But when it is Canada without(?) A DMCA (I am not Canadian nor do I study Canadian law so I don't know) but you can then rip DVDs to iPod video and put them on there legally and when a DVD is 3-4 gigs, that can fill 80 gigs very fast. Sure it isn't RIAA/MPAA approved but in Canada it doesn't matter as much as in the US, (Canada actually seems to know not to punish customers)
I think that the root cause is lack of knowledge. In many pre-job situations, being able to install XP from scratch was a good feat, knowing your way around BASH was considered amazing and when you could set up a wireless router in 2 minutes people thought that you were a tech genius. Until you start working at a tech-job you don't know that the things that amazed your friends really made no difference in the real world. When you came out of college they knew Python and Perl along with C and Java and in the eyes of their friends they were 1337 Hax0rs, then they go get a tech job where either they don't code much, or everyone has a working knowledge of code. To some less-informed people, just using a non-MS OS such as Linux or knowing the command line on OS-X instantly made you some sort of star, you go to your job and everyone knows Linux and UNIX. Everyone thinks they have talent... Until they find someone who can do the exact same thing better then them.
There are ways to get legal songs. First off there are CDs which anyone who has lived within the last 10 years probably has enough CDs to cover quite a few GB of songs. Secondly, there are songs that are free (legal) to download under CC and the like licenses. Also, there are other ways to fill up storage other than just songs, photos and videos are also there. Its as much as an argument to say "we should tax 1 TB hard drives because you can't fill up 1 TB with legal media".
Why are we even worrying about Ethanol? Sure we may need better fuels then oil however here in the US we have massive reserves of it in Alaska where we cannot drill for oil there. Also, if we take out government grants and the like, Ethanol based on Corn (and chances are switchgrass) will never be more then minor fixes that could end up being more expensive. We have lots of hydrogen and sunlight, they are free and can be used as power sources, we have lots of oil. Corn and switchgrass though we don't have much and will only lead us into over-farming to try to get those.
Well, wouldn't suing single mothers for over $100,000 for like 10 songs counterproductive? Or how about DRM to make music fans have to pay several times to use the same song on different devices counterproductive? Or what about saying that ripping a CD onto a digital audio player should be illegal? Isn't that counterproductive? Or what about installing a rootkit onto thousands of computers to enforce DRM, isn't that counterproductive? And what about forcing people to "piracy" with "region protection" and DRM to get the media onto their devices? Face it, the media companies don't think logically. They only care about the money, they are willing to sacrifice the customer, their reputation and even the artists just to make a buck.
But this is about a Linux PC and putting Windows on it, therefore the argument with "the computer came with it" is null and void about this particual computer for Windows.
But, one of the main problems to Linux adoption is the install process. Have you even seen XP's install? Its much more complex then Ubuntu's install (albeit much easier then Gentoo's). The other problem is most people don't know any other OS other than Windows. While it is true that some of these machines will be running Windows, the most will be running Linux on them because people just go with what they have.
But why should it be the school's job? It wasn't a big enough deal for the police that night apparently. The school has no right to punish students for non-school related activities.
Its not necessarily the use of a closed-source OS but of MS's OS. In the proprietary world, you are nothing more then a statistic, a customer, you have no input beyond bug reports that *may* be added in some service pack or the next "patch Tuesday" and nothing more. With open source software, you can do whatever you want to with it, you can easily become a sysadmin, tech support or in computer repair very quickly, and those are higher-paying jobs. Although right now, the developing world has little need of these, in 5-10 years they could become essential. Also, with pre-installed operating systems and a monopoly on operating systems, the operating system IS the computer, if you don't have the code to the OS, you don't have the code to the computer. In addition, given MS's past reputation with monopolizing hardware/software, whats to say that they don't make a deal with OLPC that on the next laptop they make they will give OLPC 50 million if they don't add Linux? That is a very real possibility. MS is a very untrustworthy company and nothing trying to help software grow should be a part of them.
Why not? Most of those posting anti-MS comments seem to think that if any version of Windows makes it to the XO, then MS will completely control the whole shebang.
But isn't that what MS has done with computers until 2 or so years ago? Until 2 years ago or so, it was nearly impossible to go to a major manufacturer such as Dell and the like and get a computer with a non-MS OS on it. Whats to say that the OLPC won't turn out this way? With Intel leaving, OLPC needs cash, MS has a lot of cash, if MS for the next model of computers by the OLPC decide to pay OLPC say 50 million if they ship with Windows CE on them rather then Linux, how are they to complain? It always starts out small with MS, then before any non-geek knows it, MS controls it. If OLPC turns to MS, you can bet that freedom will get restricted.
Because the FCC started this. If it wasn't for the FCC protecting monopolies in cable "so everyone could get it" we wouldn't have this problem the free market would sort itself out. However now, there is nowhere else to turn with most ISPs being run by 3 major corporations, even the "local" ISPs are usually owned by some large company that owns many other ISPs. Also the goal of the FCC isn't (or at least shouldn't) be the censors, their job is to make sure that my cell phone doesn't need to compete with say channel 6 on the air to get reception. But mostly, they messed it up, there is no room for the free market to sort itself out so it goes to whoever created this mess in the first place, the government.
You seem optimistic. I doubt that anyone affected will even see a penny of it. Much less an apology from Comcast. No, the fines will go to who knows what in the government, probably something that will limit our freedoms even more than this (like a new DRM scheme that even though it is trivial to break thanks to the DMCA we can't)
No you don't. The FCC has really done nothing other to get us into this mess. First they protected monopolies to "help innovation", these government protected monopolies such as Comcast began to charge outrageous amounts for cable/internet. Whenever a local ISP/Cable company started up they were either absorbed into a huge corporation, charge nearly the same rates for sub-par service or quickly went bankrupt. It is only in the last 3-4 years that independent ISPs/cable companies have begun to pop up and even then they are usually nothing more then an arm of a super-corporation. When the government is involved, individuals always, always, always lose. Perhaps it is different in Canada but here in the US, the only thing government does when it comes to technology is maybe reversing their previous mistakes.
Even though the RIAA/MPAA probably has something to do with this (if they can buy congress they can buy just about any other thing) but I think that it is that Comcast wants to advertise really high download speeds without having the network to back it up. If they block P2P traffic they take out much of the traffic and can keep the *whatever MB/s* they advertise without having to spend extra money to get the network. I don't doubt that this could be an easy front to appeal to the RIAA and the like but I think it is more of "lets try to get the highest MB/s we can on as cheap of a network we can get" more than anything else.
That would be just fine if the government would help sustain these monopolies in cable/internet by thier actions to "help innovation" by giving them power to (at least 3-4 years ago) have a monopoly in a small-medium sized town. No competition whatsoever. It has gotten better but still, most ISP/cable providers fall into 3 companies minus the odd local ISP (which chances are is owned by a mega-ISP)
But if the ISP can't provide the claimed speed it is false advertizing. They paid for the bandwidth as much as you did. If the ISP can not deliver the speed they promised then sue them. It is like being on a game show, and winning $5000 but because the person before you got $10000, the game show refuses to pay you or to pay for travel/airfare.
Its not really just "open hardware" it is the firmware/OS that powers the device. I am sure that 4 months ago we could write code for the Wii but it was useless until someone found how to run code on it. Most devices have the same hardware as computers (processor, RAM, storage space) but finding ways to execute code is very difficult if the developers haven't either encouraged hacking on it or trying to stop code from being run on it.
Most people who run emulators either have a working system with games, or use the emulator for other reasons such as playing (patched) import games or for the mobility that a laptop/emulator/ROMs bring, you can't take a SNES on a plane. Also, the VC is the only way people could buy the games (save used) in the last 10-15 years.
I don't get it. Most large companies have servers that store documents and such, along with that, most computers have 40 gig- 120 gig hard drives and drives up to 1 TB or so can be bought for cheap. How are we running out of space in a large company? And why "archive" E-mail thats stored on the computer AND an E-mail server?
Exactly. E-mail use is declining in non-company use to IM and text messaging. Due to spam and other factors I would highly disagree that E-mail will grow that much. With cross-platform IM clients such as Pidgin, the OS is no problem for IM and in young people both IMs and text messaging have made E-mail needless.
Slashdot Mirror
But when it is Canada without(?) A DMCA (I am not Canadian nor do I study Canadian law so I don't know) but you can then rip DVDs to iPod video and put them on there legally and when a DVD is 3-4 gigs, that can fill 80 gigs very fast. Sure it isn't RIAA/MPAA approved but in Canada it doesn't matter as much as in the US, (Canada actually seems to know not to punish customers)
I think that the root cause is lack of knowledge. In many pre-job situations, being able to install XP from scratch was a good feat, knowing your way around BASH was considered amazing and when you could set up a wireless router in 2 minutes people thought that you were a tech genius. Until you start working at a tech-job you don't know that the things that amazed your friends really made no difference in the real world. When you came out of college they knew Python and Perl along with C and Java and in the eyes of their friends they were 1337 Hax0rs, then they go get a tech job where either they don't code much, or everyone has a working knowledge of code. To some less-informed people, just using a non-MS OS such as Linux or knowing the command line on OS-X instantly made you some sort of star, you go to your job and everyone knows Linux and UNIX. Everyone thinks they have talent... Until they find someone who can do the exact same thing better then them.
There are ways to get legal songs. First off there are CDs which anyone who has lived within the last 10 years probably has enough CDs to cover quite a few GB of songs. Secondly, there are songs that are free (legal) to download under CC and the like licenses. Also, there are other ways to fill up storage other than just songs, photos and videos are also there. Its as much as an argument to say "we should tax 1 TB hard drives because you can't fill up 1 TB with legal media".
Why are we even worrying about Ethanol? Sure we may need better fuels then oil however here in the US we have massive reserves of it in Alaska where we cannot drill for oil there. Also, if we take out government grants and the like, Ethanol based on Corn (and chances are switchgrass) will never be more then minor fixes that could end up being more expensive. We have lots of hydrogen and sunlight, they are free and can be used as power sources, we have lots of oil. Corn and switchgrass though we don't have much and will only lead us into over-farming to try to get those.
Well, wouldn't suing single mothers for over $100,000 for like 10 songs counterproductive? Or how about DRM to make music fans have to pay several times to use the same song on different devices counterproductive? Or what about saying that ripping a CD onto a digital audio player should be illegal? Isn't that counterproductive? Or what about installing a rootkit onto thousands of computers to enforce DRM, isn't that counterproductive? And what about forcing people to "piracy" with "region protection" and DRM to get the media onto their devices? Face it, the media companies don't think logically. They only care about the money, they are willing to sacrifice the customer, their reputation and even the artists just to make a buck.
But this is about a Linux PC and putting Windows on it, therefore the argument with "the computer came with it" is null and void about this particual computer for Windows.
But, one of the main problems to Linux adoption is the install process. Have you even seen XP's install? Its much more complex then Ubuntu's install (albeit much easier then Gentoo's). The other problem is most people don't know any other OS other than Windows. While it is true that some of these machines will be running Windows, the most will be running Linux on them because people just go with what they have.
But why should it be the school's job? It wasn't a big enough deal for the police that night apparently. The school has no right to punish students for non-school related activities.
Its not necessarily the use of a closed-source OS but of MS's OS. In the proprietary world, you are nothing more then a statistic, a customer, you have no input beyond bug reports that *may* be added in some service pack or the next "patch Tuesday" and nothing more. With open source software, you can do whatever you want to with it, you can easily become a sysadmin, tech support or in computer repair very quickly, and those are higher-paying jobs. Although right now, the developing world has little need of these, in 5-10 years they could become essential. Also, with pre-installed operating systems and a monopoly on operating systems, the operating system IS the computer, if you don't have the code to the OS, you don't have the code to the computer. In addition, given MS's past reputation with monopolizing hardware/software, whats to say that they don't make a deal with OLPC that on the next laptop they make they will give OLPC 50 million if they don't add Linux? That is a very real possibility. MS is a very untrustworthy company and nothing trying to help software grow should be a part of them.
Why not? Most of those posting anti-MS comments seem to think that if any version of Windows makes it to the XO, then MS will completely control the whole shebang.
But isn't that what MS has done with computers until 2 or so years ago? Until 2 years ago or so, it was nearly impossible to go to a major manufacturer such as Dell and the like and get a computer with a non-MS OS on it. Whats to say that the OLPC won't turn out this way? With Intel leaving, OLPC needs cash, MS has a lot of cash, if MS for the next model of computers by the OLPC decide to pay OLPC say 50 million if they ship with Windows CE on them rather then Linux, how are they to complain? It always starts out small with MS, then before any non-geek knows it, MS controls it. If OLPC turns to MS, you can bet that freedom will get restricted.
Because the FCC started this. If it wasn't for the FCC protecting monopolies in cable "so everyone could get it" we wouldn't have this problem the free market would sort itself out. However now, there is nowhere else to turn with most ISPs being run by 3 major corporations, even the "local" ISPs are usually owned by some large company that owns many other ISPs. Also the goal of the FCC isn't (or at least shouldn't) be the censors, their job is to make sure that my cell phone doesn't need to compete with say channel 6 on the air to get reception. But mostly, they messed it up, there is no room for the free market to sort itself out so it goes to whoever created this mess in the first place, the government.
You seem optimistic. I doubt that anyone affected will even see a penny of it. Much less an apology from Comcast. No, the fines will go to who knows what in the government, probably something that will limit our freedoms even more than this (like a new DRM scheme that even though it is trivial to break thanks to the DMCA we can't)
No you don't. The FCC has really done nothing other to get us into this mess. First they protected monopolies to "help innovation", these government protected monopolies such as Comcast began to charge outrageous amounts for cable/internet. Whenever a local ISP/Cable company started up they were either absorbed into a huge corporation, charge nearly the same rates for sub-par service or quickly went bankrupt. It is only in the last 3-4 years that independent ISPs/cable companies have begun to pop up and even then they are usually nothing more then an arm of a super-corporation. When the government is involved, individuals always, always, always lose. Perhaps it is different in Canada but here in the US, the only thing government does when it comes to technology is maybe reversing their previous mistakes.
Even though the RIAA/MPAA probably has something to do with this (if they can buy congress they can buy just about any other thing) but I think that it is that Comcast wants to advertise really high download speeds without having the network to back it up. If they block P2P traffic they take out much of the traffic and can keep the *whatever MB/s* they advertise without having to spend extra money to get the network. I don't doubt that this could be an easy front to appeal to the RIAA and the like but I think it is more of "lets try to get the highest MB/s we can on as cheap of a network we can get" more than anything else.
Are you encrypting your BT traffic? If so then Comcast thinks it is just normal traffic like HTTP/FTP and will let it go.
That would be just fine if the government would help sustain these monopolies in cable/internet by thier actions to "help innovation" by giving them power to (at least 3-4 years ago) have a monopoly in a small-medium sized town. No competition whatsoever. It has gotten better but still, most ISP/cable providers fall into 3 companies minus the odd local ISP (which chances are is owned by a mega-ISP)
But if the ISP can't provide the claimed speed it is false advertizing. They paid for the bandwidth as much as you did. If the ISP can not deliver the speed they promised then sue them. It is like being on a game show, and winning $5000 but because the person before you got $10000, the game show refuses to pay you or to pay for travel/airfare.
Its not really just "open hardware" it is the firmware/OS that powers the device. I am sure that 4 months ago we could write code for the Wii but it was useless until someone found how to run code on it. Most devices have the same hardware as computers (processor, RAM, storage space) but finding ways to execute code is very difficult if the developers haven't either encouraged hacking on it or trying to stop code from being run on it.
No it is called the PSP slim and light not 2 separate consoles.
Most people who run emulators either have a working system with games, or use the emulator for other reasons such as playing (patched) import games or for the mobility that a laptop/emulator/ROMs bring, you can't take a SNES on a plane. Also, the VC is the only way people could buy the games (save used) in the last 10-15 years.
I doubt if MS is coming up with this things won't be DRMed to the core and prehaps prevent commercial skipping.
Homebrew is possible (as proven in the past few days) but Linux is not. And even homebrew hasn't progressed beyond a few proof of concepts.
Linux can not be run on the Wii as the article suggests. It can be run on the Wii in Gamecube mode, but it has no Wii funtions.
I don't get it. Most large companies have servers that store documents and such, along with that, most computers have 40 gig- 120 gig hard drives and drives up to 1 TB or so can be bought for cheap. How are we running out of space in a large company? And why "archive" E-mail thats stored on the computer AND an E-mail server?
Exactly. E-mail use is declining in non-company use to IM and text messaging. Due to spam and other factors I would highly disagree that E-mail will grow that much. With cross-platform IM clients such as Pidgin, the OS is no problem for IM and in young people both IMs and text messaging have made E-mail needless.