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Comment Missing the point (Score 1) 490

by trauma on Wednesday March 26, 2014 @03:05PM (#46586701) Attached to: Are DVDs Inconvenient On Purpose?

OP is missing the point entirely IMHO.

How many people are living a life of laptops and tablets and (functionally) unlimited bandwidth, and consume all their entertainment on these devices?

Now, how many people own a television and a disc player?

Also, popping in a disc is inconvenient? [Kids today, get off my lawn, etc.]

Comment Re:What's really interesting... (Score 1) 374

by xonker on Friday February 25, 2011 @08:55PM (#35319360) Attached to: Canonical To Divert Money From GNOME

Really not what the original article says - have you read it?

From TFA:

In fact, Burt says that the Banshee team had unanimously opted to turn off the Amazon store when given the choice, but now "Canonical came up with their own plan: essentially the option we rejected."

Further, Burt doesn't seem pleased with the way Canonical has handled the situation. "Canonical offering us options and then going back on them when we didn't pick their preferred one was not reasonable." Lorentz says he agrees "wholeheartedly" with Burt's response.

Some who commented on the original report suggested that the Banshee team had made a mistake in choosing to turn off the store rather than taking the 25% cut. Burt says, "it is possible that GNOME will do better financially with this arrangement than if Canonical disabled the Amazon store. GNOME would do 4x better than that if our upstream code shipped unmodified, as it does in other Linux distributions.

Comment Re:Flamebait (Score 1) 374

by xonker on Friday February 25, 2011 @08:52PM (#35319340) Attached to: Canonical To Divert Money From GNOME

Don't depend on the summary or the commenter's summary - RTFA. It is *not* a win/win - and the Banshee devs do not characterize it as such.

Comment Re:Flamebait (Score 2) 374

by xonker on Friday February 25, 2011 @08:50PM (#35319312) Attached to: Canonical To Divert Money From GNOME

Did you RTFA? The maintainers they asked were *not* happy with the decision and the maintainers have *gone on record* as saying it's "unreasonable" - I know that one of the OMGUbuntu folks has been going around saying he's a Banshee contributor (he is, but not one of the maintainers) and trying to characterize it as everything is OK - but that is NOT the case.

Submission + - E-Book Lending Stands Up To Corporate Mongering (publishingperspectives.com)

Submitted by phmadore on Monday February 14, 2011 @12:36PM

phmadore writes: Publishing Perspectives is talking today about the rise of e-book lending, which, one would hope, will lead to a rise in questioning exactly how far one's digital rights extend. Although the articles are mostly talking about the authorized lending programs through Kindle and Nook ("The mechanics are simple: ebook owners sign up and list books that they want to allow others to borrow. When someone borrows one of the ebooks you have listed, you earn a credit. Credits can also be purchased for as little as $1.99 from eBook Fling."), we have to ask ourselves why we are suddenly paying publishers more for less. In the case of iBooks, you can't even transfer your books to another device, let alone another user, but then at least the prices are somewhat controlled. In the case of sites like BooksOnBoard, you've got ridiculously out of control prices with a greatly decreased cost of delivery. It's not all bad, don't get me wrong: Kobo offers competitive that never leave me feeling ripped off or stuck with an inferior product. Still, I can't help but think: digital rights management, sure! Where are my rights, as a consumer, and who is managing them? I wouldn't mind selling the rights back to the publisher or store for in-store credit; I also wouldn't be terribly bothered if they got a reasonable cut off the resale of the product to someone else. What I won't like is if they never allow it or continue to make it impossible for me to sell what's rightfully mine! This is not software we're talking about and copyright has been very clear on it for decades: not only can I legally re-sell a CD, but I can burn a copy and give it to my mother if I please, or even burn a copy and give it to my mother and THEN re-sell it. Anyways, WTF /.?

Submission + - Volume 4A of Knuth's TAOCP Finally In Print (informit.com) 1

Submitted by

jantangring

on Monday January 24, 2011 @04:39AM

jantangring writes: "It's been 28 years since Volume 3 of Donald Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming was published. The book series is a classic work of computer science in spite of the fact that still more than half of the seven volume series is still to be finalized. In 1992 Donald Knuth retired to medieval monkness in order to finish his work. After many long years in draft volume 4A now in print and you can get it in a boxed set if you don't mind admitting that you don't already own the first thee volumes. They won't be checking if you read it."

Submission + - MS Asks Google to Delay Fuzzer Tool (computerworld.com)

Submitted by eldavojohn on Monday January 03, 2011 @10:06AM

eldavojohn writes: Polish Google security white hat Michal Zalewski has announced concerns that one of a hundred vulnerabilities his fuzzer tool found in IE is well known to third party hackers in China. His simple explanation provides an interesting counter argument to Microsoft's usual request that security problems not be released until they can slowly investigate them. From the article, 'Microsoft asked Zalewski to delay cross_fuzz's release, but he declined, in part because of his fear the IE vulnerability was already being explored by Chinese hackers, but also because the company's security experts had not responded to information he provided.' You can read about and download cross_fuzz for your own use.

Submission + - Most Android tablets fail at GPL compliance (networkworld.com)

Submitted by polar_bear` on Thursday December 30, 2010 @09:10PM

polar_bear` writes: Red Hat's Matthew Garrett has been checking to see who's naughty and nice. Most Android tablet vendors? Naughty, naughty, naughty, when it comes to GPL compliance. The current crop of Android tablets fails miserably when it comes to GPL compliance, with most of the vendors flouting the GPL and failing to ship source.

Submission + - Fedora 14 Reviewed: Advanced, And Not For Wimps (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruhlinger on Monday November 01, 2010 @04:00PM

jfruhlinger writes: Remember the days when being a Linux user was like being part of a select priesthood — arcane knowledge needed, but great rewards? Steven Vaughan-Nichols has tested out Fedora 14, and that was how it went. No Ubuntu-style handholding, but some powerful new features.

Ubuntu Moves Away From GNOME 514

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday October 25, 2010 @11:00AM from the end-of-an-era dept.

An anonymous reader writes "It's official: Ubuntu has, with its ironically named 'Unity' interface, chosen to move away from GNOME for Ubuntu Natty Narwhal. Or at least move away from GNOME Shell. Mark Shuttleworth says that Ubuntu will still be 'GNOME,' even if it's not using GNOME Shell. Do you agree?"

Submission + - Ubuntu moves away from GNOME (networkworld.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 25, 2010 @10:15AM

An anonymous reader writes: It's official: Ubuntu has, with its ironically named "Unity" interface, chosen to move away from GNOME for Ubuntu Natty Narwhal. At least move away from GNOME Shell. Mark Shuttleworth says that Ubuntu will still be "GNOME," even if it's not using GNOME Shell. Do you agree?

Submission + - The real truth about Oracle's "new" Kernel (networkworld.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 21, 2010 @09:50AM

An anonymous reader writes: Yesterday at OpenWorld Oracle announced a "new" Enterprise kernel for its so-called Unbreakable Linux. What's the real truth? The company is simply sticking a 2.6.32-based kernel on top of its re-branded Red Hat Enterprise Linux clone and trying to spin it as a new and innovative development.

Left 4 Dead Update Will Bring Completed SDK, Content Sharing Tools 30

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday June 20, 2009 @06:40AM from the no-word-on-left-4-dead-3 dept.

Valve has announced details of an update to Left 4 Dead that is due out next week. To start, the SDK open beta is over, and the final version is being released. They're also adding a framework for easily sharing player-created content, accessible through the menu system in-game. In addition to that, they're revamping the matchmaking system to accommodate custom campaigns (like this Resident Evil 3 mod). Quoting: "Content authors will be able to package up their new maps, along with new posters, models, and textures, into a single .VPK file. To install and activate this content in-game, players need simply download the .VPK and double click on it. ... When creating or searching for a lobby, a new option named 'Add-on campaign' will let you select from among the add-on campaigns that you have installed. You can then find games or lobbies as well as create a lobby for that campaign. You can invite your friends, too. If they do not have the campaign installed, they will automatically be offered and an option to download it."

The Sims 3 To Mesh With Social Networks 25

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday May 02, 2009 @06:26AM from the linked-sim-book-space dept.

Electronic Arts has released a good bit of information about the online aspects of The Sims 3, which is due for release in early June. The game will have downloadable content available on launch day that includes a second, separate town called Riverview. They'll also be revamping the game's website to allow the sharing of content and integration with social media. In addition, EA mentioned that the game will make use of micro-transactions, which players can use to buy things like furniture, clothing, and other items.

CSIRO Settles With Tech Giants Over WiFi Patent Spat 92

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday April 22, 2009 @12:52PM from the over-and-done-with dept.

Combat Wombat brings news that the legal battle between the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation (CSIRO) and a host of major tech corporations has come to end, with a large settlement going to the CSIRO. The fight was over a patent on wireless LAN technology, which already earned the CSIRO a victory in court over Buffalo Technology and a settlement with Hewlett-Packard. The remaining 13 companies, which include Dell, Intel, Microsoft and Nintendo, have now chosen to settle as well. "[The CSIRO] will use the money won from a Wi-Fi technology patent battle to fund further research. ... It is unclear how much money has flowed to the CSIRO, but experts say the technology would be worth billions of dollars if royalties were paid on an ongoing basis."

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