Quite true, however I'm sure Microsoft will say "You are correct, however that was in hardware, and what makes our invention so unique, is that the decision is handled in software!"
I would agree... I am what is wrong with the Linux community... mostly because I'm not a member of it, I'm a no good, rotten, terrorist supporting, baby killing, bush voting Windows users (Windows 2000 to be exact).
Proprietary software, like Linux is based on copyright (and remember that the so called copyleft movement/system is ultimately based on copyright). With out copyright, the free trade system would effectively break down. With out the ability to exclusively exploit ones creation, one has less incentive to create.
Like it or not, Copyleft/GPL/etc is much like communism, it's great in theory, and works well in practice only when everyone plays by the rules. As I hate communism and enjoy profiting directly from my proprietary work, I do not use Linux or any other GPL software.
Proprietary software is perfectly acceptable if you know what you're getting yourself into. Windows is proprietary, and yet it does not prevent me in anyway from doing those things I wish to do, web browsing, email, programming, gaming and much much more.
You are what is wrong with the Linux community, thinking that everything should be/is free. Do you think they are the first company to sell a distribution? RedHat, Mandrage, SUSE, you can buy a copy of their distro from all of em. If you don't like doing so, then just DL an ISO somewhere, otherwise, quit complaining.
As the other poster pointed out, just because something runs on Linux (or is Linux), does not mean it's free. You are helping to propagate the myth that everything about Linux is free, if that were the case, I highly doubt as many big name companies would do ANY development work in porting their apps to Linux, just to give them away for free.
First up, please go back and reread my initial post, you'll see at no time to I even mention the word 'songs', instead I refer to buying legit copies of music, which is accurate.
Now, to your ill thought out rant.
Given recent extensions in copyright law... I would be less concerned that your great grand children having to break DRM to listen to one of great grandpa's ancient CD then I would be that the problem will come up for them at all, I'd much rather have myself or my children run into it.
Thus, fighting extensions to copyright law should be your first target, once copyrights have been restored to their previous concept for temporary, then you can fight the good fight related to access to such public works.
Your argument is like being afraid of a big rock falling from the sky and crushing your house, yea... it might happen and being prepared for it may not be a bad idea... but given the likelihood that it will occur, your energies would be better spent worry about other things, like earthquakes, floods and gangland violence (ie things which occur more often).
If you want to pick a cause to fight for, be my guest, but please be in some way intelligent about it!
The RIAA needs to face the fact that DRM is not going stop illegal downloading. Giving your customers what they want will attract people from kazaa and emule.
Locking the doors on my car will not prevent someone from breaking in and stealing it's contents, nor the car it's self. Does that mean I should stop locking my doors and even keep the windows down to make it easier for the potential thief? NO!
By keeping my vehicle as secure as I can, I limit the number of people willing and able to steal it or it's contents. The RIAA is no different. DRM isn't intended to force EVERYONE to buy legit copies of music, the goal is to make piracy so hard that there is less and less incentive in doing so.
Example: DirecTV piracy, the new generation of access cards (P4's I believe) are damned evil, so evil they have a built in sucicide system that if it thinks you're trying to hack it... it wipes it's self clean. With a proper hardware and money, a person could reverse engineer the system, discover it's deepest darkest secrets and possibly build a piracy system around it... but because it's looking to be that difficult to hack (at this time (with out insider info)), the days of simply reprogramming a DirecTV access card are quickly coming to an end.
For the most part, FPGA's you build its code from scratch, you give it it's identity of how it works, what it does and so on.
This chip sounds like a hybrid between an FPGA and a run of the mill general purpose RISC processor. Being based on a RISC instruction set, you code for it as you would a normal processor, however if the compiler sees code which could take advantage of having more CPU support, it could add instructions to the FPGA like portion of the chip to enable better throughput.
The short summery is: FPGA, programmed from scratch. Standard RISC processor: Already has instruction set which you program against.
This could be quite handy for some of the embedded programming I do.
Nay, I don't like seeing complete and utter idiots in any position of power or authority... this is why, no matter what I'll be crying for a little over 4 years following the November election.
I saw that CNN story yesterday and was shocked that it hadn't appeared on Slashdot yet. I was even more surprised to see Groklaw talking about that news since Thursday.
There is a key aspect of this Slashdot story... BayStar has asked for its money back unless SCO fixes a few things, including its management. That's they key here I think, when BayStar gets nervous with how SCO is proceeding and they want things to change or else.
First up, the existence of WMP as a free product in no way prevents other companies from selling their own media player. Don't forget, Linux 'free' and yet that doesn't stop plenty of companies from selling their own operating systems, including other versions of Linux.
If I read what you said right... free products, regardless of quality will win out against products which cost money. If this is true... why does Windows have such a larger market share than Linux on the desktop?
I'll grant you a point that you didn't make... by having WMP included with Windows, it gives Microsoft an advantage over Real, Apple and Nullsoft as an end user has to download and install another player if they don't want WMP. This is a similar argument to the Microsoft anti trust trial, IE being included with the operating system unfairly hurt Netscape (an argument which I thought was BS (however preventing OEMs from being able to install Netscape or other browsers was a legitimate gripe for Netscape and others)).
None of this though prevents in anyway other companies from selling their own music player, Nullsoft (Winamp), Real (RealPlayer/RealOne), Music Match (Music Match) and others have done quite well in selling software which does a lot of what WMP does (and more in some cases).
As I hope you recognize, your argument of saying that WMP simply being on the market prevents others from making quality products is completely with out merit. One product does not prevent another product from being sold by its simple existence, one product on the market can however lesson the sales of another if there exists sufficient differences between the two where consumers opt for one over the other.
Just remember, just because something is free does not mean it is better!
I'll place my vote with "Because the competition spends more time complaining about fairness then they do producing a quality product" option.
For years, I hated installing RealPlayer. For a long time it was the standard when it came to streaming media. I hated having to mount Sherpa guided expeditions through real.com in order to find the real player. Only to have to do so again a month or two later after my version 'expired' and had to be 'upgraded'. I hated having to uncheck multiple check boxes in order to keep from being bothered by requests to buy the full version, but those prompts would still appear.
I came to prefer Windows Media Player for most streaming as it offered a far better experience then Real did. Feel free to blame Microsoft for driving Real to such tactics if you want... always remember that it was up to Real in the end how to treat their customers.
Yes, there are alternatives to Real, however for my needs, Windows Media Player does handles most of them. (although more recently, iTunes is beating it out for almost anything audio).
I for one welcome our new/old Microsoft masters! Almost everything I need in a single box? I call it Windows 2000.
Given the alternatives of the time, oh yes! And, over time, the windows competitors got better, there were plenty of Windows users who stayed on board because Windows/Office/etc is what they know.
Example: I once talked to a programmer from a not to be mentioned company, they primarily use Cobol for their database front and back end (non SQL query based). After some discussion, I asked the question of if they have ever considered modernizing their systems. Her response was that what they had was faster then anything else on the market today. Note: She did not say that their systems were able to handle more transactions per clock then anything else, or that they could do data processing faster then any packaged software today... her comment on speed had had poorly to do with the cost of upgrading in terms of time.
Even if every Windows user on earth had the completely free option (financially) to get a new operating system, office package, web browser, media player, etc (No, I don't need any links as I know they exist). The time required for the user to learn all of these new packages would cost them huge amounts of time!
So goes the old axiom: "Which word processor is the best? Mine is! Why? Because it's what I know!"
You completely misunderstood what I said. At no time did I say: "Your product is not worth my hard earned money and I will pirate it instead."
A Geo Metro is not worth my hard earned money, thus I choose not to buy it and go without.
A fully featured cell phone is not worth my hard earned money, so I choose not to buy it and go without.
Lots of software in the world is not worth my hard earned money, so I choose not to buy it and go without.
Have you forgotten how capitalist economies work? Voting with ones dollars? I buy and use only those products and services which I choose to spend my money on, and of those things I don't... I go without. No piracy involved.
With piracy so rampant, game developers NEVER see royalties
I call bullshit!
I would accept, "With piracy becoming more and more rampant, in future, game developers may not see royalties for their work," but what you said is complete and utter hogwash.
It's not unlike the RIAA blaming most of their problems on piracy. Yes, piracy does affect many companies bottom lines, but blaming it for your not getting paid a few bucks extra is just moronic. Tell me... are you saying what your publisher is telling you? ie "Sorry, there will be no Christmas this year because too many people pirated the game and we can't afford to pay you."
If you believe that or anything similar then you do not understand the economics of 'piracy' very well.
I cannot speak for anyone else, but I admit it, the number of music CD's and computer games I have purchased over the last few years is negligible. Not because of piracy, not because of P2P or 'borrowing copies'... but because I have not been able to afford much of what is out there, and of what there is, very very little of it I have felt was worth my hard earned dollar.
I'm sorry for not supporting your delusional world by buying your product. I just can't afford to these days.
You have no idea how business works do you? You don't buy a competitor who is/has beating/beaten you to destroy them, you buy them in order to use their assets/skills/tech/etc for your own purposes. Only a fool destroys their betters! If you knew anything about business you would know it is in your best interest to hire the best people you can, yes, they might be a threat, they could destroy you from the inside and leave you hanging... but that is far better then the alternative of hiring your inferiors and being safe and secure, firm in the knowledge that they can never harm you and take your job/company/business/etc.
We call that corporate raiding when not referring to 'war' and it is a quite old and hated practice (at least when your offices are raided). Say all the ill you want about MS for doing this, but they are doing what any company would do, hiring the best people they can to do the job!
I'm glad that I'm not the only one who caught that comment of his. I would have hoped that a president of a LUG would have a better understanding of the GPL then I, a non fan of Linux.
They may be over inflated, but quoting them helped me get my recently offered (and accepted) 'entry level' programming position's salary bumped by a few G's.
You're not the only one... it acts like a page is being Dled, and a view source reveals page code... just no text is being displayed in IE, Firefox seems to work, shame I'm still an IE person.
I couldn't agree with you more, however I think you have forgotten that these days in the US, the concept of 'due-process' has be usurped by those who have sufficient money and influence as to be able to bypass the legacy safeguards which were designed to protect us from such evil.
Not to mention all of those extra sounds that come along for the ride.
IE clicking when you open a new link.
A chat program beeping when a friend IM's you.
Your e-mail program chiming when you have mail.
On a related note, years and years ago with an off brand sound card, I had a bit of a problem that I could effectively only have one app playing at a time, I'd play mp3's in winamp and I couldn't hear sound effects in Quake 2. Ultimately, which ever app got control of the soundcard got to keep it until it gave up.
This was by no means the fault of the OS, but was instead the card, as I tried and tried and could not get it out of that mode, oh well.
Slashdot Mirror
Quite true, however I'm sure Microsoft will say "You are correct, however that was in hardware, and what makes our invention so unique, is that the decision is handled in software!"
I would agree... I am what is wrong with the Linux community... mostly because I'm not a member of it, I'm a no good, rotten, terrorist supporting, baby killing, bush voting Windows users (Windows 2000 to be exact).
Proprietary software, like Linux is based on copyright (and remember that the so called copyleft movement/system is ultimately based on copyright). With out copyright, the free trade system would effectively break down. With out the ability to exclusively exploit ones creation, one has less incentive to create.
Like it or not, Copyleft/GPL/etc is much like communism, it's great in theory, and works well in practice only when everyone plays by the rules. As I hate communism and enjoy profiting directly from my proprietary work, I do not use Linux or any other GPL software.
Proprietary software is perfectly acceptable if you know what you're getting yourself into. Windows is proprietary, and yet it does not prevent me in anyway from doing those things I wish to do, web browsing, email, programming, gaming and much much more.
You are what is wrong with the Linux community, thinking that everything should be/is free. Do you think they are the first company to sell a distribution? RedHat, Mandrage, SUSE, you can buy a copy of their distro from all of em. If you don't like doing so, then just DL an ISO somewhere, otherwise, quit complaining.
As the other poster pointed out, just because something runs on Linux (or is Linux), does not mean it's free. You are helping to propagate the myth that everything about Linux is free, if that were the case, I highly doubt as many big name companies would do ANY development work in porting their apps to Linux, just to give them away for free.
Microsoft has one the word processor war, yes, there is competition, but it is not at this time a serious threat.
They have also won the browser war, yes, alternatives exist, however the majority of web users still use IE.
Just because a war is over and is won doesn't mean that there is no more room for fighting. Just look at what's still going on in Iraq.
First up, please go back and reread my initial post, you'll see at no time to I even mention the word 'songs', instead I refer to buying legit copies of music, which is accurate.
Now, to your ill thought out rant.
Given recent extensions in copyright law... I would be less concerned that your great grand children having to break DRM to listen to one of great grandpa's ancient CD then I would be that the problem will come up for them at all, I'd much rather have myself or my children run into it.
Thus, fighting extensions to copyright law should be your first target, once copyrights have been restored to their previous concept for temporary, then you can fight the good fight related to access to such public works.
Your argument is like being afraid of a big rock falling from the sky and crushing your house, yea... it might happen and being prepared for it may not be a bad idea... but given the likelihood that it will occur, your energies would be better spent worry about other things, like earthquakes, floods and gangland violence (ie things which occur more often).
If you want to pick a cause to fight for, be my guest, but please be in some way intelligent about it!
The RIAA needs to face the fact that DRM is not going stop illegal downloading. Giving your customers what they want will attract people from kazaa and emule.
Locking the doors on my car will not prevent someone from breaking in and stealing it's contents, nor the car it's self. Does that mean I should stop locking my doors and even keep the windows down to make it easier for the potential thief? NO!
By keeping my vehicle as secure as I can, I limit the number of people willing and able to steal it or it's contents. The RIAA is no different. DRM isn't intended to force EVERYONE to buy legit copies of music, the goal is to make piracy so hard that there is less and less incentive in doing so.
Example: DirecTV piracy, the new generation of access cards (P4's I believe) are damned evil, so evil they have a built in sucicide system that if it thinks you're trying to hack it... it wipes it's self clean. With a proper hardware and money, a person could reverse engineer the system, discover it's deepest darkest secrets and possibly build a piracy system around it... but because it's looking to be that difficult to hack (at this time (with out insider info)), the days of simply reprogramming a DirecTV access card are quickly coming to an end.
For the most part, FPGA's you build its code from scratch, you give it it's identity of how it works, what it does and so on.
This chip sounds like a hybrid between an FPGA and a run of the mill general purpose RISC processor. Being based on a RISC instruction set, you code for it as you would a normal processor, however if the compiler sees code which could take advantage of having more CPU support, it could add instructions to the FPGA like portion of the chip to enable better throughput.
The short summery is: FPGA, programmed from scratch. Standard RISC processor: Already has instruction set which you program against.
This could be quite handy for some of the embedded programming I do.
2018: The GBA emulator will run the SNES emulator, Bush (Jeb) is president, the US will be at war with Iraq and the economy will suck
Nay, I don't like seeing complete and utter idiots in any position of power or authority... this is why, no matter what I'll be crying for a little over 4 years following the November election.
I saw that CNN story yesterday and was shocked that it hadn't appeared on Slashdot yet. I was even more surprised to see Groklaw talking about that news since Thursday.
There is a key aspect of this Slashdot story... BayStar has asked for its money back unless SCO fixes a few things, including its management. That's they key here I think, when BayStar gets nervous with how SCO is proceeding and they want things to change or else.
Here's hoping Darl gets ousted.
My living room isn't that big! Not that it matters much as my TV almost 25 years old.
First up, the existence of WMP as a free product in no way prevents other companies from selling their own media player. Don't forget, Linux 'free' and yet that doesn't stop plenty of companies from selling their own operating systems, including other versions of Linux.
If I read what you said right... free products, regardless of quality will win out against products which cost money. If this is true... why does Windows have such a larger market share than Linux on the desktop?
I'll grant you a point that you didn't make... by having WMP included with Windows, it gives Microsoft an advantage over Real, Apple and Nullsoft as an end user has to download and install another player if they don't want WMP. This is a similar argument to the Microsoft anti trust trial, IE being included with the operating system unfairly hurt Netscape (an argument which I thought was BS (however preventing OEMs from being able to install Netscape or other browsers was a legitimate gripe for Netscape and others)).
None of this though prevents in anyway other companies from selling their own music player, Nullsoft (Winamp), Real (RealPlayer/RealOne), Music Match (Music Match) and others have done quite well in selling software which does a lot of what WMP does (and more in some cases).
As I hope you recognize, your argument of saying that WMP simply being on the market prevents others from making quality products is completely with out merit. One product does not prevent another product from being sold by its simple existence, one product on the market can however lesson the sales of another if there exists sufficient differences between the two where consumers opt for one over the other.
Just remember, just because something is free does not mean it is better!
I'll place my vote with "Because the competition spends more time complaining about fairness then they do producing a quality product" option.
For years, I hated installing RealPlayer. For a long time it was the standard when it came to streaming media. I hated having to mount Sherpa guided expeditions through real.com in order to find the real player. Only to have to do so again a month or two later after my version 'expired' and had to be 'upgraded'. I hated having to uncheck multiple check boxes in order to keep from being bothered by requests to buy the full version, but those prompts would still appear.
I came to prefer Windows Media Player for most streaming as it offered a far better experience then Real did. Feel free to blame Microsoft for driving Real to such tactics if you want... always remember that it was up to Real in the end how to treat their customers.
Yes, there are alternatives to Real, however for my needs, Windows Media Player does handles most of them. (although more recently, iTunes is beating it out for almost anything audio).
I for one welcome our new/old Microsoft masters! Almost everything I need in a single box? I call it Windows 2000.
Given the alternatives of the time, oh yes! And, over time, the windows competitors got better, there were plenty of Windows users who stayed on board because Windows/Office/etc is what they know.
Example: I once talked to a programmer from a not to be mentioned company, they primarily use Cobol for their database front and back end (non SQL query based). After some discussion, I asked the question of if they have ever considered modernizing their systems. Her response was that what they had was faster then anything else on the market today. Note: She did not say that their systems were able to handle more transactions per clock then anything else, or that they could do data processing faster then any packaged software today... her comment on speed had had poorly to do with the cost of upgrading in terms of time.
Even if every Windows user on earth had the completely free option (financially) to get a new operating system, office package, web browser, media player, etc (No, I don't need any links as I know they exist). The time required for the user to learn all of these new packages would cost them huge amounts of time!
So goes the old axiom: "Which word processor is the best? Mine is! Why? Because it's what I know!"
You completely misunderstood what I said. At no time did I say: "Your product is not worth my hard earned money and I will pirate it instead."
A Geo Metro is not worth my hard earned money, thus I choose not to buy it and go without.
A fully featured cell phone is not worth my hard earned money, so I choose not to buy it and go without.
Lots of software in the world is not worth my hard earned money, so I choose not to buy it and go without.
Have you forgotten how capitalist economies work? Voting with ones dollars? I buy and use only those products and services which I choose to spend my money on, and of those things I don't... I go without. No piracy involved.
With piracy so rampant, game developers NEVER see royalties
I call bullshit!
I would accept, "With piracy becoming more and more rampant, in future, game developers may not see royalties for their work," but what you said is complete and utter hogwash.
It's not unlike the RIAA blaming most of their problems on piracy. Yes, piracy does affect many companies bottom lines, but blaming it for your not getting paid a few bucks extra is just moronic. Tell me... are you saying what your publisher is telling you? ie "Sorry, there will be no Christmas this year because too many people pirated the game and we can't afford to pay you."
If you believe that or anything similar then you do not understand the economics of 'piracy' very well.
I cannot speak for anyone else, but I admit it, the number of music CD's and computer games I have purchased over the last few years is negligible. Not because of piracy, not because of P2P or 'borrowing copies'... but because I have not been able to afford much of what is out there, and of what there is, very very little of it I have felt was worth my hard earned dollar.
I'm sorry for not supporting your delusional world by buying your product. I just can't afford to these days.
You have no idea how business works do you? You don't buy a competitor who is/has beating/beaten you to destroy them, you buy them in order to use their assets/skills/tech/etc for your own purposes. Only a fool destroys their betters! If you knew anything about business you would know it is in your best interest to hire the best people you can, yes, they might be a threat, they could destroy you from the inside and leave you hanging... but that is far better then the alternative of hiring your inferiors and being safe and secure, firm in the knowledge that they can never harm you and take your job/company/business/etc.
We call that corporate raiding when not referring to 'war' and it is a quite old and hated practice (at least when your offices are raided). Say all the ill you want about MS for doing this, but they are doing what any company would do, hiring the best people they can to do the job!
What's the point of filing a claim when we can't do so easily on the web to receive a free Lindows PC?
I'm glad that I'm not the only one who caught that comment of his. I would have hoped that a president of a LUG would have a better understanding of the GPL then I, a non fan of Linux.
They may be over inflated, but quoting them helped me get my recently offered (and accepted) 'entry level' programming position's salary bumped by a few G's.
You're not the only one... it acts like a page is being Dled, and a view source reveals page code... just no text is being displayed in IE, Firefox seems to work, shame I'm still an IE person.
I couldn't agree with you more, however I think you have forgotten that these days in the US, the concept of 'due-process' has be usurped by those who have sufficient money and influence as to be able to bypass the legacy safeguards which were designed to protect us from such evil.
LayFair? Wouldn't that be the name of an equal opportunity escort company?
On a related note, years and years ago with an off brand sound card, I had a bit of a problem that I could effectively only have one app playing at a time, I'd play mp3's in winamp and I couldn't hear sound effects in Quake 2. Ultimately, which ever app got control of the soundcard got to keep it until it gave up.
This was by no means the fault of the OS, but was instead the card, as I tried and tried and could not get it out of that mode, oh well.