There's a big difference between "Microsoft is suitable" and "Microsoft is the only option". The poster is just trying to open up alternative, and potentially lower-cost, options.
And since he left Microsoft, doesn't that make his claim on discrimination moot, as he chose to leave?
No, at least ont in the UK it doesn't. You can resign, and file for unfair dismissal, on the grounds that the company had left you no other viable option.
in sports I think it's almost detrimental to be white nowadays
That's because blacks make better runners. Duh! That's kind of like claiming that it's detrimental to be a woman, 'cos there are less female football (US or soccer) teams.
That's because the region coding isn't enforced in law the way macrovision is. Having said that, some DVDs have disablable macrovision. If this gets put into law, then I can see it being enforced. Can you get VCRs that don't have macrovision circuitry? I don't know of any. I believe the current situation of DVD players with easy cracks or pre-cracked models is going to be short-lived. Write to your MP / Congressman / Despot / Lead Singer of Echo & The Bunnymen now!
I'm just posting my opinions. If they happen to relate to the human condition, then of course you are going to be covered by them. I never claimed to be speaking on behalf of anyone, you are free to hold a different opinion. It's not like I'm teaching this in college, I'm posting on fscking slashdot, ferchristsake.
I love it when people try to justify they own evils by claiming *every* suffers the same affliction.
I never claimed that racial prejudice was evil. Far from it, I believe that it is natural and unavoidable. Actions can be evil, but not opinions or feelings. Some religions may have a broader definition of evil that includes thoughts, but I'm not religious. And I'm not defending hate speech either, encitement to commit crime is a crime.
If it is legal to be a racist neo-nazi in the US, I don't see why we should tolerate this in Europe.
I disagree entirely with your conclusion. I know how dangerous racism is. I know, because I am a racist. So are you. So is everyone I know. We all have prejudices, and the sooner we realise it, the better. Brushing it under the carpet will only make the next generation unaware of the dangers. 99% of people associate antisemitism with Nazi Germany. They are simply unaware that the Nazis were only the latest in a long and inglorious European tradition of blaming the Jews for economic problems, and massacring them for it. We've been doing it for over a thousand years. I have no reason to presume that I am inherently morally superior to my forefathers, or any less likely to do the same, except that I know of the dangers inherent in laying blame on a social or ethnic group. I know what happens when it goes too far. I know, because we have historical record of it. If you make that historical record taboo, then it will disappear, and we will make the same mistakes over again. Sorry, this rant isn't directed against you, Juju, or anyone in particular, I just happened to pick on your post to reply to. I was going to write something about Saddam Hussein taking ebay to court for selling whiskey, but I kinda switched tracks.
If I sell my property and move off, I'm sure Sprint would like the irrevocable right to come get their damn equipment regardless of the new owner's wishes.
They couldn't go to your old address, as you don't ave the right to grant them access to it beyond your sale of the property, but they could come to your new address and see if you had kept hold of the kit.
I disagree. My friends want a copy of "Condor Man", the Disney flick comedy Michael Crawford. It's only available on NTSC VHS, or Region 1 DVD. So, they bought a copy of the DVD, and I tried to tape it for them, using my macrovision stripper box. It didn't work. I can watch it on my TV, 'cos I have Scart. They don't, then only have coax, and my DVD doesn't have coax output, I have to feed it through the macrovision box, then through a VCR, in order to watch it on their box. Unfortunately, some DVDs don't work through the MV stripper. So, because of the movie industry's attempts to prevent piracy, we are denied our fair use rights. Now my reasoning is, copyright is a bargain between producer and user. Law allows us certain rights, while imposing certain restrictions on us that benefit the producer. So, if the producer strips us of the rights that law allows, then that implies that they do not believe that copyright law applies to their product. I'm not happy with that, 'cos my friends still can't watch Condor Man, but they should be prepared to live with the consequences of their actions in this respect. If I can copy it, I damn well will, and I won't feel morally restrained by their copyright any more.
Best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral, winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most joyous traditions of the religious persuasion (if any) of your choice, but with respect for the beliefs of others who choose to practice their own religion as well as those who choose not to practice a religion at all; plus... A fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the generally accepted calendar year 2001, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions have helped make our society great, without regard to the race, creed, colour, religious, or sexual preferences of the wishes.
Disclaimer: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and no responsibility for any unintended emotional stress these greetings may bring to those not caught up in the holiday spirit.
Note: I didn't write this, and I'd credit it, but I'm not sure where it came from. It may have been written by Ted Scribner.
Hippocratic oath? I though that had been ditched. Anyway, I think a "Hackers Code" is a cool idea. Of course, if anyone claims to be a "hacker", then they should (IMO) conform to the ethical stuff in the Hackers Handbook. I think there's scope for an International Hackers Union, with a constitution, journal, SIGs, and all.
PS. I don't generally call myself a hacker, but I aspire to the title. Call me a wannabe if you like.
I'm not saying that this bill is a good thing, but I've seen many geek arguements (DeCSS, filtering, etc.) degenerate into ridiculous speculation and exaggeration, to the point that it becomess hard for the general public or the opposition to take the arguements seriously. If you're going to fight it, then fight it, not your own straw men. Why fight this line item's potential for over-use, when the whole thing is wrong?
I've posted this same text elsewhere in this thread, so feel free to [Redundant] it at some point
I'm not saying that this bill is a good thing, but I've seen many geek arguements (DeCSS, filtering, etc.) degenerate into ridiculous speculation and exaggeration, to the point that it becomess hard for the general public or the opposition to take the arguements seriously. If you're going to fight it, then fight it, not your own straw men. Why fight this line item's potential for over-use, when the whole thing is wrong?
Now I'm not saying it's a good thing, but just to try to pre-empt any trolls saying "HTTPS makes me a criminal", here's a quote from the bill:
For example, if a defendant employs an encryption product that works automatically and ransparently with a telecommunications service or software product, an enhancement for use of encryption may not be appropriate, while the deliberate use of encryption as part of a sophisticated and intricate scheme to conceal criminal activity and make the offense, or its extent, difficult to detect, may warrant a guideline enhancement either under existing guidelines or a new guideline.
For example, if a defendant employs an encryption product that works automatically and transparently with a telecommunications service or software product, an enhancement for use of encryption may not be appropriate, while the deliberate use of encryption as part of a sophisticated and intricate scheme to conceal criminal activity and make the offense, or its extent, difficult to detect, may warrant a guideline enhancement either under existing guidelines or a new guideline.
I can't believe that more hasn't been made of the distinction between access and use. AFAIK, there is a strong distinction between the two in copyright law, and CSS is categorically use control, not access control.
I'm surprised that 3a) & 3b) are considered illegal - surely Be Inc can ship GNU Emacs (with source) with BeOS. Sun are going to ship Eazel with Solaris, and that's GPL, isn't it?
Copyright law states that the copyright on derivitive works belong to the owner of the original. If it belongs to me, I can rescind any contract or licence that has no monetary value. Sad, but in my IANAL opinion, probably true.
Slashdot Mirror
There's a big difference between "Microsoft is suitable" and "Microsoft is the only option". The poster is just trying to open up alternative, and potentially lower-cost, options.
That's because the region coding isn't enforced in law the way macrovision is. Having said that, some DVDs have disablable macrovision. If this gets put into law, then I can see it being enforced. Can you get VCRs that don't have macrovision circuitry? I don't know of any. I believe the current situation of DVD players with easy cracks or pre-cracked models is going to be short-lived. Write to your MP / Congressman / Despot / Lead Singer of Echo & The Bunnymen now!
I'm sure thte /. crew were just dilligently researching the facts, ensuring that no mistakes were made in the article.
Like I said, I was intending to reply to your post, but ended up ranting. Sorry.
They might get a tidy profit from selling yahoo.fr as a going concern. They could franchise it.
I disagree. My friends want a copy of "Condor Man", the Disney flick comedy Michael Crawford. It's only available on NTSC VHS, or Region 1 DVD. So, they bought a copy of the DVD, and I tried to tape it for them, using my macrovision stripper box. It didn't work. I can watch it on my TV, 'cos I have Scart. They don't, then only have coax, and my DVD doesn't have coax output, I have to feed it through the macrovision box, then through a VCR, in order to watch it on their box. Unfortunately, some DVDs don't work through the MV stripper. So, because of the movie industry's attempts to prevent piracy, we are denied our fair use rights. Now my reasoning is, copyright is a bargain between producer and user. Law allows us certain rights, while imposing certain restrictions on us that benefit the producer. So, if the producer strips us of the rights that law allows, then that implies that they do not believe that copyright law applies to their product. I'm not happy with that, 'cos my friends still can't watch Condor Man, but they should be prepared to live with the consequences of their actions in this respect. If I can copy it, I damn well will, and I won't feel morally restrained by their copyright any more.
Best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral, winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most joyous traditions of the religious persuasion (if any) of your choice, but with respect for the beliefs of others who choose to practice their own religion as well as those who choose not to practice a religion at all; plus... A fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the generally accepted calendar year 2001, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions have helped make our society great, without regard to the race, creed, colour, religious, or sexual preferences of the wishes.
Disclaimer: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and no responsibility for any unintended emotional stress these greetings may bring to those not caught up in the holiday spirit.
Note: I didn't write this, and I'd credit it, but I'm not sure where it came from. It may have been written by Ted Scribner.
I disagree. Lets take situations and extrapolate.
Situation 1: Australian law dictates that DVD player manufacturers do not have to stick to the MPAA's rules on region encoding.
Result 1: They carry on, because they might lose their licence in other jurisdictions (such as USA).
Situation 2: Australian law forbids the selling of region-locked DVD players.
Result 2: You can play most previous DVDs, but RCE discs still won't play.
Situation 3: Australian monopolies commission forbid DVD-CCA members from trading within Australia
Result 3: Possible public outcry, but it ain't going to happen anyway
I don't see a win situation - can you think of any others, or do you disagree with any of the above?
PS. I don't generally call myself a hacker, but I aspire to the title. Call me a wannabe if you like.
I've posted this same text elsewhere in this thread, so feel free to [Redundant] it at some point
I'm not saying that this bill is a good thing, but I've seen many geek arguements (DeCSS, filtering, etc.) degenerate into ridiculous speculation and exaggeration, to the point that it becomess hard for the general public or the opposition to take the arguements seriously. If you're going to fight it, then fight it, not your own straw men. Why fight this line item's potential for over-use, when the whole thing is wrong?
Aw hell, who needed 42 Karma anyway.
PS. This is "Offtopic", or "Flamebait", not "Troll", and so was the previous.
He's not dissing the people, he's dissing the cause. I currently run distributed.net, but I'm seriously considering folding@home.
I can't believe that more hasn't been made of the distinction between access and use. AFAIK, there is a strong distinction between the two in copyright law, and CSS is categorically use control, not access control.
I'm surprised that 3a) & 3b) are considered illegal - surely Be Inc can ship GNU Emacs (with source) with BeOS. Sun are going to ship Eazel with Solaris, and that's GPL, isn't it?
Copyright law states that the copyright on derivitive works belong to the owner of the original. If it belongs to me, I can rescind any contract or licence that has no monetary value. Sad, but in my IANAL opinion, probably true.