I'm going to lose all of my Karma for this post, but did you actually read the Patent license that you just linked to?
Notable excerpts:
Microsoft may have patents and/or patent applications that are necessary for you to license in order to make, sell, or distribute software programs that read or write files that comply with the Microsoft specifications for the Office Schemas.
Except as provided below, Microsoft hereby grants you a royalty-free license under Microsoft's Necessary Claims to make, use, sell, offer to sell, import, and otherwise distribute Licensed Implementations solely for the purpose of reading and writing files that comply with the Microsoft specifications for the Office Schemas.
and
If you distribute, license or sell a Licensed Implementation, this license is conditioned upon you requiring that the following notice be prominently displayed in all copies and derivative works of your source code and in copies of the documentation and licenses associated with your Licensed Implementation:
By including the above notice in a Licensed Implementation, you will be deemed to have accepted the terms and conditions of this license. You are not licensed to distribute a Licensed Implementation under license terms and conditions that prohibit the terms and conditions of this license.
Microsoft reserves the right to terminate this license grant if you sue Microsoft or any of Microsoft's affiliates for patent infringement over claims relating to reading or writing of files that comply with the Office Schemas. This license is perpetual subject to this reservation.
If you actually read through the text, you will see that, although this license is not anywhere close to open source, it's main purpose is to prevent Microsoft from getting sued for patent infringement over the file formats. The text on that website grants everyone the right to use the specification in "those specific portions of a software product that read and write files that are fully compliant with the specifications for the Office Schemas."
I do not believe in software patents, but, even if Microsoft's patents here are validated (which they may not be), then you still have a license to use the specification.
I'm sure that if you tried a little harder you would be able to find something better to bitch about than this specific Microsoft issue.
N.B. The above quotes have at least one auto generated inaccuracy due to Slashdot's display system.
That's not necessarily true. At my school we use PeopleSoft(tm) to do everything (including enrolling in classes and getting our grades). One day during registration someone decided to "upgrade" PeopleSoft(tm) and suddenly Firefox started to cause some weird infinite recursion of the javascript code. I opened up the site in Konq and it worked fine. My guess is that since the school officially supports Macs (most of the staff use Macs and all of our e-mail kiosks are eMacs) that Safari (and hence konq) are tested and known to work.
This wouldn't fix the problem of faulty(by design) hardware, lack of audit trails, and no trust in the delivery method.
Sure with open source we can see the code, but that doesn't help if it is compiled by a compiler that you can't see the code for, run on microchips that you can't see the code for, and administered by people you can't trust.
The ``but it should be open source'' comment that gets thrown around in every single story about electronic voting does not take into account everything that happens to the code _AFTER_ we would be able to see it.
It's so that you can save money during your lease. If you need more computing power, you call IBM and they unlock more processors and increase your lease rate. When your demand decreases again, you have the extras disabled. If they didn't do it this way, they would probably just make you lease the full version even if you didn't need the power.
--xPhase
Re:I am just tired
on
Hacker Culture
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Please buy me a Portable DVD player, a home 5-Disc DVD changer, a car DVD changer, a DVD player for my computer, and... umm... oh yeah, another DVD player for work.
Sorry to say this, but CD's are where the music is at until enough consumers have replaced their CD devices for DVD devices. This will take a long time. Can you even buy a portable DVD audio player?
Also, maybe I'm the only one with this problem, but DVD seem to scratch easier and become unreadable quicker than CD's. Hopefully this will someday be fixed.
Although, I just bought the new CD by the band 'Ash' on Saturday for 10.98(At virgin superstore) and it came with a bonus dvd with concert footage. videos and a documentary. I was very happy.
The drivers for my IntelliMouse allow me to set the side buttons to do what ever I want(ie. Ctrl-Z), or actual actions for Microsoft's Products. I turned them off as I kept bumping them.
*NOTE* I'm at work and can't check the drivers to make sure I'm not dreaming. Being at work also means that I miss my mouse wheel, as Sun Crossbow mice don't have wheels(but are better than the type5 mice).
Yes, I think that we are in agreement. My friend's old band just made audio tapes with great art. I generally buy from smaller artists who aren't on majors, and enjoy the liner notes. Which is why I prefer something solid(not MP3, etc) and put together with more effort than CD-R.
Most of the acts that get into it for the money aren't worth my time anyway. If you take away the mentality that you have to be rich and famous to be succesful as a musician maybe then the good musicians will finally rise to the top.
Ok, but will that make any more people enjoy the music they produce? I don't buy that if we take away the bad muscians that the good muscians will "rise to the top." Besides, do you think the music I listen to qualifies as "Good", who knows maybe I don't agree that the music you like is good.
Sorry, that's a good(if pedantic) point. By physical I mean that I want something created by the band with artwork, liner notes, etc...
I don't just want someone else to burn it for me, I like the complete package that a CD(or record release is), it's not that expensive to press a couple thousand CD's and sell them off your website.
The problem with that is, I like CD's, I like records, I already buy from the artists and indie labels. I'm not going to pay money for the bands MP3's or ogg's. I want a physical object. I don't want a CD-R, I want an actual physical disc of some sort. I enjoy the artwork on the CD's/Records. I don't enjoy the sound quality of MP3.
Above and beyond that, you can't get rich and famous from selling songs off of a website. You need people to promote you, to put you all over the place, etc. Why does this matter? Because many people get into the business to make money! Yes that's right, most of the acts on major labels who make money want to keep it that way.
Yeah, sorry about the rant, I'm just a little tired.
These "major vendors" probably include Red Hat, SuSE, Debian, Sun Microsystems, SGI, IBM, FreeBSD vendors, OpenBSD vendors, NetBSD vendors, Microsoft and most other "vendors" of operating systems today. It may not be a popular opinion, but both Windows and *nix are insecure(others may debate which is _more_ insecure). Perhaps a system similar to plan 9 will become popular; perhaps new ideas will become a new _better_ system.
It will be interesting to see what the most common OS will be in 30 years.
I should have read the actual patent before spouting off. Oh well, just forget all that I wrote above (The patent is more specific, this was just the abstract, not the claims.)
Let's focus on some key statements in the text from the patent.
interactively responding to queries from a remotely located user includes a computer server system configured to receiving an instant message query or request from the user over the Internet.
becomes:
interactively responding to queries from a remotely located user includes a computer server system configured to receiving a request from the user over the internet.
and
The answer is formatted as appropriate and returned to the user as an instant message or via another route specified by the user.
becomes:
The answer is formatted as appropriate and returned to the user via another route specified by the user
So what you ask?
A computer running apache fits the first point above.
A computer running apache fits the second point above.
Maybe I've just misunderstood what I read, but an apache server interactively responds to queries(eg. GET/~xphase/index.html), accesses a local or remote data resource(/~xphase/index.html), 'formulates' an answer to the user's query(I think that the resource counts as an answer to a query), formats the 'answer' as text and returned via the HTTP 'route' specified by the user.
What I'm trying to say is that the above patent wording is really really vague, and can be applied to many client server technologies.
I don't know, maybe I should go drink more coffee.
I can't thing of any better way to stifle online music sales (if there ever becomes a market for them)
I thought that was what the RIAA was trying to do?
They want to stop any and all music from being sold, traded or available on line. At least that is the impression that they give me, and isn't the whole DRM push at the request of the RIAA and MPAA?
The IBM patent application was filed three weeks before that of Unisys, but the US patent office apparently failed to recognize that they covered the same algorithm. (The IBM patent is more general, but its claim 7 is said to be exactly LZW.)
My only problem with the DVD format(well, apart from region codes, etc.) is that they suck for rental. Every DVD I've rented has been scratched. I've had many of them just skip and crap out on me. This is the reason why I still rent VHS. I honestly think that some people rent a DVD, go home, hand it to their 3 year old kid and say have fun here's a movie.
This may be just me, but untill I can 9 times out of 10 rent a DVD and have it play fine, I really don't want to rent them.
Slashdot Mirror
Isn't getting shot on site what we call "going postal"?
Your sentance was meaningful, in the same context, with either sight or site.
I agree that they should be shot at the warehouse, etc.
Notable excerpts:
and
If you actually read through the text, you will see that, although this license is not anywhere close to open source, it's main purpose is to prevent Microsoft from getting sued for patent infringement over the file formats. The text on that website grants everyone the right to use the specification in "those specific portions of a software product that read and write files that are fully compliant with the specifications for the Office Schemas."
I do not believe in software patents, but, even if Microsoft's patents here are validated (which they may not be), then you still have a license to use the specification.
I'm sure that if you tried a little harder you would be able to find something better to bitch about than this specific Microsoft issue.
N.B. The above quotes have at least one auto generated inaccuracy due to Slashdot's display system.
That's not necessarily true. At my school we use PeopleSoft(tm) to do everything (including enrolling in classes and getting our grades). One day during registration someone decided to "upgrade" PeopleSoft(tm) and suddenly Firefox started to cause some weird infinite recursion of the javascript code. I opened up the site in Konq and it worked fine. My guess is that since the school officially supports Macs (most of the staff use Macs and all of our e-mail kiosks are eMacs) that Safari (and hence konq) are tested and known to work.
Anyway, just my 2 cents.
Kinda link Prof. Frink vs. The Comic Book Guy?
--xPhase
--xPhase
BSD Family Tree
2.11BSD is from '92 and runs on the pdp11,
The last modification on the 2.11 branch was in '99
"Why isn't this code open source by law?"
This wouldn't fix the problem of faulty(by design) hardware, lack of audit trails, and no trust in the delivery method.
Sure with open source we can see the code, but that doesn't help if it is compiled by a compiler that you can't see the code for, run on microchips that you can't see the code for, and administered by people you can't trust.
The ``but it should be open source'' comment that gets thrown around in every single story about electronic voting does not take into account everything that happens to the code _AFTER_ we would be able to see it.
Anyway,
here is a link to a page on Electronic Voting:
Dr. Mercuri's Page on Electronic Voting
--xPhase
It's also missing:
Yield Organizational!
Which leads to YO!MTVRAPS
Yield Organizational! Multiple Thread Vision, Rhythm, Anticipation, Partnering, and Simplification
It's so that you can save money during your lease. If you need more computing power, you call IBM and they unlock more processors and increase your lease rate. When your demand decreases again, you have the extras disabled. If they didn't do it this way, they would probably just make you lease the full version even if you didn't need the power.
--xPhase
I enjoyed 'Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet' by Stephen Segaller.
But YMMV
--xPhase
72 Meg of frame buffer memory, and 256 Meg of texture memory with 30-bit color. Of course, it doesn't run in a PC but, we can dream can't we.
--xPhase
Please buy me a Portable DVD player, a home 5-Disc DVD changer, a car DVD changer, a DVD player for my computer, and... umm... oh yeah, another DVD player for work.
Sorry to say this, but CD's are where the music is at until enough consumers have replaced their CD devices for DVD devices. This will take a long time. Can you even buy a portable DVD audio player?
Also, maybe I'm the only one with this problem, but DVD seem to scratch easier and become unreadable quicker than CD's. Hopefully this will someday be fixed.
Although, I just bought the new CD by the band 'Ash' on Saturday for 10.98(At virgin superstore) and it came with a bonus dvd with concert footage. videos and a documentary. I was very happy.
--xPhase
The drivers for my IntelliMouse allow me to set the side buttons to do what ever I want(ie. Ctrl-Z), or actual actions for Microsoft's Products. I turned them off as I kept bumping them.
*NOTE* I'm at work and can't check the drivers to make sure I'm not dreaming. Being at work also means that I miss my mouse wheel, as Sun Crossbow mice don't have wheels(but are better than the type5 mice).
Yes, I think that we are in agreement. My friend's old band just made audio tapes with great art. I generally buy from smaller artists who aren't on majors, and enjoy the liner notes. Which is why I prefer something solid(not MP3, etc) and put together with more effort than CD-R.
--xPhase
For the higher level readers:
Ok, but will that make any more people enjoy the music they produce? I don't buy that if we take away the bad muscians that the good muscians will "rise to the top." Besides, do you think the music I listen to qualifies as "Good", who knows maybe I don't agree that the music you like is good.
--xPhase
Sorry, that's a good(if pedantic) point. By physical I mean that I want something created by the band with artwork, liner notes, etc...
I don't just want someone else to burn it for me, I like the complete package that a CD(or record release is), it's not that expensive to press a couple thousand CD's and sell them off your website.
The problem with that is, I like CD's, I like records, I already buy from the artists and indie labels.
I'm not going to pay money for the bands MP3's or ogg's.
I want a physical object. I don't want a CD-R, I want an actual physical disc of some sort.
I enjoy the artwork on the CD's/Records.
I don't enjoy the sound quality of MP3.
Above and beyond that, you can't get rich and famous from selling songs off of a website. You need people to promote you, to put you all over the place, etc. Why does this matter? Because many people get into the business to make money! Yes that's right, most of the acts on major labels who make money want to keep it that way.
Yeah, sorry about the rant, I'm just a little tired.
--xPhase
These "major vendors" probably include Red Hat, SuSE, Debian, Sun Microsystems, SGI, IBM, FreeBSD vendors, OpenBSD vendors, NetBSD vendors, Microsoft and most other "vendors" of operating systems today. It may not be a popular opinion, but both Windows and *nix are insecure(others may debate which is _more_ insecure). Perhaps a system similar to plan 9 will become popular; perhaps new ideas will become a new _better_ system.
It will be interesting to see what the most common OS will be in 30 years.
--xPhase
Doh!
I should have read the actual patent before spouting off. Oh well, just forget all that I wrote above (The patent is more specific, this was just the abstract, not the claims.)
* xPhase slinks off into the corner.
Let's focus on some key statements in the text from the patent.
interactively responding to queries from a remotely located user includes a computer server system configured to receiving an instant message query or request from the user over the Internet.
becomes:
interactively responding to queries from a remotely located user includes a computer server system configured to receiving a request from the user over the internet.
and
The answer is formatted as appropriate and returned to the user as an instant message or via another route specified by the user.
becomes:
The answer is formatted as appropriate and returned to the user via another route specified by the user
So what you ask?
Maybe I've just misunderstood what I read, but an apache server interactively responds to queries(eg. GET /~xphase/index.html), accesses a local or remote data resource(/~xphase/index.html), 'formulates' an answer to the user's query(I think that the resource counts as an answer to a query), formats the 'answer' as text and returned via the HTTP 'route' specified by the user.
What I'm trying to say is that the above patent wording is really really vague, and can be applied to many client server technologies.
I don't know, maybe I should go drink more coffee.
--xPhase
I thought that was what the RIAA was trying to do?
They want to stop any and all music from being sold, traded or available on line. At least that is the impression that they give me, and isn't the whole DRM push at the request of the RIAA and MPAA?
--xPhase
The "Distribution Related Underseer of Networked Keyboards" here loves that name!
The important part:
--xPhase
My only problem with the DVD format(well, apart from region codes, etc.) is that they suck for rental. Every DVD I've rented has been scratched. I've had many of them just skip and crap out on me. This is the reason why I still rent VHS. I honestly think that some people rent a DVD, go home, hand it to their 3 year old kid and say have fun here's a movie.
This may be just me, but untill I can 9 times out of 10 rent a DVD and have it play fine, I really don't want to rent them.
--xPhase
Apple could just use the Apple Works Office Suite instead of waiting for Open Office. Apple Works does ship with every Mac.