, then they are in desperate need of new lawyers. There is absolutely no chance of losing your copyright or the right to enforce it just because you don't enforce it in all cases. Those rules apply ONLY TO TRADEMARKS. They can selectively enforce their copyrights as much as they like. There is nothing forcing them to go after Napster users. They are doing it because they want tighter control over the music they distribute. End of story.
According to the study, Napster users increased their spending on music. That's different than just saying they spend more than others.
Ok, I guess that answers my question. I agree that KDE and Gnome have not progressed as far as Win95, but they are also much younger. Seems like nobody really thought something like them was needed until a couple of years ago. It seems like the whole "Linux on the desktop" thing is basically a reaction to the fear that Microsoft will continue to take more and more advantage of its monopoly position on the desktop and begin proprietizing the standards so that it becomes difficult to impossible to make another OS viable and competitive without paying through the nose. If Linux can provide some competition, it could help prevent such things from happening.
Forgive my ignorance on the distinctions between the various pieces of software available, but don't Gnome and KDE provide the higher level layer that you're referring to? Or is there something else missing? Know of anyplace I could read up on this sort of thing? I'd do a search, but I'm not exactly sure what to look for.
You're getting into a chicken and egg routine here. He's saying that the Win32 API is the standard because Windows is the standard, not the other way around. I think he's technically correct on that since Win32 forced everyone to rewrite all their Win16 software. Why did they rewrite all that software? Because everybody runs Windows.
This may be slightly OT, but this seems like the best place to post it since I doubt it would get a story of its own. Got this from the SANS Institute. Apparently another problem involving IE 4+ and Access 97 or 2K on just about every Windows platform. Don't think I've seen this one posted here. You can read about it here.
You can find plenty of information about copyright and its origins, as well as its evolution here in the US and in other countries. Aside from basic facts like those (which you can find links to on the eff.org site), you're not likely to find any "unbiased" interpretations of what it all means. Everyone has their own bias and every document I've read (I'm doing some research for a speech I've got to do for one of my classes) shows a certain bias in its take on why certain things were done and what certain things mean. I haven't found anything that could be considered unbiased, and I don't expect to. Like anything else, you just have to read both sides and try to extract bits of truth from the rhetoric.
I was doing some research and was trying to get to the EFF's website and it was taking for-fragging-ever to load. Took me a minute.. but then I checked /. and sure enough... found the reason. What timing. Thanks a lot Taco!
I'm talking about major rendering failures on common web sites.
Are you sure that the errors are bugs in gecko, or are they bugs in the site code due to the designers exploiting IE/NS tricks?
I wouldn't need any permission from Lord McDonald to open such a restaurant in the US. He has no legal grounds to stop me. McDonald's Corporation would, however, put a stop to it real quick. I doubt I could open a McDonald's laundromat without facing their lawyers.
Not always true. If the trademark is sufficiently famous (as decided by the court), then nobody can use it. Try opening a business called "Microsoft Burgers" and see how long it lasts.
So what happens when it becomes obvious to the common idiot that they've completely failed to meet these principles?
Not to mention they snail mail you your PIN.
According to the email they sent me when I signed up, they're supposed to send me a PIN via snail mail. Then I use that, combined with my ID to verify my membership. It's been 2 weeks and I haven't received my PIN yet. Has anyone else gotten theirs? How long did it take?
Canada already has busses running on fuel cells. Made by Ballard, they're also running in Chicago. They say they'll have a car engine ready in the next few years.
From what I've read lately, today's IC engines generally top out at around 30% efficiency. So far, fuel cells range from around 40 - 60% efficiency. The problem is still heat. When a fuel cell is large and stationary, it can get up to 90% efficiency through cogeneration, which is using the heat that is produced to turn turbines to create more electricity.
Now, if they can just get them small and cheap enough to work well in a car, we'll be getting somewhere.
Electricity. It's basically an electric car. The only advantage I see from this one is that instead of using an electric motor to compress the air (as you would do when it's parked at home), you can go to a fueling station and have it filled with compressed air directly, cutting down on refueling time.
True. Several companies are working on fuel reformers to allow fuel cells to run on gasoline. Of course there are many other companies working on alternatives. Since pure hydrogen is much too expensive, some sort of less pure fuel will have to suffice. It's just a matter of finding the fuel that is cheap, easy to store, safe, and yields the most hydrogen. In the end, the fuel used will probably depend a lot on what the fuel cell will be used for and where it will be located. Some fuel cells are already running on gasses produced by landfills and wastewater treatment plants. There will probably be a lot of different fuels and a lot of different fuel reformers to allow these various fuels to be used.
This is what I heard too. Actually when I read it they said something to the effect of "If the government would put more money into research, fuel cell engines for cars could be produced within 3-5 years."
I just had to give a short speech for a speech class last week. I did it on fuel cells. There are a lot of interesting developments going on with that technology. Apparently the only commercially ready fuel cells are phosphoric acid fuel cells (originally developed by NASA about 30 years ago I believe). There are several other types that should be ready within the next 5 years though.
They're also coming up with some interesting ideas for fuel sources. Powerball Technologies had one of the more interesting ideas.
Here's a few more links to check out:
Fuel Cells 2000
Commercializing Fuel Cells
Fuel Cells - Green Power. This is a 36 page PDF file from Los Alamos National Lab
Here's a bunch more.