Slashdot Mirror


User: Draek

Draek's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
2,549
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 2,549

  1. Re:Gentlemen, start your spambots on Yahoo CAPTCHA Hacked · · Score: 1

    What about introducing spelling and grammatical errors? This would be difficult for a computer to interpret, but doable for a human.

    And the best proof of that is, funnily, spam itself.

  2. Re:Comparing MinWin and Vista doesn't hold up on Software Tool Strips Windows Vista To Bare Bones · · Score: 2, Funny

    No, the pedants are going to get *you* for comparing them to some tiny jewelry. Andrew Tanenbaum will take care of the GP for comparing Linux to a microkernel.

  3. Re:Oh noes on DRM-Free Music Spells Trouble? · · Score: 1

    Well, IM and email alone are pervasive enough to cause a global phenomenon, perhaps not on the scale of Britney Spears, but probably at least Coldplay-scale, I think.

    And while TV's reach may be bigger than anything else out there (still not universal, though), the level of confidence in it is pretty low compared to word-of-mouth. Simply put, you're much more likely to buy something if a friend recommends it to you, than if you watch a flashy ad on TV, which may also help compensate for the loss of reach.

    So no, I don't believe that losing the RIAA will affect us much, and while I also don't think that losing worldwide mega-hits would be bad for the industry, I'm not convinced they wouldn't perpetuate in a RIAA-free world either.

  4. Re:Oh noes on DRM-Free Music Spells Trouble? · · Score: 1

    No, MySpace friend lists may not be enough at promoting the next Elvis, but fansites and word-of-mouth probably will, and in this digital age, where you can be chatting with people all over the world in seconds, the power of it has increased tenfold at least.

    Fuck, my favorite rock singer is an independant musician from Quebec, Canada, my favorite composer is an independant pianist from Rome, Italy, and I'm from Chile, how's that for globalization? and just the other day I was listening to an independant rock band from Norway, none of that thanks to the RIAA.

  5. Re:I like the specs better on Thinkpad X300 Specs Leaked · · Score: 1

    Yup, but "Thinkpad" is to the business world what the lowercase "i" and the Apple brand is to the general populace, and they buy in *bulk*.

    Me, I'd rather buy the Thinkpad, with Ubuntu on it it'd look quite sexy indeed, while still giving me all the UNIXy goodness I've come to expect from an OS. Plus, it comes in black ;)

  6. Re:YES!!! on Training From America's Army Game Saved a Life · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, what do we say now? It seems like we have a choice between claiming that this guy did not learn first aid from a video game, or that people only learn good skills from games. Both of those ring pretty hollow.

    Or, we could claim that you only learn stuff applicable in real-life from games that are as anal about realism as America's Army is. Dunno how it is nowadays, but back when I played it (when they still had a Linux version), to get to play as a medic you had to attend an in-game class (which was quite long), and then take a test about what they'd taught you in it. Pretty f'in far from the likes of GTA, which are the usual targets of anti-videogames propaganda.

    It wouldn't surprise me either to hear about some guy being able to fly a small plane without formal training if he had played Flight Simulator for years with a specialized controller, whereas I *would* be surprised if he had managed to do so after just a couple of weeks playing Battlefield 1942 and UT2004.

  7. Re:Ideas don't have to be free... on Copyright Cutback Proposed As RIAA Solution · · Score: 1

    Maybe a small percentage (say, 5%) of the gross profit made from the copyrighted work? gross, obviously so that the RIAA and MPAA can't just do their happy accounting and end up paying 5% of zero, as they currently do with their artists, plus it'd be both non-trivial for corporations and relatively affordable for individuals too.

    One-time only, though, otherwise I think the breach between those projects who are initially successful and those who only "catch on" later would be big enough to damage innovation in the long-term.

  8. Re:Clearly not acquainted with history on Long Live Closed-Source Software? · · Score: 1

    wow! that's some pretty big standards you have there! care to name now which closed-source works *are* innovative in your opinion? 'cause I think there isn't any... wow, a 10x increase in productivity as a minimum to qualify a programming language as "innovative", just... wow.

  9. Re:New for news sake! on Long Live Closed-Source Software? · · Score: 1

    Many of the popular OSS apps tend to be the ones that re-engineer ideas from closed source products.

    Given that many of the popular closed-source apps tend to be the ones that re-engineer ideas from academia and smaller, unsuccessful businesses, I'd say that tells you more about the general public and the market itself than it does for OSS.

  10. Re:Confused.. on FSFE Supports Microsoft Antitrust Investigation · · Score: 5, Insightful

    it's not that they included a web browser with their operating system, it's that they included a web browser that doesn't properly implement existing standards *and* includes their own propietary protocols with their OS, thereby leveraging their existing monopoly to prevent standards-compliant products from competing fairly in the market.

    if IE rendered standards-compliant webpages at least as good as Firefox does (let alone how Opera and KHTML do) and they didn't include the ActiveX crap with it, my guess is that nobody would be complaining about them bundling it with their OS. Certainly I wouldn't, at least.

  11. Re:Good, maybe REAL artists will now have a chance on Radio May Have To Pay To Play · · Score: 1

    There's nothing wrong with Pop per se, but not all Pop is as overprocessed and badly-sounding as Britney or Lindsay. Plus when they try to sell their shitty Pop as Rock or Metal, it just ends up angering the fans of those genres even more against them, hence the negative connotation it has acquired recently.

    The thing is, there's just so many good music out there, Pop, Rock, Classical or whatever, being made by *independant* artists it's hard to justify paying $15 or $20 for the latest RIAA-produced, overprocessed crap. Sure, I may not find out that the singer's little sis is now a teenage mom on E!, but ask yourself this: does that make the music bad?

    Point is, you don't have to give up Pop if you decide to listen only to "indie" artists, and even if that's your favorite genre, you may be surprised if you decide to do so.

  12. Re:Kids and computer on A Child's View of the OLPC · · Score: 1

    why? when I was 3 I happily played Wolfenstein 3D, and I didn't turn out to be some nazi-hating psychopath or something. As long as his parents don't let him spend all the time in front of the PC, I simply don't see why playing CS:S would be such a problem, so mind explaining your comment?

  13. Re:The user that gives me more trouble than any ot on The 5 Users You'd Meet in Hell · · Score: 1

    Well, that'd lead them to think you monetize everything, which tends to give a bad impression of you, plus it's not a very good example for your (or your family members') children either.

    My personal solution is just to say "I use Linux, sorry", since anyone smart enough to use Linux (or to know when the problem isn't software-related) is probably smart enough not to be a PITA when I give him/her tech support.

  14. Re:no surprises here then... on DoJ Sides With RIAA On Damages · · Score: 1

    what else does America produce anymore besides "intellectual property"?

    high-speed pizza delivery.

  15. Re:Let me think... on Microsoft Withdraws Vista's Kill Switch · · Score: 1

    to be fair, Nero's Linux version is much, much nicer than the Windows crap they shove down your throat when you buy a DVD burner these days, plus it converts Audio CDs to FLAC at an amazing speed, even on my ancient laptop. Though for general-purpose media burning I'd still take K3B over it, were it not for my slight distaste for anything KDE.

  16. Re:Please clarify... on Wikipedia to be Licensed Under Creative Commons · · Score: 1

    I guess the question that arises is..."Liberation from who?"

    the bureocracy of the GFDL.

  17. Re:They're going to release the SAME code, right? on Asus Corrects Eee PC Source Code Issue · · Score: 1

    Releasing newly written code with equivalent functionality or even rewriting GPL code and keeping the product closed source is considered enough to cure a license violation.

    care to cite any sources for that? because unless the binary resulting from compiling the rewritten source-code is exactly the same as the one being distributed in the first place, I don't think it'd satisfy the GPL's definition of "the product's source code".

  18. Re:Keep Aim in sight on Torvalds on Where Linux is Headed in 2008 · · Score: 1

    "awesome driver support"? "(far better than Windows)"???

    Tell that to my dv2315nr laptop. The one with barely functioning broadcom wifi drivers and non-functioning audio (conexant 20459). well, my PowerPC laptop agrees with the GP so yeah, much better than Windows.
  19. Re:Desktop Linux on Torvalds on Where Linux is Headed in 2008 · · Score: 1

    Microsoft's complete ignorance of the term "modularity" is in no way, shape or form Linux's fault.

  20. Re:Well on How Do You Find New Non-RIAA Music? · · Score: 1

    and why would the RIAA care about you and your protests, if you'll still give them your money and buy their music?

    answer: they wouldn't and they don't.

  21. Re:In my opinion on The Fine Line Between Security and Usability · · Score: 1

    well, the problem *is* that people aren't voting with their wallet on those issues and prefer to save a few bucks over buying from an enviroment-friendly company, or prefer continuing to use what they already know instead of switching to an OS whose security doesn't suck. What are you going to do, then, force them to do so? a possible choice, certainly, but one with enough drawbacks to cause it's rejection by many, myself included.

    the problem with capitalism (the system you're pretty much describing, not libertarianism) is that it depends on people not being a bunch of stupid, clueless morons who'd rather follow Big Corp's marketing dept. instead of educating themselves about the issues that affect them, which largely isn't the case, hence the current situation.

  22. Re:They do worse things on China In the Habit of Copying and Redirecting US Sites? · · Score: 0, Redundant

    and you know of the torture how, exactly?

    we have to worry about China's attempts to manipulate the internet, not because we have to protect the profits of Google et al, but because even worse attrocities may take place if they know that the word won't get out.

  23. Re:Six years is a very long time... on Vista at Risk of Being Bypassed by Businesses · · Score: 1

    because he still makes them money. As the saying goes, "there's a sucker born every minute", and they're all Microsoft customers.

  24. Re:she's right on Rowling Sues Harry Potter Lexicon · · Score: 1

    well, yeah but that only explains "why it's realistically never going to happen", not "why a society without copyright forcibly means a society with high taxes". Specially since most governments tend towards "tax as high as the public will tolerate", regardless of the strenght of copyright protections.

  25. Re:Out of creative juice.. become an IP vulture. on Rowling Sues Harry Potter Lexicon · · Score: 1

    because once people's incomes reach a certain level, and their notoriety in society gets up to a certain point, "good will" and "extra publicity" starts being much more valuable, both short- and long-term, than the dollars they'd get from pointless litigation such as this one.

    no, suing them isn't illegal, in fact she has the full power of the law on her side on this case. However, that doesn't mean it's not completely *retarded* to do so.