Reverse-engineering is perfectly legal (when done correctly) and is employed by proprietary folks regularly. How do you think the PC-clone market got started?
I wonder how many slashdot readers have no idea what you mean by a "PC clone". Hmm. Gettin' old I guess.
ANNOYING POPUP!-HI THIS IS MEGAN FROM CRAPSMELL, NJ AND I LOVE JAY-Z, WOOOOO!
HI, this is Steve from Redmond WA. WHUT WHUT. I'd like to give a shout-out to my homies back home - BILL, CLIPPY, AND ALL THOSE DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Heh. The last time I asked whether it was possible to buy a laptop without a pre-installed operating system, I was told that selling one could expose the company to litigation. The reason: knowingly selling a non-functional product.
Simple Solution: Include a bootable Linux distro with the laptop. It proves it is working, but doesn't alter it in any way. It is about as close to free as you can get (cost of a blank cd). I would, in fact, recommend trying out the laptop with your bootable distro of choice before buying it. (if you can find the model you want in a brick-n-mortar store)
They managed to release about 900 jillion addons for the first Half Life, even without Steam, and they didn't take 6 years to hit the shelves. They hardly took 6 weeks.
See how much you love Steam when they decide people shouldn't play Half Life 2 or it's addons anymore, because it'll cut into the market for Half Life 3.
Just say no to crappy schemes like that. Sorry, I want to know the game will be playable 10, 20 years from now, provided I still have the right hardware to play it on.
I only hope that after a couple of years, they will release Steam to the public somehow so the game doesn't die. I am not one of those gotta-get-it-NOW kind of people. I played Half-Life online about a year after it came out, but didn't play the single-player version until about 3 years ago. It was awesome. Did I lose anything in the experience by not playing it the weekend it came out? I don't feel like I did. Right after I finished it, I was able to download a few add-ons that were freely available.
I know I am not one of the people who keeps game companies thriving, but I don't have to get something the second it comes out. That offers several advantages to me: cheaper game, cheaper hardware to run the game, bugs have been worked out, you can find walkthroughs on the net, and hopefully you have addons or next revisions to look forward to. I still play Quake Mega-TF online occasionally, even though servers are flooded with cheating dorks with no real skill.
I almost bought a new video card when HL2 was announced, but I thought better of it. Now I am REALLY glad that I did - the game was delayed for 6+ months, and there was the whole Steam annoyance. I prefer playing the single-player missions as opposed to online multi-player. The video cards required to play the game are now MUCH cheaper, and hopefully there is info on the net that will help me to make my decision if I do decide I want to buy it. More importantly, I didn't waste an entire weekend playing a video game just because it was new and cool.
That is straightforward in step-by-step instructions, but what I have found difficult about updating via apt-get is figuring out what site to put in the source.list file. That can be extremely frustrating.
My experience was that I wanted an updated package, and whatever I had it my sources.list didn't have it yet. Later on that same machine, I went to update KDE. After all, one of the strengths of Debian was supposed to be that you don't have to reinstall, you just have to "apt-get update" everything. Something went wrong with the whole process, some files not found or something, and my machine was rendered without KDE. I tried to repair it, reinstall it from scratch, all to no avail. I ended up having to reinstall the machine.
One of my big pet peeves with Linux is the inability to upgrade effectively. I know that this is not a trivial technical issue, but it is still somewhat annoying. I have been bitten by the "upgrade" install before, and they have always resulted in wiping the machine and starting over. (And Windows is no better in this regard)
It seems like once I get on a version of a distro, I am on it until I really need something and can't get it to install. I was on Redhat 7.3 for many years, and finally reinstalled the machine with Mandrake 10.0. Due to some recent partition corruptions I may have to reinstall, and would love to find a distro that makes upgrading possible.
Actually, I have only been living here for 2 months. It is harder here, because even though we don't change time for DST, everyone else does. So you have to know what the heck time it is everywhere else, which is much harder than remembering what time it is where you are.
Really? Did you ignore the Check Engine light, or did you get it checked out? You got it checked out, therefore you didn't ignore it. And if you did just ignore it, you would be TAKING A RISK that there is a problem you are not addressing.
The check engine light is a generic warning - it may go out on its own, or it may not. Therefore, it is a stupid light.
I am well aware of how check engine lights work. It used to be that you could perform some tricks to get the codes. Now, you have to have a specialized tool. I have had my check engine light come on for something simple, like a gas-cap being loose. I have also had it come on for something that could have been serious. First it reported that the O2 sensor was bad (I replaced), then it reported that it was the camshaft position sensor. That required that I take the entire intake off to get to it. It was running very rough at times, stumbling and stalling at speed. Not something that could be ignored.
Yeah, sometimes the check engine light doesn't mean anything critical. In fact, most times it isn't anything critical - but it means something.
I remember well a couple of decades ago, when I took my car in because of a vague warning light on the dashboard. They fixed the problem, and I drove off - and noticed that the warning light was still on. I took it back. The guy said "Oh, we just forgot to reset it." My "?" reaction got the explanation that the light goes off after so many miles; they just have to reset its counter to zero.
I am well aware of this fact. BUT - you are still risking a bigger problem if that light doesn't go off. In reality, if the Check Engine light comes on, it isn't anything urgent - just something you need to address fairly soon. I have read the codes on my car, fixed whatever it was, and then forgot to reset the code. I let it go for a few days waiting for it to correct itself (it is normally several restarts, not miles down the road). It didn't. I re-read the codes, and another code had popped up. If I had just ignored it, I might have run into bigger issues.
Now if you can't read your own codes, you would take the car to the mechanic whenever the Check Engine light comes on. Then you get charged a "diagnostic fee" for them to read it and reset it. (unless you find a decent place that won't charge for that) But what are the alternatives? They could easily provide the codes to the user as well as a list of what the codes mean - but they want to keep that information to themselves. The same thing seems to happen with the software industry. If the users can support themselves, why do they need you? It isn't as overt in the software industry as in the auto industry, but it exists.
Doesn't BitMover realize that companies license their products due to Linus using it? Linus's sarcastic comments about BitMover just pushes companies away, as probably intended. Won't that just screw themselves over?
Not really. If companies have licensed their software, they are probably under some contract. And they have probably had enough time to transition all their code into it. Transitioning out is much harder. BitMover already has the signed deals, it doesn't MATTER the reasoning WHY companies signed the deals. If someone signed up based solely on the fact that Linus used it, then they are fools in the business world. But without fools, there would be no business world as we know it.
The real question is, if they are able to, will it be worth it for these companies to move off of BitKeeper now? I am guessing for a large enough percentage, the answer is no - and THAT is how BitMover wins. That is how business works for the most part, like it or not.
If someone was driving a car and didn't know what "check oil" meant they would be idiots, correct?
Actually, it is more like you are driving a car, and the "check engine" light comes on.
Now that light means absolutely JACK SQUAT to the driver, other than "you need to take your car in". For those who like to work on their own cars, like me, I can check my own engine code and probably fix it myself. I had to buy a $200 tool to do so, but for me it was worth the money to have that control and knowledge about my car. Not everyone is willing to do that.
The light is just an indicator of a problem, it offers no more information. In fact, Check Engine offers NO information. There is no way to simply check your engine. It is just an alert so that you can look into a problem before it gets worse.
And some people will just ignore the Check Engine light. If they do that, they are taking the risk that a bigger problem will occur down the road. Those are the idiots.
Amen. Its pretty tragic when people rail against some harmeless kids just because they love star wars. Would these kids be 'cooler' if they were selling cocaine or heroin on the same street instead?
People have a fucked up idea of who to slag off.
Yeah - like what OS people run on their computers.
I don't go out of my way to riducule people, but for the love of Jebus, some people just DESERVE it. You don't walk around in public with Jedi robes on just because you love it - you do it to get attention. You are begging to be made fun of if you camp out in front of a movie theater to see a movie.
So let me get this straight - the only alternatives to waiting in line to see a (bad) movie are to sell drugs? Gee, couldn't you think of a more extreme example? I am certainly not saying that people shouldn't be individuals, and I am in no way advocating conformance just for the sake of it. But if you are going to be different, be different and be proud of it. If people rail on you for camping out in costume, either have the balls to take it or go home.
And this is such a hypocricial point, I have to mention it again: People have a fucked up idea of who to slag off.
Geeks are the WORST at this. Geeks have some of the largest egos I have ever seen, geeks can be very judgementall a-holes. Don't gripe when people do to you what you do to everyone else on a daily basis, just for different reasons.
The best example of this is the DVD of "Master and Commander". It forces you sit through 10 minutes of advertising of other films before you get to the main menu!
This just shows how the MPAA has brought this on themselves. When DVDs first came out, what was the point of CSS? Average people couldn't make copies of DVDs until pretty recently. Was it forethought regarding the copying capability of the public? Hardly. It was about control. They wanted to be able to control the format. They wanted to be able to sell licenses of their product to DVD player manufacturers. They are still doing this today, but their grip is slipping.
Look at WHY DeCSS was created:
The motivation was being able to play DVDs the way we want to. I don't like being forced to use a specific operating system or a specific player to watch movies (or listen to music.) Nor do I like being forced to watch commercials. When your DVD player tells you "This operation is not allowed" when you try to skip commercials, it becomes pretty clear that DRM really stands for Digital Restrictions Management.
The MPAA and their cronies pushed the boundaries of good business, and got called on it. They thought nobody could do anything about it, so they didn't even consider backing down. I don't know of ANYONE who likes to sit through the crap they are forced to sit through on DVDs. The problem is, people are willing to put up with the inconvenience because there are no other options. Now there are, so MPAA - reap what you sow motherfuckers.
I thought the life thing was sort of implied.:) I just meant that he is wealthy, and could easily lead a comfortable life without taking such a risk. I am sure that someone who is that wealthy goes through additional fears on top of "I could die". If you are grinding through a daily job, the fear of death may not be as great as if you have a 10,000 sq/ft house and a few ferraris.:)
I liked hearing his responses, but I have to say that his descriptions of space travel were awesome. I am sure he could have gone into more detail, but he paints a pretty amazing picture of the experience. Sounds like a helluva ride. Even if you have the money to take that trip, it takes balls to actually go through the training and time to do it. After all, he has a great fortune to risk by doing so.
According to another article from ployer.com, the service will require Windows XP, Internet Explorer 5 or higher, and Windows Media Player 10 or higher.
So George Bush will be the next Debian Project Leader?
Nah - Ballmer. DEBIAN DEBIAN DEBIAN DEBIAN Wooooooo!
I don't want FF to handle images!
on
Firefox Hacks
·
· Score: 1
I have checked around and haven't found a way to do this: I don't want FireFox to be the default application when opening images from web pages. On Windows, I use Irfanview for that, and on Linux I use ImageMagick's "display". I like having a separate application open images, but I cannot figure out how to do this in FF (1.0.2). There was supposed to be an extension that allowed this, but it didn't work for me.
Arggghh. I find it odd and annoying that FF would not let me configure it like this, especially when previous versions did. This isn't something that should be so hard to configure.
For those not up up on the twists and turns of the semiconductor industry, be aware that Freescale is Motorola's semiconductor division spinoff.
So Freescale != Motorola.:-) Actually, I used to work at Motorola, and owned some stock. I recently heard about the spinoff by receiving some shares of Freescale. Go Freescale!!
1. Work at a company where innovation moves at the speed of a glacier.
2. Purchase stock while working there, watch it decrease in value by 75%.
3. Receive stock in spinoff company, watch them innovate and make money.
4. Profit!
Slashdot Mirror
I wonder how many slashdot readers have no idea what you mean by a "PC clone". Hmm. Gettin' old I guess.
"Who's got next" or "Got next?"
snooooooze.
HI, this is Steve from Redmond WA. WHUT WHUT. I'd like to give a shout-out to my homies back home - BILL, CLIPPY, AND ALL THOSE DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Actually, I think marketing MADE the video star. Marketing is all they have.
No, but you could sell that spare tire without the automobile manufacturer suing you.
Simple Solution: Include a bootable Linux distro with the laptop. It proves it is working, but doesn't alter it in any way. It is about as close to free as you can get (cost of a blank cd). I would, in fact, recommend trying out the laptop with your bootable distro of choice before buying it. (if you can find the model you want in a brick-n-mortar store)
I only hope that after a couple of years, they will release Steam to the public somehow so the game doesn't die. I am not one of those gotta-get-it-NOW kind of people. I played Half-Life online about a year after it came out, but didn't play the single-player version until about 3 years ago. It was awesome. Did I lose anything in the experience by not playing it the weekend it came out? I don't feel like I did. Right after I finished it, I was able to download a few add-ons that were freely available.
I know I am not one of the people who keeps game companies thriving, but I don't have to get something the second it comes out. That offers several advantages to me: cheaper game, cheaper hardware to run the game, bugs have been worked out, you can find walkthroughs on the net, and hopefully you have addons or next revisions to look forward to. I still play Quake Mega-TF online occasionally, even though servers are flooded with cheating dorks with no real skill.
I almost bought a new video card when HL2 was announced, but I thought better of it. Now I am REALLY glad that I did - the game was delayed for 6+ months, and there was the whole Steam annoyance. I prefer playing the single-player missions as opposed to online multi-player. The video cards required to play the game are now MUCH cheaper, and hopefully there is info on the net that will help me to make my decision if I do decide I want to buy it. More importantly, I didn't waste an entire weekend playing a video game just because it was new and cool.
That is straightforward in step-by-step instructions, but what I have found difficult about updating via apt-get is figuring out what site to put in the source.list file. That can be extremely frustrating.
My experience was that I wanted an updated package, and whatever I had it my sources.list didn't have it yet. Later on that same machine, I went to update KDE. After all, one of the strengths of Debian was supposed to be that you don't have to reinstall, you just have to "apt-get update" everything. Something went wrong with the whole process, some files not found or something, and my machine was rendered without KDE. I tried to repair it, reinstall it from scratch, all to no avail. I ended up having to reinstall the machine.
One of my big pet peeves with Linux is the inability to upgrade effectively. I know that this is not a trivial technical issue, but it is still somewhat annoying. I have been bitten by the "upgrade" install before, and they have always resulted in wiping the machine and starting over. (And Windows is no better in this regard)
It seems like once I get on a version of a distro, I am on it until I really need something and can't get it to install. I was on Redhat 7.3 for many years, and finally reinstalled the machine with Mandrake 10.0. Due to some recent partition corruptions I may have to reinstall, and would love to find a distro that makes upgrading possible.
Actually, I have only been living here for 2 months. It is harder here, because even though we don't change time for DST, everyone else does. So you have to know what the heck time it is everywhere else, which is much harder than remembering what time it is where you are.
I wonder if it will have a huge Type R sticker on it. R standing for Lunar.
(think about it)
. (sorry)
Really? Did you ignore the Check Engine light, or did you get it checked out? You got it checked out, therefore you didn't ignore it. And if you did just ignore it, you would be TAKING A RISK that there is a problem you are not addressing.
The check engine light is a generic warning - it may go out on its own, or it may not. Therefore, it is a stupid light.
I am well aware of how check engine lights work. It used to be that you could perform some tricks to get the codes. Now, you have to have a specialized tool. I have had my check engine light come on for something simple, like a gas-cap being loose. I have also had it come on for something that could have been serious. First it reported that the O2 sensor was bad (I replaced), then it reported that it was the camshaft position sensor. That required that I take the entire intake off to get to it. It was running very rough at times, stumbling and stalling at speed. Not something that could be ignored.
Yeah, sometimes the check engine light doesn't mean anything critical. In fact, most times it isn't anything critical - but it means something.
I am well aware of this fact. BUT - you are still risking a bigger problem if that light doesn't go off. In reality, if the Check Engine light comes on, it isn't anything urgent - just something you need to address fairly soon. I have read the codes on my car, fixed whatever it was, and then forgot to reset the code. I let it go for a few days waiting for it to correct itself (it is normally several restarts, not miles down the road). It didn't. I re-read the codes, and another code had popped up. If I had just ignored it, I might have run into bigger issues.
Now if you can't read your own codes, you would take the car to the mechanic whenever the Check Engine light comes on. Then you get charged a "diagnostic fee" for them to read it and reset it. (unless you find a decent place that won't charge for that) But what are the alternatives? They could easily provide the codes to the user as well as a list of what the codes mean - but they want to keep that information to themselves. The same thing seems to happen with the software industry. If the users can support themselves, why do they need you? It isn't as overt in the software industry as in the auto industry, but it exists.
Not really. If companies have licensed their software, they are probably under some contract. And they have probably had enough time to transition all their code into it. Transitioning out is much harder. BitMover already has the signed deals, it doesn't MATTER the reasoning WHY companies signed the deals. If someone signed up based solely on the fact that Linus used it, then they are fools in the business world. But without fools, there would be no business world as we know it.
The real question is, if they are able to, will it be worth it for these companies to move off of BitKeeper now? I am guessing for a large enough percentage, the answer is no - and THAT is how BitMover wins. That is how business works for the most part, like it or not.
Actually, it is more like you are driving a car, and the "check engine" light comes on.
Now that light means absolutely JACK SQUAT to the driver, other than "you need to take your car in". For those who like to work on their own cars, like me, I can check my own engine code and probably fix it myself. I had to buy a $200 tool to do so, but for me it was worth the money to have that control and knowledge about my car. Not everyone is willing to do that.
The light is just an indicator of a problem, it offers no more information. In fact, Check Engine offers NO information. There is no way to simply check your engine. It is just an alert so that you can look into a problem before it gets worse.
And some people will just ignore the Check Engine light. If they do that, they are taking the risk that a bigger problem will occur down the road. Those are the idiots.
Yeah - like what OS people run on their computers.
I don't go out of my way to riducule people, but for the love of Jebus, some people just DESERVE it. You don't walk around in public with Jedi robes on just because you love it - you do it to get attention. You are begging to be made fun of if you camp out in front of a movie theater to see a movie.
So let me get this straight - the only alternatives to waiting in line to see a (bad) movie are to sell drugs? Gee, couldn't you think of a more extreme example? I am certainly not saying that people shouldn't be individuals, and I am in no way advocating conformance just for the sake of it. But if you are going to be different, be different and be proud of it. If people rail on you for camping out in costume, either have the balls to take it or go home.
And this is such a hypocricial point, I have to mention it again: People have a fucked up idea of who to slag off.
Geeks are the WORST at this. Geeks have some of the largest egos I have ever seen, geeks can be very judgementall a-holes. Don't gripe when people do to you what you do to everyone else on a daily basis, just for different reasons.
2. Open the windows
3. Profit!!!
This just shows how the MPAA has brought this on themselves. When DVDs first came out, what was the point of CSS? Average people couldn't make copies of DVDs until pretty recently. Was it forethought regarding the copying capability of the public? Hardly. It was about control. They wanted to be able to control the format. They wanted to be able to sell licenses of their product to DVD player manufacturers. They are still doing this today, but their grip is slipping.
Look at WHY DeCSS was created:
The MPAA and their cronies pushed the boundaries of good business, and got called on it. They thought nobody could do anything about it, so they didn't even consider backing down. I don't know of ANYONE who likes to sit through the crap they are forced to sit through on DVDs. The problem is, people are willing to put up with the inconvenience because there are no other options. Now there are, so MPAA - reap what you sow motherfuckers.
Welcome to the year 2000.
Sincerely,
Those cancerous Linux bastards
P.S. We all know this study is BS. Is "as good as Linux" the best you can do, or is that the threshold of plausibility?
I thought the life thing was sort of implied. :) I just meant that he is wealthy, and could easily lead a comfortable life without taking such a risk. I am sure that someone who is that wealthy goes through additional fears on top of "I could die". If you are grinding through a daily job, the fear of death may not be as great as if you have a 10,000 sq/ft house and a few ferraris. :)
I liked hearing his responses, but I have to say that his descriptions of space travel were awesome. I am sure he could have gone into more detail, but he paints a pretty amazing picture of the experience. Sounds like a helluva ride. Even if you have the money to take that trip, it takes balls to actually go through the training and time to do it. After all, he has a great fortune to risk by doing so.
I am just waiting for tomorrow, when they post a dup of a phony story.
And one soul.
Nah - Ballmer. DEBIAN DEBIAN DEBIAN DEBIAN Wooooooo!
Arggghh. I find it odd and annoying that FF would not let me configure it like this, especially when previous versions did. This isn't something that should be so hard to configure.
So Freescale != Motorola. :-) Actually, I used to work at Motorola, and owned some stock. I recently heard about the spinoff by receiving some shares of Freescale. Go Freescale!!
1. Work at a company where innovation moves at the speed of a glacier.
2. Purchase stock while working there, watch it decrease in value by 75%.
3. Receive stock in spinoff company, watch them innovate and make money.
4. Profit!