> You only save money with a dedicated router at the very bottom of the > barrel*. If you have a crappy 15MBit residential broadband connection, the > $19.95 Linksys special will do you just fine.
But so will an old Aptiva salvaged from the dumpster.
>...users would have no way of telling what the spin was.
Most users want a particular spin (which they insist is the "truth"). They refuse to read sources that do not apply the correct spin (and this applies just as much to liberals as to conservatives).
> And yes, unless its classified, it is in the American pubic domain on day > one since it was paid for by US citizens.
Not true. The government cannot enforce its copyright on "works for hire" where the government is the employer but it can enforce copyrights it acquires. Contractors also often retain copyright is works produced while performing a contract (the government usually acquires a nonexclusive license). The mere fact that a work was paid for by tax money does not put it in the public domain.
> One of the questions raised on the Amazon page is: shouldn't this material > be public domain? It is owned by the US Government...
If the author wrote thing as a US Government employee then the goverment is the author and is not permitted to enforce its copyright. If he was acting as a contractor he is the author in which case he may still own the copyright.
>...and any copyright would seem to have expired at this point...
Not yet.
>...it seems like we should be able to get a copy for free under the FOIA.
> Google isn't about to release the signing keys...
Google "jailbreak". If I can't install a Free OS on it I'm not interested, of course. I thought I made that clear. As delivered the thing would be useless to me.
> Far be it for me to support Big Brother, but its hard to find fault with a > law enforcement system that actually seem to be doing what it is supposed to.
You believe that they should arrest the same people over and over again for acts most of which would not be crimes in a truly free society?
Slashdot Mirror
> Wait, what? How's this different than what's out there now?
In that if he is right (not something he has a stellar record of) consumers will have even more choice. This he apparently considers bad.
> You only save money with a dedicated router at the very bottom of the
> barrel*. If you have a crappy 15MBit residential broadband connection, the
> $19.95 Linksys special will do you just fine.
But so will an old Aptiva salvaged from the dumpster.
> I thought everyone on Slashdot built their own firewalls using Linux and/or
> OpenBSD.
Well, why not? It only takes about fifteen minutes and will handle his traffic with ease on a five-year-old commodity pc.
> I guess they'll give an account to just about anyone these days.
They have to pay the bills somehow.
I suppose that they imagine that Microsoft will keep on paying them after Google is gone and Bing has a monopoly.
> ...users would have no way of telling what the spin was.
Most users want a particular spin (which they insist is the "truth"). They refuse to read sources that do not apply the correct spin (and this applies just as much to liberals as to conservatives).
> ...if a critical mass of newspapers opt out of Google's search engine
> simultaneously, they would suddenly gain substantial market power.
It is called "a combination in restraint of trade". Combinations in restraint of trade are illegal in the USA.
> How is this legal?
In the USA they would be protected by the "safe harbor" provisions of the DMCA. In the UK, however...
> Wouldn't using encryption be "circumventing a copyright protection mechanism"
Not in the USA, but of course this is in Europe.
> The common syntaxes of the day are left over from language design when every
> bit mattered.
I see you've never looked at any COBOL.
> Is there a reason that it should not be dumbed down? Should it be kept
> difficult for some reason?
"Things should be as simple as possible and no simpler."
Perhaps it really is difficult (if not then sure, go to it).
Sure. Dumb it down far enough and many of those writing software today will be able to do it.
> And yes, unless its classified, it is in the American pubic domain on day
> one since it was paid for by US citizens.
Not true. The government cannot enforce its copyright on "works for hire" where the government is the employer but it can enforce copyrights it acquires. Contractors also often retain copyright is works produced while performing a contract (the government usually acquires a nonexclusive license). The mere fact that a work was paid for by tax money does not put it in the public domain.
> One of the questions raised on the Amazon page is: shouldn't this material
> be public domain? It is owned by the US Government...
If the author wrote thing as a US Government employee then the goverment is the author and is not permitted to enforce its copyright. If he was acting as a contractor he is the author in which case he may still own the copyright.
> ...and any copyright would seem to have expired at this point...
Not yet.
> ...it seems like we should be able to get a copy for free under the FOIA.
The FOIA does not work the way you think it does.
> No, it's because seeing people with solid black eyes would creep people
> right the hell out.
No, it's because Apple isn't marketing them yet so they are dorky. iTacts, when they hit the market, will be "cool".
> That's what you get when you outsource your software to the cheapest
> contractor.
Because the most expensive one obviously would have done it right.
Sure.
> I don't think time, as in "time lines" or some kind of unidirectional
> movement through a medium exists.
Neither does anyone who actually knows anything about physics.
The "edge of visibility" of our universe is not the edge of our universe. Our universe has no edge.
> Einstein's theory led to the atomic bomb.
Wrong.
n/t
Enough to write a Free driver?
n/t
n/t
Most likely because this would be cheaper.
> Google isn't about to release the signing keys...
Google "jailbreak". If I can't install a Free OS on it I'm not interested, of course. I thought I made that clear. As delivered the thing would be useless to me.
> Far be it for me to support Big Brother, but its hard to find fault with a
> law enforcement system that actually seem to be doing what it is supposed to.
You believe that they should arrest the same people over and over again for acts most of which would not be crimes in a truly free society?