Part of EFF's strategy was to prove to the judge that no piracy using DeCSS was occuring. The rise of "DivX" and sites explaining in gory detail how to pirate DVDs with it and DeCSS completely derails that.
Just think, we're going to lose all "fair use" rights in the US so some warez kiddiez can avoid paying $7 for a movie (or $17 for the DVD). Gives ya a warm fuzzy feeling, no?
I already debunked this "MS will break Wine" once on this article:) Cliff's Notes version: just 'cuz MS adds stuff doesn't mean the 10 billion apps and users will all upgrade immediately (and in the case of software, stop supporting things like Win95 that still have a tens-of-millions installed base).
And don't forget stuff like Deneba's Canvas for Linux, which is a native Linux ELF binary linked against WineLib. That way developers can have their cake and eat it too - it's a near-zero-risk way to bring out a Linux port and test the market. If it sells, onwards to Qt or GTK or whatever. If not, well, at least it didn't cost much in engineering time.
Media Player is audio-only at this time. And there are easier ways to play mp3s on Linux;)
There is a metric TON of Corel code in the current Wine tree, and more is added daily. The main reason Corel's tree is separate is so they can stablize things (and hack specifically for their stuff if they need to) without interference from the main Wine developers. Once Corel ships their next Wine(Lib) based stuff there should be an almost complete merge, except for any dirty hacks:)
They currently (via Office) support 4 fairly distinct versions of Win32: Win95/98, NT 3.51, NT 4, and Windows 2000. So-called Linux fragmentation has *nothing* on these guys. Given that nearly all application software in the forseeable future is going to be supporting these same 3 platforms it makes the task of running it much easier. That in turn buys time to implement whatever trick new things get added in Win2000, Windows Millenium, etc, etc.
Even if MS suddenly started adding APIs to try and kill WINE, do you really think all the applications for Windows would follow suit? Not likely - software publishers wanna make money, and so they'll continue to run on all Win32 versions.
You are 100% correct. The professional DVD pirates in Hong Kong/Taiwan/etc. have been making bit-for-bit copies of DVD movies since more than a year before DeCSS existed. And the MPAA's only made 1 half-hearted attempt to stop them so far as far as I know.
D3D's not very good on WINE yet (it's only around DX3 level), but OpenGL support is in current CVS now (look for it in the next release). If you have a XFree86 4.0 supported OpenGL card it plays Half-Life in OpenGL mode (quite fast on my TNT2 even). Gaming on Linux is gonna get even more interesting as we go I think:)
The Dreamcast can run Windows CE, but WinCE is in no way, shape, or form "under the hood". It resides entirely on the game disc and boots from there if the game uses it. Otherwise the Dreamcast is 100% Microsoft-free.
Steve Snake got paid for his work. Given that he actually works for a Sega licensed developer (Probe, now part of Acclaim) and Sega could have raised a legal stink about it, the fact that they instead paid him for a custom version *and* let him continue distribution of the free KGen98 is very cool.
Contrast this with Sony and Nintendo's shrill claims that emulation itself is illegal. Sega does act to shut down ROM sites, but regardless of how you try and weasel around it those sites are 100% illegal (moreso actually if you apply the MP3.com ruling - now the "it's legal to download if you own the cart" argument is gone).
Of course, I'm damn biased - I write console games for a living, and my continued ability to buy cool geek gear depends on piracy being shut down:)
Result: John Carmack, author of all 3 Quake games, is optimizing drivers for their chips.
Scenario 2: NVIDIA is dead-set on closed source.
Result: I can't get their piece-of-crap drivers to work in 3D, I don't know why, and they don't offer support. This does not lead to customer satisfaction.
There's a possibility of getting Connectix Virtual Game Station to run on Wine (it's a heck of a lot more compatible with PSX games than bleem, and they didn't resort to teenage hax0r tricks to write it:) It doesn't work yet though (needs address space separation, like an increasing pile of other things).
PSEmuPro is playable on recent versions of Wine, but only if you have a 3dfx GLIDE compatible video card and Glide3x for Linux installed (I get nice flat 60 FPS on my Voodoo2 playing Raystorm with sound:-)
Bleem exploits a bug in the Windows 9x kernel to get itself into Ring 0 (kernel mode on Intel processors) and wreak havoc without Windows' interference. As you might imagine, we can't allow that on Wine:-)
Moreover, it took them only 4 months to port. They first started experimenting with WineLib the last week of December, and a working beta is out today. Go Deneba!:-)
Corel wanted to use WineLib (and is still planning to for future versions of WPO), but g++ is not yet suitable for general Windows porting. (precompiled headers being probably the largest problem - gcc doesn't have 'em, so large C++ projects take forever to build, as anyone who's compiled KDE knows all too well).
The problem is exacerbated because Corel's stuff is all based on MFC, and MFC in turn is heavily tied to Visual C++. gcc 2.95.x helps this out by supporting anonymous structs and unions, but the pieces still aren't all in place to do seamless Winelib ports.
Deneba OTOH writes their code in pure C++ with no class libraries (Canvas evidentally can compile on both Windows and the MacOS from a common codebase). They began experimenting with WineLib the last week of December (based on their emails to wine-devel), so they've made excellent progress in a short amount of time. Kudos to them:)
Disclaimer: I don't work for either Corel or Deneba. Everything in this post was picked up or interpolated from wine-devel mailing list postings. If someone from those companies wants to correct me, please moderate them up;-)
No, it wasn't. You're also way overestimating the power of the PSX - it run on a MIPS R3000 with the FPU removed (!) at 33 MHz (!!!). There is no data cache (not even L1). Optimistically this gives it the raw power of a 486/33. How do games play fast on it? No bulky operating system AT ALL (Win, Linux, anything), and really good hardware transform and lighting from day 1 (in 1994, for those of you thinking nVidia is an innovator).
I don't see you saying anything about what code you've produced.
Right, because I choose to do coding for other projects, notably Wine. I do submit bugs for Mozilla however, and it's really not a time-consuming process to do so. Heck, it's kinda fun having a bug open, sorta like a Tamagotchi except you get to kill it at the end;-)
Have you reported reproducable bugs on BugZilla? (I have, they were fixed, it was neat). Have you downloaded the source and submitted patches? Sitting and whining works great for closed source (where there's not much you can do anyway), but it's worse than useless for open source software. The source is out there, the bug database is wide open, get on with it.
The first version of WPO at least is a specially modified Windows.EXE that runs on a modified WINE (the WINE mods eliminate windoze drive letters and make the widgets look like KDE/Qt). They had planned to make it a WineLib application, but g++ has some problems with large C++ apps (you've heard them before - no precompiled headers, no incremental linking) that made going the.EXE+WINE route much more painless.
(if there's other reasons that Gav or Zygo or any other Corel/Macadamian dudes want to correct me on, feel free.)
Even the IIgs came with complete schematics, although it was mostly (V)LSI custom ICs, unlike the earlier IIs which for the most part could be built entirely with stuff from Radio Shack (before RS became one word and stopped carrying parts).
Slashdot Mirror
Part of EFF's strategy was to prove to the judge that no piracy using DeCSS was occuring. The rise of "DivX" and sites explaining in gory detail how to pirate DVDs with it and DeCSS completely derails that.
Just think, we're going to lose all "fair use" rights in the US so some warez kiddiez can avoid paying $7 for a movie (or $17 for the DVD). Gives ya a warm fuzzy feeling, no?
I already debunked this "MS will break Wine" once on this article :) Cliff's Notes version: just 'cuz MS adds stuff doesn't mean the 10 billion apps and users will all upgrade immediately (and in the case of software, stop supporting things like Win95 that still have a tens-of-millions installed base).
And don't forget stuff like Deneba's Canvas for Linux, which is a native Linux ELF binary linked against WineLib. That way developers can have their cake and eat it too - it's a near-zero-risk way to bring out a Linux port and test the market. If it sells, onwards to Qt or GTK or whatever. If not, well, at least it didn't cost much in engineering time.
Media Player is audio-only at this time. And there are easier ways to play mp3s on Linux ;)
:)
There is a metric TON of Corel code in the current Wine tree, and more is added daily. The main reason Corel's tree is separate is so they can stablize things (and hack specifically for their stuff if they need to) without interference from the main Wine developers. Once Corel ships their next Wine(Lib) based stuff there should be an almost complete merge, except for any dirty hacks
They currently (via Office) support 4 fairly distinct versions of Win32: Win95/98, NT 3.51, NT 4, and Windows 2000. So-called Linux fragmentation has *nothing* on these guys. Given that nearly all application software in the forseeable future is going to be supporting these same 3 platforms it makes the task of running it much easier. That in turn buys time to implement whatever trick new things get added in Win2000, Windows Millenium, etc, etc.
Even if MS suddenly started adding APIs to try and kill WINE, do you really think all the applications for Windows would follow suit? Not likely - software publishers wanna make money, and so they'll continue to run on all Win32 versions.
You are 100% correct. The professional DVD pirates in Hong Kong/Taiwan/etc. have been making bit-for-bit copies of DVD movies since more than a year before DeCSS existed. And the MPAA's only made 1 half-hearted attempt to stop them so far as far as I know.
D3D's not very good on WINE yet (it's only around DX3 level), but OpenGL support is in current CVS now (look for it in the next release). If you have a XFree86 4.0 supported OpenGL card it plays Half-Life in OpenGL mode (quite fast on my TNT2 even). Gaming on Linux is gonna get even more interesting as we go I think :)
The Dreamcast can run Windows CE, but WinCE is in no way, shape, or form "under the hood". It resides entirely on the game disc and boots from there if the game uses it. Otherwise the Dreamcast is 100% Microsoft-free.
Steve Snake got paid for his work. Given that he actually works for a Sega licensed developer (Probe, now part of Acclaim) and Sega could have raised a legal stink about it, the fact that they instead paid him for a custom version *and* let him continue distribution of the free KGen98 is very cool.
:)
Contrast this with Sony and Nintendo's shrill claims that emulation itself is illegal. Sega does act to shut down ROM sites, but regardless of how you try and weasel around it those sites are 100% illegal (moreso actually if you apply the MP3.com ruling - now the "it's legal to download if you own the cart" argument is gone).
Of course, I'm damn biased - I write console games for a living, and my continued ability to buy cool geek gear depends on piracy being shut down
Let's see.
Scenario 1: ATI has open specs for their chips.
Result: John Carmack, author of all 3 Quake games, is optimizing drivers for their chips.
Scenario 2: NVIDIA is dead-set on closed source.
Result: I can't get their piece-of-crap drivers to work in 3D, I don't know why, and they don't offer support. This does not lead to customer satisfaction.
There's a possibility of getting Connectix Virtual Game Station to run on Wine (it's a heck of a lot more compatible with PSX games than bleem, and they didn't resort to teenage hax0r tricks to write it :) It doesn't work yet though (needs address space separation, like an increasing pile of other things).
:-)
PSEmuPro is playable on recent versions of Wine, but only if you have a 3dfx GLIDE compatible video card and Glide3x for Linux installed (I get nice flat 60 FPS on my Voodoo2 playing Raystorm with sound
Bleem exploits a bug in the Windows 9x kernel to get itself into Ring 0 (kernel mode on Intel processors) and wreak havoc without Windows' interference. As you might imagine, we can't allow that on Wine :-)
So someone should be able to port it to *BSD.
Moreover, it took them only 4 months to port. They first started experimenting with WineLib the last week of December, and a working beta is out today. Go Deneba! :-)
Corel wanted to use WineLib (and is still planning to for future versions of WPO), but g++ is not yet suitable for general Windows porting. (precompiled headers being probably the largest problem - gcc doesn't have 'em, so large C++ projects take forever to build, as anyone who's compiled KDE knows all too well).
:)
;-)
The problem is exacerbated because Corel's stuff is all based on MFC, and MFC in turn is heavily tied to Visual C++. gcc 2.95.x helps this out by supporting anonymous structs and unions, but the pieces still aren't all in place to do seamless Winelib ports.
Deneba OTOH writes their code in pure C++ with no class libraries (Canvas evidentally can compile on both Windows and the MacOS from a common codebase). They began experimenting with WineLib the last week of December (based on their emails to wine-devel), so they've made excellent progress in a short amount of time. Kudos to them
Disclaimer: I don't work for either Corel or Deneba. Everything in this post was picked up or interpolated from wine-devel mailing list postings. If someone from those companies wants to correct me, please moderate them up
The new tilesets were nowhere near the quality of Bowie's work, which will be missed.
Sony is also a partner of Rambus - their PlayStation2 (which may have legal problems of it's own) uses Rambus RDRAM.
Wouldn't it be handy for them if the Dreamcast got pulled off shelves just as they launched the PS2 in the US and Europe?
No, it wasn't. You're also way overestimating the power of the PSX - it run on a MIPS R3000 with the FPU removed (!) at 33 MHz (!!!). There is no data cache (not even L1). Optimistically this gives it the raw power of a 486/33. How do games play fast on it? No bulky operating system AT ALL (Win, Linux, anything), and really good hardware transform and lighting from day 1 (in 1994, for those of you thinking nVidia is an innovator).
Ok. We all know the president of slashdot.org is Rob "Taco" Malda.
But who's the prime minister of the Internet? Al Gore?
I don't see you saying anything about what code you've produced.
;-)
Right, because I choose to do coding for other projects, notably Wine. I do submit bugs for Mozilla however, and it's really not a time-consuming process to do so. Heck, it's kinda fun having a bug open, sorta like a Tamagotchi except you get to kill it at the end
Internet Explorer works and is compliant with all but the latest W3C standards
:)
:-)
Forgot to mention this in my first reply
Here's what happens in the real world when browsers collide in W3C standards testing:
Click here for test results
As you can see, last September's version of Mozilla completely trounces MSIE 5 (and Opera, and Navigator 4.7, not that that's hard).
Apologies in advance to the page owner if they get Slashdotted
Have you reported reproducable bugs on BugZilla? (I have, they were fixed, it was neat). Have you downloaded the source and submitted patches? Sitting and whining works great for closed source (where there's not much you can do anyway), but it's worse than useless for open source software. The source is out there, the bug database is wide open, get on with it.
The first version of WPO at least is a specially modified Windows .EXE that runs on a modified WINE (the WINE mods eliminate windoze drive letters and make the widgets look like KDE/Qt). They had planned to make it a WineLib application, but g++ has some problems with large C++ apps (you've heard them before - no precompiled headers, no incremental linking) that made going the .EXE+WINE route much more painless.
(if there's other reasons that Gav or Zygo or any other Corel/Macadamian dudes want to correct me on, feel free.)
Even the IIgs came with complete schematics, although it was mostly (V)LSI custom ICs, unlike the earlier IIs which for the most part could be built entirely with stuff from Radio Shack (before RS became one word and stopped carrying parts).
...and that about covers it ;-)
Look at for instance http://www.maz-sound.com/ - there are fake Windows audio drivers available that capture to .WAV files.