Buy as many CD's as you can afford at the time, open ALL of them, and take them back immediately.
Ehhh - I don't know about that. You're going to get some kid screwed when he spends $400 bucks on 20 copies of Kid Rock and Wal-Mart tells him to "go find yourself a lawyer" when he tries to get a refund on them.
People will always find some excuse for piracy, but until someone is pirating YOUR software, i really dont think you have any right to excuse yourself. It's theft of intellectual property. Don't do it
If you write software and ask that people not use it without paying you - that's fine, it's your prerogative. But to go around spouting that it's theft or piracy is irresponsible. A breach of copyright, sure, but theft it ain't.
The definition of theft and piracy hinge on the notion that something you had has been taken away. So unless you don't have your software anymore - it wasn't stolen.
Too bad they didn't use regenerative aerobraking...
Regenerative areobraking? What do you want them to do - put paddle wheels on the probe?
Okay, your comment was stupid. You probably just had a twitchy "Submit" finger and wanted to get a comment in there early. I can understand that. What is ridiculous is that at least two morons out there actually thought is was "Interesting" enough to mod it up to +4.
Would whoever did that please smack the back of their head for me? Thanks.
What exactly is it about Windows 2000 or XP that makes it such a good desktop? [...] It's no less useable, it's no less "advanced", etc. If it's no fair to say Linux is a desktop OS then what OS exactly are you referring to?
Truly, your intellect is dizzying.
I never said 2000/XP was a better OS than Linux or *BSD. I don't even believe so myself.
The point I was making in my post was that the *nix crowd loves to joke about Windows and the BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death). But the truth of the matter is that Windows has been a pretty stable desktop OS since Windows 2000.
i managed to get my fathers brand new compaq machine with XP on it to hard reboot itself just by clicking "Switch Users" 15 minutes after starting to use it.
What are you trying to prove here - that you suck at working with computers.
Windows stability is simply a myth, anyone who says otherwise is either blinding themselves or doesn't have a lot of experience using it.
Seriously, pal, you're a moron. I'm posting this from my XP machine at home right now. A month ago I was getting occasional crashes. You know why? Because I run bleeding edge video drivers. Since the new ones came out from nVidia I haven't had a single crash - not one. And my Win 2K machine at work hasn't locked up in months.
I'm done arguing with you - you obviously don't know what you're talking about.
I know 3 people "using" Win 2K/XP... and it SUCKS! Not one of them can get it to run right.
That is operator error - I guarentee it.
Win2k, when it copies files, generates all kinds of crc errors in one case.
This is either broken IDE (or SCSI) hardware or a broken driver.
Don't tell me that 2K/XP is super reliable. It isn't.
Nobody said 2K/XP is super reliable. My point was that making jokes about constant BSODs is stupid because if it was set up properly (which you and your friends apparently cannot do) Windows 2K will give you very good uptime.
Please note that I hate Microsoft's bully tactics and their licensing extortion racket. And I'm also not making excuses for the incredibly insecure design of IIS and NT/2000/XP. But, I'm not going to sit around and make stupid jokes about their OS crashing all the time when it just isn't true.
Windows 3.1/95/98/ME were all horribly unstable - there just isn't any denying that. But the *nix crowd is starting to look incredibly silly sitting over in the corner snickering about the reliability of Windows today.
I hate to break it to you guys, but as far as stability is concerned - Windows 2000/XP are VERY stable operating systems. NT was pretty good, but 2000 and XP will seriously give any desktop OS out there a run for its money.
I'm not claiming 2000 or XP are the most secure OSes out there - far from it. And I still don't think a server should be running a GUI. But zealotry aside, Windows XP is a very good desktop OS.
[Note: For what it's worth I use 2000, XP, and Mandrake for the desktop and Debian or one of the BSDs for servers.]
Re:Changes we need on Slashdot RIGHT NOW
on
Slashdot Code Update
·
· Score: 1, Flamebait
I find it downright ludicrous that to date, Slashdot has NO SECURE LOGIN
Wha? Why the hell could you possibly need a SSL login for Slashdot? It's a freaking second-rate forum for geek news - that's it.
Your user ID is >.5 million and you're nick is "Compact Dick". Do you really have a problem with people tarnishing your pristine reputation with spoofed posts?
Or, if you're using the same username/password combo that you use for important shit, then you have bigger security problems than Slashdot's login.
Seriously, can you give one good reason why the extra processing and complication involved in doing SSL could possibly be worth it on a site like Slashdot?
Of course, it would still make a nice high-tech catapult for lobbing massive conventional weapons hundreds of miles
Hmmmm - I think I'd start to ask questions when I notice my neighbor building a giant maglev rail on a mountain pointing at me. Nothing is so suspicious as somebody constructing a gun that can only point at your head.;-)
However, chips are no longer clocked that low below potential from the factory [...]
Yeah, I was wondering about that as I wrote my original post. Oh well - like I said, the last time I bought a CPU the Pentium III 800 was top of the line.
I just can't understand the reasoning behind overclocking a processor just to squeeze a couple of extra megahertz out of it, when it's nearly impossible to tell the difference between MHz these days.
I've posted this before, and I'll probably be posting it in the future too.
The system I am currently using is a PIII-600 overclocked to PIII-800. I've been using it for over 2 years, and it is ROCK SOLID stable. I'm using the stock fan and it only runs about 3 degrees hotter than at 600 Mhz.
At the time the PIII-800 was nearly double the price of the PIII-600. Overclocking saved me several hundred dollars and made my system 25% faster.
Seriously folks.... why are so many people still using MP3? It can't hold a candle to Ogg Vorbis or even Windows Media.
I'll tell you why I am still ripping my CD collection to MP3s. It's because I don't have any portable electronics that can play Ogg Vorbis. I would drop MP3 in a second if Rio would release a firmware upgrade for my Rio Volt CD player that allowed it to play Oggs. And yes - I've emailed Rio (even though I knew it wouldn't do any good).
I'll tell you what - this isn't a troll, but it sure is going to sound like one.
When are we going to see the end of this pathetic obsession for "all things shiny and fast" that we Americans are cursed with. For the love of Jeebus - do we really need to be on the Internet _that_ much?
I would like to see what kind of effect it would have on the average Slashdotter to be without electronic devices for 3 weeks (e.g. camping in Canada). I have a sneaking suspicion that it would leave most of you blubbering in the corner of your tent with a snot bubble hanging out of your nose.
But seriously, this story just reminded me how terribly inconsequential most of the "news" on this site really is. Guess what guys - there is actually more to life than downloading ISOs 30,000 feet about the ground.
[That's the end of my rant. Feel free to mod me into oblivion - I probably deserve it.]
I really liked the analogy a previous poster in a different thread had come up with:
Virus/worm authors are like cockroaches. Sure it sucks to have to deal with them, but it's your own damn fault. And prosecuting is pointless - there's a million more where the last one came from.
Most current viruses are NOT very sophisticated. They exploit wide-open security holes in unpatched operating systems that were produced by careless vendors. It's like getting pissed at people walking into your house at all hours of the night. Yes, they shouldn't be doing it - but if you were locking your doors it wouldn't be a problem.
My point is that the blame should not fall entirely on the virus/worm authors. It should be evenly distributed between the vendor (for being negligent with regard to security); the system admin (for the same); and the virus author.
for personal music jukeboxes of all shapes and sizes, I wish people would use FLAC or some other lossless audio codec.
Good Lord, man - what a waste of memory that would be.
The aural difference between 256 Kbps (or even 192) MP3s and a lossless codec is imperceptible to most people. However, the memory difference between the two is not. At 1.9Mb/minute for 256 Kbps MP3 versus 5.6Mb/minute for FLAC; I know which one I would choose for a limited storage digital jukebox.
Now I'm not saying that there isn't any difference between 256 Kbps MP3s and FLAC. The difference is there - but generally, it just isn't worth it.
You guys have got it all wrong. This is the best thing that ever happened to Lindows.
Until now, I'd guess that about 1% of the computer using population has heard of Lindows. What better publicity is there than getting into a lawsuit with Microsoft? Making CNET and ZDNET headlines is a dream come true for them.
This lawsuit also legitimizes the development work they've done as far as the public is concerned. After all, Microsoft wouldn't sue them if they weren't a real threat.
And finally, they're going to be forced to ditch the knock-off name. That surely wasn't helping them any.
I got sick and tired of cleaning viruses off my users' machines and I didn't like any of the current GPL mail filters out there, so I wrote my own!
It's called batemail. Written in Perl, batemail scans incoming email messages for executable attachments. On finding an executable attachment, batemail saves the attachment on the server (optional) and replaces it with a nice little notice explaining what happened.
Go ahead and try it. It's been saving my ass for over 6 months now.
No, the GCN is better. The Xbox is PC hardware thrown together in an atrocity of a device jerry-rigged to play video games.
You are a moron - and after this post I'm done arguing with you.
So what if the XBox is mostly PC hardware. A fucking GameBoy was designed from the ground up to play games. Does that mean it is better than the XBox?
Go play both systems and then come back here and tell me that the GameCube is a more capable console than the XBox. For the love of Pete, man, that's why Nintendo is only charging $200 for it.
I understand though. You've obviously bought a GameCube and now you're going through some bizarre phase of rationalization. Don't worry pal - I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Just not as much as you would an XBox.;-)
[...] the fact of the matter is that PS2 is crap. [...] The Xbox is made by Microsoft, that's all I have to say to know that it's a big pile of horse dung. So, we're left with GameCube, [...], I find it to be the best game console.
Wow - now that is delusional fanaticism at its finest. You discount the PS2 because it was first to market. You discount the XBox because Microsoft made it. And you exalt the GameCube as the best console out there.
For the price, the GameCube is pretty cool. I'll give you that. But the XBox is undeniably the most capable hardware out there (unless you're some sort of anti-MS zealot). Of course, being the best hardware isn't everything. It doesn't have anywhere near as many games out there as the PS2, and might not ever.
You have got to be the only person out there claiming that the GameCube is a better console than the XBox. The games for GameCube might be better - maybe. But the hardware (and OS) for the XBox thoroughly wallops the PS2 and the GameCube.
Slashdot Mirror
AOL/TW isn't much better than MS after all, they cater to the lowest common denominator.
If you hate Microsoft because their products are for the "lowest common denominator", then you are hating them for the wrong reason.
My complaint with Microsoft is not that their products are inferior. Generally, after the 3rd or 4th version, they aren't.
The worst of Microsoft's problems can be attributed to one major flaw: If you're not paying your "Microsoft Tax", they aren't very happy with you.
Buy as many CD's as you can afford at the time, open ALL of them, and take them back immediately.
Ehhh - I don't know about that. You're going to get some kid screwed when he spends $400 bucks on 20 copies of Kid Rock and Wal-Mart tells him to "go find yourself a lawyer" when he tries to get a refund on them.
People will always find some excuse for piracy, but until someone is pirating YOUR software, i really dont think you have any right to excuse yourself. It's theft of intellectual property. Don't do it
If you write software and ask that people not use it without paying you - that's fine, it's your prerogative. But to go around spouting that it's theft or piracy is irresponsible. A breach of copyright, sure, but theft it ain't.
The definition of theft and piracy hinge on the notion that something you had has been taken away. So unless you don't have your software anymore - it wasn't stolen.
Too bad they didn't use regenerative aerobraking...
Regenerative areobraking? What do you want them to do - put paddle wheels on the probe?
Okay, your comment was stupid. You probably just had a twitchy "Submit" finger and wanted to get a comment in there early. I can understand that. What is ridiculous is that at least two morons out there actually thought is was "Interesting" enough to mod it up to +4.
Would whoever did that please smack the back of their head for me? Thanks.
This setup might have a chance to run XP without it feeling like a 386/16 running Windows 3.0 on 4 megs of RAM.
Is it just me or does this sound like a joke you'd hear from Nick Burns - Your Company Computer Guy?
Isn't it ironic that this story is posted directly after the one about punishing freeloaders?
What exactly is it about Windows 2000 or XP that makes it such a good desktop? [...] It's no less useable, it's no less "advanced", etc. If it's no fair to say Linux is a desktop OS then what OS exactly are you referring to?
Truly, your intellect is dizzying.
I never said 2000/XP was a better OS than Linux or *BSD. I don't even believe so myself.
The point I was making in my post was that the *nix crowd loves to joke about Windows and the BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death). But the truth of the matter is that Windows has been a pretty stable desktop OS since Windows 2000.
i managed to get my fathers brand new compaq machine with XP on it to hard reboot itself just by clicking "Switch Users" 15 minutes after starting to use it.
What are you trying to prove here - that you suck at working with computers.
Windows stability is simply a myth, anyone who says otherwise is either blinding themselves or doesn't have a lot of experience using it.
Seriously, pal, you're a moron. I'm posting this from my XP machine at home right now. A month ago I was getting occasional crashes. You know why? Because I run bleeding edge video drivers. Since the new ones came out from nVidia I haven't had a single crash - not one. And my Win 2K machine at work hasn't locked up in months.
I'm done arguing with you - you obviously don't know what you're talking about.
I know 3 people "using" Win 2K/XP... and it SUCKS! Not one of them can get it to run right.
That is operator error - I guarentee it.
Win2k, when it copies files, generates all kinds of crc errors in one case.
This is either broken IDE (or SCSI) hardware or a broken driver.
Don't tell me that 2K/XP is super reliable. It isn't.
Nobody said 2K/XP is super reliable. My point was that making jokes about constant BSODs is stupid because if it was set up properly (which you and your friends apparently cannot do) Windows 2K will give you very good uptime.
Please note that I hate Microsoft's bully tactics and their licensing extortion racket. And I'm also not making excuses for the incredibly insecure design of IIS and NT/2000/XP. But, I'm not going to sit around and make stupid jokes about their OS crashing all the time when it just isn't true.
Windows 3.1/95/98/ME were all horribly unstable - there just isn't any denying that. But the *nix crowd is starting to look incredibly silly sitting over in the corner snickering about the reliability of Windows today.
I hate to break it to you guys, but as far as stability is concerned - Windows 2000/XP are VERY stable operating systems. NT was pretty good, but 2000 and XP will seriously give any desktop OS out there a run for its money.
I'm not claiming 2000 or XP are the most secure OSes out there - far from it. And I still don't think a server should be running a GUI. But zealotry aside, Windows XP is a very good desktop OS.
[Note: For what it's worth I use 2000, XP, and Mandrake for the desktop and Debian or one of the BSDs for servers.]
I find it downright ludicrous that to date, Slashdot has NO SECURE LOGIN
.5 million and you're nick is "Compact Dick". Do you really have a problem with people tarnishing your pristine reputation with spoofed posts?
Wha? Why the hell could you possibly need a SSL login for Slashdot? It's a freaking second-rate forum for geek news - that's it.
Your user ID is >
Or, if you're using the same username/password combo that you use for important shit, then you have bigger security problems than Slashdot's login.
Seriously, can you give one good reason why the extra processing and complication involved in doing SSL could possibly be worth it on a site like Slashdot?
Of course, it would still make a nice high-tech catapult for lobbing massive conventional weapons hundreds of miles
;-)
Hmmmm - I think I'd start to ask questions when I notice my neighbor building a giant maglev rail on a mountain pointing at me. Nothing is so suspicious as somebody constructing a gun that can only point at your head.
However, chips are no longer clocked that low below potential from the factory [...]
Yeah, I was wondering about that as I wrote my original post. Oh well - like I said, the last time I bought a CPU the Pentium III 800 was top of the line.
I just can't understand the reasoning behind overclocking a processor just to squeeze a couple of extra megahertz out of it, when it's nearly impossible to tell the difference between MHz these days.
I've posted this before, and I'll probably be posting it in the future too.
The system I am currently using is a PIII-600 overclocked to PIII-800. I've been using it for over 2 years, and it is ROCK SOLID stable. I'm using the stock fan and it only runs about 3 degrees hotter than at 600 Mhz.
At the time the PIII-800 was nearly double the price of the PIII-600. Overclocking saved me several hundred dollars and made my system 25% faster.
Do you still not see the benefit in overclocking?
Seriously folks.... why are so many people still using MP3? It can't hold a candle to Ogg Vorbis or even Windows Media.
I'll tell you why I am still ripping my CD collection to MP3s. It's because I don't have any portable electronics that can play Ogg Vorbis. I would drop MP3 in a second if Rio would release a firmware upgrade for my Rio Volt CD player that allowed it to play Oggs. And yes - I've emailed Rio (even though I knew it wouldn't do any good).
I'll tell you what - this isn't a troll, but it sure is going to sound like one.
When are we going to see the end of this pathetic obsession for "all things shiny and fast" that we Americans are cursed with. For the love of Jeebus - do we really need to be on the Internet _that_ much?
I would like to see what kind of effect it would have on the average Slashdotter to be without electronic devices for 3 weeks (e.g. camping in Canada). I have a sneaking suspicion that it would leave most of you blubbering in the corner of your tent with a snot bubble hanging out of your nose.
But seriously, this story just reminded me how terribly inconsequential most of the "news" on this site really is. Guess what guys - there is actually more to life than downloading ISOs 30,000 feet about the ground.
[That's the end of my rant. Feel free to mod me into oblivion - I probably deserve it.]
I really liked the analogy a previous poster in a different thread had come up with:
Virus/worm authors are like cockroaches. Sure it sucks to have to deal with them, but it's your own damn fault. And prosecuting is pointless - there's a million more where the last one came from.
Most current viruses are NOT very sophisticated. They exploit wide-open security holes in unpatched operating systems that were produced by careless vendors. It's like getting pissed at people walking into your house at all hours of the night. Yes, they shouldn't be doing it - but if you were locking your doors it wouldn't be a problem.
My point is that the blame should not fall entirely on the virus/worm authors. It should be evenly distributed between the vendor (for being negligent with regard to security); the system admin (for the same); and the virus author.
for personal music jukeboxes of all shapes and sizes, I wish people would use FLAC or some other lossless audio codec.
Good Lord, man - what a waste of memory that would be.
The aural difference between 256 Kbps (or even 192) MP3s and a lossless codec is imperceptible to most people. However, the memory difference between the two is not. At 1.9Mb/minute for 256 Kbps MP3 versus 5.6Mb/minute for FLAC; I know which one I would choose for a limited storage digital jukebox.
Now I'm not saying that there isn't any difference between 256 Kbps MP3s and FLAC. The difference is there - but generally, it just isn't worth it.
You guys have got it all wrong. This is the best thing that ever happened to Lindows.
Until now, I'd guess that about 1% of the computer using population has heard of Lindows. What better publicity is there than getting into a lawsuit with Microsoft? Making CNET and ZDNET headlines is a dream come true for them.
This lawsuit also legitimizes the development work they've done as far as the public is concerned. After all, Microsoft wouldn't sue them if they weren't a real threat.
And finally, they're going to be forced to ditch the knock-off name. That surely wasn't helping them any.
WARNING: THIS IS A PLUG FOR MY MAIL FILTER
I got sick and tired of cleaning viruses off my users' machines and I didn't like any of the current GPL mail filters out there, so I wrote my own!
It's called batemail. Written in Perl, batemail scans incoming email messages for executable attachments. On finding an executable attachment, batemail saves the attachment on the server (optional) and replaces it with a nice little notice explaining what happened.
Go ahead and try it. It's been saving my ass for over 6 months now.
Where is Prince? He has been a very active "Anti RIAA" soldier.
The RIAA probably snuffed him.
An overdue idea and a stupid company name.
;-)
Hmmmm - who said that? Oh yeah, it was a guy who calls himself Commander Taco.
No, the GCN is better. The Xbox is PC hardware thrown together in an atrocity of a device jerry-rigged to play video games.
;-)
You are a moron - and after this post I'm done arguing with you.
So what if the XBox is mostly PC hardware. A fucking GameBoy was designed from the ground up to play games. Does that mean it is better than the XBox?
Go play both systems and then come back here and tell me that the GameCube is a more capable console than the XBox. For the love of Pete, man, that's why Nintendo is only charging $200 for it.
I understand though. You've obviously bought a GameCube and now you're going through some bizarre phase of rationalization. Don't worry pal - I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Just not as much as you would an XBox.
[...] the fact of the matter is that PS2 is crap. [...] The Xbox is made by Microsoft, that's all I have to say to know that it's a big pile of horse dung. So, we're left with GameCube, [...], I find it to be the best game console.
Wow - now that is delusional fanaticism at its finest. You discount the PS2 because it was first to market. You discount the XBox because Microsoft made it. And you exalt the GameCube as the best console out there.
For the price, the GameCube is pretty cool. I'll give you that. But the XBox is undeniably the most capable hardware out there (unless you're some sort of anti-MS zealot). Of course, being the best hardware isn't everything. It doesn't have anywhere near as many games out there as the PS2, and might not ever.
You have got to be the only person out there claiming that the GameCube is a better console than the XBox. The games for GameCube might be better - maybe. But the hardware (and OS) for the XBox thoroughly wallops the PS2 and the GameCube.
Looks like osnews is getting bogged in the traffic. I'll try and get a mirror of the article online soon.
That was your entire post and it got modded '+5 Informative'!?! Feh - real fuckin informative.