" When will T-Mobile, SBC, Telarama, et al all realize their wifi business model sucks? I mean seriously, 5 bucks an hour, 20 bucks a month? For scattered coffee shops and book stores that I maybe frequent once a week?"
The goal behind WiMax is a mobile connection that's good everywhere, like a cell phone. WiMax has something like a 3 km range, so the 802.16e solution can be implemented using cell tower like structures to blanket an area. You'll pay a monthy fee, and can get rid of your wired broadband connection if you like.
"Yes, you can bridge hundreds of wireless routers and have humongous hot spots, yes you can get WiFi on moving spaces, yes you can go to the desert and have a connection over large distances and maybe beat this week's world record."
The big news here is that they're using WiMax. WiMax has something like a 3km range. They then bridge it to wifi to make it compatible with mobile wifi laptops.
"Doesn't the Mac Mini come with a stable kernel, a C compiler, and network support, all implemented in "high quality code" at the right price?"
What do you mean by the right price? Maybe I want the hardware only, and am willing to pay $400 for that, instead of $500 for both. But I don't have that option from Apple
"Why would I give a crap about a free OS for a computer which already comes with a better one as a standard feature?"
Isn't the question, "Why can't I buy a Mac mini without MacOS for $400, instead of paying $500 for one with MacOS?" Maybe I'd rather have the $100 than the "better" OS.
"What about using DeCSS to watch DVDs on Linux or other platforms? It should be interesting to see MGM try to wriggle out of this, since I doubt that the company is going to champion any expansion of fair use."
Although it should be legal to rip a DVD to make a backup, there are IP issues with using DeCSS. DVD player manufacturers must pay a licensing fee to use the DVD format. By using DeCSS to play your own movies on your computer, you are not violating fair use, but you are using the technology without paying the licensing fee. Therefore, it seems DeCSS should be legal as a copying tool, but not as a playback tool, although IANAL.
"After hearing some of the stories, I'm not even sure that getting signed to a label would be the best course of action for an aspiring musician or band. So what is a better option?"
Don't be stupid. If a label offers you a contract take it. If your career goes anywhere, you can renegotiate a better contract after the terms of the first have been completed
Give me a break. Just look at the EFF. They are against suing p2p copyright infringers, but support suing GPL copyright infringers. It's pretty clear from posts that the majority of/.ers feel the same way.
CherryOS is an attempt(allegedly) to make money off a gift given to society via GPL without giving credit where credit is due.
P2P mp3 downloaders are breaking the law, no doubt about that, but only when they download copyrighted works.
However, they are downloading something that is overpriced, and something for which they may have a "right" to download. what if they own the cd? what if they own it, but they lost it or broke it? they paid for the right to listen to it."
Think about it. If a business has to lower their price to make their product more attractive for you to buy because otherwise you'll download a copy for free, you've made money by saving money on every song you've downloaded. You've effectively lowered the value of the product.
Estimates show that people download double the number of songs each month that Apple has song on iTMS in its eintire existence. People who allow you to download free music are competitors to Apple and the music industry.
"Basically the Slashdot crowd's emotional response is not to the copyrighting involved but to the idea that "information wants to be free"... whatever that means."
Unless it's your information. What you really mean is, you want information to be free, as long as it's not your information. Then it's a privacy issue. Information isn't self-aware. People want information.
" There is a difrence between copying a song by *band* and letting your mate hear it and letting your mate hear a song by *band*, trying to sell it to him whilst saying you made it"
What about making a copy of a song available to anyone in the world who wants it. Those are the people the RIAA is suing.
Hillary believes it's ok for a teenage girl to have the right to have an abortion without parental consent, but she can't play a video game with simulated sex and violence.
"If we went by his definition of unqualified amateurs, most OSS developers would have been in the same category, but look what these "unqualified amateurs" have done to OSS?"
First, many OSS developers are paid, and even the ones that are not paid are not amateurs.
" To know they would even CONSIDER such a thing is disturbing."
But campaign finance reform was meant to protect govt. officials from coruption by the evil corporations and their money. Oh, now you don't like it when the same laws are applied to you.
You've missed the whole point. It's not a free speech issue, it's a money issue. Campaign finance reform is about making everyone "equal" in terms of funding. So your blog counts as part of your contribution to a campaign. I have no idea how they'll evaulate the worth of your blog. Anyway, having your blog offshore doesn't help you if you're still a US citizen. Not that I agree with this bs, but most people on/. were for campaign finance reform because the evil corporations were buying the govt.
Slashdot Mirror
" When will T-Mobile, SBC, Telarama, et al all realize their wifi business model sucks? I mean seriously, 5 bucks an hour, 20 bucks a month? For scattered coffee shops and book stores that I maybe frequent once a week?"
The goal behind WiMax is a mobile connection that's good everywhere, like a cell phone. WiMax has something like a 3 km range, so the 802.16e solution can be implemented using cell tower like structures to blanket an area. You'll pay a monthy fee, and can get rid of your wired broadband connection if you like.
"Yes, you can bridge hundreds of wireless routers and have humongous hot spots, yes you can get WiFi on moving spaces, yes you can go to the desert and have a connection over large distances and maybe beat this week's world record."
The big news here is that they're using WiMax. WiMax has something like a 3km range. They then bridge it to wifi to make it compatible with mobile wifi laptops.
"Well, of course the obfuscation scheme has already been broken by a brave hacker."
/. crowd?
So why was the guy who cracked the Apple DRM scheme painted as a villian by the
Great. Another, they don't write music like they used to idiot. There is plenty of great music out by the major studios.
"Doesn't the Mac Mini come with a stable kernel, a C compiler, and network support, all implemented in "high quality code" at the right price?"
What do you mean by the right price? Maybe I want the hardware only, and am willing to pay $400 for that, instead of $500 for both. But I don't have that option from Apple
"Why would I give a crap about a free OS for a computer which already comes with a better one as a standard feature?"
Isn't the question, "Why can't I buy a Mac mini without MacOS for $400, instead of paying $500 for one with MacOS?" Maybe I'd rather have the $100 than the "better" OS.
" Is MSFT opening up WMA stores to Mac users? No.
Oh and another thing, I'm sick of the US congress deciding things for the rest of the world."
If Apple wants to license WMA so that Mac users can play WMA songs on Macs, there is nothing stopping them. Blame Apple for that problem, not MS.
"And let's not forget the Windows Media file formats."
.doc, .xls, etc.
You can license the Windows Media file standard. You can not license fairplay. That's the difference. It would be nice if MS licensed
"What about using DeCSS to watch DVDs on Linux or other platforms? It should be interesting to see MGM try to wriggle out of this, since I doubt that the company is going to champion any expansion of fair use."
Although it should be legal to rip a DVD to make a backup, there are IP issues with using DeCSS. DVD player manufacturers must pay a licensing fee to use the DVD format. By using DeCSS to play your own movies on your computer, you are not violating fair use, but you are using the technology without paying the licensing fee. Therefore, it seems DeCSS should be legal as a copying tool, but not as a playback tool, although IANAL.
If we just outsource the work to India, the budget cuts can be absorbed without loss in productivity.
"After hearing some of the stories, I'm not even sure that getting signed to a label would be the best course of action for an aspiring musician or band. So what is a better option?"
Don't be stupid. If a label offers you a contract take it. If your career goes anywhere, you can renegotiate a better contract after the terms of the first have been completed
Apple wasn't 1st by a long shot into the mp3 player market either. That didn't stop them from dominating it.
"Either way, it's greed vs. advancing human kind."
Greed has been the primary motivator for advancing human kind. Thats what motivates people to compete harder and do better than the average person.
Give me a break. Just look at the EFF. They are against suing p2p copyright infringers, but support suing GPL copyright infringers. It's pretty clear from posts that the majority of /.ers feel the same way.
"hink about it.
CherryOS is an attempt(allegedly) to make money off a gift given to society via GPL without giving credit where credit is due.
P2P mp3 downloaders are breaking the law, no doubt about that, but only when they download copyrighted works.
However, they are downloading something that is overpriced, and something for which they may have
a "right" to download. what if they own the cd? what if they own it, but they lost it or broke it? they paid for the right to listen to it."
Think about it. If a business has to lower their price to make their product more attractive for you to buy because otherwise you'll download a copy for free, you've made money by saving money on every song you've downloaded. You've effectively lowered the value of the product.
Estimates show that people download double the number of songs each month that Apple has song on iTMS in its eintire existence. People who allow you to download free music are competitors to Apple and the music industry.
"Basically the Slashdot crowd's emotional response is not to the copyrighting involved but to the idea that "information wants to be free"... whatever that means."
Unless it's your information. What you really mean is, you want information to be free, as long as it's not your information. Then it's a privacy issue. Information isn't self-aware. People want information.
" There is a difrence between copying a song by *band* and letting your mate hear it
and letting your mate hear a song by *band*, trying to sell it to him whilst saying you made it"
What about making a copy of a song available to anyone in the world who wants it. Those are the people the RIAA is suing.
Hillary believes it's ok for a teenage girl to have the right to have an abortion without parental consent, but she can't play a video game with simulated sex and violence.
Arnold is the exact opposite of a national socialist. He believes in free markets and is liberal on social issues.
Don't forget the AMD system will substantially outperform the Mac-mini, which is based on 3-year old technology
Is anyone else disturbed that govts are interfering with free trade to point now that they're naming their products for them?
"If we went by his definition of unqualified amateurs, most OSS developers would have been in the same category, but look what these "unqualified amateurs" have done to OSS?"
First, many OSS developers are paid, and even the ones that are not paid are not amateurs.
" To know they would even CONSIDER such a thing is disturbing."
But campaign finance reform was meant to protect govt. officials from coruption by the evil corporations and their money. Oh, now you don't like it when the same laws are applied to you.
"Or keep your blog on a server outside the US."
/. were for campaign finance reform because the evil corporations were buying the govt.
You've missed the whole point. It's not a free speech issue, it's a money issue. Campaign finance reform is about making everyone "equal" in terms of funding. So your blog counts as part of your contribution to a campaign. I have no idea how they'll evaulate the worth of your blog. Anyway, having your blog offshore doesn't help you if you're still a US citizen. Not that I agree with this bs, but most people on