Computing desk
< December 13	<< Nov \| December \| Jan >>	December 15 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

December 14[edit]

What is the cost of pirated software for the users?[edit]

Is there any reliable and independent source analyzing hidden costs of pirated software? I mean direct costs for the users, not just nebulous costs like less proprietary software available, or less technical support. I am thinking aobut fines if being caught, malware, malfunctioning, time spent trying to find it and cracking. --3dcaddy (talk) 00:35, 14 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

You do know this is a difficult question. The costs are different depending on your circumstances. If you earn $130,000 a year the cost of pirated software is difference than if you are unemployed and earn $0 a year. If you are unemployed, the cost of pirate software is acceptable even if you get malwares because you literally have nothing for the malware owner to steal off you! 175.45.116.66 (talk) 04:58, 14 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The malware can steal your computer from you. Imagine that 99% of your computer's processor and 99% of your network bandwidth is used by malware to send out spam. You have effectively had your computer stolen. Now, you have no money (as you claim) and, if you are in this situation, no knowledge of how to remove the malware. So, you have two options: turn the computer off and never use it or turn it on and never be able to use it. 209.149.113.52 (talk) 20:28, 14 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know how independent the study has to be. But Microsoft sponsored a study, which was conducted independently, about the economical impact of software piracy. It was conducted by IDC and the National University of Singapore (NUS) and can be downloaded from [1]. --Denidi (talk) 13:54, 14 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

In the 1980s a pirtated software was detected by its updates and demo versions. Those offered a free user manual when a software version with dongle crack was detected. The coupon code clarified what illegal copy was installed on the computer. The promised «user manual» was sent by an attorney to these computer users and made them pay for the software and the losts of the software vendor. Today, every computer in use is connected to the internet and software is used to call home. --Hans Haase (有问题吗) 00:07, 15 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Are you using Google Translate for your posts Hans? I have difficulties understanding most of it. And I don't se how the bits that I understand relate to my answer. --Denidi (talk) 02:58, 15 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I did. The post is updated now. --Hans Haase (有问题吗) 23:55, 17 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Image help[edit]

This image appears to be divided into multiple portions and Dezoomify doesn't help. As I'm quite lame in it, could someone help in possible stitching and downloading in maximum resolution over File:H. Piffard - The Thin Red Line.jpg? The image is in public domain, as the artist Harold H. Piffard died 77 years ago. Brandmeister^talk 16:10, 14 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I uploaded a full-resolution version. (I used Chrome's network inspector to see what images the page was requesting from the server. The tiles have URLs like ...&DMSCALE=15&DMWIDTH=512&DMHEIGHT=512&DMX=...&DMY=...&..., and by replacing that with DMSCALE=100&DMWIDTH=8192&DMHEIGHT=8192&DMX=0&DMY=0, I was able to download the whole image as one "tile".) -- BenRG (talk) 19:10, 14 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The full-resolution image has a bunch of dots all over it - it looks like it was a very high resolution scan of a very low resolution printed image from a book or a magazine or something. Grabbing the highest resolution version is not particularly useful.

SteveBaker (talk) 00:40, 16 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, the color rosettes are visible. It has far more real detail than Brandmeister's upload, even when downscaled to the same size ([2] [3]). It could probably be downscaled somewhat without losing "important" detail, but the savings in storage and processing costs would probably amount to less than 1¢ over the lifetime of Commons. It's not worth thinking about even at minimum wage. -- BenRG (talk) 22:01, 17 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Freegate not working[edit]

Hi all, I've been using Freegate as a proxy in China, and it has worked fine in the past, but lately it has started playing up rather badly. It won't find any servers, and when it does, it usually cuts out quickly. Then, last night, it started working, eventually. Then I disconnected the internet, and today, it is up to its usual tricks. It usually just says "No server is available. Please try again later." Has something changed with Freegate, has the Chinese government worked out how to defeat it, or am I having an unlucky run? IBE (talk) 17:10, 14 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Writing smartphone applications in various languages[edit]

Hello,

Will it be possible in the foreseeable future to write a program in any of the major programming language (Python, Javascript, C++ etc.) that would run on different smartphone operating systems such as Android, iOS, etc? Thanks, 109.160.175.221 (talk) 19:02, 14 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

There are a number of frameworks like Xamarin which allow cross-platform development, and many more which wrap HTML/CSS/JS into applications which can run on a range of smartphone platforms - see Multiple phone web-based application framework. -- Finlay McWalterᚠTalk 19:14, 14 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]