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User: FigWig

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Comments · 586

  1. Re:Gibson on William Gibson Interview @ AICN · · Score: 1

    You should give The Difference Engine a chance. I too hate Sterling's writing (I couldn't get past the first couple of pages in Islands in the Net) but Difference Engine was good.

    I really like Gibson's earlier stuff, but his last trilogy I found shallow and only somewhat interesting.

  2. Re:Analog AI on AI Monkey Robot · · Score: 1

    I don't think it was 'advanced circuit design.' More like feeding back a bunch of AND gates with each other. The fact that it works is pretty cool though.

  3. Published works? on Open Source and Legal Protection · · Score: 2

    What are the published works you are 'reverse engineering' from? If they are patents, then you are probably in trouble. If they are journal articles, then I don't think you'll have any trouble. They could be prior art to disqualify the patents.



  4. Copyright An Event? on Coping with Database Protection Laws · · Score: 1

    Non-fiction works are usually only granted 'thin' protection. Only wholesale copying of text would violate the law. Otherwise only one person's recounting of history would be legal, which is absurd.

    But at the end of the Superbowl (big ass American Football game for those foreigners feigning ignorance of such things) the announcers read off the standard legal mumbo-jumbo and it said that it was illegal to give a description of the game without consent of the NFL. This restriction seems not only illegal, but also unethical. Does this mean in the future a company can keep alternate viewpoints underground by having a legal monopoly on facts?

    In my mind the issue of copyrighting databases raises many of the same issues. While the specific arrangement of information should be copyrightable, the content shouldn't be.

  5. Re:is pdf free? on Ars Technica on OSX/Aqua · · Score: 2

    I take it there are no licensing fees for PDF - witness xpdf & ps2pdf, etc.

    You can find the format specification here

  6. Re:Put simply... on CMU Sphinx Open Sourced · · Score: 1

    Facts:
    1. The US Patent Office is inundated with patents that it doesn't have the expertise to judge.
    2. Mathematical formulas ARE NOT patentable. This is the law.
    3. The only way to legally challenge these patents would require a ton of money.

    Conclusion?
    Civil disobedience is justified in correcting the restrictions on our freedom to think imposed by incorrect patents.

    All this overly broad patenting & trade secrets makes me feel like we are going back to the times of guilds, where you would get jailed for sharing secrets of the trade.

  7. Re:It's been said before, but it should be repeate on MPAA Head Valenti on DVD "Hackers" · · Score: 2

    In case you haven't been keeping up with copyright law in the last 30 years or so, it is legal to disammble programs, even if this contrary to license agreements. Click through licenses do not give companies a right to overstep the bounds established by copyright law. Perhaps this is why the MPAA's lawyers are arguing under trade secrets and what not.

    Of course with the DMCA (all of which isn't law yet) could change this.

    Last I checked, breaking into another's computer was illegal.

  8. Re:Ebert Wins! on MPAA Head Valenti on DVD "Hackers" · · Score: 1

    Hey man! Hackers was a great movie. Ok, maybe not a great movie, but a good movie. I mean it has Penn of Penn & Teller, Angelina Jolie's naked breasts, and a good soundtrack.

    How can you go wrong?

  9. I bet this one cost a lot... on Who Bought Linux.Net? · · Score: 1

    If you think linux.net is big, check out www.clownpenis.com. You know that domain name is going to pay off.

  10. Re:Playstation 2 and Linux on Forum: Future Ports of Games to Linux · · Score: 1

    I believe there was something like this for the 3DO, if anyone remembers what that was. You would stick a card in your box and it could play CDs from your CD-ROM drive. I don't think it's too practical personally, I'd rather have the console as a seperate device that I could have in the livingroom and turn on and off quickly.

  11. Re:There is no "cutthroat arena." on Abstract Programming and GPL Enforcement · · Score: 1

    Are you purposely being obtuse? The original question never mentioned 'restricting the interface' in any way, it just wanted to know how to soothe developers' fears that their code might be swiped. Yet you have two posts in this thread that completely mis-construe the original. Either you're a troll, or you're just stupid.

  12. Re:I prefer hardware decoding on XMMS 1.0.0 Released · · Score: 1

    Err, SPDIF out is becoming pretty standard on cheap sound cards. I have a Xitel Platinum with TOSLINK out at up to 48kHz and it was about $70. The SB Live MP3 has coax SPDIF out and costs about the same. Also see Hoontech 4D Wave and many others...

    I have also seen a soundcard with TOSLINK in & out for $150, but unfortunately I don't recall the name.

  13. Re:Some Comments and Mirror URL on DeCSS Author Arrested · · Score: 2

    a scene that included headbutting - something they consider to be 'imitatable behaviour'

    Wait, headbutting is imitatable behavior, but shooting about 100 people and kicking their asses in every way imaginable isn't?

  14. Re:I've seen such disks a few months ago on BMG's New Copy-Protected Audio CDs · · Score: 1

    But I guess that people outside the audio and music industry usually don't have access to an S/PDIF interface card.


    Actually, I have a Sony Discman with optical out, and I have seen soundcards for around US$100 that have optical in.

  15. Re:A call to arms on Jon Johansen Indicted by the MPA(A) · · Score: 1

    Just download the tar file from:
    http://www.linuxvideo.org/developer/dl .phtml
    Or follow the instructions on that page on using the CVS server.

  16. Re:Article wasn't "Future", just gripes about pres on The Future of Console Gaming · · Score: 1

    I agree with you that PS2 is probably going to dominate the industry, but most of your points make you look like you are smoking crack!

    Addressing different issues:
    You can already play MP3s on your PS for less than US$60.
    PS2 development station will cost > $10,000, I garauntee. The OS doesn't matter, it's the proprietary development tools. And Sony will NOT let development info get out, they are very stingy about the content created. All current PS titles have been approved by Sony.
    Will the PS2 have digital surround sound out? Otherwise it might not do well in the DVD market.

    PS2 will do well however because of the huge installed base of PS1. I was amazed to see tons of people walking out of Fry's with Playstations in early January. I guess the price drop makes the Dreamcast look too expensive.

  17. Re:Security.. on Security for "Free Home Page" Linux Web Service · · Score: 1

    I missed the SSH for one bit...I was thinking someone on the same network could sniff the password over FTP and login using SSH to do their evil, but if only one person can SSH in then no problem...

  18. Re:Security.. on Security for "Free Home Page" Linux Web Service · · Score: 1

    What do you think of allowing normal FTP logins? Doesn't it just beg for password sniffing? Although not as convenient would it be better to make users tunnel through SSH for FTP?

  19. Re:What should you learn in CS?? on Where Can I Find NT Kernel Programmers? · · Score: 1

    Let's see...I've got Knuth's _The_Art_of_Computer_Programming_ sitting on my desk....wanna guess what programming language it uses?

    Visual Basic?

  20. Re:Aureal's Linux drivers violate GPL? on More Companies Jump on the Linux Train · · Score: 1

    Not that it has any bearing on the current state of Aureal's code, but in their FAQ they seem to promise to completely open the code in the near future. Of course it too them forever to release the current code, so who knows when we will see the source.

  21. Re:Gear CDR too on More Companies Jump on the Linux Train · · Score: 1

    I had HORRIBLE experiences a couple of years ago with Gear on win32!!! I don't think I would touch that baby with a 10 meter pole!

    Horrible experience meaning having to spend large amounts of time with their tech support to find undocumented entries in their ini files to get it to work. Also many coasters were produced after getting it to work. I found Nero to work much better.

  22. Re:My question: Will this document contain softwar on GPL for Books? · · Score: 1

    Now someone please explain something to me. Why are there 400 different counter scripts? Is this really necessary?


    Remember that many people write programs simply because it seems like a fun challenge. Although a web page counter may not seem like much of a challenge, it would be good practice for a newbie.

    And if you can't find a good one out of the 400 that are out there, you could always write your own!

  23. Re:Why not use the GPL? on GPL for Books? · · Score: 1

    What sort of classification would this fall under? I don't think it could be clearly stated wether the document has value because of its expression (the text you write) or the behavior it encodes (the TeX markups). Maybe you just have to seperate the content from the encoding.



  24. Re:And then there were 4 on Warner Music and EMI Set to Merge · · Score: 1

    Buy from independent labels! Listen to the bands on mp3.com! Encourage musical diversity!

  25. DB 101 on Questions about Database Implementation. · · Score: 1

    It sounds like you aren't quite understanding how a database works. The database will handle all the locking necessary to enforce serializability (looks like one thing happens at a time). Any DB will have a buffer pool which acts as a cache to allow faster reads & writes. Higher end DBs will have recovery features such as write ahead logging that allow for reliability while still performing well.

    I suggest you get a good book that will explain SQL and the concepts of transactions.