Refridgerators, Washing Machines, Dryers, Furnaces, Sewing Machines, Entertainment Equipment, Water Softeners, Air Conditioners, Dishwashers, Stoves, Microwaves, Water Pumps, Garage Door Openers, Sump Pump, Lawn Mowers - and thats just what you'll find inside a typical home.
All of these devices are controlled by computer code and could potentialy lock out anybody who is not an official factory technician.
Showing a series composed almost entirely of simple one piece items does not disprove my point. If it's mechanical or electrical it is almost certainly controlled by computer code. If it is controlled by code than the manufacturer can keep the code to themselves to force the consumer to only go through official channels to fix them.
The proposed law can only be a good thing. With more and more of everyday life becoming computerized, such codes could be used to shut people out from everything from their cars to their washing machines.
The principle point here is: Does the public have the right to access and repair of their own violation property they have paid for? This can readily be applied to almost any manufactured good in the future. Let's face it, how many things do you buy anymore that aren't controlled by computer code?
This was not a failure just because no one got further than seven miles. Contrary to a failure, this has been a grand success. DARPA spent around 13 million to host it, and got a lot of great minds in the public at large to start thinking of ways to solve very complex technological difficulties. In terms of sheer dollar value, the amount of technological research by private individuals easily surpassed the 13 million the government invested. Already companies are being created, and the wheels of commerce spun.
This benefits the public from the technology that is being created that otherwise lacked an impetus. It benefits industry by showing a host of new ideas that otherwise would have never come through the regular channels. It certainly benefits DARPA for sheer investment and public relations value. It can benefit future soldiers by reducing their risk to dangerous jobs. This also benefits the defense contractors that just got a small reminder that someone from out of nowhere could become a player - think of it as lighting a fire in their belly.
All told this was a challenge, and was never intended to be easily winnable. It certainly was advertised as being unlikely to be won this year. All told I think DARPA should hold more contests like this for other areas that have grown stagnant. For a historical perspective consider that Lindbergh crossed that Atlantic on just such a contest. A contest that inspired the X-Prize. Perhaps we should see DARPA become involved in future X-Prizes as well?
Bad idea here, no not creating a robot out of a mini. No the bad idea was creating something that resembled a transformer and not hosting it on a well configured webserver on high end hardware with lots of bandwidth. See what happens is slashdot gets wind of such a thing, and with many geeks having fond memories of transformers, the next thing you know the fire chief wants to have a word with the CTO. Bad idea.
Conservative politics did create this mess, we agree. Liberal politics allowed them to by not fighting tooth and nail, look at the rise given to candidates like Dean. I'm part of America, and I don't agree with America doing this to itself, so I choose to fight. Meanwhile America is still worth fighting for, and I for one am not going to abandon my homeland just because some jackass ceo decided he could make a few million by abandoning it. Now instead of playing the blame game with conservatives for creating this mess, I'd like to start playing the "America needs good jobs" game.
Am I supposed to trust your wise all knowing persona? You state that I should not be involved with government and insinuate I should stand by while I am given the saft. You suggest that I trust that congress knows what best for me and millions of other unemployed tech workers?
I like to attack peoples messages, and not people, despite being flamed countless times. Unfortunately what you say is is so asinine that refuting it further would be pointless. To put it bluntly, you are an idiot.
Actually I've been looking into this. I got the small business guide from my state and have started researching incorporation costs and the like. I also do things like call, write and email my congresscritters.
I talk to people and I listen to what others have to say - often their point can be salient and it can change my mind. I may not be perfect, but I do fight. America's image abroad isn't going to get better if Americans aren't even willing to stand up for it.
New, nope, not new at all. If you wont fight for what you have, you don't deserve it. Now fight doesn't mean violence, fight means taking action. People fought for my rights and job opportunities before me, why should I get a free ride off their work?
Future generations are going to need jobs more so than our own, and what are they supposed to do? Even Lou Dobbs (conservative and pro business) has realized this and started trying to fight it.
Why not defend America? People run ramshod over it all the time, should I stand by and do nothing while it's trampled? Stand up for what you believe in, and don't allow a small vocal minority to represent themselves as the majority that they aren't.
Grandmothers delight as they learn that they can now make a sweater that is immune to all those mysterious things that keep plaguing all the other sweaters previously given to their grandchildren.
One forgets there are plenty slashgeeks that work for NASA and the military. I'm pretty certain there are probably some that work in similiar capacities in other governments. Between the lot of them and a few rocket enthusiasts they'll know get it done. Plenty will be willing to contribute materials and caffeine to a good cause.
Plus your forget that this combines two things with very strong appeal to slashgeeks. Anti-marketing streaks infamous in the ad business and sheer hack value. Please note that I never claimed that I could do it. Think of it as a team building exercise with out of the world benefits.
I've had that happen a number of times. Usually they strip out my name and repost what I have verbatim. Sometimes they take credit themselves. I discovered this by accident once and have noticed this ever since. I've even had slashdot comments ripped off. Whats so hard about original thought or writings anyways? If immitation is the sincerest form of flattery, whats plagarism?
When you think about from a consumer standpoint Linux is the best thing that ever happened to Microsoft & Apple. Whilst mac had the shiny market cornered, its market capture has been pretty much stagnant for close to all of the companies existance. Both apple and microsoft had piss poor innovation and were in no hurry to change. Apple forced nothing on MS because those that were going to use apple by and large already had changed platforms.
Along comes Linux and there is now a contender to shake things up. Apple and MS can no longer accept the status quo and were both forced to improve do this competition. As a result Apple and MS both saw the writing on the wall, and were both forced to actually try to innovate and make a superior product.
Apple was particulary vulnerable since their market was made up of as many "not microsoft" people as "yes apple" people. The resulting market share has since proven this with Linux now outplacing Apple, and this has forced apple to make dramatic improvements in both hardware and software to avoid collapse.
Microsoft couldn't buy Linux though, and they didn't have the market vulnerability that apple did to Linux. They have more resistant to forced change from Linux, but have had to make some measures that are beneificial bacause of this. Primary example of this is their backing off of cutting of 98, which has about 25% of the market from support.
The short of the matter is that neither company can ever afford to sit on its laurels again. Linux now has widespread market acceptance on the server front, and can no longer be dismissed as a toy. Since it cant be bought, they can't make it go away, and they have to compete. This can only benefit all consumers as they get better products.
I think you hit the nail on the head. This is especially true for the desktop. Usability and driver availability of Linux have increased dramaticaly, whilst stability and security for Windows have also increased dramaticly. They both have a ways to go, but the trend is definitely in the direction you cited.
True enough, I was thinking more in terms of stability of operation. All told I still remember being told by a Linux guy that Linux couldn't GPF when I asked him about it. I then explained to him that I was asking because the day before I had been playing with Red Hat 6.2 and it kept GPFing.
Windows: easy to configure, easy to break Linux: difficult to configure, difficult to break
Don't get me wrong, I use both, its an apples to oranges comparison. The question is what do you want to do with it? A MS firewall is unconsiderable, but so is the thought of putting Linux on my sisters desktop.
Were certainly not going to shoot it down with a gun, I don't care if you've got a battleship, I concede that point. But who said anything about a gun? I have in mind lots of geeks with really big rockets, lots of motivation and a few nervous government entities offering at the last minute to take care of it for us. One way or another it will come down. Then we find the biggest lart we can and hunt down the person that subjected us to it in the first place.
The day some asshat decides to pollute the night sky with a pop up that cant be killed is the day we find out if war can be declared on a company. Several million slashgeeks will figure out a way to shoot this would be obscenity down from earth. Our governments our bound not to destroy each others satelites, but private citizens are not. Especially when they start shooting from international waters.
I want a Leatherman version with at least 512MB and it's bootable. I would pay decent money for that. Swiss Army Knives are toys, Leatherman's are tools. Never trust a tech without one.
My point is more in relation to the concept that a EULA should disavow a company of all accountability. Let's look at this in other ways to help illustrate my point.
Car manufacture. This vehicle is intended only to operate withing the bounds of the law and shall be considered out of warranty if operated outside those bounds. - Not a car made would still be under warranty after a week.
Airplane manufacture. This airplane is intended to be flown in by those who choose to accept said risk. - No defect could be held against the manufacturer.
Pharmaceutical company. This drug is intended only to give an increased chance of success to the patient. All risk and responsibility is the patients to accept and the manufacturer cannot be held responsible. - It wouldnt matter if the study was done by baboons instead of on baboons, the drug company would get a walk.
It's a case of accountability, and companies' attempts to use an EULA to get out of accountability. If this precedent stands unbated we will soon have EULAs on everything from TVs to cars with no manufacture ever able to be held accountable for defects. Thats what I have problems with.
If a software maker is found negligible and convicted of manslaughter (unintentionaly causing death) due to buggy software, would that void out the whole EULA business since they all claim they can't be held responsible? Or would the burden pass on the poor chap that used it for being irresponsible enough to use something where the maker couldn't be held accountable? Lets's face it, why are only software companies able to make themselves free from accountability when every other industry has to design for it?
Slashdot Mirror
Refridgerators, Washing Machines, Dryers, Furnaces, Sewing Machines, Entertainment Equipment, Water Softeners, Air Conditioners, Dishwashers, Stoves, Microwaves, Water Pumps, Garage Door Openers, Sump Pump, Lawn Mowers - and thats just what you'll find inside a typical home.
All of these devices are controlled by computer code and could potentialy lock out anybody who is not an official factory technician.
Showing a series composed almost entirely of simple one piece items does not disprove my point. If it's mechanical or electrical it is almost certainly controlled by computer code. If it is controlled by code than the manufacturer can keep the code to themselves to force the consumer to only go through official channels to fix them.
Yup, just a typo.
The proposed law can only be a good thing. With more and more of everyday life becoming computerized, such codes could be used to shut people out from everything from their cars to their washing machines.
The principle point here is: Does the public have the right to access and repair of their own violation property they have paid for? This can readily be applied to almost any manufactured good in the future. Let's face it, how many things do you buy anymore that aren't controlled by computer code?
How long do you predict it will be before all rights to fair use are vanquished from the Internet?
This was not a failure just because no one got further than seven miles. Contrary to a failure, this has been a grand success. DARPA spent around 13 million to host it, and got a lot of great minds in the public at large to start thinking of ways to solve very complex technological difficulties. In terms of sheer dollar value, the amount of technological research by private individuals easily surpassed the 13 million the government invested. Already companies are being created, and the wheels of commerce spun.
This benefits the public from the technology that is being created that otherwise lacked an impetus. It benefits industry by showing a host of new ideas that otherwise would have never come through the regular channels. It certainly benefits DARPA for sheer investment and public relations value. It can benefit future soldiers by reducing their risk to dangerous jobs. This also benefits the defense contractors that just got a small reminder that someone from out of nowhere could become a player - think of it as lighting a fire in their belly.
All told this was a challenge, and was never intended to be easily winnable. It certainly was advertised as being unlikely to be won this year. All told I think DARPA should hold more contests like this for other areas that have grown stagnant. For a historical perspective consider that Lindbergh crossed that Atlantic on just such a contest. A contest that inspired the X-Prize. Perhaps we should see DARPA become involved in future X-Prizes as well?
Just remember not to name the project skynet.
Yehaa! A job, with the government to boot. It can't be outsourced either! Is this how dubya plans on resolving mass unemployment in the tech sector?
Bad idea here, no not creating a robot out of a mini. No the bad idea was creating something that resembled a transformer and not hosting it on a well configured webserver on high end hardware with lots of bandwidth. See what happens is slashdot gets wind of such a thing, and with many geeks having fond memories of transformers, the next thing you know the fire chief wants to have a word with the CTO. Bad idea.
Conservative politics did create this mess, we agree. Liberal politics allowed them to by not fighting tooth and nail, look at the rise given to candidates like Dean. I'm part of America, and I don't agree with America doing this to itself, so I choose to fight. Meanwhile America is still worth fighting for, and I for one am not going to abandon my homeland just because some jackass ceo decided he could make a few million by abandoning it. Now instead of playing the blame game with conservatives for creating this mess, I'd like to start playing the "America needs good jobs" game.
Am I supposed to trust your wise all knowing persona? You state that I should not be involved with government and insinuate I should stand by while I am given the saft. You suggest that I trust that congress knows what best for me and millions of other unemployed tech workers?
I like to attack peoples messages, and not people, despite being flamed countless times. Unfortunately what you say is is so asinine that refuting it further would be pointless. To put it bluntly, you are an idiot.
Actually I've been looking into this. I got the small business guide from my state and have started researching incorporation costs and the like. I also do things like call, write and email my congresscritters.
I talk to people and I listen to what others have to say - often their point can be salient and it can change my mind. I may not be perfect, but I do fight. America's image abroad isn't going to get better if Americans aren't even willing to stand up for it.
New, nope, not new at all. If you wont fight for what you have, you don't deserve it. Now fight doesn't mean violence, fight means taking action. People fought for my rights and job opportunities before me, why should I get a free ride off their work?
Future generations are going to need jobs more so than our own, and what are they supposed to do? Even Lou Dobbs (conservative and pro business) has realized this and started trying to fight it.
Why not defend America? People run ramshod over it all the time, should I stand by and do nothing while it's trampled? Stand up for what you believe in, and don't allow a small vocal minority to represent themselves as the majority that they aren't.
No thanks, America is worth fighting for.
Grandmothers delight as they learn that they can now make a sweater that is immune to all those mysterious things that keep plaguing all the other sweaters previously given to their grandchildren.
One forgets there are plenty slashgeeks that work for NASA and the military. I'm pretty certain there are probably some that work in similiar capacities in other governments. Between the lot of them and a few rocket enthusiasts they'll know get it done. Plenty will be willing to contribute materials and caffeine to a good cause.
Plus your forget that this combines two things with very strong appeal to slashgeeks. Anti-marketing streaks infamous in the ad business and sheer hack value. Please note that I never claimed that I could do it. Think of it as a team building exercise with out of the world benefits.
I'm flattened, er flattered, er something or another like that. Uh, thanks.
I've had that happen a number of times. Usually they strip out my name and repost what I have verbatim. Sometimes they take credit themselves. I discovered this by accident once and have noticed this ever since. I've even had slashdot comments ripped off. Whats so hard about original thought or writings anyways? If immitation is the sincerest form of flattery, whats plagarism?
When you think about from a consumer standpoint Linux is the best thing that ever happened to Microsoft & Apple. Whilst mac had the shiny market cornered, its market capture has been pretty much stagnant for close to all of the companies existance. Both apple and microsoft had piss poor innovation and were in no hurry to change. Apple forced nothing on MS because those that were going to use apple by and large already had changed platforms.
Along comes Linux and there is now a contender to shake things up. Apple and MS can no longer accept the status quo and were both forced to improve do this competition. As a result Apple and MS both saw the writing on the wall, and were both forced to actually try to innovate and make a superior product.
Apple was particulary vulnerable since their market was made up of as many "not microsoft" people as "yes apple" people. The resulting market share has since proven this with Linux now outplacing Apple, and this has forced apple to make dramatic improvements in both hardware and software to avoid collapse.
Microsoft couldn't buy Linux though, and they didn't have the market vulnerability that apple did to Linux. They have more resistant to forced change from Linux, but have had to make some measures that are beneificial bacause of this. Primary example of this is their backing off of cutting of 98, which has about 25% of the market from support.
The short of the matter is that neither company can ever afford to sit on its laurels again. Linux now has widespread market acceptance on the server front, and can no longer be dismissed as a toy. Since it cant be bought, they can't make it go away, and they have to compete. This can only benefit all consumers as they get better products.
I think you hit the nail on the head. This is especially true for the desktop. Usability and driver availability of Linux have increased dramaticaly, whilst stability and security for Windows have also increased dramaticly. They both have a ways to go, but the trend is definitely in the direction you cited.
True enough, I was thinking more in terms of stability of operation. All told I still remember being told by a Linux guy that Linux couldn't GPF when I asked him about it. I then explained to him that I was asking because the day before I had been playing with Red Hat 6.2 and it kept GPFing.
Boils down to something like this.
Windows: easy to configure, easy to break
Linux: difficult to configure, difficult to break
Don't get me wrong, I use both, its an apples to oranges comparison. The question is what do you want to do with it? A MS firewall is unconsiderable, but so is the thought of putting Linux on my sisters desktop.
Were certainly not going to shoot it down with a gun, I don't care if you've got a battleship, I concede that point. But who said anything about a gun? I have in mind lots of geeks with really big rockets, lots of motivation and a few nervous government entities offering at the last minute to take care of it for us. One way or another it will come down. Then we find the biggest lart we can and hunt down the person that subjected us to it in the first place.
The day some asshat decides to pollute the night sky with a pop up that cant be killed is the day we find out if war can be declared on a company. Several million slashgeeks will figure out a way to shoot this would be obscenity down from earth. Our governments our bound not to destroy each others satelites, but private citizens are not. Especially when they start shooting from international waters.
I want a Leatherman version with at least 512MB and it's bootable. I would pay decent money for that. Swiss Army Knives are toys, Leatherman's are tools. Never trust a tech without one.
My point is more in relation to the concept that a EULA should disavow a company of all accountability. Let's look at this in other ways to help illustrate my point.
Car manufacture. This vehicle is intended only to operate withing the bounds of the law and shall be considered out of warranty if operated outside those bounds. - Not a car made would still be under warranty after a week.
Airplane manufacture. This airplane is intended to be flown in by those who choose to accept said risk. - No defect could be held against the manufacturer.
Pharmaceutical company. This drug is intended only to give an increased chance of success to the patient. All risk and responsibility is the patients to accept and the manufacturer cannot be held responsible. - It wouldnt matter if the study was done by baboons instead of on baboons, the drug company would get a walk.
It's a case of accountability, and companies' attempts to use an EULA to get out of accountability. If this precedent stands unbated we will soon have EULAs on everything from TVs to cars with no manufacture ever able to be held accountable for defects. Thats what I have problems with.
If a software maker is found negligible and convicted of manslaughter (unintentionaly causing death) due to buggy software, would that void out the whole EULA business since they all claim they can't be held responsible? Or would the burden pass on the poor chap that used it for being irresponsible enough to use something where the maker couldn't be held accountable? Lets's face it, why are only software companies able to make themselves free from accountability when every other industry has to design for it?