I spent a fair bit of time in "Academia", but never encountered your "Career Services Department". Maybe your are mistaking community college for academia?
Glad to see that (from the wikipedia link above) I'm not the oldest programmer reading slashdot, and very positive to know that the generation preceding me is still having an impact.
As soon as anyone who is responsible for any reasonable amount of database-driven code (especially coded by a group of other programmers) allows String sql = "xxx" to occur, they have already lost. Lost the battles of security, extensibility, and portability.
College language courses are not going to give you a level of language skill that will exceed the English language ability of any tech person you are likely to meet from another country.
But a language course anyway. It is interesting, fun, and useful if you plan on traveling.
Successful games, at least from my perspective, present the player with an immersive, believable world. The environment needs to provide a consistent, but not necessarily high level of realism.
There is nothing that kills the feeling of immersion for me more than inconsistency - photorealistic models with crappy animations, detaled characters but barren environments (a la Everquest 2), etc.
Creating a consistent and believable environment is an art form. Some games get it right, most don't.
> quit arguing incessantly about it and pass the gravy!
I agree completely. My term for it is "apathism".
It's all about the client side
on
Open Source DRM
·
· Score: 1
Exactly. And DRM these days is much more about restricting your use of content once you get it than it is about controlling your access to it in the first place.
Encrypting the content with a key is true security. Having the key also tell the client-side app that you should only be able to play the content for 30 days, or that you should not be able to give it to your buddy or burn it to a CD is security-through-obscurity. It is this control that the media companies want, and it is something which, for obvious reasons, is impossible to do in an open source app.
I'm not sure I follow your argument. It would be the person distributing the mp3 decoder for profit that would be violating the patent terms, not the author who released the program under the GPL, no?
Hence Thomson goes after redhat, not the software authors.
Re:VIA KT133 chipset?
on
Kernel 2.4.17 Out
·
· Score: 5, Informative
A bios upgrade fixed the problem for me. Look for an update on your motherboard vendor's website.
> I believe even Grip would be eligible for this,
> assuming it really is revenue-free.
Here's the blurb from my README explaining why I didn't sign their license agreement:
--
I have declined to sign a license agreement with Escient, the company who
owns "www.cddb.com" and runs the CDDB server "us.cddb.com". Their license
would (among other things) have required me to place advertisements in Grip
and restrict you, the user, to use only their databases. I am against this
commercial use of the track information submitted by users such as
yourself. For this reason, I encourage you to use free servers, such as
"freedb.freedb.org".
--
I wrote it a couple of years ago, but I don't think the terms of their license have changed particularly since then.
> This story certainly makes one wonder about long > term job security. Sure one can get that > first job, but later?
Stay current and you will be even more marketable at 40 then you are now. It is the 40-yr-olds who have the same skillset they did when they were 20 that are in trouble.
Find a part of the industry that you enjoy, and get good at it. If you like your work, staying current should be the most fun part of your job.
> isn't the licensing fee only applicable if > you're charging for your product?
I wish it were so. For *decoders*, it is the case that you don't have to pay unless you charge. For *encoders*, you have to pay regardless. Last I checked, they charge a per-unit license fee with a minimum yearly payment of $15,000.
It is great both to see this source released and to see that Tord thinks he is legally in the clear (I hope he's right).
I am very curious to hear the details -- particularly how they might pertain to other countries. The Fraunhofer patent is really stifling free software encoder development -- it doesn't matter how low the licensing fee is if you aren't selling your software.
The RIAA is running scared and I, for one, have no sympathy for them. MP3 snuck up on them, and now they are scrambling to try to do damage control.
They claim to protect artists rights, but they are really about monopolizing distribution. They aren't so much scared about piracy as they are about a band being able to distribute their music without coughing up the majority of the profits to the industry.
Anyone intersted in fast, high-quality mp3 encoding should check out LAME. It has better encoding quality than bladeenc and is similar in speed. It also supports variable bitrate (VBR) encoding. It is an open source project.
> Unfortunately for Microsoft, this doesn't work. > Witness IBM and Xerox as two examples of how > sticking to one successful technology can > disrupt and almost destroy a company when the > underlying paradigm shifts.
Unfortunately for us, this isn't Microsoft's strategy. Their strategy is to buy/intimidate themselves into every vaguely computer-related computer technology they possibly can.
--
Re:Don't forget the 'obnoxious' advertising clause
on
Feature:GPL vs BSD
·
· Score: 1
> What is obnoxious is trying to track down all > the contributors to GPL'd code to > get permission to do something to it.
You don't need to track down the contributers to do "something" to the code. You only need to track them down if you want to change the terms under which they (generously) donated their code the open source community.
This isn't obnoxious at all -- it's just common courtesy.
That's not entirely true. I still have to comply with your license to use your code. It's just that your license is less restrictive than mine.
There's no doubt that the BSD license is the more generous of the two. I'm just not as generous as you are, I guess. I'm willing to donate my code to the community -- but only to that portion of the community that are willing to do the same.
> there is no way you can include that code into > another closed product
You are missing the distinction between copyright and license. If I write code, I own it and can license it as I see fit. Users of my code have to abide by the license, but I, as the copyright holder, do not. I am free to release under a different license if I want to.
> Could use the ability to delete songs from the > database, though:)
I still use mysql directly for this...
As you say, it is still at 0.4 -- features will be added. It's amazing, though, how it has already completely altered my music-listening at work. I used to listen to CDs, and now I exclusively use DigitalDJ to play the MP3 versions of my CDs. No more being limited to the CDs I brought into work. No more swapping of discs.
Slashdot Mirror
I spent a fair bit of time in "Academia", but never encountered your "Career Services Department". Maybe your are mistaking community college for academia?
Glad to see that (from the wikipedia link above) I'm not the oldest programmer reading slashdot, and very positive to know that the generation preceding me is still having an impact.
As soon as anyone who is responsible for any reasonable amount of database-driven code (especially coded by a group of other programmers) allows String sql = "xxx" to occur, they have already lost. Lost the battles of security, extensibility, and portability.
College language courses are not going to give you a level of language skill that will exceed the English language ability of any tech person you are likely to meet from another country.
But a language course anyway. It is interesting, fun, and useful if you plan on traveling.
I would suggest Spanish.
Hats off to Michael Kaiser for being the caretaker of freedb for the past 7+ years and remaining true to the community spirit the service represents.
Many digital music collections, mine included, owe a lot to freedb.
Successful games, at least from my perspective, present the player with an immersive, believable world. The environment needs to provide a consistent, but not necessarily high level of realism.
There is nothing that kills the feeling of immersion for me more than inconsistency - photorealistic models with crappy animations, detaled characters but barren environments (a la Everquest 2), etc.
Creating a consistent and believable environment is an art form. Some games get it right, most don't.
> quit arguing incessantly about it and pass the gravy!
I agree completely. My term for it is "apathism".
Exactly. And DRM these days is much more about restricting your use of content once you get it than it is about controlling your access to it in the first place.
Encrypting the content with a key is true security. Having the key also tell the client-side app that you should only be able to play the content for 30 days, or that you should not be able to give it to your buddy or burn it to a CD is security-through-obscurity. It is this control that the media companies want, and it is something which, for obvious reasons, is impossible to do in an open source app.
I'm not sure I follow your argument. It would be the person distributing the mp3 decoder for profit that would be violating the patent terms, not the author who released the program under the GPL, no?
Hence Thomson goes after redhat, not the software authors.
A bios upgrade fixed the problem for me. Look for an update on your motherboard vendor's website.
> I believe even Grip would be eligible for this,
> assuming it really is revenue-free.
Here's the blurb from my README explaining why I didn't sign their license agreement:
--
I have declined to sign a license agreement with Escient, the company who
owns "www.cddb.com" and runs the CDDB server "us.cddb.com". Their license
would (among other things) have required me to place advertisements in Grip
and restrict you, the user, to use only their databases. I am against this
commercial use of the track information submitted by users such as
yourself. For this reason, I encourage you to use free servers, such as
"freedb.freedb.org".
--
I wrote it a couple of years ago, but I don't think the terms of their license have changed particularly since then.
Mike
--
> This story certainly makes one wonder about long
> term job security. Sure one can get that
> first job, but later?
Stay current and you will be even more marketable at 40 then you are now. It is the 40-yr-olds who have the same skillset they did when they were 20 that are in trouble.
Find a part of the industry that you enjoy, and get good at it. If you like your work, staying current should be the most fun part of your job.
--
> isn't the licensing fee only applicable if
> you're charging for your product?
I wish it were so. For *decoders*, it is the case that you don't have to pay unless you charge. For *encoders*, you have to pay regardless. Last I checked, they charge a per-unit license fee with a minimum yearly payment of $15,000.
--
It is great both to see this source released and to see that Tord thinks he is legally in the clear (I hope he's right).
I am very curious to hear the details -- particularly how they might pertain to other countries. The Fraunhofer patent is really stifling free software encoder development -- it doesn't matter how low the licensing fee is if you aren't selling your software.
--
The RIAA is running scared and I, for one, have no sympathy for them. MP3 snuck up on them, and now they are scrambling to try to do damage control.
They claim to protect artists rights, but they are really about monopolizing distribution. They aren't so much scared about piracy as they are about a band being able to distribute their music without coughing up the majority of the profits to the industry.
--
> After all, the gov has a monopoly on your
> public school systems and I don't hear any
> motions to stop that
Darn, I must have gone wrong then when I voted for my local microsoft board member. Oh wait, I don't *get* to vote for microsoft board members...
--
Anyone intersted in fast, high-quality mp3 encoding should check out LAME. It has better encoding quality than bladeenc and is similar in speed. It also supports variable bitrate (VBR) encoding. It is an open source project.
--
Google's down at the moment -- bad timing, that... :-)
--
> Unfortunately for Microsoft, this doesn't work.
> Witness IBM and Xerox as two examples of how
> sticking to one successful technology can
> disrupt and almost destroy a company when the
> underlying paradigm shifts.
Unfortunately for us, this isn't Microsoft's strategy. Their strategy is to buy/intimidate themselves into every vaguely computer-related computer technology they possibly can.
--
> What is obnoxious is trying to track down all
> the contributors to GPL'd code to
> get permission to do something to it.
You don't need to track down the contributers to do "something" to the code. You only need to track them down if you want to change the terms under which they (generously) donated their code the open source community.
This isn't obnoxious at all -- it's just common courtesy.
--
> I use BSD, don't like it fine -- USE my code.
That's not entirely true. I still have to comply with your license to use your code. It's just that your license is less restrictive than mine.
There's no doubt that the BSD license is the more generous of the two. I'm just not as generous as you are, I guess. I'm willing to donate my code to the community -- but only to that portion of the community that are willing to do the same.
--
> there is no way you can include that code into
> another closed product
You are missing the distinction between copyright and license. If I write code, I own it and can license it as I see fit. Users of my code have to abide by the license, but I, as the copyright holder, do not. I am free to release under a different license if I want to.
--
We can argue about licenses until the cows come home and not get anywhere. I say vote with your code. Release it under a license you are happy with.
I use the GPL. If you don't like it, fine -- don't use my code. That's your choice.
--
Crazy, I'm doing tech support on slashdot :-)
The latest versions of mysql put the shared client library in a non-standard directory (/usr/lib/mysql).
I am currently working on a solution to this. Meanwhile, if you use the rpm available from contrib.redhat.com, you should be ok.
--
> Could use the ability to delete songs from the :)
> database, though
I still use mysql directly for this...
As you say, it is still at 0.4 -- features will be added. It's amazing, though, how it has already completely altered my music-listening at work. I used to listen to CDs, and now I exclusively use DigitalDJ to play the MP3 versions of my CDs. No more being limited to the CDs I brought into work. No more swapping of discs.
--