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User: mabhatter654

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  1. Re:Who wants to update?? on Mac OS X 10.6.2 Will Block Atom Processors · · Score: 1, Troll

    Why? the original XBox was a 100% bog-standard PC but nobody ever tried to run the Xbox OS on better hardware, although they tried to run other software on Xboxes. Why wasn't Microsoft held to task for bundling a "gaming OS" with their custom hardware? Since Xbox 1 was a generic "computer" why can't we play games on our regular PCs... Microsoft is abusing monopoly...

    Macs are just like Xboxes... a standard computer chip put into a custom "appliance".

  2. Re:Who wants to update?? on Mac OS X 10.6.2 Will Block Atom Processors · · Score: 1

    that horse is dead... stop beating it like your jacking off!

    seriously, the software is only licensed/warranted for use on Apple's hardware. You bought a shiny disc for your $29 not the "software", each "update" has it's own license to re-agree too (and every other company makes you re-agree for patches too... there's whole sites about the weekly changes to teh Windows EULA on Patch Tuesdays). The majority of Hackintosh users aren't paying for it anyway, they're pirating, so the EULA technicality doesn't matter anyway.

    If as much energy was put into shaking out bugs in some Linux Netbook distros, or writing interesting netbook software rather than just "getting other people's crap for free" there would be something just as useful as OSX and free too.

  3. Re:Well, actually ... on EU Wants To Redefine "Closed" As "Nearly Open" · · Score: 4, Insightful

    nothing has to change hands... this is how the lobbyist sycophants work. "Open Sources" was the new buzzword the pleb bureaucrats want.... so lobbyists continually re-spin words until something sticks... like little kids begging daddy for candy it goes from "no candy" to "how many pieces to get you to shut up so I can work". Unfortunately lobbyists aren't treated like begging children.

  4. Re:Personally, I think it is a matter of social cl on Evolution's Path May Lead To Shorter, Heavier Women · · Score: 2, Insightful

    He's specifically talking about the USA. It's much easier to buy Little Debbies at Walmart than to buy the proper food at Whole Foods (i.e. "whole paycheck"). Part of what makes civilization work is easy, cheap access to stored grain products... exactly what makes you fat. Rich folks have access to better quality food, they drink half-caf-soy-lattes instead of Coke, they get hour+ lunch times to eat nicely prepared salads, not 30 minutes drive-thru... ect, etc. They also get discounts for those expensive gyms (and again flexible work hours to USE them). At the top end, they farm their kids out to nannies so they have time to go do social things and look pretty.

  5. Re:What a headline on Evolution's Path May Lead To Shorter, Heavier Women · · Score: 1

    of course their measure really only accounts for what women were like in the 18t th and 19th centuries before widespread population movement and better quality health. Most young girls were gaunt and skinny but older women were "plump".. but not fat. Tall and skinny women are really an anomaly from Northern Europe and Africa that came in vogue because that's not what women at home looked like.

    Skinny women tend to have problems in childbirth, in older times women gave birth with non-medial assistance so women that evolved out of the physical requirements to bear kids were weeded out quickly. Also, since the 1950's there's been a marked increase in height across the board as many of the childhood illnesses were beaten and federal food quality standards were put in place. It would seem we're just rounding back out to what we already had.

  6. Re:"User error"? on Why Computers Suck At Math · · Score: 1

    because financial based systems (like AS400/system i) use "integer" math to store financial numbers to specific decimal places and just like in math/science class programmers have the standard "paper math" rounding rules thumped in early on. (but mostly because floating point was expensive when these were set up)

  7. Re:Stop using FedEx on Federal Judge Says E-mail Not Protected By 4th Amendment · · Score: 1

    Forget FedEx and UPS... the USPS is a branch of the US Govt... that's government property...let's tell all the old people we can read their mail!

    Better yet, this should apply to Bank Safety Deposit boxes as well if the burden of the argument is that somebody else is "holding" it. A blindly locked box on a shelf should meet the same standard. Bank deposit boxes have all sorts of "dirty secrets" and are a haven for criminal activity among the rich.

  8. Re:RedBox Lawsuits - Copyright Misuse on Film Studios May Block DVD Rentals For One Month · · Score: 4, Informative

    But the point is RedBox DOESN'T HAVE a contract and doesn't need one. They buy their rental licensed DVDs from distributors the same way any other video store does for fairly set prices by the studios. The studios singled them out and interfered with the free sales of the distributors by telling distributors to withhold shipments from RedBox unilaterally. Now to get their scheduled purchases, the studios want RedBox to sign special agreements... when lots of other little video stores from the same distributors don't have to.

  9. Re:DVD vs. BluRay on Film Studios May Block DVD Rentals For One Month · · Score: 1

    exactly, most rooms in my house (and most in my city) are 12 foot on some side. That's simply too close for TVs much over 42"... which isn't even "HD" anymore at most stores! Something that needs 50" TVs and to be at least 12 feet away (meaning the room is at least 15' on a side) to tell the difference isn't going to sell to everybody.

    The real issue is that TVs are expected to be a 5-10 year purchase. The FCC didn't FINALIZE.. i.e. stop the DRM shenanigans until the beginning of 2008 and Stations went digital in 2009 so the HDTV install base needed for blu-ray to matter doesn't start until then... media companies kept the specs constantly shifting constantly putting out new ways for DRM... and they shot down all 9 years of early HDTV adoption... until nobody gave a damn about it!

  10. Re:So.... on Film Studios May Block DVD Rentals For One Month · · Score: 1

    And the Studios already beat up Redbox with the 30 day rule by simply telling distributors they can't sell to them. It's stomping all over anti-competitive business practice and all over first sale doctrine but they GOT AWAY WITH IT and it will take YEARS to settle in court.

    In the meantime, they'll keep "altering the deal" with their current business partners "Darth Vader" style until somebody stops them.

  11. Re:Get it in the stores on Canonical Halts Ubuntu CD Free-for-all · · Score: 1

    I like the UK Linux magazines that ship with tutorials and 2-3 distros on the included DVD. They take 60 extra days to hit the states, and cost nearly as much as a book, but it's the model to hit in that production costs aren't too high. Distros like Ubuntu need a tad more polish to make the model work because people that buy a disc expect it to work in all the cases without having to "patch" it by downloading and burning again.. that's the gotcha for making the model really work.

    It used to be the model to get game demos too when bandwidth was hard to get... ah the peak days of Boot! (Maximum PC)

  12. THAT's the problem with corporate america! on Clean Smells Promote Ethical Behavior · · Score: 1

    More proof we need to clean up how our corporate masters live.

    Surround yourself with expensive, old alcohol, expensive stinky cigars, old dead animal furniture... and the smell of used hookers... that's the IDEAL of "good" business men? No wonder we're so fucked up.

  13. Re:Two way street on Nokia Sues Apple For Patent Infringement In iPhone · · Score: 1

    Market share is not everything.

    Would you like to be selling $80 phones (Nokia) or $500 phones(iPhone)? Which makes more profitable return on investment put in? THAT is the most important thing in business... the guy who uses my $1 to bring back $1.50 is good... the guy who uses my 1$ and brings back $3 is better, even if their company is way smaller.

  14. Re:Two way street on Nokia Sues Apple For Patent Infringement In iPhone · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You pointed out the most likely situation. Of those 40 companies some are chip makers, OEMs, tower builders, and telcos. What you get is a "triple dipping" situation where the "club" is demanding royalties from each part of the process. Chip maker has to have a patent for the "chip", OEM has to have a patent for the chip attached to an antenna using software, Tower builder has to have a patent to send and receive the signal, Telco has to have a patent to route the signal. Even though you have paid a patent on the "chip" that does everything and you put one at both ends, it doesn't count because you don't have the "whole" license... only the chipmaker's right to "build" the chip. You need to pay again to USE the chip.... This is how MP3 keeps being the undead patent zombie. They want to you pay to be "in the club" then you don't have to worry about such "technicalities" but then you usually have to cross-license ALL your stuff to get in.

    Apple most likely went directly to Broadcom and AT&T and cross-licensed with just those two players to share the patents they had access to (and added another 100 just for iPhone). Now Nokia is upset the other two players are letting Apple in without "joining the club" first. It's all a game of contracts that were for "joining the club" but have loopholes all over that you have to play ball only with the club and certain players get "more fair" treatment than others.

  15. Re:Windows Upgrades on Some Users Say Win7 Wants To Remove iTunes, Google Toolbar · · Score: 1

    exactly, WINE has gotten pretty good at emulating XP + DX9. Microsoft has said those lines are dead and stopped issuing new functionality meaning it's finally stopped moving as a target for emulation. The absolute worst fear is that with XP going away "dead" developers will fix the "bugs" in their programs and clean out the old APIs ...that break WINE!!!! Then the target will be WINE (smaller and better documented than proper XP) and Vista or Win7 will be stuck running most of their programs in "XP" mode losing advantage of all the secret little twists they've included over the years.

    The market is still mostly XP computers so it's a real possibility if MS closes down XP too quickly. Like everybody says about OpenOffice.. what MS does IS the standard... except that standard is XP on a massive base and that's what devs write to... not those pesky APIs that are ever shifting.

  16. Re:And the slant comes out on Xbox 360 Update Will Lock Out Unauthorized Storage · · Score: 1

    but otherwise it worked without "hacking" itunes at all... they just told iTunes a Pre was an iPod and it opened right up....no DMCA breaking involved. i.e. exactly the same thing Microsoft is doing here changing something that works now.

    iTunes still supports OTHER older media players from before iPod was crowned king. So the functionality for third party players is already there... Apple is excluding MUSIC CUSTOMERS from using non-Apple devices to sync non-DRM'd music.

  17. Re:Nerds on D&D Handbook Distribution Lawsuit Settled For $125,000 · · Score: 1

    of course WotC was FOUNDED as a maker of earlier edition DnD add-on books and they didn't pay TSR anything for them. When WotC got big on Magic about the same time TSR tightened the "derivative works" publishing rights on everybody else. It didn't work then, I'm surprised it's worked for so long with 4th ed.

  18. Re:That's good news on New Kind of Orbit Could Ease Mars Communications · · Score: 3, Funny

    As long as we don't go bombing their planet to look for water.... that's BAD for relations.

  19. Re:Not as bad as it sounds! on Doubts Raised About Legal Soundness of GPL2 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Because it's like that saying if you get handed lemons, make lemonade. GPL relies on the exact same copyright law pertaining to EVERYBODY and available to EVERYBODY but turns the implementation on it's ear by giving things away in a very specific and legal manner that software companies don't like. They can't break GPL without seriously breaking the law that protects their own copyrights.

  20. Re:Zealots caught in Gnu/Stallmans trap on Doubts Raised About Legal Soundness of GPL2 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is very petty lawyer-ing and typical misunderstandings from software EULA lawyers chasing their own tails for so many years.

    GPL covers SOURCE CODE, and thru "derivative works" covers binary "performances". The whole reason we even have EULA's (End User LICENSE Agreements) is that there was one case 30 years ago where somebody argued that typing source code from a book to RAM and from the RAM to CPU was "infringement" and duplication of the work. So because of the internal machine copies needed, you have to be granted a special LICENSE to USE any kind of software (source code or binary). EULA writers have used US law's reliance on "contracts" to throw the "kitchen sink" in EULAs and call them "contracts" rather than license for use.

    yes, the terms they point out have been more precisely defined since 1991. Judges respect stability and don't fall for dizzying logic like this. Judges will realize terms change and favor the UNMODIFIED document nearly every time as a matter of good faith. GPL v2 has been in heavy use unmodified for 18 years, that's incredible stability in an industry where other EULA writers reserve the right to edit/change/modify their EULAs online, without notice, and you pre-agree to the new terms you haven't even seen yet. The GPL is a legal rock, if the best they can do is mince words there's no threat at all.

  21. Re:Of course, I didn't RTFA on Battle.net Accounts Becoming Mandatory For WoW · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's what the swirly thing between continents is!

  22. Re:41? on BSA Says 41% of Software On Personal Computers Is Pirated · · Score: 1

    Multiple billions of songs have been downloaded legally thru iTunes in just a few years and they represent about 1/5 of the total industry now... and P2P was around LONG before so I'd venture a factor of 50 -100 per year over iTunes on places like TBP.

  23. Re:41? on BSA Says 41% of Software On Personal Computers Is Pirated · · Score: 1

    Except the LAW says that the publisher/artist/creator gets the SOLE right to distribute the work and collect the money. Sot that's 2.5M people that didn't pay ME for MY work. How do you like it when your boss shorts your paycheck a day's Overtime pay or makes you work 20 hours extra "salary". Should you be fine because they paid you "something"? Or do you want what the LAW says you should get?

    Most Pop songs are given away "freely" on the radio and one could make personal "fair use" recordings if they really wanted to and not break the law. What's happening on the P2P front is nothing more than petty lawlessness. No different than in LA or Detroit when people break windows and set trash on fire "because everyone else is doing it!"

  24. Re:41? on BSA Says 41% of Software On Personal Computers Is Pirated · · Score: 1

    not really though. Software is typically "thousands" not "hundreds of thousands" like music. Look at something on the Mac like Textmate for example because it's a "one man" deal. It sells for about $55 so if the guy can sell 2000-3000 copies he can make a living doing that. If he's got 10000 people pirating then just the act of them hitting his server to check for updates he's not going to give them is a big bandwidth bill that takes money AWAY from him and PAYING customers aren't getting support.

    On the flip side look at iPhone development. It's lucrative for the biggest reason that you get PAID almost all the time (jailbreakers are very few). If you try to sell Windows software (for any price) but for $5 nobody will buy it and everybody will pirate "because it's only $5 so it's not "worth much", even though everybody squeals software "costs too much". Yet 2-3 guys can pull down "keep the lights" kind of money making clever little iPhone apps. Because their little companies don't have to cover massive production outlays, and they're sure to get a big slice of pie$ from sales costs are much, much lower and without the corporate skimming that goes on.

  25. Re:better safe than sorry on Large Hadron Collider Scientist Arrested For al-Qaeda Ties · · Score: 1

    Some body watched the latest Dan Brown movie too many times... and was on a witch hunt to prove somebody was "evil", have to satisfy the "public worries" after all.