Some of the old Nokia and Motorola 'candy bar' (more like brick) style phones are incredibly tough. I had an old motorola V120c, and it got smashed around in a backpack full of textbooks, dropped into gravel, and finally kicked off a balcony, and it still worked fine when I got rid of it for a new phone.
The old Palm M105 handhelds were also nigh-indestructible. My old palm was subjected to much of the same treatment as the Moto v120, including the trip off the balcony, and it still works to this very day.
The Gameboy Advance SP is also very durable; one of my friends has used his as a throwing weapon, and dented steel lockers with it. The hinge hasn't even loosened from that.
I'm not sure about this, but the NFL probably does lose revenue from public showings. If a theater wanted to show the superbowl, they would most likely have to pay licensing fees to the NFL. This church wants to skip that step and show it publicly to an unknown number of people.
Part of the reason that public transportation got it rough here in America was due to the advertising (and lobbying) efforts of automobile manufacturers. They painted the car as a symbol of prosperity, and public transportation as a sort of "welfare" for the less fortunate. This has unfortunately stuck, and public transportation actually has become almost exclusively used by people that can't afford, or choose not, to own a car (talk about a self fulfilling prophesy) which has actually perpetuated the image further.
Or leave it broken for the people without a proper browser.
If it's strict, it's strict. If your browser cannot render strict properly, go and bitch to the manufacturer. Unfortunately, that would mean that your site doesn't render properly in ~90% of computers, leading most users to think your site was poorly made. Like it or not, Microsoft is the de-facto standard, which means they can easily bully developers into doing things the "Microsoft way." It's definitely not the way things should be, but it's the way things are.
Internet Archive v Suzanne Shell (PDF)
She put up a 'shrinkwrap' agreement on her page, claiming that any unauthorized copying of her content entitled her to certain outrageous amounts of money. She did not have a robots.txt The Internet Archive crawler found her site, and proceeded to index and archive it. She then sued for a large sum of money, claiming that the archive had violated her terms of service and broken a contract.
IANAL, but there just needs to be a better definition of "not secured." I believe "no reasonable attempt at restricting access has been made" would work better. Better wording: "If a service is made publicly available, and no reasonable attempt has been made to restrict access to this service, implicit permission is granted to any and all parties that access the service."
If that was the intention, they failed miserably. Unfortunately, they seemed to upset Intel/Microsoft more by going into a developing market. This is because such a market could become profitable for a company: The market in the developed world is essentially saturated, and Intel and Microsoft basically control it. The market in the developing world, however, is currently anyone's game. Trying to sell the XO here in the developed world probably wouldn't have made Microsoft and Intel very angry; the OLPC project is a small competitor, and easy to destroy. The OLPC project is much more of a threat where the Microsoft/Intel monopoly isn't yet established.
Unfortunately, this line of thinking is all too common. Just try explaining to the average person over 38 that Internet Explorer is not the Internet, and that Outlook Express is not email. It's nearly impossible. Thank the Microsoft Monopoly for that.
The OLPC also has a custom, ultra-intuitive interface with a high-contrast black-and-white mode for direct sunlight. Would Microsoft add this type of feature to the OLPC version of XP? I doubt it.
Problem is, most folks have never even heard of Linux as a viable alternative. You're overstating the average computer user. Most people don't even know what an Operating System is, let alone linux. The 'Joe Users' that I've talked to seem to think that the OS is actually built-into the computer. They don't even think of it as software.
Well, in terms of GPLed software, you can usually find a $free version of payed-for software. The redistribution clause takes care of that; there are usually people that will fork it. Look at Redhat and CentOS.
But, then there's nothing stopping a group of people getting together, buying a copy, obtaining the source, and forking it. That's why most companies that distribute Open-Source software operate on a support-contract model.
On mobile tech, there's more of a balance. Make the thing too heavy, and people won't want to carry it around. Make it too light, and it feels like an empty plastic shell.
His complaint shouldn't be with Ubuntu. It's ready for mainstream, if only the OEM (Dell) would configure it properly. The problems that the author of the article is having are not caused by Ubuntu, they're caused by Dell not configuring Ubuntu to work out-of-the-box, like they do with Windows. All the people defending Ubuntu have a right to. What they say is true: you could say the same things about Windows. The only reason Windows can do many of the things the author described OOTB is because it is preconfigured by the OEM. Linux users deserve this same treatment.
*tin foil hat time*
I don't know if this is just a lack of effort on Dell's part, or if the source is pressure from Microsoft. I definitely wouldn't put it past Microsoft to pressure Dell into 'upholding' Microsoft's FUD about Linux not working as well as Windows. I know it's kind of a conspiracy theory, but it was just a thought I had and Microsoft has been known to do this sort of thing in the past.
To my knowledge, the minute a developer distributes their software under the GPL, they become a distributer, and must either provide the source code or cease licensing their software under the GPL.
No, because you're already on the security camera.
(And, according to the court's thinking, if the store doesn't have a security camera, they better get one. And an audio-recording system to log customer/employee conversations. And keep a log of all incoming/outgoing phone calls, complete with audio tape and written transcript.)
(/exaggeration)
Slashdot Mirror
Oh, yes, let's emulate the Soviet Union even more and build a huge wall! That will definitely work.
Some of the old Nokia and Motorola 'candy bar' (more like brick) style phones are incredibly tough. I had an old motorola V120c, and it got smashed around in a backpack full of textbooks, dropped into gravel, and finally kicked off a balcony, and it still worked fine when I got rid of it for a new phone. The old Palm M105 handhelds were also nigh-indestructible. My old palm was subjected to much of the same treatment as the Moto v120, including the trip off the balcony, and it still works to this very day. The Gameboy Advance SP is also very durable; one of my friends has used his as a throwing weapon, and dented steel lockers with it. The hinge hasn't even loosened from that.
I'm not sure about this, but the NFL probably does lose revenue from public showings. If a theater wanted to show the superbowl, they would most likely have to pay licensing fees to the NFL. This church wants to skip that step and show it publicly to an unknown number of people.
Part of the reason that public transportation got it rough here in America was due to the advertising (and lobbying) efforts of automobile manufacturers. They painted the car as a symbol of prosperity, and public transportation as a sort of "welfare" for the less fortunate. This has unfortunately stuck, and public transportation actually has become almost exclusively used by people that can't afford, or choose not, to own a car (talk about a self fulfilling prophesy) which has actually perpetuated the image further.
Internet Archive v Suzanne Shell (PDF) She put up a 'shrinkwrap' agreement on her page, claiming that any unauthorized copying of her content entitled her to certain outrageous amounts of money. She did not have a robots.txt The Internet Archive crawler found her site, and proceeded to index and archive it. She then sued for a large sum of money, claiming that the archive had violated her terms of service and broken a contract.
IANAL, but there just needs to be a better definition of "not secured." I believe "no reasonable attempt at restricting access has been made" would work better. Better wording: "If a service is made publicly available, and no reasonable attempt has been made to restrict access to this service, implicit permission is granted to any and all parties that access the service."
If that was the intention, they failed miserably. Unfortunately, they seemed to upset Intel/Microsoft more by going into a developing market. This is because such a market could become profitable for a company: The market in the developed world is essentially saturated, and Intel and Microsoft basically control it. The market in the developing world, however, is currently anyone's game. Trying to sell the XO here in the developed world probably wouldn't have made Microsoft and Intel very angry; the OLPC project is a small competitor, and easy to destroy. The OLPC project is much more of a threat where the Microsoft/Intel monopoly isn't yet established.
Unfortunately, this line of thinking is all too common. Just try explaining to the average person over 38 that Internet Explorer is not the Internet, and that Outlook Express is not email. It's nearly impossible. Thank the Microsoft Monopoly for that.
Or an electrolaser. Just fry the thing and make it look like a lightning strike or something.
Our amps go to eleven! ("This is Spinal Tap" is amazing.)
The only problem is that shooting a rifle in a city is illegal, and rifles are very loud and difficult to hide.
Or a breadboard with flashing LEDs attached to a sweatshirt.
The OLPC also has a custom, ultra-intuitive interface with a high-contrast black-and-white mode for direct sunlight. Would Microsoft add this type of feature to the OLPC version of XP? I doubt it.
Well, in terms of GPLed software, you can usually find a $free version of payed-for software. The redistribution clause takes care of that; there are usually people that will fork it. Look at Redhat and CentOS.
But, then there's nothing stopping a group of people getting together, buying a copy, obtaining the source, and forking it. That's why most companies that distribute Open-Source software operate on a support-contract model.
This is why Microsoft/Adobe/everybody stepping up anti-piracy measures is a good thing for the Open-Source movement.
Just call it Ubuntu 7.10 I think "Gutsy Gibbon" and other such names are just their internal code-names (like longhorn, etc.)
On mobile tech, there's more of a balance. Make the thing too heavy, and people won't want to carry it around. Make it too light, and it feels like an empty plastic shell.
His complaint shouldn't be with Ubuntu. It's ready for mainstream, if only the OEM (Dell) would configure it properly. The problems that the author of the article is having are not caused by Ubuntu, they're caused by Dell not configuring Ubuntu to work out-of-the-box, like they do with Windows. All the people defending Ubuntu have a right to. What they say is true: you could say the same things about Windows. The only reason Windows can do many of the things the author described OOTB is because it is preconfigured by the OEM. Linux users deserve this same treatment. *tin foil hat time* I don't know if this is just a lack of effort on Dell's part, or if the source is pressure from Microsoft. I definitely wouldn't put it past Microsoft to pressure Dell into 'upholding' Microsoft's FUD about Linux not working as well as Windows. I know it's kind of a conspiracy theory, but it was just a thought I had and Microsoft has been known to do this sort of thing in the past.
To my knowledge, the minute a developer distributes their software under the GPL, they become a distributer, and must either provide the source code or cease licensing their software under the GPL.
No, because you're already on the security camera. (And, according to the court's thinking, if the store doesn't have a security camera, they better get one. And an audio-recording system to log customer/employee conversations. And keep a log of all incoming/outgoing phone calls, complete with audio tape and written transcript.) (/exaggeration)