"So this isn't very informative but I just wanted to say how much I like Wikipedia."
Aparantly, the moderators disagree with you and mods you informative. Or rather, they agree with you and mod you... Or, they... agree, I mean disagree... with... or... AAAARGH! I sprained my brain!
"Free as in beer. Could someone please explain what this means. It comes up often and I don't get it."
The word "free" can mean more than one thing in the english language. In order to explain the meaning of the word "free" you can append a short explanaition, such as "as in beer" or "as in speech".
Free (as in beer) means that the product/service in question can be obtained/used without you having to pay money for it. This is perhaps the most common use of the word in the daily language.
Free (as in speech) is a phrase only valid when discussing information. Free (as in speech) means that the information in question doesn't have a copyright restriction appended it (or similar).
A car can be free (as in beer). It cannot be free (as in speech).
A recorded song (for example an MP3-file) can be either free-as-in-beer (meaning that you don't have to pay any money for it) or free-as-in-speech (you are free to spread the song, to re-record the song, to perform the song, to play the song in public, etc).
On slashdot, the most common subject of discussion is software. Just like a song, a software program can be free-as-in-beer, free-as-in-speech or both. The idea of OSS is that software should be free (as in speech), so that you are legally allowed to modify, complement, extend, etc. it.
Just because a piece of software is free (as in speech) does not mean that it has no restrictions in how it can be handled. Examples of restrictions are:
The software can be freely spread, but not profited from (i.e. you have to give it away, or only charge for the cost you have for spreading it - say the cost of a CD-R and post stamp).
The software can be freely spread, but the original licence and creator information must always be spread with the software.
You are free to modify and sell the software for profit but you must always include the original source code.
You are free to modify and extend the software but any modifications you make must be publicly available under the same rules as the original code.
This official pressrelease just in from Apple Headquarters:
"We regret to announce this delay in the release of the new iMac. The reason for this delay is that we are close to developing a mouse with MORE THAN ONE BUTTON! Although we know that many people are eagerly awaiting the new iMac we believe that most users, when introduced to a multi-button mouse, will agree that it was worth the delay."
I guessed you'd be smart enough to be able to cut'n paste two times;-) The explanation was mostly just for general information for anyone who happened to see the post:-)
"I also seem to remember the vaccine being a HUGE pain in the ass, and many soldiers complaining about the care it took and getting sick because of it."
To paraphrase grandparent post:
While you're chewing on an H-bomb, I'll try to manage coping with the smallpox vaccine.
lol - you call yourself a nerd?!? You should know that the ASCII code for ä is 132 (hold down Alt, type "1", "3" and "2" on your numeric keypad, release the "Alt" key).
Actually, if you're using a US layout keyboard there's no way of typing the character WITHOUT knowing the ASCII code for the character. For many other keyboard layouts there's no problem typing the character even though the character itself doesn't appear on the keyboard. If you have the "double-dot" character (appears on most European keyboards, I believe), you can simply use a key combination.
You can test this behaviour using the ~ character which works with a, o and n to give the characters ã, õ and ñ.
Note for the imagination-challenged: "Nätverk & Kommunikation" means "Network and Communication".
"Whatever you do, do not vote for Senator John Kerry in the upcoming presidential election. Implementing such a vote risks a crash that cannot be fixed and could result in a major loss of data, which would be devastating."
Although Ion Storm warns against installing the patch on installations with user-modified.ini files, most users don't seem to be having any trouble with it.
In fact, users with modified.ini-files are the only ones who seem to have problems with this patch.
A penny per song is a nice deal, and the 350.000-track database should contain something for most people's taste - but why only UK, France, Germany and Italy? What about us in the rest of Europe?
The article states that OD2 is "Europe's leading music download firm", and I've never heard of the company - which might explain why the service will not be available in my country...
Slashdot Mirror
fake@email.com
Poor guy who owns that one
w00t? No link?
"So this isn't very informative but I just wanted to say how much I like Wikipedia."
Aparantly, the moderators disagree with you and mods you informative. Or rather, they agree with you and mod you... Or, they... agree, I mean disagree... with... or... AAAARGH! I sprained my brain!
"actually Wikipedia is busier than slashdot, according to Alexa."
Wow - I did not know that. So in the future I should cry "Whohooo - let's Wiki slashdot"?
Then again, I'm not sure I trust a gigant spyware manufacturer like Alexa - even if gathering people's surfing habits _IS_ their business...
"Today Wikipedia reached the 300,000 article mark"
Whohoooo! Let's celebrate by slashdotting the site!
Ursäkta, men jag fattar INTE vad du säger?
From article: "Specialized Coke cans carry chips and cellular phone equipment."
Coke WITH chips - how can this be a bad thing? St00pud milletary.
Is it too early to predict that Dubya will be announced winner by the media and questioning this "fact" will be labeled "unpatriotic"?
Yeah, I'm a troll. Use your mod points to punish me accordingly.
lol - sorry, my bad :-)
"We're seeing a totally alien surface"
No shit, Sherlock?
My example was a simplification, granted, but the principle remains.
The word "free" can mean more than one thing in the english language. In order to explain the meaning of the word "free" you can append a short explanaition, such as "as in beer" or "as in speech".
Free (as in beer) means that the product/service in question can be obtained/used without you having to pay money for it. This is perhaps the most common use of the word in the daily language.
Free (as in speech) is a phrase only valid when discussing information. Free (as in speech) means that the information in question doesn't have a copyright restriction appended it (or similar).
On slashdot, the most common subject of discussion is software. Just like a song, a software program can be free-as-in-beer, free-as-in-speech or both. The idea of OSS is that software should be free (as in speech), so that you are legally allowed to modify, complement, extend, etc. it.
Just because a piece of software is free (as in speech) does not mean that it has no restrictions in how it can be handled. Examples of restrictions are:
Was to give CATS exactly what he wanted:
chown -R CATS ~/base
This official pressrelease just in from Apple Headquarters:
"We regret to announce this delay in the release of the new iMac. The reason for this delay is that we are close to developing a mouse with MORE THAN ONE BUTTON! Although we know that many people are eagerly awaiting the new iMac we believe that most users, when introduced to a multi-button mouse, will agree that it was worth the delay."
I guessed you'd be smart enough to be able to cut'n paste two times ;-) The explanation was mostly just for general information for anyone who happened to see the post :-)
"I also seem to remember the vaccine being a HUGE pain in the ass, and many soldiers complaining about the care it took and getting sick because of it."
To paraphrase grandparent post:
While you're chewing on an H-bomb, I'll try to manage coping with the smallpox vaccine.
lol - you call yourself a nerd?!? You should know that the ASCII code for ä is 132 (hold down Alt, type "1", "3" and "2" on your numeric keypad, release the "Alt" key).
Actually, if you're using a US layout keyboard there's no way of typing the character WITHOUT knowing the ASCII code for the character. For many other keyboard layouts there's no problem typing the character even though the character itself doesn't appear on the keyboard. If you have the "double-dot" character (appears on most European keyboards, I believe), you can simply use a key combination.
You can test this behaviour using the ~ character which works with a, o and n to give the characters ã, õ and ñ.
Note for the imagination-challenged: "Nätverk & Kommunikation" means "Network and Communication".
Living in Sweden, I'm not sure how relevant my answer will be to you, but here it goes:
* Nätverk & Kommunikation
* PC för alla
* Mikrodatorn
* Internetworld
* Computer Sweden
* Linuxworld
Of those N&K is the most "professional" and "PC för alla" is the most versatile.
This warning just in from John Ashcroft:
"Whatever you do, do not vote for Senator John Kerry in the upcoming presidential election. Implementing such a vote risks a crash that cannot be fixed and could result in a major loss of data, which would be devastating."
Ummkay, parent post is currently scored "4, Interesting". My intention was to go for "Funny", but I guess I'll have to work a bit on my sarcasm...
Although Ion Storm warns against installing the patch on installations with user-modified .ini files, most users don't seem to be having any trouble with it.
.ini-files are the only ones who seem to have problems with this patch.
In fact, users with modified
Oh, sorry - you're right.
Correction: no, we're not.
"I bet they don't have the Funky Gibbon by the Goodies."
;-P
I said "most people", not "weird people".
A penny per song is a nice deal, and the 350.000-track database should contain something for most people's taste - but why only UK, France, Germany and Italy? What about us in the rest of Europe?
The article states that OD2 is "Europe's leading music download firm", and I've never heard of the company - which might explain why the service will not be available in my country...
Yes, we are.