I wonder if Unisys could get a copyright on LZW code and thereby own it for another few centuries.
Copyright cannot cover a process. It may cover the LZW code libraries that Unisys may sell, but it does not cover independent implementations of the process.
so is there any de-facto standard for adding simple animations to PNG?
Yes, and it's called MNG. KHTML (Konqueror and Safari) supports it. Mozilla 1.0 through 1.4 supports it. Though it has been removed from the Mozilla trunk, it'll go back in (b.m.o bug 18574) as soon as Glenn gets done reducing its code footprint. Plug-ins are available for Opera and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
If you consider MNG a bloated disaster, take a look at MNG-LC, which is smaller.
Prove that Canadian law does not allow a patent on "a computing device, with means for memory, input, and output, programmed to perform the following steps: (description of LZW follows)".
Web sites offering legal information (DISCLAIMER: which is not the same as legal advice) disagree. This page claims: "It is always permissible to use a patented invention for research purposes," but this page denies the existence of such an exception to the patent monopoly.
Ogg Theora (could be streamed, could be on a CD-R, could be transmitted very slowly on a telegraph clacker...) would be better than VHS instructional videos.
Unlike the Ogg Theora infrastructure, the VHS infrastructure is established. Equipment that can play Theora alpha 2 video is currently much more expensive than equipment that can play VHS video. This is a practical obstacle that the government has to overcome somehow.
why is the government providing instructional videos? Is this from that PO box in Pueblo, Colorado?
Either that, or videos used to train federal employees.
I missed that story. Apparently, either RMS missed it as well, or he's busy.
The revised license looks much better, but it still has a couple problems. For one thing, it still requires adherence to the US export controls, which can approach extraterritoriality. Changing it to refer to something along the lines of "the export control laws of Distributor's jurisdiction" may have served better. And haven't the US laws changed so that export of open-source crypto (except to Cuba, Libya, etc.) doesn't need a license?
This part worries me: "Each party waives its rights to a jury trial in any resulting litigation."
Other questions are more practical: 1. Does Plan 9 support computer hardware commonly available at Best Buy? 2. Does Plan 9 support enough widely used desktop software to make migration from Windows or Linux not a pain?
Did you know that you can switch ISPs? It's a free market.
In the United States, a town will typically have one or two providers of residential high-speed Internet access: the telephone company and/or the cable TV company. In order to switch providers, a family must switch towns. It costs at least $200,000 to move a family from one town in the United States to another town in the United States. Most working-class families do not have this kind of money.
I always glare at the signs prohibiting non-motorized traffic on highways. (Not true of all roads, and I don't understand the rules on which ones.)
The signs that ban non-motorized traffic appear on roads with a posted minimum speed, such as interstates. The government has provided an "alternative interface" for bikers, namely, the federal highway system.
Whether roads should be publically funded is another issue
Congress publicly funds post roads pursuant to U.S. Constitution, Article I, section 8: "The Congress shall have power... [t]o establish post offices and post roads".
I agree with most of your assertions. The government should not require that residents or citizens deal with a specific private entity; so requiring would run afoul of the spirit of antitrust law. However, patents throw a monkey wrench into this: how could the government have provided instructional videos while VHS was still patented?
(context: discrimination against mozilla, to discrimination against non-IE browsers, to discrimination against user agents used by blind users)
Are there any blind slashdotters anyhow?
If there are, they have low UIDs. Sometime within the last four years, Slashdot introduced an account signup verification that included reading printed digits from a GIF image, to keep out spambots. People with a sight disability cannot use this signup form.
Is this always possible? Terre Haute First National Bank holds a geographic monopoly in Terre Haute, Indiana, USA. Until recently, First blocked Mozilla from its web banking application.
With hard-drive costs less than $1 a GIGABYTE (you younger folks have NO IDEA how impossible that sounds) I'm not sure that keeping file deltas is worth the effort any longer.
Unless of course each version of e.g. an audio or video file is multi-megabytes in size. Yes, I know that the current version of CVS doesn't grok audio or video, but the point remains that there exist files that are larger than text files. Besides, if the files are compressed as diffs, many more projects can be hosted on a single set of servers. Without compression, SourceForge.net probably wouldn't be able to offer its services at no charge.
Grandparent wanted free software. Plan 9 doesn't count. It prohibits private modification. It requires people outside the USA to obey USA export controls. It seems to prohibit distributing some component programs without distributing the whole thing.
In addition, the license's retaliation clause effectively grants all Plan 9 contributors a license to every copyright that a user owns. For example, if an employee of The Walt Disney Company were to install Plan 9, Lucent would be allowed to hold a Disney DVD copying party. This may seem like a good thing at first, but imagine this: If an employee of the Free Software Foundation were to install Plan 9, Lucent would be able to distribute every GNU program as proprietary software.
Have you explained the issue to your MP, that you don't want the Canadian Parliament to make the same mistakes as the EU and US legislatures in extending copyright terms?
I am not a U.S. citizen (though I lived there for over five years and my son is a U.S. citizen) and while I very much support this petition, would consider it deceitful to sign it as a non-citizen.
I didn't see anything in the Eldred petition about a citizenship requirement. If you're a lawful permanent resident of the United States and subject to its jurisdiction, I feel you have as much right as any citizen to make your views on the copyright terms of no-longer-exploited works known to the leaders that the citizens chose. The First Amendment protects the rights of free speech and petitioning the government for people, not just for citizens. If you're worried about defrauding Congress, clarify in "Comments" that you are subject to the Men in Black.
I can't return it to the store b/c they will only exchange it for another copy of the same DVD.
Do this once every hour, and after a day or so, you've made a dent in their stock of that title. Once the defective rate for that title shoots up, management will get the message.
Its just like a rental, at the same price point, except there are no late fees, and you never have to remember to return it.
Those who return are more likely to rent another title. If you don't have to return it, then the movie store doesn't get any business spilling over from trips to return goods. This could be part of why Circuit City DIVX failed.
99+% of the DVD watching population wouldn't know what to do with a DVD rip if it came with instructions.
In the following instructions, where do I lose the average consumer? "Stick it in your PC and wait for it to load. The first time you play the disc, it'll install the codecs. Then the movie will start."
companies mark the product you brought back as defective.. then have you switch for an identical product that is still in it's wrapper.. which you immediately hand over and they mark as a return.. which they then give you your money for
Toys "R" Us unwraps any same-title exchange before handing it to the customer. "Rinse and repeat" is the only strategy that works for TRU.
If your player meets the requirements listed on the outer packaging, but the title still won't play, do this (but only at a major chain, not at a mom-and-pop store): Buy one copy. Demonstrate that it doesn't work. The minimum-wage worker will exchange it for another copy of the same title. Demonstrate that it doesn't work. Exchange it. Demonstrate that it doesn't work. Exchange it. Deplete the store's stock of that title.
Just because someone watches video, doesn't mean they are watching "TV". Which do you mean, that they are watching a glass screen with images and sound, or that they are watching network television programming?
Seems that "watching anything on a TV"[1] and "watching network TV" are highly correlated. What share of the audience does non-network programming get?
[1] Here, "TV" does not include displays used with a personal computer.
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I wonder if Unisys could get a copyright on LZW code and thereby own it for another few centuries.
Copyright cannot cover a process. It may cover the LZW code libraries that Unisys may sell, but it does not cover independent implementations of the process.
so is there any de-facto standard for adding simple animations to PNG?
Yes, and it's called MNG. KHTML (Konqueror and Safari) supports it. Mozilla 1.0 through 1.4 supports it. Though it has been removed from the Mozilla trunk, it'll go back in (b.m.o bug 18574) as soon as Glenn gets done reducing its code footprint. Plug-ins are available for Opera and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
If you consider MNG a bloated disaster, take a look at MNG-LC, which is smaller.
Prove that Canadian law does not allow a patent on "a computing device, with means for memory, input, and output, programmed to perform the following steps: (description of LZW follows)".
Web sites offering legal information (DISCLAIMER: which is not the same as legal advice) disagree. This page claims: "It is always permissible to use a patented invention for research purposes," but this page denies the existence of such an exception to the patent monopoly.
Any lawyers in the audience?
I've read that a Pump It Up machine is essentially a Windows PC.
To prevent further Nemo incidents, don't feed your children food that causes disturbing dreams.
Yes, to me, "Nemo" is still Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay and not some Disney/Pixar movie.
I'm not waiting for a genetically engineered clownfish.
Likewise, most people who use wheelchairs. know at least one able-bodied person that could help them climb stairs.
Also does anyone besides me think full speed sounds quicker then high speed?
Does a "40x" CD-ROM drive sound faster than a "full speed" CD-ROM drive?
Ogg Theora (could be streamed, could be on a CD-R, could be transmitted very slowly on a telegraph clacker ...) would be better than VHS instructional videos.
Unlike the Ogg Theora infrastructure, the VHS infrastructure is established. Equipment that can play Theora alpha 2 video is currently much more expensive than equipment that can play VHS video. This is a practical obstacle that the government has to overcome somehow.
why is the government providing instructional videos? Is this from that PO box in Pueblo, Colorado?
Either that, or videos used to train federal employees.
I missed that story. Apparently, either RMS missed it as well, or he's busy.
The revised license looks much better, but it still has a couple problems. For one thing, it still requires adherence to the US export controls, which can approach extraterritoriality. Changing it to refer to something along the lines of "the export control laws of Distributor's jurisdiction" may have served better. And haven't the US laws changed so that export of open-source crypto (except to Cuba, Libya, etc.) doesn't need a license?
This part worries me: "Each party waives its rights to a jury trial in any resulting litigation."
Other questions are more practical: 1. Does Plan 9 support computer hardware commonly available at Best Buy? 2. Does Plan 9 support enough widely used desktop software to make migration from Windows or Linux not a pain?
If your ISP blocks inbound 25, it's time to look for a better ISP - there are lots.
Who provides residential high-speed Internet access to residents of a given town, other than the DSL company and the cable company?
Did you know that you can switch ISPs? It's a free market.
In the United States, a town will typically have one or two providers of residential high-speed Internet access: the telephone company and/or the cable TV company. In order to switch providers, a family must switch towns. It costs at least $200,000 to move a family from one town in the United States to another town in the United States. Most working-class families do not have this kind of money.
IE identifies itself with "MSIE" in the UA string.
I always glare at the signs prohibiting non-motorized traffic on highways. (Not true of all roads, and I don't understand the rules on which ones.)
The signs that ban non-motorized traffic appear on roads with a posted minimum speed, such as interstates. The government has provided an "alternative interface" for bikers, namely, the federal highway system.
Whether roads should be publically funded is another issue
Congress publicly funds post roads pursuant to U.S. Constitution, Article I, section 8: "The Congress shall have power ... [t]o establish post offices and post roads".
I agree with most of your assertions. The government should not require that residents or citizens deal with a specific private entity; so requiring would run afoul of the spirit of antitrust law. However, patents throw a monkey wrench into this: how could the government have provided instructional videos while VHS was still patented?
(context: discrimination against mozilla, to discrimination against non-IE browsers, to discrimination against user agents used by blind users)
Are there any blind slashdotters anyhow?
If there are, they have low UIDs. Sometime within the last four years, Slashdot introduced an account signup verification that included reading printed digits from a GIF image, to keep out spambots. People with a sight disability cannot use this signup form.
bye bye bank
Is this always possible? Terre Haute First National Bank holds a geographic monopoly in Terre Haute, Indiana, USA. Until recently, First blocked Mozilla from its web banking application.
With hard-drive costs less than $1 a GIGABYTE (you younger folks have NO IDEA how impossible that sounds) I'm not sure that keeping file deltas is worth the effort any longer.
Unless of course each version of e.g. an audio or video file is multi-megabytes in size. Yes, I know that the current version of CVS doesn't grok audio or video, but the point remains that there exist files that are larger than text files. Besides, if the files are compressed as diffs, many more projects can be hosted on a single set of servers. Without compression, SourceForge.net probably wouldn't be able to offer its services at no charge.
Grandparent wanted free software. Plan 9 doesn't count. It prohibits private modification. It requires people outside the USA to obey USA export controls. It seems to prohibit distributing some component programs without distributing the whole thing.
In addition, the license's retaliation clause effectively grants all Plan 9 contributors a license to every copyright that a user owns. For example, if an employee of The Walt Disney Company were to install Plan 9, Lucent would be allowed to hold a Disney DVD copying party. This may seem like a good thing at first, but imagine this: If an employee of the Free Software Foundation were to install Plan 9, Lucent would be able to distribute every GNU program as proprietary software.
I am now in Canada
Have you explained the issue to your MP, that you don't want the Canadian Parliament to make the same mistakes as the EU and US legislatures in extending copyright terms?
I am not a U.S. citizen (though I lived there for over five years and my son is a U.S. citizen) and while I very much support this petition, would consider it deceitful to sign it as a non-citizen.
I didn't see anything in the Eldred petition about a citizenship requirement. If you're a lawful permanent resident of the United States and subject to its jurisdiction, I feel you have as much right as any citizen to make your views on the copyright terms of no-longer-exploited works known to the leaders that the citizens chose. The First Amendment protects the rights of free speech and petitioning the government for people, not just for citizens. If you're worried about defrauding Congress, clarify in "Comments" that you are subject to the Men in Black.
I can't return it to the store b/c they will only exchange it for another copy of the same DVD.
Do this once every hour, and after a day or so, you've made a dent in their stock of that title. Once the defective rate for that title shoots up, management will get the message.
Its just like a rental, at the same price point, except there are no late fees, and you never have to remember to return it.
Those who return are more likely to rent another title. If you don't have to return it, then the movie store doesn't get any business spilling over from trips to return goods. This could be part of why Circuit City DIVX failed.
99+% of the DVD watching population wouldn't know what to do with a DVD rip if it came with instructions.
In the following instructions, where do I lose the average consumer? "Stick it in your PC and wait for it to load. The first time you play the disc, it'll install the codecs. Then the movie will start."
companies mark the product you brought back as defective.. then have you switch for an identical product that is still in it's wrapper.. which you immediately hand over and they mark as a return.. which they then give you your money for
Toys "R" Us unwraps any same-title exchange before handing it to the customer. "Rinse and repeat" is the only strategy that works for TRU.
If your player meets the requirements listed on the outer packaging, but the title still won't play, do this (but only at a major chain, not at a mom-and-pop store): Buy one copy. Demonstrate that it doesn't work. The minimum-wage worker will exchange it for another copy of the same title. Demonstrate that it doesn't work. Exchange it. Demonstrate that it doesn't work. Exchange it. Deplete the store's stock of that title.
Rinse and repeat, return and deplete.
Just because someone watches video, doesn't mean they are watching "TV". Which do you mean, that they are watching a glass screen with images and sound, or that they are watching network television programming?
Seems that "watching anything on a TV"[1] and "watching network TV" are highly correlated. What share of the audience does non-network programming get?
[1] Here, "TV" does not include displays used with a personal computer.