just curious, but what did Kim Rossimo get his Phd in?
Kim Rossmo got his Ph.D. in criminology at SFU. The ideas in his thesis weren't just sudden inspiration -- they came from his many years as a police detective working on investigations, and from rigorous academic study and research.
The Law section on CNN.com has a more detailed article which is also more accurate in most respects.
Note: I work at ECRI, but I'm not speaking for my employer. I will answer basic questions in the comments here, though I can't always go into detail.
revrdist/Assimilator
on
Mac OS in a Lab
·
· Score: 5, Informative
My school used Assimilator to manage its Mac labs. This is a commercial program by Peter N. Lewis of Anarchie fame. It works by synchronizing all lab computers to a disk image stored on a server. I like this because it leaves the computer fully functional -- users can download or run whatever they want while they're using the computer, and at the end of the day (or end of week, or whenever the admin feels like it), the disk is restored to a pristine image. It doesn't provide the same level of restrictions as FoolProof, but I consider that a good thing.
revrdist is a free (public domain) program with the same basic function. Its setup is a bit more involved and it doesn't have all of Assimilator's features, but it's a well-tested program that definitely works. Use it if you can handle the extra administration and prefer a free solution. The reverdist home page also has links to other Mac administration programs.
I have a copy of Acts of the Apostles and I enjoyed it quite a bit, but the frequent spelling errors and bizarre typesetting goofs (weird spacing, line breaks, paragraph indentation, etc.) are a bit distracting. I'd love to see a second edition with all these little problems fixed. Is the treeware version of CCD better-proofread than AotA?
On a side note, I highly recommend Matt Ruff's Sewer Gas & Electric to any Sundman or Stephenson fans.
Most Linux/BSD apps are written for x86 systems, and Apple hardware can't readily run stuff designed for x86 without some heavy emulation.
What's that? My iMac runs Linux just fine, and I can install any of 10,000 packages from the Debian archive. Well over 99% of commonly-used Linux software builds and runs equally well on any hardware platform. './configure && make'
If you check out the list of licensees at mp3licensing.com, you'll find Microsoft right there. And if you look at the royalty rates, you'll find out how much they paid for a one-time paid-up software decoder license.
That's true, but as long as you are not charging for the product, that's alright.
I've seen several comments to this effect, and they are incorrect.
The GNU GPL states, "You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee." It also requires that "You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this License."
So by distributing a program under the terms of the GPL, I am required to "cause the program to be licensed as a whole at no charge" under the terms of the GPL. Those terms grant the recipient the right to charge for distribution. Because Thomson demands royalties for commercial distribution of the program, I cannot grant that right at no charge, as the GPL requires. Therefore, according to section 7, I cannot distribute the software and fulfill the requirements of the GPL. It is not the patent license I am breaking; it is the GPL.
Can Thomson actually show me the patent which covers the MP3 decoding process? As far as I can tell, their patents only claim a method of encoding, but I'm not a patent lawyer, and I haven't read every patent they own. Anyone?
Let's say I publish a program containing an MP3 decoder. If I release my code under the GNU GPL, I thereby declare that recipients of the code have all the rights granted by the GPL. But I don't have the authority to grant them those rights, because some of the code is covered by the Thomson patents.
This is especially bad if my program contains code written by other programmers and released under the GPL. These programmers could then sue me for incorporating their code into software that is not freely redistributable as required by the GPL.
The GNU GPL anticipates this issue, and explicitly states in section 7:
For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.
By the way, this is not a hypothetical issue for me. I'm a developer of Audacity, a GPL program that includes the MAD mp3 decoder. We are currently discussing the situation on the development mailing list. See this message for a discussion of some options we are considering.
Previously decoders which were released for free for personal use were exempt [debian.org] from the licensing fees. [...] That exemption has been removed.
But even that change happened sometime last year (before October 2001). Given that the current fee structure has been in place for a year, it seems silly to post Slashdot stories about "new licensing terms" and comments about how everything's going to change. Notice how it didn't change last fall when the licensing terms were actually new?
Isn't there some way that the Patent Office could open up this process so that the prior art could be waved in front of them before the patent is granted and expensive lawyers have to be called in to resolve the issue?
The only two limitations were that it's mp3 support is limited to predefined bitrates (why not an external command line?), and recording large (ok, huge) wavs caused it to skip sometimes.
Hi, I'm one of the Audacity developers. A few of us are following the discussion here, so feel free to ask questions of us.
Regarding the MP3 exporting, the next Audacity 1.1 release can export to arbitrary command-line programs on Linux. The code in 1.1.0 has some bugs (doesn't work on big-endian hardware) and no user-interface yet, but see this mailing list post for more information.
As for dropped frames during recording, this has been our most long-standing problem.
Dominic is planning a "Smart Record" mode where the program will do nothing but record samples with the minimum possible latency. On Linux, we also hope to move to ALSA eventually, which should help with latency.
The GPL and LGPL have very strict copyrights on the text of the licenses themselves. You aren't allow to make modifications of them and distribute them. You may only distribute verbatim copies.
We can't, but the FSF can (since they are the copyright holders).
Given that their bullying tactics have made the news in Salon and Slashdot, and been plastered all over various aquarium-related special interest sites, PetsWarehouse needs to ask whether they are decreasing or increasing negative publicity by continuing to press charges. Even if they get some cash by intimidating defendants into settling, they've also earned a permanent reputation as an abusive company that responds to criticism with ridiculous legal threats. And they did it all to prevent damage to their reputation?
When will companies learn that you can't just squash criticism on the internet? When you try, you just create more and more publicity and sympathy for your critics.
Haha! This is just an early April Fools joke (early for US timezones, but not for the Japanese game sites where this originated). They took promo shots from the unreleased Final Fantasy XI, and used Photoshop to mix them with characters and backdrops from Disney 3D Creations. I can't believe how many people have fallen for this already. Good job, guys.
With just a little Makefile hacking I got most of KOffice to compile. Now it runs nice and fast on my older UNIX servers! I'm looking forward to the next version with a compressed protocol that will improve speed on slow terminal devices.
Slashdot Mirror
BitTorrent works great for distributing ISOs and videos to large audiences without huge bandwidth costs...
Kim Rossmo got his Ph.D. in criminology at SFU. The ideas in his thesis weren't just sudden inspiration -- they came from his many years as a police detective working on investigations, and from rigorous academic study and research.
Note: I work at ECRI, but I'm not speaking for my employer. I will answer basic questions in the comments here, though I can't always go into detail.
revrdist is a free (public domain) program with the same basic function. Its setup is a bit more involved and it doesn't have all of Assimilator's features, but it's a well-tested program that definitely works. Use it if you can handle the extra administration and prefer a free solution. The reverdist home page also has links to other Mac administration programs.
On a side note, I highly recommend Matt Ruff's Sewer Gas & Electric to any Sundman or Stephenson fans.
What's that? My iMac runs Linux just fine, and I can install any of 10,000 packages from the Debian archive. Well over 99% of commonly-used Linux software builds and runs equally well on any hardware platform. './configure && make'
If you check out the list of licensees at mp3licensing.com, you'll find Microsoft right there. And if you look at the royalty rates, you'll find out how much they paid for a one-time paid-up software decoder license.
I've seen several comments to this effect, and they are incorrect.
The GNU GPL states, "You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee." It also requires that "You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this License."
So by distributing a program under the terms of the GPL, I am required to "cause the program to be licensed as a whole at no charge" under the terms of the GPL. Those terms grant the recipient the right to charge for distribution. Because Thomson demands royalties for commercial distribution of the program, I cannot grant that right at no charge, as the GPL requires. Therefore, according to section 7, I cannot distribute the software and fulfill the requirements of the GPL. It is not the patent license I am breaking; it is the GPL.
Can Thomson actually show me the patent which covers the MP3 decoding process? As far as I can tell, their patents only claim a method of encoding, but I'm not a patent lawyer, and I haven't read every patent they own. Anyone?
This is especially bad if my program contains code written by other programmers and released under the GPL. These programmers could then sue me for incorporating their code into software that is not freely redistributable as required by the GPL.
The GNU GPL anticipates this issue, and explicitly states in section 7:
By the way, this is not a hypothetical issue for me. I'm a developer of Audacity, a GPL program that includes the MAD mp3 decoder. We are currently discussing the situation on the development mailing list. See this message for a discussion of some options we are considering.
That's not news either. It happened a year ago, with no apparent change in Thomson's enforcement policy.
But even that change happened sometime last year (before October 2001). Given that the current fee structure has been in place for a year, it seems silly to post Slashdot stories about "new licensing terms" and comments about how everything's going to change. Notice how it didn't change last fall when the licensing terms were actually new?
They did.
Hi, I'm one of the Audacity developers. A few of us are following the discussion here, so feel free to ask questions of us.
Regarding the MP3 exporting, the next Audacity 1.1 release can export to arbitrary command-line programs on Linux. The code in 1.1.0 has some bugs (doesn't work on big-endian hardware) and no user-interface yet, but see this mailing list post for more information.
As for dropped frames during recording, this has been our most long-standing problem. Dominic is planning a "Smart Record" mode where the program will do nothing but record samples with the minimum possible latency. On Linux, we also hope to move to ALSA eventually, which should help with latency.
Petabytes, please!
Music Player Sakura
Programming Language D
File Princess Ren
When will companies learn that you can't just squash criticism on the internet? When you try, you just create more and more publicity and sympathy for your critics.
Haha! This is just an early April Fools joke (early for US timezones, but not for the Japanese game sites where this originated). They took promo shots from the unreleased Final Fantasy XI, and used Photoshop to mix them with characters and backdrops from Disney 3D Creations. I can't believe how many people have fallen for this already. Good job, guys.
With just a little Makefile hacking I got most of KOffice to compile. Now it runs nice and fast on my older UNIX servers! I'm looking forward to the next version with a compressed protocol that will improve speed on slow terminal devices.
Another free software speech recognition project: CMU Sphinx
According to this vorbis-dev message, there is an integer vorbis implementation with source available.
Only one in a hundred, if Rishab Ghosh's FLOSS Survey is a representative sample.
What, if it weighs the same as a duck, then it's a bank... and we can burn it?!