What if (say) Microsoft was including some Apple products in Vista - and hadn't responded to Apple's questions for 22 days. Would you be saying "Calm down, give Microsoft some more time to seek legal advice"?
Maybe MS would behave that way, and maybe OSS vs MS just because you have to strike while the iron's hot in that case, they're just too slippery. But in general, the OSS community is more understanding than that. Understanding is a part of what helps us communicate and cooperate.
Not only that, but the messengers shouldn't give up so easily. They have a responsibility to disclose their findings instead of letting people rely on insecure solutions, or letting them fall victim to losing control of what their PC can/can't do.
MS could easily make incompatible changes at any time in the future to the Windows implementation
Which is why we need to port Moonlight to Windows. For example: If Windows users moved onto Gnash, then who would worry about Flash? Both the majority of Linux and Windows users would use Gnash, developers would use Gnash, and Adobe would have to (well, it would make the most sense) support it with their development tools.
Having a competing implementation, used by many people, will mean that they cannot "embrace and extend" and cannot lock people into their products. After all, if they try to change the Silverlight standard, who is to say whether the MS implementation or the FOSS implementation will become the defacto standard?
Then we need to port Moonlight to Windows (and every other platform), so that the MS implementation isn't hte one that's mostly used. Otherwise, MS can just extend their own version in whatever way and have a large impact on those using Moonlight. If instead Moonlight and Silverlight have 50/50 market share, if Silverlight has a new feature, it won't be used by most until Moonlight catches up, or vice versa.
On the bright side, if you're going to make a Sonic RPG, you might as well have BioWare do it.
I hope it's fun.... I was reading the post about Mario RPG and was thinking "Hey, that would be awesome!", I started having a lot of old school memories and thought how great such a game would be with the Sonic universe. Somehow a Bioware game would seem to me like the antithesis of that! As long as opinions are being thrown out, it's not exactly what I would want. But who knows, it could pull a Metroid Prime and have me finishing the game 6 times with 100% on Hard.
It seems pretty patronizing, it takes standard PR and then paraphrase it in the tone of someone from their average demographic, at least as far as they can guess, and then they pat themselves on the back constantly. Does anyone actually want to read it? It's already enough of a pain in the ass trying to extract the information from press releases.
"A company can't put time and money into helping a project when a competitor can then just use those changes, or worse yet new companies arise because you just removed any barrier to entry that might have existed."
That's ridiculous, sure they can. You can go on selling your product and making use of GPLed software, and so can they. What's the problem if you fix a bug in the invoice software so that you can bill them properly and they can bill you properly, doesn't it benefit the both of you?
The point of GPLv3 is not to remove incentives to contribute, but to remove the ability for companies to introduce IP into GPL software that other users cannot use as GPL software is intended (modify, redistribute, run/execute) for they will be infringing on said IP.
What exactly is the point of coding something, having a company modify it and introduce their own portions, and then they turn around and say "You can't use it anymore because our IP's in it, if you do, you're infringing... oh, and we won't tell you where it is, it's up to you to know where it is and remove it"?
Should you have to pore over the code of every app available in the next Linux distro you use just to make sure you won't get sued? Is this the point of Free software?
Speaking as someone from the west, it doesn't really matter what platform FF appears on. The series has proven that it will sell systems if consumers want it. Yeah, that includes the PS3. The reason that seems far fetched is because the series has seen a decline in what attracted the casual gamer. It concentrates more on mixing up the RPG formula than providing a good overall experience that is accessible and as deep as the player wants it to be. Final Fantasy 7 was praised for its mini-quests such as raising and racing chocobos, playing arcade games, looking for ultimate weapons, etc. FFXII is all over the map and spreads itself too thin, and thus appears daunting to the casual gamer. Not to mention that it's not as story-driven or character-driven as the others, so casual gamers don't have as much of a desire to see what's next and they aren't as attached to the main characters and they don't really care about making them survive or making their world better.
Honestly they'd be best off putting it on the Wii, but I guess they're too far into it and that ship has sailed. Putting spinoffs on the Wii probably will just make the series look worse to the average gamer.
Unless the only way they plan on making them interoperable is where MS has a Server and Client component, and Linux only has a Client. MS will look better on the server, Linux will look like it has low-functionality in MS/Linux environments, so anyone who has a mix will just "standardize" on MS. They could easily "extend" the MS server version so the OSS server protocol implementations are "lacking" and Linux appears only useful as a client, but lacks other MS software to integrate with it.
Perhaps since the Wii was mostly a product of NOJ engineering, and since recently (post-Yamauchi, around when Arakawa was taking lead and then after he left) NOA was pulling the reigns on Nintendo but were seen to have "dropped the ball" with GC and N64, so NOJ wants to tighten their leash on NOA. Perhaps also NOJ wants NOA to be closer physically to make travel and transport between the two easier.
Just speculation based on Nintendo's past attitudes, though, but it may have changed with Yamauchi gone (but I can picture him trying to run the place from his retirement home, or grave even, so maybe he's still influencing them somehow!).
I call bullshit on the author being a Linux admin. I'm not trolling and this certainly isn't flamebait, only truth: "It's Linux - no worries" is a load of crap and everyone here knows it.
He's talking about running it on the desktop here... Really, there aren't any worries if you don't have a firewall and connect the default Ubuntu to the 'net. Pretty much all services that would be exposed to network are disabled or not installed by default anyway. What exactly is your problem with connecting a default install of Ubuntu desktop to the 'net and giving it to grandma?
Maybe the people care more about doing work than how they look doing it? Eye candy is nice, but it's not necessary. It's not going to make or break a purchase in the way that productivity enhancements would, and even then, people make do with what they have. The more versions that get released of whatever software, the less incentive to upgrade as it gets closer to "it works", and less people will care about improving the software the further along it gets. Throw money in and then people have even more reservations!
Too bad there's no program for someone with the original carts to enter into a program that allows them to download their games onto the Wii. Maybe someone could come up with a reader that plugs into USB for the NES, Genesis, TG16, N64, SNES, etc that allows you to use your originals. I like having all my games accessible on one system so I don't have to have them all set up, but I have a lot of games and paying for them all twice would suck, especially if the Wii's successor won't allow you to transfer them...
The DA just smiles at you and says... "I'd like to see the hidden container inside that TrueCrypt volume. My forensicist says oftentimes people do that with TrueCrypt."
You say "umm... there isn't a hidden container... there's nothing more there..."
The DA continues to smile. "Prove it to me."
You say "Actually, you have to prove to me that there's anything there to hide. You should know that I'm innocent until proven guilty."
Then you walk away scott free. The DA continues to smile for some reason, probably too much crack this morning.
That Microsoft will openly state that there is no tension between its 'support' of open standards and software, and their other work which supports and extends 'closed' technology is not a surprise. But what disappoints is that this rather open hypocrisy seems to be so readily accepted, especially by the mainstream media.
It's never accepted, it's only repeated in hopes to perpetuate it. If Bill Gates can only be quoted as saying one thing, how is anyone going to show him in another light unless they resort to allegations? Using allegations makes you look like a tabloid, and reporters can't be bothered to do a whole lot of research, especially on topics that involve newfangled technology that are then mired in Microsoft's buzzword-happy marketspeak. If Microsoft is good at doing one thing, it's muddying the waters.
On the other hand, a reporter can take a facts based approach, but that requries doing your own research instead of re-printing paraphrased MS press releases. Plus, it requires educating the public on a situation they might not already know about something they probably don't care about already, so you need to convince them to go through the strain of learning something new, and then looking at it critically, systematically, and logically.
The mainstream media is mainstream because it's brain candy, not because it makes the reader work, and the mainstream media has to make money too. So you cater to the money. Which is also easy because MS hands you what to say in their marketing materials, or whenever they put up sites with complicated muddied misinformation that nobody can bother to sift through on each and every single point, and if they do, nobody bothers to read it... so that's why you still have sites around like microsoft.com/getthefacts. Can you believe that's still around, and still probably being taken seriously?
Surely with the logistics involved, even if you take into account how many cell phones can be connected in the area at once, it wouldn't cost $0.15/text message. Companies are overcharging, but $1,100 for a phone bill is ridiculous no matter what your plan is. It's a racket because all mobile phone providers have similar plans, so if you go to a "competitor" you get screwed anyway, there's no incentive to switch except to all be under the same carrier so you can get discounts for phoning each other.
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What if (say) Microsoft was including some Apple products in Vista - and hadn't responded to Apple's questions for 22 days. Would you be saying "Calm down, give Microsoft some more time to seek legal advice"?
Maybe MS would behave that way, and maybe OSS vs MS just because you have to strike while the iron's hot in that case, they're just too slippery. But in general, the OSS community is more understanding than that. Understanding is a part of what helps us communicate and cooperate.
Don't shoot the messenger.
Not only that, but the messengers shouldn't give up so easily. They have a responsibility to disclose their findings instead of letting people rely on insecure solutions, or letting them fall victim to losing control of what their PC can/can't do.
Take "product of your environment", then add "generation gap", and there you have it, an explanation!
MS could easily make incompatible changes at any time in the future to the Windows implementation
Which is why we need to port Moonlight to Windows. For example: If Windows users moved onto Gnash, then who would worry about Flash? Both the majority of Linux and Windows users would use Gnash, developers would use Gnash, and Adobe would have to (well, it would make the most sense) support it with their development tools.
Having a competing implementation, used by many people, will mean that they cannot "embrace and extend" and cannot lock people into their products. After all, if they try to change the Silverlight standard, who is to say whether the MS implementation or the FOSS implementation will become the defacto standard?
Then we need to port Moonlight to Windows (and every other platform), so that the MS implementation isn't hte one that's mostly used. Otherwise, MS can just extend their own version in whatever way and have a large impact on those using Moonlight. If instead Moonlight and Silverlight have 50/50 market share, if Silverlight has a new feature, it won't be used by most until Moonlight catches up, or vice versa.
The compulsion to have "experts" classify everything is a mental disorder.
Just goes to show that even the world's richest person can't afford the TCO of running a school with Windows...
On the bright side, if you're going to make a Sonic RPG, you might as well have BioWare do it.
I hope it's fun.... I was reading the post about Mario RPG and was thinking "Hey, that would be awesome!", I started having a lot of old school memories and thought how great such a game would be with the Sonic universe. Somehow a Bioware game would seem to me like the antithesis of that! As long as opinions are being thrown out, it's not exactly what I would want. But who knows, it could pull a Metroid Prime and have me finishing the game 6 times with 100% on Hard.
MS wants to have a family image, "the press would have a field day!" -- or at least fanboys would.
You can rest assured that MANY companies work for the federal government
Doing things that are deemed illegal by that same government? No. Your post is sensationalistic bullshit.
I'm Canadian and I don't want a DMCA, nobody I know does. Fuck you politicians for not doing what we want.
In case they're a fox?
It seems pretty patronizing, it takes standard PR and then paraphrase it in the tone of someone from their average demographic, at least as far as they can guess, and then they pat themselves on the back constantly. Does anyone actually want to read it? It's already enough of a pain in the ass trying to extract the information from press releases.
"A company can't put time and money into helping a project when a competitor can then just use those changes, or worse yet new companies arise because you just removed any barrier to entry that might have existed."
That's ridiculous, sure they can. You can go on selling your product and making use of GPLed software, and so can they. What's the problem if you fix a bug in the invoice software so that you can bill them properly and they can bill you properly, doesn't it benefit the both of you?
The point of GPLv3 is not to remove incentives to contribute, but to remove the ability for companies to introduce IP into GPL software that other users cannot use as GPL software is intended (modify, redistribute, run/execute) for they will be infringing on said IP.
What exactly is the point of coding something, having a company modify it and introduce their own portions, and then they turn around and say "You can't use it anymore because our IP's in it, if you do, you're infringing... oh, and we won't tell you where it is, it's up to you to know where it is and remove it"?
Should you have to pore over the code of every app available in the next Linux distro you use just to make sure you won't get sued? Is this the point of Free software?
At least MS is probably making a lot of fanboys' heads explode!
Speaking as someone from the west, it doesn't really matter what platform FF appears on. The series has proven that it will sell systems if consumers want it. Yeah, that includes the PS3. The reason that seems far fetched is because the series has seen a decline in what attracted the casual gamer. It concentrates more on mixing up the RPG formula than providing a good overall experience that is accessible and as deep as the player wants it to be. Final Fantasy 7 was praised for its mini-quests such as raising and racing chocobos, playing arcade games, looking for ultimate weapons, etc. FFXII is all over the map and spreads itself too thin, and thus appears daunting to the casual gamer. Not to mention that it's not as story-driven or character-driven as the others, so casual gamers don't have as much of a desire to see what's next and they aren't as attached to the main characters and they don't really care about making them survive or making their world better.
Honestly they'd be best off putting it on the Wii, but I guess they're too far into it and that ship has sailed. Putting spinoffs on the Wii probably will just make the series look worse to the average gamer.
Unless the only way they plan on making them interoperable is where MS has a Server and Client component, and Linux only has a Client. MS will look better on the server, Linux will look like it has low-functionality in MS/Linux environments, so anyone who has a mix will just "standardize" on MS. They could easily "extend" the MS server version so the OSS server protocol implementations are "lacking" and Linux appears only useful as a client, but lacks other MS software to integrate with it.
NOW things will finally start getting better between MS and Linux!
Perhaps since the Wii was mostly a product of NOJ engineering, and since recently (post-Yamauchi, around when Arakawa was taking lead and then after he left) NOA was pulling the reigns on Nintendo but were seen to have "dropped the ball" with GC and N64, so NOJ wants to tighten their leash on NOA. Perhaps also NOJ wants NOA to be closer physically to make travel and transport between the two easier.
Just speculation based on Nintendo's past attitudes, though, but it may have changed with Yamauchi gone (but I can picture him trying to run the place from his retirement home, or grave even, so maybe he's still influencing them somehow!).
I call bullshit on the author being a Linux admin. I'm not trolling and this certainly isn't flamebait, only truth: "It's Linux - no worries" is a load of crap and everyone here knows it.
He's talking about running it on the desktop here... Really, there aren't any worries if you don't have a firewall and connect the default Ubuntu to the 'net. Pretty much all services that would be exposed to network are disabled or not installed by default anyway. What exactly is your problem with connecting a default install of Ubuntu desktop to the 'net and giving it to grandma?
Maybe the people care more about doing work than how they look doing it? Eye candy is nice, but it's not necessary. It's not going to make or break a purchase in the way that productivity enhancements would, and even then, people make do with what they have. The more versions that get released of whatever software, the less incentive to upgrade as it gets closer to "it works", and less people will care about improving the software the further along it gets. Throw money in and then people have even more reservations!
Too bad there's no program for someone with the original carts to enter into a program that allows them to download their games onto the Wii. Maybe someone could come up with a reader that plugs into USB for the NES, Genesis, TG16, N64, SNES, etc that allows you to use your originals. I like having all my games accessible on one system so I don't have to have them all set up, but I have a lot of games and paying for them all twice would suck, especially if the Wii's successor won't allow you to transfer them...
The DA just smiles at you and says... "I'd like to see the hidden container inside that TrueCrypt volume. My forensicist says oftentimes people do that with TrueCrypt."
You say "umm... there isn't a hidden container... there's nothing more there..."
The DA continues to smile. "Prove it to me."
You say "Actually, you have to prove to me that there's anything there to hide. You should know that I'm innocent until proven guilty."
Then you walk away scott free. The DA continues to smile for some reason, probably too much crack this morning.
That Microsoft will openly state that there is no tension between its 'support' of open standards and software, and their other work which supports and extends 'closed' technology is not a surprise. But what disappoints is that this rather open hypocrisy seems to be so readily accepted, especially by the mainstream media.
It's never accepted, it's only repeated in hopes to perpetuate it. If Bill Gates can only be quoted as saying one thing, how is anyone going to show him in another light unless they resort to allegations? Using allegations makes you look like a tabloid, and reporters can't be bothered to do a whole lot of research, especially on topics that involve newfangled technology that are then mired in Microsoft's buzzword-happy marketspeak. If Microsoft is good at doing one thing, it's muddying the waters.
On the other hand, a reporter can take a facts based approach, but that requries doing your own research instead of re-printing paraphrased MS press releases. Plus, it requires educating the public on a situation they might not already know about something they probably don't care about already, so you need to convince them to go through the strain of learning something new, and then looking at it critically, systematically, and logically.
The mainstream media is mainstream because it's brain candy, not because it makes the reader work, and the mainstream media has to make money too. So you cater to the money. Which is also easy because MS hands you what to say in their marketing materials, or whenever they put up sites with complicated muddied misinformation that nobody can bother to sift through on each and every single point, and if they do, nobody bothers to read it... so that's why you still have sites around like microsoft.com/getthefacts. Can you believe that's still around, and still probably being taken seriously?
Surely with the logistics involved, even if you take into account how many cell phones can be connected in the area at once, it wouldn't cost $0.15/text message. Companies are overcharging, but $1,100 for a phone bill is ridiculous no matter what your plan is. It's a racket because all mobile phone providers have similar plans, so if you go to a "competitor" you get screwed anyway, there's no incentive to switch except to all be under the same carrier so you can get discounts for phoning each other.