Someone else pointed out the MiniBook PC, which is also sold as the Capucino G1
RedHat is an option, but I wonder how well everything works. And it's fairly expensive (about 1000USD), but you get lots of goodies in a very small package:
6.2 x 5.8 x 1.8" x 2 lbs
Dvd or cd drive
10/100 RJ45 Ethernet
irDA port
AV/SVideo/VGA(1280x1024x24bit) video out
Stereo out, microphone in, internal speaker
Up to 256M ram
MPeg2 decoder w/motion compensation
2 USB, 1 serial, 1 parallel, ps2/ mouse & keyb
V.90 modem (winmodem?)
PIII to 1GHz, Cel @ 700Mhz
10-30G HD
Amazing specs. Anyone have any linux experience with this thing?
I dunno but I would like one too. I'd like to build (or buy, if it exists) something like this:
- a simple box with a DVD/CD player, small as possible (bookshelf size)
- can rip and encode CDs and DVDs
- can play CDs and DVDs directly
- huge hard drive (of course).
- audio and video outputs
- jukebox functionality for mp3s (divx'd videos too, but not as important)
- ethernet or wireless network.
- remote control
- web interface for jukebox management
- hackable if premade.
- no fan, or at least a VERY quiet one.
The fact that things were done on the client side instead of the server side should not be relevant (IANAL).
IANAL either, but there's this new law out that should help you with your prosecution. You may have heard of it...Digital millenium something or other.
IANAP, nor have I read the thesis but I would guess the rotational vibration can be made to interfere with the translational vibration in such a way to produce a net positive motion (see parandos paradox). Varying the phase difference would allow control over the induced motion. It doesn't work for other objects because away from the center of rotation, the rotational vibration "looks" like a translational vibration. Just a guess...
There are a few problems... They are mostly engineering issues tho...
1) What happens when there is road construction? People have a hard enough time as is when roads are detoured, highway lanes are shifted over, or one lane completely disappears from the road. This will need some pretty complex AI to work.
This one is simple. Turn the system off until it the construction is over. Just another hassle of road construction...
2) Where exactly do we put these extra "auto-drive" lanes? As it stands now, most cities don't have large enough roads for the traffic that is there already, and many are in a constant state of construction. To set up auto-drive lanes, one (or more) lanes have to be set aside for them, pushing everyone else into the other lanes. And what about exit ramps?
This is indeed a chicken and egg problem. However it is easier than 1) getting people and business to relocate near train endpoints. 2) Radical physical modifications to the cars like that norwegian (?) system that puts the cars on a rail like thing. 3) getting the typical driver to share rides with others.
If the technology was feasible, and I dunno if it is or if anyone is working on it, the government could just as easily mandate it as they are mandating zero emission cars and commuter lanes.
Exit ramps should be handled just like commuter lanes -- the driver handles it. Transfering from the auto-drive to manual in a safe manner is an engineering/human factors problem.
3) What happens in an emergengy? Can the car's computer recognize a blowout? What about a blowout in the car in front of it? What about debree in the roadway?
This is also an engineering problem, I doubt if it would be impossible to make such unusual situations managable.
4) How are you going to get people to go for this proposed method of driving? It can only be installed as an option on new cars, and only in cities that have spent the millions to ugrade their interstates to handle them. And this is only after you can convince a driver that it is okay to let go of the wheel...
Yes, it would take some getting used to, but this might be mainly a matter of human factors engineering -- making it *feel* safer. Or it might actually appear and _be_ safer:
Imagine a line of perfectly aligned cars ahead and in front of you traveling at constant speed. No more turbulence induced sudden stops for no apparent reason. No more lookilus slowing down to take a look at the latest victims. No clueless drivers going 60 in the fast lane with a line of commuters behind them and others doing 80 to get around them in the slower lanes....
As for the money, billions have been poured down mass transportation systems with poor results, except possibly in very dense places like NY and Tokyo.
Well, they mentioned systems that look at your eyes and head position. But, true enough, if it isn't intelligent enough to kick in only when you need it, then most people will cut the wire.
I particulary liked the part about it spraying cold water on you as a last resort. Sounds like a Get Smart gag....
Unfortunately, mass transportation is a) slow b) slow and c) slow. Oh, not that a train is slow, but the bus transfer to get Where You Really Want To Go After The Train Gets You Within 5 Miles (tm) makes it slow. I live near a train station, but my place of work is no where near one. This makes the commute time close to 1.5 hours instead of 15 - 40 minutes. Forget it.
Now what we really need are cars that can take over the driving on interstates, in say, special lanes with positional transponders. Computers can put cars close to each other to reduce drag, increase fuel efficiency, and increase road capacity, without giving up any of the freedom or individuality associated with having your own car.
To the contrary, I think this guy deserved what he got.
OK, dude, tend to your kiddies and job.
Hopefully you will be able to send them to schools that teach them to THINK, so that they will be able to understand the value of the freedoms that we are now losing, and then perhaps they might make up for your disgusting apathy.
Hell. Scratch that. Losing freedoms is _exactly_ what 9-to-5-tend-to-the-kids types want. They never really _do_ anything too extreme (what would the neighbors think!), so the fact that some extremist gets nailed for pushing against the limits is of no particular issue at all. In fact, if everyone was really predictable and stayed well within the predetermined lines of normalacy, life would be less irritating wouldn't it? Fast forward a few years, you wouldn't have to listen annoying opinions that don't agree with what you've been taught, because, well, such activity is...ahhh...discouraged. And never mind that you once seemed to be able to own things, and do what you wanted with them. Leasing isn't so bad, and besides, other things are so much simpler now. After DCMA-III bill passed a few years ago, and the media companies get their income guaranteed by the obvious (why didn't they think of this sooner?) route of income tax--you can watch movies, read books and listen to audio absolutely free! Your dad says the tax rates are higher now, but it's pretty hard to dig up those old facts for some reason, so it's hard to argue... And besides, everything is so child friendly, it's never been easier to raise a family! Why, you probably are starting to forget what a cuss word is! And things are so much easier to understand and predicable. The movie plots are so clean and simple you don't have to worry about your five year old seeing or hearing something he won't understand. Funny how it seems like there are less...other... words in use then when you were growing up, but never mind that, things change. Besides, you've got to keep working hard to pay the leases. You don't want to fall behind. Remember poor Jimmy Mimbleton? I wonder what happened to him after they took him away....
What is the point of taking these things into 3rd world countries? You'd think folsk would try and feed the people before they gave them e-mail...
It's not like the *entire* third world is sitting around waiting to be fed so they can more on to, say, shoes or something. Think of millions of individuals, each with their own problems, abilities and situations--a wide spectrum, instead of generalizing a single television delivered image of a starving ethiopian to the entire population of africa.
Kinda like those windup flashlights and radios that you can by now in malls. Originally designed for 3rd world countries, but turns out there was a market everywhere else--for emergency use. Although I'm hard pressed to see a similiar need for these things.
You better not use all your charge, or on an overcast day, you'll be SOL! It takes 16 hours to charge!
More likely they are assuming that it doesn't need to be on all day, or at least pulling full power all the time. Also, the last 30 or so digits in your result are meaningless due to the limited precision of the data, but I'm sure you knew that;).
To me it is interesting that the presence of government testing of tobacco products and their finding of them being addictive and cancer causing did nothing to prevent them reaching consumers. The little white warning box and ban on advertising notwithstanding. But of course an out-right ban would have lead to a black market and associated crime as seen in the Prohibition, so it is a problem with no clearcut solution.
My armchair 20/20 hindsight idea would be to continue to allow people to buy cancer sticks as long as they signed a waiver with every purchase, removing the tobacco companies from responsibility for any side effects, and driving home to those addicted the high risk of continuing with their habit. Maybe this could also be a socially acceptable way to legalize recreational drugs, but I digress...*cough*
Yes, just imagine. I can also imagine that manufacturers try to put a safe product out because consumers tend to stop buying stuff the press is telling them is crap, and that the ones that don't go out of business.
Mmmm, food. Yes, inspection is a good thing for some kinds of food and other potentially life threatening items. Surely no one wants to buy an oven that regularly explodes. But I don't agree that government is the best way to guarantee that. Heres an idea -- a system of independent inspection companies. Let them sheriff each other and get ratings which go on a stamp that goes on the product. Then it is my responsibility to check that stamp before I buy something, or maybe stores won't carry items stamped with a poorly rated inspector. If not this way, surely it is possible to come up with a self-sustaining system that protects consumers without needing any more government then that required to investigate and prosecute fraud.
Yes, but they don't just investigate and make the results available. They create regulations, mandate tests and send inspectors, increasing your taxes AND the cost of the product. In other words, they assume that the manufacturer is up to no good, and that the consumer is an idiot. I don't believe this, but most do. Hence the nanny state.
OK. You have found that you can out-code most or all of the people around you. But years have gone by and you are still making pretty much what everyone else is. Do you a) admit defeat as MikeySquid did b) become despondent and read slashdot all day, or c) become an asshole that everyone wants to get rid of?
No, you are in the unique position to create your own temporary automous zone (TAZ) right there in your little own cubicle. Yep, right there. Read on....
1. Don't put in extra time on office work. But more importantly, don't become a slacker in dispair or a disruptive pain. Realize that if the structure of a company rewards extra or better work with the same salary, then don't do any more than you need to _for the company_.
This may strike you as dishonest at first, but if the company is paying you for an average amount of productivity, and will not pay for exceptional work, then by all means give them what they pay for. An honest trade. Do your best work for two hours a day (or whatever it takes), and then spend the rest developing your skills. You will need them when you finally find someone willing to pay what you are worth, start contracting, or start your own thing.
Examples: Develop some open source code on company time. Read about algorithms and design. Spend extra time optimizing the code you wrote for the company (even if they couldn't care less). But, if by some miracle you get an assignment that is actually interesting, look at it as an opportunity to show what you can do. Not to management, but to yourself. Pull the throttle out, rev the engine, see what you can do.
2. Be respectful to your coworkers, but don't buy into the idea that the company is in any way your family or tribe. Accepting this fact will keep you from getting frustrated by the situation. You don't need to make the company brass look good, and you can be sure that they don't give a damn about you. They are stupid enough to treat all the engineers the same, so give them what they deserve.
3. Don't worry about how you stand with the company. It does not matter. They are a stepping stone, one much like the other, until you find or create the one that is enlightened. You are not what they are looking for anyway. If you conformed to their ideals you would be killing your soul slowly. But don't give them any reason to think you are anything but another cog. They are idiots, but they have no need to know. Don't argue with the idiocy, and don't stop doing enough work to look productive.
4. Forget about playing the game, unless money is primary to you. You starting this stuff because it was fun--intellectually challenging. If so, you will not find politics fun. Money may come to you or it may not. The height of the stack of dollars that flow when you are compensated at full value will be determined by how you prepare yourself.
Re:At least people notice terrorism.
on
Eco-Terrorism
·
· Score: 1
Oh there is evidence that the earth's temperature has inched up a degree or so lately. But there is considerable dispute over what caused it--among scientists, not polititians. Considering that the earth's temperature has fluctuated much higher in the past (when the only pollution was dinosaur flatulence), I'd say there is room for other explainations.
Re:Tell me what THIS is good for?
on
Eco-Terrorism
·
· Score: 1
Woah, that's pretty cool.
This thing is a frickin yuppies WET DREAM! Luxurious comfort and cargo space too! Just the thing for the sunday drive out to Starbucks or a trip to Home Depot for a load of flower pots! And 345 horses to get you there! And the on-star system is there if you break down next to Denny's (wouldn't want to be seen in there!). Sweet!
Re:At least people notice terrorism.
on
Eco-Terrorism
·
· Score: 1
Global warming is the most significant threat the human race has ever encountered, yet the media all but ignores the issue.
This is true. If people continue to believe that earth temperature fluctuations are caused by human actions, the resulting backlash against technology could cause a depression, global socialism, and world-wide starvation. I never hear anything about this threat to our lives from the media.
why is (to not gain any money INSTEAD OF gaining X money) different from (to lose X money INSTEAD of not gaining any money)? The former being piracy, the latter theft, in both cases 1) the end sum difference is the same (-X), 2) both were justified means of gaining money.
Stated like this, there is no difference. But this is not an equivalent statement to the situation. Rewritten:
Instead of _possibly_ gaining X, not gaining X for sure (from that one pirate) vs having X, and then losing it to the robber.
Your argument beginning "if they would have, I maintain..." changes the situation, but is logical. Of course, changing the situation makes it a strawman argument...
I still maintain that a violation of contract is the only justification for the illegality of copying software. There is no theft of property happening.
Atlas shrugged and The Fountainhead are the closest thing to a mind altering drug that can be found in the world of literature. For some it is great, and can change the direction of their life. For others the tension with existing beliefs is too high, or in some cases the reader may entirely miss the point--some people actually come away thinking Rand is advocating socialism. Don't ask me how this happens....
The lottery money is bound to come to you if I won't steal it, and likewise, software sales money is bound to come to you unless someone pirates your software.
The lottery money (you won it) already belonged to you before it was stolen. For the software, the sales have not happened, and there is no guarantee that they will occur even if the pirates^H^H^H^H^H^H^H potential buyers have lots of money to spend. Consider that the value of the software to someone may be far less than the value written on the box. Your analogy was weak because it assumes that a potential is inevitable.
A better argument against software piracy should be based on the contract nature of a EULA. Unfortunately the psychological effect of signing your name to the agreement is absent, which is a shame, as it would eliminate much of the rationalization usually employed to ignore it.
Event A causes loss of value iff total value is lower in the world where A happened compared to world that is otherwise identical except that A didn't happen.
A potential loss is not an actual loss, hence it is not theft--no one is losing what they have _now_.
"software pirates don't hurt the industry" is like saying "you won in lottery, a bus full of money was driving to give them to you but I raided the bus before you even know you won".
Your analogy is still theft. The money was already your property, but it was removed from your control.
I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your premise, but your arguments do not hold water.
Slashdot Mirror
Someone else pointed out the MiniBook PC, which is also sold as the Capucino G1
RedHat is an option, but I wonder how well everything works. And it's fairly expensive (about 1000USD), but you get lots of goodies in a very small package:
6.2 x 5.8 x 1.8" x 2 lbs
Dvd or cd drive
10/100 RJ45 Ethernet
irDA port
AV/SVideo/VGA(1280x1024x24bit) video out
Stereo out, microphone in, internal speaker
Up to 256M ram
MPeg2 decoder w/motion compensation
2 USB, 1 serial, 1 parallel, ps2/ mouse & keyb
V.90 modem (winmodem?)
PIII to 1GHz, Cel @ 700Mhz
10-30G HD
Amazing specs. Anyone have any linux experience with this thing?
I dunno but I would like one too. I'd like to build (or buy, if it exists) something like this:
- a simple box with a DVD/CD player, small as possible (bookshelf size)
- can rip and encode CDs and DVDs
- can play CDs and DVDs directly
- huge hard drive (of course).
- audio and video outputs
- jukebox functionality for mp3s (divx'd videos too, but not as important)
- ethernet or wireless network.
- remote control
- web interface for jukebox management
- hackable if premade.
- no fan, or at least a VERY quiet one.
IANAL either, but there's this new law out that should help you with your prosecution. You may have heard of it...Digital millenium something or other.
IANAP, nor have I read the thesis but I would guess the rotational vibration can be made to interfere with the translational vibration in such a way to produce a net positive motion (see parandos paradox). Varying the phase difference would allow control over the induced motion. It doesn't work for other objects because away from the center of rotation, the rotational vibration "looks" like a translational vibration. Just a guess...
Nah, you just do a "Bugs Bunny" and step out just before it hits. Worked every time.
There are a few problems...
They are mostly engineering issues tho...
1) What happens when there is road construction? People have a hard enough time as is when roads are detoured, highway lanes are shifted over, or one lane completely disappears from the road. This will need some pretty complex AI to work.
This one is simple. Turn the system off until it the construction is over. Just another hassle of road construction...
2) Where exactly do we put these extra "auto-drive" lanes? As it stands now, most cities don't have large enough roads for the traffic that is there already, and many are in a constant state of construction. To set up auto-drive lanes, one (or more) lanes have to be set aside for them, pushing everyone else into the other lanes. And what about exit ramps?
This is indeed a chicken and egg problem. However it is easier than 1) getting people and business to relocate near train endpoints. 2) Radical physical modifications to the cars like that norwegian (?) system that puts the cars on a rail like thing. 3) getting the typical driver to share rides with others.
If the technology was feasible, and I dunno if it is or if anyone is working on it, the government could just as easily mandate it as they are mandating zero emission cars and commuter lanes.
Exit ramps should be handled just like commuter lanes -- the driver handles it. Transfering from the auto-drive to manual in a safe manner is an engineering/human factors problem.
3) What happens in an emergengy? Can the car's computer recognize a blowout? What about a blowout in the car in front of it? What about debree in the roadway?
This is also an engineering problem, I doubt if it would be impossible to make such unusual situations managable.
4) How are you going to get people to go for this proposed method of driving? It can only be installed as an option on new cars, and only in cities that have spent the millions to ugrade their interstates to handle them. And this is only after you can convince a driver that it is okay to let go of the wheel...
Yes, it would take some getting used to, but this might be mainly a matter of human factors engineering -- making it *feel* safer. Or it might actually appear and _be_ safer:
Imagine a line of perfectly aligned cars ahead and in front of you traveling at constant speed. No more turbulence induced sudden stops for no apparent reason. No more lookilus slowing down to take a look at the latest victims. No clueless drivers going 60 in the fast lane with a line of commuters behind them and others doing 80 to get around them in the slower lanes....
As for the money, billions have been poured down mass transportation systems with poor results, except possibly in very dense places like NY and Tokyo.
Well, they mentioned systems that look at your eyes and head position. But, true enough, if it isn't intelligent enough to kick in only when you need it, then most people will cut the wire.
I particulary liked the part about it spraying cold water on you as a last resort. Sounds like a Get Smart gag....
Unfortunately, mass transportation is a) slow b) slow and c) slow. Oh, not that a train is slow, but the bus transfer to get Where You Really Want To Go After The Train Gets You Within 5 Miles (tm) makes it slow. I live near a train station, but my place of work is no where near one. This makes the commute time close to 1.5 hours instead of 15 - 40 minutes. Forget it.
Now what we really need are cars that can take over the driving on interstates, in say, special lanes with positional transponders. Computers can put cars close to each other to reduce drag, increase fuel efficiency, and increase road capacity, without giving up any of the freedom or individuality associated with having your own car.
OK, dude, tend to your kiddies and job. Hopefully you will be able to send them to schools that teach them to THINK, so that they will be able to understand the value of the freedoms that we are now losing, and then perhaps they might make up for your disgusting apathy.
Hell. Scratch that. Losing freedoms is _exactly_ what 9-to-5-tend-to-the-kids types want. They never really _do_ anything too extreme (what would the neighbors think!), so the fact that some extremist gets nailed for pushing against the limits is of no particular issue at all. In fact, if everyone was really predictable and stayed well within the predetermined lines of normalacy, life would be less irritating wouldn't it? Fast forward a few years, you wouldn't have to listen annoying opinions that don't agree with what you've been taught, because, well, such activity is...ahhh...discouraged. And never mind that you once seemed to be able to own things, and do what you wanted with them. Leasing isn't so bad, and besides, other things are so much simpler now. After DCMA-III bill passed a few years ago, and the media companies get their income guaranteed by the obvious (why didn't they think of this sooner?) route of income tax--you can watch movies, read books and listen to audio absolutely free! Your dad says the tax rates are higher now, but it's pretty hard to dig up those old facts for some reason, so it's hard to argue... And besides, everything is so child friendly, it's never been easier to raise a family! Why, you probably are starting to forget what a cuss word is! And things are so much easier to understand and predicable. The movie plots are so clean and simple you don't have to worry about your five year old seeing or hearing something he won't understand. Funny how it seems like there are less ...other... words in use then when you were growing up, but never mind that, things change. Besides, you've got to keep working hard to pay the leases. You don't want to fall behind. Remember poor Jimmy Mimbleton? I wonder what happened to him after they took him away....
What is the point of taking these things into 3rd world countries? You'd think folsk would try and feed the people before they gave them e-mail...
It's not like the *entire* third world is sitting around waiting to be fed so they can more on to, say, shoes or something. Think of millions of individuals, each with their own problems, abilities and situations--a wide spectrum, instead of generalizing a single television delivered image of a starving ethiopian to the entire population of africa.
Everything helps.
Kinda like those windup flashlights and radios that you can by now in malls. Originally designed for 3rd world countries, but turns out there was a market everywhere else--for emergency use. Although I'm hard pressed to see a similiar need for these things.
Looks like someone hasn't done math on this!
You better not use all your charge, or on an overcast day, you'll be SOL! It takes 16 hours to charge!
More likely they are assuming that it doesn't need to be on all day, or at least pulling full power all the time. Also, the last 30 or so digits in your result are meaningless due to the limited precision of the data, but I'm sure you knew that
To me it is interesting that the presence of government testing of tobacco products and their finding of them being addictive and cancer causing did nothing to prevent them reaching consumers. The little white warning box and ban on advertising notwithstanding. But of course an out-right ban would have lead to a black market and associated crime as seen in the Prohibition, so it is a problem with no clearcut solution.
My armchair 20/20 hindsight idea would be to continue to allow people to buy cancer sticks as long as they signed a waiver with every purchase, removing the tobacco companies from responsibility for any side effects, and driving home to those addicted the high risk of continuing with their habit. Maybe this could also be a socially acceptable way to legalize recreational drugs, but I digress...*cough*
Yes, just imagine. I can also imagine that manufacturers try to put a safe product out because consumers tend to stop buying stuff the press is telling them is crap, and that the ones that don't go out of business.
Mmmm, food. Yes, inspection is a good thing for some kinds of food and other potentially life threatening items. Surely no one wants to buy an oven that regularly explodes. But I don't agree that government is the best way to guarantee that. Heres an idea -- a system of independent inspection companies. Let them sheriff each other and get ratings which go on a stamp that goes on the product. Then it is my responsibility to check that stamp before I buy something, or maybe stores won't carry items stamped with a poorly rated inspector. If not this way, surely it is possible to come up with a self-sustaining system that protects consumers without needing any more government then that required to investigate and prosecute fraud.
Yes, but they don't just investigate and make the results available. They create regulations, mandate tests and send inspectors, increasing your taxes AND the cost of the product. In other words, they assume that the manufacturer is up to no good, and that the consumer is an idiot. I don't believe this, but most do. Hence the nanny state.
OK. You have found that you can out-code most or all of the people around you. But years have gone by and you are still making pretty much what everyone else is. Do you a) admit defeat as MikeySquid did b) become despondent and read slashdot all day, or c) become an asshole that everyone wants to get rid of?
No, you are in the unique position to create your own temporary automous zone (TAZ) right there in your little own cubicle. Yep, right there. Read on....
1. Don't put in extra time on office work. But more importantly, don't become a slacker in dispair or a disruptive pain. Realize that if the structure of a company rewards extra or better work with the same salary, then don't do any more than you need to _for the company_.
This may strike you as dishonest at first, but if the company is paying you for an average amount of productivity, and will not pay for exceptional work, then by all means give them what they pay for. An honest trade. Do your best work for two hours a day (or whatever it takes), and then spend the rest developing your skills. You will need them when you finally find someone willing to pay what you are worth, start contracting, or start your own thing.
Examples: Develop some open source code on company time. Read about algorithms and design. Spend extra time optimizing the code you wrote for the company (even if they couldn't care less). But, if by some miracle you get an assignment that is actually interesting, look at it as an opportunity to show what you can do. Not to management, but to yourself. Pull the throttle out, rev the engine, see what you can do.
2. Be respectful to your coworkers, but don't buy into the idea that the company is in any way your family or tribe. Accepting this fact will keep you from getting frustrated by the situation. You don't need to make the company brass look good, and you can be sure that they don't give a damn about you. They are stupid enough to treat all the engineers the same, so give them what they deserve.
3. Don't worry about how you stand with the company. It does not matter. They are a stepping stone, one much like the other, until you find or create the one that is enlightened. You are not what they are looking for anyway. If you conformed to their ideals you would be killing your soul slowly. But don't give them any reason to think you are anything but another cog. They are idiots, but they have no need to know. Don't argue with the idiocy, and don't stop doing enough work to look productive.
4. Forget about playing the game, unless money is primary to you. You starting this stuff because it was fun--intellectually challenging. If so, you will not find politics fun. Money may come to you or it may not. The height of the stack of dollars that flow when you are compensated at full value will be determined by how you prepare yourself.
Oh there is evidence that the earth's temperature has inched up a degree or so lately. But there is considerable dispute over what caused it--among scientists, not polititians. Considering that the earth's temperature has fluctuated much higher in the past (when the only pollution was dinosaur flatulence), I'd say there is room for other explainations.
Woah, that's pretty cool.
This thing is a frickin yuppies WET DREAM! Luxurious comfort and cargo space too! Just the thing for the sunday drive out to Starbucks or a trip to Home Depot for a load of flower pots! And 345 horses to get you there! And the on-star system is there if you break down next to Denny's (wouldn't want to be seen in there!). Sweet!
Global warming is the most significant threat the human race has ever encountered, yet the media all but ignores the issue.
This is true. If people continue to believe that earth temperature fluctuations are caused by human actions, the resulting backlash against technology could cause a depression, global socialism, and world-wide starvation. I never hear anything about this threat to our lives from the media.
One thing I don't see mentioned here is what degree of precision that SSE-2 has. I'm guessing that it only works on 32-bit floats.
You guessed wrong. SSE2 can operate on 2 64 bit floats in parallel.
why is (to not gain any money INSTEAD OF gaining X money) different from (to lose X money INSTEAD of not gaining any money)? The former being piracy, the latter theft, in both cases 1) the end sum difference is the same (-X), 2) both were justified means of gaining money.
Stated like this, there is no difference. But this is not an equivalent statement to the situation. Rewritten:
Instead of _possibly_ gaining X, not gaining X for sure (from that one pirate) vs having X, and then losing it to the robber.
Your argument beginning "if they would have, I maintain..." changes the situation, but is logical. Of course, changing the situation makes it a strawman argument...
I still maintain that a violation of contract is the only justification for the illegality of copying software. There is no theft of property happening.
Atlas shrugged and The Fountainhead are the closest thing to a mind altering drug that can be found in the world of literature. For some it is great, and can change the direction of their life. For others the tension with existing beliefs is too high, or in some cases the reader may entirely miss the point--some people actually come away thinking Rand is advocating socialism. Don't ask me how this happens....
Provided you're not overcome with guilt about the moral issues, there are probably plenty of jobs out there.
Unfortunately, most geeks are male and more importantly, not *ahem* well suited for _that_ kind of work.
The lottery money is bound to come to you if I won't steal it, and likewise, software sales money is bound to come to you unless someone pirates your software.
The lottery money (you won it) already belonged to you before it was stolen. For the software, the sales have not happened, and there is no guarantee that they will occur even if the pirates^H^H^H^H^H^H^H potential buyers have lots of money to spend. Consider that the value of the software to someone may be far less than the value written on the box. Your analogy was weak because it assumes that a potential is inevitable.
A better argument against software piracy should be based on the contract nature of a EULA. Unfortunately the psychological effect of signing your name to the agreement is absent, which is a shame, as it would eliminate much of the rationalization usually employed to ignore it.
Event A causes loss of value iff total value is lower in the world where A happened compared to world that is otherwise identical except that A didn't happen.
A potential loss is not an actual loss, hence it is not theft--no one is losing what they have _now_.
"software pirates don't hurt the industry" is like saying "you won in lottery, a bus full of money was driving to give them to you but I raided the bus before you even know you won".
Your analogy is still theft. The money was already your property, but it was removed from your control.
I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your premise, but your arguments do not hold water.