the US, which taught us the meaning of freedom, and the free society
There's a nice little article here you might want to read, called "The History of Freedom in Antiquity" written in 1877 by Lord Acton. Read it. You might learn something.
Richard Stallman is very annoying. Often he comes out with rabid driven that just makes me want to shout "shut up you idiot!" for the damage it does to the OSS community. Then he comes out with eloquent, intelligent and thought provoking prose like this. Most annoying.
That if you sue anyone over patents that you think may apply to the Software or anyone's use of the Software, your license to the Software ends automatically.
What does that mean, exactly? So if I create a modified version, patent the modification, Microsoft infringes my patent, I sue Microsoft, then I lose my right to use the software in the first place, therefore... What? Any lawyers out there can interpret this?
I love some on the terms and conditions you find on the Megacorps websites.
This from the Disney site:
If, at our request, you send certain specific submissions (e.g., postings to chat, boards, or contests)[...] (collectively, the "Submissions"), the Submissions shall be deemed, and shall remain, our property. [...] Without limitation of the foregoing, we shall exclusively own all now-known or hereafter existing rights to the Submissions of every kind and nature throughout the universe and shall be entitled to unrestricted use of the Submissions for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise, without compensation to the provider of the Submissions.
This is a gem: we shall exclusively own all now-known or hereafter existing rights to the Submissions...
The RIAA has announced a new coursebook for law students "IP theft - a history". The coursebook examines the importance of Intellectual Property and the how the theft of IP threatens the foundations of our society.
Monsanto have announced a new series of videos for Biology undergraduates. Called "The ethics of genetic engineering", the series examines subjects such as how having patented gene sequences allows companies like Monsanto to help feed starving children in the Third World.
Disney-trained lecturers will be visiting art faculties all over the country in the coming weeks. The lecturers will be giving fun and thought provoking demonstrations about how to draw Disney-style characters. Before attending the lectures, students will have to sign a contract which stipulates that any Disney-style characters they draw in the future will be automatically copyright of Disney Corporation. They will also be encouraged to send any characters they draw directly to Disney, and not to show them to anyone else.
Environmental Studies students are all to receive a free study pack from ChevronTexaco Corporation. The study pack includes a text book "The Truth About Global Warming", as well as a t-shirt, stickers, felt pens, a colouring pad and a fridge magnet.
Any good content management software is going to cost you through the nose in training, installation, and the software itself. Expect it, deal with it.
I've looked at teamsite and some other products like it. Personally I think that "good content management software" should, well, make it easy to manage content. In other words, it should not cost you through the nose in training, or preferably in installation and upkeep.
When content management systems cost so much and require so much training, it might just be better to develop clear, simple methodologies and rules about how to do things, and train your staff in those. Just keeping a well thought-out directory structure and rules about files names and where to put stuff can go a hell of a long way easing "content management".
And for those that respond, "That's ok for a small amount of content, but what about millions of files?" Well, simple procedures and rules can scale up. After all, with just an hour of training, anyone can find a book in an old fashioned library and know where to put it back again - even a massive library with millions of books. The trouble is these days we expect an 'automatic' solution to everything, when very well thought out, simple processes and a bit of care and attention will do a better job and not "cost you through the nose in training, installation, and the software itself".
In fact, I don't understand why people think MS Office in general is that great.
Considering that it is MS's cash cow, it is amazing they haven't put more effort into making it better over the years. They just seem to add junk, rather than simplifying things. Read the review - you'll see what I mean. This office suite does some simple things (from a non-programming perspective) that would improve MS Office a lot.
With the Taliban gone, this opens up free world trade to Afghanastan, which is sure to benifit economically all of the warlords. When peace and stability is in their best interest, you can bet it is going to happen.
Jeeze. Some of you Americans need to get out more.
How to combat terrorism. The American way!
1) Remove baddies! 2) Free trade! 3) Peace and stability! 4) No more terrorism!!!
And to think those stupid Brits and Irish had so many years of problems when they could have done it the American way and, problem solved!
Clearly neither you, nor the dumb-assed moderaters who modded you up, nor the other dumb-asses who posted the exact same thing as you, nor the dumb-asses who modded them up, bothered to follow the link.
If you had, you would have seen:
"While on a trip overseas in the early 1990s, Ontro's founders, Jim Scudder and Jim Berntsen, came upon an interesting product... a beverage container that would heat its contents without the benefit of external energy sources (microwave, heating element, etc.). They soon found similar products in other parts of the world, but all had two very significant problems."
Followed by information about what makes their product different.
This is what is known as promoting your product. What do you think they would say? Our product is exactly the same as the others? It's more expensive?
There is nothing revolutionary about this product. It works in pretty much the same way as the products available in Europe and other places.
Don't be so critical of other posters and moderators. People might think you're a dumbass yourself.
"Ladies and Gentlemen of this supposed jury, my accusers would certainly want you to believe I hacked eBay, and they make a good case. But Ladies and Gentlemen of this supposed jury, I have one final thing I want you to consider.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Chewbacca. Chewbacca is a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk who carried a gun and ran from the mob. But Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. Now think about it. That does not make sense. Why would a Wookiee, an eight-foot-tall Wookiee, want to live on Endor with a bunch of two-foot-tall Ewoks. That does not make sense.
But more important, you have to ask yourself what does this have to do with this case. Nothing. Ladies and Gentlemen, it has nothing to do with this case. It does not make sense. Look at me. I'm a hacker defending myself and I'm talkin' about Chewbacca. Does that make sense? Ladies and Gentlemen I am not making any sense. None of this makes sense.
And so you have to remember when you're in that jury room deliberating and conjugating this case, does it make sense? No. Ladies and Gentlemen of this supposed jury it does not make sense. If Chewbacca lives on Endor you must acquit.
I know I seem guilty. But ladies and gentlemen this is Chewbacca. Now think about that for one minute. That does not make sense. Why am I talking about Chewbacca when my life is on the line? Why? I'll tell you why. I don't know. It doesn't make sense. If Chewbacca does not make sense you must acquit. Here look at the monkey , look at the silly monkey.
I am really fed up with listening to all those whining european liberals. The USA leads the world in science and technology. Why don't they just listen to us and trust what we say? Global warming is just hippy crap.
I think we're absolutely right to tell those whining Europeans to stuff their Kyoto protocol. It is obviously just political and not based on scientific research, like the USA's policy.
And the Japanese! What are they doing agreeing with the Euros? And those South Americans. Of course they don't have many scientists there, so they probably don't understand what they've signed up to. Even the Chinese have implemented reforms of their energy sectors to cut Co2 emmissions and have cut them by over 6 percent over the last five years. What are they thinking? I guess they must be just sucking up to the Europeans.
I just don't get it. When will the Euros (and the Japanese, Chinese, South Americans and the rest of them) stop falling for that environmentalist rubbish and start listening to informed, scientific, and unbiased view of our great leader, G W Bush?
If you're a bit drunk and squint at the screen, you can see almost everything going on in the Friday night porn show on Canal+. Hours of after pub fun, and no expensive decoder card necessary.
I absolutely agree. SVG is cool. It would be ten times more useful than Flash, if only a manufacturer would create a good authoring environment for it and all browsers had SVG functionality.
I hate to relate to a story which has made manifest in popular culture, but, isn't this exactly what happened in Jurasic Park? "Yeah, don't worry, they are sterile! They can't reproduce!"
Jurassic Park is a Hollywood movie guys.
Funny, I was just thinking how Hollywood is to blame for people's misunderstanding about genetics, but I didn't realise people took movies quite this literally!
Next you'll be telling me that irradiating flies might make Superflies which can only be killed with Kryptonite.
And what does radiation do again? NOT mutate things?
If you want an extra head, (;-) for instance), then all the mutation has to occur in the original sex cell before cell division occurs. Mutation in adult cells either doesn't do anything, kills the cell, or on rare occasions causes it to multiply in an abnormal manner i.e. cancer.
You would not get
a) an extra head or b) the mutation passed on to offspring.
Assuming that the sterilization isn't 100% effective, a few of them could reproduce with very f*cked up dna sequences.
Sterilization with radiation is extremely effective. Besides which, the type of genetic mutations you are talking about are almost always useless - imagine taking a book and changing a few letters randomly. The result would just be a book with typos in it. If you are really lucky, you might get one word change to another and the word still makes sense. But the genome as a whole would, as you point out, be f*cked up.
It is a completely different situation when genes from, say, a jellyfish, which have evolved over millions of years, are extracted and put into a plants' genomes. This is more like taking book and extracting a sentence that you already know makes sense, and carefully inserting it into another book at a location where you know it will make a difference to the meaning of the book. The resultant change could have side effects you haven't considered.
Well if you think about it Italy and Germany sell radiated milk!
I'm much rather drink irradiated milk (which just sterilizes it) that eat GM foodstuffs, which are genetically modified organisms. Those poor Americans aren't even told which of your food products are GM! So in America I can put fly genes into a cow and sell it as burgers, and I don't even have to say so on the packaging! Now that's scary.
The original poster does not understand the issue.
These are flys that have been sterilized by radiation. They are not genetic mutants. If they will live their little lifetime, and then die. Their genes will not be passed on to another generation.
"Mutants" are offspring which have different characteristics to their parents because genetic mutation has occurred.
I am against releasing genetically modified organisms into the environment. But this is not what they are talking about. These are sterilized files. Not mutants. There is no danger here. If it reduces the number of disease carrying files, then this is a very good thing.
We keep seein these articles with titles like is linux ready for the desktop?, is linux good enough for business, etc. I think these tend to blind us to the fact that the update of Linux has been nothing short of stunning.
Remember, just four years ago sys admins had to hide their Linux systems so the boss wouldn't find out about them. And now, IBM, HP, Compaq, Sun and other heavy hitters of the IT industry are increasingly basing their strategies around it. And we all know that Sun didn't even really want to, they were forced to by changes in the market. That demonstrates the power of the change that is taking place.
I had a go at using Linux in 1998. From many perspectives, it was, frankly, crap. Look where we are today, less than four years later.
People always assume that everything happens really quickly in the IT industry, but it isn't so. Things take time. Decades sometimes. The amount of mindshare that Linux has got in the last four years is just fantastic. The revolution is happening, and it's happening quickly.
People say that Linux can never compete on the desktop. I'm not so sure. At the moment it's grabbing bites out of virtually every other niche market in a way that Bill Gates must have dreamt about doing in the past. Now it must be giving him nightmares.
I can't wait to see what's going to happen in the next four years.
But how many kernel hackers have come out of your (presumably English) University?;-p
Come on, you can do better that that. Where's the vitriol?
Re:Remarkable: Already slashdotted
on
Alan Cox Interview
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
In their Assembly they'll be told "Now then boys,
A little explanation for the benefit of our American friends. The Welsh call their parliament the Assembly. An assembly is also the morning meeting at schools where the head teacher makes announcements and often reads a moral or religious story.
Re:Remarkable: Already slashdotted
on
Alan Cox Interview
·
· Score: 5, Funny
Before even seven comments were posted, the server fell down and went boom. There are times when I fear the raw destructive power of Slashdot readers...
I expect the lights have gone out all over Wales. Fat housewives will be running to shout "more coal! more coal!" down mine-shafts. In their Assembly they'll be told "Now then boys, I've got something very serious to tell you, so all pay attention now. Wales has been Slashdotted..."
The way patents are used these days is unfair and is really going to hurt developing economies.
I wonder if Japan's economic revolution, which started because it began copying electronics devices from the West and did them more cheaply, then better, I wonder if that could today? They would probably get hit by loads of patent infringement claims, which they wouldn't have been able to afford to fight.
Lets take India, for instance. Lots and lots of very cheap programmers. Don't like paying hundreds of dollars for your XYZ software? You don't have to any more, the Indians have a package just as good for a tenth of the price... It could happen, just liked it happened with Asian countries and consumer electronics and cars.
Some of you may think, well in that case software patents are good because they protect American businesses. However, if the ecomonies of developing countries improve, we are all better off for it. The people in those countries are more wealthy, which is better for them, and it's better for us because they have money to buy our stuff. Essentially, patents are blocking the efficient working of the free economy, which of course is a cornerstone to the American Way. So, to use currently popular rhetoric, software patents are anti-America.
Slashdot Mirror
the US, which taught us the meaning of freedom, and the free society
There's a nice little article here you might want to read, called "The History of Freedom in Antiquity" written in 1877 by Lord Acton. Read it. You might learn something.
Richard Stallman is very annoying. Often he comes out with rabid driven that just makes me want to shout "shut up you idiot!" for the damage it does to the OSS community. Then he comes out with eloquent, intelligent and thought provoking prose like this. Most annoying.
This is an interesting clause:
That if you sue anyone over patents that you think may apply to the Software or anyone's use of the Software, your license to the Software ends automatically.
What does that mean, exactly? So if I create a modified version, patent the modification, Microsoft infringes my patent, I sue Microsoft, then I lose my right to use the software in the first place, therefore... What? Any lawyers out there can interpret this?
I love some on the terms and conditions you find on the Megacorps websites.
This from the Disney site:
If, at our request, you send certain specific submissions (e.g., postings to chat, boards, or contests)[...] (collectively, the "Submissions"), the Submissions shall be deemed, and shall remain, our property. [...] Without limitation of the foregoing, we shall exclusively own all now-known or hereafter existing rights to the Submissions of every kind and nature throughout the universe and shall be entitled to unrestricted use of the Submissions for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise, without compensation to the provider of the Submissions.
This is a gem: we shall exclusively own all now-known or hereafter existing rights to the Submissions...
And I love that throughout the universe bit.
The RIAA has announced a new coursebook for law students "IP theft - a history". The coursebook examines the importance of Intellectual Property and the how the theft of IP threatens the foundations of our society.
Monsanto have announced a new series of videos for Biology undergraduates. Called "The ethics of genetic engineering", the series examines subjects such as how having patented gene sequences allows companies like Monsanto to help feed starving children in the Third World.
Disney-trained lecturers will be visiting art faculties all over the country in the coming weeks. The lecturers will be giving fun and thought provoking demonstrations about how to draw Disney-style characters. Before attending the lectures, students will have to sign a contract which stipulates that any Disney-style characters they draw in the future will be automatically copyright of Disney Corporation. They will also be encouraged to send any characters they draw directly to Disney, and not to show them to anyone else.
Environmental Studies students are all to receive a free study pack from ChevronTexaco Corporation. The study pack includes a text book "The Truth About Global Warming", as well as a t-shirt, stickers, felt pens, a colouring pad and a fridge magnet.
Any good content management software is going to cost you through the nose in training, installation, and the software itself. Expect it, deal with it.
I've looked at teamsite and some other products like it. Personally I think that "good content management software" should, well, make it easy to manage content. In other words, it should not cost you through the nose in training, or preferably in installation and upkeep.
When content management systems cost so much and require so much training, it might just be better to develop clear, simple methodologies and rules about how to do things, and train your staff in those. Just keeping a well thought-out directory structure and rules about files names and where to put stuff can go a hell of a long way easing "content management".
And for those that respond, "That's ok for a small amount of content, but what about millions of files?" Well, simple procedures and rules can scale up. After all, with just an hour of training, anyone can find a book in an old fashioned library and know where to put it back again - even a massive library with millions of books. The trouble is these days we expect an 'automatic' solution to everything, when very well thought out, simple processes and a bit of care and attention will do a better job and not "cost you through the nose in training, installation, and the software itself".
Just ask a librarian.
I agree.
In fact, I don't understand why people think MS Office in general is that great.
Considering that it is MS's cash cow, it is amazing they haven't put more effort into making it better over the years. They just seem to add junk, rather than simplifying things. Read the review - you'll see what I mean. This office suite does some simple things (from a non-programming perspective) that would improve MS Office a lot.
With the Taliban gone, this opens up free world trade to Afghanastan, which is sure to benifit economically all of the warlords. When peace and stability is in their best interest, you can bet it is going to happen.
Jeeze. Some of you Americans need to get out more.
How to combat terrorism. The American way!
1) Remove baddies!
2) Free trade!
3) Peace and stability!
4) No more terrorism!!!
And to think those stupid Brits and Irish had so many years of problems when they could have done it the American way and, problem solved!
Clearly neither you, nor the dumb-assed moderaters who modded you up, nor the other dumb-asses who posted the exact same thing as you, nor the dumb-asses who modded them up, bothered to follow the link.
... a beverage container that would heat its contents without the benefit of external energy sources (microwave, heating element, etc.). They soon found similar products in other parts of the world, but all had two very significant problems."
If you had, you would have seen:
"While on a trip overseas in the early 1990s, Ontro's founders, Jim Scudder and Jim Berntsen, came upon an interesting product
Followed by information about what makes their product different.
This is what is known as promoting your product. What do you think they would say? Our product is exactly the same as the others? It's more expensive?
There is nothing revolutionary about this product. It works in pretty much the same way as the products available in Europe and other places.
Don't be so critical of other posters and moderators. People might think you're a dumbass yourself.
Actually Endor is a moon ("The forrest moon of Endor") not a planet, and Chewbacca doesn't live there, he just visited it...
Objection, your honour! The facts are irrelevant to my defense. It does not make sense.
If I was the judge, I would throw you in jail for plagerising South Park.
;-)
It's not plagarism. It's homage
The Chewbacca Defense
"Ladies and Gentlemen of this supposed jury, my accusers would certainly want you to believe I hacked eBay, and they make a good case. But Ladies and Gentlemen of this supposed jury, I have one final thing I want you to consider.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Chewbacca. Chewbacca is a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk who carried a gun and ran from the mob. But Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. Now think about it. That does not make sense. Why would a Wookiee, an eight-foot-tall Wookiee, want to live on Endor with a bunch of two-foot-tall Ewoks. That does not make sense.
But more important, you have to ask yourself what does this have to do with this case. Nothing. Ladies and Gentlemen, it has nothing to do with this case. It does not make sense. Look at me. I'm a hacker defending myself and I'm talkin' about Chewbacca. Does that make sense? Ladies and Gentlemen I am not making any sense. None of this makes sense.
And so you have to remember when you're in that jury room deliberating and conjugating this case, does it make sense? No. Ladies and Gentlemen of this supposed jury it does not make sense. If Chewbacca lives on Endor you must acquit.
I know I seem guilty. But ladies and gentlemen this is Chewbacca. Now think about that for one minute. That does not make sense. Why am I talking about Chewbacca when my life is on the line? Why? I'll tell you why. I don't know. It doesn't make sense. If Chewbacca does not make sense you must acquit. Here look at the monkey , look at the silly monkey.
The defense rests."
I am really fed up with listening to all those whining european liberals. The USA leads the world in science and technology. Why don't they just listen to us and trust what we say? Global warming is just hippy crap.
I think we're absolutely right to tell those whining Europeans to stuff their Kyoto protocol. It is obviously just political and not based on scientific research, like the USA's policy.
And the Japanese! What are they doing agreeing with the Euros? And those South Americans. Of course they don't have many scientists there, so they probably don't understand what they've signed up to. Even the Chinese have implemented reforms of their energy sectors to cut Co2 emmissions and have cut them by over 6 percent over the last five years. What are they thinking? I guess they must be just sucking up to the Europeans.
I just don't get it. When will the Euros (and the Japanese, Chinese, South Americans and the rest of them) stop falling for that environmentalist rubbish and start listening to informed, scientific, and unbiased view of our great leader, G W Bush?
Yes, this is sarcasm.
Todays top tip:
If you're a bit drunk and squint at the screen, you can see almost everything going on in the Friday night porn show on Canal+. Hours of after pub fun, and no expensive decoder card necessary.
I absolutely agree. SVG is cool. It would be ten times more useful than Flash, if only a manufacturer would create a good authoring environment for it and all browsers had SVG functionality.
That's a day I'm looking forward to!
I hate to relate to a story which has made manifest in popular culture, but, isn't this exactly what happened in Jurasic Park? "Yeah, don't worry, they are sterile! They can't reproduce!"
Jurassic Park is a Hollywood movie guys.
Funny, I was just thinking how Hollywood is to blame for people's misunderstanding about genetics, but I didn't realise people took movies quite this literally!
Next you'll be telling me that irradiating flies might make Superflies which can only be killed with Kryptonite.
And what does radiation do again? NOT mutate things?
;-) for instance), then all the mutation has to occur in the original sex cell before cell division occurs. Mutation in adult cells either doesn't do anything, kills the cell, or on rare occasions causes it to multiply in an abnormal manner i.e. cancer.
If you want an extra head, (
You would not get
a) an extra head or
b) the mutation passed on to offspring.
Assuming that the sterilization isn't 100% effective, a few of them could reproduce with very f*cked up dna sequences.
Sterilization with radiation is extremely effective. Besides which, the type of genetic mutations you are talking about are almost always useless - imagine taking a book and changing a few letters randomly. The result would just be a book with typos in it. If you are really lucky, you might get one word change to another and the word still makes sense. But the genome as a whole would, as you point out, be f*cked up.
It is a completely different situation when genes from, say, a jellyfish, which have evolved over millions of years, are extracted and put into a plants' genomes. This is more like taking book and extracting a sentence that you already know makes sense, and carefully inserting it into another book at a location where you know it will make a difference to the meaning of the book. The resultant change could have side effects you haven't considered.
Well if you think about it Italy and Germany sell radiated milk!
I'm much rather drink irradiated milk (which just sterilizes it) that eat GM foodstuffs, which are genetically modified organisms. Those poor Americans aren't even told which of your food products are GM! So in America I can put fly genes into a cow and sell it as burgers, and I don't even have to say so on the packaging! Now that's scary.
The original poster does not understand the issue.
These are flys that have been sterilized by radiation. They are not genetic mutants. If they will live their little lifetime, and then die. Their genes will not be passed on to another generation.
"Mutants" are offspring which have different characteristics to their parents because genetic mutation has occurred.
I am against releasing genetically modified organisms into the environment. But this is not what they are talking about. These are sterilized files. Not mutants. There is no danger here.
If it reduces the number of disease carrying files, then this is a very good thing.
We keep seein these articles with titles like is linux ready for the desktop?, is linux good enough for business, etc. I think these tend to blind us to the fact that the update of Linux has been nothing short of stunning.
Remember, just four years ago sys admins had to hide their Linux systems so the boss wouldn't find out about them. And now, IBM, HP, Compaq, Sun and other heavy hitters of the IT industry are increasingly basing their strategies around it. And we all know that Sun didn't even really want to, they were forced to by changes in the market. That demonstrates the power of the change that is taking place.
I had a go at using Linux in 1998. From many perspectives, it was, frankly, crap. Look where we are today, less than four years later.
People always assume that everything happens really quickly in the IT industry, but it isn't so. Things take time. Decades sometimes. The amount of mindshare that Linux has got in the last four years is just fantastic. The revolution is happening, and it's happening quickly.
People say that Linux can never compete on the desktop. I'm not so sure. At the moment it's grabbing bites out of virtually every other niche market in a way that Bill Gates must have dreamt about doing in the past. Now it must be giving him nightmares.
I can't wait to see what's going to happen in the next four years.
But how many kernel hackers have come out of your (presumably English) University? ;-p
Come on, you can do better that that. Where's the vitriol?
In their Assembly they'll be told "Now then boys,
A little explanation for the benefit of our American friends. The Welsh call their parliament the Assembly. An assembly is also the morning meeting at schools where the head teacher makes announcements and often reads a moral or religious story.
Before even seven comments were posted, the server fell down and went boom. There are times when I fear the raw destructive power of Slashdot readers...
I expect the lights have gone out all over Wales. Fat housewives will be running to shout "more coal! more coal!" down mine-shafts. In their Assembly they'll be told "Now then boys, I've got something very serious to tell you, so all pay attention now. Wales has been Slashdotted..."
The way patents are used these days is unfair and is really going to hurt developing economies.
I wonder if Japan's economic revolution, which started because it began copying electronics devices from the West and did them more cheaply, then better, I wonder if that could today? They would probably get hit by loads of patent infringement claims, which they wouldn't have been able to afford to fight.
Lets take India, for instance. Lots and lots of very cheap programmers. Don't like paying hundreds of dollars for your XYZ software? You don't have to any more, the Indians have a package just as good for a tenth of the price... It could happen, just liked it happened with Asian countries and consumer electronics and cars.
Some of you may think, well in that case software patents are good because they protect American businesses. However, if the ecomonies of developing countries improve, we are all better off for it. The people in those countries are more wealthy, which is better for them, and it's better for us because they have money to buy our stuff. Essentially, patents are blocking the efficient working of the free economy, which of course is a cornerstone to the American Way. So, to use currently popular rhetoric, software patents are anti-America.