One could argue the distributions are being the PITA, by not following the guidelines Mozilla asked them to. Indeed, they could have made a proprietary browser, and Debian wouldn't have Firefox at all.
Honestly, right now, we have Copyleft licenses, free licenses, open licenses, and Creative Commons licenses... but yet Mozilla while choosing to embrace one part of "free" denies freedom somewhere else? That doesn't make sense to me.
Mozilla has their own license. Why should they have to conform to the ideals of other licenses. Or should Mozilla not be free to choose their license? Maybe Microsoft and Adobe should have to adopt one of those licenses as well.
We should have trademark usage license that chalks up to the same level as the Copyleft GPL, and Creative Commons. "You can use this trademark, and modify this trademark in such a way that it could be easily confused with this trademark, so long as you keep THAT trademark free under this same license."
If Mozilla wanted you to use their trademark in such a way they could allow it - they've chosen not to. The Mozilla Firefox logo identifies Mozilla Firefox. When people see that logo, they think of a fast, stable, secure browser. Mozilla is worried Debian will distribute a browser that doesn't live up to those expectations.
Trademark and Copyright are entirely different subjects, and should be treated as such.
It sounds to me Mozilla isn't worried about them making modifications to the code, its the extent of the modifications ("grave concerns around the nature and quality of some of the changes the patchset contains" as they stated). They're concerned about the stability of Firefox, and rightly so. If the changes Debian makes impacts the stability of Firefox, its Mozilla and Firefox who're going to be blamed, not Debian.
What if the Firefox version released with Etch absolutely sucks? What if it crashes regularly, trashes the user's home directory, and eats small children? Are user's going to blame Debian, because of their patches? No, they're going to blame Mozilla and claim Firefox sucks. Word will spread, and people will be under the mistaken impression Firefox is an unstable child eating browser from Hell. If Debian makes their patches and renames it, people will only be under the impression Iceweasel sucks.
I don't know what kind of patches Debian is applying, but they must not be trivial, if Mozilla wants to approve them before allowing distribution with their name and artwork.
The Mozilla foundation laid all of this out a long time ago. Debian knew the terms when they began using Firefox. They're free to agree to the terms or not use it.
I also am susprised at the opinion that OLPC is targeted at OSS community. It has never been isn't and won't be. The goal is efficient, capable product using efficient solutions to solve a concrete proplem, of children having laptops with network connectivity for education, discussions, information exchange, communication and so on.
The PIAB is based on a mini-ITX motherboard powered by a 1.3GHz x86-compatible Via processor and equipped with 256MB of SDRAM and an 80GB hard drive. Audio is supplied by an onboard Intel audio chipset. The system is housed in an off-the-shelf mini-ITX case from Travla.
Come down? That was about $500 worth of hardware 2 years ago, it never should've been that high. I can understand they want to make a profit on it, but 4x what its worth seems excessive.
PIAB has been available for about two years, priced at $2,000. Alternatively, it can be obtained for free as a live/installer ISO from the Box Populi website, although that site appears to be down at the moment.
You think they could've at least done enough research to include the correct domain name in their article.
Combined with their dubious (no matter how you look at it) claim that their Linux will be a "proprietary Linux", that sounds a lot like the vaporware announcement game console makers are used to peddling to credulous game "journalism" media.
Except its not Nintendo's claim, just some asshat blogger's.
You don't want rumble in a wireless controller because it's bad for battery life, and the current trend is towards wireless.
The newly dubbed SIXAXIS can sense tilt functions, and can be plugged in for wired or wireless play. Sony is claiming up to 30 hours of battery life for wireless functionality, which is handled by the Bluetooth wireless standard.Source
So, even if rumble HALVED the battery life, that'd still be 15 hours, which I think would be plenty. Plus, I believe the controllers can be plugged into the PS3 via USB cable to play while recharging.
rumble is out of style anyways
Judging by gamer reaction, I'd say that's debatable.
It's Elf Bowling, actually, and you can find them here.
Seems like they're up to 6 games now - Elf Bowling, Elf Bowling 2, Elf Bowling 3, Super Elf Bowling, Elf Bowling - Bocce Style, and Elf Bowling - Air Biscuits.
My thanks to whoever made that dwarfbowling quip, it reminded me of the great fun that is Elf Bowling:)
The Greenpeace article is of dubious quality. Apparently, they even ignored their own lab testing, deciding instead to slam Apple. They even made a nifty little site to trash Apple, not only ripping off the apple.com design, but apparently a script as well (Apple's version).
To me, Greenpeace seems about as trustworthy as PETA at the moment.
.. until about four weeks later, when I finally threw in the towel. Why? Because I couldn't get anywhere near the end. I plugged away at the game whenever I could squeeze an hour away from my day job and my family. All told, I spent far more than 40 hours -- but still only got two-thirds through.
At some point, I sadly realized I just couldn't afford any more time. I've got a life to lead: Books to read, a day job, my infant son to hang out with, other games beckoning. That's why I've collected a shockingly large mausoleum of unfinished games over the years. Kingdom Hearts II? Stopped halfway. Kameo? Three-quarters through. Enchanted Arms? Eh -- I'm this close to bailing out.
Maybe this guy's problem is he takes on too much. Or maybe that he can't finish anything. Instead of buying a new game, why not save some money, and finish one of the games he's given up on? If the box said it would take 80 hours, would he have spent the same amount of time on the game as he did on the game that said it'd take 40 hours? Double? Would he still complain? What if it said 10 hours? Would he play it for 15, fail to finish, and whine some more, or would he look at that 10 hour number, skip the game, and proceed to write a column about it, complaining about how games are too short?
Sony's got you covered. They'll resell you GT4 with HD support, and no pesky cars or tracks. Then you can buy just the cars and tracks you want for a small fee! They're also hard at work on GT5, so after you've spent all that money on cars and tracks, you can buy that.
Off-topic, but I'm not sure why you'd want to buy another GT game anyway. GT4 was such a pile of shit, I can't see anyone wanting more of that damn series. Nevermind the lack of damage modelling and 6 car limit, the fucking AI is terrible. You shouldn't be hammered in the ass end driving around a corner because the computer cars are on fucking rails and you're in their way.
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One could argue the distributions are being the PITA, by not following the guidelines Mozilla asked them to. Indeed, they could have made a proprietary browser, and Debian wouldn't have Firefox at all.
how could Microsoft ensure that Windows was the quality piece of software that they provide you, if it openned up its code to everyone?
Microsoft doesn't keep its source code closed for stability reasons, they do it to maintain a competitive advantage.
How could Firefox guarentee the quality of its artwork, if they don't protect it from evil hackers defacing it or using it?
Firefox isn't trying to guarantee the quality of its artwork, they're protecting their brand.
Debian is pushing yet another IP issue into the light. Copyleft + Trademark = Stupid.
Debian isn't pushing anything into light. There's no issue. Copyrights and Trademarks are two separate things, and should be dealt with as such.
Honestly, right now, we have Copyleft licenses, free licenses, open licenses, and Creative Commons licenses... but yet Mozilla while choosing to embrace one part of "free" denies freedom somewhere else? That doesn't make sense to me.
Mozilla has their own license. Why should they have to conform to the ideals of other licenses. Or should Mozilla not be free to choose their license? Maybe Microsoft and Adobe should have to adopt one of those licenses as well.
We should have trademark usage license that chalks up to the same level as the Copyleft GPL, and Creative Commons. "You can use this trademark, and modify this trademark in such a way that it could be easily confused with this trademark, so long as you keep THAT trademark free under this same license."
If Mozilla wanted you to use their trademark in such a way they could allow it - they've chosen not to. The Mozilla Firefox logo identifies Mozilla Firefox. When people see that logo, they think of a fast, stable, secure browser. Mozilla is worried Debian will distribute a browser that doesn't live up to those expectations.
Trademark and Copyright are entirely different subjects, and should be treated as such.
It sounds to me Mozilla isn't worried about them making modifications to the code, its the extent of the modifications ("grave concerns around the nature and quality of some of the changes the patchset contains" as they stated). They're concerned about the stability of Firefox, and rightly so. If the changes Debian makes impacts the stability of Firefox, its Mozilla and Firefox who're going to be blamed, not Debian.
What if the Firefox version released with Etch absolutely sucks? What if it crashes regularly, trashes the user's home directory, and eats small children? Are user's going to blame Debian, because of their patches? No, they're going to blame Mozilla and claim Firefox sucks. Word will spread, and people will be under the mistaken impression Firefox is an unstable child eating browser from Hell. If Debian makes their patches and renames it, people will only be under the impression Iceweasel sucks.
I don't know what kind of patches Debian is applying, but they must not be trivial, if Mozilla wants to approve them before allowing distribution with their name and artwork.
The Mozilla foundation laid all of this out a long time ago. Debian knew the terms when they began using Firefox. They're free to agree to the terms or not use it.
Why should Mozilla have to maintain two versions just because Debian wants to be difficult?
I also am susprised at the opinion that OLPC is targeted at OSS community. It has never been isn't and won't be. The goal is efficient, capable product using efficient solutions to solve a concrete proplem, of children having laptops with network connectivity for education, discussions, information exchange, communication and so on.
If it's not, than why aren't they using OS X?
According to their manifesto, they are indeed targetting OSS. Maybe not the OSS community, but that community's ideals.
The PIAB is based on a mini-ITX motherboard powered by a 1.3GHz x86-compatible Via processor and equipped with 256MB of SDRAM and an 80GB hard drive. Audio is supplied by an onboard Intel audio chipset. The system is housed in an off-the-shelf mini-ITX case from Travla.
Come down? That was about $500 worth of hardware 2 years ago, it never should've been that high. I can understand they want to make a profit on it, but 4x what its worth seems excessive.
PIAB has been available for about two years, priced at $2,000. Alternatively, it can be obtained for free as a live/installer ISO from the Box Populi website, although that site appears to be down at the moment.
You think they could've at least done enough research to include the correct domain name in their article.
Ugh. Even my PS2 looks noticeably better with Component video over S-video - on a 27" Trinitron. S-Video on my 50" DLP would be hideous.
That said, I think the Wii will be fine at 480p. And until the PS3 comes down in price, that's all I'll have.
Combined with their dubious (no matter how you look at it) claim that their Linux will be a "proprietary Linux", that sounds a lot like the vaporware announcement game console makers are used to peddling to credulous game "journalism" media.
Except its not Nintendo's claim, just some asshat blogger's.
I don't think I want to be there when he hits a note that no man has hit before.
Would that be this note?
You don't want rumble in a wireless controller because it's bad for battery life, and the current trend is towards wireless.
The newly dubbed SIXAXIS can sense tilt functions, and can be plugged in for wired or wireless play. Sony is claiming up to 30 hours of battery life for wireless functionality, which is handled by the Bluetooth wireless standard. Source
So, even if rumble HALVED the battery life, that'd still be 15 hours, which I think would be plenty. Plus, I believe the controllers can be plugged into the PS3 via USB cable to play while recharging.
rumble is out of style anyways
Judging by gamer reaction, I'd say that's debatable.
"I'm going to fucking kill whoever doesn't buy a PS3"??
eBay usually has good deals on used Cisco Catalysts... Something like a 2924XL would suit you well. 3Com might also have something.
I'd steer clear of D-Link, Netgear and Linksys...
It's Elf Bowling, actually, and you can find them here.
:)
Seems like they're up to 6 games now - Elf Bowling, Elf Bowling 2, Elf Bowling 3, Super Elf Bowling, Elf Bowling - Bocce Style, and Elf Bowling - Air Biscuits.
My thanks to whoever made that dwarfbowling quip, it reminded me of the great fun that is Elf Bowling
It's offshoring, not outsourcing.
Brown to go with your brand new Zune?
It'd look nicer, as well.
You sure expect a lot of the mods, don't you?
The Greenpeace article is of dubious quality. Apparently, they even ignored their own lab testing, deciding instead to slam Apple. They even made a nifty little site to trash Apple, not only ripping off the apple.com design, but apparently a script as well (Apple's version).
To me, Greenpeace seems about as trustworthy as PETA at the moment.
But Brown is the new White!
No, I'm just so disillusioned by society that I don't think anything is done honestly anymore.
It all depends on which agenda they're pushing, or who's funding them.
.. until about four weeks later, when I finally threw in the towel. Why? Because I couldn't get anywhere near the end. I plugged away at the game whenever I could squeeze an hour away from my day job and my family. All told, I spent far more than 40 hours -- but still only got two-thirds through.
At some point, I sadly realized I just couldn't afford any more time. I've got a life to lead: Books to read, a day job, my infant son to hang out with, other games beckoning. That's why I've collected a shockingly large mausoleum of unfinished games over the years. Kingdom Hearts II? Stopped halfway. Kameo? Three-quarters through. Enchanted Arms? Eh -- I'm this close to bailing out.
Maybe this guy's problem is he takes on too much. Or maybe that he can't finish anything. Instead of buying a new game, why not save some money, and finish one of the games he's given up on? If the box said it would take 80 hours, would he have spent the same amount of time on the game as he did on the game that said it'd take 40 hours? Double? Would he still complain? What if it said 10 hours? Would he play it for 15, fail to finish, and whine some more, or would he look at that 10 hour number, skip the game, and proceed to write a column about it, complaining about how games are too short?
Is EVERYONE a whiny bitch now?
Sony's got you covered. They'll resell you GT4 with HD support, and no pesky cars or tracks. Then you can buy just the cars and tracks you want for a small fee! They're also hard at work on GT5, so after you've spent all that money on cars and tracks, you can buy that.
Off-topic, but I'm not sure why you'd want to buy another GT game anyway. GT4 was such a pile of shit, I can't see anyone wanting more of that damn series. Nevermind the lack of damage modelling and 6 car limit, the fucking AI is terrible. You shouldn't be hammered in the ass end driving around a corner because the computer cars are on fucking rails and you're in their way.