But I fear it won't for a long time to come. Too many companies still cranking out that shit and still buying that shit. But I just hope the current bad run of intel processors and the deadbirth of longhorn will put a death to that unholy alliance of an architecure.
Any RISC (ARM/POWER/SPARC/MIPS) Architecture, OpenFirmware (OpenBios), and any Open OS will do. And actually provide platform for competition.
Actually just openfirmware as the link between all hardware and OS ses will do.
Well, I lived in the GDR. And especiall the universities were pretyt international in ther student body. And those experts weren't kept, for the most part they went back to their countries of origin... some of the best help one can give any country. My father had several non-European friends from university. And exchange programs to other countries for help in technological and educational projects were pretty common. I come from a 1200 people village in a pretty rural area, and even there I remember a few dozen people who went all over the world on such projects. Mongolia, Ethiopia, Mosambique, Cuba, Vietnam and so on. We even had one who regularly went to Antarctica in our village. A major reason for that may have been though, that it was pretty hard to travel for any other reason. The only immigrated minority of any importance in the GDR were Vietnamese who fled from the Vietnam war. So on that account you are right.
You know how capital intensive it is to build modern computers. This is a multi-billion undertaking. And there is practically no major architecture anymore that doesn't have at least the optional capabilities for DRM. And then there are the Operating systems too. Windows Vista will have DRM built in. No way to avoid it. iTunes and iPods have DRM. And although I don't even own an iPod I already have been limited in exchange of information by that 2 days ago. I wasn't able to give a freind a self-created mp3 (not even speaking of ogg, what was the format the file was originally in) to listen to.
Convinience and lack of knowledge. That is the reason people willing to play along with dictatorships, that is the reason people are willing to deal with all the crap corporations shove down our throats. And with DRM they will even have the means to prevent anyone from doing soemthing about his lack of knowledge.
You still don't get it. It's not primarily abou the knowledge the companies gain (actually that is only a minor part of DRM). It is, that by building DRM capabilities into everything. Into every consumer device, they can control what information can be saved/copied/read on every single device. They can control what kind of information becomes publicly available, they can deny certain people certain information and give that same information to others. They can deny you to save read and copy your very own creations and content, that you created yourself. They can deny you the poem or the song your friend wrote and wants to show you (and they do already in some devices). By putting DRM technology into everything, the coontent on every computer can be tweaked by those with the energy an ressource, by just using that technology that is in place everywhere. Example: Scientology can use DRM to enforce the use of it's writings in exactly the way they liek it every where. They do so currently with lawsuits and all this. With DRM they can do it everywhere. Microsoft can do the same. They are in a law suit, and via DRM they can control how all documents on those lawsuits are distrubuted and accessible. Since it will probably happen with their technology. And those are just very obvious and extreme examples. Why did the majority of the US support invading Iraq? Because of the information management of the US gouvernment. Most of them thought Saddam is a direct and immediat threat to them. DRM gives this power to the corporations (yes, the people running those corporation, just as in gouvernments), and they can control this to a degree and easy that is unprecended in history. And the more computerized information increases in inportance, the bigger that power gets. Controlling information is power. Is the most important aspect of power. Controlling information is how you rule. Americans are so keen in not allowing the state or anyone a monopoly on violence (although the resources the state has basically gives him a monopoly on it). I wonder why most of them are so willing to give away the other, even more important aspect. They are willing to grant a small group of people a monopoly on information. The monopoly of violence makes resistance against the state infeasible. A monopoly on information will make even thinking of resistance infeasible.
You wouldn't mind paying a few bucks for that. Ok. But are you particularly pro-DRM? You also wouldn't mind if you were allowed to copy that, if you got the information anyway. By your not minding you are just playing in the hands of those who actively support DRM and want to control information (like all those who don't oppose an dictatorship and play along play in the hands of that dictatorship, to tone up the rhetorics;) ). You are just one of those that allow others to take away rigths, by not caring. But those who actively push for DRM are the danger. They can't be trusted. They want to control information, and thus society. And allowing them to get the means for that is almost suicidal. That is the three branches of power neatly packed together for use as seen fit in one hand. With DRM they can define, judge and enforce at once the usage of information. Bad idea to concentrate that power in one hand. And especially bad idea to concentrate that sort of power in the hands of an entitiy that has personal gain as it's primary goal by definition.
Well, if you so insist on definitions in dictionaries, and give different names to the same mindsets in gouvernments, then you also would find no communist state has ever existed. There was Stalin Russia (Stalinism), Mao China (Maoism), Castro Cuba (has that an own name? It is certainly very unique throughout history), the "real existing socialism" in the GDR. They all have a pretty common mindset though. That what is called by those with less insight communism. All those that I have listed above have also a similar mindset. That what is generally known as fascism. Why do you think the nazi refugees were so well received and were so fond of Argentinia and Chile?
Now on what fascism was at Marx times, even as the word didn't exsist yet. This was the time of the big capitalistic jump. The burgois had the money and the economy, the nobility the state. They intermingled heavily by marrying, by bought offices and titles and so on. Pretty much every German state (and later the Hohenzollern empire), and the Habsburg Monarchy were police states. All of them glorifies and heavily relied on the military, and not coincidently the miltary was a major economical factor. And virtually everywhere else in Europe the Circumstances where the same. The only thing that prevents that from being called fascism is, that it had an inheritable head of state in the name of God... namely it was a monarchy. Not coinicdently the old monarchists where among the most important supporters have always been the old monarchists, if they were there. This social constellation, and the resulting exploitation of the poor is what commmunism was against from the onset.
Wrong. Zealots are convinced of their cause. They are more often than not flat out wrong, but they are credible, since their believe in thier points.
Marketing/public relations/lobbying, btw. is a slighty different thing. There people are paid to appear convinced of their points. Wether they are or not is secondary. This of course doesn't rule out that they still might be right about their points. But more often than not they lack any credibility. And even more often than actual zealots they are flat out wrong. Only knowingly so in most accounts.
So RMS might be a zealot. But a non-violent zealot, and a zealot who doesn't care about money that much but very much about free exchange of information.
Anyone who is pro-drm is inherently agains free exchange of information. Anyone who is against free exchange of information has something to hide. And if someone with the goals of money and power is against free exchange of information, then he is a fascist and a danger to peaceful and free society.
Wrong. Since police state is also about the measure of fascism... which is defined by the nationalistic intermingling of corporate business and the rich elite and the gouvernment with a strong reliance on and glorification of the military. And fighting against this is pretty much the premise of communism, long before even the word fascism existed. That all so called communist states where police states too is pretty much a result of "to fight a monster, you have to become one". This is no excuse of course, but rather a sign that they were't really communist in the first place. And oh... if you are short of examples of fascist states in the last 100 years: Mussolini Italy, Hitler Germany, Franco Spain, Pinochet Chile, Peron Argentinia, Bush America. No shortage of that, and also no shortage of atrocities committed there.
Of course it is communication. But it is not that communication that makes it s hard. All a a red light on a plane closet is doing is communicating. And the thing it commnicates is mind boggling simple. A single bit so to say. The communication is so mind boggling simple, because the thing it has to communicate is so mind boggling simple. If you try to communicate the works of Shakespeare with that light, it suddenly becomes not so simple. So the communication is the easy part. Analysing and thoroughly understanding your problem is the hard thing. Once you have done this, the code almost writes itself.
I don't eat instant foods. At least as long as I have a say on this, e.g. as long as I determine what I eat. Cooking a big stew or lasagna or something like that on one day of the week and then eating the rest of the week from it is incredible effcient and time saving. Putting some stuff on a slice of bread takes seconds. Grabbing yourself an apple or soem grapes may not even take a second.
Yes, but still interface isn't the solution to the problem. Can you imagine a simpler interface than a pencil and a paper? If it was all about the interface, then everyone would be a DaVinci. Or do you know a simpler interface than a knife? If it was all about the interface, the people would never cut themselves and could dice 2 pounds of onions in a minute and prepare Sushi and Fugu. The only thing interfaces can do is making the first steps easier. Everything that comes after that is the capabily and willingness of the user to learn and to be careful. Considering how many hours people spend in front of tha computer it is astonishing how little they are willing to learn. If everybody would just spend a fraction of this time cooking, fast food restaurants and instant foods would be obsolete, because everybody would be at least an adequate cook.
You forget one major difference: Not everyone gets to be a pilot. And if someone wants to be a pilot, he goes trhrough extensive training and tests. This ensures that only people who are mentally and physically able to to fly a plane get to do it. This basically extincts all error sources between console and seat (if you don't count failures due to tiring etc.). It's no coincidence, that most plane crashes happen with private and chartered planes. It's simple because those people don't get that high standard training and selection of commercial pilots. Sure, better interface does a lot. But I'd still say that the consequent training and selection does much more than all those nifty little lights and buttons.
Yep, in America the people exist for the economy. In Europe there is still more the view, that the economy should exist for the people (although it is dwindling). Actually in America everything exists for the economy. And when economy always has the highest priority, then people shouldn't wonder that everything else falls short. You know, such unimportant things like health, time for children, personal development, good food, a peaceful public climate, an ecosystem that can actually support life, a future...
And I'm not saying this is exclusively American. I'm just saying, that in America this is more more dominant than anywhere else.
Wait. How are you supposed to have a beer when playing, when you need both hands? I think the Revolution with it's controller will be the perfect fit if you want your beer while playing;)
You know what? I never owned a console. I haven't even played any computer games in the last years apart from the few weeks until WoW bored me. I'm seriously considering to get myself a Revolution now. It looks interesting and fun. And now I finally can have it all! Playing games with one hand, having the beer in the other. That controller could even make real time strategy and 1st Person shooters playable on a console. Not my favourite kind of games, but just the fact that you have a comfortable pointing device on the console now opens up so many possibilities.
Wrong. People are lazy. People are stupid. Microsoft decided for them what they use, by distributing IE with windows. Peope didn't have to think or to do anything. Microsoft used it's power to spare the people some thinking and some work in the short run. This strategy always works when you need to deal with lot's of people.
Simple. Just use Debian "main" packages. They are checked very throughly to comply to the FSF philosphy. For years I didn't have to use any packages from "contrib" and "non-free" which are the categories that both violate those proniples to different degrees. And I have a very diverse hardware collection. So it is possible to use completely free software on most hardware.
Hehehe. I'm in a major software project with lots of big players in the business having some subcontracting in it. I'm one of the key knowledge holders in this project. And the company I work in has by far the biggest technologial grasp on it, simply due to the fact that we have the most people who know how to do thier job. Did I mention we are the smallest company and by no means any major player? So how does this disceprancy in ability and knowledge come up? One single look at the coders and techies will reaveal that: we are the only company where there is no strict dress code and people are actually allowed to do the work up to their abilities in their own ways (within the limits of the project of course). I overheard several times a loud question how our small company, that also doesn't pay as much as those others can attract so many good engineers. Simple. They are not forced to be something that they aren't. They have fun at their work and there is a really friendly atmosphere of collaboration. All those are things a dress code and similar rules will very likely destroy. We have not a single suit. No ponytail and sandals type too. But we have leather adorned bikers with beer bellies. Stereotypical snowboarders and the like. Well, I'm neither. I'm just the normal geek type with a disinterest on how I look.
Yep, the deterring effect is pretty efficient at preventing conventional wars. But what does the knowledge of nobody being able to crush you aor even seriously threat you in a convential war mean? It means you get arrogant and do anything you like anywhere you like over the heads of others. They get bitter, and knowing they have no chance don't fight you in a conventional war. The result is they put much more effort into damaging you in any other way they can, as is increasingly seen in the last years. This is of course a welcome effect, since that allows the gouvernment to exetend their eyes and arms in every field of life, which also is seen very nicely over the last few years.
That doesn't happen in Seamonkey too. If they figure out a good way that all Mozilla application share the same Gecko runtime, I'd even switch over. But apparantly they don't which means for each open Mozilla application you have an additional 20MB copy of the runtime in memory.
Slashdot Mirror
But I fear it won't for a long time to come. Too many companies still cranking out that shit and still buying that shit. But I just hope the current bad run of intel processors and the deadbirth of longhorn will put a death to that unholy alliance of an architecure.
Any RISC (ARM/POWER/SPARC/MIPS) Architecture, OpenFirmware (OpenBios), and any Open OS will do. And actually provide platform for competition.
Actually just openfirmware as the link between all hardware and OS ses will do.
Well, I lived in the GDR. And especiall the universities were pretyt international in ther student body. And those experts weren't kept, for the most part they went back to their countries of origin ... some of the best help one can give any country. My father had several non-European friends from university. And exchange programs to other countries for help in technological and educational projects were pretty common. I come from a 1200 people village in a pretty rural area, and even there I remember a few dozen people who went all over the world on such projects. Mongolia, Ethiopia, Mosambique, Cuba, Vietnam and so on. We even had one who regularly went to Antarctica in our village. A major reason for that may have been though, that it was pretty hard to travel for any other reason.
The only immigrated minority of any importance in the GDR were Vietnamese who fled from the Vietnam war. So on that account you are right.
You know how capital intensive it is to build modern computers. This is a multi-billion undertaking. And there is practically no major architecture anymore that doesn't have at least the optional capabilities for DRM. And then there are the Operating systems too. Windows Vista will have DRM built in. No way to avoid it. iTunes and iPods have DRM. And although I don't even own an iPod I already have been limited in exchange of information by that 2 days ago. I wasn't able to give a freind a self-created mp3 (not even speaking of ogg, what was the format the file was originally in) to listen to.
Convinience and lack of knowledge. That is the reason people willing to play along with dictatorships, that is the reason people are willing to deal with all the crap corporations shove down our throats. And with DRM they will even have the means to prevent anyone from doing soemthing about his lack of knowledge.
You still don't get it. It's not primarily abou the knowledge the companies gain (actually that is only a minor part of DRM). It is, that by building DRM capabilities into everything. Into every consumer device, they can control what information can be saved/copied/read on every single device. They can control what kind of information becomes publicly available, they can deny certain people certain information and give that same information to others. They can deny you to save read and copy your very own creations and content, that you created yourself. They can deny you the poem or the song your friend wrote and wants to show you (and they do already in some devices). By putting DRM technology into everything, the coontent on every computer can be tweaked by those with the energy an ressource, by just using that technology that is in place everywhere. Example: Scientology can use DRM to enforce the use of it's writings in exactly the way they liek it every where. They do so currently with lawsuits and all this. With DRM they can do it everywhere. Microsoft can do the same. They are in a law suit, and via DRM they can control how all documents on those lawsuits are distrubuted and accessible. Since it will probably happen with their technology. And those are just very obvious and extreme examples.
Why did the majority of the US support invading Iraq? Because of the information management of the US gouvernment. Most of them thought Saddam is a direct and immediat threat to them. DRM gives this power to the corporations (yes, the people running those corporation, just as in gouvernments), and they can control this to a degree and easy that is unprecended in history. And the more computerized information increases in inportance, the bigger that power gets.
Controlling information is power. Is the most important aspect of power. Controlling information is how you rule.
Americans are so keen in not allowing the state or anyone a monopoly on violence (although the resources the state has basically gives him a monopoly on it). I wonder why most of them are so willing to give away the other, even more important aspect. They are willing to grant a small group of people a monopoly on information. The monopoly of violence makes resistance against the state infeasible. A monopoly on information will make even thinking of resistance infeasible.
You wouldn't mind paying a few bucks for that. Ok. But are you particularly pro-DRM? You also wouldn't mind if you were allowed to copy that, if you got the information anyway. By your not minding you are just playing in the hands of those who actively support DRM and want to control information (like all those who don't oppose an dictatorship and play along play in the hands of that dictatorship, to tone up the rhetorics ;) ). You are just one of those that allow others to take away rigths, by not caring. But those who actively push for DRM are the danger. They can't be trusted. They want to control information, and thus society. And allowing them to get the means for that is almost suicidal. That is the three branches of power neatly packed together for use as seen fit in one hand. With DRM they can define, judge and enforce at once the usage of information. Bad idea to concentrate that power in one hand. And especially bad idea to concentrate that sort of power in the hands of an entitiy that has personal gain as it's primary goal by definition.
Well, if you so insist on definitions in dictionaries, and give different names to the same mindsets in gouvernments, then you also would find no communist state has ever existed. There was Stalin Russia (Stalinism), Mao China (Maoism), Castro Cuba (has that an own name? It is certainly very unique throughout history), the "real existing socialism" in the GDR. They all have a pretty common mindset though. That what is called by those with less insight communism. All those that I have listed above have also a similar mindset. That what is generally known as fascism. Why do you think the nazi refugees were so well received and were so fond of Argentinia and Chile?
Now on what fascism was at Marx times, even as the word didn't exsist yet. This was the time of the big capitalistic jump. The burgois had the money and the economy, the nobility the state. They intermingled heavily by marrying, by bought offices and titles and so on. Pretty much every German state (and later the Hohenzollern empire), and the Habsburg Monarchy were police states. All of them glorifies and heavily relied on the military, and not coincidently the miltary was a major economical factor. And virtually everywhere else in Europe the Circumstances where the same. The only thing that prevents that from being called fascism is, that it had an inheritable head of state in the name of God... namely it was a monarchy. Not coinicdently the old monarchists where among the most important supporters have always been the old monarchists, if they were there. This social constellation, and the resulting exploitation of the poor is what commmunism was against from the onset.
Wrong. Zealots are convinced of their cause. They are more often than not flat out wrong, but they are credible, since their believe in thier points.
Marketing/public relations/lobbying, btw. is a slighty different thing. There people are paid to appear convinced of their points. Wether they are or not is secondary. This of course doesn't rule out that they still might be right about their points. But more often than not they lack any credibility. And even more often than actual zealots they are flat out wrong. Only knowingly so in most accounts.
So RMS might be a zealot. But a non-violent zealot, and a zealot who doesn't care about money that much but very much about free exchange of information.
Anyone who is pro-drm is inherently agains free exchange of information. Anyone who is against free exchange of information has something to hide. And if someone with the goals of money and power is against free exchange of information, then he is a fascist and a danger to peaceful and free society.
Wrong. Since police state is also about the measure of fascism ... which is defined by the nationalistic intermingling of corporate business and the rich elite and the gouvernment with a strong reliance on and glorification of the military. And fighting against this is pretty much the premise of communism, long before even the word fascism existed. ... if you are short of examples of fascist states in the last 100 years: Mussolini Italy, Hitler Germany, Franco Spain, Pinochet Chile, Peron Argentinia, Bush America. No shortage of that, and also no shortage of atrocities committed there.
That all so called communist states where police states too is pretty much a result of "to fight a monster, you have to become one". This is no excuse of course, but rather a sign that they were't really communist in the first place.
And oh
Of course it is communication. But it is not that communication that makes it s hard. All a a red light on a plane closet is doing is communicating. And the thing it commnicates is mind boggling simple. A single bit so to say. The communication is so mind boggling simple, because the thing it has to communicate is so mind boggling simple. If you try to communicate the works of Shakespeare with that light, it suddenly becomes not so simple.
So the communication is the easy part. Analysing and thoroughly understanding your problem is the hard thing. Once you have done this, the code almost writes itself.
I don't eat instant foods. At least as long as I have a say on this, e.g. as long as I determine what I eat. Cooking a big stew or lasagna or something like that on one day of the week and then eating the rest of the week from it is incredible effcient and time saving. Putting some stuff on a slice of bread takes seconds. Grabbing yourself an apple or soem grapes may not even take a second.
Yes, but still interface isn't the solution to the problem. Can you imagine a simpler interface than a pencil and a paper? If it was all about the interface, then everyone would be a DaVinci. Or do you know a simpler interface than a knife? If it was all about the interface, the people would never cut themselves and could dice 2 pounds of onions in a minute and prepare Sushi and Fugu. The only thing interfaces can do is making the first steps easier. Everything that comes after that is the capabily and willingness of the user to learn and to be careful. Considering how many hours people spend in front of tha computer it is astonishing how little they are willing to learn. If everybody would just spend a fraction of this time cooking, fast food restaurants and instant foods would be obsolete, because everybody would be at least an adequate cook.
You forget one major difference: Not everyone gets to be a pilot. And if someone wants to be a pilot, he goes trhrough extensive training and tests. This ensures that only people who are mentally and physically able to to fly a plane get to do it. This basically extincts all error sources between console and seat (if you don't count failures due to tiring etc.). It's no coincidence, that most plane crashes happen with private and chartered planes. It's simple because those people don't get that high standard training and selection of commercial pilots. Sure, better interface does a lot. But I'd still say that the consequent training and selection does much more than all those nifty little lights and buttons.
I'm atheist. I don't believe in markets. Probably that's why those who don't believe in markets always have to face some inquisition ;)
Yep, in America the people exist for the economy. In Europe there is still more the view, that the economy should exist for the people (although it is dwindling). Actually in America everything exists for the economy. And when economy always has the highest priority, then people shouldn't wonder that everything else falls short. You know, such unimportant things like health, time for children, personal development, good food, a peaceful public climate, an ecosystem that can actually support life, a future ...
And I'm not saying this is exclusively American. I'm just saying, that in America this is more more dominant than anywhere else.
beer-funneling fratboys
;)
Wait. How are you supposed to have a beer when playing, when you need both hands? I think the Revolution with it's controller will be the perfect fit if you want your beer while playing
You know what? I never owned a console. I haven't even played any computer games in the last years apart from the few weeks until WoW bored me. I'm seriously considering to get myself a Revolution now. It looks interesting and fun. And now I finally can have it all! Playing games with one hand, having the beer in the other. That controller could even make real time strategy and 1st Person shooters playable on a console. Not my favourite kind of games, but just the fact that you have a comfortable pointing device on the console now opens up so many possibilities.
One of the worst things about the Intel switch is that we will never see a laptop (or desktop) that runs MacOS X with one of those.
A good slim laptop with 10 hours battery life may have been possible.
Wrong. People are lazy. People are stupid. Microsoft decided for them what they use, by distributing IE with windows. Peope didn't have to think or to do anything. Microsoft used it's power to spare the people some thinking and some work in the short run. This strategy always works when you need to deal with lot's of people.
I fpeople would buy the better, cheaper processors, then x86 would have been long gone.
Just look at tobacco corporations. Are their ways of making money the best for the people?
Simple. Just use Debian "main" packages. They are checked very throughly to comply to the FSF philosphy. For years I didn't have to use any packages from "contrib" and "non-free" which are the categories that both violate those proniples to different degrees. And I have a very diverse hardware collection. So it is possible to use completely free software on most hardware.
Hehehe. I'm in a major software project with lots of big players in the business having some subcontracting in it. I'm one of the key knowledge holders in this project. And the company I work in has by far the biggest technologial grasp on it, simply due to the fact that we have the most people who know how to do thier job. Did I mention we are the smallest company and by no means any major player?
So how does this disceprancy in ability and knowledge come up? One single look at the coders and techies will reaveal that: we are the only company where there is no strict dress code and people are actually allowed to do the work up to their abilities in their own ways (within the limits of the project of course). I overheard several times a loud question how our small company, that also doesn't pay as much as those others can attract so many good engineers. Simple. They are not forced to be something that they aren't. They have fun at their work and there is a really friendly atmosphere of collaboration. All those are things a dress code and similar rules will very likely destroy.
We have not a single suit. No ponytail and sandals type too. But we have leather adorned bikers with beer bellies. Stereotypical snowboarders and the like. Well, I'm neither. I'm just the normal geek type with a disinterest on how I look.
Yep, the deterring effect is pretty efficient at preventing conventional wars. But what does the knowledge of nobody being able to crush you aor even seriously threat you in a convential war mean? It means you get arrogant and do anything you like anywhere you like over the heads of others. They get bitter, and knowing they have no chance don't fight you in a conventional war. The result is they put much more effort into damaging you in any other way they can, as is increasingly seen in the last years. This is of course a welcome effect, since that allows the gouvernment to exetend their eyes and arms in every field of life, which also is seen very nicely over the last few years.
That doesn't happen in Seamonkey too. If they figure out a good way that all Mozilla application share the same Gecko runtime, I'd even switch over. But apparantly they don't which means for each open Mozilla application you have an additional 20MB copy of the runtime in memory.
Well,But it doesn't work with Mac. So still my only option, if I want an MP3 player that wors with the mac and can play oggs is the iRiver.