Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 26th Aug 2009 22:23 UTC
When Windows Vista was launched, the Free Software Foundation started its BadVista campaign, which was aimed at informing users about what the FSF considered user-restrictive features in Vista. Luckily for the FSF, Vista didn't really need a bad-mouthing campaign to fail. Now that Windows 7 is receiving a lot of positive press, the FSF dusted off the BadVista drum, and gave it a fresh coat of paint.
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Member since:2009-06-18
I've used Creative, SanDisk, and iPod Touches all quite a bit. No doubt the iPod is the slickest hardware and most versatile. I've always liked the Creative Labs players for music though. I have one that is over 5y old and still going strong.
It isn't so much about proprietary formats and software. The firmware/OS on my Creative Labs is proprietary. The key is what they do with it. I take my WMA files (proprietary format) and copy them over to my proprietary OS player. I can copy them back over, load them on other computers, whatever I'd like. The WMA format doesn't restrict me, as MS provides all the APIs and ready-made tools necessary to easily decode to PCM/WAV and from there I can go to any format I wish.
My point is that it isn't the nature of being closed-source or being proprietary that restricts use and makes things generally inconvenient; it is all in the actual choices each of these companies make.
It isn't so simple as OSS == good; CS == bad.
Member since:2005-07-12
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 23:02 UTC, submitted by M.Onty
"Microsoft has sensationally abandoned its controversial plans to restrict the sharing of XBox One games, and has also removed daily online authentication requirements for its forthcoming console", reports The Guardian. They had no choice. Still a good move.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 22:28 UTC
"A snippet of code in the Steam digital distribution platform has revealed that Valve may be planning to let users easily share their games with friends in the future. The Verge has verified the code's authenticity, which was originally spotted by a member of the NeoGAF gaming forum; the code references a 'shared game library' and a notification that would alert a user when their games are currently in use by a borrower." This would change the, uh, game.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."More News »
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Member since:
2005-07-12
"Which restrictions are you talking about? The inability to see the source? Do you get upset when you buy a can of Coke and are unable to see the recipe on the can?"
I'll give you a perfect, real life example:
When I bought my iPod, I wanted to get a bunch of the songs off my very extensive CD collection onto my new iPod. So I spent a bunch of time, I mean, a lot of time, ripping many of my CDs to HD, and then importing into iTune, then syncing to my iPod. Fine and dandy.
Later on, however, that machine (on which I had ripped the CDs) had it's CPU burn out.
So I replaced the computer with my current Dell Inspiron (with Vista and Ubuntu).
But I had spent all that time ripping my CDs onto HD, and wanted those songs on my new machine, without having to spend all that time ripping again.
No worries - those songs were on my iPod. Just hook up my iPod, and download the songs onto the new HD. The songs are, after all, just files, being stored on what is essentially a USB storage device.
Bzzzzzzt!!! Nope. Apple put in restrictions on doing that. The files on the iPod are encrypted, and locked in, and don't allow downloading from the iPod onto another machine that is not the original machine from which the songs were originally uploaded.
But, goddammit, they're my songs, from my legally purchased CD collection. I just wanted to save the hassle of having to rip all those CDs again.
But nope, Apple doesn't give a rats ass about customer convenience. They want you to be locked into one machine, and into their hardware, and their file format.
Yes,yes, I know I could've just ghosted the old HD (which is an expense and inconvenience unto itself). Yes, yes, I know I could have bought third party software that unlocks the encrypted files and allows you to download from the iPod (another expense).
The point is, I should not have had to do that sh!t. Again, they're my songs from my CD collection, loaded onto what is essentially a USB storage device.
I was furious.
Yes, I know. I don't have to buy an iPod. But in this case, I had no idea it had such a ridiculous restriction. If I had known, I never would have bought an iPod.
Rest assured, it's my last iPod.
I'll be looking at iRiver, Creative Zen, or Sansa Fuze for my next mp3 player purchase - and I'll be looking very carefully at any restrictions those products might have.
But there in lies the rub. The proprietary software put in an artificial restriction, and greatly inconvenienced me, for the sole purpose of locking me into their wares.
This would never, ever, in a million years, happen with FOSS. With FOSS, there is zero incentive to try to pull that kind of crap on users.
But in the end, it's often a matter of compromises or trade-offs. The iPod is a really slick device, and has a really nice interface.
And the nice interface, polish, completeness, and ease of use, you see with the iPod software, often comes up a bit short with FOSS.
Edited 2009-08-27 22:36 UTC