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Comment Re:Stallman bitches, film at eleven (Score 1) 597

RMS has stated on many occasions, including in his writing, that he believes proprietary software is immoral. He's been almost explicit about the immorality of licenses he disagrees with, such as the BSD license. So yes, RMS wants everyone to buy into his philosophy, to the point of labelling everyone who doesn't as a bad person doing bad things.

I know he has said that proprietary software is immoral, but I don't ever recall him say it about the BSD licenses (and would be very surprissed if he did). In fact, I'm almost certain the fsf website lists that as a "good" free license (the modern versions of it, the older ones had some ambiguity and even BSD folks don't use those any more).

Comment Re:Proofreading (Score 1) 634

I'm very late to this I know, but I usually try to do at least a little proofreading before putting things up for RMS. Due to limited time, I don't catch everything, but I do try (as does RMS). When someone notices a typo or mistake on anything on stallman.org, they can email RMS (or me) and I try to fix it ASAP. Is that a perferct system, probably not, but it is better than what a lot of people and places do.
Science

Submission + - Quantum Theory and Abortion Rights (stallman.org) 1

UtucXul writes: "In a piece not about Free Software (or software at all), RMS looks at the Christian fundamentalists argue against abortion in light of Quantum Mechanics. For people who aren't immediately against any arguement invoking QM, it should make for an interesting read."

Comment Re:A few clicks away? (Score 1) 360

Everyone is always just a few clicks away from being caught in a phishing scam. In fact, wouldn't it be closer to say that everyone is just one click away (the link from their email)?

Some of us still use console based email clients (yay pine) so we're actually a a long, painful process involving config files and remembering how to start firefox on the local machine instead of the remote one along with a few clicks away from these scams. Usually by that point I don't even care what the link is anymore so no threat of clicking it.

I think we should call this 'security through frustration.'.

Comment Why doesn't anyone think javascript is useful? (Score 4, Interesting) 238

I'm not sure I understand the overwhelmingly negative reaction to javascript in pdf files. I realize that there is a danger in allowing executable content in files (and it is arguable whether or not the danger is worth it) but I do not understand why so many people don't seem to understand that there are at least possible benefits to it.

I used to make slides for talks using LaTeX. There are great ways to include animations directly in the pdf that use javascript. I always had far less trouble getting my animations to play than other people at conferences I went to because acrobat reader was all I needed and it is nearly always there. And for the record, the animations were things I really needed since they showed output from simulations.

I've also seen lots of forms that do some math or validation. How do people think that happens?

Again, I think we need to be very careful about executable code but that doesn't mean there are no possible good uses for it.

Technology (Apple)

Submission + - Verizon Rejected iPhone Deal

SnowDog74 writes: "According to an article in USA Today, Verizon Wireless apparently rejected an Apple deal. The article suggests that Verizon wasn't particularly happy with the strict terms Apple wanted. What's perhaps most interesting, however, about this story is the implication from sources that say Cingular's exclusive deal is within the United States only. If this is true, it undermines some of the criticism Apple's been receiving for their business strategy surrounding the iPhone, given the size of the cell phone market outside the United States."
The Internet

Submission + - Convincing Internet Prank Hits YouTube

RulerOf writes: Three days ago a video was posted on YouTube called "How to Sign Up for GoogleTV Beta" along with four others as part of a series called "Infinite Solutions with Mark Erickson." The video was covered over at Gizmodo and after reading the article's comments, the joke becomes much more obvious. Follow the links for some very well done pranks from How to Unlock a Hidden Minesweeper Mode to Boosting your WiFi signal with a salad bowl.

It's all wonderfully wrapped up with a reassuring video that, among highlighting the jokes, gives a much better shot of the GoogleTV beta.

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