From: spike1 on
Wayne Marsh <dontspamme(a)invalid.org> did eloquently scribble:
> I still find your signature very, VERY funny. And I don't mean the
> selection of quotes - I'm talking about the LEFT part.

So what if I have a degree? Big deal.
--
______________________________________________________________________________
| spike1(a)freenet.co.uk | "Are you pondering what I'm pondering Pinky?" |
|Andrew Halliwell BSc(hons)| |
| in | "I think so brain, but this time, you control |
| Computer Science | the Encounter suit, and I'll do the voice..." |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Wayne Marsh on
spike1(a)freenet.co.uk wrote:
>
> When was the last anti-microsoft post or pro-linux post I posted here?
> When was the last time I said ANYTHING about firefox?
> Seems to me it's you who has the obsessive compulsive behaviour from where
> I'm sitting. Perhaps if you just shut your trap and ignored me you'd have a
> more stress free life.

Probably!

One post every two months or so probably doesn't count as obsessive
compulsive, though. Isn't "you have X mental illness!" one of the stock
phrases that dull people use in arguments?

I bet you've never kill filed anyone without having to announce it to
the world with a "*plonk*". Ugh.

I'm not going to argue on the Internet with you any longer. Yes, you
simply annoy me, and I wouldn't argue that it doesn't suck for me to
just attack you. However, that should be a clue about just how hateful
you are to some people. Honestly, it is not just me.
From: Nick Humphries on
On Fri, 29 Dec 2006 spike1(a)freenet.co.uk wrote:
> Wayne Marsh <dontspamme(a)invalid.org> did eloquently scribble:
>> spike1(a)freenet.co.uk wrote:

Geez, would you two just get a room? There's sexual tension here anyone
can feel miles away. Either shag something, shag each other, or have a
cold shower before the pair of you poke someone's eye out.

--
Nick Humphries, nick(a)egyptus.co.uk http://www.egyptus.co.uk/
Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years http://www.ysrnry.co.uk/
YSRnRY documentary (1987 OUT NOW!) http://www.ysrnry.co.uk/tvprog/
The Tipshop http://www.the-tipshop.co.uk/
ZX Video and WWW Alerts http://www.the-tipshop.co.uk/cgi-bin/rsscheck.pl
From: Vanessa Ezekowitz on
Wayne Marsh wrote:

> Spike, who the hell puts something like that in their sig? It's a very
> average thing, who are you trying to impress?

For the same reason I put some little message like the below in my
sig...because I/he can.

> It's that, your broken Linux zealot attitude, the way you portray
> yourself as a carbon copy Slashdot idiot [...].

I feel the need to remind you, Wayne, that one who insists on calling a user
a zealot, however true it might be, is likely themselves to a zealot for
their preferred platform, and there's really nothing much wrong with that
either way. However, as a long-time Slashdot user, I take offense to your
remark - only a small subset of Slashdot users are idiots, not the entire
user-base, as you seem to imply.

As for the Linux/windows argument itself, since Spike wants to avoid the
argument, I'll chime in. I'll try to leave the opinions out and stick to
the facts. Here's some food for thought:

If the OS doesn't support DRM, most media companies won't grant a decryption
license to DVD player authors on that platform, and you need to decrypt a
DVD in order to play it. Those that will grant the license have set the
fees extremely high, too high for Linux/BSD authors to afford. Decrypting
anything without permission or license is illegal in the US and some EU
countries as well (GB too if memory serves).

In order to play full 1440x1024p HD content from Blu-Ray and HD-DVD drives
under Windows, your video card and monitor must support an end-to-end
encryption standard known as HDMI (?), otherwise, you'll only get 640x480p.
This makes practically all existing video cards and monitors, however
capable they might be, obsolete, and is being done to fight copyright
infringement. Linux users aren't expected to have this problem.

The media companies are trying to "plug the analog hole" (as they call it),
which requires tossing your sound card and speakers (because they use
analog Line in/out) in the trash in favor of hardware that supports
end-to-end digital audio encryption. I don't know how soon this is
expected to become the standard, but it is in progress, and is being done
to fight copyright infringement.

MS, in an attempt to stop piracy of their operating system (a legitimate
proposal of course), created the WGA system, which has lead to people
having their machines falsely locked out and tagged as illegal/pirated.
Under the WGA, installing a single copy of Windows on more than one
computer in your house also constitutes piracy. Linux and BSD users don't
have this issue since the OS's are free.

Because Windows has a relatively relaxed user/admin security model, in
contrast to the rather sharp divide between user and root in the Linux/BSD
worlds, and also partly because of the sheer number of Windows machines out
there versus non-Windows, statistically, Windows users are much more likely
to have their machines broken into than Linux/BSD users.

The US Government has plans to require Microsoft to include back doors in
the OS that allow the government to monitor what is going on on the user's
machine, regardless of whether or not the government has any explicit need
to do so. This is being done in the name of fighting terrorism. Linux/BSD
users won't need to worry about this anytime soon. As is the usual case,
EU countries will follow suit, if they haven't started similar programs
already.

That's all that comes to mind right now. I'm sure others will think of
more.

--
"Life is full of happy and sad events. If you take the time
to concentrate on the former, you'll get further in life."
Vanessa Ezekowitz <vanDEesLEsaeTEzekTHowiIStz(a)gmail.com>
("DELETE THIS" to email me :-) )
From: Wayne Marsh on
Vanessa Ezekowitz wrote:
> Wayne Marsh wrote:
>
>> Spike, who the hell puts something like that in their sig? It's a very
>> average thing, who are you trying to impress?
>
> For the same reason I put some little message like the below in my
> sig...because I/he can.
>
>> It's that, your broken Linux zealot attitude, the way you portray
>> yourself as a carbon copy Slashdot idiot [...].
>
> I feel the need to remind you, Wayne, that one who insists on calling a user
> a zealot, however true it might be, is likely themselves to a zealot for
> their preferred platform, and there's really nothing much wrong with that
> either way.

Why, Vanessa, would you need to remind me of something that I would
already know to be true or untrue? Why would you even join in,
particularly when it's all clearly over?

I have used Linux as my sole OS for a number of years (not in recent
years, though), and I have no particular love for Windows. I hate
blinkered groupthink, though.

However, as a long-time Slashdot user, I take offense to your
> remark - only a small subset of Slashdot users are idiots, not the entire
> user-base, as you seem to imply.
>
> As for the Linux/windows argument itself, since Spike wants to avoid the
> argument, I'll chime in

Nobody asked. It isn't even something we were actually arguing about. I
think you just want to be heard, in which case please be honest about in
future.