Re:Voting machines are not inherently buggie
on
Buggy Voting Machines
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Generally, software isn't considered to be nearly bug-free until it's been used by the general population for a long period of time. Voting machines are relatively new, and the general population uses them one, maybe two times per year.
"Inherently buggier" may not be the right phrase, but the point the author was trying to make is that voting machines have not been tested enough for them to be used for something as important as voting (without an auditable paper trail).
The license agreement is not on solid legal ground. When I buy software, I gain an implicit right to use that software. There would be outcry, if, say, after closing a deal on a new car, people got in the driver's seat and found that their key didn't work and they had to sign another agreement with the dealer to get keys that did work, considering that they already own the car, and, with it, the right to use the car.
Personally, I don't see why I should have to agree to more limitations to use something I already own. Also, having something available as retail implies that the item itself is for sale, not a license to use the item. If the manufacturer wants the item available only as a license, the box should clearly state so.
Of course, this is why I don't use commercial software anymore.
You have purchased something. A license to play the game on the terms and conditions that are told to you by the company.
Hmm. It appears my receipt says stuff like "sale price", indicating that I bought a copy of the software. If it had said "license price" I wouldn't have any argument, but it is rather clear I did not buy a license.
What i'd really like to see them do is ban taxes on interstate sales. IOW, if I'm in CA, I should only have to pay attention to state taxes in CA. That would make internet sales just like telephone and catalog sales. I know a few states want to do otherwise (charge sales tax on all sales into their state regardless of the origin of the sale). Even playing fields for all methods of selling -- that's what we should be striving for.
Even playing fields? It seems to me like that would imply all purchases you make in CA get CA sales tax applied to them. Also, you are currently required to report the items you buy and ship in from out-of-state (whether you bought them via catalog, telephone or internet) and pay the sales tax on them on your own. Of course, nobody does that, and they all get offensive when the government asks for what it's owed.
Shouldn't it be more important to try and develop an embeddable browser (already done) and its supporting infrastructure (not as complete) - like documentation, languge bindings, etc, etc.
I'm sure Mozilla developes consider this a priority over working on a Netscape-branded Firefox, but Netscape developers don't necessarily agree with them.
Every team that we knew who did FIRST ended up not really designing their robots because their sponsors were so invested in having a winning robot that they had their engineers do most of the design work.
Many FIRST teams are like this, yes, but not all. The Ohio State University mentors three FIRST teams, and on each the students do about as much of the design work as the mentors do. Oh, and we hold our own against the corporate-sponsored teams.
Oh, and those laser speed guns? Guess who put them in the hands of your friendly local police officer? Geico. No conflict of interest there, no sir, not an insurance company giving police officers a device that, every time it is used, causes someone's insurance rate to go through the roof, despite no evidence speeding causes accidents. What a great money maker. No increased risk, but lots of increased revenue!
I see that it is beneficial to Geico to have cops writing tickets, but it's not like Geico is manufacturing the radar guns themselves.
Yes, API probably isn't the right word. I've read Creating Applications with Mozilla, and understand the basics of XUL, but not enough to make a plugin in Firefox.
Is there a decent place to look for API information? I've looked some and all I see is a bunch of miscellaneous information that doesn't seem very organized.
An interesting sidenote is this: remember when copying a chord (dunno how many notes that was) of song was considered infringement? I wonder what would happen if someone went out and made a pseudosong with every possible combination of a chord. Then they could sue every new song as being "infringing." The whole notion is ridiculous.
Copyright only refers to derived works. If I create something on my own that happens to be exactly the same as something you previously created, I should be in the clear as long as I had no knowledge of your work. This is hard to prove though.
IANAL, but I believe that without registering your copyright, you are only protected from others who might try to copyright your work and then sue you. By registering, you are protected against misuse.
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Generally, software isn't considered to be nearly bug-free until it's been used by the general population for a long period of time. Voting machines are relatively new, and the general population uses them one, maybe two times per year.
"Inherently buggier" may not be the right phrase, but the point the author was trying to make is that voting machines have not been tested enough for them to be used for something as important as voting (without an auditable paper trail).
Ahh yes--your "Anonymous Coward" title certainly implies that you are a lawyer and know what you're talking about. What the hell was I thinking?
The license agreement is not on solid legal ground. When I buy software, I gain an implicit right to use that software. There would be outcry, if, say, after closing a deal on a new car, people got in the driver's seat and found that their key didn't work and they had to sign another agreement with the dealer to get keys that did work, considering that they already own the car, and, with it, the right to use the car.
Personally, I don't see why I should have to agree to more limitations to use something I already own. Also, having something available as retail implies that the item itself is for sale, not a license to use the item. If the manufacturer wants the item available only as a license, the box should clearly state so.
Of course, this is why I don't use commercial software anymore.
Why do people use AOL when they could get a cheaper, less intrusive internet service for half the price? I don't know, but they do.
Irony is probably a better topic for this, but there is no irony topic.
I forget, are we at war with Eurasia or Eastasia?
Talk to a lawyer. You're with an educational institution, so you can probably get someone pro bono.
Supreme Court Justices aren't elected.
Yea--the Republicans have even been trying to get minorities to vote.
The Firefox project page validates.
In short, it depends on who your sponsor is.
It appears "BEST" and "FIRST" have been around for roughly the same amount of time, but I hadn't heard of "BEST" until now either.
The translated Google version of the article seems to indicate the fault in the car was found. But it's not exactly easy to follow.
I agree. GMail's UI is the only webmail UI I can stand.
Also, GMail at least attempts spam filtering. It's not as good as SA + POPfile, but it's pretty close.
Yes, API probably isn't the right word. I've read Creating Applications with Mozilla, and understand the basics of XUL, but not enough to make a plugin in Firefox.
So when somebody has a legitimate reason to contact you, they're out of luck?
Is there a decent place to look for API information? I've looked some and all I see is a bunch of miscellaneous information that doesn't seem very organized.
IANAL, but I believe that without registering your copyright, you are only protected from others who might try to copyright your work and then sue you. By registering, you are protected against misuse.
You obviously don't know much about marriage.