Well... IANAL but... technically with open source code, you only are expected to provide modifications to source, to your "customers". Correct?
In this case, the customers would probably be "the military" from Boeing's perspective.
The individual soldiers are not the customer, so they don't get the source, just pre-compiled binaries installed on the systems they are using. The military itself can then decide that its employees should respect that code as Trade Secret (perhaps, although things like "National Security get bandied about a bit), and penalize anyone who tells other people about its workings (since SOMEONE within the Military will want/need to look at the code, probably in a tech support/services branch).
note: the "other people" mentioned above are not customers using the system, and therefore are NOT required to have access to the Source Code, even according to the GPL, and thats not even counting the fact that apps running on a stock kernel could be licensed under a different license (while the above discussion about GPL changes would still apply to kernel changes).
3. Top end PCs clearly have superior power and better input/output options.
And Top end PCs cost how much?
As PCs have advanced to the latest generation, the hardware is ridiculously overpowered for what the majority of users do (Word processing, Spread sheets, email, web surfing, the occasional video).
That means that, barring mal-ware infection of the OS, most people can use a given system for longer than the old "Its good for two years". Most systems, unless you need to play the latest games, can easily last 4-5 years. So, does it make sense for people to spend money upgrading constantly for a Top End PC, or just going out and buying a console for the price of a Top End video card? (let alone a new processor, motherboard, memory, etc.)
Nope. Bought it from Hastings, they wouldn't take it back. They have a no-return policy on Xbox 360s alone. You can return your wii or ps3, but not your 360. They told me to talk to Microsoft.
Wow. I wonder how many broken 360s they had to replace to force a policy change like that. The only electronics I know stores usually have a policy like that on, are TVs over 30" in size (where there might be a scratch or something in the plastic case, or on the screen, or a defective pixel). In those cases they explicitly refer you to the manufacturer.
Apple's continuous attempt to stop people from changing software on their home computers is a good example of how they feel about freedom.
I must be missing something. I've found it MUCH easier to remove applications on my Mac than on my Windows PC. Just drag the application to the trashcan. On Windows I have to run the uninstaller and pray it finds all the application's pieces (and even then, it takes a ridiculously long time and doesn't always work).
Extremely limited upgrade options, and to keep up with modern hardware you have to replace the entire system every two-three years.
You're right about limited upgrade options, but they also have a much longer longevity. I'm using a 5 year old PowerBook to develop on professionally. In that time it came with 10.3, been upgraded to Tiger (10.4), and recently to Leopard (10.5). The interface is still snappy, and with the exception of some video editing, its chugging along just fine with no decrease in performance. The DVD burner still works, the screen still works, the battery needed changing, but that is something that will happen in most laptops.
You are right though that, a new MacBook Pro would be snappier in opening applications, and I would have a much better Virtual Machine in Parallels (or Boot Camp), than in Virtual PC.
How much does the average person actually upgrade their computer over the course of its life? Hard-drive? Possibly, but USB hard-drives make that "easy" even for iMacs and Laptops. Memory? Possibly, but iMacs and Laptops also have that option. VideoCard? Yes, if they have to keep up to date on the latest PC games. If they aren't so concerned with playing the latest "Crysis" or if they use a console though, no. Processor? Most people don't know that they have one, so much as how to upgrade one.
Yeah, they don't have as much flexibility as a home built PC (although the MacPro's seem to have a lot of what you're looking for, although they are aimed at the professional workstation market), but for most home and office users, a MacMini or an iMac will suit there needs just fine, without needing the upgrading options down the road (or at least nothing that can't be connected via USB, FireWire, or Network).
Well, this news are for Open Office (and other open source office suites) what Vista was for OSX! If Microsoft continues shooting itself on its foot, well built alternatives will have no trouble at all to gain its deserved market share!
There. Fixed that for ya.:)
Actually kidding aside, you may have a point. I have a few non-technical people who are getting tired of MS, and are talking about getting another XP PC, but also converting their existing PC to Linux "to play with".
I've also heard a few of them complaining about MS and how they've decided to try a Mac instead.
I've got a copy of "The Notebooks of Lazarus Long" (the illustrated edition which is unfortunately out of print) in my bookcase by my desk, and usually reread it about once a year or so.
Of course, the current problem we have is missing second part of that quote:
"When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space travel is that is made it possible to go elsewhere." (emphasis mine)
Unfortunately with our stalled Space Program, elsewhere is less of an alternative than I would like, which brings to mind another Aphorism from earlier in the same book:
"A generation which ignores history has no past - and no future." or perhaps "You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once."
2. Should an aircraft go down as the result of Terrorist actions, pay everyone on board $1,000,000 from the fund.
This would just motivate the Terrorists to blow up planes full of martyrs, so they could collect the money..... Hmmm... seems like a decent solution.:)
Then by abolishing the daft rule of "if a man is being searched, then no other men are allowed to go through the scanner" (Same for women). Why on earth not? If the next man "beeps" the scanner, then they can wait to be searched. Not difficult.
Well... I'm not positive, but I think the reasoning here is twofold.
1) You don't have to have a separate queue of "people waiting to be searched" (which would potentially take up just as much space as the original one, but be in a different position.
2) They would have to figure out a better way of handling the baggage that rolls through the scanner now and keeping it with the person. Right now its a simple FIFO queue, which presents less opportunity for confusion, miss-grabbed bags, and theft.
Old information. 1.1 players are out, 2.0 will be out early this spring.
Since its been announced at CES that the PS3 will include an update to support Profile 2.0 in a future firmware, does that mean that 2.0 players are available now? (an that they have been for a little over a year?:) )
Quite surprising that Sony won for once, though. *cough*minidisc*cough*
Well... I think MiniDisc actually was in the process of winning, when this new fangled thing called the MP3 came out, along with enough bandwidth that people could swap them on-line. Sort of threw the whole industry for a curve that took them a few years to sort out. Its one of the reasons that there is this persistent meme that Video downloads will make any winner in the HD DVD/Blu-Ray war irrelevant (despite the fact that market penetration of high-speed bandwidth is no where near what it would need to be to support this).
On a related note, despite Sony's backing of things like UMD, MemoryStick and MiniDisc, they did get at least one format right Compact Discs. The CD was jointly developed by Phillips and Sony. When they are working with others, the format they develop usually wins, its when they are going against the rest of the industry that they usually lose.
No kidding. Its at the top of my list of "Movies I would buy if they were out in Blu-Ray."
On a related note, if you enjoyed watching Summer Glau (River) kick Reaver butt, check out the "Sarah Conner Chronicles". Not sure how good the show will be, but she's playing the "Good" Terminator.:D
Oh... They are also setting the series after T2 (effectively ignoring T3?)
Moral of the story: Never believe anything you read or hear, especially when it's said in corporate circles.
Damn.. school must have been hard for you.
Probably was, especially since the line between corporate and public/private has blurred so much (McDonalds running School lunch programs for instance).
You're right, I certainly took too argumentative a stance, however I was genuinely surprised by your comments, so I'll try not to be either "ignorant or obtuse".
Just recently Slashdot was talking about problems with Netflix downloads, and I thought it was pretty clear that while individuals can put together wrappers to download and strip Netflix streams into non-DRMed files on Linux, the official viewer was made for windows.
I assumed that since the discussion was what the average person would do (which is a far cry from the average Slashdot user), a connection between Linux and Netflix might be a bit much for them, unless there is a package dedicated to this already (in which case I'm genuinely curious about its existence).
Yes, I'm sure that things can be scripted together, but is it something that is a supported package or is it something you put together for yourself? Is all of this within Netflix's Terms of Service?
You also mentioned in your post here "In my world all of your conditions have been met or do not apply. Don't be discouraged that this technology is too difficult for you. It will get easier and you'll soon enjoy the freedom others have." I'd suggest that you tone back your own attitude a bit also. Just because someone doesn't follow your reasoning, doesn't mean "this technology is too difficult for them", or is your usual approach to dismiss someone's position and then insult them?
And yet the vast majority of people who buy DVDs now purchase them for movies. This is usually where one WOULD care more about the quality than in TV broadcasts.
I'd also guess that box sets of TV episodes still consume quite a bit of purchasers money. The nice advantage of Disks, is that they already handle the "storage issue".
Considering how often people upgrade their computers, the two numbers that need to increase are Hard-Drive storage, and bandwidth to the house.
Yeah, both could be in range within 5-10 years to compete with HD broadcasts or disks, but, while the storage issue will certainly be solved, I'm not sure that the bandwidth issue WILL be.
There is also the portability issue, but that was not part of our discussion. (take it on a trip, take it to a friends house, take it some place without an internet connection, etc.)
All of this business with a new two-way standard is driven by the Cable Companies trying to move to Switched Digital Video (SDV) which requires two-way communication (which the CableCard 1.0 standard can't provide), while at the same time they've been dragging their collective heals about approving/finalizing a CableCard 2.0 spec that would allow two-way communication.
The FCC is getting ticked off (since the Cable Companies deployment of SDV means subscribers require their boxes, since even CCv1 devices can't work with SDV channels), and TiVo has been leading the charge against the Cable companies (since they have the most to gain by a proper spec).
P2P downloading is only free if: a) Your time means nothing b) You pay nothing for bandwidth c) The chance of getting caught is 0% or the consequences of getting caught is 0%.
a) and b) may well be the case for "tech savy neighbourhood kids" living with their parents and c) is small enough not to matter for most people. "A": aptget install [package]. 10 minutes? 45 for full intragration? "B": Unlimited (so far) up to 30meg down, $45 a month. "C": Netflix for starters.
In my world all of your conditions have been met or do not apply. Don't be discouraged that this technology is too difficult for you. It will get easier and you'll soon enjoy the freedom others have.
I'm so glad to hear that Netflix is now hosting torrents for free downloading, right?
I'm sorry, did you mean to imply that Netflix has a download client that integrates into Linux?
Okay, then how IS your C relevant at all to A and B?
I'd agree that digital distribution is increasing in popularity, but I disagree that most LEGAL distribution is no where near the quality of either HiDef format, because sufficient bandwidth "to the living room" has not yet been rolled out.
This means that the videos are fine for Computer monitors, and probably decent for small to midsize HDTVs (although I still see major artifacting on a 32" which isn't that big in HDTV size), but they present an inadequate quality on a mid-size to larger HDTV.
As a point of reference, I usually watch digital SD TV broadcasts zoomed in to remove letterboxing. Recently I picked up one or two Blu-Ray discs and was watching one (Pixar Shorts from Disney). I was amazed at how noticeable the difference in quality was.
Am I going to stop watching SD TV broadcasts? No. Does that mean there is no difference? No.
I also had recently watched a few amazon UnBox downloads (an episode or two of Stargate:Atlantis). I had noticeable artifacting and the picture quality was no where near as clean as even what I was used to.
Am I sorry I got them (so I could catch up on a missed episode)? No. Would I say that downloads are set to replace Discs? No.
Well, your comment and the GPs are sort of down the same path.
Film, as an analog medium has a much higher resolution than that captured by DVD, or even by HD-DVD/Blu-Ray. The real question though is, at what point can't we perceive a difference.
The reason they COULD remaster previous movies to DVD was this inherent difference.
I have a feeling that this depends on the Television we are using as much as anything (size, distance to set, resolution of TV, etc.)
So, you don't need to go back and reshoot things... provided you have clean prints to work from. If you DONT have clean prints, you probably want to run the ones you have through a cleanup process (similar to what Lucas did with the original Star Wars prints).
And yet the PS3 now supports DivX playback, standard USB drives, and sports a consumer upgradable SATA drive.
Similar to how people keep saying the divisions that make the XBox 360 and Windows are not the same, the divisions that make the PS3 and those that "provide media content to the world" are not the same.
The PS3 is the most "Open" console that we've seen so far.
- Boot and install other OS (Linux) - Uses standard WiFi - Uses standard HDMI output - Uses standard laptop size SATA drives - Uses standard Bluetooth technology to communicate with wireless peripherals - Uses standard DLNA protocols to act as a media extender - Uses standard USB ports to connect peripherals - Supports standard USB drives to backup and transfer content (movies, pictures, etc.) - Supports playback of DivX, WMA, VC-1, MP3, AAC, WAV, ATRAC, PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP among others (obviously including CD, DVD and Blu-Ray). Yeah... some of these are proprietary codecs, but they're not all Sony's, and they ARE what people tend to have.
About the only they've kept completely closed is the ability to make games, although the new UT3 map editor and games like Little Big Planet certainly shift that a bit also.
From a media perspective the console is about as open as one could hope.
Slashdot Mirror
Well ... IANAL but ... technically with open source code, you only are expected to provide modifications to source, to your "customers". Correct?
In this case, the customers would probably be "the military" from Boeing's perspective.
The individual soldiers are not the customer, so they don't get the source, just pre-compiled binaries installed on the systems they are using. The military itself can then decide that its employees should respect that code as Trade Secret (perhaps, although things like "National Security get bandied about a bit), and penalize anyone who tells other people about its workings (since SOMEONE within the Military will want/need to look at the code, probably in a tech support/services branch).
note: the "other people" mentioned above are not customers using the system, and therefore are NOT required to have access to the Source Code, even according to the GPL, and thats not even counting the fact that apps running on a stock kernel could be licensed under a different license (while the above discussion about GPL changes would still apply to kernel changes).
... welcome our new Dreen Overlords Exterminators.
And Top end PCs cost how much?
As PCs have advanced to the latest generation, the hardware is ridiculously overpowered for what the majority of users do (Word processing, Spread sheets, email, web surfing, the occasional video).
That means that, barring mal-ware infection of the OS, most people can use a given system for longer than the old "Its good for two years". Most systems, unless you need to play the latest games, can easily last 4-5 years. So, does it make sense for people to spend money upgrading constantly for a Top End PC, or just going out and buying a console for the price of a Top End video card? (let alone a new processor, motherboard, memory, etc.)
Wow. I wonder how many broken 360s they had to replace to force a policy change like that. The only electronics I know stores usually have a policy like that on, are TVs over 30" in size (where there might be a scratch or something in the plastic case, or on the screen, or a defective pixel). In those cases they explicitly refer you to the manufacturer.
I must be missing something. I've found it MUCH easier to remove applications on my Mac than on my Windows PC. Just drag the application to the trashcan. On Windows I have to run the uninstaller and pray it finds all the application's pieces (and even then, it takes a ridiculously long time and doesn't always work).
You're right about limited upgrade options, but they also have a much longer longevity. I'm using a 5 year old PowerBook to develop on professionally. In that time it came with 10.3, been upgraded to Tiger (10.4), and recently to Leopard (10.5). The interface is still snappy, and with the exception of some video editing, its chugging along just fine with no decrease in performance. The DVD burner still works, the screen still works, the battery needed changing, but that is something that will happen in most laptops.
You are right though that, a new MacBook Pro would be snappier in opening applications, and I would have a much better Virtual Machine in Parallels (or Boot Camp), than in Virtual PC.
How much does the average person actually upgrade their computer over the course of its life?
Hard-drive? Possibly, but USB hard-drives make that "easy" even for iMacs and Laptops.
Memory? Possibly, but iMacs and Laptops also have that option.
VideoCard? Yes, if they have to keep up to date on the latest PC games. If they aren't so concerned with playing the latest "Crysis" or if they use a console though, no.
Processor? Most people don't know that they have one, so much as how to upgrade one.
Yeah, they don't have as much flexibility as a home built PC (although the MacPro's seem to have a lot of what you're looking for, although they are aimed at the professional workstation market), but for most home and office users, a MacMini or an iMac will suit there needs just fine, without needing the upgrading options down the road (or at least nothing that can't be connected via USB, FireWire, or Network).
There. Fixed that for ya.
Actually kidding aside, you may have a point. I have a few non-technical people who are getting tired of MS, and are talking about getting another XP PC, but also converting their existing PC to Linux "to play with".
I've also heard a few of them complaining about MS and how they've decided to try a Mac instead.
One of my all time favorite quotes.
I've got a copy of "The Notebooks of Lazarus Long" (the illustrated edition which is unfortunately out of print) in my bookcase by my desk, and usually reread it about once a year or so.
Of course, the current problem we have is missing second part of that quote:
"When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space travel is that is made it possible to go elsewhere." (emphasis mine)
Unfortunately with our stalled Space Program, elsewhere is less of an alternative than I would like, which brings to mind another Aphorism from earlier in the same book:
"A generation which ignores history has no past - and no future." or perhaps
"You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once."
Generic Web Browser @ PS3: 34% ... no little reference boxes though, so YMMV.
This would just motivate the Terrorists to blow up planes full of martyrs, so they could collect the money.
Well
1) You don't have to have a separate queue of "people waiting to be searched" (which would potentially take up just as much space as the original one, but be in a different position.
2) They would have to figure out a better way of handling the baggage that rolls through the scanner now and keeping it with the person. Right now its a simple FIFO queue, which presents less opportunity for confusion, miss-grabbed bags, and theft.
Destroying the car isn't against that law. ... just driving it at speeds >60MPH.
Also, all of the episodes I've seen have them driving the car by Remote control.
Depending on how its interpreted "Remote Control Driver" != "Driverless Car"
Since its been announced at CES that the PS3 will include an update to support Profile 2.0 in a future firmware, does that mean that 2.0 players are available now? (an that they have been for a little over a year?
Well
On a related note, despite Sony's backing of things like UMD, MemoryStick and MiniDisc, they did get at least one format right Compact Discs. The CD was jointly developed by Phillips and Sony. When they are working with others, the format they develop usually wins, its when they are going against the rest of the industry that they usually lose.
No kidding. Its at the top of my list of "Movies I would buy if they were out in Blu-Ray."
:D
... They are also setting the series after T2 (effectively ignoring T3?)
On a related note, if you enjoyed watching Summer Glau (River) kick Reaver butt, check out the "Sarah Conner Chronicles". Not sure how good the show will be, but she's playing the "Good" Terminator.
Oh
Is that dedicated bandwidth, or shared?
I imagine that once all your neighbors are downloading their HD movies while you are, the actual bandwidth available to you might drop a bit.
Probably was, especially since the line between corporate and public/private has blurred so much (McDonalds running School lunch programs for instance).
You're right, I certainly took too argumentative a stance, however I was genuinely surprised by your comments, so I'll try not to be either "ignorant or obtuse".
Just recently Slashdot was talking about problems with Netflix downloads, and I thought it was pretty clear that while individuals can put together wrappers to download and strip Netflix streams into non-DRMed files on Linux, the official viewer was made for windows.
I assumed that since the discussion was what the average person would do (which is a far cry from the average Slashdot user), a connection between Linux and Netflix might be a bit much for them, unless there is a package dedicated to this already (in which case I'm genuinely curious about its existence).
Yes, I'm sure that things can be scripted together, but is it something that is a supported package or is it something you put together for yourself?
Is all of this within Netflix's Terms of Service?
You also mentioned in your post here
"In my world all of your conditions have been met or do not apply. Don't be discouraged that this technology is too difficult for you. It will get easier and you'll soon enjoy the freedom others have."
I'd suggest that you tone back your own attitude a bit also. Just because someone doesn't follow your reasoning, doesn't mean "this technology is too difficult for them", or is your usual approach to dismiss someone's position and then insult them?
And yet the vast majority of people who buy DVDs now purchase them for movies. This is usually where one WOULD care more about the quality than in TV broadcasts.
I'd also guess that box sets of TV episodes still consume quite a bit of purchasers money. The nice advantage of Disks, is that they already handle the "storage issue".
Considering how often people upgrade their computers, the two numbers that need to increase are Hard-Drive storage, and bandwidth to the house.
Yeah, both could be in range within 5-10 years to compete with HD broadcasts or disks, but, while the storage issue will certainly be solved, I'm not sure that the bandwidth issue WILL be.
There is also the portability issue, but that was not part of our discussion. (take it on a trip, take it to a friends house, take it some place without an internet connection, etc.)
No. That was in the CableCard 1.0 Spec (CCv1).
All of this business with a new two-way standard is driven by the Cable Companies trying to move to Switched Digital Video (SDV) which requires two-way communication (which the CableCard 1.0 standard can't provide), while at the same time they've been dragging their collective heals about approving/finalizing a CableCard 2.0 spec that would allow two-way communication.
The FCC is getting ticked off (since the Cable Companies deployment of SDV means subscribers require their boxes, since even CCv1 devices can't work with SDV channels), and TiVo has been leading the charge against the Cable companies (since they have the most to gain by a proper spec).
I'm so glad to hear that Netflix is now hosting torrents for free downloading, right?
I'm sorry, did you mean to imply that Netflix has a download client that integrates into Linux?
Okay, then how IS your C relevant at all to A and B?
I'd agree that digital distribution is increasing in popularity, but I disagree that most LEGAL distribution is no where near the quality of either HiDef format, because sufficient bandwidth "to the living room" has not yet been rolled out.
This means that the videos are fine for Computer monitors, and probably decent for small to midsize HDTVs (although I still see major artifacting on a 32" which isn't that big in HDTV size), but they present an inadequate quality on a mid-size to larger HDTV.
As a point of reference, I usually watch digital SD TV broadcasts zoomed in to remove letterboxing. Recently I picked up one or two Blu-Ray discs and was watching one (Pixar Shorts from Disney). I was amazed at how noticeable the difference in quality was.
Am I going to stop watching SD TV broadcasts? No.
Does that mean there is no difference? No.
I also had recently watched a few amazon UnBox downloads (an episode or two of Stargate:Atlantis). I had noticeable artifacting and the picture quality was no where near as clean as even what I was used to.
Am I sorry I got them (so I could catch up on a missed episode)? No.
Would I say that downloads are set to replace Discs? No.
Well, your comment and the GPs are sort of down the same path.
... provided you have clean prints to work from. If you DONT have clean prints, you probably want to run the ones you have through a cleanup process (similar to what Lucas did with the original Star Wars prints).
Film, as an analog medium has a much higher resolution than that captured by DVD, or even by HD-DVD/Blu-Ray. The real question though is, at what point can't we perceive a difference.
The reason they COULD remaster previous movies to DVD was this inherent difference.
I have a feeling that this depends on the Television we are using as much as anything (size, distance to set, resolution of TV, etc.)
So, you don't need to go back and reshoot things
And yet the PS3 now supports DivX playback, standard USB drives, and sports a consumer upgradable SATA drive.
... some of these are proprietary codecs, but they're not all Sony's, and they ARE what people tend to have.
Similar to how people keep saying the divisions that make the XBox 360 and Windows are not the same, the divisions that make the PS3 and those that "provide media content to the world" are not the same.
The PS3 is the most "Open" console that we've seen so far.
- Boot and install other OS (Linux)
- Uses standard WiFi
- Uses standard HDMI output
- Uses standard laptop size SATA drives
- Uses standard Bluetooth technology to communicate with wireless peripherals
- Uses standard DLNA protocols to act as a media extender
- Uses standard USB ports to connect peripherals
- Supports standard USB drives to backup and transfer content (movies, pictures, etc.)
- Supports playback of DivX, WMA, VC-1, MP3, AAC, WAV, ATRAC, PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP among others (obviously including CD, DVD and Blu-Ray). Yeah
About the only they've kept completely closed is the ability to make games, although the new UT3 map editor and games like Little Big Planet certainly shift that a bit also.
From a media perspective the console is about as open as one could hope.