What about hundreds of Iraqi people's lives that were lost? That doesn't count eh?
How many would Saddam have killed if he'd remained in power?
It didn't matter how many he killed as long as he was an ally of the US.
"He had gassed his own people, killing far more than have died in this current 'war'. The Iraq/Iran war was so horrendous it was almost like WWI was in Europe, only with more effective weaponry including but not limited to--yep, you guessed it--chemical weapons"
With weapons and machinery supplied by the west and at the full support of the US.
"I doubt Americans have the attention span nor the understanding of geopolitics to support this 'police action' as is needed to prevent a civil war"
What's scary is that the administration doesn't have the understanding either. Iraq is effectivly split into three regions and total anarchy reigns in Afghanistan and parts of north Pakistan are under direct control of the Taliban. So I think it's a little late to talk about prevent.
"Therefore, even from a compassionate perspective"
Leaving 'compassionate' aside for the moment. The unilateral US invasion of Iraq was the dumbest thing any US administration could have done and will have long term disasterous consequences for the region. It set a dangerous president and told Siria and Iran that the only way to stay safe was to acquire nuclear weapons.
The previous President Bush understood this which is why he went to the trouble of forming a coalition before invading. You are right that such uniteral actions cannot be sucessful as the US people aren't prepared to take the number of casualities required.
"While the software is running, you may use but not share its
icons, images, sounds, and media"
"The software is licensed, not sold. This agreement only gives you some rights to use the software"
'You may not sell software marked as "NFR" or "Not for Resale."'
"The first user of the software may make a one time transfer of the software, and this agreement, directly to a third party"
"You can recover from Microsoft and its suppliers only direct damages up to the amount you paid for the software.. It also applies even if.. Microsoft knew or should have known about the possibility of the damages"
"The limited warranty covers the software for one year after acquired by the first user"
--
was if you want to read LSNiH then just read the EULA (Score:5, Interesting)
"MS is patenting their implementation of RSS in IE. Not RSS"
It seems that they are patenting API calls that provide RSS functionality to applications. As such the effect of the patent will be to lock out third party developers from using them. After all how many different ways can this be implimented. Do these API calls currently exist in Vista. Are the specs published.
"While I love RSS.. Almost as bad as Reese Sellin"
I don't understand how you can love a a content format and what relevency does a gratuitous ad hominem have to do with MS patenting RSS + API + COM.
'In the example about to be described, the APIs are implemented as COM dual interfaces which also makes the APIs useable from scripting languages, managed code as well as native Win32 (C++) code'
"with their patent tied explicitly to Vista and IE, there's not really much harm they can do with it"
Like how so, doesn't this mean no one else can impliment RSS functionality in their applications without violating this patent.
'the APIs are implemented as COM dual interfaces which also makes the APIs useable from scripting languages, managed code as well as native Win32 (C++) code'
"Evergreen is still not on par with most top-tier commercial library systems; it still has several significant (and complex) modules to tackle that run the back room at the library"
Like what for example, do you have personal experience in implimenting Evergreen in a library.
"I would have been really surprised if the government would have allowed a critical article co-written by a government official to be published.. While the NYT is free to publish almost anything they want, the co-author (by nature of his/her employment) is not, which was the problem in this situation"
Wrong and wrong again. He was a former adviser to the White House employed by the NSC. It just is what it looks like, the Bush regime trying to silence legimite criticism in the media.
was Re:Nothing unusual or unconstitutional here (Score:3, Republican)
Of course, this doesn't don't count, as has been evidenced by the outcry against similar proof-of-concept security holes in OS X.
I'm pretty sure the Slashdot community wouldn't be so two-faced as to claim something is an exploit on Vista which isn't 'counted' as an exploit on OS X, right?
Right?
I fail to follow your logic. How does some imaginary Slashdot posters opinion on an OS X exploit have any baring on the contents of the article. We have yet to see a large scale virus or phishing exploit on the Mac.
Re:Doesn't count!
"The PoC reportedly allows for local elevation of privilege on Windows 2000 SP4, Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows XP SP1, Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista operating systems,"
Deliberatly misquoting the report is a sure sign of desperation..
"If you have listened to Linus and his lieutenants (Andrew Morton etc.), they say they are not focused on the desktop"
I can't actually recall reading anything Torvalds said regarding their focus. Do you have a link to what they actually said regarding the Desktop.
"They are focused on the high-end. Which makes sense to me - Microsoft dominates the desktop, the high-end is up for grabs right now"
The Desktop gets more visibility which is why when the average PHB decides to buy a server he chooses what he's already familar with, Windows. Ignoring the desktop would be a massive error.
"Linux has improved a lot for the high-end, but still needs work done. I just was speaking with someone from Oracle recently who told me how in an environment with a lot of Linuxes connected to a lot of SANs, the 2.4 kernel was complete junk. He did say things were getting better with the 2.6"
Has this been refered to on the kernel mailing list linux.kernel. Do other users of Oracle have this problem. You don't provide a lot of technical details. Is there a reference you can provide for such issues. Running a database is relativly trivial compared to calculating nuclear reactions or doing the graphics on 'Lord of the Ring' and would require very high-end equipment. What I don't understand how CERN and Weta Digital were able to get any work on the 'still needs work done' Linux OS.
"Hey here's another example - what if I want a fricking kernel dump when my system crashes? What, I can't dump it to disk like Solaris and every other enterprise UNIX does?"
You do seem to be unfortunate in your choice of OS. I don't know what use a kernel dump is unless you're actually compiling the kernel ;). Something I've never been called on to do. Doesn't Linux have the Kdump utility that dumps its data to disk.
"I have to send it over the network (which comes to a host of problems which I won't go into here)? Yes, yes, I know about the problems of doing this for a variety of hardware, but this is the sort of thing I'm talking about"
Yet more problems. I don't understand, I thought the kernel dump was a standard file saved locally and what's the difficulty in sending it over the network.
You paint a complete horror story of maintaining a Linux network. If I was reading this and had no first hand experience of using Linux I would run straight back to the nice safe OS that comes with training wheels attached. Kernel dump!!...:)
was What do Linus and his lieutenants say? (Score:5, AstroT~1)
"What happened in the intervening four years with KDE and Gnome... not much"
Would you call Looking Glass on Ubuntu nothing or Beryl 3D nothing. Both out Vistas Vista which isn't even in the shops yet. Not to mention Novells SLED offering.
"In 2007 I want to be able to setup a printer, connect to all my network shares and install my productivity apps in under 3 weeks and avoid having to recompile my kernel"
You're obviously trolling but I'll bite. What obscure 'productivity apps' that (in all probability googled on) you had to recompile your kernel. Setting up a printer and enabling network shares do not require recompiling your kernel either.
Given the fact that it must be bought seperatly and installed it's been pretty sucessful up to now. Until you can go into the high street shop and buy a computer with Desktop Linux preinstalled you won't see it become nearly as ubiquitous as Windows. What the hardware manufactures should do is start something similar to the Apple shops. The same with Dell, SuSE and Lenovo and Sun.
What with patented GM crops we see farmers being sued in the US for reusing GM seeds grown from their own crops.
"Uh, no. That would be being sued for violating the contract they entered into when they bought said seeds"
Do you have a citation for a farmer knowingly violating such a contract. Do you see such restrictions as being ethical. This link refers to the company saying that it didn't matter whether the farmer know his field was contaminated.
"You're second paragraph ignores the aspect of the neighbor farmer suing the GM crop farmer for polluting his strain"
What a ludicrous statement to make. Can you produce any citatin of just such an occurance. He's more likely to sue the GM company and not a fellow tiller of the soil. Farmer sueing farmer bares no relation to my other points.
The GM companies would of course have the farmers buying their seed annually from the companies.
"Uh, yeah. That would be the contract mentioned. Funny how you're on the side of someone who knowingly buys GM seeds to reap the benefits of, say, bh and then knowingly tries to avoid the stipulation and scam -- that is, rip off -- to get the benefits free the next years"
Nothing I said previously supports your assertion that I approve of farmers knowing stealing. To go back to the source analogy, your accusation of farmers stealing the benefits sounds similar to accusations leveled against the OS community, stealing our IP, violating our patents, is a clone of 'commercial' software.
My point is that farmers who want to opt out of GM will be unable as they will only be able to buy GM crops or will be unable to reuse seed from bought GM crops or their crops will be contanimated with GM and the won't be able to use their own seed or non GM seeds will be banned.
The plant breeders have been producing better crops and able to make a profit for decades before GM. You bought from them when you wanted a guaranteed good seed. You then had a choice as to whether to reuse your own seeds or buy new. You could also breed your own strain and resell it on. GM if it becomes will virtually eliminate the smaller plant breed or good amatur. Similar to what the current US patent regime and IP laws are doing to the computer industry.
Incidentally I believe that most of the methods for injecting foriegn DNA into a cell have also been patented. So even if I clean roomed a method for injecting frost resistance, I couldn't sell it without paying the owner of the patent. In todays IP climate I doubt if two bright computer hackers (Apple) could start a business in their garage. The lawyer fees alone would have them bankrupt on the first day. 'Steve , I have an idea for building a GUI, other Steve, I dunno dude, lets consult a lawyer first in case we're violating some somebodies intelluctual property', first Steve, I dunno, it's going to cost a lot of granola, if only we had a dad for a lawyer'.
Old fashioned plant breeding is a threat to GM, that's why the companies would like it banned. The same with Open Source v Closed Source. While OS exist the bottom line of the closed source companies are threatened. The computing version of GM would be certain patented protocols. Doesn't matter who builds or sells the systems, everyone has to pay you-know-who for the Intellectual Property. That's another good analogy.
--
"Canadian organic farmers have launched a class-action suit against two major manufacturers of genetically modified crops"
"Six farmers from France and the United States have launched a lawsuit
against Monsanto and other corporations involved in genetic engineering of
crops. The lawsuit, filed early this year in Washington DC, alleges that
Monsanto, the Dow Chemical Company, AstraZeneca and Novartis International
formed a cartel
The pharmaceutical industry is where the software industry would be if it wasn't for the existence of Open Source. That the closed source companies are pushing for a US style patent regime in Europe and elsewhere is a given. What with patented GM crops we see farmers being sued in the US for reusing GM seeds grown from their own crops. Something practiced for centuries.
It's also difficult to avoid infringing some patent as the GM crops cross-fertilise with plants in the next field. The resultant seed being also covered by the same patent. The GM companies would of course have the farmers buying their seed annually from the companies. What next, produce sterile crops and totally outlaw unlicensed seeds.
As the report says in relation to pharmaceuticals, you can see the same thing in the closed Windows monopoly, little real innovation, "new" software that is differs little from the old and a small number of companies making vast fortunes and lastly it's the consumer that suffers from no real choice.
"Looking over the course of this Slashdot thread I'm not surprised by the now-familiar Microsoft-bashing/LaTeX/Lyx recommendation/OO.o zealotry/refusal to pay Softmaker's price. But I have been reading Slashdot now long enough to know the words to this particular song"
I hadn't realized recomending OO was a) a sign of zealotry, b) anti-microsoft and c) a sign of being stingy. Also this is the first example I've seen on slashdot of a blanket comdemnation of the whole thread. What I have seen in the rest of the thread is the usual OO doesn't render PowerPoint correctly and OO.calc is slow, doesn't do macros etc.
"But face it, GNU/Linux (and BSD more so) lacks a small, fast, good word processor"
As someone once said, they never got any real work done until they banned PowerPoint. As far as I know printers prefer the source material in plain text. Unless you are doing material for display and need rich text a plain 'text editor' is all you need. I'm surprised no one has mentions Emacs. There is a version for Windows and it can be configured for ZXCV (using a config file I borrowed from the net). It handles huge files and can be configured for different modes, most of which I've never used.
"I'm not alone in representing a market of GNU/Linux OSF fans that believes in freedom but is not against paying for software (SUSE, Rekall, Textmaker, Planmaker, Xandros, NoMachines) if with that software comes additional quality, reliability, or convenience. Textmaker provides all three"
I hadn't realized you were the official GNU spokesman. But do you mind me asking if you have shares in Textmaker. My philosophy is that software is a net negative on the balance sheet in that you have to pay someone to work it after you have 'licensed' it. What with ongoing upgrading costs and the next version probably having a different file format I would prefer not to climb back on that particular bandwaggon, thank you very much.
"in that niche, it is unsurpassed and very critically acclaimed. Be glad they even make a Linux version at all, whiney slashdotters"
Do you have shares in Microsoft as well. whiney !!:|
was I bought it, I like it, I recommend it (Score:2 Commercial)
"Every problem you mentioned has to do with a third-party application or peripheral. How is that Bill's fault?"
Nonsence, you have no way of knowing that for sure. It's the stuff on the supplied CD, months later it stops working - for no apparent reason. If Dell/BT/Microsoft supply a combined product I at least expect it to run as described for longer than ninety days. I mention Bill since nine tenths of the problem IS Windows. Now how can I get the sound card working under standard user. How can I restore Talk/Talk. How can I stop the spam filter from freezing Outlook. I did use an online form to contact the help desk, I'm still awaiting a reply.
"And you're telling me that Linux apps are any better?"
I ran a SuSE Linux desktop for the best part of a year and it still functioned and that was with installing 'third party' applications like Mplayer and Mpeg4IP and various third party RPMs. I can't recall one time when it broke from all the tinkering. I recently overwrote it with openSuSE 10.1 and now can't write to the cdburner, but that's another story.
"By the way, Windows calls the SSID a "Network Name". And it quite correctly calls the WEP key exactly what it is, a WEP key. Just because your manufacturer calls it something else does not make Windows incorrect"
I understand Bill and Windows are perfect and without flaw, but couldn't the fella who made the talking CD have used the same names for things. As refering to the same thing as wireless key code or SSID or WEP key tends to confuse people.
"Encouraging users to continue to be ignorant and reckless sounds like a horrible idea"
How you can spin a bootable CD into 'reckless' has me bewildered. Since when was it ignorant and reckless to be able to browse the Web or open an attachment without your bank account being emptied by the Russian Mafia. Encouraging the users to be 'responsible' is an exercise in futility. Create a customised configuration that restores itself from an image each time it's booted would be the more realistic solution. The image is stored on a hidden partition on the hard drive so restoring wouldn't be that slow, at least on Linux. It would also relieve you of the burdon of wasting four hours out of your life in yet another Windows Install marathon.
In this day and age, if you're doing any sort of online banking a bootable CD is a must. Put a lowspec machine in the corner of the office for just such a purpose. Blaiming the users is just a copout on the responsibilities of the Banks and the software producers.
Key words: ignorant, reckless, dumb, bewildered and dangerous..
"I tried giving away The Open CD (or something similar).. I got zero response. Zero interest"
You do seem unfortunate as you can't even get physics student or your wife to use Open Office and now young inquizitive kids won't even put a CD in a computer. What version did you choose. Did you burn your own or buy them in. What did the students do with the CDs when you handed them out in the computer room, play frizbee or use them as beer mats. What is the policy of students using their own software at your college.
"I learned recently.. to stop recommending computer systems to friends and family.. they're just naturally extending the help I initally offered them"
A mature lady of my acquaintance, ordered a Dell/BT Internet laptop with talk/talk and wireless broadband. She even paid the extra £84.00 for a 'technician' to come round and install it. The box was delivered but he left after a while as he couldn't figure out how to connected it.
Problem #1 the talking CD didn't install correctly. I phoned 'Dave' in India who told me the NIC was faulty. I knew this to be incorrect as when I configured the client PC with a static IP it worked - except the network was slow as the client required the wireless key code that is printed on the underside of the router. Incidentally the wireless key code or SSID is referred to under a different acronym in XP, just to be more confusing.
BT Talk Talk required logging into a seperate web page and entering configuration information. None of this is documented. Oh I forgot the install won't work unless the firewall is disabled. Again no reference to this. Weeks later, Talk Talk stops working, Yahoo messenger won't play recorded msgs except under administrator. The anti-spam feature in the AV software causes Outlook to take ages to open an email. I know what 'Dave' in India is going to tell me - reinstall from the CD. No fucking way. This year is the last time I ever fix one of Bills computers for free.
Remember they were included in Cairo in some form in 1995. Vaporware as usually described, is announcing something that don't exist in the hope of warding off the opposition from entering the market and also with the full knowlege that such feetures are not implementable in a realistic timeframe. Else why haven't we seen the pre-announced features even now in late 2006.
"The top level will.. [be] the Cairo desktop itself.. Cairo's Object File System (OFS) makes the whole hard disk a single huge docfile that exposes its internal objects to the user"
"In Daytona's successor, Cairo, OLE structured storage will be able to attach to, and extend, the file system",
"Microsoft's future object-oriented file system for Windows NT (see the sidebar "A Peek at OFS"). Ultimately, we could be looking at a distributed file system based on this technology.. Almost all this technology is expected to converge in Cairo"
"Object File System Lets you create a pseudodirectory that unifies local, network, and Internet files"
Slashdot Mirror
It didn't matter how many he killed as long as he was an ally of the US.
"He had gassed his own people, killing far more than have died in this current 'war'. The Iraq/Iran war was so horrendous it was almost like WWI was in Europe, only with more effective weaponry including but not limited to--yep, you guessed it--chemical weapons"
With weapons and machinery supplied by the west and at the full support of the US.
"I doubt Americans have the attention span nor the understanding of geopolitics to support this 'police action' as is needed to prevent a civil war"
What's scary is that the administration doesn't have the understanding either. Iraq is effectivly split into three regions and total anarchy reigns in Afghanistan and parts of north Pakistan are under direct control of the Taliban. So I think it's a little late to talk about prevent.
"Therefore, even from a compassionate perspective"
Leaving 'compassionate' aside for the moment. The unilateral US invasion of Iraq was the dumbest thing any US administration could have done and will have long term disasterous consequences for the region. It set a dangerous president and told Siria and Iran that the only way to stay safe was to acquire nuclear weapons.
The previous President Bush understood this which is why he went to the trouble of forming a coalition before invading. You are right that such uniteral actions cannot be sucessful as the US people aren't prepared to take the number of casualities required.
Re:Can't wait... (Score:4, Insightful)
'Windows Vista Ultimate'
.. It also applies even if .. Microsoft knew or should have known about the possibility of the damages"
"While the software is running, you may use but not share its icons, images, sounds, and media"
"The software is licensed, not sold. This agreement only gives you some rights to use the software"
'You may not sell software marked as "NFR" or "Not for Resale."'
"The first user of the software may make a one time transfer of the software, and this agreement, directly to a third party"
"You can recover from Microsoft and its suppliers only direct damages up to the amount you paid for the software
"The limited warranty covers the software for one year after acquired by the first user"
--
was if you want to read LSNiH then just read the EULA (Score:5, Interesting)
"MS is patenting their implementation of RSS in IE. Not RSS"
.. Almost as bad as Reese Sellin"
It seems that they are patenting API calls that provide RSS functionality to applications. As such the effect of the patent will be to lock out third party developers from using them. After all how many different ways can this be implimented. Do these API calls currently exist in Vista. Are the specs published.
"While I love RSS
I don't understand how you can love a a content format and what relevency does a gratuitous ad hominem have to do with MS patenting RSS + API + COM.
'In the example about to be described, the APIs are implemented as COM dual interfaces which also makes the APIs useable from scripting languages, managed code as well as native Win32 (C++) code'
was Why the hullabaloo? (Score:2, Insightful)
"with their patent tied explicitly to Vista and IE, there's not really much harm they can do with it"
Like how so, doesn't this mean no one else can impliment RSS functionality in their applications without violating this patent.
'the APIs are implemented as COM dual interfaces which also makes the APIs useable from scripting languages, managed code as well as native Win32 (C++) code'
was Re:On the not-quite-so-paranoid hand...
"Evergreen is still not on par with most top-tier commercial library systems; it still has several significant (and complex) modules to tackle that run the back room at the library"
Like what for example, do you have personal experience in implimenting Evergreen in a library.
was Re:Upgrading from other systems?
"I would have been really surprised if the government would have allowed a critical article co-written by a government official to be published .. While the NYT is free to publish almost anything they want, the co-author (by nature of his/her employment) is not, which was the problem in this situation"
Wrong and wrong again. He was a former adviser to the White House employed by the NSC. It just is what it looks like, the Bush regime trying to silence legimite criticism in the media.
was Re:Nothing unusual or unconstitutional here (Score:3, Republican)
gutless prick ..
..
was Re:yet more excuse~1
"I notice there's no mention of ANY of the Apple viruses/worms or malware out there"
. shtml
Where are the reports of thousands of OS X desktops being compromised and bank accounts being emptied.
http://www.macobserver.com/editorial/2003/08/29.1
was Re:A bit of bias from the press?
Of course, this doesn't don't count, as has been evidenced by the outcry against similar proof-of-concept security holes in OS X.
I'm pretty sure the Slashdot community wouldn't be so two-faced as to claim something is an exploit on Vista which isn't 'counted' as an exploit on OS X, right?
Right?
I fail to follow your logic. How does some imaginary Slashdot posters opinion on an OS X exploit have any baring on the contents of the article. We have yet to see a large scale virus or phishing exploit on the Mac. Re:Doesn't count!
"The PoC reportedly allows for local elevation of privilege on Windows 2000 SP4, Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows XP SP1, Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista operating systems,"
..
Deliberatly misquoting the report is a sure sign of desperation
was Re:so...
Very interesting analysis. I thought Vista was supposed to make money. According to this Vista is going to bring 100,000 new jobs to the US.
"If you have listened to Linus and his lieutenants (Andrew Morton etc.), they say they are not focused on the desktop"
;) . Something I've never been called on to do. Doesn't Linux have the Kdump utility that dumps its data to disk.
... :)
I can't actually recall reading anything Torvalds said regarding their focus. Do you have a link to what they actually said regarding the Desktop.
"They are focused on the high-end. Which makes sense to me - Microsoft dominates the desktop, the high-end is up for grabs right now"
The Desktop gets more visibility which is why when the average PHB decides to buy a server he chooses what he's already familar with, Windows. Ignoring the desktop would be a massive error.
"Linux has improved a lot for the high-end, but still needs work done. I just was speaking with someone from Oracle recently who told me how in an environment with a lot of Linuxes connected to a lot of SANs, the 2.4 kernel was complete junk. He did say things were getting better with the 2.6"
Has this been refered to on the kernel mailing list linux.kernel. Do other users of Oracle have this problem. You don't provide a lot of technical details. Is there a reference you can provide for such issues. Running a database is relativly trivial compared to calculating nuclear reactions or doing the graphics on 'Lord of the Ring' and would require very high-end equipment. What I don't understand how CERN and Weta Digital were able to get any work on the 'still needs work done' Linux OS.
"Hey here's another example - what if I want a fricking kernel dump when my system crashes? What, I can't dump it to disk like Solaris and every other enterprise UNIX does?"
You do seem to be unfortunate in your choice of OS. I don't know what use a kernel dump is unless you're actually compiling the kernel
"I have to send it over the network (which comes to a host of problems which I won't go into here)? Yes, yes, I know about the problems of doing this for a variety of hardware, but this is the sort of thing I'm talking about"
Yet more problems. I don't understand, I thought the kernel dump was a standard file saved locally and what's the difficulty in sending it over the network.
You paint a complete horror story of maintaining a Linux network. If I was reading this and had no first hand experience of using Linux I would run straight back to the nice safe OS that comes with training wheels attached. Kernel dump!!
was What do Linus and his lieutenants say? (Score:5, AstroT~1)
"What happened in the intervening four years with KDE and Gnome ... not much"
Would you call Looking Glass on Ubuntu nothing or Beryl 3D nothing. Both out Vistas Vista which isn't even in the shops yet. Not to mention Novells SLED offering.
"In 2007 I want to be able to setup a printer, connect to all my network shares and install my productivity apps in under 3 weeks and avoid having to recompile my kernel"
You're obviously trolling but I'll bite. What obscure 'productivity apps' that (in all probability googled on) you had to recompile your kernel. Setting up a printer and enabling network shares do not require recompiling your kernel either.
was Re:2002 LoL
Given the fact that it must be bought seperatly and installed it's been pretty sucessful up to now. Until you can go into the high street shop and buy a computer with Desktop Linux preinstalled you won't see it become nearly as ubiquitous as Windows. What the hardware manufactures should do is start something similar to the Apple shops. The same with Dell, SuSE and Lenovo and Sun.
(Oh, and please fill in my survey for my dissertation!
NO!
was Re:Security settings (Score:-1)
"Uh, no. That would be being sued for violating the contract they entered into when they bought said seeds"
Do you have a citation for a farmer knowingly violating such a contract. Do you see such restrictions as being ethical. This link refers to the company saying that it didn't matter whether the farmer know his field was contaminated.
"You're second paragraph ignores the aspect of the neighbor farmer suing the GM crop farmer for polluting his strain"
What a ludicrous statement to make. Can you produce any citatin of just such an occurance. He's more likely to sue the GM company and not a fellow tiller of the soil. Farmer sueing farmer bares no relation to my other points.
"Uh, yeah. That would be the contract mentioned. Funny how you're on the side of someone who knowingly buys GM seeds to reap the benefits of, say, bh and then knowingly tries to avoid the stipulation and scam -- that is, rip off -- to get the benefits free the next years"
Nothing I said previously supports your assertion that I approve of farmers knowing stealing. To go back to the source analogy, your accusation of farmers stealing the benefits sounds similar to accusations leveled against the OS community, stealing our IP, violating our patents, is a clone of 'commercial' software.
My point is that farmers who want to opt out of GM will be unable as they will only be able to buy GM crops or will be unable to reuse seed from bought GM crops or their crops will be contanimated with GM and the won't be able to use their own seed or non GM seeds will be banned.
The plant breeders have been producing better crops and able to make a profit for decades before GM. You bought from them when you wanted a guaranteed good seed. You then had a choice as to whether to reuse your own seeds or buy new. You could also breed your own strain and resell it on. GM if it becomes will virtually eliminate the smaller plant breed or good amatur. Similar to what the current US patent regime and IP laws are doing to the computer industry.
Incidentally I believe that most of the methods for injecting foriegn DNA into a cell have also been patented. So even if I clean roomed a method for injecting frost resistance, I couldn't sell it without paying the owner of the patent. In todays IP climate I doubt if two bright computer hackers (Apple) could start a business in their garage. The lawyer fees alone would have them bankrupt on the first day. 'Steve , I have an idea for building a GUI, other Steve, I dunno dude, lets consult a lawyer first in case we're violating some somebodies intelluctual property', first Steve, I dunno, it's going to cost a lot of granola, if only we had a dad for a lawyer'.
Old fashioned plant breeding is a threat to GM, that's why the companies would like it banned. The same with Open Source v Closed Source. While OS exist the bottom line of the closed source companies are threatened. The computing version of GM would be certain patented protocols. Doesn't matter who builds or sells the systems, everyone has to pay you-know-who for the Intellectual Property. That's another good analogy.
--
"Canadian organic farmers have launched a class-action suit against two major manufacturers of genetically modified crops"
"Six farmers from France and the United States have launched a lawsuit against Monsanto and other corporations involved in genetic engineering of crops. The lawsuit, filed early this year in Washington DC, alleges that Monsanto, the Dow Chemical Company, AstraZeneca and Novartis International formed a cartel
The pharmaceutical industry is where the software industry would be if it wasn't for the existence of Open Source. That the closed source companies are pushing for a US style patent regime in Europe and elsewhere is a given. What with patented GM crops we see farmers being sued in the US for reusing GM seeds grown from their own crops. Something practiced for centuries.
It's also difficult to avoid infringing some patent as the GM crops cross-fertilise with plants in the next field. The resultant seed being also covered by the same patent. The GM companies would of course have the farmers buying their seed annually from the companies. What next, produce sterile crops and totally outlaw unlicensed seeds.
As the report says in relation to pharmaceuticals, you can see the same thing in the closed Windows monopoly, little real innovation, "new" software that is differs little from the old and a small number of companies making vast fortunes and lastly it's the consumer that suffers from no real choice.
According to this Wikipeda article there used to be versions for Unix and Macintosh but was dropped in the 1980s.
"Looking over the course of this Slashdot thread I'm not surprised by the now-familiar Microsoft-bashing/LaTeX/Lyx recommendation/OO.o zealotry/refusal to pay Softmaker's price. But I have been reading Slashdot now long enough to know the words to this particular song"
:|
I hadn't realized recomending OO was a) a sign of zealotry, b) anti-microsoft and c) a sign of being stingy. Also this is the first example I've seen on slashdot of a blanket comdemnation of the whole thread. What I have seen in the rest of the thread is the usual OO doesn't render PowerPoint correctly and OO.calc is slow, doesn't do macros etc.
"But face it, GNU/Linux (and BSD more so) lacks a small, fast, good word processor"
As someone once said, they never got any real work done until they banned PowerPoint. As far as I know printers prefer the source material in plain text. Unless you are doing material for display and need rich text a plain 'text editor' is all you need. I'm surprised no one has mentions Emacs. There is a version for Windows and it can be configured for ZXCV (using a config file I borrowed from the net). It handles huge files and can be configured for different modes, most of which I've never used.
"I'm not alone in representing a market of GNU/Linux OSF fans that believes in freedom but is not against paying for software (SUSE, Rekall, Textmaker, Planmaker, Xandros, NoMachines) if with that software comes additional quality, reliability, or convenience. Textmaker provides all three"
I hadn't realized you were the official GNU spokesman. But do you mind me asking if you have shares in Textmaker. My philosophy is that software is a net negative on the balance sheet in that you have to pay someone to work it after you have 'licensed' it. What with ongoing upgrading costs and the next version probably having a different file format I would prefer not to climb back on that particular bandwaggon, thank you very much.
"in that niche, it is unsurpassed and very critically acclaimed. Be glad they even make a Linux version at all, whiney slashdotters"
Do you have shares in Microsoft as well. whiney !!
was I bought it, I like it, I recommend it (Score:2 Commercial)
Less restrictive DRM.
Isn't it about time you knocked off for the day shift.
was Re:Zune (Score:5, Zune-O-turfing)
"Every problem you mentioned has to do with a third-party application or peripheral. How is that Bill's fault?"
Nonsence, you have no way of knowing that for sure. It's the stuff on the supplied CD, months later it stops working - for no apparent reason. If Dell/BT/Microsoft supply a combined product I at least expect it to run as described for longer than ninety days. I mention Bill since nine tenths of the problem IS Windows. Now how can I get the sound card working under standard user. How can I restore Talk/Talk. How can I stop the spam filter from freezing Outlook. I did use an online form to contact the help desk, I'm still awaiting a reply.
"And you're telling me that Linux apps are any better?"
I ran a SuSE Linux desktop for the best part of a year and it still functioned and that was with installing 'third party' applications like Mplayer and Mpeg4IP and various third party RPMs. I can't recall one time when it broke from all the tinkering. I recently overwrote it with openSuSE 10.1 and now can't write to the cdburner, but that's another story.
"By the way, Windows calls the SSID a "Network Name". And it quite correctly calls the WEP key exactly what it is, a WEP key. Just because your manufacturer calls it something else does not make Windows incorrect"
I understand Bill and Windows are perfect and without flaw, but couldn't the fella who made the talking CD have used the same names for things. As refering to the same thing as wireless key code or SSID or WEP key tends to confuse people.
"Encouraging users to continue to be ignorant and reckless sounds like a horrible idea"
..
How you can spin a bootable CD into 'reckless' has me bewildered. Since when was it ignorant and reckless to be able to browse the Web or open an attachment without your bank account being emptied by the Russian Mafia. Encouraging the users to be 'responsible' is an exercise in futility. Create a customised configuration that restores itself from an image each time it's booted would be the more realistic solution. The image is stored on a hidden partition on the hard drive so restoring wouldn't be that slow, at least on Linux. It would also relieve you of the burdon of wasting four hours out of your life in yet another Windows Install marathon.
In this day and age, if you're doing any sort of online banking a bootable CD is a must. Put a lowspec machine in the corner of the office for just such a purpose. Blaiming the users is just a copout on the responsibilities of the Banks and the software producers.
Key words: ignorant, reckless, dumb, bewildered and dangerous
was Re:Security?
"I tried giving away The Open CD (or something similar) .. I got zero response. Zero interest"
You do seem unfortunate as you can't even get physics student or your wife to use Open Office and now young inquizitive kids won't even put a CD in a computer. What version did you choose. Did you burn your own or buy them in. What did the students do with the CDs when you handed them out in the computer room, play frizbee or use them as beer mats. What is the policy of students using their own software at your college.
Re:I tried it.
"I learned recently .. to stop recommending computer systems to friends and family .. they're just naturally extending the help I initally offered them"
A mature lady of my acquaintance, ordered a Dell/BT Internet laptop with talk/talk and wireless broadband. She even paid the extra £84.00 for a 'technician' to come round and install it. The box was delivered but he left after a while as he couldn't figure out how to connected it.
Problem #1 the talking CD didn't install correctly. I phoned 'Dave' in India who told me the NIC was faulty. I knew this to be incorrect as when I configured the client PC with a static IP it worked - except the network was slow as the client required the wireless key code that is printed on the underside of the router. Incidentally the wireless key code or SSID is referred to under a different acronym in XP, just to be more confusing.
BT Talk Talk required logging into a seperate web page and entering configuration information. None of this is documented. Oh I forgot the install won't work unless the firewall is disabled. Again no reference to this. Weeks later, Talk Talk stops working, Yahoo messenger won't play recorded msgs except under administrator. The anti-spam feature in the AV software causes Outlook to take ages to open an email. I know what 'Dave' in India is going to tell me - reinstall from the CD. No fucking way. This year is the last time I ever fix one of Bills computers for free.
was Re:Who's Gonna Suppport Them?
Remember they were included in Cairo in some form in 1995. Vaporware as usually described, is announcing something that don't exist in the hope of warding off the opposition from entering the market and also with the full knowlege that such feetures are not implementable in a realistic timeframe. Else why haven't we seen the pre-announced features even now in late 2006.
.. [be] the Cairo desktop itself .. Cairo's Object File System (OFS) makes the whole hard disk a single huge docfile that exposes its internal objects to the user"
.. Almost all this technology is expected to converge in Cairo"
. html
"The top level will
"In Daytona's successor, Cairo, OLE structured storage will be able to attach to, and extend, the file system",
"Microsoft's future object-oriented file system for Windows NT (see the sidebar "A Peek at OFS"). Ultimately, we could be looking at a distributed file system based on this technology
"Object File System Lets you create a pseudodirectory that unifies local, network, and Internet files"
http://www.dynamicobjects.com/d2r/archives/002430
was Re:Better Windows history here...