I know a bit about geeky 15-year-olds; I've written a book and a number of articles about them.
Once, I was at the Tower of London with a friend. We were looking at the crown jewels, and both of us were convinced they had to be fake. As we were discussing this, a woman in front of us overheard our conversation.
She turned around and looked at us very gravely and said, "Oh no, those are real."
To further cement her authority, she followed her assertion with a whispered explanation -
"I've been here before."
Re:I thought they said they were done with browser
on
Netscape 6.1
·
· Score: 1
Web developers rejoiced across the world on that day.
There was an article the other day that made that exact comment - that web developers were anxious for Netscape's market share to drop so they could tailor their content directly to MSIE.
This is a very Bad Idea. First of all, unauthorized access to a computer is, by definition unauthorized. Any worm which spreads changes is illegal and as such a Bad Idea.
No matter how good your intentions are (RTM just wanted to play around, right?) you cannot take the "law" into your own hands.
Ethical issues aside, it would be very dangerous to being publicizing that there was a beneficial worm available; immediately, we would get copycat worms everywhere, appearing the same (yes, this could probably be circumvented by MD5 checksums or something, but jeez, if the webmaster was going to go through THAT much trouble, they'd install the damn patch themselves!) but doing far worse things.
I'm not usually one to spout Libertarian philosophy - but in this case, if somebody wants to leave their box open - through ignorance, laziness, or some other ineffable reason - that is their choice and not the choice of some 15-year old hacker who thinks he'll redeem his l33t friends' images in the media's eyes.
The defenses always have to be kept up - or else you have to start making judgment calls about which outside sources to give access to, which is a path no one wants to go down.
Well, of course. But somewhere, in a Carl Sagan-esque fashion, you could convert the hex to base 11, insert CR/LFs, reverse the order, stand on your head and look at it, and you'd see, in clear letters...
Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
I must admit I started encoding in.ogg when I saw that XMMS, under the FreeBSD ports collection, compiles default with OGG support. I tried it out, and my girlfriend adored the variable bit rate.
(Plus, I've always identified with the Tall Man from Small Gods.)
Re:Does business always have to be this way ?
on
Dan Gillmor on WinXP
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· Score: 1
No, I don't think it's circular. Perhaps I didn't articulate well enough.
A product is something sold as goods or services, yes? As such, the "quality" of the product as a selling-point is defined in its success in the marketplace.
Whereas music, which I won't attempt to define here, has "quality" that is measured in entirely different characteristics - pleasing to the listener, engaging, etc.
Re:Does business always have to be this way ?
on
Dan Gillmor on WinXP
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Take a look at the Billboard Hot 100. Would you seriously argue that this represents the best music available? Or even the best music being made today?
I agree completely - but at the same time, the distinction being drawn is between being the best product and being the best music. Quality and success are independent, yes, but the quality of a product - as a product - is measured in its success.
One of the more interesting ideas I've read about is the Knowledge Crash. I'm not entirely sure how feasible a theory it is, but it was proposed in a science fiction series I read a while back. (The first book was called something about Charon... Ring of Charon? Moon of Charon? Something like that.)
The idea is, basically, that every year it costs more to educate someone. In order to be able to expand our collective knowledge, or even to utilize the machines and operate the systems of the present, it will cost a certain amount of money in the education process.
In addition, we can quantify the amount of output a single human creates in his or her lifetime. For instance - if she works for thirty years at a Power Planet or something, we can determine the value that she has contributed to society.
As systems become more complex, more education is required. The education costs more money. At some point, if this continues unchecked, we will be faced with a situation where the cost of education exceeds the value brought as a result of that education.
That's called the Knowledge Crash. (Or it was in the books.)
While I'm not convinced that this is true, it's certainly an interesting theory. It seems to me that, on average this can't happen, as one of the points of creating more and more complicated (generic) systems is to facilitate simpler and simpler controls, and thus dumber and dumber operators. While the creators of those systems may have 'crashed knowledge,' it seems that the whole point of that would be to hurl some value at the workers.
But then you have to consider that, inherent in the value of a designer, the ease of use is part of the entire value analysis versus education, and then that'll crash...
The Practice of Programming is an excellent book. That one and K&R's C are both amazing at what they do. Knuth's might be a bit esoteric; and jeez, I'd rather own mine than check it out of the library.
Clearly this means that, ultimately, Microsoft's Database Software (which, the commercials tell me, is able to adjust itself if I buy Seymore Butts' latest pic right after picking up Bananas in Pajamas for my non-existent kids) will be able to target customers based on both sitre selection and ass-size.
"We've got a 210-pound male browsing Slashdot, NewsForge and some site in Christmas Island featuring what appears to be an H.R. Giger drawing."
"Narrowing selections... Ok, hit him with the buttered milk duds, Frank Zappa CDs, and all those surplus DeCSS shirts."
"Game, set, and match, bitch."
I've got a cookie I'd like to leave on that server... or bench as the case may be...
At the risk of being A) the eight hundredth person to point this out or B) flamed beyond all recognition, wasn't this story in Slashback?
Ok, with my thinking cap on, I suspect maybe the new-news is that Adobe's law firm isn't backing down on the $2000, despite Adobe possibly being less than thrilled. "Lawyers don't work for free!" was the quotation I'd heard bandied around.
Yeah, it's an asshole thing to do. But, let's look at it this way - did they do something? Yes. They both sent out a letter (expensive paper) and got the name changed. Is that worth $2000? We'll just have to see.
Looks more like Microsoft is "considering" assisting Ximian's Mono. They will probably not allow/enable applications written in Mono to run under the Windows CLI.
Which makes me wonder - is this a method of further distancing the two platforms? Will Microsoft, in a show of Good Faith, offer this assistance with the end goal of reducing interoperability to a one-way street?
It's not that I don't trust Microsoft to be Good Guys once in a while. Thing is, they don't trust us to be Good Guys either.
From the review, it seems that all Jon Katz things computer games should be is lots of shooting, explosions, and similar inane garbage.
Oh, but if there weren't games that encouraged kids to kill, we never would have had "Voices from the Hellmouth." The way I see it, JonKatz is just lookin' out for job security.
I always thought the parody of Donovan's "Atlantis" was a bit... not-targeted at the right audience in that episode. But, then again, it was damn funny.
If the first statement is false, then the only thing I can think of is that the system was infected by either an outside source, or some other malicious virus.
Oh dear... Do you think Microsoft was infected by the GPL?
I read somewhere once a WINE developer specifically citing the Sims as a game that would "never" run under WINE. Evidently there's a VxD call or some such at the very beginning of the application, or some other very Windows specific call that the WINE project had no intention of (not)emulating.
What has changed? Did they suddenly figure out how to do it, or was I misinformed?
I think that.NET is an interesting idea. But I'm confused why people consider this a revolutionary idea - ok, so MS has all your apps on the central server. I think I must have missed something, because most of the primary software (OS, basic functions, etc) are run locally.
Whereas with some of the more interesting projects - that have come to light lately - we are making *significant* headway into the 'NC' idea that was oh-so-trendy about four and a half years ago. The idea of HD-less boxes has become available to the masses. The Linux Terminal Server Project has managed to compile an extensive resource for creating NC's that are feasible for businesses (and significantly more efficient to administer than either a set of Linux boxes or Windows boxes.) K12LTSP is also on the way for schools.
Will either of those projects reach wide-adoption? Not bloody likely. But maybe I'm missing some grand-paradigm of ASP's that can't be fulfilled by a well-designed client/server relationship. I don't think I would ever invest in.NET when the blatantly obvious alternatives exists - especially when I can get away for $350 per client box.
You know, funny thing is, that's right out of Michael Moore's "Downsize This." Except he said GM, not just 'big business.'
While I'm sure he would approve of what you say, his point was that companies shouldn't be allowed to destroy lives - bringing us back to his inescapable Flint obsession. He made a good point, and you seem to have hocked it.
Slashdot Mirror
I know a bit about geeky 15-year-olds; I've written a book and a number of articles about them.
Once, I was at the Tower of London with a friend. We were looking at the crown jewels, and both of us were convinced they had to be fake. As we were discussing this, a woman in front of us overheard our conversation.
She turned around and looked at us very gravely and said, "Oh no, those are real."
To further cement her authority, she followed her assertion with a whispered explanation -
"I've been here before."
Web developers rejoiced across the world on that day.
There was an article the other day that made that exact comment - that web developers were anxious for Netscape's market share to drop so they could tailor their content directly to MSIE.
Eventually chaos theory will dictate that the nature of the relationship has become so complex as to be unknowable.
And then Jeff Goldblum shows up, ah, showing, ah, us that, ah, nature, nature, ah, finds a way.
This is a very Bad Idea. First of all, unauthorized access to a computer is, by definition unauthorized. Any worm which spreads changes is illegal and as such a Bad Idea.
No matter how good your intentions are (RTM just wanted to play around, right?) you cannot take the "law" into your own hands.
Ethical issues aside, it would be very dangerous to being publicizing that there was a beneficial worm available; immediately, we would get copycat worms everywhere, appearing the same (yes, this could probably be circumvented by MD5 checksums or something, but jeez, if the webmaster was going to go through THAT much trouble, they'd install the damn patch themselves!) but doing far worse things.
I'm not usually one to spout Libertarian philosophy - but in this case, if somebody wants to leave their box open - through ignorance, laziness, or some other ineffable reason - that is their choice and not the choice of some 15-year old hacker who thinks he'll redeem his l33t friends' images in the media's eyes.
The defenses always have to be kept up - or else you have to start making judgment calls about which outside sources to give access to, which is a path no one wants to go down.
What next, Microsoft(R) TCP/IP(R)?
Well, of course. But somewhere, in a Carl Sagan-esque fashion, you could convert the hex to base 11, insert CR/LFs, reverse the order, stand on your head and look at it, and you'd see, in clear letters...
Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
I must admit I started encoding in .ogg when I saw that XMMS, under the FreeBSD ports collection, compiles default with OGG support. I tried it out, and my girlfriend adored the variable bit rate.
(Plus, I've always identified with the Tall Man from Small Gods.)
No, I don't think it's circular. Perhaps I didn't articulate well enough.
A product is something sold as goods or services, yes? As such, the "quality" of the product as a selling-point is defined in its success in the marketplace.
Whereas music, which I won't attempt to define here, has "quality" that is measured in entirely different characteristics - pleasing to the listener, engaging, etc.
Take a look at the Billboard Hot 100. Would you seriously argue that this represents the best music available? Or even the best music being made today?
I agree completely - but at the same time, the distinction being drawn is between being the best product and being the best music. Quality and success are independent, yes, but the quality of a product - as a product - is measured in its success.
One of the more interesting ideas I've read about is the Knowledge Crash. I'm not entirely sure how feasible a theory it is, but it was proposed in a science fiction series I read a while back. (The first book was called something about Charon... Ring of Charon? Moon of Charon? Something like that.)
The idea is, basically, that every year it costs more to educate someone. In order to be able to expand our collective knowledge, or even to utilize the machines and operate the systems of the present, it will cost a certain amount of money in the education process.
In addition, we can quantify the amount of output a single human creates in his or her lifetime. For instance - if she works for thirty years at a Power Planet or something, we can determine the value that she has contributed to society.
As systems become more complex, more education is required. The education costs more money. At some point, if this continues unchecked, we will be faced with a situation where the cost of education exceeds the value brought as a result of that education.
That's called the Knowledge Crash. (Or it was in the books.)
While I'm not convinced that this is true, it's certainly an interesting theory. It seems to me that, on average this can't happen, as one of the points of creating more and more complicated (generic) systems is to facilitate simpler and simpler controls, and thus dumber and dumber operators. While the creators of those systems may have 'crashed knowledge,' it seems that the whole point of that would be to hurl some value at the workers.
But then you have to consider that, inherent in the value of a designer, the ease of use is part of the entire value analysis versus education, and then that'll crash...
The Practice of Programming is an excellent book. That one and K&R's C are both amazing at what they do. Knuth's might be a bit esoteric; and jeez, I'd rather own mine than check it out of the library.
...but, still, it's established that the PoA is not the same as the planet he landed on at the end.
Clearly this means that, ultimately, Microsoft's Database Software (which, the commercials tell me, is able to adjust itself if I buy Seymore Butts' latest pic right after picking up Bananas in Pajamas for my non-existent kids) will be able to target customers based on both sitre selection and ass-size.
"We've got a 210-pound male browsing Slashdot, NewsForge and some site in Christmas Island featuring what appears to be an H.R. Giger drawing."
"Narrowing selections... Ok, hit him with the buttered milk duds, Frank Zappa CDs, and all those surplus DeCSS shirts."
"Game, set, and match, bitch."
I've got a cookie I'd like to leave on that server... or bench as the case may be...
At the risk of being A) the eight hundredth person to point this out or B) flamed beyond all recognition, wasn't this story in Slashback?
Ok, with my thinking cap on, I suspect maybe the new-news is that Adobe's law firm isn't backing down on the $2000, despite Adobe possibly being less than thrilled. "Lawyers don't work for free!" was the quotation I'd heard bandied around.
Yeah, it's an asshole thing to do. But, let's look at it this way - did they do something? Yes. They both sent out a letter (expensive paper) and got the name changed. Is that worth $2000? We'll just have to see.
"...Microsoft's CLI is not expected to execute Linux and Unix applications."
What you're saying makes sense. And I suppose the quotation is a bit vague - but that's my source.
Looks more like Microsoft is "considering" assisting Ximian's Mono. They will probably not allow/enable applications written in Mono to run under the Windows CLI.
Which makes me wonder - is this a method of further distancing the two platforms? Will Microsoft, in a show of Good Faith, offer this assistance with the end goal of reducing interoperability to a one-way street?
It's not that I don't trust Microsoft to be Good Guys once in a while. Thing is, they don't trust us to be Good Guys either.
Who can blame them? Clearly libraries will be the only place to go now that book prices are skyrocketing.
From the review, it seems that all Jon Katz things computer games should be is lots of shooting, explosions, and similar inane garbage.
Oh, but if there weren't games that encouraged kids to kill, we never would have had "Voices from the Hellmouth." The way I see it, JonKatz is just lookin' out for job security.
Skeptic Magazine has a "Skeptic Jr." section this [quarter/month] devoted to Atlantis. It's targeted at younger kids, but it's still a good read.
The part I liked the most was the summary of the Internet's views on Atlantis... about the blue-blooded mermaids and so on.
I always thought the parody of Donovan's "Atlantis" was a bit ... not-targeted at the right audience in that episode. But, then again, it was damn funny.
If the first statement is false, then the only thing I can think of is that the system was infected by either an outside source, or some other malicious virus.
Oh dear... Do you think Microsoft was infected by the GPL?
I read somewhere once a WINE developer specifically citing the Sims as a game that would "never" run under WINE. Evidently there's a VxD call or some such at the very beginning of the application, or some other very Windows specific call that the WINE project had no intention of (not)emulating.
What has changed? Did they suddenly figure out how to do it, or was I misinformed?
I suspect this may not be flexible like a giant rubber sheet, but more flexible like one of those pieces of steel they bang on to make thunder noises.
As I recall, they only explicitly stated they would port it to a BSD, which has a non-restrictive (in their eyes) license.
I think that .NET is an interesting idea. But I'm confused why people consider this a revolutionary idea - ok, so MS has all your apps on the central server. I think I must have missed something, because most of the primary software (OS, basic functions, etc) are run locally.
.NET when the blatantly obvious alternatives exists - especially when I can get away for $350 per client box.
Whereas with some of the more interesting projects - that have come to light lately - we are making *significant* headway into the 'NC' idea that was oh-so-trendy about four and a half years ago. The idea of HD-less boxes has become available to the masses. The Linux Terminal Server Project has managed to compile an extensive resource for creating NC's that are feasible for businesses (and significantly more efficient to administer than either a set of Linux boxes or Windows boxes.) K12LTSP is also on the way for schools.
Will either of those projects reach wide-adoption? Not bloody likely. But maybe I'm missing some grand-paradigm of ASP's that can't be fulfilled by a well-designed client/server relationship. I don't think I would ever invest in
You know, funny thing is, that's right out of Michael Moore's "Downsize This." Except he said GM, not just 'big business.'
While I'm sure he would approve of what you say, his point was that companies shouldn't be allowed to destroy lives - bringing us back to his inescapable Flint obsession. He made a good point, and you seem to have hocked it.