And the money we 'sunk' into GM was peanuts compared to what we sunk into Wallstreet. Am I correct in guessing you are one of those people who saw that as perfectly justifiable? If not, why not mention GM instead?
Ok, we get it, you're smart and resent being stuck in the same class with the stupid smelly brown people. But that's not what's wrong with our Education system, that's just what made it unpleasant for you.
I'm starting to be really bothered by this type of approach to criticizing censorware. Why are we focusing on things like effectiveness, and these cases of mistaken blocking, instead of issues of free speech? Software does get better, and eventually these errors are going to become pretty rare. What exactly are we going to say when their error rates become lower, when these types of mistakes stop happening frequently? We're going to be totally out of luck, facing a bunch of people saying "See, the software does what it's supposed to." We can't then start pointing out that what the sofware does (censorship) is wrong. We need to be saying that now. And that's something that's barely mentioned when people talk about censorware.
I hate to interupt the bigots, trolls, and everyone else convinced that every African is a starving disease ridden child, with something usefull, but here's a little info on the state of the telecomunications network in Africa.
Is it just me or is the line between journalist and troll getting a little more blurry everyday? I know if someone posted a comment on slashdot that read like his "report", they'd be marked down as a troll pretty fast.
Reyes-Infografica, one of the largest makers of plugins for 3DSmax also recently released about a half million lines of code for several products, including what appears to be several released and unreleased plugins for Max. It includes things like 2d/3d paint. musculature based facial animation, and lip-sync software. Depending on the licences involved, I wonder how much of this could find it's way into gMax?
So they go under. So what? Unless you happen to work there, it shouldn't matter. We end up with a completely free (in every way that counts) version of of software that has now been developed to be as good as the original. The people who rely on autodesk programs can stop paying thousands of dollars for the program and upgrades to this incredibly buggy program, and get the same thing for free. So it scares a few developers away from doing the same. I'd rather have smaller number of products that evolve from stripped versions, to the full thing, than use something inferior just to keep them giving us little bits and pieces. What do you want, a bunch of stripped down inferior apps, or a few really solid full versions?
Before everyone starts talking about the MPAA and piracy, and all of the other wonderfull uses of this technology, read the story. It has nothing to do with compressing video. It compresses 3d scenes. Think fast vmrl, not fast movies. Unless the movie is 3d cg this won't matter.
Slashdot Mirror
And the money we 'sunk' into GM was peanuts compared to what we sunk into Wallstreet. Am I correct in guessing you are one of those people who saw that as perfectly justifiable? If not, why not mention GM instead?
Ok, we get it, you're smart and resent being stuck in the same class with the stupid smelly brown people. But that's not what's wrong with our Education system, that's just what made it unpleasant for you.
I'm starting to be really bothered by this type of approach to criticizing censorware. Why are we focusing on things like effectiveness, and these cases of mistaken blocking, instead of issues of free speech? Software does get better, and eventually these errors are going to become pretty rare. What exactly are we going to say when their error rates become lower, when these types of mistakes stop happening frequently? We're going to be totally out of luck, facing a bunch of people saying "See, the software does what it's supposed to." We can't then start pointing out that what the sofware does (censorship) is wrong. We need to be saying that now. And that's something that's barely mentioned when people talk about censorware.
Eric Henry
The problem is that they don't see the difference between the two.
Eric HenryI hate to interupt the bigots, trolls, and everyone else convinced that every African is a starving disease ridden child, with something usefull, but here's a little info on the state of the telecomunications network in Africa.
Internet Connectivity for Africa
Connectivity Data for Africa's Information Infrastructure
Resourcery's African Telecom Links
The Acacia Initiative
Eric Henry
"When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him whose."- Don Marquis
Is it just me or is the line between journalist and troll getting a little more blurry everyday? I know if someone posted a comment on slashdot that read like his "report", they'd be marked down as a troll pretty fast.
Reyes-Infografica, one of the largest makers of plugins for 3DSmax also recently released about a half million lines of code for several products, including what appears to be several released and unreleased plugins for Max. It includes things like 2d/3d paint. musculature based facial animation, and lip-sync software. Depending on the licences involved, I wonder how much of this could find it's way into gMax?
So they go under. So what? Unless you happen to work there, it shouldn't matter. We end up with a completely free (in every way that counts) version of of software that has now been developed to be as good as the original. The people who rely on autodesk programs can stop paying thousands of dollars for the program and upgrades to this incredibly buggy program, and get the same thing for free. So it scares a few developers away from doing the same. I'd rather have smaller number of products that evolve from stripped versions, to the full thing, than use something inferior just to keep them giving us little bits and pieces. What do you want, a bunch of stripped down inferior apps, or a few really solid full versions?
Before everyone starts talking about the MPAA and piracy, and all of the other wonderfull uses of this technology, read the story. It has nothing to do with compressing video. It compresses 3d scenes. Think fast vmrl, not fast movies. Unless the movie is 3d cg this won't matter.