A proprietary, lock-in focused company supporting every format they can? Is this even possible?
Oh wait, yeah it is actually possible. Except I think that the only way you could get MS or Apple to stop pushing their pet formats is if you remove the crutch of software patents. The rate of innovation and improvement in software means that most patented formats will be rather obsolete and inefficient by the time 20 years are up. And then there's the whole issue of allowing patents on compression, which is basically, um, math.
What time frame are you talking about? Your post was about how "gridlock is good". Out of the things I mentioned, only NAFTA was passed before the Republicans took control of Congress.
And I certainly don't feel that Monicagate was a super good deal for US Citizens. It was a political ploy that cost the taxpayers millions of dollars.
I don't know much about the GPL-Violations group, but if they didn't write any of the code then (at least in the US), they wouldn't have standing to enforce the GPL.
Hey, I have an idea. Instead of posting something that draws on no actual facts, you could take two minutes and read their homepage:
The founder, Harald Welte... [discovered] companies violating the GPL in software he wrote for the netfilter/iptables project.
...
Over time, some other Linux kernel developers have transferred their rights in a fiduciary license agreement to enable [enforcement of] the GPL in cases where [no code was written by Welte].
Mod parent up. I can not believe that there has been literally no dissent among the members of Congress these past six years (Republicans especially, but the Democrats have not stood up either). Why would Republicans pass the disgusting deficit budgets that Bush has sought? Why would the Party that historically opposes Federal "meddling" vote for things like PATRIOT and No Child Left Behind? I really don't think this can simply be explained by "lobbying" and/or "love of power".
Unless, something very devious has been happening. I'm not trying to make this into a huge conspiracy theory, but there are some rather strange things that appear to point in this general direction. Things like the Administration's extreme secrecy and its numerous claims to "Executive Privilege" (where no corresponding law exists). Oh yeah, and there's the doublespeak of "we never said that", which is so Orwellian it should infuriate every citizen in this nation (as well as around the world).
Well, anyway, I certainly hope someone defects and lets us know what's really going on (Daniel Ellsberg, leaker of the Pentagon Papers, has called for someone to leak any info the White House has re: war with Iran). The rest of us must work from the opposite end, building a better system from the ground up.
Hmm, that sounds an awful lot like something Stallman said...:
Picketing in the street can be annoying. An old man shouting "nonsense" can be annoying. And when the powerful believe they need not suffer such annoyance, when they create laws to suppress it, they become tyrants. Thus we need not search painstakingly for evidence that Blair has lied to the public or to Parliament. Every time a minister uses the term "anti-terrorist powers", he is lying. These are anti-dissent powers--the powers of tyranny.
I've always felt gridlock makes for good government
I do too, and so did the founders of this country (see: separation of powers, etc).
the best part of Clinton's presidency was that for most of it we had a Democrat for president with a Republican dominated Congress that hated him. The Lewinsky stuff kept all of them busy from doing real damage.
I have to disagree with this. Much of the major legislation Clinton passed was some really sick stuff:
NAFTA, which is very much against the historical protectionist policies of both parties, not just the Democrats. And all you "Libertarians" can shut up, because "free trade" only works when everyone truly practices free trade (and this is pretty near impossible).
The Telecommunications Act of '96, which allowed the unprecedented media consolidation that's left us with just 5 major media corporations in the entire United States
DMCA. This needs no elaboration on Slashdot.
The Line Item Veto Act. Dubya keeps asking for it, but Clinton actually had it for a while. Er, until it was ruled unconstitutional. And then there's the bigger issue of letting the Executive branch essentially legislate.
there are only two DRM technologies in common use by commercial content distributors: FairPlay and PlaysForSure.
what? I'm pretty sure there's a few more than that. How about: movies (CSS, HDCP, AACS), video games, computer games (STARFORCE), computer software, "music discs" (uhh Rootkit?), Macrovision, Treacherous Computing?
I saw that wireless contoller box the other day and I had to look hard for a while to see it wasn't a Red Octane product, it did look VERY similar.
Are you blind? The box clearly says, with a big-ass logo: "TAC: the ant commandos: www.theantcommandos.com". The only reference to Guitar Hero on the box is either "Compatible with PS2 Guitar Game" or "Compatible with Sony PS2 Guitar Hero Game", depending on the model. There is absolutely no way that anyone looking at the box alone would come to the conclusion that it was made by Redoctane.
What the fuck are you talking about? The parent post had nothing about patents in it. Neither does the article. The suit is about trademark and copyright infrigement, not patents. RTFA.
Not that impressive? The "impressive" sales numbers you mention are from two cases that are very different from this game: the 3 million sellers are all games that are targeted at non-traditional gamers, and FFIII getting released in Japan is an FF game getting released in Japan.
This game, on the other hand, is targeted at regular gamers so much it's almost funny. It's Legos and Star Wars, for crying out loud. How much nerdier/young boy-ish can you get?
I think it's safe to say most Slashdotters prefer a form of government where they have a voice, and this probably means most of us favor some form of liberal democracy. Well, Wendell Philips said it best when he described the price of liberty as "eternal vigilance". There will always be forces in the world trying to subvert liberty to serve their own ends, and this means that there must always be people who will stand up for what is right.
I realize this is kind of a sappy/idealistic post, but, um, I think there's some measure of truth here.
OK, I smoke. Probably about 10 roll-ups a day. But I also don't drive a car, I bike everywhere.
Sarcasm aside, it should be noted that you contribute far less to global warming than probably any car owner. I think we've found the next tobacco comapny ad campaign right here:
"You can get exercise, fight global warming, and smoke too!"
This assumes that everybody's buying the more expensive service that actually lets you transfer songs to your portable player. It also assumes that nobody buys any songs, and it appears that you have to buy songs for $.99 to burn them to CD.
I think the worst part is non-interview portion. At the end of the article, the "writer" says "I would like to say thank you to Schmuck5000 for letting us in on how utterly dumb and senseless the mind of a cheater can be".
This is a pretty big leap of a conclusion. Obviously some cheaters are like this (I've encountered ones like this before), but to draw this conclusion is a leap of logic that does not seem possible.
I don't think you understand... Nintendo is always on the brink of failure. Yeah, they completely own the handheld console market. True, they don't lose money on hardware like Microsoft. Oh yeah, and they've only had one unprofitable quarter in their 100+ year history. But wait! No! They're doomed! (really)
Hmm, searching Google doesn't yield much of anything either. Some blog mentioned the "lack of information" on Plasma, and an image search only turns up a few pages. The best page I found is written in Czech (I think).
But aside from that, I think it's probably a good idea to mention Gnome ToPaZ (AKA TPZ, or Three Point Zero). I think it was originally supposed to be a plan from Gnome 3.0, but it's turned more into a brainstorming session for a "next-generation" desktop. Some of the ideas on that page are pretty lawl-tastic, but one very cool one is "lowfat". I strongly suggest checking out the video.
Slashdot Mirror
A proprietary, lock-in focused company supporting every format they can? Is this even possible?
Oh wait, yeah it is actually possible. Except I think that the only way you could get MS or Apple to stop pushing their pet formats is if you remove the crutch of software patents. The rate of innovation and improvement in software means that most patented formats will be rather obsolete and inefficient by the time 20 years are up. And then there's the whole issue of allowing patents on compression, which is basically, um, math.
What time frame are you talking about? Your post was about how "gridlock is good". Out of the things I mentioned, only NAFTA was passed before the Republicans took control of Congress.
And I certainly don't feel that Monicagate was a super good deal for US Citizens. It was a political ploy that cost the taxpayers millions of dollars.
[The parent comment] has nothing to do with EU software patent debates.
That's a matter of opinion.
PROTIP: Just because something isn't spelled out enough for your tiny little mind does not mean that it's offtopic.
Now if only I could find a pic of that box :(
I'm not sure I understand your question... so before I respond, can you please provide some clarification?
The GPL is *not* based on international copyright and contract law, but is rather parochially (and dangerously so) modeled on US/British legal views.
um...
Hey, I have an idea. Instead of posting something that draws on no actual facts, you could take two minutes and read their homepage:
Mod parent up. I can not believe that there has been literally no dissent among the members of Congress these past six years (Republicans especially, but the Democrats have not stood up either). Why would Republicans pass the disgusting deficit budgets that Bush has sought? Why would the Party that historically opposes Federal "meddling" vote for things like PATRIOT and No Child Left Behind? I really don't think this can simply be explained by "lobbying" and/or "love of power".
Unless, something very devious has been happening. I'm not trying to make this into a huge conspiracy theory, but there are some rather strange things that appear to point in this general direction. Things like the Administration's extreme secrecy and its numerous claims to "Executive Privilege" (where no corresponding law exists). Oh yeah, and there's the doublespeak of "we never said that", which is so Orwellian it should infuriate every citizen in this nation (as well as around the world).
Well, anyway, I certainly hope someone defects and lets us know what's really going on (Daniel Ellsberg, leaker of the Pentagon Papers, has called for someone to leak any info the White House has re: war with Iran). The rest of us must work from the opposite end, building a better system from the ground up.
I do too, and so did the founders of this country (see: separation of powers, etc).
the best part of Clinton's presidency was that for most of it we had a Democrat for president with a Republican dominated Congress that hated him. The Lewinsky stuff kept all of them busy from doing real damage.
I have to disagree with this. Much of the major legislation Clinton passed was some really sick stuff:
The fact that [poor people] have fewer resources for legal battles is a function of our economic system, not patent law specifically.
I don't see how a broken economic and legal system justifies patenting what are a cross between a mathematical formula and an instruction booklet.
there are only two DRM technologies in common use by commercial content distributors: FairPlay and PlaysForSure.
what? I'm pretty sure there's a few more than that. How about: movies (CSS, HDCP, AACS), video games, computer games (STARFORCE), computer software, "music discs" (uhh Rootkit?), Macrovision, Treacherous Computing?
I saw that wireless contoller box the other day and I had to look hard for a while to see it wasn't a Red Octane product, it did look VERY similar.
Are you blind? The box clearly says, with a big-ass logo: "TAC: the ant commandos: www.theantcommandos.com". The only reference to Guitar Hero on the box is either "Compatible with PS2 Guitar Game" or "Compatible with Sony PS2 Guitar Hero Game", depending on the model. There is absolutely no way that anyone looking at the box alone would come to the conclusion that it was made by Redoctane.
But, back to the patent
What the fuck are you talking about? The parent post had nothing about patents in it. Neither does the article. The suit is about trademark and copyright infrigement, not patents. RTFA.
Not that impressive? The "impressive" sales numbers you mention are from two cases that are very different from this game: the 3 million sellers are all games that are targeted at non-traditional gamers, and FFIII getting released in Japan is an FF game getting released in Japan.
This game, on the other hand, is targeted at regular gamers so much it's almost funny. It's Legos and Star Wars, for crying out loud. How much nerdier/young boy-ish can you get?
I think it's safe to say most Slashdotters prefer a form of government where they have a voice, and this probably means most of us favor some form of liberal democracy. Well, Wendell Philips said it best when he described the price of liberty as "eternal vigilance". There will always be forces in the world trying to subvert liberty to serve their own ends, and this means that there must always be people who will stand up for what is right.
I realize this is kind of a sappy/idealistic post, but, um, I think there's some measure of truth here.
Or, perhaps they're really good and managing their money.
Um, when you reply to someone's post, the general idea is to comment on something that the original post said.
OK, I smoke. Probably about 10 roll-ups a day. But I also don't drive a car, I bike everywhere.
Sarcasm aside, it should be noted that you contribute far less to global warming than probably any car owner. I think we've found the next tobacco comapny ad campaign right here:
"You can get exercise, fight global warming, and smoke too!"
or something....
"Bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are." --Harry Frankfurt
My irony meter is going to explode.
This is one of the better trolls I've seen in a while. There's no maliciousness, just pure innocence.
lol arithmetic:
500,000 users * $15 per month * 12 months = $90,000,000
This assumes that everybody's buying the more expensive service that actually lets you transfer songs to your portable player. It also assumes that nobody buys any songs, and it appears that you have to buy songs for $.99 to burn them to CD.
I think the worst part is non-interview portion. At the end of the article, the "writer" says "I would like to say thank you to Schmuck5000 for letting us in on how utterly dumb and senseless the mind of a cheater can be".
This is a pretty big leap of a conclusion. Obviously some cheaters are like this (I've encountered ones like this before), but to draw this conclusion is a leap of logic that does not seem possible.
I don't think you understand... Nintendo is always on the brink of failure. Yeah, they completely own the handheld console market. True, they don't lose money on hardware like Microsoft. Oh yeah, and they've only had one unprofitable quarter in their 100+ year history. But wait! No! They're doomed! (really)
Hmm, searching Google doesn't yield much of anything either. Some blog mentioned the "lack of information" on Plasma, and an image search only turns up a few pages. The best page I found is written in Czech (I think).
But aside from that, I think it's probably a good idea to mention Gnome ToPaZ (AKA TPZ, or Three Point Zero). I think it was originally supposed to be a plan from Gnome 3.0, but it's turned more into a brainstorming session for a "next-generation" desktop. Some of the ideas on that page are pretty lawl-tastic, but one very cool one is "lowfat". I strongly suggest checking out the video.