"Is this more of a preemptive strike where the Linux experience is so bad (slow machines, old software) they wouldn't bother to check it out in the future, thus securing an existing partner/client?"
The article didn't say but just in case this is what they are up to, I think real Linux users need to show up at these things with well configured modern laptops running the latest versions of Linux.
That way if Microsoft tries to "prove" Linux is inferior by running old and misconfigured versions we can say "And here's what it looks like if you don't try to screw it up."
As others have stated already, this is not an end to the push for software patents. Each country will be lobbied by Microsoft and other corporations to institute patent laws country by country and a new push will ensue for uniform patents laws later.
What we need to do is to push for laws that prohibit software patents of any kind. Even if they are in some way connected to hardware.
If one thinks clearly it becomes obvious that pure software patents are not acceptable and in the case of hardware/software combinations that the patent on the hardware will suffice. If a company develops a piece of hardware and another company reverse engineers it and puts out better software for the device the company that owns the device benefits anyway. Software patents are just bad all the way around.
It's not that people use the word. Nothing about Microsoft's trademark prevents us from using the word Windows. What it does do is prevent us from creating a similar product and calling it Windows or some other name that could confuse customer's.
This guy is a slime ball. He probably created some two bit company and called it STEALTH for the express purpose of bringing bogus lawsuits in the hopes of raking in a lot of money from nuisance lawsuits. I doubt that he has ever won a case. He probably doesn't pursue the cases very far but just hopes to settle out of court.
I think he was talking about code that might circumvent Microsoft's DRM. In the US we have a wonderful law. The DMCA which gives corporations the ability to stop me from using my fair use rights. I don't know if this plugin does circumvent Microsoft's DRM but if it does it's a problem.
If governments use a companies software that only supports its proprietary standards they are risking being denied access to their own data at some future date. Also as the world moves more toward software that supports open standards, users of Microsoft's products may have a harder time communicating with the world.
Thus far Microsoft has been using its monopoly power to hinder competition but the world is slowly coming around anyway so Microsoft isn't going to be able to dictate defacto standards much longer.
When CNN announced that hey were offering news video clips for free viewing I thought well good for them... Then I tried viewing one from my SUSE box and found that they were using Microsoft's media player:-(
I left a message with them and explained the problem but I think it will take a LOT of people (hint, hint) to email companies who use proprietary formats before they'll get the message.
In a man vs machine contest I would expect the machine to win. It's inevitable that as computers become more powerful humans will lose any games played against them. We shouldn't be upset over this. I'll bet I could design a hydraulic jack that could defeat the worlds strongest weight lifter too.
... should have an option of not accepting email that DOES have a Sender ID.
I'm not saying that the open source community should play childish games but this would be one way for the open source world to send a loud NO to Microsoft who apparently understands nothing but brute force.
When will society become outraged at the corporate mindset? The mindset that says that society can not be enriched if it costs the corporation or in this case the "not-for-profit" organization?
It is unfortunate that the only way that society can protect itself is to become and stay fighting mad. I don't want to be angry all of the time but the world is filled with greedy assholes who would turn our world into a hopeless pit of poverty if left unchecked.
Can a Utopian world where even the poorest among us can live comfortably and a corporate world where piggy CEOs can slurp up million dollar salaries coexists? If not, I for one choose Utopia.
So I say to all of the greedy sons-of-bitches "Don't get in the way of a better world. Adapt or die!"
Why don't you put your entire inventory up on the web and make it available in a user-friendly format for a reasonable price per track and get away from clinging to this old, outdated business model of selling the whole CD?"
Well I can see a couple of problems. First the music industry currently sells the entire CD as if each song had value. Unfortunately most albums have a couple of good songs bundled with crap. Twenty songs for fifteen bucks sounds reasonable but fifteen bucks for two songs doesn't. Never mind that eighteen of the songs are unwanted.
Allowing people to pay only for the content that they really wanted would only be possible, from a corporate point of view, if the content industry could be sure that a few legitimately purchased copies would not be given away to the masses thus reducing their profit. This might be possible with the use of DRM. However DRM, if unchecked, could completely destroy fair use. If a corporation can eek out even a little profit by denying consumers their fair use rights they will. It's in the corporate nature to do whatever increases their profit margins.
"Do I have sympathy for them? Not when they're clinging to a relic and when that's getting in the way of making good current business decisions.... They can make a fortune if they do that."
I'm not sure which "good current business decisions" Rep. Boucher is talking about. I would like to think that making their content available at a reasonable price would be wildly profitable for the music industry while giving consumer's value for their dollars. The model is, however, largely untested and counter intuitive. Remember that corporations want profit. The more the better. If they can sell their product while grossly over pricing that product all the better. In a normal market supply, demand and competition keeps prices bearable for the consumers. It is only when the economic environment can be controlled that corporations can get away with grossly inflated pricing. Many times this can occur if a corporation can obtain some kind of monopoly, mostly through the use of copyrights, patents or laws tailored for this purpose.
The business model that I think Rep. Boucher is talking about would threaten the monopoly that the recording industry has on distribution and is therefore a very scary model for them, I'm sure.
At the end of the article Rep. Boucher seemed to be talking about cutting a deal with the MPAA. He suggests that he may support the broadcast flag if they support the Media Consumers' Rights Act.
"The circuit court for D.C. has invalidated broadcast flag rulemaking, saying that the FCC lacked statutory authority (to create the broadcast flag). Not surprisingly, the MPAA has now come to us and said, "We want you to legislate."
I don't think we are going to do that. I have been waiting for a long time for Hollywood to come to us and say, "Here's something we want" because there is something I want. And it's called the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act."
I haven't read the Digital Media Consumers' Act but I'm smart enough to know that many times the name can be deceiving. For example the "Patriot Act" which is anything but patriotic if one would take the time to actually read it. I also know that legislation that start out good can be perverted at the last minute by congressmen who are not acting in the public best interest. Call me a radical but I think we should legalize the killing of lawmakers who act against the public interest. Not random killing, of course. What we should do is have a vote every five years or so for the politician that has done the public the most harm and then take that person out into a public square and hang him/her by the neck until dead. Just a thought.
"The IE fix corrects a remote code-execution vulnerability that exists due to the way the browser handles PNG (Portable Network Graphics) files."
A completely and truly open format and Microsoft can't get it right?! God they had better hope that they never lose their monopoly 'cause they can't compete on a level playing ground.
(Let the modding down begin... but it's the truth!)
No I don't think so. It's not in their nature to want to level the playing field.
I think Microsoft wants the APPEARANCE of an end to user lock in. They can let users look at and understand their formats while still keeping people locked into their products if they can find other ways from allowing the users to easily migrate to other products.
I would say that their patents on their XML file formats will do that.
Slashdot Mirror
"Is this more of a preemptive strike where the Linux experience is so bad (slow machines, old software) they wouldn't bother to check it out in the future, thus securing an existing partner/client?"
The article didn't say but just in case this is what they are up to, I think real Linux users need to show up at these things with well configured modern laptops running the latest versions of Linux.
That way if Microsoft tries to "prove" Linux is inferior by running old and misconfigured versions we can say "And here's what it looks like if you don't try to screw it up."
As others have stated already, this is not an end to the push for software patents. Each country will be lobbied by Microsoft and other corporations to institute patent laws country by country and a new push will ensue for uniform patents laws later.
What we need to do is to push for laws that prohibit software patents of any kind. Even if they are in some way connected to hardware.
If one thinks clearly it becomes obvious that pure software patents are not acceptable and in the case of hardware/software combinations that the patent on the hardware will suffice. If a company develops a piece of hardware and another company reverse engineers it and puts out better software for the device the company that owns the device benefits anyway. Software patents are just bad all the way around.
This doesn't mean that there aren't software patents in Europe. It means that there aren't uniform software patent laws in Europe.
A very different thing.
Yes, I popped an apostrophe in without thinking.
BFD
It's not that people use the word. Nothing about Microsoft's trademark prevents us from using the word Windows. What it does do is prevent us from creating a similar product and calling it Windows or some other name that could confuse customer's.
This guy is a slime ball. He probably created some two bit company and called it STEALTH for the express purpose of bringing bogus lawsuits in the hopes of raking in a lot of money from nuisance lawsuits. I doubt that he has ever won a case. He probably doesn't pursue the cases very far but just hopes to settle out of court.
Gator in the next service pack?
...the voter's find out and get really pissed... Then some things change briefly during the damage control PR campaign...
will the next version of Windows come with Gator built into the OS? Arrrrggggghhhhhh!!!
How about unencripted mpeg.
I think he was talking about code that might circumvent Microsoft's DRM. In the US we have a wonderful law. The DMCA which gives corporations the ability to stop me from using my fair use rights. I don't know if this plugin does circumvent Microsoft's DRM but if it does it's a problem.
on my home network is use a router switch. It doesn't cost much and it provides NAT (Network Address Translation).
:-) I sleep pretty well at night.
My internal IP range is non-routable so there is no direct connection between the outside and any of the computers on my home network.
The second thing I do is run Linux boxes. My home is a Microsoft free zone.
If governments use a companies software that only supports its proprietary standards they are risking being denied access to their own data at some future date. Also as the world moves more toward software that supports open standards, users of Microsoft's products may have a harder time communicating with the world.
Thus far Microsoft has been using its monopoly power to hinder competition but the world is slowly coming around anyway so Microsoft isn't going to be able to dictate defacto standards much longer.
When CNN announced that hey were offering news video clips for free viewing I thought well good for them... Then I tried viewing one from my SUSE box and found that they were using Microsoft's media player :-(
I left a message with them and explained the problem but I think it will take a LOT of people (hint, hint) to email companies who use proprietary formats before they'll get the message.
In a man vs machine contest I would expect the machine to win. It's inevitable that as computers become more powerful humans will lose any games played against them. We shouldn't be upset over this. I'll bet I could design a hydraulic jack that could defeat the worlds strongest weight lifter too.
. . . .
And you think you're so clever and class less and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
. .
John Lennon
... should have an option of not accepting email that DOES have a Sender ID.
I'm not saying that the open source community should play childish games but this would be one way for the open source world to send a loud NO to Microsoft who apparently understands nothing but brute force.
You haven't got a fucking clue, do you?
When will society become outraged at the corporate mindset? The mindset that says that society can not be enriched if it costs the corporation or in this case the "not-for-profit" organization?
It is unfortunate that the only way that society can protect itself is to become and stay fighting mad. I don't want to be angry all of the time but the world is filled with greedy assholes who would turn our world into a hopeless pit of poverty if left unchecked.
Can a Utopian world where even the poorest among us can live comfortably and a corporate world where piggy CEOs can slurp up million dollar salaries coexists? If not, I for one choose Utopia.
So I say to all of the greedy sons-of-bitches "Don't get in the way of a better world. Adapt or die!"
...you say thank you!
Why don't you put your entire inventory up on the web and make it available in a user-friendly format for a reasonable price per track and get away from clinging to this old, outdated business model of selling the whole CD?"
Well I can see a couple of problems. First the music industry currently sells the entire CD as if each song had value. Unfortunately most albums have a couple of good songs bundled with crap. Twenty songs for fifteen bucks sounds reasonable but fifteen bucks for two songs doesn't. Never mind that eighteen of the songs are unwanted.
Allowing people to pay only for the content that they really wanted would only be possible, from a corporate point of view, if the content industry could be sure that a few legitimately purchased copies would not be given away to the masses thus reducing their profit. This might be possible with the use of DRM. However DRM, if unchecked, could completely destroy fair use. If a corporation can eek out even a little profit by denying consumers their fair use rights they will. It's in the corporate nature to do whatever increases their profit margins.
"Do I have sympathy for them? Not when they're clinging to a relic and when that's getting in the way of making good current business decisions.... They can make a fortune if they do that."
I'm not sure which "good current business decisions" Rep. Boucher is talking about. I would like to think that making their content available at a reasonable price would be wildly profitable for the music industry while giving consumer's value for their dollars. The model is, however, largely untested and counter intuitive. Remember that corporations want profit. The more the better. If they can sell their product while grossly over pricing that product all the better. In a normal market supply, demand and competition keeps prices bearable for the consumers. It is only when the economic environment can be controlled that corporations can get away with grossly inflated pricing. Many times this can occur if a corporation can obtain some kind of monopoly, mostly through the use of copyrights, patents or laws tailored for this purpose.
The business model that I think Rep. Boucher is talking about would threaten the monopoly that the recording industry has on distribution and is therefore a very scary model for them, I'm sure.
At the end of the article Rep. Boucher seemed to be talking about cutting a deal with the MPAA. He suggests that he may support the broadcast flag if they support the Media Consumers' Rights Act.
"The circuit court for D.C. has invalidated broadcast flag rulemaking, saying that the FCC lacked statutory authority (to create the broadcast flag). Not surprisingly, the MPAA has now come to us and said, "We want you to legislate."
I don't think we are going to do that. I have been waiting for a long time for Hollywood to come to us and say, "Here's something we want" because there is something I want. And it's called the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act."
I haven't read the Digital Media Consumers' Act but I'm smart enough to know that many times the name can be deceiving. For example the "Patriot Act" which is anything but patriotic if one would take the time to actually read it. I also know that legislation that start out good can be perverted at the last minute by congressmen who are not acting in the public best interest.
Call me a radical but I think we should legalize the killing of lawmakers who act against the public interest. Not random killing, of course. What we should do is have a vote every five years or so for the politician that has done the public the most harm and then take that person out into a public square and hang him/her by the neck until dead. Just a thought.
no health care or health care that is so expensive as not to be an option...
"The IE fix corrects a remote code-execution vulnerability that exists due to the way the browser handles PNG (Portable Network Graphics) files."
A completely and truly open format and Microsoft can't get it right?! God they had better hope that they never lose their monopoly 'cause they can't compete on a level playing ground.
(Let the modding down begin... but it's the truth!)
...it looks like something Red Green would come up with!
was due to the sale of their Trolltec stock?
"Microsoft wants an end to end lock in"
No I don't think so. It's not in their nature to want to level the playing field.
I think Microsoft wants the APPEARANCE of an end to user lock in. They can let users look at and understand their formats while still keeping people locked into their products if they can find other ways from allowing the users to easily migrate to other products.
I would say that their patents on their XML file formats will do that.
And the beat goes on...