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User: Sj0

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  1. Re:What I really want to know on Internet Astroturfer Fined $300,000 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There's a distinct difference between a zealot and an astroturfer -- Most important among them is that one of them believes what they're saying, and the other is just pretending to believe what they're saying.

    It's the fundamental difference in whether the conversation is honest or not that poisons internet discourse. Companies are shooting themselves in the foot by associating positive opinions of their product with dishonest under-the-radar paid advertisements.

  2. Re:It's a more Canadian solution. on Canadians Find Traffic Shaping "Reasonable" · · Score: 1

    I'd blame both. The idea of using p2p to get mission critical files gives me this chill up my spine. I mean, we go from "I'll send you the file" to "I'll get a few million of our customers to send you a small piece of the file".

  3. Re:What I really want to know on Internet Astroturfer Fined $300,000 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I was going to say something along those lines.

    I mean, I'm pretty positive about Windows 7, but it doesn't mean I work for Microsoft.

    Astroturfing is destroying discourse on the Internet. You can never know for certain if you're arguing with someone with convictions or just some paid marketing drone. Where once you'd have to come up with a good argument, people can now just point and say "You're just being paid to express that opinion, since nobody sane would ever have it!"

  4. Re:Does it ... on Asus Launches Eee PC T91, a Touch-Screen Tablet Netbook · · Score: 1

    Not to mention, outside of the US eBay is murder. Pay $700 for a laptop, then enjoy the extra $100 to get it shipped, if you're lucky.

  5. Re:They really should punish illegal filesharers on Australia Considering P2P 'Three Strikes' Law · · Score: 2, Informative

    Care of Wikipedia:

    The melody of "Happy Birthday to You" comes from the song "Good Morning to All", which was written and composed by American sisters Patty Hill and Mildred J. Hill in 1893.[3] They were both kindergarten school teachers in Louisville, Kentucky, developing various teaching methods at what is now the Little Loomhouse.[4][5] The sisters created "Good Morning to All" as a song that would be easy to sing by young children[6]. The combination of melody and lyrics in "Happy Birthday to You" first appeared in print in 1912, and probably existed even earlier.[7] None of these early appearances included credits or copyright notices. The Summy Company registered for copyright in 1935, crediting authors Preston Ware Orem and Mrs. R.R. Forman. In 1990, Warner Chappell purchased the company owning the copyright for US$15 million, with the value of "Happy Birthday" estimated at US$5 million.[8] Based on the 1935 copyright registration, Warner claims that U.S. copyright won't expire until 2030, and that unauthorized public performances of the song are technically illegal unless royalties are paid to it.

    Further,

    "The documentary film The Corporation claims that Warner/Chappell charges up to US$10,000 for the song to appear in a film.

    The Walt Disney Company paid the copyright holder US$5,000 to use the song in the birthday scene of the defunct Epcot attraction Horizons."

    So I'm not wrong, get stuffed.

  6. Re:It's a more Canadian solution. on Canadians Find Traffic Shaping "Reasonable" · · Score: 1

    Who is the customer here?

    Part of being a decision maker is planning for the future. If you can't download mission critical patches and you end up losing money because the vendor refuses to give you a non-p2p download link, then maybe it's time to look at other vendors?

  7. Re:They really should punish illegal filesharers on Australia Considering P2P 'Three Strikes' Law · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's not payment. Society at large doesn't gain anything from being able to have 150 year copyrights. It's only freeloaders who want to sell dead people's works as their own who are crying that copyright needs to be longer.

    The "Happy Birthday" song first appeared in print in 1912. In other words, before nearly every defining moment of the 20th century. Despite that, it is a copyrighted song -- The Time-Warner Corporation owns the rights and charges $10,000 per performance in royalties.

    So you're a filthy disgusting criminal. YOU. I know you sang the song publicly and didn't pay Time-Warner their due. Why are you such a filthy disgusting criminal? Why don't the long long long dead writers of "Happy Birthday" deserve compensation for their work?

  8. Re:They really should punish illegal filesharers on Australia Considering P2P 'Three Strikes' Law · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They shot first.

    How long is copyright today? 70 years? 90? 150?

    Companies are stealing our culture. Perpetual extension of copyright is theft from society.

    Compared to the artists of the days when copyright was 20-something years, today's artists don't contribute more to society, yet they demand many times the protection. They want to get this for free -- they've never offered any form of payment, no return on investment for society.

    When my grandmother was a child, she heard a song. If I were to listen to her sing me that song, she'd be breaking the letter of the law. Compared to a few brittany spears songs, the theft of every copyrighted work for 50 years is a much greater crime.

  9. Re:Using the truth to bolster a lie on Canadians Find Traffic Shaping "Reasonable" · · Score: 1

    Such connections are available. If you want to buy one, go ahead. Be prepared to pay thousands of dollars a month.

  10. Re:It's a more Canadian solution. on Canadians Find Traffic Shaping "Reasonable" · · Score: 2, Insightful

    On second thought, if it's that critical, download it with your business internet connection, rather than your 29.99 home dsl line.

  11. Re:It's a more Canadian solution. on Canadians Find Traffic Shaping "Reasonable" · · Score: 1

    I'm sorry, I sort of zoned out there after you were wrong on the first point.

    Sharing music is quasi-legal in Canada because of a levy paid on recordable media.

  12. Re:It's a more Canadian solution. on Canadians Find Traffic Shaping "Reasonable" · · Score: 1

    If it's that critical, download it from the vendor instead of using bittorrent.

  13. It's a more Canadian solution. on Canadians Find Traffic Shaping "Reasonable" · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You know, we're sort of a strange breed up here.

    In some cases, sharing music is legal in Canada, and the whole thing is treated as a much different issue than in the US. If you get a letter from the ISP, it's just informing you that there was something downloaded on your connection, rather than a lawsuit. Some time over the next few weeks, in fact, I'll be securing someone's wireless connection because they got just such a letter even though they don't use P2P.

    This sort of think continues that sort of idea. Rather than destroy everyone's bandwidth, or charging the p2p folks insane fees, silently controlling when the traffic goes through works for everyone. The regular folks get good internet during peak times, and the p2p people get good internet during the trough times, and they don't get massive bills in the mail.

  14. Re:Much cheaper... on Tracking a Move Via "Find My iPhone" · · Score: 1

    Ah, I'd forgotten. That's the one feature it does have, bluetooth. I'm happy about it because my car has the Ford Sync system, so it automatically pipes phone calls over the stereo system.

  15. Re:Yesterdays PC, todays Embedded chip on Getting a Classic PC Working After 25 Years? · · Score: 1

    Nope. The Equity I was compatible with the chip, but it wasn't supported by Epson.

    Am I the only one who read the easily available service bulletins?

  16. Re:Contact Customer Support? on Getting a Classic PC Working After 25 Years? · · Score: 1

    I've already read the service bulletins; There's no way to use a larger floppy drive, and no way to disable the controller. It's not possible to use anything but the original floppy drive without getting far outside the ability of even the oldest, most grizzled computer tech.

  17. Re:FreeDOS on Getting a Classic PC Working After 25 Years? · · Score: 1

    You had nothing? Lucky bastard. Back in MY day, we had a paradoxial inversion of reality whose state of anti-existence would cause instant madness upon any and all who looked upon the horrific visage, and we had to create a universe from THERE.

    But you tell that to today's kids, and they don't believe you!

  18. Re:My advice to you on Getting a Classic PC Working After 25 Years? · · Score: 1

    Yeah, my first response is something like "yeah, let's see you call interrupt 10h with 0 in your ah register and 13h in your al register then start writing to the A000 segment and we'll talk". :P

    There's nothing sadder than an 8-bit hardware nerd.

  19. Re:Sad Joke... on Getting a Classic PC Working After 25 Years? · · Score: 1

    Did you know that Windows was actually programmed by a Croatian spirit medium channelling the ghost of Albert Einstein? It's true! All that stuff about Microsoft is a lie.

    Don't believe me? That's right - you can search for references.

  20. Re:Much cheaper... on Tracking a Move Via "Find My iPhone" · · Score: 1

    But I can listen to MP3s for a full 24 hours on my iPod and STILL make a phone call!

  21. Re:You already know where to go for disks.... on Getting a Classic PC Working After 25 Years? · · Score: 1

    I read the service bulletins for this machine, and it's not possible to connect anything other than the original proprietary 360kb drive. It's also not possible to disable the floppy controller.

  22. Re:Much cheaper... on Tracking a Move Via "Find My iPhone" · · Score: 1

    You need to learn how to comprehend context and juxtaposition.

    Doesn't it strike you as odd that the post I was replying to was going on and on about how there's this love-in with the iPhone? Gee, I wonder if there's some sort of subtext there?

    Naw, I'm just hating on the iPhone, obviously. Both of our posts should be modded out of existence because the only context worth considering is what's in the summary of the article -- fuck threaded conversation.

  23. Re:You already know where to go for disks.... on Getting a Classic PC Working After 25 Years? · · Score: 1

    To be honest, the Epson Equity I is a piece of crap for this project. With less proprietary 8088s, you could find a more useful multi-IO card and get a 720k or 1.44mb 3.5" floppy in there, or maybe even a fairly beefy (16-bit) IDE drive and interface card. On this one, they have a proprietary floppy disk controller that can't be deactivated, so you're stuck using the 360kb drive, and from there it's not really worth the effort to do the hard drive thing.

    The upside is, you don't need 360k floppy disks or a 360k floppy drive to create the disks you want, nor an ancient PC to run the drives.

    Floppy standards are fairly consistent, so if you can find a 1.2MB drive with the interface cable attached, you should be able to format the disk to 360kb (format x: /f:360k in ms-dos) and it should create a disk your 8088 can read, and do it from the comfort of your modern computer system. This is good because the 1.2MB drives can be found on pretty much any old 486 and even some early pentium systems so you should be able to get one for free if you ask around, and the disks are still manufactured so they're relatively cheap.

    You can get boot disk images from here.

    There are plenty of sites (usually abandonware sites) with software that'll run on an 8088. It'll take some searching, but it's better than spending outrageous prices for collector's items.

    What's amazing about the XT era computers is that the floppy drives and the hard drives both ran much slower than a good internet connection does today. Helps you appreciate how far we've come.

  24. Re:Evolution or Intelligent Design? on Cats "Exploit" Humans By Purring · · Score: 2, Funny

    Did you get the raise?

  25. Of course. on Most Companies Won't Deploy Windows 7 — Survey · · Score: 1

    We're in the middle of a recession. Budgets are being cut everywhere. Companies are dropping like flies.

    Windows 7 is a great OS, but it's expensive to migrate your systems to a new OS, and if Windows XP is doing the trick right now, it's irresponsible to frivolously spend the time, money, and hardship switching just to be at the front of the pack. Every dollar you spend is another dollar you don't have in the bank just in case sales aren't where they should be.

    To be honest, I think we're going to see the opposite of what we saw with early versions of DOS and Windows: Originally, people wanted the OS they used on their PCs at work. Eventually, people are going to want the OS they use on their PCs at home, and within 5 years, that OS will be Windows 7 for nearly everyone.