But, hey, why am I surprised that people are still finding this too expensive? Hell, if they offered them at $.01/song then people would still bitch.
I was one of those people bitching until I found Emusic.com. A fair price for good music. I'm willing to pay for that. They are more like 10 cents per album. Yes, much of the stuff on there is not great, but there is enough excellent material to make it well worth $10 per month. The sound quality is not great (128 kbps encoded with Xing), but I have slight hearing loss, so it isn't that big a deal to me.
(*) Of course, EULAs that prevent product benchmarks and comparisons and other tactics can get in the way, but for the most part, the information is out there, you just need to find it.
It's ironic that you point this out, because the free-market people who are defending Lexmark seem to be the same people who feel that anything should be allowed in a EULA. After all, the consumer always has the "choice" to return the software without opening the sealed envelope. Of course we know the store won't honor that without a huge fight, but that doesn't faze "free market" supporters. So would you support legislation that keeps EULAs from restricting product benchmarks and comparisons?
The software licenses I'm familiar with all include some kind of out clause; namely that if you don't want to uphold your end of the deal you're free to return the software to the retailer for a refund, or something like that.
What deal? When I pay money at a store for a software package, the deal is I give them money and they give me a software package. No other conditions were attached.
In other words, you are admitting there are hidden conditions that are not exposed at the time of sale. According to the lawyers I have discussed this issue with, this is what will cause these "contracts" to be unenforceable. You accuse people of ignoring the license when they don't like it, which is another way of saying they are changing the terms of the deal after the fact. Isn't that exactly what these software licenses do? Legally speaking, the changing hands of money is the "deal": I now own the software I just gave $100 dollars for, and there were no conditions attached at the time of sale. I am still restricted by copyright law, the DMCA, and other laws, but there is no contract in place.
Also, I wonder how many stores will really honor this "contract" option to return the software? I know most retailers have a no-return policy on opened software and music. So what do I do when Best Buy won't let me return the Microsoft Windows XP I just bought because I don't agree to the "contract" terms?
Regardless of the enforcability of these bogus contracts, I don't have to worry about it other than to warn other people, because I won't use such software. I can do everything I want to do with a computer without agreeing to any conditions at all. Why should I?
I'm curious what your definition of "up front" is. Let's get specific. Say I buy a copy of Quicken at Office Max tomorrow. The software is in a box wrapped with plastic that is sealed. There is no contract visible on this box, and I sign no contract when I pay for the software. Neither do I verbally agree to any contract when I buy the software. Yet you seem to be saying that I have entered into a contract. I have discussed this in depth with several people with law degrees, and they are very skeptical that any judge would agree with you.
In the case of downloaded ("click-wrap") software, I agree with you. I have to make an affirmative action that shows I agree with their contract. That is why I use nothing but Free software (as defined by the Debian Free Software Guidelines). In the case of a sealed box with software in it that you buy at the store, my friends with law degrees think these contracts are unenforcable, because the contract is not agreed to at the time of sale. UCITA type laws will change that, which is why we should oppose them. Should it be legal to have Quicken pop up a screen after using it for a year that says "by continuing to use this software, you agree to pay Quicken an additional $100"? How is this different than saying: "now that you have purchased this software and taken it home, you can only use it if you agree to these conditions"?
(In Golden, Colorado) I have been on this tour twice, and it was pretty good. Free beer at the end, of course, but the coolest part is probably watching the packing floor where they do all the canning and boxing.
E&M radiation from your house is different because it is from your property and hasn't been abandoned. i.e. the E&M radiation tells about things going on in your house in a manner different from abandoned garbage.
Sure, but go look at the proposals. Every one I saw demanded to own the copyright when you're done. I didn't see much in there that seemed useful at all. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has made more than a couple hundred dollars through this site.
I saw one wanting someone to build them a popup spammer using the Microsoft messaging flaw.
That site looks like pretty much a joke. If people are really doing that amount of work for $100, I need to start taking contracts and then subcontracting them on Rentacoder!
"I want a complete ecommerce website framework for $300."
[...]most of the energy used goes to waste heat[...]
All the energy used goes to waste heat.
In fact, the only way some energy you use doesn't go to heat is if
you increase mechanical potential energy (lift something higher than it was before and leave it there, or pressurize a vessel)
you increase chemical potential energy (like boiling water)
Even heat pumps (like an air conditioners) heat the whole system (indoors + outdoors) equal to the amount of energy put into the heat pump to run it.
Luckily they are fairly efficient, and can move 3-5 times the heat they waste.
Stamper is a free digital timestamping service which uses PGP and operates via Internet email. Launched in 1995, it remains my intention that this will be a reliable quality service which will remain in operation for a number of years.
Signatures are available through the website, on a mailing list they run, and weekly to the usenet group comp.security.pgp.announce. Make sure any company you use does some sort of public announcement like this, or if they go out of business you're screwed.
My experience has been similar, except it was Windows that drove me to madness. I have gone through more tribulations with Windows than you have listed above, so I'm not impressed. After three years of crashes every 2-3 hours, I finally spent the week or so that it took to learn Linux. I won't say you can pick up Linux in a day, because you can't (yet). However, that week I spent learning Linux has easily be paid back in crash after crash that never happened, and all the lost work that went along with it.
Also, I imagine many Windows users will blame me for my crashy system ("you messed up X, Y, or Z"), but hold yourselves to the same standards. When Linux users say "you could have just done x,y,and z to fix your problem, dum-dum", you rightly point out that the user shouldn't have to know their OS all the way down to the metal to keep it from being shitty.
Oh, yeah. I forgot it, but not because I haven't looked at it. In fact, I looked at it first. From looking at the manual, though, GNU Queue doesn't seem to be in the same league as Condor, OpenPBS, and Maui. For simple scheduling tasks it looked good though.
I have been looking into this lately, and here are the options I have found:
Condor - seems to be the best free as in beer scheduler, but it's not free as in speech.
OpenPBS - This one is sort of Free, but it is being developed by a company that doesn't seem so sure it likes it that way. The code goes BSD after a couple of years, and they've been doing that for several years, yet they don't make the old (now BSD) versions available, and they make you register just to download.
Sun GridEngine - Free, and it looks pretty sweet. I couldn't get it to work on Debian, but people on the mailing list said they were using it with Debian.
Space, medicine, and invention often cross paths. In this case, the invention is a new artificial hip. Scientists are researching ways to manufacture strong and porous ceramics with the benefit of microgravity - subtracting the effects of convection and settling from their experiment. In the end, they hope to offer a permanent artificial hip - much more user-friendly than today's models that come unglued and require replacement after only 5-10 years of use. It's just one more way space research helps to make life better on Earth.
i'd appreciate being allowed to talk on a cell phone as long as i'm not unnecessarily loud or obnoxious about it.
If I had ever seen anyone who could do this, I would be
in total agreement with you. In my experience, people are
always loud and obnoxious when they use cell phones. The
New York Times has an article about it
here. Cell phone industry people call it
"cell yell".
most people put their card away quickly and furtively, triggering mental red flags, and then get pissy if you ask "Sir, may I see the card and a photo ID please?". So you lose either way.
You can't turn down a credit card purchase just
because they won't show you ID. I guarantee after
a few people fill out
this form
you will change your tune.
Also, I find it funny that "no ID required"
is one of the big selling
points banks are using to try and get people to
switch to debit cards. There is no ID required
for a credit card purchase either!
Slashdot Mirror
I was one of those people bitching until I found Emusic.com. A fair price for good music. I'm willing to pay for that. They are more like 10 cents per album. Yes, much of the stuff on there is not great, but there is enough excellent material to make it well worth $10 per month. The sound quality is not great (128 kbps encoded with Xing), but I have slight hearing loss, so it isn't that big a deal to me.
It's ironic that you point this out, because the free-market people who are defending Lexmark seem to be the same people who feel that anything should be allowed in a EULA. After all, the consumer always has the "choice" to return the software without opening the sealed envelope. Of course we know the store won't honor that without a huge fight, but that doesn't faze "free market" supporters. So would you support legislation that keeps EULAs from restricting product benchmarks and comparisons?
What are you doing reading Slashdot at work?
Oops, that last reply should not have been AC.
What deal? When I pay money at a store for a software package, the deal is I give them money and they give me a software package. No other conditions were attached.
In other words, you are admitting there are hidden conditions that are not exposed at the time of sale. According to the lawyers I have discussed this issue with, this is what will cause these "contracts" to be unenforceable. You accuse people of ignoring the license when they don't like it, which is another way of saying they are changing the terms of the deal after the fact. Isn't that exactly what these software licenses do? Legally speaking, the changing hands of money is the "deal": I now own the software I just gave $100 dollars for, and there were no conditions attached at the time of sale. I am still restricted by copyright law, the DMCA, and other laws, but there is no contract in place.
Also, I wonder how many stores will really honor this "contract" option to return the software? I know most retailers have a no-return policy on opened software and music. So what do I do when Best Buy won't let me return the Microsoft Windows XP I just bought because I don't agree to the "contract" terms?
Regardless of the enforcability of these bogus contracts, I don't have to worry about it other than to warn other people, because I won't use such software. I can do everything I want to do with a computer without agreeing to any conditions at all. Why should I?
I'm curious what your definition of "up front" is. Let's get specific. Say I buy a copy of Quicken at Office Max tomorrow. The software is in a box wrapped with plastic that is sealed. There is no contract visible on this box, and I sign no contract when I pay for the software. Neither do I verbally agree to any contract when I buy the software. Yet you seem to be saying that I have entered into a contract. I have discussed this in depth with several people with law degrees, and they are very skeptical that any judge would agree with you.
In the case of downloaded ("click-wrap") software, I agree with you. I have to make an affirmative action that shows I agree with their contract. That is why I use nothing but Free software (as defined by the Debian Free Software Guidelines). In the case of a sealed box with software in it that you buy at the store, my friends with law degrees think these contracts are unenforcable, because the contract is not agreed to at the time of sale. UCITA type laws will change that, which is why we should oppose them. Should it be legal to have Quicken pop up a screen after using it for a year that says "by continuing to use this software, you agree to pay Quicken an additional $100"? How is this different than saying: "now that you have purchased this software and taken it home, you can only use it if you agree to these conditions"?
Instead, they decided to shoot themselves in the foot from the get-go. Brilliant.
(In Golden, Colorado)
I have been on this tour twice, and it was pretty good. Free beer at the end, of course, but the coolest part is probably watching the packing floor where they do all the canning and boxing.
Please explain how.
Sure, but go look at the proposals. Every one I saw demanded to own the copyright when you're done. I didn't see much in there that seemed useful at all. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has made more than a couple hundred dollars through this site.
That site looks like pretty much a joke. If people are really doing that amount of work for $100, I need to start taking contracts and then subcontracting them on Rentacoder!
"I want a complete ecommerce website framework for $300."
Yeah, right.
In fact, the only way some energy you use doesn't go to heat is if
Even heat pumps (like an air conditioners) heat the whole system (indoors + outdoors) equal to the amount of energy put into the heat pump to run it. Luckily they are fairly efficient, and can move 3-5 times the heat they waste.
PGP Digital Timestamping Service
Signatures are available through the website, on a mailing list they run, and weekly to the usenet group comp.security.pgp.announce. Make sure any company you use does some sort of public announcement like this, or if they go out of business you're screwed.
Is purify available for Linux?
Use Valgrind
My experience has been similar, except it was Windows that drove me to madness. I have gone through more tribulations with Windows than you have listed above, so I'm not impressed. After three years of crashes every 2-3 hours, I finally spent the week or so that it took to learn Linux. I won't say you can pick up Linux in a day, because you can't (yet). However, that week I spent learning Linux has easily be paid back in crash after crash that never happened, and all the lost work that went along with it.
Also, I imagine many Windows users will blame me for my crashy system ("you messed up X, Y, or Z"), but hold yourselves to the same standards. When Linux users say "you could have just done x,y,and z to fix your problem, dum-dum", you rightly point out that the user shouldn't have to know their OS all the way down to the metal to keep it from being shitty.
Oh, yeah. I forgot it, but not because I haven't looked at it. In fact, I looked at it first. From looking at the manual, though, GNU Queue doesn't seem to be in the same league as Condor, OpenPBS, and Maui. For simple scheduling tasks it looked good though.
What I would really like to see is a HOWTO that gives a good overview of scheduling and clustering. Everything I have found so far is not so good.
How much is it going to cost you when you're locked
in to Microsoft products and you leave school?
What about those guys being charged right now with
aiding bin Laden by going to his summer camp?
If I had ever seen anyone who could do this, I would be in total agreement with you. In my experience, people are always loud and obnoxious when they use cell phones. The New York Times has an article about it here. Cell phone industry people call it "cell yell".
You can't turn down a credit card purchase just because they won't show you ID. I guarantee after a few people fill out this form you will change your tune.
Also, I find it funny that "no ID required" is one of the big selling points banks are using to try and get people to switch to debit cards. There is no ID required for a credit card purchase either!
I recommend the Onion's "Ask ..." columns.
Congratulations, that's the most unintelligible
piece of writing I have seen all month!