What's wrong with a more laissez-faire way? If you compare Europe and the US, I think the "let everybody do as they please" is wildly more successful at creating a place where it's enjoyable to live!
However, that's not anarchy, far for it. It's called "liberalism". You should try it - it works.;-)
I was referring more to a general attitude than to the legal system. My friend operates a successful internet business (in the UK, I might add) and regularly gets fraud attempts from south-east asian countries, including singapore. About 90% of the fraud comes from that region of the world, so recently he's taken to simply blocking the whole lot - the lost business is cheaper than the time and expense of pursuing the fraud. Given this, and the general climate of "pirated CDs/movies widely available in shops", how likely do you think a lonely GPL developer is to be able to enforce his rights?
Not likely. AOL is a public company that cares (or should care) about its image. They have a strong IM product, but hardly a monopoly, given the alternatives (MSN, Jabber, Yahoo... and even ICQ, still). If they sue people who make AIM clones, Joe Blow isn't going to care. If they start suing users they'll just scare everyone off within a year or two and lose AIM as a (not purely AOL-bound) product.
Remember AIM is a network which people use to talk. Consider that if you lose one person in the network because they get sued, all their friends will hear about it, and they'll all get off AIM illico presto. And most of their friends's friends. And a large percentage of their friends' friends' friends... etc. Once large numbers of people are moving off AIM, even AOL users will end up installing some rival product so they can keep talking to their friends.
So, overall, a very bad move for AOL. Even AOL execs will be able to see that.
One amendment said action should not be taken against consumers who download music "in good faith" for their own use.
If it basically restricts the suing to professional pirates, ie people who download music or movies to sell it on the street, then I don't see anything wrong with it. That's what copyrights were meant to do - protect artists/publishers from other publishers (and not from consumers).
If that's what this law is, it seems pretty sensible after all!
Nobody will recognise that you are different until you get to talk to them for quite a bit. Nobody will spend time talking to you unless you have some attractive attributes. If you're an ugly nerd (sorry to all ugly nerds out there), the girls won't talk to you and so will never discover your wonderful sensitive soul hidden inside!
And media-driven stereotypes influence all of us. "Nerd" is generally considered an unattractive attribute. You'll have to balance it with a lot of positive stuff in order to even get to talk to a girl. Best of luck.
It's not just what you do, it's in what order, with what timing, etc. Eg, on Arctic, a thief or two could take down a seriously stronger fighter type by constantly fleeing as soon as they were engaged, then sneaking back in and backstabbing... that took dexterity and quickness of mind to type all the commands (or aliases) fast enough... but there also the fighter type, if he was quick-minded enough, could easily have bashed the thief and screwed him completely... Each class has its own strong points that you have to learn to exploit. That could be considered player skill/dexterity.
If it sucks as much in comparison to XP as Matrix Reloaded did in comparison to Matrix, forget about crashing all the time... this thing won't even boot up!!!
The movie was good, mostly because Robin Williams was very well cast in the role. It wasn't the same as the story - it never is - but I'd say it was definitely worth watching at least once, especially if you liked the story.
Good point. I suggest you go watch "Bicentennial Man" with Robin Williams, and apply your argument to his quest for being acknowledged as "human". The idea is very similar. It's all about basic dignity. If you agree with Asimov's robot wanting acknowledgement that he's human, then you have to agree with homosexual couples wanting acknowledgement that they're no different than any other couples.
I'm on their side on this one, without being gay. It's all part of our great slow march towards true fair and equal treatment by the law.
Actually it most definitely is not just "an empty distinction". The core characteristic that is required of any theory for it to be 'scientific' is that it can be proven wrong. If it can't be disproved, it's not science, it's just empty speculation.
Ditto on the iRiver. I have one. It rocks. I has a quality interface, very fine display on the remote, good battery life, a battery expansion pack that attaches through a cable (so it doesn't turn your mp3 cd player into some sort of huge contraption), and the one I got is the slimline one (I think it was 400 rather than 550).
I had 2 other mp3 cd players before, the thomson lyra and the napa davsomethingorother, and both of those were pretty crap. iRiver is excellent.
What, and you're surprised? That's expected of that type of scum. Hardly worth mentioning on Slashdot... there are probably a hundred other companies doing the same scummy thing all over the net. This one's not any more or less worthy of notice.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh, Windows 1.03 sucks.
You must be one of those linux fanatics...
Daniel
Nah, I think that came around the Pentium times. My 486 DX4 100Mhz couldn't boot straight onto the CD.
Daniel
Buy a whip. Attach nails or other assorted sharp bits to the end.
Daniel
Last Bid: O. Bin Laden
Daniel
What's wrong with a more laissez-faire way? If you compare Europe and the US, I think the "let everybody do as they please" is wildly more successful at creating a place where it's enjoyable to live!
;-)
However, that's not anarchy, far for it. It's called "liberalism". You should try it - it works.
Daniel
I was referring more to a general attitude than to the legal system. My friend operates a successful internet business (in the UK, I might add) and regularly gets fraud attempts from south-east asian countries, including singapore. About 90% of the fraud comes from that region of the world, so recently he's taken to simply blocking the whole lot - the lost business is cheaper than the time and expense of pursuing the fraud. Given this, and the general climate of "pirated CDs/movies widely available in shops", how likely do you think a lonely GPL developer is to be able to enforce his rights?
Daniel
If you're talking about the raid stuff, it is. See this other post.
Daniel
Not likely. AOL is a public company that cares (or should care) about its image. They have a strong IM product, but hardly a monopoly, given the alternatives (MSN, Jabber, Yahoo... and even ICQ, still). If they sue people who make AIM clones, Joe Blow isn't going to care. If they start suing users they'll just scare everyone off within a year or two and lose AIM as a (not purely AOL-bound) product.
Remember AIM is a network which people use to talk. Consider that if you lose one person in the network because they get sued, all their friends will hear about it, and they'll all get off AIM illico presto. And most of their friends's friends. And a large percentage of their friends' friends' friends... etc. Once large numbers of people are moving off AIM, even AOL users will end up installing some rival product so they can keep talking to their friends.
So, overall, a very bad move for AOL. Even AOL execs will be able to see that.
Daniel
What you mean is chaos, not anarchy.
The two are not always equal.
Daniel
This amendment seems decent enough:
One amendment said action should not be taken against consumers who download music "in good faith" for their own use.
If it basically restricts the suing to professional pirates, ie people who download music or movies to sell it on the street, then I don't see anything wrong with it. That's what copyrights were meant to do - protect artists/publishers from other publishers (and not from consumers).
If that's what this law is, it seems pretty sensible after all!
Daniel
Good luck with that. This is southeast Asia you're talking about. They don't know what copyright means around there!
:-P
Not to mention their mastery of all things to do with online fraud...
Daniel
Agreed. I had to answer questions about this on my finals papers in my physics degree three years ago!... how is this news exactly?
Daniel
Nobody will recognise that you are different until you get to talk to them for quite a bit. Nobody will spend time talking to you unless you have some attractive attributes. If you're an ugly nerd (sorry to all ugly nerds out there), the girls won't talk to you and so will never discover your wonderful sensitive soul hidden inside!
And media-driven stereotypes influence all of us. "Nerd" is generally considered an unattractive attribute. You'll have to balance it with a lot of positive stuff in order to even get to talk to a girl. Best of luck.
Daniel
Indeed. And if you don't care about that you've got more serious issues than how the mass media portray you :-P
Daniel
It's not just what you do, it's in what order, with what timing, etc. Eg, on Arctic, a thief or two could take down a seriously stronger fighter type by constantly fleeing as soon as they were engaged, then sneaking back in and backstabbing... that took dexterity and quickness of mind to type all the commands (or aliases) fast enough... but there also the fighter type, if he was quick-minded enough, could easily have bashed the thief and screwed him completely... Each class has its own strong points that you have to learn to exploit. That could be considered player skill/dexterity.
Daniel
Yeah mod parent up :-)
Daniel
If it sucks as much in comparison to XP as Matrix Reloaded did in comparison to Matrix, forget about crashing all the time... this thing won't even boot up!!!
Daniel
The movie was good, mostly because Robin Williams was very well cast in the role. It wasn't the same as the story - it never is - but I'd say it was definitely worth watching at least once, especially if you liked the story.
Daniel
Good point. I suggest you go watch "Bicentennial Man" with Robin Williams, and apply your argument to his quest for being acknowledged as "human". The idea is very similar. It's all about basic dignity. If you agree with Asimov's robot wanting acknowledgement that he's human, then you have to agree with homosexual couples wanting acknowledgement that they're no different than any other couples.
I'm on their side on this one, without being gay. It's all part of our great slow march towards true fair and equal treatment by the law.
Daniel
Damn, I resemble that remark. 11 months, and counting..
:-)
Ok, but do you resent it? From the tone of your post it sounds like you do...
Daniel
Resemble, Resent.
Language is the primary tool of rational thinking. Learn to use it.
Daniel
That is an empty distinction.
Actually it most definitely is not just "an empty distinction". The core characteristic that is required of any theory for it to be 'scientific' is that it can be proven wrong. If it can't be disproved, it's not science, it's just empty speculation.
Daniel
Ditto on the iRiver. I have one. It rocks. I has a quality interface, very fine display on the remote, good battery life, a battery expansion pack that attaches through a cable (so it doesn't turn your mp3 cd player into some sort of huge contraption), and the one I got is the slimline one (I think it was 400 rather than 550).
I had 2 other mp3 cd players before, the thomson lyra and the napa davsomethingorother, and both of those were pretty crap. iRiver is excellent.
Daniel
What, and you're surprised? That's expected of that type of scum. Hardly worth mentioning on Slashdot... there are probably a hundred other companies doing the same scummy thing all over the net. This one's not any more or less worthy of notice.
Daniel
Over here I lived in dorms and we all had individual rooms, from the age of 16 onwards. (I wasn't boarding before the age of 16..)
Daniel