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Comment Re:They need something to do (Score 2, Informative) 342

Not only have autopilots worked incredibly well in the past, with a high success rate, but the idea is to keep Pilots awake by letting them exercise their mind while in flight.

They've also caused accidents, but hey, who cares about facts, eh?

When was the last time we had an airliner NOT get people safely to its destination based solely on a Pilot being distracted?

Do you honestly want examples?
1994: Aeroflot Flight 593
1987: Northwest Airlines Flight 255
There are plenty more, but the Northwest Flight 255 is a nice example. They were already way too distracted before take-off that they completely fucked it up and killed 156 people. 154 of 156 passengers on board and 2 on ground were killed.

They're getting paid to be responsible, alert and to fly the plane, not play minesweeper.

Comment Re:"the end" "continues"? (Score 1) 472

I have a MSI board which requires a floppy with DOS on it. Unfortunately I don't have a functioning floppy drive (I have an internal usb card-reader/floppy combo, but only the card-reader works).
In order to flash the BIOS though all that's needed is a CD with FreeDOS and a usb-stick with the new BIOS.

Comment Re:What aboout Avidemux? (Score 3, Informative) 120

This has to do with errors in the broadcast you don't notice when watching.

To fix it you have to first clean the stream.

1. projectx to clean it. It's a nice little java program. Just start the GUI, open your file and choose quickstart. You can use the CLI as well
2. mplex -f 8 -o output.mpeg2 input.m2v input.mp2
3. manipulate output.mpeg2 with avidemux.

I've recorded hundreds of documentaries and shows (DVB-S mpeg2-ts), never had sync issues after doing this.

Comment Re:Proposition (Score 1) 316

Okay let me give you an example.
A small PC shop starts to offer PCs with Ubuntu pre installed. Ubuntu makes the source available but that doesn't seem good enough. So the small shop has to offer the source as well?

Yes, or a written offer valid for at least 3 years to provide the source used.
They can charge for that, but not more than the actual physical distribution costs.

Let me give you an example.
I have a Kathrein Twin-DVB-S receiver.
It uses Linux, Busybox and a few other GPLed and LGPLed programs.
They don't ship it with the source and they don't host it on their site, but in order to comply with the GPL there's a written offer, valid for 3 years after the last unit sold, to provide the source on a physical medium (probably a CD).
They also state that they'll charge for the medium+time+shipping. This is in accordance with section 3b) of the GPL v2.

They must take the time to keep the latest source available? Sure nobody will probably ever ask them but they would have the legal requirement to do so.

No, not the latest source. Just the source that was used.

If I give somebody a PC with Ubuntu on it to help them out I am now distributing LINUX and must provide them with info on how I will give it to them?
Or a User group handing out Fedora CDs?

Yes, though I think section 3c) of the GPL v2 applies, which states:
Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received the program in object code or executable form with such an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)

What you see as so clear from a business point of view is full of peril.
I was thinking of offering a disk of Good FOSS to our customers free of charge but now it looks as if I would have to host source repositories to keep it legal.

No, you wouldn't have to host source repositories.
You could. But you could also just give them a piece of paper stating that you'll provide the source used for three years if requested.
Though with the cost of dvd-r's these days, I'd think that it'd be easier to just put a source directory on the dvd and put the tarballs in there.

Comment Re:Proposition (Score 1) 316

If the source for the GPL software is unmodified and freely available from other sources why should the vendor have to duplicate it's availability?

You might as well ask why someone else should provide the source (and pay for its availability) if you distribute something.
What if the original source provider doesn't exist anymore?
It's really simple, if you use GPLed code, you provide the source.
It doesn't even cost you anything since you can charge for it.

Comment Re:To back up parent..... (Score 1) 309

From the GPL FAQ:

Does the GPL allow me to charge a fee for downloading the program from my site?

        Yes. You can charge any fee you wish for distributing a copy of the program. If you distribute binaries by download, you must provide “equivalent access” to download the source—therefore, the fee to download source may not be greater than the fee to download the binary.

It looks to me that I can charge $1,000,000 for my GPL software and charge another $1,000,000 for the source.

Not exactly. The FAQ answer isn't as specific as the GPL(v2) itself, which states under section 3 b)

Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,

which means to me that while you can charge a million for the software you can hardly charge that much for the source distribution.
Of course IANAL.

Software

Submission + - The Pirate Bay Goes Legit (zelaron.com) 2

Zelaron writes: "Swedish tech company Global Gaming Factory X said Tuesday that it has reached an agreement to acquire controversial file sharing outfit The Pirate Bay for about $7.7 million. Global Gaming said it would introduce legitimate business models to Pirate Bay's Web site, which had become a haven for illegal file sharing. Pirate Bay's Swedish founders in April were ordered jailed for one year and fined $3.6 million."
The Internet

Submission + - Pirate Bay Goes Legit

Praedon writes: "InformationWeek has an article on the recent decision to sell The Pirate Bay for $7.7 Million dollars to Global Gaming Factory, a network of internet cafe's and gaming centers around the world. A recent blog post by the Pirate Bay itself, brings forth a fury of comments, as well as different takes on what the sale really means for the future of TPB."
Announcements

Submission + - Media company intends to buy The Pirate Bay

Civean writes: "In a press conference today, the CEO of Global Gaming Factory X AB Hans Pandeya announced their intent to purchase The Pirate Bay, at the price of 60 million SEK (approximately 7.8 million USD). The company has recently bought the P2P-development house Peerialism, and sees the purchase of TPB as a way to get access to an developed market base, according to an article in Swedish morning newspaper Dagens Nyheter. Hans Pandeya claims that GGF seeks to transform TPB into a legal service, where uploaders get payed for their contributions, but did not divulge whether income would be in the form of advertisements or paid downloads. However, he made certain that copyright holders would get compensation for each download, even though no deals with media holders have been made yet. A blog posting on the TBP homepage confirms the negotiations, and argues that the purchase is a natural next step for the site. The posting further argues that there is no reason to worry, since any detrimental changes to the site will lead to people not using it any longer, which wouldn't make financial sense to the new owners."
The Internet

Submission + - Pirate Bay bought for $7.7 million (theregister.co.uk)

mcvos writes: "Global Gaming Factory bought The Pirate Bay. For $7.7 million! Who would pay that amount of money for a site that's in court and probably doomed to disappear? Well, somebody who can afford $7.7 million for PR of course. Don't expect TPB to remain unchanged:

"Content creators and providers need to control their content and get paid for it. File sharers need faster downloads and better quality,"

So instead of a filesharing site, it's probably going to be a new web shop under a familiar name. Which reminds me: how is Napster doing these days?"

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