He was selling the 'Official' Mandrake CD set, or copies of it, and you have to belong to their little club to get the 'official' CD images.
Similar restrictions apply to direct copies of the 'Official' Release CD of OpenBSD (I've personally bought two releases retail).
And hearkening waaaaay back, I remember in the mid 90's attending a Red Hat Linux event at a reserved hotel meeting room, where I asked the Red Hat marketing woman if I could make copies of my brother-in-laws Red Hat 5.0 retail CD set. She just gave me this uncomfortable look back like it wasn't a sincere question on my part.
If somebody passes you a phony $20 bill you are likewise at a disadvantage. You can try to pass it yourself (a felony) or you can surrender it to the authorities. Either way you're f*cked, but those are the breaks. The solution is to be vigilant about what you accept as 'genuine.' It has nothing to do with Microsoft being good or evile.
Purchasing a Windows OEM version 'bundled' with a piece of hardware is not 'bending the rules.' It is living by the rules as specifically laid out. I have had no contact whatsoever (except for the POS machine at work that runs it) with Windows XP. But I know for certain that the 'piece of hardware bundled' rule applies to Windows 2000 and Windows 98 OEM versions. It sounds like he thought he was getting an OEM version, and the vendor ripped him off (shipped him an illegal copy instead.)
The company was willing to 'break the rules' (obviously) by selling a dodgy copy of an OEM CD. This was doubtless not brought to his attention while he was doing business with them.
I bought a Mandrake CD set off of eBay about a year ago. After paying for and receiving it, I got an ebay notice that they had deleted his account and I did not have to pay for the CD set, as it was not legal for him to be distributing it.
Of course I've only used Macs in my house since we first got one in around 1988 so I probably would have bought an iPod eventually.
You're perpetuating the myth of the 'loyal Apple customer' who will buy whatever is shoveled out of Cupertino. Minus the heavy discount (which is just padded on as part of the extra you paid for the Powerbook in comparison to a third-party laptop) that iPod is some pretty expensive portable storage. Go to good old Walmart (they're not as fashionable as the Apple store, but far cheaper) and check out what you'll pay for an external 80 gig hard drive.
And I still don't get it why you would be 'upset' by somebody referring to a Creative Zen or some other brand of iPod music player as an 'iPod.' In particular as you don't use yours much for playing MP3 (or other closed-source DRM-laden format) music recordings.
I'd like to find the person who uses their iPod mainly to cart around WMA audio files to machines where they play them. Now that would be rich!
Disclaimer: My iPod is a Panasonic one, installed in my car's dashboard. It will play MP3 files burned to CDR.
I have built up just about the right size supply of Palm III devices now to last me for the remaining decades of my life. I used a Handspring Visor for a time. I 'upgraded' to one of the new flimsy stamped-thin-metal case Palm Tungsten devices. It crapped out a few short weeks past the warranty period.
I can carry a Palm III in my pocket anywhere I go. The hard plastic case protects the innards, and the 2 AAA batteries last for months, not weeks. And I have the Code Warrior development environment for PalmOS of the era, so I can expand it with any apps I choose to write.
Palm III's can be had on eBay now for $5-15, and the ones that I have purchased appear to be brand new. I think a lot of people bought them and didn't use them much, and they're now very affordable.
It also had five expansion slots (later versions: 8) with which you could plug literally anything into it, to make it anything you liked.
And the specs for that expansion slot (along with complete, commented, detailed schematics of the entire system) were published and available for a (then) nominal fee.
I have the first edition of the IBM PC Technical Reference Manual to offer as evidence.
This was in the same spirit as the 'expandable' original Apple II and it fostered much the same community around itself. Then Steven Jobs came on the scene, and actually BOASTED at the launch of Macintosh that it was a 'hacker proof' (his very words) sealed box.
I would go so far as to narrow the scope. It isn't 'nerds' in general that exhibit the described viewpoint. It is that curious subculture of nerds known as 'slashbots.'
'Nerds in general' actually defy any narrow categorization. I know of nerds who specialize in all kinds of different ways, i.e. 'Calibration Equipment Nerds' and 'vintage gasoline engine Nerds.'
to "the most loathed corporation of any kind on the entire planet" on Slashdot,
A few days ago I was eating lunch in a cheap storefront Chinese Resturant, and a family at another table were having fun with the fortunes in their fortune cookies by tagging on '...in bed' at the end, a common and amusing practice. A fortune cookie would read "You will prosper"; it would translate "You will prosper in bed."
Anyways...
I think a similar amusing practice can now be made by adding '...on Slashdot' to the end of various phrases and sentences.
It seems we forget that when the PC was first introduced it was closed and proprietary.
Actually, when the IBM-PC was first introduced, you could buy the Technical Reference Manual. It included all the schematic diagrams along with detailed technical info about all the hardware and add-on cards.
All the hardware components of the IBM-PC were built using commercial off the shelf (COTS) chips and components. There were NONE of the custom ASICs that plague many of the other 'PC type' systems of the era.
The technical reference manual also included a printed, commented copy of the BIOS source code.
It really couldn't have been more open than that. In fact, part of the challange that Compaq had in 'reverse engineering' the BIOS was that it was so widely known that many of the programmers that could have 'cloned' it were 'contaminated' by virtue of the fact that they'd seen the IBM source code.
It wasn't 'open' in the sense of a GPL'd work, but much closer than anything else being produced anywhere in the "Personal Computer" industry of the time.
But Steve Jobs cajoled some dude (who we're all supposed to hate now) into becoming Apple CEO by asking if he wanted to 'sell sugar water' for the rest of his life.
The irony came a few years ago when the marketing hucksters was selling iTunes on Pepsi bottlecaps. (or was iTunes 'selling sugar water'?!?)
That only follows if you think the only talented people do IT.
Only losers do 'IT.'
Talented people hack real time embedded code, and write multimedia apps, and all kinds of cool stuff.
'IT' is crackle-finish filing cabinets and the tards working at the help desk.
And people who take 'certificates' like an MSCE serious....
Think about it. And if it makes you mad, maybe you're misclassifying yourself as 'IT' when you're really something more. Or maybe you're in a rut with a crummy job and it's time to widen your future.
There are some very brilliant women who care deeply about IT work,
Yes, but what does 'IT work' have to do with FOSS?
When I hear 'IT' I think of paper clips, and the guy with the metal cart who can't seem to keep the toner cartrige current on the fricking LJ4 up on third floor. You know, office equipment, file clerks, mundane and boring tasks.
When I think of FOSS it has nothing to do with luzers wheeling around Optiplexes on carts.
I always start now with momma.com. It's surprising how good it is at some categories compared to Google, because it isn't spammed yet by people looking for high page ranks.
The expectations may not be there from teachers, but the individual drive of the "elite" students should make up for that.
The 'advanced placement' level of student that you describe was the typical level of the college entrant in the period being hearkened to in this discussion.
Basically, you're describing a recovery from the 'intellectual burnout period' of the last several decades like it's an overall improvement. It isn't. Not from a historical context.
There were a LOT of really dumb burnout students (and professors) in the late 70's and on.
Slashdot Mirror
He was selling the 'Official' Mandrake CD set, or copies of it, and you have to belong to their little club to get the 'official' CD images.
Similar restrictions apply to direct copies of the 'Official' Release CD of OpenBSD (I've personally bought two releases retail).
And hearkening waaaaay back, I remember in the mid 90's attending a Red Hat Linux event at a reserved hotel meeting room, where I asked the Red Hat marketing woman if I could make copies of my brother-in-laws Red Hat 5.0 retail CD set. She just gave me this uncomfortable look back like it wasn't a sincere question on my part.
If somebody passes you a phony $20 bill you are likewise at a disadvantage. You can try to pass it yourself (a felony) or you can surrender it to the authorities. Either way you're f*cked, but those are the breaks. The solution is to be vigilant about what you accept as 'genuine.' It has nothing to do with Microsoft being good or evile.
Purchasing a Windows OEM version 'bundled' with a piece of hardware is not 'bending the rules.' It is living by the rules as specifically laid out. I have had no contact whatsoever (except for the POS machine at work that runs it) with Windows XP. But I know for certain that the 'piece of hardware bundled' rule applies to Windows 2000 and Windows 98 OEM versions. It sounds like he thought he was getting an OEM version, and the vendor ripped him off (shipped him an illegal copy instead.)
The company was willing to 'break the rules' (obviously) by selling a dodgy copy of an OEM CD. This was doubtless not brought to his attention while he was doing business with them.
I bought a Mandrake CD set off of eBay about a year ago. After paying for and receiving it, I got an ebay notice that they had deleted his account and I did not have to pay for the CD set, as it was not legal for him to be distributing it.
*shrug*
Of course I've only used Macs in my house since we first got one in around 1988 so I probably would have bought an iPod eventually.
You're perpetuating the myth of the 'loyal Apple customer' who will buy whatever is shoveled out of Cupertino. Minus the heavy discount (which is just padded on as part of the extra you paid for the Powerbook in comparison to a third-party laptop) that iPod is some pretty expensive portable storage. Go to good old Walmart (they're not as fashionable as the Apple store, but far cheaper) and check out what you'll pay for an external 80 gig hard drive.
And I still don't get it why you would be 'upset' by somebody referring to a Creative Zen or some other brand of iPod music player as an 'iPod.' In particular as you don't use yours much for playing MP3 (or other closed-source DRM-laden format) music recordings.
I'd like to find the person who uses their iPod mainly to cart around WMA audio files to machines where they play them. Now that would be rich!
Disclaimer: My iPod is a Panasonic one, installed in my car's dashboard. It will play MP3 files burned to CDR.
I have built up just about the right size supply of Palm III devices now to last me for the remaining decades of my life. I used a Handspring Visor for a time. I 'upgraded' to one of the new flimsy stamped-thin-metal case Palm Tungsten devices. It crapped out a few short weeks past the warranty period.
I can carry a Palm III in my pocket anywhere I go. The hard plastic case protects the innards, and the 2 AAA batteries last for months, not weeks. And I have the Code Warrior development environment for PalmOS of the era, so I can expand it with any apps I choose to write.
Palm III's can be had on eBay now for $5-15, and the ones that I have purchased appear to be brand new. I think a lot of people bought them and didn't use them much, and they're now very affordable.
It also had five expansion slots (later versions: 8) with which you could plug literally anything into it, to make it anything you liked.
And the specs for that expansion slot (along with complete, commented, detailed schematics of the entire system) were published and available for a (then) nominal fee.
I have the first edition of the IBM PC Technical Reference Manual to offer as evidence.
This was in the same spirit as the 'expandable' original Apple II and it fostered much the same community around itself. Then Steven Jobs came on the scene, and actually BOASTED at the launch of Macintosh that it was a 'hacker proof' (his very words) sealed box.
I would go so far as to narrow the scope. It isn't 'nerds' in general that exhibit the described viewpoint. It is that curious subculture of nerds known as 'slashbots.'
'Nerds in general' actually defy any narrow categorization. I know of nerds who specialize in all kinds of different ways, i.e. 'Calibration Equipment Nerds' and 'vintage gasoline engine Nerds.'
to "the most loathed corporation of any kind on the entire planet" on Slashdot,
A few days ago I was eating lunch in a cheap storefront Chinese Resturant, and a family at another table were having fun with the fortunes in their fortune cookies by tagging on '...in bed' at the end, a common and amusing practice. A fortune cookie would read "You will prosper"; it would translate "You will prosper in bed."
Anyways...
I think a similar amusing practice can now be made by adding '...on Slashdot' to the end of various phrases and sentences.
Just a thought I had...
It seems we forget that when the PC was first introduced it was closed and proprietary.
Actually, when the IBM-PC was first introduced, you could buy the Technical Reference Manual. It included all the schematic diagrams along with detailed technical info about all the hardware and add-on cards.
All the hardware components of the IBM-PC were built using commercial off the shelf (COTS) chips and components. There were NONE of the custom ASICs that plague many of the other 'PC type' systems of the era.
The technical reference manual also included a printed, commented copy of the BIOS source code.
It really couldn't have been more open than that. In fact, part of the challange that Compaq had in 'reverse engineering' the BIOS was that it was so widely known that many of the programmers that could have 'cloned' it were 'contaminated' by virtue of the fact that they'd seen the IBM source code.
It wasn't 'open' in the sense of a GPL'd work, but much closer than anything else being produced anywhere in the "Personal Computer" industry of the time.
a lot of people will say iPod in reference to any mp3 player (yes, that does irritate me)
Let me guess. You paid all that extra money for a 'name brand' iPod, eh?
But Steve Jobs cajoled some dude (who we're all supposed to hate now) into becoming Apple CEO by asking if he wanted to 'sell sugar water' for the rest of his life.
The irony came a few years ago when the marketing hucksters was selling iTunes on Pepsi bottlecaps. (or was iTunes 'selling sugar water'?!?)
I thought it was 'Germany, 1936, America 1986.'
or was it 'Germany, 1936, America 1996'....
I predict there will be college sophmores saying:
"Germany 1936, America 20x6" for decades to come.
Buck Rodgers was set in the 25th Century.
And it's all been downhill since then.
You're implying that Apple should not be allowed to bundle iTunes with their Macintosh computers.
Sounds good to me.
I'm stuck using Windows for work [*] and it drives me stir crazy.
I have a stapler on my desk at work that occasionally jams.
You don't find me ranting and badmouthing Swingline and claiming my rants are justified.
Who knows how the algorithm they implemented works.
Probably nobody at Microsoft. . .
That only follows if you think the only talented people do IT.
Only losers do 'IT.'
Talented people hack real time embedded code, and write multimedia apps, and all kinds of cool stuff.
'IT' is crackle-finish filing cabinets and the tards working at the help desk.
And people who take 'certificates' like an MSCE serious....
Think about it. And if it makes you mad, maybe you're misclassifying yourself as 'IT' when you're really something more. Or maybe you're in a rut with a crummy job and it's time to widen your future.
There are some very brilliant women who care deeply about IT work,
Yes, but what does 'IT work' have to do with FOSS?
When I hear 'IT' I think of paper clips, and the guy with the metal cart who can't seem to keep the toner cartrige current on the fricking LJ4 up on third floor. You know, office equipment, file clerks, mundane and boring tasks.
When I think of FOSS it has nothing to do with luzers wheeling around Optiplexes on carts.
Having a woman's touch on a software would be really great.
What exactly do you mean by that? The rest of your comment makes sense, but what is 'a woman's touch' on software?
Every one of those cheesecake shots should be emblazoned 'photoshop tweaks dig linux' or something like that.
I always start now with momma.com. It's surprising how good it is at some categories compared to Google, because it isn't spammed yet by people looking for high page ranks.
The company that bought Slashdot was popular on the stock market for a short little bit of time.
VA Whatever-they're-hyping-now even created a few temporary Open Source millionaires.
It's more accurate to say that Carly Fiorina 'rode' down Lucent.
Let's not give her credit for actually being competent to actually fuck anything up. She's a symptom, like green stuff on food in your refrigerator.
The expectations may not be there from teachers, but the individual drive of the "elite" students should make up for that.
The 'advanced placement' level of student that you describe was the typical level of the college entrant in the period being hearkened to in this discussion.
Basically, you're describing a recovery from the 'intellectual burnout period' of the last several decades like it's an overall improvement. It isn't. Not from a historical context.
There were a LOT of really dumb burnout students (and professors) in the late 70's and on.