Different company. PC World is a big UK retail park computer store chain owned by the Dixons group. They probably have more floor space than all the other computer retailers put together.
I got a laptop from Rock, who are a reputable company with good customer care. It had a few faulty pixels, and they replaced the screen. My dad got a laptop from PC World; it has some faulty pixels, and they refused to replace it. Their policy is that ten adjacent dead pixels constitutes a fault! Serves him right, I warned him not to buy expensive hardware from PCW.
Our perception of left vs right is pretty arbitrary anyway. Someone did an experiment where people wore up/down reversing glasses, and after a while they got used to it, and their perception of the world suddenly flipped over so it appeared normal to them. When they took them off, everything appeared upsode-down for a while. Clockwise vs anticlockwise would just create a mirror image, so I wouldn't worry about it. If the first image were one of the galaxy, they could make a guess that the direction is the same as the galaxy's spin.
For instance what if the aliens do not see in pictures at all, or if they think in vector graphics rather than bitmap?
Huh? What method of visual representation do we "think in"? My brain does not work on bitmaps, or vectors, but on a pattern-analysing neural nework. In other words, my brain is not limited to a single representation scheme, and I seriously doubt that an alien culture capable of receiving these messages would be so limited.
So once you've got "Origin of Species" up on the screen, how do you prevent it from highlighting every occurrence of the words "Origin", "of" and "species" in yellow? It's very annoying.
Section 2.4 states: "The licenses granted in Section 2.1(a) do not include any license right, power or other authority to subject Licensed Server Implementations or derivative works thereof in whole or in part to any of the terms of any other license that requires such Licensed Server Implementations or derivative works thereof to be disclosed or distributed in source code form."
So you can't write LSI applications that are under the GPL, ebcause that licence requires that source be made available, but I can't see anything in that paragraph that prohibits anyone from releasing the source code into the public domain. It's a lot easier to reverse-engineer a protocol when you have a source implementation of it:-)
Unfortunately an entriely free market would lead to Rollerball. We are democratic, and therefore ultimate power resides with the people. Corporations can do business, but under our terms. And that means, "Don't abuse a monopoly position".
Even democracy itself needs to be regulated. Try asking two wolves and a sheep to democratically decide what to have for lunch. Minorities need to be protected from "the tyrrany of the majority", otherwise you end up with concentration camps and gas chambers.
No joke. Ever notice that Java's pluggable L&Fs include a Windows L&F that only works on Windows? No technical reason it can't work with any Java runtime -- but if it did, Microsoft's lawyers would be on Sun in a heartbeat.
Nonsense. Why haven't they gone after Wine? I imagine the Windows L&F uses native Windows components, and that's why it isn't available on any platform that doesn't have native Windows components.
Now, metaphor is fine, except when it's used to mislead, which I think is the case here.
That's where I disagree with you. It is clear to anyone familiar with software licencing what "free" in the GNU sense means. It's a metaphor, and your example of a bird being free is a very good one. It isn't, however, the software per se that is free, but the IP rights of the author.
Yes, information wants to be free, and this guy seems to be helping to keep it free, and prevent it (i.e. information-processing logic that is based on someone else's IP that released it under the GPL) from being locked away inside closed-source products. What's your problem?
In any case, if I choose to link to the Wikipedia page on "Online poker" using a link entitled "Online poker", how is that not relevant to someone searching for "Online poker"? The page even has a list of the most popular online poker sites!
We aren't all the same person, you know. Also, they are selling the software, and denying their customers the rights that they should be given under the GPL. A very different situation.
Absolutely. And the way to deal with it is to prosecute them for copyright violation. They have used the GPL'd code in a way that neither copyright law nor the GPL permits, and they should be taken to court for it.
If a civil engineering company offered "proprietary" contracts, where all work was conducted in secrecy and was not subject to inspection, then this would clearly be unacceptable. It is equally important that software be subject to similar inspections, and therefore that the source code be made available. Remember, "Open Source" does not mean "freely redistributable". A private company could tender for a contract and produce the software that the government can use and have the source code for, without that software being downloadable from SourceForge for all to copy and use.
If you want to campaign for "Free software", then that is a different matter. I respect that point of view, but it's much harder. Anything worthwhile is probably going to be difficult.
Setting up a monopoly is the only easy answer to telecoms, as with the postal service. The infrastructure required is immense, and it's difficult to turn a profit on connections to remote areas with a uniform pricing scheme.
Liek it or not, we depend on the regular, land-line 'phone service for emergency calls. Sure, I've never made a 999 call, but it's reassuring that if the power goes out and there's a stranger trying to break down my back door that I know that I can pick up that handset and get straight in touch with the police, or the fire brigade, or whoever is appropriate.
If VoIP becomes widespread, and a lot of people no longer have a traditional 'phone connected to the POTS, this will be a major concern. If the infrastructure owner gets squeezed out of business, who is going to run these services?
Note that I said "only easy answer". Not "only answer". We have a privatised system over here un the UK, and the US has some kind of "competition" too, but I don't really have an opinion on how well those systems have coped. I can only imagine that in a small country it would be very hard to operate a telephone system without a monopoly.
Slashdot Mirror
Different company. PC World is a big UK retail park computer store chain owned by the Dixons group. They probably have more floor space than all the other computer retailers put together.
I got a laptop from Rock, who are a reputable company with good customer care. It had a few faulty pixels, and they replaced the screen. My dad got a laptop from PC World; it has some faulty pixels, and they refused to replace it. Their policy is that ten adjacent dead pixels constitutes a fault! Serves him right, I warned him not to buy expensive hardware from PCW.
Well, you'll have to wait at least for the PC version to come out!
Because you don't have to give away your solution, and you can patent it?
His name was not Mike Rowe-Soft.
Our perception of left vs right is pretty arbitrary anyway. Someone did an experiment where people wore up/down reversing glasses, and after a while they got used to it, and their perception of the world suddenly flipped over so it appeared normal to them. When they took them off, everything appeared upsode-down for a while. Clockwise vs anticlockwise would just create a mirror image, so I wouldn't worry about it. If the first image were one of the galaxy, they could make a guess that the direction is the same as the galaxy's spin.
Huh? What method of visual representation do we "think in"? My brain does not work on bitmaps, or vectors, but on a pattern-analysing neural nework. In other words, my brain is not limited to a single representation scheme, and I seriously doubt that an alien culture capable of receiving these messages would be so limited.
(and yes, I know, you can edit the URL manually)
So once you've got "Origin of Species" up on the screen, how do you prevent it from highlighting every occurrence of the words "Origin", "of" and "species" in yellow? It's very annoying.
Have you got a link to the actual licence then? I've never seen it linked anywhere.
So you can't write LSI applications that are under the GPL, ebcause that licence requires that source be made available, but I can't see anything in that paragraph that prohibits anyone from releasing the source code into the public domain. It's a lot easier to reverse-engineer a protocol when you have a source implementation of it
Unfortunately an entriely free market would lead to Rollerball. We are democratic, and therefore ultimate power resides with the people. Corporations can do business, but under our terms. And that means, "Don't abuse a monopoly position".
Even democracy itself needs to be regulated. Try asking two wolves and a sheep to democratically decide what to have for lunch. Minorities need to be protected from "the tyrrany of the majority", otherwise you end up with concentration camps and gas chambers.
You mean they're using our computing resources to lower their costs? Outrageous! :-)
Nonsense. Why haven't they gone after Wine? I imagine the Windows L&F uses native Windows components, and that's why it isn't available on any platform that doesn't have native Windows components.
Respondeat superior
Yes, information wants to be free, and this guy seems to be helping to keep it free, and prevent it (i.e. information-processing logic that is based on someone else's IP that released it under the GPL) from being locked away inside closed-source products. What's your problem?
Success has its price. Wikipedia can cope with this.
2. This is not Wikipedia's fault.
In any case, if I choose to link to the Wikipedia page on "Online poker" using a link entitled "Online poker", how is that not relevant to someone searching for "Online poker"? The page even has a list of the most popular online poker sites!
We aren't all the same person, you know. Also, they are selling the software, and denying their customers the rights that they should be given under the GPL. A very different situation.
Absolutely. And the way to deal with it is to prosecute them for copyright violation. They have used the GPL'd code in a way that neither copyright law nor the GPL permits, and they should be taken to court for it.
If a civil engineering company offered "proprietary" contracts, where all work was conducted in secrecy and was not subject to inspection, then this would clearly be unacceptable. It is equally important that software be subject to similar inspections, and therefore that the source code be made available. Remember, "Open Source" does not mean "freely redistributable". A private company could tender for a contract and produce the software that the government can use and have the source code for, without that software being downloadable from SourceForge for all to copy and use.
If you want to campaign for "Free software", then that is a different matter. I respect that point of view, but it's much harder. Anything worthwhile is probably going to be difficult.
I'm quite pleased that it got "funny" and "flamebait". The best humour is controvercial.
Into *SPACE*, you moron! RTFA! It's like "overseas" is to Americans, it's all the same out there!
Setting up a monopoly is the only easy answer to telecoms, as with the postal service. The infrastructure required is immense, and it's difficult to turn a profit on connections to remote areas with a uniform pricing scheme.
Liek it or not, we depend on the regular, land-line 'phone service for emergency calls. Sure, I've never made a 999 call, but it's reassuring that if the power goes out and there's a stranger trying to break down my back door that I know that I can pick up that handset and get straight in touch with the police, or the fire brigade, or whoever is appropriate.
If VoIP becomes widespread, and a lot of people no longer have a traditional 'phone connected to the POTS, this will be a major concern. If the infrastructure owner gets squeezed out of business, who is going to run these services?
Note that I said "only easy answer". Not "only answer". We have a privatised system over here un the UK, and the US has some kind of "competition" too, but I don't really have an opinion on how well those systems have coped. I can only imagine that in a small country it would be very hard to operate a telephone system without a monopoly.