The license may require derived works to carry different name, version numbers and/or trademarks from the original software.
Having read the full debian thread, I can tell you that the problem seems to be that the trademark clause can be used by MoFo as a veto on even minor changes that the Debian Maintainer feels he should be able to make without a problem:
Which is to say, at this time it is solely due to MoFo's goodwill (Debian having been granted special--but revokable--exemption) that a Debian security-patched Firefox can still be called Firefox.
The opinion from some people is that this is too restrictive--and worse yet there is no publicised criteria for how to gain such an exemption.
Oh... and projects downstream from Debian do not automatically benefit from the exemption either.
Indeed I was being sarcastic. Very sarcastic, and I had hoped obviously sarcastic. But just in case, let not a shred of doubt remain: I was being sarcastic, very sarcastic.;-)
It's too bad many who "try first" don't become "customers." Instead, they extend their trial period indefinitely, citing minor/imaginary flaws to be the reason for not purchasing the item.
So true! Obviously all those teenagers with hundreds of album's worth of music would be spending tens of thousands of dollars each year on music if it wasn't for free downloads.
Obviously the tens of thousands of dollars being saved by these teenagers belongs rightly to the RIAA. We're talking theft of the most despicable sort.
Too bad that with all the tens of thousands of dollars saved, those teenagers will be able to afford legal representation when the RIAA come around. Really, they should just pay up and be thankful they aren't sued for the rightful full damages ($200,000 / song) and forced into a bankrupcy at the age of 12!!
However, people still keep wanting advice on keeping their 700Mhz machine running when it's clearly not working so well anymorre.
...
When asked, "I've got this problem. How would you fix it?" I now pretty much just say, "Personally, I'd just buy a new machine."
Hmmm... there isn't likely to be a noticable difference between a properly working 700 Mhz and a 4000 Mhz machine if it's used for word processing, internet, instant messaging and things of the sort.
Perhaps it would make more sense to have the questioners referred to local computer handymen, or more secure software, or a more secure operating system.
Yes, neither is a perfect (or even necessarily simple) solution... but buying a new computer because your software is screwed up (the SAME SOFTWARE that you'll be running on the new computer) is a bit akin to buying a new car every time your ashtray gets full.
It may "get the job done", but not something I'd brag about.
But while they are priced like consumer electronics, the machines still aren't even remotely as easy to use, and the trend lines there aren't particularly encouraging.
There was a time when the overwhelming majority of the population was illiterate. Whereas now reading and writing is a basic requirement in most (if not all) jobs (and just about every other aspect of modern day life).
Computers are not easy to use? Cry me a river! In another generation the people who are still whining about computers being hard to use *in general* are going to be directly analogous to illiterates.
If you cannot keep up with the standard demands of human civilization, your IQ will be reclassified as 100, possibly far 100.
Are you presuming a static (non-growing) base corpus? If so, why?
I don't see a system like this ever functioning without ongoing human review. And as human reviewers catch mistakes, the corpus would grow and probably even change as language itself changes.
No, it isn't strong AI. But the sort of mistakes you are talking about could probably be made quite infrequent on an ongoing basis.
Therein encapsulated is all the folly of every attempt at word-matching translation.
What does this article/discussion have to do with "word-matching translation"?
The article describes a process of phrase matching. Whereby the biggest possible portion of a given text is matched to a "trusted" translation thereof.
To go with your example, instead of matching each individual word the match would more likely be the whole sentence, or the two component phrases:
"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak"
OR
"the spirit is willing", "but the flesh is weak".
Rick Mourneau's Lexical Semantics details his creation of a machine translation intermediary language.
Absolutely fascinating stuff if you're into that sort of thing. Though definitely a less AI-esque attempt at the problem.
---
On an unrelated topic: if the stupid captcha's instituted by the idiotic editors continue for much longer, I will go out of my way and null-route all slashdot ad sources at both home and work.
Assuredly some sensible appeals will stop this ruling from being a usable precedent. A country's entire legal system cannot be demented enough not to.
Oh... and F the wonderful slashdot decision makers that came up with the captcha idea for logged in users. Great bleeding idea. Now I'll be forced to give up my markov-chain generating slashdot posting AI alter-ego and write comments myself.
And doubly F them for making the letters look ambigious. This is my third attempt at posting. Thanks, Slashdot, for wasting my time.
A third F them, for my forth attempt... no, really. Please add a second captcha too, could you?
Fifth time, here we go. I encourage everyone else to add a meaningless paragraph for each F-ing captcha fuck-up on slashdot's part.
Software is milked far far beyond its worth. Remember there need not be distribution costs beyond cents for bandwidth per copy. So if China *can* make its own, it *should* so that the "milking", if any, does not cause currency to leave the country.
And regarding the GPL: the source is openly available for inspection **AND UNLIKE THE WINDOWS SOURCE** it is **COMPILABLE**. My thinking is that Chinese organisations could initiate massive forking of available GPL software to produce Chinese versions for national use. (One would hope compatibility would not be wholly thrown out the window.)
Products are manufactured and there are legitimate per-copy costs. The profits made are usually not "a killing".
Of course, since the US doesn't/can't make a lot of stuff in question... it's kind of silly to argue why it should or shouldn't.
As for why your sense of morality is not echoed by the general populace on a non-ethical question; you'll have to ask someone smarter than I.
Clearly, as evidenced by your puzzlement over the majority of reactions, what you stated is not at all obvious.
Just four days ago,/. ran a story about how China's government was only going to buy Chinese software. The +5 comments in that story tend toward this sentiment:
China has a much more paranoid outlook. Good for them.
China has a much more paranoid outlook. Good for them.
...
In this thread, we the +5's tend toward denouncing the US's choice to effectively do the same thing. Is there some method to the madness? I'm genuinely curious...
Thanks to GPL software, China can easily achieve their stated goal.
The US however, as stated by legions of slashdotters, does not make much anymore and therefore will find it difficult or impossible to achieve its stated goal.
So we should stop treating ThatWeasel like a grand chap BEFORE he invades Poland?
Errr... well... yes, uhm... that was the gist of my post. So... errr... in conclusion: Remember the Czech Republic--not just Poland!
Of course I do not mind clarifying historical misunderstandings either.;-)
Poland was the start of the rest of the world ceasing to treat Hitler like a grand chap who really got things all sorted out with those peculiar German folk. Not the start of his aggression.
What I regret the most is to have suffered CENSORSHIP inside my own university (in a European Union member state, of all places on earth), and as a result of pressures and threats coming from Collecting Societies and Recording and Movie Industries (on my website you have proof of all that).
What's so surprising about an EU state being pressured? That's how the EU was formed.
Do you struggle with a reading disability?
Nowhere in the article or in the quote was there a single word about an EU state being pressured.
He expressed surprise that he should suffer censorship in an EU state. Not everyone thinks the American game of "Yes, Mr. President!" is the only way to live life.
He wasn't fired. He (claims he) was pressurised into resigning. I ain't making any judgement or saying anything else until I've heard an account of events from someone less close to the controversy.
I'm quite certain that "having his contents confined under a pressure greater than that of the outside atmosphere" was not his reason for resigning.
Being pressured, however, may have have had something to do with it.
Since I switched fully over to Linux my use of pirated software ceased 100%. Since I helped my best friend switch over to Linux, his use of pirated software ceased 100%. And now the Cubans are heading that way too...
BSA, be happy!! You may just end up with less software piracy if everyone just migrates to Linux! Yaaaay!!!
Remember, people: if you are not using linux, you support software piracy and belong in Guantanamo Bay!
Slashdot Mirror
i.e.: bug fixes, security fixes, addition of (debian) trusted root certificates
Which is to say, at this time it is solely due to MoFo's goodwill (Debian having been granted special--but revokable--exemption) that a Debian security-patched Firefox can still be called Firefox.
The opinion from some people is that this is too restrictive--and worse yet there is no publicised criteria for how to gain such an exemption.
Oh... and projects downstream from Debian do not automatically benefit from the exemption either.
Obviously the tens of thousands of dollars being saved by these teenagers belongs rightly to the RIAA. We're talking theft of the most despicable sort.
Too bad that with all the tens of thousands of dollars saved, those teenagers will be able to afford legal representation when the RIAA come around. Really, they should just pay up and be thankful they aren't sued for the rightful full damages ($200,000 / song) and forced into a bankrupcy at the age of 12!!
Perhaps it would make more sense to have the questioners referred to local computer handymen, or more secure software, or a more secure operating system.
Yes, neither is a perfect (or even necessarily simple) solution... but buying a new computer because your software is screwed up (the SAME SOFTWARE that you'll be running on the new computer) is a bit akin to buying a new car every time your ashtray gets full.
It may "get the job done", but not something I'd brag about.
Damn preview-blindness.
That was suppose to be "< 100", i.e.: less than 100.
Computers are not easy to use? Cry me a river! In another generation the people who are still whining about computers being hard to use *in general* are going to be directly analogous to illiterates.
If you cannot keep up with the standard demands of human civilization, your IQ will be reclassified as 100, possibly far 100.
Yeah, yeah... totally offtopic. Sorry.
Not a single comment out of 125 actually shows in full!!
I guess I'll go read Kuro5hin.org and Technocrat instead.
But wow! The captchas are gone. I guess no captchas no comments... well, as I said: C'est la vie.
But one would be mighty appreciative if one chosing not to expungate would at least annihilate on said dangers. Briefly, at least.
Just sayin'...
Oh, and slashdot is run by idiots. Thanks for another captcha. I'm *still* human.
Are you presuming a static (non-growing) base corpus? If so, why?
I don't see a system like this ever functioning without ongoing human review. And as human reviewers catch mistakes, the corpus would grow and probably even change as language itself changes.
No, it isn't strong AI. But the sort of mistakes you are talking about could probably be made quite infrequent on an ongoing basis.
The article describes a process of phrase matching. Whereby the biggest possible portion of a given text is matched to a "trusted" translation thereof.
To go with your example, instead of matching each individual word the match would more likely be the whole sentence, or the two component phrases:
"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak"
OR
"the spirit is willing", "but the flesh is weak".
Rick Mourneau's Lexical Semantics details his creation of a machine translation intermediary language.
Absolutely fascinating stuff if you're into that sort of thing. Though definitely a less AI-esque attempt at the problem.
---
On an unrelated topic: if the stupid captcha's instituted by the idiotic editors continue for much longer, I will go out of my way and null-route all slashdot ad sources at both home and work.
Obviously this is nonsensical in the extreme.
Assuredly some sensible appeals will stop this ruling from being a usable precedent. A country's entire legal system cannot be demented enough not to.
Oh... and F the wonderful slashdot decision makers that came up with the captcha idea for logged in users. Great bleeding idea. Now I'll be forced to give up my markov-chain generating slashdot posting AI alter-ego and write comments myself.
And doubly F them for making the letters look ambigious. This is my third attempt at posting. Thanks, Slashdot, for wasting my time.
A third F them, for my forth attempt... no, really. Please add a second captcha too, could you?
Fifth time, here we go. I encourage everyone else to add a meaningless paragraph for each F-ing captcha fuck-up on slashdot's part.
Software is milked far far beyond its worth. Remember there need not be distribution costs beyond cents for bandwidth per copy. So if China *can* make its own, it *should* so that the "milking", if any, does not cause currency to leave the country.
And regarding the GPL: the source is openly available for inspection **AND UNLIKE THE WINDOWS SOURCE** it is **COMPILABLE**. My thinking is that Chinese organisations could initiate massive forking of available GPL software to produce Chinese versions for national use. (One would hope compatibility would not be wholly thrown out the window.)
Products are manufactured and there are legitimate per-copy costs. The profits made are usually not "a killing".
Of course, since the US doesn't/can't make a lot of stuff in question... it's kind of silly to argue why it should or shouldn't.
As for why your sense of morality is not echoed by the general populace on a non-ethical question; you'll have to ask someone smarter than I.
Clearly, as evidenced by your puzzlement over the majority of reactions, what you stated is not at all obvious.
The article is devoid of data. The text of the study can be found here though: http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/?0505071
Thanks to GPL software, China can easily achieve their stated goal.
The US however, as stated by legions of slashdotters, does not make much anymore and therefore will find it difficult or impossible to achieve its stated goal.
Is this not fairly obvious?
Just like the Germans DIDN'T ?
Poland was the start of the rest of the world ceasing to treat Hitler like a grand chap who really got things all sorted out with those peculiar German folk. Not the start of his aggression.
Nowhere in the article or in the quote was there a single word about an EU state being pressured.
He expressed surprise that he should suffer censorship in an EU state. Not everyone thinks the American game of "Yes, Mr. President!" is the only way to live life.
Being pressured, however, may have have had something to do with it.
- The Word Police
I disagree!
Since I switched fully over to Linux my use of pirated software ceased 100%. Since I helped my best friend switch over to Linux, his use of pirated software ceased 100%. And now the Cubans are heading that way too...
BSA, be happy!! You may just end up with less software piracy if everyone just migrates to Linux! Yaaaay!!!
Remember, people: if you are not using linux, you support software piracy and belong in Guantanamo Bay!
Damn it--you're right!!
It's the chicken that makes it patentable--as such!!