Yeah, because it's totally impossible that visionaries that left a company to pursue something greater would be able to see beyond the box they used to work in.
Seriously, how could you even type this without your fingers breaking themselves in disgust before you could finish?
Valve will follow the road that leads to them making more money. That means watching the market and adapting as it shifts. With so much new support for Linux lately (Ubuntu, Dell, HP, ATI/AMD) it would be hard to ignore Linux as a gaming platform. That doesn't mean they WILL decide to write cross-platform games, just that they would be fools to ignore it without reason.
No, the spirit of the GPL was to ensure that anyone who benefits from the code returns any upgrades they make to it.
BSD software cannot 'be made proprietary'. The original code will ALWAYS be available under the BSD.
If Linus had chosen BSD License, Microsoft would not have 'swallowed' Linux. It may have improved Windows with it, and may even have ended up with a better system than Linux, but absolutely no real harm would have come to Linux itself.
The card reader is not the card. The card reader is -never- used to decrypt DirecTV. The card (which so far, has to come from DirecTV themselves, as it's not been completely hacked) has a sophisticated chip on it that does the decrypting.
The card reader is used to hack the card and/or reprogram it.
The card could be argued to be used to intercept (even though it's actually just decrypting), but the card reader doesn't even have exist once the card has been hacked/reprogrammed.
There used to be more sophisticated rigs that involved a card, card reader, fake card, and a PC. I don't think any of those work any more, though. They aren't at issue here as the -only- use for that rig is to hack DirecTV and the components are specific to it.
I totally agree. DirecTV should have to prove the devices were being used to hack their systems. I thought that was a given with the US's court system, but I guess not.
But I was objecting just to the 'scientific use' bit. If the devices they mean are just the card readers, then the EFF is obviously right. Those devices CAN and ARE used for many other applications. If the devices are the DirecTV boxes, there's no excuse and DirecTV is right.
The tricky part is this line: "prohibiting the "assembly" or "modification" of equipment designed to intercept satellite signals". Smart card readers do not intercept any signals and would not fall under this law. Only the DirecTV receivers do. They may facilitate decryption of intercepted signals, but they do not have anything to do with the interception.
If you manage to create the perfect decrypter, DirecTV will be the LEAST of your worries. IF some government (probably ours) doesn't blow you away immediately, you can expect to live the rest of your life in a very small cell explaining exactly WTF you did and how. And working on the next breakthrough as well. What you did was that dangerous to 'national security' and they'd have no problem making it stick.
But yes, DirecTV was saying that your device would step on their rights.
And even if that idea were possible, there is NO need to break DirecTV's encryption in order to work on your project. There's plenty of encryptions that you could break legally to develop the device. Testing it on DirecTV's broadcast afterwards is an afterthought, and NOT what is being discussed here.
Scientific knowledge? Of someone else's copyrighted device? What's so mysterious about these devices that they can't just ask DirecTV about them? Oh right, because they are trying to hack them. Today's 'amateur hacker' is tomorrow's 'I cracked DTV, come get your cards!' guy.
There are no valid and legal uses for this information they are hacking the boxes to obtain. Does that not mean that they fall under the 'illegal' category automatically?
New Jet Eases Travel Hassles For Bill Gates By LAURENCE ZUCKERMAN
Microsoft Corp's chairman, William H Gates, buys $21 million private jet with his own money; Gates has long been known for flying coach and barring his employees from flying first class October 27, 1997 Technology News
A study has shown we produce as much carbon dioxide walking the same distance as driving a car. I hope that's not the pollutant you meant.
While it's quite obvious that smog isn't natural, and is unhealthy to us, there's still no definitive studies to say we are killing the planet. Most 'save the planet' campaigns still rely more on 'common sense' (which is just about non-existant, imho) instead of scientific proof. I used to believe all that rot. But then I started asking questions instead of just taking what they say as gospel.
If it were safe, convenient, and cheap, I'd take public transportation, too. It's none of those things in my area. (Safe could be debated, I suppose.)
Considering that brighthouse in my area 'rents' the Digital Cable and HD Cable DVR boxes in my area for free, I don't think they're going to have any problem at all with providing those boxes.
On the other hand, they were saying 'free analog cable to all TVs in your house' when you sign up for digital service... That policy could indeed make those boxes costly. I expect if they go all-digital, that policy will change, though.
I readily look forward to the day that TV providers finally 'get it' and offer on-demand services for EVERY channel and EVERY show, instead of issuing DVRs and forcing people to program the thing to record at the right times. I thought I was happy with DVR at first, but after a few months I found out that some channels mysteriously failed to record properly (WB, I think it was) and some programs have a different name each year (Survivor), so you have to know when they start and program it to record a few days before it starts (can't do it before then), which means you have to know when it starts. Other times it mysteriously decides the show is a first-run when it isn't. (I've never had it do the opposite yet, though.) And of course, if you have a power outage, it can't record then.
In the end, my DVR box sits unused (It's actually BEHIND the tv now and can't be used... I never bothered to move it when I got a bigger TV) and I just download the shows from the net and stream them to my PS3. It's a LOT more reliable and the fast-forward/rewind/pause functions work a lot better. I pay my monthly blood-money to watch them, and watch them I will.
I expected to see a ton of 'that's not fair!' posts here, but maybe those people don't wake up this early.
Anyhow, good on NASA for earning another $1.3mil per year using something that they already had. I'm sure they have all kinds of stuff in the contract that prohibits Google execs from using the strip when NASA projects are actively going on, which probably happens pretty seldom. I'm sure someone will say 'drop in the bucket', but that's $1.3mil that didn't come from taxes... And that's a lot of taxes.
and stick it to your shirt. Alternatively, you could have cards printed that say that and hand it to the person before you begin to speak to them. It'll make them think twice about asking other people, and they probably won't ever ask you again.
1) Post a reasonable response with an attempt to fix whatever problems the user was having. (Actual attempt is optional, it just has to LOOK like they are trying.)
2) Lawsuit. A very public and damaging lawsuit that makes you scream 'EVERYONE THINKS WE SUCK BUT WE DON'T REALLY' to even have a chance at winning.
Yeah, smart. Assuming you are correct that this means the end of their business, they handled it exactly the wrong way. Nobody succeeds these days in covering up their stupidity with a lawsuit. Many companies HAVE succeeded by promising to fix the problem. Or at least looking like it. You can actually fail to fix things for years if you are nice enough when you promise to fix them. Eventually people will catch on, but you'll be richer by then and can sell the company and move to some nice beach somewhere.
I definitely agree with your assessment of Indian programmers in general. The company I work for outsources some of our gruntwork to an Indian company. When told exactly what to do, they generally get it done. If any ambiguity is left, they almost always pick the lazy way and get it wrong, instead of asking. When a problem crops up, they will either spend WAY too long trying to fix it (last time it was 45 days!!) or claim it simply can't be done.
One of the American programmers feels strongly that we should dump the Indian team and hire locals instead. We've even started taking scripts that they fail to produce and create them ourselves, and the usually work so much better that it's amazing how bad it was. If we could GET local cheap talent, we'd probably have done it already. It all comes down to price... We have a gaggle of them for the same price a couple American programmers would cost, and it's all gruntwork... Nothing that requires any real thinking. The hard stuff is done in-house.
As a hidden cost, we've found that they were advertising they would do scripts for others like the ones they do for us. We stepped on that quickly, but you have to be aware of things like that. I suspect they are quietly doing it on the side anyhow and we aren't catching them.
Exactly. My first thought when I read that he was asking C# people about linked lists was 'Why the HELL would you implement a linked list in C#?!" I fully understand their use and necessity in C and C++, but C# already has datastructures like that and implementing your own would be a complete waste of time, not to mention the fact that you'd have to put it in 'unsafe' mode to do so.
And while I agree that C/C++ programmers should know how to implement a linked list, unless they are doing something highly specialized, it's insane not to use the STL. And even then you'd better have a damned good reason not to.
It's a vicious circle. Most companies don't contribute to BSD because most companies don't contribute to BSD. Most companies choose Linux for their 'free' OS because most companies choose Linux for the 'free' OS. Until something breaks those circles, nothing will change. The idea I was trying to get across (and the article hinted at) was that the GPL may be the thing to break those circles.
I, and the company I work for, use Linux. A lot. But if I saw that some new GPL changes were going to impact our business, I'd start pushing for BSD immediately, rather than have to do a massive changeover at the last second. For what we do, the massive support and cutting-edge technology in Linux is not useful. We can do everything we want (server-wise) with BSD-licensed stuff. Desktop wise, that's not quite there.
But that's assuming the GPL will be changed to affect users instead of just distributors. As far as I know, that'll never happen. But then, I didn't see the GPL v3 coming, either, so I'm not a real good judge of these things.
Cripes, yes. That's the game I thought of, too. I am not easily creeped out (Bioshock was scary?? AT ALL??) but Fatal Frame 2's INTRO had me creeped out. I got that weird chill down my spine and everything. Awesome game.
TFS says 'commercial users', which would be businesses. If I were a business, and the GPL looked like it might be starting to impact me, I'd definitely start looking at BSD, the license of which is known for how 'free' it is to the user, rather than the developer. So far, it hasn't started to do that to anyone but Tivo and other hardware manufacturers, but the moment it starts looking like just using the software for any commercial purpose will be a problem, you can bet there'll be a ton of companies jump ship.
Why would they stick around and try to fight it instead of just picking an already-existing alternative? At the moment Linux isn't scary (to a business) and it is more popular. But let the boss get wind of imminent problems with it, and he'll ORDER a switch. That switch may even be to Windows Server, as the liabilities and costs are well known.
This is a very very hypothetical situation, since it would be absolutely insane for the GPL to further limit the freedom of users/distributors (beyond the v3 limits)... But it's possible.
I've got a theory: All the 'editors' are actually just Taco in disguise. When he wants to post a certain type of story, he chooses a certain name. When he wants to post a worthless story that everyone will yell about, he posts as kdawson.
I assume it's because they are sick of people asking. Google is GREAT for finding things that exist. The fact that you -can't- find this on Google is a huge hint that it doesn't exist. Let's not forget that the last service to provide this for free closed down because of all the abusers, even after they were asked not to abuse the system. What other service in their right mind would take their place?
I admit, I think $5/mo for TV listings is a lot. TV Guide provided that service, plus interviews and articles, for less. (At least, last I checked.) There's free TV listings in the paper each week. (Again, last I checked.) And you can always look stuff up on tvguide.com and other sites for free, they just don't provide an easy-to-use feed for automated abuse. Err, use. I don't even pay that much for services that do a -lot- more work.
Some day, TV will get on the ball and start providing the service people want, instead of trying to force things down our throats. Europe has tv-via-satellite that seems to work very well, except it's not HD. The HD over-the-air works well, if you aren't stuck in a valley like I am and can't receive any signals without a ton of equipment.
No, some day, someone will see the light and provide TV over the 'net, with an electronic guide that mythtv or other programs can use. (AT&T, ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?) Maybe they'll even have TV-on-demand and eliminate the need for a DVR altogether... If I could stream TV shows any time I wanted, instead of having to know ahead of time, I'd be willing to pay for that. (More than I already pay for HD & DVR cable, I mean.)
We seem to have hit a phase where companies are trying to force us to want what they want to sell us, instead of trying to sell us what we want. It's backfiring left and right and they're soon going to have to open their eyes.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, because it's totally impossible that visionaries that left a company to pursue something greater would be able to see beyond the box they used to work in.
Seriously, how could you even type this without your fingers breaking themselves in disgust before you could finish?
Valve will follow the road that leads to them making more money. That means watching the market and adapting as it shifts. With so much new support for Linux lately (Ubuntu, Dell, HP, ATI/AMD) it would be hard to ignore Linux as a gaming platform. That doesn't mean they WILL decide to write cross-platform games, just that they would be fools to ignore it without reason.
If that were the case, I'd say 'Fuck the GPL!' then. Any time 1 entity has sole ability to declare something 'free', something is seriously fucked up.
Luckily, it's not the case.
http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl-faq.html#DoesFreeSoftwareMeanUsingTheGPL
No, the spirit of the GPL was to ensure that anyone who benefits from the code returns any upgrades they make to it.
BSD software cannot 'be made proprietary'. The original code will ALWAYS be available under the BSD.
If Linus had chosen BSD License, Microsoft would not have 'swallowed' Linux. It may have improved Windows with it, and may even have ended up with a better system than Linux, but absolutely no real harm would have come to Linux itself.
The card reader is not the card. The card reader is -never- used to decrypt DirecTV. The card (which so far, has to come from DirecTV themselves, as it's not been completely hacked) has a sophisticated chip on it that does the decrypting.
The card reader is used to hack the card and/or reprogram it.
The card could be argued to be used to intercept (even though it's actually just decrypting), but the card reader doesn't even have exist once the card has been hacked/reprogrammed.
There used to be more sophisticated rigs that involved a card, card reader, fake card, and a PC. I don't think any of those work any more, though. They aren't at issue here as the -only- use for that rig is to hack DirecTV and the components are specific to it.
I totally agree. DirecTV should have to prove the devices were being used to hack their systems. I thought that was a given with the US's court system, but I guess not.
But I was objecting just to the 'scientific use' bit. If the devices they mean are just the card readers, then the EFF is obviously right. Those devices CAN and ARE used for many other applications. If the devices are the DirecTV boxes, there's no excuse and DirecTV is right.
The tricky part is this line: "prohibiting the "assembly" or "modification" of equipment designed to intercept satellite signals". Smart card readers do not intercept any signals and would not fall under this law. Only the DirecTV receivers do. They may facilitate decryption of intercepted signals, but they do not have anything to do with the interception.
If you manage to create the perfect decrypter, DirecTV will be the LEAST of your worries. IF some government (probably ours) doesn't blow you away immediately, you can expect to live the rest of your life in a very small cell explaining exactly WTF you did and how. And working on the next breakthrough as well. What you did was that dangerous to 'national security' and they'd have no problem making it stick.
But yes, DirecTV was saying that your device would step on their rights.
And even if that idea were possible, there is NO need to break DirecTV's encryption in order to work on your project. There's plenty of encryptions that you could break legally to develop the device. Testing it on DirecTV's broadcast afterwards is an afterthought, and NOT what is being discussed here.
Scientific knowledge? Of someone else's copyrighted device? What's so mysterious about these devices that they can't just ask DirecTV about them? Oh right, because they are trying to hack them. Today's 'amateur hacker' is tomorrow's 'I cracked DTV, come get your cards!' guy.
There are no valid and legal uses for this information they are hacking the boxes to obtain. Does that not mean that they fall under the 'illegal' category automatically?
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/bill_gates/index.html?offset=120&s=oldest&inline=nyt-per
New Jet Eases Travel Hassles For Bill Gates
By LAURENCE ZUCKERMAN
Microsoft Corp's chairman, William H Gates, buys $21 million private jet with his own money; Gates has long been known for flying coach and barring his employees from flying first class
October 27, 1997 Technology News
A study has shown we produce as much carbon dioxide walking the same distance as driving a car. I hope that's not the pollutant you meant.
While it's quite obvious that smog isn't natural, and is unhealthy to us, there's still no definitive studies to say we are killing the planet. Most 'save the planet' campaigns still rely more on 'common sense' (which is just about non-existant, imho) instead of scientific proof. I used to believe all that rot. But then I started asking questions instead of just taking what they say as gospel.
If it were safe, convenient, and cheap, I'd take public transportation, too. It's none of those things in my area. (Safe could be debated, I suppose.)
You've got some proof that Google pays for this, do you? The plane isn't owned by Google, why would Google pay for it?
So turn that around and... Where's the difference?
Considering that brighthouse in my area 'rents' the Digital Cable and HD Cable DVR boxes in my area for free, I don't think they're going to have any problem at all with providing those boxes.
On the other hand, they were saying 'free analog cable to all TVs in your house' when you sign up for digital service... That policy could indeed make those boxes costly. I expect if they go all-digital, that policy will change, though.
I readily look forward to the day that TV providers finally 'get it' and offer on-demand services for EVERY channel and EVERY show, instead of issuing DVRs and forcing people to program the thing to record at the right times. I thought I was happy with DVR at first, but after a few months I found out that some channels mysteriously failed to record properly (WB, I think it was) and some programs have a different name each year (Survivor), so you have to know when they start and program it to record a few days before it starts (can't do it before then), which means you have to know when it starts. Other times it mysteriously decides the show is a first-run when it isn't. (I've never had it do the opposite yet, though.) And of course, if you have a power outage, it can't record then.
In the end, my DVR box sits unused (It's actually BEHIND the tv now and can't be used... I never bothered to move it when I got a bigger TV) and I just download the shows from the net and stream them to my PS3. It's a LOT more reliable and the fast-forward/rewind/pause functions work a lot better. I pay my monthly blood-money to watch them, and watch them I will.
I expected to see a ton of 'that's not fair!' posts here, but maybe those people don't wake up this early.
Anyhow, good on NASA for earning another $1.3mil per year using something that they already had. I'm sure they have all kinds of stuff in the contract that prohibits Google execs from using the strip when NASA projects are actively going on, which probably happens pretty seldom. I'm sure someone will say 'drop in the bucket', but that's $1.3mil that didn't come from taxes... And that's a lot of taxes.
The question was how to implement it, not what it does, how it should be used, or what it is best at. The question, as stated, was useless.
"Ninja Gaiden 2 will be an Xbox exclusive when it releases next year."
That's market-speak for:
Ninja Gaiden 2 will be available only on the XBox for the first month. After that, we'll release it on all the other consoles.
Just get a sticker that says:
Ask me about reserving a game and
I WILL KILL YOU
and stick it to your shirt. Alternatively, you could have cards printed that say that and hand it to the person before you begin to speak to them. It'll make them think twice about asking other people, and they probably won't ever ask you again.
My local GameStop just got a new Plan-o-gram. What changed? They moved the used DVD movie rack closer to the front of the store. -yawn-
This isn't news, it's an advertisement.
There were 2 ways to fix this problem:
1) Post a reasonable response with an attempt to fix whatever problems the user was having. (Actual attempt is optional, it just has to LOOK like they are trying.)
2) Lawsuit. A very public and damaging lawsuit that makes you scream 'EVERYONE THINKS WE SUCK BUT WE DON'T REALLY' to even have a chance at winning.
Yeah, smart. Assuming you are correct that this means the end of their business, they handled it exactly the wrong way. Nobody succeeds these days in covering up their stupidity with a lawsuit. Many companies HAVE succeeded by promising to fix the problem. Or at least looking like it. You can actually fail to fix things for years if you are nice enough when you promise to fix them. Eventually people will catch on, but you'll be richer by then and can sell the company and move to some nice beach somewhere.
Because CmdrTaco posted it and IT'S HIS SITE. Go make your own site so people can complain about what you post on it.
I definitely agree with your assessment of Indian programmers in general. The company I work for outsources some of our gruntwork to an Indian company. When told exactly what to do, they generally get it done. If any ambiguity is left, they almost always pick the lazy way and get it wrong, instead of asking. When a problem crops up, they will either spend WAY too long trying to fix it (last time it was 45 days!!) or claim it simply can't be done.
One of the American programmers feels strongly that we should dump the Indian team and hire locals instead. We've even started taking scripts that they fail to produce and create them ourselves, and the usually work so much better that it's amazing how bad it was. If we could GET local cheap talent, we'd probably have done it already. It all comes down to price... We have a gaggle of them for the same price a couple American programmers would cost, and it's all gruntwork... Nothing that requires any real thinking. The hard stuff is done in-house.
As a hidden cost, we've found that they were advertising they would do scripts for others like the ones they do for us. We stepped on that quickly, but you have to be aware of things like that. I suspect they are quietly doing it on the side anyhow and we aren't catching them.
Exactly. My first thought when I read that he was asking C# people about linked lists was 'Why the HELL would you implement a linked list in C#?!" I fully understand their use and necessity in C and C++, but C# already has datastructures like that and implementing your own would be a complete waste of time, not to mention the fact that you'd have to put it in 'unsafe' mode to do so.
And while I agree that C/C++ programmers should know how to implement a linked list, unless they are doing something highly specialized, it's insane not to use the STL. And even then you'd better have a damned good reason not to.
It's a vicious circle. Most companies don't contribute to BSD because most companies don't contribute to BSD. Most companies choose Linux for their 'free' OS because most companies choose Linux for the 'free' OS. Until something breaks those circles, nothing will change. The idea I was trying to get across (and the article hinted at) was that the GPL may be the thing to break those circles.
I, and the company I work for, use Linux. A lot. But if I saw that some new GPL changes were going to impact our business, I'd start pushing for BSD immediately, rather than have to do a massive changeover at the last second. For what we do, the massive support and cutting-edge technology in Linux is not useful. We can do everything we want (server-wise) with BSD-licensed stuff. Desktop wise, that's not quite there.
But that's assuming the GPL will be changed to affect users instead of just distributors. As far as I know, that'll never happen. But then, I didn't see the GPL v3 coming, either, so I'm not a real good judge of these things.
Repeat after me: YET.
Cripes, yes. That's the game I thought of, too. I am not easily creeped out (Bioshock was scary?? AT ALL??) but Fatal Frame 2's INTRO had me creeped out. I got that weird chill down my spine and everything. Awesome game.
TFS says 'commercial users', which would be businesses. If I were a business, and the GPL looked like it might be starting to impact me, I'd definitely start looking at BSD, the license of which is known for how 'free' it is to the user, rather than the developer. So far, it hasn't started to do that to anyone but Tivo and other hardware manufacturers, but the moment it starts looking like just using the software for any commercial purpose will be a problem, you can bet there'll be a ton of companies jump ship.
Why would they stick around and try to fight it instead of just picking an already-existing alternative? At the moment Linux isn't scary (to a business) and it is more popular. But let the boss get wind of imminent problems with it, and he'll ORDER a switch. That switch may even be to Windows Server, as the liabilities and costs are well known.
This is a very very hypothetical situation, since it would be absolutely insane for the GPL to further limit the freedom of users/distributors (beyond the v3 limits)... But it's possible.
I've got a theory: All the 'editors' are actually just Taco in disguise. When he wants to post a certain type of story, he chooses a certain name. When he wants to post a worthless story that everyone will yell about, he posts as kdawson.
I assume it's because they are sick of people asking. Google is GREAT for finding things that exist. The fact that you -can't- find this on Google is a huge hint that it doesn't exist. Let's not forget that the last service to provide this for free closed down because of all the abusers, even after they were asked not to abuse the system. What other service in their right mind would take their place?
I admit, I think $5/mo for TV listings is a lot. TV Guide provided that service, plus interviews and articles, for less. (At least, last I checked.) There's free TV listings in the paper each week. (Again, last I checked.) And you can always look stuff up on tvguide.com and other sites for free, they just don't provide an easy-to-use feed for automated abuse. Err, use. I don't even pay that much for services that do a -lot- more work.
Some day, TV will get on the ball and start providing the service people want, instead of trying to force things down our throats. Europe has tv-via-satellite that seems to work very well, except it's not HD. The HD over-the-air works well, if you aren't stuck in a valley like I am and can't receive any signals without a ton of equipment.
No, some day, someone will see the light and provide TV over the 'net, with an electronic guide that mythtv or other programs can use. (AT&T, ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?) Maybe they'll even have TV-on-demand and eliminate the need for a DVR altogether... If I could stream TV shows any time I wanted, instead of having to know ahead of time, I'd be willing to pay for that. (More than I already pay for HD & DVR cable, I mean.)
We seem to have hit a phase where companies are trying to force us to want what they want to sell us, instead of trying to sell us what we want. It's backfiring left and right and they're soon going to have to open their eyes.