What's strange to me is how many people watch stuff that's not even worth paying for, but they still pay for it, because cable TV ain't free. Watching mindless drivel is how the vast majority of us unwind after a long day. I simply refuse to pay for it.
Maybe this is just an excuse by Big Blue^H^H^H^HIron companies to escape from the OS community somewhat and have their "own" kernel? I know how we all love to think that once these companies adopt Linux they undergo a significant "change of heart", but do corporations ever really change in this sort of way? I bet the real attitude is, "Let's 'adopt' Linux for now, and exploit the OS community until we can get a better grip on this thing and create our own version."
Every day when I come home from work I hit alt.binaries.x-files, and if there's something new up I'll pull it while eating dinner and then watch it. These are usually in mpeg format. BUT... if I've already seen the episode that's up I'll try.movies,.multimedia, and a couple others, looking for something vaguely interesting that I otherwise wouldn't be willing to pay for. About 1/2 of this stuff is DivX, which works out to me watching a DivX file about once a week.
And before somebody jumps my shit for doing this (I am posting logged in, after all), if I felt the stuff I watch was worth paying for then I already would have paid for it by buying the DVD and/or going to the theatre. Slightly twisted logic, perhaps, but you'd be hard pressed to prove that I'm taking money out of anyone's pocket.
That is a revolting concept. And before you mention music sampling or collage, those things are already covered by Fair Use. Open Source is a completely different animal.
To take your comment to one of its' logical conclusions; why shouldn't I be allowed to have sex with your wife, as long as I don't claim to be your childrens' father?
Yes, I read the article. It talks about starting with textbooks as a way to integrate OS into publishing. The article also completely fails to acknowldge the existance of non-textbooks (no pun intended).
This is still a dumb idea. Open Source is great when applied to a very small subsect of computer-related things. It sucks for everything else because it was not made for anything else.
I swear,/. readers grasp ONE concept and then they get some kind of vapor lock of the brain. Believe it or not, there are other approaches to dealing with issues besides those advocated by Stallman.
Negroponte has continually proven himself to be a complete moron in the pages of Wired. As a general rule, if he advocates something then it is a stupid idea.
designed to manipulate single cells inside your body
The potential for either malicious use or unanticipated disaster is HUGE here! What steps are being taken to ensure that this doesn't turn in some kind of Frankenstein disaster?
And don't tell me it can't. We've got kudzu in the S. US, rabbits in Australia, and Dutch Elm disease in the N.E. US just to mention a few examples of carelessly poking around with biological systems.
OK, lemme try to elaborate on what I (and a lot of others) said:
Yes, I am very aware that there are quite a few African countries that are not in such miserable shape. S. Africa is the first that comes to mind, followed by places like Egypt, Ghana and Morocco. But how much help do these countries need for IT? I'm sure the Egyptians don't have the access to reliable broadband that would be ideal, but it is pretty stable and moving along at a decent pace. Rushing off to help countries that are already making decent progress is like helping the little old lady that's already made it more than 1/2 way accross the street; noble but not really necessary.
I strongly believe that helping people in dire need of assistance is far more important than helping those who just need a small boost to get their living standards up to Western levels.
...neglects the fact that open source empowers people in developing countries to solve their own specific problems.
All this time I thought Africa's biggest problems were mass starvation, AIDS, and civil war! Good to know that they've gotten all that taken care of and now they just have to deal with developing stable web servers.
I won't comment on Ayn's philosophy, but you should know that the character of Howard Roark was created with liberal theft from the actual architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Even the old, washed up mentor (forget that character's name) has a basis in fact, namely Wright's apprenticeship under Louis Sullivan, who is a giant in architectural history in his own right.
If nothing else, Ms. Rand picked good templates for her characters.
Why make it look like a classic wurlitzer? This is the most common, and most depressing, design hurdle all new technologies seem to face: Getting past the point of having to make it look like something else. Jukeboxes looked like they did because that's the shape needed for them to do their job. CD juke's look similar because the discs are about the same size as 7" records and they don't function all that differently.
So... why bother making a new thing look old? Make it look like an MP3 player. Everything, and I mean everything, that has stood the test of time as good design has always expressed its function in its appearance, from gothic cathedrals to classic sports cars to iMac's. Things that try to look like other things rightly end up scorned as ugly, like plastic "wood" veneers and non-structural "Greek Revival" columns on houses built in the 80's.
Your comment contains an assertion for which there is no scientific basis. I have been economically damaged by this claim of yours, and will be filing suit.
In June 1999, the U.S. government ordered ApolloMedia to disclose the identity of a user of annoy.com's e-greeting card service...
...the Magistrate's June 16, 1999 Order prohibited ApolloMedia from discussing not only the details of the government's investigation and the content of the order with anyone until authorized by the court, but also the very existence of the order and its application.
I love Linux and all, and I guess it's good to have it available on even more hardware, but why would you throw out an excellent OS like Sun's in favor of Linux? What benefits are there to Linux that don't already exist on a Sun?
Is it safe to assume that everyone who reads/. has, or can get,:
1) A news reader,
2) A Gnutella client, or
3) An IRC client?
Divx files are widely available through all three. I'm not picking on you personally, I'm just sick of all these posts saying, "It can't be as good!" when they haven't even bothered trying it yet.
Fer chrissakes, show some initiative, people! If you can't find a Divx file on the internet then you need help.
Linux complaints are somewhat valid, though, as what's currently available is very beta.
Aw, what'sa matter, did I offend your pagan belief system? Very mature of you to be throwing around troll accusations just because you got your feelings hurt.
Don't try and turn this into some sort of rallying cry against the RIAA and in support of Creative. As a huge corporation, Creative is most certainly NOT doing this for the "principle", they are doing this because the continued attack on mp3's, which hinders their eventual acceptance, has a negative revenue effect for Creative.
Creative is doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, which in my mind is about the same as just doing nothing.
Seven replies to my original post, all of them essentially saying the same thing, and not ONE of them actually touches on the issues I brought up. Instead of people READING what I write, I get knee-jerk pablum based on a cursory skimming of what was written.
On a side note, have you considered the social ramifications of this "system" you are developing, and the serious potential for its abuse?
Slashdot Mirror
What's strange to me is how many people watch stuff that's not even worth paying for, but they still pay for it, because cable TV ain't free. Watching mindless drivel is how the vast majority of us unwind after a long day. I simply refuse to pay for it.
Maybe this is just an excuse by Big Blue^H^H^H^HIron companies to escape from the OS community somewhat and have their "own" kernel? I know how we all love to think that once these companies adopt Linux they undergo a significant "change of heart", but do corporations ever really change in this sort of way? I bet the real attitude is, "Let's 'adopt' Linux for now, and exploit the OS community until we can get a better grip on this thing and create our own version."
And before somebody jumps my shit for doing this (I am posting logged in, after all), if I felt the stuff I watch was worth paying for then I already would have paid for it by buying the DVD and/or going to the theatre. Slightly twisted logic, perhaps, but you'd be hard pressed to prove that I'm taking money out of anyone's pocket.
That was some of the coolest retro animation I've seen. How can you not trust an agency that produces stuff like that? ;^)
To take your comment to one of its' logical conclusions; why shouldn't I be allowed to have sex with your wife, as long as I don't claim to be your childrens' father?
This is still a dumb idea. Open Source is great when applied to a very small subsect of computer-related things. It sucks for everything else because it was not made for anything else.
I swear, /. readers grasp ONE concept and then they get some kind of vapor lock of the brain. Believe it or not, there are other approaches to dealing with issues besides those advocated by Stallman.
Negroponte has continually proven himself to be a complete moron in the pages of Wired. As a general rule, if he advocates something then it is a stupid idea.
What next? Open Source painting?
Y'know, we never liked the ambiguity of Mona Lisa's smile, so Jimbo here painted over it.
Hacking Chaucer?
Dude, I got this sweet algorithm that totally eliminates the need for the Wife of Bath's story!
Christ on a Vespa! You can not expect to use one liscense to save the world!
designed to manipulate single cells inside your body
The potential for either malicious use or unanticipated disaster is HUGE here! What steps are being taken to ensure that this doesn't turn in some kind of Frankenstein disaster?
And don't tell me it can't. We've got kudzu in the S. US, rabbits in Australia, and Dutch Elm disease in the N.E. US just to mention a few examples of carelessly poking around with biological systems.
Yes, I am very aware that there are quite a few African countries that are not in such miserable shape. S. Africa is the first that comes to mind, followed by places like Egypt, Ghana and Morocco. But how much help do these countries need for IT? I'm sure the Egyptians don't have the access to reliable broadband that would be ideal, but it is pretty stable and moving along at a decent pace. Rushing off to help countries that are already making decent progress is like helping the little old lady that's already made it more than 1/2 way accross the street; noble but not really necessary.
I strongly believe that helping people in dire need of assistance is far more important than helping those who just need a small boost to get their living standards up to Western levels.
All this time I thought Africa's biggest problems were mass starvation, AIDS, and civil war! Good to know that they've gotten all that taken care of and now they just have to deal with developing stable web servers.
If nothing else, Ms. Rand picked good templates for her characters.
So... why bother making a new thing look old? Make it look like an MP3 player. Everything, and I mean everything, that has stood the test of time as good design has always expressed its function in its appearance, from gothic cathedrals to classic sports cars to iMac's. Things that try to look like other things rightly end up scorned as ugly, like plastic "wood" veneers and non-structural "Greek Revival" columns on houses built in the 80's.
Sun Announce GNOME Accessibility Lab
timothy post story.
Me read headline.
Me not understand why no "S".
OOG hack timothy account?
Well, today we learned:
Nobody understands the need for a DVD full of Linux apps
There's legal liability in having a web site
Voodoo cards sure are zippy
"Hackers" is an old book, and we don't care anymore
CueCat is as doomed as everyone thought it was
Stuff's still happening in the Mozilla world
The FBI is evil
Robots are cool
OS-X has a BSD kernel, which should be nifty
Geeks live in houses that any right-thinking person would avoid
AMD proves that Moore's law ain't croaked yet
You stated, "second-hand smoke is a carcinogen", but there is no compelling evidence for this.
Ever notice how hard it is to see linked text in these "Ask Slashdot" comments? I hate that.
I'm not making this up! Read the ingredients some time. There's no grapes and no nuts in it!
I think maybe you should look at what was actually sent first. Might change your opinions a bit. Tasteless and irritating, but hardly threatening.
Wasn't this an X-Files episode?
I love Linux and all, and I guess it's good to have it available on even more hardware, but why would you throw out an excellent OS like Sun's in favor of Linux? What benefits are there to Linux that don't already exist on a Sun?
Is it safe to assume that everyone who reads /. has, or can get,:
1) A news reader,
2) A Gnutella client, or
3) An IRC client?
Divx files are widely available through all three. I'm not picking on you personally, I'm just sick of all these posts saying, "It can't be as good!" when they haven't even bothered trying it yet.
Fer chrissakes, show some initiative, people! If you can't find a Divx file on the internet then you need help.
Linux complaints are somewhat valid, though, as what's currently available is very beta.
Yes, I am completely serious.
Aw, what'sa matter, did I offend your pagan belief system? Very mature of you to be throwing around troll accusations just because you got your feelings hurt.
Creative is doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, which in my mind is about the same as just doing nothing.
On a side note, have you considered the social ramifications of this "system" you are developing, and the serious potential for its abuse?