They are using the patented Gracenote API which FreeDB is offering. I do think that if Roxio was using the non-patented FreeDB API instead of the Gracenote API, there would be no problems and no possible reason to sue.
But they have provided no evidence whatsoever that GPL'd software is bad for users
No, I don't think he is arguing this. He is arguing the GPL is bad for large corporations that are intending to sell software, such as Microsoft. He criticized (with good merit) the Eazel/Red Hat/other GPL software business model -- not the business model of IBM or SGI who support Linux to sell hardware or other non-GPL software. The effect of the GPL on users is not really the point here.
I mean just because the Egyptian's Tale of Noh and his zoo boat are strikingly similar to Noah and his ark doesnt mean that the phrase "Love your neighbor as yourself" is worthless. Its a good way to live, reguardless of whether theres a heaven, whether you go there, or how much it costs to get in.
The only problem is that the bible also teaches some brutally horrible things as well, such as: the killing of homosexuals, limiting the rights of women, intolerance to other religions (evangalism), guilting children into believing they and their bodies are evil, and a lack of reliance on medicines. (links to follow when I get back from work) Now of course all religious people don't believe such things, and most don't agree with any other things that I mentioned, and aren't even aware of what is contained in their "holy bible" that they truck around with them. But if we could try to be "good" people without the christian baggage...
The way I see it is that those that believe get their enjoyable experience from it, and those that don't should be protected under seperation of church and state.
sorry, isn't your email address say that you are from kansas state university? You should know too well what happens when blind faith takes hold too strongly in the education system.
I know I'm late, but I hope this lays down the myth for once and for all that a support business model implies buggy software.
I still think that it's a myth.
No, where the real money is, is in corporate support,
okay, lets look at it
ie training,
Now RedHat is going to train our employees?? Why would they provide better training than existing training facilities? We didn't go to IBM to get Notes training, and we don't talk with Microsoft for Windows or NT Server training.
custom development
Custom development? I assume you don't mean custom application development, but pay-per-feature inclusions? but if redhat does them and ships them under GPL, the company that paid RedHat would have their competitors get the product for free. we are talking GPL remember.
update services
apt-get is free. you pay for redhat because you like the company or something?
and of course being a target for the PHB's to point at when things go wrong.
being a target is not a way to make money. If you are implying pay-per-incident support that "business model implies buggy software." to quote your words.
RedHat has successfully built a great brand around a product that they share with their competitors. So long as distro's like Mandrake exist, companies will not invest millions of dollars to get what they could for free. GPL==great for individuals, small projects, and bug fixes, but horrible for making money.
However, the inability to learn new things is most certainly a sign of stupidity
Non-technical people should have a very limited technical requirement to do their job, just as a technical person should have a very limited marketing requirement to do their job. I am not forgiving all stupidity by non-technical people, obviously that is rampant (I've worked in IT support, so I share your frustration). But I do know that it is the proper job of IT to make the systems as simple as possible so that the non-technical people can do their jobs without too much complexity or inefficiency.
Each week could focus on a different ship or location in the Federation universe. Cast could be totally fresh each episode, or there could easily be recurring characters if they got popular (including guest appearances by Trek actors from the other series).
Do you have any idea how much that would cost? The Outer Limits survives because of its low budget -- imagine if every show was set in space and require substantial new special effects every episode?
Not that it's a bad idea, but we already have the outer limits for that purpose -- why should star trek imitate a less popular show (even though twilight zone and outer limits are better shows IMO)
. Maybe someone will develop a modified version of the professor's software to check their paper against the original and insert a synonym every five words or something.
That sounds like WAY too much effort to go to before writing the damn paper yourself. IF you are so far out of your element that you can write a computer program to randomly insert proper synonyms into the paper every five words, but cannot manage to write a paper... maybe change your field!
. Maybe someone will develop a modified version of the professor's software to check their paper against the original and insert a synonym every five words or something.
That sounds like WAY too much effort to go to before writing the damn paper yourself. IF you are so far out of your element that you can write a computer program to randomly insert proper synonyms into the paper every five words, but cannot manage to write a paper... maybe change your field!
Instead of software as the product, it's the service and hand holding that sells. That's what end users want. They are buying a solution, not a program.
I haven't heard that in a while... I thought the idea of selling software support as a service went out with the dodo.
Face it: the only companies that will make good money off of GPL software are the hardware companies. Large corporations backing Linux are all companies that either sell hardware, or closed-source software on top of Linux. People aren't going to pay good money for something that they can get for free... especially now that Linux is easier to install and more user-friendly.
Can you elaborate in more detail on what you mean?
What I mean is: the P3 has clearly capped out as is, and Intel is not going to push it any further than it has already done (consider that they are shipping the P4 before it's fully ready for prime-time, which should be in a few months when the.13 micron process is ready).
(I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just curious to see which website you'll cut and paste from to explain something you clearly have no clue about beyond quoting a bullet point or two)
Asshole. I've been following the AMD vs. Intel struggles for 3 years as a consumer, investor, and enthusiast. FYI, if I were to cut-n-past, it would likely be from The Register or from Tom's Hardware. I'll let you look up articles yourself... And I put my money where my mouth is: following the news I bought AMD options heavy and am up over 200% this year so far, so I am not just some uninformed yahoo. I admit, and have admitted in the post you replied to, that I am not an expert in the field... but that gives you no right to say that I "clearly have no clue" simply because you insinuate that you have a clue without demonstrating it.
yerricde, who replied to you, explained it nicely so I won't bother again, since others understand it better that I. What I do "have a clue" about, is that Intel was caught with their pants down because they figured that Moore's Law would be predictable and they geared the company, from R&D to Fabrication, around that flawed principle.
apologies, I was drinking and watching The Sopranos... that's why this reads as a rant more than I mean it.
Maybe you forget that there isn't a difference in the number of transistors in P3 600's and P3 1000's. Clock speed has nothing to do with Moores "Law".
This is of course true, and I admit that I am not an expert in this field. But what I do know is that the P3 was (is?) not properly designed to run at 1000MHz, instead it's upper limit was designed to be approx. 600-800MHz. I have been led to believe that this has something to do with the transistors, but I could be wrong. Apologies if so.
Intel "released" their 1GHz P3 in a display of the best (worst?) examples of vaporware that I can think of offhand. Even now, the production of 1GHz P3s are not as they should be.
Intel became brainwashed into thinking that Moore's Law was an actual law, instead of a generally observed trend over the past several years. Yes, it has been quite a sustained trend, but still... not a Law in the sense of a proper Law.
Intel's problem was that they built their company around this "Law" and were surprised when little AMD didn't seem to care that they were going ahead of Moore's schedule! And Intel had so many plants around the world that it is taking them until now to upgrade them to the point where they should have been a long time ago to maintain technological leadership.
I remember reading last year that when AMD was beating the pants off of them with the 1G Athlon, Intel was still revved for producing P3-600's, more in line with Moore's law.
As much as people don't like to admit it, marketing really does push products. I never used Stormix, so I don't know what kind of product it was. I do know that I didn't know enough about it.
In my opinion, the biggest problem with Stormix was that they had no corporate focus. I had a friend who worked for Stormix up until December, and I asked him: Why choose Stormix over another Linux distro? And he never had a really good answer to that... how can a company survive without that? Eventually, he was saying that the distro was just "advertising" for their firewall product, but even that was not compelling.
So it's not just a marketing problem... they should have picked one thing (problably their firewall product) and ignored the stuff that did not matter. To me, that was the biggest problem with Stormix. Keep in mind most of this is second hand...
Still, we all have some nice "primary key" attached to us, like the social security number...
Don't forget your phone number -- its among the top tools for tracking individuals across databases. If you can manage it, try to give a shared office number for people you fear might be tracking you...
a lot of cosmology has more to do with faith than with fact
You are completely wrong, to state it bluntly. As Christopher Thomas has just mentioned, there are a lot of fact-based testible predictions, while faith has none. Simply because science cannot tell us with 100% certainty how the universe came to be, we do not require faith to examine the possibilities! The quote from the article says it all: "Steinhardt concedes that the theory explains the known universe as well as the Big Collision". Note the alarming lack of faith in the tone there? Compare that with a preacher who will tell you with a straight face that the earth was created 6000 years ago even though everything in the world screams that it is not so... see the difference between fact and faith? Faith takes a person to jump to certainly where there is no certainty to be had. Science at least can provide us with explanations based on facts and reasons that can be tested and predict future occurance. Don't confuse "cosmology" with "astrology" friend.. you'll find that there are a lot of differences to be had (tho sometimes astrology can be more fun!).
leaked memo cut out the Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (please).
To be honest: I fear uncontrolled biased news agencies reporting on their sprawling interests. I am uncertain how much it affects the news media that we read every day. And I doubt that we can trust them 100% of the time, so it is really nice when they inform us of financial ties to the orgs they report on.
Do I think/. was out of line in this case (and in general)? No, and I said that, and I'm certainly not making any specific accusation. But I do fear unchecked bias, and I stand by it. And yes, I do enjoy Brill's...
Hold your horses, buddy. It's not like Slahdot wrote the article, they just pointed it out.
Do I really need to write this? They get so many submissions that they can essentially bias the news by selecting submissions that fit their bias. I'm not saying that there is a Pro-VALinux bias showing (infact I suspect the opposite), but there is a lot of room for editorial conflict of interest here.
Either way, surely Slashdot is allowed to report on things related to VA Linux?
Yes, but it's nice if they inform us of a possible conflict of interest, even if it is minor. Otherwise you just can't trust 'em. Would you trust a ABC News report about how great the new Disneyland ride is????
Security is as security does. Downloading a binary from an untrusted source isn't a whole lot more risky than downloading an indecipherable source code to compile.
True... but if you read the article they have some good suggestions for package creators (see "Building RPM's"). Basically, you can get the RPM to install on a non-root account, which would avoid some of the potential dangers of installing RPM's (either complied or "indecipherable source code").
"I hate ALL political parties"
"It bothers me to see a blanket statement against any group."
Do I need to draw a diagram here?
Perhaps the point was made a litte too broadly, he should have stated: "I hate BOTH of the major parties in the US" or "I hate the American party system". But I think most of the people got the point.
OK, from the Times article, all I can gather is that the MLB wants to charge for access to feeds that were (until now) available for free. So what? Are they not allowed to do whatever they want with their own content?
I can see one potential problem that was not addressed by the short article. Usually local radio stations broadcast the games, and often they webcast as well. If MLB is trying to block them from webcasting the games, that is ridiculous, and a problem... But I don't see that in the article.
But if your only problem is that it's not for free anymore, tough, deal with it. It's THEIR content and they can charge whatever the want for it... if they charge too much watch or listen to someone else.
good question! but there were a couple of other posts that raised the same question. My guess: he saw the error on the front page, hit "read more", and copied from the recently updated page without reading. I'm only guessing because there were some other posts with similar comments:
But they obviously updated it pretty quick. Still, it's rude to do it without informing anybody, makes people look dumb. It happened to me once about a year back (and got me modded down).
One intesting question that I have never seen resolved, including in the article: What is the difference between Windows XP Home and Windows XP Pro? (besides the price)
Because I imagine they want WinXP Pro to replace NT/2000 workstations, and WinXP Home to replace Win9X PCs... but I have yet to see a projected feature breakdown. Any insight from anyone out there?
Slashdot Mirror
How is Roxio causing a problem here?
They are using the patented Gracenote API which FreeDB is offering. I do think that if Roxio was using the non-patented FreeDB API instead of the Gracenote API, there would be no problems and no possible reason to sue.
-rt-
But they have provided no evidence whatsoever that GPL'd software is bad for users
No, I don't think he is arguing this. He is arguing the GPL is bad for large corporations that are intending to sell software, such as Microsoft. He criticized (with good merit) the Eazel/Red Hat/other GPL software business model -- not the business model of IBM or SGI who support Linux to sell hardware or other non-GPL software. The effect of the GPL on users is not really the point here.
-rt-
I mean just because the Egyptian's Tale of Noh and his zoo boat are strikingly similar to Noah and his ark doesnt mean that the phrase "Love your neighbor as yourself" is worthless. Its a good way to live, reguardless of whether theres a heaven, whether you go there, or how much it costs to get in.
...
The only problem is that the bible also teaches some brutally horrible things as well, such as: the killing of homosexuals, limiting the rights of women, intolerance to other religions (evangalism), guilting children into believing they and their bodies are evil, and a lack of reliance on medicines. (links to follow when I get back from work) Now of course all religious people don't believe such things, and most don't agree with any other things that I mentioned, and aren't even aware of what is contained in their "holy bible" that they truck around with them. But if we could try to be "good" people without the christian baggage
The way I see it is that those that believe get their enjoyable experience from it, and those that don't should be protected under seperation of church and state.
sorry, isn't your email address say that you are from kansas state university? You should know too well what happens when blind faith takes hold too strongly in the education system.
-rt-
I know I'm late, but I hope this lays down the myth for once and for all that a support business model implies buggy software.
I still think that it's a myth.
No, where the real money is, is in corporate support,
okay, lets look at it
ie training,
Now RedHat is going to train our employees?? Why would they provide better training than existing training facilities? We didn't go to IBM to get Notes training, and we don't talk with Microsoft for Windows or NT Server training.
custom development
Custom development? I assume you don't mean custom application development, but pay-per-feature inclusions? but if redhat does them and ships them under GPL, the company that paid RedHat would have their competitors get the product for free. we are talking GPL remember.
update services
apt-get is free. you pay for redhat because you like the company or something?
and of course being a target for the PHB's to point at when things go wrong.
being a target is not a way to make money. If you are implying pay-per-incident support that "business model implies buggy software." to quote your words.
RedHat has successfully built a great brand around a product that they share with their competitors. So long as distro's like Mandrake exist, companies will not invest millions of dollars to get what they could for free. GPL==great for individuals, small projects, and bug fixes, but horrible for making money.
-rt-
However, the inability to learn new things is most certainly a sign of stupidity
Non-technical people should have a very limited technical requirement to do their job, just as a technical person should have a very limited marketing requirement to do their job. I am not forgiving all stupidity by non-technical people, obviously that is rampant (I've worked in IT support, so I share your frustration). But I do know that it is the proper job of IT to make the systems as simple as possible so that the non-technical people can do their jobs without too much complexity or inefficiency.
-rt-
Each week could focus on a different ship or location in the Federation universe. Cast could be totally fresh each episode, or there could easily be recurring characters if they got popular (including guest appearances by Trek actors from the other series).
Do you have any idea how much that would cost? The Outer Limits survives because of its low budget -- imagine if every show was set in space and require substantial new special effects every episode?
Not that it's a bad idea, but we already have the outer limits for that purpose -- why should star trek imitate a less popular show (even though twilight zone and outer limits are better shows IMO)
-rt-
. Maybe someone will develop a modified version of the professor's software to check their paper against the original and insert a synonym every five words or something.
That sounds like WAY too much effort to go to before writing the damn paper yourself. IF you are so far out of your element that you can write a computer program to randomly insert proper synonyms into the paper every five words, but cannot manage to write a paper... maybe change your field!
-rt-
. Maybe someone will develop a modified version of the professor's software to check their paper against the original and insert a synonym every five words or something.
That sounds like WAY too much effort to go to before writing the damn paper yourself. IF you are so far out of your element that you can write a computer program to randomly insert proper synonyms into the paper every five words, but cannot manage to write a paper... maybe change your field!
-rt-
Instead of software as the product, it's the service and hand holding that sells. That's what end users want. They are buying a solution, not a program.
I haven't heard that in a while... I thought the idea of selling software support as a service went out with the dodo.
Face it: the only companies that will make good money off of GPL software are the hardware companies. Large corporations backing Linux are all companies that either sell hardware, or closed-source software on top of Linux. People aren't going to pay good money for something that they can get for free... especially now that Linux is easier to install and more user-friendly.
-rt-
Can you elaborate in more detail on what you mean?
.13 micron process is ready).
What I mean is: the P3 has clearly capped out as is, and Intel is not going to push it any further than it has already done (consider that they are shipping the P4 before it's fully ready for prime-time, which should be in a few months when the
(I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just curious to see which website you'll cut and paste from to explain something you clearly have no clue about beyond quoting a bullet point or two)
Asshole. I've been following the AMD vs. Intel struggles for 3 years as a consumer, investor, and enthusiast. FYI, if I were to cut-n-past, it would likely be from The Register or from Tom's Hardware. I'll let you look up articles yourself... And I put my money where my mouth is: following the news I bought AMD options heavy and am up over 200% this year so far, so I am not just some uninformed yahoo. I admit, and have admitted in the post you replied to, that I am not an expert in the field... but that gives you no right to say that I "clearly have no clue" simply because you insinuate that you have a clue without demonstrating it.
yerricde, who replied to you, explained it nicely so I won't bother again, since others understand it better that I. What I do "have a clue" about, is that Intel was caught with their pants down because they figured that Moore's Law would be predictable and they geared the company, from R&D to Fabrication, around that flawed principle.
apologies, I was drinking and watching The Sopranos... that's why this reads as a rant more than I mean it.
-rt-
Maybe you forget that there isn't a difference in the number of transistors in P3 600's and P3 1000's. Clock speed has nothing to do with Moores "Law".
This is of course true, and I admit that I am not an expert in this field. But what I do know is that the P3 was (is?) not properly designed to run at 1000MHz, instead it's upper limit was designed to be approx. 600-800MHz. I have been led to believe that this has something to do with the transistors, but I could be wrong. Apologies if so.
-rt-
Intel "released" their 1GHz P3 in a display of the best (worst?) examples of vaporware that I can think of offhand. Even now, the production of 1GHz P3s are not as they should be.
-rt-
Intel became brainwashed into thinking that Moore's Law was an actual law, instead of a generally observed trend over the past several years. Yes, it has been quite a sustained trend, but still... not a Law in the sense of a proper Law.
Intel's problem was that they built their company around this "Law" and were surprised when little AMD didn't seem to care that they were going ahead of Moore's schedule! And Intel had so many plants around the world that it is taking them until now to upgrade them to the point where they should have been a long time ago to maintain technological leadership.
I remember reading last year that when AMD was beating the pants off of them with the 1G Athlon, Intel was still revved for producing P3-600's, more in line with Moore's law.
-rt-
As much as people don't like to admit it, marketing really does push products. I never used Stormix, so I don't know what kind of product it was. I do know that I didn't know enough about it.
In my opinion, the biggest problem with Stormix was that they had no corporate focus. I had a friend who worked for Stormix up until December, and I asked him: Why choose Stormix over another Linux distro? And he never had a really good answer to that... how can a company survive without that? Eventually, he was saying that the distro was just "advertising" for their firewall product, but even that was not compelling.
So it's not just a marketing problem... they should have picked one thing (problably their firewall product) and ignored the stuff that did not matter. To me, that was the biggest problem with Stormix. Keep in mind most of this is second hand...
-rt-
Still, we all have some nice "primary key" attached to us, like the social security number...
Don't forget your phone number -- its among the top tools for tracking individuals across databases. If you can manage it, try to give a shared office number for people you fear might be tracking you...
-rt-
a lot of cosmology has more to do with faith than with fact
You are completely wrong, to state it bluntly. As Christopher Thomas has just mentioned, there are a lot of fact-based testible predictions, while faith has none. Simply because science cannot tell us with 100% certainty how the universe came to be, we do not require faith to examine the possibilities! The quote from the article says it all: "Steinhardt concedes that the theory explains the known universe as well as the Big Collision". Note the alarming lack of faith in the tone there? Compare that with a preacher who will tell you with a straight face that the earth was created 6000 years ago even though everything in the world screams that it is not so... see the difference between fact and faith? Faith takes a person to jump to certainly where there is no certainty to be had. Science at least can provide us with explanations based on facts and reasons that can be tested and predict future occurance. Don't confuse "cosmology" with "astrology" friend.. you'll find that there are a lot of differences to be had (tho sometimes astrology can be more fun!).
-rt-
leaked memo cut out the Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (please).
/. was out of line in this case (and in general)? No, and I said that, and I'm certainly not making any specific accusation. But I do fear unchecked bias, and I stand by it. And yes, I do enjoy Brill's...
To be honest: I fear uncontrolled biased news agencies reporting on their sprawling interests. I am uncertain how much it affects the news media that we read every day. And I doubt that we can trust them 100% of the time, so it is really nice when they inform us of financial ties to the orgs they report on.
Do I think
-rt-
Hold your horses, buddy. It's not like Slahdot wrote the article, they just pointed it out.
Do I really need to write this? They get so many submissions that they can essentially bias the news by selecting submissions that fit their bias. I'm not saying that there is a Pro-VALinux bias showing (infact I suspect the opposite), but there is a lot of room for editorial conflict of interest here.
Either way, surely Slashdot is allowed to report on things related to VA Linux?
Yes, but it's nice if they inform us of a possible conflict of interest, even if it is minor. Otherwise you just can't trust 'em. Would you trust a ABC News report about how great the new Disneyland ride is????
-rt-
Security is as security does. Downloading a binary from an untrusted source isn't a whole lot more risky than downloading an indecipherable source code to compile.
True... but if you read the article they have some good suggestions for package creators (see "Building RPM's"). Basically, you can get the RPM to install on a non-root account, which would avoid some of the potential dangers of installing RPM's (either complied or "indecipherable source code").
-rt-
c'mon, then he wouldn't get post #3. bastard.
-rt-
I have a feeling that #4 was moderately tongue-in-cheek. I could be wrong but that's the way I read it. Otherwise (s)he's a dork.
-rt-
"I hate ALL political parties" "It bothers me to see a blanket statement against any group." Do I need to draw a diagram here?
Perhaps the point was made a litte too broadly, he should have stated: "I hate BOTH of the major parties in the US" or "I hate the American party system". But I think most of the people got the point.
-rt-
OK, from the Times article, all I can gather is that the MLB wants to charge for access to feeds that were (until now) available for free. So what? Are they not allowed to do whatever they want with their own content?
I can see one potential problem that was not addressed by the short article. Usually local radio stations broadcast the games, and often they webcast as well. If MLB is trying to block them from webcasting the games, that is ridiculous, and a problem... But I don't see that in the article.
But if your only problem is that it's not for free anymore, tough, deal with it. It's THEIR content and they can charge whatever the want for it... if they charge too much watch or listen to someone else.
-rt-
good question! but there were a couple of other posts that raised the same question. My guess: he saw the error on the front page, hit "read more", and copied from the recently updated page without reading. I'm only guessing because there were some other posts with similar comments:
#1  #8  #9 
But they obviously updated it pretty quick. Still, it's rude to do it without informing anybody, makes people look dumb. It happened to me once about a year back (and got me modded down).
-rt-
One intesting question that I have never seen resolved, including in the article: What is the difference between Windows XP Home and Windows XP Pro? (besides the price)
Because I imagine they want WinXP Pro to replace NT/2000 workstations, and WinXP Home to replace Win9X PCs... but I have yet to see a projected feature breakdown. Any insight from anyone out there?
-rt-