Slashdot Mirror

I'm linking directly in these posts and not doing the normal goatse.cx paranoid stuff. Anybody providing goatse.cx links on a topic like this should be hunted down and eviscerated.

Source: C|Net News.com website.

Story lead in:

The World Trade Center houses 350 tenants within the 16-acre complex, which includes approximately 12 million square feet of rentable office space, including the two collapsed 110-story office towers, a 47-story office building, two nine-story office buildings, an eight-story U.S. Customhouse and a 22-story Marriott hotel.
Among the largest tenants is Morgan Stanley, which has its retail trading operation headquartered in the south tower of the World Trade Center.

The story also lists a couple of websites, one of which is a list of tenants that "is not clear how often" it is updated. The list doesn't appear to be responding at this moment.

Hope this helps.

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-7129089.html? tag=mn_hd

Try http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-202-7093278.html for a fast-loading, flash-free version of the article.

"There is definitly no way that any company should be able to collect information about a person that has purchased their CD. If this was a promotional CD I could see the point but if you purchase something it becomes yours (and you are free to do w/it whatever you wish) you paid a fee to give you rights. They are invading your privacy."

Ahem...

"There is definitely no way that any company should be able to collect information about a person that has purchased their software. If this was demoware I could see the point but if you purchase something it becomes yours (and you are free to do w/it whatever you wish) you paid a fee to give you rights. They are invading your privacy."

Damn. :(

So will CDs come with end-user license agreements now?

Hi all,

there's an interesting new article over on the Compaq website about the upgrade of current iPAQs to Merlin (PocketPC 2002):

"You made a great decision when you purchased your iPAQ Pocket PC!
Compaq will offer an upgrade to Microsoft Pocket PC 2002 for the iPAQ Pocket PC H3600 and H3100 Series.
You can place your order starting September 17, and shipments of the upgrade CD will begin in mid-October.
* If you purchased the iPAQ Pocket PC H3600 or H3100 Series between September 6, 2001 and November 30, 2001, your upgrade is free*.
(*You only pay for shipping, handling, and applicable tax for the upgrade CD.)

The process will involve completing and printing a form, then mailing or faxing it to Compaq, along with your proof of purchase.

* If you purchased the iPAQ Pocket PC before September 6 or after Nov 30, the upgrade will cost $29.95. Shipping, handling, and applicable taxes will be added to this amount.

Return to this site on or after September 17 to request or order the upgrade. "

The URL is here (thanks to Dave's Compaq iPAQ site for the original source of this news).

This comes after Compaq's announcement that "Customers can be assured that any iPAQ Pocket PC purchased today is upgradable to future Pocket PC software--a feature unique to the iPAQ."

I think this is pretty bad form on Compaq's part. First they announce that all current iPaqs will support Pocket PC 2002, with the wording of the announcement strongly reassuring potential buyers that it's really OK to buy one now, then they announce that they'll only supply the OS upgrade to people who've bought one from the 6th onward! Since I just bought an H3630 (ordered it on the 29th August) partly due to this announcement, I feel a little cheated. Compaq should supply the upgrade free to everyone who ordered an iPaq on or after the day they announced that the current generation would support the new OS.

Of course it does depend on how much the upgrade costs for us non-eligible owners, if it's say GBP30 (USD 50 or so) then while there'd be a fair bit of grumbling, most users would be willing to pay this (assuming there are significant reasons to upgrade).

As for whether it'll fit into the 16MB flash ROM, well according to most reports I've read on the misc. Pocket PC sites there'll be TWO versions of Pocket PC 2002, a scaled down one for all the current devices and the full version for the next-gen machines. There's more info at CNet here
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-7025389.html% 20tag=mn_hd

Oh, I might as well part with a few iPAQ links of my own (in no particular order):

http://www.tekguru.demon.co.uk/

http://www.pdatweaks.com/

http://www.ludipocket.co.uk/

http://www.pdageek.com/

http://www.pdabuzz.com/

According to Microsoft the number of new features will make the OS a more 'useful' tool for corporate workers. Cnet has a interesting here

I would love to see BeOS on a palm, but it might takes lots of more time.

Salon
Cnet
The Economist
Washington Post
National Post (Includes trial timeline)
NY Times
Globe and Mail
and heh.. MSNBC

Great! Then you can personally thank him for dropping the part of the case that the COURTS (not his administration) said they were letting drop. Instead he's doing the following: 'Even as the agency removed those issues from consideration, however, it opened the door for others, saying it wants the court "to investigate developments in the industry since the trial concluded"--which could include the forthcoming Windows XP operating system. ' (From CNET. That's better than beating a dead issue anyway...if they pull this off, it's better for computer companies AND third parties. A split Microsoft would have just worked together anyway.

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-7079058.html? tag=mn_hd

I don't mean to be a "flamer" but, please let us think about this in a broader perspective.

Lately I have been seeing a lot of OS announcements (as may posters pointed out before me) everything from BeOS, to FreeDOS and Linux, et. al. -- and all of those OSs seem to be centered around taking on Windows of the evil M$.

If that is the intention, may I suggest that the OS war is over and that M$ is the clear winner and that any continues battle on this ground is just a step backward.

Lets face it, in few more years, we will care less about the OS and wary more about the user interaction and front-end applications. Even Linus Torvalds realizes this as his new focuse for Linux is now on: Making Linux usable tops Torvalds' list

Basically, I think he's totally missed the point. That being that the vast majority of people don't use even half of the widgets MS Office provides them with. In my own experience I've found a lot of them to be extremely annoying. From a functionality standpoint, I'd say the only thing in StarOffice's way is lack of visibility. I had never heard of StarOffice until about a year ago when I first used Linux, and I only recently actually used it. Personally, I would rather use it than MS Office, especially after the frustrations I experienced trying to install Office 2k security patches over the weekend (How do I provide an O2k SR-1 cd when I installed SR-1 over the internet? Why won't my origional O2k cd suffice?). If I can functionally replace Excel and Word, I may even be able to sell my company on it. MS Project is the big one for us. If there's an open source app that can replace that (on Win2k, at least for now) then I'll have some real ammunition.

An Outlook style addressbook is a must as well...

Sonicblue jumped into the market for digital video recorders Wednesday, unveiling four high-end boxes it will sell under the ReplayTV brand.

Sonicblue acquired the digital video recording pioneer on Aug. 2 after announcing the deal in February. Digital video recorders (DVRs) allow consumers to record TV shows onto a hard drive instead of onto videotape.

As reported earlier by CNET News.com, the four boxes vary in price and capacity from $699 for 40 hours of recording to $1,999 for 320 hours. Unlike its competitors, Sonicblue will not charge a monthly service fee.

The new boxes include broadband access and allow consumers to send TV shows via home networking to other ReplayTV boxes. However, Sonicblue Vice President Steve Shannon said the company will allow TV networks to decide if this capability should be disabled for their particular shows.

Handspring and Palm both announced new email-centric GSM/Palm OS units; Handspring's look excellent, due in mid-October IIRC.

check out:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-6997007.html (handspring)

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-6992336.html (palm)

-mj

Handspring and Palm both announced new email-centric GSM/Palm OS units; Handspring's look excellent, due in mid-October IIRC.

check out:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-6997007.html (handspring)

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-6992336.html (palm)

-mj

will Linux driver developers reverse engineer if there are no Microsoft Windows USB2.0 drivers?

Some of these links require you to have an account and login. This is highly annoying and because of this, I went looking for a way around this. I found an excellent freeware program to do just that. Enjoy. :)

the story is also covered by cnet http://cnet.com/news/0-1003-201-7046992-0.html?tag =tp_pr

There are a few articles about Szulick's keynote:
C|Net, Wide Open News and InfoWorld.

I wonder who he has in mind for this "Open Source Education Corporation?"

I don't understand. A broken-down Yugo with no wheels does not allow a driver to go anywhere. Windows XP, like the Audi A8, is an industry leader in innovation. Unlike such competing operating systems as Linux and Mac OS X, Windows XP allows users to play DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs) containing movie data. This eliminates the need for an external DVD player, an additional expense.

Microsoft also includes Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, the latest version of the world's favorite Internet browser. The latest version of Internet Explorer outperforms even its predecessor in many tasks, and easily outperforms the "Open Source" version of "Mozilla," also called "Netscape 6." Microsoft Internet Explorer complies with such Internet standards as CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), XHTML (eXtensible HyperText Markup Language), XML (eXtensible Markup Language), and P3P (Platform for Privacy Preferences). No "Open Source" or traditional web browser for any other platform allows this level of standards conformance.

Is Microsoft Windows XP worth $200? Yes. Will Linux users steal it so that they can play games and DVDs? Yes. That is why Product Activation will help Microsoft recoup all of its piracy losses.

Thank you.

The partnership won't dissolve until June 2002, so do have time to get another ISP. Or, they could choose to make another deal with @Home between now and then.

The big problem in this case is that the ISP, or at least one of its sales reps, agreed to knowingly host a bulk mailing operation. In addition to the regular terms of service, there was a "pink contract" side deal. (PSInet used to do that, and it cost them.) All spam complaints to the ISP were to be referred to the spammer, and the ISP was not to take action against the spammer unless the percentage of complaints exceeded 2%. The spammer sent out about 65 million E-mails, and only a few thousand complaints came in. So the 2% threshold wasn't reached.

But the ISP decided to terminate the spammer, despite a 3 to 5 year contract term.

The judge made an interesting point in the preliminary injunction. Because the ISP's standard terms put a very low cap on the money damages its customers can claim, a "terminate now and sort out the money issues later" litigation wasn't possible. Therefore, the judge granted the preliminary injunction against disconnection until the matter is resolved at trial. So this is a case of a damage-limiting clause backfiring.

AOL/Gateway/Transmeta have already built such a device:

See links:

AOL's page

CNet Article.

In all the pictures they show it as a countertop item, but in the original press-release video they showed it wall-mounted.

Again, the pricing (at $599) and the ISP restrictions (AOL only) kill any chance of success for this device...

Palm has no plan to continue development of BeIA as reported by cnet

This article was posted 2 days ago. Since then (also on CNET), the FCC has pulled its approval for both devices at the request of the companies. Odd, no?

I submitted this a story but apparently it's not interesing enough--MS's director of competitive strategy for Windows at LWCE, talking about lessons they've learned from Linux. Read it here at CNET.

I think that this CNET article asks some probing questions of a Microsoft high muckety muck.

I thought Morpheus could only deliver music and pr0n. If I can get grenades and tanks now, I should really download the latest version!

The news.com site also covered the story.

Read about the release of the new Internet Explorer 6.0 here on news.com

I doubt you'll find an example of an OEM license. I imagine the NDA is truly onerous. But there are little hints (http://news.cnet.com/news/0,10000,0-1005-201-3233 68-0,00.html) here and there:

"If you are willing to give Microsoft a clear written assurance that the above will be implemented on all Compaq Presario machines within sixty (60) days of the date of this letter, Microsoft will withdraw its Notice of Intent to Terminate letter addressed to David Cabello and dated May 30, 1996 once such written assurance is received by Microsoft."

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-6982283.html? tag=mn_hd

AMD to slash prices... you can get your cake and eat it too... er... nvr mind.

e.

Not only that, but the previous story links to the same article on CNET!

Come on, Slashdot, this is a new low.... two duplicate stories in a row!

Last time I read about this technology (~2 years ago) they were claiming home speeds of up to an exobit(10^18) per second. According to this brochure this company is only offering up to 10 megabits(1^6)per second. What happened to the truely awesome power(no pun intended) behind these broadband lines?

A Barney Computer isn't that far fetched. Mattel actually tried (amazingly) to market Barbie and Hot Wheels PCs. Of course they didn't last long.

A Barney Computer isn't that far fetched. Mattel actually tried (amazingly) to market Barbie and Hot Wheels PCs. Of course they didn't last long.

(In case you may want to check)

...for those that just don't get it yet.

First, read this.

Now, imagine if the hard drive maker, or the memory maker, or the video card maker (etc., you get the point) tried to do the same thing? Compaq would have dumped them in a second and gone to a competitor.

Now, listen carefully:

THEY CAN'T DO THAT WITH WINDOWS BECAUSE THERE IS NO OTHER CHOICE!!!

This is precisely what is a legal definition of a monopoly (as opposed to an absolute monopoly. Many people say Microsoft doesn't have a monopoly because you can buy a copy of Red Hat and install it. These people are confusing a legally defined monopoly and an absolute monopoly like what AT&T had.)

It's technically legal for Microsoft to have this monopoly, but it's illegal to abuse it by forcing other products down computer manufacturers throats (First Explorer, Office, MSN, now Windows Media Player, Windows Messaging, etc.)

To all you Microsoft apologists out there: Do you REALLY want Microsoft in control of EVERYTHING to do with computing? Because, without the anti-trust case, that's exactly where we'd be heading. Without this "government interference", every computing experience would be handled by Microsoft. We'd all use Windows, Explorer, Office, MSN, Media Player, Windows Messaging, Passport, etc. and then Microsoft could charge whatever they want for all this.

Also, without "interference", NONE of the major companies currently supporting Linux to varying degrees (IBM, HP, Compaq, Dell, etc., etc.,) would have had anything to do with Linux. The repurcussions from Microsoft would have been much too severe.

Not to mention all the security problems that would arise out of all of this. Melissa/Love Bug/Sircam/Code Red anyone?

I am pleased and relieved that the case is going the way it is. This will preserve some measure of computing freedom for us all.

Trojan horse goes on the offensive

Well, now I know why I deactivated ActiveX on all Win-boxes I use, and never missed it, except when trying to use the Windows-Update-Function: to update you Win-box, you first need to make it insecure by enabling ActiveX...

:-)
ms

update: VA Linux Systems, once one of the flagships of the open-source software world, will rely on sales of proprietary software in the future, the company said today as it reported a $290 million loss for the most recent quarter
- Cnet

Don't you guys think this is an interesting story? I wonder why the Slashdot editors keep rejecting my submissions of it.

In a nutshell, VA has decided to start selling closed-source, proprietary software (not exclusively, of course). So, um, there goes the open-source revolution.

In this CNET article about the release of Intel's Linux compilers, they quoted the purchase price as $399 for a download, $499 for a CD. Somebody should tell them that blank CDs are a lot cheaper than they used to be...

(I know, I know. The boxed version probably also comes with some printed documentation, supposedly justifying the higher price. It still seemed funny to me..)

Naspter thrives, CD sales soar. Napster dies, CD shipments drop. The media's response? "I don't understand! How could this be?" Their response is no suprise given that the only person interviewed for the story was the RIAA's Hilary Rosen. Why isn't the other half of the story covered? Because the media doesn't know who to talk to in order to get a balanced view. I've seen a few stories on this on the CBC in Canada. They'll talk to a recording industry executive who spouts off some pretty legitimate-sounding "poor us" drivel, then they'll talk to some teenager in sitting in front of a computer in a darkened basement. Who do you think comes across better?

Similarly, the MPAA's Jack Valenti says that demand for broadband services is low because of all the "hackers" distributing pirated movies.

One you've made your billions, can't you just be happy with that and let someone else try something new? I'm tired of billion-dollar corporations whining like little babies whenever some twentysomething university student comes a long with a bold new idea that could threaten their business model. Aww, are you afraid? That's right, run to your mommy^H^H^H^H^Hgovernment.

Earlier this year, the RIAA announced plans to mount an anti-Napster "education" effort targeted at national political and media figures. Translation: it plans to use its vast financial resources to buy new legislation and even public opinion. Facing that kind of marketing goliath, what can we do to keep up?

Naspter thrives, CD sales soar. Napster dies, CD shipments drop. The media's response? "I don't understand! How could this be?" Their response is no suprise given that the only person interviewed for the story was the RIAA's Hilary Rosen. Why isn't the other half of the story covered? Because the media doesn't know who to talk to in order to get a balanced view. I've seen a few stories on this on the CBC in Canada. They'll talk to a recording industry executive who spouts off some pretty legitimate-sounding "poor us" drivel, then they'll talk to some teenager in sitting in front of a computer in a darkened basement. Who do you think comes across better?

Similarly, the MPAA's Jack Valenti says that demand for broadband services is low because of all the "hackers" distributing pirated movies.

One you've made your billions, can't you just be happy with that and let someone else try something new? I'm tired of billion-dollar corporations whining like little babies whenever some twentysomething university student comes a long with a bold new idea that could threaten their business model. Aww, are you afraid? That's right, run to your mommy^H^H^H^H^Hgovernment.

Earlier this year, the RIAA announced plans to mount an anti-Napster "education" effort targeted at national political and media figures. Translation: it plans to use its vast financial resources to buy new legislation and even public opinion. Facing that kind of marketing goliath, what can we do to keep up?

Naspter thrives, CD sales soar. Napster dies, CD shipments drop. The media's response? "I don't understand! How could this be?" Their response is no suprise given that the only person interviewed for the story was the RIAA's Hilary Rosen. Why isn't the other half of the story covered? Because the media doesn't know who to talk to in order to get a balanced view. I've seen a few stories on this on the CBC in Canada. They'll talk to a recording industry executive who spouts off some pretty legitimate-sounding "poor us" drivel, then they'll talk to some teenager in sitting in front of a computer in a darkened basement. Who do you think comes across better?

Similarly, the MPAA's Jack Valenti says that demand for broadband services is low because of all the "hackers" distributing pirated movies.

One you've made your billions, can't you just be happy with that and let someone else try something new? I'm tired of billion-dollar corporations whining like little babies whenever some twentysomething university student comes a long with a bold new idea that could threaten their business model. Aww, are you afraid? That's right, run to your mommy^H^H^H^H^Hgovernment.

Earlier this year, the RIAA announced plans to mount an anti-Napster "education" effort targeted at national political and media figures. Translation: it plans to use its vast financial resources to buy new legislation and even public opinion. Facing that kind of marketing goliath, what can we do to keep up?

...by this logic, ALL digital storage devices should have a tax levied for "Possible Copyright Infringement". This is absolutely ridiculous. It's like taxing automobiles for "Possible Traffic Hazards".

I can buy a Firewire hard drive and lug all the mp3s I and anyone else I know owns around with me. I can back that hard drive up to tape, CD, optical disk, what have you. Should all these things be taxes because *I'm* an asshole?

Sorry just a little pissed. This has to stop somewhere.

IEEE 1394 was conceived by Apple Computer and then developed within the IEEE 1394 Working Group. The IEEE 1394 standard is a scalable, flexible, easy to use, low-cost digital interface that will integrate the worlds of consumer electronics and personal computers.

The MS site is just uses cnet, so you can go here.

Try CNET: http://webservices.cnet.com/bandwidth/.

No need to fill in the boxes, just click the button and it tells you how big your pipe is at the moment. Currently, I'm getting 1271kbps on Charter Pipeline. I think it's safe to say that beats my old 56k connection any day.

As an @Home customer, it pisses me off that they took a solid infrastructure business and wrecked it because they wanted to be Yahoo. Broadband over cable TV lines -- simple, powerful, doable. By now they should be rich enough to found a quasi-nation and buy an aircraft carrier. Or whatever they would want to do with $10^10.

But no, instead they got feverish with dotcom mania. They really thought that megabit internet access was just a stepping stone to the real money -- banner ad revenue on their web portal. I'm not making this up, honest! That's why they spent $780 million on BlueMountain, a loss-leader greeting card site, among other dot-bombs.

So now they're low on cash and their backbone needs maintenance (duh). If they shut off cable modem service I'll have to smack someone. I'd rather commute to my office than use phone modem again.