Frod automotive announced the production of a car today that features all of the features of a skilled mechanic, global parts fabricator, and a v8 engine.
"That's right", said the Frod rep. "Our new car can fix itself whenever it breaks, up to and including fixing all parts of the car, fixing the things that fix things, and manufacturing spare parts. And this is just the prototype! We're anticipating that the next model will upgrade itself for free so you never need to buy a new car again, as well as absorbing gasoline from the air! You'll never need to go to a parts store, gas station, car dealership, or auto mechanic again."
Obviously this would require dynamic routing of never before-seen levels of power. Does anyone have any links or book suggestions on dynamic routing? I've become curious.
I don't watch much TV. I only have one to plug video game consoles into it. It just seems a waste to have that much space. Really... If you had that much space, wouldn't you be willing to give up some of it for realibility?
RAID can also be faster, you know. If one disk can read one file in 1 minute, then three can read it in 20 seconds if there's an equal piece on three drives. (You stick the checksum on the fourth.)
I've never understood why RAID technology hasn't made it to the desktop. You get speed and realibility.
United Linux has a GPL piece of software. United Linux offers you that GPLed piece of software. You accept. United Linux says, "Wait. If we give this to you, you can't give it to anybody else." You sign the NDA and accept the copy of United Linux.
The GPL just says that if you do give it away, then you must give the source too. I don't see anything in the GPL saying that you can't forbid redistribution - it just governs what you must do if you distribute.
If UL gives you the software with source and binaries, then they have obeyed the GPL. If you sign the NDA, you waive your redistribution rights.
If you gave out the source after signing the NDA, you're breaking the NDA. If you give out the binaries alone after signing the NDA, you're breaking the NDA and the GPL at the same time.
Unless I'm reading the GPL wrong, you could GPL photoshop and sell customers both the source and the binaries, then require that they not redistribute the source. If you waive your distribution rights, then it doesn't matter if it's GPLed or not - you're forbidden to redistribute it.
It'd be interesting to see a license that combined aspects of the GPL - in that you must distribute the source - and some kind of micropayment screme, where your software or any software based on it requires n cents per day to run. Like, you can give it away all you want, but you can't use it without paying all of the authors of the software.
I write, say, a graphics library, and license it under this model. I give out the code of my graphics library, and in addition my graphic library requires a payment of one cent per day, which is managed by a central micropayment program running on each machine.
You can base code off of my library. You can charge a cent per day for your new version of the library. However, you can't take away my cent. Alternatively, you can write code and not charge anything - but I'll still get my cent, as you accept my license when using the code which says I get a cent.
That variant would be interesting. The source is open and free, but running the source costs money. Developers would be paid, but you'd get the advantages of seeing the inside and even the ability to redistribute different versions.
I'm sure the open-source commies are ready to cruicify me, but you could have a lot of pull to get people who sell software to open thier source under this model. They'd be releasing open code and making money at the same time. It's no more or less circumventable than normal software distribution, but it has open code.
We'll use 1 lead programmer. 80K. 4 other programmers. say 200k. we'll give you a good deal on office space - a really good deal - and say 100k a year. support staff, sound, and graphic artists, maybe 150k. Computers all around. 50k. Furniture, power and heat, utilities, an alarm system to protect everything, servers, internet connection, software... We're rapidly getting really close to a million dollars for a year's development.
If we sell for 25$ and half of that's profit, then we need to sell almost a hundred thousand copies to break even. Sure, there's some costs to be cut here, but the point is - software is not cheap to develop, and developers are not cheap to have. By the time you even say the word development team you've created the need for lots of sales. Lots and lots of sales. Once you get into management and promotion, it's pretty clear how even moderately-well selling games can be money losers.
I don't have handy moderation points, but I think that if people want to know this they can go look it up. It's probably a waste-of-time question for the interview.
Somebody has been using the speed of light distorting effects of pairs of copper wire to travel back in time and set up a room in a pyramid so they can make a very long series of TV documentaries.
Hey. I'll give you a big pile of gold if you'll make a room that's impossible to get into in this pyramid. Say, up a narrow shaft, behind a couple doors. And throw in a trap that will crush a small robot.
(Looking at the bottom right of the motherboard diagram) What advantages are there to on-motherboard butter? Does it make the games creamy and smooth? Doesn't butter make heat dissipation a serious issue?
It's not a "we get to rape your local filesystem" bug. It's a "web surfing history" bug. It's not that scary.
I prefer to look at the bright side. It's fixable with a userland.js file with no recompiling. That's sort of neat.
DRM must be possible (NOT)
on
"Squishy" DRM?
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· Score: 3, Insightful
Are there any Open Source projects thinking about DRM? I dont know how it would work but it must be possible.
Reality does not require that it be possible. Palladium is coming around precisely because nobody's thought of a way to make guaranteed software DRM and few expect such ways to ever be discovered. DRM that's not trivially beatable when you have unlimited abilities to use and modify both code and data is pretty widely believed to be impossible.
I don't see this as being a big deal to them. It runs linux. So? It's not like the average user is going to know it runs linux. It takes stuff from the computer and sends it to your home entertainment center. As far as they are concerned it's an appliance like the stereo tuner - it could be running off of the chained souls of demons and they wouldn't give a shit as long as it does what it's supposed to when you plug it in.
One. Sell music tapes at standard media distribution rates.
Two. For a one dollar fee, sell a backup of the tape. After all, tape is a fragile medium, right? Who'd want a tape without a backup? Oh, and our backup medium of choice will be... burned CDs. Easy to use for everyone.
Result: You get to sell CDs for the cost of tapes plus a buck, undercutting the entire industry. But you're not selling the CDs - you're selling the tape, plus a small service. You'd just have a music store full of tapes and burn the CDs at the counter, where you provide your custom backup service.
The funny thing is that I believe it when I hear that ClearChannel didn't put out a list.
You see, there are two types of managers. One type is able to use his discretion to work towards a goal. This type of manager is hired for his savvy and team building skills. The other is there to implement a fixed process which he has no input on. All he needs to be able to do is bully wage-earners into line and be able to himself cringe, not at the sight or sound of a whip, but at the mere knowledge of the whip's existance.
I bet Clear Channel hires a lot of the second. They don't want savvy promoters at the station end. They want people who not only follow the party line, but have it tied around delicate portions of their anatomy.
I'm not suggesting fabrication. I just recall that some people were bothered that a news agency used old footage of Palestinians celebrating US suffering, from far before 9/11
Is it just me, or did slashdot just slashdot itself when slashdot linked to an old slashdot article? If slashdot had a cacheing mechanism that cached slashdot's articles so slashdot wouldn't hit slashdot so hard, both slashdot and slashdot would come out ahead. Honestly, slashdot should keep the welfare of small sites like slashdot in mind when doing things like this.
I'm still really pissed off about those palistineans dancing in the streets with joy while downtown Manhattan was busy getting covered in 2 inches of soot.
Wasn't it revealed that in at least a few cases stock photographs were used?
Slashdot Mirror
Frod automotive announced the production of a car today that features all of the features of a skilled mechanic, global parts fabricator, and a v8 engine.
"That's right", said the Frod rep. "Our new car can fix itself whenever it breaks, up to and including fixing all parts of the car, fixing the things that fix things, and manufacturing spare parts. And this is just the prototype! We're anticipating that the next model will upgrade itself for free so you never need to buy a new car again, as well as absorbing gasoline from the air! You'll never need to go to a parts store, gas station, car dealership, or auto mechanic again."
That's why the gaming software market is just full of free open source games that compete with the top seller's offerings.
Obviously this would require dynamic routing of never before-seen levels of power. Does anyone have any links or book suggestions on dynamic routing? I've become curious.
"Narrow them down to a simple choice. Make them think it's their own." - Luke, on salesmanship
RAID can also be faster, you know. If one disk can read one file in 1 minute, then three can read it in 20 seconds if there's an equal piece on three drives. (You stick the checksum on the fourth.)
I've never understood why RAID technology hasn't made it to the desktop. You get speed and realibility.
I wonder if they have any job openings. Evil is fun.
The GPL just says that if you do give it away, then you must give the source too. I don't see anything in the GPL saying that you can't forbid redistribution - it just governs what you must do if you distribute.
If UL gives you the software with source and binaries, then they have obeyed the GPL. If you sign the NDA, you waive your redistribution rights.
If you gave out the source after signing the NDA, you're breaking the NDA. If you give out the binaries alone after signing the NDA, you're breaking the NDA and the GPL at the same time.
Unless I'm reading the GPL wrong, you could GPL photoshop and sell customers both the source and the binaries, then require that they not redistribute the source. If you waive your distribution rights, then it doesn't matter if it's GPLed or not - you're forbidden to redistribute it.
It'd be interesting to see a license that combined aspects of the GPL - in that you must distribute the source - and some kind of micropayment screme, where your software or any software based on it requires n cents per day to run. Like, you can give it away all you want, but you can't use it without paying all of the authors of the software.
I write, say, a graphics library, and license it under this model. I give out the code of my graphics library, and in addition my graphic library requires a payment of one cent per day, which is managed by a central micropayment program running on each machine.
You can base code off of my library. You can charge a cent per day for your new version of the library. However, you can't take away my cent. Alternatively, you can write code and not charge anything - but I'll still get my cent, as you accept my license when using the code which says I get a cent.
That variant would be interesting. The source is open and free, but running the source costs money. Developers would be paid, but you'd get the advantages of seeing the inside and even the ability to redistribute different versions.
I'm sure the open-source commies are ready to cruicify me, but you could have a lot of pull to get people who sell software to open thier source under this model. They'd be releasing open code and making money at the same time. It's no more or less circumventable than normal software distribution, but it has open code.
Now, if those 4 drives are a raid array, and I can keep my shows through a disk crash, then I'm impressed. Otherwise, nah.
I'd buy that. Every NES game on one CD? Neat idea.
duh.
Let's do some software devlopment.
We'll use 1 lead programmer. 80K. 4 other programmers. say 200k. we'll give you a good deal on office space - a really good deal - and say 100k a year. support staff, sound, and graphic artists, maybe 150k. Computers all around. 50k. Furniture, power and heat, utilities, an alarm system to protect everything, servers, internet connection, software... We're rapidly getting really close to a million dollars for a year's development.
If we sell for 25$ and half of that's profit, then we need to sell almost a hundred thousand copies to break even. Sure, there's some costs to be cut here, but the point is - software is not cheap to develop, and developers are not cheap to have. By the time you even say the word development team you've created the need for lots of sales. Lots and lots of sales. Once you get into management and promotion, it's pretty clear how even moderately-well selling games can be money losers.
I don't have handy moderation points, but I think that if people want to know this they can go look it up. It's probably a waste-of-time question for the interview.
Hey. I'll give you a big pile of gold if you'll make a room that's impossible to get into in this pyramid. Say, up a narrow shaft, behind a couple doors. And throw in a trap that will crush a small robot.
Robot?
It's like a cat, but not holy.
Oh. Ok. Sure. Why not?
(Looking at the bottom right of the motherboard diagram) What advantages are there to on-motherboard butter? Does it make the games creamy and smooth? Doesn't butter make heat dissipation a serious issue?
It's not a "we get to rape your local filesystem" bug. It's a "web surfing history" bug. It's not that scary.
I prefer to look at the bright side. It's fixable with a userland .js file with no recompiling. That's sort of neat.
Are there any Open Source projects thinking about DRM? I dont know how it would work but it must be possible.
Reality does not require that it be possible. Palladium is coming around precisely because nobody's thought of a way to make guaranteed software DRM and few expect such ways to ever be discovered. DRM that's not trivially beatable when you have unlimited abilities to use and modify both code and data is pretty widely believed to be impossible.
Be careful with the word 'must'.
I don't see this as being a big deal to them. It runs linux. So? It's not like the average user is going to know it runs linux. It takes stuff from the computer and sends it to your home entertainment center. As far as they are concerned it's an appliance like the stereo tuner - it could be running off of the chained souls of demons and they wouldn't give a shit as long as it does what it's supposed to when you plug it in.
You combine cynicism and stupidity in impressive amounts.
One. Sell music tapes at standard media distribution rates.
Two. For a one dollar fee, sell a backup of the tape. After all, tape is a fragile medium, right? Who'd want a tape without a backup? Oh, and our backup medium of choice will be... burned CDs. Easy to use for everyone.
Result: You get to sell CDs for the cost of tapes plus a buck, undercutting the entire industry. But you're not selling the CDs - you're selling the tape, plus a small service. You'd just have a music store full of tapes and burn the CDs at the counter, where you provide your custom backup service.
The funny thing is that I believe it when I hear that ClearChannel didn't put out a list.
You see, there are two types of managers. One type is able to use his discretion to work towards a goal. This type of manager is hired for his savvy and team building skills. The other is there to implement a fixed process which he has no input on. All he needs to be able to do is bully wage-earners into line and be able to himself cringe, not at the sight or sound of a whip, but at the mere knowledge of the whip's existance.
I bet Clear Channel hires a lot of the second. They don't want savvy promoters at the station end. They want people who not only follow the party line, but have it tied around delicate portions of their anatomy.
because there are so many to choose from?
I'm not suggesting fabrication. I just recall that some people were bothered that a news agency used old footage of Palestinians celebrating US suffering, from far before 9/11
Is it just me, or did slashdot just slashdot itself when slashdot linked to an old slashdot article? If slashdot had a cacheing mechanism that cached slashdot's articles so slashdot wouldn't hit slashdot so hard, both slashdot and slashdot would come out ahead. Honestly, slashdot should keep the welfare of small sites like slashdot in mind when doing things like this.
This is what I always think of when someone trys to bring politics into it:
A timeless piece from adequacy.org
I think that's the right piece... Adequacy is blocked at work these days.
I'm still really pissed off about those palistineans dancing in the streets with joy while downtown Manhattan was busy getting covered in 2 inches of soot.
Wasn't it revealed that in at least a few cases stock photographs were used?