What you are saying is all well and good. If you are threatened with legal action incorrectly, yes, your legal defence costs should come in to it somewhere.
What dircha is saying is that he (or she?) should be able to go to a court/public lawyer/magic information booth and state what is occuring (as far as he sees it), and be told if the other party is violating the law, which law it is, and what needs to be done to make it stop. If dircha then acts on this advice, and is wrong, or screws it up, then he loses. And subsequently needs to pay for it.
The comment is about "freely being told which of the amazingly large number of laws do I need to accuse them of breaking", not "I shouldn't have to pay because I picked the wrong one, and they slammed me for it".
Voting is done on Saturdays in Australia, but you are required to show up at a polling place (you don't actually have to vote - but you do need to take the voting paper and put it in the box), or cast an absentee ballot. You can get a fine if you fail to show up without a good reason.
You still seem to be misunderstanding. Even to the point that you misunderstand the single sentence that you quoted.
The differences part you seem to have worked out. They are different. The similarities you have not seemed to grasp. If software licences were outlawed, a EULA would be illegal, as it is a licence to use software. The GPL would not, as it has nothing to do with software, other than software being a copyrighted item that can be modified and redistributed. The licence in GNU's General Public Licence is about the licence from the copyright owner to distribute copyrighted material, and will continue to be so regardless of what that copyrighted material is: software, a book, music, photographs etc. You abide by the terms of the licence to distribute, or you do not distribute.
If you are going to say something like "But you don't have to use the software", think about how easy it is to get an x86 laptop (not a Mac of any type) without windows installed. Go into Fry's or Egghead, or whatever your local store is, and ask for a laptop without Windows. Ask them to remove it, and give you a refund for the amount of Windows. No one is forcing you to distribute GPL material, and hence be bound by the licence to distribute. But if you want an x86 laptop, you must agree to an End User Licence Agreement in order to use it. Sure, you could just delete the Windows partition when you get home (or even before you leave the store), but then, is it possible to get a refund for it? No, because it was preinstalled, and no retailer will take it back.
By the way, I am not arguing about laws, and making new laws, or abolishing old laws. I am talking about different types of licences. It might make things easier if they were named properly: End User Contract, and General Public Distribution Licence. That way, it would not be so confusing when people use the same word in different contexts to mean different things, much like (legal or scientific) jargon.
The difference here is that a EULA is a licence to use, whereas the GPL is a licence to distribute. If you have no intention of supplying Linux (or any other free software) to anyone, you are not bound by the GPL. You can download it, burn it to a CD and then install it, and never even encounter the GPL. If you want to commercially distribute them, you need to worry about the GPL.
In the case of the EULA, you need to agree to a licence before you can use the software. If you can't see the difference between these two situations, you need to stop, take a deep breath, take a step back and look again.
1. Education Imagine a child's desktop and a computer's desktop becoming one thing. If somehow, in the future, made cheap enough this could be put on kids' desks in school. No need for computer labs. No losing homework. And then you could have a big "chalkboard" version that has capability of displaying something a student may have to share with a class. It's a long way off. It's not going to be economically feasible anytime soon. But that's a possibility later on.
Is anyone else reminded of the battle-school desks from Ender's Game?
Calling from a mobile depends on your mobile provider: I pay $49.95 (I think) a month, and can make up to $120 worth of calls, text etc. Texts are 22-25 cents (depending on provider, and I never come close to my limit, so I don't care). Calls are anything from 1cent per second to 18 cents per 30 seconds (or less, I really don't bother checking - I don't come close to my limit), again, depending on your provider and plan.
Calling to a mobile depends on your landline plan and provider. Usually it doesn't cost more than $1 for five minutes, which is enough for most calls.
Calling mobile to mobile can be completely free if they are on the same network, and your plan includes that. Otherwise, see point 1.
I should point out that while I check my bill every month, I don't tend to remember exact costs, just the total.
I've recently started using the term "intellectual monopoly" for patents and copyrights, which is more accurate. The only intellectual property that I can think of is "Trade Secret". I'm not sure where "trademark" fits in this scheme, though.
I would like to see this for all "we are observing you for your own good" type legislation:
The first step is to try it out on politicians (they are public figures, after all), with the information being freely available to anyone who wants it. No FOI requests, just a wget (or similar) from a webserver. Severe penalties if that information is not available. Naturally, servers do go down, and that's fine, but that information should be available within 24 hours of it being recorded.
If they are willing to do that, then maybe they could be allowed to do it to the public. I think there would be a severe reduction in stupid laws if politicians (but not other members of the public) were subjected to them during a trial period, with the general public being able to see the results.
Print it out as it happens, on a dotmatrix line printer, on that awful blue and white tractor feed paper. As an archive box fills up, FedEx it to the FBI, with payment from recipient. Alternatively, store the (unnumbered) archive box in a damp warehouse. When they ask for it, show them where it is.
...Ctrl+Esc brings up the Start Menu (didn't this use to be a key combo for task switching under Win 3.1?)...
No, but Alt-Esc was (and is). Alt-Tab still works, too. I think Ctrl-Esc in Win 3.1 brought up the task manager (Ctrl-Shift-Esc does this is XP and NT), but it has been a while, so I might be wrong.
Adelaide airport does do random testing, though. The security guard that stopped me had just finished with someone else, and asked the next person through the gate (me). He basically said "Excuse me, sir. I am performing a random [drug|explosive] search, and you have been selected." (I can't remember what it was for.) He then handed me a laminated sheet detailing what was to happen, and said that if I didn't agree to it, I was able to walk back out past the security area.
Very nice, very polite. Actually random. One cotton swab across my bag and about 30 seconds later, it was "Thank you very much, sir. Have a pleasant day."
You do realise that most educational facilities have standing licences to use material that is copyrighted, don't you? At high school (in South Australia) music class, every single sheet of music I saw was either original (not often) or a photocopy with "Amcos Licenced Copy" stamped on it. Every one. Not a single one was photocopied with the stamp already present - it could only be used from an original.
Now, extend this licence agreement to allow the playing of CDs to the class (which we also did). No problem. The teacher plays the CD in the school player, and everybody hears it. Music theory in action. It was great, to be able to listen to the music, and hear the teacher discuss what was going on in the theory of the song.
Now, look at this again. If the CD was DRM encumbered, and the teacher only had a PC to play it, he or she would be unable to do so. The students miss out, despite the fact that the school has a licence to play the music.
Oh, and by the way, in response to your last comment - who "owns" Beethoven's Fifth Symphony? Here's a hint: The human race owns it. Each recording is owned (or not) by whoever performs it, and releases that performance. But The Human Race owns the music itself (via that wonderful mechanism of Public Domain).
Re:That's a Little Extreme
on
iPods at War
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· Score: 1
Read the comment again. IAmTheDave is not calling the "soldier playing music over the loudspeaker" a traitor, he is calling the person cracking down on that soldier for illegal performance a traitor. Much like calling the RIAA criminals for hassling kids about swapping CDs in the playground.
I've recently come to the conclusion that monetary fines don't discourage CEOs and other executives.
As a result, I have concluded that the old ways are sometimes the best. My suggestion is that penalties should be for the board, rather than the investors - a week in the stocks* out the front of their office building, with a sign saying what they did wrong, and a basket of old fruit nearby. Of course, a mimimum fruit-throwing distance will need to be marked, but that's not a real problem.
It provides a disincentive to doing shady things, and lets the general populace (including shareholders) know which companies are actually following the law.
*Obviously, this may be considered "cruel and unusual", but rather than let them go into their office, clap them in the stocks from 9 until 5 (or whatever their normal hours are). Maybe give them an hour off, for lunch, during which time they may not enter the office, or use any phone at all.
I had thought of setting up a shadow puppet theater on a plane though if I even had to fly under such restrictions
My thought was to start a sing-along. "Infinity bottles of beer on the wall, infinity bottles of beer, take one down, pass it around, infinity bottles of beer on the wall!"
I would like to make a small ammendment to your suggestion.
Why not make it so that you remove money from the party you don't want to win, and the last party with money in the account gets the seat?
That way, you have the advantage that the party can spend as much money on advertising as they wish, with the result that they have less "votes against" before they lose.
Re:What's wrong with the interface?
on
Beginning GIMP
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· Score: 1
For the layout/windowing issue, there is Gimpshop. http://www.gimpshop.net/ (I don't use it, and have only heard about it from here, so I don't know if that is what you are after.)
Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much... the wheel, New York, wars, and so on, whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely the dolphins believed themselves to be more intelligent than man for precisely the same reasons.
-- Douglas Adams
I take it you already know of tough and bough and cough and dough. Others may stumble, but not you, On hiccough, thorough, lough** and through. Well done! And now you wish, perhaps, To learn of less familiar traps.
Beware of heard, a dreadful word That looks like beard and sounds like bird. And dead-it's said like bed, not bead. For goodness sake, don't call it deed! Watch out for meat and great and threat. They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.
A moth is not a moth in mother, Nor both in bother, broth in brother, And here is not a match for there, Nor dear and fear for pear and bear. And then there's dose and rose and lose Just look them up--and goose and choose. And cork and work and card and ward. And font and front and word and sword. And do and go, then thwart and cart. Come, come I've hardly made a start.
A dreadful language? Man alive, I'd mastered it when I was five!
Slashdot Mirror
Never The Same Colo(u)r.
Always The Same Colo(u)r?
I know, really it's Network Television Standard Comittee, but no idea what ATSC is.
Until I googled it: Advanced Television Standard Committee.
But you are right about "most purchasers", though.
What dircha is saying is that he (or she?) should be able to go to a court/public lawyer/magic information booth and state what is occuring (as far as he sees it), and be told if the other party is violating the law, which law it is, and what needs to be done to make it stop. If dircha then acts on this advice, and is wrong, or screws it up, then he loses. And subsequently needs to pay for it.
The comment is about "freely being told which of the amazingly large number of laws do I need to accuse them of breaking", not "I shouldn't have to pay because I picked the wrong one, and they slammed me for it".
Voting is done on Saturdays in Australia, but you are required to show up at a polling place (you don't actually have to vote - but you do need to take the voting paper and put it in the box), or cast an absentee ballot. You can get a fine if you fail to show up without a good reason.
The differences part you seem to have worked out. They are different. The similarities you have not seemed to grasp. If software licences were outlawed, a EULA would be illegal, as it is a licence to use software. The GPL would not, as it has nothing to do with software, other than software being a copyrighted item that can be modified and redistributed. The licence in GNU's General Public Licence is about the licence from the copyright owner to distribute copyrighted material, and will continue to be so regardless of what that copyrighted material is: software, a book, music, photographs etc. You abide by the terms of the licence to distribute, or you do not distribute.
If you are going to say something like "But you don't have to use the software", think about how easy it is to get an x86 laptop (not a Mac of any type) without windows installed. Go into Fry's or Egghead, or whatever your local store is, and ask for a laptop without Windows. Ask them to remove it, and give you a refund for the amount of Windows. No one is forcing you to distribute GPL material, and hence be bound by the licence to distribute. But if you want an x86 laptop, you must agree to an End User Licence Agreement in order to use it. Sure, you could just delete the Windows partition when you get home (or even before you leave the store), but then, is it possible to get a refund for it? No, because it was preinstalled, and no retailer will take it back.
By the way, I am not arguing about laws, and making new laws, or abolishing old laws. I am talking about different types of licences. It might make things easier if they were named properly: End User Contract, and General Public Distribution Licence. That way, it would not be so confusing when people use the same word in different contexts to mean different things, much like (legal or scientific) jargon.
In the case of the EULA, you need to agree to a licence before you can use the software. If you can't see the difference between these two situations, you need to stop, take a deep breath, take a step back and look again.
Is anyone else reminded of the battle-school desks from Ender's Game?
Calling to a mobile depends on your landline plan and provider. Usually it doesn't cost more than $1 for five minutes, which is enough for most calls.
Calling mobile to mobile can be completely free if they are on the same network, and your plan includes that. Otherwise, see point 1.
I should point out that while I check my bill every month, I don't tend to remember exact costs, just the total.
186000 miles per second: it's not just a good idea, it's the law!
I've recently started using the term "intellectual monopoly" for patents and copyrights, which is more accurate. The only intellectual property that I can think of is "Trade Secret". I'm not sure where "trademark" fits in this scheme, though.
The first step is to try it out on politicians (they are public figures, after all), with the information being freely available to anyone who wants it. No FOI requests, just a wget (or similar) from a webserver. Severe penalties if that information is not available. Naturally, servers do go down, and that's fine, but that information should be available within 24 hours of it being recorded.
If they are willing to do that, then maybe they could be allowed to do it to the public. I think there would be a severe reduction in stupid laws if politicians (but not other members of the public) were subjected to them during a trial period, with the general public being able to see the results.
There's no rule about how to store it, is there?
No, but Alt-Esc was (and is). Alt-Tab still works, too. I think Ctrl-Esc in Win 3.1 brought up the task manager (Ctrl-Shift-Esc does this is XP and NT), but it has been a while, so I might be wrong.
Try tellin' th' young folk o' today that, and they won't believe you.
Very nice, very polite. Actually random. One cotton swab across my bag and about 30 seconds later, it was "Thank you very much, sir. Have a pleasant day."
Now, extend this licence agreement to allow the playing of CDs to the class (which we also did). No problem. The teacher plays the CD in the school player, and everybody hears it. Music theory in action. It was great, to be able to listen to the music, and hear the teacher discuss what was going on in the theory of the song.
Now, look at this again. If the CD was DRM encumbered, and the teacher only had a PC to play it, he or she would be unable to do so. The students miss out, despite the fact that the school has a licence to play the music.
Oh, and by the way, in response to your last comment - who "owns" Beethoven's Fifth Symphony? Here's a hint: The human race owns it. Each recording is owned (or not) by whoever performs it, and releases that performance. But The Human Race owns the music itself (via that wonderful mechanism of Public Domain).
But you are right, it is a little extreme.
As a result, I have concluded that the old ways are sometimes the best. My suggestion is that penalties should be for the board, rather than the investors - a week in the stocks* out the front of their office building, with a sign saying what they did wrong, and a basket of old fruit nearby. Of course, a mimimum fruit-throwing distance will need to be marked, but that's not a real problem.
It provides a disincentive to doing shady things, and lets the general populace (including shareholders) know which companies are actually following the law.
*Obviously, this may be considered "cruel and unusual", but rather than let them go into their office, clap them in the stocks from 9 until 5 (or whatever their normal hours are). Maybe give them an hour off, for lunch, during which time they may not enter the office, or use any phone at all.
My thought was to start a sing-along. "Infinity bottles of beer on the wall, infinity bottles of beer, take one down, pass it around, infinity bottles of beer on the wall!"
No, your supposed to do that with your tax reciepts.
Or maybe I've watched too much Black Books. Nah, can't be. No such thing as too much British Comedy.
Why not make it so that you remove money from the party you don't want to win, and the last party with money in the account gets the seat?
That way, you have the advantage that the party can spend as much money on advertising as they wish, with the result that they have less "votes against" before they lose.
For the layout/windowing issue, there is Gimpshop. http://www.gimpshop.net/
(I don't use it, and have only heard about it from here, so I don't know if that is what you are after.)
Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much... the wheel, New York, wars, and so on, whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely the dolphins believed themselves to be more intelligent than man for precisely the same reasons.
-- Douglas Adams
Am I the only one that heard the last paragraph as if it were being said by Professor Farsworth, yelling at Fry?
I take it you already know
of tough and bough and cough and dough.
Others may stumble, but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, lough** and through.
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps.
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead-it's said like bed, not bead.
For goodness sake, don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat.
They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.
A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear for pear and bear.
And then there's dose and rose and lose
Just look them up--and goose and choose.
And cork and work and card and ward.
And font and front and word and sword.
And do and go, then thwart and cart.
Come, come I've hardly made a start.
A dreadful language? Man alive,
I'd mastered it when I was five!