"Nobody goes to their boss with a proposal or idea that begins with "I read on slashdot..."
Your exactly right. When they go to their boss the proposal goes, "I came up with a great new solution.." or, "I was doing some research into tools.." I.E. they'll just claim the idea came from them.
Slashdot isn't a reputable source for anything, however it is a great hydrant of various ideas, software and hardware. As with any source you have to do your own research and sift through the misinformation and/or useless stuff.. but slashdot is still a great source for cutting edge stuff (as well as old stuff you haven't seen before).
I have to admit though, this article is garbage;).
"It's high prices that cause a piracy market to exist."
I'd wager it is also releasing to dvd long after the theatre release. It isn't as long now, but I fail to see why most movies aren't simultaneously released to theatre and dvd. I may be projecting, but I hate the theatre. Movies look and sound great at home, they cost less, the food is better, the seating is much better, I don't have to sit near some unhygenic stinkhole, no one sits infront of me and blocks my view, random cell phones don't go off during the film, I can pause if I have to go to the bathroom or need another drink, I can drink booze while I watch (possible in some parts of the world I assume but not where I live), etc etc..
True there are some movies that look better on the "big screen", but I can always go there to watch it after I've screened it at home. The "big screen" isn't even a push anymore. Home projectors now cheap (cost less than what a 32" crt tv was a few years ago) and most people have a decent surround system. It's affordable to make a better movie theatre at home.
What I really want (which won't be happening any time soon) is to be able to get a movie on release date in full quality at home. Do it as a download, do it as preordered dvd's, do it as cable-provider pay-per-view... I don't care how, just do it. The movie theatre has lost its appeal to me. Back in the day of 20" TVs and VHS there was no substitute for the movie theatre. Times change, try to keep up you #@$^!! dinosaurs.
Actually they discovered the problem is that the current internet is a bunch of tubes. Tubes get clogged. The new internet will be big trucks you dump stuff on.
Exactly. Viacom waited until after the Google aquisition. Instead of suing a company with negative money, they sued one with LOTS of money.
My question is: How is this possible? If I posted the entire text of jPod on my blogger account would Douglas Coupland (or whoever controls his copyrights) sue Google or sue me? Google has the money, but I posted it. If Douglas Coupland could sue Google, then what would stop him from having some random person open a Blogger account so he can sue Google?
So to reiterate, why can Viacom sue Google over Youtube postings? It was individuals that violated Viacom copyrights, not Google. And who is to say that Viacom didn't post those items themselves (and have been doing so since the begining of youtube) so that they could sue for huge amounts of money?
Exactly. This is being dealt with by a Gov agency I work for (CSc Grad playing the role of a Bus Analyst). Most systems here do not have some "shrinkwrapped" solution available. A generic asset management tool, would not suffice for any of the asset management. A RAD tool is as good if not better than some other codebase. One of the newer projects is implementing a system from another juridiction (state/province) for our own needs. It is a huge codebase and cost a lot to dev initially, but I question how much good we will get from it even if it cost nothing (it wasn't free of course). The outside system was developed to deal with their already in place systems, and as we all know what we learned in school about making software reuseable and easily adaptable rarely happens under a tight budget with deadlines. In this case I don't think it would have been cheaper to go from scratch, but it would have been easier.
Of course on the otherside there are cases where OTS software works amazingly well and is much more cost effective. The trick is having smart people in place who can spot these situations.
They CAN charge for OOo and they DON'T HAVE TO SUPPORT IT.
How hard is that for people to get into their heads?! I bet they can eaasily charge as much if not more than what MS pays them to put that 30 day Word trial on there. For Word MS does the support, for OOc guess who would do the support? I'll give you a few hints, not Dell or MS.
Of course reality is that Dell would at best use this as flexing power to get either higher discounts on MS software or to get more $$ per Word trial. I don't think you'll be seeing OO stock on a Dell any time soon.
I work in a government corp that manages bridges and this could be quite useful. Clearance are measured manually or via automatation (laser sensors on vehicles), but this is one way to verify data was attributed to the correct structure since there is image data for each structure. You always want to verify data from outside contractors and that bulk uploads were successful and translated properly into the database
It would also allow engineers to get rough measures of distances and allow inspectors and area managers to gather measurement information with less work. Manual labour is $$$, so automating anything is good. For many instances this accuracy is good enough. For some items acurate measure via proper tools or gps etc is best, but often you can get away with "close enough".
The only issue I can see here is that entrepreneurial Canadians are possibly going to be making money off of public us information. It seems the submitter is just upset that a non-us citizen could make money off what he feels belongs in the US (or something of that sort).
Personally I question if anyone will actually find this service useful, and if there is any way to make money off it. How is it going to be more cost effective for the end user than other methods of getting the limited information an exterior picture can provide?
"Then i sit through a commercial telling me that piracy is illegal and that i could go to jail."
Which is a pack of lies if you live in Canada (well currently, we will see what happens with future legislation). That is the most annoying and irritating thing to me. I paid to watch the movie, I am not pirating or "stealing" the movie (the adverts are "downloading is wrong..") why do you have to tell me not to, I'm there and paid for it. That's like a car salesman telling you that you should not steal cars because it is illegal before they let you take the keys to the car you just purchased .
Ok, for that to be complete car theft would have to not be illegal, and it would actually be making a copy of the car or something, but you get my point.. they aren't attacking the problem at all. They are attacking their paying customers. Why doesn't the MPAA etc pay for adverts on the top torrent sites? That would make more sense (at least they'd have the audience right).
My best guess is that the parent is a troll. When I was in grade 12 the TI was just introduced and was not allowed to be used on tests (it would have been unfair to require a purchase of that cost, and it could be viewed as an unfair advantage). Later they were allowed on tests. I tutored a math 12 student last year and I explicitly asked him if he was allowed to use his TI on tests and he said yes. Also provincial tests in my province were changed when the calculators were allowed (they make certain tasks trivial).
Also, his college may have not allowed TI's, but in what courses? The university I attend has standardized on a non-graphing sharp calculator for math and stats classes, but all other classes it's up to the prof (to the best of my knowledge). A graphing calculator can be quite handy for physics and engineering courses (even some CSC courses). It seems strange that a college would disallow that calculator for all courses.
Yeah, but you can buy beer at the corner store. As long as I can have easy access to beer and legal downloads I'm happy. I can telecommute to Canada or the US.
The problem is that a simpler method for non-advanced users was introduced (to make entry easier) but the options for advance users were lost.
When you are dealing with HCI, you want to have a balance between ease of use for new users and quick effective use for advance users. Just having a GUI with a point and click is great for new users, but it slows advanced users down.
An annecdote: I was using a "intuitive" label designing tool. The main goal of the software was that a new user could design a label w/ little to no instruction (ie customers). The problem is that it has no keyboard shortcuts. ^P does not open a print menu, it does nothing. You HAVE to go to "File" -> "print". To make text bold you just have to be in the text box and click the bold icon (which is a blatantly obvious icon), however ^B does nothing. The list goes on.. but my point is, yes the software was effective for new users, but when I had to get something done quick I would continuous butt heads with the UI.
Along the topic, my biggest pet peeve in interfaces is the walk-through/interview type interface where you continuously answer questions and hit the "next" button (think Nero's default behaviour). It is great for new users or inexperienced (they can step through with confidence of not forgetting something), but it is very innefficient. Most software allows you do step out of that mode (Nero for example), but there is the odd piece of software that makes you go through its steps every single time..
I love that. My favorite part is when he mentions the possibilty of someone introducing 6 minute abs.
Hitchhiker: You heard of this thing, the 8-Minute Abs?
Ted Stroehmann: Yeah, sure, 8-Minute Abs. Yeah, the excercise video.
Hitchhiker: Yeah, this is going to blow that right out of the water. Listen to this: 7... Minute... Abs.
Ted Stroehmann: Right. Yes. OK, alright. I see where you're going.
Hitchhiker: Think about it. You walk into a video store, you see 8-Minute Abs sittin' there, there's 7-Minute Abs right beside it. Which one are you gonna pick, man?
Ted Stroehmann: I would go for the 7.
Hitchhiker: Bingo, man, bingo. 7-Minute Abs. And we guarantee just as good a workout as the 8-minute folk.
Ted Stroehmann: You guarantee it? That's -- how do you do that?
Hitchhiker: If you're not happy with the first 7 minutes, we're gonna send you the extra minute free. You see? That's it. That's our motto. That's where we're comin' from. That's from "A" to "B".
Ted Stroehmann: That's right. That's -- that's good. That's good. Unless, of course, somebody comes up with 6-Minute Abs. Then you're in trouble, huh?
[Hitchhiker convulses]
Hitchhiker: No! No, no, not 6! I said 7. Nobody's comin' up with 6. Who works out in 6 minutes? You won't even get your heart goin, not even a mouse on a wheel.
Ted Stroehmann: That -- good point.
Hitchhiker: 7's the key number here. Think about it. 7-Elevens. 7 doors. 7, man, that's the number. 7 chipmunks twirlin' on a branch, eatin' lots of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch. You know that old children's tale from the sea. It's like you're dreamin' about Gorgonzola cheese when it's clearly Brie time, baby. Step into my office.
Ted Stroehmann: Why?
Hitchhiker: 'Cause you're fuckin' fired!
I should have used the word agressive rather than backwards. But it definitely isn't forward thinking. Making people criminals for copying a friends cd? If someone wanted to support the artist there is nothing to stop them from buying a cd in the future or buying other items (shirts, concert tickets etc), but forcing them to buy a cd to listen to the music? Well, everyone is allowed their own viewpoint and if you agree with the laws in your country then that is great. I enjoy the flexibility available in my country which allows me to borrow media and after a recent federal case even download entertainment media legally. If I want to hear a new song by an artist I am not forced to purchase it or wait until someone says I can hear it (ie radio, or music vids etc). After I have heard the music it is my choice whether to support the artist or not.
I buy cd's I buy dvd's, but if I wasn't able to download I wouldn't be exposed to as much different media as I am and most likely would buy less rather than more by being forced to buy all media to use it. Rather than force people to buy media, make them want to! The music and movie industry has to change its business to suit this decade, and "less progressive"/old/outdated american laws are not helping.
Somewhat offtopic: I saw something great the otherday. I had a cd I was listening to and was actually reading the cover and it said, "If you enjoy this please buy a copy rather than making one." Something like that is able to sway me a lot more than any law. Of course it was an independant artist and the CD was a lot more affordable than what comes from you avg big label artist (of course even with the lower price tag the indy artist was getting more per disk).
I love this option and have used it. there was a great little place in the city I llive in that does 6 cd's for $20 (CAN) and they are always in great shape. The best thing is you choose what format you rip into and the quality.
"It would be illegal to make copies though in most countries."
In my country it isn't. It is considered "fair use" same as borrowing a cd from a friend and copying it. I really doubt that "most" countries have copyright laws as backwards as the US.
Exactly. And why doesn't any liability fall on the school that let its web-blocking software license run out of date? If they are running windows, it is most likely out of date. If they are running XP, I'd bet that sp2 isn't installed. So basically you are asking for stuff like this to happen. Who's responsibility is it to keep the computers up to date? I doubt it is the teacher's responsibility as they probably don't have the knowledge or ability to do so.
This just seems like pushing the blame off the school/school district onto an individual. And like oportunistic parents suing for whatever they can (the american way or so I hear). I think they should investigate the computers of all the parents involved in the case. How many of they have porn popups?
I was investigating the history of interchangable gun parts and found that a lot of advances in machining were due to advances in guns, which was due to military pressure (early computer developement was pushed by military as well.. seems lots of advancements have been). Anyhow I stubled upon this gem.. I had no idea that the yard and foot were standardized on the meter.
From the wikipedia on Foot (unit of length): In 1958 the United States and countries of the Commonwealth of Nations defined the length of the international yard to be 0.9144 metres. Consequently, the international foot is defined to be equal to 0.3048 metres (equivalent to 304.8 millimetres).
I can't find it now, but I could have sworn the us standardized a little earlier than 1958 (mid 1800's?) on what the foot was, but still it was defined as part of a meter.
I had no idea the imperial system is defined by the metric system and found it pretty interesting.
I have to second the wireless issues. I have been using Ubuntu as my primary desktop (on my laptop) for over a year. I have resorted to bash scripts that do the command line stuff for me (the GUIs seem to be unreliable and as you said do NOT give enough information). Part of my issues is drivers, so I can't blame it on the GUI tools, but they are definitely lacking. Not good enough for a noob imho.
On a related note: I am quite sure anyone could easily use my desktop setup with no linux knowledge whatsoever (my GF figured it out really quickly, and my aunt was using kubuntu quite successfully). The big downfall is setting stuff up. Printers are easy now, but lots of stuff still is either too difficult or requires knowledge that should not be necessary.
Slashdot Mirror
"Nobody goes to their boss with a proposal or idea that begins with "I read on slashdot..."
;).
Your exactly right. When they go to their boss the proposal goes, "I came up with a great new solution.." or, "I was doing some research into tools.." I.E. they'll just claim the idea came from them.
Slashdot isn't a reputable source for anything, however it is a great hydrant of various ideas, software and hardware. As with any source you have to do your own research and sift through the misinformation and/or useless stuff.. but slashdot is still a great source for cutting edge stuff (as well as old stuff you haven't seen before).
I have to admit though, this article is garbage
"It's high prices that cause a piracy market to exist."
I'd wager it is also releasing to dvd long after the theatre release. It isn't as long now, but I fail to see why most movies aren't simultaneously released to theatre and dvd. I may be projecting, but I hate the theatre. Movies look and sound great at home, they cost less, the food is better, the seating is much better, I don't have to sit near some unhygenic stinkhole, no one sits infront of me and blocks my view, random cell phones don't go off during the film, I can pause if I have to go to the bathroom or need another drink, I can drink booze while I watch (possible in some parts of the world I assume but not where I live), etc etc..
True there are some movies that look better on the "big screen", but I can always go there to watch it after I've screened it at home. The "big screen" isn't even a push anymore. Home projectors now cheap (cost less than what a 32" crt tv was a few years ago) and most people have a decent surround system. It's affordable to make a better movie theatre at home.
What I really want (which won't be happening any time soon) is to be able to get a movie on release date in full quality at home. Do it as a download, do it as preordered dvd's, do it as cable-provider pay-per-view... I don't care how, just do it. The movie theatre has lost its appeal to me. Back in the day of 20" TVs and VHS there was no substitute for the movie theatre. Times change, try to keep up you #@$^!! dinosaurs.
It is just a bunch of tubes right?
Actually they discovered the problem is that the current internet is a bunch of tubes. Tubes get clogged. The new internet will be big trucks you dump stuff on.
Exactly. Viacom waited until after the Google aquisition. Instead of suing a company with negative money, they sued one with LOTS of money.
My question is: How is this possible? If I posted the entire text of jPod on my blogger account would Douglas Coupland (or whoever controls his copyrights) sue Google or sue me? Google has the money, but I posted it. If Douglas Coupland could sue Google, then what would stop him from having some random person open a Blogger account so he can sue Google?
So to reiterate, why can Viacom sue Google over Youtube postings? It was individuals that violated Viacom copyrights, not Google. And who is to say that Viacom didn't post those items themselves (and have been doing so since the begining of youtube) so that they could sue for huge amounts of money?
Exactly. This is being dealt with by a Gov agency I work for (CSc Grad playing the role of a Bus Analyst). Most systems here do not have some "shrinkwrapped" solution available. A generic asset management tool, would not suffice for any of the asset management. A RAD tool is as good if not better than some other codebase. One of the newer projects is implementing a system from another juridiction (state/province) for our own needs. It is a huge codebase and cost a lot to dev initially, but I question how much good we will get from it even if it cost nothing (it wasn't free of course). The outside system was developed to deal with their already in place systems, and as we all know what we learned in school about making software reuseable and easily adaptable rarely happens under a tight budget with deadlines. In this case I don't think it would have been cheaper to go from scratch, but it would have been easier.
Of course on the otherside there are cases where OTS software works amazingly well and is much more cost effective. The trick is having smart people in place who can spot these situations.
They CAN charge for OOo and they DON'T HAVE TO SUPPORT IT.
How hard is that for people to get into their heads?! I bet they can eaasily charge as much if not more than what MS pays them to put that 30 day Word trial on there. For Word MS does the support, for OOc guess who would do the support? I'll give you a few hints, not Dell or MS.
Of course reality is that Dell would at best use this as flexing power to get either higher discounts on MS software or to get more $$ per Word trial. I don't think you'll be seeing OO stock on a Dell any time soon.
If only we had an infinite number of monkeys...
No, no, no.. that's how MS does it's driver development.
I work in a government corp that manages bridges and this could be quite useful. Clearance are measured manually or via automatation (laser sensors on vehicles), but this is one way to verify data was attributed to the correct structure since there is image data for each structure. You always want to verify data from outside contractors and that bulk uploads were successful and translated properly into the database
It would also allow engineers to get rough measures of distances and allow inspectors and area managers to gather measurement information with less work. Manual labour is $$$, so automating anything is good. For many instances this accuracy is good enough. For some items acurate measure via proper tools or gps etc is best, but often you can get away with "close enough".
Very true and quite insightful.
The only issue I can see here is that entrepreneurial Canadians are possibly going to be making money off of public us information. It seems the submitter is just upset that a non-us citizen could make money off what he feels belongs in the US (or something of that sort).
Personally I question if anyone will actually find this service useful, and if there is any way to make money off it. How is it going to be more cost effective for the end user than other methods of getting the limited information an exterior picture can provide?
"Then i sit through a commercial telling me that piracy is illegal and that i could go to jail."
Which is a pack of lies if you live in Canada (well currently, we will see what happens with future legislation). That is the most annoying and irritating thing to me. I paid to watch the movie, I am not pirating or "stealing" the movie (the adverts are "downloading is wrong..") why do you have to tell me not to, I'm there and paid for it. That's like a car salesman telling you that you should not steal cars because it is illegal before they let you take the keys to the car you just purchased .
Ok, for that to be complete car theft would have to not be illegal, and it would actually be making a copy of the car or something, but you get my point.. they aren't attacking the problem at all. They are attacking their paying customers. Why doesn't the MPAA etc pay for adverts on the top torrent sites? That would make more sense (at least they'd have the audience right).
My best guess is that the parent is a troll. When I was in grade 12 the TI was just introduced and was not allowed to be used on tests (it would have been unfair to require a purchase of that cost, and it could be viewed as an unfair advantage). Later they were allowed on tests. I tutored a math 12 student last year and I explicitly asked him if he was allowed to use his TI on tests and he said yes. Also provincial tests in my province were changed when the calculators were allowed (they make certain tasks trivial).
Also, his college may have not allowed TI's, but in what courses? The university I attend has standardized on a non-graphing sharp calculator for math and stats classes, but all other classes it's up to the prof (to the best of my knowledge). A graphing calculator can be quite handy for physics and engineering courses (even some CSC courses). It seems strange that a college would disallow that calculator for all courses.
Yeah, but you can buy beer at the corner store. As long as I can have easy access to beer and legal downloads I'm happy. I can telecommute to Canada or the US.
The problem is that a simpler method for non-advanced users was introduced (to make entry easier) but the options for advance users were lost.
When you are dealing with HCI, you want to have a balance between ease of use for new users and quick effective use for advance users. Just having a GUI with a point and click is great for new users, but it slows advanced users down.
An annecdote: I was using a "intuitive" label designing tool. The main goal of the software was that a new user could design a label w/ little to no instruction (ie customers). The problem is that it has no keyboard shortcuts. ^P does not open a print menu, it does nothing. You HAVE to go to "File" -> "print". To make text bold you just have to be in the text box and click the bold icon (which is a blatantly obvious icon), however ^B does nothing. The list goes on.. but my point is, yes the software was effective for new users, but when I had to get something done quick I would continuous butt heads with the UI.
Along the topic, my biggest pet peeve in interfaces is the walk-through/interview type interface where you continuously answer questions and hit the "next" button (think Nero's default behaviour). It is great for new users or inexperienced (they can step through with confidence of not forgetting something), but it is very innefficient. Most software allows you do step out of that mode (Nero for example), but there is the odd piece of software that makes you go through its steps every single time..
I can't find these desktops on dell.ca with no OS. Does dell only offer OSless nonserver/nonworkstation computers to the US?
I should have used the word agressive rather than backwards. But it definitely isn't forward thinking. Making people criminals for copying a friends cd? If someone wanted to support the artist there is nothing to stop them from buying a cd in the future or buying other items (shirts, concert tickets etc), but forcing them to buy a cd to listen to the music? Well, everyone is allowed their own viewpoint and if you agree with the laws in your country then that is great. I enjoy the flexibility available in my country which allows me to borrow media and after a recent federal case even download entertainment media legally. If I want to hear a new song by an artist I am not forced to purchase it or wait until someone says I can hear it (ie radio, or music vids etc). After I have heard the music it is my choice whether to support the artist or not.
I buy cd's I buy dvd's, but if I wasn't able to download I wouldn't be exposed to as much different media as I am and most likely would buy less rather than more by being forced to buy all media to use it. Rather than force people to buy media, make them want to! The music and movie industry has to change its business to suit this decade, and "less progressive"/old/outdated american laws are not helping.
Somewhat offtopic: I saw something great the otherday. I had a cd I was listening to and was actually reading the cover and it said, "If you enjoy this please buy a copy rather than making one." Something like that is able to sway me a lot more than any law. Of course it was an independant artist and the CD was a lot more affordable than what comes from you avg big label artist (of course even with the lower price tag the indy artist was getting more per disk).
Buy your CDs used... at discount prices.
I love this option and have used it. there was a great little place in the city I llive in that does 6 cd's for $20 (CAN) and they are always in great shape. The best thing is you choose what format you rip into and the quality.
"It would be illegal to make copies though in most countries."
In my country it isn't. It is considered "fair use" same as borrowing a cd from a friend and copying it. I really doubt that "most" countries have copyright laws as backwards as the US.
Exactly. And why doesn't any liability fall on the school that let its web-blocking software license run out of date? If they are running windows, it is most likely out of date. If they are running XP, I'd bet that sp2 isn't installed. So basically you are asking for stuff like this to happen. Who's responsibility is it to keep the computers up to date? I doubt it is the teacher's responsibility as they probably don't have the knowledge or ability to do so.
This just seems like pushing the blame off the school/school district onto an individual. And like oportunistic parents suing for whatever they can (the american way or so I hear). I think they should investigate the computers of all the parents involved in the case. How many of they have porn popups?
An interesting note on machinging:
:
I was investigating the history of interchangable gun parts and found that a lot of advances in machining were due to advances in guns, which was due to military pressure (early computer developement was pushed by military as well.. seems lots of advancements have been). Anyhow I stubled upon this gem.. I had no idea that the yard and foot were standardized on the meter.
From the wikipedia on Foot (unit of length)
In 1958 the United States and countries of the Commonwealth of Nations defined the length of the international yard to be 0.9144 metres. Consequently, the international foot is defined to be equal to 0.3048 metres (equivalent to 304.8 millimetres).
I can't find it now, but I could have sworn the us standardized a little earlier than 1958 (mid 1800's?) on what the foot was, but still it was defined as part of a meter.
I had no idea the imperial system is defined by the metric system and found it pretty interesting.
Web 2.0, the seond variety.
I have to second the wireless issues. I have been using Ubuntu as my primary desktop (on my laptop) for over a year. I have resorted to bash scripts that do the command line stuff for me (the GUIs seem to be unreliable and as you said do NOT give enough information). Part of my issues is drivers, so I can't blame it on the GUI tools, but they are definitely lacking. Not good enough for a noob imho.
On a related note: I am quite sure anyone could easily use my desktop setup with no linux knowledge whatsoever (my GF figured it out really quickly, and my aunt was using kubuntu quite successfully). The big downfall is setting stuff up. Printers are easy now, but lots of stuff still is either too difficult or requires knowledge that should not be necessary.
While you don't have as much time for gaming, it is still more convenient than the more...traditional ways of entertaining one self.
I don't know.. with the wii you actually move your hands so the traditional way of entertaining yourself isn't much of a step (if any at all).
Are you sure that shouldn't have been:
Spoken as: ", the world isn't perfect."
Written as: "Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all"
Not talking about Mark Foley are we?