A better option might be Nethack or ADOM or Angband...
Can you recommend something with at least Diablo-quality graphics? (Diablo 1, not even 2 or 3)? All three of the choices you mentioned appear to be text-based (and no, sprite tilesets don't count).
I've been boycotting Blizzard since Freecraft or bnetd (whichever was first). I do not own World of Warcraft, Starcraft 2, or Diablo 3 (nor do I have pirated versions).
The one thing esr didn't address in that page (maybe he's done it elsewhere) is the redistribution rights associated w/ open-source. It's one thing to give your open source to your customers when they buy the software from you, so that they can make alterations that suit them better, under terms and conditions agreeable to both of you (things like do they have to contribute back to the tree, and so on)
However, the way I see it, you'd also be fully justified in telling your customer that it's for his use only, and no one elses. In other words, he can't give that DVD to his friend to install in his own computer, as opposed to sending his friend to buy it from you. That act does make him your competitor - something you didn't factor in in your business plan. So yeah, you can and should price your software, and then give the source code only to those who buy the binaries from you, not give it away to everybody else.
Here's a tip: When ESR talks about "open source" software, he's talking about the same thing as when RMS talks about "Free Software," which is completely different from what you obviously think it is.
The "redistribution rights" are the entire point! "Customers," "competitors," and "business plans," on the other hand, are completely irrelevant.
On-star... Well OK, it's hard to build your own car.
It's not hard to buy a used car that doesn't have it, though (and there may even still be models of new cars that don't spy on you, maybe).
Depending on what your preferences are, some used cars are better than their "modern" equivalents anyway. For example, if I had to choose between my 1998 VW Beetle TDI and a 2013 VW Beetle TDI, I'd pick my '98 (even without considering black boxes and whatnot).
do you think about who's gonna spy on you when you talk on the phone, when you watch tv, when you drive your on-star car??
I don't trust my phone.
My TV isn't connected to the Internet.
My cars not only don't have On-Star, they don't even have black-boxes, tire-pressure monitoring systems, traction/stability/whatever control, or even automatic transmissions (although the last is just personal preference).
If in the future I were forced to buy a car with On-Star (or a system like it), it'd be getting ripped out as soon as the car arrived in my driveway.
I interpreted that statement differently: it's not that government agencies seek to keep weaknesses secret in order to avoid being attacked, it's that they want them secret so that they can use those weaknesses to attack others.
Perhaps they take two pictures (from two different cameras): one of the driver, and simultaneously one of the license plate. (I imagine they'd need one pic from behind anyway to see the phase of the streetlight -- otherwise, with just a picture of the driver, how do you even prove the light was red?)
Here in Georgia, they've instead redefined the offense to be an "administrative" or "civil" infraction so that they can cite the vehicle owner without needing the higher burden of proof.
Unfortunately, most "professionals" these days have never heard of "plain text" and insist on producing documents in proprietary, not-easily-diffable formats.
Best Buy did that too (and still does, I think). They have a policy on their extended warranties where they refund the purchase price upon the 4th time the computer has a hardware problem.
My family went from Packard Bell 486 -> eMachines K6 laptop -> HP K6 laptop -> Compaq P4 laptop -> iMac G4 -> iMac Core Duo. (Unfortunately, the latter iMac was reliable enough that the sequence ended there... I still have and use it.)
Clearly unlike Sears, however, merely being obsolete wouldn't count!
Only to the extent that a rocky, mountainous desert counts as "[farm]land" in the same way that prime, fertile, alluvial bottomland next to a reliable water source does.
Not to mention that there's also a trend towards "fencing off" the Public Domain and tools used for creating such works.
That explains it, then. If your school has a CS department, I suggest asking your adviser if you can substitute the "real" intro to CS class (that CS majors take) for the worthless class non-CS majors usually take. They should have no problem with it, especially since you'd be substituting a more rigorous class for a less rigorous one.
That's the situation that cross-border copyright protection deals with. It allows us to sell things in different countries at prices the locals can afford. If differential pricing was illegal or unenforced, the price would be set for the west, and the rest of the world wouldn't be able to afford it
And how, exactly, would that be a problem? Or more precisely, why should we as Westerners be obligated to subsidize the rest of the world to our own detriment?
I think it makes a decent enough analogy: copyright holders are the modern equivalent of the landed gentry, and the rest of us serfs have to pay absurd rent to them in order to get anything done.
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Can you recommend something with at least Diablo-quality graphics? (Diablo 1, not even 2 or 3)? All three of the choices you mentioned appear to be text-based (and no, sprite tilesets don't count).
I've been boycotting Blizzard since Freecraft or bnetd (whichever was first). I do not own World of Warcraft, Starcraft 2, or Diablo 3 (nor do I have pirated versions).
Registering your copyright enables you to demand triple damages.
Here's a tip: When ESR talks about "open source" software, he's talking about the same thing as when RMS talks about "Free Software," which is completely different from what you obviously think it is.
The "redistribution rights" are the entire point! "Customers," "competitors," and "business plans," on the other hand, are completely irrelevant.
It's not hard to buy a used car that doesn't have it, though (and there may even still be models of new cars that don't spy on you, maybe).
Depending on what your preferences are, some used cars are better than their "modern" equivalents anyway. For example, if I had to choose between my 1998 VW Beetle TDI and a 2013 VW Beetle TDI, I'd pick my '98 (even without considering black boxes and whatnot).
If in the future I were forced to buy a car with On-Star (or a system like it), it'd be getting ripped out as soon as the car arrived in my driveway.
Until the bank sells the data to Facebook (or gets hacked)...
Perhaps we should string up all the idiots who don't understand that "could" is not a synonym of "couldn't."
I interpreted that statement differently: it's not that government agencies seek to keep weaknesses secret in order to avoid being attacked, it's that they want them secret so that they can use those weaknesses to attack others.
Perhaps they take two pictures (from two different cameras): one of the driver, and simultaneously one of the license plate. (I imagine they'd need one pic from behind anyway to see the phase of the streetlight -- otherwise, with just a picture of the driver, how do you even prove the light was red?)
Here in Georgia, they've instead redefined the offense to be an "administrative" or "civil" infraction so that they can cite the vehicle owner without needing the higher burden of proof.
Unfortunately, most "professionals" these days have never heard of "plain text" and insist on producing documents in proprietary, not-easily-diffable formats.
There's also "Western" in the "NATO, not Soviet" sense that the GP could be thinking of (even if Tolstoy predates that concept).
I've bought 12-packs of CFLs that came in a cardboard box; that worked just fine.
That's irrelevant, because the difference in flow would be caused by the use, not the dam.
A spectator sport, you mean.
That would be just fine, as long as the government isn't allowed to interact with those people either.
So much for my "yo dawg, I heard you like radiation..." joke!
How do you know whether or not hermit crabs have hang-ups over seeing each other shell-less?
Right, which is why you need to get out of that class.
Best Buy did that too (and still does, I think). They have a policy on their extended warranties where they refund the purchase price upon the 4th time the computer has a hardware problem.
My family went from Packard Bell 486 -> eMachines K6 laptop -> HP K6 laptop -> Compaq P4 laptop -> iMac G4 -> iMac Core Duo. (Unfortunately, the latter iMac was reliable enough that the sequence ended there... I still have and use it.)
Clearly unlike Sears, however, merely being obsolete wouldn't count!
Only to the extent that a rocky, mountainous desert counts as "[farm]land" in the same way that prime, fertile, alluvial bottomland next to a reliable water source does.
Not to mention that there's also a trend towards "fencing off" the Public Domain and tools used for creating such works.
That explains it, then. If your school has a CS department, I suggest asking your adviser if you can substitute the "real" intro to CS class (that CS majors take) for the worthless class non-CS majors usually take. They should have no problem with it, especially since you'd be substituting a more rigorous class for a less rigorous one.
So what happens when you decide you don't need your "personal use" copy anymore, and decide to sell it?
And how, exactly, would that be a problem? Or more precisely, why should we as Westerners be obligated to subsidize the rest of the world to our own detriment?
I think it makes a decent enough analogy: copyright holders are the modern equivalent of the landed gentry, and the rest of us serfs have to pay absurd rent to them in order to get anything done.