No, but you're missing the major fact that the store is pushing these cameras simply because they save money on developing while charging roughly the same price. If you can make it simpler/cheaper/more efficient, why the hell not do it? Besides, having a removable flash chip would make it easier to hack the camera. Flash chips are commodity hardware.
Seriously, I think the ultimate resolution to this is creating spread spectrum standards for wireless point-to-point audio transmissions.
They have those. You can use the 900MHz, 2.4GHz, or 5.8GHz ISM bands for this exact purpose, and there are many wireless headphones and speakers that use those bands. However, don't expect your FM receiver to work with that (which is the main goal of the micro-transmitters).
Except, of course, the government has banned it. Government is a disease, masquarading as its own cure.
First, it's not banned in the US. It's explicitly permitted in the FCC rules to transmit in the broadcast spectrum with very low power and at a limited range. Second, I don't see why the government shouldn't regulate these things. After all, it IS the broadcast spectrum, and you ARE creating significant amounts of interference with those transmitters, given that they transmit on the same frequencies that licensed broadcast stations transmit on.
Strange. Sure, idiots do get into AP classes. In my school, even if you got bad grades, you could get into them by just asking your counselor and possibly involving your parents. If you had decent grades, it wasn't much of an issue. Don't know about any politics involved b/c I always had good grades.
Stupid jocks usually didn't do too well in the class, and thus couldn't be too proud of themselves (because everyone usually knew they were flunking). So that issue was pretty much eliminated. But I only know maybe two or three such people after being in lots of AP and honors classes.
BTW, where approximately is your school? I went to a fairly large (~2.5k people) public high school in a medium-small midwestern city. I guess the school was fairly above-average, since it was considered rather good relative to other schools in the state.
I'm sure better photo labs hire smart employees. The in-store ones at walgreens and walmart certainly don't intentionally do that, given that they pay pretty close to minimum wage. I was just saying that taking cameras apart and pulling chips from them is rather difficult and not anyone can do it.
They might take the thing apart when you send it in, remove the chips, put them in some other system to read them,
That is, by far, the stupidest thing I have ever heard from someone who pretends to have a clue. Do you realize that part time $5.25/hour photo lab employees cannot do shit like pulling out sensitive electronics? Fuck, these people often manage to break something as simple as a copy machine. Do you realize how much it would cost to even have to take apart the cameras? Obviously, the store would want to process the pictures as quickly as possible, so it's almost certain that the camera has an external connector that hooks up to an automated system (most likely a standard PC with custom software and a special printer attached) to retrieve the pics and reset the camera (and probably recharge the batteries).
If high school seems too easy for you, that means one thing: you are not challenging yourself. Most high schools offer AP (advanced placement) and honors classes that are meant for smarter students. At least at my school, they exhibited none of the negative characteristics you describe. The teachers were pretty good, and nobody cared about how well they "fit in."
Of course, the administrators do care about attendance, but let's face it: if you you lack the self-control to show up to class on time every day, you are not going to succeed in college or in the real world regardless of how smart you are. If you fail to show up to work or arrive 30 minutes late to an interview, you will likely go nowhere.
Besides, if you feel too smart for school, do it yourself. Homeschool is a very viable alternative.
If they have the same socioeconomic status, they will have pretty much the same dropout rate. I can't see why a poor family from the Philippines will have a lower or higher dropout rate than a similarly poor Mexican family.
It's 99 bucks everywhere online (with purchase of hardware).
You do realize that unless it's bundled with a new computer, it's not legitimate? Read the MS OEM license agreement.
So linux zealots think they're stickin' it to the man, but they're really screwing the vendors.
That's the whole point. If the manufacturer gets screwed like that sufficiently often, they will perhaps start offering OS-free computers. Remember: it's not Microsoft, but rather the OEM who bundles Windows with everything. It seems perfectly logical that they should be the ones refunding the money. Also, remember that Windows is not free -- by most estimates, it costs major OEMs around $100 per machine (which then gets passed on to you).
I don't care about who gets screwed. I just don't want to be forced to buy something I don't want. I would say that most "linux zealots" are exactly like me -- they don't care about "stickin' it to the man".
To use an analogy: would you like it if every DVD player came with 5 bundled Disney DVDs, thus increasing its price by $100? Even if you don't really have anything against Disney, would you want to pay the extra cash for something you don't want?
The lower impedance cannot possibly cause a risk to equipment unless said equipment is extremely badly designed. The reason for the labels is usually the lower voltage. Sometimes, the equipment will shut down long before the battery is exhausted, simply due to the lower voltage.
80 lines of code, even in multiple places, is such an insignificant amount that it could be replaced in 15 minutes. That is like one short sentence in a 200-page book.
Since SCO has not come forward and showed what it is, they can't claim damages. Even if they had done that, they could only take action against the person who contributed it (which was most likely their own employee). Not to mention that they would have to prove that the code is not just a standard implementation from a textbook.
The users or other Linux developers are probably not liable because they could not possibly find out what similarities there are between the Linux source and the secret SCO UNIX source. There could not have been any willful infringement, so no damages would be awarded.
Windows.Forms is absolutely unimportant to Mono, which uses GTK# anyway. They aren't even implemented yet. It would be needed primarily for compatibility with existing Windows apps, not for developing Linux apps.
And, how exactly could they 'pull the rug out'? It's not like Mono is being developed on some kind of contract with Microsoft. It's being developed based on the published ECMA standards, and you can't pull those.
Mono is always going to be on shaky ground legally
Why? Because it's a clone of a proprietary technology? In that case, Linux will be on shaky ground, as well, given that it's a clone of UNIX. And so will KDE and GNOME, since they both clone other proprietary UIs.
it will let people begin their critical application development on Linux before deciding that for safety they need to move to Windows.
I thought the main advantage of Linux was preventing lock-in to a particular system or vendor. Why the hell shouldn't people be able to choose to move to whatever system they please, including Windows? The only alternative to your example is that people will develop on Windows and deploy on Windows. How is that any better?
If they wrote their application for Java instead
Java doesn't do half of what.NET does. For example, you can't mix different languages together in one app, which is one of the main features of Mono/.NET.
they would have less need to move off Linux, and should they wish to, a far greater choice of hardware and operating system environments to move to.
Mono is as portable as Java. And Java still enables people to move to Windows.
Nothing prevents a full free software port of Java
In that case, what prevents a full free software port of.NET? Wouldn't such a port be 'on shaky ground', given that Linux is Sun's main competitor?
Just face it,.NET is a major breakthrough that is not going away any time soon. Yes, Microsoft does innovate once or twice every 20 years (or at least hires smart people who do). Furthermore,.NET really learns from the mistakes Java made. Ask anyone who uses.NET, and they will tell you that it dramatically increases programmer productivity. That single advantage is enough to cause most companies to keep using Windows and dump Linux. Just one more fact: many, if not most, of the people developing Mono use Windows. So I don't think the switch will be happening in the direction you predict.
Finally, please realize that Mono has the potential to dramatically improve Linux applications. C++ is a kludge and Java is slow as molasses, so people use regular C when a more modern language is appropriate..NET solves this problem, which is why Ximian and Miguel de Icaza are embracing it. Please, read this, this, and this.
Nope. Exactly the opposite. Downloading might be considered legal in some jurisdictions (after all, you can't be reasonably sure the file is copyrighted before you download it -- or maybe you accidentally clicked on the link).
However, making stuff available for download is definitely illegal. If you upload a copy of Photoshop to your server and post a link, who do you think would be prosecuted? Hint: it's exactly what is done by warez groups.
Electricity is not free; electrical energy generation and storage are horribly inefficient
Bullshit. A large power plant is very efficient -- much more so than a gasoline engine (which has 20-30% efficiency). Storage is slightly less efficient, but still approaches 80-90% efficiency with the right charging methods.
lead-acid batteries are friendly neither to your pocket book nor to your planet.
Virtually all lead-acid batteries are recycled. You can recover pretty much 100% of the lead from one and use it in new batteries. In comparison, most NiCd and NiMH batteries are just thrown in the trash (even though that's illegal), and can't be recycled as efficiently.
That said, I do acknowledge that the creators' original intent was to use fuel cells which may prove to be a superior energy delivery system.
Fuel cells have been in the "almost there" state for the past 40 years. It doesn't look like there was much progress since.
The only reason Pixar is going to Mac OS is because one of their execs is Steve Jobs. I doubt the move would make sense for any other reason.
Mac hardware is so overpriced that I doubt you could set up a G5 cluster with even half the performance of a Linux/Intel/AMD cluster of the same price. And performance is what matters here, not pretty translucent cases or lickable interfaces that Apple always excelled at. Can you set up a cluster of, say, 1000 XServe machines and administer them as easily as Linux boxes?
Actually, it seems like you are very misinformed if you think consumer-grade stuff like Final Cut Pro or Photoshop is used by movie professionals. Making movies takes much more than a simple video editing app. That's what high-end stuff like Maya is for, and that has always run better on IRIX and, more recently, Linux. Apart from Pixar, most shops (like ILM) have standardized on Linux as the OS, both for rendering AND for production work.
Does the law require websites to work without cookies? Simply ask for permission and if the user declines, say "fuck off, go surf some other website". Kinda like those click-through EULAs work on software.
Slashdot Mirror
Are you saying you don't ever buy products advertised on TV? Which products would those be? I don't think I could think of any right off the bat.
No, but you're missing the major fact that the store is pushing these cameras simply because they save money on developing while charging roughly the same price. If you can make it simpler/cheaper/more efficient, why the hell not do it? Besides, having a removable flash chip would make it easier to hack the camera. Flash chips are commodity hardware.
Seriously, I think the ultimate resolution to this is creating spread spectrum standards for wireless point-to-point audio transmissions.
They have those. You can use the 900MHz, 2.4GHz, or 5.8GHz ISM bands for this exact purpose, and there are many wireless headphones and speakers that use those bands. However, don't expect your FM receiver to work with that (which is the main goal of the micro-transmitters).
Except, of course, the government has banned it. Government is a disease, masquarading as its own cure.
First, it's not banned in the US. It's explicitly permitted in the FCC rules to transmit in the broadcast spectrum with very low power and at a limited range. Second, I don't see why the government shouldn't regulate these things. After all, it IS the broadcast spectrum, and you ARE creating significant amounts of interference with those transmitters, given that they transmit on the same frequencies that licensed broadcast stations transmit on.
Strange. Sure, idiots do get into AP classes. In my school, even if you got bad grades, you could get into them by just asking your counselor and possibly involving your parents. If you had decent grades, it wasn't much of an issue. Don't know about any politics involved b/c I always had good grades.
Stupid jocks usually didn't do too well in the class, and thus couldn't be too proud of themselves (because everyone usually knew they were flunking). So that issue was pretty much eliminated. But I only know maybe two or three such people after being in lots of AP and honors classes.
BTW, where approximately is your school? I went to a fairly large (~2.5k people) public high school in a medium-small midwestern city. I guess the school was fairly above-average, since it was considered rather good relative to other schools in the state.
I'm sure better photo labs hire smart employees. The in-store ones at walgreens and walmart certainly don't intentionally do that, given that they pay pretty close to minimum wage. I was just saying that taking cameras apart and pulling chips from them is rather difficult and not anyone can do it.
Get the book/manual. You have to remember that the company made money selling them.
They might take the thing apart when you send it in, remove the chips, put them in some other system to read them,
That is, by far, the stupidest thing I have ever heard from someone who pretends to have a clue. Do you realize that part time $5.25/hour photo lab employees cannot do shit like pulling out sensitive electronics? Fuck, these people often manage to break something as simple as a copy machine. Do you realize how much it would cost to even have to take apart the cameras? Obviously, the store would want to process the pictures as quickly as possible, so it's almost certain that the camera has an external connector that hooks up to an automated system (most likely a standard PC with custom software and a special printer attached) to retrieve the pics and reset the camera (and probably recharge the batteries).
RF transfer? WTF for? Why not just put a connector on the damn thing and thus save about $30 per camera?
If high school seems too easy for you, that means one thing: you are not challenging yourself. Most high schools offer AP (advanced placement) and honors classes that are meant for smarter students. At least at my school, they exhibited none of the negative characteristics you describe. The teachers were pretty good, and nobody cared about how well they "fit in."
Of course, the administrators do care about attendance, but let's face it: if you you lack the self-control to show up to class on time every day, you are not going to succeed in college or in the real world regardless of how smart you are. If you fail to show up to work or arrive 30 minutes late to an interview, you will likely go nowhere.
Besides, if you feel too smart for school, do it yourself. Homeschool is a very viable alternative.
If they have the same socioeconomic status, they will have pretty much the same dropout rate. I can't see why a poor family from the Philippines will have a lower or higher dropout rate than a similarly poor Mexican family.
Erase the data? Like your grades and attendance history? Good luck re-enrolling later (or getting a diploma).
It's 99 bucks everywhere online (with purchase of hardware).
You do realize that unless it's bundled with a new computer, it's not legitimate? Read the MS OEM license agreement.
So linux zealots think they're stickin' it to the man, but they're really screwing the vendors.
That's the whole point. If the manufacturer gets screwed like that sufficiently often, they will perhaps start offering OS-free computers. Remember: it's not Microsoft, but rather the OEM who bundles Windows with everything. It seems perfectly logical that they should be the ones refunding the money. Also, remember that Windows is not free -- by most estimates, it costs major OEMs around $100 per machine (which then gets passed on to you).
I don't care about who gets screwed. I just don't want to be forced to buy something I don't want. I would say that most "linux zealots" are exactly like me -- they don't care about "stickin' it to the man".
To use an analogy: would you like it if every DVD player came with 5 bundled Disney DVDs, thus increasing its price by $100? Even if you don't really have anything against Disney, would you want to pay the extra cash for something you don't want?
perhaps you should have bought a computer without an OS to begin with.
And... where can you get a laptop without Windows installed on it? Like an IBM or Toshiba model?
That's precisely why SCO will probably not let anyone under 18 sign the NDA. Almost every legal agreement has a clause like that.
The lower impedance cannot possibly cause a risk to equipment unless said equipment is extremely badly designed. The reason for the labels is usually the lower voltage. Sometimes, the equipment will shut down long before the battery is exhausted, simply due to the lower voltage.
80 lines of code, even in multiple places, is such an insignificant amount that it could be replaced in 15 minutes. That is like one short sentence in a 200-page book.
Since SCO has not come forward and showed what it is, they can't claim damages. Even if they had done that, they could only take action against the person who contributed it (which was most likely their own employee). Not to mention that they would have to prove that the code is not just a standard implementation from a textbook.
The users or other Linux developers are probably not liable because they could not possibly find out what similarities there are between the Linux source and the secret SCO UNIX source. There could not have been any willful infringement, so no damages would be awarded.
Yes, but my point is that even if Microsoft uses its patents to prevent Mono from implementing Windows.Forms, Mono will not become useless.
Windows.Forms is absolutely unimportant to Mono, which uses GTK# anyway. They aren't even implemented yet. It would be needed primarily for compatibility with existing Windows apps, not for developing Linux apps.
And, how exactly could they 'pull the rug out'? It's not like Mono is being developed on some kind of contract with Microsoft. It's being developed based on the published ECMA standards, and you can't pull those.
Mono is always going to be on shaky ground legally
.NET does. For example, you can't mix different languages together in one app, which is one of the main features of Mono/.NET.
.NET? Wouldn't such a port be 'on shaky ground', given that Linux is Sun's main competitor?
.NET is a major breakthrough that is not going away any time soon. Yes, Microsoft does innovate once or twice every 20 years (or at least hires smart people who do). Furthermore, .NET really learns from the mistakes Java made. Ask anyone who uses .NET, and they will tell you that it dramatically increases programmer productivity. That single advantage is enough to cause most companies to keep using Windows and dump Linux. Just one more fact: many, if not most, of the people developing Mono use Windows. So I don't think the switch will be happening in the direction you predict.
.NET solves this problem, which is why Ximian and Miguel de Icaza are embracing it. Please, read this, this, and this.
Why? Because it's a clone of a proprietary technology? In that case, Linux will be on shaky ground, as well, given that it's a clone of UNIX. And so will KDE and GNOME, since they both clone other proprietary UIs.
it will let people begin their critical application development on Linux before deciding that for safety they need to move to Windows.
I thought the main advantage of Linux was preventing lock-in to a particular system or vendor. Why the hell shouldn't people be able to choose to move to whatever system they please, including Windows? The only alternative to your example is that people will develop on Windows and deploy on Windows. How is that any better?
If they wrote their application for Java instead
Java doesn't do half of what
they would have less need to move off Linux, and should they wish to, a far greater choice of hardware and operating system environments to move to.
Mono is as portable as Java. And Java still enables people to move to Windows.
Nothing prevents a full free software port of Java
In that case, what prevents a full free software port of
Just face it,
Finally, please realize that Mono has the potential to dramatically improve Linux applications. C++ is a kludge and Java is slow as molasses, so people use regular C when a more modern language is appropriate.
Nope. Exactly the opposite. Downloading might be considered legal in some jurisdictions (after all, you can't be reasonably sure the file is copyrighted before you download it -- or maybe you accidentally clicked on the link).
However, making stuff available for download is definitely illegal. If you upload a copy of Photoshop to your server and post a link, who do you think would be prosecuted? Hint: it's exactly what is done by warez groups.
Electricity is not free; electrical energy generation and storage are horribly inefficient
Bullshit. A large power plant is very efficient -- much more so than a gasoline engine (which has 20-30% efficiency). Storage is slightly less efficient, but still approaches 80-90% efficiency with the right charging methods.
lead-acid batteries are friendly neither to your pocket book nor to your planet.
Virtually all lead-acid batteries are recycled. You can recover pretty much 100% of the lead from one and use it in new batteries. In comparison, most NiCd and NiMH batteries are just thrown in the trash (even though that's illegal), and can't be recycled as efficiently.
That said, I do acknowledge that the creators' original intent was to use fuel cells which may prove to be a superior energy delivery system.
Fuel cells have been in the "almost there" state for the past 40 years. It doesn't look like there was much progress since.
The only reason Pixar is going to Mac OS is because one of their execs is Steve Jobs. I doubt the move would make sense for any other reason.
Mac hardware is so overpriced that I doubt you could set up a G5 cluster with even half the performance of a Linux/Intel/AMD cluster of the same price. And performance is what matters here, not pretty translucent cases or lickable interfaces that Apple always excelled at. Can you set up a cluster of, say, 1000 XServe machines and administer them as easily as Linux boxes?
Actually, it seems like you are very misinformed if you think consumer-grade stuff like Final Cut Pro or Photoshop is used by movie professionals. Making movies takes much more than a simple video editing app. That's what high-end stuff like Maya is for, and that has always run better on IRIX and, more recently, Linux. Apart from Pixar, most shops (like ILM) have standardized on Linux as the OS, both for rendering AND for production work.
Does the law require websites to work without cookies? Simply ask for permission and if the user declines, say "fuck off, go surf some other website". Kinda like those click-through EULAs work on software.