This looks like a serious problem for Linux distributors like Red Hat, Mandrake, and Debian. They sell their products (which consist of software and support and manuals) for $40-$100, usually. Now we see that what they put into their product (i.e., the cost) is orders of magnitude beyond that. Even if Red Hat sold every single copy it packaged (it doesn't even come close), and even if nobody downloaded it for free or copied the CDs for a friend (again, an incredibly optimistic assumption), it would still be looking at huge losses.
This might have worked a few years ago, but with accounting practices coming under scrutiny across the board, I fear that these companies are headed for trouble.
Well, I'm sure my reaction to this news was similar to those of most of the slashbots. However, I've been thinking about it, and the IEEE may have done the community a disservice, in some sense.
By removing the requirement that authors verify DMCA compliance, the IEEE has removed a constant reminder of the DMCA's blatant disregard for rights. The sneaky thing is, the DMCA still applies in all of its unconstitutional glory. So this provides no added protection to authors, but does encourage people to forget about the DMCA entirely.
Ignoring the DMCA is not going to make it go away. We need to raise awareness by putting notices and warnings everywhere, to the point of absurdity. Imagine if segregationists had not posted "Whites Only" signs on restaurants, but had quietly asked blacks to leave instead. The reason civil rights legislation went through is because of the constant visual reminders.
We need to bring back these kinds of requirements, and start making software that battles copyright infringement (according to the letter of the law) proactively. XMMS should present a dialog box every time a new song starts, asking the user to verify that he or she has the right to listen to it. Windows should force the user to confirm that every program run is legal and paid for.
If we let the DMCA become a silent force, then we have no one to blame but ourselves when in sneaks up on society and clubs it over the head.
I was disappointed to read that the C++ API to MySQL is not discussed. While the C API could no doubt be utilized, most professional developers aren't going to consider a database in the enterprise if it won't gracefully interface with existing object-oriented code.
Other than that, this sounds like a great book. I am very interested in MySQL, which must be a good database system, since it's what slashdot uses. I've always associated slashdot with stability and relyability.
This is the attitude that holds Linux back. People will bitch and bitch about how they can't print, can't play Doom, and can't watch DVDs.
Well, boo fucking hoo. Linux Torvalds wrote himself a whole goddamned operating system, for Jesus sake. If you want a driver, write the damn thing yourself. You owe it to the community who gave you Linux in the first place.
The one problem with Free Software that I see, is the use of the word "free." No matter how many times we say "free as in speech," there is a huge contingent of doofuses who just hear "free" and the little dollar signs appear in their eyes. Everyone wants something for nothing, and the term misleads people into expecting it.
So, to all you Linux users who whine about missing features, unsupported hardware, stability issues, and security holes: pitch in and help us out, or please go back to Windows. We are all better off without you.
I'm not sure it's a good idea to be publicizing this. To the common man, Scientists operate on a different level, providing insight and guiding humanity for our own greater good. People put their faith, their dreams, and yes, their tax dollars in Science. Science is to modern civilization what the Clergy was to our ancestors.
By holding such a high profile meeting about Scientists struggling with a single problem, we risk suggesting that maybe Scientists aren't all that bright. Sure, you and I, the average slashdot readers, know that the Riemann Hypothesis problem is really hard, and that there's no shame at all in all of these Scientists being completely at a loss. But if the public catches wind of such a perceived failure, they may lose faith.
I hadn't been up on this latest crisis, but I'm glad I took the time to read this. It seems incredible that after the US courts have declared Microsoft illegal, we still have to put up with this blatant anti-competitive behavior.
For those not aware of the background, a summary: the Macintosh is all but unheard of to Hebrew-speaking users (one guess as to who's to blame for that). The Mac OS doesn't support Hebrew in its localization framework, because any attempts at competing with Windows in this market would no doubt be futile. If Microsoft were to add Hebrew support to Office on the Mac, it would probably hurt their own Windows market, so by not doing this they are definitely being anti-competitive.
Also, Hebrew support would basically be free to Microsoft. Although there is no Hebrew scripting at the OS level on the Mac platform, Microsoft Windows has it, so they could just take the code right out of there and bypass the Mac's localization system at the application level. That's what I would call an elegant solution!
As a high-demand developer in the enterprise, with experience in C/C++, J2EE, and now C# on the.NET platform, I have to say it is about time.
From what I have seen in the business world, the big hurdle holding many companies back from upgrading to.NET is the cost of porting all of the legacy Java code to the new application framework. J# gives real customers a low-cost upgrade path that won't break the bank or the developers' backs.
Now that Sun is being given some real competition in the virtual machine market, maybe we'll see some genuine innovation.
This was a fascinating step-by-step guide through the jungle that is wireless networking with 802.11. The author covers common pitfalls and makes helpful suggestions throughout. Best of all, it's all platform-independent (and information that applies to only a specific platform is helpfully highlighted as such), so the book was a great help for my Win boxes as well as my Linux systems.
One very interesting part was towards the end, when the author pointed out (correctly, I think) that, due to 802.11's shortcomings in terms of security, reliability, and bandwidth, and the media's association of wireless networking with piracy and copyright infringement, it might be a good idea to stay away from 802.11 for awhile. He mentioned that the protocol was basically owned by Apple (under the AirPort trademark), and that BlueTooth and Ethernet are better choices for any home and business networking needs. Food for thought.
It's good to see the PC market finally picking up again. I think we were all a little scared for a while there, but with this milepost, things seem to be getting back on track.
However, the explosion of new PC sales may be a bad sign for my (and a largeish minority of Slashdot users) operating system of choice, Linux.
Linux has long been known as a great OS for aging Intel boxen. Rather than toss an old 486 or Pentium in the dustbin, you can install Red Hat and have yourself a cheap router, firewall, or fileserver. It's fun, free (as in speech and beer), and good for the environment. The key to Linux's advantage here is that the newest versions of Windows will simply not run on archaic systems. The graphically-intensive interface, and support for high-end features such as journaling filesystems and DVD players put the system requirements for Windows XP considerably beyond the specs of that old PC from 1997.
When PC sales levelled off a few years ago, it was largely due to older, trash-bound systems being "rescued" for home use, running Linux. With people once again going to new systems, to play the latest games still available only for Microsoft OSes, they are going to be sticking with the OS that comes preinstalled, supports all of their peripherals, and doesn't require a genius IQ to learn. Until Linux can overcome the advantage of Windows for the staggeringly enormous home user market, I'm afraid that it will remain an also-ran, and be relegated to the history books with the likes of Be, Amiga, and Next.
Okay, I am as opposed to trademark law as any other good slashbot. Trademark is just another tool in the ongoing harrassment of normal people by huge corporations, and should be considered a Bad Thing.
That said, and bearing in mind that IANAL, trademark holders are legally compelled to pursue any use of their trademarks that can be construed as diluting. Attacking the corporation is misguided. It is the law that needs to be changed.
That only works for a free market, which broadband access is anything but. You have exactly one choice in most cases.
These two sentences have nothing to do with one another. Free markets will occaisionally and temporarily produce monopolies, especially within regional boundaries and in industries with large infrastructure and barriers to entry.
If telecommunications infrastructure hadn't been government-subsidized from the beginning, we would have freer broadband networks. However, there would also be four companies each trying to sell broadband in NYC, LA, Chicago, and a few other population centers, while the rest of the country tried to get reliable phone service for dial-up.
I've read about this idea before, and while it sounds really cool and interesting, I have to say I'm concerned about privacy.
Imagine that the site worked exactly as it does now, but instead of giving books away, people just sell them. And instead of the recipient logging the event at the web site, the seller does so (perhaps for a small monetary reward). All of a sudden, the same privacy concerns raised by the use of buyers' cards and online merchants' "accounts" features, are in effect in the used book world.
That would be a very transparent grab at privacy, but since the people running this site have nothing to gain from the actual selling price of a book, they hit upon the idea of having people just give books away. But make no mistake, the threat to privacy is still very great.
I disagree. You'll find that the immature, sexually deviant teenagers who frequent porn sites are with little exception Windows users. Serious Linux hackers have no need for such tasteless pursuits. We "get off" on our own programming aptitude.
And printing and support for digital cameras and most popular mp3 players. A lot of people complain about the lack of any decent games, but stupid college geeks aren't really Linux's target market, so that's not a big deal.
Murder is just another (admittedly mean) use for the computer. The fact that laws are built in a way that allows murder is no reason to try to control what free citizens do with their legally obtained firearms.
The solution in this hypothetical society with no murder laws, is to change the laws so that they don't permit murder. Likewise, we should change the prevailing network protocol (TCP/IP) so that it does not permit DOS attacks.
Situation: I am browsing the web in Galeon, editting an image in Gimp, or doing something else in some Gnome application.
Now, I decide to save a document. I go to the File menu and select Save..., and am presented with the familiar "save" dialog. The default or current filename is in the text box at the bottom, and the directory navigation boxes are above.
Suppose further that I want to now save the file in a different directory. So I select a new directory, and the filename disappears.
DOSing is just another (admittedly mean) use for the computer. The fact that TCP/IP is built in a way that allows DOS attacks is no reason to try to control what free citizens do with their legally obtained computers.
Wow, I can't believe how far we've come. Are there any plans to put these kind of features into Linux? I would love bash to know that I usually start the day with "pine; cd pron; ee *" and anticipate it for me.
Slashdot Mirror
This looks like a serious problem for Linux distributors like Red Hat, Mandrake, and Debian. They sell their products (which consist of software and support and manuals) for $40-$100, usually. Now we see that what they put into their product (i.e., the cost) is orders of magnitude beyond that. Even if Red Hat sold every single copy it packaged (it doesn't even come close), and even if nobody downloaded it for free or copied the CDs for a friend (again, an incredibly optimistic assumption), it would still be looking at huge losses.
This might have worked a few years ago, but with accounting practices coming under scrutiny across the board, I fear that these companies are headed for trouble.
Well, I'm sure my reaction to this news was similar to those of most of the slashbots. However, I've been thinking about it, and the IEEE may have done the community a disservice, in some sense.
By removing the requirement that authors verify DMCA compliance, the IEEE has removed a constant reminder of the DMCA's blatant disregard for rights. The sneaky thing is, the DMCA still applies in all of its unconstitutional glory. So this provides no added protection to authors, but does encourage people to forget about the DMCA entirely.
Ignoring the DMCA is not going to make it go away. We need to raise awareness by putting notices and warnings everywhere, to the point of absurdity. Imagine if segregationists had not posted "Whites Only" signs on restaurants, but had quietly asked blacks to leave instead. The reason civil rights legislation went through is because of the constant visual reminders.
We need to bring back these kinds of requirements, and start making software that battles copyright infringement (according to the letter of the law) proactively. XMMS should present a dialog box every time a new song starts, asking the user to verify that he or she has the right to listen to it. Windows should force the user to confirm that every program run is legal and paid for.
If we let the DMCA become a silent force, then we have no one to blame but ourselves when in sneaks up on society and clubs it over the head.
This will take "light soda" to a whole new level!
Jon Katz must have been looking at those links CmdrTaco sent him.
I was disappointed to read that the C++ API to MySQL is not discussed. While the C API could no doubt be utilized, most professional developers aren't going to consider a database in the enterprise if it won't gracefully interface with existing object-oriented code.
Other than that, this sounds like a great book. I am very interested in MySQL, which must be a good database system, since it's what slashdot uses. I've always associated slashdot with stability and relyability.
This is the attitude that holds Linux back. People will bitch and bitch about how they can't print, can't play Doom, and can't watch DVDs.
Well, boo fucking hoo. Linux Torvalds wrote himself a whole goddamned operating system, for Jesus sake. If you want a driver, write the damn thing yourself. You owe it to the community who gave you Linux in the first place.
The one problem with Free Software that I see, is the use of the word "free." No matter how many times we say "free as in speech," there is a huge contingent of doofuses who just hear "free" and the little dollar signs appear in their eyes. Everyone wants something for nothing, and the term misleads people into expecting it.
So, to all you Linux users who whine about missing features, unsupported hardware, stability issues, and security holes: pitch in and help us out, or please go back to Windows. We are all better off without you.
I'm not sure it's a good idea to be publicizing this. To the common man, Scientists operate on a different level, providing insight and guiding humanity for our own greater good. People put their faith, their dreams, and yes, their tax dollars in Science. Science is to modern civilization what the Clergy was to our ancestors.
By holding such a high profile meeting about Scientists struggling with a single problem, we risk suggesting that maybe Scientists aren't all that bright. Sure, you and I, the average slashdot readers, know that the Riemann Hypothesis problem is really hard, and that there's no shame at all in all of these Scientists being completely at a loss. But if the public catches wind of such a perceived failure, they may lose faith.
This could set Science back centuries!
Uh oh. Now hacksers are going to be able to access my valuable collection of smileys.
I hadn't been up on this latest crisis, but I'm glad I took the time to read this. It seems incredible that after the US courts have declared Microsoft illegal, we still have to put up with this blatant anti-competitive behavior.
For those not aware of the background, a summary: the Macintosh is all but unheard of to Hebrew-speaking users (one guess as to who's to blame for that). The Mac OS doesn't support Hebrew in its localization framework, because any attempts at competing with Windows in this market would no doubt be futile. If Microsoft were to add Hebrew support to Office on the Mac, it would probably hurt their own Windows market, so by not doing this they are definitely being anti-competitive.
Also, Hebrew support would basically be free to Microsoft. Although there is no Hebrew scripting at the OS level on the Mac platform, Microsoft Windows has it, so they could just take the code right out of there and bypass the Mac's localization system at the application level. That's what I would call an elegant solution!
Let's hope Apple throws the book at them!
As a high-demand developer in the enterprise, with experience in C/C++, J2EE, and now C# on the .NET platform, I have to say it is about time.
.NET is the cost of porting all of the legacy Java code to the new application framework. J# gives real customers a low-cost upgrade path that won't break the bank or the developers' backs.
From what I have seen in the business world, the big hurdle holding many companies back from upgrading to
Now that Sun is being given some real competition in the virtual machine market, maybe we'll see some genuine innovation.
I will sell you TpsSSH for $5000 (site license). It is fully compatible with OpenSSH.
Those dual Athlon systems are going to be hot commodities come winter.
This was a fascinating step-by-step guide through the jungle that is wireless networking with 802.11. The author covers common pitfalls and makes helpful suggestions throughout. Best of all, it's all platform-independent (and information that applies to only a specific platform is helpfully highlighted as such), so the book was a great help for my Win boxes as well as my Linux systems.
One very interesting part was towards the end, when the author pointed out (correctly, I think) that, due to 802.11's shortcomings in terms of security, reliability, and bandwidth, and the media's association of wireless networking with piracy and copyright infringement, it might be a good idea to stay away from 802.11 for awhile. He mentioned that the protocol was basically owned by Apple (under the AirPort trademark), and that BlueTooth and Ethernet are better choices for any home and business networking needs. Food for thought.
other non-PC computers?
Such as the Apple Negroe xi and the Sony Gaio?
It's good to see the PC market finally picking up again. I think we were all a little scared for a while there, but with this milepost, things seem to be getting back on track.
However, the explosion of new PC sales may be a bad sign for my (and a largeish minority of Slashdot users) operating system of choice, Linux.
Linux has long been known as a great OS for aging Intel boxen. Rather than toss an old 486 or Pentium in the dustbin, you can install Red Hat and have yourself a cheap router, firewall, or fileserver. It's fun, free (as in speech and beer), and good for the environment. The key to Linux's advantage here is that the newest versions of Windows will simply not run on archaic systems. The graphically-intensive interface, and support for high-end features such as journaling filesystems and DVD players put the system requirements for Windows XP considerably beyond the specs of that old PC from 1997.
When PC sales levelled off a few years ago, it was largely due to older, trash-bound systems being "rescued" for home use, running Linux. With people once again going to new systems, to play the latest games still available only for Microsoft OSes, they are going to be sticking with the OS that comes preinstalled, supports all of their peripherals, and doesn't require a genius IQ to learn. Until Linux can overcome the advantage of Windows for the staggeringly enormous home user market, I'm afraid that it will remain an also-ran, and be relegated to the history books with the likes of Be, Amiga, and Next.
Okay, I am as opposed to trademark law as any other good slashbot. Trademark is just another tool in the ongoing harrassment of normal people by huge corporations, and should be considered a Bad Thing.
That said, and bearing in mind that IANAL, trademark holders are legally compelled to pursue any use of their trademarks that can be construed as diluting. Attacking the corporation is misguided. It is the law that needs to be changed.
That only works for a free market, which broadband access is anything but. You have exactly one choice in most cases.
These two sentences have nothing to do with one another. Free markets will occaisionally and temporarily produce monopolies, especially within regional boundaries and in industries with large infrastructure and barriers to entry.
If telecommunications infrastructure hadn't been government-subsidized from the beginning, we would have freer broadband networks. However, there would also be four companies each trying to sell broadband in NYC, LA, Chicago, and a few other population centers, while the rest of the country tried to get reliable phone service for dial-up.
I've read about this idea before, and while it sounds really cool and interesting, I have to say I'm concerned about privacy.
Imagine that the site worked exactly as it does now, but instead of giving books away, people just sell them. And instead of the recipient logging the event at the web site, the seller does so (perhaps for a small monetary reward). All of a sudden, the same privacy concerns raised by the use of buyers' cards and online merchants' "accounts" features, are in effect in the used book world.
That would be a very transparent grab at privacy, but since the people running this site have nothing to gain from the actual selling price of a book, they hit upon the idea of having people just give books away. But make no mistake, the threat to privacy is still very great.
I disagree. You'll find that the immature, sexually deviant teenagers who frequent porn sites are with little exception Windows users. Serious Linux hackers have no need for such tasteless pursuits. We "get off" on our own programming aptitude.
And printing and support for digital cameras and most popular mp3 players. A lot of people complain about the lack of any decent games, but stupid college geeks aren't really Linux's target market, so that's not a big deal.
I made the same mistake you did, typing "computer" when I meant "gun."
Try again. The correct analogy is:
Murder is just another (admittedly mean) use for the computer. The fact that laws are built in a way that allows murder is no reason to try to control what free citizens do with their legally obtained firearms.
The solution in this hypothetical society with no murder laws, is to change the laws so that they don't permit murder. Likewise, we should change the prevailing network protocol (TCP/IP) so that it does not permit DOS attacks.
Situation: I am browsing the web in Galeon, editting an image in Gimp, or doing something else in some Gnome application.
Now, I decide to save a document. I go to the File menu and select Save..., and am presented with the familiar "save" dialog. The default or current filename is in the text box at the bottom, and the directory navigation boxes are above.
Suppose further that I want to now save the file in a different directory. So I select a new directory, and the filename disappears.
Has this been fixed in 2.0?
DOSing is just another (admittedly mean) use for the computer. The fact that TCP/IP is built in a way that allows DOS attacks is no reason to try to control what free citizens do with their legally obtained computers.
Wow, I can't believe how far we've come. Are there any plans to put these kind of features into Linux? I would love bash to know that I usually start the day with "pine; cd pron; ee *" and anticipate it for me.