The patent process has become a hindrance to software development in many cases and it should definitely be much harder to get patent of this kind. Hopefully more patents in the U.S. and worldwide get challenged and discarded.
I agree completely about the point you made about the dictionaries giving multiple definitions for every word however I believe the essence of the word free is to mean "without restrictions" and in a world where there are restrictions I don't think that you are completely free. In a society with laws you are not free to break those laws so therefore you are not 100% free to do anything that you like. I obviously don't think that the United States is a completely free nation as it is free within reasonable bounds that are established by the law. That being said I don't believe people should be 100% free as we have to have some restrictions to live in a reasonable society where everybody is reasonably safe etc.
"My Java code does not work on most platforms the same way",
however once I ever see the code example it is due to poorly written code or using libraries that should not be used if you are looking to run it on multiple platforms. I have programmed quite a few Java apps and I have ran them on Windows, Linux and Macs with no significant issues.
I am one of the ones who will always want to play on my PC. I enjoy the Mouse and keyboard for one, and definitely enjoy the fact that I work on my computer a lot and can just turn on a game for a little to kill a few minutes. Also some of the new game pads for PC are awesome :
I have several friends that play PC games very regularly and have all bought a gamepad, most are very similar to the playstation 2 controller(including rumble, and some with fans), for games that you want to use a controller there are plenty available for PC (I admit most of them suck however there are some new ones that are great).
Furthermore, as HDTV makes more advancements into creating a clearer picture, computer hardware will continue to create better products and these products will always be available to the PC users first before they are put into a console. Even though these new consoles will be very powerful, by the time they come out a top of the line PC would be vastly superior in terms of graphics and extendibility.
PC gaming will always be around as there are enough of a user base that will continue to buy games to support it, console gaming will also continue as there is a very large user base that just wants to play games and do not want to deal with all the issues relating to PC gaming (upgrading, installation, troubleshooting issues that may occur etc.). Consoles are just small PCs that use the identical hardware and are supposed to run the same software, definitely makes development a little easier when the hardware is restricted as such.
"Does this not open the door for racial discrimination?"
This door has already been opened, this just gives them further power in order to do it more efficiently. I don't think that the leaders of the U.S. government are very concerned with racial discrimination, their only concern is making sure that there is not a huge outcry (within the US population) against what they are currently doing since an election is coming. Most likely most people in the US won't even be aware of this as many major news, such as CNN, will barely mention it. Especially, now since they have a 24 hour war report on in Afghanistan/Pakistan as they are supposedly near a high level Al Qaueda suspect.
Re:Hey... you Linux geeks get all the cool toyz!
on
DSPAM v2.10 Released
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· Score: 0, Redundant
Why can't I get the viruses to run on my Linux machine? I have Linux installed . . .
You windows geeks get all the good toyz!!
Darn you, Darn you to Helsinki!
"Why do they even bother buying the rights to something they couldn't really care less about, artistically?"
Possibly, the huge amounts of publicity, the fact that it gets people talking about the product and whether it is good or not a large portion of people will go see it based on the name and their connection to the book. Furthermore, the majority of the executives that are making the important decisions like this don't care about the film artistically, they are just their to ensure profits.
All of those automatic downloads and warning messages can be turned off, go to start, run and type services.msc . The problems you are having sound like you just left all the default installation settings. I mainly use Linux but boot into Windows XP to play games and even with the ATI drivers I have had no problems with XP at all. You just have to correct the default installation settings, this is also true on most other Operating Systems including some versions of Linux (ie. Redhat Linux 9). Honestly 90% of the problems I hear about from Windows users are problems that are created by the user and how they do not configure there system properly.
One could definitely make a case though that the default install should be more secure however that's another topic.
Always great to hear some big names stepping up and increasing their push for a desktop Linux that would be useable for the current Windows user. I think Linux is already ready for the desktop, however the installation process for most programs in Linux is the only thing that really needs to be improved before it would be completely suitable for the average Windows user.
Glad to see all these companies consolodating and backing Gnome. I have been using Gnome for a year or two now and have never had any problems and look forward to every new version of the desktop.
"iTunes is a store. It happens to be on the internet. That's not an invention, no matter how well executed it is."
Couldn't have said it better myself. I wonder if it would have been the invention of the year or what the repsonse would be like here on Slashdot if it was another company instead of Apple. I bet no one would look twice. This is not an invention it is a store, nothing more. One that doesn't turn a profit at that and one the vast majority of people will never use and have no interest in using.
"I've seen nothing compelling about their 'invention'...I've no reason to go and purchase an iPod or iMusic. "
I don't think this is a revoulutionary idea at all, distributing music online is not a new concept and they are not the first ones to do it 100% correctly they are the first that have done it somewhat correctly. The three points this user gives are a perfect examples of why it is not a perfect system and with the advent of more music companies on the Internet they are going to lose even more buisness to other competitors as this is not something that is going to be hard for others to reproduce.
Furthermore at $1 a song I may as well go buy the CD since I also live in Canada and most CD prices have gone down to $10 to $14 a CD. This makes $1 a song hardly an amazing deal.
They also don't even make money off it, they use it to push there iPod sales. If Microsoft was doing this, there would be 800 replies to this by now and everyone would be screaming how they have a monopoly and are an evil company. I'm not a fan of M$ but am a fan of Apple even less, and if something else popped up I know plenty of people that would switch just to stop using anything affiliated with Apple. The downloads this week of Kazaa also annihilated the sales off iTunes.
I also have lived in Ontario for over 18 years and have never seen a commerical like this. I have never heard anyone use Prison-rape as a deterrent for any crime in Canada. Canadian jails are not even close to as bad as American jails in terms of violence and rape, partly due to the population differences in the countries. I also would like to see some evidence that prison-rape is accepted as matter-of-fact in Canadian jails. As for the comment: Americans slaughter foreigners. We slaughter our own and boast of being more civilized. Bullshit.
I think this poster has it right by saying Who is "we"? Ontarians? Canadians? And who are we "slaughtering"? Prison rape is bad, but it's a far thing from murder or indiscriminate warfare.
"Not only that, but the games you buy for PCs are barely working. At least with a console there's a QA systems that forces the developpers and distributors to only release gamnes that actually work/can be finished/won't destroy your machine."
This statement is absolutely incorrect for most knowledgable PCs users. I used to play console games all the time until I could afford to piece together high end PCs for gaming. PC games always seem to have much more depth, superior graphics(if you can afford the hardware) are longer and most of the time include multiplayer(Internet multiplayer). PCs are much better than consoles for gaming if you are willing to upgrade fairly frequently and are interested in computers and configuration. I agree with one thing that you said, it is a benefit that consoles do have the same architecture as it makes it easier for developers to create games and optimize the code. However, this is not much of a problem currenlty on PC for most users that have a properly configred PC. I have been playing games on a PC for over 2 years now and do not use consoles at all anymore, I find most console games have poor storyline, character development and are lacking in several other ways. I have free access to all games at a local video store and haven't played any console games that have held my attention for more than an hour or so in a long time. Im not saying there aren't a few good titles but most I have found tend to be very dissapointing.
In terms of your last statement I haven't had a game that I couldn't finish because the computer wouldn't let me or had a game that destroys my machine. I have over 60 games and I know quite a few gamers and I have never heard of a game ruining a PC. It might have happened but I would then definately question your ability to put together and configure a PC. Most games recently also seem to be being released on PC, it is also true that PCs have more titles than any console, including emulators that can play many of the consoles you speak of.
Consoles are better for the average joe who justs wants to plug it in and play a few games quickly or someone that is not technically inclined. PCs are far superior if you are willing to upgrade and learn how to set it up properly.
Does Purdue have students like the ones at MIT cause that cluster could deliver a lot of copyrighted music and movies to many people very quickly!!!!!!
Get the lawyers!!!!!!!
That article is so biased towards the iPod its ridiculous. The iPod may hold good market share in these mp3 players however they are bound to lose some of it as there are many other products that are very similar that are coming out and several of them are less expensive. I have used the iPod and it is a great little and effective mp3 player however it will easily be duplicated and have worthy opponents very soon. He tended to lead towards the fact that he thought Apple will draw more people to the iPod, Apple is less than 3% of the computer market and clearly the reason that the iPod is a success is cause it is one of the first and best known hard drive based mp3 players. There are plenty of other companies now looking into the same technology and will be able to reproduce the iPod and make newer and better versions(as I am sure Apple will also continue to make better versions). This area of the market is fairly new and is going to get very competitive very quickly. Furthermore when and if Microsoft decides to jump into this head first they can easily render the iPod much harder to use on 90% of the worlds computers. Unfortunately big M$ has a lot of power and is not afraid to use it.
Its funny that some of the most noticeable things that come out of MIT are new ways to pirate software, movies and music. Like there aren't enough sources for them to find there Britney Spears albums already. This will be outlawed very quickly as it will soon be used as just another way to pirate copyrighted files. Also I am dissapointed that they took a step back and went back to analog instead of working on newer existing technologies.
Exactly. Kazaa is going to just become irrelevant then as no one with a sane mind is going to download there music from a pay network like Kazaa when there are altenative services such as iTunes etc., that guarantee quick downloads and high bitrate. Also Kazaa is one of the worst companies for installing spyware and malware so why would anyone trust them. Furthermore they would have to clean up there network immensley as there are tons of fake files, files with viruses or spyware in them and misnamed files. The average user is not going to be fond of any of those when they are paying for a service. Furthermore who wants to give personal information including credit card etc., to kazaa to pay for this service. I have talked to my ISP also and they say that due to the nature of Kazaa and there buisness model they will never have any kind of buisness relationship with them especially one which would primarily be for collecting money owed to Kazaa from there users.
In final thought just like the original poster, kazaa is used because it is free and once they start to try and charge people it will not be used and another network or way of sharing will emerge(there are already quite a few others it will just take the common user to look for something other than kazaa to get them populated).
Obviously you know nothing of Linux, there are several programs that can be used similar to iMovie for Linux. The other user posted the ones I know of but there are also more being made as they are starting to use Linux for film development in many places.
"The old fallacy. N features for M dollars is fine, but X features for zero dollars is automatically better"
This is if you think Linux comes with no features, which most people do not. The argument you here from every Mac user is iMovie and there multimedia suite however much of this can be replicated by other programs fairly easily. I can tell you this because I have been a system admin at several places that have wanted to switch to Linux and after a short time of research realized that they would be able to almost seemlessly. The other argument you hear is that "my Mac programs work" the only problem is that I don't have any problems with there Windows or Linux equivalent. Its just that people like yourself don't look into it.
Slashdot Mirror
"Save money = wait = buy from Apple = good"
Except it would be more like this :
Save money = wait = buy from Apple = shit
Hmmmmm, hungry!
"Honestly readers, which is a more pressing problem?"
THEY MUST USE LINUX, RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!
One down, hundreds to go!
The patent process has become a hindrance to software development in many cases and it should definitely be much harder to get patent of this kind. Hopefully more patents in the U.S. and worldwide get challenged and discarded.
I agree completely about the point you made about the dictionaries giving multiple definitions for every word however I believe the essence of the word free is to mean "without restrictions" and in a world where there are restrictions I don't think that you are completely free. In a society with laws you are not free to break those laws so therefore you are not 100% free to do anything that you like. I obviously don't think that the United States is a completely free nation as it is free within reasonable bounds that are established by the law. That being said I don't believe people should be 100% free as we have to have some restrictions to live in a reasonable society where everybody is reasonably safe etc.
"Even a free society has some laws."
A society with laws does not meet the definition of free.
I have heard this from plenty of people as well,
"My Java code does not work on most platforms the same way",
however once I ever see the code example it is due to poorly written code or using libraries that should not be used if you are looking to run it on multiple platforms. I have programmed quite a few Java apps and I have ran them on Windows, Linux and Macs with no significant issues.
I am one of the ones who will always want to play on my PC. I enjoy the Mouse and keyboard for one, and definitely enjoy the fact that I work on my computer a lot and can just turn on a game for a little to kill a few minutes. Also some of the new game pads for PC are awesome :
Gamepad
I have several friends that play PC games very regularly and have all bought a gamepad, most are very similar to the playstation 2 controller(including rumble, and some with fans), for games that you want to use a controller there are plenty available for PC (I admit most of them suck however there are some new ones that are great).
Furthermore, as HDTV makes more advancements into creating a clearer picture, computer hardware will continue to create better products and these products will always be available to the PC users first before they are put into a console. Even though these new consoles will be very powerful, by the time they come out a top of the line PC would be vastly superior in terms of graphics and extendibility.
PC gaming will always be around as there are enough of a user base that will continue to buy games to support it, console gaming will also continue as there is a very large user base that just wants to play games and do not want to deal with all the issues relating to PC gaming (upgrading, installation, troubleshooting issues that may occur etc.). Consoles are just small PCs that use the identical hardware and are supposed to run the same software, definitely makes development a little easier when the hardware is restricted as such.
"Does this not open the door for racial discrimination?"
This door has already been opened, this just gives them further power in order to do it more efficiently. I don't think that the leaders of the U.S. government are very concerned with racial discrimination, their only concern is making sure that there is not a huge outcry (within the US population) against what they are currently doing since an election is coming. Most likely most people in the US won't even be aware of this as many major news, such as CNN, will barely mention it. Especially, now since they have a 24 hour war report on in Afghanistan/Pakistan as they are supposedly near a high level Al Qaueda suspect.
Why can't I get the viruses to run on my Linux machine? I have Linux installed . . .
You windows geeks get all the good toyz!!
Darn you, Darn you to Helsinki!
That's what you get!
"Why do they even bother buying the rights to something they couldn't really care less about, artistically?"
Possibly, the huge amounts of publicity, the fact that it gets people talking about the product and whether it is good or not a large portion of people will go see it based on the name and their connection to the book. Furthermore, the majority of the executives that are making the important decisions like this don't care about the film artistically, they are just their to ensure profits.
Duke Nukem, he loves the ladies so I would suggest, Duke Nukem 3D. Oh wait . . .
All of those automatic downloads and warning messages can be turned off, go to start, run and type services.msc . The problems you are having sound like you just left all the default installation settings. I mainly use Linux but boot into Windows XP to play games and even with the ATI drivers I have had no problems with XP at all. You just have to correct the default installation settings, this is also true on most other Operating Systems including some versions of Linux (ie. Redhat Linux 9). Honestly 90% of the problems I hear about from Windows users are problems that are created by the user and how they do not configure there system properly.
One could definitely make a case though that the default install should be more secure however that's another topic.
"For the record, I think Bush is one of the worse presidents, ever."
One small alteration on this statement for me
For the record, I think Bush is the worst president ever.
Always great to hear some big names stepping up and increasing their push for a desktop Linux that would be useable for the current Windows user. I think Linux is already ready for the desktop, however the installation process for most programs in Linux is the only thing that really needs to be improved before it would be completely suitable for the average Windows user.
Glad to see all these companies consolodating and backing Gnome. I have been using Gnome for a year or two now and have never had any problems and look forward to every new version of the desktop.
"iTunes is a store. It happens to be on the internet. That's not an invention, no matter how well executed it is."
Couldn't have said it better myself. I wonder if it would have been the invention of the year or what the repsonse would be like here on Slashdot if it was another company instead of Apple. I bet no one would look twice. This is not an invention it is a store, nothing more. One that doesn't turn a profit at that and one the vast majority of people will never use and have no interest in using.
I completely agree with you.
"I've seen nothing compelling about their 'invention'...I've no reason to go and purchase an iPod or iMusic. "
I don't think this is a revoulutionary idea at all, distributing music online is not a new concept and they are not the first ones to do it 100% correctly they are the first that have done it somewhat correctly. The three points this user gives are a perfect examples of why it is not a perfect system and with the advent of more music companies on the Internet they are going to lose even more buisness to other competitors as this is not something that is going to be hard for others to reproduce.
Furthermore at $1 a song I may as well go buy the CD since I also live in Canada and most CD prices have gone down to $10 to $14 a CD. This makes $1 a song hardly an amazing deal.
They also don't even make money off it, they use it to push there iPod sales. If Microsoft was doing this, there would be 800 replies to this by now and everyone would be screaming how they have a monopoly and are an evil company. I'm not a fan of M$ but am a fan of Apple even less, and if something else popped up I know plenty of people that would switch just to stop using anything affiliated with Apple. The downloads this week of Kazaa also annihilated the sales off iTunes.
I also have lived in Ontario for over 18 years and have never seen a commerical like this. I have never heard anyone use Prison-rape as a deterrent for any crime in Canada. Canadian jails are not even close to as bad as American jails in terms of violence and rape, partly due to the population differences in the countries. I also would like to see some evidence that prison-rape is accepted as matter-of-fact in Canadian jails. As for the comment:
Americans slaughter foreigners. We slaughter our own and boast of being more civilized. Bullshit.
I think this poster has it right by saying
Who is "we"? Ontarians? Canadians? And who are we "slaughtering"? Prison rape is bad, but it's a far thing from murder or indiscriminate warfare.
"Not only that, but the games you buy for PCs are barely working. At least with a console there's a QA systems that forces the developpers and distributors to only release gamnes that actually work/can be finished/won't destroy your machine."
This statement is absolutely incorrect for most knowledgable PCs users. I used to play console games all the time until I could afford to piece together high end PCs for gaming. PC games always seem to have much more depth, superior graphics(if you can afford the hardware) are longer and most of the time include multiplayer(Internet multiplayer). PCs are much better than consoles for gaming if you are willing to upgrade fairly frequently and are interested in computers and configuration. I agree with one thing that you said, it is a benefit that consoles do have the same architecture as it makes it easier for developers to create games and optimize the code. However, this is not much of a problem currenlty on PC for most users that have a properly configred PC. I have been playing games on a PC for over 2 years now and do not use consoles at all anymore, I find most console games have poor storyline, character development and are lacking in several other ways. I have free access to all games at a local video store and haven't played any console games that have held my attention for more than an hour or so in a long time. Im not saying there aren't a few good titles but most I have found tend to be very dissapointing.
In terms of your last statement I haven't had a game that I couldn't finish because the computer wouldn't let me or had a game that destroys my machine. I have over 60 games and I know quite a few gamers and I have never heard of a game ruining a PC. It might have happened but I would then definately question your ability to put together and configure a PC. Most games recently also seem to be being released on PC, it is also true that PCs have more titles than any console, including emulators that can play many of the consoles you speak of.
Consoles are better for the average joe who justs wants to plug it in and play a few games quickly or someone that is not technically inclined. PCs are far superior if you are willing to upgrade and learn how to set it up properly.
Does Purdue have students like the ones at MIT cause that cluster could deliver a lot of copyrighted music and movies to many people very quickly!!!!!! Get the lawyers!!!!!!!
Top quality special effects in that, could you imagine if the Matrix was done with the guys in the black suits like that.
That article is so biased towards the iPod its ridiculous. The iPod may hold good market share in these mp3 players however they are bound to lose some of it as there are many other products that are very similar that are coming out and several of them are less expensive. I have used the iPod and it is a great little and effective mp3 player however it will easily be duplicated and have worthy opponents very soon. He tended to lead towards the fact that he thought Apple will draw more people to the iPod, Apple is less than 3% of the computer market and clearly the reason that the iPod is a success is cause it is one of the first and best known hard drive based mp3 players. There are plenty of other companies now looking into the same technology and will be able to reproduce the iPod and make newer and better versions(as I am sure Apple will also continue to make better versions). This area of the market is fairly new and is going to get very competitive very quickly. Furthermore when and if Microsoft decides to jump into this head first they can easily render the iPod much harder to use on 90% of the worlds computers. Unfortunately big M$ has a lot of power and is not afraid to use it.
Its funny that some of the most noticeable things that come out of MIT are new ways to pirate software, movies and music. Like there aren't enough sources for them to find there Britney Spears albums already. This will be outlawed very quickly as it will soon be used as just another way to pirate copyrighted files. Also I am dissapointed that they took a step back and went back to analog instead of working on newer existing technologies.
" and thus endeth Kazaa."
Exactly. Kazaa is going to just become irrelevant then as no one with a sane mind is going to download there music from a pay network like Kazaa when there are altenative services such as iTunes etc., that guarantee quick downloads and high bitrate. Also Kazaa is one of the worst companies for installing spyware and malware so why would anyone trust them. Furthermore they would have to clean up there network immensley as there are tons of fake files, files with viruses or spyware in them and misnamed files. The average user is not going to be fond of any of those when they are paying for a service. Furthermore who wants to give personal information including credit card etc., to kazaa to pay for this service. I have talked to my ISP also and they say that due to the nature of Kazaa and there buisness model they will never have any kind of buisness relationship with them especially one which would primarily be for collecting money owed to Kazaa from there users.
In final thought just like the original poster, kazaa is used because it is free and once they start to try and charge people it will not be used and another network or way of sharing will emerge(there are already quite a few others it will just take the common user to look for something other than kazaa to get them populated).
"Where's the Linux equivalent of iMovie?"
Obviously you know nothing of Linux, there are several programs that can be used similar to iMovie for Linux. The other user posted the ones I know of but there are also more being made as they are starting to use Linux for film development in many places.
"The old fallacy. N features for M dollars is fine, but X features for zero dollars is automatically better"
This is if you think Linux comes with no features, which most people do not. The argument you here from every Mac user is iMovie and there multimedia suite however much of this can be replicated by other programs fairly easily. I can tell you this because I have been a system admin at several places that have wanted to switch to Linux and after a short time of research realized that they would be able to almost seemlessly. The other argument you hear is that "my Mac programs work" the only problem is that I don't have any problems with there Windows or Linux equivalent. Its just that people like yourself don't look into it.