Let's keep in mind what context Slashdot is posted under... We have an open-source community, which is based on free and open dialog/development, in the hopes that this environment of constant evolution (positive and negative) will, in the end, benefit the community. This wasn't a press-release, it wasn't legal notice, and it CERTAINLY wasn't a call-to-arms. Instead, what this post attempts to do is to alert the community to a possible illegality in Corel's license. It didn't ask users to boycott Corel, to burn their WordPerfect CD's, or anything else in the least bit extremist. It was done in the hopes that the error will be corrected, and that, through education of the public, this kind of mistake might not happen so often in the future.
Unfourtunately, this is just one of the many areas in which mass-cluelnessness seems to be winning over rational thought. It's very nearly on the same level on which entities like the Catholic Church operated before the 1700's. (please, try not to make this a religious thread guys!:) ) The masses didn't have knowledge of reading/writing, and because of this, many things were well beyond their understanding. Under this condition, they had no choice but to trust their authorities to tell them what was right and wrong, and out of this came a strongly dictatorial ruling. (beyond this, my knowledge of that period of history is limited... anyone have corrections? Suggestions for how the age of enlightenment could relate to us fixing misconceptions in manfacturer's heads?) Likewise, the mainstream OS manufacturer has managed to beat the party line into _OUR_ hardware manufacturers. They seem to believe that Windows is the only system worth programming for. At the same time, start-up programmers may assume that "*nix CAN'T be easier to program for then Windows! and (quote)We had enough trouble developing this for Windows, and we're not going to go through the sweat and tears to rewrite it for something else! Go away!"(/quote) Now, through brute force, Linux is breaking into the mainstream... but it's still not addressing the root problem. The manufacturers, for one reason or another, do not understand how easy it is to support other platforms, especially platforms with a long history of standardization. Short of us (open-source/open-hardware advocates) starting to build our own hardware, we're going to have to start seriously putting it to the manufacturers... "open specs! open source drivers! rational thought!"
Let's try to keep in mind that the Open Source community is far closer to socialism then communism... Communism involves a dictator, something we obviously lack. If anything, it's probabbly Marxist Anarchist... the state Marx thought the world would eventually reach, where everyone would work, and benifit the whole, not because they have to, but because they want to.
(1)This whole thing is totally ridiculous. Would you ask Coca Cola to include a pepsi in every sixpack? And then sue them for stomping all over your business if they refuse? Really thats basically whats going on here!
No, that's not what's going on at all....
Assume for the moment that 90% of the world bought & consumed Pizza Hut pizza. This gives Pizza Hut a very real (although legal) monopoly.
Now, all of a sudden, PepsiCo (who owns Pepsi and Pizza Hut) decides that along with every pizza, the user has to receive a bottle of Pepsi.
The Pepsi is not free... despite whatever marketing gimicks they use. Pizza Hut is spending the money you gave them, to give you pepsi. You bought the Pepsi, and there was no way to buy the pizza without it...
Going back to the assumption that 90% of the consumers in the world buy Pizza Hut pizza, what reason could ANYONE have to buy Coke? Coke gets pushed out of the market, PepsiCo extends it's monopoly from pizza to cola.
(Don't get me wrong here... I love a downing a Pizza Hut pizza with inches of meat, and drowning it in Pepsi or Dr. Pepper... this is just a more accurate metaphor)
What requireing Microsoft to include Netscape with its software packages is akin to this: If Pizza Hut was going to force people to buy cola, they should at LEAST give the user the option of taking a competitor's product.
Allright... let's get this straight. HTML is not a formatting language!
By writing PROPER HTML, you specificy the meaning and arrangement of information in your page. If done correctly, all that information should come out just fine in IE, Netscape, Lynx, or in blind-aware web browsers. Each of these is free to interpret the HTML according to the standards as set by the W3C, and render them to the user.
Whether this means speaking text aloud, rendering them on a brail display, or creating a bumpmap of images is irrelevant. It's not AOL's responsibility to create blind-specific content, only to create content that (through poor coding) expicitly excludes the blind.
Completly leaving aside the actual topic of the article... did anyone else have a problem with Dataquest's use of the word "emboldened"? Come on... that just as bad as crapulant or embiggen!:)
Hmm... that's an interesting concept, and I'll bet money somebody's done it or is working on it... You're basically suggesting building an NIC onto the modem, then teaching it PPP? This is valuable for one thing, as I see it, and the value of it CANNOT be overstated: IT TAKES THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ONE MORE THING AWAY FROM WINDOWS. I for am all for it.:)
As best as I can tell, you're right... The article (although littered with moderately interesting, and even thought-provoking tidbits) was really stretching to point out any disturbing link between gaming and religion. IMHO, the game just sounds uninteresting. I remember an old NES game by the name of "Spiritual Warfare." It was a Christian game, and had all the elements as such... bible verses, sould-saving, and all that. At the same time, though, it managed to be genuinely interesting... varied gameplay, a truley unique feel, and HUGE maps. Bottom line: Games will succeed/fail based on how attractive they are to the player, not on how religious they are.
I don't mean to sound like I believe all these privacy concerns are over-blown, but could someone clarify what this means to the average user?
1) I may/may not decide to host a web server in the future. Provided I have a moderately secure server, is there really that much of a risk? (Especially considering that I have the option of backing up every bit of information on that server, and that very little information would be hidden anyways...)
2) As an internet client, what concerns should I have? Personally, I don't have a big concern about people tracking where I'm going, reading my posts to newsgroups, or even reading my e-mail... (most of it's fairly bland anyways!:) )
I certainly support the right of individuals to encrypt their data, and cut themselves off from the (sarcasm)immeasurable evil of the internet(/sarcasm), but when these security mechanisms become standard, how do I ensure that my life DOES remain an open book?
Having read them all several times (too much time on my hands? never!) i have to say that I felt they fit together awefully well... Also, he seems to be talking about something slightly different. While the Chinese ship Tsien did make the first landing on Europa in 2010, another team (including Chris Floyd) was hyjacked into landing on Europa in 2061. They threw the body of the hyjacker (dead) into the ocean, and a large fish like creature leaped out of the water, and ate the body. (subsequently dieing on account of the radically different biology). Anyways, the crew sent to rescue that team (which included Heywood Floyd) was made up primarilly of Russians, as I recall. (Having just completed a landing on Halley's comet) Well, i've had my fun for the evening!:)
1) This is big news for a lot of people, and is one part of a continuing series of Linux-Game announcements, which quite literally could turn the personal computer industry upside down. I think that counts... This is essentially the public announcement that a Descent 3 Linux Client will become available. Freshmeat will be the more appropriate forum once the product is released, IMO. 2) Joystick/Sound support is not the client yet. That doesn't mean it won't be.
Go ahead, just keep your mouselook off... (Mouselook, aka "Insta-Turn", allows players to spin around instantly, defying physics. Many dedicated servers ban this option) Your mouse will still work under "flightsim" mode, although I've been told it takes alot of getting used to.
For a fairly well implemented (albeit non-free, shareware) desktop, check out www.3dtop.com. If my computer was fast enough to handle this and a few other things at a time, i'd take it in a second. After playing with this a bit, (make sure you read the docs), imagine if all your windows functioned in the same way... A third dimension, if you can handle it, can certainly improve your ability to manage a desktop. All we need for it to be practical are a) _fast_ computers, and b), good, 3d displays.
Exactly! In my opinion, the cDc isn't so much against the code of Microsoft, but against the organization of Microsoft. The code sucks, but there's a reason... BO simply brings to light all the problems. If they were really problems in Windows code, they would be fixed by now. Instead, it's a problem in the way Microsfot HANDLES its code.
Personally, I'm all for the cDc releasing a program to remove BO. (Of course, hacked versions couldn't be removed on account of this). But a simple effort to help users clear up the mess will do alot to help allieviate the negative response the unenlightened give it.
Firstly, nintendo hasn't taken any legal action against the creators of snes9x. While this step wouldn't be far off, it would force the issue to trial, where I think it would be killed on the basis of precident. Secondly, you stated that what's right & wrong doesn't always matter. Not true. What's right & wrong always matters, it just tends to be ignored by companies like Nintendo. What we have to do is force the issue the other way. Each and every one of us who believe that Nintendo's action is moot needs to make clear their position. If avid LEGAL nintendo cartidge owners complain to Nintendo, the "fear factor" might just be enough to end this. Add to that some well-crafted letters from lawyers in this community, and we might even pull off a letter of apology, requesting that snes9x's creators' ISP place their content back up.
I for one use snes9x quite regularly. I just happen to use it with ROMS for games that I DO own. (or playing a rom for a weekend while i've rented the actual cartridge) So here's a question, how many of us emulator users actually own cartidges of the games we emulate?
Anyone with a legal background mind sifting throught through the drivel at http://www.nintendo.com/corp/faqs/legal.html ? Nazi-tendo did a great job of creating the ugliest, most opiniated article I've personally seen in a page of "Legal Information".
How 'bout includeing a piece of paper with a hand drawn scribble? being analog, it's gotta be thousands upon thousands of terabytes of information right there....:) /me takes a moment out of his busy life to laugh southward. HAAHAAHAA!!! WHAAA HAA!!! HEEHEEHEE!!! HOO... SNICKER SNICKER.... /me calms down.
i can't remember the last time I swore out loud, but this whole thing has brought it about me. First of all, I have to agree to this point... for High School students, school _IS_ life, so school _IS_ the real world. And you know what? It _does_ suck. I for one have been so set off by this thing that I no longer think I want to spend the rest of my life in this city, this province, this country, or this STUPID country. But it's left me wondering, how far can I run? Is this really a problem that's isolated to High School? The U.S? North America? Somehow I doubt it. There's something screwed in this world. "The children are our future", and all that, but are we just cogs on an assembly line? It almost seems like we're being conditioned to provide for economic stability in the future. I know this kind of seems extreme, but that's the way I feel right now. Stories of students being sent to psychiatrists for expressing honest, positive opinions?!? What the hell is wrong with us? I can't possibly relate to the pressure these people have been experiencing. The strength of God to anyone out there who wears a trenchcoat, plays Quake, or openly expresses concern about the state of our world/education/media. You guys are going to be the ones who are tested, and I'm really afraid that alot of us will break. Regardless, I'll be checking in at these children's rights places Katz suggested. If it's at all possible, I'd like to encourage ANYONE who's been pressured by this kind of response by the world to get up and do something. Form a club, a union, a non-profit organization, i don't really care. We simply need to make sure that this discussion doesn't stay limited to/.
Slashdot Mirror
Let's keep in mind what context Slashdot is posted under...
We have an open-source community, which is based on free and open dialog/development, in the hopes that this environment of constant evolution (positive and negative) will, in the end, benefit the community.
This wasn't a press-release, it wasn't legal notice, and it CERTAINLY wasn't a call-to-arms.
Instead, what this post attempts to do is to alert the community to a possible illegality in Corel's license. It didn't ask users to boycott Corel, to burn their WordPerfect CD's, or anything else in the least bit extremist. It was done in the hopes that the error will be corrected, and that, through education of the public, this kind of mistake might not happen so often in the future.
Unfourtunately, this is just one of the many areas in which mass-cluelnessness seems to be winning over rational thought. It's very nearly on the same level on which entities like the Catholic Church operated before the 1700's. (please, try not to make this a religious thread guys! :) )
The masses didn't have knowledge of reading/writing, and because of this, many things were well beyond their understanding. Under this condition, they had no choice but to trust their authorities to tell them what was right and wrong, and out of this came a strongly dictatorial ruling. (beyond this, my knowledge of that period of history is limited... anyone have corrections? Suggestions for how the age of enlightenment could relate to us fixing misconceptions in manfacturer's heads?)
Likewise, the mainstream OS manufacturer has managed to beat the party line into _OUR_ hardware manufacturers. They seem to believe that Windows is the only system worth programming for. At the same time, start-up programmers may assume that "*nix CAN'T be easier to program for then Windows! and (quote)We had enough trouble developing this for Windows, and we're not going to go through the sweat and tears to rewrite it for something else! Go away!"(/quote)
Now, through brute force, Linux is breaking into the mainstream... but it's still not addressing the root problem. The manufacturers, for one reason or another, do not understand how easy it is to support other platforms, especially platforms with a long history of standardization. Short of us (open-source/open-hardware advocates) starting to build our own hardware, we're going to have to start seriously putting it to the manufacturers... "open specs! open source drivers! rational thought!"
Let's try to keep in mind that the Open Source community is far closer to socialism then communism... Communism involves a dictator, something we obviously lack.
If anything, it's probabbly Marxist Anarchist... the state Marx thought the world would eventually reach, where everyone would work, and benifit the whole, not because they have to, but because they want to.
On that topic, what about Liquid Audio -> something standard?
No, that's not what's going on at all....
Assume for the moment that 90% of the world bought & consumed Pizza Hut pizza. This gives Pizza Hut a very real (although legal) monopoly.
Now, all of a sudden, PepsiCo (who owns Pepsi and Pizza Hut) decides that along with every pizza, the user has to receive a bottle of Pepsi.
The Pepsi is not free... despite whatever marketing gimicks they use. Pizza Hut is spending the money you gave them, to give you pepsi. You bought the Pepsi, and there was no way to buy the pizza without it...
Going back to the assumption that 90% of the consumers in the world buy Pizza Hut pizza, what reason could ANYONE have to buy Coke? Coke gets pushed out of the market, PepsiCo extends it's monopoly from pizza to cola.
(Don't get me wrong here... I love a downing a Pizza Hut pizza with inches of meat, and drowning it in Pepsi or Dr. Pepper... this is just a more accurate metaphor)
What requireing Microsoft to include Netscape with its software packages is akin to this: If Pizza Hut was going to force people to buy cola, they should at LEAST give the user the option of taking a competitor's product.
crud... last line should read "only to not create..."
I really ought to find out what this "preview" thing everyone's talking about is...
By writing PROPER HTML, you specificy the meaning and arrangement of information in your page. If done correctly, all that information should come out just fine in IE, Netscape, Lynx, or in blind-aware web browsers. Each of these is free to interpret the HTML according to the standards as set by the W3C, and render them to the user.
Whether this means speaking text aloud, rendering them on a brail display, or creating a bumpmap of images is irrelevant. It's not AOL's responsibility to create blind-specific content, only to create content that (through poor coding) expicitly excludes the blind.
Completly leaving aside the actual topic of the article... did anyone else have a problem with Dataquest's use of the word "emboldened"? Come on... that just as bad as crapulant or embiggen! :)
Hmm... that's an interesting concept, and I'll bet money somebody's done it or is working on it... :)
You're basically suggesting building an NIC onto the modem, then teaching it PPP?
This is valuable for one thing, as I see it, and the value of it CANNOT be overstated:
IT TAKES THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ONE MORE THING AWAY FROM WINDOWS. I for am all for it.
Oooo.... i REALLY wish i had moderator points right now.... nicely done.
Moderators: put some good thought into this one before you bring it down any further. I think you'll find it deserves it.
As best as I can tell, you're right... The article (although littered with moderately interesting, and even thought-provoking tidbits) was really stretching to point out any disturbing link between gaming and religion. IMHO, the game just sounds uninteresting. I remember an old NES game by the name of "Spiritual Warfare." It was a Christian game, and had all the elements as such... bible verses, sould-saving, and all that. At the same time, though, it managed to be genuinely interesting... varied gameplay, a truley unique feel, and HUGE maps. Bottom line: Games will succeed/fail based on how attractive they are to the player, not on how religious they are.
I don't mean to sound like I believe all these privacy concerns are over-blown, but could someone clarify what this means to the average user?
:) )
1) I may/may not decide to host a web server in the future. Provided I have a moderately secure server, is there really that much of a risk? (Especially considering that I have the option of backing up every bit of information on that server, and that very little information would be hidden anyways...)
2) As an internet client, what concerns should I have? Personally, I don't have a big concern about people tracking where I'm going, reading my posts to newsgroups, or even reading my e-mail... (most of it's fairly bland anyways!
I certainly support the right of individuals to encrypt their data, and cut themselves off from the (sarcasm)immeasurable evil of the internet(/sarcasm), but when these security mechanisms become standard, how do I ensure that my life DOES remain an open book?
Having read them all several times (too much time on my hands? never!) i have to say that I felt they fit together awefully well... :)
Also, he seems to be talking about something slightly different. While the Chinese ship Tsien did make the first landing on Europa in 2010, another team (including Chris Floyd) was hyjacked into landing on Europa in 2061. They threw the body of the hyjacker (dead) into the ocean, and a large fish like creature leaped out of the water, and ate the body. (subsequently dieing on account of the radically different biology). Anyways, the crew sent to rescue that team (which included Heywood Floyd) was made up primarilly of Russians, as I recall. (Having just completed a landing on Halley's comet)
Well, i've had my fun for the evening!
1) This is big news for a lot of people, and is one part of a continuing series of Linux-Game announcements, which quite literally could turn the personal computer industry upside down. I think that counts...
This is essentially the public announcement that a Descent 3 Linux Client will become available. Freshmeat will be the more appropriate forum once the product is released, IMO.
2) Joystick/Sound support is not the client yet. That doesn't mean it won't be.
Go ahead, just keep your mouselook off...
(Mouselook, aka "Insta-Turn", allows players to spin around instantly, defying physics. Many dedicated servers ban this option)
Your mouse will still work under "flightsim" mode, although I've been told it takes alot of getting used to.
It's the sphinx, right? RIGHT?!? :) )
Come on, break my gun in half!
(For those who haven't seen "Mystery Men" go see it... one heck of a cheap laugh.
For a fairly well implemented (albeit non-free, shareware) desktop, check out www.3dtop.com. If my computer was fast enough to handle this and a few other things at a time, i'd take it in a second. After playing with this a bit, (make sure you read the docs), imagine if all your windows functioned in the same way...
A third dimension, if you can handle it, can certainly improve your ability to manage a desktop. All we need for it to be practical are a) _fast_ computers, and b), good, 3d displays.
Exactly!
In my opinion, the cDc isn't so much against the code of Microsoft, but against the organization of Microsoft. The code sucks, but there's a reason...
BO simply brings to light all the problems. If they were really problems in Windows code, they would be fixed by now. Instead, it's a problem in the way Microsfot HANDLES its code.
Personally, I'm all for the cDc releasing a program to remove BO. (Of course, hacked versions couldn't be removed on account of this). But a simple effort to help users clear up the mess will do alot to help allieviate the negative response the unenlightened give it.
Firstly, nintendo hasn't taken any legal action against the creators of snes9x. While this step wouldn't be far off, it would force the issue to trial, where I think it would be killed on the basis of precident.
Secondly, you stated that what's right & wrong doesn't always matter. Not true. What's right & wrong always matters, it just tends to be ignored by companies like Nintendo. What we have to do is force the issue the other way.
Each and every one of us who believe that Nintendo's action is moot needs to make clear their position. If avid LEGAL nintendo cartidge owners complain to Nintendo, the "fear factor" might just be enough to end this. Add to that some well-crafted letters from lawyers in this community, and we might even pull off a letter of apology, requesting that snes9x's creators' ISP place their content back up.
I for one use snes9x quite regularly. I just happen to use it with ROMS for games that I DO own. (or playing a rom for a weekend while i've rented the actual cartridge)
So here's a question, how many of us emulator users actually own cartidges of the games we emulate?
Anyone with a legal background mind sifting throught through the drivel at http://www.nintendo.com/corp/faqs/legal.html
?
Nazi-tendo did a great job of creating the ugliest, most opiniated article I've personally seen in a page of "Legal Information".
How 'bout the GNU LGPL?
GNU Lesser General Public License
How 'bout includeing a piece of paper with a hand drawn scribble? being analog, it's gotta be thousands upon thousands of terabytes of information right there.... :)
/me takes a moment out of his busy life to laugh southward.
HAAHAAHAA!!! WHAAA HAA!!! HEEHEEHEE!!! HOO...
SNICKER SNICKER....
/me calms down.
Geh'Rehmee
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
blah... getting a little worked up here...
that second "country" is supposed to be continent.
i can't remember the last time I swore out loud, but this whole thing has brought it about me. /.
First of all, I have to agree to this point... for High School students, school _IS_ life, so school _IS_ the real world. And you know what? It _does_ suck. I for one have been so set off by this thing that I no longer think I want to spend the rest of my life in this city, this province, this country, or this STUPID country. But it's left me wondering, how far can I run? Is this really a problem that's isolated to High School? The U.S? North America? Somehow I doubt it.
There's something screwed in this world. "The children are our future", and all that, but are we just cogs on an assembly line? It almost seems like we're being conditioned to provide for economic stability in the future.
I know this kind of seems extreme, but that's the way I feel right now. Stories of students being sent to psychiatrists for expressing honest, positive opinions?!? What the hell is wrong with us?
I can't possibly relate to the pressure these people have been experiencing. The strength of God to anyone out there who wears a trenchcoat, plays Quake, or openly expresses concern about the state of our world/education/media. You guys are going to be the ones who are tested, and I'm really afraid that alot of us will break.
Regardless, I'll be checking in at these children's rights places Katz suggested. If it's at all possible, I'd like to encourage ANYONE who's been pressured by this kind of response by the world to get up and do something. Form a club, a union, a non-profit organization, i don't really care. We simply need to make sure that this discussion doesn't stay limited to