An anonymous reader points to an English-language article about this Swedish EUCD proposal, which also mentions a hefty $4 levy on blank digital media such as CD-ROMs.
Does that mean that we could see hefty levies on empty containers (because it could be used to transport pirated milk)?
The milk industry is dying due to the increased level of milk pirating (according to the MIAA--Milk Industry Association of America). The only solution can be to make transporting pirated milk expensive.
Sen. X (R-Utah) added that we shoud develop technology so that those thieves (those who use pirated milk) should explode. That will teach them the lesson.
Thank you GrimReality 2003-06-19 06:00:03 UTC (2003-06-19 02:00:03 EDT)
One of the groups opposing the use of OSS/FS in government is Initiative for Software Choice & CompTIA of which Microsoft is a member. The guiding principles of this organisation are (from the article):
... software should be procured on its merits, the promotion of government funded research,
the promotion of interoperability through platform-neutral standards and the maintenance of strong intellectual property protections.
Firstly: 'the promotion of interoperability through platform-neutral standards'??? I am confused. Microsoft has become the member of a group that advocates 'platform-neutral standards'???
Wasn't it Microsoft that has been trying to lock everyone into a specific platform (win32-x86)?
Isn't it Microsoft that insists on breaking every standards and RFCs to gain 'platform lock-in' and other benefits --or simply because they didn't care.
Secondly: Isn't the idea to check out open-source too, a way of adding more 'Software Choice', so, why would they be opposed to government adding open-source to their candidates for purchase/use???
Am I reading this wrong, or did someone start the Infinte Improbability Drive (sorry Doug)...
the us mil's must be shivering on the though of no longer beeing the masters of wobbling.
Maybe. Maybe not.
Consider this: The US has developed (and who knows deployed) EM-discharge (electromagnetic energy discharge) weapons or 'lightning weapons'.
Wouldn't it be trivial to disable or destroy the Galeleo satellite system if things get really desperate?
Of course, they may not do it under normal circumstances for they don't want to sour the relations with the EU (and alienate European nations who might have been sympathetic to the US before). However, when things get desperate who knows what will happen.
I am not suggesting they would, but they could. My point is that the US military has no need to 'shiver on the though[t] of no longer beeing the masters of wobbling'.
Thank you. GrimReality 2003-06-04 16:14:48 UTC (2003-06-04 12:14:48-0400)
...Now that Europe is pretty close to a federation...
True, but there is a lot of division still within the EU. Think of Norway, UK, Portugal and Spain. (I am not talking about support for 'Operation Iraqi Freedom', in which case I would have included Italy also.) It would take some time to bring any real mount of unity --enough to counteract the power of the US as you stated.
...and that China and India have caught up technologically...
China: True they have made a lot of advances, and this statement is quite applicable. Still, they are quite far behind the US.
India: This statement is pretty inaccurate in the case of India. If you are referring to internally developed technologies such as nuclear bombs, helicopters, satellites, rocket launchers etc., look closer: The development model in India is heavily biassed towards using off-the-shelf components and this makes them heavily dependent on US based suppliers. Maybe, this is a step forward, but far, far, far from saying that India has 'caught up technologically'. [Note: I know this because I have been following the developments closely, basically to quench my curiosity.]
It is completely natural for European and Asian space programs, which represent larger populations and economies, to surpass the US programs...
A logical conclusion, but this won't happen for a long time to come. A time-frame that is long enough to accomodate some disaster in the way (say Wold War 3) with a substantial probability; and this disaster could potentially set back these nations/unions by decades.
Thank you. GrimReality 2003-06-04 16:07:10 UTC (2003-06-04 12:07:10-0400)
With the current problems in the US space program, it may be that the newly fixed Arianne launch system can claim a significant share of the market.
It seems logical, but one should also consder the following:
Ariane is heavily dependent on commercial launches, while NASA will always have a steady stream of US defence projects.
The 'current problems in the US space program' that you refer to seems to be limited to manned missions, and I don't know if Ariane is a platform intented for manned flight, so these current problems might be irrelevant.
Consider also the fact that NASA probably has a lot more financial power than Ariane (their almost exclusive dependence on commercial launches stated above fits in here).
Therefore, the overall picture suggests that Ariane might not gain 'any significant share of the market' due to the 'current problems in the US space program'. US defence contractors would continue to use NASA and the third world will continue to use Ariane or Russian rockets (probably due to the cost factor and the access factor).
In other words, there probably won't be any significant change in market shares.
Thank you. GrimReality 2003-06-04 15:26:08 UTC (2003-06-04 11:26:08-0400)
The real reason why people like or dislike a specific window manager is personal preference and need and EvilWM, FVWM, IceWM, BlackBox, Sawfish, Enlightenment etc. all satisfy each group.
I also like minimalist as in 'does what it should and just do that well'. (e.g. I prefer using just a browser to AOL's 'all-in-wonder' (apologies to ATI) stuff.)
Am I the only one who is noticing this tendency to lean towards either extremes? EvilWM goes to one extreme while Enlightenment goes to the other.
I haven't used GNOME2 yet, but from the descriptions MetaCity seems to be the one closest to the centre when it is complete.
FVWM seems to satisfy a lot of stuff, but easy configuration for newbies or lazy ones (myself;-)) is not there.
I am currently using Sawfish, but it is not exactly on the central-zone.
Thanks. GrimReality 2003-06-01 19:56:55 UTC (2003-06-01 15:56:55 EDT)
As another poster pointed out this move is not due to 'recent events'. I remember reading about this some time before.
In any case, one of their major concerns of the Europeans was that that we could potentially deny or disable the GPS network when some events such as wars start.
The 'recent events' might however have underscored their concern, for instance:
The GPS network's accuracy was changed during the war and only the US military could access the system for normal accuracy.
Randomly inserting inaccurate information in the GPS network was antoher tactic used.
Maybe, these things just made the Europeans want their own network even more.
It shouldn't however be a problem to anyone. Aren't we going to get more choice. Hopefully.
Thank you. GrimReality 2003-05-27 00:49:03 UTC (2003-05-26 20:49:03 EDT)
...will have no effect when China, and India come online in a big way.
A very logical conclusion and China does seem to show hope in this regard.
However, in the case of India, there was an older Slashdot story (I can't point it now) that indicated that the Indian government has been bought over by Microsoft.
Three year ago, in India, I found that nearly everyone in the computer (user) field were talking about 'Windows', 'MS Word', 'Hotmail' and stuff like that as if they meant 'Operating System', 'Word processor', 'E-mail' etc. Hopefully, things have changed.
Thank you. GrimReality 2003-05-23 22:25:31 UTC (2003-05-23 18:25:31 EDT)
GPL is greatest thing since sliced bread for layers of infrastructure that you don't have to link against (OS's, apps).
Not so good for libraries.
Correct me if I am wrong, couldn't you use LGPL for open-source libraries.
Yes, FSF does discourage you from using LGPL, but, if you are using closed source stuff anyway, why do you have to worry about FSF recommendations, since it does not prevent you for it is exactly why LGPL was brought out.
Thank you. GrimReality 2003-05-17 15:43:51 UTC (2003-05-17 11:43:51 EDT)
Has anyone else noticed that installing FB causes Win 9x explorer to hang/crash?
I have never installed the Mozilla Suite or Phoenix with the installer. I always went for the PKZipped archive (.zip).
Why?
Mozilla and Phoenix Zip files are well orgaised an all you need to do is to unzip (extract) it to an empty directory. Delete or move the Phoenix or Mozilla profile (depending on the bookmarks and stuff) You might have to do this even when using an installer.
It is easier to recover a corrupted Zip archive than an installer.
Chances of getting a corrupt installer is greater than that of a zip archive. Again, once the intaller is even slightly corrupted the whole archive is gone; in the case of a zip archive the arhiving utility usually has some feature to get data out of slightly corrupt archives.
So, my advice is to try to get the zip file if one is available. It is very straightforward. Of course, it not applicable to every program, for instance for some windows programs it would not be a simple act of just extracting stuff into a directory, so this advice is just about Mozilla and Firebird.
Thank you. GrimReality 2003-05-17 15:13:25 UTC (2003-05-17 11:13:25 EDT)
make free software for Linux which can compress video in the Soreson 3 format?
True, it would be great to be able to encode to popular format using OSS/FS tools. However, there might be additional legal problems.
Consider MP3 format. There are OSS/FS encoders, but legally there are a lot of entaglement which is why volunteer run GNU/Linux distributions such as Debian does not include mp3 encoders. Even, non-volunteer based ones such as RedHat is reportedly not including MP3 encoders due to legal reasons.
Even if OSS/FS encoders for SorensenX becomes available, would we be able to use it? Does the owners of the format place any restrictions?
[Disclaimer: I don't know what the legal status of SorensenXX is. Nor have I kept up with the latest MP3 format legal stuff. So my examples could be outdated.]
Thank you GrimReality 2003-05-12 04:21:27 UTC (2003-05-12 00:21:27 EDT)
Before I ask, I have to say that I did STBM --went through their webpages and looked at the stuff, FAQ, Documentation etc.
The webpage says that it supports formats such as RealMedia, WMV7 etc. See their documentation.
They also seem to be interested only in opensource codecs etc. See this FAQ entry.
Correct me if I am wrong, aren't RealMedia and WMV7 format proprietary? As far as I know, Microsoft or RealNetworks haven't released any open-source codecs of the above. Nor do they seem to have released proper format specifications (as Adobe does for PostScript or PDF).
How do they then support these formats?
They do not seem to be interested in MPlayer like hacked-up binaries or the use of Windows DLLs (see the FAQ entry referred to above).
Plus, I just downloaded the source. It is a measly 600KiB-ish. How do they manage to put all this in here.
If I examin the soruce may be I could get some of these questions answered, but I have to post these questions before the Slashdot story dies out and no-one reads the post.
Thank you GrimReality 2003-05-12 04:05:00 UTC (2003-05-12 00:05:00 EDT)
Maybe, in the long run, instead of wasting money on P2P control (in the short-run they should continue it), they could bring all the participating record labels together and make purchasing music easier. At the same time, they should push a campaign about how morally wrong it is to pirate songs. (Of course, they are already doing it, but this should go together).
Music labels working together could make custom CDs and, maybe, even DRMed music downloads (for MS Win and Mac users at least) from across music labels. This is especially beneficial for custom CDs.
For instance, I want songs A, B,...,K. Songs, E and G are owned by Klingons while songs F and K by Romulans. The rest are owned by the Borg. Furthermore, except for songs A and B, all other songs are from different artists or different albums.
A good part of P2P users are probably doing it because they find it difficult to buy 200 different CDs in which more than 65% of the songs are not what you want.
Thank you GrimReality (The Idiot) 2003-05-11 16:51:54 UTC (2003-05-11 12:51:54 EDT)
The fine gentleman from Texas displays his outstanding grasp of statistics and engineering stating that 1 failure in ever 62.5 flights is NOT acceptable." I don't think there's any need to call him stupid just because you disagree with him.
As I see it, the poster (TheLoneCabbage) did not call him stupid. I think he agreed with the 'fine gentleman from Texas'. Yes, the poster disagrees with the 'fine gentleman from Texas', but that is for a different reason --his possible other motives.
Also, larko seems to have a problem with stereotypes, and automatically labelled the poster's (TheLoneCabbage) comment as satire when he saw 'gentleman from Texas'. IMHO, you (larko) are the one who thinks the 'gentleman from Texas' is stupid--at least in your subconscious.
Disclaimer: I have no personal enmity with larko.
Thank you for understanding. GrimReality 2003-05-09 15:36:18 UTC (2003-05-09 11:36:18-0400)
...how the hell can anyone write an opensource app?
True, but for the ethically minded, the following argument should work.
Open source apps are released to the public (with source code, of course) and freely or at a very low cost in the hope that it may be useful and comes without any warranty.
Microsoft et. al. apps are released with the sole intent of wringing out the last penny from the client and comes with no warranty
The only problem here is the 'ethically minded' part...
Thank you. GrimReality 2003-05-07 02:40:25 UTC (2003-05-06 22:40:25 EDT)
that on my computer Linux locked up every 5 minutes after starting GNOME, which I found out the problem was due to a four-year-old bug in the Linux kernel (so much for open source fixing bugs quickly) that caused it to corrupt memory and lock up X windows on my nvidia card.
Do you know that Microsoft's virtual monopoly mens that hardware makers do not have the incentive to write drivers for alternative opeating systems. They could at least release full interface specs so that the work would be done by someone else. No they haven't done either. And I suspect Microsoft could be bullying (indirectly pressuring) hardware makers not to write drivers for GNU/Linux et. al. or release specs. Now, don't say that they have to make money from the dirvers. They don't sell their drivers, they have to provide it with the hardware they sell.
I know Windows costs money but its not that expensive and besides Linux is only
free if your time is worthless.
'free' in the GNU/Linux terms means freedom, not moolah. I know this is a (Score, -2000, Overrated and Redundant), but I have no choice but to say it again. It means 'freedom'. Lower cost of acquiring the software is just a perk. Again consider installing Windows on 30 machines. With GNU/Linux one licence is good for all, while on Windows you pay for each workstation for software alone.
These arguments are exactly what everyone I have spoken to seem to make. It is partly true but it is like listening to a part of a show that is supposed to be funny, but can only be funny if you had background information of the show. So, where is the background info. of this show? Microsof's dominance, coercion in many forms on hardware makers.
Thank you for understanding. GrimReality 2003-05-06 17:09:14 UTC (2003-05-06 13:09:14 EDT)
Let me first thank you for clarifying Linus' statement.
Secondly, let me thank you for pointing out that in our community we need more than one representative. Linus, RMS and ESR are probably the most conspicuous ones.
The reason I make this post is that these points are always under-estimated. Points that makes us different from the the Microsoft* herd. (I suppose)
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated in any way to Linus, RMS, ESR or Microsoft (although I am a fan of the first three).
Thank you for understanding. GrimReality 2003-05-06 16:48:45 UTC (2003-05-06 12:48:45 EDT)
This scares the hell out of me, and think long and hard about what the implications of such an act can cause if this becomes "mainstream".
Unfortunately, this will become mainstream.
From my personal experience, I have found that everyone (other than the very, very small minority of real GNU/Linux, *BSD etc. users) think that Microsoft is the way to go. They say that Microsoft is 'super reliable', and no argument with them would change their view (maybe I am bad at agruing, but I have seen really good 'arguing guys' fail).
The mainstream will buy it, just as they have bought XPs and as they will buy the new Palladium enriched XPs. Have you seen the other trend, how PocketPCs are slowly eating into Palm and others. This is because Microsoft is considered by all (apart from the execptions I stated before) as the company. Someone even went as far as stating that 'Microsoft is the most ethical company'.
Thank you. GrimReality 2003-05-06 16:08:29 UTC (2003-05-06 12:08:29 EDT)
I have always deamt of a device that I would be able to carry around without having to take it out of my pocket (acutally, I wanted it to be strapped to by chest permanently:-)).
My concerns were this. If I forgot my PDA or handheld computer where I was using it, and came back to find it missing, I might lose irreplacable data. Of course, the device can be replace after you make enough moolah.
So I wanted to keep the I/O unit and the real unit separate. This will reduce the chance of you losing the most important stuff. [Of course, it will not completely eliminate the problem.]
Seems it will soon be ture, of course if can afford it:-).
Thank you. GrimReality 2003-05-04 23:44:10 UTC (2003-05-04 19:44:10 EDT)
[Clarification: I am not pro-Microsoft, in fact, I paid extra to get a computer without Microsoft Windows pre-installed.]
If a software is easy to install, it is not reliable. for
e.g. MS products.
I would have to disagree on the example, at least since Windows 2000 came out. Most, but not all, of it is pretty stable.
I defenitely do not like the trend, but the whole world seems to be becoming more and more enslaved to Microsoft rather than moving away from it --especially considering all the noise about their monopolistic practices and reports of lack of stability of Win95/98/ME/NT4.x.
I have talked with many many people who would rather install Microsoft Windows because they think it is the best. This is because it is stable enough to stay put based on its ease of installation and use!
Thank you for understanding. GrimReality 2003-05-04 15:53:46 UTC (2003-05-04 11:53:46 EDT)
I agree with Hans about the academic culture's value of giving credits. However, there are two points worth mentioning.
Effective ways to give credit already exists:
AUTHORS and/or CREDITS file (also README): These come with practically all GNU projects, and shows up in the system documentation folders. At least, this is true with most Debian packages, and has to be true with other distributions since it seems to be something that the upstream author puts there.
About Dialogue: This is another place where they have credits showing at least the name of the main authors and the current maintainer. For instance:
ZZZZ@quark:~$ chown --version
chown (fileutils) 4.1
Written by David MacKenzie.
Copyright (C) 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
This could be counter-productive
From a personal perspective, I don't want my favourite developers been seen by others as egotisical monsters. Which is probably what will happen if people who care less about the authors (most users, especially the crowd we hope to convert from Windows [please don't consider this a stereotyping of Windows users but this what I have seen]) think if they are forced to read all the name every time they use a software.
Some of Hans Reiser's favourite licences seem to favour closing the source, which eventually means withdrawing the credits section after they claim that it is a full rewrite. Or maybe, this crdits only apply to the open-source world--maybe it is the reward for caring to look.
Thank you. GrimReality 2003-05-03 19:54:57 UTC (2003-05-03 15:54:57 EDT)
Pardon my stupidity.
(Score: -10x10^128, Pro-Free-Software)
Slashdot Mirror
[Cynicism]
I don't think this law applies to individuals (at least individuals without a huge bank account), only collectiv.. err... corporations; I suppose.
[/Cynicism]
Note: I understood that the parent's comment was a joke, just couldn't control the cynic inside.
Thank you.
GrimReality
2003-06-28 21:48:51 UTC (2003-06-28 17:48:51 EDT)
Does that mean that we could see hefty levies on empty containers (because it could be used to transport pirated milk)?
The milk industry is dying due to the increased level of milk pirating (according to the MIAA--Milk Industry Association of America). The only solution can be to make transporting pirated milk expensive.
Stop Milk Piracy Now! Adopt Levies on Empty Milk Cartons Now!
Sen. X (R-Utah) added that we shoud develop technology so that those thieves (those who use pirated milk) should explode. That will teach them the lesson.
Thank you
GrimReality
2003-06-19 06:00:03 UTC (2003-06-19 02:00:03 EDT)
One of the groups opposing the use of OSS/FS in government is Initiative for Software Choice & CompTIA of which Microsoft is a member. The guiding principles of this organisation are (from the article):
Firstly: 'the promotion of interoperability through platform-neutral standards'??? I am confused. Microsoft has become the member of a group that advocates 'platform-neutral standards'???
Secondly: Isn't the idea to check out open-source too, a way of adding more 'Software Choice', so, why would they be opposed to government adding open-source to their candidates for purchase/use???
Am I reading this wrong, or did someone start the Infinte Improbability Drive (sorry Doug)...
Thank you.
GrimReality
The parent post pointed out this quote from Steve Ballmer:
Funny he (Steve B.) should say that.
Compare it to the this quote from Debian's release information for their next 'stable' release:
I wonder if this this is a good thing or a bad thing?!
Thank you.
GrimReality
2003-06-05 15:32:52 UTC (2003-06-05 11:32:52-0400)
Maybe. Maybe not.
Consider this: The US has developed (and who knows deployed) EM-discharge (electromagnetic energy discharge) weapons or 'lightning weapons'.
Wouldn't it be trivial to disable or destroy the Galeleo satellite system if things get really desperate?
Of course, they may not do it under normal circumstances for they don't want to sour the relations with the EU (and alienate European nations who might have been sympathetic to the US before). However, when things get desperate who knows what will happen.
I am not suggesting they would, but they could. My point is that the US military has no need to 'shiver on the though[t] of no longer beeing the masters of wobbling'.
Thank you.
GrimReality
2003-06-04 16:14:48 UTC (2003-06-04 12:14:48-0400)
True, but there is a lot of division still within the EU. Think of Norway, UK, Portugal and Spain. (I am not talking about support for 'Operation Iraqi Freedom', in which case I would have included Italy also.) It would take some time to bring any real mount of unity --enough to counteract the power of the US as you stated.
China: True they have made a lot of advances, and this statement is quite applicable. Still, they are quite far behind the US.
India: This statement is pretty inaccurate in the case of India. If you are referring to internally developed technologies such as nuclear bombs, helicopters, satellites, rocket launchers etc., look closer: The development model in India is heavily biassed towards using off-the-shelf components and this makes them heavily dependent on US based suppliers. Maybe, this is a step forward, but far, far, far from saying that India has 'caught up technologically'. [Note: I know this because I have been following the developments closely, basically to quench my curiosity.]
A logical conclusion, but this won't happen for a long time to come. A time-frame that is long enough to accomodate some disaster in the way (say Wold War 3) with a substantial probability; and this disaster could potentially set back these nations/unions by decades.
Thank you.
GrimReality
2003-06-04 16:07:10 UTC (2003-06-04 12:07:10-0400)
It seems logical, but one should also consder the following:
Therefore, the overall picture suggests that Ariane might not gain 'any significant share of the market' due to the 'current problems in the US space program'. US defence contractors would continue to use NASA and the third world will continue to use Ariane or Russian rockets (probably due to the cost factor and the access factor).
In other words, there probably won't be any significant change in market shares.
Thank you.
GrimReality
2003-06-04 15:26:08 UTC (2003-06-04 11:26:08-0400)
The real reason why people like or dislike a specific window manager is personal preference and need and EvilWM, FVWM, IceWM, BlackBox, Sawfish, Enlightenment etc. all satisfy each group.
I also like minimalist as in 'does what it should and just do that well'. (e.g. I prefer using just a browser to AOL's 'all-in-wonder' (apologies to ATI) stuff.)
Am I the only one who is noticing this tendency to lean towards either extremes? EvilWM goes to one extreme while Enlightenment goes to the other.
I haven't used GNOME2 yet, but from the descriptions MetaCity seems to be the one closest to the centre when it is complete.
FVWM seems to satisfy a lot of stuff, but easy configuration for newbies or lazy ones (myself ;-)) is not there.
I am currently using Sawfish, but it is not exactly on the central-zone.
Thanks.
GrimReality
2003-06-01 19:56:55 UTC (2003-06-01 15:56:55 EDT)
Hopefully, more choice would benefit all.
As another poster pointed out this move is not due to 'recent events'. I remember reading about this some time before.
In any case, one of their major concerns of the Europeans was that that we could potentially deny or disable the GPS network when some events such as wars start.
The 'recent events' might however have underscored their concern, for instance:
Maybe, these things just made the Europeans want their own network even more.
It shouldn't however be a problem to anyone. Aren't we going to get more choice. Hopefully.
Thank you.
GrimReality
2003-05-27 00:49:03 UTC (2003-05-26 20:49:03 EDT)
A very logical conclusion and China does seem to show hope in this regard.
However, in the case of India, there was an older Slashdot story (I can't point it now) that indicated that the Indian government has been bought over by Microsoft.
Three year ago, in India, I found that nearly everyone in the computer (user) field were talking about 'Windows', 'MS Word', 'Hotmail' and stuff like that as if they meant 'Operating System', 'Word processor', 'E-mail' etc. Hopefully, things have changed.
Thank you.
GrimReality
2003-05-23 22:25:31 UTC (2003-05-23 18:25:31 EDT)
So you haven't seen Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition's default theme :-)
Thank you
GrimReality
2003-05-17 15:44:41 UTC (2003-05-17 11:44:41 EDT)
Correct me if I am wrong, couldn't you use LGPL for open-source libraries.
Yes, FSF does discourage you from using LGPL, but, if you are using closed source stuff anyway, why do you have to worry about FSF recommendations, since it does not prevent you for it is exactly why LGPL was brought out.
Thank you.
GrimReality
2003-05-17 15:43:51 UTC (2003-05-17 11:43:51 EDT)
I have never installed the Mozilla Suite or Phoenix with the installer. I always went for the PKZipped archive (.zip).
Why?
So, my advice is to try to get the zip file if one is available. It is very straightforward. Of course, it not applicable to every program, for instance for some windows programs it would not be a simple act of just extracting stuff into a directory, so this advice is just about Mozilla and Firebird.
Thank you.
GrimReality
2003-05-17 15:13:25 UTC (2003-05-17 11:13:25 EDT)
True, it would be great to be able to encode to popular format using OSS/FS tools. However, there might be additional legal problems.
Consider MP3 format. There are OSS/FS encoders, but legally there are a lot of entaglement which is why volunteer run GNU/Linux distributions such as Debian does not include mp3 encoders. Even, non-volunteer based ones such as RedHat is reportedly not including MP3 encoders due to legal reasons.
Even if OSS/FS encoders for SorensenX becomes available, would we be able to use it? Does the owners of the format place any restrictions?
[Disclaimer: I don't know what the legal status of SorensenXX is. Nor have I kept up with the latest MP3 format legal stuff. So my examples could be outdated.]
Thank you
GrimReality
2003-05-12 04:21:27 UTC (2003-05-12 00:21:27 EDT)
Before I ask, I have to say that I did STBM --went through their webpages and looked at the stuff, FAQ, Documentation etc.
The webpage says that it supports formats such as RealMedia, WMV7 etc. See their documentation.
They also seem to be interested only in opensource codecs etc. See this FAQ entry.
Correct me if I am wrong, aren't RealMedia and WMV7 format proprietary? As far as I know, Microsoft or RealNetworks haven't released any open-source codecs of the above. Nor do they seem to have released proper format specifications (as Adobe does for PostScript or PDF).
How do they then support these formats?
They do not seem to be interested in MPlayer like hacked-up binaries or the use of Windows DLLs (see the FAQ entry referred to above).
Plus, I just downloaded the source. It is a measly 600KiB-ish. How do they manage to put all this in here.
If I examin the soruce may be I could get some of these questions answered, but I have to post these questions before the Slashdot story dies out and no-one reads the post.
Thank you
GrimReality
2003-05-12 04:05:00 UTC (2003-05-12 00:05:00 EDT)
Maybe, in the long run, instead of wasting money on P2P control (in the short-run they should continue it), they could bring all the participating record labels together and make purchasing music easier. At the same time, they should push a campaign about how morally wrong it is to pirate songs. (Of course, they are already doing it, but this should go together).
Music labels working together could make custom CDs and, maybe, even DRMed music downloads (for MS Win and Mac users at least) from across music labels. This is especially beneficial for custom CDs.
For instance, I want songs A, B,...,K. Songs, E and G are owned by Klingons while songs F and K by Romulans. The rest are owned by the Borg. Furthermore, except for songs A and B, all other songs are from different artists or different albums.
A good part of P2P users are probably doing it because they find it difficult to buy 200 different CDs in which more than 65% of the songs are not what you want.
Thank you
GrimReality (The Idiot)
2003-05-11 16:51:54 UTC (2003-05-11 12:51:54 EDT)
<Stale Humour>
Did you say 'dome'?
Great! Volkswagen Beetle PR will now have something new to spout nonsense about.
</Stale Humour>
Thanks for wasting your time.
GrimReality
2003-05-10 23:02:38 UTC (2003-05-10 19:02:38 EDT)
As I see it, the poster (TheLoneCabbage) did not call him stupid. I think he agreed with the 'fine gentleman from Texas'. Yes, the poster disagrees with the 'fine gentleman from Texas', but that is for a different reason --his possible other motives.
Also, larko seems to have a problem with stereotypes, and automatically labelled the poster's (TheLoneCabbage) comment as satire when he saw 'gentleman from Texas'. IMHO, you (larko) are the one who thinks the 'gentleman from Texas' is stupid--at least in your subconscious.
Disclaimer: I have no personal enmity with larko.
Thank you for understanding.
GrimReality
2003-05-09 15:36:18 UTC (2003-05-09 11:36:18-0400)
True, but for the ethically minded, the following argument should work.
Open source apps are released to the public (with source code, of course) and freely or at a very low cost in the hope that it may be useful and comes without any warranty.
Microsoft et. al. apps are released with the sole intent of wringing out the last penny from the client and comes with no warranty
The only problem here is the 'ethically minded' part...
Thank you.
GrimReality
2003-05-07 02:40:25 UTC (2003-05-06 22:40:25 EDT)
Do you know that Microsoft's virtual monopoly mens that hardware makers do not have the incentive to write drivers for alternative opeating systems. They could at least release full interface specs so that the work would be done by someone else. No they haven't done either. And I suspect Microsoft could be bullying (indirectly pressuring) hardware makers not to write drivers for GNU/Linux et. al. or release specs. Now, don't say that they have to make money from the dirvers. They don't sell their drivers, they have to provide it with the hardware they sell.
'free' in the GNU/Linux terms means freedom, not moolah. I know this is a (Score, -2000, Overrated and Redundant), but I have no choice but to say it again. It means 'freedom'. Lower cost of acquiring the software is just a perk. Again consider installing Windows on 30 machines. With GNU/Linux one licence is good for all, while on Windows you pay for each workstation for software alone.
These arguments are exactly what everyone I have spoken to seem to make. It is partly true but it is like listening to a part of a show that is supposed to be funny, but can only be funny if you had background information of the show. So, where is the background info. of this show? Microsof's dominance, coercion in many forms on hardware makers.
Thank you for understanding.
GrimReality
2003-05-06 17:09:14 UTC (2003-05-06 13:09:14 EDT)
Let me first thank you for clarifying Linus' statement.
Secondly, let me thank you for pointing out that in our community we need more than one representative. Linus, RMS and ESR are probably the most conspicuous ones.
The reason I make this post is that these points are always under-estimated. Points that makes us different from the the Microsoft* herd. (I suppose)
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated in any way to Linus, RMS, ESR or Microsoft (although I am a fan of the first three).
Thank you for understanding.
GrimReality
2003-05-06 16:48:45 UTC (2003-05-06 12:48:45 EDT)
Unfortunately, this will become mainstream.
From my personal experience, I have found that everyone (other than the very, very small minority of real GNU/Linux, *BSD etc. users) think that Microsoft is the way to go. They say that Microsoft is 'super reliable', and no argument with them would change their view (maybe I am bad at agruing, but I have seen really good 'arguing guys' fail).
The mainstream will buy it, just as they have bought XPs and as they will buy the new Palladium enriched XPs. Have you seen the other trend, how PocketPCs are slowly eating into Palm and others. This is because Microsoft is considered by all (apart from the execptions I stated before) as the company. Someone even went as far as stating that 'Microsoft is the most ethical company'.
Thank you.
GrimReality
2003-05-06 16:08:29 UTC (2003-05-06 12:08:29 EDT)
I have always deamt of a device that I would be able to carry around without having to take it out of my pocket (acutally, I wanted it to be strapped to by chest permanently :-)).
My concerns were this. If I forgot my PDA or handheld computer where I was using it, and came back to find it missing, I might lose irreplacable data. Of course, the device can be replace after you make enough moolah.
So I wanted to keep the I/O unit and the real unit separate. This will reduce the chance of you losing the most important stuff. [Of course, it will not completely eliminate the problem.]
Seems it will soon be ture, of course if can afford it :-).
Thank you.
GrimReality
2003-05-04 23:44:10 UTC (2003-05-04 19:44:10 EDT)
[Clarification: I am not pro-Microsoft, in fact, I paid extra to get a computer without Microsoft Windows pre-installed.]
I would have to disagree on the example, at least since Windows 2000 came out. Most, but not all, of it is pretty stable.
I defenitely do not like the trend, but the whole world seems to be becoming more and more enslaved to Microsoft rather than moving away from it --especially considering all the noise about their monopolistic practices and reports of lack of stability of Win95/98/ME/NT4.x.
I have talked with many many people who would rather install Microsoft Windows because they think it is the best. This is because it is stable enough to stay put based on its ease of installation and use!
Thank you for understanding.
GrimReality
2003-05-04 15:53:46 UTC (2003-05-04 11:53:46 EDT)
I agree with Hans about the academic culture's value of giving credits. However, there are two points worth mentioning.
About Dialogue: This is another place where they have credits showing at least the name of the main authors and the current maintainer. For instance:
ZZZZ@quark:~$ chown --versionchown (fileutils) 4.1
Written by David MacKenzie.
Copyright (C) 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
Thank you.
GrimReality
2003-05-03 19:54:57 UTC (2003-05-03 15:54:57 EDT)
Pardon my stupidity.
(Score: -10x10^128, Pro-Free-Software)