Unless congress actually passes one of the bills declaring them illegal.
They can declare audio/video consumer devices w/o DRM illegal, but there are lots of devices with A/D converters that are used for other applications (industrial control, sensors, automotive etc).
It would be simply impossible to incorporate DRM-encumbered parts there, for these reasons:
If sensors based on DRM encumbered A/D parts fail because the A/D thinks it is being used to pirate music, the car may crash, the medical equipment might fail, or the industrial production line would break down. This means loss of lives or at least big time loss of money.
There are a lot of low-power, low-cost parts, for example some mixed-signal microcontrollers. Adding extra DRM logic would add a lot of complexity, therefore the parts would be more expensive and consume more current. BTW, you wouldn't use a MSP430 to pirate music at 12 bits and 15k anyway - that's more in the range of a voice recorder or whatever.
Plus, A/D and D/A converters are ubiquitous in electronics. I guess that consumer devices related to audio / video applications are only a fraction of that.
Perhaps there will be a lot of DRM-crippled A/D D/A converters in such applications but there will ALWAYS be non-crippled parts available to the industry.
It will serve as another great example of why software patents suck and it may be the straw that breaks the back of software patents in Europe.
I don't think so. Folks who are involved in software development already know that S/W patents are bad, but the people in charge don't have a clue (and don't give a sh*t anyway).
Can someone confirm, that indeed, defending a patent cost a fortune?
That's what my physics professor told us, back in the days when we were learning the basics of patent law at the university. I don't think that he was just spreading FUD...
If patents approved, Open Source should exploit it - and patent everything they can.
Are you sure that "Open Source" has the resources to file patents for everything?
These patents, owned by Open Source would then restrict Microsoft's development.
Wasting resources by filing bullshit patents and defending bullshit patents in court would restrict Open Source development.
Can you imagine if HTML, the browser would have been patented and MS would not have the ability to include these web-related technologies into their products?
Can you imagine that open source projects have the money to defend just a single patent against MS?
A patent isn't worth shit if you don't have BIG TIME $$$ to defend it in court. Open source projects won't go far in this game.
Music - XMMS (WinAMP on Windows), is there even a comparison to Windows Media Player here?
But free music production software is not as mature as the commercial counterparts running on OS X and Windows.
Email - Mozilla Thuderbird, Ximian Evolution. Can Outlook, pro or Express, compare to those two??
does thunderbird eventually have a calendar? I use thunderbird for mail but for PIM I still have to use outlook. is Evolution available for windows, and can it sync with PDAs?
File Browsing - Nautilus, Konqueror. They crash 100% less of the time that Windows Explorer crashes.
funny how windows explorer never crashed on my machines...
without a shadow of a doubt the CRT has a far clearer and crisper image
I had no problem with CRTs until I got my first laptop. After I got used to the sharp and clear TFT display, I couldn't stand CRTs anymore. Now I'm very glad that I have a TFT at work in the office, so I don't have to ruin my eyes 8h/day. Perhaps it's just a matter of taste, with all these people favoring CRTs...
How could they sue Opera? Opera is based in Norway
But do they want to sell their stuff outside Norway as well? Patent infringement is determined by the local laws of the country where you distribute & sell your product.
If this wasn't the case, everything would be incredibly easy - every company would be based on Sealand or whatever, and economy wouldn't suffer from pathetic IP laws and greedy lawyers anymore;)
This provides some interesting possibilities, for example a general purpose kernel running on one, while a real-time kernel runs on another and handles things like sound.
Yes, this would be a great vision.
I can't wait to see a desktop/workstation system with proper realtime task handling. Imagine a desktop system with fixed response latency for things like GUI, sound, video etc. independent of background tasks. That would be a huge improvement in usability.
I demonstrated to my users that they just need to connect the USB cable and turn the camera on. Poof, all their pictures appear under "My Computer" as a removeable drive named similarly to their camera's model.
That's fine;)
But unfortunately, there are still some cameras (Casio Exilim, for instance) and MP3 players (Creative Nomad, for instance) that don't implement the standard "USB mass storage" protocol and force users to install some third-party software to access the files that's stored on the device.
I think that there should be a "Standards compliant" sticker or whatever on product packages because if you want to purchase such a device, it's often hard to find out before you actually try to use it.
Does anybody know a serious reason why companies like Creative don't implement standard mass storage protocols in their MP3 players? This isn't even related to DRM, so it must be plain ignorance.
A friend of mine purchased a Creative MP3 player and was very upset that he had to install some special software to transfer files. Sometimes you want to transfer files from/to work, university, etc. and you don't want to install software there (or you don't even have the option).
Yet, I would not bet on clockless cores to become the new mainstream, by far not. Clockless cores will most likely be aimed at embedded design appliances, and low- and ultra-low-power applications.
I think that "embedded appliances" are even more "mainstream" than anything else, since there are far more embedded systems around than general-purpose PC workstations, servers, laptops etc altogether.
They have flaws in the first place because debugging an operating system is pretty difficult
IIRC, the article is about the problems in IE, which should be just a normal user-space application. I don't know how tightly they integrated their IE into the ring-0 kernel space, though;)
firefox is also available for Windows as well, it's much more convenient to use than IE, has more features, less security holes, and IMHO there's no point in using IE all the time just because there are one or two crappy sites that don't support browsers other than IE...
Slashdot Mirror
They can declare audio/video consumer devices w/o DRM illegal, but there are lots of devices with A/D converters that are used for other applications (industrial control, sensors, automotive etc).
It would be simply impossible to incorporate DRM-encumbered parts there, for these reasons:
If sensors based on DRM encumbered A/D parts fail because the A/D thinks it is being used to pirate music, the car may crash, the medical equipment might fail, or the industrial production line would break down. This means loss of lives or at least big time loss of money.
There are a lot of low-power, low-cost parts, for example some mixed-signal microcontrollers. Adding extra DRM logic would add a lot of complexity, therefore the parts would be more expensive and consume more current. BTW, you wouldn't use a MSP430 to pirate music at 12 bits and 15k anyway - that's more in the range of a voice recorder or whatever.
Perhaps there will be a lot of DRM-crippled A/D D/A converters in such applications but there will ALWAYS be non-crippled parts available to the industry.
I don't think so. Folks who are involved in software development already know that S/W patents are bad, but the people in charge don't have a clue (and don't give a sh*t anyway).
Check out their FAQ at http://zigbee.org/en/about/faq.asp#7
That's what my physics professor told us, back in the days when we were learning the basics of patent law at the university. I don't think that he was just spreading FUD...
Are you sure that "Open Source" has the resources to file patents for everything?
These patents, owned by Open Source would then restrict Microsoft's development.
Wasting resources by filing bullshit patents and defending bullshit patents in court would restrict Open Source development.
Can you imagine if HTML, the browser would have been patented and MS would not have the ability to include these web-related technologies into their products?
Can you imagine that open source projects have the money to defend just a single patent against MS?
A patent isn't worth shit if you don't have BIG TIME $$$ to defend it in court. Open source projects won't go far in this game.
It's no embedded system in the traditional sense - basically, they just put a general purpose laptop on wheels.
...the universe escapes from YOU!
But free music production software is not as mature as the commercial counterparts running on OS X and Windows.
Email - Mozilla Thuderbird, Ximian Evolution. Can Outlook, pro or Express, compare to those two??
does thunderbird eventually have a calendar? I use thunderbird for mail but for PIM I still have to use outlook. is Evolution available for windows, and can it sync with PDAs?
File Browsing - Nautilus, Konqueror. They crash 100% less of the time that Windows Explorer crashes.
funny how windows explorer never crashed on my machines...
The fact is that this article is all hype.
;)))
That's exactly what I thought. Obviously it was written by someone who owns lots of CRT manufacturer stocks
without a shadow of a doubt the CRT has a far clearer and crisper image
I had no problem with CRTs until I got my first laptop. After I got used to the sharp and clear TFT display, I couldn't stand CRTs anymore. Now I'm very glad that I have a TFT at work in the office, so I don't have to ruin my eyes 8h/day. Perhaps it's just a matter of taste, with all these people favoring CRTs...
But do they want to sell their stuff outside Norway as well? Patent infringement is determined by the local laws of the country where you distribute & sell your product.
If this wasn't the case, everything would be incredibly easy - every company would be based on Sealand or whatever, and economy wouldn't suffer from pathetic IP laws and greedy lawyers anymore ;)
Yes, this would be a great vision.
I can't wait to see a desktop/workstation system with proper realtime task handling. Imagine a desktop system with fixed response latency for things like GUI, sound, video etc. independent of background tasks. That would be a huge improvement in usability.
As you already should know, software is protected by copyright. Patent protection for software is unnecessary and even counterproductive.
(it doesn't have to land on Mars, though ;)))
Jonathan Lamy, spokesperson for the RIAA: "(...) Intellectual property theft is a national security crime."
Soon we'll see P2P users referred to as terrorists ;))
That's fine ;)
But unfortunately, there are still some cameras (Casio Exilim, for instance) and MP3 players (Creative Nomad, for instance) that don't implement the standard "USB mass storage" protocol and force users to install some third-party software to access the files that's stored on the device.
I think that there should be a "Standards compliant" sticker or whatever on product packages because if you want to purchase such a device, it's often hard to find out before you actually try to use it.
IMO, this can also be implemented without "calling home" - the printer software itself could keep a list of the S/N's of the used cartridges.
Does anybody know a serious reason why companies like Creative don't implement standard mass storage protocols in their MP3 players? This isn't even related to DRM, so it must be plain ignorance.
A friend of mine purchased a Creative MP3 player and was very upset that he had to install some special software to transfer files. Sometimes you want to transfer files from/to work, university, etc. and you don't want to install software there (or you don't even have the option).
Why doesn anyone make an iPOD type device that will record in STEREO with manual level adjustment and both line in and mic in?
Archos' Jukebox Recorder can record in stereo via analog or S/PDIF line in with manual level adjustment. But it has no built-in mic preamp, AFAIK.
But its those GP-workstations etc. that an extensive bigger amount of money is being made with.
1) This statement is VERY questionable.
2) This has nothing to do with "mainstream".
Yet, I would not bet on clockless cores to become the new mainstream, by far not. Clockless cores will most likely be aimed at embedded design appliances, and low- and ultra-low-power applications.
I think that "embedded appliances" are even more "mainstream" than anything else, since there are far more embedded systems around than general-purpose PC workstations, servers, laptops etc altogether.
With a space elevator, of course ;)
They have flaws in the first place because debugging an operating system is pretty difficult
;)
IIRC, the article is about the problems in IE, which should be just a normal user-space application. I don't know how tightly they integrated their IE into the ring-0 kernel space, though
firefox is also available for Windows as well, it's much more convenient to use than IE, has more features, less security holes, and IMHO there's no point in using IE all the time just because there are one or two crappy sites that don't support browsers other than IE...
nothing to see here, move along...