I'm not surprised by the responses we're seeing here. I just think it illustrates the unfortunate situation that a valuable concept like public domain or open source software has to be overly infested with thieves who believe that stealing software or pirating movies in the theaters "doesn't hurt anybody".
Say that when it's your own livelihood that's being stolen.
Assuming the average audio CD is 45 minutes, and that ripping is the slowest part of the process. That means 32 CDs per 24-hour period. Someone who wants 32 CDs done "overnight" could certainly do it themselves a lot quicker.
Further assuming you wanted to attract consumers with very large collections, then you really would need a cluster, just to keep up with the slowness of the jukebox. There's certainly no reason to have 200 CD changers, when it would take you 6 days and 8 hours to rip them all.
Seems to me that a commercial "ripping" enterprise would be better to invest in a CD-ROM tower with mechanical disc changer. That would be a better spend for your cash.
Since we're all geeks in the engineering and IT departments, more often than not we'll be getting together for something a little less blue collar than bowling. Think: LAN party, D&D, etc.
What people are concerned about (or at least me) is the suspicion that microsoft is bringing about a change that will ultimately close off part (and it will be a large part) of the web to those of us who refuse to conform (by which I mean pay them money).
IE is free. But even if you are a black-helicopter conspiracy theorist, then all you need do is grab the source to your favorite Open Source browser, and change the agent string to something that fools the website into thinking it's IE (this would be particularly effective with Mozilla, as it seems to render nearly identically to IE in most of my testing).
Remember, though, that the primary issue at hand is that they own the content. You have no right to it anyway. They can use it as they see fit, including restricting from people who aren't using IE. Microsoft hardly controls a "large part" of the web content.
And when a popular site does this it sets a bad precedent for others.
The cat's out the bag, I'm afraid. The precedent was set long before MSN decided to require IE.
As a devloper I struggle with the same problems you exposed. I also try to keep my webpages standards compliant because it ensures the largest audience.
I agree... I don't think it's necessarily wise to code for IE only, as I intimated in my original posting. But the problem with coding for "standards compliance" is that, honestly, no browser is. So you have to pick a subset. Then you get into the question of which subset. Do you code for IE or Netscape, or the even yet smaller section of the standard that both do right? Do you consider people without Java? Without JavaScript?
Is it any wonder so many sites are going to Flash? You might as well call that HTML 5.0 as it works great in the major browser and always renders identically.;)
Many sites on the web are designed toward some goal. Many are designed to be most useful in IE, because most users are using IE (depending on who you ask, the numbers will vary, but nobody denies that IE has the stranglehold now). The only reason this makes Slashdot is because the anti-Microsoft bias of the editors itches to report something like this. It's done every hour of every day on some web site somewhere.
Does that mean IE is the best browser? Not necessarily. It is the most standards compliant browser? Not necessarily. Should people be designing their sites to be HTML 4.0/XHTML compatible instead of IE compatible? Probably. But I think the inventor of the web has a slight blind side to the fact that de-facto standards (namely, that the vast majority of users who browse the web use IE) are at least as powerful as bodies-based standards.
How long before the broadband group gets scrapped too? First excite, then who knows?
AT&T just reported that they're replacing the head of AT&T Broadband, while simultaneously reporting a loss. I wouldn't be overly pleased if I was one of those people with broadband access right now. I guess Cringley doesn't seem like such an idiot any more...
Can anyone tell me if they have solved the problem with some IBM gear (in particular IBM Thinkpads).
This is a quite common problem w/ laptops in general. I tried three different Dell laptops through my Linksys ProConnect 4, and none of them recognized the mouse through the KVM, and I've heard of others (Gateway, IBM) in the same boat. Best I can assume is that something is funky about the laptops wherein they want to disable the internal pointer for the external one, and must be using something non-standard to detect the mouse presence. Having the KVM tuned to the laptop on bootup didn't help, either.
Sounds like the USB-based systems might be a better choice here.
So I tried playing quake 3 on it, and the thing crawled. My usual 30-50fps from my geforce2 mx turned to about 3fps!
I use a Linksys ProConnect 4 to switch between my gaming machine and my work machine (and soon a third box). I've had zero problems with gaming performance. I play games on it very regularly (including Quake 3). My score in 3DMark2001 was completely unchanged through the switch (I use a GeForce family card as well).
One thing people in this situation might want to try (specifically, if you have a GeForce family card) is to get into the GeForce Additional Properties dialog, go to the OpenGL tab, and make sure the Vertical Sync option is set to "Always Off".
Of course, I also had to spend a small fortune on cabling to get acceptable video quality, but the reclamation of desk space was well worth it!
Already people are using water coolers for Athons and GeForce chips because of the extreme case interior heat, and heating the hard drive and power supply can't hurt, either. I'm pretty sure my next case will be water cooled.
Try LPAC instead. When you invest in many thousands of dollars of audio equipment like I did, you don't want lossy compression. I own a Minidisc recorder for recording things off the radio, but otherwise, good mid-fi equipment or better (right about where I'm sitting is what I'd call mid-fi) demands you chuck all them (WMA, MP3, OGG, etc.) out the window for serious listening.
All this makes me glad that Comcast is taking over their own network. I use Yahoo and CNN all the time for my content. I just want to pay for a pipe, that's all. Don't roll in some charges to cover some "content provider" I'll never use.
The problem is that Excite@Home was counting on the content that you didn't look at to make their money. A stupid business plan, as they learned by virtue of their failure. As others have pointed out, connectivity is a
commodity market. Those who want to try to get rich off of connectivity are deluding themselves, and reality will catch up with them all sooner or later. Oh, wait, that's already happening.:)
I'm actually contemplating building a PC-based "whole home" audio system that uses a PC that you can bury in a closet or basement. The key difference would be the use of touch panels (full color) for navigation. Speakers in the ceiling, touch panels on the walls. More of a high end solution. I think long term this is a more interesting project that dumping a "PC-ish" thing into a stereo-rack sized box.
At the moment, I have about 5900 files (still in the ripping process; I expect to have about 10k when I'm done). That'll be a sizeable portion of my collection, perhaps half. Between my wife and I, we have amassed about 1500 audio CDs.
*shrug* High file count != illegal Napster user (FWIW, all mine are WMA because of the better quality at smaller file size, so none of them could've come from Napster ).
If the only purchasble form of a new MJ song is in an 'unbreakable encrypted' version, than any mp3 versions of the song *must* be in violation of the DMCA.
Nah, just record it analog. Or are they going to say that analog performances and recordings of CDs are in violation of the DMCA? *snicker*
The reality is that people are too lazy to do it the analog way, because it's a lot slower and somewhat labor intensive (record one giant WAV file and split it off into smaller files, or manually record each track, then use a tool to convert WAV to your favorite file form). Whether it's worth it or not is up to you to decide...
Thank god my music tastes are esoteric enough to avoid this sh*t for now.
I couldn't help but notice that there's no option for a 4:3 aspect ratio in the specs for this DVD (using either pan-and-scan information or a separate side). The ability to encode multiple aspect ratios on a single DVD was one of the things that really excited me about DVD technology when it first came out.
I've never seen a DVD which can dynamically flip between widescreen and fullscreen, though I believe they exist. One problem there has to be one of labor: creating a pan & scan version of a film usually takes an incredibly patient and talented individual to do the new transfer (and don't even get me started on open matte crap). Does the DVD technology exist to make this process easier for the mastering of 4:3 from widescreen images? Would the obvious loss of resolution from scaling be a problem?
I don't have an overly large television (32 inch) and you still couldn't pay me to watch pan & scan, personally.
I've had the THX remastered Laserdiscs for years (the most recent versions). No 5.1, unfortunately, but even so, outstanding sound and picture quality (and none of the lame ass additions).
Similarly, I have the Laserdisc of Phantom Menace (Japanese import) in 6.1EX audio. Amazing picture and sound. Extras aren't worth re-buying for. I rarely ever watch extras. I have enough to watch with just the movies!:)
The same vested interest I have in other strangers in the "false collective" known as society. None.
If I give away code, I truly give it away. I don't discriminate against people out to make money. I try and make money every single day of my life. So I guess the vested interest is "whatever company I'm working for today".
They should've made the code public domain. I mean, really, the only point of the GPL is to be anti-business. If you really are out for the betterment of humanity, that includes corporations...
Oops, shhh, I didn't mean to reveal the secret purpose of GPL.:-p
Shrug, then MS just changes their format slightly and patents the changes, and they really lock out everyone else. For that reason, this isn't necessarily a fair standard.
Whatever format Microsoft uses is the standard. The OSS crowd can talk about open formats until they're blue in the face, but until that format is supported out of the box by the Microsoft products, it won't mean anything.
If you read the second page of the review, the first thing the authors test is functionality to communicate with M$ office file formats. If that is to be the first level by which KOffice is judged, it will never succeed (in their minds).
Guess what? The whole world uses Microsoft Office. Rarely is a document generated just so that it can be printed by the same person. Documents are shared, modified, updated, and exchanged in digital form, not paper form. It's absolutely required that an application be able to read and write.DOC and.XLS files for it to be successful in the business world (as opposed to the "living in my mom's basement, running Linux, downloading pictures of Buffy, gotta write a letter to Carson Daley" world).
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I'm not surprised by the responses we're seeing here. I just think it illustrates the unfortunate situation that a valuable concept like public domain or open source software has to be overly infested with thieves who believe that stealing software or pirating movies in the theaters "doesn't hurt anybody".
Say that when it's your own livelihood that's being stolen.
Assuming the average audio CD is 45 minutes, and that ripping is the slowest part of the process. That means 32 CDs per 24-hour period. Someone who wants 32 CDs done "overnight" could certainly do it themselves a lot quicker.
Further assuming you wanted to attract consumers with very large collections, then you really would need a cluster, just to keep up with the slowness of the jukebox. There's certainly no reason to have 200 CD changers, when it would take you 6 days and 8 hours to rip them all.
Seems to me that a commercial "ripping" enterprise would be better to invest in a CD-ROM tower with mechanical disc changer. That would be a better spend for your cash.
...I'm too busy actually playing an MMORPG right now. See you all in Camelot! :)
Since we're all geeks in the engineering and IT departments, more often than not we'll be getting together for something a little less blue collar than bowling. Think: LAN party, D&D, etc.
Remember, though, that the primary issue at hand is that they own the content. You have no right to it anyway. They can use it as they see fit, including restricting from people who aren't using IE. Microsoft hardly controls a "large part" of the web content.
Is it any wonder so many sites are going to Flash? You might as well call that HTML 5.0 as it works great in the major browser and always renders identically.
Many sites on the web are designed toward some goal. Many are designed to be most useful in IE, because most users are using IE (depending on who you ask, the numbers will vary, but nobody denies that IE has the stranglehold now). The only reason this makes Slashdot is because the anti-Microsoft bias of the editors itches to report something like this. It's done every hour of every day on some web site somewhere.
Does that mean IE is the best browser? Not necessarily. It is the most standards compliant browser? Not necessarily. Should people be designing their sites to be HTML 4.0/XHTML compatible instead of IE compatible? Probably. But I think the inventor of the web has a slight blind side to the fact that de-facto standards (namely, that the vast majority of users who browse the web use IE) are at least as powerful as bodies-based standards.
... and even then, nobody will be able to agree on what distribution is best. :)
Sounds like the USB-based systems might be a better choice here.
One thing people in this situation might want to try (specifically, if you have a GeForce family card) is to get into the GeForce Additional Properties dialog, go to the OpenGL tab, and make sure the Vertical Sync option is set to "Always Off".
Of course, I also had to spend a small fortune on cabling to get acceptable video quality, but the reclamation of desk space was well worth it!
New to Linux? No. What does that have to do with my comment about water cooled cases?
...because we don't make water coolers.
Already people are using water coolers for Athons and GeForce chips because of the extreme case interior heat, and heating the hard drive and power supply can't hurt, either. I'm pretty sure my next case will be water cooled.
Try LPAC instead. When you invest in many thousands of dollars of audio equipment like I did, you don't want lossy compression. I own a Minidisc recorder for recording things off the radio, but otherwise, good mid-fi equipment or better (right about where I'm sitting is what I'd call mid-fi) demands you chuck all them (WMA, MP3, OGG, etc.) out the window for serious listening.
It plays MP3, WMA, and WAV (yes, uncompressed). Now go to Best Buy and get one for $150. :)
I'm actually contemplating building a PC-based "whole home" audio system that uses a PC that you can bury in a closet or basement. The key difference would be the use of touch panels (full color) for navigation. Speakers in the ceiling, touch panels on the walls. More of a high end solution. I think long term this is a more interesting project that dumping a "PC-ish" thing into a stereo-rack sized box.
At the moment, I have about 5900 files (still in the ripping process; I expect to have about 10k when I'm done). That'll be a sizeable portion of my collection, perhaps half. Between my wife and I, we have amassed about 1500 audio CDs.
*shrug* High file count != illegal Napster user (FWIW, all mine are WMA because of the better quality at smaller file size, so none of them could've come from Napster ).
The reality is that people are too lazy to do it the analog way, because it's a lot slower and somewhat labor intensive (record one giant WAV file and split it off into smaller files, or manually record each track, then use a tool to convert WAV to your favorite file form). Whether it's worth it or not is up to you to decide...
Thank god my music tastes are esoteric enough to avoid this sh*t for now.
I don't have an overly large television (32 inch) and you still couldn't pay me to watch pan & scan, personally.
I've had the THX remastered Laserdiscs for years (the most recent versions). No 5.1, unfortunately, but even so, outstanding sound and picture quality (and none of the lame ass additions).
:)
Similarly, I have the Laserdisc of Phantom Menace (Japanese import) in 6.1EX audio. Amazing picture and sound. Extras aren't worth re-buying for. I rarely ever watch extras. I have enough to watch with just the movies!
The same vested interest I have in other strangers in the "false collective" known as society. None.
If I give away code, I truly give it away. I don't discriminate against people out to make money. I try and make money every single day of my life. So I guess the vested interest is "whatever company I'm working for today".
They should've made the code public domain. I mean, really, the only point of the GPL is to be anti-business. If you really are out for the betterment of humanity, that includes corporations...
:-p
Oops, shhh, I didn't mean to reveal the secret purpose of GPL.