I haven't posted on Slashdot for years, but I want to take a minute to thank you for this site, which meant a lot to me for a lot of years. Good luck, Rob! Write the book - I'll probably buy it.
"never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!"
perhaps you don't realize that those were the dying words of the Sicilian who uttered them? By that logic the former litigator should be expected to lose.
It boils down to this: successful scientific workhorses simply don't have the time to socialize.... or scientists with unsuccessful social lives turn to their work.
The average home has a 150A electrical capacity from the grid. 150A at 120V is 18kW. 18kW is 24hp.
For a more powerful car (200hp), you'll get one hour on an overnight charge.
That 200hp is peak horsepower, not average. When the car is in motion uses significantly less power than that. I'm too lazy to figure out how much, but I'm sure there is a physics geek here who could help.
A book is usable as-is: I open the book and read the characters printed on the page directly. I don't need to copy it to make use of it.
When you read a book, you store it in memory - your own brain - a sentence at a time while you process the text, relate one sentence to the last, build context. Electrical impulses in your brain send this data from one place to another. How is this different from a CD player reading a few bits, buffering it, converting it to audio?
You and I may understand the mechanics of CD/DVD or mp3 players. You say that the technology dictates that you need to make a copy in order to playback the media. But really this is irrelevant. What is relevant is that you may at one point reproduce what is on the disc so that there are two. That is a copy, and that is what is being objected to (right or wrong).
That doesn't wash. Either we're buying a physical object, or we're buying a license to listen to the music.
And Ray is saying physical object, not license.
If we're buying a physical object, then the pattern of pits and holes on the disc is inconsequential.
I wish you were right. Unfortunately, there is a thing called "copyright" that makes things a lot more confusing. I understand what you are trying to say, and I agree with you to some degree. But the RIAA does not see it this way, and they are willing to sue people over it. And as Ray has been saying over and over, the law is not firm enough on this to either back you up or blow you down.
Copyright is the "right to copy". Just like the publishers get upset if you photocopy their books, the RIAA is going to get upset if you try to copy their music. The "copyright holder" has not given you the right to copy the disc. Maybe that is outside of their rights to impose that restriction - that's what we need to find out.
On the contrary, it proved exactly what Colbert's point was. Wikipedia's very nature makes it prone to misttatements and error.
Actually, I think his point was that humanity's very nature makes it prone to misstatements and error. What is truth? I dunno, ask around... Check on Wikipedia maybe.
Wikipedia is just a focus point because it is a concentration of "knowledge" that is free to modify by anyone (like the body public). This makes it an easy target, and a good way to demonstrate the broader problem of determining what the facts are. He is basically restating the old adage "history is written by the victor" (Bonaparte?) with a twist.
The first time you run it, it creates a ".googleearth" directory in $HOME for the current user. However, because you ran the "first run" with sudo, those files are owned by root. Just do a "sudo chown -Rh $LOGNAME:$LOGNAME $HOME/.googleearth/" and you should be able to run it as yourself (assuming your username and groupname are the same - mine are).
Everyone knows the correct way to deal with a compromised system is to back up the data and reinstall. But Balmer knows as well as we do that that is not a reasonable proposition for most regular users, and would look bad on him in this situation. What he is left with is putting some bright guys from MS on the problem. Imagine if your boss was Balmer, and he came to you with this challenge - fix the PC without reinstalling the OS. Depending on the kind of guy you are, you either relish the challenge, or regret being born. Either way, you're not going to get the system back. I don't care if it's Windows, Linux, or OS/2 - you can no longer trust what is on the system.
So after a couple of days of futzing around, these guys admit the inevitable, and what can MS do but spin this into an advertisement! Now that takes balls!
The correct way to handle this is to guard the system in such a way that these things never get there in the first place. Unfortunately, when 90% of people are using the software, the flaws of that system become a way of life. "You mean it's possible to design a computer that does not get virus, trojans, or worms in the first place? Unthinkable!"
latest version has PAM older than.79 and the latest is.99, the default GCC installed (GCC 4.0) from the default debian repositories cannot build executables,/etc/security/console.perms is missing,/etc/ld.so.conf is missing...
For all it's faults atleast things work right with Fedora Core and I can compile mythtv with miniminal effort
I know! My wife said the same thing when I installed Ubuntu on my home computer. "WTF! PAM is really old! We can't let the kids use this!"
I mean really, compiling mythtv is absolutely necessary on a desktop distro. How are the newbs going to get past that? Having no ld.so.conf is definitely not userfriendly.
Although you point is a good one, I don't think you take it far enough. The low quality pirated video will always be available (think "handycam") but in essence what they are doing is creating a new reason to pirate that did not exist before. For those who do want a better quality, they will be left no option but to download an "unlocked" version (after JLJ cracks AACS, of couse;-) if they are one of the early adopters without a "protected" digital input. This is a lot of people, given that the earlier adopters will logically be the same people interested in a higher quality picture.
Nah, noone would use a Richard point once they discover that it is not compatible with Bill points, or even Steve points, and once you have used the Richard point all of you systems become Richard points.
That doesn't make nearly as much sense as it did in my head...
I wasn't trying to bash MS outright. Mostly I think people (Bill Gates included) don't acknowledge the fundamental difference between the two ways of thinking. With Apple, less is more.
In my last job, I worked for a company that designed software for Digital television. I maintained the default configuration files for the product, along with build/release/integration duties. At one point I had to diffuse a battle between a developer, a product manager and a QA tester over one silly button on a remote that was being overloaded. The developer could not get his head around the possibility that we did not need a direct access button for his application. But in the end, we did not, and we re-wrote the UI so that it was accessible from the menu, and it was easier to find and use than the original application.
Sometimes extra functions help - look at the scroll wheel on a typical mouse. But often, they are just a way to allow the designers to not think hard about what may be the easiest way to use something. Instead, just give someone an extra button. This is a fundamental difference between the way Apple and Microsoft work, and is one reason why the iPod is wildly successful, even when guys like CmdrTaco predicted its doom.
Gates in an email to Mr. Belfiore asked why Apple's remote control had just six buttons. The standard Media Center remote from Microsoft has 39 buttons. (Mr. Belfiore's explanation: Front Row computers don't have TV or digital video recorder functions and thus don't need as many buttons.)
Personally, I suspect the Apple remote control would still have six buttons even with TV and DVR. But I imagine Gates still bought that explanation.
Slashdot Mirror
I haven't posted on Slashdot for years, but I want to take a minute to thank you for this site, which meant a lot to me for a lot of years. Good luck, Rob! Write the book - I'll probably buy it.
... her, him, and also this guy
:-D
No wonder they are looking to set up an online dating service
"never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!"
perhaps you don't realize that those were the dying words of the Sicilian who uttered them? By that logic the former litigator should be expected to lose.
It's kind of hard to provide the required climate control with no doors, isn't it?
It boils down to this: successful scientific workhorses simply don't have the time to socialize. ... or scientists with unsuccessful social lives turn to their work.
The average home has a 150A electrical capacity from the grid. 150A at 120V is 18kW. 18kW is 24hp.
For a more powerful car (200hp), you'll get one hour on an overnight charge.
That 200hp is peak horsepower, not average. When the car is in motion uses significantly less power than that. I'm too lazy to figure out how much, but I'm sure there is a physics geek here who could help.
Lets call him a "Clown Hat"
Yes, in fact, I think I will do that. You sir, have just added some nice new jargon to my vocabulary. Many thanks!
That was pretty good for just winging it...
...when it come to programmers.
... ...
Watchig some hot shot contractor panic when you aask them... ask if the nderstand
The uderstand the definition...
Dde, did one f them write the nput hndler for you keeyboard? I don't thin it works so sht ho.
RIS from AD? RES connecting to the TS farm? WTF are you talking about? I know I'm not an MCSE or SA, but good God, man - speak English!
In Soviet Rus... er, Mos Eisley... whatever - you know where I'm going with this...
A book is usable as-is: I open the book and read the characters printed on the page directly. I don't need to copy it to make use of it.
When you read a book, you store it in memory - your own brain - a sentence at a time while you process the text, relate one sentence to the last, build context. Electrical impulses in your brain send this data from one place to another. How is this different from a CD player reading a few bits, buffering it, converting it to audio?
You and I may understand the mechanics of CD/DVD or mp3 players. You say that the technology dictates that you need to make a copy in order to playback the media. But really this is irrelevant. What is relevant is that you may at one point reproduce what is on the disc so that there are two. That is a copy, and that is what is being objected to (right or wrong).
That doesn't wash. Either we're buying a physical object, or we're buying a license to listen to the music.
And Ray is saying physical object, not license.
If we're buying a physical object, then the pattern of pits and holes on the disc is inconsequential.
I wish you were right. Unfortunately, there is a thing called "copyright" that makes things a lot more confusing. I understand what you are trying to say, and I agree with you to some degree. But the RIAA does not see it this way, and they are willing to sue people over it. And as Ray has been saying over and over, the law is not firm enough on this to either back you up or blow you down.
Copyright is the "right to copy". Just like the publishers get upset if you photocopy their books, the RIAA is going to get upset if you try to copy their music. The "copyright holder" has not given you the right to copy the disc. Maybe that is outside of their rights to impose that restriction - that's what we need to find out.
On the contrary, it proved exactly what Colbert's point was. Wikipedia's very nature makes it prone to misttatements and error.
Actually, I think his point was that humanity's very nature makes it prone to misstatements and error. What is truth? I dunno, ask around... Check on Wikipedia maybe.
Wikipedia is just a focus point because it is a concentration of "knowledge" that is free to modify by anyone (like the body public). This makes it an easy target, and a good way to demonstrate the broader problem of determining what the facts are. He is basically restating the old adage "history is written by the victor" (Bonaparte?) with a twist.
The first time you run it, it creates a ".googleearth" directory in $HOME for the current user. However, because you ran the "first run" with sudo, those files are owned by root. Just do a "sudo chown -Rh $LOGNAME:$LOGNAME $HOME/.googleearth/" and you should be able to run it as yourself (assuming your username and groupname are the same - mine are).
To follow on your serious note:
Everyone knows the correct way to deal with a compromised system is to back up the data and reinstall. But Balmer knows as well as we do that that is not a reasonable proposition for most regular users, and would look bad on him in this situation. What he is left with is putting some bright guys from MS on the problem. Imagine if your boss was Balmer, and he came to you with this challenge - fix the PC without reinstalling the OS. Depending on the kind of guy you are, you either relish the challenge, or regret being born. Either way, you're not going to get the system back. I don't care if it's Windows, Linux, or OS/2 - you can no longer trust what is on the system.
So after a couple of days of futzing around, these guys admit the inevitable, and what can MS do but spin this into an advertisement! Now that takes balls!
The correct way to handle this is to guard the system in such a way that these things never get there in the first place. Unfortunately, when 90% of people are using the software, the flaws of that system become a way of life. "You mean it's possible to design a computer that does not get virus, trojans, or worms in the first place? Unthinkable!"
Obviously you can't remove it by throwing Micorsoft's top engineers at it either...
latest version has PAM older than .79 and the latest is .99, the default GCC installed (GCC 4.0) from the default debian repositories cannot build executables, /etc/security/console.perms is missing, /etc/ld.so.conf is missing ...
For all it's faults atleast things work right with Fedora Core and I can compile mythtv with miniminal effort
I know! My wife said the same thing when I installed Ubuntu on my home computer. "WTF! PAM is really old! We can't let the kids use this!"
I mean really, compiling mythtv is absolutely necessary on a desktop distro. How are the newbs going to get past that? Having no ld.so.conf is definitely not userfriendly.
Although you point is a good one, I don't think you take it far enough. The low quality pirated video will always be available (think "handycam") but in essence what they are doing is creating a new reason to pirate that did not exist before. For those who do want a better quality, they will be left no option but to download an "unlocked" version (after JLJ cracks AACS, of couse ;-) if they are one of the early adopters without a "protected" digital input. This is a lot of people, given that the earlier adopters will logically be the same people interested in a higher quality picture.
Nah, noone would use a Richard point once they discover that it is not compatible with Bill points, or even Steve points, and once you have used the Richard point all of you systems become Richard points.
That doesn't make nearly as much sense as it did in my head...
I'm not dead, yet!
Ok, I get the need to bash MS
I wasn't trying to bash MS outright. Mostly I think people (Bill Gates included) don't acknowledge the fundamental difference between the two ways of thinking. With Apple, less is more.
In my last job, I worked for a company that designed software for Digital television. I maintained the default configuration files for the product, along with build/release/integration duties. At one point I had to diffuse a battle between a developer, a product manager and a QA tester over one silly button on a remote that was being overloaded. The developer could not get his head around the possibility that we did not need a direct access button for his application. But in the end, we did not, and we re-wrote the UI so that it was accessible from the menu, and it was easier to find and use than the original application.
Sometimes extra functions help - look at the scroll wheel on a typical mouse. But often, they are just a way to allow the designers to not think hard about what may be the easiest way to use something. Instead, just give someone an extra button. This is a fundamental difference between the way Apple and Microsoft work, and is one reason why the iPod is wildly successful, even when guys like CmdrTaco predicted its doom.
Gates in an email to Mr. Belfiore asked why Apple's remote control had just six buttons. The standard Media Center remote from Microsoft has 39 buttons. (Mr. Belfiore's explanation: Front Row computers don't have TV or digital video recorder functions and thus don't need as many buttons.)
Personally, I suspect the Apple remote control would still have six buttons even with TV and DVR. But I imagine Gates still bought that explanation.
French? Military? Success? I'm going to have to stop skimming the articles...
I guarantee the horse will never trouble any of us again.
... and definitely not now.
... or now.
*whack*
*thunk*
*crack*