I think I am one of those super anti-drm people - but I agree with you. I just wouldn't buy the game until the DRM has been removed. When the DRM has been removed, my concerns are gone and I'll be happy to pay money for it. Ok, I'll have to wait one more week, but I can deal with that.
So in essence you are saying that whenever the concept/spirit of democracy is actually used, i.e. the citizens of a nation are allowed to decide their own fate, the system would be very broken because most people are stupid.
I am not trying to misinterpret your post on purpose, but is that not what you are saying?
I find most peoples view on democracy interesting.
If everything goes as you want it to go, it's proof that democracy works. However, If you wanted something else than the majority, suddenly we see the evils of popularism.
I so wish this was true. Ubuntu 7.10 worked fine, everything was finally working. Since then I have given each new release a chance, but something was always broken (sound, network, graphics). Each time it took one or two days to finally find a workaround, sometimes I even had to buy new hardware just to appease that stupid shit OS. And then there is that completely stupid idea to change the window buttons.
No thanks, I have switched to Arch Linux. It's far from perfect, but at least I have a chance to get things working again when something breaks.
I have used Linux as my main OS for many years now, and only occasionally boot up windows to kick some ass in Bad Company 2. While I agree that Linux still has far too many problems to be a mature desktop OS, the same is definitely true of Windows.
Roughly 75% of the times I find myself in windows 7 (if not more) I find myself getting pissed off about some stupid shit. I can quickly enumerate the most common irks, but there are plenty more:
* Once you plug in your mous/keyboard in an USB port you ALWAYS have to use that port. If you plug it in in a different port windows will ignore it 95% of the time. Rebooting doesn't help. * Connecting a new standard peripheral (mouse, keyboard, webcam, usb soundcard etc.) windows will take ages to load drivers, display 50 popup notices, get stuff wrong until it finally works. In Linux I just connect it and it works. No questions, no hazzle. * Windows will frequently annoy the user while he clearly does not want to be annoyed (e.g. when playing a full-screen 3D game) * Windows will sometimes force reboot my PC while playing a game - no warning whatsoever, it's just gone suddenly. * Sometimes some of my sound devices disappear for no reason, or it decides I absolutely MUST plug in my headphones in the back of the soundcard instead of the front slot. 3 boots later everything suddenly works again as it should.
I have far far more issues than that, this is just what I could quickly think of at the top of my head. Windows really really sucks. Windows users just have gotten used to all the stupid annoying quirks. In Linux everything is new to them and they suddenly start to complain.
Wikileaks, as you mentioned, works to reveal secrets. As a part of that work they also have to keep some secrets however, for example about their sources.
This is not the great paradox you make it out to be.
There is a difference between trying to reveal crimes/unethical behavior/corrupt and all that stuff, and to reveal personal information just out of spite or to harm someone. Not all secrets are bad, but those that are must be exposed.
I wish there were more people like you. Unfortunately most people lose their principles the second they see something shiny they want.
I too have succumbed to temptation a few times, but in general I stick to my principles as much as I can. I too will never support sony, unless they change their ways dramatically. Same goes for Microsoft.
And this includes indirect support as well (buying hardware with licensed-from-sony stuff in it for example)
Interesting, I didn't even know that. Still, as GP pointed out, buying BD drives supports sony. I'm not going to do that.
Furthermore, I find harddrives far more convenient for backup. With discs I always worry about whether they will keep their data and get scratched or otherwise destroyed. Hard drives are somewhat more robust in that sense. I semi-regularly buy new drives and do a complete coopy of my files from my old drives, keeping the old ones as emergency backups, in addition to having specific backup drives.
I feel a lot safer that way with regard to data safety. I once got extremely close to losing all my data due to a disk problem, I will never run that risk again.
I'm never going to buy a BD drive because of the DRM crap. After having been burnt on Linux with DVD copy protections before (not an issue any longer, I know), I will never support that kind of draconian technology.
I know I'll sound like a fanatic, but Microsoft has done some things that go beyond the normal call of maximizing profits. Things that are clearly ethically wrong by pretty much any standard.
Supporting Microsoft in any way means supporting their business practices. It means making the world a slightly worse place to live in.
I'll gladly forgo the questionable pleasure it is to have windows installed, if it means I'm innocent of Microsofts crimes.
As a non US citizen I don't know how to interpret this.
Is parent in fact correct, or is he too stupid to realize the difference between security checks and a pilots license, and a license to drive a motorcycle?
Assume a police detective investigating a gang of robbers. Then one day, the robbers prevent another gang from robbing a store. The police detective might not know much about that specific incident, but they could still say with some certanity that the robbers didn't act out of altruism, but that the action can be explained as part of a bigger picture (e.g. gang war).
You want me to count how many wars the US has been fighting since last century and up until now, and how many wars these other countries have been involved in?
If you make a list sorted by number of wars, how much you wanna bet that the US comes out on fucking top of the fucking list?
I didn't mean to argue that that is how it works, it simply seemed to me that you wouldn't even consider the possibility. Sometimes people get blinded by political correctness and I assumed it to be the case here. My apologies.
If you have additional research to what I have seen so far, is there anything in particular you think I might benefit from reading?
Maybe I am ignorant, but then please elaborate some more on what exactly you think is the problem and how it will lead where. I honestly don't follow you, so again, please elaborate.
I don't disagree with you at all. All I'm saying is that with google I, as a technical sort of person, have the option to avoid the problems that indeed do exist.
With MS you cannot avoid the problem. MS continues to fight progress and freedom everywhere, and it will impact everybody sooner or later. MS must be destroyed, there is no alternative.
With google it is far far from being that bad right now.
Is this your honest opinion or are you trolling? If it's the former I'll try to collect the relevant information for you to understand what's going on.
Before I do that though, tell me, are you perchance one of the people believing that anything is acceptable in business, no matter how immoral or even illegal?
I can list you plenty of reasons for fighting and boycotting Microsoft. Google? You'd have to help me out there.
The only thing I'm really aware of being a problem with google is the collection of personal information. But there's a simple solution to that: don't use google/use it wisely.
For MS there is no workaround. They are and have been keeping the software industry and community back. With MS there is no choice but to fight them in every which way that is possible. It's them or us.
And what is so wrong with "Arbeit macht frei" other than that it was used in the 3rd Reich?
If you believe that "Arbeit macht frei" implies that you should be treated as a slave you couldn't be more wrong. It's more about the satisfaction of a job well done than having to work in perpetuality. If your'e spending your whole life procrastinating and not putting any energy into anything, then you're missing out.
While GP may have been a bit harsh, I think the OP deserved it (apart from elitism like talk about university).
If you take a job you are obliged to do it well. If you can't be bothered to do the job well, then get a different job. But as long as you have the job, you god damn well better do it right.
If you can't be bothered to do your job right, then in my book you are a complete asshole and deserve all the ill treatment and abusive posts you can get.
This is repeated over an over, but I still believe that when it comes to a real situation, most people will just sit quietly and hope it goes away.
I certainly wouldn't want to be the first person to start resisting. If there's enough others I would do my part, but I wouldn't want to risk being the only one - that would mean certain death.
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I think I am one of those super anti-drm people - but I agree with you. I just wouldn't buy the game until the DRM has been removed. When the DRM has been removed, my concerns are gone and I'll be happy to pay money for it. Ok, I'll have to wait one more week, but I can deal with that.
Rarely does a post deserve to be modded up more than this one does. Unfortunately I don't have any modpoints right now.
So in essence you are saying that whenever the concept/spirit of democracy is actually used, i.e. the citizens of a nation are allowed to decide their own fate, the system would be very broken because most people are stupid.
I am not trying to misinterpret your post on purpose, but is that not what you are saying?
I find most peoples view on democracy interesting.
If everything goes as you want it to go, it's proof that democracy works. However, If you wanted something else than the majority, suddenly we see the evils of popularism.
I so wish this was true. Ubuntu 7.10 worked fine, everything was finally working. Since then I have given each new release a chance, but something was always broken (sound, network, graphics). Each time it took one or two days to finally find a workaround, sometimes I even had to buy new hardware just to appease that stupid shit OS. And then there is that completely stupid idea to change the window buttons.
No thanks, I have switched to Arch Linux. It's far from perfect, but at least I have a chance to get things working again when something breaks.
I have used Linux as my main OS for many years now, and only occasionally boot up windows to kick some ass in Bad Company 2. While I agree that Linux still has far too many problems to be a mature desktop OS, the same is definitely true of Windows.
Roughly 75% of the times I find myself in windows 7 (if not more) I find myself getting pissed off about some stupid shit. I can quickly enumerate the most common irks, but there are plenty more:
* Once you plug in your mous/keyboard in an USB port you ALWAYS have to use that port. If you plug it in in a different port windows will ignore it 95% of the time. Rebooting doesn't help.
* Connecting a new standard peripheral (mouse, keyboard, webcam, usb soundcard etc.) windows will take ages to load drivers, display 50 popup notices, get stuff wrong until it finally works. In Linux I just connect it and it works. No questions, no hazzle.
* Windows will frequently annoy the user while he clearly does not want to be annoyed (e.g. when playing a full-screen 3D game)
* Windows will sometimes force reboot my PC while playing a game - no warning whatsoever, it's just gone suddenly.
* Sometimes some of my sound devices disappear for no reason, or it decides I absolutely MUST plug in my headphones in the back of the soundcard instead of the front slot. 3 boots later everything suddenly works again as it should.
I have far far more issues than that, this is just what I could quickly think of at the top of my head. Windows really really sucks. Windows users just have gotten used to all the stupid annoying quirks. In Linux everything is new to them and they suddenly start to complain.
Wikileaks, as you mentioned, works to reveal secrets. As a part of that work they also have to keep some secrets however, for example about their sources.
This is not the great paradox you make it out to be.
There is a difference between trying to reveal crimes/unethical behavior/corrupt and all that stuff, and to reveal personal information just out of spite or to harm someone. Not all secrets are bad, but those that are must be exposed.
I wish there were more people like you. Unfortunately most people lose their principles the second they see something shiny they want.
I too have succumbed to temptation a few times, but in general I stick to my principles as much as I can. I too will never support sony, unless they change their ways dramatically. Same goes for Microsoft.
And this includes indirect support as well (buying hardware with licensed-from-sony stuff in it for example)
Interesting, I didn't even know that. Still, as GP pointed out, buying BD drives supports sony. I'm not going to do that.
Furthermore, I find harddrives far more convenient for backup. With discs I always worry about whether they will keep their data and get scratched or otherwise destroyed. Hard drives are somewhat more robust in that sense. I semi-regularly buy new drives and do a complete coopy of my files from my old drives, keeping the old ones as emergency backups, in addition to having specific backup drives.
I feel a lot safer that way with regard to data safety. I once got extremely close to losing all my data due to a disk problem, I will never run that risk again.
I'm never going to buy a BD drive because of the DRM crap. After having been burnt on Linux with DVD copy protections before (not an issue any longer, I know), I will never support that kind of draconian technology.
haha, mostly same here. They make some nice cameras I think, but with my recent purchase of a Canon 7D I'm not even tempted there anymore.
I've been boycotting them since the rootkit scandal. If it's taken this long for your boycot to start, well, I don't know what to make of it.
I know I'll sound like a fanatic, but Microsoft has done some things that go beyond the normal call of maximizing profits. Things that are clearly ethically wrong by pretty much any standard.
Supporting Microsoft in any way means supporting their business practices. It means making the world a slightly worse place to live in.
I'll gladly forgo the questionable pleasure it is to have windows installed, if it means I'm innocent of Microsofts crimes.
As a non US citizen I don't know how to interpret this.
Is parent in fact correct, or is he too stupid to realize the difference between security checks and a pilots license, and a license to drive a motorcycle?
Assume a police detective investigating a gang of robbers. Then one day, the robbers prevent another gang from robbing a store. The police detective might not know much about that specific incident, but they could still say with some certanity that the robbers didn't act out of altruism, but that the action can be explained as part of a bigger picture (e.g. gang war).
Oh yeah?
You want me to count how many wars the US has been fighting since last century and up until now, and how many wars these other countries have been involved in?
If you make a list sorted by number of wars, how much you wanna bet that the US comes out on fucking top of the fucking list?
And who gets all the nobel peace prices?
yeah, fucking right, you are an ignorant idiot.
I didn't mean to argue that that is how it works, it simply seemed to me that you wouldn't even consider the possibility. Sometimes people get blinded by political correctness and I assumed it to be the case here. My apologies.
If you have additional research to what I have seen so far, is there anything in particular you think I might benefit from reading?
Maybe I am ignorant, but then please elaborate some more on what exactly you think is the problem and how it will lead where. I honestly don't follow you, so again, please elaborate.
I don't disagree with you at all. All I'm saying is that with google I, as a technical sort of person, have the option to avoid the problems that indeed do exist.
With MS you cannot avoid the problem. MS continues to fight progress and freedom everywhere, and it will impact everybody sooner or later. MS must be destroyed, there is no alternative.
With google it is far far from being that bad right now.
Is this your honest opinion or are you trolling? If it's the former I'll try to collect the relevant information for you to understand what's going on.
Before I do that though, tell me, are you perchance one of the people believing that anything is acceptable in business, no matter how immoral or even illegal?
I can list you plenty of reasons for fighting and boycotting Microsoft. Google? You'd have to help me out there.
The only thing I'm really aware of being a problem with google is the collection of personal information. But there's a simple solution to that: don't use google/use it wisely.
For MS there is no workaround. They are and have been keeping the software industry and community back. With MS there is no choice but to fight them in every which way that is possible. It's them or us.
Yes, and as long as something is not politically correct/doesn't suit your worldview there can't be any truth to it, it has to be wrong.
And what is so wrong with "Arbeit macht frei" other than that it was used in the 3rd Reich?
If you believe that "Arbeit macht frei" implies that you should be treated as a slave you couldn't be more wrong. It's more about the satisfaction of a job well done than having to work in perpetuality. If your'e spending your whole life procrastinating and not putting any energy into anything, then you're missing out.
While GP may have been a bit harsh, I think the OP deserved it (apart from elitism like talk about university).
If you take a job you are obliged to do it well. If you can't be bothered to do the job well, then get a different job. But as long as you have the job, you god damn well better do it right.
If you can't be bothered to do your job right, then in my book you are a complete asshole and deserve all the ill treatment and abusive posts you can get.
This is repeated over an over, but I still believe that when it comes to a real situation, most people will just sit quietly and hope it goes away.
I certainly wouldn't want to be the first person to start resisting. If there's enough others I would do my part, but I wouldn't want to risk being the only one - that would mean certain death.