Yes, but having the code means that you can undo any harmful little thing a vendor might decide to implement. Think of backdoors, forced obsoletion, benchmark/test skew, and the like. Having the code also entails a certain level of accountability by the author.
Frankly, Virgin and Macromedia can take their DRM and shovel it where sun does not shine and rotate it at 48x CD speed until they the torque pushes their heads out of their arse.
1. Reliability: what if sensors fail / misread when you need that car?
2. Privacy: so now even your own fucking car is spying on you? Cameras, sweat detection, give me a break!
3. Reliability revisited: this is easily defeated. Sweat detection - gloves anyone? Everything else - non-drunk friend?
What more is to say? Now we only need the obligatory OS analogy ("but but but that's like Vista's protected media path!!!") and the discussion's over.
Ah, back to work.
Re:Less of the kitchen sink would make KDE better
on
A Sneak Preview of KDE 4
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I understand your concern, but on the other hand, KDE is right now the only desktop which allows me to customize EVERYTHING I could ever want to customize WITHOUT going into config text files or the source code itself. This is exactly what I like most about it!
Have you ever had the feeling that "this program is awesome, but there's this really annoying tiny thing I wish I could easily change"? I had a couple of these with GNOME last time I tried it, and I've never had this with KDE 3.x.
GNOME is already a good, clean desktop. KDE is the good, customizable desktop. It's better to have one of each, rather than two of the same, don't you think?
So why didn't they call Fiji by it's real name - "Vista Service Pack 1"? Must be because the words service pack smell of fixed bugs and removed vulnerabilities - two things Microsoft claim are more or less inexistent with Vista now (yeah right).
As for the other one - I can't wait! Major new features: more BLOOD! (Bigger Larger Overly Outrageous DRM)
The sad part of the story is that even the current Vista DRM will force hardware vendors to make worse hardware and keep drivers closed:(. Lovely collateral damage to Linux in Microsoft's eyes.
I'll do my part: help people switch to Linux, report+fix bugs to Linux software, and if I have the time, start a free software project. I wish more people would do the same.
And what will those lawsuits do to them? Hell, they'll pay a couple of dollars per customer and forget about it. They'll still make a profit. Reference: Sony.
On one hand this post is blown out of proportion, probably just because it was written by Mark Shuttleworth. Whether he actually intended in his post to lure devs from openSuse to Ubuntu is hard to tell... If he had only posted "Hello", the fact that it's the openSuse list and the poster is the Big Man of Ubuntu would still make people believe he had an evil agenda, or whatnot.
On the other hand, as you will find out if you follow all those links in TFA+TFS, it appears *someone* at Ubuntu decided to ship binary drivers by default (!) in the next version of the OS. Now that is just wrong, for so many reasons. In any case, it doesn't show Ubuntu a pure-FOSS supporting distro. Some claim the decision was made with little or no community input.
And while the Novell/Microsoft deal is little more than corporate FUD, the binary driver issue and the world's most popular desktop disto's handling of the matter, is crucial. We need to pressure the hardware companies to release drivers, and Ubuntu may soon brutally undermine those efforts.
Mark, leave openSuse alone and do something about the binary driver issue. Please.
Did anyone else notice how everything Gillete made up to and including the M3 Power had compatible blades? I can for instance buy cheaper Mach 3 blades for my M3 Power and never know the difference (not that there is any). With the Fusion, the blades attach in a different and incompatible way. Way to milk even more money for essentially the same thing!
Wonderful! If this stuff becomes popular on a large scale, how long will it be before we have really cheap mobile phone calls/transfers as opposed to the current situation, in which mobile telcos control all networks and extort their customers with ridiculous voice and data fees?
Well, that leaves two options:
1) Their system is cracked. Then everything is as before and piracy runs rampant to the benefit of MS's monopoly.
2) Their system is not cracked, in which case people just stick with (cracked) XP for years to come. When they are finally forced to upgrade (by artificial planned obsoletion, of course), they either wait for a crack to be made (go to option 1) or finally dump Windows.
But I know people who will never pay for software. My hope is that by that time (>5 years from now) Linux will be a viable gaming platform, either sufficiently Windows-compatible, or with many Linux-native releases. Then everyone will just switch over, sooner or later.
One one hand, yes, shitty drivers can be a problem for any OS, since they are technically part of the OS. Hell, if a hardware manufacturer ships a binary closed blob of bugs, and the user installs it plugging it right into the kernel, there's nothing the OS can do, is there?
That said, it does give Micro$oft a wonderful excuse to shove "mandatory driver signing" (read: MS control of what's allowed + hardcore DRM) down everyone's throat. "But, dear Joe, this is to make your Windows(TM) a better, more stable and reliable experience! Now, please, surrender your media content and don't you ever try to install that virtual sound-card driver that writes WAVs again, or else!"
Furthermore, after reviewing this GPL our lawyers advised us that any products compiled with GPL'ed tools - such as gcc - would also have to its source code released. This was simply unacceptable.
You sure have some really dumb lawyers. How much do you pay them?
As much as I hate Microsoft, if a free ad-supported Windows was available, I'd go for it. While nothing can replace Linux as my primary OS, I still want to play games, and Cedega just isn't good enough.
An ad supported Windows means:
1) Microsoft will not make money off me on purchase
2) Nobody will make money off me as I ignore the ads
3) I get to play games on Windows and stick it up to Microsoft in the process
4) Privacy in this case is not a problem because I'm not doing anything other than play a few games on that OS (no browsing around or reading e-mail or handling personal data)
It sounds perfect to me. Bring it on!
I, for one, do not like WoW's business model of having me first buy the game, and then rent it in order to play it. I also do not have the time to play so much to make a recurring investment worth it. Finally, the game has no demo version so, unable to try out if it works on my modest machine and if it's good enough for me, I will never buy WoW.
I am a demanding gamer who will be playing retail "buy once, play forever" games for as long as some good ones are available (which is forever, since I already have some good ones).
That the information which is currently in your Facebook.com account could be viewed by anyone does not suprise me, but I ask you this: Is it possible for anyone to see information that was there in the past but was later edited away? In particular, is it possible for anyone to see a deleted profile?
Yes, but having the code means that you can undo any harmful little thing a vendor might decide to implement. Think of backdoors, forced obsoletion, benchmark/test skew, and the like. Having the code also entails a certain level of accountability by the author.
Frankly, Virgin and Macromedia can take their DRM and shovel it where sun does not shine and rotate it at 48x CD speed until they the torque pushes their heads out of their arse.
That is a memorable quote! Thank you!
Three problems I thought of in about 23 seconds:
1. Reliability: what if sensors fail / misread when you need that car?
2. Privacy: so now even your own fucking car is spying on you? Cameras, sweat detection, give me a break!
3. Reliability revisited: this is easily defeated. Sweat detection - gloves anyone? Everything else - non-drunk friend?
What more is to say? Now we only need the obligatory OS analogy ("but but but that's like Vista's protected media path!!!") and the discussion's over.
Ah, back to work.
I understand your concern, but on the other hand, KDE is right now the only desktop which allows me to customize EVERYTHING I could ever want to customize WITHOUT going into config text files or the source code itself. This is exactly what I like most about it!
Have you ever had the feeling that "this program is awesome, but there's this really annoying tiny thing I wish I could easily change"? I had a couple of these with GNOME last time I tried it, and I've never had this with KDE 3.x.
GNOME is already a good, clean desktop. KDE is the good, customizable desktop. It's better to have one of each, rather than two of the same, don't you think?
In this case, I don't believe a regulatory agency even exists to mandate media format upgrades.
Please, PLEASE don't give the MPAA ideas like that!!!
So why didn't they call Fiji by it's real name - "Vista Service Pack 1"? Must be because the words service pack smell of fixed bugs and removed vulnerabilities - two things Microsoft claim are more or less inexistent with Vista now (yeah right).
:(. Lovely collateral damage to Linux in Microsoft's eyes.
As for the other one - I can't wait! Major new features: more BLOOD! (Bigger Larger Overly Outrageous DRM)
The sad part of the story is that even the current Vista DRM will force hardware vendors to make worse hardware and keep drivers closed
I'll do my part: help people switch to Linux, report+fix bugs to Linux software, and if I have the time, start a free software project. I wish more people would do the same.
And what will those lawsuits do to them? Hell, they'll pay a couple of dollars per customer and forget about it. They'll still make a profit. Reference: Sony.
OMGWTF P0NI3Z!!!! They're trying to kill Mickey Mouse!!!
Unless it has enough DRM to make it unusable even after 50 years, of course.
On one hand this post is blown out of proportion, probably just because it was written by Mark Shuttleworth. Whether he actually intended in his post to lure devs from openSuse to Ubuntu is hard to tell... If he had only posted "Hello", the fact that it's the openSuse list and the poster is the Big Man of Ubuntu would still make people believe he had an evil agenda, or whatnot.
On the other hand, as you will find out if you follow all those links in TFA+TFS, it appears *someone* at Ubuntu decided to ship binary drivers by default (!) in the next version of the OS. Now that is just wrong, for so many reasons. In any case, it doesn't show Ubuntu a pure-FOSS supporting distro. Some claim the decision was made with little or no community input.
And while the Novell/Microsoft deal is little more than corporate FUD, the binary driver issue and the world's most popular desktop disto's handling of the matter, is crucial. We need to pressure the hardware companies to release drivers, and Ubuntu may soon brutally undermine those efforts.
Mark, leave openSuse alone and do something about the binary driver issue. Please.
Ah, the last time a man named Gates was in control of something big, powerful and American, we got... Microsoft!
Did anyone else notice how everything Gillete made up to and including the M3 Power had compatible blades? I can for instance buy cheaper Mach 3 blades for my M3 Power and never know the difference (not that there is any). With the Fusion, the blades attach in a different and incompatible way. Way to milk even more money for essentially the same thing!
...during his five-year trip to the Amazon...
Ouch, they must have had really slow Internet at the time. I mean now I can get to Amazon and back in like 30 ms!
Wonderful! If this stuff becomes popular on a large scale, how long will it be before we have really cheap mobile phone calls/transfers as opposed to the current situation, in which mobile telcos control all networks and extort their customers with ridiculous voice and data fees?
Well, that leaves two options:
1) Their system is cracked. Then everything is as before and piracy runs rampant to the benefit of MS's monopoly.
2) Their system is not cracked, in which case people just stick with (cracked) XP for years to come. When they are finally forced to upgrade (by artificial planned obsoletion, of course), they either wait for a crack to be made (go to option 1) or finally dump Windows.
But I know people who will never pay for software. My hope is that by that time (>5 years from now) Linux will be a viable gaming platform, either sufficiently Windows-compatible, or with many Linux-native releases. Then everyone will just switch over, sooner or later.
How is this superior to the Qtopia Greenphone?
One one hand, yes, shitty drivers can be a problem for any OS, since they are technically part of the OS. Hell, if a hardware manufacturer ships a binary closed blob of bugs, and the user installs it plugging it right into the kernel, there's nothing the OS can do, is there?
That said, it does give Micro$oft a wonderful excuse to shove "mandatory driver signing" (read: MS control of what's allowed + hardcore DRM) down everyone's throat. "But, dear Joe, this is to make your Windows(TM) a better, more stable and reliable experience! Now, please, surrender your media content and don't you ever try to install that virtual sound-card driver that writes WAVs again, or else!"
While those infections could theoretically amount to that much money, did anyone actually pay the guy?
Please, please do not "evolve into more than just a browser"!
As a side note, Harlan met his wife in Ultima Online, married her in the game, and then eventually married her in real life.
'Nough said.
Well, it sorta sounds like a Razer product page...
Furthermore, after reviewing this GPL our lawyers advised us that any
products compiled with GPL'ed tools - such as gcc - would also have to
its source code released. This was simply unacceptable.
You sure have some really dumb lawyers. How much do you pay them?
As much as I hate Microsoft, if a free ad-supported Windows was available, I'd go for it. While nothing can replace Linux as my primary OS, I still want to play games, and Cedega just isn't good enough. An ad supported Windows means: 1) Microsoft will not make money off me on purchase 2) Nobody will make money off me as I ignore the ads 3) I get to play games on Windows and stick it up to Microsoft in the process 4) Privacy in this case is not a problem because I'm not doing anything other than play a few games on that OS (no browsing around or reading e-mail or handling personal data) It sounds perfect to me. Bring it on!
I, for one, do not like WoW's business model of having me first buy the game, and then rent it in order to play it. I also do not have the time to play so much to make a recurring investment worth it. Finally, the game has no demo version so, unable to try out if it works on my modest machine and if it's good enough for me, I will never buy WoW. I am a demanding gamer who will be playing retail "buy once, play forever" games for as long as some good ones are available (which is forever, since I already have some good ones).
That the information which is currently in your Facebook.com account could be viewed by anyone does not suprise me, but I ask you this: Is it possible for anyone to see information that was there in the past but was later edited away? In particular, is it possible for anyone to see a deleted profile?