There have been a series of interesting events surrounding the extended Pirate Bay process. It started with PRQ (the web hotel hosting TPB) being illegally raided, and to add the icing on that cake, the minister in charge acting in violation of the Swedish constitution by directly ordering law enforcement (see New Technology's "Was the Raid a Judicial Scandal?" [in Swedish]). Then the FRA and IPRED bills passed in direct defiance of election promises and popular opinion folding to foreign pressure, as was the trial itself. It is hardly surprising that it turned out that the judge was cherry picked. The judge, Thomas NorstrÃm, argued that "My view has been that these activities do not constitute a conflict of interest," and he was not swayed in his judgement by involvement with copyright protection groups.
There was great surprise over the April 17th ruling. Even the legal experts that expected a conviction were taken aback by the prison sentence and the size of the compensatory fine.
The current debate on Swedish technical boards is one of conspiracy theories. Swedes are generally relatively hesitant of suggesting conspiracies, but this one reeks of collusion.
The former Chief Prosecutor Sven-Erik Alhem says (in Swedish) that this will hurt the international renown of Swedish courts as well as damage domestic belief in judicial neutrality and safety.
Also interesting is the public statement from the Pirate Party which calls this "Corruption and miscarriage of justice" and "The copyright lobby has really managed to bring corruption to Sweden".
This may turn out to be a huge inconvenience for the copyright organisations and for the ruling coalition.
You reply in good faith and for good intentions but you are somewhat mistaken,
First, Romans did NOT field regiments of archers. However, following Gaius Marius' reforms, in legions a cohort (8-10 centuries of 60 men) could have archers attached. These were generally placed as an archery shield in front of the front maniples and retracted when enemies approached. More usual, however, was simply the legionaries throwing their pilum javelin before equipping their gladius short sword.
Secondly, Romans did NOT field any cavalry units. Cavalry fight from horseback, and cohesive military cavalry usage requires stirrups. Romans DID use mounted infantry though, and this could also perhaps harass enemy skirmish flankers. Stirrups wasn't invented until approximately the 7th or 8th Century. Thus, cavalry does not mean "mounted soldier". Also, the Roman social hierarchy included a "knight" class. This is not to be interpreted anachronistically as of a kind with the medieval knights, it simply means a social status above Plebeian but beneath the Patrician strata eligible for election to Senate.
This is really the same debate that's been going on since the Greeks, only now in a much more uninformed way. It reminds me of CNN's 1986 Crossfire show where the lyrics of a rock song was accused of promoting incest and Frank Zappa was invited as a representative musician. Zappa is not defending the Prince's "Incest is a good thing" statement in the lyrics in question, but he is defending the right of the artist to say it.
Some telling and relevant in context quotes from the exchange are:
Robert Novak: "Mr Zappa, let me see if I can get your position straight. Are you saying there is no filth, no pornography, no obscenity, that should not be permitted to be sold and distributed freely in this country in the form of music videos and rock videos?... Is there no filth, no obscenity you consider qualified to be suppressed?"
John Lofton (of the Washington Times): "I agree with you that the first line of responsibility is the family [Zappa has not mentioned neither "responsibility" of "family"] to stop the kind of garbage we're talking about here today; but good grief, can't we call upon our government to help us in this fight, Frank? Are you an Anarchist, is it the government's role to do nothing in this?... Incest in America didn't use to be this kind of problem, it has come about in the last 20 years or so [implicating "pop music"]... You should get out more!... Would you look in the camera and tell them that the trash you sing and write was when the Founding Fathers had in mind when they drafted the First Amendment?!... to defend songs that glorify Satanism, and incest, and suicide?!"
Zappa: "Absolutely!"
Chorus: "You're an idiot, then!"
Tom Braden: "What would you suggest, Mr Lofton, as a means of censorship?... What government censor is going to decide for you?"
Lefton, to Zappa: "What is the government's role, Mr Zappa?"... ("national defence")... "Well, I consider this national defence, pal! Our families are under attack from people like you"
Zappa: "The biggest threat today is not communism, it is moving America toward a fascist theocracy, and everything that's happened during the Reagan administration is steering us down that pipe."
Panel laughs, "oh really, Mr Zappa" etc etc
It is really an extremely interesting (not to say entertaining!) episode, and I recommend it if you haven't laready seen it. The full video is available here:
Agree with the above poster. The article is a classic example of tendentious writing. It wouldn't stand even the most basic requirements for an entry level university essay.
It is written arrogantly and from an pro-industry perspective. Point by point, it consistently takes sides but continuously claims it is not doing so. There is no underlying theory or methodology other than "examine every aspect of game piracy".:rolleyes:
1) The article starts with the author claiming neutrality and utter non-bias
2) The article seems to have been laid out beforehand, written as intended and fleshed out with quotes and references where found as supporting his theses
3) Sources are quotes selectively to further his preconceived conclusions
4) Alternative interpretations are ignored or dismissed
5) There is no source criticism
6) Frequent hand waving and usage of weasel words
7) Interjected unsubstantiated strong conclusions, as "The evidence is overwhelmingly clear: DRM does not cause piracy, piracy results in DRM."
Also, you gotta love an author who writes a long article, POS as it is, proves a "printable" link, which takes you to a page which says "if you want to print it, print each page, schmuck".
USISoft has been surrounded by a slew of PR mistakes the last years and have accrued one of the worst reputations and word-of-mouth of any games publisher, second only to EA. Their DRM implementations have generally been horribly executed leading to widespread usability issues. Meanwhile DRM has become a hot topic.
Corporations are not really about providing good service and quality to the consumers, they're about making money. DRM now is bad PR.
At the same time the relatively small studio Stardock, that for a long time has produiced DRM-free games, have been riding the wave of topical recognition and have gained much consumer credit.
Of course UBISoft sees this. They are not bad marketers. UBISoft sees this as one way of mending their abysmal reputation. There's nothing intrinsically good or ethical about this, it is just marketing: leverageing the current medial discourse and try to appear as the pioneer of a new movement, and so to usurp the percieved leader position. This is simply what is known as "positioning" and "differentiation" in marketing lingo, something that has been practiced throughout modern business history.
In sum, this is a cynical ploy by a company that has a track record of hating and alienating its customers. It might lead to something better, but it is still not a change from the goodness of their black hearts.
The article lines up pros and cons, though it is names "KDE4.1 Rocks!" actually appears rather fair and objectiveish. It claims the significant problems with 4.0 has been addressed. The earlier discussions here on/. have more or less focused on KDE4.0 being incomplete, which was taken to mean either incomplete as a desktop platform (insufficient basic functionality, such as icons, menus, expected behaviour etc) or desktop environment (complete set of application), and it is in this light that the article should be taken.
* KDE 4.1 Plasma panels are now resizable and you can have multiple , and they can be repositioned by dragging them by mouse.
* "The Folder View plasmoid... is a container you can place on the desktop that can show the contents of any directory. Most distributions set one up in the default configuration to show the contents of the desktop folder, but you are no longer limited to having the contents of just the desktop folder displayed on your desktop -- you can add several instances of Folder View, each showing a different directory." This addresses the popular misconception and marketing catastrophe of KDE4 now having desktop icons.
* The article raves about the beauty of KDE4.1.
* Application support has grown and out-of-the-download contains Konqueror, Dolphin, Gwenview, Kopete, JuK, Kontact, the KDE CD Player, and the minimalistic Dragon Player for videos
* Dolphin has been improved with tree view and tabbed browsing features.
* Is is faster than KDE4.0, "everything ran fast and smooth, even when I had six plasmoids in use and desktop effects turned on, even on a modest 1.6GHz laptop".
* "The new interfaces may take some getting used to by those accustomed to KDE 3. "
* "Nvidia graphics cards... may notice slowdown when resizing windows or moving plasma widgets"
* Amarok 2.0 is still not complete
The article is finished by saying that the author has finally replaced KDE3 as his production DE with KDE4.1.
In short, whether by design or by listening to the criticism, KDE4.1 seems to have addressed if not all then at least the most important warts of the unfortunate 4.0 release. I'll probably still wait for 4.2, but as a KDE fan I'm certainly excited!
And this article is about what? Are you (1) complaining about Google trespassing, (2) about pictures taken being incriminating for civilians, (3) about the preponderance of pot in the locales mentioned, or (4) an indirect pot shot at drugs not being legal?
Drugs are social nuisances and cause problems. While I wouldn't like Google people walking over my back yard, I don't see why revealing where growing of illegal drugs take place is a problem.
Both Orwell and Marx would be surprised how right they were. A world governed by the watchful corporate eye, the same corporations that also control the voice and contents of information. Still, the EU, or at least Northern Europe with Scandinavia at the top (literary and figuratively) are more democratic, less corrupt and directly controlled by commercial interests than America, but we too are getting there. Sweden is a prime example of this. The current liberal (in the European sense, that is right-wing market liberals) have excelled in demolishing unions (which increases the relative power of producers), privatise public sectors, have deep tie-ins with commercial interests (f.i. Carl Bildt, the former Prime Minister and current Foreign Minister, couldn't understand the conflict of interest in possessing a huge portfolio of Russian oil and natural gas stocks AND residing over the political negotiation on Russian pipelines); and of course, pushing through the FRA legislation.
For us, though, there might be a few things to do.
Switch over more and more to copylefted and FOSS operating systems and software. No copyright or financial interests, no interest for BSA or (maf)*IAA. Of course, the same interests groups have identified this as a potential thread and tried legal and FUD campaigns against it (associating FOSS with communism, and trying to declare FOSS illegal, etc.).
Boycott the increasingly meaningless blockbuster production of Hollywood and the musical cultural industry. I have stopped watching TV and buying music since there simply isn't anything worth the money. Frankly, it is not even worth downloading.
It is a horrible situation, and the only hope we have is that younger politicians will have a more vested interest in net neutrality etc. than the current cadre that is old and often criminally ignorant about the consequences of their actions in an informational world. Fat chance.
For Swedes, voting for the Pirate Party for them to gain seats in the EU parliament is one concrete thing we can do now, and let's work to increase awareness of the problem so more pirate parties will emerge.
This is turning more and more into a world I do not want part of.
I think that somebody must think of the children. No, not the pedophiles, though I guess they do think of the children. Some OTHER body must think of the children. And luckily we have the corporate body! From TFA:
CableNCTA's agreement with NCMEC is the latest milestone in cable's efforts to ensure online safety and promote Internet literacy for all families and Internet users.
There is no more precious resource in this country than our children. They depend on us, their parents, to protect and guide them. A childâ(TM)s cry for help must not be ignored and at the same time, an adult that preys upon children on the Internet MUST be caught and contained.
The cable operators that have agreed to execute the MOU within 30 days include Time Warner
I can only assume that "MOU" means "molester of children", and I for one am glad that our media overlords finally live up to their responsibility and execute all suspected molesters! Finally somebody thinks of the children and are not afraid to say so! When Time Warner death squadrons rake hot lead into the last paedophile and burns his body with acid will be a great day not only for America but for all of Earth! (queue crying eagles)
Linus' idea to switch to date-based version numbering seems excellent to me. From a psychological perspective, humans have difficulties with numbers, especially larger numbers. Also, a purely incremental numbering system without any external relationships (let's call it "semantic anchors" or something) are just that: numbers.
By using dates we tie in with an already establish cognitive category which not only tells us the version but also how old it is. Since we Linux folks are usually very conscious about keeping up-to-date (at least the/. crowd) it would be a good and automatic reminder of the state of our system. That is, we use the "date obsolescence effect" (the reason Microsoft stopped naming their software after the year released) to the advantage for security rather than the disadvantage of negative sales.
I have tested KDE4 on my Mandriva install as well as on a few LiveCDs and am very positive about it. It is aesthetically pleasing, offers wonderful functionality, enormous flexibility and extensibility, and gorgeous eye candy not on the expense of usability or ergonomics.
Many people uphold OSX or Vista as the pinnacles of desktop beauty, and in the case of Mac, usability and user experience, yet the beauty possible on modern Linuxen desktops is not only equal to that of the Big Two, but in fact far surpassing them. Yes, I am talking a lot about "beauty" and "aesthetics", terms that programmers and techheads usually spurn or dismiss as irrelevant or superfluous. However, because it is not in the front of many geeks' minds does not mean it is irrelevant (especially considered I being a programmer myself) - beauty is important! In KDE, in particular KDE4, and especially coupled with technologies such as Compiz-Fusion and/or Metisse, the Linux desktop is far ahead any competition in presentation aesthetics, a fact seldom recognised.
That said, I am not using it on my production system and will not until release 4.2.
The problem as I see it, and the mistake made by the KDE dev team, lies in using a version numbering system that makes great sense for them but has little relation to how it will be interpreted and understood outside the development circles. For the devs, according to TFA, the "4.0" in KDE 4.0 means
is just the beginning. KDE 4.0 has the beginnings of a publicly usable desktop and applications. KDE 4.0 also marks the stability of the libraries and their programming interfaces so application developers can actively start using them in their application. The new features and frameworks need some time to be implemented in a user-visible way. In that light, KDE 4.0 marks the beginning of the availability of KDE4-technology-based applications.
For most of the world, the release of a new major version means both something new and exiting, which KDE4.0 certainly delivers, but also a finished and usable system that will be refined, embellished and updated. The KDE devs, on the other hand, means it as a platform on which a functioning system can and will be built. Their mistake lies in not realising that public perception of "4.0" would differ from their intention.
That said, this is a very common mistake in all human communication. Seldom indeed does intention transmit perfectly into perception.
One of the main arguments for the FRA law has in fact been to gain a means of listening in to organised crime. No specific countries have been mentioned but most organised crimes in Sweden, ranging from petty stuff like pickpocketing and shoplifting to burglaries to drugs, weapons and trafficking) seem to come from former Soviet countries, predominantly Russia and the Baltic, or with "MC Gangs", that often are tied in with organised crime of those regions.
Since the references from TFA are mostly in Swedish, I thought I'd translate and share some of the most interesting points.
It should be noted that while the FRA law has been a source of intense debate both within the parliament and population at large, the governing parties have apparently made a point of as far as possible not mentioning it, neither before or after passing the bill. Also, before the bill was passed, the parliamentarians of the coalition parties were instructed to vote the party way (which is unconstitutional) which caused several embers to resign their positions in protest.
The irony, and what makes an incredibly arse out of him, is evident in the comments on the Swedish article (http://www.politikerbloggen.se/2008/07/03/9359/), a sample:
This review/comparison is posted May 4th or 5th, when the distros out there are Ubuntu 8.04 release (not beta, and featuring FF 3b5, not b4); Mandriva 2008.1; openSUSE 11.0 beta; and Fedora 9 preview. Thus, the selection of distros compared is outdated already at the time of review, and worse, unfair between distros (bias?). Compounding this, there are factual errors and lack of in-depth coverage.
This review sais very little about the current state of affairs and is of minimal real benefit to anyone not already initad in the Linux world. It might even do a misfavour to newbies wanting to take the plunge.
Admittably, it takes some time testing seven distros on five platforms, but that doesn't change the fact that it fails to represent the actual state of LinuxLand and the distros pitted against each other.
Slashdot Mirror
Lawyer Peter Althin, representing the Pirate Bay spokesperson Peter Sunde calls for retrial
There have been a series of interesting events surrounding the extended Pirate Bay process. It started with PRQ (the web hotel hosting TPB) being illegally raided, and to add the icing on that cake, the minister in charge acting in violation of the Swedish constitution by directly ordering law enforcement (see New Technology's "Was the Raid a Judicial Scandal?" [in Swedish]). Then the FRA and IPRED bills passed in direct defiance of election promises and popular opinion folding to foreign pressure, as was the trial itself. It is hardly surprising that it turned out that the judge was cherry picked. The judge, Thomas NorstrÃm, argued that "My view has been that these activities do not constitute a conflict of interest," and he was not swayed in his judgement by involvement with copyright protection groups.
There was great surprise over the April 17th ruling. Even the legal experts that expected a conviction were taken aback by the prison sentence and the size of the compensatory fine.
The current debate on Swedish technical boards is one of conspiracy theories. Swedes are generally relatively hesitant of suggesting conspiracies, but this one reeks of collusion.
The former Chief Prosecutor Sven-Erik Alhem says (in Swedish) that this will hurt the international renown of Swedish courts as well as damage domestic belief in judicial neutrality and safety.
Also interesting is the public statement from the Pirate Party which calls this "Corruption and miscarriage of justice" and "The copyright lobby has really managed to bring corruption to Sweden".
This may turn out to be a huge inconvenience for the copyright organisations and for the ruling coalition.
You reply in good faith and for good intentions but you are somewhat mistaken,
First, Romans did NOT field regiments of archers. However, following Gaius Marius' reforms, in legions a cohort (8-10 centuries of 60 men) could have archers attached. These were generally placed as an archery shield in front of the front maniples and retracted when enemies approached. More usual, however, was simply the legionaries throwing their pilum javelin before equipping their gladius short sword.
Secondly, Romans did NOT field any cavalry units. Cavalry fight from horseback, and cohesive military cavalry usage requires stirrups. Romans DID use mounted infantry though, and this could also perhaps harass enemy skirmish flankers. Stirrups wasn't invented until approximately the 7th or 8th Century. Thus, cavalry does not mean "mounted soldier". Also, the Roman social hierarchy included a "knight" class. This is not to be interpreted anachronistically as of a kind with the medieval knights, it simply means a social status above Plebeian but beneath the Patrician strata eligible for election to Senate.
This is really the same debate that's been going on since the Greeks, only now in a much more uninformed way. It reminds me of CNN's 1986 Crossfire show where the lyrics of a rock song was accused of promoting incest and Frank Zappa was invited as a representative musician. Zappa is not defending the Prince's "Incest is a good thing" statement in the lyrics in question, but he is defending the right of the artist to say it.
Some telling and relevant in context quotes from the exchange are:
Robert Novak: "Mr Zappa, let me see if I can get your position straight. Are you saying there is no filth, no pornography, no obscenity, that should not be permitted to be sold and distributed freely in this country in the form of music videos and rock videos? ... Is there no filth, no obscenity you consider qualified to be suppressed?"
John Lofton (of the Washington Times): "I agree with you that the first line of responsibility is the family [Zappa has not mentioned neither "responsibility" of "family"] to stop the kind of garbage we're talking about here today; but good grief, can't we call upon our government to help us in this fight, Frank? Are you an Anarchist, is it the government's role to do nothing in this? ... Incest in America didn't use to be this kind of problem, it has come about in the last 20 years or so [implicating "pop music"] ... You should get out more! ... Would you look in the camera and tell them that the trash you sing and write was when the Founding Fathers had in mind when they drafted the First Amendment?! ... to defend songs that glorify Satanism, and incest, and suicide?!"
Zappa: "Absolutely!"
Chorus: "You're an idiot, then!"
Tom Braden: "What would you suggest, Mr Lofton, as a means of censorship? ... What government censor is going to decide for you?"
Lefton, to Zappa: "What is the government's role, Mr Zappa?" ... ("national defence") ... "Well, I consider this national defence, pal! Our families are under attack from people like you"
Zappa: "The biggest threat today is not communism, it is moving America toward a fascist theocracy, and everything that's happened during the Reagan administration is steering us down that pipe."
Panel laughs, "oh really, Mr Zappa" etc etc
It is really an extremely interesting (not to say entertaining!) episode, and I recommend it if you haven't laready seen it. The full video is available here:
http://www.spike.com/video/zappa-on-crossfire/2658805
Agree with the above poster. The article is a classic example of tendentious writing. It wouldn't stand even the most basic requirements for an entry level university essay.
:rolleyes:
It is written arrogantly and from an pro-industry perspective. Point by point, it consistently takes sides but continuously claims it is not doing so. There is no underlying theory or methodology other than "examine every aspect of game piracy".
1) The article starts with the author claiming neutrality and utter non-bias
2) The article seems to have been laid out beforehand, written as intended and fleshed out with quotes and references where found as supporting his theses
3) Sources are quotes selectively to further his preconceived conclusions
4) Alternative interpretations are ignored or dismissed
5) There is no source criticism
6) Frequent hand waving and usage of weasel words 7) Interjected unsubstantiated strong conclusions, as "The evidence is overwhelmingly clear: DRM does not cause piracy, piracy results in DRM."
Also, you gotta love an author who writes a long article, POS as it is, proves a "printable" link, which takes you to a page which says "if you want to print it, print each page, schmuck".
USISoft has been surrounded by a slew of PR mistakes the last years and have accrued one of the worst reputations and word-of-mouth of any games publisher, second only to EA. Their DRM implementations have generally been horribly executed leading to widespread usability issues. Meanwhile DRM has become a hot topic.
Corporations are not really about providing good service and quality to the consumers, they're about making money. DRM now is bad PR.
At the same time the relatively small studio Stardock, that for a long time has produiced DRM-free games, have been riding the wave of topical recognition and have gained much consumer credit.
Of course UBISoft sees this. They are not bad marketers. UBISoft sees this as one way of mending their abysmal reputation. There's nothing intrinsically good or ethical about this, it is just marketing: leverageing the current medial discourse and try to appear as the pioneer of a new movement, and so to usurp the percieved leader position. This is simply what is known as "positioning" and "differentiation" in marketing lingo, something that has been practiced throughout modern business history.
In sum, this is a cynical ploy by a company that has a track record of hating and alienating its customers. It might lead to something better, but it is still not a change from the goodness of their black hearts.
The article lines up pros and cons, though it is names "KDE4.1 Rocks!" actually appears rather fair and objectiveish. It claims the significant problems with 4.0 has been addressed. The earlier discussions here on /. have more or less focused on KDE4.0 being incomplete, which was taken to mean either incomplete as a desktop platform (insufficient basic functionality, such as icons, menus, expected behaviour etc) or desktop environment (complete set of application), and it is in this light that the article should be taken.
... is a container you can place on the desktop that can show the contents of any directory. Most distributions set one up in the default configuration to show the contents of the desktop folder, but you are no longer limited to having the contents of just the desktop folder displayed on your desktop -- you can add several instances of Folder View, each showing a different directory." This addresses the popular misconception and marketing catastrophe of KDE4 now having desktop icons.
... may notice slowdown when resizing windows or moving plasma widgets"
* KDE 4.1 Plasma panels are now resizable and you can have multiple , and they can be repositioned by dragging them by mouse.
* "The Folder View plasmoid
* The article raves about the beauty of KDE4.1.
* Application support has grown and out-of-the-download contains Konqueror, Dolphin, Gwenview, Kopete, JuK, Kontact, the KDE CD Player, and the minimalistic Dragon Player for videos
* Dolphin has been improved with tree view and tabbed browsing features.
* Is is faster than KDE4.0, "everything ran fast and smooth, even when I had six plasmoids in use and desktop effects turned on, even on a modest 1.6GHz laptop".
* "The new interfaces may take some getting used to by those accustomed to KDE 3. "
* "Nvidia graphics cards
* Amarok 2.0 is still not complete
The article is finished by saying that the author has finally replaced KDE3 as his production DE with KDE4.1.
In short, whether by design or by listening to the criticism, KDE4.1 seems to have addressed if not all then at least the most important warts of the unfortunate 4.0 release. I'll probably still wait for 4.2, but as a KDE fan I'm certainly excited!
And this article is about what? Are you (1) complaining about Google trespassing, (2) about pictures taken being incriminating for civilians, (3) about the preponderance of pot in the locales mentioned, or (4) an indirect pot shot at drugs not being legal?
Drugs are social nuisances and cause problems. While I wouldn't like Google people walking over my back yard, I don't see why revealing where growing of illegal drugs take place is a problem.
Both Orwell and Marx would be surprised how right they were. A world governed by the watchful corporate eye, the same corporations that also control the voice and contents of information. Still, the EU, or at least Northern Europe with Scandinavia at the top (literary and figuratively) are more democratic, less corrupt and directly controlled by commercial interests than America, but we too are getting there. Sweden is a prime example of this. The current liberal (in the European sense, that is right-wing market liberals) have excelled in demolishing unions (which increases the relative power of producers), privatise public sectors, have deep tie-ins with commercial interests (f.i. Carl Bildt, the former Prime Minister and current Foreign Minister, couldn't understand the conflict of interest in possessing a huge portfolio of Russian oil and natural gas stocks AND residing over the political negotiation on Russian pipelines); and of course, pushing through the FRA legislation.
For us, though, there might be a few things to do.
Switch over more and more to copylefted and FOSS operating systems and software. No copyright or financial interests, no interest for BSA or (maf)*IAA. Of course, the same interests groups have identified this as a potential thread and tried legal and FUD campaigns against it (associating FOSS with communism, and trying to declare FOSS illegal, etc.).
Boycott the increasingly meaningless blockbuster production of Hollywood and the musical cultural industry. I have stopped watching TV and buying music since there simply isn't anything worth the money. Frankly, it is not even worth downloading.
Freenets, darknets and stronger encryption. However, this will mean a rat race where the outcomes may be a larger and growing portion of increasingly controlled population; an increasingly isolated cliché of technologically savvy individuals retaining integrity but being exposed by their very anonymity suspicious black holes in an ocean of whistles; or the death of the openness and accessibility that has made the Web the revolution it was.
It is a horrible situation, and the only hope we have is that younger politicians will have a more vested interest in net neutrality etc. than the current cadre that is old and often criminally ignorant about the consequences of their actions in an informational world. Fat chance.
For Swedes, voting for the Pirate Party for them to gain seats in the EU parliament is one concrete thing we can do now, and let's work to increase awareness of the problem so more pirate parties will emerge.
This is turning more and more into a world I do not want part of.
I can only assume that "MOU" means "molester of children", and I for one am glad that our media overlords finally live up to their responsibility and execute all suspected molesters! Finally somebody thinks of the children and are not afraid to say so! When Time Warner death squadrons rake hot lead into the last paedophile and burns his body with acid will be a great day not only for America but for all of Earth! (queue crying eagles)
Linus' idea to switch to date-based version numbering seems excellent to me. From a psychological perspective, humans have difficulties with numbers, especially larger numbers. Also, a purely incremental numbering system without any external relationships (let's call it "semantic anchors" or something) are just that: numbers. By using dates we tie in with an already establish cognitive category which not only tells us the version but also how old it is. Since we Linux folks are usually very conscious about keeping up-to-date (at least the /. crowd) it would be a good and automatic reminder of the state of our system. That is, we use the "date obsolescence effect" (the reason Microsoft stopped naming their software after the year released) to the advantage for security rather than the disadvantage of negative sales.
Is that enough to run Linux on?
Many people uphold OSX or Vista as the pinnacles of desktop beauty, and in the case of Mac, usability and user experience, yet the beauty possible on modern Linuxen desktops is not only equal to that of the Big Two, but in fact far surpassing them. Yes, I am talking a lot about "beauty" and "aesthetics", terms that programmers and techheads usually spurn or dismiss as irrelevant or superfluous. However, because it is not in the front of many geeks' minds does not mean it is irrelevant (especially considered I being a programmer myself) - beauty is important! In KDE, in particular KDE4, and especially coupled with technologies such as Compiz-Fusion and/or Metisse, the Linux desktop is far ahead any competition in presentation aesthetics, a fact seldom recognised.
That said, I am not using it on my production system and will not until release 4.2.
The problem as I see it, and the mistake made by the KDE dev team, lies in using a version numbering system that makes great sense for them but has little relation to how it will be interpreted and understood outside the development circles. For the devs, according to TFA, the "4.0" in KDE 4.0 means
For most of the world, the release of a new major version means both something new and exiting, which KDE4.0 certainly delivers, but also a finished and usable system that will be refined, embellished and updated. The KDE devs, on the other hand, means it as a platform on which a functioning system can and will be built. Their mistake lies in not realising that public perception of "4.0" would differ from their intention.
That said, this is a very common mistake in all human communication. Seldom indeed does intention transmit perfectly into perception.
One of the main arguments for the FRA law has in fact been to gain a means of listening in to organised crime. No specific countries have been mentioned but most organised crimes in Sweden, ranging from petty stuff like pickpocketing and shoplifting to burglaries to drugs, weapons and trafficking) seem to come from former Soviet countries, predominantly Russia and the Baltic, or with "MC Gangs", that often are tied in with organised crime of those regions.
Since the references from TFA are mostly in Swedish, I thought I'd translate and share some of the most interesting points.
It should be noted that while the FRA law has been a source of intense debate both within the parliament and population at large, the governing parties have apparently made a point of as far as possible not mentioning it, neither before or after passing the bill. Also, before the bill was passed, the parliamentarians of the coalition parties were instructed to vote the party way (which is unconstitutional) which caused several embers to resign their positions in protest.
TFA notes that when the official silence has been broken, be it in response to the massive criticism or in private but revealed communication, the politicians in charge appear to range from inexcusably ignorant of the subject to criminally incompetent. As an example, it mentions Gunnar Andrén, the leader of the People's Party (folkpartiet) and a member of the liberal ruling coalition, who in a private email to fellow party member and parliamentarian Camilla Lindberg, who went against the internal instructions and voted against the law, expressed anger and recrimination.
This letter was publicised by Miss Lindberg's partner, a fact which made Mr. Andrén lash out in rage, claiming revealing a private letter was "Gestapo- and Stazi like" and "in violation of the Sanctity of Letters" act, a Swedish law that states that it is illegal by any party but the intended recipient to intercept or partake of the contents of a closed letter.
The irony, and what makes an incredibly arse out of him, is evident in the comments on the Swedish article (http://www.politikerbloggen.se/2008/07/03/9359/), a sample:
* "Smart guy, first voting for FRA and then getting pissed when someone does the same on him"
* "the yes-man Andrén is pissed about something he thinks only FRA and the government can do, the right to read others' private mail"
* "I agree with Gunnar Andrén that it is Gestapo methods to read others' letters or tapping phones. Now we know what GA wants in Sweden since he voted yes for FRA"
This review/comparison is posted May 4th or 5th, when the distros out there are Ubuntu 8.04 release (not beta, and featuring FF 3b5, not b4); Mandriva 2008.1; openSUSE 11.0 beta; and Fedora 9 preview. Thus, the selection of distros compared is outdated already at the time of review, and worse, unfair between distros (bias?). Compounding this, there are factual errors and lack of in-depth coverage.
This review sais very little about the current state of affairs and is of minimal real benefit to anyone not already initad in the Linux world. It might even do a misfavour to newbies wanting to take the plunge.
Admittably, it takes some time testing seven distros on five platforms, but that doesn't change the fact that it fails to represent the actual state of LinuxLand and the distros pitted against each other.