Slashdot Mirror
iWarez
asv108 writes "It seems that people are finding new uses for their iPod. According to this story in Wired, a Dallas area CompUsa employee caught a teenager transferring a fresh copy of Office for OSX to his iPod from a store demo machine."
And I thought CompUSA employees were good for nothing.
it was improper labeling. the sticker said "don't steal MUSIC"...
Apple touts the iPod's ability to act as an external hard drive as one of its selling points. This person was using it as an external hard drive. Why is this newsworthy?
slashdot!=valid HTML
I used to do this in the late 80s - the BBC Micro had a system where you could buy add-on ROMs. I didn't have the money to buy them, so I wrote a program to copy them onto a 5.25 inch floppy. Then I'd go into stores and copy what they had.
Glad to see some things haven't changed...
This is news? =] It was bound to happen eventually. Give a person a way to get something out of a store and they'll do their best to do it.
I would think that connecting to Limewire or Hotline would be a heck of a lot easier than trying to get all of the files for OS X off of a computer, though. Sort of like stealing a stick of gum from one store instead of stealing the ingredients for gum from another store.
-Sara
You're telling me that a CompUSA employee caught the kid and knew what the kid was doing? Did the employee still try to sell the kid the extended warrantee?
under the DMCA for creating a circumvention device!
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
The person featured in the story witnessing the theft a computer consultant in the Dallas area at a local CompUSA? I don't think he was an employee of CompUSA, else he would have stopped the little bugger.
Isn't that wonderful though? Can afford a $399 iPod but can't afford Office vX? Heck, maybe the iPod was stolen too?
GPL Deconstructed
Because it introduces a new way to pirate software. When was any sort of external drive fast and quiet enough to do this?
Though what he was doing was illegal, you got to give him credit for cleverness.
There are plenty of pocket sized firewire and USB drives on the market that could be used to do the same thing. The iPod differs only in that it's got a really cool interface and can double as a nice MP3 player.
Lee
A satisified iPod owner.
Forget the warez part of this story, I can't believe that Macintosh has managed to preserve its "drag the application to your disk" style of installation. I have to explain to my wife every six months that we can't just copy Application X to disk (or Pen Drive) and bring it upstairs; it's more complicated than that.
Yes. They shouldn't have used compusa as the password on the demo machine.
"What is the sound of one belly slapping?"
Assuming the twerp wouldve pulled this off, would the software actually work if it were just copied from one machine to the other? Knowing MS, they probably would make it difficult to directly copy the software in it's installed state, it would require the CD itself.
The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
Actually I went to high school with him... his real name is Ben Curtis.
You could have fun putting files onto computers at the stores... nice goats.cx background or something... hell maybe someone will come up with a way to install linux from the ipod!
--
Some weasel took the cork out of my lunch.
They won't. Apple is concerned with other desktops and software products using its Aqua theme. Slashdot using an Aqua-ish theme poses no threat to Apple in any way; why would Apple sue Slashdot?
slashdot!=valid HTML
So instead of the traditional "Five Finger Discount" now it's the "Five Second Discount" ... interesting.
From teh article: Webb watched the teenager copy a couple of other applications. He left the kid to find a CompUSA employee. "I went over and told a CompUSA guy, but he looked at me like I was clueless," Webb said.
Isn't that a misprint? Should it not read: I look at him as though HE were clueless?
Sounds about right... CompUSA loser is thinking, "Yeah man, sure... the kids stealing apps off out machines with his Walkman. WHATever... don't forget your tinfoil hat on that way out!"
Just another moron who doesn't know his products or their capabilities.
(It's not just PC workers, even today's car salesmen don't know their product. I went shopping with a friend who wanted to buy a car in the same model that I own. My friend is an informed consumer; he and I had to correct the sales guy on model names, equipment on each, engine size and wheel size on three different cars.)
SlashSigTheorem: Humorous, Political, Critical, Constructive- If you have a
Someone hire him in bizdev!
"Old man yells at systemd"
You can copy many things to and from it.. It's really much cheaper to do so.
The REAL jabber has the user id: 13196
What you do today will cost you a day of your life
This kinda reminds me of the days when people (poor college students?) brought their Zip drives and disks to Kinkos and downloaded warez from the Macs and PCs. Guess those pimple faced fellows behind the counter were not paid enough to care.
If the kid was caught, would he be charged with stealing? He didn't take a physical product, he didn't even take the original. He mearly duplicated the files on his iPod. Yeah, it's software piracy, but do yo uthink the local police would have the time to even bother with this? It's not like CompUSA lost a sale or incurred any damages. In fact, CompUSA will probably sell 1000's more iPods just from this article alone!
'mmmmmmmmm.... forbidden donut'
Don't worry...there are no life forms aboard...
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
"I thought there's no point in getting any more involved in this imbroglio," Webb said. "Besides, this is Texas. You never know what he might have been carrying."
What a maroon. Way to stereotype both Texans and gunowners. Sure, like some kid is going to shoot you for ratting him out. Grow up, turn off the TV once in a while, maybe even read a book, and shut the hell up.
Thanks,
--
Matt
I always wanted an iPod, since I first saw one. But I'm a PC kind of guy. Tell me there's someone out there who has written something to make the iPod work with windows/linux. I don't have money, but I have a credit card, I'll go buy one right now. Kid wherever you are, you rock.
So beatiful...
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
Can't you take ANY external pocket hard drive or even a keychain USB drive and do similar things? WTF does this have to do with the iPod?
And you could take a camera into a museum or a movie camera into a theatre. But actually you can't because you'll get caught. So computer store employees should just make sure kids don't plug hard drives into computers.
Of course if software could be freely redistributed this wouldn't be a problem, but that's another long-running and tiresome story, isn't it...
There's no story here. NEXT!!!
Unsure whether the kid was a thief or an out-of-uniform employee, Webb watched as he left the store. "I thought there's no point in getting any more involved in this imbroglio," Webb said. "Besides, this is Texas. You never know what he might have been carrying."
One entry found for imbroglio.
Main Entry: imbroglio Pronunciation: im-'brOl-(")yO Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural -glios Etymology: Italian, from imbrogliare to entangle, from Middle French embrouiller -- more at EMBROIL Date: 1750 1 : a confused mass 2 a : an intricate or complicated situation (as in a drama or novel) b : an acutely painful or embarrassing misunderstanding c : a violently confused or bitterly complicated altercation : EMBROILMEN
Found it here.
Can't say I'm stunned. Most employees are either like this or the Dilbert electronic salesman that pays to work at the store. Or better...
Comic Book Guy: I'm interested in upgrading my 28.8 kilobaud Internet connection to a 1.5 megabit fibre-optic T-1 line. Will you be able to provide an IP router that's compatable with my token ring ethernet LAN configuration?
Homer: (pause) Can I have some money now?
Does that mean that iPod and computer stores should be illegal as they both allow to steal software?
Opus: the Swiss army knife of audio codec
But [Mac columnist Dave] Horrigan didn't think the iPod presents a serious piracy threat to Microsoft, and doubted the company would take special measures to prevent in-store copying.
"If Microsoft puts in protection it almost always screws up and causes problems for them or their legit users," he said.
Since when has that ever stopped them?
Dennis Lloyd, publisher of iPod fan site iPodlounge, also said this is the first time he'd heard of an iPod put to such use.
"I can see how easy it would be to do," he said. "It's a shame someone has stooped this low to bring bad press to the insanely great iPod."
How is this bringing bad press to the iPod? It can be used to copy things. That's what it's designed to do. This is like saying that someone intentionally driving their car into a busy cross walk is bad press for the car. And even if we accept the premise that it's bad press for the iPod, I really don't think that's why the kid did it.
Nope, no sig
Part of being an Apple zealot is going into stores and fixing the Macs up. I don't get why Apple can run such terrific retail stores themselves, but doesn't try to persuade CompUSA and Sears employees that, no, iMacs shouldn't have smoke coming out of them.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Because their lawyers need to make next months BMW payment?
In Soviet Russia...michael would be rotting in Siberia!
...because he sure has some huge balls to just walk up to a demo computer and try that!!
It's interesting to note that the article mentions Disk On Key. A few weeks ago, my friend's place of business had a meeting, and basically the whole premise was that any visitors to the company had to have their keychains checked for such devices, as they were worried about people coming in to visit, and leaving with a copy of a database. I wouldn't be surprised if other companies start adopting a policy of searching for those types of devices either.
Carrying around an iPod might look a little suspicious, especially when it's hooked up to the store model Mac via cable.
Why not bring in a *blank CDR* and use the CD burner built into the store model Macs instead? Nothing would be visible while the burning takes place.
Oh...and don't really do this. If you do, it's your own fault for being stupid. Fsck, I'd better post anonymously just to be safe.
Insanely great? Goddamn. They're all Stevebots.
I can see the headlines now
SOME CONSUMERS ARE USING APPLE'S PORTABLE FIREWIRE HARD DRIVE AS A PORTABLE FIREWIRE HARD DRIVE
EXPERTS SHOCKED
Admit it.. you're just annoyed you didn't think of doing this first
Maybe computer stores should just hire people who know how to tell when people are copying huge quantities of files onto portable hard drives?
Were there problems in the 80s with people copying programs off of computer display models onto floppy disks? What about with zip disks in the mid90s? What did stores do about that sort of thing then? Why is this so urgent now?
Webb watched the teenager copy a couple of other applications. He left the kid to find a CompUSA employee. "I went over and told a CompUSA guy, but he looked at me like I was clueless," Webb said.
Unsure whether the kid was a thief or an out-of-uniform employee, Webb watched as he left the store. "I thought there's no point in getting any more involved in this imbroglio," Webb said. "Besides, this is Texas. You never know what he might have been carrying."
CompUSA representatives didn't respond to requests for comment. Neither did Apple officials.
So basically the CompUSA people had no clue what was going on. Typical.
Also note that nobody was caught as the poster claimed. The event was merely witnessed, nobody was caught.
Lasers Controlled Games!
Wait, a front page story on slashdot is a front page story on Wired that's entirely hearsay. A computer consultant says he saw a crime, CompUSA didn't believe him, and that's news?
When I was a kid, a friend and I used to go to a computerstore, he'd keep the shopkeeper busy while I was making copies of the games that ran on the demo-machines on disks.
Taking with you a empty cd to a shop can do the same, with the cdwriters getting faster and faster,you dont have to wait for a long time, isn't there somesort of cd-writing app standardly installed on XP or MacOS?
Even if they catch you, I don't think they're allowed to see the contents of your iPod, cdrom or other data-bearer, at least not in my country.
I've never quite understood why stores allow such easy access to their demo PC units. I realize that the idea is to allow shoppers to test the functionallity of the computer before purchase, but how many times have you walked by a demo to see a locked screen saver or a BSOD? This does nothing to convince me to buy and keeps me from trying out the product. It would seem retailers could come up with some better ideas.
... physically block access to external peripheral ports. You don't need a USB connection or FireWire connection open on a PC on a shelf.
I've seen demo units that play the crappy "here is the PC" movie over and over again, but that doesn't help much. At least put a few passwords on the things to protect the system.
Easiest way to prevent this from happening again
My mother always used to tell me: If you can't find anything nice to say, say something bad about Windows.
Here's a suggestion: Physically block the fucking I/O ports on display models. Put a locked metal bar across them or something. Cheap, quick, and effective.
-- kwashiorkor --
Leaps in Logic
should not be confused with
Jumping to Conclusions.
Okay, the whole 'i'Products drive me nuts, and the original iMac was a POS, but you can't argue that they make a technically inferior product anymore. Most PC users still oogle over TiBooks.
-G
Sapere Aude - Homer
Funniest quote from the whole story was on the second page at the bottom:
"But Horrigan didn't think the iPod presents a serious piracy threat to Microsoft, and doubted the company would take special measures to prevent in-store copying.
"If Microsoft puts in protection it almost always screws up and causes problems for them or their legit users," he said. "
The Mac guy had to jab poor Microsoft:)
...And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me." - Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984)
We'll just send the BSA after this kid, and we can all rest easy, knowing the world is a better place.
I was wondering what all that space was good for :)
From the article:
He left the kid to find a CompUSA employee. "I went over and told a CompUSA guy, but he looked at me like I was clueless," Webb said.
I thought it was usually the other way around...
"Copy an entire CD worth of music in 10 seconds or a $459 office suite in under 3"
Anybody notice the cool 'aqua' look Slashdot logo and banner on this thread?
A) Cool Guys!
B) How you don't get Look'n'FeelSued!
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
Should I let them know that you can cover one window with another window so that no one knows what you're doing? Or is that some sort of top-secret trick-of-the-trade that I shouldn't be disclosing right now?
For that matter, that's something you can do with those fruity computers, too. Someone in Dallas go find that kid and beat him with a clue by four...
"It take 9 months to bear a child, no matter how many women you assign to the job."
Cool! How are you gonna stop this stuff? Prevent files? Not likely. Can't wait for the new Infared or Bluetooth iPod! Then I can steal right through the store wall!
Devin
stuff |
The brat would have downloaded it otherwise. Who cares. If he wants to use inferior software, let him go ahead.
Man, you obviously don't read the propaganda by the Business Software Alliance.
According to those fine folks, software companies lose twentysevenbazillion $ a year, by pimply faced pirates that run a warezed copy of Autocad.
Of course it's the same guy, who'd have otherwise caughed up a couple K to purchase a license.
ich bin der musikant
mit taschenrechner in der hand
kraftwerk
kinda like the Kinko's that have Zip drives. Nothing like getting a bunch of Adobe fonts in my graphic artist days!
DO NOT DISTURB THE SE
The green aqua-feel for slashdot looks really cool. How can I get all of slashdot to look like this for me? Or is that not a feature of slashcode?
reech bee-yond ur clip-0n
Soccer Moms will drive 6000 lb SUVs to school meetings and town halls everywhere to urge that iPods be banned, "For the Children (tm)"
A National iPod database will be created to monitor the posessions of iPods. Yadda, yadda yadda.
This is why we need wireless networks so I don't even have to take it out of my pocket. I know it might take a long time, but then this way I could spend my day playing the X-box demo and leave with more plenty of warez.
While this was just a kid trying to steal some software, it's clearly a symptom of a MUCH bigger problem. Now is the time to act on this sort of potential, before the full scope of ramifications become clear.
1) We must legislate mandatory copy-protection into all commercial software. Perhaps all software, in fact.
2) All storage devices most especially portable ones, must have a double license verification check on all copy operations. If you copy a file from one device (a computer) to another (an iPod), _both_ devices must independently verify the vailidity of copying/running that software on both machines, through a central license authority.
3) Legislation must be introduced to require all new file formats to incorporate licensing checks. "Free" files (however you want to interpret free) must be so marked within the file.
4) All new applications will be required to write only in approved licenseable formats. Within five years after the introduction of these formats, new pplications should no longer read old pre-license formats.
5) Hardware must be legally required to support this licensing and copy-protection scheme. All non-compliant hardware will have to be turned into the appropriate depots for disposal, after a similar 'sunset' period (five years again, perhaps).
Only in this way can we foster software innovation, encourage development, and drive technology forward. Guaranteeing security for developers in this was is a necessity, and the only way we can prevent computer piracy.
Arresting criminals doesn't work--if it did, we wouldn't have crime anymore! What we have to do is eliminate any possibility of crimes being committed in the first place, at any cost.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
The beauty of this is that you can do this without even being seen.
Just run the firewire cable up your sleeve, and keep the iPod in your pocket. YOu can even keep listening to the music.
When you step up to the demo computer, just use your hand to grab the cable, and plug it right into the machine.
This would be especially easy on an iBook, the Firewire port is right there on the side. Rest your fingers on the home keys, and it just looks like you are giving the thing a test drive.
The reason this is specific to the iPod is that it is self powered. With many other portable drive, you would need an external power source. It's quite a bit more conspicuous when looking for a place to plug in that power brick! (Not to mention the much larger size of most external drives...)
Depending on the CompUSA you go to, you can get some free entertainment. In the one in Roseville, Minnesota, there's this older guy behind the "good stuff" counter(all the smaller merchandise that can be shoplifted, etc) this guy will berate any computer-clueless customer that dares to ask him a question day in, day out. Sometimes I just stood near him pretending to look at the PDAs and listen to this guy drill into ma and Pa kettle explaining the difference between USB and FireWire. This guy IS the comic book guy of computers.
"...copy this folder to your hard drive"
.dmg of the Office X CD from Hotline or Carracho, and registration keys are easy to find for almost anything online.
That's what it says on the Office X CD. You copy that folder, and when you launch an Office app for the first time it checks to see if that other stuff isn't there. If it's not, it copies it there to complete the install.
From the article: When installing Office, users simply drag and drop the Office folder to their hard drive. Everything is included, including a self-repair mechanism that replaces critical files in the system folder.
Chances are, just copying the Office folder worked like a charm. If not, it's not like he can't grab a
~Philly
Of course, in this Win-centric world none of the Media Play employees thought to put a root password on it...
My friend gave it an rm -rf * and we left the store VERY QUICKLY.
Co-founder of GerbilMechs
How's this for a scenerio. Rip a dvd. Copy it to your iPod, trot over to CUSA, UPLOAD the file to their G4, tell your friends which computer it's on, share away. This could be done with anything of course, not just a DVD. While CUSA is busy password protecting M$ Offal, "enterprising" youths are taking advantage of plenty of storage to create some easy and quick offline storage. Why wait hours for the big stuff to download even over a cable modem. Just drag and drop whatever files you want. It'd be easy enough to hide the files/directories on the Macs, and since their demo machines, they're likely to have tons of space free. Bit more dangerious of course, but oh so convenient.
It makes me sad to see stores limiting this kid's ability to innovate.
JET Program: see Japan, meet intere
The clueless salesman reminds me of the joke:
Q: What's the difference between a used car salesman and a computer salesman?
A: The used car salesman knows when he's lying.
About 10 years ago I used to hang out in the mac lab at a local university while my Mom went to classes. I used to have a 2GB external HD the pluged in to the wall and used a huge scsi cable to hook up to the back of the Mac. I had copies of everything and they (computer lab guys) watched me do it, and said nothing. Times have changed (a little)and I became an adult. Yes you can get in a significant amount of trouble *if your caught*. It is very easy to steal anything regardless of how you physically do it, thats why we laws that say if your *caught* you will be punished. If you are over 18 and you pulled this stunt, *I* would have no problem reporting you as a shoplifter. this kid is the reason/excuse we have for crappy laws like the DMCA. IMHO if your moral standards are such that you *know* your stealing from someone and say its ok because they didn't lock it up good enough, then your sliding down a very slippery slope. (but I'll still visit you in jail when you get caught)
"Get them before they get....
Seriously, how long would that transfer take? Not long, I bet.
Here's how anyone with a brain would do it:
- Bring up the folder containing the Microsoft Office folder.
- Wait until the CompUSA employees are off "helping" other customers.
- Plug in iPod.
- Hide iPod behind computer.
- Drag Microsoft Office folder over.
- Begin a game of Otto-Matic to hide what's happening on the desktop. You can die pretty quickly, here. The transfer shouldn't take that long.
- After the game is done, quit, unplug iPod and reboot the computer.
Is it that hard?Albuquerque PC
CompUSA eh? I'm surprised they even knew it WAS a Macintosh. Honestly, I've gone into that store to look for accessories for my mac and had them try and sell me a Compaq. Hello? Dumbass? I *HAVE* a mac, and I'm trying to purchase accesories for it. I don't want to buy a third rate PC with an updated "model number."
Incidentally, I'd like to point out that the ease with which you can pirate software from a Macintosh raises an interesting point with Apple's vision. You install OfficeX by copying it where you want it...similar to the way you installed software on PCs before the invention of the "install wizard." Somebody realised that a single motion (drag program to applications) was easier than clicking through a dozen confusing menus. Somebody realized the time to ask for a serial number was when you tried to run a program, not while the install CD was in the drive.
Oh, and I'd like to mention in this anonymous forum that I steal bandwidth from the Apple store all the time. That lovely open (well, i consider 128bit WEP pretty open) Airport network is perfect for chilling in the mall with my palmtop, comparing online prices to b&m.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
Note: the above is intended only as a intellectual excercise. The author does not condone the unauthorized use of other parties' computer and network resources.
Sorry, I didn't read the article first and didn't realize it was just office he copied.
I stole this Sig
Dude, you're going to HELL !
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
read the story.
he got away with it.
and why would he reboot the machine?
So it's only a crime to take "real" goods. If I steal a Ferrari, it should be ok because "I never would have bought a Ferrari anyways". All software falls into your "still have the same amount of stock s they did 5 minutes ago" (not talking packages here, after all, you don't get busted for stealing packaging, it's the software contained therein that everyone raises the fuss about). The act is illegal, like it or not, and no amount of "well no one was hurt" is going to make it any less so.
"Webb watched the teenager copy a couple of other applications. He left the kid to find a CompUSA employee. 'I went over and told a CompUSA guy, but he looked at me like I was clueless,' Webb said."
If this isn't a wake-up call to stores like CompUSA, I don't know what is. If you treat and pay your employees like Wal-Mart employees, you're going to get people with the computer knowledge of Wal-Mart employees. Hand-holding employees through training isn't the answer because all that will give you is employees that require somebody else to do all their thinking for them while making them believe that they already know everything.
The reason the employees in stores like these don't have half a brain is because those that DO have half a brain can make far more money doing something else. Hell, people who answer tech support calls typically make more money than retail employees.
This is nothing more than CompUSA getting what it pays for.
There was a computer store in Michigan, where I once lived, where the owners employed a bunch of young computer geeks who regularly copied and distributed software among themselves, even special order stuff. The guy seemed concerned that his store wasn't generating enough revenue so he was slow to order new titles. Hard to sell what everyone already has a copy of. The thing that's so funny about this is that even a big CompUsa store employee appears to have the same lack of interest in his store's own welfare.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
You can't even breathe in that place without getting sold a warranty or some sort of extended plan. The reason for this is that margins are so slim on large purchases (like computers and DVD players) that retailers either break even or *lose* money on them. Cables and accessories are marked up to try to make up the loss.
I do hate that. I have argued with a CompUSA employee who insisted my mother *had* to have a $30 printer cable or her printer "would print on different pages and stuff". I wonder how long CompUSA and Best Buy can last?
Apple has a program where they put Apple employees in the Apple "store within a store" at CompUSA stores. Clearly the author of the story went to a generic CompUSA employee, and not the Apple employee. The stores in Dallas keep their Apple stuff up-to-date as a result. I'm not sure what the scope of this program is, but where it's in place, it rocks!
My other sig is extremely clever...
LOL... I'll have to ask him about that one...
as a young teen in the early eighties, the vic-20's were on display with some great games that were loaded up with a cassette drive.
i'd simply take the game cassette tape, purchase a new cassette at the store, wonder over to the stereo dept and tape to tape copy games and apps. woohoo!
Those bastards won't let you take anything in to the store.
There's loss prevention issues with people bringing Apple merchandise into an Apple store
The article talks about how the iPod can stay in your pocket as you steal the software, but you still have to plug the cable in.
When high speed wireless protocols become standard (Bluetooth is probably still too slow), this kind of stealing can be done without ever revealing that you have any device at all. It'll just show up in the Wireless Neighborhood when you walk up to the machine, you drag-copy the files, and walk away.
What do you mean they cut the power? How can they cut the power, man? They're animals!
An older guy at "good stuff"... hmmm. I think that was the same guy that berated me about 8-12 months ago for asking the price of the full version of MS Office (to compare against Corel's suite for my workplace, honest). He said that only "the government" bought the full version and that anyone who wasn't stupid bought MS Works and then the MS Office upgrade. Nevermind that I was asking about a product that they sell right off the shelf. I had to summon all the power I could to not go BOFH on him.
--
dman123 forever!
Filtering out the -1s and 0s since 1999.
Each ROM was about 32K, and each floppy did hold about 160-320K. You do the math.
Massive software theft thwarted at local Best Buy
Greenville County, MI (AP)
Joe Shmoe, a fifteen year old Greenville Best Buy sales clerk extraordinaire, is being heralded today as a champion of security. You see, Joe stopped a major software theft this past Tuesday when he noticed something wrong with a shopper's purchase request. "I noticed that the container had been opened.", explains Joe. "It just didn't feel right." Joe's hunch paid off when called in store manager, Mary McDoingShtuff, inspected the contents of the container, now known as a '100 PACK CD-R SPINDLE'. "The normally blank 'disk media'", Mary described, "had been written to and that raised our eyebrows a bit, dontchaknow." It appears that the customer in question, using "blank disk media", had "burned" 100 copies of other software products found throughout the store, placed them back into the spindle container and then proceeded to try and purchase the '100 PACK CD-R SPINDLE' as if it were still 'blank media'. Unnamed sources at Best Buy have told tell us that the customer in question had been spending way too much time in the store's computer software department. "We always thought he was messed up or something, ya' know?", says one source. "We tried to talk to him once. You know...sell him stuff, but he always said 'No'. I thought it was kinda strange when he kept telling us 'No. No. I already have it.'" The unnamed thief will be arraigned today in Greenville County Court. Joe will be awarded the Best Buy Employee of the Month Award and accompanying parking spot near the Best Buy side entrance this Friday.
Blarf.
Slashdot using an Aqua-ish theme poses no threat to Apple in any way; why would Apple sue Slashdot?
Aqua and the Aqua look and feel elements are trademarks of Apple Computer Inc. In order to protect its trademark rights under the Lanham Act, Apple must either sue or license others who use the mark. (This is not true of copyrights or patents.) Licensing and suing are the only options; ignoring enough infringers could convince the courts that you intend to grant an implied license to all comers.
Will I retire or break 10K?
I have a website. It's about Macs.
Is that a violation of DMCA for Slashdot to provide information on how to circumvent copyright protection devices? (I'm half joking)
_______
2B1ASK1
Webb said. "Besides, this is Texas. You never know what he might have been carrying."
now that is reasurring... a Mac user packing heat.
Now if every computer user carried a weapon, you think the RIAA and MPAA would be fucking with us?
:)
this isn't an iPod thing. users used to do this by putting a floppy into the machine to rip their warez, then it was ZIP disks, next its the iPod (just so handy...
The editors just wanted to test drive thier new <A HREF="http://slashdot.org/search.pl?topic=176"> Icon</A><BR><P>
Anyone know if there is a way to quickly reset the ipod? If you get caught borrowing software, it would be nice to be able to quickly and easily delete all the evidence.
I guess some people fuck their mothers. What's your window manager? twm? Gorgeous.
reech bee-yond ur clip-0n
In my own case last week I was visiting my parents, Dad wanted me to burn a bunch of pictures to a CD for him to send out to relatives. Now, he's got an iMac without a burner and I live 6 hours away in another country. I could have sent them online (we've both broadband) but with the rate caps it would have taken many hours to send the 300-some MB of files and the AppleTalk IP I've got running on my wintel boxes is a bit unreliable for big long slow stuff like that.
The solution? We both have Canon PowerShot cameras (S100 & S110), both with their shipped small CompactFlash cards and both with 3rd party 128MB CF's we've each added. Grabbing his CF's and clearing mine out I was able to load everything onto the CF's though the cameras, bring them home and burn to CDs.
Worked fine, the CDs have been sent out and his CFs are in the mail on the way back to him loaded with some mp3s of radio shows I know he and Mom will enjoy listening to. Now I'm looking at investing in one of those small USB "hard drive" devices for storing my emergency software/system tools on. Easier to carry then a CD, hand it off of the keychain and pull it out whenever I've a need for a PGP key, repair utility or favorite bit of software.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
This thing can be used to snarf up to half of a DVD's capacity. That translates into at least 4-6 full-sized applications- and it does it fast. 200Mb in about a minute. USB based HDs are slower and tend to not hold as much. Keychain USB drives don't hold much more than 512Mb and usually are something on the order of 64-128Mb and are SLOW.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
He said "most". I would not say most PCs have firewire cables. I think only Sony has it as a standard on all their machines. I just got a new Dell last month and it doesn't have firewire. It may have USB 2.0, though, I can't remember.
Damn... After just reading the headline, I was hoping people had starting hacking them to add their own software.. (Not necessarily a good idea, but at least entertaining!)
..Jeff Keegan
seven syllables explain TiVo: kee gan dot org slash ti vo
"It's a shame someone has stooped this low to bring bad press to the insanely great iPod."
Isn't this the kind of convienence that computer people have wanted for years? I think it's fantastic. Bragging rights go to Apple. Now I can easily go around to my 250 desktops and load, or re-load, office in minutes.
Bravo Apple!
My local CompUSA store doesn't bother to protect their Macs in any form or fashion. It's great for those of use who like to play around with the OS or search for info on products via the Internet, but maybe not great for them as this case proves. I've thought about screwing with settings and trying to crash their display models.. but I decided that that would just be mean.
Smeghead every day of the week.
Yes, and not one CompUSA employee ever copied any softwares at all.
(end of sarcasm)
Sigh.
This would be a lot more funny if Jack Valenti wasn't selling the Senate Commerce Committee precisely this line of reasoning right now.
- jon
Ganymede, a GPL'ed metadirectory for UNIX
...when people decide it's time to move on from Windows. Do you know how many people switch to Linux when XP came out, just because of the XP Home Edition license stink?
Zodiac Survey
At least he can then see if it was worth stealing. (I know its worth owning)
In fact, the very method that he used (copying the office folder) is a recommended way to distribute Office among a cluster of Macs. Delete the hidden folder with the registration info, copy it to all the Macs, and when its started up for the first time, enter a unique serial number.
I tried every decent and legal way I could think of to resolve the issue w/the business before I rented the chicken suit
Yeah, he really deprived them of income by "stealing" those 1s and 0s.
In the eyes of law, the intent of that young man was to steal property (office XP) of the owner (CompUSA). And By leaving the store with property he had not paid for (shoplifting and grand theft). I am not even getting into the DMCA, this is common law. If you walk out of a retail establishment with services/property/etc without paying, you are a thief. period.
Now, what would be interesting is if the young man had asked permission to copy OfficeXP on to his iPOD (which you could probably sweet talk a CompUSA employee into letting you do) and then CompUSA would be up shit creek with MS for breaking the A)Liceneces and Retail Distribution agreements and B) the DMCA.
"Get them before they get....
That's what the RIAA and MPAA needs Judge Death! All crime is committed by the living, therefore life itself has been declared illegal. Maybe Jack Vallenti can be the first to receive judgement.
development.lombardi.com
I needed to buy a replacement Lexmark printer, because they're cheap and I do a lot of printing in b/w format, and did some shopping at Best Buy and CompUSA for price comparisons.
At one Best Buy, they had a Z52 as a store display, as Z53s had just come out. There were no more Z52s left, and they had yet to receive the Z53s for their stock.
Asking a manager, I got the price reduced to almost half the retail, and still got their crappy service plan thrown in for a year. When they opened it up to check for any products inside in case I was trying to smuggle them out, the cashier removed the ink cartridges and ran them across their demagnetizer.
Why? Because they put anti-theft tags on the cartridges. People actually walk into stores and try to swipe open inkjet cartridges which have been used quite a bit as demonstration products, and are already open.
So they're aware that people try to steal innards, but as to how far they can go, who knows? RAM may not be protectable in these methods, but other items could be.
Human nature is the same everywhere; the modes only are different. -- Earl of Chesterfield
I LOVE IT...I hope more people will take this brave young mans que, and screw the evil empire as much as possible. BILL GATES CAN KISS MY ASS! w00t w00t!
_______
Death wish, n.:
The only wish that always comes true, whether or not one wishes it t
This is the first I've heard of this use - obviously illegal. But think of the possibilities for data transmission for these things. They're 5G floppies that play music. If all computer usage was as easy as the article makes it out to be, the world would be a better place.
Last post!
I mean to be forced to get his warez at CompUsa instead of getting a copy from a friend... He probably has no internet connection either since he could have easily downloaded office if he had. This is a very sad story.
True warriors use the Klingon Google
Here's a suggestion: Physically block the fucking I/O ports on display models. Put a locked metal bar across them or something. Cheap, quick, and effective.
It's already done. I saw the I/O ports on some computers at Fry's Electronic blocked with chewing gum. Obviously, Fry's is more clued than CompUSA.
Although Apple is doing better than it was 6 or 7 years ago, it is still not close to being what it once was. If Mac people are going to pirate software, they are just helping to defeat the company they love so much by increasing software prices making Macs more expensive than they already are. I mean geeze, they really are expensive.
As for stealing the software, I know Wal-Mart used to disable to floppy drives to keep people from copying (and installing) software. Makes you wonder though, with a lot of these places having PC with a high speed net connection, if people aren't dumping stuff to an ftp site. Who needs and iPod?
"Da ist ein Technölüst in mein Unterpanten!"
I am just bitter that the articles I submit never get posted. Actually, they usually DO get posted, just a day after my submission has been rejected.
Lasers Controlled Games!
If I started calling you a thief I seem to think you might get a little pissed off.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Definently magnets.
Buy an Apple iPod and get Office OS-X Free.
Waaaaaaaiiiit a sec. Let's just add things up.
This happened in Texas. A teenager pulled it off. Now, what biiiig company in Texas do we know that makes computers and has a teenager for their spokesperson?
It just makes you go, "Duuude!"
Mike
XML causes global warming.
Not just keychains.
I recently bought an IBM microdrive for a digital camera. The microdrive came with a pcmcia adapter. It lets you plug it into an laptop pcmcia port, and the drive instantly pops up as a 1gig disk. Copy to and from it just like any normal drive, at the speed of the pcmcia slot. (about 5MB/sec? Equivalent to firewire speeds.)
The microdrive and pcmcia adapter will easily fit in my wallet. Or loose in a back pocket. In my daytimer. For smokers, in a pack of cigarettes.
There are lots of ways to do removable large-capacity small-form-factor storage that companies don't look for.
This gets to a matter of access control, not searches. You don't necessarily search every visitor. You have visitors be accompanied by a company representative, if possible.
If that's not possible... The easier way to handle this is to have employees screenlock terminals any time they aren't in active use. No, this doesn't help for a store display demo machine, but it can work in office environments.
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is... Oops. Frank, I've got your sig again! Where's mine?
...Block access to all I/O ports on a computer.
Honestly, this is as stupid as the Pentagon adding 802.11b wireless to its computers and network. Just don't allow people to have any kind of access to copying the data from the computer, and the easiest way to do that is to lock down the USB / Firewire ports on the computer. It doesn't stop anyone from being able to "preview" the computer, but the company doesn't have to worry about kids "breaking in and taking."
Same thing would go with the CD-RW or whatnot. I'm sure the clueless employee would have a better idea of what was going on if the kid came along and plopped a CD-R into the Apple's burner and then burned the software...maybe. Why not just have plastic see-through cases for each of the computers people have on display.
I was at CompUSA, playing around with the shell. I was just trying the usal, you know like rm -rf /, wich didn't work. But then the Mac guy came over and told me I coudn't use the shell "becuse I might break somthing"! Isn't the point of *NIX to be so that normall users can't do anything bad? By the way, it wasnt root.
Do you know how many people switch to Linux when XP came out, just because of the XP Home Edition license stink?
Dozens? Perhaps hundreds?
Compared to the number of computers that have already shipped with XP pre-installed, I doubt anyone in Redmond is sweating it.
but if you steal the Ferrari then the owner is now missing a car
I knew that that statement would be misunderstood. It was addressing his specific statement:
He's a kid, he never would have bought Office anyways
The point being that the fact that he would not have bought the product anyway is not a reason why the action is "ok". I realize what his point was. We're starting to tread into the very sticky ground of exactly how "harmful" software piracy is, an area best avoided me thinks.
Question for thought:
If you found out that someone was sneaking into your house and watching your tv and checking out your personal belongings, not taking anything, not eating anything and maybe even being kind enough to put your tv back on the channel you had it on. Would you consider this a crime? Would you be upset? No victim here, right? Or is there?
I admit I did something similar a few months back...
:P
One of the CompUSAs in NYC was actually on the ball enough to set up a half-assed "Mac Internet Cafe" in their store, with lots of Macs to play with, some of which even had net access through Airport.
It's not common knowledge, but all new Macs these days come with a collection (legal) MP3 files, for showing off iTunes and such. All the networked cafe Macs had had these deleted, except one of the iBooks.
So of course I waited until I could grab it, logged into my iDisk, and started uploading. I could only get a few since the iDisk is limited to 20MB and was going pretty slowly, but when I got home they were waiting for me, on Apple's own servers too
iPod- pah! Back in my day, when we wanted to steal software from the Apple Store, we didn't buy a $400 piece of equipment to steal a $500 piece of software. We went in with CD-RWs and burned $3000 worth of software over a period of about an hour and a half. If you want to test your bravery and/or your espionage skills, go in and try that!
By the way, when an employee asks why you just put a CD in the drive, tell him that you're installing Office. They like that...
Lack of eloquence does not denote lack of intelligence, though they often coincide.
I don't think that this could be considered stealing, legally, because CompUSA was not deprived of anything. What would this crime be, if there is even a law for this? DMCA? Mischief? I think he'd be charged the same as a remote hacker would, methinks...
How about this? Since OS X runs on top of a unix file system, just create a few choice device files in the directories, like ones that have the same major/minor numbers as /dev/random so that firewire device fills up real fast, or make a few fifo files so the copy program hangs soon as it hits it (since there is no process pumping info on the other side of the pipe).
So infest the demo PCs with viruses, if the downloaders haven't done it to themselves already.
Do something to make sure the store pc doesn't crash.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
If I'd caught the kid doing that, I'd probably have offered to stand guard for him while he finished the job. Maybe even bought him a mouse pad with a Jolly Roger on it.
That a CompUSA employee was "on the ball" enough to realize what the kid was doing. From the blank "deer-in-headlights" stares I usually get when I ask questions, I'm amazed that he was caught. I can still remember using Zip disks on the display PCs in my younger days. Kinda makes you want to run out and get an iPod.
-Goran
Carpe Scrotum - The only way to deal with your competition.
Newbies. We were *grateful* to be able to run stacks of cards through the reader, after wlaking 47 miles through the snow, each way.
That was a *huge* improvement over popping the lid to look at core planes, then memorizing the pattern, which we'd go home and enter on rocker switches (except for the rich kids; they're families had toggle switches!)
hawk
Doffus sales droid came up to offer me an extended warranty and I told him that I just wanted a copy of that movie. He said go ahead.
Popped in a zip disk and copied away. Too bad there wasn't much else to copy...
The funny thing to me was that I heard that exact joke a week ago, in a Comp USA store, from a salesperson there (in the mac section).
I think the customer was asking questions about scanners.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
this is hilarious. great use for an i-pod ;) it was only a metter of time. funny, but sad that anyone can do it, of course anyone can steal anything, so why should this be special? the same thing can be done going into a store and bringing a blank cd with you
they figured having to use Office XP Was punishment enough
why would a billionaie be a crackhead - the man can afford the finest wines known to humanity without a second thought. Shit, he's got a gulfstream V hasn't he? 500knots at 50000ft? I wish I was rich :-[
That was classic intercourse!
Definition of warez heaven: Imagine the iPOD with broad band wireless. Then walk into a CompUSA store... *sigh*
Wow, things change, and things stay the same.
:-)
I suppose I can admit this publicly, since the statute of limitations has run out now...
Way back in something like 1983, I worked for a computer store that sold PC compatibles (a "Corona" if anyone remembers those!), and we had gotten some ethernet cards to try out some simple networking. Only problem was that all our machines ran MS-DOS 1.25, and the networking drivers required the new device structure in version 2.0. We ordered the new system, but I didn't want to wait the 2-3 weeks to receive it before playing with the new equipment, so I made a trip to the local IBM store (yes kids, IBM set up entire stores for selling the IBM PC) with a disk. I told the guys in the store that I had an IBM PC, and was having problem with this disk -- could I try it out on their computer? Hmmmm... sure seems to read fine here -- wonder it it will re-format? Wow, that worked too. Can I write to it (...copies some file...). Well, I guess this disk is ok, and I need to figure out what's wrong with my system. Thanks guys, I'll get back to you!
And then I had a floppy with PC-DOS 2.0 on it (which worked fine on our non-IBM machines until the version we bought came in).
Sigh... maybe I'm just old, but I think I'd have a hard time having the audacity of doing the same thing today...
I installed MS Office on my iPod two weeks and Excel still doesn't work. No matter how many times I jog the dial. But I've got to admit, the talking paper clip really does have a beautiful singing voice.
then again, it beat the 100k transfer over cat net--transmission easy, but reception is tough--sometimes "Meow" and "WROWRR" are hard to distinguish . .
hawk, still not correcting this stack of papers
Now, maybe it was just me, but did that article imply that MS pioneered drag and drop?
:)
I also noticed this at my local user group a few years back. Microsoft came to demo and hand out copies of IE. When it came to the installation, the guy said something like
"Now, Microsoft's new drag and drop technology makes it very easy to install IE"
Maybe my definition of pioneer is wrong, but does microsoft qualify for it? I myself have been making "drag and drop" installable applications since the days of Supercard
-- If it aint broke, fix it till it is. --
I've never owned a Mac, but reading the Wired article just made me think that the iPod and OS X that much cooler because of all this.
There are lots of computer parts stores in the Seattle area. In Bellevue, there are at least 4 within a couple blocks of each other. From Seattle, take I-90 East to 148th Ave ?? (the exit is labeled Bellevue Community College), then continue North and turn left on NE20th (Northup Way). For you EE majors, go to VETco further west on NE20th.
Life is a psychology experiment gone awry.
The idea that anyone with the mind to use a $400 iPod to steal a program that you can download overnight from any online source is so much BS that my shoes are getting sticky. Maybe you could download it overnight, but what about the rest of the world that has nothing better than a 56k modem? huh? how about that?
...But they might notice If you pull an 8lb Lacie HD out of your pocket and start looking round for a free power outlet...
This kind of thing has been going on forever. People used to do it with floppies, and I'd be surprised if it hasn't been done with plain USB or Firewire drives before this.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
or the fact that even broadband would be slow compared to the disk to disk transfer.
This story is utterly credible. The conversation I had with a Best Buy employee where he was trying to convince me that Windows ME and Windows 2K were the same thing is all too typical of your standard computer store employee. And it doesnt take a l33t hacker to figure out how to copy files.
inkly
Bringing you the freshest iso's since we changed our name from "SoftWarehouse."
I worked in the past for that lame (now extinct) company formerly known as Egghead. What a crock of crap that place was. A hole-in-the-wall strip mall store that sold krap at ridiculous prices. But it was cool though, you could "try" out any piece of software you want and get discounts. A dirty-little secret: they re-shrank opened and returned products. No wonder they went out of business.
Still, I wonder how in the world is Software, Etc. still in operation? Prices > all, stores == suck.
BestBuy, don't get me started....
It's all about the buy.com price mistake of the day, hehe.
The biggest trick the devil pulled was letting lawyers become politicians so they can write the laws.
Hands down, that's the dumbest thing I've heard today. Definition of steal is "to take the property of another wrongfully". He took software he didn't pay for. The fact that it was copy makes no difference.
Go into your favorite poster store. Ask them if you can borrow five of their posters so that you can scan them and print them out on a high quality printer because you really like how they look but you don't really feel like paying them for it.
The look they'll give is the look many people will be giving you for the rest of your life. Get used to it.
inkly
Slashdot has sections, like apple.slashdot and bsd.slashdot, much like a newspaper has Sports and Fine Arts sections. I consider http://slashdot.org to be the "front page." I thought that was obvious, sorry.
Funny how if your only tool is a hammer, all your problems start to look like nails.
Cave, wreck, and deep diver.
Steven?
When the iPod came out, everyone complained about its high price. Now we find out it can pay for itself in less than a minute! What a deal!
>And while the iPod has a built-in anti-piracy mechanism that prevents music files from being copied from one computer to another
When will this rumor end? There is no such thing. It's just not automatic; you can drag-n-drop the music into the iPod.
And just what would he do with "Office XP" on a Mac?
Steve M
Of course that had to be thrown in there...
"Besides, this is Texas. You never know what he might have been carrying."
How predictable.. Make us all seem like criminals... phfft
---- Booth was a patriot ----
i would have to agree the story seems fake. sort of has a contrived feel to it.
Applications are actually folders disgusied as double-clickable application icons.
.app on OS X (think that this was present in NextStep as well)
So you can store anything you would like within the (hidden) folder hierarchy that is the
If you wanna see inside the folder, right-click (or cmd-click) and choose view contents. I'm sure that view contents is also in the menus as is usual for context menu items (nice to have but not neccessary).
MS breaks the design metaphor by hiding SN away in other areas for their attempt at copy protection.
Cheers
James
And when I take a picture of the poster inside the store and the clerk says to me "hey, you have to buy that!" I'll be doing exactly what that kid should do if he got held up at the door, I'd tell em to go fuck themselves.
How we know is more important than what we know.
...this kid couldn't afford the hundreds of dollars to buy OFFICE legit? Perhaps he really wanted/needed to write an essay for school? It isn't as if he was stealing a game?
I say good one for using his initiative!
* * Always question "the National Interest" - 9 times out of 10 it is a cover for evil
Be thankful he gave you accurate and normally helpful advice. Had you actually been intending to BUY M$ Office he would have saved you some serious dollars. Had you explained your reasons for wanting the higher price you would have probably the info you needed.
:)
Sounds like somebody that is at least trying to help the customer, just needs to improve the 'ol people skills. Probably a geek type.
Democrat delenda est
and that's all I have to say
Uhhh yeah ... no one ever went to Kinko's and used a zip? You can still get all yer Pee Cee and mac Filez that wasy if you are stuck on 56k and don't want to wait for Hotline.... Gimme a break.
Pablo Piccaso was never called an asshole. Not like you.
Over winter break from school I tried to apply for a temporary job at a nearby Best Buy. Anyone wanting to apply is required to register with an automated phone interview (recorded question, answer 0 or 1, and response time is monitored).
Now Best Buy salespeople are usually decidedly more knowledgeable than their Compusa rivals, but nonetheless the phone questionaire is probably relevant to such stores in general. The interview went something like this (seriously):
1) If you saw another employee steal somehthing from the store, would you tell the manager?
2) Is stealing something worth just $5 still wrong?
3) Would you ever come to work drunk or high?
4) Is stealing something worth just $5 still wrong?
5) Would you steal something from us while on the job?
6) Would you ever arrive drunk or high and steal something from us while on the job?
...
Get the idea? So two things could have happened:
1) Compusa management sighs; thankfully the employee did not understand the opportunity to steal when it presented itself.
2) At closing, the "clueless" employee repeats the action of downloading Office onto an iPod, and walks away happily... and possibly drunk or high as well.
Future iPods will bear two stickers: the "Don't Steal Music" one and a blank one covering up the word "Music".
/. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
I wanted to see if I could easily do this with a MultiMedia card. They're the postage-stamp sized Flash memory cards.
Anyhow, I walked into Business Depot, stuck this thing into a Palm, and copied away. There wasn't really anything worthwhile to copy on the demo at the store, I mainly wanted to see if it would read my digital camera images. Point is, MMCs are yet another good strategy for this (but not office, it's too big!)
I can see it now, check all bags *and* portable hard drives at the door with security. can't wait
it's pretty interesting to note that if you rename the application group after copying it, and password lock it on your iPod, that even if you are caught, they won't be able to immediately prove it without your password. What happens if you rename it to "Personal Files" do they have the right to look into that? It's certainly a legal nightmare.
The kid didn't take a picture, he took an exact duplicate.
But hey, if you are so sure it isn't a crime, go do what this kid did. Then go ask to see the store manager, and tell him to go fuck himself. We'll see how far you get there.
Or hey I know, why don't you start burning CD's of all your favorite software and charge people for it? According to you, that wouldn't be theft either.
Or wait, I know - whenever you got a job, how about your employer just forgets to pay you. I mean, you aren't *out* anything. They didn't take anything from you. Can't be illegal, right?
Your rationale is so off I could do this all day. The kid entered a store and left with an expensive product he didn't pay for. Be it software, music, cars or posters - that's theft, and the kid was a thief.
But believe what you want. If you really act on what you believe (which I highly doubt you ever would have the courage to do and admit to it publicly), just do me a fave and post somewhere a pic of the look your lawyer gives you. I'm sure it will be priceless.
What i suppose is the solution?
MS, oops... The "BSA" should hire a squad of "Software Protection Services" for each inCOMPitentUSA, Eggheads, Soft-w4r3z Etc. in the USA thereby eliminating major "intellectual" piracy, and with the BILLIONS AND BILLIONS saved from that alone, should then asssemble an army of disgruntled Redmondians (i suppose thats what their called) and lynch the entire city of Cupertino, CA for contributory copyright infringement.
I sig, therefore I was.
Bleh, thats the rich end of seattle. I am on the other side. :P
:)
Hmm, Map Quest gives me a ~30 minute trip time, hardly acceptable for a run out to the store for a printer cable. -_-
BTW: Addium to previous message posted, redmon is over 30 minutes as the brick drives.
Need help treating your acne? Come here!
Man, you just dont get it do ya? I can do each and every one of those things that you have just said and in none of those cases would I be charged with theft. Not one! Try to get with the program sunshine. When they pass laws that say you can be burned at the stake for copyright violation it's idiots like you who will be standing there saying "yer, well they're thieves right?" Excluding the very dubious NET act, copyright violation isn't even a criminal matter, it's civil. So yes, there is a big god damn difference between copying and theft and if you can see that then I guess Jack Valenti's job is done. Sheesh.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Do you know what the difference between a car salesman and a computer salesman is?
The car salesman knows when he's lying to you.
Just shows that the people who run the CompUSA have *no* clue about what they put up for the customer's to play around with. I don't know what the "out of the box" security is for OSX is, but I know that the Terminal app is there with all the tools just waiting to be used.
:-)
Hell, last week, I went to the closest CompUSA (about 45 mi) just to browse, but I knew that I wouldn't be home to check email for several hours. Well, there's a TiBook with ssh just sitting there...
Hmmm, how about finding out if telnetd or rlogind is turned on and grabbing the IP address...
.. has a price tag?
Why should how much you get paid change what is right, and what is wrong? That sux!
/me puts on his etymologist hat...
Insanely great? Goddamn. They're all Stevebots.
This is the first use of that word that I've seen in the wild -- I'd just like to expand on that a little...
Microsoft fans == Billbots
(although I think 'astroturf' == 'fake grassroots campaign' was probably my favourite new word from their actions)
Free software fanatics == Gnubots
Sun fans, Java pushers, etc. == Scottbots
Is this, perhaps, based on the perjorative use of 'Slashbots' that has been known to be used here previously?
deus does not exist but if he does
Every day you are going to tell store managers to go fuck themselves? With those social skills, you'll go far.
... that you just admitted to software piracy on an public web forum or that you think it's OK for employers not to pay their employees. You don't work for Enron do you?
There's differences between fraud and theft, but I'm willing to call both involved thieves.
But to be honest, I'm not sure which is more fascinating
Next time you are burning your CD of your fave programs, remember to email the authors and tell them. I'm sure,since there is nothing wrong with it at all, that they will welcome the greeting. Nobody is getting hurt right? They're only copies. They'd have nothing to get upset with.
I like my program fine, thanks.
You know: Dude! You're getting a Dell!
Compusa Customer NoService: "What's a virus canner?"
I'm the Devil the Windows users warned you about.
I was browsing www.apple.com.au and noticed the change of one of their disclaimers to: "Don't steal CONTENT." (See here -- bottom of page).
In fact, it can operate as an external drive, booting up a machine and running applications.
I didn't think you could run software or an OS on it...?
Any Mac can easily be configured to allow changes only by administrators
Wouldn't this only stop you from making changes to the host machine... you could still copy files _from_ it.
a locked dummy file in an application's package will protect the entire file from being copied without a password.
You can copy files you do not own to a location that you do own (iPod). Only you would not be able to modify or remove the original.
I'm pretty sure these are not facts, flame me if I am wrong.
When the PowerMac came out a few years ago I went to my local CompUSA to take a look. It was only the second day. The breakthru feature was the "easy open" case. The demo machine had a lock on it (where the case opened). I asked why. The salesman related that in several stores nationwide people had "easy opened" the case and walked off with the RAM!
Oh, and I'd like to mention in this anonymous forum that I steal bandwidth from the Apple store all the time.
Clue time: When you post using your ID, which matches your DOMAIN NAME of all things, which is displayed right next to your post, then you are no longer anonymous. Ever heard of "whois", Mr. Matthew Miller?
Want your address and phone number as well?
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
No, I don't know. What the hell are you talking about? Is this some sort of /. inside joke I've missed out on?
> Ironically, Microsoft has pioneered an easy-to-use installation scheme on the Mac > that makes its Mac software relatively easy to pilfer. The company is known for its > sometimes heavy-handed, anti-piracy mechanisms in such products as Windows XP. Microsoft pioneered this? When I used to drag install stuff on a Mac Plus I had no idea that Microsoft hadn't yet invented that 'technology'. It must have been the drugs man....
I did no such thing and perhaps you should add slander to your list of things-to-call-theft. You are a moron. Grow up.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Yes, my misread. Apologies. But, I am curious. If you weren't going to call this kid a thief, what would it be?
Call him what he is, a copyright violator. If Microsoft wants to sue the kid for violating their copyright then that's their business but it is hardly anyone else's duty or responsibility to report him to Microsoft (unless you're a shareholder I can hardly see why you would even be interested). Trueth is, they're not going to sue him and, even if they did, they would probably lose or be fined for bringing a frivilous lawsuit (in states that care about wasting the court's time).
How we know is more important than what we know.
This reminds me of the early 1980's when I went to a computer store in a mall (computer stores were different then)...
/. worthy - just like walking into a store with a portable hard drive.
...in this place you could sit down and play around with the computer you were thinking about buying. I already owned a Vic-20, and I came in with a cassette and just casully sat there saving all those 3 K programs to cassettes. When I was done, I popped my cassette in my pocket and walked out.
The irony of the story is that the specs have changed, the dollar value has changed, but my 'cassette story' is not
The only good that can come of the amount of attention this story has received is that it educates a lot of people who would otherwise have been unaware just what a useful and versatile piece of hardware the iPod is.
Heh... that's pretty funny and pathetic at the same time!
But really, the core problem is how they're going about "finding out" whatever "it" is that they don't know. Researching the problem should mean going to an outside source. Perhaps it's the Internet... or perhaps it's a matter of calling up the manufacturer's support line and getting more information.
Sure, you can't always provide an immediate answer to the customer - but you don't have to. If the customer knows his/her options (AKA. I'm sorry sir, but nobody here has that information. I can put in a call to the manufacturer for you, and have someone get back with you - but we probably won't have an answer until 48 hours from now.), he/she can choose to say "Yes, I really need to know this. Please have someone get back with me." Or more likely, "Oh, don't worry about it then. I was just curious."
OK, after 3 years I have to confess. I was at a CompUSA in another city back when they had in-store demos of satellite net access. The demo machine was towards the back of the store, and it was almost closing time, so I downloaded some porn (for bandwidth testing purposes, of course ;] ). After finding a rather nice picture of a pair of amorous young ladies, I set it as the desktop, minimized all windows, engaged the screen saver, and headed for the door. Sure, it's goofy and tasteless, but for me this was a major act of insurrection.
Copying in-store software isn't new. I knew a kid back in the early 80's that brought a blank 5.25" disk and a copy of Disk Nibbler into a K-Mart and copied a game (Beach Head, I believe) straight off of the Commodore 64 they had set up as a display unit. The employees had no clue what he was doing.
I never nicked software that way, but I did like to bang out a quick program on C-64s that would disable the Run/Stop-Restore key combination (equivalent to ctrl-alt-del) and make the screen flash silly messages like "Coleco ADAM Sucks!"
Damn I'm getting old.
-Cybrex
Boundless Expansion, Self-Transformation, Dynamic Optimism, Intelligent Technology, Spontaneous Order- BEST DO IT SO!
The iPod is the beginning of a new computer age. What stops Apple from morphing the iPod to the new generation PDA/Desktop? Imagine this...you take the iPod's 5Gig hard drive, slap a few hundred mbs of memory on it, create a 16mb Flash ROM area, put a color LCD display, then put either a USB or Firewire port on it....bingo. you have the next generation pda/desktop. now if you need to get to a file quickly or look up a number etc you can use the LCD to retreive it. But if you are needing to do some really serious work then you can go to any machine with firewire or usb and there you go....your new desktop. you could do the same with laptops....now that is an insanely great iPod
Oh. I don't watch TV. That explains it.
ok wise ass, reply here when apple lawyers complain to slashdot and make them get rid of the theme.
(that is, you won't have to bother replying cause it aint gonna happen)
__
Choose mnemonic identifiers. If you can't remember what mnemonic means, you've got a problem. - Larry Wall