Ok, this is Slashdot, and therefore anything that Microsoft does is supposed to be bad. But, I still can't bring myself to embrace obvious software patents. I did RTFA, but I have not looked at the patent itself -- so perhaps it isn't obvious. Still, I can't help but think this does not bode well for the internet in general.
Sure MS has strong-armed some competitors in the past and probably stolen an idea or two (Stac compression comes to mind), but I would have preferred to see the patent overturned...
If I understand ID correctly, then any obviously complex system implies the presence of a designer. Such a designer, would themselves be reasonably complex. So, then who designed the designer? And who designed the designer's designer? Ad infinitum...
Why introduce layers of unneeded abstraction? I don't see how ID gets us any closer to understanding the universe around us. If anything it discourages investigating the tough issues -- it's too complicated for us mere humans to understand the will of the great designer.
I have paid 3 times for a 'license to listen/play/...' the same music.
I know what you mean! I've bought Dont' Fear the Reaper four times now (8-track, cassette, vinyl, and CD). Luckily I didn't have to pay to download a digit MP3 version. That upgrade was free! [Or is it actually a downgrade given the lossy compression?].
Moreover, the task of ferreting out wasted time on computers, and punishing it in a HR-approved manner, is more than the company can hope to save in increased productivity.
Why don't you stop trying to catch every little misuse of company resources/time and instead judge on whether people are actually getting their work done? Isn't that what really matters? If you try to micro-manage everyone's daily routine, you'll breed nothing but contempt.
MBFS has an EULA for their website too
on
End User License Gems
·
· Score: 4, Informative
The marvelous company that came up with the no charge-back EULA also has a EULA for their website. The grant you a revocable license to browse their site, but no bots without permission (I found the site through Google, so I hope the got permission). Their terms for use of the website includes such gems as:
MBFS does not permit unsolicited reviews of its products.
MBFS grants you a limited license to access and make personal use of the Site and not to download (other than page caching)
You are granted a limited, revocable, and nonexclusive right to create a hyperlink to the home page of the Site so long as the link does not portray MBFS, its affiliates, or their products or services in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise offensive matter.
I'd include a link to the terms of service, but I don't think I'm allowed to.
I can't get to the fine article at the moment, so I don't know what their recommendations are. I've been in the business of designing embedded controllers for MFPs and lately I've been recommending the Canon Pixma iP3000 to friends and relatives.
The Pixma has separate ink tanks (the heads are separate, so carts are cheaper and can be refilled easier). The iP3000 uses four inks. The iP4000 is a six ink version, but I don't think the quality difference justifies that extra cost.
The Pixma does a great job with digital photos, even on plain paper. It does edge to edge printing on all paper sizes. All in all a great printer for around $50.
Sorry if this sounds like a sales pitch. I gain nothing from the sale of these devices, I'm just a satisfied customer.
Just to nit-pick (what, on Slashdot?!), the standard inkjet configurations are:
four color - cyan/magenta/yellow/black
six color - cyan/magenta/yellow/light cyan/light magenta/black
Canon has some printers that use a red and green ink cartridge in order to improve the gamut in those color areas - but I have yet to see a blue ink cart. Some HP models use a light black (aka gray) to produce improved grayscale printing.
I have no quibbles with your suggestion to look for printers with separate ink carts. Good idea.
To be fair, it appears to come with classical music already loaded (in a lossless format). So that probably counts for something -- assuming that classical is your cup of tea.
Don't ask me exactly what classical music is on it... perhaps the site has this information, but I didn't see it in the three minutes I spent there.
$5 a CD,.50 a song. Piracy will blow away like dust in the wind, and profits will soar like never before.
I agree with this. Unfortunately, there's one little problem (from the RIAA's point of view)... if we sell you a song for $.50 you might turn around and give a copy away to someone else! That must be prevented at all costs as that would result in a lost sale!
So that $.50 song will need to be equipped with the very latest in DRM. There, now it can only be played on the one computer it was purchased for (and it better run Windows), and maybe a WMV portable music player. Want to play it on an iPod? In your car stereo? Sorry, not allowed.
Doesn't sound like such a great deal anymore, does it?
Well, alright, it assumes you are a homo sapien with at least one opposable thumb on one hand. But even with that assumption anyone belonging to the homo genus can use the iPod.
Thanks a lot you insensitive clod! I lost both my thumbs in a tragic childhood thumb sucking incident.
In our case the photograher did not store the negatives properly (destroyed in huracane)and now we can not get copies even if we wanted to
When you said that they weren't stored properly, I expected you to say that they had molded or something. I think I'd forgive the guy for the hurricane, though. Not really his fault.
By the way, decent copies can be made from scanned prints. Not as good as the original negatives, but a lot better than nothing.
The people who really were hurt were the competitors.
Well said. I really can't see anyone going into a computer store and asking for Windows XP, hold the Media Player please.
But if an unbundled version of Windows XP is available to OEM computer makers, then they may be more willing to negotiate with Real or Apple to include their software as part of a pre-installed bundle.
Now if we could get an easy install of Myth TV for the PS3, we'd really have something!
Of course, the question is what to do for video capture/mpeg encoding? I assume that the PS/3 will have a USB2 or fireware port, so perhaps an external piece of hardware might do the trick. If nothing else, I guess it could be used as a frontend video client.
I realize that this comment is meant as a joke, but from TFA:
If Linux can run, so can Lindows. Other PC Operating Systems can run too, such as Windows and Tiger (Max OS X 10.4), if the publishers want [them] to do so.
Why do you think someone deserves the opportunity to improve their quality of life and provide for their family just because they [don't] live within the same imaginary boundary as you?
Because it comes at the expense of my ability to maintain my quality of life and provide for my family.
They're welcome to look out for their own self interests, but if you don't mind, I will retain the right to do so as well. No xenophobia involved here.
Oh, and the boundaries are not imaginary. If nothing else, consider them as areas of differing "costs-of-living".
It complies with the redbook standards, why is it not a CD?
From TFA: Under the new solution, tracks ripped and burned from a copy-protected disc are copied to a blank CD in Microsoft's Windows Media Audio format. The DRM embedded on the discs bars the burned CD from being copied.
I'm having problems finding mention of Microsoft WMA and DRM in the redbook standards...
It may be that the original CD (if that is the source material) is redbook compliant [I didn't see a mention in the article], but clearly any copied CDs are not and most likely will not be playable in standard CD players... so what's the point?
Slashdot Mirror
Ok, this is Slashdot, and therefore anything that Microsoft does is supposed to be bad. But, I still can't bring myself to embrace obvious software patents. I did RTFA, but I have not looked at the patent itself -- so perhaps it isn't obvious. Still, I can't help but think this does not bode well for the internet in general.
Sure MS has strong-armed some competitors in the past and probably stolen an idea or two (Stac compression comes to mind), but I would have preferred to see the patent overturned...
Not a paradox... Recursion
STACK OVERFLOW
If I understand ID correctly, then any obviously complex system implies the presence of a designer. Such a designer, would themselves be reasonably complex. So, then who designed the designer? And who designed the designer's designer? Ad infinitum...
Why introduce layers of unneeded abstraction? I don't see how ID gets us any closer to understanding the universe around us. If anything it discourages investigating the tough issues -- it's too complicated for us mere humans to understand the will of the great designer.
I have paid 3 times for a 'license to listen/play/...' the same music.
I know what you mean! I've bought Dont' Fear the Reaper four times now (8-track, cassette, vinyl, and CD). Luckily I didn't have to pay to download a digit MP3 version. That upgrade was free! [Or is it actually a downgrade given the lossy compression?].
Moreover, the task of ferreting out wasted time on computers, and punishing it in a HR-approved manner, is more than the company can hope to save in increased productivity.
Why don't you stop trying to catch every little misuse of company resources/time and instead judge on whether people are actually getting their work done? Isn't that what really matters? If you try to micro-manage everyone's daily routine, you'll breed nothing but contempt.
The marvelous company that came up with the no charge-back EULA also has a EULA for their website. The grant you a revocable license to browse their site, but no bots without permission (I found the site through Google, so I hope the got permission). Their terms for use of the website includes such gems as:
MBFS does not permit unsolicited reviews of its products.
MBFS grants you a limited license to access and make personal use of the Site and not to download (other than page caching)
You are granted a limited, revocable, and nonexclusive right to create a hyperlink to the home page of the Site so long as the link does not portray MBFS, its affiliates, or their products or services in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise offensive matter.
I'd include a link to the terms of service, but I don't think I'm allowed to.
I can't get to the fine article at the moment, so I don't know what their recommendations are. I've been in the business of designing embedded controllers for MFPs and lately I've been recommending the Canon Pixma iP3000 to friends and relatives.
The Pixma has separate ink tanks (the heads are separate, so carts are cheaper and can be refilled easier). The iP3000 uses four inks. The iP4000 is a six ink version, but I don't think the quality difference justifies that extra cost.
The Pixma does a great job with digital photos, even on plain paper. It does edge to edge printing on all paper sizes. All in all a great printer for around $50.
Sorry if this sounds like a sales pitch. I gain nothing from the sale of these devices, I'm just a satisfied customer.
... 4 CYM-Bk or if possible 7 CYM-RGB-Bk.
Just to nit-pick (what, on Slashdot?!), the standard inkjet configurations are:
four color - cyan/magenta/yellow/black
six color - cyan/magenta/yellow/light cyan/light magenta/black
Canon has some printers that use a red and green ink cartridge in order to improve the gamut in those color areas - but I have yet to see a blue ink cart. Some HP models use a light black (aka gray) to produce improved grayscale printing.
I have no quibbles with your suggestion to look for printers with separate ink carts. Good idea.
To be fair, it appears to come with classical music already loaded (in a lossless format). So that probably counts for something -- assuming that classical is your cup of tea.
Don't ask me exactly what classical music is on it... perhaps the site has this information, but I didn't see it in the three minutes I spent there.
... every key on the keyboard changed to read "Any".
Except for the Caps, Shift, Ctrl and Alt keys of course! Those aren't just any old keys ya know...
According to Slashdot, cancer and AIDs are cured every other month.
And probably again tomorrow when this story gets dup'ed.
No, not a paranoid rant. Just the realization that the RIAA is going to keep ducking that clue-by-four.
$5 a CD, .50 a song. Piracy will blow away like dust in the wind, and profits will soar like never before.
I agree with this. Unfortunately, there's one little problem (from the RIAA's point of view)... if we sell you a song for $.50 you might turn around and give a copy away to someone else! That must be prevented at all costs as that would result in a lost sale!
So that $.50 song will need to be equipped with the very latest in DRM. There, now it can only be played on the one computer it was purchased for (and it better run Windows), and maybe a WMV portable music player. Want to play it on an iPod? In your car stereo? Sorry, not allowed.
Doesn't sound like such a great deal anymore, does it?
Well, alright, it assumes you are a homo sapien with at least one opposable thumb on one hand. But even with that assumption anyone belonging to the homo genus can use the iPod.
Thanks a lot you insensitive clod! I lost both my thumbs in a tragic childhood thumb sucking incident.
In our case the photograher did not store the negatives properly (destroyed in huracane)and now we can not get copies even if we wanted to
When you said that they weren't stored properly, I expected you to say that they had molded or something. I think I'd forgive the guy for the hurricane, though. Not really his fault.
By the way, decent copies can be made from scanned prints. Not as good as the original negatives, but a lot better than nothing.
Some punctuation...
Dell: "We would sell Mac OS X."
Man what a lame article. A little lacking in substance, I'd say. Why, I've got half a mind to email bomb the author!
The people who really were hurt were the competitors.
Well said. I really can't see anyone going into a computer store and asking for Windows XP, hold the Media Player please.
But if an unbundled version of Windows XP is available to OEM computer makers, then they may be more willing to negotiate with Real or Apple to include their software as part of a pre-installed bundle.
Now if we could get an easy install of Myth TV for the PS3, we'd really have something!
Of course, the question is what to do for video capture/mpeg encoding? I assume that the PS/3 will have a USB2 or fireware port, so perhaps an external piece of hardware might do the trick. If nothing else, I guess it could be used as a frontend video client.
I realize that this comment is meant as a joke, but from TFA:
If Linux can run, so can Lindows. Other PC Operating Systems can run too, such as Windows and Tiger (Max OS X 10.4), if the publishers want [them] to do so.
Why do you think someone deserves the opportunity to improve their quality of life and provide for their family just because they [don't] live within the same imaginary boundary as you?
Because it comes at the expense of my ability to maintain my quality of life and provide for my family.
They're welcome to look out for their own self interests, but if you don't mind, I will retain the right to do so as well. No xenophobia involved here.
Oh, and the boundaries are not imaginary. If nothing else, consider them as areas of differing "costs-of-living".
I dont know about anybody else, but I find it freaking hilarious that they need more people to handle all the jobs that we outsourced over there.
No. Not particularly...
The fact that India is getting more work than they can handle (for the moment) does not make me smile. Quite the opposite in fact.
Use terms like "copy resistant" or "copy crippled" when referring to systems which incorporate technology intended to make copying difficult.
Excellent suggestion. So, in that vein, "he was accused of breaking their copy restrictions" would be more appropriate.
Moving to a XML format is great and all... but I've got one question:
Where do I stick the document viruses that we've all come to know and love?
It complies with the redbook standards, why is it not a CD?
From TFA:
Under the new solution, tracks ripped and burned from a copy-protected disc are copied to a blank CD in Microsoft's Windows Media Audio format. The DRM embedded on the discs bars the burned CD from being copied.
I'm having problems finding mention of Microsoft WMA and DRM in the redbook standards...
It may be that the original CD (if that is the source material) is redbook compliant [I didn't see a mention in the article], but clearly any copied CDs are not and most likely will not be playable in standard CD players... so what's the point?