These arguments miss the real point.
You have permitted a government to define, control and essentially own your identity.
There is no commercial or honest need for this.
Most of us using Slashdot have multiple identities (user names) for the different boards we log into on the net. For each one we have established a reputation for good or ill that serves as our good-will or "credit" on that board.
If the government wishes to issue a Tax ID, OK. But only I and they need to know it.
If a credit company wishes to issue a credit ID to track my credit history, maybe OK, but they do not need to know my SSN, or even if I have one.
I'll go farther: no one needs to know my real name, or even if I have one.
Only those with a purient lust to know about others "need" to know everything. Rememeber that such lusts are insatiable, and that tolerating them feeds them. You ain't seen nothin' yet.
Agree with the Parent:
In many utopian communities founded in the USA: the Amana, Oneida, Shakers, etc... A pure form of communism was successfully practiced for several generations.
What did all of these communities have in common?
1. They were all relatively small and agrarian.
2. They were all united by a strong common religion.
IF antivirus vendors do start removing the sony rootkit, won't that qualify as circumvention of a copyright device and put them in clear violation of the DMCA?
This just keeps getting better and better.
They can do it if they can get away with it. NY has.
DC could do this but they don't have the sovereignty of a state. Everytime they've tried it (and they have), Congress has slapped them down. DC residents have no voting representatives in Congress, so they are helpless.
VA and MD could do this to each other - many people commute both ways, but they have better sense. This would be more trouble than it would be worth.
The media companies have the money (more than you do!). They pay for his election. They are the ones whose interests he is paid and obligated by (unwritten) contract to represent.
The role of the voters is the same as that of the voting machine - a simple mechanical part of the process.
It's what the US Congress, the Chinese Central Committee and the Russian Mafia have as their common link. Fortunately they currently see each other as rivals.
Just wait until they form a cartel and start working more closely together.
Even if DRM were in the Linux kernal, As long as it's possible to recompile the kernal, let it contain all the DRM they want. You can always strip it out.
That's what open-source can do.
Besides all that has been said, since AMD will have either simple or enhanced clones of the Intel chips, Apple can either switch to AMD later, or just use the threat of switching to get concessions from Intel.
Such a switch would require a hardware change, but probably not a software change, given AMD's history of trying to provide backward opcode compatibility.
A wise decision by Apple, even tho this is old news.
In my world, we pretend to be doing real work, that our bosses want the company to succeed, and that our SDLC makes sense.
Don't get me started on our fearless leaders in Washington, and their more frightening fantasies
Most of us are stuck working in a fantasy just as divorced from reality and just little different from that of the comic book nerds. The difference being that comics nerd's is a little more consistent - and the inconsistencies are the subject of their (reasonable) debate.
A point of info:
I was in Venezuela last month. Gasoline prices were between 9 and 13 US CENTS!! per gallon.
If you elect a bunch of Texas oil millionaires to the presidency, why are you surprised that the US oil companies reported the greatest profits in their history (over 100 years for some of them)?
Raising the other question - competence to judge comparisons between fingerprints does not seem to be in abundance. Again, there is always pressure to solve cases and find somebody to hold responsible. This pressure does not always lead to a true finding.
Meaning that you don't necessarily need to organize the data, just be able to search it quickly.
If you agree with that philosophy, then, after you have it all in ASCII, just do a full text index of the data (which makes sense if the data is rarely or never updated) and it is quick to pull out anything you need.
Who says they are?
As one who has over a decade of technical experience in the field, I can tell you that there is not a single objective scientific study to support the belief that fingerprints are unique.
You can be equally sure that if it were ever proven that they are not, it would be a disaster for law enforcement all over the world. There is a powerful incentive not to find out.
There was a time when everyone knew the world was flat. That "knowledge" had no impact on the truth of the matter.
.. if the company does not make a profit, then the Executive staff does not get paid.
Thereby forcing an even stronger focus on quarterly profits at the expense of long-term strategic planning - 'If I don't make my profit target, I won't get paid, so I better cut costs by firing people and doing more outsourcing - future be damned!'
I agree, tho, that the rest of your comments are right on target.
I once was head of MIS for a consortium of companies in Baltimore. The MIS department shared facilities with the telemarketing company. After the telemarketing company president resigned, it took two and a half months for the board to find a replacement - meanwhile, the company was completely headless. It was a small company of less than 50, with no other management besides an accountant and two senior telemarketiers. The employees started coming to work in jeans, shorts and t-shirts! Our consortium was mostly a banking company so this was 'unthinkable'. They were literally having parties in the office almost every day. On their own initiative, the employees instituted flex-time and other shocking innovations. But they were still working.
I was generating the sales reports for their company - profits for the telemarketing company increased by over 40% for this period!
It all came to an end when the wife of the chairman paid a visit and saw the 'chaos'. I recommended that they do nothing about it, given the profit numbers, but I was laughed at (of course). The board's reasoning: Think how much better profits will be once they get strong management again!
Strong management was hired, and profits quickly sank to their normal levels. The board was predictably mystified by this development.
This is a kind of advertising that directly benefits shows that some people will find worthwhile.
For the crappy stuff, Bittorrent is very harmful, since it illustrates just how crappy the stuff is before you actually buy.
So, Battlestar Galactica (the new one) profitted greatly, but The Hulk (more precisely the studio's potential profits) was greatly harmed.
So, the problem with bittorrent (again, from the studio's point of view) is that it interferes with their ability to profit from viewer's ignorance. The potential loss is greater than the potential reward because the greater percentage of their product IS crap.
If a 'copy' is a perfect copy, then it is no longer just a copy, it is a second instance of the original.
That, of course, is the trick:
1. Define 'Perfect copy'.
2. Make copy a 'perfect copy'.
3. profit?
Junkies can always afford a fix because they keep their money stored in other people's wallets. When they need a fix, they just go collect it (sometimes a little force is needed to pry it loose).
Willie Sutton famously observed that banks store money too.
If you are too chicken of the bank security, you can always sell a kidney, or your sister, or just do without food for a while.
The point being that where you get the money is not really the vendor's concern.
Slashdot Mirror
These arguments miss the real point.
You have permitted a government to define, control and essentially own your identity.
There is no commercial or honest need for this.
Most of us using Slashdot have multiple identities (user names) for the different boards we log into on the net. For each one we have established a reputation for good or ill that serves as our good-will or "credit" on that board.
If the government wishes to issue a Tax ID, OK. But only I and they need to know it.
If a credit company wishes to issue a credit ID to track my credit history, maybe OK, but they do not need to know my SSN, or even if I have one.
I'll go farther: no one needs to know my real name, or even if I have one.
Only those with a purient lust to know about others "need" to know everything. Rememeber that such lusts are insatiable, and that tolerating them feeds them. You ain't seen nothin' yet.
Agree with the Parent:
In many utopian communities founded in the USA: the Amana, Oneida, Shakers, etc... A pure form of communism was successfully practiced for several generations.
What did all of these communities have in common?
1. They were all relatively small and agrarian. 2. They were all united by a strong common religion.
IF antivirus vendors do start removing the sony rootkit, won't that qualify as circumvention of a copyright device and put them in clear violation of the DMCA? This just keeps getting better and better.
They can do it if they can get away with it. NY has. DC could do this but they don't have the sovereignty of a state. Everytime they've tried it (and they have), Congress has slapped them down. DC residents have no voting representatives in Congress, so they are helpless. VA and MD could do this to each other - many people commute both ways, but they have better sense. This would be more trouble than it would be worth.
The media companies have the money (more than you do!). They pay for his election. They are the ones whose interests he is paid and obligated by (unwritten) contract to represent. The role of the voters is the same as that of the voting machine - a simple mechanical part of the process.
It's what the US Congress, the Chinese Central Committee and the Russian Mafia have as their common link. Fortunately they currently see each other as rivals.
Just wait until they form a cartel and start working more closely together.
I just wish some bookie would offer odds that they are telling the truth. What a gold mine this could be.
Or at least offer odds as to how long it will take to diagnose the program and uncover the truth.
And what does "..for private use only." mean?
Even if DRM were in the Linux kernal, As long as it's possible to recompile the kernal, let it contain all the DRM they want. You can always strip it out. That's what open-source can do.
Besides all that has been said, since AMD will have either simple or enhanced clones of the Intel chips, Apple can either switch to AMD later, or just use the threat of switching to get concessions from Intel.
Such a switch would require a hardware change, but probably not a software change, given AMD's history of trying to provide backward opcode compatibility.
A wise decision by Apple, even tho this is old news.
You're right! :-)
But it's not enough...
How is there fantasy different from yours/ours?
In my world, we pretend to be doing real work, that our bosses want the company to succeed, and that our SDLC makes sense.
Don't get me started on our fearless leaders in Washington, and their more frightening fantasies
Most of us are stuck working in a fantasy just as divorced from reality and just little different from that of the comic book nerds.
The difference being that comics nerd's is a little more consistent - and the inconsistencies are the subject of their (reasonable) debate.
"... creators deserve to own their own work."
Workers owning the means of production?
We must stamp out this kind of evil thinking. Everything is perfect just the way it is...
Just shut up and obey.
A point of info:
I was in Venezuela last month. Gasoline prices were between 9 and 13 US CENTS!! per gallon.
If you elect a bunch of Texas oil millionaires to the presidency, why are you surprised that the US oil companies reported the greatest profits in their history (over 100 years for some of them)?
I guess they can create their movies on Linux, they just can't check their work.
That explains their quality.
I've been watching and voting for losers for over 30 years and have learned two things:
The Democrats don't know how to win, but (fortunately) the Republicans do know how to lose.
We are talking about the USPTO, remember??
;-)
Raising the other question - competence to judge comparisons between fingerprints does not seem to be in abundance. Again, there is always pressure to solve cases and find somebody to hold responsible. This pressure does not always lead to a true finding.
Meaning that you don't necessarily need to organize the data, just be able to search it quickly.
If you agree with that philosophy, then, after you have it all in ASCII, just do a full text index of the data (which makes sense if the data is rarely or never updated) and it is quick to pull out anything you need.
Who says they are? As one who has over a decade of technical experience in the field, I can tell you that there is not a single objective scientific study to support the belief that fingerprints are unique. You can be equally sure that if it were ever proven that they are not, it would be a disaster for law enforcement all over the world. There is a powerful incentive not to find out. There was a time when everyone knew the world was flat. That "knowledge" had no impact on the truth of the matter.
.. if the company does not make a profit, then the Executive staff does not get paid.
Thereby forcing an even stronger focus on quarterly profits at the expense of long-term strategic planning - 'If I don't make my profit target, I won't get paid, so I better cut costs by firing people and doing more outsourcing - future be damned!'
I agree, tho, that the rest of your comments are right on target.
I once was head of MIS for a consortium of companies in Baltimore. The MIS department shared facilities with the telemarketing company. After the telemarketing company president resigned, it took two and a half months for the board to find a replacement - meanwhile, the company was completely headless. It was a small company of less than 50, with no other management besides an accountant and two senior telemarketiers. The employees started coming to work in jeans, shorts and t-shirts! Our consortium was mostly a banking company so this was 'unthinkable'. They were literally having parties in the office almost every day. On their own initiative, the employees instituted flex-time and other shocking innovations. But they were still working.
I was generating the sales reports for their company - profits for the telemarketing company increased by over 40% for this period!
It all came to an end when the wife of the chairman paid a visit and saw the 'chaos'. I recommended that they do nothing about it, given the profit numbers, but I was laughed at (of course). The board's reasoning: Think how much better profits will be once they get strong management again!
Strong management was hired, and profits quickly sank to their normal levels. The board was predictably mystified by this development.
This is a kind of advertising that directly benefits shows that some people will find worthwhile.
For the crappy stuff, Bittorrent is very harmful, since it illustrates just how crappy the stuff is before you actually buy.
So, Battlestar Galactica (the new one) profitted greatly, but The Hulk (more precisely the studio's potential profits) was greatly harmed.
So, the problem with bittorrent (again, from the studio's point of view) is that it interferes with their ability to profit from viewer's ignorance. The potential loss is greater than the potential reward because the greater percentage of their product IS crap.
If a 'copy' is a perfect copy, then it is no longer just a copy, it is a second instance of the original.
That, of course, is the trick:
1. Define 'Perfect copy'.
2. Make copy a 'perfect copy'.
3. profit?
Willie Sutton famously observed that banks store money too.
If you are too chicken of the bank security, you can always sell a kidney, or your sister, or just do without food for a while.
The point being that where you get the money is not really the vendor's concern.
1. Abandon proprietary software completely -
2. Move to a total open-source environment.
3. Softare Piracy & BSA irrelevant (Missing option found). 4. Profit!
We are the most humble people on earth, ever!