The posting of the "hacking" (DeCSS) code is akin to mass-producing and distributing keys that allow one to get into one's own home.
The inherent problem with the situation (in the analogy, not the analogy itself) that the MPAA would have is that this also allows people to get into some other peoples homes. What they forget is that all their citizens, before this imaginary key was distributed, where living in the streets.
It'll be a cold day in hell when Microsoft honestly hands over the source of any version of the main line of Windows products (9x, NT). In spite of this, I would agree that Microsoft will open-source something. Just not Windows.
Microsoft did not get where they were by ignoring reality or their competitors. This doesn't mean that they take a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" outlook. It means that they take whatever they feel will be useful to them, and then do whatever they can to kick ass and take names.
Logically, Microsoft's reaction (depending on how current events pan out) will be to claim to suddenly have "invented" the great new concept of opening their source, and then either limit their open-sourcing to trivial products, or find some other lame way to basically remain the same closed-source company they've always been (whilst claiming the opposite).
That would be extremely unfair to those who have dial-up accounts and will have the same IP # as an AC that posted somewhere, and may still be going a bit far even for people with static IP's.
We have moderation for this. You can argue about what gets moderated up, but most of the stuff that gets moderated down is for a good reason. It's probably best to just put higher-scored articles first (or kill -1's alltogether).
As long as it remains open, that's all that matters. The point was never that software must be free as in speach, free as in beer, but never in stores. As Bruce said, if there's an oppertunity to actually *make* a living off of this, one would have to be a fool to deny it. Not only would one get to do what they love, but they'd prove to the world the validity of their software and the license behind it.
-- Mr. Gus, who has a file in the FreeBSD dist he didn't know about 'till now...
Err, regardless of his overall intents, that single quote does not, IMHO, promote "sabatoging" a company's work. All it says is that if Entity A writes a free, open-source program, and Sally (employed with A) contributes code under the pretense that *her* code is free, Sally herself should retain rights to her code.
The situation is both idealistic and a tad unrealistic, but it's not expressly to undermine the company's efforts. Sally doesn't want to find some GPL'd bit of code to ruin the commercial release of her company's product-- she just doesn't want her own code used for purposes other than the one she had in mind when she wrote it.
I'm not going to bother repeating the comments to you that I've heard so far, but I do want to say something. Two of the points you like to express seem to be (politically) in direct conflict with each other:
First, that by GPL'ing something you are forcing programmers (who wish to use a GPL-incompatible license) to re-invent the wheel.
Second, that the GPL doesn't allow the "freedom" for an entity to use portions of code in a closed-source project.
The victim of the second point would also cause the problem of the first point. Proprietary code forces programmers to re-invent the wheel, and also eliminates "example code". And yet, you seem to hold no malice toward proprietary code?
Well, if it's part of the EULA that you can't use it if you're a minor *because* you're not bound to the EULA, doesn't that basically mean that you *can* download it anyway, since you can legally break the EULA?
The problem is that people seem to care. People should pronounce it how they want, although I will admit that I think "Lie-nucks" sounds stupid, even if it doesn't matter.:) I still might be kind of worried if people started pronoucning "Linux" "Bikini" or something. But anyhow...
But anyhow, the reason I'm replying is to say that I've never even though of pronouncing Sysop "Siceop", VESA "VISA" (good god...) or even trying to pronounce ISA at all. It's EYE-ESS-EI, for cripes sake. And that's the official word of God, my dog. (Okay, his name's really Henry, but he thinks he's God, and he likes pronouncing words correctly, damnit...)
So remember, it's "EYE-ESS-EI", not "ICE-UH" or anything like that, or else the wrath of Henry shall rain down upon you all like saliva.
I know how it's really pronounced.
on
Linux on Jeopardy
·
· Score: 1
The "LI" portion of the word "Linux" is pronounced the same as the "LI" portion of the word "Live".
Manson probably had a favorite food. If I found out that it was the same as mine, I wouldn't be offended at his choice to eat spagetti or lasagna or what not.
Linux, no matter what concepts or ideals were kept in mind while creating it, is still a tool. Any entity has every right to make a decision about what tool is the right tool for the job. It doesn't pollute linux, even if it isn't the best bit of PR in the world.
That actually makes me feel a bit better... I bought one about the time that they first came out, and as far as the layout was concerned, I liked it. In a couple years died, and I've never had keyboard die on me (I've had them "act up", but I've never just completely and utterly _die_). I wasn't sure if perhaps I just unknowingly bashed it or spilled something that I never noticed, or maybe even just had lots of luck with the keyboard I'd used in the past few years.:) Now, I've concluded they have a lifespan of a housefly.
I think that's pretty darned nifty. "Nifty" would be the important key word here. I think it's really cool that they can do that, but I fail to see the point in actually selling this thing. It seems to me that other than being gimmicky, it adds nothing new (except, perhaps, another way for MS to "simplify" things... "Please touch your mouse to continue..."). Nothing against gimmicks in general, but for what little it does even as a gimmick, it just looks like an oppertunity for my mouse to break a little sooner (and depending on how well they integrate the "features" that use this new mouse, a greater chance for Windows and various proggies to go down like a flaming duck).
In spite of my saying this, I'll probably buy one the second Logitech duplicates it (with a better ergonomic design and an extra button).:)
I don't have a sig, so I'm typing this so you'll think I do.
1.) If you say so. Under Windows, when I was using the trial version, it rendered everything I looked at fine except for one thing: Dejanews' "Power search" page. It placed one of the little boxie thingies (I'm so technical...) down a line, making it look a little weird. 3.6 or something might have fixed that, too, but I can't remember... Overall, it renders fine an dandy AFAIK. Maybe the linux port is different, if there's a downloadable beta I'm unaware of or some such thing...
2.) Eh, it's different, but it's not like it's absurdly difficult. It still has back/foward buttons and all, they're just... smaller...;) If you're running Linux, you can figure out the Opera buttons in no time flat.
3.) Yep. I agree... that's why I'm not using it right now. I would pay money for it, actually, but I don't have any right now.:) For the moment, I'm somehow dealing with the Goliath that is Netscape v4.61, and occasionally saying "hell with it all" and using w3m or lynx..
I'm not sure what direction they're going to go for Linux (if it's as straight a port as they can do of 3.60/Windows, YESSSS!!!), but (as much as the Opera people might like it that way) I don't think Opera is meant to be "God's next browser". It's "the alternative", sort of what Linux is. Linux has enough hype behind it that it's going farther than that, but one can't say so much for Opera... That doesn't make it a bad alternative. As long as it exists, those of us who don't want a browser that wastes code on things as varied as washing the dishes will be relatively happy. At least, if we can afford it. Otherwise, we'll hope the next version of KFM is a doozy...
(Note: The above opinions are not necessarily that of the author... he wasn't meant to post stuff right after he got up...:)
The little icons on the top that always represent the "type" of stories that have been most recently shown, at least on my computer, are stuck on the picture of the bug. That represents this 9/9/99 story... Beware. O.O
...this is going to be great. Now I'll have a bookend to Yoda. Or if he makes a few more songs with Star Wars themes in them, he can put out, "The Star Wars Album". Then he'll hate it as much as he does the Food and T.V. albums...:)
(No, I didn't have anything to say, but hey... it's "Weird Al"! Had to say something!:)
SPAM POLICY - For every message that qualifies as "SPAM" (see our definition), a charge will be added to your credit card. This charge will increase with each "SPAM" message you send. Each "CC" and "BCC" or any other form of sending the same message to multiple recipitants counts as a different message. Our pricing policy works like this:
If you continue unsolicited mail after the tenth message, you will be charged a fee that is the same as the one for the message previous to it increased $100,000, and then you account will be terminated.
Just think if this was enforced. Then, when the spammers are on the streets and complaining that AOL ruined them, everybody will just laugh... sort of a clockwork orange kinda' deal...
"Two years after it's introduction, the iShirt(tm) Internet Enabled Shirt and it's many clones have become a natural part of everyday apparel. The ability to spontaneously change the design on the front of the shirt has appealed to young and old alike. Now, iShirt manufacterer Apple Corp. has decided to include a small advertisement on the breast pocket of the shirt to increase revenue.
Some users have had concerns that this defeats the purpose of the shirt, saying that chosing the design is half the reason for owning the shirt. When questioned about this, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said, "I'm confident that the advertisement will not interfere with the use of the shirt. The back of the shirt remains the territory of the user, as well as most of the front. Our advertising space is entirely limited to the breast pocket".
In other news, Microsoft is teamed-up with Honda to bring us the world's first internet-powered car. Microsoft says their new technology, Visual Highway, will improve fuel effeciency through it's new iEngine which is powered by 20% of the net profits taken from the ads displayed on the bumper. Honda's new Microsoft Accord will be unveiled in the third quarter of '06."
Granted, I think Phoenix's "idea" isn't gonna work, but it's still a sign of the times. This whole "every single thing in existance must become a part of the internet in some way, shape, or form" attitude annoys me enough. It makes no sense-- even Linus (as I recall, might've been someone else...) made some comment about giving your toaster an IP address. Am I the only one that things this ridiculous amount of internet integration seems like the perfect way to put an ad in the line of sight of every single person on the planet no matter where they look? Can't wait to see the iCondom...
I know certain aspects of my sentiments have been said, but I must say them...
Microsoft is like some ancient emperor. MS wants to get control of all the 'kingdoms' in the area. It doesn't want to make their citizens (both old an new) live in horrible conditions, but it also isn't the goal to make them live in eden-like spleandor. This means that the citizens (for the most part; not a universal rule) can still live their day-to-day lives even if everything about the empire they live in is trash. While most surely any sane person would want to leave, it's akin to wanting to walk out on a bad movie instead of escape chinese water torture.
I'm really not a history person (despite taking it:), but while this may not accurately reflect how ancient emperors really were, I hope my point about MS still comes across. They aren't here to deliver crappy products, it just happens in the midst of not caring if they deliver good products over their market share. Now, our favorite Tripant is different. MS is a bit sick, a bit misguided, and unfortunatly it's never been brought to a sanitarium. AOL is pure evil. Netscape has been (essentially) what MS would perhaps be if it were the underdog, aside from certain marketing aspects (and intelligence with perspective). Sun, as a company, is irrelevant to me, so I won't comment on them. But under the oppression of an empire (figuratively speaking), we'll find two types of people. One usually succeeds, one doesn't.
Type A: Martin Luther King's. The Ghandis. These people don't often succeed, but when they do, they do so while being completely 100% in the right (subjectively) and changing the world for the better. This would be Linux, for the most part. Passive-Resistance. Peace, man.
Type B: The Angry Mob. In the empire analogy, these guys would consist mostly of the nobles who probably still have it pretty good. What do they do? They find the nearest town that's a main part of the empire (as in, a town of the empire before it decided taking over their neighbor's lands was fun for the whole family) and they torch the houses of all the citizens. Althought they feel better, the rest of the citizens of the empire suddenly get the mistaken impression that the empire is good because of the terrorists they now have to compare to. Instead of creating a new empire of 'nobles', they end up getting caught and in jail. Nothing is accomplished, except perhaps a bit of thankfulness on the citizens part that the empire has locked a few cruel people in the dungeons, and a perspective that it could be worse... they could be under the hands of those freaks.
Slashdot Mirror
I like my analogy better:
The posting of the "hacking" (DeCSS) code is akin to mass-producing and distributing keys that allow one to get into one's own home.
The inherent problem with the situation (in the analogy, not the analogy itself) that the MPAA would have is that this also allows people to get into some other peoples homes. What they forget is that all their citizens, before this imaginary key was distributed, where living in the streets.
...
It'll be a cold day in hell when Microsoft honestly hands over the source of any version of the main line of Windows products (9x, NT). In spite of this, I would agree that Microsoft will open-source something. Just not Windows.
Microsoft did not get where they were by ignoring reality or their competitors. This doesn't mean that they take a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" outlook. It means that they take whatever they feel will be useful to them, and then do whatever they can to kick ass and take names.
Logically, Microsoft's reaction (depending on how current events pan out) will be to claim to suddenly have "invented" the great new concept of opening their source, and then either limit their open-sourcing to trivial products, or find some other lame way to basically remain the same closed-source company they've always been (whilst claiming the opposite).
That would be extremely unfair to those who have dial-up accounts and will have the same IP # as an AC that posted somewhere, and may still be going a bit far even for people with static IP's.
We have moderation for this. You can argue about what gets moderated up, but most of the stuff that gets moderated down is for a good reason. It's probably best to just put higher-scored articles first (or kill -1's alltogether).
As long as it remains open, that's all that matters. The point was never that software must be free as in speach, free as in beer, but never in stores. As Bruce said, if there's an oppertunity to actually *make* a living off of this, one would have to be a fool to deny it. Not only would one get to do what they love, but they'd prove to the world the validity of their software and the license behind it.
-- Mr. Gus, who has a file in the FreeBSD dist he didn't know about 'till now...
Err, regardless of his overall intents, that single quote does not, IMHO, promote "sabatoging" a company's work. All it says is that if Entity A writes a free, open-source program, and Sally (employed with A) contributes code under the pretense that *her* code is free, Sally herself should retain rights to her code.
The situation is both idealistic and a tad unrealistic, but it's not expressly to undermine the company's efforts. Sally doesn't want to find some GPL'd bit of code to ruin the commercial release of her company's product-- she just doesn't want her own code used for purposes other than the one she had in mind when she wrote it.
I'm not going to bother repeating the comments to you that I've heard so far, but I do want to say something. Two of the points you like to express seem to be (politically) in direct conflict with each other:
First, that by GPL'ing something you are forcing programmers (who wish to use a GPL-incompatible license) to re-invent the wheel.
Second, that the GPL doesn't allow the "freedom" for an entity to use portions of code in a closed-source project.
The victim of the second point would also cause the problem of the first point. Proprietary code forces programmers to re-invent the wheel, and also eliminates "example code". And yet, you seem to hold no malice toward proprietary code?
Well, if it's part of the EULA that you can't use it if you're a minor *because* you're not bound to the EULA, doesn't that basically mean that you *can* download it anyway, since you can legally break the EULA?
The problem is that people seem to care. People should pronounce it how they want, although I will admit that I think "Lie-nucks" sounds stupid, even if it doesn't matter.
But anyhow, the reason I'm replying is to say that I've never even though of pronouncing Sysop "Siceop", VESA "VISA" (good god...) or even trying to pronounce ISA at all. It's EYE-ESS-EI, for cripes sake. And that's the official word of God, my dog. (Okay, his name's really Henry, but he thinks he's God, and he likes pronouncing words correctly, damnit...)
So remember, it's "EYE-ESS-EI", not "ICE-UH" or anything like that, or else the wrath of Henry shall rain down upon you all like saliva.
The "LI" portion of the word "Linux" is pronounced the same as the "LI" portion of the word "Live".
Manson probably had a favorite food. If I found out that it was the same as mine, I wouldn't be offended at his choice to eat spagetti or lasagna or what not.
Linux, no matter what concepts or ideals were kept in mind while creating it, is still a tool. Any entity has every right to make a decision about what tool is the right tool for the job. It doesn't pollute linux, even if it isn't the best bit of PR in the world.
That actually makes me feel a bit better... I
bought one about the time that they first came
out, and as far as the layout was concerned, I
liked it. In a couple years died, and I've never
had keyboard die on me (I've had them "act up",
but I've never just completely and utterly _die_).
I wasn't sure if perhaps I just unknowingly
bashed it or spilled something that I never
noticed, or maybe even just had lots of luck with
the keyboard I'd used in the past few years.
Now, I've concluded they have a lifespan of a
housefly.
This would be a sig if it was one, but it's not.
I think that's pretty darned nifty. "Nifty" would
be the important key word here. I think it's
really cool that they can do that, but I fail to
see the point in actually selling this thing. It
seems to me that other than being gimmicky, it
adds nothing new (except, perhaps, another way for
MS to "simplify" things... "Please touch your
mouse to continue..."). Nothing against gimmicks
in general, but for what little it does even as
a gimmick, it just looks like an oppertunity for
my mouse to break a little sooner (and depending
on how well they integrate the "features" that use
this new mouse, a greater chance for Windows and
various proggies to go down like a flaming duck).
In spite of my saying this, I'll probably buy one
the second Logitech duplicates it (with a better
ergonomic design and an extra button).
I don't have a sig, so I'm typing this so you'll think I do.
Just in case Carmack is read this, I'd like to second that. Billy Blaze is our friend.
1.) If you say so. Under Windows, when I was using the trial version, it rendered everything I looked at fine except for one thing: Dejanews' "Power search" page. It placed one of the little boxie thingies (I'm so technical...) down a line, making it look a little weird. 3.6 or something might have fixed that, too, but I can't remember... Overall, it renders fine an dandy AFAIK. Maybe the linux port is different, if there's a downloadable beta I'm unaware of or some such thing...
;) If you're running Linux, you can figure out the Opera buttons in no time flat.
:) For the moment, I'm somehow dealing with the Goliath that is Netscape v4.61, and occasionally saying "hell with it all" and using w3m or lynx..
:)
2.) Eh, it's different, but it's not like it's absurdly difficult. It still has back/foward buttons and all, they're just... smaller...
3.) Yep. I agree... that's why I'm not using it right now. I would pay money for it, actually, but I don't have any right now.
I'm not sure what direction they're going to go for Linux (if it's as straight a port as they can do of 3.60/Windows, YESSSS!!!), but (as much as the Opera people might like it that way) I don't think Opera is meant to be "God's next browser". It's "the alternative", sort of what Linux is. Linux has enough hype behind it that it's going farther than that, but one can't say so much for Opera... That doesn't make it a bad alternative. As long as it exists, those of us who don't want a browser that wastes code on things as varied as washing the dishes will be relatively happy. At least, if we can afford it. Otherwise, we'll hope the next version of KFM is a doozy...
(Note: The above opinions are not necessarily that of the author... he wasn't meant to post stuff right after he got up...
And then... when nobody even remembers what real war was like... we'll blow the living tar out of em!
The little icons on the top that always represent the "type" of stories that have been most recently shown, at least on my computer, are stuck on the picture of the bug. That represents this 9/9/99 story... Beware. O.O
...this is going to be great. Now I'll have a bookend to Yoda. Or if he makes a few more songs with Star Wars themes in them, he can put out, "The Star Wars Album". Then he'll hate it as much as he does the Food and T.V. albums...
(No, I didn't have anything to say, but hey... it's "Weird Al"! Had to say something!
That just gave me a great idea for a TOS policy:
SPAM POLICY - For every message that qualifies as "SPAM" (see our definition), a charge will be added to your credit card. This charge will increase with each "SPAM" message you send. Each "CC" and "BCC" or any other form of sending the same message to multiple recipitants counts as a different message. Our pricing policy works like this:
1st Message: $25
2nd Message: $100
3rd Message: $250
4th Message: $500
5th Message: $1,000
6th Message: $1,500
7th Message: $5,000
8th Message: $10,000
9th Message: $50,000
10th Message: $100,000
If you continue unsolicited mail after the tenth message, you will be charged a fee that is the same as the one for the message previous to it increased $100,000, and then you account will be terminated.
Just think if this was enforced. Then, when the spammers are on the streets and complaining that AOL ruined them, everybody will just laugh... sort of a clockwork orange kinda' deal...
"Two years after it's introduction, the iShirt(tm) Internet Enabled Shirt and it's many clones have become a natural part of everyday apparel. The ability to spontaneously change the design on the front of the shirt has appealed to young and old alike. Now, iShirt manufacterer Apple Corp. has decided to include a small advertisement on the breast pocket of the shirt to increase revenue.
Some users have had concerns that this defeats the purpose of the shirt, saying that chosing the design is half the reason for owning the shirt. When questioned about this, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said, "I'm confident that the advertisement will not interfere with the use of the shirt. The back of the shirt remains the territory of the user, as well as most of the front. Our advertising space is entirely limited to the breast pocket".
In other news, Microsoft is teamed-up with Honda to bring us the world's first internet-powered car. Microsoft says their new technology, Visual Highway, will improve fuel effeciency through it's new iEngine which is powered by 20% of the net profits taken from the ads displayed on the bumper. Honda's new Microsoft Accord will be unveiled in the third quarter of '06."
Granted, I think Phoenix's "idea" isn't gonna work, but it's still a sign of the times. This whole "every single thing in existance must become a part of the internet in some way, shape, or form" attitude annoys me enough. It makes no sense-- even Linus (as I recall, might've been someone else...) made some comment about giving your toaster an IP address. Am I the only one that things this ridiculous amount of internet integration seems like the perfect way to put an ad in the line of sight of every single person on the planet no matter where they look? Can't wait to see the iCondom...
I know certain aspects of my sentiments have been said, but I must say them...
:), but while this may not accurately reflect how ancient emperors really were, I hope my point about MS still comes across. They aren't here to deliver crappy products, it just happens in the midst of not caring if they deliver good products over their market share. Now, our favorite Tripant is different. MS is a bit sick, a bit misguided, and unfortunatly it's never been brought to a sanitarium. AOL is pure evil. Netscape has been (essentially) what MS would perhaps be if it were the underdog, aside from certain marketing aspects (and intelligence with perspective). Sun, as a company, is irrelevant to me, so I won't comment on them. But under the oppression of an empire (figuratively speaking), we'll find two types of people. One usually succeeds, one doesn't.
Microsoft is like some ancient emperor. MS wants to get control of all the 'kingdoms' in the area. It doesn't want to make their citizens (both old an new) live in horrible conditions, but it also isn't the goal to make them live in eden-like spleandor. This means that the citizens (for the most part; not a universal rule) can still live their day-to-day lives even if everything about the empire they live in is trash. While most surely any sane person would want to leave, it's akin to wanting to walk out on a bad movie instead of escape chinese water torture.
I'm really not a history person (despite taking it
Type A: Martin Luther King's. The Ghandis. These people don't often succeed, but when they do, they do so while being completely 100% in the right (subjectively) and changing the world for the better. This would be Linux, for the most part. Passive-Resistance. Peace, man.
Type B: The Angry Mob. In the empire analogy, these guys would consist mostly of the nobles who probably still have it pretty good. What do they do? They find the nearest town that's a main part of the empire (as in, a town of the empire before it decided taking over their neighbor's lands was fun for the whole family) and they torch the houses of all the citizens. Althought they feel better, the rest of the citizens of the empire suddenly get the mistaken impression that the empire is good because of the terrorists they now have to compare to. Instead of creating a new empire of 'nobles', they end up getting caught and in jail. Nothing is accomplished, except perhaps a bit of thankfulness on the citizens part that the empire has locked a few cruel people in the dungeons, and a perspective that it could be worse... they could be under the hands of those freaks.