I was a military journalist working at the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service detachment in Iceland when I got my Amiga 500. Partly because I was already loyal to Commodore (I had a C64 and later a C128 as a kid). I also partly bought it because of the influence of many of my coworkers who were hyped about Amiga and NewTek. Another big contributor was the fact that the only computer you could buy at the Naval Exchange was the Amiga 500. Sadly, the only software you could buy was the the PC. Can you tell that the government was running things?
Look... I'm sorry. I had a really bad day and it looks like I'm taking it out on you. I really am sorry. Didn't mean to get into anyone's face when I woke up this morning.
WTH? You don't post anything on Slashdot in YEARS and you do it to post this kind of baseless drivel? And you gotta pull out your +1 Karma bonus to boot? Crawl back under your rock you Troll!
When I did public affairs on surface ships we would get a daily news feed (not the Early Bird) in daily message traffic that provided news from the AP Wire that was considerably more well-rounded then the DoD-specific news in the Early Bird. You don't get that under the sea?
The point is that with Google News I can have google setup curated clipping services for all of the same keywords that military public affairs staff members used to aggregate sources to create the Early Bird. There is nothing in the Early Bird that can't be replicated using publicly available tools at a greatly reduced cost to DoD.
The only way in the foreseeable future for you to have a pay-once watch-everywhere service would be DRM free. There are too many players trying to monopolize the digital content market space. You basically have to choose an ecosystem and be willing to stick with it... or repurchase your content.
And what they get affects what we get. The industry may be too 20th Century... but it uses a specific model of distribution that is designed to maximize profits: 1. Theatrical Release 2. Release to pay-per-view 3. Release on DVD followed by rentals. Today, most films are released direct to bit-torrent as soon as they hit the theater (or sometimes even before the theatrical release.) The "stupid, industry-imposed restrictions on how and more importantly when" people are allowed to consume content are necessary to make the system profitable. Without profit there won't be content. The key to making a profit is repeat purchases: People who see a film in the theater who later purchase the film on DVD/BluRay and who may go on to purchase the "special edition" or "director's cut" when that is released. Even if the industry were to start providing DRM-free purchasable content available at retail or by download at the same time as a film hits the theaters (the only way to overcome the restrictions on how and when you view the content) most current illegal downloaders would still resort to bit-torrent with the excuse that the content is too expensive.
In the meantime, while you are enjoying your "superior service" you can thank me for having the content available in the first place. It's people like us who consume content through legitimate outlets that make it possible for the shows to exist in the first place. If everyone resorts to piracy then producing valuable content becomes a loosing proposition. No dollars no new content.
Replacing all of the Space Camp infrastructure is prohibitively expensive. Besides what would they replace the Shuttle with? The Constellation program was cancelled and there is always the chance that the next U.S. President will just cancel the current President's vision for a manned space program. You could replace all the Space Shuttle stuff with a simulation of the ISS but you'd probably hit the ISS's end of life (2020) before you could get all the Shuttle stuff replaced at Space Camp.
Remember; the shuttles have only been retired now for a little over two years. You can't expect NASA on it's shoestring budget to completely renovate a non-mission critical facility like Space Camp to reflect the reality that the USA's manned space program has an uncertain future in that short a period of time. All Space Camp can do right now is look to the past because whatever future there may be to look forward to is amorphous right now.
If I weren't "perfectly fine" with knowing that Google reads my mail and potentially shares it with the government. If I weren't, then I wouldn't use their services. Anytime you use an online service you are granting the service provider access to all the data you share with their service. And if you think that the Government can't use its police power to access that info also then you really are naive. If you continue to use online services while being discontent then that's on you.
Wow. I'm not saying that the entire infrastructure has to be zero cost. Duh. The question is who will be paying for the infrastructure. The end users are going to form some kind of consortium? And even if they do then you still have to be able to trust the other members of the consortium not to tap your data. Think on it. If you can.
If the entire chain is open... who's paying for the infrastructure? Who will build the cellphone towers? Run the copper to your house or link the fiber between substations? Until I see a real-world example of private individuals circumventing the entire rest of the communications infrastructure from one end of the chain to the other... I remain skeptical. The closest example is AMPRNet, but AMPRNet is still used to connect to the rest of the communications infrastructure.
"Part of the goals of education is to make sure that it does not just take 100 fascists to run a fascist state relying on people "just following orders" because the alternative might involve a sacrifice of intellectual laziness."
Funny. The goal of public education is to teach students to follow directions without questioning authority. Students are placed in an extremely authoritarian setting. Deviation from accepted norms in punishable. Schedules are rigid and inflexible. Students are often taught not to speak out of turn without requesting permission. They often aren't even allowed to use the restroom without permission from a figure of authority. "Just following orders" is the name of the game.
But that Linux kernel is at the complete mercy of the wireless carrier and the handset manufacturer. Not to mention the hundreds of app developers to whom you are willing to surrender systems level access in order to use their services. An open source kernel is useless when the rest of the infrastructure is being broadcast to the waiting world. Plus... getting the Linux kernel to load proprietary kernel modules is trivial. You don't think the Linux kernel on Android is already doing that?
Stallman's arguments are purely philosophical for most software users. Software as a service, aka "Cloud Computing" is becoming and has become a standard for most computer users... even if they don't recognize it. Free Software is not going to reverse that unless you find some way to pull yourself off the grid... no internet, no cellular service, no land line service, etc. The entire infrastructure is open to attack and running Free Software to interact with the rest of the world doesn't insulate you from most of those attack vectors. The only answer that could possibly live up to the pipe dreams of RMS would be to completely recreate the entire infrastructure. Need a totally attack free cellphone? You'll need to use an OSS operating system running on open source hardware that you solder together yourself... and then you'll need an open service infrastructure that no one else can connect to... leaving the entire concept useless. What good is a cellphone that can't connect you to other users. The moment you have to hand off your data, even if its encrypted, to a second party you've lost control. It doesn't matter where you hand off control of the data... at the application level, the network level or to another user. At some point you loose control. Sorry RMS... using wget to fetch web pages so you can read them in your email may work for you, but for most of us Free and Open Source Software are NOT ends but are rather the means to an end. Most of us are perfectly happy to give up control of our data sooner rather than later because using Cloud Services is simply more convenient and adds value. I don't plan on giving up my smartphone anytime soon and as long as I use it I'm allowing numerous parties to potentially access my information and communication. Thanks to my phone's built in GPS I'm letting Google (as well as a number of other App vendors) to know exactly where I am at all times. As a Gmail user I'm perfectly fine knowing that Google reads my mail and potentially shares that info with the Government. All these things (and so much more) are acceptable trade offs for most of us to have access to services we value.
"The irony of this is quite lost on them as they happily tuck into their pork sausages"
Not at all. Christians believe that Jesus was God incarnate. Since Jesus said, "Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?" and the Bible goes on to say "Thus he declared all foods clean." Christians have no scruples about digging into pork sausages, eating a cheeseburger or dining on shrimp. Why do people insist on pointing out that Christians violate Jewish theology without taking the time to understand the Christian Theology behind why they violate it?
When the question was brought before the Council of Jerusalem as described in the New Testament Book of Acts as to what portion of the Jewish Law Gentile converts to Christ were required to keep that council narrowed it down to just four things:
"For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well."
Slashdot Mirror
The best part of this story is that it gets a "Firefly" tag.
Currently listening to the audio book version of this. Seems to be a good bio so far.
It's called a hobby. Maybe you should get one.
I was a military journalist working at the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service detachment in Iceland when I got my Amiga 500. Partly because I was already loyal to Commodore (I had a C64 and later a C128 as a kid). I also partly bought it because of the influence of many of my coworkers who were hyped about Amiga and NewTek. Another big contributor was the fact that the only computer you could buy at the Naval Exchange was the Amiga 500. Sadly, the only software you could buy was the the PC. Can you tell that the government was running things?
Look... I'm sorry. I had a really bad day and it looks like I'm taking it out on you. I really am sorry. Didn't mean to get into anyone's face when I woke up this morning.
Well... that might be what YOU call it but the rest of us call it FREE SPEECH. Get a dictionary. Troll.
WTH? You don't post anything on Slashdot in YEARS and you do it to post this kind of baseless drivel? And you gotta pull out your +1 Karma bonus to boot? Crawl back under your rock you Troll!
The site speculates that a recent update to showcase title and previous keynote star Real Racing 3 could confirm a rumoured microconsole announcement.
Could confirm? Seriously... if it's still questionable then it is still unconfirmed.
When I did public affairs on surface ships we would get a daily news feed (not the Early Bird) in daily message traffic that provided news from the AP Wire that was considerably more well-rounded then the DoD-specific news in the Early Bird. You don't get that under the sea?
The point is that with Google News I can have google setup curated clipping services for all of the same keywords that military public affairs staff members used to aggregate sources to create the Early Bird. There is nothing in the Early Bird that can't be replicated using publicly available tools at a greatly reduced cost to DoD.
The only way in the foreseeable future for you to have a pay-once watch-everywhere service would be DRM free. There are too many players trying to monopolize the digital content market space. You basically have to choose an ecosystem and be willing to stick with it... or repurchase your content.
And what they get affects what we get.
The industry may be too 20th Century... but it uses a specific model of distribution that is designed to maximize profits:
1. Theatrical Release
2. Release to pay-per-view
3. Release on DVD followed by rentals.
Today, most films are released direct to bit-torrent as soon as they hit the theater (or sometimes even before the theatrical release.)
The "stupid, industry-imposed restrictions on how and more importantly when" people are allowed to consume content are necessary to make the system profitable. Without profit there won't be content. The key to making a profit is repeat purchases: People who see a film in the theater who later purchase the film on DVD/BluRay and who may go on to purchase the "special edition" or "director's cut" when that is released.
Even if the industry were to start providing DRM-free purchasable content available at retail or by download at the same time as a film hits the theaters (the only way to overcome the restrictions on how and when you view the content) most current illegal downloaders would still resort to bit-torrent with the excuse that the content is too expensive.
Someone else noticed that, huh?
In the meantime, while you are enjoying your "superior service" you can thank me for having the content available in the first place. It's people like us who consume content through legitimate outlets that make it possible for the shows to exist in the first place. If everyone resorts to piracy then producing valuable content becomes a loosing proposition. No dollars no new content.
Replacing all of the Space Camp infrastructure is prohibitively expensive. Besides what would they replace the Shuttle with? The Constellation program was cancelled and there is always the chance that the next U.S. President will just cancel the current President's vision for a manned space program. You could replace all the Space Shuttle stuff with a simulation of the ISS but you'd probably hit the ISS's end of life (2020) before you could get all the Shuttle stuff replaced at Space Camp.
Remember; the shuttles have only been retired now for a little over two years. You can't expect NASA on it's shoestring budget to completely renovate a non-mission critical facility like Space Camp to reflect the reality that the USA's manned space program has an uncertain future in that short a period of time. All Space Camp can do right now is look to the past because whatever future there may be to look forward to is amorphous right now.
I could switch to T-Mobile... but owning using a service that doesn't have coverage in most of the area I live/work/travel in is counter-intuitive.
If I weren't "perfectly fine" with knowing that Google reads my mail and potentially shares it with the government. If I weren't, then I wouldn't use their services. Anytime you use an online service you are granting the service provider access to all the data you share with their service. And if you think that the Government can't use its police power to access that info also then you really are naive.
If you continue to use online services while being discontent then that's on you.
No I am not a "naive fool." I'm a well informed one. There is a big difference.
Wow.
I'm not saying that the entire infrastructure has to be zero cost. Duh.
The question is who will be paying for the infrastructure. The end users are going to form some kind of consortium? And even if they do then you still have to be able to trust the other members of the consortium not to tap your data.
Think on it.
If you can.
If the entire chain is open... who's paying for the infrastructure? Who will build the cellphone towers? Run the copper to your house or link the fiber between substations? Until I see a real-world example of private individuals circumventing the entire rest of the communications infrastructure from one end of the chain to the other... I remain skeptical. The closest example is AMPRNet, but AMPRNet is still used to connect to the rest of the communications infrastructure.
"Part of the goals of education is to make sure that it does not just take 100 fascists to run a fascist state relying on people "just following orders" because the alternative might involve a sacrifice of intellectual laziness."
Funny.
The goal of public education is to teach students to follow directions without questioning authority. Students are placed in an extremely authoritarian setting. Deviation from accepted norms in punishable. Schedules are rigid and inflexible. Students are often taught not to speak out of turn without requesting permission. They often aren't even allowed to use the restroom without permission from a figure of authority. "Just following orders" is the name of the game.
But that Linux kernel is at the complete mercy of the wireless carrier and the handset manufacturer. Not to mention the hundreds of app developers to whom you are willing to surrender systems level access in order to use their services. An open source kernel is useless when the rest of the infrastructure is being broadcast to the waiting world. Plus... getting the Linux kernel to load proprietary kernel modules is trivial. You don't think the Linux kernel on Android is already doing that?
Stallman's arguments are purely philosophical for most software users. Software as a service, aka "Cloud Computing" is becoming and has become a standard for most computer users... even if they don't recognize it. Free Software is not going to reverse that unless you find some way to pull yourself off the grid... no internet, no cellular service, no land line service, etc. The entire infrastructure is open to attack and running Free Software to interact with the rest of the world doesn't insulate you from most of those attack vectors.
The only answer that could possibly live up to the pipe dreams of RMS would be to completely recreate the entire infrastructure. Need a totally attack free cellphone? You'll need to use an OSS operating system running on open source hardware that you solder together yourself... and then you'll need an open service infrastructure that no one else can connect to... leaving the entire concept useless. What good is a cellphone that can't connect you to other users. The moment you have to hand off your data, even if its encrypted, to a second party you've lost control. It doesn't matter where you hand off control of the data... at the application level, the network level or to another user. At some point you loose control.
Sorry RMS... using wget to fetch web pages so you can read them in your email may work for you, but for most of us Free and Open Source Software are NOT ends but are rather the means to an end. Most of us are perfectly happy to give up control of our data sooner rather than later because using Cloud Services is simply more convenient and adds value. I don't plan on giving up my smartphone anytime soon and as long as I use it I'm allowing numerous parties to potentially access my information and communication. Thanks to my phone's built in GPS I'm letting Google (as well as a number of other App vendors) to know exactly where I am at all times. As a Gmail user I'm perfectly fine knowing that Google reads my mail and potentially shares that info with the Government. All these things (and so much more) are acceptable trade offs for most of us to have access to services we value.
"The irony of this is quite lost on them as they happily tuck into their pork sausages"
Not at all. Christians believe that Jesus was God incarnate. Since Jesus said, "Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?" and the Bible goes on to say "Thus he declared all foods clean." Christians have no scruples about digging into pork sausages, eating a cheeseburger or dining on shrimp. Why do people insist on pointing out that Christians violate Jewish theology without taking the time to understand the Christian Theology behind why they violate it?
When the question was brought before the Council of Jerusalem as described in the New Testament Book of Acts as to what portion of the Jewish Law Gentile converts to Christ were required to keep that council narrowed it down to just four things:
"For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well."
Here here!
Faith is not the absence of doubt and hosting doubt does not mean denying faith.