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amusing, but it's been done.

Pretty easily.

Logic escapes the morons that run the RIAA. Either CD sales show an increasing trend all year long or it means that the dirty pirates are running rampant and it's time to lobby for Orin Hatch's exploding computers again.

Me? I stopped buying CDs a while ago and don't plan to start up again anytime soon. With all the problems with DRM, malformed discs, and the tactics the RIAA and it's labels are using, why would anybody?

You want to see this fixed? Get everybody you can to STOP BUYING CDs. It's that simple.

...the Forced-Feedback Enemy-Denial Smackdown Ergonomic Chair!!

Obligatory user friendly comic.

And it's worth $290,650

I'm sure Sony is working on it.

Actually its a comic from UserFriendly

Of course, you can always read this and find out more, too :) IMHO, it's much clearer than either the article or the summary.

Basically, ZoneAlarm pops up an alert because it uses some windows hook that can be used to snoop on keystrokes, and 180 disputes that claiming that they do not actually keylog you.

Of course, the software still looks like a dodgy piece of crap, but that's one person's uninformed opinion about whether it feels dodgy, not a statement of material fact :)

UserFriendly tried an animated series a while ago. It looks like it only lasted one episode though.

Ed Foster provides more information that allows us to make a "behavioral profile of Sony":

Sony has other DRM software. Here are quotes:

MediaMax also "phones home" every time you play a protected CD with a code identifying what music you're listening to.

... before users can even say yes or no to accepting the Sony EULA, MediaMax has already installed a dozen files on their hard drive and started running the copy protection code. The files remain even if the user rejects the EULA, and the Sony CDs provide no option for uninstalling the files at a later date.

... an e-commerce revenue generation "feature of dynamic on-line and off-line banner ads. Generate revenue or added value through the placement of 3rd party dynamic, interactive ads that can be changed at any time by the content owner."

Ed Foster says Sony management has a "scum" profile. Quote: OK, so let's see what we've got here. A company that seems bent on sneaking files onto unsuspecting users' computers, pretending they've gotten permission to do so from a vaguely-worded EULA, transmitting a constant stream of usage information back to their servers, and using that information for who-knows-what revenue generating opportunities. Does this sound like a familiar profile to you? Of course, it's the profile of all the spyware/adware scum that have come very close to destroying the Internet just to make a few bucks peddling their trash.

Issues that remain concerning Sony's rootkit software and other DRM software:

As is shown by Ed Foster's analysis linked above, attacking customer computers seems to be the kind of thing that is part of the Sony corporate culture. There has been no apology, and Sony management makes statements giving the impression they intend to continue infecting customer computers.

A music retail store spokesman said that Sony's rootkit attack has become public just before Christmas. Customers can easily choose some other gift now that they are scared about computer attacks. Sony's attack has hurt the entire music industry, not just Sony. Also, the damage will continue after Christmas.

Few people are technically knowledgeable. The Sony rootkit CDs will be causing problems for many, many years, as they are traded or borrowed or sold to thrift stores.

The number of computers already corrupted by the Sony rootkit is probably far larger than the 500,000 quoted in articles about the Sony attack. That number is just the number of Domain Name Servers that show evidence that a computer has tried to contact the Sony phone home address. The average server would almost certainly service more than one corrupted computer.

Following Microsoft's lead years ago, some businesses treat all their customers as crooks so that they can stop a few.

UserFriendly has a dig at Sony (as well as Microsoft) in today's strip

Reading this story reminded my of this User Friendly strip.

Issues that remain:

Attacking customer computers seems to be the kind of thing that is part of the Sony corporate culture. There has been no apology, and Sony management makes statements giving the impression they will do it again if they think they can without bad publicity.

A music retail store spokesman said that Sony's attack became public just before Christmas. Customers can easily choose some other gift now that they are scared about computer attacks. Sony's attack has hurt the entire music industry, not just Sony. Also, the damage will continue after Christmas.

Few people are technically knowledgeable. The Sony CDs will be causing problems for many years, as they are traded or sold to thrift stores.

The number of computers already corrupted is probably far larger than the 500,000 quoted in articles about the Sony attack. That number is just the number of Domain Name Servers that show evidence that a computer has tried to contact the Sony phone home address. The average server would almost certainly service more than one corrupted computer.

One kind of attack has received attention. However, Sony apparently sells other CDs with other software that may also have negative consequences for Sony customers.

Following Microsoft's lead years ago, some businesses treat all their customers as crooks so that they can stop a few.

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned User Friendly. Also on my list are Queen of Wands (which finished its several-year run, and is now doing a rapid-fire rerun with commentary), Something Positive, Applegeeks (which just finished an uncharacteristic Batman parody and is now resuming its normal staples of inappropriate behavior and Ramadan jokes), and Mac Hall (unrelated, at least in name, to Apple Macs). For the grad students among us, may I recommend Piled Higher and Deeper; more so for those who are considering grad school.

Less traditionally, we also have Lore Brand Comics, which is pretty much standup in webcomic form. Alas, it hasn't been updated in months, but the archive is certainly worth looking through. Paradox Lost appears to be a comic book being written in webcomic form.

Other people mentioned them, but I have to say some of my favorites are Real Life and MegaTokyo.

Sony Feels Badly :P

See here: http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20051116
;-)

(There are more strips about the Sony issue, just browse back and forth a little..)

According to this they're already looking into it

lol look at the userfriendly strip http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20051116& mode=classic

See: http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20051117

Let's see if register4less servers are up to a challenge.

joined channel #unixgurus

sid060> did you know that the abbreviations you and your "homeys" use are codes from the mainframe days?
Rayn3> what do u mean?
sid060> Well... I don't know if I should tell...
Rayn3> u have 2. give an example.
sid060> Okay. "how r u" is code for "I am absolutely bereft of gorm."
Rayn3> r u seri^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H

I like Userfriendly's take on it.

Van Von Hunter got syndicated?! That one is silly, but it is getting hard to follow. Why not other comics, such as Dominic Deegan, which actually has a semi-coherent plotline? Or do User Friendly for the geek crowd, if Iliad will allow it.

don't just find the phrase "linux kernel" Search for "linux", "kernel", and "2.7" If the document has ANY of those in it, send it to SCO. Oh. And don't mail it or anything - FAX it (As seen on this UserFriendly strip.)

a license to shill
(check this if you don't know what I am talking about)

I write everything in machine code.

But I bet you use a hex editor for it. Wuss.

Is this why I can't read userfriendly or Something Positive this morning? Or is it just some weird coincidental webcomic blackout?

Come get some

They'll happily let you burn them until they realise what you're actually doing... http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030406& mode=classic

here

Here's an amusing crossover

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20051003

. . . hire Sid.

s/Google/Slashdot/ UserFriendly Mar 30 2004

does this mean more more cool hidy holes to plan world domination ?
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20010815& mode=classic
http://itotd.com/index.alt?ArticleID=282

I searched for a chair throwing video but...

Seriously Iraq is just a clarion call for the faithful to join battle. The message conveyed is you know what happened when you let a Secular women's lib dick-tator like Saddam rule your country ? ... You get cut off, starved, castrated of all your armoury by UN and pounded from the south by US.

Actually, what immediately came to mind, while reading your post, was the Crud Puppy in User Friendly, Snidely Whiplash doesn't quite measure up to this kind of legitimized and organized evil.

curses, Dooright!

SCO has a bad habit of burning anybody they come in contact with including partners and other fools who enter into contract with them. It could be a sock puppet move to choke MySQL with some legal infraction and sink a few hundred thousand of MySQL money. It's quite bad when an important FOSS company like MySQL takes such a decision, considering the risks involved. More of a Get the money NOW fly-by-night operator attitude.

1 - Convince SCO that they are willing to work together.
2 - Get a meeting with Darl McBride.
3 - Give Darl McBride an atomic wedgie.
4 - ???
5 - Profit!

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20050816 http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20050817 http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20050818

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20050816 http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20050817 http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20050818

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20050816 http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20050817 http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20050818

I don't know why, but I just can't get to like Sluggy that much.

Another online geek/nerd comic is UserFriendly, and I think it's much better. Altough it's been a while since the last "awesome" strip.

And of course, even another option for those with a more "academic" background would be Piled Higher& Deeper, a comic about grad students life (or lack of :) ). As I am a PhD student right now, I identify with this a lot. If you are a grad student, you should definitely check it out.

There being:

- Virgin Galactic?
- Scaled Composites?
- just any place in orbit?

Considering your poor Googling skills though, I imagine you couldn't get a job there, despite the short corporate ladder.

Life imitates art. Or at least Outsourcing.

you mean mug people with the power of SUN! Where is my +8 Sword of w00tness?

Paper is better for long sessions, but computer screens are fine for checking the daily strips. That said, I've at various times sat and read the entire archives to Sluggy Freelance, User Friendly (when it was still funny), Queen of Wands, and Something Positive. Of course, none of them was more than a year old at the time I read through them -- I can't imagine trying to read eight(?) years of Sluggy online. Hooray for the books!

One comic that's got an interesting hybrid model is Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio. It started out as a regular comic book, but the realities of the small-press world forced it to be (a) quarterly and (b) often months late. They'd been collecting issues as hardcovers and trade paperbacks already (I think 4 comics per book), and in June they shifted their publishing scheme around. They've dropped the individual issues entirely, focusing on the books instead... but they publish a new page online for free, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So you can read it a page every few days, or buy the next book every few months. I was skeptical when they first announced the change, but it seems to be working great so far.

http://pandaxpress.com/

This is a web comic that I have been reading lately. Amazing story and amazing art.

The creators make no bones about the fact that they still wish to publish in paper, but they want a fan-base first. I, for one, would certainly buy a copy as it would be completly worth it to me.

To me, the idea of publishing on the web first, and then in paper form makes sense as a business model. Has any webcomic aside from http://userfriendly.org/ done this with any success?

I check it daily and have several of the books in print. It's a great example of how well comic strips can work online; in fact the books actually feel like they are lacking in comparison to the web site.

What I'm really waiting for is the digital comic as invented by Tom Hank in Big, all those years ago. I don't know about the rest of you, but it made me drool at the time. So, my powerbook is a bit bigger, but I can pretend.

An interesting one is Girl Genius Online. This was a traditional printed comic. Recently, the authors put up the website. New pages are put online on MWF, and when a volume willl be complete it'll get published in paper format. At the same time, they're rehashing their old issues (GG101), again one page every other workday.

Talk about the best of both worlds :)

To the O.P.: Provide some info - we're not mind-readers. Today's User Friendly is somehow appropriate.

How well normalized is the schema? Mostly reads? Writes? Both? 280,000 users? So what. Do you mean simultaneous users or are only 2 on at a time? Are they accessing a single 100 record table or lots of large tables? Are they indexed properly? What is the OS, memory, disk, processor...? How much processing is required of the DB vs. the front-end. Have you run into any specific problems that might indicate that a different db might be more appropriate. What have you tried and what was the result?

To the editors: Please reject Ask Slasdot questions from posters who can't be bothered to provide the most basic background info.

This is Slashdot. I would like to believe that the typical reader could be rather more technically erudite.