At $0.99 you might already be paying more then for a CD, if you are interested in the complete CD. Granted I am not in the majority, but I usually like a great many tracks on most the CDs which I enjoy and not just the crap they spew forth on the radio (which I haven't listened to in months).
With CDs averaging in price around $13.98, if I want more then 14 tracks (rare, but I do like having whole CDs) I am over the cost of a CD, without having a "physical" media. Also I am pretty much stuck with non-transferable (without some work) songs.
Presently most the CDs I buy are for things that I have or had in MP3 format. Unlike the evil RIAA would like us to believe, if I here it on MP3 and enjoy it I will buy it on CD since there are still times I do not feel safe carrying my iPod. This means I can easily listen to the songs in CD quality in my car.
Another wonderful scheme I learned a few years ago was to buy USED CDs. Often with a bit of luck you find them in BRAND NEW shape and at half or less the cost of a new CD. In these situations even 4 or 5 songs downloaded might cost more then the CD. Honestly raising the price without benefit does seem like a greed grab by the music industry. Since apple handles all the advertising and distribution (for small fees I am sure) and there is no cost for media or shipping, there is tons of money making going on as it is. I hope that big companies like Apple will begin to stand up to the RIAA and show them that this is the future of the industry if it plans on surviving.
Re:Can someone please explain to me...
on
Opera Free as in Beer
·
· Score: -1, Redundant
pop-up blocker, mouse gestures, etc, built in; no need to download/trust/install extensions from god knows who
Pop-up blocker is built into both the major browsers with no added installs now. Mouse gestures are highly overrated and still only used by a MINORITY. Most FireFox extensions are fairly trustworthy, I mean on your logic how are you to trust the dev group from anywhere?
changing settings, you don't need to close and re-open it every bloody time
Seriously, what changes in FF are you making that require you to restart it each time. And use a change that you have to make in Opera to because extension installs doesn't count here...
built-in IRC client
Does this thing handle scripting properly or even get much usage? Almost everyone on IRC with a Windows PC I know is using mIRC. I might still use X-Chat if the windows version didn't go lame on us...
built-in email client
With my primary email a gmail account now, this doesn't matter to me. Besides the reason FF doesn't have an e-mail client, Mozilla has one...Funny how we forget FF was created to be minimalistic.
built-in bit torrent client
Blah. I prefer a separate client, and sure a good number of people do. Also I wouldn't be too surprised if someone has an extension for FF for this, so if you really wanted it you could install it.
highly-configurable thru gui, not through text file hacks
I have yet to have to "fix" or install anything in FF where I had to "hack" a text file. Besides there is something being said for having that power, including the open source power too...
produced by an actual company with actual interest in quality moreso than freedom/clunky-breakiness
Ummmm...Microsoft Internet Explorer. Made by a real company and is clunky, and very broken. Your precious Opera just became FREE, you know that now means they no longer HAVE to worry about the fixing all the problems.
Also the lack of having to change stuff post-install doesn't say too much. Probably a personal preference with some people but I do not mind having to install the all of two extensions I usually use.
I will get an XBox once they price drop the thing for XBox 360 launch. Then considering I haven't owned a Nintendo console since NES, well maybe it is time to buy one with the Revolution. Seriously, it wouldn't be the first time I took a chance on a console, I still own and LOVE my Dreamcast after all...Nothing beats a console that doesn't need a mod chip to run homebrews or other programs, including MP3 and divx support. Still need to find a broadband adapter for the thing though....
Seriously, would someone like to help me count the number of Intel pooch-screws? As I recall they have released a few products that weren't quite up to snuff...
And I would have to agree with another poster, no real trouble with those "evil" Taiwanese board makers, cause they all have US headquarters. Check with Intel, I would personally be shocked if they don't make or get their boards from Taiwan.
free RDRAM RIMM
Lets avoid RDRAM, it sort of answers part of my question above...
spell - (spl)
v. spelled, or spelt (splt) spelling, spells
v. tr.
1. To name or write in order the letters constituting (a word or part of a word).
2. To constitute the letters of (a word): These letters spell animal.
3. To add up to; signify: Their unwise investment could spell financial ruin.
Hmmm looks like spelt is right according to dictionary.com. Though it is quite possibly another instance of a word throughout history getting so screwed up it gets adopted as normal.
Sometimes I hate the English nazis we have on slashdot.
Well that sort of depends on what kind of engineering. I haven't used trig since, oh...high school. In Electrical and Computer Engineering it is all Calculus, and most of the diffeq from that you solve with Transforms and those are all nice table lookups...I mean I know and remember most my trig, but it has proven generally worthless...
http://www.stopkill.com/
I hope the upper 90% of it was parodied by someone and the bottom like 10% with addresses and all is real. Or hell that the whole is real just proving the man has no sense of how to prevent being harassed by gamers, liberals, e-mail scanning bots (which subsequently leads to porn, home loans and medications), and who knows maybe just the total nut job who would go as far as stalking him.
One can only dream...I now have motivation for getting my law degree, to laugh my ass off across the court room when the judge tells him to go read the damn constitution...*snaps up from dreaming*...oh sorry...
Without Patents there would be no requirement for an individual to disclose an invention. What would happen under such a system is not open innovation; however, it would turn into an immense system of lawsuits and constant battles of "me first" arguments (though this can still happen under the patent system it isn't as bad).
There are two scenarios in reality:
Scenario 1: Company A doesn't invent anything for fear of the second that it is released Company B will clone invention of Company A and then Company C repeats and the market is flooded. Now, here come the "free market" cries, but remember that if inventor/company A doesn't believe they can market product A well, and realize the scenario above will happen they will never release said invention and people may go without...
Scenario 2: Company A invents. Company B takes and "re-invents". Now under old laws of trade secret stealing, or new laws of the "evil" DMCA, Company A sues company B. Vicious cycle continues, and innovation is stifled because companies don't want to release product because of legal battles...
Patents guarantee Company A protection to be sell inventions without fear of Company B stealing said inventions. It also forces disclosure making Company B capapble of creating "improved" inventions based on Company A's disclosure. The improved inventions can then be marketed and the cycle continues. This is where innovation occurs, the problem is that most fields move so fast anymore (especially PC and bio-tech) that the patents seem overly restrictive for long times.
Remember without patents most inventions by small inventors would almost definitely never see the light of day. Also remember that this great fear of patents as a money grab is by and large not a major problem since some 90% or more of patents NEVER COLLECT A SINGLE CENT.
I think you are forgetting that the modern day patent trolls are the primary person that this section of the law are meant to stop. You have to realize that most large companies, including Microsoft do not see the point in going after the tiny companies making items because they aren't important enough, and more then likely don't make enough money to be worth the trouble. Most companies enforcing patents nowadays are companies in the case of Freedom Wireless v. BCGI. If you read this case and look at the background of FW's owners, you start to question if they are not acting like a bunch of cons.
Remember most patents that big corporations are buying up now are meant to protect them against the tiny patent trolls and I do not expect this part of the law to cause some grand paradigm shift where we see big companies suing small businesses out of existence.
I am actually quite surprised your manual doesn't include tire balance and rotation to be considered standard maintenance, and you should probably check to be sure. I notice it on my car where the front tires were more worn then the rear, and this is why tired are suppose to be rotated and well balancing is a good idea to do on your own anyway to verify tire pressure it where it should be. Also I am pretty sure tire life is typically listed somewhere between 20k-30k. So if you like having treads on your tire I hope you aren't being paranoid that the little mechanic is just trying to take you for a ride, no pun intended.
What cave are you hiding in? The government is already in your TV. They haven't extended to cable but their own threats to, the FCC has said they would like to regulate cable like they do broadcast, is part of the reason cable has dulled itself down lately. The ship is sinking, sensible people first, screw the women and children...well maybe not the cute women...
The thing is, we KNOW flash will fail. It is not a matter of IF it is a matter of WHEN. Yes for most a four year PC cycle is normal, but I know plenty of people with PCs over 4 years old, because they see little to no reason to update them. The wonderful thing is, why HDDs do fail, you also get a high number of them that last well beyond 4 years. I have seen functional, and in some cases in use, 500 MB and smaller HDDs that would now be nearly 15 years old.
Another problem is as you shrink the production process as they have here, you get more failures though usually you have production enough to the point where the failures aren't a HUGE deal. But it becomes a problem when they make bigger drives with more modules and would cause increasing prices, more then likely. So in the end, I would say we are still a long WAYS from FLASH surpassing the HDD.
Forget divide and conquer...divide and confuse...my god 90% of consumers will not have a clue what the heck to buy. Especially many geeks have been telling people to use XP Pro instead of XP Home. And if Ultimate is Home and Pro combined, do I get doubly screwed on pricing? All I can say is this sounds like a very BAD idea, but I guess they are taking a linux view, the more versions the better...
Can someone please point out where besides the original poster we are getting Amazon into this. I have checked through the published application and see nothing that directly references the assignment of this application to Amazon.
Of course no one has taken the time to understand evolution. The religious right are too busy forcing "intelligent design" into school systems and not bothering to read a book that doesn't begin with the letter B and rhyme with libel (coincidence, i think not!).
Really, if people spent more time reading books instead of continuing to selectively "burn" (while we may not physically be burning the anymore, the religious right is just "hiding" them) books maybe people would learn something. Remember if we listened to the church we would still be at the universe's center and the earth would still be flat. People need to read up on that term theory too, cause they really think that any crack pot can create a SCIENTIFIC THEORY. Sorrry rambling again...
The game wasn't too violent for those 17+ yr olds or anyone else for that matter until sex became an issue. How does that quote from South Park go, "Parents don't care about violence when they have sex things to worry about"?
Seriously I do not think there are many countries as unwilling to talk about sex as ours. Hell we cannot even here cussing on cable, and it isn't regulated by the FCC so it doesn't need to be censored. What I would do to see someone on cable screw with the man and show some full frontal, now that would rile up the religious right and ignorant fools throughout this country.
This is truly a sad day. It should be noted that anyone picked to replace Rehnquist though probably won't be too ideologically different. Check his history and you'll see a man who supported VERY CONSERVATIVE views. If GWB is smart, he cut a deal with the senate to appoint a more "moderate" individual in exchange for no fighting on the nominations, not likely but possible.
It should be noted that it is possible he will get more then just the two nominations. John Paul Stevens is 85, and could possibly retire or die before the end of GWB's term. The youngest justice at present is Clarence Thomas at 57. So anything can happen in two years.
It appears many people forgot what this case was all about. The real concern for Blizzard was the software created by the bnetd group allowed people with illegal copies of WC3 to play network style games in a battle.net type community. See, Blizzard uses the server side checks to verify user keys and that is how they ensure that only legitimate people are using their games, because seriously how long does the fun of WC3 or D2 last without multiplayer and w/o battle.net.
This case may be using the DMCA to destroy bnetd, and the EFF look stupid trying to defend them. To be honest I sometime wonder if the EFF remembers who/what they should be fighting. Blizzard decided to try and curb piracy, and the best way was to take out bnetd. How many people do you suspect were using it with legitimate copies, I am willing to bet the percentage was VERY LOW. This is not some EVIL corporation here. They are trying to protect their bottom dollar.
Battle.net has been offered to free for users of legitimate copies of their games for years, and has continued to run as a FREE service despite the tremendous server loads and maintenance it employs. bnetd gave users a way to play online, the major attraction to most blizzard games, without having to ever purchase a legitimate copy of said game by circumventing the protection scheme that blizzard put in place.
We are not talking about one of the *AA's here, we are talking about a company that has earned the right to protect the intellectual property that its designers and engineers worked hard to create. Hell, they support the MAC people and I know you can make WC3 and D2 run in wine. Time to get off your high horses and remember that every once in a while the legal system in this country does do something right...
i don't think he is alone, and boy I wish i still had some mod points to lower your score...Seriously the duping is a serious problem that no one has taken care of or seems like to ever take care of. This was posted with the last few days even. Besides, how many people you think have Firefox here and Adblock on. I mean really most of us don't see the ads, let alone click them, thats what they got idiots like you for apparently.
Imagine this, why do people buy Intel machines? Because it's all that's out there [e.g. Dell, Gateway and HP].
Not doing much research. HP/Compaq sells AMD systems. Gateway has in the past...Dell well they are rather firmly up Intel's backside...
ummm...WoW over 1 million US users so that is 1 million copies of a game sold and I am pretty sure there are more then 100,000 copies of EQ, Doom 3, HL2, and the millions of Sims games. The problem is there are a TONS more PC games then console games typically because it usually costs less money and you don't have to license the information necessary to make a game for a PC. And yes EA is a huge player, those bloody Sims games are almost consistently the top of PC games sells, and they have some more games up there usually too...
But in the end aren't both companies just doing now what Linux and the other like operating systems have been doing for years. Yes some of the UIs available for Linux and the like are not the greatest, but so many other things that are finally starting to creep into Mac and Windows (journaled FS) have been around for ages. And seriously, how many slashdot people really care how pretty it looks, isn't the how pretty it looks what made some many girls think the iMac was sexy or something?
In the end what I want is some degree of power in my OS and well, control. Something M$ has continually said we will never get all of it that we want. Every couple years I can rotate back to Linux because my games will run on there since my higher powered hardware can make up for the wine performance drop. With my new system coming early next year, I will be back to Linux and wine until a new game comes along that just won't get enough juice or won't run at all in wine.
Btw, I am tired of the start bar. I mean yeah graphically the UI is a bit of a rip, but its not like they stole the snazzy little app bar or anything. Not that I would mind...on a side note I would probably get Mac OS X for x86 if they would make it usable on all hardware, oh well...
The law actually isn't too out of whack. There are a few things that need to be fixed yes, but if you look at HR 2795 (I think it is), some of the reforms proposed by that actually fix some issues but not others. The biggest problem is with the ability to make obvious type rejections, and that isn't a matter of written law, so much as it is a matter of the Federal Circuit ignoring the concept of Ordinary Skill in the Art. Trust me when I say the majority of slashdot people don't know their hind side from a hole in the wall when it comes to patents, which is proven everytime I have to state the claims are the relevant part and explain the processes of patenting an invention. As always go to the USPTO website and read the MPEP, once you read it (or heck just scanned it) you will realize why patent examining is not an easy job, also you think it is any better here then in other countries, check and see what some smaller countries who cannot afford the sheer number of people the US can (ie australia and some asian nations) and you will see that this isn't just a US problem.
Now we get into a definition of insanity. And from what I have heard from the Nethack folks you have to take things that almost induce a drug like state. Drugs and sanity are two different things. Also we are talking about a "level", the problem with 0 and 1 is that is in its truest definition is a boolean and probably wouldn't be read on the claims. By saying level you are implying a scale of measurement, there is no measurement in 0 and 1, it is either true or false, this is particularly so in video game/computer terms and is more then likely the distinguishing factor in many of the rejection ideas.
Ok and here I will point you to read 35 USC 103(a) and then find the references to combine for obviousness using the factors set forth in Graham v. Deere. Then come up with a proper motivation, preferably from one of the two references, as set forth by the Federal Circuit in order to do the combination.
The motivation requirement was forced upon the office by the Federal Circuit and makes it hard to make many 103 rejections. There is presently a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court in KSR International v Teleflex that challenges the motivation requirement as ignoring the ordinary skill of one in the art, while this may be correct the court is unlikely to hear the case (response expected by October) so expect obviousness to continue to be hard to "prove." As I say this isn't the office's fault, the federal circuit definitely put some undo burden on the office.
Slashdot Mirror
At $0.99 you might already be paying more then for a CD, if you are interested in the complete CD. Granted I am not in the majority, but I usually like a great many tracks on most the CDs which I enjoy and not just the crap they spew forth on the radio (which I haven't listened to in months).
With CDs averaging in price around $13.98, if I want more then 14 tracks (rare, but I do like having whole CDs) I am over the cost of a CD, without having a "physical" media. Also I am pretty much stuck with non-transferable (without some work) songs.
Presently most the CDs I buy are for things that I have or had in MP3 format. Unlike the evil RIAA would like us to believe, if I here it on MP3 and enjoy it I will buy it on CD since there are still times I do not feel safe carrying my iPod. This means I can easily listen to the songs in CD quality in my car.
Another wonderful scheme I learned a few years ago was to buy USED CDs. Often with a bit of luck you find them in BRAND NEW shape and at half or less the cost of a new CD. In these situations even 4 or 5 songs downloaded might cost more then the CD. Honestly raising the price without benefit does seem like a greed grab by the music industry. Since apple handles all the advertising and distribution (for small fees I am sure) and there is no cost for media or shipping, there is tons of money making going on as it is. I hope that big companies like Apple will begin to stand up to the RIAA and show them that this is the future of the industry if it plans on surviving.
pop-up blocker, mouse gestures, etc, built in; no need to download/trust/install extensions from god knows who
Pop-up blocker is built into both the major browsers with no added installs now. Mouse gestures are highly overrated and still only used by a MINORITY. Most FireFox extensions are fairly trustworthy, I mean on your logic how are you to trust the dev group from anywhere?
changing settings, you don't need to close and re-open it every bloody time
Seriously, what changes in FF are you making that require you to restart it each time. And use a change that you have to make in Opera to because extension installs doesn't count here...
built-in IRC client
Does this thing handle scripting properly or even get much usage? Almost everyone on IRC with a Windows PC I know is using mIRC. I might still use X-Chat if the windows version didn't go lame on us...
built-in email client
With my primary email a gmail account now, this doesn't matter to me. Besides the reason FF doesn't have an e-mail client, Mozilla has one...Funny how we forget FF was created to be minimalistic.
built-in bit torrent client
Blah. I prefer a separate client, and sure a good number of people do. Also I wouldn't be too surprised if someone has an extension for FF for this, so if you really wanted it you could install it.
highly-configurable thru gui, not through text file hacks
I have yet to have to "fix" or install anything in FF where I had to "hack" a text file. Besides there is something being said for having that power, including the open source power too...
produced by an actual company with actual interest in quality moreso than freedom/clunky-breakiness
Ummmm...Microsoft Internet Explorer. Made by a real company and is clunky, and very broken. Your precious Opera just became FREE, you know that now means they no longer HAVE to worry about the fixing all the problems.
Also the lack of having to change stuff post-install doesn't say too much. Probably a personal preference with some people but I do not mind having to install the all of two extensions I usually use.
I will get an XBox once they price drop the thing for XBox 360 launch. Then considering I haven't owned a Nintendo console since NES, well maybe it is time to buy one with the Revolution. Seriously, it wouldn't be the first time I took a chance on a console, I still own and LOVE my Dreamcast after all...Nothing beats a console that doesn't need a mod chip to run homebrews or other programs, including MP3 and divx support. Still need to find a broadband adapter for the thing though....
As a Genuine Intel Dealer
I kiss major ass?
Seriously, would someone like to help me count the number of Intel pooch-screws? As I recall they have released a few products that weren't quite up to snuff...
And I would have to agree with another poster, no real trouble with those "evil" Taiwanese board makers, cause they all have US headquarters. Check with Intel, I would personally be shocked if they don't make or get their boards from Taiwan.
free RDRAM RIMM
Lets avoid RDRAM, it sort of answers part of my question above...
spell - (spl) v. spelled, or spelt (splt) spelling, spells v. tr. 1. To name or write in order the letters constituting (a word or part of a word). 2. To constitute the letters of (a word): These letters spell animal. 3. To add up to; signify: Their unwise investment could spell financial ruin. Hmmm looks like spelt is right according to dictionary.com. Though it is quite possibly another instance of a word throughout history getting so screwed up it gets adopted as normal.
Sometimes I hate the English nazis we have on slashdot.
Well that sort of depends on what kind of engineering. I haven't used trig since, oh...high school. In Electrical and Computer Engineering it is all Calculus, and most of the diffeq from that you solve with Transforms and those are all nice table lookups...I mean I know and remember most my trig, but it has proven generally worthless...
http://www.stopkill.com/
I hope the upper 90% of it was parodied by someone and the bottom like 10% with addresses and all is real. Or hell that the whole is real just proving the man has no sense of how to prevent being harassed by gamers, liberals, e-mail scanning bots (which subsequently leads to porn, home loans and medications), and who knows maybe just the total nut job who would go as far as stalking him.
One can only dream...I now have motivation for getting my law degree, to laugh my ass off across the court room when the judge tells him to go read the damn constitution...*snaps up from dreaming*...oh sorry...
Without Patents there would be no requirement for an individual to disclose an invention. What would happen under such a system is not open innovation; however, it would turn into an immense system of lawsuits and constant battles of "me first" arguments (though this can still happen under the patent system it isn't as bad).
There are two scenarios in reality:
Scenario 1: Company A doesn't invent anything for fear of the second that it is released Company B will clone invention of Company A and then Company C repeats and the market is flooded. Now, here come the "free market" cries, but remember that if inventor/company A doesn't believe they can market product A well, and realize the scenario above will happen they will never release said invention and people may go without...
Scenario 2: Company A invents. Company B takes and "re-invents". Now under old laws of trade secret stealing, or new laws of the "evil" DMCA, Company A sues company B. Vicious cycle continues, and innovation is stifled because companies don't want to release product because of legal battles...
Patents guarantee Company A protection to be sell inventions without fear of Company B stealing said inventions. It also forces disclosure making Company B capapble of creating "improved" inventions based on Company A's disclosure. The improved inventions can then be marketed and the cycle continues. This is where innovation occurs, the problem is that most fields move so fast anymore (especially PC and bio-tech) that the patents seem overly restrictive for long times.
Remember without patents most inventions by small inventors would almost definitely never see the light of day. Also remember that this great fear of patents as a money grab is by and large not a major problem since some 90% or more of patents NEVER COLLECT A SINGLE CENT.
I think you are forgetting that the modern day patent trolls are the primary person that this section of the law are meant to stop. You have to realize that most large companies, including Microsoft do not see the point in going after the tiny companies making items because they aren't important enough, and more then likely don't make enough money to be worth the trouble. Most companies enforcing patents nowadays are companies in the case of Freedom Wireless v. BCGI. If you read this case and look at the background of FW's owners, you start to question if they are not acting like a bunch of cons.
Remember most patents that big corporations are buying up now are meant to protect them against the tiny patent trolls and I do not expect this part of the law to cause some grand paradigm shift where we see big companies suing small businesses out of existence.
I am actually quite surprised your manual doesn't include tire balance and rotation to be considered standard maintenance, and you should probably check to be sure. I notice it on my car where the front tires were more worn then the rear, and this is why tired are suppose to be rotated and well balancing is a good idea to do on your own anyway to verify tire pressure it where it should be. Also I am pretty sure tire life is typically listed somewhere between 20k-30k. So if you like having treads on your tire I hope you aren't being paranoid that the little mechanic is just trying to take you for a ride, no pun intended.
Then TV
What cave are you hiding in? The government is already in your TV. They haven't extended to cable but their own threats to, the FCC has said they would like to regulate cable like they do broadcast, is part of the reason cable has dulled itself down lately. The ship is sinking, sensible people first, screw the women and children...well maybe not the cute women...
The thing is, we KNOW flash will fail. It is not a matter of IF it is a matter of WHEN. Yes for most a four year PC cycle is normal, but I know plenty of people with PCs over 4 years old, because they see little to no reason to update them. The wonderful thing is, why HDDs do fail, you also get a high number of them that last well beyond 4 years. I have seen functional, and in some cases in use, 500 MB and smaller HDDs that would now be nearly 15 years old.
Another problem is as you shrink the production process as they have here, you get more failures though usually you have production enough to the point where the failures aren't a HUGE deal. But it becomes a problem when they make bigger drives with more modules and would cause increasing prices, more then likely. So in the end, I would say we are still a long WAYS from FLASH surpassing the HDD.
Forget divide and conquer...divide and confuse...my god 90% of consumers will not have a clue what the heck to buy. Especially many geeks have been telling people to use XP Pro instead of XP Home. And if Ultimate is Home and Pro combined, do I get doubly screwed on pricing? All I can say is this sounds like a very BAD idea, but I guess they are taking a linux view, the more versions the better...
Can someone please point out where besides the original poster we are getting Amazon into this. I have checked through the published application and see nothing that directly references the assignment of this application to Amazon.
Of course no one has taken the time to understand evolution. The religious right are too busy forcing "intelligent design" into school systems and not bothering to read a book that doesn't begin with the letter B and rhyme with libel (coincidence, i think not!).
Really, if people spent more time reading books instead of continuing to selectively "burn" (while we may not physically be burning the anymore, the religious right is just "hiding" them) books maybe people would learn something. Remember if we listened to the church we would still be at the universe's center and the earth would still be flat. People need to read up on that term theory too, cause they really think that any crack pot can create a SCIENTIFIC THEORY. Sorrry rambling again...
The game wasn't too violent for those 17+ yr olds or anyone else for that matter until sex became an issue. How does that quote from South Park go, "Parents don't care about violence when they have sex things to worry about"?
Seriously I do not think there are many countries as unwilling to talk about sex as ours. Hell we cannot even here cussing on cable, and it isn't regulated by the FCC so it doesn't need to be censored. What I would do to see someone on cable screw with the man and show some full frontal, now that would rile up the religious right and ignorant fools throughout this country.
This is truly a sad day. It should be noted that anyone picked to replace Rehnquist though probably won't be too ideologically different. Check his history and you'll see a man who supported VERY CONSERVATIVE views. If GWB is smart, he cut a deal with the senate to appoint a more "moderate" individual in exchange for no fighting on the nominations, not likely but possible.
It should be noted that it is possible he will get more then just the two nominations. John Paul Stevens is 85, and could possibly retire or die before the end of GWB's term. The youngest justice at present is Clarence Thomas at 57. So anything can happen in two years.
It appears many people forgot what this case was all about. The real concern for Blizzard was the software created by the bnetd group allowed people with illegal copies of WC3 to play network style games in a battle.net type community. See, Blizzard uses the server side checks to verify user keys and that is how they ensure that only legitimate people are using their games, because seriously how long does the fun of WC3 or D2 last without multiplayer and w/o battle.net.
This case may be using the DMCA to destroy bnetd, and the EFF look stupid trying to defend them. To be honest I sometime wonder if the EFF remembers who/what they should be fighting. Blizzard decided to try and curb piracy, and the best way was to take out bnetd. How many people do you suspect were using it with legitimate copies, I am willing to bet the percentage was VERY LOW. This is not some EVIL corporation here. They are trying to protect their bottom dollar.
Battle.net has been offered to free for users of legitimate copies of their games for years, and has continued to run as a FREE service despite the tremendous server loads and maintenance it employs. bnetd gave users a way to play online, the major attraction to most blizzard games, without having to ever purchase a legitimate copy of said game by circumventing the protection scheme that blizzard put in place.
We are not talking about one of the *AA's here, we are talking about a company that has earned the right to protect the intellectual property that its designers and engineers worked hard to create. Hell, they support the MAC people and I know you can make WC3 and D2 run in wine. Time to get off your high horses and remember that every once in a while the legal system in this country does do something right...
i don't think he is alone, and boy I wish i still had some mod points to lower your score...Seriously the duping is a serious problem that no one has taken care of or seems like to ever take care of. This was posted with the last few days even. Besides, how many people you think have Firefox here and Adblock on. I mean really most of us don't see the ads, let alone click them, thats what they got idiots like you for apparently.
Imagine this, why do people buy Intel machines? Because it's all that's out there [e.g. Dell, Gateway and HP].
Not doing much research. HP/Compaq sells AMD systems. Gateway has in the past...Dell well they are rather firmly up Intel's backside...
ummm...WoW over 1 million US users so that is 1 million copies of a game sold and I am pretty sure there are more then 100,000 copies of EQ, Doom 3, HL2, and the millions of Sims games. The problem is there are a TONS more PC games then console games typically because it usually costs less money and you don't have to license the information necessary to make a game for a PC. And yes EA is a huge player, those bloody Sims games are almost consistently the top of PC games sells, and they have some more games up there usually too...
But in the end aren't both companies just doing now what Linux and the other like operating systems have been doing for years. Yes some of the UIs available for Linux and the like are not the greatest, but so many other things that are finally starting to creep into Mac and Windows (journaled FS) have been around for ages. And seriously, how many slashdot people really care how pretty it looks, isn't the how pretty it looks what made some many girls think the iMac was sexy or something?
In the end what I want is some degree of power in my OS and well, control. Something M$ has continually said we will never get all of it that we want. Every couple years I can rotate back to Linux because my games will run on there since my higher powered hardware can make up for the wine performance drop. With my new system coming early next year, I will be back to Linux and wine until a new game comes along that just won't get enough juice or won't run at all in wine.
Btw, I am tired of the start bar. I mean yeah graphically the UI is a bit of a rip, but its not like they stole the snazzy little app bar or anything. Not that I would mind...on a side note I would probably get Mac OS X for x86 if they would make it usable on all hardware, oh well...
The law actually isn't too out of whack. There are a few things that need to be fixed yes, but if you look at HR 2795 (I think it is), some of the reforms proposed by that actually fix some issues but not others. The biggest problem is with the ability to make obvious type rejections, and that isn't a matter of written law, so much as it is a matter of the Federal Circuit ignoring the concept of Ordinary Skill in the Art. Trust me when I say the majority of slashdot people don't know their hind side from a hole in the wall when it comes to patents, which is proven everytime I have to state the claims are the relevant part and explain the processes of patenting an invention. As always go to the USPTO website and read the MPEP, once you read it (or heck just scanned it) you will realize why patent examining is not an easy job, also you think it is any better here then in other countries, check and see what some smaller countries who cannot afford the sheer number of people the US can (ie australia and some asian nations) and you will see that this isn't just a US problem.
Now we get into a definition of insanity. And from what I have heard from the Nethack folks you have to take things that almost induce a drug like state. Drugs and sanity are two different things. Also we are talking about a "level", the problem with 0 and 1 is that is in its truest definition is a boolean and probably wouldn't be read on the claims. By saying level you are implying a scale of measurement, there is no measurement in 0 and 1, it is either true or false, this is particularly so in video game/computer terms and is more then likely the distinguishing factor in many of the rejection ideas.
Ok and here I will point you to read 35 USC 103(a) and then find the references to combine for obviousness using the factors set forth in Graham v. Deere. Then come up with a proper motivation, preferably from one of the two references, as set forth by the Federal Circuit in order to do the combination.
The motivation requirement was forced upon the office by the Federal Circuit and makes it hard to make many 103 rejections. There is presently a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court in KSR International v Teleflex that challenges the motivation requirement as ignoring the ordinary skill of one in the art, while this may be correct the court is unlikely to hear the case (response expected by October) so expect obviousness to continue to be hard to "prove." As I say this isn't the office's fault, the federal circuit definitely put some undo burden on the office.