You, sir, are intolerant and a fundamentalist

Subject: Open Source vs MS

First of all, let me say that I've been reading the Inq for a number of years and this is the first time I have been compelled to respond to something I've seen on the site.

Your response to the BAdVista site is directly in the vein of the ultra conservative "commentators" such as Ruch Limbaugh and Anne Coulter. Not only is it extreme, but it is completely misleading and untruthful. I saw nothing on the site about dead babies or the List of Death, to name a few. They simply stated why they feel that what MS iss doing is not good for consumers and innovation, unlike the official MS line.

You, like the aforementioned commentators, completely misrepresent what actually is stated. Typically one does this when one has a completely closed mind and does not tolerate any other points of view. You sir are exactly what you accuse the FSF of being - intolerant and a fundamentalist.

But, beyond your vitriole, negative hyperbole and character assasination techniques there is something much more troubling. If you had read any of the research done by Robert Altemeyer, and others, you would immediately recognize yourself in the descriptions of what they call the "right wing authoritarian personality". You should probably do a little self-analysis before you go spouting off on completely innocuous issues like the FSF position on MS.

I hope this does not become a trend at the Inq. I also hope that your new owners didn't have a hand in this, as that might result in yuo're losing a loyal fan and reader. Thanks for listening.

Caseyk

Subject: Intel/AMD comparing

Hi,

to the comparison Intel gave, you might add to your article, that : If a user wants to do Adobe-Acrobat AND Word (which is more likely than running the sysmark bench), he might prefer an Athlon 2800 singlecore befor Intel 820

according to :

http://hardware.thgweb.de/charts/prozessoren.html?model1=430&model2=464& amp;chart=189

-select benchmark Word + acrobat

regards juergen

Subject: Not a flame

I think you are missing a point here.

I am, of course, a penguinista. I do say "free software", not "open sauce". I think a clear role for the FSF is a bit like the Pope and non-believers: a fixed point on the moral firmament enabling you to measure your distance from somewhere.

That most people shop at Tescos is not morally or economically equivalent to trying not to use software that creates its own lock-in. Much to Tescos' chagrin (if they actually care that much) I can bugger off to my supermarket of choice.

If the alternatives to Free Software were really worth paying the upgrade tax, maybe they could focus on losing the lock-in tax, and e.g., use ODF, avoid unnecessary server - client interaction, or even let users of earlier versions continue to use them without trying to make them upgrade unnecessarily (c.f., a story about Windows 2000 that seems to either have disappeared from here or the other plaice)

But yes, _you_ are free to choose Windows or Apple or anything else but, mutatis mutandis, just don't inflict it on _me_.

Gerry

Subject: Compressed heroin

I read your article about the compressed heroin in fans and then followed the link to the original site with photo's. further around the page are various other articles one of which "testosterone enanthate" which on looking on google is a steriod. At the top of the list is a link to buying thi ssubstance on ebay however.... I was going to send you an image but the there is no option here. Anyway type in the above and you will see.

regards

Mike

Subject: Open sauce fundamentalists slap a fatwa on Vista

Actually, it is You who has no idea what Microsoft is about to do.

This moronic attitude you are a nice example of is exactly the reason totalitarian regimes fourish so much on this planet.

To help your brain a bit. The problem with MS is NOT that they make an OS (a pretty solid one BTW) but what they are doing with the market power they've got by making that OS.

Think more, spend a bit time with some philosophical creations of the past. You may understand the motives of FSF.

Yes, they are a bit crazy sometimes. But to label anybody with other opinion as your an "extremist" ???

Then what's next? To put them in jail? To execute them? ... And for what? for expresing their beliefs and ideas?

Remember the Communism? This exact direction of thoughts you have (and US gov has!) led to the existence of things like gulags.

Pleas think/study more before you publish or not publish at all.

With regards.

mino

Subject: Best of '06

Loved the best and worst of '06, I'm humbly submitting my own picks for this year:

Best new product for the elderly: MacBook Pro Best value:

LCD monitors at a reasonable price Best infiltration of the live beyond your means consumer market: LCD and Plasma HDTV Best up-sell: The 100, er 150, er 200 dollar PC for every child Best use of private eyes in a corporate setting: Patricia Dunn Best INQ scoop: DAAMIT Best adaptation of a game controller to a weapon: Nintendo Wii Best resale value: PS3 Best new processor technology: Kentsfield Best fleecing of consuming public: Kentsfield's retailing at $1400.00 Best paper launch: 65nm Athlon 64s Best use of excess PC space and power: any high end graphics card Best new technology for pr0n: Perpindicular recording hard drives

Mike

Subject: INQ hacks award their best, worse of 2006

The loonies are out flying around their pond. Time to put more corn meal on the marsh and watch 'em land - great sport to see 'em roll into a ball and waddle away to start Scribbling again

John

Subject: Better headlines

Hey guys,

You need to come up with better headlines. This one for example: Firm pays Microsoft millions for counterfeiting software

Reading that, I thought some firm paid MS money for them to go counterfeit software.

So pay attention next time, or else I might have to come over and beat you up.

All o' ya

Karel

Subject: Inq issues

dear mike,

I haven't read the inq for months now... reason is that I do follow Apple news, I own some AAPL, too, and a certain editor at the inq produces massive amounts of AAPL news that are mostly Apple-bashing articles that are ill researched.

I read these, and either think OMG that's so stupid, or "here we go again..." until about 2 month ago when I stopped reading the inq completely. The signal-to-noise ratio just turned bad for me - it's one thing to be funny, it's another to just push out baseless propaganda, be it pro- or counter-Apple/Linux/MS. AAPL news on the inq are worthless, or worse, an annoying waste of time.

Latest example here:
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=36455

I quote: "This could cause problems for Apple, which has been buying up website domain names for the imminent release of its iPhone product."

That's simply false. Apple has had iphone.org since 1999, as anyone can verify:
http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois.ch?ip=iphone.org

Look for iphone.com and you see it's been owned by some J random guy since 1995!

Anyway, it's just one example of stuff made up out of thin air. This is FOX-News-esque propaganda.

This isn't a dramatic announcement, just thought I let you know because I have always enjoyed your articles. Where's your blog? [googling] Oh... ok so you sold the Inq. Maybe that explains it... too bad!

cheers, Nik

PS: I don't watch FOX news either.. in fact just catching it by random chance tends to make me physically sick...

Subject: Linking to copyrighted material

Wow! The first nail in the internet's coffin. In the US, Copyright is automatically granted whenever you record something wether it's written down, recorded or stored digitally. The same is aparantly true in the UK. I will quote from the UK Copyright Service web page at great personal risk the following two paragraphs:

"A very common question is, “How do I go about copyrighting my work?” or “How do I get my work copyrighted, or copywritten?”. This demonstrates a miss-understanding of the legal position and how copyright actually occurs.

Copyright itself is an automatic right that occurs at the point the work is fixed in a tangible manner, i.e. when it is recorded or written down. It is therefore not strictly speaking possible to have your work copywritten, (indeed this is not even a real word), as you will already hold the copyright."

I am assuming that it's the same in Australia. That means that any time you link to a web site that was created in the US, UK or any other country with a similar copyright law, you are breaking the law because that web site was copyrighted when it was created. Unless there is some sort of disclaimer, you're in trouble. Google being the biggest offender. I wonder how much I could get out of them?

Copywritten work is registered in order to prove that someone stole your work. However it is much easier to prove that someone is pointing to your work.

On a side note, it is illegial to buy a book, scan it, store it in the magnetic pattern on your hard drive, sell the book but keep the magnetic pattern. By the same logic, it is illegial to buy a book, scan it with your retna, store it in the configuration of your nurons, sell the book but keep the configuration of your nurons.

"Who are the brain police?" - F. Zappa

Joel Schlecht

Subject: There are better things to advertise in this world to make it a nicer place

I am not a muslim but for me as a pantheist and as a human that finds the ability to rationalise and feel pain on other species apart from us is very dissapointing to discover an article about how internet can make easier to sacrifice a non human animal being.

I mean a so respectable mass media like inquirer when looking for news on the limits of the it topic may easily find better things to make advertising of, to promote things human race can be proud of and make a better place from this world. Sadly promoting news like this may have several consequences but none of the ones mentioned above.

Mauricio
Spain