If they can't stay in business honestly, they don't deserve to be in business.
If they wish to collect demographic data on your purchases in return for a decrease in your bill, that's fine. But they should have a contract specificying how much that decrease will be, and exactly what the software will do. You can have it in your service contract all nice and above board, or choose NOT to have it and pay higher costs.
Of course, since they're a monopoly, that will just lead to a $50/mo (or more) difference. But that's easier to point a finger at and complain bitterly about to your local regulator.
No, you can't. Now, almost all of them do. The BSD license doesn't. I don't like the BSD license because I think it doesn't help build communities very well, but it is a 'more free for some people' type license.
You could then argue on the grounds that having the freedom to take other people's freedoms away isn't really freedom. But, they were talking about the BitKeeper license, which is a particularly awful license.
Even this isn't correct. The GPL takes no freedoms away at ALL. Copyright law is pretty clear on the point of copying. You only get to do it with the copyright holder's permission. So, in the absence of the GPL, you don't get to copy the software.
Seems to me like you have lots more freedom under the GPL. It restricts you much less than what ordinary copyright law would.
Only those who resent not being able to take GPL software, 'extend' it, and sell it back with those extensions hidden in a cloak of secrecy could possible have any issue with it at all.
I think most of the resistance to the GPL as the default model for all software is a resistance to a change in the way business is done in the software industry. The record industry refuses to change their business model, and we blast them for it. But, some of us refuse to, and it's thought prudent and wise.
Every project and piece of software that goes GPL represents one more wave in a sea-change that's sweeping the industry. Such changes are scary.
Except, then they'll also start consuming us for food. That's another often overlooked disadvantage of SETI.
Re:What will you do?
on
ECCp-109 Solved
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I dropped SETI and started doing Folding because I think it will be more directly relevant sooner. It'd be neat to find signals from another civilization, but I'm more interested in learning the details of how the fanstically intricate machine that is a human being works so we can do a better job of fixing it.
Ogg is a patent free media format that's much higher quality than the MP3 format.
If you never want anything to improve or change, then perhaps you ought to not use a computer at all. I hear quill pens have worked in basically the same way with the same inks and paper for 100s of years. Perhaps they would be more your speed, since you seem so averse to the new and different.
Quantum cryptography is still susceptible to a man-in-the-middle attack on the non-quantum channel used to check your quantum bits to be sure that you were eavesdropped on.
I don't want to work on crippling KDE, and they don't want an employee who admits RH 8.0's KDE is crippleware.
That's pretty clear, isn't it?
No, actually, it's not. Crippleware is a pejorative, and not a very descriptive one. I'm highly interested in why Bero has left, and complaining about crippling KDE gives me almost no information whatsoever.
Unlike many, I'm not interested in either painting Bero as a whining egotist or RedHat as evil. I simply want to know what the difference of opinion actually boils down to so I can make some sort of informed opinion myself.
I will say that the fact that neither Bero, nor RedHat are able to offer me any concrete explanations is annoying. But, I presume that both are waiting until tempers have calmed so they can present their sides with a minimum of rancor.
It's significantly easier to keep a Linux system (or at least a RedHat one - I assume Debian based ones are just as easy because of apt-get-upgrade) up-to-date. I've been doing it for my main home Linux systems for awhile now. I rarely (only Mailman so far because I use qmail) get bitten by an upgrade causing things to fail. It's also extremely easy to find out if all your packages are up-to-date.
From watching admins I know try to keep Windows patched into submission, it's a much trickier process requiring much more time and effort. Since Windows is supposed to be for 'consumers' (read: mythical beasts who are only supposed to eat products and excrete cash) and Linux is only supposed to be for us 'tech-head geeks', one would expect that to be the other way around.
You're right in fingering Linux's stability as a negative factor in this. If it didn't run for years at a time unattended, people might be a little more prone to check up on it once in awhile and maybe spend 10-20 minutes installing the latest patches. Luckily, since patches tend to be so reliable to install, it's pretty easy to automate that process too. I expect that to be the norm in 2-3 years as the fallout from this worm ripples through the community.
Re:But then, there's just plain stupid ...
on
When Users Attack
·
· Score: 1
Suddenly, I'm tempted to quote Monty Python: Wankel Rotary Engine.
The embarassing words sketch.:-)
Re:But then, there's just plain stupid ...
on
When Users Attack
·
· Score: 2
If I owned a car, I'd know what car it was, but the only reason I'd know is that I had a choice of what car to get when I bought it, and I agonized long and hard over the choice. Most people choose to get a computer, they do not choose to get a specific version of Windows, or even any version of Windows, that's just what comes with the computer.
It's more like asking me "So, you know the machining company who made the pistons for your car, right?" I bet a lot of people wouldn't even know their car had pistons.
Yes, you've got me, it technically isn't theft if you give it up willingly. However, I want the world to move forward and think such senseless charity plays into the hands of those who would destroy rather than create. It's like giving money to people on the street who would rob you of it if they were strong enough and/or no cops were watching.
Of course, perhaps I'm seeing it from the wrong perspective. Let me try again...
The flexibility to use and add to what you create while simultaneously witholding anything of value that I may add myself is such a wonderful flexibility really. I think that it's what everybody should do (except for me of course) exclusively.
Did somebody hold a gun to your head and make you upload your BSD-licensed code to a public archive server?
No, and my original point was that I refuse to contribute to BSD because I don't want my contributions stolen and then sold back to me. So, if you have no better arguments than that, I think my point is made.
Nope, they stole the code I put up on a public archive server. They took it from me without giving me anything in return. The GPL requires that if they add anything to it, they give it back to me. A much fairer exchange.
No, they get stolen from me when some company grabs the changes for themselves, incorporates them into a product that has their own, special, 'proprietary' changes in them, then sells them back to me.
It's not possible to argue against Linux? Not to be an ass or anything, but FreeBSD is just as malleable as Linux, and has the bonus of not falling under the syphilis of software licenses.
That's not an advantage, that's a disadvantage. I refuse to contribute to something where the changes may be stolen from me, then sold back to me. Sorry.
Aside from the patent encumbrance problems, possibly not. Though, since ogg beats out mp3 so handily at low bitrates, I would trust it to be better (even if my ear couldn't notice it) at higher bitrates.
I think the patent encumbrance problems are easily enough for me to give up on mp3, even if ogg were slightly worse.
Slashdot Mirror
If they can't stay in business honestly, they don't deserve to be in business.
If they wish to collect demographic data on your purchases in return for a decrease in your bill, that's fine. But they should have a contract specificying how much that decrease will be, and exactly what the software will do. You can have it in your service contract all nice and above board, or choose NOT to have it and pay higher costs.
Of course, since they're a monopoly, that will just lead to a $50/mo (or more) difference. But that's easier to point a finger at and complain bitterly about to your local regulator.
No, you can't. Now, almost all of them do. The BSD license doesn't. I don't like the BSD license because I think it doesn't help build communities very well, but it is a 'more free for some people' type license.
You could then argue on the grounds that having the freedom to take other people's freedoms away isn't really freedom. But, they were talking about the BitKeeper license, which is a particularly awful license.
Even this isn't correct. The GPL takes no freedoms away at ALL. Copyright law is pretty clear on the point of copying. You only get to do it with the copyright holder's permission. So, in the absence of the GPL, you don't get to copy the software.
Seems to me like you have lots more freedom under the GPL. It restricts you much less than what ordinary copyright law would.
Only those who resent not being able to take GPL software, 'extend' it, and sell it back with those extensions hidden in a cloak of secrecy could possible have any issue with it at all.
I think most of the resistance to the GPL as the default model for all software is a resistance to a change in the way business is done in the software industry. The record industry refuses to change their business model, and we blast them for it. But, some of us refuse to, and it's thought prudent and wise.
Every project and piece of software that goes GPL represents one more wave in a sea-change that's sweeping the industry. Such changes are scary.
Except, then they'll also start consuming us for food. That's another often overlooked disadvantage of SETI.
I dropped SETI and started doing Folding because I think it will be more directly relevant sooner. It'd be neat to find signals from another civilization, but I'm more interested in learning the details of how the fanstically intricate machine that is a human being works so we can do a better job of fixing it.
Ogg is a patent free media format that's much higher quality than the MP3 format.
If you never want anything to improve or change, then perhaps you ought to not use a computer at all. I hear quill pens have worked in basically the same way with the same inks and paper for 100s of years. Perhaps they would be more your speed, since you seem so averse to the new and different.
Will it play ogg files? My absolute requirement for anything I get like this is that it be able to play oggs.
Also, does it use the USB storage interface, or some other standard USB interface so I don't need funky drivers to use it under Linux?
No, I don't, which is the reason their power must be destroyed.
Please define the distinction between information and software for me. After that, please define the difference between erotica and pornography.
Thank you for your post. Better English would've made it much easier to parse and understand, but it was informative regardless.
Just because people have a different notion of what is moral from you doesn't mean they have no morals.
Quantum cryptography is still susceptible to a man-in-the-middle attack on the non-quantum channel used to check your quantum bits to be sure that you were eavesdropped on.
No, actually, it's not. Crippleware is a pejorative, and not a very descriptive one. I'm highly interested in why Bero has left, and complaining about crippling KDE gives me almost no information whatsoever.
Unlike many, I'm not interested in either painting Bero as a whining egotist or RedHat as evil. I simply want to know what the difference of opinion actually boils down to so I can make some sort of informed opinion myself.
I will say that the fact that neither Bero, nor RedHat are able to offer me any concrete explanations is annoying. But, I presume that both are waiting until tempers have calmed so they can present their sides with a minimum of rancor.
The only voice of sanity I've seen in this entire discussion. Yay! Thanks.
It's significantly easier to keep a Linux system (or at least a RedHat one - I assume Debian based ones are just as easy because of apt-get-upgrade) up-to-date. I've been doing it for my main home Linux systems for awhile now. I rarely (only Mailman so far because I use qmail) get bitten by an upgrade causing things to fail. It's also extremely easy to find out if all your packages are up-to-date.
From watching admins I know try to keep Windows patched into submission, it's a much trickier process requiring much more time and effort. Since Windows is supposed to be for 'consumers' (read: mythical beasts who are only supposed to eat products and excrete cash) and Linux is only supposed to be for us 'tech-head geeks', one would expect that to be the other way around.
You're right in fingering Linux's stability as a negative factor in this. If it didn't run for years at a time unattended, people might be a little more prone to check up on it once in awhile and maybe spend 10-20 minutes installing the latest patches. Luckily, since patches tend to be so reliable to install, it's pretty easy to automate that process too. I expect that to be the norm in 2-3 years as the fallout from this worm ripples through the community.
Suddenly, I'm tempted to quote Monty Python:
Wankel Rotary Engine.
The embarassing words sketch. :-)
If I owned a car, I'd know what car it was, but the only reason I'd know is that I had a choice of what car to get when I bought it, and I agonized long and hard over the choice. Most people choose to get a computer, they do not choose to get a specific version of Windows, or even any version of Windows, that's just what comes with the computer.
It's more like asking me "So, you know the machining company who made the pistons for your car, right?" I bet a lot of people wouldn't even know their car had pistons.
Yes, you've got me, it technically isn't theft if you give it up willingly. However, I want the world to move forward and think such senseless charity plays into the hands of those who would destroy rather than create. It's like giving money to people on the street who would rob you of it if they were strong enough and/or no cops were watching.
Of course, perhaps I'm seeing it from the wrong perspective. Let me try again...
The flexibility to use and add to what you create while simultaneously witholding anything of value that I may add myself is such a wonderful flexibility really. I think that it's what everybody should do (except for me of course) exclusively.
No, and my original point was that I refuse to contribute to BSD because I don't want my contributions stolen and then sold back to me. So, if you have no better arguments than that, I think my point is made.
Nope, they stole the code I put up on a public archive server. They took it from me without giving me anything in return. The GPL requires that if they add anything to it, they give it back to me. A much fairer exchange.
*laugh* I think I like the other person's idea of a 32kbit ogg being a scrambled ogg a little bit better. :-)
No, they get stolen from me when some company grabs the changes for themselves, incorporates them into a product that has their own, special, 'proprietary' changes in them, then sells them back to me.
That's not an advantage, that's a disadvantage. I refuse to contribute to something where the changes may be stolen from me, then sold back to me. Sorry.
Aside from the patent encumbrance problems, possibly not. Though, since ogg beats out mp3 so handily at low bitrates, I would trust it to be better (even if my ear couldn't notice it) at higher bitrates.
I think the patent encumbrance problems are easily enough for me to give up on mp3, even if ogg were slightly worse.
More poached oggs!
The person is talking about going from master->ogg resulting in an ogg a lot of people thought sounded a lot nicer than the CD.