Actually with many Linux distros starting to experience cash flow problems more of them should merge with one another. Though I love Linux I must face facts, it is not yet mainstream enough to financially support too many distros. Only a few commercialy available distros can survive right now until the market grows.
Of course someone could always develop a completely new method to doing something patented, but what are the oods for something like AIDS? When a cure for AIDS finally come out most people will agree it took a hell of a long time and many people died while it was being developed. Now lets say I am the one who patents my particular method of curing AIDS and I say I'm going to charge $1 billion dollars per pill (1 pill = 1 cure), anyone who wants to purchase a license from me will have to pay $100 trillion per year. Why should the people who can't afford this cure have to wait for someone else to come up with a new way to do it, it could take decades. Meanwhile everyone who gets AIDS and is not rich dies from it when there is a perfectly good cure for it, the only problem is it's held by a greedy bastard with no morals. What f the total cost of making each pill is $5 or less? Even if it cost a million perpill my price is unacceptable. In the end, public good is more important than private interest. If people get better/cheaper houses and a cheap cure to AIDS that is all that matters to me, not whether mr. John Doe gets his 2002 Lamborghinni( I know spelling error) Diablo.
A couple of good points have been brought up in response to both my original post and my reply defending it. First of all, I understand that in some areas a patent can be useful, but patents are way too easy to abuse and also prevent the creation of useful modifications and enhancements which slows down the growth of technology. Imagine where we would be today if there were no patents and any new concept could be modified and enhanced by anyone who wanted to. Our society would be so much more advanced than it is now. Maybe the solution is extremely short term patents. A patent that ended a couple of months after the company first implemented their idea (not when they were designing or training, when they actually started using it) would give the company a jumpstart on competition but it wouldn't smother competition or significantly slow down technological growth. In the case of medical research maybe all significant cures (AIDS, HERPES, DIABETES) should be required to be sold to the government for the common good (kinda like the fact that they can take your house if they need to build a firehouse there), this system would require that the government reimburse all research costs of the developer of the cure and pay a decent amount for the cure. This cure should then be administered at cost of production, or maybe a little more depending. For the person who contributed to the Diabetes research I applaud you, but how will you feel if it helps produce a cure that is sold at an incredibly high price and you as well as most others can't afford it. Since this cure would probably be patented no competition would be able to drive the price down. Software patents should be done away with. Saying I came up with a new type of game, now I'm te only one who can make games of this type is ridiculous, as is saying this is how I did this and now that you know you can't use it for anything until my patent runs out. Long term patents are a bad idea, I challenge anyone to come up with a positive aspect to long term patents.
Actually, I wouldn't mind. Being the first to make use of this new method I would have a jumpstart on anyone copy me. By the time they managed to implement my method effectively I should already have gained a loyal user base and established myself as the #1 builder. I could justify a higher price because, being the one that developed the method, I would obviously be the most effective at using it(at least in theory). Of course fear of my competition would always be there, but that would merely drive me to more accomplishments and innovations. Anything they added to my method I could simply incorporate into my business the same way they originally did to me. If I could simply patent my method, I would stop researching new ideas simply because no one could compete with me anyway so why waste the money? Imagine someone who created a cure to AIDS and patented it, that person could charge ridiculous amounts of money for this cure even if it was something simple and cheap to make. People who couldn't afford this cure would die simply because John Doe patented his cure.
Personally I don't care if they ripped off every one of Googles concepts, if their engine works better I'll use it. Patents, in this area at least, in my opinion are really stupid, just because I figure out a new way to build a house thats faster and more effective than older methods doesn't mean everyone else should have to use the older methods just because I don't want competition. Google right now is the best search engine out there because of it's advanced concepts, if all the other engines go down, why would Google ever bother to improve their system. With new competition Google and the other engine will be forced to continue innovating. Competition is always good.
Actually I can think of at least one use for chickenosaurs, if the process ever becomes cheap enough (well, it needs to be created first) it would be a great way to help fedd third world countries. Imagine, one small chicken that feeds maybe 2 or 3, becoming one big ass chickenosaur that feeds 20-30 people, combine this technology with cloning and hunger will be no more. Another added benefit would be having the choice between 30 different kinds ofchicken at the supermarket......hmmmm, should we get the original chickenosaur or the T-ricken?
Ahem, Microsoft issued a warning today that their popular e-mail program Microsoft Outlook has once again been exploited by evil superhackers. At a press conference this morning Mr. Gates said this of Outlook Virus ##23948842^99: "I have never seen a virus as advanced as #23948842^99, those evil superhackers have struck again. The mind boggling intelligence it would take to exploit a product as secure as Microsoft Outlook has me believing that it is the work of advanced alien life-forms with a secret agenda. It is also believed that these aliens are also the cause of all other Microsoft security problems, the incredible size of the Windows OS, and the coming of the antiOS (Linux). Please help us stay strong against the aliens by supporting Microsoft in our hour of need, don't switch e-mail programs or your OS, thats what the aliens want."
As always we will keep you informed of any further developments in the Outlook Virus #23948842^99 story.
Really if your still using Outlook of your own free will you deserve a virus and a kick in the ass from anyone who receives the virus from you.
Does this mean if I play Quake for 72 hours straight I'll be able to find a way to circumvent any type of encryption AND use my superior hand/eye coordination to kick the shit out of all the federal agents who come to arrest me?
Linux has come a long way in terms of its GUI, and I have a feeling if Linux became mainstream it would be pre-configured and set to start in x. Any windows user could use a newer version of KDE fairly easily if it was already configured for them. If the courts decided Microsoft was a monopoly tomorrow and forced them to break up what do you think would happen? Windows would die, Linux would be the only real choice (in my opinion), especially for companies. What Geek toy could replace Linux other than a newer and beter OS not made by Micro$oft?
No, I understand why FF comes out in Japan first, stll doesn't mean I have to like it:). As for FF9, the story line was great, I just think it would have been better if the characters were more customizable instead of written in stone (this one is the magic user, this one is the fighter kind of thing), also the frequent unavoidable battles that take about 30-40 seconds to start are very annoying to me. I won't make fun of you because you don't like complex battle system that require a lot of management, every gamer has their own taste, I personally just like to be able to spend time adjusting equipment/spells to make my characters perform how I want them to. FF9's just buy a better weapon system didn't appeal to me.
Chrono Cross did the same thing but they offset it with a few side quests for each of the 40 or so characters, if you ever got bored with a character you could just switch to another.
Personally I like the diversity (wow deja vu) of/. stories. Being a gamer this topic does interest me some./.s appeal is in the fact that at any given point in my day I can come here and read interesting stories from all different interest areas and then read intelligent (well sometimes) responses and opinions on the story. Now I can comment on how sick I am of all the good RPGs appearing in Japan months ahead of the U.S appearance and give my opinion on the quality of recent FF games. FF9 was pure crap, sorry for those that liked it but it was, it was like the Windows of FF games, simplified beyond reason. Chrono Cross on the other hand was a much better game for many reasons, I hope that FF10 will go back to the FF tradition of more complex (and fun) battle systems and innovative gameplay.
I apologize I wasn't clearer. I have been coming to/. for only a few days but I have already become addicted. Most of the topics are interesting and a lot of the posts are full of usefull information or humor. The community as a whole is great. When I said "we" I was including myself in the community, "readers" meant those who rarely or never come to/. . I sincerely doubt the poster was a regular, after all I assume most/.ers are more intelligent than that. Sorry I wasn't clearer, remarks like that just really piss me off.
Bulding your own computer used to insure you got a system that fit your needs and was generally cheaper. This isn't necessarily true anymore. I'm getting a decent sum of money pretty soon and plan on getting a system with dual 1.2Ghtz Athlon MPs, 1GB of DDR ram, a ATI Radeon 64MB ddr video card, etc....Now I started pricing parts not too long ago on pricewatch.com , in the end the system I wanted would cost me about &2600 total (includes S&H), then I went to www.systemquotes.com , On their site they have one of those custom system builders. $2699 for the same system and a 1 year guarrunty, also it won't take me weeks to get all the separate parts in the mail, I'll get the wholething at once. It also allows you to save some money by not having an OS installed (they only alllow have winblows anyway).
Brave words for an anonymous Coward. Really people, is this the quality of readers we have on/.? I think it's pretty safe to assume you know jack shit about computers or the net since most people understand the net is colorless. And speaking of reading.....didn't you hear Lincoln freed the slaves and from your post I can tell that most of them are more literate and educated than you.
Very different. AOL (as horrible an ISP as it is) is not an OS. The whole reason for AOL is to connect to the internet and surf the web. Also you can (I'm assuming) choose to use IE or another browser with AOL and your able to uninstall netscape without damaging AOL's effectiveness (such as it is). Microsoft says "go ahead and download netscape if you want but then your gonna have to use twice as much room on your hard-drive for browsers because if you remove IE Windows won't work properly. HAHAHAHAHAHA" that is the difference. An OS needs a web browser if people want to surf the net, thats not being questioned, the problem is the user needs to be given the right to uninstall or never install the browser that comes with the OS.
The difference between the two issues being that you CAN remove Konquerer (even if it's a pita) without harming the actual OS and with no effect on unrelated software. With Windows IE is/was so tangled up wtih the OS that Microsoft admitted it couldn't seperate the two. Also KDE and Linux are free(both like beer and the other kind), thus there would be no point whatsoever in litigation. If a case was brought up it would be easily thrown out because it's all open source, the first day someone could go....look here's KDEs source and here's Konquerers source they are seperate, ha we win.
Re:Oh, We Need Another Distro
on
DeMuDi Linux
·
· Score: 1
Well, the DeMuDi website said it was going to be based on Debian wich means to me that they'll take the basic Debian distro and then add enhancements to it that are designed to make it more media friendly. So, unless they alter it a LOT, switching from Debian to DeMuDi should be relatively painless (though in my opinion switching distros is always painless, Linux is Linux, whether it wears a RedHat or is a "slacker"). As for whether or not you SHOULD switch over just apply the basic decision making formula you use evrytime a new distro comes out, if DeMuDi offers you more/better features for your based on your personal needs than what your using now, switch, if not, don't.
hmmm, so if I beat someone to death with my tower could I claim I was innocent because a computer my tower is not classified as a murder weapon? If it can record music it's a music recording device why is this even under question?
I'm sorry but after reading several "it doesn't matter if they do this because you can just..." arguments I must intervene. I don't care if a chimp with a slide-ruler can break their protection scheme, the point is THERE SHOULDN'T BE A PROTECTION SCHEME. As consumers we should have the right to use material we bought however we want as long as we don't copy it AND then sell it. The monopolies don't care if you can crack their encryption, the whole point is that now you have to circumvent their protection scheme to do this.....thus are in violation the DMCA (an opressive U.S law if you didn't already know) even if you just copy it for personal use. By forcing you to circumvent their system they force you to break the law which means that you can be arrested for excercizing your rights to fair use. The only way this crap can be stopped is if it causes embarrassment/loss of profit for the company. What we need is for a non US citizen (any country where it's not illegal to do what I'm proposing) to start up a webpage with not only a list of protected CD's and an easy to read explanation on what this means for Joe Sixpack, but also complete rips for many of the Cds on their list. These rips can be sent anonymously to the site. This will educate the average person on why uncopyable (I know not a word:)) CDs are wrong and maybe influence some of them not to buy these CDs, and also the rips will embarass the company especially after they have been bragging aout their new "uncrackable" CDs.
It is impossible for a posting on the merits of Linux or for a posting on the failures of windows to be too long. But if you want a quick summary...fine. Linux is faster, stable, more efficient, a better enviroment for developers, more secure, FREE, and open source. What does Microsoft have that Linux doesn't? I was the first OS that a chimp could use and because of that the average user became dependent on it. Because of this dependence the linux user base remained small even after it began to provide an easy to use GUI. Thus we come to Linux's only turn off, lack of development in key areas that would help promote user interest (such as gaming).
Slashdot Mirror
Actually with many Linux distros starting to experience cash flow problems more of them should merge with one another. Though I love Linux I must face facts, it is not yet mainstream enough to financially support too many distros. Only a few commercialy available distros can survive right now until the market grows.
They would have to list which sites came from Google within plain view like all other search engines that use other search engines.
Of course someone could always develop a completely new method to doing something patented, but what are the oods for something like AIDS? When a cure for AIDS finally come out most people will agree it took a hell of a long time and many people died while it was being developed. Now lets say I am the one who patents my particular method of curing AIDS and I say I'm going to charge $1 billion dollars per pill (1 pill = 1 cure), anyone who wants to purchase a license from me will have to pay $100 trillion per year. Why should the people who can't afford this cure have to wait for someone else to come up with a new way to do it, it could take decades. Meanwhile everyone who gets AIDS and is not rich dies from it when there is a perfectly good cure for it, the only problem is it's held by a greedy bastard with no morals. What f the total cost of making each pill is $5 or less? Even if it cost a million perpill my price is unacceptable. In the end, public good is more important than private interest. If people get better/cheaper houses and a cheap cure to AIDS that is all that matters to me, not whether mr. John Doe gets his 2002 Lamborghinni( I know spelling error) Diablo.
A couple of good points have been brought up in response to both my original post and my reply defending it. First of all, I understand that in some areas a patent can be useful, but patents are way too easy to abuse and also prevent the creation of useful modifications and enhancements which slows down the growth of technology. Imagine where we would be today if there were no patents and any new concept could be modified and enhanced by anyone who wanted to. Our society would be so much more advanced than it is now. Maybe the solution is extremely short term patents. A patent that ended a couple of months after the company first implemented their idea (not when they were designing or training, when they actually started using it) would give the company a jumpstart on competition but it wouldn't smother competition or significantly slow down technological growth. In the case of medical research maybe all significant cures (AIDS, HERPES, DIABETES) should be required to be sold to the government for the common good (kinda like the fact that they can take your house if they need to build a firehouse there), this system would require that the government reimburse all research costs of the developer of the cure and pay a decent amount for the cure. This cure should then be administered at cost of production, or maybe a little more depending. For the person who contributed to the Diabetes research I applaud you, but how will you feel if it helps produce a cure that is sold at an incredibly high price and you as well as most others can't afford it. Since this cure would probably be patented no competition would be able to drive the price down. Software patents should be done away with. Saying I came up with a new type of game, now I'm te only one who can make games of this type is ridiculous, as is saying this is how I did this and now that you know you can't use it for anything until my patent runs out. Long term patents are a bad idea, I challenge anyone to come up with a positive aspect to long term patents.
Actually, I wouldn't mind. Being the first to make use of this new method I would have a jumpstart on anyone copy me. By the time they managed to implement my method effectively I should already have gained a loyal user base and established myself as the #1 builder. I could justify a higher price because, being the one that developed the method, I would obviously be the most effective at using it(at least in theory). Of course fear of my competition would always be there, but that would merely drive me to more accomplishments and innovations. Anything they added to my method I could simply incorporate into my business the same way they originally did to me. If I could simply patent my method, I would stop researching new ideas simply because no one could compete with me anyway so why waste the money? Imagine someone who created a cure to AIDS and patented it, that person could charge ridiculous amounts of money for this cure even if it was something simple and cheap to make. People who couldn't afford this cure would die simply because John Doe patented his cure.
Personally I don't care if they ripped off every one of Googles concepts, if their engine works better I'll use it. Patents, in this area at least, in my opinion are really stupid, just because I figure out a new way to build a house thats faster and more effective than older methods doesn't mean everyone else should have to use the older methods just because I don't want competition. Google right now is the best search engine out there because of it's advanced concepts, if all the other engines go down, why would Google ever bother to improve their system. With new competition Google and the other engine will be forced to continue innovating. Competition is always good.
Actually I can think of at least one use for chickenosaurs, if the process ever becomes cheap enough (well, it needs to be created first) it would be a great way to help fedd third world countries. Imagine, one small chicken that feeds maybe 2 or 3, becoming one big ass chickenosaur that feeds 20-30 people, combine this technology with cloning and hunger will be no more. Another added benefit would be having the choice between 30 different kinds ofchicken at the supermarket......hmmmm, should we get the original chickenosaur or the T-ricken?
Ahem, Microsoft issued a warning today that their popular e-mail program Microsoft Outlook has once again been exploited by evil superhackers. At a press conference this morning Mr. Gates said this of Outlook Virus ##23948842^99: "I have never seen a virus as advanced as #23948842^99, those evil superhackers have struck again. The mind boggling intelligence it would take to exploit a product as secure as Microsoft Outlook has me believing that it is the work of advanced alien life-forms with a secret agenda. It is also believed that these aliens are also the cause of all other Microsoft security problems, the incredible size of the Windows OS, and the coming of the antiOS (Linux). Please help us stay strong against the aliens by supporting Microsoft in our hour of need, don't switch e-mail programs or your OS, thats what the aliens want." As always we will keep you informed of any further developments in the Outlook Virus #23948842^99 story. Really if your still using Outlook of your own free will you deserve a virus and a kick in the ass from anyone who receives the virus from you.
Does this mean if I play Quake for 72 hours straight I'll be able to find a way to circumvent any type of encryption AND use my superior hand/eye coordination to kick the shit out of all the federal agents who come to arrest me?
Linux has come a long way in terms of its GUI, and I have a feeling if Linux became mainstream it would be pre-configured and set to start in x. Any windows user could use a newer version of KDE fairly easily if it was already configured for them. If the courts decided Microsoft was a monopoly tomorrow and forced them to break up what do you think would happen? Windows would die, Linux would be the only real choice (in my opinion), especially for companies. What Geek toy could replace Linux other than a newer and beter OS not made by Micro$oft?
No, I understand why FF comes out in Japan first, stll doesn't mean I have to like it :). As for FF9, the story line was great, I just think it would have been better if the characters were more customizable instead of written in stone (this one is the magic user, this one is the fighter kind of thing), also the frequent unavoidable battles that take about 30-40 seconds to start are very annoying to me. I won't make fun of you because you don't like complex battle system that require a lot of management, every gamer has their own taste, I personally just like to be able to spend time adjusting equipment/spells to make my characters perform how I want them to. FF9's just buy a better weapon system didn't appeal to me.
Chrono Cross did the same thing but they offset it with a few side quests for each of the 40 or so characters, if you ever got bored with a character you could just switch to another.
lol, yes startx is far beyond Joe sixpacks capabilities.
and I still have a 56k modem :(
Personally I like the diversity (wow deja vu) of /. stories. Being a gamer this topic does interest me some. /.s appeal is in the fact that at any given point in my day I can come here and read interesting stories from all different interest areas and then read intelligent (well sometimes) responses and opinions on the story. Now I can comment on how sick I am of all the good RPGs appearing in Japan months ahead of the U.S appearance and give my opinion on the quality of recent FF games. FF9 was pure crap, sorry for those that liked it but it was, it was like the Windows of FF games, simplified beyond reason. Chrono Cross on the other hand was a much better game for many reasons, I hope that FF10 will go back to the FF tradition of more complex (and fun) battle systems and innovative gameplay.
I apologize I wasn't clearer. I have been coming to /. for only a few days but I have already become addicted. Most of the topics are interesting and a lot of the posts are full of usefull information or humor. The community as a whole is great. When I said "we" I was including myself in the community, "readers" meant those who rarely or never come to /. . I sincerely doubt the poster was a regular, after all I assume most /.ers are more intelligent than that. Sorry I wasn't clearer, remarks like that just really piss me off.
Bulding your own computer used to insure you got a system that fit your needs and was generally cheaper. This isn't necessarily true anymore. I'm getting a decent sum of money pretty soon and plan on getting a system with dual 1.2Ghtz Athlon MPs, 1GB of DDR ram, a ATI Radeon 64MB ddr video card, etc....Now I started pricing parts not too long ago on pricewatch.com , in the end the system I wanted would cost me about &2600 total (includes S&H), then I went to www.systemquotes.com , On their site they have one of those custom system builders. $2699 for the same system and a 1 year guarrunty, also it won't take me weeks to get all the separate parts in the mail, I'll get the wholething at once. It also allows you to save some money by not having an OS installed (they only alllow have winblows anyway).
It is July 20th, 1974
Brave words for an anonymous Coward. Really people, is this the quality of readers we have on /.? I think it's pretty safe to assume you know jack shit about computers or the net since most people understand the net is colorless. And speaking of reading.....didn't you hear Lincoln freed the slaves and from your post I can tell that most of them are more literate and educated than you.
Very different. AOL (as horrible an ISP as it is) is not an OS. The whole reason for AOL is to connect to the internet and surf the web. Also you can (I'm assuming) choose to use IE or another browser with AOL and your able to uninstall netscape without damaging AOL's effectiveness (such as it is). Microsoft says "go ahead and download netscape if you want but then your gonna have to use twice as much room on your hard-drive for browsers because if you remove IE Windows won't work properly. HAHAHAHAHAHA" that is the difference. An OS needs a web browser if people want to surf the net, thats not being questioned, the problem is the user needs to be given the right to uninstall or never install the browser that comes with the OS.
The difference between the two issues being that you CAN remove Konquerer (even if it's a pita) without harming the actual OS and with no effect on unrelated software. With Windows IE is/was so tangled up wtih the OS that Microsoft admitted it couldn't seperate the two. Also KDE and Linux are free(both like beer and the other kind), thus there would be no point whatsoever in litigation. If a case was brought up it would be easily thrown out because it's all open source, the first day someone could go....look here's KDEs source and here's Konquerers source they are seperate, ha we win.
Well, the DeMuDi website said it was going to be based on Debian wich means to me that they'll take the basic Debian distro and then add enhancements to it that are designed to make it more media friendly. So, unless they alter it a LOT, switching from Debian to DeMuDi should be relatively painless (though in my opinion switching distros is always painless, Linux is Linux, whether it wears a RedHat or is a "slacker"). As for whether or not you SHOULD switch over just apply the basic decision making formula you use evrytime a new distro comes out, if DeMuDi offers you more/better features for your based on your personal needs than what your using now, switch, if not, don't.
Slashdot need spelling/grammar check. Proof reading went out with the invention of the modern day word processor.
hmmm, so if I beat someone to death with my tower could I claim I was innocent because a computer my tower is not classified as a murder weapon? If it can record music it's a music recording device why is this even under question?
I'm sorry but after reading several "it doesn't matter if they do this because you can just..." arguments I must intervene. I don't care if a chimp with a slide-ruler can break their protection scheme, the point is THERE SHOULDN'T BE A PROTECTION SCHEME. As consumers we should have the right to use material we bought however we want as long as we don't copy it AND then sell it. The monopolies don't care if you can crack their encryption, the whole point is that now you have to circumvent their protection scheme to do this.....thus are in violation the DMCA (an opressive U.S law if you didn't already know) even if you just copy it for personal use. By forcing you to circumvent their system they force you to break the law which means that you can be arrested for excercizing your rights to fair use. The only way this crap can be stopped is if it causes embarrassment/loss of profit for the company. What we need is for a non US citizen (any country where it's not illegal to do what I'm proposing) to start up a webpage with not only a list of protected CD's and an easy to read explanation on what this means for Joe Sixpack, but also complete rips for many of the Cds on their list. These rips can be sent anonymously to the site. This will educate the average person on why uncopyable (I know not a word :)) CDs are wrong and maybe influence some of them not to buy these CDs, and also the rips will embarass the company especially after they have been bragging aout their new "uncrackable" CDs.
It is impossible for a posting on the merits of Linux or for a posting on the failures of windows to be too long. But if you want a quick summary...fine. Linux is faster, stable, more efficient, a better enviroment for developers, more secure, FREE, and open source. What does Microsoft have that Linux doesn't? I was the first OS that a chimp could use and because of that the average user became dependent on it. Because of this dependence the linux user base remained small even after it began to provide an easy to use GUI. Thus we come to Linux's only turn off, lack of development in key areas that would help promote user interest (such as gaming).