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Slashback: XPiracy, Panel, Gentoo
The real requirements for Longhorn, at least at this juncture. Cryoknight writes "It seems that Longhorn will run on almost anything that's a P4 or better, judging by this article from C|Net News. You only need a 64mb graphics card to run the slickest version..."
(That's in contrast with earlier reports that the average Longhorn system would be hefty indeed; of course, listed minimums and recommendations are often worlds apart.)
How many bits could Mandrake chuck if Mandrake could chuck bits? Shipud writes "Speaking of AMD beating Intel, Mandrake have just released their v.10 for AMD64. Claiming to be on the average 20% faster, and compatible with 32-bit applications." As usual, it's never a good time to buy a computer.
The War Of The Word, Part II Random Guru 42 writes "Chris Pratley, whose earlier blog entry was the source of much discussion [referring to this Slashdot post of April 27], has just recently replied to everyone's feedback both here and as comments on that earlier entry."
Gentoo Community Reaches Out to Daniel Robbins nporter writes "Slashdot reported the news that Daniel Robbins has stepped down as chief architect of Gentoo Linux. It was revealed that due to his commitment to Gentoo he racked up a hefty personal debt of $20,000. The Gentoo Community is showing its appreciation to its founder in droves by placing donations to the Gentoo Store, proceeds of which will go toward paying down Robbins' debt. I count over a thousand dollars (and growing rapidly) has already been donated, just based upon posts to the forums. It's great to see Linux users coming together like this to show support for someone who has contributed so much to the Linux community."
Bitkeeper redux, redux. gosand writes "Part two of the two-part interview with Bitkeeper author Larry McVoy is up at Newsforge. (Part 1 was posted here yesterday). They essentially talk about why and how BK fits into the kernel development model. There are only two questions, one answered by Larry, and one answered by Linus. Maybe that is because BK makes them 2.5x as efficient, and they can answer everything in just one answer each. :-)"
MS Clarifies: No SP2 For Pirated XP Copies PingXao writes "Unlike earlier reports, this eWeek story says MS will not be allowing pirated versions of Windows XP to install SP2. They plan to release the update within a couple of months as everybody knows, but what's interesting is this quote from a MS spokesperson that supposedly explains their reasons for this approach: "... using genuine software is an important part of keeping systems secure and running smoothly because it means continued access to the latest security enhancements and product updates." Not that I blame them for not providing assistance to people who violate their copyrights, but I wonder if they actually paid someone to come up with that insightful explanation. Something like "We don't provide updates to pirates" would have done the trick. Why cloud the issue with talk about secure this and security that when the basis for the policy has absolutely nothing to do with security?"
Games panel at Smithsonian - update tripmaster writes "For those slashdotters that tried to get a ticket but were foiled by the smaller venue, the panel on games with Shigeru Miyamoto, Richard Garfield and Doug Church being held Sunday, May 16th at the Smithsonian in Washington DC has been moved to a bigger space. Miyamoto should be showing the same highlights of his latest game as premiered at E3. Questions from the audience will be collected and posed to the speakers -- a rare chance to ask query some of games' most visionary and influential creators."
Off again, on again. Doug Muth writes "According to this piece on Yahoo, the restraining order which was issued against SpamCop on May 10th has been dissolved by the judge who further remarked that, 'the TRO [entered May 10] was not a determination of the merits of the case.'"
Happy Trails!
Erick
http://www.busyweather.com/
Since you can't use SP2, why not try a different SP?
As usual, it's never a good time to buy a computer.
With prices constantly falling and better performance for price as hardware incessantly marches toward being a commodity good, one could just as easily say that it's always a good time to buy a computer.
That's right, folks, only use "genuine" software for that clean, refreshing Microsoft feeling of comfort. The kind you cannot get with pirated software since they won't let you eliminate their own bugs that cause so many Net problems. The kind you cannot get with FOSS since you can see the code for yourself and fix the problems. No, if you want the genuine experience, the kind of out-of-the-box headache that only comes from Microsoft software, insist on "genuine" software! Our bank account balance will thank you.
MS Clarifies: No SP2 For Pirated XP Copies
So much for the herd effect. It's simply, really. If everyone but me has gotten a polio vaccine, I'll still be fine because the polio has nowhere to hide.As soon as 10 - 20 percent of the population isn't vaccinated, suddenly the problem [polio] reemerges.
Why can't Microsoft understand the basic concept?
An effective signature identifies a particular user amongst a base of thousands.
MS isn't saying they won't support Pirated versions - that implies that they're somehow changing their security scheme regarding service packs. They're NOT.
The installation hurdles that existed in SP1 will be back again for SP2 - no more, no less.
Nothing has changed, Move along, Move along...
...Also, I didn't know Buggalo could fly.
[re: star/open office]Their stated goal is to clone Office97, and they are so focused on that that there simply isn't anything to learn from or appreciate.
While I understand his point, I don't see much innovation between office 2000/XP at all, at least not from an end-user perspective. It's become, to a large extent, bloatware. How much innovation does an office suite need, anyway? You get things like clippy when innovating a basically simply product to death. KISS.
If this feature were to have a regular day of posting (i.e. Every Wednesday at 5:00pm or somesuch time frame) it would go a long way in adding credibility to Slashdot as a source of news.
No joking/flames intended but every news source makes mistakes and has to either back pedal or update or simply roll with an ever changing or expanding story or what would be now defunct "facts".
I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours. -- Hunter S. Thompson
I think what they're trying to get across is, "If your PC is insecure because you pirated our software, tough shit. Buy it next time and you can stay secure." I don't know that I like that attitude, since these unpatched machines as a whole also affect the people who do practice good security (usually through network traffic), but they're trying to equate "OS piracy" and "security risk", and just might succeed if new worms increase.
Member of Orkut? Annoyed with spam?
"... using genuine software is an important part of keeping systems secure and running smoothly because it means continued access to the latest security enhancements and product updates."
...
double speak is awesome.
Q: why can't pirates get updates.
A: you shouldn't be a pirate because pirates don't get updates.
Q: i know, i implied they didn't get updates in my question, and you just repeated it to me...
A: you should know that... i just told you.
Q: see, you did it again. why are you doing that?
A: you would be better off if you knew why i was doing this.
Q: REM this is a question.
A:
Q: IS THIS A MICROSOFT PR BOT?!
A: abort; goto end; kill();
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
As a happy Gentoo user, I can testify to the usefulness of the system as a whole. Robbins and his crew really have done it right. It is the least the community can do to give something back to him for his hard work.
We shall see how well the rest of the developers can knit the project together during the following months. It shall be interesting to see who will step forward as the new project leader as well.
"Intellectual Property" should be an affront to anyone capable of independent thought.
Cause it breaks all their pirated games and apps? I suppose they could pirate new ones for it... oh wait there's only a few old ones they've gotten bored of already anyway.
Introducing the new Occam Fusion! Now with sqrt(-1) fewer blades!
Getting a release for AMD64 is a very good move for Mandrake. I just bought an AMD64 laptop, and I've looked around for linux distributions, but the discussion groups have mentioned problems with many of them. An Official Release by Mandrake is a good sign that the majority of the problems have been solved.
Open Note to Mandrake: I'm running Mandrake right now on my office machine. If this version of Mandrake works well on my laptop, I intend to buy a box. Way to go!
I'm afraid I do not agree with the policy of M$ to attempt to prevent pirates to get this update. I understand blocking piracy at the installation level , but since SP2 is touted to be a huge security update it seems that preventing it from installing on a certain population of systems will somewhat undermine the security of microsoft's global network (ie. the internet). Most of the powerful exploits are currently worms, and unpatched (sp2 disabled pirated copies)systems may serve as propogation nodes to either attack those legitimate(read wealthy)users that have not yet installed SP2 or to exploit windows issues that remain unfixed by SP2.
One scenario is a worm that can release a payload in SP2 or SP1 but can only be propegated by non SP2 systems.
Another is a trojan that permits DDOS or similar attacks from non SP2 systems but that essentially affects everybody.
ôó
I just started an "emerge sync" and donated $5 (I'm a poor student). Gentoo is the bees knees as they say.
Mandrake said they'd be releasing 10.0 Official for x86 the first of May. What's happened?
I mean it must be comforting to know you can just blacklist the compromised install keys that pirates use and be done with it right? I mean it's not like anyone could possibly have made a key generator for Windows XP right?
Is it just me or are anti-piracy measures just growing more and more inconvenient for legitimate users (product activation etc) and not at all more inconvenient for pirates (who get modified versions with the annoying features removed)?
Introducing the new Occam Fusion! Now with sqrt(-1) fewer blades!
Where's the logic here? If you want to use Linux, use it. No one's forcing you to use a Microsoft OS. But don't pirate Microsoft software and expect to get updates. The only question up for discussion is whether not providing security updates for pirates will hurt people besides the pirates themselves.
No, but wait for Slashsdot infomercials. That will be a special section paid for by advertisers which will write the articles on their new products.
1) Wait for Microsoft to release SP2 and not allow installation on pirates systems
2) Wait for next major virus/worm outbreak that targets flaw fixed by SP2
3) Sue Microsoft for contributory negligence resulting in downtime/cleanup of your website/mailserver
4) Watch Microsoft settle from their 20? 30? 40? billion war chest
5) PROFIT!!!!
I'm totally serious. As I said in my original post on the original story, this is no different than a hospital turning away a patient because they detect at some point they have used drugs. If a hospital did that and the patient fell over dead, there would be one whopping big lawsuit resulting from it.
Here Microsoft is selling pancakes accidentally laced with the Black Plague and when some people who stole their tainted pancages later come back to Microsoft for a cure, Microsoft is booting them out on the street so they can infect other innocent people. Why shouldn't Microsoft be responsible for allowing it to spread further?
- JoeShmoe
.
-- I wonder which will go down in history as the bigger failure: the War on Drugs or the War on Filesharing
All it'll take is 15 minutes and a smart cracker to allow you to install SP2 in all it's glory.
Not to mention that almost all the XP users that have an illegal copy run a "corporate" version with a legit serial number anyways, so this won't even affect them.
Of course, then there's the users that actually won't be able to install it, and we'll all pay for it with clogged up networks due to all the bugs and crap still in there.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
A laptop I bought a few months ago came with XP installed (no choice). Since then it has been made ``secure'' by living in a separate, never-broght-on-the-network partition, and linux now floats over the face of the hardware, and it is *good*.
I don't plan on even installing SP2, although my copy is actually legitimate. So, Billy Gates and his happy minions can kiss my ASP.
Microsoft are saying that they wont provide the latest service packs for their software for pirates. Doesn't most of the world pirate MS Windows? Do you think people pay for it if they had to? What do you think would happen to the market share of Windows if Microsoft make it tougher to pirate their OS? Do you think developers will be so keen to support an operating system with a declining user base?
All this could be a blessing in disguise for Linux/MacOS as people may be forced to look for an Alternative to Windows. I mention MacOS since, although it isn't free, if I had to pay for an OS I know which one I would choose.
JPickard
But, I thought open source products are far more profitable than closed-source projects in the long run. Maybe he quit too soon.
Oh come on.......
I give it one day until Mr Dude comes out with another key changer.
Surlely I'm not the only one who has used Mr dude (research purposes only
My precise point.
The only question up for discussion is whether not providing security updates for pirates will hurt people besides the pirates themselves.
I think it will. Perhaps I'm not understanding the problem, but part of the damage done by hacked machines is the extra burdon put on the intra/internet. Something has to relay the bits.
and saw this message:
Your order has been successfully processed! Your products will arrive at their destination within 2-5 working days.
I wonder which products they're talking about
Otherwise they'd be saying that they don't care about persuing people who pirate their software. On the other hand, it'll take a day or two just like SP1 for people to get around it. To install SP1 on a machine with a blacklisted cd-key takes about 5 minutes of googling, downloading, reading, and cracking. Outside the corporate world, it seems it's impossible to get caught using pirated software. This whole genuine software bit was just the work of some PR person who's knowledge in software doesn't matter at this point.
And by the way, this isn't going to make anyone switch to linux, i don't care what people say or annoyingly ironic links to gentoo.com they put in their posts. When you don't pay for software in the first place, it doesn't make a difference to switch to free software.
No one's forcing you to use a Microsoft OS.
Ummmm, only my employer you insensitive clod!
Seems to me that Spamcop is now a commercial company, so why is it appropriate to ask for contributions? Isn't defending against lawsuits a cost of doing business?
Oh and P.S. Spamcop, as much as I think Richter and his ilk deserve prison time, unfortunately his case has merit.
Earth is a single point of failure.
Could someone which is using bitkeeper
update this comparison with the bitkeeper data.
Classic case of "He said, she said" http://computertimes.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,510 4,2292,00.html
I was wondering what happened with the entire country of Spain being added to a realtime spam blackhole?
Have there been any developments? Has the ISP expressed any interest to reign in spammers to get off the blacklist? Has there been a significant backlash among Spanish Internet users?
I'd rather read something wrong about MS than have all that crap pushed into my head about the war in Iraq being justified.
At least MS can send out a statement saying that the public was misinformed, whereas the army can't do the same.
Doom3 .....
Featuring a new, mind-blowing gaming engine from John Carmack, the closely guarded DOOM 3 is in development for the PC, and in true id fashion, will be released "when it's done."
http://www.idsoftware.com/business/history/
However you apparently can pre-order it. But then again I seem to remember you could pre-order it before last Christmas too.
The way I guesstimate it, the race for the releases of Duke Nuk'em Forever and Doom3 Forever is neck and neck.
Who will guard the guards?
And likely your employer has legitimate copies of MS software. If not, the Business Software Alliance may want to speak with them.
BTW, I wonder why Boy Scouts of America didn't get www.bsa.org.
If your employer won't let you use another OS, maybe you should change employers to a Linux friendly employer.
Unfortunally most people I know who aren't interesting in computers (I'm mainly thinking family members here), just want to turn on their computers, do some typing, send an email and surf the web.
The are simply not interested in updating their OS. Most of them don't understand what updating is for. They only time they worry about it is when I get a phonecall going:
"Ryan, the computer keeps shutting down for no reason.. what should I do?" - then i go in for cleanup, patches, firewall, firefox, etc, etc...
So what happens is that you can end up with lots of legal AND illegal versions of software that aren't patched. I think many people wouldn't even know if they have a legal version or not.. They just use what is given to them.
This is why worms lately have been able to cause so much havic lately. People just don't understand they have to update.
So stopping the service packs from being installed just increases this issue and we have more and more machines on the net that are a breeding ground for worms- its hard to get people to update as it is!
People see all these computers around with problems with Windows and form a bad opinion of it. Isn't it better to try to aim to have ALL copies of Windows installed around the world up to date and working smoothly, than risk getting the reputation that it's a bug-riddled OS?
Live in your skin. Keep changing the scenery.
5) ???
and then:
6) PROFIT!!!
These in-jokes only works when you do them right. Tsk,tsk.
Well, if you can't dazzle them with brilliance...
The glass is always half empty. Period. ;)
I don't think that the parent post was a troll. I actually thing that the causal copiers are *exactly* the type of home users we want to market Linux to.
For the record, I only use the term piracy to refer to organized cartels of copyright infringers. I presume most of the unlicensed copies of Windows XP in the US are from causal copiers or multiple installs from the same media. I think it is important to distinguish these issues in public discussion and policy.
Every unlicensed copy of Windows represents a user who is unwilling to make a choice between paying full price for Windows or moving to an alternative operating system. By helping these people see that there are better deals that they can use without worrying about the ramifications (no service packs or patches, etc.) of using unlicensed copies of Windows.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
"But don't pirate Microsoft software and expect to get updates"
We'll use pirated stuff and get updates for it. This is like a moron test from MS. If you can't pass it, you don't deserve to use Windows.
I am supposed to keep Windows updated. AND have an antivirus program?
Every one seems to think that SP2 will really, truely make Windows more secure. With Microsofts track record, I'm not so sure. I'm willing to bet that it's going to open all sorts of new problems, and Windows it going to continue to be the mess of an OS that it always has been.
What's the implied threat? I bet all those corporate M$ customers who routinely get hacked while still being dilligent about paying licensing fees and regularly patching would see things a bit differently. There really isn't a whole lot of upside to being a legit customer if all you care about is protecting yourself from malware. You're just as vulnerable as the bad folks.
But you do not understand!
The whole point is that you make money from the services that you provide!
Oh wait...ummm..errr...
Quick...look behind you!
*runs away*
Not that I blame them for not providing assistance to people who violate their copyrights, but I wonder if they actually paid someone to come up with that insightful explanation.
:-)
Yes. They're called PR people. And they all sound like that.
The funny thing is, the ones I've know talk like that all the time. It's a little uncanny--having lunch with one feels like reading about your day in PC Week.
For the record, I only use the term piracy to refer to...
'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,' it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.'
'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'
'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master - that's all.'
Alice was too much puzzled to say anything; so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. 'They've a temper, some of them - particularly verbs: they're the proudest - adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs - however, I can manage the whole lot of them! Impenetrability! That's what I say!'
'Would you tell me, please,' said Alice, 'what that means?'
'Now you talk like a reasonable child,' said Humpty Dumpty, looking very much pleased. 'I meant by "impenetrability" that we've had enough of that subject, and it would be just as well if you'd mention what you mean to do next, as I suppose you don't mean to stop here all the rest of your life.'
'That's a great deal to make one word mean,' Alice said in a thoughtful tone.
'When I make a word do a lot of work like that,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'I always pay it extra.'
'Oh!' said Alice. She was too much puzzled to make any other remark.
'Ah, you should see 'em come round me of a Saturday night,' Humpty Dumpty went on, wagging his head gravely from side to side, 'for to get their wages, you know.'
(Alice didn't venture to ask what he paid them with; so you see I can't tell you.)
'You seem very clever at explaining words, Sir' said Alice. 'Would you kindly tell me the meaning of the poem called "Jabberwocky"?'
Know, your knot.
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
No, but wait for Slashsdot infomercials. That will be a special section paid for by advertisers which will write the articles on their new products.
So you mean now they'll actually differentiate the paid placements rather than just passing them off as regular articles?
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
Geez, Taco, every single one of these stories was posted recently...
Speaking as an average user can I just say that I don't wanna play with my kernel. I just wanna type my letters and go home. I don't wanna know what happens behind my desktop.
It's a tool, like my car. I wouldn't have a clue how the engine management system in my car works. Hell, I don't even know if it has one apart from Joe down the garage. So I pay Joe or Microsoft to know that stuff. And it gets updated every now and then and with a little effort and a decent AV package I've never been hit by any worm or destructive virus.
I use a fairly vanilla hardwear setup and when the ease of installation, and use of the OS and applications (and the range of applications) reaches the same level as Windows let me know. I and millions like me just don't have the training, time, or inclination to fiddle with the box.
I appreciate that many do and it is those people who will eventually move Linux up to a position where it can replace Windows. But I object to being ridiculed as a mindless automaton because I don't share your passion for fixing operating systems. Because from a users perspective, it isn't as broken as you claim.
Unless of course the 'you' referred to is the 0.0001% of the computer using population that does eliminate their own bugs or see code and fix it.
'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,' it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.'
'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'
'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master - that's all.'
There is remarkable insight into that phrase, BTW, as long as we are clear on definitions. Indeed the question is who is to be master. Is it the RIAA, Microsoft, et. al. who define borrowing a friend's e-book and using alt-print-screen to be piracy, or is it a more moderate interpretation which says that there is a fundamental difference between friend-to-friend infringement and the organized international crime cartels which do such things as burn CD-ROMS in floating factories in international waters.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
>The kind [of bug] you cannot get with FOSS since you can see the code for yourself and fix the problems.
I wish more people could, and I expect if open-source operating systems become the de-facto standard that more and more people WILL be able to read the code and fix problems (after all, this is the infancy of the computer revolution, isn't it?)
But I also believe 99.999% of people using Linux today CAN'T fix kernel bugs.
And the percentage will surely go even higher
(99.999999) when Linux becomes mainstream.
Still, it's the FREEDOM to be able to read the code and fix the bugs that's important.
Commoditizing software and making the software industry into a lot of small, local businesses instead of a few really BIG ones will surely lower the average salary of coders, but I like the vision of a future where truly comitted young people take up computer science not for sports-star salaries, but because they hear the call of it and they will hopefully bring about a rennaissance in computer science.
At least that's what I HOPE will happen.
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
So assume, M$ doesn't release SP2 to the illegal WinXP users. Now as all the new (and existing) worms start their squirm of terror over the net, who should we blame? The worm coders, of course; but how responsible is it that a certain company knows that worms will quickly propogate through their widely pirated software and refuse to make available a patch? So the whole internet must pay the price becuase Microsoft wants to get back at the teenagers who won't dish out the $300 for their buggy OS. Yeah, that makes *perfect* sense.
Microsoft should be required to provide updates and service packs to unlicensed / pirated copies of Windows, because these problems affect everyone, not just the copyright infringing users. Or, they should be required to enforce their copyright and actively persue infringing parties -- both corporate and home users.
As it stands, Microsoft can enforce this at whim. They even benefit from this as they get people "hooked" on software at home where the users are pirating because they simply can't or don't want to pay for it, and then these users come to require and use this software at their office where licenses will more often than not be purchased. In other words, Microsoft is trying to benefit from both sides of the camp. They should be required to stand on one side or the other.
My two cents...
- Twilight1
This is a really pathetic attitude. I bet you're fat.
For all you Windows users out there, I have a solution... DON'T UPGRADE!
If you need to use Windows, at least be smart and don't get XP. MS insists on making you jump through extra hoops, so why not stick with good old 2000? It can do anything XP can, without registration, without the nasty new interface, and faster of course. Now that XP is the current Windows version, you can find perfectly legal copies of 2000 really cheap.
Personally, I never upgraded from NT4. It's more stable than any other version (I would know), insanely fast compared to any other version, hardware drivers are always available, and it's still got rather modern Windows features (like DirectX 6). Runs all the same Windows programs as XP/2000.
Now for some interesting prices:
WinNT 4.0 Full $21.00 <-- recomended version
Win 2000 $88.00
Win 95 OSR2 w/USB Full $17.00
Win 98 $49.00
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Astro-turfers make such good moving targets... I can't resist taking a shot...
You're making the stupid assumption that all proprietary software makes money. On the flip side, you're also assuming that all Open source software causes cash haemorrhage's.
Look at SCO. They don't make shit from their proprietary software, and have had to kamakaze themselves into court cases and hope that they land on a bed of money.
Look at MySQL. They make alot of money (addmittedly not as much as Oracle) selling services and training, all the while giving their software away for free. Seemed to work, as MySQL is now in wide use... and it's use is only increasing, which means that their revenue will likely increase.
[wild conspiracy]
I suspect that MS has employed people to troll slashdot all day, and eminate FUD.
[/wild conspiracy]
It's pretty clear-cut. If you use a copy of commercial software you didn't pay for, you are a PIRATE. That's all there is to it.
You can be a VERY NAUGHTY pirate if you copy cd's on floating pirate ships, but the individual user is still a pirate.
Speeders? They're law-breakers. Muggers? Law-breakers.
If you must peddle this point of view, you have to do the work of explaining it, not just refusing to call people pirates when they are pirating software.
But to use your analogy of the car further, although you may not want to learn how the engine management system works, isn't it good to know that you could learn it if you wanted to? That you could open the hood at any time to check on the work the mechanic did? Wouldn't it be awful to be told you weren't allowed to look at your engine and had to trust the auto manufacturer any time they made an adjustment to your car?
That's the freedom part of FOSS. Not that you have to look at the code, but at least you can look at it if you wanted to. You have the freedom to look or not look as you want.
Can't you see we are busy bashing M$ here.
Slashback is about WinXP SP2 not Gent.., oh wait, sorry about that.
My guess is that you've never dealt with kernel level code.
The average person will never know how, nor care to fix kernel level bugs, or any code-level bug, for that matter.
I'd say it's pretty reasonable to assume that every person in the world who has attended school has taken some math, but nobody knows or cares how to do advanced calculus, even though math has been a part of our culture for hundreds of years.
$45 per U Colocation Special
mumblemumblemumble can't improve on the original UT mumblemumblemumble
I don't use Windows, and as follows I don't pirate it. But I do expect updates for the pirates. Why? Because they screw up MY network, and Microsoft is to blame. I hate those bitches. Every last one of them.
To extend your analogy further: Let's assume that the hood comes locked. You don't have the key. Joe, the local mechanic.. he dosen't have the key. no one has a key to that. Now, someone discovers that your car is faulty and it's likely to have the timing slip or the filters get clogged easily (a bug). You have to wait for Chrysler to provide a fix for it. Then you have to go to them to get it fixed.
:)
Every so often, they'll give you a tuneup for free. But you still have to pay when you want to upgrade your stereo, because it's not compatible with Chrysler cars from the year 2000. Only the new Chrysler XP.
PS: I don't have anything against Chrysler
I, for one, hope this does hurt the pirates. Why? Because anything that stops people from pirating software means they either have to pay for it or switch to something else (say GNU/Linux). Some will pay, but many will switch. I can't count how many times I've offered OpenOffice to people only to have them say they can get M$ Office for free (i.e. pirate it). Stop the pirating and I bet more would be interested.
This may be a little extreme even for Slashdot, but it seems like Microsoft almost has an obligation to support SP2 for everyone, including pirated copies. Otherwise legions of infested computers will linger all over, leading to future headaches for all...
It's almost like they sold teddy bears to children with vials of some terrible virus embedded inside and are refusing to give the antidote to people without a receipt for the bear.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The only question up for discussion is whether not providing security updates for pirates will hurt people besides the pirates themselves.
z 2" I think I'd go with the Bryce 3D.
There's not even a question there. It's a given in the whole thing. You think it's bad when people forget to patch and you have a Blaster epidemic, just imagine people that have to pirate a SECURITY patch. I don't kno about most people, but if I was on an ftp server (or whatever is used nowadays) and I saw something like Bryce 3D next to another package that said "WinXP-SP2-security-patch-by-DOD.zip.rar.tar.gz.b
-- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
I've known boys who grew up repairing and rebuilding old cars. But anything built after 1970 or thereabouts is beyond them. The technologies become progressively more complex, difficult to master, and the tools expensive.
It would take two to four years of intensive study to even make a beginning at understanding the underlying structure and coding of an operating system. Confronting the user with the challenge of reading 50 million lines of code as an example of the freedom of FOSS is ludicrous.
And break other stuff, like some of my good old DOS cad apps -- say TraxEdit, for laying out PC boards, broken by win2k sp2. In the name of security, they get it wrong again, taking the easy way out, just disable it all. Security is hard to get right, and they just don't get it. Sure, I could trade in my copy of EasyTrax or whatever for the now $10k+ Protel toolset, which does nothing new I need. Oh boy, what a deal. Luckily, as we convert and help several large (500+ machines) networks convert to Linux, it seems most of our major interests (compilers, cad tools and the like) are suddenly getting Linux support. Hmmm, things might be going better than some of the numbers show, at present. And oh yeah, we've found win2k machines doing unauthorized "phone home" after some of the more recent service packs in our firewall logs. Gotta get rid of those last few on our network. We do have a machine here running NT4, which came with our old DevStudio subscription, about SP3 or so, and it's been totally reliable (behind a really serious firewall, no browsing or email on this one) for many years. Later service packs caused trouble.
Reminds me of a russian christmas joke. "Recently the black market has been flooded by huge amounts of counterfeit christmas toys. Counterfeited toys look and feel the same as the originals but lack joyful christmas spirit."
I'm not sure that anyone is suggesting that confronting anyone with the enormous and complex code of an entire operating system as their first steps. I think the point is more that F/OSS software allows you to develop, very slowly in my case, an understanding of how computer code and operating systems actually work.
To reuse the car analogy, you are suggesting that someone's first step as a car mechanic would be to, say, calibrate turbo timing settings or adjust their fuel injection system. I don't pretend to be a car person, but it doesn't seem very likely nonetheless.
You seem to imply that the parent was saying that the freedom of F/OSS is the freedom to instantly know everything about it, which is indeed ludicrous. But, to state the obvious, you are free to look.
Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
-- Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
"I suspect that MS has employed people to troll slashdot all day, and eminate FUD."
Yes, using one example really proves your point. And Microsoft (ooops, sorry, M$) makes more money than any open source software company. That obviously proves that closed source proprietary software is a far better business model does it not?
No, we are not employed by Microsoft (I slipped, sorry, M$), we just know better than to bash anything proprietary and praise anything free. And come on, are you SERIOUSLY comparing MySQL to Oracle? That is like saying that because you develop FOSS and make some money off providing services, that proves that the FOSS works much better than the commercial model (although admittedly M$ makes billions more than you).
In all seriousness, why doesn't Microsoft release a patch that fixes licensed copies of Windows, and cripples unlicensed ones? They have a right to protect themselves from copyright infringment, and they have a duty to make sure that problems caused by their security problems don't screw things up for everyone else. So what if some silly l33t kiddie gets his 0-day copy of XP nuked? Buy it or use something else!
Why can't Microsoft understand the basic concept?
It makes perfect sense to be able to deflect blame to your enemies. The next step is to bribe^H^H^H^H^Hsponsor some independant research into concluding that the net would be safer (from terrorists?) if the government spent more on anti-piracy (or harsher legislation).
As with music CD sales, I think that piracy would be minimised if the prices were fairer. However I'm also aware that the prices have been chosen already to maximize their profit. "Stack them high, sell them cheap" does not apply to monopolies.
Seriously, sarky d00d, would you use any software that comes from talented but malicious h4x0r-c0d3r k1dz? Especially if it's the entire base of your computing existence? No. Just no.
I've used Debian for the last 5 years. I'm comforted by the cryptographic assurance that my packages come direct from Debian and not from some sleazy third party who might have put ANYTHING in there. The only bugs and flaws there are the ones that the Debian packagers (and upstream) left there. There were no trojans thrown in by the supplier for fun or profit at the expense of my security.
If I used Microsoft Windows -- and thank goodness I don't -- I would only accept genuine the Microsoft article and Microsoft signed patches or service packs. I wouldn't trust some sleazy guy on the street corner who makes his living by breaking the law. In fact, I wouldn't trust a Debian CD handed to me by a friend. I only trust debian.org and the sites it trusts, to give me Debian.
Most people like me, who aren't interested in cars, just want to get in our cars, start the engine, do some driving, and get to where we want to go.
We are simply not interested in filling the vehicle with gas, or changing the oil, or having tires rotated. We don't understand what oil is for. The only time we worry about it is when OUR DUMB ASSES are stranded on the side of the highway like such stupidity deserves.
No SP2 for you. Two months.
Programming a proprietory software package $55,000 Programming an Open Source sofware package -$20,000... I wonder which one i'm going to choose. Don't mod me down, thats avoiding the issue. How about you put your mouth where your modpoints are.
No one said you had to quit your day job and start your own whole goddamn Linux distribution; that's a special case.
And, moreover, many more people have gone much broker trying to start their own companies.
"Depend upon it, Sir, this is mere talk. Who is ruined by gaming? You will not find six instances in an age. There is a strange rout made about deep play: whereas you have many more people ruined by adventurous trade, and yet we do not hear such an outcry against it." - Samuel Johnson
Google confirms: Ruby is the world's most beloved programm
It is fairly easy to make a windows installation boot disk that will include the first service pack. It's just a matter of overwriting the original i386 tree with the one from sp1.
Why would the trick not work for sp2 ?
Either nobody who uses Gentoo is a multimillionaire, or they are grubby ones at that. To someone who is loaded, $20k is like paying for lunch. Surely if they appreciated Daniel's efforts they could make a charitable donation. How about giving the guy $50k so he can keep working on it, if he so chooses? Or take a long vacation for all his hard work?
Must-not-watch TV!
And the translation is [drumroll, please]...
It's never been a better time to bite the bullet and drop the bad habit known as Windows. The first step is to admit that you always wanted to but were too lazy to do it.
It's simple, really. Computing is an important part of your life. Your homegrown behemoth has had more upgrades than Anna Nicole Smith. Your Windows installation kinda works. It takes 1-3 minutes to boot, another 1-5 minutes to load all it's crap after you log in. It refreshes your desktop icons sometimes for no reason at all, wasting time. It pages all your programs out to disk if you copy an ISO image of Windows XP from one location to another, taking another 2-3 minutes to restore a 5-tab Moz window. But if you wait around long enough, you can get something done with it. The 3rd-party program support is great, you can always go to astalavista and get a crack for most things. So in a sense it's like OSS, only more annoying and much slower in real-world performance. But you don't really support Windows. You're not that stupid, no matter what others may think. You're just a bit lazy, a creature of comfort. A couch potato, if you will.
Well, M$ _is_ that stupid - it's shooting itself in the foot left and right. They are betting you really are that stupid. That there is no line you will not cross, as long as what they take away is in small increments.
The choice is yours. Dedicate a full weekend, with a strict 9-5 schedule and no drinking more than 4-6 beers per day. Hell, buy that new SATA drive you always wanted and _keep_ your existing Windows drives, just in case. Not in dual-boot configuration, in an off-line 'just-in-case' configuration. See how it goes, run the must-haves in WINE. After a few months you'll probably burn a few DVD-Rs and format those 'just-in-case' M$-infected drives and give them away as prizes on your website/blog.
Must-not-watch TV!
The moderator scores were especially humorous. About one poster in 100 would actually get it right, but their posts would be rated something like a "2", and completely baseless conjecture was rated a 5.
You must be new here, huh?
All Microsoft does is blacklist certain product keys. There's numberous ways to get around this, such as with key gens or key changers. :p
Well, even more than that... one dealer is giving their car away, unlocked hood and all, for free! And it's a more reliable car than the other dealer is trying to sell especially for people that only want to drive to the grocery store (write letters).
It just so happens it's easy to steal the popular car.
LilMikey.com... I'll stop doing it when you sto
While many companies would write ad copy like the following, would Microsoft write such copy....?
Only use a Genuine(tm) Microsoft(R) operating system. A Genuine Microsoft product gives you the assurance of getting the kind of quality, compatibility, interoperability, reliability, security and stability that you have come to expect from Microsoft products.
Those who would give up liberty in exchange for security and DRM should switch to Microsoft Palladium!
This great! My research requires doing big numerical calculations.
At last, a scientific explanation for my work ethic! I'll be showing this to the boss tomorrow!
Why? What incentive would anyone have to actually buy their products? (That's just a general question, not specific to this statement)
That question is missing the whole point of my argument. Yes of course it lowers the need to pay for XP. My argument is that they have the RESPONSIBILITY to fix it for as many people as they can as it effects EVERYONE. Not just people with Windows.
No, its more like they sell infectious teddy bears, but you only get the antidote when you pay at the cash register, so anyone stealing the bears dies. But if everyone knows there's a virus in the bear, doesn't anyone stealing one get what they deserve?
Here's the key. In theory, no-one knew the bear was that diseased, OK? It's like a product recall which companies do ALL THE TIME. And they take ANY of the dangerous product back for refund or replacement. If it's a danger to public safety you can't just ignore anyone who doesn't meet your standard of proof.
Does General Motors have an obligation to fix stolen cars under warantee?
If GM cars blew up randomly killing people on the highway, then yes they would have to repair vehicles even where the people could not show registration. In fact car companies do that kind of thing all the time, I don't know that I've had to show registration for any warranty work. I could easily steal a car and take it in if I knew there was a recall.
Does McDonalds have an obligation to ensure that people taking old burgers from their dumpsters don't get food poisoning?
Yes they do in fact, which is why they lock the dumpsters. Stores get sued for that kind of thing you know.
Does you local cinema have an obligation to leave exits open for the benefit of people who sneak in?
It's called fire codes - yes in fact they do have an obligation to make sure doors can open, which means people sneak in through them. Thanks for the support.
Does a cable TV company have an obilgation to ensure that unauthorized connections have a good signal, even if the unauthorized connection cripples the signal going to legitimate subscribers?
Now you're just being an idiot. What does the quality of any cable signal have to do with public saftey? I can't even think of a close metaphor that makes any sense in the context of this discussion.
Does anyone have an obligation to use Microsoft products, when there are free alternatives?
Um, no? Your point?
Does Microsoft have an obligation to support products they genuinely believe are pirated (yes, I know there are problems with product activation; see my last point)?
Yes if they pose danger to the rest of us.
Microsoft does have an obligation to it's paying customers. So perhaps the ultimate solution is to erase the hard drive of any machine with a blocked code (after all, which is more inconvenient: having to provide proof of purchase, which you need for after-sales support of just about any other product, or having the 'net clogged by unpatched machines?).
Now you are starting to make sense. I don't care how Microsoft arrives at the solution, they have an OBLIGATION to repair, as much as possible, a terribly unsafe situation that they have created. If there are a thousand computers that are DDOS zombies and they know beyond all doubt they were pirated, I see nothing wrong with nuking those computers. I don't see why you would have a problem with that. In fact I would go further and say there should be network police of a sort that had a right to make sure infected computers stayed off the net until cleaned (in reality of course it is impractical to have such a force).
If you think that having to provide proof of purchase is too hard, just switch to some other platform that doesn't have the same problems (Linux/Mac OS). Its your choice.
Of course I have already. I don't think it's too hard, I just think it is unreasonable for MS to draw a l
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley