Sunday, August 26th 2007

Court Orders Convicted Pirate to Dump Linux and Use Windows

Well, it looks like another pirate has been convicted and thrown in jail. However, Scott McCausland, ex-administrator of the Elite Torrents Bit Torrent tracker, has a rather peculiar sentence to serve. After pleading guilty to 'conspiracy to commit copyright infringement' and 'criminal copyright infringement', the court gave him five months in jail and five months house arrest. Under the condition that he follows his parole officer's orders, of course. Those orders were simple: McCausland must let the FBI watch his every online move. In order for that to happen, McCausland must dump Linux for Windows in order for that to happen. McCausland claims that this is cruel and unusual punishment, as it means he will have to buy expensive software while he is unemployed.
Source: The Inquirer
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59 Comments on Court Orders Convicted Pirate to Dump Linux and Use Windows

#51
niko084
Fox34Dude check newegg, theres special hardware for macs, aka like 3 video cards?
Dude get off Newegg, and look at a Mac shop.... There is like 90 video cards :)
Posted on Reply
#52
Fox34
Yea you need a whole website for it, on newegg theres like hundreds of video cards never mind everything else that you can buy
Posted on Reply
#53
niko084
Most hardware is actually the same now also... Sata drives and such.
Posted on Reply
#56
hat
Enthusiast
It's not a mac version... and it costs the same as an 8800gtx on newegg
your point is?
Posted on Reply
#57
niko084
hatIt's not a mac version... and it costs the same as an 8800gtx on newegg
your point is?
^^^If you read the post actually.... The page confused me quickly looking for mac card, then i noticed later it wasn't a mac card.
Posted on Reply
#58
Wile E
Power User
It's fairly easy to get around having to get a Mac specific card. Any video card will work, but not all provide Core video acceleration out of the box. Most ATI cards do, with a few exceptions. Ones that don't support it, only need one of 2 things, a BIOS flash, or a modified kext file in OS X.

Third party mac upgrades are expensive, but the computers themselves are exactly in line with PC prices, if you were to build a PC from the same parts. The exceptions being Mac notebooks, they carry a $500-700 premium at times, but you also have to realize that the $500-700 cheaper PC notebook, doesn't come in a Brushed aluminum enclosure, have as nice/big/functional of a trackpad. or a backlit keyboard. Are those worth the price? Eh, not for me, but maybe to some.

Replacement parts are also pricey, due to the fact that they're not that common.

As far as OS X being more stable than Windows, that's because it is written around a certain set of hardware. There aren't as many possible hardware combinations, so the drivers are more stable. Put OS X on a PC that doesn't have the same core hardware(mostly chipset and drive controllers) as a Mac, and it can be as unstable as windows.

PS: I own a G5 and a Core2 iMac 20", and I just sold a G4 iMac 17" WS.
Posted on Reply
#59
surfsk8snow.jah
Wow, this thread got off topic quickly, right into a fanboi debate, over the age old theme too... pshhhh haha

As far as this goes, I think it is indeed unusual punishment, not so much cruel, but unusual, and therefore should be appealed. However, at the same time, he's only on house arrest for 5mo? He can deal. Maybe he'll have some crazy murder experience like Shia LaBeouf haha.

Anyways, I find it funny that the word "Piracy" is such a common debate again (1st time for a couple hundred years really), while at the same time, Jack Sparrow is one of the most glorified pop-culture 'heroes' there are. Now, the absolute most hilarious thing will be if someone gets sued for pirating a copy of Pirates of the Caribbean. hah!

As for myself, I don't DL movies... Not opposed to others doing it, I just don't like the quality suckage... I enjoy the experience at the theatre.
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