many web developers don't like to drop support for those browsers until it's necessary.
Yet these same "developers" won't support newer browsers like Konqueror. Anyone notice what happens when you go to http://www.amazon.com/ with Konqueror? It redirects you to a junk doubleclick.com page. It's almost like web "developers" deliberately refuse to test their shit.
Sure I do. What I remember was government price controls causing shortages, prompting government rationing creating even longer lines. I remember people getting tickets for trying to buy gas on the wrong day of the week.
I listened to an interview with the author of this bill last week. When asked, "won't the tax on production just be passed on to consumers?", he replied "no it won't, because the law would prohibit that."
What fantasy world does this guy live in? The interview was full of either the worst economic ignorance, or the most shameless lies, I've heard in years. This guy was trying to convince us to believe in the government's magic pixie dust that when sprinkled on a problem would make it all go away.
When Bush signs a bill Slashdot doesn't like, he gets all the blame. But when he signs a bill Slashdot likes, he doesn't get the credit. I'm glad to know we're being consistant here.
Which of today's innovations will become tomorrow's gaffs?
My prediction is one mentioned in the blurb: the contextual ribbon. It sucked in XP and it looks like it will get worse in Vista. It's an interface designed around the assumption that users cannot learn. It's great for a newbie, but it blows chunks for intermediate and advanced users. It's a usability issue. When menus reorder items the user is unable to learn where they are. Half locations I click on in Windows menus are those stupid down arrows to see the REST of the freaking menu!
If you have too many menu items that you need to start hiding them, start rethinking if you need all those items. Think of <gasp> submenus. Think about other forms of command. Don't throw out the entire menu concept, because it ain't broke!
Bugs hide other bugs. Firefox's fast bug fix turnaround means that more bugs get found. We don't see more Internet Explorer bugs, because we keep seeing the same old ones over and over.
Only with an unsupported proprietary third party driver originally written for a different operating system. It's the exception that proves the rule, because none of the drivers that come with FreeBSD crash the kernel.
Whatever happened to consumers dictating how the market changes?
Whatever makes you think people are going to "just obey"? Those who do not remember history are doomed to a lifetime of deja-vu! Despite the media's hype of XP, most people waited to update to it. A major corporation with over 100,000 employees didn't switch to XP until 2004, and that's only on the desktop. It's servers are still running Win2K (and various flavors of Unix).
When Vista comes out you'll get some deja-vu, because the media will be full of stories of lines to buy Vista and all that crap. But the reality is that most people won't start using Vista until they buy a new computer with it pre-installed. It's going to be even longer in the corporate world, because there simply is no reason to upgrade before the XP EOL. That's the optimistic view (for Microsoft). It could very well be that Vista flops. Deja-vu, sounds like WinME! WinXP could still be tops until Vista v2 comes out.
p.s. Or Vista could flop big-time, and Windows could start get pushed out of the corporate desktop by Mac OSX and Linux/Unix.
The only possible fly in the ointment is obtaining source code if there is no GPL
That's a pretty damned big fly! The whole point of copyleft (as opposed to unrestricted licenses like BSD and MIT) is to guarantee access to the source code. But without copyright laws to force this, there's nothing to stop code from being proprietarized. When you take off the FSF blinders and look past the utopian rhetoric, the only thing keeping people from "hoarding" GPL code is copyright law.
EULAs are not based on copyright, so EULAs will still be here. In fact, software EULAs got invented back when it wasn't clear that copyright even covered software! The software hoarding RMS is so concerned about arose during a time when copyright didn't cover software!
But beyond that, what's there to stop someone from simply not providing source code? The big name legal actions regarding the GPL are all about providing source code. Currently there's a lawsuit going forward about some chess program that using runtime linkage over sockets. What's the point of the lawsuit, if not the source code licensed under the GPL? Or the software could be "locked" up with encryption. Or NDAs. Or a dozen other mechanisms.
This is the great hypocrisy of the FSF. RMS is like Karl Marx arguing that the state/copyright will whither away. In the end, the society he envisions requires the coercive force of the state/copyright.
p.s. I'm not arguing against abolishing copyright. I'm arguing against the hypocrisy of the GPL. If you don't believe software should have "owners", then put it in the public domain.
You're still missing the point. The purpose of the GPL is to threaten people with lawsuits. Nobody from FreeBSD would give a shit if the NVidia driver were bundled on a CD with the kernel. But do it with a GPL kernel like Linux and suddenly people act like you're drowning kittens. Hence the distros that get shut down. Hence the lawsuit over a *free* chess program. Hence the FSF's legal enforcement division acting like Mini-Me to BSA's Doctor Evil.
Freedom is about letting people do what they will, not suing them into a narrow ethic.
You don't get it. The GPL was telling Kororaa what to do with THIRD PARTY software! The NVidia driver was an *optional* *runtime* module. Kororaa is an example of GPL hyperlegalism run amok. The GPL isn't about freedom, it's about suing.
If I copy Hamlet to a CD and give it to my friend, he is receiving a GENUINE Shakespearian play. No question about it. Since the English word "genuine" makes no distinctions based on public domain, if I burn a copy of the latest Harry Potter book and give it to my friend, he is still receiving a genuine Harry Potter novel. That's because the original is the *text* not the pages it is printed on. The original of Windows is *software*, not the CD it resides on.
Slashdot Mirror
many web developers don't like to drop support for those browsers until it's necessary.
Yet these same "developers" won't support newer browsers like Konqueror. Anyone notice what happens when you go to http://www.amazon.com/ with Konqueror? It redirects you to a junk doubleclick.com page. It's almost like web "developers" deliberately refuse to test their shit.
remember the 70s?
Sure I do. What I remember was government price controls causing shortages, prompting government rationing creating even longer lines. I remember people getting tickets for trying to buy gas on the wrong day of the week.
The authors of that bill are idiots. I heard one of them on an interview last week, and his economic ignorance was disgusting.
Businesses never pay taxes. They just pass them on to consumers.
But the consumers pass them back on to business by purchasing less. In the end, taxes hurt everyone.
Nope. The law forbids them from raising the prices in California to make up for said cost
I am aghast at your naivete. Government can't change reality, no matter how fervently you pray to it.
I listened to an interview with the author of this bill last week. When asked, "won't the tax on production just be passed on to consumers?", he replied "no it won't, because the law would prohibit that."
What fantasy world does this guy live in? The interview was full of either the worst economic ignorance, or the most shameless lies, I've heard in years. This guy was trying to convince us to believe in the government's magic pixie dust that when sprinkled on a problem would make it all go away.
When Bush signs a bill Slashdot doesn't like, he gets all the blame. But when he signs a bill Slashdot likes, he doesn't get the credit. I'm glad to know we're being consistant here.
This is all Bush's fault! It's his fault I tell you!
What part of "You can just get the patch from someone else who has it" didn't you understand?
Which of today's innovations will become tomorrow's gaffs?
My prediction is one mentioned in the blurb: the contextual ribbon. It sucked in XP and it looks like it will get worse in Vista. It's an interface designed around the assumption that users cannot learn. It's great for a newbie, but it blows chunks for intermediate and advanced users. It's a usability issue. When menus reorder items the user is unable to learn where they are. Half locations I click on in Windows menus are those stupid down arrows to see the REST of the freaking menu!
If you have too many menu items that you need to start hiding them, start rethinking if you need all those items. Think of <gasp> submenus. Think about other forms of command. Don't throw out the entire menu concept, because it ain't broke!
Yes, a very good analogy.
Bugs hide other bugs. Firefox's fast bug fix turnaround means that more bugs get found. We don't see more Internet Explorer bugs, because we keep seeing the same old ones over and over.
Only with an unsupported proprietary third party driver originally written for a different operating system. It's the exception that proves the rule, because none of the drivers that come with FreeBSD crash the kernel.
Can someone please mod the parent down? The underlying assumptions regarding ten year old girls and computers are pathetic.
You're telling me Linux/MacOS cannot be locked/crashed by a bad driver? I don't have much experience with MacOS, but I know it can happen in Linux.
That's too bad. Because it doesn't happen in FreeBSD.
p.s. Unless you use the *proprietary* NVidia driver, but that's another topic...
Whatever happened to consumers dictating how the market changes?
Whatever makes you think people are going to "just obey"? Those who do not remember history are doomed to a lifetime of deja-vu! Despite the media's hype of XP, most people waited to update to it. A major corporation with over 100,000 employees didn't switch to XP until 2004, and that's only on the desktop. It's servers are still running Win2K (and various flavors of Unix).
When Vista comes out you'll get some deja-vu, because the media will be full of stories of lines to buy Vista and all that crap. But the reality is that most people won't start using Vista until they buy a new computer with it pre-installed. It's going to be even longer in the corporate world, because there simply is no reason to upgrade before the XP EOL. That's the optimistic view (for Microsoft). It could very well be that Vista flops. Deja-vu, sounds like WinME! WinXP could still be tops until Vista v2 comes out.
p.s. Or Vista could flop big-time, and Windows could start get pushed out of the corporate desktop by Mac OSX and Linux/Unix.
The only possible fly in the ointment is obtaining source code if there is no GPL
That's a pretty damned big fly! The whole point of copyleft (as opposed to unrestricted licenses like BSD and MIT) is to guarantee access to the source code. But without copyright laws to force this, there's nothing to stop code from being proprietarized. When you take off the FSF blinders and look past the utopian rhetoric, the only thing keeping people from "hoarding" GPL code is copyright law.
EULAs are not based on copyright, so EULAs will still be here. In fact, software EULAs got invented back when it wasn't clear that copyright even covered software! The software hoarding RMS is so concerned about arose during a time when copyright didn't cover software!
But beyond that, what's there to stop someone from simply not providing source code? The big name legal actions regarding the GPL are all about providing source code. Currently there's a lawsuit going forward about some chess program that using runtime linkage over sockets. What's the point of the lawsuit, if not the source code licensed under the GPL? Or the software could be "locked" up with encryption. Or NDAs. Or a dozen other mechanisms.
This is the great hypocrisy of the FSF. RMS is like Karl Marx arguing that the state/copyright will whither away. In the end, the society he envisions requires the coercive force of the state/copyright.
p.s. I'm not arguing against abolishing copyright. I'm arguing against the hypocrisy of the GPL. If you don't believe software should have "owners", then put it in the public domain.
You're still missing the point. The purpose of the GPL is to threaten people with lawsuits. Nobody from FreeBSD would give a shit if the NVidia driver were bundled on a CD with the kernel. But do it with a GPL kernel like Linux and suddenly people act like you're drowning kittens. Hence the distros that get shut down. Hence the lawsuit over a *free* chess program. Hence the FSF's legal enforcement division acting like Mini-Me to BSA's Doctor Evil.
Freedom is about letting people do what they will, not suing them into a narrow ethic.
The answer is simple. Don't fly virgin. I haven't flown virgin since that sophmore trip to Europe.
Apple fanatics don't firebomb Anglican churches just because a Roman Catholic suggested they refrain from violence.
Bring a book! You can fit four to six good paperback books in the space taken up by a laptop.
Remember, it was Norway and Norwegian police that hauled his butt of to jail. If I were him I would have moved to the US too.
You don't get it. The GPL was telling Kororaa what to do with THIRD PARTY software! The NVidia driver was an *optional* *runtime* module. Kororaa is an example of GPL hyperlegalism run amok. The GPL isn't about freedom, it's about suing.
I'm all for that! It would stop people from suing over GPL violations!
If I copy Hamlet to a CD and give it to my friend, he is receiving a GENUINE Shakespearian play. No question about it. Since the English word "genuine" makes no distinctions based on public domain, if I burn a copy of the latest Harry Potter book and give it to my friend, he is still receiving a genuine Harry Potter novel. That's because the original is the *text* not the pages it is printed on. The original of Windows is *software*, not the CD it resides on.