In a perfect world, he would weigh the technical merits against the desires of the people and the economic impacts of the FCC's decision, and come to conclusions that were in the interest of everyone.
Fuck that! In a perfect world, answering the question "does this device cause harmful interference" and prohibiting it from use if it did would be the sole extent of the FCC's power!
So if the cops find on my computer the plans to make a very large bomb, the receipts from the Web sites where I bought bomb-making materials, and a PDF of the floor plan of my local nuclear reactor, those "very large numbers" wouldn't be significant either?
Exactly. They would only become significant if you actually tried to blow up the reactor. Why should kiddie porn be any different?
But I don't think he really cares - I imagine if he wants a song he just buys it and doesn't think much about the DRM because convenience is probably more important to him.
On the flip side, convenience is precisely one reason people should be thinking about the DRM. It's not very convenient to discover that you can't play your FairPlay music on your new PlaysForSure device (or vice-versa), for example.
For that you need more energy, so you're probably better off using a different technique (e.g. mechanical pendulum, as in Seiko's kinetic watches). Still, it's a great idea!
Huh. If what you say is true, then how is it that digital audio players were ruled legal in a court of law? At the time of that decision, the only ways to obtain files playable in those devices were to rip them from CDs, analog media, or the radio...
The only other solution is wxWidgets, but it also has big problems with applications behaving differently on different platforms.
You are aware that different platforms have different human interface guidelines, right? Having an application work differently based on the platform is a feature, not a bug!
I was merely stating that just because someone uses somehting that isn't as "open" as Stallman would like doesn't mean they are a dumb slave
I hate to break it to you, but nobody ever claimed that in the first place (except you, in your sig). Stop insulting people by putting words it their mouths, calling them "zealots," etc., and maybe they'll stop insulting you in return. When you start out by sounding like an ass, you should expect to get treated like one!
On the other hand, that kind of work isn't really just "writing XHTML/CSS," is it? It's really more like "writing the scripts and templates from which the XHTML/CSS is dynamically-generated," "writing an AJAX web app (which, of course, uses XHTML/CSS as its UI)", etc. -- things that require much more skill, in many more diverse technologies, than just "writing XHTML/CSS."
What I'm saying, is that if you really think that just because something _can_ be done, it _is_ being done, well, you're just not that interesting. Sorry. Nobody cares if you went to the beer store on thursday instead of wednesday this week. Unless you're an active suspect that is specifically being watched, there's no reason to watch you. And, if you are an active suspect, you're being watched anyway. So this is a null problem.
It's not a null problem! Why? Because you could become interesting. For example, what if you happened to frequent the same restaraunt as some criminal? Even though you had no association with him, the cellphones records would show the two of you "meeting" regularly, which could land you on a watch list purely by dumb (bad) luck. Or what if you witness a government official doing something he shouldn't, and he wants to shut you up? Well, congratulations: he now has a record of all your movement habits. Or what if your health insurance company decides that going to the Taco Bell drive through twice a week is too often, and raises your rate? What if your psycho ex happens to work at the phone company, and decides to start stalking you?
Here's my point: tracking data could be abused in an unlimited number of ways, even if you're a "normal" person.
Because the iPhone (allegedly) uses GPL code, you dumbfuck!
People license their code under the GPL specifically because they care about the openness. Jobs is welcome to make a devices as closed and proprietary as he wants, but he shouldn't be allowed to use GPL code to do it, as it is contrary to the license (and by extension, contrary to the wishes of the copyright holders). What's so hard to understand about that?
If the iPhone were entirely proprietary, neither I nor the FSF would be complaining (at least not in this manner).
According to your link, the "base" version will cost $300, and the "developer" version (with a 2nd battery, USB host cable, debug board, etc.) will cost $450. You wouldn't happen to have a guess at what the WiFi-enabled October version will cost, would you?
AppleTV has been repeatedly "hacked" for enhanced functionality, without so much as a whimper or firmware update from Apple. They know what's happening. They like it.
Apple even liked the people that loaded standard OS X, turning it into a cheaper Mac Mini?
They didn't back in the 80s, when RMS came up with the whole thing.
Besides, it's still relevant today: even if a particular user doesn't have the skill to make the changes he wants himself, he can still hire somebody to do it for him. The GPL is necessary to guarantee that he be allowed to do so.
Re:tivoisation
on
GPLv3 Released
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· Score: 2, Insightful
I don't understand the furor over Tivoisation, and think it's a really bad move on the FSF's part to ban it. In all the other articles I've seen tons of comments along the lines of "well if Tivo doesn't want to give back, then they can't use my code!" The thing is, Tivo does give back - they contribute any source code they add.
Her's what you're missing: the GPL exists to benefit USERS, not developers! As it stands, the users of TiVos are being screwed because they can't actually modify the code that runs on their own devices. The GPLv3 is designed to fix that.
If this still doesn't make sense, remember that the incident that incited RMS to start all this was that some company refused to give him the source code for the driver for his printer (it had a bug that he wanted to fix). The GPL exists to fix that problem. Sure, RMS could have just gotten a different printer, but that wasn't the point.
IIRC, the latest (i.e., so-called "Direct3D 10 compatible") graphics cards have MMUs, which would (theoretically) allow multiple OSs to share the card in the same way that they can currently share the CPU.
Bullshit! We're talking about picking a choice from a list, not AutoCAD or something! I mean, you don't even need an operating system for that (see e.g. GRUB).
Slashdot Mirror
Fuck that! In a perfect world, answering the question "does this device cause harmful interference" and prohibiting it from use if it did would be the sole extent of the FCC's power!
FYI, not much, unfortunately.
On the flip side, convenience is precisely one reason people should be thinking about the DRM. It's not very convenient to discover that you can't play your FairPlay music on your new PlaysForSure device (or vice-versa), for example.
For that you need more energy, so you're probably better off using a different technique (e.g. mechanical pendulum, as in Seiko's kinetic watches). Still, it's a great idea!
If only it could set itself automatically according to the NIST radio broadcasts it'd be perfect, eh?
Ah, but the Greeks didn't have a problem with it, now did they?
When did the world become so fucked up that people think that freely sharing information is somehow wrong?!
Huh. If what you say is true, then how is it that digital audio players were ruled legal in a court of law? At the time of that decision, the only ways to obtain files playable in those devices were to rip them from CDs, analog media, or the radio...
You are aware that different platforms have different human interface guidelines, right? Having an application work differently based on the platform is a feature, not a bug!
I think the OP was complaining that there are a lot of SUV-driving, Bush-supporting morons in the surrounding city, which is true.
I hate to break it to you, but nobody ever claimed that in the first place (except you, in your sig). Stop insulting people by putting words it their mouths, calling them "zealots," etc., and maybe they'll stop insulting you in return. When you start out by sounding like an ass, you should expect to get treated like one!
On the other hand, that kind of work isn't really just "writing XHTML/CSS," is it? It's really more like "writing the scripts and templates from which the XHTML/CSS is dynamically-generated," "writing an AJAX web app (which, of course, uses XHTML/CSS as its UI)", etc. -- things that require much more skill, in many more diverse technologies, than just "writing XHTML/CSS."
Considering that the whole point was to make a format that was actually good and free of all that cruft? YES!
It's not a null problem! Why? Because you could become interesting. For example, what if you happened to frequent the same restaraunt as some criminal? Even though you had no association with him, the cellphones records would show the two of you "meeting" regularly, which could land you on a watch list purely by dumb (bad) luck. Or what if you witness a government official doing something he shouldn't, and he wants to shut you up? Well, congratulations: he now has a record of all your movement habits. Or what if your health insurance company decides that going to the Taco Bell drive through twice a week is too often, and raises your rate? What if your psycho ex happens to work at the phone company, and decides to start stalking you?
Here's my point: tracking data could be abused in an unlimited number of ways, even if you're a "normal" person.
Because the iPhone (allegedly) uses GPL code, you dumbfuck!
People license their code under the GPL specifically because they care about the openness. Jobs is welcome to make a devices as closed and proprietary as he wants, but he shouldn't be allowed to use GPL code to do it, as it is contrary to the license (and by extension, contrary to the wishes of the copyright holders). What's so hard to understand about that?
If the iPhone were entirely proprietary, neither I nor the FSF would be complaining (at least not in this manner).
Yeah, and so is rust. What's your point?
According to your link, the "base" version will cost $300, and the "developer" version (with a 2nd battery, USB host cable, debug board, etc.) will cost $450. You wouldn't happen to have a guess at what the WiFi-enabled October version will cost, would you?
Apple even liked the people that loaded standard OS X, turning it into a cheaper Mac Mini?
They didn't back in the 80s, when RMS came up with the whole thing.
Besides, it's still relevant today: even if a particular user doesn't have the skill to make the changes he wants himself, he can still hire somebody to do it for him. The GPL is necessary to guarantee that he be allowed to do so.
Her's what you're missing: the GPL exists to benefit USERS , not developers! As it stands, the users of TiVos are being screwed because they can't actually modify the code that runs on their own devices. The GPLv3 is designed to fix that.
If this still doesn't make sense, remember that the incident that incited RMS to start all this was that some company refused to give him the source code for the driver for his printer (it had a bug that he wanted to fix). The GPL exists to fix that problem. Sure, RMS could have just gotten a different printer, but that wasn't the point.
IIRC, the latest (i.e., so-called "Direct3D 10 compatible") graphics cards have MMUs, which would (theoretically) allow multiple OSs to share the card in the same way that they can currently share the CPU.
Uh, or you can just use POP/SMTP, as GMail supports that.
What, and you think what is optimistically called a Slashdot "Editor," of all people, would know (let alone care) about W3 recommendations?! HA!
Bullshit! We're talking about picking a choice from a list, not AutoCAD or something! I mean, you don't even need an operating system for that (see e.g. GRUB).