Is there any chance that a group which is frankly fanatical in their belief that the Internet, and the world in general, is filled with practically nothing but people wanting to hurt children, children, and the members of this group who are trying to "protect" children, might have a skewed view of reality on that subject?
I assume, please correct me if I'm wrong, that you think that PJ.com is the greatest thing since sliced bread and that they perform a necessary and good service? Whether the problem is as bad as they like to claim or not, their methods have always bothered me. They are in reality nothing more than vigilantes using tactics that the police would likely not be able to use themselves.
Furthermore, I've never liked the idea of arresting/prosecuting a person for a crime that didn't occur. These people are prosecuted for "soliciting" a "minor" that doesn't exist. Do we really want to live in a world where people are sent to jail for, in effect, thinking about a crime? The next time you think these "perverts" should be (insert nasty and horrible thing here) should we send you to jail for (insert nasty and horrible thing here)?
Please, explain to me the difference between sending you to jail for not doing (insert nasty and horrible thing here) and some guy not soliciting a "minor"? In my mind sending someone to jail for soliciting a person pretending to be a minor because when they did the soliciting they thought it was a minor is no different then sending someone to jail for merely thinking about any other crime. They have a word for that kind of thing.
You are correct on both of those examples. On the other hand, Linux and GCC didn't need multi-million dollar fab facilities or RnD. Hardware is not as easy as software. Not that Linux and GCC aren't huge endeavors and achievements. However, all you need to make software is a text editor, a complier and some idea of how to program. You don't need millions of dollars in infrastructure.
And if you look at the stated specifications it is already very ancient. PCI only (at least at first), slow DDR1 memory, slow pixel clock, only single head and OpenGL 1.3 only. When you add in that the card will cost a boat load more than anything else, and factor in its very low performance, it becomes a card that only RMS would love.
I don't doubt there are people out there that will pay through the nose for a card with open specs and drivers, but how many people are like that?
Personally, I have a GeForce 6600 and can't see any reason to buy this card. Not with specs that remind me of 1999.
Wow, I'm glad you're not on any box I have authority over. Your account would be locked within the hour. Besides, if you can't figure out how to get a redirected X session working having su'ed, do you really need root? Given that disabling direct root login is pretty much the first step done in securing any box, and pretty much everyone in the world agrees with that... Maybe you're the one that's wrong.
On the other hand.. maybe you're trying to be funny. God I hope so.
Because as we all know, everyone is born knowing how to use Windows and it is a huge challenge to learn anything. Some people say it can't be done. That we are all born as Windows experts and that's that.
Well, all right. When you start your game company, you be sure to make your games just for Linux, and we'll see how long you stay in business. Why make a game that only 100,000 people can use, when you can make a game that 10,000,000 people can use (note: numbers are totally made up) with the same effort?
The answer is, you do both. If you do it right the first time, it shouldn't be that hard to write portable code. That is been proved time and again. The Linux market is not as large as the Windows market at this time, but it is arguably as large as the Mac market, if not larger. As such, it does not make sense to ignore it entirely and not capture that profit.
You point to WoW, I point to NWN. I don't really know of any huge issues for it. Or with UT200? (any of them). It can be done. It is not that hard. Most game companies just go the easy and sure way. In some ways I don't blame them, it is a gamble to put out a Linux game. However, since many have gone before them, it is not like they are walking into a complete unknown. Hell, they can just look at the sales numbers for Cedega to get a rough idea of their market.
Speaking from experience, it depends on if they have a company policy saying otherwise. Such that if you don't meet such and such condition, you get nothing. That might vary from state to state though.
That would be incorrect, vacation time is considered a fringe benefit. As they are not required by law to give you vacation, they are not required to pay it out either.
Clearly that's the case. However, in the case of those who must be at work in a given area at a given time, it's a bit of a pain and unreasonable to punish those people. Public transportation might not be an option for them. I'd rather they offer tax breaks or something of the like to businesses to get them to stagger their schedules a bit more.
You can clearly see the potential for abuse, and yet you still trust the Government with such power? And let us not mince words, this is an awesome amount of power whether you see it or not. It doesn't matter why they would want to use it, it only matters that they could. Are you seriously going to tell me that you trust the kind of people who work for the Government with the ability to pull up every place you've gone, how long you were there, correlate that with others who were there, and everything else you can infer with that information?
A certain amount of distrust for the Government is a good thing. People who completely trust and blindly follow the government, any government, are a bit scary to me.
Corporations are a product of Governmental power. Without government, you cannot have corporations as we know them today. Therefore, no government, no corporations.
What things do we need government for? Simply saying that "government does these things:" doesn't count. What things do governments do that cannot be done any other way?
Or perhaps to found one at this point, there being no new lands to found a new country with, you'd need a revolution of some kind to have one. Either a violent uprising, or a drastic change in thought. As violent revolution has unbelievably high costs, in lives and funds, and drastic changes in thought require there to be thought at the individual voter level, neither of these things are likely.
Unless things get so bad that daily life is in the crapper, the cost of violent revolution is too great.
And given that at least here in the US, most people either vote down the party line, or for who someone else is voting for, you don't have much chance of a change in thought.
Therefore, even if a pure libertarian society would work (which I think it would), you most likely won't see one anytime soon.
Slashdot Mirror
I assume, please correct me if I'm wrong, that you think that PJ.com is the greatest thing since sliced bread and that they perform a necessary and good service? Whether the problem is as bad as they like to claim or not, their methods have always bothered me. They are in reality nothing more than vigilantes using tactics that the police would likely not be able to use themselves.
Furthermore, I've never liked the idea of arresting/prosecuting a person for a crime that didn't occur. These people are prosecuted for "soliciting" a "minor" that doesn't exist. Do we really want to live in a world where people are sent to jail for, in effect, thinking about a crime? The next time you think these "perverts" should be (insert nasty and horrible thing here) should we send you to jail for (insert nasty and horrible thing here)?
Please, explain to me the difference between sending you to jail for not doing (insert nasty and horrible thing here) and some guy not soliciting a "minor"? In my mind sending someone to jail for soliciting a person pretending to be a minor because when they did the soliciting they thought it was a minor is no different then sending someone to jail for merely thinking about any other crime. They have a word for that kind of thing.
Thoughtcrime
I do wish them luck. It would be great if they make it. There is something to be said about fighting the good fight, win or lose.
You are correct on both of those examples. On the other hand, Linux and GCC didn't need multi-million dollar fab facilities or RnD. Hardware is not as easy as software. Not that Linux and GCC aren't huge endeavors and achievements. However, all you need to make software is a text editor, a complier and some idea of how to program. You don't need millions of dollars in infrastructure.
I don't doubt there are people out there that will pay through the nose for a card with open specs and drivers, but how many people are like that?
Personally, I have a GeForce 6600 and can't see any reason to buy this card. Not with specs that remind me of 1999.
On the other hand.. maybe you're trying to be funny. God I hope so.
Because as we all know, everyone is born knowing how to use Windows and it is a huge challenge to learn anything. Some people say it can't be done. That we are all born as Windows experts and that's that.
Let me know when a PDA comes out with a 60GB hard drive which doesn't cost in the realm of $900.00USD
The answer is, you do both. If you do it right the first time, it shouldn't be that hard to write portable code. That is been proved time and again. The Linux market is not as large as the Windows market at this time, but it is arguably as large as the Mac market, if not larger. As such, it does not make sense to ignore it entirely and not capture that profit.
You point to WoW, I point to NWN. I don't really know of any huge issues for it. Or with UT200? (any of them). It can be done. It is not that hard. Most game companies just go the easy and sure way. In some ways I don't blame them, it is a gamble to put out a Linux game. However, since many have gone before them, it is not like they are walking into a complete unknown. Hell, they can just look at the sales numbers for Cedega to get a rough idea of their market.
You misspelled bribes.
Speaking from experience, it depends on if they have a company policy saying otherwise. Such that if you don't meet such and such condition, you get nothing. That might vary from state to state though.
That would be incorrect, vacation time is considered a fringe benefit. As they are not required by law to give you vacation, they are not required to pay it out either.
Clearly that's the case. However, in the case of those who must be at work in a given area at a given time, it's a bit of a pain and unreasonable to punish those people. Public transportation might not be an option for them. I'd rather they offer tax breaks or something of the like to businesses to get them to stagger their schedules a bit more.
Film at 11!
A certain amount of distrust for the Government is a good thing. People who completely trust and blindly follow the government, any government, are a bit scary to me.
And I think you meant back when Americans thought.
Respectfully,
The FBI
And those who can't reschedule for some reason, get soaked.
Sincerely, The FBI
Come now, tell us how you really feel. :)
You get to use a Linux workstation at work. You suck. :)
Corporations are a product of Governmental power. Without government, you cannot have corporations as we know them today. Therefore, no government, no corporations.
What things do we need government for? Simply saying that "government does these things:" doesn't count. What things do governments do that cannot be done any other way?
Unless things get so bad that daily life is in the crapper, the cost of violent revolution is too great.
And given that at least here in the US, most people either vote down the party line, or for who someone else is voting for, you don't have much chance of a change in thought.
Therefore, even if a pure libertarian society would work (which I think it would), you most likely won't see one anytime soon.
After the crap they pulled with their patents and the standards bodies.. I'll be sure to feel sorry for them.