The problem with standardized tests is it requires standardized students to be truly useful. The fact is, there are 3 broad categories of students - (A) Average students, (BA) Below Average students, and (AA) Above Average students.
A teacher who is proficient with BA students is most likely going to do poorly with AA students. Many teachers proficient with A students will have difficulty with AA students and may also have difficulty with some BA students. Any teacher who can relate to AA students is most likely going to do miserably with BA students.
Children are NOT widgets, this business-oriented approach that treats them as such is doing far more harm than good. There has to be a better way to both educate students and evaluate teachers. The Tenure system is broken because it keeps burnt out teachers in place far too long. The current push for standardized tests/evaluations fails since each student is unique. Unfortunately, since students don't appear to be taught to think creatively (since the focus is on passing tests), I doubt a practical/effective solution will be found any time soon.
It basically got completely confused on what display I had when connected to a Philips 107T4 monitor. The laptop is a Compaq R3140US Athlon 64bit with the NVidia GeForce 4 Go 420. While it was connected to the external monitor, it refused to detect nor work with manual settings from the Fiesty install. Until I disconnected the monitor, it would not configure correctly. Now that it's installed, it still acts flakey if I reconnect the monitor. It is the 64bit Athlon build of Gutsy, so could be a quirk with that particular build.
If you don't believe me, try installing the new Nvidia manufacturer drivers.
OK, I did that on an HP laptop after installing Gutsy and this is what happened.... blank screen! Nothing at all, restarting X didn't do it, reconfigure of X worked if I went back to the non-proprietary drivers, but only in 800x600 8bit mode. To simplify, I spent over an hour trying to get either driver to configure with the stock LCD resolution to no avail, external monitor wouldn't detect correctly either. So in frustration I did the last thing I would have thought to do, I disconnected the external monitor and finally it worked as it should have an hour earlier. It was the last thing I would have thought to do since I had installed Dapper and Fiesty on it while connected to the same monitor and had no problems at all. So for me Gutsy was a huge step backwards just on the installation and initial configuration.
I also upgraded my PowerBook to Leopard... the following night since Gutsy also gave me problems with the Wifi I also had no problems with prior. I had absolutely no problems at all, it not only configured the local USB attached HP inkjet, but also the old SMB shared HP6P I still have connected to a W2K box.
I'm happy you had no issues with Gutsy, but it can be just as flakey as any other OS out there.
Also, out of your 2nd paragraph, only valid point I see is iTunes won't sync with a non iPod player... oh wait, that's an application limitation that exists on all platforms iTunes runs on... I thought we were discussing the OS. I certainly get icons for thumb drives and CD/DVD media on my desktop upon inserting, unless I turn that option off in Finder preferences. I've found some media that won't play correctly in Safari, oops! That's an application again! I can't recall stumbling across anything that won't run fine in Firefox on my Mac if Safari flakes, but I'm not a pr0n fan, so maybe that's why I'm not missing any valuable codecs/plugins.
This has been an issue I've seen all over the Ubuntu boards. A lot of people were playing around for months with the Xgl/Compiz/Beryl stuff. ALL of which is Alpha code! Then they updated the underlying OS and X broke, they then scream that Edgy broke X. No, your Alpha quality Beryl broke the updated X you just installed.
For me, I removed all the Firefox 1.5.x themes and extentions I had installed (noting the names in case I could find updates later). I uninstalled the Xgl/Compiz stuff I put in place a couple months back, and returned to a vanilla Gnome desktop. Then I updated and had absolutely no issues at all. I haven't taken the time to chase down the Xgl/Beryl updates to get that working manually again, and the Firefox theme I was using isn't updated for 2.0 yet, but I'm still fine with the standard desktop and all of the other apps/hardware I have.
It stopped amazing me how many people scream about an OS update breaking things when they've gone so far outside the box. With OS X, the consistent source of breakage is the "Haxie" crap that injects code snippits into core applications to make them look/behave differently. They leave all that crap installed and active, then upgrade to the latest feline... then are surprised when those "Haxies" break everything. I guess I am still amazed that they're surprised every time.
Simply having 30GB of mp3 files and a P2P application installed is not enough to prove you violated "their" copyrights - although I assume they would argue it is.
If you have hundreds of CDs that you've ripped for personal listening on your computer, that's perfectly legal (fair use on alternate device). Using a P2P application to download files is not a violation either, it's the uploading of "their" copyrighted material that's the issue. So, if one has 30GB of mp3 files, a P2P application that finds all those files and auto-adds them to a "shared" bucket still would not be a problem - if you have a firewall that blocks those uploads. In that case, handing them your hard drive does nothing to prove guilt nor innocence. The firewall configuration showing you block P2P uploads is what will prove you're not violating any copyrights.
Granted, they identify people to sue based not on how many files are downloaded, but how many are offered for uploading. Even there, however, the few cases I've read through indicate they just look for large amounts of music showing as shared. In the example above, that would be misleading, because even if it appears like someone's sharing thousands of songs, doesn't mean you can actually download any of them from them. I'm not sure if the RIAA actually shows evidence that XYZ song was successfully downloaded from that shared library when they file these claims.
The word "their" is quoted because the RIAA doesn't actually own any of the rights they sue for, they represent others whom have had rights, typically for a temporary period, granted exclusively to them.
SuSE's used extensively where I work because the closest business-oriented distro - RedHat - was rejected after RedHat support personnel royally ticked off our admins/management. Right now, only SuSE and Redhat are supported by some of the IBM software we use in the data center. So once RedHat lost the contract due to poor support, Novell was only alternative.
People KNOW about google. I just don't think this prediction holds any water. I don't think Google is going to lose a thing.
That's not the point. The point is it's illegal to use one monopoly as a leverage into another market. It doesn't matter from a practical matter if it has any affect on the internet search industry. All that matters is that Microsoft was ruled as an OS and Browser monopolist. Due to that, they can't do things like this even if others can. That's it. No other micro-rationalisation needed. It's the law in the US!
Sorry, that's not "technology" failing, quite the opposite - it's fulfilled that dream all too well. The problem is the rush to increase Productivity in the workplace. So instead of 40 employees working less hours and having more free time, we have 10 employees working longer hours doing the work 40 employees did then. I'd have to say the reason we feel overworked and less productive is because we've hit or are at least approaching a limit in this increased Productivity race. You can only reduce the workforce so much before those that remain can no longer keep up with business needs. That's not because technology has failed, it's because it's succeeded and is being expoited to an extreme degree.
You're leaving out a critical element of your reasoning. Remember, Microsoft is an Applications Developer for the Windows OS as well as the OS provider. My assumption is they are feverishly regression testing with Microsoft Applications - and maybe a few key 3rd party apps as well.
My take over the years is that they will not fix anything in the OS that will break any of their own applications. If necessary, they stall on the OS patch until a corresponding patch to the effected application is ready too.
LOL I originally did put the name in, but since it's been several years since that experience I'm not sure they still use them. So I decided to leave the name out and leave it generic. For the record, for anyone that cares, it was Penske. I rented from Budget (who bought out the Ryder business) the 2nd two trips and had no issues. I relayed this story about a year ago to someone verbally and they said Penske stopped using the regulators on their newer trucks. I don't know if that's true or not since I stopped renting from them. The feeling you get when 20+ tracker trailers are breathing diesel down your neck because you can't get out of their way is just plain nasty!
Well, as someone who's driven from the west coast to the north east in a rented moving truck with a governor set to 70mph - I feel it's not so much "big brother" it's plain dangerous!
Most of I40 through Arizona & New Mexico has a speed limit of 75mph, since there's not much there to get in the way. The only places things slow down are up and down through the mountain passes. In my loaded moving truck, I could maintain the 70mph speed up hill - while the 18 wheel trucks slowed to 50ish. Down hill on opposite side of mountain, they could regain speed while I was still at 70, thus passing me as they cruised back to 75+ on flat section. The result was a constant game of pass em while ya can! I'd pass them uphill, they'd pass me downhill, and drift off into distance on flat stretches. Only to get bunch up again at next uphill. As it got later in the day, this became such a hazard to me in the little moving truck, I've never rented a moving truck from that rental company again. No idea if they still use governors, but the fact I had to deal with it once is enough that I don't care to find out. I've rented from a competitor that doesn't use such devices since - and yes, I've driven from west coast to east, then back to west, then back to east - so 3 trips cross country so far... I thought I was going to die several times during that first trip limited to 70mph - I will never do that again.
I find it interesting that right now so many people, including the one's denouncing evolution, are worrying more and more each day about this H5N1 avian flu. What is it the W.H.O. and governments around the world fear? A mutation of that particular strain to an airborne varient - thus human to human transmittable strain. This mutation is expected/feared why? Because life at that small of scale can be observed evolving!
Yes, it's true there are not nearly enough facts known to show humans path from a primitive form to current state via evolution. That, however, doesn't mean evolution is "not proven". It's just human evolution, along with many other complex life forms is not fully documentable. On small scale, simple organisms, evolution has been fully observed and documented since Darwin first wrote down his findings.
Everyone say "DMCA" now... that's all this TPM stuff is likely for.
Sure, you or I may be able to build a "clone" box with enough compatible components that it runs as well as a true Apple box. Just don't go trying to sell them... or if your name is Michael Dell... beware!
See, since TPM is an access control mechanism, bypassing it would be a violation of the DMCA, and Apple legal would be all over anyone trying to sell non-Apple systems running Mac OS X. I truly think that's the only reason for it.
This is the result of the "conservative" privatization push. See, when the USPTO was fully funded by congress appropriations, the examiners were focused on quality of patent application. Although bogus patents still snuck through, they were no where near as abused as presently. Then the idea came about to model them more like the USPS, who switched to self-funding back in early 80's I think. So the USPTO also became self-funding - the idealist delusion is that they would be more "efficient", keeping costs down. Instead, they switched to quantity of patent applications filed. Since they are funded by the application fees, the more applications the more revenue. If the courts rule a patent is bogus - so be it, they keep the fee.
So this is all by intent, make patents easier to obtain, and more people will file applications. More applications equals more money, so actually scrutinizing them and rejecting the obviously bogus harms the public image - must maintain the "easy to get a patent - come file an app!" mantra going.
This is the fallacy of self-funding or privatization will lower costs and increase quality is blatently clear. But that's their story and they're sticking to it - they make good money off this here broken system and ain't about to change it! It's not about "build(ing) a more perfect Union" - it's about gouging as much as you can to purchase that "American Dream" without having to share it.
Perhaps you should manually download and install a release past beta. If you've been running the same version for "all these months" then you probably don't have a version current enough to include the update code. I've been getting the update notification icon since the 1.0 release, and perhaps even one of the release candidates. I've had the update icon working on Win2000, WinXP, SuSE Linux, and for a short time on a FreeBSD box.
To expand on this a bit, let's take a look at 2 recent issues discussed here ad infinum. The first is the defrauding of ChoicePoint, and the second is Apple's suit against the rumor sites.
When it was announced that ChoicePoint had sold personal info to Nigerian scammers, the crowd* here roared that ChoicePoint should be investigated, fined, jailed, regulated, etc. As one of the "lucky" folks to get one of them lovely letters from ChoicePoint, I'm roaring right along let me tell ya!
When it was announced Apple was persuing legal action to force the rumor sites to reveal who leaked Apple's Trade Secrets, the crowd* here roared that Apple == Microsoft, violiating free speech, evil, etc. I am not roaring along with this crowd, and here's why.
Imagine, for a moment, that a site call Identity Secrets was put on the net, with the personal details leeched from ChoicePoint freely available to anyone. The owner of this site claims a First Ammendment right to publish that information and any objection is a violation of his Free Speech! Would you support that claim if it was YOUR info posted on that site? Or would you push law enforcement to use all available means to shut it down and identify the thieves that "leaked" that info to the website owner?
That the stolen info in the Apple case belonged to a corporation makes no difference. It is the exact same PRIVATE information that should not have been released to UNAUTHORIZED individuals. Just as the PRIVATE data leeched from ChoicePoint should not have been released to UNAUTHORIZED individuals. There is NO FREE SPEECH issue present!
* Yes I know I'm generalizing, but it appears the majority of posts on both issues support this generalization.
If you've followed any of the discussions on Groklaw you'd understand that it's not for Novell to prove they own the copyrights. The way it works is this - if there's any doubt about whether the APA + amendment transferred the copyrights, then assumption is the original owner retained them. So it's not up to Novell to prove they own the copyrights - the court assumes they do if there's doubt. It's up to SCO Group to prove the contract did in fact transfer, proving SCO Group owns them. So far, SCO Group have not done an impressive job in any court and I would doubt they can prove a transfer occurred.
I am still waiting for MS to let SCO completely self destruct, then buy their "IP" at a bargain, to hold a cloud over open source
With IBM's patent counterclaims still waiting for the end-game, don't expect MS or anyone else to be able to buy any remnants of TSG. If IBM gets a patent infringement ruling in their favour, they collect considerable damages - any scraps that remain will be IBM's pickings, noone elses!
As far as PayPal is concerned, he received funds to ship an item - they have no involvement in what item was involved. Since he shipped an item, he has completed that transaction properly and PayPal has not been defrauded in any manner.
He DID use eBay to sell a real item but ACTUALLY shipped a fake item
Wrong!
He used eBay to advertise the sale of a real item. The "purchaser" in this transaction persued the sale completely outside of eBay. Thus, eBay has not been defrauded in any manner.
He DID use fedex to ship a fraudulent item.
Wrong!
He used FedEx to ship an item. They are not a party to the contents of the box - they were simply the transport medium. They were paid to ship a box, they shipped the box. Thus, FedEx has not been defrauded in any manner.
The only debatable fraudulent actions were between the buyer and the seller directly. But since the bogus escrow site disappeared and the seller was never paid for an actual PowerBook - the buyer has no basis for a fraud claim!
This can be wrapped up as: the buyer used PayPal to pay the seller to ship a box via FedEx to his address. The buyer payed taxes on the declared value of the box's contents - which as was said elsewhere, could be a $2000 piece of contemporary art for all the government cares. That the buyer did not receive an actual Apple Powerbook is due to the fact the buyer never paid for an actual Apple Powerbook! So there was no actual fraud from the buyer's side. The seller still has a claim though - since he was never paid for the piece of $2000 art he shipped in the box!
I don't think people on dial up ever patch.. because downloading the 100 megs of updates that both Jaguar, Panther, and XP require has got to be hell.
Well you're thinking is impaired and you should therefore refrain from making such grossly inaccurate assumptions.
Personally, I have 2 Windows 2000 systems, 1 Windows XP laptop, 1 MacOS X Powerbook, and 1 FreeBSD firewall. Not only do I weekly sync the FreeBSD box up via cvs and recompile the Stable source tree, I also patch both Win2k and the Mac as needed via the same 56K dial up. I haven't been hit with any of the Windows worms/viruses, nor any FreeBSD or Mac problems. That's because I run Windows Update nearly every other day, and MacOS X's Software Update at least a few times a week (in case a new patch I've not already heard about is there).
Yeah, it sucks on dialup - and I frequently let the updates download overnight while I sleep. That's what my cell phone is for - voice conversations. If you're thinking twice about 50MB and you're not limited to dial up, I think you're nuts. I keep all of my systems as up to date as possible. Luckily the XP laptop is for work only, so I can run Windows Update from work with it.
More laws = "bad"
Laws are diretly related to abuse
Fewer laws = "good"
There are fewer technical loopholes for abuses...
No! Let me explain a bit of somethings called "progress" and "complexity".
The continual establishment of new laws is a direct result of the progress of society. You see, we didn't always have Linux running on inexpensive build-from-scratch PCs. Once upon a time, there was a thing called an abacus, and it was about the fanciest dang piece of innovation around! That, as advanced as it was for the day, was an improvement to the more primitive "counting on fingers" approach to computing previously utilized. But things change, this is called Progress!
Now along with all this Progress we have hurled our way, comes Compexity! See, the more cool new inventions there are, the more innovative use for them, with even cooler advancements in return. This causes society to move from those tiny 1-horse towns where the entire community was needed to raise a barn, all the way to the super-high-tech Wi-Fi enabled metropolis' with a StarBucks on nearly every stinking corner. This constant advencement makes life more complex: it seems "getting by" requires more and more schooling, and then self-study reading to keep up with it all after graduation.
Then, mixed in along with all this Progress and Complexity, some unscrupulous scoundrels attempt to exploit this situation. They try to fool the common-person with slick talk and flashy charisma. NEW laws are then passed by the governing bodies to combat this exploitation and protect their citizens. So you see... NEW LAWS ARE GOOD!
The problem is when the unscrupulous scoundrels exploit the governing body and trick them into passing BAD laws. It's these BAD laws we need to combat, and the scoundrels that push for them, and the lawmakers who are so easily tricked. The latter being easiest since we can vote them out of office (at least in many places).
I didn't say that poor people today are as desolate as those in the past. What I said was the disparity is growing - the wealthy aren't just wealthy, their excessively wealthy when compared to the general population. I don't have the figures handy, but it's something like >80% of total wealth/resources is controlled by The other half that I didn't get into is what you're referring to about public schools and draconian laws. The point though, who pushes and benefits by this state of affairs? The excessively wealthy who don't want to give anyone else an opportunity to unseat them at the top. So they encourage this type of environment: Make everyone "technically" a criminal in some manner (draconian laws), and ensure they don't 1) know any better (lousy public education) and 2) don't have time to change things even if they did understand (increasing work hours without compensation). Eventually, if not stopped and balance restored, they will push too far and the common folks will revolt. That's simply the way humanity has historically always worked.
He's not talking about some kid 3 or 4 generations down the line blasting Led Zeppelin in his bedroom. He's talking about scientists who may try to understand the long-since-fallen nation of the USA.
The vast majority of information regarding any time period tends to be tainted by the powers-that-be at the time (revisionist history) or lost due to sparsity. Should all of present day media be shackled with such short-lived technologies, then there would be nothing for those scientists to uncover that might paint a clearer picture of this era.
The problem with most of the perspectives of the "producers" and the politicians they manipulate is they assume the world of today will continue with only slight changes over time. History shows a much different perspective - ALL societies that have ever been before have fallen. Some spanned decades, some (as our present) evolved over centuries, some (Ancient Egypt comes to mind) endured for many thousands of years. All of them eventually fell (via war or other catastrophe) and after a period of disorder, or outright chaos, another social order built up in their place (with most of what was gone forever).
Considering the growing disparity between the wealthy and those in poverty today - and the increasing attempts to cement control by the former combined with the rapidly growing numbers in the latter, shows just how volatile our society is. How much longer until those once called Citizens, now called Consumers, are finally labeled with the inevitable Peasant. How long after that before the peasants revolt and destroy all that's been hoarded by the wealthy. There is absolutely no guarantee that the USA will maintain it's own social order, let alone the current "New World Order" as described by the first President Bush.
I don't wish to spark a left vs. right debate on today's social state. Despite what both conservatives and liberals claim are the causes and solutions to such ills, they do presently exist. The longer they persist, the longer the risk. I do not advocate any such uprising, I do not predict any such revolt, I simple mention that historically speaking - the risk exists. Should our present society fall into chaos, and most of what we've accomplished reduced to ashes and dust, only fragments of what once was will remain. If these fragments are useless due to DRM, there will be nothing truly left. That is what the original poster was asking - Why aren't archaeologists (and other scientists) speaking up about this risk?
As many others have said, if you're not anonymous - don't complain. That's the easy part to figure out. In these situations, the squeaky wheel does not get oiled, it gets replaced.
The hard part is making constructive suggestions. You have to be very careful you're not stepping on someone else's toes. You may have a great idea for improving the company - with a completely positive presentation. However, if that particular idea, or type of idea, is the within the domain of someone else or some department other than yours, you can also damage your career. If it's AVP Jane Smith's organizational role to save $ in a certain area. You come along from AVP John Doe's group and make her folks look like slackers with that great idea that should have originated in hers, you may find yourself marked. Should Mr. Doe take leave for some reason, beware the wrath of Ms. Smith once he's gone.
Now SCO Group is willfully violating Copyrights. So, do as they did - each contributor to the Linux kernel (and all other code they are bundling with their distribution) needs to announce to the press that they are going to send invoices to all of SCO's licensed customers for using misapproriated IP. Announce they will sue all of SCO's licensed customers if they fail to pay up. File suit against SCO for huge monetary damages in every jurisdiction possible.
Then sit back and watch their stock drop as investors realize they've been dragged over the ledge.
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The problem with standardized tests is it requires standardized students to be truly useful. The fact is, there are 3 broad categories of students - (A) Average students, (BA) Below Average students, and (AA) Above Average students.
A teacher who is proficient with BA students is most likely going to do poorly with AA students. Many teachers proficient with A students will have difficulty with AA students and may also have difficulty with some BA students. Any teacher who can relate to AA students is most likely going to do miserably with BA students.
Children are NOT widgets, this business-oriented approach that treats them as such is doing far more harm than good. There has to be a better way to both educate students and evaluate teachers. The Tenure system is broken because it keeps burnt out teachers in place far too long. The current push for standardized tests/evaluations fails since each student is unique. Unfortunately, since students don't appear to be taught to think creatively (since the focus is on passing tests), I doubt a practical/effective solution will be found any time soon.
It basically got completely confused on what display I had when connected to a Philips 107T4 monitor. The laptop is a Compaq R3140US Athlon 64bit with the NVidia GeForce 4 Go 420. While it was connected to the external monitor, it refused to detect nor work with manual settings from the Fiesty install. Until I disconnected the monitor, it would not configure correctly. Now that it's installed, it still acts flakey if I reconnect the monitor. It is the 64bit Athlon build of Gutsy, so could be a quirk with that particular build.
If you don't believe me, try installing the new Nvidia manufacturer drivers.
OK, I did that on an HP laptop after installing Gutsy and this is what happened.... blank screen! Nothing at all, restarting X didn't do it, reconfigure of X worked if I went back to the non-proprietary drivers, but only in 800x600 8bit mode. To simplify, I spent over an hour trying to get either driver to configure with the stock LCD resolution to no avail, external monitor wouldn't detect correctly either. So in frustration I did the last thing I would have thought to do, I disconnected the external monitor and finally it worked as it should have an hour earlier. It was the last thing I would have thought to do since I had installed Dapper and Fiesty on it while connected to the same monitor and had no problems at all. So for me Gutsy was a huge step backwards just on the installation and initial configuration.
I also upgraded my PowerBook to Leopard... the following night since Gutsy also gave me problems with the Wifi I also had no problems with prior. I had absolutely no problems at all, it not only configured the local USB attached HP inkjet, but also the old SMB shared HP6P I still have connected to a W2K box.
I'm happy you had no issues with Gutsy, but it can be just as flakey as any other OS out there.
Also, out of your 2nd paragraph, only valid point I see is iTunes won't sync with a non iPod player... oh wait, that's an application limitation that exists on all platforms iTunes runs on... I thought we were discussing the OS. I certainly get icons for thumb drives and CD/DVD media on my desktop upon inserting, unless I turn that option off in Finder preferences. I've found some media that won't play correctly in Safari, oops! That's an application again! I can't recall stumbling across anything that won't run fine in Firefox on my Mac if Safari flakes, but I'm not a pr0n fan, so maybe that's why I'm not missing any valuable codecs/plugins.
This has been an issue I've seen all over the Ubuntu boards. A lot of people were playing around for months with the Xgl/Compiz/Beryl stuff. ALL of which is Alpha code! Then they updated the underlying OS and X broke, they then scream that Edgy broke X. No, your Alpha quality Beryl broke the updated X you just installed.
For me, I removed all the Firefox 1.5.x themes and extentions I had installed (noting the names in case I could find updates later). I uninstalled the Xgl/Compiz stuff I put in place a couple months back, and returned to a vanilla Gnome desktop. Then I updated and had absolutely no issues at all. I haven't taken the time to chase down the Xgl/Beryl updates to get that working manually again, and the Firefox theme I was using isn't updated for 2.0 yet, but I'm still fine with the standard desktop and all of the other apps/hardware I have.
It stopped amazing me how many people scream about an OS update breaking things when they've gone so far outside the box. With OS X, the consistent source of breakage is the "Haxie" crap that injects code snippits into core applications to make them look/behave differently. They leave all that crap installed and active, then upgrade to the latest feline... then are surprised when those "Haxies" break everything. I guess I am still amazed that they're surprised every time.
Simply having 30GB of mp3 files and a P2P application installed is not enough to prove you violated "their" copyrights - although I assume they would argue it is.
If you have hundreds of CDs that you've ripped for personal listening on your computer, that's perfectly legal (fair use on alternate device). Using a P2P application to download files is not a violation either, it's the uploading of "their" copyrighted material that's the issue. So, if one has 30GB of mp3 files, a P2P application that finds all those files and auto-adds them to a "shared" bucket still would not be a problem - if you have a firewall that blocks those uploads. In that case, handing them your hard drive does nothing to prove guilt nor innocence. The firewall configuration showing you block P2P uploads is what will prove you're not violating any copyrights.
Granted, they identify people to sue based not on how many files are downloaded, but how many are offered for uploading. Even there, however, the few cases I've read through indicate they just look for large amounts of music showing as shared. In the example above, that would be misleading, because even if it appears like someone's sharing thousands of songs, doesn't mean you can actually download any of them from them. I'm not sure if the RIAA actually shows evidence that XYZ song was successfully downloaded from that shared library when they file these claims.
The word "their" is quoted because the RIAA doesn't actually own any of the rights they sue for, they represent others whom have had rights, typically for a temporary period, granted exclusively to them.SuSE's used extensively where I work because the closest business-oriented distro - RedHat - was rejected after RedHat support personnel royally ticked off our admins/management. Right now, only SuSE and Redhat are supported by some of the IBM software we use in the data center. So once RedHat lost the contract due to poor support, Novell was only alternative.
That's not the point. The point is it's illegal to use one monopoly as a leverage into another market. It doesn't matter from a practical matter if it has any affect on the internet search industry. All that matters is that Microsoft was ruled as an OS and Browser monopolist. Due to that, they can't do things like this even if others can. That's it. No other micro-rationalisation needed. It's the law in the US!
My take over the years is that they will not fix anything in the OS that will break any of their own applications. If necessary, they stall on the OS patch until a corresponding patch to the effected application is ready too.
LOL I originally did put the name in, but since it's been several years since that experience I'm not sure they still use them. So I decided to leave the name out and leave it generic. For the record, for anyone that cares, it was Penske. I rented from Budget (who bought out the Ryder business) the 2nd two trips and had no issues. I relayed this story about a year ago to someone verbally and they said Penske stopped using the regulators on their newer trucks. I don't know if that's true or not since I stopped renting from them. The feeling you get when 20+ tracker trailers are breathing diesel down your neck because you can't get out of their way is just plain nasty!
Most of I40 through Arizona & New Mexico has a speed limit of 75mph, since there's not much there to get in the way. The only places things slow down are up and down through the mountain passes. In my loaded moving truck, I could maintain the 70mph speed up hill - while the 18 wheel trucks slowed to 50ish. Down hill on opposite side of mountain, they could regain speed while I was still at 70, thus passing me as they cruised back to 75+ on flat section. The result was a constant game of pass em while ya can! I'd pass them uphill, they'd pass me downhill, and drift off into distance on flat stretches. Only to get bunch up again at next uphill. As it got later in the day, this became such a hazard to me in the little moving truck, I've never rented a moving truck from that rental company again. No idea if they still use governors, but the fact I had to deal with it once is enough that I don't care to find out. I've rented from a competitor that doesn't use such devices since - and yes, I've driven from west coast to east, then back to west, then back to east - so 3 trips cross country so far... I thought I was going to die several times during that first trip limited to 70mph - I will never do that again.
In summary, it's just simply a bad idea!
Yes, it's true there are not nearly enough facts known to show humans path from a primitive form to current state via evolution. That, however, doesn't mean evolution is "not proven". It's just human evolution, along with many other complex life forms is not fully documentable. On small scale, simple organisms, evolution has been fully observed and documented since Darwin first wrote down his findings.
Sure, you or I may be able to build a "clone" box with enough compatible components that it runs as well as a true Apple box. Just don't go trying to sell them... or if your name is Michael Dell... beware!
See, since TPM is an access control mechanism, bypassing it would be a violation of the DMCA, and Apple legal would be all over anyone trying to sell non-Apple systems running Mac OS X. I truly think that's the only reason for it.
So this is all by intent, make patents easier to obtain, and more people will file applications. More applications equals more money, so actually scrutinizing them and rejecting the obviously bogus harms the public image - must maintain the "easy to get a patent - come file an app!" mantra going.
This is the fallacy of self-funding or privatization will lower costs and increase quality is blatently clear. But that's their story and they're sticking to it - they make good money off this here broken system and ain't about to change it! It's not about "build(ing) a more perfect Union" - it's about gouging as much as you can to purchase that "American Dream" without having to share it.
Perhaps you should manually download and install a release past beta. If you've been running the same version for "all these months" then you probably don't have a version current enough to include the update code. I've been getting the update notification icon since the 1.0 release, and perhaps even one of the release candidates. I've had the update icon working on Win2000, WinXP, SuSE Linux, and for a short time on a FreeBSD box.
To expand on this a bit, let's take a look at 2 recent issues discussed here ad infinum. The first is the defrauding of ChoicePoint, and the second is Apple's suit against the rumor sites.
When it was announced that ChoicePoint had sold personal info to Nigerian scammers, the crowd* here roared that ChoicePoint should be investigated, fined, jailed, regulated, etc. As one of the "lucky" folks to get one of them lovely letters from ChoicePoint, I'm roaring right along let me tell ya!
When it was announced Apple was persuing legal action to force the rumor sites to reveal who leaked Apple's Trade Secrets, the crowd* here roared that Apple == Microsoft, violiating free speech, evil, etc. I am not roaring along with this crowd, and here's why.
Imagine, for a moment, that a site call Identity Secrets was put on the net, with the personal details leeched from ChoicePoint freely available to anyone. The owner of this site claims a First Ammendment right to publish that information and any objection is a violation of his Free Speech! Would you support that claim if it was YOUR info posted on that site? Or would you push law enforcement to use all available means to shut it down and identify the thieves that "leaked" that info to the website owner?
That the stolen info in the Apple case belonged to a corporation makes no difference. It is the exact same PRIVATE information that should not have been released to UNAUTHORIZED individuals. Just as the PRIVATE data leeched from ChoicePoint should not have been released to UNAUTHORIZED individuals. There is NO FREE SPEECH issue present!
* Yes I know I'm generalizing, but it appears the majority of posts on both issues support this generalization.
With IBM's patent counterclaims still waiting for the end-game, don't expect MS or anyone else to be able to buy any remnants of TSG. If IBM gets a patent infringement ruling in their favour, they collect considerable damages - any scraps that remain will be IBM's pickings, noone elses!
Wrong!
As far as PayPal is concerned, he received funds to ship an item - they have no involvement in what item was involved. Since he shipped an item, he has completed that transaction properly and PayPal has not been defrauded in any manner.
He DID use eBay to sell a real item but ACTUALLY shipped a fake item
Wrong!
He used eBay to advertise the sale of a real item. The "purchaser" in this transaction persued the sale completely outside of eBay. Thus, eBay has not been defrauded in any manner.
He DID use fedex to ship a fraudulent item.
Wrong!
He used FedEx to ship an item. They are not a party to the contents of the box - they were simply the transport medium. They were paid to ship a box, they shipped the box. Thus, FedEx has not been defrauded in any manner.
The only debatable fraudulent actions were between the buyer and the seller directly. But since the bogus escrow site disappeared and the seller was never paid for an actual PowerBook - the buyer has no basis for a fraud claim!
This can be wrapped up as: the buyer used PayPal to pay the seller to ship a box via FedEx to his address. The buyer payed taxes on the declared value of the box's contents - which as was said elsewhere, could be a $2000 piece of contemporary art for all the government cares. That the buyer did not receive an actual Apple Powerbook is due to the fact the buyer never paid for an actual Apple Powerbook! So there was no actual fraud from the buyer's side. The seller still has a claim though - since he was never paid for the piece of $2000 art he shipped in the box!
Well you're thinking is impaired and you should therefore refrain from making such grossly inaccurate assumptions.
Personally, I have 2 Windows 2000 systems, 1 Windows XP laptop, 1 MacOS X Powerbook, and 1 FreeBSD firewall. Not only do I weekly sync the FreeBSD box up via cvs and recompile the Stable source tree, I also patch both Win2k and the Mac as needed via the same 56K dial up. I haven't been hit with any of the Windows worms/viruses, nor any FreeBSD or Mac problems. That's because I run Windows Update nearly every other day, and MacOS X's Software Update at least a few times a week (in case a new patch I've not already heard about is there).
Yeah, it sucks on dialup - and I frequently let the updates download overnight while I sleep. That's what my cell phone is for - voice conversations. If you're thinking twice about 50MB and you're not limited to dial up, I think you're nuts. I keep all of my systems as up to date as possible. Luckily the XP laptop is for work only, so I can run Windows Update from work with it.
Laws are diretly related to abuse
Fewer laws = "good"
There are fewer technical loopholes for abuses.
No! Let me explain a bit of somethings called "progress" and "complexity".
The continual establishment of new laws is a direct result of the progress of society. You see, we didn't always have Linux running on inexpensive build-from-scratch PCs. Once upon a time, there was a thing called an abacus, and it was about the fanciest dang piece of innovation around! That, as advanced as it was for the day, was an improvement to the more primitive "counting on fingers" approach to computing previously utilized. But things change, this is called Progress!
Now along with all this Progress we have hurled our way, comes Compexity! See, the more cool new inventions there are, the more innovative use for them, with even cooler advancements in return. This causes society to move from those tiny 1-horse towns where the entire community was needed to raise a barn, all the way to the super-high-tech Wi-Fi enabled metropolis' with a StarBucks on nearly every stinking corner. This constant advencement makes life more complex: it seems "getting by" requires more and more schooling, and then self-study reading to keep up with it all after graduation.
Then, mixed in along with all this Progress and Complexity, some unscrupulous scoundrels attempt to exploit this situation. They try to fool the common-person with slick talk and flashy charisma. NEW laws are then passed by the governing bodies to combat this exploitation and protect their citizens. So you see... NEW LAWS ARE GOOD!
The problem is when the unscrupulous scoundrels exploit the governing body and trick them into passing BAD laws. It's these BAD laws we need to combat, and the scoundrels that push for them, and the lawmakers who are so easily tricked. The latter being easiest since we can vote them out of office (at least in many places).
I didn't say that poor people today are as desolate as those in the past. What I said was the disparity is growing - the wealthy aren't just wealthy, their excessively wealthy when compared to the general population. I don't have the figures handy, but it's something like >80% of total wealth/resources is controlled by
The other half that I didn't get into is what you're referring to about public schools and draconian laws. The point though, who pushes and benefits by this state of affairs? The excessively wealthy who don't want to give anyone else an opportunity to unseat them at the top. So they encourage this type of environment: Make everyone "technically" a criminal in some manner (draconian laws), and ensure they don't 1) know any better (lousy public education) and 2) don't have time to change things even if they did understand (increasing work hours without compensation). Eventually, if not stopped and balance restored, they will push too far and the common folks will revolt. That's simply the way humanity has historically always worked.
He's not talking about some kid 3 or 4 generations down the line blasting Led Zeppelin in his bedroom. He's talking about scientists who may try to understand the long-since-fallen nation of the USA.
The vast majority of information regarding any time period tends to be tainted by the powers-that-be at the time (revisionist history) or lost due to sparsity. Should all of present day media be shackled with such short-lived technologies, then there would be nothing for those scientists to uncover that might paint a clearer picture of this era.
The problem with most of the perspectives of the "producers" and the politicians they manipulate is they assume the world of today will continue with only slight changes over time. History shows a much different perspective - ALL societies that have ever been before have fallen. Some spanned decades, some (as our present) evolved over centuries, some (Ancient Egypt comes to mind) endured for many thousands of years. All of them eventually fell (via war or other catastrophe) and after a period of disorder, or outright chaos, another social order built up in their place (with most of what was gone forever).
Considering the growing disparity between the wealthy and those in poverty today - and the increasing attempts to cement control by the former combined with the rapidly growing numbers in the latter, shows just how volatile our society is. How much longer until those once called Citizens, now called Consumers, are finally labeled with the inevitable Peasant. How long after that before the peasants revolt and destroy all that's been hoarded by the wealthy. There is absolutely no guarantee that the USA will maintain it's own social order, let alone the current "New World Order" as described by the first President Bush.
I don't wish to spark a left vs. right debate on today's social state. Despite what both conservatives and liberals claim are the causes and solutions to such ills, they do presently exist. The longer they persist, the longer the risk. I do not advocate any such uprising, I do not predict any such revolt, I simple mention that historically speaking - the risk exists. Should our present society fall into chaos, and most of what we've accomplished reduced to ashes and dust, only fragments of what once was will remain. If these fragments are useless due to DRM, there will be nothing truly left. That is what the original poster was asking - Why aren't archaeologists (and other scientists) speaking up about this risk?
The hard part is making constructive suggestions. You have to be very careful you're not stepping on someone else's toes. You may have a great idea for improving the company - with a completely positive presentation. However, if that particular idea, or type of idea, is the within the domain of someone else or some department other than yours, you can also damage your career. If it's AVP Jane Smith's organizational role to save $ in a certain area. You come along from AVP John Doe's group and make her folks look like slackers with that great idea that should have originated in hers, you may find yourself marked. Should Mr. Doe take leave for some reason, beware the wrath of Ms. Smith once he's gone.
Then sit back and watch their stock drop as investors realize they've been dragged over the ledge.