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It still has 2 lives left, I mean... it is a "Kitty", isn't it? ;)

Chapter 7
The part of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code describing the liquidation of a company after bankruptcy.

Chapter 11 means still in business.

Chapter 7 means Ded Kitty. No more business. No more Napster. (Yes, that Napster link appears several more times in these comments. I saved it and the main page to disk; not sure why; maybe a bit of history.)

I wonder who drew the "Ded Kitty" jpg? Did they get hacked or does the webmaster have a cool sense of humor? Is there a webmaster? Can't be getting paid much.

You can see the napster buisness plan reflected in their artwork here

Have a look on their website
www.napster.com
Yuioup

I wouldn't walk out in the streets with one, though.

No, Napster may have taken a blow, but it isn't dead yet, check out their homepage for now...

When you have a crime to investigate, and you have no suspects, where do you start? Obviously you begin by looking at the person or persons who have the most to gain by perpetrating the crime.

This is why we must consider: who had something to gain from the disasterous crimes of September 11th? Obviously not Osama Bin Laden, who would net no financial windfall from the destruction of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Although he has loudly applauded the "terrorist" acts of September 11th and even tacitly taken credit for them, there is no reason to believe that he is anything more than a bandwagon jumper. Being blamed for the destruction of the World Trade Center has done more for his image than any amount of militant Islamic rhetoric.

But if not Bin Laden, then who?

It so happens that on December 11th, "coincidentally" 2 months after the tragedy, Credit Suisse First Boston quietly agreed to pay out US$100 million in order to settle an 18 month old investigation into its handling of certain high-profile technology IPOs (Initial Public Offerings). One of the most controversial amongst these being the IPO of VA Linux Systems, Inc. (LNUX) .

VA Linux Systems, Inc., now known as VA Software, is widely derided as a poster child of the dot-com bust, though inexplicably still in business. At the time of the IPO, VA Linux (Software) shares opened trading at nearly 10 times their $30 offer price, closing the first day of trading at $239.25. This meteoric rise made many early investors rich, strangely on account of a company which purports to sell a hobbyist operating system which can be obtained for free on the Internet. "The It was then that Eric S. Raymond suggested something he had read in a book by Tom Clancy. Crashing two planes into the World Trade Center Plaza would guarantee the destruction of the SEC offices, killing the operatives and possibly a number of SEC investigators at the same time. The plan seemed flawless, and would cost little more than the price of a few plane tickets. In a secret session, the board voted unanimously in favour of Eric's suggestion, and began to put it into action.

VA Software/Linux, at the time of planning the attacks, had no shortage of H1-B visa workers, who they employed for the purpose of writing and improving hacking, encryption, and other terrorist tools for the Linux operating system. It had been decided that a hand-picked few of these foreign H1-B workers would be used as the "patsies" in the operation. A contest was held, and the most zealotous Linux advocates were chosen for this secret assignment, direct from the board of directors. They accepted their mission after being told that, if successful, it would guarantee the adoption of Linux in the desktop market.

Alan Cox was brought into the fold to provide some planning and logistics for the mission. It was he who determined that since there was no adequate flight simulator software for Linux, the patsies would need to train at a flight school in order to pull off the plan successfully. It was also his idea to hijack a third and fourth plane for the purpose of crashing them into Washington D.C., to express his extreme rage over the DMCA, or Digital Millenium Copyright Act. The board of directors agreed with this addition to the plan in the hopes that it would help divert attention from the purpose of the WTC attack.

The H1-B workers were given false identities by using Linux hacking tools. Once they had attended the necessary flight training, they stayed at the Massachusetts home of Richard M. Stallman for a brief "faith building" retreat. During this time spent at the house of Stallman, between the nauseating stench of patchouli, Stallman's incessant, pitiful recorder playing, and Stallman's droning seminars on the grammatical and syntactical accuracy of various statements by Microsoft representatives, the H1-B workers were effectively hypnotized to the point that they were ready to lay down their lives for Free Software. It was then that they departed for Boston's Logan International Airport to board the planes.

(The preceding inside information has been obtained from a credible source close to the VA Linux/Software Board of Directors. He/she is in hiding for obvious reasons in light of this damning evidence, but has presented hard, physical evidence of VA Software/Linux's complicity in the events of 9/11 to federal investigators.)

Now knowing what is going to happen with Audiogalaxy ... (the tea leaves haven't been wrong yet) ...

Is there ANY software that cannot be sued into oblivion? I know that GNUtella is open source ... but couldn't that be sued as well?

The main reason that Napster got it so bad, was that the directory listings were centrallized. Audiogalaxy, KaZaA, and others changed this, so that there is no centrallized database, but the people who write the software are being sued ...

About the only way to be "judgement proof" in this day and age would to release software (with or without source) anonymously.

Would this be possible ... ???

well the site http://www.napster.com/ already seems to be MIA

is it just me, or is napster.com down?

perhaps we have a motive?

so.. the company that was (or still is?) suing Napster has now purchased it. I think it's safe to say that Napster is officially dead.

It's a simple matter of how socially inferior "humans"(I put this term in quotations because these people rarely show any humanity) act under certain types of pressure. They attach themselves irrationaly to a concept, product, brand name, or in this case, fad. We've seen it with OS/2 Zealots, BSD Zealots, BeOS Zealots, and Amiga Zealots. We see it everyday on the news with Christian Zealots like John Ashcroft and George W. Bush.

You see, certain types of socially inept people have a tendency to attach themselves to something and refuse to let go with zeal. As the fad dies out and the rest of the world moves on, these zealots will hold on to their idol with alarming tenacity. You do not want to be around these people, but unfortunately it is sometimes out of your control. Therefore, I have prepared some advice in the form of various situations should you ever come upon a Linux Zealot.

Situation 1: On the Internet
This is where the majority of Linux Zealot attacks occur, since Linux Zealots have no social life and rarely leave their computers. Fortunately for you, this type of situation is the easiest to avoid with the use of a little precaution and common sense. First and foremost, stay away from known Linux Zealot sites like Slashdot and Kuro5hin. These sites are well known for promoting software theft and music piracy, among other kinds of law-breaking activity. Do not take this warning as an invitation to go to Slashdot and try to change the minds of the wayward Linux Zealots. Many intelligent people have tried this and failed miserably, for Linux Zealots are extremely close-minded and will not listen to logic. It doesn't matter how many times you tell them that Windows 2000 and WindowsXP don't crash and that Linux sucks for the desktop, they will not listen to you. Instead you will be lost in a sea of angry Linux Zealots. Also, do not get depressed thinking that your options on the Internet are now limited, there are many fine sites featuring intelligent conversation available.

Situation 2: At work/school settings
This situation is the potentially most embarrassing and damaging to your life. The situation usually plays out thusly: you are at work or school when a co-worker or acquaintance tries to introduce you to a Linux Zealot. Often-times this Linux Zealot will try to move in on your social activities. Do not let this happen. This is very important. If you let a Linux Zealot be seen with you in public, it WILL ruin your life. You will lose all your friends, and no girl will ever talk to you again. How do you identify a Linux Zealot? This is very easy - Linux Zealots will either be extremely scrawny or extremely obese. They will be very dirty, poorly dressed (many times with ill-fitting Linux or Thinkgeek shirts), and the odor will be unbearable. If a Linux Zealot tries to befriend you, you must make it clear that you are better than him and that you will not socialize with him. Ridicule him, let him know his lower status in society. Call security or threaten to sue for harrassment if he doesn't leave you alone. Don't be afraid to use violence if it becomes necessary.

Situation 3: Random public encounters
These are probably the rarest of Linux Zealot encounters, and are usually pretty easy to avoid. If you see a Linux Zealot walking down the sidewalk or hallway, do not make eye contact. Turn your head away from the Linux Zealot. If he tries to engage you in conversation, do not respond. Continue walking away from the Linux Zealot at a brisk pace. If the Linux Zealot persists, call for help from the nearest security guard or police officer. If you are female, it is advisable to carry pepper spray and/or a stun gun at all times. Linux Zealots are very skittish around females and their behavior will be erratic.

Now you should know everything you need to know to keep yourself safe from Linux Zealots. Good Luck!

It's a simple matter of how socially inferior "humans"(I put this term in quotations because these people rarely show any humanity) act under certain types of pressure. They attach themselves irrationaly to a concept, product, brand name, or in this case, fad. We've seen it with OS/2 Zealots, BSD Zealots, BeOS Zealots, and Amiga Zealots. We see it everyday on the news with Christian Zealots like John Ashcroft and George W. Bush.

You see, certain types of socially inept people have a tendency to attach themselves to something and refuse to let go with zeal. As the fad dies out and the rest of the world moves on, these zealots will hold on to their idol with alarming tenacity. You do not want to be around these people, but unfortunately it is sometimes out of your control. Therefore, I have prepared some advice in the form of various situations should you ever come upon a Linux Zealot.

Situation 1: On the Internet
This is where the majority of Linux Zealot attacks occur, since Linux Zealots have no social life and rarely leave their computers. Fortunately for you, this type of situation is the easiest to avoid with the use of a little precaution and common sense. First and foremost, stay away from known Linux Zealot sites like Slashdot and Kuro5hin. These sites are well known for promoting software theft and music piracy, among other kinds of law-breaking activity. Do not take this warning as an invitation to go to Slashdot and try to change the minds of the wayward Linux Zealots. Many intelligent people have tried this and failed miserably, for Linux Zealots are extremely close-minded and will not listen to logic. It doesn't matter how many times you tell them that Windows 2000 and WindowsXP don't crash and that Linux sucks for the desktop, they will not listen to you. Instead you will be lost in a sea of angry Linux Zealots. Also, do not get depressed thinking that your options on the Internet are now limited, there are many fine sites featuring intelligent conversation available.

Situation 2: At work/school settings
This situation is the potentially most embarrassing and damaging to your life. The situation usually plays out thusly: you are at work or school when a co-worker or acquaintance tries to introduce you to a Linux Zealot. Often-times this Linux Zealot will try to move in on your social activities. Do not let this happen. This is very important. If you let a Linux Zealot be seen with you in public, it WILL ruin your life. You will lose all your friends, and no girl will ever talk to you again. How do you identify a Linux Zealot? This is very easy - Linux Zealots will either be extremely scrawny or extremely obese. They will be very dirty, poorly dressed (many times with ill-fitting Linux or Thinkgeek shirts), and the odor will be unbearable. If a Linux Zealot tries to befriend you, you must make it clear that you are better than him and that you will not socialize with him. Ridicule him, let him know his lower status in society. Call security or threaten to sue for harrassment if he doesn't leave you alone. Don't be afraid to use violence if it becomes necessary.

Situation 3: Random public encounters
These are probably the rarest of Linux Zealot encounters, and are usually pretty easy to avoid. If you see a Linux Zealot walking down the sidewalk or hallway, do not make eye contact. Turn your head away from the Linux Zealot. If he tries to engage you in conversation, do not respond. Continue walking away from the Linux Zealot at a brisk pace. If the Linux Zealot persists, call for help from the nearest security guard or police officer. If you are female, it is advisable to carry pepper spray and/or a stun gun at all times. Linux Zealots are very skittish around females and their behavior will be erratic.

Now you should know everything you need to know to keep yourself safe from Linux Zealots. Good Luck!

The only way napster could get people to pay for a service provided freely by others is to make a vast improvement. Looking at what they have now, they offer no new features over Gnutella clients, except perhaps chatting and "paying the artists" which isn't enough to make most people pay for it. The only reason to use it is to clear your conscience. Just buying the cd (used, possibly) is cheaper for that.

I would like to share with you a story - a story of pain, rejection, denial, loneliness, and perhaps, at the end, triumph and a happy ending. This story begins just three short years ago...

I was in my senior year of highschool, and as was the style at the time, I was very much interested in computers. I loved to take them apart, figure out how they worked, write programs with Microsoft's fine development environment, Visual Studio. As was also the style at the time, I loved to read webpages, in particularly, Slashdot.org. Perhaps you can guess what happened next. I began to slowly change - I developed an unhealthy obsession with computers, began to dislike and openly question America's policies, started shamelessly pirating music and software, and most dangerously, got turned on to that most deviant operating system of all - Linux.

Now I know many of you must be shaking your head in disgust at this point - "This must just be another one of those M$ trolls, hardee har har," but please, hear me out. This is very important.

As time went on, I got deeper and deeper in the Linux underground. I progressed through the various levels of "distros," from Mandrake, to Suse, to RedHat, finally to Debian, like a drug user going from harmless marijuana to cocaine and heroin. I thought I was so smart; I began sneering at other people who didn't use Linux - "Clueless Windo$e luzers," I would say. I was changing outwardly as well. I became a loner, hunched over the keyboard late into the night with the lights off, listening to my illegally downloaded music. All my friends left me after I broke their computers trying to install Linux on them. My hair grew long and unkempt, I stopped bathing and using deodorant, calling them "tools of capitalism and American greed." I got fired from my sysadmin job for installing slackware over the Solaris servers, and installing Debian over the Windows desktops. My bosses told me I cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I would not listen. "How could I be wrong, I'm using Linux?" I thought, "They must be M$ shills." You can see how far gone I was. No girls would look at me, let alone speak to me. I was in a world of pain, anger, and confusion.

But, then one day, I took a long hard look at myself. I saw that something was wrong, but did not know what. I must confess, for a long time I denied what I knew deep down inside my heart - Linux was the cause of all my troubles. I saw what I had allowed myself to become. I was no longer a human being, I was a Linux Zealot. Instead of judging people by their thoughts, feelings, and actions, I judged them by their choice of Operating System. And so began the long road toward recovery...

I am still not fully recovered from my affliction, for you see, I have only one desktop machine, and cannot install Windows without losing much of my data. That's right, I am healthy enough to admit it, Linux is not for desktop use. I am planning my next desktop machine purchase, which will be an Apple iBook. The one good thing that came out of my years of torment is that I learned the power of Unix. Therefore, I will use MacOSX - a true Unix with excellent support and commercial software backing, something Linux will never have. By paying for my software from now on, I will be supporting the American economy. I want to help get America out of this economic tailspin brought on by open source software and the dot com bust. More importantly, I will no longer be an operating system zealot. I will be friendly, kind, and generous to my fellow humans, no matter which operating system they use. I am now slowly regaining my friends, and last weekend I actually got invited to a party - my first party! Perhaps this weekend I will ask a cute girl out on a date. Since I have cleaned myself up and changed my attitude, I have noticed a few girls giving me flirty looks around campus. I'm so excited about my new life!

Please, Fellow Readers of Slashdot, I implore you to look at what you have become. Although it will be long and difficult, you too can change. I have faith in that. You can start by saying this with me - "Microsoft is not evil, Linux is not good for the desktop." Repeat that every time you feel yourself slipping. Together, we can right this horrible wrong.

Thank You.

I would like to share with you a story - a story of pain, rejection, denial, loneliness, and perhaps, at the end, triumph and a happy ending. This story begins just three short years ago...

I was in my senior year of highschool, and as was the style at the time, I was very much interested in computers. I loved to take them apart, figure out how they worked, write programs with Microsoft's fine development environment, Visual Studio. As was also the style at the time, I loved to read webpages, in particularly, Slashdot.org. Perhaps you can guess what happened next. I began to slowly change - I developed an unhealthy obsession with computers, began to dislike and openly question America's policies, started shamelessly pirating music and software, and most dangerously, got turned on to that most deviant operating system of all - Linux.

Now I know many of you must be shaking your head in disgust at this point - "This must just be another one of those M$ trolls, hardee har har," but please, hear me out. This is very important.

As time went on, I got deeper and deeper in the Linux underground. I progressed through the various levels of "distros," from Mandrake, to Suse, to RedHat, finally to Debian, like a drug user going from harmless marijuana to cocaine and heroin. I thought I was so smart; I began sneering at other people who didn't use Linux - "Clueless Windo$e luzers," I would say. I was changing outwardly as well. I became a loner, hunched over the keyboard late into the night with the lights off, listening to my illegally downloaded music. All my friends left me after I broke their computers trying to install Linux on them. My hair grew long and unkempt, I stopped bathing and using deodorant, calling them "tools of capitalism and American greed." I got fired from my sysadmin job for installing slackware over the Solaris servers, and installing Debian over the Windows desktops. My bosses told me I cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I would not listen. "How could I be wrong, I'm using Linux?" I thought, "They must be M$ shills." You can see how far gone I was. No girls would look at me, let alone speak to me. I was in a world of pain, anger, and confusion.

But, then one day, I took a long hard look at myself. I saw that something was wrong, but did not know what. I must confess, for a long time I denied what I knew deep down inside my heart - Linux was the cause of all my troubles. I saw what I had allowed myself to become. I was no longer a human being, I was a Linux Zealot. Instead of judging people by their thoughts, feelings, and actions, I judged them by their choice of Operating System. And so began the long road toward recovery...

I am still not fully recovered from my affliction, for you see, I have only one desktop machine, and cannot install Windows without losing much of my data. That's right, I am healthy enough to admit it, Linux is not for desktop use. I am planning my next desktop machine purchase, which will be an Apple iBook. The one good thing that came out of my years of torment is that I learned the power of Unix. Therefore, I will use MacOSX - a true Unix with excellent support and commercial software backing, something Linux will never have. By paying for my software from now on, I will be supporting the American economy. I want to help get America out of this economic tailspin brought on by open source software and the dot com bust. More importantly, I will no longer be an operating system zealot. I will be friendly, kind, and generous to my fellow humans, no matter which operating system they use. I am now slowly regaining my friends, and last weekend I actually got invited to a party - my first party! Perhaps this weekend I will ask a cute girl out on a date. Since I have cleaned myself up and changed my attitude, I have noticed a few girls giving me flirty looks around campus. I'm so excited about my new life!

Please, Fellow Readers of Slashdot, I implore you to look at what you have become. Although it will be long and difficult, you too can change. I have faith in that. You can start by saying this with me - "Microsoft is not evil, Linux is not good for the desktop." Repeat that every time you feel yourself slipping. Together, we can right this horrible wrong.

Thank You.

I would like to share with you a story - a story of pain, rejection, denial, loneliness, and perhaps, at the end, triumph and a happy ending. This story begins just three short years ago...

I was in my senior year of highschool, and as was the style at the time, I was very much interested in computers. I loved to take them apart, figure out how they worked, write programs with Microsoft's fine development environment, Visual Studio. As was also the style at the time, I loved to read webpages, in particularly, Slashdot.org. Perhaps you can guess what happened next. I began to slowly change - I developed an unhealthy obsession with computers, began to dislike and openly question America's policies, started shamelessly pirating music and software, and most dangerously, got turned on to that most deviant operating system of all - Linux.

Now I know many of you must be shaking your head in disgust at this point - "This must just be another one of those M$ trolls, hardee har har," but please, hear me out. This is very important.

As time went on, I got deeper and deeper in the Linux underground. I progressed through the various levels of "distros," from Mandrake, to Suse, to RedHat, finally to Debian, like a drug user going from harmless marijuana to cocaine and heroin. I thought I was so smart; I began sneering at other people who didn't use Linux - "Clueless Windo$e luzers," I would say. I was changing outwardly as well. I became a loner, hunched over the keyboard late into the night with the lights off, listening to my illegally downloaded music. All my friends left me after I broke their computers trying to install Linux on them. My hair grew long and unkempt, I stopped bathing and using deodorant, calling them "tools of capitalism and American greed." I got fired from my sysadmin job for installing slackware over the Solaris servers, and installing Debian over the Windows desktops. My bosses told me I cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I would not listen. "How could I be wrong, I'm using Linux?" I thought, "They must be M$ shills." You can see how far gone I was. No girls would look at me, let alone speak to me. I was in a world of pain, anger, and confusion.

But, then one day, I took a long hard look at myself. I saw that something was wrong, but did not know what. I must confess, for a long time I denied what I knew deep down inside my heart - Linux was the cause of all my troubles. I saw what I had allowed myself to become. I was no longer a human being, I was a Linux Zealot. Instead of judging people by their thoughts, feelings, and actions, I judged them by their choice of Operating System. And so began the long road toward recovery...

I am still not fully recovered from my affliction, for you see, I have only one desktop machine, and cannot install Windows without losing much of my data. That's right, I am healthy enough to admit it, Linux is not for desktop use. I am planning my next desktop machine purchase, which will be an Apple iBook. The one good thing that came out of my years of torment is that I learned the power of Unix. Therefore, I will use MacOSX - a true Unix with excellent support and commercial software backing, something Linux will never have. By paying for my software from now on, I will be supporting the American economy. I want to help get America out of this economic tailspin brought on by open source software and the dot com bust. More importantly, I will no longer be an operating system zealot. I will be friendly, kind, and generous to my fellow humans, no matter which operating system they use. I am now slowly regaining my friends, and last weekend I actually got invited to a party - my first party! Perhaps this weekend I will ask a cute girl out on a date. Since I have cleaned myself up and changed my attitude, I have noticed a few girls giving me flirty looks around campus. I'm so excited about my new life!

Please, Fellow Readers of Slashdot, I implore you to look at what you have become. Although it will be long and difficult, you too can change. I have faith in that. You can start by saying this with me - "Microsoft is not evil, Linux is not good for the desktop." Repeat that every time you feel yourself slipping. Together, we can right this horrible wrong.

Thank You.

I would like to share with you a story - a story of pain, rejection, denial, loneliness, and perhaps, at the end, triumph and a happy ending. This story begins just three short years ago...

I was in my senior year of highschool, and as was the style at the time, I was very much interested in computers. I loved to take them apart, figure out how they worked, write programs with Microsoft's fine development environment, Visual Studio. As was also the style at the time, I loved to read webpages, in particularly, Slashdot.org. Perhaps you can guess what happened next. I began to slowly change - I developed an unhealthy obsession with computers, began to dislike and openly question America's policies, started shamelessly pirating music and software, and most dangerously, got turned on to that most deviant operating system of all - Linux.

Now I know many of you must be shaking your head in disgust at this point - "This must just be another one of those M$ trolls, hardee har har," but please, hear me out. This is very important.

As time went on, I got deeper and deeper in the Linux underground. I progressed through the various levels of "distros," from Mandrake, to Suse, to RedHat, finally to Debian, like a drug user going from harmless marijuana to cocaine and heroin. I thought I was so smart; I began sneering at other people who didn't use Linux - "Clueless Windo$e luzers," I would say. I was changing outwardly as well. I became a loner, hunched over the keyboard late into the night with the lights off, listening to my illegally downloaded music. All my friends left me after I broke their computers trying to install Linux on them. My hair grew long and unkempt, I stopped bathing and using deodorant, calling them "tools of capitalism and American greed." I got fired from my sysadmin job for installing slackware over the Solaris servers, and installing Debian over the Windows desktops. My bosses told me I cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I would not listen. "How could I be wrong, I'm using Linux?" I thought, "They must be M$ shills." You can see how far gone I was. No girls would look at me, let alone speak to me. I was in a world of pain, anger, and confusion.

But, then one day, I took a long hard look at myself. I saw that something was wrong, but did not know what. I must confess, for a long time I denied what I knew deep down inside my heart - Linux was the cause of all my troubles. I saw what I had allowed myself to become. I was no longer a human being, I was a Linux Zealot. Instead of judging people by their thoughts, feelings, and actions, I judged them by their choice of Operating System. And so began the long road toward recovery...

I am still not fully recovered from my affliction, for you see, I have only one desktop machine, and cannot install Windows without losing much of my data. That's right, I am healthy enough to admit it, Linux is not for desktop use. I am planning my next desktop machine purchase, which will be an Apple iBook. The one good thing that came out of my years of torment is that I learned the power of Unix. Therefore, I will use MacOSX - a true Unix with excellent support and commercial software backing, something Linux will never have. By paying for my software from now on, I will be supporting the American economy. I want to help get America out of this economic tailspin brought on by open source software and the dot com bust. More importantly, I will no longer be an operating system zealot. I will be friendly, kind, and generous to my fellow humans, no matter which operating system they use. I am now slowly regaining my friends, and last weekend I actually got invited to a party - my first party! Perhaps this weekend I will ask a cute girl out on a date. Since I have cleaned myself up and changed my attitude, I have noticed a few girls giving me flirty looks around campus. I'm so excited about my new life!

Please, Fellow Readers of Slashdot, I implore you to look at what you have become. Although it will be long and difficult, you too can change. I have faith in that. You can start by saying this with me - "Microsoft is not evil, Linux is not good for the desktop." Repeat that every time you feel yourself slipping. Together, we can right this horrible wrong.

Thank You.

I would like to share with you a story - a story of pain, rejection, denial, loneliness, and perhaps, at the end, triumph and a happy ending. This story begins just three short years ago...

I was in my senior year of highschool, and as was the style at the time, I was very much interested in computers. I loved to take them apart, figure out how they worked, write programs with Microsoft's fine development environment, Visual Studio. As was also the style at the time, I loved to read webpages, in particularly, Slashdot.org. Perhaps you can guess what happened next. I began to slowly change - I developed an unhealthy obsession with computers, began to dislike and openly question America's policies, started shamelessly pirating music and software, and most dangerously, got turned on to that most deviant operating system of all - Linux.

Now I know many of you must be shaking your head in disgust at this point - "This must just be another one of those M$ trolls, hardee har har," but please, hear me out. This is very important.

As time went on, I got deeper and deeper in the Linux underground. I progressed through the various levels of "distros," from Mandrake, to Suse, to RedHat, finally to Debian, like a drug user going from harmless marijuana to cocaine and heroin. I thought I was so smart; I began sneering at other people who didn't use Linux - "Clueless Windo$e luzers," I would say. I was changing outwardly as well. I became a loner, hunched over the keyboard late into the night with the lights off, listening to my illegally downloaded music. All my friends left me after I broke their computers trying to install Linux on them. My hair grew long and unkempt, I stopped bathing and using deodorant, calling them "tools of capitalism and American greed." I got fired from my sysadmin job for installing slackware over the Solaris servers, and installing Debian over the Windows desktops. My bosses told me I cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I would not listen. "How could I be wrong, I'm using Linux?" I thought, "They must be M$ shills." You can see how far gone I was. No girls would look at me, let alone speak to me. I was in a world of pain, anger, and confusion.

But, then one day, I took a long hard look at myself. I saw that something was wrong, but did not know what. I must confess, for a long time I denied what I knew deep down inside my heart - Linux was the cause of all my troubles. I saw what I had allowed myself to become. I was no longer a human being, I was a Linux Zealot. Instead of judging people by their thoughts, feelings, and actions, I judged them by their choice of Operating System. And so began the long road toward recovery...

I am still not fully recovered from my affliction, for you see, I have only one desktop machine, and cannot install Windows without losing much of my data. That's right, I am healthy enough to admit it, Linux is not for desktop use. I am planning my next desktop machine purchase, which will be an Apple iBook. The one good thing that came out of my years of torment is that I learned the power of Unix. Therefore, I will use MacOSX - a true Unix with excellent support and commercial software backing, something Linux will never have. By paying for my software from now on, I will be supporting the American economy. I want to help get America out of this economic tailspin brought on by open source software and the dot com bust. More importantly, I will no longer be an operating system zealot. I will be friendly, kind, and generous to my fellow humans, no matter which operating system they use. I am now slowly regaining my friends, and last weekend I actually got invited to a party - my first party! Perhaps this weekend I will ask a cute girl out on a date. Since I have cleaned myself up and changed my attitude, I have noticed a few girls giving me flirty looks around campus. I'm so excited about my new life!

Please, Fellow Readers of Slashdot, I implore you to look at what you have become. Although it will be long and difficult, you too can change. I have faith in that. You can start by saying this with me - "Microsoft is not evil, Linux is not good for the desktop." Repeat that every time you feel yourself slipping. Together, we can right this horrible wrong.

Thank You.

Well, I pretty much was just trying to be funny, but since you brought it up....

I don't think holding the world's email hostage is a terribly productive way to go about things. Reichschancellor Ashcroft would probably send you up the river on terrorism charges for that. Some of the more positive geek activities that spring to mind include

1. This geek wrote his own operating system which Microsoft now considers its biggest threat.
2. A few more geeks enabled us "illegally" to watch DVDs with that operating system.
3. A young geek got the whole music industry *all* pissed off with this little program, the offspring of which are the very reason for this discussion.

When you have a crime to investigate, and you have no suspects, where do you start? Obviously you begin by looking at the person or persons who have the most to gain by perpetrating the crime.

This is why we must consider: who had something to gain from the disasterous crimes of September 11th? Obviously not Osama Bin Laden, who would net no financial windfall from the destruction of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Although he has loudly applauded the "terrorist" acts of September 11th and even tacitly taken credit for them, there is no reason to believe that he is anything more than a bandwagon jumper. Being blamed for the destruction of the World Trade Center has done more for his image than any amount of militant Islamic rhetoric.

But if not Bin Laden, then who?

It so happens that on December 11th, "coincidentally" 2 months after the tragedy, Credit Suisse First Boston quietly agreed to pay out US$100 million in order to settle an 18 month old investigation into its handling of certain high-profile technology IPOs (Initial Public Offerings). One of the most controversial amongst these being the IPO of VA Linux Systems, Inc. (LNUX) .

VA Linux Systems, Inc., now known as VA Software, is widely derided as a poster child of the dot-com bust, though inexplicably still in business. At the time of the IPO, VA Linux (Software) shares opened trading at nearly 10 times their $30 offer price, closing the first day of trading at $239.25. This meteoric rise made many early investors rich, strangely on account of a company which purports to sell a hobbyist operating system which can be obtained for free on the Internet. "The VA Linux initial public offering is a prime example of market manipulation in an IPO by investment banks, their customers and the issuing firm," said Steven Schulman, a partner in the law firm Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, which specializes in filing shareholder suits.

"Because certain favored customers of the investment banks agreed to buy shares in a new issue at inflated prices in the aftermarket (in return for getting an allocation of the shares at the initial offering price) the share prices to which the IPO eventually soared were actually driven by artificial market forces," continues Schulman.

But what does the VA Software (Linux) IPO have to do with the attacks on September 11th, and what has that to do with the Credit Suisse settlement? Well, considering that VA Linux (Software) got CSFB into trouble in the first place, it stands to reason that the VA Linux (Software) Board of Directors were complicit in the stock fraud from beginning to end. As the investigation progressed against CSFB, the unscrupulous VA Software/Linux executives, their pockets bulging with filthy lucre plundered from trusting, hard-working investors, must have realized that their days in the country club were numbered if the SEC discovered their wrongdoings.

The SEC, or Securities Exchange Commission, is a federal regulatory agency, and cannot be bribed. Therefore, with a possible stint in federal prison looming large, Larry Augustin and the rest of the crooks, including outspoken gun violence advocate Eric S. Raymond, decided to undertake more active means to halt the investigation.

The Plan

It so happened that all the evidence in the CSFB/VA Linux investigation was held at the SEC Northeast Regional Office in Manhattan. More specifically, 7 World Trade Center, Suite 1300. The board decided that a simple burglary or arson attempt would not be satisfactory to destroy the evidence; anything so simple had a significant chance of being botched, and regardless of success would leave too many witnesses or living accomplices.

It was then that Eric S. Raymond suggested something he had read in a book by Tom Clancy. Crashing two planes into the World Trade Center Plaza would guarantee the destruction of the SEC offices, killing the operatives and possibly a number of SEC investigators at the same time. The plan seemed flawless, and would cost little more than the price of a few plane tickets. In a secret session, the board voted unanimously in favour of Eric's suggestion, and began to put it into action.

VA Software/Linux, at the time of planning the attacks, had no shortage of H1-B visa workers, who they employed for the purpose of writing and improving hacking, encryption, and other terrorist tools for the Linux operating system. It had been decided that a hand-picked few of these foreign H1-B workers would be used as the "patsies" in the operation. A contest was held, and the most zealotous Linux advocates were chosen for this secret assignment, direct from the board of directors. They accepted their mission after being told that, if successful, it would guarantee the adoption of Linux in the desktop market.

Alan Cox was brought into the fold to provide some planning and logistics for the mission. It was he who determined that since there was no adequate flight simulator software for Linux, the patsies would need to train at a flight school in order to pull off the plan successfully. It was also his idea to hijack a third and fourth plane for the purpose of crashing them into Washington D.C., to express his extreme rage over the DMCA, or Digital Millenium Copyright Act. The board of directors agreed with this addition to the plan in the hopes that it would help divert attention from the purpose of the WTC attack.

The H1-B workers were given false identities by using Linux hacking tools. Once they had attended the necessary flight training, they stayed at the Massachusetts home of Richard M. Stallman for a brief "faith building" retreat. During this time spent at the house of Stallman, between the nauseating stench of patchouli, Stallman's incessant, pitiful recorder playing, and Stallman's droning seminars on the grammatical and syntactical accuracy of various statements by Microsoft representatives, the H1-B workers were effectively hypnotized to the point that they were ready to lay down their lives for Free Software. It was then that they departed for Boston's Logan International Airport to board the planes.

(The preceding inside information has been obtained from a credible source close to the VA Linux/Software Board of Directors. He/she is in hiding for obvious reasons in light of this damning evidence, but has presented hard, physical evidence of VA Software/Linux's complicity in the events of 9/11 to federal investigators.)

From the annals of the Troll Library .

Napster... symbolized the Net's challenge to hierarchical business and institutional structures -- until it showed the true power of corporatists. For years, the hackers believed nobody could stop them. After the Napster battles, it was clear that lobbyists and lawmakers, especially conjunction with wealthy corporatists, could.

As pious as this may sound (so please don't reply saying so), if you, by any chance, want to get with a very similar, very current fight, but this time with instant messaging, may I suggest downloading Trillian (for Windows), which connects to ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, IRC, and is trying to stay connecting to AIM.

http://www.trillian.cc/
http://www.ceruleansoftware.com/

And like Napster, these guys have vowed to not stop fighting. Though some of its users have already tired of getting kicked off and have went back to the AIM client already.

Quote from the article:
Websites like Napster, which created the expectation that content should be free to download, copy and disseminate, caught the music industry off guard.

it's the second sentence and after 3 words the article lost my attention. AFAIK Napster does have a website but the system itself doesn't use it.

When people get kid-stuff like that wrong I really don't think they should be writing stuff like this. I had an aunt who used to disconnect after 'surfing the web', then dial back in to collect het E-mail...

The internet contains more than websites and not every service on the internet is a website...

And for the same reasons. They have a court order to suspend their service, and now they're trying to launch a pay service so they can pay royalties and continue operations.

The only difference is that they're much faster. According to the Napster website, they were supposed to launch their pay service last summer, and only recently have they started asking people to preview their new pay service.

Has anyone read the preview?

It says that some tracks will be listed in MP3 format, the rights holder has to request that their track be encoded in the "secure" .nap format.

Sure it'll be cracked before the final version of Napayster is released. If the idea of pay-to-download tracks was a financially sound one, the record labels would already be doing it.

From the article, David Post suggests:

Predictions are too difficult . . . though I think you can bet on the following headline: "Music Iindustry Fails in Attempts to Get Users to Patronize Sponsored Music Services

It is difficult to predict what will happen in the next year, especially given the events of last year. But it's dead on to say people will not pay for things they can currently get for free.

FYI, Napster is giving free previews of their membership service, and from the reaction on boards frequented by ex-Napster users, Mr. Post's prediction will most likely ring true.

If you want one more reason, they charge an extra dollar for a XXL T-Shirt..That's big fat lamer discrimination.

The FAQ sums it up best:

Why should I pay when I can get it for free somewhere else?
You mean aside from the fact that Napster is the coolest?

Check the link. I'm not kidding. Really.

I just bought a new computer and I can't find my files. What happened to them?

I always wondered when using Napster, "What group of people used this service?" Then I remember, during it's peak usage, everyone. I think that's why Napster was so great. It gave me something about computers to which my non-geek friends could relate. I remember knowing people who bought computers and subscribed to the internet because of Napster.

On a side note, the recent recession must be realated to Napster use in some way to the recent economic downturn.

From Napster:
Artists Get Paid

Napster will offer artists and labels tools to register as rights holders and get paid for sharing their music on Napster. Artists and other rights holders can set rules for how their music files are used, check their account status online, and receive quarterly statements.

Many artists are legally bound to thier labels and have no control over thier music, so most of your money will go to those labels. HOWEVER, A Label isn't required to distribute your music via new Napster, so those Artists who wish to get paid directly CAN. And those who wish to sell thier soul, can sign up with the labels...

anyone make out the URL at http://www.napster.com/preview/getpaid.html? (-:

S

It doesn't look like the artists will be paid (from the FAQ):

How is Napster going to stay legal? Will you filter out certain songs, like before?

All the music available through Napster will be legally licensed for sharing in the Napster community. When you make music available for sharing, our system will check to make sure it's licensed to Napster. We're busy getting licenses to music from copyright holders ranging from major to independent labels, so there'll be a lot of great music when we launch -- and we'll continue adding to that body of music.

(Emphasis mine)

So, once again, it looks like both the artists and the users are being screwed.

This solution Napster will be offering would be more palatable in my view if we knew the money was going DIRECTLY to the artists, rather than via the "label"...

Napster will offer artists and labels tools to register as rights holders and get paid for sharing their music on Napster. Artists and other rights holders can set rules for how their music files are used, check their account status online, and receive quarterly statements.

the twitching of the dying limbs of the Napster beast. The death rattle can be heard here.

Hmm... Fark is /.ed so try this link: http://www.napster.com/preview/.

Here's a better link:

http://www.napster.com/preview/

Artists Get Paid.

Now is when the open source community should be working hard - to be ready to quickly launch an "open kazaa" type system, with the supernodes p2p searching and indexing, etc. The old protocol has already been reverse engineered. Its a proven protocol, and it works well enough. Just use that protocol and the old giFT client as a starting point.

All that is needed is a "keyless" client and a solid "Windows" version of the client. Why Windows platforms first? To paraphase the alleged Willie Sutton quote, "because thats where the files are". Remember, its the mass of users and files that make this work, so a technically solid and professional looking Windows client must come first, for maximum user gain. This is in additon to the usual and inevitable multiple Linux versions. The replacement client must be made to install and use the files and directories that already exist on the windows users' computers, and to use a similar user interface - so it is instant changeover, apparently seamless and painless - and it will look as if they never "left" the old p2p service except for the centralized login.

Finally, the forgotten element in the Open Source community, "publicity", must be revved up to get this client into the hands of a lot of people so it can be switched to as soon as Kazaaa/Morpheus et al are shut down. Linux users will take care of themselves, but the Windows herd usually needs to be led, at least initially. A question for the Slahsdot crowd,

How do you "publicize" things to the non-geek Windows crowd without a budget ?

Ok, nows the time to step up to the plate - this is a golden opportunity to put into place a open p2p net that cannot be stopped at a central source, that can permanently rip control out of the hands of central authorities for file-sharing, that will quickly adapt to overcome countermeasures, and a system that will make moot the DMCA and other US-centric bad laws. The question in front of the community now is:

Can Open Source people do things pre-emptively - plan and act in advance to scatch an itch we know is coming, instead of waiting for the itch to appear?

This is certainly a good test case to see if the Open Source community is what we enthusiasts always claim that it can be.

Like more than a dozen people actually have 1000 hours of LEGAL music. That's like 1000 CDs. Or, about $15,000 worth of CDs. Apple joins the piracy tool supporters of the world.. right on! Fight for your "freedom!"

Aside from the (questionable) joy of explaining cryptography to suits and explaining licensing requirements to geeks (Harry Fox helps throw a real monkey wrench in there, administering rights for song-writers), one of the things that came up time and time again was anti-trust issues.

SMEI and WMG were well-aware that together they represented about 30% of the market (they split that up, flip-flopping every year over who has the most based on who had bigger hits). Their expectation was that a joint venture between them would attract BMG, Universal, EMI and whoever was number six at the time. Then independents would simply have to fish or cut bait and join up as well.

Everyone was very careful to avoid using words and phrases like "controlling", "domination", etc. at least in written materials. People would verbally joke that they needed to make sure those words weren't written down, in case they ever got subpoena'ed for anti-trust, but everyone knew that the objective was making the HBO of electronic music distribution. You see, they recognized that HBO had the movie companies by the short and curlies as far as cable distribution of films went, and didn't want the same to happen to them in a new media distribution - the film companies have been worrying about this for themselves for electronic distribution for a couple of years now.

Of course, Napster beat them to it, so they beat on Napster legally. One of the funniest things about the timing of these things for me was SDMI being announced just after MP3 hit the cover of Time Magazine, when I'd been working on it for years prior. And of course they got the DMCA passed in the meantime, making cracking even the stupidest of copy control schemes illegal. Of course, every crypto expert they talked to at the time (myself included) emphasized that no scheme was foolproof and you should be sure to design the system to minimize damage in the case of a crack. Being powerful executives with lobbyists on retainer, a legal solution was obvious.

So, all in all, I'm pleasantly amused that the music companies got just a bit too eager and slipped in one phrase too many.....

• If I give copies of WinXP to my friends or share them on an ftp site, either a) nothing will happen, or b) my ISP will cut me off. If I try to sell them to strangers, I will go to jail.
• If I discover a security hole and report it to BUGTRAQ, nobody cares. If I try to use it for extortion or try to sell the information, I will go to jail (just like this guy).
• If I run a (arguably) for-profit song-swapping service that deals mostly in copyrighted songs (which I have no license to distribute), I will get sued into oblivion. If I am a Gnutella node, the worst they can do is cancel my @home account.

Crime doesn't pay (much).

-sting3r

Go check out: The blurb about Napster as a company.

In particular:

Funding

Napster, Inc. recently closed a $15 million Series C venture capital funding round. The round was led by Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, with additional investments from Angel Investors LP and other existing investors. As part of the investment in Napster, Hummer Winblad partners Hank Barry and John Hummer joined the Board of Directors and Hank Barry assumed the role of interim CEO.

I think that this means that they are not entirely free to all "jump ship and do something else". When you accept funding for your company, there are all sorts of things you have to agree to, and I wouldn't be surprised if the VC's are hounding them to do SOMETHING, to get that damn money pit back above water.

People won't pay because they're angry.

(Warning: this post will break the long-lived social belief that opinions should be entirely devoid of human emotion lest those opinions lose their credibility. If you happen to be someone who believes this adage to be true, then you shouldn't read this post; and instead should please yourself watching the bevy of security camera footage tapes that I'm sure exist. The rest of us human beings can read on.)

That's right, angry... and for a whole lot of reasons, too.

See, when I want a new shirt, I can go to the store, look at it, try it on, ogle at how it looks on me in a mirror, and decide whether or not I want to purchase.

When I want a new car, I can go to a dealership, drive the car around town, inspect every part of it, and make up my mind as to whether or not I really like it.

When I want an apple, I can pick the one I think looks, feels, and even smells the best out of a huge stack of apples at the grocer or at one of many farmer's markets around town. (At the markets, in fact, I'm encouraged by the mom-and-pop vendors to taste the product. But I wouldn't really recommend putting produce up to your nose and smelling it in public.)

However, suddenly, when the product I'm interested in happens to fall into the "information" category, I'm now expected to pay to even find out if a bit of information I want is even available, much less find out what the quality of that data is.

If I want to know what a particular band sounds like, I'm told (by the artists, on more then one occasion) that I should "buy the CD and find out." (A CD costs anywhere from $15-$20 brand new; that much money routinely feeds me nutritiously for a week. I refuse to spend a week's worth of food money only to find out that a certain group's latest offering sounds like crap.

When I want to know whether or not Word XP will fill my word processing needs, I have to not only buy the CD's, but also call Microsoft to get permission to USE the farking things. And that permission only lasts a year or two! (Just when you thought that only shareware was time limited...)

And yes, there are ways around all these problems - but you utilize these methods at risk of being branded a criminal (and possibly persecuted as one) by greedy people with too much free time©.

If a department store hired bouncers and enforced a cover charge at every door - so you'd have to pay ten bucks before even being allowed to go in and see if there are any clothes you might want - how long do you think they would stay in business?

If you bought a book, but were told that several armed police officers would come to your door after a year or two and arrest you if you hadn't paid for that book again by that time... how many bookstores would stay in business?

If your only choice of produce were limited to several small, online pictures and word-of-mouth reputation vouchers, how long do you think it would be before your online-only grocery store went out of business? (Oh, wait... we know the answer to that one already.)

As a people, we're angry. Angry that someone went out there went and changed the established, customer-is-always-right, service-with-a-smile rules around. Angry that the new system of commercialism is based on blind purchases, leaps of faith, zero-privacy, and other, similar systems designed from the ground-up to screw the customer at every turn. Angry that a group of well-funded, shiny-toothed suits have decided to try and turn what was designed to be a free system of communication into yet another way to make money. And angry that anyone who thinks this is a total crock and peacefully subverts this mockery of a system (even for perfectly legitamate reasons) is branded a criminal and consequently sent to jail and/or robbed of their (legally purchased) equipment.

At this point, it's a wonder people aren't routinely sacking and pillaging the nearest Virgin Records Megastore. I know for me, on a personal note, if Anger were People, I'd be China.

--WorLord

Could it be the author wrote this book left it on the shelf and avoided the problems which are plaguing the industry at this current time?


This is a future in which the sovereign individual is freed to become as much as she allows.

Wrong, this is a future where many are going to have to tiptoe through all sorts of scenarios to avoid having a future littered with legal worries from all sides of the spectrum. How can you become "freed" from anything when at the rate the tech field is going, we've seen a surge of lawsuits from all walks of life ranging from patents, to copyrights, to any other fabled scenario a company wants to spend money litigating?

Looking at that aspect, I'd say many would become rather restricted and reluctant to promote "the next best thing", or even themselves out of fear of retribution.

Secondly amidst all that nonsense, for those who either don't notice, or ignore the warnings, taking a look at the legal system itself regarding tech, it will only get worse, as laws (which are often so broad and obsolete to a circumstances) prohibits many from acting. (e.g. Jerome Hackenkamp, Max Vision, Keith Henson, Napster [corporations aren't free from actions either], Jim Bell and the list goes on) to promote or revolutionize, or even speak in today's world.

What world is the author living in I'd like to visit?

However, Gilder does miss one important point; in the abundance of bandwidth, there becomes a new scarcity of content. In the end, Gilder's book
may best be thought of as a call to arms: start wasting bandwidth, and start working on solving the next problem -- one of novel creation.

How can you expect to solve the next problem when the ones in front of you are ignored? What about taking a realistic approach to focusing on whats on the table now before crying over spilled milk later?

They could likely tell you who might be good to contact. They have a speak out section on their website, touting the Napster Action Network. There's also a list of artists who have spoken out in support of Napster. Or, you might be able to take a look at the forums and find a couple intelligent postings from everyday people who might be in your area...

http://www.napster.com/company/contact.html

but for some reason Napster supplies NO information on what to do if a song that you hold a valid copyright on is being blocked for no reason

If you hold the copyright on a sound recording, get your band listed in Napster's legal music registry. Or just sign up with MP3.com and name-drop your music in the chat rooms.

Um, what planet have you been living on? Napster announced their plans months ago. None of it's been implemented yet, but it's part of their deal with Bertelsman.

So taking that into account, there will be no need for Rip-Proof CD-Rs because the RIAA wants Napster to use Opt-In filtering. Voilà, now Charlie Pride doesn't have to worry about his songs being on Napster, and there is no need for Rip-Proof CDs.