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Passport's Pocket Picked
emmons writes: "It looks like there's another hole in MS Passport according to Wired. This one allowing a user to steal another user's Passport Wallet, credit cards and all, by getting them to open a hotmail message. Nice." What happens when someone steals the basket with all your eggs?
Ach...sorry, reflex.
Sincerely,
Every Fucking Journalist in the U.S.
I guess we shouldn't have used Microsoft Condom...
:q!
Yes folks, I'm tired. Getting modded up at 50 and getting nothing from it is such a bore. Bouncing around in the high 40s just isn't worth it anymore. In fact, you might even say I'M AS MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE.
/., so "Bill Gates is evil" is the moral.
That's why I'm going to blow my Karma brains out, right here on national TV, err... um... international web... err.. whatever. You get the idea.
Heck, I might even go for negative karma. I mean, VA Linux, err... um... VA Software or VA Chicken Processing or whatever business they are in this week is going to fold soon anyway. What difference does it really make? So go ahead mods, do your worst.
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While I'm waiting for the form submission timeout, let me tell you a little fable. Once upon a time a man heard that there was gold in seawater, but no economical way to extract it. So, he studied chemistry for years, earned a PhD and worked secretly on it in his spare time, neglecting everything including marriage, parties, and anything remotely resembling fun. One night he went out in a boat to test it. Because he forgot to move a decimal point, he didn't realize how fast it would work. He went to sleep, and overnight the electrode got so heavy that the boat sank with him, his idea, and his pathetic life on board.
The moral of the story? Well, this is
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
The most annoying thing about the GPL is the way people (mostly Americans) can't bring themselves
to admitting that it's a half-baked socialist ideal, because they don't even understand socialism,
let alone dare claim support for it. Nay, even communist, because RMS believes all software *must
* have this licence.
The GPL argument seems to be based on, "software has no monetary value because it can be easily co
pied". If software were an expression of an idea that only existed on non-replicable medium, it wo
uld have such value, right? Excellent. All I have to do then is to make a Star Trek Replicator (I'
m sure it will happen eventually) and, by RMS, _everything_ replicable will lose all financial val
ue.
The placement of software on a bit of media is no different than Coca Cola saying, "hey, this woul
d be a cool mix of sugar and goo!" and mixing the ingredients together into a can. Or a carpenter
saying "hm, I know how to make a more sturdy chair" and building it with his tools. Each is the se
quence idea -> implementation of idea.
I can't possibly fathom why ideas should be free. (that is to say, the mere product of man's mind)
but the expression of those ideas (say in a chair, the product of man's mind and hands) may not.
Worse, why campaign for ideas to be free, but let those who restrict their ideas (the majority of
companies) use their ideas for further restriction?
Trying to figure out an answer:
1. Expression takes more effort? No it doesn't. Thinking the ideas often takes more effort than im
plementing them, e.g. developing a new drug compared to mixing the ingredients.
2. Research into new ideas costs no money? Ha. This might explain why GNU / Linux is so uninnovati
ve, and its main role is to play catchup. Yes, Linux has some wonderful efficiences, say in the in
terrupt processing code. But there are never any *big new ideas*. Research takes much money and ti
me, the gathering of data, the use of equipment, and the use of people who have to eat and be hous
ed, etc.
3. Ideas can be copied without cost. No, someone pays for the communications medium. Usually Big B
ad Corporations, unless you wish to free the implementation of ideas too. _Cheaply_, maybe. You te
ll a man stuck in the middle of Africa, "Dammit! Just download the source! It's Free!" and he may
ask you for (food..) education in the English language, a computer and an Internet connection. Fre
e software may lower the barrier to enlightenment, but only for rich Westerners with lots of time
on their hands to learn.
Consistency please!
Tks