(3)They have no right to assume that I want their goddamned "Clickonce" thing to work. Maybe I don't. And in fact, the OP was not about installing it via the web at all, it was about it being installed automatically in the background via SPs and SP updates. This isn't about clicking on a link at all. Please read first before you offer an opinion.
Please learn what ClickOnce is before you open your stupid-hole. Then you will understand why this was done as it was.
This add-on enables the XBAP and ClickOnce functionality to work through Firefox instead of just IE. The "M$ SUX LOLOLOLOLOL" crowd should be happy that they rolled it out because it further reduces reliance on IE.
I imagine they grayed it out because they're trying to make ClickOnce core to the OS without inviting more antitrust horseshit (and rightly, because it's a handy idea that helps address the lack of a package manager for Windows, though adoption has sucked). Calling this a "hijacking" is pretty retarded of you.
I don't think advertisement is the answer either, beyond a certain point. The problem is that right now that's the only really workable business model. Subscriptions for online content don't work too well when there's a glut of content available for free, even if that content's not as good. Too many people will take D+ content for free instead of paying for A content. That mindset will change, I think (or not, if people decide that not being discerning remains a good idea), but right now advertising is about all you've got.
Actually, it does. They're spending money to put out those books. They're not going to put in bad work (well, most of the time--every editor has some misses, stories he likes but his readership doesn't). Dead tree is a better guarantee of quality than FIVE STARS!!! on FictionPress or wherever.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there's some good writing on the interwebs. But there's more consistently good writing in the dead tree press.
Sadly, yes. SF has turned primarily into cyberpunk/biopunk, which is fine (and enjoyable too) and Star Wars knockoffs. Once in a while there are some good surprises, but few and far between these days.:-(
They can make more selling google ads on any blog site than they ever could have getting published in a low-volume sifi rag.
Speaking from experience:
Bullshit.
Seriously. It's not as easy, nor as profitable, as you think. Furthermore, your stupid (and it really is stupid) assumption that a blog will provide the same kind of exposure is...well, exactly that: stupid. The magazines are used to find out who are the good authors. Somebody published in Analog is automatically considered better than Joe Fuckstick who posts his stories on a blog, no matter how many readers he has. The separation of wheat from chaff is largely done there.
(This excludes stuff like Jim Baen's Universe, which are online magazines of wonderful quality. You can get Analog and the rest through Fictionwise just fine, too, however, though that's not where the majority of their subscribers come from by any means.)
Really? Huh. I use Windows Classic on my Server 2008 box and it's both faster than it was with Aero installed (thankfully you can uninstall it - I just wanted to see what it looked like) and looks about as Windows Classic-ish as you can really expect.
"A bit off" is like saying that the Atlantic Ocean is just a teensy bit damp.
OO.o has gotten to the point where it's fine for home users (I hate it, personally, it's slower than shit--I use Office 2003 still), but the OO.o crew is failing to do what way too many open source projects always fail to do--they don't watch how people use the program. They slap good features together with kludgy UI.
A really good usability study (and switching over to JRockit or something) could vastly improve OO.o.
From what I remember, the Thai monarchy takes a dim view of the whole "oppress people for offending the monarchy" idea. I seem to remember reading something about their king taking it all in good stride, but the monarchy is a figurehead and the military likes using "offending the monarchy" as a good way to crack down.
Setting aside that paying for a utility with functional value is not exactly "slavery" (though it amuses me that you're another one of those idiots), there's this thing called "the Internet." I'm sure you've heard of it.
Regarding the GPL: I've read v2 and v3 numerous times and have been involved with multiple licensing discussions with clients, their lawyers, and other open-source developers. I very much understand the GPL, thank you very much.
Regarding its proponents: understanding moral bankruptcy is in no way difficult. Recognizing (if not understanding, because it's sick in the head) their burning desire to screw anyone not using the GPL is pretty easy too.
Yes, that's what I'm saying. The digital feed has been broadcasting for over five years, well before people started actually using digital antenna, because of FCC regs. (So said the station manager when I was in on a job interview a couple months ago, we got to talking about the hardware side of things.) When I say "unused," I mean "nobody was watching the digital OTA broadcasts". The sooner the switchover, the better for them.
Except that you're exploiting their generosity by using *their* code with *your* additions in a way that ensures that they do not receive the use of them.
In other words, you're leeching from them. You're exploiting them. Which is legally permissible under the Apache license, but it makes it no less cretinous.
What re-licensing as GPL does is that it keeps the downstream users "honest" by forcing them to be as nice to their downstream users as their predecessors were for them.
Horseshit and worse terms. What relicensing does is to spit in the face of those who released the code in the first place. And you know it, you little fucking gnulot. If you want to "force" downstream users to be "nice," why choose to not be "nice" to your upstream?
Oh, wait. Because it's Micro$oft, LOLOLOLLOLOLOLOL!
Slashdot Mirror
Then they aren't "replacements", are they?
"Replacement" implies that it fits the same bill.
DNS entries can point to the same server. Nobody will notice if PDX-MAIL01 is the same as BAL-APP03.
(3)They have no right to assume that I want their goddamned "Clickonce" thing to work. Maybe I don't. And in fact, the OP was not about installing it via the web at all, it was about it being installed automatically in the background via SPs and SP updates. This isn't about clicking on a link at all. Please read first before you offer an opinion.
Please learn what ClickOnce is before you open your stupid-hole. Then you will understand why this was done as it was.
How exactly is it a nuisance if you wouldn't notice it without Slashdot's hair-shirting bullshit?
This add-on enables the XBAP and ClickOnce functionality to work through Firefox instead of just IE. The "M$ SUX LOLOLOLOLOL" crowd should be happy that they rolled it out because it further reduces reliance on IE.
I imagine they grayed it out because they're trying to make ClickOnce core to the OS without inviting more antitrust horseshit (and rightly, because it's a handy idea that helps address the lack of a package manager for Windows, though adoption has sucked). Calling this a "hijacking" is pretty retarded of you.
I don't think advertisement is the answer either, beyond a certain point. The problem is that right now that's the only really workable business model. Subscriptions for online content don't work too well when there's a glut of content available for free, even if that content's not as good. Too many people will take D+ content for free instead of paying for A content. That mindset will change, I think (or not, if people decide that not being discerning remains a good idea), but right now advertising is about all you've got.
Actually, it does. They're spending money to put out those books. They're not going to put in bad work (well, most of the time--every editor has some misses, stories he likes but his readership doesn't). Dead tree is a better guarantee of quality than FIVE STARS!!! on FictionPress or wherever.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there's some good writing on the interwebs. But there's more consistently good writing in the dead tree press.
What's old is new again, eh?
What are they doing - taking back the overstock and mailing it out to subscribers?
Actually, at times, yes.
Sadly, yes. SF has turned primarily into cyberpunk/biopunk, which is fine (and enjoyable too) and Star Wars knockoffs. Once in a while there are some good surprises, but few and far between these days. :-(
They can make more selling google ads on any blog site than they ever could have getting published in a low-volume sifi rag.
Speaking from experience:
Bullshit.
Seriously. It's not as easy, nor as profitable, as you think. Furthermore, your stupid (and it really is stupid) assumption that a blog will provide the same kind of exposure is...well, exactly that: stupid. The magazines are used to find out who are the good authors. Somebody published in Analog is automatically considered better than Joe Fuckstick who posts his stories on a blog, no matter how many readers he has. The separation of wheat from chaff is largely done there.
(This excludes stuff like Jim Baen's Universe, which are online magazines of wonderful quality. You can get Analog and the rest through Fictionwise just fine, too, however, though that's not where the majority of their subscribers come from by any means.)
Yeah, I don't get where $5m USD went on that either. I didn't think it was THAT big a problem.
Getting it right, and doing it as well as Lucene does (which is spectacularly well), really is THAT big a problem.
That, and at the least anyone peripherally involved with non-MS development should probably know what Lucene is. It's that awesome.
Really? Huh. I use Windows Classic on my Server 2008 box and it's both faster than it was with Aero installed (thankfully you can uninstall it - I just wanted to see what it looked like) and looks about as Windows Classic-ish as you can really expect.
"A bit off" is like saying that the Atlantic Ocean is just a teensy bit damp.
OO.o has gotten to the point where it's fine for home users (I hate it, personally, it's slower than shit--I use Office 2003 still), but the OO.o crew is failing to do what way too many open source projects always fail to do--they don't watch how people use the program. They slap good features together with kludgy UI.
A really good usability study (and switching over to JRockit or something) could vastly improve OO.o.
Vista and Win7 both have Windows Classic, IIRC.
From what I remember, the Thai monarchy takes a dim view of the whole "oppress people for offending the monarchy" idea. I seem to remember reading something about their king taking it all in good stride, but the monarchy is a figurehead and the military likes using "offending the monarchy" as a good way to crack down.
Setting aside that paying for a utility with functional value is not exactly "slavery" (though it amuses me that you're another one of those idiots), there's this thing called "the Internet." I'm sure you've heard of it.
Regarding the GPL: I've read v2 and v3 numerous times and have been involved with multiple licensing discussions with clients, their lawyers, and other open-source developers. I very much understand the GPL, thank you very much.
Regarding its proponents: understanding moral bankruptcy is in no way difficult. Recognizing (if not understanding, because it's sick in the head) their burning desire to screw anyone not using the GPL is pretty easy too.
Yes, that's what I'm saying. The digital feed has been broadcasting for over five years, well before people started actually using digital antenna, because of FCC regs. (So said the station manager when I was in on a job interview a couple months ago, we got to talking about the hardware side of things.) When I say "unused," I mean "nobody was watching the digital OTA broadcasts". The sooner the switchover, the better for them.
*shrug* I've never used a broadcast antenna and will not be using an A-to-D box. I prefer not to be on the trailing edge of technology.
Except that you're exploiting their generosity by using *their* code with *your* additions in a way that ensures that they do not receive the use of them.
In other words, you're leeching from them. You're exploiting them. Which is legally permissible under the Apache license, but it makes it no less cretinous.
What re-licensing as GPL does is that it keeps the downstream users "honest" by forcing them to be as nice to their downstream users as their predecessors were for them.
Horseshit and worse terms. What relicensing does is to spit in the face of those who released the code in the first place. And you know it, you little fucking gnulot. If you want to "force" downstream users to be "nice," why choose to not be "nice" to your upstream?
Oh, wait. Because it's Micro$oft, LOLOLOLLOLOLOLOL!
Channel 3, of course. For the people still rocking the RF adapters.
If it weren't for the government, TV programs would have been exclusively digital before this
This. My local NBC affiliate has been running a nearly-unused digital broadcast for years.