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Comment Re:More reasons why it's a bad idea (Score 1) 194

by madcow_bg (#26073347) Attached to: Why a Music Tax Is a Bad Idea

BSD projects have not been nearly as successful.

Yup, that's because the copyright exists.

GPL uses the copyright law to enforce user freedom. If the user was free in the first place (no license problems) it would not have been needed.

GPL is just the means to the greater good. Yes, it brings source code, but that's just a side effect, since in a copyrightable world the only way to grand user freedom is to have the source code.

Comment Re:NetworkManager (Score 1) 865

by madcow_bg (#25959911) Attached to: What Needs Fixing In Linux

My biggest complainst are that I cannot get a static IP on my home wireless while getting DHCP everywhere else and it's a real pain in the ass to set up bridged networking for use with a VM.

Try the version that comes with Ubuntu 8.10, it has that option.
Science

Dark Energy May Lurk In Hidden Dimensions 164

Posted by kdawson from the offspring-of-sterile-neutrinos dept.
Magdalene writes in to let us know about a sketch of an idea, that might one day become a theory, to explain the dark energy that is making the universe flee faster and faster apart. It posits that dark energy may be the result of a new kind of neutrino wandering in tiny extra dimensions above our familiar three. She adds, "There is no word yet on whether Sphere or Square are available for comment." From the article: "The mysterious cosmic presence called dark energy, which is accelerating the expansion of the universe, might be lurking in hidden dimensions of space. This idea would explain how the dimensions of space remain stable — one of the biggest problems for the unified scheme of physics called 'string theory'... To get the same amount of acceleration seen by astronomers, Greene and Levin calculate that the extra dimensions should have a scale of about 0.01 millimeter."
Privacy

Student Financial Aid Database Being Misused 182

Posted by kdawson from the six-solicitations-per-day dept.
pin_gween writes "The Washington Post reports on the probable abuse of the National Student Loan Data System. The database was created in 1993 to help determine which students are eligible for financial aid. Students' Social Security numbers, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, and loan balances are in the database. It contains 60 million student records and is covered by federal privacy laws. Advocates worry that businesses are trolling for marketing data they can use to bombard students with mass mailings or other solicitations. The department has spent over $650,000 in the past four years protecting the data. However, some senior education officials are advocating a temporary shutdown of access to the database until tighter security measures can be put in place."
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Bootable IDE ports disappearing- why & how to

Submitted by
wattsup
wattsup writes: "It seems that bootable IDE ports are disappearing on newer motherboards.

I recently purchased an MSI G965M-FI motherboard for a system upgrade. Overall the board is pretty good with lots of features, but it had one "unexpected feature" that I didn't know about when I bought it. The PATA100 IDE port won't allow you to install an operating system from a CD-ROM attached to it.

While its on their website, MSI doesn't tell you this on the retail packaging, until you break the seal on the static wrap and look at the motherboard. There, with a tiny label placed over the IDE connector they inform you "This IDE does not support OS installation in hard drive".

This made my out-of-box experience rather maddening, as I had to get a USB based CD-ROM to install a fresh copy of XP. This seems like a pretty lame way to save money, disabling functionality on an IDE port that's included. Some research shows me that other manufacturers are doing the same thing. Why?

My question is; Does anybody know if this is an issue that can be fixed by upgrading the BIOS, or is this hard-wired in the IDE controller?"
Networking

Submission + - Fixing the IPv6 dilema

Submitted by
jd
jd writes: "In an attempt to attract more people to using IPv6, a New Zealand group is offering free porn to those with access to an IPv6 tunnel or connection. This may or may not work, considering that the country involved has a hundred times as many sheep as humans, which may create a degree of scepticism over what exactly is on offer."
Music

Submission + - Pirate Party policies pirated by Norway's Liberals

Submitted by Ghoti
Ghoti writes: In an unexpected move, Norway's Liberal Party has decided to adopt "pirate copy" of the Swedish Pirate Party's policies on copyright extension, legalised file-sharing, free sampling and a ban on digital rights management (DRM), according to a recent statement (Norwegian link only). In light of the recent EMI/Apple deal and the European Union's ongoing fight against DRM, the spread of ideas like these to mainstream political parties give a faint promise that the fight for fair use and against corporate lock-in for digital media may yet be won!
Music

EU Commissioner Slams Music Lock-In 293

Posted by kdawson from the let-my-music-go dept.
Nonu writes "EU Commissioner for Consumer Protection Meglena Kuneva has come out against DRM lock-ins like Apple's iPod-iTunes combo. Kuneva said she believes the tie-in that keeps music bought from the iTunes Store from playing on MP3 players other than the iPod was unreasonable. '"Do you find it reasonable that a CD will play in all CD players, but an iTunes song will only play on an iPod?" asked Kuneva. "It doesn't [seem reasonable] to me. Something must change."' The EU is in the midst of an effort to harmonize its consumer protection laws, and along with the question of DRM tie-ins it is also looking at mandating cooling-off periods during which customers could 'return' downloaded music."
Windows

Submission + - Falling into the Vista Trap

Submitted by iB1
iB1 writes: Business editor of the BBC Tim Weber has an interesting tale of woe about his experience of upgrading from XP to Vista. Although it appears that the initial upgrade went without a hitch, it was the frustrating realisation that a substantial number of his peripherals did not and would never work with Vista that tipped him over the edge.
Microsoft

Submission + - Is Vista a trap?

Submitted by logube
logube writes: BBC has an article about installing Vista in your existing desktop. Written by Tim Weber, a self-confessed "sucker for technology", this article is a good introduction to the pain and extra money required to get on the latest product of the evil empire. See how you can spend an extra 130 british pounds, and still have no working webcam!
Windows

Submission + - Vista activation cracked by brute force

Submitted by Bengt
Bengt writes: The Inquirer has a story about a brute force Vista key activation crack.

From TFA: The crack is a glorified guesser, and with the speed of modern PCs and the number of outstanding keys, the 25-digit serials are within range. The biggest problem for MS? If this gets widespread, and I hope it will, people will start activating legit keys that are owned by other people.

There is really no differentiating between a legit copy with a manually typed in wrong key and a hack attempt. Sure MS can throttle this by limiting key attempts to one a minute or so on new software, but the older variants are already burnt to disk. The cat is out of the bag. The crack was first mentioned on the Keznews forums, a step by step How-to can be found HERE
Microsoft

Submission + - BBC upgrade to Vista - Sort of!

Submitted by
SimonF
SimonF writes: "Tim Weber from the BBC upgrades to Vista and doesn't enjoy the experience overmuch.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6407419.stm

My favorite bit is from TFA "Now here is the dirty little secret of all the expensive PC helpers out there. Upgrading hardware is really easy. As long as you make sure the new hardware fits into the slots that come with your computer and does not overburden its power supply, it's usually just a case of carefully lifting out the old and slotting in the new piece of kit."

This is from the guy who has days of misery upgrading to Vista that any "expensive PC helper" would have steered him clear of.

Man down the pub computers is alive and kicking!"

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