His article was nothing more than an attempt to prove an already developed conclusion and he did little or nothing to hide his bias. What the fuck was his problem with ctrl-c and ctrl-v? It's consistent across multiple apps as is ctrl-x (cut). But if he wants to play the mouse button game he could have just as easily obtained a Microsoft Intellimouse (I have the Trackball Explorer myself) which has five buttons and a scroll-wheel. I could easily program the buttons beneath my right ring and pinky fingers to handle copy and paste with a single mouse click btu I choose to leave them set to back and forward in Explorer and Inernet Explorer.
Next bias I found particularly full of shit was his contention that Widows Messenger awas nothing more than adware and one couldn't turn it off. MSN Messenger adds an ad space below the friends list (Windows Messenger does not have this) but you can turn this off in the tools menu. Either way, roblimo is definitely full of shit here.
On to his silly little KDE icons gripe. Windows comes with a quick launch bar that allows you to add icons to the taskbar (some apps even, annoyingly, add themselves to this little shelf) for quick access. I picked up an app that extends this capability quite a bit and is well worth the $20 price. It's called TrueLaunchBar and it allows you to add not only shortcuts to the taskbar but menus and plug-ins. Add the freely available StartKiller and you can have a very organized, clean, efficient taskbar that meets your needs and does it within the confines of Windows so it doesn't look or act like third party software.
Folks, the fucking idiot roblimo did't bother to do his homework on this article and it is rife with inaccuracies and plain bullshit. If the OSS community keeps propping fucktards lke this up as defenders of their cause, it is no wonder that people won't take the OSS cause seriously.
What's to stop counterfeiters from passing counterfeit bills of different colors and sizes? Hint: it's not the design that makes it desirable to counterfeit, it's the value of the currency.
Yes. I guess Americans have yet to fully develop their powers of ESP. I keep getting funny stares when I put my wallet to my forhead to determine if I have enough money to buy lunch. Everyone gives me a funny look with comments like, "What do you think you are, European or something?"
Didn't people here want the RIAA to leave the P2P apps alone a couple years ago, instead saying they should go after the people violating copyrights? Now that they're doing that you very same people are suggesting that the RIAA be denied the right to protect its IP? Which way do you want it? Would you rather they go after the P2P apps again and possibly get even more restrictive internet legislation passed or they go after the people responsible for violating current copyright laws?
"...than with protecting the revenue stream created by an out-of-date distribution system."
Mod me down (I have plenty of karma to burn) but I am so sick and fucking tired of hearing this line of tripe. If you have something better than put your money where your mouth is otherwise shut the fuck up. Saying something over and over ad nauseum does not make it true.
"If all abstracts are this general how do we differentiate one patent from another in a similar field at all?"
Oh, I don't know. Perhaps you RFTP and not rely on the abstract? If two seem similar you need to do further investigation of the patents themselves, not just stop at the abstract and say "loo, the abstract for patent A says it affects wigets in this manner and the abstract for patent B affects wigets in the same or very similar manner." The patent itself will explain what the difference is and why it's different than what everyone else is doing.
It's possible because this is a trademark infringement lawsuit. Trademarks are perpetual until the owner gives up its use or does not protect it, making it generic. The Library Hotel wrongfully infringed upon the trademark itself though they could likely continue using it as long as they didn't reference it by name.
* People are dying because of the artificial monopoly created by patents on drugs.
This artificial monopoly was created by a company using non-artificial money to develop these drugs. They are recouping the costs of R&D, which is quite high. The fact that third world countries can't afford the medicine is not their problem. They need to build an infrastructure that can support education of their people that will then lead to their own scientists discovering their own cures. To borrow an oft used phrase here, these governments "need to change their business model."
* Real software innovation is slowing due to patents.
See above. While I agree that most software patents should never have been allowed, I do not believe all software patents shoudl be allowed. Some ideas are quite rare or unique and cost a lot of R&D money. Companies should be allowed to get the money back that they sunk into the project if this is the case. Real software innovation would be developing an alternative, non-infringing method to work around the patent. However, many here find it far easier to grouse about the situation instead of taking the challenge head on.
* IP Litigation is a huge industry.
Since when was this illegal? I'd rather live in a free nation that allows for oppurtunities like this than one which follows the whims of the mob (which in most cases is the vocal minority), picking anc choosing whenm how and to whom laws shoudl or should not apply.
* Kids are being sued for copying a song that can be heard often for free on the radio.
Ah, but radio pays for the license to broadcast those songs AND the quality of FM is not nearly as good as MP3s which pale in copmparison to the audio quality of full CD quality audio. P2P apps are not paying for the rights to broadcast or distribute these songs.
Actually, most graphic designers I know hate OS X. The only reason I see any designers going to OS X is because they still like Apple computers and they will eventually be forced to if they want to run the latest software from Adobe and Quark. Lucky for them application upgrade cycles are rather slow and many can still get by using OS 9, PS 6, AI 9 and Quark 4 or 5. Myself, I have no problem with it though I use XP at home for all my design tasks there. I like XP a lot, if for nothing else because of the new way to group files explorer so I can more easily find files by date or type. I know you could order files by group or type before but XP groups then and visually splits the files for me. Throw in True Launch Bar and I have the most useful desktop OS ever.
'"Tell a lie often enough and eventually it is accepted as the truth".'
You mean like the lie that Windows isn't stable, secure or reliable enough? Sure, Windows 9x, even NT 3 and 4, had its problems but Windows 2000 and its progeny are every bit as good as anything else out there.
The author is not a lawyer and in no way is his article sound legal advice. From his resume:
Several years ago I began to write for publication. Mainly literary journalism but also opinion pieces, business articles and various bits of reporting.
I have tended to specialise in science, biography and history but have happily turned my hand to everything from genre novels to travel books. I published and edited two chairs magazine, a general interest literary magazine, for two years. (Soon I will put the archivedtwo chairs website up just for fun and reference.)
One man's misunderstanding coudl quickly become another's admission into the prison queen hall of fame. Personally I think Mr. Currie misunderstands the meaning behind where the original files can come from. I think you'll find that even Canada will eventually rule that you can only make copies from the original CD if and only if you own it. Canada is part of the WIPO and as such all members will eventually have to standardize their copyright laws. Why do you think the US extended its copyright terms to life of author plus 70 years? Disney might get the blame but in reality it was to bring the European and US terms into balance. Disney simply went along.
"Also, music takes less money to make than a movie. I.E. I will pay more for a movie."
Albums might cost less to produce but movies rake in far more at the box office than most albums do and the return on movies is much quicker. Consider that even a crappy movie will sell in the millions of tickets at the box office where as a CD will be lucky to sell more than a million copies. Most are lucky to sell more than 500,000 copies and even more still will see no more than 250,000 sold.
...is it the second Friday of the month already? I knew there had to be a reason why/. posted a positive story about Disney. Can't wait until Monday when they post the anti-Disney slant to this story:)
$150,000 is not damages, it is the fine associated with violating copyright law. This has been the fine for years, long before the internet. If you can't afford to pay the fine, avoid doing the crime, it's really that simple.
Yes, but why is it so difficult for you to purchase the CD or movie and rip it yourself? You have a copy you can play anywhere, you can rip the media into any damn format you want and you can restore the data easier then having to find the online store where you purchased the media from and hope they remember who you are and let you download another copy without problems. Either way, P2P does not come into the equation because it does not offer a way to purchase legitimate copies of media so the RIAA and MPAA member companies do not really have to change their business models at all now do they?
The DMCA does not make this illegal, it's the threat of a lawsuit that forced Google to remove the links. I'll bet you're the same type of person who villifies gun makers when someone is killed in a gun related crime.
...the $5 damonds are legally created and can be distributed without fear of legal retribution from DeBeers. The P2P networks on the other hand are illegal channels of distribution unless otherwise authorized by the copyright holder. Also, this may or may not be an RIAA member company, as I can legally create and find distribution channels for my music (such as small club gigs) and still sue people distributing the music through P2P networks. As has been siad hundreds of thousands of times before from the GPL Nazis, "don't like the terms of the license, don't use it." Well, if you don't like the terms of copyright, don't partake of the works created and protected through copyright. It really is as simple as that.
Apple has been doing something like this for years. If you run software on a network and you try to use the same copy of software on two different systems at the same time, something will have to give. In this case, MacOS informs you that person x is using a copy of the software and then it quits the application until you close down the other copy or log off the network. I don't see/. breaking out the hayforks over this though.
"Beyond what has been built into the software, you have no control."\
Bull fucking shit. All professional 3D apps have an SDK for developers to extend and augment the built-in functionality. If these apps don't do what you an them to do chances are either someone else has written a plug-in to do what you want or you're going to be able to do it yourself with the SDK (assuming you can program).
"The fact that SCO themselves distributed Linux under the GPL is one piece of evidence against SCO,..."
This is only true if SCO released a version of Linux with the offending source code included. If their version of Linux does not contain the same source code that they claim was illegally included by IBM then the source code is still protected by whatever agreement IBM and SCO originally had. THE GPL cannot force SCO to open anything other than what they released under this license.
That's just RMS on his tour of Africa, pushing the tao of GNU to opressed apes everywhere, forced to use a Windows powered black obelisk instead of the GNU/Linux GNU/Obelisk.
Do you have numbers to back that up? About the only place that the GameCube might be outselling the XBOX is Japan and this is due to jingoism more than anything else and I'm not sure even this is still true. XBOX surpassed GameCUbe in units sold in the US and Europe a long time ago.
"With nowhere to get these singles and no desire to buy an expensive CD album just for one song, it is no wonder many fans turn to file-sharing systems."
I wouldn't exactly label people who only like one song out of ten a fan. Fans tend lo like a higher percentage of songs on an album than your average listener.
Slashdot Mirror
His article was nothing more than an attempt to prove an already developed conclusion and he did little or nothing to hide his bias. What the fuck was his problem with ctrl-c and ctrl-v? It's consistent across multiple apps as is ctrl-x (cut). But if he wants to play the mouse button game he could have just as easily obtained a Microsoft Intellimouse (I have the Trackball Explorer myself) which has five buttons and a scroll-wheel. I could easily program the buttons beneath my right ring and pinky fingers to handle copy and paste with a single mouse click btu I choose to leave them set to back and forward in Explorer and Inernet Explorer.
Next bias I found particularly full of shit was his contention that Widows Messenger awas nothing more than adware and one couldn't turn it off. MSN Messenger adds an ad space below the friends list (Windows Messenger does not have this) but you can turn this off in the tools menu. Either way, roblimo is definitely full of shit here.
On to his silly little KDE icons gripe. Windows comes with a quick launch bar that allows you to add icons to the taskbar (some apps even, annoyingly, add themselves to this little shelf) for quick access. I picked up an app that extends this capability quite a bit and is well worth the $20 price. It's called TrueLaunchBar and it allows you to add not only shortcuts to the taskbar but menus and plug-ins. Add the freely available StartKiller and you can have a very organized, clean, efficient taskbar that meets your needs and does it within the confines of Windows so it doesn't look or act like third party software.
Folks, the fucking idiot roblimo did't bother to do his homework on this article and it is rife with inaccuracies and plain bullshit. If the OSS community keeps propping fucktards lke this up as defenders of their cause, it is no wonder that people won't take the OSS cause seriously.
What's to stop counterfeiters from passing counterfeit bills of different colors and sizes? Hint: it's not the design that makes it desirable to counterfeit, it's the value of the currency.
Yes. I guess Americans have yet to fully develop their powers of ESP. I keep getting funny stares when I put my wallet to my forhead to determine if I have enough money to buy lunch. Everyone gives me a funny look with comments like, "What do you think you are, European or something?"
Didn't people here want the RIAA to leave the P2P apps alone a couple years ago, instead saying they should go after the people violating copyrights? Now that they're doing that you very same people are suggesting that the RIAA be denied the right to protect its IP? Which way do you want it? Would you rather they go after the P2P apps again and possibly get even more restrictive internet legislation passed or they go after the people responsible for violating current copyright laws?
"As for people actually doing it, it's not my responsibility or anybody else's to show them to you."
It is their responsibility because they are making a claim with no facts to back it up.
"...than with protecting the revenue stream created by an out-of-date distribution system."
Mod me down (I have plenty of karma to burn) but I am so sick and fucking tired of hearing this line of tripe. If you have something better than put your money where your mouth is otherwise shut the fuck up. Saying something over and over ad nauseum does not make it true.
"If all abstracts are this general how do we differentiate one patent from another in a similar field at all?"
Oh, I don't know. Perhaps you RFTP and not rely on the abstract? If two seem similar you need to do further investigation of the patents themselves, not just stop at the abstract and say "loo, the abstract for patent A says it affects wigets in this manner and the abstract for patent B affects wigets in the same or very similar manner." The patent itself will explain what the difference is and why it's different than what everyone else is doing.
It's possible because this is a trademark infringement lawsuit. Trademarks are perpetual until the owner gives up its use or does not protect it, making it generic. The Library Hotel wrongfully infringed upon the trademark itself though they could likely continue using it as long as they didn't reference it by name.
* People are dying because of the artificial monopoly created by patents on drugs.
This artificial monopoly was created by a company using non-artificial money to develop these drugs. They are recouping the costs of R&D, which is quite high. The fact that third world countries can't afford the medicine is not their problem. They need to build an infrastructure that can support education of their people that will then lead to their own scientists discovering their own cures. To borrow an oft used phrase here, these governments "need to change their business model."
* Real software innovation is slowing due to patents.
See above. While I agree that most software patents should never have been allowed, I do not believe all software patents shoudl be allowed. Some ideas are quite rare or unique and cost a lot of R&D money. Companies should be allowed to get the money back that they sunk into the project if this is the case. Real software innovation would be developing an alternative, non-infringing method to work around the patent. However, many here find it far easier to grouse about the situation instead of taking the challenge head on.
* IP Litigation is a huge industry.
Since when was this illegal? I'd rather live in a free nation that allows for oppurtunities like this than one which follows the whims of the mob (which in most cases is the vocal minority), picking anc choosing whenm how and to whom laws shoudl or should not apply.
* Kids are being sued for copying a song that can be heard often for free on the radio.
Ah, but radio pays for the license to broadcast those songs AND the quality of FM is not nearly as good as MP3s which pale in copmparison to the audio quality of full CD quality audio. P2P apps are not paying for the rights to broadcast or distribute these songs.
Actually, most graphic designers I know hate OS X. The only reason I see any designers going to OS X is because they still like Apple computers and they will eventually be forced to if they want to run the latest software from Adobe and Quark. Lucky for them application upgrade cycles are rather slow and many can still get by using OS 9, PS 6, AI 9 and Quark 4 or 5. Myself, I have no problem with it though I use XP at home for all my design tasks there. I like XP a lot, if for nothing else because of the new way to group files explorer so I can more easily find files by date or type. I know you could order files by group or type before but XP groups then and visually splits the files for me. Throw in True Launch Bar and I have the most useful desktop OS ever.
'"Tell a lie often enough and eventually it is accepted as the truth".'
You mean like the lie that Windows isn't stable, secure or reliable enough? Sure, Windows 9x, even NT 3 and 4, had its problems but Windows 2000 and its progeny are every bit as good as anything else out there.
One man's misunderstanding coudl quickly become another's admission into the prison queen hall of fame. Personally I think Mr. Currie misunderstands the meaning behind where the original files can come from. I think you'll find that even Canada will eventually rule that you can only make copies from the original CD if and only if you own it. Canada is part of the WIPO and as such all members will eventually have to standardize their copyright laws. Why do you think the US extended its copyright terms to life of author plus 70 years? Disney might get the blame but in reality it was to bring the European and US terms into balance. Disney simply went along.
"Also, music takes less money to make than a movie. I.E. I will pay more for a movie."
Albums might cost less to produce but movies rake in far more at the box office than most albums do and the return on movies is much quicker. Consider that even a crappy movie will sell in the millions of tickets at the box office where as a CD will be lucky to sell more than a million copies. Most are lucky to sell more than 500,000 copies and even more still will see no more than 250,000 sold.
...is it the second Friday of the month already? I knew there had to be a reason why /. posted a positive story about Disney. Can't wait until Monday when they post the anti-Disney slant to this story :)
$150,000 is not damages, it is the fine associated with violating copyright law. This has been the fine for years, long before the internet. If you can't afford to pay the fine, avoid doing the crime, it's really that simple.
Yes, but why is it so difficult for you to purchase the CD or movie and rip it yourself? You have a copy you can play anywhere, you can rip the media into any damn format you want and you can restore the data easier then having to find the online store where you purchased the media from and hope they remember who you are and let you download another copy without problems. Either way, P2P does not come into the equation because it does not offer a way to purchase legitimate copies of media so the RIAA and MPAA member companies do not really have to change their business models at all now do they?
"...the DMCA makes URLs a copyright violation?"
The DMCA does not make this illegal, it's the threat of a lawsuit that forced Google to remove the links. I'll bet you're the same type of person who villifies gun makers when someone is killed in a gun related crime.
...the $5 damonds are legally created and can be distributed without fear of legal retribution from DeBeers. The P2P networks on the other hand are illegal channels of distribution unless otherwise authorized by the copyright holder. Also, this may or may not be an RIAA member company, as I can legally create and find distribution channels for my music (such as small club gigs) and still sue people distributing the music through P2P networks. As has been siad hundreds of thousands of times before from the GPL Nazis, "don't like the terms of the license, don't use it." Well, if you don't like the terms of copyright, don't partake of the works created and protected through copyright. It really is as simple as that.
Actually, much of PBS fudnign comes from viewers not Government grant money. Why do you think PBS stations have their telethons each year?
Apple has been doing something like this for years. If you run software on a network and you try to use the same copy of software on two different systems at the same time, something will have to give. In this case, MacOS informs you that person x is using a copy of the software and then it quits the application until you close down the other copy or log off the network. I don't see /. breaking out the hayforks over this though.
"Beyond what has been built into the software, you have no control."\
Bull fucking shit. All professional 3D apps have an SDK for developers to extend and augment the built-in functionality. If these apps don't do what you an them to do chances are either someone else has written a plug-in to do what you want or you're going to be able to do it yourself with the SDK (assuming you can program).
"The fact that SCO themselves distributed Linux under the GPL is one piece of evidence against SCO,..."
This is only true if SCO released a version of Linux with the offending source code included. If their version of Linux does not contain the same source code that they claim was illegally included by IBM then the source code is still protected by whatever agreement IBM and SCO originally had. THE GPL cannot force SCO to open anything other than what they released under this license.
That's just RMS on his tour of Africa, pushing the tao of GNU to opressed apes everywhere, forced to use a Windows powered black obelisk instead of the GNU/Linux GNU/Obelisk.
Do you have numbers to back that up? About the only place that the GameCube might be outselling the XBOX is Japan and this is due to jingoism more than anything else and I'm not sure even this is still true. XBOX surpassed GameCUbe in units sold in the US and Europe a long time ago.
"With nowhere to get these singles and no desire to buy an expensive CD album just for one song, it is no wonder many fans turn to file-sharing systems."
I wouldn't exactly label people who only like one song out of ten a fan. Fans tend lo like a higher percentage of songs on an album than your average listener.