Testimony concluded Tuesday in Universal v. Corley with Judge Kaplan's
statement that he believed computer code, whether source or executable, is
expressive speech protected by the First Amendment. This is a huge advance
for the defense, although the question remains whether the speech can be
prohibited under a form of intermediate scrutiny.
**Cha-Ching**
Me thinks that will be a very monumental statement in cases like this to come. That is one critical issue that has never really been ironed out byy the courts. Not being a lawyer, I'm not sure how much weight this has, but it may be big.
Think of CSS (the "encryption") as a widget. CSS (the real DVD code) is a machine that makes a widget. (decodes the data) Now it is possible to patent the widget, or patent the machine, both of which I do not believe have been done.
Now, I can show you a widget, and you can see what a widget is, or does. Once I see a widget, unless the widget is patented, I am allowed to make my own "widget like objects" that perform the same function.
There is nothing wrong with that. It is like saying you can't make aftermarket stereos for cars, because the wire hookups can only be used by GM. This case takes on a whole different feel when you relate it to physical objects, like "widgets", or aftermarket car stereos.
There is very little different about the digital world, when it comes down to these basic ideas.
Content management is one of the hardest things to design when dealing with non-technical content creators. It is even harder to isolate the content creators 100% from the web designers, or application developers. Many slashdotters who run smaller sites may not appreciate the value of a content management system such as this. I have already started to go through the documentation in order to see if this is something I may be able to use.
Even if I do not implement this, the documentation alone can be a great learning guide in how to properly create a large scale web site. As I am reading through, I am finding I have already implemented many of the ideas in my php applications, but not to the extent they may be talking about. The lessons talked about in the documentation are things many of us may need to tackle down the road. Using many of the ideas GO relies upon, a site is much more scalable than without them. Once you get 10 people from different backgrounds working on a site, which started out as just a single "web developer" deal, the rules change. If you site already conforms to the newfound requirements, all the better.
I saw one comment about how Kettle, the template creation IDE only supports windows, and is therefore useless. Maybe so, but since it is open source, I be an effort could be made to port to a Linux, or cross platform Java version. Most shops big enough to make "real" use of this would have Windows on most PC's anyway (Thats just a fact of life.) A "real" content management system, and I'm not sure Zope really cuts the mustard (but I don't know), is something Linux in general has been lacking.
Think of what RedHat, Caldera, or whoever could do with a single package now. RedHat 7.0, webserver addition: includes your end to end large scale site solution, web services by Apache, Content Management by GO.com. With a good ecommerce suite, that could be one hell of a package if it all came preconfigured.
While this doesn't have the slashdot reader appeal of Mozilla for instance, this is a VERY BIG THING for professional web developers.
None of you people who are complaining about the lack of ethernet have read all of the press releases on the site! One of them talks about an ethernet plugin module being available for people who have their house wired for ethernet.
-UNPOPULAR OPINION- ISP's should be able to shut down at will any site which they think might be offensive or illegal, unless their contract with the client states otherwise.
On the other hand. If you run your own physical server, or have your own physical server co-located, only you should be able to shut down access. For example, if a phone company had an answering service that some put illegal material on (whatever it may be,) the phone company should be able to immediately shut off the account once they become aware of the issue. Now, if the illegal material was located on your answering machine (or high tech menu based phone system, etc.) the phone company does not have the right to shut off your line because of it, or be sued because of it. If the information resides on their equipment, I think they should be held liable once they are aware of it.
I think it should comes down to who owns the pysical device the information resides on. This is not really that different from a phone system.
If you want to be secure in the fact that your information can't be turned off, you should have your own server. Otherwise you are taking your chances, or show have the actions of the ISP defined in a contract. The ISP shouldn't be held liable for stuff on your own equipment (any more than a phone company would be for someone with known suspected mob ties planing an illegal act over the telephone system.) -/UNPOPULAR OPINION-
This may be very good. If I remember the last open letter from Jeff Bezos correctly, he said he was going to start seriously looking into this idea of web site patents. After our whole fiasko before, we had come to some understanding of just how dangerous they could be (or at least to middle ground.)
Unlike, the other protesters, he is in a position where he can probably make a difference in the matter in general. He promised to look at the matter seriously, and I havn't seen anything from him since.
Maybe this will get him to make some decisions in the matter and take action. Maybe we can get a public "update" from Bezos and O'Reilly.
One of the hardest parts about creating web graphics is creating nice looking text. www.onlinephotolab.com offersmore fonts than I have ever gotten on my linux boxen at one time, and they are high quality too. This will immediatly become a very valuble tool for creating these things.
The preview of what each filter/logo/does is great. Half the time in the gimp I don't know exactly which filter I want to use. This makes the selection process easy!
Now...it would be nice if they were to release this cool "eGIMP" code in an easy to install form. I'd love to use it for myself on my own server. Web development "houses" would love a tool like this!
I think there is a market for this in package form. The whole online image storage would be great too, although I bet there are already some applications available that do that.
Napster's lawyer, Laurence Pulgram of Palo Alto's Fenwick & West, has argued that his client falls under the law's safe harbor because its services are similar to Web browsers or other applications offered on the Web, such as File Transfer Protocol, or FTP, software.
I hate to argue against these guys, but that is going to be a very difficult thing to convince the judge, if phrased like that in from of a tech-savvy judge. Not only do they provide the protocol, but an indexing database server as well (as I understand the technology at least, I may be wrong.) Web(http) and FTP, the two example given cover the actual wire protocol.) The protocol's dont index the information which is available on the web, or ftp. There ARE services which can legally index the information, which is where I see their loophole being. Google hasn't been sued yet for carrying a database which contain links to software cracks (which they do if you type in the "-softwarename- crack" in their search.) It will even rank them for you, with the most linked to one first, and a cached version of the page!
I think it would be much better for them to take that line. I think (I am no attorney) that all they would have to do is prove they are linked to legit MP3's as well.)
Indexing content is consider "ok" on the internet, and so is deep linking. I don't think their argument on it's own can stand up, but these two together could create a fairly solid defense.
Don't take this as legal advice, or anything like that. This is my uneducated knowledge of the laws
Corel Draw's Paint application has been a second rate application since it came on the scene. I have never user painter, but have heard some good things about it. My bet is they plan to drop their current Corel Photo-Paint, and drop in either Painter, or some mix of the two. That would go a long way to improve the quality of the Corel Draw suite.
I hope they don't go down the path of just throwing this into the Corel Draw suite as an additional app. (I count 16 application/utility icons right now under my Corel-8 program group in NT.) Enough is enough. More doesn't always mean better!
I don't know how many of you follow Corel's stock, but it closed down today. (It would have started to react from the news by closing time if it were going to, I bet.)
Corel's stock closed below 10 today, down from a 52 week high around 30. I know I lost a good chuck of change the last couple time they announced good news, and the stock went down.
The market doesn't seem to understand what the company does. It seems to me to be a stock that has a lot of potential. It frustrates me to think I am the only person seeing this. I think Corel stands to gain a lot by having a "one stop" Linux distribution (with WordPerfect, and now maybe painter.) They are positioning themselves in a good place for a market which can only expand (end user everything you need is included Linux.)
So what's up with the stock. I almost want to buy some more since it is under 10, but I have been burned by it too many times when I thought "Well, it can't go much lower than this!"
One fact that everyone seems to be missing about the APEXi DVD player is that it plays normal audio CD's in addition to DVD's and MP3's. I have to say the audio CD feature sounds great (better than the build in CD player in my $300 Philips shelf system...when connected to the Philips aux in!) So unless I am missing something in this post, and I may be, since portables have been tossed around a couple times in the replies, then the APEXi has what you are looking for. I would like to add I think the DVD decoding part is horrible. I many times have experienced the audio not quite in sync with the video by a fraction of a second! Just enough for you to notice the lip movements when people talk are not quite right. It's a lot like watching films which are dubbed from another language into english, or vis versa. (Has any one else experienced this, or do I have a bad unit?) Anyway, my $0.02 -Pete
No only is multipul site searching becoming more dificult, but single site searches as well.
Now most content is stored in a SQL database. While it is fairly easy to search an SQL database, returning the information in usable form is not. This is especially true once you have many type of tables containing many different types of information.
Currently, the search engine on the site I work on has it's own built in forms for information from each type of table, but this method takes a lot of maintainance.
Another possible way is to point to the page (php3, asp,.pl,.cgi, etc.) which generated the information. But this only works if arguments are not required.
It is about time someone developed some technology to do "smart searches" of sql data and return useful information without having to write a template for each and every type of data that might be queried.
I might be off my rocker a little bit on this, but I cannot believe I am the only one experiencing these problems.
Slashdot Mirror
Testimony concluded Tuesday in Universal v. Corley with Judge Kaplan's statement that he believed computer code, whether source or executable, is expressive speech protected by the First Amendment. This is a huge advance for the defense, although the question remains whether the speech can be prohibited under a form of intermediate scrutiny.
**Cha-Ching**
Me thinks that will be a very monumental statement in cases like this to come. That is one critical issue that has never really been ironed out byy the courts. Not being a lawyer, I'm not sure how much weight this has, but it may be big.
-Pete
Think of CSS (the "encryption") as a widget. CSS (the real DVD code) is a machine that makes a widget. (decodes the data) Now it is possible to patent the widget, or patent the machine, both of which I do not believe have been done.
Now, I can show you a widget, and you can see what a widget is, or does. Once I see a widget, unless the widget is patented, I am allowed to make my own "widget like objects" that perform the same function.
There is nothing wrong with that. It is like saying you can't make aftermarket stereos for cars, because the wire hookups can only be used by GM. This case takes on a whole different feel when you relate it to physical objects, like "widgets", or aftermarket car stereos.
There is very little different about the digital world, when it comes down to these basic ideas.
Content management is one of the hardest things to design when dealing with non-technical content creators. It is even harder to isolate the content creators 100% from the web designers, or application developers. Many slashdotters who run smaller sites may not appreciate the value of a content management system such as this. I have already started to go through the documentation in order to see if this is something I may be able to use.
Even if I do not implement this, the documentation alone can be a great learning guide in how to properly create a large scale web site. As I am reading through, I am finding I have already implemented many of the ideas in my php applications, but not to the extent they may be talking about. The lessons talked about in the documentation are things many of us may need to tackle down the road. Using many of the ideas GO relies upon, a site is much more scalable than without them. Once you get 10 people from different backgrounds working on a site, which started out as just a single "web developer" deal, the rules change. If you site already conforms to the newfound requirements, all the better.
I saw one comment about how Kettle, the template creation IDE only supports windows, and is therefore useless. Maybe so, but since it is open source, I be an effort could be made to port to a Linux, or cross platform Java version. Most shops big enough to make "real" use of this would have Windows on most PC's anyway (Thats just a fact of life.) A "real" content management system, and I'm not sure Zope really cuts the mustard (but I don't know), is something Linux in general has been lacking.
Think of what RedHat, Caldera, or whoever could do with a single package now. RedHat 7.0, webserver addition: includes your end to end large scale site solution, web services by Apache, Content Management by GO.com. With a good ecommerce suite, that could be one hell of a package if it all came preconfigured.
While this doesn't have the slashdot reader appeal of Mozilla for instance, this is a VERY BIG THING for professional web developers.
-Pete
The nice thing about virus's like this is you find out about people you never met who have you in their address book....at least in my case. -Pete
None of you people who are complaining about the lack of ethernet have read all of the press releases on the site! One of them talks about an ethernet plugin module being available for people who have their house wired for ethernet.
Hmm...time for a hub in the livingroom...
-Pete
I can't believe this made it through the Slashdot headline guard dogs! (It is slashdotted, so I haven't seen the site.)
I saw Solar panels out for Apple Powerbooks YEARS ago! What's the big deal?
-Pete
-UNPOPULAR OPINION-
ISP's should be able to shut down at will any site which they think might be offensive or illegal, unless their contract with the client states otherwise.
On the other hand. If you run your own physical server, or have your own physical server co-located, only you should be able to shut down access. For example, if a phone company had an answering service that some put illegal material on (whatever it may be,) the phone company should be able to immediately shut off the account once they become aware of the issue. Now, if the illegal material was located on your answering machine (or high tech menu based phone system, etc.) the phone company does not have the right to shut off your line because of it, or be sued because of it. If the information resides on their equipment, I think they should be held liable once they are aware of it.
I think it should comes down to who owns the pysical device the information resides on. This is not really that different from a phone system.
If you want to be secure in the fact that your information can't be turned off, you should have your own server. Otherwise you are taking your chances, or show have the actions of the ISP defined in a contract. The ISP shouldn't be held liable for stuff on your own equipment (any more than a phone company would be for someone with known suspected mob ties planing an illegal act over the telephone system.)
-/UNPOPULAR OPINION-
-Pete
Ironic...dont't you think?
This may be very good. If I remember the last open letter from Jeff Bezos correctly, he said he was going to start seriously looking into this idea of web site patents. After our whole fiasko before, we had come to some understanding of just how dangerous they could be (or at least to middle ground.)
Unlike, the other protesters, he is in a position where he can probably make a difference in the matter in general. He promised to look at the matter seriously, and I havn't seen anything from him since.
Maybe this will get him to make some decisions in the matter and take action. Maybe we can get a public "update" from Bezos and O'Reilly.
-Pete
One of the hardest parts about creating web graphics is creating nice looking text. www.onlinephotolab.com offersmore fonts than I have ever gotten on my linux boxen at one time, and they are high quality too. This will immediatly become a very valuble tool for creating these things.
The preview of what each filter/logo/does is great. Half the time in the gimp I don't know exactly which filter I want to use. This makes the selection process easy!
Now...it would be nice if they were to release this cool "eGIMP" code in an easy to install form. I'd love to use it for myself on my own server. Web development "houses" would love a tool like this!
I think there is a market for this in package form. The whole online image storage would be great too, although I bet there are already some applications available that do that.
-Pete
I hate to argue against these guys, but that is going to be a very difficult thing to convince the judge, if phrased like that in from of a tech-savvy judge. Not only do they provide the protocol, but an indexing database server as well (as I understand the technology at least, I may be wrong.) Web(http) and FTP, the two example given cover the actual wire protocol.) The protocol's dont index the information which is available on the web, or ftp. There ARE services which can legally index the information, which is where I see their loophole being. Google hasn't been sued yet for carrying a database which contain links to software cracks (which they do if you type in the "-softwarename- crack" in their search.) It will even rank them for you, with the most linked to one first, and a cached version of the page!
I think it would be much better for them to take that line. I think (I am no attorney) that all they would have to do is prove they are linked to legit MP3's as well.)
Indexing content is consider "ok" on the internet, and so is deep linking. I don't think their argument on it's own can stand up, but these two together could create a fairly solid defense.
Don't take this as legal advice, or anything like that. This is my uneducated knowledge of the laws-Pete
Corel Draw's Paint application has been a second rate application since it came on the scene. I have never user painter, but have heard some good things about it. My bet is they plan to drop their current Corel Photo-Paint, and drop in either Painter, or some mix of the two. That would go a long way to improve the quality of the Corel Draw suite.
I hope they don't go down the path of just throwing this into the Corel Draw suite as an additional app. (I count 16 application/utility icons right now under my Corel-8 program group in NT.) Enough is enough. More doesn't always mean better!
Used right, this could do great things for Corel.
-Pete
I don't know how many of you follow Corel's stock, but it closed down today. (It would have started to react from the news by closing time if it were going to, I bet.)
Corel's stock closed below 10 today, down from a 52 week high around 30. I know I lost a good chuck of change the last couple time they announced good news, and the stock went down.
The market doesn't seem to understand what the company does. It seems to me to be a stock that has a lot of potential. It frustrates me to think I am the only person seeing this. I think Corel stands to gain a lot by having a "one stop" Linux distribution (with WordPerfect, and now maybe painter.) They are positioning themselves in a good place for a market which can only expand (end user everything you need is included Linux.)
So what's up with the stock. I almost want to buy some more since it is under 10, but I have been burned by it too many times when I thought "Well, it can't go much lower than this!"
-Pete
One fact that everyone seems to be missing about the APEXi DVD player is that it plays normal audio CD's in addition to DVD's and MP3's. I have to say the audio CD feature sounds great (better than the build in CD player in my $300 Philips shelf system...when connected to the Philips aux in!) So unless I am missing something in this post, and I may be, since portables have been tossed around a couple times in the replies, then the APEXi has what you are looking for. I would like to add I think the DVD decoding part is horrible. I many times have experienced the audio not quite in sync with the video by a fraction of a second! Just enough for you to notice the lip movements when people talk are not quite right. It's a lot like watching films which are dubbed from another language into english, or vis versa. (Has any one else experienced this, or do I have a bad unit?) Anyway, my $0.02 -Pete
No only is multipul site searching becoming more dificult, but single site searches as well.
.pl, .cgi, etc.) which generated the information. But this only works if arguments are not required.
Now most content is stored in a SQL database. While it is fairly easy to search an SQL database, returning the information in usable form is not. This is especially true once you have many type of tables containing many different types of information.
Currently, the search engine on the site I work on has it's own built in forms for information from each type of table, but this method takes a lot of maintainance.
Another possible way is to point to the page (php3, asp,
It is about time someone developed some technology to do "smart searches" of sql data and return useful information without having to write a template for each and every type of data that might be queried.
I might be off my rocker a little bit on this, but I cannot believe I am the only one experiencing these problems.
-Pete