I think he's including sales that have nothing to do with his e-mail at all. He's taking sales numbers, dividing by e-mail numbers, and then saying "because I sent out fewer e-mails than there are customers, I created 21 sales by sending out these e-mails. So I'm not a horrific parasite leeching off of legitimate businesses, REALLY!"
For anyone who believes him, I have (the MPAA-equivalent of) fifteen ("ordinary") CD-R drives to sell you!;)
No, but it WAS a very, very good movie. Some great intruige stuff (keeps you guessing almost right up to the end), memorable characters (the villain is CREEPY), and great action scenes (the monorail!) make it a nice product on its own. To say nothing of the excellent soundtrack. The only complaint I had about it was the single dogfighting scene - it had no connection whatsoever to the rest of the movie, and seemed to have been dropped in there just because they needed a dogfighting scene.
You know, I'm willing to bet this won't be appealed. Elcomsoft got what they wanted - the US legal system decided that, while a Russian company was within its jurisdiction, it wouldn't do anything to it because the company was ignorant of US law. Adobe won't do anything about it - as others have pointed out, the case merely served to validate the DMCA. If anything, its now going to be harder to get rid of the damn thing, and the proponents of the UDTBPA have more ammunition to use. ("See? Companies can make amends for past mistakes under the law. It CAN'T be abused, d00dz!!!111!")
While I'm very glad that Mr. Sklyarov and his loyal employers haven't been tossed in the gulag for violating US law in another country, I'd say this outcome is very bad indeed.
Hell, yes. Smash Brothers and its Gamecube descendant are among the most fun fighting games I've played in years. One doesn't have to memorize five dozen thumb-wrenching control pad dances to have fun playing them, or do cool-looking stuff. And they're about as colorful and cartoonish as you get.
Well, leaving aside the question of whether copyright is ethical at all (which RMS poses in much more eloquent language than I could muster for a/. post), you'd be right. However, the issue that's being raised here is their statistics - claiming the "equivalent of 400+ CD burners" makes this sound like a much larger operation than it was. And, of course, that raises the perception of the size of the "copyright infringement problem" and then gets used to justify the latest round of laws that proceed to curtail our rights.
Well, remember, they DID advertise Generations as being an original series/TNG crossover.
Speaking as a not-very-big-fan of Trek, ST:II, IV, and VI were great movies. I wish I could say the same for anything from the current crop of TNG movies.
Yes, of course all the hacker-hype is there to confuse the judges. If the persecutor manages to convince the judge(s) that, if they let Jon go, they'll be all over the newspapers as soft on hackers and terrorists, they're not going to let Jon go even if they think he's innocent. It worked with Kaplan and 2600. Hopefully, judges in Norway will be a bit smarter.
Of course they're unlikely. The XBox is doing so horribly in Japan that touching it would be instant death, even for a company the size of Square Enix. But the XBox fanboys have to have their fantasies. "Oh, its a superior console! Really! Better hardware and larger disks! Square will release an RPG for it any day now!"
The Japanese market's going to be dominated by Sony and Nintendo for the forseeable future, especially after this merger. Since Final Fantasy games have already been announced for the GBA and GC, and more FF games are on the way for the PS2, I think we know where the new company's going to be placing its money.
Not only that, but Nintendo (IIRC) refused to let Square release games in North America without running them through Nintendo's translators and censors. Ever wondered why the PSX FF4 and SNES FF2 translations are so different? This is why - Nintendo insisted on censoring the games for the kiddie-dominated NA market, while Sony was willing to let Square do their thing. Nintendo, I believe, has since changed their stance on this.
In fact, it could even be argued that JSL Corporation (the defendant) could sue Visa for dilution of trademark.
And if the win, I say that's exactly what they need to do. Give a big company a slap in the face for a change, and make clear the ludicrous nature of "modern intellectual property" laws while they're at it.
Of course, the chance of JSL winning is slim. Seriously, who do you expect an Honest, Law-Abiding American Judge (TM) to believe? Your friendly neighbourhood credit card company (which, incidentally, has left this large briefcase full of bills beside yr'honor's desk), or some weird organization that helps for-in-ers get into the good ol' USA?
Re:This is where a tablet pc would be nice
on
War of Honor
·
· Score: 2
Got the CD right here. In addition to HTML and RTF, the CD includes Microsoft Reader, Mobipocket (Palm/WinCE), and Rocket RCA REB1100 formats. At least one of those seems to be designed for use with handhelds. Anyone who'd care to fill me in on what the other two are, feel free. (I'm curious, but not curious enough to spend time googling)
Name five science-fiction or fantasy American TV shows from the last two years that have had good special effects, action sequences, a definite plot with a start and a finish, and decent writing.
I know I can't.
I enjoy anime because it has elements I enjoy. I enjoy American science fiction and fantasy novels for the same reason. What American TV or movies I enjoy, I enjoy for the same reason. Having other people not understand it doesn't come into things. On the contrary, I try to get others to at least try watching anime whenver possible.
You know, some of us "anime freaks in the US" like anime because we like anime. The anime we enjoy has things that we just can't find in most American TV shows. Plot and characterization, for example. Writing that doesn't treat us like drooling morons. (Though that could be the translations) Half-decent science fiction or fantasy. Good action sequences. (Voice) Actors who can, you know, act.
Second thing to remember: there has never, as far as I can remember, been a single "mainstream" article written about anime that gets this. They all seem to try to portray it as some "artistic" thing or some such. None have considered the fact that people might enjoy a medium for other reasons...
GAINAX? Don't make me laugh. Their stuff has more fan service per minute than any other series I can name, and the "intellectual" content of most of their series is all in the minds of the fans. If you want truely original work, Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli is the only real choice.
What exactly are you complaining about? That the Register pointed out that the schools would have to spend lots of money on Microsoft software (more than the value of the donated products) to even use the gift? How exactly is that propaganda?
And I think you'll find that this is the correct (or a correct) use of the phrase "trojan horse". IE, an offer disguised as a gift which results in substantial harm to the recipient.
Re:Antimatter costs far more than it's worth...
on
Antimatter Space Drive
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
it costs more energy to produce than it actually stores
I'd certainly hope so. Otherwise, we're going to have to reconsider quite a lot of modern physics!
Cartoon Network only ever airs bad dubs, even on their Adult Swim blocks. This really won't be a problem for many anime fans, and I suspect that few people are brought in by the horrendous quality of the American voice actors. Note that this says nothing about anime running during the main time, like the Big O sequel that Cartoon Network is financing.
As for anime peaking, I suggest you start looking at places other than US TV channels, who have notoriously bad taste in the first place. TokyoPop constantly has trouble printing enough of the manga series it owns the rights to to meet demand. Anime distributors often license series before they're finished their Japanese run, usually based on the popularity of the fansubs.
Re:Seems like a silly move...
on
Yahoo Moving to PHP
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
So instead of fixing FreeBSD's threading, you advocate not using threads?
"Many people may hold the image of a librarian as a shushing school marm who does little more than stamp and shelve books because that's all they've seen librarians do"
Seriously, who have they been talking to? Any geek worth his (or her) salt should, upon hearing the word "Librarian" immediately think "simian". (Not, note, monkey. That would be a very painful thought) Why this has not caught on among the general populace is a mystery. Perhaps they have simply not ventured deeply enough into the more obscure sections of their "local" library...
Not only that, but I believe Cox was advised by a lawyer that publishing anything about the exploit would be persecutable under the DMCA. A lot of people here on Slashdot called him paranoid, but I seem to remember that he made it clear that it wasn't his opinion, it was his lawyer's.
A-men! That's why I run SETI@Home, and have almost-continuously for the past five years. A good number of the students I know do, as do most of the science/engineering professors. And finding something is easily worth a few spare CPU cycles that would go to waste anyway. (Though its only getting half - the other half's working on finding Mersenne primes)
The purpose isn't really to spread the works themselves so much as the ideas and artistic techniques of those works. The works are irrelevant, the important thing is that the ideas are spread and the public has a base to learn from and build on.
In fact, it might even restrict someone who uses a free competitor from using BitKeeper! After all, using it means there's one more person using it, and saying you're using it is effectively advertising it. (And thus, aiding the project)
It assumes that someone who wants to write will write... They just won't make the book available to the general public. There were plenty of painters and writers before copyright was invented, but the general public got to see their work very rarely.
Remember, one of the most artistically revolutionary periods in our history, the European Renaissance, happened centuries before copyright was invented!
The purpose of copyright is indeed to spread new ideas. The theory is that, without some kind of protection, authors would never release their works or ideas to the public. They'd keep them tightly locked away. Copyright, in exchange for the authors releasing their works, grants them a limited-term (note the limited in there) monopoly. Then the work passes into the public domain, where anyone can use it however they want.
Its the same with patents. You can get a government-defended protection on your invention, but you have to release the details of that invention to the public.
Slashdot Mirror
I think he's including sales that have nothing to do with his e-mail at all. He's taking sales numbers, dividing by e-mail numbers, and then saying "because I sent out fewer e-mails than there are customers, I created 21 sales by sending out these e-mails. So I'm not a horrific parasite leeching off of legitimate businesses, REALLY!"
For anyone who believes him, I have (the MPAA-equivalent of) fifteen ("ordinary") CD-R drives to sell you! ;)
No, but it WAS a very, very good movie. Some great intruige stuff (keeps you guessing almost right up to the end), memorable characters (the villain is CREEPY), and great action scenes (the monorail!) make it a nice product on its own. To say nothing of the excellent soundtrack. The only complaint I had about it was the single dogfighting scene - it had no connection whatsoever to the rest of the movie, and seemed to have been dropped in there just because they needed a dogfighting scene.
You know, I'm willing to bet this won't be appealed. Elcomsoft got what they wanted - the US legal system decided that, while a Russian company was within its jurisdiction, it wouldn't do anything to it because the company was ignorant of US law. Adobe won't do anything about it - as others have pointed out, the case merely served to validate the DMCA. If anything, its now going to be harder to get rid of the damn thing, and the proponents of the UDTBPA have more ammunition to use. ("See? Companies can make amends for past mistakes under the law. It CAN'T be abused, d00dz!!!111!")
While I'm very glad that Mr. Sklyarov and his loyal employers haven't been tossed in the gulag for violating US law in another country, I'd say this outcome is very bad indeed.
Hell, yes. Smash Brothers and its Gamecube descendant are among the most fun fighting games I've played in years. One doesn't have to memorize five dozen thumb-wrenching control pad dances to have fun playing them, or do cool-looking stuff. And they're about as colorful and cartoonish as you get.
Well, leaving aside the question of whether copyright is ethical at all (which RMS poses in much more eloquent language than I could muster for a /. post), you'd be right. However, the issue that's being raised here is their statistics - claiming the "equivalent of 400+ CD burners" makes this sound like a much larger operation than it was. And, of course, that raises the perception of the size of the "copyright infringement problem" and then gets used to justify the latest round of laws that proceed to curtail our rights.
Well, remember, they DID advertise Generations as being an original series/TNG crossover.
Speaking as a not-very-big-fan of Trek, ST:II, IV, and VI were great movies. I wish I could say the same for anything from the current crop of TNG movies.
Yes, of course all the hacker-hype is there to confuse the judges. If the persecutor manages to convince the judge(s) that, if they let Jon go, they'll be all over the newspapers as soft on hackers and terrorists, they're not going to let Jon go even if they think he's innocent. It worked with Kaplan and 2600. Hopefully, judges in Norway will be a bit smarter.
Of course they're unlikely. The XBox is doing so horribly in Japan that touching it would be instant death, even for a company the size of Square Enix. But the XBox fanboys have to have their fantasies. "Oh, its a superior console! Really! Better hardware and larger disks! Square will release an RPG for it any day now!"
The Japanese market's going to be dominated by Sony and Nintendo for the forseeable future, especially after this merger. Since Final Fantasy games have already been announced for the GBA and GC, and more FF games are on the way for the PS2, I think we know where the new company's going to be placing its money.
Not only that, but Nintendo (IIRC) refused to let Square release games in North America without running them through Nintendo's translators and censors. Ever wondered why the PSX FF4 and SNES FF2 translations are so different? This is why - Nintendo insisted on censoring the games for the kiddie-dominated NA market, while Sony was willing to let Square do their thing. Nintendo, I believe, has since changed their stance on this.
In fact, it could even be argued that JSL Corporation (the defendant) could sue Visa for dilution of trademark.
And if the win, I say that's exactly what they need to do. Give a big company a slap in the face for a change, and make clear the ludicrous nature of "modern intellectual property" laws while they're at it.
Of course, the chance of JSL winning is slim. Seriously, who do you expect an Honest, Law-Abiding American Judge (TM) to believe? Your friendly neighbourhood credit card company (which, incidentally, has left this large briefcase full of bills beside yr'honor's desk), or some weird organization that helps for-in-ers get into the good ol' USA?
Got the CD right here. In addition to HTML and RTF, the CD includes Microsoft Reader, Mobipocket (Palm/WinCE), and Rocket RCA REB1100 formats. At least one of those seems to be designed for use with handhelds. Anyone who'd care to fill me in on what the other two are, feel free. (I'm curious, but not curious enough to spend time googling)
Name five science-fiction or fantasy American TV shows from the last two years that have had good special effects, action sequences, a definite plot with a start and a finish, and decent writing.
I know I can't.
I enjoy anime because it has elements I enjoy. I enjoy American science fiction and fantasy novels for the same reason. What American TV or movies I enjoy, I enjoy for the same reason. Having other people not understand it doesn't come into things. On the contrary, I try to get others to at least try watching anime whenver possible.
You know, some of us "anime freaks in the US" like anime because we like anime. The anime we enjoy has things that we just can't find in most American TV shows. Plot and characterization, for example. Writing that doesn't treat us like drooling morons. (Though that could be the translations) Half-decent science fiction or fantasy. Good action sequences. (Voice) Actors who can, you know, act.
Second thing to remember: there has never, as far as I can remember, been a single "mainstream" article written about anime that gets this. They all seem to try to portray it as some "artistic" thing or some such. None have considered the fact that people might enjoy a medium for other reasons...
GAINAX? Don't make me laugh. Their stuff has more fan service per minute than any other series I can name, and the "intellectual" content of most of their series is all in the minds of the fans. If you want truely original work, Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli is the only real choice.
What exactly are you complaining about? That the Register pointed out that the schools would have to spend lots of money on Microsoft software (more than the value of the donated products) to even use the gift? How exactly is that propaganda?
And I think you'll find that this is the correct (or a correct) use of the phrase "trojan horse". IE, an offer disguised as a gift which results in substantial harm to the recipient.
it costs more energy to produce than it actually stores
I'd certainly hope so. Otherwise, we're going to have to reconsider quite a lot of modern physics!
Cartoon Network only ever airs bad dubs, even on their Adult Swim blocks. This really won't be a problem for many anime fans, and I suspect that few people are brought in by the horrendous quality of the American voice actors. Note that this says nothing about anime running during the main time, like the Big O sequel that Cartoon Network is financing.
As for anime peaking, I suggest you start looking at places other than US TV channels, who have notoriously bad taste in the first place. TokyoPop constantly has trouble printing enough of the manga series it owns the rights to to meet demand. Anime distributors often license series before they're finished their Japanese run, usually based on the popularity of the fansubs.
So instead of fixing FreeBSD's threading, you advocate not using threads?
"Many people may hold the image of a librarian as a shushing school marm who does little more than stamp and shelve books because that's all they've seen librarians do"
Seriously, who have they been talking to? Any geek worth his (or her) salt should, upon hearing the word "Librarian" immediately think "simian". (Not, note, monkey. That would be a very painful thought) Why this has not caught on among the general populace is a mystery. Perhaps they have simply not ventured deeply enough into the more obscure sections of their "local" library...
Not only that, but I believe Cox was advised by a lawyer that publishing anything about the exploit would be persecutable under the DMCA. A lot of people here on Slashdot called him paranoid, but I seem to remember that he made it clear that it wasn't his opinion, it was his lawyer's.
A-men! That's why I run SETI@Home, and have almost-continuously for the past five years. A good number of the students I know do, as do most of the science/engineering professors. And finding something is easily worth a few spare CPU cycles that would go to waste anyway. (Though its only getting half - the other half's working on finding Mersenne primes)
The purpose isn't really to spread the works themselves so much as the ideas and artistic techniques of those works. The works are irrelevant, the important thing is that the ideas are spread and the public has a base to learn from and build on.
In fact, it might even restrict someone who uses a free competitor from using BitKeeper! After all, using it means there's one more person using it, and saying you're using it is effectively advertising it. (And thus, aiding the project)
It assumes that someone who wants to write will write... They just won't make the book available to the general public. There were plenty of painters and writers before copyright was invented, but the general public got to see their work very rarely.
Remember, one of the most artistically revolutionary periods in our history, the European Renaissance, happened centuries before copyright was invented!
The purpose of copyright is indeed to spread new ideas. The theory is that, without some kind of protection, authors would never release their works or ideas to the public. They'd keep them tightly locked away. Copyright, in exchange for the authors releasing their works, grants them a limited-term (note the limited in there) monopoly. Then the work passes into the public domain, where anyone can use it however they want.
Its the same with patents. You can get a government-defended protection on your invention, but you have to release the details of that invention to the public.