You've definitely got a point, but how many times do you have to learn a lesson before you figure out that Microsoft's security really sucks?
Let's say that you get hit with ILOVEYOU and start to filter out attachments. Good job.
Now you get hit with Code Red. You decide to check daily for security fixes at Windows Update. Good job there, too.
Next, you get hit with a nasty virus because one of your employees couldn't live without his favorite screensaver. You install up-to-date virus definitions on all your PCs and check daily for new virus definitions. Also, you lock down all your PCs, so that nobody can install/remove programs without MIS approval. The employees grumble and complain, but it's obviously necessary.
And after that, a disgruntled employee (perhaps the same one that caused the virus outbreak) decides to sabotage a few of the servers after he gets fired. You disable all remote manageability and literally lock the servers away in a secure room. MIS begins to grumble and complain now, too, but it's necessary...
At what point do you finally switch over to something different? When no work can be done, because you're trying to patch the millions of holes Microsoft themself refuses to patch?
UNIX has a whole slew of problems, too, but at least it isn't designed to be insecure.
Debian puts out a distribution without any trouble. FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD put out BSD distributions without any trouble. Even Red Hat and Mandrake were, at one point, just volunteer efforts.
There's nothing magical about putting out a Linux distribution. There's nothing magical about running a corporation.
If you are technically proficient, it's easy enough to put together the files and dependancies. Does Mandrake program all the stuff in their distribution? Of course not! Mostly they just compile it and toss it into the distribution. From my experience, Mandrake is one of the buggiest Linux distributions ever made. They don't test much of anything. As long as it compiles, they're happy. I think this is changing a little bit now, but that was the attitude that I saw up until 8.0. 8.1 didn't impress me all that much with its stability, either.
Mostly, to make a distribution like Mandrake, you need lots of computing horsepower (to compile all those apps), some programming knowledge (to figure out why glibc and kernel 2.6.3 won't work together when you use gcc 3.1.0 to compile them both), and you need to have a little artistic talent (for all those icons).
If you wanted, you could get volunteers to make all the packages for you, like Debian does. That way, you wouldn't really have to do much work at all. All those unpaid volunteers would take care of the tough stuff.
Documentation would be tedious but doable. I sure wouldn't want to be stuck writing it all, though. That's one area where it'd be good to have about ten or twenty other people working with you.
Anyone can burn an ISO and call it a distribution. The tough part is doing the support. I can't field a hundred calls per hour. I could make a distribution, however. So could you, as long as you're a programmer/technical writer, like me.
If Mandrake can't afford to continue to pay developers to maintain free software, then someone else will maintain that free software - if the community cares enough about that software, that is.
It's survival of the fittest, in more ways than one.
Anyways, I don't believe in corporate welfare. Let them eat cake.
What the hell? If a Democrat said that all Jews and Blacks should be deported, would you still vote for him? I'm as liberal as they come, but I sure as hell wouldn't vote for a Democrat like that...
Who cares what party someone belongs to? It's all about integrity and intelligence. If the Republican is a better choice, then choose him!
It's not like one party is better than the other. They both suck.
I like CD caddies. Why do people keep saying that you need a hundred CD caddies? If you buy a handful of caddies, then you can keep all your most used discs in the caddies. I'm sure that for many purposes having only half a dozen (or a dozen) caddies would be useless. But for a user like me, it has worked out fine.
It's too bad that nobody makes drives that use CD caddies any more. I have an external SCSI CDROM that uses them.
If RedHat does it, then most other distributions will follow. It really does make sense. I'm sure that Slackware, with its aversion to using the simple SysV init system, will stick to doing things the old way, but who cares? People who want to do it the old way will have a choice.
There's nothing stopping you from setting up most configuration files in that same un-grep-able way.
For example:
ACL James \
Bob \
Mary \
Lauren
Most UNIX programs will even ignore whitespace in the config file. I would say that your problem with XML is not related at all to XML, but that you have a problem with a specific style.
IMHO, a standardized way of writing config files is definitely needed. XML would fit the bill, especially since it's so popular. Writing a new configuration language might be fun (and even a seemingly better solution), but every single person running Linux would have to learn that configuration language. Not everyone needs to learn XML.
Make it public domain. I've always preferred public domain over any other "open source" license. If I wanted to put restrictions on something, I'd make it free for non-commercial use. Other than that, I can't imagine why I'd care someone was using my code. Well... unless it was being used to control ICMBs.
That's totally untrue. I don't know about the rest of you, but I still like to play NetHack. Having a native Linux version of Diablo 2 and Civ 3 would be nice, but I'm content to use a second PC for them.
I've even got enough parts to make a third PC: four sticks of 64MB PC133 RAM, an Asus PII/PIII motherboard, a spare 266 MHz Pentium II CPU (used when I need to flash old motherboards to support the Pentium III), two ATX cases, a 15" monitor, two PCI video cards, many 10 and 100Mbit NICs, and various, small EIDE hard drives (not to mention the PCI Ultra SCSI controller and several 4.5GB SCSI drives).
I'm sure I could even scrounge up a floppy drive and a 4X CDROM if I tried hard enough. I've got some old 486 PCs in the closet.
This is the main problem with companies like Loki. I really did expect that I'd be able to download the Linux binary to my favorite games. I already paid once for the license (not the game, mind you -- according to the EULA, all I own is a license), so why should I have to pay for a license again? It's not my fault Loki has to PAY to port these games... that's pretty fucked up. But it's counter-intertuitive.
I don't want a box, documentation, CDROM, etc. I just want a binary. I already have everything else. At most, I'd be willing to pay $20. Not $50. I laugh at $50.
Even if I didn't already have the game, I wouldn't pay $50 for it. I've never paid so much for a game. Back in the 80s, it only cost $20-$30 for a new game, and that's the price point I'm used to. I wait for the new games to come down to $40, then I use a coupon or promo code to get it down to $25 or $30. Staples and Electronics Boutique sell lots of games for under $20 in the "bargain bin". It's easy to get a somewhat new game for $35 or $40 if you shop long enough or wait long enough. Shelf space is limited, so games go on sale eventually...
I can't believe that Loki wanted me to spend $50 on an old Windows game that was selling for $9.99 at EB. Shyeah, right. I'll just buy it from the bargain bin and play it on my second (or third) PC.
I can believe he turned down sex, but I find it very difficult to believe that anyone who works at a Ziff Davis publication turned down money.
Microsoft owns Ziff-Davis. Have you ever seen a ZD reviewer give anything by Microsoft less than a 9/10, even when they say it has serious flaws? Gimme a break. I can not support this man any more now, knowing that he was on the ZD payroll.
Writing an operating system for an embedded device is not exactly rocket science, either...
Contribute? If I have to fix a distribution or it works against me, then it's definitely not the right distribution for me.
For instance, Debian is probably just now in the process of going to the 2.4 kernel. I'll bet almost anything that the stable Debian kernel is still at 2.2.
That's crazy. I run 2.4, and I've yet to have a single problem. What's that? I don't run real servers? How about a dual processor Pentium III and a DEC Alpha?
I know that I will catch a lot of flack for this, but try to understand that it's just my experience. Anyways, I haven't been labelled a troll in a while, so I might as well burn some karma.
The question you're asking could be "why do people use RPM?" -or- "Why do people use RedHat, Mandrake, or SuSE?" I'll try to briefly give my answer to both questions.
Why do people use RPM? As far as I can tell, RedHat and RPM came first. I never heard of Debian until RedHat got to version 3.0.x, and I never heard of anyone actually using Debian until even later. I think that I'm not the only one, either. Regardless, RPM was a hell of a lot simpler to use back then (I could create a binary RPM package in just two or three minutes, using my favorite text editor). Debian's system was a mess! Whoever wrote dselect had no clue. apt and dpkg didn't exist. I couldn't understand why anyone in their right mind would bother to create packages for Debian. So, I got better and better at RPM packages and kept ignoring Debian, because nobody ever used it and the software sucked. Eventually, someone finally wrote a real package manager for Debian, and I have to say that I was impressed. I decided to install Debian after that. And that leads us to...
Why don't people just give up their RedHat, Mandrake, etc and use Debian? Because the people who use Debian are political wackos and elitist assholes! Yes, yes, I can see the (-1, flamebait) moderation hitting me hard right about now, but try to understand this is just my experience from being on the Debian lists and talking to Debian people on Usenet. I can't stand them. Someone on the main Debian mailing list once called me a 'hacker' in a derogatory sense! Funk dat. Debian people suck, and I haven't met a single one that I'd like to be associated with. They remind me of a combination of the worst qualities in OS/2, Amiga, Macintosh, and FreeBSD users. Maybe it's not like this today (the last time I used Debian was over 5 years ago), but that one experience so long ago soured me on Debian FOREVER. There is no chance of me using that distribution ever again. I refuse to be associated with people like that.
I'm sorry that this is flamebait, but I can't come up with a better, more tolerant way of putting it. Call it a personality clash, low tolerance for assholes, or me being immature... whatever you want... but I'll freely admit that Debian is an awesome Linux distribution....but only if you can ignore the people who are associated with it!
I just want to use Linux. I don't want to join some stupid "Windoze SuX!!!!" club, I don't want to change my political party (I'm more of a green than anything else), I don't want to call my operating system GNU/Linux (wtf?) or Lignux or some crap like that, and I most definitely don't want to called names on the support mailing lists.
Maybe if someone archived the Debian mailing lists from 5-7 years ago, they'll see me getting flamed outrageously by Bruce Perens himself. It has always been my opinion that Perens, ESR, and most of the other people involved with Debian were blowhards, and this just reinforced my opinion.
Why do I use RedHat, Mandrake, SuSE, etc? Because they're quite good enough for the job (maybe not the best, but good enough), and the people who use them don't act like spoiled, egotistical 5 year olds.
Alright, let the moderation commence...
Re:Interesting...Liked the engineering economics
on
Why ADCo?
·
· Score: 2
I just get depressed when I read stuff like this.
Seriously now, is there any country in Europe that's different than the U.S. in regards to telcos, power, etc? I've thought about moving to Germany, Britain, or the Netherlands. Hell, even France, since I speak some French.
I don't want to end up in a technologically backwards country like Afghanistan, though...
I bought a piece of crap Teac CD-RW that advertised a two megabyte buffer, but 768k of that buffer is used for firmware! That leaves me with about 1.2MB to use, and I don't even have the luxury of burn-proof. Teac sucks royally these days. I remember when Teac used to make good, high quality stuff.
Maybe we should start prosecuting the companies who pull this shit with us.
Re:Is this a troll?
on
Dual G4 Mac Cube
·
· Score: 4, Informative
He's got the general idea right, though. He might get mixed up with specifics, but something with less transistors will run cooler. The PPC chips run very cool. Athlons run extremely hot. Pentium III and IV chips don't run as hot as Athlons, but I'd hate to see what happens when the heatsink malfunctiones on a 2GHz P4.
You can run a PPC CPU at temperatures unheard of with AMD and Intel CPUs.
Not all RISC-based CPUs run cool, though. Because the PPC was designed for embedded use, it runs a lot cooler than a DEC Alpha. Try touching a fast Alpha CPU. Try touching a slow Alpha!
Unfortunately, calling people out on their arguments doesn't really do any good on Slashdot. People don't want easy accessible music; they want free music. They don't want lower prices; they want to get something for nothing.
If you're going to pirate something, at least admit to yourself that you're ripping off someone, not a victimized consumer standing up his rights.
No, that's not true. I didn't catch it until the thief made several purchases.
1) I lost my wallet.
2) I call my bank, credit card company, etc.
3) They investigate.
4) Many purchases are made using my ID and plastic
5) I tell Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger, etc. that my wallet was stolen. My credit is not harmed.
6) I file a police report and fax it to Target, Wal-Mart, Kroger, etc.
What do you people not understand?
Re:cry me a river you CRIMINAL
on
DMCA 2, Freedom 0
·
· Score: 1, Troll
When they came for the Jews...
Holy shit, you mean the DMCA actually allows racists to kill people?
This is the sort of argument that I'm talking about. You can't even defend your position without a straw-man argument.
Re:cry me a river you CRIMINAL
on
DMCA 2, Freedom 0
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Why was this moderated up to "+5, insightful"?
It's just one-sided propaganda. You don't bother to tell the other side of the issues (most of it is straw-man arguments and/or unreasonable -- but not all!), and you even go so far as to make up things.
Where in the DMCA does it give the RIAA the right to have control over your DVD collection? I must have missed that part.
Look, I'm not saying that I like the DMCA. I'm just saying that to demonize something like that causes people look up the facts of the matter and really come to dislike your position.
Remember how the governmnet used to lie through their teeth and tell us that one puff of marijuana would warp your mind and get you addicted to crack the next day? Well, it was obviously bullshit, people knew it was bullshit, and nobody paid any attention to it. If you make up your own straw-man arguments (and invent ridiculous things like "the government has their hands in my movie collection!"), you're not doing any good for the anti-DMCA lobby.
How exactly has the DMCA hurt you personally, anyways? It has yet to hurt me at all, as I never really had the right to make backups of my stuff in the first place (EULAs, copy protection, etc). The DMCA is practically a non-issue in my life, though I do find it distasteful.
If there was a law that actually forbade me from making backup copies of my compact discs, then I'd get pissed. The DMCA does not do that. Read it some time.
"I've tried to compile wine many times over the years, and sometimes it does compile. When it doesn't instantly segfault, sometimes I can get the title screen of my favorite game to come up. Once I heard that someone got a game to run under it, but it crashed a lot. Anyways, isn't WINE great?"
Slashdot Mirror
You've definitely got a point, but how many times do you have to learn a lesson before you figure out that Microsoft's security really sucks?
Let's say that you get hit with ILOVEYOU and start to filter out attachments. Good job.
Now you get hit with Code Red. You decide to check daily for security fixes at Windows Update. Good job there, too.
Next, you get hit with a nasty virus because one of your employees couldn't live without his favorite screensaver. You install up-to-date virus definitions on all your PCs and check daily for new virus definitions. Also, you lock down all your PCs, so that nobody can install/remove programs without MIS approval. The employees grumble and complain, but it's obviously necessary.
And after that, a disgruntled employee (perhaps the same one that caused the virus outbreak) decides to sabotage a few of the servers after he gets fired. You disable all remote manageability and literally lock the servers away in a secure room. MIS begins to grumble and complain now, too, but it's necessary...
At what point do you finally switch over to something different? When no work can be done, because you're trying to patch the millions of holes Microsoft themself refuses to patch?
UNIX has a whole slew of problems, too, but at least it isn't designed to be insecure.
Debian puts out a distribution without any trouble. FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD put out BSD distributions without any trouble. Even Red Hat and Mandrake were, at one point, just volunteer efforts.
There's nothing magical about putting out a Linux distribution. There's nothing magical about running a corporation.
If you are technically proficient, it's easy enough to put together the files and dependancies. Does Mandrake program all the stuff in their distribution? Of course not! Mostly they just compile it and toss it into the distribution. From my experience, Mandrake is one of the buggiest Linux distributions ever made. They don't test much of anything. As long as it compiles, they're happy. I think this is changing a little bit now, but that was the attitude that I saw up until 8.0. 8.1 didn't impress me all that much with its stability, either.
Mostly, to make a distribution like Mandrake, you need lots of computing horsepower (to compile all those apps), some programming knowledge (to figure out why glibc and kernel 2.6.3 won't work together when you use gcc 3.1.0 to compile them both), and you need to have a little artistic talent (for all those icons).
If you wanted, you could get volunteers to make all the packages for you, like Debian does. That way, you wouldn't really have to do much work at all. All those unpaid volunteers would take care of the tough stuff.
Documentation would be tedious but doable. I sure wouldn't want to be stuck writing it all, though. That's one area where it'd be good to have about ten or twenty other people working with you.
Anyone can burn an ISO and call it a distribution. The tough part is doing the support. I can't field a hundred calls per hour. I could make a distribution, however. So could you, as long as you're a programmer/technical writer, like me.
If Mandrake can't afford to continue to pay developers to maintain free software, then someone else will maintain that free software - if the community cares enough about that software, that is.
It's survival of the fittest, in more ways than one.
Anyways, I don't believe in corporate welfare. Let them eat cake.
What the hell? If a Democrat said that all Jews and Blacks should be deported, would you still vote for him? I'm as liberal as they come, but I sure as hell wouldn't vote for a Democrat like that...
Who cares what party someone belongs to? It's all about integrity and intelligence. If the Republican is a better choice, then choose him!
It's not like one party is better than the other. They both suck.
I like CD caddies. Why do people keep saying that you need a hundred CD caddies? If you buy a handful of caddies, then you can keep all your most used discs in the caddies. I'm sure that for many purposes having only half a dozen (or a dozen) caddies would be useless. But for a user like me, it has worked out fine.
It's too bad that nobody makes drives that use CD caddies any more. I have an external SCSI CDROM that uses them.
If RedHat does it, then most other distributions will follow. It really does make sense. I'm sure that Slackware, with its aversion to using the simple SysV init system, will stick to doing things the old way, but who cares? People who want to do it the old way will have a choice.
There's nothing stopping you from setting up most configuration files in that same un-grep-able way.
For example:
ACL James \
Bob \
Mary \
Lauren
Most UNIX programs will even ignore whitespace in the config file. I would say that your problem with XML is not related at all to XML, but that you have a problem with a specific style.
IMHO, a standardized way of writing config files is definitely needed. XML would fit the bill, especially since it's so popular. Writing a new configuration language might be fun (and even a seemingly better solution), but every single person running Linux would have to learn that configuration language. Not everyone needs to learn XML.
Make it public domain. I've always preferred public domain over any other "open source" license. If I wanted to put restrictions on something, I'd make it free for non-commercial use. Other than that, I can't imagine why I'd care someone was using my code. Well... unless it was being used to control ICMBs.
That's totally untrue. I don't know about the rest of you, but I still like to play NetHack. Having a native Linux version of Diablo 2 and Civ 3 would be nice, but I'm content to use a second PC for them.
I've even got enough parts to make a third PC: four sticks of 64MB PC133 RAM, an Asus PII/PIII motherboard, a spare 266 MHz Pentium II CPU (used when I need to flash old motherboards to support the Pentium III), two ATX cases, a 15" monitor, two PCI video cards, many 10 and 100Mbit NICs, and various, small EIDE hard drives (not to mention the PCI Ultra SCSI controller and several 4.5GB SCSI drives).
I'm sure I could even scrounge up a floppy drive and a 4X CDROM if I tried hard enough. I've got some old 486 PCs in the closet.
This is the main problem with companies like Loki. I really did expect that I'd be able to download the Linux binary to my favorite games. I already paid once for the license (not the game, mind you -- according to the EULA, all I own is a license), so why should I have to pay for a license again? It's not my fault Loki has to PAY to port these games... that's pretty fucked up. But it's counter-intertuitive.
I don't want a box, documentation, CDROM, etc. I just want a binary. I already have everything else. At most, I'd be willing to pay $20. Not $50. I laugh at $50.
Even if I didn't already have the game, I wouldn't pay $50 for it. I've never paid so much for a game. Back in the 80s, it only cost $20-$30 for a new game, and that's the price point I'm used to. I wait for the new games to come down to $40, then I use a coupon or promo code to get it down to $25 or $30. Staples and Electronics Boutique sell lots of games for under $20 in the "bargain bin". It's easy to get a somewhat new game for $35 or $40 if you shop long enough or wait long enough. Shelf space is limited, so games go on sale eventually...
I can't believe that Loki wanted me to spend $50 on an old Windows game that was selling for $9.99 at EB. Shyeah, right. I'll just buy it from the bargain bin and play it on my second (or third) PC.
I can believe he turned down sex, but I find it very difficult to believe that anyone who works at a Ziff Davis publication turned down money.
Microsoft owns Ziff-Davis. Have you ever seen a ZD reviewer give anything by Microsoft less than a 9/10, even when they say it has serious flaws? Gimme a break. I can not support this man any more now, knowing that he was on the ZD payroll.
Writing an operating system for an embedded device is not exactly rocket science, either...
Contribute? If I have to fix a distribution or it works against me, then it's definitely not the right distribution for me.
For instance, Debian is probably just now in the process of going to the 2.4 kernel. I'll bet almost anything that the stable Debian kernel is still at 2.2.
That's crazy. I run 2.4, and I've yet to have a single problem. What's that? I don't run real servers? How about a dual processor Pentium III and a DEC Alpha?
You actually found it? Wow. Well, I'm impressed.
Check out the reply calling me a hacker. It's classic.
I know that I will catch a lot of flack for this, but try to understand that it's just my experience. Anyways, I haven't been labelled a troll in a while, so I might as well burn some karma.
...but only if you can ignore the people who are associated with it!
The question you're asking could be "why do people use RPM?" -or- "Why do people use RedHat, Mandrake, or SuSE?" I'll try to briefly give my answer to both questions.
Why do people use RPM?
As far as I can tell, RedHat and RPM came first. I never heard of Debian until RedHat got to version 3.0.x, and I never heard of anyone actually using Debian until even later. I think that I'm not the only one, either. Regardless, RPM was a hell of a lot simpler to use back then (I could create a binary RPM package in just two or three minutes, using my favorite text editor). Debian's system was a mess! Whoever wrote dselect had no clue. apt and dpkg didn't exist. I couldn't understand why anyone in their right mind would bother to create packages for Debian. So, I got better and better at RPM packages and kept ignoring Debian, because nobody ever used it and the software sucked. Eventually, someone finally wrote a real package manager for Debian, and I have to say that I was impressed. I decided to install Debian after that. And that leads us to...
Why don't people just give up their RedHat, Mandrake, etc and use Debian?
Because the people who use Debian are political wackos and elitist assholes! Yes, yes, I can see the (-1, flamebait) moderation hitting me hard right about now, but try to understand this is just my experience from being on the Debian lists and talking to Debian people on Usenet. I can't stand them. Someone on the main Debian mailing list once called me a 'hacker' in a derogatory sense! Funk dat. Debian people suck, and I haven't met a single one that I'd like to be associated with. They remind me of a combination of the worst qualities in OS/2, Amiga, Macintosh, and FreeBSD users. Maybe it's not like this today (the last time I used Debian was over 5 years ago), but that one experience so long ago soured me on Debian FOREVER. There is no chance of me using that distribution ever again. I refuse to be associated with people like that.
I'm sorry that this is flamebait, but I can't come up with a better, more tolerant way of putting it. Call it a personality clash, low tolerance for assholes, or me being immature... whatever you want... but I'll freely admit that Debian is an awesome Linux distribution.
I just want to use Linux. I don't want to join some stupid "Windoze SuX!!!!" club, I don't want to change my political party (I'm more of a green than anything else), I don't want to call my operating system GNU/Linux (wtf?) or Lignux or some crap like that, and I most definitely don't want to called names on the support mailing lists.
Maybe if someone archived the Debian mailing lists from 5-7 years ago, they'll see me getting flamed outrageously by Bruce Perens himself. It has always been my opinion that Perens, ESR, and most of the other people involved with Debian were blowhards, and this just reinforced my opinion.
Why do I use RedHat, Mandrake, SuSE, etc? Because they're quite good enough for the job (maybe not the best, but good enough), and the people who use them don't act like spoiled, egotistical 5 year olds.
Alright, let the moderation commence...
I just get depressed when I read stuff like this.
Seriously now, is there any country in Europe that's different than the U.S. in regards to telcos, power, etc? I've thought about moving to Germany, Britain, or the Netherlands. Hell, even France, since I speak some French.
I don't want to end up in a technologically backwards country like Afghanistan, though...
Just call me a wannabe ex-patriot.
Wouldn't that be false advertising?
I bought a piece of crap Teac CD-RW that advertised a two megabyte buffer, but 768k of that buffer is used for firmware! That leaves me with about 1.2MB to use, and I don't even have the luxury of burn-proof. Teac sucks royally these days. I remember when Teac used to make good, high quality stuff.
Maybe we should start prosecuting the companies who pull this shit with us.
He's got the general idea right, though. He might get mixed up with specifics, but something with less transistors will run cooler. The PPC chips run very cool. Athlons run extremely hot. Pentium III and IV chips don't run as hot as Athlons, but I'd hate to see what happens when the heatsink malfunctiones on a 2GHz P4.
You can run a PPC CPU at temperatures unheard of with AMD and Intel CPUs.
Not all RISC-based CPUs run cool, though. Because the PPC was designed for embedded use, it runs a lot cooler than a DEC Alpha. Try touching a fast Alpha CPU. Try touching a slow Alpha!
Unfortunately, calling people out on their arguments doesn't really do any good on Slashdot. People don't want easy accessible music; they want free music. They don't want lower prices; they want to get something for nothing.
If you're going to pirate something, at least admit to yourself that you're ripping off someone, not a victimized consumer standing up his rights.
Gimme a break.
How could someone buy a car in my name, when they don't look anything like me?
So what if it's been on 20/20? Lots of things have been on 20/20, and I don't believe that they really happened, either.
Just because it's on the TV doesn't mean it's true.
Incredible graphics?
IT'S A TELEVISION, PEOPLE!
No, that's not true. I didn't catch it until the thief made several purchases.
1) I lost my wallet.
2) I call my bank, credit card company, etc.
3) They investigate.
4) Many purchases are made using my ID and plastic
5) I tell Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger, etc. that my wallet was stolen. My credit is not harmed.
6) I file a police report and fax it to Target, Wal-Mart, Kroger, etc.
What do you people not understand?
Holy shit, you mean the DMCA actually allows racists to kill people?
This is the sort of argument that I'm talking about. You can't even defend your position without a straw-man argument.
Why was this moderated up to "+5, insightful"?
It's just one-sided propaganda. You don't bother to tell the other side of the issues (most of it is straw-man arguments and/or unreasonable -- but not all!), and you even go so far as to make up things.
Where in the DMCA does it give the RIAA the right to have control over your DVD collection? I must have missed that part.
Look, I'm not saying that I like the DMCA. I'm just saying that to demonize something like that causes people look up the facts of the matter and really come to dislike your position.
Remember how the governmnet used to lie through their teeth and tell us that one puff of marijuana would warp your mind and get you addicted to crack the next day? Well, it was obviously bullshit, people knew it was bullshit, and nobody paid any attention to it. If you make up your own straw-man arguments (and invent ridiculous things like "the government has their hands in my movie collection!"), you're not doing any good for the anti-DMCA lobby.
How exactly has the DMCA hurt you personally, anyways? It has yet to hurt me at all, as I never really had the right to make backups of my stuff in the first place (EULAs, copy protection, etc). The DMCA is practically a non-issue in my life, though I do find it distasteful.
If there was a law that actually forbade me from making backup copies of my compact discs, then I'd get pissed. The DMCA does not do that. Read it some time.
Shot credit? From whom? I had my credit card stolen, and I just dialed the handy 1-800 number. All was taken care of.
What's the big risk?
You're not accountable for what they do. The credit card company takes the loss, not you.
"I've tried to compile wine many times over the years, and sometimes it does compile. When it doesn't instantly segfault, sometimes I can get the title screen of my favorite game to come up. Once I heard that someone got a game to run under it, but it crashed a lot. Anyways, isn't WINE great?"