Slashdot Mirror
Apple Accuses Worker of Leaks
booboothefoo writes "A former Apple Computer contract worker in Sacramento has been slapped with both civil and criminal charges for allegedly
leaking Apple's trade secrets on the Internet." I think the real message here is "don't trust contractors." Or maybe "rumor sites are evil." Or maybe "Setec Astronomy."
Props on the 'Sneakers' reference. What a great movie. I'm pretty sure I've got it in my DVD library - I'll have to dig it up and watch it tonight.
Unless, of course, scissors can't cut rock...
I mean, the guy posted schematics, for god's sake. Did he honestly think they wouldn't figure out where those came from?
When the pics were posted, most people said "No way!" and came up with a bunch of reasons for the pics to be fake... then it turned out they were real. I doubt there were any lost sales from the knowledge, as everyone was expecting PowerMac updates of some type anyway.
"The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved." -- John Ashcroft
why can't employees (especially so-called "professionals") have some ethics and do simple things like NOT STEAL FROM THEIR EMPLOYERS?
I think the real message here is "don't trust contractors." Or maybe "rumor sites are evil." Or maybe "Setec Astronomy."
That's funny, the message I took away from it was that if you violate a contract, the company has the right to, and often will, sue you.
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?
don't leak trade secrets. Duh.
free ipod? yeah.
"Setec Astronomy" = anagram("Too Many Secrets");
Employee signs NDA. Employee breaks NDA. Employer gets mad. This is news?
Illegitimi non Carborundum.
Apple really tries to control any media exposure to its products with an iron fist.. I'm still kinda wondering if Time Canada (I think that's who leaked the new iMac) every felt Steve's wrath.
If guns kill people, then CmdrTaco's keyboard misspells words.
Think of HOW MANY people see Apple's products before they hit the stores/web
What kind of evidence do they have?
Obvious troll, but I'll bite I guess.
When you sign a non disclosure agreement and then disclose information covered by the agreement you have violeted a contract. At that point any company will follow through with legal action against you. Not just Apple or Microsoft. Any company that has trade secrets is going to do what they can to protect them. This isn't apple holding on to brainspace. This is about someone violating the terms of a contract and Apple following through on enforcing it.
It's pretty simple. He screwed up. (And he got caught)
He shouldn't have done it. There's no defense for it. Apple might be going at it heavy-handed, but only a fool would have tried this knowing that Apple (Jobs) will hurt -vendors- over leaks. He bitch-slapped ATI over leaking, so he's going to -hurt- some guy that leaks a photo or sketch of a new machine design.
Yes, it's heavy-handed. Yes, it made me wince. But all in all, the guy did fuck up.
My own pointless vanity vintage computing page
On a side note, it's crap like this that really screws it for other contractors. When I was a contractor at HP, we had such a good working relationship with the people there that we were allowed to use the basketball court. None of the other contractors were.
I always speculated that Apple intentionally created and fueled all these rumor sites..... it does make sense. It's all sorts of free marketing and when a product does finnally see the streets there is enough buzz to attract major-media attention and get them some serious publicity.
Why would they want to jeopardize that?
My guess is that this guy seriously pissed some people off by doing other things.... like..... mocking the interface at the company xmas party.
Contract workers being treated like shit?! when did this happen? good lord. breaking news to be sure.
I have been asked to sign a few NDAs, I just said "I'm taking them home to review them." I then never spoke of them again, and was never asked for them back.
It's not as if they're suing a rumors site or going after someone saying bad things about them. This guy signed an NDA -- a real live legal contract, you'll note, not some click-though thing of arguable validity, or something that can only be enforced by twisting the DMCA in strange ways. He then proceeded to blatantly violate that NDA. This lawsuit is completely legitimate -- any company in Apple's position would do the same.
This space unintentionally left unblank.
Or maybe the real message is, on a slow news day we have nothing better to post.
Really, in Lorne Greene/Marc Anderssen Internet years/time, how old is this news?
How controversial is it? If it weren't Apple but somebody as supremely unsexy like say, Unisys, would it even be news?
This is neither news - it's past it's prime, nor is it something "that matters".
"oohhh... I didn't know Schopenhauer was a philosopher!"
Information is immuteable, if someone needs to know, someone else needs to know too.
I donno think that word means what you think it means.
"Immutable" means not changeable, or "carved in stone." The past is immutable. CDROMs are immutable. Stone tablets are immutable.
Given that definition, your comment makes basically no sense, so I have to think that you meant something else.
I write in my journal
Apple has a history of protecting its goods and creativity and for that reason, I somehow doubt if it mattered whether or not the person leaking the trade secret in this case was a contractor.
My understanding is that if Apple does not actively protect and police its trade secrets, then its innovative goods and ideas no longer receive protection as trade secrets. No evidence is required to show that Apple is an innovative company --- if it did not receive protection for its innovation, then it may have little reason to create future innovative products.
Considering the pervasiveness of companies to recruit employees from other companies by using 'moles,' and Microsoft's history of heavy-handed tactics, perhaps Apple has another reason to protection its innovation: Microsoft.
Do you truly believe Microsoft has never placed a 'mole' or has an Apple employee it relies on for information? For also this reason, Apple has no choice but to pursue trade secrets claims in court against everyone it can, or it will entirely lose protection.
Pretty much, Apple is all about innovation and cutting-edge products. Take that away, and all I see is a company making an OS, keyboards, and mice.
they do this because if they do not aggressively pursue enforcement of certain Intellectual Property (IP) laws, a court may find one day that their brand has been allowed to erode. In other words, their TM will become watered down from a legal standpoint, so its stronger for them to sue everyone they can, than to let most of it slide and then lose when it counts.
this is what happens to a company after they sue m$ and win the battle, while losing the war.
"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." - Rahm Emanuel
Is this Negative Apple Press Week on Slashdot? First there was the whole NTT thing where commenters refused to admit that NTT was actually using Apple technology. Then there was the stupid GNU Darwin post, and now this.
When did the e-mail announcing NAPWeek go out? I missed it.
mbbac
right on, I worked as a contractor for a while and it's bad enough knowing that you can be ejected at any time without this kind of attitude going around.
You may as well say, don't trust ANYONE.
/rant off
The only real difference between a contractor and an employee is how you get your paycheck. To say that someone is going to be more honest just because they are an actual employee is assinine.
I'm a contractor and I take my job very seriously, there is no way in hell I would ever betray the confidence of any of my employers. Not just because it would tarnish my reputation with future employers but also because I am that kind of person.
The company I am contracted to right now is very contractor friendly, I've seen some that are not. But the whole attitude that contractors are somehow less deserving of trust than regular employees really irritates me.
Now this guy clearly broke his contract. But it would not have made a difference if he were a regular employee or a contractor, the responsibility for trust is in the individual, not in how his contract of employment is written. I'm sure regular employees at Apple have the same moral obligations to keep a lid on trade secrets.
As a contractor, you have to be an idiot to leak stuff: who'll hire you in the future, especially if you're a Macintosh specialist...
Dude, I think I can see my house from here.
I am a contractor for Volt, at Apple, in Sacramento, this guy did violate the NDA, and if you have ever worked here, thats a big big no-no, you don't leak confidential information, there are markers everywhere, he didn't do it on accident, and he should get in trouble for it, I can't comment on how big a fight they are putting against him, but he did mess up, and thats the consequences.
and to the guy talking about 'ripping off BSD code and selling it for Millions' Apple GIVES AWAY DARWIN under open source guidelines, and it works on PC's and on Mac's, they only 'sell' the Quartz interface (the one WE developed), quit bitching, they give it away, they aren't ripping it off, its a superior product, its free, they used it, this is what SHOULD be happening, Microsoft is a different story.
Maybe the real story here is how people feel a moral and emotional "ownership" of Apple that has them react with revulsion when Apple behaves like the for-profit company that they are!
Hm. In light of the absolutely insane emotional reactions that Slashdotters have to Microsoft, HP, and Red Hat, I'd say that that's not a particularly interesting story either.
If there's one at all, it's that Slashdotters, as a group, tend to take everything way too seriously.
I write in my journal
Yeah, what kind of trade secrets did he leak? "Apple's going to release a new computer, that's going to be shiny and brightly colored and win lots of design awards." I bet nobody saw that one coming! :)
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
This is why I do my own plumbing. Anyone who puts their toilet main in the hands of other is surley misguided at best.
So... the guy broke an NDA concerning the DNA and now faces a DA because he didn't CYA!
----- I want my LART.
Props to the Princess Bride reference.
Two of my favorite movies referenced in one article, everythings comin' up Millhouse!
out of the guy is what it sounds like according to the article
:)
"This suit against Lopez helps show the company vigorously tries to protect its secrets, Mireles said. In addition, such suits could serve to deter other potential leakers, he said"
Apple has taken legal action against coworkers that leaked info in the past (also mentioned in the article) but I think the real reason why they got upset is
"Steve uses Macworld and other appearances more effectively than any other (technology) leader," Bajarin said. "In that context they want to have that surprise element," because posting those secrets early dilutes the impact, Bajarin said."
of course the lawyers will argue:
"Innovation is in Apple's DNA, so the protection of trade secrets is crucial to our success. Our policy is to take legal actions where necessary to preserve the confidentiality of our intellectual property," Apple said in a prepared statement.
Just because Apple made a great new OS - doesn't mean they're avid sourceforge users
Ave Molech Setting
I don't agree with Apple going after rumor sites, rumors are rumors. However, when an employee, a contractor, or a vendor violates thier contract then said company has the right to go after them. This article is about a contractor under such an agreement providing the rumor sites with "Trade Secrets." Your comment is irrelevant to the topic at hand unless you provide the background information you are referring to. Also, comparing Apples actions to those of the PRC is just as much extremism as those that defend Apples every move regardless of it being good or bad.
Any time. If I'd been able to find a way to work an "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" reference in there, too, I would have.
I write in my journal
Information might want to be free. But I think people respect that a promise is a promise, and if you say you are going to keep a secret then break that promise you deserve whatever you get.
Just because information WANTS to be free, doesn't mean it SHOULD be freed at first opportunity. That (overused) quote really means "once information is out it is gone", not that sometimes it's not possible to keep information secret for some time, just that it is hard.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
There's a difference between telling a friend over a beer that the new Mac will use the Blort chip, and publishing schematics. One is just being loose-lipped, and other is deliberate (and really stupid).
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
The People's Republic of China
Oooh, it's the People's Republic of China defense! Wow, you must be right, then!
Seriously, Apple is far from the only company with a supposed "history" of going after people to maintain what they call "trade secrets." Trade secrets are probably the most underappreciated intellectual property protection device to those who really don't spend their time thinking about it. Does anyone here know the formula for Coke? Kentucky Fried Chicken's Original Recipe Chicken? The secret sauce on the steak frites at La Relais d'Entrecote in Paris?
We talk about patents all the time on Slashdot, but for every patent a company pursues, there are loads of trade secrets they are protecting through secrecy. It has real advantages to patents, becuase unlike a patent you don't have to reveal a trade secret to get legal protection for it---you just have to be diligent about keeping it a secret. On the other hand, if someone obtains information about a trade secret through legal means---usually as a result of negligence on the part of the company or its employees---then that protection is gone. Legal trade secret protection actually requires that a company such as Apple be reasonably diligent about plugging leaks.
I for one find this extremely disgusting. I understand that businesses need to protect their trade secrets, but I think this crosses the line.
Lemme see. The guy signed an agreement, took the confidental information, and purposely violated the agreement and posted the information on the internet. Oh, yeah, there was a line crossed, but news flash - it wasn't Apple.
If I had a company, and one of my employees breaks any NDA agreements like that, I'm gonna fire him first and turn him over the authorities second.
I don't care what sort of Stallmanistic view of society you have, you cannot possibly believe that somebody should be allowed to sign an agreement, and then break it because they feel that "information should be free".
When you sign your name to an agreement - thats it. You can't just go back later and say "oh, I was kidding". I hope when they throw the book at this guy, it hits him square in the forehead.
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"My understanding is that if Apple does not actively protect and police its trade secrets, then its innovative goods and ideas no longer receive protection as trade secrets"
Weeeeeeeeeeell, yeah, that's kind of the point. A trade secret is protected because it's, a secret. Once someone tells it then it's, ummmmmmm, not a secret anymore.
That's the only protection a trade secret has. There's no secret registry of secrets where you can secretly tell someone your secrets to keep them secret. That would kinda go against the "secret" part of trade secret.
Once a secret isn't secret anymore suing anyone is completely pointless in terms of protection of that secret, in fact, Slashdot story as case in point, suing kinda "spreads the news around."
You're confusing trade secrets with trade*marks*, which are the only IP a business is required by law to actively protect in order to maintain their IP.
KFG
Immutable CD-ROMS? Not mine. They change in a real cool way when I expose them to a propane torch.
A secret formula, method, or device that gives one an advantage over competitors.
So how would releasing specs on a site that is dedicated to "rumors" help the competition? The action is probably a violation of the employee's contract, but a list of specs is certainly not a trade secret.
Are gateway and dell (I'm guessing they would be considered Apple competitors) going to change their strategic plans because of a list of specs given on an Apple rumor site? Probably not, I doubt that really care about Apple as a competitor, besides using their designs.
So even if Apple does win this lawsuit, I really doubt this will send a message to other employees contemplating sending specs. This along with Apple's other attempts to vehemently defend their "Trade secrets" and "trademarks" will backfire as usual. Apple should learn to use the role of underdog to boost its "nice guy" image instead of pushing legal actions that even MS wouldn't stoop to. Instead of attempting to rely on the unveiling of secret products at trade shows. Maybe they should try a different strategy?
I give you these 15 (crack)... 10 commandments
Not if you chase them with a
Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
For my last co-op position I was asked to sign a NDA as usual. Only in this case they decided to give me the NDA two months into my four-month work term, and it was not retroactive. Oh, and aside from that little blunder, it did not have a date on it!
As in, nowhere to put a date. Just a sig, no date! I asked if it was written by a lawyer and they said it was, but I am very doubtful. IANAL but I would think that a NDA without a date on it would be worthless in court. I would like to see what they could pull in court if I simply released some info before I had signed the NDA, or after I had signed the non-dated NDA.
So let this serve as a note to companies out there, having a NDA doesn't mean shit if it's not written correctly by a competent lawyer!
The reason Santa is so jolly is that he knows where all the bad girls live.
Apple computers largely aren't built by employees, contract or otherwise, of Apple. Apples are assembled by people who work for a large temporary workforce agency (Volt).
Apple decided years ago to dump the overhead, both both legal and financial, associated with having a manufacturing labor force on their payroll. People who build Apples have a job and get paid only when Apple's inventory is down and they need to build some units.
How strongly attached would you feel to Apple if you got a call Monday morning at 6AM telling you to report to the factory - with no certainty that you'd have a job for the entire week. Or if that phone call doesn't come at all and you need money for rent.
Or, when at noon, they blow the whistle and say "that's it, everybody go home, and don't come back tomorrow". Remember, you don't get paid for hours you're not actually on the assembly line.
The pay for assembling Apples is about the same as for flipping cheeseburgers but without the security of knowing that you'll probably have a job next week.
This is "A Good Thing" for Apple because they don't have all that foolishness of hiring people for real jobs, paying them benefits, wondering what to do with them when production requirements slow, or taking accounting hits for layoffs.
The net of it is that Apples are to some large extent built by people who are willing to get along making a few bucks now and again, and who don't feel any loyalty to Apple or their products.
Is it any suprise that they leak information?
I would have to disagree with you on this one, Apple (unlike MS) never tried to pass darwin off as their own OS. When you were buying OSX you were buying Darwin + Apples Aqua interface and other 'things" they added (I say things because I dont know OSX at all).
I mean, information wants to be free, right?
Oh, of course.
So lets share secrets. Yours first. Social security number, date of birth, credit card numbers, etc. It's all just information.
If you tell someone something and ask them to keep it a secret, you get pissed at them when they don't. When you do the same thing and have them sign a legal affidavit saying that they won't tell anyone else the secret, then if they do you have the power of the court behind you.
And, you know what? They didn't have to promise not to tell the secret. You didn't have to share it with them either at that point. But once you promise, damn right you're going to get torched for breaking that promise.
Oh, and before you start going off on non-sequitors, the law does provide for breaking contracts when revealing wrongdoing. There's an entire section of law dealing with whistle blowing, so as to protect and encourage people to report illegal activity.
I don't care what sort of Stallmanistic view of society you have, you cannot possibly believe that somebody should be allowed to sign an agreement, and then break it because they feel that "information should be free".
There are times when an employee ought to be able to break a NDA with impunity. When a company is behaving in a manner that is illegal or unethical a whistle-blower should have the protection of the law. Further when a company behaves in a manner that is illegal it could be argued that the employee has a legal duty to break any NDA that would involve them in a conspiracy "to pervert the course of justice," (at least that's the legal term that would be used in the UK).
Take an extreme and fictitous example, a food company uses a secret ingredient and has all its employees sign a NDA to preserve the secrecy of that ingredient. An employee discovers that the secret ingredient is rat poison, what should they do? I would say the should report it to the authorities and the press, and the company should not have recourse to law through the NDA.
The point I am trying to make here is that NDA's should be valid when they are used to protect trade secrets, and that the term trade secret should be strictly defined such that it covers knowledge that gives a company a competitive advantage over rival companies but not knowledge that a customer needs to make an informed choice about the value of that companies product.
One problem with the NDA's that employees are asked to sign is that they are over broad and it is the company that gets to define which pieces of information are secret. NDA's are open ended and one sided contracts.
Consider an old practice of IBM. They used to sell printers with a switch that changed the speed of the printer hidden inside the printer. They sold upgrades to these printers that involved an engineer visiting the customer's premises snd flicking the switch when the customer wasn't looking. Pure and simple IBM used secrecy to rip off customers. Trade secret or sharp practice?
Now consider the case in question? The information apple wanted to cover up was the fact that now wasn't the time to buy one of their machines. They didn't want their customers to be able to make an informed choice about when to buy. The information wasn't of a nature that would allow a rival to improve their product or make their product more efficiently. I don't see this as a legitimate area for NDA's to cover.
I thought this was going to be a story about an employee who took too many lavatory breaks.
There's so much confusion going on that I'm not even going to try to sort it out. A couple of hints -
Trademark does indeed need to be defended in order to be help as such. That has nothing to do with IP or trade secrets (two different things).
Trade secrets are only enforced contractually. They have no special protection. A leak is a leak - if you leak a trade secret to me, you can be held in violation of any contract in place, but I can do whatever I want with the information. (If you don't believe me, google on "+RC4 +cypherpunks +RSA +anonymous")
IP means a large number of different things, with patents being a large centerpiece. This case has nothing to do with IP.
In short, defending contractual agreements has nothing to do with one's brand from a legal standpoint. Try not to get confused in the future.
-j, not a lawyer, etc.
I forget what 8 was for.
Yeah. Like I said, makes basically no sense.
Also, note that it's "immutable," not "immuteable." When you wrote "immuteable" initially, my natural conclusion was that you meant "un-mute-able," as in "cannot be silenced." This is, of course, not a word, but it makes more sense in context than "immutable" does.
This is a case where a misspelling on your part significantly changed the meaning of your message.
I write in my journal
Take an extreme and fictitous example, a food company uses a secret ingredient and has all its employees sign a NDA to preserve the secrecy of that ingredient. An employee discovers that the secret ingredient is rat poison, what should they do? I would say the should report it to the authorities and the press, and the company should not have recourse to law through the NDA.
I agree - in fact it is your duty to report any illegal activities. But that should be reported to the authorities, not splattered all over half a dozen web sites before you get around to actually providing that pesky thing called proof.
Consider an old practice of IBM. They used to sell printers with a switch that changed the speed of the printer hidden inside the printer. They sold upgrades to these printers that involved an engineer visiting the customer's premises snd flicking the switch when the customer wasn't looking. Pure and simple IBM used secrecy to rip off customers. Trade secret or sharp practice?
Ah, but was it illegal? If so, then your point stands, but you simply can't be violating your signed agreements just because a company acts in a manner that you find repulsive. You can choose not to sign the agreement. You can choose to terminate your employment once you discover the truth. You are simply asked not to reveal the secrets once you have learned them.
And if you feel that it is illegal, then go tell a lawer or the approprate agency, and they will tell a judge, who will decide if it is potentially illegal, or just ethically corrupt.
But no matter the situation, taking confidental information that you promised to cover up and posting it on the web is wrong. I don't give a damn about your opinion, or your morals, or even the complete lack of ethics that 80% of these companies have. Its illegal for now. If you don't like it, then lobby to have the law changed. Until then, I say sign on the dotted line and live up to your oaths.
Do you have Linux and a DotPal? Click here now!
I kinda take offence to that, as I myself am a contrator. Maybe Apple need to treat their contractors better or hire better contrators.
(/local/home/curiosity)-#who -u|grep thecat|cut -c 44-49|xargs kill -9
And you know they would be.
Suing the guy isn't meant to protect that (former) secret; it's long since become public knowledge. Suing is how they protect the next secret, and the ones after that...
Loyalty and ethics are not the same thing. Think of all those Enron "stars" - loyal yes, ethical no. Flip side is the contractor who quits when he feels like it, but honors your secrets (I've worked with several). I'll take the latter any day.
sulli
RTFJ.
You're missing the point. You have to enforce and prosecute all leaks of trade secrets. You don't get to pick and choose. If you fail to prosecute just becausze "nobody was hurt this time" it opens a wide door for future defense lawyers to say "they never enforced it, therefore it holds no legal power as a contract." Regardless of what you or I or anyone else might think of this logic, that's how it'd go.
You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?
Getting busted for treason could be far worse - even if the charges end up being untrue - like that one nuclear chinese dude - him, his family, his private life all got dragged through the mud. Ultimately for nothing.
Bottom line - he signed a NDA and then violated it.
He deserves whatever he gets. "Information wants to be free" is crap - there is such a thing as personal responsibility.
If this guy was RMS's soul brother, and truly believed that "Information wants to be free" crap then he shouldn't have signed the contract in the first place.
Principles are only valid if you stick by them all the time, not just when they are convenient.
Microsoft does this all the time. They just don't get the press that Apple does. And to be honest, Apple pretty much begged for this story to be high-profile. And I'd say the same thing to the dimwit who leaked MS secretsa as I did to this boob: "You screwed up pal. Big time."
Sure, the Anti-Micro$h!t Linux-Uber-Alles geeks might rant like mad, but they are also taking Apple to task for this right now.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
..is wonderful how I can, IN PUBLIC, come and learn Apple's new trade secrets! Alas I did not undershtand von word he was talking about.
Oh and for the record, what does this incident have to do with COOTYS RAT SEMEN? I never was good with anagrams...
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
Does anyone here know the formula for Coke?
Does it even matter? You can duplicate Coke, but you can't call it Coca-Cola, and anybody who drinks the stuff will just think it tastes like coke.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
I hope this isn't considered a troll, or flamebait, but I have to disagree with you about your opinion of Microsoft's attitude towards ergonomics - at least with respect toward's Microsoft's hardware division.
IMHO, the Microsoft Natural Keyboard is, for people who are trained to type, the best keyboard presently available. On the other hand, Apple keyboards have always seemed to me to be exercises in style over substance. They sure look pretty, but as keyboards, they leave much to be desired. And let's not even talk about the original iMac "hockey-puck" mouse. Apple does a great job, most of the time, at creating a superior user experience, and their machines sure do look good, but I don't think serious typists should have to put up with what they call keyboards in Cupertino.
Take away my XP if you want, but I'll never let you have my keyboard.
144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
Industry standards are for idiots
Hmmmm
- USB
- IEEE-1394
- PCI
- AGP
- UNIX
- 802.11b
- OpenBoot
Yep, those are all sooooo Apple-proprietary.$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
A Ecosystem Torn
Necessary Motto
Nectary Toe Moss
Not A Core System
An Erect Moss Toy
One Try Ass Comet
Tycoon Ass Meter
So Scram Teen Toy
Scam Teensy Root
Am On Cosy Street
Sony Scat Remote
Mac Rotten Yes So
Sears Cottony Me
Comatose Sentry
Easy Scent Motor
Stony Acme Store
And my personal favorite:
WAIT FOR IT.......
Taco Semen Story
The most important thing any republican needs to know.
"I do not leak. You leak... Remember?"
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
For instance, it worked in 1984 and Cube...
Oh, SNAP!!! Nevermind.
Moral of the story: unless you're planning on developing a "distopia" or a giant killing machine, employers have to rely trust. If that doesn't work, the next step is lawsuits.
-braxton
Any given algorithm is immuteable, because once it is changed, it's a different algorithm
Once it's changed? So you can change it?
As Twirlip said, immutable means cannot be changed.
So if you can change something ("once it's changed") then it's not immutable.
This might have been news three weeks ago when I first mentioned it here and here.
However this is *very* old hat today.
What really annoys *me* is that I mention this and got mod'ed *down* for it.
Polymorphism -- It's what you make of it.
(Score -1: Did not include Young Frankenstein reference.)
The Independent: Reverend Spooner Arrested in Friar Tuck Incident - ISIHAC, Historical Headlines
Remember what happened to the last company that "pre-announced" something that was to debut at Macworld?
Let me refresh your memory. A couple of years ago, ATI came out with a spiffy new chip called the Rage 128. The CEO of ATI came out and did the whole PR presentation thing...and WHOOPS! He let out that the new card would be appearing in the new G4s at Macworld.
That pissed off Mr. Jobs and company. So much so that all the G4s we bought after that only came with Nvidia GeForce 2 MX cards...heh, heh.
The lesson learned today is: Don't steal Steve Job's thunder if you know what is good for you.
-ted
I'm a contractor. stop bashing us. It's a good living.
I'm a contactor too. No it isn't.
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
He broke an NDA point blank,
How do you know he broke an NDA? whilst likely there is nothing in the article to confirm this.
it doesn't matter if it hurt sales or not
If they suffered any harm or damage is the fundamental issue.
Commercialism is the true spirit of Christmas that all religions can embrace.
That said, Jews just missed the memo and atheists are either morons or haven't looked into the evidence behind Christianity. Read "The Case for Christ" if you want an objective investigation of such things. No bs, I promise.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.