This unfortunately is not surprising. One thing I have noticed about modern corporation customer relations is that when the customer is clearly going to be screwed, they always try to spin it as some sort of benefit. Comcast does it when they have their annual 20% rate hike.
Oh yeah, for sure. I used to work AT&T Wireless customer server, and I remember when they changed the TDMA Local plans (one of many such times). Basically, the changes were that they got more expensive, and you got less minutes for your money, but the customer service area remained unchanged. The spin was along the lines of "increasing customer value by providing a robust service area" or some bullshit. Basically, every feature of the rate plan either stayed the same or got worse, and they had a big spiel about how great it was going to be for the customers.
Copyright is an agreement between a content creator (author, musician, artist, etc) and society, to grant them a temporary monopoly on their work, allowing them to profit from their efforts. There is no inherent right of a person to control his works indefinitely. Furthermore, there is no such thing as an original thought, as all thoughts are the results of building upon previous ideas. Once they have earned their profit, other people must have the right to build upon these works. This is progress, and should be nurtured.
The WIPO's plan to extend copyright terms is contrary to this goal. The term "Intellectual Property" itself is a sick attempt at treating ideas like real estate. WIPO's proponents are interested only in controlling people, controlling what they read, what they hear, and what they think, for the purposes of extracting maximum profits from stale ideas. Extending copyrights can serve only one purpose: to funnel more money directly into the pockets of record executives, publishers (not authors), and the like. For society to truly progress, the old works that these companies hold hostage need to be released into the public domain, so new artists can build on those ideas, creating NEW copyrighted work to profit from.
The fact is, each time copyright terms are extended, creativity grinds to a halt as artists are restricted from using those works. We must fight to *shorten* copyright terms, so that old works that have become a part of our culture can be built upon, creating new works for the future of our culture. If we keep extending copyright terms as we are, we wage a war on creative thought. The result of this can only be stagnation, and death. You're probably thinking "but how can we reward artists for their hard work?" and the answer is that copyright already does that just fine, it doesn't need to be extended or strengthened. Anybody in favour of strengthening copyright is simply looking to keep profits flowing without having to bother creating anything new or interesting.
Unfortunately, in our society, copyright has been extended to the point of bastardizing it's original purpose. It no longer rewards creative artists; it merely supports aging cartels resisting changes to their business model that will be necessary for them to survive in the Information Age.
I am a concerned citizen, thank you for your time.
Here's my letter, feel free to copy it yourself but try to paraphrase in your own writing, they won't like getting a million copys of the same form letter:
Hello,
As you are probably aware, copyright is an agreement between a content creator (author, musician, artist, etc) and society, to grant them a temporary monopoly on their work, to allow them to profit from their efforts. There is no inherent right of a person to control his works indefinitely. Furthermore, there is no such thing as an original thought: all thoughts are the results of building upon previous ideas. In light of this, in order for society to progress, every person must have the right to expose themselves to any creative work they choose, and be free to create derivitive works themselves. This is called "creativity", and should be nurtured.
The WIPO's plan to extend copyright terms is contrary to this goal. The term "Intellectual Property" itself is a sick attempt at treating ideas like real estate. WIPO's proponents are interested only in controlling people, controlling what they read, what they hear, and what they think, for the purposes of extracting maximum profits from stale ideas. Extending copyrights can serve only one purpose: to funnel more money directly into the pockets of record executives, publishers (not authors), and the like. For society to truly progress, the old works that these companies hold hostage need to be released into the public domain, so new artists can build on those ideas, creating NEW copyrighted work to profit from.
The fact is, each time copyright terms are extended, creativity grinds to a halt as artists are restricted from using those works. We must fight to *shorten* copyright terms, so that old works that have become a part of our culture can be built upon, creating new works for the future of our culture. If we keep extending copyright terms as we are, we wage a war on creative thought. The result of this can only be stagnation, and death. You're probably thinking "but how can we reward artists for their hard work?" and the answer is that copyright already does that just fine, it doesn't need to be extended or strengthened. Anybody in favour of strengthening copyright is simply looking to keep profits flowing without having to bother creating anything new or interesting.
Unfortunately, in our society, copyright has been extended to the point of bastardizing it's original purpose. It no longer rewards creative artists; it merely supports aging cartels resisting changes to their business model that will be necessary for them to survive in the Information Age.
Thank you for your time, I am but a concerned citizen.
Up here in Canada, if I buy a CD and lend it to my friend, and he then burns a copy for himself, and gives me my CD back, that's legal. But if I burn a copy of my CD and give him the copy, that's illegal.
Wow, the two seconds it would take to make a filter rule per list just isn't worth it. Must not be very important to you, then. Can't see why you're complaining.
I've done the same thing, I use gmail for mailing lists and very little for personal email (for which I use my ISP's mail account & thunderbird). I have my mailing lists filtered into their own labels, so when I log in I see how many new conversations came in from each list, then I go in and read what interests me, and skip over what doesn't.
This way, if you don't know what a "FAQ" is, you can mouse over it, and it tells you.
Also, if you're using images in your layout, you probably don't want alt popups (you might argue that you don't want to use alt at all here, but the w3c validator will ding you for it, so I put alt tags on everything). So, what this means is that the ALT attribute is alternate text for browsers not able to show the image (whether it's a textual browser, or the image 404's), and TITLE is for anything that pops up.
Are you saying we should just implement TITLE for every tag except IMG? Because that would be a pointless special case.
I could also argue that I specifically DO NOT want alt text popping up all over the place, as I am generally more interested in looking at the image than having text pop up in front of it. I like that the webmaster gets to choose what gets a popup and what doesn't with the distinction between the ALT and TITLE attributes -- if the webmaster feels that some text needs to pop up to explain the image, he can choose to have that happen, but if the image speaks for itself, he can just have ALT text.
Ultimately, it's probably a good thing that this is created as an extension and not a browser feature. This way, I don't get ALT popups, and you do, and we're both happy.
Strange, I just launched it, it told me my link toolbar would be disabled, I ran it anyway, and the link toolbar is still there, working as good as ever.
Linuxworld is an anti linux site. That should be obvious to anybody who has been there more then once. Just look at the ads for god's sake.
Are we looking at the same website? I will admit that I've never been to linuxworld before, but I just went there now, and I saw:
3 advertisements: one by novell advocating a linux strategy for your business, one for "Windows Server System", and one for oracle about a database that's "cheaper than MS SQL".
Some article headlines seem to be "Rumors of Microsoft's Demise Are Premature...But Not Unthinkable", and "Ballmer Windows/Linux E-Mail Relies on Previously-Debunked TCO Studies". Those headlines seem to be a bit slanted, if not pro-linux, then definitely anti-microsoft.
Am I missing something? (perhaps I've been trolled...)
However, these same functional computer illiterates (read: 99% of the US population) manage to think that "Linux", "Unix", "Red Hat" and "Solaris" (to give four examples) are completely different skillsets
Oh, it's much worse than you think...
"What's a mozilla? I don't want mozilla, I want the internet" -- My Mother.
A fellow sufferer, huh? I worked over in ICC/PNet back in 2000 while they were shutting the program down.
Heh, old school;)
I worked there earlier this year, and it was just AT&T Wireless... there was no "regular phone" department.
If you think TDMA/GSM was bad, bundled billing was a complete and utter nightmare since if something got 'stuck', you couldn't touch it at all on either the wireless or regular phone sides.
Wanna know how they fixed that? No more bundled billing. If we had a customer with both a TDMA phone and a GSM phone, they got two bills.
I'm guessing the level of service went WAY down after I left
And it continues to spiral downward.
my team didn't run into a whole lot of really angry customers over wireless issues
Haha, yeah. I used to work customer service for AT&T Wireless, it really was awful. I thought the billing system we used for TDMA was terrible, then I got switched over to the GSM department and it was just the worst abomination ever. Once in GSM I longed for the relative simplicity of the TDMA billing system. Ugh, don't remind me.
But anyway, why is Red Hat different burning cd/dvds?
It's not, and I don't know what the parent poster is smoking.
On Fedora Core, to burn a CD, you insert a blank CD into your burner. A nautilus window pops up, which is the CD Creator. You drag files into it, then you press the burn button, and it burns the CD. You don't have to install CDs or anything, it just works*.
(* there's a bug in the newer kernel versions that prevents cdrecord for burning CDs as anybody but root, so this is currently broken. This affects ALL distros, not just fedora core)
nevermind the DVD player, why do some ink cartridges cost more than the printer you're buying them for? I've seen that every once in a while, it's cheaper to just buy the printer over and over and over again than it is to buy new cartridges for it.
Ever since I first heard about XUL, my first thought was that it would make an excellent platform on which to develop webapps (eg, have CGI scripts outputting XUL instead of HTML). You'd have native-looking applications running in the browser window. xulwebmail is the first such thing I've seen like this, thanks for pointing it out.
Slashdot Mirror
Or, if you're packaging for Linux, just use RPM.
This unfortunately is not surprising. One thing I have noticed about modern corporation customer relations is that when the customer is clearly going to be screwed, they always try to spin it as some sort of benefit. Comcast does it when they have their annual 20% rate hike.
Oh yeah, for sure. I used to work AT&T Wireless customer server, and I remember when they changed the TDMA Local plans (one of many such times). Basically, the changes were that they got more expensive, and you got less minutes for your money, but the customer service area remained unchanged. The spin was along the lines of "increasing customer value by providing a robust service area" or some bullshit. Basically, every feature of the rate plan either stayed the same or got worse, and they had a big spiel about how great it was going to be for the customers.
Get on the torrent, duh. I'm getting 180k/s, it's basically saturating my downstream (cable).
It depends entirely on what country you're in.
Up here in Canada, if I buy a CD and lend it to my friend, and he then burns a copy for himself, and gives me my CD back, that's legal. But if I burn a copy of my CD and give him the copy, that's illegal.
I shit you not.
Wow, the two seconds it would take to make a filter rule per list just isn't worth it. Must not be very important to you, then. Can't see why you're complaining.
I've done the same thing, I use gmail for mailing lists and very little for personal email (for which I use my ISP's mail account & thunderbird). I have my mailing lists filtered into their own labels, so when I log in I see how many new conversations came in from each list, then I go in and read what interests me, and skip over what doesn't.
Who is making the corresponding effort for Linux?
IBM? RedHat? How the hell should I know?
No, getting modded as insightful is the mod's way of saying "you're funny, and we want to give you karma too".
Looks like walk.org was already taken...
I use Fedora, according to this, that makes me a conformist.
I never thought I'd live to see the day that using linux makes a person a "conformist". I suppose that makes linux mainstream.
Well, for one, having the TITLE tag pop up means that you can use the TITLE tag on elements other than images.
For example, on a website I recently made, I did something like this:
<a href="faq.html" title="Frequently Asked Questions">FAQ</a>
This way, if you don't know what a "FAQ" is, you can mouse over it, and it tells you.
Also, if you're using images in your layout, you probably don't want alt popups (you might argue that you don't want to use alt at all here, but the w3c validator will ding you for it, so I put alt tags on everything). So, what this means is that the ALT attribute is alternate text for browsers not able to show the image (whether it's a textual browser, or the image 404's), and TITLE is for anything that pops up.
Are you saying we should just implement TITLE for every tag except IMG? Because that would be a pointless special case.
I could also argue that I specifically DO NOT want alt text popping up all over the place, as I am generally more interested in looking at the image than having text pop up in front of it. I like that the webmaster gets to choose what gets a popup and what doesn't with the distinction between the ALT and TITLE attributes -- if the webmaster feels that some text needs to pop up to explain the image, he can choose to have that happen, but if the image speaks for itself, he can just have ALT text.
Ultimately, it's probably a good thing that this is created as an extension and not a browser feature. This way, I don't get ALT popups, and you do, and we're both happy.
Strange, I just launched it, it told me my link toolbar would be disabled, I ran it anyway, and the link toolbar is still there, working as good as ever.
Linuxworld is an anti linux site. That should be obvious to anybody who has been there more then once. Just look at the ads for god's sake.
Are we looking at the same website? I will admit that I've never been to linuxworld before, but I just went there now, and I saw:
3 advertisements: one by novell advocating a linux strategy for your business, one for "Windows Server System", and one for oracle about a database that's "cheaper than MS SQL".
Some article headlines seem to be "Rumors of Microsoft's Demise Are Premature...But Not Unthinkable", and "Ballmer Windows/Linux E-Mail Relies on Previously-Debunked TCO Studies". Those headlines seem to be a bit slanted, if not pro-linux, then definitely anti-microsoft.
Am I missing something? (perhaps I've been trolled...)
However, these same functional computer illiterates (read: 99% of the US population) manage to think that "Linux", "Unix", "Red Hat" and "Solaris" (to give four examples) are completely different skillsets
Oh, it's much worse than you think...
"What's a mozilla? I don't want mozilla, I want the internet" -- My Mother.
A fellow sufferer, huh? I worked over in ICC/PNet back in 2000 while they were shutting the program down.
;)
Heh, old school
I worked there earlier this year, and it was just AT&T Wireless... there was no "regular phone" department.
If you think TDMA/GSM was bad, bundled billing was a complete and utter nightmare since if something got 'stuck', you couldn't touch it at all on either the wireless or regular phone sides.
Wanna know how they fixed that? No more bundled billing. If we had a customer with both a TDMA phone and a GSM phone, they got two bills.
I'm guessing the level of service went WAY down after I left
And it continues to spiral downward.
my team didn't run into a whole lot of really angry customers over wireless issues
There are happy wireless customers?
Haha, yeah. I used to work customer service for AT&T Wireless, it really was awful. I thought the billing system we used for TDMA was terrible, then I got switched over to the GSM department and it was just the worst abomination ever. Once in GSM I longed for the relative simplicity of the TDMA billing system. Ugh, don't remind me.
ugh, brainfart, I meant to say "you don't have to install k3b or anything", not "install CDs".
But anyway, why is Red Hat different burning cd/dvds?
It's not, and I don't know what the parent poster is smoking.
On Fedora Core, to burn a CD, you insert a blank CD into your burner. A nautilus window pops up, which is the CD Creator. You drag files into it, then you press the burn button, and it burns the CD. You don't have to install CDs or anything, it just works*.
(* there's a bug in the newer kernel versions that prevents cdrecord for burning CDs as anybody but root, so this is currently broken. This affects ALL distros, not just fedora core)
nevermind the DVD player, why do some ink cartridges cost more than the printer you're buying them for? I've seen that every once in a while, it's cheaper to just buy the printer over and over and over again than it is to buy new cartridges for it.
Ever since I first heard about XUL, my first thought was that it would make an excellent platform on which to develop webapps (eg, have CGI scripts outputting XUL instead of HTML). You'd have native-looking applications running in the browser window. xulwebmail is the first such thing I've seen like this, thanks for pointing it out.
replace all your computers with Athlon XP boxes. if your heater cuts out, the computers will keep the house warm.
They print their own money. Duh.
I for one, don't have any mp3s and I'm happy to see mp3 go.
;)
My 6GB music collection is in Ogg Vorbis
Oh, and I wanted to mention that GNUStep is pretty universally percieved to be ugly
;)
Thank you! I've long considered GNUstep to be "OSX, but ugly". And I mean BUTT UGLY!!