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First, it's Axogon.

Second, it was never GPL'd, it was a private program.

Third, the decision to go pay-only was not a huge surprise. You already had a license fee if you wanted to register the 1.0 version, and this was not secret. Axogon actually resembled Blender's C-Key distribution back in the day.

Fourth, the decision came a LONG TIME before the paranoia over the DMCA started. MainConcept(who make precisely ZERO big-name products) made an offer, and if I was a college student not knowing where to go next, I'd sure as hell take it.

Fifth, you can still use the damn thing. 0.93.1 is available from scads of shareware sites, and is still rock-solid and a great on-the-cheap compositor/non-linear editor(as I've used it for all of my projects).

First, it's Axogon.

Second, it was never GPL'd, it was a private program.

Third, the decision to go pay-only was not a huge surprise. You already had a license fee if you wanted to register the 1.0 version, and this was not secret. Axogon actually resembled Blender's C-Key distribution back in the day.

Fourth, the decision came a LONG TIME before the paranoia over the DMCA started. MainConcept(who make precisely ZERO big-name products) made an offer, and if I was a college student not knowing where to go next, I'd sure as hell take it.

Fifth, you can still use the damn thing. 0.93.1 is available from scads of shareware sites, and is still rock-solid and a great on-the-cheap compositor/non-linear editor(as I've used it for all of my projects).

• Then denotes time and sequence. ("Then, I washed my car...")
• Than denotes comparison. ("My car is faster than yours.").

I don't know. I think the whole issue here (and in other cases that have been reported by slashdot and a bunch of other places) shouldn't really be this law or that law -- it should be the entire system of law.

I believe the US as a nation has 'lost the game', as far as its legal system is concerned. If one merely takes a step back and looks at the situation, it is evident for what it is: a war of resources. It's like a real battle. Only, instead of planes and missiles, the two sides are launching lawyers at each other.

Now, I will not say 'I am not a lawyer', because half the time (former) lawyers are the ones that pass those abominable laws; the other half they are the same people that can't (or won't) interpret them properly. But what do I see? I see a country that has lost its sense of justice only to replace it with a 'just facade'.

In ancient times, lawgivers were respected people whose reputations preceded them. Entire cultures and city-states appealed to them and practically begged them to order their society. The ones whose names echo throughout history were wise men, that cared nothing for power or rule. And whose sense of justice was unmatched. Ask yourself: Who makes the laws of America today? And who finances them? Easy answer, isn't it?

Another point is that politicians are often the unwitting tools of other people's agendas. Not that politicians themselves aren't good at manipulating people, of course. But their arena is different. They are often clueless where subjects like - say - technology and IT are concerned. In their arrogance, they often don't even bother to research something before publically condeming it and pushing a bill that will further violate people's rights. All for the sake of sensationalism. And all the while, some shadowy person/corporation cackles in the background.

The Law should serve the citizen. Not the other way around. Maybe it's time for the few remaining wise men involved in law-making to look back into antiquity. At Lycurgus of Sparta. At Solon of Athens. Aristotle once said, on Solon's reforms: "Once master of the vote, the people became master of the constitution."

Get out of that maze. Or this will only be the beginning.

Pathway

"Begs the question" means avoiding answering a point in an argument by simply stating that your point is correct instead of supporting the point.

--
I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations ...

Next on slashdot, USA invented the republic, democracy, government, freedom of the press, Karma Sutra, and the printing press.

If you think the US is the first democratically-based government, then please realize it's only two hundred some years old. What you said doesn't seem to make sense. Anyway, China was a democracy (actually, a republic) here, here, and here.

Chris Crawford published a book in 1982 called The Art of Computer Game Design (html, pdf). This is, in my opinion, the definitive statement of the computer game medium as an art form. Although the book is somewhat dated and Chris' career seems to be in a Strange Place (Erasmatazz?), it is still a very worthwhile read. A classic, IMHO.

...nipped it in the butt

There is an interesting page here.

They all look like Pimpbot 5000 to me.

-gerbik

Don't believe me? Just look at the error in this article's title. For more errors, and how to avoid them, see Common Errors in English.

Hey, wasn't that HAL 9000? Not Al. It was bad sectors man! Dude was in there trying to drop new cartidges in and the thing lost it's mind!

And oh yeah, the movie came out like thirty + years ago. It was and still is so far ahead of it's time. it looks like Mission to Mars, albeit a great movie, was closely related to the story line of that book "...And the Moon Be Still As Bright"(study guide) by Ray Bradbury


.

Well at Washington State University (GO COUGS)... We wrote our own version of Minix and used A small linux kernel to teach the boot process from a floppy. http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/~cs460

I wonder, how does the reviewed book compare to "essential unix system administration" by Frisch/O'Reilly? I found the O'Reilly book rather good.

I would recommend both. I use the Red Book (now the purple book) as the textbook for my class on Unix System Administration at Washington State University. However, I really like the Frisch book, and in fact, the way it presents info fits my thinking better. But, by emphasizing one topic at a time, the Nemeth book fits a class situation better, and makes a better reference book.

I like the new edition. And it is so nice this semester not to need to explain all the points where the book was badly out of date (especially the chapters on sendmail and BIND).

My only beef with the Nemeth book is that it does not cover shell scripting. The Frisch book covers the basics of Bourne shell. If the Nemeth book covered Bourne shell, it would be perfect for my class. As it is, I still use it, and just cover shell scripting separately.

Wish I could have gotten that tour of the place before I graduated.
and Prof. Singhrs moved out west. I don't know if they really were
busy or just tired of people touring their VERY unique facility
I imagine that Jason Baskett is still working there, but I don't know
From back in the day('96 ish), here is what got a local boy hired at Cyan
http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/~irl/ANIM/
Scroll down to bonkers...
or here is direct link bonkers movie
I have no idea why that old stuff is still there, some people never update their webpages =P
My animation was almost that good....yeah right!
Eric

Wish I could have gotten that tour of the place before I graduated.
and Prof. Singhrs moved out west. I don't know if they really were
busy or just tired of people touring their VERY unique facility
I imagine that Jason Baskett is still working there, but I don't know
From back in the day('96 ish), here is what got a local boy hired at Cyan
http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/~irl/ANIM/
Scroll down to bonkers...
or here is direct link bonkers movie
I have no idea why that old stuff is still there, some people never update their webpages =P
My animation was almost that good....yeah right!
Eric

Not to be overly pedantic, but it is a little ironic that your post itself employs one of the most commonly misused phrases in the English lexicon:

BEGS THE QUESTION
An argument which improperly assumes as true the very point the speaker is trying to argue for is said in formal logic to "beg the question." Here is an example of a question-begging argument: "This painting is trash because it is obviously worthless." The speaker is simply asserting the worthlessness of the work, not presenting any evidence to demonstrate that this is in fact the case. Since we never use "begs" with this odd meaning ("to improperly take for granted") in any other phrase, many people mistakenly suppose the phrase implies something quite different: that the argument demands that a question about it be asked. If you're not comfortable with formal terms of logic, it's best to stay away from this phrase, or risk embarrassing yourself.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/america.html

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/index.html

Posters on /. would do well to review the list Paul Brian's compiled. =)

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/america.html

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/index.html

Posters on /. would do well to review the list Paul Brian's compiled. =)

I think the planet Solaris plays a minor role of the book, the main point being made about the human psychological makeup. The final conclusion (as I read it) is something along the lines of "we cannot possibly hope to understand alien life, as we cannot even understand ourselves".

For the interested, there is a Study Guide for Solaris from Washington State University, which also links to some information about Lem.

Finally a small off-topic point: my own favourite Lem book is Fiasco (1986). It has a somewhat different flavour from Solaris (more technology and less futile love), but it is still serious in its tone. (unlike the more playful Cyberiad).

I agree that hardware in exchagne for some code is not wrong.. however, labor law indicates that, if you are performing a service, or giving something of value to the company, they must pay you fairly for it. This means minimum wage.

Actually, a one shot deal like writing a driver in exchange for hardware is about the most clear-cut case of an indepdent contractor relationship that I can imagine under the 20 common law factors. The company would not control when, where, or how you worked, there would not be a continuing relationship, they would not provide training, you would not work on the premises, etc. In fact, I don't think any of the factors would point to an employee relationship in the driver/hardware situation, but IANAL.

Surely if the employee has no contract of employment, he/she isn't considered an "employee" in legal terms

No.

The term "employee" is defined various ways by various agencies, both state and federal, in the U.S. The existence of a written contract is just one factor in determining whether someone is an employee. There are generally 20 common law factors that are used to determine the employee status of a person. It absolutely does not matter if either or both the parties involved say they are or are not in an employee-employer relationship. The actual facts and circumstances of the situation determine if an employement situation exists.

For a short (perhaps too short) look at the way the Social Security Administration codifies these factors, look here.

For a readable, slightly expanded re-statement of the factors, look here.

And for more than you ever wanted to know, look here.

Now I just can't wait for spitfire. Then we get to see celeron2 vs spitfire.

While I wait,what do you guys think of this?

MINIX is used because it is easier to write an OS in it.

MINIX is used because it is easier to write an OS in it.

advertise
Pronunciation: 'ad-v&r-"tIz
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): -tised; -tising
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French advertiss-, stem of advertir
Date: 15th century
transitive senses
1 : to make something known to : NOTIFY
2 a : to make publicly and generally known b : to announce publicly especially by a printed notice or a broadcast c : to call public attention to especially by emphasizing desirable qualities so as to arouse a desire to buy or patronize : PROMOTE intransitive senses : to issue or sponsor advertising

The Power of Words: Advertising Tricks of the Trade, Richard F. Taflinger, PhD
Psychology of Consumer Behavior, Richard F. Taflinger, PhD

advertise
Pronunciation: 'ad-v&r-"tIz
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): -tised; -tising
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French advertiss-, stem of advertir
Date: 15th century
transitive senses
1 : to make something known to : NOTIFY
2 a : to make publicly and generally known b : to announce publicly especially by a printed notice or a broadcast c : to call public attention to especially by emphasizing desirable qualities so as to arouse a desire to buy or patronize : PROMOTE intransitive senses : to issue or sponsor advertising

The Power of Words: Advertising Tricks of the Trade, Richard F. Taflinger, PhD
Psychology of Consumer Behavior, Richard F. Taflinger, PhD

The one and only inovative thing that created Microsoft; Paul Allens 8080 simulator for DEC that he hacked when they had 30 days to show off Gates cut'n'paste basic-interpreter on a computer they didn't have available. Oh, and the bootstrap he hacked hacked on the plane so they could boot the same box. Two great hacks that never have been repeated later by MS. Imagine the company MS could have been if Allen had got CEO...
Reference: History of the Microcomputer Revolution, What good is a computer without Software?

WSU's Information Technology department has on many occasions stiffled the speech of students... untill they make a noise. My freshman year here there was a "Holocaust Revisionist" site that recieved complaints. From chatting with a few people about it I heard that they were "temporarily restrained", as is in the power of IT officials, from further "harassing" anyone. After they caused a stink they got their website back and produced an official statement from IT.

Following a flamewar on alt.religion.universal-life in which I posted a link to a domain name's administrative contact information (through nsi.com's whois) the targeted party recieved numerous calls that resulted not from that post, but an anonymous post under false pretenses to another newsgroup containing that phone number.

I was found guilty of harassment for providing information on how to access that publicly accessable document. So I assumed the "administrative position" (duck and grab ankles) and gave up my @wsu.edu email for the summer.

My account reactivation was delayed for two weeks because one of the officials (cough**cough**cBoIuGgGhOT!**cough) tought that it was inappropriate use of my unix account to host this student group's site. There was no complaint ever associated with the page. Yet the administration felt that they had the right to restrict my speech in order to "protect" me from "inducing a liability" on to myself (i.e. I would be liable for anything that appeared on that page, any complaints on that page would be complaints against me).

I ran headlong at this one, contacting the Ombudsman and attending a moderated meeting with upper administration. They rolled over and gave me a verbal appology (no official statement). Part of the run-arround was that upper administration acted on "policy" that IT officials had no jurisdiction to invent. IT in fact had no said policy and I have yet to meet with said IT official's boss to discuss the event.

Once again the stink caused the administration to draft some more "policy". Now students are supposed to link to a copyright and a disclaimer off of their home pages. Want to bet noone's done that yet? The new "policy" also is rendered practically useless. It says "WSU does not restrict the contents of electronic mail of staff, faculty, and students or the contents of faculty, staff, and student individual World Wide Web (Web) pages linked to the official WSU Web pages beyond the restrictions inherent in complying with the law."

Interestingly it is a state law that no student of WSU may harass another individual in any way. Harassment, anything that is "anoying, disturbing or perturbing," is definedly quite broad! Here is a good site covering the legal theory surrounding such issues. Basically it supports restricting one-to-one speech to prevent harassment, but determines that one-to-many speech should be protected as free speech.

An importaint distinction should be made that I'm not sure the author covers. Newsgroup postings are a one-to-many medium, but the comments may be directed to (or at) an individual. In this way should criticizing an individual be considered harassment? What about warning others that you think this individual is bad news? "Harassment" says the WSU administration, and a violation of "student conduct."

So... don't like the postings of a WSU student? Complain to abuse@wsu.edu and they're screwed!

Too bad WSU's policy isn't like WWU's or UW's; even CWU's policy is more lenient! Looks like EWU is in the same boat that WSU is in.

WSU's Information Technology department has on many occasions stiffled the speech of students... untill they make a noise. My freshman year here there was a "Holocaust Revisionist" site that recieved complaints. From chatting with a few people about it I heard that they were "temporarily restrained", as is in the power of IT officials, from further "harassing" anyone. After they caused a stink they got their website back and produced an official statement from IT.

Following a flamewar on alt.religion.universal-life in which I posted a link to a domain name's administrative contact information (through nsi.com's whois) the targeted party recieved numerous calls that resulted not from that post, but an anonymous post under false pretenses to another newsgroup containing that phone number.

I was found guilty of harassment for providing information on how to access that publicly accessable document. So I assumed the "administrative position" (duck and grab ankles) and gave up my @wsu.edu email for the summer.

My account reactivation was delayed for two weeks because one of the officials (cough**cough**cBoIuGgGhOT!**cough) tought that it was inappropriate use of my unix account to host this student group's site. There was no complaint ever associated with the page. Yet the administration felt that they had the right to restrict my speech in order to "protect" me from "inducing a liability" on to myself (i.e. I would be liable for anything that appeared on that page, any complaints on that page would be complaints against me).

I ran headlong at this one, contacting the Ombudsman and attending a moderated meeting with upper administration. They rolled over and gave me a verbal appology (no official statement). Part of the run-arround was that upper administration acted on "policy" that IT officials had no jurisdiction to invent. IT in fact had no said policy and I have yet to meet with said IT official's boss to discuss the event.

Once again the stink caused the administration to draft some more "policy". Now students are supposed to link to a copyright and a disclaimer off of their home pages. Want to bet noone's done that yet? The new "policy" also is rendered practically useless. It says "WSU does not restrict the contents of electronic mail of staff, faculty, and students or the contents of faculty, staff, and student individual World Wide Web (Web) pages linked to the official WSU Web pages beyond the restrictions inherent in complying with the law."

Interestingly it is a state law that no student of WSU may harass another individual in any way. Harassment, anything that is "anoying, disturbing or perturbing," is definedly quite broad! Here is a good site covering the legal theory surrounding such issues. Basically it supports restricting one-to-one speech to prevent harassment, but determines that one-to-many speech should be protected as free speech.

An importaint distinction should be made that I'm not sure the author covers. Newsgroup postings are a one-to-many medium, but the comments may be directed to (or at) an individual. In this way should criticizing an individual be considered harassment? What about warning others that you think this individual is bad news? "Harassment" says the WSU administration, and a violation of "student conduct."

So... don't like the postings of a WSU student? Complain to abuse@wsu.edu and they're screwed!

Too bad WSU's policy isn't like WWU's or UW's; even CWU's policy is more lenient! Looks like EWU is in the same boat that WSU is in.

In an article I recently wrote for the WSU Association of Pagan Students' Mabon newsletter, I used you as an example of a Pagan individual who is technically competant (statistically 17 to 22% of the NeoPagan community in 1985 -- Adler - DDTM 2nd Ed.), and liken you in that reguard to VRML inventor Mark Pesce.

What is your conception of a "TechnoPagan" and do you consider this a viable and/or developing NeoPagan tradition?

hmmm, "queer" and "fag" are generally considered only appropriate to use if you ARE in fact homosexual, even Allies are discouraged from infringing on the "ownership of language" (trust me on this one, i know).

Simmilarly the `n-word` is another much stronger example of the "ownership of language" by a minority... it's origins (negro) aren't that offensive either...

heck, we're a minority... so why not... deem it RUDE and INSULTING to be called a hacker, unless by another hacker...

good luck pulling it off tho ;->

I put the white paper for UltraHLE that someone posted to USENET on my site, here., but Rob doesn't seem to have thought it was newsworthy. :)