Is the MCP still around, only he's calling himself Windows?
Yup -- and Linux, and OS X, etc... I seem to remember that "Master Control Program" was a term coined in the late 70s at Burroughs(?) for a program that managed all the other programs. A short while after TRON was released, someone quietly renamed it "Operating System."
(This being Slashdot, someone will of course gleefully correct me if I'm wrong...)
One might imagine a future where anyone with a dynamic IP address (hard to trace) is prohibited by the state to have incoming connections. That is a nightmare but I don't think such a draconic law is very probably, and it would be very hard to enforce too.
On the other hand, wouldn't it be rather simple for ISP's to inflict this on their customers?
Considering all the funky programs and drivers I had to install in order to get DSL connectivity, it seems that the ISP's easily could make it impossible for their users to run servers -- by preventing other users from making incoming connections to THEM... it could be as simple as interposing a proxy server. Unless you upgrade to a Super Ultra Enterprise Dizzy-Bizniz account for more $$$$, of course.
'Round here, Pacifik Bell has already run the other DSL ISP's out of town by telling them that they don't have a good copper line to give them -- and then, of course, immediately raking in all the end-user accounts themselves.
This doesn't look draconian OR hard to enforce. This could happen tomorrow.
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Is the MCP still around, only he's calling himself Windows?
... I seem to remember that "Master Control Program" was a term coined in the late 70s at Burroughs(?) for a program that managed all the other programs. A short while after TRON was released, someone quietly renamed it "Operating System."
...)
Yup -- and Linux, and OS X, etc
(This being Slashdot, someone will of course gleefully correct me if I'm wrong
On the other hand, wouldn't it be rather simple for ISP's to inflict this on their customers? Considering all the funky programs and drivers I had to install in order to get DSL connectivity, it seems that the ISP's easily could make it impossible for their users to run servers -- by preventing other users from making incoming connections to THEM ... it could be as simple as interposing a proxy server. Unless you upgrade to a Super Ultra Enterprise Dizzy-Bizniz account for more $$$$, of course.
'Round here, Pacifik Bell has already run the other DSL ISP's out of town by telling them that they don't have a good copper line to give them -- and then, of course, immediately raking in all the end-user accounts themselves.
This doesn't look draconian OR hard to enforce. This could happen tomorrow.