enabling one of the features that Hollywood has been demanding before Internet distribution of movies will be allowed by the studios
Really?
Both MovieLink and
CinemaNow are both distributing movies on the web with Hollywood's consent.
"no MS product will ever be based on.NET and you can quote me on that. "
Hmm.
Microsoft Speech ServerMedia Center"
Both of those are based on.NET and I'm sure there are others as well.
Yes, we still have a monorail, but there was a fire so it's not running for the summer. They're going to build a big shiny new one that goes somewhere else as well.
They should all volunteer to be classified as yellow. That way whenever a member of congress flies they'll if it's working or not. I'm sure Congress wouldn't mind doing this in the name of security.
There's no more DRM in Windows XP Media Center Edition than there is in Windows XP. The reason you need a Windows XP Media Center PC is because the Xbox Media Center Extender does what it sounds like - it's extends Media Center to the Xbox.
The Magician's Nephew was the sixth book in the series (originally published in 1955 I think), but was inteneded to be a prequel to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and so is normally considered the first book in the series even though it was the last to be published. A bit like Star Wars Episode I is the fourth film to be made in the series.
Toshiba e740 Pocket PC - 400Mhz XScale, 64Mb RAM, built in WiFi. Just come out and appearing a CompUSA stores mainly. I checked my local store yesterday and they had a couple in stock.
It still exists, just in the science section, not the front page. I never noticed it before, but it looks like some stories only get posted to the sections not the frontpage.
Anyway the story is here.
Yes, just over 100 pounds for a few good channels, compared to over $480 a year (~$40 a month) for a hundred crap ones here in the US. As far as paying for television goes I'd much rather have the UK system over the US system anyday.
It's this fee that has enabled the BBC to produce great television and not have to have any adverts. Thats right a quality TV station that doesn't have any adverts (apart from ones for BBC properties). It's the license fee that pays for http://news.bbc.co.uk. I think the license fee is great value for money.
No they don't beat down your door, in fact if they just show up at your door they can't come in without a warrant, unless they can see a television. Even if you don't have a license they just ask you to get one, if you don't they take you to court and you are ordered to get one, if you still don't you get a bigger fine and eventually jail.
Yes, WinCE != PocketPC. PocketPC uses WinCE and made the decision to only support one architecture, but WindowsCE is built for ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, SH and x86 - you can find a full list of the support processors here
A Trolltech employee once said he wouldn't consider Linux a success until his mother was running it. I don't think the Mom Test is necessarily a fair one, but I get his point: When Linux penetrates the average user's home or office, it will have passed a significant milestone. Well until Linux is ready to beat out Microsoft in the desktop, where else can Linux be a useful alternative operating enviornment for the user who is not an expert? The answer is simple - on embedded devices. So you can imagine how cool it is that Sony finally got on the CLUE bus and decided to offer a Linux Kit to the world for its Playstation 2 console unit. Previously it was only available in beta form, for japanese models. The official announcement came via cnn, you can read the article by clicking here. So what does this mean for your typical console gamer or linux enthusiast exactly? In a nutshell it means your Video Game console will also be a valid bonafied NC/AC (Network Computer/Appliance Computer) unit.
The kit consists of:
DVD-ROM containing a Linux Release specifically designed by Sony to boot the PS2
40 GByte Hard Drive
10Base-T/100 Base-TX Ethernet Interface
USB Keyboard
USB Mouse
VGA AV Connector/w HD 15 plus Stereo Audio
PS2 Linux Kit
The DVD that contains linux will ship with many packages you've grown up with linux like:
Linux Kernel
XFree86 (which means practically every single GUI application you can run from a desktop linux machine)
gcc
glibc
XFree86 on PS2
Here are a couple more images of linux running a ps2. On your left is Xscreensaver (not sure which one) and on your right is "gv" running inside WindowMaker.
I didn't list the versions of these packages because simply put, nobody but sony knows what they will decide on at release time. But expect the packages to be up-to-date. Below is the output of dmesg from the Linux Kit running off a japanese version of the playstation 2. How cool is that..
---- begin snippet from/var/log/dmesg ----
Loading R5900 MMU routines.
CPU revision is: 00002e14
Primary instruction cache 16kb, linesize 64 bytes
Primary data cache 8kb, linesize 64 bytes
Branch Prediction : on
Double Issue : on
Linux version 2.2.1 (master@linux) (gcc version 2.95.2 19991024 (release)) #94 Thu Apr 19 12:13:01 JST 2001
no initrd found
Console: colour dummy device 80x25
Calibrating delay loop... 392.40 BogoMIPS
Estimated CPU clock: 294.240 MHz
Memory: 30724k/32760k available (1216k kernel code, 752k data)
Checking for 'wait' instruction... unavailable.
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
PlayStation 2 SIF BIOS: 0200
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.2
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0 for Linux NET4.0.
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP, IGMP
Linux IP multicast router 0.06 plus PIM-SM
Starting kswapd v 1.5
PlayStation 2 device support: GIF, VIF, GS, VU, IPU, SPR
Graphics Synthesizer revision: 00005508
Console: switching to colour PlayStation 2 Graphics Synthesizer 80x28
pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured
Real Time Clock Driver v1.09
rtc: Digital UNIX epoch (1952) detected
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
usb.c: registered new driver usb_mouse
usb.c: registered new driver keyboard
usb-ohci.c: USB OHCI at membase 0x1f801600, IRQ 42
usb-ohci.c: GrowLocalMem 64K bytes
usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
usb.c: USB new device connect, assigned device number 1
hub.c: USB hub found
hub.c: 2 ports detected
RAM disk driver initialized: 1 RAM disks of 10240K size
loop: registered device at major 7
PlayStation 2 IDE DMA driver
hda: ST340823A, ATA DISK drive
ide0 at 0xb4000040-0xb4000047,0xb400005c on irq 41
hda: ST340823A, 38166MB w/1024kB Cache, CHS=4865/255/63, (U)DMA
LVM version 0.8i by Heinz Mauelshagen (02/10/1999)
lvm -- Driver successfully initialized
scsi : 0 hosts.
scsi : detected total.
Partition check:
hda: hda1 hda2
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.
Freeing unused kernel memory: 48k freed
usb.c: USB new device connect, assigned device number 2
hub.c: USB hub found
hub.c: 2 ports detected
usb.c: USB new device connect, assigned device number 3
keybdev.c: Adding keyboard: input0
input0: USB HIDBP keyboard
usb.c: USB new device connect, assigned device number 4
input1: USB HIDBP mouse
PlayStation 2 Sound driver
Adding Swap: 136516k swap-space (priority -1)
eth0: MAC address 00:04:1f:ff:fa:bc
eth0: Auto-negotiation complete. 100Mbps Full duplex mode.
PlayStation 2 SMAP(Ethernet) device driver is loaded.
---- end snippet from/var/log/dmesg ----
Now with all this one has to think of what you can't do with a ps2 running linux. Well a couple things actually. Don't expect you can pop in any of your self-made CD's into it. This isn't an OSI issue as much as it is a hardware-level one. The Playstation2's CD-ROM drive is unable to read normal data CD-ROMs. Special Playstation2-CDs can be created so that PCs can read them, but not vice versa, simliar to the GD-ROMs for the Dreamcast that can't be created on a CD-R.
Another common question is how will Linux boot on the Playstation2? All the software in the world, regardless if it's runnable object code or source code with the most advanced compiler, is worthless if it can't be loaded into memory on the target machine and made to execute on the CPU. The perfect Linux system for the Playstation2 wouldn't make any sense at all, if it couldn't be booted.
The boot process is one of the crown jewels of copy-protection in the game console business. Since only the console manufacturer knows how to manufacture bootable media, and probably is the only one with the manufacturing technology, game creators must license the technology. The console manufacturer earns from the royalties for this licensing, not thesale of the hardware. Actually it's very common that the console manufacturer is losing money each and every time one of their consoles is sold. This is how the traditional game business works. Don't expect Sony to give away the secret of how the Playstation2 boot.
Linux will likely not boot directly off a self-made CD-ROM, nor from the optional harddrive unit, since no technical details about the port are currently known except a couple rumors, I'm going to speculate here and list some of the possibilities:
depend on the boot loader (like LILO or grub) stored on a memory card, similar to the DVD player driver updates they distributed early on
require a CD/DVD-ROM sold by Sony as an "authentication" mechanism
require some special hardware so it could be booted from an external source (think of disk-less machines with root over NFS)
only boot from the "official" CD that Sony sells. eg. Custom kernels unsupported. (The freedom to compile a custom kernel and freely boot it is very important. I honestly hope that Sony makes a decision which would be acceptable by the community as well as not risk their business model)
In anycase, any "boot loader" would most likely be proprietary closed-source. We just have to accept this. The BIOS of any common PC that boots the operating system is proprietary, too.
In short, I bought a Sony Playstation 2 unit with no intention of running any OS off it. I purchased it simply because its the coolest console video game unit I've ever seen and the game developement for it will be long-standing. The fact it also acts as a DVD player was a plus for sure. But when they tossed up the idea of throwing Linux on it, obviously because Microsoft's Xbox is going to bridge the gap between PC/console, I see endless possibilities now. Keep in mind this linux kit isn't a 'developers-only' package. This is going to be the interface that every ps2 user who wants to get online or treat his ps2 like a PC, will be using. Alot of wincentric folks are going to see linux for the first time, in all its glory and I wouldn't be suprised if some people will forever associate linux as "that video game OS." Any attention is better than none:-)
remote is another 40-50 dollars
Where 40-50 dollars is actually 35 memory card (also another 40-50 dollars).
Where 40-50 dollars is actually 35 again.
Or even less if you're willing to shop around a bit.
Durham (my University) was doing this in 1999/2000 when I was in my final year. The screensavers were ads and then when you logged in there was a floating window with smaller ads with no close button or minimize button. The only way around it was to use taskman to kill it, which of course most people didn't know about or to use a unix box.
They didn't do it on student machines, but it wouldn't surprise me if they started to. To get a student machine on the network you had to submit it to the IT department for a day for them to install some "useful" software and a NIC if you didn't have one. So it wouldn't be too hard for them to add a screensaver with advertising to every student machine and most people wouldn't know how to remove it.
The views of a Muslim in NY
on
More WTC News
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
I didn't write this, I was sent it in an email, I don't know the original author.
I am a muslim and I live in the US. I was born and raised in Canada with
Indian background. I feel I need to help clear up what is true and what
is not true with regards to Islam.
Islam is a religion and a person practicing Islam is a muslim. There are
five basics pillars of islam that any muslim should follow. All the
guidance of what muslims should do is in the holy book called the Qu'ran
or "Koran".
Unfortunately, it seems that Bin Laden and others have taken religion as
a vehicle to project their political hatred and motives. What he is
doing, has nothing to do with Islam at all. Islam teaches people to be
loving, peace giving, god fearing people. It teaches us to live with
diversity, other religions, and humility.
All the things that bin laden has said in the interviews and has done in
the past are not words from the qu'ran but his words. And unfortunately
the media and lack of real knowledge has blurred what is true and what
is not.
The statement by binladen that non-muslims cannot live in a muslim
country is false - 100% false. India was ruled by muslims for 900 years,
christians, muslims and hindus lived happily together. Same in
palestine, before the partition, arab jews and arab muslims lived
together for hundreds of years in peace. The main reasons for hatred and
fighting the past 50 years was due more to political landscape than
religion. Unfortunately, religion is a powerful tool that gets people
motivated and people in power have used it as the lauch pad for fighting.
Another item that binladen keeps talking about is Jihad or holy war.
There is discussion of Jihad in the Qu'ran and when and why it is
appropriate. It is never an offensive tactic. Jihad is only permitted
when a muslim is being opppressed to practice their religion. Only real
examples where Jihad may have been appropriate in recent years would be
the Bosnian war where Bosnian muslims were being executed strictly based
on their religion. But by no means, can a muslim country attack another
country (muslim or not) as an act of Jihad. That is incorrect.
the basics of islam are similar to christianity.
Believe in one god. In arabic the word god is Allah. The god is the same
between all three religions. jews, muslims and christians pray to the
same god. That is very important to understand.
But a true muslim is humble, not greedy, not arrogant and never shows
jealousy. Tolerance, helping neighbours of any race, creed, or religion
is the first thing. One of the five pillars of islam is to give to the
poor. It's required, not a choice. As any religion or race, there are a
small group of radicals that take any religion and bend it for their
convenience. This seems to be the case with bin laden, saddam hussein,
and others who have killed humans for their gain.
None of these people will go to heaven as they believe they will. Jihad
is not valid here nor does is it say to kill innocent children, parents,
and siblings. Jihad only allows fighting among soliders, not civilians.
Unfortunately these people are misled and doing very evil things that
they will be punished for it.
I'll stop rambling here..I hope this helps you guys get a better
understand of what is going on. Just remember, Arab is a race..there are
Arab Christians, Arab Jews and Arab muslims. At the moment radical arab
muslims are causing trouble and doing things that are absolutely not
tolerated in Islam at all. I hope these groups are stopped and removed.
I was in NYC yesterday and I was there when it happened. I saw the
second plane slam into the WTC 2. It was an experience I wish I had not
witnessed. But we need to grow strong and not stereotype.
best regards,
a muslim in america.
Slashdot Mirror
enabling one of the features that Hollywood has been demanding before Internet distribution of movies will be allowed by the studios
Really?
Both MovieLink and CinemaNow are both distributing movies on the web with Hollywood's consent.
"no MS product will ever be based on .NET and you can quote me on that. "
Hmm.
Microsoft Speech Server
Media Center"
Both of those are based on .NET and I'm sure there are others as well.
Girls
I ordered a gift from Victoria's Secret once. Now they send me their catalogues all the time. I really don't mind.
Yes, we still have a monorail, but there was a fire so it's not running for the summer. They're going to build a big shiny new one that goes somewhere else as well.
Lack of research.
Windows Mobile Developer Resrource Kit All the SDKs on DVD/CD. I clicked through to order and the price of the kit was $0.00
Cingular are selling their CA and NY networks to T-Mobile as they don't need them now they have AT&T's network.
They should all volunteer to be classified as yellow. That way whenever a member of congress flies they'll if it's working or not. I'm sure Congress wouldn't mind doing this in the name of security.
Perhaps you should read a bit more as well. Both Dell and HP ship PCs with Real Player preinstalled as do Gateway.
There's no more DRM in Windows XP Media Center Edition than there is in Windows XP. The reason you need a Windows XP Media Center PC is because the Xbox Media Center Extender does what it sounds like - it's extends Media Center to the Xbox.
For bad commercials, there's no power greater than X
About the same size as a 10pence coin and a dime (10 cents) is about the same size as a 5pence coin.
The Magician's Nephew was the sixth book in the series (originally published in 1955 I think), but was inteneded to be a prequel to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and so is normally considered the first book in the series even though it was the last to be published. A bit like Star Wars Episode I is the fourth film to be made in the series.
Toshiba e740 Pocket PC - 400Mhz XScale, 64Mb RAM, built in WiFi. Just come out and appearing a CompUSA stores mainly. I checked my local store yesterday and they had a couple in stock.
It still exists, just in the science section, not the front page. I never noticed it before, but it looks like some stories only get posted to the sections not the frontpage. Anyway the story is here.
Yes, just over 100 pounds for a few good channels, compared to over $480 a year (~$40 a month) for a hundred crap ones here in the US. As far as paying for television goes I'd much rather have the UK system over the US system anyday.
It's this fee that has enabled the BBC to produce great television and not have to have any adverts. Thats right a quality TV station that doesn't have any adverts (apart from ones for BBC properties). It's the license fee that pays for http://news.bbc.co.uk. I think the license fee is great value for money.
No they don't beat down your door, in fact if they just show up at your door they can't come in without a warrant, unless they can see a television. Even if you don't have a license they just ask you to get one, if you don't they take you to court and you are ordered to get one, if you still don't you get a bigger fine and eventually jail.
Yes, WinCE != PocketPC. PocketPC uses WinCE and made the decision to only support one architecture, but WindowsCE is built for ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, SH and x86 - you can find a full list of the support processors here
Cool!
A Trolltech employee once said he wouldn't consider Linux a success until his mother was running it. I don't think the Mom Test is necessarily a fair one, but I get his point: When Linux penetrates the average user's home or office, it will have passed a significant milestone. Well until Linux is ready to beat out Microsoft in the desktop, where else can Linux be a useful alternative operating enviornment for the user who is not an expert? The answer is simple - on embedded devices. So you can imagine how cool it is that Sony finally got on the CLUE bus and decided to offer a Linux Kit to the world for its Playstation 2 console unit. Previously it was only available in beta form, for japanese models. The official announcement came via cnn, you can read the article by clicking here. So what does this mean for your typical console gamer or linux enthusiast exactly? In a nutshell it means your Video Game console will also be a valid bonafied NC/AC (Network Computer/Appliance Computer) unit.
/w HD 15 plus Stereo Audio
/var/log/dmesg ----
/var/log/dmesg ----
:-)
The kit consists of:
DVD-ROM containing a Linux Release specifically designed by Sony to boot the PS2
40 GByte Hard Drive
10Base-T/100 Base-TX Ethernet Interface
USB Keyboard
USB Mouse
VGA AV Connector
PS2 Linux Kit
The DVD that contains linux will ship with many packages you've grown up with linux like:
Linux Kernel
XFree86 (which means practically every single GUI application you can run from a desktop linux machine)
gcc
glibc
XFree86 on PS2
Here are a couple more images of linux running a ps2. On your left is Xscreensaver (not sure which one) and on your right is "gv" running inside WindowMaker.
I didn't list the versions of these packages because simply put, nobody but sony knows what they will decide on at release time. But expect the packages to be up-to-date. Below is the output of dmesg from the Linux Kit running off a japanese version of the playstation 2. How cool is that..
---- begin snippet from
Loading R5900 MMU routines.
CPU revision is: 00002e14
Primary instruction cache 16kb, linesize 64 bytes
Primary data cache 8kb, linesize 64 bytes
Branch Prediction : on
Double Issue : on
Linux version 2.2.1 (master@linux) (gcc version 2.95.2 19991024 (release)) #94 Thu Apr 19 12:13:01 JST 2001
no initrd found
Console: colour dummy device 80x25
Calibrating delay loop... 392.40 BogoMIPS
Estimated CPU clock: 294.240 MHz
Memory: 30724k/32760k available (1216k kernel code, 752k data)
Checking for 'wait' instruction... unavailable.
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
PlayStation 2 SIF BIOS: 0200
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.2
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0 for Linux NET4.0.
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP, IGMP
Linux IP multicast router 0.06 plus PIM-SM
Starting kswapd v 1.5
PlayStation 2 device support: GIF, VIF, GS, VU, IPU, SPR
Graphics Synthesizer revision: 00005508
Console: switching to colour PlayStation 2 Graphics Synthesizer 80x28
pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured
Real Time Clock Driver v1.09
rtc: Digital UNIX epoch (1952) detected
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
usb.c: registered new driver usb_mouse
usb.c: registered new driver keyboard
usb-ohci.c: USB OHCI at membase 0x1f801600, IRQ 42
usb-ohci.c: GrowLocalMem 64K bytes
usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
usb.c: USB new device connect, assigned device number 1
hub.c: USB hub found
hub.c: 2 ports detected
RAM disk driver initialized: 1 RAM disks of 10240K size
loop: registered device at major 7
PlayStation 2 IDE DMA driver
hda: ST340823A, ATA DISK drive
ide0 at 0xb4000040-0xb4000047,0xb400005c on irq 41
hda: ST340823A, 38166MB w/1024kB Cache, CHS=4865/255/63, (U)DMA
LVM version 0.8i by Heinz Mauelshagen (02/10/1999)
lvm -- Driver successfully initialized
scsi : 0 hosts.
scsi : detected total.
Partition check:
hda: hda1 hda2
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.
Freeing unused kernel memory: 48k freed
usb.c: USB new device connect, assigned device number 2
hub.c: USB hub found
hub.c: 2 ports detected
usb.c: USB new device connect, assigned device number 3
keybdev.c: Adding keyboard: input0
input0: USB HIDBP keyboard
usb.c: USB new device connect, assigned device number 4
input1: USB HIDBP mouse
PlayStation 2 Sound driver
Adding Swap: 136516k swap-space (priority -1)
eth0: MAC address 00:04:1f:ff:fa:bc
eth0: Auto-negotiation complete. 100Mbps Full duplex mode.
PlayStation 2 SMAP(Ethernet) device driver is loaded.
---- end snippet from
Now with all this one has to think of what you can't do with a ps2 running linux. Well a couple things actually. Don't expect you can pop in any of your self-made CD's into it. This isn't an OSI issue as much as it is a hardware-level one. The Playstation2's CD-ROM drive is unable to read normal data CD-ROMs. Special Playstation2-CDs can be created so that PCs can read them, but not vice versa, simliar to the GD-ROMs for the Dreamcast that can't be created on a CD-R.
Another common question is how will Linux boot on the Playstation2? All the software in the world, regardless if it's runnable object code or source code with the most advanced compiler, is worthless if it can't be loaded into memory on the target machine and made to execute on the CPU. The perfect Linux system for the Playstation2 wouldn't make any sense at all, if it couldn't be booted.
The boot process is one of the crown jewels of copy-protection in the game console business. Since only the console manufacturer knows how to manufacture bootable media, and probably is the only one with the manufacturing technology, game creators must license the technology. The console manufacturer earns from the royalties for this licensing, not thesale of the hardware. Actually it's very common that the console manufacturer is losing money each and every time one of their consoles is sold. This is how the traditional game business works. Don't expect Sony to give away the secret of how the Playstation2 boot.
Linux will likely not boot directly off a self-made CD-ROM, nor from the optional harddrive unit, since no technical details about the port are currently known except a couple rumors, I'm going to speculate here and list some of the possibilities:
depend on the boot loader (like LILO or grub) stored on a memory card, similar to the DVD player driver updates they distributed early on
require a CD/DVD-ROM sold by Sony as an "authentication" mechanism
require some special hardware so it could be booted from an external source (think of disk-less machines with root over NFS)
only boot from the "official" CD that Sony sells. eg. Custom kernels unsupported. (The freedom to compile a custom kernel and freely boot it is very important. I honestly hope that Sony makes a decision which would be acceptable by the community as well as not risk their business model)
In anycase, any "boot loader" would most likely be proprietary closed-source. We just have to accept this. The BIOS of any common PC that boots the operating system is proprietary, too.
In short, I bought a Sony Playstation 2 unit with no intention of running any OS off it. I purchased it simply because its the coolest console video game unit I've ever seen and the game developement for it will be long-standing. The fact it also acts as a DVD player was a plus for sure. But when they tossed up the idea of throwing Linux on it, obviously because Microsoft's Xbox is going to bridge the gap between PC/console, I see endless possibilities now. Keep in mind this linux kit isn't a 'developers-only' package. This is going to be the interface that every ps2 user who wants to get online or treat his ps2 like a PC, will be using. Alot of wincentric folks are going to see linux for the first time, in all its glory and I wouldn't be suprised if some people will forever associate linux as "that video game OS." Any attention is better than none
remote is another 40-50 dollars
Where 40-50 dollars is actually 35
memory card (also another 40-50 dollars).
Where 40-50 dollars is actually 35 again.
Or even less if you're willing to shop around a bit.
Microsoft is more interested in SALT.
almost every 2000 server runs IIS for terminal server Errr, since when? Terminal Server doesn't require IIS to be installed.
GPS recievers can be small, small enough to attach to debris Great! Now the debris will know where it is as it floats through space.
Durham (my University) was doing this in 1999/2000 when I was in my final year. The screensavers were ads and then when you logged in there was a floating window with smaller ads with no close button or minimize button. The only way around it was to use taskman to kill it, which of course most people didn't know about or to use a unix box. They didn't do it on student machines, but it wouldn't surprise me if they started to. To get a student machine on the network you had to submit it to the IT department for a day for them to install some "useful" software and a NIC if you didn't have one. So it wouldn't be too hard for them to add a screensaver with advertising to every student machine and most people wouldn't know how to remove it.
I didn't write this, I was sent it in an email, I don't know the original author. I am a muslim and I live in the US. I was born and raised in Canada with Indian background. I feel I need to help clear up what is true and what is not true with regards to Islam. Islam is a religion and a person practicing Islam is a muslim. There are five basics pillars of islam that any muslim should follow. All the guidance of what muslims should do is in the holy book called the Qu'ran or "Koran". Unfortunately, it seems that Bin Laden and others have taken religion as a vehicle to project their political hatred and motives. What he is doing, has nothing to do with Islam at all. Islam teaches people to be loving, peace giving, god fearing people. It teaches us to live with diversity, other religions, and humility. All the things that bin laden has said in the interviews and has done in the past are not words from the qu'ran but his words. And unfortunately the media and lack of real knowledge has blurred what is true and what is not. The statement by binladen that non-muslims cannot live in a muslim country is false - 100% false. India was ruled by muslims for 900 years, christians, muslims and hindus lived happily together. Same in palestine, before the partition, arab jews and arab muslims lived together for hundreds of years in peace. The main reasons for hatred and fighting the past 50 years was due more to political landscape than religion. Unfortunately, religion is a powerful tool that gets people motivated and people in power have used it as the lauch pad for fighting. Another item that binladen keeps talking about is Jihad or holy war. There is discussion of Jihad in the Qu'ran and when and why it is appropriate. It is never an offensive tactic. Jihad is only permitted when a muslim is being opppressed to practice their religion. Only real examples where Jihad may have been appropriate in recent years would be the Bosnian war where Bosnian muslims were being executed strictly based on their religion. But by no means, can a muslim country attack another country (muslim or not) as an act of Jihad. That is incorrect. the basics of islam are similar to christianity. Believe in one god. In arabic the word god is Allah. The god is the same between all three religions. jews, muslims and christians pray to the same god. That is very important to understand. But a true muslim is humble, not greedy, not arrogant and never shows jealousy. Tolerance, helping neighbours of any race, creed, or religion is the first thing. One of the five pillars of islam is to give to the poor. It's required, not a choice. As any religion or race, there are a small group of radicals that take any religion and bend it for their convenience. This seems to be the case with bin laden, saddam hussein, and others who have killed humans for their gain. None of these people will go to heaven as they believe they will. Jihad is not valid here nor does is it say to kill innocent children, parents, and siblings. Jihad only allows fighting among soliders, not civilians. Unfortunately these people are misled and doing very evil things that they will be punished for it. I'll stop rambling here..I hope this helps you guys get a better understand of what is going on. Just remember, Arab is a race..there are Arab Christians, Arab Jews and Arab muslims. At the moment radical arab muslims are causing trouble and doing things that are absolutely not tolerated in Islam at all. I hope these groups are stopped and removed. I was in NYC yesterday and I was there when it happened. I saw the second plane slam into the WTC 2. It was an experience I wish I had not witnessed. But we need to grow strong and not stereotype. best regards, a muslim in america.