Truth be told, this is a promotional rate, but it's a year long rate and the sales rep said to call back when it's up and see what we can do. There's no contract that we're tied to or anything, not to mention that Verizon should be fully up and running throughout the area by then (they're still installing lines in some areas).
Kind of OT, but does anyone remember how id software distributed a Quake demo disc that had most of their catalog on it? In order to actually play the games you had to call a number and purchase the key for the game you wanted, but a program called qcrack was floating around unlocked them all. Of course, I was only 12 or 13 at the time, and hunting down qcrack on my friends AOL account to get free games was almost as cool as hacking the Pentagon:)
I honestly couldn't believe it, but this past week Comcast has stopped throttling my torrent traffic completely and even increased the upload speed. Granted, they said they were increasing the speed a couple weeks ago (I suspect due Verizon recently entering the area and adding some competition). However, I figured it would be the usual initial burst of high speed followed by an immediate dive that never recovers, which is what has been happening as long as we've been hearing about it.
No shit though, that stopped happening. It still isn't anywhere near advertised speeds, but it went from ~100KB/s up to more than 200 (and higher overnight) and there's none of that interfering bullshit anymore.
It's amazing what a little competition can do. They actually also added all of the premium movie channels for $5 less than we were paying (we'd only had HBO previously).
And no, I don't work for them, nor am I defending their questionable behavior (check past posts if you like). But it is nice to be surprised sometimes, even by nasty corporations;)
There's also the friend factor. I share similar taste in books with a few friends and we're always passing books back and forth. And, as you said, if I don't get every one of them back it's really no big deal.
One genre I do like having electronic copies of, however, is (surprise) tech books. Since they usually don't need to be read cover to cover and often contain a lot of reference material its usually more convenient, especially since their page count often high and carrying even one can be a pain.
I disagree with several statements that the author doesn't understand the GPL.
From the third paragraph:
The new lesson is that the freedom belongs to the software, not to users. Pure bull, the GPL exists specifically to provide freedom to the users of software (and I'm not even sure how a piece of software can have freedom, anyway).
Then there's this gem:
Any activity that leverages software for business advantage is likely to restrict the software's freedom, and the growing use of open source software by for-profit companies has been a growing irritant for free software advocates. Here he appears to be suggesting that using free software somehow angers those programmers who write it. Addtionally, he's suggesting that by using free software companies are suddenly bound by the GPL. This just isn't the case. The GPL covers distribution, not use. If I download the Linux kernel I can do whatever the hell I want to it and never tell a soul and it's perfectly fine. However, once I start calling it AwesomeNewKernel and trying to sell it or whatever, I'm obligated to release my changes.
Basically what it boils down to is that you can't freeload GPL code, but you can use it to your hearts content. I don't see why this guy can't understand that.
Of course, the million hits they'll be getting are from people that wouldn't dream of using the service, meaning that any investors would be sorely disappointed. Why is that a bad thing? This Lala has raised $34 million so far, and a bunch of slashdotters making these assholes think they have a good idea is fine with me.
This is somewhat OT, but I saw in the paper (the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, as I'm from Pittsburgh) a photo of protesters, with a small blurb next to the pic about what they were protesting. It was only after re-reading the blurb and checking with another source did I discover that they weren't protesting anything, but were there at the request of the museum to draw attention to the exhibit.
I remember thinking how stupid it was at the time, but I can't remember what the exhibit was, only that it was obviously non-offensive, especially after the recent semi-controversy about the 'Bodies' display that spent some time here.
Not to knock Pittsburgh museums; they are usually a source of pride for the entire region. This particular incident, however, isn't exactly the most intelligent thing they've ever done.
Credit where credit is due though, the Post-Gazette had absolutely no accompanying article, just this somewhat inciting photo and an utterly useless blurb. That's sadly sort of on par for that paper, though.
You actually bring up a very good point. However, as others in this thread have noted, designing flawless software can be quite expensive. This article shed's some light into the programmers responsible for the NASA shuttle program. As stated in the article, they are among the most expensive programmers in the US.
Of course, prominent financial institutions should be required to implement a system comparable to the NASA technique given the obvious importance of the data, but like most truly important things I doubt it will happen (especially considering the $35 million budget this group has).
They aren't as concerned about these ULPC's from running Windows as they are that Linux will use these low cost devices as a springboard into the desktop market. They want to limit the specs so that any machines sold over that spec must be sold with a Windows operating system. That way, anyone outside of the low-cost niche market will still be forced to buy Windows.
It smacks of anti-trust issues but that really isn't a big surprise anymore.
Not only that, but he says "the mature rated games that our children play". Shouldn't he be getting on the parents for providing their kids with games that are inappropriate for their age?
I know that tastes can change over time, but not liking a song you once liked, without somehow relating it to a negative experience, is weird. When I was in 5th grade Coolio's "Gangstas Paradise" was a hit, along with Weird Al's "Bad Hair Day" album, featuring the "Amish Paradise" parody.
Need I say more?;)
(Luckily I never inhaled, or something to that effect.)
Not quite, it's just that you're defending an IP system that works against you. Fixing inequities in the law is impossible because the law is written by those with much more money and interest than you. I personally think that "IP" should exist to compensate authors for their work, not to make billionaires out of talentless hacks who manipulate those with less cash. It is impossible to "fix inequities" without someone rich getting shafted, which is why it will never happen.
What happens when you create a genuinely unique piece of "intellectual property" and are sued into the dirt by the owners of IP law? Current IP law exists to destroy real innovation (e.g. what you may or may not have created) in order to preserve the status quo.
Intellectual Property rights may be important, but certainly not for people like yourself.
The industry always complains that they have lost $x million in sales but they do not allow for the fact that the vast majority of the downloaders would never buy what they downloaded? I actually take that to the extreme. With the ease of acquiring music via BitTorrent, if there's a song that I want to download I just find a torrent of every album the artist ever produced and grab that instead. When you do that for a couple of older acts like Bruce Springsteen or Bob Dylan you can be damned sure that I wouldn't come close to purchasing all of those albums (just between those two guys we're nearing 100).
In fact, I think it's completely insane that I could even be expected to spend $1000+ for just those albums (and I'm not even sure I'll listen to all of them in their entirety).
Made up statistic:
Despite the fact that a large percentage of rap music fans are white, only about 2% actually produce rap music! Seriously, who the hell cares? Some people like products of different cultures, whether music or games or anything else. This is a good thing.
Slashdot Mirror
So blogging is slightly more dangerous than journalling?
Truth be told, this is a promotional rate, but it's a year long rate and the sales rep said to call back when it's up and see what we can do. There's no contract that we're tied to or anything, not to mention that Verizon should be fully up and running throughout the area by then (they're still installing lines in some areas).
Kind of OT, but does anyone remember how id software distributed a Quake demo disc that had most of their catalog on it? In order to actually play the games you had to call a number and purchase the key for the game you wanted, but a program called qcrack was floating around unlocked them all. Of course, I was only 12 or 13 at the time, and hunting down qcrack on my friends AOL account to get free games was almost as cool as hacking the Pentagon :)
I honestly couldn't believe it, but this past week Comcast has stopped throttling my torrent traffic completely and even increased the upload speed. Granted, they said they were increasing the speed a couple weeks ago (I suspect due Verizon recently entering the area and adding some competition). However, I figured it would be the usual initial burst of high speed followed by an immediate dive that never recovers, which is what has been happening as long as we've been hearing about it.
;)
No shit though, that stopped happening. It still isn't anywhere near advertised speeds, but it went from ~100KB/s up to more than 200 (and higher overnight) and there's none of that interfering bullshit anymore.
It's amazing what a little competition can do. They actually also added all of the premium movie channels for $5 less than we were paying (we'd only had HBO previously).
And no, I don't work for them, nor am I defending their questionable behavior (check past posts if you like). But it is nice to be surprised sometimes, even by nasty corporations
There's also the friend factor. I share similar taste in books with a few friends and we're always passing books back and forth. And, as you said, if I don't get every one of them back it's really no big deal.
One genre I do like having electronic copies of, however, is (surprise) tech books. Since they usually don't need to be read cover to cover and often contain a lot of reference material its usually more convenient, especially since their page count often high and carrying even one can be a pain.
He would, but he's with the real Slim Shady.
In the end it really doesn't matter, much like Washington's apple tree or Franklin's kite. Sometimes the myth outlives the truth.
From the third paragraph:
The new lesson is that the freedom belongs to the software, not to users. Pure bull, the GPL exists specifically to provide freedom to the users of software (and I'm not even sure how a piece of software can have freedom, anyway).
Then there's this gem:
Any activity that leverages software for business advantage is likely to restrict the software's freedom, and the growing use of open source software by for-profit companies has been a growing irritant for free software advocates. Here he appears to be suggesting that using free software somehow angers those programmers who write it. Addtionally, he's suggesting that by using free software companies are suddenly bound by the GPL. This just isn't the case. The GPL covers distribution, not use. If I download the Linux kernel I can do whatever the hell I want to it and never tell a soul and it's perfectly fine. However, once I start calling it AwesomeNewKernel and trying to sell it or whatever, I'm obligated to release my changes.
Basically what it boils down to is that you can't freeload GPL code, but you can use it to your hearts content. I don't see why this guy can't understand that.
Of course, the million hits they'll be getting are from people that wouldn't dream of using the service, meaning that any investors would be sorely disappointed. Why is that a bad thing? This Lala has raised $34 million so far, and a bunch of slashdotters making these assholes think they have a good idea is fine with me.
This is somewhat OT, but I saw in the paper (the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, as I'm from Pittsburgh) a photo of protesters, with a small blurb next to the pic about what they were protesting. It was only after re-reading the blurb and checking with another source did I discover that they weren't protesting anything, but were there at the request of the museum to draw attention to the exhibit.
I remember thinking how stupid it was at the time, but I can't remember what the exhibit was, only that it was obviously non-offensive, especially after the recent semi-controversy about the 'Bodies' display that spent some time here.
Not to knock Pittsburgh museums; they are usually a source of pride for the entire region. This particular incident, however, isn't exactly the most intelligent thing they've ever done.
Credit where credit is due though, the Post-Gazette had absolutely no accompanying article, just this somewhat inciting photo and an utterly useless blurb. That's sadly sort of on par for that paper, though.
Not if your boss doesn't care ;)
You actually bring up a very good point. However, as others in this thread have noted, designing flawless software can be quite expensive. This article shed's some light into the programmers responsible for the NASA shuttle program. As stated in the article, they are among the most expensive programmers in the US.
Of course, prominent financial institutions should be required to implement a system comparable to the NASA technique given the obvious importance of the data, but like most truly important things I doubt it will happen (especially considering the $35 million budget this group has).
They aren't as concerned about these ULPC's from running Windows as they are that Linux will use these low cost devices as a springboard into the desktop market. They want to limit the specs so that any machines sold over that spec must be sold with a Windows operating system. That way, anyone outside of the low-cost niche market will still be forced to buy Windows.
It smacks of anti-trust issues but that really isn't a big surprise anymore.
No, it should be tagged "dontfeedthetrolls"
lol fucking brilliant. great post.
Mrs. Zelnick, did you train up your son, Strauss, to make millions of dollars by pushing Mature-rated video games to children?
Not only that, but he says "the mature rated games that our children play". Shouldn't he be getting on the parents for providing their kids with games that are inappropriate for their age?
I would, but I downloaded them all already.
I think it should be:
If they apologize and release an album that doesn't suck!
Hell, at this point I'd be happy with a Load/Reload style album, which is setting the bar pretty damned low.
Need I say more?
(Luckily I never inhaled, or something to that effect.)
Not quite, it's just that you're defending an IP system that works against you. Fixing inequities in the law is impossible because the law is written by those with much more money and interest than you. I personally think that "IP" should exist to compensate authors for their work, not to make billionaires out of talentless hacks who manipulate those with less cash. It is impossible to "fix inequities" without someone rich getting shafted, which is why it will never happen.
What happens when you create a genuinely unique piece of "intellectual property" and are sued into the dirt by the owners of IP law? Current IP law exists to destroy real innovation (e.g. what you may or may not have created) in order to preserve the status quo. Intellectual Property rights may be important, but certainly not for people like yourself.
In fact, I think it's completely insane that I could even be expected to spend $1000+ for just those albums (and I'm not even sure I'll listen to all of them in their entirety).
Despite the fact that a large percentage of rap music fans are white, only about 2% actually produce rap music! Seriously, who the hell cares? Some people like products of different cultures, whether music or games or anything else. This is a good thing.
Lonely Slashdot readers cannot reproduce!!! Say no to the right-hand agenda!!!