wow ... way more complicated than this needs to be. 1. dvd shrink to smallest size using a single vob file. 2. change vob extension to mpg 3. watch on tv »

agreed bevil hive. it's one thing to critique a product, and even highlight it's short comings, but an article that is made up mostly of fiction and/or FUD opinions is not something I wish to see in an FOSS based magazine/webzine. Does LM have an editing department? I would hope than someone who read this article before it was published would have seen the blatant errors (ipod proprietary files, etc..) and pulled this article or at least advised that it should be corrected before publishing it. »

I too continue coming back to view the comments on this one. it seems that Jason struck a chord with a lot of people Both a good one and a bad one, but chord non the less. Kudos on mentioning TiVo, an excellent example of an OpenSource platform being utilized in a very positive way. However, look at the many of “TiVo Like” commercial boxes that have been spawned from that. Comcast, RCN, ProLog are the three cable companies in my area an they all have a box that is by far below TiVo’s level of service and technology. People are buying it and paying for it because they either do not know about TiVo or do not understand the difference. This goes back to my original final statement. Until people understand that the monitor switch on the computer does NOT turn the control the computer itself, we will have a hard time convincing them that OpenSource is a good thing. »

I'm confused, The title said something about killing kittens. This article is also peppered with incorrect information. iPod/iTunes doesn't have a proprietary audio format, It runs on .mp3 Also since iTunes 7x has been out, The complaints of crashes and lockups has gone down dramatically. Unless of course you are running iTunes on a bootlegged copy of WindowsX running on some chopped up re-complied version of *nix. While I do agree that Apple needs to embrace the opensource community and support 3rd party apps and plugins, there are tons of applications out there that already offer modifications to your iPod. Just google 'Hack My iPod' there are over 100,000 results that help you do anything from retrieving the music from your iPod, to changing the graphics on it. I have to admit this article was a pretty dull read. The specs on the imaginary Cisco phone could do with some upgrading also. An SD expansion slot? why not a Floppy Drive. My new LG phone just barley bigger than an SD card. MicroSD has a cap of 2gb now but they will be pushing the 8-10gb if not larger by the time your dream phone is conceived. With all the functional features you are talking about the phone would be the size of a Apple Newton and the battery would be a tight fit into a small suitcase. While I am very PRO OPEN SOURCE (I unlike the author will not plug my website(s) here) I don't believe that the non-open source community is ready for this type of device yet. You are forgetting that the general population still thinks the switch on their monitor shuts off the whole computer. »