Since Openoffice files are simply zipped directory trees containing XML files, I'm not sure you need anything more than zip (pkzip, winzip, infozip, whatever) and something that can handle plain text (i.e. notepad).
Heck, I got by for years with nothing but the Unix strings(1) command for access to MSOffice files. Your options are a whole lot more open and flexible than that.:)
As near as I can tell from TFA (which is notably sparse on details), the FCC doesn't want to be involved. Which seems to lead to only two possible conclusions: either the FCC should regulate broadband, or the FCC is right. And since I can't imagine that either of those statements is true, I'm really not sure what to think!
Of course, having lived with American politics all my life, I can't say that being faced with two unacceptable choices is a new experience....:)
I really want to see the movie about the intrepid '@' and his adventures in a world of dangerous 'D's, obnoxious 'o's and ravening 'r's. The scene where he's backed into a dead-end '#' by a swarm of killer 'b's, with nothing but a ')' to defend himself, and then his faithful 'f' saves the day, should have audiences laughing and cheering.
Gee, I wonder why people think Windows users are such a bunch of friggin' morons? With suggestions like this? I DON'T KNOW THE ANSWERS! I don't use Windows, I don't know how it works. I can't answer the damn questions. Furthermore, you don't cure drug addiction by offering clean needles.
> Most people are not ready/able to run Linux
That's complete and utter bullshit! Ok, I admit, I was a little worried about this, so (with some help from my brother) I set up my aunt's system to dual-boot, so she could go back to Windows if Linux proved too much for her. In the nine months since I installed the system, she hasn't booted Windows once. Despite being almost completely computer-illiterate, she has had no problems doing any of the things with her system that she used to do with Windows. If a professional cook who has spent most of the last twenty years in the wilds of British Columbia can handle Linux, I can't imagine who can't. (Oh, my four-year-old niece also has no problems with Linux.)
"I think one of the main reasons we have these sorts of decisions is the fact that the average judge is so old he has no idea what a computer is or what it is being used for."
That may have been the case in the earlier case (where the FBI's claim that a keylogger was not a wiretap was upheld), but in this case, the judge was merely following precedent, which is what a judge is supposed to do. The law is supposed to be consistent. When two judges make conflicting rulings, the result is a mess that usually has to be straightened out by an appeals court or even the Supreme Court. It could even result in the earlier case being re-opened and overturned. This way, the law is consistent, we all now know for sure whether a keylogger counts as a wiretap, and if anyone doesn't like it (e.g. the Feds), they can petition Congress to change the law. That's the way it's supposed to work, and I'm glad to see that that's the way it did work in this case.
But maybe I've been hanging out on Groklaw too much.:)
The problem is over just what does and doesn't constitute "derivative code".
The term "derivative work" comes from copyright law. The GPL is a copyright license. If your work infringes the authors' copyright(s), then your only legal resource is to comply with the GPL (which means you get the rights to distribute the copyrighted material), negotiate separate terms with the copyright holders, or arrange to no longer be violating anyone's copyrights. If your work isn't infringing anyone's copyrights, then you're fine; the GPL isn't an issue. It's just that simple.
If you don't like the vagueness of the term "derivative work", complain to Congress, not to the FSF. The FSF isn't in charge of that.
Actually, it's not overlooked. If you start at the beginning (article I), you'll find that Ogg is specifically mentioned up front because of it's popularity, and that many of the units support do support Ogg. I only skimmed the five articles, but at a guess, I'd say that roughly a third of units support Ogg.
And if your coat-hangers-and-corned-beef format could perform as well as Ogg has in independent, double-blind listening tests, then maybe you should be screaming blue murder if people are ignoring it.
I let my family members run Windows if they want, but I tell 'em that if they do, I can't help them with it. I haven't used Windows since '96 or '97, and even then, I only used it for games, and wouldn't allow it to install the modem drivers, much less connect to the internet. I have no idea how to make a Windows system safe and secure, nor do I have any interest in learning.
So, instead, I have a standing offer. Anyone in my family who's sick of viruses and spyware and the other ills of Windows can get my help setting up and maintaining a Linux box. So far, only my completely-computer-illiterate aunt has taken me up on it (after a major fight with viruses), but she's been so happy with the results that I think some others may come around soon.
To be fair to -taj-, he was merely quoting the top of the page he linked to, where it does indeed have the claim that the guy is real. And the link at the bottom about it being an urban myth seems to be semi-broken. Here's what Snopes has to say, though.
I'd rather go with a country that was opposed to this nonsense all along, rather than one that had a last-minute change of heart. Too much danger that they could change back.
I wonder if the FSF-Europe has any recommendations on where I (we) should relocate.:)
But how did you get to be the last person in the world remembering to place a quote mark (or what passes for one) outside the period?
Since you mention "the world", I'll point out that the stylistic guideline you're referring to is peculiarly American. The British have always had the (far more sensible, IMO) rule that the punctuation only goes inside the quotes if it's actually found in the material being quoted. And over the last twenty or thirty years, the so-called "British Rule" has become acceptable in American English as well.
Here's a tip for ya: The Elements of Style is a great book for improving your own writing, but it absolutely fails to distinguish between rules, guidelines, and mere suggestions, which makes it a terrible resource for criticizing the works of others. For that, I recommend you obtain the Chicago Manual of Style, which (unlike Strunk & White) is used by professional editors throughout the US.
Yeah, let's see, they built a space elevator, except it doesn't go into space, so really it's just...an elevator? Attached to a building? Is this really news? I've seen elevators attached to buildings before. Not exactly newsworthy.
Oh, and they built a robot that was able to, um, climb the elevator? Aren't elevators something you ride, not climb? And why would you need a robot to ride an elevator? Wouldn't an ordinary rock do the trick? Is this actually a prototype for a space ladder? If these guys expect me to climb all the way to geo-sync orbit, they can just think again!:)~
Oh well, I'm sure they did something interesting, but I haven't got time to RTFA right now, and the slashdot summary is pretty much information-free, so I guess I'll just have to wait to find out more.
When I was using torrent to d/l the latest Ubuntu Linux ISOs, I noticed a huge spike in the number of probes and scans to my system. It's not just the RIAA/MPAA that BT doesn't hide your identity from!:)
Interestingly, I don't see this kind of spike when getting (legal) concert recordings from bt.etree.org. But that's probably subject to change without notice at any point. Fortunately, my only open port (ssh) is configured with libwrap to block access from any but a few specific IPs, and I keep an eye on my logs just in case. But I definitely think this is something people should be aware of. Using BT does make you a more visible target for attacks, and not just legal ones!
Just 'cause you think you know everything, that doesn't mean that you do know everything. Encouraging the supposedly-uniformed to not vote would simply mean that the arrogant and egotistical (who will be sure that they are among the enlightened) will be disproportionately represented. While the shy, the timid, and the insecure, who may actually be better informed, will stay home.
Also, to quote Dilbert, intelligence has less practical applications than you might think. Voting on intuition may seem like a bad idea, but overall, I'm not really sure that it's any less reliable than voting on basis of possibly false or misrepresented information.
Overall, I think I'd rather have everyone vote, and take my chances, than try to keep certain "special" people from voting (and still take my chances). Frankly, I think there's enough arrogant know-it-alls in politics already.:)
You don't have to register as a party supporter - it's entirely optional. However, only parties with a sufficient number of registered voters are eligible to have their candidates on the ballot and get election funding. Also, being registered with a particular party may be necessary to vote for that party's candidates in the primaries (where they decide which candidate will actually run for that party in the main election). I used to register with a major party for the primaries, and then switch to one of the smaller parties that I like to support for the main election, but my state has gone to open primaries, so I no longer see any reason to ever register for a major party.
Basically, think of it as a pre-election vote of confidence in the party.
The Travelling Salesman Problem remains NP-complete, and I don't think Linux or any other open source software is going to change that. So, in other words, your options may come down to an inefficient solution like you have now, or an efficient solution that takes longer to calculate than the inefficient route takes to travel.:)
The creationists are wrong because they misunderstand their own religion.
Yes.
The evolutionists are wrong because there is no reason to try to prove that creationists are wrong.
No. Or at least, not entirely. Some of the evolutionists are, in fact, members of the religion that the creationists misunderstand, and they try to prove the creationists wrong in order to defend their religion.
Others try to prove the creationists wrong simply because they are wrong, which seems like a not-too-terrible reason to me.
Anyway, this work wasn't done to prove the creationists wrong, it was done to increase our understanding of the eye and how it evolved.
You're forgetting an important alternative: maybe God is just a really lousy engineer. Maybe, in the land of the Gods, our universe is just a third-rate high-school science project. Maybe our God is just an incompetant dumbass!:)
No matter how you try to spin it, trading copyrighted material over the internet is against the law.
Gee, I think you'd better tell the Free Software Foundation that. Oh, and the Grateful Dead. And Phish. And IBM. And Pearl Jam. And the Cowboy Junkies. And They Might Be Giants. And Novell. And the Butthole Surfers. And Hank Williams III. And Red Hat. And Fugazi. And Little Feat. And Debian. And Gov't Mule. And Charlie Hunter. And Openoffice.org. And Ween. And Primus. And...y'know what? I've got a list of over 1000 bands here, and a couple of hundred companies. Let's just say that if you want to inform all these folks that they're not allowed to allow people to trade their copyrighted works over the Internet, you've got your work cut out for you.:)
Oh no, a press release that tries to draw attention to a company's product(s)?! That's horrible! How dare they!? Next thing you know, they'll be paying to have their product mentioned in national publications, maybe even on television. They might even try to bribe certain unscrupulous, underhanded journalists (called "ree-vyOO-ers") with copies of the game in a blatant attempt to get detailed articles published about their products. When will it end? Aren't there laws against this sort of thing?
Stan: they advertised their own product! Kyle: YOU BASTARDS!
I'd happily participate in bashing of other religions, except that members of other religions don't show up on slashdot to lecture me about what I should or shouldn't do, say, or think.
If Christians don't want to be bashed, they shouldn't go around trying to shove their beliefs down people's throats, whether or not those people are interested.
Slashdot Mirror
No, no, he said he's running Debian! Not SCO!
Since Openoffice files are simply zipped directory trees containing XML files, I'm not sure you need anything more than zip (pkzip, winzip, infozip, whatever) and something that can handle plain text (i.e. notepad).
:)
Heck, I got by for years with nothing but the Unix strings(1) command for access to MSOffice files. Your options are a whole lot more open and flexible than that.
As near as I can tell from TFA (which is notably sparse on details), the FCC doesn't want to be involved. Which seems to lead to only two possible conclusions: either the FCC should regulate broadband, or the FCC is right. And since I can't imagine that either of those statements is true, I'm really not sure what to think!
:)
Of course, having lived with American politics all my life, I can't say that being faced with two unacceptable choices is a new experience....
I really want to see the movie about the intrepid '@' and his adventures in a world of dangerous 'D's, obnoxious 'o's and ravening 'r's. The scene where he's backed into a dead-end '#' by a swarm of killer 'b's, with nothing but a ')' to defend himself, and then his faithful 'f' saves the day, should have audiences laughing and cheering.
:)
Heck, there's no way it could possibly be worse than Dungeons & Dragons: the Movie!
> They're your family; answer their questions
Gee, I wonder why people think Windows users are such a bunch of friggin' morons? With suggestions like this? I DON'T KNOW THE ANSWERS! I don't use Windows, I don't know how it works. I can't answer the damn questions. Furthermore, you don't cure drug addiction by offering clean needles.
> Most people are not ready/able to run Linux
That's complete and utter bullshit! Ok, I admit, I was a little worried about this, so (with some help from my brother) I set up my aunt's system to dual-boot, so she could go back to Windows if Linux proved too much for her. In the nine months since I installed the system, she hasn't booted Windows once. Despite being almost completely computer-illiterate, she has had no problems doing any of the things with her system that she used to do with Windows. If a professional cook who has spent most of the last twenty years in the wilds of British Columbia can handle Linux, I can't imagine who can't. (Oh, my four-year-old niece also has no problems with Linux.)
Go spread your FUD somewhere else, troll.
"I think one of the main reasons we have these sorts of decisions is the fact that the average judge is so old he has no idea what a computer is or what it is being used for."
:)
That may have been the case in the earlier case (where the FBI's claim that a keylogger was not a wiretap was upheld), but in this case, the judge was merely following precedent, which is what a judge is supposed to do. The law is supposed to be consistent. When two judges make conflicting rulings, the result is a mess that usually has to be straightened out by an appeals court or even the Supreme Court. It could even result in the earlier case being re-opened and overturned. This way, the law is consistent, we all now know for sure whether a keylogger counts as a wiretap, and if anyone doesn't like it (e.g. the Feds), they can petition Congress to change the law. That's the way it's supposed to work, and I'm glad to see that that's the way it did work in this case.
But maybe I've been hanging out on Groklaw too much.
The problem is over just what does and doesn't constitute "derivative code".
The term "derivative work" comes from copyright law. The GPL is a copyright license. If your work infringes the authors' copyright(s), then your only legal resource is to comply with the GPL (which means you get the rights to distribute the copyrighted material), negotiate separate terms with the copyright holders, or arrange to no longer be violating anyone's copyrights. If your work isn't infringing anyone's copyrights, then you're fine; the GPL isn't an issue. It's just that simple.
If you don't like the vagueness of the term "derivative work", complain to Congress, not to the FSF. The FSF isn't in charge of that.
Actually, it's not overlooked. If you start at the beginning (article I), you'll find that Ogg is specifically mentioned up front because of it's popularity, and that many of the units support do support Ogg. I only skimmed the five articles, but at a guess, I'd say that roughly a third of units support Ogg.
And if your coat-hangers-and-corned-beef format could perform as well as Ogg has in independent, double-blind listening tests, then maybe you should be screaming blue murder if people are ignoring it.
I let my family members run Windows if they want, but I tell 'em that if they do, I can't help them with it. I haven't used Windows since '96 or '97, and even then, I only used it for games, and wouldn't allow it to install the modem drivers, much less connect to the internet. I have no idea how to make a Windows system safe and secure, nor do I have any interest in learning.
So, instead, I have a standing offer. Anyone in my family who's sick of viruses and spyware and the other ills of Windows can get my help setting up and maintaining a Linux box. So far, only my completely-computer-illiterate aunt has taken me up on it (after a major fight with viruses), but she's been so happy with the results that I think some others may come around soon.
To be fair to -taj-, he was merely quoting the top of the page he linked to, where it does indeed have the claim that the guy is real. And the link at the bottom about it being an urban myth seems to be semi-broken. Here's what Snopes has to say, though.
I'd rather go with a country that was opposed to this nonsense all along, rather than one that had a last-minute change of heart. Too much danger that they could change back.
:)
I wonder if the FSF-Europe has any recommendations on where I (we) should relocate.
But how did you get to be the last person in the world remembering to place a quote mark (or what passes for one) outside the period?
Since you mention "the world", I'll point out that the stylistic guideline you're referring to is peculiarly American. The British have always had the (far more sensible, IMO) rule that the punctuation only goes inside the quotes if it's actually found in the material being quoted. And over the last twenty or thirty years, the so-called "British Rule" has become acceptable in American English as well.
Here's a tip for ya: The Elements of Style is a great book for improving your own writing, but it absolutely fails to distinguish between rules, guidelines, and mere suggestions, which makes it a terrible resource for criticizing the works of others. For that, I recommend you obtain the Chicago Manual of Style, which (unlike Strunk & White) is used by professional editors throughout the US.
Yeah, let's see, they built a space elevator, except it doesn't go into space, so really it's just...an elevator? Attached to a building? Is this really news? I've seen elevators attached to buildings before. Not exactly newsworthy.
:)~
Oh, and they built a robot that was able to, um, climb the elevator? Aren't elevators something you ride, not climb? And why would you need a robot to ride an elevator? Wouldn't an ordinary rock do the trick? Is this actually a prototype for a space ladder? If these guys expect me to climb all the way to geo-sync orbit, they can just think again!
Oh well, I'm sure they did something interesting, but I haven't got time to RTFA right now, and the slashdot summary is pretty much information-free, so I guess I'll just have to wait to find out more.
There are two types of people: those who pay interest, and those who collect it.
:)
I don't do either (I'm a cash-and-carry guy), and I know plenty of people who do both (think small business owner).
Queue up the chorus of "there are two kinds of people" jokes...
When I was using torrent to d/l the latest Ubuntu Linux ISOs, I noticed a huge spike in the number of probes and scans to my system. It's not just the RIAA/MPAA that BT doesn't hide your identity from! :)
Interestingly, I don't see this kind of spike when getting (legal) concert recordings from bt.etree.org. But that's probably subject to change without notice at any point. Fortunately, my only open port (ssh) is configured with libwrap to block access from any but a few specific IPs, and I keep an eye on my logs just in case. But I definitely think this is something people should be aware of. Using BT does make you a more visible target for attacks, and not just legal ones!
Just 'cause you think you know everything, that doesn't mean that you do know everything. Encouraging the supposedly-uniformed to not vote would simply mean that the arrogant and egotistical (who will be sure that they are among the enlightened) will be disproportionately represented. While the shy, the timid, and the insecure, who may actually be better informed, will stay home.
:)
Also, to quote Dilbert, intelligence has less practical applications than you might think. Voting on intuition may seem like a bad idea, but overall, I'm not really sure that it's any less reliable than voting on basis of possibly false or misrepresented information.
Overall, I think I'd rather have everyone vote, and take my chances, than try to keep certain "special" people from voting (and still take my chances). Frankly, I think there's enough arrogant know-it-alls in politics already.
You don't have to register as a party supporter - it's entirely optional. However, only parties with a sufficient number of registered voters are eligible to have their candidates on the ballot and get election funding. Also, being registered with a particular party may be necessary to vote for that party's candidates in the primaries (where they decide which candidate will actually run for that party in the main election). I used to register with a major party for the primaries, and then switch to one of the smaller parties that I like to support for the main election, but my state has gone to open primaries, so I no longer see any reason to ever register for a major party.
Basically, think of it as a pre-election vote of confidence in the party.
The Travelling Salesman Problem remains NP-complete, and I don't think Linux or any other open source software is going to change that. So, in other words, your options may come down to an inefficient solution like you have now, or an efficient solution that takes longer to calculate than the inefficient route takes to travel. :)
My god, you're right, that's freakin' hysterical! :)
The creationists are wrong because they misunderstand their own religion.
Yes.
The evolutionists are wrong because there is no reason to try to prove that creationists are wrong.
No. Or at least, not entirely. Some of the evolutionists are, in fact, members of the religion that the creationists misunderstand, and they try to prove the creationists wrong in order to defend their religion.
Others try to prove the creationists wrong simply because they are wrong, which seems like a not-too-terrible reason to me.
Anyway, this work wasn't done to prove the creationists wrong, it was done to increase our understanding of the eye and how it evolved.
You're forgetting an important alternative: maybe God is just a really lousy engineer. Maybe, in the land of the Gods, our universe is just a third-rate high-school science project. Maybe our God is just an incompetant dumbass! :)
No matter how you try to spin it, trading copyrighted material over the internet is against the law.
:)
Gee, I think you'd better tell the Free Software Foundation that. Oh, and the Grateful Dead. And Phish. And IBM. And Pearl Jam. And the Cowboy Junkies. And They Might Be Giants. And Novell. And the Butthole Surfers. And Hank Williams III. And Red Hat. And Fugazi. And Little Feat. And Debian. And Gov't Mule. And Charlie Hunter. And Openoffice.org. And Ween. And Primus. And...y'know what? I've got a list of over 1000 bands here, and a couple of hundred companies. Let's just say that if you want to inform all these folks that they're not allowed to allow people to trade their copyrighted works over the Internet, you've got your work cut out for you.
If they only sold 200 Xbox last month, then I'd bet that even BSD outsold it. And, as we all know (and Netcraft confirms), BSD is dead, so.... :)
The press release reads like a cry for attention.
Oh no, a press release that tries to draw attention to a company's product(s)?! That's horrible! How dare they!? Next thing you know, they'll be paying to have their product mentioned in national publications, maybe even on television. They might even try to bribe certain unscrupulous, underhanded journalists (called "ree-vyOO-ers") with copies of the game in a blatant attempt to get detailed articles published about their products. When will it end? Aren't there laws against this sort of thing?
Stan: they advertised their own product!
Kyle: YOU BASTARDS!
I'd happily participate in bashing of other religions, except that members of other religions don't show up on slashdot to lecture me about what I should or shouldn't do, say, or think.
If Christians don't want to be bashed, they shouldn't go around trying to shove their beliefs down people's throats, whether or not those people are interested.