My father asked me about SCO and it's stock, since he saw it rising. I explained the problem and told him to avoid it like the plague. While I find what they're doing abhorrent, he is my father, and my reasoning was based solely on the *investor risk*. Simply put, I told him, we don't know how it will all turn out. Three, five, seven years from now, whatever, there will come a *judgment*. Linux will either contain SCO code or it won't. If it does, that's great for any shareholders, but if it *doesn't*, the drop in SCO's stock will make Qwest's fall look like a gentle slide. Until SCO actually releases any hard evidence (and the nature of the problem assures us that such evidence should exist), the investor risk is simply too enormous. If anything, the fact that they've been reluctant to release any evidence tells me that there likely isn't any, since there is absolutely no reason not to release it. Investors might noe understand any of the technical discussions on this board, but they can and will understand this.
When, instead of portable (read, pocket-sized) 20Gb music players, we have 20Tb players, with CPU speeds to match.
When the faster CPUs allow use of far superior sound compression algorithms that better model the sources of sound...
When transfer speeds make USB 2.0 look like RS232...
When said handheld players will be able to contain not your entire present music collection, but nigh all music in recorded history.
When all you might ever lack on any given day is the newest music, and that's assuming you even like it (since you're 20 years older), or even have the time to listen to it (since you'll have so much already).
While P2P is a terrible thing in the eyes of the RIAA, I can't help but think back to the '80's and two things of the past:
Both involve magnetic tape that holds practically nothing compared to recordable media today, and it takes *forever* to record onto them. Yet, they scared the record and movie industries to death, to such a degree that the movie industry tried to kill VCRs.
The implications for the future are staggering by comparison. Not only is it *digital* media, its size and ease of recording will, IMHO, be the *real* nail in the RIAA's coffin, *not* the Internet. When you can get in your car, head ofer to your buddy's house, and transfer all music in human history, that will be the true death knell for any company seeking to profit from an artist's efforts. Organizations like the RIAA consume far more in funds and resources than are necessary to support individual artists; when those funds start drying up, there must eventually come a breaking point where being affiliated with the RIAA is a financial liability. After all, who here still pays someone to deliver ice--or milk? The RIAA *will* go the way of the dodo, but I don't think P2P will be their killer asteroid, it will be the slow, steady march of technology.
Will they pay exhorbitant sums to our legislators to close the "analog hole"? They may try, but I doubt such an effort can succeed. Unless they can ban general-purpose programmable computers and resistors, anyone can digitize sound and put it into an open format. I don't care how much clout the RIAA has with Congress, the tech industry is ten times their size and will not suffer being downgraded to the era of Timex-Sinclair ZX-80's and TI-99/4A's. May as well tell everyone to turn in all their cars and TV's and go back to radio with vacuum tubes.
Slightly OT late-night idea ahead...
As I type this, one way to speed the process might be to create a slick-as-butter, easy-to-use way for beginning artists to get some airtime. How about something simple where websites could run some Java or Javascript that let users listen to a minute of an indie artist's song? Indie artists could sign up at some central site, and any website running this Java or Javascript would go out to the site, pick an artist at random, and pull a minute of music that it can play if the user clicks the play button...
They're a group on an independent label, sold by milesofmusic.com. I just got their dual album ("Southern Rock Opera") in the mail and it's AWESOME. I showed it to a friend of mine (who happens to be a trucker:) ) and he said he wanted one of Miles of Music's catalogs. After all the urban/J-Lo/Britney garbage THAT I CAN'T RELATE TO AND WILL *NEVER* LIKE this is a breath of fresh air.
/tirade mode on
It seems like every time I turn on the radio I can only handle maybe a minute before I have to turn it off and put on a CD. While I think the RIAA has twisted the Framers' intent for copyright past all sense and logic, at least half of my antipathy for them stems from the fact that they must apparently think of me and people like me as undiscriminating cattle. I can think of no other reason why they would spew such monolithic garbage year after year. I'm not an urbanite, nor do I ever wish to be. I can't relate to life around the "gangstas", and I neither dress, speak, nor look like these people the RIAA is pushing as America's seeming role models. Furthermore, I do *not* appreciate the intimation that I should surrender my culture or view of social norms for what they're pushing. As far as I'm concerned, it'll be a cold day in Hell before I buy anything from them again.
Chad Schell made a run of Intellicarts that let you download just about any game to your real Intellivision. It's only too bad he stopped after around 100 or so...
I was talking to someone at work about this whole issue and he recommended targeting two or three of SCO's lawyers. It should be clear to all here that, whatever the outcome, SCO's lawyers are looking to make out like bandits. He felt that the only way to stop this kind of behavior was to pick two or three and make examples of them--i.e., make their lives such a living hell that every other "hired gun" out there would think twice about egging a company on to something like this.
His, thought, not mine (not saying I disagree, though:^) )
Do what I did. Format it clean and put Win2k on it. Use the XP CD as a frisbee.
The day MS gets XP on one of my PCs is the day their thugs break into my house and I run out of ammo.
...why the US Army rejected Windows XP. Under NO--repeat, NO--circumstances are they willing to enter a situation where a vendor can shut them down. If push comes to shove because of file-format issues, Microsoft can look forward to selling *ONE* XP computer to the Army until they can convert anything involved into open formats.
Period. End of story.
(yes, I am somewhat in the know on this)
Not in Pennsylvania, it isn't. Want a 351 in your 302-equipped Mustang? Have a ball. As long as you have the required emissions hardware and pass the emissions test (which is *really* easy with a nice, new engine), have a ball.
I'm pretty far to the right politically (okay, I admit it, I'm *really* far to the right) but even I think this is overly harsh. I know cops who have locked up drug dealers and even they didn't get slapped this hard.
You sound like Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-SC). The guy who wants general-purpose computers banned because they can be used to commit piracy. The guy who says computer manufacturers need to "take responsibility" for the piracy that's going on by putting DRM technology in everything they manufacture. Excuse me, but my liberal alarm is now flashing red. People need to take responsibility for THEIR OWN actions, not for the actions of others.
"You don't need to own guns! No one will ever break into your house, try to rob you on the street, kidnap you, or do some other terrible thing to you or your family. And, oh, the government would never seek to harm you, that only happens in places like Iraq. As we all know, there aren't any corrupt indivuduals in our government, even at the local level."
Beware.
Here's the real kicker (yes, your blood WILL boil)
on
Farscape Finale Tonight
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Sci-Fi flashed this on the screen at the end. Bear in mind, they CANCELLED the show on the final day of shooting the season finale:
"The SciFi Channel thanks the cast and crew of Farscape for four great years."
It wasn't supposed to end. SciFi cancelled season five so this is how it ends. They bloody cancelled on the FINAL FRELLING DAY OF SHOOTING for season four. No time to tidy things, oh no. SciFi had to go for maximum sadism.
This action by Lexmark is nothing more than a BLATANT attempt by a manufacturer to create an artificial monopoly. It is in NO WAY limited to the consumer inkjet industry, and there is NO LAW--anywhere--that gives a U.S. company the right to create such a monopoly. If anything, SCC should investigate if Lexmark has violated the Sherman anti-trust act.
This behavior can be applied to ANY industry in which there are consumables:
- printers needing special paper containing "code" in the form of an IR- or UV-readable barcode,
- electric shavers containing an embedded chip in the cutter heads that tells the unit the cutter was made by the same manufacturer,
- chips in ANY recordable-mdeia form factor that validates the manufacturer,
- chips in ANY auto part that perform manufacturer validation,
- chips in common BATTERIES that force you to use batteries branded by a certain manufacturer or their partners,
- chips in, say, headphones that require that you use them with stereo equipment made by the same manufacturer,
and on and on. The list is countless. Just look around your room, office, or house and ask yourself if there is ANYTHING there that occasionally requires replacement parts. ANYTHING. Anything at all.
THIS is just how bad the DMCA has become. This is how much it can and is being abused. It's got to go.
Fascism can be used by ANY political persuasion, not merely conservatism. If you go to these lengths to stamp out the voices of political dissent, whether you are on the right or on the left, guess what, you just graduated to fascism. Go to the office at the end of the hall and collect your armband.
My policy from here on will be to pay for books with good ol' American greenbacks. Cash. U.S. Legal tender.
By the way, I come from a conservative background. I've already resolved that my votes from here on out will be going to the Libertarians whenever possible. I've always been a loyal Republican until now, but they've forgotten what being Conservative really means. Conservative != pandering to evangelical Christians. It means striving for limited government.
This brain surgeon doesn't have any small children to take care of. Let's see how well that DVD holds up when the little ones get their paws on it...not to mention the player itself. Don't need backups--what a lie.
1. Lose the Political Correctness. Seriously. We don't appreciate being preached to. We watch Star Trek for the science fiction, not to have some leftist Californians tell us how great their sensibilities are. I stopped watching Enterprise in the middle of the first season for this reason (go Farscape!!)
2. Plot holes suck. I saw Nemesis with some friends of mine. After it was over, the most rabid Trekkie in the group announced, "It never happened. I never saw it." Yes, it is fiction, but that doesn't mean we won't be angry if your writers completely destroy our ability to suspend our disbelief. Worf, as a member of the crew? How did this happen? Wasn't crusher with the Traveler? And why put him in at all, if he doesn't even have any lines? We don't need a label telling us what garbage is; our noses can detect it just fine.
3. Idiotic notions. How many times have we heard this line: "You're the only ship in the area..." I'm starting to get the impression that there is only one ship in the entire Federation.
4. Terminal pacifism. Sit up, get the wax out of your ears, and listen up: people want to see the Federation kick A$$. A lot of us are tired of the "Oh, but we can't possibly hurt anyone" attitude. If the Federation was run by the USA, believe me, each ship would be loaded for bear with the biggest, baddest, nastiest weapons and gizmos imaginable. A lot of us on the east coast have thicker skins, so spare us the pacifism. Ever heard of Darwinism? The Federation would have been annihilated by now, and good riddance.
5. Two (what am I saying?) ONE-dimensional characters. Ever watched Farscape? You should. The characters are dysfunctional. They have issues and problems. Like the rest of us. They're just as neurotic as the rest of us, and we can relate. We can't relate to the cookie-cutter folks you keep putting before us.
If there are any NRA members here, you should take note. If the government can hold Sharman legally responsible for what people trade with their software, how is this in any way different from holding Smith & Wesson, Ruger, et. al. responsible for what people do with the guns they manufacture? As you no doubt know, groups like HCI (Handgun Control, Inc.) have been trying to sue manufacturers for years in this way. If Sharman loses this fight, it can set a very dangerous precedent: that manufacturers are responsible for all uses of their products.
Slashdot Mirror
There's a reason why we had "America Starts Here" on the welcome signs when you enter Pennsylvania...
My father asked me about SCO and it's stock, since he saw it rising. I explained the problem and told him to avoid it like the plague. While I find what they're doing abhorrent, he is my father, and my reasoning was based solely on the *investor risk*. Simply put, I told him, we don't know how it will all turn out. Three, five, seven years from now, whatever, there will come a *judgment*. Linux will either contain SCO code or it won't. If it does, that's great for any shareholders, but if it *doesn't*, the drop in SCO's stock will make Qwest's fall look like a gentle slide. Until SCO actually releases any hard evidence (and the nature of the problem assures us that such evidence should exist), the investor risk is simply too enormous. If anything, the fact that they've been reluctant to release any evidence tells me that there likely isn't any, since there is absolutely no reason not to release it. Investors might noe understand any of the technical discussions on this board, but they can and will understand this.
Another 20 years go by.
When, instead of portable (read, pocket-sized) 20Gb music players, we have 20Tb players, with CPU speeds to match.
When the faster CPUs allow use of far superior sound compression algorithms that better model the sources of sound...
When transfer speeds make USB 2.0 look like RS232...
When said handheld players will be able to contain not your entire present music collection, but nigh all music in recorded history.
When all you might ever lack on any given day is the newest music, and that's assuming you even like it (since you're 20 years older), or even have the time to listen to it (since you'll have so much already).
While P2P is a terrible thing in the eyes of the RIAA, I can't help but think back to the '80's and two things of the past:
- recordable audio cassettes
- recordable videotape
Both involve magnetic tape that holds practically nothing compared to recordable media today, and it takes *forever* to record onto them. Yet, they scared the record and movie industries to death, to such a degree that the movie industry tried to kill VCRs.
The implications for the future are staggering by comparison. Not only is it *digital* media, its size and ease of recording will, IMHO, be the *real* nail in the RIAA's coffin, *not* the Internet. When you can get in your car, head ofer to your buddy's house, and transfer all music in human history, that will be the true death knell for any company seeking to profit from an artist's efforts. Organizations like the RIAA consume far more in funds and resources than are necessary to support individual artists; when those funds start drying up, there must eventually come a breaking point where being affiliated with the RIAA is a financial liability. After all, who here still pays someone to deliver ice--or milk? The RIAA *will* go the way of the dodo, but I don't think P2P will be their killer asteroid, it will be the slow, steady march of technology.
Will they pay exhorbitant sums to our legislators to close the "analog hole"? They may try, but I doubt such an effort can succeed. Unless they can ban general-purpose programmable computers and resistors, anyone can digitize sound and put it into an open format. I don't care how much clout the RIAA has with Congress, the tech industry is ten times their size and will not suffer being downgraded to the era of Timex-Sinclair ZX-80's and TI-99/4A's. May as well tell everyone to turn in all their cars and TV's and go back to radio with vacuum tubes.
Slightly OT late-night idea ahead...
As I type this, one way to speed the process might be to create a slick-as-butter, easy-to-use way for beginning artists to get some airtime. How about something simple where websites could run some Java or Javascript that let users listen to a minute of an indie artist's song? Indie artists could sign up at some central site, and any website running this Java or Javascript would go out to the site, pick an artist at random, and pull a minute of music that it can play if the user clicks the play button...
They're a group on an independent label, sold by milesofmusic.com. I just got their dual album ("Southern Rock Opera") in the mail and it's AWESOME. I showed it to a friend of mine (who happens to be a trucker :) ) and he said he wanted one of Miles of Music's catalogs. After all the urban/J-Lo/Britney garbage THAT I CAN'T RELATE TO AND WILL *NEVER* LIKE this is a breath of fresh air.
/tirade mode on
It seems like every time I turn on the radio I can only handle maybe a minute before I have to turn it off and put on a CD. While I think the RIAA has twisted the Framers' intent for copyright past all sense and logic, at least half of my antipathy for them stems from the fact that they must apparently think of me and people like me as undiscriminating cattle. I can think of no other reason why they would spew such monolithic garbage year after year. I'm not an urbanite, nor do I ever wish to be. I can't relate to life around the "gangstas", and I neither dress, speak, nor look like these people the RIAA is pushing as America's seeming role models. Furthermore, I do *not* appreciate the intimation that I should surrender my culture or view of social norms for what they're pushing. As far as I'm concerned, it'll be a cold day in Hell before I buy anything from them again.
Chad Schell made a run of Intellicarts that let you download just about any game to your real Intellivision. It's only too bad he stopped after around 100 or so...
:)
And yes, I have one
I was talking to someone at work about this whole issue and he recommended targeting two or three of SCO's lawyers. It should be clear to all here that, whatever the outcome, SCO's lawyers are looking to make out like bandits. He felt that the only way to stop this kind of behavior was to pick two or three and make examples of them--i.e., make their lives such a living hell that every other "hired gun" out there would think twice about egging a company on to something like this.
:^) )
His, thought, not mine (not saying I disagree, though
...we still can't wait to see X-Men XVII, The Matrix Reloaded Again and Again, Armageddon III, Terminator XV, et. al.
We still put money in their pockets, the same money they use to buy these legislators.
What is wrong with us?
Not by any stretch...if anything, the acrimony is coming fast and furious.
/ po sts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/888978
I should clarify. I'm talking about logistics.
Do what I did. Format it clean and put Win2k on it. Use the XP CD as a frisbee. The day MS gets XP on one of my PCs is the day their thugs break into my house and I run out of ammo.
...why the US Army rejected Windows XP. Under NO--repeat, NO--circumstances are they willing to enter a situation where a vendor can shut them down. If push comes to shove because of file-format issues, Microsoft can look forward to selling *ONE* XP computer to the Army until they can convert anything involved into open formats. Period. End of story. (yes, I am somewhat in the know on this)
Neither. The teenage-kid-who-sells-crack-cocaine-at-school-and- in-the-projects kind
It's been illegal to do this for over 30 years.
Not in Pennsylvania, it isn't. Want a 351 in your 302-equipped Mustang? Have a ball. As long as you have the required emissions hardware and pass the emissions test (which is *really* easy with a nice, new engine), have a ball.
Perfectly, completely, LEGAL.
I have heard it said: "There is no better way to get rid of an unjust law than rigorous enforcement."
I'm pretty far to the right politically (okay, I admit it, I'm *really* far to the right) but even I think this is overly harsh. I know cops who have locked up drug dealers and even they didn't get slapped this hard.
You sound like Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-SC). The guy who wants general-purpose computers banned because they can be used to commit piracy. The guy who says computer manufacturers need to "take responsibility" for the piracy that's going on by putting DRM technology in everything they manufacture. Excuse me, but my liberal alarm is now flashing red. People need to take responsibility for THEIR OWN actions, not for the actions of others.
"You don't need to own guns! No one will ever break into your house, try to rob you on the street, kidnap you, or do some other terrible thing to you or your family. And, oh, the government would never seek to harm you, that only happens in places like Iraq. As we all know, there aren't any corrupt indivuduals in our government, even at the local level."
Beware.
Sci-Fi flashed this on the screen at the end. Bear in mind, they CANCELLED the show on the final day of shooting the season finale:
"The SciFi Channel thanks the cast and crew of Farscape for four great years."
Bastards. Sci-Fi, you are truly dead to me.
It wasn't supposed to end. SciFi cancelled season five so this is how it ends. They bloody cancelled on the FINAL FRELLING DAY OF SHOOTING for season four. No time to tidy things, oh no. SciFi had to go for maximum sadism.
If there ever was any doubt as to the creativity and talent of the Farscape writers let it now be put to rest.
Farscape is the KING
This action by Lexmark is nothing more than a BLATANT attempt by a manufacturer to create an artificial monopoly. It is in NO WAY limited to the consumer inkjet industry, and there is NO LAW--anywhere--that gives a U.S. company the right to create such a monopoly. If anything, SCC should investigate if Lexmark has violated the Sherman anti-trust act.
This behavior can be applied to ANY industry in which there are consumables:
- printers needing special paper containing "code" in the form of an IR- or UV-readable barcode,
- electric shavers containing an embedded chip in the cutter heads that tells the unit the cutter was made by the same manufacturer,
- chips in ANY recordable-mdeia form factor that validates the manufacturer,
- chips in ANY auto part that perform manufacturer validation,
- chips in common BATTERIES that force you to use batteries branded by a certain manufacturer or their partners,
- chips in, say, headphones that require that you use them with stereo equipment made by the same manufacturer,
and on and on. The list is countless. Just look around your room, office, or house and ask yourself if there is ANYTHING there that occasionally requires replacement parts. ANYTHING. Anything at all.
THIS is just how bad the DMCA has become. This is how much it can and is being abused. It's got to go.
Fascism can be used by ANY political persuasion, not merely conservatism. If you go to these lengths to stamp out the voices of political dissent, whether you are on the right or on the left, guess what, you just graduated to fascism. Go to the office at the end of the hall and collect your armband.
My policy from here on will be to pay for books with good ol' American greenbacks. Cash. U.S. Legal tender.
By the way, I come from a conservative background. I've already resolved that my votes from here on out will be going to the Libertarians whenever possible. I've always been a loyal Republican until now, but they've forgotten what being Conservative really means. Conservative != pandering to evangelical Christians. It means striving for limited government.
This brain surgeon doesn't have any small children to take care of. Let's see how well that DVD holds up when the little ones get their paws on it...not to mention the player itself. Don't need backups--what a lie.
1. Lose the Political Correctness. Seriously. We don't appreciate being preached to. We watch Star Trek for the science fiction, not to have some leftist Californians tell us how great their sensibilities are. I stopped watching Enterprise in the middle of the first season for this reason (go Farscape!!)
2. Plot holes suck. I saw Nemesis with some friends of mine. After it was over, the most rabid Trekkie in the group announced, "It never happened. I never saw it." Yes, it is fiction, but that doesn't mean we won't be angry if your writers completely destroy our ability to suspend our disbelief. Worf, as a member of the crew? How did this happen? Wasn't crusher with the Traveler? And why put him in at all, if he doesn't even have any lines? We don't need a label telling us what garbage is; our noses can detect it just fine.
3. Idiotic notions. How many times have we heard this line: "You're the only ship in the area..." I'm starting to get the impression that there is only one ship in the entire Federation.
4. Terminal pacifism. Sit up, get the wax out of your ears, and listen up: people want to see the Federation kick A$$. A lot of us are tired of the "Oh, but we can't possibly hurt anyone" attitude. If the Federation was run by the USA, believe me, each ship would be loaded for bear with the biggest, baddest, nastiest weapons and gizmos imaginable. A lot of us on the east coast have thicker skins, so spare us the pacifism. Ever heard of Darwinism? The Federation would have been annihilated by now, and good riddance.
5. Two (what am I saying?) ONE-dimensional characters. Ever watched Farscape? You should. The characters are dysfunctional. They have issues and problems. Like the rest of us. They're just as neurotic as the rest of us, and we can relate. We can't relate to the cookie-cutter folks you keep putting before us.
If there are any NRA members here, you should take note. If the government can hold Sharman legally responsible for what people trade with their software, how is this in any way different from holding Smith & Wesson, Ruger, et. al. responsible for what people do with the guns they manufacture? As you no doubt know, groups like HCI (Handgun Control, Inc.) have been trying to sue manufacturers for years in this way. If Sharman loses this fight, it can set a very dangerous precedent: that manufacturers are responsible for all uses of their products.