Just curious, but are these 10-year-old archived documents edited or used as the basis for new documents?
My impression has always been that documents in such half-dead formats are more or less dead themselves with respect to editing, and the best idea would be to (somehow) convert them to PDF and be done with it. Since you are the first person I've caught with real experience, I'm curious to see if I'm right in your case....
It's up to the Russian courts to decide the issue (which I agree is not necessarily "absurd"), not your seemingly knee-jerk reaction to a discrepancy between your local copyright laws and Russia's.
My advice would be to find an old desktop box that someone is throwing away (or buy one cheap), and start to install various distributions of Linux on it. Start by wiping the previous distribution each time, so you always have a dual-boot system (I'm assuming that the ubiquitous Windows was left on it). After you are familiar enough with dual-boot with Windows, you can wipe the Windows off of it (perhaps backing up the partition first) and start to stretch yourself into more exotic things like dual- and triple-distro Linux boxes, systems with multiple VM's running combinations of Windows and Linux distros, etc.
Well, actually I only suggest trying the more exotic stuff if you are really thinking of becoming a professional Linux administrator. Or geek.
You lack imagination; the original poster was assuming that another part of the system would be able to, in a large volume of space (e.g., your living room), detect and correctly classify flying insects as a mosquito, rather than merely attracting it with some kind of bait. The plasma ball would be formed on-the-fly around the mosquito, killing it.
Frankly, I'd be nervous about having that kind of automatically controlled laser capability in my living space. Maybe you thought about that too, and assumed the poster couldn't possible mean what I think he meant....
1) The wu-imapd home page states that the source is licensed under "the Apache License, Version 2.0", 2) A random sampling of the source files of "daemontools" gave: 5 files stated "public domain", 1 file (makefile) had no license
Neither of these looks like an intentionally restrictive license (I have the distinct impression that the omission of a license for the makefile of daemontools is an oversight).
The discovery is not to be belittled, but both the article and the poster somehow forget to mention that the "levitation" which is talked about is on the order of nanometers (check the Wikipedia article on the Casimir effect). Far from the kinds of stuff you see stage magicians do.
Another advantage, if it fails, is that Americans, or at least those who will listen to Internet radio, will be be exposed to more international influences (since the vast majority of Internet radio stations will be run in other countries). Assuming, of course, that there won't be some legislation requiring filtering Internet radio from abroad.
Got a good laugh about someone calling you on astroturfing, somehow I doubt Slashdot posts affect purchasing decisions on supercomputers all that much.
I wouldn't really rely on that destroying the media itself, but I agree that it might have a good chance of damaging the mechanical parts enough that RIAA would need to go to an expensive data recovery shop to read the disks afterwards. Don't know if discovery costs can also be passed on to the loser of the court proceedings, probably so, so RIAA might just bite the bullet and do it. Maybe not, though, since they always just run with their tail between their legs when they're about to lose.
I wouldn't recommend doing that *after* the court has asked for the disks, although you could alway try to lie about the exact timing.
FYI, the cell phone of a friend of mine got run over by 2 cars after falling while he crossed the street, and still worked partially afterwards, the only thing which totally died was the display.
> Or put the HD in the back seat, next to that 20inch subwoofer speaker during your 200mile drive;)
The magnetic fields necessary to erase modern magnetic media are far higher than can be generated by an consumer-buyable electromagnet. Trying to heat it above the Curie point "by mistake" would also be difficult, since the temperature required is almost certainly above the melting point of aluminum.
By far the easiest way to destroy the hard drive is to shatter it with a large hammer (being very, very thorough). Kind of hard to make up a story how that happened ("One of my sons threw a party and some guy on PCP got anti-technological." Good luck!)
> You don't think Microsoft intends to keep the cheapie pricing indefinitely, do you?
You did see the fact that Microsoft is releasing its source code also, right? I have the distinct feeling that they're not as naive in China as you portray them, and if Microsoft tries to raise prices dramatically, they'll just be hit with "we're going back to Linux and by the way, it's legal (in China) for us to use your source code for purposes of converting all the documents to ODF".
In fact, I have hopes that the OSS community will obtain really high quality MS->ODF converters just for this reason.
Pessimists, on the other hand, would probably see Microsoft gradually raising prices while the Chinese make more and more laws which gradually force more and more of Microsoft to become Chinese, so that in the end we'll still be stuck with the MS monopoly, it'll just be 99% Chinese-controlled.
> what could prevent a flood of these cheap machines from swamping the American market > and seriously impacting Microsoft's Windows + Office revenues? Nothing.
You must be new here. Or do you have a magic filter for all the endless DRM/DCMA/RIAA/... threads? That was one silly statement. You can be sure that the el-cheapo Chinese licenses are limited for use in China, or for software limited to a Chinese language interface. Actually, one wonders whether US customs might start to confiscate the laptops of Chinese entering the US because of this (if the license is for use in China only).
Judging from your link, WDM is a source-level model, not a binary interface model. Its existence doesn't prove or disprove anything about the GP's post.
Re:Geeks do- everyone else doesn't.
on
The DRM Scorecard
·
· Score: 1
> a lot of people, like me, simply say "fuck it" entirely and stick to what they already have.
Or they actively look for independent content which doesn't have DRM bullshit and might even have relaxed licenses, e.g., Creative Commons. That's what I (mainly) do, when I get bored of the stuff "I already have".
Hell, even a lot of (older or less popular) mainstream stuff can be gotten without DRM (see www.emusic.com). I haven't tried that yet, the indie scene is still interesting to me....
To top it off, in the UK a lot of immensely popular older (> 50 yrs old) music will be coming out of copyright soon; current British newborns will be able to listen to most of the Beatles' music for free by the time they're 13 years old.
Ahem. I guessed you missed this Slashdot article which more or less explains that Microsoft figured out that it was in their best interest to give Windows and Office to the Chinese for free, more or less. Including access to the source code.
Most people think that this "breakthrough" has to do with Linux actually working for them, so that Microsoft more or less had no choice.
A society where people with DNA which generates "bad" music are killed or disadvantaged will tend over time to evolve individuals whose DNA produces "better" music (kind of gives a new twist to the "Let's make music together" line).
These lawyers are members of a strange cult which wants to break off of human society and start to implement these ideas, the patent is just so that there will be prior art on the books in case someone else tries to patent it to stop them.
Or perhaps they've discovered that human society is just an alien-run genetic algorithm to produce the next alien musical masterpiece, these lawyers are freedom fighters who have discovered the plot, and before they can apply for the galactic patent, which is our only chance to stop this madness, they have to show that our own patent system doesn't object to it. (Damn, should have tried to sell that idea to Piers Anthony before posting...)
Wow, all this imagination, and even before my first cup of coffee!
Wow, you actually check (or don't uncheck) the "send me sales email whenever you want" thingy when you register?
I don't. And I don't remember getting said "advance warning" from anyone, probably because they'd be afraid I'd complain that it was unsolicited, since I've told them I'm an anti-social (actually, anti-marketable) type....
> that tens of thousands of child molesters are grooming their children right now
Presumably you meant that as the number of child molesters actively using the Internet for "grooming children". Can you point me to a source for that statistic? I was under the distinct impression that the modus operandi of the vast majority of child molesters was to molest children who know them personally (e.g., their own children, or children they meet in their work).
Slashdot Mirror
Just curious, but are these 10-year-old archived documents edited or used as the basis for new documents?
My impression has always been that documents in such half-dead formats are more or less dead themselves with respect to editing, and the best idea would be to (somehow) convert them to PDF and be done with it. Since you are the first person I've caught with real experience, I'm curious to see if I'm right in your case....
Ehm, however you may feel about allofmp3.com, AFAIK, I don't think "international laws" (as opposed to treaties) means what you think it means. As a result of the notion of sovereignty, the value and authority of international law is dependent upon the voluntary participation of states in its formulation, observance, and enforcement.
I wonder if that makes you right or wrong when you claim "this guy way clearly violating them" (see the Wikipedia article on Definite description if you're into philosophy).
It's up to the Russian courts to decide the issue (which I agree is not necessarily "absurd"), not your seemingly knee-jerk reaction to a discrepancy between your local copyright laws and Russia's.
I am NOT sure you're NOT brindafella!!! And, perhaps, this makes your post all the funnier!!!!
My advice would be to find an old desktop box that someone is throwing away (or buy one cheap), and start to install various distributions of Linux on it. Start by wiping the previous distribution each time, so you always have a dual-boot system (I'm assuming that the ubiquitous Windows was left on it). After you are familiar enough with dual-boot with Windows, you can wipe the Windows off of it (perhaps backing up the partition first) and start to stretch yourself into more exotic things like dual- and triple-distro Linux boxes, systems with multiple VM's running combinations of Windows and Linux distros, etc.
Well, actually I only suggest trying the more exotic stuff if you are really thinking of becoming a professional Linux administrator. Or geek.
You lack imagination; the original poster was assuming that another part of the system would be able to, in a large volume of space (e.g., your living room), detect and correctly classify flying insects as a mosquito, rather than merely attracting it with some kind of bait. The plasma ball would be formed on-the-fly around the mosquito, killing it.
Frankly, I'd be nervous about having that kind of automatically controlled laser capability in my living space. Maybe you thought about that too, and assumed the poster couldn't possible mean what I think he meant....
As seen on Bruce Schneier's blog.
I rather have the impression it's not in the article, either... could you be more explicit as to where this quote is from?
I'll bite:
1) The wu-imapd home page states that the source is licensed under "the Apache License, Version 2.0",
2) A random sampling of the source files of "daemontools" gave: 5 files stated "public domain", 1 file (makefile) had no license
Neither of these looks like an intentionally restrictive license (I have the distinct impression that the omission of a license for the makefile of daemontools is an oversight).
Could you explain what you meant in your post?
Ur, "order of nanometers" meaning not more than 100's... sorry about the inaccuracy....
The discovery is not to be belittled, but both the article and the poster somehow forget to mention that the "levitation" which is talked about is on the order of nanometers (check the Wikipedia article on the Casimir effect). Far from the kinds of stuff you see stage magicians do.
Another advantage, if it fails, is that Americans, or at least those who will listen to Internet radio, will be be exposed to more international influences (since the vast majority of Internet radio stations will be run in other countries). Assuming, of course, that there won't be some legislation requiring filtering Internet radio from abroad.
If it's going to be installed in 2011, it's probably anyone's guess.
Might also be a second-generation Roadrunner.
Got a good laugh about someone calling you on astroturfing, somehow I doubt Slashdot posts affect purchasing decisions on supercomputers all that much.
I wouldn't really rely on that destroying the media itself, but I agree that it might have a good chance of damaging the mechanical parts enough that RIAA would need to go to an expensive data recovery shop to read the disks afterwards. Don't know if discovery costs can also be passed on to the loser of the court proceedings, probably so, so RIAA might just bite the bullet and do it. Maybe not, though, since they always just run with their tail between their legs when they're about to lose.
I wouldn't recommend doing that *after* the court has asked for the disks, although you could alway try to lie about the exact timing.
FYI, the cell phone of a friend of mine got run over by 2 cars after falling while he crossed the street, and still worked partially afterwards, the only thing which totally died was the display.
> Or put the HD in the back seat, next to that 20inch subwoofer speaker during your 200mile drive ;)
The magnetic fields necessary to erase modern magnetic media are far higher than can be generated by an consumer-buyable electromagnet. Trying to heat it above the Curie point "by mistake" would also be difficult, since the temperature required is almost certainly above the melting point of aluminum.
By far the easiest way to destroy the hard drive is to shatter it with a large hammer (being very, very thorough). Kind of hard to make up a story how that happened ("One of my sons threw a party and some guy on PCP got anti-technological." Good luck!)
Ah, I understand your point better now.
... conclude that Linux will end up dominating China 's computing landscape
> In a poor country,
Given the relative growths, populations, and trade balances, one might question exactly who will end up using Linux...
Good luck to the US in the next elections.
> You don't think Microsoft intends to keep the cheapie pricing indefinitely, do you?
You did see the fact that Microsoft is releasing its source code also, right? I have the distinct feeling that they're not as naive in China as you portray them, and if Microsoft tries to raise prices dramatically, they'll just be hit with "we're going back to Linux and by the way, it's legal (in China) for us to use your source code for purposes of converting all the documents to ODF".
In fact, I have hopes that the OSS community will obtain really high quality MS->ODF converters just for this reason.
Pessimists, on the other hand, would probably see Microsoft gradually raising prices while the Chinese make more and more laws which gradually force more and more of Microsoft to become Chinese, so that in the end we'll still be stuck with the MS monopoly, it'll just be 99% Chinese-controlled.
> what could prevent a flood of these cheap machines from swamping the American market
> and seriously impacting Microsoft's Windows + Office revenues? Nothing.
You must be new here. Or do you have a magic filter for all the endless DRM/DCMA/RIAA/... threads? That was one silly statement. You can be sure that the el-cheapo Chinese licenses are limited for use in China, or for software limited to a Chinese language interface. Actually, one wonders whether US customs might start to confiscate the laptops of Chinese entering the US because of this (if the license is for use in China only).
Yes, I didn't bother to read the linked article all the way down to there... Thanks for the correction.
Unusual that only because of this thread I have discovered the "wdmwrapper" kernel module for Linux. Are purely WDM drivers so uncommon?
Judging from your link, WDM is a source-level model, not a binary interface model. Its existence doesn't prove or disprove anything about the GP's post.
> a lot of people, like me, simply say "fuck it" entirely and stick to what they already have.
Or they actively look for independent content which doesn't have DRM bullshit and might even have relaxed licenses, e.g., Creative Commons. That's what I (mainly) do, when I get bored of the stuff "I already have".
Hell, even a lot of (older or less popular) mainstream stuff can be gotten without DRM (see www.emusic.com). I haven't tried that yet, the indie scene is still interesting to me....
To top it off, in the UK a lot of immensely popular older (> 50 yrs old) music will be coming out of copyright soon; current British newborns will be able to listen to most of the Beatles' music for free by the time they're 13 years old.
Ahem. I guessed you missed this Slashdot article which more or less explains that Microsoft figured out that it was in their best interest to give Windows and Office to the Chinese for free, more or less. Including access to the source code.
Most people think that this "breakthrough" has to do with Linux actually working for them, so that Microsoft more or less had no choice.
A society where people with DNA which generates "bad" music are killed or disadvantaged will tend over time to evolve individuals whose DNA produces "better" music (kind of gives a new twist to the "Let's make music together" line).
These lawyers are members of a strange cult which wants to break off of human society and start to implement these ideas, the patent is just so that there will be prior art on the books in case someone else tries to patent it to stop them.
Or perhaps they've discovered that human society is just an alien-run genetic algorithm to produce the next alien musical masterpiece, these lawyers are freedom fighters who have discovered the plot, and before they can apply for the galactic patent, which is our only chance to stop this madness, they have to show that our own patent system doesn't object to it. (Damn, should have tried to sell that idea to Piers Anthony before posting...)
Wow, all this imagination, and even before my first cup of coffee!
> to use their next sales email
Wow, you actually check (or don't uncheck) the "send me sales email whenever you want" thingy when you register?
I don't. And I don't remember getting said "advance warning" from anyone, probably because they'd be afraid I'd
complain that it was unsolicited, since I've told them I'm an anti-social (actually, anti-marketable) type....
Er, well, it kinda was, like, supposed to be a, you know, joke?
<img src="idea-light-bulb.jpg">
Wow, better hope I live a long time! Now I'm gonna sue every Slashdotter who makes stupid ineffective jokes!
> that tens of thousands of child molesters are grooming their children right now
Presumably you meant that as the number of child molesters actively using the Internet for "grooming children". Can you point me to a source for that statistic? I was under the distinct impression that the modus operandi of the vast majority of child molesters was to molest children who know them personally (e.g., their own children, or children they meet in their work).
> I'll just crawl over here and die now.
Good, that way the zillion other Slashdotters who post after misreading (including me) won't get sued for violating your copyright.