I know it makes me a sick puppy, OTOH, I've had a problem with the whole concept of patenting math and logic for a while.
It might be cool if we/. folks could gather together, patent a bunch of essentials the PTO is too inept to understand, and then jump all over some big guys when they infringe. Not to make money, but simply to make the big dogs spend their money to fix this obviously broken system.
When Amazon has the patent the little guy gets screwed. When the little guy has the patent, Amazon (or ebay) might have more motivation to fix an obviously broken system, as it isn't operating to their benefit anymore.
Re:Forgive the trolling, but this has to be said
on
How to Test Your T1?
·
· Score: 1
But I do look at my router. The racing stripes means it goes real fast, right ?
Sorry, I no longer buy that. I have a collection of over 300 dvds, and I'm well sick and tired of low quality pressings that either fail to play the first time or soon afterwards. I am more than willing to pay for the content, but I also feel that once I've paid I should be able to enjoy it. The manufacturers believe I should replace my disks regularly due to their deliberate use of low quality materials. I am a customer yes, but I too am tired of being victimized. If they don't want me to be interested in these technologies, they should not engage in tactics that force me to be. I have no love for spending hours remastering stuff, but it's either that or I effectively can't have it at all.
Yes, I have tried to go through the normal channels for replacement of bad media. Buying Fox owned x-files through amazon leaves you with no options. My only option is to pay over $100 to replace sets with 2 bad disks.
So, I think this kind of information is extremely beneficial, in fact even beneficial to that den of thieves calling themselves the entertainment industry. If it weren't for this, I'd have to give up buying completely.
After purchasing some recent CDs and trying to use them legitately at work, but failing miserably due to the new copy protection being equal to 'you can't use the damn thing period' I was getting pretty miffed.
Then I wanted to move some DVDs into a form I could actually watch on a plane (pda), cause my laptop screen is too big for cattle class and I find that even owning such a tool would make me a felon...
And now I reflect on how the DoJ wants to make these bold statements, but when it comes to protecting me from
1) having my software cracked and put up on a foreign site (along with a lot of other victims)
2) having my 401K raped (actually I don't invest in tech, but I still got nailed due to overall market misery)
they could care less about me or any other average citizen other than when some entrenched interest thinks we need to have something else taken away from us.
I come to the sad conclusion that the government that governs me does not in any way shape or form represent me or my interests. It's getting worse every day, and the common consensus at this time from the system to the average slashdot reader is that we're criminals, and anything done to us is perfectly fine, but anything we do is inherently bad.
Methinks the time for massive digital civil disobediance is upon us. Since we're all already guilty before the fact, since it's perfectly OK to assume we're bad and act accordingly with zero proof, who the hell wants to be hung for a sheep. Time to be a wolf, I say.
With the unix penchant for 2 letter abbrevs
on
Vi IMproved -- Vim
·
· Score: 1
Doesn't that mean that vi is really 'vile'.
Yeah, an old one, but I couldna resist:-)
Ooof - I'd tend to agree on two fronts
1) This does choke out other potential competitors who cannot afford to do the vast part of the job gratis - I'd argue that MSFT be forced to compensate N.O. reasonably for the use of the 'expertise' of the city in developing such software. It's certainly not very competitive on this front, if I were a small software developer in N.O with any kind of governmental client base, I'd sue for unfair practices
2) Bottom line is that in general, MSFT software quality is going from bad to worse. Yes, they are still dominant, but they're a collection of warring fiefdoms that produce more schlock than quality. If they actually manage to get themselves into the business of 'software for governments' I would not like this one bit. Right now their mistakes are a PITA, in the brave new world they envision, their mistakes could be considerably more costly to individuals
In short, I don't see this as any deal for New Orleans. They're giving away incredibly valuable knowledge without being paid for it, they're effectively shutting out any potential real competitor who can give greater long term value, and they're supporting a company with some of the worst software quality I have ever seen. Glad I don't live there.
Slashdot Mirror
When Amazon has the patent the little guy gets screwed. When the little guy has the patent, Amazon (or ebay) might have more motivation to fix an obviously broken system, as it isn't operating to their benefit anymore.
But I do look at my router. The racing stripes means it goes real fast, right ?
Yes, I have tried to go through the normal channels for replacement of bad media. Buying Fox owned x-files through amazon leaves you with no options. My only option is to pay over $100 to replace sets with 2 bad disks.
So, I think this kind of information is extremely beneficial, in fact even beneficial to that den of thieves calling themselves the entertainment industry. If it weren't for this, I'd have to give up buying completely.
Then I wanted to move some DVDs into a form I could actually watch on a plane (pda), cause my laptop screen is too big for cattle class and I find that even owning such a tool would make me a felon...
And now I reflect on how the DoJ wants to make these bold statements, but when it comes to protecting me from
1) having my software cracked and put up on a foreign site (along with a lot of other victims)
2) having my 401K raped (actually I don't invest in tech, but I still got nailed due to overall market misery)
they could care less about me or any other average citizen other than when some entrenched interest thinks we need to have something else taken away from us.
I come to the sad conclusion that the government that governs me does not in any way shape or form represent me or my interests. It's getting worse every day, and the common consensus at this time from the system to the average slashdot reader is that we're criminals, and anything done to us is perfectly fine, but anything we do is inherently bad.
Methinks the time for massive digital civil disobediance is upon us. Since we're all already guilty before the fact, since it's perfectly OK to assume we're bad and act accordingly with zero proof, who the hell wants to be hung for a sheep. Time to be a wolf, I say.
Doesn't that mean that vi is really 'vile'. Yeah, an old one, but I couldna resist :-)
Ooof - I'd tend to agree on two fronts 1) This does choke out other potential competitors who cannot afford to do the vast part of the job gratis - I'd argue that MSFT be forced to compensate N.O. reasonably for the use of the 'expertise' of the city in developing such software. It's certainly not very competitive on this front, if I were a small software developer in N.O with any kind of governmental client base, I'd sue for unfair practices 2) Bottom line is that in general, MSFT software quality is going from bad to worse. Yes, they are still dominant, but they're a collection of warring fiefdoms that produce more schlock than quality. If they actually manage to get themselves into the business of 'software for governments' I would not like this one bit. Right now their mistakes are a PITA, in the brave new world they envision, their mistakes could be considerably more costly to individuals In short, I don't see this as any deal for New Orleans. They're giving away incredibly valuable knowledge without being paid for it, they're effectively shutting out any potential real competitor who can give greater long term value, and they're supporting a company with some of the worst software quality I have ever seen. Glad I don't live there.