why can't you make an RFID tag that deactivates when placed over a big magnetic field?
Oh, they probably can, but they undoubtedly won't.
I can see it now: Someone will make a zapper that kills RFID tags so you can "clean" your own stuff when you get home. Then Big Business will get Congress to pass anti-shoplifting legislation outlawing "shoplift protection circumvention devices" (the Digital Madness Shoplifting Act?). A magazine will publish plans to make one of these zappers, they'll get arrested for violating the DMSA, and it will be a huge test case. Industry will argue that there is no legitimate need for anyone to posess such a device. There will be a big stink about it all in the press, but the public won't care and it will all blow over in a year or two. Meanwhile, there will be a slight rise in Canadian tourism as people "vacation" over the border just long enough to get their possesions zapped before returning to the USA.
That's not the point. Suppose I buy some underwear at Wallmart. What if:
Someone makes a mistake and the RFID for my underwear somehow shows up in JCPenney's inventory computer, and I'm arrested for shoplifting when I go to JCPenney? (the RFID tags aren't turned off, they just mark that ID "sold" in their inventory so they don't arrest you when you take them out the door)
Someone makes a mistake and the ID for my underwear isn't updated in the master Wallmart database. I wear them to another Wallmart, where I'm arrested for shoplifting. (with those magnetic tags I can see them and remove them myself when I get home)
I'm suspected of a crime, and the cops get my shopping records from Wallmart then put out an APB to all retailers to be on the lookout for my underwear's RFID? (note: this could be a good thing, but it could be abused, too)
I'm not paranoid. I have no objection if they put RFIDs in the packaging, like they do now with the magnetic markers. I object to putting the RFIDs in the product, which is what the retailers want because they're afraid I'll just unwrap it before I try to walk out with it.
Perhaps that's the real problem here: they treat us all like shoplifters instead of customers and thus assume we have no rights. This is just another reason to not shop at Wallmart (as if I needed yet another).
Back in my day I had to write games in BASIC, on a 4.7Mhz computer with no hard disk and 128K of RAM. And I was grateful
Wow, you should have been grateful. My Sinclair had a whopping 1K of RAM (the factory-made Timex-Sinclair had 2K, but the kit that you built yourself had only 1K) and IIRC it ran at 1Mhz. And we had to save our programs to cassette tape -- no fancy-schmancy disk drives for us!
This is a bad idea. It was a bad idea when it was proposed in the '70s, and it's still a bad idea. Do the math. The engine has the exact same friction losses whether it's firing on 4, 6, or all 8 cylinders. The car has the same mass and drag, too. It takes the same amount of energy to move the car at X miles/hour no matter how many cylinders you shut off -- the remaining cylinders just have to work that much harder. At best you burn the same fuel; in practice you could burn more, but you won't burn less, and you get all the start-up emissions problems every time you turn cylinders back on again.
I forgot who came up with this (one of the automotive companies like Borg Warner, but it wasn't them). They shopped it around to everyone, and only Cadillac bought it. There's a reason Ford, Chrysler, et.al. turned them down. I was at Oldsmobile at the time, and we built a Rocket V8/6/4 engine, tested it, then rejected it. We were amazed that Cadillac went for it, but then again we were amazed at a lot that Cadillac did (like chrome plating their fender dies for a better finish that nobody could detect under a coat of paint).
Well, to me the only reason to run Linux on any game console is to get cheap hardware for a Linux PC, and once it's running Linux it's your Linux PC and that's what you use it for. What's the point of running Linux on an Xbox otherwise? Somehow I doubt this is a realistic scenario:
"Hey, you want to play Halo?"
"Nah, let's boot Linux instead and edit some shell scripts."
It's not your problem. However, earlier you said, "Now if I mod it, I'm no more or less likely to spend money on games and services your [sic] selling." That's simply not true, if you're modding it to run Linux then you're not going to use it to play Xbox games, which is where they make their money on Xbox. So it's good business sense for them to try and prevent Linux ports to the Xbox. You're trying to claim otherwise, but you're wrong.
Perhaps you meant that there's no other reason for you to buy an Xbox than to mod it to run Linux (i.e., the likelyhood of you spending money on Microsoft's games and services is zero either way). If so, then you make my case. Claiming that it's not your problem if they lose money by selling you an Xbox is beside the point; you wouldn't have bought it if it were un-moddable, right? Or are you in the habit of spending $180 just to make Microsoft lose $100? If so, then please buy all the Xboxes you can afford and give them to someone who can use them (like a local teen center or Goodwill or something).
you have 2 options: convert them to info or HTML (on-line format)
So, I have to use my web browser to print info files. Have you noticed that HTML isn't exactly designed for printing?
or convert them to PostScript or PDF (printable format).
Uh, OK, but I don't have a PostScript printer. So I have to use Ghostscript.
Web browswer or Ghostscript; either way, I have to use an intermediate (filter) program. After I've converted (filtered) the info file to some other format. So to print info files it's a two-step conversion. Why not just support printing from within info? 1) Because RMS doesn't want to, and thus no GNUbie will ever do it. 2) Because those who would want it steer well clear of GNU/info in the first place.
Except you're pulling that $100 out of your ass. It costs Microsoft more than $200 to make the Xbox - they're losing money on each console sale, not making the "$100" you claim (BTW, $180-$100=$80, not $100).
The point here is that Microsoft expect (hope) to make enough on the games to offset the loss on the console, and if you're modding the box to run Linux then you're not going to play games on it.
why (from a marketing standpoint) is Linux winning so much mind share compared to BSD?
If you want a BSD, you just go get it; it's a complete system. Companies like Red Hat and SuSE make a buck off Linux by adding the value of creating the distribution for the user. There's no room for a "Red Hat OpenBSD" or a "Red Hat FreeBSD," and a "Red Hat BSD" is too much work.
But mostly (as you say) it's marketing. Like someone's (forgot who)/. sig says: Linux is for people who hate Microsoft; BSD is for people who love UNIX. There are way more of the former.
"-1 Flamebait" Yes, it's flamebait, so that's fair moderation. But the post is 100% correct, so it's only baiting flames from ignorant jackasses. Correction: ignorant elephants.
Yeah, if I chose to defend Stallman, I'd post as AC too.
How does this effect me? Not one bit -- except it raises Artifex Software another notch on my personal opinion list. It doesn't, however, lower Stallman -- he can't get any lower without actually killing someone, or maybe raping babies.
Flamebait? Hell, yes it's flamebait! Stallman has done more harm to the Open Source movement than anyone else. Hell, more harm than all others combined. The only good thing to come of him is that he and his followers' insistance on calling Linux "GNU/Linux" is what drove me to explore the BSDs. Now I only keep Linux as a plaything, to help polish up the resume.
The freedom of gardeners VS the profits of a company? Aren't those the same choice? If Monsanto wins, noone is allowed to grow a garden AND the company profits.
Honestly, I don't understand what the fuss is all about. Won't this farmer buy more Roundup? Isn't increased Roundup sales the whole point of this frankenseed? Monsanto should give away the seed! (the Gilette/Poloroid business model)
I'm sorry, but I've just finished a weekend with Firebird, and it's got worse memory leaks than Phoenix (on Windows ME -- YMMV). With Phoenix I would lose resources and memory and crash if too many windows open. With Firebird this happens if too many tabs open. I'm seriously looking at Opera, even though it costs $$. Hell, Mozaic was better than this!
Websites crash Monday because they're usually updated over the weekend.
They talk as if the developer has an idea over the weekend, then comes in Monday morning and implements this idea without any testing. But if that were true, the websites would crash Tuesday. I mean, really, how many of you think these guys are really making the changes Monday morning and the websites are thus breaking Monday morning? Any changes you see Monday morning were loaded over the weekend, and are probably the result of all last-week's work. Whatever ideas anyone got over the weekend will be coded and tested this week and installed next weekend; they won't show up until next Monday at the earliest.
I hate it when ISPs change TOS without notification.
That's why my homepage is my ISP's TOS page, so I won't miss it when they change something. Damn entertaining reading, too -- and it only takes me about 22 minutes to scan the whole thing each morning.
Hey, if you read your ISP's TOS, you'll see this is no joke: They can change the TOS at any time, and it's your responsibility to ensure any changes are acceptable to you. Continued use of the service is acceptance of any new TOS. You've been warned.
Yeah, but it's too little, too late for me. We've used Turbo Tax for about five years now, but this is our last. Next year we're using TaxCut from H&R Block. DRM? "Never had it, never will."
If I'd known about this DRM problem (and believe me, it was a problem) before we bought Turbo Tax 2002, I'd have used TaxCut 2002 instead. But frankly, this is just the straw that broke the camel's back. Intuit treats loyal customers like idiots, sending us CDs that cost us full price to activate when frigg'n Safeway sells Turbo Tax with a rebate so the real cost is just $10. Plus we file electronically for free where my wife works. But Turbo Tax won't print the required form for electronic filing until you pay $10 to use Intuit's "service." Fuck that shit, we're through with Intuit.
Slashdot Mirror
I can see it now: Someone will make a zapper that kills RFID tags so you can "clean" your own stuff when you get home. Then Big Business will get Congress to pass anti-shoplifting legislation outlawing "shoplift protection circumvention devices" (the Digital Madness Shoplifting Act?). A magazine will publish plans to make one of these zappers, they'll get arrested for violating the DMSA, and it will be a huge test case. Industry will argue that there is no legitimate need for anyone to posess such a device. There will be a big stink about it all in the press, but the public won't care and it will all blow over in a year or two. Meanwhile, there will be a slight rise in Canadian tourism as people "vacation" over the border just long enough to get their possesions zapped before returning to the USA.
Someone makes a mistake and the RFID for my underwear somehow shows up in JCPenney's inventory computer, and I'm arrested for shoplifting when I go to JCPenney? (the RFID tags aren't turned off, they just mark that ID "sold" in their inventory so they don't arrest you when you take them out the door)
Someone makes a mistake and the ID for my underwear isn't updated in the master Wallmart database. I wear them to another Wallmart, where I'm arrested for shoplifting. (with those magnetic tags I can see them and remove them myself when I get home)
I'm suspected of a crime, and the cops get my shopping records from Wallmart then put out an APB to all retailers to be on the lookout for my underwear's RFID? (note: this could be a good thing, but it could be abused, too)
I'm not paranoid. I have no objection if they put RFIDs in the packaging, like they do now with the magnetic markers. I object to putting the RFIDs in the product, which is what the retailers want because they're afraid I'll just unwrap it before I try to walk out with it.
Perhaps that's the real problem here: they treat us all like shoplifters instead of customers and thus assume we have no rights. This is just another reason to not shop at Wallmart (as if I needed yet another).
(first liar never wins)
I forgot who came up with this (one of the automotive companies like Borg Warner, but it wasn't them). They shopped it around to everyone, and only Cadillac bought it. There's a reason Ford, Chrysler, et.al. turned them down. I was at Oldsmobile at the time, and we built a Rocket V8/6/4 engine, tested it, then rejected it. We were amazed that Cadillac went for it, but then again we were amazed at a lot that Cadillac did (like chrome plating their fender dies for a better finish that nobody could detect under a coat of paint).
"Hey, you want to play Halo?"
"Nah, let's boot Linux instead and edit some shell scripts."
Thanks, you just named my next OpenBSD server: 'BNG' - BSD's Not GNU
Perhaps you meant that there's no other reason for you to buy an Xbox than to mod it to run Linux (i.e., the likelyhood of you spending money on Microsoft's games and services is zero either way). If so, then you make my case. Claiming that it's not your problem if they lose money by selling you an Xbox is beside the point; you wouldn't have bought it if it were un-moddable, right? Or are you in the habit of spending $180 just to make Microsoft lose $100? If so, then please buy all the Xboxes you can afford and give them to someone who can use them (like a local teen center or Goodwill or something).
Web browswer or Ghostscript; either way, I have to use an intermediate (filter) program. After I've converted (filtered) the info file to some other format. So to print info files it's a two-step conversion. Why not just support printing from within info? 1) Because RMS doesn't want to, and thus no GNUbie will ever do it. 2) Because those who would want it steer well clear of GNU/info in the first place.
The point here is that Microsoft expect (hope) to make enough on the games to offset the loss on the console, and if you're modding the box to run Linux then you're not going to play games on it.
Oh, I dunno about that. Someone gave him +1 Informative.
1) Buy hard disks at $1/gig
2) Rent disk space online at $1000/gig/year
3) Profit!
Oh, well, if Steve uses BSD, then it must be good. Ringing endorsement, there!
But mostly (as you say) it's marketing. Like someone's (forgot who) /. sig says: Linux is for people who hate Microsoft; BSD is for people who love UNIX. There are way more of the former.
"-1 Flamebait" Yes, it's flamebait, so that's fair moderation. But the post is 100% correct, so it's only baiting flames from ignorant jackasses. Correction: ignorant elephants.
How does this effect me? Not one bit -- except it raises Artifex Software another notch on my personal opinion list. It doesn't, however, lower Stallman -- he can't get any lower without actually killing someone, or maybe raping babies.
Flamebait? Hell, yes it's flamebait! Stallman has done more harm to the Open Source movement than anyone else. Hell, more harm than all others combined. The only good thing to come of him is that he and his followers' insistance on calling Linux "GNU/Linux" is what drove me to explore the BSDs. Now I only keep Linux as a plaything, to help polish up the resume.
Honestly, I don't understand what the fuss is all about. Won't this farmer buy more Roundup? Isn't increased Roundup sales the whole point of this frankenseed? Monsanto should give away the seed! (the Gilette/Poloroid business model)
I'm sorry, but I've just finished a weekend with Firebird, and it's got worse memory leaks than Phoenix (on Windows ME -- YMMV). With Phoenix I would lose resources and memory and crash if too many windows open. With Firebird this happens if too many tabs open. I'm seriously looking at Opera, even though it costs $$. Hell, Mozaic was better than this!
They talk as if the developer has an idea over the weekend, then comes in Monday morning and implements this idea without any testing. But if that were true, the websites would crash Tuesday. I mean, really, how many of you think these guys are really making the changes Monday morning and the websites are thus breaking Monday morning? Any changes you see Monday morning were loaded over the weekend, and are probably the result of all last-week's work. Whatever ideas anyone got over the weekend will be coded and tested this week and installed next weekend; they won't show up until next Monday at the earliest.
STOP ME BEFORE I CODE AGAIN!
Hey, if you read your ISP's TOS, you'll see this is no joke: They can change the TOS at any time, and it's your responsibility to ensure any changes are acceptable to you. Continued use of the service is acceptance of any new TOS. You've been warned.
If I'd known about this DRM problem (and believe me, it was a problem) before we bought Turbo Tax 2002, I'd have used TaxCut 2002 instead. But frankly, this is just the straw that broke the camel's back. Intuit treats loyal customers like idiots, sending us CDs that cost us full price to activate when frigg'n Safeway sells Turbo Tax with a rebate so the real cost is just $10. Plus we file electronically for free where my wife works. But Turbo Tax won't print the required form for electronic filing until you pay $10 to use Intuit's "service." Fuck that shit, we're through with Intuit.
Lucky for me, my wife needs broadband at home, so she can work from home.