> A bunch of kiddies up in arms about their "right" > to illegally traffic in copyrighted works is being > "infringed". Get a real job so you can BUY the > stuff. I doubt anybody here has actually CREATED > anything, so you have no appreciation of the > artists side.
I am 39. I don't share mp3's. I have an extensive collection of legally purchased CD's. I have a real job as a programmer. I have created copyrighted works in my name and those of my employers.
The rights that would be infringed by this bill are not "fair use rights", or any "right" to break the law.
The rights that would be infringed are the very real Rights in the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution. This bill, if it became law, would make the ??AA into a police body, that can, without a trial or warrant, break into your computer and damage your property. That is unconstitutional vigilante justice, and very, very wrong.
This law would turn the ??AA into real pirates of the digital sea. About the only difference, besides the fact that computer != boat, is that presumably their ability to do damage will not include rape and murder.
And while the ??AA go on their free hacking binge, any kid caught cracking a computer and/or defacing a website (which is also wrong), will be getting up to life imprisonment, a bit extreme if you ask me.
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have gotta pay! New Kirk calling Mothra, we need you today!
Actually, they are the old terrorists. In the Japanese version of the 1961 movie "Mosura" (the American censored version was called "Mothra"), Nelson kidnaps Mothra's fairy priestesses and massacres her people because he wanted to sell the fairies to a Rolithican (American) film producer. The forty-first anniversary of the movie's release is next week, and the American film and music industries still think artists should be their slaves.
The only thing different: now they think their customers should be slaves too.
Mothra hasn't forgotten those greedy sharks.
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!' Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming." From the song "Infant Girl" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
> Apple went from a one-button mouse to a > zero-button mouse. If anything, the next interface > device will be some sort of device that depends on > telepathy or eye movement.
An early model of the Mac telepathic interface was lent to Toho in 1996. You can see it, in operation, in the 1997 movie released in the US as "Rebirth of Mothra 2". The same movie also featured Rainbow and Aqua Mothra, and was released five months before OS X and the rainbow hued iMacs were announced.
The number of buttons on mice are platform specific:
The Macintosh is one button, Windows is two buttons, The X Window GUI, used on many flavors of UNIX, is three buttons.
How do you get a program requiring three buttons on a one button platform like the Mac? Simple, it was most likely first written for UNIX/X and ported.
Mac being a minority platform that is ported to alot, has to support multiple buttons, while retaining its native one button preference.
The reason why this comes up on Slashdot so often: Slashdotters are more likely to want to run X under OS X so they can run ported UNIX apps. X requires 3 buttons, and a new mouse is a lot pricier to many Slashdotters than it would be to a Shake user.
Though I wonder why someone doesn't just modify their open source X server to simulate the three (seven counting chords) buttons with the same modifiers used by the Mac on its single button. Unless you need to be able to press the middle button in concert with the Control key for some other purpose?
"What I'm thinking is different from what you are." Belabera, "Mothra 3" 1998
> Tilted Orbit? > > Passes between the Earth and Mars? > > And there not *exaclty* sure of it's actual orbit? > > Sounds like Planet X to me!
Whether or not it is Planet X, it is definitely the handiwork of Monster Zero:
Destroyer of Worlds, The Great Devil that comes from the sky, The King of Terror, The Strongest Foe, Guardian God of the Heavens, Mr. Mass Extinction Event himself:
King Ghidora!
We went through this with him last year. Last July, he tried to make himself some popcorn with an tiny asteroid and a corn field. Then he did his "King of Terror" bit until Mothra took away his Al Quada playmates. Then he personally took down a plane with windshear. He sulked for a few months, and just before his new movie ("Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidora: Giant Monsters All-out Attack") came out in Japan, he put on a great Leonid display.
We don't need to go through this again (except the Leonids, they were cool). Tristar, I would think it would be your patriotic duty to keep King Ghidora and Godzilla happy so they don't go on rampages in the real world.
Please (re)release the following to DVD: Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster Monster Zero Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks
And please, release this in US theaters (and properly advertise it) like you promised: Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidora: Giant Monsters All-out Attack
"All we have to worry about is to slay King Ghidora." Shouta, "Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks"
> Not only is he failing his constituents, he's > endangering the freedoms of the entire country.
The entire Senate is not qualified to make any laws forbidding fair use, as the following illustrates:
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/m ai n/0,14179,2874687,00.html
>>> Until last week, the staff of the United >>> States Senate was demonstrating that the >>> people who create our legislation don't think >>> they have to obey it themselves. The Senate, >>> which is now crafting legislation that would >>> further restrict the illegal sharing of >>> copyrighted works over networks, was >>> apparently a hotbed of illegal file sharing >>> and other peer-to-peer (P2P) networking >>> activity.
Hm, does the word "hypocrite" ring a bell?
> I guess he's too senile to remember the oath he > took to uphold the Constitution?
I don't know if Hollings took part personally in the mass unconstitutional screaming fest, but a couple weeks ago a good sized chunk of Congress ran outside, said the pledge of allegiance to the flag, screaming the then unconstitutional "under God" part. Regardless of the merits of the judge's controversial decision, I would think doing something that was legally at that moment found to be unconstitional would break their oaths.
Even if their oaths are intact, no one can argue their immaturity.;)
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have gotta pay! New Kirk calling Mothra, we need you today!
> Unfortunately, the large majority of people will > buy it, since it is just a "new TV".
A large majority of people do not have the money to toss out their fully functional TV's and buy really expensive new ones. Especially on the government's say-so.
> Also, it is extremely probable that the MPAA > et. al. will quickly push for HDTV's (with their > broadcast flags and encrypted signals etc.) to > become the only option available to "consumers" > (I hate that word!) interested in new TVs.
Well, in case you have forgotten or haven't heard, all TV broadcasts will be switched over to HDTV by (in?) 2006. Last I heard, our old TVs will cease to work (unless you are playing your own VCR tapes or DVDs), and if Joe Sixpack wants to see the SuperBowl, he will have to buy a new TV, for a couple thousand dollars (unless they come down by then). Then he will get it home, get set up to tape the SuperBowl, only to find he can't.
That's when the couch potato riots of 2006 start.
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have gotta pay! New Kirk calling Mothra, we need you today!
> Asked about that possibility, Jobs said that first the > company had to finish the transition to the OS X operating > system, expected around the end of this year. > "Then we'll have options, and we like to have options," he > said.
And more options than just CPU options. Remember that Newton was killed and the Mac line condensed to allow Apple to focus on OS X. When the OS X transition is complete, expect a hardware explosion to match the software explosion revealed this week.
Godzilla to Microsoft: "If you can't take the heat, RUN!" From the Godzilla 2000 trailer Tristar tried so hard to hide."
> I wouldn't hold your breathe for Motorola, not > that I don't want them to be successful, but they > just reported a loss of 2.3 billion dollars last > quarter. That makes 6 quarters in a row where they > have lost money. They just can't go on much longer > losing that much money.
Let's see:
Motorola is causing Apple supply problems. Motorola is in bad shape. Apple has $4.3 billion in mad money. Apple has recently purchased several companies.
One possibility:
Apple buys out part or all of Motorola. If Motorola was a subsidiary of Apple, it would provide all the chips Apple needs. It could still continue its other lines (perhaps putting iSync support in its cell phones), and Apple could teach them how to survive and turn a profit in this market.
It could happen, if Motorola's worth were down to where Apple could afford it. There are other troubled chip companies Apple could pick up.
"What I'm thinking is different from what you are." Belabera, "Mothra 3" 1998
> Apple has a similar claim to ideas used within > PNG's not GIF's.
They have a claim, yes, but they are not pressing it. Seems Apple, out of the goodness of their hearts, these days is a big believer in royalty free web standards (and open standards period). As long as they have a bit of their own proprietary stuff to be special, sell computers, and can crow about how innovative they are, they are quite happy to share some of their stuff.
Furthermore, a big chunk of Apple's customers is the creative folk. This is precisely the group that would be the first (besides Slashdot) to scream bloody murder if Apple tried something like this with a graphics file format. Apple has done the occasional dumb thing, and once nearly killed themselves with their greed and stupidity, but hopefully they are not that stupid.
"What I'm thinking is different from what you are." Belabera, "Mothra 3" 1998
> This reminds me of what happened when Apple tried > to get CompUSA to sell their products. The Apple > section of the store was understaffed and almost > completely unmaintained. It almost certainly would > have turned off any consumer from buying a Mac.
It doesn't sound like you've been to a CompUSA recently. The Apple section in the one I go to in St. Louis MO is pretty nice with all the Macs except XServe (a pity the software selection isn't as good). Frequently there is a rep from Apple on hand, and the Apple section can get quite packed with people, especially when they are demoing iPhoto or iMovie. Two Macs have escaped the Apple section: another G4 iMac dominates the digital video section, and an old G4 tower drives a display of monitors. One of the DVDs in the DVD section also plays the iDVD demo.
You can't get into the CompUSA without tripping over the PC bare bones machines (with a generous choice of Linux distributions in addition to various Windows versions available separately). At one point, you couldn't buy a CPU or motherboard in CompUSA, now they have a huge selection of both with lots of cases to choose from.
At last, there is one tiny machine actually running Linux. Despite months of denials, CompUSA is now carrying (and displaying) the Linux running Sharp Zaurus.
I think they still carry Windows PCs, somewhere way in the back. Nobody ever goes there though, and the employees would rather wax poetic on OS X than tell you their tales of woe dealing with Windows XP.;)
"Godzilla and Jaguar: Punch! Punch! Punch! Hit! Hit! Hit! We die if they stop fighting for us." Jet Jaguar Song, "Godzilla vs. Megalon" Jaguar comes in two days.;)
> It's called, "Being a business in a capitalist > world." If you want businesses to look out for Jon > Q. Consumer's interests, to take care of his > well-being, and to make sure he gets enough food > each week, form a Socialist community. Until then, > don't be surprised when you find out that every GM > of the world is only concerned with how much money > they can get from you.
At best, it is the worst kind of business in a capitalist world. Businesses do not have to care for social welfare (unless it is for the good PR), but they better care about treating their customers well. Or those very angry customers can take their business somewhere else, to the detriment, or even destruction, of the mistreating business involved. That is why there are all those sayings about "the customer is always right", or "the customer is number one". It is far more expensive to get another customer than it is to keep an existing customer happy. Happy customers keep buying from the business that makes them happy, making the business prosper.
This applies to a true capitalist world, which unfortunately we don't have in the entertainment and software industries. Instead we have power mad monopolies and cartels who think they can treat their customers like criminals and use Congress to force them to buy. These are not upstanding businesses operating in a capitalist environment. These are greedy sharks that tear their customers (and their artists, and anyone who gets in their way) into bloody ribbons.
One of the first steps in taking the RIAA sharks out is for independant artists to take over the internet airwaves. This is a necessary step that will not only give the independant artists a way to compete with the RIAA member labels, but will also save internet radio.
Bells are ringing: Mothra, Mothra! Every heart is calling: Mothra, Mothra! Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have gotta pay! New Kirk calling Mothra, we need you today!
> Mac users are smarter, but what about Linux users.
I think the report was only looking at Mac and Windows PC users. I don't think they even thought to include Linux or the other *BSDs (or Amiga, OS/2, and others that are still going but with tiny marketshare).
> They are far more smarter than an average Mac > user of course.
For OS 9 and before, I think I might have agreed with that. Not anymore. When OS X first introduced a Unix command line terminal to the Mac, your average Mac users were having great fun trading commands like game cheats or easter eggs. With the development tools included for free, any Mac user can become a programmer that is willing to learn, and many have. Thanks to Unix based OS X, Mac users are rapidly playing catchup to Linux, and some Linux users have switched over.
> This report is given credit by News.com which is > totally biased against Microsoft, but why is it > here?
Perhaps Slashdot has joined News.com, and Mac loving Godzilla, in hating Microsoft? Gee, like they are so hard to hate?;)
Windows: "Go talk to my friend, an 800 pound monopoly-abusing gorilla!" Mac: "And here's my good buddy, the 66,000 ton Godzilla!" Godzilla: Stomp!;)
> I live very near Berman's district, if not IN his > district. Berman, like Dianne Feinstein and > Barbara Boxer, my two Senators, is 100% 0wn3d by > the RIAA and the MPAA.
Berman seems to think his district is Disney. You are right though, Disney is his top contributor, the rest look mostly like a list of the membership of the RIAA and MPAA.
I know because he dumped an entirely worthless opinion article on ZDNet yesterday (http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-943031.html) that was a pretty undisguised dig for free publicity for his bill later in the day. Someone posted the link to his list of contributors (they are at http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp ?CID=N00008094&cycle=2002).
"Really, gentlemen, if that's the case, let's see the power of attorney given to you by Mothra."
Torahata "Mothra vs. Godzilla"
> The actions of people engaging in blatant > copyright infringement are are doing the same > thing to people who are doing legitimate fair > use as the gangsters did to gun collectors 75 > years ago. They are fucking it up for everybody.
[snip]
> The RIAA and the MPAA are asses for pushing this > soulation to their problem, but I blame the > "file sharers" that are ignoring the current > laws as much as the Holywood crowd for bringing > this draconian approach to IP protection about.
Let me make a few things crystal clear here:
1) The "file sharers" do not harm most of the artists, and in some cases, have been known to actually help artists, especially in the music industry. That is because sites like Napster essentially give them free exposure by allowing people to sample the music and find new artists they might never have bought music from otherwise. Some artists have seen increased sales due to Napster.
2) The people with the problem are the recording labels and the studios.
3) The problem is not theft or lost revenue. After all, they consider playing a CD in your car that you bought for your home stereo lost revenue, and not watching commercials is called theft.
4) Nope, the real problem is COMPETITION. You see, they have nice tidy cartels that have the industries all neatly tied up. They believe that they have been anointed by the government (in a process called "copyright"), as the only legal distributors of their media. They've even started making the artists "work for hire" so they don't have to worry about nasty royalties. And along come these rogue "file sharers" who ursurp their priviledged position and distribute the files from the CD's, etc., they have bought to whoever wants to listen.
5) The cartels that control the entertainment industries are badly in need of an antitrust investigation themselves. While not the best solution to antitrust behaviour, the "file sharers" are at least providing some competition. The solution that would best serve the artists and the public for the music segment would be to replace the recording industry with a set of small businesses that offer services to artists who retain their own copyrights and control over their work. CD prices could be much lower, with the artists getting the lion's share of the profits. It is my hope that Apple uses their recent acquisitions to lower the bar of entry so these small businesses can form. Then we can make a well deserved end to the greedy sharks in the recording and motion picture industries.
6) After all, it is the greedy sharks that are making off with our money in unfairly high CD prices, and tolls on CDR disks. How is that not theft and extortion? Now they want to seize control of our digital vessels, our computers. How is that not piracy? The industry sharks do more harm to the artists and the consumers than "file sharers" ever did.
I am breaking with tradition, and ending with a quote not from Mothra, but from her forever friend, Steve Jobs:
"Apple strives to protect the rights of both intellectual property owners and consumers alike and believes there is a 'middle path' in digital music distribution which actively discourages the theft of music, while at the same time preserving consumers rights to manage and listen to their legally acquired music on whatever devices they own," Steve Jobs, 2002 Grammy Awards, as reported on http://sg.news.yahoo.com/020227/1/2jun2.html. (Re place "intellectual property owners" with "artists" and even Mothra would be happy.)
> Funny how every fucking hillock in the west > becomes a "sacred site" when any kind of > development is involved. > > Sorry, that card's been played too many times.
Yeah, well that's what you have to deal with when you are developing someone else's land. They were here first. Their gods gave them holy sites to honor. Then strangers come trampling in and defile them.
This is not a game to these people. Yucca Mountain is one of four holy mountains put down by their gods as the boundary markers of their territory. It is part and parcel of their identity as a people. The US government wants to turn it into a gigantic nuclear garbage dump. The US government may care about the rights of its citizens (although recent events call even that into question), but it doesn't give a damn about the rights of the tribal nations it supposedly has treaties with.
As a US citizen, I am apalled, not only at the treatment of these people and their beliefs, but also at the incredible stupidity of the whole project.
And I am afraid...
"Godzilla's coming" Io, "Godzilla 2000" (US version dialog)
> A safer location today would be Iowa, Neb, Ill, or > even Texas... Large flat states with out Press > Ridge Mountians.
Flat is not earthquake free. Those states surround Missouri, which has a sleepy fault (New Madrid) that when it wakes, can change the course of the Missippi and fell trees in Canada.
Of course, there are also tornados, aquifers, a couple of major continental rivers, and floods. Texas can even get hurricanes.
The "safest" place you can imagine on Earth is still going to be subject to geological changes and a big chunk of rock falling from space. Even if it were perfectly safe, all the places the material has to travel through by truck, train and ship are not going to be safe.
When it isn't safe, well, radiation sickness and cancer are very ugly ways to die.
Godzilla is the King! Godzilla is the God! The Power and the Price of godly flame we stole!
The fire from the atom's heart bears a terrible price: Godzilla is... Our Nuclear Nightmare! (From lyrics to G-Proximity from "Godzilla X Megaguirus" by me.)
Neither is Yucca Mountain. Yucca Mountain is also a sacred site, and the Navajo deities are no more happy about the project than Pele would be if we chucked nuclear material into her volcano in Hawaii.
> Bury your waste in a mountain and in some time > less than 10000 years from now watch the ground > spit it out again in a radioactive volcano > eruption likely to awaken Godzilla > [imdb.com]-King of the Monsters: we must never > wake the sleeping beast.
Believe me, Godzilla is very much awake and aware of the situation. He expressed his extreme disapproval on June 14th, 2002, with same day earthquakes at Yucca Mountain and the Ibaraki region of Japan. Tokai, in Ibaraki, is the site of Japan's worst nuclear plant accident, mentioned in "Godzilla 2000". The accident took place between the filming of the movie and it's release. Godzilla attacks the plants in Tokai in the movie.
The Tokai accident was so traumatic for the people in Japan, that the very next Godzilla movie rewrote history, moving Godzilla's attack on a terrorist nuclear plant in 1966 to Tokai, destroying the plant when it was first built.
"Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidora: Giant Monster All-Out Attack" was released in December, 2001. It tells of a nation that has enjoyed 60 years of peace and prosperity. In its greed and arrogance, it has forgotten the gods, the traditions of the past, and the horrors of nuclear war. The spirits of the WWII dead, from both sides, are angered, and awaken Godzilla to turn him on this nation. The movie mentions Japan, but it could just as easily apply to the United States. If Yucca Mountain is built, Godzilla will visit this country, and he won't use terrorists to do the damage (he hates them anyway). Unlike Tokai or Chernobyl, a Yucca Mountain accident has the possible potential of destroying all life on the planet!
If Congress won't see reason, appeal to a higher power. Definately time to start calling Mothra!
Sonora:"New Godzilla reading. He's moving inward toward Tokai." Shinoda: "The nuclear plants, I knew it. Sonora: "Afraid so." Yuki: "Well, that's just lovely. Another Chernobyl." "Godzilla 2000" (US version dialog)
> It will make you authenticate and agree to the > license,
In light of some of the EULA tricks Microsoft has been pulling on the PC side lately with security updates, I would strongly suggest that people doing this install carefully read the license first. Some of Microsoft's new rights granted by these EULAs have been pretty scary: being able to automatically put anything on your computer that they feel like, having the ability to arbitrarily disable programs and data files, etc.
The alternative is to find another browser whose author(s) you feel you can trust not to try and take over your Mac.
"At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world. And...we can't do a damn thing to stop it." Miasaka, Godzilla 2000 Millenium (Japanese version) Don't worry, Godzilla stopped it!
> Apple has no stated direction on DRM, except > perhaps putting the DRM on the user with stickers > like "Don't steal music" on the iPod.
Actually, Apple does have a stated position on DRM. It was stated by Steve Jobs when he accepted a Grammy for Apple (as reported on http://sg.news.yahoo.com/020227/1/2jun2.html):
-> "Apple strives to protect the rights of both -> intellectual property owners and consumers -> alike and believes there is a 'middle path' in -> digital music distribution which actively -> discourages the theft of music, while at the -> same time preserving consumers rights to manage -> and listen to their legally acquired music on -> whatever devices they own," he said.
Microsoft's vision of DRM (and their own Millenium) is a dire threat to Apple. If the Hollings bill goe through, and Microsoft's Palladium is chosen, Apple would either be indentured to Microsoft or be destroyed. Apple's only hope is to find a way that will satisfy both content creators and content consumers (who are both Apple's customers), and that will let Apple get on with the business of building great computers for both camps.
"Mothra's attack is working."
-- Shouta, "Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks"
> You've neither agreed to the EULA, and you're > protecting your system by patching it.
Unfortunately, while your method may keep one from agreeing to the EULA, it hasn't disabled any of Microsoft's software that carries out the problematic actions the EULA warns about.
The only thing your method does is enabling a person to use the software without agreeing to its license. Congrats, you just found a new way to invoke the wrath of the BSA!
"At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world. And...we can't do a damn thing to stop it." Miasaka, "Godzilla 2000 Millenium" (Japanese version) Don't worry, Godzilla stopped it!;)
> Why on earth would there be a bug in Media player > that allows uncontrolled access to the system. > What we have here folks is a very good example of > what a horribly designed OS Windows is...
XP isn't Palladium (yet), but it is a/the DRM OS. Microsoft's Media player is like a trap door that leads down to the core of the system. In the center of the OS, behind that trapdoor, sits a huge spider called DRM. Every file loaded, whether a document or media file, an application, or a driver, has to pass DRM's inspection. DRM checks to see that those documents and media files are legally licensed, and those drivers and applications are approved by Microsoft (don't want any of that cancerous GNU goop around). Anything that smells even slightly fishy to DRM gets pounced on and eaten. Anything that passes muster, gets passed on to the OS and applications for use.
In unix-speak, that DRM spider would be the god of root, able to tell even root what they can and cannot do. If you try to work around DRM and do what you want with the idiot box you paid for, DRM calls on his old bud DMCA, and DMCA sends the nice folks from the FBI to cart you and your PC off to separate jail cells.
Since everything the media player plays goes through DRM, it is easy to see how a media player bug could affect the whole system. And since DRM is relatively new, it will have bugs itself. And since DRM is potentially updated everytime you download a song (check your XP EULA), the potential for disaster is high. Yes it is horrible design. Then again, DRM is a horrible concept.
That's the price one pays for doing business with a company that treats their customers like potential criminals. The ironic thing is that Microsoft is the one convicted of breaking the law.
What happens when you embrace and extend Godzilla? Nuclear heartburn! See "Godzilla 2000" (released in Japan as "Godzilla 2000 Millenium") for details.
> one of my XP-running friends went through this > upgrade.. It compleatly trashed all his funky > video codecs.. He currently cant watch about > 2/3rds of the stuff hes downloaded. Most of them > being independant music videos.
Well, if the patch is the same one mentioned on ZDNet (http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-940063.html), then one of the "bugs" has to do with Digital Rights Management. It may be that your friend wasn't "supposed" to be able to watch those videos before, and Microsoft "fixed" it.
If your friend would check their EULAs (end user license agreements) for MSN (if they have it) and XP, they would find that Microsoft can also download stuff that might affect their ability to use their downloads automatically whenever they are on MSN, or whenever they download secured content whose manufacturer has notified Microsoft that their DRM needs an update to handle some new problem or hack. If these updates keep people from viewing their content, Microsoft basically says "tough".
Me thinks your friend might want to consider a new player, if not a new OS.
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming." From the song "Infant Girl" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
> As much as I think its cool to have Apple > competing with MS their biggest wish is that you > were stuck with their operating system AND their > hardware.
Stuck with Apple's OS? The Mac is one of the more unstuck machines on the planet. Let's see, you can of course run *both* of Apple's OS's (9 & X), or you could run Darwin (Apple and GNU versions available), some of the other BSDs, several flavors of Linux, Be OS (if you can find someone to sell it to you), a number of versions of Windows and DOS (using Virtual PC on top of OS 9 or X), and a host of old game system emulators. Take your pick. Apple gives you its OS with the machine for free. You can keep it or toss it and put what you like on your Mac. Best of all, unless you run Windows on Virtual PC, Microsoft doesn't get a tax out of you.;)
> Once thought dead? They'll be dead until they > start running on x86 and other hardware.
Really? Then why is Apple in the black, and why are all those nice folks who do run on x86 having all sorts of problems? And what happened to Compaq? Why they must have been all gobbled up!;)
"No one's going to die, mister. Mothra's going to come and save us."
Taiki Goto, "Mothra", December 14, 1996
(Released in Japan days before Apple's surprise announcement of the return of Steve Jobs.)
Re:This is pathetic.
on
Is Linux Dead?
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Actually, things couldn't be better. Unless you're Microsoft...
Jennifer E. Elaan wrote:
> This is really starting to sound like certain > other operating systems. Every month or two > somebody declares Linux dead. While the most > obvious is OS/2, that one DID finally die in the > end, but took 6 or 7 years to do so. And there > is STILL a couple projects to reimplement it, so > the death seems to be the fault of closed-source > software.
But OS/2 isn't completely dead. There are still new versions being made. There are new programs coming out for it. And a few people even still use it.
> Contrast also with Apple.
Apple died. Apple was resurrected. Now Apple is launching itself at Microsoft's jugular. All is right with the world.;)
> it's not the number but the derivative (rate of > change) that you have to look at, in order to > declare an operating system dead.
Very insightful.
> By this logic, Linux is still kicking, but > Windows is dead, since Windows is no longer > really increasing in use (they still have sales, > but they're almost all "upgrade" sales, hence > the attempted change of license methods).
Oh, Linux is very much alive and kicking. It's heroism in barring Microsoft from getting a monopoly in the server-space is to be highly praised. It makes a great embedded OS, I love it on my Zaurus. And make no mistake, Linux will follow Apple to the desktop, now that Apple has shown the way.
> And, somebody please explain, HOW do you kill an > open-source work? People like me will always > tinker with it, because it's FUN.
It can't be killed. Neither can some proprietary software long thought dead, if Netscape (and its open source partner Mozilla), Word Perfect, Lotus 123, and others are any indication. You can buy a computer now with one of the latter two preinstalled. As for Netscape and Mozilla, they and the other browsers just won 1.3 percent of the browser market back from Microsoft!!!
The market, thanks to Microsoft's greed and cruelty, is really hungry right now for alternatives to Microsoft in any and all markets. Products once thought dead are coming back to life, and new ones are coming out of the woodwork. ALL of Microsoft's monopolies can be taken away, by the consumer, right now! Everything is up for grabs, and I wouldn't count even Be OS or OS/2 out now, if they still have something to offer somebody.
Godzilla 2000, the Dreaded God! The battle for Earth's future has begun! The future Millenium threatens. (From my lyrics to Godzilla's theme from "Godzilla 2000 Millenium")
> Now if we or a federal antitrust judge could > only convince Msft to let the rest of us have a > choice in browsers, media players, messaging, > etc, without all their FUD, skulduggery, > bundling, tie-in's and overbearing, heavyhanded > and illegal market monopoly extension tactics.
You already have a choice. The choices are practically popping out of the woodwork in response to demand:
Microsoft fought against one browser, Netscape, and won the browser wars. Now there are a half dozen browsers for every platform. AOL has tossed IE out in favor of the Gecko engine from Mozilla/Netscape.
Microsoft may have won the Office suite monopoly, but then they threw it away in their greed when they forced draconian licensing on their customers. Businesses desparate to escape fees they could never afford looked around to see a host of alternatives: Star/Open Office, Abiword, AppleWorks, Think Free, and others. Even the office suites (Word Perfect and Lotus Smart Suite) Office once fought are back, and even shipping with some new PCs.
But surely that desktop monopoly is secure. Think again (or at least, "different"). Apple, once thought dead, is back and better than ever, and yelling a fierce battle cry (http://www.apple.com/switch/). Apple has pulled off the impossible and put UNIX on the desktop. Where they go, the others follow, so expect many repetitions of that miracle shortly. Linux leads the other unices in holding the server world against Microsoft. Apple recently joined that battle with its XServe.
Microsoft hasn't yet won a monopoly in either media players or messaging, so take your pick. Their attempts at new monopolies have failed of late: Hailstorm is dead,.Net doesn't have the universal broadband it needs, the movie and music industry people have rejected Microsoft's DRM technology, and XBox's sales have been kind of green around the gills (in an unhealthy way).
If you want to stop Microsoft's quest for complete domination over every computing device on this planet, it is simple. When you hear someone complaining about how horrid their Microsoft software is, simply tell them what options they have to use to make things better. Then tell them to tell others. Microsoft can't abuse a monopoly it doesn't have. If most of their customers go elsewhere, Microsoft will not have the power to be a problem anymore. It is that simple.
Godzilla 2000, the Dreaded God! The battle for Earth's future has begun! The future Millenium threatens. (From my lyrics to Godzilla's theme from "Godzilla 2000 Millenium")
Slashdot Mirror
An AC wrote:
> A bunch of kiddies up in arms about their "right"
> to illegally traffic in copyrighted works is being
> "infringed". Get a real job so you can BUY the
> stuff. I doubt anybody here has actually CREATED
> anything, so you have no appreciation of the
> artists side.
I am 39.
I don't share mp3's.
I have an extensive collection of legally purchased CD's.
I have a real job as a programmer.
I have created copyrighted works in my name and those of my employers.
The rights that would be infringed by this bill are not "fair use rights", or any "right" to break the law.
The rights that would be infringed are the very real Rights in the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution. This bill, if it became law, would make the ??AA into a police body, that can, without a trial or warrant, break into your computer and damage your property. That is unconstitutional vigilante justice, and very, very wrong.
This law would turn the ??AA into real pirates of the digital sea. About the only difference, besides the fact that computer != boat, is that presumably their ability to do damage will not include rape and murder.
And while the ??AA go on their free hacking binge, any kid caught cracking a computer and/or defacing a website (which is also wrong), will be getting up to life imprisonment, a bit extreme if you ask me.
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have gotta pay!
New Kirk calling Mothra, we need you today!
TechNit wrote:
> Meet the new terrorists: the RIAA & MPAA.
Actually, they are the old terrorists. In the Japanese version of the 1961 movie "Mosura" (the American censored version was called "Mothra"), Nelson kidnaps Mothra's fairy priestesses and massacres her people because he wanted to sell the fairies to a Rolithican (American) film producer. The forty-first anniversary of the movie's release is next week, and the American film and music industries still think artists should be their slaves.
The only thing different: now they think their customers should be slaves too.
Mothra hasn't forgotten those greedy sharks.
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming."
From the song "Infant Girl" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
dman123 writes:
> Apple went from a one-button mouse to a
> zero-button mouse. If anything, the next interface
> device will be some sort of device that depends on
> telepathy or eye movement.
An early model of the Mac telepathic interface was lent to Toho in 1996. You can see it, in operation, in the 1997 movie released in the US as "Rebirth of Mothra 2". The same movie also featured Rainbow and Aqua Mothra, and was released five months before OS X and the rainbow hued iMacs were announced.
The number of buttons on mice are platform specific:
The Macintosh is one button,
Windows is two buttons,
The X Window GUI, used on many flavors of UNIX, is three buttons.
How do you get a program requiring three buttons on a one button platform like the Mac? Simple, it was most likely first written for UNIX/X and ported.
Mac being a minority platform that is ported to alot, has to support multiple buttons, while retaining its native one button preference.
The reason why this comes up on Slashdot so often: Slashdotters are more likely to want to run X under OS X so they can run ported UNIX apps. X requires 3 buttons, and a new mouse is a lot pricier to many Slashdotters than it would be to a Shake user.
Though I wonder why someone doesn't just modify their open source X server to simulate the three (seven counting chords) buttons with the same modifiers used by the Mac on its single button. Unless you need to be able to press the middle button in concert with the Control key for some other purpose?
"What I'm thinking is different from what you are."
Belabera, "Mothra 3" 1998
An AC wrote:
> Tilted Orbit?
>
> Passes between the Earth and Mars?
>
> And there not *exaclty* sure of it's actual orbit?
>
> Sounds like Planet X to me!
Whether or not it is Planet X, it is definitely the handiwork of Monster Zero:
Destroyer of Worlds,
The Great Devil that comes from the sky,
The King of Terror,
The Strongest Foe,
Guardian God of the Heavens,
Mr. Mass Extinction Event himself:
King Ghidora!
We went through this with him last year. Last July, he tried to make himself some popcorn with an tiny asteroid and a corn field. Then he did his "King of Terror" bit until Mothra took away his Al Quada playmates. Then he personally took down a plane with windshear. He sulked for a few months, and just before his new movie ("Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidora: Giant Monsters All-out Attack") came out in Japan, he put on a great Leonid display.
We don't need to go through this again (except the Leonids, they were cool). Tristar, I would think it would be your patriotic duty to keep King Ghidora and Godzilla happy so they don't go on rampages in the real world.
Please (re)release the following to DVD:
Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster
Monster Zero
Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks
And please, release this in US theaters (and properly advertise it) like you promised:
Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidora: Giant Monsters All-out Attack
"All we have to worry about is to slay King Ghidora."
Shouta, "Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks"
ShavenYak writes:
m ai n/0,14179,2874687,00.html
;)
> Not only is he failing his constituents, he's
> endangering the freedoms of the entire country.
The entire Senate is not qualified to make any laws forbidding fair use, as the following illustrates:
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/
>>> Until last week, the staff of the United
>>> States Senate was demonstrating that the
>>> people who create our legislation don't think
>>> they have to obey it themselves. The Senate,
>>> which is now crafting legislation that would
>>> further restrict the illegal sharing of
>>> copyrighted works over networks, was
>>> apparently a hotbed of illegal file sharing
>>> and other peer-to-peer (P2P) networking
>>> activity.
Hm, does the word "hypocrite" ring a bell?
> I guess he's too senile to remember the oath he
> took to uphold the Constitution?
I don't know if Hollings took part personally in the mass unconstitutional screaming fest, but a couple weeks ago a good sized chunk of Congress ran outside, said the pledge of allegiance to the flag, screaming the then unconstitutional "under God" part. Regardless of the merits of the judge's controversial decision, I would think doing something that was legally at that moment found to be unconstitional would break their oaths.
Even if their oaths are intact, no one can argue their immaturity.
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have gotta pay!
New Kirk calling Mothra, we need you today!
rhadamanthus wrote:
> Unfortunately, the large majority of people will
> buy it, since it is just a "new TV".
A large majority of people do not have the money to toss out their fully functional TV's and buy really expensive new ones. Especially on the government's say-so.
> Also, it is extremely probable that the MPAA
> et. al. will quickly push for HDTV's (with their
> broadcast flags and encrypted signals etc.) to
> become the only option available to "consumers"
> (I hate that word!) interested in new TVs.
Well, in case you have forgotten or haven't heard, all TV broadcasts will be switched over to HDTV by (in?) 2006. Last I heard, our old TVs will cease to work (unless you are playing your own VCR tapes or DVDs), and if Joe Sixpack wants to see the SuperBowl, he will have to buy a new TV, for a couple thousand dollars (unless they come down by then). Then he will get it home, get set up to tape the SuperBowl, only to find he can't.
That's when the couch potato riots of 2006 start.
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have gotta pay!
New Kirk calling Mothra, we need you today!
An AC quotes:
> Asked about that possibility, Jobs said that first the
> company had to finish the transition to the OS X operating
> system, expected around the end of this year.
> "Then we'll have options, and we like to have options," he
> said.
And more options than just CPU options. Remember that Newton was killed and the Mac line condensed to allow Apple to focus on OS X. When the OS X transition is complete, expect a hardware explosion to match the software explosion revealed this week.
Godzilla to Microsoft:
"If you can't take the heat, RUN!"
From the Godzilla 2000 trailer Tristar tried so hard to hide."
Resist148 wrote:
> I wouldn't hold your breathe for Motorola, not
> that I don't want them to be successful, but they
> just reported a loss of 2.3 billion dollars last
> quarter. That makes 6 quarters in a row where they
> have lost money. They just can't go on much longer
> losing that much money.
Let's see:
Motorola is causing Apple supply problems.
Motorola is in bad shape.
Apple has $4.3 billion in mad money.
Apple has recently purchased several companies.
One possibility:
Apple buys out part or all of Motorola. If Motorola was a subsidiary of Apple, it would provide all the chips Apple needs. It could still continue its other lines (perhaps putting iSync support in its cell phones), and Apple could teach them how to survive and turn a profit in this market.
It could happen, if Motorola's worth were down to where Apple could afford it. There are other troubled chip companies Apple could pick up.
"What I'm thinking is different from what you are."
Belabera, "Mothra 3" 1998
An AC wrote:
> Apple has a similar claim to ideas used within
> PNG's not GIF's.
They have a claim, yes, but they are not pressing it. Seems Apple, out of the goodness of their hearts, these days is a big believer in royalty free web standards (and open standards period). As long as they have a bit of their own proprietary stuff to be special, sell computers, and can crow about how innovative they are, they are quite happy to share some of their stuff.
Furthermore, a big chunk of Apple's customers is the creative folk. This is precisely the group that would be the first (besides Slashdot) to scream bloody murder if Apple tried something like this with a graphics file format. Apple has done the occasional dumb thing, and once nearly killed themselves with their greed and stupidity, but hopefully they are not that stupid.
"What I'm thinking is different from what you are."
Belabera, "Mothra 3" 1998
nial-in-a-box wrote:
;)
;)
> This reminds me of what happened when Apple tried
> to get CompUSA to sell their products. The Apple
> section of the store was understaffed and almost
> completely unmaintained. It almost certainly would
> have turned off any consumer from buying a Mac.
It doesn't sound like you've been to a CompUSA recently. The Apple section in the one I go to in St. Louis MO is pretty nice with all the Macs except XServe (a pity the software selection isn't as good). Frequently there is a rep from Apple on hand, and the Apple section can get quite packed with people, especially when they are demoing iPhoto or iMovie. Two Macs have escaped the Apple section: another G4 iMac dominates the digital video section, and an old G4 tower drives a display of monitors. One of the DVDs in the DVD section also plays the iDVD demo.
You can't get into the CompUSA without tripping over the PC bare bones machines (with a generous choice of Linux distributions in addition to various Windows versions available separately). At one point, you couldn't buy a CPU or motherboard in CompUSA, now they have a huge selection of both with lots of cases to choose from.
At last, there is one tiny machine actually running Linux. Despite months of denials, CompUSA is now carrying (and displaying) the Linux running Sharp Zaurus.
I think they still carry Windows PCs, somewhere way in the back. Nobody ever goes there though, and the employees would rather wax poetic on OS X than tell you their tales of woe dealing with Windows XP.
"Godzilla and Jaguar: Punch! Punch! Punch! Hit! Hit! Hit!
We die if they stop fighting for us."
Jet Jaguar Song, "Godzilla vs. Megalon"
Jaguar comes in two days.
pheared wrote:
> It's called, "Being a business in a capitalist
> world." If you want businesses to look out for Jon
> Q. Consumer's interests, to take care of his
> well-being, and to make sure he gets enough food
> each week, form a Socialist community. Until then,
> don't be surprised when you find out that every GM
> of the world is only concerned with how much money
> they can get from you.
At best, it is the worst kind of business in a capitalist world. Businesses do not have to care for social welfare (unless it is for the good PR), but they better care about treating their customers well. Or those very angry customers can take their business somewhere else, to the detriment, or even destruction, of the mistreating business involved. That is why there are all those sayings about "the customer is always right", or "the customer is number one". It is far more expensive to get another customer than it is to keep an existing customer happy. Happy customers keep buying from the business that makes them happy, making the business prosper.
This applies to a true capitalist world, which unfortunately we don't have in the entertainment and software industries. Instead we have power mad monopolies and cartels who think they can treat their customers like criminals and use Congress to force them to buy. These are not upstanding businesses operating in a capitalist environment. These are greedy sharks that tear their customers (and their artists, and anyone who gets in their way) into bloody ribbons.
One of the first steps in taking the RIAA sharks out is for independant artists to take over the internet airwaves. This is a necessary step that will not only give the independant artists a way to compete with the RIAA member labels, but will also save internet radio.
Bells are ringing: Mothra, Mothra! Every heart is calling: Mothra, Mothra!
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have gotta pay! New Kirk calling Mothra, we need you today!
i_luv_linux writes:
;)
;)
> Mac users are smarter, but what about Linux users.
I think the report was only looking at Mac and Windows PC users. I don't think they even thought to include Linux or the other *BSDs (or Amiga, OS/2, and others that are still going but with tiny marketshare).
> They are far more smarter than an average Mac
> user of course.
For OS 9 and before, I think I might have agreed with that. Not anymore. When OS X first introduced a Unix command line terminal to the Mac, your average Mac users were having great fun trading commands like game cheats or easter eggs. With the development tools included for free, any Mac user can become a programmer that is willing to learn, and many have. Thanks to Unix based OS X, Mac users are rapidly playing catchup to Linux, and some Linux users have switched over.
> This report is given credit by News.com which is
> totally biased against Microsoft, but why is it
> here?
Perhaps Slashdot has joined News.com, and Mac loving Godzilla, in hating Microsoft? Gee, like they are so hard to hate?
Windows: "Go talk to my friend, an 800 pound monopoly-abusing gorilla!"
Mac: "And here's my good buddy, the 66,000 ton Godzilla!"
Godzilla: Stomp!
MsGeek wrote:
p ?CID=N00008094&cycle=2002).
> I live very near Berman's district, if not IN his
> district. Berman, like Dianne Feinstein and
> Barbara Boxer, my two Senators, is 100% 0wn3d by
> the RIAA and the MPAA.
Berman seems to think his district is Disney. You are right though, Disney is his top contributor, the rest look mostly like a list of the membership of the RIAA and MPAA.
I know because he dumped an entirely worthless opinion article on ZDNet yesterday (http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-943031.html) that was a pretty undisguised dig for free publicity for his bill later in the day. Someone posted the link to his list of contributors (they are at http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.as
"Really, gentlemen, if that's the case, let's see the power of attorney given to you by Mothra."
Torahata "Mothra vs. Godzilla"
thales wrote:
e place "intellectual property owners" with "artists" and even Mothra would be happy.)
> The actions of people engaging in blatant
> copyright infringement are are doing the same
> thing to people who are doing legitimate fair
> use as the gangsters did to gun collectors 75
> years ago. They are fucking it up for everybody.
[snip]
> The RIAA and the MPAA are asses for pushing this
> soulation to their problem, but I blame the
> "file sharers" that are ignoring the current
> laws as much as the Holywood crowd for bringing
> this draconian approach to IP protection about.
Let me make a few things crystal clear here:
1) The "file sharers" do not harm most of the artists, and in some cases, have been known to actually help artists, especially in the music industry. That is because sites like Napster essentially give them free exposure by allowing people to sample the music and find new artists they might never have bought music from otherwise. Some artists have seen increased sales due to Napster.
2) The people with the problem are the recording labels and the studios.
3) The problem is not theft or lost revenue. After all, they consider playing a CD in your car that you bought for your home stereo lost revenue, and not watching commercials is called theft.
4) Nope, the real problem is COMPETITION. You see, they have nice tidy cartels that have the industries all neatly tied up. They believe that they have been anointed by the government (in a process called "copyright"), as the only legal distributors of their media. They've even started making the artists "work for hire" so they don't have to worry about nasty royalties. And along come these rogue "file sharers" who ursurp their priviledged position and distribute the files from the CD's, etc., they have bought to whoever wants to listen.
5) The cartels that control the entertainment industries are badly in need of an antitrust investigation themselves. While not the best solution to antitrust behaviour, the "file sharers" are at least providing some competition. The solution that would best serve the artists and the public for the music segment would be to replace the recording industry with a set of small businesses that offer services to artists who retain their own copyrights and control over their work. CD prices could be much lower, with the artists getting the lion's share of the profits. It is my hope that Apple uses their recent acquisitions to lower the bar of entry so these small businesses can form. Then we can make a well deserved end to the greedy sharks in the recording and motion picture industries.
6) After all, it is the greedy sharks that are making off with our money in unfairly high CD prices, and tolls on CDR disks. How is that not theft and extortion? Now they want to seize control of our digital vessels, our computers. How is that not piracy? The industry sharks do more harm to the artists and the consumers than "file sharers" ever did.
I am breaking with tradition, and ending with a quote not from Mothra, but from her forever friend, Steve Jobs:
"Apple strives to protect the rights of both intellectual property owners and consumers alike and believes there is a 'middle path' in digital music distribution which actively discourages the theft of music, while at the same time preserving consumers rights to manage and listen to their legally acquired music on whatever devices they own,"
Steve Jobs, 2002 Grammy Awards, as reported on http://sg.news.yahoo.com/020227/1/2jun2.html.
(R
An AC wrote:
> Funny how every fucking hillock in the west
> becomes a "sacred site" when any kind of
> development is involved.
>
> Sorry, that card's been played too many times.
Yeah, well that's what you have to deal with when you are developing someone else's land. They were here first. Their gods gave them holy sites to honor. Then strangers come trampling in and defile them.
This is not a game to these people. Yucca Mountain is one of four holy mountains put down by their gods as the boundary markers of their territory. It is part and parcel of their identity as a people. The US government wants to turn it into a gigantic nuclear garbage dump. The US government may care about the rights of its citizens (although recent events call even that into question), but it doesn't give a damn about the rights of the tribal nations it supposedly has treaties with.
As a US citizen, I am apalled, not only at the treatment of these people and their beliefs, but also at the incredible stupidity of the whole project.
And I am afraid...
"Godzilla's coming"
Io, "Godzilla 2000" (US version dialog)
jackb_guppy wrote:
> A safer location today would be Iowa, Neb, Ill, or
> even Texas... Large flat states with out Press
> Ridge Mountians.
Flat is not earthquake free. Those states surround Missouri, which has a sleepy fault (New Madrid) that when it wakes, can change the course of the Missippi and fell trees in Canada.
Of course, there are also tornados, aquifers, a couple of major continental rivers, and floods. Texas can even get hurricanes.
The "safest" place you can imagine on Earth is still going to be subject to geological changes and a big chunk of rock falling from space. Even if it were perfectly safe, all the places the material has to travel through by truck, train and ship are not going to be safe.
When it isn't safe, well, radiation sickness and cancer are very ugly ways to die.
Godzilla is the King! Godzilla is the God!
The Power and the Price of godly flame we stole!
The fire from the atom's heart bears a terrible price:
Godzilla is... Our Nuclear Nightmare!
(From lyrics to G-Proximity from "Godzilla X Megaguirus" by me.)
gripdamage wrote:
> Hawaii is not geographically stable.
Neither is Yucca Mountain. Yucca Mountain is also a sacred site, and the Navajo deities are no more happy about the project than Pele would be if we chucked nuclear material into her volcano in Hawaii.
> Bury your waste in a mountain and in some time
> less than 10000 years from now watch the ground
> spit it out again in a radioactive volcano
> eruption likely to awaken Godzilla
> [imdb.com]-King of the Monsters: we must never
> wake the sleeping beast.
Believe me, Godzilla is very much awake and aware of the situation. He expressed his extreme disapproval on June 14th, 2002, with same day earthquakes at Yucca Mountain and the Ibaraki region of Japan. Tokai, in Ibaraki, is the site of Japan's worst nuclear plant accident, mentioned in "Godzilla 2000". The accident took place between the filming of the movie and it's release. Godzilla attacks the plants in Tokai in the movie.
The Tokai accident was so traumatic for the people in Japan, that the very next Godzilla movie rewrote history, moving Godzilla's attack on a terrorist nuclear plant in 1966 to Tokai, destroying the plant when it was first built.
"Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidora: Giant Monster All-Out Attack" was released in December, 2001. It tells of a nation that has enjoyed 60 years of peace and prosperity. In its greed and arrogance, it has forgotten the gods, the traditions of the past, and the horrors of nuclear war. The spirits of the WWII dead, from both sides, are angered, and awaken Godzilla to turn him on this nation. The movie mentions Japan, but it could just as easily apply to the United States. If Yucca Mountain is built, Godzilla will visit this country, and he won't use terrorists to do the damage (he hates them anyway). Unlike Tokai or Chernobyl, a Yucca Mountain accident has the possible potential of destroying all life on the planet!
If Congress won't see reason, appeal to a higher power. Definately time to start calling Mothra!
Sonora:"New Godzilla reading. He's moving inward toward Tokai."
Shinoda: "The nuclear plants, I knew it.
Sonora: "Afraid so."
Yuki: "Well, that's just lovely. Another Chernobyl."
"Godzilla 2000" (US version dialog)
An AC wrote:
> It will make you authenticate and agree to the
> license,
In light of some of the EULA tricks Microsoft has been pulling on the PC side lately with security updates, I would strongly suggest that people doing this install carefully read the license first. Some of Microsoft's new rights granted by these EULAs have been pretty scary: being able to automatically put anything on your computer that they feel like, having the ability to arbitrarily disable programs and data files, etc.
The alternative is to find another browser whose author(s) you feel you can trust not to try and take over your Mac.
"At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world.
And...we can't do a damn thing to stop it."
Miasaka, Godzilla 2000 Millenium (Japanese version)
Don't worry, Godzilla stopped it!
chris_martin wrote:
> Apple has no stated direction on DRM, except
> perhaps putting the DRM on the user with stickers
> like "Don't steal music" on the iPod.
Actually, Apple does have a stated position on DRM. It was stated by Steve Jobs when he accepted a Grammy for Apple (as reported on http://sg.news.yahoo.com/020227/1/2jun2.html):
-> "Apple strives to protect the rights of both
-> intellectual property owners and consumers
-> alike and believes there is a 'middle path' in
-> digital music distribution which actively
-> discourages the theft of music, while at the
-> same time preserving consumers rights to manage
-> and listen to their legally acquired music on
-> whatever devices they own," he said.
Microsoft's vision of DRM (and their own Millenium) is a dire threat to Apple. If the Hollings bill goe through, and Microsoft's Palladium is chosen, Apple would either be indentured to Microsoft or be destroyed. Apple's only hope is to find a way that will satisfy both content creators and content consumers (who are both Apple's customers), and that will let Apple get on with the business of building great computers for both camps.
"Mothra's attack is working."
-- Shouta, "Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks"
zoloto wrote:
;)
> You've neither agreed to the EULA, and you're
> protecting your system by patching it.
Unfortunately, while your method may keep one from agreeing to the EULA, it hasn't disabled any of Microsoft's software that carries out the problematic actions the EULA warns about.
The only thing your method does is enabling a person to use the software without agreeing to its license. Congrats, you just found a new way to invoke the wrath of the BSA!
"At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world.
And...we can't do a damn thing to stop it."
Miasaka, "Godzilla 2000 Millenium" (Japanese version)
Don't worry, Godzilla stopped it!
GreyWolf3000 wrote:
> Why on earth would there be a bug in Media player
> that allows uncontrolled access to the system.
> What we have here folks is a very good example of
> what a horribly designed OS Windows is...
XP isn't Palladium (yet), but it is a/the DRM OS. Microsoft's Media player is like a trap door that leads down to the core of the system. In the center of the OS, behind that trapdoor, sits a huge spider called DRM. Every file loaded, whether a document or media file, an application, or a driver, has to pass DRM's inspection. DRM checks to see that those documents and media files are legally licensed, and those drivers and applications are approved by Microsoft (don't want any of that cancerous GNU goop around). Anything that smells even slightly fishy to DRM gets pounced on and eaten. Anything that passes muster, gets passed on to the OS and applications for use.
In unix-speak, that DRM spider would be the god of root, able to tell even root what they can and cannot do. If you try to work around DRM and do what you want with the idiot box you paid for, DRM calls on his old bud DMCA, and DMCA sends the nice folks from the FBI to cart you and your PC off to separate jail cells.
Since everything the media player plays goes through DRM, it is easy to see how a media player bug could affect the whole system. And since DRM is relatively new, it will have bugs itself. And since DRM is potentially updated everytime you download a song (check your XP EULA), the potential for disaster is high. Yes it is horrible design. Then again, DRM is a horrible concept.
That's the price one pays for doing business with a company that treats their customers like potential criminals. The ironic thing is that Microsoft is the one convicted of breaking the law.
What happens when you embrace and extend Godzilla? Nuclear heartburn!
See "Godzilla 2000" (released in Japan as "Godzilla 2000 Millenium") for details.
bludstone wrote:
> one of my XP-running friends went through this
> upgrade.. It compleatly trashed all his funky
> video codecs.. He currently cant watch about
> 2/3rds of the stuff hes downloaded. Most of them
> being independant music videos.
Well, if the patch is the same one mentioned on ZDNet (http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-940063.html), then one of the "bugs" has to do with Digital Rights Management. It may be that your friend wasn't "supposed" to be able to watch those videos before, and Microsoft "fixed" it.
If your friend would check their EULAs (end user license agreements) for MSN (if they have it) and XP, they would find that Microsoft can also download stuff that might affect their ability to use their downloads automatically whenever they are on MSN, or whenever they download secured content whose manufacturer has notified Microsoft that their DRM needs an update to handle some new problem or hack. If these updates keep people from viewing their content, Microsoft basically says "tough".
Me thinks your friend might want to consider a new player, if not a new OS.
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming."
From the song "Infant Girl" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
Captain Morgan wrote:
;)
;)
> As much as I think its cool to have Apple
> competing with MS their biggest wish is that you
> were stuck with their operating system AND their
> hardware.
Stuck with Apple's OS? The Mac is one of the more unstuck machines on the planet. Let's see, you can of course run *both* of Apple's OS's (9 & X), or you could run Darwin (Apple and GNU versions available), some of the other BSDs, several flavors of Linux, Be OS (if you can find someone to sell it to you), a number of versions of Windows and DOS (using Virtual PC on top of OS 9 or X), and a host of old game system emulators. Take your pick. Apple gives you its OS with the machine for free. You can keep it or toss it and put what you like on your Mac. Best of all, unless you run Windows on Virtual PC, Microsoft doesn't get a tax out of you.
> Once thought dead? They'll be dead until they
> start running on x86 and other hardware.
Really? Then why is Apple in the black, and why are all those nice folks who do run on x86 having all sorts of problems? And what happened to Compaq? Why they must have been all gobbled up!
"No one's going to die, mister. Mothra's going to come and save us."
Taiki Goto, "Mothra", December 14, 1996
(Released in Japan days before Apple's surprise announcement of the return of Steve Jobs.)
Actually, things couldn't be better. Unless you're Microsoft...
;)
Jennifer E. Elaan wrote:
> This is really starting to sound like certain
> other operating systems. Every month or two
> somebody declares Linux dead. While the most
> obvious is OS/2, that one DID finally die in the
> end, but took 6 or 7 years to do so. And there
> is STILL a couple projects to reimplement it, so
> the death seems to be the fault of closed-source
> software.
But OS/2 isn't completely dead. There are still new versions being made. There are new programs coming out for it. And a few people even still use it.
> Contrast also with Apple.
Apple died. Apple was resurrected. Now Apple is launching itself at Microsoft's jugular. All is right with the world.
> it's not the number but the derivative (rate of
> change) that you have to look at, in order to
> declare an operating system dead.
Very insightful.
> By this logic, Linux is still kicking, but
> Windows is dead, since Windows is no longer
> really increasing in use (they still have sales,
> but they're almost all "upgrade" sales, hence
> the attempted change of license methods).
Oh, Linux is very much alive and kicking. It's heroism in barring Microsoft from getting a monopoly in the server-space is to be highly praised. It makes a great embedded OS, I love it on my Zaurus. And make no mistake, Linux will follow Apple to the desktop, now that Apple has shown the way.
> And, somebody please explain, HOW do you kill an
> open-source work? People like me will always
> tinker with it, because it's FUN.
It can't be killed. Neither can some proprietary software long thought dead, if Netscape (and its open source partner Mozilla), Word Perfect, Lotus 123, and others are any indication. You can buy a computer now with one of the latter two preinstalled. As for Netscape and Mozilla, they and the other browsers just won 1.3 percent of the browser market back from Microsoft!!!
The market, thanks to Microsoft's greed and cruelty, is really hungry right now for alternatives to Microsoft in any and all markets. Products once thought dead are coming back to life, and new ones are coming out of the woodwork. ALL of Microsoft's monopolies can be taken away, by the consumer, right now! Everything is up for grabs, and I wouldn't count even Be OS or OS/2 out now, if they still have something to offer somebody.
Godzilla 2000, the Dreaded God!
The battle for Earth's future has begun!
The future Millenium threatens.
(From my lyrics to Godzilla's theme from "Godzilla 2000 Millenium")
ch-chuck wrote:
.Net doesn't have the universal broadband it needs, the movie and music industry people have rejected Microsoft's DRM technology, and XBox's sales have been kind of green around the gills (in an unhealthy way).
> Now if we or a federal antitrust judge could
> only convince Msft to let the rest of us have a
> choice in browsers, media players, messaging,
> etc, without all their FUD, skulduggery,
> bundling, tie-in's and overbearing, heavyhanded
> and illegal market monopoly extension tactics.
You already have a choice. The choices are practically popping out of the woodwork in response to demand:
Microsoft fought against one browser, Netscape, and won the browser wars. Now there are a half dozen browsers for every platform. AOL has tossed IE out in favor of the Gecko engine from Mozilla/Netscape.
Microsoft may have won the Office suite monopoly, but then they threw it away in their greed when they forced draconian licensing on their customers. Businesses desparate to escape fees they could never afford looked around to see a host of alternatives: Star/Open Office, Abiword, AppleWorks, Think Free, and others. Even the office suites (Word Perfect and Lotus Smart Suite) Office once fought are back, and even shipping with some new PCs.
But surely that desktop monopoly is secure. Think again (or at least, "different"). Apple, once thought dead, is back and better than ever, and yelling a fierce battle cry (http://www.apple.com/switch/). Apple has pulled off the impossible and put UNIX on the desktop. Where they go, the others follow, so expect many repetitions of that miracle shortly. Linux leads the other unices in holding the server world against Microsoft. Apple recently joined that battle with its XServe.
Microsoft hasn't yet won a monopoly in either media players or messaging, so take your pick. Their attempts at new monopolies have failed of late: Hailstorm is dead,
If you want to stop Microsoft's quest for complete domination over every computing device on this planet, it is simple. When you hear someone complaining about how horrid their Microsoft software is, simply tell them what options they have to use to make things better. Then tell them to tell others. Microsoft can't abuse a monopoly it doesn't have. If most of their customers go elsewhere, Microsoft will not have the power to be a problem anymore. It is that simple.
Godzilla 2000, the Dreaded God!
The battle for Earth's future has begun!
The future Millenium threatens.
(From my lyrics to Godzilla's theme from "Godzilla 2000 Millenium")