All I ever see when it comes to digital copyright is people like us whining about any proposals coming up in different places of the world, saying "that won't work because...", or "what about fair use", etc. etc. I know I myself have been whining as well.
But, I'd much prefer to read something about proposals as to what "copyright laws done right" should look like. I have hardly seen anything in that direction. Maybe the EFF or other sources on the web have such proposals? Maybe someone can give us a link?
We know there is a need to refine the laws to include current technical developments. But, I mean, I'd be much happier if us Slashdotters would, instead of criticizing government's law proposals, instead constructively discuss some better copyright law ideas.
(on the other hand, this is Slashdot...;-))
Any ideas where to start? Post some articles, people!
Why are all you people so opposed to this? Hey, if you talk bullshit about someone in public, you'll have to let them get their chance to reply. Otherwise you might be committing slander. This stuff has been, if you rtfa, standard practice for all 'legacy' media for a long time. And why not? If I call you an asshole, isn't it your right to defend yourself? If I started the argument, then I should be the one allowing you to defend yourself.
What the hell? Who comes up with this shit. If someone writes nasty things about you on their blog you write nasty things about them on your blog... or is this just an American concept?
If someone writes nasty shit about you, and you don't have access to their or another public forum to defend yourself, you're pretty much screwed because you do not have a possibility to fight back. In that case, such a law is your chance to enjoy equal rights, because even if that someone is able to speak a lot louder than you (and abuses that ability against you), you still get a chance to make yourself heard.
So what if I say something bad about someone in public, must I then allow them to speakerphone in and explain it from their perspective to my friends?
Why is there any more potential for abuse than right now? I mean, provided it is on topic for slashdot, I could go ahead and let slashdotters blast your server and your bank account back to the stone age right now... this law doesn't increase the potential for abuse. First, as others have stated, you can choose to only link to the response by Company X. And second, if your rant was so exciting that Company X would actually bother to get you slashdotted, and slashdotters even decide it's interesting enough for them to slashdot you, your server is probably dead already from when you posted your original rant.
Which is irrelevant, of course, because Media, Inc. would never dream of inconveniencing its masters with such a film. It would never get made because the sheep would bleat too loudly. The American public, informed or not, would likely avoid such a movie; its prospects for profit would be small; and Hollywood would not back that horse.
And that is, in some way, the only difference between the US since 9/11 and this Egyptian case -- the American Media/public is not censored by the government, but instead deliberately decides to censor itself (as could be seen by the relative lack of criticism/questioning regarding many events since and including 9/11).
It's good to know you live in a country that promotes Free Speech, but it's no use if too many people avoid making use of it.
I don't find it surprising either that SCO wants IBM to settle, instead of going to court and having to present any proof themselves. It seems to show that SCO does not have any proof -- just as we all thought...
By midnight on Friday the 13th... MUAAHAHAHAHAHAARRRRR
If IBM doesn't comply, they'll probably send Jason.
Re:Heise did a public test about them one years ag
on
AAC Put To The Test
·
· Score: 4, Informative
The complete results can be found in issue 19/2002 of Heise's offline magazine C't. Along with the online public test, some 'experts' (such as some music producers, hobby listeners, a singer, and a young student and choir singer) were consulted.
In the online public test, the 64 kBit/s comparison yielded
Ogg
MP3Pro
WMA (WMA9 Beta)
AAC
RealAudio
MP3
The parent's results were the ones for 128 kBit/s. The eight experts compared the codecs on 160 kBit/s as well, with much more varying results (not much of a surprise). But on average, the results were
Ogg
AAC
WMA
Real
MP3
MP3Pro (sic)
As I said, those were an average, with the individual results of the eight experts strongly deviating. Ogg was placed once 1st, once 2nd, twice 3rd and 4th, and once 5th and 7th. (One had actually placed the plain wave reference 5th...)
Interestingly enough, the original Soundex was based on English language only. So when feeding it foreign names, it will obviously match names from different languages that in reality are far from sounding alike. Admittedly, their algorithms are merely based on Soundex and maybe a bit better.
But to me, finding terrorists by checking their names against no-fly lists sounds just about as useful as checking IP packets for an Evil bit, doesn't it?
There was this article on freshmeat a while ago called The Antidesktop which discusses a setup of ratpoison combined with good old screen. A rather radical, but interesting approach.
Oh, and actually that old CompSci course web page is still up, amazing:-) Down at the bottom of the page, you'll find a link to the GJ API Documentation (from back then). The GJ people had the Stack, Vector, Hashtable, and Dictionary classes rewritten with generics.
We used the Pizza generic Java extension about three years ago, in my second-semester CompSci class (The Professor was somehow affiliated to the Pizza project). I must say that it's really something Java was lacking, and their spec is very clean and statically typesafe (important feature of Java imo). Besides, compared to C++, it's free of unnecessary clutter (C++ templates are just a bit too complex and powerful). But using Vector instead of a Vector of Objects is a pretty neat feature that I could get used to. Back then we were told that the Generic extension was on track for Java 1.3. I really wonder what kept them -- it should've been there back then, and it would've ended up to be more of a success, I suppose.
The article really states nothing more than "an Open Source office package." This article seems to suggest OpenOffice, but any other articles I have read do not give a definitive answer. I would expect them to use OpenOffice, though... there are not really any alternatives, especially when it comes to dealing with MS Office documents, are there?
Microsoft has lowered its price offer by 15 per cent in order to prevent the city switching to Linux
That would be a bit less then. So I still wonder where that 90% is coming from, and if that's a 90% discount on the complete price... more likely, some components were reduced by 90% so that the overall discount is closer to 15%.
I don't know where that number actually comes from, it's nowhere in the article. But assuming it is true, and considering Munich has decided that the Linux-based solution is still the cheaper offer, I think it tells you something about what a Microsoft operating environment really costs you, in comparison to a Linux-based one. And it might just be a hint that those TCO-for-MS-is-better-than-for-OSS studies could be far from reality.
Hmm yes, but wouldn't it be cool to run that thing as an applet? As in linux->mozilla->java plugin->jazilla applet->web page w/jazilla applet pointed to itself->........
If it reacts with a gas in the air, it's probably oxygen. No vacuum necessary... Just open it in a chamber full of N2. Completely non-reactive and very cheap.
Why think in such a complicated way? All this means is you only have 48 hours to copy it. What's the deal?:-)
Slashdot Mirror
...thinking, "I 0wnZ j00!"
Ouch. I just read "Yes, let the Morons ..."
Need... some... sleep...
All I ever see when it comes to digital copyright is people like us whining about any proposals coming up in different places of the world, saying "that won't work because...", or "what about fair use", etc. etc. I know I myself have been whining as well.
;-))
But, I'd much prefer to read something about proposals as to what "copyright laws done right" should look like. I have hardly seen anything in that direction. Maybe the EFF or other sources on the web have such proposals? Maybe someone can give us a link?
We know there is a need to refine the laws to include current technical developments. But, I mean, I'd be much happier if us Slashdotters would, instead of criticizing government's law proposals, instead constructively discuss some better copyright law ideas.
(on the other hand, this is Slashdot...
Any ideas where to start? Post some articles, people!
(at the risk of being trolled...)
Why are all you people so opposed to this? Hey, if you talk bullshit about someone in public, you'll have to let them get their chance to reply. Otherwise you might be committing slander. This stuff has been, if you rtfa, standard practice for all 'legacy' media for a long time. And why not? If I call you an asshole, isn't it your right to defend yourself? If I started the argument, then I should be the one allowing you to defend yourself.
If someone writes nasty shit about you, and you don't have access to their or another public forum to defend yourself, you're pretty much screwed because you do not have a possibility to fight back. In that case, such a law is your chance to enjoy equal rights, because even if that someone is able to speak a lot louder than you (and abuses that ability against you), you still get a chance to make yourself heard.
Yes. Why not?
Why is there any more potential for abuse than right now? I mean, provided it is on topic for slashdot, I could go ahead and let slashdotters blast your server and your bank account back to the stone age right now... this law doesn't increase the potential for abuse. First, as others have stated, you can choose to only link to the response by Company X. And second, if your rant was so exciting that Company X would actually bother to get you slashdotted, and slashdotters even decide it's interesting enough for them to slashdot you, your server is probably dead already from when you posted your original rant.
And that is, in some way, the only difference between the US since 9/11 and this Egyptian case -- the American Media/public is not censored by the government, but instead deliberately decides to censor itself (as could be seen by the relative lack of criticism/questioning regarding many events since and including 9/11).
It's good to know you live in a country that promotes Free Speech, but it's no use if too many people avoid making use of it.
I don't find it surprising either that SCO wants IBM to settle, instead of going to court and having to present any proof themselves. It seems to show that SCO does not have any proof -- just as we all thought...
Yep, quite scary actually!
If IBM doesn't comply, they'll probably send Jason.
The complete results can be found in issue 19/2002 of Heise's offline magazine C't. Along with the online public test, some 'experts' (such as some music producers, hobby listeners, a singer, and a young student and choir singer) were consulted.
In the online public test, the 64 kBit/s comparison yielded
The parent's results were the ones for 128 kBit/s. The eight experts compared the codecs on 160 kBit/s as well, with much more varying results (not much of a surprise). But on average, the results were
As I said, those were an average, with the individual results of the eight experts strongly deviating. Ogg was placed once 1st, once 2nd, twice 3rd and 4th, and once 5th and 7th. (One had actually placed the plain wave reference 5th...)
What, you mean your patch got accepted?!
Interestingly enough, the original Soundex was based on English language only. So when feeding it foreign names, it will obviously match names from different languages that in reality are far from sounding alike. Admittedly, their algorithms are merely based on Soundex and maybe a bit better.
But to me, finding terrorists by checking their names against no-fly lists sounds just about as useful as checking IP packets for an Evil bit, doesn't it?
There was this article on freshmeat a while ago called The Antidesktop which discusses a setup of ratpoison combined with good old screen. A rather radical, but interesting approach.
She said "Mr. (copy)Right"... unfortunately, most of us are more of a "Mr. (copy)Left". Damn. :)
Kinda like a competition: "...uhhhnnnnnnngggg... First Post! Yessss!"
Oh, and actually that old CompSci course web page is still up, amazing :-) Down at the bottom of the page, you'll find a link to the GJ API Documentation (from back then). The GJ people had the Stack, Vector, Hashtable, and Dictionary classes rewritten with generics.
We used the Pizza generic Java extension about three years ago, in my second-semester CompSci class (The Professor was somehow affiliated to the Pizza project). I must say that it's really something Java was lacking, and their spec is very clean and statically typesafe (important feature of Java imo). Besides, compared to C++, it's free of unnecessary clutter (C++ templates are just a bit too complex and powerful). But using Vector instead of a Vector of Objects is a pretty neat feature that I could get used to. Back then we were told that the Generic extension was on track for Java 1.3. I really wonder what kept them -- it should've been there back then, and it would've ended up to be more of a success, I suppose.
Nah, that's just glitches in your impression.
The article really states nothing more than "an Open Source office package." This article seems to suggest OpenOffice, but any other articles I have read do not give a definitive answer. I would expect them to use OpenOffice, though... there are not really any alternatives, especially when it comes to dealing with MS Office documents, are there?
Actually, This article says:
That would be a bit less then. So I still wonder where that 90% is coming from, and if that's a 90% discount on the complete price... more likely, some components were reduced by 90% so that the overall discount is closer to 15%.
I don't know where that number actually comes from, it's nowhere in the article. But assuming it is true, and considering Munich has decided that the Linux-based solution is still the cheaper offer, I think it tells you something about what a Microsoft operating environment really costs you, in comparison to a Linux-based one. And it might just be a hint that those TCO-for-MS-is-better-than-for-OSS studies could be far from reality.
The article behind that link is a pretty much outstanding one - very interesting reading.
On a side note, I nearly fell from my chair laughing when I read this very true sentence:
Hmm yes, but wouldn't it be cool to run that thing as an applet? As in linux->mozilla->java plugin->jazilla applet->web page w/jazilla applet pointed to itself->........
Oh, cool! We'll finally get the answer to the long GNOME-or-KDE religious battle... just wait and see who gets sued by SCO first...
;->
Why think in such a complicated way? All this means is you only have 48 hours to copy it. What's the deal? :-)
On a side note, there has also been a second RFC (RFC 3534) published regarding the application/ogg media type.