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Err, as far as I can tell, all Microsoft is doing is pissing off customers. Some are even considering leaving the Microsoft desktop...

First off, Microsoft kills off competition. You will never quite find out how the consumers could have benefitted, because Microsoft has eliminated possible new advances that could have competed with them.

But more than anything, we are now seeing the most obvious, direct, and "see, they are clearly a monopoly" harm: raised prices. It's even worse than just raised prices; it's clear that the advances in Windows and Office are really slowing down, so Microsoft is essentially forcing you to pay more for less. Microsoft is simply milking its customers, and even threatening them to audit them if they don't move to the new program.

If that isn't consumer harm, then I don't know what is.

Fast times at Motorola

IBM advances chip speeds - Tech News - CNET...

The bill lists more than 40 criminal offenses, including computer intrusion and damaging a computer, and defines those offenses as terrorism if they are "calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion...or to retaliate against government conduct."

By CNET News.com Staff CNET News.com

Yahoo! didn't report this story, they just licensed it. Give credit where it's due . :-)

When I buy new hardware I usually check various review sites first, but since I've never had any problems with my IBM drives, I've just bought them without checking... Big mistake.
I am also the victim of a failing IBM drive just like the author of this article...

So I checked my usual review site, c'net - and wow, take a look at the 60GB drive reviews! They are horrible! 50/50 for good/bad!
Even though, c'net themselves rates the 75GB drive as 8/10 - wow...

My two maxtor drives are very good though, but they do make a bit more noise than the IBMs - but rather that...

You claim that there is no problem and reject countermeasures, yet take action to avoid unwanted mail, and that is hypocrisy.

Wrong. I do not claim there is no problem. I do not reject countermeasures. I reject ineffective vigilante countermeasures. I claim that MAPS does not help, at least not as much as they would have us believe. I'm not alone in this claim. I claim that my ISP does not use MAPS and I have no spam problem. That's not because there is no spam problem, it's because I take action to avoid unwanted email. Why is that so awful? Why am I villified for being careful about how I share my email address?

the scorched earth approach is the only thing keeping the Internet usable.

I disagree. That's the bottom line. That's where we disagree. It doesn't make me an ogre. It doesn't make you an ogre. However, if you block my email based solely on my IP address and nothing else, simply because some self-appointed other person decided to list my IP address as evil, then in my opinion you are indeed an ogre.

What everyone on your side of the arguement fails to realize is that IP address alone is not sufficient evidence of spam. Period. I support a legal definition of spam that we can all agree really targets spam; I will never agree to IP address alone as the sole identifier. I offer to work to define spam -- do you? No. You already know spam when you see it: anything on the MAPS list is spam. Period. No question. No appeal. Sorry, but that doesn't cut it for me. Who died and left the Internet in the care of MAPS?

Once we have that definition we can enact laws to protect us from spam and punish those to send it. Until then, the vigilanties like MAPS are simply lawless tyrant bullies trying to tell everyone else how to live. You obviously like that, but I don't. Especially when they tell me I can't send email to my brother but won't tell me why.

So, is this the mighty Palm-killer?

Not according to IDC they're not. (Of course, how much weight you give the likes of IDC, Gartner, et al will temper this report).

I think the downturn doesn't bode well for PocketPC (nor Palm, frankly). PocketPCs seem to be geared towards business users (WAY too expensive for the average folk) and I wonder how willing business are going to be to plunk down a lot of money to take full advantage of what the PocketPC PDAs can do.

Palm are getting it in the shorts due to economy and saturation, MS will get it in the shorts due to the economy and the dubious usefulness of PocketPC devices beyond niche applications.

Vixie (who runs MAPS) is the CTO of a backbone internet provider (abovenet) which just happens to be one of those who "seek information". They have a regular history of blocking traffic... of course without explicit permission (and usually without even the knowledge) of downstream ISPs and their unsuspecting customers.

This is quite a bit different than end users making an informed decision to subscribe to the "service". Likewise, some ISPs subscribe to MAPS on their user's behalf, sometimes without informing them, and other times while leading them to believe the service doesn't impact non-spam messages.

That database expresses an opinion: in the opinion of MAPS, the networks listed in the database are suspected of passing through or generating spam.

This is true. ...at least true if "passing through" includes lots of unsuspecting non-spam businesses and users who simply connect to those spamming-suspected networks.

The lie is in much of the promotion regarding how accurate these opinions are, and the lack of disclosure regarding the non-spam users who are also intentionally blocked. It's quite questionable how well MAPS blocks spam. At the same time, there is no question that MAPS has been responsible for disrupting non-spam communication time and time again.

For a good taste of the deceptive nature of MAPS, check out their Realtime Blacklist Policy Page. They claim four there are four ways to become blacklisted:

• Spam Origination
• Spam Relaying
• Spam Support Services
• Netblock Inheritance

What that MAPS policy page doesn't clearly explain (or really explain at all) is their regular practice of listing large netblocks, which contain large numbers of non-spammers. It isn't explained that MAPS uses this strong-arm tactic to pressure ISPs that are hosting some spammers by blocking not only the spammer but all of the ISP's unsuspecting non-spam customers.

MAPS's policy page also doesn't explain that there is no notification to these innocent and unsuspecting bystanders that their communication is being intentionally disrupted simply because some other customer at their ISP is sending spam.

MAPS's policy page doens't state that they will refuse to stop discrupting messages to non-spammers when it is brought to their attention that a non-spammer has been affected by a netblock that also contains a spammer. (yes, believe it or not, Vixie/MAPS has a long history of refusing to un-block non-spam users when they complain that they are blocked) It certainly doesn't state that it is their intention to block messages to non-spammers and spammers alike, if they happen to be hosted at an ISP that (in MAPS's rather extreem and un-accountable opinions) isn't working hard enough to stop spam.

Sure, MAPS is entitled to their opinions, and they have the free speech right to share those opinions. Where the line is crossed (IMHO) is:

• Upstream providers, not end users, subscribing to the service... thereby forcing MAPS's rather extreem opinions on end users without giving them a choice.
• Misrepresenting their blacklisting policy to imply that they only target spammers and those directly involved in spam... when in truth they intentionally target unsuspecting non-spammers (and never even notify them) simply because they inadvertently chose the same ISP as a spammer did (and the ISP didn't respond by immediately cutting service to an existing customer who MAPS says is a spammer)

This is the article to which you are referring, I think

As pointed out in this CNET article, while forcing the maximum secure version and forcing uses to install all patches is a good step in the right direction, the fact that IIS has been patched so many times implies that to really improve the security of it, it needs to be rewritten from scratch, particularly since it is a closed source application and thus does not have the same QA that open source software might have.

ZDNet story

CNet story

Interesting story at BBC News

The system does work, and this piece of crap will end up getting thrown out just like all the other junk legislation.

That's a rather bold statement considering the history of congress in relation to technological issues. They've proved themselves time and again to be incapable of comprehending the consequences of their legislation. The DMCA makes it illegal to backup DVDs. UTICA (Passed in Virginia and Maryland) gives legal teeth to shrink wrap licenses regardless of how rediculous or overbearing they might be. Dismissing out of hand the possibility of the SSSCA being passed is obtuse. There's no reason to bash people for voicing their opinions, call them paranoid, or tell them not to complain. Communication, regardless of its effect on votes in the Capitol, is a right we enjoy. If not therapeutic, it is at least entertaining. True, people need to write their legislators, but there's no reason not to discuss it in this forum.

-atrowe: Card-carrying Mensa member. I have no toleranse for stupidity.

On the off chance that your signature isn't a joke, and that the joke is actually you, Mensa membership is hardly an indication of omniscience. With one in every fifty people eligible for membership, Mensa is the trailer trash of high IQ societies. According to The Mega Society, "IQ is not demonstrably identical to intelligence," therefore it's entirely possible that stupid people could be members of Mensa. But I think you've just proved that.

By the way, tolerance is the correct spelling.

Advert free story:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-202-7320279-0.htm l

See this item for details on the protection. In short, they've screwed up the disc's table of contents so the CD-ROM drive can't make heads or tails of it. Audio CD players just ignore all the gunk. You can trivially work around the problem by reading the disc as a series of blocks.

A related story on news.com is a "news.com special report" on the subject of copy-protected audio CDs.

From our standpoint, we are designing the software for the 99 percent of the people who don't want to steal the music but instead (want to) use it for whatever means--for whatever personal use that's allowed by the artist and the record label.

99% of the general populion don't want to make mp3s of their cds?

From CNET's stats, it seems like about 13 million people have downloaded Kazaa, and about another 20 million have downloaded Morpheus (not to mention various other file sharing programs talked about on /. here). Therefore I think it's pretty reasonable to assume that at least 10 million individuals out there are trading mp3s with software that your average Joe can use. In the year 2000, 2.5 billion CDs were sold (according to this link). Assuming that average Joe buys, say, a couple CDs a month (reasonabe?), this comes out to about 100 million average Joes buying cds each year. Using my super-human mathmatical capabilities, I figure about 10% of the general cd-purchasing population wish to make mp3s with their cds. He's an order of magnitude off! In physics or chemistry this is fine, but for the CEO of a business, isn't it a bit much?

See this article: http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-201-7320279-0.htm l

At least in some cases, the tracks are WMA. So even this level of so-called fair use is not available for non-Windows users. I don't know if the guy being interviewed above is part of the WMA-using company or not.

Cnet has an article that talks about some studios releasing the music in "protected" CD format and Windows Media format for those crazy people who want to play it on their (MS) computer.

There, see, problem solved.

How many copies do you allow people to make?
It's up to the record company, but six is the standard right now. So they can make six copies; as long as their disc is in the tray of their computer, they can make those copies...

However I tried to triple boot with Windows 98 so I can use a cheap video grabber card--my advice is DON'T EVEN TRY to install Win98 on this board. Mine installed fine but would not boot Win98.

Placing the heatsink/fans on the CPUs was kind of tricky. I had 2mm of clearance between my heatsink/fan of choice and the single row of capacitors on the board. If the caps didn't wiggle I wouldn't have been able to install the heatsink/fans.

I found humor on the inside cover of the manual. I was pleased to see in print that this motherboard is certified for *both* Win2k and RH 7.1. However that textual note was marked with an asterisk to the effect:

This Tyan board is fully supported by Red Hat 7.1; however Tyan is not responsible if Red Hat no longer continues to support Red Hat 7.1.

Also, a warning. If you choose to install 1 Gb or so of ECC, registered memory, then booting takes a long time. There's some kind of POST that occurs for this kind of memory that delays my boot by like 30 seconds.

Finally, I just want to say that SMP is no magic bullet. For my purposes this board is fabulous. But in fact, some applications run more slowly on a dual CPU system. For example, any given single threaded program (read: first person shooter) will take a hit, say 2-5% of its speed. Your application has to use multiple threads to take advantage of this environment. Of course you can run more processes, that's nice.

You can judge for yourself if this is a good board for you. Look at the reviews for the Tyan Thunder K7, I feel they apply to the Tiger when it comes to processor performance. You can find review for that board here and here

This Cnet article mentions that there are different levels of protection available, including a level that will allow MP3s downloaded to PC but still prevent piracy (I guess by not allowing the creation of a master to be burned a gazzilion times). This seems to me the best of both worlds: stop piracy and let the geeks have their MP3s. This is what we should push the record companies to do (and this answers their concern over piracy, so if they refuse they expose their hipocracy).

Interesting to see how that turns out. I mean, they're bastardizing a published standard and selling the product as compatible with that standard. Jeez, if they weren't all in the same bed, I'd expect Phillips to sue them ;)

Unions, already on the wane, have never gained much hold in the Tech Nation, populated by educated, mobile, skilled and independent-minded workers.

This anti-unionism fed right into the hands of employers. They buttered workers up with promises of get-rich-quick options packages, funky office toys and a sympathetic environment. Who could begrudge those eighty hour work weeks when your dotcom needed you?

Those dotcom feel-good moments were already waning when tech stocks went into freefall and layoffs loomed. Unions wouldn't save everyone from layoffs. I'll be the first to admit they have their problems. But the blatant abuse of tech employees (many often not even granted that status in the contract-labour world) should be a wake-up call. Internet Week reported on a dotcom unionization trend back in January. Maybe it is worth a second look!

Don't forget that the Inspiron 2100 lasts only about 2 hours of average use with a standard battery. (The figure is closer to three hours if you turn the clock speed down to 500MHz from 700MHz.) If you want to watch a DVD, I imagine that the battery life would decline fairly rapidly due to the constant spinning of the drive. Apple claims five hours of battery life for the new iBooks with average use, and I can say that I've used one (an older-style iBook, that is) with an Airport card for about 4 1/2 hours of casual use before it started whining about a low battery. Disabling Airport probably would have added that extra half-hour.

I was actually looking at both the new iBook and the Inspiron 2100, but battery life is really the more important factor for me. YMMV.

Well it looks like we will be able to get a copy on Saturday.
Although I bet it will be longer for some of us who don't live close to the new store.
I hope it lives up to all the hype.

-S

seems like Panasonic has placed its bet...and PalmOS and WinCE were nowhere to be found....

Er? From the article:

"Panasonic will be using Microsoft's Windows CE 3.0...."

-j

Yes, companies can change. But they have to prove it with code, not press releases. They claim to be developing Linux drivers for newer chipsets. Any word on other free OSes? Or source code? Documentation, even?

C|Net ran the story here last Thursday (my submission to /. was rejected). The part I think is most important (emphasis mine):
Gartner remains concerned that viruses and worms will continue to attack IIS until Microsoft has released a completely rewritten release of ISS that is thoroughly and publicly tested. Sufficient operational testing should follow to ensure that the initial wave of security vulnerabilities every software product experiences has been uncovered and fixed. This move should include any Microsoft .Net Web service that requires the use of IIS.

Maybe this is the chance for Mono Miguel has already seen?

How is the validation of an individual's identity ensuring his sanity on a flight? If I carry this card, and prove that I am indeed the holder of the thumb and body which the card indicates, what is stopping me from running into the cabin of the plane with a fork, and declaring the plane in the name of Homer Simpson? Nothing.

Stop trying to fill your pockets, Larry, at the expense of the very same freedoms which made you rich.

We have Microsoft trying to pull everyone's personal credit information into Passport and .NET, so they can control where you go, when, and how you get there, and we have Oracle, trying to capture and store and "manage" your very identity. I don't think so.

We also have the DMCA, the SSSCA, backdoored "encryption" (anything with more than one keyholder is not encryption), the RIAA, MPAA, gps tracking devices in rental cars, cameras at every intersection, Dmitry Sklyarov vs. US/Adobe, and traffic tickets being sent in the mail for infractions you were never stopped for.

How is this giving me liberty again?

What people in our government fail to see is that the collection of these events, coupled with those who are trying to restrict stem cell research, our encryption, our liberties, and now, in a very delicate potential time of war, issuing lethal foreign policies. People are leaving this country, and taking off for other places where the opportunities may not be as vast, but the freedoms certainly are.

I'm very close to taking off as well, before the borders are closed, and I have to show my passport, fingerprint, and biometric validation, along with government approval to leave this country, and I'm taking all of my loved ones with me.

From a news.com article. Congressman Bob Goodlatte equates encryption backdoors to giving you house key to the local police. He's also pushing for more encryption not less inorder to make U.S. companies/systems more secure against cyber attacks.

Nice to see at he's got the right idea. Check out the article for more of his comments...

From a news.com article. Congressman Bob Goodlatte equates encryption backdoors to giving you house key to the local police. He's also pushing for more encryption not less inorder to make U.S. companies/systems more secure against cyber attacks.

Nice to see at he's got the right idea. Check out the article for more of his comments...

There have already been a few Linux worms:

• Ramen worm - sucks up lots of bandwidth by doing network scans and changes the main page on web servers. (January 2001)
  
• Adore worm - Replaces ps with another program that would list all processes except for the worm. Then it would e-mail "several key system files" to some e-mail addresses. (April 2001)
  
• Lion worm - attacked computers running BIND. (March 2001)
  

One thing pointed out in most of the cases is that there had been patches out for at least a few months that would have protected the computers from attack (Just like Nimda). It just goes to show that it isn't just Windows admins/users who don't keep up-to-date on security.

There have already been a few Linux worms:

• Ramen worm - sucks up lots of bandwidth by doing network scans and changes the main page on web servers. (January 2001)
  
• Adore worm - Replaces ps with another program that would list all processes except for the worm. Then it would e-mail "several key system files" to some e-mail addresses. (April 2001)
  
• Lion worm - attacked computers running BIND. (March 2001)
  

One thing pointed out in most of the cases is that there had been patches out for at least a few months that would have protected the computers from attack (Just like Nimda). It just goes to show that it isn't just Windows admins/users who don't keep up-to-date on security.

There have already been a few Linux worms:

• Ramen worm - sucks up lots of bandwidth by doing network scans and changes the main page on web servers. (January 2001)
  
• Adore worm - Replaces ps with another program that would list all processes except for the worm. Then it would e-mail "several key system files" to some e-mail addresses. (April 2001)
  
• Lion worm - attacked computers running BIND. (March 2001)
  

One thing pointed out in most of the cases is that there had been patches out for at least a few months that would have protected the computers from attack (Just like Nimda). It just goes to show that it isn't just Windows admins/users who don't keep up-to-date on security.

That right. Then Linux waits untill someone incorporates GPL'd code into their closed project w/o reading the license, and when they're too far along to change it, Linux leaps out and shouts, "Ah Ha, Gotcha! All your code now belong to me! Muhahahahahaha!!"

(Unlike, say, business owners who've invested heavily in Msft infrastructure now dealing with the new licensing designed to punish those who don't voluntarily buy every upgrade that comes out whether they need it or not).

I'd like to see both Apple and Microsoft expand on this in the future to allow for software updates through an easy to use standalone application. I'd also like to see third party developers get access to the software update systems, so they can offer patches to the users (or at least links to websites with patches).

The Microsoft system is pretty sad, and the closest thing I've seen to the Mac OS update system is cNet's Catchup. But we're still stuck with downloading and applying patches manually.

For once, Gartner agrees with your average /.er.

CNet and ZDNet aren't exactly what I would call cross-referencing. After CNet bought ZDNet, CNet's reporting turned into the trash ZDNet always spewed. Then Gamecenter was given the chop in favour of boring (and ugly) Gamespot.

Have a little read at the list of companies CNet owns, and weep to think that all news is manipulated by monopolies.

Oh, also...airlines aren't the only ones getting help:

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200-7240474.html? tag=nbs

Well, having established that the Phantom Menace was a shitty movie targeted at easily-marketable 7-year-olds, I'd like to bring your attention to a release much worthier of your attention. The Phantom Edit, as it is called, is an underground 'remix' of this movie, a remix that attempts to bring a small level of respectability, plausibility, and intelligence to this poor film.

No-one knows quite where to find a copy (seeing as it is a massive copyright violation), but I'm sure that Direct Connect, Morpheus, and WinMX users will be able to dig up a copy, somewhere.

... if they could convince AMD not to call their future CPUs for AthlonXP rather AthlonRedHat.

No bills are on the table yet.

Last week after the attacks Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) made a speech to the Senate calling for backdoor access to encryption software.

If you want to read more, these links have details:

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-201-7149229-0.htm l

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46816,00 .html

Note: Congress reconvenes on Friday, so if you give a shit about nipping this in the bud, write/email/call/fax your respective officials immediately!

Don't know how to contact them? Go to congress.org

Laws are effective at controlling the behavior of people who choose to obey them. The usefullness of regulating behavior drecreases as people become inreasingly willing to violate the law.

The law cannot eliminate crimes. You can hang each pickpocket on the first offence but you will not stop pickpocketing from occuring. You can take away tweasers from all passengers at the airport but the determined crminal will simply make weapons from the tray table or what he can scavage from the bathroom. You cannot stop a determined crminal willing to sacrifice his life 100% of the time.

The government is the ultimate 500 pound gorilla. It is too slow and too plodding to stop a motivatd individual. The government was warned by the French and warned by Isreal yet was unable to stop it. Turning loose the police state won't help, it will bury them in irrelevant information and errode our cival rights.

Terrorists are not effective becasuse of encryption or stenography despite propoganda to the countrary. They freakin' use AOL and Earthlink.

I realize that nearly everyone is upset & angry right now. That's one of many reasons we should think carefully, act slowly, and not have midnight votes taking away our cival rights.

BTW, fax congress and urge restraint now!

A picture of the Fujitsu Robot> Anyone got any better links than the one paragraph ones?? I did notice that Rodney Brooks is a Fujitsu Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at MIT. I wonder how much of COG is in the new robot??

Fry's is the one everyone should be complaining about, not EggHead.

This article needs to be updated almost daily to keep up with all of the Linux companies going out of business. Lineo is almost dead, and EBiz just folded. Who's next?

There are several stories around about the terrorist attacks, what the net has to do with the trail for clues, and what we're looking at in the future. To start, news.com has a story about searches conducted at ISP's. Earthlink was reportedly served with an FISA warrant, which an Earthlink representative called "equivalent to a wiretap." The only people allowed to request an FISA warrant are the directors of the CIA and FBI, and the secretaries of state and defense. All but one of the 7,539 FISA warrant applications since 1978 have been approved. According to the ACLU, not one instance can be found where the target of a FISA warrant was allowed to review the initial warrant application, as it is granted by a secret panel of seven federal judges. Msnbc has more information about the FBI and its searches, with AOL, Yahoo, and Earthlink confirming that they've been cooperating, and Microsoft only saying they "regularly work with law enforcement." Wired has more detail about "a major network service provider" saying that the FBI showed up on Tuesday "with a couple of Carnivores, requesting permission to place them in our core, along with offers to actually pay for circuits and costs." The most troubling quote, from the same anonymous source, is "I know that they are getting a lot of 'OKs' because they made it a point to mention that they would only be covering our core for a few days, while their 'main boxes were being set up at the Tier 1 carriers' -- scary." An anonymous engineer at Hotmail indicated they "are cooperating with their expedited requests for information about a few specific accounts." Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich made a commentary (RealAudio only) on last night's Marketplace on NPR about terrorism and the future of privacy. He closes with a few chilling sentences. "To gain back more of our security, we will give up more of our privacy. We'll do it gladly, if that's the price we have to pay to counter terror. The willing loss of our privacy is likely to be one of the major consequences of the horror that occured September 11th, 2001."

• Cnet reports Akamai's co-founder and CTO Danier Lewin was on American 11.
• SiliconValley.Com suggests damage to USA economy.
• ComputerWorld says Comdisco has gotten 60 business disaster declarations.
• Radio reports that a Red Cross blood donation facility in one city has shut down -- they have a huge amount of donations today but can't fly the blood anywhere. This suggests a particular need for donations near the East Coast

The times of india.

Indian Express

NDTV news.

Sify news

Rediff News

Hindustan Times

Internet News

Cnet.com