What you say is *exactly* why DRM is inherently bad. OK, so for the military this makes sense, and while I am very pacifistic, I agree that some information shouldn't be leaked. (Mind you - you probably being American, I might be one of the people you don't want to leak it to... but that's beside the point). The thing is, in a business context this is extremely worrying. See the power plant scenario someone quoted, or cases where businesses could keep their shady practices secret because employees with a conscience can't leak documents to journalist/law enforcement. No one, including the government, should be able to keep secrets that might concern everyone this tightly controlled. I actually find this more worrying than the idea of media being controlled too tightly.
Would be interesting if they actually meant that - but I doubt it very much. That poster was made by some kind of protest/jamming group, not Adbusters I think, but something similar. So I don't think that poster expresses company policy, but is rather an employee being a bit subversive - though at the same time, the bosses probably do mean it that way, which is why the poster's owner hasn't been fired...
I think you're focusing too much on the patent aspect here. I know this is what the article is about - but DRM on Linux has little to do with that. The problem here is that for DRM to work, it has to be under control by one company or consortium - like the DVD CCA. And if that company is Microsoft, or a consortium controlled by them, there's not going to be an implementation for Linux; and by definition, there can't be an alternative implementation by another company, let alone an open-source one. And even if there is, you'd need proprietary parts deep in the OS to enforce DRM - if any audio/video/text data is handled by open-source code unencrypted, you've practically got a copy, so you'd have to do the decryption in hardware. The way I see it, DRM and Free Software don't go together. Period. As can be seen in other posts of mine about this kind of thing, I believe that, in fact, DRM and *freedom* don't go together, at all. I admit I'm pretty radical (and often paranoid) in this, but I think DRM/trusted computing is inherently evil. Read Stallman's article on TCPA. I know DRM and TCPA and Palladium and all are not the same, but they are very closely connected, and all extremely dangerous.
in school, in 3rd year (secondary, we were about 13-14), one guy in the class actually said he used to believe the world was black & white before colour TV/films. Reading this, it's possible that he got the idea from this and meant it as a joke - but I doubt it, he wasn't that bright. Still, we all had a good laugh in class...
That would be neccessary for something like this to fully work (with the DRM chips in every device that handles information you'd ever use, though I suppose that's a given for you and cameras are just the extreme). But I don't think it'll happen (maybe I just want to believe it won't). But seriously, for that scenario to be plausible, you'd need a social/economic/political structure that'd make George Orwell wet his pants. While the thought is frightening, I don't think we need to be that afraid yet. Which doesn't mean we shouldn't fight this kind of thing, of course.
This makes me think, though (I haven't watched the video, it's downloading. I love ASFrecorder.)
At the risk of sounding like a paranoid conspiracy theorist - this is not limited to TV and 'favourite shows'. If it works, it'll be extended to almost all kinds of (digital!) media - so paper books would still be all right, but after all there are attacks on libraries by the media companies. It's an analogue hole. Anyway, that's why I'm so worried about all DRM/copy protection technology - there's no balance. Any kind of protection gives (IMO) far too much control to the industry in general (reading articles like these, seeing the alliances and whatever they form, you really can't differentiate within the industry - they really are a kind of single 'big brother' entity). Basically, the way I see it, there's no way of 'protecting' content that's fair to the 'consumer' (for lack of a better word). It would require a trusted system, which IMO is wrong; also, either PCs would be excluded, or every PC would have to be a trusted client (->TCPA etc etc). I know this view doesn't solve the problem of how to make sure creators are compensated for their work, but I think DRM is not the way because the problems outweigh any advantages it could have.
But I digress. The point is - this is not just about TV. That's just one area where changes are happening and thus an opportunity to introduce this sort of thing.
I managed to keep out of the discussion so far, but here I can't resist.
Not going to get into the name-calling - I'm tempted to do that myself, though it's better to exercise restraint. And I'm not going to ask you to explain why socialism is so evil.
So the 'environazies' should buy the trees that legally belong to the logging corporation? And how did those companies come to own the trees? By buying them for their *real* value from the *real* owners, i.e. in many cases indigenous tribes, or the government, consisting of colonists who drove the indigenous population out? But let's not get into that, it's too messy... Either way, I doubt the companies paid much money for them. And you're saying that when I own something, I can do with it what I want? So I can take my gun and shoot you, because I legally bought it? Of course not, I can use my property any way I want as long as I don't harm anyone, wouldn't you agree? I, and these protesters, would argue that cutting down these trees *does* cause harm - to the environment (as other people mentioned - oxygen production, but also biodiversity - the drug to cure the brain tumor you get in 10 years might be discovered in some old-growth forest, and all that stuff), and thus *all of us*.
So your basic premise is that we should have an absolutely free market, with no regulation at all, isn't it? I disagree with that, but FWIW, we haven't. The problem is that a) neither governments nor these companies really play by the rules of a free market, and b) money isn't the only 'value' in the world. Of course society as a whole (i.e. the gov't) should pay for such things - because it benefits all society.
If I were one of these activists and bought a tree or two, I'd want patent rights to all potentially useful drugs and whatever discovered in the area, money from everyone who enjoys the sight of these trees (tourists, people living nearby...) - you'd probably agree with some of these, basically using my property in a different way. But I'd also want to be paid for the oxygen produced, and the CO2 removed from the atmosphere, and the reduction in global warming damage, etc. etc. Not to mention the intrinsic value of nature that simply can't be measured in money. But you might not accept the existence of this, so let's leave it out. Basically, eco-tourism and other ways of non-invasively using nature, and the idea of buying nature to protect it are wonderful - they're just not enough. If you let these companies do what they want, they'll destroy our planet. Oh, but that's OK because they paid for it and had the right to do so? Don't make me laugh.
Hmm. I need to practice writing something that makes sense without spending too much time planning. I realise that there's probably not enough logical structure in this post, but I stand by the basic points I make.
How about: My use of P2P goes against my views on IP/copyright. Now, I can't really say that applies to me, because my views on IP aren't fully formed yet except that a lot of things are going wrong in that area. But you get the idea. Or at least as much of an idea as I myself have. I should go to sleep.
As I've said before, many (decidedly non-geek) girls I know (though not neccessarily asked for a phone number in this kind of situation) have, if anything, a tendency to yank the thing out of my hands to play Mah Jongg or something. Of course, my Palm IIIe lacks the accessories you mentioned. But it *does* have DON'T PANIC written in black marker on the cover - which also helped me impress one female at one point.
obviously, that's the one part of the geek personality I haven't got... I still use a Palm IIIe, even older than a IIIx (I think - but it was cheaper, anyway). My stuff is generally out of date - my main PC is a 350, and I don't have much of a desire to upgrade.
Anyway, I use that Palm quite a lot, for e-books (though 2 MB are a bit tight for that), sometimes games (letting other people play rather than playing myself, in fact - it is sometimes quite popular; although it hasn't happened to me, I could imagine a Palm helping to pick up girls in this way;-); I used it for homework until this summer (finished school...), as an alarm clock when I need to, the calendar in general, the address book with all its features, and for lists - as you mentioned, music and books I want to get. I also keep diaries very occasionally, when I feel something happening to me is worth recording.
I always like(d) to argue this way too, but I'm increasingly doubtful. I agree personally - I like to have the CD with the booklet and everything in my rack (and then copy the contents onto my MP3 server, just by the way...), but I think not that many people think this way. A lot of people I know don't seem to have any problem with burned CDs, whether from a friend's original or downloaded from the net (which reminds me, you didn't mention the quality argument for MP3s, I thought that was mandatory;-) but as internet connections get faster, that becomes void anyway). Many people I know also do print out the booklet and all, replacing the original for them -which I'm too lazy to do...
Anyway, I'm not sure you argument works, even though it does for me. Oh, and I drink bottled water too. Vittel.
'fraid that's not a very good example. Classical music *probably* means the writer is dead, so no money to them. I doubt the musicians got a whole lot either - these kinds of CDs are probably made when a label discovers it has the rights to some stuff lying around and decides to sell them hoping for a small profit... But there's one important point in your post: apart from a *lot* of money for some big artists and massive profits, a lot of the price for a $/EUR15-20 mainstream disc is for marketing - I'm paying for being told what to buy. Ah yes. On the whole, I think something like $/EUR7-10 per album, which some smaller labels charge, is more realistic. $1 per song? Probably too much, but 0.10 isn't enough. Maybe something like.25 to.75 depending on length/popularity/quality/whatever of the song.
All right, so I was technically wrong in parts. But TCPA (perhaps trusted computing in general) is the basic issue IMO, or to put it that way, the impossibility of getting memory dumps etc. to circumvent DRM is an essential part of TCPA.
And as for the second one, TCPA would undermine the GPL in my understanding. Palladium might not as such, but then Palladium (AFAIK) is Windows-based, isn't it? Yes, there is GPL software for windows, but that of course doesn't help GPL operating systems. Anyway, the diary you quote says itself that it might be used to undermine the GPL. The c't article I mentioned explicity says that 'as a side-effect this would bury the GPL'. Their argument is: When the majority of installed systems is TCPA compliant, the GPL can't work as intended, because the software would be tied to a license that costs money. (Since to run on a TCPA platform, a programme needs to be certified by the central authority).
So I did write crap because I didn't think it through properly, but it's also because I was basically talking about TCPA and wasn't aware of how big the difference between that and Palladium is. Sorry, but that's Slashdot...
How about a Palm IIIe (one with 2 MB of memory) - gives a whole new meaning to Personal Digital Assistant now doesn't it?
(actually, yes, I have intermittently kept a diary on my Palm. Plain text of course, and no more than a couple of weeks at a time, but those bits are interesting records of interesting periods of my life. And no, I'm not going to quote them here. It's in German anyway)
Thought so too (regarding your last point) - although this sounds kind of cool, it'd probably be a disaster. Forgetting is incredibly important, obviously, and while diaries can be interesting, a full record doesn't seem too desirable. There actually was an article about forgetting in New Scientist a couple of months ago - but guess what, I can't remember any details.
Hmm, looking at it, the idea isn't bad... the network would probably be full of people swapping illegal copies of stuff, but basically you could choose to only see legitimate material. But then, that wouldn't solve your problem of legitimating p2p networks, because RIAA&Co could still say 'look, they're pirating stuff!' But then, it's late and I can't think clearly. Goodnight.
And remember - Palladium is just MS's implementation of TCPA, an industry alliance to bring us all this goodness. And not just on MS OSs either - HP is apparently supporting TCPA on Linux, which would, as a pleasant side-effect, render the GPL useless (you'll understand why if you read about TCPA). German c't had a very good article about all this recently that summed it all up nicely.
Well, yes, basically (although some people will scream at you that piracy isn't hurting anyone and blah, but that's beside the point).
The problem is that you're essentially proposing a kind of censorship - how would the system tell what's free and what's not otherwise? So who's going to do the censoring?
I think that one idea in the article would help this though - giving a higher priority to finding one or two sources for a rare file over finding hundreds for a popular file. This would make the free stuff (which is likely to be fairly rare on the network, at least at first - as you say, drowned out by Britney Spears) easier to get, without seriously affecting the masses of crap since they'd still be easy to get.
Finally - if you want legitimate free music, go to mp3.com and similar sites where bands are directly offering their stuff.
Seriously: The only time the stylus on my Palm gets pulled out of its socket is when I give it to someone else to play with (which happens quite a lot, actually); I haven't used it in a year or more. If I have to write a lot, I use the back end of a real pen, otherwise my fingers are perfect.
Swapping via PLIP? That sound extremely painful... worse than swapping off a 5.25" floppy drive, which I once did. And compiling a kernel on that? I'd guess days, if not weeks, rather than hours...
AMD 486 120 MHz, 32MB RAM, 340 MB disk for booting, 20 GB data drive as fileserver. Not much load though. (runs SuSE 6.3)
486SX-25, 8 MB RAM, 170 MB disk - print server (pizza box-sized machine, that's why I wanted to use it for this) (SuSE 6.3)
486-66 laptop, 8 MB RAM, 520 MB disk - dual-boot of Win95 and Debian 2.2
Install was tricky for the two 8 MB machines - for the first, I installed SuSE on the drive in another box, then put it into the 486; boot of floppy once, run LILO, works. For the laptop, although Debian 2.2 needs 12 MB for install, I managed to run the standard install by using the 'compact' kernel image for installation.
Well... I really am starting to think that convenience is incredibly important - it's such a hassle to wire your SACD player to the soundcard and let the whole CD run through this in real-time, it probably will stop a lot of people. Not you and me perhaps, but ordinary consumers. This is also one reason why copy-protected audio CDs might have some effect. Only some, though, because many of these consumers will then download the songs from someone who managed to rip them on Kazaa. Then again - people take the time to record stuff to MiniDisc via analogue cable in realtime. So you might be right.
Either way - it's hard to say how the average consumer will behave. Expect the worst.
Depends on how you define smart... as far as I'm concerned, spending all day sleeping and eating, obeying nobody's orders and getting away with it is pretty damn smart.
Slashdot Mirror
What you say is *exactly* why DRM is inherently bad. OK, so for the military this makes sense, and while I am very pacifistic, I agree that some information shouldn't be leaked. (Mind you - you probably being American, I might be one of the people you don't want to leak it to... but that's beside the point). The thing is, in a business context this is extremely worrying. See the power plant scenario someone quoted, or cases where businesses could keep their shady practices secret because employees with a conscience can't leak documents to journalist/law enforcement. No one, including the government, should be able to keep secrets that might concern everyone this tightly controlled. I actually find this more worrying than the idea of media being controlled too tightly.
Would be interesting if they actually meant that - but I doubt it very much. That poster was made by some kind of protest/jamming group, not Adbusters I think, but something similar. So I don't think that poster expresses company policy, but is rather an employee being a bit subversive - though at the same time, the bosses probably do mean it that way, which is why the poster's owner hasn't been fired...
I think you're focusing too much on the patent aspect here. I know this is what the article is about - but DRM on Linux has little to do with that. The problem here is that for DRM to work, it has to be under control by one company or consortium - like the DVD CCA. And if that company is Microsoft, or a consortium controlled by them, there's not going to be an implementation for Linux; and by definition, there can't be an alternative implementation by another company, let alone an open-source one. And even if there is, you'd need proprietary parts deep in the OS to enforce DRM - if any audio/video/text data is handled by open-source code unencrypted, you've practically got a copy, so you'd have to do the decryption in hardware. The way I see it, DRM and Free Software don't go together. Period. As can be seen in other posts of mine about this kind of thing, I believe that, in fact, DRM and *freedom* don't go together, at all. I admit I'm pretty radical (and often paranoid) in this, but I think DRM/trusted computing is inherently evil. Read Stallman's article on TCPA. I know DRM and TCPA and Palladium and all are not the same, but they are very closely connected, and all extremely dangerous.
I didn't know this one, but I know the idea...
in school, in 3rd year (secondary, we were about 13-14), one guy in the class actually said he used to believe the world was black & white before colour TV/films. Reading this, it's possible that he got the idea from this and meant it as a joke - but I doubt it, he wasn't that bright. Still, we all had a good laugh in class...
That would be neccessary for something like this to fully work (with the DRM chips in every device that handles information you'd ever use, though I suppose that's a given for you and cameras are just the extreme). But I don't think it'll happen (maybe I just want to believe it won't). But seriously, for that scenario to be plausible, you'd need a social/economic/political structure that'd make George Orwell wet his pants. While the thought is frightening, I don't think we need to be that afraid yet. Which doesn't mean we shouldn't fight this kind of thing, of course.
This makes me think, though
(I haven't watched the video, it's downloading. I love ASFrecorder.)
At the risk of sounding like a paranoid conspiracy theorist - this is not limited to TV and 'favourite shows'. If it works, it'll be extended to almost all kinds of (digital!) media - so paper books would still be all right, but after all there are attacks on libraries by the media companies. It's an analogue hole. Anyway, that's why I'm so worried about all DRM/copy protection technology - there's no balance. Any kind of protection gives (IMO) far too much control to the industry in general (reading articles like these, seeing the alliances and whatever they form, you really can't differentiate within the industry - they really are a kind of single 'big brother' entity). Basically, the way I see it, there's no way of 'protecting' content that's fair to the 'consumer' (for lack of a better word). It would require a trusted system, which IMO is wrong; also, either PCs would be excluded, or every PC would have to be a trusted client (->TCPA etc etc). I know this view doesn't solve the problem of how to make sure creators are compensated for their work, but I think DRM is not the way because the problems outweigh any advantages it could have.
But I digress. The point is - this is not just about TV. That's just one area where changes are happening and thus an opportunity to introduce this sort of thing.
Shame I haven't got any mod points to burn...
I managed to keep out of the discussion so far, but here I can't resist.
Not going to get into the name-calling - I'm tempted to do that myself, though it's better to exercise restraint. And I'm not going to ask you to explain why socialism is so evil.
So the 'environazies' should buy the trees that legally belong to the logging corporation? And how did those companies come to own the trees? By buying them for their *real* value from the *real* owners, i.e. in many cases indigenous tribes, or the government, consisting of colonists who drove the indigenous population out? But let's not get into that, it's too messy... Either way, I doubt the companies paid much money for them. And you're saying that when I own something, I can do with it what I want? So I can take my gun and shoot you, because I legally bought it? Of course not, I can use my property any way I want as long as I don't harm anyone, wouldn't you agree? I, and these protesters, would argue that cutting down these trees *does* cause harm - to the environment (as other people mentioned - oxygen production, but also biodiversity - the drug to cure the brain tumor you get in 10 years might be discovered in some old-growth forest, and all that stuff), and thus *all of us*.
So your basic premise is that we should have an absolutely free market, with no regulation at all, isn't it? I disagree with that, but FWIW, we haven't. The problem is that a) neither governments nor these companies really play by the rules of a free market, and b) money isn't the only 'value' in the world. Of course society as a whole (i.e. the gov't) should pay for such things - because it benefits all society.
If I were one of these activists and bought a tree or two, I'd want patent rights to all potentially useful drugs and whatever discovered in the area, money from everyone who enjoys the sight of these trees (tourists, people living nearby...) - you'd probably agree with some of these, basically using my property in a different way. But I'd also want to be paid for the oxygen produced, and the CO2 removed from the atmosphere, and the reduction in global warming damage, etc. etc. Not to mention the intrinsic value of nature that simply can't be measured in money. But you might not accept the existence of this, so let's leave it out.
Basically, eco-tourism and other ways of non-invasively using nature, and the idea of buying nature to protect it are wonderful - they're just not enough. If you let these companies do what they want, they'll destroy our planet. Oh, but that's OK because they paid for it and had the right to do so? Don't make me laugh.
Hmm. I need to practice writing something that makes sense without spending too much time planning. I realise that there's probably not enough logical structure in this post, but I stand by the basic points I make.
How about: My use of P2P goes against my views on IP/copyright. Now, I can't really say that applies to me, because my views on IP aren't fully formed yet except that a lot of things are going wrong in that area. But you get the idea. Or at least as much of an idea as I myself have. I should go to sleep.
As I've said before, many (decidedly non-geek) girls I know (though not neccessarily asked for a phone number in this kind of situation) have, if anything, a tendency to yank the thing out of my hands to play Mah Jongg or something. Of course, my Palm IIIe lacks the accessories you mentioned. But it *does* have DON'T PANIC written in black marker on the cover - which also helped me impress one female at one point.
old-school Palm IIIx
;-); I used it for homework until this summer (finished school...), as an alarm clock when I need to, the calendar in general, the address book with all its features, and for lists - as you mentioned, music and books I want to get. I also keep diaries very occasionally, when I feel something happening to me is worth recording.
obviously, that's the one part of the geek personality I haven't got... I still use a Palm IIIe, even older than a IIIx (I think - but it was cheaper, anyway). My stuff is generally out of date - my main PC is a 350, and I don't have much of a desire to upgrade.
Anyway, I use that Palm quite a lot, for e-books (though 2 MB are a bit tight for that), sometimes games (letting other people play rather than playing myself, in fact - it is sometimes quite popular; although it hasn't happened to me, I could imagine a Palm helping to pick up girls in this way
What were people doing at all those workstations, day to day?
;-)
Downloading MP3s, of course.
Sorry, couldn't resist
I always like(d) to argue this way too, but I'm increasingly doubtful. I agree personally - I like to have the CD with the booklet and everything in my rack (and then copy the contents onto my MP3 server, just by the way...), but I think not that many people think this way. A lot of people I know don't seem to have any problem with burned CDs, whether from a friend's original or downloaded from the net (which reminds me, you didn't mention the quality argument for MP3s, I thought that was mandatory ;-) but as internet connections get faster, that becomes void anyway). Many people I know also do print out the booklet and all, replacing the original for them -which I'm too lazy to do...
Anyway, I'm not sure you argument works, even though it does for me. Oh, and I drink bottled water too. Vittel.
'fraid that's not a very good example. Classical music *probably* means the writer is dead, so no money to them. I doubt the musicians got a whole lot either - these kinds of CDs are probably made when a label discovers it has the rights to some stuff lying around and decides to sell them hoping for a small profit... .25 to .75 depending on length/popularity/quality/whatever of the song.
But there's one important point in your post: apart from a *lot* of money for some big artists and massive profits, a lot of the price for a $/EUR15-20 mainstream disc is for marketing - I'm paying for being told what to buy. Ah yes.
On the whole, I think something like $/EUR7-10 per album, which some smaller labels charge, is more realistic. $1 per song? Probably too much, but 0.10 isn't enough. Maybe something like
All right, so I was technically wrong in parts. But TCPA (perhaps trusted computing in general) is the basic issue IMO, or to put it that way, the impossibility of getting memory dumps etc. to circumvent DRM is an essential part of TCPA.
And as for the second one, TCPA would undermine the GPL in my understanding. Palladium might not as such, but then Palladium (AFAIK) is Windows-based, isn't it? Yes, there is GPL software for windows, but that of course doesn't help GPL operating systems.
Anyway, the diary you quote says itself that it might be used to undermine the GPL. The c't article I mentioned explicity says that 'as a side-effect this would bury the GPL'. Their argument is: When the majority of installed systems is TCPA compliant, the GPL can't work as intended, because the software would be tied to a license that costs money. (Since to run on a TCPA platform, a programme needs to be certified by the central authority).
So I did write crap because I didn't think it through properly, but it's also because I was basically talking about TCPA and wasn't aware of how big the difference between that and Palladium is. Sorry, but that's Slashdot...
How about a Palm IIIe (one with 2 MB of memory) - gives a whole new meaning to Personal Digital Assistant now doesn't it?
(actually, yes, I have intermittently kept a diary on my Palm. Plain text of course, and no more than a couple of weeks at a time, but those bits are interesting records of interesting periods of my life. And no, I'm not going to quote them here. It's in German anyway)
Thought so too (regarding your last point) - although this sounds kind of cool, it'd probably be a disaster. Forgetting is incredibly important, obviously, and while diaries can be interesting, a full record doesn't seem too desirable. There actually was an article about forgetting in New Scientist a couple of months ago - but guess what, I can't remember any details.
Damn, why didn't I think of that?
Hmm, looking at it, the idea isn't bad... the network would probably be full of people swapping illegal copies of stuff, but basically you could choose to only see legitimate material. But then, that wouldn't solve your problem of legitimating p2p networks, because RIAA&Co could still say 'look, they're pirating stuff!' But then, it's late and I can't think clearly. Goodnight.
And remember - Palladium is just MS's implementation of TCPA, an industry alliance to bring us all this goodness. And not just on MS OSs either - HP is apparently supporting TCPA on Linux, which would, as a pleasant side-effect, render the GPL useless (you'll understand why if you read about TCPA).
German c't had a very good article about all this recently that summed it all up nicely.
Well, yes, basically (although some people will scream at you that piracy isn't hurting anyone and blah, but that's beside the point).
The problem is that you're essentially proposing a kind of censorship - how would the system tell what's free and what's not otherwise? So who's going to do the censoring?
I think that one idea in the article would help this though - giving a higher priority to finding one or two sources for a rare file over finding hundreds for a popular file. This would make the free stuff (which is likely to be fairly rare on the network, at least at first - as you say, drowned out by Britney Spears) easier to get, without seriously affecting the masses of crap since they'd still be easy to get.
Finally - if you want legitimate free music, go to mp3.com and similar sites where bands are directly offering their stuff.
Me Too!!!
Seriously: The only time the stylus on my Palm gets pulled out of its socket is when I give it to someone else to play with (which happens quite a lot, actually); I haven't used it in a year or more. If I have to write a lot, I use the back end of a real pen, otherwise my fingers are perfect.
actually, I found the 'Gay Porn' and 'More porn blah blah' links I got at the top of the tangled GNU page amusing enough...
Swapping via PLIP? That sound extremely painful... worse than swapping off a 5.25" floppy drive, which I once did. And compiling a kernel on that? I'd guess days, if not weeks, rather than hours...
and to add another one to this bragging thread-
AMD 486 120 MHz, 32MB RAM, 340 MB disk for booting, 20 GB data drive as fileserver. Not much load though. (runs SuSE 6.3)
486SX-25, 8 MB RAM, 170 MB disk - print server (pizza box-sized machine, that's why I wanted to use it for this) (SuSE 6.3)
486-66 laptop, 8 MB RAM, 520 MB disk - dual-boot of Win95 and Debian 2.2
Install was tricky for the two 8 MB machines - for the first, I installed SuSE on the drive in another box, then put it into the 486; boot of floppy once, run LILO, works.
For the laptop, although Debian 2.2 needs 12 MB for install, I managed to run the standard install by using the 'compact' kernel image for installation.
Well... I really am starting to think that convenience is incredibly important - it's such a hassle to wire your SACD player to the soundcard and let the whole CD run through this in real-time, it probably will stop a lot of people. Not you and me perhaps, but ordinary consumers.
This is also one reason why copy-protected audio CDs might have some effect. Only some, though, because many of these consumers will then download the songs from someone who managed to rip them on Kazaa.
Then again - people take the time to record stuff to MiniDisc via analogue cable in realtime. So you might be right.
Either way - it's hard to say how the average consumer will behave. Expect the worst.
Depends on how you define smart... as far as I'm concerned, spending all day sleeping and eating, obeying nobody's orders and getting away with it is pretty damn smart.
;-)
Yes, I definitely am a cat person