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User: Zigg

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  1. Re:Ethics on Mitchell Kapor Leaves Groove Over TIA · · Score: 1

    Why not come up with a variation of the GPL, the GPLL (Gnu Public License for Liberty) that has a direct stipulation in it that it can't be used by various agencies of world governments.

    You forget one important point. Governments are responsible for the laws that make your license enforceable. If they really wanted to use your software, they'd find a way; especially if they wanted to use it for the nefarious deeds you seem to fear they will use it for.

    In addition, as is also pointed out by other contributors to this thread, such a clause would most certainly backfire in one way or another.

  2. Re:Arcade Were Cool... on Xbox Coming to Arcades · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yeah. It's this neat thing that's normally pegged at 3%/year. In twenty years, a 25 cent play should only be costing 45 cents (or, in the interests of roundness, 50).

  3. Re:Numb on Office 2003 Beta 2 Screen Shots · · Score: 1

    ... to say that Windows 95 is better than the newer versions is just idiotic!

    No, it isn't. Windows 95 preceded the Great IE Integration Push (most versions, and those that didn't can be .INF edited on installation to be IE-free) that really managed to kill both any kind of stability and simple user experience. I still install 95 places where I need to use Windows today.

  4. Re:reply on Office 2003 Beta 2 Screen Shots · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Which is all well and good until you have scripts embedded in document formats, at which point you're going to get exposed anyway. But when this was brought up to people "in the know" on Advogato, they all hid behind the chmod +x defense. Pretty pathetic.

  5. Re:weeks vs. hours on Do Scripters Suffer Discrimination? · · Score: 1

    And no using 'templates'

    Why not?

  6. Re:I agree, but... on Do Scripters Suffer Discrimination? · · Score: 1

    Yes. Jython would be an excellent choice here, as it can be compiled to/talk to Java stuff.

  7. Re:X-less QT on IBM Picks Qtopia Over PalmOS And PocketPC · · Score: 1

    Joe Average doesn't want everything to look like the proverbial bazaar. He doesn't want scantily clad ladies grinding metal and dancing through hoops on their bodies...

    No, I think he does. You obviously haven't been in Joe Average's garage to see his wall calendar, or seen the magazines in his bathroom...

    (Seriously, I find that the less serious someone is about their computer, the more shiny things attract their attention. This is why spyware is such a winning proposition, and why e-mail worms propagate like they do.)

  8. Re:super mario 3 rules... I think on NES PC · · Score: 1

    ...a futile wild-goose chase for the legendary 97th exit hidden in the sunken ghost ship. Argh.

    Well, it's not in the Sunken Ghost Ship, but there supposedly is a 97th stage.

  9. Re:Legislative stupidity on E-commerce Sites to Collect Sales Taxes Nationwide · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So maybe the states could try *gasp* making cuts in their spending?! My God! Maybe even eliminate some of the less useful government programs, such as the ones created just to insure a certain block of voters goes for a particular party every few years? Imagine that!

  10. Re:Good to see on Gnome 2.0 Officially Available For Solaris · · Score: 1

    I've been using 2.0 beta 3 for several weeks now on my Ultra 10 and it's dog slow. Especially when metacity opts to crash (multihead and all that), sigh.

    I think the slowness is Xsun's fault though, since essentially the same software runs nicely on my Debian-based laptop. (I'm looking to get this box recommissioned as a dev server and get a Linux box on my desk instead.)

  11. Re:Impressive... on uClinux Ported to the iPod · · Score: 1

    Especially if it can support bitrate peeling. Mmm...

  12. Re:Ah... French people... on Asterix and Mobilix Redux · · Score: 1

    Why is it that each time some American company does something wrong, nobody says the Americans this or the Americans that?

    Actually, they do. You haven't been listening hard enough.

  13. Recycled what? on Superbowl XXXVII · · Score: 1

    ...but perhaps there will be something more interesting than ads for recycled movies.

    How about a recycled story instead, then?

  14. Re:The government didn't fund it ... on America's Army on Linux · · Score: 1

    Toll roads aren't so bad if you don't have to pay the nearly 40 cents/gal on gas in taxes.

  15. Re:But remember one thing... on Tech Firms Fight Copy Protection Laws · · Score: 1

    Most of these companies actually lobbied for the DMCA when it came out! Oh the hypocrisy of it all...

    Not really. The alliance only seems to oppose government-mandated DRM tech; it firmly supports the industry coming up with their own tech. Consider that the DMCA is a powerful tool to make this possible, as they still get to throw people in jail who attack their tech.

    It's not dissimilar to permitting these people to write their own laws, really. Without the DMCA, noses would continue to be thumbed at these guys, and any DRM they came up with would be destroyed faster than they could blink.

  16. Re:Java hype on The Future of Java? · · Score: 1

    Re regexes and the hype against Perl: it gets ironic when you learn that JDK1.4 ships with its own regex engine.

    Not that I care all that much for Perl, but regexes are probably the single most useful programming tool I've had the pleasure of dealing with. Anywhere.

  17. Re:Yes they did... on The Future of Java? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    As someone who's had his head in Java code for a few months now, working on a complex system, I'll heartily rag on it. It takes twice as much code to get the same thing done as it does in Python, and the result is slower to boot. But reliability is key, and the Python VM (as well as Jython) had some problems when this project was started, so here I am.

  18. Re:Too many already. on Phantom Game Console · · Score: 1

    I dont have any desire for an xbox, ps2 gamecube or other... my PC is just fine. and it serves a hell of a lot more functions than a console system.

    To each his own, of course, but give me a console any day. I buy a game, and I put it in, and it works. I don't have to fuss with this driver or that driver, keep up on components that each cost at least as much as an entirely new console, etc.

    Of course, I've got PCs. But they don't play the games (with the exception of the little toy games that I can pop up, like Frozen Bubble.)

  19. Re:Shoddy Thinking at it's best. on UFO Evidence From SOHO Satellite · · Score: 1

    You can find clues about real projects in films/series like .... MIB

    I knew there was something not quite right about that Shalhoub guy.

  20. Re:Hardware accelerated text game on Falcon's Eye: a Make-over for Nethack · · Score: 1

    I miss the controller-throwers. My controllers don't though. :-)

  21. Re:There's something a little distasteful here. on The End of the Free PCI Device List (Update) · · Score: 1

    The trademark was granted only three months ago.

    Makes me wonder if some clueless suit at the SIG decided, upon receipt of his new trademark toy, to play with it by sending lawyers out after its "misuse".

  22. Re:WRONG -- it's illegal to give away any of them on Apple Smacks Down iCommune · · Score: 1

    You can make copies for your own personnel use

    Cool, then all I need to do is hire some people, then I can give them copies. But seriously...

    With the DMCA, and DRM of any kind, you can't make copies for your own personal use.

  23. Re:Here's Your Answer, Sandy! on Disney Wins, Eldred (and everyone else) Loses · · Score: 1

    Simply because they can be used as a tool does not mean they are the be-all and end-all of constitutionality. It is very possible for reasonable, thoughtful people to disagree as the justices did in this case, and indeed to opt not to use the Papers at all.

    I primarily take offense to the original poster's condemnation of Justice O'Connor's opinion as "conservative", but especially on such shaky grounds.

  24. Re:OT: Taxes on Disney Wins, Eldred (and everyone else) Loses · · Score: 2

    Whee, Offtopicness... I just have to respond, though not to all. You're in italics.

    Real estate: I rent. And the people you rent from pay the taxes, making it more expensive for them to maintain the property, and often pass the entire cost on to you.

    Excise taxes: Don't know what this is. "An internal tax imposed on the production, sale, or consumption of a commodity or the use of a service within a country: excises on tobacco, liquor, and long-distance telephone." Yes, you pay this. There are lots of them.

    Gas: It was my understanding that gas stations got charged this, not the consumer. And you pay for it when you buy gas. If there were no or less tax on gas, gas stations could lower their prices in response to competition. (Note that I do support gas taxes as a good example of a use tax -- making someone pay for the government service they use.)

    Airport: I don't fly that often. Ever have something delivered Next Day Air? The taxes are built-in to this as well. Again, this could be considered a use tax, and probably justified.

    Water and sewage (and, I'm assuming, garbage collection): Again, I rent. And again, you pay for it, indirectly.

    Electricity and telephone: slipped my mind. Doesn't slip mine, whenever I pay my phone or electric bills. Something that would make me laugh heartily if I didn't take keeping my money seriously -- the local political hacks are trying to pass laws saying a telco can't charge the end-user line fee anymore, but somehow, the taxes tacked on to the bill escape their notice...

    Tolls, etc.: don't live anywhere near toll roads. See airport, but apply it to ground shipments instead.

    Just remember these (and think a little bit about others) when a politician (like Michigan's own Governor Jenny) proposes that the way to deal with lack of money for their pet programs is to raise taxes on businesses "instead of real people".

  25. Re:Here's Your Answer, Sandy! on Disney Wins, Eldred (and everyone else) Loses · · Score: 2

    Are you honestly backing up your accusation with your inability to distinguish what someone was thinking and what they actually wrote? In a (probably vain attempt) to help you, I will explain: the former is "in [the] mind [of the framers]", the latter is actual constitutionality.

    Get a grip, and save your anti-conservative vitriol for when you have a case, eh?