They made the exception for obsolete computer programs/games among others. Their definition of obsolete is:
A format shall be
considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work
stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available
in the commercial marketplace.
Takedown orders will still hold, if the content is still manufactured. Well, at least they don't have to wait until it reaches public domain!
The first few pages of the official document (pdf warning) give more details.
You already can install on os on you flash drive. SLAX would definitely be my favorite, since it has KDE, rather than one of the "light" window managers in Puppy, DSL, and the other small live distros use. I even found some directions so you can leave it as Fat.
You can have SLAX load to ram if you have about 512mb available. As for writing files, I believe that all writes are writen to RAM and when you shut down you are given the option of making writes permanent.
Why must they put DRM on it? CSS has already been proven not to be effective, so what are the Media Companies afraid of?
This is certainly a step in the correct direction for video downloads. Certainly the movie business must be realizing that customers want freedom to use their products how they wish. Being locked into only "approved" viewing on a pc could only have appealed to a small audience.
I suppose DRM is an attempt to make people buy content more than once, because it certainly will never stop piracy. Studios are finally realizing they can't get away with doing that. Very few, if any, people would be willing to purchase the same movie more than once. If legal video downloading is ever going to catch on, this will make it at least possible
From their website, they seem to have a GPL compliant version and a free (as in beer) proprietary version, much like OpenSuse 10.0 was.
Here's a list of the licensed proprietary compenents. Under nearly every one it says explicitly that you are not granted redistobution rights.
Basically, I guess if you want to legally redistribute it you'd need get this one. Since it doesn't have the proprietary codecs, though, I think you'd be better off with Ubuntu.
Intel has had the previous versions of there graphics chipsets under an open source license for quite some time now. From the comments I've read, people seem to think this is a new behavior from Intel...
Open source drivers are an especially good thing when it comes to making Linux easy. I know that the difference between installing Suse 9.3 (no Intel drivers) and Suse 10 (Intel drivers in the kernel) on my cheap Dell Inspiron 1200 was phenomenal.
On my gaming rig I do have an nVidia card, and I can't really complain since I haven't had any trouble with their drivers. It certainly would be nice to see full 3D rendering out-of-the-box, though if nVidia ever GPLed their code...
When I wrote the comment I was running a little low on sleep, so I didn't really have time to explicate myself when I said that I'm a slacker. It doesn't mean I'm lazy. I've taken as many "advanced" or accelerated courses as physically possible, (actually more, since I also take night classes at the local community college) but I do not feel I'm learning as much as I could be if schools didn't aim for the "lowest common denominator." I have a 4.0, I got a 31 on my ACT on the first try, but I feel as though the school is holding me back.
Public school is not meant to kick out astrophysicists and biochemists. It's about teaching you some basics you may use in your life.
I would have to agree with you here, but only because this is the sentiment I've seen. Personally, I wish school would teach more than the basics. I wish school would encourage students to be more than a regular working stiff. I know that's where most people end up, and it disheartens me.
if you've coded c++ on a fairly regular basis over the past, what 4-6 years(?) and feel that you only have a rough understanding maybe programming isn't for you.
I guess I have more than a rough understanding, perhaps I was being a bit modest. What I lack is experience. I lack the knowledge that I should get from a Computer Science course.
You've said you've done nothing large yourself, why is that?
How long has it been since you've been in high school? I have had nearly no time whatsoever to do any large progects. I get about an hour of Math and Physics homework every night. There is always some sort of research paper or Literary Analysis to do for English. I work part-time every week-day for 3 hours as an IT intern. (I've found IT is extremely boring and not mentally stimulating, so this summer I'll start at Mercury Marine as a programming intern) Not to mention night classes and that I'm the webmaster for my high school's webpage. (not a paid position) My band teacher always wants me to practice my French Horn more. My Math team coach wants me to study math more. My church keeps me busy on Sundays and Wednesdays. When do you think I have time to do any major programming? I'm lucky to have a few hours a month to keep myself fresh, but that is it.
There's a lot of countries where graduation from their public institutions (if they have them) leaves you with little options except being a farmer or bricklayer unless your family has serious cash.
You mean like the US? Without a college education, you have NO chance of having a proffesional, white-collar carear. Neither of my parents graduated from college, and my dad has been a Kiln operator for a lime-stone corporation for over twenty years. My mom cleans houses and is a seasonal sales clerk. I have an Uncle who is a farmer and a forty year old aunt who is going to a tech school to be a hair dresser. I can only hope to get a scholarship, because there is no way my parents are going to be able to send me and my three siblings through college on less than $50,000 per year income. I'm not sure where you live, but here in Wisconsin, college is pretty much required to amount to anything.
Programming kids are few and far between. In Grade School, I always had the desire to make "a cool video game," but no adult I knew had a clue where I should start. It wasn't until 7th grade when my parents got dialup internet access that I had any clue what to do. I found GameMaker, but I outgrew it rather quickly, because I wanted to be like the "real" game programmers, so I made it a priority to learn C++.
For three years, I taught myself through online tutorials here and there. Freshman year of high school I did a lot of programming, because I wanted to show my stuff off the the computer programming teacher (the class is only offered to sophmores and higher). Last year, once I was in the class I discovered how terrible high school is. In a one semester class, the other students only had a rudimentary knowledge of functions and no idea what OOP was. Basically it was a study hall for me, though I did write a tic-tac-toe game in C using SDL to show I did something.
I'd have to say that my knowledge of C++ is pretty rough. I may know syntax, but I sure as hell don't know how to use it for anything complicated. That said, sophmore year, I competed in the National FBLA competition for C++ programming and got 6th! This absolutely surprised me. Surely there must be more people who know C++ than this?
I'm disappointed in the US, in my teachers, and the school board. I've tried as hard as I could to learn in high school, but I end up being a slacker. Even classes at the local technical college (I've taken C# so far) have been a disappointment.
In general, students aren't encouraged to do programming at all. Math books have logic cicuits, boolean logic, and tons of example BASIC programs, but teachers skip over them. Educators need to educate, not push kids through school.
Many of you slashdot folks seem to be very concerned about privacy as a right, but this is not where society is headed. Today with the RFID articles and the cashless society, the more I see the Christian prophesies in Revelation drawing near to fulfillment.
Eventually, RFIDs will become commonplace. A world currency will be set up, cash will be discarded, and RFIDs will be used to track our every move by Big Brother. I have a feeling there are some Christians in my home state that may have seen this coming, but in the end, even if this legislation passes, it won't do any good.
"Progress" is coming, and it won't care about what Wisconsin thinks.
OpenDocument As Default is Great!
on
KOffice 1.5 Released
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
This is great news. More choices is always better. This might even convince a few people to use KOffice as their Office Suite of choice, as it is native to KDE, and it'll be easier than ever to share documents with others.
I don't know anyone that actually reads blogs, but many of my friends have them. I think people have blogs for the same reasons people have journals/diaries. Its not because someone may read them in the future, but that it gives someone an outlet for thoughts and emotions.
Blogs aren't meant to be a source of income or even fame. They should probably be compared to the captain's logs of yesteryear. Those were a published log of a journey, but were more than that. They showed a captains inner thoughts, emotions, and experiences.
I'm glad that the blog hype is decreasing, but despite what this article implies, blogs will stick around as a source of expression for this generation.
They could save over $100 if they bought a CRT. Or they could get a nice CRT with at least 1600x1200 resolution. I have an LCD myself, but if you are building a budget PC, wouldn't you want the get the most "bang for your buck"?
This would make sense if a majority of developers are complaining about who holds copyright. I know Mambo was eventually handed off to the Mambo Foundation, but developers did not stop there. They wanted all revenues generated by Mambo to go to the foundation, also.
I just hope that developers don't abandon OO.o due to monetary issues. Seeing this sort of bickering between people leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
Slashdot Mirror
They made the exception for obsolete computer programs/games among others. Their definition of obsolete is:
A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.
Takedown orders will still hold, if the content is still manufactured. Well, at least they don't have to wait until it reaches public domain!
The first few pages of the official document (pdf warning) give more details.
`|^^|^
I don't think it'll run, though...
You already can install on os on you flash drive. SLAX would definitely be my favorite, since it has KDE, rather than one of the "light" window managers in Puppy, DSL, and the other small live distros use. I even found some directions so you can leave it as Fat.
You can have SLAX load to ram if you have about 512mb available. As for writing files, I believe that all writes are writen to RAM and when you shut down you are given the option of making writes permanent.
Why must they put DRM on it? CSS has already been proven not to be effective, so what are the Media Companies afraid of?
This is certainly a step in the correct direction for video downloads. Certainly the movie business must be realizing that customers want freedom to use their products how they wish. Being locked into only "approved" viewing on a pc could only have appealed to a small audience.
I suppose DRM is an attempt to make people buy content more than once, because it certainly will never stop piracy. Studios are finally realizing they can't get away with doing that. Very few, if any, people would be willing to purchase the same movie more than once. If legal video downloading is ever going to catch on, this will make it at least possible
From their website, they seem to have a GPL compliant version and a free (as in beer) proprietary version, much like OpenSuse 10.0 was.
Here's a list of the licensed proprietary compenents. Under nearly every one it says explicitly that you are not granted redistobution rights.
Basically, I guess if you want to legally redistribute it you'd need get this one. Since it doesn't have the proprietary codecs, though, I think you'd be better off with Ubuntu.
Intel has had the previous versions of there graphics chipsets under an open source license for quite some time now. From the comments I've read, people seem to think this is a new behavior from Intel...
Open source drivers are an especially good thing when it comes to making Linux easy. I know that the difference between installing Suse 9.3 (no Intel drivers) and Suse 10 (Intel drivers in the kernel) on my cheap Dell Inspiron 1200 was phenomenal.
On my gaming rig I do have an nVidia card, and I can't really complain since I haven't had any trouble with their drivers. It certainly would be nice to see full 3D rendering out-of-the-box, though if nVidia ever GPLed their code...
Public school is not meant to kick out astrophysicists and biochemists. It's about teaching you some basics you may use in your life.
I would have to agree with you here, but only because this is the sentiment I've seen. Personally, I wish school would teach more than the basics. I wish school would encourage students to be more than a regular working stiff. I know that's where most people end up, and it disheartens me.
if you've coded c++ on a fairly regular basis over the past, what 4-6 years(?) and feel that you only have a rough understanding maybe programming isn't for you.
I guess I have more than a rough understanding, perhaps I was being a bit modest. What I lack is experience. I lack the knowledge that I should get from a Computer Science course.
You've said you've done nothing large yourself, why is that?
How long has it been since you've been in high school? I have had nearly no time whatsoever to do any large progects. I get about an hour of Math and Physics homework every night. There is always some sort of research paper or Literary Analysis to do for English. I work part-time every week-day for 3 hours as an IT intern. (I've found IT is extremely boring and not mentally stimulating, so this summer I'll start at Mercury Marine as a programming intern) Not to mention night classes and that I'm the webmaster for my high school's webpage. (not a paid position) My band teacher always wants me to practice my French Horn more. My Math team coach wants me to study math more. My church keeps me busy on Sundays and Wednesdays. When do you think I have time to do any major programming? I'm lucky to have a few hours a month to keep myself fresh, but that is it.
There's a lot of countries where graduation from their public institutions (if they have them) leaves you with little options except being a farmer or bricklayer unless your family has serious cash.
You mean like the US? Without a college education, you have NO chance of having a proffesional, white-collar carear. Neither of my parents graduated from college, and my dad has been a Kiln operator for a lime-stone corporation for over twenty years. My mom cleans houses and is a seasonal sales clerk. I have an Uncle who is a farmer and a forty year old aunt who is going to a tech school to be a hair dresser. I can only hope to get a scholarship, because there is no way my parents are going to be able to send me and my three siblings through college on less than $50,000 per year income. I'm not sure where you live, but here in Wisconsin, college is pretty much required to amount to anything.
For three years, I taught myself through online tutorials here and there. Freshman year of high school I did a lot of programming, because I wanted to show my stuff off the the computer programming teacher (the class is only offered to sophmores and higher). Last year, once I was in the class I discovered how terrible high school is. In a one semester class, the other students only had a rudimentary knowledge of functions and no idea what OOP was. Basically it was a study hall for me, though I did write a tic-tac-toe game in C using SDL to show I did something.
I'd have to say that my knowledge of C++ is pretty rough. I may know syntax, but I sure as hell don't know how to use it for anything complicated. That said, sophmore year, I competed in the National FBLA competition for C++ programming and got 6th! This absolutely surprised me. Surely there must be more people who know C++ than this?
I'm disappointed in the US, in my teachers, and the school board. I've tried as hard as I could to learn in high school, but I end up being a slacker. Even classes at the local technical college (I've taken C# so far) have been a disappointment.
In general, students aren't encouraged to do programming at all. Math books have logic cicuits, boolean logic, and tons of example BASIC programs, but teachers skip over them. Educators need to educate, not push kids through school.
Eventually, RFIDs will become commonplace. A world currency will be set up, cash will be discarded, and RFIDs will be used to track our every move by Big Brother. I have a feeling there are some Christians in my home state that may have seen this coming, but in the end, even if this legislation passes, it won't do any good.
"Progress" is coming, and it won't care about what Wisconsin thinks.
This is great news. More choices is always better. This might even convince a few people to use KOffice as their Office Suite of choice, as it is native to KDE, and it'll be easier than ever to share documents with others.
Blogs aren't meant to be a source of income or even fame. They should probably be compared to the captain's logs of yesteryear. Those were a published log of a journey, but were more than that. They showed a captains inner thoughts, emotions, and experiences.
I'm glad that the blog hype is decreasing, but despite what this article implies, blogs will stick around as a source of expression for this generation.
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/6a278ca927d0501 0vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html
They could save over $100 if they bought a CRT. Or they could get a nice CRT with at least 1600x1200 resolution. I have an LCD myself, but if you are building a budget PC, wouldn't you want the get the most "bang for your buck"?
This would make sense if a majority of developers are complaining about who holds copyright. I know Mambo was eventually handed off to the Mambo Foundation, but developers did not stop there. They wanted all revenues generated by Mambo to go to the foundation, also. I just hope that developers don't abandon OO.o due to monetary issues. Seeing this sort of bickering between people leaves a sour taste in my mouth.