Perhaps there is a giant conspiracy like you describe. Or, the river more likely flows the other way. Software companies add more features to their programs to make use of the added speed, memory, etc. The only exception to this that I've seen is, incidentally, Vista, where computer manufacturers are producing "Vista-ready" computers. However, these computers are being sold with XP, and once computers are actually being sold with Vista, this advertising tactic fails.
It would be great if programmers innovated their programs, instead of just add to them. That way, as hardware performance increases and software requirements remain constant, software performance increases. Unfortunately, software designers are bloating their programs to make use of added hardware potential.
Yes, but you're still "pixels within pixels," and there is ultimately some smallest-sized pixel that could be used as a bit for data itself. So whether you have a 10x10 grid composed of 10x10 "smallpixel" pixels or not, you still have 10,000 bits.
Name me one tangible benefit the average person gets from dual booting other than "play videa games."
I dual boot Debian and XP, not to play video games, but to make full use of the sound system that cost me over $300 dollars in the room. I use Debian for many of my day-to-day tasks, but there aren't Linux drivers for my soundcard (Creative Labs X-Fi). Thus, when I want to listen to music using my surround speakers, I need to use the Windows drivers for my soundcard--my motherboard doesn't support 5.1.
I'm fairly certain (but possibly wrong) that if there aren't Linux drivers for Debian, then there aren't Linux drivers for Gentoo; last time I checked, they both use the Linux kernel.
To me at least, listening to music is a "tangible benefit."
Also, compatability is an issue to me. At my place of work and school, Office documents are used. Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Access, and Visio. I know OO.o has drastically improved crossover, but it still isn't flawless. In fact, is there a way to edit Access databases and Visio files in Linux? And when my teacher or boss want something emailed to him flawless, I'm expected to deliver. I can't risk it, because as understanding as most people are, many don't want to hear a new-age "my dog ate it" excuse.
Also at work I need Photoshop and Macromedia Flash. There aren't Linux ports that can accomplish what I need. There's the Gimp, but I can't take the time right now to learn it as well as I would need to know it for my job.
Yes, I could get another machine and run Linux on it, and not dual-boot, but as a high school student who puts 80% of the money he makes towards saving for college, I don't really want to dish out the money. So then why don't I just run Windows? Am I some sort of "hippie" because I run Linux, but don't really need to and don't really know what I want out of my machine? I don't think so. Because I use my machine for more than work and media-centered entertainment. I'd like to "learn Linux" (define that as you wish--perhaps taking the time to figure out the coreutils or desktop), and feel that using it as much as possible is the best way to do that. Unfortunately, in my MS-dominated outside world, completely switching to Linux isn't feasible right now.
Could antivirus software's realtime protection work against this virus as well?
It could stop activity such as batch file manipulations as they occur, and prompt the user whether or not (s)he wants the action to continue. It would be similar to the "Worm Activity" warning I get from McAfee when I send emails using a distrubution list with a large number of people on it--McAfee AV stops the mail from sending until I explicitly allow it. Thus, the AV protection for this extortion virus could stop mass file manipulations until explicit consent is given.
I like using Last.fm because it's player is open-source and available for both Linux and WinXP. For me, that's critical, because I dualboot my PC between those two OSs, and have my music on a separate partition that's accessible by both.
I'm not sure if that's the case with the other services, but I've been happy with Last.fm
Aren't software vendors normally selling you a license to use their software?
Then there's a difference between taking a copy of software and borrowing a copy of a book from a library. When I finish reading the book, it goes back to the library. It is illegal for me to photocopy the book while it's in my possession; after I return the book, I can't read it anymore. With software, I'm not borrowing a copy of a CD. The CD isn't valuable. The license is. I can return the CD to a friend and still have the program on my computer--illegally, unless my friend uninstalled it from his PC when I installed it on mine.
I pirate software. A lot. Like, a lot as in multiple versions of Photoshop and Premier and Flash and SoftICE and Visual Basic and Cakewalk and......... (note to all you NSA guys reading this and then reporting me to the copyright offices: I am not legally bound to my statements, and everthing I'm writing is just to make a point. Basically, I'm denying I pirate software.)
But I know that what I'm doing is in direct contradiction with the EULAs that I was forced to accept before installing those disc images I found using PirateBay and isoHunt.
Thus, wouldn't what I'm doing, even if it isn't violating any copywrite laws or content management schemes, be still violating basic contract-accountability laws? I hit "Accept" under the conditions that I've read and agreed to the EULA.
No matter what loophole or excuse I come up with in my mind to justify grabbing a copy of Photoshop from the torrent community or burning a copy of a friend's disc, I'm still acting illegally when I install the software using a crack, keygen, or somebody else's key, simply because I accepted the End Use License Agreement.
I've told myself that Adobe isn't losing a sale of Premiere, because I wouldn't have bought it anyways. I've told myself that it's okay to use Photoshop because I tried theGimp and didn't like it as an alternative. I've told myself that the Flash 8 Pro development environment is a fair download because I can't find an alternative. But at the end of the day, I still broke the law. Plain and simple. I broke the law.
Whether I agree with the law or not...
that's a different issue.
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Perhaps there is a giant conspiracy like you describe. Or, the river more likely flows the other way. Software companies add more features to their programs to make use of the added speed, memory, etc. The only exception to this that I've seen is, incidentally, Vista, where computer manufacturers are producing "Vista-ready" computers. However, these computers are being sold with XP, and once computers are actually being sold with Vista, this advertising tactic fails.
It would be great if programmers innovated their programs, instead of just add to them. That way, as hardware performance increases and software requirements remain constant, software performance increases. Unfortunately, software designers are bloating their programs to make use of added hardware potential.
Yes, but you're still "pixels within pixels," and there is ultimately some smallest-sized pixel that could be used as a bit for data itself. So whether you have a 10x10 grid composed of 10x10 "smallpixel" pixels or not, you still have 10,000 bits.
Tell me if I'm wrong, but can't developers use OpenGL in place of DirectX? Is there a significant disadvantage to OpenGL?
I dual boot Debian and XP, not to play video games, but to make full use of the sound system that cost me over $300 dollars in the room. I use Debian for many of my day-to-day tasks, but there aren't Linux drivers for my soundcard (Creative Labs X-Fi). Thus, when I want to listen to music using my surround speakers, I need to use the Windows drivers for my soundcard--my motherboard doesn't support 5.1.
I'm fairly certain (but possibly wrong) that if there aren't Linux drivers for Debian, then there aren't Linux drivers for Gentoo; last time I checked, they both use the Linux kernel.
To me at least, listening to music is a "tangible benefit."
Also, compatability is an issue to me. At my place of work and school, Office documents are used. Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Access, and Visio. I know OO.o has drastically improved crossover, but it still isn't flawless. In fact, is there a way to edit Access databases and Visio files in Linux? And when my teacher or boss want something emailed to him flawless, I'm expected to deliver. I can't risk it, because as understanding as most people are, many don't want to hear a new-age "my dog ate it" excuse.
Also at work I need Photoshop and Macromedia Flash. There aren't Linux ports that can accomplish what I need. There's the Gimp, but I can't take the time right now to learn it as well as I would need to know it for my job.
Yes, I could get another machine and run Linux on it, and not dual-boot, but as a high school student who puts 80% of the money he makes towards saving for college, I don't really want to dish out the money. So then why don't I just run Windows? Am I some sort of "hippie" because I run Linux, but don't really need to and don't really know what I want out of my machine? I don't think so. Because I use my machine for more than work and media-centered entertainment. I'd like to "learn Linux" (define that as you wish--perhaps taking the time to figure out the coreutils or desktop), and feel that using it as much as possible is the best way to do that. Unfortunately, in my MS-dominated outside world, completely switching to Linux isn't feasible right now.
Could antivirus software's realtime protection work against this virus as well?
It could stop activity such as batch file manipulations as they occur, and prompt the user whether or not (s)he wants the action to continue. It would be similar to the "Worm Activity" warning I get from McAfee when I send emails using a distrubution list with a large number of people on it--McAfee AV stops the mail from sending until I explicitly allow it. Thus, the AV protection for this extortion virus could stop mass file manipulations until explicit consent is given.
I like using Last.fm because it's player is open-source and available for both Linux and WinXP. For me, that's critical, because I dualboot my PC between those two OSs, and have my music on a separate partition that's accessible by both.
I'm not sure if that's the case with the other services, but I've been happy with Last.fm
Then there's a difference between taking a copy of software and borrowing a copy of a book from a library. When I finish reading the book, it goes back to the library. It is illegal for me to photocopy the book while it's in my possession; after I return the book, I can't read it anymore. With software, I'm not borrowing a copy of a CD. The CD isn't valuable. The license is. I can return the CD to a friend and still have the program on my computer--illegally, unless my friend uninstalled it from his PC when I installed it on mine.
I pirate software. A lot. Like, a lot as in multiple versions of Photoshop and Premier and Flash and SoftICE and Visual Basic and Cakewalk and ... ... ... (note to all you NSA guys reading this and then reporting me to the copyright offices: I am not legally bound to my statements, and everthing I'm writing is just to make a point. Basically, I'm denying I pirate software.)
But I know that what I'm doing is in direct contradiction with the EULAs that I was forced to accept before installing those disc images I found using PirateBay and isoHunt.
Thus, wouldn't what I'm doing, even if it isn't violating any copywrite laws or content management schemes, be still violating basic contract-accountability laws? I hit "Accept" under the conditions that I've read and agreed to the EULA.
No matter what loophole or excuse I come up with in my mind to justify grabbing a copy of Photoshop from the torrent community or burning a copy of a friend's disc, I'm still acting illegally when I install the software using a crack, keygen, or somebody else's key, simply because I accepted the End Use License Agreement.
I've told myself that Adobe isn't losing a sale of Premiere, because I wouldn't have bought it anyways. I've told myself that it's okay to use Photoshop because I tried theGimp and didn't like it as an alternative. I've told myself that the Flash 8 Pro development environment is a fair download because I can't find an alternative. But at the end of the day, I still broke the law. Plain and simple. I broke the law.
Whether I agree with the law or not... that's a different issue.