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User: Steven+Blanchley

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Comments · 132

  1. Re:Slashdot Lacks Clue, Abandons "Reporting" on Microsoft Wins Browser War, Abandons 'Innovation' · · Score: 1

    Would you care to elaborate?

  2. Re:Give it up, MS! on Company Files Motion to Stop IE Distribution · · Score: 1

    Actually, Netscape is dead and the Mozilla project is no longer sponsored by AOL. Where have you been?

  3. Re:it's true on Linux will have 20% desktop market share by 2008? · · Score: 1

    What about pinball? Windows NT came with a pinball game.

  4. Re:Defeating key loggers 101 on Microsoft Stops Development Of Outlook Express · · Score: 1

    Or use the mouse instead. Duh.

  5. Re:Slimey adverts? on Nutch: An Open Source Search Engine · · Score: 1
    You see... ads on google are relevant to your search criteria, yet are separate from the results.
    More and more the first part of that is becoming untrue. I searched for "hiccups" about an hour ago and got an ad for eBay. I'm starting to tune out the ads completely, since they're no longer relevant.
  6. Re:Hook it up to slashdot! on Nutch: An Open Source Search Engine · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No, many comments don't end up getting indexed by Google, and recent discussions aren't indexed at all. I've tried that method in the past with little success.

  7. Re:Drug related titles on Three Snort Books Reviewed · · Score: 1

    What drug slang does "MySQL" sound like?

  8. Even cheaper at Bookpool on Three Snort Books Reviewed · · Score: 4, Interesting
  9. Re:If you need a commercial product with 24x7 supp on Three Snort Books Reviewed · · Score: 1
    this uses open source software (snort)
    What, you don't like open source for some reason?
  10. Anyone else read that as on Three Snort Books Reviewed · · Score: 1, Funny

    "Three Short Books Reviewed"?

  11. Re:May I direct your attention... on The Double Edge of Copyright Extensions · · Score: 1

    It's $1 every five years after the fifty-year mark. If you don't make $1 profit from a copyright in five years, what the hell is it good for?

  12. Re:I love english on The Double Edge of Copyright Extensions · · Score: 0, Redundant

    The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen? It should be TEG!

  13. Re:FreeBSD & Embedded Devices on FreeBSD 5.1 Released · · Score: 1
    NetBSD is free of the GPL. Its BSD license is the most flexible, business-friendly license available. Users may change the kernel or add drivers while keeping the changes entirely secret.
    RTFL: This is also allowed by the GPL and always has been. You only have to distribute source if you distribute binaries. In fact, licenses that don't allow private modifications to be kept secret are not free software licenses.
  14. Re:Shiver me timbers! on Senator Orrin Hatch a Pirate? · · Score: 1

    No, he would have to send two warning notices first. But maybe two other senators have also pirated the software!

  15. Re:Ummm.... Hello? on A Mighty Wind · · Score: 1

    If you can't say anything to prove the original post wrong, do you suppose maybe that's because it was right? Ridiculous name-calling doesn't make you look smart.

  16. Dupe? on Brazil Mandates Shift to Free Software · · Score: 0, Troll

    I could've sworn I saw this article here a day or two ago.

  17. Re:c for dummies.. on QBASIC Programming for Dummies · · Score: 1

    C for Dummies is horrible. It's extremely platform-dependent and ought to be called "C for DOS for Dummies," or maybe "C for Borland C++ for DOS for Dummies"). It wastes far too much space with plodding, tiresome explanations and cornball jokes. I recommend avoiding it at all costs.

    I advise people who are new to programming to follow these introductory notes with K&R2 and the comp.lang.c FAQ as reference materials.

  18. Re:Speaking as a QBasic user ... groan on QBASIC Programming for Dummies · · Score: 1
    I can't believe that this language, which isn't all that old, doesn't have parameters which can be returned from a subroutine (without using globals).
    You can't return things from a subroutine, but you can return them from a function. That's the whole point of the distinction. Functions return values, subs don't. That's also how it is in several other flavours of BASIC, such as VB.

    I agree with you that BASIC is rather cruddy to program in. When you have to do something "advanced," like reading or writing binary files, all the inconsistencies they added to the language to make it "easy to learn" come back to haunt you.

    Exceptions to the rules make languages confusing and harder to learn or use. That's why I have the apparently unpopular opinion that C is a great first language to learn. It's true that you can mess stuff up with pointers, but the rules of the language are simple, clean, and consistent. Contrast that to, say, Perl and Python, both of which have so many hacked-on features that the syntax rules are insanely complex and do lots of things you wouldn't expect.
  19. Re:Fitting title on QBASIC Programming for Dummies · · Score: -1

    Your post is redundant too; some AC already got to that one!

  20. Re:Holy see, Batman! on Los Angeles Gets Own TLD · · Score: 1

    Indeed. How long until Sealand gets its own TLD? I can't think what it would be, though; according to this page, .se, .sa, .sl, .sn, and .sd are all taken.

  21. Re:The RIAA guy is an idiot...Copy the good stuff. on Lessig And RIAA Answer NewsHour Questions · · Score: 1

    The post you replied to was saying that the recording industry persons need to find a new business model, and it is true. Copyright was, at the time of its creation, something that applied only to publishers. It didn't require ridiculous shit like the DMCA to enforce. With modern technology, copyright has applied in ways not even considered by its original proponents, and as we're seeing, it's often impractical to enforce it without taking away everyone's free speech and privacy and all that stuff.

    I don't know what the original poster's view was, but I don't believe copyright should be abolished completely. For works of entertainment and/or art, the context of this discussion, I think copyright should last much shorter than it does now (15-20 years seems fair) and should be more restricted, so that something like this would be the strictest license possible. Ultimately, that would benefit everyone. The business model of the *AA's might no longer work, but then, it really wouldn't work now if they weren't buying laws and all.

  22. Re:The RIAA guy is an idiot...Copy the good stuff. on Lessig And RIAA Answer NewsHour Questions · · Score: 1
    There is no fundamental right to be able to earn a living by making music.

    In the US there is. It's in the Constitution.
    Good one, and what does your version of the Constitution look like? "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, and allow everyone to earn a Living by making Music..."

    I make music, and I'm not able to earn a living from it. That's unconstitutional! Who should I sue?

    People are not entitled to make a living producing things that other people don't want to buy (e.g. vacuum tubes) but they are entitled to a limited (in time and in terms) monopoly on their creative works.
    Please RTFC before you start whining about it. Congress can enact copyright laws if they think it's a good idea (or if they've been paid enough, but that's a discussion for another day). They aren't required to. Quoting Article 1, Section 8:

    "The Congress shall have Power to...promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing
    for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right
    to their respective Writings and Discoveries"
  23. Re:Go, go, Apple, go! on Apple Sued Over Unix Trademark · · Score: 1

    It looks like there's some text cut off the bottom of that scan. Don't you see the bits of text down there?

  24. Mod parent up on RIAA Grabs Student's Life's Savings · · Score: 0

    I hate you, and I think you going to die. Just jesting. Seriously, though, mod parent up. It is definitely insightful.

  25. Re:With the amount of material they generate? on Public Domain Enhancement Act petition · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Even if it's a single song, big deal. Few CD's have more than 15 songs these days. If a CD isn't expected to earn $15 profit in five years, might as well let the copyright expire already.