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User: melee70

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  1. Amazon domination not DRM is the problem on How Publishers Are Cutting Their Own Throats With eBook DRM · · Score: 1

    This guy has his focus all wrong. Blaming DRM for the problem is bass ackwards. You don't see the music industry blaming DRM for their problems with digital music. They, and rightly so, blame Apple's domination for their quandary. The same can be said for DRM on ebooks. It is not DRM that is the problem. It is the domination of the entire market by a single vendor. Fix that problem and DRM no longer is an issue.

    Physical books have Rights Management built right into them. It's called buying a single copy of a book. You don't demand unlimited copies of a physical book from a bookstore so why should you demand unlimited digital copies?

  2. Re:Ross is technically right, practically wrong on Copyright Alliance Says Fair Use Not a Consumer Right · · Score: 1

    He is not right technically or practically:

    Here is the definition of a legal right:

    In modern English and European systems of jurisprudence and law, a right is the legal or moral entitlement to do or refrain from doing something or to obtain or refrain from obtaining an action, thing or recognition in civil society.

    Under this legally accepted definition the description of fair use is in fact clearly a legal right as it entitles certain parties to do something.

    I emailed Ross directly and below is his reply:

    Thank you for writing. I find it interesting you're citing US Code and aren't familiar with "affirmative defense." It sounds like you need to speak with a copyright attorney, but you can start by reading our FAQ on fair use at http://www.copyrightalliance.org/copyrightsandyou/ fairusefaqs

    I'm glad you wrote because your confusion makes my point for me. As you yourself point out, fair use is a limitation on an otherwise exclusive right. Congress, empowered by the Progress Clause of the US Constitution, in 1790 granted limited monopoly rights to creators. Nearly 200 years later, a fair use section was added to copyright law, that puts limits on those rights.

    Imagine I own a farm and you like to fish downstream from my farm. I have property rights over my farm, but the government imposes limits on my exclusive rights. For example, I can't leach hazardous biochemical waste produced on my farm into the stream. That's good for you and the fish that you caught, but you have no "rights" related to my farm. I have limitations on my rights that benefit you and everyone else who wishes to use that stream.

    The confusion you've shown here over the use of the word "right" shows exactly why it would be dangerous to use copyright warnings to explain fair use. Whole courses in law school are taught on this; it is not summed up by citing a portion of the US Code, nor is it summed up in my op-ed. It is far more complicated than that.

    You might also want to read:

    "What's 'Fair'? Why those Concerned About Copyright Fair Use Need to Say What They Mean," U. of Utah Professor Lee Hollaar, Institute for Policy Innovation, April 11, 2007 at http://www.ipi.org/ipi/IPIPublications.nsf/4e3087e 6ce3d8be6862567d8006fd628/33230e94b3b08de8862572c0 0053aa5e?OpenDocument

    "Stepping on the Toes of Giants: What Not to Think About Copyright," Solveig Singleton, Progress & Freedom Foundation, May 2007 at http://pff.org/issues-pubs/ps/2007/ps3.6warmfuzzyt hinking.html

    "Mountains Out of Molehills: How Believing the Worst Makes Technologists Ineffective, And What They Can Do About It," Lee Hollaar, Institute for Policy Innovation, April 26, 2007 at http://www.ipi.org/ipi/IPIPublications.nsf/f726f49 98ba46f86862567d80074727a/3b640346db49973d862572cd 00598873?OpenDocument

    "Artists and Culture: Empowering the Former to Foster the Latter," Patrick Ross, Progress & Freedom Foundation, May 2006 at http://www.pff.org/issues-pubs/pops/pop13.6artistc ulture.pdf

  3. Contract cost justification on Why are Businesses Willing to Spend More for Software? · · Score: 1

    Those taking bids on software development enter the situation with an expected cost based on their prior investigations. When a contractor provides a bid that is either conspicuously too high or too low it is often disregarded. If you wish to submit unusually low bids for software development projects you will need to explicitly justify your lower costs in a line by line financial estimation statement. Companies today have learned the hard way that going to cheap route often leads to future costs to fix the cheap software.

  4. Re:One Downside on Downsides to the C++ STL? · · Score: 1

    so basically all of you that are complaining about C++ seemed to be saying the same thing. You actually have to learn something for once. If you don't know what you are doing you can really screw things up. That is so horrible. Maybe that's why they have tests in school and maybe that's why you should have actually learned the material. Half assed wanna be programmers that don't know what the hell they are doing will always screw things up and then complain about it.

    The power and complexity of C++ just makes it much easier for these wanna be's to mess things up.

  5. Re:Why not Java? on What Makes a Powerful Programming Language? · · Score: 1

    It would also be very helpful to know the type of app being developed. A very heavy client application is best suited to C++ while a lighter app is fine for Java.

    There is software that will allow a C++ program to be recompiled for multiple platforms by the way.

  6. Re:Convince me on The D Programming Language · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately there are few programmers that take advantage of even half of the capabilities of C++ because of the complexity that is present in the language. Most revert to functional C programming instead of actually implmenting a well designed OO program.

  7. Re:Convince me on The D Programming Language · · Score: 1

    Show me one complex mathmatical program where performance is a consideration that has been implemented in Java. Java is interpreted and will never be able to compete directly with the speed of a C program. Why are there no video games or simulations written in Java? Speed bro.. it ain't there in Java

  8. Re:Bad precedent? Air Force Purchase.. on Iridium Saved By the US Dept of Defense · · Score: 1

    This is not corporate welfare it is the delay the Air Force needs to justify their purchase of this constellation for their intelligence and communication purposes.