I hadn't really thought about this before in terms of software. I have been thinking about it in terms of books recently. We've got all these children's books that are obviously based on public domain sources. One is simply a well known nursery rhyme on each page with an illustration. Of course the enitre book is copyrighted. But the rhymes themselves are obviously public domain. Could I just take the text of those rhymes from the copyrighted book and publish my own book? What are the rules here?
Possible? Maybe? Plausible? Not likely. Occam's razor my boy.
You think they "forgot" the most explicit content of the game? Of any game they've made? I would think that they would handle something like that very carefully. They would have known from the start how controversial this would be. I sincerely doubt that this was accidental. Look at how carefully worded (read deceptive) all of their statements about this have been. This isn't a random file that was easily forgotten in the rush to put something out the door. Somebody put a lot of effort into it.
What is your/. account name so I can friend you? I haven't noticed you on the blogs recently. How are you?
I saw that article in the Trib a few weeks ago and I thought it was pretty cool. (no pun intended) I hope that this goes into production, it sounds like a real innovation.
Interestingly this hack came out after the game has been out for a while. This is already creating a huge amount of publicity for the game. Remember kids, there's no such thing as bad publicity!
I would guess that there is currently a sales spike for the game. Rockstar is brilliant, and also evil. If they put in an explicit mini-game then they intended for somebody to activate it. If they didn't intend that to happen why is it on the disc? By accident? Riiiiiight...
Rockstar is laughing all the way to the bank. Meanwhile they've screwed with a decent ratings system and messed things up for other publishers in the long run.
also, the intel decision was made relatively recently. I would guess that they have been working on this new hardware for quite some time. It would be silly to throw out all that work and give up on the martket until an Intel-based solution is ready for market.
Also, it is back-to-school time. The iBook is the one machine that is key to have refreshed for this season. College kids are going to want to buy a fresh iBook instead of a year-old one.
Now I'm confused. Since when has a can of the Coke in the USA let you know what sweetener was used? It always lists "HFCS and/or Sugar" in the ingredients list. If there is zero cane sugar then it should state just "HCFS" and if there is only sugar then it should say so. Find me a can of Coke made in the USA that just says one or the other.
The consumer isn't being lied to so much as being left in the dark.
Er... We have to live with it though if we don't want to go and patch all those machines. If you aren't going to update most of the machines using the software after holes are found then you probably don't want the source code released.
Mozilla isn't Netscape. Mozilla is a rewrite. Are you suggesting that IBM should start a foundation that would fund development of a replacement OS for OS/2? That doesn't sound like such a hot idea, does it?
As others have already mentioned, the IP situation for OS/2 is probably so complex that it could never be released as Free software.
That sucks. I wish that the government would create some labeling regulations such that manufacturers have to specify which sweetener is used in particular product.
Very true about the HFCS pricing. I think there are other reasons for the explosion of sugary goods. If we were paying market rates for sugar I don't think there would be less soda or candy consumption.
I would pay to be able to watch ad-free episodes of BSG. In fact, I would guess that a lot of people would pay if they could pay to watch a day prior to broadcast. It probably wouldn't hurt the ratings of the broadcast much either.
HFCS is only cheaper than sugar in the USA because we have strict limits on how much sugar is allowed in to the country. My understanding is that on the open market sugar costs 1/10th what it does in the US.
If HFCS were so much cheaper than sugar they'd use it everywhere as a sweetener for soda, but oddly enough you only find it used in the US, where the price of sugar is artificially high.
Quality of the water can make a difference as well. But how old are you? If you grew up in the 1970s and drank the real stuff you would find Coke in Europe to be strangely familiar rather than funky. I would guess that if you've been raised on crap then the crap tastes good to you. I think that all cola drinks are an aquired taste anyhow.
darn that cedilha! I lived there during the big downturn when everybody hated the alcohol cars. I had always thought they were a good idea for Brazil since it is easy to grow cane there.
Anyhow, it seems that the dual power cars are an even better idea. It is too bad that the US is so hung up on protecting corn and beet interests that we can't import a variety of cane products from around the world.
Has cold-weather performance improved when running on 100% alcohol? I remember that it was a pain to get an alcohol car to start if the temperature dropped to what would be considered common temperatures in much of the USA.
Slashdot Mirror
But who can you know when they've copyrighted the whole thing, with no disclaimers or citations?
I hadn't really thought about this before in terms of software. I have been thinking about it in terms of books recently. We've got all these children's books that are obviously based on public domain sources. One is simply a well known nursery rhyme on each page with an illustration. Of course the enitre book is copyrighted. But the rhymes themselves are obviously public domain. Could I just take the text of those rhymes from the copyrighted book and publish my own book? What are the rules here?
This is a nit that I must pick. The name of the book is singular, not plural.
if it was late in the process then the ESRB should have already seen it. The rating process isn't an all at once thing. It goes on during development.
If you read up on the ESRB process you'll find that it is ongoing throughout late development.
Exactly!
You think they "forgot" the most explicit content of the game? Of any game they've made? I would think that they would handle something like that very carefully. They would have known from the start how controversial this would be. I sincerely doubt that this was accidental. Look at how carefully worded (read deceptive) all of their statements about this have been. This isn't a random file that was easily forgotten in the rush to put something out the door. Somebody put a lot of effort into it.
I saw that article in the Trib a few weeks ago and I thought it was pretty cool. (no pun intended) I hope that this goes into production, it sounds like a real innovation.
Parent might be an AC, but he is right. I've seen very strange outcomes from traffic accidents.
I would guess that there is currently a sales spike for the game. Rockstar is brilliant, and also evil. If they put in an explicit mini-game then they intended for somebody to activate it. If they didn't intend that to happen why is it on the disc? By accident? Riiiiiight...
Rockstar is laughing all the way to the bank. Meanwhile they've screwed with a decent ratings system and messed things up for other publishers in the long run.
Also, it is back-to-school time. The iBook is the one machine that is key to have refreshed for this season. College kids are going to want to buy a fresh iBook instead of a year-old one.
Will binary patching work under Gentoo? :)
Hey, guess who I work for?
The consumer isn't being lied to so much as being left in the dark.
Er... We have to live with it though if we don't want to go and patch all those machines. If you aren't going to update most of the machines using the software after holes are found then you probably don't want the source code released.
As others have already mentioned, the IP situation for OS/2 is probably so complex that it could never be released as Free software.
I'm talking about 1995, but it does sound like there have been improvements.
That sucks. I wish that the government would create some labeling regulations such that manufacturers have to specify which sweetener is used in particular product.
Very true about the HFCS pricing. I think there are other reasons for the explosion of sugary goods. If we were paying market rates for sugar I don't think there would be less soda or candy consumption.
I would pay to be able to watch ad-free episodes of BSG. In fact, I would guess that a lot of people would pay if they could pay to watch a day prior to broadcast. It probably wouldn't hurt the ratings of the broadcast much either.
If HFCS were so much cheaper than sugar they'd use it everywhere as a sweetener for soda, but oddly enough you only find it used in the US, where the price of sugar is artificially high.
You can buy 8oz bottles at the supermarket near my house for outrageous prices. In general though you'll having a hard time finding glass in the US.
Quality of the water can make a difference as well. But how old are you? If you grew up in the 1970s and drank the real stuff you would find Coke in Europe to be strangely familiar rather than funky. I would guess that if you've been raised on crap then the crap tastes good to you. I think that all cola drinks are an aquired taste anyhow.
Anyhow, it seems that the dual power cars are an even better idea. It is too bad that the US is so hung up on protecting corn and beet interests that we can't import a variety of cane products from around the world.
Has cold-weather performance improved when running on 100% alcohol? I remember that it was a pain to get an alcohol car to start if the temperature dropped to what would be considered common temperatures in much of the USA.
When did the change happen? I admit that I lived there ten years ago, so my info is out of date.