I think the issue here is that Sony does not tell you that they are installing the software ANYWHERE. In addition to them adding the software without your permission, its software that can create a "safe haven for viruses"
Oh, but they are telling you they're doing that... check the EULA :
YOU EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT YOU ARE INSTALLING AND USING THE LICENSED MATERIALS AT YOUR OWN SOLE RISK. THE LICENSED MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY, TERM OR CONDITION OF ANY KIND, AND SONY BMG, ITS LICENSORS AND EACH OF THEIR LICENSEES, AFFILIATES AND AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVES (EACH, A "SONY BMG PARTY") EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, TERMS OR CONDITIONS. EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SATISFACTORY QUALITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT AND FITNESS FOR A GENERAL OR PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
There, you see... no warranties about what it does and whether it does it right. What's more...
You shall defend and hold the SONY BMG PARTIES harmless from and against any and all liabilities, damages, costs, expenses or losses arising out of your use of the LICENSED MATERIALS, your negligent or wrongful acts, your violation of any applicable laws or regulations, and/or your breach of any provision of this EULA.
Not only can you not sue Sony, but you have to defend them when people say Sony is bad.
I do suppose he spent quite a lot of time working on this, and all he got was about $1400. That would amount to a pretty low hourly wage. He knew he wouldn't get a whole lot of money out of it, so I say he did it either for fun or for the community (or both), but definitely not for the money.
Or it would inspire game publishers to port versions to Linux to reach Windows-free markets.
Right... if those people are using so many pirated versions of Windows, can you guess how many of them South Koreans contributed to the profit of game publishers?
You'd be hard pressed, for example, to find a network card or modem that isnt auto-detected by windows these days.
When I had to format and reinstall (something that happens with Windows), I installed WinXP SP2 (so it was a fairly recent disc... already had SP2 on it), and it couldn't detect my "Intel® 82562 Fast Ethernet controller". I had to use another computer to download the driver, which, at 4MB in size, doesn't fit on a floppy disk, so I had to burn it on a CD. Every Linux distro I have tried so far (Fedora, Debian and Suse) all could use the network from the start (they even configured it with DHCP *during* the install process).
Linux asks lots of questions? rm -rf *. Run that from root and see how many questions you are asked.
$ man rm [...snip...] OPTIONS -f, --force Ignore nonexistent files, never prompt
So first, you use an option to explicitely tell the system to not ask you any questions, then you complain because it didn't ask you a question? WTF???
#8-2 is not such a big deal. Most people I know have Office but have no real use for it.
Yet, they have it, and they feel like they couldn't live without it. When I talked to my wife about switching her to Linux, the first question she asked was whether she would still be able to open her Word files. When I talked to my sister about switching her to Linux, the very same question was asked. People "think" they need MS-Office. We know it isn't true, but they don't.
I've been equally frustrated with Windows before, but not at such an early stage of the game. I mean, a command line is only so much fun.
No matter the stage of the game, if you can't get XWindows to run on Linux, at least you still have a command line and can actually diagnose the problem, fix it, and get some work done. When Windows doesn't boot or doesn't present you with its opening screen or freezes on the splash screen, you're pretty much fucked and there's nothing you can do.
no, people don't switch because they don't perceive the need. To most people Windows does all they need to do and so why go to Linux?
They don't perceive the need, yet they complain that "the computer" is getting slower and slower (as it is more and more invaded by spyware). They unfortunatly don't understand that the computer isn't really getting slower, that it's Windows that is getting slower. People don't switch because they don't understand that "Windows" is not "the computer" (that, and all the flashy MSN stuff... I know I could never switch my mother-in-law just because she "needs" all the whiz-bang that MSN offers...)
Yup until Novell throws real development time behind porting Evolution to Windows (fat chance)
80% of the SMB's (Small-to-Medium Businesses) will have to stay with Outlook for Calendering.
Over here (20 employees SMB), some people are on Windows, some are on OSX, and some are on Linux (ok well, just me). We use Apple's iCal for calendering, and Sunbird (Mozilla Calendar) supports that. Multiplatform calendering for not-a-whole-lot-of-money (I guess you have to count the price of the OSX licences, but it ain't as much as a Windows licence anyway).
Have you considered why he might recommend they use Outlook? Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that it's already installed on many desktop PCs.
Basically, by saying "you must use Outlook" (or even just "We strongly recommend you use Outlook"), he is also saying "We consider you should pay $109 for a software that will let you read emails", when there is a free alternative. Seeing how teachers keep complaining about their salaries, I suppose that being forced to pay $109 for no good reason is a big deal.
Perhaps he's being the opposite of a "moron," and rather just doing what makes his job easiest. That's not stupid. That's a smart thing to do, from his perspective.
If I were him, I would offer two alternative. Either buy Outlook at $109, or install Thunderbird. If you don't know how to install Thunderbird, I offer my services and will install Thunderbird on your home machine for $50. It's not like sending and receiving emails is a hard thing to support ("Yes ma'am, when you're done typing, you click on that little 'send' button"), and the TBird install either come for free for the ones who can do it themselves, and at half the price of Outlook for the ones that don't want to bother.
He did specifically mention 'Linux'
Chances are, he's not going to install linux under vmware to solve the problem;)
Maybe he just happens to have a Linux laptop that he's willing to plug into the network to do the scan/diagnostic stuff. Maybe he wants OSS because he doesn't want to use / can't afford to spend expensive software solutions.
I use Linux at work, while most of my coworkers have either WinXP or OSX. Although sometimes a task is better accomplished from one of my linux boxes, I'm not rushing into trying to convert everybody to Linux...
Sometimes, Linux is a desktop, sometimes, Linux is a server, and sometimes, Linux is a tool.
In addition to the source code being available for scrutiny for a breathalizer, I wonder how often these things are calibrated/tested for accuracy?
I would actually believe the calibration and test for accuracy would be a better way to make sure the breathalizer is accurate than it being open-source, since whatever source code they are showing you, you can't prove or disprove that it is the same source code that is compiled inside the machine.
By comparing the positions of the planets on the clock with the actual positions of the planets.
What if, 500 years from now, a comet that is currently unknown to us crashes into Venus and changes its orbit... does the clock still keep track of that, or will it suddenly become useless for the next 9500 years?
The GPL only comes in when you distribute, you can work on whatever code you like with the free version. [...] Remember, you don't have to accept the GPL to use their code, you have to accept it when you distribute though.
It's not the GPL that prevents you from using the free version for development and only buy the commercial licence when you're ready to ship. It's the commercial licence itself that says you can't use code you wrote with the free version with it.
Quote:"The Commercial license does not allow the incorporation of code developed with the Open Source Edition of Qt into a proprietary product."
They don't say that the GPL limits you, they clearly say that it's their own licence that prevents it. I doubt they enforce it though, since you can't really prove whether the code was done before or after the purchase (unless of course you release a software that has like 40 million lines of code the week after you acquired the licence...)
Everyone considering Qt needs to weigh the costs against the benefit of using it, and proceed accordingly. For my particular requirements, Qt is simply too expensive to consider, and since I can't use it professionally, any OSS stuff I happen to release will pretty much be guaranteed to be non-Qt as well.
The "use-it-or-not" decision shouldn't be based on the price. Qt is a tool. If it's "the right tool for the job", then it should be used. If whatever non-free software you develop can't make a decent enough profit to recoup the $2000 licence price for the tools you use to do your work, you have problems that are way more important than Qt's price.
Look again...that "Per Platform". If you want Linux\Unix and Windows, it'll cost you $2,990 for the "Desktop Light" edition per seat.
It actually depends if *every* licenced programmer develops for both platforms. If you have one programmer that does all the Linux/Unix stuff and one programmer that does all the Windows stuff, then you need only pay for one platform per programmer.
I know that because, well, that's what we do over here. We got two licences here, I got a single-platform-X11 licence while my colleague has a single-platform-Windows licence. Neither of us had to pay the dual-platform price.
The cookie they set expires in 2038 or something like that, the exact date escapes me.
And that is precisely why I don't accept cookies from Google... you should try it out sometimes... pretty easy to configure (if you're using FFox... got no idea about IE).
The CIA/FBI doesn't need to keep the information in a database, they have the manufacturers & retailers to do that for them. If they find a printed paper that's of "interest", they contact the manufacturer of the printer. The manufacturer knows which retailer the printer was sold to. The retailer, not wanting to question on their patriotism, rolls over & hands them your credit card information. Presto, you've vanished to behind barbed wire on some Carribean island.
Because... *obviously*, if *you* bought the printer, then everything that this printer has ever printed was made by *you*. There is no way in hell somebody would buy a printer that costs several thousand dollars to let other people use it... I mean, you want to print something? Buy your own goddamn printer.
Most of those $5000+ printers are bought by relatively large companies. I don't think companies have to keep a full log of what everybody prints. They can't sue an arbitrary employee just because this particular printer was used... well ok, they *can*, but they shouldn't be allowed to.
But isn't that the reason that Window's Longhorn (now Vista) is so delayed in coming? Because the entire Microsoft corporation was going to stop everything and focus solely on security issues? What, did they just give up on that idea when the bean-counters pointed out it would be better to leave the security issues and charge for "protection"?
Vista isn't delayed because they want to focus more on security. It's been delayed because they just can't finish a project on time. This ain't a troll, seriously. Just have a look at the features they removed from Vista just so it could almost try to ship on time. They didn't remove those features because of security issues, they removed it because they can't make them fast enough. Heck, Microsoft was supposed to have WinFS (maybe not the same name, but still an object-oriented file system) in WinNT4... that's in 1996. They are 10 years late on their schedule, and they still can't make it.
Just like any other software company out there, Microsoft has a marketing department, and that department keeps promising stuff and giving release dates without ever consulting the developers. That is why it always gets delayed. Programmers know they can't hit the deadlines, marketing pretends they will. What's more... if marketing puts enough pressure on the developers so they actually release on the promised date, I truly doubt security will have been taken care of.
Changes like 'get rid of the registry' are changes you make when you release a new OS, not when you release a service pack.
Isn't Microsoft releasing a new OS next year? They still ain't getting rid of the registry... But then, Vista isn't really a new OS, it's basically just XP with cool graphics...
If, however, they think the Internet ends with Yahoo, AOL and MSN, then they are probably better off banned unless mommy is there to wipe their ass for them.
... right... because, obviously, mommy knows the Internet doesn't end with Yahoo, AOL and MSN...
Re:gaim works for me, but loses ground from here
on
Linux Instant Messengers
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I converted to gaim from trillian about a year ago. I very much prefer Gaim, it does my IRC, yahoo and AIM messenging without any issues.
I have come to hate Gaim very much over time... Whenever I try to update my MSN nickname, well... it doesn't. Whenever I try to connect to my company's internal Jabber network, well... it doesn't. I spent quite a while with both Gaim (for MSN) and PSI (for Jabber) running at the same time (kinda defeats the purpose of a multi-network IM client), until I found that Kopete does both almost perfectly (I can finally change my MSN nick, and connect on the Jabber network). For some reason, I can receive files from other but I can't send my own though.
Anyway, I am still very happy with Kopete, and I don't care for the small problems, because I believe that small problems on a Linux IM are better than a flashy MSN on Windows. However, I agree with the article that many people won't do the switch simply because the IM client doesn't flash.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh, but they are telling you they're doing that... check the EULA :
There, you see... no warranties about what it does and whether it does it right. What's more...
Not only can you not sue Sony, but you have to defend them when people say Sony is bad.
God bless the EULA.
I do suppose he spent quite a lot of time working on this, and all he got was about $1400. That would amount to a pretty low hourly wage. He knew he wouldn't get a whole lot of money out of it, so I say he did it either for fun or for the community (or both), but definitely not for the money.
Except that bacteria reproduces by itself... doesn't need a partner.
Right... if those people are using so many pirated versions of Windows, can you guess how many of them South Koreans contributed to the profit of game publishers?
When I had to format and reinstall (something that happens with Windows), I installed WinXP SP2 (so it was a fairly recent disc... already had SP2 on it), and it couldn't detect my "Intel® 82562 Fast Ethernet controller". I had to use another computer to download the driver, which, at 4MB in size, doesn't fit on a floppy disk, so I had to burn it on a CD. Every Linux distro I have tried so far (Fedora, Debian and Suse) all could use the network from the start (they even configured it with DHCP *during* the install process).
Linux asks lots of questions? rm -rf *. Run that from root and see how many questions you are asked.
So first, you use an option to explicitely tell the system to not ask you any questions, then you complain because it didn't ask you a question? WTF???
Yet, they have it, and they feel like they couldn't live without it. When I talked to my wife about switching her to Linux, the first question she asked was whether she would still be able to open her Word files. When I talked to my sister about switching her to Linux, the very same question was asked. People "think" they need MS-Office. We know it isn't true, but they don't.
No matter the stage of the game, if you can't get XWindows to run on Linux, at least you still have a command line and can actually diagnose the problem, fix it, and get some work done. When Windows doesn't boot or doesn't present you with its opening screen or freezes on the splash screen, you're pretty much fucked and there's nothing you can do.
They don't perceive the need, yet they complain that "the computer" is getting slower and slower (as it is more and more invaded by spyware). They unfortunatly don't understand that the computer isn't really getting slower, that it's Windows that is getting slower. People don't switch because they don't understand that "Windows" is not "the computer" (that, and all the flashy MSN stuff... I know I could never switch my mother-in-law just because she "needs" all the whiz-bang that MSN offers...)
Over here (20 employees SMB), some people are on Windows, some are on OSX, and some are on Linux (ok well, just me). We use Apple's iCal for calendering, and Sunbird (Mozilla Calendar) supports that. Multiplatform calendering for not-a-whole-lot-of-money (I guess you have to count the price of the OSX licences, but it ain't as much as a Windows licence anyway).
You'd use KWrite or KEdit :-P
Basically, by saying "you must use Outlook" (or even just "We strongly recommend you use Outlook"), he is also saying "We consider you should pay $109 for a software that will let you read emails", when there is a free alternative. Seeing how teachers keep complaining about their salaries, I suppose that being forced to pay $109 for no good reason is a big deal.
Perhaps he's being the opposite of a "moron," and rather just doing what makes his job easiest. That's not stupid. That's a smart thing to do, from his perspective.
If I were him, I would offer two alternative. Either buy Outlook at $109, or install Thunderbird. If you don't know how to install Thunderbird, I offer my services and will install Thunderbird on your home machine for $50. It's not like sending and receiving emails is a hard thing to support ("Yes ma'am, when you're done typing, you click on that little 'send' button"), and the TBird install either come for free for the ones who can do it themselves, and at half the price of Outlook for the ones that don't want to bother.
Chances are, he's not going to install linux under vmware to solve the problem
Maybe he just happens to have a Linux laptop that he's willing to plug into the network to do the scan/diagnostic stuff. Maybe he wants OSS because he doesn't want to use / can't afford to spend expensive software solutions.
I use Linux at work, while most of my coworkers have either WinXP or OSX. Although sometimes a task is better accomplished from one of my linux boxes, I'm not rushing into trying to convert everybody to Linux...
Sometimes, Linux is a desktop, sometimes, Linux is a server, and sometimes, Linux is a tool.
and
As ever, figures for North America remain the most obscure, although recent estimates from The NPD Group put the figure at over 2 million units.
So they haven't sold 50% of what they shipped yet... meaning 10 million shipped, but less than 5 million sold.
I would actually believe the calibration and test for accuracy would be a better way to make sure the breathalizer is accurate than it being open-source, since whatever source code they are showing you, you can't prove or disprove that it is the same source code that is compiled inside the machine.
You can't have a tempest in a teacup... :-P
What if, 500 years from now, a comet that is currently unknown to us crashes into Venus and changes its orbit... does the clock still keep track of that, or will it suddenly become useless for the next 9500 years?
It's not the GPL that prevents you from using the free version for development and only buy the commercial licence when you're ready to ship. It's the commercial licence itself that says you can't use code you wrote with the free version with it.
Quote:"The Commercial license does not allow the incorporation of code developed with the Open Source Edition of Qt into a proprietary product."
They don't say that the GPL limits you, they clearly say that it's their own licence that prevents it. I doubt they enforce it though, since you can't really prove whether the code was done before or after the purchase (unless of course you release a software that has like 40 million lines of code the week after you acquired the licence...)
The "use-it-or-not" decision shouldn't be based on the price. Qt is a tool. If it's "the right tool for the job", then it should be used. If whatever non-free software you develop can't make a decent enough profit to recoup the $2000 licence price for the tools you use to do your work, you have problems that are way more important than Qt's price.
It actually depends if *every* licenced programmer develops for both platforms. If you have one programmer that does all the Linux/Unix stuff and one programmer that does all the Windows stuff, then you need only pay for one platform per programmer.
I know that because, well, that's what we do over here. We got two licences here, I got a single-platform-X11 licence while my colleague has a single-platform-Windows licence. Neither of us had to pay the dual-platform price.
And that is precisely why I don't accept cookies from Google... you should try it out sometimes... pretty easy to configure (if you're using FFox... got no idea about IE).
Because... *obviously*, if *you* bought the printer, then everything that this printer has ever printed was made by *you*. There is no way in hell somebody would buy a printer that costs several thousand dollars to let other people use it... I mean, you want to print something? Buy your own goddamn printer.
Most of those $5000+ printers are bought by relatively large companies. I don't think companies have to keep a full log of what everybody prints. They can't sue an arbitrary employee just because this particular printer was used... well ok, they *can*, but they shouldn't be allowed to.
Vista isn't delayed because they want to focus more on security. It's been delayed because they just can't finish a project on time. This ain't a troll, seriously. Just have a look at the features they removed from Vista just so it could almost try to ship on time. They didn't remove those features because of security issues, they removed it because they can't make them fast enough. Heck, Microsoft was supposed to have WinFS (maybe not the same name, but still an object-oriented file system) in WinNT4... that's in 1996. They are 10 years late on their schedule, and they still can't make it.
Just like any other software company out there, Microsoft has a marketing department, and that department keeps promising stuff and giving release dates without ever consulting the developers. That is why it always gets delayed. Programmers know they can't hit the deadlines, marketing pretends they will. What's more... if marketing puts enough pressure on the developers so they actually release on the promised date, I truly doubt security will have been taken care of.
Isn't Microsoft releasing a new OS next year? They still ain't getting rid of the registry... But then, Vista isn't really a new OS, it's basically just XP with cool graphics...
I have come to hate Gaim very much over time... Whenever I try to update my MSN nickname, well... it doesn't. Whenever I try to connect to my company's internal Jabber network, well... it doesn't. I spent quite a while with both Gaim (for MSN) and PSI (for Jabber) running at the same time (kinda defeats the purpose of a multi-network IM client), until I found that Kopete does both almost perfectly (I can finally change my MSN nick, and connect on the Jabber network). For some reason, I can receive files from other but I can't send my own though.
Anyway, I am still very happy with Kopete, and I don't care for the small problems, because I believe that small problems on a Linux IM are better than a flashy MSN on Windows. However, I agree with the article that many people won't do the switch simply because the IM client doesn't flash.