This should point out to politicians that you can't un-invent or un-learn a technology just by pulling the plug. There are countless other examples of this ridiculous attitude being unsucessfully used. The "war on drugs". Doomed to failure. Enough people have their own pot plants to re-stock the entire nation in a short time. There are so many ways to get other drugs across the border or even synthesized de novo that you would bankrupt your government trying to shut them all down. But they try. Disarming a population. Doomed to failure. Guns are small and easy to smuggle, and failing that, they can be MADE. Home-made weapons are quite common among the poor, and ammunition is cheap. And even in countries like afghanistan and Iraq, there are people with the chemical knowledge to make their own explosives.
It's the politicians that never, ever learn. The Star Wars quote is quite relevant here, despite the source. "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."
No I think violating the GPL is pretty sick because you obtained something for nothing at all - be it a block of code or just a neat way of doing something that you had never thought of - and the only request is attribution of the source and making GPL'ed code available. Since I'm a scientist we're pretty hard on plagiarism, sources are always credited and cited. The GPL is pretty much the same thing - a recognition that you didn't build the whole thing yourself, and a mention of the ones who built the parts they built. As I understand the GPL it does not "infect" any further work I do, nor am I forced to give away my own work because of it - which I find a bit ludicrous although other licenses do this. I just have to make sure GPL'ed stuff is acknowleged and that the code is always available so other people can also benefit. You can't be more fair than that.
I am sure there are people out there who don't "support" the GPL and its philosophy. I think they are unreasonable people. Why? Because in the case of DRM, the publisher is asking me for $50 or whatever up front, and I have to take him on BLIND FAITH that his product is not a bug infested pile of overproduced crapware. If developers had a stellar reputation for producing flawless products, this would not be a problem. However many programs - especially games, are bug ridden multi-gigabyte release day patch requiring grinds that don't meet the publisher's claims at all. So I can justify "test driving" a game because the first fault is not really with me, it's with most publishers. And I think it's reasonable for someone to insist on getting something for their money. In the case of the GPL, there is no "money" involved, so abiding by the quite lenient license terms is not an unreasonable request.
It's hypocritical if you take a stand against DRM and say "I won't pay to support DRM", but then you go and download the cracked game and play it anyway. A more reasonable assertion would be "I'll only pirate DRM games". If you really take a stand, then you don't play the game at all, no matter how you obtained it. Otherwise the difference between moral convictions and a convenient excuse becomes blurred, and we only have your word for it. Actions speak louder than words.
The person writing the controversial title is probably spanish in origin, or at least latin. The word "polemic" is quite common in latin-based languages, and it means pretty much the same as controversial. Therefore the "argument/controversy" definition is the one sought after.
But then you shouldn't be a hypocrite and play the game anyway. Take for example Paradox Interactive. I have downloaded countless titles of theirs - they are usually not copy protected at all. I have ended up buying legitimate versions and expansions of almost all their games because I liked them. I still play them years after release. However lately they have started publishing games developed by third parties (like "War of The Roses") - games that are "protected" by DRM. While I'm sure there's a crack available out there, and the game does sound interesting to me, I refuse to download it and crack it, or buy it. I don't care. I don't support their decision to go with DRM. If they ever remove the DRM then I might be interested in giving it a go.
But if you say you pirate games because you're against DRM, and the games you play are cracked to get around DRM, what you're really doing is using an excuse to get stuff for free. You either have principles or you don't, and there's nothing wrong with standing by your principles. But that means you have to take the bad with the good, and stand by your principles...and not play the game.
A good screening test is cheap, minimally invasive, and very, very sensitive. It does not matter if you get false positives, because you will never act on just the result of a screening test alone. You want a test that absolutely does not, however, give you false negatives. That way you reduce the whole population to the sick, and the falso positives. This new population is then re-screened with highly specific, expensive diagnostic tests that determine if the person does or does not have the disease in question.
Ideally you'd be able to screen the whole population with tests that never fail and never give false positives, but in reality this is not affordable, you would end up with waiting lists and budget problems, and people would die waiting for the test. So you pick a test that is sensitive enough to give false positives and you weed them out, being left with only the real positives. It's kind of like the way the TSA works, only backwards (they are so insensitive all they get is false positives, while people with shoe bombs, knives, etc, are allowed to board safely).
I have never, ever, in all my life spent $2k on parts for a high-end PC.
Then you're just not old enough! I remember 64K of memory costing well up to $100k (IBM System/3). I remember $10k hard drives. I remember $2k monitors... and you guys are complaining about $50 here or there for multi-gigabyte multi-gigahertz machines with terrabyte storage. Sigh.
But you want to know the funniest thing? The way the computer industry is going, you are about to lose everything and you will never even realize what you had... until yeah, your devices won't be worth more than a couple bucks because they're no longer your tools, they're just devices used to spy on you in exchange for email, a very expensive phone service and angry birds.
Don't worry, another couple months and none of them will be online anymore since their iOS phones will bankrupt them with random 100+MB data downloads, and then it will be much quieter around here.
People still use Steam? Always late with patches. Their wrapper often breaks games or adds instability. Customer service is non-existent. Yeah no there are plenty of other options for buying/downloading legitimate games online. Good luck with the linux project. I want nothing to do with Steam.
I have a quite-definite-omnibox. It's called a desktop PC. And we have come full circle, except I never left. Nor did I pay for all the steps on that circle.
You mean extinctions are caused by other things than man? Shhhh! Don't tell the environmentalists! I'm sure they'll find a way to make us feel guilty for creating that volcano.
That's simply not true. The Chinese and Indian economies alone are growing at a much, much faster rate than this. I believe China has recently SLOWED to a "mere" 7% per year. This would have its economy doubling twice in size inside 20 years. China is currently adding the equivalent of Australia, every year, to oil demand.
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This should point out to politicians that you can't un-invent or un-learn a technology just by pulling the plug. There are countless other examples of this ridiculous attitude being unsucessfully used. The "war on drugs". Doomed to failure. Enough people have their own pot plants to re-stock the entire nation in a short time. There are so many ways to get other drugs across the border or even synthesized de novo that you would bankrupt your government trying to shut them all down. But they try. Disarming a population. Doomed to failure. Guns are small and easy to smuggle, and failing that, they can be MADE. Home-made weapons are quite common among the poor, and ammunition is cheap. And even in countries like afghanistan and Iraq, there are people with the chemical knowledge to make their own explosives.
It's the politicians that never, ever learn. The Star Wars quote is quite relevant here, despite the source. "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."
Absolutely nothing because I just don't care.
You cared enough to post. So why don't you stop lying to yourself? Then you'll find out who you are.
No I think violating the GPL is pretty sick because you obtained something for nothing at all - be it a block of code or just a neat way of doing something that you had never thought of - and the only request is attribution of the source and making GPL'ed code available. Since I'm a scientist we're pretty hard on plagiarism, sources are always credited and cited. The GPL is pretty much the same thing - a recognition that you didn't build the whole thing yourself, and a mention of the ones who built the parts they built. As I understand the GPL it does not "infect" any further work I do, nor am I forced to give away my own work because of it - which I find a bit ludicrous although other licenses do this. I just have to make sure GPL'ed stuff is acknowleged and that the code is always available so other people can also benefit. You can't be more fair than that.
I am sure there are people out there who don't "support" the GPL and its philosophy. I think they are unreasonable people. Why? Because in the case of DRM, the publisher is asking me for $50 or whatever up front, and I have to take him on BLIND FAITH that his product is not a bug infested pile of overproduced crapware. If developers had a stellar reputation for producing flawless products, this would not be a problem. However many programs - especially games, are bug ridden multi-gigabyte release day patch requiring grinds that don't meet the publisher's claims at all. So I can justify "test driving" a game because the first fault is not really with me, it's with most publishers. And I think it's reasonable for someone to insist on getting something for their money. In the case of the GPL, there is no "money" involved, so abiding by the quite lenient license terms is not an unreasonable request.
It's hypocritical if you take a stand against DRM and say "I won't pay to support DRM", but then you go and download the cracked game and play it anyway. A more reasonable assertion would be "I'll only pirate DRM games". If you really take a stand, then you don't play the game at all, no matter how you obtained it. Otherwise the difference between moral convictions and a convenient excuse becomes blurred, and we only have your word for it. Actions speak louder than words.
The person writing the controversial title is probably spanish in origin, or at least latin. The word "polemic" is quite common in latin-based languages, and it means pretty much the same as controversial. Therefore the "argument/controversy" definition is the one sought after.
But then you shouldn't be a hypocrite and play the game anyway. Take for example Paradox Interactive. I have downloaded countless titles of theirs - they are usually not copy protected at all. I have ended up buying legitimate versions and expansions of almost all their games because I liked them. I still play them years after release. However lately they have started publishing games developed by third parties (like "War of The Roses") - games that are "protected" by DRM. While I'm sure there's a crack available out there, and the game does sound interesting to me, I refuse to download it and crack it, or buy it. I don't care. I don't support their decision to go with DRM. If they ever remove the DRM then I might be interested in giving it a go.
But if you say you pirate games because you're against DRM, and the games you play are cracked to get around DRM, what you're really doing is using an excuse to get stuff for free. You either have principles or you don't, and there's nothing wrong with standing by your principles. But that means you have to take the bad with the good, and stand by your principles...and not play the game.
A good screening test is cheap, minimally invasive, and very, very sensitive. It does not matter if you get false positives, because you will never act on just the result of a screening test alone. You want a test that absolutely does not, however, give you false negatives. That way you reduce the whole population to the sick, and the falso positives. This new population is then re-screened with highly specific, expensive diagnostic tests that determine if the person does or does not have the disease in question.
Ideally you'd be able to screen the whole population with tests that never fail and never give false positives, but in reality this is not affordable, you would end up with waiting lists and budget problems, and people would die waiting for the test. So you pick a test that is sensitive enough to give false positives and you weed them out, being left with only the real positives. It's kind of like the way the TSA works, only backwards (they are so insensitive all they get is false positives, while people with shoe bombs, knives, etc, are allowed to board safely).
Harmed, not hurt. Because not being cuddled while I type is harm, isn't it? But you can see for yourself how I mistreat my dogs...
It's already too late. Oh and by the way, Samsung called with the new price list for next year's parts...
Good thing I'm a leech then isn't it?
There is truthiness to what you said.
I have never, ever, in all my life spent $2k on parts for a high-end PC.
Then you're just not old enough! I remember 64K of memory costing well up to $100k (IBM System/3). I remember $10k hard drives. I remember $2k monitors... and you guys are complaining about $50 here or there for multi-gigabyte multi-gigahertz machines with terrabyte storage. Sigh. But you want to know the funniest thing? The way the computer industry is going, you are about to lose everything and you will never even realize what you had... until yeah, your devices won't be worth more than a couple bucks because they're no longer your tools, they're just devices used to spy on you in exchange for email, a very expensive phone service and angry birds.
They don't have to track down all the file sharers. Only a select few, and make highly publicized examples of them.
But darknets aren't illegal in the US anyway.
Yet. Wait.
And apparently I am the "criminal" here.
Then put the musical notes back where you found them. And the chords, too. All of them.
Unless you happen to be a hot porn actress... but yeah, I doubt that lol
Don't worry, another couple months and none of them will be online anymore since their iOS phones will bankrupt them with random 100+MB data downloads, and then it will be much quieter around here.
And you felt the need to shout that out for everyone to hear?
Sure. That's what the internet is for. For me to voice my opinion on stuff. What, you thought it was only about you?
People still use Steam? Always late with patches. Their wrapper often breaks games or adds instability. Customer service is non-existent. Yeah no there are plenty of other options for buying/downloading legitimate games online. Good luck with the linux project. I want nothing to do with Steam.
I have a quite-definite-omnibox. It's called a desktop PC. And we have come full circle, except I never left. Nor did I pay for all the steps on that circle.
Most insightful post I've read in a while.
Don't worry, it's all part of Apple Innovation. You must be using the phone wrong or something. You'll be able to buy a patch soon.
You mean extinctions are caused by other things than man? Shhhh! Don't tell the environmentalists! I'm sure they'll find a way to make us feel guilty for creating that volcano.
That's simply not true. The Chinese and Indian economies alone are growing at a much, much faster rate than this. I believe China has recently SLOWED to a "mere" 7% per year. This would have its economy doubling twice in size inside 20 years. China is currently adding the equivalent of Australia, every year, to oil demand.