I have a similar story, I have a similar system to one you described, the only differnce was I was tried to install Win2K. It would boot to the CD and copy all the files fine, but once it started up it would give me a hardware failure error. The first time I ran some diagnistic programs, everything seemed fine, so I tried again and got the same error. I knew nothing was wrong with the system, so I installed RedHat 7.0 on it. The install went fine and I have upgraded to XFree86 4.02 and kernel 2.4.2. I have added a DvD drive (Yes I can watch DvD movies with it under Linux), a TV tuner card, a CDRW, a network card and a USB WebCam. All of which works perfectly. Whatever the problem was with Win2K is now Bill Gates problem, not mine. I took Win2K back to the store for refund and never looked back.
Civial Disobedience is almost always considered criminal at the time it is being done. Ghandi was considered a criminal by the government he was protesting against. The US government considered the protestors at Kent State to be criminal, so much so they decided to shoot them rather than let thier message be heard. and many people considered Martin Luther King's followers to be criminal. History however shows these people to be what they were. It was they who were the Heroes and the government to be unjust and criminal.
It is interesting to note, the protestors of the WTO in Seattle, the Republcian and Democratic National Conventions were considered criminal and arrested, however, the protestors in Florida during our last Presidential election were left alone. The difference being, in Florida, both sides were supporting the Status Quo.
I agree, there is no comparision between AfterStep and the Win9X GUI. But you also can not compare Win95 to RedHat Linux 7 w/KDE or Gnome. A modern Operating System, whether it is RH 7 or Win2K, is not going to run well on a P133 w/32 Mb of RAM. The difference I was pointing out, is Linux can be configured to run on this system, I'm not sure Win2K would even install on a system like this one, let alone be usable.
Office 97 and Windows 95 will run on a P133 w/ 32 Mb of RAM. Not great, but okay.
UUMM, I'm not sure what your point here was, of course 6 year old software is going to run okay on a 6 year old system. I suspect if you tried to load Win2K on the system it would be so slow as to be unusable and only if you could install it at all. On the other hand RedHat 7, running a 2.4.X kernel and AfterStep as the Window Manager, would probably run rather well. This would assume I installed a video card supported by XFree86 4.01, but this not would help Win2K at all. Yes KDE or Gnome would be slow, but that is why I would pick AfterStep instead, a choice I simply do not have with Win2K.
This is very true specialized devices suck. Look at all the things the PC has replaced. First it was the calculator and typewriter, then it replaced the Fax machine and game console and now it even replacing the VCR, TV and Stereo. Now this guy is trying to tell me, I will have to junk my PC and replace it with a Calculator, a Typewriter, a TV, VCR, game console and Stereo, only they will be better because they will have copy control. This is not a step in the right direction, this is stepping back to the 80's.
I consider the DMCA to be in and of itself to be illegal, unfair and unjust. I consider acting against it in any way shape or to be Civil Disobediance and since the United States was founded on and has a tradition of Civil Disobediance, I see no problem with acting against it and its supporters.
I have the right to play my legally obtained DvD's on any legally obtained device. I buy my DvD's and I bought my DvD drive, which just happens to be installed in a computer running Linux. I am stealing nothing, I am hurting no one and I see no moral problem here.
Of course they would never let us direct our tax dollars. First that would mean they would have to tell us where "THEY" are spending our money now, which ain't going to happen. Second, no one would want to pay for all those nasty little Police Actions we've been involved with in the last 20 years. Then where would all those Arms Dealers, OOPS, I mean Defense Contractors be.
Many of the people (but not all) involved are military personal. The US Military Personal fall under the Uniform Code of Military Justice regardless of where they are. I suspect the militaries of other countries have similar codes. I am also sure NASA has their own set of bylaws which govern any civilians who travel into space.
There is an article at http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue62/silva.html. Which covers recording with any TV card supported by Linux, using realproducer. I couldn't get the audio to record though.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
Re:All unions do is make businesses inflexible.
on
The Jungle
·
· Score: 1
You are assuming that business will always do what is right. Time and time again business has proven when left to themselves they will not do what is right either for their employees or their customers. Minimun wage, child labor laws and work place safty regulations were all implemented because business proved they could not be trusted to do what was right for their employees. The $70,000 a year engineer doesn't need much protection, he can probably get a job anywhere. But the poor sucker working down in the shipping department making $16,000 a year does, because he can be replaced easily, regardless of how well he does his job. Same goes for that Customer Service representive who makes $28,000 a year, whose job can be done by someone in India for $2,000 a year. Do you think the CEO cares whether the he is good at his job or not, no all he knows is he is saving $26,000 a year.
I think many of you have missed a key point. The article was not about programmers and engineers trying to organize, it is about customer service representives trying to organize. Programmers and engineers in the new economy have it made because there is not enough of them to go around. Customer service reps are a dime a dozen, virtually anyone can be trained to do it in a couple of weeks, I include phone support technicians in this as well. These are for all intents and purposes the unskilled labor of the new economy. These types of workers can be outsourced in an instant and in the case of Amazon, they went overseas to India where they can pay $1 an hour and no benifits let alone stock options. If these worker ask for raises they are told to find another job if this one isn't paying enough. If these workers don't want to work 70 hours a week, they are not forced to, but when thier yearly review comes up they are given low scores because they are not a "Team Player" and didn't "Give 100%". I feel these types of workers do need job protection.
The very fact that the workers are trying to organize tells me a great deal about the company. If the workers are well paid and have good working conditions they probably won't organize, which is why up to this point Unions have failed in the Tech industry. But as the new economy starts looking more like the old economy, these companies are not paying their employees well, they are not providing good work environments and the Unions are now making headway.
The botton line is the best protection against Labor Unions is to compensate your employees from top to bottom for their work, ie "A fair days pay for a fair days work". If a company does not want to provide a fair days pay then a Labor Union is inevitable and they have no one to blame but themselves.
Oh really? Is that why the Windows GUI is consistent whereas almost every X application has its own and often ugly widget set?
UH, actually yes, that is the reason anyone using Windows has no way to customize it to suit thier own needs and style, much beyond changing the background. Linux has always been about the freedom of choice, if I don't like a Window Manager, fine there are many others out there to choose from. Windows has always been about Microsoft and what Microsoft thinks you want and need, if you don't like the way it looks your only choice is not to use Windows at all.
"DeCSS is akin to a tool that breaks the lock on your house.
By your logic we should also outlaw the use and distribution of hammers and chisels. They can be used to break the locks on a house. For that matter hair pins can be used for the same, if you beleive the movies. Hammer and chisels are not outlawed because they have legitimate uses. Like it or not, DeCSS has legitimate use, it gives me the ability to play DvD's movies which I legally obtained on the device of my choice, that being my Computer which runs Linux. I have not stolen anything nor have it deprived anyone of any money, I still had to buy the DvD drive after all and I buy or rent the DvD movies I watch. So my question is who has lost here ?
As a result of this, releasing updated device drivers or other updated components means releasing a "new" kernel, even though the central structure and code is unchanged.
This is incorrect, I can and have upgraded my Video card, Sound card and Network card. I downloaded, built and installed the new drivers all without rebooting the system let alone recompiling the kernel and when I install or upgrade an application, I never have had to reboot the system. Windows on the other hand has to be rebooted after installing any driver and many applications including Office 2K. This tells me whatever method Linux is using to load device drivers and software libraries is clearly better than the methods used by Windows.
Patti Smith first sang "Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine"
I know, I just like Billy Idol's song better, though I have been told it is blasphemey and that I should commit suicide immeadiatly so as not to pass on my obvious lack of music taste to the next generation. I have adjusted my sig accordingly.
Most binary applications for Windows 3.1 still work with Windows 2000 (and everything in between).
You are so wrong here, I work in Tech Support on the phones and I can tell you 30% + of our customers are calling in asking to swap WinME for Win98 because some or all of thier software no longer works and to make matters worse, thier bigger, better and faster machines perform worse when using WinME then when they "Downgraded" to Win98.
No there is not a double standard. Windows costs money, and is developed by a very large company with thousands of programmers who are well paid. When I buy a copy, I expect it to work the way I want it too, I also expect problems to be handled quickly and without a complication. My expectations are further raised because of the marketing that takes place, in that they should provide a product that does what they themselves say it should do. Whether or not I would get this is another topic altogether. Of course if you read the EULA, they do not garrantee it will do anything, but none the less my expectations have been set. I hold RedHat to this standard as well.
Linux is for all intents and purposes free, I have never bought an "Offical" copy, although I have to pay for the media, $2.95 from CheapBytes or $0.50 if I want to download the ISO and burn it myself. It is developed primarily by programmers in thier spare time, most do not get paid for what they contribute and certainly all the Companies developing distibutions of Linux combined do not have the resources available to the that Microsoft does. My expectations are much lower, the fact that I get a fully funtional Operating System speaks volumes about the Open Source model.
Okay, there was a few bugs in 2.4, as there were bugs in every version of Windows and DOS before that, this is software after all, this happens. The difference between Windows and Linux is response time. It takes Microsoft months to fix even major security problems and minor problems can take years, if they are ever fixed at all. When they do fix problems, it tends to cause other problems, I point to WinNT SP 1-5 to prove my point. How many of those 65000+ bugs in Win2K have been fixed ? If you happen to be one of the many people who suffer from on of these bugs, don't bother call Microsoft, they will tell you this problem effects less than 2% of thier customers or that will be fixed in the next service pack and you have no way to fix the problem yourself.
It did take a long time to get from 2.2 to 2.4 as it took considerable time to get to 2.2, but I can rest easy that all the major bugs will be worked out quickly and even minor issues will be fixed soon enough and if I have to I can fix the problem myself or get someone who can. On top of all that, it costs me nothing but a little time and effort to upgrade to 2.4, were as it would cost me at least $49.95 to upgrade from Win98 to WinME as well as time and effort. There is absolutly no comparision here. Windows may win on the "Ease of use and installation" front, but looses horribly when we start to talk about stabilty, reliablity, timely bug fixes and total cost of ownership.
No this is not about theft, it has never been about theft and it never will be about theft. Absolutly everyone aggrees that pirating is illegal and should be illegal. The definition of IP Piracy is the distribution of copyrighted material by someone who does not own the copyright for profit and/or to the detriment of the copyright holder.
What this battle is about is the right of the consumer to use legally obtained copyrighted material as they see fit as long as they do not redistribute the material for a profit or to the detriment of the copyright holder. This fight is about control, if the Media giants had it thier way, VCR's would be illegal and posting an article on how to set the timer to record a TV show would get you sued. You may be able to live under this type of restriction, but I can not. I want to live in a country were "Fair Use" and "Freedom of Speech" means something. I would ask these companies to please embrace this new technology instead of trying to legislate it out of existance.
Oh, and yes I voted, and I have written my Congressman and Senator, the previous President and as of this morning, I have written the new President on these matters.
If you can show me one person who has not been able to pursue legitimate recording activites because of copy protection I will eat my words. Otherwise I stand by what I say.
Start eating, because www.2600.com was unfairly sued by the MPAA for simply reporting on DeCSS. Showing that the DMCA ripped "Freedom of Speech" and "Freedom of the Press" to sheds. I beleive you have this backwards, most people pursue legitimate recording activites, rather than illegitimate ones. These laws assume everyone is a criminal and this is just not the case
The problem with electronic voting is there will be no way to verify a vote after the fact. The software will be by Microsoft and therefore proprietary. The Hardware by Dell and will therefore be proprietary. This will be cross checked by a "Third Party" Unisys, but of course there will be no means to independently check for backdoors or vote skewing code, we will have to take their word for it. Even if everything is on the up and up to start with, will this system be on a network ? If so, we all know how safe and secure networks are. Can anyone say "Self Propagating VB Script".
I say No, lets go back to the old fashioned way, a printed ballot with check boxes and a pen. Then each precinct is responsible for counting their votes on location and accessible to the public. Once the count is done, the votes are sealed, locked up and impounded to prevent tampering in case a recount is necessary. Results are then reported to the county, first by phone, then later in writing, which then reports to the state, who then reports to the Federal Voting board. Everything is nice and clean, with a clear paper trail of accountability.
I can't believe you are comparing Linux to bare install of Windows 95. How about comparing a Base Workstation install of Red Hat Linux, which is around 600MB to Windows 2K Professional after you have installed Visual C++ & MSDN docs,
Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop, MS Office, Various Drivers and software for your hardware, ICQ, AIM, WinAmp and PGP. Besides costing thousands of dollars, I doubt it is 40 MB, but this is what you would need to install to get the equivilent software.
The problem with "White Hat Hackers" is how do you tell the difference ? Chances are very good, you can't tell the difference until its too late. If I were a "Black Hat Hacker", one of the things I'd probably do is try to develope a relationship with the System Administrater by letting him know about one or two holes, make him think I'm on his side. Social Engineering is a skill most Hackers pickup pretty early on. The safest thing to do is don't trust anyone who is not a legal user of your system, assume anyone breaking into your system intends to harm it and act accordingly.
It not really that bad, you'd be suprised how stable Windows can be as long as you aren't installing all kinds of crap on it. Pretty much the only things installed are the ATI drivers and software, which includes TV Tuner and DvD player, Santa Cruz Drivers, The keyboard/Mouse Drivers, WinAmp and RealJukeBox. That pretty much does every thing an entertainment center does and in some aspects better. Most Computer DvD players are superior to all but the highest priced standalone DvD players, and not even a 5 CD Changer can give you the amount of nonstop music a 20 GB Hard drive, nearly full of MP3's can. With ATI's new Tuner software, I have all the capabilities of Tivo. There really is no downside to doing this way, except maybe the computer won't go with the furniture, which my wife objected to at first.
This has already been done, any DvD drive you would put into a computer will play DvD, Audio CD's, VCD's and CDR/CDRW. When my wife's stereo went bad, I built a 600 Mhz Duron system to replace it as the entertainment center. It has a DvD drive, a 21" monitor, I plugged the speakers and subwoofer from the old stereo into the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card, a 20 GB 2nd Hard drive for MP3 storage, wireless mouse and keyboard and an ATI All-In-Wonder Video card for TV support. Works very well.
Slashdot Mirror
I have a similar story, I have a similar system to one you described, the only differnce was I was tried to install Win2K. It would boot to the CD and copy all the files fine, but once it started up it would give me a hardware failure error. The first time I ran some diagnistic programs, everything seemed fine, so I tried again and got the same error. I knew nothing was wrong with the system, so I installed RedHat 7.0 on it. The install went fine and I have upgraded to XFree86 4.02 and kernel 2.4.2. I have added a DvD drive (Yes I can watch DvD movies with it under Linux), a TV tuner card, a CDRW, a network card and a USB WebCam. All of which works perfectly. Whatever the problem was with Win2K is now Bill Gates problem, not mine. I took Win2K back to the store for refund and never looked back.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
Civial Disobedience is almost always considered criminal at the time it is being done. Ghandi was considered a criminal by the government he was protesting against. The US government considered the protestors at Kent State to be criminal, so much so they decided to shoot them rather than let thier message be heard. and many people considered Martin Luther King's followers to be criminal. History however shows these people to be what they were. It was they who were the Heroes and the government to be unjust and criminal.
It is interesting to note, the protestors of the WTO in Seattle, the Republcian and Democratic National Conventions were considered criminal and arrested, however, the protestors in Florida during our last Presidential election were left alone. The difference being, in Florida, both sides were supporting the Status Quo.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
I agree, there is no comparision between AfterStep and the Win9X GUI. But you also can not compare Win95 to RedHat Linux 7 w/KDE or Gnome. A modern Operating System, whether it is RH 7 or Win2K, is not going to run well on a P133 w/32 Mb of RAM. The difference I was pointing out, is Linux can be configured to run on this system, I'm not sure Win2K would even install on a system like this one, let alone be usable.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
Office 97 and Windows 95 will run on a P133 w/ 32 Mb of RAM. Not great, but okay.
UUMM, I'm not sure what your point here was, of course 6 year old software is going to run okay on a 6 year old system. I suspect if you tried to load Win2K on the system it would be so slow as to be unusable and only if you could install it at all. On the other hand RedHat 7, running a 2.4.X kernel and AfterStep as the Window Manager, would probably run rather well. This would assume I installed a video card supported by XFree86 4.01, but this not would help Win2K at all. Yes KDE or Gnome would be slow, but that is why I would pick AfterStep instead, a choice I simply do not have with Win2K.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
This is very true specialized devices suck. Look at all the things the PC has replaced. First it was the calculator and typewriter, then it replaced the Fax machine and game console and now it even replacing the VCR, TV and Stereo. Now this guy is trying to tell me, I will have to junk my PC and replace it with a Calculator, a Typewriter, a TV, VCR, game console and Stereo, only they will be better because they will have copy control. This is not a step in the right direction, this is stepping back to the 80's.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
I consider the DMCA to be in and of itself to be illegal, unfair and unjust. I consider acting against it in any way shape or to be Civil Disobediance and since the United States was founded on and has a tradition of Civil Disobediance, I see no problem with acting against it and its supporters.
I have the right to play my legally obtained DvD's on any legally obtained device. I buy my DvD's and I bought my DvD drive, which just happens to be installed in a computer running Linux. I am stealing nothing, I am hurting no one and I see no moral problem here.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
Of course they would never let us direct our tax dollars. First that would mean they would have to tell us where "THEY" are spending our money now, which ain't going to happen. Second, no one would want to pay for all those nasty little Police Actions we've been involved with in the last 20 years. Then where would all those Arms Dealers, OOPS, I mean Defense Contractors be.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
Many of the people (but not all) involved are military personal. The US Military Personal fall under the Uniform Code of Military Justice regardless of where they are. I suspect the militaries of other countries have similar codes. I am also sure NASA has their own set of bylaws which govern any civilians who travel into space.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
There is an article at http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue62/silva.html. Which covers recording with any TV card supported by Linux, using realproducer. I couldn't get the audio to record though.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
You are assuming that business will always do what is right. Time and time again business has proven when left to themselves they will not do what is right either for their employees or their customers. Minimun wage, child labor laws and work place safty regulations were all implemented because business proved they could not be trusted to do what was right for their employees. The $70,000 a year engineer doesn't need much protection, he can probably get a job anywhere. But the poor sucker working down in the shipping department making $16,000 a year does, because he can be replaced easily, regardless of how well he does his job. Same goes for that Customer Service representive who makes $28,000 a year, whose job can be done by someone in India for $2,000 a year. Do you think the CEO cares whether the he is good at his job or not, no all he knows is he is saving $26,000 a year.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
I think many of you have missed a key point. The article was not about programmers and engineers trying to organize, it is about customer service representives trying to organize. Programmers and engineers in the new economy have it made because there is not enough of them to go around. Customer service reps are a dime a dozen, virtually anyone can be trained to do it in a couple of weeks, I include phone support technicians in this as well. These are for all intents and purposes the unskilled labor of the new economy. These types of workers can be outsourced in an instant and in the case of Amazon, they went overseas to India where they can pay $1 an hour and no benifits let alone stock options. If these worker ask for raises they are told to find another job if this one isn't paying enough. If these workers don't want to work 70 hours a week, they are not forced to, but when thier yearly review comes up they are given low scores because they are not a "Team Player" and didn't "Give 100%". I feel these types of workers do need job protection.
The very fact that the workers are trying to organize tells me a great deal about the company. If the workers are well paid and have good working conditions they probably won't organize, which is why up to this point Unions have failed in the Tech industry. But as the new economy starts looking more like the old economy, these companies are not paying their employees well, they are not providing good work environments and the Unions are now making headway.
The botton line is the best protection against Labor Unions is to compensate your employees from top to bottom for their work, ie "A fair days pay for a fair days work". If a company does not want to provide a fair days pay then a Labor Union is inevitable and they have no one to blame but themselves.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
Oh really? Is that why the Windows GUI is consistent whereas almost every X application has its own and often ugly widget set?
UH, actually yes, that is the reason anyone using Windows has no way to customize it to suit thier own needs and style, much beyond changing the background. Linux has always been about the freedom of choice, if I don't like a Window Manager, fine there are many others out there to choose from. Windows has always been about Microsoft and what Microsoft thinks you want and need, if you don't like the way it looks your only choice is not to use Windows at all.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
"DeCSS is akin to a tool that breaks the lock on your house.
By your logic we should also outlaw the use and distribution of hammers and chisels. They can be used to break the locks on a house. For that matter hair pins can be used for the same, if you beleive the movies. Hammer and chisels are not outlawed because they have legitimate uses. Like it or not, DeCSS has legitimate use, it gives me the ability to play DvD's movies which I legally obtained on the device of my choice, that being my Computer which runs Linux. I have not stolen anything nor have it deprived anyone of any money, I still had to buy the DvD drive after all and I buy or rent the DvD movies I watch. So my question is who has lost here ?
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
As a result of this, releasing updated device drivers or other updated components means releasing a "new" kernel, even though the central structure and code is unchanged.
This is incorrect, I can and have upgraded my Video card, Sound card and Network card. I downloaded, built and installed the new drivers all without rebooting the system let alone recompiling the kernel and when I install or upgrade an application, I never have had to reboot the system. Windows on the other hand has to be rebooted after installing any driver and many applications including Office 2K. This tells me whatever method Linux is using to load device drivers and software libraries is clearly better than the methods used by Windows.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
Patti Smith first sang "Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine"
I know, I just like Billy Idol's song better, though I have been told it is blasphemey and that I should commit suicide immeadiatly so as not to pass on my obvious lack of music taste to the next generation. I have adjusted my sig accordingly.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
Most binary applications for Windows 3.1 still work with Windows 2000 (and everything in between).
You are so wrong here, I work in Tech Support on the phones and I can tell you 30% + of our customers are calling in asking to swap WinME for Win98 because some or all of thier software no longer works and to make matters worse, thier bigger, better and faster machines perform worse when using WinME then when they "Downgraded" to Win98.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
No there is not a double standard. Windows costs money, and is developed by a very large company with thousands of programmers who are well paid. When I buy a copy, I expect it to work the way I want it too, I also expect problems to be handled quickly and without a complication. My expectations are further raised because of the marketing that takes place, in that they should provide a product that does what they themselves say it should do. Whether or not I would get this is another topic altogether. Of course if you read the EULA, they do not garrantee it will do anything, but none the less my expectations have been set. I hold RedHat to this standard as well.
Linux is for all intents and purposes free, I have never bought an "Offical" copy, although I have to pay for the media, $2.95 from CheapBytes or $0.50 if I want to download the ISO and burn it myself. It is developed primarily by programmers in thier spare time, most do not get paid for what they contribute and certainly all the Companies developing distibutions of Linux combined do not have the resources available to the that Microsoft does. My expectations are much lower, the fact that I get a fully funtional Operating System speaks volumes about the Open Source model.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
Okay, there was a few bugs in 2.4, as there were bugs in every version of Windows and DOS before that, this is software after all, this happens. The difference between Windows and Linux is response time. It takes Microsoft months to fix even major security problems and minor problems can take years, if they are ever fixed at all. When they do fix problems, it tends to cause other problems, I point to WinNT SP 1-5 to prove my point. How many of those 65000+ bugs in Win2K have been fixed ? If you happen to be one of the many people who suffer from on of these bugs, don't bother call Microsoft, they will tell you this problem effects less than 2% of thier customers or that will be fixed in the next service pack and you have no way to fix the problem yourself.
It did take a long time to get from 2.2 to 2.4 as it took considerable time to get to 2.2, but I can rest easy that all the major bugs will be worked out quickly and even minor issues will be fixed soon enough and if I have to I can fix the problem myself or get someone who can. On top of all that, it costs me nothing but a little time and effort to upgrade to 2.4, were as it would cost me at least $49.95 to upgrade from Win98 to WinME as well as time and effort. There is absolutly no comparision here. Windows may win on the "Ease of use and installation" front, but looses horribly when we start to talk about stabilty, reliablity, timely bug fixes and total cost of ownership.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
This is about theft. That's all.
No this is not about theft, it has never been about theft and it never will be about theft. Absolutly everyone aggrees that pirating is illegal and should be illegal. The definition of IP Piracy is the distribution of copyrighted material by someone who does not own the copyright for profit and/or to the detriment of the copyright holder.
What this battle is about is the right of the consumer to use legally obtained copyrighted material as they see fit as long as they do not redistribute the material for a profit or to the detriment of the copyright holder. This fight is about control, if the Media giants had it thier way, VCR's would be illegal and posting an article on how to set the timer to record a TV show would get you sued. You may be able to live under this type of restriction, but I can not. I want to live in a country were "Fair Use" and "Freedom of Speech" means something. I would ask these companies to please embrace this new technology instead of trying to legislate it out of existance.
Oh, and yes I voted, and I have written my Congressman and Senator, the previous President and as of this morning, I have written the new President on these matters.
If you can show me one person who has not been able to pursue legitimate recording activites because of copy protection I will eat my words. Otherwise I stand by what I say.
Start eating, because www.2600.com was unfairly sued by the MPAA for simply reporting on DeCSS. Showing that the DMCA ripped "Freedom of Speech" and "Freedom of the Press" to sheds. I beleive you have this backwards, most people pursue legitimate recording activites, rather than illegitimate ones. These laws assume everyone is a criminal and this is just not the case
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
The problem with electronic voting is there will be no way to verify a vote after the fact. The software will be by Microsoft and therefore proprietary. The Hardware by Dell and will therefore be proprietary. This will be cross checked by a "Third Party" Unisys, but of course there will be no means to independently check for backdoors or vote skewing code, we will have to take their word for it. Even if everything is on the up and up to start with, will this system be on a network ? If so, we all know how safe and secure networks are. Can anyone say "Self Propagating VB Script".
I say No, lets go back to the old fashioned way, a printed ballot with check boxes and a pen. Then each precinct is responsible for counting their votes on location and accessible to the public. Once the count is done, the votes are sealed, locked up and impounded to prevent tampering in case a recount is necessary. Results are then reported to the county, first by phone, then later in writing, which then reports to the state, who then reports to the Federal Voting board. Everything is nice and clean, with a clear paper trail of accountability.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
Compare that to under 40MB for windows 95
I can't believe you are comparing Linux to bare install of Windows 95. How about comparing a Base Workstation install of Red Hat Linux, which is around 600MB to Windows 2K Professional after you have installed Visual C++ & MSDN docs, Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop, MS Office, Various Drivers and software for your hardware, ICQ, AIM, WinAmp and PGP. Besides costing thousands of dollars, I doubt it is 40 MB, but this is what you would need to install to get the equivilent software.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
The problem with "White Hat Hackers" is how do you tell the difference ? Chances are very good, you can't tell the difference until its too late. If I were a "Black Hat Hacker", one of the things I'd probably do is try to develope a relationship with the System Administrater by letting him know about one or two holes, make him think I'm on his side. Social Engineering is a skill most Hackers pickup pretty early on. The safest thing to do is don't trust anyone who is not a legal user of your system, assume anyone breaking into your system intends to harm it and act accordingly.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
I don't want to have to mouse around the screen to run the dvd player software and hit play.
This is an easily solved problem, Keyspan makes a remote control for computers. The product info is here.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
It not really that bad, you'd be suprised how stable Windows can be as long as you aren't installing all kinds of crap on it. Pretty much the only things installed are the ATI drivers and software, which includes TV Tuner and DvD player, Santa Cruz Drivers, The keyboard/Mouse Drivers, WinAmp and RealJukeBox. That pretty much does every thing an entertainment center does and in some aspects better. Most Computer DvD players are superior to all but the highest priced standalone DvD players, and not even a 5 CD Changer can give you the amount of nonstop music a 20 GB Hard drive, nearly full of MP3's can. With ATI's new Tuner software, I have all the capabilities of Tivo. There really is no downside to doing this way, except maybe the computer won't go with the furniture, which my wife objected to at first.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.
This has already been done, any DvD drive you would put into a computer will play DvD, Audio CD's, VCD's and CDR/CDRW. When my wife's stereo went bad, I built a 600 Mhz Duron system to replace it as the entertainment center. It has a DvD drive, a 21" monitor, I plugged the speakers and subwoofer from the old stereo into the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card, a 20 GB 2nd Hard drive for MP3 storage, wireless mouse and keyboard and an ATI All-In-Wonder Video card for TV support. Works very well.
Jesus died for sombodies sins, but not mine.