I could have written your post myself two weeks ago.
Check out gtk.licq.org. It has gtk plugin that completely replaces any need for for the qt-plugin, or (in your case and mine) the need for QT altogether. Albeit, it's not a deb yet, but (as soon as my Debian developer application finishes its thing), it will be.
The GTK plugin is prettier, slicker, and even smaller. The only functionality is has been missing (compared to the QT plugin) that I've been able to notice is that in the last stable version of gtk-licq, it didn't do autoaway. The config stuff is there, but the code needed to be finished. I believe that is already in the CVS. It rocks. As a Debian fantatic, the fact that I am willing to break put a non-apt-get changeable version into/usr/local/bin says a lot. It's totally worth the lapse of (one) religion. Try it out.
Agreed. I think most would agree that occasionally the ACLU does some good, but they are NOT the defenders of rights that they would like people to think. They very carefully pick and choose which rights they will defend, and invent rights where none exist.
On balance, they are far worse than any Microsoft or any DMCA.
Listen to yourself! How is picking and choosing rights to defend harmful? The NAACP picks rights that pertain to race. Is this wrong? The EFF defends a certain type of rights, and certainly not others. Greenpeace, Planned Parenthood, Pro-life groups, the Christian Coalition, the NRA, the Free Software Foundation all fit into the same catagory. No one group can even be EXPECTED to right for EVERY right. No one will chew out Greenpeace to push them into fight for free speech or the Free Software Foundation to take a stance on labor rights. Why can't the ACLU fall into this catagory too?
The ACLU spends the GREAT DEAL of it's time fighting for issues of first amendment rights. You may not like their stance on gun control or their interpretation of the second amendment but just because they don't choose to fight vehemently for your particular interpretation of that piece of law is no reason to say their aren't protecting it (they are just not protecting it in the way you see to be most valid which is not your business to tell them) and it is certainly out of line to say that they are doing harm. Either way, they are not fighting AGAINST the 2nd amendment so I can't see how they are worse than MS.
Microsoft has engaged in anti-competative marketing practices and as a company, it HAS done things wrong. They have committed crimes (according to a US court, which is fair as you're going to get) and that is bad (abusing a monopoly is illegal). The DMCA takes massive steps to limit the ability for innovation by the end user (section 8 of the constitution) and it limits freedom. This IS bad. You may not agree with some of the things the ACLU doesn't fight but doesn't make them worse that companies and bills that ARE harmful.
Re:You might be able to use the DMCA, anyway...
on
Thus Spake Stallman
·
· Score: 1
I think this is going to come down to an interepreation of the DMCA (which honestly, is going to have to be left to the courts in the end) but my familiarity with the act (and law and precedents concerning click-through licences) seems to support RMS's statement.
I was under the impression that in order for protection to be at all effective, it had to be seen (this is just under the DMCA). A unavoidable click-through is hard to miss, text file in the tarball is probably not hard to miss--and that's the problem.
Because a piece of GPLed software can be legally modified (any part, that's right) it is perfectly legal to simply make a change that removes the click-through license and, whammo, the protection is no longer "effective."
You're completely right, it may not matter how difficult the "effective protection" is bypass (although a reading implying the opposite is certainly possible with the current text although I'm under the impression that this will fixed in an amendment to the act if it becomes at all necessary) but the problem exists that the scenario of "effective protection" can change very legally with GPLed software in ways that it cannot change at all, with closed-source or non-free software. It is in this way that the DMCA reserves special rights for proprietary software and it is for this reason (and many many others) that RMS speaks out against it.
I lived in Ethiopia as late as last year so I feel I can speak rather well on the subject.
The physical structure of the Internet in Ethiopia is pretty bad, but it is certainly there. Internet costed about $40 (which is a HUGE amount of buying power in Ethiopia. I'd say probably 8-10 times the buying power in the states). That is out of the range of pretty much everyone except Internationals and elites. In Ethiopia's case is probably for the best--the government sold more accounts than they can realistically handle and you could no longer create new accounts accounts when I left the country. People with accounts are still limited to work with 288.8 modems and only on an infrastructure that is unpredictable at best. Even if the phones and power works, busy signals make connections impossible until late night or early morning.
When I was there, I knew one other linux geek and five or six geeks period. They certainly exist but its difficult to foster those types of people in Ethiopia. People with that knowledge were probably educated abroad and if you learned it abroad, you probably didn't come back.
The use of the Internet is still very much limited as well. The primary use is still email but people are turing to it more for international (BBC) news and for services like Net2Phone to offset HUGE international phone rates. Still, on a limited time per month and a by-the-call phone charge (connections lose carrier immediately more than 50% of the time), it's tough.
Because Ethiopia does not censor or block sites, the impact potential could be large but the reach limits this entirely. Also, the availability of Amharic content (or even an Amharic font) is virtually non-existant.
I rember once while I was there, there was a TV news special (government of course) about the propaganda war between Eritrea and Ethiopia that was going down on the net. The propaganda was obviously geared for readers outside the coutry of course.
People definately KNOW, but the current trend is not one that actually fosters any growth or democracy.
The final thing is that before I left, I heard that the government sold rights to provide Internet access to an American or European corporation. I'm thinking that the big bandwidth giants are getting their feet in the door now and gaining monopoly status so that, from now on, all ISPs must go though them. I think this type of monopoly, which could concievably serve the majority of Internet users worldwide in 50-80 years, really defeats a lot of the fundementally ieas behind the Internet.
There may be some problems in third world nations where they may have gotten some old System 34/36 systems shipped in, that will burn up on Jan 1st, but if they're just barely automated, stepping back to non-computerized methods isn't liable to be that much of a problem.
Having lived in Ethiopia, I'd have to agree that while it is going to be a MUCH larger problem in the third world, the ability of the third world to DEAL with massive failures is also MUCH higher than the first world.
There were few times in Ethiopia when all three major utilities (power, water, phone) were working. They each went out regularly (sometimes even rationed) and people DEALT. When I was in a store and the power was cut, the clerks didn't stare blankly at the register! They pulled the pen and paper (already waiting) out from under the machine! The banks? Same deal! Because nobody can depend on these systems, there are fallbacks.
I promise that it will be ugly in Africa and other third world countries but in a lot of ways, I'd almost rather be there. After living in Africa, I can wash my clothes by hand EFFECTIVELY. Who knows how to do that kind of stuff in the states? Would we even KNOW what do in a worst case Y2K scenario? I really doubt it. In Ethiopia and countries like it they DO KNOW, and they have a dress rehersel several times a month.
Hackers was not the truth and no one (with their head on straight) here is trying to argue that it was! Short of documentaries, few movies ARE! If I want truth, watch the discovery channel or a news channel. Even then it will be dramatized, distorted and piece together in a way that is interesting.
Call me crazy, but I don't pick up a fiction book, or an adventure book and complain because I don't believe in dragons or magic swords. I've never seen a wookiee. So what?
I understand your position, there's a seed of truth in here and you think people will be misled? My reponse is that there is a seed of truth in all good fiction stories, and I think you are grossly underestimating the average viewer. Everyone knows it is not true. They know it because they saw it on the silver screen. They know because it's actors playing characters, not real people.
I don't think Hackers was one of the greatest movies of all time. I do think it was a lot of fun. I coul really dig computers like that. I might like the towers of information. I am not going to hold my breath but it's a cool fantasy. You can't deny that.
As someone else alluded to.. The movie is not GREAT, but if nothing else, it has a VERY attractive cast, a killer soundtrack, some cool ideas, nice graphics, awesome design, funny moments, and some of the best costumes I've ever seen. The cinematography was nice as well. It's not Sneakers but that's not the world I'm looking for when I go to the movie theater always either.
Hackers was not the truth and no one (with their head on straight) here is trying to argue that it was! Short of documentaries, few movies ARE! If I want truth, watch the discovery channel or a news channel. Even then it will be dramatized, distorted and piece together in a way that is interesting.
Call me crazy, but I don't pick up a fiction book, or an adventure book and complain because I don't believe in dragons or magic swords. I've never seen a wookiee. So what?
I understand your position, there's a seed of truth in here and you think people will be misled? My reponse is that there is a seed of truth in all good fiction stories, and I think you are grossly underestimating the average viewer. Everyone knows it is not true. They know it because they saw it on the silver screen. They know because it's actors playing characters, not real people.
I don't think Hackers was one of the greatest movies of all time. I do think it was a lot of fun. I coul really dig computers like that. I might like the towers of information. I am not going to hold my breath but it's a cool fantasy. You can't deny that.
As someone else alluded to.. The movie is not GREAT, but if nothing else, it has a VERY attractive cast, a killer soundtrack, some cool ideas, nice graphics, awesome design, funny moments, and some of the best costumes I've ever seen. The cinematography was nice as well. It's not Sneakers but that's not the world I'm looking for anyway.
Buhtta nuhteb (batta nateb) or boduhsuh nuhteb (bodasa nateb) would probably be about right..
..for whatever it's worth. Before you scoff, -I- was reading/. when I was in Ethiopia! I know of SEVERAL people there who still are! I admit that the ring isn't quite the same though and they'd probably just read it 'slashdot' because English gets so much use in the technology fields there.
Star Trek in the same situation? I kind doubt it! Star Trek be bad, and even getting worse, but they have a strong following and as long as people (like me) are going out to see their crappy movies, I don't see them going out PERIOD, in style or in a coffin or anyway else.
I don't think that death, (or how they die,) is really an issue to Paramount and the Star Trek crowd. They see it as a bottomless pit and it's idiots like me who make it possible. Oh well, I enjoy myself!:)
It's really too bad the retards.com guy/guys made themselves so hard to track down! I was about to write fanmail. That is the coolest thing to do with a fun domain and no comment. It sure beats, "Hi may name is X, and I go to X." Pretty awesome.
No my friend, the article comment itself seemed pretty relevant, and the fact that MS is positioning itself to dominate, and RAPE another market is something I am interested in. This however, is not new News.
Your comment however is enough to get me to write in. I was a teenage Linux dood and my passion for the OS carried out of my teenage years. Using linux cuts out apps that I might have access to in windows but if you ask me it's WORTH it.
I used linux when windoze could have been an easy way out. I did this because I believe in what it stands for. I believe that open source software will be superior and more stable. Maybe Linux is the closest thing to religion in my life!
Honestly, I think you have as much right to decide the content of slashdot and your comment expressed your opinion. If everyone flames an article, you can bet it won't be posted again. If you're in the minority, you're going to have to live it or leave. You can always skip the article.
Finally, I don't bash MS on principle, but I bash some of their techniques. I have watched them jump ahead in a market only to slap us with proprietary protocals which lock everyone out and Linux users a lot of pain. I have no need for video conferencing but fact that when I DO have a need, MS might be my only choice is very relevant and scary to me.
Slashdot Mirror
Check out gtk.licq.org. It has gtk plugin that completely replaces any need for for the qt-plugin, or (in your case and mine) the need for QT altogether. Albeit, it's not a deb yet, but (as soon as my Debian developer application finishes its thing), it will be.
The GTK plugin is prettier, slicker, and even smaller. The only functionality is has been missing (compared to the QT plugin) that I've been able to notice is that in the last stable version of gtk-licq, it didn't do autoaway. The config stuff is there, but the code needed to be finished. I believe that is already in the CVS. It rocks. As a Debian fantatic, the fact that I am willing to break put a non-apt-get changeable version into /usr/local/bin says a lot. It's totally worth the lapse of (one) religion. Try it out.
We also have Dialpad and I-Link to make these calls for free. What's stopping us from calling him up and asking what's up?
If enough of us speak up, someone might hear. Let's put the Slashdot effect into good use.
Everyone, Write Weston and explain that this no degree of censorship is acceptable on Slashdot.
They very carefully pick and choose which rights they will defend, and invent rights where none exist.
On balance, they are far worse than any Microsoft or any DMCA.
Listen to yourself! How is picking and choosing rights to defend harmful? The NAACP picks rights that pertain to race. Is this wrong? The EFF defends a certain type of rights, and certainly not others. Greenpeace, Planned Parenthood, Pro-life groups, the Christian Coalition, the NRA, the Free Software Foundation all fit into the same catagory. No one group can even be EXPECTED to right for EVERY right. No one will chew out Greenpeace to push them into fight for free speech or the Free Software Foundation to take a stance on labor rights. Why can't the ACLU fall into this catagory too?
The ACLU spends the GREAT DEAL of it's time fighting for issues of first amendment rights. You may not like their stance on gun control or their interpretation of the second amendment but just because they don't choose to fight vehemently for your particular interpretation of that piece of law is no reason to say their aren't protecting it (they are just not protecting it in the way you see to be most valid which is not your business to tell them) and it is certainly out of line to say that they are doing harm. Either way, they are not fighting AGAINST the 2nd amendment so I can't see how they are worse than MS.
Microsoft has engaged in anti-competative marketing practices and as a company, it HAS done things wrong. They have committed crimes (according to a US court, which is fair as you're going to get) and that is bad (abusing a monopoly is illegal). The DMCA takes massive steps to limit the ability for innovation by the end user (section 8 of the constitution) and it limits freedom. This IS bad. You may not agree with some of the things the ACLU doesn't fight but doesn't make them worse that companies and bills that ARE harmful.
I was under the impression that in order for protection to be at all effective, it had to be seen (this is just under the DMCA). A unavoidable click-through is hard to miss, text file in the tarball is probably not hard to miss--and that's the problem.
Because a piece of GPLed software can be legally modified (any part, that's right) it is perfectly legal to simply make a change that removes the click-through license and, whammo, the protection is no longer "effective."
You're completely right, it may not matter how difficult the "effective protection" is bypass (although a reading implying the opposite is certainly possible with the current text although I'm under the impression that this will fixed in an amendment to the act if it becomes at all necessary) but the problem exists that the scenario of "effective protection" can change very legally with GPLed software in ways that it cannot change at all, with closed-source or non-free software. It is in this way that the DMCA reserves special rights for proprietary software and it is for this reason (and many many others) that RMS speaks out against it.
I hope I've shed some light on this.
I think that realistically, a "GNU generation" would probably choose the HURD.
It's a grim future. Is Caldera trying to tell us something?
The physical structure of the Internet in Ethiopia is pretty bad, but it is certainly there. Internet costed about $40 (which is a HUGE amount of buying power in Ethiopia. I'd say probably 8-10 times the buying power in the states). That is out of the range of pretty much everyone except Internationals and elites. In Ethiopia's case is probably for the best--the government sold more accounts than they can realistically handle and you could no longer create new accounts accounts when I left the country. People with accounts are still limited to work with 288.8 modems and only on an infrastructure that is unpredictable at best. Even if the phones and power works, busy signals make connections impossible until late night or early morning.
When I was there, I knew one other linux geek and five or six geeks period. They certainly exist but its difficult to foster those types of people in Ethiopia. People with that knowledge were probably educated abroad and if you learned it abroad, you probably didn't come back.
The use of the Internet is still very much limited as well. The primary use is still email but people are turing to it more for international (BBC) news and for services like Net2Phone to offset HUGE international phone rates. Still, on a limited time per month and a by-the-call phone charge (connections lose carrier immediately more than 50% of the time), it's tough.
Because Ethiopia does not censor or block sites, the impact potential could be large but the reach limits this entirely. Also, the availability of Amharic content (or even an Amharic font) is virtually non-existant.
I rember once while I was there, there was a TV news special (government of course) about the propaganda war between Eritrea and Ethiopia that was going down on the net. The propaganda was obviously geared for readers outside the coutry of course.
People definately KNOW, but the current trend is not one that actually fosters any growth or democracy.
The final thing is that before I left, I heard that the government sold rights to provide Internet access to an American or European corporation. I'm thinking that the big bandwidth giants are getting their feet in the door now and gaining monopoly status so that, from now on, all ISPs must go though them. I think this type of monopoly, which could concievably serve the majority of Internet users worldwide in 50-80 years, really defeats a lot of the fundementally ieas behind the Internet.
The Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporpation can be found at http://www.telecom.net.et.
Having lived in Ethiopia, I'd have to agree that while it is going to be a MUCH larger problem in the third world, the ability of the third world to DEAL with massive failures is also MUCH higher than the first world.
There were few times in Ethiopia when all three major utilities (power, water, phone) were working. They each went out regularly (sometimes even rationed) and people DEALT. When I was in a store and the power was cut, the clerks didn't stare blankly at the register! They pulled the pen and paper (already waiting) out from under the machine! The banks? Same deal! Because nobody can depend on these systems, there are fallbacks.
I promise that it will be ugly in Africa and other third world countries but in a lot of ways, I'd almost rather be there. After living in Africa, I can wash my clothes by hand EFFECTIVELY. Who knows how to do that kind of stuff in the states? Would we even KNOW what do in a worst case Y2K scenario? I really doubt it. In Ethiopia and countries like it they DO KNOW, and they have a dress rehersel several times a month.
Call me crazy, but I don't pick up a fiction book, or an adventure book and complain because I don't believe in dragons or magic swords. I've never seen a wookiee. So what?
I understand your position, there's a seed of truth in here and you think people will be misled? My reponse is that there is a seed of truth in all good fiction stories, and I think you are grossly underestimating the average viewer. Everyone knows it is not true. They know it because they saw it on the silver screen. They know because it's actors playing characters, not real people.
I don't think Hackers was one of the greatest movies of all time. I do think it was a lot of fun. I coul really dig computers like that. I might like the towers of information. I am not going to hold my breath but it's a cool fantasy. You can't deny that.
As someone else alluded to.. The movie is not GREAT, but if nothing else, it has a VERY attractive cast, a killer soundtrack, some cool ideas, nice graphics, awesome design, funny moments, and some of the best costumes I've ever seen. The cinematography was nice as well. It's not Sneakers but that's not the world I'm looking for when I go to the movie theater always either.
Call me crazy, but I don't pick up a fiction book, or an adventure book and complain because I don't believe in dragons or magic swords. I've never seen a wookiee. So what?
I understand your position, there's a seed of truth in here and you think people will be misled? My reponse is that there is a seed of truth in all good fiction stories, and I think you are grossly underestimating the average viewer. Everyone knows it is not true. They know it because they saw it on the silver screen. They know because it's actors playing characters, not real people.
I don't think Hackers was one of the greatest movies of all time. I do think it was a lot of fun. I coul really dig computers like that. I might like the towers of information. I am not going to hold my breath but it's a cool fantasy. You can't deny that.
As someone else alluded to.. The movie is not GREAT, but if nothing else, it has a VERY attractive cast, a killer soundtrack, some cool ideas, nice graphics, awesome design, funny moments, and some of the best costumes I've ever seen. The cinematography was nice as well. It's not Sneakers but that's not the world I'm looking for anyway.
meant to write linie punct
linie punch
Buhtta nuhteb (batta nateb) or boduhsuh nuhteb (bodasa nateb) would probably be about right..
/. when I was in Ethiopia! I know of SEVERAL people there who still are! I admit that the ring isn't quite the same though and they'd probably just read it 'slashdot' because English gets so much use in the technology fields there.
..for whatever it's worth. Before you scoff, -I- was reading
Star Trek in the same situation? I kind doubt it! Star Trek be bad, and even getting worse, but they have a strong following and as long as people (like me) are going out to see their crappy movies, I don't see them going out PERIOD, in style or in a coffin or anyway else.
:)
I don't think that death, (or how they die,) is really an issue to Paramount and the Star Trek crowd. They see it as a bottomless pit and it's idiots like me who make it possible. Oh well, I enjoy myself!
It's really too bad the retards.com guy/guys made themselves so hard to track down! I was about to write fanmail. That is the coolest thing to do with a fun domain and no comment. It sure beats, "Hi may name is X, and I go to X." Pretty awesome.
No my friend, the article comment itself seemed pretty relevant, and the fact that MS is positioning itself to dominate, and RAPE another market is something I am interested in. This however, is not new News.
Your comment however is enough to get me to write in. I was a teenage Linux dood and my passion for the OS carried out of my teenage years. Using linux cuts out apps that I might have access to in windows but if you ask me it's WORTH it.
I used linux when windoze could have been an easy way out. I did this because I believe in what it stands for. I believe that open source software will be superior and more stable. Maybe Linux is the closest thing to religion in my life!
Honestly, I think you have as much right to decide the content of slashdot and your comment expressed your opinion. If everyone flames an article, you can bet it won't be posted again. If you're in the minority, you're going to have to live it or leave. You can always skip the article.
Finally, I don't bash MS on principle, but I bash some of their techniques. I have watched them jump ahead in a market only to slap us with proprietary protocals which lock everyone out and Linux users a lot of pain. I have no need for video conferencing but fact that when I DO have a need, MS might be my only choice is very relevant and scary to me.