For intellectual property to work, people, i.e. folks on the street, must recognize it to be property in the first place, in an ethical sense (paraphrasing Summers' observation). Unfortunately, people consider this to be a matter of degree: "I am getting gouged by the record labels, hence it is not intellectual property, and I am justified in violating copyright."
I think the critical logical element which is missing from both the copyright and patent discussions (both are IP issues, but are vastly different in the practice) is the idea of independent discovery/generation. This is has been the driving force behind the success of FSF/GPL in the "industrial" and "scientific" software arenas, and increasingly in the "consumer" arena. Let Bezos have his "1-click shopping" patent; however, if Barnes and Noble developed "1-click" on their own, let Amazon have no legal basis for "infringement."
This kills several birds with one stone:
If some entity is charging way too much for their patent, someone else will step up to develop it themselves, instantiate their own patent, and charge less, to the benefit of the consumer.
Progress (scientific, cultural, etc.) will not be halted during the exclusivity period prescribed by current law.
There will be an opportunity to create a better product with out fear of litigation.
People have the right to their own thoughts and usufruct thereof, even if someone else thought of it first.
I will concede that this crackpot idea is much more sticky to implement (in an ethical sense) for publishable works like music and art, but I think the idea has legs nonetheless. The reform idea I have proferred has been popular among certain Objectivist circles, but please don't let that keep y'all from considering it thouroughly on its face.
I have trouble filling out tax forms. I think I'm a reasonably intelligent guy. The tax forms are several orders of magnitude easier to parse through than the actual tax code, because the myriad formulas have been digested into line-based arithmetic calculations by bright accountants. The federal tax code is easily 1000 pages long, and weighs several pounds; the state codes, especially in states with strong Democratic Party support, are hardly better.
If this is to be a free software project, which most Linux software packages are, it would need CPAs on its staff, arguably 53 of them (50 states, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, federal) in order for the project to stay up-to-date. I have found precisely one Linux tax project, PTax98, and it only partially does federal 1040EZ. My suggestions:
Explore electronic, or WWW-based filing. A number of states and the feds have employed it for the more popular tax schedules. They all use SSL for security. They do the math for you server side, and you get a calculated copy in PDF format for your own records.
Don't rely on Wine to do something critical like your taxes -- use VMWare and run Windows, or dual boot.
Ask a CPA to do your taxes. If you have investment accounts or worse, offshore bank accounts, it's worth every penny they charge. Of course, privacy is an issue...
Move to Alaska -- they pay you to live there, with a revenue check ~$1000/year from the oil pipeline. Also, Internet access is pretty damn good in the Anchorage area. If you're a coder, and you like nature, it's not a bad deal. You'll still have to pay federal though...
Wait for Linux to have a huge user base so companies that develop tax software will port their wares.
I apologize if my libertarian tendencies are thinly veiled.
Check out The Twiddler by HandyKey Corp. It's a combined mouse/keyboard that fits in one hand, and can be switched from right hand to left hand with ease. It comes with MS, Mac, Linux and Pilot (!) drivers. It was originally developed at the MIT Media Lab by the wearable computing people.
If your hands ache right now, I would suggest curtailing your activities immediately. I'm not doctor, but you seem to be in a prime setup for a repetitive strees injury (RSI). There's plenty of folks like that here at MIT, and it ain't pretty. Hopefully The Twiddler will ameliorate your symptoms...
If you think that Linux is the best OS out there, don't sanction this action by the Communists of China! If Linux is a great OS, then it can only help, not hurt, the oppressive regime there, and we don't want that. We want the Democratic movement in China to have Linux -- let the Communits flounder on servers running Win NT w/o the service packs.
To those who say Linux is a "Communist OS" -- BS. Linux was created by programmers who were unhappy with the OS market as it stood/stands and did something that was in their self-interest. Moreover, they chose to do this. Now that the pinkos have adopted Linux, how many "coding peasants" will be enslaved by the apparatchiks to write patches, etc.? I don't want kernel patches written by bonded labor...
If you're worried about getting off topic on this debate, feel free to e-mail me at smandal@mit.edu
Optical mice or woefully overrated; their primary deficiency is the lack of precision in the feel of their movement. My theory is that since an optical mouse has to transition from static friction to kinetic friction it results in a herky-jerky yet vague feel, and it's particularly noticeable because few mouse movements are sustained in one direction. Non-optical mice have balls which roll, employing static friction the entire time if they don't slip.
This has contributed to the continuing lack of popularity, and hence dearth of ancillary features, like ergonomics, wheels and greater than 3 buttons. I think optical mice are only good for CAD type applications, where pixel-based precision is required.
BTW, I hate MS software, but I love MS hardware -- I have a Natural Elite keyboard, and love every keystroke. The Win95 keys are good for alternate mappings.
Obviously, this writer doesn't appreciate the ambition and sacrifice of people who did get rich -- sounds bitter. Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard, worked in his garage, and lived a rather tenuous existence to make Microsoft what it is: A company that produces unreliable software, great hardware and makes him and his investors filthy rich.
I jest a little bit, but hard work is the one constant across all "success" -- this joker refuses to acknowledge that. As for the people born rich, their generous endowments (?) should neither be an indictment nor a quality of value -- give'em a chance to prove themselves in their own endeavors.
It would be particularly cool if you they could study coherence effects and quantum strings (not related to superstrings) by actually playing the instrument in some repeatable fashion. Unfortunately, the strings seem to be too big for quantum effects according to the specifications... maybe one could generate "whispering gallery" matter wave modes in clumps of similar atoms nearby, if the material is indeed springy enough.
The primary significance of this seems to be to study nanofabrication industrial processes, instead of doing anything particularly funky scientifically.
Pardon me if I've thrown a wet blanket on the discussion...
What happened to good ol' capitalism, where you could control your assets without busybody regulators butting in? So you don't like Microsoft -- use Linux, or MacOS, or BeOS, but don't get all sissy and whine about Microsoft. I don't like Bill Gates because his company makes crappy software (nice hardware, though), and has succeeded in convincing consumers that this is an acceptable level of quality; I have no quarrel with his business practices -- if you don't want to pay extra for OEM Windows, support the increasing number of Linux-centric vendors like Penguin Systems and VA research, or demand a refund.
I'm not playing devil's advocate nor troll -- check out my website.
Y'all may wish to read MIT's spin on the alliance -- if it's true, the scope of the project is limited. The administration might have its crazy ideas, but the professors, who care about their own research, keep them in line. Unlike the Scott Kreuger incident and aftermath (for those who aren't familiar, the dumbass drank himself to death) the faculty has a stake in this area, and will be keeping a close eye -- many a lab group use Linux (e.g. physics and math) and MacOS (biology, chem. e.).
I agree in principle with your argument, esp. since arguably plant cloning is much, much easier, i.e. cheaper. However, keep in mind that plants can self-germinate, and reproduce uncontrollably. If one considers the problems we've had with plants moving between continents (e.g. Asian kudzu choking out plants in the SE United States), imagine the devastation possible by plants from a different aeon -- one would have to be very confident in the isolation methods.
So installed the new "G2 RealPlayer" alpha for Linux on my box. My observations:
Input gain is a lot lower, so I don't have to crank down the master volume every time I want to play a clip (this could have been an oddity specific to my machine with the earlier version).
Subjectively, overall sound quality is significantly better, with much higher a signal-to-noise ratio. Plus, video quality and stability is much, much better.
CPU usage is insane, as noted by at least one other person. I have an SMP box, and it's hogging one whole processor, according to "top."
The "Lowest CPU Usage Best Quality" adjustment in "Preferences" seems to have an effect on quality in this version, with no apparent effect on CPU usage.
Testing environment:
Dual Pentium Pro on a 66 MHz motherboard with on-board Soundblaster Vibra 16 chip.
Linux kernel 2.2 SMP, with "standard" Sounblaster driver settings.
Red Hat-based glibc2 distribution of my own making.
All sound output piped to a Sony SRS mini-system.
I'm curious about the results others have had. It seems like Real just tried to get stuff working with the last version, and has activated optimizations (or something) with this version -- just speculation.
Yes, but I find that I lose papers much more easily than files, esp. personally files -- why? On the computer, if the user has any bit of sanity, the files are organized such that there is a semantic track to it. For example, if I want a file with the itinerary of a trip I took last year to see a cousin, I go to "~/Private/personal/travel/1998/" and it's magically there. And anyway, there's always "find," which is a very painful option in the real world.
Plus you can make 100% fidelity back ups of gigs of data effortlessly; 1 gig ~ 1000 bibles -- try xeroxing that!
It's important to note that success and skill with computers do not depend on any mental condition such as Asperger's syndrome, if there is a connection at all. It appears that some people who may have a mild form of this syndrome may simply find computers and computer culture more comfortable than other professions.
This statement in and of itself shows that "geeks" should neither be proud nor dismayed by this column, because it undermines its thesis that this disorder should be valued in any way above other medical conditions.
Why is this story even news? There are many banks in the United States (e.g. Wingspan) that offer full Internet service, and I would not be surprised if they have foreign clients.
What's news is that a foreign agent is offering these services to Americans -- your money is growing delocalized. The IRS can audit your house, your cars, your mistresses and your drugs because they all have to be near your person. With the advent of speed-of-light communication (i.e. asset/information transfer) and, more importantly, authentication and security, the scrutiny over your assets is growing more and more ethereal.
Hence, one realizes that the US, more than anything, else, is the dominant controlling entity in the arena of world finance -- this pisses me off, because it is counter to the notion of laissez-faire (sp?) capitalism that I hold dear, and I think America should return to. The most insulting aspect of this is that the powers-that-be cast this control as "stability" -- Alan Greenspan will tell you that he is a macropsychologist more than an economist. Damn patronizing.
I hope security technology, Internet banking and private currency continues to grow, and bulldoze the attitudes of naivete in the masses and power-inebriation in the controlling "economists."
We use NIS+automount+NFS on my research group network. Summary:
NIS -- share various maps, in your context most notably NFS maps so every machine knows where every export is on every machine
automount/autofs -- on demand mounting of various shares
NFS -- obviously, for the various exports
Two caveats:
This is not secure! If you must run a network with authentication+encryption, look elsewhere, like Coda+Kerberos.
This methods works best with kernel 2.2.x+glibc, but 2.0.x+glibc is okay too; libc5 is problematic. Make sure to have the latest revision of NIS, but more importantly have consistent versions of NIS across your network (we use YP, which seems to run reasonably well).
Indeed, but it has been my experience that people ambitious enough to pursue CS as their undergrad degree either arrive Unix-savvy or are more than willing to attack a steep learning curve the first couple of terms.
It's pretty much split 50-50 between *nix and Windows among the CS people I know; it's more 90-10 in favor of *nix among my physics colleagues -- again, price/performance here.
Though Wintel won't soon be the exclusive platform here at MIT, there has been "cooperation" between faculty members (esp. Comp. Sci./EE) and the corporate hierarchy, including MS and Sun. The result is that many CS classes are using MS+Java as their development platform.
Fortunately, the role that the Internet has played in the development of Linux will probably continue, and students (like myself?) who appreciate the aesthetic and technical superiority of Linux (and other *nixes) will use the Internet to continue to push and advocate the technology.
Thankfully, physics groups are poor and love Unix in general -- all but one of the boxes in my research group are running Linux.
Damn straight! Besides, there have been many high energy collision experiments, obviously. All physicists are doing by cranking up the energy is looking further back in time (i.e., asymptotically closer to the hypothetical t=0 point of this universe, not unlike approaching absolute zero temperature). I don't think there's any reason to expect this experiment to cross some magic threshold that would annihilate our universe, of even the Earth.
Am I wrong? Anyway, if it were to happen, we probably wouldn't even know what hit us -- quick and painless.
Yes, exactly. I think a better strategy would be to take advantage of the effort expended in carrying the laptop, not unlike the kinetic energy system in a Rolex watch; say, absorbing the energy from the battery through piezoelectric mounts.
Before, when governments/law enforcement wanted to subvert the enemy, wouldn't they take pride in being more clever than the enemy, rather than civil rights groups? I think in the era of burgeoning regulation and legislation, law enforcement is taking the easy way out and in the process taking a cheap shot at everyone's rights.
Maybe I'm just a libertarian demagogue, but I don't see how owning bulletproof encryption technology hurts anyone except the lazy intellegence agent who wants to avoid the hassle of getting a search warrant for the physical data repository, i.e. the physical server.
Well, is cloning evil per se? Rather, I think cloning is fine as long as the resulting humans are treated as humans, i.e. they are afforded the same rights as a human conceived by insemination... I think that creating a human who only lives for 5 years falls under the rubric of a rights violation, like a junkie mother held liable for making her child a crack addict, etc.
How 'bout having a 3D windowmanager, such that you can put your "event horizon" wherever you feel like it, and leave the virtual desktops as they are? This way, the multiple desktops will provide your abstract demarcations, and you will have complete control over all three dimensions. Obviously, we now have fine-grain control in 2D, and stacking of windows in 3D. People who get confused by multiple desktops and the such can choose to do without them and, in this case, the convergent third dimension. I may be smoking crack; or this might herald the embryonic stages of a true 3D (virtually real [?!]) graphical user space.
If Corel continues to operate with this level of candor and forthrightness in addressing issues they will be well-received by software connoisseurs of among us... I hope it continues, because such an attitude will only benefit the environment generated by Linux and open source.
Slashdot Mirror
For intellectual property to work, people, i.e. folks on the street, must recognize it to be property in the first place, in an ethical sense (paraphrasing Summers' observation). Unfortunately, people consider this to be a matter of degree: "I am getting gouged by the record labels, hence it is not intellectual property, and I am justified in violating copyright."
I think the critical logical element which is missing from both the copyright and patent discussions (both are IP issues, but are vastly different in the practice) is the idea of independent discovery/generation. This is has been the driving force behind the success of FSF/GPL in the "industrial" and "scientific" software arenas, and increasingly in the "consumer" arena. Let Bezos have his "1-click shopping" patent; however, if Barnes and Noble developed "1-click" on their own, let Amazon have no legal basis for "infringement."
This kills several birds with one stone:
I will concede that this crackpot idea is much more sticky to implement (in an ethical sense) for publishable works like music and art, but I think the idea has legs nonetheless. The reform idea I have proferred has been popular among certain Objectivist circles, but please don't let that keep y'all from considering it thouroughly on its face.
One legally sound explication of these concepts is in the Oceania Constitution.
*** Proven iconoclast, aspiring epicurean ***
If this is to be a free software project, which most Linux software packages are, it would need CPAs on its staff, arguably 53 of them (50 states, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, federal) in order for the project to stay up-to-date. I have found precisely one Linux tax project, PTax98, and it only partially does federal 1040EZ. My suggestions:
I apologize if my libertarian tendencies are thinly veiled.
*** Proven iconoclast, aspiring epicurean ***
If your hands ache right now, I would suggest curtailing your activities immediately. I'm not doctor, but you seem to be in a prime setup for a repetitive strees injury (RSI). There's plenty of folks like that here at MIT, and it ain't pretty. Hopefully The Twiddler will ameliorate your symptoms ...
*** Proven iconoclast, aspiring epicurean ***
If you think that Linux is the best OS out there, don't sanction this action by the Communists of China! If Linux is a great OS, then it can only help, not hurt, the oppressive regime there, and we don't want that. We want the Democratic movement in China to have Linux -- let the Communits flounder on servers running Win NT w/o the service packs.
...
To those who say Linux is a "Communist OS" -- BS. Linux was created by programmers who were unhappy with the OS market as it stood/stands and did something that was in their self-interest. Moreover, they chose to do this. Now that the pinkos have adopted Linux, how many "coding peasants" will be enslaved by the apparatchiks to write patches, etc.? I don't want kernel patches written by bonded labor
If you're worried about getting off topic on this debate, feel free to e-mail me at smandal@mit.edu
*** Proven iconoclast, aspiring bohemian. ***
Optical mice or woefully overrated; their primary deficiency is the lack of precision in the feel of their movement. My theory is that since an optical mouse has to transition from static friction to kinetic friction it results in a herky-jerky yet vague feel, and it's particularly noticeable because few mouse movements are sustained in one direction. Non-optical mice have balls which roll, employing static friction the entire time if they don't slip.
This has contributed to the continuing lack of popularity, and hence dearth of ancillary features, like ergonomics, wheels and greater than 3 buttons. I think optical mice are only good for CAD type applications, where pixel-based precision is required.
BTW, I hate MS software, but I love MS hardware -- I have a Natural Elite keyboard, and love every keystroke. The Win95 keys are good for alternate mappings.
*** Proven iconoclast, aspiring bohemian. ***
Obviously, this writer doesn't appreciate the ambition and sacrifice of people who did get rich -- sounds bitter. Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard, worked in his garage, and lived a rather tenuous existence to make Microsoft what it is: A company that produces unreliable software, great hardware and makes him and his investors filthy rich.
I jest a little bit, but hard work is the one constant across all "success" -- this joker refuses to acknowledge that. As for the people born rich, their generous endowments (?) should neither be an indictment nor a quality of value -- give'em a chance to prove themselves in their own endeavors.
*** Proven iconoclast, aspiring bohemian. ***
It would be particularly cool if you they could study coherence effects and quantum strings (not related to superstrings) by actually playing the instrument in some repeatable fashion. Unfortunately, the strings seem to be too big for quantum effects according to the specifications ... maybe one could generate "whispering gallery" matter wave modes in clumps of similar atoms nearby, if the material is indeed springy enough.
...
The primary significance of this seems to be to study nanofabrication industrial processes, instead of doing anything particularly funky scientifically.
Pardon me if I've thrown a wet blanket on the discussion
*** Proven iconoclast, aspiring bohemian. ***
What happened to good ol' capitalism, where you could control your assets without busybody regulators butting in? So you don't like Microsoft -- use Linux, or MacOS, or BeOS, but don't get all sissy and whine about Microsoft. I don't like Bill Gates because his company makes crappy software (nice hardware, though), and has succeeded in convincing consumers that this is an acceptable level of quality; I have no quarrel with his business practices -- if you don't want to pay extra for OEM Windows, support the increasing number of Linux-centric vendors like Penguin Systems and VA research, or demand a refund.
I'm not playing devil's advocate nor troll -- check out my website.
*** Proven iconoclast, aspiring bohemian. ***
Y'all may wish to read MIT's spin on the alliance -- if it's true, the scope of the project is limited. The administration might have its crazy ideas, but the professors, who care about their own research, keep them in line. Unlike the Scott Kreuger incident and aftermath (for those who aren't familiar, the dumbass drank himself to death) the faculty has a stake in this area, and will be keeping a close eye -- many a lab group use Linux (e.g. physics and math) and MacOS (biology, chem. e.).
*** Proven iconoclast, aspiring bohemian. ***
I agree in principle with your argument, esp. since arguably plant cloning is much, much easier, i.e. cheaper. However, keep in mind that plants can self-germinate, and reproduce uncontrollably. If one considers the problems we've had with plants moving between continents (e.g. Asian kudzu choking out plants in the SE United States), imagine the devastation possible by plants from a different aeon -- one would have to be very confident in the isolation methods.
*** Proven iconoclast, aspiring bohemian. ***
- Input gain is a lot lower, so I don't have to crank down the master volume every time I want to play a clip (this could have been an oddity specific to my machine with the earlier version).
- Subjectively, overall sound quality is significantly better, with much higher a signal-to-noise ratio. Plus, video quality and stability is much, much better.
- CPU usage is insane, as noted by at least one other person. I have an SMP box, and it's hogging one whole processor, according to "top."
- The "Lowest CPU Usage Best Quality" adjustment in "Preferences" seems to have an effect on quality in this version, with no apparent effect on CPU usage.
Testing environment:I'm curious about the results others have had. It seems like Real just tried to get stuff working with the last version, and has activated optimizations (or something) with this version -- just speculation.
*** Proven iconoclast, aspiring bohemian. ***
Yes, but I find that I lose papers much more easily than files, esp. personally files -- why? On the computer, if the user has any bit of sanity, the files are organized such that there is a semantic track to it. For example, if I want a file with the itinerary of a trip I took last year to see a cousin, I go to "~/Private/personal/travel/1998/" and it's magically there. And anyway, there's always "find," which is a very painful option in the real world.
Plus you can make 100% fidelity back ups of gigs of data effortlessly; 1 gig ~ 1000 bibles -- try xeroxing that!
*** Proven iconoclast, aspiring bohemian. ***
It's important to note that success and skill with computers do not depend on any mental condition such as Asperger's syndrome, if there is a connection at all. It appears that some people who may have a mild form of this syndrome may simply find computers and computer culture more comfortable than other professions.
This statement in and of itself shows that "geeks" should neither be proud nor dismayed by this column, because it undermines its thesis that this disorder should be valued in any way above other medical conditions.
*** Proven iconoclast, aspiring bohemian. ***
Why is this story even news? There are many banks in the United States (e.g. Wingspan) that offer full Internet service, and I would not be surprised if they have foreign clients.
What's news is that a foreign agent is offering these services to Americans -- your money is growing delocalized. The IRS can audit your house, your cars, your mistresses and your drugs because they all have to be near your person. With the advent of speed-of-light communication (i.e. asset/information transfer) and, more importantly, authentication and security, the scrutiny over your assets is growing more and more ethereal.
Hence, one realizes that the US, more than anything, else, is the dominant controlling entity in the arena of world finance -- this pisses me off, because it is counter to the notion of laissez-faire (sp?) capitalism that I hold dear, and I think America should return to. The most insulting aspect of this is that the powers-that-be cast this control as "stability" -- Alan Greenspan will tell you that he is a macropsychologist more than an economist. Damn patronizing.
I hope security technology, Internet banking and private currency continues to grow, and bulldoze the attitudes of naivete in the masses and power-inebriation in the controlling "economists."
Please feel free to deride me as an optimist.
*** Proven iconoclast, aspiring bohemian. ***
- NIS -- share various maps, in your context most notably NFS maps so every machine knows where every export is on every machine
- automount/autofs -- on demand mounting of various shares
- NFS -- obviously, for the various exports
Two caveats:*** Proven iconoclast, aspiring bohemian. ***
Indeed, but it has been my experience that people ambitious enough to pursue CS as their undergrad degree either arrive Unix-savvy or are more than willing to attack a steep learning curve the first couple of terms.
It's pretty much split 50-50 between *nix and Windows among the CS people I know; it's more 90-10 in favor of *nix among my physics colleagues -- again, price/performance here.
*** Proven iconoclast, aspiring bohemian. ***
Though Wintel won't soon be the exclusive platform here at MIT, there has been "cooperation" between faculty members (esp. Comp. Sci./EE) and the corporate hierarchy, including MS and Sun. The result is that many CS classes are using MS+Java as their development platform.
Fortunately, the role that the Internet has played in the development of Linux will probably continue, and students (like myself?) who appreciate the aesthetic and technical superiority of Linux (and other *nixes) will use the Internet to continue to push and advocate the technology.
Thankfully, physics groups are poor and love Unix in general -- all but one of the boxes in my research group are running Linux.
*** Proven iconoclast, aspiring bohemian. ***
Damn straight! Besides, there have been many high energy collision experiments, obviously. All physicists are doing by cranking up the energy is looking further back in time (i.e., asymptotically closer to the hypothetical t=0 point of this universe, not unlike approaching absolute zero temperature). I don't think there's any reason to expect this experiment to cross some magic threshold that would annihilate our universe, of even the Earth.
Am I wrong? Anyway, if it were to happen, we probably wouldn't even know what hit us -- quick and painless.
Yes, exactly. I think a better strategy would be to take advantage of the effort expended in carrying the laptop, not unlike the kinetic energy system in a Rolex watch; say, absorbing the energy from the battery through piezoelectric mounts.
Thoughts?
Before, when governments/law enforcement wanted to subvert the enemy, wouldn't they take pride in being more clever than the enemy, rather than civil rights groups? I think in the era of burgeoning regulation and legislation, law enforcement is taking the easy way out and in the process taking a cheap shot at everyone's rights.
Maybe I'm just a libertarian demagogue, but I don't see how owning bulletproof encryption technology hurts anyone except the lazy intellegence agent who wants to avoid the hassle of getting a search warrant for the physical data repository, i.e. the physical server.
Pardon me for my outburst ...
Well, is cloning evil per se? Rather, I think cloning is fine as long as the resulting humans are treated as humans, i.e. they are afforded the same rights as a human conceived by insemination ... I think that creating a human who only lives for 5 years falls under the rubric of a rights violation, like a junkie mother held liable for making her child a crack addict, etc.
How 'bout having a 3D windowmanager, such that you can put your "event horizon" wherever you feel like it, and leave the virtual desktops as they are? This way, the multiple desktops will provide your abstract demarcations, and you will have complete control over all three dimensions. Obviously, we now have fine-grain control in 2D, and stacking of windows in 3D. People who get confused by multiple desktops and the such can choose to do without them and, in this case, the convergent third dimension. I may be smoking crack; or this might herald the embryonic stages of a true 3D (virtually real [?!]) graphical user space.
If Corel continues to operate with this level of candor and forthrightness in addressing issues they will be well-received by software connoisseurs of among us ... I hope it continues, because such an attitude will only benefit the environment generated by Linux and open source.