There was also the ANSI terminal standard, sort of like VT-100, better in some ways (and not in others).. back in the good old days, we had animated ANSI movies! heh.
Sounds like a bad idea from a legal stand point ..
on
Napster Back in Court
·
· Score: 1
Wouldn't this be worse, legally, as now Napster is accepting money for the distribution of (often illegal) copies of music?
Now, if they're then paying a bigass sum to RIAA, I see RIAA being happy. That's somewhat implied, as the post says 'to appease the RIAA...'.
Still. If it allowed Napster to continue operating, like an above poster mentioned... $4.95/month is better than ~$20/CD:)
At least, that's what they said at the Reseller's Conference. I think. Something along the lines of "Yes, we could make Rambus chipsets, as we already have a license."...
W-T-F ? If they have a license how the fuck can Rambus go after them? Someone is fucking up, somewhere.
Saturday I started hearing ads on the radio here in Dallas, TX, about how the local station was gonna start having Cue ads. it works by having a Cue appear on the screen (so you know its happening) and then there's this BLEEP followed I think (guessing here) by some static-sounding coded data that's equivalent to a bar code. You stick the 1/8" jack into the line in or whatever, and you plug the RCA jacks between the left channel on your VCR/tuner/etc and your TV (or off the TV's outputs, or whatever)
The ads are talking about how you now have more control over how info is sent to you.. huh? Now its forced to you, if you install this and their software! It'd just force you to see the websites, instead of letting you choose! Granted, if you DID want to see the site, it'd be easier, but I wouldn't want my computer randomly hopping onto god knows what website.
And my Cue came in a box too, from wired. I haven't taken the CD outta its lil paper holder, but the holder ain't even sealed so they couldn't prove if I did. But I just tossed catnip on my 'doze partition and started playing with it.. neat. useless for me, but neat.
catnip.zip for windows.. intercepts the cue data and decodes, has many options for how it does it..
... or your local Mob Boss, and have a contract laid down on these psychos. I doubt that they can pull this off for long (i.e., cracked/hacked around within a week or so), if at all.
These are the kind of people who will stop at nothing to lock the world into their grasp and hold it at the status quo.
Where's a "Free the Media" compaign when you need one ?:)
>This email notification is a statement made under penalty of perjury that we are the copyright owner of the referenced Specification, that we are acting in good faith, and that the above-referenced comments, as part of http://www.slashdot.org, is posting proprietary material without express written permission.
Basicly, what this says, (and IANAL, etc) they swear that the spec really is theirs (makes sense, I mean, they wouldn't say it wasn't) - that's the penalty of perjury part..
good faith... heh, well we all know what's going on but what they are saying for the legal record is they are being nice boys..
then they say that the comments are owned by/. and therefore it is/. posting the material..
obviously someone hasn't looked at The Fine Print..
so it is really a slew of people that MS will have a hard time getting a hold of, that are infringing, supposedly, on their trade secrets or whatever they want to call them. They don't want to bother tracking down all the small fries, that just makes them look like the bad guy. So they go after/. with scare tactics.
Really, they haven't a leg to stand on -/. is not responsible for what is posted to it, the posters are. They're going after the wrong target.
And a previous poster mentioned how this should be brought to the Judge's attention in the DoJ vs MS trial - that this would indicate intention of bad faith. someone ought to run up there and explain how this tactic could be used and get the Judge to consider that..
ASF is a streaming file format, and 'DivX', the hacked up MS MPEG4 codec, is a codec! ASF is nothing without the codec, empty! You can't compare a file format to a codec!
Also, I think DVD piracy is stupid (after spending all that time on ripping and encoding the DVD, you could have worked a minimum wage job to pay for it!) and NOT AT ALL a justifiable reasion for reverse engineering the MPEG4 codecs.
The MPEG4 codecs can be useful in other ways, that aren't so blatently illegal. I.e., recording your own home videos, or music videos (quasi legal/illegal), etc.
And don't give me that "I'm just backing it up" crap, we all know that's bullshit. "backing it up" to VHS I can see, but MPEG4? That'll look like such crap, I wouldn't wanna watch it.
note: I refer to linux constantly, despite that not being the intended target of the contest - it's just that it'll end up there, too - and I could care less about QT and Macs right now. Sure, that's rather biased of me - but I can admit it, at least.
DivX is nothing more than a hacked version of the Microsoft MPEG4 codecs (there are three of them), allowing people to use the codecs w/ AVIs, not just ASFs. I have yet to see someone use DivX for something OTHER than video piracy in some form or another.
Sure MPEG4 would be great, but I'd rather be able to watch DVDs under linux and pipe the audio out through my SB Live! to my Technics SH-AC500D decoder, than watch ASFs (or as DivX is intended, AVIs) that use the MS MPEG4 codec.
Since DivX is really a hacked MS codec, the prize is really for taking upon the burdon of reverse engineering a microsoft product and thus being the target of endless persecution, all for $5000 and an iMac DV SE. When MS is done with you, you won't even have your OLD computer.
Having a MPEG4 codec for Linux that is compatible with that of MS's wouldn't be so bad, for those wanting to create media servers that run linux and not MS OSes. That's a justifiable reason for it.
Also, I think Flashingyellow is likely to get burned as well, because they're not only asking for a reverse engineered and ported MS codec, but one from the hacked version thereof, which is almost certainly illegal to create and distribute (I'm sure there's a license agreement somewhere stating that).
The only reason to specify DivX is that it allows read/writing AVIs - but then, if you're going to reverse engineer it anyways, that's a simple thing to take care of. No need to specify DivX. Except that, perhaps, they'd get MS's attention a wee bit faster by refering to it for what it is, the Microsoft MPEG-4 codecs.
OK, I'm not sure if I said everything I intended to, but... I can't think of anything else to say, NOW..
Isn't it true that minors can't agree to such licenses, or something like that? If so, I could have my lil bro download and click, then I could copy the PDF elsewhere.. hehe
I know that, at least about a year ago, when I was still in HS, the Bess filtering proxy service banned www.beta.slashdot.org and beta.slashdot.org, but NOT cachedot.beta.slashdot.org or whatever it was, and I could also do it by IP and get in. idiots.
I emailed them asking about this and it they banned the site because there is no censoring of content (language or otherwise)...
many VCRs don't pass the signal through straight, but instead pass it through the AGC and related hardware, and split it off at the point it would hit the record heads. therefore, on *most* VCRs, it makes it impossible to watch properly.. but my video card hasn't macrovision, so nyah!:P (Not to mention my friend says my VCR is macrovision proof, but I haven't tried it - would be ironic tho, since its JVC, and they're the guys who put in all the strict rules and threatened removal of liceneses for VHS if makers didn't use dumb AGC systems that are affected by macrovision.. or so I think the story goes?)
After all these years, the flying bathtub is still the best overall anti-tank weapon (well, anti ground based armored vehicle) there is. I mean, how many planes do you know of can still fly with half the wing blown off? They played a major part in desert storm several years ago, and whenever the next little/big war comes along, I'm sure they will then too.. stealths may be nice for buildings and all, but it really helps when you can visually identify your target and make sure your blowing up the enemy and not a friendly. (The first american/nato/allied/wtf casualty in desert storm was by one of our own apaches being off course and blowing away one of our own APCs! They did ask for confirmation of course, but HQ thought they were on course.. and they couldn't just fly over and see, like the warthog might risk..)
Well, at least normal terrorists have the decency of shooting you and putting you out of your misery instead of holding you hostage indefinately when the demands aren't met...
Terrorists aren't so bad, it's the lawyers that gotta go!;)
If they are just now enforcing a 6 year old patent, then it could be thrown out - after all, letting everyone adopt a technology without saying anything and then suing is something between entrapment and extortion..
Evil Dead and Ranma are good and all, but I prefer the likes of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Sabre Marionette J, El-Hazard, and All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku:)
now, not everyone at NPR is necessarily left-leaning, but generally speaking they are.. at least the poeple that matter. I'd say the 80-90% figure applies to the expressed views of people on NPR pretty closely...
Slashdot Mirror
There was also the ANSI terminal standard, sort of like VT-100, better in some ways (and not in others).. back in the good old days, we had animated ANSI movies! heh.
Wouldn't this be worse, legally, as now Napster is accepting money for the distribution of (often illegal) copies of music?
... $4.95/month is better than ~$20/CD :)
Now, if they're then paying a bigass sum to RIAA, I see RIAA being happy. That's somewhat implied, as the post says 'to appease the RIAA...'.
Still. If it allowed Napster to continue operating, like an above poster mentioned
At least, that's what they said at the Reseller's Conference. I think. Something along the lines of "Yes, we could make Rambus chipsets, as we already have a license." ...
W-T-F ? If they have a license how the fuck can Rambus go after them? Someone is fucking up, somewhere.
maybe that guy with the H on his head from Red Dwarf?
Saturday I started hearing ads on the radio here in Dallas, TX, about how the local station was gonna start having Cue ads. it works by having a Cue appear on the screen (so you know its happening) and then there's this BLEEP followed I think (guessing here) by some static-sounding coded data that's equivalent to a bar code. You stick the 1/8" jack into the line in or whatever, and you plug the RCA jacks between the left channel on your VCR/tuner/etc and your TV (or off the TV's outputs, or whatever)
The ads are talking about how you now have more control over how info is sent to you.. huh? Now its forced to you, if you install this and their software! It'd just force you to see the websites, instead of letting you choose! Granted, if you DID want to see the site, it'd be easier, but I wouldn't want my computer randomly hopping onto god knows what website.
And my Cue came in a box too, from wired. I haven't taken the CD outta its lil paper holder, but the holder ain't even sealed so they couldn't prove if I did. But I just tossed catnip on my 'doze partition and started playing with it.. neat. useless for me, but neat.
catnip.zip for windows.. intercepts the cue data and decodes, has many options for how it does it..
But some day, HELL-A will sink into the ocean like the TURD CITY it is, leaving nothing but a quiet calm serenity known as...
Arizona Bay!
... or your local Mob Boss, and have a contract laid down on these psychos. I doubt that they can pull this off for long (i.e., cracked/hacked around within a week or so), if at all.
:)
These are the kind of people who will stop at nothing to lock the world into their grasp and hold it at the status quo.
Where's a "Free the Media" compaign when you need one ?
hell, education and news reporting could work too.
>This email notification is a statement made under penalty of perjury that we are the copyright owner of the referenced Specification, that we are acting in good faith, and that the above-referenced comments, as part of http://www.slashdot.org, is posting proprietary material without express written permission.
... heh, well we all know what's going on but what they are saying for the legal record is they are being nice boys..
/. and therefore it is /. posting the material..
/. with scare tactics.
/. is not responsible for what is posted to it, the posters are. They're going after the wrong target.
Basicly, what this says, (and IANAL, etc) they swear that the spec really is theirs (makes sense, I mean, they wouldn't say it wasn't) - that's the penalty of perjury part..
good faith
then they say that the comments are owned by
obviously someone hasn't looked at The Fine Print..
All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 1997-2000 Andover.Net.
so it is really a slew of people that MS will have a hard time getting a hold of, that are infringing, supposedly, on their trade secrets or whatever they want to call them. They don't want to bother tracking down all the small fries, that just makes them look like the bad guy. So they go after
Really, they haven't a leg to stand on -
And a previous poster mentioned how this should be brought to the Judge's attention in the DoJ vs MS trial - that this would indicate intention of bad faith. someone ought to run up there and explain how this tactic could be used and get the Judge to consider that..
anyways..
mod this up! mod this uuuup!
the obvious solution to get the case thrown out!
BAKA!!
ASF is a streaming file format, and 'DivX', the hacked up MS MPEG4 codec, is a codec! ASF is nothing without the codec, empty! You can't compare a file format to a codec!
Also, I think DVD piracy is stupid (after spending all that time on ripping and encoding the DVD, you could have worked a minimum wage job to pay for it!) and NOT AT ALL a justifiable reasion for reverse engineering the MPEG4 codecs.
The MPEG4 codecs can be useful in other ways, that aren't so blatently illegal. I.e., recording your own home videos, or music videos (quasi legal/illegal), etc.
And don't give me that "I'm just backing it up" crap, we all know that's bullshit. "backing it up" to VHS I can see, but MPEG4? That'll look like such crap, I wouldn't wanna watch it.
note: I refer to linux constantly, despite that not being the intended target of the contest - it's just that it'll end up there, too - and I could care less about QT and Macs right now. Sure, that's rather biased of me - but I can admit it, at least.
DivX is nothing more than a hacked version of the Microsoft MPEG4 codecs (there are three of them), allowing people to use the codecs w/ AVIs, not just ASFs. I have yet to see someone use DivX for something OTHER than video piracy in some form or another.
Sure MPEG4 would be great, but I'd rather be able to watch DVDs under linux and pipe the audio out through my SB Live! to my Technics SH-AC500D decoder, than watch ASFs (or as DivX is intended, AVIs) that use the MS MPEG4 codec.
Since DivX is really a hacked MS codec, the prize is really for taking upon the burdon of reverse engineering a microsoft product and thus being the target of endless persecution, all for $5000 and an iMac DV SE. When MS is done with you, you won't even have your OLD computer.
Having a MPEG4 codec for Linux that is compatible with that of MS's wouldn't be so bad, for those wanting to create media servers that run linux and not MS OSes. That's a justifiable reason for it.
Also, I think Flashingyellow is likely to get burned as well, because they're not only asking for a reverse engineered and ported MS codec, but one from the hacked version thereof, which is almost certainly illegal to create and distribute (I'm sure there's a license agreement somewhere stating that).
The only reason to specify DivX is that it allows read/writing AVIs - but then, if you're going to reverse engineer it anyways, that's a simple thing to take care of. No need to specify DivX. Except that, perhaps, they'd get MS's attention a wee bit faster by refering to it for what it is, the Microsoft MPEG-4 codecs.
OK, I'm not sure if I said everything I intended to, but... I can't think of anything else to say, NOW..
Isn't it true that minors can't agree to such licenses, or something like that? If so, I could have my lil bro download and click, then I could copy the PDF elsewhere.. hehe
I know that, at least about a year ago, when I was still in HS, the Bess filtering proxy service banned www.beta.slashdot.org and beta.slashdot.org, but NOT cachedot.beta.slashdot.org or whatever it was, and I could also do it by IP and get in. idiots.
I emailed them asking about this and it they banned the site because there is no censoring of content (language or otherwise)...
/. IS censored.
many VCRs don't pass the signal through straight, but instead pass it through the AGC and related hardware, and split it off at the point it would hit the record heads. therefore, on *most* VCRs, it makes it impossible to watch properly.. but my video card hasn't macrovision, so nyah! :P
(Not to mention my friend says my VCR is macrovision proof, but I haven't tried it - would be ironic tho, since its JVC, and they're the guys who put in all the strict rules and threatened removal of liceneses for VHS if makers didn't use dumb AGC systems that are affected by macrovision.. or so I think the story goes?)
you wouldn't hear em, right?
I believe thats the Mossad..
After all these years, the flying bathtub is still the best overall anti-tank weapon (well, anti ground based armored vehicle) there is. I mean, how many planes do you know of can still fly with half the wing blown off? They played a major part in desert storm several years ago, and whenever the next little/big war comes along, I'm sure they will then too.. stealths may be nice for buildings and all, but it really helps when you can visually identify your target and make sure your blowing up the enemy and not a friendly. (The first american/nato/allied/wtf casualty in desert storm was by one of our own apaches being off course and blowing away one of our own APCs! They did ask for confirmation of course, but HQ thought they were on course.. and they couldn't just fly over and see, like the warthog might risk..)
:)
My favorite aircraft is definately the A10
Well, at least normal terrorists have the decency of shooting you and putting you out of your misery instead of holding you hostage indefinately when the demands aren't met...
;)
Terrorists aren't so bad, it's the lawyers that gotta go!
Quake 3: Arena/Unreal Tournament servers! etc. :)
If they are just now enforcing a 6 year old patent, then it could be thrown out - after all, letting everyone adopt a technology without saying anything and then suing is something between entrapment and extortion..
But, IANAL, etc etc...
uh.. if it's static linked it'd be bigger tho..
Evil Dead and Ranma are good and all, but I prefer the likes of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Sabre Marionette J, El-Hazard, and All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku :)
this is NPR we are talking about.
their very nature is left-leaning.
publicly funded radio.
now, not everyone at NPR is necessarily left-leaning, but generally speaking they are.. at least the poeple that matter. I'd say the 80-90% figure applies to the expressed views of people on NPR pretty closely...