Posts by jake 26667 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Jun 2007
If a given kernel works for your hardware, and gets regular security updates, there is no real reason to install a newer kernel. I'm still using 4.4.x in a lot of places, including MeDearOldMum, GreatAunt and Wife's computers. It does what it needs to do, is rock-solid, supports all their hardware, and blissfully stays out of the way while they use their computers. Can't ask for much more than that in an OS.
That's why the intelligent farmer (remember him?) plants his trees on and over ground he owns. We're not talking an apple tree growing out of a hedge somewhere after some slob tossed a core into it, we're talking about an intentionally planted tree.
I feel a "cloud" simile coming ... don't touch that dial!
The point is that there is a need for programming the machine to produce the art prior to producing that art. The machine can not do it by itself, it requires an initiator. It matters not which human initiates the machine to produce the art, it was still initiated by a human. Without that human, the machine is inert.
I suppose you could invent a machine to program a machine to produce art, but at that point it's elephants all the way down.
"However, the idea that the public interest is served, or the constitution honoured, by granting copyright ownership to a piece of software... is an argument that I for one don't see."
Totally agree.
"That is correct under current law and jurisprudence/case law in the countries I'm familiar with."
Which, when you think about it, is all that really matters. And is why ElReg wrote the article ... it's an anomaly, and thus news.
"However, presumably his whole point is that the AI should now be considered as a legal entity."
Agreed. However, it would appear that his opinion is in the minority. For very, very small values of minority.
"That sentence in the article puzzles me"
Why? It's just another datapoint in the same genre of the rest of the article.
"the article is about copyright (which in the US you have to apply for,"
Incorrect. Here in the US, copyright is automatically granted to the author of an original work.
If this were to become common, I'd agree with you. As it is, however, I rather think that this is one case where security by obscurity might be a help.
With that said, of all the freedos machines I'm aware of[0], not a one of them is hooked up to any network other than sneaker-net.
[0] Probably in the high hundreds, possibly over a thousand.
I'm fairly certain that all the Walnut Creek Slackware CDs allowed installing direct from the CD ... assuming, of course, that your CD drive was compatible with the bootable kernel on the CD. Many were not back then.
Disclaimer: I didn't work there, I was just a beta tester for them ...
I still occasionally use Midnight Commander, a GPLv3 clone of the Norton offering, on my *nix systems. It's a useful tool, and a lot more powerful that it looks on first glance. Recommended.
N.B. Be VERY careful if you choose to run it as root ... it will do exactly what you tell it to do. Don't say I didn't warn you.
HP's OEM version of MS-DOS was customized to handle HP's non-standard Vectra hardware, begining with the first release of the Vectra line in 1989. Eventually HP saw sense (people wanted stuff like Flight SImulator and Lotus to run) and standardized their version of the hardware to run a generic DOS instead of their custom version. The proprietary HP hardware largely disappeared from the Vectra line by the time the 486 was ubiquitous.
If you have one of these ancient machines and want to play with it, but you've discovered DOS and early versions of Windows do not work properly, you'll need the correct software for the hardware. As is often the case for this old stuff, someone, in this case The HP Computer Museum, has archived the stuff. You can download most of the required software here.
1) And the concept is flawed.
2) Shotgun shells will become so cheap, we'll all use them for swatting mosquitoes!
3) Theoretically, assuming infinite cache size that never gets flushed.
Yes, I'm thinking about how small MY resources are when compared to those of a multi-billion dollar global advertising company.
""Can we do this" is the starting point for a lot of good things that less inquisitive folk would never find."
It's also the start of many a trip to the ER (A&E, CD, CW ... ). Or the Morgue.
"Can we?" should always be paired with "Should we?".
Cost/benefit analysis isn't just for Finance.
Can I jump The Strid? Hold my beer!
"Also, need it be pointed out why WebAssembly exists as a thing? Look at efforts like PNaCl and asm.js to understand why all browsers have embraced it."
Because it's good at forcing advertising on people who have absolutely no interest in the product being advertised, all the while extracting as much personal information from that person as possible?
"Paramount is the multi-user part, where documents are accessed simultaneously by the users."
Why in all the levels of hell known to the collective psyche of systems administrators world-wide would anyone want a clusterfuck like that for a common office suite? People can't/won't agree to something as simple as when to have a fucking meeting ... do you really think they'll agree on the final format of something as personal as a document or spreadsheet?
Beware of what you ask for ... tinkerers abound.
After several minutes of "Downloading/Compiling...", it failed with "TypeError: Body has already been consumed."
This is on bone-stock Slackware 14.2-stable ... might try it on Slack 15.0 tomorrow, if I can be arsed. Probably not.
Yes, I know what the error message means.
So getting your picture taken while you are in a public place is a privacy violation? If you're THAT paranoid, perhaps you shouldn't leave the house? I mean, my gawd/ess, somebody might recognize you while you are out and about! And THEN what would you do? Get them arrested so they can have their minds appropriately wiped?
There are any number of tourist guidebooks with random street scenes from all over the world. These street scenes are often "holiday pics" taken by the author, and contain pictures of all number of people. I can guarantee that not many of those people, if any, has signed a piece of paper authorizing that use.
It would seem these supposed laws of yours are somewhat ineffectual.
Of all the evil things that alpha-goo does, why people chose to bitch about streetview images (which any untrained chimp could provide at the drop of a camera) is beyond me ...
Take a look at the image right across Downing Street from Number 10 ... it's blurred. WHY? Everybody (even this Yank in the Wilds of California!) knows it's #23, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
The mind absolutely boggles.
"Not the Fourth Amendment, but in the original text that ONLY gave the vote to significant landowners. Hmm..."
We were talking about the Fourth specifically. However, if you insist, the Magna Carta only gave rights to the barons, The US Constitution, as written, did not specify who was and was not allowed to vote. That little detail was left up to the individual states. Various amendments have, over time, limited State powers over who is, and is not, allowed to vote. See the 15th, 19th, 24th and 26th amendments.
"And the whole Three Fifths Compromise, too."
Repealed 'way back in 1868. No doubt you remember this happening vividly.
"What in the Bible were the Founding Fathers avoiding?"
The entire religion thing. But they weren't avoiding it, they were rejecting it outright.
"PS. If the Constitution really matters, why the push to enslave women to their wombs despite a little something called the Thirteenth Amendment?"
It's a control thing. Brainwashing is ugly both in progress and outcome.
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