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itwbennett is not Bennett Haselton. Haselton has his own account that he posts comments (but not stories) from. 30 seconds with Google tells me that csoonline is owned by IDG. IDG, in turn, owns IT World where an Amy Bennett posts frequently. And, lo and behold, she also posts at csoonline.

Your tinfoil hat is a little too tight. Not all people with the name 'Bennett' are His Bennettness. This is just an example of someone writing for a publication and firing much of it through the firehose to see what sticks.

Anyone notice the author of the article looks like Mr. Bean?

Legal or not - fansubs are being recognized even by such conglomerates as International Data Group (http://idg.com/www/homenew.nsf/home?readform). IDG Poland released Ghost In The Shell, Akira -http://kiosk.idg.pl/sklep_artykul.asp?KP=ANIME+++ +++++++- and GITS Stand Alone Complex series with fansubs as on of the subtitles option. If fansubs hadn't existed before there would be nothing to release. But before the official release fansubs were illegal - catch 22 until we change the IP law.

I'm glad our information concurs :-)

I think France is not mentioned in the article because there is no French PC World publication (that link was still up a couple of minutes ago, it's from TFA), and the article says that it's about information collected in the various countries where that group does have magazines. Not that that's any excuse, of course.

"Age Policy LinuxWorld Conference & Expo is open to business professionals only. No one under 18 years of age will be admitted."

You also might ask your favorite vendors to speak up on the subject. The Show Director tells me that the reasons for the change is complaints from exhibitors about too many students.

It seems a little ridiculous that a 17-year old kernel hacker would be turned away at the door by Linuxworld. I gather that this is a bone tossed to vendors complaining about poor sales at the Expo, but it strikes me as being fairly short-sighted... in the computer biz, you really want to get 'em while they're young, before they settle in on a particular OS.

"Age Policy LinuxWorld Conference & Expo is open to business professionals only. No one under 18 years of age will be admitted."

You also might ask your favorite vendors to speak up on the subject. The Show Director tells me that the reasons for the change is complaints from exhibitors about too many students.

It seems a little ridiculous that a 17-year old kernel hacker would be turned away at the door by Linuxworld. I gather that this is a bone tossed to vendors complaining about poor sales at the Expo, but it strikes me as being fairly short-sighted... in the computer biz, you really want to get 'em while they're young, before they settle in on a particular OS.

"Age Policy LinuxWorld Conference & Expo is open to business professionals only. No one under 18 years of age will be admitted."

You also might ask your favorite vendors to speak up on the subject. The Show Director tells me that the reasons for the change is complaints from exhibitors about too many students.

It seems a little ridiculous that a 17-year old kernel hacker would be turned away at the door by Linuxworld. I gather that this is a bone tossed to vendors complaining about poor sales at the Expo, but it strikes me as being fairly short-sighted... in the computer biz, you really want to get 'em while they're young, before they settle in on a particular OS.

...where all the articles link to some kids blog instead of the original story from a national newspapers site...

Yeah, I'll be surprised if IDG ever amounts to anything...

The IDG Press Release has a more complete summary of what their white paper covers as well as a link on how to obtain the full thing for a mere $750.

Which is it?! TELL ME WHAT TO THINK!!!

All you have to do is look at the numbers. Console game sales (software-wise) are skyrocketing while PC-based games are creeping along. Look to IDG for the hard numbers.

Also, all the next-gen consoles are PPC based and use ATi graphics. You're looking in the wrong direction if you think PCs are going to benefit from this, wrong architecture.

Actually, most available statistics suggest that Apple's iPod has between 25% and 35% market penetration in the HDD-based portable audio player market.

WOW, you know, they don't get statistics for sales of players by doing an informal survey. You live in a fascinating little world if you think that way.

There are hard numbers as to how many devices are shipped, just as there are in computers, and IDG tracks those hard numbers and reports them.

MacWorld Expo is really run by IDG, which also runs the LinuxWorld Expo. The LinuxWorld Expo website also runs Windows Server 2003.

http://www.gartner.com/
http://www.metagroup.com/
http://www.idc.com/
http://www.forrester.com/
http://www.idg.com/
http://www.jupiterresearch.com/
http://www.yankeegroup.com/
http://www.aberdeen.com/
http://www.amrresearch.com/

And yes, they all cost money. If you're an enterprise and you want input on how to spend you tens-of-thousands to multi-million-dollar IT budget, you can shell out a few more dollars to get some research.

Headquartered in San Mateo, Calif., InfoWorld Media Group is a wholly owned independent business unit of IDG, the world's leading IT media, research and exposition company. IDG publishes more than 285 computer magazines and newspapers and 500 book titles and offers online users the largest network of technology-specific sites around the world through IDG.net (http://www.idg.net), which comprises more than 200 targeted Web sites in 52 countries. IDG is also a leading producer of 110 computer-related expositions worldwide, and provides IT market analysis through 49 offices in 41 countries worldwide. Company information is available at www.idg.com.

IDG is one of those earth-flattening corporations which dominates everything. Look at their track record. Interestingly, they're not just interested in owning all the computer publications in the world. They also have their fingers in Brain Research. --Which looks on the surface to be a bit of PR angling, but 350 million worth? Whatever. Creepy.

Huge publishing conglomerates have mandates and agendas, (whether they realize it or not), so IDG publishing articles about Echelon is interesting to say the least.

By contrast. . .

Slashdot is owned by OSDG. (Open Source Data Group)
From the OSDG website

In the most recent release of Nielsen//NetRatings' @plan (Summer 2004), OSTG retained its top ranking across all competitive networks for delivering online buyers of computer hardware and software, visitors who purchase home electronics online and visitors who buy anything online. OSTG moved up in the rankings for many consumer technology categories, including visitors who are heavy spenders on computer hardware, visitors who purchase MP3 players, and visitors who purchase video games.

For the eighth consecutive quarter, OSTG has been validated as the number one network for delivering visitors who look for technology news online. OSTG reaches over 16 million visitors every month and delivers nearly 250 million page views.

OSDG is in turn owned by VA Software

[. . .]VA Software develops and markets SourceForge Enterprise Edition, an enterprise-grade solution for managing and optimizing distributed development. SourceForge Enterprise Edition provides a secure, centralized platform that connects heterogeneous tools and processes together with an integrated suite of project, change management and collaboration tools. Fortune 1000 companies and government agencies use SourceForge Enterprise Edition as a Global Development Platform(TM) to integrate disparate tools and processes, expand visibility and control, and improve development efficiency and collaboration.

VA Software appears to have its morals lined up nicely. That is, their goal appears to be data sharing and the facilitation of collaborative creative efforts. As the much maligned, (and biblically misrepresented), Christ advised, "Judge the Tree by the Fruit it Bears." This is one of the most outstanding bits of advice I have ever heard. Flowing all the way down this particular chain, Slashdot allows peculiar guys like me to speak my mind in forum on taboo subject matter. I have an enormous amount of respect for that.

Here's an article written by Carl Redfield, a guy way up at the top of th

Headquartered in San Mateo, Calif., InfoWorld Media Group is a wholly owned independent business unit of IDG, the world's leading IT media, research and exposition company. IDG publishes more than 285 computer magazines and newspapers and 500 book titles and offers online users the largest network of technology-specific sites around the world through IDG.net (http://www.idg.net), which comprises more than 200 targeted Web sites in 52 countries. IDG is also a leading producer of 110 computer-related expositions worldwide, and provides IT market analysis through 49 offices in 41 countries worldwide. Company information is available at www.idg.com.

IDG is one of those earth-flattening corporations which dominates everything. Look at their track record. Interestingly, they're not just interested in owning all the computer publications in the world. They also have their fingers in Brain Research. --Which looks on the surface to be a bit of PR angling, but 350 million worth? Whatever. Creepy.

Huge publishing conglomerates have mandates and agendas, (whether they realize it or not), so IDG publishing articles about Echelon is interesting to say the least.

By contrast. . .

Slashdot is owned by OSDG. (Open Source Data Group)
From the OSDG website

In the most recent release of Nielsen//NetRatings' @plan (Summer 2004), OSTG retained its top ranking across all competitive networks for delivering online buyers of computer hardware and software, visitors who purchase home electronics online and visitors who buy anything online. OSTG moved up in the rankings for many consumer technology categories, including visitors who are heavy spenders on computer hardware, visitors who purchase MP3 players, and visitors who purchase video games.

For the eighth consecutive quarter, OSTG has been validated as the number one network for delivering visitors who look for technology news online. OSTG reaches over 16 million visitors every month and delivers nearly 250 million page views.

OSDG is in turn owned by VA Software

[. . .]VA Software develops and markets SourceForge Enterprise Edition, an enterprise-grade solution for managing and optimizing distributed development. SourceForge Enterprise Edition provides a secure, centralized platform that connects heterogeneous tools and processes together with an integrated suite of project, change management and collaboration tools. Fortune 1000 companies and government agencies use SourceForge Enterprise Edition as a Global Development Platform(TM) to integrate disparate tools and processes, expand visibility and control, and improve development efficiency and collaboration.

VA Software appears to have its morals lined up nicely. That is, their goal appears to be data sharing and the facilitation of collaborative creative efforts. As the much maligned, (and biblically misrepresented), Christ advised, "Judge the Tree by the Fruit it Bears." This is one of the most outstanding bits of advice I have ever heard. Flowing all the way down this particular chain, Slashdot allows peculiar guys like me to speak my mind in forum on taboo subject matter. I have an enormous amount of respect for that.

Here's an article written by Carl Redfield, a guy way up at the top of th

The currently suggested date is November 5th; MacPlus has "sources" that are confirming the new TiBook and/or a new 19" widescreen display for around then. Sites like MacRumors are claiming that they have confirmation of this, though we'll see. All I know is that A) early November would make it just past 6 months since the last update for the TiBook, and B) MacWorld Expo Spain begins the very same day.

There's no definite specs, but it's likely that we'll see something like 800/1000 MHz processor options (I've heard that it may be 867/1000), and maybe DDR memory and/or a Superdrive option. The cooling and paint processes may be improved as well.

CNN has an article today listing what IDG condiders the top 15 notebooks.

If people are interested in what to say when confronted by this sort of letter, they could do worse than to follow the example of the guys who wrote the Ulysses for Dummies web site. They got a letter from lawyers for IDG Publications (the publishers of the ...for Dummies series). Their reply is priceless. Copy and paste away!


...phil

There was a Slashdot article about a year and a half ago linking an IDG article about sysadmins going to crackers' homes and destroying their equipment or beating them up. Personally, I thought the article was either a fabrication or a joke being played on a gullible reporter.

Can anyone find a link to the /. discussion?

I don't want to knock the book at all, but have no compunctions about lambasting this review ;-)

My [non-techie] wife found it amusing, which is unusual for geek humour. I liked it, but since I check User Friendly almost daily, I didn't see anything I hadn't seen before.

Correction: there is a new joke in the book, and it is the book. This is an O'Reilly "In a Nutshell" book, right down to the Colophon: "The animal on the cover is a Dust Puppy". I can't help but think that if IDG weren't such assholes about their trademarks, this could just as well have been "Evil Geniuses for Dummies".

Thanks to the reviewer for pointing out the missing text in the Windows refund storyline. I didn't get it, and didn't think to check the website to see if the print version was accurate.

Isn't it Mike who is haunted by the giant cola can? The reviewer says it's AJ, but I'm pretty sure it's not.

--
At the time of writing, this is a first post.

(Sorry if I posted just the subject before.)


IDG has a Contact IDG page that you can use to tell them what you think.


On the www.dummies.com page, they also have an email address custserdum@idgbooks.com that you can send to.

Thanks for letting me know about this.

I hope IDG (AND their lawyers) are reading this - by now we've mentioned "for dummies" (trademark of IDG being protected by overly stupid lawyers) so much they probably are.

It's sickening to see a company that pretends to be "in touch" with technology as IDG, and then hires lawyers to assail the very culture that gives them much of their livelyhood.

Well, only thing I have to say is that I've been a client for 12 years and you'll never see another penny from me (not even for Linuxworld). See if your corporate offices like that.

They only listen to money, folks, so it's very simple: Boycott them until they have no money to pay those sharks or they apologize and promise not to do it again.

I allow for them to apologize to give them the benefit of the doubt; it's probably a "pointy-haired boss" (trademark of Scott Adams - gotta be careful these days) who got a little carried away with some stupid lawyer firm - or the lawyers themselves trying to justify their salary.

I have many, many IDG publications, including "For Dummies" books... About 10 or 15 books plus many, many "....World" magazines... I'd say to the tune of at least a few hundred dollars over the years.

BYE BYE IDG...! Nice knowing you while you still knew how to please your customers instead of how to alienate them (though your magazines were always better than your books)!

Also, at he idg.com site there's a form for communications titled "Trying to reach someone at an IDG company?"

You might want to drop in and leave your impressions (be nice but firm - and you might want to refer them here to get Andover and Rob in trouble ;-)). The form mentions you can send messages to Sarah Hansen, Corporate Communications.

And remember, it's a company. This means that its only weak spot is its wallet. Hit them where it hurts the most -- tell all your friends to buy O'Reilly instead!

-------

Dear mrs. Drewelow,

I have seen the letter that you sent to the administrator of the mailing list who was unfortunate enough to have subscribers who sent an email with a "for dummies" subject to his list.

I must inform you that I am outraged by your uninformed decision to hold someone responsible for archiving an email message that came by on his list and threaten them because of "trademark dilution".

I hope that you will learn a bit about the situation and apologize to Mr. Dietz.

kind regards,

Rik van Riel

PS. If you choose to proceed with your cease and decist policy in the uninformed matter that you are doing now, I promise you that I will advice anyone against buying one of your books. This policy, when continued, will be a good source of income for Tim O'Reilly and other, properly behaving, publishers.

After all, who will buy a computer book from a publisher who has shown, in public, that it doesn't understand a bit about how the internet works?

As a web developer ( http://www.idg.com, http://www.solutionsintegrator.com , http://www.idgmediagallery.com ) I am very pleased to hear this news.

My team develops relatively bland corporate web sites, and we do not make use of either browser's advanced features, simply because we never have enough resources to implement two versions of the cool, whizzy things that we would like to do. So NS5 not being backward compatible shouldn't break my sites, because the overlapping feature set of NS4 and IE4 defined the "lowest common denominator" for safe, robust web design.

One standard is something that you can develop to. Two incompatible "standards" are something to discuss over lunch.