Comment Re:Curious (Score 1) 131
It also helps to train the next generation of games developers - it's a shame the practice isn't a standard of the industry.
Comment Free as in Freedom (Score 1) 1
No. Because it may be Gratis for you, it is not Libre and by using proprietary applications and formats you only risk not being able to access older documents in the future, and lock yourself in to buying Office with the hope that they maintain backwards compatibility.
Save your freedom and use OpenOffice - it is a small sacrifice for freedom.
Save your freedom and use OpenOffice - it is a small sacrifice for freedom.
Comment I think some are confused (Score 1) 1
I think a lot of people are confused over whether they are meant to be voting for how good that app is, how good Wine's compatibility with that app is, or how much they want improvement in compatibility with that app.
Comment Not on the iMac (Score 1) 254
I have an iMac and they don't control what you do on OS X at all. I wouldn't buy an iPhone, etc. seeing all the problems they are causing there though.
Comment Re:Yeah but.... (Score 2, Interesting) 310
Microsoft has been using a lot of recursive, GNU-style acronyms recently like XNA - XNA's Not Acronymed and now Bing - Bing Is Not Google.
Maybe they think this is why everyone is using GNU now? :P
Maybe they think this is why everyone is using GNU now?
Comment Re:The boot-up splash screen (Score 1) 437
You mean GNU/Linux? Since it was the GNU project that was the birth of Free Software.
Comment I'd add.. (Score 1) 437
GCC
Emacs/Vim
X
Screen
SSH
Emacs/Vim
X
Screen
SSH
Harsh Words From Google On Linux Development 948
jeevesbond writes "The alpha version of Google Chrome is now available for GNU/Linux. Google Chrome developer and former Firefox lead Ben Goodger has some problems with the platform though. His complaints range from the lack of a standardised UI toolkit, inconsistencies across applications, the lack of a unified and comprehensive HIG, to GTK not being a very compelling toolkit. With Adobe getting twitchy about the glibc fork and previously describing the various audio systems as welcome to the jungle, is it time to concentrate on consolidation and standardisation in GNU/Linux in general, and the desktop in particular?"
Comment Re:Deux Ex (Score 1) 156
Now I'm going to have to re-install it!
You bastard!
Last.fm User Data Was Sent To RIAA By CBS 334
suraj.sun sends in an update from TechCrunch on a story that generated a lot of controversy a few months back, "Did Last.fm Just Hand Over User Listening Data To the RIAA?" "Now we've located another source for the story, someone who's very close to Last.fm. And it turns out Last.fm was telling the truth, sorta... Last.fm didn't hand user data over to the RIAA. According to our source, it was their parent company, CBS, that did it. Here's what we believe happened: CBS requested user data from Last.fm, including user name and IP address. CBS wanted the data to comply with a RIAA request but told Last.fm the data was going to be used for 'internal use only.' It was only after the data was sent to CBS that Last.fm discovered the real reason for the request. Last.fm staffers were outraged, say our sources, but the data had already been sent to the RIAA. We believe CBS lied to us when they denied sending the data to the RIAA, and that they subsequently asked us to attribute the quote to Last.fm to make the statement defensible. Last.fm's denials were strictly speaking correct, but they ignored the underlying truth of the situation, that their parent company supplied user data to the RIAA, and that the data could possibly be used in civil and criminal actions against those users."
Comment Re:Enough already (Score 2, Funny) 263
... but don't you get tired of discussing the same thing over and over?
You must be new here.
Do We Want ISPs Penalizing Music Fans? 263
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Noted singer songwriter Billy Bragg has written an excellent column in The Guardian, coming out against the pro-RIAA '3-strikes' legislation the big 4 record labels are trying to push through. In the article, entitled 'Do we want ISPs penalizing our fans?', Bragg writes: 'Having failed miserably in previous attempts to stamp out illicit filesharing, the record industry has now joined forces with other entertainment lobby groups to demand that the government takes action to protect their business model.' He goes on: 'Fearful of the prospect of dragging their customers though the courts, with all the attendant costs and bad publicity, members of the record industry have come up with a simple, cost-free solution to their problem: get the ISPs to do their dirty work for them. They are asking the government to force the ISPs to cut off the broadband connection of customers who persistently download unauthorized material, without any recourse to appeal in the courts.'"
Comment Re:Great idea! (Score 1) 554
I think IceCat is already a separately maintained fork. So hopefully we could change that if it became necessary.
Comment Re:A worry (Score 1) 114
I don't think so. 'The Government' is not one homogeneous organism, the surveillance stuff is mostly pushed by Jacqui Smith, but this research is handled by a completely different department.
They'll probably invest millions of public money into it and then privatize it off to their friends - that's what they usually do.
And as you brought up yourself - I am far more worried about throttling and false advertising than surveillance (although Phorm is worrying).
They'll probably invest millions of public money into it and then privatize it off to their friends - that's what they usually do.
And as you brought up yourself - I am far more worried about throttling and false advertising than surveillance (although Phorm is worrying).
Comment Re:Orwellian (Score 5, Insightful) 114
Well I consider the OP a troll - see they are posting on a website dedicated to technology news against investment in technology using clearly flawed arguments.
The whole argument with Down Syndrome at the end is a classic Ignoratio elenchi. And the same argument could be made against the space program, or any major public investment.
And then using Orwell quotes against public spending, does the OP not know that Orwell was an outspoken Socialist (even moving to and fighting in the Spanish Civil War). The OP is just a classic Internet Libertarian, with a superficial understanding of what they quote - I am sure they saw V For Vendetta and now praise Guy Fawkes as a hero despite the fact he would've changed England to a theocracy under the Pope.
The whole argument with Down Syndrome at the end is a classic Ignoratio elenchi. And the same argument could be made against the space program, or any major public investment.
And then using Orwell quotes against public spending, does the OP not know that Orwell was an outspoken Socialist (even moving to and fighting in the Spanish Civil War). The OP is just a classic Internet Libertarian, with a superficial understanding of what they quote - I am sure they saw V For Vendetta and now praise Guy Fawkes as a hero despite the fact he would've changed England to a theocracy under the Pope.
