> But nowhere, in any of the many "Unisys is evil" > posts I read, here or elsewhere, did I see a > single official statement from anyone at Unisys,
I suppose the link to Unisys' official statement doesn't count.
> According to Mark Starr, General Patent and > Technology Counsel for Unisys, if the GIFs > on your Web site were created with software > that is licensed by Unisys, you are fine. > Nobody at Unisys is going to try to get > $5000 or even $0.50 out of you. Period.
Translation: don't use GIFs from anyone else's site if you don't know for a fact that they used licensed software (and licensed for your particular purpose, at that).
The official statement includes: > Why should you get an LZW Web site license? > You'll be able to deal with any vendors, developers, services or > Webmasters whether they have an LZW license agreement from Unisys or > not. You won't have to go to the trouble of verifying that each vendor is > licensed by Unisys.
That sounds pretty clear to me: "C'mon, better safe than sorry! You don't want to take a chance, do you?"
back to Roblimo: > How would Unisys know what software you used to create > a particular GIF?
Good question. Now, how would I know the answer to that question if I saw a GIF at another site and thought "hey, that's nifty!" I'd like to use that!
> I did not ask, "What if someone creates a GIF using licensed > software that came with a scanner, then modifies that image with > the GIMP or another freeware program?"
> I really didn't want to know the answer to this question;
Why not? You say they're being really reasonable!
> all of my GIFs have passed through at least one > Unisys-licensed program at some point, so if I > am asked I can honestly say that they were created > (at least partially) in accordance with the Unisys patent.
Oops! Does the official statement say anything about "passed through a Unisys-licensed program at some point"? Nope. Does it say "you can display any GIF as long as you OWN licensed software"? Nope. Why else would a web site operator be advised "buy the $5000 (or more) license" instead of "buy the $500 licensed software package".
Perhaps you didn't ask because you thought you were in a gray area, and didn't care to get slapped with a $5000 license fee (that is, if you don't sell any services or products) if you were wrong?
> you're probably fine, but if you use it to create > GIF graphics for a Web site that is intended to > make a profit, Unisys wants a cut of the action > How much? E-mail them and ask.
And keep in mind that they want $5000 if you DON'T make a profit. Do you really think they'll want less from a business? For a real life example, what about the fellow who wanted enough licenses for approximately 100 copies of a downloadable program, and was told "sorry, the starting point is 200,000 licenses".
Starr can _talk_ all he wants about company policy, but the official policy (assuming that it's official if it's posted on a Unisys page) and the actual practice diverge from his remarks. Which do you think a judge will lend more weight to when you're hauled into court? The official stated policy, or what some guy said to some other guy in a phone interview?
If Starr is being truthful about company policy, perhaps HE should rewrite that offical page.
> He and Unisys PR dude Oliver Picher both described the e-mail > tirades with words like vile, vulgar, obscene, disgusting, and > distasteful.
Then I'm very glad my email simply said "1) I could build 2 low-end web servers for about $1500, 2) you want $5000 dollars for the GIF license for that setup?, and 3) I'll be sure to convert all my GIFs to PNGs". No abuse, no foul language, just "I choose not to use a product which you can control".
>I've heard horror stories - not about what management is doing to the employees, but how the employees > are screwing the company *because* they belong to a union.
For a humorous look at this sort of activity, check out the movie "I'm All Right, Jack".
> Are people's lives so pathetically boring that they have to take the events in other people's lives and make them their own?
(donning my Nomex undies here)
Ummm... some people's lives - yes. IMHO, that's why sports are so popular - when the (foot/base/basketball) team wins, those people think "WE won", as if they personally had something to do with the victory.
Yes, the Tandy 2000 WAS based on the 80186. I know, since I did some C work on one back in the middle ages (1986).
(aside) That was my first experience in working with MS-DOS, and I wasn't surprised to see undocumented "features" (like serial drivers which swallowed carriage returns whole) which caused me no end of grief. I really DO come by my anti-Microsoft bigotry honestly!
>I assume the poster mixed this up because of a misunderstanding of OSS and the Linux concept.
I assume the poster forgot to use the appropriate emoticon for the humor-impaired - it's rather obvious he was being facetious or sarcastic, since all of the packages he mentioned are available in virtually every distro.
FWIW, I do prefer Red Hat, and I ordered the Cheap Bytes CD of 6.0 recently.
>If you really want to find them [snort], do a search for warez...)
How true! I gave up looking for a bootleg version of Win98 (don't flame me, please - I've since seen the light and converted to Linux) because of all the porn crap at virtually every warez site.
You can also find a pretty complete set of lyrics here.
My favorite is "When I Was Your Age" - which I'm inclined to sing when young whippersnappers complain that their computers are too slow ("when I was your age, all we had were 4K TRS-80s, and we had to hack each bit out of raw silicon with a chisel").
1) the sign on the box office telling people that the new "Phantom Menace" trailer would be played before "WC", but that they wouldn't get a refund if they left before the movie started 2) the "Phantom Menace" trailer 3) the fighter battle scenes (the FX, anyway) 4) the fellow in the front right section of the theater who (when Blair was told he could navigate that nasty quasar better than a computer could because of his "gift") yelled "use the Force, Luke"
It's improved my survivability immensely (the machine gun is a much more effective weapon with it, since the SpaceOrb makes it a snap to counter the recoil effect).
>Ok, not to be tha nit picker here, but it was > Han that said "Let the Wookie win" to C3PO
Oops... you're wrong.
I guess I get to be the nitpicker.
C3PO complains to Han about Chewbacca's anger at losing. Han says (in essence) that Wookies have been known to pull people's arms out of their sockets when that happens. C3PO says to R2: "I suggest a different strategy - let the Wookie win".
> You'll learn about things like user interfaces, > business programming, how to scope out customer > needs, database design, price points,
Don't you mean "customer's available cash"? One of my greatest needs is stability, but Microsoft's plan (keep introducing new features (gotta sell everyone on the newest release) rather than fixing the existing ones) doesn't exactly tend toward the creation of reliable software.
> scripting, and responding to negative feedback.
Responding to negative feedback (of the bug report variety) is easy - "just upgrade to the newest version (whenever it comes out) and that bug will be fixed - ummm... except for 'insufficient memory to update display' - that's a feature, not a bug"
Will we also learn about FUD, the Windows 2000 "deathmarch" (including the REAL release date), and Bill's plan to defeat OSS? I doubt it.
> One thing that William Gates has NEVER done is > publicly run down the competition.
You're right. He leaves that job up to Ed Muth, "Steve Barkto" and other Microsoft employees.
Even Jesse Berst is starting to suggest Linux as an alternative to Microsoft. Doesn't THAT tell you something about Microsoft's reputation and prospects?
"No one was depending on Robin Hood to make the trains run on time..."
Bad metaphor, Ed, given the last famous person who was reputed to "make the trains run on time".
(for you./er's who aren't up on ancient history, that person was Benito Mussolini. Hmmm... I guess someone should add Ed's image to the background of The Halloween Nightmare)
Slashdot Mirror
> But nowhere, in any of the many "Unisys is evil"
> posts I read, here or elsewhere, did I see a
> single official statement from anyone at Unisys,
I suppose the link to Unisys' official statement doesn't count.
> According to Mark Starr, General Patent and
> Technology Counsel for Unisys, if the GIFs
> on your Web site were created with software
> that is licensed by Unisys, you are fine.
> Nobody at Unisys is going to try to get
> $5000 or even $0.50 out of you. Period.
Translation: don't use GIFs from anyone else's site if you don't know for a fact that they used licensed software (and licensed for your particular purpose, at that).
The official statement includes:
> Why should you get an LZW Web site license?
> You'll be able to deal with any vendors, developers, services or
> Webmasters whether they have an LZW license agreement from Unisys or
> not. You won't have to go to the trouble of verifying that each vendor is
> licensed by Unisys.
That sounds pretty clear to me: "C'mon, better safe than sorry! You don't want to take a chance, do you?"
back to Roblimo:
> How would Unisys know what software you used to create
> a particular GIF?
Good question. Now, how would I know the answer to that question if I saw a GIF at another site and thought "hey, that's nifty!" I'd like to use that!
> I did not ask, "What if someone creates a GIF using licensed
> software that came with a scanner, then modifies that image with
> the GIMP or another freeware program?"
> I really didn't want to know the answer to this question;
Why not? You say they're being really reasonable!
> all of my GIFs have passed through at least one
> Unisys-licensed program at some point, so if I
> am asked I can honestly say that they were created
> (at least partially) in accordance with the Unisys patent.
Oops! Does the official statement say anything about "passed through a Unisys-licensed program at some point"? Nope. Does it say "you can display any GIF as long as you OWN licensed software"? Nope. Why else would a web site operator be advised "buy the $5000 (or more) license" instead of "buy the $500 licensed software package".
Perhaps you didn't ask because you thought you were in a gray area, and didn't care to get slapped with a $5000 license fee (that is, if you don't sell any services or products) if you were wrong?
> you're probably fine, but if you use it to create
> GIF graphics for a Web site that is intended to
> make a profit, Unisys wants a cut of the action
> How much? E-mail them and ask.
And keep in mind that they want $5000 if you DON'T make a profit. Do you really think they'll want less from a business? For a real life example, what about the fellow who wanted enough licenses for approximately 100 copies of a downloadable program, and was told "sorry, the starting point is 200,000 licenses".
Starr can _talk_ all he wants about company policy, but the official policy (assuming that it's official if it's posted on a Unisys page) and the actual practice diverge from his remarks. Which do you think a judge will lend more weight to when you're hauled into court? The official stated policy, or what some guy said to some other guy in a phone interview?
If Starr is being truthful about company policy, perhaps HE should rewrite that offical page.
> He and Unisys PR dude Oliver Picher both described the e-mail
> tirades with words like vile, vulgar, obscene, disgusting, and
> distasteful.
Then I'm very glad my email simply said "1) I could build 2 low-end web servers for about $1500, 2) you want $5000 dollars for the GIF license for that setup?, and 3) I'll be sure to convert all my GIFs to PNGs". No abuse, no foul language, just "I choose not to use a product which you can control".
Cassini DID crash into the Earth, but NASA's spokesfolks aren't willing to admit this.
Why, oh why didn't we listen to Ralph Nader and his friends? We're all gonna die!
>I've heard horror stories - not about what management is doing to the employees, but how the employees
> are screwing the company *because* they belong to a union.
For a humorous look at this sort of activity, check out the movie "I'm All Right, Jack".
> Wasn't it Einstein who said something about the individual being smart and the masses being stupid?
Not sure about Einstein, but "J" said it in "Men In Black".
> Are people's lives so pathetically boring that they have to take the events in other people's lives and make them their own?
(donning my Nomex undies here)
Ummm ... some people's lives - yes. IMHO, that's why sports are so popular - when the (foot/base/basketball) team wins, those people think "WE won", as if they personally had something to do with the victory.
All true geeks (and their perl scripts) should be voting for Weird Al's "The Saga Begins"!
(aside)
That was my first experience in working with MS-DOS, and I wasn't surprised to see undocumented "features" (like serial drivers which swallowed carriage returns whole) which caused me no end of grief. I really DO come by my anti-Microsoft bigotry honestly!
I assume the poster forgot to use the appropriate emoticon for the humor-impaired - it's rather obvious he was being facetious or sarcastic, since all of the packages he mentioned are available in virtually every distro.
FWIW, I do prefer Red Hat, and I ordered the Cheap Bytes CD of 6.0 recently.
My number one choice is always Google, going to Altavista only if Google fails (like when I'm looking for an obscure IC chip).
The fact that Google runs on Linux is just icing on the cake.
How true! I gave up looking for a bootleg version of Win98 (don't flame me, please - I've since seen the light and converted to Linux) because of all the porn crap at virtually every warez site.
My favorite is "When I Was Your Age" - which I'm inclined to sing when young whippersnappers complain that their computers are too slow ("when I was your age, all we had were 4K TRS-80s, and we had to hack each bit out of raw silicon with a chisel").
Sounds good to me! That's the best TV show on right now.
Why doesn't Stallman release his own distro (with only FSF software) and call it Official GNU/Linux (tm)?
Let the marketplace decide the preferred distro/name.
I counted 4.
1) the sign on the box office telling people that the new "Phantom Menace" trailer would be played before "WC", but that they wouldn't get a refund if they left before the movie started
2) the "Phantom Menace" trailer
3) the fighter battle scenes (the FX, anyway)
4) the fellow in the front right section of the theater who (when Blair was told he could navigate that nasty quasar better than a computer could because of his "gift") yelled "use the Force, Luke"
It's improved my survivability immensely (the machine gun is a much more effective weapon with it, since the SpaceOrb makes it a snap to counter the recoil effect).
>Ok, not to be tha nit picker here, but it was
... you're wrong.
> Han that said "Let the Wookie win" to C3PO
Oops
I guess I get to be the nitpicker.
C3PO complains to Han about Chewbacca's anger at losing.
Han says (in essence) that Wookies have been known to pull people's arms out of their sockets when that happens.
C3PO says to R2: "I suggest a different strategy - let the Wookie win".
> You'll learn about things like user interfaces,
> business programming, how to scope out customer
> needs, database design, price points,
Don't you mean "customer's available cash"? One of my greatest needs is stability, but Microsoft's plan (keep introducing new features (gotta sell everyone on the newest release) rather than fixing the existing ones) doesn't exactly tend toward the creation of reliable software.
> scripting, and responding to negative feedback.
Responding to negative feedback (of the bug report variety) is easy - "just upgrade to the newest version (whenever it comes out) and that bug will be fixed - ummm ... except for 'insufficient memory to update display' - that's a feature, not a bug"
Will we also learn about FUD, the Windows 2000 "deathmarch" (including the REAL release date), and Bill's plan to defeat OSS? I doubt it.
> One thing that William Gates has NEVER done is
> publicly run down the competition.
You're right. He leaves that job up to Ed Muth, "Steve Barkto" and other Microsoft employees.
Even Jesse Berst is starting to suggest Linux as an alternative to Microsoft. Doesn't THAT tell you something about Microsoft's reputation and prospects?
"No one was depending on Robin Hood to make the trains run on time ..."
Bad metaphor, Ed, given the last famous person who was reputed to "make the trains run on time".
(for you ./er's who aren't up on ancient history, that person was Benito Mussolini. Hmmm ... I guess someone should add Ed's image to the background of The Halloween Nightmare)