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2201

General Software Discussion / Re: What the hell is OpenCandy?

« Last post by app103 on April 02, 2011, 03:15 PM »

Got a reply back from FSF:

>    Would placing the proprietary closed source OCSetupHlp.dll file on
>    a user's system without their permission and without offering the
>    source, solely for the purpose of displaying ads during the install
>    process and providing the developer with install/uninstall tracking
>    statistics later on be considered a violation of the GPL when it is
>    done by the installer of a GPL licensed application?

The way you describe the issue, the proprietary DLL is part of the
installer, not of the GPLed software. According to the GPL FAQ, "The
installer and the files it installs are separate works. As a result, the
terms of the GPL do not apply to the installation software."
(http://www.gnu.org/l...l#GPLCompatInstaller)

While it is unfortunate that some GPLed software would require a
proprietary installer, it is not a GPL violation.

It makes sense to me now.

And another way to look at it could be this:

If you treat the application and its installer as 2 separate applications, while the software installed may not be adware or spyware, the OC powered installer is.

2202

General Software Discussion / Re: What the hell is OpenCandy?

« Last post by app103 on March 31, 2011, 10:43 PM »

But the dll isn't *left* on your machine.  It is to facilitate the installation.  That's the same as saying that NSIS is installed on your machine just because certain supporting dlls have to be extracted to be loaded into memory.  That is *not* installation.  It assists in installation of the requested software.

-wraith808 (March 31, 2011, 10:17 PM)

But NSIS is open source and you can obtain the code for it and whatever it needs to use to assist installing an application.

OpenCandy...no.

I have decided to contact the FSF to see what they have to say about the matter. I'll let you know when I receive a reply.

2203

General Software Discussion / Re: What the hell is OpenCandy?

« Last post by app103 on March 31, 2011, 09:20 PM »

But it doesn't *install* the dll.

-wraith808 (March 31, 2011, 08:55 PM)

What is the purpose of an installer? I thought the purpose was to install software. And software consists of many types of files, not just .exe executables.

If one of my applications comes with xml and wav files, I am not going to argue that they are not "installed" with my application...they are.

The big issue with the OC .dll being installed along with open source software is that it is compiled code in which the source is not available.

when you get an installer for OSS software, is it required to give you the source to the installer?

No, I wouldn't expect the source for the installer maker, but I would expect to be supplied with the information of what was used and with the scripts used to make the installer if they were not included and I asked for them.

I should be able to compile an exact copy and when you toss in the OC dll, that isn't possible. I should also be able to change any of it any way I see fit and redistribute those changes, and if I am not allowed to change and redistribute the OC dll, then it has no business being placed on my system, without that right, along with an open source application.

2204

General Software Discussion / Re: What the hell is OpenCandy?

« Last post by app103 on March 31, 2011, 07:39 PM »

This is the problem, and will continue to be the problem:

When I install your software there has to be a certain amount of trust in you for me to be able to do that. And now I have to have trust in OC as well.

While I may trust you, I don't trust OC at all and I never will, regardless of how much you trust them.

• The same guys responsible for the spyware in DivX start a company to pack offers into the installers of other people's software.
• They assigned each computer a unique tracking ID, even if they declined the offer, building profiles of people and what they installed, what they declined, and all kinds of other information tied to that unique ID...till they got caught.
• They used registry entries like permanent tracking cookies, even if you declined the offer...until they got caught.
• When they get caught doing something, they say it was a bug, the developer's fault, etc. never taking the blame for their shenanigans.
• They said they don't believe in opt-out and would never change from opt-in to opt-out...until they did, and they blamed developer greed for them adding that option.

What are they going to do next? What will they get caught doing that they will have to change? What will they blame next on the developers that put OC in their installers?

When you ask me to trust them while installing your software, you are asking too much and I won't do it.

They are also peddling their stuff to open source developers, to include a closed source .dll on machines that install the open source software. When I install open source software, I expect to be able to have access to the source, all of it, for everything it installs on my machine. If the source for the OC dll is not included, it has no business being put on my machine during the install of a piece of open source software.

2205

General Software Discussion / Re: Never again will I purchase that shampoo! (or will I?)

« Last post by app103 on March 31, 2011, 02:17 PM »

-being a woman you of all should understand that this is not about making sense but about having the new model or not having it 

-Curt (March 31, 2011, 02:12 PM)

I don't understand it either. ...and I am prone to packratting behaviors that make little sense to anyone but myself. (but my packratting is limited to hoarding things that are free)

2206

General Software Discussion / Re: What the hell is OpenCandy?

« Last post by app103 on March 31, 2011, 01:29 PM »

So opt out of *what* is my question that still remains unanswered?

-wraith808 (March 31, 2011, 12:21 PM)

3rd party tracking.

2207

Living Room / Re: The "Cloud" Goes Up in Smoke

« Last post by app103 on March 31, 2011, 10:34 AM »

This story will become increasingly familiar as the new internet boomlets burst. First and last, it's about making money, not about providing service. The quaint idea of working capital is never given a thought.

-zridling (March 31, 2011, 10:28 AM)

And this is why I can't embrace storage in the cloud. It's not reliable.

2208

General Software Discussion / Re: Graphical depiction of web browser popularity from 1995-2011

« Last post by app103 on March 29, 2011, 06:41 AM »

Back in 1999, Crystalport was an awesome browser. This didn't just have tabs, it also had sub-tabs...and lots of other nifty features, some of which you still don't see in other browsers today, such as AppCapture.

Multi-page management utilities include the ability to simultaneously surf multiple sites with a tabbed interface, view multiple sites in a re-sizeable multi-pane tile mode, including drag and drop links between panes; bookmark groups of websites for simultaneous opening; email groups of sites with one click...either as a tab group file (for other CrystalPort users) or as a list of links (for non-CrystalPort users).

AppCapture brings virtually any program into a browser tab or the sidebar. Users can simultaneously view web, Word, and email documents...even spreadsheets; they can cut, paste, drag and drop links between documents with unparalled ease.

CrystalPort also allows control over pop-up advertisement windows, and includes password-protected online bookmarks, a full skin-supported interface (with a built-in NeoPlanet skin converter), over 30 categorically organized search engines accessible directly from the toolbar, the ability to add custom search engines from any website, real-time language translations, and plug-in support for custom developed applications that need to access web controls.

Newest features include: Intelligent Auto Form-Fill, page exclusion, restrictable access, and encrypted storage of information. Profiles can be windows or browser based, allowing multiple users and browser configurations to quickly switch from one custom configuration to another. Each profile can be password-protected, storing all browser settings and preferences selected by that user. The Advanced Search Bar is enhanced with Google functionality, including keyword highlighting, search site, backward links, and page levels through Google.com.

-http://download.cnet.com/CrystalPort-AppCapture/3000-2379_4-13630.html?tag=rb_content;main

You wouldn't want to use it today, though, for a bunch of reasons. Off the top of my head:

• No protection from driveby ActiveX malware installers.
• Written in VB5.
• Company gone with the wind, no support, no further development, some cloud based features (like online bookmark storage) no longer work.

2209

General Software Discussion / Re: Graphical depiction of web browser popularity from 1995-2011

« Last post by app103 on March 29, 2011, 04:30 AM »

I don't know how many of you remember neoplanet. It was based on netscape's code, still alive but not sure how many people use it.  

-mahesh2k (March 28, 2011, 11:23 PM)

Nope...it was (and still is) Trident based (IE). I also remember it having a unique user ID for tracking purposes, it collecting info about your browsing habits and selling it to 3rd parties, and also using that info to deliver targeted ads.

And while the browser might still be available at that url, I don't think any development has been done on it in about 10 years. (does it even have a popup blocker?)

The NeoPlanet Browser is less than 4.0 MB and is fully compatible with Windows 95/98/NT and IE4.0. The NeoPlanet Browser is also compatible with Windows 2000/ME and IE 5.5+.

-http://www.neoplanet.com/site/products/browser2/browser_fact_sheet.html

There is no mention of XP/Vista/Win7.

2210

Living Room / Re: My Movie Fantasy

« Last post by app103 on March 23, 2011, 11:00 AM »

I was waiting for someone to mention Gremlins! They're still scaled critters though.

Black Sheep? Never heard of it...

An experiment in genetic engineering turns harmless sheep into blood-thirsty killers that terrorize a sprawling New Zealand farm.

That. Sounds. AWESOME~!

I have got to get my hands on that!

-Renegade (March 23, 2011, 04:55 AM)

Black Sheep is hilarious...takes place on a sunny day, no rain, and the little mutant from the broken jar is awesomely cute in an "ewwww" sort of way.

P.S. Black Sheep is a trip. Right up there with The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and Monty Python's "Killer Rabbit."

-40hz (March 23, 2011, 09:24 AM)

And Zombies of Mass Destruction. 

2211

Living Room / Re: App Store, Appstore, Tomato, Tomato, Potato, Potato

« Last post by app103 on March 22, 2011, 11:12 PM »

You don't know how bad I want a store of my own...

And you know what I would call it?

App's Store, of course! 

2212

Living Room / Re: My Movie Fantasy

« Last post by app103 on March 22, 2011, 11:02 PM »

cute, cuddly critters that everyone in the audience loves, but the critters are out to do bad things.

-Renegade (March 22, 2011, 04:02 AM)

 

2213

Living Room / Re: Have you developed a Facebook app or do you have a Facebook fan page?

« Last post by app103 on March 22, 2011, 09:21 PM »

Well, this isn't *my* company, but the (small, cool) company I work for.

http://www.facebook....m/PlanetsideSoftware

(and I manage the FB page, just getting into it really though so lots to learn and do)

- Oshyan

-JavaJones (March 22, 2011, 08:23 PM)

I'd be happy to add it (and you got another like from my personal account, as well). I need to download the 2.2 free version and give it a try. Hopefully it won't confuse me as much as Bryce did. 

2214

Living Room / Have you developed a Facebook app or do you have a Facebook fan page?

« Last post by app103 on March 22, 2011, 07:28 PM »

DonationCoder has a Facebook fan page and I'd like to start adding some of our members' fan pages to our collection of favorite pages to help you gain more exposure. It's the least we can do for you on Facebook.

So, if you have a page for one of your apps (or websites) that you would like to share with the community, both here and on Facebook, please post a link here and let us know about it.

2215

Living Room / Re: Fascinating story about the consequences of sharing your art in the Internet age

« Last post by app103 on March 22, 2011, 04:05 AM »

Didn't the traditional way to prove copyright used to be to send it to yourself in a registered letter that could be read into evidence in a court?

-Renegade (March 22, 2011, 03:33 AM)

Yes. It was called the "poor man's copyright."

Unfortunately, it seldom held up in court. Largely because a registered letter sent to yourself is far too easy to tamper with for it to be automatically accepted as untainted evidence.

I don't know how it works elsewhere. But in the US, most courts won't recognize it as proof of anything. If you're going to go that route, it would be far more effective to provide your attorney with a copy of your work for filing, and get a receipt from him/her as to the date it was received. But that will cost you far more than obtaining a registration would.

 

-40hz (March 22, 2011, 03:43 AM)

It can be used in some rare cases as a valid proof of date of conception for an idea, provided every page in the letter was notarized prior to mailing, and the envelope remains unopened before presenting it to the court.

It is never used to prove copyright. Only can be used to establish a date when the date itself is in dispute between 2 parties that are placing a claim on something and no other means of establishing date can be found.

Example: you come up with an idea for a product and draw up a detailed diagram and description. You take it to be notarized and then mail it to yourself by registered mail and do not open the envelope after receiving it. You then consult with someone about this idea and they steal it, producing exactly what you described to them, and claim it as their own. Neither of you have a patent on the product. You decide t take them to court. It's your word against theirs and no means exists to help the court to determine what actually happened. They may accept your registered letter's postmark and notary stamps to establish a date, and unless the other party can prove they had an earlier date than you, you may win the case....maybe.

But like I said, it is rarely ever used or accepted, mostly because of non-disclosure and non-compete agreements are usually used before telling someone else you idea, which is dated and signed by both parties (actually much more credible than a notarized description sent to yourself by registered mail).

2216

Living Room / Re: Fascinating story about the consequences of sharing your art in the Internet age

« Last post by app103 on March 21, 2011, 03:05 PM »

mwb1100: I think you have just brought a very interesting addition to this conversation!
From what I understand from her flickr page, that girl isn't even a photographer, her intent sure was not to share her work with the world.

What if your "cool" facebook profile picture got used in a publicity campaign all over the world? There are no rules against it, right? (Now that I think about it, the facebook profile picture doesn't even have a copyright notice anywhere).

ps: sorry for going slightly offtopic, but I find this also very interesting

-jgpaiva (March 21, 2011, 02:29 PM)

Anyone that comes along and just snatches your profile pic and uses it without permission would be violating your rights.

But...

If you read the facebook agreement that you clicked "OK" on when you signed up, which has been changed a million times since, and by your continuing to use the service you are agreeing to the changes, Facebook itself has a certain amount of rights to the images you upload...the agreement essentially gives them the right to do whatever they want with them. What if they want to start a stock photo site with them and sell them for commercial use? There is nothing in the agreement that would forbid them from doing so. They would be within their rights...and you already gave them permission to do it.

   1. For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos ("IP content"), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook ("IP License"). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.

2217

Living Room / Re: Fascinating story about the consequences of sharing your art in the Internet age

« Last post by app103 on March 20, 2011, 10:47 PM »

Ignoring the idea of copyright and not being compensated by people that are making money off his work for a minute, there is another issue that exists here...that's HIS face...not a doodle, a paint splotch, a pic of a flower or a dog...his face.

How would you feel if one of the photos of yourself or your family, that you uploaded somewhere to share with friends and family, suddenly ended up everywhere...printed on t-shirts, skateboards, book covers, magazines, etc. and you have no control over the context in which it is used? How about if someone was using your face on a dating site profile, claiming it is a pic of themselves? How about using it in some sort of context you would object to on moral grounds? If you are pro-choice, a photo of your baby being used in anti-abortion propaganda? How about your face appearing in an ad for a Herpes medication, in a way that would imply you have Herpes?

How would this make you feel?

2218

Living Room / Re: Ever wondered what happens to all the old hardware when you move office

« Last post by app103 on March 20, 2011, 08:05 PM »

This pic reminded me of some place I used to work, while I still worked there:



Back in the early 90's I worked for a courier company that rented a few rooms in what was the oldest building at Newark Airport. This is an historical landmark that contained the very first control tower in North America.

When I worked there, it had seen better days. Most of the building was abandoned. Only airport security in the front, on the 2nd floor, and my office in the back on the ground floor. It was kind of creepy and cool to work there.

On the first day we were there, there was a bunch of us that showed up to set up and clean the space we would be using. It was full of ancient abandoned office junk.  The room across from our 2 room office was nicknamed "The Museum" and contained anything and everything we decided wasn't useful or in good enough condition for us to use in our office. It was already full of junk, and we pushed twice as much junk in there when we were cleaning up our space.

I used to love to go exploring in the building when I had no work to do. The floor out in the main section had a tile mosaic with the names of a whole bunch of airlines that don't exist any more. I once went all the way to the opposite wing, to the front corner of the building and discovered an office that had belonged to another courier company 20 years earlier. I still have the hand-made rate book I found inside one of the desks...it looked pretty much like ours, but the listings were about 1/3 the price.  

No computer equipment in there though (not even in our office)...but it seemed like there was the entire history of staplers to be found....and I think my supervisor and I may have killed off most of them trying to staple together rate books.  

Eventually they decided that they wouldn't rent out office space in the building any more, and a huge project was undertaken to move the building to another location and restore it, after they decided to lengthen the runway behind it.

This is what the building looked like ages ago:



This is where my office was:



And this is what it looks like today:



And the inside restored:




And these pages have photos and some details of the move:

http://www.ettc.net/...s/details.cfm?ID=785
http://science.howst...-building-moved4.htm
http://www.achp.gov/news-faa-award.html
http://www.pbworld.c...estoration_59746.asp

2219

Living Room / Re: KewlAid.net - My Deepening Hatred for Fanboys

« Last post by app103 on March 19, 2011, 11:46 AM »

I wonder where he makes the step from "OS suited for professionals" to "MacOS/Apple"?

-housetier (March 19, 2011, 11:29 AM)

Sounds like he might be an "arteeeeest"...one of those people that thinks Adobe only makes software that runs on Mac and doesn't make any that runs on Windows, because it's impossible to make anything for Windows that's any better than MS Paint.

2220

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: UbiSoft: Free Games

« Last post by app103 on March 17, 2011, 11:52 PM »

Those prices seem to be regional...not available in the US.

2221

Living Room / Video of 6 main Japanese TV channels, as the quake hits

« Last post by app103 on March 17, 2011, 04:22 PM »

Pay special attention to the top center station. Cody makes his appearance, disguised in a wig. 

http://www.boingboin...-of-6-main-japa.html

2222

Living Room / Re: Dumbed Down Language Observation

« Last post by app103 on March 17, 2011, 03:08 AM »

I never heard anyone use this expression until the theme song from a TV sitcom called Malcolm in the Middle, performed by a band called They Might Be Giants.

I think it's meant to sound childish, and probably intentionally sarcastically so, when used by adults. Probably right up there with your wife telling you "ok, Daddy" with a sarcastic tone when you order her to do something, rather than asking her.

Or like Daffy Duck saying "Yes, my love" (which really irritates me when my husband says it)

2223

General Software Discussion / Re: [PREDICTION] You Will Eat a Tablet in the Next Few Years

« Last post by app103 on March 15, 2011, 03:59 AM »

If they are anything like the current models, they will have to force those tabs of LSD on me first and then sell me one while I am under the influence. 

-app103 (March 15, 2011, 03:10 AM)

Now, this made me ponder a bit...

Do you reckon Apple users have all been drugged with Scopolamine^w? That'd kinda explain a few things.

-f0dder (March 15, 2011, 03:39 AM)

Ever notice how an Apple store looks more clean & clinical than most hospitals? I figured it was because they were performing lobotomies.

2224

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2009 / Re: Looking for Suggestions for Name of New Blog that Will be Abandoned

« Last post by app103 on March 15, 2011, 03:25 AM »

Are premium themes just themes that allow for css?

-Paul Keith (March 14, 2011, 09:20 PM)

All themes I have seen, including the crappiest free ones,  use CSS and allow you to use your own CSS.

2225

General Software Discussion / Re: [PREDICTION] You Will Eat a Tablet in the Next Few Years

« Last post by app103 on March 15, 2011, 03:10 AM »

Not likely to happen here, unless someone decides to produce one that's a quadcore with at least 2G ram, runs windows, and has a DVD burner, usb ports, a keyboard and a mouse, and works with my dsl...for under $200.

If they are anything like the current models, they will have to force those tabs of LSD on me first and then sell me one while I am under the influence.