Then I'll start downloading pirated music, which I don't do currently. I don't have a single file-sharing app on my PC (unless you count MSN, FTP, et alius) and don't use those for much other than moving around source code..
But if they make me pay an ISP fee to download pirated music, and they reap profits from that, isn't that the same as selling me the right to download said music? As far as I'm concerned, it is.
Hasn't anyone (maybe on the supreme court) noticed the key wording in the constitution that affects this case more than mere extension of existing copyrights?
The fact that congress is granted the power to establish copyrights and patents for a limited time for the *author or inventor* of a work!
I see Walt Disney is really enjoying the payments he is receiving that I'm sure Disney Corp. is mailing to his tombstone.
Seriously, the whole intent and purpose of copyright is to promote authorship and creation, which has been established. How, exactly, does protecting corporate profits beyond the author or creator's death promote anything but fattening corporate accounts, and isn't it actually unconstitutional since the only *granted power* in the constitution applies to the creator? How following laws were worded is irrelevant to a discussion about constitutionality. The intent of the constitution itself is not established by mistakes or misinterpretations made over centuries.
Upon reading the article, they do specify some damage limits by California law, but not what the suit is claiming..
The amounts do appear to be *rather low* on the maximums...
Does anyone think that a mere $75,000 in damages each for a "small group of PC Owners" would be enough to push Intel to advertise truthfully, even if they were to lose the case?
I will be very impressed it the "Technocrats" of the Linux developer type, actually concern themselves with such an aesthetic as good fonts which in no way affects the reliability or performance of the OS.
I believe the issue here is that Typography is an art that goes back to the invention of the printing press - well beyond our little toys of today.
In those hundreds of years, most of the basic font designs have all been used billions of times under millions of names.
Unless you can show your typeface to be significantly unique (like letters made out of the face of your CEO or some such silliness), the actual appearance of your font has little to no copyright protection due to the fact that sometime in those hundreds of years, someone else has used the same appearance in all likelyhood...
This has been recognized in several cases regarding copyright of fonts, and basically resulted in, as you say, a lack of copyright on the appearance of a font. You can of course license the installer, format, and other such things just like you can any other computer data, but not the appearance itself.
I am not a lawyer, however. Don't ask for case names, and of course, always consult a lawyer if you really gotta know.
There is nothing wrong, IMHO, with making anything easier to install. In almost any case, there are going to be failsafe defaults that the distro/application *could* use. Forcing the user to choose between numerous options that he/she may not have any clue about without getting online (typically with a Win machine, if the OS isn't setup yet) and reading FAQs, is most likely going to deter the user from using Linux/BSD, etc, for very long.
As for those who say they want to be able to know what is going on in their OS -- That's why you click the "Advanced" box that should always be supplied, silly.
Of course, the caveat on my post is that the link appears to have already been slashdotted, or is otherwise unavailable from my location... and so I haven't actually seen how Ximian does it, but ANY attempt to make things easier to get going with X is a good attempt in my book.
Why would I buy an X-Box, mod it up, and spend all that money, to watch pirated CD's at low quality? I already have a computer, and most people who would have access to such CD's and modded equipment already do.
I don't see my grandma getting an X-Box for example... people that have fallen behind on technology so far as to not have a computer are more likely to stick to their trusty VCR for pirated movies.
This is no surprise to me -- in fact I was just wondering as I was downloading Mozilla RC2 how long it would be before we got Netscape 7.0...
Netscape is, as has been pointed out here many times, a stripped down (perhaps dumbed-down) Mozilla... That isn't necessarily going to upset AOL for people to call it that though...
Mozilla RC2 had advanced far enough that it was making Netscape 6.22 look downright OLD... and for good reason, Netscape 6.22 was based on an older branch from Mozilla.
AOL couldn't have its thunder stolen, so they *had* to release a new Netscape. Smart business decision.
As for being dumbed-down... Well, yes, it is. Remember folks, Netscape 6.x series (and obviously 7.x now) is working toward inclusion in the AOL browser.
Can you imagine what the 13 year old kids using AOL would do to Mozilla if they found the "File A Bug" option on the QA menu??? Or how confused the 60 year old grandmas would be when they saw too many options on the preferences menu?
AOL takes a very advanced product - Mozilla - and makes it for the mass market - Netscape.
Netscape is updated less frequently so that end-users can feel comfortable without having to upgrade regularly, and Mozilla remains development oriented for those of us who must have the latest features. Nothing wrong with that at all.
That, actually, is the ideal world for browsers, if you ask me.
Gee, a search spell checker? I've never seen this "feature" before... I just hope they don't expand it and start "correcting" my spelling on things that are supposed to be mis-spelled, such as microsnot, micro$oft etc...
The higher cost of selected adwords that generate a lot of advertising, not only serves to increase Google's profits on those ads, but more importantly for those using the search engine, will reduce the number of ads cluttering up our search results by reducing the total number of these ads, while at the same time, not limiting legitimate commerce of less popular "adwords".
So... If I choose expensive words that show up a lot on search results, but word my ad in such a way as to keep people from clicking directly on my site, but rather to send a message to them (such as a political statement), thus keeping my click-thru's low...
Then I get more impressions than I would have if I'd tried to have a higher click-thru, and therefore, my message gets across to more people for less cost.
Interesting. And, I can see why google wouldn't want you to do it (it would reduce the profits from the system).
I have always been adamant that realism belongs in games so long as it does not interfere with the player's ability to enjoy the game.
For different people, this means different things. For some, having an impossible challenge is what it takes to enjoy the game, and in some cases, realism provides this, since in real life, some things are nearly impossible!
However, for some losers like myself, I don't want to feel like I'm in real life while playing a game. I don't have 20 hours a day 7 days a week to hone my skills for each and every game that comes along.
In fact, when a new game is released, I often will try it at a friend's house first.
As soon as it puts me up against a situation where I have to spend hours on one menial task (jumping across a bridge a certain way, or killing a "boss" that can and does kill you instantly while it takes you 40,000 hits to kill it, etc), I put the game down FOREVER.
My reason? Sure... coming up to that challenge might be rewarding for some... However, the challenge of real life is rewarding enough for me, and the games, well, they're an escape from real life. As soon as you make a game as challenging as real life, or moreso, I feel that at that point it is time for me to choose the challenge that gives me the most reward: Real Life.
So, keep realism for Real Life, and keep Games for play.
Years ago I was into the "Turbo Dodge" cars from the 80s. These could have HUGE horsepower gains from reprogramming the engine computer. You could get a pre-reprogrammed one from Mopar, but the best option was to get one custom-programmed for your particular car's stats.
The main reason it was difficult to do was because you needed an eeprom burner, and few people have those, so everybody paid this one guy who would program the computers for the Mopar Dodges, named Neil...
Now with the newer cars that have been announced running Windows CE, I bet all of this just got easier... as well as crashing them getting easier:)
Let's just hope the performance of these cards excels the performance of the reviewer's webserver.
Re:Just downloaded and installed Kmeleon
on
Netscape 6.2
·
· Score: 1
I suppose the difference could be our OS. I'm using Windows by necessity of some of the applications I have to run, such as Excel. Under Windows, Opera 5.12's ad banner doesn't take up any extra space if you've already go the toolbars open, which I do.
Also in Windows, With a Duron 900 & 424 MB Ram, the length of time it takes for something to load should be nearly instantaneous, and I get that from Opera.
It's all good as long as not supporting the Evil Empire.
Re:Just downloaded and installed Kmeleon
on
Netscape 6.2
·
· Score: 1
Actually, the ads are not that huge. You could either have AOL trying to take over your computer, or an ad banner, that at least on a 1024x768 screen, takes up space that used to be AN EMPTY GREY AREA.
Personally, I don't mind. They have written a good product that does what it claims, does it without hiccups, doesn't hide behind any illusions of grandeur, doesn't spend its time wondering why not everyone is a techie and wants to deal with development level software, and doesn't leverage a monopoly.
The fact that they *GASP* might actually try to make a living doing this apparently is beyond most people. I'm sorry, Mozilla does not have the stability, and most importantly SPEED of Opera. Standards Compliant? Did you check out the press release Opera made about that last week? It wouldn't even display in Internet Explorer, but was W3C validated. Their point was that they ARE standards compliant, the Microsoft weenies aren't. Mozilla itself may also be "standards compliant", and perhaps to a larger degree than Opera. However, I would rather be a few features behind on the latest and greatest, than to wonder why my browser is inordinately slow, and keeps crashing all the time.
Netscape is Dead. Long live Opera.
Re:Just downloaded and installed Kmeleon
on
Netscape 6.2
·
· Score: 1
* Scroll Mouse: Opera
* URL Autocomplete : Opera
* Google Toolbar : Opera has configurable toolbar search, I have mine set to... Google.
Slashdot Mirror
Then I'll start downloading pirated music, which I don't do currently. I don't have a single file-sharing app on my PC (unless you count MSN, FTP, et alius) and don't use those for much other than moving around source code..
But if they make me pay an ISP fee to download pirated music, and they reap profits from that, isn't that the same as selling me the right to download said music? As far as I'm concerned, it is.
>From Webster 1913:
> Up"shot` (?), n.
Uhoh... Better hang onto that 1913 edition!! It's the last one you'll be able to get for a while!
Hasn't anyone (maybe on the supreme court) noticed the key wording in the constitution that affects this case more than mere extension of existing copyrights?
The fact that congress is granted the power to establish copyrights and patents for a limited time for the *author or inventor* of a work!
I see Walt Disney is really enjoying the payments he is receiving that I'm sure Disney Corp. is mailing to his tombstone.
Seriously, the whole intent and purpose of copyright is to promote authorship and creation, which has been established. How, exactly, does protecting corporate profits beyond the author or creator's death promote anything but fattening corporate accounts, and isn't it actually unconstitutional since the only *granted power* in the constitution applies to the creator? How following laws were worded is irrelevant to a discussion about constitutionality. The intent of the constitution itself is not established by mistakes or misinterpretations made over centuries.
In Other News:
Newbie spotted actually using efnet to chat, however the channel bots slapped him down quickly enough and sitebanned him for speaking on channel.
Percentage of bots to users on efnet has reached an all time high: 105% bots and a negative number of users.
Upon reading the article, they do specify some damage limits by California law, but not what the suit is claiming..
The amounts do appear to be *rather low* on the maximums...
Does anyone think that a mere $75,000 in damages each for a "small group of PC Owners" would be enough to push Intel to advertise truthfully, even if they were to lose the case?
Well, it would be interesting to see them succeed, but I don't see it happening. Exactly what damages are they claiming?
Nice link to free fonts (eye.box.sk), however, the page doesn't seem very Mozilla-Friendly (TM)..
You've hit the nail on the head!
I will be very impressed it the "Technocrats" of the Linux developer type, actually concern themselves with such an aesthetic as good fonts which in no way affects the reliability or performance of the OS.
I believe the issue here is that Typography is an art that goes back to the invention of the printing press - well beyond our little toys of today.
In those hundreds of years, most of the basic font designs have all been used billions of times under millions of names.
Unless you can show your typeface to be significantly unique (like letters made out of the face of your CEO or some such silliness), the actual appearance of your font has little to no copyright protection due to the fact that sometime in those hundreds of years, someone else has used the same appearance in all likelyhood...
This has been recognized in several cases regarding copyright of fonts, and basically resulted in, as you say, a lack of copyright on the appearance of a font. You can of course license the installer, format, and other such things just like you can any other computer data, but not the appearance itself.
I am not a lawyer, however. Don't ask for case names, and of course, always consult a lawyer if you really gotta know.
There is nothing wrong, IMHO, with making anything easier to install. In almost any case, there are going to be failsafe defaults that the distro/application *could* use. Forcing the user to choose between numerous options that he/she may not have any clue about without getting online (typically with a Win machine, if the OS isn't setup yet) and reading FAQs, is most likely going to deter the user from using Linux/BSD, etc, for very long.
As for those who say they want to be able to know what is going on in their OS -- That's why you click the "Advanced" box that should always be supplied, silly.
Of course, the caveat on my post is that the link appears to have already been slashdotted, or is otherwise unavailable from my location... and so I haven't actually seen how Ximian does it, but ANY attempt to make things easier to get going with X is a good attempt in my book.
Why would I buy an X-Box, mod it up, and spend all that money, to watch pirated CD's at low quality? I already have a computer, and most people who would have access to such CD's and modded equipment already do.
I don't see my grandma getting an X-Box for example... people that have fallen behind on technology so far as to not have a computer are more likely to stick to their trusty VCR for pirated movies.
(flashes back to Flight Simulator 3.0)
Makes me wonder... does this guy's flight sim run MS software? If so, the feds have nothing to worry about..
Terrorist 1: Well I spent a few hours on the trainer today...
Terrorist 2: How'd it go?
Terrorist 1: Well every time I try to open the cockpit door, it blue-screens on me...
Terrorist 2: Oh... Guess it's back to plan A, hijacking pigeons.
Ack!
This is no surprise to me -- in fact I was just wondering as I was downloading Mozilla RC2 how long it would be before we got Netscape 7.0...
Netscape is, as has been pointed out here many times, a stripped down (perhaps dumbed-down) Mozilla... That isn't necessarily going to upset AOL for people to call it that though...
Mozilla RC2 had advanced far enough that it was making Netscape 6.22 look downright OLD... and for good reason, Netscape 6.22 was based on an older branch from Mozilla.
AOL couldn't have its thunder stolen, so they *had* to release a new Netscape. Smart business decision.
As for being dumbed-down... Well, yes, it is. Remember folks, Netscape 6.x series (and obviously 7.x now) is working toward inclusion in the AOL browser.
Can you imagine what the 13 year old kids using AOL would do to Mozilla if they found the "File A Bug" option on the QA menu??? Or how confused the 60 year old grandmas would be when they saw too many options on the preferences menu?
AOL takes a very advanced product - Mozilla - and makes it for the mass market - Netscape.
Netscape is updated less frequently so that end-users can feel comfortable without having to upgrade regularly, and Mozilla remains development oriented for those of us who must have the latest features. Nothing wrong with that at all.
That, actually, is the ideal world for browsers, if you ask me.
but not quite yet.
Until I can run it on the skeleton frame home-built computer sitting on my desk, without having to purchase a $1000 bubble, I won't be using it.
What would I like to see? Obviously, AMD Hammer support - on standard hardware. I'd buy that.
Gee, a search spell checker? I've never seen this "feature" before... I just hope they don't expand it and start "correcting" my spelling on things that are supposed to be mis-spelled, such as microsnot, micro$oft etc...
Good point.
The higher cost of selected adwords that generate a lot of advertising, not only serves to increase Google's profits on those ads, but more importantly for those using the search engine, will reduce the number of ads cluttering up our search results by reducing the total number of these ads, while at the same time, not limiting legitimate commerce of less popular "adwords".
So ... If I choose expensive words that show up a lot on search results, but word my ad in such a way as to keep people from clicking directly on my site, but rather to send a message to them (such as a political statement), thus keeping my click-thru's low...
Then I get more impressions than I would have if I'd tried to have a higher click-thru, and therefore, my message gets across to more people for less cost.
Interesting. And, I can see why google wouldn't want you to do it (it would reduce the profits from the system).
I have always been adamant that realism belongs in games so long as it does not interfere with the player's ability to enjoy the game.
For different people, this means different things. For some, having an impossible challenge is what it takes to enjoy the game, and in some cases, realism provides this, since in real life, some things are nearly impossible!
However, for some losers like myself, I don't want to feel like I'm in real life while playing a game. I don't have 20 hours a day 7 days a week to hone my skills for each and every game that comes along.
In fact, when a new game is released, I often will try it at a friend's house first.
As soon as it puts me up against a situation where I have to spend hours on one menial task (jumping across a bridge a certain way, or killing a "boss" that can and does kill you instantly while it takes you 40,000 hits to kill it, etc), I put the game down FOREVER.
My reason? Sure... coming up to that challenge might be rewarding for some... However, the challenge of real life is rewarding enough for me, and the games, well, they're an escape from real life. As soon as you make a game as challenging as real life, or moreso, I feel that at that point it is time for me to choose the challenge that gives me the most reward: Real Life.
So, keep realism for Real Life, and keep Games for play.
Years ago I was into the "Turbo Dodge" cars from the 80s. These could have HUGE horsepower gains from reprogramming the engine computer. You could get a pre-reprogrammed one from Mopar, but the best option was to get one custom-programmed for your particular car's stats.
:)
The main reason it was difficult to do was because you needed an eeprom burner, and few people have those, so everybody paid this one guy who would program the computers for the Mopar Dodges, named Neil...
Now with the newer cars that have been announced running Windows CE, I bet all of this just got easier... as well as crashing them getting easier
Let's just hope the performance of these cards excels the performance of the reviewer's webserver.
I suppose the difference could be our OS. I'm using Windows by necessity of some of the applications I have to run, such as Excel. Under Windows, Opera 5.12's ad banner doesn't take up any extra space if you've already go the toolbars open, which I do.
Also in Windows, With a Duron 900 & 424 MB Ram, the length of time it takes for something to load should be nearly instantaneous, and I get that from Opera.
It's all good as long as not supporting the Evil Empire.
Actually, the ads are not that huge. You could either have AOL trying to take over your computer, or an ad banner, that at least on a 1024x768 screen, takes up space that used to be AN EMPTY GREY AREA.
Personally, I don't mind. They have written a good product that does what it claims, does it without hiccups, doesn't hide behind any illusions of grandeur, doesn't spend its time wondering why not everyone is a techie and wants to deal with development level software, and doesn't leverage a monopoly.
The fact that they *GASP* might actually try to make a living doing this apparently is beyond most people. I'm sorry, Mozilla does not have the stability, and most importantly SPEED of Opera. Standards Compliant? Did you check out the press release Opera made about that last week? It wouldn't even display in Internet Explorer, but was W3C validated. Their point was that they ARE standards compliant, the Microsoft weenies aren't. Mozilla itself may also be "standards compliant", and perhaps to a larger degree than Opera. However, I would rather be a few features behind on the latest and greatest, than to wonder why my browser is inordinately slow, and keeps crashing all the time.
Netscape is Dead. Long live Opera.
* Scroll Mouse: Opera
:)
* URL Autocomplete : Opera
* Google Toolbar : Opera has configurable toolbar search, I have mine set to... Google.
Any questions?
Opera. Opera.