I think this snippet sums up a lot of the recent Linux "migration" stories:
Although Windows is used on about 90 percent of the world's personal computers, some governments and large organizations have switched to the free Linux system or have threatened to do so to get discounts.
Which is sad, since I've had a fairly painless transition to Linux a few years ago. Given the state of WINE these days, there's very little that a Linux-only box can't do that a Wintel box can.
That's fine. In any case, the pseudocode is nearly identical, and would require only a small amount of changes to the code -- ie. "load graphic" instead of "slant text" -- to achieve the same result.
The patent's about tagging the origin of an email address and altering the display of that email address based on the origin of the email address - if the email address came from the address book it looks one way if it comes from the internet it looks differently.
Trivial. Seriously.
"Check the address against all entries in the address book. If it's there, underline it. If it's not, italicize it."
I'm not aware of prior art in this one - do you know of an email client that visually differentiated between internet based email addresses and ones from the address book?
Remember, kids: just because you do something first, doesn't mean that it deserves a patent.
Uh.. why is 'virii' so bad that it's an abomination?
Because it's completely unnecessary and just plain silly. There's no reason why all words ending in -us must change their plurals to -ii. Consider hippopotamus.
You wouldn't say, "He's a bus driver. He drives bii." Would you?
Why would anyone run routinely with "Allow web sites to install software" enabled ?
Several Fx plug-ins have an option to "install now" from the Mozilla page. Obviously, you should have "mozilla.org" in your "allowed sites" next to the button to enable this.
And you want someone to switch top open office because its "Adequate"? These are not very compelling reasons for people to switch to open source applications.
But the upcoming OpenOffice.org 2.0 will be more adequate than ever!
Couldn't that statement be applied to any subject?
Not necessarily. You can know the steps involved in the most complicated brain-surgery technique there is. You could recite them in your sleep. But that doesn't make it a trivial task.
If said server error resulted in the loss of, say, the last 12 hours of data... a lot can change in half a day. How do you know who really lost the +12 Sword of Whoop-Ass, and who's just claiming they did to give their player "Teh Ultimete P0W4R"?
If you refuse to see the ads, you should find your content on another website.
I take it, then, that you will never:
Go to the bathroom during a commercial
Change the radio station when the songs switch to ads
Skip previews when you rent a DVD
Read a newspaper without examining every advertisement
Skip a non-articled page while flipping through a magazine
I mean, you wouldn't want to be exploiting those providers by not viewing their advertisements, would you? Somehow, you're asserting that advertisers/providers have a right to force you to look at them.
Just like downloading music on a p2p system is a violation of copyright law.
What a broad generalization. Ever tried getting some legal tunes from indie artists? Or being in a country that allows downloading music?
You have no social right to listen to that music.
Yes, but your analogy is nothing close to that. A more appropriate analogy would be purchasing an album by $BAND and being forced to listen to $TRACK1_ADVERTISING_SPIEL_FOR_3:00 each time you attempted to play the disc.
What the hell is wrong with you that you'd rather spend money paying lawyers to defend your belief that you can take GPL code and use it how you please, than not pay a lawyer, keep your money, and just comply.
Because some companies figure paying a lawyer $100K is worth it, when they can pull in $200K from their non-downloadable GPL-infringing product?
"Dance" is one of the 3 original NES tunes, but I think the parent is referring to the fast-paced tune instead. I always wanted to know what that one was.
"DA DA DA da da, DA DA DA da da, DA DA DA da da, DA DA DA da da..."
Ermmm.. how do you think reverse engineering works? There's buttloads of trial and metric shedloads of error.
You are correct that RE often involves trial and error. RE -> TE.
You are incorrect that TE often involves reverse engineering. TE !-> RE.
For example, you might know that the application only accepts certain types of data. One of the first trials would be sending different data types, and monitoring resulting successes and failures. There is no need to take the software apart in any way, to disassemble binaries and libraries, etc. You're just sending various bits of data into the application.
I suppose RE purists call this "information exchange", but it's probably the lowest level of RE that there is, as it only really shows you what works, instead of how things work.
Slashdot Mirror
I think this snippet sums up a lot of the recent Linux "migration" stories:
Which is sad, since I've had a fairly painless transition to Linux a few years ago. Given the state of WINE these days, there's very little that a Linux-only box can't do that a Wintel box can.
Just a little nitpick...
That's fine. In any case, the pseudocode is nearly identical, and would require only a small amount of changes to the code -- ie. "load graphic" instead of "slant text" -- to achieve the same result.
The patent's about tagging the origin of an email address and altering the display of that email address based on the origin of the email address - if the email address came from the address book it looks one way if it comes from the internet it looks differently.
Trivial. Seriously.
"Check the address against all entries in the address book. If it's there, underline it. If it's not, italicize it."
I'm not aware of prior art in this one - do you know of an email client that visually differentiated between internet based email addresses and ones from the address book?
Remember, kids: just because you do something first, doesn't mean that it deserves a patent.
DIY Parts
Craig's List
FreeCycle
eBay
Uh.. why is 'virii' so bad that it's an abomination?
Because it's completely unnecessary and just plain silly. There's no reason why all words ending in -us must change their plurals to -ii. Consider hippopotamus.
You wouldn't say, "He's a bus driver. He drives bii." Would you?
Why would anyone run routinely with "Allow web sites to install software" enabled ?
Several Fx plug-ins have an option to "install now" from the Mozilla page. Obviously, you should have "mozilla.org" in your "allowed sites" next to the button to enable this.
It's a convenience thing.
...there's always the poor man's organizer:
Most of the popular players out there should be able to autogenerate playlists starting at your base directory.
I always like to listen to my music in the car, so 8-10 hours/disc at 160-192kbps is fine for me.
I quit Ocarina Of Time after 15 minutes.
No wonder you hated OoT -- you never even left the fairy village.
Most of the fun stuff happens after you finish the first few "stone" quests, and head out to the following palace quests.
* loved OoT, somewhat enjoyed MM *
Amazon.com makes it so easy to order stuff that it's dangerous to your credit card.
Indeed. Wouldn't it be good if they had some sort of safeguard? Say, something like "More-Than-One-Click Shopping"?
*runs to patent office*
The WayBack Machine can can also be used to find when Slashdot last posted this story.
Tomorrow?
And you want someone to switch top open office because its "Adequate"? These are not very compelling reasons for people to switch to open source applications.
But the upcoming OpenOffice.org 2.0 will be more adequate than ever!
Ummm...
Couldn't that statement be applied to any subject?
Not necessarily. You can know the steps involved in the most complicated brain-surgery technique there is. You could recite them in your sleep. But that doesn't make it a trivial task.
"Free as in beer" -> as if somebody gave you a beer without charging you a price. As in, "the beer was free". Relates to money.
"Free as in speech" -> as if you have a right to speak out, without being censored. As in, "he spoke freely". Relates to rights.
GNU Link
If you paid a $25 levy on your iPod, you should look into getting it back. The levy was thrown out.
You do, however, continue to pay a $0.21 levy (or so) on each blank CD.
If said server error resulted in the loss of, say, the last 12 hours of data ... a lot can change in half a day. How do you know who really lost the +12 Sword of Whoop-Ass, and who's just claiming they did to give their player "Teh Ultimete P0W4R"?
"And Jesus wept down on the meaty cook [who] brough[t] the glor[ious (sic.)] mole."
Sounds like Jesus had a terrific, Mexican-themed last supper. I'm sure people south of the border will be thrilled with this news.
If you refuse to see the ads, you should find your content on another website.
I take it, then, that you will never:
I mean, you wouldn't want to be exploiting those providers by not viewing their advertisements, would you? Somehow, you're asserting that advertisers/providers have a right to force you to look at them.
Just like downloading music on a p2p system is a violation of copyright law.
What a broad generalization. Ever tried getting some legal tunes from indie artists? Or being in a country that allows downloading music?
You have no social right to listen to that music.
Yes, but your analogy is nothing close to that. A more appropriate analogy would be purchasing an album by $BAND and being forced to listen to $TRACK1_ADVERTISING_SPIEL_FOR_3:00 each time you attempted to play the disc.
Because some companies figure paying a lawyer $100K is worth it, when they can pull in $200K from their non-downloadable GPL-infringing product?
Just a guess, though.
Only then it was called Burgertime?
Excellent. Google gave me a toss-up between that and "Troika". Thanks.
"Dance" is one of the 3 original NES tunes, but I think the parent is referring to the fast-paced tune instead. I always wanted to know what that one was.
"DA DA DA da da, DA DA DA da da, DA DA DA da da, DA DA DA da da..."
(ok, I'm pathetic)
Ermmm.. how do you think reverse engineering works? There's buttloads of trial and metric shedloads of error.
You are correct that RE often involves trial and error. RE -> TE.
You are incorrect that TE often involves reverse engineering. TE !-> RE.
For example, you might know that the application only accepts certain types of data. One of the first trials would be sending different data types, and monitoring resulting successes and failures. There is no need to take the software apart in any way, to disassemble binaries and libraries, etc. You're just sending various bits of data into the application.
I suppose RE purists call this "information exchange", but it's probably the lowest level of RE that there is, as it only really shows you what works, instead of how things work.
How do you get interoperability without reverse-engineering?
Pick any or all of the above. Granted, RE can often be a hell of a lot faster and/or accurate.
You know, I'm a bit wary of clicking any link labelled analog hole on Slashdot...
They want a blindingly fast machine with a 90 inch display that fits on their keychain and uses no power.
Now that's not true at all. I want my machine to generate power, which I can then use to run the cake machine.