Re: the parent post - RTFA:
"Rather than attacking mobsters who peddle pirated copies of Windows directly to companies, the Russian coppers decided to lock up a Sepich headmaster who bought hot Windows software which came from Perm region's Capital Construction Administration....
Microsoft says that the incident has nothing to do with them..."
I can well belive that last part. M$ carefully treads a fine line between being too repessive in developing countries, (where they are secretly delighted that people grow up using pirate XP, which they will then specify in later life, rather than linux etc.), and looking too 'soft'.
As for M$ negotiating when open source is in competition - it's true. A while ago I was part of a very large Govt. project in a former Soviet-bloc country, where both the EU and the USA were competing for influence using the normal peacetime weapons of aid etc. A strategic Govt. project was half rolled-out using XP as the client platform. When I audited, there seemed to be no valid licences on the 100s of PCs that were deployed.
This was clearly a problem, as money was tight, but the Govt. could not be seen to be using pirate software, especially as it wanted to join the EU etc.
Since the app was incomplete - and users untrained - I suggested a re-write using open-source. This would have had the spin-off benefit of 'seeding' linux development and support skills in the country.
Strangely, the licencing problem went away...
Maybe the major point is not just this article, nor the ones about Google blurring 'sensitive' locations on request.
Many would contend that mankind's social behaviour & organisation has lagged behind his ability to invent / innovate.
We moved from stones to spears to guns....to A-bombs. We no longer had to face - or even see - our opponents.
Maybe violence did not increase, but leathality did. Even outside wartime, there are more violent deaths in countries where firearms are readily available.
What privacy and citizens activists are concerned about is when all of these things are (finally/ever) linked.
*puts tinfoil hat on*
The real concern here is that technical / interoperability problems seem to pose a greater barrier to such a linking than carefully-considered legislation. Oh yeah, and that's before we talk about illegal access to social security numbers and stuff...that *rarely* happens
But you know what they say about standards, "the advantage of standards is that there are so many, you can pick the one you want"
BYW, didn't M$ just change the format of 'Office' files again? Despite having said in the past that they'd keep the same format for future releases? Oh, of course, all this is beside the point since we have XML and PDF (Open SOurce!)...eh, no.
Standard or exchange file formats, (OO fanboys) are no use if your application diplays/prints them differently from the source app.
Are a couple of very good reasons that you could mention. They've been extensively discussed in other posts, (as someone said, "vista is the gift that keeps on giving" - giving flamebait, that is). I've been using DOS and Win since the first PC came out, but the next box I build will have Linux.
When Mr or Mrs 'average' realise that their expensive TV does link to their PS3/media centrer PC/DVD player, (this is happennig now), and that they can't properly view or transfer files that they legally purchased from one device to another, they might be willing to invest time in alternatives.
Now, where's a distro with "Linux Media Center" anyone? If you can point me to one that 'just works' (supports IR, recording to disk or DVD, recognises TV-tuner cards that I can actually buy and also downloads program info from the Web then I'll have it!
Fuck it, I'd even pay cash!
But, no 'and then you just have to download this, recomplies and then do this @ the command line' bullshit, eh boys?
You're right, of course. Skype seems to work best PC to PC. However, I have used it very succesfully, including over Wifi at airports and stuff. Skypein is useful for my clients in different countries - they don't need to know where I am - they just dial a local number (for them), and - presto - my PC rings. If I'm offline, then call diects to regular GSM. Best of both worlds.
Re:technologist needs to use technology?
on
Jim Gray Is Missing
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
It's a sad fact that many sailors are found drowned with their flies open - they fall in taking a leak off the back of the boat...which then sails away without them. Even an olympic-class swimmer couldn't keep up with a boat sailing at moderate speed..
Worse still, many people put the ship on autopilot when having a leak, or doing some minor work, (which usually involves hanging over the side, or in another position where it's easy to fall overboard. Even (especially?) experienced sailors 'forget' to use safety lines, particularly when the weather is good. A few years ago I saw an article (link, anyone?) about a device that would make the autopilot turn the ship in circles if you fell overboard, (simple idea - device in your pocket activated by contact with seawater, this activated magnet next to compass that made it go crazy, autopilot (slaved to compass) goes round in circles...you swin back to boat. Hopefully having left a rope / ladder or something in easy reach, so you can climb aboard again (another cause of drowning - people dive in during a hot calm - cannot get back in, wind picks up...)
EPIRB no help here, as usually attached to a throwable buoy within reach of helmsman, (good, but lost easily), or stowed inside a liferaft, (no help if you get run down - you need time to prepare to abandon ship properly).
So, keep the EPIRB in your pocket, chaps.
Oh, and as for the humour, let's be more tolerent, eh? I can have sympathy for the guy, and his family, and still laugh at the jokes. Humour is one of mankind's natural ways of dealing with disaster, hate is not.
the 'upgrade' version of Vista too (see other/. post)
Been using windows since dos days, but I guess it's finally time to join the *nix crowd when next time comes to upgrade.
Enough bullshit in nearly every post about pre-installed apps and no 'original' sindose CD/DVD already.
What's the chance you'll buy anything with exactly what you / your customers need? Zip!
Who needs an old OEM sindose, Linsux CD anyway? You guys not have enough coasters already?
It's not that bad - e.g. for XP
1. Backup the drivers, (using one of *many* utils on 'net)
2. Backup the serial no. (so it matches the sticker on the machine - using one of *many* utils on 'net)
3. Load your previously-prepared sindose 'streamlined' CD (with all required apps, drivers, updates, rootkits, keyloggers...).
Use 'unattended' mode (for poster who was bitching about it taking all day and then having to do it again 'because I've hit the wrong key'...idiot
4. Go and do something useful, (backup Exchange server, feed cat, shag partner, secretary, cat...)
5. If you've been too lazy to automate it, or don't have corp activation codes for XP, insert correct serial nos & activate.
For ex. "However, to unconditionally bestow respect on scientists is like emptying your wallet for each street musician. And to bestow respect on an agency that funds scientists is like giving your wallet to a bus driver with instructions to give it to a street musician"
Agree - keep off the opiates (strong painkillers). I had a bad accident, did those for a while. Result = brain mixed up for a YEAR. See a decent chiro / massage guy. The regular docs said I'd be in a wheelchair at 25. I'm now 45 and going ski-ing this w/e.
Why do people need to (re)invent stuff? How about using the model of airline tickets and checkin. The systems, machines and paper support exist, and could be easily and cheaply modified. The security flaws have been widely discused and documented, so could be fixed.
Present you ticket, (voting card), get your boarding card (voting slip), go to the gate and check in (vote). Keep you slip with flight and seat number (your paper record of having voted, but not for who).
Need to audit who you voted for - go to a public place, (avoid problems mentioned above) and give 'em your stub...
The software to run this? Open source, natch...
Or maybe we could get a good deal from one of the bust airlines?
Slashdot Mirror
Re: the parent post - RTFA: "Rather than attacking mobsters who peddle pirated copies of Windows directly to companies, the Russian coppers decided to lock up a Sepich headmaster who bought hot Windows software which came from Perm region's Capital Construction Administration.... Microsoft says that the incident has nothing to do with them..." I can well belive that last part. M$ carefully treads a fine line between being too repessive in developing countries, (where they are secretly delighted that people grow up using pirate XP, which they will then specify in later life, rather than linux etc.), and looking too 'soft'. As for M$ negotiating when open source is in competition - it's true. A while ago I was part of a very large Govt. project in a former Soviet-bloc country, where both the EU and the USA were competing for influence using the normal peacetime weapons of aid etc. A strategic Govt. project was half rolled-out using XP as the client platform. When I audited, there seemed to be no valid licences on the 100s of PCs that were deployed. This was clearly a problem, as money was tight, but the Govt. could not be seen to be using pirate software, especially as it wanted to join the EU etc. Since the app was incomplete - and users untrained - I suggested a re-write using open-source. This would have had the spin-off benefit of 'seeding' linux development and support skills in the country. Strangely, the licencing problem went away...
Don't both to register - use BugMeNot. Great database of sign-ins for sites.
That in Soviet Russia, houses photograph YOU!!!
Maybe the major point is not just this article, nor the ones about Google blurring 'sensitive' locations on request. Many would contend that mankind's social behaviour & organisation has lagged behind his ability to invent / innovate. We moved from stones to spears to guns....to A-bombs. We no longer had to face - or even see - our opponents. Maybe violence did not increase, but leathality did. Even outside wartime, there are more violent deaths in countries where firearms are readily available. What privacy and citizens activists are concerned about is when all of these things are (finally/ever) linked. *puts tinfoil hat on* The real concern here is that technical / interoperability problems seem to pose a greater barrier to such a linking than carefully-considered legislation. Oh yeah, and that's before we talk about illegal access to social security numbers and stuff...that *rarely* happens
Mod up - should be a 5
But you know what they say about standards, "the advantage of standards is that there are so many, you can pick the one you want" BYW, didn't M$ just change the format of 'Office' files again? Despite having said in the past that they'd keep the same format for future releases? Oh, of course, all this is beside the point since we have XML and PDF (Open SOurce!)...eh, no. Standard or exchange file formats, (OO fanboys) are no use if your application diplays/prints them differently from the source app.
Already happened http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/ 14/0132216
Hell, I'd pay 20 bucks for someone to delete my mail...
No. Normally, 'office' downloads (if not 'critical' for security) are request-only. An that means 'genuine advantage check' too..
Are a couple of very good reasons that you could mention. They've been extensively discussed in other posts, (as someone said, "vista is the gift that keeps on giving" - giving flamebait, that is). I've been using DOS and Win since the first PC came out, but the next box I build will have Linux. When Mr or Mrs 'average' realise that their expensive TV does link to their PS3/media centrer PC/DVD player, (this is happennig now), and that they can't properly view or transfer files that they legally purchased from one device to another, they might be willing to invest time in alternatives. Now, where's a distro with "Linux Media Center" anyone? If you can point me to one that 'just works' (supports IR, recording to disk or DVD, recognises TV-tuner cards that I can actually buy and also downloads program info from the Web then I'll have it! Fuck it, I'd even pay cash! But, no 'and then you just have to download this, recomplies and then do this @ the command line' bullshit, eh boys?
You're right, of course. Skype seems to work best PC to PC. However, I have used it very succesfully, including over Wifi at airports and stuff. Skypein is useful for my clients in different countries - they don't need to know where I am - they just dial a local number (for them), and - presto - my PC rings. If I'm offline, then call diects to regular GSM. Best of both worlds.
It's a sad fact that many sailors are found drowned with their flies open - they fall in taking a leak off the back of the boat...which then sails away without them. Even an olympic-class swimmer couldn't keep up with a boat sailing at moderate speed.. Worse still, many people put the ship on autopilot when having a leak, or doing some minor work, (which usually involves hanging over the side, or in another position where it's easy to fall overboard. Even (especially?) experienced sailors 'forget' to use safety lines, particularly when the weather is good. A few years ago I saw an article (link, anyone?) about a device that would make the autopilot turn the ship in circles if you fell overboard, (simple idea - device in your pocket activated by contact with seawater, this activated magnet next to compass that made it go crazy, autopilot (slaved to compass) goes round in circles...you swin back to boat. Hopefully having left a rope / ladder or something in easy reach, so you can climb aboard again (another cause of drowning - people dive in during a hot calm - cannot get back in, wind picks up...) EPIRB no help here, as usually attached to a throwable buoy within reach of helmsman, (good, but lost easily), or stowed inside a liferaft, (no help if you get run down - you need time to prepare to abandon ship properly). So, keep the EPIRB in your pocket, chaps. Oh, and as for the humour, let's be more tolerent, eh? I can have sympathy for the guy, and his family, and still laugh at the jokes. Humour is one of mankind's natural ways of dealing with disaster, hate is not.
Confirmed. Foxit and CutePDF - on WinXP much faster and more stable. Free, too.
the 'upgrade' version of Vista too (see other /. post)
Been using windows since dos days, but I guess it's finally time to join the *nix crowd when next time comes to upgrade.
sterilise sponges?
Enough bullshit in nearly every post about pre-installed apps and no 'original' sindose CD/DVD already. What's the chance you'll buy anything with exactly what you / your customers need? Zip! Who needs an old OEM sindose, Linsux CD anyway? You guys not have enough coasters already? It's not that bad - e.g. for XP 1. Backup the drivers, (using one of *many* utils on 'net) 2. Backup the serial no. (so it matches the sticker on the machine - using one of *many* utils on 'net) 3. Load your previously-prepared sindose 'streamlined' CD (with all required apps, drivers, updates, rootkits, keyloggers...). Use 'unattended' mode (for poster who was bitching about it taking all day and then having to do it again 'because I've hit the wrong key' ...idiot
4. Go and do something useful, (backup Exchange server, feed cat, shag partner, secretary, cat...)
5. If you've been too lazy to automate it, or don't have corp activation codes for XP, insert correct serial nos & activate.
Yeah, but hope the owners never want to travel anywhere, (see recent arrests of online gambling site bosses)...
Mod parent up, and read the article: funny!
For ex. "However, to unconditionally bestow respect on scientists is like emptying your wallet for each street musician. And to bestow respect on an agency that funds scientists is like giving your wallet to a bus driver with instructions to give it to a street musician"
The 2006 'zonk' award for lamest post & article...
Yeah, old news. A London cabbie even won the TV 'Mastermind' competition many years back...
Agree - keep off the opiates (strong painkillers). I had a bad accident, did those for a while. Result = brain mixed up for a YEAR. See a decent chiro / massage guy. The regular docs said I'd be in a wheelchair at 25. I'm now 45 and going ski-ing this w/e.
Why do people need to (re)invent stuff? How about using the model of airline tickets and checkin. The systems, machines and paper support exist, and could be easily and cheaply modified. The security flaws have been widely discused and documented, so could be fixed. Present you ticket, (voting card), get your boarding card (voting slip), go to the gate and check in (vote). Keep you slip with flight and seat number (your paper record of having voted, but not for who). Need to audit who you voted for - go to a public place, (avoid problems mentioned above) and give 'em your stub... The software to run this? Open source, natch... Or maybe we could get a good deal from one of the bust airlines?