After reading streetlawyers user info, I'm responding to this as a sincere post.
Whilst the opinion in the parent of this article was interesting, I don't think Corley should drop the case.
The plaintiffs have claimed that the primary purpose of DeCSS is to rip DVDs, which it isn't. In any case, at the time the case was bought, use of DeCSS was uneconomic.
DeCSS has made a GPL Linux DVD player possible; nothing else would have done so.
DVD is currently a minority format, but I predict within 5 years that tape will be dead or dying, replaced by one or more forms of random access media such as DVD, TiVo type devices etc.
..as others have pointed out; the government brief slings mud at the defendents which is not relevant to the issue at hand
i.e
Defendants publish a magazine for computer hackers, which "has included articles on such topics as how to steal an Internet domain
name, access to other peoples e-mail, intercept cellular phone calls, and break into computer systems at Costco stores and Federal
Express."
I think the defendents submissions should include some derogatory terms also, and I'd like some suggestions.
As a starter I propose:
Plaintiffs use the DMCA and associated copyright laws to fix absurdly high prices for their products ?
Distribution of DeCSS certainly advanced my state of knowledge of encryption technology; so much so that I was able to understand from it how the encryption method worked and submit suggested improvements to the algorithm.
So how do I submit a paper contradicting the opinion in the Governement brief?
but couldn't Stallman just change the wording horribly, at any time, and own it all
Nope, you haven't read the GPL carefully enough, as others have pointed out, you normally state that the code is licensed under a specific version of the GPL, thus ensuring that the license cannot be changed after the fact.
As normal practise, a number of developers allow you to accept the current version of the GPL or any later version, whichever provides the terms and conditions you are looking for.
..but the question should perhaps be 'do we want IP in the software business?'.
I personally hope that IP ownership has reached its high water mark and will recede a little. I thank God that Knuth and numerous other giants didn't/wasn't able to patent all the algorithms they devised, otherwise every Computer Scientist would need to have an army of lawyers going over his code with a fine toothcomb.
I think that some form of IP protection is needed, but not the current 20 year duration that software patenting places on some ideas, or the injustices of the DMCA. A good wheeze for MS would be to write a new version of Windows with ROT-13 code and thus say that anyone who reverse engineers their products has broken the DMCA.
I can see that Microsoft is a taxpayer, but you have to remember that Microsoft seems to have this policy to make any Non-MS products as incompatible as possible with an MS product incorporating goverment research. The GPL is a good line of defence against this form of embracing and extending.
Interestingly, you can run GPL-licensed stuff under Windows; you just have to make the source code to them available, and recognise that the standard MS EULA will not apply to that product. There's nothing preventing MS embracing and extending a GPL protocol providing they make their revised source code freely available.
Re:One thing bothers me...
on
Inside XML
·
· Score: 1
Ever hear the phrase "tongue in cheek"? Yes, but I wasn't sure whether the reviewers or the commenters tongue was in his/her/each others cheek!
On a more serious note, I really am curious; can anyone make any claims for a producing a cluster-type machine using the oldest CPU possible ?
Re:One thing bothers me...
on
Inside XML
·
· Score: 1
Since when was C an "exotic" language?
Let's face it, not many people are bloody minded enough to write a C or C++ CGI app to produce web pages. OK, it used to happen, but nowadays there are much better alternatives (eg. PERL, PHP, JavaScript).
I like using C and C++, but to corrupt a famous phrase "a language has to know its limitations", and C is not the most friendly text processing language in the world.
Like come on, who REALLY needs an Athalon running that fast?
I remember someone saying "Who needs more than 640K?"
Whilst I have my doubts about how long the CPU will hold up when overclocked, no matter how fast you make a machine go, someone will want a faster one.
I realise this is shutting the door after the horse has bolted, but I think that if we were redoing domain name allocation, "We wouldn't start from here!", to use a famous phrase.
I think that a complete reallocation system, with the following features would be a Good Thing (TM).
Each country has a TLD. Only a resident/ company of that country may register in that TLD. [Stops the silly.tv (Tuvalu) situation]
Under each country is a special limited set of second level domains reserved for:
trademarks
company names
other areas where a unique name is important [authors, pop groups].
Disputes for the above domains are settled in the courts of the TLD country.
All other domain names are allocated on a first come first served basis. Trademark and naming disputes are avoided by specifically stating that all other domains have nothing in common with registered companies or trademarks.
Any web site may only have one domain name. (incidentally, this rule limits domain name camping).
International TLDs exist for organisations, but to qualify for such a domain, membership in over 30 countries must be demonstrated.
User 206150 wrote: The first man to give dreams of reaching the stars a glimpse of reality was Dr. Robert H. Goddard, who launched the first liquid-fueled rocket to an altitude of 41 feet on this day in 1926. The test occurred shortly before Charles Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic and never received the headlines that Lindbergh did but the historic significance was staggering.
Yes, only the Germans seemed to pay much attention to his work - and Werner von Braun went on to develop the V2 and move after WW2 with a lot of collegues to the US to kick off their space development program.
Interesting idea, but I think you could also make a strong analogy to the effect of Microsoft on software development, variety and innovation.
Lets consider the main applications; before Microsoft gave us Office there were numerous spreadsheets and word processors in widespread use out there. However, because of some Microsoft undocumented Windows functions, they've managed to take over virtually the entire software Wild West and innovation is stifled by the simple fact that MS either buys out, balks or produces a rival product to anything innovative. As examples I give you: "DOS ain't done till Lotus won't run!", Doublespace, IE v Netscape, DR-DOS, and many more.
Innovation does occur in Open Source, and staking a claim as you put it is a very competitive business. Unless you produce top quality innovative code, your co-programmers will clobber your claim area with something more innovative and better.
I think conversely that there is little incentive nowadays to innovate in the MS world, since if your product is really good the 800lb gorilla is going to jump on it one way or the other....
..authors such as Stephen King invoke the DMCA to prevent people making unauthorised copies of his latest book, as a result of the fact dead tree versions are predicted to disappear ?
Slashdot Mirror
Yep, it's one of my favourite movie lines....
Ironic, especially when you find out more about Verbal towards the end of the movie....
(trying not to spoil the plot here)
After reading streetlawyers user info, I'm responding to this as a sincere post.
Whilst the opinion in the parent of this article was interesting, I don't think Corley should drop the case.
The plaintiffs have claimed that the primary purpose of DeCSS is to rip DVDs, which it isn't. In any case, at the time the case was bought, use of DeCSS was uneconomic.
DeCSS has made a GPL Linux DVD player possible; nothing else would have done so.
DVD is currently a minority format, but I predict within 5 years that tape will be dead or dying, replaced by one or more forms of random access media such as DVD, TiVo type devices etc.
Therefore I think we do have to fight now.
..as others have pointed out; the government brief slings mud at the defendents which is not relevant to the issue at hand
i.e
Defendants publish a magazine for computer hackers, which "has included articles on such topics as how to steal an Internet domain
name, access to other peoples e-mail, intercept cellular phone calls, and break into computer systems at Costco stores and Federal
Express."
I think the defendents submissions should include some derogatory terms also, and I'd like some suggestions.
As a starter I propose:
Plaintiffs use the DMCA and associated copyright laws to fix absurdly high prices for their products ?
Distribution of DeCSS certainly advanced my state of knowledge of encryption technology; so much so that I was able to understand from it how the encryption method worked and submit suggested improvements to the algorithm.
So how do I submit a paper contradicting the opinion in the Governement brief?
but couldn't Stallman just change the wording horribly, at any time, and own it all
Nope, you haven't read the GPL carefully enough, as others have pointed out, you normally state that the code is licensed under a specific version of the GPL, thus ensuring that the license cannot be changed after the fact.
As normal practise, a number of developers allow you to accept the current version of the GPL or any later version, whichever provides the terms and conditions you are looking for.
..but the question should perhaps be 'do we want IP in the software business?'.
I personally hope that IP ownership has reached its high water mark and will recede a little. I thank God that Knuth and numerous other giants didn't/wasn't able to patent all the algorithms they devised, otherwise every Computer Scientist would need to have an army of lawyers going over his code with a fine toothcomb.
I think that some form of IP protection is needed, but not the current 20 year duration that software patenting places on some ideas, or the injustices of the DMCA. A good wheeze for MS would be to write a new version of Windows with ROT-13 code and thus say that anyone who reverse engineers their products has broken the DMCA.
I can see that Microsoft is a taxpayer, but you have to remember that Microsoft seems to have this policy to make any Non-MS products as incompatible as possible with an MS product incorporating goverment research. The GPL is a good line of defence against this form of embracing and extending.
Interestingly, you can run GPL-licensed stuff under Windows; you just have to make the source code to them available, and recognise that the standard MS EULA will not apply to that product. There's nothing preventing MS embracing and extending a GPL protocol providing they make their revised source code freely available.
Ever hear the phrase "tongue in cheek"?
Yes, but I wasn't sure whether the reviewers or the commenters tongue was in his/her/each others cheek!
Wake up! There are Axp 21264 processors out there you know.
:-)
Do you have shares in them ?
Yes, but do they run Diablo ?
..a beowulf cluster of these!!
On a more serious note, I really am curious; can anyone make any claims for a producing a cluster-type machine using the oldest CPU possible ?
Since when was C an "exotic" language?
Let's face it, not many people are bloody minded enough to write a C or C++ CGI app to produce web pages. OK, it used to happen, but nowadays there are much better alternatives (eg. PERL, PHP, JavaScript).
I like using C and C++, but to corrupt a famous phrase "a language has to know its limitations", and C is not the most friendly text processing language in the world.
Like come on, who REALLY needs an Athalon running that fast?
I remember someone saying "Who needs more than 640K?"
Whilst I have my doubts about how long the CPU will hold up when overclocked, no matter how fast you make a machine go, someone will want a faster one.
If you were paid during the vacation, the answer is no. Similarly if you maintained the software in the working time of the company.
If you, on your own, produce improved tools, then you will have rights, provided again you demonstrate you can do it from available documentation.
I realise this is shutting the door after the horse has bolted, but I think that if we were redoing domain name allocation, "We wouldn't start from here!", to use a famous phrase.
.tv (Tuvalu) situation]
I think that a complete reallocation system, with the following features would be a Good Thing (TM).
Each country has a TLD. Only a resident/ company of that country may register in that TLD. [Stops the silly
Under each country is a special limited set of second level domains reserved for:
trademarks
company names
other areas where a unique name is important [authors, pop groups].
Disputes for the above domains are settled in the courts of the TLD country.
All other domain names are allocated on a first come first served basis. Trademark and naming disputes are avoided by specifically stating that all other domains have nothing in common with registered companies or trademarks.
Any web site may only have one domain name. (incidentally, this rule limits domain name camping).
International TLDs exist for organisations, but to qualify for such a domain, membership in over 30 countries must be demonstrated.
Suggestions....
User 206150 wrote:
The first man to give dreams of reaching the stars a glimpse of reality was Dr. Robert H. Goddard, who launched the first liquid-fueled rocket to an altitude of 41 feet on this day in 1926. The test occurred shortly before Charles Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic and never received the headlines that Lindbergh did but the historic significance was staggering.
Yes, only the Germans seemed to pay much attention to his work - and Werner von Braun went on to develop the V2 and move after WW2 with a lot of collegues to the US to kick off their space development program.
Should use UTC (Zulu) time - all astromical events are timed in this, not some silly and arbitrary offset from GMT.
A very slow AC wrote:
4th Post
No you aren't - I got in faster (& on topic)!
See the real 4th post!
...escapes from the island on a raft only to be hit by a chunk of falling satellite!
Wonder why this wasn't in Cast Away ?
Interesting idea, but I think you could also make a strong analogy to the effect of Microsoft on software development, variety and innovation.
Lets consider the main applications; before Microsoft gave us Office there were numerous spreadsheets and word processors in widespread use out there. However, because of some Microsoft undocumented Windows functions, they've managed to take over virtually the entire software Wild West and innovation is stifled by the simple fact that MS either buys out, balks or produces a rival product to anything innovative. As examples I give you: "DOS ain't done till Lotus won't run!", Doublespace, IE v Netscape, DR-DOS, and many more.
Innovation does occur in Open Source, and staking a claim as you put it is a very competitive business. Unless you produce top quality innovative code, your co-programmers will clobber your claim area with something more innovative and better.
I think conversely that there is little incentive nowadays to innovate in the MS world, since if your product is really good the 800lb gorilla is going to jump on it one way or the other....
Thanks for the reminder about Glaurung.
Could have all the Linux/BSD variants as the Silmarils....
Dunno about the odious business practices, but AFAIK the original Cray and Wang are no longer in business.
Neither, to me seem to have the 'really bad' ambiance a Morgoth type character requires. Even BillG wouldn't qualify for a badass of this magnitude...
You'd also need some more bad guys/gals
e.g
Ungoliant (ancestor of Shelob)
the big bad dragon in The Silmarilion (forgot his name, ancestor of all dragons)
Smaug
..authors such as Stephen King invoke the DMCA to prevent people making unauthorised copies of his latest book, as a result of the fact dead tree versions are predicted to disappear ?
Is computer sex adultery ?
What are your suggestions for other options ?
Anyone Got a link to the license ?
No Goatse.cx please!!