Is it only a big deal because the LEGO is not throwing a fit?
In short, yes. In an age where companies throw a tantrum when you modify the memory contents of your own computer in order to achieve the desired results in a single-player game, or not allow you to play a game because you have CloneCD installed, it's refreshing to see a company not only understand and accept a software hack but actually embrace it.
>> if you develop and sell a software product, are you responsible for what your users choose to do with it?
That's a good question. Why don't you write Dr. Kevorkian a letter and ask him what he thinks?
That doesn't make a lick of sense. Dr. Kevorkian advertised and performed euthenasia. As good-intentioned as he may have been, what he did was illegal.
I want to preface this with the fact that I'm not defending spyware authors. I hate that crap with a passion, but I feel this issue should be addressed.
The real question should be: if someone takes a program - that was created with and advertised to have fully legal intentions - and uses it in an illegal way, should the author of the program be held responsible because the criminal breached their license?
I'm not talking about programs that obviously have a malicious intent (spyware, viruses), but legal things, such as keyloggers intended to be used for family computers. If somone uses that program in an act of federal espionage, should the author of the program be held responsible?
How about "ping.exe?" Should Microsoft be held responsible for the various DDoS attacks because the majority of the zombies simply use "ping" to flood their victims machines?
What about Mozilla? Should they be held responsible because someone could send a virus via their program?
If a programs intent is legal, and someone uses it illegally, should the author be held responsible?
My biggest complaint isn't with the distributors, but with the software developers: they still hae this 1990's mindset that it's perfectly acceptable to ask the user to compile their package (and about a million obscure dependencies you've never heard of) in order to get their software to work.
If you want to target your software to the desktop (and I mean the windows audience), then give me a goddamn binary and let me use the damn software now, not three hours from now.
I think that one of the steps to reaching the casual gamer is establishing a system where players don't necessarily have to load the game in order to participate.
In fact, I wrote about pone idea that could help the casual gamer play the game by using the content syndication features of RSS here
I knew I'd heard them right the first time, I just couldn't remember what was said, since my mind would randomly wander in the middle of a sentence.
But, that's ADHD/ADD. While I'm not the parent poster, I share a similar experience. I'm a Computer Science major, and I've found is somewhat difficult to complete tasks - these are just tasks that are ones I place upon myself, with no set limit. These tasks (cleaning a room, making a small program, whatever) are almost never finished (unless it really bugs me, like my room is a complete mess right now); however, I can finish tasks that have a deadline (like an english paper, or the class project in my compiler design class, etc...)
When I confronted my doctor on the subject, he didn't hesitate to disagnose it as ADHD. That's the problem we have: it's something elses fault. It's not because I'm a naturally lazy fuck (I would rather watch television all day than do something productive).
While you may actually have a serious problem with paying attention, that same problem only happens to me because I'm a lazy fuck, or I'm already concentrating on something; for example, when I'm driving, I find it VERY difficult to have a conversation with someone because I'm constantly asking "what did you say?" I don't count that as ADHD, I count that as a heuristic computer focusing on one task, then being forced to concentrate on multiple tasks.
Yet, my Doctor spent no more than three minutes to "diagnose" the problem.
I'd hate to burst your bubble, but your "very small market" is called the "Gaming Industry." Minus Sony and Nintendo, Microsoft is pretty much the only release platform for many mainstream (read: revenue-generating) games.
There's a reason nVidia and ATI show off GlibFlobber27() at high FPS: it makes them money - lots of it. And, the money isn't just from their latest and craziest graphics card (That only the hardcore gamer would buy) - that money will also pour in from mobile devices, on-board graphics, and the like. Dell, Compaq, eMachines, etc... will readily buy up cheap on-board graphics as long as they can honestly tell the consumer that their computers will run Doom 3, or Half-Life 2 (they just won't tell them of the horrible framerate).
The "very small market" you speak about is not as small as you would think.
While other posters have pointed out that this is about IBMs bottom line, I would like to point out that this is about IBMs bottom line for the long term. IBM could easily crush Linux in endless court battles, and "win" the rights to Linux, and gain - in the short term - whatever money they can gain; however, by pledging not to patent-slap Linux, they're also making an investment in their bottom line: Linux can continue to grow and mature, therefore, IBMs business can also grow.
Don't ever fool yourself: a business is ALWAYS about the bottom line. IBM just happens to plan beyond the next Quarterly report.
I think the problem is that you, me, and most other tech savvy people want Linux on the Desktop; but, not just ours - everyones.
In order to do this, Linux distributions need to be dumbed down. I'm sorry, but if we want Desktop supremacy too, we need to make a distro that assumes the end-user is a complete moron when it comes to computers. Why? Because the average user thinks of the computer as an appliance. This is never going to change, no matter how hard you will it.
As much as you or I love to tinker with the technology behind it, the average Joe doesn't have the time, the will, or sometimes the brains to sit down and figure out what damned conf file needs to be edited in/etc/, or what obscure net driver he needs for his internal VIA network adapter. He also doesn't want to worry about his IP address, subnet mask, DNS servers and his gateway ("Gateway? Isn't that a computer brand?"). And, he sure as hell doesn't want to put up with attempting to install Linux drivers for his cool graphics card, only to have to find the X config file and change something.
Speaking of the X-conf and dumbing things down: Windows automatically detects, and uses, the scroll wheel. To this day, I have a difficult time setting up my damn window manager to recognize the scroll wheel. A small thing, yes, but I have to admit, Windows does a wonderful job of just "making it work."
As far as out of the box useability, I have yet to see a distro that hands down beats Windows.
So, I guess what I'm saying is: I agree with the article on this one, because the article is, from my perspective, not geared twards you, or me - the tech savvy system administrators - it's geared twards arguments from the average user - the guy who isn't going to run Apache, or MySQLd, or write bash scripts, or setup his computer as a firewall, or buy a new computer to run MacOS X.
For the average user, Windows still kicks Linuxs (Linux's? Linuxii?) ass, because it does the hand holding that the Distros treat worse than the devil.
You're missing something VERY important here: code in Mozilla/Firefox was not changed to bend over backwards. A hack in the preferences was put in place, blocking the "shell" protocol (which is windows-specific).
It's Microsofts fault. The "exploit" is windows-specific. Not only that, but according to MS, it'll be patched with XP SP2... whenever they get around to roling that out.
Is it retarded that Mozilla passes along protocols it doesn't recognize to the underlying OS? Hell yes. Is it Mozillas fault that the underlying OS is made of swiss cheese? Hell no.
Slashdot Mirror
If only he could redefine Calculus to use simple algebraic expressions.
Is it only a big deal because the LEGO is not throwing a fit? In short, yes. In an age where companies throw a tantrum when you modify the memory contents of your own computer in order to achieve the desired results in a single-player game, or not allow you to play a game because you have CloneCD installed, it's refreshing to see a company not only understand and accept a software hack but actually embrace it.
I've got some Mod points, and if there was a "+1 What the fuck?" you'd get it.
Maybe he was thinking of Satna Calus vs. The Martians ...
But that would be Microsoft vs. Joel Robinson
>> if you develop and sell a software product, are you responsible for what your users choose to do with it?
That's a good question. Why don't you write Dr. Kevorkian a letter and ask him what he thinks?
That doesn't make a lick of sense. Dr. Kevorkian advertised and performed euthenasia. As good-intentioned as he may have been, what he did was illegal.
I want to preface this with the fact that I'm not defending spyware authors. I hate that crap with a passion, but I feel this issue should be addressed.
The real question should be: if someone takes a program - that was created with and advertised to have fully legal intentions - and uses it in an illegal way, should the author of the program be held responsible because the criminal breached their license?
I'm not talking about programs that obviously have a malicious intent (spyware, viruses), but legal things, such as keyloggers intended to be used for family computers. If somone uses that program in an act of federal espionage, should the author of the program be held responsible?
How about "ping.exe?" Should Microsoft be held responsible for the various DDoS attacks because the majority of the zombies simply use "ping" to flood their victims machines?
What about Mozilla? Should they be held responsible because someone could send a virus via their program?
If a programs intent is legal, and someone uses it illegally, should the author be held responsible?
And if you go further into the thread, you can see that they're photoshopped.
I hate that fucking bunny.
My biggest complaint isn't with the distributors, but with the software developers: they still hae this 1990's mindset that it's perfectly acceptable to ask the user to compile their package (and about a million obscure dependencies you've never heard of) in order to get their software to work.
If you want to target your software to the desktop (and I mean the windows audience), then give me a goddamn binary and let me use the damn software now, not three hours from now.
I think that one of the steps to reaching the casual gamer is establishing a system where players don't necessarily have to load the game in order to participate. In fact, I wrote about pone idea that could help the casual gamer play the game by using the content syndication features of RSS here
Ah, but did you flush the output buffer after printing? ;)
I hope you die a slow, horrible death for that.
I'm pretty sure slashdot could've done better without knowing the depths of your insanity ;)
Where the hell is the "-1, Retard" mod point? :P
You mean you understand the other Slashdot stories? You, sir, deserve a PhD.
Cool! Literally! *sigh* I should probably be modded down to hell for that lame joke.
Yes, you WOULD be the only woman on /. ;)
-- Hax0r B1n L4den.
Am I the only one that believes people should be bitchslapped for using "h4x0r" even in a joke?
But, that's ADHD/ADD. While I'm not the parent poster, I share a similar experience. I'm a Computer Science major, and I've found is somewhat difficult to complete tasks - these are just tasks that are ones I place upon myself, with no set limit. These tasks (cleaning a room, making a small program, whatever) are almost never finished (unless it really bugs me, like my room is a complete mess right now); however, I can finish tasks that have a deadline (like an english paper, or the class project in my compiler design class, etc ...)
When I confronted my doctor on the subject, he didn't hesitate to disagnose it as ADHD. That's the problem we have: it's something elses fault. It's not because I'm a naturally lazy fuck (I would rather watch television all day than do something productive).
While you may actually have a serious problem with paying attention, that same problem only happens to me because I'm a lazy fuck, or I'm already concentrating on something; for example, when I'm driving, I find it VERY difficult to have a conversation with someone because I'm constantly asking "what did you say?" I don't count that as ADHD, I count that as a heuristic computer focusing on one task, then being forced to concentrate on multiple tasks.
Yet, my Doctor spent no more than three minutes to "diagnose" the problem.
There's a reason nVidia and ATI show off GlibFlobber27() at high FPS: it makes them money - lots of it. And, the money isn't just from their latest and craziest graphics card (That only the hardcore gamer would buy) - that money will also pour in from mobile devices, on-board graphics, and the like. Dell, Compaq, eMachines, etc ... will readily buy up cheap on-board graphics as long as they can honestly tell the consumer that their computers will run Doom 3, or Half-Life 2 (they just won't tell them of the horrible framerate).
The "very small market" you speak about is not as small as you would think.
Bring back Mystery Science Theater 3000 ;)
Don't ever fool yourself: a business is ALWAYS about the bottom line. IBM just happens to plan beyond the next Quarterly report.
But then again, I pick my nose, so who's counting?
In order to do this, Linux distributions need to be dumbed down. I'm sorry, but if we want Desktop supremacy too, we need to make a distro that assumes the end-user is a complete moron when it comes to computers. Why? Because the average user thinks of the computer as an appliance. This is never going to change, no matter how hard you will it.
As much as you or I love to tinker with the technology behind it, the average Joe doesn't have the time, the will, or sometimes the brains to sit down and figure out what damned conf file needs to be edited in /etc/, or what obscure net driver he needs for his internal VIA network adapter. He also doesn't want to worry about his IP address, subnet mask, DNS servers and his gateway ("Gateway? Isn't that a computer brand?"). And, he sure as hell doesn't want to put up with attempting to install Linux drivers for his cool graphics card, only to have to find the X config file and change something.
Speaking of the X-conf and dumbing things down: Windows automatically detects, and uses, the scroll wheel. To this day, I have a difficult time setting up my damn window manager to recognize the scroll wheel. A small thing, yes, but I have to admit, Windows does a wonderful job of just "making it work."
As far as out of the box useability, I have yet to see a distro that hands down beats Windows.
So, I guess what I'm saying is: I agree with the article on this one, because the article is, from my perspective, not geared twards you, or me - the tech savvy system administrators - it's geared twards arguments from the average user - the guy who isn't going to run Apache, or MySQLd, or write bash scripts, or setup his computer as a firewall, or buy a new computer to run MacOS X.
For the average user, Windows still kicks Linuxs (Linux's? Linuxii?) ass, because it does the hand holding that the Distros treat worse than the devil.
C'mon guys, a server can only take so much abuse.
It's Microsofts fault. The "exploit" is windows-specific. Not only that, but according to MS, it'll be patched with XP SP2 ... whenever they get around to roling that out.
Is it retarded that Mozilla passes along protocols it doesn't recognize to the underlying OS? Hell yes. Is it Mozillas fault that the underlying OS is made of swiss cheese? Hell no.