Linux and mainstream, linux and desktop, linux and corporate desktop... not ready? Of course.
Who are the people who like and use linux? Hackers, tinkerers, new adopters (some), those actually interested in programming and configuration, those who enjoy the challenge of technology, hobbists...
Who are mainstream users? People who are relatively new to computers and who don't want to fiddle, but just want to use it for email, the web, printing stuff, school work, Word, Excel and sometimes powerpoint. Users who would be happy with a maintenance free, dumbed down interface.
The gulf between is the 'adoption' problem. Just as some people will never fix their own cars, let alone maintain them, so will some people never care to tinker with linux. Not until linux is as easy to use and install as say OSX or Windows XP.
MS has been working hard the last few years to make Windows as user friendly as possible for the average person (their success can be debated but...) XP didn't really fix a lot of problems with services, or even security... BUt it sure added a lot of crap, handholding (paperclips, little dogs, need I go on?) and eye candy.
As a tinkerer, XP broke my heart.. I started feeling like there were big training wheels attached to the side of my computer. This might be comforting for the average user, but not for me. It was no longer fun, it was frustrating and irritating. I of course love linux, and would like to tell everyone I know about it, but it isn't for everyone. Not everyone likes to tinker.
Either linux dumb down and perhaps lose the community who grew it (they will move on to whatever is the next big tinkering thing of course) or it stay in the margins as the alternative for alienated serious tinkerers, and those looking for something rougher than the slick veneer of the northwest US.
I would almost rather linux stay in the margins and stay a well kept secret. I don't want to see it dumbed down into useless eye candy, hand holding and stupid paperclips you can't get rid of.
This whole article and discussion smacks of post-modernism/post-colonialism and the marginalized wanting to be in the center. I say there is no need to want to be the big dog in this case: Linux works better without the mainstream involved. SCO would not be interested, and Microsoft wouldn't want to kill it (or care about it) -- how can this be bad? Does every joe, grandma and PHB really need linux?
Not too long ago, there was a slashdot article of an interview with David Crosby on Frontline.
He talked about how at some point the tone and attitude of big music changed from being supportive and developing of young talent for the long term to being adverserial and short term profit minded.
I think this economist article is the conclusion and proof of what he was talking about, his thoughts were mostly anecdotal without concrete evidence. From the interview:
"When it all started, record companies -- and there were many of them, and this was a good thing -- were run by people who loved records," he says. "Now record companies are run by lawyers and accountants.... The people who run record companies now wouldn't know a song if it flew up their nose and died." SRC: PBS Frontline
The result of this commercialization and 'selling out' resulted in companies the likes of Sony, BMG, EMI, etc. run by lawyers and accountants. Of course, their first instinct when faced with new technology and a threat is to sue the pants of grandmas and 12 year olds. Way to go corporate America!!!
I'm gonna apologize for my attitude, for this next part but... I got karma to burn.
Evidently, having some lawyer or accountant run a business may just well run it into the ground. There is apparently no substitute, no matter how ivy or expensive your degree may be, for heart and really appreciating the business you work with or work in. Being in it for money will eventually sink the ship. It's love of music that brings out the great music, and brings it to the people, not lawsuits, not cheap thrills turned into overnight successes with the help of Payola (to radio stations -- ahem Clear Channel), over promotion and slick advertising (ahem -- MTV).
I hope Elliot Spitzer rips these companies and the lawyers who run them a new one with his Payola investigation.
The place where speed sensing devices are obtrusive, unjust and downright wrong is when they are mandatory.
As long as you have a choice to NOT use it, even if it costs more is right. When you can't drive without one of these things legally, that is not right.
I don't believe in slowing down everyone just because a handful of people abuse the system, whether it is or is not for the public good.
Sound a little bit like the RIAA/MPAA and FAIR USE??? , dejavu man.
CATCH THE ABUSES AND LEAVE THE REST OF US ALONE DAMN IT!!
This goes out to all governments, police forces and policy makers out there at all levels of government.
Is it 'moral' to download/share copies of this work with friends (knowing that there ARE copies available but very rare?). I think so - especially given the fact that given AVAILABILITY I would buy them at a shot. Should copyright law prevent reprinting of obscurish material, just because the RECORD COMPANY (not the artist) says so? I take this to be a travesty of the intention of the creators of copyright legislation, who couldn't have foreseen such an available medium as the internet (and even if this were in line with THEIR intentions, I cannot justify it to myself, the only authority to which I am known to be ultimately responsible).
You almost had an insightful post.
The record companies want perpetual copyright for one reason: Whatever they promote hard becomes popular (see Britany Spears, Christina Agilera, any boy band, spice girls....)
That is, if they chose, they could promote and repackage and 'make sexy' your 1950s recordings and sell them again. Hard to do that when they've given up the copyright, or it has expired.
There is TONS and TONS of music with no 'copyright' obligation around. Unsigned artists, copy right expired stuff... There is lots of audience, but the music biz owns the method by which that music gets promoted to the masses (payola via radio & MTV) and hence whatever the masses want really bad right now.
Marketting, promotion and sales work too well. But you have to have a respected copyright on the material you promote before you can sell it.
I think the people should just question what is sold to them, think for themselves, and research all the music out there without taking whatever is shoved down their throats by the music biz. Then we wouldn't have a problem.
But then the US might not be up to its ass in IRAQ, we might have reasonable caring politicians in office, and the world might be a better place.
In 1982 some scientist discovered that a large percentage of ulcers were linked to Helicobacter, and found that simple antibiotics would cure it. Of course, most doctors for the next 10-15 years left their patients on expensive acid blockers instead. More money in those than a cheap cure! So much for no conspiracy theory...
I quote from link above: "Even after the National Institute of Health and the Food and Drug Administration recognized that ulcers could be cured, 90% of doctors continued to treat their patients with drugs which only controlled the acid, but did not cure the condition.
According to a Fortune magazine article in 1997, ulcer expert Dr. Martin Blaser of Vanderbilt University concluded that there was no conspiracy, just no economic incentive for doctors to support Barry Marshall's great discovery. In 1980, Tagamet sales worldwide were "nearly $600 million.) It soon became the best selling drug on earth until it was replaced by Zantac in 1988. From 1992 to 1997 "Americans have spent nearly $25 Billion on drugs to slow the production of acid....Billions more have been spent on "visits" to doctors.
In February 1996, Scientific American magazine noted that the cost of eradicating H. pylori bacteria and curing ulcers: "Less than $200 for a standard one-week therapy."
Okay. Disclaimer: I have a BSEE and have (last september) gone back to get a CompSci afterdegree. Of course finishing my EE was 4 years ago.
I read the article. I generally agree. BUT.
First things first. TO be a code monkey requires script kiddie abilities, or at worst an MSCE. To be a software engineer or _designer_ requires a little more, namely a lot of abstract thinking abilities: particularly any hard science, math based, abstract college type education. There are exceptions (eg. brilliant people) who are just that, exceptions. Most of the rest of us have to learn to walk before learning to run.
In going back to get a BSCS I've found that the hardest courses are... Wait for it... Math. Though I have EE which, I assure you, is lots and lots of math, the reason I find math hard is that I have not used calculus or statistics on the job _directly_ AT ALL the last 4 years.
Indirectly? Could I have done my job without as much math? No. Taking calculus, statistics and other analytical quantitative courses teaches you (the hard way) to think abstractly and analytically. Not critically (thats what English & arts is for), and not to be an automaton code monkey.
Do you need the math and stats? I don't like it, I don't like re-taking it, but I know I will need it or I would be screwed if I needed to know even a little about set theory, which from time to time is useful.
If you want to learn to design and then implement interesting, challenging projects and you aren't brilliant, I would recommend an effective hard science degree with some coding background mixed in (physics, engineering, CS, math... whatever w/ minor in CS or something).
Of hearing about 'unfairness' and lack of reverse engineering ability. SO WHAT. There is bad law and it happens to suck for me and probably many others here on/.
I'm going to talk about three things here: Reverse engineering provisions (getting around the DMCA),fair use provisions that have been trampled on, and copyright infringement. In particular, the DMCA and Copyright are currently bad law, and only sufficient urging of law makers will change anything.
Read the article. GIves hard time to Jack Valenti RE: Can't play movie on linux, can't reverse engineer.
Some posters here are correct in that this is about control and money. Give up the control, harder to get money. Thanks to convergence we are looking at a head-to-head fight with the MPAA. We want freedom with digital media, the MPAA wants to take the freedom away to support their artificial scarcity model. Nothing to see here, move along.
Jack has been responsible for lobbying for DMCA, etc. to limit our freedoms. Congress buys in because: copyright extension and DMCA provisions limiting digital freedom/fair use is seen as "GOOD" for an entire industry. Why? Because Jack, Hillary and Cary have convinced law makers that it is "GOOD" and it supports artists, etc.
Since the public buys into the sales pitch of DVDs (with their encryption) congress sees very little complaining or problems, and having already bought into the arguments once sees fit to ignore a few complaining (slashdot, Lessig, EFF) parties.
There are several ways to fix this, but "dialogs" or "discussions" with Jack or whoever with angry geeks are going to do NOTHING. DDOSing the RIAA website will do NOTHING. Saying things like "I only download mp3s to try out and then I buy the CD" does NOTHING. Continuing to download/upload stupidly MP3s, movies,etc. in this age of lawsuits by RIAA does NOTHING (though I agree with it, and in this case support civil disobediance in the face of bad law). Suing the RIAA to get judgements from the supreme court on constitutionality, or right to reverse-engineer does NOTHING (see Aimster, Felten vs. RIAA).
So, to move forward and DO SOMETHING: (a) The EFF, DigitalConsumer.org, Creative Commons people... Need to get lobbying congress to get some provisions for fair use. Namely all the ones that have been taken away. What we need is 1 line in the copyright act(s) that makes okay a WIDE RANGE of fair use. No amount of whining or complaining will change an ACT of congress. Getting in the face of congressmen REPEATEDLY has a chance. They are the law makers and we have bad law here. (b) Engineers, COMPSCI, IEEE... Should get lobbying congress to allow for reverse engineering in this digital world. We have associations and societies, why the heck aren't they doing something? Why isn't industry lobbying for fewer restrictions on hardware? It only lowers their costs. (c) Quit complaining to JACK, MPAA, RIAA... Quit whining on slashdot, DOn't assume that if you just keep ripping, downloading from Kazaa things will get better. The language in the laws (DMCA, Copyright) MUST CHANGE. And the LAW MAKERS MUST CHANGE IT AT URGING FROM LOBBYISTS REPRESENTING US! (d) Quit buying into the crap that the MPAA and RIAA (and companies represented) put out! Their cash flow will have to suffer far more to sufficiently weaken their fight. Start caring about supporting troublesome companies like Sony and their ilk. Its a question of knowing what you want instead of being sold on by 'marketting' and advertising gimicks.
Isn't it amazing how these guys just keep re-introducing the same (or worse) legislation over and over again without regard to the voiced desire of the citizenry?
I've noticed this too... Isn't it about time for direct democracy?
Representatives are 'central' as are federal governments... Hence a big slow-moving target with a lust for lobbying perks. Of course the EU is as central and federal and big as it gets. The more centralized, the easier to lobby. Open to abuse.
If only ignorance was less common, more people cared and more people were informed. Then maybe direct democracy would work, but they wouldn't be the unwashed masses. Alas the silent majority will remain forever silent... As peasant rebellions went in ancient times: they only rebel when they have nothing left to lose.
Till then, I guess its pitting 'concerned citizen' letter writing, faxing and calling vs. big corporations with deep pockets paying lobbists large sums to pursue big governments... Who will win this race? My money is on the big companies. Don't agree? Look at the US.
Isn't the real issue that: the RIAA is still buying way more legislation than is needed to protect audio recordings, and congressmen are too easily bought? Worse, they aren't listening to what people want - and are allowing an unscrupulous, unethical industry group to sue minors for ridiculous amounts for minor infractions?
Regardless of if Apple's DRM scheme was cracked or not, the RIAA has WAY too much sway with government, and there is no check or balance on it. The fact they can arrange for any draconian law to be created to assist their ailing/aging business model doesn't seem a little... I don't know... Wrong?!?!?
Come on people. Whining that this DRM was cracked the RIAA will get more brutal legislation (a la DMCA) passed is a failure of government listening to money more than who they are supposed to represent. Congress is about representative democracy, not industry assistance.
1) Some IT will be moved off-shore. That most portable, generic and easily transferable. 2) Programs everyone can use, and even foreign programmers can visualize a use for will be done off-shore.
Will everything go? No. Will 60% go. No. Will 10-20% go. Probably.
Look at the engineering business. Take bridge building. Is there any reason that you couldn't design a bridge in India, using a Indian engineering company and then do all the contracting/construction here?
Of course you can. India has bridges too. And their engineering companies are capable. So why aren't all our bridges designed there? Its not like bridges are a new thing (unlike IT).
Computer component production moved away from N. America (like you last motherboard or CPU) but same with most factory jobs. Services continue to stay in the US moreso than anything else. Service is a local thing, much more localized than production.
IT is more portable, and less standard dependent (think building codes, safety, etc) so some of it will go, but for the most part it will stay in North America.
Why will IT stay? India is still a third world country last I checked, I think that more than half the country doesn't even have access to clean water. They have a handful of smart usually western trained people, but these are not unlimited. The demand for local software and IT is weak right now because they don't really have a market for it. Wipro spends most of its time going after American companies with the sales line 'you don't have to do all your IT in the US'.
Language barriers, time zone barriers, quality, locally trusted firms (with local references) all make a big impact here. Service is definately a local thing, production is always outsourced to areas with cheap labour. Look for factory-like IT to move offshore and service-like IT to stay.
We (software professionals) will either step up to the plate and hit a home run and prove our worth or we will get run over like textiles and electronic manufacturing.
A couple of things.
First, the reason these Indian companies want in here is because: this is where the money and markets are. The biggest in the world actually. If they take all our jobs, factories, companies and do everything cheaper... Well... We won't have a market here anymore. So no use worrying about it. When there is no more money or market here why will they be interested in competing with us?
Besides, if our unemployment creeps up to 20% because all these jobs were moved overseas, programmers make only $4/hour to compete with international companies... You can bet we will see protectionist legislation AND fast! Politicians will be singing a different tune. Fact is, unemployment is low, demand for skilled workers is high and so is their pay. There is incentive to look elsewhere in the world right now. Its not always going to be the case.
Second, I don't know how much you know about textiles or manufacturing. Some of the best, brightest captialists have tried their hands at manufacturing and textiles here in the late sixties and seventies and they found they could operate, but they just couldn't turn enough of a profit. Of course, that same profit for a textile mill in China or India would be a huge windfall (a), (b) their labor costs over there would be 10% of those here. Of course, manufacturing and textiles are pretty low-tech simple businesses... And you can hardly tell the products that are US and India made appart. Such are commodities.
So yes, we are in trouble if we do not move forward (stifle innovation). But things change here so fast (and have been) that we are on a whole different level. I can still list many non-commodity items that are still manufactured here because although there is some demand elsewhere in the world, most of the demand is here. These things don't make sense to make elsewhere (like most of the cars GM, Ford, Chrysler make), and can't be made well enough elsewhere besides.
I don't like these FUD and absolutist/we are all dead/chicken little stories. Crap journalism.
"... So what if your destiny doesn't stalk you like a lion? Can you think your way to the answer? That's what Lori Gottlieb thought. She considered her years as a rising television executive in Hollywood to be a big mistake. She became successful but felt like a fraud. So she quit and gave herself three years to analyze which profession would engage her brain the most. She literally attacked the question. She dug out her diaries from childhood. She took classes in photography and gure drawing. She interviewed others who had left Hollywood. She broke down every job by skill set and laid that over a grid of her innate talents. She lled out every exercise in What Color Is Your Parachute?
Eventually, she arrived at the following logic: Her big brain loved puzzles. Who solves puzzles? Doctors solve health puzzles. Therefore, become a doctor. She enrolled in premed classes at Pepperdine. Her med-school applications were so persuasive that every school wanted her. And then -- can you see where this is headed? -- Lori dropped out of Stanford Medical School after only two and a half months. Why? She realized that she didn't like hanging around sick people all day...."
I don't mean to be a troll, but the above just screamed at me when I read your comment.
Would Liquid Audio be a good purchase for one of these here big '5' labels?
They are the ones who are using this stuff the most. I could see one of them buying it (or a puppet technology company owned by some company that all the labels have their fingers in) just to continue along the 'all your music are belong to us'.
This might just be a ploy to get the labels with to cough up some money by threatening to take away their favorite DRM technology.
"... It's about profit, profit and more profit that always comes at a cost of principles. The predicament the record industry finds itself in is of its own making. They've alienated consumers and artists, and whether the rights movement succeeds, the house will fall under its own weight... "
Sheesh, an opportunity to get rid of the only thing the labels do - be middleman between artists and consumers.
P2P Networks and the technology is being sued out of existance by big labels and the RIAA. These guys are trying to get around the labels from the other side and we should be supporting and encouraging their efforts. I know my life would probably be better off without big labels, and the RIAA out there.
Telephone companies are not our friends, but artists? Come on...
Between consumers and artists the big labels could be squeezed out completely.
Quit with the hypocracy, the complaining and realize this is an opportunity to ditch the labels that apparently lots of artists AND fans hate.
Slashdot Mirror
Linux and mainstream, linux and desktop, linux and corporate desktop... not ready? Of course.
Who are the people who like and use linux? Hackers, tinkerers, new adopters (some), those actually interested in programming and configuration, those who enjoy the challenge of technology, hobbists...
Who are mainstream users? People who are relatively new to computers and who don't want to fiddle, but just want to use it for email, the web, printing stuff, school work, Word, Excel and sometimes powerpoint. Users who would be happy with a maintenance free, dumbed down interface.
The gulf between is the 'adoption' problem. Just as some people will never fix their own cars, let alone maintain them, so will some people never care to tinker with linux. Not until linux is as easy to use and install as say OSX or Windows XP.
MS has been working hard the last few years to make Windows as user friendly as possible for the average person (their success can be debated but...) XP didn't really fix a lot of problems with services, or even security... BUt it sure added a lot of crap, handholding (paperclips, little dogs, need I go on?) and eye candy.
As a tinkerer, XP broke my heart.. I started feeling like there were big training wheels attached to the side of my computer. This might be comforting for the average user, but not for me. It was no longer fun, it was frustrating and irritating. I of course love linux, and would like to tell everyone I know about it, but it isn't for everyone. Not everyone likes to tinker.
Either linux dumb down and perhaps lose the community who grew it (they will move on to whatever is the next big tinkering thing of course) or it stay in the margins as the alternative for alienated serious tinkerers, and those looking for something rougher than the slick veneer of the northwest US.
I would almost rather linux stay in the margins and stay a well kept secret. I don't want to see it dumbed down into useless eye candy, hand holding and stupid paperclips you can't get rid of.
This whole article and discussion smacks of post-modernism/post-colonialism and the marginalized wanting to be in the center. I say there is no need to want to be the big dog in this case: Linux works better without the mainstream involved. SCO would not be interested, and Microsoft wouldn't want to kill it (or care about it) -- how can this be bad? Does every joe, grandma and PHB really need linux?
Not too long ago, there was a slashdot article of an interview with David Crosby on Frontline.
... The people who run record companies now wouldn't know a song if it flew up their nose and died."
He talked about how at some point the tone and attitude of big music changed from being supportive and developing of young talent for the long term to being adverserial and short term profit minded.
I think this economist article is the conclusion and proof of what he was talking about, his thoughts were mostly anecdotal without concrete evidence. From the interview:
"When it all started, record companies -- and there were many of them, and this was a good thing -- were run by people who loved records," he says. "Now record companies are run by lawyers and accountants.
SRC: PBS Frontline
The result of this commercialization and 'selling out' resulted in companies the likes of Sony, BMG, EMI, etc. run by lawyers and accountants. Of course, their first instinct when faced with new technology and a threat is to sue the pants of grandmas and 12 year olds. Way to go corporate America!!!
I'm gonna apologize for my attitude, for this next part but... I got karma to burn.
Evidently, having some lawyer or accountant run a business may just well run it into the ground. There is apparently no substitute, no matter how ivy or expensive your degree may be, for heart and really appreciating the business you work with or work in. Being in it for money will eventually sink the ship. It's love of music that brings out the great music, and brings it to the people, not lawsuits, not cheap thrills turned into overnight successes with the help of Payola (to radio stations -- ahem Clear Channel), over promotion and slick advertising (ahem -- MTV).
I hope Elliot Spitzer rips these companies and the lawyers who run them a new one with his Payola investigation.
M
It comes down to choice.
The place where speed sensing devices are obtrusive, unjust and downright wrong is when they are mandatory.
As long as you have a choice to NOT use it, even if it costs more is right. When you can't drive without one of these things legally, that is not right.
I don't believe in slowing down everyone just because a handful of people abuse the system, whether it is or is not for the public good.
Sound a little bit like the RIAA/MPAA and FAIR USE??? , dejavu man.
CATCH THE ABUSES AND LEAVE THE REST OF US ALONE DAMN IT!!
This goes out to all governments, police forces and policy makers out there at all levels of government.
Is it 'moral' to download/share copies of this work with friends (knowing that there ARE copies available but very rare?). I think so - especially given the fact that given AVAILABILITY I would buy them at a shot. Should copyright law prevent reprinting of obscurish material, just because the RECORD COMPANY (not the artist) says so? I take this to be a travesty of the intention of the creators of copyright legislation, who couldn't have foreseen such an available medium as the internet (and even if this were in line with THEIR intentions, I cannot justify it to myself, the only authority to which I am known to be ultimately responsible).
You almost had an insightful post.
The record companies want perpetual copyright for one reason: Whatever they promote hard becomes popular (see Britany Spears, Christina Agilera, any boy band, spice girls....)
That is, if they chose, they could promote and repackage and 'make sexy' your 1950s recordings and sell them again. Hard to do that when they've given up the copyright, or it has expired.
There is TONS and TONS of music with no 'copyright' obligation around. Unsigned artists, copy right expired stuff... There is lots of audience, but the music biz owns the method by which that music gets promoted to the masses (payola via radio & MTV) and hence whatever the masses want really bad right now.
Marketting, promotion and sales work too well. But you have to have a respected copyright on the material you promote before you can sell it.
I think the people should just question what is sold to them, think for themselves, and research all the music out there without taking whatever is shoved down their throats by the music biz. Then we wouldn't have a problem.
But then the US might not be up to its ass in IRAQ, we might have reasonable caring politicians in office, and the world might be a better place.
What about stomach ulcers and Helicobacter pylori?
In 1982 some scientist discovered that a large percentage of ulcers were linked to Helicobacter, and found that simple antibiotics would cure it. Of course, most doctors for the next 10-15 years left their patients on expensive acid blockers instead. More money in those than a cheap cure! So much for no conspiracy theory...
I quote from link above:
"Even after the National Institute of Health and the Food and Drug Administration recognized that ulcers could be cured, 90% of doctors continued to treat their patients with drugs which only controlled the acid, but did not cure the condition.
According to a Fortune magazine article in 1997, ulcer expert Dr. Martin Blaser of Vanderbilt University concluded that there was no conspiracy, just no economic incentive for doctors to support Barry Marshall's great discovery. In 1980, Tagamet sales worldwide were "nearly $600 million.) It soon became the best selling drug on earth until it was replaced by Zantac in 1988. From 1992 to 1997 "Americans have spent nearly $25 Billion on drugs to slow the production of acid....Billions more have been spent on "visits" to doctors.
In February 1996, Scientific American magazine noted that the cost of eradicating H. pylori bacteria and curing ulcers: "Less than $200 for a standard one-week therapy."
I got a couple of drawers of old floppy disks. $10 takes 'em. Plenty of bulk.
The Sony "lifetime" warranty may still be good on them too!
Okay. Disclaimer: I have a BSEE and have (last september) gone back to get a CompSci afterdegree. Of course finishing my EE was 4 years ago.
I read the article. I generally agree. BUT.
First things first. TO be a code monkey requires script kiddie abilities, or at worst an MSCE. To be a software engineer or _designer_ requires a little more, namely a lot of abstract thinking abilities: particularly any hard science, math based, abstract college type education. There are exceptions (eg. brilliant people) who are just that, exceptions. Most of the rest of us have to learn to walk before learning to run.
In going back to get a BSCS I've found that the hardest courses are... Wait for it... Math. Though I have EE which, I assure you, is lots and lots of math, the reason I find math hard is that I have not used calculus or statistics on the job _directly_ AT ALL the last 4 years.
Indirectly? Could I have done my job without as much math? No. Taking calculus, statistics and other analytical quantitative courses teaches you (the hard way) to think abstractly and analytically. Not critically (thats what English & arts is for), and not to be an automaton code monkey.
Do you need the math and stats? I don't like it, I don't like re-taking it, but I know I will need it or I would be screwed if I needed to know even a little about set theory, which from time to time is useful.
If you want to learn to design and then implement interesting, challenging projects and you aren't brilliant, I would recommend an effective hard science degree with some coding background mixed in (physics, engineering, CS, math... whatever w/ minor in CS or something).
m
Of hearing about 'unfairness' and lack of reverse engineering ability. SO WHAT. There is bad law and it happens to suck for me and probably many others here on /.
,fair use provisions that have been trampled on, and copyright infringement. In particular, the DMCA and Copyright are currently bad law, and only sufficient urging of law makers will change anything.
I'm going to talk about three things here: Reverse engineering provisions (getting around the DMCA)
Read the article. GIves hard time to Jack Valenti RE: Can't play movie on linux, can't reverse engineer.
Some posters here are correct in that this is about control and money. Give up the control, harder to get money. Thanks to convergence we are looking at a head-to-head fight with the MPAA. We want freedom with digital media, the MPAA wants to take the freedom away to support their artificial scarcity model. Nothing to see here, move along.
Jack has been responsible for lobbying for DMCA, etc. to limit our freedoms. Congress buys in because: copyright extension and DMCA provisions limiting digital freedom/fair use is seen as "GOOD" for an entire industry. Why? Because Jack, Hillary and Cary have convinced law makers that it is "GOOD" and it supports artists, etc.
Since the public buys into the sales pitch of DVDs (with their encryption) congress sees very little complaining or problems, and having already bought into the arguments once sees fit to ignore a few complaining (slashdot, Lessig, EFF) parties.
There are several ways to fix this, but "dialogs" or "discussions" with Jack or whoever with angry geeks are going to do NOTHING. DDOSing the RIAA website will do NOTHING. Saying things like "I only download mp3s to try out and then I buy the CD" does NOTHING. Continuing to download/upload stupidly MP3s, movies,etc. in this age of lawsuits by RIAA does NOTHING (though I agree with it, and in this case support civil disobediance in the face of bad law). Suing the RIAA to get judgements from the supreme court on constitutionality, or right to reverse-engineer does NOTHING (see Aimster, Felten vs. RIAA).
So, to move forward and DO SOMETHING:
(a) The EFF, DigitalConsumer.org, Creative Commons people... Need to get lobbying congress to get some provisions for fair use. Namely all the ones that have been taken away. What we need is 1 line in the copyright act(s) that makes okay a WIDE RANGE of fair use. No amount of whining or complaining will change an ACT of congress. Getting in the face of congressmen REPEATEDLY has a chance. They are the law makers and we have bad law here.
(b) Engineers, COMPSCI, IEEE... Should get lobbying congress to allow for reverse engineering in this digital world. We have associations and societies, why the heck aren't they doing something? Why isn't industry lobbying for fewer restrictions on hardware? It only lowers their costs.
(c) Quit complaining to JACK, MPAA, RIAA... Quit whining on slashdot, DOn't assume that if you just keep ripping, downloading from Kazaa things will get better. The language in the laws (DMCA, Copyright) MUST CHANGE. And the LAW MAKERS MUST CHANGE IT AT URGING FROM LOBBYISTS REPRESENTING US!
(d) Quit buying into the crap that the MPAA and RIAA (and companies represented) put out! Their cash flow will have to suffer far more to sufficiently weaken their fight. Start caring about supporting troublesome companies like Sony and their ilk. Its a question of knowing what you want instead of being sold on by 'marketting' and advertising gimicks.
Isn't it amazing how these guys just keep re-introducing the same (or worse) legislation over and over again without regard to the voiced desire of the citizenry?
I've noticed this too... Isn't it about time for direct democracy?
Representatives are 'central' as are federal governments... Hence a big slow-moving target with a lust for lobbying perks. Of course the EU is as central and federal and big as it gets. The more centralized, the easier to lobby. Open to abuse.
If only ignorance was less common, more people cared and more people were informed. Then maybe direct democracy would work, but they wouldn't be the unwashed masses. Alas the silent majority will remain forever silent... As peasant rebellions went in ancient times: they only rebel when they have nothing left to lose.
Till then, I guess its pitting 'concerned citizen' letter writing, faxing and calling vs. big corporations with deep pockets paying lobbists large sums to pursue big governments... Who will win this race? My money is on the big companies. Don't agree? Look at the US.
M
I seem to recall that our friend Bay TSP was using a modified version of Kazaa Lite K++ to search for enfringers on the Kazaa network.
Bay TSP is run by that ex-hacker guy and they specialize in finding all MP3s share on all sources, and log the IP as well as time, date, other info.
Maybe its not a bad thing Kazaa Lite was shut down, at least it will keep Bay TSP off the Kazaa network.
m
Isn't the real issue that: the RIAA is still buying way more legislation than is needed to protect audio recordings, and congressmen are too easily bought? Worse, they aren't listening to what people want - and are allowing an unscrupulous, unethical industry group to sue minors for ridiculous amounts for minor infractions?
Regardless of if Apple's DRM scheme was cracked or not, the RIAA has WAY too much sway with government, and there is no check or balance on it. The fact they can arrange for any draconian law to be created to assist their ailing/aging business model doesn't seem a little... I don't know... Wrong?!?!?
Come on people. Whining that this DRM was cracked the RIAA will get more brutal legislation (a la DMCA) passed is a failure of government listening to money more than who they are supposed to represent. Congress is about representative democracy, not industry assistance.
And for that matter its not a spectator sport.
Was the sound I made reading some responses here.
1) Some IT will be moved off-shore. That most portable, generic and easily transferable.
2) Programs everyone can use, and even foreign programmers can visualize a use for will be done off-shore.
Will everything go? No. Will 60% go. No. Will 10-20% go. Probably.
Look at the engineering business. Take bridge building. Is there any reason that you couldn't design a bridge in India, using a Indian engineering company and then do all the contracting/construction here?
Of course you can. India has bridges too. And their engineering companies are capable. So why aren't all our bridges designed there? Its not like bridges are a new thing (unlike IT).
Computer component production moved away from N. America (like you last motherboard or CPU) but same with most factory jobs. Services continue to stay in the US moreso than anything else. Service is a local thing, much more localized than production.
IT is more portable, and less standard dependent (think building codes, safety, etc) so some of it will go, but for the most part it will stay in North America.
Why will IT stay? India is still a third world country last I checked, I think that more than half the country doesn't even have access to clean water. They have a handful of smart usually western trained people, but these are not unlimited. The demand for local software and IT is weak right now because they don't really have a market for it. Wipro spends most of its time going after American companies with the sales line 'you don't have to do all your IT in the US'.
Language barriers, time zone barriers, quality, locally trusted firms (with local references) all make a big impact here. Service is definately a local thing, production is always outsourced to areas with cheap labour. Look for factory-like IT to move offshore and service-like IT to stay.
m
Nothing like letting a linux box with say Redhat 7.3 (KDE), Evolution, 4 xterms, Mozilla, Galeon, XMMS get jittery.
Go to xterm, try to unzip a 1 gig zip file (on a HD on that box) and the open mozilla and drag the window around...
Wait wait wait, mouse quits moving... Then it starts jumping all over the screen. Time for a coffee.
This is part pager and part interactive task/busy background task thing that these patches try to fix.
That was a big turn off of the 2.4 kernel for me.
m
Nothing really ground-breaking here
Is the big 5 digging their own grave.
[/ducks]
Oh, and a real deep one for the RIAA.
m
We (software professionals) will either step up to the plate and hit a home run and prove our worth or we will get run over like textiles and electronic manufacturing.
A couple of things.
First, the reason these Indian companies want in here is because: this is where the money and markets are. The biggest in the world actually. If they take all our jobs, factories, companies and do everything cheaper... Well... We won't have a market here anymore. So no use worrying about it. When there is no more money or market here why will they be interested in competing with us?
Besides, if our unemployment creeps up to 20% because all these jobs were moved overseas, programmers make only $4/hour to compete with international companies... You can bet we will see protectionist legislation AND fast! Politicians will be singing a different tune. Fact is, unemployment is low, demand for skilled workers is high and so is their pay. There is incentive to look elsewhere in the world right now. Its not always going to be the case.
Second, I don't know how much you know about textiles or manufacturing. Some of the best, brightest captialists have tried their hands at manufacturing and textiles here in the late sixties and seventies and they found they could operate, but they just couldn't turn enough of a profit. Of course, that same profit for a textile mill in China or India would be a huge windfall (a), (b) their labor costs over there would be 10% of those here. Of course, manufacturing and textiles are pretty low-tech simple businesses... And you can hardly tell the products that are US and India made appart. Such are commodities.
So yes, we are in trouble if we do not move forward (stifle innovation). But things change here so fast (and have been) that we are on a whole different level. I can still list many non-commodity items that are still manufactured here because although there is some demand elsewhere in the world, most of the demand is here. These things don't make sense to make elsewhere (like most of the cars GM, Ford, Chrysler make), and can't be made well enough elsewhere besides.
I don't like these FUD and absolutist/we are all dead/chicken little stories. Crap journalism.
m
Don't know if you read the article.
... So what if your destiny doesn't stalk you like a lion? Can you think your way to the answer? That's what Lori Gottlieb thought. She considered her years as a rising television executive in Hollywood to be a big mistake. She became successful but felt like a fraud. So she quit and gave herself three years to analyze which profession would engage her brain the most. She literally attacked the question. She dug out her diaries from childhood. She took classes in photography and gure drawing. She interviewed others who had left Hollywood. She broke down every job by skill set and laid that over a grid of her innate talents. She lled out every exercise in What Color Is Your Parachute?
..."
"
Eventually, she arrived at the following logic: Her big brain loved puzzles. Who solves puzzles? Doctors solve health puzzles. Therefore, become a doctor. She enrolled in premed classes at Pepperdine. Her med-school applications were so persuasive that every school wanted her. And then -- can you see where this is headed? -- Lori dropped out of Stanford Medical School after only two and a half months. Why? She realized that she didn't like hanging around sick people all day.
I don't mean to be a troll, but the above just screamed at me when I read your comment.
Beware of Fake Monkey Automatons
No. Beware of Fake Dinosaur Automatons.
" ... Of course, some would argue that the space station was a boondoogle to start with..."
Hmmm.. I'd say its more of a space-dongle (and poorly implemented at that).
m
Would Liquid Audio be a good purchase for one of these here big '5' labels?
They are the ones who are using this stuff the most. I could see one of them buying it (or a puppet technology company owned by some company that all the labels have their fingers in) just to continue along the 'all your music are belong to us'.
This might just be a ploy to get the labels with to cough up some money by threatening to take away their favorite DRM technology.
Might work eh?
m
There is your first problem. To prevent stuff like this going through your mind you need a
Tin foil hat
All the data in my head is safe. Is the data in YOUR head safe?
Whew
..."
..."
"... from Larry Rosen, an attorney who works heavily on open source licensing matters
I thought I read "Hillary Rosen, an attorney who works heavily against open source licensing matters
That should have been a slashdot poll option:
- I have Nightmares about Hilary Rosen chasing me and trying to delete my MP3s.
Tag line of the hour:
/. Corollary: /.ed
"If we were meant to fly, we wouldn't keep losing our luggage."
And if I was meant to use the WWW the pages I'd visit wouldn't be
m
Inadequate and Deceptive Product Labeling:
Comparison of 21 Power Supplies
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Full Load and Overload - Power Supply Units Pushed to the Limits
Hehe...
Having brought the server to it's knees... Thanks /. So.... I'm just gonna read the headline and pull a insightful comment out of my as^H^Hpocket.
... will bascially implode themselves with the new highspeed media that's coming out."
"
Two words:
Exploding Coasters!!
m
With you guys??
... "
"... It's about profit, profit and more profit that always comes at a cost of principles. The predicament the record industry finds itself in is of its own making. They've alienated consumers and artists, and whether the rights movement succeeds, the house will fall under its own weight
Sheesh, an opportunity to get rid of the only thing the labels do - be middleman between artists and consumers.
P2P Networks and the technology is being sued out of existance by big labels and the RIAA. These guys are trying to get around the labels from the other side and we should be supporting and encouraging their efforts. I know my life would probably be better off without big labels, and the RIAA out there.
Telephone companies are not our friends, but artists? Come on...
Between consumers and artists the big labels could be squeezed out completely.
Quit with the hypocracy, the complaining and realize this is an opportunity to ditch the labels that apparently lots of artists AND fans hate.
m