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4376

Living Room / Re: Apple Apologise to Samsung - yeah right!

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 09:57 PM »

Corporations like Apple would rather pay the nominal multi-million dollar fine rather than admit any theft or wrongdoing. They don't see their crimes as wrong, ever.

-zridling (November 09, 2012, 09:38 PM)

+1

Actually, I totally disagree with this 'freedom' that judges have in many cases to come up with strange and contrary to the norm punishment, especially when it takes away freedom of others by forcing them to do arbitrary things that are not enforced by precedent.  It seems cool in cases- but what it does in practice is make their courtrooms into their little fiefdoms where they can do anything they want.  Fine them, impose sanctions... fine.  But to force someone to make a statement that you know they don't believe?

Believe me, if you'd been on the other side, like I have, and know that you have some sanction imposed on you that you have no way out of because there's no precedent in law and thus no way to appeal (because judges won't turn over without precedent in appeal, at least for the little people), it's very frustrating and disheartening.

/rant

-wraith808 (November 09, 2012, 08:46 PM)

You're preaching to the choir.

About 10 years ago I had a business that was perfectly in line with all the existing laws, as well as ethical/moral.

HOWEVER... It stepped on the toes of a multi-billion dollar government monopoly.

It didn't end well.

I ended up with the police at my door and taken down to the police station where the media was waiting. I led the news for 2 days ahead of the US invasion of Iraq.

It was very clear to me that I was hosed, completely and utterly. I consulted a lawyer, and he basically said the same thing - you're hosed.

They confiscated my property and locked my accounts.

They levied fines against me. More than once. Just to make sure that I got the point.

Having had things been made explicitly clear to me, I took the smart/easy way out - I took my beating and packed it in.

Nothing I did was against the law. Nothing. I just pissed off some people. That was my sin.

I lost everything I had and ended up in debt. I'd gone from having sales doubling every month and being well on the way to having more money than I'd ever know what to do with, to debt and poverty. I had to scramble to find a place to live. It was bad. Very bad. I spent the next 4 years or so working my butt off just to get out of debt.

Arbitrary execution of "legal authority"?

Been there. Have the battle scars to prove it.


Now, by the same token...

...especially when it takes away freedom of others by forcing them to do arbitrary things that are not enforced by precedent...

-wraith808 (November 09, 2012, 08:46 PM)

Regarding:

...especially when it takes away freedom of others...

-wraith808 (November 09, 2012, 08:46 PM)

Government *is* violence. Governments always take away freedoms. The only way freedoms are maintained is usually through violent overthrow.

Regarding:

...arbitrary things that are not enforced by precedent...

-wraith808 (November 09, 2012, 08:46 PM)

Precedent is a good principle, but when precedent ends up being, "We've been screwing everyone else, so because we've been violent towards others, we get to be violent towards you and screw you any way we darn well feel like," well, I don't think that appealing to a precedent of violence and oppression is ever justified.

But to force someone to make a statement that you know they don't believe?

-wraith808 (November 09, 2012, 08:46 PM)

I'm not so sure that "belief" enters into the picture for Apple. I think it's all just about what their best interests are. They may believe it or not. Dunno. Do they drink their own kool-aid?

But for the general principle - force/violence that is not in self-defense is simply wrong. Period.

Believe me, if you'd been on the other side, like I have, and know that you have some sanction imposed on you that you have no way out of because there's no precedent in law and thus no way to appeal (because judges won't turn over without precedent in appeal, at least for the little people), it's very frustrating and disheartening.

/rant

-wraith808 (November 09, 2012, 08:46 PM)

I understand all too well.

4377

General Software Discussion / Re: Sign of the times for OpenSource software?

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 08:16 PM »

I think in the end it comes down to a simple equation based on the two most limited resources people have - money and time.  Whichever one of those wins out will dictate what they gravitate to- everything else is just framing that argument.

-wraith808 (November 09, 2012, 10:32 AM)

I'd add in Stallman's position there. There are philosophical reasons to use freedom software. They're not really affected by price so much.

4378

Living Room / Re: Apple Apologise to Samsung - yeah right!

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 08:00 PM »

Apple, oh, Apple... Why don't they just spit in the judge's face? Again?

4379

Living Room / Re: Don't You Want to be "Safe"?

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 09:54 AM »

More links in the Orwellian chain. 

http://tech.slashdot...guilt-by-association
Google Patents Guilt-By-Association
""Guilt by association is defined as the attribution of guilt (without proof) to individuals because the people they associate with are guilty. It's also at the heart of U.S. Patent No. 8,306,922, which was awarded to Google on Tuesday for Detecting Content on a Social Network Using Links, the invention of three Googlers. In its patent application, Google argues that if an individual posts content to social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc. 'that is illegal (e.g., content violating copyright law, content violating penal statutes, etc.), inappropriate for minors (e.g., pornography, "R" or "NC-17" rated videos, adult content, etc.), in contravention of an end user licensing agreement (EULA), etc.', then their friends 'may be likely to post content to their profile pages related to similar topics.'"

-TaoPhoenix (November 09, 2012, 09:37 AM)

 

 

 

 

 

WTF!?!

Would you care to understate that just a bit more?

4380

General Software Discussion / Re: Sign of the times for OpenSource software?

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 09:51 AM »

I'm a bit less cynical (modern sense) about "capitalism". I see farmers as "capitalists". I do NOT see Wall Street as "capitalists". They're, well, I'll drop that there as this thread is about open source software. You already know my loathings there.

Still, I see the ability to earn and produce as a good thing, and the lack of it in some FLOSS as a problem for the people behind it. We need to eat. We need to provide for our families. That's a very real issue, and far more important than any philosophical issue. If you can't eat, you can't think. Game over.

4381

General Software Discussion / Re: Sign of the times for OpenSource software?

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 09:32 AM »

I don't think "capitalism" is the problem.

We do not live in a "capitalist" world. We live in a "corporatists" and fascist world. Big difference.

4382

General Software Discussion / Re: Sign of the times for OpenSource software?

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 09:15 AM »

What comparable commercial editor do you use? I use EditPlus.

-Renegade (November 09, 2012, 09:03 AM)

Sublime Text 2.

The topic of commercial vs. personal use is a very valid topic. When it comes to commercial use, the amount of effort that goes into doing a task is often of no concern whatsoever.

-Renegade (November 09, 2012, 09:03 AM)

OTOH, why would I want to use a non-professional software "personally" when I can use a professional software instead?

-Tuxman (November 09, 2012, 09:12 AM)

I checked out Sublime, and it seemed pretty good, but wasn't compelling enough for me to switch.

For "non-professional" software, that's a bit of a rough thing to say. A lot of FLOSS software is made by professionals. If I create some software, and GPL it, it's still "professional" software.

However, there is another sense of the word there where the software is designed for professional use.

4383

General Software Discussion / Re: Sign of the times for OpenSource software?

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 09:03 AM »

Very few people *NEED* anything more than what Open Office offers.

-Renegade (November 09, 2012, 08:52 AM)

Not "more" but "better quality". Including stability, responsiveness and editing files without scrambling their layout.

Notepad++ is stellar. I don't know of anyone that needs a text editor in the same class that is commercial.

-Renegade (November 09, 2012, 08:52 AM)

You can do quite everything with Notepad too. But would you?
Sometimes N++ just does not feel comfortable enough. (And it has annoying crash bugs in virtually every single version.)

Often the question is why use a Porche when a Volkswagen will do the same job?

-Renegade (November 09, 2012, 08:52 AM)

Which leads us to the question: Do you want to work at all or do you want to work more efficiently?

-Tuxman (November 09, 2012, 08:57 AM)

1) I'm going to give Libre Office a shot again then reply on that.

2) For Notepad++, I have no clue what you're talking about. It seems pretty good. What comparable commercial editor do you use? I use EditPlus.

3) The topic of commercial vs. personal use is a very valid topic. When it comes to commercial use, the amount of effort that goes into doing a task is often of no concern whatsoever. If it were, nobody would ever use Oracle. Human resources vs. computing resources are a very real concern. I think that the topic is pretty broad, and don't want to get into it much further though as it's a deep hole to dive down. I'll let others fight that one out. 

4384

General Software Discussion / Re: Sign of the times for OpenSource software?

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 08:52 AM »

It all boils down to "interest". Money is a STRONG interest. Philosophical motivations are also very STRONG interests, and often trump money.

The problem comes when people don't have enough basic resources, i.e. money.

Another motivation is the size of a user base. That's a strong motivator, but usually also goes along with money.

The real question is "what keeps developers' interest and keeps them involved?"

Check IIS vs. Apache numbers. Dead give away that FLOSS can win.

Complaining about Open Office (or whatever) is pretty much a wash. Very few people *NEED* anything more than what Open Office offers. Very few. That just boils down to gear lust.

I receive office documents that have a special kind of internal markup that I am forced to use MS Office for. I'm a very rare exception.

Very few people need something like Samplitude or Pro Tools. Audacity is more than enough for the vast majority of what people need.

Notepad++ is stellar. I don't know of anyone that needs a text editor in the same class that is commercial. I know I don't. (I use a commercial editor because I've used the same one for over 10 years and just don't feel like switching.)

How many more examples can we come up with? Virtually boundless.

How many examples of use cases where a commercial application worked better? Similarly boundless.

Often the question is why use a Porche when a Volkswagen will do the same job?

4385

Living Room / Re: The Pre-emptive Censor - Dotcom Loses ME.GA Domain

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 08:22 AM »

Dude has style!

I don't think he's the best mascot for freedom, but he's one of the few that we have. I wish him all the best!

4386

Easy Screencast Recorder / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - Easy Screencast Recorder - v1.12.01 - Apr 22, 2015

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 08:03 AM »

So... is the beta posted somewhere yet?  I see that ewemoa has it also?

-wraith808 (November 09, 2012, 08:01 AM)

PM mouser for the URL.

4387

Living Room / Re: Read Your Brain Waves

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 06:50 AM »

I prefer to laugh. Cosmic humor is a lot easier to live with than cosmic horror. And you don't have to crash planes into things in order to deal with it.
 

-40hz (November 09, 2012, 06:33 AM)

Y'know, I never quite thought about that... Bush & Cheney had anger management issues. Explains a lot.

4388

Developer's Corner / Awesome User Feedback :D

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 06:23 AM »

I'm sure other people here know exactly what I mean when it's really nice to get user feedback, and even better to get glowing praise!

Anyways, I think today I received probably what has been some of the highest praise I've ever had:

Honestly, if you do nothing else in this life you can die fulfilled!

The full email is here (I always ask for permission first):

http://renegademinds...abid/54/Default.aspx

Anyways, I just thought it might be fun if people could share some of the feedback they get from their users.

So? Who's first second?

4389

Living Room / Re: Read Your Brain Waves

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 05:49 AM »

from the collection: The 40hz Big Book of Seriously Silly Poems for Seriously Crabby People

-40hz (November 08, 2012, 11:13 PM)

Well done! And laughter is a great way to deal with otherwise angering topics. 

4390

Living Room / Re: The Pre-emptive Censor - Dotcom Loses ME.GA Domain

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 04:40 AM »

Who's afraid of the big bad US¹?

...Gabon is, apparently.

1: synonymous with "big media fscktards".

-f0dder (November 09, 2012, 04:22 AM)

+1

And they have good reason to be afraid...

Just a few reasons...

Chemical warfare in Vietnam...
Nuclear warfare in Iraq (DU rounds)...
Afghanistan...
Iran...
Syria...
etc.
etc.
etc.

There's a lot to be afraid of.

If they are being pressured by the US, then can you blame them (for not wanting to be annihilated)?

4391

General Software Discussion / Re: Sign of the times for OpenSource software?

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 03:39 AM »

The way I look at it, I see the general lack of business model for most developers as the biggest problem. Some OS software has a good business model, and is well supported.

Money keeps interest.

4392

Living Room / The Pre-emptive Censor - Dotcom Loses ME.GA Domain

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 03:20 AM »

Yep. You read that right. Before he's done anything, he's lost his domain name:

http://www.techdirt....dotcom-venture.shtml

http://www.me.ga/ - goes nowhere now.

As we've noted, we've been avoiding stories about whatever "new" service Kim Dotcom is launching, because it all sounds like hype and vaporware to us. Until there's something real, it's all just rampant speculation, and it's a little silly how much adoration people have for an idea whose details have not been released at all. However, we will cover factual information related to the effort, and as was widely reported by others, the plan had been to use the domain name Me.ga. This had a few useful "features." First, it plays on the "mega" prefix that is so closely associated with Dotcom's offerings. Perhaps more importantly (at least, it's a key thing that many in the press covered), the .ga domain is not technically subject to control or seizure by the US (though, of course, SOPA/PIPA were intended to deal with just that kind of situation).

 However, even without SOPA/PIPA, there is still the power of diplomatic pressure, and it didn't take long for the Communications Minister of Gabon to announce that the domain was being suspended:

 "I have instructed my departments... to immediately suspend the site www.me.ga," announced Communication Minister Blaise Louembe, saying he wanted to "protect intellectual property rights" and "fight cyber crime effectively".

 "Gabon cannot serve as a platform or screen for committing acts aimed at violating copyrights, nor be used by unscrupulous people," the minister said.

Seriously? I smell a rat.

4393

Living Room / Re: Disney acquires Lucasfilm for 4.05 billion dollars. Star Wars Ep VII due in 2015

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 12:37 AM »

Has anyone seen the Clone Wars cartoons? They're pretty good.

There is a HUGE amount that can be done in the Star Wars universe.

It won't be the same, but hey, nothing wrong with different.

4394

Easy Screencast Recorder / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - Easy Screencast Recorder - v1.12.01 - Apr 22, 2015

« Last post by Renegade on November 09, 2012, 12:31 AM »

SCaT
{ScreenCast Tool}

-cmpm (November 07, 2012, 04:10 AM)

No... you didn't... 

4395

Living Room / Re: Apple's difficult products

« Last post by Renegade on November 08, 2012, 12:45 PM »

@Ren: Hmm...the resemblance is rather uncanny at times....
 (see attachment in previous post)    (see attachment in previous post)
Coincidence? (You be the judge!)

-40hz (November 08, 2012, 12:18 PM)

I would love to see a photoshop of Steve with pins!

Actually, given his track-record in life, twisting that cube around there may just summon him back...

4396

Living Room / Re: Apple's difficult products

« Last post by Renegade on November 08, 2012, 09:28 AM »

I understand the take-apart (i.e. "case cracking") instructions for the Macintish SE was a modification of the instructions that went with this device:
 (see attachment in previous post)
Can't really say if that's true. I was out the day one came in for "repair." Fortunately.

-40hz (November 08, 2012, 09:21 AM)

Ahhh... Now it all makes sense! Once you know who the lead designer is, everything becomes clear!

4397

Living Room / Re: Microsoft Provides Funding For Surveillance

« Last post by Renegade on November 08, 2012, 06:40 AM »

But ... But ... destroying your rights is Hard Work!!! Think of all the jobs that would be lost if they let you keep all those pesky liberties!!! You're not against jobs, are you???

-TaoPhoenix (November 08, 2012, 05:52 AM)

BWAHAHAHAHAA~! That was awesome! 

Hey, does being against jobs make you an anti-capitalist commie, or because they're government jobs, does it make you an anti-socialist fascist?

4398

Living Room / Re: You Might Be A Terrorist

« Last post by Renegade on November 08, 2012, 01:47 AM »

You guys might like this collection of FBI posters, targeted at specific types of businesses, instructing those that work in those businesses on how to spot potential terrorists.

http://publicintelli...ty-reporting-flyers/

-app103 (November 08, 2012, 01:15 AM)

That's the best 1-stop place to get all that information.

They do a pretty good job of fear mongering. They mix in enough credible things to make it seem serious. Then you see that using money is a "terrorist indicator". They slip in thing that basically make everyone in the world a terrorist.

4399

Living Room / Re: Apple's difficult products

« Last post by Renegade on November 07, 2012, 09:34 PM »

Tangentially related:

https://duckduckgo.c...ight+bulb+conspiracy

It's not about good products - it's about good revenue potential.

Great article though - nicely walks through some design decisions.

4400

Living Room / Re: You Might Be A Terrorist

« Last post by Renegade on November 07, 2012, 09:24 PM »

Terrorist indicators:
Missing fingers
Pay for coffee with cash
Have 7 days of food in your house
Believe in the US Constitution
Believe in freedom

Only those that worship the state and love slavery and tyranny aren't terrorists. Everyone else is bad and must be put in prison.

But seriously - that page is a pretty good round-up of articles on the current insanity. It's simply unbelievable what's going on now.