The Mac build of Firefox should look like a Mac program by default;
Agreed. It is really annoying when developers of cross-platform apps don't realize that you need to conform to what users are accustomed to on their platform by default. Even Sun figured this out with Java (eventually), when will Mozilla?
I have been using RC3, which I believe is the same codebase as the actual release.
For several months I have found that the Firefox 2.0 branch froze up on my Mac (10.4 MacBook Pro) several times a day. Every time a new release would come out I would try it for a day or two, then it would freeze up, and I would switch back to the stable release.
I'm sorry to say that RC3 has been freezing up on me in much the same way, meaning that even with the official 2.0 release, its not stable enough for me to use it as my primary browser (and yes, I do submit bugs when the occur if I can, I have been submitting bugs to Mozilla since the project was first open sourced).
Doesn't the "No Warranty" section apply to the user of the software, in addition to the distributor? Having the user acknowledge that they understand there is no warranty for the software is useful and desirable.
Revver asks only for the right to distribute your content (under a Creative Commons no-derivs license) with unobtrusive advertising attached, and they share the revenue with you on a 50:50 basis. Revver's model is also more "behind the scenes" than YouTube. Revver users include EepyBird (the mentos and diet coke fountain guys), and Ze Frank, a popular video-blogger. EepyBird has already made over $30,000 through Revver in just a few weeks.
Apple, BitTorrent, Intel, and a host of other companies are footing the bill... BitTorrent is one of the sponsors this year.
But this doesn't really validate anything about BitTorrent, except the fact that they have persuaded some investors to give them money, and they are spending some of it on a film festival.
These festivals may be reaping the rewards of BitTorrent's generosity, but not BitTorrent's business.
P2P distribution makes sense when the distributer can't afford the bandwidth, but there are numerous video distribution sites who appear to be having very little trouble just distributing videos from a central server (youtube, google video, revver etc). Why would any user endure the trouble of installing a client, and waiting for an entire video to download before they can watch it, when they can just go to another site and watch it immediately.
I'm all for P2P where it is needed, but video over BitTorrent sounds like a solution looking for a problem.
if I'm willing to give up my fair use rights and buy a DRM enabled device, what concern is it to you?
Most of the problem is that many people who buy DRM devices only become aware of the restrictions after they have made their purchase. Furthermore, many people aren't aware that these devices often prevent you from doing things that are perfectly legal.
My goal in participating in the DBD protests is to achieve the abolition of DRM by persuading people that it is in their interests not to buy devices that use DRM, and persuade companies like Apple that it is not in their interests to sell them.
There was a very small group of us, but despite being kicked out almost immediately, we did manage to flier a number of people, and attract some attention.
Personally, I think DBD should continue to target Apple, rather than moving on to movie studios, since the media companies (with the exception of Sony) couldn't impose DRM without the cooperation of companies like Apple.
Lessons learned from the protest:
Don't organize a protest on private property (such as in a mall), security can and almost certainly will ask you to leave
Spend more than 2 days organizing it so that you can attract more people - possibly contact local user groups likely to be sympathetic
The problem is, from what I've read (very little), the decision doesn't specify on how the patent-holding company is set up, but how much of an impact to business the accused infringer is causing. This may not be a difference so far as the decision is concerned, although the small inventor may have other ideas.
Well, in the case of patent trolls, their only business is extracting license fees, and I don't think any negative impact on the ability to extract license fees would really count here, so it does seem quite well targeted.
The UK also has a private healthcare system for those that want it, with the NHS providing a fall-back. Personally, having lived both in the UK and the US, I find the UK health-care system vastly more user-friendly, you just walk in to your nearest GP, sign up, and off you go. I have never waited longer than 10 minutes to see my GP in the UK once I have made an appointment, and many GPs offer same-day appointments.
I know a few people whose entire choice of career has been dictated by the fact that they live in the US, and have a health condition which means that they must work for a large company or they simply can't get health coverage. I can only begin to explain how medieval that seems to the rest of the Western world.
The Freenet project is also looking for students, please take a look here for more information. Our new Freenet Client Protocol spec makes it very easy to build applications on top of the new Freenet 0.7 "darknet" architecture.
Of course, it would be remiss not to point out that Slashdot has also been accused of forms of censorship.
It is also worth noting that Digg has rapidly gained popularity to the point that Slashdot and Digg are now neck and neck according to Alexa.
Digg is an interesting site that implements a number of things many long-time Slashdot users have wished Slashdot would do for quite some time. It would be a shame if they are failing to live up to their claim of non-hierarchial editorial control. If this is true, then they deserve to be outed.
I wasn't responding to the Freenet Project website, I was responding to the Slashdot story. Something tells me that this particular Slashdotting was premature, but that tends to be the way it goes for Freenet; Slashdottings, as much as others may welcome them, are typically a bad thing for the Freenet network. If nothing else, we'll get new users. For awhile. We can only see how the network handles the next few days worth of influx.
Point taken. Its a tricky one, do you go for early publicity, or wait until you have a more robust piece of software. Freenet has always generated significant publicity at pretty early stages of development, and while it has disadvantages, on the whole I think it has been beneficial, it attracts developers (at a time when they can still make a real difference), not to mention donations, which we really need right now. We do try to be explicit about the fact that it is an alpha for testing, to avoid people being disappointed.
I completely agree. Freenet is hopefully a good last resort, but the option of a technical last resort should not discourage people from fighting oppression in all of its forms through more conventional political means.
Note that this release is still a very early alpha; users should neither expect it to be secure, nor user friendly. Rather, the purpose of this release is to facilitate wider testing, to inform people of the progress we have made, and to attract fresh development talent, both to Freenet itself, and to third party applications that use Freenet as a platform.
Modern Java virtual machines can actually be more efficient than native code in many situations. The old criticism of Java, that it is slow, and a CPU/memory hog relative to native compiled code, was definitely valid back in the 90s, but is much less-so now. Check out some recent benchmarks involving Java if you don't believe me.
I wish there was a way that I could view websites without giving any IP or client information. However, that kind of information is important to webmasters and business.
You just lost the interest of 99.9% of the British population. You should be aware that outside the US, and perhaps Switzerland and one or two other countries, the notion that people have some kind of natural right to own guns is taken about as seriously as the assertion that people have a natural right to own nuclear weapons.
to make people think that this is something completely new
No, like most things, this is built on ideas that will be familiar to those familiar with less "mainstream" programming languages such as ML. What is new here is that they are being brought to a much wider audience.
but still, decent OSS languages have had HOFs for years, and this isn't something that's particularly new or hard to do despite some PHBs who now start foaming on the mouth fantasizing how Microsoft is going to revolutionize the way we deal with data in programming languages...
By "decent" languages, I assume you are referring to languages like ML which receive scant attention outside the academic community. The point here is that.NET is bringing these features to a much wider audience.
The truth is that your original post was light on substance
My post contained a link to as much information as you could ever need about LINQ, hypertext is this wonderful thing which means that you can just refer someone to more information without having to regurgitate it every time, as you seem to be suggesting.
Your post made little sense
You might think so, the people that modded it up clearly disagree, perhaps they know how to click on a hyperlink?
Slashdot Mirror
I have been using RC3, which I believe is the same codebase as the actual release. For several months I have found that the Firefox 2.0 branch froze up on my Mac (10.4 MacBook Pro) several times a day. Every time a new release would come out I would try it for a day or two, then it would freeze up, and I would switch back to the stable release. I'm sorry to say that RC3 has been freezing up on me in much the same way, meaning that even with the official 2.0 release, its not stable enough for me to use it as my primary browser (and yes, I do submit bugs when the occur if I can, I have been submitting bugs to Mozilla since the project was first open sourced).
If by a "textbook case of web 2.0 design", he means a textbook case of how not to do it, I think I can agree with him, the site is hideous!
And, of course, the fact that it is far from a new idea, everyone from Netflix to Amazon have offered collaborative filtering on movies for years.
Doesn't the "No Warranty" section apply to the user of the software, in addition to the distributor? Having the user acknowledge that they understand there is no warranty for the software is useful and desirable.
[Disclaimer: I am one of the founders of Revver]
These festivals may be reaping the rewards of BitTorrent's generosity, but not BitTorrent's business.
I'm all for P2P where it is needed, but video over BitTorrent sounds like a solution looking for a problem.
My goal in participating in the DBD protests is to achieve the abolition of DRM by persuading people that it is in their interests not to buy devices that use DRM, and persuade companies like Apple that it is not in their interests to sell them.
Personally, I think DBD should continue to target Apple, rather than moving on to movie studios, since the media companies (with the exception of Sony) couldn't impose DRM without the cooperation of companies like Apple.
Lessons learned from the protest:
And the technology it uses is now owned by BMI.
I know a few people whose entire choice of career has been dictated by the fact that they live in the US, and have a health condition which means that they must work for a large company or they simply can't get health coverage. I can only begin to explain how medieval that seems to the rest of the Western world.
The Freenet project is also looking for students, please take a look here for more information. Our new Freenet Client Protocol spec makes it very easy to build applications on top of the new Freenet 0.7 "darknet" architecture.
It is also worth noting that Digg has rapidly gained popularity to the point that Slashdot and Digg are now neck and neck according to Alexa.
Digg is an interesting site that implements a number of things many long-time Slashdot users have wished Slashdot would do for quite some time. It would be a shame if they are failing to live up to their claim of non-hierarchial editorial control. If this is true, then they deserve to be outed.
- Ian (Founder, Freenet Project)
Modern Java virtual machines can actually be more efficient than native code in many situations. The old criticism of Java, that it is slow, and a CPU/memory hog relative to native compiled code, was definitely valid back in the 90s, but is much less-so now. Check out some recent benchmarks involving Java if you don't believe me.