How long before the gov't makes this illegal like they did with hemp, to keep the oil companies in business? It's not like hemp gets you high, it would just hurt DuPont and a bunch of other big companies, like this might hurt oil companies. I'm tired of this big gov't, big industry circle jerk that we seem to have going in this country. I guess if you can bribe enough senators (and don't tell me "campaign contributions" aren't bribery), you can do anything. Hell, the boys in DC will even start a war to help their profits. Does anyone remember how in history, it's been corruption that has brought down every major civilization. I'm afraid we're heading for the same thing here in the US...
I'd say get a patent, and then create an open license, a la GPL, that way you actually have a legal footing to stand on if anyone ever tries to steal it.
The MAFIAA getting sued for malicious prosecution, now the FSF (potentially) suing MS over GPL violations...I think I just saw a pig fly by the window. But seriously, how can this get any better?
Normally, I would agree with you, however, I seriously doubt MS is willing to truly become a part of the community. I am guessing this is simply an attempt at "Embrace and Extend" with F/OSS. And no, I don't feel this is simple MS hating. This is simply observing past experience. The MS business model is on the complete oposite end of the spectrum from F/OSS. It would be the equivalent of trying to get OSX running on an Amiga. As far as I can see, MS can't lose here. If the OSI grants the application, they can work from the inside and try to destroy what we love about F/OSS, while at the same time pretending to help the community. Whereas, if OSI turns them down, they can win a big PR victory by saying "See? We tried to work with those guys." Personally, I think the second option is the lesser of two evils, as it will force MS to come at us head on, which at least will make them put their cards on the table.
You want a good game for competitive play? How about UT? Its whole premise is that its a competition to begin with. The only problem with it that I see is that it might be a little bit too fast for the unitiated to follow.
As long as they don't try to go out and patent it, its fine by me. Also, I'm imagining some of the messages from it...You are downloading win_vista_dvd_rip.iso. Cancel/Allow?
C'mon here, anyone who's ever tried running ATI cards under GNU/Linux knows the pain of a keyboard to the forehead. We've been asking for better drivers from these guys for years. Now Nvidia, while they are in fact proprietary, they at least work. ATI's are closed source and broken too. Which is why I believe that the open-source ati driver is actually ahead of the open source nv one. Necessity is the mother of invention.
Emergency powers have a long history and tend to creep up on you.
"I vote we move to grant the chancellor emergency powers." Wow, as much as you may hate the prequels, Lucas sure knew what he was talking about...*ducks*
Here's an idea, take the bugs, tracker etc down to your local police station and return them. When asked where you got them, respond that "Well, you guys seem to have left them in my house/car/boat/etc., and I figured you'd want them back, since they are kind of expensive."
Tell me when and where, I will gladly donate time/money to such a project. Also, if you offer downloads, make sure they're in ogg (vorbis or flac) or at least DRM free mp3. Do that, and this geek is in 110%.
...while it seems to make things just work, when something doesn't you're pretty much screwed (ever tried to recompile a kernel on Ubuntu?). Now, granted, I am a Slackware -> Gentoo user, but I do use (K)ubuntu on my laptop simply because I use the lappy for/with stuff where it really shines (i.e. wireless cards). Not to detract from it, but Ubuntu just seems a little bloated and clunky under the hood for my everyday use.
The major difference is that this is part of an agreement that MS has with the feds. There's nothing illegal about bundling multiple types of software together, other companies do it all the time. The issue is that this is against the above mentioned settlement. MS was convicted of holding a monopoly, and as such is subject to a different set of rules than the rest of the world. When the anti-trust settlement expires, then they are free to do business just like everyone else. (At least short of returning to their old way of doing things.)
Oh, and not being able to stay away from the command line.
Yes, but once you learn it, it becomes easier than hunting through menus for system settings, info, etc. And if you don't like the cmd line, try (K)Ubuntu, with the newest release, you can do just about everything from a GUI. And before you say that all the people on the help channels in IRC give you obtuse multiline commands to run, that's because its what we know and its easier for us to run sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade rather than click here, then click here... etc.
...doesn't make sense that a civilization advanced enough to cross interstellar space would crash in New Mexico...
Even our most advanced aircraft crash every once in a while. Plus, it makes sense that a ship designed to travel in outer space might have control problems in an alien atmospheric environment.
And the chances of aliens being humanoid in appearance are close to zero.
Why is that? To me, it makes sense any life form evolving in similar conditions would more than likely develop similarities in appearance/structure.
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How long before the gov't makes this illegal like they did with hemp, to keep the oil companies in business? It's not like hemp gets you high, it would just hurt DuPont and a bunch of other big companies, like this might hurt oil companies. I'm tired of this big gov't, big industry circle jerk that we seem to have going in this country. I guess if you can bribe enough senators (and don't tell me "campaign contributions" aren't bribery), you can do anything. Hell, the boys in DC will even start a war to help their profits. Does anyone remember how in history, it's been corruption that has brought down every major civilization. I'm afraid we're heading for the same thing here in the US...
Ubuntu makes it hard enough to get to a pure cmd line as it is, now with the failsafe mode...
Ubuntu...Bringing Windows to GNU/Linux...
I'd say get a patent, and then create an open license, a la GPL, that way you actually have a legal footing to stand on if anyone ever tries to steal it.
But is his original hand still attached?
heh, now that's just too good to be true...but then again, gonzalez did resign...
The MAFIAA getting sued for malicious prosecution, now the FSF (potentially) suing MS over GPL violations...I think I just saw a pig fly by the window. But seriously, how can this get any better?
Good luck installing a rootkit on my gentoo box, sony. Or my kubuntu one.
d00d, u fragged ur 0wn r0cket, PWNED!!!
Ok, sorry about that, but it had to be said.
Doesn't this violate the freedom of travel clause in the US Constitution? I mean, seriously, what are we going to here?
"Your papers, please, comrade."
Sorry, dude, but I think the "brain" patent falls under prior art.
Normally, I would agree with you, however, I seriously doubt MS is willing to truly become a part of the community. I am guessing this is simply an attempt at "Embrace and Extend" with F/OSS. And no, I don't feel this is simple MS hating. This is simply observing past experience. The MS business model is on the complete oposite end of the spectrum from F/OSS. It would be the equivalent of trying to get OSX running on an Amiga. As far as I can see, MS can't lose here. If the OSI grants the application, they can work from the inside and try to destroy what we love about F/OSS, while at the same time pretending to help the community. Whereas, if OSI turns them down, they can win a big PR victory by saying "See? We tried to work with those guys." Personally, I think the second option is the lesser of two evils, as it will force MS to come at us head on, which at least will make them put their cards on the table.
As the saying goes: "Fool me once..."
You want a good game for competitive play? How about UT? Its whole premise is that its a competition to begin with. The only problem with it that I see is that it might be a little bit too fast for the unitiated to follow.
As long as they don't try to go out and patent it, its fine by me. Also, I'm imagining some of the messages from it...You are downloading win_vista_dvd_rip.iso. Cancel/Allow?
I wouldn't be surprised if they still make a profit even at that low price.
Considering the alternative is the students go out and pirate it anyway, I guess $3 > $0.
C'mon here, anyone who's ever tried running ATI cards under GNU/Linux knows the pain of a keyboard to the forehead. We've been asking for better drivers from these guys for years. Now Nvidia, while they are in fact proprietary, they at least work. ATI's are closed source and broken too. Which is why I believe that the open-source ati driver is actually ahead of the open source nv one. Necessity is the mother of invention.
There's always Kontact...for us linux types. And since Qt is going cross platform, maybe for Mac/Win as well.
To name it after a hot Star Trek character.
And how appropriate its a Borg, too. Maybe the Billborg logo finally has a successor...
Emergency powers have a long history and tend to creep up on you.
"I vote we move to grant the chancellor emergency powers." Wow, as much as you may hate the prequels, Lucas sure knew what he was talking about...*ducks*
Here's an idea, take the bugs, tracker etc down to your local police station and return them. When asked where you got them, respond that "Well, you guys seem to have left them in my house/car/boat/etc., and I figured you'd want them back, since they are kind of expensive."
Tell me when and where, I will gladly donate time/money to such a project. Also, if you offer downloads, make sure they're in ogg (vorbis or flac) or at least DRM free mp3. Do that, and this geek is in 110%.
...while it seems to make things just work, when something doesn't you're pretty much screwed (ever tried to recompile a kernel on Ubuntu?). Now, granted, I am a Slackware -> Gentoo user, but I do use (K)ubuntu on my laptop simply because I use the lappy for/with stuff where it really shines (i.e. wireless cards). Not to detract from it, but Ubuntu just seems a little bloated and clunky under the hood for my everyday use.
Anyone remember those big robot things from Robocop?
The major difference is that this is part of an agreement that MS has with the feds. There's nothing illegal about bundling multiple types of software together, other companies do it all the time. The issue is that this is against the above mentioned settlement. MS was convicted of holding a monopoly, and as such is subject to a different set of rules than the rest of the world. When the anti-trust settlement expires, then they are free to do business just like everyone else. (At least short of returning to their old way of doing things.)
Oh, and not being able to stay away from the command line.
Yes, but once you learn it, it becomes easier than hunting through menus for system settings, info, etc. And if you don't like the cmd line, try (K)Ubuntu, with the newest release, you can do just about everything from a GUI. And before you say that all the people on the help channels in IRC give you obtuse multiline commands to run, that's because its what we know and its easier for us to run sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade rather than click here, then click here... etc.
Even our most advanced aircraft crash every once in a while. Plus, it makes sense that a ship designed to travel in outer space might have control problems in an alien atmospheric environment.
And the chances of aliens being humanoid in appearance are close to zero.
Why is that? To me, it makes sense any life form evolving in similar conditions would more than likely develop similarities in appearance/structure.