More specifically, the detail of which pieces they are unable to release as GPL. And also the detail of which libraries are to be released when (Until such time as all of java.* and javax.* on all platforms for which SUN has official support in the SUN tree are released under this GPL + exception licence, java will not be Free)
Simply posting a list of "these are all the pieces of code Sun cant release at this point" would be nice, people could concentrate the open source efforts at replacing those (much like how when the Free versions of BSD appeared, the first thing that happened was a rewrite of the few pieces of non free AT&T code left)
Does it mean the new APSL is no longer OSI complient? Does it mean that its no longer "free software" (and that the GNU project will start listing it on its "licences to avoid" list again?)
On the other hand, it should mean that apple will continue to provide kernel source code for both x86 and ppc quite quickly after kernel releases since if someone does use it to pirate osx, apple can sue them right away (and force removal of the source code)
More than likely, the restriction is a CYA move to make sure that the company doesnt go and use open source in a way that either forces them to open up propriatory code of their own that they dont want to open up or exposes them to the risk of being sued.
Now if someone would just make a cheap media PC that used FFMpeg and MPlayer or whatever as the media player...:) (although a modded XBOX with a suitable port of FFMpeg/whatever would probobly work, as would a PS3 with YDL and the port of FFMpeg/MPlayer/whatever)
As part of my CS degree, I did an "IT project" unit which was much like this. We had to do a real project for a real customer working as part of a group with some other people (there were several teams, each with a different project). We had to submit project plans, requirements documents (gathered based on customer feedback), design documents, code, HTML (this was a PHP web project in our case) etc.
It was a pretty good unit and gave me some good experience (and it underscored my hatred for writing documentation of any kind:)
Does Sony produce a proper MP3 player yet? I know they make players that play MP3 files but as far as I know, the files they play need to be converted through some kind of converter into files that arent quite MP3 files anymore (and you cant copy the files back off and play them with a normal player AFAIK)
I cant see Sony BMG Music ever allowing Sony Consumer Electronics to produce any portable audio player that stores music in a format that can be copied back off and played (remember, Sony Music was there with all the other big record labels when the record companies went after Diamond Multimedia for releasing the first mass market portable media player)
The DRM will probobly consist of 2 things: 1.HDCP support so that if the software layer requests it, the data will only be sent to devices that are approved (i.e. those that correctly talk HDCP) and 2.Support on the software side so that the drivers (or at least one version of them) will be able to prevent screen scraping programs (think FRAPS etc) and other hacks from being able to read graphics data back if the application and OS request "protected media".
Basicly, unless you are actaully using software and media that requires this DRM, its unlikely to be noticable.
Does it say anywhere that binary blobs/modules for hardware accelerated graphics will NOT be included with PS3 linux?
Whats most notable is that (acording to something I saw), the PS3 linux kit isnt including any notable media players (although I am sure that wont last long once someone checks PS3 fixes into the XMMS or FFMPEG tree:)
With the way todays consoles work (high definition and all that stuff), there is no reason the console manufacturer couldnt put the intelligence in the hardware or the libraries/BIOS/whatever so that the game doesnt care if its playing on PAL, NTSC, SECAM or whatever else. The game draws graphics using OpenGL, Direct3D or whatever other graphics API is available and then the graphics library or hardware (TV output chip for example) handles all the differences between PAL, NTSC etc.
The article talks about the delays for the new FF game and questions why its taking so long to release in europe. The answer probobly has to do with the various national ratings boards and the need to make sure that the european release will meet the (generally more conservative than the US on violence) standards set by those various boards. (either so they can release it at all or so they can get the rating they want)
If its the class libraries (i.e. java.*) this is VERY good news. If its just the virtual machine and not the libraries, its less usefull (since the libraries would remain non free)
I believe Telstra here in australia is pushing this whole "wireless broadband HSDPA" thing. Although personally I have no plans to go near it untill Motorola have a HSDPA capable phone.
Basicly, when employees are employed at the company, make them sign (and make existing employees sign or be fired) a contract. This contract (there is probobly already provisions for NDAs and such written into the contracts) would set down rules such as "no porn at work". If the employee breaks the contract (e.g. by downloading porn at work), there are well established laws and rules governing what happens and what the employer can do.
Any employee who refuses to sign a contract that prohibits porn at work is not someone you want at your company anyway.
Any email virus checker that sends any kind of "This email had a virus but I removed it" email either to the recipient or to the listed sender is broken IMO (except in the case where its got both a virus and genuine content in which case the virus should be removed, a note inserted into the email next to the genuine content and it sent on to the recipiant)
As a recipiant of email, I dont care that I got a virus in my mail, I just want it gone. The listed sender probobly doesnt care since its likely fake anyway.
1.Make it Open Source along with good security for the machines to prevent tampering (heck, this is one of the few places Trusted Computing would actually be usefull). 2.Use open documented hardware so that even less binary unverifiable code is required. (do touch screens and reciept type printers exist that have open specifications?) 3.Everyone who votes gets a record in the database (i.e. add to the counts) and a paper ballot. The paper ballot contains a human readable and machine readable record of the vote (one answer is to use something like they use for those electronically scanable multiple choice tests, another is to print a barcode along with a human readable vote record) 4.If there is a question over the accuracy of the internal database count, you can go back and scan the balot papers. 5.If there are still questions, you can go back and manually count votes.
Here in australia you can go past the security points and up to the gate at domestic airports (at least last time I was at Perth airport) without even ID.
It wouldnt surprise me if Direct3D10 is supported by WINE in the near future (depending on just how different it is to D3D9). So people will be able to play Halo with WINE (or maybe Transgaming WineX/Cdega/whatever if they get there first). It may even be possible to port the Diret3D10-on-top-of-openGL code from WINE over to Windows or to otherwise create a third party clone of Direct3D10 on Windows. Not to mention ReactOS that may well end up supporting D3D10 in the future.
So far, Sony seems to be the most open of the 3 consoles. However, until I know what things that PS3 linux wont let you do, I will reserve final judgement.
Why wont hardware vendors give out documentation?
on
OpenBSD 4.0 Released
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· Score: 1
Has anyone actually gotten a straight answer from hardware vendors as to why they wont give out documentation? Can you build a modern x86 PC using only hardware that is fully supported by free software with no binary bits, blobs, non-redistributable firmware or missing functionality? Are there any hardware companies that DO give out documentation?
Also, another thing to think about with the list is that they may not want to release games that compete directly with stuff they already have on the Gameboy Advance or Nintendo DS...
Not a single lightgun game (I have no idea if they can do lightgun emulation with that fancy Wii controler or not) Not a single Super Mario title (with the exception of Mario 64 which happens to be the most expensive title on the entire service) Only one N64 game (although maybe thats because thats the only N64 game that actually WORKS right now...) Only 2 SNES games
I expect some of the omissions (metroid, smash bros, mario kart, zelda III) are omitted because Nintendo have sequals to those coming early in the life of the Wii (they probobly dont want gamers buying Zelda III with a couple bucks of Wii points instead of buying the new Zelda on the Wii for example)
I do concur with something I saw about allowing any company to make a release over the Wii virtual console with nintendo and the company splitting the cost. Nintendo gets more games for pretty much zero cost. The company that owns the game gets money for almost no effort. Win-Win.
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More specifically, the detail of which pieces they are unable to release as GPL. And also the detail of which libraries are to be released when (Until such time as all of java.* and javax.* on all platforms for which SUN has official support in the SUN tree are released under this GPL + exception licence, java will not be Free)
Simply posting a list of "these are all the pieces of code Sun cant release at this point" would be nice, people could concentrate the open source efforts at replacing those (much like how when the Free versions of BSD appeared, the first thing that happened was a rewrite of the few pieces of non free AT&T code left)
Does it mean the new APSL is no longer OSI complient?
Does it mean that its no longer "free software" (and that the GNU project will start listing it on its "licences to avoid" list again?)
On the other hand, it should mean that apple will continue to provide kernel source code for both x86 and ppc quite quickly after kernel releases since if someone does use it to pirate osx, apple can sue them right away (and force removal of the source code)
More than likely, the restriction is a CYA move to make sure that the company doesnt go and use open source in a way that either forces them to open up propriatory code of their own that they dont want to open up or exposes them to the risk of being sued.
Now if someone would just make a cheap media PC that used FFMpeg and MPlayer or whatever as the media player... :) (although a modded XBOX with a suitable port of FFMpeg/whatever would probobly work, as would a PS3 with YDL and the port of FFMpeg/MPlayer/whatever)
As part of my CS degree, I did an "IT project" unit which was much like this. We had to do a real project for a real customer working as part of a group with some other people (there were several teams, each with a different project). We had to submit project plans, requirements documents (gathered based on customer feedback), design documents, code, HTML (this was a PHP web project in our case) etc.
:)
It was a pretty good unit and gave me some good experience (and it underscored my hatred for writing documentation of any kind
Does Sony produce a proper MP3 player yet?
I know they make players that play MP3 files but as far as I know, the files they play need to be converted through some kind of converter into files that arent quite MP3 files anymore (and you cant copy the files back off and play them with a normal player AFAIK)
I cant see Sony BMG Music ever allowing Sony Consumer Electronics to produce any portable audio player that stores music in a format that can be copied back off and played (remember, Sony Music was there with all the other big record labels when the record companies went after Diamond Multimedia for releasing the first mass market portable media player)
Why do we see so many laws that seem to favor the media companies over the tech companies?
The DRM will probobly consist of 2 things:
1.HDCP support so that if the software layer requests it, the data will only be sent to devices that are approved (i.e. those that correctly talk HDCP)
and 2.Support on the software side so that the drivers (or at least one version of them) will be able to prevent screen scraping programs (think FRAPS etc) and other hacks from being able to read graphics data back if the application and OS request "protected media".
Basicly, unless you are actaully using software and media that requires this DRM, its unlikely to be noticable.
Does it say anywhere that binary blobs/modules for hardware accelerated graphics will NOT be included with PS3 linux?
:)
Whats most notable is that (acording to something I saw), the PS3 linux kit isnt including any notable media players (although I am sure that wont last long once someone checks PS3 fixes into the XMMS or FFMPEG tree
With the way todays consoles work (high definition and all that stuff), there is no reason the console manufacturer couldnt put the intelligence in the hardware or the libraries/BIOS/whatever so that the game doesnt care if its playing on PAL, NTSC, SECAM or whatever else.
The game draws graphics using OpenGL, Direct3D or whatever other graphics API is available and then the graphics library or hardware (TV output chip for example) handles all the differences between PAL, NTSC etc.
The article talks about the delays for the new FF game and questions why its taking so long to release in europe. The answer probobly has to do with the various national ratings boards and the need to make sure that the european release will meet the (generally more conservative than the US on violence) standards set by those various boards. (either so they can release it at all or so they can get the rating they want)
If its the class libraries (i.e. java.*) this is VERY good news.
If its just the virtual machine and not the libraries, its less usefull (since the libraries would remain non free)
I believe Telstra here in australia is pushing this whole "wireless broadband HSDPA" thing.
Although personally I have no plans to go near it untill Motorola have a HSDPA capable phone.
Basicly, when employees are employed at the company, make them sign (and make existing employees sign or be fired) a contract. This contract (there is probobly already provisions for NDAs and such written into the contracts) would set down rules such as "no porn at work". If the employee breaks the contract (e.g. by downloading porn at work), there are well established laws and rules governing what happens and what the employer can do.
Any employee who refuses to sign a contract that prohibits porn at work is not someone you want at your company anyway.
Any email virus checker that sends any kind of "This email had a virus but I removed it" email either to the recipient or to the listed sender is broken IMO (except in the case where its got both a virus and genuine content in which case the virus should be removed, a note inserted into the email next to the genuine content and it sent on to the recipiant)
As a recipiant of email, I dont care that I got a virus in my mail, I just want it gone. The listed sender probobly doesnt care since its likely fake anyway.
Is there a patent-free alternative to JPEG like OGG is to MP3 or PNG is to GIF?
1.Make it Open Source along with good security for the machines to prevent tampering (heck, this is one of the few places Trusted Computing would actually be usefull).
2.Use open documented hardware so that even less binary unverifiable code is required. (do touch screens and reciept type printers exist that have open specifications?)
3.Everyone who votes gets a record in the database (i.e. add to the counts) and a paper ballot. The paper ballot contains a human readable and machine readable record of the vote (one answer is to use something like they use for those electronically scanable multiple choice tests, another is to print a barcode along with a human readable vote record)
4.If there is a question over the accuracy of the internal database count, you can go back and scan the balot papers.
5.If there are still questions, you can go back and manually count votes.
Here in australia you can go past the security points and up to the gate at domestic airports (at least last time I was at Perth airport) without even ID.
It wouldnt surprise me if Direct3D10 is supported by WINE in the near future (depending on just how different it is to D3D9). So people will be able to play Halo with WINE (or maybe Transgaming WineX/Cdega/whatever if they get there first). It may even be possible to port the Diret3D10-on-top-of-openGL code from WINE over to Windows or to otherwise create a third party clone of Direct3D10 on Windows. Not to mention ReactOS that may well end up supporting D3D10 in the future.
So far, Sony seems to be the most open of the 3 consoles.
However, until I know what things that PS3 linux wont let you do, I will reserve final judgement.
Has anyone actually gotten a straight answer from hardware vendors as to why they wont give out documentation? Can you build a modern x86 PC using only hardware that is fully supported by free software with no binary bits, blobs, non-redistributable firmware or missing functionality? Are there any hardware companies that DO give out documentation?
Also, another thing to think about with the list is that they may not want to release games that compete directly with stuff they already have on the Gameboy Advance or Nintendo DS...
Not a single lightgun game (I have no idea if they can do lightgun emulation with that fancy Wii controler or not)
Not a single Super Mario title (with the exception of Mario 64 which happens to be the most expensive title on the entire service)
Only one N64 game (although maybe thats because thats the only N64 game that actually WORKS right now...)
Only 2 SNES games
I expect some of the omissions (metroid, smash bros, mario kart, zelda III) are omitted because Nintendo have sequals to those coming early in the life of the Wii (they probobly dont want gamers buying Zelda III with a couple bucks of Wii points instead of buying the new Zelda on the Wii for example)
I do concur with something I saw about allowing any company to make a release over the Wii virtual console with nintendo and the company splitting the cost. Nintendo gets more games for pretty much zero cost. The company that owns the game gets money for almost no effort. Win-Win.
Event tickets for one, people will camp out for days to secure good tickets for big sporting events, concerts etc.
There seems to be a distinct lack of GPS enabled phones (I dont mean a PDA or smartphone, I mean normal phone) here in australia :(