If DRM is implemented on a silicon chip, then it follows that there will be some chips manufactured with flaws in the section responsible for DRM but fine everywhere else. Will the companies that make these chips either:
1) Throw them away.
2) Sell them at a lower cost.
3) Sell them at a higher cost for the privilage
of not having to put up with DRM.
Based on my understanding of market economics, if there exists a demand for non-DRM products, then someone will supply non-DRM produts, most likely at a higher cost. I, for one, will pay extra for non-DRM technology, thus the market is established.
WWII happened because Eurpope got together and collectively decided to shit all over Germany for twenty years on the dubious notion that they were responsible for WWI. It would have happened without Hitler, and, y'know, without spending all that effort trying to exterminate the Jews, they might have even won.
Yes! I've already got four box sets of Futurama, I can easily make room for a fifth.
BTW, does anyone know of a way to let Fox know that I would definatly purchase the DVD if it was released? IMHO, the more people who express an interest, the more likely it is that the DVD will actually be made.
The first computerized system with a GUI was SAGE, the air defense system. This had CRTs and pointing devices in 1958. The pointing device was a light gun, and it really looked like a gun. This was appropriate, because, in the appropriate modes, pulling the trigger on the light gun could launch a surface to air missile.
Warning: This is illegal in the United States under the DMCA.
Warning! There is no way to detect nor prevent this action, therefore the DMCA is a crock of shite. I can't wait until your Federal Appeals Court get their teeth into this one.
P.S. I am an Aussie and I don't beleive we are under US law *quite* yet, so I should be OK saying these things.
The article only briefly touches on the Amiga computer, and makes no mention of it's icons at all!
Amiga icons were implemented completely differently from any GUI I've encountered since. First of all, instead of being embedded into an executable a la Windows (and Mac?), or using a shared image file like in your standard *nix GUI, each file could have a '.info' file (i.e. if a file was called "Shell", it's.info file would be a file called "Shell.info" in the same directory) which contained, along with some other settings, an icon for the file in the Amiga Workbench. Early Amigas (i.e. before OS2.0) could only show files with a.info file. Later versions could show all files, using a generic image for the files with no icons of their own. Note that this only applied to the Workbench; all files (and their.info files) could be viewed using command line tools.
The icons themselves were simply a 2-bit (i.e. 4 colour) plane-interleaved paletted bitmap. The colours were not stored with the icon, but were determined by the preference settings of the Workbench. Thus, all icons on a particular desktop shared the same colours, and if you changed the workbench colours, all the icons (and text, and windows, etc) would change too. An icon could change in one of three different ways when selected. First, all the colours are inverted; that is the first colour is swapped with the fourth and the second is swapped with the third. The second is the same as the first except the background of the icon appears to be 'flood-filled' back to its original colour, so only the picture within the icon itself is inverted (this allows apparently non-rectangular icons to be selected without revealing their true rectangular nature). The third (and this is one of the features that defined the Amiga GUI for me) is a completely separate image can be substituted. Thus, a.info file can contain two icons, one regular and one selected view. Additionally, an Amiga icon was not limited by size; it could be as small or as large as you liked (this is the other feature). Think of a giant black silhouette of a castle that erupts into orange flame when selected. That could be an Amiga icon (and it was, IIRC)!
The.info files also indicated to the Workbench what type of file it was dealing with. A DISK.info file represented the icon of the drive upon which the.info file was stored, provided the.info file was called "Disk.info" and resided in the root directory of the drive (this implies that it is impossible to have an icon for a file named "Disk" in the root directory of any drive). DRAW.info files represented drawers (directories), a TOOL was an executables, a PROJECT was a data file and GARBAGE was the trashcan. The Workbench would use the.info file to determine what to do with the file; DRAW files could opened to reveal more files, TOOL files could be launched, etc. Changing the file type would change the way the Workbench interacted with the file, including attempting to browse a regular file as a directory, or execute a data file. Naturally, these attempts would fail, and in some cases the Workbench would ignore the.info file if it did not correlate to the file it represented.
Another interesting feature is the way TOOL files were launched. The.info file included parameters for the executable, since programs launched from the Workbench did not receive their parameters via the 'argv' variable, but rather as 'message' from the underlying operating system. But that's a discussion for another time...
I'm sure there's a tonne of info about the Amiga on the web. Go find it yourself if your interested.
Yet again, it seems as if my brain is wired back to front. I'm sure that, over the past fifteen years or so, computers have just made me smarter (it's either that or the pot, heh heh).
I think I saw that in a movie once. Except they used a thermonuclear explosion to clear the last few feet of crust. Didn't work out quite as they expected, particulary when a large portion of the Earth's crust decided to launch intself into orbit, taking along with it most of the scientists.
> But Schwartz said that some people he's spoken to dislike it because it precludes them from
> using open-source software as a foundation for proprietary projects.
Duh! That's the whole fucking point of the GPL! Can you imagine? "Oh, dear! I didn't write the code nor pay someone else to do it, but I still want to be able to make money off it! The GPL just isn't fair!"
I'll tell you one thing: If you've lost your entire life savings due to a 'phishing' attack, your not going to bloody well forget what it means in a hurry.
Learn, people! The weak and stupid will be prey to the strong and unscrupulous. I'm a decent and moral person but the first thing that popped into my head as I read the article was 'Hmmm... 80% of AOL UK users wouldn't know if I scammed them...'.
The real problem is people assume they can't possibly ever know anything about computers so when you start trying to explain somthing to them they just tune out, but anyone who's managed to keep themselves alive for more then a few years in the modern world can surely figure out a simple computer! You just have to have a bit of faith in yourself. For years my sister would complain loudly every time I tried to explain something about her computer, not even trying to listen to me. Once I had to help her reinstall Windows XP over the phone; next thing you know she's installed the modem drivers from the device manager without any help. I almost fucking died of shock!
Computers are here to stay. So is the Internet. So are the scammers and the phishers and everyone else. It's Darwinism, baby: Adapt or fucking perish!
I belive that the open source development model is so strong, and that it will become so prevalent amoung small to medium businesses (if it has not done so already) to solve their IT needs, that if there should arise a conflict between OSS and the current array of intelectual property laws, it will be IP that gives way, not OSS.
Look at the women in T.V. advertisements. Those aren't real people or real women, they were hired to do the advertisement:P:)
So what are they then? Robots? Pod people? Or are they just very good looking women who know they can get paid a tonne of cash just for being very good looking women?
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If DRM is implemented on a silicon chip, then it follows that there will be some chips manufactured with flaws in the section responsible for DRM but fine everywhere else. Will the companies that make these chips either:
1) Throw them away.
2) Sell them at a lower cost.
3) Sell them at a higher cost for the privilage
of not having to put up with DRM.
Based on my understanding of market economics, if there exists a demand for non-DRM products, then someone will supply non-DRM produts, most likely at a higher cost. I, for one, will pay extra for non-DRM technology, thus the market is established.
Checkmate.
I have a phonographic memory: I can play complete songs in my head, start to finish. Does this make brain a DMCA circumvention device?
Good thing I don't live in the States. Or have any desire to visit.
Just out of interest, is there anything stopping you from copying the copy?
WWII happened because Eurpope got together and collectively decided to shit all over Germany for twenty years on the dubious notion that they were responsible for WWI. It would have happened without Hitler, and, y'know, without spending all that effort trying to exterminate the Jews, they might have even won.
No, let's breed autistic/aspergic people *with* supermodels! That way our children will be both brilliant and beautiful! They can't lose!
Yes! I've already got four box sets of Futurama, I can easily make room for a fifth.
BTW, does anyone know of a way to let Fox know that I would definatly purchase the DVD if it was released? IMHO, the more people who express an interest, the more likely it is that the DVD will actually be made.
--
Hmmm, Acronym Soup.
Quick! Somebody patent DHT!
The first computerized system with a GUI was SAGE, the air defense system. This had CRTs and pointing devices in 1958. The pointing device was a light gun, and it really looked like a gun. This was appropriate, because, in the appropriate modes, pulling the trigger on the light gun could launch a surface to air missile.
Thanks, I'll have one of those.
Warning: This is illegal in the United States under the DMCA.
Warning! There is no way to detect nor prevent this action, therefore the DMCA is a crock of shite. I can't wait until your Federal Appeals Court get their teeth into this one.
P.S. I am an Aussie and I don't beleive we are under US law *quite* yet, so I should be OK saying these things.
The article only briefly touches on the Amiga computer, and makes no mention of it's icons at all!
.info file would be a file called "Shell.info" in the same directory) which contained, along with some other settings, an icon for the file in the Amiga Workbench. Early Amigas (i.e. before OS2.0) could only show files with a .info file. Later versions could show all files, using a generic image for the files with no icons of their own. Note that this only applied to the Workbench; all files (and their .info files) could be viewed using command line tools.
.info file can contain two icons, one regular and one selected view. Additionally, an Amiga icon was not limited by size; it could be as small or as large as you liked (this is the other feature). Think of a giant black silhouette of a castle that erupts into orange flame when selected. That could be an Amiga icon (and it was, IIRC)!
.info files also indicated to the Workbench what type of file it was dealing with. A DISK .info file represented the icon of the drive upon which the .info file was stored, provided the .info file was called "Disk.info" and resided in the root directory of the drive (this implies that it is impossible to have an icon for a file named "Disk" in the root directory of any drive). DRAW .info files represented drawers (directories), a TOOL was an executables, a PROJECT was a data file and GARBAGE was the trashcan. The Workbench would use the .info file to determine what to do with the file; DRAW files could opened to reveal more files, TOOL files could be launched, etc. Changing the file type would change the way the Workbench interacted with the file, including attempting to browse a regular file as a directory, or execute a data file. Naturally, these attempts would fail, and in some cases the Workbench would ignore the .info file if it did not correlate to the file it represented.
.info file included parameters for the executable, since programs launched from the Workbench did not receive their parameters via the 'argv' variable, but rather as 'message' from the underlying operating system. But that's a discussion for another time...
Amiga icons were implemented completely differently from any GUI I've encountered since. First of all, instead of being embedded into an executable a la Windows (and Mac?), or using a shared image file like in your standard *nix GUI, each file could have a '.info' file (i.e. if a file was called "Shell", it's
The icons themselves were simply a 2-bit (i.e. 4 colour) plane-interleaved paletted bitmap. The colours were not stored with the icon, but were determined by the preference settings of the Workbench. Thus, all icons on a particular desktop shared the same colours, and if you changed the workbench colours, all the icons (and text, and windows, etc) would change too. An icon could change in one of three different ways when selected. First, all the colours are inverted; that is the first colour is swapped with the fourth and the second is swapped with the third. The second is the same as the first except the background of the icon appears to be 'flood-filled' back to its original colour, so only the picture within the icon itself is inverted (this allows apparently non-rectangular icons to be selected without revealing their true rectangular nature). The third (and this is one of the features that defined the Amiga GUI for me) is a completely separate image can be substituted. Thus, a
The
Another interesting feature is the way TOOL files were launched. The
I'm sure there's a tonne of info about the Amiga on the web. Go find it yourself if your interested.
Okay, what do apples have in common with computers?
I dunno, full of bugs?
Yet again, it seems as if my brain is wired back to front. I'm sure that, over the past fifteen years or so, computers have just made me smarter (it's either that or the pot, heh heh).
> ... include a patent for the wastebasket.
Of course, the sheer number of bogus software patents granted threaten to make all software patents irrelevant.
This is not necessarily a bad thing.
'Cause most people prefer to complain then do any actual work. Sad, really.
One of the good things about being a Linux Guru is that, for me and mine, Linux support is free :) Boo-Ya!
I think I saw that in a movie once. Except they used a thermonuclear explosion to clear the last few feet of crust. Didn't work out quite as they expected, particulary when a large portion of the Earth's crust decided to launch intself into orbit, taking along with it most of the scientists.
(At the risk of sounding redundant)
From the article:
> But Schwartz said that some people he's spoken to dislike it because it precludes them from
> using open-source software as a foundation for proprietary projects.
Duh! That's the whole fucking point of the GPL! Can you imagine? "Oh, dear! I didn't write the code nor pay someone else to do it, but I still want to be able to make money off it! The GPL just isn't fair!"
Dumbasses!
I'll tell you one thing: If you've lost your entire life savings due to a 'phishing' attack, your not going to bloody well forget what it means in a hurry.
... 80% of AOL UK users wouldn't know if I scammed them ...'.
Learn, people! The weak and stupid will be prey to the strong and unscrupulous. I'm a decent and moral person but the first thing that popped into my head as I read the article was 'Hmmm
The real problem is people assume they can't possibly ever know anything about computers so when you start trying to explain somthing to them they just tune out, but anyone who's managed to keep themselves alive for more then a few years in the modern world can surely figure out a simple computer! You just have to have a bit of faith in yourself. For years my sister would complain loudly every time I tried to explain something about her computer, not even trying to listen to me. Once I had to help her reinstall Windows XP over the phone; next thing you know she's installed the modem drivers from the device manager without any help. I almost fucking died of shock!
Computers are here to stay. So is the Internet. So are the scammers and the phishers and everyone else. It's Darwinism, baby: Adapt or fucking perish!
The answer is "probably".
Once you remove the name brands, price is a generally good indicator of quality in the I.T. industry.
Man who annoy computer fixer often have broken computer.
I belive that the open source development model is so strong, and that it will become so prevalent amoung small to medium businesses (if it has not done so already) to solve their IT needs, that if there should arise a conflict between OSS and the current array of intelectual property laws, it will be IP that gives way, not OSS.
> I wonder how much simulation and testing you need
> before we feel safe about affecting an entire
> planet.
Who cares? Let's do it anyway!
They've replaced all the guns with walkie talkies?
... wait ... never mind.
Oh
So what are they then? Robots? Pod people? Or are they just very good looking women who know they can get paid a tonne of cash just for being very good looking women?
Yes.
Any more questions? No? Good.
--
Make way Evil! I'm armed to the teeth and packing a hamster!