Each work that features MM is copyrighted. So, (under the
grandparent's
scheme) if "Steamboat Willie" wasn't
bringing in the $$$, Disney could let it go to Public Domain, but
still retain the copyright to Fantasia.
They would have to continuously review all the things in their
vault and pay to keep them under copyright. Periodically, they
would have to then "clean house" and enrich the public domain.
I would extend the scheme by allowing the copyright holder 14
years of payment-free use (besides the original filing fee), and
then they have to start paying in year 15. The downside to all of
this is the massive bureaucracy that would be required to keep
track of the peak annual revenue for each copyrighted work.
Granted, it will be somewhat offset by the revenue gained from the
additional fees.
Contrast that with Lessig's idea that all copyright holders have
to
pay a $1 maintenance fee after 50 years.
If someone broke into my house and was stealing from me, then there would be a problem, involving fisticuffs and possibly firearms.
On the other hand, if someone made an exact duplicate of all the items in my house, leaving the originals intact, I'd probably shrug and go on about my way.
Repeat after me: COPYING MUSIC IS NOT STEALING. It is a Copyright violation.
Matrix sucked after the first movie. #2 and #3 were filler.
All the spinoff games, anifootrix, toys and breakfast cereals (Kids! Eat a simple amino acid just like Neo!!) did was line Joel's (and Viacomm's) pockets with cash
Morpheus is dead? Boo-friggin-hoo. Maybe if the Bros had bothered to write a credible set of sequels, we could've cared.
I'm currently maintaining code from the 70's. It is a nice old Accounting package running on an AS/400 ("iSeries"), written in COBOL, running on a non-normalized instance of DB2.
My assignment: convert it to web, using Java. The issue: the code part is no problem. The issue is that &*@#$ Database, being non-normalized. Someone needs to find the original guy (calling him a "DBA" would be insulting...to DBAs) and break a boot off in his arse for his liberal use of composite keys, lack of proper indexing, his storing dates as strings (in as many different formats as you care to name IN THE SAME COLUMN), composite columns (multiple data in the same column), and the many, many tables that contain duplicate data.
I seriously doubt this. "Job Security" is something the Boomers had,
and that puppy is dead in the basket. It doesn't matter how much you
think you're in demand, if the bean counters decide that one department
is spending too much, they'll cut the tech budget and you'll be gone.
This very thing happened at Shell, and BP just two years ago, despite
the increased profits that Oil & Gas are now experiencing.
What few entry-level Comp Sci jobs there are tend to be
low-paying grunt work like help desk and desktop support.
I don't think you're paying attention. The *old way*
was for someone to start on help desk, then the good ones would work up
to desktop grunt, etc. That pipe is broken, because most (large)
businesses outsource their helpdesks to Bangladesh/Malaysia.
Finally, just because you have a CS, it doesn't make you a good
tech/programmer/whatever. I've known many good techs who didn't have a
degree at all, just as I've known techs who had a CS degree and who
couldn't tech their way out of a wet paper bag.
Next you'll say something about "people who spill coffee shouldn't get $2 million" is FUD, because McDonalds' PR skillfully spun that story all out of proportion.
As if they'd do that. I mean, they already knew the coffee could char human flesh. Why would they lie and try to make it all the woman's fault for getting her flesh charred? Even though the Jury ruled that McDonalds was negligent?
Who are you going to believe? Some nice, benevolent corporation, or some stupid person who drinks shit coffee?
"A group of 12 Apache developers have put together a proposal called Harmony. The proposal appeared as a simple project call last Friday on an Apache incubator mailing list. It would make this new, built-from-the-ground-up version of Java available under the Apache 2.0 free software license."
approach to open-sourcing Java. Your idea will not work. Here is why it won't work. (One or more of the following may apply to your particular idea, and it may have other flaws.)
( ) 7337 h4xx0r5 only work on k3wl k0d3 (x) Projects left on "Development Status: 1 - Planning" do not attract any serious developers ( ) Only Microsoft can produce a product with only FUD/hype and no actual code. ( ) It is defenseless against existing products ( ) It will be stable for two weeks and then fork too many times (x) Users of mainstream hosting providers will not put up with it ( ) Microsoft will not put up with it ( ) Sun will eventually not put up with it (x) Standards committee will bicker endlessly without writing any code ( ) Requires too much cooperation from too many people ( ) Requires immediate total cooperation from everybody at once (x) Many Java developers cannot afford to learn the JDK-du-day ( ) Poor documentation, the hallmark of FOSS projects, will kill it (x) Lack of any existing code will discourage participation
Specifically, your plan fails to account for
( ) Programmer apathy ( ) Lack of centrally controlling authority for codebase ( ) Existing versions work 'well enough' (x) A committee without code is like the US Congress: lotsa talk, no action, then gets everything wrong ( ) Asshats ( ) Unpopularity of weird new ideas ( ) Public reluctance to accept new compilers ( ) Huge existing software investment in jalopy/javac (x) Susceptibility of untested new codes to attack ( ) Willingness of users to install new jdk ( ) Armies of worm riddled broadband-connected Windows boxes ( ).NET (x) Technically illiterate PHBs ( ) Extreme stupidity on the part of the lUsers
and the following philosophical objections may also apply:
(x) Ideas similar to yours are easy to come up with, yet none have ever been shown practical (x) Any scheme sold soley on the fact that it is FOSS is unacceptable ( ) Native code running on one platform should run on any other platform ( ) Why should we have to trust you and your servers? ( ) Incompatiblity with standard JREs or Sun's licenses ( ) Feel-good measures do nothing to solve the problem
Furthermore, this is what I think about you:
(x) Sorry dude, but I don't think it would work. ( ) This is a stupid idea, and you're a stupid person for suggesting it.
Hopefully these kids (and those who are following this story) will learn the following lesson:
It doesn't matter how many security holes a system has; never, ever talk about them or try to get them fixed.
Take, for example, the US's Airport "security." That system is a complete joke. I mean, it is not even funny how easy it is to sneak things past the "guards." If you try to point out where the flaws are, they will arrest you.
Remember, their goal is not to provide security, but rather the illusion of security. The unwashed masses need the government to "do something" so they can go on about their little lives without fear. It doesn't matter if that "something" works or not, or how much money is wasted.
Initally the low usage was enough to make it worth while. No one was tarrgeting it so who cares? Well now it's getting popular, and the bugs are rolling in.
Sorry, bub - Apache is the most popular webserver by far (70% to IIS's 20%), and yet it has fewer critical bugs than IIS. Script Kidz go after the easy hit, not the most popular.
It's also an increased concern since Firefox won't patch itself.
Funny, just a little while ago, the little "Update(s) available" icon on my Firefox lit up, so I clicked it and it installed 1.04.
Oh, but that's not good enough, sez you? You want it automated? Well, it would be easy---trivially easy---to set up an update server using an old PC, linux and a few perl scripts. Just jack a little WSH goodness into the login script, and you're good to go.
Slashdot Mirror
Whatever you do, DO NOT try to validate that page...
Joel, 'zat really you?
Better hurry up, the new test is coming out in a few months.
Those publicly-funded buildings called...public libraries offer free access.
So, for the price of ... zero, they can get all
the internets they want.
It is very easy for any page to "get out of a frame," so there is no excuse for web page designers to allow their pages to be framed.
He's a trademark.
Each work that features MM is copyrighted. So, (under the grandparent's scheme) if "Steamboat Willie" wasn't bringing in the $$$, Disney could let it go to Public Domain, but still retain the copyright to Fantasia.
They would have to continuously review all the things in their vault and pay to keep them under copyright. Periodically, they would have to then "clean house" and enrich the public domain.
I would extend the scheme by allowing the copyright holder 14 years of payment-free use (besides the original filing fee), and then they have to start paying in year 15. The downside to all of this is the massive bureaucracy that would be required to keep track of the peak annual revenue for each copyrighted work. Granted, it will be somewhat offset by the revenue gained from the additional fees.
Contrast that with Lessig's idea that all copyright holders have to pay a $1 maintenance fee after 50 years.
Bug Me Not
On the other hand, if someone made an exact duplicate of all the items in my house, leaving the originals intact, I'd probably shrug and go on about my way.
Repeat after me: COPYING MUSIC IS NOT STEALING. It is a Copyright violation.
Thank you.
Music is not so interchangable (unless it is one of the manufactured bands).
The market rewards value added. Simply whining because you now can't do a Wal-Mart* to a commodity product is not adding value.
.
* Meaning trade on low price/low quality.
Good thing we're number one in bio research. Er...
Larry offered the DB for free!!
Nothing too fancy, now - just process an 8-channel pipe with 10Hz/pipe signals.
"We will burn out wave after wave of our own programmers, until we ship the product!"
From those, you will get an idea of the type and scope of technolgy the slash teams use to maintain one of the world's most popular sites.
Granted, your team is not as stilled as the crack techs at /. central, but the specs on that page will get you pointed in the right direction.
All the spinoff games, anifootrix, toys and breakfast cereals (Kids! Eat a simple amino acid just like Neo!!) did was line Joel's (and Viacomm's) pockets with cash
Morpheus is dead? Boo-friggin-hoo. Maybe if the Bros had bothered to write a credible set of sequels, we could've cared.
My assignment: convert it to web, using Java. The issue: the code part is no problem. The issue is that &*@#$ Database, being non-normalized. Someone needs to find the original guy (calling him a "DBA" would be insulting...to DBAs) and break a boot off in his arse for his liberal use of composite keys, lack of proper indexing, his storing dates as strings (in as many different formats as you care to name IN THE SAME COLUMN), composite columns (multiple data in the same column), and the many, many tables that contain duplicate data.
I seriously doubt this. "Job Security" is something the Boomers had, and that puppy is dead in the basket. It doesn't matter how much you think you're in demand, if the bean counters decide that one department is spending too much, they'll cut the tech budget and you'll be gone. This very thing happened at Shell, and BP just two years ago, despite the increased profits that Oil & Gas are now experiencing.
I don't think you're paying attention. The *old way* was for someone to start on help desk, then the good ones would work up to desktop grunt, etc. That pipe is broken, because most (large) businesses outsource their helpdesks to Bangladesh/Malaysia.
Finally, just because you have a CS, it doesn't make you a good tech/programmer/whatever. I've known many good techs who didn't have a degree at all, just as I've known techs who had a CS degree and who couldn't tech their way out of a wet paper bag.
As if they'd do that. I mean, they already knew the coffee could char human flesh. Why would they lie and try to make it all the woman's fault for getting her flesh charred? Even though the Jury ruled that McDonalds was negligent?
Who are you going to believe? Some nice, benevolent corporation, or some stupid person who drinks shit coffee?
"A group of 12 Apache developers have put together a proposal called Harmony. The proposal appeared as a simple project call last Friday on an Apache incubator mailing list. It would make this new, built-from-the-ground-up version of Java available under the Apache 2.0 free software license."
.NET
This article advocates a
( ) technical ( ) legislative ( ) market-based (x) vigilante
approach to open-sourcing Java. Your idea will not work. Here is why it won't work.
(One or more of the following may apply to your particular idea, and it may
have other flaws.)
( ) 7337 h4xx0r5 only work on k3wl k0d3
(x) Projects left on "Development Status: 1 - Planning" do not attract any serious developers
( ) Only Microsoft can produce a product with only FUD/hype and no actual code.
( ) It is defenseless against existing products
( ) It will be stable for two weeks and then fork too many times
(x) Users of mainstream hosting providers will not put up with it
( ) Microsoft will not put up with it
( ) Sun will eventually not put up with it
(x) Standards committee will bicker endlessly without writing any code
( ) Requires too much cooperation from too many people
( ) Requires immediate total cooperation from everybody at once
(x) Many Java developers cannot afford to learn the JDK-du-day
( ) Poor documentation, the hallmark of FOSS projects, will kill it
(x) Lack of any existing code will discourage participation
Specifically, your plan fails to account for
( ) Programmer apathy
( ) Lack of centrally controlling authority for codebase
( ) Existing versions work 'well enough'
(x) A committee without code is like the US Congress: lotsa talk, no action, then gets everything wrong
( ) Asshats
( ) Unpopularity of weird new ideas
( ) Public reluctance to accept new compilers
( ) Huge existing software investment in jalopy/javac
(x) Susceptibility of untested new codes to attack
( ) Willingness of users to install new jdk
( ) Armies of worm riddled broadband-connected Windows boxes
( )
(x) Technically illiterate PHBs
( ) Extreme stupidity on the part of the lUsers
and the following philosophical objections may also apply:
(x) Ideas similar to yours are easy to come up with, yet none have ever been shown practical
(x) Any scheme sold soley on the fact that it is FOSS is unacceptable
( ) Native code running on one platform should run on any other platform
( ) Why should we have to trust you and your servers?
( ) Incompatiblity with standard JREs or Sun's licenses
( ) Feel-good measures do nothing to solve the problem
Furthermore, this is what I think about you:
(x) Sorry dude, but I don't think it would work.
( ) This is a stupid idea, and you're a stupid person for suggesting it.
Hopefully these kids (and those who are following this story) will learn the following lesson:
Take, for example, the US's Airport "security." That system is a complete joke. I mean, it is not even funny how easy it is to sneak things past the "guards." If you try to point out where the flaws are, they will arrest you.
Remember, their goal is not to provide security, but rather the illusion of security. The unwashed masses need the government to "do something" so they can go on about their little lives without fear. It doesn't matter if that "something" works or not, or how much money is wasted.
Oh, but that's not good enough, sez you? You want it automated? Well, it would be easy---trivially easy---to set up an update server using an old PC, linux and a few perl scripts. Just jack a little WSH goodness into the login script, and you're good to go.
A contract cannot override the law.
"Uh, sorry, I don't remember it."
You don't remember your social security number?
No, sorry.(sigh) Fine. I'll let you off this time.
(yes, this time and every time, you fat, donut-eating pork belly product of generational incest) "Thank you."
Exit, stage left.