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Domain: jargonfile.org

Stories and comments across the archive that link to jargonfile.org.

Comments · 9

  1. Multipurpose Multimedia by sulli · · Score: 2 · on Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality
    Man, what a blast from the past. Back in 1996 when Hotwired was new, people were using the term "multimedia" to describe pretty much anything hip and modern - much like "internet" and then "e-" were used a few years later.

    Some usage I remember:

    1. (Describing a PC) Equipped with sound, video, and CD-ROM.
    2. (Describing a game or web site) Graphically intensive, with sound and/or video.
    3. (Describing a data protocol) Able to support multiple services - e.g. ATM, which is designed to support voice, data, and video
    4. (Describing an industry segment) Broadly defined to include game developers, web designers, software developers, and editors of fancy magazines about same
    5. (Describing a neighborhood) A place where innovative, cutting-edge companies producing 1, 2, and 4 (but not 3) locate.

    But it's really obsolete usage by now. I haven't seen it in common usage in several years, except to describe slow, graphically intensive web sites that make me want to uninstall Flash.

    (Note that it's 404 in the Jargon File. Probably because it's so amorphous as to be useless as jargon.)

  2. PEBKAC by sulli · · Score: 2 · on A Home For The Technologically Inept

    When I did a bit of tech support a few years ago, the best term for those who couldn't or wouldn't RTFM was PEBKAC: Problem exists between keyboard and chair. True now as ever!

  3. Re:Open Source Software security by Alan · · Score: 1 · on DoD and Net Attacks

    Interesting thought. I was thinking that perhaps they wrote everything themselves (DoDOS?). Backdoors are a tricky thing too, see the jargon file entry about the famous gcc hack.

  4. Post 1995 Uncertainty: proper nouns by mr.+fabulous · · Score: 1 · on "e-mail" vs "email"
    you will eventually start to lose that portion of your readership which may be influential and have real decision-making powers.

    Well, I can't argue with that. Shape up!

    Since I'm here: In the end it is the folks that have seniority on the Network (nee, Arpanet) can decide this. However, note that the NYTimes has for years referred to it as "E-mail." Note the capital 'e'. I tried that convention for a while years ago, masochistically too mind you, especially to disassociate myself from the Win crowd. Who typically never pass up an opportunity to gratuitously mangle a phrase, much less a sentence.

    I gather the assumption made by the Times is that as snail mail is orthographically denoted as "US mail," electronic mail therefore should be similarly constructed. Thus, transforming email into a proper noun they get Electronic mail or E-mail.

    I would go with what old timers use or the Jargon File:
    There are numerous spelling variants of this word. In Internet traffic up to 1995, `email' predominates, `e-mail' runs a not-too-distant second, and `E-mail' and `Email' are a distant third and fourth.
    You'll notice the 1995 reference -- that's when the general unwashed media, corporate analysts, and the rest became aware of the Network. That gibes exactly with my experience. I'd go with "email." Less typos, less filling, tradition. =)

    --
    Me pican las bolas, man!
    Thanks
  5. Re:The problem... by MindStalker · · Score: 3 · on Lessig On DMCA, Adobe, The US Constitution And Fair Use
    STOP STOP, in the name of the law. The very existence of this thread defies the law of nature. Specifically Godwin's Law from the jargon file.

    Godwin's Law prov.

    [Usenet] "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." There is a tradition in many groups that, once this occurs, that thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress. Godwin's Law thus practically guarantees the existence of an upper bound on thread length in those groups.

  6. Jargon by yerricde · · Score: 2 · on Can You Create An Intelligent Haiku Generator?

    But then AOL
    Created the Septemb er
    That never ended.

  7. A root by any other name... by yerricde · · Score: 1 · on They Don't Make Them Like They Used To
    • Eunuchs: Everything's a file.
    • Windows 9x: Everybody's root.

    The fact that 9x makes all users superusers makes admins at organizations too poor to afford NT shudder.

    Not all superusers on eunuchs systems are named root either. Here's a good way to set up a boring system (excellent cracker deterrent):

    1. Rename the superuser account to something not in common use as a superuser account name.
    2. Create these accounts as normal user accounts with small disk quotas:
      • name: god; password: god
      • name: root; password: root
      • name: admin; password: admin
      • name: avatar; password: avatar
      • name: superuser; password: superuser
      • name: Administrator; password: Administrator

    So a cr4x0r claiming to "h4v3 r007 0n 411 j00r b0x0rz" isn't claiming much.

    Good name for a script kiddie tool: Roto-Rooter
  8. Re:Wahoo! Another Cyber Patrol Story! by MindStalker · · Score: 2 · on AOL Protects Kids From Liberals

    You obviously forgot about Godwin's Law! From the Jargon File

  9. Re:Wahoo! Another Cyber Patrol Story! by MindStalker · · Score: 2 · on AOL Protects Kids From Liberals

    You obviously forgot about Godwin's Law! From the Jargon File