....because this is where we'll all be if RIAA/MPAA and other "associations" for ripping off customers then bringing criminal and civil charges against them have their way
Is it just me or are more and more "what ever happened to..." articles appearing on/. for things that were basically vapourware (ie never existed). I recall an article a few days ago about what ever happened to "toothing"?/. - the ultimate "when I was a little boy..." club. Did I mention, when I was a little boy, we hand coded things with pencil and paper. Punch cards were revolutionary back then and memory was just a bunch of girls sitting in the back room flipping switches on and off...You kids today!!!
From the article: Daphnia retrocurva are zooplankton that live in lake waters for one summer and then die, leaving eggs behind. Scientists have found eggs that didn't hatch for years -- and are hatching them to see how the animal has adapted over time. (University of New Hampshire)
...after losing her wedding ring in the Atlantic, wanted me to buy her a set of living room furniture instead of replacing the ring...
Dude, romantic or not, whether you realize it or not, this probably means your marriage is in trouble. Even in modern times, that wedding ring represents you and your relationship to her, and she's happy to trade it in for living room furniture! Wake up!
I'm not sure why this is. Is there a perception of lower quality?
No perception about it. I've rarely if ever seen open source software that's less buggy than commercial software.
Even Thunderbird and Firefox give me no end of trouble. One example: Both these products stop responding after a couple of days of continuous running. (Firefox stops loading pages, Thunderbird stops loading email. Both silently).
With Firefox it was apparent. Web pages don't load. With a mail checker running in the background...well lets just say the first time it happened I didn't see my email for 3 days because I wasn't paying attention (resulting in an embarassing situation). I simply never had this problem with Outlook Express. (I can't stand Outlook proper though. That's way buggier!).
I've also run into the pdf creator situation before as well. Lots of software out there, but not much of it well written, and believe me last year I looked long and hard. (Issue being the license with the particular version of Acrobat didn't allow for its use on a server to serve multiple clients).
Now, making ice in your home isn't illegal. Downloading copyrighted music that you haven't purchased is. So the analogy falls apart there.
No the analogy doesn't fall apart at all.
Just imagine there was a patent on artifical ice making. Ridiculous? Yes! But not more ridiculous than some of the patents that are being allowed now. It's a little different with copyright, but it stems from the same thing - IP law: The outmoded outdated concept that a legal entity can own the right to a creation, and have the right to prevent others from using it because they came up with it first.
Time to find a different way of compensating people. "I thought of it first" is an incredibly childish thing to set up a society and economy on.
Um, 1800 called and wanted its laws and legal concepts back.
IP law is outmoded and outdated. The idea that you can restrict other people from using an invention, artistic or scientific is heinous and shouldn't be tolerated. This is especially true when current technology means that making a copy deprives no one of the original.
We should be finding new ways to compensate artists and inventors, instead of selling out and letting monopolistic greedy manipulative commercial companies "own" our ideas.
Tell me, if someone stole a loaf of bread would you consider it reasonable punishment to ship them off to Australia? No, it would be considered draconian. Why then is it acceptable in this day and age to bankrupt an individual who copied some music?
With the great resources at their disposal how many operating systems does Microsoft put out at any given time. Maybe 3 server and 3 desktop operating systems supported at any given time? How many versions of each? At most between 2 and 5, but basically all the same just with capabilities switched on or off, or bugfixes added.
Now how many operating systems do Linux developers come up with? A few hundred maybe, and tens of these are "mainstream" distros. Often the basic admin tools, desktops etc. look and act differently.
Is it any wonder non-technical (and even some technical) users are turned off using Linux on the desktop?
Finally, I can look forward to owning a real remote control aircraft! No more having to play with r/c flight sims like Realflight or Aerofly Pro. No more props that could decapitate someone if they hit them the wrong way, so I'm sure the local council won't object to me flying it at the park! I wonder how many channels for the remote!?
Huh? You mean its not reality TV? There really aren't beautiful cylon women who plant chips in people's heads? You MUST be wrong. I mean just look at how bad the camerawork is on Galactica. Surely its to catch the reality-action!!
Yet another "it worked for us so it must be your fault if it doesn't work for you" post.
Thanks. Thanks a bunch.
I'm glad it works for you.....but you only use a limited number of pieces of hardware and a limited number of applications in your organization. You don't support games, or some of the devices that would be used at home (cameras, USB network cables etc. etc.)
I'll tell you what. When I can install SP2 without it deciding to:
1) Blue screen every time I plug in certain USB devices (driver issues, not an obscure hardware either, but no driver update out there).
2) Hang whenever I try to connect using remote desktop instead of connecting. (I'm not the only one that's seen this problem but there's no fix for it as yet either)...Only then will I try it again.
If i can find problems in a day that I can't fix and have to work around in a way that compromises security or usability.
Just because it works for you in your circumstances don't be so rude and arrogant as to assume everyone else should have no problem. You're not using the same hardware or applications as every other person on the planet and the "it works for me" and "you have had time to get ready for this" argument is just plain unhelpful.
So let me get this right. You bought everything you needed in the first place, you've only had your system for a little over a year, and you think the fact that you've spent nothing on hardware since then has something to do with it being a Mac?
I had the opposite experience to you with Apple in the early 80s and have never thought of going back to one of their machines. I was very frustrated, the machine was inferior, it was VERY much overpriced, and to top it all off I couldn't buy the software I needed without mail ordering or having someone drive me to a shop about an hour away.
Depends on how badly your ex screwed you over. It takes two people to make an amicable anything, and the worst thing you can do in any kind of relationship with another human being is be the only one working at it.
I'd say you've either chosen your gfs well in the past or been lucky - probably a bit of both.
Oh for goodness sake, I'm tired of "it works for me" posts. Just because it works for your particular setup with your particular software don't be so arrogant as to dismiss another user's complaint. Would you like your local tech support to give you the "it works on my machine" response when you call them up?
I installed SP2 and had to promptly uninstall it. I've had 2 very annoying problems that I could not resolve:
1) USB network cable that would cause spontaneous reboots (when the machine was set to restart on blue screens) on a machine with SP2 but none of my machines without it. (I tracked it down and indications are it was probably dodgy drivers that SP2 doesn't cope with).
2) Could not for the life of me get remote desktop to work. This is something that I use day to day, and don't want to live without. I've spent a good deal of money on wireless and wired networking so I could use remote desktop throughout my home.
(gasp!!!) initiate a conversation with a strange girl
You mean a girl you don't know.
In my experience the "strange" ones are better avoided. Sure, they may promise a wild exotic encounter but what you're likely to get is a self obsessed head case that empties your wallet and turns your life into a living nightmare.
The last time I saw a developer that good...was...well, hell, I haven't seen one that good.
Developing good software is hard. Its not just a matter of having the skill, paying attention and putting the work in. Even when you've done all that there can be unexpected consequences to the code you write, and the technology you build on can behave unexpectedly.
Devlopers are also usually under enormous pressure to produce tangible results in a timely manner. But software isn't tangible. Only the interfaces and behaviour are. Even when the product is tangible like a car or a bridge projects run over time, over budget and there are catastrophic failures. Why would you expect engineering something intangible to be anything but harder?
I actually believe that developers should always sit on the support lines for the products they write. Surprisingly enough, practical, well-built interfaces start to appear after the developer is forced to take the 900th call concerning a poorly implemented feature.
There are definitely developers I've worked with that I would NOT want on a support line - some of them have been very good coders too. Not to mention that a lot of developers don't want to do support and would only end up stressed and hating their jobs. (Mind you I do support the products I code and have done 24hr on call support. I'm just not of the opinion that every developer should have to).
Also, half the time the developer isn't the one that gets to make the decision about how they implement their work. I've rarely been allowed to call the shots on the projects I'm paid to develop for. I've often had to fight to keep interfaces and features sane. Sometimes I win, and sometimes the user wants it done differently and they're paying the bills.
Actually its a quote from the article itself. I didn't just make it up. RTFA.
Re:Timothy-Obviously you don't know military law.
on
Games That Shoot Back
·
· Score: 1
Oh yeah, with an attitude like that I'd feel so much safer with you between me and someone that wanted to hurt me. (Hint: I'd run from both of you.) Not that I'd have to. You can't even post without going AC - that hardly says you're willing to fight for anything worthwhile.
There are things I love about America and things I hate about America. Guess which one you represent.
Ever heard of the "In soviet Russia blah blah blahs you" jokes? As for the lawsuits, what you don't think that's a legit concern? Its not just in America where this would become an issue.
Slashdot Mirror
....because this is where we'll all be if RIAA/MPAA and other "associations" for ripping off customers then bringing criminal and civil charges against them have their way
Is it just me or are more and more "what ever happened to..." articles appearing on /. for things that were basically vapourware (ie never existed). I recall an article a few days ago about what ever happened to "toothing"? /. - the ultimate "when I was a little boy..." club. Did I mention, when I was a little boy, we hand coded things with pencil and paper. Punch cards were revolutionary back then and memory was just a bunch of girls sitting in the back room flipping switches on and off...You kids today!!!
From the article: Daphnia retrocurva are zooplankton that live in lake waters for one summer and then die, leaving eggs behind. Scientists have found eggs that didn't hatch for years -- and are hatching them to see how the animal has adapted over time. (University of New Hampshire)
We're not talking about bringing back Dodos!
...after losing her wedding ring in the Atlantic, wanted me to buy her a set of living room furniture instead of replacing the ring...
Dude, romantic or not, whether you realize it or not, this probably means your marriage is in trouble. Even in modern times, that wedding ring represents you and your relationship to her, and she's happy to trade it in for living room furniture! Wake up!
I'm not sure why this is. Is there a perception of lower quality?
No perception about it. I've rarely if ever seen open source software that's less buggy than commercial software.
Even Thunderbird and Firefox give me no end of trouble. One example: Both these products stop responding after a couple of days of continuous running. (Firefox stops loading pages, Thunderbird stops loading email. Both silently).
With Firefox it was apparent. Web pages don't load. With a mail checker running in the background...well lets just say the first time it happened I didn't see my email for 3 days because I wasn't paying attention (resulting in an embarassing situation). I simply never had this problem with Outlook Express. (I can't stand Outlook proper though. That's way buggier!).
I've also run into the pdf creator situation before as well. Lots of software out there, but not much of it well written, and believe me last year I looked long and hard. (Issue being the license with the particular version of Acrobat didn't allow for its use on a server to serve multiple clients).
Now, making ice in your home isn't illegal. Downloading copyrighted music that you haven't purchased is. So the analogy falls apart there.
No the analogy doesn't fall apart at all.
Just imagine there was a patent on artifical ice making. Ridiculous? Yes! But not more ridiculous than some of the patents that are being allowed now. It's a little different with copyright, but it stems from the same thing - IP law: The outmoded outdated concept that a legal entity can own the right to a creation, and have the right to prevent others from using it because they came up with it first.
Time to find a different way of compensating people. "I thought of it first" is an incredibly childish thing to set up a society and economy on.
Um, 1800 called and wanted its laws and legal concepts back.
IP law is outmoded and outdated. The idea that you can restrict other people from using an invention, artistic or scientific is heinous and shouldn't be tolerated. This is especially true when current technology means that making a copy deprives no one of the original.
We should be finding new ways to compensate artists and inventors, instead of selling out and letting monopolistic greedy manipulative commercial companies "own" our ideas.
Tell me, if someone stole a loaf of bread would you consider it reasonable punishment to ship them off to Australia? No, it would be considered draconian. Why then is it acceptable in this day and age to bankrupt an individual who copied some music?
If you want to tinker, fantastic, you're right you have all you want.
If you do however want open source software and the freedom it implies - which a lot of people here advocate - this isn't the way to go about it.
With the great resources at their disposal how many operating systems does Microsoft put out at any given time. Maybe 3 server and 3 desktop operating systems supported at any given time? How many versions of each? At most between 2 and 5, but basically all the same just with capabilities switched on or off, or bugfixes added.
Now how many operating systems do Linux developers come up with? A few hundred maybe, and tens of these are "mainstream" distros. Often the basic admin tools, desktops etc. look and act differently.
Is it any wonder non-technical (and even some technical) users are turned off using Linux on the desktop?
Come on guys. Divided we fall!!!!
Finally, I can look forward to owning a real remote control aircraft! No more having to play with r/c flight sims like Realflight or Aerofly Pro. No more props that could decapitate someone if they hit them the wrong way, so I'm sure the local council won't object to me flying it at the park! I wonder how many channels for the remote!?
All I want is my battlestar galactica
Huh? You mean its not reality TV? There really aren't beautiful cylon women who plant chips in people's heads? You MUST be wrong. I mean just look at how bad the camerawork is on Galactica. Surely its to catch the reality-action!!
I'm very disillusioned!
Maybe he is not a mad man, but actually a very wise man.
Nup, I've met him and he's a mad man, a total fruitloop, and not a very nice man.
Mad and right are not mutually exclusive though.
...In Soviet Russia computer hacks you!!
So no need for criminal to be good at it comrade.
Things like QuickSilver, the Unison newsreader, and Pages do not, to my knowledge, have couterparts on Windows.
k silvermail.net/pub/quicksilver
What's this then?
http://www.quicksilvermail.net/
ftp://ftp.quic
I won't bother looking up the rest for you.
If you don't even try looking for it of course you won't know about it.
Everything other piece of Mac software I have used has either been comparable to or better than the PC equivalent.
That's a huge call, especially since you can't seem to find the equivalent!
Yet another "it worked for us so it must be your fault if it doesn't work for you" post.
Thanks. Thanks a bunch.
I'm glad it works for you.....but you only use a limited number of pieces of hardware and a limited number of applications in your organization. You don't support games, or some of the devices that would be used at home (cameras, USB network cables etc. etc.)
I'll tell you what. When I can install SP2 without it deciding to:
...Only then will I try it again.
1) Blue screen every time I plug in certain USB devices (driver issues, not an obscure hardware either, but no driver update out there).
2) Hang whenever I try to connect using remote desktop instead of connecting. (I'm not the only one that's seen this problem but there's no fix for it as yet either)
If i can find problems in a day that I can't fix and have to work around in a way that compromises security or usability.
Just because it works for you in your circumstances don't be so rude and arrogant as to assume everyone else should have no problem. You're not using the same hardware or applications as every other person on the planet and the "it works for me" and "you have had time to get ready for this" argument is just plain unhelpful.
So let me get this right. You bought everything you needed in the first place, you've only had your system for a little over a year, and you think the fact that you've spent nothing on hardware since then has something to do with it being a Mac?
I had the opposite experience to you with Apple in the early 80s and have never thought of going back to one of their machines. I was very frustrated, the machine was inferior, it was VERY much overpriced, and to top it all off I couldn't buy the software I needed without mail ordering or having someone drive me to a shop about an hour away.
Depends on how badly your ex screwed you over. It takes two people to make an amicable anything, and the worst thing you can do in any kind of relationship with another human being is be the only one working at it.
I'd say you've either chosen your gfs well in the past or been lucky - probably a bit of both.
Oh for goodness sake, I'm tired of "it works for me" posts. Just because it works for your particular setup with your particular software don't be so arrogant as to dismiss another user's complaint. Would you like your local tech support to give you the "it works on my machine" response when you call them up?
I installed SP2 and had to promptly uninstall it. I've had 2 very annoying problems that I could not resolve:
1) USB network cable that would cause spontaneous reboots (when the machine was set to restart on blue screens) on a machine with SP2 but none of my machines without it. (I tracked it down and indications are it was probably dodgy drivers that SP2 doesn't cope with).
2) Could not for the life of me get remote desktop to work. This is something that I use day to day, and don't want to live without. I've spent a good deal of money on wireless and wired networking so I could use remote desktop throughout my home.
Forcing people to SP2 is a very bad plan.
It sounds like you speak from experience!
Yeah, I do. But I finally got it right.
I've got an NVidia GeForce 5200 based card here. Works fine with XP SP1.
(gasp!!!) initiate a conversation with a strange girl
You mean a girl you don't know.
In my experience the "strange" ones are better avoided. Sure, they may promise a wild exotic encounter but what you're likely to get is a self obsessed head case that empties your wallet and turns your life into a living nightmare.
The last time I saw a developer that good...was...well, hell, I haven't seen one that good.
Developing good software is hard. Its not just a matter of having the skill, paying attention and putting the work in. Even when you've done all that there can be unexpected consequences to the code you write, and the technology you build on can behave unexpectedly.
Devlopers are also usually under enormous pressure to produce tangible results in a timely manner. But software isn't tangible. Only the interfaces and behaviour are. Even when the product is tangible like a car or a bridge projects run over time, over budget and there are catastrophic failures. Why would you expect engineering something intangible to be anything but harder?
I actually believe that developers should always sit on the support lines for the products they write. Surprisingly enough, practical, well-built interfaces start to appear after the developer is forced to take the 900th call concerning a poorly implemented feature.
There are definitely developers I've worked with that I would NOT want on a support line - some of them have been very good coders too. Not to mention that a lot of developers don't want to do support and would only end up stressed and hating their jobs. (Mind you I do support the products I code and have done 24hr on call support. I'm just not of the opinion that every developer should have to).
Also, half the time the developer isn't the one that gets to make the decision about how they implement their work. I've rarely been allowed to call the shots on the projects I'm paid to develop for. I've often had to fight to keep interfaces and features sane. Sometimes I win, and sometimes the user wants it done differently and they're paying the bills.
Actually its a quote from the article itself. I didn't just make it up. RTFA.
Oh yeah, with an attitude like that I'd feel so much safer with you between me and someone that wanted to hurt me. (Hint: I'd run from both of you.) Not that I'd have to. You can't even post without going AC - that hardly says you're willing to fight for anything worthwhile.
There are things I love about America and things I hate about America. Guess which one you represent.
Ever heard of the "In soviet Russia blah blah blahs you" jokes? As for the lawsuits, what you don't think that's a legit concern? Its not just in America where this would become an issue.