If I steal the jewels from your house which, before you notice anything amiss, burns down through actions totally unrelated to my own, did I really steal them?
Well, yes, because you still have them. Aren't you effectively just saying "if nobody knows about something, does it count?"
There's a logical problem which I think is relevant here: A is in a desert. Unknown to him, B has put poison in his water supply, so A will die if he drinks it. But unknown to either of them, C has drilled a hole in A's water supply, so the poisoned water drains out and A dies of thirst. Who killed A?
Well, possibly he doesn't understand because he simply hasn't been following that process so assiduously as some of us.
In brief, the difference is that whether you decide to use StarOffice or MS Office, the process is exactly the same: get software, install software, use software.
Internet Explorer, by contrast, is built into Windows, and can't (officially) be removed. This is a strong disincentive to use another browser: you have to download one, when you already have IE; and even while you're using your other browser, IE will still be using resources.
So while StarOffice is competing purely on its merits, IE has a huge head-start over its competitors - which is only possible because it's made by the same people as make the OS. Hence, questionable legality.
Considering ink cartridges cost, what, about $50 these days anyway
Well, I guess if you buy them from HP. Third party ones are rather cheaper - this place, for example, has compatible cartridges for most HP printers for under £20 (about $30). If your mum just wants to print out two emails every month, a £50 inkjet seems a decent enough deal to me.
But, as several commentators have already pointed out, this isn't really modularising Windows at all - MS have been using the word "hide", which strongly suggests that all their stuff will be installed, it just won't have icons (rather like NetMeeting in XP).
So far so redundant.
But I was interested in the bit at the end of the article where it mentions "freezing" copies that have been activated with a known pirate key. I thought most pirate copies of XP were the corporate edition, that doesn't need activating, and should therefore be indistinguishable from legit copies? Or do they really mean the Product Key, which you enter when you install Windows? In which case, what's to stop you simply changing it in the registry - or, very worst case, simply finding a working Product Key on the net and reinstalling? Still far far easier and cheaper than going out and buying XP.
You just choose to do it at the expense of others by confiscating the fruits of their labor rather than to strive for it yourself.
We're not communists over here, you know. Few Europeans would argue that they should have a share of Bill Gates' money themselves. But since he has more money than he can possibly ever need, it'd be nice to see some of the surplus being spent on education, health, shelters for the homeless, etc., rather than simply being stockpiled in a bank account somewhere, doing nobody any good.
That extra £26 is necessary... as a buffer for the downwards adjustment that the British Pound will have to make before joining the Euro.
Er, what? So the retail price of an XBox has been deliberately inflated (making it less competitive) against the possibility of a fall in the relative value of the pound against the dollar several years in the future? Somehow I don't think so!
Actually, this type of pricing has been going on since long before the Euro was ever seriously thought of. The UK market simply sustains higher consumer prices (in absolute terms) than the US and much of Europe, and has done for many many years. Never heard of rip-off Britain?
Though the story (and the associated web page) doesn't refer to the patent number directly, the reference to "accepting information to conduct automatic financial transactions via a telephone line & video screen" strongly suggests to me they're talking about US Patent #5,576,951.
This patent was filed on 19/11/96 - erroneously, I believe, as many companies, including Amazon.com, were using this process over a year earlier. I think it extremely unlikely that PanIP doesn't realise this, but admittedly that would be hard to prove in court. So I think I should instead write to the USPTO and point out that PanIP's "invention" appears to be the same as a previously established practice. Hopefully they will either agree and void the patent; or they will rule that the patent stands because it covers something other than straightforward e-business, in which case all the little companies should be off the hook anyway.
The old HP Vectra recovery CDs didn't let you install Windows at all: you had to restore a BIOS-locked hard disk image that returned your PC precisely to its original state. But this original state included a full copy of the Windows installation files sitting in C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS, complete with SETUP.EXE. So all you needed was a CD writer/Zip disk/LAN and you could move the copy of Windows that came with your Vectra onto another machine. *shrug*
As I read it (i.e. cursorily), the RTF spec allows you to encode application-specific data - so no necessary loss of formatting information - and other word processors can simply ignore the parts they don't understand.
They treat the customer like a thief, and even when they've confirmed that it's something that they errantly didn't demagnetize or whatever, there is no apology, but rather a treatment like "you're lucky".
It's different here in the UK. Here they often don't even look up, they just wave you past! I must have had alarms go off on me at least ten times in my life, and I've never been searched once. Of course, I'm white, middle-class and generally wearing a suit. I have no idea if that's significant.
Europe is stuck in the concept of "everyone must know their place". Maybe someday they'll embrace the concept of liberty and freedom and catch up with the US.
And you're posting this on... Slashdot. Right. You know, occasionally there are stories on here about Microsoft, and other big corporations. You should try reading one of those stories some time, and see whether US citizens feel enfranchised, or whether they actually feel the system is vastly biased in favour of the rich.
And last time I was in the States, I was actually struck by the number of pointlessly intrusive laws. Huge roads through the middle of nowhere had 50mph speed limits; people under the age of 21 weren't allowed to drink a beer - even at home; I bought a bottle of bathroom cleaner that said "it is a federal offence to use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labelling"; my hosts even explained to me it was illegal to park my car facing the wrong way. Yay liberty and freedom.
Slashdot Mirror
If I steal the jewels from your house which, before you notice anything amiss, burns down through actions totally unrelated to my own, did I really steal them?
Well, yes, because you still have them. Aren't you effectively just saying "if nobody knows about something, does it count?"
There's a logical problem which I think is relevant here: A is in a desert. Unknown to him, B has put poison in his water supply, so A will die if he drinks it. But unknown to either of them, C has drilled a hole in A's water supply, so the poisoned water drains out and A dies of thirst. Who killed A?
Buddhist, actually.
So when you've been uncertain of what to do, you've sat down and gone "hmm... well, what would I do?"
I imagine this must have provided a lot of helpful insight and guidance.
So are there any public BBS's left?
See http://www.mono.org
Telnet to electron.mono.org to log in.
Well, possibly he doesn't understand because he simply hasn't been following that process so assiduously as some of us.
In brief, the difference is that whether you decide to use StarOffice or MS Office, the process is exactly the same: get software, install software, use software.
Internet Explorer, by contrast, is built into Windows, and can't (officially) be removed. This is a strong disincentive to use another browser: you have to download one, when you already have IE; and even while you're using your other browser, IE will still be using resources.
So while StarOffice is competing purely on its merits, IE has a huge head-start over its competitors - which is only possible because it's made by the same people as make the OS. Hence, questionable legality.
Considering ink cartridges cost, what, about $50 these days anyway
Well, I guess if you buy them from HP. Third party ones are rather cheaper - this place, for example, has compatible cartridges for most HP printers for under £20 (about $30). If your mum just wants to print out two emails every month, a £50 inkjet seems a decent enough deal to me.
Well, I thought it was quite funny.
But, as several commentators have already pointed out, this isn't really modularising Windows at all - MS have been using the word "hide", which strongly suggests that all their stuff will be installed, it just won't have icons (rather like NetMeeting in XP).
So far so redundant.
But I was interested in the bit at the end of the article where it mentions "freezing" copies that have been activated with a known pirate key. I thought most pirate copies of XP were the corporate edition, that doesn't need activating, and should therefore be indistinguishable from legit copies? Or do they really mean the Product Key, which you enter when you install Windows? In which case, what's to stop you simply changing it in the registry - or, very worst case, simply finding a working Product Key on the net and reinstalling? Still far far easier and cheaper than going out and buying XP.
You just choose to do it at the expense of others by confiscating the fruits of their labor rather than to strive for it yourself.
We're not communists over here, you know. Few Europeans would argue that they should have a share of Bill Gates' money themselves. But since he has more money than he can possibly ever need, it'd be nice to see some of the surplus being spent on education, health, shelters for the homeless, etc., rather than simply being stockpiled in a bank account somewhere, doing nobody any good.
Simple answer to that: proportional representation.
If that's what I think it is, it's illegal (in the US) to link to it. Looks like Slashdot will be next in the dock.
I pray daily for slashdot's demize.
Hope you blocked that ad at the top of the page then, or coming here was a really dumb move.
Doesn't really matter who it's approved by if they don't follow it!
I won't be impressed until someone comes up with a version that's valid in both C# and GW-Basic. And 6809 assembler.
That extra £26 is necessary ... as a buffer for the downwards adjustment that the British Pound will have to make before joining the Euro.
Er, what? So the retail price of an XBox has been deliberately inflated (making it less competitive) against the possibility of a fall in the relative value of the pound against the dollar several years in the future? Somehow I don't think so!
Actually, this type of pricing has been going on since long before the Euro was ever seriously thought of. The UK market simply sustains higher consumer prices (in absolute terms) than the US and much of Europe, and has done for many many years. Never heard of rip-off Britain?
Though the story (and the associated web page) doesn't refer to the patent number directly, the reference to "accepting information to conduct automatic financial transactions via a telephone line & video screen" strongly suggests to me they're talking about US Patent #5,576,951.
This patent was filed on 19/11/96 - erroneously, I believe, as many companies, including Amazon.com, were using this process over a year earlier. I think it extremely unlikely that PanIP doesn't realise this, but admittedly that would be hard to prove in court. So I think I should instead write to the USPTO and point out that PanIP's "invention" appears to be the same as a previously established practice. Hopefully they will either agree and void the patent; or they will rule that the patent stands because it covers something other than straightforward e-business, in which case all the little companies should be off the hook anyway.
A mile is therefore also 1760 yards, which is easy to remember because there are 1760 sectors on an Amiga OFS floppy.
Not Hippocrates - hipocrats. People who think we should all be ruled by horses.
Download 'Holland, 1945'.
Listening to it now. And... er... am I missing something? Could someone perhaps explain why this is good? I seriously don't get it.
If one believes in OS X, then that's the same as believing in BSD/Linux.
I before E - except after C - when the sound is "ee."
:)
When the sound isn't "ee" you're on your own.
The old HP Vectra recovery CDs didn't let you install Windows at all: you had to restore a BIOS-locked hard disk image that returned your PC precisely to its original state. But this original state included a full copy of the Windows installation files sitting in C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS, complete with SETUP.EXE. So all you needed was a CD writer/Zip disk/LAN and you could move the copy of Windows that came with your Vectra onto another machine. *shrug*
As I read it (i.e. cursorily), the RTF spec allows you to encode application-specific data - so no necessary loss of formatting information - and other word processors can simply ignore the parts they don't understand.
They treat the customer like a thief, and even when they've confirmed that it's something that they errantly didn't demagnetize or whatever, there is no apology, but rather a treatment like "you're lucky".
It's different here in the UK. Here they often don't even look up, they just wave you past! I must have had alarms go off on me at least ten times in my life, and I've never been searched once. Of course, I'm white, middle-class and generally wearing a suit. I have no idea if that's significant.
Well, yes. It would be more cost-effective still to kit out your lab with £399 eMachines. It depends where your money's coming from, I guess!
Europe is stuck in the concept of "everyone must know their place". Maybe someday they'll embrace the concept of liberty and freedom and catch up with the US.
And you're posting this on... Slashdot. Right. You know, occasionally there are stories on here about Microsoft, and other big corporations. You should try reading one of those stories some time, and see whether US citizens feel enfranchised, or whether they actually feel the system is vastly biased in favour of the rich.
And last time I was in the States, I was actually struck by the number of pointlessly intrusive laws. Huge roads through the middle of nowhere had 50mph speed limits; people under the age of 21 weren't allowed to drink a beer - even at home; I bought a bottle of bathroom cleaner that said "it is a federal offence to use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labelling"; my hosts even explained to me it was illegal to park my car facing the wrong way. Yay liberty and freedom.