I'm happy to see this getting off the ground, finally. And I'm happy to see a limited US run. I hope many of the well-to-do schools decide to sponsor a Third-World school and do some fundraising to that end. I mean, seriously, Little Suzy can raise thousands of dollars so her Girl Scout group can go to Disneyland... I'm sure at least a few benevolent people will try to do something a little more valuable to the world.
And to all the damn naysayers out there... Information is Power. Even a little bit helps a lot. Even one laptop and a little bit of internet in a village will help that village learn, will help them find answers to their problems, and will help them communicate with the outside world. Things like the solar panel add-on and the pull-cord power generator are just plain smart, and the Mesh network is also a great idea. I hope this takes off enough for someone to develop a simple cell-network-based dish assembly (with solar power and pull-cord generator) to provide internet access. Sure, it may be dial-up slow, but who cares? For many of these people, this may be the first real exposure they have to technology, and the first real chance to experience something outside of their little slice of the world.
Plus, now there's a chance for better learning, even for those who don't have net access. There's always relief orgs and missionaries crisscrossing the continent. Now, instead of having to carry piles of books... bring a pack of memory cards loaded with some useful books and teaching materials. It's a whole new chance for people to learn a whole new world. And whether it sells millions or just thousands, it doesn't matter. At least a few people will benefit, at least some parts of the world will change for the better. Everyone whining about the specs or the market or the "I can buy a better Compaq" is missing the point entirely.
I only wish I had $400,000,000, and the extra $$ to distribute these to the neediest sections of the world and train everyone up on it. That, unlike Disneyland, or Save the Dolphins, or Sweet-16 breast implants, really is a way to chance the world.
And on a seperate note... I hope they do take off a bit in the US. It'd be nice to see schoolkids with a platform like this for collaboration and learning. With the low cost, robust construction, and targeted software, it'd be a great way for kids to learn about computers without sitting in front of a quad core p4 playing a stupid Flash game while secretly browsing Victorias Secret in the background.
More "westernized" nations are in the northern hemisphere, along with what used to be horrible environmental practices. The southern hemisphere has, all in all, less westernized nations. It would be fair to say that the North used to put out much more O3 destroying compounds.
Why is the hole bigger over the south than it is in the north? Because high-altitude wind patterns tend to concentrate pollutants, over time, generally on the south pole, thanks to a combination of the constant streams and systems that the earth has, and the tilt on our axis. It's lucky enough to be the place where everything goes. The north pole is lucky enough to be... well, not so much. Also, I vaguely recall that those same systems and reasons are why the O3 on the south pole is thinner to begin with, and therefore the effects are more noticeable. But, then again, it has been many years since I've had the "It's all Australias fault" argument.
How is it the parent is modded up, but you aren't? I still can't believe that "global cooling" crap gets modded up on what is supposed to be an "intellectual" website. Yeah, I know, silly me.
The thief was smart enough to sneak past all the booby-traps and undead guards, but after he made it home with his ill-gotten gains, he paused to read the script. He was apprehended at the gate of the movie lot the next day, along with a heavily-rewritten copy of the script and some production stills he'd photoshopped to include himself in. Rumour has it he was shouting that he'd offer the rewritten script for $2000, but The Director turned down the offer as "overpriced".
As an amusing aside, when the arrest happened and security began running all over, Ben Affleck was spotted running the opposite direction, and had to be stopped by screams of "Ben, don't worry, they didn't find any dead hookers today, you're ok!"
When I was filling in order forms by hand in a previous job, I never used a calculator -- and I never got called out on a wrong total. Of course not... you had a huge and pointy slide rule to hit people with. Their puny calculators were no defense...
Damn, I wish I'd remembered to patent "connecting phone calls over the internet" when I thought about it... oh, the first time I saw a microphone attached to a PC. Seriously, 8 random people who aren't smart enough to get out of jury duty are considered smart enough to understand the fine points of patent law and internet telephony? And this is enough to cripple a (relatively) small startup company? Can someone remind me what Sprint/Nextel did with these oh-so-valuable patents, and what Vonage did that cost them tens of millions of dollars? Besides not paying sprint tens of millions of dollars, that is.
I'm just going to wait a week, till someone hacks it to do 802.11G and bluetooth headsets. THEN it'll be the product we've all been waiting for!
I hear Apple has a prototype that does just that, but in true Apple fashion, it's wire-wrapped by hand, weighs 47lbs, and for some reason there's a Sony rep hidden in the closet...
Please post again when you've found a compassionate and humane way of killing people. Personally, I vote for having your head crushed by a multi-tonne slab of Something Really Heavy (tm). I'm pretty sure the near-instantaneous and total destruction of your brain by a large weight falling from several stories up would be humane and compassionate, given the lack of suffering.
Of course, it's pretty unwieldy for use in war. Perhaps we could have bomber pilots throw pennies out the window? If cartoons have taught me anything, that might work.
Since no-one is making note of this yet, I'll try and raise it's profile.
It's not just the money. They also agreed to let NASA put scientific instruments on the 3 planes to be used on some flights. Which is actually pretty damn snazzy... instead of having to spend on their own flights, NASA saves money by using someone who's already flying. And they get paid for it. This is, really, a smart move all around.
The whining NIMBY numnuts are complaining because now lots of other executives and private planes are going to want to land there too. And, frankly, if they pay,/AND/ let NASA put instruments on their planes, I say, go for it. The NIMBYs moved next to an airport, they deserve what they get. Whiners.
First off, you know as well as I do the copyright infringement is not stealing.
If you're supposed to pay for it, and you don't, then you're a thief. Regardless of the term associated to it. It seems pretty straightforward. If you want to run Windows, you need to pay for Windows. If you don't pay for it, you shouldn't be running it.
It puts the punishment of a crime onto someone who may not have committed a crime. If someone bought a computer, and unknown to them the company the built the computer didn't have licensing they are going to be punished. It also applies to people who bought there computer from someone who may have had there OEM licenses pulled who will lose there OS.
Yes, it does. However, it's not like the person is somehow permanently barred from ever using Windows again, or even required to shell out for a new copy and reinstall. I had a few people at work here who bought computers with XP loaded from the same small-time reseller. They were using a pirated volume license, which eventually got busted. They called MS, explained it, MS busted the reseller (with the help of the coworkers), and MS gave them all their own (single, not volume) key. And really, this is no different from any other situation where you don't receive your goods straight from a reputable manufacturer. Buy a car from a non-dealership seller, and it could be stolen. And you'd be hooped if it was. But that doesn't mean we should just ignore the law and let people keep it. Also, on the vast scales of the millions of people buying vista (or computers preloaded with it), the number of people buying from small-time sellers is relatively small, and the number of small-time sellers who will try and pirate the key of the as-yet most-protected Windows version is smaller still. I don't think it's fair to condem a process because a few people out of many millions might possibly be inconvenienced for a bit.
Of course, as always, it will not hurt the pirate at all. Somewhere in the code there is a JMP in assembly. Removing it means the OS won't be effected.
Yes, hacking WPA is so easy. Everyone does it now. I tried it with my eyes closed the other day, just for a change of pace./sarcasm Seriously, there's always ways around it. The point is to discourage 99% of the population from trying it. And it does a good job of that.
"Nobody's going to get a class-action suit because of a temporary inconvenience" haha. Wait until a block of licenses gets shut off by accident. Quite frankly, looking at MS's history with the kind of activity I have no doubt many people will be getting there system shut down. If you sompany looses just 1 hour per system, that quickly asdds up to a lot of lost money.
Again, it's not like an accident can't be undone. And unless some MS employee does an update to block *-*-*-*-* from activating, it's not going to happen. If MS has a good-faith reason to believe that a key is pirated, they'll block it. If a company feels it's unfair, they'll call up and say so. And if it is, MS will reactivate it. Seriously, they're not all satan there, even if there are a few relations.
"Once XP becomes obsolete Linux use will go up by roughly the number of cheap bastards unwilling to pay for their software, b" Nice Ad hominem, jack ass. It really shows you lack of imagination. For the record, were I work there are many hundreds of computer that aren't going to VISTA because of this very topic. We are far from the only organization doing this.
We're not upgrading to Vista yet either. We're still running a mix of 2k and XP. No plans for Vista until we've tested it with our in-house apps, and even then, no rush to it. It's not a major functionality increase over XP, everyone knows this. But, when 2k came out, we still had computers running 95/98. It takes time for major organizations to change their infrastructure. That's not a sign of a bad product. That's just the way b
Amen. That'd be my list exactly. Nothing drives me batty more than ads with sound. Mostly because I browse a dozen tabs at a time. One opens up with those annoying, stupid, squeaky voices banging through my speakers, and I have to go hunting for it... arg.
Google has it right. Text ads ftw. Or inobtrusive sidebar ads. Anything but flashy, gimmicky, horrid little pieces of crap choking my computer and telling me I have Just Won! Seriously, some of that flash is so badly written I can see a measurable decrease in computer performance. Nothing like that will ever get me to buy whatever you're hocking.
Ye gods, there be a lot of whiners about. Seriously, what's wrong with you people? Lawsuits? Mass exodus? Venomous hatred?
MS has the right to prevent people from stealing their software. This isn't really a bad way to do it. And if you do get locked out, legitimately or accidentally, it's not the end of the world! It's not like Vista formats your C drive, or permanently locks itself down. You make a call to the 1-800 #, and poof, fixed up. Not too freaking hard! Nobody's going to get a class-action suit because of a temporary inconvenience. Once XP becomes obsolete Linux use will go up by roughly the number of cheap bastards unwilling to pay for their software, but people aren't going to flock to Fedora because their Vista install unexpectedly told them their key was invalid.
Seriously people, get some perspective. MS actually picked a pretty decent compromise here between "let people run crazy (ie Win2k)" and "lock it down so it's completely and permanently unusable" (ie what the RIAA would love to do if they find an mp3 on your system).
I don't think Canada is being occupied. Rather, we allow the US soldiers to stay here, so ya'll can have some advance warning next time we get a little rowdy and feel like going down to burn down the White House and Library of Congress. We're nice that way, after all, eh?
I read about half of those quotes of Bush and Cheney. All that I read were excellent, fact-based points. None that I read even suggested that Saddam had any direct responsibility for 9/11. That's the point. You don't have to suggest a direct responsibility. You just have to keep saying them in the same sentence, and people associate. And with the presidents vast staff of scriptwriters, and the consistent way in which it's done, don't think for a second it's not intentional.
E.G.: E++99 writes short sentences. Pedophiles write short sentences too. E++99 has not, to my knowledge, written about pedophiles, but our intelligence services suggest that pedophiles and E++99 may have had some third-party meetings in Prague. While there, the pedophiles and E++99 may or may have not discussed certain issues. This much is sure though: Pedophiles and E++99 were both in Prague in July 2000, and we cannot ascertain what their shadowy agenda was.
Now, if I say that enough, what is it people are going to remember about you? That's right. "Oh, E++99, I heard something about him and pedophiles". I didn't directly accuse you of being a pedophile, but the association is there. And if I said this, or things like it, repeatedly, daily, for years on end....
But yeah, you're right. I don't think they've ever directly suggested a direct connection. So I'm sure it's all ok.
FTA: One onlooker told the protesters they should support their country. Another passer-by snapped back at him: "That's exactly what she's doing."
That might be the most embiggening thing about the entire episode... that people (who are not just typing it on their blog) are starting to realize that.
Take a game that's already made it's money back, and probably sells all of 2 copies a month, but hey, let's make some more money from it! Always with the string attached. Dang money-grubbing companies. *sigh* I tell ya, as far as I can recall, there hasn't been a game released without strings since Guitar Hero.
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I'm happy to see this getting off the ground, finally. And I'm happy to see a limited US run. I hope many of the well-to-do schools decide to sponsor a Third-World school and do some fundraising to that end. I mean, seriously, Little Suzy can raise thousands of dollars so her Girl Scout group can go to Disneyland... I'm sure at least a few benevolent people will try to do something a little more valuable to the world.
And to all the damn naysayers out there... Information is Power. Even a little bit helps a lot. Even one laptop and a little bit of internet in a village will help that village learn, will help them find answers to their problems, and will help them communicate with the outside world. Things like the solar panel add-on and the pull-cord power generator are just plain smart, and the Mesh network is also a great idea. I hope this takes off enough for someone to develop a simple cell-network-based dish assembly (with solar power and pull-cord generator) to provide internet access. Sure, it may be dial-up slow, but who cares? For many of these people, this may be the first real exposure they have to technology, and the first real chance to experience something outside of their little slice of the world.
Plus, now there's a chance for better learning, even for those who don't have net access. There's always relief orgs and missionaries crisscrossing the continent. Now, instead of having to carry piles of books... bring a pack of memory cards loaded with some useful books and teaching materials. It's a whole new chance for people to learn a whole new world. And whether it sells millions or just thousands, it doesn't matter. At least a few people will benefit, at least some parts of the world will change for the better. Everyone whining about the specs or the market or the "I can buy a better Compaq" is missing the point entirely.
I only wish I had $400,000,000, and the extra $$ to distribute these to the neediest sections of the world and train everyone up on it. That, unlike Disneyland, or Save the Dolphins, or Sweet-16 breast implants, really is a way to chance the world.
And on a seperate note... I hope they do take off a bit in the US. It'd be nice to see schoolkids with a platform like this for collaboration and learning. With the low cost, robust construction, and targeted software, it'd be a great way for kids to learn about computers without sitting in front of a quad core p4 playing a stupid Flash game while secretly browsing Victorias Secret in the background.
More "westernized" nations are in the northern hemisphere, along with what used to be horrible environmental practices. The southern hemisphere has, all in all, less westernized nations. It would be fair to say that the North used to put out much more O3 destroying compounds.
Why is the hole bigger over the south than it is in the north? Because high-altitude wind patterns tend to concentrate pollutants, over time, generally on the south pole, thanks to a combination of the constant streams and systems that the earth has, and the tilt on our axis. It's lucky enough to be the place where everything goes. The north pole is lucky enough to be... well, not so much.
Also, I vaguely recall that those same systems and reasons are why the O3 on the south pole is thinner to begin with, and therefore the effects are more noticeable.
But, then again, it has been many years since I've had the "It's all Australias fault" argument.
How is it the parent is modded up, but you aren't?
I still can't believe that "global cooling" crap gets modded up on what is supposed to be an "intellectual" website.
Yeah, I know, silly me.
If only my cock worked like that. You should have checked that out before you stuck it in your case fan...
F'ing priceless. And not just for the use of "sodding". ;)
But mostly.
The thief was smart enough to sneak past all the booby-traps and undead guards, but after he made it home with his ill-gotten gains, he paused to read the script. He was apprehended at the gate of the movie lot the next day, along with a heavily-rewritten copy of the script and some production stills he'd photoshopped to include himself in. Rumour has it he was shouting that he'd offer the rewritten script for $2000, but The Director turned down the offer as "overpriced".
As an amusing aside, when the arrest happened and security began running all over, Ben Affleck was spotted running the opposite direction, and had to be stopped by screams of "Ben, don't worry, they didn't find any dead hookers today, you're ok!"
As a Canadian, I'm still amused by a hospital getting upset because they might lose business...
You Americans are weird people sometimes.
Oh my $deity.... this is amazing! Unfathomable! Shocking and awe-inspiring!
AOL and AIM are still around???
This should be modded up.
Damn, I wish I'd remembered to patent "connecting phone calls over the internet" when I thought about it... oh, the first time I saw a microphone attached to a PC.
Seriously, 8 random people who aren't smart enough to get out of jury duty are considered smart enough to understand the fine points of patent law and internet telephony? And this is enough to cripple a (relatively) small startup company? Can someone remind me what Sprint/Nextel did with these oh-so-valuable patents, and what Vonage did that cost them tens of millions of dollars? Besides not paying sprint tens of millions of dollars, that is.
I'm just going to wait a week, till someone hacks it to do 802.11G and bluetooth headsets.
THEN it'll be the product we've all been waiting for!
I hear Apple has a prototype that does just that, but in true Apple fashion, it's wire-wrapped by hand, weighs 47lbs, and for some reason there's a Sony rep hidden in the closet...
Thank you for sharing. No sarcasm.
I'm pretty sure the near-instantaneous and total destruction of your brain by a large weight falling from several stories up would be humane and compassionate, given the lack of suffering.
Of course, it's pretty unwieldy for use in war. Perhaps we could have bomber pilots throw pennies out the window? If cartoons have taught me anything, that might work.
The mods are on hippy-crack. That was freakin hilarious.
Since no-one is making note of this yet, I'll try and raise it's profile.
/AND/ let NASA put instruments on their planes, I say, go for it. The NIMBYs moved next to an airport, they deserve what they get. Whiners.
It's not just the money. They also agreed to let NASA put scientific instruments on the 3 planes to be used on some flights. Which is actually pretty damn snazzy... instead of having to spend on their own flights, NASA saves money by using someone who's already flying. And they get paid for it. This is, really, a smart move all around.
The whining NIMBY numnuts are complaining because now lots of other executives and private planes are going to want to land there too. And, frankly, if they pay,
First off, you know as well as I do the copyright infringement is not stealing.
If you're supposed to pay for it, and you don't, then you're a thief. Regardless of the term associated to it. It seems pretty straightforward. If you want to run Windows, you need to pay for Windows. If you don't pay for it, you shouldn't be running it.
It puts the punishment of a crime onto someone who may not have committed a crime. If someone bought a computer, and unknown to them the company the built the computer didn't have licensing they are going to be punished. It also applies to people who bought there computer from someone who may have had there OEM licenses pulled who will lose there OS.
Yes, it does. However, it's not like the person is somehow permanently barred from ever using Windows again, or even required to shell out for a new copy and reinstall. I had a few people at work here who bought computers with XP loaded from the same small-time reseller. They were using a pirated volume license, which eventually got busted. They called MS, explained it, MS busted the reseller (with the help of the coworkers), and MS gave them all their own (single, not volume) key.
And really, this is no different from any other situation where you don't receive your goods straight from a reputable manufacturer. Buy a car from a non-dealership seller, and it could be stolen. And you'd be hooped if it was. But that doesn't mean we should just ignore the law and let people keep it.
Also, on the vast scales of the millions of people buying vista (or computers preloaded with it), the number of people buying from small-time sellers is relatively small, and the number of small-time sellers who will try and pirate the key of the as-yet most-protected Windows version is smaller still. I don't think it's fair to condem a process because a few people out of many millions might possibly be inconvenienced for a bit.
Of course, as always, it will not hurt the pirate at all. Somewhere in the code there is a JMP in assembly. Removing it means the OS won't be effected.
Yes, hacking WPA is so easy. Everyone does it now. I tried it with my eyes closed the other day, just for a change of pace. /sarcasm
Seriously, there's always ways around it. The point is to discourage 99% of the population from trying it. And it does a good job of that.
"Nobody's going to get a class-action suit because of a temporary inconvenience"
haha. Wait until a block of licenses gets shut off by accident. Quite frankly, looking at MS's history with the kind of activity I have no doubt many people will be getting there system shut down. If you sompany looses just 1 hour per system, that quickly asdds up to a lot of lost money.
Again, it's not like an accident can't be undone. And unless some MS employee does an update to block *-*-*-*-* from activating, it's not going to happen. If MS has a good-faith reason to believe that a key is pirated, they'll block it. If a company feels it's unfair, they'll call up and say so. And if it is, MS will reactivate it. Seriously, they're not all satan there, even if there are a few relations.
"Once XP becomes obsolete Linux use will go up by roughly the number of cheap bastards unwilling to pay for their software, b"
Nice Ad hominem, jack ass. It really shows you lack of imagination.
For the record, were I work there are many hundreds of computer that aren't going to VISTA because of this very topic. We are far from the only organization doing this.
We're not upgrading to Vista yet either. We're still running a mix of 2k and XP. No plans for Vista until we've tested it with our in-house apps, and even then, no rush to it. It's not a major functionality increase over XP, everyone knows this.
But, when 2k came out, we still had computers running 95/98. It takes time for major organizations to change their infrastructure. That's not a sign of a bad product. That's just the way b
Amen. That'd be my list exactly. Nothing drives me batty more than ads with sound. Mostly because I browse a dozen tabs at a time. One opens up with those annoying, stupid, squeaky voices banging through my speakers, and I have to go hunting for it... arg.
Google has it right. Text ads ftw. Or inobtrusive sidebar ads. Anything but flashy, gimmicky, horrid little pieces of crap choking my computer and telling me I have Just Won! Seriously, some of that flash is so badly written I can see a measurable decrease in computer performance. Nothing like that will ever get me to buy whatever you're hocking.
Ye gods, there be a lot of whiners about.
Seriously, what's wrong with you people? Lawsuits? Mass exodus? Venomous hatred?
MS has the right to prevent people from stealing their software. This isn't really a bad way to do it. And if you do get locked out, legitimately or accidentally, it's not the end of the world! It's not like Vista formats your C drive, or permanently locks itself down. You make a call to the 1-800 #, and poof, fixed up. Not too freaking hard! Nobody's going to get a class-action suit because of a temporary inconvenience. Once XP becomes obsolete Linux use will go up by roughly the number of cheap bastards unwilling to pay for their software, but people aren't going to flock to Fedora because their Vista install unexpectedly told them their key was invalid.
Seriously people, get some perspective. MS actually picked a pretty decent compromise here between "let people run crazy (ie Win2k)" and "lock it down so it's completely and permanently unusable" (ie what the RIAA would love to do if they find an mp3 on your system).
I don't think Canada is being occupied. Rather, we allow the US soldiers to stay here, so ya'll can have some advance warning next time we get a little rowdy and feel like going down to burn down the White House and Library of Congress. We're nice that way, after all, eh?
E.G.: E++99 writes short sentences. Pedophiles write short sentences too. E++99 has not, to my knowledge, written about pedophiles, but our intelligence services suggest that pedophiles and E++99 may have had some third-party meetings in Prague. While there, the pedophiles and E++99 may or may have not discussed certain issues. This much is sure though: Pedophiles and E++99 were both in Prague in July 2000, and we cannot ascertain what their shadowy agenda was.
Now, if I say that enough, what is it people are going to remember about you? That's right. "Oh, E++99, I heard something about him and pedophiles". I didn't directly accuse you of being a pedophile, but the association is there. And if I said this, or things like it, repeatedly, daily, for years on end....
But yeah, you're right. I don't think they've ever directly suggested a direct connection. So I'm sure it's all ok.
FTA:
One onlooker told the protesters they should support their country. Another passer-by snapped back at him: "That's exactly what she's doing."
That might be the most embiggening thing about the entire episode... that people (who are not just typing it on their blog) are starting to realize that.
Joke: ->
/|\
You: O
/ \
Take a game that's already made it's money back, and probably sells all of 2 copies a month, but hey, let's make some more money from it! Always with the string attached. Dang money-grubbing companies. *sigh* I tell ya, as far as I can recall, there hasn't been a game released without strings since Guitar Hero.