a pretty small and basic web browser without all the cruft
How has this changed? Seriously, clean installs of Phoenix 1.0 and Firefox 11.0 are largely equivalent in terms of UI being presented (browser, bookmarks, history, tabs.) What "cruft" has been added that wasn't removed in the initial split from Seamonkey?
There still isn't a fully functional equivalent of AdBlock Plus even. The best they can do is hope the download takes long enough that the script can kill it. You still register the HTTP request, no matter what.
Of course they do. So does the RIAA and MPAA, because they hate their customers and seek to punish the paying ones, assuming them to be criminals.
and with TPM or equivalent chips making their way into more and more platforms a truly unbreakable DRM scheme is well on its way to fruition.
This is a bad thing, you realize?
This is a good thing.
Nope. You don't. You are part of the problem. Do you work for the RIAA/MPAA/BSA?
Free operating systems will be free to ignore the cryptographic modules.
Or maybe they'll become mandatory for access to the internet. Or maybe Microsoft will succeed in making secure boot mandatory and impossible to disable.
Then you are pro-DRM, and part of the problem too.
I advocate violating the DMCA at every chance possible. But indeed, I cannot do anything in terms of entertainment these days without encountering customer hating DRM.
My guess is that you feel entitled to circumvent DRM in order to enjoy the content in a manner of your choosing.
Oh, I am entitled. The only thing I am not allowed to do is redistribute it.
If you want to run Linux and OSS, you can, you'll always be able to - and you'll save yourself a pile of money.
Are you sure? There's a marked push by major industry players to drive us into a corner with respect to the flexibility and openness of platforms.
You are not given the keys AND THIS IS A FEATURE/SELLING POINT.
It's not a selling point. It's something they fail to do silently and hope you don't notice. Most people don't. Those who do, fail to raise a real stink.
are you genuinely telling you believe every single person would be best suited being flung at a root prompt?
No, and that you make this ignorant assertion proves you aren't thinking. Don't worry, I hear it a lot in discussions like this.
I own many things, TVs, Watches, digital camera - loads of things I consider appliances and just wish them work as stated on the box. I crack open the case and tinker and bad things will probably happen, so I don't. Many people just want their computer to be the same.
Which is entirely irrelevant. Computers are not single purpose devices, especially not tablets/smartphones. And it's fine for them to come with sane defaults that the user may never leave behind, but it should come with the ability to exit the walled garden.
What does it prove I can't do that I can do on a Windows machine?
Use your device as you see fit without being on the wrong side of some contract. Don't forget, a Windows machine isn't exclusively a Windows machine but a generic PC that doesn't need to run Windows at all.
Laws/contracts that can't be enforced do not really exist as far as I'm concerned.
You say this, yet Apple pushed for their contract to be covered by the DMCA so they could pursue those who distributed jailbreaks. Access to ones own property should not be so tenuous nor should it have to be argued for.
Much to the chagrin of the nerds that enjoy "modable" computers.
And much to the joy of the suits who realize that this is a way to take control back from you, as well as a way to begin tacking monthly charges on you.
There's something to be said for being able to do everything locally, especially in terms of not being subject to someone else's unreadable ToS.
If you all want to relegate yourself to obscurity, thats your fault, no one elses.
Pretty disturbing that "freedom" from corporate control could be relegated to obscurity. After all, what's the fucking point of Free Software if none of your users can actually take advantage of it even if they wanted to?
the "generative spirit" continually finds ways to break down the walls
Tell that to the buyers of Motorola devices, who have to bend over backwards to bypass the restrictions they put in place on the handsets they sell. That's not innovation, that's contorting oneself to work around punitive restrictions, something you shouldn't need to do.
He equally ignores the fact that the vast majority of users of open technologies never did, or ever would have, engaged in any truly generative behavior. And there's nothing wrong with that. What was a problem was that the price of keeping things open was often inhibiting the normal, consumptive uses of that larger group.
The problem with this pro-lockdown-apology of yours is that if this trend also involved giving end users the ability to take control should they so choose, then it wouldn't be a problem. There is absolutely no intention of this from vendors like Apple, and it is met with halfass efforts from Microsoft and the various Android vendors ("you can do what you want, but we'll void your warranty!")
there's no evidence whatsoever of the epic collapse of innovation Zittrain has been forecasting for years.
Give it time. Eventually even more people will defend DRM, Trusted Computing, and lockdown like yourself. Cheering the death of Free Software all the way.
I wouldn't be doing this without the walled garden.
Why? Aside from the controlled APIs and distribution path, what does locking down the user give to you (other than admitting you hate and distrust your users?)
Walls can easily be broken. The jailbreaking community is alive and well.
Because it's so wonderful to expend effort to regain control and capability that was deliberately taken away. And constantly fighting the vendor who seeks to impose that control on you, on top of being in violation of the EULA.
So as far as I'm concerned, it's the best of both worlds and the op ed is a lot of FUD.
They're pushing restrictions and DRM. You're pro-DRM, so yes you're blind to the problem. And part of it.
Nobody's killing 'Open Computing' - just there are now some very nice walled gardens, if you prefer it this way.
Apple and MS are making a grand effort to kill 'Open Computing' by working very hard to ensure that the single largest growth sector of computing, mobile, is unrelentingly hostile to Free Software and Open Source and requires gaining their blessings before moving on. Microsoft is even going to retain control of their Win32 replacement APIs and force software that uses them through their store, likely with restrictive license terms (of course, if you're big enough you can negotiate.)
if they eventually find it limiting, they can move on.
So they do what, throw away the $500 iPad? Why should they have to do that if they find that it's too crippled for what they want to do?
I think some people should be locked into walled gardens for their own good.
But they should be given the keys, when currently they are emphatically and deliberately not.
Ah yes, another person trying to distract from the incredible push of DRM and lockdown in the past couple years.
Despite antitrust and consumer protection laws, soon *every* device will be made by [Apple|Google|Microsoft] and the entire world will be subject to that company's terrible machinations
The tech and media industry lobbying is pushing extreme laws like SOPA, and you think they can't defray consumer protection laws? We already have extremely weak protections as it is, and I'm sure they could spew bullshit about how locking these devices down and retaining control would be good for the user (despite being primarily geared around profit-generation.) And so long as you have [Apple|Google|Microsoft] then you have "competition" and avoid anti-trust action.
All they need to do is ensure that you can't move forward without paying their tolls.
DONT BUY IT. If you're having such a monumental issue with walled gardens, stop buying stuff from them. But oohhhh shiny steam app... must buy... and all those achievements... ohhh... must have... and those hats... groovy... and the whole fucking world needs to see my status update. But facebook sucks ! That's right. It sucks and still you want to have it. For free.
Don't worry. Eventually it will be "Don't buy it, and do without modern technology."
they managed to break addon compability 7 times in between
Which is inexcusable really, I mean, it's not like the betas are kept behind closed doors and dropped on users and addon developers at the same time. That addon developers can't be arsed to keep up with the changes and really, the shift from FF3.6 to 4.0 broke more addons than subsequent changes from 5-11 (especially if you use the Addon Compatibility Reporter to enable them.)
Well, except for the competent ones like NoScript and AdblockPlus, which work great even up in the latest builds of Nightly.
As opposed to the greedy God-fearing bastards who bilk the religious? Or do you assume (in your rage) that everyone who does not believe in God is greedy?
I ask because you sound like a nut from the Red Scare.
I'm not sure if I have it in me to fork an entire distribution.
That's what Mer is for. It is a fork of MeeGo that intends to retain compatibility with MeeGo and eventually Tizen. As for something truly usable, Nemo and Cordia HD are based upon Mer and provide UIs of their own (as Mer does not supply one.) Beyond that, making changes to the base packages and getting them pushed upstream is one of the benefits of truly being FOSS based.
If you want to talk to people about it, there are mailing lists and IRC channels (freenode.net, #mer, #nemomobile) though you will need to keep in mind that many of the leads are in Europe.
It's easy to move on to A9 based platforms when you can go to the SoC vendor and say "we're gonna ship a couple million." They'll be all over supplying you with the chips you need.
When you're someone small like this, you get stuck at the back of the pack. A9 based chips they can get will probably be available in a year and a half or so...
When you copyright your software, you copyright your specific implementation of the code. If someone comes along and writes software that performs the same function but without infringing on your copyright, you are facing competition.
SAS asserted that they were the subject of copyright violation, and attempted to shut down a competitor that created an independent implementation.
They were. There were some infrastructure things (dsme, bme, some applications) that weren't. You can actually get a Mer/MeeGo derived OS that runs the same desktop environment in Cordia HD.
And Mer/MeeGo, incidentally, are even more open than Maemo was on the N900. The regular stumbling blocks of GPU drivers still apply.
Sure, but that point is not the same for everyone. Just because you or someone else has decided that they don't want to mess around with mobile technology, doesn't mean that it should be a path denied to everyone. Nor should it be actively inhibited and fought against by companies selling high dollar devices.
An entire new space is opening up and the desire to be able to hack in it and do things that aren't totally corporate-controlled is strangely meeting resistance from some odd dimension of the Slashdot readership, declaring it to be the realm of "consumer appliances," thus rationalizing the deriding of those who show interest. It's quite sad, really.
I hadn't realized how hostile manufacturers are becoming towards their customers.
But you aren't the customer. The customer, at least in the US, is the mobile carrier who wants to restrict you as much as possible. The fallout from this is that even in places where you can buy the device unlocked, the devices are still crippled (see Motorola.) The end result is that ~2 years on I am still using my N900.
Should, but they won't. Mostly because at least in the US they're subservient to the carriers who don't want you to do as you wish, but rather want you to do as they wish and use your device as little as possible, pay as much as possible, and throw it away in favor of a new device and a new contract after 2 years are up.
Slashdot Mirror
How has this changed? Seriously, clean installs of Phoenix 1.0 and Firefox 11.0 are largely equivalent in terms of UI being presented (browser, bookmarks, history, tabs.) What "cruft" has been added that wasn't removed in the initial split from Seamonkey?
There still isn't a fully functional equivalent of AdBlock Plus even. The best they can do is hope the download takes long enough that the script can kill it. You still register the HTTP request, no matter what.
Beyond that, all this Firefox hate is ridiculous.
Of course they do. So does the RIAA and MPAA, because they hate their customers and seek to punish the paying ones, assuming them to be criminals.
This is a bad thing, you realize?
Nope. You don't. You are part of the problem. Do you work for the RIAA/MPAA/BSA?
Or maybe they'll become mandatory for access to the internet. Or maybe Microsoft will succeed in making secure boot mandatory and impossible to disable.
I advocate violating the DMCA at every chance possible. But indeed, I cannot do anything in terms of entertainment these days without encountering customer hating DRM.
Oh, I am entitled. The only thing I am not allowed to do is redistribute it.
Are you sure? There's a marked push by major industry players to drive us into a corner with respect to the flexibility and openness of platforms.
It's not a selling point. It's something they fail to do silently and hope you don't notice. Most people don't. Those who do, fail to raise a real stink.
No, and that you make this ignorant assertion proves you aren't thinking. Don't worry, I hear it a lot in discussions like this.
Which is entirely irrelevant. Computers are not single purpose devices, especially not tablets/smartphones. And it's fine for them to come with sane defaults that the user may never leave behind, but it should come with the ability to exit the walled garden.
Use your device as you see fit without being on the wrong side of some contract. Don't forget, a Windows machine isn't exclusively a Windows machine but a generic PC that doesn't need to run Windows at all.
You say this, yet Apple pushed for their contract to be covered by the DMCA so they could pursue those who distributed jailbreaks. Access to ones own property should not be so tenuous nor should it have to be argued for.
The fact that you have to Jailbreak and land on the wrong side of an EULA proves that it isn't.
And much to the joy of the suits who realize that this is a way to take control back from you, as well as a way to begin tacking monthly charges on you.
There's something to be said for being able to do everything locally, especially in terms of not being subject to someone else's unreadable ToS.
Pretty disturbing that "freedom" from corporate control could be relegated to obscurity. After all, what's the fucking point of Free Software if none of your users can actually take advantage of it even if they wanted to?
Tell that to the buyers of Motorola devices, who have to bend over backwards to bypass the restrictions they put in place on the handsets they sell. That's not innovation, that's contorting oneself to work around punitive restrictions, something you shouldn't need to do.
The problem with this pro-lockdown-apology of yours is that if this trend also involved giving end users the ability to take control should they so choose, then it wouldn't be a problem. There is absolutely no intention of this from vendors like Apple, and it is met with halfass efforts from Microsoft and the various Android vendors ("you can do what you want, but we'll void your warranty!")
Give it time. Eventually even more people will defend DRM, Trusted Computing, and lockdown like yourself. Cheering the death of Free Software all the way.
Why? Aside from the controlled APIs and distribution path, what does locking down the user give to you (other than admitting you hate and distrust your users?)
Because it's so wonderful to expend effort to regain control and capability that was deliberately taken away. And constantly fighting the vendor who seeks to impose that control on you, on top of being in violation of the EULA.
They're pushing restrictions and DRM. You're pro-DRM, so yes you're blind to the problem. And part of it.
Apple and MS are making a grand effort to kill 'Open Computing' by working very hard to ensure that the single largest growth sector of computing, mobile, is unrelentingly hostile to Free Software and Open Source and requires gaining their blessings before moving on. Microsoft is even going to retain control of their Win32 replacement APIs and force software that uses them through their store, likely with restrictive license terms (of course, if you're big enough you can negotiate.)
So they do what, throw away the $500 iPad? Why should they have to do that if they find that it's too crippled for what they want to do?
But they should be given the keys, when currently they are emphatically and deliberately not.
Ah yes, another person trying to distract from the incredible push of DRM and lockdown in the past couple years.
The tech and media industry lobbying is pushing extreme laws like SOPA, and you think they can't defray consumer protection laws? We already have extremely weak protections as it is, and I'm sure they could spew bullshit about how locking these devices down and retaining control would be good for the user (despite being primarily geared around profit-generation.) And so long as you have [Apple|Google|Microsoft] then you have "competition" and avoid anti-trust action.
All they need to do is ensure that you can't move forward without paying their tolls.
Higher profits, DRM, and TV-ficiation of the Internet are good reasons?
Don't worry. Eventually it will be "Don't buy it, and do without modern technology."
Which is inexcusable really, I mean, it's not like the betas are kept behind closed doors and dropped on users and addon developers at the same time. That addon developers can't be arsed to keep up with the changes and really, the shift from FF3.6 to 4.0 broke more addons than subsequent changes from 5-11 (especially if you use the Addon Compatibility Reporter to enable them.)
Well, except for the competent ones like NoScript and AdblockPlus, which work great even up in the latest builds of Nightly.
As opposed to the greedy God-fearing bastards who bilk the religious? Or do you assume (in your rage) that everyone who does not believe in God is greedy?
I ask because you sound like a nut from the Red Scare.
That's what Mer is for. It is a fork of MeeGo that intends to retain compatibility with MeeGo and eventually Tizen. As for something truly usable, Nemo and Cordia HD are based upon Mer and provide UIs of their own (as Mer does not supply one.) Beyond that, making changes to the base packages and getting them pushed upstream is one of the benefits of truly being FOSS based.
If you want to talk to people about it, there are mailing lists and IRC channels (freenode.net, #mer, #nemomobile) though you will need to keep in mind that many of the leads are in Europe.
Great, thank you for stating the obvious. Do you have some overreaching point, or are you just here to beat people over the head with your wisdom?
It's easy to move on to A9 based platforms when you can go to the SoC vendor and say "we're gonna ship a couple million." They'll be all over supplying you with the chips you need.
When you're someone small like this, you get stuck at the back of the pack. A9 based chips they can get will probably be available in a year and a half or so...
Or its newer variants. Loaded with OpenWRT, there's nothing you can't do with them. Newer variants have even more flash and RAM.
When you copyright your software, you copyright your specific implementation of the code. If someone comes along and writes software that performs the same function but without infringing on your copyright, you are facing competition.
SAS asserted that they were the subject of copyright violation, and attempted to shut down a competitor that created an independent implementation.
They were. There were some infrastructure things (dsme, bme, some applications) that weren't. You can actually get a Mer/MeeGo derived OS that runs the same desktop environment in Cordia HD.
And Mer/MeeGo, incidentally, are even more open than Maemo was on the N900. The regular stumbling blocks of GPU drivers still apply.
Sure, but that point is not the same for everyone. Just because you or someone else has decided that they don't want to mess around with mobile technology, doesn't mean that it should be a path denied to everyone. Nor should it be actively inhibited and fought against by companies selling high dollar devices.
An entire new space is opening up and the desire to be able to hack in it and do things that aren't totally corporate-controlled is strangely meeting resistance from some odd dimension of the Slashdot readership, declaring it to be the realm of "consumer appliances," thus rationalizing the deriding of those who show interest. It's quite sad, really.
But you aren't the customer. The customer, at least in the US, is the mobile carrier who wants to restrict you as much as possible. The fallout from this is that even in places where you can buy the device unlocked, the devices are still crippled (see Motorola.) The end result is that ~2 years on I am still using my N900.
Should, but they won't. Mostly because at least in the US they're subservient to the carriers who don't want you to do as you wish, but rather want you to do as they wish and use your device as little as possible, pay as much as possible, and throw it away in favor of a new device and a new contract after 2 years are up.
Until then, pick a handset and go look at http://wiki.merproject.org/wiki/Nemo">Nemo, maybe grab an N900.