Yes, I have an MCSE certification.
Yes, I know it isn't worth very much around here.
No, I don't live in a world depicted by Microsoft marketing.
You see, I don't work for Microsoft, I work for my clients, and the technical advice I give them will be what is in their best interests, not Microsoft's! And that advice doesn't include XP in future deployments. Expect to see more Linux, BSD, BeOS etc... (gee, I feel like I'm at an A.A meeting!...Hi, my name is_________and I use Microsoft products...)
Simply put, this is a civil matter, not (nor should it be) a criminal one. At best Adobe might be entitled to monetary compensation after a judgement was awarded them in a civil trial, if indeed their intellectual property rights have been violated. There are volumes of examples of this aspect of our legal system at work. Imprisoning him sets a very dangerous precedent, one where offending a private institution can be considered "criminal", if the institution is powerful enough. Our forefathers fought against this type of institutional abuse, usually at the hands of the churches. What's is store for us in the future? The RIAA Inquisition? The Microsoft Inquisition?
On a related note (albeit indirectly) there was a program recently on a local (here in Vancouver) cable station talking about "corporate branding" and other such issues. One of the points made was that our society has been shifted such that the freedoms that we take for granted are starting to become more and more irrelevant. For example: The "commons" has been replaced by the shopping mall, which BTW is owned by private corporations and no, you don't have free speech anymore because it's private property...
The case with our friend Dimitri is symptomatic of a far greater evil. That being that powerful institutions are seeking to reverse the so-called freedoms that we think are etched in granite.
At the risk of sounding pessimistic, I think they stand a very good chance of succeeding.
I hate to rain on your parade dude but do you remember the "public consultations" leading up to the "proposed GST"? Have you ever dealt with federal bureaucrats? What is often the case is they have already made their minds up and the "public consultation" is usually a BS feelgood exercise. Their only concern is are we going to be pissed off enough when they enact whatever obnoxious new regulation they have in mind to do something desperate.
I just bought a spindle of CD-R's and got dinged the requisite 51 cents/disc because That Bitch Sheila Copps (oh, and that's her real title BTW) doesn't see that there are legitimate uses for blank media that don't involve piracy. That's worse than the friggin GST! Now I'm wondering:
1) Is this tantamount to a blanket license covering any media I might download?
2) Should I help them out by sending them a list of artists' work that I have on my hard drive so that they can distribute their ill gotten gains accordingly?
How the hell can I set my coffee on it if it's on my desktop???
The C.O.O. of the last company I worked for would
on
Death To Virus Writers
·
· Score: 1
Send messages with asinine, ungrammatical subjects that is, say nothing of the body of his message. He also cracked open 'I love you' (and a few others) not once but twice!
Maybe this has something to do with why the company went tits up... ahhh Darwin!
We could be like the Teamsters, informationally speaking. You don't get your information unless we are happy, and right now we aren't happy. What do you think would happen in a large corporation if for example suddenly all their mail servers went offline? What if it happened to every major corporation? Sure they could fire us but then what? Who are they going to replace us with? Another geek who's pissed off at the system? There'd have to be no breaking of ranks though, no matter what threats or dollar figures were bandied about.
I don't mean to sound like I think his freedom should be taken away arbitrarily. To add to Jefferson's "Tree of Liberty" statement, the tree needs to be watered from time to time by individuals whose circumstances allow them (willingly or unwillingly) to test laws that our legislators pass. Especially asinine, corporate fear and greed driven ones such as the DMCA.
It's ironic isn't it? All these bleeding-heart liberal gasbags who whine about all the people Dubya executed in Texas would be the first ones to line up for tickets if one of these executions ever became a pay-per-view event!
Slashdot Mirror
I don't believe it! Shoulda been in the top 10! Didn't even make the top 50??? Come on!
Yes, I have an MCSE certification. ...Hi, my name is_________and I use Microsoft products...)
Yes, I know it isn't worth very much around here.
No, I don't live in a world depicted by Microsoft marketing.
You see, I don't work for Microsoft, I work for my clients, and the technical advice I give them will be what is in their best interests, not Microsoft's! And that advice doesn't include XP in future deployments. Expect to see more Linux, BSD, BeOS etc...
(gee, I feel like I'm at an A.A meeting!
Uhhh...shouldn't that be dumber users (hopefully with shiny new visa cards)?
On a related note (albeit indirectly) there was a program recently on a local (here in Vancouver) cable station talking about "corporate branding" and other such issues. One of the points made was that our society has been shifted such that the freedoms that we take for granted are starting to become more and more irrelevant. For example: The "commons" has been replaced by the shopping mall, which BTW is owned by private corporations and no, you don't have free speech anymore because it's private property...
The case with our friend Dimitri is symptomatic of a far greater evil. That being that powerful institutions are seeking to reverse the so-called freedoms that we think are etched in granite.
At the risk of sounding pessimistic, I think they stand a very good chance of succeeding.
Somebody should write a worm that posts links to target sites on slashdot...
...that it's ok to be a greedy, selfish, self-centred son-of-a-bitch?!?
How is this funny? You want to see Bill Gates punching himself in the he... Oh! Never Mind!
Which, the computer or the fat guy sitting at it?
You mean like Pornolize?
...a Beowulf cluster of these?
see above.
'nuff said.
...at a buried Statue of Liberty? Somebody's gotta do it!
...and asking him to commit might be in order.
I hate to rain on your parade dude but do you remember the "public consultations" leading up to the "proposed GST"? Have you ever dealt with federal bureaucrats? What is often the case is they have already made their minds up and the "public consultation" is usually a BS feelgood exercise. Their only concern is are we going to be pissed off enough when they enact whatever obnoxious new regulation they have in mind to do something desperate.
1) Is this tantamount to a blanket license covering any media I might download?
2) Should I help them out by sending them a list of artists' work that I have on my hard drive so that they can distribute their ill gotten gains accordingly?
How the hell can I set my coffee on it if it's on my desktop???
Maybe this has something to do with why the company went tits up... ahhh Darwin!
I'll give it a shot, but it's not going to be the same without Charlton Heston screaming "DAMN YOU!" at the end...
We could be like the Teamsters, informationally speaking. You don't get your information unless we are happy, and right now we aren't happy. What do you think would happen in a large corporation if for example suddenly all their mail servers went offline? What if it happened to every major corporation? Sure they could fire us but then what? Who are they going to replace us with? Another geek who's pissed off at the system? There'd have to be no breaking of ranks though, no matter what threats or dollar figures were bandied about.
...all our bitchslaps are belong to your head!
I don't mean to sound like I think his freedom should be taken away arbitrarily. To add to Jefferson's "Tree of Liberty" statement, the tree needs to be watered from time to time by individuals whose circumstances allow them (willingly or unwillingly) to test laws that our legislators pass. Especially asinine, corporate fear and greed driven ones such as the DMCA.
...was the sound of the bat connecting with your head!
It's ironic isn't it? All these bleeding-heart liberal gasbags who whine about all the people Dubya executed in Texas would be the first ones to line up for tickets if one of these executions ever became a pay-per-view event!