There are two points Owen didn't strike home with a sledgehammer, so I'll say them:
First, those users who already know they PREFER the "old look" of KDE or GNOME can configure their new Red Hat Linux 8.0/Null++ to regain that old look. The Red Hat "Bluecurve" work is almost entirely artwork and menu organization, both of which can be re-themed or re-edited by any user who wants to. This change is to remove a bewildering either-or choice that paralyzes many newcomers.
Second, Owen didn't mention that a huge area that BOTH desktops need to strive to improve is accessibility. It's vitally important for Linux to make inroads into the highly regulated Government sector. GNOME2 is laying groundwork for major gains in accessibility, thanks to partnering research by folks at Sun and other places. KDE needs to work hard on being accessible too. Features like Sticky Keys are just a start. Supporting limited-vision users and other areas is a must. Both desktops should do what they can, so that the best approaches can be adopted as standards.
Actually, nVidia doesn't open-source their driver because they CAN'T. They license certain methods that were patented. At least some of those patents were SGI properties that MSFT bought some months ago.
I don't care WHY a vendor doesn't open their code. I just care that software doesn't support proprietary lock-ins by depending on nonstandard extensions that no other vendor will offer.
Re:I Downloaded it Last Night
on
UT2003 Demo Ready
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Apparently, UT2003 (at least the Demo for Linux, but probably for Windows as well) requires an nVidia board to run. A matter of some OpenGL extension which only nVidia offers.
This is really very disappointing. I hope that this changes in time for a final release. The site just recommends an nVidia TNT, and the README has some lip-service weak plans like "exploring options" for other drivers.
I avoid nVidia products on Linux because they lock up their driver core in a proprietary binary. I support ATi products on Linux. While the open source driver development is a little behind the curve, at least it exists. ATi Radeon 7500 works great on my box, and some newer boards are getting support now.
The kernel has a special flag called "taint" for closed-source modules like the nVidia driver. When some crashing bug is discovered, kernel developers are powerless to do much about it. You can't fully audit the use of the kernel's memory when you've got some unknown binary module loaded. When the kernel interfaces change, the people using closed-source modules can't upgrade until the single supplier of those modules finally graces their users with an update to the drivers.
I applaud Epic for working a Linux game in parallel. I now urge Epic to engineer the games for more than one make of video card, even if it means the game can't use some little nonstandard OpenGL extension.
However, it doesn't allow the user to change its size or bit depth. Why? Because this is impossible in XF4.2. This is insane. Mac and Windows have been able to do this from day one.
Considering that on "day one" of the Macintosh, it had some tiny 8" black and white binary display with exactly one video mode, I think you're wrong there.
Considering that even as late as Windows 3.0, GDI.EXE required a full GUI restart to change resolutions; that Windows 3.1 could change resolutions but *usually* required a GUI restart to change color depth, I'll refute that one too.
There's more to changing the resolutions than just fixing up X's desktop extents. Any processes which make assumptions about screen resolutions need to be notified and react to resolution changes. Window managers need to shove windows back onto the screen if the desktop shrinks. Panels need to realign to new desktop edges. Any special DRI 3D or video playback windows need to realign their video mixers to the new locations.
I agree it's got to be done, and soon. But really, very few people have a valid need to change resolutions on the fly. Usually, it's just one immersive full-screen app (like a DirectX game) which needs to reduce resolution for performance reasons. In those cases, I think X would be better off just suspending one server and starting a whole new X server for the special application at a different resolution, much like chvt does for text consoles.
Okay, so cheap unassembled pulpwood laminated in plastic is overpriced. But wait, it has microprocessors embedded to help you assemble it.
Is that all? Not on your life!
Don't write that check just yet. We'll include a free set of batteries for all twelve embedded processors.
NOW how much would you over-pay?
If you call in the next five minutes, we'll even throw in a piezo speaker which will tell you in five languages just how stupid you are when you try to assemble the bookshelf backwards!
<sing>Come on down to Psuedo-Dane, where you know the Prices are Insane!</sing>
www.thinkgeek.com is reselling a goo they labeled "smart mass." The original product is Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty. I'll leave it to google to provide links. Crazy Aaron has quite a few mpeg's of the product being shot from a potato gun.
It's similar to your cornstarch putty, though a bit more involved. It exhibits different properties on four different time scales. It will drip on its own weight slowly, will bounce firmly if dropped, will tear and shear if pulled too quickly, and will shatter if struck with a hammer.
Kinda like the force shields in the Dune movie and books. You can dent it easily with a fingertip if you move slowly, but it will repell your fist if you try to punch it.
I agree the server should be watching the player. How better to take notes on how to improve the gaming experience? But don't use it to play the game FOR the player when the player's bored with the game. FIX THE GAME.
If you've designed your game with lots of boring repetitious stuff which is well-suited for a machine, then you've gone the wrong direction.
If your idea of making certain events rare is a spawn-rate measured in hours or days, then you've gone the wrong direction.
If you think of your paying customers as gerbils who will do anything, especially hitting the spacebar or attack key every ten seconds, for eight hours at a stretch, then you've gone the wrong direction.
Instead, if you want to keep your player's interests, offer more entertainment that works within their available time. Make the player's time in the game more valuable. Make it possible to play a little over lunch, a little on Thursday evening, and still feel accomplishment.
For starters, employ adaptive spawning instead of location-based spawning. If the server notices a party of adventurers who haven't fought anything in a while, decide approximately how tough an encounter should be, then let it descend upon them. Vary the toughness, vary the approaches, vary the circumstances which trigger a spawn. Don't count server time to the next spawn, count character time to their next adventure opportunity.
If the game isn't focused on hunting and leveling to the exclusion of all else (hah, yeah, like THAT will ever happen in THIS industry), then watch the players' behavior to decide what kinds of quests the player likes. Ration those out at a rate that keeps them interested, in character-time, not server-time. If the player plays twice a week, give them the stuff they like each time they log in. If the player really does enjoy slashing for hours on end, then give them a little surprise every now and then.
Massive multiplayer games should take advantage of the massive multiplayer-ness. Like, duh. The statistical analysis which could be done on player behavior in MMORPGs is staggering. The fact that game designers just don't bother doing it or using it, is mind boggling beyond the extreme. The fact that today's MMORPGs are essentially single-player games with thousands of human-powered NPCs just makes me wonder whether anyone really gets it.
I enjoyed "American Gods" well enough, but I thought it was not up to the par with his earlier work, "Neverwhere."
With the Norse pantheon and American tourist attraction motifs of "American Gods," I kept feeling like it was trying to be too serious for its airy fantasy blend of Douglas Adams' Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (the second Dirk Gently book), and LucasArt's Sam and Max Hit the Road graphical adventure game. The narrative is just disjoint enough that reading this book aloud would just lose some of the punch, I think.
Conversely, "Neverwhere" seemed to have fanciful influences from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins, where the delusional whimsy was a cover for the sinister trappings of a far more grave underworld that is best kept out of view. The bounds of the action are easily tracked and scenes segue smoothly, making Neverwhere a great story to read aloud to an older child or a spouse.
But that's just my opinion, and surely, both are quite palatable, and congrats to Neil Gaiman on his well-deserved accolades.
It's a fun joke, honestly. But asking significant questions that revolve around what the candidate does outside of work can be illegal.
Regional laws may vary, but in my experience: You can ask if they're married, have kids, have a girlfriend, eat meat, ride in Sturgis for the Hell's Angels, whatever. You can't require an answer. You also can't use any such answers in your hiring decision. And given the risk of a discrimination lawsuit, you really shouldn't ask them such incidentals until they feel clear that you've already made the decision.
There's a nugget of truth in good jokes. The truth is, bad managers DO ask those questions, and qualified people ARE shunned because they don't conform to lifestyle prejudices.
Re:The only problem with Vim is...
on
Vi IMproved -- Vim
·
· Score: 3, Troll
I can't stand 99% of what vim does, color syntax crap, typing for me, file modes, and who knows what else. So the first thing I do when I set up a new Red Hat build is to disable vim. Seems they've decided that "vi" should be aliased to "vim" instead of running/bin/vi.
# rm/etc/profile.d/vim.*
When I want all that extra stuff, I'll use emacs. vi is my plain-jane minimal-patch solution for when I'm running root.
Every five years, this question comes up. In the early 80s, the question was raised in the form of the movie, "Lookers," directed by Michael Crichton.
In Lookers, actors and actresses are being replaced with computer-generated equivalents, to optimize their impact in advertisements. A techno-thriller "ahead of its time."
I put together some bumper stickers for a friend who will be there. He printed a bunch and will be giving them away (perhaps accepting donations to defray printing costs).
Try telling that to a mother whos 5 year old son has just opened a "Chicks with d**ks" spam e-mail and followed the friggin link!!!!
Actually, I wonder what mother in her right mind would let a preschooler use a computer with a network connection and email. The TV is not a babysitter, and a PC is definitely not built for users without judgement.
If parents would take an active role in raising their kids, then they wouldn't fall victim to the entropy of exposure to inappropriate subjects.
The problem is not the porn on the net, it's the parents who don't take responsibility for their children.
What other must-have "mission critical" applications does WINE fully support, or will support soon? Long-term Linux users sometimes avoid tasks or fileformats that are only served by certain applications. New adoptees need a transition plan that includes their favorite applications.
Here are a few I could think of, but I expect there are others.
Macromedia Dreamweaver? Any version 2+?
Macromedia Flash 5 Editor?
Stock photo exporters like Hemera Photo-Objects?
Any recent Adobe Photoshop?
Any recent Adobe Premiere?
Any recent Adobe AfterEffects?
Any recent Adobe [nee Aldus] PageMaker?
Any recent Adobe Illustrator?
Any of the Panoramic photograph stitchers?
(I know that there's Linux programs that are almost as nice, or even in some cases better. The Windows ports and additional tools that accompany the free "PanoTools" are far superior to the available Linux/GIMP integration at this point, for example. This is about transitioning people who are lost without some familiar applications.)
One data point may be encouraging, but it's not particularly useful. People gripe about the ludicrous nature of the prefix, "If this trend continues,". Well, if frogs had wings, they wouldn't bump their ass a-hoppin'.
Will the donations per day be constant? Linear? Exponentially increasing? Exponentially decaying? Will the total accumulated funds follow Xeno's paradox?
Okay, you raise a silly comparison, but I'll bite.
The GPL is chaotic good - it values individual freedom and doing things for the benefit of other people.
The GPL is lawful good-- it enforces a limitation on the rights of the collaborators in order to benefit the end users. Those potential collaborators or users who may have different political or fiscal agendas are barred from using these published methods.
The BSD family of licenses hails far closer to chaotic good-- it supports unpredictable uses by collaborators regardless of fealty, and end users to have pretty much the same right for the licensed forks.
I'd have to say that Public Domain is the maximum extent of chaotic good. If the US Congress would heed the predictions and intent of the US Constitution, then far more works would be entered into the Public Domain, enriching and enabling the maximum number of creators, contributors, collaborators and end-users.
[C]orporations are now starting to crack down on networked MP3's, not necessarily for the reasons you might think. [The article talks] about legal issues, as well as bandwidth issues, and the simple issue of employees wasting their employers time.
Oh, well, I guess they would be cracking down for the reasons I might think.
Not explaining things (like journalists would) leads to more click-through revenue... they hope you'll click to read the articles in hopes of finding a reply:
Slashdot is an ad-server, not a journalistic pillar. When given a choice between being informative and being contrary, guess which they'll pick. Their refusal to follow standards such as the Associated Press Guide to Newswriting, the Chicago Elements of Style, or even Webster's Dictionary, is a big indication. Of course, if someone did suggest those books on this site, you'd probably find a B&N or Amazon affiliate click-through link.
On the Copyright side this is particularly sad: Copyright was never intended as a tool to allow owners to prevent access; it was intended to allow the owner to benefit (financially) from the work during its useful lifetime.
You're right that Copyright (as developed in the US Constitution as 'exclusive Right to their respective Writings') is not intended as a stick to beat the ass of society. However, you're referring to Copyright's purpose as if it were the goal. Copyright is not a goal, but a carrot to entice the ass of society to release their writings in the first place.
Justice O'Connor said in 1991, "The primary objective of copyright is not to reward the labor of authors, but '[t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts.'"
To advance the arts and sciences, one must actually release what you've written or discovered. Many authors won't release their writings without some assurance in the form of Copyright. Many discoverers won't release their discoveries without some assurance in the form of Patents. Both are intended as temporary assurances to promote the writers and discoverers to advance their arts and sciences.
I learned when I was ten years old not to write off ANYONE who merely disappears into oblivion, instead of getting squished or chopped or shot onscreen.
After Star Wars in 1977 (that is, before anyone even realized it was gonna make it big, before sequels were even publically discussed), it was clear to me.
After Obi-Wan vanished to Darth's lightblade, was Luke hearing his own memories/thoughts of Obi-Wan? Or was Obi-Wan really more powerful without his body? Darth Vader merely spun out of control for a while, then flew away. The next movie surely clinched both questions: Darth wasn't done and Obi-Wan's presence wasn't either.
So when I read that Gandalf fell down the pit, I said, "we've got a lot of trilogy left, and Tolkien's making an awfully big deal out of Gandalf being dead; I bet he comes back."
Slashdot Mirror
There are two points Owen didn't strike home with a sledgehammer, so I'll say them:
First, those users who already know they PREFER the "old look" of KDE or GNOME can configure their new Red Hat Linux 8.0/Null++ to regain that old look. The Red Hat "Bluecurve" work is almost entirely artwork and menu organization, both of which can be re-themed or re-edited by any user who wants to. This change is to remove a bewildering either-or choice that paralyzes many newcomers.
Second, Owen didn't mention that a huge area that BOTH desktops need to strive to improve is accessibility. It's vitally important for Linux to make inroads into the highly regulated Government sector. GNOME2 is laying groundwork for major gains in accessibility, thanks to partnering research by folks at Sun and other places. KDE needs to work hard on being accessible too. Features like Sticky Keys are just a start. Supporting limited-vision users and other areas is a must. Both desktops should do what they can, so that the best approaches can be adopted as standards.
Not true at all? The UT2003 Demo for Linux README states, "if you want to play the game now, pop in an nVidia card."
(As if all interested parties have a stack of video cards on their shelf.)
Actually, nVidia doesn't open-source their driver because they CAN'T. They license certain methods that were patented. At least some of those patents were SGI properties that MSFT bought some months ago.
I don't care WHY a vendor doesn't open their code. I just care that software doesn't support proprietary lock-ins by depending on nonstandard extensions that no other vendor will offer.
Apparently, UT2003 (at least the Demo for Linux, but probably for Windows as well) requires an nVidia board to run. A matter of some OpenGL extension which only nVidia offers.
This is really very disappointing. I hope that this changes in time for a final release. The site just recommends an nVidia TNT, and the README has some lip-service weak plans like "exploring options" for other drivers.
I avoid nVidia products on Linux because they lock up their driver core in a proprietary binary. I support ATi products on Linux. While the open source driver development is a little behind the curve, at least it exists. ATi Radeon 7500 works great on my box, and some newer boards are getting support now.
The kernel has a special flag called "taint" for closed-source modules like the nVidia driver. When some crashing bug is discovered, kernel developers are powerless to do much about it. You can't fully audit the use of the kernel's memory when you've got some unknown binary module loaded. When the kernel interfaces change, the people using closed-source modules can't upgrade until the single supplier of those modules finally graces their users with an update to the drivers.
I applaud Epic for working a Linux game in parallel. I now urge Epic to engineer the games for more than one make of video card, even if it means the game can't use some little nonstandard OpenGL extension.
However, it doesn't allow the user to change its size or bit depth. Why? Because this is impossible in XF4.2. This is insane. Mac and Windows have been able to do this from day one.
Considering that on "day one" of the Macintosh, it had some tiny 8" black and white binary display with exactly one video mode, I think you're wrong there.
Considering that even as late as Windows 3.0, GDI.EXE required a full GUI restart to change resolutions; that Windows 3.1 could change resolutions but *usually* required a GUI restart to change color depth, I'll refute that one too.
There's more to changing the resolutions than just fixing up X's desktop extents. Any processes which make assumptions about screen resolutions need to be notified and react to resolution changes. Window managers need to shove windows back onto the screen if the desktop shrinks. Panels need to realign to new desktop edges. Any special DRI 3D or video playback windows need to realign their video mixers to the new locations.
I agree it's got to be done, and soon. But really, very few people have a valid need to change resolutions on the fly. Usually, it's just one immersive full-screen app (like a DirectX game) which needs to reduce resolution for performance reasons. In those cases, I think X would be better off just suspending one server and starting a whole new X server for the special application at a different resolution, much like chvt does for text consoles.
Okay, so cheap unassembled pulpwood laminated in plastic is overpriced. But wait, it has microprocessors embedded to help you assemble it.
Is that all? Not on your life!
Don't write that check just yet. We'll include a free set of batteries for all twelve embedded processors.
NOW how much would you over-pay?
If you call in the next five minutes, we'll even throw in a piezo speaker which will tell you in five languages just how stupid you are when you try to assemble the bookshelf backwards!
<sing>Come on down to Psuedo-Dane, where you know the Prices are Insane!</sing>
www.thinkgeek.com is reselling a goo they labeled "smart mass." The original product is Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty. I'll leave it to google to provide links. Crazy Aaron has quite a few mpeg's of the product being shot from a potato gun.
It's similar to your cornstarch putty, though a bit more involved. It exhibits different properties on four different time scales. It will drip on its own weight slowly, will bounce firmly if dropped, will tear and shear if pulled too quickly, and will shatter if struck with a hammer.
Kinda like the force shields in the Dune movie and books. You can dent it easily with a fingertip if you move slowly, but it will repell your fist if you try to punch it.
I agree the server should be watching the player. How better to take notes on how to improve the gaming experience? But don't use it to play the game FOR the player when the player's bored with the game. FIX THE GAME.
If you've designed your game with lots of boring repetitious stuff which is well-suited for a machine, then you've gone the wrong direction.
If your idea of making certain events rare is a spawn-rate measured in hours or days, then you've gone the wrong direction.
If you think of your paying customers as gerbils who will do anything, especially hitting the spacebar or attack key every ten seconds, for eight hours at a stretch, then you've gone the wrong direction.
Instead, if you want to keep your player's interests, offer more entertainment that works within their available time. Make the player's time in the game more valuable. Make it possible to play a little over lunch, a little on Thursday evening, and still feel accomplishment.
For starters, employ adaptive spawning instead of location-based spawning. If the server notices a party of adventurers who haven't fought anything in a while, decide approximately how tough an encounter should be, then let it descend upon them. Vary the toughness, vary the approaches, vary the circumstances which trigger a spawn. Don't count server time to the next spawn, count character time to their next adventure opportunity. If the game isn't focused on hunting and leveling to the exclusion of all else (hah, yeah, like THAT will ever happen in THIS industry), then watch the players' behavior to decide what kinds of quests the player likes. Ration those out at a rate that keeps them interested, in character-time, not server-time. If the player plays twice a week, give them the stuff they like each time they log in. If the player really does enjoy slashing for hours on end, then give them a little surprise every now and then.
Massive multiplayer games should take advantage of the massive multiplayer-ness. Like, duh. The statistical analysis which could be done on player behavior in MMORPGs is staggering. The fact that game designers just don't bother doing it or using it, is mind boggling beyond the extreme. The fact that today's MMORPGs are essentially single-player games with thousands of human-powered NPCs just makes me wonder whether anyone really gets it.
I enjoyed "American Gods" well enough, but I thought it was not up to the par with his earlier work, "Neverwhere."
With the Norse pantheon and American tourist attraction motifs of "American Gods," I kept feeling like it was trying to be too serious for its airy fantasy blend of Douglas Adams' Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (the second Dirk Gently book), and LucasArt's Sam and Max Hit the Road graphical adventure game. The narrative is just disjoint enough that reading this book aloud would just lose some of the punch, I think.
Conversely, "Neverwhere" seemed to have fanciful influences from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins, where the delusional whimsy was a cover for the sinister trappings of a far more grave underworld that is best kept out of view. The bounds of the action are easily tracked and scenes segue smoothly, making Neverwhere a great story to read aloud to an older child or a spouse.
But that's just my opinion, and surely, both are quite palatable, and congrats to Neil Gaiman on his well-deserved accolades.
Regional laws may vary, but in my experience: You can ask if they're married, have kids, have a girlfriend, eat meat, ride in Sturgis for the Hell's Angels, whatever. You can't require an answer. You also can't use any such answers in your hiring decision. And given the risk of a discrimination lawsuit, you really shouldn't ask them such incidentals until they feel clear that you've already made the decision.
There's a nugget of truth in good jokes. The truth is, bad managers DO ask those questions, and qualified people ARE shunned because they don't conform to lifestyle prejudices.
When I want all that extra stuff, I'll use emacs. vi is my plain-jane minimal-patch solution for when I'm running root.
Sweet rain turns to killing flood
One mail, ten mails, spam.
(Thanks for a real haiku. Most Americans seem hard-pressed to count syllables, nevermind reaching for metaphor or anything graceful.)
You offer:
In syllables, it still works in Unix. Nicely done!
dash dash dump, err to dev null,
piped thru grep haiku
But a good haiku is a metaphor between man and nature, still crammed into the syllabic form.
ignoring all distraction,
eyes only its prey.
Every five years, this question comes up. In the early 80s, the question was raised in the form of the movie, "Lookers," directed by Michael Crichton.
In Lookers, actors and actresses are being replaced with computer-generated equivalents, to optimize their impact in advertisements. A techno-thriller "ahead of its time."
I put together some bumper stickers for a friend who will be there. He printed a bunch and will be giving them away (perhaps accepting donations to defray printing costs).
The stickers he's offering are the top two from this site: http://www.halley.cc/ed/linux/slogans.html
I wonder how the "convicts" sticker will go over with the Microsoft crowd. ;)
Try telling that to a mother whos 5 year old son has just opened a "Chicks with d**ks" spam e-mail and followed the friggin link!!!!
Actually, I wonder what mother in her right mind would let a preschooler use a computer with a network connection and email. The TV is not a babysitter, and a PC is definitely not built for users without judgement.
If parents would take an active role in raising their kids, then they wouldn't fall victim to the entropy of exposure to inappropriate subjects.
The problem is not the porn on the net, it's the parents who don't take responsibility for their children.
What other must-have "mission critical" applications does WINE fully support, or will support soon? Long-term Linux users sometimes avoid tasks or fileformats that are only served by certain applications. New adoptees need a transition plan that includes their favorite applications.
Here are a few I could think of, but I expect there are others.
(I know that there's Linux programs that are almost as nice, or even in some cases better. The Windows ports and additional tools that accompany the free "PanoTools" are far superior to the available Linux/GIMP integration at this point, for example. This is about transitioning people who are lost without some familiar applications.)
Anyone else reminded of the silly scene where Arnie has to instruct his friends how to flip his neural net from R/O to R/W mode?
One data point may be encouraging, but it's not particularly useful. People gripe about the ludicrous nature of the prefix, "If this trend continues,". Well, if frogs had wings, they wouldn't bump their ass a-hoppin'.
Will the donations per day be constant? Linear? Exponentially increasing? Exponentially decaying? Will the total accumulated funds follow Xeno's paradox?
Tell us a better story next week.
Definitely far more than the average person needs to know about it, but way cool if you're into printing trivia.
Okay, you raise a silly comparison, but I'll bite.
The GPL is lawful good-- it enforces a limitation on the rights of the collaborators in order to benefit the end users. Those potential collaborators or users who may have different political or fiscal agendas are barred from using these published methods.
The BSD family of licenses hails far closer to chaotic good-- it supports unpredictable uses by collaborators regardless of fealty, and end users to have pretty much the same right for the licensed forks.
I'd have to say that Public Domain is the maximum extent of chaotic good. If the US Congress would heed the predictions and intent of the US Constitution, then far more works would be entered into the Public Domain, enriching and enabling the maximum number of creators, contributors, collaborators and end-users.
Oh, well, I guess they would be cracking down for the reasons I might think.
Not explaining things (like journalists would) leads to more click-through revenue... they hope you'll click to read the articles in hopes of finding a reply:
H2K2 (Score: 4)
"H2K2 is 2600 magazine's fourth 'Hackers On Planet Earth' conference."
Moderation: +3 Informative, -1 Overrated, 4 total.
Slashdot is an ad-server, not a journalistic pillar. When given a choice between being informative and being contrary, guess which they'll pick. Their refusal to follow standards such as the Associated Press Guide to Newswriting, the Chicago Elements of Style, or even Webster's Dictionary, is a big indication. Of course, if someone did suggest those books on this site, you'd probably find a B&N or Amazon affiliate click-through link.
You're right that Copyright (as developed in the US Constitution as 'exclusive Right to their respective Writings') is not intended as a stick to beat the ass of society. However, you're referring to Copyright's purpose as if it were the goal. Copyright is not a goal, but a carrot to entice the ass of society to release their writings in the first place.
Justice O'Connor said in 1991, "The primary objective of copyright is not to reward the labor of authors, but '[t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts.'"
To advance the arts and sciences, one must actually release what you've written or discovered. Many authors won't release their writings without some assurance in the form of Copyright. Many discoverers won't release their discoveries without some assurance in the form of Patents. Both are intended as temporary assurances to promote the writers and discoverers to advance their arts and sciences.
I learned when I was ten years old not to write off ANYONE who merely disappears into oblivion, instead of getting squished or chopped or shot onscreen.
After Star Wars in 1977 (that is, before anyone even realized it was gonna make it big, before sequels were even publically discussed), it was clear to me.
After Obi-Wan vanished to Darth's lightblade, was Luke hearing his own memories/thoughts of Obi-Wan? Or was Obi-Wan really more powerful without his body? Darth Vader merely spun out of control for a while, then flew away. The next movie surely clinched both questions: Darth wasn't done and Obi-Wan's presence wasn't either.
So when I read that Gandalf fell down the pit, I said, "we've got a lot of trilogy left, and Tolkien's making an awfully big deal out of Gandalf being dead; I bet he comes back."
Your wife seems to know these story rules too.