Now that I think about it, it actually might not be -- it's possible that randomness isn't copyrightable. However, either way downloading it wouldn't be infringing, so it's a moot point.
The benefits lie not in what's available now; the benefits lie in what will become available later once the cable companies are forced to stop stifling innovation!
Don't dual-boot. Get a KVM switch and put multiple boxes under your desk. I mean, really.
Oh, I know -- in fact, I deleted Windows off my last remaining dual-boot box recently. However, that doesn't change the fact that many people do want to dual-boot (and as Linux gains market share, the number of people wanting to do so can only increase), so it is entirely reasonable to criticize Windows' stupidity about time.
You'd better hope you're wrong, because otherwise you owe me (pinky to mouth) one million dollars for having illegally downloaded and read my post! I never explicitly gave you permission to view it, just as the MPAA didn't give people explicit permission to download its torrent. I merely made it available, and you just assumed that it constituted permission. So ha ha, sucker -- you're screwed now!
Now, do you realize how stupid that argument would be? I mean, I realize that copyright law is fucked up, but it's got to give way to common sense sometime!
As a solution to the problem, another poster suggested setting your computer to ZULU time. Expanding on that, I think the best way to handle the issue is to use ZULU time for the time, and Julian dating (counting the number of days from the beginning of the year) for the date, for the master clock in the computer. That way, instead of having to tinker with the clock and calendar during the year, all you have to do is tell the system how many days are in the year (365 or 366).
Guess what: sane operating systems (i.e., every one of them except Windows) do exactly this!
First of all, it sets the hardware clock to local time rather than GMT, so it breaks other OSs when dual-booting. Second, it puts file timestamps in local time (at least on FAT), so if you change timezones your timestamps can get screwed up. And screwed up timestamps can actually break stuff -- backups, make, etc.
The MPAA still holds the copyright on the sequence of bytes it did upload... but it also gave permission to copy by the act of uploading it! (This is necessarily the case, because otherwise I could just as easily say that you were infringing my copyright by reading this post.)
...then either it wasn't copyright infringment, or the MPAA was infringing too! The only legitimate way for the MPAA to "catch" people committing copyright infringement would be to observe the swarm without uploading anything itself.
Personally, I still don't understand why they didn't just use Squeak for the interface, since it was developed for the same purpose (and by the same guy, for that matter) and already exists and works well...
Perhaps a different color (black or white instead of green?) would make it more appealing.
Making it a different color would also serve another purpose: visually distinguishing between the official "sold-to-geeks-to-subsidize-the-kids" version and the "taken-away-from-the-kids-and-hocked-on-Ebay" version. I think it would do a lot to help keep these in the kids' hands where they're supposed to be, because the color would be a very noticeable bright green sign saying "I (effectively) stole this laptop from a poor kid in Africa!" and most people would be ashamed for people to see it.
Personally, I think a good color for the consumer version would be red (even if this particular product is about helping education rather than fighting disease)
I don't understand why so many people think that these second/third world countries need to skip the 'introduction to computers' phase of computers.
Then, to put it bluntly, you're an idiot. Nobody needs an "introduction to computers" phase, least of all kids! Maybe you think everyone needs to learn on a C64 because that's what you grew up with, but kids today are growing up with vastly more powerful and capable machines, and learning to use them just fine!
Also, you (and a lot of other people around here) really have no idea what the OLPC is actually designed to be used for. Here's a hint: it's not just for reading books. Half the point is that kids will use it to interact with each other with chat and shared-whiteboard-style drawing programs, write programs (think LOGO or Squeak, not C++), compose music, etc.
Oh, plus the OLPC is designed to function as a router in a mesh network. There's no way a C64 could even handle that task (routing multiple TCP-IP streams at once with decent throughput? yeah, right!), let alone do it while simultaneously processing interactive multimedia.
I'd think [Apple would] get sued for trademark infringement.
I'd think Apple would have a pretty good defense: either that "i[Whatever]" tends to be automatically associated with it nowadays anyway, or that "i[Whatever]" is such a diluted term that it's un-trademark-able.
In fact, this is one case where I'd almost think Apple has grounds to sue Cisco, not the other way around. People at Cisco must have heard about the long-standing rumors of the [Apple] iPhone (even the rumors were using that name); to release a product of the same name makes them look like squatters intentionally trying to profit off Apple's mindshare.
You can tell that the word "iPhone" was always associated with Apple in several ways:
"iPhone Apple" gets twice as many hits on Google as iPhone Cisco" (for some reason, GoogleFight gives different results, but Apple still wins)
most of the first-page hits on Google for "iPhone" (without any company name) are about the Apple version (and half the remainder are about a third "iPhone," which is apparently a VOIP service not associated with Cisco)
the official company website for the Cisco iPhone doesn't even appear on the first page of Google results while the Apple one is the top hit
and, most persuasive IMHO:
the [Apple] "iPhone" Wikipedia article has existed since 29 June 2005, while the "iPhone (Linksys)" article has only existed since 19 December 2006.
Even the mere fact that the Apple article uses the generic term, while the Linksys one requires the qualifier, should be a huge clue. The bottom line is this: if anyone has a claim to the term "iPhone," it's Apple, not Cisco.
And right there is the single reason gaming on general-purpose computers will always be superior to gaming on consoles: what kind of dumbass would want proprietary systems? Not me!
I have seen popped caps on motherboards, but 3 years seems a little short as an "average."
Two of my friends and I all bought Gigabyte 7VRXP motherboards at about the same time. Out of the three, mine is the only one that still works -- both of theirs failed within 3 years due to popped capacitors. Yeah, it's only an anecdote, but it makes me have no trouble believing that 3 years can be "average" for Gigabyte motherboards.
However, we've raised two generations of SHEEP who submit to whatever the government says without question, and who do not know what freedom is.
Oh, HELL, no! Don't you go blaming this stuff on us younger people -- I'm 22 and I guarantee I'm more pissed off about this kind of thing than you are. In fact, if I'm right in assuming you're a "baby-boomer," it's your generation that's causing a lot of the problem!
I used civil engineering as an example because that's my particular field. However, AFAIK all kinds of engineering (i.e., stuff like electrical engineering too) have professional certifications. And even if you don't bother to get your P.E. (Professional Engineer) certification, pretty much everybody needs to at least be an E.I.T (Engineer In Training), which requires passing the Fundamentals of Engineering exam. So yes, even projects that aren't dangerous enough to warrant a P.E. still have certified E.I.T.s working on them.
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Now that I think about it, it actually might not be -- it's possible that randomness isn't copyrightable. However, either way downloading it wouldn't be infringing, so it's a moot point.
The benefits lie not in what's available now; the benefits lie in what will become available later once the cable companies are forced to stop stifling innovation!
Oh, I know -- in fact, I deleted Windows off my last remaining dual-boot box recently. However, that doesn't change the fact that many people do want to dual-boot (and as Linux gains market share, the number of people wanting to do so can only increase), so it is entirely reasonable to criticize Windows' stupidity about time.
Holy crap, you're right! I guess they'd better hope random bits aren't copyrightable, then...
You'd better hope you're wrong, because otherwise you owe me (pinky to mouth) one million dollars for having illegally downloaded and read my post! I never explicitly gave you permission to view it, just as the MPAA didn't give people explicit permission to download its torrent. I merely made it available, and you just assumed that it constituted permission. So ha ha, sucker -- you're screwed now!
Now, do you realize how stupid that argument would be? I mean, I realize that copyright law is fucked up, but it's got to give way to common sense sometime!
Guess what: sane operating systems (i.e., every one of them except Windows) do exactly this!
First of all, it sets the hardware clock to local time rather than GMT, so it breaks other OSs when dual-booting. Second, it puts file timestamps in local time (at least on FAT), so if you change timezones your timestamps can get screwed up. And screwed up timestamps can actually break stuff -- backups, make, etc.
The MPAA still holds the copyright on the sequence of bytes it did upload... but it also gave permission to copy by the act of uploading it! (This is necessarily the case, because otherwise I could just as easily say that you were infringing my copyright by reading this post.)
...then either it wasn't copyright infringment, or the MPAA was infringing too! The only legitimate way for the MPAA to "catch" people committing copyright infringement would be to observe the swarm without uploading anything itself.
Personally, I still don't understand why they didn't just use Squeak for the interface, since it was developed for the same purpose (and by the same guy, for that matter) and already exists and works well...
Making it a different color would also serve another purpose: visually distinguishing between the official "sold-to-geeks-to-subsidize-the-kids" version and the "taken-away-from-the-kids-and-hocked-on-Ebay" version. I think it would do a lot to help keep these in the kids' hands where they're supposed to be, because the color would be a very noticeable bright green sign saying "I (effectively) stole this laptop from a poor kid in Africa!" and most people would be ashamed for people to see it.
Personally, I think a good color for the consumer version would be red (even if this particular product is about helping education rather than fighting disease)
Then, to put it bluntly, you're an idiot. Nobody needs an "introduction to computers" phase, least of all kids! Maybe you think everyone needs to learn on a C64 because that's what you grew up with, but kids today are growing up with vastly more powerful and capable machines, and learning to use them just fine!
Also, you (and a lot of other people around here) really have no idea what the OLPC is actually designed to be used for. Here's a hint: it's not just for reading books. Half the point is that kids will use it to interact with each other with chat and shared-whiteboard-style drawing programs, write programs (think LOGO or Squeak, not C++), compose music, etc.
Oh, plus the OLPC is designed to function as a router in a mesh network. There's no way a C64 could even handle that task (routing multiple TCP-IP streams at once with decent throughput? yeah, right!), let alone do it while simultaneously processing interactive multimedia.
That's obvious: they both are, or recently were, proprietary!
He said "came to the scene," not "existed." Sure, BSD has been around since the '70s, but who'd ever heard of it before Linux stole its thunder?
I'd think Apple would have a pretty good defense: either that "i[Whatever]" tends to be automatically associated with it nowadays anyway, or that "i[Whatever]" is such a diluted term that it's un-trademark-able.
In fact, this is one case where I'd almost think Apple has grounds to sue Cisco, not the other way around. People at Cisco must have heard about the long-standing rumors of the [Apple] iPhone (even the rumors were using that name); to release a product of the same name makes them look like squatters intentionally trying to profit off Apple's mindshare.
You can tell that the word "iPhone" was always associated with Apple in several ways:
and, most persuasive IMHO:
Even the mere fact that the Apple article uses the generic term, while the Linksys one requires the qualifier, should be a huge clue. The bottom line is this: if anyone has a claim to the term "iPhone," it's Apple, not Cisco.
See, that's what I hear all the time about console games.
No, you're thinking of console games.
...having an open platform that anyone can program for without having to pay royalties, and not relying on uniformly shitty controllers.
And right there is the single reason gaming on general-purpose computers will always be superior to gaming on consoles: what kind of dumbass would want proprietary systems? Not me!
I understand what you mean, but I feel compelled to point out that "75% of most" could mean 75% of 50%+1, or just over 37.5%. ; )
Two of my friends and I all bought Gigabyte 7VRXP motherboards at about the same time. Out of the three, mine is the only one that still works -- both of theirs failed within 3 years due to popped capacitors. Yeah, it's only an anecdote, but it makes me have no trouble believing that 3 years can be "average" for Gigabyte motherboards.
Maybe I'm weird, but I thought Birth of the Federation was a reasonably good turn-based strategy game.
But the plane (probably) doesn't crash into any big, important buildings. That's still a win, by today's standards.
Oh, HELL, no! Don't you go blaming this stuff on us younger people -- I'm 22 and I guarantee I'm more pissed off about this kind of thing than you are. In fact, if I'm right in assuming you're a "baby-boomer," it's your generation that's causing a lot of the problem!
Unless a whole bunch of businesses are buying MCE machines for their office workers, I don't see how that could possibly be true.
I used civil engineering as an example because that's my particular field. However, AFAIK all kinds of engineering (i.e., stuff like electrical engineering too) have professional certifications. And even if you don't bother to get your P.E. (Professional Engineer) certification, pretty much everybody needs to at least be an E.I.T (Engineer In Training), which requires passing the Fundamentals of Engineering exam. So yes, even projects that aren't dangerous enough to warrant a P.E. still have certified E.I.T.s working on them.