it is my understanding that using GPL code for inhouse tools without releasing source is acceptable
Correct.
but using GPL base code as part of a project sold to a customer is where the problems start.
It's only a problem if you are morally or contractually prohibited from releasing your source code. In this case, as you suspect, you won't be able to use GPL'd code.
One thing to keep in mind, of course, is that the GPL states that your source code must be "available". This doesn't mean that you need to include it with your product (although it would be nice!), you just have to provide it when asked. If nobody asks for it, you don't really have to advertise it.
MP3tunes will use a service or tool called "MP3beamer", which Robertson said would reconcile the need to store music in a centralized file store with the ability to play back the music anywhere, on any device.
Any ideas what this might be? Google isn't very forthcoming, as I suspect there's little info available as yet. If it's a "required" (aka installed) program, will it:
Personally I have found that after only a few days (about 5 or 6) I became quite comfortable using my thumbpad device
I've only used a Blackberry a handful of times, myself, so I'm not entirely sure how long-term use would affect my thumbs. But I had a Nintendo as a kid, and only after several hours of intense playing did my thumbs get mildly sore.
I can't imagine anyone typing for hours on a Blackberry. Even your average teeny-ma-bopper stops to eat every once in a while.
So, you end up with a situation where you can identify the files, but you cant determine whether they are illegal or not. In Napsters case, it was quite easy - if it was being transfered over or on the Napster network, it was there unlawfully.
While this scenario is true, it's only one scenario. Napster argued that scanning through all of the files being transmitted through its servers was not at all trivial, because:
"Legal" files were also being transferred, often with no copyright information associated with them. The RIAA, pushing to kill the technology at the time, said this was not sufficient, and that copyrights had to be verified.
"Illegal" files, ripped by various programs, also did not carry copyright information in them. Again, the RIAA insisted that Napster determine the rightful copyright of every file to ensure that it was not owned by the RIAA.
Ambiguity between file names/tags/info and the actual contents made it difficult to identify songs. Local bands, trying to get free exposure, would often label their MP3s with the same name and artist as popular tracks. Deliberate misspellings would transform "Metallica" into things like "M3t4LL1c4" or "_m_ETALLIC____a" and defeat the filters. Often, file info was just plain wrong.
Clearly, Napster had a slew of material on it that violated copyrights. But the RIAA placed the burden on discovering what files actually did violate these copyrights on Napster's shoulders. Now, it seems, they are simply flagging all music and video files as "potentially illegal" and leaving it to over-cautious/paranoid/influenced people to sort through it all.
[MPAA software Parent File Scan] searches for and identifies virtually any audio or video file, including popular formats like MP3, Microsoft's Windows Media, the AAC files that Apple Computer's iTunes software often uses, or MPEG video. The software makes no distinction between legally acquired or illegally downloaded files, however.
During the Napster era, wasn't one of the arguments made by the RIAA that Napster should be able to easily distinguish RIAA-copyrighted material and, subsequentailly, block access to it? If it's so trivial, shouldn't the MPAA be able to do the same? Or did they realize it's not so easy and are just labelling everything they can find?
I wonder what would have happened to the Civil Rights movement and Womens Sufferage (among other movements) if people thought that way in the 20's and 50's/60's
Well, there's a difference though.
The Civil Rights and Womens' Suffrage movements were looking for equality, something which (generally) involves granting benefits to others. If everyone started running around promoting "women are bad at math and science", then you'd start creating situations where they would be denied benefits in the form of jobs and other opportunities. Whether the statement is true or false is largely irrelevant.
The difference, then, is that more people will associate with a "for the people" cause, than an "against the people" cause.
being able to have a different template for the main index page
That could very well be true. Again, I'm not entirely sure what requirements your site has, and I haven't had the need to do this myself. Some other suggested Drupal, which looks as if it does what you describe.
I have looked into some weblogging software like MovableType, and WordPress and they seems too simple
In what regard? I've helped some friends set up WP, and they like the simple-to-use interface, and after adding a few quick-and-dirty freely-downloadable hacks (picture galleries, icon displayers, etc) they're good to go. IMO, this would be a pretty straightforward setup for a high school newspaper. This is especially true if it's going to be run by students, who may want to contribute to the paper, but aren't the most computer-oriented.
Not to disagree with you at all -- it is meant to be simple. I'm just curious what requirements eliminate WP from your consideration.
Firefox doesn't allow me to open multiple browser windows by using a bound keyboard shortcut (CTRL+ALT+E)
Ctrl-N works fine in my FF 1.0 here...
Just as MSIE has the annoying, hard-to-get-rid-of "Links" folder in its Favorites menu, Firefox has its own required "Bookmark" directory which it will not let you delete.
If this is the case, then FF and IE are on equal footing, wouldn't you say?
Firefox still renders many pages oddly.
I'll give you this one, but only to an extent. Unless I'm visiting some random "kewl d00d" FrontPage-generated GeoCities page, I have no troubles with any of the sites I use on a regular basis. Not my bank, not online merchants, not any major news site. The only one close to troublesome is/. itself, and someone had an AdBlock solution posted somewhere that has fixed it for me.
I've got buttons on my Logitech keyboard...
I can't argue that off-hand, so in all, I give you 1 1/2 points for IE, and 2 1/2 for FF. Start talking about security and whatnot, however, and I think that FF will easily pull ahead.
If I already own the game, then I can play it and draw my own experiences from it. No need for the review, obviously.
If I don't own the game, I need to understand why I should or should not buy/obtain it. Whether the reasons for this involve gameplay, graphics or some random gamer's personal experiences is largely irrelevant, as long as the reasons are clearly stated. Both can be good or bad.
Good:
"Sound is horrible, like the developers carefully tuned each sound inside a tin can while wearing earmuffs."
"I felt as if I was a part of the game, rather than a casual observer, because of the well-developed storylines and character development."
Bad:
"I didn't like the graphics, especially compared to similar games." Great, but why not? Too cartoony? Not cartoony enough? Painful to the eyes?
"I felt waves of emotion running through my core as my character leapt from miniscule platform to platform." Way to wax the poetic there, but this really tells me nothing. Oh, except that there are platforms. Apparently they're small.
Maybe they suppose that the winner will allow Chuck D to use his track ?!
I imagine that this is an explicit part of the "contract" agreed to by participating in the remix contest. You remix Chuck's song. You are some pseudo copyright holder, with a "free for all" type license attached to it. This gets included on the CD, but is also available for free download, thus fulfilling the "free for all" part. Chuck also includes the song on his CD -- permission granted somewhere in the CC remix contest -- which he then sells for $X.
I haven't read the agreement that closely, however, so I may be off.
That's exactly why the show gets on my nerves. I like what they do to the bikes and all, but a good 50% of the show is yelling and screaming at each other about how lazy/controlling/wrong/etc. the people are.
Actually the "Monster $OBJECT" shows are on Discovery
Yeah, I realized that after clicking "submit". Both channels are owned by the same company, so it's no surprise I can't tell the difference. Replace "Monster $OBJECT" with "A Baby/Wedding/Brisking Story" for yet another reason to avoid TLC.
Discovery is starting to get its share of junk as well, but it does have a few decent shows. Daily Planet, though simplified for the masses, is a good overview of recent science news. But yeah, American Chopper/Hotrod/Dishwasher are pretty inane.
I have to pay the listing fee... a percentage of the final sale... a percentage of the money that was transfered to me by paypal... a box... [and] the shipping fee.
Don't you factor these things into the cost of your auction?
If you charge somebody $2 for a CD, and it costs $3 to mail it, and $1 in administration fees, don't be surprised when you end up $2 out of pocket. If you want a higher profit, set the opening bid to something more reasonable, like $3, and specify that the buyer will pay the actual postage rate according to $CARRIER_OF_CHOICE. That's what starting bids and reserve prices are for -- ensuring that you make a profit within your acceptable range.
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it is my understanding that using GPL code for inhouse tools without releasing source is acceptable
Correct.
but using GPL base code as part of a project sold to a customer is where the problems start.
It's only a problem if you are morally or contractually prohibited from releasing your source code. In this case, as you suspect, you won't be able to use GPL'd code.
One thing to keep in mind, of course, is that the GPL states that your source code must be "available". This doesn't mean that you need to include it with your product (although it would be nice!), you just have to provide it when asked. If nobody asks for it, you don't really have to advertise it.
MP3tunes will use a service or tool called "MP3beamer", which Robertson said would reconcile the need to store music in a centralized file store with the ability to play back the music anywhere, on any device.
Any ideas what this might be? Google isn't very forthcoming, as I suspect there's little info available as yet. If it's a "required" (aka installed) program, will it:
Just curious.
Personally I have found that after only a few days (about 5 or 6) I became quite comfortable using my thumbpad device
I've only used a Blackberry a handful of times, myself, so I'm not entirely sure how long-term use would affect my thumbs. But I had a Nintendo as a kid, and only after several hours of intense playing did my thumbs get mildly sore.
I can't imagine anyone typing for hours on a Blackberry. Even your average teeny-ma-bopper stops to eat every once in a while.
1) A handful of researchers think that using your Blackberry "repeatedly" might cause thumb damage.
2) There have been no reported cases of said damage yet.
That's pretty much it. A lot of "The Blackberry could..." talk, but little else.
So, you end up with a situation where you can identify the files, but you cant determine whether they are illegal or not. In Napsters case, it was quite easy - if it was being transfered over or on the Napster network, it was there unlawfully.
While this scenario is true, it's only one scenario. Napster argued that scanning through all of the files being transmitted through its servers was not at all trivial, because:
Clearly, Napster had a slew of material on it that violated copyrights. But the RIAA placed the burden on discovering what files actually did violate these copyrights on Napster's shoulders. Now, it seems, they are simply flagging all music and video files as "potentially illegal" and leaving it to over-cautious/paranoid/influenced people to sort through it all.
[MPAA software Parent File Scan] searches for and identifies virtually any audio or video file, including popular formats like MP3, Microsoft's Windows Media, the AAC files that Apple Computer's iTunes software often uses, or MPEG video. The software makes no distinction between legally acquired or illegally downloaded files, however.
During the Napster era, wasn't one of the arguments made by the RIAA that Napster should be able to easily distinguish RIAA-copyrighted material and, subsequentailly, block access to it? If it's so trivial, shouldn't the MPAA be able to do the same? Or did they realize it's not so easy and are just labelling everything they can find?
They limit you to a 7 CHARACTER PASSSWORD!
Bank of Montreal is worse -- all passwords are between 4 and 6 characters. In fact, their FAQ lists 6 characters as a "good" password. Scary.
Google has SafeSearch enabled by default for images, so you would have to explicitly turn it off in order to see adult images.
Not always. Searching for my wife's name with SafeSearch on, I get a NSFW image in the 3rd row. A scary one at that, too.
Obviously, that link may or may not be NSFW...
...is "may". It's not illegal, it's ambiguous.
SCO doesn't have enough cash to fund a junior high school newsletter.
Looks like they might want to read this thread then.
I wonder what would have happened to the Civil Rights movement and Womens Sufferage (among other movements) if people thought that way in the 20's and 50's/60's
Well, there's a difference though.
The Civil Rights and Womens' Suffrage movements were looking for equality, something which (generally) involves granting benefits to others. If everyone started running around promoting "women are bad at math and science", then you'd start creating situations where they would be denied benefits in the form of jobs and other opportunities. Whether the statement is true or false is largely irrelevant.
The difference, then, is that more people will associate with a "for the people" cause, than an "against the people" cause.
being able to have a different template for the main index page
That could very well be true. Again, I'm not entirely sure what requirements your site has, and I haven't had the need to do this myself. Some other suggested Drupal, which looks as if it does what you describe.
I have looked into some weblogging software like MovableType, and WordPress and they seems too simple
In what regard? I've helped some friends set up WP, and they like the simple-to-use interface, and after adding a few quick-and-dirty freely-downloadable hacks (picture galleries, icon displayers, etc) they're good to go. IMO, this would be a pretty straightforward setup for a high school newspaper. This is especially true if it's going to be run by students, who may want to contribute to the paper, but aren't the most computer-oriented.
Not to disagree with you at all -- it is meant to be simple. I'm just curious what requirements eliminate WP from your consideration.
Would you, could you, buy our mook?
Would you, could you, take a look?
Buy our mook? Take a look?
It fits right in your shelving nook!
Not to be a pain, really, but...
Firefox doesn't allow me to open multiple browser windows by using a bound keyboard shortcut (CTRL+ALT+E)
Ctrl-N works fine in my FF 1.0 here...
Just as MSIE has the annoying, hard-to-get-rid-of "Links" folder in its Favorites menu, Firefox has its own required "Bookmark" directory which it will not let you delete.
If this is the case, then FF and IE are on equal footing, wouldn't you say?
Firefox still renders many pages oddly.
I'll give you this one, but only to an extent. Unless I'm visiting some random "kewl d00d" FrontPage-generated GeoCities page, I have no troubles with any of the sites I use on a regular basis. Not my bank, not online merchants, not any major news site. The only one close to troublesome is /. itself, and someone had an AdBlock solution posted somewhere that has fixed it for me.
I've got buttons on my Logitech keyboard...
I can't argue that off-hand, so in all, I give you 1 1/2 points for IE, and 2 1/2 for FF. Start talking about security and whatnot, however, and I think that FF will easily pull ahead.
What are your thoughts on game reviews?
If I already own the game, then I can play it and draw my own experiences from it. No need for the review, obviously.
If I don't own the game, I need to understand why I should or should not buy/obtain it. Whether the reasons for this involve gameplay, graphics or some random gamer's personal experiences is largely irrelevant, as long as the reasons are clearly stated. Both can be good or bad.
Good:
Bad:
Maybe they suppose that the winner will allow Chuck D to use his track ?!
I imagine that this is an explicit part of the "contract" agreed to by participating in the remix contest. You remix Chuck's song. You are some pseudo copyright holder, with a "free for all" type license attached to it. This gets included on the CD, but is also available for free download, thus fulfilling the "free for all" part. Chuck also includes the song on his CD -- permission granted somewhere in the CC remix contest -- which he then sells for $X.
I haven't read the agreement that closely, however, so I may be off.
Chuck D is the copyright holder of his track on the Wired CD, but he isn't the copyright holder of the remixed tracks.
I suspect that the remixed track(s) will be available for free (CC or Chuck's website), whereas Chuck's own album will be a commercial product.
the father/son bitching
That's exactly why the show gets on my nerves. I like what they do to the bikes and all, but a good 50% of the show is yelling and screaming at each other about how lazy/controlling/wrong/etc. the people are.
Actually the "Monster $OBJECT" shows are on Discovery
Yeah, I realized that after clicking "submit". Both channels are owned by the same company, so it's no surprise I can't tell the difference. Replace "Monster $OBJECT" with "A Baby/Wedding/Brisking Story" for yet another reason to avoid TLC.
Discovery is starting to get its share of junk as well, but it does have a few decent shows. Daily Planet, though simplified for the masses, is a good overview of recent science news. But yeah, American Chopper/Hotrod/Dishwasher are pretty inane.
And why do they air Shark Week(tm) every month?
Never fear! Now you can accomplish the same annoying effect using CSS.
double-clicking an icon that says "setup".
And how this is different than double-clicking an RPM?
...or when TLC meant "The Learning Channel" rather than "Monster $OBJECT" and "$TRENDY_HOUSE_DECORATING_SHOW"?
I have to pay the listing fee ... a percentage of the final sale ... a percentage of the money that was transfered to me by paypal ... a box ... [and] the shipping fee.
Don't you factor these things into the cost of your auction?
If you charge somebody $2 for a CD, and it costs $3 to mail it, and $1 in administration fees, don't be surprised when you end up $2 out of pocket. If you want a higher profit, set the opening bid to something more reasonable, like $3, and specify that the buyer will pay the actual postage rate according to $CARRIER_OF_CHOICE. That's what starting bids and reserve prices are for -- ensuring that you make a profit within your acceptable range.