There are precedents for weird stuff like this. I am pleasantly reminded of how Indiana tried to pass a law that would have made pi de jure equal to one of three values, which courts could pick between; one of them was 4. This seems to be similar in spirit.
I invite you to tell me how it is, considering that all it does is make people unable to play iTunes songs on other players.
I submit that it's the other way round: it's the sellers of content that get excluded. Sure, other people can sell MP3s that will play on the audio player that currently has something like 70% of the market (I think that was roughly the figure, last time I checked) -- but no one else can sell DRMed music that will play on it. Now, of course, from one point of view that certainly isn't a bad thing... but it's certainly not a level playing field. And someone who holds a monopoly has a responsibility to make sure that the playing field is even.
You'd think that, over the years, that Apple would have created their own version of Office software that works with MS-Office file formats like OpenOffice.org did?
They do, at least in the arenas of word processing and presentation software. The rest is in beta.
Odd, Microsoft does not make MS-Office for Linux, *BSD Unix, Solaris, and other operating systems and it does not even seem to harm them and their marketshare keeps increasing anyway.
I doubt the accuracy of this last claim; I know of no evidence of *nix/BSD/Solaris market share increasing (though if you have any I'd be glad to hear it). Last I heard, Linux, for example, had been sitting steadily on about 0.30-0.35% of desktops for several years; though I'd be hard pressed to remember my source for that (the evidence impressed me at the time, though).
I agree it would be exactly like Apple refusing to license FairPlay, because they have a market position that is, not a monopoly, but by far the greatest share of the market, in digital audio players. Their refusal to allow competition is by definition anti-competitive, and is an illegitimate abuse of their market position.
But it would not be like Apple refusing to license its OS to run on non-Apple hardware. Apple has nothing remotely resembling a monopoly in that area; they can't abuse a market position they don't have.
Wait and see if he actually does resign, first. By the way, I love the fact that his WP user page is headed "stamus contra malum" -- "we stand against evil." Suuuuure you do, Essjay.
Jimbo's change of mind is a good thing but I suspect it's too late. A lot of damage has been done: journalists will have a field-day with this fiasco, and WP now has a reputation as a community that rewards lying. Not a good way of attracting contributors; not honest ones, at least. Couldn't be much worse, really. Well, no, it could be -- if Jimbo hadn't flip-flopped, I guess that'd be worse.
If you see a situation where this isn't true, be bold and make an effort to correct the problem.
No. Even if the people who control my access to articles and editing them, and the people who lock pages, ban people, and do other behind-the-scenes stuff -- regardless of whether those people are Nobel-prize-winning physicists, illegal aliens, or baby killers -- what those people definitely are is either (a) pathological liars or (b) people who promote liars into positions of greater responsibility. I have no interest in subjecting myself to their whims.
Now, if this guy is using his fake credentials to get a job, money, media attention, or whatever else, then there's a problem
He did use his fake credentials to get a job. And Jimbo has now said that that's just fine.
The GP is probably thinking of things like the following passage from Macromedia's recent open letter to Steve Jobs:
Similarly, consumers who want to consume content on only a single device can pay less than those who want to use it across all of their entertainment areas - vacation homes, cars, different devices and remotely. Abandoning DRM now will unnecessarily doom all consumers to a "one size fits all" situation that will increase costs for many of them.
The GP is probably also thinking of John Gruber's (accurate) translation of that section into RealPeopleSpeak:
Abandoning DRM will prevent us from forcing our customers to keep paying us over and over again for the same movies and songs they've already paid for.
Well, I'm with you for one. For classical music, buying physical CDs is still the only way to go. There are a few folks who specialise in distributing classical via P2P, and they have astonishing collections; but there aren't many of them, and the number of recordings is overwhelming. I occasionally download classical from AllofMP3 (sometimes trying to avoid the stuff transcoded from MP3s, but usually not that fussy), but their range is very limited. Physical CDs are still where it's at (especially 2nd-hand:-), and I can't see that changing.
The EU seems, to me, like a means of shoring up Europe's
weaker economies, while providing a clean regulatory environment
for the stronger economies to target nearby emerging markets.
At the same time, no one seems happy with the arrangement.
So you have a lot of countries that pay lip service to EU
membership, then fight EU rule every step of the way.
I have to say, that sounds like the perfect government! Weak government is a good thing; a government that someone -- anyone -- is completely happy with, is tyranny. I wish my country could join up too.
Well, I can't really fault you if what you really want is to use early Latin -- though in this case that means probably 3rd century BCE or earlier. The classical form "clamor" would be much more natural, especially if you're introducing neologisms (illatino)! -- so e.g. "cum clamore". "clamos" isn't derived from Greek; -os is a fairly common early Latin 3rd declension nominative form.
It might also be worth mentioning that the middle Ultima games can be played in modernised forms: for Ultima IV there's xu4, which is simply a better-looking (and sounding) version of the original, and is also cross-platform; and Ultima V has been recreated as Lazarus, as a mod for Dungeon Siege 1.
Also a lot later than the ones discussed in the article -- like, a decade later. By the look of things, they'll be getting on to that around about part 4 of this series:-)
Slashdot Mirror
No no no, 22/7 is much more accurate than what Indiana was proposing. People were to get a choice of equating pi with any of the following:
There are precedents for weird stuff like this. I am pleasantly reminded of how Indiana tried to pass a law that would have made pi de jure equal to one of three values, which courts could pick between; one of them was 4. This seems to be similar in spirit.
I think the AC may have been hinting (very rudely) at the fact that Torchwood is set in Wales, not England.
... now watch as SpinyNorman runs off to check the rain gauge at the town hall. Shame we don't have a (+1, Boring) mod ...
I submit that it's the other way round: it's the sellers of content that get excluded. Sure, other people can sell MP3s that will play on the audio player that currently has something like 70% of the market (I think that was roughly the figure, last time I checked) -- but no one else can sell DRMed music that will play on it. Now, of course, from one point of view that certainly isn't a bad thing ... but it's certainly not a level playing field. And someone who holds a monopoly has a responsibility to make sure that the playing field is even.
They do, at least in the arenas of word processing and presentation software. The rest is in beta.
Odd, Microsoft does not make MS-Office for Linux, *BSD Unix, Solaris, and other operating systems and it does not even seem to harm them and their marketshare keeps increasing anyway.I doubt the accuracy of this last claim; I know of no evidence of *nix/BSD/Solaris market share increasing (though if you have any I'd be glad to hear it). Last I heard, Linux, for example, had been sitting steadily on about 0.30-0.35% of desktops for several years; though I'd be hard pressed to remember my source for that (the evidence impressed me at the time, though).
I agree it would be exactly like Apple refusing to license FairPlay, because they have a market position that is, not a monopoly, but by far the greatest share of the market, in digital audio players. Their refusal to allow competition is by definition anti-competitive, and is an illegitimate abuse of their market position.
But it would not be like Apple refusing to license its OS to run on non-Apple hardware. Apple has nothing remotely resembling a monopoly in that area; they can't abuse a market position they don't have.
No, "syntax" refers to the arrangement of words in sentences. Both morphology (which intersects with spelling) and syntax are subsets of grammar.
Wait and see if he actually does resign, first. By the way, I love the fact that his WP user page is headed "stamus contra malum" -- "we stand against evil." Suuuuure you do, Essjay.
Jimbo's change of mind is a good thing but I suspect it's too late. A lot of damage has been done: journalists will have a field-day with this fiasco, and WP now has a reputation as a community that rewards lying. Not a good way of attracting contributors; not honest ones, at least. Couldn't be much worse, really. Well, no, it could be -- if Jimbo hadn't flip-flopped, I guess that'd be worse.
Indeed. And -- just to make it even more explicit -- copyright law enforces copyright. Bono is nuts.
Would you also find the CEO saying that that's a perfectly normal, ethical thing to do?
No. Even if the people who control my access to articles and editing them, and the people who lock pages, ban people, and do other behind-the-scenes stuff -- regardless of whether those people are Nobel-prize-winning physicists, illegal aliens, or baby killers -- what those people definitely are is either (a) pathological liars or (b) people who promote liars into positions of greater responsibility. I have no interest in subjecting myself to their whims.
Now, if this guy is using his fake credentials to get a job, money, media attention, or whatever else, then there's a problemHe did use his fake credentials to get a job. And Jimbo has now said that that's just fine.
I disagree. Who wants to contribute to a community that actively celebrates and rewards liars?
Even worse, the answer to that question is not "nobody". It has a very specific, inevitable answer.
Slashdot.
- ... but probably getting a DMCA-lookalike law later this year unless a LOT of people protest loudly
The GP is probably thinking of things like the following passage from Macromedia's recent open letter to Steve Jobs:
Similarly, consumers who want to consume content on only a single device can pay less than those who want to use it across all of their entertainment areas - vacation homes, cars, different devices and remotely. Abandoning DRM now will unnecessarily doom all consumers to a "one size fits all" situation that will increase costs for many of them.The GP is probably also thinking of John Gruber's (accurate) translation of that section into RealPeopleSpeak:
Abandoning DRM will prevent us from forcing our customers to keep paying us over and over again for the same movies and songs they've already paid for.Um -- when was BitTorrent not legit?
Ummm ... why shouldn't a blog editorialise? Isn't that what blogs are for?
Well, I'm with you for one. For classical music, buying physical CDs is still the only way to go. There are a few folks who specialise in distributing classical via P2P, and they have astonishing collections; but there aren't many of them, and the number of recordings is overwhelming. I occasionally download classical from AllofMP3 (sometimes trying to avoid the stuff transcoded from MP3s, but usually not that fussy), but their range is very limited. Physical CDs are still where it's at (especially 2nd-hand :-), and I can't see that changing.
Nice! Especially if "funny" mods increased
... karma.
(... which they don't)
Er, you're wrong.
I have to say, that sounds like the perfect government! Weak government is a good thing; a government that someone -- anyone -- is completely happy with, is tyranny. I wish my country could join up too.
Well, I can't really fault you if what you really want is to use early Latin -- though in this case that means probably 3rd century BCE or earlier. The classical form "clamor" would be much more natural, especially if you're introducing neologisms (illatino)! -- so e.g. "cum clamore". "clamos" isn't derived from Greek; -os is a fairly common early Latin 3rd declension nominative form.
It might also be worth mentioning that the middle Ultima games can be played in modernised forms: for Ultima IV there's xu4, which is simply a better-looking (and sounding) version of the original, and is also cross-platform; and Ultima V has been recreated as Lazarus, as a mod for Dungeon Siege 1.
Also a lot later than the ones discussed in the article -- like, a decade later. By the look of things, they'll be getting on to that around about part 4 of this series :-)