Strangely, all he's done is really raise publicity for his fine... and provided details on how that fine can be paid off.
On top of that, he's made everyone aware that small payments will not pay it off..
Now say lots of people do what he says (for fun and giggles) - it'd be back in the news again. So his message remains visible... and there will be media interest in it, so it will remain visible.
But say lots of people do it - all chipping in a SEK... why not collect it and work toward paying off the fine? More media interest to follow...
That wasn't why I was saying he was right - the strl* functions disguise errors which should not occur if the application is coded correctly. They may avoid a crash, but they won't necessarily provide the desired results and that could be far worse...
IRDA can't be used for this and is really not very common these days anyway. I recently bought an iguana USB IR transceiver from http://www.iguanaworks.net/ and that works great for both reception and transmission.
I use it control my projector, hdmi switch box, digital receiver, dvd player and so on, as well as providing its own media playing capabilities through the switch/projector. Essentially, one remote control to replace the many.
Serious horsepower at a mass market price. Mature 64 bit drivers. Win 7 just around the corner.
What's not to love?
Are you expecting a serious answer to that?
Dual-core is Coming Soon to a netbook near you. It won't be long before XP stops making sense even at entry level.
They're here now, and it has already stopped making sense to use XP there - ubuntu 9.04 is working just dandy thanks (just as it does on the older models).
I would argue that in today's economic climate, they really do want people to buy the OS - people are less inclined to buy new hardware at the moment and as a result, their normal market has shrunk.
Back with windows 95 and 98, they did pretty well shifting shrink wrap boxes, and I would imagine they'd like to recreate that if they can... giving a year's 'free use' seems like a fairly sane attempt to do that, especially in light of the kick back against vista.
Well, for the first time ever, my ATI M56P (Radeon Mobility X1600) has behaved perfectly since upgrading to 9.04.
In fact, been very impressed with the distro in general - have installed it on a couple of machines here (Tosh laptop, dual boot on my MacBook Pro and on a MacMini [latest edition] - the only problem has been on the MacMini - no sound and doesn't reboot, but shuts down just fine).
But I would point out, that at least in hollywood, the tastes of the rich are doing precisely what you're suggesting - everyone from directors, script writers, actors and onwards are working on a basis which is very much like patronage for the vast majority of the content they produce. The marketing people/producers identify a concept and a market to tap and assemble a team to make it happen - there is still creative input, in much the same way as the historical figures you mentioned would have had on their own commissioned works, but it's still 'done to order'. Nothing particularly wrong with it either, providing those who are providing the cash can distinguish the subtle difference between good and bad and a single patron doesn't obtain a monopoly...
I'm not so sure that world of music is so dissimilar - the 'patron' here will sometimes manufacture/commission (boy/girl band type of stuff - aimed at a demographic), but generally, they'll be dictated by their own tastes and understanding of the tastes of others before they'll commission an act of any sort...
Don't know:-) - is it just a case of 'the more things change, the more things stay the same'?
None of this is to condone piracy btw - I just think that p2p/sharing it's the next step in an evolutionary chain which started a long, long time back... and there is money to be made by the existing content providers...
My feeling is that it's just a case of the content providers recognising that people will pay, providing certain restrictions are lifted - personally, I would happily pay for downloadable content on the single proviso that when I have purchased it, I am unrestricted on how I personally choose to watch it - be it on the TV, desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone or my wrist watch... a DVD more or less provides me with that, though without any legal rights of course.. it has become the norm to allow CD -> mp3 conversion, so why the restrictions on video?
I'd also add that it's far greener to have a p2p solution for the transcoded versions:-) - there is quite some heavy cpu use/power consumption involved with decent encodings...
But a lot of things have changed over the years - when artists first started making money, they got it through commission through a patron - the rich patron would pay for the artist to produce and as a result, the general public got to share the works (OK, perhaps with a covering charge to see a play or attend a live performance - which would be the main motivation for some, but not all, of the original commissioning).
Regardless, the commissioned artist was given the ability to ply his trade, and use the uncommissioned time to create new original works, hone their skills or just switch off from that and focus on family or boozing or whatever they did best:-).
Over the years, these patrons of the arts have survived and become the publishers and associated organisations which we have today. With distribution mechanisms which have evolved from the earliest printing presses to dvd manufacturing plants, they have seen their profits escalate to dizzying proportions - only, now they're threatened by the same progress of technology which they've been riding for centuries and are calling foul (and not for the first time either... cassettes, vhs, mp3...).
In times before, they have risen to the occasion and increased their profit margins despite their initial reluctance... and here too, they have a perfect opportunity to profit by the current technology (I can think of quite a few ways to do it that would seem reasonable and fair - don't see why they can't...).
Think the moderation of flamebait is unjustified here - it's a valid point of view and could even be read as funny (depending on whether or not you like the big budget movies or not).
Whether it's accurate is another matter altogether though... you have to consider that a small broadcasting/production house which caters to a niche market, but only has limited broadcast footprint could actually benefit from the torrents - it would be able to reach far further afield right from the outset, which could, in turn lead to more interest on an international scale.
For example, I wonder how many DVD orders for the new Red Dwarf episodes will be placed as a direct consequence of the torrent availability and subsequent 'try before you buy' which it enabled to a much wider audience? Difficult to determine in the case of an established brand perhaps, but I wonder how long it will be before we see new productions which will benefit directly from this model.
I am in a similar situation to yourself - my 8 year old autistic son is also incapable of speech.
No vinyl floors here either, of course, and in the intervening years between then and the arrival of our second (perfectly normal) son, we had made quite a number of changes to the house, but I sincerely doubt that analysing those changes would reveal anything useful.
Still, I always find it interesting to hear of these studies, even if they don't directly match our situation.
Speaking as a Brit who never grew out of comics completely, I can only suggest that everyone has different tastes - the only thing you're missing is a liking for superheroes:-) - doesn't seem to be too complex to me.
And for the record, the majority of the best comics produced in America have British authors (Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Garth Ennis etc), so no, it's not only Americans who have a love for this kind of stuff.
But on the Batman/Superman being cheesy - yeah, you're right - they generally are (doesn't mean that there aren't good stories associated to the characters though). As a kid, I was fascinated by Chris Claremont's X-Men, Frank Miller's Daredevil and pretty much anyone who did Spider-man (Marvel's flagship titles tended to be handled very well). But typically, it's not the superhero that holds my attention - it was (and remains) a combination of story telling and artwork - these days, I only read comics sporadically and very few feature superheroes. But there's still part of me that never grew up and never wants to and that part still gets a kick out of the whole genre:-).
Remember, the browsing internet *on windows* is like running around a main Road at 2am, it looks safe, it seems safe, but you still look both ways before crossing.
Suppose that's fair enough - can't imagine many reasons for having hundreds of tiny config files for a single app by default, but I guess if there's no attempt to consolidate various components state, then it could happen and I would agree with you that it's overkill.
Will take your word on the prevalent use of fsync in VCS's - never looked tbh, just used it as a common example of something which (fairly critically) tends to be made of many, many files...:-).
Have to agree - suggesting a db to replace 'hundreds of small files' is an appalling attitude. Doesn't even make sense that a developer who's ever used a source code repo would think that was reasonable.
Unlikely scenario, but say there's a source code repo running on ext4, and as a developer, I want to make changes to hudreds of files in the repo - I checkin and the server goes bang - what's the repo state likely to be? How/why would you use a db to implement the repo? Why should the repo be patched to run specifically on that file system?
Picking up on this conversation late, but wanted to chip in anyway...
My eldest son is also diagnosed autistic - and like yours, communication is his main problem. He'll be 8 in March and is still communicating with us in very basic ways. Very sweet natured and quite capable/responsible, but lacks speech.
Unlike you, the situation was picked up by his teacher's at pre-school (trying to think back - he would have been about 3?), but our doctor was pushing it back and saying it was just a normal symptom for boy's in multi-lingual environments (I am a native English speaker, my wife speaks Flemish) to fall behind in this area.
His younger brother is babbling away like he swallowed two dictionaries - just turned 2 a month back - maybe doesn't say a lot, but I guess not all doctor's and teacher's are equal? That's not to disparage our doctor, but really just to emphasise the difficulties involved in diagnosing it I guess.
Anyway, don't really have anything to add to the conversation:-), but just wanted to say you're not alone:-).
Sorry, but no, that is nowhere near 'pretty much it' - as soon as you want to link in with libraries in a cross platform manner, generate platform specific release mechanisms (thing mac framework and app bundles), or do anything which doesn't fall into your example there, you're back in wild and woolly territory... and yes, those things are beyond autotools, but they're also beyond the core scons too.
Wouldn't it make more sense to do it the other way round? Virtualise the crippled system inside the uncrippled one? Share the goodness and run multiple instances while you're at it:-).
Slashdot Mirror
Well, that's the second browser-based game I've tried to play that isn't cross platform.
Strangely, all he's done is really raise publicity for his fine... and provided details on how that fine can be paid off.
On top of that, he's made everyone aware that small payments will not pay it off..
Now say lots of people do what he says (for fun and giggles) - it'd be back in the news again. So his message remains visible... and there will be media interest in it, so it will remain visible.
But say lots of people do it - all chipping in a SEK... why not collect it and work toward paying off the fine? More media interest to follow...
FTA: Mininova co-founder Niek told TorrentFreak that the system will be tested for 12 weeks with only a few titles.
That wasn't why I was saying he was right - the strl* functions disguise errors which should not occur if the application is coded correctly. They may avoid a crash, but they won't necessarily provide the desired results and that could be far worse...
But, umm, he's right. He may have been abrupt in the way he phrased his initial response, but his reasoning is not at fault.
Fast copy/paste which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever - under what circumstances is copy/pasting rectangles useful? I've never sussed it out...
IRDA can't be used for this and is really not very common these days anyway. I recently bought an iguana USB IR transceiver from http://www.iguanaworks.net/ and that works great for both reception and transmission.
I use it control my projector, hdmi switch box, digital receiver, dvd player and so on, as well as providing its own media playing capabilities through the switch/projector. Essentially, one remote control to replace the many.
But the geek needs to be brought to his senses.
Why? What purpose would that serve? Are you planning something?
Serious horsepower at a mass market price. Mature 64 bit drivers. Win 7 just around the corner.
What's not to love?
Are you expecting a serious answer to that?
Dual-core is Coming Soon to a netbook near you. It won't be long before XP stops making sense even at entry level.
They're here now, and it has already stopped making sense to use XP there - ubuntu 9.04 is working just dandy thanks (just as it does on the older models).
I would argue that in today's economic climate, they really do want people to buy the OS - people are less inclined to buy new hardware at the moment and as a result, their normal market has shrunk.
Back with windows 95 and 98, they did pretty well shifting shrink wrap boxes, and I would imagine they'd like to recreate that if they can... giving a year's 'free use' seems like a fairly sane attempt to do that, especially in light of the kick back against vista.
Well, for the first time ever, my ATI M56P (Radeon Mobility X1600) has behaved perfectly since upgrading to 9.04.
In fact, been very impressed with the distro in general - have installed it on a couple of machines here (Tosh laptop, dual boot on my MacBook Pro and on a MacMini [latest edition] - the only problem has been on the MacMini - no sound and doesn't reboot, but shuts down just fine).
No problems - enjoying the conversation :-)
But I would point out, that at least in hollywood, the tastes of the rich are doing precisely what you're suggesting - everyone from directors, script writers, actors and onwards are working on a basis which is very much like patronage for the vast majority of the content they produce. The marketing people/producers identify a concept and a market to tap and assemble a team to make it happen - there is still creative input, in much the same way as the historical figures you mentioned would have had on their own commissioned works, but it's still 'done to order'. Nothing particularly wrong with it either, providing those who are providing the cash can distinguish the subtle difference between good and bad and a single patron doesn't obtain a monopoly...
I'm not so sure that world of music is so dissimilar - the 'patron' here will sometimes manufacture/commission (boy/girl band type of stuff - aimed at a demographic), but generally, they'll be dictated by their own tastes and understanding of the tastes of others before they'll commission an act of any sort...
Don't know :-) - is it just a case of 'the more things change, the more things stay the same'?
None of this is to condone piracy btw - I just think that p2p/sharing it's the next step in an evolutionary chain which started a long, long time back... and there is money to be made by the existing content providers...
My feeling is that it's just a case of the content providers recognising that people will pay, providing certain restrictions are lifted - personally, I would happily pay for downloadable content on the single proviso that when I have purchased it, I am unrestricted on how I personally choose to watch it - be it on the TV, desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone or my wrist watch... a DVD more or less provides me with that, though without any legal rights of course.. it has become the norm to allow CD -> mp3 conversion, so why the restrictions on video?
I'd also add that it's far greener to have a p2p solution for the transcoded versions :-) - there is quite some heavy cpu use/power consumption involved with decent encodings...
And you could well be right too :-).
But a lot of things have changed over the years - when artists first started making money, they got it through commission through a patron - the rich patron would pay for the artist to produce and as a result, the general public got to share the works (OK, perhaps with a covering charge to see a play or attend a live performance - which would be the main motivation for some, but not all, of the original commissioning).
Regardless, the commissioned artist was given the ability to ply his trade, and use the uncommissioned time to create new original works, hone their skills or just switch off from that and focus on family or boozing or whatever they did best :-).
Over the years, these patrons of the arts have survived and become the publishers and associated organisations which we have today. With distribution mechanisms which have evolved from the earliest printing presses to dvd manufacturing plants, they have seen their profits escalate to dizzying proportions - only, now they're threatened by the same progress of technology which they've been riding for centuries and are calling foul (and not for the first time either... cassettes, vhs, mp3...).
In times before, they have risen to the occasion and increased their profit margins despite their initial reluctance... and here too, they have a perfect opportunity to profit by the current technology (I can think of quite a few ways to do it that would seem reasonable and fair - don't see why they can't...).
Think the moderation of flamebait is unjustified here - it's a valid point of view and could even be read as funny (depending on whether or not you like the big budget movies or not).
Whether it's accurate is another matter altogether though... you have to consider that a small broadcasting/production house which caters to a niche market, but only has limited broadcast footprint could actually benefit from the torrents - it would be able to reach far further afield right from the outset, which could, in turn lead to more interest on an international scale.
For example, I wonder how many DVD orders for the new Red Dwarf episodes will be placed as a direct consequence of the torrent availability and subsequent 'try before you buy' which it enabled to a much wider audience? Difficult to determine in the case of an established brand perhaps, but I wonder how long it will be before we see new productions which will benefit directly from this model.
I am in a similar situation to yourself - my 8 year old autistic son is also incapable of speech.
No vinyl floors here either, of course, and in the intervening years between then and the arrival of our second (perfectly normal) son, we had made quite a number of changes to the house, but I sincerely doubt that analysing those changes would reveal anything useful.
Still, I always find it interesting to hear of these studies, even if they don't directly match our situation.
Speaking as a Brit who never grew out of comics completely, I can only suggest that everyone has different tastes - the only thing you're missing is a liking for superheroes :-) - doesn't seem to be too complex to me.
And for the record, the majority of the best comics produced in America have British authors (Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Garth Ennis etc), so no, it's not only Americans who have a love for this kind of stuff.
But on the Batman/Superman being cheesy - yeah, you're right - they generally are (doesn't mean that there aren't good stories associated to the characters though). As a kid, I was fascinated by Chris Claremont's X-Men, Frank Miller's Daredevil and pretty much anyone who did Spider-man (Marvel's flagship titles tended to be handled very well). But typically, it's not the superhero that holds my attention - it was (and remains) a combination of story telling and artwork - these days, I only read comics sporadically and very few feature superheroes. But there's still part of me that never grew up and never wants to and that part still gets a kick out of the whole genre :-).
Remember, the browsing internet *on windows* is like running around a main Road at 2am, it looks safe, it seems safe, but you still look both ways before crossing.
Attempted to fix that for you :-).
Suppose that's fair enough - can't imagine many reasons for having hundreds of tiny config files for a single app by default, but I guess if there's no attempt to consolidate various components state, then it could happen and I would agree with you that it's overkill.
Will take your word on the prevalent use of fsync in VCS's - never looked tbh, just used it as a common example of something which (fairly critically) tends to be made of many, many files... :-).
Have to agree - suggesting a db to replace 'hundreds of small files' is an appalling attitude. Doesn't even make sense that a developer who's ever used a source code repo would think that was reasonable.
Unlikely scenario, but say there's a source code repo running on ext4, and as a developer, I want to make changes to hudreds of files in the repo - I checkin and the server goes bang - what's the repo state likely to be? How/why would you use a db to implement the repo? Why should the repo be patched to run specifically on that file system?
Bizarre...
Indeed - apparently no one died that year - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/133
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duckspeak#Duckspeak
I think the intention is that it will raise public awareness of the issue, and is thus a good thing.
Picking up on this conversation late, but wanted to chip in anyway...
My eldest son is also diagnosed autistic - and like yours, communication is his main problem. He'll be 8 in March and is still communicating with us in very basic ways. Very sweet natured and quite capable/responsible, but lacks speech.
Unlike you, the situation was picked up by his teacher's at pre-school (trying to think back - he would have been about 3?), but our doctor was pushing it back and saying it was just a normal symptom for boy's in multi-lingual environments (I am a native English speaker, my wife speaks Flemish) to fall behind in this area.
His younger brother is babbling away like he swallowed two dictionaries - just turned 2 a month back - maybe doesn't say a lot, but I guess not all doctor's and teacher's are equal? That's not to disparage our doctor, but really just to emphasise the difficulties involved in diagnosing it I guess.
Anyway, don't really have anything to add to the conversation :-), but just wanted to say you're not alone :-).
Sorry, but no, that is nowhere near 'pretty much it' - as soon as you want to link in with libraries in a cross platform manner, generate platform specific release mechanisms (thing mac framework and app bundles), or do anything which doesn't fall into your example there, you're back in wild and woolly territory... and yes, those things are beyond autotools, but they're also beyond the core scons too.
Wouldn't it make more sense to do it the other way round? Virtualise the crippled system inside the uncrippled one? Share the goodness and run multiple instances while you're at it :-).