"Fair use according to whom? The law or the Slashbot collective? People around here have a very peculiar concept of what constitutes \"fair use\"."
Exactly. Neither of these groups have the right people to teach children about copyright. The lobbyists are likely to teach them that the GPL is immoral, and the typical user here would make them memorize the collected works of Richard Stallman in English class.
Personally I believe that items of zero marginal cost must be distributed for free to guarantee economic efficiency (incentives to produce can and should be created in other ways). Society should, however, tell children about all sides of issues, but that's not what we're going to get, is it? So schools and corporations should shut up and go back to teaching children how to think, not what to think.
I also remember something about Teosto trying to extort royalties from daycare centers if they sing with the children.
I can't confirm that right now, but even if it's just a rumor, it might be time to change the old saying:
"First they came for the taxi drivers
and I did not vote against it
because I did not own any taxis.
Then they came for the daycare centers
and I did not vote against it
because I was not in daycare.
Then they came for the dentists
and I did not vote against it
because dentists hadn't paid me off.
Then they came for me
and I was FUCKING FIRST UP AGAINST THE WALL."
True. But even so, I don't think MS could've pulled it off before Longhorn, especially since it seems like a much more ambitious change than Quartz Extreme was.
That said, there are a lot of other examples of people accusing Microsoft of "copying" completely obvious improvements from Apple. I thought we liked the concept of sharing ideas here at slashdot?:-)
P.S. My desktop is an x86, but I also have a PowerBook, and yeah, OSX is good.
"Microsoft, as usual, announced the feature after Apple shipped it"
God I'm tired of hearing that phrase over and over again when 95% of the time it's just because Apple can control the hardware and it would be a total disaster if MS included a technology as fast as they do...
I'm not an American, but I would like to point out that voting for people based on a single position is stupid.
So you're pro-tech? Fine. But you also want to put something in the constitution that would take away rights. In fact, it seems like the only reason you're against the DMCA is because it affects you personally.
I can't of course deny your right to have those views, but anyone who blindly votes for you based on your opinion on the DMCA is an idiot. Remember, that text on the FSF t-shirt says "Free Software, Free Society", not "Free Software".
"But I don't know of a better way, so I can't really criticize too much."
Well, I like to think there's a better way, but it'll never work, because all the record companies have to do is scream "communism" and 90% of the population will be grabbing their pitchforks...
Anyway, imagine a situation where person A likes The Rolling Stones and CCR, B likes CCR and Andrea Bocelli, C likes Andrea Bocelli and The Rolling Stones. All of them can buy 1 credit of music. Person D can't afford anything.
So, A buys Stones, B buys CCR and C buys Bocelli. All artists get one credit, and all customers get 1 unit of music. D gets nothing.
Alternative: The government takes 3 total credits from A, B, C and distributes them to the artists depending on how much their music is downloaded. All people, including D, get all the music, and the artists still get paid as much.
But that's too idealistic. Unfortunately, the reality is that we're Picard being interrogated by the Cardassians: "Marginal! Cost! Is! Zero!"
Isn't it odd how many of those luddite posts actually get modded up? This is slashdot - why are people trying to sound cool by saying they don't "need" something? I thought that kind of behavior was reserved for PHB's.
In other news, I don't need emacs, because the MS-DOS editor has all the features anyone should want from a word processor.
" Even people that don't know anything about computers know that Linux is that "other thing" that's "more secure". I know which would be my chosen OS to run any kind of internetwork-connected services."
"I'm also somewhat confused by this new trend of attaching everything to cellphones and making it suck."
But you forget that they aren't making them suck on purpose. Just wait a few years. Sooner or later, we'll have cell phones with great cameras, great PDAs and great etc.
Sure, serious photographers will buy separate cameras and of course teen gamers will have to carry around graphics accelerators in their underwear so their manhood won't be in doubt, but there's a point where the casual user just stops caring.
I predict that point will occur at about 3MP, 3x zoom, processing power of a P166, and 512MB of flash memory. I could be wrong, of course, but surely you realize, that *eventually* we'll reach that point. And I can't wait to get there.
"Then you have to worry about those with poor or no hearing, as well as those with poor or no sound equipment. Why not have someone solve a riddle or puzzle"
Because then you'd be discriminating against stupid people, and keeping them off the internet.
Slashdot Mirror
"Fair use according to whom? The law or the Slashbot collective? People around here have a very peculiar concept of what constitutes \"fair use\"."
Exactly. Neither of these groups have the right people to teach children about copyright. The lobbyists are likely to teach them that the GPL is immoral, and the typical user here would make them memorize the collected works of Richard Stallman in English class.
Personally I believe that items of zero marginal cost must be distributed for free to guarantee economic efficiency (incentives to produce can and should be created in other ways). Society should, however, tell children about all sides of issues, but that's not what we're going to get, is it? So schools and corporations should shut up and go back to teaching children how to think, not what to think.
I also remember something about Teosto trying to extort royalties from daycare centers if they sing with the children.
I can't confirm that right now, but even if it's just a rumor, it might be time to change the old saying:
"First they came for the taxi drivers
and I did not vote against it
because I did not own any taxis.
Then they came for the daycare centers
and I did not vote against it
because I was not in daycare.
Then they came for the dentists
and I did not vote against it
because dentists hadn't paid me off.
Then they came for me
and I was FUCKING FIRST UP AGAINST THE WALL."
"I think he means free as in speech."
So does this mean he has to have sex with anyone who asks from now on, or did he get it under a BSD license?
True. But even so, I don't think MS could've pulled it off before Longhorn, especially since it seems like a much more ambitious change than Quartz Extreme was.
:-)
That said, there are a lot of other examples of people accusing Microsoft of "copying" completely obvious improvements from Apple. I thought we liked the concept of sharing ideas here at slashdot?
P.S. My desktop is an x86, but I also have a PowerBook, and yeah, OSX is good.
"Microsoft, as usual, announced the feature after Apple shipped it"
God I'm tired of hearing that phrase over and over again when 95% of the time it's just because Apple can control the hardware and it would be a total disaster if MS included a technology as fast as they do...
I'm not an American, but I would like to point out that voting for people based on a single position is stupid.
So you're pro-tech? Fine. But you also want to put something in the constitution that would take away rights. In fact, it seems like the only reason you're against the DMCA is because it affects you personally.
I can't of course deny your right to have those views, but anyone who blindly votes for you based on your opinion on the DMCA is an idiot. Remember, that text on the FSF t-shirt says "Free Software, Free Society", not "Free Software".
"But I don't know of a better way, so I can't really criticize too much."
Well, I like to think there's a better way, but it'll never work, because all the record companies have to do is scream "communism" and 90% of the population will be grabbing their pitchforks...
Anyway, imagine a situation where person A likes The Rolling Stones and CCR, B likes CCR and Andrea Bocelli, C likes Andrea Bocelli and The Rolling Stones. All of them can buy 1 credit of music. Person D can't afford anything.
So, A buys Stones, B buys CCR and C buys Bocelli. All artists get one credit, and all customers get 1 unit of music. D gets nothing.
Alternative: The government takes 3 total credits from A, B, C and distributes them to the artists depending on how much their music is downloaded. All people, including D, get all the music, and the artists still get paid as much.
But that's too idealistic. Unfortunately, the reality is that we're Picard being interrogated by the Cardassians: "Marginal! Cost! Is! Zero!"
"Though I could swear some music these days come from /dev/urandom"
Incorrect. /dev/urandom would provide too much variety.
And remember, no one's seen Jesus and Hitler together either!
That's rather interesting, actually, because searching for xfree87 or xfree85 results in:
"Free Live Cams Looking for iFriends? I deliver, and I'm live right now."
So maybe "xfree86" *is* returning pornsites for MSN. But why??
"a.) The operative word here is 'one'."
"How many people does it take, Admiral, before it becomes wrong?
A thousand? Fifty thousand? A million? How many people does it take, Admiral?"
Isn't it odd how many of those luddite posts actually get modded up? This is slashdot - why are people trying to sound cool by saying they don't "need" something? I thought that kind of behavior was reserved for PHB's.
In other news, I don't need emacs, because the MS-DOS editor has all the features anyone should want from a word processor.
"No, we shall all start using the HURD now."
Yeah, because joining a HURD is the first thing to do when trying to stand out from the crowd.
"Companies seem to be allowed to say whatever they want and don't seem to be taken to task very often"
You, sir, are gravely mistaken. It's just that the authorities are so busy handling real problems that they don't have time for your petty complaints!
"Something tells me that one of these days we'll see a headline stating: \"Geek goes postal, chokes 10 lamers with cat-5 cable\""
Pfft. A true geek would use at least Cat5e.
"I put UID:0 and it said Thanks! and ran off with my money. :("
I'm sure the root account is very thankful for finally being granted read access.
"Or do you so lack in a belief of the goodness of mankind"
Yes.
"people who actually use libraries would have to bear the cost -- I certainly don't think I should have to pay for something I never use."
Yeah, and then poor people couldn't afford information. Wonderful.
"i just hope no one gives them aids :)"
Don't worry. James T. Kirk was a fictional character.
"It would be like the pilgrims landing in the US. Complete colonization one way or other."
Yeah, and in complete violation of the prime directive.
Damn pilgrims.
"I have several hundred 12 inch LaserDiscs that still deliver a fine image - but if my player ever breaks they become useless."
Yeah, but remember that if the same happens to your DVD's, you can just copy them to your hard disk and watch them on whatever device you want.
If that fucking weren't illegal, that is.
Wankers.
Actually, it's rumored that he could originally speak, but was once caught violating copyright in an illegal karaoke bar.
I'm told he sounded somewhat like Barry White.
" Even people that don't know anything about computers know that Linux is that "other thing" that's "more secure". I know which would be my chosen OS to run any kind of internetwork-connected services."
Yeah, but unfortunately it's dying.
"I'm also somewhat confused by this new trend of attaching everything to cellphones and making it suck."
But you forget that they aren't making them suck on purpose. Just wait a few years. Sooner or later, we'll have cell phones with great cameras, great PDAs and great etc.
Sure, serious photographers will buy separate cameras and of course teen gamers will have to carry around graphics accelerators in their underwear so their manhood won't be in doubt, but there's a point where the casual user just stops caring.
I predict that point will occur at about 3MP, 3x zoom, processing power of a P166, and 512MB of flash memory. I could be wrong, of course, but surely you realize, that *eventually* we'll reach that point. And I can't wait to get there.
"Then you have to worry about those with poor or no hearing, as well as those with poor or no sound equipment. Why not have someone solve a riddle or puzzle"
Because then you'd be discriminating against stupid people, and keeping them off the internet.
Oh, wait...