I thought I was the only person on the planet who noticed this. And was disgusted by it.
"We think this is deplorable, but we're not above using a dash of it for our ratings." Nothing like capitalizing off of the same urge that makes people slow down to look at car accidents.
I can even remember the exact moment I stopped watching the news. It was a child porn segment.
Anyone who's ever opened a porn mag (of the legal variety) knows that usually the first page of a photo shoot is a teaser page that has a goofy title of some sort, and a PG rated picture of the subject of the shoot.
The fucking show was showing the teaser pages from child porn mags on the "tune in after this commercial break" message. The title of one of the teaser pages was "Lots 'o Love".
And that, folks, is when I stopped watching the local news.
Holy crap that's one of the funniest posts I've seen in a long while! But seriously friend, I believe I can help you.
Every day I ask myself why this is happening.
Because you are a business owner, but no good at math. People aren't buying half as many CDs as they did just a year ago means "less than half, or 50%. That is much more than 7.6%.
It was one of those boutique record stores that sell obscure, independent releases that no-one listens to, not even the people that buy them.
An excellent business plan. Your last name wouldn't be McBride, would it?
I decided that to grow the business I'd need to aim for a different demographic, the family market.
Another excellent plan. Many's the night I've sat around the house listening to albums with my mom. This is a sure way to appeal to your target demographic, especially the teenage market.
I'm proud to have one of the most extensive Christian rock sections that I know of.
I'll get back to this one later, but it's worth mentioning right now for a little foreshadowing.
Every day, fewer and fewer customers enter my store to buy fewer and fewer CDs. Why is no one buying CDs? Are people not interested in music? Do people prefer to watch TV, see films, read books? I don't know. But there is one, inescapable truth - Internet piracy is mostly to blame.
So, you don't know what the problem is, but you're sure it's piracy?
It has the potential to destroy the music industry, from artists, to record companies to stores like my own.
Well, a car has the potential to run people over, so let's outlaw those too. Of course, cars also bring people to music stores, so it's a bit of a sticky problem...
Before you point to the supposed "economic downturn", I'll note that the book store just across from my store is doing great business.
Maybe they're selling a better product? Nah! Something else must be to blame! After all, who in their right mind would buy classic literature when there's Christian Rock to be had!
Unlike CDs, it's harder to copy books over The Internet.
Aaaaahahahaahahahaaaaaaa!!! Boy you're right, it sure is! There is no such thing as a scanner or a pdf file.
"Dude, I'm going to put this CD on the Internet right away"
...and the foreshadowing completes. So, waitaminute, aren't you catering to the family values crowd? Lotsa Christian rock and stuff like that? Why are these family values Jesus types breaking the law?? Could it be that your preconceived notion of "these kinds of people would never screw me over" is wrong? I do so love it when the family values folks squabble.
I grabbed the little shit by his shirt.
That'd be assault.
So that's my idea - a national blacklist of pirates.
Brilliant. Let's also make a list for shopkeepers who eavesdrop on their customers and rough them up.
If the pirates can't buy the CDS to begin with, then they won't be able to copy them over The Internet, will they?
Your intellect is staggering. That'll sure keep the kids who talk about piracy in record stores from ripping music. Of course, you'll have to figure out some other way of getting the pesky kids who just buy the CD without telling you up-front about their intent to rip the thing.
They have fought the War on Drugs with skill, so why not the War on Piracy?
Another gem. Boy, it's so hard to buy dope ever since Nancy Reagan was on Different Strokes, right? Nah, you never hear about anyone having drugs anymore - they totally licked that problem.
This evening, my daughters asked me. "Why do the other kids laugh at us?"
"Because your daddy is too stupid to do basic math and keeps trying to imitate Dirty Harry."
Some people are offended by my blacklist system. I may have made my store less popula
First open source, now open hardware. I'm...pleasantly stunned. Go Blue!
Weaselmancer
PS: At the Risk of -1 Redundant, this is a great move. I'm in embedded design, and I've discovered a few things that wound up in errata sheets later on. If I had been working on an open chip like this, I'd have worked out a fix and contributed it back to the project.
Sure beats skimming errata sheets endlessly and knowing there's nothing you can do to fix things.
I have another similar story. And it has the same moral - If you're a coder, avoid working with the porn industry.
I wound up trying to make a live video site for a bunch of paizans. They had zero sense, and most of the money they were investing was "won at the race track". Dunno what the hell I was thinking.
I finally got out of it when it was time to make the website. I had told those guys for 4 months that we're going to need some pictures of our girls for the website. So what happened next, technically, I did ask for.
They were having zero luck to get anyone to actually work for the site, but they knew this girl who was a manager for a bunch of dancers. (I'll leave it to the reader to determine what that actually means). And of course she couldn't get anyone on photo day, so being an ex dancer herself, she volunteers for the photo shoot.
I've never seen anything like that. Ever.
Looked like this woman had been through about 15 years of binge eating and cocaine diets. She was thin, but her skin was about 3 sizes too large. She looked like she was covered in vienna sausages.
Ready for the punchline? These idiots wanted me to put her on our homepage anyways! They couldn't see why this was a bad idea.
Might have worked as a business plan, if we could use popup technology to force popup pictures of her unless you pay us.
Fortunately I escaped soon after that. They found a new webmonkey and fired me. Thank God.
What sets Phatbot apart from its predecessors is the use of P2P to control the botnet instead of IRC. Although Agobot has a rudimentary P2P system, IRC is still the main control vector. The author(s) of Phatbot chose to abandon Agobot's IRC and P2P implementations altogether and replaced them with code from WASTE, a project created by AOL's Nullsoft division (and subsequently canceled by AOL).
Granted, it's not intended to do file swapping per se (the P2P bit is a control vector intended to upload crap like spam relays), but it'd be trivial to point the shared folder to "My Music". Bingo. You're P2P, and it's not your fault.
It's Microsoft's. And wouldn't it be a hoot to watch the RIAA go after them demanding they plug the security holes that make this possible.;^)
I mean really, how much calculus has been discovered in the last 200 years? And of that, how much is being taught in college in Calc I, II or III?
Most calculus is hundreds of years old. How can you keep making new introductory texts to it? Kind of like having a series of books on the latest trends in waltzing, if you ask me.
Choicepoint requires that you have a business license to run a small business to use this software. However, as users of these services are rarely audited or asked to produce their business license, the purchaser can potentially conduct criminal background checks, Social Security number identification and other checks on anyone for a small fee.
So, why can't they use their uber-database to see if a potential customer has a business license???
If their software is so dense as to miss obvious publicly available information like that, then I wouldn't worry.
A brilliant, and unfortunately completely true assessment of the situation.
Hell, they're not even really playing poker. It's more like chess. The more moves ahead you can plan for, the better you play. Bill makes Machiavelli look like a complete amateur.
I mean, look at what the guy has done. It's a cliche, but he really could sell ice to eskimos.
He sells more copies of Office than there are installs of the completely free and just as functional OpenOffice. He sells IIS server software, even though Apache pretty much smokes it. He sells server software with limited licensing schemes, even though Linux is 100% open and free. And set up an entire industry of training MS qualified techs, to run MS servers...which are needed in bulk because the software isn't reliable.
Anyone who can manage this level of voodoo shouldn't be underestimated under any circumstances. He may have been planning this since Linux 1.0. With billions of dollars and teams of people working on keeping MS a monopoly, it wouldn't surprise me.
Because the law isn't always the best yardstick of right and wrong. Currently, the laws that govern this kind of behavior are the result of some of the most intense lobbying ever. They're overblown.
I believe in checks and balances in the system. Having a single unilateral entity that answers to nobody is not how the system is supposed to work. Currently the RIAA/MPAA are sidestepping due process with the help of a senator, Fritz Hollings. Do a little research on him. Search Google for his nickname, "The Senator from Disney", so named because of his being bankrolled by the entertainment industry. Here's an example of the kind of nonsense this guy is trying to make into law.
As an example of the way things work now, let's say you share a music file. The RIAA logs on to the network and finds "this IP is sharing this file". They then bully your ISP into divulging their records, and then threaten to sue you for millions, and "allow" you to settle for thousands.
The FBI currently doesn't have that much leeway in pursuing criminals. Think about that. Now consider that they're still lobbying. What's next? They've already asserted that if the music went to your account, you are responsible. Even if it wasn't you. They've busted grandparents who's grandkids downloaded music. What if your machine gets a virus and sets itself up as a file swapping node?
Another problem with the RIAA, is that they fail to meet their established purpose. They are supposed to facilitate music and protect musicians, but instead do the exact opposite. They're essentially an extortion racket, and have been since long before the first MP3 was burned.
If you'd like to know about what a nest of criminals the RIAA are, read this article by Steve Albini. It's a must-read about how the music industry works. They're a protection racket.
And with the exception of Metallica (who, as everyone knows were replaced by pod people replicants late in '97), how many musicians can you name that are in favor of the RIAA's legal thrashings about? If the RIAA is helping people, wouldn't those people stand up and say thank you? The silence is deafening.
Do a little research. Here's a good example, an interview with Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo fame. It's a good read, especially where music executives fly him to Jamaica, get him higher than a kite and try to get him to sign legal documents.
Make no mistake, the RIAA are scum. And the fact that their lobbying has given them powers that compare well with the NSA should make you worry. It does me - and I don't share music. It gives me the creeps when criminals get that kind of power.
You have an id # in the 500,000 range, so you might not have this realized yet: slashbot groupthink != right.
Read again - I didn't imply any right or wrong. I said that I wasn't going to bother with responding, and pointed out why he got modded to zero. Slashdot is an unfriendly room to back the RIAA in.
But since you brought it up, the RIAA is in the wrong - and it's an opinion I came to all by myself.
I must add that SCO was eventually made aware of AutoZone's transition to Linux. They responded by offering to assist AutoZone in the porting activity.
If there's a God in Heaven, and he's listening...please let Jim Greer find his documentation for this!
C'mon Slashdot - let's spend real karma for this! Bow your head and join me in a quick silent prayer to the Deity of your choice....
I know I am the devil's advocate here, but I am open to good arguments. Please don't waste your time on flames.
Fair enough. You didn't post as AC, so I'll bite. Anyone spending that much karma deserves a few straight answers.
And what is the RIAA doing wrong?
You have an id # in the 500,000 range, so you're not new here. So, I'm not going to bother with this one. I will say this though - it's the comment that got you modded to zero as flamebait. Around here, that's like walking into a bar mitzvah and saying that you admire Mel Gibson's dad for his refreshing point of view.
I am not so convinced EV1 is being stupid. They protect themselves and their customers.
I'm sure some guy in marketing thought exactly that. "Hey Bob, I've got an idea! Let's buy a SCO license and be the first on the planet to be immune to the SCO litigation."
Of course, you are free to boycott EV1 for whatever reason you have, but I do not believe buying SCO licenses is a good one.
I do. And I can give you a few more reasons why, as well as my original post.
For one, it sets a precedent to other companies dumb enough to back SCO's dubious claims. If a boycott is the result of buying one of SCO's bogus vaporware licenses, maybe the next guy will think twice before buying one.
Also, it's not fashionable these days to say things like this, but I'm going to do it anyways. Evil must be opposed. If I may take off my kid gloves for a moment - SCO are thieves. Their claims to other peoples works are immoral, and therefore must be opposed. All it takes for criminals to prosper is for good people to do nothing. So I'm doing what I can, by boycotting SCO and anyone who backs them. And I hope others do the same.
I can see where this is coming from, but isn't it just a tad extreme? Boycotting SCO is one thing. Boycotting EV1 because they paid their protection money is another.
Nope, it's not extreme at all. Just one single user buying one of their stupid licenses gives them a note of validity. A precedent.
And, that money goes to SCO, who will use it to hurt other people with and continue their nonsense. I don't buy music CDs for the same reason, because of the RIAA. I make sure my money does not support people who wish to abuse me, curtail my rights, or harm the world if I can help it.
A good example of this would be spam. It's the one idiot in a gazillion that buys the Gene-ric Vi'ag'ra that makes spam profitable, and therefore keeps spam around. And EV1 just became that idiot for the entire Linux community.
So to sum up, stupidity should be painful. Boycott them.
We have a winner! Always good to hear from a fellow north-coaster. =)
Weaselmancer
Re: A lot of spare time
on
Borg Cube Case
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· Score: 2, Informative
Huey, Dewey, and Louie. No Google used. What do I win? =)
BTW, Silent Running is a seriously cool movie. They'd play it every so often on the Big Chuck and Little John show when I was a kid. As for Big Chuck and Little John...well, it's a Cleveland thing.
Bonus points to any Clevelanders out there as old or older than I who can name Big Chuck's previous guest host.
"Subsequent investigation has shown this was not the result of any breach of Microsoft's corporate network or internal security, nor is it related to Microsoft's Shared Source Initiative or its Government Security Program, which enable our customers and partners, as well as governments, to legally access Microsoft source code."
So, it wasn't stolen. They weren't hacked. And it's not part of a contract they have with anyone. So exactly how is it illegal for me to view, if no crime was committed in it's dissemination?
One way of looking at it might be that since it's not out in the wild due to a crime or any breach of contract...that might make it the digital equivalent of graffiti.
It's actually kind of ironic, considering that SCO has been claiming all this time that the GPL is bad because it's "viral." It sounds to me that the System V licensing agreement, as construed by SCO, is far worse!
The only real reason arcades were a hit was because they gave you something that you couldn't get at home. We all had the Atari 2600, right? But it didn't take a genius to figure out that the gameplay was a little different. The 2600 sucked compared to what was in the arcades. So we kept on going.
Now fast-forward to today...is the version of Tekken 3 any different in the arcade as what you have at home?
To get me to an arcade, they're going to have to give me something I can't get at home. A good example of that would be the multiplayer Battlemech Simulators - I'd do that in a heartbeat.
But as for a standup arcade machine - it's a dead genre. A box to waste a little time in a BW-3 while waiting for your hot wings. The arcade culture is gone. Treasure your memories, play MAME...but know that the genie is out of the bottle and playing SOCOM in his living room.
I just downloaded the latest Wine about 3 days ago straight from WineHQ. The new winecfg is excellent. It's way better than the old TK one. Clean tabbed interface, and it's as simple to configure as any other app.
Weaselmancer
PS: You said, "The second and most obvious thing is that because wine exists then less software will be made for linux in the meantime."
Think of Wine as a gateway to Linux. Yeah, there will be less of a compelling reason to write native Linux apps. That is, until it takes off and becomes mainstream.
If Linux/Wine was on 50% of desktops, you'd see more native Linux apps. "Why not port this to Linux and get a speed increase, Bob? Linux is on 50% of all the desktops in the world, and we're missing a market segment." That kind of a thing.
Plus, Wine is not a product, it's a project. Codeweavers makes a product based on Wine, and so does Transgaming.
Codeweavers product is aimed at people who want to use Linux, but communicate 100% with MS Office people. And use MS plugins in their Linux browsers.
Transgamings product is aimed at the hacker/enthusiast who wants to be on the cutting edge running DirectX games on their Linux install.
Eventually, Wine will be a near 100% replacement for the MS API. Buy a MS piece of software at CompUSA, drop it in your Linux distro, and it works perfectly.
And once that happens, you will see Linux begin to take over the desktop. And that's why Wine developers are heroes. Keep up the good work!
Weaselmancer
PS: The submitter is hoping for the "magic bullet" that'll speed up wine, but may have missed just such a magic bullet in the article he posted. It's a shared memory wineserver, currently experimental. I'll quote from the WineHQ page:
Gav showed a dramatic demo of American McGee's Alice running under both WineX and WineX with shared memory. In that particular game the sound and graphics threads needed to sync with each other at an astounding rate. Typical WineX performance produced about 50 frames per second. By moving to shared memory the framerate nearly doubled to about 95 a second.
Slashdot Mirror
I thought I was the only person on the planet who noticed this. And was disgusted by it.
"We think this is deplorable, but we're not above using a dash of it for our ratings." Nothing like capitalizing off of the same urge that makes people slow down to look at car accidents.
I can even remember the exact moment I stopped watching the news. It was a child porn segment.
Anyone who's ever opened a porn mag (of the legal variety) knows that usually the first page of a photo shoot is a teaser page that has a goofy title of some sort, and a PG rated picture of the subject of the shoot.
The fucking show was showing the teaser pages from child porn mags on the "tune in after this commercial break" message. The title of one of the teaser pages was "Lots 'o Love".
And that, folks, is when I stopped watching the local news.
Holy crap that's one of the funniest posts I've seen in a long while! But seriously friend, I believe I can help you.
Every day I ask myself why this is happening.
Because you are a business owner, but no good at math. People aren't buying half as many CDs as they did just a year ago means "less than half, or 50%. That is much more than 7.6%.
It was one of those boutique record stores that sell obscure, independent releases that no-one listens to, not even the people that buy them.
An excellent business plan. Your last name wouldn't be McBride, would it?
I decided that to grow the business I'd need to aim for a different demographic, the family market.
Another excellent plan. Many's the night I've sat around the house listening to albums with my mom. This is a sure way to appeal to your target demographic, especially the teenage market.
I'm proud to have one of the most extensive Christian rock sections that I know of.
I'll get back to this one later, but it's worth mentioning right now for a little foreshadowing.
Every day, fewer and fewer customers enter my store to buy fewer and fewer CDs. Why is no one buying CDs? Are people not interested in music? Do people prefer to watch TV, see films, read books? I don't know. But there is one, inescapable truth - Internet piracy is mostly to blame.
So, you don't know what the problem is, but you're sure it's piracy?
It has the potential to destroy the music industry, from artists, to record companies to stores like my own.
Well, a car has the potential to run people over, so let's outlaw those too. Of course, cars also bring people to music stores, so it's a bit of a sticky problem...
Before you point to the supposed "economic downturn", I'll note that the book store just across from my store is doing great business.
Maybe they're selling a better product? Nah! Something else must be to blame! After all, who in their right mind would buy classic literature when there's Christian Rock to be had!
Unlike CDs, it's harder to copy books over The Internet.
Aaaaahahahaahahahaaaaaaa!!! Boy you're right, it sure is! There is no such thing as a scanner or a pdf file.
"Dude, I'm going to put this CD on the Internet right away"
...and the foreshadowing completes. So, waitaminute, aren't you catering to the family values crowd? Lotsa Christian rock and stuff like that? Why are these family values Jesus types breaking the law?? Could it be that your preconceived notion of "these kinds of people would never screw me over" is wrong? I do so love it when the family values folks squabble.
I grabbed the little shit by his shirt.
That'd be assault.
So that's my idea - a national blacklist of pirates.
Brilliant. Let's also make a list for shopkeepers who eavesdrop on their customers and rough them up.
If the pirates can't buy the CDS to begin with, then they won't be able to copy them over The Internet, will they?
Your intellect is staggering. That'll sure keep the kids who talk about piracy in record stores from ripping music. Of course, you'll have to figure out some other way of getting the pesky kids who just buy the CD without telling you up-front about their intent to rip the thing.
They have fought the War on Drugs with skill, so why not the War on Piracy?
Another gem. Boy, it's so hard to buy dope ever since Nancy Reagan was on Different Strokes, right? Nah, you never hear about anyone having drugs anymore - they totally licked that problem.
This evening, my daughters asked me. "Why do the other kids laugh at us?"
"Because your daddy is too stupid to do basic math and keeps trying to imitate Dirty Harry."
Some people are offended by my blacklist system. I may have made my store less popula
Hilary Rosen, head of the Powerful Trade Organization for the $15 billion recording industry, is full of contrasts...*snip*
Fifteen billion?? May I please be next in line to be beleaguered???
Weaselmancer
First open source, now open hardware. I'm...pleasantly stunned. Go Blue!
Weaselmancer
PS: At the Risk of -1 Redundant, this is a great move. I'm in embedded design, and I've discovered a few things that wound up in errata sheets later on. If I had been working on an open chip like this, I'd have worked out a fix and contributed it back to the project.
Sure beats skimming errata sheets endlessly and knowing there's nothing you can do to fix things.
I have another similar story. And it has the same moral - If you're a coder, avoid working with the porn industry.
I wound up trying to make a live video site for a bunch of paizans. They had zero sense, and most of the money they were investing was "won at the race track". Dunno what the hell I was thinking.
I finally got out of it when it was time to make the website. I had told those guys for 4 months that we're going to need some pictures of our girls for the website. So what happened next, technically, I did ask for.
They were having zero luck to get anyone to actually work for the site, but they knew this girl who was a manager for a bunch of dancers. (I'll leave it to the reader to determine what that actually means). And of course she couldn't get anyone on photo day, so being an ex dancer herself, she volunteers for the photo shoot.
I've never seen anything like that. Ever.
Looked like this woman had been through about 15 years of binge eating and cocaine diets. She was thin, but her skin was about 3 sizes too large. She looked like she was covered in vienna sausages.
Ready for the punchline? These idiots wanted me to put her on our homepage anyways! They couldn't see why this was a bad idea.
Might have worked as a business plan, if we could use popup technology to force popup pictures of her unless you pay us.
Fortunately I escaped soon after that. They found a new webmonkey and fired me. Thank God.
Weaselmancer
...pull my finger, and I'll tell ya. =)
Weaselmancer
Someone did this just recently. Meet Phatbot.
From the page:
What sets Phatbot apart from its predecessors is the use of P2P to control the botnet instead of IRC. Although Agobot has a rudimentary P2P system, IRC is still the main control vector. The author(s) of Phatbot chose to abandon Agobot's IRC and P2P implementations altogether and replaced them with code from WASTE, a project created by AOL's Nullsoft division (and subsequently canceled by AOL).
Granted, it's not intended to do file swapping per se (the P2P bit is a control vector intended to upload crap like spam relays), but it'd be trivial to point the shared folder to "My Music". Bingo. You're P2P, and it's not your fault.
It's Microsoft's. And wouldn't it be a hoot to watch the RIAA go after them demanding they plug the security holes that make this possible. ;^)
Weaselmancer
How many companies these days are willing to drop money into some technology that may not turn a profit for many years?
Well, Microsoft keeps funding SCO...
Ba dump bump! Thanks, I'll be here all week. Try the veal.
Weaselmancer
I mean really, how much calculus has been discovered in the last 200 years? And of that, how much is being taught in college in Calc I, II or III?
Most calculus is hundreds of years old. How can you keep making new introductory texts to it? Kind of like having a series of books on the latest trends in waltzing, if you ask me.
Weaselmancer
Choicepoint requires that you have a business license to run a small business to use this software. However, as users of these services are rarely audited or asked to produce their business license, the purchaser can potentially conduct criminal background checks, Social Security number identification and other checks on anyone for a small fee.
So, why can't they use their uber-database to see if a potential customer has a business license???
If their software is so dense as to miss obvious publicly available information like that, then I wouldn't worry.
Weaselmancer
A brilliant, and unfortunately completely true assessment of the situation.
Hell, they're not even really playing poker. It's more like chess. The more moves ahead you can plan for, the better you play. Bill makes Machiavelli look like a complete amateur.
I mean, look at what the guy has done. It's a cliche, but he really could sell ice to eskimos.
He sells more copies of Office than there are installs of the completely free and just as functional OpenOffice. He sells IIS server software, even though Apache pretty much smokes it. He sells server software with limited licensing schemes, even though Linux is 100% open and free. And set up an entire industry of training MS qualified techs, to run MS servers...which are needed in bulk because the software isn't reliable.
Anyone who can manage this level of voodoo shouldn't be underestimated under any circumstances. He may have been planning this since Linux 1.0. With billions of dollars and teams of people working on keeping MS a monopoly, it wouldn't surprise me.
Weaselmancer
Because the law isn't always the best yardstick of right and wrong. Currently, the laws that govern this kind of behavior are the result of some of the most intense lobbying ever. They're overblown.
I believe in checks and balances in the system. Having a single unilateral entity that answers to nobody is not how the system is supposed to work. Currently the RIAA/MPAA are sidestepping due process with the help of a senator, Fritz Hollings. Do a little research on him. Search Google for his nickname, "The Senator from Disney", so named because of his being bankrolled by the entertainment industry. Here's an example of the kind of nonsense this guy is trying to make into law.
As an example of the way things work now, let's say you share a music file. The RIAA logs on to the network and finds "this IP is sharing this file". They then bully your ISP into divulging their records, and then threaten to sue you for millions, and "allow" you to settle for thousands.
The FBI currently doesn't have that much leeway in pursuing criminals. Think about that. Now consider that they're still lobbying. What's next? They've already asserted that if the music went to your account, you are responsible. Even if it wasn't you. They've busted grandparents who's grandkids downloaded music. What if your machine gets a virus and sets itself up as a file swapping node?
Another problem with the RIAA, is that they fail to meet their established purpose. They are supposed to facilitate music and protect musicians, but instead do the exact opposite. They're essentially an extortion racket, and have been since long before the first MP3 was burned.
If you'd like to know about what a nest of criminals the RIAA are, read this article by Steve Albini. It's a must-read about how the music industry works. They're a protection racket.
And with the exception of Metallica (who, as everyone knows were replaced by pod people replicants late in '97), how many musicians can you name that are in favor of the RIAA's legal thrashings about? If the RIAA is helping people, wouldn't those people stand up and say thank you? The silence is deafening.
Do a little research. Here's a good example, an interview with Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo fame. It's a good read, especially where music executives fly him to Jamaica, get him higher than a kite and try to get him to sign legal documents.
Make no mistake, the RIAA are scum. And the fact that their lobbying has given them powers that compare well with the NSA should make you worry. It does me - and I don't share music. It gives me the creeps when criminals get that kind of power.
Weaselmancer
You have an id # in the 500,000 range, so you might not have this realized yet: slashbot groupthink != right.
Read again - I didn't imply any right or wrong. I said that I wasn't going to bother with responding, and pointed out why he got modded to zero. Slashdot is an unfriendly room to back the RIAA in.
But since you brought it up, the RIAA is in the wrong - and it's an opinion I came to all by myself.
Weaselmancer
I must add that SCO was eventually made aware of AutoZone's transition to Linux. They responded by offering to assist AutoZone in the porting activity.
If there's a God in Heaven, and he's listening...please let Jim Greer find his documentation for this!
C'mon Slashdot - let's spend real karma for this! Bow your head and join me in a quick silent prayer to the Deity of your choice....
Weaselmancer
I know I am the devil's advocate here, but I am open to good arguments. Please don't waste your time on flames.
Fair enough. You didn't post as AC, so I'll bite. Anyone spending that much karma deserves a few straight answers.
And what is the RIAA doing wrong?
You have an id # in the 500,000 range, so you're not new here. So, I'm not going to bother with this one. I will say this though - it's the comment that got you modded to zero as flamebait. Around here, that's like walking into a bar mitzvah and saying that you admire Mel Gibson's dad for his refreshing point of view.
I am not so convinced EV1 is being stupid. They protect themselves and their customers.
I'm sure some guy in marketing thought exactly that. "Hey Bob, I've got an idea! Let's buy a SCO license and be the first on the planet to be immune to the SCO litigation."
The problem is, is that having a business association with SCO opens you up to lawsuits from them, not prevent them. To put it another way, never deal with the devil, son. He don't play fair.
Of course, you are free to boycott EV1 for whatever reason you have, but I do not believe buying SCO licenses is a good one.
I do. And I can give you a few more reasons why, as well as my original post.
For one, it sets a precedent to other companies dumb enough to back SCO's dubious claims. If a boycott is the result of buying one of SCO's bogus vaporware licenses, maybe the next guy will think twice before buying one.
Also, it's not fashionable these days to say things like this, but I'm going to do it anyways. Evil must be opposed. If I may take off my kid gloves for a moment - SCO are thieves. Their claims to other peoples works are immoral, and therefore must be opposed. All it takes for criminals to prosper is for good people to do nothing. So I'm doing what I can, by boycotting SCO and anyone who backs them. And I hope others do the same.
Weaselmancer
I can see where this is coming from, but isn't it just a tad extreme? Boycotting SCO is one thing. Boycotting EV1 because they paid their protection money is another.
Nope, it's not extreme at all. Just one single user buying one of their stupid licenses gives them a note of validity. A precedent.
And, that money goes to SCO, who will use it to hurt other people with and continue their nonsense. I don't buy music CDs for the same reason, because of the RIAA. I make sure my money does not support people who wish to abuse me, curtail my rights, or harm the world if I can help it.
A good example of this would be spam. It's the one idiot in a gazillion that buys the Gene-ric Vi'ag'ra that makes spam profitable, and therefore keeps spam around. And EV1 just became that idiot for the entire Linux community.
So to sum up, stupidity should be painful. Boycott them.
Weaselmancer
We have a winner! Always good to hear from a fellow north-coaster. =)
Weaselmancer
Huey, Dewey, and Louie. No Google used. What do I win? =)
BTW, Silent Running is a seriously cool movie. They'd play it every so often on the Big Chuck and Little John show when I was a kid. As for Big Chuck and Little John...well, it's a Cleveland thing.
Bonus points to any Clevelanders out there as old or older than I who can name Big Chuck's previous guest host.
stupid Office...crashed on my 3 times just last night on an otherwise rock stable box
That's because Wine is still in beta. You did say you were using Office on a rock stable box, didn't you? ;^)
Weaselmancer
From the horse's ass^H^H^Hmouth:
"Subsequent investigation has shown this was not the result of any breach of Microsoft's corporate network or internal security, nor is it related to Microsoft's Shared Source Initiative or its Government Security Program, which enable our customers and partners, as well as governments, to legally access Microsoft source code."
So, it wasn't stolen. They weren't hacked. And it's not part of a contract they have with anyone. So exactly how is it illegal for me to view, if no crime was committed in it's dissemination?
One way of looking at it might be that since it's not out in the wild due to a crime or any breach of contract...that might make it the digital equivalent of graffiti.
Weaselmancer
It's actually kind of ironic, considering that SCO has been claiming all this time that the GPL is bad because it's "viral." It sounds to me that the System V licensing agreement, as construed by SCO, is far worse!
An excellent point, and worth re-reading.
Weaselmancer
I agree completely.
The only real reason arcades were a hit was because they gave you something that you couldn't get at home. We all had the Atari 2600, right? But it didn't take a genius to figure out that the gameplay was a little different. The 2600 sucked compared to what was in the arcades. So we kept on going.
Now fast-forward to today...is the version of Tekken 3 any different in the arcade as what you have at home?
To get me to an arcade, they're going to have to give me something I can't get at home. A good example of that would be the multiplayer Battlemech Simulators - I'd do that in a heartbeat.
But as for a standup arcade machine - it's a dead genre. A box to waste a little time in a BW-3 while waiting for your hot wings. The arcade culture is gone. Treasure your memories, play MAME...but know that the genie is out of the bottle and playing SOCOM in his living room.
Weaselmancer
The Holy Roman empire was neither holy, nor was it Roman. Discuss.
/Coffee Talk
Weaselmancer
I just downloaded the latest Wine about 3 days ago straight from WineHQ. The new winecfg is excellent. It's way better than the old TK one. Clean tabbed interface, and it's as simple to configure as any other app.
Weaselmancer
PS: You said, "The second and most obvious thing is that because wine exists then less software will be made for linux in the meantime."
Think of Wine as a gateway to Linux. Yeah, there will be less of a compelling reason to write native Linux apps. That is, until it takes off and becomes mainstream.
If Linux/Wine was on 50% of desktops, you'd see more native Linux apps. "Why not port this to Linux and get a speed increase, Bob? Linux is on 50% of all the desktops in the world, and we're missing a market segment." That kind of a thing.
Plus, Wine is not a product, it's a project. Codeweavers makes a product based on Wine, and so does Transgaming.
Codeweavers product is aimed at people who want to use Linux, but communicate 100% with MS Office people. And use MS plugins in their Linux browsers.
Transgamings product is aimed at the hacker/enthusiast who wants to be on the cutting edge running DirectX games on their Linux install.
Eventually, Wine will be a near 100% replacement for the MS API. Buy a MS piece of software at CompUSA, drop it in your Linux distro, and it works perfectly.
And once that happens, you will see Linux begin to take over the desktop. And that's why Wine developers are heroes. Keep up the good work!
Weaselmancer
PS: The submitter is hoping for the "magic bullet" that'll speed up wine, but may have missed just such a magic bullet in the article he posted. It's a shared memory wineserver, currently experimental. I'll quote from the WineHQ page:
Gav showed a dramatic demo of American McGee's Alice running under both WineX and WineX with shared memory. In that particular game the sound and graphics threads needed to sync with each other at an astounding rate. Typical WineX performance produced about 50 frames per second. By moving to shared memory the framerate nearly doubled to about 95 a second.