You think that every town that sells a product can support a repair center to fix it????
It wasn't so much that I had to ship it in for repairs but that I had to pay to ship it even though it was under warranty. What burns me even more was that the monitor I sent in wasn't fixed. When I got it back and plugged in it had the same problem. It was usable for "normal" stuff, but it didn't display colour correctly and it was a 21" Nokia. After seeing it had the same problem I unplugged it and stuck it in a closet.
Valid points, and all I can say is that I've never had a computer or laptop of mine over the years go belly-up under warranty
I've had hardware problems with two computers, in the first year. The first was a Gateway laptop, the hdd had to be replaced after only a few months, then the motherboard had to be replaced about 2 weeks short of a year. The second was an HP Pavilion tower. This one the motherboard died first then the hdd.
But you STILL have to deal with indifferent/hostile/ignorant clerks in your situation
That's true for phone support also, which I had to put up with with the Gateway. I didn't have that problem with the HP though, I got it from Best Buy and the Geek Squad runs thier tech support. I've even gone in just to talk and get advise and I've never had a problem with them.
My only exception, and I hesitate to relate this because it might spark a religious argument, is Apple. We are a Mac shop at the nonprofit I work for and we've had consistently excellent service from cradle to grave on our machines. Just buy that AppleCare!
I'm switching from Windows, to both Linux and Macs. About 10 months ago I got a new tower PC with Linux preinstalled. RSN I plan on getting a Macbook Pro for a laptop. When I do I'll setup the Linux PC as a server. I'll also get AppleCare when I get the MBP.
Newegg's policy is actually pretty darn good. They assume that you know what you're talking about when you say it's broken. So you fill out a web form, they ship you a new product and you need to ship them the broken one within a few days. You get refunded once they test that you were right about it being broken. No waiting in phone queues, no standing in line, no driving to the store. It's really pretty nice for someone who knows enough to be able to make that "is it broken" judgement call themselves.
Uhm, I didn't know that. If it's your computer though, and you only have one, then you need to somehow get access to another. When I need, or want, new parts and such I may check them out. Actually I do, I want to get a dl dvd drive for my Linux box. Or maybe a BlueRay or HD DVD drive. As I want it to make backups, the larger the capacity the better, I have almost 200 GB of data on my hdds now.
Most people on ebay do buy at a higher price and sell at a lower one. It's called "sell off your old crap cuz it's taking up too much space." Do you sell items at a garage sale higher than the purchase price?
My sister used to sell on eBay. She'd go to garage, yard, sales then sell on eBay more than she paid. She also visited antique and secondhand stores and made deals with them to sale on eBay, she'd then keep a cut of the sale price. After watching her, her son started doing the same.
I don't support the GPL because I'm a communist hippie who wants to make the world a better place. I support it because its a good value proposition to ME.
Fine, if you're satisfied then go for it.
What do I get from a 'BSD' style license? Squat. Code that's already out there under BSD I can use, modify and sell, and potentially make a few bucks that way... and that's obviously a benefit to ME
As you said after you said "squat" you do get something out of BSD code.
However, how many of those companies that TAKE from that code pool put anything into it? They don't HAVE to, and they don't necessarily get anything back if they do... and thus very few of them do.
And why should they HAVE TO return any code back?
just sticking it in the public domain would be pretty nearly as good for that sort of code.
Not if you want to eat.
Copyrights are alright but not patents.
Which is partly why the GPLv3 is so hostile to patents. Patents can be used to effectively deny users the very rights the GPL purports to give. So its only common sense that the GPL contain provisions to ensure patents cannot be used in this way.
I don't have a problem with patent protection, which shoudn't be needed!!!
Now.. that said.. a salon trying to get out of their contractual obligations by selling on e-bay, fine, go after them, it's breach of contract... but you made your money when you sold the item the first time.. what happens after that isn't your problem.
There is no proof, only an allegation, a salon is breaking a contract. And it is the manufacturer's responsibility to find out what salon is breaking the contract, if it is being broken.
Are you kidding me? I can't WAIT for a world with no stores. No more surly sales clerks, no more snake-oil sales clerks, no more presumption of criminality (papers! Ve need your papers upon exit!), I could go on and on.
I much prefer brick and mortor stores. If something I buy needs to be repaired I like having a place I can take it to instead of waiting for a box to be dropped off, then have it shipped into a repair facility, then shipped back to me. I've done that twice, once with a monitor, the other with a laptop. Even though the monitor was under warranty I still paid to ship it in. With the laptop, also under warranty, the shipping company dropped off a box for the laptop the next day. A week later I called back to see what the status was. They told me it was just dropped off where I live. No it wasn't, I was at home and no one dropped anything off. Bouncing back and forth between them and the shipper finally they decided to send me a new laptop. Another week goes by so I call again. They were missing a part and had to wait for it to come in. Ended up I didn't have my laptop for a month.
I think that one reason this is a problem is the typical example of going to Best Buy or Comp-USA to look at a product, but then going to Newegg to purchase. Newegg has much lower overhead, better selection, etc.
Previously I did the opposite, I'd use the web to do research then I'd buy from a brick and mortor store. If I buy from Newegg and need support I have to call then maybe have to have whatever shipped into a repair facility and wait. However when I've bought from Best Buy, when something was wrong I'd just take it down there to be repaired. I may have to wait a day or two but it's still a lot faster. I much prefer having someone I can see and talk to in person.
Try to find a manufacturer making a profit anywhere outside of China... they only make a profit there by expoiting their workers
The Chinese workers aren't making as much as First World workers make, but they aren't being exploited. Sure the pay isn't as good but then again the cost of living is a lot lower too. Chinese who are employed in one of these factories make more than those who can't get a job at one, and if they can't get one it's because they aren't looking or trying hard enough to get work. Or they live in the wrong place. There is a real estate boom in China because workers there can afford to buy homes. And more and more are buying and driving cars. Heck, an American can move to China and live like a king by teaching ESL, English as a Second Language. This is because many, many Chinese want to learn English.
or despoiling the environment.
Pollution and despoiling the environment has been a problem however there is an active Chinese environmental movement in China and the Chinese authorities are becoming aware of just how important it is to cut down and stop pollution:
New rules to curb "rampant" violations of pollution laws
HEFEI, July 12 (Xinhua) -- China's environment chief on Thursday unveiled a set of tough new rules to tackle worsening lake pollution while lambasting the country's "bumpkin policies" that encouraged local officials to turn a blind eye to environmental hazards.
The regulations follow findings showing "rampant" violation of environment rules by almost nine in ten of the country's industrial parks and two fifths of companies.
Zhou Shengxian, director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), said the new rules covering China's three major lake areas -- the eastern Taihu Lake, Chaohu Lake and the southwestern Dianchi Lake -- included:
-- A ban on all projects involving discharges containing ammonia and phosphorus, and the turning down of existing applications to establish such projects.
-- A ban on the production, use and sales of detergents containing phosphorous around the lake drainage areas.
-- The removal of all fish farms from the three lake areas by the end of 2008.
-- A ban on fishponds, vegetable and flower farms that may involve the use of fertilizers within one kilometer of the lakeside.
Zhou outlined the measures at a special meeting on lake pollution in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province.
In the last two months, blue-green algae outbreaks have been reported in the three lake areas, endangering domestic water supplies. On July 4, water supplies to 200,000 people in Shuyang County, Jiangsu Province, were halted for more than 40 hours after ammonia and nitrogen were found in a local river.
"Environmental problems, if improperly handled, can trigger major social crises, and improving water quality has become our most urgent task," Zhou told environment officials.
He said illegal activities that harmed the environment were "rampant".
SEPA investigations showed 87.3 percent of the 126 industrial parks in 11 provinces had violated environment rules, allowing environmentally harmful companies into their parks.
They also showed half of the 75 wastewater-processing factories failed to properly process water or were not operating at all. Of 529 companies that SEPA inspected, 44.2 percent were violating environment rules.
"Hazards are everywhere, and environmental accidents are very likely to happen," he said.
Some local officials often relied on companies for GDP contribution and their own promotions, and failed in their responsibil
everyone posts a secret bid, and the person who bids the highest wins, paying the price of the second highest bid. I've read numerous studies (too lazy to link to them) that conclude the Vickrey auction to set a much fairer and true price than traditional auctions.
In order to be fair the person bidding the highest should pay what they bid. If you can't pay full price then don't bid so high. Just like in gambling, which is what this is, you only gamble what you can afford to loose, or in the case of auctions you only bid what you can afford to pay.
Its true they can't force you to pay for your unaltered original code, but they can charge as much as they want for the 'improved' code... even if its 99.99% your original work, and if you want to use the improved code you'll have to pay.
You're paying for the improvements, what was added by the others, for which they own the copyrights. They can not however prevent you from using your own code, nor can they make you pay for it. At least not legally.
And you might not even be able to take your original unaltered code and reinvent the fixes and features they added if they've patented them.
This is one of the reasons I oppose patents on copyrights. Copyrights are alright but not patents. If a person comes up with another way of doing the same thing they shoudn't be barred from selling or using it period.
Microsoft will never sue - they know that the only thing they can do is amke noises. Actually suing would be the equivalent of a first strike in a MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction - scenario, which they would ultimately lose.
Well, does Red Hat have the clout to bring the big boys to their side? You see, MAD only works when both sides have an arsenal.
It's not just Redhat, there's IBM and a number of others as well. And IBM has a big patent portfolio.
No it isn't. If I write a killer app and release it under GPL I can't prevent someone else from taking it and selling it without me making a dime. Sure I could sell it but so could anyone else and I couldn't stop them from giving it away either. I'm hoping to break into phototgraphy and want to create a photography suite so the business will run smoother than otherwise. If I'm going to spend much tyme and effort into programming it I'd like to be able to sell it to other photographers and not be concerned others could sell or give it away too. Some have said what I could do is sale service and support, but remember I said I wanted to be a photographer, I don't want to be a service and support person.
both Sun and IBM appear to have learned the lessons of fractured markets and IP warfare.
True, but I see GPL v3 as a treat to more fracturing.
It creates many more losers than winners, and it damages the market as a whole
Yeap, GPL v3 certainly does that. Remember the GPL is meant for the freedom of the user not the freedom of the developer. And with Linux having literally thousands of contributors each one of them would have to approve the move to v3. I seriously doubt that will happen, so either Linux stays v2 or it forks with people needing to write code to replace the code the programmers who refuses to move to v3 wrote. I am afraid v3 will damage the GNU movement specifically and the FOSS movement generally.
Why would I want to contribute code to be used in someone elses proprietary walled garden... where one day I might be required to pay a license covering the code I wrote and contributed.
Legally if you write code for yourself you own the copyright. Nobody can force you to pay a license fee to use that code unless you sell the rights to the code. Now you might of noticed I said "write code for yourself". That's important because if you write the code on someone else's (the owner's of that walled garden) dime, it's work for hire, then whoever hired you owns the code unless otherwise specifically stated in a contract.
So, anyone who was bothered by the MS/Novell deal (and its variants) can and should encourage usage of GPLv3. Coders who want to prevent MS from using patent threats to splinter the community should consider adopting the GPLv3.
I'm not so sure. One of the things I've heard is that GPLv3 will create hardware vender lockout. Because of clauses in v3 they won't move to v3. It's hard enough the get hardware venders to release drivers for Linux, with v3 they won't period.
Look, Microsoft is not an "Open Source" software company. Neither they, nor anyone else (including "Open Source" software companies), are obligated to distribute software under GPLv3.
True but software currently under GPLv2 vary well may be moved to v3. As Linus had said he doesn't like v3 he may keep Linux licensed under v2. If so then MS could still distrbute Linux itself.
I unfortunately must agree the that US has supported dictators in the past and currently, but that doesn't mean we should take on any more!
Definitely NOT!!! I was against the invasion of Iraq. Attacking the Taliban in Afghanistan was ok but not attacking Iraq. Saddam was pretty much already contained and I never did believe he still had WMDs, nor did he support al Quada. Like Scott Ritter said, he was pretty well disarmed. bin Laden and al Quada wanted Saddam overthrown and executed. Now we're stuck in a quagmire there and the Taliban are gaining strength again. The same Taliban Bush gave more than $43 million US taxpayer money to, yes Bush gave them money.
The biggest danger to Macs right now as I see it is complacency.
That's exactly what I saw in this saleman, complacency, that or a lack of knowledge.
Not using an anti-virus program is one thing (it is a kind of reassurance that you haven't been done), but no firewall?
RSN I plan on ordering a Macbook Pro, and when I do I'll also order av and firewall software. Get it with disk utilities, backup, diagnostic, and disaster recovery software, then I think I'll be pretty good to go. Now I need to find one or more good books on Mac admin, hacking, and security. I want to get as proficient with Macs as I can. The same goes with Linux.
Merriam Webster
mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary says that variant of hack dates from the 1600s and comes from the British word `hackney', or taxi driver.
OneLook Dictionary Search, as a quick reference, lists 8 definitions of hack as a noun, 8 as a verb, and 1 as a surname. A surname? Depending on a person's disposition I imagine someone with a last name of "Hack" could have a lot of fun, or a lot of grief. Looking at all the results; there's catagories for Art, Computing, Medicine, and seven other catagories; I'm kind of surprized there's so many. I haven't clicked on all the links but I'm thinking they probably share the same basic meanings.
Question: As you know, in the Netherlands they have very few inhibitions about hemp (and related crops). So, are farmers in that country growing lots of hemp? Why not, if it has so many profitable uses?
I don't know how much hemp is grown in the Netherlands. However according to this over four hundred thousand acres of hemp were cultivated in the US between 1942 and 1945. The federal government made the movie "Hemp for Victory" to encourage farmers to grow it. It was important for the war effort.
Slashdot Mirror
You think that every town that sells a product can support a repair center to fix it????
It wasn't so much that I had to ship it in for repairs but that I had to pay to ship it even though it was under warranty. What burns me even more was that the monitor I sent in wasn't fixed. When I got it back and plugged in it had the same problem. It was usable for "normal" stuff, but it didn't display colour correctly and it was a 21" Nokia. After seeing it had the same problem I unplugged it and stuck it in a closet.
FalconValid points, and all I can say is that I've never had a computer or laptop of mine over the years go belly-up under warranty
I've had hardware problems with two computers, in the first year. The first was a Gateway laptop, the hdd had to be replaced after only a few months, then the motherboard had to be replaced about 2 weeks short of a year. The second was an HP Pavilion tower. This one the motherboard died first then the hdd.
But you STILL have to deal with indifferent/hostile/ignorant clerks in your situation
That's true for phone support also, which I had to put up with with the Gateway. I didn't have that problem with the HP though, I got it from Best Buy and the Geek Squad runs thier tech support. I've even gone in just to talk and get advise and I've never had a problem with them.
My only exception, and I hesitate to relate this because it might spark a religious argument, is Apple. We are a Mac shop at the nonprofit I work for and we've had consistently excellent service from cradle to grave on our machines. Just buy that AppleCare!
I'm switching from Windows, to both Linux and Macs. About 10 months ago I got a new tower PC with Linux preinstalled. RSN I plan on getting a Macbook Pro for a laptop. When I do I'll setup the Linux PC as a server. I'll also get AppleCare when I get the MBP.
FalconNewegg's policy is actually pretty darn good. They assume that you know what you're talking about when you say it's broken. So you fill out a web form, they ship you a new product and you need to ship them the broken one within a few days. You get refunded once they test that you were right about it being broken. No waiting in phone queues, no standing in line, no driving to the store. It's really pretty nice for someone who knows enough to be able to make that "is it broken" judgement call themselves.
Uhm, I didn't know that. If it's your computer though, and you only have one, then you need to somehow get access to another. When I need, or want, new parts and such I may check them out. Actually I do, I want to get a dl dvd drive for my Linux box. Or maybe a BlueRay or HD DVD drive. As I want it to make backups, the larger the capacity the better, I have almost 200 GB of data on my hdds now.
FalconMost people on ebay do buy at a higher price and sell at a lower one. It's called "sell off your old crap cuz it's taking up too much space." Do you sell items at a garage sale higher than the purchase price?
My sister used to sell on eBay. She'd go to garage, yard, sales then sell on eBay more than she paid. She also visited antique and secondhand stores and made deals with them to sale on eBay, she'd then keep a cut of the sale price. After watching her, her son started doing the same.
FalconI don't support the GPL because I'm a communist hippie who wants to make the world a better place. I support it because its a good value proposition to ME.
Fine, if you're satisfied then go for it.
What do I get from a 'BSD' style license? Squat. Code that's already out there under BSD I can use, modify and sell, and potentially make a few bucks that way... and that's obviously a benefit to ME
As you said after you said "squat" you do get something out of BSD code.
However, how many of those companies that TAKE from that code pool put anything into it? They don't HAVE to, and they don't necessarily get anything back if they do... and thus very few of them do.
And why should they HAVE TO return any code back?
just sticking it in the public domain would be pretty nearly as good for that sort of code.
Not if you want to eat.
Copyrights are alright but not patents.
Which is partly why the GPLv3 is so hostile to patents. Patents can be used to effectively deny users the very rights the GPL purports to give. So its only common sense that the GPL contain provisions to ensure patents cannot be used in this way.
I don't have a problem with patent protection, which shoudn't be needed!!!
FalconNow.. that said.. a salon trying to get out of their contractual obligations by selling on e-bay, fine, go after them, it's breach of contract... but you made your money when you sold the item the first time.. what happens after that isn't your problem.
There is no proof, only an allegation, a salon is breaking a contract. And it is the manufacturer's responsibility to find out what salon is breaking the contract, if it is being broken.
FalconSo while you or I would recognize that the problem is with eBay,
Didn't you mean the problem wasn't with eBay?
FalconAre you kidding me? I can't WAIT for a world with no stores. No more surly sales clerks, no more snake-oil sales clerks, no more presumption of criminality (papers! Ve need your papers upon exit!), I could go on and on.
I much prefer brick and mortor stores. If something I buy needs to be repaired I like having a place I can take it to instead of waiting for a box to be dropped off, then have it shipped into a repair facility, then shipped back to me. I've done that twice, once with a monitor, the other with a laptop. Even though the monitor was under warranty I still paid to ship it in. With the laptop, also under warranty, the shipping company dropped off a box for the laptop the next day. A week later I called back to see what the status was. They told me it was just dropped off where I live. No it wasn't, I was at home and no one dropped anything off. Bouncing back and forth between them and the shipper finally they decided to send me a new laptop. Another week goes by so I call again. They were missing a part and had to wait for it to come in. Ended up I didn't have my laptop for a month.
FalconI think that one reason this is a problem is the typical example of going to Best Buy or Comp-USA to look at a product, but then going to Newegg to purchase. Newegg has much lower overhead, better selection, etc.
Previously I did the opposite, I'd use the web to do research then I'd buy from a brick and mortor store. If I buy from Newegg and need support I have to call then maybe have to have whatever shipped into a repair facility and wait. However when I've bought from Best Buy, when something was wrong I'd just take it down there to be repaired. I may have to wait a day or two but it's still a lot faster. I much prefer having someone I can see and talk to in person.
FalconTry to find a manufacturer making a profit anywhere outside of China ... they only make a profit there by expoiting their workers
The Chinese workers aren't making as much as First World workers make, but they aren't being exploited. Sure the pay isn't as good but then again the cost of living is a lot lower too. Chinese who are employed in one of these factories make more than those who can't get a job at one, and if they can't get one it's because they aren't looking or trying hard enough to get work. Or they live in the wrong place. There is a real estate boom in China because workers there can afford to buy homes. And more and more are buying and driving cars. Heck, an American can move to China and live like a king by teaching ESL, English as a Second Language. This is because many, many Chinese want to learn English.
or despoiling the environment.
Pollution and despoiling the environment has been a problem however there is an active Chinese environmental movement in China and the Chinese authorities are becoming aware of just how important it is to cut down and stop pollution:
New rules to curb "rampant" violations of pollution laws
HEFEI, July 12 (Xinhua) -- China's environment chief on Thursday unveiled a set of tough new rules to tackle worsening lake pollution while lambasting the country's "bumpkin policies" that encouraged local officials to turn a blind eye to environmental hazards.
The regulations follow findings showing "rampant" violation of environment rules by almost nine in ten of the country's industrial parks and two fifths of companies.
Zhou Shengxian, director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), said the new rules covering China's three major lake areas -- the eastern Taihu Lake, Chaohu Lake and the southwestern Dianchi Lake -- included:
-- A ban on all projects involving discharges containing ammonia and phosphorus, and the turning down of existing applications to establish such projects.
-- A ban on the production, use and sales of detergents containing phosphorous around the lake drainage areas.
-- The removal of all fish farms from the three lake areas by the end of 2008.
-- A ban on fishponds, vegetable and flower farms that may involve the use of fertilizers within one kilometer of the lakeside.
Zhou outlined the measures at a special meeting on lake pollution in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province.
In the last two months, blue-green algae outbreaks have been reported in the three lake areas, endangering domestic water supplies. On July 4, water supplies to 200,000 people in Shuyang County, Jiangsu Province, were halted for more than 40 hours after ammonia and nitrogen were found in a local river.
"Environmental problems, if improperly handled, can trigger major social crises, and improving water quality has become our most urgent task," Zhou told environment officials.
He said illegal activities that harmed the environment were "rampant".
SEPA investigations showed 87.3 percent of the 126 industrial parks in 11 provinces had violated environment rules, allowing environmentally harmful companies into their parks.
They also showed half of the 75 wastewater-processing factories failed to properly process water or were not operating at all. Of 529 companies that SEPA inspected, 44.2 percent were violating environment rules.
"Hazards are everywhere, and environmental accidents are very likely to happen," he said.
Some local officials often relied on companies for GDP contribution and their own promotions, and failed in their responsibil
everyone posts a secret bid, and the person who bids the highest wins, paying the price of the second highest bid. I've read numerous studies (too lazy to link to them) that conclude the Vickrey auction to set a much fairer and true price than traditional auctions.
In order to be fair the person bidding the highest should pay what they bid. If you can't pay full price then don't bid so high. Just like in gambling, which is what this is, you only gamble what you can afford to loose, or in the case of auctions you only bid what you can afford to pay.
FalconYea, this companies can't compete in a freemarket so they get thier lawyers to stop competitors.
FalconIt sounds like you don't want to use the GPL for that project then.
And I wouldn't. I'd use a BSD type license or maybe the Apache license, I'd have to read it first though as I don't really know about it.
FalconWhat do you lose, as a developer, in these scenarios which you bring up?
Whatever I want such as prevent others from making copies and selling the copies themself without paying me royalities.
FalconIts true they can't force you to pay for your unaltered original code, but they can charge as much as they want for the 'improved' code... even if its 99.99% your original work, and if you want to use the improved code you'll have to pay.
You're paying for the improvements, what was added by the others, for which they own the copyrights. They can not however prevent you from using your own code, nor can they make you pay for it. At least not legally.
And you might not even be able to take your original unaltered code and reinvent the fixes and features they added if they've patented them.
This is one of the reasons I oppose patents on copyrights. Copyrights are alright but not patents. If a person comes up with another way of doing the same thing they shoudn't be barred from selling or using it period.
FalconMicrosoft will never sue - they know that the only thing they can do is amke noises. Actually suing would be the equivalent of a first strike in a MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction - scenario, which they would ultimately lose.
Well, does Red Hat have the clout to bring the big boys to their side? You see, MAD only works when both sides have an arsenal.
It's not just Redhat, there's IBM and a number of others as well. And IBM has a big patent portfolio.
FalconNo it isn't. If I write a killer app and release it under GPL I can't prevent someone else from taking it and selling it without me making a dime. Sure I could sell it but so could anyone else and I couldn't stop them from giving it away either. I'm hoping to break into phototgraphy and want to create a photography suite so the business will run smoother than otherwise. If I'm going to spend much tyme and effort into programming it I'd like to be able to sell it to other photographers and not be concerned others could sell or give it away too. Some have said what I could do is sale service and support, but remember I said I wanted to be a photographer, I don't want to be a service and support person.
Falconboth Sun and IBM appear to have learned the lessons of fractured markets and IP warfare.
True, but I see GPL v3 as a treat to more fracturing.
It creates many more losers than winners, and it damages the market as a whole
Yeap, GPL v3 certainly does that. Remember the GPL is meant for the freedom of the user not the freedom of the developer. And with Linux having literally thousands of contributors each one of them would have to approve the move to v3. I seriously doubt that will happen, so either Linux stays v2 or it forks with people needing to write code to replace the code the programmers who refuses to move to v3 wrote. I am afraid v3 will damage the GNU movement specifically and the FOSS movement generally.
FalconWhy would I want to contribute code to be used in someone elses proprietary walled garden... where one day I might be required to pay a license covering the code I wrote and contributed.
Legally if you write code for yourself you own the copyright. Nobody can force you to pay a license fee to use that code unless you sell the rights to the code. Now you might of noticed I said "write code for yourself". That's important because if you write the code on someone else's (the owner's of that walled garden) dime, it's work for hire, then whoever hired you owns the code unless otherwise specifically stated in a contract.
FalconSo, anyone who was bothered by the MS/Novell deal (and its variants) can and should encourage usage of GPLv3. Coders who want to prevent MS from using patent threats to splinter the community should consider adopting the GPLv3.
I'm not so sure. One of the things I've heard is that GPLv3 will create hardware vender lockout. Because of clauses in v3 they won't move to v3. It's hard enough the get hardware venders to release drivers for Linux, with v3 they won't period.
Falcon
All I know is that I know nothing!Look, Microsoft is not an "Open Source" software company. Neither they, nor anyone else (including "Open Source" software companies), are obligated to distribute software under GPLv3.
True but software currently under GPLv2 vary well may be moved to v3. As Linus had said he doesn't like v3 he may keep Linux licensed under v2. If so then MS could still distrbute Linux itself.
FalconI unfortunately must agree the that US has supported dictators in the past and currently, but that doesn't mean we should take on any more!
Definitely NOT!!! I was against the invasion of Iraq. Attacking the Taliban in Afghanistan was ok but not attacking Iraq. Saddam was pretty much already contained and I never did believe he still had WMDs, nor did he support al Quada. Like Scott Ritter said, he was pretty well disarmed. bin Laden and al Quada wanted Saddam overthrown and executed. Now we're stuck in a quagmire there and the Taliban are gaining strength again. The same Taliban Bush gave more than $43 million US taxpayer money to, yes Bush gave them money.
FalconThe biggest danger to Macs right now as I see it is complacency.
That's exactly what I saw in this saleman, complacency, that or a lack of knowledge.
Not using an anti-virus program is one thing (it is a kind of reassurance that you haven't been done), but no firewall?
RSN I plan on ordering a Macbook Pro, and when I do I'll also order av and firewall software. Get it with disk utilities, backup, diagnostic, and disaster recovery software, then I think I'll be pretty good to go. Now I need to find one or more good books on Mac admin, hacking, and security. I want to get as proficient with Macs as I can. The same goes with Linux.
FalconMerriam Webster mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary says that variant of hack dates from the 1600s and comes from the British word `hackney', or taxi driver.
OneLook Dictionary Search, as a quick reference, lists 8 definitions of hack as a noun, 8 as a verb, and 1 as a surname. A surname? Depending on a person's disposition I imagine someone with a last name of "Hack" could have a lot of fun, or a lot of grief. Looking at all the results; there's catagories for Art, Computing, Medicine, and seven other catagories; I'm kind of surprized there's so many. I haven't clicked on all the links but I'm thinking they probably share the same basic meanings.
FalconQuestion: As you know, in the Netherlands they have very few inhibitions about hemp (and related crops). So, are farmers in that country growing lots of hemp? Why not, if it has so many profitable uses?
I don't know how much hemp is grown in the Netherlands. However according to this over four hundred thousand acres of hemp were cultivated in the US between 1942 and 1945. The federal government made the movie "Hemp for Victory" to encourage farmers to grow it. It was important for the war effort.