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Even atheists like to hedge their bets. Read about the soul catcher software license, featuring the SBDAWF.

(As a certified Old Fart, I actually remember MJSS and their "unique" EULA. I thought it was hilarious. I also never pirated their software, just in case!)

Then, as that document says, they're not atheists but agnostics.

If you would like to purchase my soul (whatever that means) feel free to contact me by email.

Even atheists like to hedge their bets. Read about the soul catcher software license, featuring the SBDAWF.

(As a certified Old Fart, I actually remember MJSS and their "unique" EULA. I thought it was hilarious. I also never pirated their software, just in case!)

The Deathrow OpenVMS Cluster [http://deathrow.vistech.net/ uses DECNet between Alphas (SET HOST GEIN/SET HOST DAHMER), VAXen (SET HOST MANSON) and Linux (SET HOST JACK). If you're really wanting to play with DECNet, you can setup an account there and "hack" away.

Stumbled onto a VMS/DECNet machine and want to explore a little? First try "show known nodes", and then... our friends at Phrack have a HOWTO guide, including a copy of the all-important "TELL.COM".

Unimpressed by a lack of slashdot effect?

Disappointed that you didn't make an impression on the Deathrow Cluster?

Slashdot them for real!!! by telnetting to dahmer.vistech.net, manson.vistech.net, or gein.vistech.net.

Monitor your attempts at destruction here.

if the system is so obscure that hardly anyone can use it, it will be trivial to compromise to anyone who knows what he is doing.

Nowadays it is not common to have hardware available to install OpenVMS or any other VMS flavor. This project allows users to create free accounts in a OpenVMS cluster. I have created one for me and I'm trying to learn a little of this system, which looks like very interesting.

If you want to get started at OpenVMS this book is recommended. It is very basic and for beginners.

-- Gustavo

These extra costs are guilt by association. How does two OpenBSD boxes add up to a greater risk of being trojaned than a single Windows box?

I suppose the number of hosts could correlate to these cost variables, but many other indicators correspond a lot better, and of those many are negative correlates (power users need less support than novices and are less likely to harbour or spread trojans).

Do I get a discount from my ISP for configuring rules into my OpenBSD firewall preventing any of my client hosts from *sending* packets on known virus ports? I didn't think so.

It's totally bogus to paste someone with extra costs on the implication of a correlate that can be directly disproven for the case in hand.

Actually there are shades of the Laffer curve here. "If we had no hosts, our costs would be nill. Therefore, every extra host is an extra cost."

Oh my god! This guy doesn't get it either: Laffer curve diatribe.

The problem with the Laffer curve is that *even when* the tax rates are above the value of maximum tax revenue, lowering the tax rate isn't guaranteed to move you toward maximum revenue. You could be caught in some local sworl.

The problem here: the Laffer curve is a curve, not a function, and there is no justification from the premises given for assuming the Laffer curve isn't self crossing.

You can connect with telnet of SSH.

Follow the link Dahan just gave you:
http://www.tru64unix.compaq.com/noncommercia l-unix /

for the hobbyist Tru64 licenses.

But, who needs Tru64 when there is VMS? If you want to try out a public access VMS account on the Internet, check out the "Deathrow" cluster (yup, VMS had true clustering decades before Micrsoft claimed to be able to do it) at:
http://deathrow.vistech.net/

-Chris

....A OpenVMS box, like there was a at DECON 9. Why, because its considered one of the most secure OS's in the world. If I had time, maybe I'd bring one of my Alphas/VAXen. Hrm.. maybe next year.

....A OpenVMS box, like there was a at DECON 9. Why, because its considered one of the most secure OS's in the world. If I had time, maybe I'd bring one of my Alphas/VAXen. Hrm.. maybe next year.

....A OpenVMS box, like there was a at DECON 9. Why, because its considered one of the most secure OS's in the world. If I had time, maybe I'd bring one of my Alphas/VAXen. Hrm.. maybe next year.

thanks for responding with discussion and not flames. very refreshing to see it.

Z was not all that high. I believe it was close to $100k.

$100k back then... was a LOT of money. not exactly 'billions and billions' of dollars, but not the kind of money the average person would see in a lifetime.

How much I have already paid is irrelevent when I am making the decision whether or not to put in another dollar's worth of effort knowing that I'm only going to get to keep a nickel for it.

again, at the Z tax bracket where this kind of decision becomes necessary, you are not looking at whether or not you are going to put forward enough effort to put food on the table. that is already taken care of. you are worried about things way, way down on the 'need pyramid' (if you subscribe to that kind of thing).

but having said that, i am often lazy enough to wonder if i should put in the extra effort to get the 60 cents on the dollar's worth of effort. early in the month i usually decide yes, because the bills are not paid. by the end of the month, i usually decide no because i'm not going to lose my house/go hungry this month.

but i think talking about a "dollar's worth" of effort is misleading, because a dollar's worth of my effort takes about as much time as someone else's shift at McBurger's. do you think talking about things in terms of time, not money, would lead to a more interesting discussion? because an hour of time is less subjective than the value of a dollar.

Well, taxes are designed to provide income for the government, right? I'd say they do that okay.

the current form of taxes does not do a very good job of providing income. heard of the Laffer Curve? basically we are not maxing out the money the government could be making from taxes.

Big, active governments require lots of taxes, no surprise there.

maybe i'm guessing wrong, but perhaps you agree that having a "big active government" might be the first problem?

-rp

How did this get to be [4: insightful]?

It was written at the leading edge of the dotcom boom, and probably helped fuel some of the irrational exuberance that led to disasters like PSInet stock.

That's right, because saying the computer age is over is sure to drive up tech stocks. WTF?!?!

Gilder takes a few facts and selectively uses them to decorate a pre-existing world view.

Right, as opposed to what you do in the next paragraph, where you decry the Laffer Curve because the deficit increased, even though the Laffer Curve did accurately predict the increase in government revenues that did in fact occur. Talk about selective use (or misuse, rather) of facts.

Basically, your argument is this: Hey, this guy is a Republican, and the book as new as the latest Linux kernel, so why do we care?

Here's why you should care: the guy predicted that the computer age was over, and down it came. All sorts of computer manufacturers are losing money because PCs have become commodities, and even some of the telecom companies are starting to lose cash as their monopolies break up. His views on evolution aren't terribly relevant to the computer industry, and bringing them up is a cheap way to avoid having to address his arguments.

Finally, just about everything in economics (and every other "social science") is far from proven. Say's Law, the basis of supply-side economics and classical economics, has its successes and its failures, as does Keynesian economics, its main competitor. What's your point?

But hey, at least rich people get a tax cut (even if they don't want one)..."

Not sure whether this is offtopic or a troll, but it's definitely not relevant to NASA. As someone pointed out, NASA got a 3% funding increase this year--the first in 7 years. I fail to see how Bush's tax plan has anything to do with the cancellation of X-33, X-34.

That said, the people trashing Bush's plan seem to have no knowledge of economics. First of all, really rich (and even some moderately rich) people will be unaffected by the plan. They already dodge estate and income taxes through tax loopholes and offshore investments, etc. I know this because my ex-girlfriend's parents sheltered a good chunk of money in Luxembourg, and now live happily on their yacht without paying any substantial taxes. If they die, no estate tax will touch any of that money. The only thing affected will be their house. In other words, with an estate tax, if you're rich and you want to leave a fortune to your kids, no problem. If you want to bequeath your farm or family home, tough luck.

So who does benefit from the tax cut? The middle class, primarily, especially professionals earning in the $50K - $150K range. Lower income people do benefit, too, just not as much.

Finally, I suggest you study the Laffer Curve to see why tax cuts can actually increase net tax revenue, as they did during the Reagan years. "What?" the liberals shriek, "the deficit increased during the 80's!" Yes, but that's because spending drastically increased. Tax revenues actually increased in response to tax cuts, just not enough to keep up with spending (Reagan poured tons of money into the military in an effort to win the Cold War). Look up the stats if you don't believe me.