Slashdot Mirror

According to this article this tax is for companies in the city of Seattle, not the entire state of Washington.

The legislation in Olympia is looking into blocking this.

I hate to beat a dead horse...
No, actually I kind of enjoy it here...[grin]


Microsoft trial: Second bad video airs in courtroom

I admit that this comment is going to sound very ad hominum: We need to examine Obasanjo's claims carefully. He's worked for Microsoft very recently.

Ordinarily, I wouldn't call attention to this, but Microsoft as a company has a really bad track record of astroturfing just about any kind of on- or off-line forum:

• CompuServe forums
• Political Action Committee
• "Independent" research groups
• Letter writing campaigns
• MSNBC articles
• online poll 1, online poll 2
• ZDNet talk backs

Sorry, Dare, but that's the facts: if you lie down with pigs, you wake up smelling a bit like pig excrement.

Sorry about the AC, but I'm an employee...

Boeing Digital Cinema, part of Boeing Space and Communications (formerly Hughes Aerospace) is already distributing movies (masterpieces such as "Spy Kids") digitally. They estimate it would cost 4 Billion dollars to retrofit the USA's 30,000 movie screens. Neat tech, doesn't change the fact that I'm getting laid off, tho. :(

• http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/08/movies/08COLL.ht ml
  
• http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/movies/57462_collate ral08q.shtml
  
• http://reuters.com/news_article.jhtml;jsessionid=L SAL0EGPXD1T0CRBAE0CFFAKEEATGIWD?type=entertainment news&StoryID=582870
  
• http://www.rottentomatoes.com/movie-1110242/
  
• http://www.joblo.com/collateraldamage.htm
  

Just because you say that Sony is selling PS2 below cost and Nintendo isn't, doesn't mean it is true.

I think it is the other way around.

Nice "thoughts". The fact that Sony sold the PSX as a loss leader is WELL documented. It paid off in the long run, too, as it lead to market domination. MS is following Sony's playbook there, or at least trying to.

I think Nintendo and Microsoft, who buy the console from other companies, sell at a loss; and Sony, who designed the entire PS2 themselves and invested 2 billion US dollars worth into production, make money on every console they sell.

You said it yourself, they invested $2B in production, not to mention whatever in R&D. All this must be recouped. That's why console sales don't generate a profit right away, usually. Costs fall. A PSX used to cost a lot to make. Now they are cheap. You set pricing based on complicated models that you think will end up making you the most profit in the long run. You lose money at first, but you have to get the system into people's hands so you can sell the games- where the REAL money is.

Now, I'll back my statement up with some comments from people more in the know than either of us.

From the Seattle Times:

"Hardware pricing is considered a loss leader for console makers, who make their money selling games."

From Red Herring:

"Driving down production costs will be a determining factor in profitability over the next five years. According to most estimates, Sony's PlayStation 2 cost the company $450 per unit upon initial production in early 2000. The company had first sold the machine as a loss leader for $360 in Japan and for $300 in the United States and Europe. The strategy paid off with the first Play Station because Sony was able to reduce the product's cost from $480 in 1994 to about $80 now (it was initially priced at $299 and is sold at about $99 today). Meanwhile, the company sold about nine games for every console. That model allowed Sony to make billions of dollars over the life of the PlayStation, even if it lost money at first."

Do a little homework before you shoot your mouth off, and have the courage to back your statements up with your name next time, AC.

This is not a hoax... it's been mentioned in the Seattle Times several times.

Here and here.

This is not a hoax... it's been mentioned in the Seattle Times several times.

Here and here.

So it only applies to depositions? Does this mean we won't get to see Bill being interviewed on tape? That was one of the most entertaining parts of the trail to date!

This talks about some of the funny parts (arguing over the definition of "define" :-).

Other things he couldn't define were "we", and "compete." What a hoot. Another great quote: "I have no idea what you're talking about when you say 'ask'." It really smacked of a guy who had some professional coaching on how to dodge questions, but executed it very inelegantly.

If not showing this type of questioning publicly is indeed what the court order means, I'm not surprised Microsoft fought hard for it. Bill just looked as dishonest and sneaky as many people think that he is.

-me

Which reminds me -- Slashdot oughta run a story on the move towards National Do-Not-Call legislation. The FTC's proposed plan involves an $11,000 kick in the teeth of every telemarketing pigfux0r who breaks the law, and would make it easier for victims to trace back and report lawbreaking telemarketers to the authorities.

The FTC is accepting public comment on the proposal, in sextuplicate, by March 29, 2002.

Make sure that the comments they get aren't entirely from DMA lobbyists.

Due to fraudulent charity telemarketing after 9/11, the good guys have the political momentum on this one -- and the DMA is running scared on this one.

Let's put the nails into the telemarketing coffin once and for all.

in the "groundswell of support" for Microsoft's illegal monopoly.

I'm surprised more /.ers haven't mentioned it.

If you read this article from the Seattle Times, it talks of Amazon.com's method of 'pro forma' accounting, which seems to be a pretty convenient way to hide expenses from the bottom line.

I'm happy for the supposed turn for the better Amazon.com is experiencing, as much as I am for any bellweather Dot.Com. I'm just not sure I'd want to invest in them personally.

Obviously even if you just count money, the excessive salaries damage the U.S. economy and productivity, and now is the wrong time for further damage. The extra money really could be better invested, for example in reducing unit cost, R&D, training and so on. (How about lower phone / cable bills?)

Social unrest is also bad economically. It's now more that 30 years since the Watts (L.A.), Detroit, Newark (NJ), and Chicago riots in the mid-60's. In 1968 far more areas in U.S cities experienced rioting and looting which required the use of the National Guard. Most of those areas still have not recovered economically.

A single lawsuit won't do anything to stop spam, but once fifty or one hundred people start suing, it will get too expensive for many spammers. In Washington State, we've nearly a dozen folks filing lawsuits, some of them going for some serious amounts -- to the tune of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

If you've got spam with a phone number or ordering address in it, you can (usually) track it down to a specific company or person. If it's only got a URL, like those mortgage spams, Washington litigants are filling out the contact forms on the site, then going after the mortgage company that contacts them. When these mortgage companies get hit with a lawsuit, they either want to settle right quick, or they rat out the spammer they hired. I've been focusing on spam with phone numbers, as I find it relatively easy and fun to track down the company behind the number. It may not always be easy to find the spammer, but it's not rocket science either. Anyone can do it given a little bit of time.

The Seattle Times had a good article on Saturday about the anti-spam law, some folks who've been using it, their wins, and the troubles they've encountered with the court system. The biggest issue in Washington is that court clerks and judges aren't fully educated about procedural issues like whether one can sue an out-of-state defendant or for punitive damages in small claims court. (The answer to both is yes.) It's been pretty frustrating for us "trailblazers," as the judges are saying contradictory and often quite stupid stuff.

Here's some nifty links:

• AboutSpam.com - Bruce Miller's site
• Peacefire anti-spam suits - Bennett Haselton's site
• Smallclaim.info - my site

For a copy of my 24 page zine, Zen and the art of small claims, send some stamps to PO Box 95227, Seattle, WA 98145. You can also just read it online at my site, but any zinester knows that it's just not the same.

Seems Judge Motz isn't the only judge coming down on Microsoft lately. Recently Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly decided that the start of the case would not be delayed beyond its March date. (It's getting retried because Judge Jackson's ruling got thrown out and he was removed from the case and MS got a new trial.) It sounds like she was fair too; but sure as heck didn't help MS out any.

While it shouldn't be inherently illegal to decode and copy discs for legitimate purposes, that's not how DeCSS is being used, the majority of the time. It sucks, but it's true.

Also, look how guns are being used:
http://www.police.nashville.org/news/media/1998/no vember/111298.htm
http://www.co.ramsey.mn.us/attorney/pr_thao.html
http://www.dallasnews.com/metro/arlington/arlingto n_news/STORY.ea7fa58a63.b0.af.0.a4.33ca3.html
http://woub.org/news/Stories/2001/January/010109-0 4.html
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/43950_murder24 .shtml

<sarcasm>Looks like it's time to go after those gun manufacturers. After all, their products are clearly being used to break the law with disastrous results for society.</sarcasm>

In our society, people are supposed to be held responsible for their *own* misdeeds, NOT the potential misdeeds of others. That was the heart of the Betamax decision, and it seems like the same standard should be applied here. DeCSS is not required for copying, and can be used for significant non-infringing purposes. PERIOD!

Its all here:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstech nology/134373073_bizbriefs01.html

under Xbox is to become more than console.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates confirmed the company plans to make the Xbox into more than just a game console...

Speaking to about 400 Microsoft enthusiasts and consultants meeting yesterday in Redmond, Gates explained that the game industry wouldn't support a multifunction device. So Microsoft introduced Xbox as a game console even though it's basically a powerful personal computer.

Gates said Microsoft will try to extend the Xbox's functions after it becomes widely used in homes.

and so on!

No salt needed. I'll vouch for what you've said. My full disclosure is that I do own a TV. It's a 1976 12" Electrohome. No cable. :-)

KCTS, Beautiful BC Magazine, and Overwaitea Foods grocery stores funded a project to film British Columbia. The video is named Over BC.

It is stunning.

To promote the video, it was shown in Overwaitea and Save-On stores, running off uncompressed digital tape and displayed on a true HDTV. No artifacting: 20MHz bandwidth sent to a 1080x1920x60Hz (120Hz interlaced) professional-grade display.

Mindblowing quality. It's like watching film, but without the flicker. Amazing detail. Rock-solid imaging. Fan-fucking-tastic.

Naturally, the HDTV that we're actually ending up with can't compare. It's been compressed, so there's all sorts of obnoxious aliasing. And the screen quality isn't quite up to the pro-quality $50,000 rig they had at the store. And it's impossible to pump 20MHz of information to consumers; current standards limit HDTV to about 6MHz bandwidth, with a subsequent loss of detail and quality.

But, still, even the consumer-grade stuff looks a helluva lot better than the age-old NTSC format.

Shame there's still nothing on TV worth watching.

I thought this editorial cartoon about the new Euro was pretty damn funny, although it doesn't directly address the RFID tags, it pokes fun at some of the other Euro-related concerns.

Moskovskaya Koltsevaya Avtomobilnaya Doroga.

Sorry, it's been tried. I live in a complex that was built brand-new with built-in broadband connections to every unit (for an extra cost turned on, of course) but the company that provided it (and the service for a number of other similar complexes) went kablooey in the Spring of 2000 in the dot-com crash.

No I didn't get any warning from ReFlex Communications, although there were 3 days between when they filed and when they shut off the service.

Too bad, it was pretty sweet and a very good deal.

So it's not a question of not being able to do it, it's a question of not doing it. That's what I meant about hundreds of developers...one bad egg can spoil everything.

Consider this article about the problem. Jim Allchin is quoted as saying, "We have gone through all code and, in an automated way, found places where there could be buffer overflow, and those have been removed in Windows XP." The automated way is things like PREFIX that I discuss in the osopinion article I linked to above (the big cleanup was done right after Windows 2000 shipped, thus the results appeared in Windows XP). But as I pointed out, you are still dependent on a developer having the will to really investigate the PREFIX report, honestly admit that a problem could be there, and go to the trouble of fixing it, rather than just try to hand-wave explain why it won't occur.

It's really hard to blame this on the test/QA team (even if they work in an environment with more enlightened development/test relationships than Microsoft). How many bad packets do you have to blast at something before hitting a vulnerability, if there is one? This kind of problem is *so much* easier to catch when the code is being written, or even via code review, than it is by experiment in a test lab. This is the kind of thing a developer really should be able to find when they are testing just their code. The lab can handle all the wierd interactions between different pieces of code.

Unfortunately when you have millions of lines of code, like Windows XP does, it is mind-numbing to go through all of them looking for this kind of thing. So now the barn door is open and the buffer overflows have escaped into the code, and they will have to be rounded up one at a time by being found "in the wild" as you put it.

- adam

Covad getting some cash back in Nov. 14th

Covad sorting out finances Aug. 8th. $1.4 Billion debt with bondholders.

Looks like an uphill battle, but, if the economy does improve, expect the fortunes of these to follow. I'd just hate to think either would sell out and lock users into something like MSN...

Covad getting some cash back in Nov. 14th

Covad sorting out finances Aug. 8th. $1.4 Billion debt with bondholders.

Looks like an uphill battle, but, if the economy does improve, expect the fortunes of these to follow. I'd just hate to think either would sell out and lock users into something like MSN...

Covad getting some cash back in Nov. 14th

Covad sorting out finances Aug. 8th. $1.4 Billion debt with bondholders.

Looks like an uphill battle, but, if the economy does improve, expect the fortunes of these to follow. I'd just hate to think either would sell out and lock users into something like MSN...

That's Seattle P-I.

geesh, Hemos, it's even spelled out in the URL.

The reason I mention it is the Seattle Times is a fascistic dishrag that backs Bill G without question, and both it and the Post-Intelligencer are morning papers now. Plus the P-I is even older - I work in their old building, which is now a Group Health admin center for us techies.

As to the story, one of the things about Covad and bankruptcy is that this shows us why Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 are very different. The former means you're going to come back like a phoenix, the latter usually means it's time to drive a stake thru your heart.

-

geesh, Hemos, it's even spelled out in the URL.

The reason I mention it is the Seattle Times is a fascistic dishrag that backs Bill G without question, and both it and the Post-Intelligencer are morning papers now. Plus the P-I is even older - I work in their old building, which is now a Group Health admin center for us techies.

As to the story, one of the things about Covad and bankruptcy is that this shows us why Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 are very different. The former means you're going to come back like a phoenix, the latter usually means it's time to drive a stake thru your heart.

-

So, yes, I will go ahead and filter that block of text. You can keep your head in the sand and keep reading your SPAM. Next time, before you post, maybe you should do some homework.

I read it on /. it must be true!

Oh, you mean like here and here and here and here and here and here and ...

Overall, I am impressed how AT&T has moved all its customers off Excite and onto their own network... I dunno how they did it.

Coincidentally, I think most everyone in the Puget Sound (aka, Seattle) area, if not the majority of the state, is offline.

Yeah, I'm impressed with AT&T, too.

Agreed.
It's not just a part of the game. Its a huge part. If X-Boxes are not readily available for the christmas season, I'd guess that there are a large number of families out there who will go for a 'reasonable alternative' in the GameCube.

In the long run, however, the battle will probably be won by the system that produces the most high quality games. For that reason, Microsoft bought the rights to 'Halo', and the president of Nintendo is planning on selling his 10 percent stake of the company and pumping the money into Games start-ups that support the nintendo system.

Senator Maria Cantwell (Washington) is trying to amend some federal laws for Identity theft. Been on the news almost daily. Seattle Times

Some of the reforms are needed.
Require businesses to turn over to identity-theft victims copies of any records reflecting fraudulent transactions.
Require consumer-credit-reporting agencies to block information that appears on a victim's credit report as a result of identity theft.
Give businesses a new civil avenue to recover damages from identity-theft criminals in federal court.
Change the statute of limitations for identity-theft victims to file a claim from the time when the fraud occurred to the time when the consumer discovers the fraud.

I found the following from the Seattle P-I summary of the shareholders meeting interesting:

"Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive officer, shrugged off the historic antitrust case, mentioning it as among problems that include 'lawsuits and blah, blah, blah.' He said Microsoft's real challenge is in taking on rivals such as AOL Time Warner Inc.'s America Online unit, Palm Inc. and IBM.

Each company represents areas Microsoft is seeking to dominate -- Internet service, hand-held computers and server software, respectively. Ballmer said they all have strong competitive offerings, but Microsoft has the benefit of its dominance in other areas."

I thought this was exactly what they were being sued for--using their monopoly in one area (the desktop OS) to extend themselves into other areas.

While there is a lower class I am of it, while there is a criminal class I am of it, while there is a soul in prison I am not free.

from Passos' The 42nd Parallel

Here it gets worse

This is an update of above. Here are some links:
Black Plague, AIDS immunity linked
Scientists Discover Similarity in HIV and Black Death

While it's true that for the most part BushGore were on the side of big business, Microsoft was a fighting point. Whereas Dubya was using the phrase "we shouldn't restrict innovation" in his speeches, Gore campaigned in favor of antitrust action in the software industry while visiting Redmond. Here's a quote from the Seattle Times:

"If competition is valuable, which I think it is, then antitrust laws have a place in embodying the values of our country," Gore said. "If dominance in one area is used to prevent competition in another area, that's wrong."

Let me repeat -- Gore said this at the heart of Microsoft's campus, to their faces. He's also an old fan of Macs, and his campaign web server ran on Linux/Apache/PHP.

Sorry if this handful of talking points isn't convincing enough for you, but I am dead certain Gore wouldn't have ordered DoJ to surrender like this.

yes, the government of Iraq deserve to be punished. However if you look at the historical view (this is a map of countries under sanction) of the effects of sanctions, the bottom line is that they never work, and the only thing which happens is the PEOPLE of the country are starved and bleed to death and routine infectious diseases are catastrohpic due to lack of medical facility and aid. (note that afghanistan cannot claim as much as other countries as they have done much of this to themselves: 40 percent of their doctors were women, who found themselves beggars when the Taliban gained control). people are starving and dying in Iraq. YES THIS IS SADDAM'S FAULT if that makes you feel better. but PEOPLE ARE STARVING AND DYING in Iraq. Over half a million CHILDREN have DIED who WOULD NOT HAVE DIED if these sanctions had not taken place. wake the FNK up.

i do NOT know what the US/UN/NATO/whomever is thinking. either go in and shoot saddam in the head and drop the FNKING embargo so the people can eat and have vaccinations. yes, saddam denies his people the offered aid and turns and tells them we do are denying it to them but what is the POINT is that the people (human beings, homo sapiens, you remember them?) are dying because we have our heads so FAR UP OUR ASSES we don't have a clue.

sorry, the events of the past few days have been building an anger in me which i cannot placate by yelling, screaming, sleeping, coding, punching, or typing, and i don't know what to do either.

-sam

yes, the government of Iraq deserve to be punished. However if you look at the historical view (this is a map of countries under sanction) of the effects of sanctions, the bottom line is that they never work, and the only thing which happens is the PEOPLE of the country are starved and bleed to death and routine infectious diseases are catastrohpic due to lack of medical facility and aid. (note that afghanistan cannot claim as much as other countries as they have done much of this to themselves: 40 percent of their doctors were women, who found themselves beggars when the Taliban gained control). people are starving and dying in Iraq. YES THIS IS SADDAM'S FAULT if that makes you feel better. but PEOPLE ARE STARVING AND DYING in Iraq. Over half a million CHILDREN have DIED who WOULD NOT HAVE DIED if these sanctions had not taken place. wake the FNK up.

i do NOT know what the US/UN/NATO/whomever is thinking. either go in and shoot saddam in the head and drop the FNKING embargo so the people can eat and have vaccinations. yes, saddam denies his people the offered aid and turns and tells them we do are denying it to them but what is the POINT is that the people (human beings, homo sapiens, you remember them?) are dying because we have our heads so FAR UP OUR ASSES we don't have a clue.

sorry, the events of the past few days have been building an anger in me which i cannot placate by yelling, screaming, sleeping, coding, punching, or typing, and i don't know what to do either.

-sam

the only excuse for civilian targets to be attacked is when your own civilians are dying by the hundred thousands and everything you have ever known tells you that the US is directly responsible. true or not, this is what they believe.

but the problem is that hundreds of thousands HAVE died, and regardless of who brought this on the people (Saddam) obviously our sanctions are NOT having the right effect.

how bad have the sanctions been? read this from a seattle news source.

yes the government of Iraq should suffer, but the people should NOT, and right now they ARE SUFFERING. we need to do SOMETHING.

the discussions on these pages has been eye opening. i hope that if anything i have learned to trust even less the american media and the actions of our government. from responses of anonymous cowards (no disrespect intended) to my own searches for information, i compiled this short list of links detailing some of the things our government does which gets VERY little attention by our media.

the effects of the iraqi embargo

two page bio of bin Laden from pbs.org

one discussion thread on this page discussing increasing American globalization

another thread on this page discussing US export of arms

please note i in no way whatsoever condone these attacks or terrorist acts of any kind. i just hope americans can wake up to the wool over their eyes when in comes to our foreign policies.

-sam

You can find the front page of the Seattle-PI here:
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/frontpage/seattle_p imaa1x320010911.pdf

If you use linux view this with xpdf, ghostview seems to render it improperly.

Good night America, tomorrow is a new day.

And just in case you think I just want to beat up on Jon for being a d.rk, here's a local story on how low tech the attack was.

How They Did It

Actually, this is one of the few issues where BushGore differed by more than a hair's witdth. Whereas Dubya was using the phrase "we shouldn't restrict innovation" in his speeches, Gore campaigned in favor of antitrust action in the software industry while visiting Redmond. Here's a quote from the Seattle Times:

"If competition is valuable, which I think it is, then antitrust laws have a place in embodying the values of our country," Gore said. "If dominance in one area is used to prevent that competition in another area, that's wrong."

Let me repeat -- Gore said this at the heart of Microsoft's campus, to their faces, while asking for their votes. He may be an arrogant exaggerating tight-ass, but he's got some big brass balls.

Of course, Microsoft probably would have gotten a breakup thrown out on appeal either way, but at least the DoJ wouldn't have rolled over like this. When they appointed Charles James as head of DoJ antitrust division, Dubya's handlers knew exactly what they were doing.

• pic: http://www.grouptravels.com/usa_can/pictures/90001 .htm
• article about failing bridges: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/html98 /altbrid31m_20000731.html
• page with old i90 pics and info http://www.phenry.org/wsh/i90.html

If somone could figure out how to selectively extract precious metals out of this mess we wouldn't need another hard rock mine in the US for a LONG time, plus our watershed may still have some hope; its probably too late though. The sad part is that, our leaders are more interested in sucking corporate dick while the taxpayers cover defaulted reclamation bonds. This place could be a really great place if there were only some accountibility.

According to this article, the dead just love Microsoft. Even writing letters from beyond the gave in support of M$. This is not a troll (I wish it was).