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User: tinkerghost

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  1. Given it and forgoten it. on Linux Desktop Ready, Says Mainstream Media · · Score: 2, Informative

    I have installed Ubuntu onto about 6 PC's now. Each time I hand it over to the person & never get another call back. My worst case was with a Compaq desktop (PII 500 IIRC), I couldn't get the integrated soundcard to work. When I looked it up, seems it's a proprietary chip & not even WinME supported it. Oh well, in went the $5 Soundblaster & off went the PC. For people who only want to do simple Web browsing, E-mail, and word processing, Ubuntu should be the prefered OS, much lighter than Windows, better security, and it works well on old, cheap hardware. Let's face it, a P IV 3K+ chip is great, but it really only takes a pII 500 to run 90+% of the web - excluding of course video in WM formats. Email could be done just as well on a P I as a P IV, once you cut out all the bloat in Email programs.
    Next, as far as administrating the box goes, how many people really do any administration beyond clicking the install updates now button? 90% of the people I know do auto updates for Windows & when something goes wrong they show up at my door & cry. From what I hear from other people who are techs, it's about the same everywhere. People don't know how to 'administer' a computer, and they don't want to know. Ubuntu & Fedora use yum, Debien uses apt, between the 2 I don't think I have had to manually compile a program for any generic use. Last one I compiled was the BRL-CAD system I wanted to play with. Not exactly something that's high enough demand to get packaged for a repository. I've had to install & configure autocad on systems also - it wasn't any harder to do the compile.
    Last note, what documentation have you been reading in the proprietary software world that's much better? The booklet that came with the HP I was working on this week was a font of usefull information telling me that everything is golden out of the box & call this number if it wasn't. Supposedly there's documentation in MS software, but I've never found it to be usefull if it wasn't just pointing me to which menu selection to use to do something - Excel seems to be the exception there, but it didn't start as a MS product IIRC.

  2. Re:Homework assignment on Banned Books published by Google · · Score: 1

    Please, there was nothing unintentional about it :)

  3. Islam on Banned Books published by Google · · Score: 1

    Islam in it's normal state - as practiced by the vast majority of Muslims the world over - is generally very tolerant. Like Christianity, it's the extreemist nutjobs that cloak their cause with their religion that cause all the trouble.

  4. Re:1984 Edgy? on Banned Books published by Google · · Score: 1

    Place it in context. Cold War, McCarthyism ... get the connection. The book was about a person discovering that the government had been lying to the people. Not just about the big things, but everything, in order to control them. Speaking out was verboten, because only in a controlled uniform society could the government maintain control.
    Questioning the government is NEVER going to be a popular subject in the halls of power. Extending your current government into an extreem totalitarianist regim and pointing to the slippery slope ahead is going to get you pummeled in a time of 'conform or else'.

  5. Re:I don't see how they are banned books... on Banned Books published by Google · · Score: 1

    I don't know if they had it on MF, but the Library at SUNY Geneseo had Playboy - with most of the pictures cut out by running a pen around them till the paper fibers gave out.

  6. Re:Homework assignment on Banned Books published by Google · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Have you ever actually read that book?!
    Good god; voilence, terrorism, fratricide, sex, rape, a whole section devoted to love poems - writen by a self proclaimed polygamist!, calls to vigilante justice. We just can't be letting anyone read that book!
    Nope, of any of the books I've seen people protest over, the bible has more & worse.

  7. Re:Keep it simple on Blue Screen of Death for Mac OS X · · Score: 1

    It's hardcoded as an image, it's a BSD based system, a symlink from the [bsod].tiff -> language.tiff resolves that easily enough & can be configured right along with all the other mappings they do when they set the default language for the OS on install.

  8. Re:Quis cusodiet ipsos custodes? on Wikipedia Won't Bow to Chinese Censors · · Score: 1

    The FBI prefers to refer to them as 'radical militant librarians'.
    You can buy your button here

  9. Re:Hasn't Google already justified it? on Wikipedia Won't Bow to Chinese Censors · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Given the fall tv lineup - it seems most Americans choose crap even when they have better choices.

  10. Re:What happens when multiple black holes combine? on Concern Over Creating Black Holes · · Score: 2, Funny

    Oh god, oh god, we're all going to die?

  11. Re:The law on Man Gets 7 Years for Software Piracy · · Score: 1

    Get it back?! hell they kept that, the check for the full amount, AND fined me for being 3 months late paying - because they posted the check to my wife's SSN instead of mine & took 3 months of saying 'yes we see it, & it's all taken care of' before they put it to the correct acct.
    Remember boys & girls, the justice department couldn't take down Al Capone, but the IRS did.

  12. Re:Bad in every way on Judge Rules Sites Can Be Sued Over Design · · Score: 1

    Try using a can opener with your left hand. You are aware that the life expectancy of a left handed person is almost 9 years less than a similar right handed person - due almost exclucively to accidents.
    Oh, and take almost any 9MM semi-auto out & shoot it left handed - I recommend a driving glove to keep the ejection gasses from burning your hand. Rifle, bow, any sword with a basket hilt, almost all high tech point & shoots - that covers weapons.
    Moving on to the rest of the world - measuring cups, quill pens - the cut of the point is different left v. right, 104 key keyboards - the numberpad & navigation keys are on the right. Should I go on? Just because us lefties can accomidate your right handed designs doesn't mean that they are ambidextrious designs.

  13. Re:Since submitter is a lawyer ... on RIAA Says It Doesn't Have Enough Evidence · · Score: 1

    Because the person did a half-assed job with a wipe utility, and left enough traces in logs to show that they had used the tool after recieving a supeona for the HDD.
    To answer you question, if you wipe the drive & get sued 2 days later, you're safe. If you do it 2 days after you get sued, you get screwed.

  14. Re:Evidence on RIAA Says It Doesn't Have Enough Evidence · · Score: 1
    You're not supposed to start proceedings if you have no evidence, but there's nothing stopping you if you really don't.
    Just look at the SCOX vs IBM lawsuit.
    I don't think this sentance has ever been uttered outside of SCO:
    I think SCO actually had more evidence than the RIAA.
    Granted most of the evidence was mis-interpreted / bastardized / shredded & reassembled differently / etc, but there are similarities between Linux and SCO's Unix V, mostly because both OS's are following open standards, but they are there. The presence of those similarities is the minimum it takes to survive a PSJ into discovery.
    With the RIAA, the lawyers are coming out & saying "we don't have enough to survive the PSJ, give us a pass into discovery and then revisit this afterwards." That's not normal from what I understand.
  15. Re:Evidence on RIAA Says It Doesn't Have Enough Evidence · · Score: 2, Interesting
    They have enough evidence to start proceedings, but not enough to prove guilt. So they ask for more with the discovery. This is also seen in other types of cases, so its not unheard of.
    That's not the issue here. You can start proceedings by going to the courthouse & filing a document stating your belief that so-and-so did such-and-such and you seek redress through the courts. It costs about $135 here in MA IIRC. That's it, no proof, not 3rd party documentation, just a form passed in with a sheet of blue paper attached - and $135 in cash.
    That's what preliminary sumary judgements are about. Does the plantif have enough evidence to make this worth going forward into discovery. In this case, the RIAA is saying, 'we gots nothing, but if we rummage around enough in his life we're certain we'll find it.' Reality should intrude on the RIAA & say 'come back when you can prove we should let you look into his life', but that's not nescesarrily what will happen. Some Judges bend over backwards to try and appear fair to both sides - meaning they at least let everyone put their cards on the table before throwing things out.
  16. Re:A tad harsh on Man Gets 7 Years for Software Piracy · · Score: 1

    Actually, any rape that involves crossing state lines is federal. In theory, that includes if you go from NYC to NJ to commit a rape, you bump from NJ to Fed jurisdiction. That rarely happens because then they have to prove you crossed state lines with the intent of commiting rape. Much easier to just let the NJ court have you.

  17. Re:The law on Man Gets 7 Years for Software Piracy · · Score: 1

    You do not mess with the IRS - Banks don't mess with the IRS.
    I once accidently sent the fed check to the state govt & vice versa. The state sent the check back with a nice letter saying you screwed up, send us the right check. The IRS stamped over MA Dept of Revenue with a big red IRS rubber stamp & the bank cashed it.
    I asked the bank why they cashed an obviously altered check, and I was told 'because they are the IRS'. It must be absolutely cool to be able to casually do things that are a felony for everyone else.

  18. Re: Especially since on Man Gets 7 Years for Software Piracy · · Score: 1
    Hm, when they say "20 million worth of", they mean 20 million is the real price (as in, the price if you buy it original) of the software, and the profits the companies will claim to have lost because of this guy. While I agree its a crime under current law, and a whole different thing than someone downloading for personal use, etc. I seriously doubt this guy made 'millions' by selling this.
    According to an earlier artical, he took home between $5 - $10M. So yeah, he was selling discounted, but believable discounted not 'this is obviously stolen so don't ask stupid questions' discounts. IIRC he was selling W2K for about $60. Checking pricewatch, XP is running as low as $80 now. So $60 would have been a believable price for a company reselling unused liscenses 3 years ago.
  19. Re:So? on Man Gets 7 Years for Software Piracy · · Score: 1

    I don't know about cookies, but I have used one to cut a pizza - oh what will we do now that AOL no longer sends out CDs?!

  20. Re:so, is MS okay to bundle now? on Business 2.0 Says 'Boycott Vista' · · Score: 1

    Simple, OSS isn't a monopoly. At best it's a co-op. Entirely different rules apply, and for the most part, marketing and a focus on slick interfaces more than makes up for the price differences in most peoples minds - why else would more people use a pirated copy of Photoshop than an install of GIMP - or MS Office vs Open Office?

  21. Re:so, is MS okay to bundle now? on Business 2.0 Says 'Boycott Vista' · · Score: 1
    But, isn't burning a CD or DVD essentially I/O?
    At a driver level it is, but at the mastering level it's all about the user interface. Nobody is going to complain if MS includes a driver for a DVD burner in the driver collection. That's the function of an OS - to Operate the hardware of the system and provide a core of standardized routines for manipulating that hardware.
    Handling the minute details of writing data to a DVD is the function of the OS via a driver. Composing the data - collecting the various files, incorperating the proper meta-data, etc - is a function of some 'DVD mastering' program that then passes that data-stream to the OS which in turn passes it to the burner via the driver.
    I could see a simplistic interface for using the DVD/CD as a WORM drive - drop your files here & hit the save button when you're ready - being included with the OS - it's enabling you to use the hardware - just like you can use the HD without a 3rd party program. When you get to adding tags to MP3s, creating DVD navigation screens, etc you have crossed from interfacing with the hardware to CD/DVD mastering software - and that's bundling. Is it a fine line? Yes, but it's an important one when the difference is the fulcrum balancing destroying a market vs having a thriving market.
  22. Re:so, is MS okay to bundle now? on Business 2.0 Says 'Boycott Vista' · · Score: 1

    That's the problem now isn't it. I can innovate and make a better product. But if the MS one works at even a basic level, it's 'good enough' for 90% of the people who are going to buy a new machine with Vista on it.
    Net result: MS has an 80%-85% market share in CD burning software by leveraging their monopoly in Desktop OS's into a Monopoly in CD burning software.
    That's the whole point of forcing MS to make seperate products and not bundle them together with the OS, to make sure that the people who are innovating and making a better product have a fair shot at getting enough market share to stay in business.

  23. Re:Interesting 'idea' on Microsoft's High School Opens in PA · · Score: 1
    So, they'll graduate a bunch of MS employees. Will the graduation speeched extoll how great it is to work for Microsoft?
    Be serious, graduation will be delayed until such a time as the former class has passed it's 'useful lifespan'.
  24. Oh, really on Microsoft's High School Opens in PA · · Score: 1
    ... also a learning process modeled on Microsoft's management techniques
    So, how exactly do you learn by throwing chairs & shouting "I am going to fucking kill...."?
  25. Re:Oh, come on! on Virginia Spammers Go To Jail, And Pay For It · · Score: 2, Insightful

    RICO actually sounds good. Using fraud (fraudulent addressing) to run a business should come under racketeering laws. Siezing all his property & assets as 'profits derived from a racket' should be a nice dis-incentive for spamming.