You say that you're fifty hours away from completing your project. You also say that:
This product was going to support me in my down time between jobs as I have a couple of clients who are eagerly awaiting it's completion and it would net me a good profit just from these clients.
So, from what I can see, you want to quit your job and live off the profits of your project? If it's fifty hours from completion, that can't be more that about one and a half weeks work. Can't you quit now and complete your project in the next two weeks, then live from the revenue?
I don't know what sort of cable modem service you've been sold, but mine (a Telewest/blueyonder one) clearly states it has a maximum throughput of 512 kilobit/s (which it is possible to get, albeit with a following wind:-). The local cable loop might be able to handle 30 megabit/s, but they don't let one person use it at once, or people would hog bandwidth.
For a player that's actually legal, as well as cool, look at Lik-Sang's site. They have a DVD palyer that will play MegaDrive/Genesis games burned onto CD, MP3s, CDs and DVDs.
[Note: I don't own one or anything, so I can't vouch for quality. I have bought some things from the company in the past though (PlayStation/N64 joypad -> USB convertors, which are very good), and they seem very efficient]
Yup, I second this. Here in the UK you can now buy blank MDs in most places you can buy blank tapes. You don't see many pre-recorded MDs, but no-one buys them anyway (when a blank MD is less than a pound, why not just buy the CD and record it?).
The press release doesn't say that Napster will be subscription based (which would imply payment). It says it will be membership based, which, I believe, it is already.
The only paragraph mentioning subscriptions it this:
Bertelsmann's forward-thinking approach will enable the new Napster membership-based file sharing service to become an important community for artists, record companies and consumers. BMG, as a leader in the online space, supports an array of secure, digital distribution alternatives that respects copyrights, including file sharing, downloads and subscription services.
which talks about BMG having expertise in subscription based services, and does not link this fact to Napster.
To be fair, the press release doesn't say Napster won't ever be subscription based, but it doesn't say it will either.
A lot of Free and Open Source software is offered commercial support, and the FAQ simply states that you won't get support from IBM even if you are willing to pay.
No, it doesn't - it says that if you pay for 'IBM AFS' support you won't get 'Open AFS' support - they're distinguishing between products (you might not be able to get 'Open AFS' support either, I don't know, but the FAQ doesn't preclude it).
Hurrah! So there/is/ a Slashdot reader who understands the patent system after all.
For those who don't:
1) You're not allowed to patent something that you didn't actually invent.
2) You're not allowed to patent something 'obvious' [and before you complain, see point (4)].
3) You're not allowed to patent something
that someone else has already patented.
4) If, by some chance, you/do/ manage to patent one of these things, your patent can be challenged in court and, if the court agree that the patent does fall into one of these categories, it's declared void.
I am not a lawyer, but these things are as obvious to me, as they should be to anyone else. With Slashdot's intelligent, world-savvy, IT-literate population, this contest should have been quite funny, with parodies and stupid (even interesting ideas) galore, vying for the top spot. What went wrong?
Who needs smartcards? I've been telling people for years that the best solution to the "stolen card number" problem is a one time pad. Its a trivial change to exisiting system. You just include a 10 or so digit number in the "address 2" field of most software and have the bank look for it with their address verification system. Then you print 5 to 20 large randomish numbers on a statement and let the cardholder enter that in a special box.
Sorry, [assuming this was intended to make sense]I don't understand you (and I'm sure I'm not the only one). Could you explain again please?
> >>I feel pretty safe buying online
>
> I felt pretty safe buying online too -- Until
> somebody somewhere hijacked my card number, and
> I suddenly had over a $1000 worth of speakers
> and stereo equipment show up on my bill. No, I
> did not have to pay for it, and even if they
> caught the person who did it.....
If you didn't have to pay for it, why do you no longer feel safe? Surely all that this shows is that, even if fraud is committed, the system works well enough to deal with it properly? Surely you should feel reassured?
The real issue in the whole Napster debate is how the majority of people feel about copyright.
If you work in a profession where you design and sell things, how do you feel about a future where it's fine for anyone to take one of the things you've designed, copy it in a very precise way, as many times as they want and give these copies away to people who can do the same, without paying you anything? Napster might take us there. If you want that future, that's your decision. I don't.
I absolutely agree. Quality TV, radio and net services, for less than the price of a newspaper is well worth the reduction in 'freedom' some would say the licence fee brings.
I worry that in the future the current system will collapse and we'll be left getting news and entertainment from commercial organisations with interests other than service at heart.
BBC News is now reporting that over thirty companies are interested in buying boo.com. Liquidators are asking for a refundable deposit of one-million pounds from interested parties, by the end of today.
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Re:E-Commerce Collapse?
on
Boo No More
·
· Score: 1
I would consider 'the ecommerce bubble' to be the 'hype' surrounding ecommerce - the hype which means (or perhaps 'meant') that bad ideas could raise millions by virtue of being an 'eidea'.
The bubble bursting would not mean ecommerce had failed, just that bad ideas would no longer be seen in a brilliant light just because of their 'e-nes'.
--
--
Not the end of ecommerce
on
Boo No More
·
· Score: 3
Nevertheless, it begs the asking of this year's favourite question - is this the beginning of the ecommerce bubble bursting?
I'd just like to point out that, though I did indeed pose that question, I didn't mean it as "Is this the end for ecommerce" or anything so dramatic - I meant "Are people finaly realising that a company has to make a profit to succeed?"
There's been much posted here about why people don't move to linux, so I thought I'd post my personal reasons. Let me stress that I know Linux. I study Computer Science, I program using Linux - I've developed my own projects and helped on AbiWord, so I'm not exactly a regular user. Nevertheless I think my reason will be a familiar one to many people.
The reason I'm not using Linux right now is font handling. I want anti-aliased scalable fonts. They look nice, and they're easier to read.
It's a bit of a shalow reason perhaps, but it's important to me and, I'm sure, many others. Ask yourself, why do web pages look nicer in IE than Netscape (assuming they're both formatting them in the correct way). I'd be willing to bet the difference is the Windows vs. X font handling.
I'm not familiar with Wiretap, but I have read Project Gutenberg texts in the past, and I believe that many, if not all, of the Wiretap texts have been 'subsumed' by Project Gutenberg. I've certainly noticed the phrase "Originally a Wiretap Etext Edition" in Gutenberg texts I've downloaded in the past.
Take a look at this classic title to see what I mean (it's in the paragraph beginning "October, 1993 [Etext #85]").
Slashdot Mirror
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[Note: I don't own one or anything, so I can't vouch for quality. I have bought some things from the company in the past though (PlayStation/N64 joypad -> USB convertors, which are very good), and they seem very efficient]
--
--
The only paragraph mentioning subscriptions it this:
Bertelsmann's forward-thinking approach will enable the new Napster membership-based file sharing service to become an important community for artists, record companies and consumers. BMG, as a leader in the online space, supports an array of secure, digital distribution alternatives that respects copyrights, including file sharing, downloads and subscription services.
which talks about BMG having expertise in subscription based services, and does not link this fact to Napster.
To be fair, the press release doesn't say Napster won't ever be subscription based, but it doesn't say it will either.
--
I was wrong. Sorry about that - maybe I should learn to read properly or something.
[watching karma drop as previous post gets modded down...]
--
No, it doesn't - it says that if you pay for 'IBM AFS' support you won't get 'Open AFS' support - they're distinguishing between products (you might not be able to get 'Open AFS' support either, I don't know, but the FAQ doesn't preclude it).
--
For those who don't:
1) You're not allowed to patent something that you didn't actually invent.
2) You're not allowed to patent something 'obvious' [and before you complain, see point (4)].
3) You're not allowed to patent something that someone else has already patented.
4) If, by some chance, you
I am not a lawyer, but these things are as obvious to me, as they should be to anyone else. With Slashdot's intelligent, world-savvy, IT-literate population, this contest should have been quite funny, with parodies and stupid (even interesting ideas) galore, vying for the top spot. What went wrong?
--
Sorry, [assuming this was intended to make sense]I don't understand you (and I'm sure I'm not the only one). Could you explain again please?
--
>
> I felt pretty safe buying online too -- Until
> somebody somewhere hijacked my card number, and
> I suddenly had over a $1000 worth of speakers
> and stereo equipment show up on my bill. No, I
> did not have to pay for it, and even if they
> caught the person who did it.....
If you didn't have to pay for it, why do you no longer feel safe? Surely all that this shows is that, even if fraud is committed, the system works well enough to deal with it properly? Surely you should feel reassured?
--
What? Is income from sale of their work not 'something'?
--
If you work in a profession where you design and sell things, how do you feel about a future where it's fine for anyone to take one of the things you've designed, copy it in a very precise way, as many times as they want and give these copies away to people who can do the same, without paying you anything? Napster might take us there. If you want that future, that's your decision. I don't.
--
I worry that in the future the current system will collapse and we'll be left getting news and entertainment from commercial organisations with interests other than service at heart.
--
A.K.A.
"The only game ever to score 0% in the UK's PC Gamer magazine"
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--
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The bubble bursting would not mean ecommerce had failed, just that bad ideas would no longer be seen in a brilliant light just because of their 'e-nes'.
--
--
I'd just like to point out that, though I did indeed pose that question, I didn't mean it as "Is this the end for ecommerce" or anything so dramatic - I meant "Are people finaly realising that a company has to make a profit to succeed?"
--
--
The reason I'm not using Linux right now is font handling. I want anti-aliased scalable fonts. They look nice, and they're easier to read.
It's a bit of a shalow reason perhaps, but it's important to me and, I'm sure, many others. Ask yourself, why do web pages look nicer in IE than Netscape (assuming they're both formatting them in the correct way). I'd be willing to bet the difference is the Windows vs. X font handling.
--
--
It's at http://wiretap.area.com/. I don't currently have a gopher client, so I can't say if the gopher version is up, but I can see it through the WWW.
Or am I missing something somewhere?...
Take a look at this classic title to see what I mean (it's in the paragraph beginning "October, 1993 [Etext #85]").
Per week.
That's per week, of course (doh!) [So proof-reading does have a purpose after all...]
There's a link from the BBC story to another about how the BBC's site, and many others, are blocked in China.