All of this is off topic but I happen to agree../. is all riding the open source movement and the linux community's "moral values" for fun and profit. Can you say... hypocrites!
But when I want to send someone a document electronically, or they want to send one to me, almost everyone expects MICROSOFT WORD !!! People treat me like a circus freak when I tell them I don't have it (and don't want it). I've met people who literally cannot conceive of a computer that doesn't have MS Office anywhere on it.
Hehhe, I get the biggest kick out of the HR departments hiring for 'UNIX PROGRAMERS' who insist on Word Documents for resumes. When you tell them you know not of this microsoft thing.. they look are YOU funny (are you sure you want a UNIX programmer? You do know there is no MS word for your particular flavour of unix don't you?)
Has anyone read Stranger in a strange land? The scientologists remind me of one of the religeons in this book.
The best part is, L. Ron made the whole thing up!
L. Ron was a science fiction writer making a penny a word. He was known for his writing style of attaching his typewriter to a roll of paper on the wall and producing a SCI-FI novel in an evening.
It is said that Dianetics was written in a weekend in this style and (over drinks with his peers) he announced that he was going to start a religeon.
Well he did just that, and he did a pretty damn good job of it to. Personally the thought that humans evolved form clams makes me giggle but hay, if thats what you wanna believe more power too ya.
I've heard of some pretty sinister things these folks can do. Hopefully this positng won't get me a dead cat in the mail.
Most everyone I talk to who runs this product says often that it is slowing their machine down. So often I hear "Let me shut down SETI@home and see if that helps" (it usually does).
If this program is really using idle tasks then why does it slow people machines down so much for eveything else.
The project says they "will not release the source". I say, why bother supporting them. Here you have a whole bunch of people who are brought together by the ideals of OpenSource and you're giving up your valuable processor time to a project which refuses to open the source. They're riding the "Cool Wave" of linux to get their work done.
Sure, finding life in outter space is cool. But not cool enough to let this program drag my machine down. By using the software, you contribute to their project, what are they contributing to the OpenSource comunity (not berkeley in general, the SETI people). OSS is a matter of give and give some more. SETI is only taking and giving very little in return.
More and more we read about this kind of stuff. I remember back in 1984 when the news media came out with all their "comparison stories". Really what they were doing is debunking the issue when infact, we were living the image, and more, that George Orwell's book portrayed.
I'm not at all the type to actually do it but crap like this makes me wonder if it wouldn't be better just to check out now and get it done with before they can do it for me.
I imagine that the people who are abusing laws (which they created in the first place for that exact purpose) want us to feel this way. Even a rat, when given no way out, will simply lay down and die before submitting to it's attacker. and thats what is going on more and more in the computer/software/internet industry today. You cannot do anything it seems without infringing on some copyright, or trademark, or patent. and being trapped into a corner with no way out but to submit or die.
We like to tout the fat that we are free when in fact, no one is really free. Every law in this country (USA) is ultimately backed by the threat of death. Break a traffic rule? ok pay a fine. Don't pay the fine? Ok go to prison. Escape from prison? they'll shoot you trying.
Um... Who said anything about running a business. I'm not selling anything. I'm giving it away for free. I am not a company, I have no stockholders, and there is no money coming in from anywhere. This is something that was done for FUN. (remember fun, when you do something cause you like to do it?)
There are good sides to SJGames saying I could not use the word Metaverse.. First off, it's been cheapened enough already where, now that I have a more complete picture of how this word is being used in "US Business", I don't want to be associated with it anymore. Secondly.. Our new name suggests more freedom. (so we've got that going for us, which is nice).
On a side note.. No one sent frothing lawyers after me.. Steve Jackson wrote me himself and told me to stop using it. Of course the word TRADEMARK implies frothing lawyers waiting in the wings though I never actually heard from one of them.
My complaint is with the issuance of a trademark on a word with hardly anything original to back it up. My program is not even a "Game" which his trademark is issued for.. it's a conferencing software which is very different than an online game. But I don't have the money, energy, or the time to argue the issue with the frothing lawyers waiting in the wings.
I've written a chat software which is now called OpenVerse. When I started writing it, it was called Metaverse. But it turns out some company named SJGames owns this word (surprisingly, they only obtained a trademark for this word after the book SnowCrash was released.
It seems SJGames CONFIGURED a mush and called is Metaverse and trademarked the name.
So I'm happily working on my chat program when I get a letter from that company telling me I can't call it Metaverse cause they own the word.
I was a little upset to say the least but what can I do? I'm just a lowly free software programmer and I don't have any lawyer money to protect me from them.
I Quickly folded up Metaverse and changed the name to OpenVerse but now I worry about the next big guy to come along. What will I do then? Throw my project out the window? Fight it with no money and loose? All of these thin trademarks are really upsetting.
There should be some merrit when it comes to trademarks. I feel that simply configuring someone elses free software and then trademarking a name based on that is pretty damn thin to me.
Just deleting spam does not resolve the issue that some of us have to pay for every byte we download. I'm not in this group when I'm at home or at the office but when I'm fishing and checking my email via laptop, I pay for every second I'm on that phone. Spammers are stealing my resources to promote their crap (most of it's crap anyway).
Here is my idea for a GOOD opt-in marketing model.
1. Everyone has an online virtual account which allows any other person to deposit funds into it. 2. The spammer deposits pennies or more into your account when they send you the message. 3. A spamer's chance of having you read this message increases with the ammount of money they put into your account. 4. It would be illegal to send spams without putting a minimum ammount per message length. Lets say 5cents per 10k
I feel that this would completely solve the spam issue by making advertisers pay for their email marketing campaigns in a way that effects the consumer positively.
Perhaps it's gone for ever now. I'm getting a page does not exist page from xoom. Could it be that slashdot has ruined the fun by bringing too many people to the site.
I love the I Kiss You guy:) I like him a lot more before he changed the page though.
The problem I see with boycotting products which have announced tapping capabilities is that you may end up with a product from a "less reputable company". A company which had the tapping capabilities in their all along but neglected to mention it.
I also imagine that there will pretty quickly be hardware hacks published which disable this "feature" on long respected hardware like cisco.
Me? I'll hold on to my 2500 router for as long as possible:)
They always give me a hard time but when I go to Radio Shack I make it a point to bring enough REAL money and when the whole name and address thing comes up I just tell them I prefer to buy anonymously with cash. They always look at you like you must be a terrorist and probably push some special button to send your photo to the FBI.. I hate RS nazis but when yuo just MUST have a 50k resistor on a sunday, they're there.
I'm still using my old copy of Applix for most things and rarely have trouble but K-Office is where I want to be.
I sort of wrote off StarOffice when SUN took it. I've not had the best relations with Applix or I would keep using that, and as far as my relations with SUN go.. well they've been worse in the past and I don't want to get involved with them in the future. If I'm going to pay for a peice of software, which I'm not opposed to, I want a little support when upgrading (applix charging a full $149 for upgrades!)
I love Toys, From my X10 devices everywhere in the house to the BeepWear PRO on my wrist.. I love Toys.
But these palm computer things don't interest me at all. I'm not sure why. I have tried a few but much more than using it as a calculator I have found them useless.. The writing tablet types are horrible (have you ever been able to read anything you signed on the UPS tablet?)
A mp3 "walkman" would be the best use for a palmdevice for me. But this is just me.. How do you use yours?
I think that it'd be really neat to see MS be forced to release their source
Hear Hear!
This is the real issue, but it will be overlooked. The reason is.. The DOJ, Jackson, the SEC, (add your favorite organization here) is not in this for the common good of the people. They may pass that notion off but what they are really in it for is the interestes of other corporations.
I highly doubt a source code release will be the outcome of this mess.
As I have said many times, I don't want to see microsoft go away. Sure, they're fun to pick on and lots of things about them suck but they are what they are and like it or lump it, it's a useful OS which should not go away.
If I had the same abilities with windows that I have with Linux, (source code to modify to perform tasks as I want them performed) I would be a windows user. (please hold off the flames)
Until this time, I'm a dedicated linux user who has a computer full of source code which can be modified to perform my task exactly as I want them performed!:) LONG LIVE OpenSource!
Here's what I'm wondering. Not having much to do with the digital signature software & hardware
As I understand it, just typing your name in the "Sign Here" portion of a document, or clicking the "I agree" button on a web page is enough to represent your digital signature.
Let's hope so. A little "inovation" and "agressive marketing" on the part of Linux/Open Source can do nothing but good.
I prefer pico over any IDE that I've tried but I know many people prefer an IDE. Code Fusion is one of the better ones I tried from demos and this can do nothing but good to the Linux community. I only hope that the product becomes free. It does not appear to be free at the moment. (from the info I found on their web page) [Am I missing some download area?]
Although Hotmail implements protections from allowing their own users to send too many emails/spams out.. There is nothing stopping me from creating hundreds of hotmail accounts and creatively spamming a bazillion users.
How many times do you think Hotmail itself shows up on the spam blocking services available? I quit my sysadmin job for something more rewarding and aside from the user support, spam was the number two headache I had to deal with. LOTS AND LOTS of spam comes from Hotmail accounts.
The spam issue will not come to an end by these means. I hate to say it but I really think the only thing that will stop the spammers is a world wide agreement to prosecute harshly.
This is great to hear! I've been sitting around griping about the millions of dollars (which ultimatly come out of our pockets) which MSFT could waste in the process. This should reduce the costs involed a lot!
I, for one, don't want to see microsoft go away alltogether but they need to be slapped and hard! Giving credit where credit is due, Microsoft has played an enormous role in bringing the masses online and as much as people like to complain abou the masses "infecting" their little net-places, it would be a whole lot more boring without them around to point at and giggle.
I love this! As it is, I consider my Qualcomm 1960 "disposable" It was like $30 and I would not miss the $30 replacement of the phone itself too much if it died, what I would miss is the $50 activation fee for the new phone! If these things start showing up for $20 I'll dump my current carrier and opt for these phones. I hate paying for "plans" where I'll use all the minutes this month but none next month but need the savings the plan offers.
This could bring a whole slew of "smalltimers" into the cell phone market. Just like the phone cards you can get at the WallMart checkout brought relative nobody phone companies into the picture. Not to mention the resale potential for these things.
Brain cancer or not, cell phones rule. I've dumped my home phone completely and use only digital cell at the moment. It is a CDMA phone so I can even use it with my laptop while I'm fishing with almost no extra hardware (plugs right into the serial port, the phone is the modem. I love it!)
Slashdot Mirror
If you have a look at that code... it's been sitting there since, well a long time. It certainly is not an example of open exchange of information.
/. usually are.
before you jump around like a loonie calling people clueless, get a clue yourself.
Of course, this message will be moderated down and called flamebait as are any posts critical of
Another fine example of an OpenSource project steamrolling over the (wimpy) "competition"
when your only incentive is an A in comsci...
All of this is off topic but I happen to agree.. /. is all riding the open source movement and the linux community's "moral values" for fun and profit. Can you say... hypocrites!
I think I even spelled it right.
I honestly believe that they think everyone is a complete and total moron and just won't find out about crap like this.
Either that, or they really WANT people to hate them.
But when I want to send someone a document electronically, or they want to send one to me, almost everyone expects MICROSOFT WORD !!! People treat me like a circus freak when I tell them I don't have it (and don't want it). I've met people who literally cannot conceive of a computer that doesn't have MS Office anywhere on it.
Hehhe, I get the biggest kick out of the HR departments hiring for 'UNIX PROGRAMERS' who insist on Word Documents for resumes. When you tell them you know not of this microsoft thing.. they look are YOU funny (are you sure you want a UNIX programmer? You do know there is no MS word for your particular flavour of unix don't you?)
Sure, it's nice. Sure competition is good. But the somple fact is that I do not trust sun to do what is best for me.
When they do something evil with the license (and I promis you they will) I'll be laughing a heartly laugh from my Koffice application (with source)
Has anyone read Stranger in a strange land? The scientologists remind me of one of the religeons in this book.
The best part is, L. Ron made the whole thing up!
L. Ron was a science fiction writer making a penny a word. He was known for his writing style of attaching his typewriter to a roll of paper on the wall and producing a SCI-FI novel in an evening.
It is said that Dianetics was written in a weekend in this style and (over drinks with his peers) he announced that he was going to start a religeon.
Well he did just that, and he did a pretty damn good job of it to. Personally the thought that humans evolved form clams makes me giggle but hay, if thats what you wanna believe more power too ya.
I've heard of some pretty sinister things these folks can do. Hopefully this positng won't get me a dead cat in the mail.
Most everyone I talk to who runs this product says often that it is slowing their machine down. So often I hear "Let me shut down SETI@home and see if that helps" (it usually does).
If this program is really using idle tasks then why does it slow people machines down so much for eveything else.
The project says they "will not release the source". I say, why bother supporting them. Here you have a whole bunch of people who are brought together by the ideals of OpenSource and you're giving up your valuable processor time to a project which refuses to open the source. They're riding the "Cool Wave" of linux to get their work done.
Sure, finding life in outter space is cool. But not cool enough to let this program drag my machine down. By using the software, you contribute to their project, what are they contributing to the OpenSource comunity (not berkeley in general, the SETI people). OSS is a matter of give and give some more. SETI is only taking and giving very little in return.
OK OK OK, Thats it I give up.
I'm going to patent "A method of patenting something completely obvious in an attempt to gain a monopoly on a nich Internet market"
Yeah, thats the ticket!
More and more we read about this kind of stuff. I remember back in 1984 when the news media came out with all their "comparison stories". Really what they were doing is debunking the issue when infact, we were living the image, and more, that George Orwell's book portrayed.
I'm not at all the type to actually do it but crap like this makes me wonder if it wouldn't be better just to check out now and get it done with before they can do it for me.
I imagine that the people who are abusing laws (which they created in the first place for that exact purpose) want us to feel this way. Even a rat, when given no way out, will simply lay down and die before submitting to it's attacker. and thats what is going on more and more in the computer/software/internet industry today. You cannot do anything it seems without infringing on some copyright, or trademark, or patent. and being trapped into a corner with no way out but to submit or die.
We like to tout the fat that we are free when in fact, no one is really free. Every law in this country (USA) is ultimately backed by the threat of death. Break a traffic rule? ok pay a fine. Don't pay the fine? Ok go to prison. Escape from prison? they'll shoot you trying.
Welcome to US business Law
Um... Who said anything about running a business. I'm not selling anything. I'm giving it away for free. I am not a company, I have no stockholders, and there is no money coming in from anywhere. This is something that was done for FUN. (remember fun, when you do something cause you like to do it?)
There are good sides to SJGames saying I could not use the word Metaverse.. First off, it's been cheapened enough already where, now that I have a more complete picture of how this word is being used in "US Business", I don't want to be associated with it anymore. Secondly.. Our new name suggests more freedom. (so we've got that going for us, which is nice).
On a side note.. No one sent frothing lawyers after me.. Steve Jackson wrote me himself and told me to stop using it. Of course the word TRADEMARK implies frothing lawyers waiting in the wings though I never actually heard from one of them.
My complaint is with the issuance of a trademark on a word with hardly anything original to back it up. My program is not even a "Game" which his trademark is issued for.. it's a conferencing software which is very different than an online game. But I don't have the money, energy, or the time to argue the issue with the frothing lawyers waiting in the wings.
Something similar happened to me.
I've written a chat software which is now called OpenVerse. When I started writing it, it was called Metaverse. But it turns out some company named SJGames owns this word (surprisingly, they only obtained a trademark for this word after the book SnowCrash was released.
It seems SJGames CONFIGURED a mush and called is Metaverse and trademarked the name.
So I'm happily working on my chat program when I get a letter from that company telling me I can't call it Metaverse cause they own the word.
I was a little upset to say the least but what can I do? I'm just a lowly free software programmer and I don't have any lawyer money to protect me from them.
I Quickly folded up Metaverse and changed the name to OpenVerse but now I worry about the next big guy to come along. What will I do then? Throw my project out the window? Fight it with no money and loose? All of these thin trademarks are really upsetting.
There should be some merrit when it comes to trademarks. I feel that simply configuring someone elses free software and then trademarking a name based on that is pretty damn thin to me.
Just deleting spam does not resolve the issue that some of us have to pay for every byte we download. I'm not in this group when I'm at home or at the office but when I'm fishing and checking my email via laptop, I pay for every second I'm on that phone. Spammers are stealing my resources to promote their crap (most of it's crap anyway).
Here is my idea for a GOOD opt-in marketing model.
1. Everyone has an online virtual account which allows any other person to deposit funds into it.
2. The spammer deposits pennies or more into your account when they send you the message.
3. A spamer's chance of having you read this message increases with the ammount of money they put into your account.
4. It would be illegal to send spams without putting a minimum ammount per message length. Lets say 5cents per 10k
I feel that this would completely solve the spam issue by making advertisers pay for their email marketing campaigns in a way that effects the consumer positively.
Perhaps it's gone for ever now. I'm getting a page does not exist page from xoom. Could it be that slashdot has ruined the fun by bringing too many people to the site.
:) I like him a lot more before he changed the page though.
I love the I Kiss You guy
All I know is that if it turns out to be really lame like a giant abacus.. I'm going to be really, really disappoointed!
The problem I see with boycotting products which have announced tapping capabilities is that you may end up with a product from a "less reputable company". A company which had the tapping capabilities in their all along but neglected to mention it.
:)
I also imagine that there will pretty quickly be hardware hacks published which disable this "feature" on long respected hardware like cisco.
Me? I'll hold on to my 2500 router for as long as possible
They always give me a hard time but when I go to Radio Shack I make it a point to bring enough REAL money and when the whole name and address thing comes up I just tell them I prefer to buy anonymously with cash. They always look at you like you must be a terrorist and probably push some special button to send your photo to the FBI.. I hate RS nazis but when yuo just MUST have a 50k resistor on a sunday, they're there.
K-Everything is where I'm at :)
I'm still using my old copy of Applix for most things and rarely have trouble but K-Office is where I want to be.
I sort of wrote off StarOffice when SUN took it. I've not had the best relations with Applix or I would keep using that, and as far as my relations with SUN go.. well they've been worse in the past and I don't want to get involved with them in the future. If I'm going to pay for a peice of software, which I'm not opposed to, I want a little support when upgrading (applix charging a full $149 for upgrades!)
I love Toys, From my X10 devices everywhere in the house to the BeepWear PRO on my wrist.. I love Toys.
But these palm computer things don't interest me at all. I'm not sure why. I have tried a few but much more than using it as a calculator I have found them useless.. The writing tablet types are horrible (have you ever been able to read anything you signed on the UPS tablet?)
A mp3 "walkman" would be the best use for a palmdevice for me. But this is just me.. How do you use yours?
I think that it'd be really neat to see MS be forced to release their source
:) LONG LIVE OpenSource!
Hear Hear!
This is the real issue, but it will be overlooked. The reason is.. The DOJ, Jackson, the SEC, (add your favorite organization here) is not in this for the common good of the people. They may pass that notion off but what they are really in it for is the interestes of other corporations.
I highly doubt a source code release will be the outcome of this mess.
As I have said many times, I don't want to see microsoft go away. Sure, they're fun to pick on and lots of things about them suck but they are what they are and like it or lump it, it's a useful OS which should not go away.
If I had the same abilities with windows that I have with Linux, (source code to modify to perform tasks as I want them performed) I would be a windows user. (please hold off the flames)
Until this time, I'm a dedicated linux user who has a computer full of source code which can be modified to perform my task exactly as I want them performed!
Here's what I'm wondering. Not having much to do with the digital signature software & hardware
As I understand it, just typing your name in the "Sign Here" portion of a document, or clicking the "I agree" button on a web page is enough to represent your digital signature.
Is this Redhat getting greedy?
Let's hope so. A little "inovation" and "agressive marketing" on the part of Linux/Open Source can do nothing but good.
I prefer pico over any IDE that I've tried but I know many people prefer an IDE. Code Fusion is one of the better ones I tried from demos and this can do nothing but good to the Linux community. I only hope that the product becomes free. It does not appear to be free at the moment. (from the info I found on their web page) [Am I missing some download area?]
Although Hotmail implements protections from allowing their own users to send too many emails/spams out.. There is nothing stopping me from creating hundreds of hotmail accounts and creatively spamming a bazillion users.
How many times do you think Hotmail itself shows up on the spam blocking services available? I quit my sysadmin job for something more rewarding and aside from the user support, spam was the number two headache I had to deal with. LOTS AND LOTS of spam comes from Hotmail accounts.
The spam issue will not come to an end by these means. I hate to say it but I really think the only thing that will stop the spammers is a world wide agreement to prosecute harshly.
This is great to hear! I've been sitting around griping about the millions of dollars (which ultimatly come out of our pockets) which MSFT could waste in the process. This should reduce the costs involed a lot!
I, for one, don't want to see microsoft go away alltogether but they need to be slapped and hard! Giving credit where credit is due, Microsoft has played an enormous role in bringing the masses online and as much as people like to complain abou the masses "infecting" their little net-places, it would be a whole lot more boring without them around to point at and giggle.
I love this! As it is, I consider my Qualcomm 1960 "disposable" It was like $30 and I would not miss the $30 replacement of the phone itself too much if it died, what I would miss is the $50 activation fee for the new phone! If these things start showing up for $20 I'll dump my current carrier and opt for these phones. I hate paying for "plans" where I'll use all the minutes this month but none next month but need the savings the plan offers.
This could bring a whole slew of "smalltimers" into the cell phone market. Just like the phone cards you can get at the WallMart checkout brought relative nobody phone companies into the picture. Not to mention the resale potential for these things.
Brain cancer or not, cell phones rule. I've dumped my home phone completely and use only digital cell at the moment. It is a CDMA phone so I can even use it with my laptop while I'm fishing with almost no extra hardware (plugs right into the serial port, the phone is the modem. I love it!)