As I understand it, this would just make it more difficult to record HDTV broadcasts in a digital format that's easy to redistribute on the net. And, of course, this would come at a correspondingly higher price for the hardware for the consumer. This might deter casual users, but some one determined will still be able to capture the broadcast at a reasonable quality. And I will still be able to get Simpsons episodes over some P2P network.
So if we generally agree that the current patent system is flawed with regard to (but not just) software, but also understand that large corps. Have a vested interest in maintaining some form of control over software developed in house, maybe a new category of patents needs to be created. One that specifically addresses the problems faced with software. Any ideas?
I work in Germany and while driving home yesterday I heard something on the radio to the effect of "Airbus catastrophe in Queens". (my German isn't great) I raced home and turned on trusty CNN international, and saw...the global weather report. I waited for the next set of stories to start and was treated more stories of reporter heroics in Afghanistan. I felt relieved and had myself a beer, and thought that I really had to work on my German if I managed to misinterpret things that badly. A while later, flipping through the channels, I saw the French news with a live reports on the newest New York inferno. BBC had live coverage and so did 3 German channels. I went back to CNN and eventually they had a brief 2 minute blurb on the crash. They did not even put up the hotline number for victims families to call. (BCC did) I don't know what it was like in the US, but I get the feeling that the Government told the Media not to make a big deal about this. Think about the last big airline crash in the US (pre-Sept 11. ), and remember the kind of coverage that it got. It is fine trying to keep up the people's spirits and moral, but this is just stupid. Has CNN just lost it, or are we losing our "free press"?
Does it strike anyone else as a bad idea to train your courtesans as fighting machines? I am for female empowerment and all, but if you are god-emperor of Egypt, maybe this is not the bightest idea if you are planning to see the completion of your pyrimid.
So, I guess this is good for current employee's but do we risk falling into the salaryman syndrom that Japan is suffering from right now. Current employees are locked in their jobs, but fresh blood is kept out. Will this limit innovation in the long term?
Plus as someone just about to graduate, I would be pissed if I lost the job that I have been promised and have been counting on for the last months.
Please read books before you quote them.
The black book of communism totals all the dead from the Russian civil war, the famines, the Chinese civil was, the Chinese famines, oh, and the million or so Cambodians the Pol Pot offed. As for the Gulag Archipelago, either you missed a decimal place, or you are just making numbers up.
You also seem to conflate the Soviet Union with Communism everwhere. Moscow might have liked it that way, but that was simply not the case.
This is not to say that the USSR was not a repressive totalitarian state that had no qualms about the use of violence on its citizens, but please don't just invent numbers to back up a pithy subject line.
Personally, I believe that better teaching skills are more important than up to date manuals and equipment. In my high school physics class, our teacher freely admitted that he knew almost nothing about quantum machanics or higher levels E&M stuff. But one thing he did know was basic physical machanics and how to apply it to everyday situations. And more importantly, how could convey this knowledge to even the densest person. He did not get money for expensive equipment, but he was able to use a broom and a bowling ball to quite convincingly demonstate conservation of energy.
I was under the impression that the SR-71 was retired just before the gulf war, because the secritary of defense at the time (damned if I remember his name) had some sort of vendette against it. At least that is what I remeber from Skunk Works (the book).
If MAPS is trying to make a point of a taking on a large company, they should just makes sure that the win, otherwise the gesture is more than useless, it discredits thier cause.
Some of us have had our asses saved by programming a TI-81 to iteratively solve Fourier series on tests that we could not do by hand... and nobody was the wiser
Let's not get too wound up because SETI@HOME is getting overwhelmed. It means that the idea is successful. Why do people participate in these kind of distributed processing projects? With the exception of those who want to show off their machine, most of us do it because we feel that instead of our computer downloading Warez or porn all night, we can do something useful.
If SETI@HOME is having some troubles, helpful advice, not scathing criticism is what is needed.
I would much rather see more of this kind of thing, even if it was occasionally bungled, than other groups being scared off because of how hostile the online community is
Let's not take this too far out of context. If a crime has been committed, the police obtain a warrant to search a suspect's home, and they find a "to do" list containing such items as, steal hand gun, purchase bullets, and kill John Brown, then I think that we would all agree that this is fair and relevant evidence for the police to look for. The criminal/suspect was well with in his rights to jot down the incriminating evidence, he was just stupid to do so. Likewise, anyone who places incriminating evidence on their computer2 or the internet without any thought as to if some authority might check it, is stupid.
As for infringing on our rights of privacy, as a sys admin, I have a reasonable idea (and I think most educated users do as well) of what anybody who tries and read/trace, what takes some serious work to find out, and what is nearly impossible to crack. It is simple prudence to keep information that is truly confidential and private in this last category. I would be more worried about some private individual trying to blackmail or steal private information, than the lumbering law enforcement agencies.
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As I understand it, this would just make it more difficult to record HDTV broadcasts in a digital format that's easy to redistribute on the net. And, of course, this would come at a correspondingly higher price for the hardware for the consumer. This might deter casual users, but some one determined will still be able to capture the broadcast at a reasonable quality. And I will still be able to get Simpsons episodes over some P2P network.
I donno, but there did not seem to be a whole lot of constructive criticism in there to me. Just sounded like some kids arguing over their toys.
So if we generally agree that the current patent system is flawed with regard to (but not just) software, but also understand that large corps. Have a vested interest in maintaining some form of control over software developed in house, maybe a new category of patents needs to be created. One that specifically addresses the problems faced with software. Any ideas?
I work in Germany and while driving home yesterday I heard something on the radio to the effect of "Airbus catastrophe in Queens". (my German isn't great) I raced home and turned on trusty CNN international, and saw...the global weather report. I waited for the next set of stories to start and was treated more stories of reporter heroics in Afghanistan. I felt relieved and had myself a beer, and thought that I really had to work on my German if I managed to misinterpret things that badly. A while later, flipping through the channels, I saw the French news with a live reports on the newest New York inferno. BBC had live coverage and so did 3 German channels. I went back to CNN and eventually they had a brief 2 minute blurb on the crash. They did not even put up the hotline number for victims families to call. (BCC did) I don't know what it was like in the US, but I get the feeling that the Government told the Media not to make a big deal about this. Think about the last big airline crash in the US (pre-Sept 11. ), and remember the kind of coverage that it got. It is fine trying to keep up the people's spirits and moral, but this is just stupid. Has CNN just lost it, or are we losing our "free press"?
Does it strike anyone else as a bad idea to train your courtesans as fighting machines? I am for female empowerment and all, but if you are god-emperor of Egypt, maybe this is not the bightest idea if you are planning to see the completion of your pyrimid.
So, I guess this is good for current employee's but do we risk falling into the salaryman syndrom that Japan is suffering from right now. Current employees are locked in their jobs, but fresh blood is kept out. Will this limit innovation in the long term?
Plus as someone just about to graduate, I would be pissed if I lost the job that I have been promised and have been counting on for the last months.
Please read books before you quote them.
The black book of communism totals all the dead from the Russian civil war, the famines, the Chinese civil was, the Chinese famines, oh, and the million or so Cambodians the Pol Pot offed. As for the Gulag Archipelago, either you missed a decimal place, or you are just making numbers up.
You also seem to conflate the Soviet Union with Communism everwhere. Moscow might have liked it that way, but that was simply not the case.
This is not to say that the USSR was not a repressive totalitarian state that had no qualms about the use of violence on its citizens, but please don't just invent numbers to back up a pithy subject line.
Personally, I believe that better teaching skills are more important than up to date manuals and equipment. In my high school physics class, our teacher freely admitted that he knew almost nothing about quantum machanics or higher levels E&M stuff. But one thing he did know was basic physical machanics and how to apply it to everyday situations. And more importantly, how could convey this knowledge to even the densest person. He did not get money for expensive equipment, but he was able to use a broom and a bowling ball to quite convincingly demonstate conservation of energy.
I was under the impression that the SR-71 was retired just before the gulf war, because the secritary of defense at the time (damned if I remember his name) had some sort of vendette against it. At least that is what I remeber from Skunk Works (the book).
Finally, I can have a really high end x86 system that has no wintel parts. The Prophecy is complete.
Great, I managed to quit the AD&D habit 3 years ago, and now I know that I am gonna fall off the wagon again. Thanks...
If MAPS is trying to make a point of a taking on a large company, they should just makes sure that the win, otherwise the gesture is more than useless, it discredits thier cause.
Some of us have had our asses saved by programming a TI-81 to iteratively solve Fourier series on tests that we could not do by hand...
and nobody was the wiser
Let's not get too wound up because SETI@HOME is getting overwhelmed. It means that the idea is successful. Why do people participate in these kind of distributed processing projects? With the exception of those who want to show off their machine, most of us do it because we feel that instead of our computer downloading Warez or porn all night, we can do something useful.
If SETI@HOME is having some troubles, helpful advice, not scathing criticism is what is needed.
I would much rather see more of this kind of thing, even if it was occasionally bungled, than other groups being scared off because of how hostile the online community is
Maybe I'll find ET...
Let's not take this too far out of context.
If a crime has been committed, the police obtain a warrant to search a suspect's home, and they find a "to do" list containing such items as, steal hand gun, purchase bullets, and kill John Brown, then I think that we would all agree that this is fair and relevant evidence for the police to look for. The criminal/suspect was well with in his rights to jot down the incriminating evidence, he was just stupid to do so. Likewise, anyone who places incriminating evidence on their computer2 or the internet without any thought as to if some authority might check it, is stupid.
As for infringing on our rights of privacy, as a sys admin, I have a reasonable idea (and I think most educated users do as well) of what anybody who tries and read/trace, what takes some serious work to find out, and what is nearly impossible to crack. It is simple prudence to keep information that is truly confidential and private in this last category. I would be more worried about some private individual trying to blackmail or steal private information, than the lumbering law enforcement agencies.