Slashback: Bankruptcy, SUVdiving, Singalongs

Slashback updates tonight on sky-diving cars, Microsoft's new code Glasnost (guess who's signed up to see the code?), the fate of the PCI-SIG list, the SCO and Linux licensing brouhaha, music royalties in Finland, and more. Read on for the details.

Not like that un-American GPL. agentZ writes "The first Microsoft government customer to buy access to the Windows source code is Russia according to this CNet story. Interesting to note FAPSI, one of their intelligence agencies, authorized the purchase. Perhaps they're looking for vulnerabilities in the U.S. Government's dependence on Microsoft?"

The difference between Chapter 11 and The End. prostoalex writes "In regards to a recent heated discussion on whether tech companies can make it out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, XO Communications, the telecom company of the dot-com era, seems to be doing quite well after filing Chapter 11. The article on Internet.com also mentions another company, Covad Communications, picking up customers and more business after filing for Chapter 11."

There's hope in PCI Land. Regarding the Slashdot post of a few days ago about the PCI-SIG ("The End of the Free PCI Device List"), PCI-SIG Chairman Tony Pierce writes

"YourVote.com Supporters:

Thank you for making us aware of your concerns regarding Jim Boemler's online Vendor and Device Lists for the PCI technology.

There has been a misunderstanding between PCI-SIG and Jim - PCI-SIG officers are currently working with Jim to resolve the issues as quickly as possible. We respect Jim Boemler's work and are committed to support the PCI specification efforts industry-wide. We are confident that we will come to an amicable resolution.

We are pleased to see the strong industry support for PCI technologies and value your response to the issues. We understand this site has been a very valuable tool and are working together to find a solution to make sure that the tool is available to the public in some way.

Thank you for your support over the years. We will be sure to keep you informed as we come to resolution in this situation."

This lowers Finland on my list of vacation spots. E-Tray writes "It seems that Finnish equivalents of American RIAA, Teosto, which represents songwriters and publishers, and Gramex, which represents music producers and artists, want to force Finnish day nurseries to pay royalties every time nursery staff sings along with kids. Previously Teosto enforced a law that taxi drivers have to pay royalties if they play music while a customer is in the backseat."

Would still rather see a statement signed in blood. Error27 writes "Earlier this week, Slashdot linked to a Maureen O'Gara article that claimed SCO was probably going to try charge Linux users $96 per CPU. More than one person thought SCO's denial was, "Awfully ambiguous". Hopefully this article clears up any doubts. Essentially, SCO will continue to charge IBM but not RedHat or SCO's UnitedLinux partners."

Perhaps I can volunteer my dad's Suburbans? Finally, joe jennings writes

"A few months ago you ran a story about the cars my team and I skydived with and crashed into the desert. This is a bit of an update.

Next month, we're going to blow up my Nissan Pathfinder. Its twisted remains will be welded to a steel beam and planted on a plot of land in the mojave desert. We're starting "suv ranch," a tribute to gas guzzlers, a dying trend (we hope).

I intend to thoroughly document the project and will post images and quicktime videos on gaspig.com."

Comments

The gaspig.com link is incorrect.

[Quadrature]

For those to lazy to type in 10 characters: Clicky

Day care?

[NickDngr]

Teosto, which represents songwriters and publishers, and Gramex, which represents music producers and artists, want to force Finnish day nurseries to pay royalties every time nursery staff sings along with kids.

Yeah... that's going to be enforceable. What are they going to do, interview the kids as they come out of day care? We thought we had it bad with the RIAA. Sheesh!

dumping suvs out of planes to protest gas hogs?

[goofballs]

umm, isn't the recreational use of airplanes- which use a lot of gas and pollute a lot more than the worse suv's- including to dump suv's out of them, a lot worse than the suv's themselves?

Re:dumping suvs out of planes to protest gas hogs?

[Anonymous Coward]

if it helps you feel any better, we're riding to altitude in a c-123 that is "drop testing" other things to test parachutes and so on. the extra weight of the suv (biggest joke on 4 wheels) does burn fuel, lots of it so its not entirely wrong to label me a hypocrite. but suvs are a ripe target, they are just so big and goofy and top heavy. check out the suv warning label on the visor with the vehicle up on two wheels. and people buy them in the name of "safety", go figure. it's fashion, nothing more, like bell bottoms.

then there's the basic stuff like oil dependence, global warming, smog, rollovers...

we'll probably dump some suvs from planes cause ultimately it's art, and impact at terminal velocity will give us some great shapes to plant out in the desert! but next month, most likely, we'll use dynamite to blow up the gaspig mobile. just got a letter about maybe shooting some holes in it first. fun!

i don't have an account yet so i'm an anonymous coward but please feel free to write to me: info@gaspig.com or come check out the website at http://www.gaspig.com !

joe jennings
the Pig

Re:dumping suvs out of planes to protest gas hogs?

[tshak]

The problem is not simply that SUV's guzzle gas. My friend has a F350 extended cab which, although get's better mileage than many SUV's, is still quite a guzzler compared to my Honda. However, he's constantly moving TONS of stuff around for his business. The problem with SUV's is that people use them for commuting to and from work, the store, and their friends house - all activities which could be done by burning a lot less fuel, taking less space on the road, and making the roads safer for all by driving a small to midsize car.

So no, the one time (or even occasional) use of an airplane for recreational purposes is not hypocrital. Not all of us who are anti-SUV's drive hybrid's either. It's just that SUV's are generally such an extreme waste that something needs to be said.

What a load of crap...

[LordNightwalker]

We understand this site has been a very valuable tool and are working together to find a solution to make sure that the tool is available to the public in some way.

And one can't but wonder why it hasn't occured to them that the best way to do it is not to send a cease & decist letter in the first place... What a load of hogwash. The tool was already available to the public in some way untill they started interfering, and now they're looking for a way to make sure that... *sigh*

Parachuting cars is saving the enviroment?

[puto]

Well as much as I liked seeing skydiving vehicles in the odd James Bonf Flick and all I don't see this as an good way to protest SUV's.

1. You need to gas the planes to get the cars up into the wild blue yonder. MORE POLLUTION.

2. Crashing theme into the desert. I am sure that this does wonders for the native wildlife and natural look of the desert. Just cause it is empty space doesn't mean we have to throw trashed cars into it. Even if you remove all the hydrocarbons and glass, it's still junk.

3. Then blowing up a Nissan Pathfinder. Hmmm, releasing smoke and debris and further polluting the enviroment. Could have recycled the metal into something else.

I am all about making a statement about SUV's and pollution. But you doing things like driving a small car, riding a bike, using the bus. But spending money, resources, and then further polluting the air with a Jack Ass like stunt. Just don't make much sense to me.

Put0

Re:Parachuting cars is saving the enviroment?

[SubtleNuance]

Just in case anyone DIDNT know, one of the major reasons Americans *BUY* SUVs in the first place is because they can then buy a Luxury Vehicle and get a tax break .

Read more about the loop-hole that NEEDS to get plugged here

The good news? This loophole costs the American Tresury close 1 Billion per year (source)

Re:Parachuting cars is saving the enviroment?

[Desert Raven]

Just in case anyone DIDNT know, one of the major reasons Americans *BUY* SUVs in the first place is because they can then buy a Luxury Vehicle and get a tax break .

Interesting statement, since I own a large SUV, and had no idea such a tax law existed.

I bought my Suburban because I do a lot of volunteer work for a couple of animal rescues, and need a vehicle that can transport several large dogs, plus any equipment/supplies I need for awareness events etc... plus tow a large trailer. I've had as many as six greyhounds plus supplies in the truck for a single run. For my part, I keep it in as good of tune as possible, and only drive it when there's no better choice.

Personally, I'm getting pretty pissed off at every bleeding heart that gives me a dirty look for having it. Or better yet, those who harangue me into defending my need for it. More and more I don't bother to explain, I just tell 'em to f-off.

As for these whack-jobs dropping vehicles into the desert, they should be prosecuted for environmental crimes. I live in the desert, it's a highly fragile ecosystem that just doesn't need any more abuse by mental midgets with weak justifications for blowing up things. The desert's already littered with tens of thousands of things that people took out to shoot up or blow up. Plus, you're just not going to get me to believe that they completely sanitized these vehicles by removing every last millileter of fuel, oil, transmission fluid, power steering fluid, engine coolant, freon, etc from the vehicle. I won't even get into the by-products from burning the vehicle that will saturate the ground for a couple hundred feet around the burn site.

Re:Parachuting cars is saving the enviroment?

[chriso11]

Everyone always has a reason why they need an SUV. "I have to tow horses" or "I need to go into the mountains" or "I carry food and blankets for the poor homeless people".

But you know, 90% of the time, I see one person in a 3 ton vehicle, commuting 30miles, or driving over speed bumps in the mall. And I bet that most people could RENT one for those occasions where an SUV was really needed. But that's not the American way.

And SUVs are light trucks, so they don't have the same emissions requirements as cars. They aren't safer, either.

Last, I don't EVER want to hear anyone driving a fat gas hog complaining about gasoline prices.

How does the MS code license work?

[Ryu2]

Bloomberg says it's just a chance to LOOK at the code (by visiting Redmond perhaps or having them visit you?) But News.com reports that MS will let governments BUILD their own custom versions (doesn't say whether by MS or by themselves). Which is it? There's a big difference there.

And also is it access to ALL the source code, or just the security-related bits?

Re:How does the MS code license work?

[Erris]

1. You promise not to tell anyone what you see. 2. You promise not to sell the binaries you make. 3. You promise a whole lot more than I can write in a short list. 4. You are led to a special cubicle on the Redmond Campus. 5. You put a quarter in a slot. 6. A large metal plate lifts, revealing a hidden CRT. 7. After 1 minute, the plate drops and you have to insert another quarter.

Windows is now less secure

[dybdahl]

Within a couple of years, non-democratic governments will have a copy of the source code of Windows, and some governments, that have been cooperating with local companies to do industrial espionage, will also have it.

The old argument that Linux is less secure because evil hackers can see the source code now also applies to Windows. Except that the good guys can't see the Windows source code. I wonder what they're hiding.

Lars Dybdahl.

Sing-a-longs

[chundo]

It seems that Finnish equivalents of American RIAA, Teosto, which represents songwriters and publishers, and Gramex, which represents music producers and artists, want to force Finnish day nurseries to pay royalties every time nursery staff sings along with kids.

...but since it has proved too hard to enforce, they are trying plan B - sending children to these day nurseries who just repeatedly sing the choruses for five minutes.

jesus christ....

[edrugtrader]

north korea has nukes and russia has the windows source code.

i don't know which is worse. seriously.

Re:jesus christ....

[John Hasler]

> ...russia has the windows source code.
> i don't know which is worse.

It's not that bad. The russians are tough. They survived WWII and 70 years of communism. They'll survive looking at Windows source.

Re:That's awfully Microsoft of them.

[erat]

First off, SCO is asking for a fee for the use of a few old UNIX ABI libraries. Last time I checked, no Linux vendor (at a Red Hat level) shipped them. IBM does ship them, so IBM pays. If Red Hat decides to ship them, I'm sure Red Hat will pay. If SCO decides to waive the fee for its UnitedLinux partners, that's perfectly fine. Differing charges enable you to buy a Western Digital hard drive from one vendor for $50 less than another vendor. Don't argue; you benefit from this practice whether you want to believe it or not. If SCO wants to add an incentive to cozying up with UnitedLinux, more power to 'em.

(We'll forget about the fact that UnitedLinux based distros are extremely expensive already and don't need anything else to make them MORE expensive. Adding a SCO ABI library license fee to what you already have to pay for UnitedLinux distros does little more than make the system more expensive to buy.)

As for your second to the last comment, I have no earthly idea where you get that "Red Hat's Success" == "SCO Rapes Red Hat for License Fees". If Red Hat doesn't ship SCO's ABI libraries, exactly what do you think they're going to use to suck money out of Red Hat? The UNIX trademark? If you read the article (or knew any UNIX history) you'd know that Ray Noorda gave the UNIX trademark to the Open Group back when Novell owned UNIX. SCO doesn't own the trademark: they license it, as does everyone else who wants the word "UNIX" associated with their OS.

(Good grief, why do I bother responding to these posts?...)

Re:Fair Use?

[RetroGeek]

Just to be clear, In America you don't have Fair Use that allows people to sing other's copyrighted songs.

What? Not allowed to do karaoke? This might be a GOOD THING.

Finnish RIAA?

[Wouter Van Hemel]

E-Tray writes "It seems that Finnish equivalents of American RIAA, Teosto, which represents songwriters and publishers, and Gramex, which represents music producers and artists, want to force Finnish day nurseries to pay royalties every time nursery staff sings along with kids. Previously Teosto enforced a law that taxi drivers have to pay royalties if they play music while a customer is in the backseat."

This is absolutely ridiculous and non-enforcable. It even screams for civil disobedience, if something like this gets passed. Nobody will take the law serious anymore, if too many crazy laws are made. Even people I know who don't know anything about mp3s and P-t-P software, are becoming more and more pissed off at things like copyright protection and excessive prices for music that tends to get worse (cfr. bland, faceless, uninspired, synthethical pre-fab pop 'sensations' that are pushed and hyped everywhere these days).

It also goes to show (again) that many people involved in the music business are in it rather for the love of money than the love of music.

(Which is -in a horrible way- understandable when you make and sell 'artists' as 'products').

Giving Out Source

[shylock0]

This whole new policy of Microsoft's makes me really wonder how much they value their source code. They're not so stupid in Redmond to think that there won't be leaks if they start offering the code for free to any government that asks.

I know some fairly well-placed programmers who have worked on XP and Win2k, and even they didn't have access to the complete source code the way governments will.

So we should ask ourselves what Microsoft gains from an unofficial general release of their code. I think there's a lot of speculation that can be done here, and it becomes very paranoid very quickly. In the reasonable realm, I think two things are possible:

1) Microsoft cries "uncle" when their source is plastered all over the net. They start lawyers and a few bots looking through thousands of lines of GPLed code looking for similarities. They then sue the writers of the code for stealing MS code and using it in GPL software (which would be very, very clearly against the law).

2) They use the illicitly released code as an experiment. They know it can't start showing up in applications, because they haven't released it legally, and nobody wants to be sued (for an essentially legitimate reason) by a company with billions and billions in the bank. So they see how often code like it shows up. How much people mimic their code. How people try to stretch the limits of the law to use some of MS's techniques. Or if people are simply uninterested. Letting it be released illegally seems to be a great way to test the waters for a legal release of protected source code, Apple-style.

3) The third possibility is that Microsoft knows that their code will be stolen, but that doesn't scare them quite as much as the prospect of losing tens of thousands of government computers to OSS.

For our sake, I hope that it's 2 or 3...

~Shylock0

Comments and questions welcome. Flames ignored.

Let's all sing Metallica children

[xixax]

Maybe nannys should sing Metallica songs in protest?

Hey, we could *all* have a day where we sing "Enter Sandman" out loud in public places and refuse to pay.

Xix.

Pre-emptive note to RIAA

[jcsehak]

You can keep me from teaching and singing songs to people by cutting my throat. Failing that, stay the fuck out of my way.

Music is an Art form, not a business. It comes from and belongs to the people. Your greed is one step less than that of the money-changers that Christ threw out of the temple. I am not alone. Our numbers are growing. Enjoy your yachts and cocaine now, because we have you in our sights and mark my words, we will take you down.

Windows doesn't need glasnost...

[gonerill]

It needs perestroika.

(Or is everyone on Slashdot too young to get that joke?)

Re:Hunger and hotdog eating contest

[SpaceLifeForm]

Sure he was making a fuss. He had *his* eyes on the rest of that hot-dog.

XO Communications...

[wolf-]

I'll comment on XO Communications...

They have been billing our company roughly $54 a month, for 3 years for services we never ordered and do not desire. Namely, web hosting space.

Then, after multiple letters to their billing, then legal offices, they have the nerve to stick a collecter on us.

Last time I talked to the collector, I said, you want the money, sue us! Because the counter claim will include a federal charge of "false billing by mail" and other collection violations under Georgia law.

He said, "they won't sue you, they just hope you are dumb enough to pay."

Hrm, I wonder just how many "bad debts" they have been writing off each year on the books. Or how much they have in "accounts receivable".

Re:USSR

[Alsee]

Bah! It's nothing but a smokescreen. Russian spies stole the sourcecode years ago. I think it was about 18 months before the Soviet Union collapsed....

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