That screen had a freakin' start button on it. What the heck? You take Linux and some version of X, and you have a million and two options, and what do they do? The put a start button on it? I've read that even wince won't have the start button any more because it really sucks for a PDA. Why does Samsung want one now?
Important: No one has asked this question at all yet, and I think it is valid.
Intel is planning on selling the chips that would go into your monitor and decrypt the signal; that's how they plan to make money. Now, what if I reverse-engineer their product and release my own chip that decrypts the signal?
Will it be breaking a copyright protection scheme? Will it be illegal according to the DMCA? Will it be illegal according to the UCITA? Will it be illegal for me to compete with Intel?
I find this questions as applied to my country's new laws quite disturbing. As we all know, this situation would be exactly the IBM PC one. Except now, everything is being made illegal by ignorant laws, written by big corporations with armies of lawyers.
Assuming that the world comes to it's senses, and releasing a competing chip is legal, then what about releasing a sort of LinMonitor. Much like a WinModem or LinModem, the LinMonitor would do all the decryption in software, and even make your old monitors work with new, encryption-only video cards. This would present even more competition for Intel!
Would this be illegal also? What happened to the Bleem case, which is strikingly similar? Is this now breaking copyright protection? What makes this different from DeCSS?
So how 'bout it? Is Intel just using the law and their lawyers to buy their way into a monopoly by making any competing products illegal? Do I have to come up with a 117th reason not to like Intel? What do you think?
As far as I can tell from reading the Copyright Office Website, they aren't asking about DVD or DeCSS or MPAA or anything. All they want to know is if there are any examples where the DMCA shouldn't be applied (i.e. any exemptions).
It seems they don't care about your attitudes toward the DMCA or DVD or anything like that. They just want to know if the DMCA has any exceptions. I think sending them a bunch of garbage about "dood the DMCA sux" isn't going to help much.
Of course, I might have missed something crucial on there. Anyone want to fill me in?
I think the author of this article went a little bit overboard, and the whole "hack the universe" thing won't work. But he did bring up a good point in that we need to organize a boycott
I'm boycotting seeing any movies. My roomate and my best friend are as well. I told my sister about it, and she told one of her friends about it, and now both of them are boycotting seeing any movies by these companies.
So my big question is: has anyone organized a boycott?I would love a website or some other organization where I can register as boycotting with them. As an added bonus, this organization could keep me up to date on things I might like to boycott or fight, and organize for those things as well.
How about it? Anyone up to it?
P.S. My sister thinks that with the way movies work, if you go to a dollar theater, all of the money goes to the theater, and none of it to the movie companies. That way, you can boycott the companies without giving up movies. Is this true? Does anyone know?
I am not a constituent of the State of Virginia, but I am a citizen of the United States of America. So, your upcoming decision on the UCITA may affect me as much as anyone in Virginia. Please, for the sake of consumers, citizens, living and breathing people everywhere, do not allow this law to be ratified. Turn it down.
I'm sure that the voters of Virginia, when they voted for you, expected you to be the one to represent them and protect their rights. Ask yourself for a moment who's advocate you wish to play. It seems that the House of Representatives for the State of Virginia are unanimously in the pocket of big business in your state. No doubt the lobbying of AOL and others have blinded them from the truth.
As you can imagine, I do not normally write to state senators in other states. But this particular case is too important. The UCITA, if enacted, will destroy any rights that citizens may claim to in the coming of the information age. It grants companies the power to digitally paralyze anyone they wish with little fear of retaliation. It's not just possible to sign one's rights away anymore. The UCITA would make it possible to unknowingly click one's rights away.
People everywhere, not just in Virginia, and not just in the US, will be held hostage by technology companies granted this power by the UCITA. We will be forced to succumb to the will and liscenses of large technology companies or not become a member of the digital age. We will essentially be forced to sacrifice our rights for a chance to even look upon any technology. If you don't understand why this is, I have web-site I would like you to visit. I have written it to describe my feelings on this terrible law: Please go read it.
Please do not let this happen. Do not let yourself be bought out by big business. Remember what real human beings will have to go through because of this. Vote down the UCITA.
Citizen of Arizona, of the United States of America, of the Planet Earth Peter Thatcher, peterthatcher@asu.edu
I still think playing Goldeneye on the N64 is a lot easier with the N64 controller than using a keyboard and mouse. Every time I play Quake, I wish I could be using a Nintendo controller.
AOL is NOT bringing the Internet to mainstream America. AOL is not even trying. AOL is trying to bring AOLnet and their band of proprietary content to America. Not even mainstream America, but instead the America that doesn't mind paying through the nose to a huge corporation that willing feeds them spam. That sad thing is that AOL even trys to make it so that their customers don't know better. AOL is not the Internet. The Internet is not AOL.
I still think that the controls for Goldeneye for the N64 are still the absolute best. I can control a charater in that game far better than with any keyboard/mouse configuration I've ever scene.
I wish I could hook up my N64 to my PC to play Quake III.
I was quite interested by the idea of having su much in the GUI be vector-based. Vectors really to allow a lot more flexibilty with the the interface. I remember the first time I saw an SGI and their vector icons. It was fantastic! I could have the icons as big or small as I wanted. I wasn't limited to any specific sizes. This all brings me to a question:
Is anyone working on a vector-based system for Linux?
Does KDE like the sound of vector-based icons? Does GNOME like the idea of having vector-based commands for their canvas project? Do those other GUI systems, Berlin and GGI have any thoughts on a vector-based system?
Although I don't like many of the things that Mac OS X has, I do think ArsTechnica is right that a vector-based GUI is a step above what we have currently.
Excuse me? Did you just call Virtual Desktops coats of paint? I don't think so. Having the ability to keep 1-32 (I like 4, although Sawmill can dynamically create new ones) different desktops to hold different things I am doing is *wonderfully* useful. It does wonders for reducing clutter and keeping me organized.
For instance, when I am in Windows, perhaps checking my Mail at work, I might want to stop doing that and start browsing the web during lunch. I want to leave the mail window open, though, because I'm in the middle of typing a long letter. The best I can do is minimize the mail application. But now, it's still taking up space on my taskbar. I can't make it go away and still have it open. With Virtual Dekstops, I could slap that bad boy over a few screens and not worry about it until I'm ready.
I do this all the time on my Linux box. My first desktop is emacs and terminals. My second is Netscape, third is mail, and forth is media stuff, such as playing mp3s or using xatitv. These things alone increase my ease-of-use a ton.
I like my CPU usage meter, as well. It lets me know when a process has gone crazy.
While my friend and I read the article, we both thought the same thing: GNOME (and to a lesser extent KDE) are both flexible enough to allow you to create a desktop with most of the ideas that the author had about the perfect desktop.
For instance, you could put any gnome-panel on any of the sides of the screen and have any buttons or taskbars or menus or documents or anything on them you darn well please. You could make them any size, and have them autohide at any speed.
With both QT and GTK, I know that you can "rip" toolbars out of their default position and move them into a vertical position on the right or left, just as the author suggested. As far as the round menus go, I just don't know what he was talking about. But, with differnt themes of the respective toolkit, one cold put thick borders on buttons.
In short, I agree with you as far as UI designers knowing UI and learning about it. That's obvious, it could always help. But I feel that the inherent flexibility that GNOME and KDE provide go a long way to making the UI usable, no matter what you preferences or prejudices or habits or preconcievied notions of what a UI should be.
While GNOME and KDE can be improved (what can't be improved?), they also deserve a high-five for their work so far.
Oh please, I think you're just jealous that a college student has more bandwidth than you. I don't mean to attack you personally, but being a college student, I think that your ideas are ridiculous.
when I was in college (back in the early 80's) we didn't have oodles of bandwidth.
And I'm sure you hade to walk up hill both ways in the snow to get to class
BUT I personally see no need in funding their high-bandwidth entertainment downloads.
This gets into that whole "educational use only" argument. I live on campus, and the internet net connection that I *pay* for here is the only one I get. Are you about to tell me that just because it is hooked up to the campus network directly that I'm not allowed to use it for anything non-eductional? That I'm not allowed to look at anything interesting on the Internet?
I take great offense to that. This is my home. This is my Internet Connection. I have no other. I believe I have a right to download whatever the heck I want.
but using university resources isn't the right way. let them purchase personal accounts (like the one I'm using right now, from home). then their behavior is between them and the ISP they're paying each month. and the univ. won't have word one to say about it.
Listen, at most Universities, they are most of the state hooks up to the backbone of the Internet. Almost all net connections here in Arizona go through ASU. The University is already sitting right there, and the dorms are already wired, and you want people to sign up with an ISP. Are you nuts?
so its the free ride that I think the univ's are complaining about. its not the morality of grabbing mp3's. please - that's totally not the issue. its the cost of supporting the entertainment life of the students.
First of all, I have to pay, as I said. Secondly, the cost of the bandwidth here is mostly fixed cost which has already been paid for. Adding my small bandwidth usage to the pot cost almost nothing to the University. Third, having a wired school is a selling point. It probably makes them more money by attracting students. Fourth, high bandwidth for cheap encourages students to become net savvy, as you said. This is a good thing.
when I was in school, I don't remember the univ. funding ANY of my non-school related entertainment. not one bit.
Did you ever use the phones to call a friend? Did you have cable at school? This isn't about enterntainment, this is about some basic things that people in the US expect of their living quarters. If my dorm wasn't networked, I wouldn't be here. It's that simple.
perhaps go to a voucher system, as a compromise. "ok mr. student, you have X credits of bandwidth this semester. you can waste it on mp3 stuff or use it toward doing the research you're supposedly here to learn. its your choice."
I really think you over estimate the bandwidth used by mp3's. The amount of bandwidth that students use here on campus is just a fraction of what actually gets piped through the University.
This would never work. If you don't understand why not, then you don't know how Universities work.
I do live here at Arizona State University, and I did have to pay for my internet connection. It was only $50 dollars for the year, but since the rooms are already wired, it doesn't cost the school much to add my bandwidth usage to the pot.
Besides, if this lady doesn't think that a college-full of kids sitting around with an ethernet connection would find someway around the filters, she's crazy.
Also, I'll take the chance right now to say remind everyone that the internet really got started at Universities with professors sending email to one another. Were those emails always about education? Did we complain when they were personal?
Finally, I'd like to note that I do live in a co-ed dorm (my roommates nextdoor are female), so you can imagine a rule about having a girl in my room would be pretty stupid.
I think this particular case (despite what the picture on the article says) has less to do with patents and more to do with one company trying to Ban (!?!) another. So yes, I would get pissed if Transmeta came out and tried to ban another chip company.
Furthermore, I will come out and claim that the Transmeta patents are much more detailed and specific and less obvious than something such as one-click shopping.
Patents have their place; Transmeta seems to be using the appropriately. Trademarks have their place; Linus seems to be using them appropriately. Other companies, such as Amazon, Intel, Microsoft, etoys.com, et. al. are abusing the system. If you read the article, did you see that Intel sued Cyrix 5 times? 5 times! And Cyrix was never even big competetion.
This is in response to the 12 year old posting all of the stupid things at the bottom. I don't want to talk to him, because he's just some loser with nothing better to do than bother everyone else.
Up until now, all these stupid things have always been from anonymous cowards, so the score they had was 0, and I could filter them out. But now, it seems people are getting accounts to post anonymously, so there score goes up to 1. I want to read comments with a score of 1, but I don't want to bother with this crap. Is there something we can do about idiots like this? Rob?
Well, I'd say that it's not going to help there profits very much if they entire Open Source/Free Software community loses all trust in them. It's not going to help them if anybody who likes Linux (many IT people) start distrusting them. That could certainly hurt sales, even hardware ones.
I just thought I would mention this since no one else did:
They gave Redhat 6.1 an 8. They gave Mandrake 6.1 a 5. WTF? Mandrake is build off of Redhat. Their almost the same distrobution. Now I admit that CNet may have found differences with the quality of documentation or support, but 3 points? That is a hugh difference.
Also, they only reviewed the Deluxe version and then complained about the high price. They could have at least mentioned that their is now a $20 version of official Redhat without support.
Oh well, I'll leave the rest of the CNet critizism to everyone else.
Slashdot Mirror
That screen had a freakin' start button on it. What the heck? You take Linux and some version of X, and you have a million and two options, and what do they do? The put a start button on it? I've read that even wince won't have the start button any more because it really sucks for a PDA. Why does Samsung want one now?
I searched around everywhere for it, but I can't find this supposed RPM that contains everything in it. Where did you find it? Where can I get it?
Actually, your brain is quite active while you sleep. So if you feel asleep, you would probably loose.
Intel is planning on selling the chips that would go into your monitor and decrypt the signal; that's how they plan to make money. Now, what if I reverse-engineer their product and release my own chip that decrypts the signal?
Will it be breaking a copyright protection scheme?
Will it be illegal according to the DMCA?
Will it be illegal according to the UCITA?
Will it be illegal for me to compete with Intel?
I find this questions as applied to my country's new laws quite disturbing. As we all know, this situation would be exactly the IBM PC one. Except now, everything is being made illegal by ignorant laws, written by big corporations with armies of lawyers.
Assuming that the world comes to it's senses, and releasing a competing chip is legal, then what about releasing a sort of LinMonitor. Much like a WinModem or LinModem, the LinMonitor would do all the decryption in software, and even make your old monitors work with new, encryption-only video cards. This would present even more competition for Intel!
Would this be illegal also?
What happened to the Bleem case, which is strikingly similar?
Is this now breaking copyright protection?
What makes this different from DeCSS?
So how 'bout it? Is Intel just using the law and their lawyers to buy their way into a monopoly by making any competing products illegal? Do I have to come up with a 117th reason not to like Intel? What do you think?
It seems they don't care about your attitudes toward the DMCA or DVD or anything like that. They just want to know if the DMCA has any exceptions. I think sending them a bunch of garbage about "dood the DMCA sux" isn't going to help much.
Of course, I might have missed something crucial on there. Anyone want to fill me in?
I'm boycotting seeing any movies. My roomate and my best friend are as well. I told my sister about it, and she told one of her friends about it, and now both of them are boycotting seeing any movies by these companies.
So my big question is: has anyone organized a boycott?I would love a website or some other organization where I can register as boycotting with them. As an added bonus, this organization could keep me up to date on things I might like to boycott or fight, and organize for those things as well.
How about it? Anyone up to it?
P.S. My sister thinks that with the way movies work, if you go to a dollar theater, all of the money goes to the theater, and none of it to the movie companies. That way, you can boycott the companies without giving up movies. Is this true? Does anyone know?
Dear Senator Newman,
I am not a constituent of the State of Virginia, but I am a citizen of
the United States of America. So, your upcoming decision on the UCITA may
affect me as much as anyone in Virginia. Please, for the sake of consumers,
citizens, living and breathing people everywhere, do not allow this law to be
ratified. Turn it down.
I'm sure that the voters of Virginia, when they voted for you, expected you to
be the one to represent them and protect their rights. Ask yourself for a
moment who's advocate you wish to play. It seems that the House of
Representatives for the State of Virginia are unanimously in the pocket of big
business in your state. No doubt the lobbying of AOL and others have blinded
them from the truth.
As you can imagine, I do not normally write to state senators in other states.
But this particular case is too important. The UCITA, if enacted, will destroy
any rights that citizens may claim to in the coming of the information age. It
grants companies the power to digitally paralyze anyone they wish with little
fear of retaliation. It's not just possible to sign one's rights away anymore.
The UCITA would make it possible to unknowingly click one's rights away.
People everywhere, not just in Virginia, and not just in the US, will be held
hostage by technology companies granted this power by the UCITA. We will
be forced to succumb to the will and liscenses of large technology companies or
not become a member of the digital age. We will essentially be forced to
sacrifice our rights for a chance to even look upon any technology. If you
don't understand why this is, I have web-site I would like you to visit. I have
written it to describe my feelings on this terrible law:
Please go read it.
Please do not let this happen. Do not let yourself be bought out by big
business. Remember what real human beings will have to go through because of
this. Vote down the UCITA.
Citizen of Arizona, of the United States of America, of the Planet Earth
Peter Thatcher, peterthatcher@asu.edu
Please tell me what you think.
I still think playing Goldeneye on the N64 is a lot easier with the N64 controller than using a keyboard and mouse. Every time I play Quake, I wish I could be using a Nintendo controller.
They are also in my .sig, by the way.
AOL is NOT bringing the Internet to mainstream America. AOL is not even trying. AOL is trying to bring AOLnet and their band of proprietary content to America. Not even mainstream America, but instead the America that doesn't mind paying through the nose to a huge corporation that willing feeds them spam. That sad thing is that AOL even trys to make it so that their customers don't know better. AOL is not the Internet. The Internet is not AOL.
I wish I could hook up my N64 to my PC to play Quake III.
Is anyone working on a vector-based system for Linux?
Does KDE like the sound of vector-based icons?
Does GNOME like the idea of having vector-based commands for their canvas project?
Do those other GUI systems, Berlin and GGI have any thoughts on a vector-based system?
Although I don't like many of the things that Mac OS X has, I do think ArsTechnica is right that a vector-based GUI is a step above what we have currently.
What does everyone here think?
It may be free now, but how long do you think it will stay that way if Real goes out of business?
For instance, when I am in Windows, perhaps checking my Mail at work, I might want to stop doing that and start browsing the web during lunch. I want to leave the mail window open, though, because I'm in the middle of typing a long letter. The best I can do is minimize the mail application. But now, it's still taking up space on my taskbar. I can't make it go away and still have it open. With Virtual Dekstops, I could slap that bad boy over a few screens and not worry about it until I'm ready.
I do this all the time on my Linux box. My first desktop is emacs and terminals. My second is Netscape, third is mail, and forth is media stuff, such as playing mp3s or using xatitv. These things alone increase my ease-of-use a ton.
I like my CPU usage meter, as well. It lets me know when a process has gone crazy.
Hmmm... You are correct. I think maybe this is a valid point to bring to the attention of developers.
For instance, you could put any gnome-panel on any of the sides of the screen and have any buttons or taskbars or menus or documents or anything on them you darn well please. You could make them any size, and have them autohide at any speed.
With both QT and GTK, I know that you can "rip" toolbars out of their default position and move them into a vertical position on the right or left, just as the author suggested. As far as the round menus go, I just don't know what he was talking about. But, with differnt themes of the respective toolkit, one cold put thick borders on buttons.
In short, I agree with you as far as UI designers knowing UI and learning about it. That's obvious, it could always help. But I feel that the inherent flexibility that GNOME and KDE provide go a long way to making the UI usable, no matter what you preferences or prejudices or habits or preconcievied notions of what a UI should be.
While GNOME and KDE can be improved (what can't be improved?), they also deserve a high-five for their work so far.
when I was in college (back in the early 80's) we didn't have oodles of bandwidth.
And I'm sure you hade to walk up hill both ways in the snow to get to class
BUT I personally see no need in funding their high-bandwidth entertainment downloads.
This gets into that whole "educational use only" argument. I live on campus, and the internet net connection that I *pay* for here is the only one I get. Are you about to tell me that just because it is hooked up to the campus network directly that I'm not allowed to use it for anything non-eductional? That I'm not allowed to look at anything interesting on the Internet?
I take great offense to that. This is my home. This is my Internet Connection. I have no other. I believe I have a right to download whatever the heck I want.
but using university resources isn't the right way. let them purchase personal accounts (like the one I'm using right now, from home). then their behavior is between them and the ISP they're paying each month. and the univ. won't have word one to say about it.
Listen, at most Universities, they are most of the state hooks up to the backbone of the Internet. Almost all net connections here in Arizona go through ASU. The University is already sitting right there, and the dorms are already wired, and you want people to sign up with an ISP. Are you nuts?
so its the free ride that I think the univ's are complaining about. its not the morality of grabbing mp3's. please - that's totally not the issue. its the cost of supporting the entertainment life of the students.
First of all, I have to pay, as I said. Secondly, the cost of the bandwidth here is mostly fixed cost which has already been paid for. Adding my small bandwidth usage to the pot cost almost nothing to the University. Third, having a wired school is a selling point. It probably makes them more money by attracting students. Fourth, high bandwidth for cheap encourages students to become net savvy, as you said. This is a good thing.
when I was in school, I don't remember the univ. funding ANY of my non-school related entertainment. not one bit.
Did you ever use the phones to call a friend? Did you have cable at school? This isn't about enterntainment, this is about some basic things that people in the US expect of their living quarters. If my dorm wasn't networked, I wouldn't be here. It's that simple.
perhaps go to a voucher system, as a compromise. "ok mr. student, you have X credits of bandwidth this semester. you can waste it on mp3 stuff or use it toward doing the research you're supposedly here to learn. its your choice."
I really think you over estimate the bandwidth used by mp3's. The amount of bandwidth that students use here on campus is just a fraction of what actually gets piped through the University.
This would never work. If you don't understand why not, then you don't know how Universities work.
Besides, if this lady doesn't think that a college-full of kids sitting around with an ethernet connection would find someway around the filters, she's crazy.
Also, I'll take the chance right now to say remind everyone that the internet really got started at Universities with professors sending email to one another. Were those emails always about education? Did we complain when they were personal?
Finally, I'd like to note that I do live in a co-ed dorm (my roommates nextdoor are female), so you can imagine a rule about having a girl in my room would be pretty stupid.
Thanks for correcting me.
name = eth0
address = 192.168.1.2
netmask = 255.255.255.0
onboot = yes
>
I believe this is valid XML.
Furthermore, I will come out and claim that the Transmeta patents are much more detailed and specific and less obvious than something such as one-click shopping.
Patents have their place; Transmeta seems to be using the appropriately. Trademarks have their place; Linus seems to be using them appropriately. Other companies, such as Amazon, Intel, Microsoft, etoys.com, et. al. are abusing the system. If you read the article, did you see that Intel sued Cyrix 5 times? 5 times! And Cyrix was never even big competetion.
Up until now, all these stupid things have always been from anonymous cowards, so the score they had was 0, and I could filter them out. But now, it seems people are getting accounts to post anonymously, so there score goes up to 1. I want to read comments with a score of 1, but I don't want to bother with this crap. Is there something we can do about idiots like this? Rob?
Well, I'd say that it's not going to help there profits very much if they entire Open Source/Free Software community loses all trust in them. It's not going to help them if anybody who likes Linux (many IT people) start distrusting them. That could certainly hurt sales, even hardware ones.
They gave Redhat 6.1 an 8. They gave Mandrake 6.1 a 5. WTF? Mandrake is build off of Redhat. Their almost the same distrobution. Now I admit that CNet may have found differences with the quality of documentation or support, but 3 points? That is a hugh difference.
Also, they only reviewed the Deluxe version and then complained about the high price. They could have at least mentioned that their is now a $20 version of official Redhat without support.
Oh well, I'll leave the rest of the CNet critizism to everyone else.