I doubt it, man. The way the UK is going, they'll accept it like sheep.
I don't know what's wrong with the Brits these days. It's really depressing. Their gov't makes Bush look like a libertarian. And it's getting much worse all the time.
I hate to see one of my favorite nations lead the way down this stupid, stupid path.
I see no greater threat to the future of free communication than the de facto standardization on closed, DRM tools like Flash, and perhaps now Silverlight. There are so many websites which require this binary blob to run.
It's a bad trend. Don't use Flash. And for God's sake don't use Silverlight, either.
But dude...with all due respect...what could possibly lead you to believe that there is anything to be gained by friendly relations with this particular company? They have shown time and time again their willingness to stab any and all partners in the back. Or not even that, just drop you like a sack of rotten potatoes.
But why would you want to support this platform (ie. put thousands of man hours into developing apps with it) when you KNOW what's going to happen down the line? I mean, we've seen this all before *coughinternetexplorer*.
dude, I'm no anti-regulation zealot, but to say that libertarian theory is an untested policy is just poppycock. The USA is a perfect example of what something resembling free market economics can do, and you know it.
Damn dude, you write well, but I don't see the basis for a lot of the conclusions you draw. I'm afraid you may fool someone.
Equating the desire for seaking first principles between computing and the rest of reality is really quite an interesting idea. But the idea that a geek is wrong to seek first principles in reality is unsupported by you. You say it leads him to a worship of market forces, but you don't say why that would be wrong.
I'm not a (complete) worshipper of market forces, either. But your post did make me think about how efficiently, for example, market forces guide the creation of each new generation of technology (say, cpu's and motherboards). It really is almost like magic, except that it's so logical.
It's supposed to be "easier" for non-technical people, until you have to explain that what they are looking at is booted off the cd, not their hard drive.
IMHO it's not the installers that need to be "easier", but disaster recovery--ie you put a new video card in, and Linux goes to hell in a handbasket. It's the last remaining thing that Windows really does better. So this is great.
While I respect your point of view, I think it's wrong-headed. This is an endless battle, but I feel that cpu and memory resources are there to be used. True, OS's are much more bloated--but they also play nicer with applications, and just DO more, most of which is useful.
Take a look at Damn Small Linux. It proudly boasts a 50 meg installer.
50 megs!? That's huge! But it's still about as small as we can make it and actually be able to actually do all the (many more) things we now demand from an OS.
Despite the lack of an Ipod with unlimited file sharing, I think Jobs has way more balls than Universal. He shall win this battle, and they shall not have their worse DRM.
If Jobs REALLY had balls, he'd do the Zune right...which MS still doesn't have the brains to do...for goodness sakes...
Although I agree that a little friction here is great, on the other hand these guys have proven themselves over and over again to be really, really stupid bastards, and I find it quite hard to believe they can do it on their own. I just don't think they're competent enough.
The reason I pirate isn't because it's free, but because I am not going to install crap software, which I do not trust--I mean, really, really, really don't trust, on my computer.
I would be delighted to pay a small amount for straightup content without having to install each company's individual rootkit.
Although if I do a little soul searching, I also realize that I pirate because of the contempt I feel for these people who still haven't figured out how they'll be doing business, for sure, at some point in the not too distant future. Napster whent in 1997, and ten years later they still can't figure it out. Itunes does not count--Itunes is crap. A dollar for what? What exactly is it you get? And compare that to the value of a CD.
Of course I'm being high, here, and talking out of my ass, but it does lend a whole new perspective on our role as a part of the ecosystem, as opposed to separate from it.
Yes, because flying cars haven't happened, it's not a valid point. In fact, very much science fiction has happened (the internet comes to mind), and very much more will as well. The point is, you can find ideas there, for something to do with this thing, which you clearly lack the imagination to conceive.
Don't sweat it. There are TONS of ISO standards that nobody really uses. CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile) is one of my favorites. There are many others.
Getting it as an ISO standard is one thing. Getting organizations to actually standardIZE on it is quite another. There is quite a lot of FUD going right back at MS these days, their comeuppance is due.
Slashdot Mirror
I doubt it, man. The way the UK is going, they'll accept it like sheep.
I don't know what's wrong with the Brits these days. It's really depressing. Their gov't makes Bush look like a libertarian. And it's getting much worse all the time.
I hate to see one of my favorite nations lead the way down this stupid, stupid path.
I see no greater threat to the future of free communication than the de facto standardization on closed, DRM tools like Flash, and perhaps now Silverlight. There are so many websites which require this binary blob to run.
It's a bad trend. Don't use Flash. And for God's sake don't use Silverlight, either.
But dude...with all due respect...what could possibly lead you to believe that there is anything to be gained by friendly relations with this particular company? They have shown time and time again their willingness to stab any and all partners in the back. Or not even that, just drop you like a sack of rotten potatoes.
They will do this.
But why would you want to support this platform (ie. put thousands of man hours into developing apps with it) when you KNOW what's going to happen down the line? I mean, we've seen this all before *coughinternetexplorer*.
It is probably easier to attain an affinity for libertarian thought when you're a pretty smart person.
dude, I'm no anti-regulation zealot, but to say that libertarian theory is an untested policy is just poppycock. The USA is a perfect example of what something resembling free market economics can do, and you know it.
Damn dude, you write well, but I don't see the basis for a lot of the conclusions you draw. I'm afraid you may fool someone.
Equating the desire for seaking first principles between computing and the rest of reality is really quite an interesting idea. But the idea that a geek is wrong to seek first principles in reality is unsupported by you. You say it leads him to a worship of market forces, but you don't say why that would be wrong.
I'm not a (complete) worshipper of market forces, either. But your post did make me think about how efficiently, for example, market forces guide the creation of each new generation of technology (say, cpu's and motherboards). It really is almost like magic, except that it's so logical.
It's supposed to be "easier" for non-technical people, until you have to explain that what they are looking at is booted off the cd, not their hard drive.
IMHO it's not the installers that need to be "easier", but disaster recovery--ie you put a new video card in, and Linux goes to hell in a handbasket. It's the last remaining thing that Windows really does better. So this is great.
While I respect your point of view, I think it's wrong-headed. This is an endless battle, but I feel that cpu and memory resources are there to be used. True, OS's are much more bloated--but they also play nicer with applications, and just DO more, most of which is useful.
Take a look at Damn Small Linux. It proudly boasts a 50 meg installer.
50 megs!? That's huge! But it's still about as small as we can make it and actually be able to actually do all the (many more) things we now demand from an OS.
I mean wireless exchanging of songs without stupid "demo" restrictions. It would make the next Ipod an even bigger hit.
It's called desperation. Or whistling in the dark.
You obviously haven't seen the air in Houston.
That...is a really cool thought.
Despite the lack of an Ipod with unlimited file sharing, I think Jobs has way more balls than Universal. He shall win this battle, and they shall not have their worse DRM.
If Jobs REALLY had balls, he'd do the Zune right...which MS still doesn't have the brains to do...for goodness sakes...
Although I agree that a little friction here is great, on the other hand these guys have proven themselves over and over again to be really, really stupid bastards, and I find it quite hard to believe they can do it on their own. I just don't think they're competent enough.
And deep down, I think they know that.
You seem to think we have some sort of obligation? I don't recall signing any contract.
The reason I pirate isn't because it's free, but because I am not going to install crap software, which I do not trust--I mean, really, really, really don't trust, on my computer.
I would be delighted to pay a small amount for straightup content without having to install each company's individual rootkit.
Although if I do a little soul searching, I also realize that I pirate because of the contempt I feel for these people who still haven't figured out how they'll be doing business, for sure, at some point in the not too distant future. Napster whent in 1997, and ten years later they still can't figure it out. Itunes does not count--Itunes is crap. A dollar for what? What exactly is it you get? And compare that to the value of a CD.
Thank you. I've been reading Atlas Shrugged lately and I think you've put it quite concisely.
Interesting, I'll have to check him out, then.
:-)
I'm glad to know I managed to get that "I'm so high" tone in my post! That actually is what I was going for
Kinda like right now.
And what does it really get you now, anyway? Restore your system to where it's nice and preloaded with tons of pure shit eating up your RAM?
Of course I'm being high, here, and talking out of my ass, but it does lend a whole new perspective on our role as a part of the ecosystem, as opposed to separate from it.
Yes, because flying cars haven't happened, it's not a valid point. In fact, very much science fiction has happened (the internet comes to mind), and very much more will as well. The point is, you can find ideas there, for something to do with this thing, which you clearly lack the imagination to conceive.
Just trying to help brother out.
Don't sweat it. There are TONS of ISO standards that nobody really uses. CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile) is one of my favorites. There are many others.
Getting it as an ISO standard is one thing. Getting organizations to actually standardIZE on it is quite another. There is quite a lot of FUD going right back at MS these days, their comeuppance is due.
If they would just open-source their OS...including the window manager...I'd be a fanboy, now.
..to violate a BSD license? I mean really?