Domain: theinquirer.net
Stories and comments across the archive that link to theinquirer.net.
Comments · 2,164
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Open Source hypocrisyWhy is Slashdot silent about the DoS attack on SCO perpetrated by an open source zealot who apparently was inspired by ESR's ridiculous militant rant?
Why is Slashdot silent about the DoS attack on SCO perpetrated by an open source zealot who apparently was inspired by ESR's ridiculous militant rant?
Why is Slashdot silent about the DoS attack on SCO perpetrated by an open source zealot who apparently was inspired by ESR's ridiculous militant rant?
Why is Slashdot silent about the DoS attack on SCO perpetrated by an open source zealot who apparently was inspired by ESR's ridiculous militant rant?
Why is Slashdot silent about the DoS attack on SCO perpetrated by an open source zealot who apparently was inspired by ESR's ridiculous militant rant?
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Open Source hypocrisyWhy is Slashdot silent about the DoS attack on SCO perpetrated by an open source zealot who apparently was inspired by ESR's ridiculous militant rant?
Why is Slashdot silent about the DoS attack on SCO perpetrated by an open source zealot who apparently was inspired by ESR's ridiculous militant rant?
Why is Slashdot silent about the DoS attack on SCO perpetrated by an open source zealot who apparently was inspired by ESR's ridiculous militant rant?
Why is Slashdot silent about the DoS attack on SCO perpetrated by an open source zealot who apparently was inspired by ESR's ridiculous militant rant?
Why is Slashdot silent about the DoS attack on SCO perpetrated by an open source zealot who apparently was inspired by ESR's ridiculous militant rant?
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WHAT HAS HAPPENED AT SCO!?I mean even The Inquirer is intrigued!!!
Something big is happening. Maybe the collective stupidity and arrogance of SCO execs reached a critical mass and the whole company just imploded into a black hole of stupidity. Or may be their IT staff is in open revolt. Go, SCO geeks, go!
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Re:First post!Speaking of embarrassing rants from the open source advocates.
Eric S. Raymond gets mad SCO - and his rant sounds like that of a drunken, militant gun-nut.
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Re:Straight Quote from the Article
They're moving MSN Messenger exclusively to a new protocol and requiring a license for everyone else . So no, it's not just a matter of being on the newer protocol, it's a matter of dealing with a license written by MS lawyers.
Actually, they're requiring a license for MSN Messenger too (naturally). Here's an article about the license!
From the license:
Replacement, Modification or Upgrade of the Software
Microsoft reserves the right to replace, modify or upgrade the SOFTWARE at any time by offering you a replacement or modified version of the SOFTWARE or such upgrade and to charge for such replacement, modification or upgrade.
In the event that Microsoft offers a replacement or modified version of or any upgrade to the SOFTWARE, (a) your continued use of the SOFTWARE is conditioned on your acceptance of such replacement or modified version of or upgrade to the SOFTWARE and any accompanying superseding EULA, and (b) in the case of replacement or modified SOFTWARE, your use of all prior versions of the SOFTWARE is terminated.
TERMINATION: ... Microsoft may terminate this EULA by offering you a superseding EULA for the SOFTWARE or any replacement or modified version of or upgrade to the SOFTWARE and conditioning your continued use of the SOFTWARE or such replacement, modified or upgraded version on your acceptance of such superseding EULA. -
what will it cost?
speak about costs, what will they charge you for using MSN? Read this. If this works, hotmail will follow. Many people will get an alternative, but many will just pay.
Profit! for MS, not for their customers. -
Free - NO, Insightful - NO NO NOThe program is given away by Microsoft for free
Modding that one up shows a major failure of the moderation system.
FREE??? Hardly! Microsoft is forcing people to upgrade, (the old version will stop working), and those fools who do will really get screwed by the new EULA - From this article "By clicking on the new agreement, users promise to pay for future upgrades and to acquire future chargeable upgrades whether they're wanted or unwanted." You agree to pay for upgrades, and the upgrade price isn't even stated (or limited!)
Free now, but by clicking you agree to pay whatever they demand later!
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Re:Well...
Offtopic here but what is with the parenthetical expression after you cite The Inquirer? This isn't the first time I have seen this. I can only think many people confuse them with The Enquirer and that is why they groan when citing the site as a reference. As far as I know there is no relation, one is a British web site on tech news and the other is an American tabloid. Is The Inquirer a bad source or something?
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Re:Well...
Offtopic here but what is with the parenthetical expression after you cite The Inquirer? This isn't the first time I have seen this. I can only think many people confuse them with The Enquirer and that is why they groan when citing the site as a reference. As far as I know there is no relation, one is a British web site on tech news and the other is an American tabloid. Is The Inquirer a bad source or something?
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Re:Well...
According to The Inquirer (yeah I know but bear with me), it looks like it could possibly be a security measure for their bottom line.
EULA snippet:
Replacement, Modification or Upgrade of the Software
Microsoft reserves the right to replace, modify or upgrade the SOFTWARE at any time by offering you a replacement or modified version of the SOFTWARE or such upgrade and to charge for such replacement, modification or upgrade.
In the event that Microsoft offers a replacement or modified version of or any upgrade to the SOFTWARE, (a) your continued use of the SOFTWARE is conditioned on your acceptance of such replacement or modified version of or upgrade to the SOFTWARE and any accompanying superseding EULA, and (b) in the case of replacement or modified SOFTWARE, your use of all prior versions of the SOFTWARE is terminated.
TERMINATION: ... Microsoft may terminate this EULA by offering you a superseding EULA for the SOFTWARE or any replacement or modified version of or upgrade to the SOFTWARE and conditioning your continued use of the SOFTWARE or such replacement, modified or upgraded version on your acceptance of such superseding EULA. -
Can't believe slashdotters didn't pick this up yet
Microsoft's IM letter means you agree to pay and upgrade
END USERS OF Microsoft's Instant Messenger software that got multiple copies of a mail advising them to upgrade yesterday need to read the fine print of the firm's terms and conditions most carefully.
The end user licence agreement (EULA) for the new version of Instant Messenger has some clauses that suggest changes are afoot in the way Microsoft deals with this popular little software item.
By clicking on the new agreement, users promise to pay for future upgrades and to acquire future chargeable upgrades whether they're wanted or unwanted.
Read on...
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What does this mean? It could mean that Microsoft may charge fees whenever it wants, and that you also have to stop using the software if the firm decides.
Always read the fine print. If Microsoft addes this particular clause to operating systems, everyone might be forced to utter "Hail Palladium" when the push came to shove.
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Proof MS not behind thisThis morning I decided to pay SCO to avoid the Wrath of Darl TM, and I went to get money at my local ATM.
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Boies skips SCOForumI think out "Friends" at Boies et al has started to see the light, if not the pathetic code selection shown at SCOForum
Boies himself skipped the SCOForum despite being on the Agenda.
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Re:Without reason?
except blaster would be a reason to get a patch out sooner, not later. Plus theres the rumor over at The Inquirer that states theres a mini-sp or sp1a that could come out in a few weeks (because of blaster).
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Heat?
What is the power consumption of the G5 processors?
The upcoming P4 3.4GHz is going to consume 103 WATTS.
Intel document confirms Prescott dissipates 103 W -
Re:How long before Ballmer is on a plane?
Oh yeah cheap Thai WinXP without product activation story at the inquirer.
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Other Interesting Info
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Re:DAMN!
At least they didn't claim it was Microsoft straight away. By the way TheInquirer thinks it was LovSan / Slammer
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and SCO is doing this because...?
If they can win this case, wouldn't it be feasible for small hunks of SCO Unix itself to fall under copyright weirdness, too? The Inquirer article makes the same point:
"If SCO's pleaders win this one, then surely it is guilty of massive copyright infringement too? And if they do, then surely it must apply to BSD and Apache style licences as well?"
So what's the point of doing this? The only thing I can come up with is that SCO wants to invalidate the existence of gpl'ed software in some convoluted attempt to make themselves look better. -
Re:SCO maintains GCC on their platformsHe may very well have an arrangement made out
It would be a VERY good idea for the GCC people to follow up on this. Remember Christian Hellweg that worked for Caldera and is responsible for a lot of the SCO stuff inside Linux.
If no "agreement" exist now with SCO maintaining their portion of the GCC, this can be used to make a strong point for Helweg doing what his company wanted later. If they, as I suspect, sue Hellweg, at some point to make the point he is in collusion with IBM.
TheInquirer had a story yesterday about Caldera and Linux
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Re:License program "suspended until further notice
Their office was open when you called ? Isn't it like.. 5 - 6 am there at the moment ?
Can anyone else confirm this...?
Looks like this parent pade it to the Inquirer as well... -
Re:Hardware discrepencies
Too bad you can't get replacement Fujitus anymore, as they *all* die. I have a 20GB doorstop on top of my desk right now. There's also an American class action lawsuit against Fujitsu.
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HP loses huge corporate contracts...
"SOURCES FORMERLY WITHIN HP have told the INQUIRER that its outsourcing plans have cost the company several loyal corporate customers with lost business running into very large figures indeed.
Information provided to the INQUIRER by several hired, fired, re-hired, extended, re-trenched, begged back and eventually fired again sources in HP Australia, claim that the firm's plans to outsource support has cost the firm dear."
Full text here. -
Re:My analysisTheir VP of Engineering sold all his stock (and I've heard a rumor that he left the company, haven't tracked it down yet)
Best info I see on that is here, or possibly here, which doesn't quite dispel the "rumor"-ness of it (sorry).
I bet he's gone. I almost feel a little sorry for him -- you can bet he will be in court for awhile. I wonder whose side he will testify for?
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Re:You get what you pay for???
The Athlons were known for "watt gluttony". Now the Pentium4s and above are as bad or much much worse ("Intel confirms Prescott does dissipate 100W"). Please everyone, update your jokes accordingly.
Directly on topic: I thought the article could have used at least one cheap "no-name-we-have-no-idea-who-manufactured-this" PSU in the tests.
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Re:I have a question
Ask that Lindows guy... Oh, you can't, he's been on Ask Slashdot recently and won't be here anytime soon, busy donating cash to Mozdev or funding some other Xbox Linux prize.
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Be carefulIt'd be cool to see some patches come from Redmond, but that's probably wishful thinking. -- Cowboy Neal
Be careful what you wish for.. The last case of a competitor contributing to Linux isn't going very well.
- "SCO, as Caldera, has indeed contributed to the Linux kernel, and its contributions are included in modules containing GPL notices." -- Eben Moglen
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forget paste: it is the past!
these guys will "solder" your heatsink to your substrate. To be released in 2004.
I found this in this article:
A better thermal interface, 70.0W/mK -
Re:Yeah, right.
Build it yourself and you can be (resonably) certain of there being no "surprise" features like sending data back to the AOL Mothership, or a DRM "upgrade" deciding that you should no longer be able to play back previous recordings. Given the extent to which some Linux distros have improved in ease of installation, it shouldn't be too much longer before a bootable CD-ROM with a complete Freevo setup becomes available.
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Are my grandkids safe?
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RIAA will take 2191.78 years to sue everyone
There was a funny article in the inquirer today about how long it would take the RIAA to sue all filesharers in America.
RIAA will take 2191.78 years to sue everyone -
Have the opterons outsold the Intanics?
The inq have a story wondering if just the two mentioned super computers worth of opterons sold have allready outsold the itanics.
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This is what RTMark does and it worksWhat Cringley is doing, in his round-about way, is exactly what the people are RTMark(pronounced artmark) are doing: exploiting limited liability and the ruling that coporations are individuals for his own end.
Read the RTMark FAQ if you don't instantly grok the above.
Once the corporation has been established no one is going to the lose their shirts, e.g. college kids won't be forced to give up their life savings. All you can lose is whatever the corporation owns. I think the only thing that breaks the corporate shield is worker's comp.
So Cringly is pulling an RTMark, but instead of activist reasons he's using it to trade music (which could be seen as an activist reason too).
Bravo.
Now here's the fun part. Why not live our lives as corporations? People complain about corporate power all the time, so if we can't beat them, lets join them. What if everyone made a corporation in their name and put all their assests into it? From there you can add shareholders (family, friends) then safely and legally swap MP3s, share ownership of just about *anything*, hire people to do your job at a cheaper rate and pocket the difference, wear a world's sexiest CEO t-shirt, take out loans, form off-shore tax havens (why pay tax?), have a great time knowing that whatever you do will be the fault of the corporation not you personally, etc.
Excellent "What is a corporation" primer here.
A corporation can buy, trade, sell and make loans. A corporation can literally do anything you as a person can do as long as these thoughts and actions are simply documented by resolution. When you think it through, the possibilities become fascinating. The key point to remember here, is that when you own a corporation, the corporation exists as a separate entity or person.
Damn straight. I'm off to become a corporate entity. -
Re:Sensible Reaction To SCO's Litigious Threats
If they were bringing suit against Microsoft for the same thing, it would be foolish to buy Windows.
Something like this, perhaps? -
Embarrassed to be an American
LinuxTag in Germany has gotten an injunction that makes a German equivalent of the Monday conference call illegal. Open Source Victoria has made a formal complaint to their government. When are 'We the People' in the US going to at least try to get an official requirement that SCO have to put up or shut up and be dismissed as FUDsters?
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Some history & background on H1B & offshor
Maybe your grandkids will be lucky and get into the India's future version of the H1B program to encourage tech workers to move and work there. :)Seriously, there will always be a need for a highly skilled and highly educated workforce.
In case you're interested, here are some more links about this and other related issues that we have seen before.
Leaked: IBM Execs Urge Moving Jobs Offshore in Internal Teleconference
An internal recording of an IBM teleconference about moving jobs offshore was leaked (Google) to the New York Times by an upset employee. From the article: '...under increasing pressure to cut costs and build global supply networks... I.B.M. needed to accelerate its efforts to move white-collar, often high-paying, jobs overseas even though that might create a backlash among politicians and its own employees. "Our competitors are doing it and we have to do it," said Tom Lynch, I.B.M.'s director for global employee relations. He also said that 3 million service jobs were expected to shift to foreign workers by 2015 (based on a Forrester Research report, which represents about 2 percent of all American jobs) and that I.B.M. should move some of its jobs now done in the United States, including software design jobs, to India and other countries. Oracle plans to increase its jobs in India to 6,000 from 3,200, while Microsoft plans to double the size of its software development operation in India to 500 by late this year. Accenture has 4,400 workers in India, China, Russia and the Philippines.' Critics say 'schools will stop producing the computer engineers and programmers we need for the future' as a result of these moves. Listen to the IBM recording in Real format (direct link at pnm://audio.nytimes.com/audiosrc/2003/07/21/busin
e ss/20030722jobs.audio.rm). More at the SJMN, Inquirer, and CNN/Reuters. Slashdot has discussed Global competition, offshore outsourcing, lower cost replacement workers and the ensuing legal turmoil before.To paraphrase from the movie Jerry Maguire:
It's not technology friends, It's technology business. -
SCO just bought a web services company ...
... now they own the Internet! The chumps that pay them for using Linux are just putting out a honeypot for every scam artist in the world.
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Yeah poverty, I can't wait
Yeah, this all relates to the Government's plan to continually screw the working class over and make the CEO's even richer:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=10595 -
THG also recommends...
...IBM GXP deathstar drives, for many months to possibly even over a year, after everyone else exposed these drives for what they are, and after they were given a heads up on more than one occasion to pull their head out of the sand. -
THG also recommends...
...IBM GXP deathstar drives, for many months to possibly even over a year, after everyone else exposed these drives for what they are, and after they were given a heads up on more than one occasion to pull their head out of the sand. -
SCO should be well aware of itTo most people, if it isn't on the Web site, it doesn't exist.
By that logic, SCO has no case. To most people, if it isn't Windows it doesn't exist.
They could throw out some nice, Judge-convincing BS like "We only made these files available via the 'FTP' program, which is only for highly advanced technical individuals such as corporate IT managers, for the convenience of our paying customers. It was not intended for download by unlicensed individuals, and in fact doing so constitutes hacking as per the terms of the DMCA..."
Unless reading security advisories from LinuxSecurity.com constitutes "hacking", I don't see that argument as particularily convincing. SCO posted the kernel on their FTP server May 9th. A Linux kernel developer told SCO about it a month ago. Links to the story were posted on many popular news sites. The code is still there.
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US government "shafting working Americans"
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=10595
US government "shafting working Americans"
CAFTA bill could lose jobs at home
By INQUIRER staff: Monday 21 July 2003, 11:51
A REPORT FROM ginger group ZaZona claims that a practically unnoticed agreement that will endorse free trade agreements with Singapore and Chile is the thin end of what could turn into an "Armageddon" for US workers.
According to the newsletter ZaZona distributes, the CAFTA agreements currently under discussion in Congress, with Chile and Singapore, mean that a "W" visa will allow nearly 7,000 people from these countries to work in the US indefinitely.
But, Zazonaeditor Rob Sanchez claims, in addition to the 5,400 visas Singapore will get under the deal, it will be able to send "unlimited" numbers of workers to the US.
The free trade agreement means that US employers no longer have to prove that jobs cannot be performed by an American citizen.
According to ZaZona, George W. Bush says on his web site that Singapore is working on free trade agreements with Japan, Canada, Australia, Mexico and India.
The editor of the newsletter claims that means Singapore will act like a virtual black hole, and its "immense gravity will pull people into a wormhole that ends at the United States".
He adds: "Bush is celebrating 'Christmas in July' by giving a huge present to his inner circle of power brokers and CEOs while shafting working Americans".
Sanchez told the INQUIRER that the whole problem is not being fairly discussed in the United States press.
He says that Dianne Feinstein, the doyenne of the sound bite, has hit out against the proposed free trade agreements on her web site, but, unusually, she's getting little press on the matter.
He added: "It appears that US politicians have decided not to discuss these two FTAs in public. They don't want the public to find out until it is approved. One day the American public will wake up and realize they have been hoodwinked - but they won't be able to change it".
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Now the Rebuplicans...
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Dumb Sheep
Lifted directly from the article:
You would think that more people would stand up to protect their legal rights from being trampled, but alas, we live in a world of really really dumb sheep.
Their link, not mine.
Love it. -
Use their weight to throw them.
After reading this I thought.. "that sounds interesting, but... wrong" and I pondered it all and thought "if you're to pay 0.07 cent per song per listener, and if we have this fee because webcasting is classified as redistribution (storage) and not broadcast in the radio-sense..." well, then wouldn't it be possible to implement a distributed radio system. I googled for "distributed webcasting" but none of the hits sounded like what I was thinking about.
Simply: The webcast is distributed so that each listener serves at least one other listener with the same data he's recieving (think "like BitTorrent"). In essence, we have a digital version of listening in on your neighbour. Since we have N webcasters (I assume all it takes is software to become a "webcaster") each serving one (or a small set of) listener -- as apposed to 1 webscater serving N listeners, they won't have to pay anything?
You could argue that this creates a tree where the root is still serving all N listeners, but I think there's a possibility -- however slight -- that this would in fact stand up to scrutiny by the "webcasting laws".
The core argument is that since it's already classified as redistribution, node N pays for N+1, and that's that. N doesn't know if N+1 just listenes to the stream, stores it on his computer, or redistributes it... but if he redistribute it, that is up to N+1, and N has already paid the fee associated with that possible act?
Technically you'd need some way for each listener to announce open slots, but I honestly don't think latency would be a big deal -- in fact it only underscores the point that there isn't one distince webcaster paying the bill, there are N of them.
I'm sure someone smarter than myself has already argued/refuted this...?
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Re:Shares
Perhaps that is why SCO's Senior Vice President of Engineering and Global Services,
appears to be bailing out. -
In other news senior VP bails from SCO
This post was not intended to be funny, but only off topic, since I have been repeatedly unsuccessful with story submissions that actually contain significant new interesting information about the case.
That Sun was trumpetting their status as a SCO licensee of Unix in disregard for any solidarity with Unix or Linux vendors or users was obvious, and this "revelation" was not a suprise in the least. It just means that Sun gave them a small amount of money a bit more recently.
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Re:The screenshots prove it!
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Re:warriors of freedom
Just read this post
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=10397.
Over 10000 soldiers and 6000 civilians killed..
That's one civilian for each 3 kills.. guess your minimizing routine doesn't work that well. -
Mug Shot
You will enjoy the Mug Shotat the Inquirer of OS2/ MS