Are you kidding? If Microsoft was collecting (and using without my consent) my credit card numbers, I'd go out and buy a Vista machine right now. As my lawyer friend would say "How do you punish a company with hundreds of billions of dollars?"
Re:Don't worry, it's not Vista...
on
Vista is Watching You
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Sorry, I left out: Activation, Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP), Device Manager, Driver Protection, Dynamic Update, Event Viewer, File Association Web Service, Games Folder, Error Reporting for Handwriting Recognition, Input Method Editor (IME), Installation Improvement Program, Internet Printing, Network Awareness (somewhat), Parental Controls, Peer Name Resolution Service, Plug and Play, Plug and Play Extensions, Program Compatibility Assistant, Program PropertiesCompatibility Tab, Program Compatibility Wizard, Properties, Registration, Windows Control Panel, Windows Help, Windows Mail (only with Windows Live Mail, Hotmail, or MSN Mail), Windows Problem Reporting, Windows Defender, Support Services, and Internet Explorer 7.
"This extensive enumeration is not a complete illustration of all the sources in Windows Vista that Microsoft uses to gather end user data"
It's just: Windows Update, Web Content, Digital Certificates, Auto Root Update, Windows Media Digital Rights Management, Windows Media Player, Malicious Software Removal/Clean On Upgrade, Network Connectivity Status Icon, Windows Time Service, and the IPv6 Network Address Translation (NAT) Traversal service (Teredo).
I bet if Richard Stallman were dead by now (please note that I'm glad and happy that he's alive and kickin'!), there'd be a chance he'd be rotating in his grave at high speeds because of this.
Then, we could hook his body to a generator. So, everytime something like this happened, we could say "at least we just cut down on greenhouse emissions."
Think of the stakes involved. I'm sure some portion of their budget is slated for "very benefical but very unlikely" projects. For instance, if they thought they could make a satellite that could read thoughts from space, and it only cost $15 million to run a feasibility study, what % chance do you think they would need to make it a wise investment?
I'd probably say that ability is worth (depending on the accuracy) at least $60 billion, so at least 0.025% chance of success. When you think like that, it's easy to see how some truely random projects get funded. Heck, I can probably convince most people here they stood a 0.025% chance of almost anything.
Apart from people probably not recognising their own handwriting
Are there really people that dumb or unfamiliar with their own writing?
I cannot. Or rather, I cannot to the degree of speed and reliability that I type. The only things I ever write by hand are checks. Heck, I tried to write in cursive recently and realized, with the exception of my signature, which is all muscle memory, I don't know any of the capitals.
When's the last time you tried to record something on paper using a pen for your own reading later?
the enormous dilution factor should make any that reaches the surface harmless. What about all the ocean animals? It wasn't a retorical question, I don't know much about the effects of waste.
There will always be the potential for failure of the human element. And since all technology derives from human effort, all technology is therefor fallible.
Exactly, the craft that crasged in Roswell was made from technology free of the human element. Therefore your entire premise is wrong.
women IT professionals... my office is all guys:(... ) Wait, if your office doesn't have women? How can you find dates? Or do you not spend 18-hours a day at the office?
To those who don't get it, it's the RIAA troll response moddified for the GPL troll response. It's supposed to be funny. That said, I understand if no one thinks it is...
When I first saw the summary, my first thought was to post a joke about, "... and after that, they're fixing DRM". But then I RTFA'd (which I for some reason do before I post) and noticed CRI will also soon debut a similar copy-protection feature for Blu-ray video discs. So, other than getting a method of circumventing this printer technology (which presumably has value) posted on the Internet, would this have any effect? Somehow, I cannot get my head around whatever technology they are selling.
Oh, but I came up with an alternate joke: Finally, a market for my printer-modding business.
[Aside, sorry about the inadequate formatting before. I accidentally selected HTML rather than Plain Old Text. This is in response to the grandparent talking about GPL codes downsides for commercial use.]
Help with my record store blacklist software?
Dear sir, I would like to thank you for your warning about the perils of using GPL'ed software and Linux in particular. I know I will never use these products in the future. Imagine using a GPL'ed accounting system to create accounts and being told you had to let anyone access them. Since you seem like a discriminating soul, I was hoping I could enlist your aid in creating some proprietary software to keep track of a blacklist.
You see, as a record store owner, my business faces ruin. CD sales have dropped through the floor. People aren't buying half as many CDs as they did just a year ago. Revenue is down and costs are up. My store has survived for years, but I now face the prospect of bankruptcy. Every day I ask myself why this is happening.
I bought the store about 12 years ago. It was one of those boutique record stores that sell obscure, independent releases that no-one listens to, not even the people that buy them. I decided that to grow the business I'd need to aim for a different demographic, the family market. My store specialised in family music - stuff that the whole family could listen to. I don't sell sick stuff like Marilyn Manson or cop-killer rap, and I'm proud to have one of the most extensive Christian rock sections that I know of.
The business strategy worked. People flocked to my store, knowing that they (and their children) could safely purchase records without profanity or violent lyrics. Over the years I expanded the business and took on more clean-cut and friendly employees. It took hard work and long hours but I had achieved my dream - owning a profitable business that I had built with my own hands, from the ground up. But now, this dream is turning into a nightmare.
Every day, fewer and fewer customers enter my store to buy fewer and fewer CDs. Why is no one buying CDs? Are people not interested in music? Do people prefer to watch TV, see films, read books? I don't know. But there is one, inescapable truth - Internet piracy is mostly to blame. The statistics speak for themselves - one in three discs world wide is a pirate. On The Internet, you can find and download hundreds of dollars worth of music in just minutes. It has the potential to destroy the music industry, from artists, to record companies to stores like my own. Before you point to the supposed "economic downturn", I'll note that the book store just across from my store is doing great business. Unlike CDs, it's harder to copy books over The Internet.
A week ago, an unpleasant experience with pirates gave me an idea. In my store, I overheard a teenage patron talking to his friend.
"Dude, I'm going to put this CD on the Internet right away."
"Yeah, dude, that's really lete [sic], you'll get lots of respect."
I was fuming. So they were out to destroy the record industry from right under my nose? Fat chance. When they came to the counter to make their purchase, I grabbed the little shit by his shirt. "So...you're going to copy this to your friends over The Internet, punk?" I asked him in my best Clint Eastwood/Dirty Harry voice.
"Uh y-yeh." He mumbled, shocked.
"That's it. What's your name? You're blacklisted. Now take yourself and your little bitch friend out of my store - and don't come back." I barked. Cravenly, they complied and scampered off.
So that's my idea - a national blacklist of pirates. If somebody cannot obey the basic rules of society, then they should be excluded from society. If pirates want to steal from the music industry, then the music industry should exclude them. It's that simple. One strike, and you're out - no reputable record store will allow you to buy another CD. If the pirates can't buy the CDS to begin with, then they won't be able to copy them over The Internet, will the
Dear sir, I would like to thank you for your warning about the perils of using GPL'ed software and Linux in particular. I know I will never use these products in the future. Imagine using a GPL'ed accounting system to create accounts and being told you had to let anyone access them. Since you seem like a discriminating soul, I was hoping I could enlist your aid in creating some proprietary software to keep track of a blacklist.
You see, as a record store owner, My business faces ruin. CD sales have dropped through the floor. People aren't buying half as many CDs as they did just a year ago. Revenue is down and costs are up. My store has survived for years, but I now face the prospect of bankruptcy. Every day I ask myself why this is happening.
I bought the store about 12 years ago. It was one of those boutique record stores that sell obscure, independent releases that no-one listens to, not even the people that buy them. I decided that to grow the business I'd need to aim for a different demographic, the family market. My store specialised in family music - stuff that the whole family could listen to. I don't sell sick stuff like Marilyn Manson or cop-killer rap, and I'm proud to have one of the most extensive Christian rock sections that I know of.
The business strategy worked. People flocked to my store, knowing that they (and their children) could safely purchase records without profanity or violent lyrics. Over the years I expanded the business and took on more clean-cut and friendly employees. It took hard work and long hours but I had achieved my dream - owning a profitable business that I had built with my own hands, from the ground up. But now, this dream is turning into a nightmare.
Every day, fewer and fewer customers enter my store to buy fewer and fewer CDs. Why is no one buying CDs? Are people not interested in music? Do people prefer to watch TV, see films, read books? I don't know. But there is one, inescapable truth - Internet piracy is mostly to blame. The statistics speak for themselves - one in three discs world wide is a pirate. On The Internet, you can find and download hundreds of dollars worth of music in just minutes. It has the potential to destroy the music industry, from artists, to record companies to stores like my own. Before you point to the supposed "economic downturn", I'll note that the book store just across from my store is doing great business. Unlike CDs, it's harder to copy books over The Internet.
A week ago, an unpleasant experience with pirates gave me an idea. In my store, I overheard a teenage patron talking to his friend.
"Dude, I'm going to put this CD on the Internet right away."
"Yeah, dude, that's really lete [sic], you'll get lots of respect."
I was fuming. So they were out to destroy the record industry from right under my nose? Fat chance. When they came to the counter to make their purchase, I grabbed the little shit by his shirt. "So...you're going to copy this to your friends over The Internet, punk?" I asked him in my best Clint Eastwood/Dirty Harry voice.
"Uh y-yeh." He mumbled, shocked.
"That's it. What's your name? You're blacklisted. Now take yourself and your little bitch friend out of my store - and don't come back." I barked. Cravenly, they complied and scampered off.
So that's my idea - a national blacklist of pirates. If somebody cannot obey the basic rules of society, then they should be excluded from society. If pirates want to steal from the music industry, then the music industry should exclude them. It's that simple. One strike, and you're out - no reputable record store will allow you to buy another CD. If the pirates can't buy the CDS to begin with, then they won't be able to copy them over The Internet, will they? It's no different to doctors blacklisting drug dealers from buying prescription medicine.
I have just written a letter to the RIAA outlining my proposal. Suing pirates one by one isn't going far enough. Not to mention pirates use the fact that they're being sued to unfairly portray themselves as victims. A national register
It is LGPL'd not GPL'd code. The license expressly states that the reason for the LGPL is to allow proprietary software to use the library in some ways. Maybe they are sitting down with their lawyers to ensure compliance absent releasing the source. Maybe they have several contributors and need to sort out the rights so they don't get sued. Heck, maybe they are seeking clairity on this point from the license:
When a "work that uses the Library" uses material from a header file that is part of the Library, the object code for the work may be a derivative work of the Library even though the source code is not. Whether this is true is especially significant if the work can be linked without the Library, or if the work is itself a library. The threshold for this to be true is not precisely defined by law.
Point is, lawyers are slow, and companies often use them to prevent negative, unforseen consequences. Give them more time before crucifying/boycotting/etc. instinctively.
is flabbergasted that their developers embarked upon something where they have to release their code... Except it isn't the developer's code. They do work for hire after all, and their code is SWSoft's. Maybe they didn't have permission to use LGPL code in their product?
I admit is seems unlikely however. I just want to point out that many people don't have the freedom at work to decide things like that. If I tried to incorporate F/OSS code into my work, I would lose my job, and the code would get pulled.
thanks to Al Gore and his wife that we have warning labels on music... WTF is wrong with that? IIRC Hillary just insisted on warning labels too. Ratings are good, because they give parents something to go on when they give their kids permission, and don't restrict what adults can do. Would it be better if every parent reviewed each movie/song/game and gave their kid permission based on the parent's better knowledge of the child? Possibly, but nothing stops those parents from doing so.
If you want to talk about scary censorship, then in 2000, I was at a campaign rally where John McCain said he supports censoring the internet access of adults in public libraries. I promptly dropped any ideas of voting for him ever. But he is the only candidate I know of who said anything like that.
the Edwards campaign stated that, "To ensure security, these machines should be programmed with an open source code for complete transparency, and election results should be safeguarded by voter-verified paper records."
I know RTFA is uncalled for, or even RTFS, but maybe if I put this quote in the comments section I can head off the "It needs a paper-trail *snort*" comments. Already, those seem to make up 35% of the comments. Ron Paul comments seem to come in second at 25%, and comparisons to Canada and bad jokes seem tied at about 10-15% each.
Meanwhile, bombing other nations because they're on the way to developing a nuclear deterent, is a heck of an incentive for other nations to develop a nuclear deterent that would prevent you from bombing them.
Very true. I wonder if the best thing (long term) would be to pick a fight with a country that has a nuclear deterent. Why waste money on one if it's not going to stop the insane American[1] leadership, for example. After all, I was always taught that the best way to win at chicken was to put a cement block on the accelerator, blindfold yourself and be seen chigging a fifth of whiskey.
Of course, it would probably be very costly to do so. I do wonder if it will be worthwhile, and I have no doubt that I will find out in my lifetime.
But keep in mind, to truely project force you have to get the bomb here. Easy to sneak one onto US soil, but then you have to secure it. Easy to secure it in your country, but hard to use it.
[1] To uppity non-Americans who have corrected me in the past, while I am referring exclusively to US Citizens, this is in no way a point to anally jump on. I'm sorry if my misappropriating the name of an Italian map-maker who had the balls to just slap his name on two continents and applying it only to my countrymen offends you, but it's a commonly accepted term. Primarily because America is the shortened name of our country, the United States of America.
How many UN resolutions do you think it will take to stop Iran's nuclear program?
Well we now know the US needs more than 18 UN resolutions and 3 Congressional authorizations in order to go to war. That's what Bush had for Iraq and he sure won't touch Darfur or Iran with one jot less than that.
Good. Not because I think it's a bad idea to go into Darfur (or Iran for that matter), but because the Iraq war featured the most inept political leadership in US history. If a war is waged in my name, do it right. Overwhelming force from day one. Shoot the looters to maintain order. Write their constitution for them, and make sure it includes provisions to change it to what they want after we leave.
In general, I have no problems with US military action. Demand tribute for freedom of the seas? Fuck you Tripoli. Blow up our ship, or cut off our Captain's ear? Fuck you Spain. Have land that would make it convinent to have a redundant intercontinental rail-line? Fuck you Mexico.
That said, please don't make me look stupid for agreeing with you on Iraq. Neither the UN nor any Congressional acts supported us going in, certainly not with the facts the way they were. Hell, Congress even said "If the President tells us the CIA/NSA/FBI/Tweety Bird told him that X is true, he has our permission to invade." And Bush wrote back "The US Congress said in a bill '... X is true'. Therefore I have permission to invade."
The brinksmanship had worked. The inspectors were happy with their cooperation, and Saddam sent us a 1000+ page document detailing forbidden weapons he had. I don't remember Bush Sr. bombing Moscow once they folded.
Putin and his Russian nationalists might be no more than 2 bit thugs, but they are 2-bit thugs with huge energy reserves, a chip on their shoulder and the knowledge that energy makes the world go 'round.
That makes them at least 4 bit thugs, maybe even dollar thugs...
Slashdot Mirror
Are you kidding? If Microsoft was collecting (and using without my consent) my credit card numbers, I'd go out and buy a Vista machine right now. As my lawyer friend would say "How do you punish a company with hundreds of billions of dollars?"
Sorry, I left out: Activation, Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP), Device Manager, Driver Protection, Dynamic Update, Event Viewer, File Association Web Service, Games Folder, Error Reporting for Handwriting Recognition, Input Method Editor (IME), Installation Improvement Program, Internet Printing, Network Awareness (somewhat), Parental Controls, Peer Name Resolution Service, Plug and Play, Plug and Play Extensions, Program Compatibility Assistant, Program PropertiesCompatibility Tab, Program Compatibility Wizard, Properties, Registration, Windows Control Panel, Windows Help, Windows Mail (only with Windows Live Mail, Hotmail, or MSN Mail), Windows Problem Reporting, Windows Defender, Support Services, and Internet Explorer 7.
"This extensive enumeration is not a complete illustration of all the sources in Windows Vista that Microsoft uses to gather end user data"
It's just: Windows Update, Web Content, Digital Certificates, Auto Root Update, Windows Media Digital Rights Management, Windows Media Player, Malicious Software Removal/Clean On Upgrade, Network Connectivity Status Icon, Windows Time Service, and the IPv6 Network Address Translation (NAT) Traversal service (Teredo).
See, typical /. overreaction
I bet if Richard Stallman were dead by now (please note that I'm glad and happy that he's alive and kickin'!), there'd be a chance he'd be rotating in his grave at high speeds because of this.
Then, we could hook his body to a generator. So, everytime something like this happened, we could say "at least we just cut down on greenhouse emissions."
Think of the stakes involved. I'm sure some portion of their budget is slated for "very benefical but very unlikely" projects. For instance, if they thought they could make a satellite that could read thoughts from space, and it only cost $15 million to run a feasibility study, what % chance do you think they would need to make it a wise investment?
I'd probably say that ability is worth (depending on the accuracy) at least $60 billion, so at least 0.025% chance of success. When you think like that, it's easy to see how some truely random projects get funded. Heck, I can probably convince most people here they stood a 0.025% chance of almost anything.
Getting shot is no laughing matter...
Apart from people probably not recognising their own handwriting
Are there really people that dumb or unfamiliar with their own writing?
I cannot. Or rather, I cannot to the degree of speed and reliability that I type. The only things I ever write by hand are checks. Heck, I tried to write in cursive recently and realized, with the exception of my signature, which is all muscle memory, I don't know any of the capitals.
When's the last time you tried to record something on paper using a pen for your own reading later?
the enormous dilution factor should make any that reaches the surface harmless. What about all the ocean animals? It wasn't a retorical question, I don't know much about the effects of waste.
Besides, the Wii came out. I think a multipurpose instrument you wave around, being simpiler to deal with in a program, will be far better.
So, I'm the 14th person to comment, so I'm 14 people too late to point out the pr0n application. So here's a few nifty, but not dirty, uses:
Shoot, I'm sorry, I'm too excited about the pr0n application. Will these gloves be waterproof for easy cleaning?
So Manitoba's vehicle security is better than the aliens?
Exactly, the craft that crasged in Roswell was made from technology free of the human element. Therefore your entire premise is wrong.
Actually, octopi have used tools. Their limited lifespan (~8 years) is a far larger impediment than their lack of social skills.
Also, then it would be species-fight! And we have a few thousand year advantage.
women IT professionals... my office is all guys :(... ) Wait, if your office doesn't have women? How can you find dates? Or do you not spend 18-hours a day at the office?
I do want to know, as I need a way to find dates.
To those who don't get it, it's the RIAA troll response moddified for the GPL troll response. It's supposed to be funny. That said, I understand if no one thinks it is...
When I first saw the summary, my first thought was to post a joke about, "... and after that, they're fixing DRM". But then I RTFA'd (which I for some reason do before I post) and noticed CRI will also soon debut a similar copy-protection feature for Blu-ray video discs. So, other than getting a method of circumventing this printer technology (which presumably has value) posted on the Internet, would this have any effect? Somehow, I cannot get my head around whatever technology they are selling.
Oh, but I came up with an alternate joke: Finally, a market for my printer-modding business.
[Aside, sorry about the inadequate formatting before. I accidentally selected HTML rather than Plain Old Text. This is in response to the grandparent talking about GPL codes downsides for commercial use.]
Help with my record store blacklist software?
Dear sir, I would like to thank you for your warning about the perils of using GPL'ed software and Linux in particular. I know I will never use these products in the future. Imagine using a GPL'ed accounting system to create accounts and being told you had to let anyone access them. Since you seem like a discriminating soul, I was hoping I could enlist your aid in creating some proprietary software to keep track of a blacklist.
You see, as a record store owner, my business faces ruin. CD sales have dropped through the floor. People aren't buying half as many CDs as they did just a year ago. Revenue is down and costs are up. My store has survived for years, but I now face the prospect of bankruptcy. Every day I ask myself why this is happening.
I bought the store about 12 years ago. It was one of those boutique record stores that sell obscure, independent releases that no-one listens to, not even the people that buy them. I decided that to grow the business I'd need to aim for a different demographic, the family market. My store specialised in family music - stuff that the whole family could listen to. I don't sell sick stuff like Marilyn Manson or cop-killer rap, and I'm proud to have one of the most extensive Christian rock sections that I know of.
The business strategy worked. People flocked to my store, knowing that they (and their children) could safely purchase records without profanity or violent lyrics. Over the years I expanded the business and took on more clean-cut and friendly employees. It took hard work and long hours but I had achieved my dream - owning a profitable business that I had built with my own hands, from the ground up. But now, this dream is turning into a nightmare.
Every day, fewer and fewer customers enter my store to buy fewer and fewer CDs. Why is no one buying CDs? Are people not interested in music? Do people prefer to watch TV, see films, read books? I don't know. But there is one, inescapable truth - Internet piracy is mostly to blame. The statistics speak for themselves - one in three discs world wide is a pirate. On The Internet, you can find and download hundreds of dollars worth of music in just minutes. It has the potential to destroy the music industry, from artists, to record companies to stores like my own. Before you point to the supposed "economic downturn", I'll note that the book store just across from my store is doing great business. Unlike CDs, it's harder to copy books over The Internet.
A week ago, an unpleasant experience with pirates gave me an idea. In my store, I overheard a teenage patron talking to his friend.
"Dude, I'm going to put this CD on the Internet right away."
"Yeah, dude, that's really lete [sic], you'll get lots of respect."
I was fuming. So they were out to destroy the record industry from right under my nose? Fat chance. When they came to the counter to make their purchase, I grabbed the little shit by his shirt. "So...you're going to copy this to your friends over The Internet, punk?" I asked him in my best Clint Eastwood/Dirty Harry voice.
"Uh y-yeh." He mumbled, shocked.
"That's it. What's your name? You're blacklisted. Now take yourself and your little bitch friend out of my store - and don't come back." I barked. Cravenly, they complied and scampered off.
So that's my idea - a national blacklist of pirates. If somebody cannot obey the basic rules of society, then they should be excluded from society. If pirates want to steal from the music industry, then the music industry should exclude them. It's that simple. One strike, and you're out - no reputable record store will allow you to buy another CD. If the pirates can't buy the CDS to begin with, then they won't be able to copy them over The Internet, will the
Dear sir, I would like to thank you for your warning about the perils of using GPL'ed software and Linux in particular. I know I will never use these products in the future. Imagine using a GPL'ed accounting system to create accounts and being told you had to let anyone access them. Since you seem like a discriminating soul, I was hoping I could enlist your aid in creating some proprietary software to keep track of a blacklist. You see, as a record store owner, My business faces ruin. CD sales have dropped through the floor. People aren't buying half as many CDs as they did just a year ago. Revenue is down and costs are up. My store has survived for years, but I now face the prospect of bankruptcy. Every day I ask myself why this is happening. I bought the store about 12 years ago. It was one of those boutique record stores that sell obscure, independent releases that no-one listens to, not even the people that buy them. I decided that to grow the business I'd need to aim for a different demographic, the family market. My store specialised in family music - stuff that the whole family could listen to. I don't sell sick stuff like Marilyn Manson or cop-killer rap, and I'm proud to have one of the most extensive Christian rock sections that I know of. The business strategy worked. People flocked to my store, knowing that they (and their children) could safely purchase records without profanity or violent lyrics. Over the years I expanded the business and took on more clean-cut and friendly employees. It took hard work and long hours but I had achieved my dream - owning a profitable business that I had built with my own hands, from the ground up. But now, this dream is turning into a nightmare. Every day, fewer and fewer customers enter my store to buy fewer and fewer CDs. Why is no one buying CDs? Are people not interested in music? Do people prefer to watch TV, see films, read books? I don't know. But there is one, inescapable truth - Internet piracy is mostly to blame. The statistics speak for themselves - one in three discs world wide is a pirate. On The Internet, you can find and download hundreds of dollars worth of music in just minutes. It has the potential to destroy the music industry, from artists, to record companies to stores like my own. Before you point to the supposed "economic downturn", I'll note that the book store just across from my store is doing great business. Unlike CDs, it's harder to copy books over The Internet. A week ago, an unpleasant experience with pirates gave me an idea. In my store, I overheard a teenage patron talking to his friend. "Dude, I'm going to put this CD on the Internet right away." "Yeah, dude, that's really lete [sic], you'll get lots of respect." I was fuming. So they were out to destroy the record industry from right under my nose? Fat chance. When they came to the counter to make their purchase, I grabbed the little shit by his shirt. "So...you're going to copy this to your friends over The Internet, punk?" I asked him in my best Clint Eastwood/Dirty Harry voice. "Uh y-yeh." He mumbled, shocked. "That's it. What's your name? You're blacklisted. Now take yourself and your little bitch friend out of my store - and don't come back." I barked. Cravenly, they complied and scampered off. So that's my idea - a national blacklist of pirates. If somebody cannot obey the basic rules of society, then they should be excluded from society. If pirates want to steal from the music industry, then the music industry should exclude them. It's that simple. One strike, and you're out - no reputable record store will allow you to buy another CD. If the pirates can't buy the CDS to begin with, then they won't be able to copy them over The Internet, will they? It's no different to doctors blacklisting drug dealers from buying prescription medicine. I have just written a letter to the RIAA outlining my proposal. Suing pirates one by one isn't going far enough. Not to mention pirates use the fact that they're being sued to unfairly portray themselves as victims. A national register
It is LGPL'd not GPL'd code. The license expressly states that the reason for the LGPL is to allow proprietary software to use the library in some ways. Maybe they are sitting down with their lawyers to ensure compliance absent releasing the source. Maybe they have several contributors and need to sort out the rights so they don't get sued. Heck, maybe they are seeking clairity on this point from the license:
Point is, lawyers are slow, and companies often use them to prevent negative, unforseen consequences. Give them more time before crucifying/boycotting/etc. instinctively.
is flabbergasted that their developers embarked upon something where they have to release their code... Except it isn't the developer's code. They do work for hire after all, and their code is SWSoft's. Maybe they didn't have permission to use LGPL code in their product?
I admit is seems unlikely however. I just want to point out that many people don't have the freedom at work to decide things like that. If I tried to incorporate F/OSS code into my work, I would lose my job, and the code would get pulled.
thanks to Al Gore and his wife that we have warning labels on music... WTF is wrong with that? IIRC Hillary just insisted on warning labels too. Ratings are good, because they give parents something to go on when they give their kids permission, and don't restrict what adults can do. Would it be better if every parent reviewed each movie/song/game and gave their kid permission based on the parent's better knowledge of the child? Possibly, but nothing stops those parents from doing so.
If you want to talk about scary censorship, then in 2000, I was at a campaign rally where John McCain said he supports censoring the internet access of adults in public libraries. I promptly dropped any ideas of voting for him ever. But he is the only candidate I know of who said anything like that.
the Edwards campaign stated that, "To ensure security, these machines should be programmed with an open source code for complete transparency, and election results should be safeguarded by voter-verified paper records."
I know RTFA is uncalled for, or even RTFS, but maybe if I put this quote in the comments section I can head off the "It needs a paper-trail *snort*" comments. Already, those seem to make up 35% of the comments. Ron Paul comments seem to come in second at 25%, and comparisons to Canada and bad jokes seem tied at about 10-15% each.
Very true. I wonder if the best thing (long term) would be to pick a fight with a country that has a nuclear deterent. Why waste money on one if it's not going to stop the insane American[1] leadership, for example. After all, I was always taught that the best way to win at chicken was to put a cement block on the accelerator, blindfold yourself and be seen chigging a fifth of whiskey.
Of course, it would probably be very costly to do so. I do wonder if it will be worthwhile, and I have no doubt that I will find out in my lifetime.
But keep in mind, to truely project force you have to get the bomb here. Easy to sneak one onto US soil, but then you have to secure it. Easy to secure it in your country, but hard to use it.
[1] To uppity non-Americans who have corrected me in the past, while I am referring exclusively to US Citizens, this is in no way a point to anally jump on. I'm sorry if my misappropriating the name of an Italian map-maker who had the balls to just slap his name on two continents and applying it only to my countrymen offends you, but it's a commonly accepted term. Primarily because America is the shortened name of our country, the United States of America.
Good. Not because I think it's a bad idea to go into Darfur (or Iran for that matter), but because the Iraq war featured the most inept political leadership in US history. If a war is waged in my name, do it right. Overwhelming force from day one. Shoot the looters to maintain order. Write their constitution for them, and make sure it includes provisions to change it to what they want after we leave.
In general, I have no problems with US military action. Demand tribute for freedom of the seas? Fuck you Tripoli. Blow up our ship, or cut off our Captain's ear? Fuck you Spain. Have land that would make it convinent to have a redundant intercontinental rail-line? Fuck you Mexico.
That said, please don't make me look stupid for agreeing with you on Iraq. Neither the UN nor any Congressional acts supported us going in, certainly not with the facts the way they were. Hell, Congress even said "If the President tells us the CIA/NSA/FBI/Tweety Bird told him that X is true, he has our permission to invade." And Bush wrote back "The US Congress said in a bill '... X is true'. Therefore I have permission to invade."
The brinksmanship had worked. The inspectors were happy with their cooperation, and Saddam sent us a 1000+ page document detailing forbidden weapons he had. I don't remember Bush Sr. bombing Moscow once they folded.
Putin and his Russian nationalists might be no more than 2 bit thugs, but they are 2-bit thugs with huge energy reserves, a chip on their shoulder and the knowledge that energy makes the world go 'round.
That makes them at least 4 bit thugs, maybe even dollar thugs...