how bout open source music...
Maybe musicians could follow the open source model. They could sell their music cd's directly to the consumer thru a new type of record company setup by musicians for musicians and allow the sharing of their music thru napster. I know I download quite a bit but I also still buy cd's. Sometimes I buy the cd's because I got to sample a song. I have a friend who is a die-hard fan of the Cocteau Twins and even though he downloads their mp3's, he insists on having the original albums.
This "proposed record company" by musicans for musicians could revolutionize the music industry and, of course, piss of the riaa. Whatever money artists lose through mp3 downloads would more than make up for itself if the artist is selling directly to the consumer and bypassing the record companies who reap almost all the profit. There is already an online virtual tip jar where you can leave tips for your favorite artists.
The original concept of copyright was so that I cound not take a work and pass it off as my own.. It was copyrighted and therefore put into the public domain so all could share their enthusiasm about the creators work. Both "The artist formerly known as Prince" and Courtney Love support this idea and the idea of a virtual tip jar... Many more artists are also joining the movement because of the stranglehold the recording industry has on artists.
Finally the riaa's real fear... Their real fear is one they won't tell you openly... They are not upset because John Doe is downloading and not buying a cd - they're losing pocket change here. Their fear is much more deeply rooted. They fear the new distribution channel and they are scared, and rightfully so, that artists are realizing the potential of this new channel -- a distribution medium that does not involve the big recording companies. If the artists abandon ship then captain RIAA will be left with a sinking ship. If they lose the artists, they lose their revenue stream and thus their greatest fear becomes reality!
Well at least it will be replaced. I live in Texas and I remember when congress decided to can the supercollider project here because they wanted to cut spending back in 1992-93. I felt as if the US had entered the dark ages. The project was based in Texas because it is flat, there are no earthquakes, etc... They dug a 12 mile loop under the earth and spent millions of dollars to get it built.
The project was not far from completion when congress discontinued funding. The law states that the land would have to be put back in it's original condition, meaning the removal of miles of steel and filling in the holes and returning the environment back to normal. It cost more to remove the damned thing than it would have to finish it and keep it running for a year. Talk about cutting spending and increasing the stupidity.
They could have left that project and let others take it over, but you know congress! Anyhow, I'm glad the Swiss care about science. We Americans care about fame, fortune, football, or what some Hollywood star is doing in the privacy of their own home. Things of consequence don't matter here... only money, power, and politcs... Benjamin Franklin would keal over in his grave if he could see America today.
If pro is the opposite of con then what is the opposite of progress?
Well... was it not Einstein that said "Imagination is more important than knowledge"
I'm not saying these guys are dreaming this stuff up. I'm saying that theory is important to scientific discovery. Many theorized the atom to exist long before anyone could prove it. I get sick and tired of people slamming the scientific community because they don't have the intellect to comprehend what is going on.
Hell... I can't comprehend it but, I don't pretend to know otherwise. These people have knowledge you could not even begin to grasp.. Wake up... Don't critisize that which you don't understand. Respect science and people of knowledge because in the future, my grandchildrens granchildren will be reading about them in science books, whereas you and I, won't even get an honorable mention.
"I think that their goals are more focused on the future when we can make digital copies of digital television broadcasts."
Maybe so, I can agree that they are looking to the future however, you stated also "the MPAA forsees individuals sitting with their TV encoders tuned and ready for the 5th season of Survivor. They'll edit out the commercials, post episodes to alt.binaries.movies.survivor5.mongolian-desert, then compile all the episodes and give them away on one big fat DVD. Many many dollars are to be lost."
I don't agree with this at all. How is this any different from today. I can use a tv tuner card in my computer and do the same thing. I can compile these on cd's and give them to friends sans commercials. It may not be digital quality but so what.
Advertisers already paid for the airtime so the industry is making money no matter what - they won't lose money off people taping TV episodes. Some would argue that mp3's cause a loss of revenue but this, can in no way cause a loss at all. The MPAA is overstepping their bounds and they are going to get slapped just like Microsoft did.
MPAA, keep it up... you'll be broken down for being the monopolizing, unfair, greedy bastards that you are. You will be the next target of huge lawsuits and anti-trust litigation. Unfortunately, the Microsoft example means nothing to you. Guess you'll learn the hard way.
I can point you to a couple of sites that could be of some benefit. Please realize that medical software is an area that is still under development. However there are some projects which are far along. Look at the sites below for some examples.
Freemed - a web page based patient managment system that runs on linux.
http://www.freemed.org/
Go here for linux related medical news. The page appears to use slashcode.
http://www.linuxmednews.org/linuxmednews/index_h tml
Here is a linux medicine How-To
http://home.snafu.de/wehe/Medicine-HOWTO.html
Open sources related to health. This page contains a multitude of links... Check it out.
http://homeusers.brutele.be/ypaindaveine/opensou rce/inventory.html
...or rather let the artists and the open source community work together to create a an electronic marketplace that does not involve the riaa. I read an interesting article on osopinion.com that really intrigues me. I have posted a few quotes from the article to give you an idea of the possible future. I highly encourage you to read the original article - Here is the link in plain text(I wouldn't want to break any laws):-)
Mr. Nimmons basically says open source has the answer. Mr. Nimmons speaks of "a foundation run by musicians for musicians, will exist for the sole purpose of supporting musicians, providing the infrastructure and services presently supplied by the record companies." Secondly, Mr. Nimmons also states "By collaborating with the free software community, the foundation will provide the music community with an electronic marketplace to sell their work and services directly to consumers."
He concludes, "We,the free software community, help the music community establish an electronic marketplace and they pay us a portion of their proceeds to run and maintain the system and also to fund future development of software specific to their needs." I believe this man has an answer to a problem that could be beneficial, both financially and socially, to artists and the open source community. Fellow open source followers, here is our chance to do away with the riaa and to free the artists from the clutches of greedy corporations... let's jump on this opportunity!
You have a good point here. I make yogurt at home. I go and buy a little container of dannon which contains live yogurt cultures. I then use that dannon yogurt as my starter to make large quantities of my own yogurt. Once the cycle is started I can continue to use a little bit of my own left over yogurt as the starter for the next batch. I know people that have kept making new yogurt from the left over yogurt of previous batches for 5 years. That's a hell of a lot of yogurt not purchased! However, that is a lot of milk that IS purchased.
I have taught some friends of mine to do this as well. We buy more milk than most people but we buy don't need to buy yogurt anymore. Here are my questions:
Am I unlawfully duplicating this yogurt? I can make copy after copy metaphorically speaking. Is dannon going to sue me if I post a recipe of how to make yogurt - DeCSS anyone? Will I be facilitating the unlawful duplication of lactobacillus acidophilus cultures? Maybe linking to "make your own yogurt" web sites will get me into trouble. The world we live in is becoming a befuddled mess!
"It's not surprising at all that MS isn't using Win2K internally yet...Anyone who trusts brand new software for production systems, probably deserves to be fired."
Well, I do have to agree with you on that, however, MS wants you to believe that win2k IS ready for production environments... why else would they be retiring their 4.0 certification so soon (dec 31, 2000). It seems like they don't care if it is ready or not... they want you to buy it and they're making sure that MCSE's upgrade their certifications or get left behind.
..and they have no clue that they're opening the pandora's box of copyright issues...
You know, this is one of the most interesting things I've observed. Cases Like Napster vs. Metallica, Napster vs. RIAA, MPAA arresting Jon Johanson, MPAA sueing 2600, etc....
When Metallica sued Napster they metaphorically shot themselves in the foot. I know so many people who found out what napster was due to publicity. Suddenly, people say "I can get music off the net???" Then of course with the threat of Napster being shutdown, I hear Peter Jennings come on ABC News telling one and all about Napster. Metallica gave more credibility and more publicity to Napster than they probably intended.... Now they are dealing with the aftermath.
As far as DeCSS goes... well the same is true. If the MPAA had not jumped the gun they would not have brought so much attention to DeCSS. Hell, I didn't learn what DeCSS even was until I read articles about Johansons arrest. The 2600 case is no different as it is mentioned on the news as well. Now people can go to their web site and look at plain text hyperlinks to DeCSS source.
The suits still don't get it... They are trying to fight their battles the old-fashioned way and now with the advent of the net, it's just not working. The more something is attacked, the more publicity it is given. The more publicity something is given, the more people will know about it... Now, the more people know about something the more they will want it and continue to want to know more.
Well suits... now you are digging your own grave. You are fighting something that is finally bigger than you and you don't know how to handle it. Just think how fast information travels in today's wired world. Nothing can be kept a secret anymore. MPAA, if you want to sue anybody at all sue the US govt. Yes, thats right... If it weren't for stupid encryption laws restricting strong export grade crypto, your 40bit encryption could have bit 128bit encryption and thus harder to crack.
There are distributions that are trying to do the same things however, they are doing them differently... and may the fittest survive.
Also, there are distributions which are more server oriented and some that are desktop oriented. There are even firewall distributions like Netmax. There are distributions on a floppy and now we have embedded linux. All of this diversity is good.
I don't see this to be a problem. I don't think there is anything wrong with trying to go after windows.... at least there are many different approaches rather than one simple approach. I do think when KDE2 and kernel 2.4 come out, Linux on will have matured enough to take on the behemoth from Redmond in the desktop battle.
Well... Yes the Chinese government does strongly support the use of Linux as opposed to Windows. However, I have been to China and can tell you that software piracy is rampant. In Shanghai, for example, nobody actually pays full price for a "legal" copy of windows. They go down to their local mom and pop shop and by the burned copy.
As far as that goes, I went into a CD shop and all of the hits were mass produced copies of the originals.... They were very well packaged too!
Chinese support for Linux and things like unicode need to be built into a window manager for it to be attractive to the general population in China. Until that happens, no matter how free linux is... It is not as free as the pirated Chinese windows you can buy under the table or, for that matter, over the counter!
"Hell yeah Just a few years ago some (Texan?) shot to death a kid knocking at his door late at night. "
Actually this is not the case. I live in Texas and the shooting ocurred in Louisiana NOT Texas. I do remember this and I also remember my relatives, who live in Louisiana, telling me how shocked they were that this happened so close to them.
It is a shame that this sort of thing happened. The man did have the right to defend himself if he believed that his life was truly in danger(which I hardly believe this to be the case)however, the Japanese teen should have been prepped by his host family about the dangers of racist rednecks and their big guns.
Having been to other countries, I think it is necessary to become familiar with laws that could potentially get you into trouble. For example, I visited Zimbabwe many years ago and it was known by all that if the presidents motorcade was coming through you got out of the way or you got shot.. no questions asked. Some tourists were gunned down because the flashing lights and loud sirens didnt mean anything to them and the lead military car littered their rental car with bullets. We are not the only country with gun problems.
My conclusion -- Why couldnt the man have gone back inside, shut the door, and called the police. Certainly that would have been the more civilized thing to do. If the kid then tried to force his way in then he could have shot him. I can't believe that this type of force was necessary, especially given the circumstances. We have the right to bear arms but, we also have the obligation to be responsible.
The way I look at source code and the deCSS issue is this:
There have been books written on how to make explosives... some of these instructions have even been put on the net. There are books and websites that describe in detail how to cultivate your own marijuana.
Source code is nothing but an idea - a list of instructions telling you this deCSS program should be built. You can look at... you can realize what it does... Like I said before, you can read instructions on the net for anything... get the recipe for anything from pecan pie to dynamite. This is called free speech and freedom to know.
making a small explosive from instructions I found on the net would be analagous to compiling the deCSS code I just read into a binary executable. Now, I have the explosive/executable binary. What I do from that point determines the legality of my actions.
I can use the explosive to unroot some nasty treestumps so I can pave a little concrete sidewalk on my farm or I can blow up my neighbors tractor. I certainly have the right to "fairly use" this exposive for productive means. I can use the deCSS executable to watch movies in linux or I can rip a movie and copy it on cd for all my friends. I bought my DVD legally and I believe I should be able to watch DVD movies in linux. Unless of course the MPAA wants us to use windows only players - hmmm, maybe the MPAA should be brought to trial for contributory acts/aiding and abetting Microsoft to maintain an anti-competative position. Seems a bit far stretched but hell, who knows really.
Conclusion - The code, while not in English, is in the C language - a language understood by those fluent in C. While not a human language, it is a language which communicates an idea and a list of instructions for accomplishing that idea. This case will have to go to a higher court which bases their decisions strictly on the basis of constitutionality. This case will set a very important precedent in the law books. This is why this case is so important to the geeks and to the general population.
First, I am a US citizen however, I think we Americans can learn a great deal from Canadians instead of being so arrogant and claiming the US to be the most free nation on Earth. I have also lived in other countries and I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. The US model for democracy is something to be treasured but it is not the end-all solution.
Anyone who has crossed the bridge from Detroit to Windsor has to notice the difference between the two sides of the river. The US side has nothing but smokestacks, factories and very ugly things to look at. The Canadian side, on the other hand, is beautiful with a nice boardwalk. If you've seen the movie "Canadian Bacon" you know what I'm talking about. While the economy in Canada is not as good as the US, Canadian's seem to have a more wholesome society.
I love the US but, there are other things about Canada that appeal to me. When I worked as a tech support for AST Computers in Texas we received calls from all over the US and Canada. No matter how severe the problem, Canadian customers were always polite and civilized. Pissed off American customers would throw fits and curse me and my company.
I guess I like Canada because it's a mixture of North America with a bit of European flare. It's a bilingual country. It's a multi-cultural country. There is a general civility among the people of Canada. During Christmas time I see kids coming up to me (a total stranger) and wishing me a merry christmas. I walked down the streets of the red light district in Montreal at 2:00 am and didn't really worry about getting robbed. This sounds more like the US in the early 1950's -- the US my grandparents talked about. All in all, it makes me wonder what happened to civility in this country.
Don't get me wrong, I am a strong supporter of individual freedoms and my political views lean toward the libertarian side. But, as far as these violent games go, I don't think I'd want my kids playing them either. Adults have privledges that kids don't -- period. We have to draw the line and the Canadian govt. has done just that.
Well, I don't use debian but I have found ISO images to be great for backup, burning CD's for friends, or network installs... Yes that's right network installs. Just mount it with the loop option and you can browse any file on that CD. For those that don't know the command:
mount -o loop/isoimage.iso/mnt/mountpoint
This is great for ftp installs.... It doesnt work with NFS though.
I'll tell you who I'm not going to vote for -- Bush!!!
a. He's not the man for the job.
b. He's a Christian.
c. The Wrong skills run in his family.
On a more serious note, I believe that the libertarian or green party best suit the technology industry because of their hands-off attitude. This is the reason the web has become so prosperous -- the government is not involved!!! As far as mainstream candidates go, Al Gore would be the lesser evil when compared to Bush.
"That government is best which governs least"
Henry David Thoreau
hmmm,
why the break from standards amoung the different distro's? I would really like an answer to this one. I learned the classical SysV method was runlevel 5 -- X, runlevel 3 -- multiuser no X. I have read many UNIX system administration manuals and handbooks and they all say basically what I've stated above. Why have those distros broken away from SysV standards??? Answers anyone???
Musicians in general have been, for the lack of a better word, raped and stabbed in the back by the record companies. Hell, the artists don't even have the rights to their own songs after they sign those contracts. Many musicians were taken in by the big labels because they fit the sound of the month and then dumped again. Today those musicians are either out of the music business or struggling to survive.
This "tip-jar" method, while by no means perfect, is a move in the right direction. I will personally download my favorite artists mp3's and then send a tip. It may not be much, but whatever it is, it's not going to a greedy record label!
Re:Programmers free from liability can also hurt u
on
Hacker Crackdown?
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· Score: 1
That is not the issue here. We are talking about intent. Someone who writes a trojan horse is intending to break into your system! The guy who wrote DeCSS, on the other hand, intended to use it to play DVD's in Linux. There is a big difference here.
DeCSS is a tool and nothing more. A hammer can be used to hang a picture frame or to smash a car window. Hell even a sharpened pencil could be used for evil things which were not intended... Lets get real! DeCSS is code... It's not evil... It's free speech. Would you go jump off bridge if someone say's "hey, bridges were built to carry people across this revine, but I think we should use it to commit suicide."
Hopefully, if the DeCSS case goes all the way to the Supreme court, the code will be seen as free speech and will win. If it does not, it will be a dark day in the USA and for everyone, whether they know what DeCSS is or not. This will be the first stepping stone for other freedoms to be taken away. The day free speech is not allowed, in whatever form, will be the day America dies as a nation. The efforts of the founding fathers will be for not. That day, people will have to choose -- republican party, democratic party, or Boston Tea Party. I leave you with this quote from the Declaration of Independence:
That to secure these rights [to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness], governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundations on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
Actually,
I've used rpm and deb packages and like both. I heard a rumor, however, that debian wants to use a ports tree much like the *BSD's. I've used FreeBSD before and the scripts made installation and de-installation a breeze. "Make install" to install and "Make deinstall" to remove the packages. Does anyone know if this rumor is true about Debian and the ports tree?
I first must commend these guys on a truly incredible feat that they are attempting to perform. I would tell them to disregard all of these people who say "quit wasting your time" or "why not just use linux if you want an alternative." I am an avid linux user and I remember when many said these very things to me when I started using linux. People would say "linux is going to go nowhere" or "who will develop for it... just use windows." etc...etc...etc...
Many of us who use linux quickly forget that we used to hear those things and it is a shame when people try to stump your efforts with "why don't you just use XXXX instead". Linux became what it is today because of people who stood by their OS and didn't care what the status quo OS was. They did it because they believed in something and developers the world over joined in the effort. They coded despite the overwhelming odds against them. Now, they must do the same. The support and developers that they need will come in good time and join in their efforts.
I hope to not be dependent on MS Windows for some of the things I do on a daily basis. Their project, will allow many of us to run windows programs on a compatible OS without all the restrictions MS puts on us. I love linux, however, I enjoy BeOS and Mac's as well. I like variety, and I like to see MS scared out of their pants because of projects like linux and projects like this. If nothing else, open source will allow us to share. We will be able to take their api's and use them with wine or use whatever they develop and port some of the functionality to linux. We will all benefit if they succeed.
Finally, I want to say a few things about open source. Open source is about freedom, not control. Open source means nobody can tell me how to run my system. Open source means choice. It's about the little guy... it's about the proverbial "David" slaying "Goliath." Big corporations like MS will realize that we won't take their strong-armed tactics or anti-competetive practices.
I could go on and on... you get the picture. I will probably stick to unix/linux no matter what but, I know many who would drop MS windows if something compatible were available. I say these guys should keep up the good work and push forward no matter what the odds.
I'm no expert in law but, who would they sue? The OpenWin developers, the GNU??? There is no profit motive here. Wine exists and there was wabi also. There is virtual PC for Macs(This is closed source though and I'm not sure if MS endorsed this or not). The precedent was already established in the "look and feel" lawsuit between apple and microsoft. I don't think MS would get very far. Besides, I'm anxious to see if these guys can actually pull this off. I hope they do... that would chap bills hide!!!!
Slashdot Mirror
how bout open source music...
Maybe musicians could follow the open source model. They could sell their music cd's directly to the consumer thru a new type of record company setup by musicians for musicians and allow the sharing of their music thru napster. I know I download quite a bit but I also still buy cd's. Sometimes I buy the cd's because I got to sample a song. I have a friend who is a die-hard fan of the Cocteau Twins and even though he downloads their mp3's, he insists on having the original albums.
This "proposed record company" by musicans for musicians could revolutionize the music industry and, of course, piss of the riaa. Whatever money artists lose through mp3 downloads would more than make up for itself if the artist is selling directly to the consumer and bypassing the record companies who reap almost all the profit. There is already an online virtual tip jar where you can leave tips for your favorite artists.
The original concept of copyright was so that I cound not take a work and pass it off as my own.. It was copyrighted and therefore put into the public domain so all could share their enthusiasm about the creators work. Both "The artist formerly known as Prince" and Courtney Love support this idea and the idea of a virtual tip jar... Many more artists are also joining the movement because of the stranglehold the recording industry has on artists.
Finally the riaa's real fear... Their real fear is one they won't tell you openly... They are not upset because John Doe is downloading and not buying a cd - they're losing pocket change here. Their fear is much more deeply rooted. They fear the new distribution channel and they are scared, and rightfully so, that artists are realizing the potential of this new channel -- a distribution medium that does not involve the big recording companies. If the artists abandon ship then captain RIAA will be left with a sinking ship. If they lose the artists, they lose their revenue stream and thus their greatest fear becomes reality!
Well at least it will be replaced. I live in Texas and I remember when congress decided to can the supercollider project here because they wanted to cut spending back in 1992-93. I felt as if the US had entered the dark ages. The project was based in Texas because it is flat, there are no earthquakes, etc... They dug a 12 mile loop under the earth and spent millions of dollars to get it built.
The project was not far from completion when congress discontinued funding. The law states that the land would have to be put back in it's original condition, meaning the removal of miles of steel and filling in the holes and returning the environment back to normal. It cost more to remove the damned thing than it would have to finish it and keep it running for a year. Talk about cutting spending and increasing the stupidity.
They could have left that project and let others take it over, but you know congress! Anyhow, I'm glad the Swiss care about science. We Americans care about fame, fortune, football, or what some Hollywood star is doing in the privacy of their own home. Things of consequence don't matter here... only money, power, and politcs... Benjamin Franklin would keal over in his grave if he could see America today.
If pro is the opposite of con then what is the opposite of progress?
Well... was it not Einstein that said "Imagination is more important than knowledge"
I'm not saying these guys are dreaming this stuff up. I'm saying that theory is important to scientific discovery. Many theorized the atom to exist long before anyone could prove it. I get sick and tired of people slamming the scientific community because they don't have the intellect to comprehend what is going on.
Hell... I can't comprehend it but, I don't pretend to know otherwise. These people have knowledge you could not even begin to grasp.. Wake up... Don't critisize that which you don't understand. Respect science and people of knowledge because in the future, my grandchildrens granchildren will be reading about them in science books, whereas you and I, won't even get an honorable mention.
"I think that their goals are more focused on the future when we can make digital copies of digital television broadcasts."
Maybe so, I can agree that they are looking to the future however, you stated also "the MPAA forsees individuals sitting with their TV encoders tuned and ready for the 5th season of Survivor. They'll edit out the commercials, post episodes to alt.binaries.movies.survivor5.mongolian-desert, then compile all the episodes and give them away on one big fat DVD. Many many dollars are to be lost."
I don't agree with this at all. How is this any different from today. I can use a tv tuner card in my computer and do the same thing. I can compile these on cd's and give them to friends sans commercials. It may not be digital quality but so what.
Advertisers already paid for the airtime so the industry is making money no matter what - they won't lose money off people taping TV episodes. Some would argue that mp3's cause a loss of revenue but this, can in no way cause a loss at all. The MPAA is overstepping their bounds and they are going to get slapped just like Microsoft did.
MPAA, keep it up... you'll be broken down for being the monopolizing, unfair, greedy bastards that you are. You will be the next target of huge lawsuits and anti-trust litigation. Unfortunately, the Microsoft example means nothing to you. Guess you'll learn the hard way.
I can point you to a couple of sites that could be of some benefit. Please realize that medical software is an area that is still under development. However there are some projects which are far along. Look at the sites below for some examples.
h tml
u rce/inventory.html
Freemed - a web page based patient managment system that runs on linux.
http://www.freemed.org/
Go here for linux related medical news. The page appears to use slashcode.
http://www.linuxmednews.org/linuxmednews/index_
Here is a linux medicine How-To
http://home.snafu.de/wehe/Medicine-HOWTO.html
Open sources related to health. This page contains a multitude of links... Check it out.
http://homeusers.brutele.be/ypaindaveine/openso
Hope this helps.
...or rather let the artists and the open source community work together to create a an electronic marketplace that does not involve the riaa. I read an interesting article on osopinion.com that really intrigues me. I have posted a few quotes from the article to give you an idea of the possible future. I highly encourage you to read the original article - Here is the link in plain text(I wouldn't want to break any laws):-)
D avidNimmons1.html
http://www.osopinion.com/Opinions/DavidNimmons/
Mr. Nimmons basically says open source has the answer. Mr. Nimmons speaks of "a foundation run by musicians for musicians, will exist for the sole purpose of supporting musicians, providing the infrastructure and services presently supplied by the record companies." Secondly, Mr. Nimmons also states "By collaborating with the free software community, the foundation will provide the music community with an electronic marketplace to sell their work and services directly to consumers."
He concludes, "We,the free software community, help the music community establish an electronic marketplace and they pay us a portion of their proceeds to run and maintain the system and also to fund future development of software specific to their needs." I believe this man has an answer to a problem that could be beneficial, both financially and socially, to artists and the open source community. Fellow open source followers, here is our chance to do away with the riaa and to free the artists from the clutches of greedy corporations... let's jump on this opportunity!
You have a good point here. I make yogurt at home. I go and buy a little container of dannon which contains live yogurt cultures. I then use that dannon yogurt as my starter to make large quantities of my own yogurt. Once the cycle is started I can continue to use a little bit of my own left over yogurt as the starter for the next batch. I know people that have kept making new yogurt from the left over yogurt of previous batches for 5 years. That's a hell of a lot of yogurt not purchased! However, that is a lot of milk that IS purchased.
I have taught some friends of mine to do this as well. We buy more milk than most people but we buy don't need to buy yogurt anymore. Here are my questions:
Am I unlawfully duplicating this yogurt? I can make copy after copy metaphorically speaking. Is dannon going to sue me if I post a recipe of how to make yogurt - DeCSS anyone? Will I be facilitating the unlawful duplication of lactobacillus acidophilus cultures? Maybe linking to "make your own yogurt" web sites will get me into trouble. The world we live in is becoming a befuddled mess!
"It's not surprising at all that MS isn't using Win2K internally yet...Anyone who trusts brand new software for production systems, probably deserves to be fired."
Well, I do have to agree with you on that, however, MS wants you to believe that win2k IS ready for production environments... why else would they be retiring their 4.0 certification so soon (dec 31, 2000). It seems like they don't care if it is ready or not... they want you to buy it and they're making sure that MCSE's upgrade their certifications or get left behind.
The vicious cycle is about to start over again!
also, Linus Torvalds wrote the forward for this book!!!
..and they have no clue that they're opening the pandora's box of copyright issues...
You know, this is one of the most interesting things I've observed. Cases Like Napster vs. Metallica, Napster vs. RIAA, MPAA arresting Jon Johanson, MPAA sueing 2600, etc....
When Metallica sued Napster they metaphorically shot themselves in the foot. I know so many people who found out what napster was due to publicity. Suddenly, people say "I can get music off the net???" Then of course with the threat of Napster being shutdown, I hear Peter Jennings come on ABC News telling one and all about Napster. Metallica gave more credibility and more publicity to Napster than they probably intended.... Now they are dealing with the aftermath.
As far as DeCSS goes... well the same is true. If the MPAA had not jumped the gun they would not have brought so much attention to DeCSS. Hell, I didn't learn what DeCSS even was until I read articles about Johansons arrest. The 2600 case is no different as it is mentioned on the news as well. Now people can go to their web site and look at plain text hyperlinks to DeCSS source.
The suits still don't get it... They are trying to fight their battles the old-fashioned way and now with the advent of the net, it's just not working. The more something is attacked, the more publicity it is given. The more publicity something is given, the more people will know about it... Now, the more people know about something the more they will want it and continue to want to know more.
Well suits... now you are digging your own grave. You are fighting something that is finally bigger than you and you don't know how to handle it. Just think how fast information travels in today's wired world. Nothing can be kept a secret anymore. MPAA, if you want to sue anybody at all sue the US govt. Yes, thats right... If it weren't for stupid encryption laws restricting strong export grade crypto, your 40bit encryption could have bit 128bit encryption and thus harder to crack.
Actually,
There are distributions that are trying to do the same things however, they are doing them differently... and may the fittest survive.
Also, there are distributions which are more server oriented and some that are desktop oriented. There are even firewall distributions like Netmax. There are distributions on a floppy and now we have embedded linux. All of this diversity is good.
I don't see this to be a problem. I don't think there is anything wrong with trying to go after windows.... at least there are many different approaches rather than one simple approach. I do think when KDE2 and kernel 2.4 come out, Linux on will have matured enough to take on the behemoth from Redmond in the desktop battle.
Well... Yes the Chinese government does strongly support the use of Linux as opposed to Windows. However, I have been to China and can tell you that software piracy is rampant. In Shanghai, for example, nobody actually pays full price for a "legal" copy of windows. They go down to their local mom and pop shop and by the burned copy.
As far as that goes, I went into a CD shop and all of the hits were mass produced copies of the originals.... They were very well packaged too!
Chinese support for Linux and things like unicode need to be built into a window manager for it to be attractive to the general population in China. Until that happens, no matter how free linux is... It is not as free as the pirated Chinese windows you can buy under the table or, for that matter, over the counter!
"Hell yeah Just a few years ago some (Texan?) shot to death a kid knocking at his door late at night. "
Actually this is not the case. I live in Texas and the shooting ocurred in Louisiana NOT Texas. I do remember this and I also remember my relatives, who live in Louisiana, telling me how shocked they were that this happened so close to them.
It is a shame that this sort of thing happened. The man did have the right to defend himself if he believed that his life was truly in danger(which I hardly believe this to be the case)however, the Japanese teen should have been prepped by his host family about the dangers of racist rednecks and their big guns.
Having been to other countries, I think it is necessary to become familiar with laws that could potentially get you into trouble. For example, I visited Zimbabwe many years ago and it was known by all that if the presidents motorcade was coming through you got out of the way or you got shot.. no questions asked. Some tourists were gunned down because the flashing lights and loud sirens didnt mean anything to them and the lead military car littered their rental car with bullets. We are not the only country with gun problems.
My conclusion -- Why couldnt the man have gone back inside, shut the door, and called the police. Certainly that would have been the more civilized thing to do. If the kid then tried to force his way in then he could have shot him. I can't believe that this type of force was necessary, especially given the circumstances. We have the right to bear arms but, we also have the obligation to be responsible.
The way I look at source code and the deCSS issue is this:
There have been books written on how to make explosives... some of these instructions have even been put on the net. There are books and websites that describe in detail how to cultivate your own marijuana.
Source code is nothing but an idea - a list of instructions telling you this deCSS program should be built. You can look at... you can realize what it does... Like I said before, you can read instructions on the net for anything... get the recipe for anything from pecan pie to dynamite. This is called free speech and freedom to know.
making a small explosive from instructions I found on the net would be analagous to compiling the deCSS code I just read into a binary executable. Now, I have the explosive/executable binary. What I do from that point determines the legality of my actions.
I can use the explosive to unroot some nasty treestumps so I can pave a little concrete sidewalk on my farm or I can blow up my neighbors tractor. I certainly have the right to "fairly use" this exposive for productive means. I can use the deCSS executable to watch movies in linux or I can rip a movie and copy it on cd for all my friends. I bought my DVD legally and I believe I should be able to watch DVD movies in linux. Unless of course the MPAA wants us to use windows only players - hmmm, maybe the MPAA should be brought to trial for contributory acts/aiding and abetting Microsoft to maintain an anti-competative position. Seems a bit far stretched but hell, who knows really.
Conclusion - The code, while not in English, is in the C language - a language understood by those fluent in C. While not a human language, it is a language which communicates an idea and a list of instructions for accomplishing that idea. This case will have to go to a higher court which bases their decisions strictly on the basis of constitutionality. This case will set a very important precedent in the law books. This is why this case is so important to the geeks and to the general population.
I agree.
First, I am a US citizen however, I think we Americans can learn a great deal from Canadians instead of being so arrogant and claiming the US to be the most free nation on Earth. I have also lived in other countries and I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. The US model for democracy is something to be treasured but it is not the end-all solution.
Anyone who has crossed the bridge from Detroit to Windsor has to notice the difference between the two sides of the river. The US side has nothing but smokestacks, factories and very ugly things to look at. The Canadian side, on the other hand, is beautiful with a nice boardwalk. If you've seen the movie "Canadian Bacon" you know what I'm talking about. While the economy in Canada is not as good as the US, Canadian's seem to have a more wholesome society.
I love the US but, there are other things about Canada that appeal to me. When I worked as a tech support for AST Computers in Texas we received calls from all over the US and Canada. No matter how severe the problem, Canadian customers were always polite and civilized. Pissed off American customers would throw fits and curse me and my company.
I guess I like Canada because it's a mixture of North America with a bit of European flare. It's a bilingual country. It's a multi-cultural country. There is a general civility among the people of Canada. During Christmas time I see kids coming up to me (a total stranger) and wishing me a merry christmas. I walked down the streets of the red light district in Montreal at 2:00 am and didn't really worry about getting robbed. This sounds more like the US in the early 1950's -- the US my grandparents talked about. All in all, it makes me wonder what happened to civility in this country.
Don't get me wrong, I am a strong supporter of individual freedoms and my political views lean toward the libertarian side. But, as far as these violent games go, I don't think I'd want my kids playing them either. Adults have privledges that kids don't -- period. We have to draw the line and the Canadian govt. has done just that.
Didn't Corel use wine to port their photopaint software to linux? I know photopaint is dependent on wine. Maybe Microsoft will take this approach.
Well, I don't use debian but I have found ISO images to be great for backup, burning CD's for friends, or network installs... Yes that's right network installs. Just mount it with the loop option and you can browse any file on that CD. For those that don't know the command:
/isoimage.iso /mnt/mountpoint
mount -o loop
This is great for ftp installs.... It doesnt work with NFS though.
I'll tell you who I'm not going to vote for -- Bush!!!
a. He's not the man for the job.
b. He's a Christian.
c. The Wrong skills run in his family.
On a more serious note, I believe that the libertarian or green party best suit the technology industry because of their hands-off attitude. This is the reason the web has become so prosperous -- the government is not involved!!! As far as mainstream candidates go, Al Gore would be the lesser evil when compared to Bush.
"That government is best which governs least"
Henry David Thoreau
hmmm, why the break from standards amoung the different distro's? I would really like an answer to this one. I learned the classical SysV method was runlevel 5 -- X, runlevel 3 -- multiuser no X. I have read many UNIX system administration manuals and handbooks and they all say basically what I've stated above. Why have those distros broken away from SysV standards??? Answers anyone???
I agree,
Musicians in general have been, for the lack of a better word, raped and stabbed in the back by the record companies. Hell, the artists don't even have the rights to their own songs after they sign those contracts. Many musicians were taken in by the big labels because they fit the sound of the month and then dumped again. Today those musicians are either out of the music business or struggling to survive.
This "tip-jar" method, while by no means perfect, is a move in the right direction. I will personally download my favorite artists mp3's and then send a tip. It may not be much, but whatever it is, it's not going to a greedy record label!
That is not the issue here. We are talking about intent. Someone who writes a trojan horse is intending to break into your system! The guy who wrote DeCSS, on the other hand, intended to use it to play DVD's in Linux. There is a big difference here.
DeCSS is a tool and nothing more. A hammer can be used to hang a picture frame or to smash a car window. Hell even a sharpened pencil could be used for evil things which were not intended... Lets get real! DeCSS is code... It's not evil... It's free speech. Would you go jump off bridge if someone say's "hey, bridges were built to carry people across this revine, but I think we should use it to commit suicide."
Hopefully, if the DeCSS case goes all the way to the Supreme court, the code will be seen as free speech and will win. If it does not, it will be a dark day in the USA and for everyone, whether they know what DeCSS is or not. This will be the first stepping stone for other freedoms to be taken away. The day free speech is not allowed, in whatever form, will be the day America dies as a nation. The efforts of the founding fathers will be for not. That day, people will have to choose -- republican party, democratic party, or Boston Tea Party. I leave you with this quote from the Declaration of Independence:
That to secure these rights [to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness], governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundations on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
Actually, I've used rpm and deb packages and like both. I heard a rumor, however, that debian wants to use a ports tree much like the *BSD's. I've used FreeBSD before and the scripts made installation and de-installation a breeze. "Make install" to install and "Make deinstall" to remove the packages. Does anyone know if this rumor is true about Debian and the ports tree?
Hey folks,
I first must commend these guys on a truly incredible feat that they are attempting to perform. I would tell them to disregard all of these people who say "quit wasting your time" or "why not just use linux if you want an alternative." I am an avid linux user and I remember when many said these very things to me when I started using linux. People would say "linux is going to go nowhere" or "who will develop for it... just use windows." etc...etc...etc...
Many of us who use linux quickly forget that we used to hear those things and it is a shame when people try to stump your efforts with "why don't you just use XXXX instead". Linux became what it is today because of people who stood by their OS and didn't care what the status quo OS was. They did it because they believed in something and developers the world over joined in the effort. They coded despite the overwhelming odds against them. Now, they must do the same. The support and developers that they need will come in good time and join in their efforts.
I hope to not be dependent on MS Windows for some of the things I do on a daily basis. Their project, will allow many of us to run windows programs on a compatible OS without all the restrictions MS puts on us. I love linux, however, I enjoy BeOS and Mac's as well. I like variety, and I like to see MS scared out of their pants because of projects like linux and projects like this. If nothing else, open source will allow us to share. We will be able to take their api's and use them with wine or use whatever they develop and port some of the functionality to linux. We will all benefit if they succeed.
Finally, I want to say a few things about open source. Open source is about freedom, not control. Open source means nobody can tell me how to run my system. Open source means choice. It's about the little guy... it's about the proverbial "David" slaying "Goliath." Big corporations like MS will realize that we won't take their strong-armed tactics or anti-competetive practices.
I could go on and on... you get the picture. I will probably stick to unix/linux no matter what but, I know many who would drop MS windows if something compatible were available. I say these guys should keep up the good work and push forward no matter what the odds.
best of luck openwin team!!
I'm no expert in law but, who would they sue? The OpenWin developers, the GNU??? There is no profit motive here. Wine exists and there was wabi also. There is virtual PC for Macs(This is closed source though and I'm not sure if MS endorsed this or not). The precedent was already established in the "look and feel" lawsuit between apple and microsoft. I don't think MS would get very far. Besides, I'm anxious to see if these guys can actually pull this off. I hope they do... that would chap bills hide!!!!