This is important reading. Why? Because you are suddenly and brutally shown that the MPAA is totally clueless about technology. Their only concern lies with maintaining a virtual monopoly created by constraining how you can view the media contained in DVDs.
The fact that their entire case lies behind a point of law surrounding whether or not it is "legal" to decrypt something that has been encrypted blantantly shows that their interest lies with articifcial control of a market.
His deposition makes it clear beyond any possible miss-interpretation that the purpose of the encryption is not to prevent copyright infrigment but to control what can be used to view a DVD.
Interestingly, if it is illegal to decrypt encrypted material, then perhaps we should all be suing the government for the actvities of the NSA and other government agencies. Or is that the rules of the game are different if you're the government?
Not to mention the fact that most Windows users run with Aministrator (root) privileges. Why? Because there is no easy way to switch to root to do useful things like install software. Until Microsoft provides their OS with a su like mechanism there will always be a plephora of scripts-viruses-dumbusers trashing a system because the OS simply lets them. Users are lazy.. nobody wants to shut everything down just so they can quickly do something as root. None of these VBS scripts would ever have been able to do anything other than forward themselves if people ran their systems with proper user privileges. I mean, what kind of modern OS gives users the option to "always assume its them" when they turn the machine on? bleah.... Windows:- obfuscation of a whole other kind....
'e'business is like any other business. The flakes go bankrupt. Brand recognition isn't the only key to a successful business case.
Personally, I would bet money on current major retailers who already have neccessary infrastructures in place and for whom 'e'business is nothing but another channel.
There is a long list of "popular and well known brand names" in the "now defunct" garbage bin. If I had to point to a retailer which has the right idea, I'd point to Chapters in Canada. Their deals and good service has given them the totality of my book buying business... most of which, I might add, is now online.
I worked on a product that could alternatively play different messages to different types of caller id. Thus unknown callers would quitely be directed to voicemail while people you had selectively blocked could be hung up on and played a message that you didn't want to talk to them. Nothing is more satisfying than hearing the carpet cleaner receive the message "Sorry, we don't want to talk to you".
The phone had a DSP in it which was capable of processing distinctive ringing allowing people to redirect fax calls to their fax software.
It was quite a full featured USB and RS232 product with the two line version of the phone selling for 199$
In the end, my company discontinued the product. We're a telecommunications company and they were afraid of the retail space. Its a shame really. With that phone you could totally control who you talked to.. you could even play specific messages to specific callers.
I can provide more information on the phone if anybody wants extra info... in fact, I'd even bet my company would sell the product to enterprising people with a few dollars.
Unfortunately, this is not without precedent. I can think of some firearm makers, for example, who have been subjected to law suits for the use made of the items they make... The point is that since human behavior is intrinsicly difficult to control lawmakers prefer easier venues of controlling the means by which human behavior is carried out. It is much easier to lock a door then control who goes through it. One can only hope that we will be able to persuade lawmakers that stop-gap law-making never addresses the root of the problem.
..dogmatic, but to say that Frodo was a guinea pig would suggest that the ring was thrust upon him. he voluntarily took it, and...
I couldn't disagree more. The ring was indeed thrust upon him. In fact, if you re-read the earlier chapter where Gandalf explains the nature of the ring, Frodo was quite verbal in his expression that he wished somebody else had received the charge. That said, when given the burden, Frodo was strong enough to carry it to the very end. The wheight of the ring can also be seen by how relieved he was when Galadriel asked him for the ring. He was ecstatic about giving it to her.
Frodo most certainly did not volunteer to be the ring bearer but was up to the task when he became it.
I believe you are correct. When Frodo offered the ring to Galadriel, the elven ring (one of the three) she wore started to shine and she appeared to grow in stature. Then when she finally refused the offer, as you said, in an exercise of immense willpower, she returned to herself.
I always found that part of the story very compelling. Its when the reader finally gets an inclining of just how powerful the artifact would be in the hands of one such as the Elf Queen or Gandalf.
I also especially appreciate the part when she laughs and confesses that Frodo, through his honesty, had bested her. She had passed her test.
Its been a while. I always enjoy reading that book. Perhaps I'll pick it up again... for the fourth? time.
Perhaps it should be noted that one element of the reason for giving the ring to Frodo was merely the fact that Sauron did not expect it. Sauron was convinced one of the Elves or Wizards would try to wield it against him. He never imagined that they would instead simply destroy it.
Fundamental to the lore of the ring is the fact that while it gave immense power to whomever wore it, it also possessed that individual totally. Witness the effect the 9 lesser rings had on the riders.
Gandalf himself said he could not even hold it in its hands lest he become enthralled with the power it held. The ring needed to be carried by somebody who didn't care for its power and was innocent. That person would take longer to be possessed by the ring. It took the immense willpower and self control for the elf queen not to keep the ring when Frodo gave it to her... even then she had to give the ring back to Frodo before the desire for power consumed her.
There is also the additional side-effect to the person that destroyed the ring. The ring gradually transformed those who wore it into wraiths. Thus, when the ring was destroyed, in all likelyhood, he who wore the ring would be destroyed as well as much of what gave him former sustenance would be gone. In a way, Frodo was the guinea pig of the wizards and elves... or their hero. He selflessly sacrificed himself to destroy something everyone else knew they wouldn't have the courage to do.
And, on a final note, in the end even Frodo failed. Were it not for Golum, the ring would have fallen back into the hands of Sauron
The French Socialist party has long prided itself for years on being the force of reason and liberatrism... some might debate this... anyways, that comment was intended to mean a rather large *sigh* at watching the *sarcasm* "intellectual elite" of France be so devoid of vision in the face of technology.
There is a substantial difference between forcing webmasters to remove illegal content on a web site when it has been discovered and making them ciminally liable for not knowing who it was that posted the material. The article states the penalty is a prison term of 6 months: Good lord, some poor smuck newbie sys admin gets his web site cracked by script kiddies posting warez in an obscure sub-directory and for that he gets a criminal record and 6 months in jail? Arguing such a scenario was not the intent of the law plays foolishly into the hands of those who would use it to crush your voice of dissension. This is nothing but a thinly veiled attempt to restrict content to government sanctionned distribution channels. More is the shame that a Socialist party would be the channel for such an egrerious afront to individual freedoms. I'm sick and tired of people raising the specter of pornography everytime they want to take away my freedom.
And I suspect this adds a lot to the complexity of making the port for any given game. Given that games are still generally written to support Windows with Mac as an afterthought, if you could wish for one thing game developers would not do that would make your life easier, what would it be?
I'm waiting for the day my newspaper is electronically delivered to me with the content I choose. To be frank, newspapers take up too much space. Too much wasted paper that ends up piling in a corner of my house because I don't feel like taking the time to sift through all the innane stories. I'd like to be able to sign up for a newspaper ask for specific types of news and receive a nice email every morning with all the content I asked for and nothing else.... (well, ok.. the ads too *grumble*)... newspapers aren't dead... it's just the paper part that is going to die. Well, and maybe all the fluff that comes with news today too.... I would just love to say "and I don't want a single story containing Monica Lewinski"...
Apparently nobody told SUN people are getting
on
Free Solaris 8
·
· Score: 1
tired of proprietary OSes over which they have no control. Everybody has learnt a very difficult lesson with Microsoft: i.e. the owner of an OS can leverage this fact considerably against any business venture you want to undertake. SUN just wants to be the next Microsoft. IBM understands that will not be possible in the future and the key to success is having kick ass middle ware and enterprise products and services. Free Solaris reminds me of "free internet explorer"... yeah its free, but you pay by bowing before the next master. I find comments that "Linux isn't desirable because its developed by the hordes of Linux maniacs" so devoid of vision they make me almost laugh. Personally to me, any lack of "industrial applications" in Linux translates to huge opportunity for big businesses like IBM.
You can keep Solaris. I'm tired of having the owner of the OS ram solutions down my throat. My vote is for choice, choice which is only truly afforded (read guaranteed) by open source and free OSes like Linux.
But completly fail to consider those of the community: It is indefensible to say "I stole it first because everbody else was going to steal it"
That said, trademarking Linux in my opinion, is like trying to trademark the word "car" or "water". There are many manufacturers of cars and even more water bottlers. Imagine if Toyota tried to trademark the word car?
Linux now appears in enough different varieties and is produced by so many companies that the term "Linux" cannot rightly belong to anyone. Linux can also arguably be defined as describing much more than simply an OS. GNU/Linux is in fact a movement, it is a phenomenon that cannot belong to anyone.
Linux and BSD will both continue to have their place in the time to come; it is NOT, in my opinion, constructive to highlight the use of one OS over the other as an issue. The only thing that interests me in that story is the fact that they chose a FREE OS over a commercial one. This should be told as yet another solid victory for Open Source!
Otherwise known as Yaipo? I guess its time for everyone to cash in now... I hope all this hype won't bite back when stockmarket types suddenly realize they have millions invested in companies that aren't making money.... Then again, if *I* was a member of the VA board, I expect my perspective would be altogether different... *smile* -- "Just another programmer who hasn't scored his millions yet"
IBM has just released a version of its JDK for Linux ver. 1.1.8 I wouldn't be surprised that Sun's decision to support a platform they would prefer to ignore is largely due to the fact that IBM seems to be keen on Linux. IBM has a linux developer section here too.
Without wanting to take away from what is probably an interesting read, I thought I would comment on the amusing impression I get whenever I read stories such as these. We live in an era of considerable consumerism. Consumerism which willfully ignores most warnings that our planet cannot continue to support the exponential growth of our use its resources. Yet somehow we are destined to spread throughout the galaxy and become Gods? At the current rate of consumption, when and if we figure out how to break the barriers of time that seperate us from the rest of the galaxi, I hope they will have discovered paper spaceships because thats all that will be left to build them with. That, of course, assuming we haven't exterminated ourselves in some new and awful war. Hopefully the universe will judge us only on our ambitions, not our mistakes or our arrogance. Stupid people do not become Gods; despite our technology, we are still mostly very stupid. If you don't believe me try watching the news or reading the paper a bit more. They will provide you with a refreshing reminder that despite all the "progress" made we still edge ever closer to the abyss of extinction.
I think Linux wasn't considered a viable competitor in the decision because Linux isn't a company. Linux can't be boxed into simple ideas of "product" or "someone's intellectual property". I suspect that for these reasons people will continue to miss-understand it for a while to come. How do you compare what is really a movement to one single company or product?
Also, as a replacement OS for Windows, there is still a long road to go in order for Linux to steal the market that Windows enjoys.
In my opinion, there should never have been a Microsoft in the first place. Somebody should have slapped their hands a long time ago when they started cutting all those side deals with pc manufacturers.
If you fall asleep at the wheel, don't be surprised if you find yourself in the ditch while your rivals are busily speeding down the road without you.
Slashdot Mirror
This is important reading. Why? Because you are suddenly and brutally shown that the MPAA is totally clueless about technology. Their only concern lies with maintaining a virtual monopoly created by constraining how you can view the media contained in DVDs.
The fact that their entire case lies behind a point of law surrounding whether or not it is "legal" to decrypt something that has been encrypted blantantly shows that their interest lies with articifcial control of a market.
His deposition makes it clear beyond any possible miss-interpretation that the purpose of the encryption is not to prevent copyright infrigment but to control what can be used to view a DVD.
Interestingly, if it is illegal to decrypt encrypted material, then perhaps we should all be suing the government for the actvities of the NSA and other government agencies. Or is that the rules of the game are different if you're the government?
Not to mention the fact that most Windows users run with Aministrator (root) privileges.
Why?
Because there is no easy way to switch to root to do useful things like install software. Until Microsoft provides their OS with a su like mechanism there will always be a plephora of scripts-viruses-dumbusers trashing a system because the OS simply lets them.
Users are lazy.. nobody wants to shut everything down just so they can quickly do something as root.
None of these VBS scripts would ever have been able to do anything other than forward themselves if people ran their systems with proper user privileges.
I mean, what kind of modern OS gives users the option to "always assume its them" when they turn the machine on? bleah....
Windows:- obfuscation of a whole other kind....
'e'business is like any other business. The flakes go bankrupt. Brand recognition isn't the only key to a successful business case.
Personally, I would bet money on current major retailers who already have neccessary infrastructures in place and for whom 'e'business is nothing but another channel.
There is a long list of "popular and well known brand names" in the "now defunct" garbage bin. If I had to point to a retailer which has the right idea, I'd point to Chapters in Canada. Their deals and good service has given them the totality of my book buying business... most of which, I might add, is now online.
I worked on a product that could alternatively play different messages to different types of caller id. Thus unknown callers would quitely be directed to voicemail while people you had selectively blocked could be hung up on and played a message that you didn't want to talk to them. Nothing is more satisfying than hearing the carpet cleaner receive the message "Sorry, we don't want to talk to you".
The phone had a DSP in it which was capable of processing distinctive ringing allowing people to redirect fax calls to their fax software.
It was quite a full featured USB and RS232 product with the two line version of the phone selling for 199$
In the end, my company discontinued the product. We're a telecommunications company and they were afraid of the retail space. Its a shame really. With that phone you could totally control who you talked to.. you could even play specific messages to specific callers.
I can provide more information on the phone if anybody wants extra info... in fact, I'd even bet my company would sell the product to enterprising people with a few dollars.
Wow... I remember all my chemistry labs where we burned Magnesium... I wonder how much of a fire hazard those things are.
Now that I've forked out for the VHS version.. now he tells me I won't have to wait until the next eon for the DVD version...
... and at least I know IT will have a good storyline.
bah.... I don't really care anymore.. LOTR looks good
Unfortunately, this is not without precedent. I can think of some firearm makers, for example, who have been subjected to law suits for the use made of the items they make...
The point is that since human behavior is intrinsicly difficult to control lawmakers prefer easier venues of controlling the means by which human behavior is carried out. It is much easier to lock a door then control who goes through it.
One can only hope that we will be able to persuade lawmakers that stop-gap law-making never addresses the root of the problem.
..dogmatic, but to say that Frodo was a guinea pig would suggest that the ring was thrust upon him. he voluntarily took it, and ...
I couldn't disagree more. The ring was indeed thrust upon him. In fact, if you re-read the earlier chapter where Gandalf explains the nature of the ring, Frodo was quite verbal in his expression that he wished somebody else had received the charge. That said, when given the burden, Frodo was strong enough to carry it to the very end. The wheight of the ring can also be seen by how relieved he was when Galadriel asked him for the ring. He was ecstatic about giving it to her.
Frodo most certainly did not volunteer to be the ring bearer but was up to the task when he became it.
I believe you are correct. When Frodo offered the ring to Galadriel, the elven ring (one of the three) she wore started to shine and she appeared to grow in stature. Then when she finally refused the offer, as you said, in an exercise of immense willpower, she returned to herself.
I always found that part of the story very compelling. Its when the reader finally gets an inclining of just how powerful the artifact would be in the hands of one such as the Elf Queen or Gandalf.
I also especially appreciate the part when she laughs and confesses that Frodo, through his honesty, had bested her. She had passed her test.
Its been a while. I always enjoy reading that book. Perhaps I'll pick it up again... for the fourth? time.
Perhaps it should be noted that one element of the reason for giving the ring to Frodo was merely the fact that Sauron did not expect it. Sauron was convinced one of the Elves or Wizards would try to wield it against him. He never imagined that they would instead simply destroy it.
Fundamental to the lore of the ring is the fact that while it gave immense power to whomever wore it, it also possessed that individual totally. Witness the effect the 9 lesser rings had on the riders.
... or their hero. He selflessly sacrificed himself to destroy something everyone else knew they wouldn't have the courage to do.
Gandalf himself said he could not even hold it in its hands lest he become enthralled with the power it held. The ring needed to be carried by somebody who didn't care for its power and was innocent. That person would take longer to be possessed by the ring. It took the immense willpower and self control for the elf queen not to keep the ring when Frodo gave it to her... even then she had to give the ring back to Frodo before the desire for power consumed her.
There is also the additional side-effect to the person that destroyed the ring. The ring gradually transformed those who wore it into wraiths. Thus, when the ring was destroyed, in all likelyhood, he who wore the ring would be destroyed as well as much of what gave him former sustenance would be gone. In a way, Frodo was the guinea pig of the wizards and elves
And, on a final note, in the end even Frodo failed. Were it not for Golum, the ring would have fallen back into the hands of Sauron
The French Socialist party has long prided itself for years on being the force of reason and liberatrism... some might debate this... anyways, that comment was intended to mean a rather large *sigh* at watching the *sarcasm* "intellectual elite" of France be so devoid of vision in the face of technology.
There is a substantial difference between forcing webmasters to remove illegal content on a web site when it has been discovered and making them ciminally liable for not knowing who it was that posted the material.
The article states the penalty is a prison term of 6 months: Good lord, some poor smuck newbie sys admin gets his web site cracked by script kiddies posting warez in an obscure sub-directory and for that he gets a criminal record and 6 months in jail?
Arguing such a scenario was not the intent of the law plays foolishly into the hands of those who would use it to crush your voice of dissension.
This is nothing but a thinly veiled attempt to restrict content to government sanctionned distribution channels. More is the shame that a Socialist party would be the channel for such an egrerious afront to individual freedoms.
I'm sick and tired of people raising the specter of pornography everytime they want to take away my freedom.
And I suspect this adds a lot to the complexity of making the port for any given game. Given that games are still generally written to support Windows with Mac as an afterthought, if you could wish for one thing game developers would not do that would make your life easier, what would it be?
I'm waiting for the day my newspaper is electronically delivered to me with the content I choose. To be frank, newspapers take up too much space. Too much wasted paper that ends up piling in a corner of my house because I don't feel like taking the time to sift through all the innane stories. I'd like to be able to sign up for a newspaper ask for specific types of news and receive a nice email every morning with all the content I asked for and nothing else.... (well, ok.. the ads too *grumble*)... newspapers aren't dead... it's just the paper part that is going to die. Well, and maybe all the fluff that comes with news today too.... I would just love to say "and I don't want a single story containing Monica Lewinski"...
tired of proprietary OSes over which they have no control. Everybody has learnt a very difficult lesson with Microsoft: i.e. the owner of an OS can leverage this fact considerably against any business venture you want to undertake. ... yeah its free, but you pay by bowing before the next master.
SUN just wants to be the next Microsoft. IBM understands that will not be possible in the future and the key to success is having kick ass middle ware and enterprise products and services.
Free Solaris reminds me of "free internet explorer"
I find comments that "Linux isn't desirable because its developed by the hordes of Linux maniacs" so devoid of vision they make me almost laugh. Personally to me, any lack of "industrial applications" in Linux translates to huge opportunity for big businesses like IBM.
You can keep Solaris. I'm tired of having the owner of the OS ram solutions down my throat. My vote is for choice, choice which is only truly afforded (read guaranteed) by open source and free OSes like Linux.
But completly fail to consider those of the community: It is indefensible to say "I stole it first because everbody else was going to steal it"
That said, trademarking Linux in my opinion, is like trying to trademark the word "car" or "water". There are many manufacturers of cars and even more water bottlers. Imagine if Toyota tried to trademark the word car?
Linux now appears in enough different varieties and is produced by so many companies that the term "Linux" cannot rightly belong to anyone. Linux can also arguably be defined as describing much more than simply an OS. GNU/Linux is in fact a movement, it is a phenomenon that cannot belong to anyone.
I'm sorry, but this article is just a waste of bandwidth. ugh, enough already.
Boycot Katz.....
Linux and BSD will both continue to have their place in the time to come; it is NOT, in my opinion, constructive to highlight the use of one OS over the other as an issue.
The only thing that interests me in that story is the fact that they chose a FREE OS over a commercial one.
This should be told as yet another solid victory for Open Source!
Open Source != Free I recommend you read ESR's essay on the matter and you'll quickly see the error you made.
Otherwise known as Yaipo?
I guess its time for everyone to cash in now...
I hope all this hype won't bite back when stockmarket types suddenly realize they have millions invested in companies that aren't making money....
Then again, if *I* was a member of the VA board, I expect my perspective would be altogether different... *smile*
--
"Just another programmer who hasn't scored his millions yet"
IBM has just released a version of its JDK for Linux ver. 1.1.8
I wouldn't be surprised that Sun's decision to support a platform they would prefer to ignore is largely due to the fact that IBM seems to be keen on Linux.
IBM has a linux developer section here too.
Who am I to tell a God he is wearing no clothes.
Without wanting to take away from what is probably an interesting read, I thought I would comment on the amusing impression I get whenever I read stories such as these.
We live in an era of considerable consumerism. Consumerism which willfully ignores most warnings that our planet cannot continue to support the exponential growth of our use its resources. Yet somehow we are destined to spread throughout the galaxy and become Gods? At the current rate of consumption, when and if we figure out how to break the barriers of time that seperate us from the rest of the galaxi, I hope they will have discovered paper spaceships because thats all that will be left to build them with. That, of course, assuming we haven't exterminated ourselves in some new and awful war.
Hopefully the universe will judge us only on our ambitions, not our mistakes or our arrogance.
Stupid people do not become Gods; despite our technology, we are still mostly very stupid.
If you don't believe me try watching the news or reading the paper a bit more. They will provide you with a refreshing reminder that despite all the "progress" made we still edge ever closer to the abyss of extinction.
I think Linux wasn't considered a viable competitor in the decision because Linux isn't a company. Linux can't be boxed into simple ideas of "product" or "someone's intellectual property". I suspect that for these reasons people will continue to miss-understand it for a while to come. How do you compare what is really a movement to one single company or product?
Also, as a replacement OS for Windows, there is still a long road to go in order for Linux to steal the market that Windows enjoys.
In my opinion, there should never have been a Microsoft in the first place. Somebody should have slapped their hands a long time ago when they started cutting all those side deals with pc manufacturers.
If you fall asleep at the wheel, don't be surprised if you find yourself in the ditch while your rivals are busily speeding down the road without you.
I assume there is a reason this didn't get moderated as flamebait...