My father in-law is a potatoe grower and he knows when a recession is ending and starting. Like alcohol it is inverse and indicates more in-home entertainment.
Exactly. Why is it that this topic keeps coming back from the grave? A small tax will do nothing to stop spammers since we have the USPS to prove that. Think of it, the USPS is charging about 40cents per letter? That is the price tag where email would cost the same as snail mail. Imagine 40 cents would be charged on the Internet? Can we say ghost town?
In this case technology is the only way that SPAM can be stopped.... Trust me it is the only way and it is not that hard.... Just some out of the box thinking...
Because maybe it is not popular enough? Or that people do not want to pay to read your material anymore? I am sorry that you are not, but them's are the breaks. BTW I am a professional writer.
The point is that you should have the right to be paid for the work that you created. Hence my idea for the rule life of creator + 14.
Not correct at all. 28 years is a whee bit short. For technical manuals this is on the edge of out of date and still useful. But for novels this is nowhere near enough.
Case in point, "Stranger in a strange land". Great SciFi book written in 1961, which means it would have been in public domain in 1989 it would be entered into the public domain. Or how about the original Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy? It would be really close to becoming public domain.
Sorry, but this is not right. Not to say that the current are better. But there are people who earn their monies from writing books.
I also think that having that many novels coming into the public domain will pressure writers to earn less. Consider it as follows. When books enter the public domain the publishers win and author looses. If the publisher knows that there is a short copyright then the publisher will wait and create a market in "cheap" books. These books already exist in the book stores now. If the supply of these books is huge then people will buy those books and not the new ones. For example, while Frankstein from Shelly is a damm good book, it is only for those BOOK readers willing to make the time for the book. It was written in a prose that simply is not used these days. But contrast that with Stranger in a strange land or Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. These books are still written in a modern prose using semi modern plots, etc. These books would undercut author's right to earn an income, because as we all know in the end it is the publishers that win not the creators of the content.
I personally would go for the rule, Authors Life + 14 years. That would be fair because for the life of the author they can earn a living and shortly thereafter for other expenses. Having longer after the life of the author means again it is the publisher that profits not the original creator of the content.
Article 11: Freedom of Expression and Information 1) Everyon has the right to freedom and expression. This shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. 2) The freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected.
Then read Article 10, and 12.
Now about the subjects that are not approved. Hmmm, let me think on this one. What about the commies? Gee when was the last time there was a commie party? Oh I forgot they were BANNED in the US and anybody who was even in the remotest related to the communist party was persecuted! So Europe has its things and so does the US.
About Ireland. PLEASE, read the records. Yes the EU is complaining about the low taxes of Ireland, but they did not threaten sanctions. Some Politcal members may have, but that is how a democracy works. BUT Ireland did receive large sums of money http://www.rnw.nl/special/en/borders/html/ireland0 00928.html
And notice what it says... The EU provided Ireland with several key ingredients -- access to a huge market, plus billions of dollars in development funding and support for agriculture.
Because of these billions Ireland could reduce their tax rates and attract business. So it ended up working for them.
And finally about the ability to arm themselves? Please read the articles and you will that you the right to legally defend your rights and properties. Are you allowed to take up arms in self-defence? Not likely, but then again this is an idiosyncracy of the American Constitution...
2) Europe is repressive? Excuse me? Where did you get that? Or let me ask which propaganda did you hear that from?
You mention the Irish, please note that Ireland has received plenty of aid and has been rebuilt into a dynamic economy.
Now about it bowing down? It does not bow down, it compromises. You see in Europe NOBODY gets what they want. Everyone has to compromise, and unlike probably how you might protray it, neighter Germany, nor France, nor the UK get what they want.
Now about individual rights. Please read the following: http://www.europarl.eu.int/charter/pdf/text_en.pdf . In that document it is clearly labeled what you rights are. Lo and behold they are individual rights!
I am guessing you went through Heathrow. Heathrow is notorious for people stealing stuff from your luggage. It is a well known scam. And checking every baggage does not help the situation. Because that way they can see if you have any valuables in your luggage.
Once an Air France ticket agent tried to get me put my notebooks (2) in my luggage. I said over MY DEAD BODY. And only if you are willing to risk the insurance. It was a semi long debate, with me winning in the end. Since then I have never had any debate.
Actually it is kind of funny now. You are allowed one carry on and a notebook bag.... Which for most techies is two pieces of luggage!
Here is another maybe potentially simpler analogy.
Lets say you have a wireless phone. Very common here in Europe. One day somebody comes by and notices that they have cracked your digital code. The digital codes are not that hard to crack. At that point the person makes a phone call and it turns out to be a murderer or terrorist (popular term these days). The question is if you are liable? Answer not likely since this was done without you knowing what is going on. At the worst you can be held as an accomplice to the crime.
But I was wondering when something like this would happen..... Glad to know that law still recognizes innocent mistakes....
Too bad you are a coward here... In literal terms Greenspan says what you are indicating at. But what you have to read is what he is trying to get at.
He was making the comment that lack of intellectual property actually benefits a society and not just a single individual. His examples are the cotton gin, and the mathematics. He was showing that because they were available to all then all could benefit.
He was also saying that property rights and intellectual rights are not the same. Property rights require physical space, intellectual rights do not. but yet people try to attach property rights to intellectual items.
And please read the final stuff, which are largely questions.
"If our objective is to maximize economic growth, are we striking the right balance in our protection of intellectual property rights? Are the protections sufficiently broad to encourage innovation but not so broad as to shut down follow-on innovation? Are such protections so vague that they produce uncertainties that raise risk premiums and the cost of capital? How appropriate is our current system--developed for a world in which physical assets predominated--for an economy in which value increasingly is embodied in ideas rather than tangible capital?"
Again he makes the comments that our current system is dominated on property rights and how appropriate is it to apply those rights to IP? Simply by asking this question he is commenting that this is not how it should work. He could have worded it, like "How can we apply physical rights to an economy of intellectual property?" See still a question, but I am hinting that I would like to see physical rights associated with IP.
Next, of course Greenspan will not say patents suck. Think of it this way. Instead of telling somebody to do things, why not hint it and motivate them to come up with the answers to your questions. This is what Greenspan does, especially somebody who has so much power. He has to choose his words very carefully....
It is was not hardware that Apple wanted to control. (Man do I feel old here). Originally when Apple came out with their platform only those people who had Apple "tokens" could compile applications for their hardware. It was really silly because for Apple to get a token became a beauty contest. Microsoft did away with that and said anybody can develop on their platform. And that STILL exists today....
IT is just an idea. IT is about ideas and realizing them, like realizing a story. IT has no reasonable limitations, etc. Hence IT should be protected by copyright, but not patents.
Patents suck and Greenspan says almost the same. Consider the following quote:
Indeed, the nature of intellectual property is importantly different from physical property. In particular, one individual's use of an idea does not make that idea unavailable to others for their own, simultaneous use. Furthermore, new ideas almost invariably build on old ideas in ways that are difficult or impossible to delineate. From an economic perspective, this provides a rationale for making the calculus, developed initially by Leibnitz and Newton, freely available, despite the fact that those insights have immeasurably increased wealth over the generations. Should we have protected their claim in the same way that we do for owners of land? Or should the law make their insights more freely available to those who would build on them, with the aim of maximizing the wealth of the society as a whole? Are all property rights inalienable, or must they conform to a reality that conditions them?
He asks questions, but he understands wealth should be a society NOT an individual. And that is why the IT industry did so well. A community proposered.... Remember the difference between Apple and Microsoft. Apple wanted to control, not Microsoft. Who is the more dominate player? I rest my case....
I agree why the split on gender. I know for myself I like to turn the maps in the direction of the car. Typically women only do this. And when orienting I do not use logical, north, south, etc. Like women I use landmarks to orient myself. I never trust my north, south, east and west orientation. (Get left and right mixed up too often).
But one thing I can do is remember my path even if I only drove or walked it once a long time ago. I have no idea if that is a male or female thing. My wife is constantly amazed that I know where I am going even though is was a long time ago since last being there. Again orientation of land marks, even if the land marks changed...
And I think here you have hit the nail on the head. At one point in the article they said "It is like the fox guarding the hen house". Well gee are you not being a whee bit judgemental.
I thought jail was a punishment you paid and after that your debt to society was gone. Or are they saying that you are always marked, because gee whiz that is what it sounded to me!
Would I then hire Kevin Mitnick? It depends on the scope and the topic. Maybe, maybe not. But I would not let his criminal record stop me. It would be a consideration, but not the biggest consideration.
I think the reason why she was chosen is because she knows how to tread the line between legal privacy and illegal privacy. However, this is not what I would want in my government. Because it means, yet again I cannot trust the government....
Ok I am going to bite on this one. How many lawyers are in government? Oh MOST!
Next advice from the media companies? And where did they get their advice? The lawyers! Because they needed to know what was possible and not possible in the law.
Lets see lawyers write laws, lawyers challenge law, then law thrown out new law created. Sounds like a make work project to me!
My point is that maybe you do work for a lawyer firm. But the reality is that in the US lawyers have the upper hand these days. It does not matter which business you are in you always need a lawyer at your side. This is not how it should be.
Yeah right, the DMCA will stick and hold for a long time to come. Lawyers are having a field day. Lawyer wrote the law and therefore they will protect the law. Even though the law sucks.
What will be the result? Easy illegal hackers who steal. The DMCA is setting up a black market of crime. Just like how people "steal" cable. And people will not consider it stealing because it is digital. Oh yeah forgot more lawyer work, to prosecute the illegal people. Can we say DMCA is a make work system?
The DMCA will be struck down once people in the mainstream realize it has no effect. This reminds me of the argument with strong encryption....
Add on the fact that governments these days do not care about the little person. Just the big companies with their lobbies....
Speak for yourself guy. You know there are a large number of people who cannot get Cable or DSL... These people are stuck, with well 56K. This would be wonderful if it actually worked. BTW I am talking from a place that is 15 KM from a DSL and Cable connection. 15 KM, not 100 KM or 200 KM, but 15KM and nothing has changed in five years!!!!
Here are here points of bitching and my replies...
>> Root versus Users: Don't show me things I can't use. If I don't have permission to mess with something, don't show me the menus and dialog boxes used to mess with it unless you also give me a way to log in as the user with correct permissions.
Ok, please try to do many things with just "user" rights on a Windows box. Oh yeah I forgot everybody just runs as administrators. Even XP when it installs makes the default users as administrators. Why? Because that is security and when implementing it often it gets in the way of trying to get things done. Just like you cannot run into an FBI building without getting searched. A pain, but there are reasons for that.
>> Feedback to user lacking: A "busy" indicator is needed for all software. It's often too hard to tell whether it's working or dead.
On Windows I have a busy indicator, but no idea if it is doing anything either because the busy indicator does not move. The application window blanks.... How do I know anything is happening? I look on Windows and Linux on the process window and see if the XPU is doing anything.
>> Menu systems: Eliminate duplicate occurrences of package listings.
Fair enough...
>> Eliminate redundant branches (Games/Amusements/Toys; Text Editors/Word Processors/Office Applications), because it makes finding software harder than it should be.
Depends on the distro
>> Why are menu systems six (or more) layers deep in some installations? I often fill the screen with pop-outs before I get to what I'm looking for.
Ever tried to find something on a Windows XP or W2K box? Especially with X zillion apps installed? There is very little difference for me on either machine. And that auto hide features annoys the f**k out of me.
>> System defaults: How about one spot per user to set the defaults for all software (sound, fonts, etc.)?
Yeah I would love that too. When I pull up Word I have define the fonts I use by default. Then moving to Visual Studio.NET I need to define the fonts and printers, etc...
>> Adding and deleting software: Why do I have to have the installation CD to delete software? Why can't I delete part of a "Game Pack" when only a few are worth playing? Why does the deleted stuff hang around on the menus? Is it waiting for a reboot? Why doesn't the installation routine tell me where it hid the program?
That is an install issue that happens on Windows as well. How many times did I have to throw in an Office CD to add, remove or update a couple of features?
>> Before you say RTFM, make sure there is AFM to R:...and make sure that the table of contents of a specific software's help file opens when I click the corresponding help button. Context-sensitive help is over a decade old -- I have written a lot of it for Windows -- but doesn't appear to have taken hold in Linux.
Fair enough, but that is something you got used to. Why do you expect it to work like that on Linux? How about getting used to the way that Linux does things?
>> Make sure the components needed to search TFMs for help are installed along with TFman pages and TFHTML help files. I tried to search for "permissions," only to be told that SuSE is missing a critical part of the help-file system: "The full text search engine makes use of the ht:/dig HTML search engine. You can get ht:/dig at the ht:/dig_homepage." Thanks, SuSE. That was a lot of help.
Fair enough
>> Applications should not point exclusively to a Web page for help or troubleshooting. What happens if I'm offline in the middle of a 12-hour flight to Tokyo and desperately need help?
OK here a synchronization feature would be nice.
>> Less cute commentary, more helpful text in help files, please. Any programmer who has "please hire me" as the sole contents of the help file for his program is proclaiming his unempl
>> If Microsoft is forced to... or make "donations" to state governments
That is a good thing? I am sorry, but where I come from the moment somebody makes donations I call it a bribe! Yes I detest lobby's
When this sort of behavior occurs you get what you pay for and that usually is not what you wanted in the first place....
Re:April Fools ends at noon, right?
on
BSDs to be Merged
·
· Score: 1
I know exactly what you mean. It just gets plain silly.... It seems to me these days April Fools jokes are simply not that interesting or funny.
For example the story about the guy who traveled back in a time machine to make X millions from 800 USD would have been much better. Ok it was not broadcast on April's fool, but at least that had you wondering... true or not true....
With BSD's merge because other sucked... Well you could see that one coming a mile away...
What would have been more interesting is an April fools joke that builds up. You know makes some announcements before the day and then pops the big one on the day....
And this is why the US will loose its edge. Not to say gambling is good, BUT, if I was a company would I open it in the US? Not likely because of the following reasons: DMCA, Patriot Act and Patents. I would more likely open the company elsewhere and not offer the services to the US. Will this mean less chance of success? Probably not because there are X billion elsewhere.
While I like Americans and I like the American system in general, I want to say, Thank God I am not living there.... Sad state of affairs actually..
Ok so let me get this straight I still need to pay to send email to my business associates? This is really silly.
Some email is from friends, but quite a bit of my email is from business people, people who attend my conferences, courses, etc. This will add costs that I really do not want added. And if the costs are so low that it does not bother me then it will not bother the SPAMMERS either to pay the amount.
Slashdot Mirror
My father in-law is a potatoe grower and he knows when a recession is ending and starting. Like alcohol it is inverse and indicates more in-home entertainment.
Exactly. Why is it that this topic keeps coming back from the grave? A small tax will do nothing to stop spammers since we have the USPS to prove that. Think of it, the USPS is charging about 40cents per letter? That is the price tag where email would cost the same as snail mail. Imagine 40 cents would be charged on the Internet? Can we say ghost town?
In this case technology is the only way that SPAM can be stopped.... Trust me it is the only way and it is not that hard.... Just some out of the box thinking...
Yeah, I knew that both of them were dead. For Hitchhikers Guide it would mean in 13 years his material would be public domain.
And yes I agree with your Happy Birthday tune and owned by AOL. AOL owning the copyright does not help the original content creator.
Yeah I know sending in Hilary Rosen, will be a good thing (NOT!)
Because maybe it is not popular enough? Or that people do not want to pay to read your material anymore? I am sorry that you are not, but them's are the breaks. BTW I am a professional writer.
The point is that you should have the right to be paid for the work that you created. Hence my idea for the rule life of creator + 14.
Not correct at all. 28 years is a whee bit short. For technical manuals this is on the edge of out of date and still useful. But for novels this is nowhere near enough.
Case in point, "Stranger in a strange land". Great SciFi book written in 1961, which means it would have been in public domain in 1989 it would be entered into the public domain. Or how about the original Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy? It would be really close to becoming public domain.
Sorry, but this is not right. Not to say that the current are better. But there are people who earn their monies from writing books.
I also think that having that many novels coming into the public domain will pressure writers to earn less. Consider it as follows. When books enter the public domain the publishers win and author looses. If the publisher knows that there is a short copyright then the publisher will wait and create a market in "cheap" books. These books already exist in the book stores now. If the supply of these books is huge then people will buy those books and not the new ones. For example, while Frankstein from Shelly is a damm good book, it is only for those BOOK readers willing to make the time for the book. It was written in a prose that simply is not used these days. But contrast that with Stranger in a strange land or Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. These books are still written in a modern prose using semi modern plots, etc. These books would undercut author's right to earn an income, because as we all know in the end it is the publishers that win not the creators of the content.
I personally would go for the rule, Authors Life + 14 years. That would be fair because for the life of the author they can earn a living and shortly thereafter for other expenses. Having longer after the life of the author means again it is the publisher that profits not the original creator of the content.
Ok, did you even read what I referenced?
0 00928.html
0 01 091243.asp
Article 11: Freedom of Expression and Information
1) Everyon has the right to freedom and expression. This shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.
2) The freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected.
Then read Article 10, and 12.
Now about the subjects that are not approved. Hmmm, let me think on this one. What about the commies? Gee when was the last time there was a commie party? Oh I forgot they were BANNED in the US and anybody who was even in the remotest related to the communist party was persecuted! So Europe has its things and so does the US.
About Ireland. PLEASE, read the records. Yes the EU is complaining about the low taxes of Ireland, but they did not threaten sanctions. Some Politcal members may have, but that is how a democracy works. BUT Ireland did receive large sums of money http://www.rnw.nl/special/en/borders/html/ireland
and
http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/2001/11/26112
And notice what it says... The EU provided Ireland with several key ingredients -- access to a huge market, plus billions of dollars in development funding and support for agriculture.
Because of these billions Ireland could reduce their tax rates and attract business. So it ended up working for them.
And finally about the ability to arm themselves? Please read the articles and you will that you the right to legally defend your rights and properties. Are you allowed to take up arms in self-defence? Not likely, but then again this is an idiosyncracy of the American Constitution...
1) Problems exist everywhere.
f . In that document it is clearly labeled what you rights are. Lo and behold they are individual rights!
2) Europe is repressive? Excuse me? Where did you get that? Or let me ask which propaganda did you hear that from?
You mention the Irish, please note that Ireland has received plenty of aid and has been rebuilt into a dynamic economy.
Now about it bowing down? It does not bow down, it compromises. You see in Europe NOBODY gets what they want. Everyone has to compromise, and unlike probably how you might protray it, neighter Germany, nor France, nor the UK get what they want.
Now about individual rights. Please read the following: http://www.europarl.eu.int/charter/pdf/text_en.pd
I am guessing you went through Heathrow. Heathrow is notorious for people stealing stuff from your luggage. It is a well known scam. And checking every baggage does not help the situation. Because that way they can see if you have any valuables in your luggage.
Once an Air France ticket agent tried to get me put my notebooks (2) in my luggage. I said over MY DEAD BODY. And only if you are willing to risk the insurance. It was a semi long debate, with me winning in the end. Since then I have never had any debate.
Actually it is kind of funny now. You are allowed one carry on and a notebook bag.... Which for most techies is two pieces of luggage!
Here is another maybe potentially simpler analogy.
Lets say you have a wireless phone. Very common here in Europe. One day somebody comes by and notices that they have cracked your digital code. The digital codes are not that hard to crack. At that point the person makes a phone call and it turns out to be a murderer or terrorist (popular term these days). The question is if you are liable? Answer not likely since this was done without you knowing what is going on. At the worst you can be held as an accomplice to the crime.
But I was wondering when something like this would happen..... Glad to know that law still recognizes innocent mistakes....
Too bad you are a coward here... In literal terms Greenspan says what you are indicating at. But what you have to read is what he is trying to get at.
He was making the comment that lack of intellectual property actually benefits a society and not just a single individual. His examples are the cotton gin, and the mathematics. He was showing that because they were available to all then all could benefit.
He was also saying that property rights and intellectual rights are not the same. Property rights require physical space, intellectual rights do not. but yet people try to attach property rights to intellectual items.
And please read the final stuff, which are largely questions.
"If our objective is to maximize economic growth, are we striking the right balance in our protection of intellectual property rights? Are the protections sufficiently broad to encourage innovation but not so broad as to shut down follow-on innovation? Are such protections so vague that they produce uncertainties that raise risk premiums and the cost of capital? How appropriate is our current system--developed for a world in which physical assets predominated--for an economy in which value increasingly is embodied in ideas rather than tangible capital?"
Again he makes the comments that our current system is dominated on property rights and how appropriate is it to apply those rights to IP? Simply by asking this question he is commenting that this is not how it should work. He could have worded it, like "How can we apply physical rights to an economy of intellectual property?" See still a question, but I am hinting that I would like to see physical rights associated with IP.
Next, of course Greenspan will not say patents suck. Think of it this way. Instead of telling somebody to do things, why not hint it and motivate them to come up with the answers to your questions. This is what Greenspan does, especially somebody who has so much power. He has to choose his words very carefully....
It is was not hardware that Apple wanted to control. (Man do I feel old here). Originally when Apple came out with their platform only those people who had Apple "tokens" could compile applications for their hardware. It was really silly because for Apple to get a token became a beauty contest. Microsoft did away with that and said anybody can develop on their platform. And that STILL exists today....
That is what I meant hurt Apple big time...
no, no, no....
s /2 003/20030404/default.htm
IT is just an idea. IT is about ideas and realizing them, like realizing a story. IT has no reasonable limitations, etc. Hence IT should be protected by copyright, but not patents.
Patents suck and Greenspan says almost the same. Consider the following quote:
Indeed, the nature of intellectual property is importantly different from physical property. In particular, one individual's use of an idea does not make that idea unavailable to others for their own, simultaneous use. Furthermore, new ideas almost invariably build on old ideas in ways that are difficult or impossible to delineate. From an economic perspective, this provides a rationale for making the calculus, developed initially by Leibnitz and Newton, freely available, despite the fact that those insights have immeasurably increased wealth over the generations. Should we have protected their claim in the same way that we do for owners of land? Or should the law make their insights more freely available to those who would build on them, with the aim of maximizing the wealth of the society as a whole? Are all property rights inalienable, or must they conform to a reality that conditions them?
http://www.federalreserve.gov/BoardDocs/speeche
He asks questions, but he understands wealth should be a society NOT an individual. And that is why the IT industry did so well. A community proposered.... Remember the difference between Apple and Microsoft. Apple wanted to control, not Microsoft. Who is the more dominate player? I rest my case....
I agree why the split on gender. I know for myself I like to turn the maps in the direction of the car. Typically women only do this. And when orienting I do not use logical, north, south, etc. Like women I use landmarks to orient myself. I never trust my north, south, east and west orientation. (Get left and right mixed up too often).
But one thing I can do is remember my path even if I only drove or walked it once a long time ago. I have no idea if that is a male or female thing. My wife is constantly amazed that I know where I am going even though is was a long time ago since last being there. Again orientation of land marks, even if the land marks changed...
And I think here you have hit the nail on the head. At one point in the article they said "It is like the fox guarding the hen house". Well gee are you not being a whee bit judgemental.
I thought jail was a punishment you paid and after that your debt to society was gone. Or are they saying that you are always marked, because gee whiz that is what it sounded to me!
Would I then hire Kevin Mitnick? It depends on the scope and the topic. Maybe, maybe not. But I would not let his criminal record stop me. It would be a consideration, but not the biggest consideration.
Now that is funny. I had any moderation points I would use them on you.
.....Sums it up in a nutshell....
"Open Source: Sure it has bugs, but at least you do not have to pay for the privledge of trying to fix them".
I think the reason why she was chosen is because she knows how to tread the line between legal privacy and illegal privacy. However, this is not what I would want in my government. Because it means, yet again I cannot trust the government....
Anti-Lawyer stupidity?
Ok I am going to bite on this one. How many lawyers are in government? Oh MOST!
Next advice from the media companies? And where did they get their advice? The lawyers! Because they needed to know what was possible and not possible in the law.
Lets see lawyers write laws, lawyers challenge law, then law thrown out new law created. Sounds like a make work project to me!
My point is that maybe you do work for a lawyer firm. But the reality is that in the US lawyers have the upper hand these days. It does not matter which business you are in you always need a lawyer at your side. This is not how it should be.
Yeah right, the DMCA will stick and hold for a long time to come. Lawyers are having a field day. Lawyer wrote the law and therefore they will protect the law. Even though the law sucks.
What will be the result? Easy illegal hackers who steal. The DMCA is setting up a black market of crime. Just like how people "steal" cable. And people will not consider it stealing because it is digital. Oh yeah forgot more lawyer work, to prosecute the illegal people. Can we say DMCA is a make work system?
The DMCA will be struck down once people in the mainstream realize it has no effect. This reminds me of the argument with strong encryption....
Add on the fact that governments these days do not care about the little person. Just the big companies with their lobbies....
Speak for yourself guy. You know there are a large number of people who cannot get Cable or DSL... These people are stuck, with well 56K. This would be wonderful if it actually worked. BTW I am talking from a place that is 15 KM from a DSL and Cable connection. 15 KM, not 100 KM or 200 KM, but 15KM and nothing has changed in five years!!!!
Here are here points of bitching and my replies...
...and make sure that the table of contents of a specific software's help file opens when I click the corresponding help button. Context-sensitive help is over a decade old -- I have written a lot of it for Windows -- but doesn't appear to have taken hold in Linux.
>> Root versus Users: Don't show me things I can't use. If I don't have permission to mess with something, don't show me the menus and dialog boxes used to mess with it unless you also give me a way to log in as the user with correct permissions.
Ok, please try to do many things with just "user" rights on a Windows box. Oh yeah I forgot everybody just runs as administrators. Even XP when it installs makes the default users as administrators. Why? Because that is security and when implementing it often it gets in the way of trying to get things done. Just like you cannot run into an FBI building without getting searched. A pain, but there are reasons for that.
>> Feedback to user lacking: A "busy" indicator is needed for all software. It's often too hard to tell whether it's working or dead.
On Windows I have a busy indicator, but no idea if it is doing anything either because the busy indicator does not move. The application window blanks.... How do I know anything is happening? I look on Windows and Linux on the process window and see if the XPU is doing anything.
>> Menu systems: Eliminate duplicate occurrences of package listings.
Fair enough...
>> Eliminate redundant branches (Games/Amusements/Toys; Text Editors/Word Processors/Office Applications), because it makes finding software harder than it should be.
Depends on the distro
>> Why are menu systems six (or more) layers deep in some installations? I often fill the screen with pop-outs before I get to what I'm looking for.
Ever tried to find something on a Windows XP or W2K box? Especially with X zillion apps installed? There is very little difference for me on either machine. And that auto hide features annoys the f**k out of me.
>> System defaults: How about one spot per user to set the defaults for all software (sound, fonts, etc.)?
Yeah I would love that too. When I pull up Word I have define the fonts I use by default. Then moving to Visual Studio.NET I need to define the fonts and printers, etc...
>> Adding and deleting software: Why do I have to have the installation CD to delete software? Why can't I delete part of a "Game Pack" when only a few are worth playing? Why does the deleted stuff hang around on the menus? Is it waiting for a reboot? Why doesn't the installation routine tell me where it hid the program?
That is an install issue that happens on Windows as well. How many times did I have to throw in an Office CD to add, remove or update a couple of features?
>> Before you say RTFM, make sure there is AFM to R:
Fair enough, but that is something you got used to. Why do you expect it to work like that on Linux? How about getting used to the way that Linux does things?
>> Make sure the components needed to search TFMs for help are installed along with TFman pages and TFHTML help files. I tried to search for "permissions," only to be told that SuSE is missing a critical part of the help-file system: "The full text search engine makes use of the ht:/dig HTML search engine. You can get ht:/dig at the ht:/dig_homepage." Thanks, SuSE. That was a lot of help.
Fair enough
>> Applications should not point exclusively to a Web page for help or troubleshooting. What happens if I'm offline in the middle of a 12-hour flight to Tokyo and desperately need help?
OK here a synchronization feature would be nice.
>> Less cute commentary, more helpful text in help files, please. Any programmer who has "please hire me" as the sole contents of the help file for his program is proclaiming his unempl
I read the website. This is ridiculous. Without charge or anything. Man oh man have the conservatives gone nuts in the US?
Is this what Ronald Regan would have supported? Somehow I feel not....
>> If Microsoft is forced to ... or make "donations" to state governments
That is a good thing? I am sorry, but where I come from the moment somebody makes donations I call it a bribe! Yes I detest lobby's
When this sort of behavior occurs you get what you pay for and that usually is not what you wanted in the first place....
I know exactly what you mean. It just gets plain silly.... It seems to me these days April Fools jokes are simply not that interesting or funny.
For example the story about the guy who traveled back in a time machine to make X millions from 800 USD would have been much better. Ok it was not broadcast on April's fool, but at least that had you wondering... true or not true....
With BSD's merge because other sucked... Well you could see that one coming a mile away...
What would have been more interesting is an April fools joke that builds up. You know makes some announcements before the day and then pops the big one on the day....
And this is why the US will loose its edge. Not to say gambling is good, BUT, if I was a company would I open it in the US? Not likely because of the following reasons: DMCA, Patriot Act and Patents. I would more likely open the company elsewhere and not offer the services to the US. Will this mean less chance of success? Probably not because there are X billion elsewhere.
While I like Americans and I like the American system in general, I want to say, Thank God I am not living there.... Sad state of affairs actually..
Ok so let me get this straight I still need to pay to send email to my business associates? This is really silly.
Some email is from friends, but quite a bit of my email is from business people, people who attend my conferences, courses, etc. This will add costs that I really do not want added. And if the costs are so low that it does not bother me then it will not bother the SPAMMERS either to pay the amount.
We have junk and that is all there is to it....