Yes, you can, if you have a copy of the old version. You obtained it while GPLed and thus he can not place any restrictions (other than those of the GPL) on the code you have in your hands.
What is more interesting: is it his prerogative to change the license and not release new additions under the GPL even though it is a derivative work of his GPLed code? I think so, because he never had to accept the GPL himself and thus falls back on his rights as author.
Or even: is he obligated to give you the sources (at the cost of distribution) just because the code was GPLed? I actually think he does not have to do that, again because he never had to accept the GPL himself for his own code.
How much influence would the intent of the GPL have above its wording in court?
In Dutch law, you cannot demand - for example - a brand computer for $9.95 if it's a misprint of $995, because it should have been obvious that you could not get a brand new computer for ten bucks.
I wonder how important this would be in the case of open source licenses and particulary the GPL, since its mere existance comes forth from a philosophy and releasing code under the GPL usually is done because the author supports that (GNU's) philosophy.
It does not matter much, though, Microsoft might be attacking the GPL specifically, but is hoping people will stay away from open source software alltogether.
In this sense, open source software based on the GPL mirrors the.com business models that proved the least successful during the past year.
Oh good, so it'll be all over in a year or so. That means Linux should be gone by 1992 and Apache by 1996.
Oh, wait, reality check.
They ask software developers to give away for free the very thing they create that is of greatest value in the hope that somehow they'll make money selling something else.
We're not asking just anyone, only people who use our code. But that's not the point: apparently Microsoft thinks that giving something away of great value is bad. I'm such a bad person.
Didn't Microsoft give a away a web browser of great value in the hope that somehow they'll make money selling something else?
This viral aspect of the GPL poses a threat to the intellectual property of any organization making use of it. It also fundamentally undermines the independent commercial software sector because it effectively makes it impossible to distribute software on a basis where recipients pay for the product rather than just the cost of distribution.
Hm, you could argue that the GPL is some sort of customer lock-in. I'm glad Microsoft would never use such tactics! Or undermine the independent commercial software sector, Netscape is flourishing!
Shut up Microsoft. We never said that Free Software was the key to solving all the problems of the world. We just like the choice and freedom and wish to protect that freedom which companies such as Microsoft itself are trying to take away from us.
We like that better than money-hungry megacorporations who tells us what to do and what not to do. But indeed, we should understand that from your perspective, there's nothing wrong with those.
The GPL was designed to keep free software free. Basically it gives you all the freedom in the world, except for taking away that freedom from others. Okay, I think we all know that.
Now apply the same logic to the intellectual property within the software. Just because everyone can benefit from it doesn't destroy the intellectual property, it is just being shared.
The GPL protects intellectual property from being absorbed by one particular entity, whether it be a person or company or organisation. The GPL was designed to do this.
Proprietary software protects the IP of the individual writing it. GPL is less egoistic. But of course, it's almost a crime anno 2001 not to be egoistic.
This is being accepted by a growing number of SETI researchers, who believe (somewhat controversially) that humanity is the most advanced form of life in our own galaxy, at least.
If those researchers would take the time to look around them, they would probably start to question whether humanity is the most advanced form of life even on our own planet.
Re:What's next, royalties when I whistle alone?
on
Ring-Tone Royalties
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· Score: 1
"Gee, McDonald's makes some really shitty tractors."
You think that's bad? Just wait until you tasted their burgers!
Anyone purchasing a mislabled DVD is owed at least their money back..
So get your money back. At regular stores this should be no problem, I have returned several DVDs over the time (mostly because some had Dutch subtitles which could not be removed, silly VHS rips) without a problem. Sometimes a little persistance is required though.
As for webstores... you wouldn't shop at an e-commerce shop without knowing their return policy (or behavior, rather), would you? See my DVD Buyers Guide.
As for releasing TV series on DVD, anyone know why networks haven't yet?
X-Files, Friends, Buffy, Star Trek Original Series, Farscape.. all out on DVD or being released as I type. (some of those only in region 2, others only in region 1, but that's the good thing about living in Europe: region-free or region-switchable DVD players)
I bet other shows will come as well, but that the networks want to wait and see how other titles are doing first. Hopefully Fox gives us The Simpsons and Paramount gives us DS9 before DVD hell freezes over.:-)
On the other hand.. don't ever trust a release announcement from distributors. Back To The Future should've been out in 1997 and it is still not.
I'm sure they all have very good reasons not to give us the goodies when we want them... right George Lucas?
Sometimes effort is duplicated in the open source world. And sometimes that is a waste. On the other hand, diversity can also lead to quality.
There are two (actually even more) great desktop environments out there. Both are very good products/projects, so why standarize on either? As long as interoperability is good, choice is good.
Which brings me to the reason of my post: the Berlin lead talks about "gtk+, bonobo, corba". That sounds very, very scary:
Does that mean Berlin (if ever useable and ready) will be optimized for GNOME? Could KDE even run on it? (would've checked article for answers but the Slashdot effect is here again). Imagine GNOME ditched X11 for Berlin and KDE wouldn't work with it. Even more inconsistancy.
What's next, Qt/Embedded included in the kernel's framebuffer code? Perhaps DCOP and KParts as well?
I definitely agree that X11 is not perfect at all. And that a replacement might be a good thing on the long run. But please, if you are writing a replacement, don't include technologies which will force your users to one or the other desktop environment!
Good lord you have a nice boss. Where the hell do you work?
www.ism.nl, Innovative Solutions in Media. Not too big, not too small, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Mostly e-commerce web development, although every now and then there are other interesting projects.
I do not believe home computers are the problem. We have been able to play games (include arcade alikes) on the home computer for ages.
LANs at home/school/parties are the problem. Playing a game over the Internet might be fun, but what was the best feature of an arcade was racing against your friends - sitting next to you.
This is possible using a LAN. You can play against each other while being in the same room. You can yell at each other, laugh together, share a beer minutes after the game.
I doubt many people went to arcades just for the games, it was also a social event for most. I bet a lot of people on/. have multiple computers and could have a friend over to play Quake in the same room against each other. Heck, my boss even bought us a PS2 for the cantine at work (SSX definitely kick ass by the way). Why go to an arcade?
Damnit, I wish they'd come up with a storyline which DOESN'T involve a Federation crew, but still in the Star Trek universe.
DS9 is actually pretty close to that. If you include the recurring characters (who have gotten more screentime that in any other series) there are more non-Federation characters than Federation ones.
DS9 desprately tried to be all dark and realistic, but it couldn't do a story arc to save its life, and failed miserably at character development. While relying on the RESET button at every turn.
Ahum, DS9 *is* one story arc, really.
No character development? Check out the episode where Kira learns about Dukat and her mother. See Damar and Rom truly grow over the years. See Bashir after Dax told him off in the episode where he tries to find a cure for a planet with a disease planted by the Dominion. Et cetera (the list is really too long).
The only episode where I felt like the writers hit some sort of reset button was when they retook the station, although that actually makes sense in the bigger DS9 picture.
You might also mention The Visitor, where Jake loses his father but eventually everything is reset, but it actually adds to the character development because it seems like the events before were remembered - which really undoes the reset effect.
It boils down to quality. The TNG episodes have more of that than DS9 and Voyager. Why? Well, just watch them!
I've watched most of TNG, most of DS9 (*all* since season 4), most of Voyager (all season 1-5) and I am unconvinced.
I will defend DS9 here because it's my favourite. Plus I will agree that Voyager is the least of the four incarnations, but that doesn't mean I think it sucks, it had some very great shows.
Perhaps you should move away from the USA and come see DS9 in Europe, where most channels do not interrupt shows for commercials. DS9 is a lot stronger when not interrupted. For the same reason I did not watch the arcs per episode but saved them up for nice marathons.
TNG on the other hand is perfect for "let's view 44 minutes of Trek". IMHO it's a lot more casual.
Slashdot Mirror
What is more interesting: is it his prerogative to change the license and not release new additions under the GPL even though it is a derivative work of his GPLed code? I think so, because he never had to accept the GPL himself and thus falls back on his rights as author.
Or even: is he obligated to give you the sources (at the cost of distribution) just because the code was GPLed? I actually think he does not have to do that, again because he never had to accept the GPL himself for his own code.
In Dutch law, you cannot demand - for example - a brand computer for $9.95 if it's a misprint of $995, because it should have been obvious that you could not get a brand new computer for ten bucks.
I wonder how important this would be in the case of open source licenses and particulary the GPL, since its mere existance comes forth from a philosophy and releasing code under the GPL usually is done because the author supports that (GNU's) philosophy.
Which is already two too many. And which means that it is indeed the right time to do something about it, if not too late.
You can try and wait until it has been passed in many more states (and later, countries), but that will only make the fight much harder.
It does not matter much, though, Microsoft might be attacking the GPL specifically, but is hoping people will stay away from open source software alltogether.
Oh good, so it'll be all over in a year or so. That means Linux should be gone by 1992 and Apache by 1996.
Oh, wait, reality check.
They ask software developers to give away for free the very thing they create that is of greatest value in the hope that somehow they'll make money selling something else.
We're not asking just anyone, only people who use our code. But that's not the point: apparently Microsoft thinks that giving something away of great value is bad. I'm such a bad person.
Didn't Microsoft give a away a web browser of great value in the hope that somehow they'll make money selling something else?
This viral aspect of the GPL poses a threat to the intellectual property of any organization making use of it. It also fundamentally undermines the independent commercial software sector because it effectively makes it impossible to distribute software on a basis where recipients pay for the product rather than just the cost of distribution.
Hm, you could argue that the GPL is some sort of customer lock-in. I'm glad Microsoft would never use such tactics! Or undermine the independent commercial software sector, Netscape is flourishing!
Shut up Microsoft. We never said that Free Software was the key to solving all the problems of the world. We just like the choice and freedom and wish to protect that freedom which companies such as Microsoft itself are trying to take away from us.
We like that better than money-hungry megacorporations who tells us what to do and what not to do. But indeed, we should understand that from your perspective, there's nothing wrong with those.
The GPL was designed to keep free software free. Basically it gives you all the freedom in the world, except for taking away that freedom from others. Okay, I think we all know that.
Now apply the same logic to the intellectual property within the software. Just because everyone can benefit from it doesn't destroy the intellectual property, it is just being shared.
The GPL protects intellectual property from being absorbed by one particular entity, whether it be a person or company or organisation. The GPL was designed to do this.
Proprietary software protects the IP of the individual writing it. GPL is less egoistic. But of course, it's almost a crime anno 2001 not to be egoistic.
If those researchers would take the time to look around them, they would probably start to question whether humanity is the most advanced form of life even on our own planet.
You think that's bad? Just wait until you tasted their burgers!
So don't evacuate. Would the US kill people because they allow others to break a copyright law?
I would like to see what the rest of the world would think of *that*.
I was rather talking about the CSS property to put objects on a fixed (instead of relative) position.
saving sessions completely
For shell programs, use screen. For GUI programs, run multiple X servers and lock screen, switch between users with Ctrl-Alt-F7/8/9/etc.
and listing each user with their currently running programs
Login and type ps aux or use a GUI equivalent such as kpm. No need for non logged in users to see all that.
and whether or not they have email
I'm sure scripts exist which examin /var/spool/mail, this will be harder with ~/Maildir systems though.
all in one place.
Why does everything have to be in one place all of the time. Is your house organized like that, having everything in one room?
Does it finally do fixed positioning? This was promised for IE 5.5, but alas. Does IE6?
So get your money back. At regular stores this should be no problem, I have returned several DVDs over the time (mostly because some had Dutch subtitles which could not be removed, silly VHS rips) without a problem. Sometimes a little persistance is required though.
As for webstores... you wouldn't shop at an e-commerce shop without knowing their return policy (or behavior, rather), would you? See my DVD Buyers Guide.
Blackstar has seven Farscape DVDs for sale, 1.1-1.5 and 2.1, 2.2. Region 2, approx. £25 including p&p.
X-Files, Friends, Buffy, Star Trek Original Series, Farscape.. all out on DVD or being released as I type. (some of those only in region 2, others only in region 1, but that's the good thing about living in Europe: region-free or region-switchable DVD players)
I bet other shows will come as well, but that the networks want to wait and see how other titles are doing first. Hopefully Fox gives us The Simpsons and Paramount gives us DS9 before DVD hell freezes over. :-)
On the other hand.. don't ever trust a release announcement from distributors. Back To The Future should've been out in 1997 and it is still not.
I'm sure they all have very good reasons not to give us the goodies when we want them... right George Lucas?
And which one would that be, may I ask you?
Sometimes effort is duplicated in the open source world. And sometimes that is a waste. On the other hand, diversity can also lead to quality.
There are two (actually even more) great desktop environments out there. Both are very good products/projects, so why standarize on either? As long as interoperability is good, choice is good.
Which brings me to the reason of my post: the Berlin lead talks about "gtk+, bonobo, corba". That sounds very, very scary:
Does that mean Berlin (if ever useable and ready) will be optimized for GNOME? Could KDE even run on it? (would've checked article for answers but the Slashdot effect is here again). Imagine GNOME ditched X11 for Berlin and KDE wouldn't work with it. Even more inconsistancy.
What's next, Qt/Embedded included in the kernel's framebuffer code? Perhaps DCOP and KParts as well?
I definitely agree that X11 is not perfect at all. And that a replacement might be a good thing on the long run. But please, if you are writing a replacement, don't include technologies which will force your users to one or the other desktop environment!
www.ism.nl, Innovative Solutions in Media. Not too big, not too small, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Mostly e-commerce web development, although every now and then there are other interesting projects.
And yes, we are hiring.
EOSP (end of shameless plug)
LANs at home/school/parties are the problem. Playing a game over the Internet might be fun, but what was the best feature of an arcade was racing against your friends - sitting next to you.
This is possible using a LAN. You can play against each other while being in the same room. You can yell at each other, laugh together, share a beer minutes after the game.
I doubt many people went to arcades just for the games, it was also a social event for most. I bet a lot of people on /. have multiple computers and could have a friend over to play Quake in the same room against each other. Heck, my boss even bought us a PS2 for the cantine at work (SSX definitely kick ass by the way). Why go to an arcade?
Netscape takes plenty out of Mozilla. Fixed positioned layers have always worked in Mozilla but do not work in Netscape 6.
No. Only when you write it down in hex and then gunzip it.
The MPAA will either have to ban this prime number, ban gzip, or ban anyone from telling people that the number is deCSS.
More precisely: the number itself is harmless. The method to go from that number to deCSS is not.
You know, I might just buy Titanic if you did that.
Not giving out the URL is security through obscurity. Securing it at least with a user/password combination is a lot safer.
DS9 is actually pretty close to that. If you include the recurring characters (who have gotten more screentime that in any other series) there are more non-Federation characters than Federation ones.
Ahum, DS9 *is* one story arc, really.
No character development? Check out the episode where Kira learns about Dukat and her mother. See Damar and Rom truly grow over the years. See Bashir after Dax told him off in the episode where he tries to find a cure for a planet with a disease planted by the Dominion. Et cetera (the list is really too long).
The only episode where I felt like the writers hit some sort of reset button was when they retook the station, although that actually makes sense in the bigger DS9 picture.
You might also mention The Visitor, where Jake loses his father but eventually everything is reset, but it actually adds to the character development because it seems like the events before were remembered - which really undoes the reset effect.
I've watched most of TNG, most of DS9 (*all* since season 4), most of Voyager (all season 1-5) and I am unconvinced.
I will defend DS9 here because it's my favourite. Plus I will agree that Voyager is the least of the four incarnations, but that doesn't mean I think it sucks, it had some very great shows.
Perhaps you should move away from the USA and come see DS9 in Europe, where most channels do not interrupt shows for commercials. DS9 is a lot stronger when not interrupted. For the same reason I did not watch the arcs per episode but saved them up for nice marathons.
TNG on the other hand is perfect for "let's view 44 minutes of Trek". IMHO it's a lot more casual.
Maybe it's just a matter of taste.