You say: "It isn't reasonable that the hardware would outlast the software" Why?
Computer hardware is a physical, durable object which, if well manufactured, is limited only by capacitor and fan failures.
Software is an intangible, constantly changing abstraction which is under constant attack by humans.
Hardware does not break unless you drop it off a balcony. Software breaks because some nerd had nothing better to do.
Which would you expect to last longer?
Moreover, keeping your hardware running costs $0. Keeping your defunct OS running costs dozens of salaries. Windows 7 runs fine on a netbook, so it should run fine on your elderly hardware, and you are actually funding the service you desire. Capitalism.
IF PEOPLE DON'T LIKE M$ the can buy a Mac or (gasp) install GNU/Linux. If you can't stand this, you had better ask the nanny state to keep your OS up to date, because that's the only financially viable system of letting you keep using your ten year old computer without security worries or upgrading your software. (That said, I am not totally opposed to a socialized OS, but I think social funding of Linux would be more productive than reinventing the wheel.)
I'm pretty sure even if that did not have copyright they would not be obligated to give you the source code... If you wrote a great book, you are under no obligation to actually distribute it.
What you are talking about is the software being non-free (libre). Copyright merely protects them from you creating and selling (modified or unmodified) copies of the software, with the exception of fair use, which is so poorly defined (legally) that it's a joke.
The key word in your claim is "safety". Your use of Windows XP is not going to kill you. The reason car manufacturers care so much about recalling flawed components is that fatalities make for _really_ bad publicity.
Second, non-trivial software on non-trivial hardware is not perfectly secure _ever_. If you want a perfect product, you had better start shopping for a new universe. If you wanted infinite support, you should have gone with an open source product which you can support yourself (or purchase that support if you have a big enough wallet).
By purchasing and installing Windows XP you are entering into a contract with Microsoft that they will support your product for a reasonable amount of time. That time is over.
This is capitalism. If you don't like Microsoft's level of support, you are perfectly free to seek an alternative. If Microsoft has been illegally anti-competitive, feel free to bring suit. But don't think that you as the consumer get to dictate what the company does, outside of your contract and your economic powers.
Just so you don't think I am some fan-boy, I switched to Linux years ago and have never looked back. Capitalism at work. (I switched more because of the price of non-OEM licensing. $200 for an OS on a $400 computer? No thank you.)
The only reason XP was sold into 2010 was to cover the netbook market until the release of 7 (primarily due to how bad Vista was on slower machines). Other licenses were not sold after 2008.
The figure you are citing, 2009, was the end of mainstream service. To quote the wikipedia article you linked:
On April 14, 2009, Windows XP and its family of operating systems reached the end of their mainstream support period and entered the extended support phase as it marks the progression of the legacy operating system through the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy. During the extended support phase, Microsoft continues to provide security updates every month for Windows XP;... Extended support will end on April 8, 2014â"after which no more security patches or new support information will be provided. While many organizations did not upgrade from XP due to the poor reception of Vista, Microsoft has since recommended that they migrate to newer versions of Windows due to the impending end of support.[2][114]
The writing has been on the wall for over five years. I don't know how much more they can do. Support a dead product indefinitely?
Microsoft is not breaking the OS, they are ceasing support. You make it sound like they are the boogie man killing babies for profit. They are not spending any more money on a 12-year-old product which generates 0 revenue.
Sorry; Should M$ produce products out of the good of their hearts? Or perhaps they should enslave those 1st world programmers so maintaining the OS doesn't cost so much? Or maybe you would rather everyone everywhere stayed on XP forever?
That stuff is TOP sercret to you.
How dare they not break userspace because a single source of entropy is questionable?!?!
I vote we just remove/dev/random entirely. Clearly everyone should write their own entropy algorithms so NSA can't coerce anyone. In fact, lets remove/dev.
This capability has been implemented for years. The DARPA Grand Challenge has had many capable entrants, including (I believe) CMU. All of the described behavior was required years ago in the Grand Challenge.
The NQE for the Urban Challenge was divided into three separate test areas, each with its own flavor and set of challenges:
The NQE A test course required robots to safely merge into and out of two-way traffic in a tight, circulating course. Needless to say, this led to some hair-raising moments for some of the traffic drivers. Besides the complex timing and scoring being recorded by course officials, traffic drivers would alert officials to aggressive behavior with an ever-popular horn blast. Amazingly, in eight days of testing, only one traffic vehicle was actually struck by a robotic vehicle, a testament to the progress of the teams and DARPAâ(TM)s focus on safety.
The meandering NQE B course tested robots on their ability to stay within a lane as they traversed this 2.8-mile course. One section, affectionately termed âoeThe Gauntletâ required the robots to delicately maneuver through a series of parallel parked cars and road obstacles. A final test on the NQE B course required the robots to find an assigned parking spot between adjacent parked cars, then safely pull into and back out of the spot before proceeding on its mission.
NQE C was traffic intensive, consisting of a series of four-way stop intersections for the robot to negotiate, each with its own arrangement of traffic. Robots had to recognize the other vehicles at these intersections, determine the order of precedence and then safely proceed through the intersection when it was their turn. For the second half of the NQE C course, various road blocks were emplaced and the robots were tested on their ability to recognize the road block, execute a U-turn and dynamically replan a new route to complete their mission.
1) Participating in an activity is a boolean, and therefore cannot be "averaged" in the conventional sense. 2) The vast majority of the student body of all schools I'm aware of are not on the football team.
This is why I just bought an nVIdia video card.:(
I would prefer AMD products if they had competitive drivers and performance...
Plus, there is a hardware reason for preferring nVidia on Linux if you use wine to play Windows games: You can disable the shaders. This is impossible on ATI cards.:(
I've liked AMD as a name since my k6-2, but my game machine is still intel and nVidia. My HTPC and Laptop are a different story.
Perhaps talk of principles should be dropped. Lets just call them leeches:)
Some people are fine with being parasites.
I would argue that if you don't feel that a product is worth the price tag, then don't use that product. Using it without paying -- even in a way which does not necesarily affect others -- is weak. Sorry, those of you who feel entitled to Game of Thrones. The books are better, anyway.
Marijuanna is still illegal everywhere in the USA by federal law, and the DEA (federal agency) performs raids and busts on otherwise licensed, tax paying, and law abiding operations.
Calling marijuanna a Schedule I drug in the first place is a joke. Funny, since it was in the pharmicopia prior to prohibition (Schedule I drugs are supposed to have no recognized medical value), and is impossible to overdose... For reference, heroin is classified Schedule I, but cocaine and meth are only Schedule II.
DOJ/DEA way off base without even getting into states' rights arguements.
I even tell people these days that Linux is easier to install than Windows. While very new hardware can still be problematic (Llano drivers a few years ago come to mind), in general the installation process is: 1) Hit next several times. 2) Enter a user name and password. 3) Everything works.
Hunting for drivers on Windows, especially for legacy devices, hurts my brain. When I plug my 15 year old webcam into a Mint box it just works. So in that respect I agree with GP:)
No one is using it as a weapon. Apple decided not to negotiate for licensing at all, nor did it pay the standard licensing fees. It decided to take whatever FRAND tech it wanted and see if the courts did anything about it. Meanwhile they throw their own patents around.
Everybody else is either paying for it, or providing cross licensing. Apple is leeching off the industry. R&D costs money, and the only way we avoid proprietary repinned USB on everything is through SEPs being worthwhile. The whole system falls apart if an entity (apple, here) can steal FRAND tech for free.
We are just getting out of the everyone-has-a-seperate-charging-scheme device paradigm Do you really want to go back? How about device specific accessories?
Finally: Samsung is not the troll here....
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20130728091353477http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20130723123630784
etc
The fact that standards essential patents exist indicates that they have monetary value and owners are deserving of compensation upon use. If they were supposed to be free, there would just be a method for terminating the patent. You don't need a patent for unenforceable material.
1) Companies understand that standardization is good for both producers and consumers. USB, Blue Tooth, etc, make everyone's lives easier.
2) Companies (rightly) expect to be compensated for spending R&D time and money on a system which is so good that everyone agrees to use it.
3) Companies agree to make a patent "standards essential" in order to assure other companies that they won't have the proverbial rug pulled from under them when a license deal ends, and with the understanding that cooperation in the market will be strictly enforced.
Slashdot Mirror
You say:
"It isn't reasonable that the hardware would outlast the software"
Why?
Computer hardware is a physical, durable object which, if well manufactured, is limited only by capacitor and fan failures.
Software is an intangible, constantly changing abstraction which is under constant attack by humans.
Hardware does not break unless you drop it off a balcony.
Software breaks because some nerd had nothing better to do.
Which would you expect to last longer?
Moreover, keeping your hardware running costs $0.
Keeping your defunct OS running costs dozens of salaries. Windows 7 runs fine on a netbook, so it should run fine on your elderly hardware, and you are actually funding the service you desire. Capitalism.
IF PEOPLE DON'T LIKE M$ the can buy a Mac or (gasp) install GNU/Linux. If you can't stand this, you had better ask the nanny state to keep your OS up to date, because that's the only financially viable system of letting you keep using your ten year old computer without security worries or upgrading your software.
(That said, I am not totally opposed to a socialized OS, but I think social funding of Linux would be more productive than reinventing the wheel.)
I'm pretty sure even if that did not have copyright they would not be obligated to give you the source code... If you wrote a great book, you are under no obligation to actually distribute it. What you are talking about is the software being non-free (libre). Copyright merely protects them from you creating and selling (modified or unmodified) copies of the software, with the exception of fair use, which is so poorly defined (legally) that it's a joke.
The key word in your claim is "safety". Your use of Windows XP is not going to kill you. The reason car manufacturers care so much about recalling flawed components is that fatalities make for _really_ bad publicity.
Second, non-trivial software on non-trivial hardware is not perfectly secure _ever_. If you want a perfect product, you had better start shopping for a new universe. If you wanted infinite support, you should have gone with an open source product which you can support yourself (or purchase that support if you have a big enough wallet).
By purchasing and installing Windows XP you are entering into a contract with Microsoft that they will support your product for a reasonable amount of time. That time is over.
This is capitalism. If you don't like Microsoft's level of support, you are perfectly free to seek an alternative. If Microsoft has been illegally anti-competitive, feel free to bring suit.
But don't think that you as the consumer get to dictate what the company does, outside of your contract and your economic powers.
Just so you don't think I am some fan-boy, I switched to Linux years ago and have never looked back. Capitalism at work. (I switched more because of the price of non-OEM licensing. $200 for an OS on a $400 computer? No thank you.)
The only reason XP was sold into 2010 was to cover the netbook market until the release of 7 (primarily due to how bad Vista was on slower machines). Other licenses were not sold after 2008.
The figure you are citing, 2009, was the end of mainstream service. To quote the wikipedia article you linked:
On April 14, 2009, Windows XP and its family of operating systems reached the end of their mainstream support period and entered the extended support phase as it marks the progression of the legacy operating system through the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy. During the extended support phase, Microsoft continues to provide security updates every month for Windows XP; ... Extended support will end on April 8, 2014â"after which no more security patches or new support information will be provided. While many organizations did not upgrade from XP due to the poor reception of Vista, Microsoft has since recommended that they migrate to newer versions of Windows due to the impending end of support.[2][114]
The writing has been on the wall for over five years. I don't know how much more they can do. Support a dead product indefinitely?
Microsoft is not breaking the OS, they are ceasing support. You make it sound like they are the boogie man killing babies for profit. They are not spending any more money on a 12-year-old product which generates 0 revenue.
Sorry; Should M$ produce products out of the good of their hearts? Or perhaps they should enslave those 1st world programmers so maintaining the OS doesn't cost so much? Or maybe you would rather everyone everywhere stayed on XP forever?
That stuff is TOP sercret to you. How dare they not break userspace because a single source of entropy is questionable?!?! I vote we just remove /dev/random entirely. Clearly everyone should write their own entropy algorithms so NSA can't coerce anyone. In fact, lets remove /dev.
Best comment in thread. Someone please mod up parent.
This capability has been implemented for years. The DARPA Grand Challenge has had many capable entrants, including (I believe) CMU. All of the described behavior was required years ago in the Grand Challenge.
See DARPA Urban Challege 2007:
http://archive.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/
To even qualify:
National Qualification Event
The NQE for the Urban Challenge was divided into three separate test areas, each with its own flavor and set of challenges:
The NQE A test course required robots to safely merge into and out of two-way traffic in a tight, circulating course. Needless to say, this led to some hair-raising moments for some of the traffic drivers. Besides the complex timing and scoring being recorded by course officials, traffic drivers would alert officials to aggressive behavior with an ever-popular horn blast. Amazingly, in eight days of testing, only one traffic vehicle was actually struck by a robotic vehicle, a testament to the progress of the teams and DARPAâ(TM)s focus on safety.
The meandering NQE B course tested robots on their ability to stay within a lane as they traversed this 2.8-mile course. One section, affectionately termed âoeThe Gauntletâ required the robots to delicately maneuver through a series of parallel parked cars and road obstacles. A final test on the NQE B course required the robots to find an assigned parking spot between adjacent parked cars, then safely pull into and back out of the spot before proceeding on its mission.
NQE C was traffic intensive, consisting of a series of four-way stop intersections for the robot to negotiate, each with its own arrangement of traffic. Robots had to recognize the other vehicles at these intersections, determine the order of precedence and then safely proceed through the intersection when it was their turn. For the second half of the NQE C course, various road blocks were emplaced and the robots were tested on their ability to recognize the road block, execute a U-turn and dynamically replan a new route to complete their mission.
False. This will never work. That acronym is an abomination. I'm serious.
1) Participating in an activity is a boolean, and therefore cannot be "averaged" in the conventional sense.
2) The vast majority of the student body of all schools I'm aware of are not on the football team.
Andre the seal.
This is why I just bought an nVIdia video card. :(
I would prefer AMD products if they had competitive drivers and performance...
Plus, there is a hardware reason for preferring nVidia on Linux if you use wine to play Windows games: You can disable the shaders. This is impossible on ATI cards. :(
I've liked AMD as a name since my k6-2, but my game machine is still intel and nVidia. My HTPC and Laptop are a different story.
And yet my $400 HP Llano notbook has made me more satisfied than any laptop I've had in the past :)
The average student would never program their calculator.
That's some very good "No Child Left Behind" logic you've got there. Next up: the average student does not play football.
All lies!
:) Good pun, but I am honestly confused every time I see RPM.
But I read the patent title!
I pulled from the USA Department of Justice website:
http://www.justice.gov/dea/druginfo/ds.shtml
It's a strange system set more for political reasons than science or fact. Helps keep our racial minorities in jail...
Federal law and Dungeons & Dragons.
In that case Netflix has been working just fine for months ;)
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/linux-and-open-source/how-to-get-netflix-streaming-on-ubuntu-1210/
I have a Mint box in the living room, and the only reason I currently have a Netflix sub is the Ubuntu workaround.
The new method sounds like a step up, though.
Perhaps talk of principles should be dropped. Lets just call them leeches :)
Some people are fine with being parasites.
I would argue that if you don't feel that a product is worth the price tag, then don't use that product. Using it without paying -- even in a way which does not necesarily affect others -- is weak. Sorry, those of you who feel entitled to Game of Thrones. The books are better, anyway.
Marijuanna is still illegal everywhere in the USA by federal law, and the DEA (federal agency) performs raids and busts on otherwise licensed, tax paying, and law abiding operations.
Calling marijuanna a Schedule I drug in the first place is a joke. Funny, since it was in the pharmicopia prior to prohibition (Schedule I drugs are supposed to have no recognized medical value), and is impossible to overdose... For reference, heroin is classified Schedule I, but cocaine and meth are only Schedule II.
DOJ/DEA way off base without even getting into states' rights arguements.
I even tell people these days that Linux is easier to install than Windows. While very new hardware can still be problematic (Llano drivers a few years ago come to mind), in general the installation process is:
1) Hit next several times.
2) Enter a user name and password.
3) Everything works.
Hunting for drivers on Windows, especially for legacy devices, hurts my brain. When I plug my 15 year old webcam into a Mint box it just works. So in that respect I agree with GP :)
No one is using it as a weapon. Apple decided not to negotiate for licensing at all, nor did it pay the standard licensing fees. It decided to take whatever FRAND tech it wanted and see if the courts did anything about it. Meanwhile they throw their own patents around. Everybody else is either paying for it, or providing cross licensing. Apple is leeching off the industry. R&D costs money, and the only way we avoid proprietary repinned USB on everything is through SEPs being worthwhile. The whole system falls apart if an entity (apple, here) can steal FRAND tech for free. We are just getting out of the everyone-has-a-seperate-charging-scheme device paradigm Do you really want to go back? How about device specific accessories? Finally: Samsung is not the troll here.... http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20130728091353477 http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20130723123630784 etc
The fact that standards essential patents exist indicates that they have monetary value and owners are deserving of compensation upon use. If they were supposed to be free, there would just be a method for terminating the patent. You don't need a patent for unenforceable material.
1) Companies understand that standardization is good for both producers and consumers. USB, Blue Tooth, etc, make everyone's lives easier.
2) Companies (rightly) expect to be compensated for spending R&D time and money on a system which is so good that everyone agrees to use it.
3) Companies agree to make a patent "standards essential" in order to assure other companies that they won't have the proverbial rug pulled from under them when a license deal ends, and with the understanding that cooperation in the market will be strictly enforced.