no, I honestly can't see why repelling copyright laws should, in any way, require us to repel taxes too, along with it, so if you know why I'd be happy to hear it.
no, because DRM was something consumers didn't want, so it was the question of "who will fuck me less?", not "which one offers better features".
if you want a much closer analogy, look at the PC-compatible/Mac war from a few decades ago: on one side, a platform that you're free to use and develop for, and on the other, a platform controlled in it's entirety by a single company. And we all know how *that* one went.
Like it or not, people often associate intelligence with ability to form coherent sentences most of the time.
and funnily enough, this seems to be the method by which this project determines 'stupidity'. And so we come full circle, from on-topic to off and back =D
so, instead of being dependant on the goodwill of (at least one of) the browser makers to support the standards, you're dependant on the goodwill of Adobe to port their flash player to your platform of choice.
They are managers not geeks. They worry about one thing...the bottom line.
except that the BBC is legally mandated to worry about more than just "the bottom line". Hence why people are making such a big deal out of this, whereas when some US-based TV stations do it it's just regarded as "common corporate stupidity".
probably because Ubuntu strives for simplicity, and KDE is anything but.
personally I prefer XFce since I find both GNOME and KDE to be huge, bloated desktops filled with near-useless libraries and duplicated functionality (with respect to the rest of the system, not just themselves), but GNOME's goals are much closer to Ubuntu's than KDE's, so I do understand them there, and the LGPL'ed libraries are probably a nice bonus, too.
then why don't *YOU* do it? I mean, you're asking these guys to go learn how to program userspace drivers and CUPS filters, then write some for currently-unsupported hardware, then test it on different hardware revisions, *and* do it all for free in their spare time, so why don't you do it yourself?
and just saying "sorry, but I don't know how" doesn't cut it, they don't either yet here you are complaining. Go and lead by your example.
It's not like there's a penguin logo on the front of the box that I could tell them to look for when they go to, say, Circuit City.
on my cheap network card at least, there *was* one, just besides the Windows flag and the Mac, uhhh, thingie. On many other hardware, it'll say on the requirements on the side of the box something such as "Windows NT/2000/XP or Linux", it was certainly the case for my Samsung printer though no cute penguin logo, sadly. And as a last resort, they could always ask the salesman whether it'll work on Linux, usually the answer will be "I don't know", but in my experience a surprising amount of time the answer will be "yeah, I tried it on my Ubuntu machine at home and it works great".
Yes, I know, I'm going to be modded troll or flamebait or accused of being an MS apologist or fanboy by some raw-nerved *nix zealot. How dare I say such things? Gasp! Shame on me.
and it'd be completely deserved. What some people don't *get*, is that downmodding isn't a way of saying "I disagree with you, so STFU", it's a way of categorizing the posts by their intent and usefulness, and as such it's very different to state "I tried it and frankly it was too troublesome for me, plus I'm accustomed to XP which still works just fine so I guess Ubuntu just isn't for me" and "I tried it, it was a pain and you couldn't pay me enough to use it, so if you think it's ready to compete with XP you'd better think again, you raw-nerved zealot", even though once you take all the insults and "OMG the sky is falling!" attitude from the latter, both state roughly the same thing: that you tried it, but prefer XP.
or the short version: don't wanna be called a troll? don't behave like one.
I'm a linux administrator and try to use linux as my desktop. Most of my day is spent in ssh and firefox, with openoffice for docs. However, I still maintain XP on one good computer in my house, cause nero is terrific for burning DVDs. Yes, I know about DeVeDe on Linux, it's OK but not as good.
well, K3B takes care of all my disc burning needs, but have you tried Nero Linux? dunno how it compares to the Windows version since I haven't used it ever since v5.9 or so, but it may be a suitable "replacement" for you, and it's fairly cheap too.
I really, really, really want to support Linux. However, frankly, I just don't have the time to hassle with it.
then you don't really want it that much now, do you?
with that said, though, I'll have to ask: are you comparing apples to apples here? for example, are you comparing an OSX-running laptop from Apple to a Linux-running laptop from a Linux vendor? did you buy your wifi card blindly for all three OSes, or did you check the manufacturer's website (or at the very least the card's box) to see whether they supported all the OSes you're trying to use it on?
dunno, I didn't buy my laptop from a Linux vendor but it worked perfectly (then again it's an IBM Thinkpad). When I bought my el-cheapo wifi card, I asked the vendor whether it worked under Linux and he replied that it was the one he used at home on his Ubuntu machine, and guess what? it does work, no terminal-fu required. And applications? well, you're free to download the.debs yourself and install it with a double-click, but excuse me if I'd rather use Synaptic.
and then we have the other side of the spectrum, for example with my tablet that specifically said "Windows 95/98", and while it does work under 2K/XP the half-assed driver doesn't support pressure sensitivity (nor does on Linux, to be frank), or my ol' Powerbook that refuses to acknowledge the PCMCIA ethernet card I bought for my older laptop (and that *does* work on Linux).
but comparing both of my experiences would, of course, be an apples to oranges comparison, because while on one I did my homework and researched the products I was going to buy, on the other I just stuck my old hardware on my shiny new OS, and just had some bad luck. Not that Linux won't have shortcomings compared to Windows and OSX even doing an apples to apples comparison, but still, it's better to be fair to all, IMHO.
no, if he just dressed like everyone else we would be talking about how nutjobs like him don't deserve to be part of the F/OSS community, or about how the GPL3 is so bad it makes baby Jesus cry. Don't think Stallman's clothes are the only thing standing between us and a good argument, the trolls will find even the smallest flaw and make a big fuss about it, or if they can't find one they'll make one up.
but hey! we bit the troll, but it still isn't too late, why don't we just stop talking about his clothes, and start discussing his speech now?
well, it does mean that anyone looking to implement said model has to pay IBM for the right, but most importantly, it's a patent on a business method, which is AFAIK the only class of patent that can be used against patent trolls (since they don't make products of any kind), so a large portfolio of such patents is a necessity for this business model to work.
and don't forget the little machine that automatically destroys the tank's engine if you try to, say, upgrade the sound system to a different one not made by that specific corporation.
some refuse to buy these "OSX tanks" for that reason and stick with the free ones, while others still can't grasp why people would want anything other than a sound system made by that corporation anyways, since they're so admirable.
Let's not talk about how many configuration options Ubuntu removes from applications like gaim and so on. Want to have a listing with small buddy icons? Well fuck off, we've removed that possibility. Oh, but there's a plugin for editing the.gtk-rc file - yeah, that's user friendly. NOT. This is a stupid retarded and backward attitute. I approve of not installing 25 text editors by default, but don't remove options from the one you do provide.
And just to be sure, it isn't about catching up to Windows any more, it is about catching up to Mac OS X. It just works, it's simple yet powerful, it's a full Unix, it looks nice, the desktop effects are very useful and accessible, and drivers install easily.
please remind me, how do you change the applications' appearance on MacOSX? on both Windows and (K|X)Ubuntu it just takes a couple of seconds navigating menus, and arguably changing the entire system's theme is much more important than changing just the look of the IM application, isn't it? ohh, and btw, I couldn't find the option you wanted on ArchLinux and the newest Pidgin either so you should probably blame the GAIM/Pidgin developers instead.
exactly, and Apple is the only one to blame should they decide not to sell the iPhone on those countries, not those governments, as some people around here seem to believe.
actually, a much closer analogy would be if your DVD player only played certain, "special" kinds of DVDs, and you modivied the firmware so that it could play all kinds of DVDs. And in that case you'd be liable under the DMCA so I guess iPhone owners got off easily by "just" losing their phone and warranty.
on the other hand, this is Slashdot so "unbreakable computer cases" ought to be exciting enough, isn't it? or maybe I'm just trying to justify myself, because that was my first idea when I saw the title, police officers be damned.
DRM isn't supported because it can't be supported, or do you have a way of providing an open source library that decodes DRM'ed files, without allowing your users to bypass the DRM? thought so. Ohhhh, but make it closed source, then! and run into legal troubles with the GPL, not to mention that almost no distro would ever want to bundle it.
And the scary "constitutes a CRIME" messages when trying to play movies is because some morons over there at the US thought that criminalizing your entire population in favor of a couple of oligopolies was, somehow, a "good idea", and then tried to push said legislations down everyone else's throats. In other words, it's not a fault of Linux, Ubuntu or any Open Source developer, unless he's also one of the US politicians that approved the bill.
if you're gonna bitch about those issues, blame those who created the mess in the first place, not the ones who suffer because of it.
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no, I honestly can't see why repelling copyright laws should, in any way, require us to repel taxes too, along with it, so if you know why I'd be happy to hear it.
well, probably not, but taxes have *nothing* to do with copyright laws, do they?
no, because DRM was something consumers didn't want, so it was the question of "who will fuck me less?", not "which one offers better features".
if you want a much closer analogy, look at the PC-compatible/Mac war from a few decades ago: on one side, a platform that you're free to use and develop for, and on the other, a platform controlled in it's entirety by a single company. And we all know how *that* one went.
and funnily enough, this seems to be the method by which this project determines 'stupidity'. And so we come full circle, from on-topic to off and back =D
so, instead of being dependant on the goodwill of (at least one of) the browser makers to support the standards, you're dependant on the goodwill of Adobe to port their flash player to your platform of choice.
as they say, "out of the frying pan...".
except that the BBC is legally mandated to worry about more than just "the bottom line". Hence why people are making such a big deal out of this, whereas when some US-based TV stations do it it's just regarded as "common corporate stupidity".
better than "Wikipedii", at least :D
probably because Ubuntu strives for simplicity, and KDE is anything but.
personally I prefer XFce since I find both GNOME and KDE to be huge, bloated desktops filled with near-useless libraries and duplicated functionality (with respect to the rest of the system, not just themselves), but GNOME's goals are much closer to Ubuntu's than KDE's, so I do understand them there, and the LGPL'ed libraries are probably a nice bonus, too.
then why don't *YOU* do it? I mean, you're asking these guys to go learn how to program userspace drivers and CUPS filters, then write some for currently-unsupported hardware, then test it on different hardware revisions, *and* do it all for free in their spare time, so why don't you do it yourself?
and just saying "sorry, but I don't know how" doesn't cut it, they don't either yet here you are complaining. Go and lead by your example.
on my cheap network card at least, there *was* one, just besides the Windows flag and the Mac, uhhh, thingie. On many other hardware, it'll say on the requirements on the side of the box something such as "Windows NT/2000/XP or Linux", it was certainly the case for my Samsung printer though no cute penguin logo, sadly. And as a last resort, they could always ask the salesman whether it'll work on Linux, usually the answer will be "I don't know", but in my experience a surprising amount of time the answer will be "yeah, I tried it on my Ubuntu machine at home and it works great".
and it'd be completely deserved. What some people don't *get*, is that downmodding isn't a way of saying "I disagree with you, so STFU", it's a way of categorizing the posts by their intent and usefulness, and as such it's very different to state "I tried it and frankly it was too troublesome for me, plus I'm accustomed to XP which still works just fine so I guess Ubuntu just isn't for me" and "I tried it, it was a pain and you couldn't pay me enough to use it, so if you think it's ready to compete with XP you'd better think again, you raw-nerved zealot", even though once you take all the insults and "OMG the sky is falling!" attitude from the latter, both state roughly the same thing: that you tried it, but prefer XP.
or the short version: don't wanna be called a troll? don't behave like one.
well, K3B takes care of all my disc burning needs, but have you tried Nero Linux? dunno how it compares to the Windows version since I haven't used it ever since v5.9 or so, but it may be a suitable "replacement" for you, and it's fairly cheap too.
then you don't really want it that much now, do you?
with that said, though, I'll have to ask: are you comparing apples to apples here? for example, are you comparing an OSX-running laptop from Apple to a Linux-running laptop from a Linux vendor? did you buy your wifi card blindly for all three OSes, or did you check the manufacturer's website (or at the very least the card's box) to see whether they supported all the OSes you're trying to use it on?
dunno, I didn't buy my laptop from a Linux vendor but it worked perfectly (then again it's an IBM Thinkpad). When I bought my el-cheapo wifi card, I asked the vendor whether it worked under Linux and he replied that it was the one he used at home on his Ubuntu machine, and guess what? it does work, no terminal-fu required. And applications? well, you're free to download the .debs yourself and install it with a double-click, but excuse me if I'd rather use Synaptic.
and then we have the other side of the spectrum, for example with my tablet that specifically said "Windows 95/98", and while it does work under 2K/XP the half-assed driver doesn't support pressure sensitivity (nor does on Linux, to be frank), or my ol' Powerbook that refuses to acknowledge the PCMCIA ethernet card I bought for my older laptop (and that *does* work on Linux).
but comparing both of my experiences would, of course, be an apples to oranges comparison, because while on one I did my homework and researched the products I was going to buy, on the other I just stuck my old hardware on my shiny new OS, and just had some bad luck. Not that Linux won't have shortcomings compared to Windows and OSX even doing an apples to apples comparison, but still, it's better to be fair to all, IMHO.
you're new here aren't you? because it already happened and no, they weren't regarded as "true freedom fighters".
but please don't let facts get in the way of a good troll.
get the ads out of real-life stations, and then they won't feel 'right' on a video-game one anymore.
sorry, but the battle against 'marketeers' was lost decades ago.
no, if he just dressed like everyone else we would be talking about how nutjobs like him don't deserve to be part of the F/OSS community, or about how the GPL3 is so bad it makes baby Jesus cry. Don't think Stallman's clothes are the only thing standing between us and a good argument, the trolls will find even the smallest flaw and make a big fuss about it, or if they can't find one they'll make one up.
but hey! we bit the troll, but it still isn't too late, why don't we just stop talking about his clothes, and start discussing his speech now?
well, it does mean that anyone looking to implement said model has to pay IBM for the right, but most importantly, it's a patent on a business method, which is AFAIK the only class of patent that can be used against patent trolls (since they don't make products of any kind), so a large portfolio of such patents is a necessity for this business model to work.
yup. It works on Linux, it's fast, lightweight, and it's used by reputable news sites, something that can't be said of any other video codec.
I did, my first thought then was "wouldn't he be better off as Christopher Pike instead of Kirk?", and yes, I'm ashamed of it.
and don't forget the little machine that automatically destroys the tank's engine if you try to, say, upgrade the sound system to a different one not made by that specific corporation.
some refuse to buy these "OSX tanks" for that reason and stick with the free ones, while others still can't grasp why people would want anything other than a sound system made by that corporation anyways, since they're so admirable.
please remind me, how do you change the applications' appearance on MacOSX? on both Windows and (K|X)Ubuntu it just takes a couple of seconds navigating menus, and arguably changing the entire system's theme is much more important than changing just the look of the IM application, isn't it? ohh, and btw, I couldn't find the option you wanted on ArchLinux and the newest Pidgin either so you should probably blame the GAIM/Pidgin developers instead.
exactly, and Apple is the only one to blame should they decide not to sell the iPhone on those countries, not those governments, as some people around here seem to believe.
actually, a much closer analogy would be if your DVD player only played certain, "special" kinds of DVDs, and you modivied the firmware so that it could play all kinds of DVDs. And in that case you'd be liable under the DMCA so I guess iPhone owners got off easily by "just" losing their phone and warranty.
on the other hand, this is Slashdot so "unbreakable computer cases" ought to be exciting enough, isn't it? or maybe I'm just trying to justify myself, because that was my first idea when I saw the title, police officers be damned.
DRM isn't supported because it can't be supported, or do you have a way of providing an open source library that decodes DRM'ed files, without allowing your users to bypass the DRM? thought so. Ohhhh, but make it closed source, then! and run into legal troubles with the GPL, not to mention that almost no distro would ever want to bundle it.
And the scary "constitutes a CRIME" messages when trying to play movies is because some morons over there at the US thought that criminalizing your entire population in favor of a couple of oligopolies was, somehow, a "good idea", and then tried to push said legislations down everyone else's throats. In other words, it's not a fault of Linux, Ubuntu or any Open Source developer, unless he's also one of the US politicians that approved the bill.
if you're gonna bitch about those issues, blame those who created the mess in the first place, not the ones who suffer because of it.