Looking at the misfeatures implemented by Motorola into their phones to inhibit hacking (signing the bootloader, kernel, filesystems) and the frequently missing drivers, it makes me wonder how far one could take the environment released here.
Could you, once built, take the resulting setup and shove it on a G1 and run it? Or are there similar vendor lockouts like those Motorola has implemented?
I'd like to see a tivo-dodge here, but I'm not optimistic.
Putting two real buttons won't make people hate them.
No, but it would defeat the purpose of their UI design rules. It'd give developers an excuse to be lazy with their design decisions and make the second button required instead of an optional method of access. I see it far too often in Windows and Linux.
Go buy a seperate mouse if you have a dire need for a second mouse button (I did.)
The picture is known for having suckered more than a few notable websites (popular mechanics, amogn others) into thinking it was real, when in fact it originated in a FARK photoshop thread a couple years ago.
It's a photoshop, and (today) everyone is very aware of it. Except you, apparently.
There's a reason the baseband firmware and the application firmware (Android) tend to run on seperate CPUs with seperate RAM and flash storage. These then connect to the system via a serial or USB link.
There's no real good reason to not let users update their own user space firmware with whatever they want other than the simple reasons of DRM and user-control.
People go on and on about how Android is Linux based and Open Source, but it's not. The Linux backend is all but invisible and likely just as locked down as the Linux installs on other embedded devices. You are not going to be able to easily replace it, assuming you can even get close enough to the system to have a hope of doing so. Tivo, all over again.
Google is doing everything in the Java environment precisely to put you in a sandbox they (and the cell networks) can control. Sure the developer agreement is not quite as onerous as the one Apple uses, but it's certainly just as controlling when necessary.
And, sadly, so long as the cell carriers are seen as the customers of these phones, we'll only get more user-hostile phones that implement every security measure they can to keep you from doing what you want with your hardware.
Silverlight is a tool that Microsoft is designing so that developers can take better advantage of the rich Internet experience.
Sounds like marketing drivel to me.
Why can't people get past the whole pro vs. anti-Microsoft thing?
While financials are right in stating that past performance does not guarantee future performance, microsoft does not get the benefit of the doubt. They have (and continue to, albeit subtly) acted maliciously towards their competitors for a long time, and will spread FUD whenever they can to drive users to the "platform of choice*", namely Windows and Windows-derivatives.
Not to say that Microsoft hasn't come up with some good things. The problem is that adopting these good things puts you right where Microsoft wants you: following them lockstep, but never quite able to catch up.
That said, your post reeks of cheerleader. Wake me up when Mono catches up to.NET 3.0 (I think they just got 1.0 WinForms support and are nearing 2.0 compatibility?)
In most countries outside the US it has never been illegal to copy cultural expressions for personal use
Do you believe that hopping on a torrent with ten thousand people qualifies as "personal use" or "mass redistribution?" I consider personal use to be usage dealing with myself and people I know directly, not piping stuff out to twenty or more leeches whom I have no familiarity with.
The only thing relevant when discussing these issues, obviously, is the cost of distribution and the physical media you put it on.
Actual costs and medium of production are not relevant, which is why "Bands Doing Live Shows" is the answer to all copyright questions, even when it's not applicable.
Considering that so many memory modules require running out of spec voltages to operate properly, while the Intel CPU requires voltages within spec, it would appear to me that the memory makers are turning out bad memory.
Maybe instead of requiring users ramp voltages up to CPU damaging levels, they should fix their chips? Now that Intel has brought the memory controller into the CPU, that they have tighter tolerances for the voltages does not surprise me.
*Allows you to back up your UMD games over USB to ISO files.
Warez games.
*Allows the use of ISOs without needing the UMD (cures loading time issues with games)
Warez games.
*Emulators! Almost everything up to and including the Playstation is emulated at full speed. SNES, GBA, Mega Drive, Neo-Geo, CPS1, you name it. For me this makes it the best console I've ever had, handheld or otherwise.
The only reason one cannot easily use an external HDs to store and play video content is because the mainstream Movie Industry won't sell their movies in a non-DRM-encumbered format
As if the public were totally innocent with respect to this. They don't trust you and their fear is well grounded. Not saying I agree with DRM, but I see why it's there.
after all, how would they force people to buy the same movies again and again with each new format if they went with an open data format...
Well my DVDs haven't exactly, you know, stopped working. And AVI contained XVIDs don't spontaneously uprez from 720p to 1080p last I recall.
More like, they won't distribute un-DRMed videos because "teh internets" have shown that unencrypted media will end up on P2P services instantly. DRM slows them down a bit at the cost of some customer annoyance and they seem to be OK with that.
So if someone in China leaks all that source... an you can be assured that it will leak... then we can finally understand the interfaces and implement the drivers.
And every developer who looks at the sources is from that point on considered tainted, and completely ineligible to actually contribute to said projects. The only way would be to essentially sacrifice someone to write up a spec based on the stolen source code, and even that wouldn't be safe. If it were, I'm sure that WINE would be a lot farther along due to the availability of Windows source code.
1. we have enough information to implement fast graphics card drivers
If you want to deal with the legal disaster that would result in outside of China, sure.
2. china will develop knock-offs for their own market, which then strangely find themselves for a fraction of the price, in your local computer store.
Yes, what better way to encourage the development of future graphics cards by fucking over the companies that put in the time and effort to develop the chips and boards, than to buy bootleg knockoffs. That'll show them, thinking they were doing something valuable by investing in research and development!
This is > Microsoft Antitrust (think internet exploder)
No it's not. Microsoft was ready to kill entire pc manufacturers over the IE/Netscape issue, and they more than had the power to do so.
No independent developer -has- to release on the iPhone.
Seriously, people HATE Apple for completely irrational reasons and back them up with poorly constructed arguments. At least the Microsoft hate has -legal backing- behind it.
Homebrew productivity apps also have access to the filesystem on the MicroSD card, so they can swap or do standard file I/O if they need it.
And yet this is not relevant when discussing the DS proper, as Nintendo will not be making an SD card slot equipped cartridge available. Even if the unit has 4MB of RAM, it will be inherently limited vs. a PDA for a number of things:
1. Storage - As I said, Nintendo won't release a device with a PC-Compatible memory card slot for obvious reasons. 2. Connectivity - While the unit has Wifi, they generally only allow connections to their matchup service. I don't see Nintendo allowing the release of PDA software that syncs with a PC, again for obvious reasons.
The memory limitations of a system like the DS make such apps impractial at best and pointless at worst.
Even the Opera web browser cart comes with a secondary cartrige that contains extra RAM just for storing things while browsing, as the unit has so little memory by default they probably would have had to resort to partial downloading and funny buffering tricks or were unable to hold a page in RAM period.
If the feature is missing and people don't care, perhaps it wasn't that big to begin with?
I say this not as someone who uses and iPhone and has "rationalized" the lack of said feature but as someone who is still using a Sony-Ericsson from 2004.
Also, the lack of copy and paste stems from a lack of a real good way to do it within Apple's UI guidelines for the interface. Think, for a second, how you would do so with the guidelines they impose?
Slashdot Mirror
Looking at the misfeatures implemented by Motorola into their phones to inhibit hacking (signing the bootloader, kernel, filesystems) and the frequently missing drivers, it makes me wonder how far one could take the environment released here.
Could you, once built, take the resulting setup and shove it on a G1 and run it? Or are there similar vendor lockouts like those Motorola has implemented?
I'd like to see a tivo-dodge here, but I'm not optimistic.
No, but it would defeat the purpose of their UI design rules. It'd give developers an excuse to be lazy with their design decisions and make the second button required instead of an optional method of access. I see it far too often in Windows and Linux.
Go buy a seperate mouse if you have a dire need for a second mouse button (I did.)
Found it...
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1115586
Lukket's image. It went so far as to get debunked by Snopes before the month was out.
The picture is known for having suckered more than a few notable websites (popular mechanics, amogn others) into thinking it was real, when in fact it originated in a FARK photoshop thread a couple years ago.
It's a photoshop, and (today) everyone is very aware of it. Except you, apparently.
Indeed, but it's best in class. Sometimes good things are worth the money.
So what's this IEEE 1394A/B/C I keep hearing about?
There's a reason the baseband firmware and the application firmware (Android) tend to run on seperate CPUs with seperate RAM and flash storage. These then connect to the system via a serial or USB link.
There's no real good reason to not let users update their own user space firmware with whatever they want other than the simple reasons of DRM and user-control.
People go on and on about how Android is Linux based and Open Source, but it's not. The Linux backend is all but invisible and likely just as locked down as the Linux installs on other embedded devices. You are not going to be able to easily replace it, assuming you can even get close enough to the system to have a hope of doing so. Tivo, all over again.
Google is doing everything in the Java environment precisely to put you in a sandbox they (and the cell networks) can control. Sure the developer agreement is not quite as onerous as the one Apple uses, but it's certainly just as controlling when necessary.
And, sadly, so long as the cell carriers are seen as the customers of these phones, we'll only get more user-hostile phones that implement every security measure they can to keep you from doing what you want with your hardware.
Indeed. Don't vote. Just whine.
Let it get out of control. Let go of the steering wheel.
Be part of the problem. Don't vote.
(seriously, shit like this happens because over 50% of the US population DOES NOT VOTE. So shut the hell up, register, and vote.)
To be sure, -you- hate the glossy screen. However, if Dell/HP/Toshiba et. al. are any indication, the market as a whole prefers the glossy screens.
So Apple makes laptops with glossy screens. Good luck finding new laptops without them from ANY maker.
Sounds like marketing drivel to me.
While financials are right in stating that past performance does not guarantee future performance, microsoft does not get the benefit of the doubt. They have (and continue to, albeit subtly) acted maliciously towards their competitors for a long time, and will spread FUD whenever they can to drive users to the "platform of choice*", namely Windows and Windows-derivatives.
Not to say that Microsoft hasn't come up with some good things. The problem is that adopting these good things puts you right where Microsoft wants you: following them lockstep, but never quite able to catch up.
That said, your post reeks of cheerleader. Wake me up when Mono catches up to .NET 3.0 (I think they just got 1.0 WinForms support and are nearing 2.0 compatibility?)
Last time I pulled one of those off the wall it came off no problem. Along with the paint and wallboard behind it!
No more prone to warranty service than every Dell I've ever had the displeasure of being asked to look at.
But people like to look closely at Apple for failure so they can bash them. More so than even Microsoft it seems.
Do you believe that hopping on a torrent with ten thousand people qualifies as "personal use" or "mass redistribution?" I consider personal use to be usage dealing with myself and people I know directly, not piping stuff out to twenty or more leeches whom I have no familiarity with.
This is Slashdot.
The only thing relevant when discussing these issues, obviously, is the cost of distribution and the physical media you put it on.
Actual costs and medium of production are not relevant, which is why "Bands Doing Live Shows" is the answer to all copyright questions, even when it's not applicable.
Considering that so many memory modules require running out of spec voltages to operate properly, while the Intel CPU requires voltages within spec, it would appear to me that the memory makers are turning out bad memory.
Maybe instead of requiring users ramp voltages up to CPU damaging levels, they should fix their chips? Now that Intel has brought the memory controller into the CPU, that they have tighter tolerances for the voltages does not surprise me.
Warez games.
Warez games.
Warez old games.
I got it now.
As if the public were totally innocent with respect to this. They don't trust you and their fear is well grounded. Not saying I agree with DRM, but I see why it's there.
Well my DVDs haven't exactly, you know, stopped working. And AVI contained XVIDs don't spontaneously uprez from 720p to 1080p last I recall.
More like, they won't distribute un-DRMed videos because "teh internets" have shown that unencrypted media will end up on P2P services instantly. DRM slows them down a bit at the cost of some customer annoyance and they seem to be OK with that.
And every developer who looks at the sources is from that point on considered tainted, and completely ineligible to actually contribute to said projects. The only way would be to essentially sacrifice someone to write up a spec based on the stolen source code, and even that wouldn't be safe. If it were, I'm sure that WINE would be a lot farther along due to the availability of Windows source code.
If you want to deal with the legal disaster that would result in outside of China, sure.
Yes, what better way to encourage the development of future graphics cards by fucking over the companies that put in the time and effort to develop the chips and boards, than to buy bootleg knockoffs. That'll show them, thinking they were doing something valuable by investing in research and development!
I'd imagine that in the majority of cases... it is. Not that this wasn't a raging case of stupidity, but still.
Also: don't try to justify piracy. If you don't like how they do things, DON'T SUPPORT THEIR PRODUCT AT ALL. Anything else just gives them ammunition.
But he didn't -lose- anything!
How can you call it stealing when nothing was actually lost!
Slashdot doesn't get to play semantic games just 'cause it's their pet software license.
No it's not. Microsoft was ready to kill entire pc manufacturers over the IE/Netscape issue, and they more than had the power to do so.
No independent developer -has- to release on the iPhone.
Seriously, people HATE Apple for completely irrational reasons and back them up with poorly constructed arguments. At least the Microsoft hate has -legal backing- behind it.
And yet this is not relevant when discussing the DS proper, as Nintendo will not be making an SD card slot equipped cartridge available. Even if the unit has 4MB of RAM, it will be inherently limited vs. a PDA for a number of things:
1. Storage - As I said, Nintendo won't release a device with a PC-Compatible memory card slot for obvious reasons.
2. Connectivity - While the unit has Wifi, they generally only allow connections to their matchup service. I don't see Nintendo allowing the release of PDA software that syncs with a PC, again for obvious reasons.
The memory limitations of a system like the DS make such apps impractial at best and pointless at worst.
Even the Opera web browser cart comes with a secondary cartrige that contains extra RAM just for storing things while browsing, as the unit has so little memory by default they probably would have had to resort to partial downloading and funny buffering tricks or were unable to hold a page in RAM period.
If the feature is missing and people don't care, perhaps it wasn't that big to begin with?
I say this not as someone who uses and iPhone and has "rationalized" the lack of said feature but as someone who is still using a Sony-Ericsson from 2004.
Also, the lack of copy and paste stems from a lack of a real good way to do it within Apple's UI guidelines for the interface. Think, for a second, how you would do so with the guidelines they impose?