Personally I am checking The Guardian and BBC News, CNN.com (which I agree is pretty horrible),MSNBC, The Independent, Wikinews, The Daily Beast (and Slashdot of course) and some random ones. I'd be interested to know which sources people are using to get news about the situation in Iran, or for that matter other international events of interest. Also I find it helpful to try to read around to get news and articles from different perspectives and not rely too heavily on one single source.
"Science Daily is reporting that a microbe, Herminiimonas glaciei, buried some 3 km under glacial ice in Greenland, and believed to have been frozen for some 120,000 years, has been brought back to life (abstract).
Jeeze, don't anyone learn from history? Last time they dug up a frozen creature from the ice it began killing its way through the Norwegian base and then the American one! Burn it! You have to burn it!
Does that mean we can go in and fix it then? Please say yes, we could stop by on our way back from Iraq. I'm tired of tolerance. "Lawful good"
You could start by going after North Korea; oh wait; they have no oil and nuclear weapons.
Given this country brought an end to both World Wars and prevented the 3rd, don't you think it's a little time we were cut some slack?
Oh I am sure the about 10 million Red Army soldiers that died on the Eastern Front played a role in ending WW2, not to mention the partisans, the British, and dare I say the French, Holland, Danish, Norwegian (and many more) resistance movements. Of course the American contribution to the war both in direct military aid and the amount of supplies and technology delivered to the allies (including Uncle Joe) was not insignificant.
We need to be actively involved in the affairs of the world. WW1 and WW2 just called and want us to promote democracy across the world. Look at how nice Germany and Japan are now, they are 1st world nations.
Lets not forget that the National Socialist German Workers' Party was democratically elected by the Weimar Republic; a democratic state established by the Allies after The Great War (WW1).
I didn't know you could win an argument by appending a "Period." after your thesis.
Actually the correct steps are:
* Present your thesis.
* Exclaim PERIOD!
* Clamp your hands to your ears and run away shouting "lalalalalalala cant hear you!", before any counter-argument can be made.
Most peoples perception of whether a blimp is good or bad relies almost entirely on it's markings and previous experiences with those markings, the Goodyear blimps(s) have been used and seen as passive, non-threatening for years, how would you tell if it's a "good" or "bad" Goodyear Blimp?
I suddenly got this vision of an Evil Goodyear Blimp; black and red covered in spikes, with ominous smoke/fog trailing along behind it. Yup with that one you'd just know that it was up to no good.
Of course, my posts were simply to give some information about the developments regarding Open Standards in my country. This is policy decisions and not in anyway a part of the Norwegian Constitutions. If any thing should be written into a constitution then it should, hopefully, be written and rewritten until it is a clear and single point that don't specifically mention formats or anything that might change several times over the next century or so.
New report: The government must use the culture of sharing on the Internet
Web users wish to spread information from public sources through internet communities. However, there is a risk that the government is slowing down this process, according to the report eCitizen 2.0, received by Minister of Government administration and reform, Ms. Heidi Grande RÃys, recently.
- There are enormous possibilities for dialogue and distribution of information, if the government and the users of web communities are cooperating. This report will provide us with better knowledge of how the government can meet the citizens where they are, Ms Grande RÃys says.
The second title of the report, which has been commissioned by the Ministry from the research institution SINTEF, is âoeThe ordinary citizen as provider of public information?â SINTEF recommends that the public sector to a larger extent must regard the citizens as collaborating partners rather than as passive recipients of information.
- Todayâ(TM)s web users expect to be able to share and edit texts, pictures and videos they find on the internet. The challenge will be to create a culture of sharing, in which public information is distributed by the citizens themselves, without losing important content or trust in the process, Grande RÃys says.
The recommendations from the researchers imply that public information should be made freely available and reusable, and that public institutions to a larger extent must be willing to experiment and take risks. The report mentions examples of innovative services from other countries, like the US and Great Britain.
- There is a lot of useful government reform in an active ICT policy providing possibilities for inclusion, sharing, openness and dialogue. This is all about the ability of the government administration to be innovative in developing public services, and how we can improve our services by utilizing the usersâ(TM) competence, the minister says.
eCitizen2.0 - The ordinary citizen as a supplier of public-sector information (PDF)
The report is made by Petter Bae Brandtzæg and Marika Lüders in SINTEF.
SINTEF:
The SINTEF Group is the largest independent research organisation in Scandinavia. Every year, SINTEF supports the development of 2000 or so Norwegian and overseas companies via our research and development activity.
Business concept
SINTEF's goal is to contribute to wealth creation and to the sound and sustainable development of society. We generate new knowledge and solutions for our customers, based on research and development in technology, the natural sciences, medicine and the social sciences./quote
At least regarding open standards this is my country's (Norway) current policy:
The Norwegian Government has decided that all information on state-operated web sites should be accessible in the open document formats HTML, PDF or ODF. This means an end to the time when public documents are published in closed formats only.
- Everybody should have equal access to public information. From 2009 on, Norwegian citizens will be able to freely choose which software to use to get access to information from public offices. More competition between suppliers of office programs will be another effect of the government's decision, Minister of Government Administration and Reform Heidi Grande RÃys says.
The Government's decision is as follows:
* HTML will be the primary format for publishing public information on the Internet.
* PDF (PDF 1.4 and later or PDF/A ISO 19005-1) is obligatory when there is a wish to keep a document's original appearance.
* ODF (ISO/IEC 26300) is to be used to publish documents to which the user should be able to make changes after downloading, e.g. public forms to be filled out by the user. This format is also made obligatory.
- For many years, Norway had no specific software policy. This is now changing. Our government has decided that ICT development in the public sector shall be based on open standards. In the future, we won't accept that government bodies are locking users of public information to closed formats, Ms Grande RÃys says.
The new demands will take effect from January 1, 2009 for state bodies. The Ministry of Government Administration and Reform will be working to formulate regulations making this obligatory for municipal organs as well. The Government's aim is that the regulations should take force from January 1, 2009.
The government decision does not prevent state bodies from using other document formats in their communication with the users, provided that the documents also are produced in one of the obligatory formats, ODF or PDF.
Heidi Grande RÃys says that state and municipal organs as well should be able to receive documents in these formats from their users and partners.
- This is the first step in standardising document formats. We are also considering formats for document exchange with the public sector and for the exchange of documents within the public sector, Ms Grande RÃys says.
A list of obligatory and recommended standards in the public sector according to the Government's recent decision is to be found in Referansekatalog for IT-standarder i offentlig sektor (Reference catalogue of IT standards in the public sector, Norwegian edition only).
I always thought the Americans loved bureaucracy and redundancy. Police, FBI, US Marshall's, NSA, Homeland Security, CIA (and probably others that haven't yet been depicted in a major motion picture); I am sure their money is well spent funding all these agencies; especially those with overlapping jurisdictions.
here's something else to consider: none of these FOSS licenses prevent you from leeching. There's not a clause in the GPL that says you have to contribute in any way in order to make use of the software, or even to distribute the software. The developers who license their software under the GPL have knowingly given the entire world full permission to leech off of their work.
One could even argue that the more their software is used, even if the majority of use is "leeching", if would still benefit since increased usage would potentially mean more people that would consider active participation. Even if 99% of all new users are leeching that would still mean 1% that contribute; the larger the total number of users the larger the participating group would be. Not to mention that no one would consider contributing to a project that none at all wanted to use.
I agree. SAP, like most, probably evaluate Open Source products and try to see how they can use it to advance their own bottom line. I would argue that if they decide that one or more products can be used in a way that they find helpful or profitable; they will use them; if they don't; they will not. Not everything is either or "friend or foe". Outside a few core groups most people do not engage these matters as some sort of ideological competition; but rather try to find real world value in a product or service that they can benefit from. In this matter SAP is no different. And I would argue that trying to artificially create or impose "Us Vs Them" dichotomies is, as you say, oversimplification; and to some extend counter-productive as some of us find that sort of simplistic argument distasteful.
And to make sure the laws are reasonably and fairly enforced, we'll get the Human Rights Council to oversee that (you know the one that has China and Cuba on it--such fine upstanding respecters of human rights).
And USA and Britain for that matter; another two Nations with a far from flawless Human Rights record. Though if we really wanted point out the irony of the Human Rights Council not only are China, Cuba, USA and the UK on it but it also include; Saudi Arabia, Russian Federation, Egypt and Pakistan (and others who I don't really know anything about but I am sure have their share of closeted skeletons).
Furthermore, the stem cells implanted into the patient will not be genetically modified, unlike a lot of the stem cells currently derived from adult tissues.
I am usually all in favour of scientific advancement, and I believe that stem cells and bioengineering have a lot of offer that could improve the human condition. HOWEVER; seeing as I have played Prototype non-stop since it was released I am now renouncing science (genetic engineering especially) and moving to a secret underground bunker in the Himalayas.
Why does this work in Sweden, or rather, why not in the rest of Europe?
You have the same privacy-eliminating laws all over the EU, mainly because they are largely EU mandated, yet in most other countries, right-wing parties that call for even tighter monitoring and regulation won across the board.
These issues don't really get much attention by Norwegian media; though so far the Norwegian government has pretty much pushed any outside pressure to reform our laws to the side. Getting access to Norwegian IP logs only given to law enforcement if they can adequately prove that they have a case to do so; and they can only access the part they specifically request. Despite some measure of pressure from the EU and others; Norwegian copyright law remains fairly liberal. You can make copies for your friends, but only up to some arbitrary number; and the downloading of pirated software, movies, music, is not per definition a criminal; unless you are specifically making money by making such material available.
One of the leaders of Kripos (Special Investigators with the Police) stated in the media, in response to pressure from the copyright lobby; something to the effect that they would not now, nor in any foreseeable future, misspend their resources on any music piracy issue while there was serious crime being done. And that unless there was significant political pressure this would not change.
The only party I know has an eye for reforming the copyright laws is the Norwegian Left Party and they want to make them even more liberal. So I guess these things kinda make it hard for the Piracy Party to get a proper foothold in Norway. Then again we are not fully a member of the EU; we just obey their laws more literally and consistently than many of the member states; else some of the other European nations might get sad and not want to trade with us.
If they go out of US, to who M$ will complain to prevent unlicensed use of Windows?
It's SO unfair that people pirate our products! We made those products and we deserve our cut damn it!
It's SO unfair that we have to like obey our nations tax laws!
Yeah lets go after those that break the laws we like and lets use all our lawyers and accountants to avoid the laws we don't like.
Or, how will US government (e.g. its military) view the idea of using a 'foreign' OS?
Well I know that the Norwegian Military (particularly parts of the intelligence operations) decided that they would no longer trust or use Windows some years back.
The Judge scheduled a June 8th telephone conference regarding the RIAA's motion to preclude objections.
The in limine motions are scheduled for June 10th.
Plaintiffs' motion to preclude defendants from making objections at trial
Plaintiffs' opposition to defendant's motion to suppress MediaSentry materials
Notice of hearing scheduling plaintiffs' motion to preclude objections
Defendants' response to plaintiffs' motion to foreclose fair use defense
Defendant's response to plaintiffs' motion to preclude reference to cases
Defendant's response to plaintiffs' motion to exclude defendant's expert witness's testimony
So the idea is to make some kind of legal argument limiting the capability of the defendant to defend themselves? Yeah I guess that seems fair considering they (RIAA) are like totally only doing this to defend the rights of Artists. I wonder how much further they can push these strategies upon people and the courts before a angry mob with pitchforks try to storm their office buildings (remind me to invest stock in pitchfork companies at the earliest opportunity).
The Catholic Church split and became the Church of England and the Catholic church.
Actually is was more like the protoChurch splitting into the Catholic Church the Greek Orthodox Church and some sects and orders that existed for a while there after before either being Assimilated, Exterminated or driven to some geographical region were they were practically unreachable.
Now a bit later Lutheran Protestants appeared and split from the Catholics. And AFTER that the King of England broke with the Pope and established a new order with the Crown as a the head of the English Church.
Of course this is EXTREME SIMPLIFICATIONS of complex historical processes and events. But the splitting of the English Church from the Catholic faith did not happen in a vacuum.
But instead of focussing on past insults and wrongs, I believe our focus should be on the future. We should realize that what divides us pales in comparison to what we have in common and that division and exclusion are harmful to us all.
I guess I agree with him in this. There are people on all sides of these issues that are far too concerned about being right and preaching their "Right Way". Name calling and other childish behaviour is counter-productive. What is needed is good debate on the issues and without ad hominem attacks that only detract and distract.
That being said my feeling is that those that idolizes various ways of distributing, publishing or retail of software is becoming increasingly marginalized; which is a good thing. Dogmatic subscription to an ideology is always a powerful activator for the Us Vs Them instinct that seems to run through so much of our public debates and arguments.
you people will never get the point cause you can't get into your heads that not everyone knows as much about computing as you do nor do they spend all their time playing with new OSes and apps.
I don't know much about computing at all really, though I guess I am geekier in my interests than most. The point I was trying to make was that the knowledge and experience required to create a basic system that can provide elementary functions (browsing, email, calendar and a wordprocessor) is proliferating an an increasing rate. Further more the general computer literacy seems to be increasing (at least in my country); that doesn't mean that people code or do any complex system maintenance tasks but it does meant that someone can pickup a netbook and rapidly get how the system works EVEN if it is marginally different from Windows.
Should perhaps been restated that the discussion held further up this thread was about Netbooks first and foremost and not desktop computers. My thesis would be that most people looking for a netbook is looking for one for a reason; and that reason being that they need a portable device capable of preforming the tasks I just mentioned. Now given the simplicity of the Netbook systems I have seen (two different Linux variations and a Windows version) I have a hard time imagining that the amount of people that would be absolutely totally stumped by the Linux versions is in anyway significant (of course again my personal experience is limited to my country and region).
I could use my father or stepmother as examples neither have any great experience with computer and don't use them with any frequency, but they figured out on their own how to do what they needed be it Windows 98, XP or more recently Vista. And, in my view, the differences between those three versions of Windows are far greater than any difference between Netbook systems (that I have seen so far).
Slashdot Mirror
Personally I am checking The Guardian and BBC News, CNN.com (which I agree is pretty horrible),MSNBC, The Independent, Wikinews, The Daily Beast (and Slashdot of course) and some random ones. I'd be interested to know which sources people are using to get news about the situation in Iran, or for that matter other international events of interest. Also I find it helpful to try to read around to get news and articles from different perspectives and not rely too heavily on one single source.
"Science Daily is reporting that a microbe, Herminiimonas glaciei, buried some 3 km under glacial ice in Greenland, and believed to have been frozen for some 120,000 years, has been brought back to life (abstract).
Jeeze, don't anyone learn from history? Last time they dug up a frozen creature from the ice it began killing its way through the Norwegian base and then the American one! Burn it! You have to burn it!
Det er ikke ei bikkje, det er en slags ting!
Thank you. The original article is apparently Slashdoted.
Does that mean we can go in and fix it then? Please say yes, we could stop by on our way back from Iraq. I'm tired of tolerance. "Lawful good"
You could start by going after North Korea; oh wait; they have no oil and nuclear weapons.
Given this country brought an end to both World Wars and prevented the 3rd, don't you think it's a little time we were cut some slack?
Oh I am sure the about 10 million Red Army soldiers that died on the Eastern Front played a role in ending WW2, not to mention the partisans, the British, and dare I say the French, Holland, Danish, Norwegian (and many more) resistance movements. Of course the American contribution to the war both in direct military aid and the amount of supplies and technology delivered to the allies (including Uncle Joe) was not insignificant.
We need to be actively involved in the affairs of the world. WW1 and WW2 just called and want us to promote democracy across the world. Look at how nice Germany and Japan are now, they are 1st world nations.
Lets not forget that the National Socialist German Workers' Party was democratically elected by the Weimar Republic; a democratic state established by the Allies after The Great War (WW1).
I didn't know you could win an argument by appending a "Period." after your thesis.
Actually the correct steps are:
* Present your thesis.
* Exclaim PERIOD!
* Clamp your hands to your ears and run away shouting "lalalalalalala cant hear you!", before any counter-argument can be made.
And there you go, argument won.
Most peoples perception of whether a blimp is good or bad relies almost entirely on it's markings and previous experiences with those markings, the Goodyear blimps(s) have been used and seen as passive, non-threatening for years, how would you tell if it's a "good" or "bad" Goodyear Blimp?
I suddenly got this vision of an Evil Goodyear Blimp; black and red covered in spikes, with ominous smoke/fog trailing along behind it. Yup with that one you'd just know that it was up to no good.
You are one of them authority questioning liberal manhating feminist anarchistic Stalinistic satanists aren't you.
I for one welcome our eye in the sky Big Brother (hey some of us actually like our big brothers) Overlords.
Of course, my posts were simply to give some information about the developments regarding Open Standards in my country. This is policy decisions and not in anyway a part of the Norwegian Constitutions. If any thing should be written into a constitution then it should, hopefully, be written and rewritten until it is a clear and single point that don't specifically mention formats or anything that might change several times over the next century or so.
New report: The government must use the culture of sharing on the Internet
Web users wish to spread information from public sources through internet communities. However, there is a risk that the government is slowing down this process, according to the report eCitizen 2.0, received by Minister of Government administration and reform, Ms. Heidi Grande RÃys, recently.
- There are enormous possibilities for dialogue and distribution of information, if the government and the users of web communities are cooperating. This report will provide us with better knowledge of how the government can meet the citizens where they are, Ms Grande RÃys says.
The second title of the report, which has been commissioned by the Ministry from the research institution SINTEF, is âoeThe ordinary citizen as provider of public information?â SINTEF recommends that the public sector to a larger extent must regard the citizens as collaborating partners rather than as passive recipients of information.
- Todayâ(TM)s web users expect to be able to share and edit texts, pictures and videos they find on the internet. The challenge will be to create a culture of sharing, in which public information is distributed by the citizens themselves, without losing important content or trust in the process, Grande RÃys says.
The recommendations from the researchers imply that public information should be made freely available and reusable, and that public institutions to a larger extent must be willing to experiment and take risks. The report mentions examples of innovative services from other countries, like the US and Great Britain.
- There is a lot of useful government reform in an active ICT policy providing possibilities for inclusion, sharing, openness and dialogue. This is all about the ability of the government administration to be innovative in developing public services, and how we can improve our services by utilizing the usersâ(TM) competence, the minister says.
eCitizen2.0 - The ordinary citizen as a supplier of public-sector information (PDF) The report is made by Petter Bae Brandtzæg and Marika Lüders in SINTEF.
SINTEF:
The SINTEF Group is the largest independent research organisation in Scandinavia. Every year, SINTEF supports the development of 2000 or so Norwegian and overseas companies via our research and development activity.
/quote
Business concept
SINTEF's goal is to contribute to wealth creation and to the sound and sustainable development of society. We generate new knowledge and solutions for our customers, based on research and development in technology, the natural sciences, medicine and the social sciences.
The Norwegian Government has decided that all information on state-operated web sites should be accessible in the open document formats HTML, PDF or ODF. This means an end to the time when public documents are published in closed formats only.
- Everybody should have equal access to public information. From 2009 on, Norwegian citizens will be able to freely choose which software to use to get access to information from public offices. More competition between suppliers of office programs will be another effect of the government's decision, Minister of Government Administration and Reform Heidi Grande RÃys says.
The Government's decision is as follows:
* HTML will be the primary format for publishing public information on the Internet.
* PDF (PDF 1.4 and later or PDF/A ISO 19005-1) is obligatory when there is a wish to keep a document's original appearance.
* ODF (ISO/IEC 26300) is to be used to publish documents to which the user should be able to make changes after downloading, e.g. public forms to be filled out by the user. This format is also made obligatory.
- For many years, Norway had no specific software policy. This is now changing. Our government has decided that ICT development in the public sector shall be based on open standards. In the future, we won't accept that government bodies are locking users of public information to closed formats, Ms Grande RÃys says.
The new demands will take effect from January 1, 2009 for state bodies. The Ministry of Government Administration and Reform will be working to formulate regulations making this obligatory for municipal organs as well. The Government's aim is that the regulations should take force from January 1, 2009.
The government decision does not prevent state bodies from using other document formats in their communication with the users, provided that the documents also are produced in one of the obligatory formats, ODF or PDF.
Heidi Grande RÃys says that state and municipal organs as well should be able to receive documents in these formats from their users and partners. - This is the first step in standardising document formats. We are also considering formats for document exchange with the public sector and for the exchange of documents within the public sector, Ms Grande RÃys says.
A list of obligatory and recommended standards in the public sector according to the Government's recent decision is to be found in Referansekatalog for IT-standarder i offentlig sektor (Reference catalogue of IT standards in the public sector, Norwegian edition only).
From regjeringen.no
Currently they are considering what standards to use for audio and video; the current policy of Open Standards apply.
I always thought the Americans loved bureaucracy and redundancy. Police, FBI, US Marshall's, NSA, Homeland Security, CIA (and probably others that haven't yet been depicted in a major motion picture); I am sure their money is well spent funding all these agencies; especially those with overlapping jurisdictions.
here's something else to consider: none of these FOSS licenses prevent you from leeching. There's not a clause in the GPL that says you have to contribute in any way in order to make use of the software, or even to distribute the software. The developers who license their software under the GPL have knowingly given the entire world full permission to leech off of their work.
One could even argue that the more their software is used, even if the majority of use is "leeching", if would still benefit since increased usage would potentially mean more people that would consider active participation. Even if 99% of all new users are leeching that would still mean 1% that contribute; the larger the total number of users the larger the participating group would be. Not to mention that no one would consider contributing to a project that none at all wanted to use.
Help! Help! I am being repressed!
I agree. SAP, like most, probably evaluate Open Source products and try to see how they can use it to advance their own bottom line. I would argue that if they decide that one or more products can be used in a way that they find helpful or profitable; they will use them; if they don't; they will not. Not everything is either or "friend or foe". Outside a few core groups most people do not engage these matters as some sort of ideological competition; but rather try to find real world value in a product or service that they can benefit from. In this matter SAP is no different. And I would argue that trying to artificially create or impose "Us Vs Them" dichotomies is, as you say, oversimplification; and to some extend counter-productive as some of us find that sort of simplistic argument distasteful.
Hm. I am logged in and I didn't select "Post Anonymously"; but it still lists my post as " by Anonymous Coward" :/
And to make sure the laws are reasonably and fairly enforced, we'll get the Human Rights Council to oversee that (you know the one that has China and Cuba on it--such fine upstanding respecters of human rights).
And USA and Britain for that matter; another two Nations with a far from flawless Human Rights record. Though if we really wanted point out the irony of the Human Rights Council not only are China, Cuba, USA and the UK on it but it also include; Saudi Arabia, Russian Federation, Egypt and Pakistan (and others who I don't really know anything about but I am sure have their share of closeted skeletons).
Furthermore, the stem cells implanted into the patient will not be genetically modified, unlike a lot of the stem cells currently derived from adult tissues.
I am usually all in favour of scientific advancement, and I believe that stem cells and bioengineering have a lot of offer that could improve the human condition. HOWEVER; seeing as I have played Prototype non-stop since it was released I am now renouncing science (genetic engineering especially) and moving to a secret underground bunker in the Himalayas.
Why does this work in Sweden, or rather, why not in the rest of Europe?
You have the same privacy-eliminating laws all over the EU, mainly because they are largely EU mandated, yet in most other countries, right-wing parties that call for even tighter monitoring and regulation won across the board.
These issues don't really get much attention by Norwegian media; though so far the Norwegian government has pretty much pushed any outside pressure to reform our laws to the side. Getting access to Norwegian IP logs only given to law enforcement if they can adequately prove that they have a case to do so; and they can only access the part they specifically request. Despite some measure of pressure from the EU and others; Norwegian copyright law remains fairly liberal. You can make copies for your friends, but only up to some arbitrary number; and the downloading of pirated software, movies, music, is not per definition a criminal; unless you are specifically making money by making such material available.
One of the leaders of Kripos (Special Investigators with the Police) stated in the media, in response to pressure from the copyright lobby; something to the effect that they would not now, nor in any foreseeable future, misspend their resources on any music piracy issue while there was serious crime being done. And that unless there was significant political pressure this would not change.
The only party I know has an eye for reforming the copyright laws is the Norwegian Left Party and they want to make them even more liberal. So I guess these things kinda make it hard for the Piracy Party to get a proper foothold in Norway. Then again we are not fully a member of the EU; we just obey their laws more literally and consistently than many of the member states; else some of the other European nations might get sad and not want to trade with us.
If they go out of US, to who M$ will complain to prevent unlicensed use of Windows?
It's SO unfair that people pirate our products! We made those products and we deserve our cut damn it!
It's SO unfair that we have to like obey our nations tax laws!
Yeah lets go after those that break the laws we like and lets use all our lawyers and accountants to avoid the laws we don't like.
Or, how will US government (e.g. its military) view the idea of using a 'foreign' OS?
Well I know that the Norwegian Military (particularly parts of the intelligence operations) decided that they would no longer trust or use Windows some years back.
The Judge scheduled a June 8th telephone conference regarding the RIAA's motion to preclude objections.
The in limine motions are scheduled for June 10th.
Plaintiffs' motion to preclude defendants from making objections at trial
Plaintiffs' opposition to defendant's motion to suppress MediaSentry materials
Notice of hearing scheduling plaintiffs' motion to preclude objections
Defendants' response to plaintiffs' motion to foreclose fair use defense
Defendant's response to plaintiffs' motion to preclude reference to cases
Defendant's response to plaintiffs' motion to exclude defendant's expert witness's testimony
So the idea is to make some kind of legal argument limiting the capability of the defendant to defend themselves? Yeah I guess that seems fair considering they (RIAA) are like totally only doing this to defend the rights of Artists. I wonder how much further they can push these strategies upon people and the courts before a angry mob with pitchforks try to storm their office buildings (remind me to invest stock in pitchfork companies at the earliest opportunity).
The Catholic Church split and became the Church of England and the Catholic church.
Actually is was more like the protoChurch splitting into the Catholic Church the Greek Orthodox Church and some sects and orders that existed for a while there after before either being Assimilated, Exterminated or driven to some geographical region were they were practically unreachable.
Now a bit later Lutheran Protestants appeared and split from the Catholics. And AFTER that the King of England broke with the Pope and established a new order with the Crown as a the head of the English Church.
Of course this is EXTREME SIMPLIFICATIONS of complex historical processes and events. But the splitting of the English Church from the Catholic faith did not happen in a vacuum.
But instead of focussing on past insults and wrongs, I believe our focus should be on the future. We should realize that what divides us pales in comparison to what we have in common and that division and exclusion are harmful to us all.
I guess I agree with him in this. There are people on all sides of these issues that are far too concerned about being right and preaching their "Right Way". Name calling and other childish behaviour is counter-productive. What is needed is good debate on the issues and without ad hominem attacks that only detract and distract.
That being said my feeling is that those that idolizes various ways of distributing, publishing or retail of software is becoming increasingly marginalized; which is a good thing. Dogmatic subscription to an ideology is always a powerful activator for the Us Vs Them instinct that seems to run through so much of our public debates and arguments.
you people will never get the point cause you can't get into your heads that not everyone knows as much about computing as you do nor do they spend all their time playing with new OSes and apps.
I don't know much about computing at all really, though I guess I am geekier in my interests than most. The point I was trying to make was that the knowledge and experience required to create a basic system that can provide elementary functions (browsing, email, calendar and a wordprocessor) is proliferating an an increasing rate. Further more the general computer literacy seems to be increasing (at least in my country); that doesn't mean that people code or do any complex system maintenance tasks but it does meant that someone can pickup a netbook and rapidly get how the system works EVEN if it is marginally different from Windows.
Should perhaps been restated that the discussion held further up this thread was about Netbooks first and foremost and not desktop computers. My thesis would be that most people looking for a netbook is looking for one for a reason; and that reason being that they need a portable device capable of preforming the tasks I just mentioned. Now given the simplicity of the Netbook systems I have seen (two different Linux variations and a Windows version) I have a hard time imagining that the amount of people that would be absolutely totally stumped by the Linux versions is in anyway significant (of course again my personal experience is limited to my country and region).
I could use my father or stepmother as examples neither have any great experience with computer and don't use them with any frequency, but they figured out on their own how to do what they needed be it Windows 98, XP or more recently Vista. And, in my view, the differences between those three versions of Windows are far greater than any difference between Netbook systems (that I have seen so far).