Wouldn't it be cool to get a small file that lots of people really wanted and then to write a script to compress it again and again and again with different types of compression in a random order?
Imagine a file that was compressed a million times and what a laugh you could have watching a GUI-only user opening the archive again and again and again...
You say that companies to it to other companies to benefit themselves and individuals do it to companies to benefit themselves, but you fail to point out that although both the rogue company and the rogue individual benefit from not having to pay the purchase price of the software, the company then further benefits financially by using the software, while the individual just uses the software for personal use.
I think DRM for software would be fantastic. I'm all for it- bring it on.
Once little Johnny next door and big Johnny business realize it's pay for Windows or use linux/*BSD/cowboynealOS/"I don't use an OS, you insensitive clod" then we will see the collapse of Microsoft mindshare and the wide-scale adoption of open-source.
Unfortunately at the moment the Johnnies of this world probably think that Linux costs money because there is a price tag on that "SuSe Linux Professional" box in the local book[shop|store].
I will be even happier when people stop using software like Ultraedit, the God-fearing author of which seemed genuinally suprised a few years' back when I told him that free software existed that had features he hadn't added to Ultraedit yet (in this case it was regexp searching).
I am of course against DRM for computers if it means that it will be made harder to write your own programs which it would be if we imagine computers being like X boxes. In this scenario it would be also hard to tinker with mods for games and so forth.
So, to answer your question, yes, I am completely for a sort of DRM for computer software which would make it next to impossible to copy the software of vendors who didn't want you to copy it, BUT ONLY if the implementation of this DRM did not intefere with our ability to write open-source software and similar activities.
I am almost sure that the future will bring us DRM for software (amongst other things), and I am afraid that it will probably remove the ability to do other, legal things, but I am unsure that anything I do or say will make a difference.
Geek apathy and geek depression.
Brought to you tonight by copious amounts of geek b33r.
You make interesting points about the grey edges of piracy, but you have to think about why the "support guy" in your 2nd paragraph needs to try to replicate problems from the people who make "production use" of the software.
If the support guy works for the company that created the software, no problem. If he doesn't, then you have to wonder what he can do about a problem he finds, since he hasn't got the source code.
"Oh, the software XYZ crashes when I click this certain widget."
Hmmm, click, click, press, twiddle.
"It seems you're right, XYZ does indeed crash when you do that. I advise you not to click that widget."
"A security company researching vulnerabilities must have at their disposal a huge quantity of software."
Which they can buy with the huge quantity of money they get from clients.
"...it does not surprise me that such a company would commit copyright infringement in order to get some piece of software they will only use for a short time while testing something."
If they are testing it for a client they can factor the price of the software into the price they charge the client. If they are just researching it to advance the state of knowledge in the company then they can buy it from company funds.
"After all how many amateur bug finders have the bucks to properly license all of the software they test"
These are not amateur bug finders though, they are a "professional" company.
The bottom line is that nearly every business will do everything they can to maximise PROFIT, even if it means limiting the ability of other people to do the same.
Remember the 169th rule of acquisition:
"Competition and fair play are mutually exclusive.".
Corporations who use one legal copy of software to install on all their company machines are doing damage to open-source.
Think about it: If it were impossible for them to just rip-off Windows, Outlook, Office, Ultraedit etc. they would use Linux, Evolution, OpenOffice, Scite/emacs/vi/whatever, since they obviously don't want to spend any money on software.
"I know I never asked to recieve ads for child porn, yet I get it. And I can't make it stop."
Ah, but you never know- maybe someone who didn't like you and had your email address "opted you in" on those pr0n pages with the "be really stupid and type your email address here to receive pr0n in your inbox" things.
If you could make a huge-scale forcefield that wouldn't repel matter but allow it to rest on it you could make... TRANSPARENT AIRCRAFT!
The military would probably be interested, but I'm more into the idea of see-through 747s- just think of the view!
I suppose you'd still have to have most of the aircraft solid, unless force fields can act as wings etc for aerodynamic purposes (IANAP), but you'd still end up with the equivalent of glass-bottomed boats, except far cooler.
Anyway, I think the unlicensed anime images you host on the website count as "anime piracy" anyway unless you have permission from every anime studio to have them there, which I doubt.
I think you should update your pirate anime faq with more coverage of internet fansubs. Specifically you should have lots of ed2k and bittorrent links to good stuff like One Piece and Hikaru no Go.
But seriously, you should point out that lots of fansubbers do better translations than the official ones, and that many people download fansubs because of the greediness of the official distributers, who often put out a dvd with just 3 eps on it, and since anime series tend to be at least 20 eps long that's a lot to pay per series.
You could also mention that official dvd releases of anime in Japan often have the cool extra value of a collectible figure.
Also you should highlight the shift from fansubs on vhs to fansubs on the internet, and how we don't have to put up with rubbishy quality anymore.
Maybe you'd like to include a bit about video codecs and how the Japanese are crazy for their realmedia format, and how xvid is taking over from divx in the west.
" Girdle of Storm Giant Strength? I wonder how many times I would have to bonk myself over the head with a baseball bat before I would ever type that in public?"
Slashdot Mirror
" Does anybody know if NetBSD has been proted to this yet?"
What is a "prot" ? Is it a pornographic port ? If so, remind me to probe it.
graspee
rar ...
...
arj
arc
zoo
lha
zip
bz2
tar.gz
ace
Wouldn't it be cool to get a small file that lots of people really wanted and then to write a script to compress it again and again and again with different types of compression in a random order?
Imagine a file that was compressed a million times and what a laugh you could have watching a GUI-only user opening the archive again and again and again
graspee
Oh yes we did!
(He's behind you!)
graspee
" Unless you're in England. Then 1 billion seconds is almost 32000 years."
Wrong, England changed from 1 billion as a million million to the American standard of a thousand million many years ago.
graspee
"mod me up and you will either go to heaven or date Natalie Portman."
I think the latter implies the former.
graspee
" Or, as we would say in England, would you like chips with that?"
Except that we don't. Our fast food scum joints are perfectly ready, able and willing to say "Would you like fries with that?".
graspee
So you want to use your microwave generating phone while sitting next to me on the aircraft ?
Fine, so long as I can smoke.
graspee
You say that companies to it to other companies to benefit themselves and individuals do it to companies to benefit themselves, but you fail to point out that although both the rogue company and the rogue individual benefit from not having to pay the purchase price of the software, the company then further benefits financially by using the software, while the individual just uses the software for personal use.
graspee
" OK, so what's your take on DRM?"
I think DRM for software would be fantastic. I'm all for it- bring it on.
Once little Johnny next door and big Johnny business realize it's pay for Windows or use linux/*BSD/cowboynealOS/"I don't use an OS, you insensitive clod" then we will see the collapse of Microsoft mindshare and the wide-scale adoption of open-source.
Unfortunately at the moment the Johnnies of this world probably think that Linux costs money because there is a price tag on that "SuSe Linux Professional" box in the local book[shop|store].
I will be even happier when people stop using software like Ultraedit, the God-fearing author of which seemed genuinally suprised a few years' back when I told him that free software existed that had features he hadn't added to Ultraedit yet (in this case it was regexp searching).
I am of course against DRM for computers if it means that it will be made harder to write your own programs which it would be if we imagine computers being like X boxes. In this scenario it would be also hard to tinker with mods for games and so forth.
So, to answer your question, yes, I am completely for a sort of DRM for computer software which would make it next to impossible to copy the software of vendors who didn't want you to copy it, BUT ONLY if the implementation of this DRM did not intefere with our ability to write open-source software and similar activities.
I am almost sure that the future will bring us DRM for software (amongst other things), and I am afraid that it will probably remove the ability to do other, legal things, but I am unsure that anything I do or say will make a difference.
Geek apathy and geek depression.
Brought to you tonight by copious amounts of geek b33r.
graspee
You make interesting points about the grey edges of piracy, but you have to think about why the "support guy" in your 2nd paragraph needs to try to replicate problems from the people who make "production use" of the software.
If the support guy works for the company that created the software, no problem. If he doesn't, then you have to wonder what he can do about a problem he finds, since he hasn't got the source code.
"Oh, the software XYZ crashes when I click this certain widget."
Hmmm, click, click, press, twiddle.
"It seems you're right, XYZ does indeed crash when you do that. I advise you not to click that widget."
graspee
"A security company researching vulnerabilities must have at their disposal a huge quantity of software."
Which they can buy with the huge quantity of money they get from clients.
"...it does not surprise me that such a company would commit copyright infringement in order to get some piece of software they will only use for a short time while testing something."
If they are testing it for a client they can factor the price of the software into the price they charge the client. If they are just researching it to advance the state of knowledge in the company then they can buy it from company funds.
"After all how many amateur bug finders have the bucks to properly license all of the software they test"
These are not amateur bug finders though, they are a "professional" company.
The bottom line is that nearly every business will do everything they can to maximise PROFIT, even if it means limiting the ability of other people to do the same.
Remember the 169th rule of acquisition:
"Competition and fair play are mutually exclusive.".
graspee
Corporations who use one legal copy of software to install on all their company machines are doing damage to open-source.
Think about it: If it were impossible for them to just rip-off Windows, Outlook, Office, Ultraedit etc. they would use Linux, Evolution, OpenOffice, Scite/emacs/vi/whatever, since they obviously don't want to spend any money on software.
graspee
"I know I never asked to recieve ads for child porn, yet I get it. And I can't make it stop."
Ah, but you never know- maybe someone who didn't like you and had your email address "opted you in" on those pr0n pages with the "be really stupid and type your email address here to receive pr0n in your inbox" things.
Just something to consider...
graspee
I so wanted mod points to up you for that LOL comment. I've had to settle for adding you to my (extremely short so far) friends list.
graspee
You missed my joke, ArchieBunker. I think the AC below you did too, though he tried to make it himself.
/= DVD-A.
hint, DVDA
graspee
I prefer DVDA.
What hyphen?
graspee
If you could make a huge-scale forcefield that wouldn't repel matter but allow it to rest on it you could make ... TRANSPARENT AIRCRAFT!
The military would probably be interested, but I'm more into the idea of see-through 747s- just think of the view!
I suppose you'd still have to have most of the aircraft solid, unless force fields can act as wings etc for aerodynamic purposes (IANAP), but you'd still end up with the equivalent of glass-bottomed boats, except far cooler.
graspee
I hear a jawa version is in the works...
Utinni!
graspee
Absolutely not. There is no such thing. Websites using anime images can and have been forced to remove them.
graspee
Anyway, I think the unlicensed anime images you host on the website count as "anime piracy" anyway unless you have permission from every anime studio to have them there, which I doubt.
graspee
I think you should update your pirate anime faq with more coverage of internet fansubs. Specifically you should have lots of ed2k and bittorrent links to good stuff like One Piece and Hikaru no Go.
But seriously, you should point out that lots of fansubbers do better translations than the official ones, and that many people download fansubs because of the greediness of the official distributers, who often put out a dvd with just 3 eps on it, and since anime series tend to be at least 20 eps long that's a lot to pay per series.
You could also mention that official dvd releases of anime in Japan often have the cool extra value of a collectible figure.
Also you should highlight the shift from fansubs on vhs to fansubs on the internet, and how we don't have to put up with rubbishy quality anymore.
Maybe you'd like to include a bit about video codecs and how the Japanese are crazy for their realmedia format, and how xvid is taking over from divx in the west.
graspee
" I don't like your subject line (and neither does He)"
You dare to speak for The Christ?
graspee
It's nutmeg- just saving everyone else from having to download the whole thing just to find out.
graspee
" Girdle of Storm Giant Strength? I wonder how many times I would have to bonk myself over the head with a baseball bat before I would ever type that in public?"
Forgive me for being obvious, but you just did.
graspee
"I am living in the netherlands atm"
Wow! I thought my place was cramped! I suppose when most of the money has been withdrawn from the machine you have more room...
graspee