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( Read More... | 768 comments | Your Rights Online )

Miniskirt-clad girls save universe
Posted by CmdrTaco on Friday August 18, @08:25AM
from the roketto-ga-sugoi dept.
AnimeNewsNetwork.com is reporting that earlier this morning in Tokyo, five girls in color-coded blouses and miniskirts transformed into scantily-clad superheroes. The five girls then screamed, hurled glowing balls of energy, and screamed some more at a thirty-tentacled monster. Still no word on whether this is connected to the large humanoid robots spotted battling last week in Osaka.

( Read More... | 168 comments )

Slashback: Frisson, Sesquipedalianity, Responsitivitiness
Posted by timothy on Tuesday August 08, @10:45AM
from the beware-the-froomious-bandersnatch dept.
It was a dark and stormy night. In a salutiferous octastyle basement, an ultracrepidarian man was hermtically hunched over a piperaceous desk beneath a ornate mazarine, typing furiously away on an obumbrate keyboard. Meanwhile, in a meandrine corner of the world, several setose seeds were being entrenched in the muculent minds of the hoi polloi.

( Read More... | 9235 bytes in body | 214 comments )

Traffic Cops' "Justice" and Napster
Posted by JonKatz on Friday August 18, @11:30AM
from the post-hellmouth-world dept.
Just as Shadowrun predicted, The Corporate Republic took another step in assailing geeks today by handing Shawn Fanning a $L00 speeding ticket. This narcissism is harmful because it shrinks the creative universe of media workers and disconnects them from the new global conversation taking place online. Hubcaps have sparked a cultural and economic revolution that is just beginning to be understood. Will we see an increase in the number of Chickdrivers receiving "closed" traffic tickets as well, or will the Edge power a paradigm shift to "open" community-based traffic laws?

( Read More... | 598235 bytes in body | 657 flames | Features )

Ask Slashdot: Are Corporations Trying To Make Money?
Posted by Cliff on Friday August 18, @1:25PM
from the yet-another-article-from-the-something-to-think-ab out dept.
www.sorehands.com writes: "Today I visited Yahoo and was shocked to see a banner advertisement - I thought I'd managed to block every form of advertisement possible with Junkbusters. After thinking about it some, I realized Yahoo was probably running advertisement in a crass, commercialized attempt to make money off of my web-surfing habits! Could there be any other corporations out there engaged in similarly devious practices?" An interesting question here: Are some companies attempting to turn a profit, and, if so, what can we do to prevent it?

( Read More... | 3082 bytes in body | 345 comments )

Autospy of a Furby
Posted by michael on Friday August 18, @3:43PM
from the deja-vu dept.

Vladinator writes "Ever wonder what it's like to take apart a Furby? I don't, because I saw this on Slashdot two years ago, but I needed some karma so I submitted it anyway. Fawking trolls!" Those of who you started reading Slashdot this week may not have seen this page yet, so I'm re-running this classic for you three newbies.

( Read More... | 1 FIRST POST! )

Interstate Highway Boycott Planned
Posted by emmett on Friday August 18, @6:25PM
from the fight-the-power dept.
Bowie J. Poag writes: "You guys are idiots and VA sucks, but being the nice guy that I am [Update: 08/18 11:11 AM by CT: Further investigation reveals that he isn't ] I thought I'd let you know that know Wired is reporting that a boycott is being proposed against the interstate highway system for its treatment of Shawn Fanning. The interstate highway sucks almost as much as anime! PROPAGANDA RULES!!!!!" It's good to see that some people are taking the battle for free (as in Willy) highways into their own hands.

( Read More... | 218 comments )

Holland Convenience Store Switches To Linux
Posted by Hemos on Friday August 18, @9:33PM
from the key-victory-for-open-source dept.
Today while visiting my local 7-11 in Holland, MI, I noticed that their inventory computer was running Linux! Best of all, a representative from the store assured me, due to complaints from Bruce Perens, that the store may consider GPLing its inventory "sometime in the future." Looks like another business has finally "got it" and adopted the tenets of the free software movement.

( Read More... | 164 comments )

Napster? Napster Napster
Posted by CmdrTaco on Friday August 18, @11:25PM
from the napster dept.
Napster Napster Napster. Napster, Napster Napster Napster! Napster Napster (Napster) Napster Napster Napster, Napster Napster Napster. "Napster Napster Napster," Napster Napster. Napster Napster, Napster Napster Napster.

( Read More... | 304 comments | Napster!! )

Now you have a different problem. Lots of parents will choose a censorship package at home, which I also have no problem with so long as they do teir research, But I am not about to try to force them to. Then, they'll send their kids to school, and complain about the agreement because the school doesn't provide them with a way to block Live Goat Porn or whatever and still use this valuable research tool we call the net. I have been _required_ to use the net for many different research projects at school. The approach my high school takes is a fairly simple one: They log everything, make rules against innapropriate things, and use the logs to substantiate if needed. I believe there was only one discreet case last year where this was used. (Three people sending inappropriate email through the world's best anonymous mail service. I can't claim to agree with the practice, and I've voiced my objections, but there's not a whole lot I can do. It seems more reasonable than many schools.

---

These guys may have a solution for him!

Yeah! And when they move the network to mostly Windows machines, let's all hit www.hotmail.com and sign up for an account -- all at the same time. Then we'll see just how well Windows 2000 can stand the heat! :-)

Ok, according to Netcraft, www.hotmail.com is running Apache/1.3.6 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.8 SSLeay/0.9.0b on FreeBSD. Since MS is starting to integrate its Win2k servers, when would that change show up? I guess my question is, why does Netcraft claim it's running FreeBSD when it is running both?

I feel your pain.
Being that our company continues to "innovate" new solutions all the time
I would like to hear from you. Please email me at billyg@hotmail.com
Thank you,
BillyG
CEO Micro$haft hehe

You are an individual, just like everyone else.

1. Slashdot crashed them for having an open submission queue - So instead of implementing a similar feature (which would be trivial to code even to a Perl newbie like me) Slashdot's owners cracked a bunch of machines and engaged in a DDoS of kuro5hin just so as not to do this? Considering that anonymous postings to stories has brought us gems like the Beer guy and Penis Bird it is unlikely that Slashdot would open itself up for abuse and what has happened to kuro5hin shows that this wasn't a wrong conclusion

1. Slashdot crashed kuro5hin because it was getting popular - According to
2. Inoshiro the most traffic they've ever gotten was when they were mentioned in a slashdot headline. So slashdot DDoS's them just so they can give them two headlines and free VA Linux hardware. Yeah that makes sense.

1. Slashdot and kuro5hin were at war - the only people who believed this were the pathetic slashdot trolls like spiralx and fluffy grue(who wants DDoSed slashdot) who were always pushing the conspiracy theory edge.
2. Micheal has posted to kuro5hin several times and the other slashdot authors read it as well. CmdrTaco offered rusty help and gave advice on how to deal with the DDoS attempts several times. The only people who have ever believed they are at war are the small-minded people who can not like two things at once, who must always believe something has to be one "hip", "cool" or "in thing to do or like. These people have been spreading disinformation, malice and discord simply bnecause they have nothing beter to do with their time. They are quite similar to the "Redhat wants to be the Linux monopoly" idiots but only this time, they are posting their drivel at an innoportune moment.

Actually, as a researcher at the Univ. of Missouri I am currently building a card that does hardware encryption (RSA or DES or IDEA) over ethernet... I looked at the source for distributed.net the other day, and it doesn't look too hard to implement- should be possible with just a few FPGA's, a PCI Core (GO OpenCORE!!!), and some glue logic. anyone from distributed.net that is interested in doing this should contact me at: my hotmail alias... I could have a couple of prototypes up next week.

For example, I recently saw in 2600 Magazine how Verizon (the result of the Bell Atlantic/GTE merger) registered something like seven hundred domains, all with "Verizon" in them... even insulting ones, like "verizonsucks.com". They had registered all these domains under the .com, .net and .org TLDs. When the 2600 guys couldn't register "verizonsucks.com", they registered "verizonREALLYsucks.com". In response, Verizon sent them a letter informing them of their violation of trademark laws. Read all about it straight from the horse's mouth. (This brings up the point: If Verizon registered "robdumas.com", could that be considered to be fraudulently using my name? I mean, after all, if I can't register a domain with THEIR name, would I/should I let them register a domain with MY name in it?)

Anyway, simply adding a new TLD will just mean that they register there, too.

The only way a .gnu TLD would be worth adding is if we, the Open Source community, somehow controlled it, so we could attempt to keep cybersquatters out, without compromising the freedom of it. Perhaps in order to GET a .gnu domain, you must PRODUCE something under the GNU Public License.

Hey, maybe one day we'll all open up Slashdot to find that Microsoft wants to register "microsoft.gnu"! Ha!

Two final point of interest, somewhat related to this story/thread:

1. The policy of InterNIC USED to be $70US for two years (or $35US per year). This was a FLAT fee. Unfortunately, thanks to the agreement reached between ICANN and NSI last year, NSI can charge whatever it likes (well, presumably within reason). So how long do you think it'll be before NSI puts up its own "domain auction" site? Before you know it, joeschmoe.com, joeschmoe.net and joeschmoe.org will be owned by Ted Turner (or someone like him; I have nothing against Mr. Turner), and would cost you thousands of dollars to get back.
2. I find it VERY unnerving that Register.com, one of the new domain registrars, is an "affiliate" of GreatDomains.com, a company who basically buys and sells domains to the highest bidder. I happen to own "novastar.net" (no, there's nothing there... I haven't gotten around to it), and registering it cost me $70US. No more, no less. But, according to GreatDomains.com, the domain "novastar.org" would cost me $250,000US! Is that a rip-off, or what?

I'm interested to hear what others have to say about the topic. Reply here, or e-mail me.
----------------------------------------
Robert Dumas

You could make Gnutella support email attachments as a transfer protocol, so that paranoid people could have their files sent to a hotmail account.

MSN Hotmai1 supports attachments on1y up to 1,000 KB in size; any good sized *.mp* file is out.

Do you actually think if some Big Company with a recognizable name would let their registration expire

Hooptie

Following a server breakdown, these people were locked out of their Hotmail free email accounts for 10 days. And when the server was powered up and back online, many found that all their data, including addresses and saved messages, were lost.

It looks like Microsoft, Hotmail's owner-operator, put the repaired server back to work before fully completing data recovery routines. The company says that all data should be recovered, at some point.

The article brings up a good point: Hotmail is a free service run by Microsoft. Those two words put togethere don't exactly spell 'reliability'... I don't exactly have important data on my Hotmail account (just some attachments), and if Hotmail goes down for a week, I wouldn't be too concerned, because I don't get most of my mail there, nor do I get any important mail, for that matter. I mostly use it as dumping grounds for webpages I need to register for (not Slashdot, of course).

I would read The Register's article. It brings up good points I don't necessarily need to repeat.

What, the ones that prominently display "Microsoft Telnet copyright Microsoft corp." when run? The point is that if you have to search the file for a string that is not prominently displaying the actual source (as in origin) of the program.

The funny thing is that Microsoft continues to say that free software cannot be trusted, whereas they have had to use it for anything mission-critical, like the TCP stack in general. Also the wonders of Hotmail not working with Exchange, only with qmail, and of course freebsd.

That BSD software gets around, too. It forms the heart of the Sun Solaris networking stack, and I would imagine is used by Netware and MacOS. It is of course used by Mac OS X Server and its open source cousin, Darwin.

Another interesting point... if you try to use Microsoft for your main DNS servers, your isp will laugh at you. Everyone knows some form of *nix or *bsd is required for anything so critical. Besides, they are free. ;).

Sound clip here.

Fox lawyers can contact me here or here.

Sound clip here.

Fox lawyers can contact me here or here.

Fox lawyers can contact me here or here.

Fox lawyers can contact me here or here.

If they are planning on enforcing their patent they should go after the biggest problems first:
Microsoft's Hotmail service
Yahoo!
If they try against any others it might be seen as a double standard.

Steampunk 's vision of the future:

Apple heats up. As desktop publishing and AV hit new highs because of advances in networking, larger memory devices (CD, DVD, cheaper memory), and faster processors, these new markets buoy Apple from it's mid-90's slump. This keeps Apple in the running on false legs into the mid to late aughties (2000-2010).

Enter Linux. Apple was a failure at the attempt to license hardware to 3rd parties. While Apple has a fiercely loyal following, so does the "new kid on the block" -- Linux. But Linux is able to take advantage of the huge IBM clone market. Neat OS, fanatic followers, and the added bonus of MUCH cheaper hardware. I won't say software, because as Linux mainstreams, software vendors will start to up prices. The fate of any capitalistic society -- but not a bad thing!

Linux ascendent as Apple fades to Amiga land. As we now see, Linux is great for server applications (Apache, clustering, et cetera) and is claiming much of the market share for what used to be high-end UNIX boxes. As web publishing ties more closely to desktop publishing, Apple will lose serious market share to Linux boxes that are more bang for the buck. Soon all the Macromedia and Adobe software will be on the Linux boxes, also CAD/CAM programs will be ported over, i.e. AutoCAD, Pro-E. Just look at how some movies today are using Linux-produced graphics -- not Apple, not Sun, not Cray (remember TRON?). Plus, the database powerhouses will soon rush to use this new, powerful tool. Oracle and others running on top of Linux will soon be the standard for most businesses and government offices.

Linux mainstream and growing. By 2010 to 2015, Linux on desktops will be fairly common. It will rule the web-file-print-server/cluster/workstation market for most small to mid-sized businesses. Linux will be another radio button at Dell, Micron, Gateway, Apple(?!?) -- just like any other option for a custom system, such as 9x or NT today.

Just my $.02 -- but I think this article backs it up. While OS 9 (and later X) seem to beat Linux in a few categories (and overall), the argument was always prefaced with wait and see. What good is an OS if those looking to the future don't see great stuff for it?

I should be able to dial 064 028 067 061 and get a prerecorded message with today's News for Nerds headlines. Or dial 192 215 176 126 to listen to my playlist of unsigned bands on my hands-free phone. Or dial 216 033 238 007 and have rsynth read me my spam.

Numbers look familiar? They're the IP addresses of the respective web sites. A "phone number" for voice over IP would be a static IP address.

What does e-mail have to do with a browser?

Mail.com, Coldmail.com, Hotmail.com, Yahoo.com, AOL.com webmail, etc. The good ones have encrypted login pages.

i want to preface this by saying that this is not a knock on Rob or anyone else. i'm not here to criticize anything or anyone; i'm just here to make an observation about things.

i went to read this story, and i noticed a funny thing. it's been almost 2 hours, and no one has posted anything of value. i've noticed this a lot as of late... then we see all these repeat stories, stories that beat the same subject to death, and TONS of stories with less than 100 comments... many with less than 75.

then there is the severe lack of intelligent comments as of late... it seems like the only intelligent comments i read anymore are the ones like this one, complaining that things are going down hill... don't get me wrong, ther eare still a few really intelligent people nice enough to explain things calmy, but they seem to be a dying breed.

i think what i'm trying to say is that in the last year or so, the quality of things have been going down hill. this is not a knock at all the hard work that people are putting in, but maybe some of that hard work could be redirected or something.

i just feel like this used to be a place i would come many times a day, and one i would spend a long time on. one that i cared about.... and as of late, i seem to be getting more and more of my news elswhere... i don't even care all that much when i get to moderate b/c i feel like it's not going to make a difference, and the majority of what i read are either not applicable, or flame wars between pseudo-intelligent people. the ask slashdot articles aren't what they used to be, and neither are the news stories... and from what i'm getting in the comments that others are posting, my feelings are not an anomoly. from what i've been reading, i feel like there are a lot of "ask slashdot" stories and regular news stories that i would be *VERY* interested in reading.. and that many others would be interested in as well... but which never see the light of day.

and slowly, little by little, those of us who helped make this site such a great place are starting to go elsewhere.

so moderate at will, my fellow slashdotters. let's see what happens.

p.s. slashdot should really check to see whether their advertisers are legit. due to some horrible unprofessionalism from csoft.net, my destructure.com email address is down. if you want to send me any comments, please use (ack!) my hotmail account at misha128@hotmail.com

I have a complete copy of the wiretap archive dated from shortly after Columbine, when I feared a crackdown on net sites that disseminated real information. I will provide it to people who are interested. Mail me at wiretapmirror@hotmail.com and I will reply with a URL you can obtain the back-up from.

I'm working a a great web-java consulting shop that's dedicated to 100% telecommuting. I think it's great! They're in SanFran, I'm in Chicago. We use DSL. If you're interested email me here

If you wish, we'll also make suggestions for how you can improve your comments for maximum effect.

Just send your message to:
Copyright_reply@hotmail.com

A. Keiper
The Center for the Study of Technology and Society
Washington, D.C.

Hey. This is WAY off topic, but, I need help with a Mac problem.
I need a system/utility disk so I can boot my powerbook, and initialize the drive. I know this an unorthodox request, but, with the thousands of geek users out there, I know someone, somewhere, can help me. If you don't want to get the /. effect on your website, feel free to email me at slashdotstuff@hotmail.com.
Go ahead and mod it down if you must, but, c'mon, gimme a small break... :-)
Thanks in advance guys!

Hey. This is WAY off topic, but, I need help with a Mac problem.
I need a system/utility disk so I can boot my powerbook, and initialize the drive. I know this an unorthodox request, but, with the thousands of geek users out there, I know someone, somewhere, can help me. If you don't want to get the /. effect on your website, feel free to email me at slashdotstuff@hotmail.com.
Go ahead and mod it down if you must, but, c'mon, gimme a small break... :-)
Thanks in advance guys!

Hey. This is WAY off topic, but, I need help with a Mac problem.
I need a system/utility disk so I can boot my powerbook, and initialize the drive. I know this an unorthodox request, but, with the thousands of geek users out there, I know someone, somewhere, can help me. If you don't want to get the /. effect on your website, feel free to email me at slashdotstuff@hotmail.com.
Go ahead and mod it down if you must, but, c'mon, gimme a small break... :-)
Thanks in advance guys!

I'd like to point out some brief excerpts from three of the comments. Others have rightly complimented the EFF comments - which we can probably assume will be a good indication of at least part of the approach EFF's team will use in the courtroom.

The heart of the EFF comment is this:

Hence, any "unauthorized descrambling" or viewing of DVDs constitutes a violation under the DMCA. Bypassing the wisdom of copyright law's First Sale Rule which terminates the author's right to control what happens to a particular work after its first sale, systems such as CSS effectively assert control over a DVD forever... [T]he Librarian should consider whether or not the technological protection measure actually protects a right afforded by a copyright holder, (such as copying, distribution, adaptation, public display/performance), or whether the system is designed to limit a consumer's legitimate use of media (such as viewing). ... [T]he DVD format should be exempted as a class of works under the DMCA's anticircumvention provisions.

Second, the MPAA comments are extremely revealing - and will probably be important in the courtroom, too. In essence, they argue that CSS gives them important protection against more than just piracy:

Access control technologies are used, for example, to permit access to a work for a limited period (such as a free demonstration or "test drive" period, or the duration of a license agreement) while closing it thereafter. These techniques are also employed to allow access to part of a work while denying it to another part; to enable access by a specified category of users but not by another category; or to enable access by a specified number of simultaneous users but no more.

And, the third (and final) excerpt I want to quote is this, from the Computer and Communications Industry Association. They point out an absurd conclusion that the law might lead to if there is is not a broad protection for interoperability.

[A]t some point in the near future computer programs will be distributed on DVDs. Would reverse engineering CSS to permit these programs to run on Linux be permitted under the DMCA as enacted, or would the exception not apply because the decryption software would also allow the running of movies? To eliminate the possibility of this absurd result, reverse engineering for the purpose of permitting all forms interoperability -- and not just between computer software -- should be permitted.

Now, here's what happens next. The court cases are going to proceed - which I think is plainly thuggish behavior on the part of the MPAA and the Copy Control Authority. Court procedures are slow, but so is the regulatory process. It is conceivable that some of the court cases will be in the appeal stage before the Copyright Office makes any final decision.

Slashdot users can do two things:

• 1. Send reply comments to the Copyright Office. The Copyright Office gives until March 20 to reply to those comments. I know that isn't a lot of time, but if you have some spare hours this weekend, you might want to jot something down. Some of your comments in this discussion could almost directly go to the Copyright Office - like
• DavidOgg's comment, which gets right to the heart of things.
  
  The rules for sending reply comments appear here. If anyone is unclear about how to send these reply comments, or wants to send their comments in PDF format (which is not necessary), I would be willing to help clean them up or convert them to PDF and send them on to the Copyright Office as a service to the /. community. I have set up a special Hotmail address (copyright_reply@hotmail.com to serve as a dropbox, and I'll contact anyone who seriously wants help.

  2. Keep fighting the battle of public opinion. Most people don't know anything about this issue, and those who have heard of it largely don't grasp its importance. Tell your friends and family - and, if you can, write letters to your local newspaper. Anything you can do to move the battle from the online world to meatspace will help.

This is going to be a long fight.

A. Keiper
The Center for the Study of Technology and Society

we don't care in the slighest, lamer.

this isn't irc. stfu.
i do this to idiots such as yourself.

Successful criminals are treated as heroes. Rap lyricism both documents and encourages this. Gangsters are "cool". Young black girls having babies love the idea and so do their friends. In "conservative" culture, teen pregnancy and a life of crime make one an outcast in most social circles. That's what keep little boys from dealing drugs and little girls from being careless whores.

American blacks respond to racism with laziness . Whitey may have put you in the ghetto, but you're the one keeping yourself there.

I say American blacks because blacks around the world are different. Blacks living in Europe, Asia, Africa, and everywhere else don't applaud the same kind of sick things that American blacks do.

Killing a man for his shoes is wrong, little brother. Having a baby you can't support is wrong, little sister. Why didn't your parents teach you these things? Are you the child of a teen pregnancy yourself? Did you never know your father? For that matter, did you mother?

Why do you value expensive clothes and gold chains more than your own existence? You spend your life consuming everything, giving nothing. You'll die and no one will remember you. You won't have left your mark on the world. An empty soul, a wasted life.

The but the problems of modern America are not one of the black man alone. ALL races in all parts of the counrty are feeling the burn of moral degradation, and they love it.

Morality does not mean xenophobia of homophobia. Morality means knowing the difference between what is right and wrong, encouraging what is right, and despising what is wrong.

What the fuck is wrong with this country? Americans have short memories. We are a nation of selfish, evil people, children of the immigrants who made this country what it is. Ungrateful, dirty children. All we care about is money and sex and fame and pleasure. Fuck the world, we're America, dammit. We don't have to care. We can spend our lives wallowing in our own filth and nothing will stop us.

Television evangelist: God will not let you into heaven for what you have done. You are a disgusting beggar in rich man's clothes. You beg on television for the money of others, feeding your "church" like a disgusting leech. You are not a good person. Joseph did not wear an Armani suit. Matthew's church didn't have air conditioning. You wallow in your wealth while fellow Americans die in the streets from cold and hunger. You want to make a difference? Go to the beggar. Give him one meal. But only one. Charity is overrated. Help him find a job. Help him with his alcohol problem. Let him know that he's a child of God just like you, and deserves the respect of his fellow man. Help him earn that respect.

Politician: You disgust me. You do not serve the people. You only serve yourself. Your policies help no one. You only want them to appear as if they do. You sit in office and soak up the money and the fame and the life and then you retire. Poverty isn't fought with ten-year initiatives, argued over by rich, fat, white men who have never known true poverty and never will. You want to help? Help NOW.

I could go on for days, but I won't. Stop electing bad people to run our government. Stop being so fucking LAZY. The reason this country worked in the first place was because people were INVOLVED IN THE GOVERNMENT. That means learning about the people who make the laws, and ACTUALLY VOTING. Don't think, "Oh, I'm just one person! My vote doesn't really count!" If every person who thought his vote didn't count actually went out and voted for CmdrTaco, he's be our next president! Don't you get it? It's like physics. The American population has gobs and gobs of potential energy that could be utilized. Get involved. It's your fucking country. You can make a difference if you get off your ass and try.

I for one can't take it anymore. I'm fucking sick of living in a country of irresponsible citizens. Anyone in Canada or the UK looking for a roommate?

Thank you.

a1g0r3@hotmail.com

Let's start praying for someone to save us and start saving ourselves. - KMFDM

JoeSchmoe writes "The United Coalition of Trolls for the Abolition of Moderation has announced that they are porting Natalie Portman to reality. This comes just weeks after UCTAM changed leadership." Troll Dreams can come true after all! ;)
Thank You,
Troll King

As I said before, Caldera Systems has not considered GPL violations to be important enough to return notices on. They haven't returned my email or my phone calls. The situation still stands that the last time I saw them at a trade show they where clearly taking part in violating the terms of redistribution listed in the GPL. They have my email address and phone number. If they had bothered to take the time to comply with the GPL then I don't see why they wouldn't bother to contact back one of the people that assist in developing a package which makes up their flagship product.

I would like to submit the following challege to Slashdot readers, if you recieved a CD from Caldera Systems from a trade show, can you email lockdown34@hotmail.com where a written offer for the source code for GPL and LGPL works was provided?

Please moderate this up to the level of my Anonymous Coward post (above)

Some friends have convinced me that if I really want to hear about similar sightings, I need to provide contact info, rather than expecting reports to be posted here. Others may be as hesitant as I was to present unsubstantiable reports.

I originally debated whether to post without bonus points (since it is merely an anecdote, rather than a reasoned comment) or as an AC. I guess I made the wrong choice (hey, it was 5:30 am here!) since the original post was moderated up +5 in the next several hours, yet no replies were posted

I have created a hotmail address for this correspondence: burnedrectifier@hotmail.com

Your report will not be shared (or, if you prefer, even abstracted) without your consent

YOU'RE EVEN MORE OF A QUEER THAN WAS ORIGINALLY THOUGHT

TO REPLY TO A TROLL IS TO FEED A TROLL
SEE ALSO: A WASTE OF TIME

BY THE WAY, DID I MENTION YOU'RE A QUEER?

Hey, I'm the chick in Detroit getting ready to put on a protest. Look, I'm a very personal kinda human, and I believe in stating my side TO the "other side" at least once. But I canNOT find Mr. Jack Valenti's email address. Yeah, yeah, I'll be civil, but I also want HIM SPECIFICALLY to know what I'm doing and why. Call it a warped form of courtesy.

DOES ANYBODY KNOW JACK VALENTI'S EMAIL ADDY???
I will love you forever if you send it to me at paraksc@hotmail.com.
Thanks, Pksc

BOTS GO AWAY, G MEANS GAY, HEY HEY HEY.

I faked the whole thing. Look, everyone, the original post and most of the replies are from the same half-hour. And get Rob to check the logs -- they're all from the same IP address. If you have any more doubts, try translating the German sentences. Most of them say things like "Suck me, your mother is a prostitute." Also, the links provided go to porno sites. Yes, I faked the whole thing. And now, at 11:52pm EST, I have a moderation of 5, Interesting! And it's all bullshit!

I did this to prove a point -- Slashdot moderators are complete morons that don't even bother to read before they moderate. I used the phrase "alternate hydrofusion techonology". Anyone who knows anything about the field will tell you that means ABSOLUTELY nothing! Veinluhg never existd, and Veinluhg isn't even a real name.

This is the most hilarious thing EVER! See, I am the Chide Molesta of Slashdot past, and I've found an even better way to kill the Karma whores. I have wasted 5 of your karma points getting moderated up, and you'll have to waste another 6 to get me below the default threshhold.

Please send fanmail to chide_molesta@hotmail.com. Slashdot moderators suck, and now I can prove that they're complete dumbasses! Fuck you all!

I did this to prove a point -- Slashdot moderators are complete morons that don't even bother to read before they moderate. I used the phrase "alternate hydrofusion techonology". Anyone who knows anything about the field will tell you that means ABSOLUTELY nothing! Veinluhg never existd, and Veinluhg isn't even a real name.

This is the most hilarious thing EVER! See, I am the Chide Molesta of Slashdot past, and I've found an even better way to kill the Karma whores. I have wasted 5 karma points getting moderated up, and you'll have to waste another 6 to get me below the default threshhold.

Please send fanmail to chide_molesta@hotmail.com. Slashdot moderators suck, and now I can prove that they're complete dumbasses! Fuck you all!

BOTS CLICK HERE. Q MEANS QUEER - WHICH IS YOU. I AM EREETO.

IBM's attempt to cash-in on Linux will cost the reputation of Linux in the end. I rather see legitament efforts to support Linux slowly find their way into business rather than companies buying into big name "support" to only find the support statement was not worth the cost of the HTTP transaction issued on.

Please email lockdown34@hotmail.com to get more information on how to join the protest against IBM and IBM's continued business practice of ignoring the LGPL. Thank you.

Congratulations! You got the First Post.

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This offer only valid for US mailing addresses. Please allow 2 - 3 weeks for delivery. Please include in your e-mail a link to your first post.

I find a few things disturbing about a number of the posts I've read regarding this issue, and the issue of "newbies" in general.

I have been "using" linux for about 3 years now. I am by no means an expert, but I am definately a strong supporter of the ideals and technology brought to the proverbial table by Linux.

HOWEVER

Here is the impression I receive when I read various articles, posts and other info at /. and other Linux advocacy sites:

1. The purpose of Linux is to provide a viable alternative to the current, bloated, closed-source commercial NOS offerings (NT, WIN2K, NOVELL, UNIX)

2. Linux is superior to all of the commercial operating systems because of the "open" and "collaberative" environment in which it is developed.

3. Therefore, Linux should be the server (possibly client) OS of choice for enterprise and business customers wanting to stay on the cutting edge of technology.

4. If you don't like Linux, you SUCK.

5. If you would like to learn how to use Linux, please be prepared to suffer through the coarse, rude, and sometimes humiliating "newbie" "Rite-of-Passage" which includes but is not limited to: degrading comments about one's technical abilities, degrading comments about one's ability to glean information from increadibly technical, usually outdated, and poorly cataloged documentation.

6. If you are not comfortable with #5, please don't use Linux, we don't want you anyway.

Oppose the implicit arguements of 1-3 w/ those of 4-6.

To clarify: I understand the fears of oversimplifying/overautomating to the point of uselessness and inefficency (run Win2K for an example). I am not suggesting that the Linux operating environment be significantly changed; I merely suggest that the documentation be enhanced in order to allow a larger section of potential users to come onboard the Linux ship.

For a community of users that claims among it's strengths openness, peer review, and public knowledge, the Linux usership is quite closed off and eliteist.

-@d

P.S. -- Please post flames here

I mean, many of us actually went so far as to provide real websites, email addresses, and other identifiers. Guess we wanted to be really hard to identify.

I somehow don't think that any questions need to be asked of /. to identify, for instance, Chris Dibona. Oops, I just posted a link to a link, perhaps I should link the code directly. Ack, perhaps an email would help them. Whoops, that is an anonymous address, ah well, if they ask me at that address I will be willing to give them a more direct contact. (Hint, I live in New York City.)

My point? The USA was founded on the idea that citizens have the right to protest unfair legal actions. Posting code and links here is a form of protest. Protesters usually don't mind being identified, after all if they cannot be identified, what is the point of having protested?

Right.

They can claim the law is on their side. They can claim that the algorithm was secure. They can claim that what I did is unfair to them.

That doesn't make them right.

Another example. Sign a lease for an apartment in New York City. It says that your landlord can enter any time. In fact that is false, no matter what the paper says, that is a right you cannot sign away. But they are allowed to try to convince you that you have signed away that right, even though you have not. And you are free to tell them to get lost.

Well guess what?

I don't think they have a case.

Even if they did, I do not agree with the substance of their position and would not agree with the laws that they could possibly have the case under.

And if forcing the point brings DVDs to Linux sooner, well so much the better.

Regards,
Ben Tilly

If need be I will upload as well, so tell them to take my name down as well.

Regards,
Ben

--

Could not agree more. Why do people who only want to fart around on the internet and read Email need Linux?

Not to sound pompus but, they honestly have no business using it. Linux (and Unix)is for servers, high end workstations and most importantly geeks.

Just how I feel. Vlad

I am in Fairbanks, Alaska (from Southern California) and I am having serious troubles overclocking my dual Celery 366 box [I bought a cheap $35 case that has absolutely no airflow except the tiny fan in the back]. I was thinking since now I'm staying at my dad's place for Christmas I could possibly set this baby right outside the door (-35F anyone? :) and massively overclock it to something like 650mhz.

My main questions are:

How do I avoid condensation? ... and
How do I avoid causing freezing damage to the other parts? i.e., hard drive etc

Please also reply to stifle33@hotmail.com if you can help. Thanks. :)

I bow before your awe-inspiring trolling ability. You, Lord Trollhaugen, are crowned King of Trolls.

Uh, ha ha. MEEPT! is the Man, if you want my opinion. Also the open source natalie portman troll has done some really admirable work, for example this faux-Williamgibsonish item.


Please to share some of your troll-rolling knowledge. Post your email address here.

You makin' funna me? Gee, now I feel hurt. At any rate, I troll by picking an arbitrary right-wing religious or political theme, and hammering it into the ground with bad logic and imaginary facts. I think that's clear enough from the trolls themselves.


My trolling method of choice is this website: http://www-csag.cs.uiuc.edu/individual/pakin/compl aint

Thanks.