Not only is this cool from a technical standpoint but it's tough to underestimate the value of news like this from a PR standpoint. These kinds of things, when discussed around the pointy headed management kind of get Linux in there in a subconscious sort of way that says "Oh ya, that thing that runs that ISP in Europe somewhere for 800,000 users. Must be pretty good."
Not only that, but Europe is so much more sexy than home depot. Next thing we need is some mainframe installs at Victoria Secret!
2 GB of hello kitty trash can icons.
A 3.8 GB collection from the "best of swap space 1998" awards.
11 GB of lazer sounds.
1.2 GB of the most realistic surround sound fart ever recorded.
120k text file explaining why you should get a high speed internet connection so that this shit isn't out of date as soon as you put the disc in your drive.
There's a fine line to be walked there when we start to call code free speech. It is convenient for us to call for that now because it will protect the people who coded up the DeCSS and others who would do the same in future situations.
But personally I doubt that code is a true form of expression. When an engineer builds a device it serves a purpose, there may be an artistic component to the work, but it's first and foremost a solution to a problem. The protection afforded by free speech was originally intended to allow the expression of opinions, not to protect the creation of illegal devices on artistic grounds.
Do I think DeCSS should be illegal? Hell no. Do I think that trying to convince the world that code should be protected as free speech is the way to go in this case, probably not.
Luckily Moore's Law applies to suncreen as well as CPU power with SPF rating doubling every 18 months or so.
By the year 10870 we should have sunscreen capable of SPF 2.6 * e^16, or enough to protect 1/3 of the population of Kentucky from the nasty rash that would develop as our star explodes.
Thank god the dark cold world of the future will contain the pale, personable, people from Kentucky.
If this isn't the clearest example of anti-comptetitive practices I've seen in recent years, then maybe I'm missing the point.
No doubt the DOJ will step in 5 years from now after Rambus barely exists and we're on to some new, non sucky, memory type and say "Hey - remember when you were screwing people, well now we're going to get you."
I've seen alot of griping here in the comments about Intel and their anti-competitive policies and where is the DOJ now, etc.
This situation will be a perfect example of why AntiTrust law is outdated and flawed as these strategies Intel is employing will end up making them even more unattractive to PC makers.
Who wants to get locked into a proprietary Slot configuration, memory subsystem and memory chip type when neither the performance nor the price give a significant benefit?
Intel will sink it's component business all by itself, without the DOJ's help.
This is an important step for the Xfree project, however other critical events really need to occur to help this worthy project become more open. For example, what is their policy going to be on CVS commit access? The easiest way to seperate the OSS projects is on the openness of their CVS commit access granting policies.
Just simple anonymous CVS access isn't going to make that huge a difference in the openness of the project.
How many other OS choices do we need?! Didn't QNX just attempt a similar sort of pricing structure change in order to attract new developers?
It's true, choice is a Good Thing(tm) when it comes to OSes, but I think that these companies are really starting to get jealous of the developer interest and support that the *Nixes enjoy and want a piece of the action.
I for one would rather be involved in the embedded Linux effort.
If there is a clearer situation in which Open Sourcing a piece of software would be beneficial to a company I can't think of it.
Corel Draw is seriously on the skids, the market is shifting towards Adobe products to a large degree, and Corel keeps throwing it's money into battles with Microsoft that it is ill prepared or equipped to win.
If they were to open source Corel Draw they might be able to regain some of the valuable mindshare of young artists that they have lost in the last 5 years. Sure, they lose that revenue stream, but perhaps a more profitable switch would be to supporting products such as effects and filters. Take a loss on the razor, and make your money on the blades type of a plan.
Maybe finally we can start getting some MP3 devices out there than can store my growing free (as in beer) music collection. I just can't deal with these things that think 64 MB is a reasonable amount of memory to have.
Also, these things included in some of the new Crusoe based webtop devices could start giving Linux some serious penetration into the embedded market.
As always though, TANSTAAFL as IBM has been known to keep it's microdrive prices high for the duration of the product's life.
C++ could be alot easier to learn if they would introduce more books like this to kids at a younger age. Then they'd have a strong foundation in computers even before they got to the hard stuff.
Slashdot Mirror
Not only is this cool from a technical standpoint but it's tough to underestimate the value of news like this from a PR standpoint. These kinds of things, when discussed around the pointy headed management kind of get Linux in there in a subconscious sort of way that says "Oh ya, that thing that runs that ISP in Europe somewhere for 800,000 users. Must be pretty good."
Not only that, but Europe is so much more sexy than home depot. Next thing we need is some mainframe installs at Victoria Secret!
From the CD contents:
2 GB of hello kitty trash can icons.
A 3.8 GB collection from the "best of swap space 1998" awards.
11 GB of lazer sounds.
1.2 GB of the most realistic surround sound fart ever recorded.
120k text file explaining why you should get a high speed internet connection so that this shit isn't out of date as soon as you put the disc in your drive.
There's a fine line to be walked there when we start to call code free speech. It is convenient for us to call for that now because it will protect the people who coded up the DeCSS and others who would do the same in future situations.
But personally I doubt that code is a true form of expression. When an engineer builds a device it serves a purpose, there may be an artistic component to the work, but it's first and foremost a solution to a problem. The protection afforded by free speech was originally intended to allow the expression of opinions, not to protect the creation of illegal devices on artistic grounds.
Do I think DeCSS should be illegal? Hell no. Do I think that trying to convince the world that code should be protected as free speech is the way to go in this case, probably not.
Yet more reason to get the best price information and that layer of anonymity provided by those comparative shopping engines:
Pricewatch
My Simon
CNet Shopper
Luckily Moore's Law applies to suncreen as well as CPU power with SPF rating doubling every 18 months or so.
By the year 10870 we should have sunscreen capable of SPF 2.6 * e^16, or enough to protect 1/3 of the population of Kentucky from the nasty rash that would develop as our star explodes.
Thank god the dark cold world of the future will contain the pale, personable, people from Kentucky.
If this isn't the clearest example of anti-comptetitive practices I've seen in recent years, then maybe I'm missing the point.
No doubt the DOJ will step in 5 years from now after Rambus barely exists and we're on to some new, non sucky, memory type and say "Hey - remember when you were screwing people, well now we're going to get you."
Thanks DOJ. For nuthin'.
I've seen alot of griping here in the comments about Intel and their anti-competitive policies and where is the DOJ now, etc.
This situation will be a perfect example of why AntiTrust law is outdated and flawed as these strategies Intel is employing will end up making them even more unattractive to PC makers.
Who wants to get locked into a proprietary Slot configuration, memory subsystem and memory chip type when neither the performance nor the price give a significant benefit?
Intel will sink it's component business all by itself, without the DOJ's help.
This is an important step for the Xfree project, however other critical events really need to occur to help this worthy project become more open. For example, what is their policy going to be on CVS commit access? The easiest way to seperate the OSS projects is on the openness of their CVS commit access granting policies.
Just simple anonymous CVS access isn't going to make that huge a difference in the openness of the project.
How many other OS choices do we need?! Didn't QNX just attempt a similar sort of pricing structure change in order to attract new developers?
It's true, choice is a Good Thing(tm) when it comes to OSes, but I think that these companies are really starting to get jealous of the developer interest and support that the *Nixes enjoy and want a piece of the action.
I for one would rather be involved in the embedded Linux effort.
If there is a clearer situation in which Open Sourcing a piece of software would be beneficial to a company I can't think of it.
Corel Draw is seriously on the skids, the market is shifting towards Adobe products to a large degree, and Corel keeps throwing it's money into battles with Microsoft that it is ill prepared or equipped to win.
If they were to open source Corel Draw they might be able to regain some of the valuable mindshare of young artists that they have lost in the last 5 years. Sure, they lose that revenue stream, but perhaps a more profitable switch would be to supporting products such as effects and filters. Take a loss on the razor, and make your money on the blades type of a plan.
Maybe finally we can start getting some MP3 devices out there than can store my growing free (as in beer) music collection. I just can't deal with these things that think 64 MB is a reasonable amount of memory to have.
Also, these things included in some of the new Crusoe based webtop devices could start giving Linux some serious penetration into the embedded market.
As always though, TANSTAAFL as IBM has been known to keep it's microdrive prices high for the duration of the product's life.
C++ could be alot easier to learn if they would introduce more books like this to kids at a younger age. Then they'd have a strong foundation in computers even before they got to the hard stuff.