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Slashback: Sorveteria, Rockets, Anger

Slashback tonight with more on model rocketry (and metaphysical rocketry to boot), Metallica's music online -- this time voluntarily, the fall of Ars Digita, nmap's reaction to SCO, and more. Read on for the details.

How is this sanguine? peterb writes "Slashdot has previously reported on Eve Andersson's whitewash of Ars Digita. Her screed placed responsibility for all the problems fully on the shoulders of the Venture Capitalists, while ignoring the role of those that asked the VCs for money. Ars Digita's Michael Yoon has a somewhat more sanguine and less hysterical version of the same story."

I wonder if shoulder chips can be recycled as fuel ...

All them perls don't come cheap. dogma01 writes "It's been almost a year since I submitted this story on Slashdot about the Perl Foundation Fund Drive. With a new year there has been a new round of grants. Every dime helps improve the community and bring us one step closer to Perl6. Please donate here."

The largest model is actually the one that's currently in use. joshamania writes "I knew when I saw the first post about the 'largest scale model of the solar system' I should have piped up. The second post has driven me over the edge. I call shenanigans! The Maine model is not the largest, and Peoria, IL, my hometown, has had the largest model for many years now, the Pluto model (in Kewanee, IL) being over 60 miles away from the sun model. In fact, a bicycle tour of the model is organized every summer and reoccurs in August."

Still at maximum. Danta writes "As the QNX site seems to have received an indirect slashdotting, here is a BitTorrent link to the free version of the QNX OS."

And what's in your makefile? JediTrainer writes "Community backlash begins! The author of Nmap has decided to remove all support of the SCO operating system as of version 3.28. Quoting the changelog, 'SCO operating systems are no longer supported due to their recent (and absurd) attacks against Linux and IBM. Bug reports relating to UnixWare will be ignored, or possibly even laughed at derisively. Note that I have no reason to believe anyone has ever used Nmap on SCO systems. Unixware sucks.'"

Speaking of backlash ... Ransak writes "Speak out! Space-Rockets.com has started a letter/fax campaign to sway political opinion, but needs your help! This hobby enjoyed by thousands of future scientists and astronaunts has been put in serious jeopardy by bad legislation. Senator Herb Kohl was one of the coauthors of the Safe Explosives Act, who not surprisingly, is blocking an amendment to ease restrictions on model rocketry. Wisconson geeks, take note of your Senators actions!"

... and speaking of rockets: BuR4N writes "The x-prize foundation has decided not to accept an application from a Budapest based team called GCT (Gravity Control Technologies) due to their highly questionable proposal. GCT pitched a "propellantless propulsion technology" that quote "is capable of controlling gravity for flight". Here is the full story. It would be very interesting to hear from the scientific community if this is just silliness or something that eventually could lead anywhere.."

I hope these guys don't take up making ham sandwiches. acidblood writes "Following up on yesterday's story concerning ice cream and liquid nitrogen, it appears someone was keen to try it out, and this is the result."

I can't tell from the page when exactly this was made. Whether it was truly in response to Gray's recipe or not, this site certainly provides more amusing visual aids.

The medium is the message, or something like that. LineNoiz writes "There is an interesting article over at MSNBC outlining Metallica's attempt to take advantage of the internet as a music distribution medium. It seems their newest album 'St. Anger' has a code on it which can be used to access their "Audio Vault" where users can download MP3 recordings of live concerts. The site's motto? 'Download. Burn. Share. Kick Ass.' Is this just a flagrant attempt to recapture the interest of the thousands of fans they lost in their battle with Napster, or a genuine good idea?"

Readers may recall this interview with Metallica's Lars Ulrich.

403 comments

  1. As far a metallica goes by sujan · · Score: 0, Interesting

    Download or not, their latest album sucks. In fact I started disliking their music since the reload album.

    The torrent you provided in already slashdotted BTW.

  2. I will not trust Metallica by Bull999999 · · Score: 5, Funny

    'Download. Burn. Share. Kick Ass.'

    Maybe their MP3 files contain Hatch's "special" program.

    --
    1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d
    1. Re:I will not trust Metallica by paganizer · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Hmm.

      The very thought of trusting Metallica seems sort of, um, crazy? in the first place. Have you taken a look at those guys lately?

      As to the Model Rocketry problem, it really all boils down to the BATFE wetting their collective pants over the thought of someone building a homebrew SAM missile, which is fairly easy anyway.

      The big thing as I see it is the same thing was done to Black powder, which means that making your own rocket engines, or even reloading your own ammunition, just got REAL hard AFAICT.

      --
      Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
    2. Re:I will not trust Metallica by Grog6 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeay, Metallica can kiss my fuzzy ass.

      I haven't bought a single thing by them since the above-mentioned statement came out.

      I have heard some of their shit thru my friends, tho. I guess their talent left town with their long hair.

      Whoda thunk that the guy that got fired from their band would be the one with the real talent.(Dave Mustaine)

      As far as the black powder/rocket engine thing, I really hope no one tries that. Black powder burns way too fast for an engine.(BOOM!) A hint: Needs more sulfur.

      Find the .pdf file circulating on the web about how to make GOOD rocket engines. (Teleflight maybe?) I got mine from alt.binaries.ebooks

      Damn. I shouldn't have posted this. Now they'll make rock tumblers illegal.

      --
      Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
    3. Re:I will not trust Metallica by Jaysyn · · Score: 2, Funny

      The dead guy was pretty damn talented too, bub.

      Jaysyn

      --
      There is a war going on for your mind.
    4. Re:I will not trust Metallica by Disevidence · · Score: 1

      Am i the only person in the world who likes the new metallica album?

      --
      Think nothing is impossible? Try slamming a revolving door.
    5. Re:I will not trust Metallica by Suppafly · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Maybe the dead guy should team up with dave mustaine to create the ultimate heavy metal band..

    6. Re:I will not trust Metallica by scotch · · Score: 3, Funny

      You and the band member's Moms. But you know how moms are.

      --
      XML causes global warming.
    7. Re:I will not trust Metallica by fucksl4shd0t · · Score: 1

      Maybe the dead guy should team up with dave mustaine to create the ultimate heavy metal band..

      That'd be either Metallica without Kirk Hammett (they already did that), or 74 minutes of silence, since neither of them can play anymore.

      --
      Like what I said? You might like my music
    8. Re:I will not trust Metallica by fucksl4shd0t · · Score: 1

      Am i the only person in the world who likes the new metallica album?

      Yes.

      --
      Like what I said? You might like my music
    9. Re:I will not trust Metallica by TakeMyName · · Score: 0

      Maybe you forgot Cluff Burton? and Dave Mustaine certainly wasn't the one with the talent, it's a good thing you watched vh1 behind the music...

    10. Re:I will not trust Metallica by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      I still don't understand the P2P folks. I've bought a lot of bread in my life, I guess I should be able to go to the store and take a few loaves? The grocery store has overcharged me in the past, so thay have their money, and the bread company has made their money.. no bread should cost over 10 cents! Power to the people!

    11. Re:I will not trust Metallica by davidtupper · · Score: 1

      Actually the black powder is just for the ejection charge. And for high power model rocketry most people use reloadable engines, this makes that difficult to impossible.

    12. Re:I will not trust Metallica by quasiphoton · · Score: 1

      I like it too... at least it's more like their old stuff...

    13. Re:I will not trust Metallica by Sloppy · · Score: 1

      Rust In Peace fucking ruled. Dave had some talent.

      --
      As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
    14. Re:I will not trust Metallica by OolonColluphid · · Score: 1

      Metallica has allowed recording of their concerts and trading of live recordings since the "black album" tour. Back when they were just starting to suck. Personally, I wouldn't buy their new album just because it sucks, like everything else they've done since the late 1980's.

  3. Does the world really need perl 6? by winkydink · · Score: 4, Interesting

    perl 5 does just about everything I need. From everything I've read, perl 6 will have enough changes to make it almost like learning a new language. Yes, I know there will be a "backwards compatibility" mode, but why do I get the feeeling that if one has problems with the backwards compatibiltiy mode, the answer that will be offered will be "rewrite it as perl 6 code"?

    --

    "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

    1. Re:Does the world really need perl 6? by Naikrovek · · Score: 1

      progress. eventually perl5 will not be enough for everyone. one could argue that that time has already arrived.

      besides i want to learn perl 6. who cares if perl 5 does everything i need already. perl 6 will be a new way to do it and i'm quite ready for that new route.

    2. Re:Does the world really need perl 6? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Parrot will run Ruby anyways then it'd be easy to call Ruby from Perl.

    3. Re:Does the world really need perl 6? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Just like the world needs a set of Star Wars prequels.

      Sincerely,

      George "I Wipe My Ass With Your Money" Lucas

    4. Re:Does the world really need perl 6? by dubStylee · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Having witnessed first hand the transition from perl4 to perl5, I have complete faith in the pumpkings to transition us as easily as possible into perl6. I think of the several thousands of lines of code that I had in perl4, perhaps several dozen lines needed changing to transition to perl5 and most of those could be done with a regex. And then, once I learned what was good about perl5 making the additional changes was not hard. I have no reason to believe that the perl6 transition will be any more difficult.

      And if perl5 does everything you can imagine ever needing to have done, I suggest a) your imagination is a little lacking and b) you'll still be able to install and use perl5 for years even after perl6 comes out. Heck, I still have perl 4.019 sitting around somewhere.

      Since perl6 is at least three years away and probably more, your posting is really chicken-little thinking. Not only is the sky not falling, it also won't even begin to lower for a long time :-)

    5. Re:Does the world really need perl 6? by winkydink · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'm glad the transition from 4 to 5 was an nice, easy one for you. 3 to 4 and 4 to 5 were not so easy for me. I guess it all depends on the kind of cose you write and your target use. As one who had lots of scripts dealing with email and email addresses, it was quite the pain having to go back and put \'s in front of all my relevant @'s (and figuring out which ones were the relevant @'s :).

      --

      "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

    6. Re:Does the world really need perl 6? by WatertonMan · · Score: 1

      Now if only the transition to Perl 5.8 went as smooth...

    7. Re:Does the world really need perl 6? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why didn't you just keep the older version of perl around and rewrite those scripts for the newer language (or not) at your leisure?

  4. Download. Burn. Share. Kick Ass. by Pilferer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Download. Burn. Share. Kick Ass.

    Hmmph, for some reason I read this as meaning:

    Download, Burn, Share - get YOUR ass kicked by Metallica.

    1. Re:Download. Burn. Share. Kick Ass. by LightOver · · Score: 1

      This whole article .... the end they mention Metallica and now most of the posts are about Metallica ... keeping in nature with this article,

      http://ask.slashdot.org/askslashdot/03/06/18/00242 28.shtml?tid=

    2. Re:Download. Burn. Share. Kick Ass. by lumpenprole · · Score: 1, Funny

      Metallica needs to be sent back in time so they can get their asses kicked.

      by Metallica.

      --
      Disclaimer: MINAA (Mummy! I'm Not An Animal!)
  5. Apologies? by JayBlalock · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I might actually check out St. Anger to get at the concert recordings, IF Metallica first apologizes for all the crap they pulled over Napster a few years ago. Otherwise, this is pure hypocracy, and a rather sad attempt at pulling back in fans who are deservedly quite angry with them. Of course, this is far from the first time a band has tried something like this. David Bowie has a huge load of rare material available on his website through subscription.

    --
    Bush: He's Liberal in all the wrong ways.
    1. Re:Apologies? by el-spectre · · Score: 0, Troll

      Those bastards! They tried not to get stolen from!

      --
      "Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
    2. Re:Apologies? by JayBlalock · · Score: 1

      I'm reminded of my bad old school days. Back in Elmementary and Jr High, I was the official Smart Kid. There was this one big guy who, almost daily, would make fun of me, push me around, threaten to beat me up (never actually DID), etc etc. But then whenever there was a difficult assignment, he'd come running to me for help - and be utterly shocked and confused by my refusal to help him.

      --
      Bush: He's Liberal in all the wrong ways.
    3. Re:Apologies? by acidrain69 · · Score: 1

      there is no hypocrisy. If you read the article/interview, they even say so. They never said that downloads were bad, they just wanted CONTROL over their own work.

      Don't get me wrong, I hate their tactics, and they have damaged my fan relationship with them, but they aren't going against what they did earlier.

      --
      -- Having a Creationist Museum is like having an Atheist place of worship
    4. Re:Apologies? by el-spectre · · Score: 1

      What's the connection? Not giving you shit, I don't know what you're getting at.

      --
      "Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
    5. Re:Apologies? by agrippa_cash · · Score: 2, Insightful

      As with all my posts, memory may not serve correctly. But I believe that Metallica used to allow fans to tape their concerts, going so far as to allow them to tap into whatever the monitors were hooked into. Much like the Grateful Dead, but like... much, much louder. I think their anti-sharing crusade applied only to their studio work, as they had to assume that the live tapes would make the rounds. So while I found their strident anti-napster stance assinine, this is not a complete about face, and they may have shown themselves to be more in touch with their base than I thought. Still I doubt that they will ever top MOP.

    6. Re:Apologies? by Planesdragon · · Score: 1

      I might actually check out St. Anger to get at the concert recordings, IF Metallica first apologizes for all the crap they pulled over Napster a few years ago.

      Did you download (non-concert studio) Metallica songs from Napster? Did YOU apologize? (Did you let them know that you feel slighted? And remember--they're near-luddites and don't read /.)

      If not, then STFU.

      Otherwise, this is pure hypocracy, and a rather sad attempt at pulling back in fans who are deservedly quite angry with them.

      *sigh*

      Copyright isn't about money or music, really--it's about control of one's creation. We've all agreed, decades ago, that when someone is making something, they get to decide when to release it into the wild; while we can disagree on how much control they have after it's in the wild, the agreement of whether or not to release it is a valid one.

      The Napster flashpoint was unfinished, unreleased songs. Decry copyright all that you want, distributing someone's art before they're done with it is still wrong.

    7. Re:Apologies? by JayBlalock · · Score: 2, Insightful
      The connection? They were bullies. They blustered and yelled and even sued their own fans. *Regardless* of whether this was legally permissable, from a public relations standpoint it was insane, and incredibly stupid. They might have gotten a few pirated copies of their works offline, sure - but at the loss of how many album sales from ex-fans who were disgusted by their behavior?

      There is still a wide gap between what is permitted (given that ours is a permissive society) and what is generally acceptible. What they did went way over the line of acceptibility, but they're now asking us to "forgive and forget" and start buying their albums again, without apologizing for demolishing the bond that is supposed to exist between artists and their fans.

      --
      Bush: He's Liberal in all the wrong ways.
    8. Re:Apologies? by sfe_software · · Score: 1

      You know, I would have said the same thing, but I just read the linked interview (I had no idea that took place) and my opinion has changed a bit. Back in the day (around or just before the interview) they said a lot of things, but only choice quotes gained a lot of attention.

      After reading the interview (which is surprisingly unedited, even for /., but I rather enjoyed it that way), I realize that some of what they said was due to lack of knowledge/experience, and some was simply taken out of context. Lars even admits to changing his opinions on a couple issues, and he does make a few good points...

      I still enjoy the Camp Chaos Cartoons on the subject though ;)

      --
      NGWave - Fast Sound Editor for Windows
    9. Re:Apologies? by barzok · · Score: 1
      IF Metallica first apologizes for all the crap they pulled over Napster a few years ago.
      I'd be happier if they apologized for making St. Anger (the album). Have you heard that steaming pile yet? The title-track single was only the tip of the crapberg.
    10. Re:Apologies? by JayBlalock · · Score: 1

      Did you download (non-concert studio) Metallica songs from Napster? Did YOU apologize? No, and therefore, no. (and yes, by deduction you can therefore realize I am an ex-Metallica fan who feels their actions in the Napster incident were entire inappropriate, even though I was in no way targetted by them) Otherwise, see my posts in the replies above this. The end point - While Metallica may have been legally permitted to do what they did, in the end, they SUED their own fans for being overly enthusiastic. It was overkill, and bullying.

      --
      Bush: He's Liberal in all the wrong ways.
    11. Re:Apologies? by H3g3m0n · · Score: 1

      I wounder if there is a copy of the David Bowie xmas special on the site. Now that was pure herlarity =P

      --
      cat /dev/urandom > .sig
    12. Re:Apologies? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you think metallica really cares what your opioions are ? Real fans never left Metallica, you are just one of the fringe thiefs and wanna be metallica fan.

    13. Re:Apologies? by JayBlalock · · Score: 1

      (snicker) Yeah. I listened to a friend's copy. (which is fundamentally no different than downloading MP3s and then deleting them, but that's beside the point) That's why I said I might think about picking it up *for the concert tracks* :-)

      --
      Bush: He's Liberal in all the wrong ways.
    14. Re:Apologies? by el-spectre · · Score: 0, Troll

      Ah. I've always felt that they were in the right. The 'sued their own fans' claim is usually incorrectly cited and overblown.

      Of course, I don't steal music, so I wasn't offended. I do not buy the 'mp3s encourage sales' BS, I was in school at the time and _know_ that most folks were stealing with no intention to buy.

      I am kinda surprised that the slashdot crowd is so vehement about this. We want control of software we write, including control to give it away. This is all Metallica was trying to do.

      I'd imagine it has a lot to do with the idea of "I am entitled to whatever I want", which I think is BS. It's probably a matter of age though. Few 50 year olds were stealing mp3s.

      Oh well, I still like the boys, and will continue to buy the music as long as it is good.

      --
      "Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
    15. Re:Apologies? by leviramsey · · Score: 1

      Metallica still allows taping where possible.Festival-type tours generally don't because some bands have problems with it, but for their solo tours they do allow recording. It generally helps if you're a member of their fan club, since then you can get tickets which specifically state that you're allowed to tape and put you in a good location to tape. Those tickets are also very handy for if you get harassed by security people for bringing a recorder in. They also allow non-commercial redistribution of the tapes (and are planning to allow fans to mail CDRs or DATs of their bootlegs for inclusion on the vault).

    16. Re:Apologies? by JayBlalock · · Score: 1
      I do not buy the 'mp3s encourage sales' BS, I was in school at the time and _know_ that most folks were stealing with no intention to buy.

      MP3 trading is something along the lines of a progressive tax. The more obscure a band is, the more it helps them. In the end, it probably does hurt the top couple percent of huge, incredibly popular acts - but it does good for everyone else who is even moderately talented. (since even mediocre bands can amass profitable followings)

      And this is why I (and, I'm guessing, many /.ers) oppose attempts to destroy online file-sharing. I think the many unknown acts have far more claim to make use of file-sharing as a marketing scheme, than do the few huge groups and organizations who want to shut it down with a large hammer.

      --
      Bush: He's Liberal in all the wrong ways.
    17. Re:Apologies? by el-spectre · · Score: 1

      I'm with you on allowing/not killing file sharing. As long as the band chooses to release their music, why not?

      --
      "Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
    18. Re:Apologies? by brer_rabbit · · Score: 1

      you don't mean the Little Drummer Boy thing with Bing Crosby? that was pitiful... [quick web search]

      David Bowie: Do you eh... do you like modern music?
      Bing Crosby: Oh, I think it's marvellous! Some of it's really fine. But tell me, have you ever listened to any of the older fellows?
      DB: Oh yeah, sure. I like ah... John Lennon and the other one with ...eh... Harry Nilsson.
      BC: Mmm... you go back that far, uh?
      DB: Yeah, I'm not as young as I look.

    19. Re:Apologies? by nathanh · · Score: 1
      I might actually check out St. Anger to get at the concert recordings, IF Metallica first apologizes for all the crap they pulled over Napster a few years ago.

      Crap? Metallica asked that people not share their studio-recorded albums over Napster. Metallica has a policy of allowing fans to record and share bootlegs of live concerts, but this policy has never extended to studio-recorded albums.

      Otherwise, this is pure hypocracy,

      The Royal Family of Syringes will buy you a dictionary if you promise to stop mangling the English language.

    20. Re:Apologies? by JayBlalock · · Score: 1
      As long as the band chooses to release their music, why not?

      Except, that's the problem. Current record label politics being what they are (and with little to indicate they're going to change sometime soon) a system where a band can choose whether or not their files are traded is not likely to come about. Pragmatically, you are pretty much forced to either say A)file-sharing should exist even if it means some bands lose out, for the sake of the greater good, or B)file-sharing should be snuffed out because allowing any theivery is wrong.

      An ideal in the middle would certainly be nice, but I'm not seeing it as a practical solution at this point. (for that matter, had the RIAA and certain bands realized its potential back when Napster first came out, this wouldn't be an issue. We would have that middle ground now. Instead, it's become a War, with a truce unlikely to be declared.)

      But anyway, I'm going away from the comp. Nice chatting with you.

      --
      Bush: He's Liberal in all the wrong ways.
    21. Re:Apologies? by Maditude · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'd be happier if they apologized for making St. Anger (the album). Have you heard that steaming pile yet? The title-track single was only the tip of the crapberg.

      LOL!!! I agree. I think the band must've decided
      that the best way to combat downloading of their music was to make it so awful that nobody would bother.

    22. Re:Apologies? by jshare · · Score: 1

      I listen not to your heresy.

      But seriously. This album is way better than Load or Reload (not saying much, I know). It's far more driving, and the drums are way better.

      I'm thinking about actually purchasing it. :)

    23. Re:Apologies? by Planesdragon · · Score: 1

      While Metallica may have been legally permitted to do what they did, in the end, they SUED their own fans for being overly enthusiastic.

      Did they? I know that they got Napster to block certain user accounts, but I didn't hear about Metallica actually taking a fan to court. (The RIAA did, but they're lawyers.)

    24. Re:Apologies? by arose · · Score: 1

      Work is when they compose and play, music as such is NOT work.

      --
      Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
    25. Re:Apologies? by Sabalon · · Score: 1

      There was a fake St Anger album floating around before the real one made it. It was a bunch of songs by other metal bands - but the mp3's were named the same titles as those on St. Anger.

      It was a much better album :)

    26. Re:Apologies? by leviramsey · · Score: 1

      Basically what happened was

      • Metallica requests that Napster block certain files.
      • Napster says "show us a list of users exchanging the material in question and we'll ban them."
      • Metallica does that.
      • About 10% of the users cited appealed, forcing Metallica to either sue them individually or give up.
      • Metallica gives up.
    27. Re:Apologies? by leviramsey · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And Metallica has repeatedly stated that their goal was never for Napster to be shut down, and they were never party to any legal action to achieve that end (their only connection to the RIAA is that their music is physically distributed by Elektra, part of AOL Time Warner). All they requested was that their recordings not be exchanged through the P2P services. Ulrich explictly said that if any content creator wanted to distribute (or allow distribution of) their works through Napster et al, that Metallica had no quibble with that and would seek to preserve that option.

      Of course, how many unknown acts derived any benefit from the likes of Napster and Kazaa and so forth? AFAIK, they're search based systems, which require that you search for $ARTIST_NAME or $SONG_TITLE or what not. If you're an unknown band, no one is going to search for you (unless there are people out there using dictionary attacks to come up with names of artists). Of course, what I'd be interested to see is a P2P system that, when you ran a search, would return in a separate list, a list of files that were commonly found along with what you're searching for in users' collections. But as far as I know, no one's done that yet.

    28. Re:Apologies? by leviramsey · · Score: 1
      Except, that's the problem. Current record label politics being what they are (and with little to indicate they're going to change sometime soon) a system where a band can choose whether or not their files are traded is not likely to come about.

      Interestingly, Metallica is one of the very few artists that has the power to control how their works are distributed. Allow me to elaborate on the legal structure of Metallica and who owns their music.

      Around 1993, Metallica's contract (based on the traditional record contract) with Elektra expired. The band reached a deal where they agreed to buy back all their material which Elektra previously owned the copyrights to. These rights were then transferred to a corporation called E/M Ventures, whose shareholders consisted of the 4 band members, their management company (Q Prime), and Elektra, owning essentially equal shares (I think Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield each got slightly larger shares). E/M Ventures then signed a distribution contract with Elektra which would give E/M 50% of the wholesale price of each unit as a royalty (E/M would retain ownership of all subsequent recordings). The end result is that Metallica (through having voting control of the company that formally owns their music) has total control over the distribution of their music. Why did Elektra agree to this arrangement? First, it removed virtually all front-end risk. E/M pays for the production of Metallica albums out of its own pocket. Videos and such are produced by E/M. Elektra's only risk is in manufacturing the discs. However, by being part of E/M, Elektra gets a cut of revenue streams they never had a piece of before: tour profits and merchandising being the main streams.

      Only a band as successful as Metallica (IIRC, they're closing in on only having the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin ahead of them on the list of best-selling groups in history, and they're selling their back catalog faster than the others on the list... if things continue like this, Metallica will probably take over as the best selling band in history sometime before 2010) could cut a deal like that, however.

    29. Re:Apologies? by Anonymous+DWord · · Score: 1

      Only a band as successful as Metallica (IIRC, they're closing in on only having the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin ahead of them on the list of best-selling groups in history...

      You're right, except for the Stones and Led Zep.

      --
      "If he thinks he can hide and run from the United States and our allies, he's sorely mistaken." Bush on bin Laden
    30. Re:Apologies? by acidrain69 · · Score: 1

      I mean works as in their product. It is still owned by them, errr, the record co.

      --
      -- Having a Creationist Museum is like having an Atheist place of worship
    31. Re:Apologies? by Jaysyn · · Score: 1

      I can name at least 5 people over the age of 50, who do just that, except they aren't downloading Pop crap music. They we're mostly downloading music they couldn't go out & buy because it was out of production.

      Jaysyn

      --
      There is a war going on for your mind.
    32. Re:Apologies? by el-spectre · · Score: 1

      I'd say that this is more reasonable... given that the major gripe about piracy is that it is theft... and you can't steal what isn't available... sounds ok to me.

      --
      "Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
    33. Re:Apologies? by fucksl4shd0t · · Score: 1

      This album is way better than Load or Reload (not saying much, I know).

      So were the collective works of Britney SPears and Christina Aguilerra. And along with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilerra, I'd like to fuck Metallica up the ass with my metal dick.

      I'll make them *see* exactly what metal up the ass is all about...

      --
      Like what I said? You might like my music
    34. Re:Apologies? by 357_Magnum · · Score: 1

      But of course on Kazaa you can see other users' shared files, which means that if you dl an anime episode or a single from Weezer, you'll be able to find what a person who you're dl-ing from enjoys and maybe your tastes will be the same. This is what sometimes helps me find out what else I would like to experience.

      --
      Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.
    35. Re:Apologies? by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      Can't you browse other files person X has?

      I know for a fact that with some system you could (I don't use any of the stuff because I spend all my computer time Gaming and Using /.. I am too lazy to burn CDs off of MP3s and have 50+ CDs that are solidly of songs I want to listen too, with another 75+ that I like over half the tracks). But I had a friend that used to talk about all the cool stuff he found when he copied a whole bunch of shit from someone elses colection that had similar tastes based on the bands reconized.

      Of course he will never buy a CD again, so his new discovery didn't help said band at all.

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    36. Re:Apologies? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Copyright isn't about money or music, really--it's about control of one's creation.

      A desire to control usually indicates a weakness of the personality. A desire to seek fame is usually an indication that the individual is insecure.

      Go figure.

    37. Re:Apologies? by untaken_name · · Score: 1

      Do you think metallica really cares what your opioions are ? Real fans never left Metallica, you are just one of the fringe thiefs and wanna be metallica fan.

      I don't care what *their* 'opioions are. I never d/l any of their music, because I own all the albums up to and including justice, and after that, I didn't want any of their shit music. I am no longer a metallica fan, but I still listen to their *good* albums. Real fans insist that their bands make decent music. If you blindly love/buy everything a band makes, even when it totally sucks dick, you're not a fan, you're an idiot.

    38. Re:Apologies? by dmaxwell · · Score: 1

      IF Metallica first apologizes for all the crap they pulled over Napster a few years ago.

      They should apologize to the PAN newsreader guys while they're at it. I think PAN was attacked out of spite when Napster wasn't dying fast enough for them.

    39. Re:Apologies? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We've all agreed, decades ago, that when someone is making something, they get to decide when to release it into the wild

      Maybe you agreed. I didn't.

    40. Re:Apologies? by swv3752 · · Score: 1

      I remember on Napster you could search the contents of a particular user.

      --
      Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life
    41. Re:Apologies? by xTown · · Score: 1

      Preach it! An attitude like...was it Jason who said "People call us sell-outs. Did we sell out? Sure--we sell out every arena we play in, every night"?...an attitude like this shows exactly where the emphasis is for these guys. I don't blame them for being successful; I blame them for not trying anymore. Laying down a bunch of random crap in ProTools and stringing it together any which wat does not an album make.

      When "Metallica" came out, my first reaction was, "Is this a joke?" The years have softened my vitriol somewhat, but only somewhat, and I still find the album basically unlistenable. Leave us not mention the albums they made after that, which I had the good sense not to buy.

      Blame Bob Rock, the Producer Whose Touch Turns Gold To Shit.

    42. Re:Apologies? by arose · · Score: 1

      No it's not, they have a temporary(?) monopoly on distribution of their product (product, not work), but you just can't own something like music -- long live memes.

      --
      Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
    43. Re:Apologies? by machine+of+god · · Score: 1

      Actually, I have found a lot of new music that I absolutely love on kazaa and whatnot. Whenever I find a person with a song that I like or with a fast connection, I look at all of the songs they're sharing. There are almost always more songs that I like but have never heard before. Consequently I need a new harddrive. :)

    44. Re:Apologies? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...which require that you search for $ARTIST_NAME or $SONG_TITLE or what not... Forget Napster, Kazaa, or ther P2P solutions. Good ole Usenet is still the place to browser. Alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.* Great place to find and sample bands before you go out and *buy* their cd's. Easily half my current cd collection started as a random sample from those groups.

    45. Re:Apologies? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually two very ommon searches on napster were, "live", and "cover"

      Quite a few "unknown" bands got found that way. I know I found several.

      In addition the Napster chat rooms were often quite lively and many people heard about new acts through them.

    46. Re:Apologies? by broter · · Score: 1

      ...and you can't steal what isn't available...

      But this is counter to the main claim behind closing the rom images for mame (didn't get into it mysqlf, though). The idea that copyright holders should be able to let a work sit out of the public in the off chance that they might decide to sell it sometime in the future.

      Under the law as it stands now, this is legal for most copyright works. Only a few have compulsery (sp?) licenses that I know of.

      --
      "One man can change the world with a bullet in the right place."
      - Mick Travis, "If..."
    47. Re:Apologies? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Of course, what I'd be interested to see is a P2P system that, when you ran a search, would return in a separate list, a list of files that were commonly found along with what you're searching for in users' collections. But as far as I know, no one's done that yet."

      They could call it AmaZaa, and it could feature one-click downloading (patent pending).

  6. 200.0.0.0/8 by Tackhead · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    Finally a way to cut down on spam from open proxies in LACNIC netblocks. (And finally, a reason to unblock, temporarily, 200.0.0.0/8)

    Then we slashdot all of Brazil, at least until the mirrors are up :-)

    1. Re:200.0.0.0/8 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      > Then we slashdot all of Brazil, at least until the mirrors are up :-)

      Obviously somebody didn't see where the liquid nitrogen website with 2 megabytes of graphics was hosted.

  7. Easy one by Eyston · · Score: 3, Funny

    Is this just a flagrant attempt to recapture the interest of the thousands of fans they lost in their battle with Napster

    Yes.

    -Eyston

  8. Only a year late for Perl drive ? by Vanieter · · Score: 1

    Damn, Slashdot is catching up !

  9. GCT by Rick+the+Red · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If GCT actually does it, will the X-Prize folks accept their appliation after the fact?

    --
    If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
    1. Re:GCT by SeanTobin · · Score: 5, Interesting

      If GCT actually do it, I believe the X-Prize would be the least of thier concernes.

      Aside from a Nobel prize, thier work would be a base upon which to rewrite most of physics. Heck, depending on which free energy theory they are using, we might even get a grand unified field theory out of it.

      Of course, every power company would be licensing thier technology. So would every transportation industry. Heck, I bet even AMD could make some kickass fans with antigravity/gravity control technology!

      But the applications wouldn't be limited to transportation and energy production. You would be able to grow crystals of immence size via gravity control. Imagine silicon wafers meters in size. That would be a boon for chip production.

      Then, there are the obvious weapons from this... gosh.. it'd be too bad if the $enemy{"terrorist_country"} experienced a momentary gravitional increase of 500g's.

      But you probably don't need to worry. It'll never fly.

      --
      Karma: SELECT `karma` FROM `users` WHERE `userid`=138474;
    2. Re:GCT by cheesybagel · · Score: 1
      Their project sounds like complete bullshit. Just take a look at their homepage.

      Not only do they propose to use the ZPE field to generate energy, they also propose to make their own temperature independent superconductors to make a storage device as well as use the ZPE field for propulsion.

      I have these fine Mars properties I can sell you! Interested?

    3. Re:GCT by DeanAsh · · Score: 1

      Looks like GCT are trying to gain legitimacy by association - if the X-Prize accepted their proposal, it would look like a vindication of their claims. Makes it easier to gull investors.

      --
      What is the shortest sig that cannot be expressed in fewer than 20 words?
    4. Re:GCT by Thing+1 · · Score: 2, Funny
      It's a neat idea, and would be amazing if it works. "Free energy" by stealing from a higher plane. I wonder if the denizens of the higher plane would be concerned?

      I was very amused by one of their pages. They have several typos throughout their pages, but this one typo painted an amusing picture:

      Anchored to the main body by 90 stainless steel crews [...]
      (Note: should have been "screws"...)

      I pictured 90 crew members, exhausted, gripping the main body and the Upper Payload Body, trying to keep them from drifting apart. Yeah, I'm a little twisted.

      --
      I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
    5. Re:GCT by Lord_Dweomer · · Score: 1
      "Of course, every power company would be licensing thier technology."

      The power companies would be the LAST people I'd want to license this.....well, "obtain the patent" at least....because we all know what would happen if the lightbulb industry for example suddenly made a lightbulb that never needed to be replaced......well, same theory. But licensing I guess would be fine.

      --
      Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
    6. Re:GCT by Durin_Deathless · · Score: 1

      Exactly. According to _current_ laws of physics, you have to make a bend in space/time OUTSIDE you ship to counteract gravity, and it would have to simulate something really dense. Like the guy who came up with this cockamamy idea. You would destroy a lot with that much power.

      Seriously, you can't alter space/time with a superconductor ring(look at their site). Their site shows no way they can do this.

      Come on, zero point energy? That was in CBS's Alias TV show(Rimbaldi's music box buried in Siberia, for those who don't know). It's a joke.

      All that said, I would love for something like this to work. Very much. Just it isn't possible. Go eat at Milliways.

      --
      You should use AdiumX on your Mac.
    7. Re:GCT by Troed · · Score: 1
      zero point energy ... It's a joke

      Zero Point energy is not a joke, however, whether it's harvestable is debated.

    8. Re:GCT by PsibrII · · Score: 1

      I think Douglas Adams covered the problem well enough where in the book they lynch the creator of the improbability drive for being a smartass. I suspect the same thing is likely to happen in real life. I was just waiting for those guy who got light propagating 300 times faster in a crystal to be mobbed by angry physics dorks. Any sort of anti-gravity or gravity lensing demos will have to be done while the creators are in the deepest swiss nuke bunker because the aerospace engineers will be looking to kill them.

    9. Re:GCT by machine+of+god · · Score: 1

      Grand unified theory: When not just any unified theory will do.

  10. gravity by mxn · · Score: 5, Funny

    If the Budapest team finds a way to manipulate gravity into propellantless propulsion, I doubt they'll miss that $10M x-pize too much..

  11. "SCO flavor is rather unsavory now" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    1. Re:"SCO flavor is rather unsavory now" by eegeerg · · Score: 1

      Can nmap (or midnight commander, etc.) really remove SCO support? What are they going to do, add some code which detects SCO and dump core?

      Removing the default library paths from the Makefile just doesn't sound all that scary...

    2. Re:"SCO flavor is rather unsavory now" by SkArcher · · Score: 1

      Can nmap (or midnight commander, etc.) really remove SCO support? What are they going to do, add some code which detects SCO and dump core? Removing the default library paths from the Makefile just doesn't sound all that scary...

      It might not sound like much, but what it means is that if a problem occurs in use with SCO product... no one will even attempt to fix it.

      Given the nature of open source, that is all that can be done, but it is enough, IMHO

      --

      An infinite number of monkeys will eventually come up with the complete works of /.
    3. Re:"SCO flavor is rather unsavory now" by rodgerd · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Remove any autoconf, Makefile, #ifdefs, and the like which adapt the nmap build to work with SCO's systems, and you've just made it all-but-impossible for most people to get nmap to build on SCO's systems, especially if there's any network voodoo that needs to make it run on the relevant systems.

      I suppose someone could maintain a seperate patch stream against nmap to let it build, but it's a real pain.

    4. Re:"SCO flavor is rather unsavory now" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      is it possible to release something under a GPL license that states:

      everything the GPL currently states PLUS "except SCO, which has no right to even breath on said bits"

    5. Re:"SCO flavor is rather unsavory now" by sfraggle · · Score: 2, Informative
      is it possible to release something under a GPL license that states:

      everything the GPL currently states PLUS "except SCO, which has no right to even breath on said bits"
      A program with this restriction would not be Open Source - read The Open Source Definition, specifically section 5, "No discrimination against persons or groups".

      Personally I think such suggestions are childish and stupid. The entire point of the GPL is that the software does not have owners who can control and restrict how it is used.
      --
      were you expecting to see a sig here? perhaps you'd rather see the inside of an ambulance!
    6. Re:"SCO flavor is rather unsavory now" by sfraggle · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Presumably nmap previously had code in to support running under SCO UNIX. They've basically just removed it. They wont be supporting nmap running under SCO in future.

      Of course, theres nothing to stop anybody from maintaining a patch to keep it running under SCO UNIX, but I guess they still lose some support. I suppose in a way its a form of passive resistance - kind of like the FSF boycott of Apple, where they wouldnt port anything to MacOS after their "look and feel" lawsuit..

      --
      were you expecting to see a sig here? perhaps you'd rather see the inside of an ambulance!
    7. Re:"SCO flavor is rather unsavory now" by Maserati · · Score: 1

      UnixWare is neither a person nor a group, it is a platform. Nothing obliges the nmap maintainers to support any particular platform or obliges them to continue such support once it has been offered.

      If they'd just quietly dropped it without comment, would there be an issue ?

      --
      Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1992-1951
    8. Re:"SCO flavor is rather unsavory now" by sfraggle · · Score: 1

      I dont mind them dropping support; infact I think its a good thing. I was referring to the suggestion that licenses should be changed to prevent software being used on SCO UNIX.

      --
      were you expecting to see a sig here? perhaps you'd rather see the inside of an ambulance!
    9. Re:"SCO flavor is rather unsavory now" by Maserati · · Score: 1

      Well sure, I was really responding farther up the tree I suppose. Mis-clickage.

      --
      Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1992-1951
    10. Re:"SCO flavor is rather unsavory now" by Zigg · · Score: 1

      Only if you are the copyright holder of that software and all GPL-licensed dependencies. In addition, once you do, you're not licensing under the GPL anymore and can't link to anything GPL.

  12. Help! My aim is off. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "And what's in your makefile? JediTrainer writes "Community backlash begins! The author of Nmap has decided to remove all support of the SCO operating system as of version 3.28. Quoting the changelog, 'SCO operating systems are no longer supported due to their recent (and absurd) attacks against Linux and IBM. Bug reports relating to UnixWare will be ignored, or possibly even laughed at derisively. Note that I have no reason to believe anyone has ever used Nmap on SCO systems. Unixware sucks.'"

    And the logic of punishing the SCO community instead of the company is?

    1. Re:Help! My aim is off. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      "And the logic of punishing the SCO community instead of the company is"

      spend your money elsewhere,
      every $ they get by your IT spending is saying yes to their actions, you are in effect forcing the community to vote with their wallets, by discontinuing products for SCO the users will be "persuaded" into using something else or dont use the funky extras, you still have a choice.

    2. Re:Help! My aim is off. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, the way you get a company to listen is by getting their customers to talk / complain.

    3. Re:Help! My aim is off. by Bull999999 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "And the logic of punishing the SCO community instead of the company is?"

      3 users hardly count as a community.

      --
      1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d
    4. Re:Help! My aim is off. by molnarcs · · Score: 1

      Believe me, you are doing the SCO user community a favor. There is no reason for any company to run their business on SCO software, for there are better alternatives - most likely, what prevents those users to change is corporate inertia + current SCO FUD.

    5. Re:Help! My aim is off. by gandy909 · · Score: 1

      Uh, maybe the same argument the anti-Linux crowd uses to try to 'persuade' people to use their OS instead of Linux... "less apps available for your OS"

      --

      (Stolen sig) Remember: it's a "Microsoft virus", not an "email virus", a "Microsoft worm", not a "computer worm
    6. Re:Help! My aim is off. by MrLint · · Score: 1

      You mean SCO's attacking of the Linux comminuty by sending out letter that might demand some kind of payment? Anyone who is actually a SCO customer should really consider moving on.

      That sucking sound you hear is SCO.

    7. Re:Help! My aim is off. by gandy909 · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, there are other factors at work. Namely 3rd party software and drivers.

      Case in point, I am in the unfortunate position of (I REALLY hate to admit it, too!) running a (inherited) SCO server. While our application software vendor would, with major arm twisting, paying them to recompile, test, install, etc, still support our app if we had them send us a set of Linux binaries, the backend runs on Synergy (www.synergex.com). They do make a Linux version of it, but it is prohibitably expensive to get a 'different OS upgrade' from them, to the tune of about 15k last time I checked. So, I am stuck for the time being.

      --

      (Stolen sig) Remember: it's a "Microsoft virus", not an "email virus", a "Microsoft worm", not a "computer worm
    8. Re:Help! My aim is off. by molnarcs · · Score: 1

      Well, OK, I'm sorry to hear that. On the other hand, dropping support right now won't affect you that much, since it is about future updates/bugfixes. So for the time being, you can use whatever you have on your system, you just can't upgrade. Switching to linux is a good idea in the long run anyway, but I understand that you can't do it right now.

    9. Re:Help! My aim is off. by maxII · · Score: 1

      Thing is, many of SCO licenses are one-off's. Moving to another platform won't instantly damage SCO. There's no survey which tells them that you are no longer using their product.

      It's a bit unfair to force people off a platform in the short term as if it will harm the vendor. In SCO's case it will do nothing. In the real world you need time to change, without terrorists sabotaging what might have been good products to force you.

    10. Re:Help! My aim is off. by maxII · · Score: 1

      Sorry that was a bit harsh... see my other posts for a more rational thought, I was just getting more steamed up at the way people seem to be treating us poor users (non-admin / non-decision makers) around here without knowing how it works in the real world.

      If people who made the decision to use SCO in the first place see that Open Source is viable and won't give up on them due to a political view then they'll be much happier to use other open sourced platforms.

    11. Re:Help! My aim is off. by Bull999999 · · Score: 1

      I convinced my management to start replacing some of the Windows server with Linux and lack of Gator, AOL, Bonzi Buddy, and Realplayer for Linux didn't prevent them from approving the change.

      --
      1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d
  13. What about this Metallica story? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Metallica Tricks The Tricksters. They're planning to flood file sharing networks with Metallica "named" John Denver tunes to trick users. I hope they have Denver's estate's permission to use his works.

    1. Re:What about this Metallica story? by ramk13 · · Score: 1

      I have serious doubts as to whether that was Metallica planned, or just some kiddies having fun with the pirating public. Not that I was looking...but I if I had, I would have seen plenty of posts in various places claming to be real copies. As the parent post's link says these were either incomplete clips or just totally unrelated stuff.
      The release was very highly anticipated, which would have made it all the more fun for the kiddies.

    2. Re:What about this Metallica story? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmm, reminds me of No Cure For Cancer (Denis Leary), the 'Downtrodden' song, where he sings about death, etc. One of the causes of death he lists is 'John Denver on compact disc'.

      Maybe Metallica is hoping whoever downloads one of these songs will be scarred for life and will never download music again...

    3. Re:What about this Metallica story? by KevinDumpsCore · · Score: 1

      > They're planning to flood file sharing networks with Metallica "named" John Denver tunes to trick users.

      Doesn't this violate John Denver's copyrights? I hope his estate drags them into court.

  14. You need it because by ObviousGuy · · Score: 1

    Perl 6 will do $X.

    Why learn any new languages? Why not write everything in assembler? Hell, just write it all in machine code.

    --
    I have been pwned because my /. password was too easy to guess.
  15. Daft Punk beat Metallica to this... by szyzyg · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you bought their last album (I got the vinyl version) - you got a card which let you go to their web page and download exclusive tracks. Personally I think it's a great idea, I mean most live concert recordings will only be bought by dedicated fans and those people won't be abandoning hte album in favour of these extras (remember the Perl Jam concert series).

    1. Re:Daft Punk beat Metallica to this... by geekd · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I personally built the page for Sum 41 to do this, about 8 months ago. A serial number was inserted into every CD which got you access to downloads of live music in mp3 format.

      It's been done a lot.

    2. Re:Daft Punk beat Metallica to this... by moosesocks · · Score: 4, Funny

      You bought the vinyl version? Is this some sort of new form of security through obscurity?

      --
      -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
    3. Re:Daft Punk beat Metallica to this... by Seq · · Score: 1

      The tragically hip did this as well with their "in violet light" album.

      --
      -- Seq
    4. Re:Daft Punk beat Metallica to this... by mikeboone · · Score: 1

      Last summer Counting Crows Hard Candy album had a 'secret' website that used a code from the CD. They had a lot of live tracks for downloading on the site.

    5. Re:Daft Punk beat Metallica to this... by Suppafly · · Score: 1

      so do you know any of the serial numbers off hand ;) heh..

    6. Re:Daft Punk beat Metallica to this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Is this some sort of new form of security through obscurity?

      Yes

    7. Re:Daft Punk beat Metallica to this... by babbage · · Score: 1
      I think that was kind of the point of the Pearl Jam [1] concert albums: they flooded the market with so many of them at once (25 or something, and more later?) that only a serious nut would want to buy them all. More likely, people would get different ones and share them with their friends, and maybe make mp3s too. But that's okay -- the production costs had to be tiny so it shouldn't have taken huge sales to recoup the cost and give the fans a lot of what they wanted. I thought it was an interesting experiment in how a band could confront cheap internet competition in a non-antagonistic way. It sure beats the hell out of silly DRM schemes...

      [1] The band puts an "a" in the word "Pearl". Weirdos :-)

    8. Re:Daft Punk beat Metallica to this... by fucksl4shd0t · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Last summer Counting Crows Hard Candy album had a 'secret' website that used a code from the CD. They had a lot of live tracks for downloading on the site.

      Counting who? Aren't they that one-hit wonder whining band with the singer in dredds?

      --
      Like what I said? You might like my music
    9. Re:Daft Punk beat Metallica to this... by fucksl4shd0t · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      [1] The band puts an "a" in the word "Pearl". Weirdos :-)

      Not that weird. Considering that the phrase they actually took their name from is "Pearl Necklace", as in "Eddie Vedder's got a pearl necklace".

      --
      Like what I said? You might like my music
    10. Re:Daft Punk beat Metallica to this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think he's making reference to PERL in a roundabout way. I suppose a PERL necklace would be a linked list or a circular queue?

    11. Re:Daft Punk beat Metallica to this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've bought AT LEAST a dozen small label, and indie CDs that are doing this over the last 2 years.

      Why is it news when some washed up pop-metal band does it? Why should what they do make any difference or have any more meaning that what a Metropolis label band does?

      The fact that it does is what makes everyone on /. "just as bad" as metalica and the RIAA themselves...

    12. Re:Daft Punk beat Metallica to this... by Steve+Hamlin · · Score: 1

      Vinyl still has a reasonably big fan base, especially for music like Daft Punk that is mixed live by DJs spinning.

      Vinyl records make it easy to speed up /slow down tracks to sync up beats and do a manual crossfade for an uninterrupted set. Vinyl still has its uses!

  16. Despite all the Metallica haters... by ramk13 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Despite all the people who hate Metallica for various reasons ('selling out' on their musical style, becoming mainstream, fighting Napster), aren't they taking steps in the right direction?

    Isn't this what all the discussion has been about? They are actually changing their business model to deal with the times. Anyone who wants to pirate the album can go and find it, but they'll miss out on the value added stuff. Granted this isn't an earthshaking change, but I think it's a positive step.

    The cynics and haters will gripe no matter what they do anyway.

    1. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by pixelgeek · · Score: 1

      How is this changing their business model?

      The band is simply using the availability of new material as a way to drive CD sales. How is this any different than offering a free t-shirt or a decoder ring in every box?

      When they sell their new CD online only and through an independent publisher that isn't tied to the RIAA or the big music publishers then that will be a change but this is simply a new way to try to differentiate an old product and gain sales.

    2. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by Shadow99_1 · · Score: 1

      Um you do relaize that since most people will put all their music in one place & most file sharing programs rescan those places (if not the whole drive) when restarted. So that one person going to their site (after having bought the CD)now means that people who didn't buy the CD can still get those 'rare' 'value added' songs just as if they had boughten the CD...

      If they really wanted to make fans happy they would simply offer such things for free on their website & not force anyone to buy a CD... People could then hear their stuff & decide whether they may want to buy the new CD before actually buying it in a store.

      I could also add that due to their part in creating the 'music fans are pirates' attitude has probably lost some fans that will never ever buy a metallica CD again... Regardless of how they have 'changed' for the better.

      --
      we are all invisible unless we choose otherwise
    3. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      see this post for a insight on whats really happening with Metallica

      needless to say it's more evidence of stupid people trying to be clever

    4. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry Lars, you only got once chance. You're on my shitlist permanently.. and on the shitlists of a lot of other people.

      Lots of folks were saying "Metallica's gonna look really stupid in a couple years"....Guess what! They looked stupid THEN and this wimpy attempt at being "hip" to the interweb and online M3P music programs makes them look stupid NOW.

      Seriously, Lars could've said "hey, it's cool you like our music, but please buy our CDs if you can". No instead he had to be a total TWITPRICK (new word invented just for him), sue people, stab his finger at his fans on TV spots, and act like an idiot on Mtv awards shows.. so now him and his washed-up band can head over to VH1 "adult contemporary" or something, where they belong.

      I don't know about other folks, but the word Metallica means "anti-filesharing" in my mind, only in some vague corner of my brain do I even think of them as a music group.

    5. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by el-spectre · · Score: 1

      I also liked the touch of releasing, a few days before the CD, the live versions of the songs from DVD, onto the web.

      There was a 'scavenger hunt' so you had to find the songs, but it wasn't hard, and you got to sample the music before buying.

      I'm curious how the thiev... er, posters will respond to this...

      --
      "Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
    6. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by poptones · · Score: 1
      Changing? So what? too late. I am not an ex napster zealot - in fact, I'm not even much of an ex napster user. I had it installed for a time and tried it out, but I could probably count on one hand the number of tracks I downloaded with it. and yet, during all their fracas, they managed to finger ME as an infringer. Now, I really don't give a damn that my account was locked out; I mean, it would have been supremely easy (of course) just to get another. But if I was fingered then I'm sure thousands more were. And their music just ain't good enough to tolerate such a snotty, whuiny attitude. For such alleged badasses they managed to whine like little girls for more than a year, and because of that they'll never again be taken seriously either as artists or as "rockers."

      I've not listened to a single one of their tracks (except for the occasional use in a film soundtrack) in several years now and I can honestly say I don't miss the pissants one little bit. That some people will not only continue to buy their CDs but even support them on tour and by taking advantage of this stupid website deal only further proves the old adage of "people are fucking idiots."

    7. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by ramk13 · · Score: 1

      First you say that it doesn't matter since anyone can download it. Then you say that everyone should be able to get it for free, and that it's silly to *expect* people to buy it. Nobody is forcing you to do anything. Just because you want to try it for free, doesn't mean they (Metallica) should let you. That's up to them not you. Of course they can't stop you, since it's so easy to copy.

      Is it unreasonable to think that people should have to pay the artist to listen to their music? I guess this idea has fallen completely by the wayside.

      It seems that all artists will eventually be living on the 'charity' of their listeners instead of actually selling anything. You can get the music for free, how you pay is up to you. (When it comes to prerecorded music)

    8. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by Surak · · Score: 1

      Um you do relaize that since most people will put all their music in one place & most file sharing programs rescan those places (if not the whole drive) when restarted.

      Um, you don't think that's exactly what they had in mind do you? ;)

    9. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by sfe_software · · Score: 1

      Despite all the people who hate Metallica for various reasons ('selling out' on their musical style, becoming mainstream, fighting Napster), aren't they taking steps in the right direction?

      I have to agree. I actually don't care for the new album all that much (and I did go out and buy it), but after reading the Lars interview for the first time today, this is exactly what Lars wanted. He admits that the Internet just may be the future of music distribution, but what's lacking with Napster et al is control.

      Of course, they have a bit more control with their new setup. And, I don't doubt one bit that they are trying to win back some fans that may have been lost over the Napster issue, but honestly, they weren't being technophobic or anything like that, they simply wanted to have some say in the distribution of their works.

      I do still feel some of the tactics were too harsh, but the interview does clear up quite a bit of it for me...

      --
      NGWave - Fast Sound Editor for Windows
    10. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1
      Anyone who wants to pirate the album can go and find it, but they'll miss out on the value added stuff.

      Yeah, we'll have to wait until someone posts it, too. I predict it will take... Well, it's probably up now.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    11. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      > Despite all the people who hate Metallica for various reason ...

      You forgot to mention that their music sucks balls.

    12. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by ramk13 · · Score: 1

      You are totally right about it getting out. I'm sure it'll be floating around, but it won't have near the proliferation of St. Anger itself. In fact, it's such a large amount of stuff, that I'd say only the die hards are going to get it. And those people are probably buying the album anyway.

      So where does that leave the rest of us? Where we started originally, with the option to pirate more if we try hard. Where does that leave the die hard fans? More content for about the same price.

      So why is this a bad thing or even a thing to be looked down upon?

    13. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by Shadow99_1 · · Score: 1

      Obviously using multiple paragraphs to seperate ideas is to much for you...

      My first paragraph was just an FYI about how the original poster thought that the 'bonus materials' on the net would make a difference between CD owners & those not owning the CD... My point was that it wouldn't make a difference between actually owning a CD since most people that don't will still ahve access through whatever they used to get the music anyways...

      Then I stated that if they really wanted to appeal to fans they would allow some if not all their music to be downloaded from them directly. Without having to buy somethign first. I didn't say I don't think artists should make no money at all. I said (specifically) that if they wanted to appeal more to fans than should do somethign that would add fans, not cosset existing ones...

      Maybe if you'd read what I said rather than filtering it down to a few words that caught your eye you might have figured out what I meant...

      --
      we are all invisible unless we choose otherwise
    14. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by angle_slam · · Score: 1
      In addition, there new release comes with an 80 minute DVD. Good value for the money, even without the downloadable materials.

      Contrast their behavior with that of Radiohead, who's newest album was released the same day. Apparently non-US copies of the album are not real CDs, they are copy protected.

    15. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by arose · · Score: 1

      Next he will sue Philips and Sony to remove the volume controls from cd players, or else listeners have to much control over their "IP".

      --
      Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
    16. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by leviramsey · · Score: 1

      That's true. However, what speed are you getting from Kazaa or whatnot? Is it greater than the 120KBytes/sec I was hitting on my DSL line from the Akamai servers that host the MetallicaVault?

    17. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by eht · · Score: 1

      if you hate them because their music just plain sucks now, no matter how much they "get it" and go gung ho on the internet, their music will still suck and they won't be getting those people back, their new album is worse than the last two, or three, or four, depending on how you count live albums and whatever garage days was

    18. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by nathanh · · Score: 2, Funny
      I also liked the touch of releasing, a few days before the CD, the live versions of the songs from DVD, onto the web.

      Your keyboard, seems to have, a problem with, the comma key.

    19. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by el-spectre · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that, was, a, bit, excessive, eh?

      --
      "Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
    20. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by fucksl4shd0t · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Maybe if you'd read what I said rather than filtering it down to a few words that caught your eye you might have figured out what I meant...

      If I had mod points I'd have modded your post as Redundant, because it was! :)

      --
      Like what I said? You might like my music
    21. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by fucksl4shd0t · · Score: 2, Funny

      Next he will sue Philips and Sony to remove the volume controls from cd players, or else listeners have to much control over their "IP".

      Actually, I anticipate it going in these steps:

      1. Sue to remove the "Stop" buttons from CD players (Once we start to rock we never, want to stop again!)
      2. Sue to remove the Eqs from CD players and other playback machines (the Marshall noise is piercing through your ears!)
      3. THEN sue for the volume knob dealie.
      4. ????
      5. Profit!
      --
      Like what I said? You might like my music
    22. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by svallarian · · Score: 1

      Nah, You didn't know Christopher Walken posts to slashdot?

      Steven V.

      --
      I patented screwing your mom. But it got revoked for "prior art."
    23. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by Pionar · · Score: 1

      Next he will sue Philips and Sony to remove the volume controls from cd players, or else listeners have to much control over their "IP".

      Nah., he'll say that if listeners can turn it up too loud, other people who didn't fork over the $18 might hear it.

    24. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by arose · · Score: 1

      4. Manufacture hammers (aka illegal cracking devices).

      --
      Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
    25. Re:Despite all the Metallica haters... by CentrX · · Score: 1

      Why does the artist have "rights" to exclusively control the product of his work?

      --

      "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." - Thomas Jefferson
  17. Remove SCO From OpenSource Campaign by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I call upon all slashdotters who maintain opensource products to remove support for UNIXWARE in all future version. Explicitly disable the generation of your Makefiles for SCO machines, in protest and solidarity of SCO's actions.

    1. Re:Remove SCO From OpenSource Campaign by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      Explicitly disable the generation of your Makefiles for SCO machines

      Consider it done

      and mod parent

    2. Re:Remove SCO From OpenSource Campaign by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yeah screw the end user, that'ell teach them evil corporate mofo's.
      (maybe if you had a message that said fuck SCO and go here if you want a patch)

    3. Re:Remove SCO From OpenSource Campaign by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the end user keeps getting irritated with the platform the end user should switch. Since SCO is bitching so hard that linux has stolen everything from them, it's obviously the direct alternative. End user is fucked anyways, the company isn't going to support anything down the line, they'll be effectively dead to their customers.

    4. Re:Remove SCO From OpenSource Campaign by molnarcs · · Score: 2, Funny

      silly. SCO would not support their platform unless they win the case - otherwise they will be broke. Since the probability of winning this case is 0.00001% - actually you do a favor to SCO users by preparing them to switch in time.

    5. Re:Remove SCO From OpenSource Campaign by powerlinekid · · Score: 1

      Wait, you guys actually supported UNIXWare? Shit, I always just figured no one used it ;).

      --

      can't sleep slashdot will eat me
    6. Re:Remove SCO From OpenSource Campaign by minion · · Score: 1

      I call upon all slashdotters who maintain opensource products to remove support for UNIXWARE in all future version. Explicitly disable the generation of your Makefiles for SCO machines, in protest and solidarity of SCO's actions.

      Yes, God forbid that all 20 users of SCO get anything for free from the OpenSource community.

      --

      -- If we don't stand up for our rights, now, there will be no right to stand up for them later.
  18. The largest model? by Kwelstr · · Score: 1

    Hah! I guess that is the problem when anybody claims "the largest", "the biggest", "the tallest" ... I mean, who has done a world wide search for anything like that? Maybe there is a largest model in China or India or even Patagonia for all that matters.

    --


    ~~~Please pass the salt, I hate unsalted MD5s :-/
  19. On Metallica by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Lars is a fucking twit. If the decline in the quality of Icca's music over the last 6+ years has not disgusted their fans hopefully the public display of idiocy by one of the band members has. I used to go to Metallica concerts and buy their albums, not since Lars opened his retarded mouth.

    1. Re:On Metallica by homer_ca · · Score: 1

      Not that it makes much difference, but Lars quit the band. The Black album was still decent, but Load really marked their descent into sucktitude: all bluesy, ZZ Top ballads (nothing against ZZ Top), and now it's a lame ripoff of the Linkin Park rap metal sound (nothing against Linkin Park either).

    2. Re:On Metallica by cyril3 · · Score: 4, Funny
      (nothing against Linkin Park either).

      And that's where you lost all credibility.

      Calling someone a lame ripoff of Linkin Park is a paradox and a tautology at the same time. It creates its own black hole as you think about it and all sensible thought disappears as you consider the vacuum that exists their heads.

      God, I hate Linkin Park. And don't start me on Limp Biskit.

    3. Re:On Metallica by homer_ca · · Score: 1

      I know Linkin Park is derivative of Limp Bizkit and if you go farther back, Faith No More, but like it or not, they started this current trend in rap metal. So what does that make Metallica if they're a copy of a copy of a copy?

    4. Re:On Metallica by fucksl4shd0t · · Score: 1

      I know Linkin Park is derivative of Limp Bizkit and if you go farther back, Faith No More,

      Let's complete the tree, shall we?

      Anthrax is next up in the tree, with I'm the Man in 1986. Aerosmith is at the top of the rock branch, from there you head into the rappers of the '80s. Run DMC being the first rappers to cross over to rap.

      Also on the tree is Body Count, with Ice T I believe, as the rapper.

      Not saying I'm a big fan of this shit, but if you're trying to rub it in that neither Linkin Park nor Limp Bizkit started anything new then you really do need to follow the tree all the way up to the first-generation, which is actually an old-school rock band working with a (then) young rap group (note: they're called "rap groups", not "rap bands").

      So what does that make Metallica if they're a copy of a copy of a copy?

      Well, have you ever seen a picture of the ourobourous? That's what Metallica is now, and this has nothing to do with whether or not the original claim that they've turned into a ocpy of linkin park is true. Fact is, with that stupid album with the snake on it, they bit themselves on the ass and have just kept on chewing ever since then.

      --
      Like what I said? You might like my music
  20. Check out Beatallica by Izaak · · Score: 5, Funny

    Speaking of Metallica and downloadable music, I
    have to recommend you check out the spoof band
    Beatallica. It is insanely funny. Beatallica
    is a part time parody project by two good friends
    of mine. It answers the questions: What would it
    sound like if Metallica did Beatles covers. You
    can download their MP3s at www.beatallica.org

    1. Re:Check out Beatallica by LordSah · · Score: 1

      Dude, that's awesome. I'll get their EP once it's released :)

    2. Re:Check out Beatallica by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The singer so completely nailed the James Hetfield voice that its freaking me out. Actually he sounds at least 10x better than James on that new St. Awful piece of S#!T.

    3. Re:Check out Beatallica by el-spectre · · Score: 1

      You might like the comedian Jim Brewer. He does some music comedy, and was on the "MTV Icon" show awhile back, imitating James singing "If you're happy and you know it".

      I also heard him doing KISS featuring Hetfield doing "The Hokey Pokie"... funny shit.

      --
      "Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
    4. Re:Check out Beatallica by nossid · · Score: 1

      Nice!

      Odd, but nice. I can imagine this being a hit live.

    5. Re:Check out Beatallica by el-spectre · · Score: 1

      My bad, his name is spelled Jim Breuer

      --
      "Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
    6. Re:Check out Beatallica by sharkey · · Score: 4, Funny
      What would it sound like if Metallica did Beatles covers.

      It's been a hard lawsuit,
      And I'm whinin' like a 'tard!
      It's been a hard lawsuit,
      I should kick my fans in the nards!

      But when I run out to sue
      I find the kids that we screw
      Makes me feel alright!


      Lucy in the court with subpeonas!


      Hey Judge, don't make me sad!
      Take the kids' PCs,
      And give me money!

      --

      --
      "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
    7. Re:Check out Beatallica by leviramsey · · Score: 1

      For what it's worth, Lars Ulrich, in an interview with an Italian metal magazine, said that the band liked Beatallica and would like to get in touch with the people behind Beatallica for the purpose of distributing the Beatallica covers as B-sides for upcoming singles...

  21. Re:I wish I had a link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A Typical Malinformed Troll.

  22. Never Forgive ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting


    I will never forgive Metallica for being such dumbasses over Napster a couple years ago. I have all their CD's ... BEFORE they turned into assholes. None since and I dont pay attention to what they are doing. BEER GOOD ! FIRE BAD !

  23. MOD PARENT UP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    right on man, fuck the authoritarians.

  24. No UNIXWARE support from NMAP?!? by RLiegh · · Score: 4, Funny

    Then how am I going to use my OpenServer Boxen to crack open the computers of those pesky boys who make fun of my using SCO?

    Wanker, indeed...

    1. Re:No UNIXWARE support from NMAP?!? by zakezuke · · Score: 2, Interesting

      While I agree with you, in the business enviroment there are still many people still running SCO. There is a damn good reason for this, cause the cost of the license is lower then that of the downtime required to go to something diffrent.

      And nmap is a useful tool to test even a Unixware or Openserver box. The lack of this tool can be used by the IT department to promote something diffrent. "I'm sorry, but it's no longer possible for me to evaluate wether our SCO box is secure, the people who make the software no longer support SCO. It's reccomended that we upgrade to supported software, we don't want to risk getting hacked now do we?"

      While nmap isn't in it self a reason to update, I support this person's choice in no longer supporting a platform who's politics he disagree's with. While I "could" telnet to my home box and run nmap, i'm not about to tell management that. I'm going to use this person's choice to promote my own agenda, and hope the SCO platform looses more support.

      --
      There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
    2. Re:No UNIXWARE support from NMAP?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I hope you're kidding about telneting to your home system to test for security :-)

    3. Re:No UNIXWARE support from NMAP?!? by FroMan · · Score: 1

      Hmm, it seems to me that a more cost effective way to handle this would be to buy one linux/*bsd box and put nmap on it.

      I don't often nmap the host I am on as that usually defeates the purpose. Normally I nmap another host to see what is open.

      Just a though.

      --
      Norris/Palin 2012
      Fact: We deserve leaders who can kick your ass and field dress your carcass.
  25. Proof by molnarcs · · Score: 3, Funny

    GCT: proof that Hungarians are crazy. I know. I live here. :) I think it was Edward Teller (??) who in a conference, when someone asked for proof of extraterrestials, jumped up and said: there is proof! They are called Hungarians.

    Anyhow, their homepage is quite interesting. See the prototype plans!!:)
    http://www.gctspace.com/

    1. Re:Proof by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Phase 1 : Unmanned prototype
      Phase 2: Unmanned prototype
      Phase 3: No X-Prize, no profit

    2. Re:Proof by leshert · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually, I find this to be all the proof I need.

    3. Re:Proof by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm also a Hungarian and I was quite surprised to see this questionable news pitched as semi-legitimate on at least one Hungarian news site (in Hungarian). Apparently, craziness abounds in the media, too.

    4. Re:Proof by molnarcs · · Score: 1

      Well, yes, *semi* legitimate - even index made fun of them (I mean the title for their coverage is hillarious).

  26. Oh boy. by FrostedWheat · · Score: 1

    Download. Burn. Share. Kick Ass

    erm,. shouldn't that be ...

    Download, Burn, Share, Explode!

  27. My dad was a cryogenic technician in the USMC... by loucura! · · Score: 1

    We always had fun on the fourth of july, blowing up bottles with liquid oxygen and nitrogen. I had a wart removed with the stuff... that was interesting. A lot cooler than using duct tape IMHO.

    --
    Black and grey are both shades of white.
  28. Sounds like X-Price did the right thing... by WegianWarrior · · Score: 1

    ..to qoute the article on that gravitycontroled spaceship: Rozsnyay said that rocketry has been around for over half a century. That technology is tested and proven, he said. "Gravity control on the other hand does not -- and could not -- even exist according to traditional science," he explained.

    So, we have the leader/spokesman of the GCT claiming that they are working to develop a technology that is 'outside' of what science say is even remotly possible (and that in day and age where some scientist ponders on the possibility of timetravel). I don't think they should expect people to take them seriously, and I know that even if they showed a working model to me I'll have big trouble beliving it. The first thing I would do would be to look for the hidden piece of wire =)

    In a way, it is as if they claim that they can build a Pertetum(sp?) Mobile - something every halfbaked highschoolstudent with a minimum of knowledge about the basic laws of physics knows is impossible. If someone finds a "loophole" in the laws of physics however... I guess we could have machines generating more power than they consumed, and we would probaly use them to controll gravity with.

    --
    Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
    1. Re:Sounds like X-Price did the right thing... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1
      So, we have the leader/spokesman of the GCT claiming that they are working to develop a technology that is 'outside' of what science say is even remotly possible

      Both you and he are incorrect. Traditional Science (WTFever that means) does not say anything is impossible. It only says that if you do X, you will get Y. If they are doing something novel then they will get new results.

      Physics is not the law, it is a model of our observations, codified mathematically (or logically, which is the same thing with different symbols.) When we learn something new, Physics is revised.

      In a way, it is as if they claim that they can build a Pertetum(sp?) Mobile - something every halfbaked highschoolstudent with a minimum of knowledge about the basic laws of physics knows is impossible.

      If by "Pertetum" you mean "Perpetual Motion Machine" then... Well, it's not as if they claim that. And the only "loophole" you need to create one is the ability to harvest energy from some as-yet unforeseen source, which does not break any so-called laws of physics.

      If someone finds a "loophole" in the laws of physics however... I guess we could have machines generating more power than they consumed, and we would probaly use them to controll gravity with.

      One has nothing whatsoever to do with the other. Gravity appears to be a force solely related to mass, in that if you have more mass, you have more gravitational pull. (As such, we have no idea what the propagation time of gravitational force is, because we cannot move masses faster than or even as fast as C, and therefore we can't tell if gravity works faster, slower, or at the speed of C. So there's a lot we don't know about gravity.) But perhaps that's not true, perhaps there is simply some property of massive objects which causes gravitational effects, and it is possible that someone will determine what it is and find a way to simulate it without large masses, in which case, a technology like the one they claim to have come up with may exist.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Sounds like X-Price did the right thing... by WegianWarrior · · Score: 1

      Traditional Science (WTFever that means) does not say anything is impossible. It only says that if you do X, you will get Y. Uhm... That's putting things very much to a point. There are certain things the Laws of Physics (even thought they may be nothing more than guidelines) states you cannot do. You cannot create energy out of nothing. Heat cannot flow from a warm place to a cold (without help). You can't accelerate past the speed of light.

      One has nothing whatsoever to do with the other. Well, it was a tounge in cheek attemt at humour... if you manage one thing thats impossible, then you might as well do two impossible things. Impossible in this context means "falling outside what the 'Laws of Physics' allows".

      --
      Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
  29. Slashbackback by Otter · · Score: 2, Interesting
    1) The most important development is that I've learned the phrase, "I call shenanigans!" That's presumably a more polite version of "call bullshit"? That's definitely a phrase to start using.

    2) So that's what happened to Ars Digita. I walked by there the other day and wondered why it was now a community college. I still have warm feelings from the time I walked by, looked in the mirror and saw someone using a KDE app I'd written - first time that had happened.

    3) What's with the nmap guy? He h4x0r's some kid's computer and publically posts screenshots after hitting on him over a Slashdot post (yeah, models post here all the time) but all SCO rates is a Makefile change?

    1. Re:Slashbackback by andfarm · · Score: 1

      Apparently the claims that fyodor had hacked a kid's machine were falsified. The same person who first claimed this had happened recently said (sorry, no references -- someone back me up?) that he was trolling, and that he's now moved on to another target.

      --

      TANSTAAFI: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free iPod.

    2. Re:Slashbackback by smallpaul · · Score: 1

      3) What's with the nmap guy? He h4x0r's some kid's computer and publically posts screenshots after hitting on him over a Slashdot post (yeah, models post here all the time) but all SCO rates is a Makefile change?

      What? Link to this story please!

    3. Re:Slashbackback by Maserati · · Score: 1

      Shenanigans came into popular culture from, as does almost everything that didn't come from the Simpsons, including a now-classic Simpsons metajoke, from South Park,

      --
      Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1992-1951
    4. Re:Slashbackback by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I dunno, sllort might feel differently. Or sdem.

    5. Re:Slashbackback by andfarm · · Score: 1

      Do note that sllort's comment was in reply to fyodor's own comment, in which he notes (among other things) that sdem is a known troll. (In the page referenced, he notes that he's currently impersonating Theo De Raadt. sdem is obviously not to be trusted.

      --

      TANSTAAFI: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free iPod.

    6. Re:Slashbackback by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ok but that's crazy talk.

      shenanigans has been in popul--- oh fuck it.

  30. Yeap... the ARSA is in danger by SkewlD00d · · Score: 3, Informative

    The amateur rocketry scene is in danger because of idiots like Ashcroft and Sen Hatch. read this They think somehow that amateur rocketry clubs are breeding grounds for terrorists to make homemade SAMs and man-pads. The only problem w/ that ass-umption is that amateur rocketry societies and rules *exists* to make rocketry safer. If you want terrorist training in making rockets from metal, etc... you're probably going to go to Hamas, Al-qaida, etc.: you're not going to go to an amateur rocketry club meeting in podunk, ohio. Our nimrods at the doj, atf, etc. just want to outlaw a hobby because of the remote possibility that some lonely crazy is going to build rockets for some artillery strike or something. Let's outlaw guns, gasoline and matches while we're at it then. Shit, you can't even get rocket motors via UPS anymore, and you need a license to do anything. It sounds like raising the bar in an erosive way like 2nd ammendment, prohibition, abortion rights, etc. I wonder if any of the X-Prize peeps had the ATFE breathing down their necks.

    --
    The biggest trick the devil pulled was letting lawyers become politicians so they can write the laws.
  31. I think it's fair to say that the new metallica by RLiegh · · Score: 5, Funny

    is so bad, you can't give it away!!

    1. Re:I think it's fair to say that the new metallica by mandolin · · Score: 1
      (the new metallica) is so bad, you can't give it away!

      You - Know - It's - Sad - But - Truuuueeeee!!!

  32. Yes, application will be considered by sbszine · · Score: 1

    If GCT actually does it, will the X-Prize folks accept their application after the fact?

    From TFA:
    "We will be happy to reconsider your application when provided with evidence of the feasibility of your proposed technology. We strongly encourage GCT to continue with its research and keep us posted as developments warrant our attention," the letter states.

    --

    Vino, gyno, and techno -Bruce Sterling

  33. I see GCT are researching Zero Point phenomena by Trogre · · Score: 1

    I wonder if their entry was some kind of Casimir-effect powered unit?

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    1. Re:I see GCT are researching Zero Point phenomena by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hope it works, it'd be about damn time we have gravity control. Unfortunately, there are way too many crooks/cranks out there who are trying to scam people out of a buck or don't have a clue what the fuck they're tlaking about. I'll believe it when I can build my own working unit.

  34. Metallica Tricks The Tricksters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny


    Metallica Tricks The Tricksters
    When Madonna fans tried to download new tracks from her "American Life" album, they were greeting with a nasty verbal message from Madge herself. Metallica have taken a slightly different route. Those seeking new tracks from the bands "St. Anger" release on peer-to-peer networks have ended up with incomplete tracks at best, at worst - John Denver tunes. It's that kind of business savvy that helped Metallica debut at number one this week in Canada and the U.S.

  35. Assorted Articles, Assorted comments... by c0dedude · · Score: 4, Interesting

    On the Metallica issue, I recall a very funny series of cartoons mocking Metallica while they were driving napster into the ground. They're still funny today, and can be found here. I mean, with this new site, could they be any more hypocritical? You can find Ulrich's testimony before congress about shutting down napster here. As I recall, he came off as whiny.

    On SCO, this is a neat new idea. If enough major OSS developers start a divestment strategy against SCO, if nothing else they'll be ostracized and dead sure to fall when their lawsuits start going downhill. These sort of tactics could make the OSS community a force to be reconed with in buisness as well as technical circles, and maintaining the goodwill of the OSS community more important.

    On ice cream and liquid nitrogen, i have no idea what to say because the site is /.tted to hell but Sounds Yummy.

    --
    Since when has this country used intellectual elite as a pejorative term?
    1. Re:Assorted Articles, Assorted comments... by An'Desha+Danin · · Score: 1
      You can find Ulrich's testimony before congress about shutting down napster here. As I recall, he came off as whiny.

      Funny, I was of the impression Ulrich always comes off as whiny.

      --
      Anything you might ever need to say about anything has already been said better by Penny Arcade.
    2. Re:Assorted Articles, Assorted comments... by jellybear · · Score: 1

      YEah but he is a WicKeD drummer! Pappap pap pap papp!

  36. Wow! by m00nun1t · · Score: 3, Funny

    I love choice... now I can not download Metallica songs as well as not buying their CDs!

  37. Gravity Control Tech web site is hilarious! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    the contributor's page is especially great...

    evidently they've raised $251 !!!

    and if you become a level 3 sponsor for only $1000 you will get a ride to space when... ahem... they like, figure out how to get you into space for a thousand dollars... or something ;)

    1. Re:Gravity Control Tech web site is hilarious! by molnarcs · · Score: 1

      lol :)) actually, they began their research in the US, and moved to Hungary because they say its cheaper here. Also, they already spent 1.200.000 $ in research, and their lab is quite high-tech. I could provide I link, but I read this on a Hungarian news portal. The article is serious, but its title is funny, it translates to: "Antigrav Hungarian Saucer" and its in the middle of other headlines that are 'normal' stuff, like news pertaining to economics, politics, etc. http://www.index.hu/

  38. Re:Download. Burn. Share. Kick drumstick upyer Ass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, Lars Ulrich would love nothing more than to penetrate your rectum with his drumsticks. I'm sure Orrin Hatch would approve of this punishment as it might be "the only way to teach people" about copyrighted material.

  39. Metallica makes music? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since when? I thought that Lars guy was an angry copyright lawyer or something.

    Eh, it probably sucks anyway... it can't be any good if he sued to keep people from listening to it!!

  40. If Apache where to do the same as nmap by Gaetano · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Then that would say something. Its not like UnixWare or OpenServer is really part of SCO's buisness plan for the future, but still, loosing support from the apache group would make it harder for them to pretend to care about their products.

    1. Re:If Apache where to do the same as nmap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The FSF boycotted Apple a number of years ago. It didn't seem to have a serious impact.

      As for SCO, I suspect that if SCO can maintain a kernel and NFS they can probably figure out how to make apache and other software compile on their platforms. And one thing for sure is that they will always have the source code for both the current version, and the last working version. That should greatly aid in building it.

      Behold the power of Free/Open software & the GPL. It even protects SCO from the FSF.

      Now, what was that about baby-munching machines.. er lawsuits?

    2. Re:If Apache where to do the same as nmap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps, but I wouldn't be surprised if they charge you to use it. Anyway, SCO as a platform just doesn't make much sense anymore. It's antiqated, you have to pay extra to get anything useful, and is just overpriced to begin with. Unless you have some ancient software package that requires it, you're better of with a Linux or xBSD box.

    3. Re:If Apache where to do the same as nmap by maxII · · Score: 1

      Unless you have some ancient software package that requires it


      That's the problem... that and the fact that you only pay for the main license once, so anyone who bought it before they turned nasty is now being targetted as if they are SCO themselves, so the target of such a boycott is seriously in error.
    4. Re:If Apache where to do the same as nmap by arn0n · · Score: 1

      I am disgusted at SCO as much as the next geek, but removing support for software on their platform hurts their users too, and in the long run it will get back at the Free Software community:
      Lets assume that the Apache group pulls out the plug on UnixWare support. It sends UnixWare/apache users scrambling to find another solution, and creates some noise in the industry. Next thing you know, Microsoft, or any other proprietary software vendor, comes along declaring: "You shouldn't use OSS, because you never know when they will turn against your vendor. Look at those poor SCO customers who got punished because SCO defended its IP!"
      See, if I am an AIX/apache user should I be worried about IBM doing something that annoys the community sometime in the future, leading to me having to either get another OS, or get another web server?

    5. Re:If Apache where to do the same as nmap by Gaetano · · Score: 1
      You should read this comment by the nmap author.

      Also they can't really say "you never know when they will turn against your vendor" because it would be more like "they will turn against your vendor when they begin to threaten every user of linux (or other oss product) and generally act like total asses".

      IBM is a company that is big enough to maintain their own distribution of apache (and they do) while SCO has 350 employee's and probably couldn't manage to do as well if the apache group refused to have anything to do with them.

  41. Shameless Plug by pyr0 · · Score: 1

    Rather offtopic, but speaking of bands making fun of Metallica, a friend and I decided to make a joke death-metal band a while back because we were bored. Our first song is entitled ...And Then I Laughed and Had a Beer". I did the vocals, my friend did all the guitar work, and the drums are a drum machine program.

    1. Re:Shameless Plug by arose · · Score: 1

      How about going to a place that respects users, like DMusic?

      --
      Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
  42. mmm, cryogenic ice cream... by Fry-kun · · Score: 1

    looks like the guys forgot to mix the concoction while adding Chemical X... err... i mean liquid nitrogen :P

    --
    Did you know that "FTW" ("for the win") is a direct translation of "Sieg Heil"?
  43. And two things that made laugh by Otter · · Score: 1
    Laughed in a good way, from Joel Splosky (in a link from the link)

    Think about what happened to poor Marimba. They launched their company with infinite VC in the days of hyper-Java-hype, having lured the key developers from the Java team at Sun. They had a CEO, Kim Polese,Âwho wasÂbrilliant at public relations; when she was marketing Java she had Danny Hillis making speeches about how Java was the next step in human evolution; George Gilder wrote these breathless articles about how Java was going to completely upturn the very nature of human civilization. Compared to Java, we were to believe, monotheism,Âfor example,Âwas just a wee blip. Polese is that good. SoÂwhen Marimba Castanet launched it probably had more unearned hype than any product in history, but the developers had only been working on it for a total of ... four months. We all downloaded it and discovered that -- tada! -- it was a list box that downloaded software. (What do you expect from four months of development?)

    Laughed in a bad way, at Michal Yoon:

    In the open source world, there are many examples of software (notably, Linux and Apache) making a substantial impact on the world without the benefit of a large infusion of VC cash.

    Apache, yeah. But the Linux business as an exemplar of fiscal prudence?

  44. ice cream and liquid nitrogen... by joebeone · · Score: 1
  45. Propellantless propulsion is preposterous! by The_Dougster · · Score: 1

    The closest thing to this that even remotely has a chance of working is a Laithwaite style "Rock Crusher" or GIT "Gyroscopic Inertial Propulsion." Unfortunately this hypothetical torque to thrust loophole doesn't seem to work after so many failed attempts to make one. Bummer.

    The best bet is an ion drive "relativity rocket" where you fire something like a lead atom out of a barrel at the speed of light. Theroetically it takes infinite force to accelerate a particle to the speed of light, so you would get an equal an opposite infinite reaction force. Even in this case you always need a propellant. This is the how to theoretically maximize your thrust produced per mass consumed. You'd need one heck of a particle accelerator, and some humongous nuclear powerplant to run it. Getting all this put together in orbit is beyond our means right now, we can't even build anything like this on the surface yet.

    --
    Clickety Click ...
  46. Others may recall... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  47. not a new idea by ajaxxx · · Score: 1
    the FSF did the same thing to Apple back in the early 90s over the look-and-feel lawsuits.

    background reading on the subject can be found here, and here, and pretty much everywhere else google knows about.

    if this kind of "boycott" did any good, slashdot would be using PNGs by now, wouldn't they? *cough* in this case, it's only a good idea if the linux community can come up with absolute, solid, will-hold-up-in-court proof that SCO is talking out of their collective asses about this.

    and even then, who cares? SCO's unix products blow chunks anyway. SCO is irrelevant. they're being petty. why descend to their level?

    1. Re:not a new idea by bstadil · · Score: 1
      SCO is irrelevant. they're being petty. why descend to their level?

      Maybe so, but a concerted response from FOOS will get a fair amount of press. This will get SCO's share price to drop despite the mentioned minor real world impact. FUD campaigns works both ways.

      --
      Help fight continental drift.
  48. Metallica can kiss my ass by gandy909 · · Score: 1

    I was a big fan of theirs before the Napster/Congress debacle. From that day on, without exception, I have never listened to a single song of theirs when I had control of the choice of music/station. Each time their music comes on I note the station, switch to another, and make it a priority to avoid that station for the rest of the day.

    Some people tell me that it is a total waste of time and makes no difference whatsoever. To that I say, if that is true then the entire premise and theory of the whole advertising industry is a complete lie. If every person who feel this way does their part it can and will make a difference

    --

    (Stolen sig) Remember: it's a "Microsoft virus", not an "email virus", a "Microsoft worm", not a "computer worm
    1. Re:Metallica can kiss my ass by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      If you don't listen to them any more, they win. If you don't pay to listen to them any more, you win.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  49. Perl6 grant money mispent last year by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    on Dan Sugalski. It's been 2 years and Parrot still does not have thread support, an object model nor does it have a stable calling convention. All the grant money should go to Leopold TÃtsch who is doing 80% of the work trying to salvage this pig of a "design". And for all Leo's hard work he gets a piddly $1000?!! Come on! Dan got over $50K in grant money. The Perl6 debacle is not all Dan's fault though: Larry and Damian have yet to produce a final Perl6 language specification after 2 years as well. Compare Parrot to Mono to see how far they've come in the same amount of time.
    Parrot guys - just worry about Perl6 - the reason behind the grant money. Forget about this misplaced/misguided dreams of running Python, C# and Java on the Parrot VM efficiently.

    1. Re:Perl6 grant money mispent last year by Daniel_Staal · · Score: 0

      Can we get a -1 Baffling?

      --
      'Sensible' is a curse word.
    2. Re:Perl6 grant money mispent last year by dubStylee · · Score: 0

      It's posts like this one which name the names of everyone but the author of the post that remind me how apt the C is in AC.

    3. Re:Perl6 grant money mispent last year by smallpaul · · Score: 0

      Ouch. That's harsh. I think everyone is doing the best they can!

    4. Re:Perl6 grant money mispent last year by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Over $150K in Perl grant money pissed away and they have next to nothing to show for it. I don't think it's harsh. By comparison there were many working languages with VMs at the MIT Lightweight Languages Workshop that were coded in in a few months by a single individual.

    5. Re:Perl6 grant money mispent last year by King+Babar · · Score: 4, Interesting
      It's posts like this one which name the names of everyone but the author of the post that remind me how apt the C is in AC.

      I agree with you. I was not the author of the AC comments above, and I do not completely agree with them. However...

      I was at the (excellent) YAPC::NA in St. Louis in 2002, and it was pretty clear to me then that the grant-funded work had not turned out as well as it might have. I am a long-time fan of Damian Conway's, and I was worshipfully grateful that Larry Wall signed my *old* 1st edition Camel Book. But it was at this conference that I first had the very uneasy feeling that Perl6 would never really "happen". Either it would not be released, or, if it were released, it might not be as relevant as expected. It's now a year later, and therefore even more likely that Perl6 won't "happen". I'm pretty sad about this.

      I was very happy to donate money to the grant fund (not a lot of money, but more than millions of others), and I was hoping that it would become a viable model for free software development in general. Unfortunately, since the Perl grants were not viewed as a big success, I think people will be more cautious next time. That can't be the right result, however well or poorly you think the money was spent. And I do wish that the results of the grant program had done more to advance the cause of Perl6, since it might have been an interesting language. Sigh...

      --

      Babar

    6. Re:Perl6 grant money mispent last year by dubStylee · · Score: 1

      > Unfortunately, since the Perl grants were not viewed as a big success

      Hey, I got to hear Damian's Mars-Bar Quantum talk. That was enough of a success for me. :-)

      > even more likely that Perl6 won't "happen"

      I guess my feelings (not based on any detailed knowledge of Perl6) are that 1) if you want to do something big, you have to overcome big things 2) stumbling blocks at one stage in a process can lead to immense paradigm changes that wouldn't have been achievable without the stumbling blocks 3) regardless of whether Perl6 as Perl6 "happens" the process of attempting it has got to be firing millions of neurons in the brains of some very smart, hard-working, generous people and the results of all that will find their way back into the community one way or another.

    7. Re:Perl6 grant money mispent last year by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tell me, have you actually been _following_ the Perl 6 development process?

      Didn't think so.

    8. Re:Perl6 grant money mispent last year by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tell me, have you actually been _following_ the Perl 6 development process?

      Yes I have. Daily. I am not impressed. Two years of discussions about trivialities and special cases instead of getting down to the real business of writing a functioning Perl6 interpreter. Parrot is putting the cart in front of the horse. Perl6 is in dire need of new leadership if it is to be completed in our lifetime.

    9. Re:Perl6 grant money mispent last year by King+Babar · · Score: 1
      Tell me, have you actually been _following_ the Perl 6 development process?

      Didn't think so.

      Tell me: you don't have the decency to sign you name here, do you? Didn't think so.

      But that was too easy. Here's a more complete answer to your question.

      Have I been following the Perl6 development process closely? Not really, since it depends on high-volume mailing lists whose weekly summaries themselves are kinda inside. But what I do know is this:

      The Perl RFCs were done by Fall 2000, and since then we've had 6 Apocalypses (3 in 2001, 2 in 2002, only 1 so far in 2003), one half-finished VM (whose FAQ still has an annoying HTML error that I reported weeks ago), some perl design documents, and now, to my utter amazement, a *book* by O'Reilly due anytime now. In other word, over 3 years of effort, and more that you can read than you can run. Again, I'm a casual observer, but I have no particular reason to believe that finishing this will take less than 3 years. I do remember how long Perl5 took, but unless I'm really going crazy, Perl6 progress has been much slower.

      I know this is a frustrating situation for all concerned; the timing of the tech downturn could not have been worse for the development of this or most other similarly ambitious projects. But here we are, and I still have concerns about whether Perl6 will ever happen. Looking at what's new or fresh at dev.perl.org/perl6 doesn't make me feel more confident, for that matter.

      --

      Babar

    10. Re:Perl6 grant money mispent last year by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perl 6 has all the trappings of second system syndrome. Or is it sixth system syndrome? No matter. Too ambitious, no clearly defined goals. Should the Perl Foundation's money been used to create a universal interpreter VM or should it have been used to advance Perl 6 - the language? That's the real question. The Parrot VM is a huge side-track as far as I'm concerned. Does anyone not find it odd that 3 years into the project they do not have a prototype Perl 6 interpreter - however slow it may be - to test the hypothesis and functionality of the language? Bizarre.

  50. Re:SCO SCO SCO blah blah blah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wherever that server is located, they've got some serious bandwidth. That sucker downloaded at 445KB/second!

  51. PARENT POST is WORSE THAN GOATSE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    for those of us who hate macromedia products...

  52. Because I have better uses for my time by fv · · Score: 5, Informative
    > And the logic of punishing the SCO community instead of the company is?

    I am not "punishing" SCO users, just refraining from spending my free time supporting a platform whose vendor has taken Linux hostage as part of their scorched-earth greenmail campaign. Why should I? Also note that I have not (as of now) intentionally broken Nmap on that platform. I just won't spend my time providing free support. Nmap is Open Source, so SCO users can support/maintain it themselves if they care enough.

    Like many Slashdot readers, I have been following the SCO updates, their press releases, SEC filings such as their latest 10Q, etc. The more I read, the more absurd their case seems. Yet despite the utter lack of evidence from SCO and their increasing signs of desperation, Wall Street is still believes in them(!). Why? Now I realize the market isn't always rational, and certainly has no conscience. But the disconnect is still surprising. Many people obviously still believe SCO has a case. For this reason, I believe continued publicity and research is called for. Removing Nmap support for SCO systems is just one of my tiny efforts in this area.

    -Fyodor
    Concerned about your network security? Try the free Nmap Security Scanner

    1. Re:Because I have better uses for my time by killmenow · · Score: 1
      OK, I wasn't going to post, but I have to ask...

      After reading
      "Windows coders: We would love to have your help in making the Windows port a success"
      on the nmap website, I am curious to know: Do you not see the dichotomy (and IMHO hypocracy) here?
    2. Re:Because I have better uses for my time by YoHans+Gruber · · Score: 1

      I applaud this stance. If I had open source code I would do this as well. If you develop open source you have to power to do with it as you want. I would not donate a bit of my time supoorting a platform that has business practices such as these.

      If indeed there is a copy right infringement get them to remove the code and rebuild it. Most open source developers are quite reasonable people! If they were unreasonable they would not donate thier time and effort.

    3. Re:Because I have better uses for my time by maxII · · Score: 1

      Fyodor -

      Good work. However, I am an unfortunately SCO user with no potential to change the platform many of my clients use. So I will remain disappointed that you choose to act with hostility as SCO has in this instance.

      Nice cause, unfortunately with the wrong effect.

    4. Re:Because I have better uses for my time by solidhen · · Score: 1

      It would have the right effect because if enough people do this you and everyone else will be forced to dump SCO for a diffrent platform.

      --
      Some things are more important than an animated rat
    5. Re:Because I have better uses for my time by maxII · · Score: 1

      You missed what I said - I have no chance to affect the decision of my employers as to the choice of operating system. Except for the fact that I might demonstrate to them the power of some Open Source products, which might lead to them being better aware of it.

      I might come and go, they will just get someone who will work with more closed source software instead of me if it comes to that.

      So my statement still stands.

    6. Re:Because I have better uses for my time by PsibrII · · Score: 1

      Bummer. Chained to the hardware are ya ? Could be worse, you could be running some burroughs machine in some hole in the ground over at Wright Patterson.

    7. Re:Because I have better uses for my time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe this make you and other clients of SCO systems start to make some pressure to SCO stop their behavior.

      How many clients of SCO are now making complaints about their recent acts ? Probably not much.. but if actions like this by fv becomes more common these clients of SCO have a reason to complain to SCO.

    8. Re:Because I have better uses for my time by maxII · · Score: 1

      Not really a bummer, it's actually not that bad. Linux is still my primary preference, but SCO OpenServer at least is a good platform to ship out to clueless people that you don't want messing with it (exactly because of its proprietary nature).

      If they let me choose Linux, I'd go with debian, no desktop/X, and somehow hide apt/dpkg because they can't be trusted with such an easy to upgrade/install system ;-)

  53. Metallica St. Anger by fdawg · · Score: 1

    Have you actually heard the new Metallica album??

    It should be

    Burn (literally) then Kick whats left.

    Time to retire.

    As big and as rich as they are, they need their fan base back for the same reason they went after Napster: THE CASH. I mean someone's gotta pay for James's rehab.

  54. Oh, nice. :) by The+Pi-Guy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yesterday I was torrenting away trying to get QNX for a few hours straight, at unbelievably slow rates. But NOW you slashdot it so I can get faster. Oh, THANKS. Generally it's a good thing to download something before it gets /.'ed, but in this case it's better after... *sigh* :)

    ~pi

  55. Don't support SCO. That'll learn em! by ebh · · Score: 1

    Right. All OSS projects should stop supporting SCO. Because we all know that corporations pay big bucks for UnixWare so that they can run OpenOffice and GNUCash on it.

    It's the ISVs that can really hurt SCO, because UW is usually on their bottom tier of supported OSes. One glance in the wrong direction and the ISVs start singing Hello, Solaris. I know for a fact that in at least one case, Novell PAID an ISV for the port of their product to UW and in another, no amount of money would get the vendor to port any of their products to UW.

    Unfortunately, ISVs whose bread and butter is proprietary intellectual property are not likely to be all that sympathetic to a boycott of someone who has a chance to set a legal precedent that could help them all in the long run.

  56. Largest model in the US, perhaps... by CanSpice · · Score: 1

    Apparently joshamania didn't read this comment about the Solar System model in Sweden that's 300 kilometers long. That's much larger than this one in Peoria that's 64 kilometers long.

  57. OSS whiners by MeanMF · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Basically what the Nmap people are showing me is that if I implement an OSS product in my company, I have to worry about the developers dropping support for the platform I'm running it on if they have a personal grudge against the company that makes it. I'll be sure to take that into account next time I'm evaluating software.

    1. Re:OSS whiners by molnarcs · · Score: 1

      Now the OSS community is really scared, I'm sure. Besides, you might want to think next time before saying silly things: there is a flaw in your logic. You see, if SCO would succeed, there would be no OSS product to evaluate in the first place (no OSS product in a GPL sense). pfffffffft.

    2. Re:OSS whiners by BlueLines · · Score: 1

      i can't believe this is getting modded down as flamebait. you're right on with this. most companies dont "get" open source, and generally don't use any of these tools. i worked at a pure sun-netscape shop (cc, netscape messenger server, iplanet, the works) everything), and even suggesting the installation of gcc was looked down upon. so let's say i finally convince them to let me use apache for something. and then apache decides to drop support for our platform (sparc64) for political reasons (sun does something immoral or scandalous, for instance). you think they'd ever let me install _anything_ from the bsd / gnu world again?

      --
      --BlueLines "The cost of living hasn't affected it's popularity." -anonymous
    3. Re:OSS whiners by moebius_4d · · Score: 1

      How about Bungie and Halo, or every other company Microsoft has bought? (Mac users will remember almost not getting MS Office not too long back.)

      How about Oracle's announcement that they'll discontinue Peoplesoft apps if they buy the company?

      If you're under the impression that commercial companies always support every customer platform in perpuity, you haven't been in this business very long. You pays your money, you places your bets. The difference with OSS is that, if your platform gets dropped, or the whole application stops development, you still have the source, which is a damn sight better than the situation with commercial software as a rule.

      Yeah, IHBT, but come on, I had to say it.

    4. Re:OSS whiners by MeanMF · · Score: 1

      If you're under the impression that commercial companies always support every customer platform in perpuity, you haven't been in this business very long. You pays your money, you places your bets. The difference with OSS is that, if your platform gets dropped, or the whole application stops development, you still have the source, which is a damn sight better than the situation with commercial software as a rule.

      Believe it or not, that wasn't a troll :-)

      There's certainly no guarantee that any vendor will support a particular platform, but when a platform is dropped there's usually a good economic reason. A commercial vendor usually won't stop supporting a platform as long as there's money to be made there. OSS vendors have no such incentive, and dropping support for a platform because of an ad that a company is running is downright infantile. If OSS vendors want to be taken seriously they need to drop the "true believer" mentality and focus on the bottom line. Linux vendors have done this already and have been very successful as a result.

      Also Oracle specifically said that they would continue PeopleSoft to support and enhance PeopleSoft's applications "into the next decade", but I seriously doubt that deal will go through anyway... And if it does, it gives me an excuse to dump our *&#%@( PeopleSoft system for something less bloated.

    5. Re:OSS whiners by moebius_4d · · Score: 1

      Well, here's where we part company. You're looking at the actions of a single developer, the nmap guy, who works for free in his spare time to develop software and gives it away, and comparing it "other vendors." But he isn't a vendor. When he says that he won't support changes for the SCO platform because of what SCO is doing, that's a reasonable decision on his part.

      Now, Red Hat may do something entirely different. They are an actual vendor, and if they sold a CD of software to run on SCO, and their customers wanted nmap, they would maintain a patch set and apply to the mainline. That's what they do, and what all the major distros do.

      So I think the problem here is that you are using the decision of a volunteer to act on his principles to predict the behavior of a corporate OSS software vendor. I suggest that they will not necessarily coincide.

      BTW, as a consultant I often find clients who made normal, reasonable software choices that with the passage of time have left them stranded. Like for example, Sybase customers who have a hard time getting support by LDAP synchronization tools is a recent one. If you're lucky enough to predict who will be the market leader in x years, then you don't have to change platforms to add new applications and tools to your corporate platform. But if you are unlucky, then you get hosed. If you choose OSS at least you always have the choice of continuing maintenance yourself (or by proxy) rather then just consigning yourself to a vendor switch for bug fixes and upgrades. This may not always occur at an opportune time, to say the least.

      Apologies for mistaking you for a troll.

  58. What would even be worse by Buzz_Litebeer · · Score: 1

    All those 1950's movies with people tooling around in flying saucers would have been more accurate than anything produced in the last 30 years.

    OMG I lauhged so hard, and I think I would suffer a brain annurism from the irony of seeing one these tooling around during a re-run of "the day the earth stood still"

    --
    If you don't vote, you don't matter, so don't waste your time telling me your opinion
  59. SCO backlash by 73939133 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    SCO operating systems are no longer supported due to their recent (and absurd) attacks against Linux and IBM

    Well, that is predicated on the idea that SCO actually has a UNIX business to hurt. It seems to me that they don't really have much of a product anymore.

    But assuming they do actually still ship their own version of UNIX enough to make them money, nmap may not make such a big difference. But if projects like Apache, gcc, and others remove SCO support, that might start hurting SCO. Of course, they'd be free to maintain their own ports and incorporate their own bug fixes, but that is going to cost.

    1. Re:SCO backlash by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 1

      Well, that is predicated on the idea that SCO actually has a UNIX business to hurt. It seems to me that they don't really have much of a product anymore.

      Then consider it a practice run. If any company with an actual interest in its products does something similarly absurd against open-source software in the future, we can use a stopwatch to see how long it is before all support for their platform is dropped from all major OSS/free projects.

  60. Hey, that's me on the ice cream photo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hohoeuhuhuh that's me on the ice cream photo!

  61. While you're at it.... by refactored · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Forbes is running a story on who is pulling McBride's strings.

    I don't think that claims that the Canopy Group is not behind this one will not hold up now.

    Now my fellow "crunchies", (the insulting name M$ friendly Forbes gives us), for the million dollar question, where does this money trail lead? I'll bet it doesn't stop at the Canopy.

    1. Re:While you're at it.... by hysterion · · Score: 1
      I don't think that claims that the Canopy Group is not behind this one will not hold up now.
      But no one disagreed to agree that they won't argue that you don't disbelieve that claims that they are not behind this one will not hold up!
  62. I should also note... by leviramsey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That this album is not in any way copy protected (at least as far as I can tell... cdparanoia had no problems ripping it). They seem to have decided to fight the file trading networks by putting out the Vault and also including a DVD of them rehearsing the songs (and the DVD's mix seems to be better quality than the CD...), for the price of a standard CD. I've talked to some people who say that they bough the CD for the DVD and the Vault.

    In it's second week (first full) and has now sold approximately 800,000 copies (350,000 of which were in the second week). Hopefully the record industry gets the message that the way to survive in the post-Napster world is not by suing the bejeezus out of people but by simply offering more value than can easily be duplicated by the P2P services. I mean, St. Anger has about 7 hours of content (75 minute CD, 75 minute DVD, over 3 hours (soon to grow) of concert MP3s) for (if you bought at Target or Best Buy) $10.

    Some have posted that other artists have done this, but none of them are of the stature in the industry of a band like Metallica. By demonstrating that you can do this and succeed with an album that was certified platinum before a single CD (apart from Amazon pre-orders) was sold, the RIAA has to be taking notice; Metallica has proven that if you deliver more bang for the buck, people will buy it regardless of how much free downloading there is.

    1. Re:I should also note... by valkraider · · Score: 1

      I have long believed that what will keep CDs from being stolen - is to make them attractive from a material vs. price standpoint. Metallica has done that - with combining low CD cost ($10-$12 most everywhere) and good amounts of content (75 minute CD, DVD, Internet downloads, and even all the lyrics in the CD fold-out). And heck, the new CD is *good*!

  63. Re:SCO SCO SCO blah blah blah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow, impressive!

    21:27:11 (831.81 KB/s) - `SCO_AEP_posterfiles.zip' saved [38425943/38425943]

  64. Except by mindstrm · · Score: 1

    Mass and Energy are the same thing.

    We don't need to move masses faster than c to find out if gravity propagates at c.. we only need to track the movement of some masses, and see how fast the change in the gravitational field propagates.
    That's like saying we can't measure the speed of sound because we can't move something faseter than sound.. we knew how fast sound was long before. I believe this has been experimentally observed, at least to some degree.

    According to relativity, a spinning top has a larger gravitational effect than a stationary one.

  65. Laughing Derisively by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Bug reports relating to UnixWare will be ignored, or possibly even laughed at derisively.

    That's too funny! We need more such resolutions to derisively mock ignorance and fat-cat mentality.

  66. It was in response to Gray's recipe by acidblood · · Score: 1

    The liquid nitrogen ice cream was indeed made in response to the story. The guy on the first picture on the page read the story and decided to do it, and they made the ice cream later in the night.

    --

    Join the NFSNET. Our prime goal is making little numbers out of big ones. http://www.nfsnet.org/

  67. Thank you, Fyodor by evenprime · · Score: 1

    It is nice to see a prominent member of the security community (no, I'm not sucking up) respond in this way. I hope that many other developers will respond in kind. I suspect that wall street would loose faith in SCO if most of the commonly used networking tools were not supported on SCO products

    --

    "Weapons should be hardy rather than decorative" - Miyamoto Musashi
    I think that goes for OS's too
  68. Infinity by mindstrm · · Score: 1

    is not a number, and no amount of energy can accelerate a lead atom to "infinite" velocity.
    When we say it takes an infinite amount of power, what we mean is there is no such amount of energy that can give the desired result. We can get ever closer, but never there.

    What you said is just a fancy way of saying "If we had the ability to amke any amount of energy we wanted, we could make anything go really fast"

    There is no such thing as an "infinite force". Infinity is not a number.

    1. Re:Infinity by The_Dougster · · Score: 1

      Right. In the Newtonian zone, acceleration varies directly with the applied force. However, as an object approaches relativistic speeds, the curve goes non-linear and an infinetesmal increase in velocity requires a prodigious amount of force. I believe this is due to the "Lorentz transformation."

      However what this provides is a virtual wall to push upon which is only a mere atom. In space, mass is the critical commodity, if you run out of propulsion mass, you are basically out of control with no means to change your velocity. You want to get the most thrust using the least amount of matter.

      It is not inconcievable that a powerfull reactor could be made which could provide a lot of electrical energy for a pretty long time, but there is a definate limit to how much rocket fuel you can take. I guess you could maximize things by using your spent nuclear fuel atoms as your propulsion mass. These are mere technical problems, the physics is real and it is believed that this scheme is viable.

      However, zero-point energy fields for magnetic propulsion has no basis in anything. This is typical hokester mumbo-jumbo. Don't get me wrong I would love to see this technology, but nobody has ever made any successful demonstration, and it is all based on way-out vibratory holographic universe theory and wacky fringe pseudo-science which sounds plausible when explained by a charismatic speaker, but it is completely alien to all known science.

      These guys always say that "narrow-minded academics refuse to accept these cutting-edge concepts" but that is just crap. When any honest scientist makes a real attempt to investigate them, they bolt and then accuse the scientists of trying to steal "their secret technology." It is all a big scam. You are better off making a space church and praying for propulsion because at least there is a pretty good argument that God exists. Zero point energy is a pipe dream, there is no argument as to why it should exist, they just claim that it does because they want it to.

      Stick with known science. If you happen to make a breakthrough in the process than that is awesome, but at least you aren't just pissing in the wind.

      --
      Clickety Click ...
    2. Re:Infinity by Dreamweaver · · Score: 1

      1. A lorentz transformation is a mathematical operation used in reativistic velocity calculations that keeps the speed of light constant (note that this is a very broad generalization, there are many, many sources for a more detailed description if you're interested).

      2. Expelling a single atom of propellant at any velocity will not do a great deal in your favor. One atom of, for instance, lead, travelling at 90% of light speed would impart sufficient energy on its emitter to cause 1 atom of lead to move at 90% of light speed in the opposite direction. If your emitter is composed of lighter elements, more than one might be accellerated to the same velocity as that single lead atom. However, if your spacecraft is much larger than an atom (which, presumably, it would be), your single-atom drive would not get you anywhere very fast.
      One mole of lead masses 207.2 grams. Let's assume that you build some sort of super-light vehicle that masses in at 1000kg. That would be 4826.25 times heaver than 1 mole of lead. This means that the force imparted by the departure of your single atom at near light speed would be spread across a volume 2.905x10^26 more massive than it is.

      3. Zero point energy does, in fact, exist. There is experimental proof from very reputable sources proving that there is such a thing. The question is not its existence, it's the feasability of harvesting the energy. The most obvious example of the application of zero point energy is the casimir force: the force pulling two parallel metal plates together. You can actually set up a casimir effect experiment in your own garage if you want to.
      The problem is that the casimir effect pulls equally in opposite directions on the two plates. This leaves no way to harness that energy for use. If one could create an asymmetric casimir generator then it could easily be used to propel a spacecraft without reaction mass. Too bad no one knows how to do that, or even if it's possible.

      Now, I'm certainly not saying that GCT is for real. They look to be about as bogus as they come (and on a tangetial topic, why do 'technology' 'companies' that are really cover schemes for fleecing invenstors always have such hideous web pages? The Onion has a professional-looking page that has fooled real journalists on several occasions; all the tools used to create it are available to people like GCT, so why do their pages always look so uniformly bad?). I'm just saying that it's at least basically possible to harness the energy source (though using it to counteract gravity is another matter entirely).

      --Dreamweaver

      --


      "If a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live" -- MLK, Jr.
  69. Me and Metalica... by zakezuke · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I never have been a big Metalica fan, but I did enjoy their music. Their liberal policy on music was a selling point for me back in the 20th century. Atleast, a band that says it's ok to make a copy for a friend. Good for my friend, who wants to know if it's worth buying a real copy, good for Metalica, cause their name gets spread out.

    But because Metalica said quite specificly in the year 2000 that they didn't want their music propigated via MP3, I complied FULLY. I will never make a copy for a friend, will never share one of their mp3 files, and in fact got rid of the two CDs of them I owned.

    My moderate like for their music doesn't compair for my distaste of their politics. I respect that they are peformers who's material they have a say in how it's distributed, and that's just peachy. Everything else I own with a few exceptions are by artists who are more tolerant of music trading, basicly operating under the assumption that while it is piracy, the gain in word of mouth advertising is far too valuable to interfear with.

    Bands like Metalica clearly disagreed with that, which is their right. As a direct result, and through no fault of my own, there is a generation of kids who do say, "Metali-who?". Those kids who know the name respond with, "Oh yea, those are the guys who killed Napster".

    Metalica made a choice, they took a stand for what they believe in. I can respect that. But they have to live with it too. A band's success or failure at one time depended wether or not it got airplay, today netplay is a deciding factor. Metalica didn't want net play, no diffrent if they said they didn't want their material played on the radio in the 20th century. This is exactly what they fought for and they sure got it.

    --
    There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
    1. Re:Me and Metalica... by angle_slam · · Score: 1

      Metallica is big enough, with enough of a name, to not give a damn about "netplay." They'll go platinum in their next release no matter what /. thinks of them.

    2. Re:Me and Metalica... by zakezuke · · Score: 1

      Actually, they do give a damn about netplay. Otherwise they would not have contracted speakeasy to host their web site to distribute .mp3 files. They give a big ass damn about it. Without airplay / netplay, old and new fans alike are not nessicarly going to be aware of their new material, and not buy it. Bands are alot like businesses, in the fact that they want to sell you a product. Word of mouth advertsing sells products, which is exactly what they want to do.

      Why the hell else would they release .mp3 files on their website if they didn't want net play?

      --
      There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
    3. Re:Me and Metalica... by PsibrII · · Score: 1

      You forgot to mention what size of jackboots and arm band you take.

    4. Re:Me and Metalica... by angle_slam · · Score: 1

      In order to access that site, you need to buy the CD first. Once you've bought the CD, who cares, they got your money already. They're using the MP3s as a reason to get the album, not as promotion for the album.

  70. Maine's is bigger than Peoria's, actually. by Jade+E.+2 · · Score: 1
    joshamania obviously hasn't bothered to read either the page for his town's model or the one in Maine. If he had, he'd presumably have noticed that the one in Maine doesn't, unfortunately, list the actual distance from the sun to pluto in their model except for the 'over 40 miles'. They do however list the distance from the sun to Neptune, on their Neptune page, and that distance is 30 miles, and Neptune has a diameter of 21.3 inches. The Peoria model, on the other hand, lists it's Neptune model at diameter of 15 inches, and a distance of 23 miles. So it would appear that yes, the Maine model is bigger.

    Plus while the first post only claimed (correctly) that it was North America's largest model, the second post claimed it's the World's largest, which as many other posters have pointed out, is wrong.

  71. The drums were better? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That annoying ping of a snare drum is better how exactly? The cymbals sound like they were recorded with a tape in some guys basement, converted to 32 kbps mp3, then recorded on an old lp, then finally recorded back onto the master cd.

    You want good sounding drums, listen to tool.

  72. Re:Don't support SCO. That'll learn em! by rodgerd · · Score: 1

    Yeah. I mean, no SCO customer would notice if GCC or Apache or perl suddenly stopped building on their systems. Yeah, those stupid free software jerks. Whenever have they done anything useful?

  73. Sorveterias... by weston · · Score: 1

    I spent three weeks in Brazil back in late 1996/early 1997. The ice cream experience was one of the unexpected highlights. It was good ice cream, for one thing... but the other thing was the way it was served: like a per-lb salad bar in the US. So you'd have 30-50 some odd flavors, plus all the topings, and you got charged some very reasonable amount per kilo. You could get an absolutely rockin' sundae for under 3 Reais (which was almost exactly $3 at the time).

    Some enterprising soul oughta do the same here...

  74. Assuming.. by Kwil · · Score: 1

    ..of course that gravity propagates slower than c.

    --

    That Jesus Christ guy is getting some terrible lag... it took him 3 days to respawn! -NJ CoolBreeze

  75. X-out the prize by zogger · · Score: 1

    X prize consortium really should allow the gravity guys in to the competition. They need a smidgen of lightening up on the subject. Are the guys really trying, are they degreed credible researchers? Fringe but credible? If so, what does it matter, it will either work or not work, they don't get any money unless it works. And reality is, relying on chemical rockets will doom humans to very near space only. They can be very refined, they are robust and work, but after all is said and done, it's still ancient technology. An entirely brand new way of looking at energy in general and travel is needed, clean slate, a white room approach. These X-guys guys sound like they would have told a young Tesla to STFU and go away.

    Maybe that's why they call some other advanced breaktrough in other technology a "quantum leap".

  76. Ice Cream Translated by zanderredux · · Score: 2, Informative
    Line-by-line translation of the ice cream page:

    (page title: Ice Cream Parlor -196C LLC)

    Do not try to do this at home, ok?

    How to make ice cream in 5 minutes.

    "Marco, I want some ice cream"

    Lucas going to buy the ingredients.

    The X ingredient (hahaha, nitrogen)

    Fill it up, mister!

    Safety gear

    Making the ice cream.

    Now, it only needs to be frozen... hahaha

    hehehe...

    More nitrogen.

    "Keep stirring, Dili."

    There's smoke coming out. It's cold.

    Done. One minute later it is ready.

    Let's taste it...

    Hummmm....

    Done. It's good. You can eat it now!

    Repeat: do not try to do this at home.

    Gee, I *really* need to find something better to do when idle....

    1. Re:Ice Cream Translated by adamofgreyskull · · Score: 1

      The original was funnnier :)
      "nitrogenia. hohoho!"

  77. GCT Space Phase 3 by captfi · · Score: 1

    GCT Space Seems to be missing a phase 3.
    Maybe the underpants gnomes are behind this.

    --
    "Never trust a computer you can't throw." -- The Mac
  78. In my experience ... by fv · · Score: 5, Interesting

    > I call upon all slashdotters who maintain opensource products to remove support for UNIXWARE in all future version.?

    For what it is worth, I thought refusing Nmap support for SCO
    products might generate a firestorm of flames from angry users. In
    fact, the opposite has happened! Obviously Linux/AIX users praised
    the move, but even the occasional SCO users seemed pleased. The one
    or two complaints were more than offset by pleasant emails like this
    one that just came in (name removed for his privacy):

    Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 17:41:07 -0700
    To: <fyodor@insecure.org>
    Subject: I'm the one user affected by a lack of SCO support and i'm happy

    I'll be sure to report with great delight of your choice to no longer
    support UnixWare to the one company I do contract work. The choice to use
    SCO isn't mine, it's simply what Mas90 runs on, and in the past has been
    adquate for the job. It's my hope others follow your example so I can
    report to management that useful applications will no longer be supported
    for this overpriced platform.

    I appricate your lack of support for the SCO platform and look forward to
    future unsupported products.

    With great respect...

    -- End email paste

    Anyway, I thought this datapoint might be useful to people considering
    such a move.

    -Fyodor
    Concerned about your network security? Try the free Nmap Security Scanner

    1. Re:In my experience ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure anyone that it doesn't affect is all for it. What a suprise...

      If you take that conclusion to it's extreme, we should just let MS kill Linux and Mac because of the incredibly small number of people it would affect.

      Fuck the innocent people, it's their fault right?

  79. Same situation as closed source software by evenprime · · Score: 1
    MeanMF said:
    Basically what the Nmap people are showing me is that if I implement an OSS product in my company, I have to worry about the developers dropping support for the platform I'm running it on if they have a personal grudge against the company that makes it. I'll be sure to take that into account next time I'm evaluating software.
    Suppose a closed-source application company has a "Business Alliance" with a platform vendor; i.e. they get money upfront from the platform vendor to develop applications for that platform. If the vendor gets upset with the application company and the business alliance ends, they may not write for that platform anymore. This is no surprise.

    Heck, it doesn't even take that. I worked for a company using HP-UX who were rather pissed off when the vendor of one of their business-critical applications decided not to develop for HP-UX anymore. The vendor got most of their money from clients using NT, and didn't think they could justify developing for HP-UX anymore.

    SCO is an even smaller platform. I'm sure they've had lots of similar experiences where closed-source software companies stopped developing for the platform.
    --

    "Weapons should be hardy rather than decorative" - Miyamoto Musashi
    I think that goes for OS's too
    1. Re:Same situation as closed source software by MeanMF · · Score: 1

      Suppose a closed-source application company has a "Business Alliance" with a platform vendor; i.e. they get money upfront from the platform vendor to develop applications for that platform. If the vendor gets upset with the application company and the business alliance ends, they may not write for that platform anymore. This is no surprise.

      Sounds like a good reason to run Windows... (ducking)

  80. evaluate a broomstick up your ass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    motherfucker

  81. Sounds like the project is a troll... by arose · · Score: 1

    Phase I: Unmanned prototype
    Phase II: Manned prototype
    Phase IV: Space tourism

    Seems familiar?

    The rest of it look fishy too.

    --
    Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
  82. Metallica first? Nope. by Drakker · · Score: 1

    FranÃois Pérusse here in Québec did it first about a year ago when he released "L'album pirate" (Pirate's record" or something...). It's not a standard music CD, it's rather a collection of jokes he created that plays on radio. It was the most pirated french material here in Québec (6 albums total I think).

    So, to encourage sales, he added a special password, different for each CD, that allows access to his site to download access additionnal content online, updated every few weeks. And guess what? It worked marvels.

  83. ... and speaking of rockets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    It would be very interesting to hear from the scientific community if this is just silliness or something that eventually could lead anywhere..


    They'd be engineers if they knew.
  84. Only effects their fans.... by afxgrin · · Score: 1

    Well, I stopped buying and downloading their music the day the Napster lawsuit was announced.

    So it's not like it matters they've come to this point. The only people Metallica is hurting are their own fans. :-)

    *shrug*

    1. Re:Only effects their fans.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's funny... that's the day I started downloading their music... just to mock them.

  85. Different strategy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have many qualms about MS and if you read my nmap-hackers list archives you'll see I make no secret of that. I just feel that a different strategy is called for in that case.

    -Fyodor (posting anon cause not logged in and just got a phone call)
    Concerned about your network security? Try the free Nmap Security Scanner

    1. Re:Different strategy by killmenow · · Score: 1

      First, thanks for the reply. Second, I haven't read those archives...but I will. Thanks.

  86. Lars interview by jeffasselin · · Score: 2, Funny
    Readers may recall this interview with Metallica's Lars Ulrich.

    I always preferred this interview

    --
    If he explores all forms and substances Straight homeward to their symbol-essences; He shall not die.
  87. "Asked"??? by commodoresloat · · Score: 1
    Metallica asked that people not share their studio-recorded albums over Napster.

    No; Metallica sicced their lawyers on Napster and stormed into their offices with 60,000 printed pages of names of fans they wanted kicked off Napster. When Napster did that, they brought in another 60,000 pages worth, and when Napster did that, and blocked all their songs, they continued their high-profile whining and lawsuit, the latter of which turned into basically an orgy of extortion from the rapidly sinking company. All this while Metallica's record sales were still going up. There is a huge difference between that kind of behavior and Metallica "asking" their fans not to share their music.

    1. Re:"Asked"??? by nathanh · · Score: 1
      There is a huge difference between that kind of behavior and Metallica "asking" their fans not to share their music.

      I didn't say they asked their fans. Nor did I say they asked nicely. Could you even imagine James or Lars saying "pretty please, don't copy our music without asking, there's a nice chap". I thought Metallica did the right thing back then and I said so at the time. The inevitable indignant protests from the "music thieves" then and now have not changed my opinion.

  88. LOL by commodoresloat · · Score: 1

    The article actually says "It's that kind of business savvy that helped Metallica debut at number one".... Business savvy? Are they kidding? Replacing their songs with John Denver songs as an immature prank aimed at fans is considered "business savvy"???

  89. Canopy Group - Troll Tech by /dev/zero · · Score: 1, Troll

    Note also that Canopy Group owns part of Troll Tech. Just how secure are those Qt licenses?

    --

    He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.
    -- J.R.R. Tolkien
    1. Re:Canopy Group - Troll Tech by Gaetano · · Score: 1
      According to this page they only own 5.8% of troll tech.

      I couln't find a date on that page however.

  90. Who is trolltech's brother? SCO? by Sea+Monkey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Did anybody notice that in this article provided by a reader in a comment it mentions that the parent company that owns SCO also owns trolltech! What gives!? Qt's parent is brothers with SCO?

    1. Re:Who is trolltech's brother? SCO? by Almost-Retired · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Apparently so, and its having a tendency to give me the willies since I'm a kde fan.

      Question: How much of Troll-Tech does Canopy own? Controlling interest, or just a pain-in-the-butt seat at the board meeting table?

      Gnome may be just as capable as kde, but 'user-friendly' when trying to configure it, it ain't, and in the relatively small number of times I've played with it, it wasn't very stable. The task bar dissappeared, and the best recommendation the gnome guys could come up with was to reinstall. 'scuse me?

      So what does happen if the guys & girls at Troll-Tech decide that the makefile is only going to format the hard drive if it finds itself running on UW box?

      Thats an extreme case of course, and would be prosecutable in most jurisdictions, but there is nothing to stop kde from becoming very dumb and basic if built on a UW box. Stub functions that only return a 0?

      I'd expect the canopy folks to send in a new CEO with orders to fix it, possibly messing with the licenseing in the process just because he took lessons from Darl.

      Now that scares the hell out of me. And it should scare the rest of the open source proponents too.

      But I hope the potential newbie Troll-Tech CEO is watching the debacle Darl M. is manufacturing since he took over SCO. In the end, which we haven't seen anyplace but in our highly biased crystal balls, if it comes out according to the huge quantities of our own wishfull thinking, that would send a pretty loud message that Darls methods aren't (and I'm being very charitable) optimum.

      I think this is a case where letting that dog sleep for a bit longer might be in order. If, and when, IBM is vindicated in court, then it would appear to be time to take UW off the supported list until such time as they are willing to pay for the port in programmers salaries. Or go tits up. That seems only fair to me for all the headaches they've gleefully given us in the last 60 some days.

      Just an old mans $0.02

      --
      Cheers, Gene

  91. We? by hackwrench · · Score: 1

    What's this 'we' stuff. Someone else decided decades ago that when someone is making something, they get to decide when to release it into the wild.

  92. Gravity Control... by bigattichouse · · Score: 1

    I say, if they can meet the challenge, I say "have at thee"... If they can't, *THEN* laugh at them... when they surprise the hell out of you by actually doing it, you'll be the one crying. Just cause you think its impossible, doesn't mean it can't be done.

    --
    meh
  93. FUD works both ways by bstadil · · Score: 1
    if projects like Apache, gcc, and others remove SCO support, that might start hurting SCO

    Real world impact is not needed. If a lot of projects picks up on this trend the main street press will pick it up and hurt SCO.

    If nothing else their stock price might take a dive.

    --
    Help fight continental drift.
  94. Re; Metallica by Trollificus · · Score: 1
    From what I understand from reading various interviews with Lars, the whole Napster thing was blown way out of proportion. If I remember correctly, this whole thing started when one of their uncut demos was leaked to Napster. How it got there is anyone's guess. But as you can imagine, they were pissed.

    Lars and the gang have nothing against file sharing or bootlegging. They just want to be the ones to decide what material they own is shared freely. This whole 'Lars is a hypocrite because he went after Napster but now advocates sharing because of backlash' bit is rediculous. The bottom line is, someone stole material from the studio that didn't belong to them and it got out. That's technology for ya. Although I agree that they went about it the wrong way(Should have sued the intern who leaked the original dat source instead of Napster), they had every right to protect their material legally.

    There is a big difference between ripping an album and sharing it online and stealing source material from the studio and releasing it. And whomever took the material crossed that line.

    --

    "People should be allowed to keep midgets as pets."
    - Gov. Jesse Ventura

  95. Standard self rightious boycott post by donscarletti · · Score: 1
    I don't know if I am sounding like one of those religeousy self rightious, self important types that seem to delight in kidding themselves into thinking that they have huge buying power and that their psudo boycott is hurting a huge entity in a large way, but I am sitting in front of a _Legal_ copy of the following:
    * Load
    * Garage Inc.
    * And Justice for All
    * Black (also called Metallica)

    And I would like to confess that before this inncident a little while ago (or at least before I heard of it) I was a big Metalica fan who was capible of reciting the lyrics to most Metalica songs, biographising all of the members (except for that wanker who left for Megadeath, I can't even remember his name), but more importantly, who was capible of spending rediculous sums of money on albums, merchandise and concert tickets.

    Now I am over Metalica, I am not boycotting them or anything, I just don't like them much anymore, partly because of that napster shit and partly because they havn't done anything as cool as one since the eighties, that song by itself was able to keep Metalica in my good books even through the sissieness of Load and Re-Load, but now it is fifteen years old and they are long overdue for something that cool again.

    I love the whole classical guitar intro with the memorable riff and the first quiet but dark verses, and then kirk hammet GOES FUCKING OFF!!!! with those FUCKING INSANE guitar work!!! FUCK YEAH!!!

    ... I am not sounding like your typical Metalica fan or anything am I...

    --
    When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
  96. Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream by Revar · · Score: 1

    When I was at Burning Man, two years ago, our neighbors made some chocolate ice cream with liquid nitrogen. It was really delicious, and done in 30 seconds!

  97. Translation of the ice cream guys by leoboiko · · Score: 3, Informative

    A translation of the "sorveteria" guys. I guess when I finish it their server will have melted down with /. .

    Title: Sorveteria -196C LTDA
    Ice Cream Shop -320F Inc

    (Actually, LTDA is "limitada", a limited liability company).

    0 - Nao tente isso em casa ok? Como fazer um sorvete em 5 minutos.
    Don't try this at home, ok? How to make ice cream in 5 minutes.

    1 - "Marco, quero sorvete".
    "Marco, I want ice cream".

    2 - Lucas indo comprar ingredientes.
    Lucas going to buy ingredients.

    3 - O ingrediente X (hohohoh, nitrogenio)
    The ingredient X (hohohoh, nitrogen)

    4 - "Completa ai, tio!"
    "Fill it up, man!"

    5 - Equipamento de seguranca.
    Safety gear.

    6 - Fazendo a massa...
    Making the mass.
    I'm not sure if English "mass" have the same meaning as Portuguese "massa", but you can look at the picture and guess what it is.

    7 - Pronto, agora sà falta congelar hohoho..
    Done, now we only have to freeze it hohoho...

    8 - "heheheh"

    9 - Mais nitrogenio...
    More nitrogen...

    10 - "Vai mechendo, Dili."
    "Keep moving it, Dili."
    (btw, it should be "mexendo" not "mechendo")

    11 - Sai fumaÃa. Ã gelado.
    Smoke goes out. It's cold.

    12 - Pronto. 1 minuto depois ta pronto.
    Done. 1 minute later it's done.
    (This is a pun with a famous Brazilian lamen jingle).

    13 - Vamos provar...
    Let's try it...

    14 - "Hummmm"
    "Hmmmmm"

    15 - "Pronto, tà bom, podem comer!"
    "It's done, it's good, you may eat!"

    16 - Repito: nao tente isso em casa.
    I repeat: don't try this at home.

    --
    Prescriptive grammar:linguistics :: alchemy:chemistry. Stop being a nazi and learn some science.
  98. DRM? by twitter · · Score: 1

    A custom code from Lars? Nuts, that would be like loading up a copy of XP or something. I can hear the development team conversing with Bill Gates, "Download, Burn, Share ... we don't care it's going to vanish like so many radio tunes. Our exclusive code will render all the major P2P inop! The user will be left with a crapy AM radio quality thingy that will vanish. Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

    --

    Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.

  99. they GAVE AWAY MUSIC before! by Xtifr · · Score: 1

    Metallica used to be one of the bands (like the Dead, Phish, Allman Brothers, Pearl Jam, Flaming Lips, Throwing Muses, etc.) that allowed open taping at their shows, and free (non-commercial) trading of the tapes. The only thing that they asked was that people NOT trade their official releases.

    Note this part from the interview:

    Lars: "Well, 1st of all, you have to remember that you're talking to somebody who advocates bootlegging, who has alwyas been pro-bootlegging. We have always let fans tape our shows, we've always had a thing for bootlegging live materials, for special appearances, for that type of stuff. Knock yourselves out, bootleg the fuck out of it, we don't give."

    The people who try to paint Metallica as the posterboys of the anti-music-trading movement are just full of it. Metallica was (and probably still is) far more generous with their music than probably 99% of the bands that these Metallica-haters DO like. This is not like Disney, who wants you to pay for humming the theme to one of their movies in the bath. This is a band that was already giving away most of their music for free!

    They put very few restrictions on their music. Speaking as free software developer who puts very few restrictions on his software, I feel a lot of sympathy for the band, and I feel about as much sympathy for the napster leeches as I would for a company that was found to be violating the GPL.

    Rip off Disney, rip off Microsoft, I won't blink an eye. But when you start ripping off the people who are already giving it away free, that's when I start to get upset.

    1. Re:they GAVE AWAY MUSIC before! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I never followed the Dead but I was aware of their stance on performance recordings and the band made it quite obvious at the one show I attended. Never had any interest in Phish but I was aware of them too.

      The thing is is that I have been a Metallica fan since RtL first came out, attending pretty much every show in my area until the second leg of the AJfA tour, and I *NEVER* saw them express this policy until Lars became vocal over Napster. Allowing performance recording and turning a "blind eye" toward it are two different things.

  100. Now that's a threat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    " I'll be sure to take that into account next time I'm evaluating software."

    Since you're a guy using a pirated copy of Win98SE and is happy, who gives a fuck? I mean, you don't buy software anyway, and you don't even have a job yet.

    Maybe you should say:

    "If I ever get a job, and I get into a position where I pick the OS, I won't pick OSS".

    You are to laugh at.

  101. Not even so! by chunkwhite86 · · Score: 1

    MeanMF said:

    Basically what the Nmap people are showing me is that if I implement an OSS product in my company, I have to worry about the developers dropping support for the platform I'm running it on if they have a personal grudge against the company that makes it. I'll be sure to take that into account next time I'm evaluating software.

    Suppose a closed-source application company has a "Business Alliance" with a platform vendor; i.e. they get money upfront from the platform vendor to develop applications for that platform. If the vendor gets upset with the application company and the business alliance ends, they may not write for that platform anymore. This is no surprise.


    This is true, but you are missing the whole point of OSS! Even if the developers of these OSS projects drop support for SCO, the apps themselves are still open source! I.e. Someone else can pick up the slack and maintain a SCO port - you can't do that with closed source software!!

    As an example - Microsoft dropped support for Windows OS on the Alpha long ago. Sucks to be you if you're running Windows NT on Alpha. RedHat also dropped support for Alpha long ago. Doesn't suck to be me because I can download Mozilla 1.4b2, gnome 2.x, and any of the latest and greatest from the OSS world and build it myself! I.e. I can pick up the slack and still have a modern, up to date system! You can't do that with closed source.

    Just my 2 cents.

    --
    I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
  102. Dead beat Metallica to their last plan by Xtifr · · Score: 1

    Metallica's last plan (letting people freely tape their shows, and trade the tapes, and even creating special "taper sections" so people could set up fancy rigs for taping without interfering with the main crowd) was done earlier (with great success) by the Grateful Dead. Doesn't mean Metallica weren't awfully nice guys for allowing it.

    Of course, the fact that this band was already giving away 99.9% of the music they created doesn't matter to the /. crowd, who wants to yell and scream about how those bastards tried to protect that last little fraction of their own creation. ("How unfair! Only giving away most of their music! We'd better boycott 'em!")

    1. Re:Dead beat Metallica to their last plan by spencerogden · · Score: 1

      I could be wrong, but I think that Metallica has allowed live recordings nearly from the beginning. Maybe?

  103. Ya, and monkeys fly out my ass by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

    Seriously. GCT should get togeather with Clonaid and work with Hollywood or something on the next SciFi movie. I'm sorry if you see this as flamebait. But, if it's too good to be true then it prolly is.

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
  104. Didn't even try very hard! by Xtifr · · Score: 1

    They tried not to get stolen from!

    Didn't even try very hard, since they encouraged concert taping and tape trading! "Those bastards only gave away most of their music, not all of it! String 'em up!"

  105. Not Exactly by daniel+leslie · · Score: 2, Insightful

    > Many people obviously still believe SCO has a case.

    It's not that investors necessarily believe SCO has a case, it's that they believe SCO's share price will continue to go up. Its share price will most certainly go back down (a lot). The name of the game is dumping it before that happens.

    Their price has risen up to 1200% in the last year (that's *twelve hundred* percent). Case or no case, that's a nice return.
    1. Re:Not Exactly by Silburn_Luke · · Score: 1
      I'm sure that there is a lot of speculative froth on the stock price (and I'd like to think that there are plenty of people shorting the stock as well... :)) but this article is a glimpse into the mind of those who disagree.

      Selected quotes:

      "In other words, like many religious folk, the Linux-loving crunchies in the open-source movement are a) convinced of their own righteousness, and b) sure the whole world, including judges, will agree.

      They should wake up. SCO may not be very good at making a profit by selling software... [but] it is very good at getting what it wants from other companies."

      ...

      "Yarro [CEO of Canopy Group who are pulling SCO's strings on this] won't apologize for the IBM lawsuit. "I'm not a guy who goes away quietly in the night. I fight," he says. "If you take something from me, if you break a promise, I'm going to come after you.""

      ...

      "The IBM lawsuit could bring a windfall to Canopy, which owns 46% of SCO. Another beneficiary could be John Wall, chief executive of Vista.com, a Redmond, Wash., company that last August struck a licensing arrangement with SCO. Wall got 800,000 shares of SCO stock in the deal and still holds 600,000, making him SCO's biggest individual shareholder after Canopy. Those shares, which were worth about $1 each when Wall made the deal, now trade above $10." [my emphasis]

      ...

      "These guys in Utah are no dummies. The crunchies in the Linux community should be paying more attention."

      Regards
      Luke

      --
      #include witty_one_liner.h
    2. Re:Not Exactly by jspectre · · Score: 1

      interesting article.. what does it tell me. that the only thing SCO seems to be good at in the past decade is suing people for money. hmmm. how about actually turning out a product and earning some money with that?

      --

      abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

    3. Re:Not Exactly by PsibrII · · Score: 1

      As the Shi'ites world wide and in the US the clinic bombing fundies have proven time and time again, rational arguements and legalities mean nothing if you have enough fanatics willing to cause endless hell with the least provocation.

      Anyone who knows much of anything about tech stocks knows that it's a classic pump and dump scam. Even the traders buying these stocks know it. But the ones who can play chicken with the stocks and sell at just the right moment will make out like bandits.

      Those left behind at SCO might even extort enough payoffs to make it a few more years. Maybe enough time for them that the horse will sing again. I wouldn't bet any real money on it though.

      The day may come though, that Linux will have enough extreme lunatics around that a company threatening it will be gambling with the possiblity that a couple of nuts with Tec 9s will be waiting for them and their families. Although a rock and molotov cocktail throwing mob would be much more classic, I suspect the message that business as usual is then a thing of the past would be sent.

    4. Re:Not Exactly by molnarcs · · Score: 1

      Hmmm... An interesting read. I liked that warns of SCO having a tight circle of friends. Well, I'm sure IBM has a much broader circle of friends, and if we think of linux, there is HP, Intel, Fujitsu, Sony.... and so forth.

    5. Re:Not Exactly by z84976 · · Score: 1

      No, no, dude... pitchforks and torches are the ONLY way to arm a REAL mob. 10,000 Transylvanians can't be wrong.

    6. Re:Not Exactly by PsibrII · · Score: 1

      You would never pull off that surly eastern european peasant mob in the US. Best you could hope for would be a bunch of drunken irish rednecks, or drunken polish. Tell em the target you are after is trying to shut down their favorite hockey team.

  106. Re:Don't support SCO. That'll learn em! by ebh · · Score: 1

    Not many, actually. Those customers don't build those tools, they use the versions of Apache and Perl that SCO provides with the OS. Their home-grown applications are almost always built with the compiler SCO sells, not GCC. One throat to choke, and all that.

    Claimer: I worked on UnixWare for USL and Novell from 1993 to 1996, so I know something of the engineering and marketing decisions behind it.

    The point of all this is that there is a small set of large businesses who buy UnixWare in quantity. They buy it for specialized applications, like retail point-of-sale. With a few notable exceptions like Apache, they COULDN'T CARE LESS about the entire corpus of OSS. They only care if their application works, wherever and whenever it's installed.

    Sure, there are organizations who install large quantities of Linux systems (think TiVo), but those sets of people don't intersect very much with the UnixWare customer base. The people basing their products on Linux and the GNU toolchain obviously have a vested interest in what the OSS community is doing, and it's in their best interests to keep a good relationship with them.

    By ceasing to distribute Linux, SCO no longer has that burden, so I stand by my original point. What the OSS community thinks about whether their products should be supported on UW isn't going to keep Darl awake at night.

  107. Right of Reply by clambake · · Score: 1

    'SCO operating systems are no longer supported due to their recent (and absurd) attacks against Linux and IBM. Bug reports relating to UnixWare will be ignored, or possibly even laughed at derisively. Note that I have no reason to believe anyone has ever used Nmap on SCO systems. Unixware sucks.'"

    So on European mirrors, SCO has the right to add it's reply in the changelog, right?

  108. Ars Digita by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What is Ars Digita?

    1. Re:Ars Digita by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's Latin for "who gives a shit?"

    2. Re:Ars Digita by pyrrho · · Score: 1

      It means, "Finger Arts", it's about a bunch of people that thought it meant "Digital Arts".

      sigh.

      --

      -pyrrho

  109. Cue Alannis Morrisette... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...the irony is being laid on thick and heavy. I just read Lars Ulrich's interview...this one slipped right past me, I'm surprised...and he still comes off like an asshole, whose basic premise is "I got mine, fuck y'all."

    Lars is a big steaming pile of hypocricy. Basically Metallica made their bones by being included on people's mix tapes. Song trading helped them when they were on the way up, but now it's stealing their precious livelihood.

    I have zero sympathy.

  110. Re:Who of the moderatings is best? Rate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    I'll once again advance my idea that there should also be a (+1, Troll) moderation for really well-written trolls. I'm not talking about goatse.cx or In Soviet Russia (gaah!), but trolls that fool people into thinking they're real, so that those of us who aren't fooled can laugh at the replies. The best-written trolls are the ones that make you wonder if the author is trolling or really is that crazy/stupid. Those trolls take effort, and I think they should be rewarded.

    P.S. Did you know that the word "gullible" isn't in the dictionary?

  111. Homebrew Ice cream by lommer · · Score: 2, Funny

    did anyone even look at that ice cream page? it's freakin' hilarious! The shit they ended up with looks nasty as hell, but the best part is the quote from one of the captions: "hohohoh, nitrogenio!"

    I found my new sig today :-)

  112. metallica hypocritical? by S4 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    so the situation as i understand it is that previously, metallica members spoke out very strongly against people downloading copies of their copyrighted materials without their permission. they feel that the copyrights that they have on the music that they made should be honoured and respected. flash forward to present time, and now they (like so many other artists) are offering free copies of some of their material, such as live recordings, to people who purchase their album... am i the only one who doesn't see how this is hypocritical in any way, shape, or form? they don't like copyright infringement, but at the same time they offer some of their music for free...how are these in any way related. how can this be hypocritical. the problem is you losers don't really have a clue what's going on, you just seem to enjoy picking people and demonizing everything they do... face it, lars had every right to say whatever he wants about his copyrighted material. he and his bandmates have dedicated their entire lives to creating these songs. their entire lives. you will never understand what that means, because 99.999% of you will never dedicate your lives to anything. you'll never pick something you love, and do it, through good times and bad, and come out on top...but these guys have. they've given up the whole possibility of living a normal life to make these songs. and you're stealing them, and claiming to be morally and ethically right in doing so...i'd be pretty pissed if i were him. you just don't understand. to you, music is a hobby, it's a fun thing to listen to. you have these flipant uninformed views on music because you think you're a music lover, you use words such as passionate to describe how you feel about music, but you have no idea what you're talking about. you read what are essentially attention-grabbing pressreleases from artists saying that record labels are bad, and you believe it. if someone posted an article about some revolutionary one-time pad cryptosystem, you'd make so much fun of them for falling for that crap, but then the offspring claim that they love napster, or band x speaks out about the evils of the music industry and you totally fall for it. so i'm basically making fun of you for that. the offspring is not pronapster, no professional band is. professional bands don't make music for fun, they make it to sell. no one gets a big fat record deal by accident. bands are only anti-music industry because you people love it when the little guys stick it to the man, and you buy more of their albums that the music industry allowed them to create. and the riaa, who they also claim to hate, writes them a big fat check for the albums they sell. and the people who write songs about being poor drive BMW's, and it's all one big scam that you're all falling for...you bring up examples like incubus suing their label because they are so hard done by, but the label is rolling in dough...but didn't they get like a million a piece for like one or two albums...and didn't sony just lay off like 1,000 people from their music division...but the poor starving artists are being screwed by the big rich record labels... wake up.

  113. So, is anyone going... by Trogre · · Score: 1

    Today's fortune on the bottom of the page:
    Unix will self-destruct in five seconds... 4... 3... 2... 1...
    Oh, the irony!

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
  114. Brazilians will try anything fun. Translation. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 2, Informative

    The Sorveteria [ice cream maker] Slashdot story is an example of Brazilians being Brazilian. If it looks like fun, Brazilians will try it.

    Here is a translation:

    Don't try this at home, okay?

    How to make ice cream in 5 minutes.

    "Marco, I want ice cream."

    Lucas going to buy ingredients.

    The ingredient X. Ho ho ho, nitrogen. [In Portuguese, it rhymes.]

    "Fill it up, uncle!" [They don't know the name of the man selling liquid nitrogen, so they call him uncle.]

    Security Equipment. [The Brazilians obviously work in a laboratory, because they have all the necessary gear.]

    Making the mixture...

    Ready, now we only lack the freezing, ho ho ho.

    "heh heh heh"

    More nitrogen... [In this frame we see that they are at home, and several people are watching and waiting.]

    "Mix it, Dili."

    Smoke comes out. It is frozen.

    Ready. 1 minute after, it is ready.

    We will try...

    "Hmmmmmmm"

    "Ready, it is good, we are able to eat!"

    Repeated: Don't try this at home. [Unless you work in a laboratory, and have a lot of experience with liquid nitrogen.]

  115. Re:Who of the moderatings is best? Rate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    P.S. Did you know that the word "gullible" isn't in the dictionary?

    Dude, your dictionary sucks. I just checked mine, and gullible is so in there.

  116. Dude, you seem to wrong about your Illinois model by wherley · · Score: 3, Informative

    "The Maine model is not the largest, and Peoria, IL, my hometown, has had the largest model for many years now, the Pluto model (in Kewanee, IL) being over 60 miles away from the sun model."

    ***
    Maybe 60 **km**, but *not* 60 miles.
    ***

    Both the Lakeview IL model and the Maine model have SunPluto distances of about 40 miles. (64km).

    Lakeview Jupiter: 45" diameter
    Maine Jupiter: 61.4" diameter
    Lakeview Scale: 1:140,000,000
    Maine Scale: 1:93,000,000
    Lakeview Earth: 4" diameter
    Maine Earth: 5.5" diameter

    Go Maine!
    Go Illinois!
    Go Sweden!

  117. Metallica provided something worth the price by Rares+Marian · · Score: 1

    St. Anger quality aside (it's the most unpolished stuff I've ever heard, enjoyable nonetheless). they include a DVD of their rehearsals and the code for the site, which I expect will grow.

    We might want information to be free, but I don't think every artist has reached that pinnacle of Grateful Deadness yet.

    However, I think it was a good response to the lawsuit that will force the RIAA to pay for price fixing.

    Give us something worth the price.

    I'd say Metallica did just that.

    --
    The message on the other side of this sig is false.
  118. Re:Who of the moderatings is best? Rate by yawweb · · Score: 1

    Dude...look at the definition again...

  119. MS doesen't make it easy for GNU by The_Dougster · · Score: 1

    Why should anybody make it easy for these jerks either? Hey if you want "real UNIX" then some BSD variant should meet your needs. People who use SC0 are just "technologically challenged" and they think that they will get this great support. SC0 blows, think UNIX about fifteen years ago. Yep the ancient source code, thats about what you get.

    If you run SC0 and you want to use GNU software, then you should run GNU, not SC0.

    Obviously GNU utilities could never be superior to professionally developed software in a million years right?

    Apache... bah! The SCOHelp http server is vastly superior in every way. I'm sure all those SCO people who run Apache just do it because Apache is the more trendier of the two.

    --
    Clickety Click ...
  120. ERRATA by fucksl4shd0t · · Score: 1

    Sorry, first off I screwed this up:

    Run DMC being the first rappers to cross over to rap

    Obviously, the second "rap" should be "rock".

    Secondly, I left out the Beastie Boys (mental block is all that is) who grew up in the same neighborhood as Anthrax and they all went to each other's shows. The Beastie Boys are the less-commercial fathers of this branch of metal, less commercial than the Aerosmith/RunDMC bullshit that came out, but much more likely to be the father of the Limp Bizkit line than Aerosmith.

    --
    Like what I said? You might like my music
    1. Re:ERRATA by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 1

      Secondly, I left out the Beastie Boys (mental block is all that is) who grew up in the same neighborhood as Anthrax and they all went to each other's shows. The Beastie Boys are the less-commercial fathers of this branch of metal, less commercial than the Aerosmith/RunDMC bullshit that came out, but much more likely to be the father of the Limp Bizkit line than Aerosmith. How can you say that the Beastie boys were less commercial than anyone? Their first albulm was the first rap albumn to hit number 1. Rather than complain about derivitate groups,I think that people should just remeber that talent is the most important aspect. Unfortunatly neither linkin park nor limp biskit has any. Back in the day, we booed Limp Biskit off the stage in milwakee. Because they sucked. And ya know, some things change and some do not.

      --
      Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
    2. Re:ERRATA by fucksl4shd0t · · Score: 1

      How can you say that the Beastie boys were less commercial than anyone?

      If you re-read my post, you'll see that I said they were less commercial than the Aerosmith/RunDMC combination that recorded that rap version of Walk This Way. It doesn't take much to be less commercial than *that*, and the beastie boys were less commercial than that.

      Commercial music is music that is produced for the sole purpose of making money. Non-commercial music is music that is produced for reasons other than making money, although making money is frequently a reason the music is made as well. It's the difference between someone cooking you a meal because they want your money for it and someone cooking you a meal because they want you to enjoy their food.

      --
      Like what I said? You might like my music
    3. Re:ERRATA by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 1

      I guess its a matter of opinion. At least with the aerosmith RunDMC combination people learned that hiphop had something to do with african american culture. I knew actually sat though some arguments over wheather it was blondie or the beastie boys that invented rap.

      --
      Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
  121. Hey timothy, try using your HEAD ;) by StuffYourReligion · · Score: 1

    Sorry if this is redudant, but I actually searched the page @Flat/-1 before posting, to see if anyone else had already pointed this out...

    timothy said...
    I can't tell from the page when exactly this was made. Whether it was truly in response to Gray's recipe or not, this site certainly provides more amusing visual aids.

    Well, it's not exactly proof, but
    $ HEAD http://gambiarra.conectway.com.br/svt/1.jpg
    tells you "Last-Modified: Tue, 17 Jun 2003 18:55:50 GMT"

    Which is about 12 hours (assuming accurate clocks, heh) after the article about making Liquid N2 Sorvete was posted on slashdot. Coincidence?
    *shrug*
    Damn quick turn-around time, from planning an experiment, conducting it, analyzing the results, and then publishing their (photo)graphs on the web. If they were slashdot-inspired, then them Brazilian boys are certainly men of action, and I applaud their fine work.

    Damn, ice cream sounds good now.

    E)

    --
    I have no special gift, I am only passionately curious. --Albert Einstein
  122. Arsdigita? Why do business with anyone like that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ACS code is unmanageable garbage. Having worked with getting companies off the terrible ACS code I can attest to its complete and utter unmanageability and horrible style. Any college-educated software engineer can see that this huge fuster cluck of a system, along with the "flat rate" business models of $50,000/month hosting costs and $1,000,000 design costs, was nothing more than a narcissist's view of the world. How they got 112 customers is testament to the hubris of the dot-com boom and bust. I am glad they are out of business. Now there is a cottage industry of ex-aD employees helping these poor 112 customers get off the ACS garbage and onto something better, cheaper, and infinitely more manageable.

    972 database tables? Come on. Why do business with anyone that clueless? The insanity of the ACS data model is eclipsed by the bizarre business policy.

  123. Re:Dude, you seem to wrong about your Illinois mod by StuffYourReligion · · Score: 1

    Maybe 60 **km**, but *not* 60 miles.

    Why do you say this? How far is it then, wherley?

    Mapquest says it's 49.84 miles between Kewanee and Peoria so it sounds like it'd have to be more than 40km (24.8 miles). But I'm not making any statements about how far it really is between the two planetoids--I'll let someone else find that out and inform us all. And then we'll all believe it, because we read it on slashdot!

    --
    I have no special gift, I am only passionately curious. --Albert Einstein
  124. How ironic.... by turgid · · Score: 1

    ...after they released 3 albums of Country and Western of their own and have just started doing Heavy Metal again.

  125. Pyramids... by da5idnetlimit.com · · Score: 1

    are said to have been constructed in relation to planet positions and stellar geometry.

    And, in effect, if you see at the way pyramids are spred in the desert, you can see a resemblance with a constellation...

    So, maybe your hunch was closer to the target than you think...8)

    --
    It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
  126. Bueno Estente ? by hoofie · · Score: 1

    The pictures and commentary about the attempt to make ice-cream with liquid nitrogen looks like it has come straight out of a segment on 'Channel 9' from the Fast Show.

    Boutros-Boutros Ghali.

  127. Re:Arsdigita? Why do business with anyone like tha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    didn't you RTFA? It was the VC's.

    No... No!!! I'm just kidding.

  128. Re:Dead guy... by Grog6 · · Score: 1

    ...When's his new album coming out?

    --
    Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
  129. What good will that do? by gidds · · Score: 1
    While such actions may make you feel better, will they actually be having any practical effect at all? Even if many UnixWare users get inconvenienced by this (which seems doubtful), aren't they more likely to see it as a failing of the Open Source community, rather than of SCO? And SCO themselves have hardly shown any concern for the community, so changes to some OSS apps aren't exactly likely to have them running for their cheque book, now, are they?

    The main effects of this will simply be to waste developers' time removing SCO support. And if this business gets cleared up, it'll waste even more reinstating it.

    In short, isn't this about as impractical, ill-thought-out, short-sighted, and above all immature as adding "Freedom" to the title?

    --

    Ceterum censeo subscriptionem esse delendam.

  130. PAN by dmaxwell · · Score: 2, Interesting

    These guys attacked an open source newsreader project. A couple of years ago, the PAN developers incorporated an mp3 decoder into their NNTP client. For some reason, Metallica felt compelled to sue them over this. Clueless f****. The most priceless courtroom moment came when the plaintiff attorney asked "I wonder how the defendants would like it if someone was giving away their work?" The court seemed a little baffled at the laughter that ensued.

    I could almost understand their attacking Napster. But a newsreader? Sorry but:

    Of course, the fact that this band was already giving away 99.9% of the music they created doesn't matter to the /. crowd, who wants to yell and scream about how those bastards tried to protect that last little fraction of their own creation. ("How unfair! Only giving away most of their music! We'd better boycott 'em!")

    does not suffice to rehabilitate these bungholes. A newsreader? An f****n' newsreader? BTW, the judge was clueless too. The PAN guys had to remove the inline mp3 feature. It still downloads mp3s just fine. Idiots. Lars still needs to be soundly beaten with a clueclub.

    1. Re:PAN by ndnet · · Score: 1

      Personally, I prefer the clue-by-four. Better range and a much more satisfying TWACK. Clean up is a real pain, but it's worth it.

  131. Nmap is one thing. by dmaxwell · · Score: 1

    I wager that it would hurt if all of the sudden Unixware couldn't run Apache, Samba, Netatalk, PHP, Perl, .... etc. Even on proprietary Unices, opensource adds a lot of value. If a large swath of FOSS software suddenly won't run on SCO without a lot of unsupported rehabilitation then that will go a long way towards monkeywrenching their plans. I wouldn't be terribly opposed to doing Solaris the same way if SUN gets any louder trying to take advantage of this situation. A turning point has been reached. Commercial Unix needs FOSS more than FOSS needs it. I don't think it is in the least immature or inappropriate to give them a little reminder.

  132. Wilco did it first by szmccauley · · Score: 0
    Fuck Lars and fuck metallica. Don't buy their shit, don't even download the free stuff. If Lars wants to get into bed with those fucking cunts at the RIAA, that's his fucking problem. Think I'm pissed off about all this shit? Damn right I am. Do I download mp3's? I can count the number on one hand that I've downloaded illegally. Think I'm pissed that I will be paying almost a dollar to the record industry whenever I buy a CDR? Damn right I am. Just yesterday I was experimenting with making a bootable cd and fucked it up twice so it ended up costing me two bucks that goes directly into the pockets of the record industry, with *maybe* a penny or two going to the so-called artists under the control of those same record companies. Canadian? Pissed off about this bullshit too? Visit this site to find out where to complain,

    ccfda

    Anyway, Wilco did this already with a live recording, and we all know how successful Wilco was by making the mp3's for YHF available to one and all as a marketing gimmik.

    Support Wilco and all bands that encourage sharing of mp3's. Fuck Lars, fuck Madonna, fuck the RIAA and fuck all the other bands that look upon us as criminals first.

    And fuck Bush too, because he's an idiot.

  133. Peoria model doesn't fit the specs by PSaltyDS · · Score: 1

    I'm sorry, but the Peoria model of the solar system doesn't count. The Sun and possibly Mecury (it's hard to tell from the photo) are not truly modeled. The sun is just a partial yellow disc painted on a building and Mecury might be just a plaque. The winner should have to be a 3D, true to scale, physical model. It is cool that they include the Asteroid Belt, though.

    I'm a recovery workaholic, but doing well... haven't worked a day in over a year! I'm so proud.

    --
    Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced. - Geek's corollary to Clarke's law
  134. Value added stuff by Phishcast · · Score: 1


    I'm sure this "value added" material won't show up on Kazaa...right?

  135. Re:Dude, you seem to wrong about your Illinois mod by wherley · · Score: 1

    (check out the route on mapquest, nice curving path, not a straight line.)

    why do i say this?

    cuz lakeview website says it themselves! look at the link i had again and notice in the " SCALE DISTANCE
    FROM LAKEVIEW" entry for Pluto the words "64 km (40 miles)"

  136. Re:Translation ... [massa em ingles] by galego · · Score: 1
    FYI....
    "Fazendo a massa"
    massa is something like 'dough/batter'. putting a "mo na massa" is putting a hand in the dough. Can be generlized to 'mix' or whatever you're mixing/making.

    And my nick (galego) means 'honkey' (more or less) in Brazilian Portuguese ... in case you were curious.

    --

    Que Deus te de em dobro o que me desejas

    [May God give you double that which you wish for me]

  137. Open Source IceCream Culture by galego · · Score: 1
    The analogy breaks down and this is mostly off-topic, but my karma's great, so what the hell!

    When I lived in Brazil ('92-'94), we would often buy picol (popscicle ... sp?) from the street vendors. If you bought one with friends in the vicinity, you offered them a bite before eating it yourself. Of course, you didn't offer one a bite without offering anyone else there a bite. Often times, your popscicle would have only one bite left once it got back to you.

    Free as in 'free ice cream' (for your friends at least =)

    --

    Que Deus te de em dobro o que me desejas

    [May God give you double that which you wish for me]

  138. Fuck Metallica by beavis88 · · Score: 1

    I hope their [former] fans have a long memory. I know I do.

  139. Re:Dude, you seem to wrong about your Illinois mod by StuffYourReligion · · Score: 1

    Ah. Curved path, of course. I didn't even bother to look at the diagram.
    Not one of my brightest moments, certainly.

    E)

    --
    I have no special gift, I am only passionately curious. --Albert Einstein
  140. Another Topaz in the making? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The original Perl, Python and Ruby languages/interpreters were created without funding and they turned out quite well. When you throw grant money at a problem without having a clear roadmap or problem to solve, it's a recipe for disaster. That's the case with Perl6/Parrot today. Also, people who have donated money to this effort before are far less likely to donate in the future given the poor progress in Perl6. The grant money should be used to pay for work done - not for the promise of future work. Clearly Leo should get the majority of grant money since he is doing the most work. Larry, you made a lot of money on the O'Reilly Perl books - please step up to the plate and show some real leadership.

  141. Wisconsin Geeks by kirn_malinus · · Score: 1

    "Wisconson geeks, take note of your Senators actions!"

    Those of us who live in Wisconsin will also take note of your inability to spell the name of our state correctly.
    --
    All circuits busy.
  142. My 2cents on the Metallica thing.... by h0tb0x · · Score: 1

    I don't personally feel they came off as "whiny" to me they came off as "greedy" which is way worse.
    We're talking about a band who has made millions and millions of dollars over the years. I bought several of their albums and t-shirts etc back in the day however now I'm not so inclined to hand them any more of my "hard earned" money.
    The media should have kept their mouths shut about the file trading online - I feel that all the hype about it is what really made it popular in the first place. Metallica jumped right in there and started pointing out THEIR OWN FANS to try and get some control over their material - for what reason? Control over their music that's already been pirated? The stuff that got leaked from the studio is their own problem - nothing to do with the people who were fingered out on napster by them. If they were really pro-bootleg they wouldn't have made the fuss that they did about it. When you make music and it is popular it is going to be hard to control - fact of life boys. I guess what I'm getting at is they killed their image as hardcore by complaining in their versace suits to the courts and this made me not want to pay them for their work anymore. They've made enough money to easily set themselves up for generations to come and going out of their way to kick the people who set them up like this is just plain wrong. This new change in their business model is like hitting a tree with a car and driving away like it never happened - well it did and I know many haven't forgotten. I think they've jumped the shark. RIP Metallica.

    ---------------------

    --
    The phone, the bane of my existance, rings. "Hello, Computer Room" I say, being helpful - BOFH
  143. Metallica got a bad rap by Hard_Code · · Score: 1

    Metallica got a bad rap, especially here on Slashdot. Sure things were novel and lots of people were confused. But IIRC, Metallica was always very open about allowing concert-goers to tape records, make bootlegs etc. Their gripe was NOT that people were downloading their MP3s, but that 1) they had not artistic control (people could rip shitty copies and then their work would get degraded), and they were never asked for their opinion/involvement, which is at the very least, rude 2) third party startups (*cough* Napster *cough*) were building business models on what was obviously (or at least perceived to be) their work.

    My impression was that Metallica was LOOKING for a way to start an MP3 relationship directly with fans, but came off to the over-reactive Slashdot community as trying to kill it entirely by trying to take control away from Napster.

    --

    It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
  144. Alternate mirrors.. by Myself · · Score: 1

    If you're one of the lucky bastards who DOES get something before the site slows to a crawl, please insert it into Freenet and post the CHK in the comments after the story.

    There's no reason to wait for someone to put up a bittorrent link, when any bozo can insert anything into Freenet.

    Of course it would all be more trustable if the original content provider (QNX.com in this case)would put an MD5 hash on their download page, so even if we don't get the file from them, we can make sure it's authentic.

    Of course of course, since a Freenet CHK is itself a form of checksum, if the original content provider would insert the file themselves and post the CHK on their download page, all of this silliness could be averted and their poor server would be happier too.

    1. Re:Alternate mirrors.. by damiam · · Score: 1

      The difference is that bittorrent is about 500x faster and more reliable than Freenet.

      --
      It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
  145. Re:SCO again! by Skeezix · · Score: 1

    This guy is not the real miguel, just an imposter. this is the real miguel. Notice the uid.