>We're in a Linux/Apple discussion if you didn't happen to notice.
And by extension, we're in a free vs. commercial software discussion, and how a commercial software package (MacOS) is overtaking the free windows alternative (Linux).
My point here is that there is a reason FREE is not trumping the commercial software - people want software that works and they are obviously trusting a commercial source to do that for them.
Basically, what I have concluded is that these "social" websites are basically a free, web-based applications that let people create small personal web pages.
Since the web pages are on a centralized "server", they are easily indexable and searchable, which is nifty if you want to do things like go looking for long-lost friends or people who share similar interests.
If you aren't the last person, you're not by much.
I only went and checked it out a few weeks ago, after not being able to stand all the hype any longer.
I can't figure out what it's for. I've said as much here on Slasdot before, and was told that basically it's a mechanism to find/keep in touch with friends.
It's kind of like "classmates.com", except it's free.
I went and tried it out. First of all, they want you to use your real name. Like you noted, your "private stuff". Myself, I am seeking to/limit/ my online exposure, not enhance it, so of course I created a fake account.
Once you have an account, there is very little to actually/do/, that I can see. You are supposed to join "networks", but there weren't any that seemed interesting to me.
I don't have any long lost friends to look up, and the couple of names I did plug in didn't get any hits. All of the people currently in my life that I want to keep up with I currently keep up with by other means, like email, telephone, or face-to-face.
I still don't understand the appeal of these "myspace" and "facebook" social web sites. What they really look like to me is an html-based web page creation utility, that allows people to create a personal web page without having to pay a hosting fee.
Since most ISPs these days give you a 5MB or so space where you can make a little web page if you want, I don't know why people don't just use that, except I guess they don't know how to make web pages. So MySpace, Facebook, etc., are like mini web-page software wizards to help you make a web page. Since all the web pages are centralized on one "server", they are thus also easily searchable / linkable.
If I wanted a web page to post things about myself, I'd go register a domain and some web hosting services and make one. I guess Facebook and MySpace are for people who don't want to go to the trouble.
>Thanks to idiotic IP laws, DVD rippers are essentially illegal and can't be produced by >established (and therefore sue-able) entities
Then why was I able to buy commercial software to do it from Slysoft for $80?
It's not that the software isn't available, it's that I couldn't get the FREE stuff to work. And a quick browsing of the Doom9.org forums shows that I'm not alone, either.
>You really lost me with that one. If that dynamic actually worked Open Source could not have come >into existence in the first place. How has that dynamic helped Internet Explorer be a better browser? >How has it helped Windows in being more stable, less prone to viruses etc?
I ended up buying DVD ripping/re-encoding software from a small company called SlySoft.
You are right - you don't get much support from a company like Microsoft, because it is so big that it doesn't respond to problems that little people like me have.
But generally I find that when you go and BUY an product, if it flat out doesn't work you go back to the person that sold it to you and they will make it right or give you your money back. And because of that risk, they generally produce a product that does at least generally what they claim it will do.
I tried at least half a dozen pieces of free software to re-encode DVD rips to.avi files, and never got around the audio/video sync issues. So I went and bought a commercial software, and lo and behold, it worked right out of the box. In retrospect, I'm not surprised. A bunch of hobbyists that produce flaky software don't have anything to risk. A company, especially a small one, that puts out a shingle and sells a product for money has a lot more risk if they sell defective products.
I understand what you are saying about the necessity of software developers making use of codecs and other plug-ins. But the fact is, I don't care how they make it work (or not, in my case). I just am not surprised when you go to install a software package which, as part of its install, installs software packages from two, three, or more other authors, and in the end, it doesn't work. And then, when it doesn't work, which piece of the puzzle do you blaim?
>Finally "uncoordinated collection of hobbiests' works" either gives you >away as a partisan or demonstrates that you have not done much research on the subject.
I've got a BS in Computer Science and have been working with computers since the days of dial-up BBSes. So I guess I'm a partisan. But my recent experience with free software to re-encode DVDs made me that way, because an "uncoordinated collection of hobbiests' works" is exactly what all the tools I toyed with felt like I was using. I guess the reality is I now make enough money that I don't have to tinker with free tools to get the job done. I gave up with the DVD re-encoding after about 40 hours of effort. Then I bought the SlySoft ripping/re-encoding tools for $80. Commercial software FTW.
First of all, I use Windows, not Linux, because the primary purpose of my PC is for entertainment, and all the game titles are for Windows, not Linux. I understand there are some emulator out there, like WINE, but I don't want to take a performance hit eating up cycles with an emulator.
My big games are the entire Call of Duty series, which I play online using my Windows PC.
I don't think the audio sync issues were a result of ripping, because I could play the.VOB files just fine with a DVD player. It was something in the re-encoding process when I tried to convert them into.avi files that introduced the sync problems.
They are anything but bogus - I went to the doom9.org forums looking for help only to discover lots of other people with the same problem.
>you're likely a bit too lazy to put in the time required to find what does work and is free
I wiped my PC just before Christmas, so I can't go back and look at all the different packages I installed attempting to get ripping/re-encoding to work, but here are some I remember:
Ripit4me Gordian Knot AutoGK
There were at least 4 other pieces of software I tried but I can't remember them. Most of the packages during their install installed other pieces of software also, like codec packages and the like. Ripit4me is just a front end for the usual DeCSS software but I can't remember it's name either.
I also spent lots of time on the Doom9.org forums looking for help. Interestingly, one of the main topics of discussion is about audio/video sync issues.
Ultimately, I spent probably 40 hours off and on trying to get clean.AVI files from my DVD collection, with no luck. Since my billable time is about $40/hour, that's $1600 worth of effort.
Then I went and bought the ripping and re-encoding software from Slysoft, for $80 ($40 per package). Worked like a charm.
>Guess what!!! some people don't mind paying for software. Especially if it is good software.
You hit the nail on the head.
I've said this before here, but my experience with "free" DVD ripping/re-encoding software has totally changed my mind about the whole "free and open" software movement.
The problem seems to be the old one: Too many cooks spoil the soup. In my efforts to find a free DVD ripping/re-encoding software I downloaded many "free" tools. Not only did none of them work (I always ended up with audio/video sync issues), but most of them required the installation of numerous other pieces of software (codecs and the like), written by other folks.
In the end, you end up with a bunch of discombobulated software on your computer, the problem you were trying to solve still is unsolved, you don't know which piece of software isn't working right, and you couldn't get real tech support even if you did!
I think I've just about given up on "free" software, except maybe Firefox. I want to buy a product that someone is willing to stake their business reputation and livelihood on. Not an uncoordinated collection of hobbiests' works. This goes for operating systems, too. Maybe especially so.
I submit that this is the future of all digital content, indeed much of it already is: It's nothing more than bait to get you to visit the web site to generate ad revenue.
Digital content is rapidly being reduced to zero worth, as it is available for free. But distribution points for the free content will struggle to use it as bait to get you coming back to visit - to view advertising.
I learned at a very young age that when I did something naughty and got real quiet that was when my Mom came looking to see what I was up to. So I started doing all naughty things while whistling or otherwise in a noisy fashion.
When I was at college a group of friends went to scout out the local thing it was customary to steal on campus. Like your scenario, a campus cop drove by and one of our group ducked low and darted for the shrubs. We were like, "Dude, why don't you just wear a sign that says you are up to no good?"
The best way to do naughty things is to look like you are supposed to be there. It's called "Social Engineering".
>It might help if young black men stopped committing crime at 10x the national average. >I'm just saying. (Don't worry, most of it is black on black, which is also why blacks are so >much more likely to get murdered themselves. Unless that's "oversampling" too?)
The million-dollar-question is, "Why do young black men commit crimes at 10x the national average?"
The answer is obvious, and backed up by your observation that most of the crime is black on black.
I'll give you a hint: It doesn't have anything to do with skin color.
LOL! I just bought a new house, with a brand new dishwasher.
The front of that thing looks like a Christmas tree! Hot Wash. Regular Wash. Pots and Pans Wash. High Temp Wash. Air Dry. Heat Dry.
You are very correct - there should be one damn button - WASH.
I don't mind so much having to add detergent with every load (I just spent 5 minutes filling it up with dishes, after all), but the interface is complicated.
Sometimes I think, if new music and movies stopped being created today, but I could legally download all movies and video ever created prior to today, would I care that no more new content is being created?
>Wow. I'd like to know who you work for that they 'love' you. I know they might say that, ?but look at the money, and ask yourself again how much they love you. It's certainly not >within orders of magnitude of how much they love themselves.
I never claimed that they loved me as much as they loved themselves.
I claimed that they compensate me because the "love" me. That is, we are engaged in a willing relationship whereby I willingly provide services and they willingly pay for them.
As opposed to being in an unwilling relationship whereby they pay because of the threat of extortion.
This is the fundamental problem with unions. They set up a de facto adversarial working relationship. Not only would I not want to work somewhere where I was considered an adversary, but companies don't like it either, and will flee to non-union locations as soon as they are able.
>Why is that? Why is it that the intelligentsia seems to think that they can
>compete individually against large, organized corporations?
Uh, because they do it every day? It's pretty simple. Smart people don't need collective bargaining power to get higher wages. Their talents are rare and in demand, and consequently they shop themselves around to large, organized corporations every day.
>But the alternative is being a wage slave, even if the wage is higher.
Everyone is a "wage slave". Everyone needs a paycheck. The question is, do you want to join a mob to extort better compensation from a corporation through threats, or are your skills so in demand that you can get better compensation from them on your own?
I'd rather get my compensation because my employer loves me, rather than because they fear me.
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>We're in a Linux/Apple discussion if you didn't happen to notice.
And by extension, we're in a free vs. commercial software discussion, and how a commercial software package (MacOS) is overtaking the free windows alternative (Linux).
My point here is that there is a reason FREE is not trumping the commercial software - people want software that works and they are obviously trusting a commercial source to do that for them.
That was the point of my analogy.
Basically, what I have concluded is that these "social" websites are basically a free, web-based applications that let people create small personal web pages.
Since the web pages are on a centralized "server", they are easily indexable and searchable, which is nifty if you want to do things like go looking for long-lost friends or people who share similar interests.
Myself, I don't get the appeal.
If you aren't the last person, you're not by much.
/limit/ my online exposure, not enhance it, so of course I created a fake account.
/do/, that I can see. You are supposed to join "networks", but there weren't any that seemed interesting to me.
I only went and checked it out a few weeks ago, after not being able to stand all the hype any longer.
I can't figure out what it's for. I've said as much here on Slasdot before, and was told that basically it's a mechanism to find/keep in touch with friends.
It's kind of like "classmates.com", except it's free.
I went and tried it out. First of all, they want you to use your real name. Like you noted, your "private stuff". Myself, I am seeking to
Once you have an account, there is very little to actually
I don't have any long lost friends to look up, and the couple of names I did plug in didn't get any hits. All of the people currently in my life that I want to keep up with I currently keep up with by other means, like email, telephone, or face-to-face.
I still don't understand the appeal of these "myspace" and "facebook" social web sites. What they really look like to me is an html-based web page creation utility, that allows people to create a personal web page without having to pay a hosting fee.
Since most ISPs these days give you a 5MB or so space where you can make a little web page if you want, I don't know why people don't just use that, except I guess they don't know how to make web pages. So MySpace, Facebook, etc., are like mini web-page software wizards to help you make a web page. Since all the web pages are centralized on one "server", they are thus also easily searchable / linkable.
If I wanted a web page to post things about myself, I'd go register a domain and some web hosting services and make one. I guess Facebook and MySpace are for people who don't want to go to the trouble.
>Thanks to idiotic IP laws, DVD rippers are essentially illegal and can't be produced by
>established (and therefore sue-able) entities
Then why was I able to buy commercial software to do it from Slysoft for $80?
It's not that the software isn't available, it's that I couldn't get the FREE stuff to work. And a quick browsing of the Doom9.org forums shows that I'm not alone, either.
>You really lost me with that one. If that dynamic actually worked Open Source could not have come
.avi files, and never got around the audio/video sync issues. So I went and bought a commercial software, and lo and behold, it worked right out of the box. In retrospect, I'm not surprised. A bunch of hobbyists that produce flaky software don't have anything to risk. A company, especially a small one, that puts out a shingle and sells a product for money has a lot more risk if they sell defective products.
>into existence in the first place. How has that dynamic helped Internet Explorer be a better browser?
>How has it helped Windows in being more stable, less prone to viruses etc?
I ended up buying DVD ripping/re-encoding software from a small company called SlySoft.
You are right - you don't get much support from a company like Microsoft, because it is so big that it doesn't respond to problems that little people like me have.
But generally I find that when you go and BUY an product, if it flat out doesn't work you go back to the person that sold it to you and they will make it right or give you your money back. And because of that risk, they generally produce a product that does at least generally what they claim it will do.
I tried at least half a dozen pieces of free software to re-encode DVD rips to
I understand what you are saying about the necessity of software developers making use of codecs and other plug-ins. But the fact is, I don't care how they make it work (or not, in my case). I just am not surprised when you go to install a software package which, as part of its install, installs software packages from two, three, or more other authors, and in the end, it doesn't work. And then, when it doesn't work, which piece of the puzzle do you blaim?
>Finally "uncoordinated collection of hobbiests' works" either gives you
>away as a partisan or demonstrates that you have not done much research on the subject.
I've got a BS in Computer Science and have been working with computers since the days of dial-up BBSes. So I guess I'm a partisan. But my recent experience with free software to re-encode DVDs made me that way, because an "uncoordinated collection of hobbiests' works" is exactly what all the tools I toyed with felt like I was using. I guess the reality is I now make enough money that I don't have to tinker with free tools to get the job done. I gave up with the DVD re-encoding after about 40 hours of effort. Then I bought the SlySoft ripping/re-encoding tools for $80. Commercial software FTW.
First of all, I use Windows, not Linux, because the primary purpose of my PC is for entertainment, and all the game titles are for Windows, not Linux. I understand there are some emulator out there, like WINE, but I don't want to take a performance hit eating up cycles with an emulator.
.VOB files just fine with a DVD player. It was something in the re-encoding process when I tried to convert them into .avi files that introduced the sync problems.
My big games are the entire Call of Duty series, which I play online using my Windows PC.
I don't think the audio sync issues were a result of ripping, because I could play the
They are anything but bogus - I went to the doom9.org forums looking for help only to discover lots of other people with the same problem.
>you're likely a bit too lazy to put in the time required to find what does work and is free
.AVI files from my DVD collection, with no luck. Since my billable time is about $40/hour, that's $1600 worth of effort.
I wiped my PC just before Christmas, so I can't go back and look at all the different packages I installed attempting to get ripping/re-encoding to work, but here are some I remember:
Ripit4me
Gordian Knot
AutoGK
There were at least 4 other pieces of software I tried but I can't remember them. Most of the packages during their install installed other pieces of software also, like codec packages and the like. Ripit4me is just a front end for the usual DeCSS software but I can't remember it's name either.
I also spent lots of time on the Doom9.org forums looking for help. Interestingly, one of the main topics of discussion is about audio/video sync issues.
Ultimately, I spent probably 40 hours off and on trying to get clean
Then I went and bought the ripping and re-encoding software from Slysoft, for $80 ($40 per package). Worked like a charm.
>Guess what!!! some people don't mind paying for software. Especially if it is good software.
You hit the nail on the head.
I've said this before here, but my experience with "free" DVD ripping/re-encoding software has totally changed my mind about the whole "free and open" software movement.
The problem seems to be the old one: Too many cooks spoil the soup. In my efforts to find a free DVD ripping/re-encoding software I downloaded many "free" tools. Not only did none of them work (I always ended up with audio/video sync issues), but most of them required the installation of numerous other pieces of software (codecs and the like), written by other folks.
In the end, you end up with a bunch of discombobulated software on your computer, the problem you were trying to solve still is unsolved, you don't know which piece of software isn't working right, and you couldn't get real tech support even if you did!
I think I've just about given up on "free" software, except maybe Firefox. I want to buy a product that someone is willing to stake their business reputation and livelihood on. Not an uncoordinated collection of hobbiests' works. This goes for operating systems, too. Maybe especially so.
>What sound do people on rollercoasters make? Hint: it's not Xbox 360.
It took me a minute to figure out what your tag meant.
At first I was thinking, "There's a gaming console called OH SHIIIITTTT AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhh?"
>The programs are NOTHING MORE THAN BAIT.
I submit that this is the future of all digital content, indeed much of it already is: It's nothing more than bait to get you to visit the web site to generate ad revenue.
Digital content is rapidly being reduced to zero worth, as it is available for free. But distribution points for the free content will struggle to use it as bait to get you coming back to visit - to view advertising.
You gonna begrudge the nerds the perk of a little airplane ride? I'm sure there isn't much else in the way of perks for those guys.
I learned at a very young age that when I did something naughty and got real quiet that was when my Mom came looking to see what I was up to. So I started doing all naughty things while whistling or otherwise in a noisy fashion.
When I was at college a group of friends went to scout out the local thing it was customary to steal on campus. Like your scenario, a campus cop drove by and one of our group ducked low and darted for the shrubs. We were like, "Dude, why don't you just wear a sign that says you are up to no good?"
The best way to do naughty things is to look like you are supposed to be there. It's called "Social Engineering".
I couldn't hear you over the latest TV gossip program.
Besides. I feel safe.
I can't fathom what /those/ could be preparing you for! :)
Next time you need a cop, ambulance, or a fireman, be sure to break out the signal lamp. :)
So I missed the big hate party. Why does everyone dislike SCO?
>It might help if young black men stopped committing crime at 10x the national average.
>I'm just saying. (Don't worry, most of it is black on black, which is also why blacks are so
>much more likely to get murdered themselves. Unless that's "oversampling" too?)
The million-dollar-question is, "Why do young black men commit crimes at 10x the national average?"
The answer is obvious, and backed up by your observation that most of the crime is black on black.
I'll give you a hint: It doesn't have anything to do with skin color.
LOL! I just bought a new house, with a brand new dishwasher.
The front of that thing looks like a Christmas tree! Hot Wash. Regular Wash. Pots and Pans Wash. High Temp Wash. Air Dry. Heat Dry.
You are very correct - there should be one damn button - WASH.
I don't mind so much having to add detergent with every load (I just spent 5 minutes filling it up with dishes, after all), but the interface is complicated.
I agree entirely. If I have to tell my appliances how to behave, then it is /I/ who am smart, not the appliance.
Smart would be if I set a monthly power budget and all my appliances figure out together how to best achieve their jobs within that budget.
>My kid can't get enough Scorpions, SRV, Foghat and Mountain.
:)
LOL, I don't know what any of those are.
Boston, REO Speedwagon, Eagles, ACDC, Charlie Daniels Band, these are familiar to me.
Heh, I feel you.
Sometimes I think, if new music and movies stopped being created today, but I could legally download all movies and video ever created prior to today, would I care that no more new content is being created?
I don't think so.
>Wow. I'd like to know who you work for that they 'love' you. I know they might say that,
?but look at the money, and ask yourself again how much they love you. It's certainly not
>within orders of magnitude of how much they love themselves.
I never claimed that they loved me as much as they loved themselves.
I claimed that they compensate me because the "love" me. That is, we are engaged in a willing relationship whereby I willingly provide services and they willingly pay for them.
As opposed to being in an unwilling relationship whereby they pay because of the threat of extortion.
This is the fundamental problem with unions. They set up a de facto adversarial working relationship. Not only would I not want to work somewhere where I was considered an adversary, but companies don't like it either, and will flee to non-union locations as soon as they are able.
>Now, if robots can be more emotionally responsive than men, will men do something drastic to compete with robots?
I still have the paycheck.
>Why is that? Why is it that the intelligentsia seems to think that they can >compete individually against large, organized corporations? Uh, because they do it every day? It's pretty simple. Smart people don't need collective bargaining power to get higher wages. Their talents are rare and in demand, and consequently they shop themselves around to large, organized corporations every day. >But the alternative is being a wage slave, even if the wage is higher. Everyone is a "wage slave". Everyone needs a paycheck. The question is, do you want to join a mob to extort better compensation from a corporation through threats, or are your skills so in demand that you can get better compensation from them on your own? I'd rather get my compensation because my employer loves me, rather than because they fear me.
Just so.
I'm so tired of these animatronic gizmos that are being called "robots".
Roomba is a robot. It does something useful.
A doll that can bleep, bloop or wiggle a bit when it hears a noise or bumps into something is not a robot.
None of this stuff seems much more impressive than the Big Trak ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigtrak ) I had as a kid 30 years ago.
I am not impressed.