That's just bizarre. What's up with that analogy between surfing and driving? When you drive a car you're controlling a heavy object that moves at a high velocity. Such a thing has great potential damage associated with it, so a good case can be made for licensing. Surfing the web? How would that endanger anyone? I think a better analogy would be reading books... But then you couldn't say "you should need a license to surf the web, much like you need one to read a book" because you don't need a license to read a book. That would be silly. And so is this idea.
Amount that I care about Cher: 0.00001 Amount that I care about Bruce Perens: 0.01 Amount that I care about Frank Zappa: 0.1
So by any objective standard (this is assuming that any objective standard is "how much antizeus cares"), Bruce Perens is more important than Cher, though less important than Frank Zappa.
The Constitution means nothing anymore. The second amendment is violeted by bans on certain models of rifle, sawed-off shotguns, etc. The fourth amendment is in tatters thanks in part to the war on some drugs. The federal government does a bunch of stuff not specifically authorized by the Constitution despite the tenth amendment. It was only a matter of time before the first amendment got flushed down the toilet. (Here it was violated in spirit if not in letter.)
Now, I know the Constitution isn't perfect, but it's a lot better than the system we've got.
Apparently Posner is there to keep both sides from whipping out their knives and lunging at the throats of the other side. Also his experience as a judge will allow him to contribute some valuable insights into the negotiations. Ultimately it is up to Jackson to decide what happens in the penalty portion of the trial, subject to appeal of course.
Governments do spy on their own citizens. For example, the most well-known part of the U.S. federal government which spies on citizens of the several United States is called the "Federal Bureau of Investigation". There are also local organizations called "Police Departments" with certain domestic espionage powers. The whole (alleged) point of Echelon is that organizations which are supposed to spy only on other countries (e.g. CIA) can get dirt on Americans through an information swap.
Should Al Gore become President (shudder), he will be the head of the Executive Branch of the US federal government. As such he will be responsible for enforcing antitrust laws in general, and their application to Microsoft in particular. It may be valuable for a member of the Executive Branch (which, as current Vice President, he is now) to attend, as he may have some valuable insight into issues such as enforcability.
That said, this is obviously political grandstanding. I'd also like to point out that even though the Executive Branch may have valuable input which is consistent with the US Constitution, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the involvement were to end up violating Constitutional bounds in some manner. The Democratic and Republican parties seem more than willing to treat the Constitution as if it were toilet paper.
You're forgetting that MS doesn't have to release IE under the GPL.
Of course they don't. I was responding to a hypothetical scenario suggested by the original poster in this thread. This hypothetical scenario included MSIE-Linux being GPL'ed. So nyah, nyah!
Also, I do consider MSIE 4.0 to be decent. Unlike their OS. I use it on my laptop (which I keep W95 on for Quicken), and I'm more or less satisfied with it. On my primary box (Linux kernel 2.0.36) I prefer to use Lynx.
In CivCTP, the lawyer is a "stealth" unit (i.e. invisible unless you have detectors) which can impair production in an adjacent city with their magic power. Nukes, I believe, cause damage to an area of the map. I haven't seen nukes in action yet so I can't be sure. My guess is that once you build the "Nuke Lawyers" wonder (a wonder being something you build in a city for a certain game modifying effect), the existing lawyers explode like nukes. Perhaps not a good thing if you're getting harassed by lawyers (if I'm right, it would damage the cities that they're harassing), but if there are lawyers in an enemy's territory, then it'd be great.
I'm not sure how familiar you are with CivCTP, so I don't know how informative/obvious this is.
I'm an agent representing someone who wants to be a basketball player. He's a big fat guy who can't run, jump, or dribble to save his life. He is, however, great at making free throws. He never misses when shooting a free throw. One of his competitors is a lean scrappy dude who's got good hustle and can move the ball well, but isn't as good at free throws. I arrange a free throw contest between the two. My guy wins, of course.
Tomorrow's headlines in the basketball press:
Big Fat Guy outperforms Lean Scrappy Dude in Basketball Competition
Actually, copy protection in software started more than 10 years ago. I got my first modem for my Atari 800XL around 1985, and found a thriving pre-existing market in cracked software. I'd estimate it as being closer to 20 years old. And the abandonment of these copy protection schemes was not a quick process. People were cracking software for years before the software companies finally gave up.
It just sickens me when I see people interpret the slightest weirdness as a some sort of extraterrestrial. What sort of foolishness is this? First of all, the vast distances between stars make most interstellar travel unfeasible. Even if some people from another star system sent a ship here, then where is the other evidence? Any realistic ship would have to be a big multi-generational affair with lots of entities on it, so where are all the other skulls?
No, the obvious answer is that this skull is from a Dero, one of the evil dwarves who live under the hollow earth.
Let's take a look at your scenario. Micros~1 releases a browser for Linux. It is:
Decent
Open Source
GPL'ed
How would this be anything other than good? Sure, it might contribute greatly to the death of Netscape, but who would care at that point? We'd have a decent open-source GPL'ed browser! Any problems (e.g. standards non-compliance, useless bloat) could be fixed, and the fixes could be distibuted thanks to the hypothetical licensing.
The only real problem with your scenario is that it will never happen.
I memorize those few passwords which really matter (unix login, financial stuff, etc), and write the large number of trivial ones (slashdot, irc bots, etc) on index cards.
While I've never played it (or intend to), I've seen some of my addicted friends play it, and it's got to be the most boring thing in the world. All they do is stand around the same area with 100 other players, waiting for a single monster to appear so they can all wail on it. What fun is THAT?!?
If you're going to be slick and put list tags (UL, OL) in your messages, then please do us all a favor and close them (/UL,/OL). Because you didn't close your list, all subsequent messages had an extra layer of indentation.
Maybe Rob should add some code which looks for unclosed lists and closes them for those too lazy (or clumsy, or forgetful, or whatever) to do so.
They broke WHOSE law? Not mine. It is the civic duty of every good person to break bad laws. Just because big business has enough money to buy off enough legislators to write some law doesn't mean that I should bend my knee and follow that law. If it's a good law, then I'll follow it. If not, then no promises.
I don't know about you, but I prefer having several choices. Isn't that what the anti-Microsoft movement is (partially) about? If I decide that Linux isn't suitable, I can switch to *BSD, or vice versa.
There's a cliche that comes to mind... Don't keep all your eggs in one basket. I like to use it when promoting colonization of other planets, but I think it applies here as well. I think it also applies to the various Linux distributions, which some people find so troubling. Why should I have to run Redhat (for example) if Slackware appeals more to me?
50 people (or maybe 10 people 5 times) will say that the strength of Linux in the server market is insignificant because Windows still rules the desktop, and will provide a number of reasons why they think this is, and will continue to be, the case.
So instead of reading all those messages, read this one instead,
Unlike many of my fellow highly paid Silicon Valley residents, I don't spend a lot of money on cool gadgets. I still have a TV from 1984, and I play music through a boom box that's hooked up to a pair of speakers I found by the dumpster. I only have one remote, and that came with my cheapo VCR. I usually walk across the room to do stuff. It's not like I couldn't use the exercise.
That said, a bunch of my friends got some remotes that you program by beaming ordinary remote signals into, and they are hella cool. I think they paid something like $20 for them several years ago, but that was because they got a discount from a friend who worked at a place that sold them. The moral of the story is that you can (or at least could) get truly programmable remotes for a reasonable price.
Slashdot Mirror
Amount that I care about Bruce Perens: 0.01
Amount that I care about Frank Zappa: 0.1
So by any objective standard (this is assuming that any objective standard is "how much antizeus cares"), Bruce Perens is more important than Cher, though less important than Frank Zappa.
Now, I know the Constitution isn't perfect, but it's a lot better than the system we've got.
That said, this is obviously political grandstanding. I'd also like to point out that even though the Executive Branch may have valuable input which is consistent with the US Constitution, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the involvement were to end up violating Constitutional bounds in some manner. The Democratic and Republican parties seem more than willing to treat the Constitution as if it were toilet paper.
Of course they don't. I was responding to a hypothetical scenario suggested by the original poster in this thread. This hypothetical scenario included MSIE-Linux being GPL'ed. So nyah, nyah!
Also, I do consider MSIE 4.0 to be decent. Unlike their OS. I use it on my laptop (which I keep W95 on for Quicken), and I'm more or less satisfied with it. On my primary box (Linux kernel 2.0.36) I prefer to use Lynx.
I'm not sure how familiar you are with CivCTP, so I don't know how informative/obvious this is.
Tomorrow's headlines in the basketball press:
Big Fat Guy outperforms Lean Scrappy Dude in Basketball Competition
Actually, copy protection in software started more than 10 years ago. I got my first modem for my Atari 800XL around 1985, and found a thriving pre-existing market in cracked software. I'd estimate it as being closer to 20 years old. And the abandonment of these copy protection schemes was not a quick process. People were cracking software for years before the software companies finally gave up.
No, the obvious answer is that this skull is from a Dero, one of the evil dwarves who live under the hollow earth.
- Decent
- Open Source
- GPL'ed
How would this be anything other than good? Sure, it might contribute greatly to the death of Netscape, but who would care at that point? We'd have a decent open-source GPL'ed browser! Any problems (e.g. standards non-compliance, useless bloat) could be fixed, and the fixes could be distibuted thanks to the hypothetical licensing.The only real problem with your scenario is that it will never happen.
Maybe Rob should add some code which looks for unclosed lists and closes them for those too lazy (or clumsy, or forgetful, or whatever) to do so.
There's a cliche that comes to mind... Don't keep all your eggs in one basket. I like to use it when promoting colonization of other planets, but I think it applies here as well. I think it also applies to the various Linux distributions, which some people find so troubling. Why should I have to run Redhat (for example) if Slackware appeals more to me?
So instead of reading all those messages, read this one instead,
Unfortunately I don't think he does many interviews. Apparently he did one for Timothy McSweeney's Worldwide Fondness though.
- It looks great under Lynx (my preferred browser).
- Light mode looks better than the garish regular mode even in graphical browsers.
Frankly, I think normal Slashdot is hideous. Light mode is definitely the way to go. Loads and renders quicker too.That said, a bunch of my friends got some remotes that you program by beaming ordinary remote signals into, and they are hella cool. I think they paid something like $20 for them several years ago, but that was because they got a discount from a friend who worked at a place that sold them. The moral of the story is that you can (or at least could) get truly programmable remotes for a reasonable price.
Fortunately I live in the Silicon Valley (grin). I wonder how many of the votes are based on geographical proximity.