Which gives the phrase "You can't fight city hall" its peculiar poignancy in the Wikipedia context.
You might wrestle with the cabals of incompetent, self-serving, mildly power-hungry bureaucrats if your life, liberty, family, or property were on the line. You'd walk away from the pointless (and probably fruitless) aggro if it's just Wikipedia, because there is no personal stake. It absolutely isn't worth it. If Wikipedia goes to hell, for the overwhelming majority of people the result will be "and nothing of value was lost."
Implied patent license. Not as strong as GPL3's explicit license, but the following language in the GPL2 Preamble is pretty persuasive:
Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.
And, even more persuasively, from Section 7 of the T&Cs:
7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues), conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.
If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is intended to apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other circumstances. It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any patents or other property right claims or to contest validity of any such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting the integrity of the free software distribution system, which is implemented by public license practices.
Many people have made generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed through that system in reliance on consistent application of that system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing to distribute software through any other system and a licensee cannot impose that choice.
This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to be a
consequence of the rest of this License.
So, under GPL2, Oracle should theoretically be obligated to include the license to their patents right along with the distribution of the Java, or else be obligated to entirely stop distributing Java.
I'm sure Oracle wouldn't like that very much if someone rubbed their faces in it. So for now, they'll go on pretending their patents matter and that they can enforce field-of-use limits and patent license restrictions based on mother-may-I access to TCKs, and OpenJDK will continue pretending that Oracle loves them and cares for them and would never try to pull their patent licenses. And as long as they never have a real falling-out, the continued "frenemy" state will never have to explode into gruesome IP warfare.
And, most importantly (and implicitly), IBM is playing by Oracle's rules. They are working in areas Oracle has already permitted fairly generous licensing: Standard and Enterprise Edition, complete with TCK submission.
The licensing forked stick that Google got stuck in is that they're using a Java SE-like runtime on a mobile platform rather than licensing Java Micro Edition (or whatever its bastardized successor is). I'm sure Oracle would have wanted a few pence per unit for that particular license, and Google circumventing that with their own "clean-room" implementation "forced" Oracle to play the patents card, the license for which isn't apparently just laying around free to use.
Sure. You can name it some good marketing name like "Dalvik". No one would sue a company marketing products based on a Java work-alike name "Dalvik", amirite?
Re:What?! On the contrary: .NET is becoming releva
on
Was .NET All a Mistake?
·
· Score: 4, Funny
I'm looking forward to the Year of the.Net Desktop.
Yeah, the MAC in the network interface is more advisory than mandatory. In all the implementations I've seen, the OS network stack asks the network adapter what it thinks its MAC address is and uses that to do Layer-2 addressing, unless there's an OS configuration item to tell the OS to use some other value. As far as I know, the NIC doesn't really care what address is in the Ethernet header (for instance).
Some really old network adapters don't even have assigned MAC addresses or the hardware to store it; you HAD to configure the adapter address in the OSor you might spam Ethernet broadcast packets with node-specific IP and TCP content. Quite ugly and surprising.
Yeah, well, ok, but how many programs use these "loop" thingies? Right? You can code around them. Just do something else. I hear "recursion" is a good workaround. Amiright?
Good car analogy, btw, but I think it's more like the steering working just fine unless you want to turn. Then it snap-oversteers across the sidewalk and into the side of a building. Just keep steering straight and there'll be no problem. A steering system which permits turning, curving, or lane-changing is schedule for Q4 2011 or Q1 2012.
I think the distinction between 2 and 1 is generally illusory or propaganda. "World Domination" is generally held to be an evil goal. In fact, the people most interested in making and emphasizing the distinction are the ones in the second category but don't want (for PR or ego reasons) to believe they're in the first.
The best "crank it and get baked" experience in my life was 30 years ago... lying down between a pair of Klipsches toasted out of my mind and grooving hard and horizontal. (I'll leave it at that).
Quality sound reproduction does improve the quality of the music experience, assuming the music is worth experiencing.
That said, the festering maggot pit called "major label music" nowadays deserves the all-singing, all-dancing, 500-inputs China Inc. electronics it's fed usually through. Neither can make the other any worse than they already are.
I do wonder if the company did any assessments of Sony's security since if they did and signed off on it then the insurance company is going to have a hard up hill battle
Which is probably why you're not reading about "Sony's insurance company rejected the claim", but are instead reading about "Sony's insurance company is suing to be able to reject the claim". I'd speculate that Sony looked good enough on shallow inspection to validate their coverage, but Sony's hidden incompetence and malfeasance makes it a matter of litigation rather than insurance adjustment.
You'd better be calling The Good Lord for help right now, because while you weren't looking specialized chips like that DID become the dominantplatform, and GPGPU is going to make it more so. The primary processor (which is also from a duopoloy) will just become a system management hypervisor.
Read up on the technological cycle of reincarnation. "All this has happened before. All this will happen again."
And in any language or runtime that doesn't semantically provide for constants (i.e, they're protected from change)... well, use of named "constants" in those environments is the root of the phrase "constants aren't."
One careless assignment and all of a sudden "one" isn't 1 any more. Kinda explodes arithmetic.
Yes v6.2 rocked! You could run in compressed mode and double your likelihood of catastrophic data loss!
FTFY. Doublespace was playing craps every second of every day of your life and hoping you don't ever crap out.
Hard disks were expensive, but I learned early on: delete your own unneeded data, or let Doublespace delete everything.... your choice.
And talking about Doublespace/Drivespace... brings up (A) one of the earliest examples of Microsoft playing dirty pool with prospective partners, and (B)(to my recollection) one of the earliest examples of a successful software patent lawsuit.
I'm an Amiga bigot from waaaay back, too. (My first computer as an adult was an Amiga 1000, or just an Amiga when it was originally sold.).
But as a former frontline flamewarrior, I have to say: It's time to come out of the jungle. We lost that war. Yes, our chosen computer was vastly superior in every way. The difference was that Commodore couldn't sell T-bone steak and potato chips to starving people. Commmodore-brand sushi would be marketed under the tagline "The best cold, dead raw fish you've ever had!".
Superior marketing always wins. That's the lesson here, Amiga Persecution Complex notwithstanding.
um... tar with the "x" option. Just like it's been done for the last 30 years.
I'd be more worried about the "tape" part than the "tar" part, since there's no guarantee the drive that could read your tape would exist in 30 years, let alone the tape itself still being readable.
Slashdot Mirror
Which gives the phrase "You can't fight city hall" its peculiar poignancy in the Wikipedia context.
You might wrestle with the cabals of incompetent, self-serving, mildly power-hungry bureaucrats if your life, liberty, family, or property were on the line. You'd walk away from the pointless (and probably fruitless) aggro if it's just Wikipedia, because there is no personal stake. It absolutely isn't worth it. If Wikipedia goes to hell, for the overwhelming majority of people the result will be "and nothing of value was lost."
Sad, too. It had such potential.
Well, if statecraft were Starcraft, the entire UN would have been completely pwned in the Korean War. So, I guess that's not the case.
Although it's an interesting analogy, isn't it? Complete with infantry rushes in the early game, resource build-up, and then a scripted NPC army add.
Implied patent license. Not as strong as GPL3's explicit license, but the following language in the GPL2 Preamble is pretty persuasive:
And, even more persuasively, from Section 7 of the T&Cs:
So, under GPL2, Oracle should theoretically be obligated to include the license to their patents right along with the distribution of the Java, or else be obligated to entirely stop distributing Java.
I'm sure Oracle wouldn't like that very much if someone rubbed their faces in it. So for now, they'll go on pretending their patents matter and that they can enforce field-of-use limits and patent license restrictions based on mother-may-I access to TCKs, and OpenJDK will continue pretending that Oracle loves them and cares for them and would never try to pull their patent licenses. And as long as they never have a real falling-out, the continued "frenemy" state will never have to explode into gruesome IP warfare.
And, most importantly (and implicitly), IBM is playing by Oracle's rules. They are working in areas Oracle has already permitted fairly generous licensing: Standard and Enterprise Edition, complete with TCK submission.
The licensing forked stick that Google got stuck in is that they're using a Java SE-like runtime on a mobile platform rather than licensing Java Micro Edition (or whatever its bastardized successor is). I'm sure Oracle would have wanted a few pence per unit for that particular license, and Google circumventing that with their own "clean-room" implementation "forced" Oracle to play the patents card, the license for which isn't apparently just laying around free to use.
Sure. You can name it some good marketing name like "Dalvik". No one would sue a company marketing products based on a Java work-alike name "Dalvik", amirite?
I'm looking forward to the Year of the .Net Desktop.
That, Strong AI, and flying cars.
Yeah, the MAC in the network interface is more advisory than mandatory. In all the implementations I've seen, the OS network stack asks the network adapter what it thinks its MAC address is and uses that to do Layer-2 addressing, unless there's an OS configuration item to tell the OS to use some other value. As far as I know, the NIC doesn't really care what address is in the Ethernet header (for instance).
Some really old network adapters don't even have assigned MAC addresses or the hardware to store it; you HAD to configure the adapter address in the OSor you might spam Ethernet broadcast packets with node-specific IP and TCP content. Quite ugly and surprising.
"What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist."
--Salman Rushdie
Eerie. I thought I heard someone chanting something over by Redwood City. It sounded like "Java's ain't done til Apache won't run!"
Yeah, well, ok, but how many programs use these "loop" thingies? Right? You can code around them. Just do something else. I hear "recursion" is a good workaround. Amiright?
Good car analogy, btw, but I think it's more like the steering working just fine unless you want to turn. Then it snap-oversteers across the sidewalk and into the side of a building. Just keep steering straight and there'll be no problem. A steering system which permits turning, curving, or lane-changing is schedule for Q4 2011 or Q1 2012.
I think the distinction between 2 and 1 is generally illusory or propaganda. "World Domination" is generally held to be an evil goal. In fact, the people most interested in making and emphasizing the distinction are the ones in the second category but don't want (for PR or ego reasons) to believe they're in the first.
How far we have fallen.
The best "crank it and get baked" experience in my life was 30 years ago... lying down between a pair of Klipsches toasted out of my mind and grooving hard and horizontal. (I'll leave it at that).
Quality sound reproduction does improve the quality of the music experience, assuming the music is worth experiencing.
That said, the festering maggot pit called "major label music" nowadays deserves the all-singing, all-dancing, 500-inputs China Inc. electronics it's fed usually through. Neither can make the other any worse than they already are.
How is Wensleydale for blocking radiation, anyone know?
Oh, he's no good for that at all. There's only one of him, he's rather small, he can't even run a proper cheese shop, and he's dead.
Actually, the Earth-Moon barycenter follows an orbit around the Sun. It just looks like it's Earth's orbit.
I do wonder if the company did any assessments of Sony's security since if they did and signed off on it then the insurance company is going to have a hard up hill battle
Which is probably why you're not reading about "Sony's insurance company rejected the claim", but are instead reading about "Sony's insurance company is suing to be able to reject the claim". I'd speculate that Sony looked good enough on shallow inspection to validate their coverage, but Sony's hidden incompetence and malfeasance makes it a matter of litigation rather than insurance adjustment.
Slashdot fail English? That's unpossible!
You'd better be calling The Good Lord for help right now, because while you weren't looking specialized chips like that DID become the dominant platform, and GPGPU is going to make it more so. The primary processor (which is also from a duopoloy) will just become a system management hypervisor.
Read up on the technological cycle of reincarnation. "All this has happened before. All this will happen again."
He meant "swift kick in the lugnuts". Completely valid car analogy. A little nonsensical, but completely car-based.
And in any language or runtime that doesn't semantically provide for constants (i.e, they're protected from change)... well, use of named "constants" in those environments is the root of the phrase "constants aren't."
One careless assignment and all of a sudden "one" isn't 1 any more. Kinda explodes arithmetic.
Yes v6.2 rocked! You could run in compressed mode and double your likelihood of catastrophic data loss!
FTFY. Doublespace was playing craps every second of every day of your life and hoping you don't ever crap out.
Hard disks were expensive, but I learned early on: delete your own unneeded data, or let Doublespace delete everything.... your choice.
And talking about Doublespace/Drivespace... brings up (A) one of the earliest examples of Microsoft playing dirty pool with prospective partners, and (B)(to my recollection) one of the earliest examples of a successful software patent lawsuit.
linky
I'm an Amiga bigot from waaaay back, too. (My first computer as an adult was an Amiga 1000, or just an Amiga when it was originally sold.).
But as a former frontline flamewarrior, I have to say: It's time to come out of the jungle. We lost that war. Yes, our chosen computer was vastly superior in every way. The difference was that Commodore couldn't sell T-bone steak and potato chips to starving people. Commmodore-brand sushi would be marketed under the tagline "The best cold, dead raw fish you've ever had!".
Superior marketing always wins. That's the lesson here, Amiga Persecution Complex notwithstanding.
Hell yeah!
If only CP/M-86 had even gotten into the x86 OS race... the things that might have been.
OTOH, we'd probably be complaining about Digital Re$earch's current anti-free-software FUD campaign and using the Gary Kildall borg icon.
"Terror" is a noun. "Terrorize" (or, since you seem to be speaking Her Majesty's variant, "Terrorise") is a verb, and a very old one.
Oh, great, bring ubiquitous video surveillance to people already already in desperate straits.
Don't forget to tell them it's for their own good, like every other police society project.
um... tar with the "x" option. Just like it's been done for the last 30 years.
I'd be more worried about the "tape" part than the "tar" part, since there's no guarantee the drive that could read your tape would exist in 30 years, let alone the tape itself still being readable.