People in my generation remember the movie Pump Up the Volume. However, it doesn't take bad language or a kids suicide to get the FCC out after you.
Small 'pirate' stations are the targets of the large media holdings that control the radio market. These small stations don't have comercial breaks, don't play what the record labels say, and generally upset the system of money flow.
Take the story of beatradio (www.beatradio.com -- They even have pictures of the FCC hauling away the radio).
The jist of the story is they were playing music and upsetting the local radio stations. Most of the minneapolis market is either owned by ABC or Chanceler Communications.
So they had the FCC go and shake things up. Well, first it was operating a station with out a license. Okay, sounds like a legitimate complaint. Well, beat did something a little different. They tried to get one.
Enter a world of regulations that are designed to keep small start-up off the airwaves. Add to it the ability of local stations to object. All of this ammounted to the big boys have the ability to keep the other kids out of the pool.
My bet is that small community groups will probally be able to have a station. Religious talk, and Paul Harvey for all! But, as soon a station gets popular enough to cut into a top 40 stations listenership you can bet that they will object. I can already see it. Are they really a community group? What public service are they providing? In the end the little guy is always going to get the shaft.
Trying to judge Microsoft on patch management is a hit and miss situtation at best. For how much MS claims it that it's programs have to be part of the core OS, it's obvious that product groups aren't talking much to each other. For example, take Windows NT. It's no where near perfect, but you can pretty much count on Service Packs every now and then that have some degree of regression testing. This is at least a passible pack stragegy.
Is it anywhere near IBM or HP for OS patches? Hell no. MS is where HP and IBM were 7 years ago when it comes to patching and bugs.
Let's take a look at MS at it's worst. Microsoft Outlook 98. As Steven Webb of Microsoft Technical support described the patches "strategy" went a little something (paraphased) like this:
"I have this printing problem. [Describes problem]
Well, you know those security patches or the archive patch? It should really be considered a service Pack. See, it has about 150 odd fixes inside of it.
Is that documented somewhere in Technet? No.
So it's been fully regression tested right?
Yeah, sure...that's the ticket"
Luckally I was a premier support customer. Basically, you pay MS a boat load of money and they assign some dude to you who is supposed to be dedicated just to your company, yet is never at his desk to answer your call. However, you do get to see all the neat little comments in the Technet that are marked confidential.
For MS a confidential note is usually the exact steps it takes to reproduce the problem. You can't be letting non-support contract customers figuring out what that intermittent problem is and demanding a free hot fix. No sir!
"You owe me thirty-five dollars!" "I don't have a dime." "Didn't ask for a dime, thirty-five dollars...cash"
Other common confidential notes indicate Y2K fixes that are undocumented, or other problems that will get fixed when the hot fix is applied.
The best part was when I asked the tech "Exactly what is fixed in the security patch your are recommending?" To which I was told they don't have that information. Even after escalating MS has yet to document exactly what it fixed in any of the Outlook patches. They said they would do better with documenting patches in Outlook 2000. The best solution I got was to install the patch, check the dates on the DLL then corilate that to the file dates documented in the 150 odd hotfixes...
Long story short, I don't think it's only a matter of Opensource VS Closed source. It's how committed the is to fixing the problems and how open they are about it. MS in general lacks consistancy across product lines. In many cases it seems that patches don't come out when they are needed, but rather when the press puts a problem in the spotlight. And as long as MS pays for IT managers and CIO's to spend a week in seattle getting brainwashed I don't think that is going to change.
Try 3134, 3135, 3136, 3137 or 3138. These are stores in Minnesota. Which is the corporate head quarters for Best Buy and Audio King. It's a very cut throat market.
The onlything that I'm suprised about is how well Red Hat does in the UK. A few months a go I was doing some training in the UK. I asked some of the people in the class what the distro they were using. Everyone in the class that used Linux said Red Hat.
I guess I was expecting something like SuSE to be a dominate player based solely on location.
Although I can understand why Business like Red Hat. Ask SuSE for install support and you get a message back with a lot of German and little English at the end. That's just the auto responder. It's another three weeks for a Tech to reply to mail.
This really shouldn't be all that suprising. Over the past couple years bill has been taking less and less control of MS and letting steve to the work.
I think the real thing to watch for is if Steve B. tries to pull a "Steve Jobs"(tm) on Gates.
In the end not a whole lot will change. The ego and aditude is about the same. Steve is better spoken and doesn't have that child molester look that Gates has.
What I've never understood is why they are making examples out of people in the US. The US is small time for piracy. Sure there are FTP sites and the ilk, but it's small time compared to asia. Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Japan, Korea...this is whre pirating is a big time...open...business. They don't bother with CD-R or DVD-R. The materials are pressed with silk screen images. Other than being packaged in a normal jewl case you can't tell the difference. Last year I checked out an Electronics mall in Singapore. 8 Floors of computers and electronics...a sight to be seen for sure. There were a dozen stores selling pirate CD's and VCDs. I've heard now that DVD's are common too.
Dispite Singapores touch love law enforcement there is little done about this. I think it has to do with the fact that the cost of making and packaging a pressed DVD in volume is USD$2-3, that 800% mark up just doesn't sit right.
As far as region codes I saw that at most places in Singapore would put a mod in your DVD player that will allow you to play whatever you wanted to for about S$100 (USD$50).
I don't get why motorola would buy them out. Unless they wanted a nice development kit for some new op code language they have planned.
I just don't see what the buyout gives BigM and even if they were just on a technology hunt why bother changing a successful product lineup?
Does it ever seem like management type people change things just for the sake of changing them? Kind'a like a nature show where a new lion takes over the den and kills off all the cubs that aren't his own...
I think if there is a law about "protecting" children it shoul be placed on the sites to do one very simple thing. Place a content meta tag on the page. Many broswers and most filtering software will read the tag and can filter on that level. It's simple, effective and for a school you don't have to depend on getting updated or encrypted lists.
Make a law that says if you run this type of site in the US that you have to put the meta tag in. If you don't have it you'll be fined.
Although Dry it does have some interesting points>
1) The only sign of patent reform is sec. 705 Which pretty much says the the Patent and Trademark Commisioner has to come up with a study 6 months from passage about why American Biotech interests need to be able to file patents. (Bad thing)
2) Sec 311, "Any person, at any time" we request reexamination. Provide you pay 1) pay the fee, 2) disclose the real parties interested. (Generally a good thing) The director makes a ruling if a new quesiton has been raised. This decision is final. If it is reject they "may" refund the fee.
3) This is the part the Irks me. In sec. 709, National Security and sec. 304, technical clarification there are many claus to how a patent could be kept confidential. This can be at the request of the applicant or under the terms described in sec. 181. Sec. 181 is not published in the text of the bill. (Generally BAD)
4) No where is there any technical reform. Beyond a better appeals process this really is counter productive.
Although Dry it does have some interesting points>
1) The only sign of patent reform is sec. 705 Which pretty much says the the Patent and Trademark Commisioner has to come up with a study 6 months from passage about why American Biotech interests need to be able to file patents. (Bad thing)
2) Sec 311, "Any person, at any time" we request reexamination. Provide you pay 1) pay the fee, 2) disclose the real parties interested. (Generally a good thing) The director makes a ruling if a new quesiton has been raised. This decision is final. If it is reject they "may" refund the fee.
3) This is the part the Irks me. In sec. 709, National Security and sec. 304, technical clarification there are many claus to how a patent could be kept confidential. This can be at the request of the applicant or under the terms described in sec. 181. Sec. 181 is not published in the text of the bill. (Generally BAD)
4) No where is there any technical reform. Beyond a better appeals process this really is counter productive.
I saw the Y2K Phun(tm) comming 6 months ago. I worked for a rather large company (largest privately held company in the work actually). I could see the writing on the wall. Being able to party like it was 1999 was not on the agenda. Besides wanting people around Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday they said no financial compensation. So, a month before Y2K I accepted a job, bumped my pay up 34% and had a very nice new years.
I was in the UK driving a few months ago. I rented a car and found the following. 1) Most major freeways are 70 MPH. Unless you're driving in the middle of town the other roads are 50 MPH.
And when I say other roads, I mean roads that in the US that would be 30 MPH are rated at 50. These roads curve all over the place. Often don't have shoulders, and are much narrower than US roads. And even when the roads do have shoulders people are parked there. You couldn't fit a GMC Suburban on most of the roads.
Although I generally don't like the whole big brother deal I must say that if you're breaking the speed limit in the UK, you are driving unsafe.
Semi Trucks already have speed governors on them in most of Europe. Many parts of Europe already make comercial cars and trucks put speed meters in that make paper logs of the vehicle speed. If you get pulled over the Cop they pull the paper out of the meter and give you a ticket for however fast it says you were going.
I realize that 80% of the slashdot questions have been asked at woz.org in one way or another. There are so many projects and technologies out there to get your fingers into.
1) If you had the freetime what project/technology would you like to get involved with? And why?
2) You're listed as a board member of EFF. Do you have any active involvement with them?
I just don't get these articles. Yeah, it's a shame that there is a marketing spin on everything at Disney. It's too bad that the theme park has basically become a marketing franchise but I think the darker sides of Disney the Man have been glazed over. The man didn't like jews, didn't want them working for him, and certainly didn't want them living in his city of the future. I'm sure he was rolling in the grave the day Eisner took over. He's an artist, and a showman, and had a vision. I'll give him credit for that. However, I must say I'm glad he didn't get the chance to complete his future.
I think the greatness of someone can be related to how much influence they have after they die. People say Charlie Chaplin and you automatically know who they are talking. You bring up Andy's name and people scratch there heads until you say "Latka" from taxi. I think Jim C. is doomed to have the same fate. I liked some of his first films, but after a while it just seemed like every scene was the same old rehashed Fire Marshall Bill/Ace Ventura slapstick. It just wasn't funny. I enjoyed Truman because it was the first time in a long time that he didn't do the same old character. And from what I understand it was the director who pretty much kept him in check and left the adlib on the cutting room floor. I will admit that he nailed Andy's character right on. However, as other/. posts have noted, he was already basing a lot of his comedy on Andy. In short, I thought Andy was an Idjit back in the 70's. I fear if I see the movie in the theater that Comedy Central will decide they need to play more Andy Kaufman material. Maybe even dig up all the old wrestling tapes. Ugh!
Let's check out the www.thechipmerchant.com...Hmm, no 750Mhz PIII there, but the Athlon 750Mhz is there. Well it must have been a fluke, let's look at pricewatch.com. Gee, there isn't even a search category for PIII 750, plenty of Athlon 750's though. You're about as likely to find a PIII 750 (or 800) as Boss Hog is likely to turn down a pork chop. Intel can take the crown when they aren't selling vaporware.
AT&T held the patent on the Transitor and licensed it for free. Nobody sued, and Sony made millions off pocket radios. This is simply a slap on the Open Source community. A lot of Amazon is based Open Source.
It's not that these types of taxes are new. For years people who order items via mail order are required to pay tax on those items. Even if they came from out of state.
However, no one actually pays the tax. In fact most people don't know they have to.
I, like many of you, have watched some of the hearings on e-com. I think the head auditor for CA made the best point. One) Big tax items like cars are never missed since they have to be registered. Two) The biggest offenders are in the USE TAX area. CA's solution is to have regular audits. Three) The average user is not the target. The money that would have to be spent to audit e-com for the average taxpayer is more than the ammount of money that would be collected.
Bell labs originally created the transistor. It was designed to replace the Tubs on the Phone network in an effort to make service more reliable. At first they held the patent and licensed the technology to anyone who wanted it. Although most U.S. companies in general were happy with the vacuum tube. A small Japanese company saw the potential for making a small (And affordable) pocket transistor radio. That company eventually because Sony.
Later, Bell removed all fees for producing the transistor. Although this was mostly a move to reduce Monopoly pressure from the Gov't.
The inventors of the transistor were happy to see they started the computer age. Their only regret was that the small size of pocket radio allowed teenagers to listen to the radio away from adults and thus contributed to the spread of Rock and Roll music.
I think Bell Labs is likely to patent the process. However, I think they will license it for free.
After chceking out IBM's compiler on the opensource site I was wondering if it is possible to get jikes to compile a Java App with the 1.2 ClassLibs under BSD? Any thoughts?
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People in my generation remember the movie Pump Up the Volume. However, it doesn't take bad language or a kids suicide to get the FCC out after you.
Small 'pirate' stations are the targets of the large media holdings that control the radio market. These small stations don't have comercial breaks, don't play what the record labels say, and generally upset the system of money flow.
Take the story of beatradio (www.beatradio.com -- They even have pictures of the FCC hauling away the radio).
The jist of the story is they were playing music and upsetting the local radio stations. Most of the minneapolis market is either owned by ABC or Chanceler Communications.
So they had the FCC go and shake things up. Well, first it was operating a station with out a license. Okay, sounds like a legitimate complaint. Well, beat did something a little different. They tried to get one.
Enter a world of regulations that are designed to keep small start-up off the airwaves. Add to it the ability of local stations to object. All of this ammounted to the big boys have the ability to keep the other kids out of the pool.
My bet is that small community groups will probally be able to have a station. Religious talk, and Paul Harvey for all! But, as soon a station gets popular enough to cut into a top 40 stations listenership you can bet that they will object. I can already see it. Are they really a community group? What public service are they providing? In the end the little guy is always going to get the shaft.
Trying to judge Microsoft on patch management is a hit and miss situtation at best. For how much MS claims it that it's programs have to be part of the core OS, it's obvious that product groups aren't talking much to each other. For example, take Windows NT. It's no where near perfect, but you can pretty much count on Service Packs every now and then that have some degree of regression testing. This is at least a passible pack stragegy.
Is it anywhere near IBM or HP for OS patches? Hell no. MS is where HP and IBM were 7 years ago when it comes to patching and bugs.
Let's take a look at MS at it's worst. Microsoft Outlook 98. As Steven Webb of Microsoft Technical support described the patches "strategy" went a little something (paraphased) like this:
"I have this printing problem. [Describes problem]
Well, you know those security patches or the archive patch? It should really be considered a service Pack. See, it has about 150 odd fixes inside of it.
Is that documented somewhere in Technet?
No.
So it's been fully regression tested right?
Yeah, sure...that's the ticket"
Luckally I was a premier support customer. Basically, you pay MS a boat load of money and they assign some dude to you who is supposed to be dedicated just to your company, yet is never at his desk to answer your call. However, you do get to see all the neat little comments in the Technet that are marked confidential.
For MS a confidential note is usually the exact steps it takes to reproduce the problem. You can't be letting non-support contract customers figuring out what that intermittent problem is and demanding a free hot fix. No sir!
"You owe me thirty-five dollars!"
"I don't have a dime."
"Didn't ask for a dime, thirty-five dollars...cash"
Other common confidential notes indicate Y2K fixes that are undocumented, or other problems that will get fixed when the hot fix is applied.
The best part was when I asked the tech "Exactly what is fixed in the security patch your are recommending?" To which I was told they don't have that information. Even after escalating MS has yet to document exactly what it fixed in any of the Outlook patches. They said they would do better with documenting patches in Outlook 2000. The best solution I got was to install the patch, check the dates on the DLL then corilate that to the file dates documented in the 150 odd hotfixes...
Long story short, I don't think it's only a matter of Opensource VS Closed source. It's how committed the is to fixing the problems and how open they are about it. MS in general lacks consistancy across product lines. In many cases it seems that patches don't come out when they are needed, but rather when the press puts a problem in the spotlight. And as long as MS pays for IT managers and CIO's to spend a week in seattle getting brainwashed I don't think that is going to change.
--
Gott'a run, time to reboot the NT box.
Try 3134, 3135, 3136, 3137 or 3138. These are stores in Minnesota. Which is the corporate head quarters for Best Buy and Audio King. It's a very cut throat market.
The onlything that I'm suprised about is how well Red Hat does in the UK. A few months a go I was doing some training in the UK. I asked some of the people in the class what the distro they were using. Everyone in the class that used Linux said Red Hat.
I guess I was expecting something like SuSE to be a dominate player based solely on location.
Although I can understand why Business like Red Hat. Ask SuSE for install support and you get a message back with a lot of German and little English at the end. That's just the auto responder. It's another three weeks for a Tech to reply to mail.
This really shouldn't be all that suprising. Over the past couple years bill has been taking less and less control of MS and letting steve to the work.
I think the real thing to watch for is if Steve B. tries to pull a "Steve Jobs"(tm) on Gates.
In the end not a whole lot will change. The ego and aditude is about the same. Steve is better spoken and doesn't have that child molester look that Gates has.
What I've never understood is why they are making examples out of people in the US. The US is small time for piracy. Sure there are FTP sites and the ilk, but it's small time compared to asia. Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Japan, Korea...this is whre pirating is a big time...open...business. They don't bother with CD-R or DVD-R. The materials are pressed with silk screen images. Other than being packaged in a normal jewl case you can't tell the difference. Last year I checked out an Electronics mall in Singapore. 8 Floors of computers and electronics...a sight to be seen for sure. There were a dozen stores selling pirate CD's and VCDs. I've heard now that DVD's are common too.
Dispite Singapores touch love law enforcement there is little done about this. I think it has to do with the fact that the cost of making and packaging a pressed DVD in volume is USD$2-3, that 800% mark up just doesn't sit right.
As far as region codes I saw that at most places in Singapore would put a mod in your DVD player that will allow you to play whatever you wanted to for about S$100 (USD$50).
I don't get why motorola would buy them out. Unless they wanted a nice development kit for some new op code language they have planned.
I just don't see what the buyout gives BigM and even if they were just on a technology hunt why bother changing a successful product lineup?
Does it ever seem like management type people change things just for the sake of changing them? Kind'a like a nature show where a new lion takes over the den and kills off all the cubs that aren't his own...
I think if there is a law about "protecting" children it shoul be placed on the sites to do one very simple thing. Place a content meta tag on the page. Many broswers and most filtering software will read the tag and can filter on that level. It's simple, effective and for a school you don't have to depend on getting updated or encrypted lists.
Make a law that says if you run this type of site in the US that you have to put the meta tag in. If you don't have it you'll be fined.
Although Dry it does have some interesting points>
1) The only sign of patent reform is sec. 705 Which pretty much says the the Patent and Trademark Commisioner has to come up with a study 6 months from passage about why American Biotech interests need to be able to file patents. (Bad thing)
2) Sec 311, "Any person, at any time" we request reexamination. Provide you pay 1) pay the fee, 2) disclose the real parties interested. (Generally a good thing) The director makes a ruling if a new quesiton has been raised. This decision is final. If it is reject they "may" refund the fee.
3) This is the part the Irks me. In sec. 709, National Security and sec. 304, technical clarification there are many claus to how a patent could be kept confidential. This can be at the request of the applicant or under the terms described in sec. 181. Sec. 181 is not published in the text of the bill. (Generally BAD)
4) No where is there any technical reform. Beyond a better appeals process this really is counter productive.
Although Dry it does have some interesting points>
1) The only sign of patent reform is sec. 705 Which pretty much says the the Patent and Trademark Commisioner has to come up with a study 6 months from passage about why American Biotech interests need to be able to file patents. (Bad thing)
2) Sec 311, "Any person, at any time" we request reexamination. Provide you pay 1) pay the fee, 2) disclose the real parties interested. (Generally a good thing) The director makes a ruling if a new quesiton has been raised. This decision is final. If it is reject they "may" refund the fee.
3) This is the part the Irks me. In sec. 709, National Security and sec. 304, technical clarification there are many claus to how a patent could be kept confidential. This can be at the request of the applicant or under the terms described in sec. 181. Sec. 181 is not published in the text of the bill. (Generally BAD)
4) No where is there any technical reform. Beyond a better appeals process this really is counter productive.
I saw the Y2K Phun(tm) comming 6 months ago. I worked for a rather large company (largest privately held company in the work actually). I could see the writing on the wall. Being able to party like it was 1999 was not on the agenda. Besides wanting people around Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday they said no financial compensation. So, a month before Y2K I accepted a job, bumped my pay up 34% and had a very nice new years.
Anyone else escape Y2K by getting a new job?
I was in the UK driving a few months ago. I rented a car and found the following. 1) Most major freeways are 70 MPH. Unless you're driving in the middle of town the other roads are 50 MPH.
And when I say other roads, I mean roads that in the US that would be 30 MPH are rated at 50. These roads curve all over the place. Often don't have shoulders, and are much narrower than US roads. And even when the roads do have shoulders people are parked there. You couldn't fit a GMC Suburban on most of the roads.
Although I generally don't like the whole big brother deal I must say that if you're breaking the speed limit in the UK, you are driving unsafe.
Semi Trucks already have speed governors on them in most of Europe. Many parts of Europe already make comercial cars and trucks put speed meters in that make paper logs of the vehicle speed. If you get pulled over the Cop they pull the paper out of the meter and give you a ticket for however fast it says you were going.
I realize that 80% of the slashdot questions have been asked at woz.org in one way or another. There are so many projects and technologies out there to get your fingers into.
1) If you had the freetime what project/technology would you like to get involved with? And why?
2) You're listed as a board member of EFF. Do you have any active involvement with them?
I just don't get these articles. Yeah, it's a shame that there is a marketing spin on everything at Disney. It's too bad that the theme park has basically become a marketing franchise but I think the darker sides of Disney the Man have been glazed over. The man didn't like jews, didn't want them working for him, and certainly didn't want them living in his city of the future. I'm sure he was rolling in the grave the day Eisner took over. He's an artist, and a showman, and had a vision. I'll give him credit for that. However, I must say I'm glad he didn't get the chance to complete his future.
Anyone wann'a take some bets on if the Feds on going to come a knocking on the Slashdot doors to censor the talk of Y2K guns and looting?
I think the greatness of someone can be related to how much influence they have after they die. People say Charlie Chaplin and you automatically know who they are talking. You bring up Andy's name and people scratch there heads until you say "Latka" from taxi. I think Jim C. is doomed to have the same fate. I liked some of his first films, but after a while it just seemed like every scene was the same old rehashed Fire Marshall Bill/Ace Ventura slapstick. It just wasn't funny. I enjoyed Truman because it was the first time in a long time that he didn't do the same old character. And from what I understand it was the director who pretty much kept him in check and left the adlib on the cutting room floor. I will admit that he nailed Andy's character right on. However, as other /. posts have noted, he was already basing a lot of his comedy on Andy. In short, I thought Andy was an Idjit back in the 70's. I fear if I see the movie in the theater that Comedy Central will decide they need to play more Andy Kaufman material. Maybe even dig up all the old wrestling tapes. Ugh!
Let's check out the www.thechipmerchant.com ...Hmm, no 750Mhz PIII there, but the Athlon 750Mhz is there. Well it must have been a fluke, let's look at pricewatch.com. Gee, there isn't even a search category for PIII 750, plenty of Athlon 750's though. You're about as likely to find a PIII 750 (or 800) as Boss Hog is likely to turn down a pork chop. Intel can take the crown when they aren't selling vaporware.
AT&T held the patent on the Transitor and licensed it for free. Nobody sued, and Sony made millions off pocket radios. This is simply a slap on the Open Source community. A lot of Amazon is based Open Source.
It's not that these types of taxes are new. For years people who order items via mail order are required to pay tax on those items. Even if they came from out of state.
However, no one actually pays the tax. In fact most people don't know they have to.
I, like many of you, have watched some of the hearings on e-com. I think the head auditor for CA made the best point. One) Big tax items like cars are never missed since they have to be registered. Two) The biggest offenders are in the USE TAX area. CA's solution is to have regular audits. Three) The average user is not the target. The money that would have to be spent to audit e-com for the average taxpayer is more than the ammount of money that would be collected.
Bell labs originally created the transistor. It was designed to replace the Tubs on the Phone network in an effort to make service more reliable. At first they held the patent and licensed the technology to anyone who wanted it. Although most U.S. companies in general were happy with the vacuum tube. A small Japanese company saw the potential for making a small (And affordable) pocket transistor radio. That company eventually because Sony.
Later, Bell removed all fees for producing the transistor. Although this was mostly a move to reduce Monopoly pressure from the Gov't.
The inventors of the transistor were happy to see they started the computer age. Their only regret was that the small size of pocket radio allowed teenagers to listen to the radio away from adults and thus contributed to the spread of Rock and Roll music.
I think Bell Labs is likely to patent the process. However, I think they will license it for free.
After chceking out IBM's compiler on the opensource site I was wondering if it is possible to get jikes to compile a Java App with the 1.2 ClassLibs under BSD? Any thoughts?