Aside from the GPL which is pointed out by another user, NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THESE PATENTS CAN BE LICENSED BY AN END USER. Read that. Twice.
I understand that and I believe that's irrelevant, because that is the job of the software developers, surely. They pay a license, which may or may not include royalties, depending on how many copies they sell. Royalties are paid by the developer, effectively acting as a proxy for the end user who has licensed the software from them. No software developer GIVES you source to their programs, even GPL is a LICENSE.
Your freedom is still only applicable within the bounds they've set.
RSA refused to license their patent to endusers, instead only licensing in bulk to developers of specific webservers
Surely that's the perogative of the designer of the implementation.
This is where our opinions meet in the middle. I agree that an idea shouldn't be patentable, but an implementation should. You can't get or don't like RSA's implementation, license one from someone else, or write your own.
In the instance of video/audio codecs, the idea of compressing video/audio should not be patentable, but the various implentations are and should remain so. Don't like MP3/AAC/ATRAK? Use OGG. Don't like Sorensen, RealVideo, Cinepak? Use MPEG 1 or 2. Or write your own.
so that means if i come up with an idea, before i can use that idea i must first check to see if anyone else had that idea before me?
I think there is a big misconception here of ideas and implementation.
sure, patenting ideas or concepts I think is absolutely despicable, but patenting an implementation of an algorithm I see as valid.
The people who design the codecs sit down and work out all the maths, and then implement said codecs. They've done a lot of good work, and this is stuff which is much farther along than a simple idea.
I agree that amazon's one-click shopping, and stupid shit like that should not be patented, but in this instance, I respectfully disagree with Video Lan's opinion.
They should be paying license fees for these codecs, and I for one suppport them and would pay toward this endeavour.
But I think they are using this disgust of patents the wrong way. This will not force change. It won't even be a stepping stone. They will only hurt themselves, and that saddens me.
Most software patents are bullshit, but codecs should come under a different category in my eye.
For example, you say you have an idea. What is that? To come up with a video codec that compresses sound and video as much as possible. Sure, that's the idea. But ideas are cheap, and this in itself is not patentable.
You come up with a way of compressing audio so that it's between 10 and 12 times smaller than any other audio codec. That's amazing. You implement it, and patent your algorithm. Of course, some people are happy to give away their work for free, but there are those who need to pay for their rent/mortgages/bills/food.
They've done a lot of thorough work and they should enjoy the fruits of their labour.
If I was smart enough to design a better video/audio codec, I certainly would not give it away. I would use it to provide me with income while I frit away my life playing games and reading comics.;)
shouldn't they have checked all these patents and licenses before implementing them?
would charging their users a small fee pay for all the licenses? I use VLC on windows and OS X, and there must surely be a linux version too. so they've cornered all major markets.
who wouldn't pay US$5-10 for such a useful program?
while I agree with your assessment of the all encompassing gaeity of Pearl Harbour, what has the director got to do with the script?
The person who wrote the script is Randall Wallace. OK, being Hollywood, it probably went through dozens of writers, but Wallace has the credit for writer.
However -- he has also written the screenplays for some good movies. Braveheart and We Were Soldiers come to mind. For others, look him up on IMDB.
So remember kids, the Director is typically NOT the person who writes the movie script. So stop giving credit where credit isn't due, and don't rag on a guy wrongly either.
We here have Sky satellite tv. the channels that Sky import are sold/leased to our only cable provider, TelstraClear.
So there is no choice in programming. You watch free-to-air, or whatever Sky decides.
When I could afford broadband, I used to download shitloads of TV shows off the net. Stuff like Firefly, Dead Like Me, Deadwood, Striperalla, etc.
So far, Firefly and Deadwood have made it to NZ TV, but they were a very long time coming. Now that I'm on dialup, I don't even bother.
Having said that, Sky have done one thing right, which hopefully is a promise of more good things to come. They just aired Wrestlemania XXI LIVE!
Originally they imported WWF/WWE and we were one month behind. Lots of people started complaining because of the delays. Even the magazines imported monthly were sometimes ahead of what was being aired here. It was an absolute joke. You couldn't view the WWE website because it was too far ahead.
Eventually Sky cut it down to a two week gap, and now it's spot on - we get it the same week.
But everyone in this country is at Sky's mercy.
I don't know how the TV execs don't understand that they are promoting the piracy. play it at the same time globally, and everyone will just watch TV.
I think his point was that he can run the LATEST Apple OS on his old machine out of the box. Without some serious kernel hacking and years of recompiling, there's no way a modern linux distro will run on your 386.
Of course, there's no way your power supply or hard disk have lasted 14 years, unless they've been off for over 10.
hahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaha ha.
You released your April Fools joke a little early.
I am happy knowing that if I enter the super-user account password while randomly surfing the net, it's my own fault.
I am happy knowing that if I get forwarded email based VBscript trojans/viruses/worms, nothing will happen because I have OS X, not Active X OS.
I am happy knowing that 99.99% of malware/spyware coders will not bother with Macs because 5% of the computers in the world still add up to a piss in Bill's pond.
I am comfortable in the assumption that once malware/spyware coders buy a Mac, and start coding on OS X, they will give up on their goals of world deterioration, and join the rest of us who have come to understand that computer utopia does actually exist.
Did anyone notice that they don't use Sony PCs? I saw a few Dell PCs, Samsung monitors, some dude using what is either an ancient AT keyboard or one of those daft Honeywell lookalikes, a Mitsubishi monitor, a JVC stereo system, Microsoft mice, an Apple cinema display monitor (which may or may not have been connected to a PC), and a little TV and video which weren't clear what brand they were, but didn't look like they had Sony badges.
Why don't they use anything by Sony?
I ask this question as a person who is a very loyal Sony fan. My VCR, TV, DV camera, digital still camera, minidisc player, and probably countless other pieces of hardware in my room are Sony.
I work at NEC, and we make sure everything possible is NEC hardware. Yes, we get discounts and it saves us money, but it would portray a potentially damaging image if we were to use competing products.
This is actually starting to become a problem for me because I can no longer justify buying a new Mac. I'd like to buy a flash new PowerBook with its light sensitive led's on the keyboard, built in SuperDrive, bundled with iLife, and other nifty software, but my 550Mhz TiBook just runs so damn well.
I want another machine, but Apple's accursed habit of optimising code every major release means I don't need another machine.
But its profit margins are going to start being hit if using Windows becomes too unpleasant an experience, and malware is threatening just that for the average user.
eh? if it becomes an unpleasant experience? Windows has been an unpleasant experience for the uneducated masses for years. those smart enough to not use IE and Outlook, and people like me who either won't connect a Windows machine to the internet directly, or at all, don't have an unpleasant time.
but the average user you're talking about is beyond being threatened. they're being digested.
If they want a magazine to just look at the pictures, then they should be buying a porno. I've made sure that mine is less outright review and more article.
we'll see what happens. If people decide that they want scores, they'll tell me. Or not buy it. Hmm..
I'm just about to publish the first issue of a pop culture mag here in New Zealand.
Over the last couple of weeks I've been scratching my head at the score system I've been using and asking others to use. Invariably, nothing is ultimately compatible. And everyone is biased.
So the right answer here is that I'm actually going to remove scores from all the game and comic reviews.
That will actually force readers to REAd the mag. What a novel concept.
true enough. I believe that apple are the closest though. Even my example of Risc OS was such a system that really did require you to have a basic tutorial. Whether it was on a CD, or a book, or an audio tape, it was still necessary. Just because of subtle differences in the UI.
It's an interesting topic that will probably take us way off topic, but that's ok:)
Is intuition something based on experience, or is it something else? To me a truly intuitive interface is one which is built around an interface I am already familiar with - voice communication in the English language. But even then, unless you know buzz words like Folder, Directory, File, the difference between Copy and Move and all sorts of fun things, then it can't be absolutely intuitive.
There will always be a learning curve.
Just between you and me; if Google ever produce an OS, theirs will be the closest to the perfect intuitive interface. I don't think Microsoft has quite cottoned on to why searching and sorting massloads of data is quite so important to the future of computing. They're just in it because everyone else is making money off of it.
I hear what you're saying, but what I was trying to get at was that when you don't know anything about computers, intuition isn't so easy to follow.
Take my girlfriend as an example. She has used computers for day to day stuff, she has her own PC, has done word processing and stuff for work, and she can find her way around new OS's very intuitively. In fact, she like OS X the most because she thinks it's the most intuitive. Based on her experience.
Now my dad, well, he won't even turn on the power button unless I'm there sitting down next to him. Yet he uses a computer every day at work. He has been given specific instructions and he follows them to the letter. Whenever you show him something new, he writes down each step so he can replicate it.
However, he would be more comfortable with popping an audiotape in a tape deck and listening to how to use his computer. Because his experience is minimal, and his fear of breaking something is unbelievably huge, that no matter how intuitive a UI is, he will still have problems. Guaranteed.
The only way this will be overcome for him is to have an OS that he can just talk to in plain english and have it do the tasks for him.
So I think that it's wrong to discard the idea of old-media to teach new media. For most, sure it's redundant, but those who really need to learn will find it a boon.
I remember the Acorn Archimedes computers. They had 3 mouse buttons, which was pretty unusual 15 years ago. However, they did something really clever. They named the buttons. Left was Select, right was Menu, and middle was Adjust. All programs adhered to the standard and they all did the same sort of thing regardless of the application.
They went a step further, though, and supplied a set of audio tapes that taught you how to use your OS. This ensured that even people who didn't have a clue about computers could get up to speed in just a few hours.
The thing that is missing with Windows and OS X is the in depth tutorial for complete n00bs.
Such a simple solution for such a redundant problem.
You are so much better off if you do not bite the hand that feeds you. And do not patronize me by telling me the reader is the customer--your real customer is the one that pays you your revenue. And it is game industry advertisers. If you need to be able to be constantly negative you need to accept that you are like a parasite that is killing its host.
as far as I see it, gamers are the real customers. game developers and game magazines don't exist without the gamers.
I love the fact that GamePro did this. I tried at one stage to review a game for a really big online review site here in New Zealand. I wrote a review, had it read and was told, "that's great, but we don't have a good relationship with the publisher, so we don't print any reviews of their games." what? In other words, they don't get given freebies.
Stupid arrogant bunch of fucks.
Message to wankers like Trip - get over it. If you make shit games, then nobody gives a fuck about you or your whining. Just because you idiots spent loads of money and time developing it doesn't instantly make it worthy of everyone's praise.
Message to wankers like GamePlanet (oops, I mean, unnamed NZ review site) - all your reviews are now soiled. The gamers cannot trust your judgement any more. You are going to tell us all games by a publisher you like are good, regardless of whether they are or not. You don't gain the trust of your bread and butter (ie, the gamers) like that.
All of you cocksuckers think that the advertisers are the reason why the magazines and web-zines are alive. This is so far wrong that I propose you all instantly find work in another industry.
yeh, but read all the comments after it. It scary to see all those cries of HOOAAHH and the effort they go to for the graphical sigs.
they are all a sorry bunch of losers. wanna be army boys who wouldn't cut it in the real world.
Reading that dev's post shows that he has the same mindset they all do and although he's just trying to scare the kids into not cheating, I think a lot will believe they're going to have their doors bashed in during some fucking dawn raid.
Slashdot Mirror
Aside from the GPL which is pointed out by another user, NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THESE PATENTS CAN BE LICENSED BY AN END USER. Read that. Twice.
I understand that and I believe that's irrelevant, because that is the job of the software developers, surely. They pay a license, which may or may not include royalties, depending on how many copies they sell. Royalties are paid by the developer, effectively acting as a proxy for the end user who has licensed the software from them. No software developer GIVES you source to their programs, even GPL is a LICENSE.
Your freedom is still only applicable within the bounds they've set.
RSA refused to license their patent to endusers, instead only licensing in bulk to developers of specific webservers
Surely that's the perogative of the designer of the implementation.
This is where our opinions meet in the middle. I agree that an idea shouldn't be patentable, but an implementation should. You can't get or don't like RSA's implementation, license one from someone else, or write your own.
In the instance of video/audio codecs, the idea of compressing video/audio should not be patentable, but the various implentations are and should remain so. Don't like MP3/AAC/ATRAK? Use OGG. Don't like Sorensen, RealVideo, Cinepak? Use MPEG 1 or 2. Or write your own.
so that means if i come up with an idea, before i can use that idea i must first check to see if anyone else had that idea before me?
;)
I think there is a big misconception here of ideas and implementation.
sure, patenting ideas or concepts I think is absolutely despicable, but patenting an implementation of an algorithm I see as valid.
The people who design the codecs sit down and work out all the maths, and then implement said codecs. They've done a lot of good work, and this is stuff which is much farther along than a simple idea.
I agree that amazon's one-click shopping, and stupid shit like that should not be patented, but in this instance, I respectfully disagree with Video Lan's opinion.
They should be paying license fees for these codecs, and I for one suppport them and would pay toward this endeavour.
But I think they are using this disgust of patents the wrong way. This will not force change. It won't even be a stepping stone. They will only hurt themselves, and that saddens me.
Most software patents are bullshit, but codecs should come under a different category in my eye.
For example, you say you have an idea. What is that? To come up with a video codec that compresses sound and video as much as possible. Sure, that's the idea. But ideas are cheap, and this in itself is not patentable.
You come up with a way of compressing audio so that it's between 10 and 12 times smaller than any other audio codec. That's amazing. You implement it, and patent your algorithm. Of course, some people are happy to give away their work for free, but there are those who need to pay for their rent/mortgages/bills/food.
They've done a lot of thorough work and they should enjoy the fruits of their labour.
If I was smart enough to design a better video/audio codec, I certainly would not give it away. I would use it to provide me with income while I frit away my life playing games and reading comics.
shouldn't they have checked all these patents and licenses before implementing them?
would charging their users a small fee pay for all the licenses? I use VLC on windows and OS X, and there must surely be a linux version too. so they've cornered all major markets.
who wouldn't pay US$5-10 for such a useful program?
while I agree with your assessment of the all encompassing gaeity of Pearl Harbour, what has the director got to do with the script?
The person who wrote the script is Randall Wallace. OK, being Hollywood, it probably went through dozens of writers, but Wallace has the credit for writer.
However -- he has also written the screenplays for some good movies. Braveheart and We Were Soldiers come to mind. For others, look him up on IMDB.
So remember kids, the Director is typically NOT the person who writes the movie script. So stop giving credit where credit isn't due, and don't rag on a guy wrongly either.
We here have Sky satellite tv. the channels that Sky import are sold/leased to our only cable provider, TelstraClear.
So there is no choice in programming. You watch free-to-air, or whatever Sky decides.
When I could afford broadband, I used to download shitloads of TV shows off the net. Stuff like Firefly, Dead Like Me, Deadwood, Striperalla, etc.
So far, Firefly and Deadwood have made it to NZ TV, but they were a very long time coming. Now that I'm on dialup, I don't even bother.
Having said that, Sky have done one thing right, which hopefully is a promise of more good things to come. They just aired Wrestlemania XXI LIVE!
Originally they imported WWF/WWE and we were one month behind. Lots of people started complaining because of the delays. Even the magazines imported monthly were sometimes ahead of what was being aired here. It was an absolute joke. You couldn't view the WWE website because it was too far ahead.
Eventually Sky cut it down to a two week gap, and now it's spot on - we get it the same week.
But everyone in this country is at Sky's mercy.
I don't know how the TV execs don't understand that they are promoting the piracy. play it at the same time globally, and everyone will just watch TV.
I think his point was that he can run the LATEST Apple OS on his old machine out of the box. Without some serious kernel hacking and years of recompiling, there's no way a modern linux distro will run on your 386.
Of course, there's no way your power supply or hard disk have lasted 14 years, unless they've been off for over 10.
but upon glancing over the patent, the abstract completely contradicts the complaints that this patent has received.
It is nothing like IPv6. It sounds like a zero-config DHCP.
hahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaha ha.
You released your April Fools joke a little early.
I am happy knowing that if I enter the super-user account password while randomly surfing the net, it's my own fault.
I am happy knowing that if I get forwarded email based VBscript trojans/viruses/worms, nothing will happen because I have OS X, not Active X OS.
I am happy knowing that 99.99% of malware/spyware coders will not bother with Macs because 5% of the computers in the world still add up to a piss in Bill's pond.
I am comfortable in the assumption that once malware/spyware coders buy a Mac, and start coding on OS X, they will give up on their goals of world deterioration, and join the rest of us who have come to understand that computer utopia does actually exist.
If Microsoft support transparent PNG files, it certainly means that they are embracing and about to extend.
Keep an eye on the patent sites.
so they bought Dell machines?? that can't be the answer because Dell are the bottom of the barrel.
Did anyone notice that they don't use Sony PCs? I saw a few Dell PCs, Samsung monitors, some dude using what is either an ancient AT keyboard or one of those daft Honeywell lookalikes, a Mitsubishi monitor, a JVC stereo system, Microsoft mice, an Apple cinema display monitor (which may or may not have been connected to a PC), and a little TV and video which weren't clear what brand they were, but didn't look like they had Sony badges.
Why don't they use anything by Sony?
I ask this question as a person who is a very loyal Sony fan. My VCR, TV, DV camera, digital still camera, minidisc player, and probably countless other pieces of hardware in my room are Sony.
I work at NEC, and we make sure everything possible is NEC hardware. Yes, we get discounts and it saves us money, but it would portray a potentially damaging image if we were to use competing products.
This is actually starting to become a problem for me because I can no longer justify buying a new Mac. I'd like to buy a flash new PowerBook with its light sensitive led's on the keyboard, built in SuperDrive, bundled with iLife, and other nifty software, but my 550Mhz TiBook just runs so damn well.
I want another machine, but Apple's accursed habit of optimising code every major release means I don't need another machine.
Damn you Apple. Damn you all.
But its profit margins are going to start being hit if using Windows becomes too unpleasant an experience, and malware is threatening just that for the average user.
eh? if it becomes an unpleasant experience? Windows has been an unpleasant experience for the uneducated masses for years. those smart enough to not use IE and Outlook, and people like me who either won't connect a Windows machine to the internet directly, or at all, don't have an unpleasant time.
but the average user you're talking about is beyond being threatened. they're being digested.
Or not read it at all.
If they want a magazine to just look at the pictures, then they should be buying a porno. I've made sure that mine is less outright review and more article.
we'll see what happens. If people decide that they want scores, they'll tell me. Or not buy it. Hmm..
I'm just about to publish the first issue of a pop culture mag here in New Zealand.
Over the last couple of weeks I've been scratching my head at the score system I've been using and asking others to use. Invariably, nothing is ultimately compatible. And everyone is biased.
So the right answer here is that I'm actually going to remove scores from all the game and comic reviews.
That will actually force readers to REAd the mag. What a novel concept.
true enough. I believe that apple are the closest though. Even my example of Risc OS was such a system that really did require you to have a basic tutorial. Whether it was on a CD, or a book, or an audio tape, it was still necessary. Just because of subtle differences in the UI.
:)
It's an interesting topic that will probably take us way off topic, but that's ok
Is intuition something based on experience, or is it something else? To me a truly intuitive interface is one which is built around an interface I am already familiar with - voice communication in the English language. But even then, unless you know buzz words like Folder, Directory, File, the difference between Copy and Move and all sorts of fun things, then it can't be absolutely intuitive.
There will always be a learning curve.
Just between you and me; if Google ever produce an OS, theirs will be the closest to the perfect intuitive interface. I don't think Microsoft has quite cottoned on to why searching and sorting massloads of data is quite so important to the future of computing. They're just in it because everyone else is making money off of it.
I hear what you're saying, but what I was trying to get at was that when you don't know anything about computers, intuition isn't so easy to follow.
Take my girlfriend as an example. She has used computers for day to day stuff, she has her own PC, has done word processing and stuff for work, and she can find her way around new OS's very intuitively. In fact, she like OS X the most because she thinks it's the most intuitive. Based on her experience.
Now my dad, well, he won't even turn on the power button unless I'm there sitting down next to him. Yet he uses a computer every day at work. He has been given specific instructions and he follows them to the letter. Whenever you show him something new, he writes down each step so he can replicate it.
However, he would be more comfortable with popping an audiotape in a tape deck and listening to how to use his computer. Because his experience is minimal, and his fear of breaking something is unbelievably huge, that no matter how intuitive a UI is, he will still have problems. Guaranteed.
The only way this will be overcome for him is to have an OS that he can just talk to in plain english and have it do the tasks for him.
So I think that it's wrong to discard the idea of old-media to teach new media. For most, sure it's redundant, but those who really need to learn will find it a boon.
I remember the Acorn Archimedes computers. They had 3 mouse buttons, which was pretty unusual 15 years ago. However, they did something really clever. They named the buttons. Left was Select, right was Menu, and middle was Adjust. All programs adhered to the standard and they all did the same sort of thing regardless of the application.
They went a step further, though, and supplied a set of audio tapes that taught you how to use your OS. This ensured that even people who didn't have a clue about computers could get up to speed in just a few hours.
The thing that is missing with Windows and OS X is the in depth tutorial for complete n00bs.
Such a simple solution for such a redundant problem.
forgive my ignorance, but could you please clarify a few things?
I have no idea what frou-frou and baristas are. maybe they're Americanisms, but I've just never heard the terms before.
ta.
This is the smartest thing I've read since I read something smarter. I just can't remember when that was.
even cheaper.. go pay a local gang to knock out the local power grid for that area on opening night. should only cost you a few dozen beers.
cool. I got modded by someone who works for a mag/site or publisher.
You are so much better off if you do not bite the hand that feeds you. And do not patronize me by telling me the reader is the customer--your real customer is the one that pays you your revenue. And it is game industry advertisers. If you need to be able to be constantly negative you need to accept that you are like a parasite that is killing its host.
as far as I see it, gamers are the real customers. game developers and game magazines don't exist without the gamers.
I love the fact that GamePro did this. I tried at one stage to review a game for a really big online review site here in New Zealand. I wrote a review, had it read and was told, "that's great, but we don't have a good relationship with the publisher, so we don't print any reviews of their games." what? In other words, they don't get given freebies.
Stupid arrogant bunch of fucks.
Message to wankers like Trip - get over it. If you make shit games, then nobody gives a fuck about you or your whining. Just because you idiots spent loads of money and time developing it doesn't instantly make it worthy of everyone's praise.
Message to wankers like GamePlanet (oops, I mean, unnamed NZ review site) - all your reviews are now soiled. The gamers cannot trust your judgement any more. You are going to tell us all games by a publisher you like are good, regardless of whether they are or not. You don't gain the trust of your bread and butter (ie, the gamers) like that.
All of you cocksuckers think that the advertisers are the reason why the magazines and web-zines are alive. This is so far wrong that I propose you all instantly find work in another industry.
yeh, but read all the comments after it. It scary to see all those cries of HOOAAHH and the effort they go to for the graphical sigs.
they are all a sorry bunch of losers. wanna be army boys who wouldn't cut it in the real world.
Reading that dev's post shows that he has the same mindset they all do and although he's just trying to scare the kids into not cheating, I think a lot will believe they're going to have their doors bashed in during some fucking dawn raid.
bad guys. heh. tosser.
some people are forced go to work because big brother makes them pay for their accomodation, food, and power.
fuck off.