If you consider that Mr. Pride's main demographic is about 60-70 years old, then the OP may have a point. That doesn't do anything for the younger, newer, more tech-savvy listeners, but there aren't enough of those to cause a resurge in sales.
Me - I can't stand modern country music, except for Lyle Lovett. Most of my favorite country singers have one foot in the grave or are gone the Grandest Old Opry or it's counterpart.
You seem to view this as a matter of oppression by corporation (or something similar). So let's look at a hypothetical example, so that I may clarify my point.
You own a company: HKTiger Widgets. HKTW manufactures and sells widgets in multiple markets, the USA and Indonesia. Now, Indonesia has lower wages, lower cost of living, etc., and everything is just generally cheaper. In order to sell your widgets in Indonesia, you have to set a price that the Indonesian market will bear, say $1.40USD equivalent. The US market will bear a much higher price, say $5.00 per widget.
Now, you need some way of keeping the $1.40 widgets from being imported to the US, because you'll be losing $3.60 profit on every HKTiger Widget shipped back into the US. Even if the production price is only 80 cents, that leaves you a margin of 60 cents at the minimum and $4.20 at the maximum.
Now, fine if you can continue to produce widgets at a margin of 60 cents, but it does not allow your company to grow as fast as at the $4.20 price. If your primary stockholders are in the US, then they are going to prefer a faster growth company (the $4.20 margin) over a slower growth company. So you devise a way to keep the $1.40 widgets out of the $5.00 market and thus attract stockholders.
Thus, region encoding is born. The Indonesian widgets (produced by your company) are keyed to work only in Indonesian machines, thus preventing the importation into a market that can bear the higher price. The US widgets are keyed to work in US machines because it's easier to create one standard and just change a number or two than to create a batch with and a batch without the region coding.
All of this is done because, as a whole, the US market can bear a higher price for your company's widget. It's not reasonable to expect a company to go to each and every consumer and ask what you can afford. So you set a price that the largest percentage of your target market can afford and hope it works. You may adjust up and down a little bit as the market changes, but overall the price will be higher in the US than Indonesia.
I understand this and that's why I don't argue with region encoding too much. The only time it really bugs me is when I hear about a good foreign movie and can't get it here because there's not a US-region encoded version.
These are the compromises for living in a capitalist society. Take it for what you will.
why should it be considered so heinous for the consumers to take advantage of the disparity to engorge their DVD collection
Well, one could argue on the grounds that two wrongs do not make a right. If we're speaking strictly of DVD production, where are most of the DVD copies produced and what are the conditions?
I see a lot of the cheap knock-offs and bootlegs as an attempt by foreign merchants to cash in because of lax laws or enforcement. A large part of it can may also be attributed to a different view of property rights than we have here in the US.
I mean where else would there be a law that classed pliers as an illegal weapon because they could be used to cut fences? We're pretty aggressive about our property rights - I'm pretty sure it's still legal in my state to shoot trespassers as long as it's posted. This would probably horrify the people of most other countries.
I won't argue that corporations are any better than people. In theory, they're supposed to be the same for certain purposes. And yes, they can get depersonalized in the pursuit of a buck and forget that there are real people out there with real problems.
That still doesn't make it right to try and screw over a company. On the other hand, it's not right for a company to try and screw over the people.
But, from the standpoint of a corporation, the rules in foreign countries are already in place (ie., lower wages, lower cost of living). Why shouldn't they be allowed to play by those rules? If you don't like the rules, change them. For instance, what's to prevent a country from having two minimum wages - one for locally owned business, and one for foreign business? Or perhaps higher taxes for foreign business with the proceeds going to public works?
If you don't like the school's policy on what is or isn't allowed, get it changed. But apathy about changing the policies does not automatically give you the right to do what you want. And if you are unable to change the policy, that still does not give you the right to flout it.
Sorry, but I don't buy it. Rights (as I understand) are granted by a more powerful entity to a less-powerful entity. In other words, the government allows that people have certain rights to vote, assemble, speak, etc., but those rights can be retracted at any given time. Here in the US that would be problematic, at best. Other countries have more or less rights due to history and philosophy and it is easier to grant or deny those rights at will.
I view rights as a human construct, something we created to share power between government and the governed. Without a more powerful entity to grant rights to the lesser entity, those rights do not exist and we live in a state of anarchy. So I still don't buy the argument of natural rights.
Now, that power can be defined many ways. For instance, say I own land and you don't. I have a power that you don't, so I can grant you the right to use that land. This is not a natural right - it is a granted right that I allow you to exercise. And it only exists because I have something that you don't.
So, I have a little better understanding of "natural rights" now, you asshole, but I still don't buy it.
Manager's that are technically-minded work best with software developers because developers are technically minded.
The opposite is also true: that developer's that are people-oriented also work well with managers. Unfortunately, there are more technical-minded managers than people-oriented developers in my experience.
Lack of people-skills seems to be a major qualification for becoming a developer.
By the way, just what in the hell is a "natural right"? I've seen that term popping up on/. more and more often, but no one has pointed out exactly what a "natural right" is.
I suspect that this is a term invented to cover those things that we think should be rights, but aren't listed in any document anywhere.
Last time I heard, the only rights we had (in the US) were those listed in the Bill of Rights (plus interpretations as according to various courts of law).
Can someone please inform the more ignorant of us what a "natural right" is and give some concrete examples so we know that you're not just blowing smoke up our asses?
[Specifically, people ought to be able to copy any data they want at any time, as long as they are not benefitting commercially from that copying]. Why? If I produce data, why shouldn't I get paid for the effort of assembling, collating, folding, spindling and mutilating it? These are the questions that plague me and no one seems to have a good answer.
Ah, but the proponents of free software want to do away with commercial software (at least the ones who really piss me off do). Just between you, me, and anyone else who reads this - I actually agree to a certain extent with their philosophies, but as long as there are assholes around, I feel it necessary to defend the right to earn a buck of the products of my labor.
And off the support.
And from licensing the ideas involved in the production of the product.
The exportation of DVDs will most likely grind to a slow halt and India (as an example) will be forced to make do with bootlegs shot at a theatre. I don't know if this will matter much to the average consumer over there, but making a guess - probably not. American movies are pretty damn popular all over the world, even amongst the people that hate us the most (The French, most Arab countries, anyone south of the equator except the Australians and New Zealand).
As for the price difference, it has to do with relative value. $5 in India is quite a lot of money (approx 243 rupees as of today's valuation) to some people. The aggregate sales of DVD distributors in India is probably as strong in that market as some of the distributors stateside (NOTE: I'm guessing on that - but it seems a reasonable assumption). The relative value of a DVD in each market as a total of spending for the person is probably about the same on a per item basis.
Now, this says nothing about how many DVD's your average Indian buys (probably not many), but it seems reasonable to assume that DVD's are priced according to the market they are going to be sold in by approximately the same formula wherever you go.
We've only mentioned DVD's. This does not account for other entertainment items like CD's, computers, game consoles, TV's, radios (all of which are produced in Japan, but the theory is the same), and other American products (or American-company branded products).
Once you start introducing tariffs on some items, eventually other items get dragged into the mix. We had a little dustup with France a while back over their huge tariffs on some items we exported to them (which somebody got a bug up their ass because it was against their culture) and imposed counter-tariffs on certain French products, which hurt their markets. They laid the blame on us, we laid the blame on them, and everybody who actually wanted the products had to pay higher prices.
What it boils down to is that we pay a higher price because we have a higher standard of living and proportionally higher incomes. Even your average dead-ass-broke, digging-for-change-in-the-couch college student lives better than most of the people in the world. I speak from experience on that because I barely cleared $10,000 a year while I was in college and that includes student loans each semester and working part-time at the college. I still managed to keep a roof over my head and AC and beer.
So, while removing region coding initially impacts only a few items, the effects can (and probably will) ripple out over time. Get used to it - you'll probably be paying $15 a can for Fosters before it's all said and done. And kiss those British import CD's goodbye.
ON ANOTHER NOTE: I quite agree that region coding is highly annoying, but I go along with it because I understand why they do it. If the US would tone down the aggressive business nature, we could still keep the encoding (and some friends in foreign places) and everyone would probably be able to get along a little easier when stuff like this went on. We probably have stepped over (or are about to) some invisible line into corporate nightmare world, but the pendulum swings both ways and will eventually swing back. Just not while Herr Bush is in office.
If you remove the ability to region lock, then many companies will probably cease to sell their products in the poorer countries. The end result is that importation would probably slow down as well, since new laws would have to be created to stop the flood of low-cost knockoffs from outside the U.S. (note: I say U.S. because we are the biggest damn consumer as well as producer/marketer in the world). Patent laws would still prevent those products from being made in the poor countries (like they respect patent laws anyway) and so the availability will drop.
This is pretty bad news for world trade and may lead to less trade between countries in the long run. Some are going to see this as a good thing (the anti-globalism people), but it can eventually lead to a lot of bad things as well, including increased tariffs and lower profits all around.
The third-world countries won't be affected too much by all this (they ignore the patent laws anyway and have a burgeoning black market in knockoffs), but the first-world countries are gonna suck it up... bad.
And who are you to determine what I should or should not be able to leave to my children? If you earn it, you should be able to do as you choose, which includes leaving to your children, your cats, small green aliens, or whatever.
I was responding to the OP use of "mandates personal freedom and requires you to contribute to the public good." You see, while you may hate having commercial software rammed down your throat, I hate having someone tell me I have to do something to benefit someone else. I'll contribute to the public good if and when I see fit, and I absolutely will not support some loudmouthed moralist who has decided that what I write must go to some nebulous "good" purpose.
That is the problem with the FSF and the Open Source movement as I see it now. While it claims to be about choice, the only choice that the most obnoxious proponents (like the OP) offer is no choice at all. There is no middle ground with these jerks.
So I don't give them one. And if you read my post - I never mentioned Communism once.
By the way, an opinion is exactly that - it requires no facts to back it up, just the conviction to speak what's on your mind. That includes "talking out your ass". At least I have the courage to sign my posts.
mandates freedom and requires you to contribute to the common good
Is this ironic or what? That sums up my opposition to the GPL right there.
Much better if you remove all obstacles to freedom and contribution to the public good, than forcing people to do so. I don't see any difference between your statement and totalitarianism. Sure the verbiage is slightly different, but the aim is the same - to make everyone fit into YOUR view of how the world should work and not to reach a common consensus. That's the part I hate - being told by some self-righteous bastard that I have to do this or I am not a "good person".
blinded by the almighty (American) dollar
Feel free to give up your day job if you don't want to depend on the dollar anymore. But until the Star Trek economy starts making better headway, we're stuck with it. You may not like the game - but most of us have to play it in one form or another.
Linux is now on the verge of making really big money
And I suppose if you have your way, this won't happen either because it will lead to more dollar-blindness.
Just so you know - I am in favor of a better world - but we can't get there overnight and we definitely can't get there by immediately destroying the institutions that have brought us this far. While the technological rate of change is pretty damn fast, people need time to adapt and wrap their minds around concepts. It might be nice if we could all wake up and start getting along, but we're talking about a process that's going to take several hundred generations and you're pissed because we're on step one.
We'll never see this world you dream of, nor will your children. But if you're lucky your greatX5-grandchildren might.
I would also suggest a better way of selecting the status, language, etc filter of projects. Currently, if I'm browsing the tree, I have to find a stable project and select it's status as a filter.
Of course, I can select by status from the get-go, but then I see all stable projects and can't follow the tree. This would help when browsing around just to see what's out there, but that is the way I find things that I haven't seen before.
Another suggestion would be to allow selection based on a "given status or better" so one could find beta AND stable projects.
of getting Sourceforge to kill off old, inactive projects? Seriously, the tree needs a little trimming. One has to wade through so many unmaintained alpha releases when trying to find a specific thing that it's easier to do a search on Google these days.
SF is a great resource and all, but there needs to be some way to filter out the abandoned stuff.
Gee, just image how much faster they could get all those objectionable things done if they had a worldwide network for processing information. Say, for instance, some government agency needs to crack codes of a rebel organization so they can provide info to the friendly-to-us-but-otherwise-reprehensible government on the location of rebel firebases.
Or imagine how much quicker a certain very large Asian country could upgrade their nuclear weapons if they had access to a large array of machines to handle the nuclear explosion simulations.
Or image a group of l33t hackerz cracking the encryption for your banking transactions so they can say they ownz your account.
This thing can go both ways - personally, I don't like the idea of anyone, regardless of intent, having access to my computer unless it's explicitly granted and can be revoked at any time for any reason, without prior notification.
Save the starving children of the world on someone else's machine, thank you.
Slashdot Mirror
O.K., I'll bite.
So what are you trying to say?
If vendors have semi-proprietary systems by virtue of applying patches that aren't making into the mainstream ...
...
And if one wants to ensure that one is running the most stable, but well-patched system
Then who has it - Redhat, Debian, Mandrake, etc.?
Or is this even a fair comparison? And should one make this comparison when planning a Linux install?
OK, sure, but how much ripping of CD's is your mom likely to do? And how much Charley Pride does she listen do?
"It seems," say the researchers, "that Marvel writers did not assign characters to books in the same way as natural interactions would have done it."
Wow. No kidding. What a freakin' revelation.
Do you think it might instead have something to do with sales, or perhaps who had a good idea for a storyline?
IT'S COMICS, PEOPLE! It's not real life. Any attempt to do serious analysis just ruins it for the rest of us. Well, me anyway.
Don't these guys have some social paradigms to overturn? Or maybe some cosmic mystery to unwrangle?!
If you consider that Mr. Pride's main demographic is about 60-70 years old, then the OP may have a point. That doesn't do anything for the younger, newer, more tech-savvy listeners, but there aren't enough of those to cause a resurge in sales.
Me - I can't stand modern country music, except for Lyle Lovett. Most of my favorite country singers have one foot in the grave or are gone the Grandest Old Opry or it's counterpart.
Pity.
You seem to view this as a matter of oppression by corporation (or something similar). So let's look at a hypothetical example, so that I may clarify my point.
You own a company: HKTiger Widgets. HKTW manufactures and sells widgets in multiple markets, the USA and Indonesia. Now, Indonesia has lower wages, lower cost of living, etc., and everything is just generally cheaper. In order to sell your widgets in Indonesia, you have to set a price that the Indonesian market will bear, say $1.40USD equivalent. The US market will bear a much higher price, say $5.00 per widget.
Now, you need some way of keeping the $1.40 widgets from being imported to the US, because you'll be losing $3.60 profit on every HKTiger Widget shipped back into the US. Even if the production price is only 80 cents, that leaves you a margin of 60 cents at the minimum and $4.20 at the maximum.
Now, fine if you can continue to produce widgets at a margin of 60 cents, but it does not allow your company to grow as fast as at the $4.20 price. If your primary stockholders are in the US, then they are going to prefer a faster growth company (the $4.20 margin) over a slower growth company. So you devise a way to keep the $1.40 widgets out of the $5.00 market and thus attract stockholders.
Thus, region encoding is born. The Indonesian widgets (produced by your company) are keyed to work only in Indonesian machines, thus preventing the importation into a market that can bear the higher price. The US widgets are keyed to work in US machines because it's easier to create one standard and just change a number or two than to create a batch with and a batch without the region coding.
All of this is done because, as a whole, the US market can bear a higher price for your company's widget. It's not reasonable to expect a company to go to each and every consumer and ask what you can afford. So you set a price that the largest percentage of your target market can afford and hope it works. You may adjust up and down a little bit as the market changes, but overall the price will be higher in the US than Indonesia.
I understand this and that's why I don't argue with region encoding too much. The only time it really bugs me is when I hear about a good foreign movie and can't get it here because there's not a US-region encoded version.
These are the compromises for living in a capitalist society. Take it for what you will.
why should it be considered so heinous for the consumers to take advantage of the disparity to engorge their DVD collection
Well, one could argue on the grounds that two wrongs do not make a right. If we're speaking strictly of DVD production, where are most of the DVD copies produced and what are the conditions?
I see a lot of the cheap knock-offs and bootlegs as an attempt by foreign merchants to cash in because of lax laws or enforcement. A large part of it can may also be attributed to a different view of property rights than we have here in the US.
I mean where else would there be a law that classed pliers as an illegal weapon because they could be used to cut fences? We're pretty aggressive about our property rights - I'm pretty sure it's still legal in my state to shoot trespassers as long as it's posted. This would probably horrify the people of most other countries.
I won't argue that corporations are any better than people. In theory, they're supposed to be the same for certain purposes. And yes, they can get depersonalized in the pursuit of a buck and forget that there are real people out there with real problems.
That still doesn't make it right to try and screw over a company. On the other hand, it's not right for a company to try and screw over the people.
But, from the standpoint of a corporation, the rules in foreign countries are already in place (ie., lower wages, lower cost of living). Why shouldn't they be allowed to play by those rules? If you don't like the rules, change them. For instance, what's to prevent a country from having two minimum wages - one for locally owned business, and one for foreign business? Or perhaps higher taxes for foreign business with the proceeds going to public works?
If you don't like the school's policy on what is or isn't allowed, get it changed. But apathy about changing the policies does not automatically give you the right to do what you want. And if you are unable to change the policy, that still does not give you the right to flout it.
Otherwise, what the hell do we have laws for?
Sorry, but I don't buy it. Rights (as I understand) are granted by a more powerful entity to a less-powerful entity. In other words, the government allows that people have certain rights to vote, assemble, speak, etc., but those rights can be retracted at any given time. Here in the US that would be problematic, at best. Other countries have more or less rights due to history and philosophy and it is easier to grant or deny those rights at will.
I view rights as a human construct, something we created to share power between government and the governed. Without a more powerful entity to grant rights to the lesser entity, those rights do not exist and we live in a state of anarchy. So I still don't buy the argument of natural rights.
Now, that power can be defined many ways. For instance, say I own land and you don't. I have a power that you don't, so I can grant you the right to use that land. This is not a natural right - it is a granted right that I allow you to exercise. And it only exists because I have something that you don't.
So, I have a little better understanding of "natural rights" now, you asshole, but I still don't buy it.
Manager's that are technically-minded work best with software developers because developers are technically minded.
The opposite is also true: that developer's that are people-oriented also work well with managers. Unfortunately, there are more technical-minded managers than people-oriented developers in my experience.
Lack of people-skills seems to be a major qualification for becoming a developer.
By the way, just what in the hell is a "natural right"? I've seen that term popping up on /. more and more often, but no one has pointed out exactly what a "natural right" is.
I suspect that this is a term invented to cover those things that we think should be rights, but aren't listed in any document anywhere.
Last time I heard, the only rights we had (in the US) were those listed in the Bill of Rights (plus interpretations as according to various courts of law).
Can someone please inform the more ignorant of us what a "natural right" is and give some concrete examples so we know that you're not just blowing smoke up our asses?
[Specifically, people ought to be able to copy any data they want at any time, as long as they are not benefitting commercially from that copying]. Why? If I produce data, why shouldn't I get paid for the effort of assembling, collating, folding, spindling and mutilating it? These are the questions that plague me and no one seems to have a good answer.
Ah, but the proponents of free software want to do away with commercial software (at least the ones who really piss me off do). Just between you, me, and anyone else who reads this - I actually agree to a certain extent with their philosophies, but as long as there are assholes around, I feel it necessary to defend the right to earn a buck of the products of my labor.
And off the support.
And from licensing the ideas involved in the production of the product.
IF I choose to do so.
The exportation of DVDs will most likely grind to a slow halt and India (as an example) will be forced to make do with bootlegs shot at a theatre. I don't know if this will matter much to the average consumer over there, but making a guess - probably not. American movies are pretty damn popular all over the world, even amongst the people that hate us the most (The French, most Arab countries, anyone south of the equator except the Australians and New Zealand).
As for the price difference, it has to do with relative value. $5 in India is quite a lot of money (approx 243 rupees as of today's valuation) to some people. The aggregate sales of DVD distributors in India is probably as strong in that market as some of the distributors stateside (NOTE: I'm guessing on that - but it seems a reasonable assumption). The relative value of a DVD in each market as a total of spending for the person is probably about the same on a per item basis.
Now, this says nothing about how many DVD's your average Indian buys (probably not many), but it seems reasonable to assume that DVD's are priced according to the market they are going to be sold in by approximately the same formula wherever you go.
We've only mentioned DVD's. This does not account for other entertainment items like CD's, computers, game consoles, TV's, radios (all of which are produced in Japan, but the theory is the same), and other American products (or American-company branded products).
Once you start introducing tariffs on some items, eventually other items get dragged into the mix. We had a little dustup with France a while back over their huge tariffs on some items we exported to them (which somebody got a bug up their ass because it was against their culture) and imposed counter-tariffs on certain French products, which hurt their markets. They laid the blame on us, we laid the blame on them, and everybody who actually wanted the products had to pay higher prices.
What it boils down to is that we pay a higher price because we have a higher standard of living and proportionally higher incomes. Even your average dead-ass-broke, digging-for-change-in-the-couch college student lives better than most of the people in the world. I speak from experience on that because I barely cleared $10,000 a year while I was in college and that includes student loans each semester and working part-time at the college. I still managed to keep a roof over my head and AC and beer.
So, while removing region coding initially impacts only a few items, the effects can (and probably will) ripple out over time. Get used to it - you'll probably be paying $15 a can for Fosters before it's all said and done. And kiss those British import CD's goodbye.
ON ANOTHER NOTE: I quite agree that region coding is highly annoying, but I go along with it because I understand why they do it. If the US would tone down the aggressive business nature, we could still keep the encoding (and some friends in foreign places) and everyone would probably be able to get along a little easier when stuff like this went on. We probably have stepped over (or are about to) some invisible line into corporate nightmare world, but the pendulum swings both ways and will eventually swing back. Just not while Herr Bush is in office.
If you remove the ability to region lock, then many companies will probably cease to sell their products in the poorer countries. The end result is that importation would probably slow down as well, since new laws would have to be created to stop the flood of low-cost knockoffs from outside the U.S. (note: I say U.S. because we are the biggest damn consumer as well as producer/marketer in the world). Patent laws would still prevent those products from being made in the poor countries (like they respect patent laws anyway) and so the availability will drop.
... bad.
This is pretty bad news for world trade and may lead to less trade between countries in the long run. Some are going to see this as a good thing (the anti-globalism people), but it can eventually lead to a lot of bad things as well, including increased tariffs and lower profits all around.
The third-world countries won't be affected too much by all this (they ignore the patent laws anyway and have a burgeoning black market in knockoffs), but the first-world countries are gonna suck it up
And who are you to determine what I should or should not be able to leave to my children? If you earn it, you should be able to do as you choose, which includes leaving to your children, your cats, small green aliens, or whatever.
So how much are you going to pay me for leeching my CPU time? The only reward I want is cold, hard cash.
I was responding to the OP use of "mandates personal freedom and requires you to contribute to the public good." You see, while you may hate having commercial software rammed down your throat, I hate having someone tell me I have to do something to benefit someone else. I'll contribute to the public good if and when I see fit, and I absolutely will not support some loudmouthed moralist who has decided that what I write must go to some nebulous "good" purpose.
That is the problem with the FSF and the Open Source movement as I see it now. While it claims to be about choice, the only choice that the most obnoxious proponents (like the OP) offer is no choice at all. There is no middle ground with these jerks.
So I don't give them one. And if you read my post - I never mentioned Communism once.
By the way, an opinion is exactly that - it requires no facts to back it up, just the conviction to speak what's on your mind. That includes "talking out your ass". At least I have the courage to sign my posts.
mandates freedom and requires you to contribute to the common good
Is this ironic or what? That sums up my opposition to the GPL right there.
Much better if you remove all obstacles to freedom and contribution to the public good, than forcing people to do so. I don't see any difference between your statement and totalitarianism. Sure the verbiage is slightly different, but the aim is the same - to make everyone fit into YOUR view of how the world should work and not to reach a common consensus. That's the part I hate - being told by some self-righteous bastard that I have to do this or I am not a "good person".
blinded by the almighty (American) dollar
Feel free to give up your day job if you don't want to depend on the dollar anymore. But until the Star Trek economy starts making better headway, we're stuck with it. You may not like the game - but most of us have to play it in one form or another.
Linux is now on the verge of making really big money
And I suppose if you have your way, this won't happen either because it will lead to more dollar-blindness.
Just so you know - I am in favor of a better world - but we can't get there overnight and we definitely can't get there by immediately destroying the institutions that have brought us this far. While the technological rate of change is pretty damn fast, people need time to adapt and wrap their minds around concepts. It might be nice if we could all wake up and start getting along, but we're talking about a process that's going to take several hundred generations and you're pissed because we're on step one.
We'll never see this world you dream of, nor will your children. But if you're lucky your greatX5-grandchildren might.
Royalty payments.
Then explain why we have cryptography, steganography, spy agencies, wiretaps, etc.
That's the same horsecrap argument right-wing Republicans have been using for years.
That was the French, you ninny. Probably did it on purpose, too, tha' snail-eatin #*@!tards because we export our fast-food restaurants.
Or possibly in revenge for "Le Hamburger".
Is that my karma-evaporation light blinking?
Quit surfing for naked celebs on your roommates computer and get your own.
Well, so much for that karma.
I would also suggest a better way of selecting the status, language, etc filter of projects. Currently, if I'm browsing the tree, I have to find a stable project and select it's status as a filter.
Of course, I can select by status from the get-go, but then I see all stable projects and can't follow the tree. This would help when browsing around just to see what's out there, but that is the way I find things that I haven't seen before.
Another suggestion would be to allow selection based on a "given status or better" so one could find beta AND stable projects.
Just some ideas. Do with them what you will.
of getting Sourceforge to kill off old, inactive projects? Seriously, the tree needs a little trimming. One has to wade through so many unmaintained alpha releases when trying to find a specific thing that it's easier to do a search on Google these days.
SF is a great resource and all, but there needs to be some way to filter out the abandoned stuff.
Gee, just image how much faster they could get all those objectionable things done if they had a worldwide network for processing information. Say, for instance, some government agency needs to crack codes of a rebel organization so they can provide info to the friendly-to-us-but-otherwise-reprehensible government on the location of rebel firebases.
Or imagine how much quicker a certain very large Asian country could upgrade their nuclear weapons if they had access to a large array of machines to handle the nuclear explosion simulations.
Or image a group of l33t hackerz cracking the encryption for your banking transactions so they can say they ownz your account.
This thing can go both ways - personally, I don't like the idea of anyone, regardless of intent, having access to my computer unless it's explicitly granted and can be revoked at any time for any reason, without prior notification.
Save the starving children of the world on someone else's machine, thank you.