Red Hat is doing some cool things on the business side of things, but they really need to stay focused on the details... why does their mailing list page only have archives up to 2/2000? And why aren't some of the lists they host (like video4linux) archived at all?
It's little things like that that can really irk your support base... the pointy hairs might not notice, but we do.
Hopefully not TOO off-topic... Moonlight 3D was free (beer, at least - not sure about the speech...) but it's gone after a cryptic message on their site a few months ago. Anyone know what happened? It was a promising 3D app for Linux...
That's probably true, but there were certainly people who were happy with the status quo, and there were those who worked for freedom. Underground railroad, and such. My main point was that if you are afraid to rock the boat for fear of instability, you run the risk of giving up a lot. To me, leaving an entire culture in chains is a lot to give up in the name of stability.
I wasn't saying that the Gov't at the time was fighting for freedom, pure and simple. But some people were.
I was more interested in how Mr. Stability would have aligned himself during those times.
I agree that supporting Napster is a little hazy. On the one hand, it's just a distribution system. On the other hand, it's designed specifically to distribute files that are currently about 99% copyright infringing.
As some people have said, boycotting the RIAA may just be a very small drop in the bucket.
A more positive thing might be to go to MP3, and shell out $10 for a non-RIAA artist. If 10,000 people don't buy CDs at Tower, it'd be a pretty small blip.
If 10,000 people went to MP3.com and bought a CD there, it'd get noticed.
That'd be a way to say "Online music distribution is important" without saying "I want to steal my music."
With all due respect to the gentleman who knows how to finely craft an argument, let's just try this out for size. Please select one answer per question:
1. During era of the Civil War, which ultimately led to the freeing of American slaves, I would have chosen:
a) freedom b) stability
2. During the fight for women's suffrage, I would have chosen:
a) freedom b) stability
3. During the civil rights movement, I would have chosen:
a) freedom b) stability
Those are just a few examples - given that the government wasn't killing large portions of the population, so I assume that you would have chosen "stability" in all cases?
So are you saying that it's better to give up a little freedom and privacy, and let the Powers that Be listen to your phone calls, read your email, and go through your trash, on the off chance that some folk singer might get some people fired up to fight for a cause?
What is worth fighting for, and rabble-rousing, and upsetting the status quo? Or should we be complacent in the name of stability?
I mean, I get your point to a certain degree - stability is a very important thing. But what are you willing to give up for that? There are some pretty repressive regimes that are awfully stable. And perhaps the rougue militias won't come steal your food, but you just might "disappear."
most Westerners take a stable nation for granted. You grossly underestimate the value of this privilege. Imagine living in Afghanistan. Or Sierra Leone. Or even Fiji.
To which I'd say... most Westerners take a free nation for granted. You grossly underestimate the value of this privilege. Imagine living in Afghanistan. Or Sierra Leone. Or even Fiji.
And who are you to judge the importance of the stability of the state? What if the state is engaged in wrongdoing? Should we preserve stability at all costs? Seems like a strange end to strive for...
Depending on your definition of "stability" I might have to say I'd pick freedom over stability. If the opposite of stability is chaos and anarchy, that's one thing. Often, though, "stability" is a placated populace, happily listening to Britney Spears and munching on Cheetos, and threats to that notion of "stability" are dealt with severely. That sort of stability generates the big bucks.
Now you've done it. I'm ranting all paranoid-like...:-)
I mean, everyone knows that whenever a government practices surveillance on its citizens, it's only if that citizen is truly a dangerous criminal. A quick scan of history reveals that, right off!
All those communists in the McCarthy era got what was coming to them.
And those damn Japanese-Americans during WWII.
Arlo Guthrie most certainly deserved to have his life on file at the FBI. As did Pete Seeger. Damned agitators...
When are we going to see some medium-sized, very low price, mid-to-high-res digital cameras?
Unlike everything else computer-related, last-generation digital cameras never seem to _really_ come down in price. For example, the Kodak DC215, right around a megapixel, is still $300. It's hardly cutting edge, but I want something _cheap_ - on the order of $150, that takes decent digital pictures (no, the Barbie-cam doesn't count...) Is there anything out there?
And will the boycott do any good? I don't know. Will I do it? Sure. For the same reason I vote, even though my vote a tiny drop in the bucket, often filtered through the electoral college... it's what I can do, so I do it. It's better than doing nothing at all.
you tell me that i make no difference at least i'm fuckin' trying what the fuck have you done?
-Minor Threat
A band on Dischord Records, a label which is completely independent of the RIAA, and who offers most of their CDs for $8, postpaid.
Why is it still on orbs.org?
on
MAPS vs. ORBS
·
· Score: 1
If it's been hashed over, and apologies issued, any idea why www.orbs.org still has accusations?
Oh, that's just great.
on
MAPS vs. ORBS
·
· Score: 2
I've been begging... pleading... begging some more... for bigfoot.com to start using something like MAPS or ORBS. I wrote a HOWTO and had my bigfoot.com email in there, un-spam-proofed, so now I get 1 or 2 get-rich-quick schemes per day. I send each one to abuse@bigfoot.com, patiently saying on each one "you know, this came through an open relay, and MAPS or ORBS would solve this problem for you..."
Now that they're pulling this crap, I think my chances of getting a place like Bigfoot to start using their services is oh, somewhere around Zero.
What would be nice is some sort of tiered system on either service - say 0 to 10, where 0 is everything gets through, and 10 is "filter 'em all, and let God sort them out" and varying levels between the two... 5 would be some opt-in place that doesn't require double confirmation, etc.
I mean, some guy complains that good reviews are given in exchange for free software. Problem is, that software was free to begin with! So the whole accusation doesn't make much sense.
1. It stops the not-for-consumer-apps cynics out there who have been spouting off that the gpl is "fine for behind-the-scenes stuff" but will never cut it in the consumer app field where actually selling seats is the prime revenue source.
Does it? Buying a binary-only office suite with a limited number of users, and then releasing it under the GPL as it fades away is hardly a ringing endorsement of Open Source development... And you said "selling seats" - Sun never sold StarOffice, did they?
I mean, I'm glad it's going to be GPL'd and all, but I'm not sure it proves or disproves any theories about Open Source in general...
If you want fingerprint identification for Linux right now, check out American BioMetrics and their BioMouse (around $100). Although they don't ship Linux drivers, there are drivers available from MUSCLE on this page.
Font licensing is a very contentious issue. While it is true that there is a wealth of freely available fonts, the chances are that the fonts are ``ripoffs'' in some sense, unless they come with a license indicating otherwise. The issue is made more confusing by intellectual property laws regarding typefaces. Basically, in the USA, font files are protected by copyright, but font renderings are not. In other words, it's illegal to redistribute fonts, but it's perfectly legal to ``reverse-engineer'' them by printing them out on graph paper and designing the curves to match the printout. Reverse engineered fonts are typically cheap and freely available, but of poor quality. These fonts, as well as pirated fonts are often distributed on very cheap CDs containing huge amounts of fonts. So it's not always easy to tell if a font is reverse engineered, or simply pirated. This situation creates an enormous headache for anyone hoping to package free fonts for Linux.
Perhaps one of the most offensive things about the nature of font piracy is that it artificially debases the value of the work that type designers do. Pirated fonts invariably are bundled en masse onto these one zillion font CDs, with no due credit given to the original designers. In contrast, what is commendable about several legitimate font foundries is that they credit their designers.
Here in Austin there's a company advertising their "DSL Cable Modem Technology."
Um...
I guess they figured people had heard of "cable modems" before (they were rolled out before DSL) so they'd give the great unwashed something to latch onto...
1) Plug splitter into wall 2) Plug DSL "modem" into data side of splitter 3) Install NIC (ok, might be hard for some folks) 4) Plug NIC into DSL device 5) Boot Windows 6) Tell Windows to "automatically configure IP information" 7) Reboot Windows
Done.
This is news?:)
Odds are they're doing it because they are SO backlogged on installs, they can't keep up. Time Warner did the same thing with RoadRunner here in Austin, for the same reasons.
Slashdot Mirror
It's what everyone here has been clamoring for - light, fast, standards-compliant browser.
Is it GTK-only, or is it Gnome-ified? It'd be great to see it ported to Windows, to see how that community receives it...
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It's little things like that that can really irk your support base... the pointy hairs might not notice, but we do.
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That's probably true, but there were certainly people who were happy with the status quo, and there were those who worked for freedom. Underground railroad, and such. My main point was that if you are afraid to rock the boat for fear of instability, you run the risk of giving up a lot. To me, leaving an entire culture in chains is a lot to give up in the name of stability.
I wasn't saying that the Gov't at the time was fighting for freedom, pure and simple. But some people were.
I was more interested in how Mr. Stability would have aligned himself during those times.
I agree that supporting Napster is a little hazy. On the one hand, it's just a distribution system. On the other hand, it's designed specifically to distribute files that are currently about 99% copyright infringing.
As some people have said, boycotting the RIAA may just be a very small drop in the bucket.
A more positive thing might be to go to MP3, and shell out $10 for a non-RIAA artist. If 10,000 people don't buy CDs at Tower, it'd be a pretty small blip.
If 10,000 people went to MP3.com and bought a CD there, it'd get noticed.
That'd be a way to say "Online music distribution is important" without saying "I want to steal my music."
With all due respect to the gentleman who knows how to finely craft an argument, let's just try this out for size. Please select one answer per question:
1. During era of the Civil War, which ultimately led to the freeing of American slaves, I would have chosen:
a) freedom
b) stability
2. During the fight for women's suffrage, I would have chosen:
a) freedom
b) stability
3. During the civil rights movement, I would have chosen:
a) freedom
b) stability
Those are just a few examples - given that the government wasn't killing large portions of the population, so I assume that you would have chosen "stability" in all cases?
So are you saying that it's better to give up a little freedom and privacy, and let the Powers that Be listen to your phone calls, read your email, and go through your trash, on the off chance that some folk singer might get some people fired up to fight for a cause?
What is worth fighting for, and rabble-rousing, and upsetting the status quo? Or should we be complacent in the name of stability?
I mean, I get your point to a certain degree - stability is a very important thing. But what are you willing to give up for that? There are some pretty repressive regimes that are awfully stable. And perhaps the rougue militias won't come steal your food, but you just might "disappear."
most Westerners take a stable nation for granted. You grossly underestimate the value of this privilege. Imagine living in Afghanistan. Or Sierra Leone. Or even Fiji.
:-)
To which I'd say... most Westerners take a free nation for granted. You grossly underestimate the value of this privilege. Imagine living in Afghanistan. Or Sierra Leone. Or even Fiji.
And who are you to judge the importance of the stability of the state? What if the state is engaged in wrongdoing? Should we preserve stability at all costs? Seems like a strange end to strive for...
Depending on your definition of "stability" I might have to say I'd pick freedom over stability. If the opposite of stability is chaos and anarchy, that's one thing. Often, though, "stability" is a placated populace, happily listening to Britney Spears and munching on Cheetos, and threats to that notion of "stability" are dealt with severely. That sort of stability generates the big bucks.
Now you've done it. I'm ranting all paranoid-like...
I mean, everyone knows that whenever a government practices surveillance on its citizens, it's only if that citizen is truly a dangerous criminal. A quick scan of history reveals that, right off!
All those communists in the McCarthy era got what was coming to them.
And those damn Japanese-Americans during WWII.
Arlo Guthrie most certainly deserved to have his life on file at the FBI. As did Pete Seeger. Damned agitators...
When are we going to see some medium-sized, very low price, mid-to-high-res digital cameras?
Unlike everything else computer-related, last-generation digital cameras never seem to _really_ come down in price. For example, the Kodak DC215, right around a megapixel, is still $300. It's hardly cutting edge, but I want something _cheap_ - on the order of $150, that takes decent digital pictures (no, the Barbie-cam doesn't count...) Is there anything out there?
How many SlashDot users/readers are there? Realistically? A few hundred?
At least 174,382. Take a look at your user page.
And will the boycott do any good? I don't know. Will I do it? Sure. For the same reason I vote, even though my vote a tiny drop in the bucket, often filtered through the electoral college... it's what I can do, so I do it. It's better than doing nothing at all.
you tell me that i make no difference
at least i'm fuckin' trying
what the fuck have you done?
-Minor Threat
A band on Dischord Records, a label which is completely independent of the RIAA, and who offers most of their CDs for $8, postpaid.
If it's been hashed over, and apologies issued, any idea why www.orbs.org still has accusations?
I've been begging... pleading... begging some more... for bigfoot.com to start using something like MAPS or ORBS. I wrote a HOWTO and had my bigfoot.com email in there, un-spam-proofed, so now I get 1 or 2 get-rich-quick schemes per day. I send each one to abuse@bigfoot.com, patiently saying on each one "you know, this came through an open relay, and MAPS or ORBS would solve this problem for you..."
Now that they're pulling this crap, I think my chances of getting a place like Bigfoot to start using their services is oh, somewhere around Zero.
What would be nice is some sort of tiered system on either service - say 0 to 10, where 0 is everything gets through, and 10 is "filter 'em all, and let God sort them out" and varying levels between the two... 5 would be some opt-in place that doesn't require double confirmation, etc.
Would that be possible?
...Is this really worth 3 /. stories?
/. reports on the situation. 3 times!
I mean, some guy complains that good reviews are given in exchange for free software. Problem is, that software was free to begin with! So the whole accusation doesn't make much sense.
ZDNet picks it up to be sensational. Go figure.
And then,
1. It stops the not-for-consumer-apps cynics out there who have been spouting off that the gpl is "fine for behind-the-scenes stuff" but will never cut it in the consumer app field where actually selling seats is the prime revenue source.
Does it? Buying a binary-only office suite with a limited number of users, and then releasing it under the GPL as it fades away is hardly a ringing endorsement of Open Source development... And you said "selling seats" - Sun never sold StarOffice, did they?
I mean, I'm glad it's going to be GPL'd and all, but I'm not sure it proves or disproves any theories about Open Source in general...
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MAPS is just a list. A list that says "We feel that these mail servers may not be secure, and that they may be used to send unsolicited email."
The administrator of a system may choose to use MAPS to block servers in that list, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the MAPS system.
Those admins are exercising control over their machines - and this is worthy of a restraining order?
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If you want fingerprint identification for Linux right now, check out American BioMetrics and their BioMouse (around $100). Although they don't ship Linux drivers, there are drivers available from MUSCLE on this page.
---
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Didn't know they were using PPPoE. Ick. I get my line from SBC, but service from elsewhere, with a "real" connection. :)
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Yeah, gosh, imagine if there were a bunch of PCs out there all running, say, Windows or something. A single email virus could wipe them all out!
(Does it matter if they came from SBC, or from Best Buy?)
p.s. you can keep yer domain.
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Here in Austin there's a company advertising their "DSL Cable Modem Technology."
Um...
I guess they figured people had heard of "cable modems" before (they were rolled out before DSL) so they'd give the great unwashed something to latch onto...
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1) Plug splitter into wall
:)
2) Plug DSL "modem" into data side of splitter
3) Install NIC (ok, might be hard for some folks)
4) Plug NIC into DSL device
5) Boot Windows
6) Tell Windows to "automatically configure IP information"
7) Reboot Windows
Done.
This is news?
Odds are they're doing it because they are SO backlogged on installs, they can't keep up. Time Warner did the same thing with RoadRunner here in Austin, for the same reasons.
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Just FYI:
mnemonic (n-mnk)
adj.
Relating to, assisting, or intended to assist the memory.
n.
A device, such as a formula or rhyme, used as an aid in remembering.
=====
But great points in your post - I had never thought about it that way...
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Perhaps they have - all they need is web space, which is still there. I doubt that most of the developers are in it for the money. :-)
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Sounds like it may be time for a Windows port of XMMS ..."
Or freeamp, which is already there for W32, and most likely won't be pulling any of these stunts, either.
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