In the UK, I thought that statutory rights under the 1987 Comsumer Protection Act permits the return and rejection (for full refund) of any product bought, within a reasonable amount of time from the purchase, for any reasonable justification.
I don't think it's purely a courtesy, and the shops that don't accept this law can be pursued in the small claims court.
Isn't that 'a little less convenient' as in 'a little more difficult' for Joe Windows to switch to a Linux distribution? (Won't they assume that the latest version of software is the best?)
In the supposed Linux 'Year of the Desktop', surely this is a bad idea?
Would you be happy with an open source package being freely available to download with an intentional "back door" put in the source?
This guy's fear for the security compromises is sensible if the need for intentional maintenance "back doors" is met in freely available source code. If this were the case, the script kiddie doesn't need to even write a script, he can read of a built-in vulnerability and abuse the system.
Of course that's not going to happen: were I working on a project for a particular client of such importance as a govenrment, I'd audit all the code and customise, improve or strengthen it where needed (the issue of subsequent code release under GPL/LGPL etc. would need serious thought and consideration, paticularly if such maintenance access methods had been included).
The article makes so many interesting statements. I was intrigued. Here are my opinions on it:
(1) Western culture = capitalism
I disagree. One of the things we're supposed to be free enough to do is live as we like, and that may mean discarding the trade-for-self-beneficial-profit system we're in, but...
we can't escape: Mankind will always have physical stuff you need to swap for other physical stuff someone else needs. The need brings value, the value brings barter and trade. And we're back in business.:-)
(2) Information Society removes us from production
I think that someone else has said this, but we still need to produce stuff to wear, food to eat, houses to live in cars to drive and computers to code on. Admittedly much of the production of this stuff occurs outside Europe and the US, but...
we can't escape the fact that, for the claims of liberating people from production into an information society, the producers of our goods (in overseas nations) are vastly underpaid for what we pay the TransNational Corporations who make them and their countries don't benefit for that work.
The fact that more than half the world doesn't have a phone makes me suspect that we're living like Marx did, comfortably in bourgeoise London while the people who might benefit most from our thoughts are not even equipped to join the discussion, yet looking up to the Western/Capitalist way to answer their problems.
(3) GPL society will do away with man's selfishness
I *really* don't believe that. The whole capitalist system, even at its roots is bounded in benefitting self in trade of anything you can sell. So what's going to remove this from people to happily share their ideas. I think that if people have the security to spend their days as they please, without worrying about tomorrow and the troubles it might bring, then they can begin to stop meeting their own needs...
we can't escape this selfishness. Or can we? There's nothing I've heard anyone in this discussion say that provides that. I'll get flamed for stating this outright, but I believe there is an answer. E-mail me.
"Globalization is nothing but Trade, taken to its most extreme. Trade is still good, even though it seems to be out of control."
At the expense of culture? People do get stuck in the situation that the UK saw during its industrial revolution -- worked very hard by hard people without time to spare, and paid very little for it. The country developed rules to protect the workers, but there are many developing countries which don't enforce or simply don't have these rules.
"It's a good thing, since specialization means greater production, and less scarcity, on a worldwide scale."
But it's done at the benefit of the rich getting richer, as each time they want their clothing, computers or whatever, they move to the cheapest site which doesn't care for the employees (and so does not have the same cost issues) as America, or other western countries.
"The world can achieve more when it works together, and there's nothing wrong with outsourcing whole industries to nations who are in a position to do it better."
Sure, but let's not forget those who don't get a fair deal out of this. See: http://www.peopleandplanet.org/tradejustice/
which is the website of the Trade Justice Coalition.
"The lesson MS has learned (as well as most other obscenely large corps) is that with enough money and enough lawyers, anything is possible."
I don't think that the problem we're talking about is actually a problem with the Technology industry alone. It's a problem throughout American society and one which is beginning to cause problems in UK and other European societies too.
Do you guys know what the solution to this problem is? Dare I now, in terms of world history, suggest it?
You are people who have a democratically elected government. You can write to them and express your frustration. (This might mean letters and envelopes, not e-mail.) Write to them and tell them to change the way America is to stop these monopolies and their greed.
Oh Dear! I've said too much: change America?? You can do it for the better.
I have heard that congressmen and senators are concerned to hear what their voters think. They are concerned to stay in their jobs. They will listen to you.
Maybe you can change this ridiculous litigation lifestyle that there is, maybe you can change the "resort to the courts" thinking that everyone seems to have.
Please make a difference. I heard that the biggest mistake that one man made was thinking he was too small an entity to make a difference.
I don't think we can eliminate every suicidal maniac with a stick of dynamite, but we can destroy the world wide organization. We can eliminate their funds. We can target their leaders.
I'm with you here. We'll never eradicate US haters or other kinds of terrorists completely, but we can make a big dent in their effectiveness/scope.
I don't thik the problem is US-hating. I'm a Brit. I think the USA is a playground bully whose international policy is one which is designed to ensure a future for herself. This is what the middle-eastern "terrorist" groups are complaining against. To them there is no respect for their way of life shown in interaction in their lands.
Think about it this way: a business which operates along a given set of rules receives competition from another working in a vastly different way, which is alien and different and benefits in attracting followers of this new system because it's the new guy. Those working in the old system are going to be defensive about the changes.
I fully agree with the comments made about becoming terrorists by killing innocents presumed to be involved. I must stress my own personal opinion, which is that "going to war" will bring many more deaths on both sides than have happened already. And the US will suffer in the international courts because it is an identifiable nation, and these hidden organisations are good at remaining hidden.
To answer what I know of your questions (truth is, I'm not that savvy...)
I think the idea of centralised or even P2P database for needed drivers assumes an internet connection right out of the box. However, if you're putting together your system and hoping that it'll boot up using generic drivers before you get the 'proper' ones, you might have more problems than it's worth to wait for the specific ones.
In a sense we have this database already, that you grab the latest driver files from where they are to be found, and make use of them. But when you're installing from a CD it seems to make more sense to have as much flexibility in your configuration (on the CD) by having the drivers included in the distro you're installing.
The other alternative would be to buy (keep distro companies in business!) or download the packages you need for your system and prepare boot media specific to your system. But this suits the hacker and is more tricky for the person who wants a computer to make his or her life easier.
Remember: Lowest common denominators want *easy* computers.
I must admit not actually knowing, but I thouht that they would have been sensible enough to have the acronym stand for Another Instant Messenger.
But why haven't Napster sued for the use of the 'ster' suffix? Surely Aimster is trying to cash in on the underground association that Napster has...:-)
I've looked at their website but can't seem to find any mention made of it. http://www.etno.be/
is the site of the European Telco Network's industry association. And I know it's something that concerns them (as much as it concerns their members), but they have yet to publish a reflection document about it.
And to the rest of you, the cry that we don't seem to care? It's probably true. I reckon that's more to do with the fact that wanting to hide something has a huge correlation with the need to hide something.
Please, don't tell me that you should be allowed to break the laws in the country that you're in -- you agreed to be bound by those laws or you, right now, would be campaiging against your 70mph motorway speed limit (I'm British). You'd be campaigning against the drink-driving laws there are, and more.
Odd how you can't campaign against the social shame of being caught with your hard disk full of pr0n, or the social shame of maknig a fool of yourself;-). This is what I really believe to be the issue.
(a word about myself: I'm a Christian who believes that a far scarier end is met by everyone for the wrong they've done: Judgement. This judgement is a public thing before all of mankind, where our actions are considered. So if I've done something wrong in the eyes of mankind or God, you're going to know it anyway. So what if you find out now? I plan to live a better life than that, one free of any social shame.
And please don't moderate this down because I've expressed my personal religious viewpoint.)
Take care,
Ken.
Re:Incremental performance (but a driver issue?)
on
GeForce3 and Linux
·
· Score: 3
Surely the Open Source Movement is once again hindered in the creation of drivers that make full use of the GeForce3's capabilities because it was developed for DirectX 8.0.
I don't know how closely guarded a secret the methods of DX8 are by their owners (I'll tactfully not mention their name:-) ), and so it's difficult to say whether we're looking to nVidia to provide drivers for Linux, or we hackers will have to develop them ourselves.
Which brings to the fore once more the issue of driverless hardware being largely redundant. Can we ask nVidia to take the same care over their Linux drivers as those for Windows? And then, will we get them as Open Source?
(come on, you and I know that nVidia don't make money out of driver sales, and so it's going to be okay for them to write the drivers so they sell the card to all you hardcore gamers who also choose Linux.)
Slashdot Mirror
In the UK, I thought that statutory rights under the 1987 Comsumer Protection Act permits the return and rejection (for full refund) of any product bought, within a reasonable amount of time from the purchase, for any reasonable justification.
I don't think it's purely a courtesy, and the shops that don't accept this law can be pursued in the small claims court.
Take care.
k3n.
my friends in the tin foil brigade wouldn't see that as a joke but as an act of mercy.
take care.
k3n.
It's just a little less convenient
Isn't that 'a little less convenient' as in 'a little more difficult' for Joe Windows to switch to a Linux distribution? (Won't they assume that the latest version of software is the best?)
In the supposed Linux 'Year of the Desktop', surely this is a bad idea?
Take care.
Ken.Lewis
Would you be happy with an open source package being freely available to download with an intentional "back door" put in the source?
This guy's fear for the security compromises is sensible if the need for intentional maintenance "back doors" is met in freely available source code. If this were the case, the script kiddie doesn't need to even write a script, he can read of a built-in vulnerability and abuse the system.
Of course that's not going to happen: were I working on a project for a particular client of such importance as a govenrment, I'd audit all the code and customise, improve or strengthen it where needed (the issue of subsequent code release under GPL/LGPL etc. would need serious thought and consideration, paticularly if such maintenance access methods had been included).
Take care.
Ken.Lewis
Well, VB's clearly a weapon of mass destruction and we should shut down the organisation behind it. ;-)
Take care.
Ken.Lewis
No, they can't get the wrappers off.
You set 'em up, I knock 'em down.
(A note for non-Brit friends: McVitie's make a chocolate biscuit snack bar called the Penguin. You can order them in various places, such as here.
Take care.
Ken.Lewis
The article makes so many interesting statements. I was intrigued. Here are my opinions on it:
:-)
(1) Western culture = capitalism
I disagree. One of the things we're supposed to be free enough to do is live as we like, and that may mean discarding the trade-for-self-beneficial-profit system we're in, but...
we can't escape: Mankind will always have physical stuff you need to swap for other physical stuff someone else needs. The need brings value, the value brings barter and trade. And we're back in business.
(2) Information Society removes us from production
I think that someone else has said this, but we still need to produce stuff to wear, food to eat, houses to live in cars to drive and computers to code on. Admittedly much of the production of this stuff occurs outside Europe and the US, but...
we can't escape the fact that, for the claims of liberating people from production into an information society, the producers of our goods (in overseas nations) are vastly underpaid for what we pay the TransNational Corporations who make them and their countries don't benefit for that work.
The fact that more than half the world doesn't have a phone makes me suspect that we're living like Marx did, comfortably in bourgeoise London while the people who might benefit most from our thoughts are not even equipped to join the discussion, yet looking up to the Western/Capitalist way to answer their problems.
(3) GPL society will do away with man's selfishness
I *really* don't believe that. The whole capitalist system, even at its roots is bounded in benefitting self in trade of anything you can sell. So what's going to remove this from people to happily share their ideas. I think that if people have the security to spend their days as they please, without worrying about tomorrow and the troubles it might bring, then they can begin to stop meeting their own needs...
we can't escape this selfishness. Or can we? There's nothing I've heard anyone in this discussion say that provides that. I'll get flamed for stating this outright, but I believe there is an answer. E-mail me.
take care.
Ken.Lewis
"Globalization is nothing but Trade, taken to its most extreme. Trade is still good, even though it seems to be out of control."
At the expense of culture? People do get stuck in the situation that the UK saw during its industrial revolution -- worked very hard by hard people without time to spare, and paid very little for it. The country developed rules to protect the workers, but there are many developing countries which don't enforce or simply don't have these rules.
"It's a good thing, since specialization means greater production, and less scarcity, on a worldwide scale."
But it's done at the benefit of the rich getting richer, as each time they want their clothing, computers or whatever, they move to the cheapest site which doesn't care for the employees (and so does not have the same cost issues) as America, or other western countries.
"The world can achieve more when it works together, and there's nothing wrong with outsourcing whole industries to nations who are in a position to do it better."
Sure, but let's not forget those who don't get a fair deal out of this. See: http://www.peopleandplanet.org/tradejustice/ which is the website of the Trade Justice Coalition.
Take care.
Ken.
"The lesson MS has learned (as well as most other obscenely large corps) is that with enough money and enough lawyers, anything is possible."
I don't think that the problem we're talking about is actually a problem with the Technology industry alone. It's a problem throughout American society and one which is beginning to cause problems in UK and other European societies too.
Do you guys know what the solution to this problem is? Dare I now, in terms of world history, suggest it?
You are people who have a democratically elected government. You can write to them and express your frustration. (This might mean letters and envelopes, not e-mail.) Write to them and tell them to change the way America is to stop these monopolies and their greed.
Oh Dear! I've said too much: change America?? You can do it for the better.
I have heard that congressmen and senators are concerned to hear what their voters think. They are concerned to stay in their jobs. They will listen to you.
Maybe you can change this ridiculous litigation lifestyle that there is, maybe you can change the "resort to the courts" thinking that everyone seems to have.
Please make a difference. I heard that the biggest mistake that one man made was thinking he was too small an entity to make a difference.
Take care.
Ken.
I don't think we can eliminate every suicidal maniac with a stick of dynamite, but we can destroy the world wide organization. We can eliminate their funds. We can target their leaders.
I'm with you here. We'll never eradicate US haters or other kinds of terrorists completely, but we can make a big dent in their effectiveness/scope.
I don't thik the problem is US-hating. I'm a Brit. I think the USA is a playground bully whose international policy is one which is designed to ensure a future for herself. This is what the middle-eastern "terrorist" groups are complaining against. To them there is no respect for their way of life shown in interaction in their lands.
Think about it this way: a business which operates along a given set of rules receives competition from another working in a vastly different way, which is alien and different and benefits in attracting followers of this new system because it's the new guy. Those working in the old system are going to be defensive about the changes.
I fully agree with the comments made about becoming terrorists by killing innocents presumed to be involved. I must stress my own personal opinion, which is that "going to war" will bring many more deaths on both sides than have happened already. And the US will suffer in the international courts because it is an identifiable nation, and these hidden organisations are good at remaining hidden.
TC&GB.
Ken.Lewis
To answer what I know of your questions (truth is, I'm not that savvy...)
I think the idea of centralised or even P2P database for needed drivers assumes an internet connection right out of the box. However, if you're putting together your system and hoping that it'll boot up using generic drivers before you get the 'proper' ones, you might have more problems than it's worth to wait for the specific ones.
In a sense we have this database already, that you grab the latest driver files from where they are to be found, and make use of them. But when you're installing from a CD it seems to make more sense to have as much flexibility in your configuration (on the CD) by having the drivers included in the distro you're installing.
The other alternative would be to buy (keep distro companies in business!) or download the packages you need for your system and prepare boot media specific to your system. But this suits the hacker and is more tricky for the person who wants a computer to make his or her life easier.
Remember: Lowest common denominators want *easy* computers.
Take care.
wb3
I must admit not actually knowing, but I thouht that they would have been sensible enough to have the acronym stand for Another Instant Messenger.
:-)
But why haven't Napster sued for the use of the 'ster' suffix? Surely Aimster is trying to cash in on the underground association that Napster has...
Take care, Ken.
I've looked at their website but can't seem to find any mention made of it. http://www.etno.be/
;-). This is what I really believe to be the issue.
is the site of the European Telco Network's industry association. And I know it's something that concerns them (as much as it concerns their members), but they have yet to publish a reflection document about it.
And to the rest of you, the cry that we don't seem to care? It's probably true. I reckon that's more to do with the fact that wanting to hide something has a huge correlation with the need to hide something.
Please, don't tell me that you should be allowed to break the laws in the country that you're in -- you agreed to be bound by those laws or you, right now, would be campaiging against your 70mph motorway speed limit (I'm British). You'd be campaigning against the drink-driving laws there are, and more.
Odd how you can't campaign against the social shame of being caught with your hard disk full of pr0n, or the social shame of maknig a fool of yourself
(a word about myself: I'm a Christian who believes that a far scarier end is met by everyone for the wrong they've done: Judgement. This judgement is a public thing before all of mankind, where our actions are considered. So if I've done something wrong in the eyes of mankind or God, you're going to know it anyway. So what if you find out now? I plan to live a better life than that, one free of any social shame.
And please don't moderate this down because I've expressed my personal religious viewpoint.)
Take care,
Ken.
Surely the Open Source Movement is once again hindered in the creation of drivers that make full use of the GeForce3's capabilities because it was developed for DirectX 8.0.
:-) ), and so it's difficult to say whether we're looking to nVidia to provide drivers for Linux, or we hackers will have to develop them ourselves.
I don't know how closely guarded a secret the methods of DX8 are by their owners (I'll tactfully not mention their name
Which brings to the fore once more the issue of driverless hardware being largely redundant. Can we ask nVidia to take the same care over their Linux drivers as those for Windows? And then, will we get them as Open Source?
(come on, you and I know that nVidia don't make money out of driver sales, and so it's going to be okay for them to write the drivers so they sell the card to all you hardcore gamers who also choose Linux.)
Take care,
Ken.