After three years of listening to high-bitrate MP3/AAC tracks, I'm in no hurry to make the quality trade-off that MS Audio offers. And I'm sure that I'm not the only one.
On first listen, it was easy to hear the difference between the "optimised" MS Audio clips at 56kbps, with the compression that you hear on FM radio, and at 160kbps, where they pretty much approximate MP3 in both size and quality.
And I'm glad to say that after three years of listening to high-bitrate MP3/AAC tracks, I'm in no hurry to make the quality trade-off. And I'm sure that I'm not the only one.
There's a less than subtle difference between the standard machinery of evolution (random mutations introducing favourable characteristics) or selective breeding (identifying those characteristics and breeding from them) and the DNA-splicing of the GM labs. GM soya contains genetic components from fish: I'd like to know how that could be derived from evolution and selective breeding.
The general point in the article is valid, surely? Science is notoriously bad at predicting and identifying its own evolution: the mutation and development of its innovations.
As for the fragility of life: well, the Great Barrier Reef managed to last 4 billion years, but given the effects of global warning, it's probably got 50 years left. I suppose you'd expect it to evolve, though...
I'm a Dell owner (Debian runs like a dream), and one of the things I like most about the company is the documentation they include: everything you'd want is in the box. If Dell is a) moving towards offering Linux as a main-line OS and b) investing in RedHat to ensure that they can deliver a quality product, then it doesn't seem unreasonable for Dell to at least partly implement RMS's concept of free software, and pay the FSF to provide some documentation for their contribution to Linux. At least that way, it doesn't feel as if a corporate behemoth is exploiting the work of those who develop free software.
A few people have pointed out the origins of copyright law in the early 1700s, under the influence of John Locke, who said that "Every Man is a Property in his own Person", and defined "Property" as everything acquired or produced through personal efforts. It's the basis of modern liberal capitalism, saying that the State or society shouldn't be able to rob you of what's yours.
However, "Property" at the time was closely bound up with "Propriety", as the words suggest. The protection of personal Property comes with a set of moral obligations for the individual and society. In short, we should think it proper to offer our labour (read: ideas) for the public good, but society should recognise and reward that offer. If this sounds like RMS's "gift economy", then it's because it is: but it's plain to see that he, like Linus, Larry Wall and many other developers, receive a far richer reward for their labour than the mere riches of Bill Gates.
This world of "propriety" -- giving and receiving because it's a good thing all round -- is very different from the MS culture of the "proprietary", which gives to the world with a closed fist and makes demands out of its giving.
What we need, in a sense, is an IP law which rewards propriety, and restricts the proprietary. Those who contribute ideas, in order to have them flourish, deserve protection, rather than those who regard ideas as things to be hoarded until the time comes to sue.
Two cheers for Dell. Let's give them half a break here. In the months since the report came out on how OEMs refused to "unbundle" Windows from their machine, we've gone from:
1) Dell "not perceiving a market for Linux" to 2) Dell "not perceiving a market for Linux workstations" to 3) Dell providing for that market.
That's a lot of movement in a few months. And Dell aren't stupid. They know that Linux development is probably going to be less fragmented than MS's in the coming year or so, what with the glacial move towards Win2K, and the potential for a corporate dissection by the courts.
For sure, Linux comes at a premium now, but that's due to economies of scale. And Dell isn't a company for the purist who wants a machine built from scratch; they build solid, reliable, top-end machines and provide top-notch support. They're your boss's choice, and if your boss sees "Linux" among the options, at $99 extra, (s)he's going to wonder what's so good about Linux that Dell make you pay extra for it...
I'm writing this now, on my 1997 Dell machine, running Debian. I've no complaints. Yet another step towards world domination, yet another line in the sand trampled over.
Use something like xkeycaps: that way you can have both a META and ALT key for emacs, as well as a "Compose" or "Multi-key" to get all those nice Latin-1 symbols.
It'd be good to put together a protocol that integrates the track-listings of CDDB and the fields of ID3, so that you can keep together your list of MP3 and CDs...
I was dubious about the Escient takeover from the start, particularly for the way it put the actual database off-limits. There's now no UK mirror, because the one using an academic server has been taken down. And slowly but surely, Escient is squeezing those who make use of its resources: resources that were freely donated.
Slashdot Mirror
After three years of listening to high-bitrate MP3/AAC tracks, I'm in no hurry to make the quality trade-off that MS Audio offers. And I'm sure that I'm not the only one.
RealAudio, on the other hand, is in trouble.
On first listen, it was easy to hear the difference between the "optimised" MS Audio clips at 56kbps, with the compression that you hear on FM radio, and at 160kbps, where they pretty much approximate MP3 in both size and quality.
And I'm glad to say that after three years of listening to high-bitrate MP3/AAC tracks, I'm in no hurry to make the quality trade-off. And I'm sure that I'm not the only one.
RealAudio, on the other hand, is in trouble.
There's a less than subtle difference between the standard machinery of evolution (random mutations introducing favourable characteristics) or selective breeding (identifying those characteristics and breeding from them) and the DNA-splicing of the GM labs. GM soya contains genetic components from fish: I'd like to know how that could be derived from evolution and selective breeding.
The general point in the article is valid, surely? Science is notoriously bad at predicting and identifying its own evolution: the mutation and development of its innovations.
As for the fragility of life: well, the Great Barrier Reef managed to last 4 billion years, but given the effects of global warning, it's probably got 50 years left. I suppose you'd expect it to evolve, though...
I'm a Dell owner (Debian runs like a dream), and one of the things I like most about the company is the documentation they include: everything you'd want is in the box. If Dell is a) moving towards offering Linux as a main-line OS and b) investing in RedHat to ensure that they can deliver a quality product, then it doesn't seem unreasonable for Dell to at least partly implement RMS's concept of free software, and pay the FSF to provide some documentation for their contribution to Linux. At least that way, it doesn't feel as if a corporate behemoth is exploiting the work of those who develop free software.
A few people have pointed out the origins of copyright law in the early 1700s, under the influence of John Locke, who said that "Every Man is a Property in his own Person", and defined "Property" as everything acquired or produced through personal efforts. It's the basis of modern liberal capitalism, saying that the State or society shouldn't be able to rob you of what's yours.
However, "Property" at the time was closely bound up with "Propriety", as the words suggest. The protection of personal Property comes with a set of moral obligations for the individual and society. In short, we should think it proper to offer our labour (read: ideas) for the public good, but society should recognise and reward that offer. If this sounds like RMS's "gift economy", then it's because it is: but it's plain to see that he, like Linus, Larry Wall and many other developers, receive a far richer reward for their labour than the mere riches of Bill Gates.
This world of "propriety" -- giving and receiving because it's a good thing all round -- is very different from the MS culture of the "proprietary", which gives to the world with a closed fist and makes demands out of its giving.
What we need, in a sense, is an IP law which rewards propriety, and restricts the proprietary. Those who contribute ideas, in order to have them flourish, deserve protection, rather than those who regard ideas as things to be hoarded until the time comes to sue.
Two cheers for Dell. Let's give them half a break here. In the months since the report came out on how OEMs refused to "unbundle" Windows from their machine, we've gone from:
1) Dell "not perceiving a market for Linux" to
2) Dell "not perceiving a market for Linux workstations" to
3) Dell providing for that market.
That's a lot of movement in a few months. And Dell aren't stupid. They know that Linux development is probably going to be less fragmented than MS's in the coming year or so, what with the glacial move towards Win2K, and the potential for a corporate dissection by the courts.
For sure, Linux comes at a premium now, but that's due to economies of scale. And Dell isn't a company for the purist who wants a machine built from scratch; they build solid, reliable, top-end machines and provide top-notch support. They're your boss's choice, and if your boss sees "Linux" among the options, at $99 extra, (s)he's going to wonder what's so good about Linux that Dell make you pay extra for it...
I'm writing this now, on my 1997 Dell machine, running Debian. I've no complaints. Yet another step towards world domination, yet another line in the sand trampled over.
Use something like xkeycaps: that way you can have both a META and ALT key for emacs, as well as a "Compose" or "Multi-key" to get all those nice Latin-1 symbols.
From the OED:
hacking coat, jacket: a sports coat suitable for use when riding, often tailored in a tweed with vents at the side or at the back.
Hacking through the trees, I suppose, since I haven't seen RMS or ESR in one...
It'd be good to put together a protocol that integrates the track-listings of CDDB and the fields of ID3, so that you can keep together your list of MP3 and CDs...
I was dubious about the Escient takeover from the start, particularly for the way it put the actual database off-limits. There's now no UK mirror, because the one using an academic server has been taken down. And slowly but surely, Escient is squeezing those who make use of its resources: resources that were freely donated.
Time to fork the tree, folks.