I have no inherent problem with speed limits (except that the stupid blanket 70mph limit was supposed to be *temporary* (yeah, right!)
Instead of tracking the whereabouts of every car (which is a gross intrustion of privacy IMHO) then why not have a speed limiter system built into cars that responds to local transponders (or digital maps + GPS). In this way, cars can't speed but neither will everyone's location be logged by our big brother state. Oh, I'm sorry is that a problem - safety-wise? I guess that (speed limitors) won't happen since there would be a chance for UK citizens to sue the government - but putting another piece into the big-brother state is OK...?
The other thing that seriously p*sses me off is that none of this was in B'liar's manifesto before his party were elected - otherwise things might have been a bit different electionwise methinks...
As a UK citizen I am ashamed and appalled at the continuous erosion of civil liberties that have taken place during the last couple of terms of government.
B'liar is in the process of forcing through optional (year, right!) ID cards through parliament today that will cost an average of over $200/citizen (to be bourne by taxpayers of course). In addition everyone who wants to have a passport renewed will be forced to be finger-printed and iris scanned.
All of these pieces of information will be stored and cross-linked with other personal details totally ignoring the data protection laws in the UK (that all businesses have to comply with and were put in place to try and prevent this sort of gradual slip into a surveillence society). In addition, the UK is the process of testing out road charging that will require all cars/busses/lorries to be fitted with a satellite tracking system so that the location of *every* vehicle continuously and this information will be available to the police.
I don't know about anybody else but this scares the hell out of me - especially with changes to the court systems to avoid the use of juries in certain cases and the 'anti-terrorism' laws (currently being contested) that allow *anyone* whom the state deems to be 'a threat to the state' to be detained without trial. I wonder whether there will be a ban on reading George Orwell's '1984' next...?
I have a young family with children in school and family here but if I had less attachments then I would be getting the hell out of here fast!
The really stupid thing is that companies like Sony are really annoying the people they can't afford to annoy - i.e. their consumers. I buy DVDs and CDs legally and have two children who are good at wrecking digital media - so I keep the originals as masters and back them up - using the backups on a day-to-day basis. There is no way that I will buy or use any product containing DRM unless I can't help it.
Based on this I will not buy a Sony DVD or CD again (and I have done in the past). If more people vote with their feet then hopefully (eventually) they might take note. I was going to buy a PS/3 at some point but now it will have to be an X-Box (what a choice - M$ or Sony...! - perhaps I won't after all!)
This is why open source software is *so* important and applications like MythTV are infinitely preferable to M$ Media Center. I do support and fund production of quality films but abhor the cartel (and it *is* a cartel) that controls all of this. As others have said here - what we need is not only to publish the dource code of DVD Decrypter but also full details of how the copy protection works to as many web servers as possible. This really is very scary and big-brother-ish...
I used to be an absolutely staunch Microsoft and Windows supporter in the days when they promoted their O/S as an enabling platform that allowed many competing products to co-exist and compete for a user share e.g.
MS Office vs Corel Office vs Lotus Office etc Internet Explorer vs Netscape vs Mosiac (oops IE again!)
and many other competing products.
Were the other applications much worse than MS's software - yes in some cases - but in other cases they were better. The reason that the other suites vanished is because MS used their position as vendors of the operating system to an unfair advantage to bundle MS applications at rates that were unsustainable for 3rd party vendors then having wiped out most of the competition they hiked the prices up again!
Look at a typical PC today. Apart from (say) a virus scanner and DVD/CD burning software the vast majority of the software will be MS owned and controlled. So having created a true monopoly, MS hikes up prices, adds 'features' like DRM that many users do not want then and add hardware keyed software protection measures to protect this monopoly.
Cobblers to this - I want a choice!
Don't get me wrong, I have spent most of my current IT career using MS O/S's but I am getting to the stage where I cannot justify using Windows for my own use and promoting this monopoly. My home PCs all have Windows/Linux dual boot on them and I will be moving over to pure Linux on 2/3 of the machines in the near future.
The only reason for one PC remaining on Windows is that my 4 year old daughter's favourite software (PC play and Learn - which is Macromedia Authorware based) will not run on Linux except by using a Crossover Office plugin and even then not in an acceptable fashion. Please, please Macromedia port the authorware runtime to Linux!
Bottom line - MS *IS* holding a gun to your head. What they want you to believe is "Pay our inflated monopolistic prices or stop using your PC!" (and most of Joe Public out there genuinely believe that).
I can understand MS copy protecting their applications such as Office, Developer Studio etc since there are suitable alternatives but not the operating system (if you want to use Windows software). This is especially nauseating when they drop support for earlier O/S versions after a fairly short while...
Is their open source offering a good thing? Absolutely.
Has the Leopard changed its spots? Of course not.
This hasn't cost MS a bean in real terms and has gained them some qudos by contributing to an open source project. They are, of course, the same greedy monopolistic empire that they always have been (IMHO of course!)
For goodness sake lets promote Linux usage as much as we can (in schools and workplaces) and perhaps we might be back to the position in which Joe Public has a real choice sometime soon.
Microsoft is hostile to supporting Linux on their own platform as it undermines the business model of the X-Box and obviously Linux is the closest competitor to their own flagship operating system (XP or Server.NET 2003).
I find Microsoft breathtakingly arrogant and their products extremely inefficient and bloaty but you cannot be surprised when they want to patch their own product to reduce the likelyhood of hackers messing about with the X-Box Live network!
No, the most worrying aspect about all of this is the support that it lends (to average users) to the 'Palladium' initiative and to trusted computing in general - i.e. to turn all computers into turnkey systems that cannot be modified by the end user.
My suggestion? Support other vendors that actively encourage Open Source such as Sony and their PS/2
I must admit that I haven't tried it out with any really huge documents yet...
The friends that I know who do serious DTP tend to stick with PDF formats and transfer to EPS at a later stage (if at all). (That isn't to say that I don't respect TeX - I just prefer more 'visual' tools:) )
Slashdot Mirror
I have no inherent problem with speed limits (except that the stupid blanket 70mph limit was supposed to be *temporary* (yeah, right!)
Instead of tracking the whereabouts of every car (which is a gross intrustion of privacy IMHO) then why not have a speed limiter system built into cars that responds to local transponders (or digital maps + GPS). In this way, cars can't speed but neither will everyone's location be logged by our big brother state. Oh, I'm sorry is that a problem - safety-wise? I guess that (speed limitors) won't happen since there would be a chance for UK citizens to sue the government - but putting another piece into the big-brother state is OK...?
The other thing that seriously p*sses me off is that none of this was in B'liar's manifesto before his party were elected - otherwise things might have been a bit different electionwise methinks...
As a UK citizen I am ashamed and appalled at the continuous erosion of civil liberties that have taken place during the last couple of terms of government.
- cards.shtml
B'liar is in the process of forcing through optional (year, right!) ID cards through parliament today that will cost an average of over $200/citizen (to be bourne by taxpayers of course). In addition everyone who wants to have a passport renewed will be forced to be finger-printed and iris scanned.
http://www.no2id.net/IDSchemes/faq.php
http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/privacy/id
All of these pieces of information will be stored and cross-linked with other personal details totally ignoring the data protection laws in the UK (that all businesses have to comply with and were put in place to try and prevent this sort of gradual slip into a surveillence society). In addition, the UK is the process of testing out road charging that will require all cars/busses/lorries to be fitted with a satellite tracking system so that the location of *every* vehicle continuously and this information will be available to the police.
I don't know about anybody else but this scares the hell out of me - especially with changes to the court systems to avoid the use of juries in certain cases and the 'anti-terrorism' laws (currently being contested) that allow *anyone* whom the state deems to be 'a threat to the state' to be detained without trial. I wonder whether there will be a ban on reading George Orwell's '1984' next...?
I have a young family with children in school and family here but if I had less attachments then I would be getting the hell out of here fast!
...I have paid good money for them!
The really stupid thing is that companies like Sony are really annoying the people they can't afford to annoy - i.e. their consumers. I buy DVDs and CDs legally and have two children who are good at wrecking digital media - so I keep the originals as masters and back them up - using the backups on a day-to-day basis. There is no way that I will buy or use any product containing DRM unless I can't help it.
Based on this I will not buy a Sony DVD or CD again (and I have done in the past). If more people vote with their feet then hopefully (eventually) they might take note. I was going to buy a PS/3 at some point but now it will have to be an X-Box (what a choice - M$ or Sony...! - perhaps I won't after all!)
This is why open source software is *so* important and applications like MythTV are infinitely preferable to M$ Media Center. I do support and fund production of quality films but abhor the cartel (and it *is* a cartel) that controls all of this. As others have said here - what we need is not only to publish the dource code of DVD Decrypter but also full details of how the copy protection works to as many web servers as possible. This really is very scary and big-brother-ish...
I used to be an absolutely staunch Microsoft and Windows supporter in the days when they promoted their O/S as an enabling platform that allowed many competing products to co-exist and compete for a user share e.g.
MS Office vs Corel Office vs Lotus Office etc
Internet Explorer vs Netscape vs Mosiac (oops IE again!)
and many other competing products.
Were the other applications much worse than MS's software - yes in some cases - but in other cases they were better. The reason that the other suites vanished is because MS used their position as vendors of the operating system to an unfair advantage to bundle MS applications at rates that were unsustainable for 3rd party vendors then having wiped out most of the competition they hiked the prices up again!
Look at a typical PC today. Apart from (say) a virus scanner and DVD/CD burning software the vast majority of the software will be MS owned and controlled. So having created a true monopoly, MS hikes up prices, adds 'features' like DRM that many users do not want then and add hardware keyed software protection measures to protect this monopoly.
Cobblers to this - I want a choice!
Don't get me wrong, I have spent most of my current IT career using MS O/S's but I am getting to the stage where I cannot justify using Windows for my own use and promoting this monopoly. My home PCs all have Windows/Linux dual boot on them and I will be moving over to pure Linux on 2/3 of the machines in the near future.
The only reason for one PC remaining on Windows is that my 4 year old daughter's favourite software (PC play and Learn - which is Macromedia Authorware based) will not run on Linux except by using a Crossover Office plugin and even then not in an acceptable fashion. Please, please Macromedia port the authorware runtime to Linux!
Bottom line - MS *IS* holding a gun to your head. What they want you to believe is "Pay our inflated monopolistic prices or stop using your PC!" (and most of Joe Public out there genuinely believe that).
I can understand MS copy protecting their applications such as Office, Developer Studio etc since there are suitable alternatives but not the operating system (if you want to use Windows software). This is especially nauseating when they drop support for earlier O/S versions after a fairly short while...
Is their open source offering a good thing? Absolutely.
Has the Leopard changed its spots? Of course not.
This hasn't cost MS a bean in real terms and has gained them some qudos by contributing to an open source project. They are, of course, the same greedy monopolistic empire that they always have been (IMHO of course!)
For goodness sake lets promote Linux usage as much as we can (in schools and workplaces) and perhaps we might be back to the position in which Joe Public has a real choice sometime soon.
Sorry about the rant but I think it is important.
Microsoft is hostile to supporting Linux on their own platform as it undermines the business model of the X-Box and obviously Linux is the closest competitor to their own flagship operating system (XP or Server .NET 2003).
I find Microsoft breathtakingly arrogant and their products extremely inefficient and bloaty but you cannot be surprised when they want to patch their own product to reduce the likelyhood of hackers messing about with the X-Box Live network!
No, the most worrying aspect about all of this is the support that it lends (to average users) to the 'Palladium' initiative and to trusted computing in general - i.e. to turn all computers into turnkey systems that cannot be modified by the end user.
My suggestion? Support other vendors that actively encourage Open Source such as Sony and their PS/2
Playstation 2 Linux Kit
Playstation 2 Linux Home Page
and withdraw any support for products (such as the X-Box) that encourage 'trusted computing' and Palladium.
BTW I use both M$ XP at work/home and various flavours of Linux.
(Forgive a Linux newbie if I've got the wrong end of the stick...) but have you played with Scribus yet?
:) )
http://www.atlantictechsolutions.com/scribusdocs/
I must admit that I haven't tried it out with any really huge documents yet...
The friends that I know who do serious DTP tend to stick with PDF formats and transfer to EPS at a later stage (if at all). (That isn't to say that I don't respect TeX - I just prefer more 'visual' tools