I'm and IBM product fan, but man, you need to go research IBM in the 1970s and 80s. Anti-trust, ruthless competition killers. Bill Gates LEARNED from them. They would rather loose money on a deal than see someone else make money on it.
Glad to see they have found a bit more balance now, but then, they were the 'necessary evil'. as they had the big iron and eventually set the original PC standard.
Package managers? 2 major ones. (that interoperate) Desktops? 2 major ones. (that interoperate) X servers? 1
My guess is you don't use Linux much if that is all you are aware of. There are two X servers, I can name several desktops and a few package managers that I have to use all the time. Neither Gnome nor KDE would be my first choice for desktop managers anyway.
And interoperating means nothing by itself. My Windows and Linux boxes interoperate just fine, running the same programs and can share the same file system. I'm glad that Gnome and KDE can limp together (and limp they do) but that doesn't unify them or the bloated API the apps run on.
No they don't, that is the point. Only if you compile yourself, not in a binary that can easily be distributed, like MS does. The layout in Debian is very different than RedHat. The way they handle dependencies is also very different. The package handlers are different. The admin programs, etc. are different. The software is the same, the way the software is managed is completely different.
And I have used Slack, Debian and RH for well over a decade on production and personal machines, and no, you don't just "pick it up in less than one day" unless you are just doing a single thing with the box. This isn't my opinion, it is my experience, and I use Linux every day. That is the reason I am moving to CentOS, because most of my experience is with RH products and Fedora isn't production quality, by design.
Even the distros tried to come up with "United Linux" if you remember that far, with Caldera, before McBride came along. Even then they saw the fragmentation problem, spoke OPENLY about it, and was trying to address it for the exact reasons I listed. The fact that there is too much fragmentation isn't secret, and usually not even debated, except here I guess.
But the more fragmented the Linux market is, the better MS looks as a corporate choice. The Linux community is way fragmented, like the Unix market was 15+ years ago. Right now, I'm burning CentOS 5.0 because I don't want to pay RedHat to test and play with a new OS that I don't need support for, and it is only one of a few different RH clones.
A clone of a clone.
Microsoft has to be liking what it is seeing, with every day a new distribution of Linux coming out, and no single standard. Different files in different places...
I would have to disagree. The fact that aliens look somewhat like us makes perfect sense if you think about the conservation of resources in nature.
1. Why would they have 2 eyes? It is the least amount to have depth perception, which is an advantage to any species. Maybe they see a different spectrum (likely) but still, two are best "return" in energy, evolutionarily speaking...
2. Why two legs and arms? Again, the least amount needed to run and manipulate their environment, regardless of what environment that is. More limbs would be helpful, but diminished returns, in terms of evolution. Maybe theirs are longer/shorter for their evolutionary needs, maybe they have 3 digits, or 7 digits, but it's hard to beat 2 arms and legs.
3. Why carbon based? Why oxygen breathing (at whatever%)? For the same reason that water is the universal solvent. The fact that these are true on Earth isn't a coincidence, and the odds for intellegent life without these are pretty low, considering all the complex organic matter needed to sustain life. Maybe life that needs 10% O2, or 40% O2, but needing NO O2? Less likely to be intellegent as nothing oxidizes (thus burns calories) quite like oxygen. Perhaps they can tolorate chemicals we can't, and vise versa, but carbon/oxygen/water are quite likely to be universal for advanced thinking animals.
Perhaps the only reason we are on Earth is that you must have O2, water and carbon for any advanced life, and we simply wouldn't be here to ask the question otherwise.
So being "humanoid" (two eyes/arms/legs, carbon based, oxygen breathing) doesn't shock me at all. I would be shocked if advanced life DIDN'T have these basic features/needs. As to landing in NM, that isn't that hard to believe either. Close, but not too close to humans, dry, easy to camouflage. Landing in NY City or any city would be a bit harder to believe. I can imagine the people now, torches and pitchforks in hand, and perhaps, so can the aliens.
Copyright infringement isn't criminal matter, it is a civil violation.
Your line of thinking reminds of the people who say "Well, you should let the police search your home without a warrant if you have nothing to hide."
The University's job isn't to assist a private corporation nor "hide" anyone. If there is a civil violation, it is the RIAA's job to demonstrate who did it, or get a subpeona for the information. If they can't get a subpeona, then that should tell you something.
I would argue they CAN afford to, it will generate more income than the lawsuit will cost, and at the end, their only punishment would be to promise not to do it again. There must be another reason they are backing up on it.
Under current copyright law software is no different than hardware or apples or nail clippers
Actually not. There are plenty of interests trying to change it to your way, but "infringing" is not the same as "theft" right now, and hopefully it will stay that way.
Theft denies you the right to the item, infringement doesn't.
Dell had to revert back to selling XP due to customer demand. Many poles, published on many sites, indicate that the business world is nonplussed with Vista and many have no plans to migrate over. This includes our shop that runs all XP on the desktop and Linux on the servers only.
Many, many people are not interested in Vista, particularly since it won't run a lot of popular software. By the time you can't get support for XP, we will have already migrated to either OS/X or Linux. There IS a lot of negative reaction to Vista. The average gamer or grandma may not care because it is their only choice, but many of us will stick with XP until a better choice comes along. I run IT and I haven't bothered installing it, although I can for free. Won't run all my hardware and software, is buggy as hell, so why would I?
What really matters: More people are trying to pirate XP than Vista. When people won't even STEAL a product, I would consider that a negative reaction to it.
So we could be talking about a chunky girl with mosquito bites, and a mouth full of crooked teeth, a strict no-sex-before-marriage policy, and a really foul attitude...
But she would be open source, so you could change those features.
I probably should have specified more, but we got put back over 30 days pouring the garage, 24 x 36, for a month because it was either raining (very hard) or below 25 degrees at night. It stayed so wet, the ground was slop, too wet to pour. We do have clay soil here, which turns to pure ick for a day or two after very heavy rains.
And it POURS here in NC, like right now, and yes, I have a concrete truck scheduled for the morning. As long as it stops before 8 or so, we are fine, since they are pouring a SLOPE and the ground has to be firm enough to support it. And there isn't a lot of flat ground here, you are always pouring slopes or building up a wall to pour a slab.
And yes, if 6 hours after laying the concrete, it would sprinkle/light rain for a few days, it would make the concrete stronger, due to water helping it cure stronger. But first you have to get it on the ground. Right now I'm just thrilled because we have a TOILET and sink working in the house for the first time in 6 months. (had to jack hammer up section of pad and replace ALL drains, sewer, pipes...)
I just did a full gut out of a lake front house starting last July and still have not finished. As much technowiz as I tried to put in, most of my time was still tied up just trying to get stuff done. Here is what I learned.
1. Electricians think that Cat 5 wire can be treated like Romax, bend and crinked all you want. Don't say "terminate", it only confuses them.
2. Electricians think you are supposed to "daisy chain" surround sound speaker wiring.
3. Plumbers think the sink should go one place, electricians think the light should be centered over the sink, in a different place.
4. Usted debe hablar español.
5. Most building inspectors are not as smart as they think they are, and if you let them know this, you are screwed.
6. If you want it to rain, just schedule for a concrete truck to show up at the time you want the rain to start.
Dream big, but reality says you will spend most of your time screaming at contractors, construction workers and/or the bank. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
Personally, I'm just so confused because I want them BOTH to lose. The only thing that makes me NOT want it to be a protracted and expensive lawsuit for both parties is that then, only the lawyers would win.
If only Microsoft, Jack AND the lawyers would just explode, we would all be winners.
There is no such thing as a "prior art" in trademarks.
Yes there is, and the courts generally "grandfather" companies using trademarked names if they were using them before the owner registered the mark. You are also wrong on virtually about everything else, like "patenting a name".
Your intensions may be good, but you lack a fundamental understanding of the difference of the different legal terms.
For the last time: Patent != Copyright != Trademark
What Disney has done before regarding a Copyright means nothing. Copyright requires no due diligence, no prior trying to get infringing removed, nothing. You can sue Company A for infringement and not Company B, even if they did the exact same thing, and it has no bearing on the infringement.
Only Trademarks require enforcement and equal treatment or the trademark goes into the public domain.
Copyright != Trademarks != Patents
Oft confused, but the law is very different for these types of intellectual property.
That is the point most people are missing: Putting something on the web, by default, is making it public. If you want it private, put it behind a password using.htaccess or add a "Disallow/" line in robots.txt
Bitching about it is like publishing a book and bitching that people actually read page 52.
You just don't get it. Google isn't pretending to be YOUR site by showing thumbnails. It is providing a service, one you can opt out of using a single line in/robots.txt. The service benefits both parties.
You CAN use a thumbnail of Google's logo to represent a link to them, that would be fair use, which is EXACTLY what this is about. Other use is obviously copyright infringement.
Try reading US Title 17 Section 106A and comprehending it. It isn't that hard.
When the government takes something by eminent domain, such as any property like a home, they always pay compensation. You are misunderstanding the meaning of that term.
[quote] Patent infringement, by the Government, of privately owned patents, is governed by 28 U.S.C. 1498, which provides that a suit against the Government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims is the exclusvie remedy for patent holders who allege their patented invention has been infringed by the U.S. Government or by one acting for the Government. The primary purpose of this statute is to protect and relieve contractors from any liability for infringement by the owner when an invention is used by or manufactured for the United States. By virtue of this statute, the Government may be held liable to the patent owner for payment of the "reasonable and entire compensation" for its unauthorized use of the patent. Unlike a private party, however, the Government cannot commit the tort of "patent infringement." Governmental use of a patented invention is viewed as an eminent domain taking of a license under the patent and not as a tort. [/quote]
As long as the government gives "compensation", the only issue is if the compensation was fair or not. They can NOT infringe. They can even NOT give compensation, and the only remedy is to seek compensation for actual value, NOT for infringing.
Technically, the US government can violate any patent for itself anyway, without compensation. Eminent domain.
Case in point: If you patented an invention that would create a force field and protect the country from missles, but demanded (using your best Dr. Evil voice) $1 billion, trillion dollars, yet the govenment deemed it necessary for national defense and unaffordable, they would simply use your patent anyway, legally, without compensation (or with reduced compensation).
Patent is to allow you to have a monopoly on an idea against your competition, and the government doesn't consider itself competition. If you had invented nukes in 1943, rest assured the govt. would have just taken it from you and it would have held up in court.
Actually, I'm thinking that there was at least ONE engineer who didn't wash his hands after using the restroom, and how THOSE bacteria will become the overlords on some planet...
Slashdot Mirror
I'm and IBM product fan, but man, you need to go research IBM in the 1970s and 80s. Anti-trust, ruthless competition killers. Bill Gates LEARNED from them. They would rather loose money on a deal than see someone else make money on it.
Glad to see they have found a bit more balance now, but then, they were the 'necessary evil'. as they had the big iron and eventually set the original PC standard.
Package managers? 2 major ones. (that interoperate)
Desktops? 2 major ones. (that interoperate)
X servers? 1
My guess is you don't use Linux much if that is all you are aware of. There are two X servers, I can name several desktops and a few package managers that I have to use all the time. Neither Gnome nor KDE would be my first choice for desktop managers anyway.
And interoperating means nothing by itself. My Windows and Linux boxes interoperate just fine, running the same programs and can share the same file system. I'm glad that Gnome and KDE can limp together (and limp they do) but that doesn't unify them or the bloated API the apps run on.
No they don't, that is the point. Only if you compile yourself, not in a binary that can easily be distributed, like MS does. The layout in Debian is very different than RedHat. The way they handle dependencies is also very different. The package handlers are different. The admin programs, etc. are different. The software is the same, the way the software is managed is completely different.
And I have used Slack, Debian and RH for well over a decade on production and personal machines, and no, you don't just "pick it up in less than one day" unless you are just doing a single thing with the box. This isn't my opinion, it is my experience, and I use Linux every day. That is the reason I am moving to CentOS, because most of my experience is with RH products and Fedora isn't production quality, by design.
Even the distros tried to come up with "United Linux" if you remember that far, with Caldera, before McBride came along. Even then they saw the fragmentation problem, spoke OPENLY about it, and was trying to address it for the exact reasons I listed. The fact that there is too much fragmentation isn't secret, and usually not even debated, except here I guess.
But the more fragmented the Linux market is, the better MS looks as a corporate choice. The Linux community is way fragmented, like the Unix market was 15+ years ago. Right now, I'm burning CentOS 5.0 because I don't want to pay RedHat to test and play with a new OS that I don't need support for, and it is only one of a few different RH clones.
A clone of a clone.
Microsoft has to be liking what it is seeing, with every day a new distribution of Linux coming out, and no single standard. Different files in different places...
I would have to disagree. The fact that aliens look somewhat like us makes perfect sense if you think about the conservation of resources in nature.
1. Why would they have 2 eyes? It is the least amount to have depth perception, which is an advantage to any species. Maybe they see a different spectrum (likely) but still, two are best "return" in energy, evolutionarily speaking...
2. Why two legs and arms? Again, the least amount needed to run and manipulate their environment, regardless of what environment that is. More limbs would be helpful, but diminished returns, in terms of evolution. Maybe theirs are longer/shorter for their evolutionary needs, maybe they have 3 digits, or 7 digits, but it's hard to beat 2 arms and legs.
3. Why carbon based? Why oxygen breathing (at whatever%)? For the same reason that water is the universal solvent. The fact that these are true on Earth isn't a coincidence, and the odds for intellegent life without these are pretty low, considering all the complex organic matter needed to sustain life. Maybe life that needs 10% O2, or 40% O2, but needing NO O2? Less likely to be intellegent as nothing oxidizes (thus burns calories) quite like oxygen. Perhaps they can tolorate chemicals we can't, and vise versa, but carbon/oxygen/water are quite likely to be universal for advanced thinking animals.
Perhaps the only reason we are on Earth is that you must have O2, water and carbon for any advanced life, and we simply wouldn't be here to ask the question otherwise.
So being "humanoid" (two eyes/arms/legs, carbon based, oxygen breathing) doesn't shock me at all. I would be shocked if advanced life DIDN'T have these basic features/needs. As to landing in NM, that isn't that hard to believe either. Close, but not too close to humans, dry, easy to camouflage. Landing in NY City or any city would be a bit harder to believe. I can imagine the people now, torches and pitchforks in hand, and perhaps, so can the aliens.
The University's job is to do what it thinks is right?
Actually I thought their job was to follow their own charter and follow the law, including privacy laws and not subverting due process.
Copyright infringement isn't criminal matter, it is a civil violation.
Your line of thinking reminds of the people who say "Well, you should let the police search your home without a warrant if you have nothing to hide."
The University's job isn't to assist a private corporation nor "hide" anyone. If there is a civil violation, it is the RIAA's job to demonstrate who did it, or get a subpeona for the information. If they can't get a subpeona, then that should tell you something.
I would argue they CAN afford to, it will generate more income than the lawsuit will cost, and at the end, their only punishment would be to promise not to do it again. There must be another reason they are backing up on it.
Under current copyright law software is no different than hardware or apples or nail clippers
Actually not. There are plenty of interests trying to change it to your way, but "infringing" is not the same as "theft" right now, and hopefully it will stay that way.
Theft denies you the right to the item, infringement doesn't.
There isn't a lot of negative reaction to Vista.
Dell had to revert back to selling XP due to customer demand. Many poles, published on many sites, indicate that the business world is nonplussed with Vista and many have no plans to migrate over. This includes our shop that runs all XP on the desktop and Linux on the servers only.
Many, many people are not interested in Vista, particularly since it won't run a lot of popular software. By the time you can't get support for XP, we will have already migrated to either OS/X or Linux. There IS a lot of negative reaction to Vista. The average gamer or grandma may not care because it is their only choice, but many of us will stick with XP until a better choice comes along. I run IT and I haven't bothered installing it, although I can for free. Won't run all my hardware and software, is buggy as hell, so why would I?
What really matters: More people are trying to pirate XP than Vista. When people won't even STEAL a product, I would consider that a negative reaction to it.
So we could be talking about a chunky girl with mosquito bites, and a mouth full of crooked teeth, a strict no-sex-before-marriage policy, and a really foul attitude...
But she would be open source, so you could change those features.
I probably should have specified more, but we got put back over 30 days pouring the garage, 24 x 36, for a month because it was either raining (very hard) or below 25 degrees at night. It stayed so wet, the ground was slop, too wet to pour. We do have clay soil here, which turns to pure ick for a day or two after very heavy rains.
And it POURS here in NC, like right now, and yes, I have a concrete truck scheduled for the morning. As long as it stops before 8 or so, we are fine, since they are pouring a SLOPE and the ground has to be firm enough to support it. And there isn't a lot of flat ground here, you are always pouring slopes or building up a wall to pour a slab.
And yes, if 6 hours after laying the concrete, it would sprinkle/light rain for a few days, it would make the concrete stronger, due to water helping it cure stronger. But first you have to get it on the ground. Right now I'm just thrilled because we have a TOILET and sink working in the house for the first time in 6 months. (had to jack hammer up section of pad and replace ALL drains, sewer, pipes...)
You don't install conduit in a residence. And the people who specialize in low voltage stuff are usually called "electricians".
I just did a full gut out of a lake front house starting last July and still have not finished. As much technowiz as I tried to put in, most of my time was still tied up just trying to get stuff done. Here is what I learned.
1. Electricians think that Cat 5 wire can be treated like Romax, bend and crinked all you want. Don't say "terminate", it only confuses them.
2. Electricians think you are supposed to "daisy chain" surround sound speaker wiring.
3. Plumbers think the sink should go one place, electricians think the light should be centered over the sink, in a different place.
4. Usted debe hablar español.
5. Most building inspectors are not as smart as they think they are, and if you let them know this, you are screwed.
6. If you want it to rain, just schedule for a concrete truck to show up at the time you want the rain to start.
Dream big, but reality says you will spend most of your time screaming at contractors, construction workers and/or the bank. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
Personally, I'm just so confused because I want them BOTH to lose. The only thing that makes me NOT want it to be a protracted and expensive lawsuit for both parties is that then, only the lawyers would win.
If only Microsoft, Jack AND the lawyers would just explode, we would all be winners.
There is no such thing as a "prior art" in trademarks.
Yes there is, and the courts generally "grandfather" companies using trademarked names if they were using them before the owner registered the mark. You are also wrong on virtually about everything else, like "patenting a name".
Your intensions may be good, but you lack a fundamental understanding of the difference of the different legal terms.
For the last time: Patent != Copyright != Trademark
What Disney has done before regarding a Copyright means nothing. Copyright requires no due diligence, no prior trying to get infringing removed, nothing. You can sue Company A for infringement and not Company B, even if they did the exact same thing, and it has no bearing on the infringement.
Only Trademarks require enforcement and equal treatment or the trademark goes into the public domain.
Copyright != Trademarks != Patents
Oft confused, but the law is very different for these types of intellectual property.
That is the point most people are missing: Putting something on the web, by default, is making it public. If you want it private, put it behind a password using .htaccess or add a "Disallow /" line in robots.txt
Bitching about it is like publishing a book and bitching that people actually read page 52.
You just don't get it. Google isn't pretending to be YOUR site by showing thumbnails. It is providing a service, one you can opt out of using a single line in /robots.txt. The service benefits both parties.
You CAN use a thumbnail of Google's logo to represent a link to them, that would be fair use, which is EXACTLY what this is about. Other use is obviously copyright infringement.
Try reading US Title 17 Section 106A and comprehending it. It isn't that hard.
When the government takes something by eminent domain, such as any property like a home, they always pay compensation. You are misunderstanding the meaning of that term.
In other news... China sells 40 million of it's OWN copies.
Correction:
In other news... China sells 40 million of it's OWN copy.
Actually, I'm right.
n t-infringement.htm and there are plenty more to be found. A brief quote:
2 seconds of googling found http://inventors.about.com/library/bl/toc/bl_pate
[quote]
Patent infringement, by the Government, of privately owned patents, is governed by 28 U.S.C. 1498, which provides that a suit against the Government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims is the exclusvie remedy for patent holders who allege their patented invention has been infringed by the U.S. Government or by one acting for the Government. The primary purpose of this statute is to protect and relieve contractors from any liability for infringement by the owner when an invention is used by or manufactured for the United States. By virtue of this statute, the Government may be held liable to the patent owner for payment of the "reasonable and entire compensation" for its unauthorized use of the patent. Unlike a private party, however, the Government cannot commit the tort of "patent infringement." Governmental use of a patented invention is viewed as an eminent domain taking of a license under the patent and not as a tort.
[/quote]
As long as the government gives "compensation", the only issue is if the compensation was fair or not. They can NOT infringe. They can even NOT give compensation, and the only remedy is to seek compensation for actual value, NOT for infringing.
Technically, the US government can violate any patent for itself anyway, without compensation. Eminent domain.
Case in point: If you patented an invention that would create a force field and protect the country from missles, but demanded (using your best Dr. Evil voice) $1 billion, trillion dollars, yet the govenment deemed it necessary for national defense and unaffordable, they would simply use your patent anyway, legally, without compensation (or with reduced compensation).
Patent is to allow you to have a monopoly on an idea against your competition, and the government doesn't consider itself competition. If you had invented nukes in 1943, rest assured the govt. would have just taken it from you and it would have held up in court.
Actually, I'm thinking that there was at least ONE engineer who didn't wash his hands after using the restroom, and how THOSE bacteria will become the overlords on some planet...
Is there going to be a time when humans just don't do this kind of thing?
Yes, when the [fill in blank] overlords takes over.
Until then, the place is run by humans, so this will continue to happen.