All I can say is thanks, this link made it much easier to show my friends why they should not bother installing linux if they want to continue to game. None of those games are remotely interesting and all have better versions on the PC.
If you cannot find some reasonable gaming entertainment on this list HERE, then you sir are seriously trolling.
Up to now I've kept my WinXP machine for gaming BUT I am currently in the process of building a new gaming rig that I'll run Ubuntu 7.04 (same as the other three machines in my house). This will let me ditch Windows for good.
they will have to endure the cost of installation, training, etc. No way can they do that efficiently!
Having been on the receiving end of a few military software acquisition projects in a past life, I can say that OSS reduces the possibility of being held by the balls by the vendors for ongoing support. Talk about tapping into a major artery when you sell Defense software and they want changes.
Also, commercial licensing usually doesn't fit the military all that well. You may want some software for a certain project and that is fine. Once it has proven itself you usually find other area's / forces (or even friendly nations) wanting it, yet the cost/product/licensing/configuration s have changed and you're not free to share. With OSS you may be free to simply roll it out across the service / other nations.
There are many inter-service & inter-country programs that actually work very well with sharing tools and software, and often the proprietary models are just not accommodating.
I don't mind fulfilling and complying with commercial licenses (of course), but often, we need the flexibility to change the actual hardware and don't have the time to 're-activate' the product via some crazy product key tied to the hardware (one example of a product with a ridiculous 'DRM' scheme, tied to hardware, no backups) Also, some licenses have actually prohibited us from making a Ghosted backup - if all turns to hell, then we actually need the ability to trace our footsteps by seeing if we can re-create the behavior that caused the proprietary software to go T.I.
At least forcing some in acquisitions to at least acknowledge OSS is a start. A good start.
Automatix is a great tool for Ubuntu that allows you to install many extras that Ubuntu doesn't include by default (including Wine and Picasa for Linux).
Because clicking on the Picasa icon here, then clicking 'install this deb' was too hard?
I also thought installing Picasa installed WINE, but if that is wrong someone will correct me.
Automatix is perfect for installing DeCSS..... but Ubuntu manages just about fine with everything else now.
>>> When the next generation of iPod owning kids get into power, most of the copyright laws will be scrapped.
Problems is... these kids are going to University/College and being taught to a curriculum that says you must 'protect your copyright at all costs', because 'the consumer is a criminal' and 'DRM, patents and copyright are the way to protect your IP'.
It will take some pretty big balls / tenured professors to start lecturing main stream business classes about alternative 'consumer friendly' ways to sell products, along with some very good and well proven alternative business models.
Only once these kids graduate and reach 'lawmaker' age, will things start to change. I give it 50 years from now. I see a depression & rebirth of the USA in 25.
It's been slashdotted, but from what I did read, it seems like the Linux version doesn't necessarily require an Xbox? Wouldn't this put it at odds with projects like MythTV?
I'm not sure if XBMC provides recording and playback for live TV? Or you'd at least need the tuners/capture cards on a remote backend.
There is a thing called "Project Grayhem" which lets you skin your Mythtv like the Project Mayhem skin on XBMC. If you're into that kind of thing....
Say the limited account is called "IEuser". Then create a shortcut to "runas/user:IEuser cmd". on your desktop. Double-clicking this will open a command prompt that runs as IEuser. Now you can manually start IE with "start iexplore". Or create a batchfile c:windowsie.bat that just contains the line "start iexplore" and you can start IE by just typing "ie". Remove all shortcuts to IE from you normal desktop and only run it from the restricted account. This way you can use IE without worry about any IE exploits"
Cue Windows vs Linux comments:
"dude, and I thought Linux was hard"
"With all that command line stuff we see Microsoft following in Linux's footsteps *again*"
"If only it was this easy to install Java on windows..... oh wait."
"With your mastery of the command line you are now ready to switch to Linux."
"What's a batch file? Is that like a script?"
Wow. That was well written and I think you articulated the major points nicely.
As you point out, for them to say 235 it sounds like they have a list. How do we get to see it? Threaten M$ with litigation of some form even though they promised not to sue but it is still impacting on your business.... makes for a pretty tight spot.
>>> From TFA:
>>>"One senator is even predicting taxes on e-mail."
>>>Thank you for reading.
I wonder if this persons idea is is for the sender or the recipient to pays the tax? I'd sure like to see this senator's reaction to his/her huge tax bill from all the 'off-shore' e-mail they'll be getting...
Likewise, they may find they've got a tax bill for mail which the tax department believes is coming from his address, selling 'v1@gra' etc...
E-mail exchange is not secure or traceable or robust enough to charge money for, without spammers taking advantage of it or some heinous DDOS on an individuals tax bill where they'll end up in jail for 'sending' a few million e-mails that were actually spoofed.
If someone is dumb enough to pass this bill without thinking through the issues, then they deserve everything they get.
>>> I thought you DID pay a tax when you used a land line phone? For each and every call you make a small portion goes to state and federal tax coffers.
And I already pay a variety of local and state taxes on my internet monthly bill.
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door
The company should have "partnered" with Gmail. They could have sent out an e-mail like this:
"Dear valued PlusNet customer,
PlusNet has recently partnered with Google for the provision of e-mail services. This new service will give you 2.7GB of e-mail storage space and the ability to access your e-mail via secure login from any computer with an internet connection. Of course you will still be able to download and send e-mail from your home PC just as you already do, but with the addition of Gmails world class spam and virus protection.
If you haven't already heard about Gmail, it offers:
- Over 2,700 megabytes (two gigabytes) of free storage
- Built-in Google search that instantly finds any message you want
- Automatic arrangement of messages and related replies into
"conversations"
- Powerful spam protection using innovative Google technology
- No large, annoying ads--just small text ads and related pages that are
relevant to the content of your messages
We kindly request that you transfer your account immediately as our current PlusNet e-mail services will cease in 7 days. See here for assistance in transferring your contact data and address book to Gmail here"
Yours sincerely
Seriously, if I were of a peaceful, technologically advanced society, I wouldn't want to communicate with Earth, either. Worst case scenario, the less friendly humans get ahold of alien technology and we start mucking up OTHER species' homes.
Not to the Corporations rushing to patent alien genes and technology... no matter how loud the aliens call 'prior art' or obvious.
I just hope the only time we hear from an alien race is when the earth is about to be destroyed to make way for an intergalactic highway and we failed to read the notice posted on some obscure planets noticeboard.
When I was a teenager I recall a few cars having vacuum gauges which showed manifold vacuum. It was a good way to see how much gas you're using. If you were heavy footed the gauge would go sky high, and but if you kept it below the 'yellow' you'd still speed up but a little more efficiently.
Not sure how you'd go with a vacuum gauge on a fuel injected car, but how about a fuel flow gauge? Perhaps measured in $/min.
>>> I'm working on getting DVD burnage to work; all the stuff that MythTV claims to do, only it is much easier to get working.
Sorry to hear you're still working on it old chum. I got DVD burning on install with by clicking on a little tab that said "mytharchive". Bam. It worked. ,
Might take you less time to get mythtv up and running that it would to get "DVD burnage" on Sage.
Oh and BTW. there are about 8 UI's for Mythtv, and you can customize it if you dont like it.
You should try Ubuntu's Mythtv package. You really should.
>>> If making hardware that worked with linux was such an opportunity, we'd have seen it already. I'm not holding my breath.
They just need to sell the PCI cable-card adapters to the general public. The Open source community will do the rest.
Of course, I expect one would still need a valid cable card though. But my point isn't to rip off the content, it's to manipulate the stuff you're paying for in the way you want to - time shifting it, putting it on you're iPod etc. And to allow you to FAST FORWARD THE ADS!
Currently PCI cable card adaptors are quite rare, and are only sold to companies that make 'compliant' DVR's. Once the adaptors hit the streets in Asia, they'll make their way to the USA and some extremely clever group of programmers will write the drivers.....
If you continue to insist on stealing our content, and engaging in piracy, we're left with no choice but to replace your computer with a DRM-enabled appliance. Please, let us know if our customer service department can be of further assistance;-)
Funny you say that. It was this very morning one of my colleagues called me a Pirate (Aarrr) just because I use Open Source software.
I said "so to not be a pirate I have to use Windows?" His answer: "Yep, If you use free software you must be pirating something."
>>>> The cablecard makers have vowed that it will NEVER work with linux or regular unblessed MCE pC's.
Somewhere in China, a night-shift manager in an electronics factory that supplies PCI cablecard adapters to the USA, just thought of a new business opportunity.
>>>..for people who want a DVR and not an ongoing project...
I'd say that traditionally you would have been correct. But I just built my second mythtv for the house (Dual core, Ubuntu 7.04, Mythtv 0.20). It took me less than a day, and most of that was just messing with stuff I didn't need to mess with. Last time, a year ago, it took about a week.
The Ubunut7.04 recognizes the PVR-150 out out the box and has a full mythtv package in the repo's. It was a case of one click. No more IVTV rubbish and just follow the instructions to get your remote control working. All not that hard even for a noob like me.
Haven't seen any TV ads for a couple of weeks now.... Unlike Cox cable users....
Generally, any facts which come into your hands by legitimate means are yours to publish. The exceptions are when you have a special duty of privacy (e.g. attorneys and physicians), information that you are contractually obligated to keep private, or commercial information that is regulated.
I would have thought Verison had a privacy statement along the lines of We'll do all we can to keep your information private... etc but might give statistical information blah.. or to our advertisers... and partner companies ".
I don't understand how they can legally pass personal information on to a third party that is not expressly called out in the agreement.
Slashdot Mirror
Mind you... I really want to play THIS
If you cannot find some reasonable gaming entertainment on this list HERE, then you sir are seriously trolling.
Up to now I've kept my WinXP machine for gaming BUT I am currently in the process of building a new gaming rig that I'll run Ubuntu 7.04 (same as the other three machines in my house). This will let me ditch Windows for good.
Games like this one http://sauerbraten.org/ actually look pretty good.
Check out that list from the link above. It actually looks pretty promising.
Also, commercial licensing usually doesn't fit the military all that well. You may want some software for a certain project and that is fine. Once it has proven itself you usually find other area's / forces (or even friendly nations) wanting it, yet the cost/product/licensing/configuration s have changed and you're not free to share. With OSS you may be free to simply roll it out across the service / other nations.
There are many inter-service & inter-country programs that actually work very well with sharing tools and software, and often the proprietary models are just not accommodating. I don't mind fulfilling and complying with commercial licenses (of course), but often, we need the flexibility to change the actual hardware and don't have the time to 're-activate' the product via some crazy product key tied to the hardware (one example of a product with a ridiculous 'DRM' scheme, tied to hardware, no backups) Also, some licenses have actually prohibited us from making a Ghosted backup - if all turns to hell, then we actually need the ability to trace our footsteps by seeing if we can re-create the behavior that caused the proprietary software to go T.I.
At least forcing some in acquisitions to at least acknowledge OSS is a start. A good start.
To those who say.....
Have a gander at this...
http://rangit.com/software/top-8-linux-games-of-2
Because clicking on the Picasa icon here, then clicking 'install this deb' was too hard?
I also thought installing Picasa installed WINE, but if that is wrong someone will correct me.
Automatix is perfect for installing DeCSS..... but Ubuntu manages just about fine with everything else now.
>>> When the next generation of iPod owning kids get into power, most of the copyright laws will be scrapped.
Problems is... these kids are going to University/College and being taught to a curriculum that says you must 'protect your copyright at all costs', because 'the consumer is a criminal' and 'DRM, patents and copyright are the way to protect your IP'.
It will take some pretty big balls / tenured professors to start lecturing main stream business classes about alternative 'consumer friendly' ways to sell products, along with some very good and well proven alternative business models.
Only once these kids graduate and reach 'lawmaker' age, will things start to change. I give it 50 years from now. I see a depression & rebirth of the USA in 25.
Cue the 'needed to run Vista' jokes....
I for one, appreciate your comment.
I'm not sure if XBMC provides recording and playback for live TV? Or you'd at least need the tuners/capture cards on a remote backend.
There is a thing called "Project Grayhem" which lets you skin your Mythtv like the Project Mayhem skin on XBMC. If you're into that kind of thing....
"dude, and I thought Linux was hard"
"With all that command line stuff we see Microsoft following in Linux's footsteps *again*"
"If only it was this easy to install Java on windows..... oh wait."
"With your mastery of the command line you are now ready to switch to Linux."
"What's a batch file? Is that like a script?"
C:\> Removal of BSOD requires the following dependencies to be uninstalled:
> Windows Operating System
> Explorer.exe
> Continue Y/N?
>>> Naw, he just wrote it literally to the CD. Like with a Sharpie.
how do you get the CD out of the stereo without the code?
Wow. That was well written and I think you articulated the major points nicely.
As you point out, for them to say 235 it sounds like they have a list. How do we get to see it? Threaten M$ with litigation of some form even though they promised not to sue but it is still impacting on your business.... makes for a pretty tight spot.
Someone needs to leak that list.
>>> From TFA:
>>>"One senator is even predicting taxes on e-mail."
>>>Thank you for reading.
I wonder if this persons idea is is for the sender or the recipient to pays the tax? I'd sure like to see this senator's reaction to his/her huge tax bill from all the 'off-shore' e-mail they'll be getting...
Likewise, they may find they've got a tax bill for mail which the tax department believes is coming from his address, selling 'v1@gra' etc...
E-mail exchange is not secure or traceable or robust enough to charge money for, without spammers taking advantage of it or some heinous DDOS on an individuals tax bill where they'll end up in jail for 'sending' a few million e-mails that were actually spoofed.
If someone is dumb enough to pass this bill without thinking through the issues, then they deserve everything they get.
>>> I thought you DID pay a tax when you used a land line phone? For each and every call you make a small portion goes to state and federal tax coffers.
And I already pay a variety of local and state taxes on my internet monthly bill.
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door
Not to the Corporations rushing to patent alien genes and technology... no matter how loud the aliens call 'prior art' or obvious.
I just hope the only time we hear from an alien race is when the earth is about to be destroyed to make way for an intergalactic highway and we failed to read the notice posted on some obscure planets noticeboard.
When I was a teenager I recall a few cars having vacuum gauges which showed manifold vacuum. It was a good way to see how much gas you're using. If you were heavy footed the gauge would go sky high, and but if you kept it below the 'yellow' you'd still speed up but a little more efficiently.
Not sure how you'd go with a vacuum gauge on a fuel injected car, but how about a fuel flow gauge? Perhaps measured in $/min.
>>> I tried the MythTV around 2005
That, sir, is your problem right there.
>>> I'm working on getting DVD burnage to work; all the stuff that MythTV claims to do, only it is much easier to get working.
Sorry to hear you're still working on it old chum. I got DVD burning on install with by clicking on a little tab that said "mytharchive". Bam. It worked.
,
Might take you less time to get mythtv up and running that it would to get "DVD burnage" on Sage.
Oh and BTW. there are about 8 UI's for Mythtv, and you can customize it if you dont like it.
You should try Ubuntu's Mythtv package. You really should.
>>> If making hardware that worked with linux was such an opportunity, we'd have seen it already. I'm not holding my breath.
They just need to sell the PCI cable-card adapters to the general public. The Open source community will do the rest.
Of course, I expect one would still need a valid cable card though. But my point isn't to rip off the content, it's to manipulate the stuff you're paying for in the way you want to - time shifting it, putting it on you're iPod etc. And to allow you to FAST FORWARD THE ADS!
Currently PCI cable card adaptors are quite rare, and are only sold to companies that make 'compliant' DVR's. Once the adaptors hit the streets in Asia, they'll make their way to the USA and some extremely clever group of programmers will write the drivers.....
I said "so to not be a pirate I have to use Windows?" His answer: "Yep, If you use free software you must be pirating something."
>>>> The cablecard makers have vowed that it will NEVER work with linux or regular unblessed MCE pC's.
Somewhere in China, a night-shift manager in an electronics factory that supplies PCI cablecard adapters to the USA, just thought of a new business opportunity.
>>> ..for people who want a DVR and not an ongoing project...
I'd say that traditionally you would have been correct. But I just built my second mythtv for the house (Dual core, Ubuntu 7.04, Mythtv 0.20). It took me less than a day, and most of that was just messing with stuff I didn't need to mess with. Last time, a year ago, it took about a week.
The Ubunut7.04 recognizes the PVR-150 out out the box and has a full mythtv package in the repo's. It was a case of one click. No more IVTV rubbish and just follow the instructions to get your remote control working. All not that hard even for a noob like me.
Haven't seen any TV ads for a couple of weeks now.... Unlike Cox cable users....
I would have thought Verison had a privacy statement along the lines of We'll do all we can to keep your information private... etc but might give statistical information blah.. or to our advertisers... and partner companies ".
I don't understand how they can legally pass personal information on to a third party that is not expressly called out in the agreement.