If you're interested in helping the development process along, you can do so by using the development snapshots and reporting bugs/feedback to the development team.
On a related note, I often see people getting bashed by FOSS (free and/or open-source software) zealots for enumerating their gripes with certain FOSS software. People shouldn't get bashed for complaining! Complaining is an essential part of the feedback loop that improves the software. It's valuable to the development process and should always be listened to seriously. Any good development team will take negative feedback and do something constructive with it, rather than bash the complainer.
In my opinion, people who bash complainers are people who are fundamentally against improvement, and they therefore have no business being involved in the FOSS community.
Just because you do not follow the trend, that doesn't make my statement any less true. I said "the vast majority". You're just not part of the majority.
First of all, piracy does not equate to lost sales. The vast majority of people who consume pirated software/music/movies are people who couldn't/wouldn't pay the retail price in the first place. There's a simple reason that piracy is mostly rampant on college campuses: students are poor.
Secondly, since when did the purchase of a CD change from "owning a copy" to "being licensed to experience the content"? I haven't seen a licensing agreement printed in any of the CDs I've bought. When I buy a DRM-unencumbered CD, I am owning that copy of the content. I can (and will) do whatever I want with it. Just because iTunes comes along and starts "licensing" the content in DRM-encumbered form, that doesn't mean that the nature of purchasing a raw CD has suddenly changed.
Thirdly, the entire public debate about copyright law, DRM, the DMCA, piracy, etc, all really boils down to one simple thing: what is ethical is not the same as what is legal, and vice-versa. The government is supposed to serve the people by refining the law until it accurately reflects what is ethical. Unfortunately what we have right now is a body of law that is radically divergent from what is ethical. Throughout history, whenever the government and the law have gone against what is ethical, civil unrest has resulted and has in fact been the only way to set things right. Digital piracy is just the latest form of civil unrest. Since the government is clearly in the pockets of rich special interests, piracy is the only form of civil unrest and demonstration the public has left at its disposal. So from an ethical stance, piracy is a good thing because it is the only counter-force fighting to swing the law and government back toward what is ethical.
2)It redefined the meaning of science. According to the new definition, science is no longer is limited to searching for natural explanations for natural phenomena.
Excellent! So now student "science" fair projects can be about... well, pretty much anything!
Don't you think this "first post" bullshit is getting a little old and immature? Why not try for "last post" instead? It would at least be a change of pace.
Yes, but the real issue is your (in)ability to see what the data broker is telling others about you. It doesn't matter if the information they have on file for you is of the "publicly available" type if it's still wrong and others are being misinformed about you.
What is the maximum acceptable price that slashdot readers would give to different types of downloadable product, taking into account their perception of its true value to them?
Personally, if content is DRM-crippled in any way (such that I cannot freely convert it and copy it to all devices I own, etc) then its true value to me is basically zero. I would be willing to pay $8.00 US to download a high-quality (TV-quality or better) movie that was not DRM-crippled. I would be willing to pay no more than about $0.50 US to download the same DRM-crippled content.
What recourse do we have when companies pull a fast one like this?
About the only thing you can really do is not shop there anymore and spread your story as widely as possible to deter others from shopping there. Unfortunately your own financial loss in this case isn't something you'll likely ever recover, so you should just write it off as a costly learning experience.
Seriously... the problem isn't the blogs that complain about people/companies. The problem is that the people/companies that were targeted behaved in ways that pissed bloggers off. If public figures and companies would simply behave ethically and reasonably and not give so many people so many reasons to hate them, then there wouldn't be so many bloggers writing bad things about them.
People don't generally go out of their way to target you unless you did something wrong to piss them off in the first place -- that's just a simple truth of human behavior.
Or, in summary, don't piss people off, and then they won't say bad things about you.
Come on -- do you really think they are going to seriously listen to what the majority of ordinary people want? Everyone knows the government in this country is controlled by rich special interest and corporations. Public feedback requests like this are only conducted to try to make the masses feel like they're being listened to even though they really aren't.
The lightswitch in my bedroom stopped working, so I'm wondering what other types of housing options might work for me. Should I switch to living in a cave, a hut, or a bamboo shack? Or should I just bulldoze my entire home and rebuild a new on in its place? Please help as I am desperate to get my lightswitch working again. Thanks.
Along with other great aspects about the writing and acting in "The O.C.", the various scenes in which the main characters are playing video games are pretty well done, very similar to what the author of this article described in "The 40-year old virgin".
Tangential mini-review: While the promos for "The O.C." make it out to be extremely shallow typical soap-opera drivel, the writing, acting, and characters are great. So is the show's self-deprecating sense of humor, as it pokes fun at the characters' obsession with a show called "The Valley", which is a parody of "The O.C." itself.
Slashdot Mirror
ZDNet takes an interesting look at open source in the developing world
"Food wants to be free!"
"The Gruel Public License has been accused of being communist."
"My neighbor is illegally selling the food that I grew and shared with my other starving neighbors!"
"Users just want a life that works, without hunger getting in the way of their primary task."
"Don't hit on uknown people, even if they look safe, or you might get infected!"
"Don't complain about how horrible your country is -- jump in and fix it yourself!"
AOL says that since it will control the network, it can protect users
Yes, because as we all know, AOL is all about protecting users, not trying to make profits.
You really want to protect me? Go lobby to have the DMCA repealed and DRM outlawed.
Wow... how many of these are actually not sequels or games based on movies? I rest my case.
If you're interested in helping the development process along, you can do so by using the development snapshots and reporting bugs/feedback to the development team.
On a related note, I often see people getting bashed by FOSS (free and/or open-source software) zealots for enumerating their gripes with certain FOSS software. People shouldn't get bashed for complaining! Complaining is an essential part of the feedback loop that improves the software. It's valuable to the development process and should always be listened to seriously. Any good development team will take negative feedback and do something constructive with it, rather than bash the complainer.
In my opinion, people who bash complainers are people who are fundamentally against improvement, and they therefore have no business being involved in the FOSS community.
Just because you do not follow the trend, that doesn't make my statement any less true. I said "the vast majority". You're just not part of the majority.
First of all, piracy does not equate to lost sales. The vast majority of people who consume pirated software/music/movies are people who couldn't/wouldn't pay the retail price in the first place. There's a simple reason that piracy is mostly rampant on college campuses: students are poor.
Secondly, since when did the purchase of a CD change from "owning a copy" to "being licensed to experience the content"? I haven't seen a licensing agreement printed in any of the CDs I've bought. When I buy a DRM-unencumbered CD, I am owning that copy of the content. I can (and will) do whatever I want with it. Just because iTunes comes along and starts "licensing" the content in DRM-encumbered form, that doesn't mean that the nature of purchasing a raw CD has suddenly changed.
Thirdly, the entire public debate about copyright law, DRM, the DMCA, piracy, etc, all really boils down to one simple thing: what is ethical is not the same as what is legal, and vice-versa. The government is supposed to serve the people by refining the law until it accurately reflects what is ethical. Unfortunately what we have right now is a body of law that is radically divergent from what is ethical. Throughout history, whenever the government and the law have gone against what is ethical, civil unrest has resulted and has in fact been the only way to set things right. Digital piracy is just the latest form of civil unrest. Since the government is clearly in the pockets of rich special interests, piracy is the only form of civil unrest and demonstration the public has left at its disposal. So from an ethical stance, piracy is a good thing because it is the only counter-force fighting to swing the law and government back toward what is ethical.
2)It redefined the meaning of science. According to the new definition, science is no longer is limited to searching for natural explanations for natural phenomena.
Excellent! So now student "science" fair projects can be about... well, pretty much anything!
Don't you think this "first post" bullshit is getting a little old and immature? Why not try for "last post" instead? It would at least be a change of pace.
Yes, but the real issue is your (in)ability to see what the data broker is telling others about you. It doesn't matter if the information they have on file for you is of the "publicly available" type if it's still wrong and others are being misinformed about you.
...comparing small time game developers to small local touring rock bands.
:-P)
You mean like how they both suck? (Okay, sorry, that was the troll in me. I just to say it
What is the maximum acceptable price that slashdot readers would give to different types of downloadable product, taking into account their perception of its true value to them?
Personally, if content is DRM-crippled in any way (such that I cannot freely convert it and copy it to all devices I own, etc) then its true value to me is basically zero. I would be willing to pay $8.00 US to download a high-quality (TV-quality or better) movie that was not DRM-crippled. I would be willing to pay no more than about $0.50 US to download the same DRM-crippled content.
What recourse do we have when companies pull a fast one like this?
About the only thing you can really do is not shop there anymore and spread your story as widely as possible to deter others from shopping there. Unfortunately your own financial loss in this case isn't something you'll likely ever recover, so you should just write it off as a costly learning experience.
Wow, you're right: Slashdot desperately needs "+5 Right" and "-5 Wrong" modifiers.
+5 Right for you.
...then get out of the kitchen.
Seriously... the problem isn't the blogs that complain about people/companies. The problem is that the people/companies that were targeted behaved in ways that pissed bloggers off. If public figures and companies would simply behave ethically and reasonably and not give so many people so many reasons to hate them, then there wouldn't be so many bloggers writing bad things about them.
People don't generally go out of their way to target you unless you did something wrong to piss them off in the first place -- that's just a simple truth of human behavior.
Or, in summary, don't piss people off, and then they won't say bad things about you.
Come on -- do you really think they are going to seriously listen to what the majority of ordinary people want? Everyone knows the government in this country is controlled by rich special interest and corporations. Public feedback requests like this are only conducted to try to make the masses feel like they're being listened to even though they really aren't.
You're reaching pretty far for that "Informative" moderation, don't you think?
Thank god someone finally has a plan for dealing with all that dangerous dihydrogen monoxide that's been plaguing the planet for so long.
Maybe it's due to region encoding mismatch between the disc and the drive.
Maybe it's due to something having gotten corrupt with the poster's registry or DLL files.
Maybe it's due to a failing DVD-ROM drive.
Dear Slashdot,
The lightswitch in my bedroom stopped working, so I'm wondering what other types of housing options might work for me. Should I switch to living in a cave, a hut, or a bamboo shack? Or should I just bulldoze my entire home and rebuild a new on in its place? Please help as I am desperate to get my lightswitch working again. Thanks.
- L. Oozer
Did you go to school?
Yep, but strangely, they didn't cover volcanic reactions much in my computer science classes.
but what can we do that's pratical with a box full of old RAM?
You can post it as an "Ask Slashdot" and get your five minutes of geek fame!
Those are some big balls you've got there, Coward. Too bad you don't have a brain big enough to match.
Only something dramatic, such as a major volcanic eruption, could cause enough cooling to miss setting a new record.
Um, since when did a volcanic eruption make things cooler?
Why are we rewarding that which ought to be standard in a game (decent story) anyway?
Because, sadly, it is so rare.
Along with other great aspects about the writing and acting in "The O.C.", the various scenes in which the main characters are playing video games are pretty well done, very similar to what the author of this article described in "The 40-year old virgin".
Tangential mini-review: While the promos for "The O.C." make it out to be extremely shallow typical soap-opera drivel, the writing, acting, and characters are great. So is the show's self-deprecating sense of humor, as it pokes fun at the characters' obsession with a show called "The Valley", which is a parody of "The O.C." itself.