They do not understand that piracy cannot be defeated by technical means
I have to disagree with you, but mostly on semantics. I think the only way to "defeat" piracy is to make it easier for the average consumer to buy the game than pirate it. When you can pay for a game, download it, and start playing in less time than it takes to find a good torrent then most people will buy it. Doing this requires technical means.
I think you meant that they'll just make it harder to buy and play their games, which will make piracy worse. I agree with that.
Pretty nifty. Though your HMO will probably deny payment because its 'experimental' or only allowed for epidurals on the right side of your head, not the left.
That's pretty generous. My guess is that the HMO will hem and haw about your claim until it's too late to save you, then approve it. That way, they can say that they can claim the best intentions without spending a dime.
Relevant browsers would be Firefox, IE, Opera, Safari, maybe Webkit in general. Platforms would be Windows, Mac, Linux, and possibly a mobile category. Naturally, iPhones are going to screw everything up.
The problem with CSS and DOM is that every version of every browser implements the standards a little differently, and it will only get worse as new versions are released. To use CSS/DOM I have to either use a lot of esoteric hacks to support all the browsers, or use one of the quirky third-party libraries. Even if I choose to go that route, I'm still not guaranteed consistency across platforms, and I still can't get vector graphics, because SVG requires a plugin in IE.
Flash requires a plugin, but virtually everyone already has it installed. It also starts a lot faster than Java on every computer I've had it on. Client-side Java died years ago (except on mobiles), because it was too big, too slow, too ugly, and there were too many competing libraries.
Don't get me wrong, CSS/DOM is perfect for most content-oriented UI stuff, like most web pages. I would never use Flash for a whole website, but it is the right tool for cross-platform, self-contained graphical applications that need to be delivered over the web.
Well, Flash is the only tool for the job when you need an application that runs the same in all (relevant) browsers on all (major) platforms with no installation by the end user. Flash solves a lot of problems, and Flex has a really nice UI toolkit. Flash 10 still hasn't fixed a lot of the performance issues, so the door is open for Unity or Silverlight, but I'm not holding my breath.
Mindstorms, capsela, electronics kits, and the like (even a QBASIC interpreter) spur creativity and are actually fun to play with (or, they were for me). Whereas I think that gadgets that demonstrate a particular physical effect end up being short-lived novelties more than anything else.
Best of all, with the construction type sets he can create his own gadgets to demonstrate physical phenomena. Teach him how to record what happens in a log book, and now he's doing real science.
I haven't used it, but I thought the idea was that you could post using SMS. If that's right, then it put blogging and texting together at the height of both fads. It probably won't last as is once cell phone data plans are reasonably priced.
Seriously? Who is masterminding this great sleight into fascism? The people in charge don't care about anything more than a few months ahead, and the people on the ground don't care about anything beyond a paycheck and a vague sense of "doing good." I agree that the systems were never intended to work as they were advertised, but ascribing anything beyond a cover-your-ass strategy is just far too complicated.
You come up with a hypothesis based on an educated guess, then you test to see if it's true.
Well, you test to see if it's false within the limits of your study. The important point though is that a valid test must eliminate or compensate all sources of influence other than those being studied. However, when you're working with something as complicated as people, doing a rigorous study that controls for everything except the variables of interest is incredibly expensive, if not impossible.
So we get a lot of these studies where 10,000 people fill out a medical background and answer a few questions about $topicOfTheWeek. Studies like this can certainly indicate possible correlations that should be studied further (i.e. where grant money should be funneled), and the researchers are often rational about their conclusions. But then the press blows it up into a shocking medical fact, because "Something in your refrigerator can kill your children! Find out at 10!" gets viewers.
there is clearly reason to believe there is causation, *based* on the correlation.
Certainly if two things are correlated something is causing them, but it doesn't tell you which one causes the other, or if both are the consequence of some third thing. Naturally, people who choose to be dishonest about the results will choose the causation that benefits them, which is what the phrase in question aims to remind people.
Except that Napster has been selling DRM-free MP3s for months. Everybody is going to that model since Amazon showed that it's viable. Napster still uses DRM for the subscription service, but you can't really do subscription without DRM.
The whole system is a complete and total sham, anyway. It's just designed to make people think they have a choice, when in reality, it's all the same system, and the same crap.
So your answer is to sit silently and let the system destroy the world around you. That'll show em, well done.
why exactly would Microsoft have WGA punish them even more?
Because Microsoft doesn't care about home users, in the service sense. They already got your money when you bought the computer, and they're going to get more when you buy your next computer. If you don't have a support contract they have absolutely no reason to please you, because most users will be coming back for more no matter what.
The problem is how do you quantify productivity. In some jobs it's easy, but for most creative work it probably isn't. Not to mention dealing with collaboration, and people who contribute most as morale boosters or brainstormers (for lack of a better term).
$20 says the instructor Mr. Ledin is either carted away to Guantanamo Bay, contract killed by McAfee or Symantec or hired by some euro country with too many consonants in their name...
Seriously? Virus writing is extremely well documented all over the internet, and has been for a long time. Anybody with some initiative can learn this stuff, and really it's probably the best way to learn assembly, executable formats, and a whole slew of cool little tricks you can do with a computer. Virii do a lot more than delete files. There is a lot to learn by building rockets, and we shouldn't stop just because some people like to put explosives on theirs.
That said, I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Ledin is reprimanded by the university administration for getting bad press.
the revenue stream doesn't necessarily stop when a work goes public domain-- look at all the bargain classics Barnes & Noble or Borders sell near the cash registers.
Maybe I don't understand your point, but I think that's an excellent example of why some copyright holders want to see their copyrights extended until forever minus one day. The revenue stream doesn't have to stop when a work goes public domain, but it no longer trickles down to the content creator. I doubt that Barnes & Noble pays the Dickens estate a royalty for every copy of A Tale Of Two Cities they sell.
Can someone explain where the money comes from? The cardholders aren't responsible for the charges as long as they report them in time, the card company probably won't cover the charges, and the criminals won't be paying full restitution even if it's part of their sentence. So who pays for all this? Is it like counterfeit money added to the economy?
Slashdot Mirror
They do not understand that piracy cannot be defeated by technical means
I have to disagree with you, but mostly on semantics. I think the only way to "defeat" piracy is to make it easier for the average consumer to buy the game than pirate it. When you can pay for a game, download it, and start playing in less time than it takes to find a good torrent then most people will buy it. Doing this requires technical means.
I think you meant that they'll just make it harder to buy and play their games, which will make piracy worse. I agree with that.
</pedantic>
Pretty nifty. Though your HMO will probably deny payment because its 'experimental' or only allowed for epidurals on the right side of your head, not the left.
That's pretty generous. My guess is that the HMO will hem and haw about your claim until it's too late to save you, then approve it. That way, they can say that they can claim the best intentions without spending a dime.
Relevant browsers would be Firefox, IE, Opera, Safari, maybe Webkit in general. Platforms would be Windows, Mac, Linux, and possibly a mobile category. Naturally, iPhones are going to screw everything up.
The problem with CSS and DOM is that every version of every browser implements the standards a little differently, and it will only get worse as new versions are released. To use CSS/DOM I have to either use a lot of esoteric hacks to support all the browsers, or use one of the quirky third-party libraries. Even if I choose to go that route, I'm still not guaranteed consistency across platforms, and I still can't get vector graphics, because SVG requires a plugin in IE.
Flash requires a plugin, but virtually everyone already has it installed. It also starts a lot faster than Java on every computer I've had it on. Client-side Java died years ago (except on mobiles), because it was too big, too slow, too ugly, and there were too many competing libraries.
Don't get me wrong, CSS/DOM is perfect for most content-oriented UI stuff, like most web pages. I would never use Flash for a whole website, but it is the right tool for cross-platform, self-contained graphical applications that need to be delivered over the web.
Well, Flash is the only tool for the job when you need an application that runs the same in all (relevant) browsers on all (major) platforms with no installation by the end user. Flash solves a lot of problems, and Flex has a really nice UI toolkit. Flash 10 still hasn't fixed a lot of the performance issues, so the door is open for Unity or Silverlight, but I'm not holding my breath.
Where is the joke?
Well, you're the one that paid for Vista...
Mindstorms, capsela, electronics kits, and the like (even a QBASIC interpreter) spur creativity and are actually fun to play with (or, they were for me). Whereas I think that gadgets that demonstrate a particular physical effect end up being short-lived novelties more than anything else.
Best of all, with the construction type sets he can create his own gadgets to demonstrate physical phenomena. Teach him how to record what happens in a log book, and now he's doing real science.
I haven't used it, but I thought the idea was that you could post using SMS. If that's right, then it put blogging and texting together at the height of both fads. It probably won't last as is once cell phone data plans are reasonably priced.
Seriously? Who is masterminding this great sleight into fascism? The people in charge don't care about anything more than a few months ahead, and the people on the ground don't care about anything beyond a paycheck and a vague sense of "doing good." I agree that the systems were never intended to work as they were advertised, but ascribing anything beyond a cover-your-ass strategy is just far too complicated.
"Stop having sex in my bedroom! And where is my god damn hat?" --Abe Lincoln
You mean the largest practical unit according to an 18th century farmer, don't you?
Wait, what is it called when something is too *big* to be a planet?
Rush Limbaugh. Har har.
You come up with a hypothesis based on an educated guess, then you test to see if it's true.
Well, you test to see if it's false within the limits of your study. The important point though is that a valid test must eliminate or compensate all sources of influence other than those being studied. However, when you're working with something as complicated as people, doing a rigorous study that controls for everything except the variables of interest is incredibly expensive, if not impossible.
So we get a lot of these studies where 10,000 people fill out a medical background and answer a few questions about $topicOfTheWeek. Studies like this can certainly indicate possible correlations that should be studied further (i.e. where grant money should be funneled), and the researchers are often rational about their conclusions. But then the press blows it up into a shocking medical fact, because "Something in your refrigerator can kill your children! Find out at 10!" gets viewers.
there is clearly reason to believe there is causation, *based* on the correlation.
Certainly if two things are correlated something is causing them, but it doesn't tell you which one causes the other, or if both are the consequence of some third thing. Naturally, people who choose to be dishonest about the results will choose the causation that benefits them, which is what the phrase in question aims to remind people.
Napster sells most of it's tracks as MP3s now with no DRM, and even the subscription service works on Mac and Linux (it uses Java and Flash).
I agree though: between Napster and Rhapsody only one can survive in the long run, and likely they'll both fail.
Except that Napster has been selling DRM-free MP3s for months. Everybody is going to that model since Amazon showed that it's viable. Napster still uses DRM for the subscription service, but you can't really do subscription without DRM.
To be fair, Blizzard can't throw people in jail and seize their assets when they break the rules.
Aww, you wouldn't know your ass from your elbow.
The whole system is a complete and total sham, anyway. It's just designed to make people think they have a choice, when in reality, it's all the same system, and the same crap.
So your answer is to sit silently and let the system destroy the world around you. That'll show em, well done.
why exactly would Microsoft have WGA punish them even more?
Because Microsoft doesn't care about home users, in the service sense. They already got your money when you bought the computer, and they're going to get more when you buy your next computer. If you don't have a support contract they have absolutely no reason to please you, because most users will be coming back for more no matter what.
Or maybe it was Richard Stallman.
Nah, Stallman wouldn't use Firefox. He can just run W3 right in his shell, Emacs.
Or the states could step up and do it themselves
No, no, states have rights, not responsibilities.
I'm waiting for the Wii version, P.
I'm waiting for the Scrabble version, Portmanteau.
The problem is how do you quantify productivity. In some jobs it's easy, but for most creative work it probably isn't. Not to mention dealing with collaboration, and people who contribute most as morale boosters or brainstormers (for lack of a better term).
$20 says the instructor Mr. Ledin is either carted away to Guantanamo Bay, contract killed by McAfee or Symantec or hired by some euro country with too many consonants in their name...
Seriously? Virus writing is extremely well documented all over the internet, and has been for a long time. Anybody with some initiative can learn this stuff, and really it's probably the best way to learn assembly, executable formats, and a whole slew of cool little tricks you can do with a computer. Virii do a lot more than delete files. There is a lot to learn by building rockets, and we shouldn't stop just because some people like to put explosives on theirs.
That said, I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Ledin is reprimanded by the university administration for getting bad press.
the revenue stream doesn't necessarily stop when a work goes public domain-- look at all the bargain classics Barnes & Noble or Borders sell near the cash registers.
Maybe I don't understand your point, but I think that's an excellent example of why some copyright holders want to see their copyrights extended until forever minus one day. The revenue stream doesn't have to stop when a work goes public domain, but it no longer trickles down to the content creator. I doubt that Barnes & Noble pays the Dickens estate a royalty for every copy of A Tale Of Two Cities they sell.
Can someone explain where the money comes from? The cardholders aren't responsible for the charges as long as they report them in time, the card company probably won't cover the charges, and the criminals won't be paying full restitution even if it's part of their sentence. So who pays for all this? Is it like counterfeit money added to the economy?