By, standard hardware, I mean common hardware. Think about that for a moment. Linux supports the most common hardware. Common hardware is usually easier to find information on and for proprietary stuff the manufacturer generally provides drivers for windows, therefor it is easier to install new hardware on windows.
I know that you're supporting a popular argument but you come across as flamebait. I wasn't disagreeing with the preceding argument I was defending a position. Yes linux is easy in the right situations for people with the right knowledge. But linux fails where the user is inexperianced and something is not going quite right.
Now to ask a personel question are you someone who has never used linux or are you someone that has used it so long that you no longer see its drawbacks. I'm fairly good with computers and programming however, I'm relativly new to linux, that's what I'm basing my arguments on. In my experiance linux can be a pain if your new to it and not everything works correctly. Having said that I've managed to install linux on a few computers and have used a few different distrobutions. I've tried BSD which can be a nightmare as well. But I've not used linux long enough to be comfortable programing or altering how it works.
Your right of course, if you get a linux box already setup then it's fairly easy to use.
However, when it comes time to do something different or if something doesn't work right with windows you can easily find someone to help you, with linux you can find the information you need if you know where to look. And if you want to add new hardware say a scanner or a camera then you have to be really carefull, in linux to get the products that are supported. In windows almost any hardware is supported, this is not the fault of the linux community but it's still something that needs to be addressed when discussing usability. Getting drivers for hardware to work is also much harder under linux then windows.
If I were avaliable to help I would recommend linux to just about anyone(not that I'm a linux guru, I'm just willing to do a little research). However, most people do not have access to someone that's willing to help them with their new linux box. That same person would have a much easier time getting someone to help them with a windows machine.
Having said all that I will say that for most people a linux box that is set up correctly and has the programs that the person needs is easy enough for just about anyone to use. It's those times that things just aren't exactly right that make me think that linux is not ready for the masses.
Autoconfig is great if you have standard hardware. It really sucks if you don't. Distros that include autoconfig generally don't give good documentation for setting up nonstandard parts. Many of the big name computer vendors have not standard parts. Consider Compaq computers mostly have onboard video cards, sound cards, and IDE controllers. Some models work fine under linux most don't. Most have a sound chipset or a video chipset that is just a little to new to be supported or just uncommon all have winmodems. Ask yourself this would you give a linux box or a windows box to your grandmother knowing that you wouldn't be around to help her and that no one else close knows linux.
Linux is easy to install and use if you have the right hardware and linux distrobution. It's a nightmare if you have unsupported hardware or non-standard hardware. Even when you get it installed linux is more difficult to maintain and use. It's not extremely hard it's just a little more technical.
Don't say linux is good enough everyone should be able to use it. Linux is a good operating system but their is a lot of room for improvement. All operating systems can be improved to make them easier to use. There are things that I think could make windows easier to use. Linux is technically superior but it is NOT user friendly. If you think that it is you haven't used it or you've used it so long all you no longer see its flaws. Anyone that thinks that linux is ready for the average desktop should take a step back and think about what they are saying.
Some of the things that still need to be improved. A typical user should NEVER have to edit config files directly everything should be in a gui with a decent help system. Make installation of programs easier and pick a standard installation model. Sometimes less is more. Many home users don't want to have to log in for everyday use, keep root as log in only but setup a default account as an option when installing. A user should never have to leave the GUI or run a terminal for day to day tasks.
I don't think that just anyone would want to try and install linux right now. It's just not ready for mass use. If your comfortable with computers and not afraid to give it a try then linux is for you. Most people are not comfortable with computers, ask anyone that works as hardware/software tech support .
Suse is one of the better disto's out there right now. I've tried a few and I like suse the best, that's what I have installed at the moment. Not only does it have decent installation tools it has every program that one could possibly want.
There is nothing wrong with telling the truth. Linux is not ready to be windows replacement for the general public. The typical computer user is more and more just someone that wants to write a few papers play some games and surf the net. People with the level of technical knowledge needed to install linux aren't as common as they used to be. If you think this is wrong think about the people that you know that use a computer. Except for people that I went to school with, most of the people that I know that own a computer are completely ignorant of how or why their computer works.
Someday soon I hope that linux is ready for the general public. I want this to happen so that software that I love from windows(games mostly) will get ported to linux. This will only happen if enough people decide to use the operating system.
Now I feel really old. Back in my day we had to write our own games in basic. Translate it by hand into machine code. Enter it by useing toggle switches and we had to build our own computers with a couple of computer chips a wooden case and a soldering iron. After we finally got the game programmed into the computer we had to watch the blinking lights for output and translate that by hand into what our game was doing. Sometimes it took weeks just to get past the first few turns of a good rpg.
Just kidding, but you don't seem to think that the OSS community has any ethics. I will buy the game for windows if I have to, for linux if I can. I have no problem with commercial software. I like the OSS ideals and I will release any software that I program that I feel is usefull under open source.
I however expect to work for a software manufacturer when I get out of college. Whatever they release will probably be closed source. I don't have a problem with that either, since I need to make money to live. I would love to be able to write OSS and get paid for it but most places simply don't do that.
I'm quite sure that I'll be under some kind of non-disclosure contract that will keep me from using the code that I do for work in my own programs. However, just by writing code every day my skills will improve and any software I write and release as open source will reflect that experiance. So, in and indirect way the company will be helping the OSS community.
Not all of us are zealots. Some of us are reasonable, a little idealistic, and ethical. I would never want to see legislation to force a software company to port programs to ANY platform.
I'm quite sure that you were not completely serious, and this was not intended to be a flame just some thoughts.
Is everyone here just going to take the RIAA at their word. That would be a little like asking someone from microsoft about linux. I saw the same legal statement on the site the first time I went there too. The RIAA take one interpretation of the home recording act that is not supported by judicial precedence and everyone takes up arm.
If you own music you have the right to listen to it in any way that you like. That includes copying you cd's to mp3 to listen to on your computer or on you mp3 player. IANAL, but all the large web news sites have lawers and every single one of them say that it is totally legal to copy your own music to a new format. You have that right under fair use. That's why mp3.com is ok in doing their new beam it program. They may be on somewhat new ground because, they, not the people who own the cd's ripped them but only people that bought rights to listen to the cd's can use the new program.
What would you expect the RIAA to say. Sure, go ahead a copy your stuff to mp3 just be sure not to let anyone else have it. The RIAA is taking an incorrect interpretation of a law and is trying to get gullible people to beleive that it is correct. What they are doing is legal because it is a valid interpretation of the law. The courts have decided that it is not the correct on though and that's what counts.
Let them blow smoke up your ass if you want but don't act stupid.
I have a friend who when he was feeling angst, would sit alone in his room blasting Nine Inch Nails music. And that's kind of what I'm feeling right now.
Sounds a lot like me. More and more I seem to get depressed by all the advertising and hype and just plain ignorance of the media and the government. I listen to NIN to, and Metallica, Pantera, Godsmack, Type O Negative or just anything that's fast enough and loud enough to distract me.
I agree that advertiser supported services, such as TV, Internet, and magazines, may have lower prices. However, I'm becoming more and more annoyed at the distractions. I don't watch MTV anymore because I can't stand the spinning logo in the corner. I always throw a window over the top of IM because I don't want to see blinking ads. I use The Proxomitron to kill animated GIFs.
I quit watching MTV years ago for some of the same reasons. I used to be a telemarketer and while I worked there I couldn't figure out why people were such jerks. I was just doing a job right? After working there and seeing some of the things that go on in the telemarketing buisiness. I realized that even if I was telling the truth and doing what I was supposed to do, others were all around me were consistantly lying to the public. They got rewarded and I just managed to keep my job by playing by the rules. I quit after only three months figuring that good pay wasn't worth the bad karma and stress. Since then I can't tolerate telemarketers. Whenever one calls I shut it(it is appropriate here) down. The constant battle for my money has left a bad taste in my mouth. At least the telemarketing improved my social engeneering skills;).
I never really had a problem with advertisments until they started interfering with my focus and my time. Sometimes I'd rather just outright pay for content instead of having to waste time and energy on an ad.
I couldn't agree more but it's more then that it's the loss of freedom. Whenever I watch a movie or listen to the radio my privacy is invaded by some company wanting me to see the light and come buy something. Not to get to far off topic but it's not just advertising that distracts me. It's our society, the media, the government, and buisiness. I have to constantly hear about how my rights are being erroded and how politicians that wouldn't know a computer language for chinese are deciding what my future will be. And that's what it comes down to choice my friends. These things are all battleing for controll of what we think and do.
Some might say that we have a choice. Unfortunatly that is just not true anymore. Like any other mass consumer good, the majority will always win, and the majority wants cheap at any cost. (I can't *buy* a way to message my friends w/o advertisments - and the MSM/AIM thing killed development of IM for BeOS).
Again it's not just the media and advertising choice and free will are what all of this boils down to. This is just another syptom of a common ill in our society. We as a people have come to believe that we have no control or power to choose. Look at law. A women orders hot coffee spills it on herself what does she do sue the people that provided her with the coffee. She had no control over the circumstance it was obviously not her fault right.:( If you own land and some moron comes on your property and does something stupid to hurt themselves you are responcible because people can't be resonably expected to be intelligent or cabable of makeing the right decisions they have to be lead.
The government feels that it need more control and they are willing to do anything even trample our rights. Companies want more control over what we think and they will do anything in their power legal or not to get that control.
All I want is a choice. I want a list of the expected return per advertisment, so that I can decided whether to pay off the company directly for use of their services.
My worst nightmare is being stuck on the side of the road at 2am and have to listen to an advertisement for Chucky Cheese before I can call a tow truck.
I realize that most of what I wrote is not directly related to web on cell technology. However, the reason that I would want such a technology is convience. Anything that lessens the convience of a cell phone can and will make me angry, especally if I can't decide to turn it off. And in today's slow speed cellular networks and with today's small screens, the impact of advertising will be especially annoying.
All I want is choice too. I want my freedom. I rights. I want to be responsible for what I do and think.
Oh and one more thing. Someone was joking about double click and how they would be able to track your cell phone usage. Well it's more than that. GTE has a working system that can track a ESN to within a couple of feet by using the timing that signals return to base stations.
Oh, it's even more then that. Digital cell phones are going to be required to be trackable. GPS, or whatever. The government wants to know what we are doing when we are doing it and why. They will be more then happy to overlook or even change the law to allow companies to track/trace/know consumers.
This is my last post for tonight. I'm begining to sound really paranoid. I must need some sleep.
Ads in general are a way to short circuit the free market economy. Instead of going out and buying something that is the best value, ads get people to go out and buy something based on advertising.
Where do you think that all the corporate phsychologists and socialogists are employed. In marketing and in public relations. As the above post says you have to pay for that advertising somewhere. Instead of spending money looking for ways to make products better and less expensive companies would rather spend money trying to get people to think that the product is a better value.
This isn't some big conspiracy theory. This is fact if advertising couldn't convince people to buy products companies wouldn't use it. We as consumers pay for all that advertising. When one goes out and buys a pair of Nike shoes one is paying more for the price of the advertising used to get you to buy the shoes, then the cost to make the shoes.
Companies are now in the position that they have to advertise. Just watch paid advertising on tv. Consumers wouldn't buy most of that crap unless they were fed it day and night. How many people really need those dehydrators, home bread makers, or the newspaper powered grills that sell so well. How many people would spend $120 on a pair of shoes made in China that won't last any longer or look any better then the pair you could get for $35 anywhere.
We all agree that this sucks, so go sign the open letter. I did. It's just as easy to leave a comment, there as it is to flame or troll or discuss it here.
Many people have already signed the letter but not as many as commented on sunday's x-files episode. Quit talking and go do something.
I know that many of you already have this was not meant for you. I was talking to the people who will cry and whine here, but will never make it past the slashdot story to go try and express their opinions.
We don't need this! Dont think that software CPUs exits check out the crusoe processor. It would be easy and a logical step to provide a way for computer code to be encypted during compile and to be decrypted at the hardware level by a preprocessor. Then not only could you not hack the signal you couldn't even reverse engineer the software to see what was going on. I expect to see something like this in the next couple of years at least on mobile devices and digital signal receivers. After that expect good software titles to only appear on computers that offer code encryption.
Much of the problem with patents is that many of them get controlled by a small number of large companies. What if we only allowed individuals to patent new ideas. This would give incentive to the individual who could liscense the technology to large corporations for a small fee. Any research done by a corporation would have to go into the public domain.
You would then have a situation that would promote scientific research as companies develope new technology to stay just a little ahead of the competition.
Individuals could make a profit on patents but companies would contribute information to the public. Do the same thing with copyrights. If the artist that creates the material owns it, as opposed by a music/movie studio then he will be able to recieve more incentive.
The RIAA should be behind this since they claim that they are looking out for the best interest of the artits.
This just in from someone who entered a quantum state and saw what the future of another parallel universe was.
The title says it all but read on if you must.
News Flash
Today Microsoft(c) announced that according to studies, done by an independent lab, Microsoft's active directory beat out Novell's eDirectory by a wide margin in all tests used to simulate real world usage.
News Flash
In yet another update on the ongoing battle between microsoft and Novell over who's product is the best Novell anounced that yet another bug had been found in microsofts active directory found on Windows 2000. This bug accourding to Novell will expose all of you pr0n to any script kiddie with some spare time on his hands.
News Flash
After close diagnosis of a bug in their new windows 2000 product microsoft determines that the bug is less of a threat then any of the over 5000 as yet unfixed bugs in the new operating system. Although no longer CEO Bill Gates had this to say"it all comes down to inovation do you want a really secure computer that just sits their and serves web pages or do you want a machine that will do everything from fixing your breakfast in the morning to runing the latest dos game" Gates also commented that Novells product might fix breakfast for you but only if you liked eggs sunny side up.
News Flash
Bill Gates the richest man in the world was just instatutionalized. Gates seems to be halucinating penguins with computers running Novel products.
News Flash
Congress along with the president died today. Evidentaly an insane Bill Gates hired near eastern terrorists to build a giant space station on the moon and had a huge laser built to destoy Washington DC. Luckily only politicians/criminals were killed since only DC was affected by the blast. The only statement provided by Gates was a comment on the recent decision of the supreme court to strike down the Digital millinai act.
News Flash
Bill Gates was apprehended today by the new government of people's liberation. The new government first gave Gates a medal for destroying DC, then found him guilty of trying to take over the world. As punishment Gates eyelids were taped open and he was forced to look at windows blue screen of death for over 20 hours. After this he was subjected to a message that said if you don't want to see this message then close your eyes. I don't know about you folks but that message seems very like the message that you get on a windows 98 computer after having to power off because a program crashed. The message says if you do not wish to see this message again be sure to always shut down you computer in the proper way.
News Flash
It's been nearly a year since the unfortunate Bill Gates incedent. Now Novell seems to be heading in the same direction. Novell's CEO today said that since the fall of microsoft Novell has had to be the inovator in the computer industry. He went on to describe the many things that Novel had created including:Email, dos, windows, html, and almost all other computer related inventions in the last century.
I don't know about you but I think our new government ought to have Nasa look to see if another laser has been built on the moon. You know the saying about history repeating itself.
News Flash
The end is near with all disasters that have happened lately we have all ignored AOL/TimeWarner and the MPAA/RIAA they seem to have gotten together and used their recources to buy all the land on earth. Now with all broadcasts and laws being made by the AOL conglomerate we can only hope that our new masters are kind.
I'm a college student but I could afford to buy a few shares. I would want someone reputable overseeing this. Maybe one of the Linux companies would like to have a group of people with stock to vote in support of the linux and oss community at various companies stockholder meetings. If anyone really wants to do this let me know. My Email address is in my user info section.
Quit spoofing a college student. Just kidding if that's really your experience then I envy you.
I have seventeen credit hours of Computer Science, Mathmatics(Calc.III, Discrete Mathmatics), and physics classes. I am in class for a total of 17 hours a week. I usually spend at least 2-3hours for each hour in class doing research or homework. That puts me up to 51-68 hours. Then I work about 12-18 hours a week as a math tutor at a local community college. So I will spend from 63 to 96 hours a week, working or doing something for school. Add to that the hour a day that it takes me to get from home to my first class and the hour it takes to get from class to home. I spend up to 106 hours doing something for school or work.
Most of the time I'm lucky to get 4 or 5 hours of sleep. That's the life of a real college student.
And I sayeth unto the powers that be that ye shall be struck down by a great and furious wrath.
And I lifted forth my keyboard and many viruses came forth I asked the MPAA shall ye let mine brothers go?
The MPAA and the RIAA hardened their hearts and I lifted forth my keyboard and all of thier websites became clogged with bad packets.
Even still the MPAA and RIAA hardened their hearts and I lifted my keyboard for a last time. I smote the leaders upon the head repeatedly with mine keyboard and blessed silence reigned as their shouts and curses were silenced.
This mine children is the story of our liberation from the tyranny of the coorperate conglomerates. Let the word go forth.
And any who alter this text shall be damned to an eternity of windows 3.1.
Sure, not all politicians are corrupt money hungry people but even that small minority of good politicians, doesn't have the technical knowledge to know what reverse engineering is.
Why aren't geeks interested in politics? We all want to change the world but none of us are being represented by our peers. It would be nice to have a few representatives that really represent the open source community. I wonder what state has a large enough concentration of computer people to get a guy into office. California maybe.
The only good thing that I can see is that college age students are more and more getting into the open source movement. Maybe in a few years when they graduate and become the industry and country leaders we'll see some changes.
I don't vote most of the time because it's a choice of bad or worse. I want a representative that knows about technology, that's for privacy, free speech,personal responsability and law reform. I'm sick of politicians getting paid to lie to the public. I think that political parties are ruining are government.
I love america but I hate our government. I feel like I'm in east Berlin before the wall came down.
Some people here on slashdot like to blame the corparations. Sure they're large greedy and evil but in a capitalistic society they are supposed to be greedy since we are all working in enlightened selfinterest. It's the fault of the government. Governments only job is to protect it's population.
Only tyranies fear their subjects. Whenever I here about the government wanting more cops or more laws to allow them to track individuals it makes me sick. A good government especially a republic should have nothing to fear from it's citizens.
The death penalty should be reserved for people who commit murder and polaticians that sell out there country for money or power.
I started this post intending to make a short funny remark to post anonymously but the more I wrote the more strongly I felt. I know it's a little offtopic but it's how I feel.
At last some good news. I was worried that fair use and reverse engineering had gone the way of the dodo. Maybe we'll see a virtual dreamcast.
Any way it is good news for the emulator scene. And good news for computer users. It means that maybe we won't have to invest in the latest console to get to play the newest console games if more companies will create products like this.
I've tried several emulators and most are decent quality have any of you tried connectix. How does it compare to other emulators?
I just wish that all console makers would go to cd's so that you could have emulators for any console without the need for roms. At least with cds people are buying the games instead of just downloading the rom files.
Most console game manufacturers don't make money off of the hardware anyway they make money off of the software liscences.
Kind of disjointed and unfocused I know but I need sleep. Later and good night.
Moore's Law sucks it took less then a year for my 400mhz and 500mhz computers to be outdated.
This stuff is kinda of cool though, maybe we'll get to see some nice VR stuff and better speech recognition. Eventually the hardware will be fast enough to run windows.
I would have liked to have seen intel go to a 128 bit architecture instead of 64 it would have lasted longer.
Second I want a processor that is powerfull enough to play games movies or do voice recognition.
Third it should have large enough storage capacity to store a couple of movies or several MP3's
I want to be able to read etexts on it so I won't have to lug around all my school books
I want it to be able to transcribe speech.
I want highspeed wireless transfers to and from my home computer.
I want a usable interface, speech recognition would be perfect along with a stylus type of device.
I want to be able to use it for multiple purposes. So I want a good I/O port to add all those little extras, like a portable oscillascope add on. Or a backup drive for use at home.
I want to be able to store and retrieve files from other computers.
sorry in the last paragraph I said I wouldn't trade my two computers for a webserver with dsl. I meant to say I wouldn't trade them for a dumb terminal wich is what these types of devices are.
Slashdot Mirror
By, standard hardware, I mean common hardware. Think about that for a moment. Linux supports the most common hardware. Common hardware is usually easier to find information on and for proprietary stuff the manufacturer generally provides drivers for windows, therefor it is easier to install new hardware on windows.
I know that you're supporting a popular argument but you come across as flamebait. I wasn't disagreeing with the preceding argument I was defending a position. Yes linux is easy in the right situations for people with the right knowledge. But linux fails where the user is inexperianced and something is not going quite right.
Now to ask a personel question are you someone who has never used linux or are you someone that has used it so long that you no longer see its drawbacks. I'm fairly good with computers and programming however, I'm relativly new to linux, that's what I'm basing my arguments on. In my experiance linux can be a pain if your new to it and not everything works correctly. Having said that I've managed to install linux on a few computers and have used a few different distrobutions. I've tried BSD which can be a nightmare as well. But I've not used linux long enough to be comfortable programing or altering how it works.
Your right of course, if you get a linux box already setup then it's fairly easy to use.
However, when it comes time to do something different or if something doesn't work right with windows you can easily find someone to help you, with linux you can find the information you need if you know where to look. And if you want to add new hardware say a scanner or a camera then you have to be really carefull, in linux to get the products that are supported. In windows almost any hardware is supported, this is not the fault of the linux community but it's still something that needs to be addressed when discussing usability. Getting drivers for hardware to work is also much harder under linux then windows.
If I were avaliable to help I would recommend linux to just about anyone(not that I'm a linux guru, I'm just willing to do a little research). However, most people do not have access to someone that's willing to help them with their new linux box. That same person would have a much easier time getting someone to help them with a windows machine.
Having said all that I will say that for most people a linux box that is set up correctly and has the programs that the person needs is easy enough for just about anyone to use. It's those times that things just aren't exactly right that make me think that linux is not ready for the masses.
Autoconfig is great if you have standard hardware. It really sucks if you don't. Distros that include autoconfig generally don't give good documentation for setting up nonstandard parts. Many of the big name computer vendors have not standard parts. Consider Compaq computers mostly have onboard video cards, sound cards, and IDE controllers. Some models work fine under linux most don't. Most have a sound chipset or a video chipset that is just a little to new to be supported or just uncommon all have winmodems. Ask yourself this would you give a linux box or a windows box to your grandmother knowing that you wouldn't be around to help her and that no one else close knows linux.
Linux is easy to install and use if you have the right hardware and linux distrobution. It's a nightmare if you have unsupported hardware or non-standard hardware. Even when you get it installed linux is more difficult to maintain and use. It's not extremely hard it's just a little more technical.
Don't say linux is good enough everyone should be able to use it. Linux is a good operating system but their is a lot of room for improvement. All operating systems can be improved to make them easier to use. There are things that I think could make windows easier to use. Linux is technically superior but it is NOT user friendly. If you think that it is you haven't used it or you've used it so long all you no longer see its flaws. Anyone that thinks that linux is ready for the average desktop should take a step back and think about what they are saying.
Some of the things that still need to be improved.
A typical user should NEVER have to edit config files directly everything should be in a gui with a decent help system. Make installation of programs easier and pick a standard installation model. Sometimes less is more. Many home users don't want to have to log in for everyday use, keep root as log in only but setup a default account as an option when installing. A user should never have to leave the GUI or run a terminal for day to day tasks.
I don't think that just anyone would want to try and install linux right now. It's just not ready for mass use. If your comfortable with computers and not afraid to give it a try then linux is for you. Most people are not comfortable with computers, ask anyone that works as hardware/software tech support .
Suse is one of the better disto's out there right now. I've tried a few and I like suse the best, that's what I have installed at the moment. Not only does it have decent installation tools it has every program that one could possibly want.
There is nothing wrong with telling the truth. Linux is not ready to be windows replacement for the general public. The typical computer user is more and more just someone that wants to write a few papers play some games and surf the net. People with the level of technical knowledge needed to install linux aren't as common as they used to be. If you think this is wrong think about the people that you know that use a computer. Except for people that I went to school with, most of the people that I know that own a computer are completely ignorant of how or why their computer works.
Someday soon I hope that linux is ready for the general public. I want this to happen so that software that I love from windows(games mostly) will get ported to linux. This will only happen if enough people decide to use the operating system.
Let the flaming begin.
Now I feel really old. Back in my day we had to write our own games in basic. Translate it by hand into machine code. Enter it by useing toggle switches and we had to build our own computers with a couple of computer chips a wooden case and a soldering iron. After we finally got the game programmed into the computer we had to watch the blinking lights for output and translate that by hand into what our game was doing. Sometimes it took weeks just to get past the first few turns of a good rpg.
Just kidding, but you don't seem to think that the OSS community has any ethics. I will buy the game for windows if I have to, for linux if I can. I have no problem with commercial software. I like the OSS ideals and I will release any software that I program that I feel is usefull under open source.
I however expect to work for a software manufacturer when I get out of college. Whatever they release will probably be closed source. I don't have a problem with that either, since I need to make money to live. I would love to be able to write OSS and get paid for it but most places simply don't do that.
I'm quite sure that I'll be under some kind of non-disclosure contract that will keep me from using the code that I do for work in my own programs. However, just by writing code every day my skills will improve and any software I write and release as open source will reflect that experiance. So, in and indirect way the company will be helping the OSS community.
Not all of us are zealots. Some of us are reasonable, a little idealistic, and ethical. I would never want to see legislation to force a software company to port programs to ANY platform.
I'm quite sure that you were not completely serious, and this was not intended to be a flame just some thoughts.
Is everyone here just going to take the RIAA at their word. That would be a little like asking someone from microsoft about linux. I saw the same legal statement on the site the first time I went there too. The RIAA take one interpretation of the home recording act that is not supported by judicial precedence and everyone takes up arm.
If you own music you have the right to listen to it in any way that you like. That includes copying you cd's to mp3 to listen to on your computer or on you mp3 player. IANAL, but all the large web news sites have lawers and every single one of them say that it is totally legal to copy your own music to a new format. You have that right under fair use. That's why mp3.com is ok in doing their new beam it program. They may be on somewhat new ground because, they, not the people who own the cd's ripped them but only people that bought rights to listen to the cd's can use the new program.
What would you expect the RIAA to say. Sure, go ahead a copy your stuff to mp3 just be sure not to let anyone else have it. The RIAA is taking an incorrect interpretation of a law and is trying to get gullible people to beleive that it is correct. What they are doing is legal because it is a valid interpretation of the law. The courts have decided that it is not the correct on though and that's what counts.
Let them blow smoke up your ass if you want but don't act stupid.
Now can we get on to more productive matters.
Sounds a lot like me. More and more I seem to get depressed by all the advertising and hype and just plain ignorance of the media and the government. I listen to NIN to, and Metallica, Pantera, Godsmack, Type O Negative or just anything that's fast enough and loud enough to distract me.
I quit watching MTV years ago for some of the same reasons. I used to be a telemarketer and while I worked there I couldn't figure out why people were such jerks. I was just doing a job right? After working there and seeing some of the things that go on in the telemarketing buisiness. I realized that even if I was telling the truth and doing what I was supposed to do, others were all around me were consistantly lying to the public. They got rewarded and I just managed to keep my job by playing by the rules. I quit after only three months figuring that good pay wasn't worth the bad karma and stress. Since then I can't tolerate telemarketers. Whenever one calls I shut it(it is appropriate here) down. The constant battle for my money has left a bad taste in my mouth. At least the telemarketing improved my social engeneering skills ;).
I couldn't agree more but it's more then that it's the loss of freedom. Whenever I watch a movie or listen to the radio my privacy is invaded by some company wanting me to see the light and come buy something. Not to get to far off topic but it's not just advertising that distracts me. It's our society, the media, the government, and buisiness. I have to constantly hear about how my rights are being erroded and how politicians that wouldn't know a computer language for chinese are deciding what my future will be. And that's what it comes down to choice my friends. These things are all battleing for controll of what we think and do.
Again it's not just the media and advertising choice and free will are what all of this boils down to. This is just another syptom of a common ill in our society. We as a people have come to believe that we have no control or power to choose. Look at law. A women orders hot coffee spills it on herself what does she do sue the people that provided her with the coffee. She had no control over the circumstance it was obviously not her fault right. :( If you own land and some moron comes on your property and does something stupid to hurt themselves you are responcible because people can't be resonably expected to be intelligent or cabable of makeing the right decisions they have to be lead.
The government feels that it need more control and they are willing to do anything even trample our rights. Companies want more control over what we think and they will do anything in their power legal or not to get that control.
All I want is choice too. I want my freedom. I rights. I want to be responsible for what I do and think.
Oh, it's even more then that. Digital cell phones are going to be required to be trackable. GPS, or whatever. The government wants to know what we are doing when we are doing it and why. They will be more then happy to overlook or even change the law to allow companies to track/trace/know consumers.
This is my last post for tonight. I'm begining to sound really paranoid. I must need some sleep.
Ads in general are a way to short circuit the free market economy. Instead of going out and buying something that is the best value, ads get people to go out and buy something based on advertising.
Where do you think that all the corporate phsychologists and socialogists are employed. In marketing and in public relations. As the above post says you have to pay for that advertising somewhere. Instead of spending money looking for ways to make products better and less expensive companies would rather spend money trying to get people to think that the product is a better value.
This isn't some big conspiracy theory. This is fact if advertising couldn't convince people to buy products companies wouldn't use it. We as consumers pay for all that advertising. When one goes out and buys a pair of Nike shoes one is paying more for the price of the advertising used to get you to buy the shoes, then the cost to make the shoes.
Companies are now in the position that they have to advertise. Just watch paid advertising on tv. Consumers wouldn't buy most of that crap unless they were fed it day and night. How many people really need those dehydrators, home bread makers, or the newspaper powered grills that sell so well. How many people would spend $120 on a pair of shoes made in China that won't last any longer or look any better then the pair you could get for $35 anywhere.
Later.
Maybe this will set a precedent for future lawsuits of this type. Anyone up for registering howsithanging.com to see if anyone sues them.
We all agree that this sucks, so go sign the open letter. I did. It's just as easy to leave a comment, there as it is to flame or troll or discuss it here.
Many people have already signed the letter but not as many as commented on sunday's x-files episode. Quit talking and go do something.
I know that many of you already have this was not meant for you. I was talking to the people who will cry and whine here, but will never make it past the slashdot story to go try and express their opinions.
fuckin-A enough said. I agree.
love your sig man. A little poe parody never hurt anyone.
Maybe one more line. If any part of this agreement has been broken we reserve the right to hack into your computer to retrieve our product.
We don't need this! Dont think that software CPUs exits check out the crusoe processor. It would be easy and a logical step to provide a way for computer code to be encypted during compile and to be decrypted at the hardware level by a preprocessor. Then not only could you not hack the signal you couldn't even reverse engineer the software to see what was going on. I expect to see something like this in the next couple of years at least on mobile devices and digital signal receivers. After that expect good software titles to only appear on computers that offer code encryption.
Much of the problem with patents is that many of them get controlled by a small number of large companies. What if we only allowed individuals to patent new ideas. This would give incentive to the individual who could liscense the technology to large corporations for a small fee. Any research done by a corporation would have to go into the public domain.
You would then have a situation that would promote scientific research as companies develope new technology to stay just a little ahead of the competition.
Individuals could make a profit on patents but companies would contribute information to the public. Do the same thing with copyrights. If the artist that creates the material owns it, as opposed by a music/movie studio then he will be able to recieve more incentive.
The RIAA should be behind this since they claim that they are looking out for the best interest of the artits.
The title says it all but read on if you must.
News Flash
Today Microsoft(c) announced that according to studies, done by an independent lab, Microsoft's active directory beat out Novell's eDirectory by a wide margin in all tests used to simulate real world usage.
News Flash
In yet another update on the ongoing battle between microsoft and Novell over who's product is the best Novell anounced that yet another bug had been found in microsofts active directory found on Windows 2000. This bug accourding to Novell will expose all of you pr0n to any script kiddie with some spare time on his hands.
News Flash
After close diagnosis of a bug in their new windows 2000 product microsoft determines that the bug is less of a threat then any of the over 5000 as yet unfixed bugs in the new operating system. Although no longer CEO Bill Gates had this to say"it all comes down to inovation do you want a really secure computer that just sits their and serves web pages or do you want a machine that will do everything from fixing your breakfast in the morning to runing the latest dos game" Gates also commented that Novells product might fix breakfast for you but only if you liked eggs sunny side up.
News Flash
Bill Gates the richest man in the world was just instatutionalized. Gates seems to be halucinating penguins with computers running Novel products.
News Flash
Congress along with the president died today. Evidentaly an insane Bill Gates hired near eastern terrorists to build a giant space station on the moon and had a huge laser built to destoy Washington DC. Luckily only politicians/criminals were killed since only DC was affected by the blast. The only statement provided by Gates was a comment on the recent decision of the supreme court to strike down the Digital millinai act.
News Flash
Bill Gates was apprehended today by the new government of people's liberation. The new government first gave Gates a medal for destroying DC, then found him guilty of trying to take over the world. As punishment Gates eyelids were taped open and he was forced to look at windows blue screen of death for over 20 hours. After this he was subjected to a message that said if you don't want to see this message then close your eyes. I don't know about you folks but that message seems very like the message that you get on a windows 98 computer after having to power off because a program crashed. The message says if you do not wish to see this message again be sure to always shut down you computer in the proper way.
News Flash
It's been nearly a year since the unfortunate Bill Gates incedent. Now Novell seems to be heading in the same direction. Novell's CEO today said that since the fall of microsoft Novell has had to be the inovator in the computer industry. He went on to describe the many things that Novel had created including:Email, dos, windows, html, and almost all other computer related inventions in the last century.
I don't know about you but I think our new government ought to have Nasa look to see if another laser has been built on the moon. You know the saying about history repeating itself.
News Flash
The end is near with all disasters that have happened lately we have all ignored AOL/TimeWarner and the MPAA/RIAA they seem to have gotten together and used their recources to buy all the land on earth. Now with all broadcasts and laws being made by the AOL conglomerate we can only hope that our new masters are kind.
Moderate if you must I have Karma to burn
End Message
I'm a college student but I could afford to buy a few shares. I would want someone reputable overseeing this. Maybe one of the Linux companies would like to have a group of people with stock to vote in support of the linux and oss community at various companies stockholder meetings. If anyone really wants to do this let me know. My Email address is in my user info section.
Quit spoofing a college student. Just kidding if that's really your experience then I envy you.
I have seventeen credit hours of Computer Science, Mathmatics(Calc.III, Discrete Mathmatics), and physics classes. I am in class for a total of 17 hours a week. I usually spend at least 2-3hours for each hour in class doing research or homework. That puts me up to 51-68 hours. Then I work about 12-18 hours a week as a math tutor at a local community college. So I will spend from 63 to 96 hours a week, working or doing something for school. Add to that the hour a day that it takes me to get from home to my first class and the hour it takes to get from class to home. I spend up to 106 hours doing something for school or work.
Most of the time I'm lucky to get 4 or 5 hours of sleep. That's the life of a real college student.
Preach on brother JoeShmoe.
And I sayeth unto the powers that be that ye shall be struck down by a great and furious wrath.
And I lifted forth my keyboard and many viruses came forth I asked the MPAA shall ye let mine brothers go?
The MPAA and the RIAA hardened their hearts and I lifted forth my keyboard and all of thier websites became clogged with bad packets.
Even still the MPAA and RIAA hardened their hearts and I lifted my keyboard for a last time.
I smote the leaders upon the head repeatedly with mine keyboard and blessed silence reigned as their shouts and curses were silenced.
This mine children is the story of our liberation from the tyranny of the coorperate conglomerates. Let the word go forth.
And any who alter this text shall be damned to an eternity of windows 3.1.
Sure, not all politicians are corrupt money hungry people but even that small minority of good politicians, doesn't have the technical knowledge to know what reverse engineering is.
Why aren't geeks interested in politics? We all want to change the world but none of us are being represented by our peers. It would be nice to have a few representatives that really represent the open source community. I wonder what state has a large enough concentration of computer people to get a guy into office. California maybe.
The only good thing that I can see is that college age students are more and more getting into the open source movement. Maybe in a few years when they graduate and become the industry and country leaders we'll see some changes.
I don't vote most of the time because it's a choice of bad or worse. I want a representative that knows about technology, that's for privacy, free speech,personal responsability and law reform. I'm sick of politicians getting paid to lie to the public. I think that political parties are ruining are government.
I love america but I hate our government. I feel like I'm in east Berlin before the wall came down.
Some people here on slashdot like to blame the corparations. Sure they're large greedy and evil but in a capitalistic society they are supposed to be greedy since we are all working in enlightened selfinterest. It's the fault of the government. Governments only job is to protect it's population.
Only tyranies fear their subjects. Whenever I here about the government wanting more cops or more laws to allow them to track individuals it makes me sick. A good government especially a republic should have nothing to fear from it's citizens.
The death penalty should be reserved for people who commit murder and polaticians that sell out there country for money or power.
I started this post intending to make a short funny remark to post anonymously but the more I wrote the more strongly I felt. I know it's a little offtopic but it's how I feel.
At last some good news. I was worried that fair use and reverse engineering had gone the way of the dodo. Maybe we'll see a virtual dreamcast.
Any way it is good news for the emulator scene. And good news for computer users. It means that maybe we won't have to invest in the latest console to get to play the newest console games if more companies will create products like this.
I've tried several emulators and most are decent quality have any of you tried connectix. How does it compare to other emulators?
I just wish that all console makers would go to cd's so that you could have emulators for any console without the need for roms. At least with cds people are buying the games instead of just downloading the rom files.
Most console game manufacturers don't make money off of the hardware anyway they make money off of the software liscences.
Kind of disjointed and unfocused I know but I need sleep. Later and good night.
Moore's Law sucks it took less then a year for my 400mhz and 500mhz computers to be outdated.
This stuff is kinda of cool though, maybe we'll get to see some nice VR stuff and better speech recognition. Eventually the hardware will be fast enough to run windows.
I would have liked to have seen intel go to a 128 bit architecture instead of 64 it would have lasted longer.
First I want a color high res. display.
Second I want a processor that is powerfull enough to play games movies or do voice recognition.
Third it should have large enough storage capacity to store a couple of movies or several MP3's
I want to be able to read etexts on it so I won't have to lug around all my school books
I want it to be able to transcribe speech.
I want highspeed wireless transfers to and from my home computer.
I want a usable interface, speech recognition would be perfect along with a stylus type of device.
I want to be able to use it for multiple purposes. So I want a good I/O port to add all those little extras, like a portable oscillascope add on. Or a backup drive for use at home.
I want to be able to store and retrieve files from other computers.
As you can see I don't want much from a PDA. :)
sorry in the last paragraph I said I wouldn't trade my two computers for a webserver with dsl. I meant to say I wouldn't trade them for a dumb terminal wich is what these types of devices are.
webserver must have been a freudian slip