I got burned bad by this myself. In the interest of not having to retype a LOT, here's the complaint I sent to Maine's PUC, which got forwarded to someone high up at Fairpoint:
We initially contacted Fairpoint to establish DSL service near the end of January, 2009. We were informed that because of the computer system changeover, that someone would be contacting me in early February to complete our order and give us our install date, which was predicted to be roughly mid-February. After not hearing from a Fairpoint representative by mid-February, I called to follow up, and after several phone calls where I was basically told "we're still transitioning, and can't get to your order," our original order was found, and we were given an install date of March 3. On March 2, having not yet received the equipment for our DSL service, I called again, and after being on hold for roughly 5-10 min while the customer service rep was "checking on our order," I was told that we were still scheduled to have service turned on for March 3, and our equipment would most likely be recieved that same day.
After not receiving anything on March 3, I called Fairpoint again that afternoon. At that point, I was told that the computer was showing that the order was never completed because it was showing that service was not available. At this point, the rep offered to have a technician come out and check our area to see if this was actually the case. I was told that we would be called with the results of this check, and to expect a 7-10 day wait before hearing back. We were never called back with the results of this check. In mid-March, I called to follow up on the supposed check that was done. They were not able to find our previous order anywhere in the computer system. After repeatedly being put on hold so they could try and find the previous order, eventually a new order was placed. At this point, we decided to sign up for both telephone and DSL service, as we were offered a bundle package at that time. This order was given the order number mentioned above, with the phone service date of April 2, and DSL service as of April 6.
As we had to go and purchase a phone, we were not able to test the telephone service until April 3. When the service was tested, it was not yet working. I placed another call to Fairpoint, where I was told that there was still an account from a previous tenant at our address in the system when our order was placed, and this placed a hold on our order. Note that we had lived at the service address since late January of '09, and in none of my previous calls had I been told about any existing account at this address. This hold was supposedly cleared, and they said that the phone should be working within a few days, and the DSL a few days after that.
A week later, we still had no service of any sort. I placed yet another call to Fairpoint, and was told this time that there were multiple orders in our name for our address, including one for another telephone number, but all of our information. I was also told that there was showing a problem with the third-party verification that Fairpoint uses, and this is now why our order was on hold. This issue was supposedly cleared, and again I was told to give the phone a few days, and to watch for the DSL equipment to arrive.
On April 17, we still had no service. I called Fairpoint yet again, and was again told that the previous account that was at our address was the source of the problem. After being put on hold for at least 10 minutes while the rep called to another department to try and get things worked out, I was told that everything was taken care of, and I should have a working phone by Monday or Tuesday of this week, and the DSL service would take a few days longer.
As of today, the "Tuesday of Next week" mentioned above, we still have no service. Multiple calls to the "Installation Service" telephone number since 8am today of 866-980-0642 that the last Fairpoint rep I spoke to provided me with only get me a recor
Many of the Zebra (http://www.zebra.com/) printers have parallel and serial interfaces, so if you have the capability to roll your own driver(which you may have to do, unless you can find one out there already), that may be a good choice. The ZPL language takes a little getting used to, but I wrote an app that talked to a Zebra over serial a couple years ago, and once I got the quirks worked out, it was great!
One recommendation if you want a really nice looking label: Get a copy of Zebra's software(maybe given out with the printer?) and design your label there. When you're done, tell it to print to a virtual serial port(google it for the details) that you have looping back into [insert favorite terminal emulator here]. Save the dump of what their design software tried sending, and learn from that instead of just reading through the ZPL spec.
If you read through the discussion on the Apple forums, you will probably be(I know I was) surprised at how many people uninstalled iTunes out of fear of it being infected. Of course, there were just as many that uninstalled AVG in order to keep their iTunes work.
So, while those of us here may know all about how common false positives, etc. are with AV software, reading through the now 20+ pages on Apple's site shows that the majority of iTunes users don't have the knowledge that we do.
I'd heard mixed reports on this one...with iTunes running already, I was only getting the error in itunesregistry.dll. However, when I shut down and restarted iTunes, I had about 200 warnings in a matter of seconds...
I think this is the key part...nothing says they legally HAVE to sell you a Pre, so the answer to all of the bullets you pointed out would be:
Why is number needed: for credit check How will be used: for credit check What happens if you refuse: can not open account Which law: none, company policy
If they are actually successful in doing anything about this, what next? Car manufacturers complaining because they don't get a "cut" of used car sales, because used car dealers are providing an "easy alternative" to buying new?
Either that, or game publishers will be the next on the bailout list...
This is slashdot, so it's safe to assume that you didn't read the article, however, if the summary can be trusted, the security of the storage area isn't the issue...when I read the summary, I got the impression that it was legitimately removed from the secure storage and basically taken to someone's desk to be worked on. While it was out of storage is when it disappeared. Hence the "area where 100 badge holders had access" comment at the end of the summary.
As one involved with FIRST for the last 10+ years, as well as following the buzz leading up to the debut of the Segway, both the parent and GP post have brought up a common misconception. Dean himself was not alone in the hype machine that was the Segway. Rather, he showed it to his well-known friends(Jeff Bezos as just one example), as well as the author who leaked information while writing a book on the invention, and it was their comments to a large degree that generated a lot of the hype that Dean was criticized for after the Segway failed to live up to the expectations that the hype had created in everyone. If it had been Dean's quotes alone(of which a few can be found), it would have had much less of an effect. Every inventor thinks their project will change the world, but when other people start saying the same thing, that's when people stand up and take notice.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segway
When I first saw this thread, I was reminded of an arcade robot game that a few friends of mine designed and put out onto the market...and before anyone says anything, yes I know the dates are a little old on the site, but I know that they're still working on it...being a small player in the arcade gaming business makes it hard to really get started... Robotic Amusements - Creators of Robo-Basho
1. Announce "test" of potentially controversial policy change.
2. Wait and see what the response is to your announcement. 3. Make a decision based on the response - thereby saving the $$$ that actual market research would have cost.
4. Profit!
We had a flash drive where I used to work a few years ago that for whatever reason(don't remember why any more), the plastic housing had broken off. We were able to use the unprotected chip as a working drive for at least another 3-4 months before it eventually decided it couldn't take any more abuse.
I don't believe that DLL sharing was ever really a space issue, but rather a situation where developers did not want to reinvent the wheel. For example, look at Firefox's "IE Tab" extension. This is possible because the MSHTML rendering engine that IE uses is also available for other programs to connect into as well. Without DLL sharing, there would be no real way to create something like this...
I believe it depends on the order of the install...since the modifications are made by the installer of the "new" program, it's my understanding that Acrobat Reader would have registered itself with Windows Indexing Service, not the other way around. So, the uninstall of Acrobat should have fixed the issue.
Unfortunately, the practice of leaving DLLs behind is not an easy one to solve. The problem lies in the fact that there are many installers that don't play nicely, either installing a DLL without properly registering its use with Windows, or making use of an existing DLL without doing the same. A "proper" Windows installer is supposed to update the registry(at least the last time I checked, haven't really taken the time to read the most recent guidelines) with a list of shared DLLs that it uses, so that Windows essentially has a count of the number of programs that use each DLL. The uninstaller is only supposed to remove a DLL if that count is at zero after removing the program being uninstalled from the count. But because of the many simple install/uninstall programs that don't properly handle this, you get either an uninstaller that leaves anything that is not in the app directory itself(i.e. anything in %windir%\system32), or one that asks you for what to do about each DLL that may be shared.
This being/. and all, I understand people not RTFA. However, I would think it would still be assumed that if someone posted a link supporting their comment. From the parent post's link text..."These solutions provide protection for games as they are played and shared across wireless links between Nintendo DS devices." So, the RSA protection only applies to games and connections over the DS wireless capabilities, i.e. the "single cartridge" multiplayer or the download stations available at Gamestop, Toys 'R Us, etc...
And before anyone says it, yes I know that those demos are available for download online just as much as the regular game images. However, once the game is on the DS, it is only protected as much as any other game in the system, as it needs to be decrypted to be played. So, essentially, the RSA protection is only for "over-the-air" situations, and most likely for in-game communications such as playing multiplayer online, to prevent hacking the wireless connection to cheat.
They did, but not for digital cable, but rather digital OTA broadcasting (the whole "get this box before Feb 19. or your TV won't work" campaign you're seeing all over the TV right now).
I've been involved with FIRST since '98, and actually work for FIRST now, and think that the GP post sums things up nicely...eccentric might be another fitting word to describe Dean...Yes, there may have been better ways to do some things(like the segway), but I'm guessing the whole discussion went something like this..."OK, we just got the balancing to work(with the iBOT wheelchair), now what can we use this in that's FUN?"
I'm assuming that by saying "installed on every OS/Browser", you are referring to one of the following two situations:
Every non-Microsoft OS/Browser: Nope, Default installs of Firefox and Chrome on Win32 do not include Flash - unless you are referring to the more specific combination of a non-MS browser on a non-MS Operating System
Automatically installed as needed in every OS/Browser: Sorry, no go on this one either - it may automatically TRY, but I've lost count of the number of times that automated Flash installation has failed in Firefox and Chrome when I've tried using it.
While I won't get into the debate over whether or not we elected the right person(for that matter, or the one about if we elected them), but in the President-Elect's defense, he has no authority to do anything except for pick his staff until the inauguration in January, so you're at least going to be waiting until then...
The problem isn't that he is or isn't Muslim, but rather that it appears by all accounts that he was at least for a time raised Muslim, and then turned his back on the religion - an apostate, and the worst kind, according to the Christian Science Monitor, because he was "gifted by Allah" to be born a Muslim, and then renounced the religion. I think the real fear with if he is/was Muslim at any point during his life is if the Muslim community considers him an apostate, it could give them another reason to attack the U.S. if Obama is elected.
Most areas have a "no-campaigning" zone a certain distance from voting sites. I know here in Maine, you see a bunch of "vote for me" signs leading up to the voting sites, then they all end right by the sign that says "no campaigning beyond this point." I tried finding a good article about it, but this was the best i could find quickly...http://dallassouthblog.com/2008/09/23/no-campaign-t-shirts-or-buttons-inside-texas-new-york-new-jersey-and-other-polling-places/
Convenience - there's nothing that says the domain has to be a summary of what goes there...
For example, for someone new to the internet, they would not know that a site called "slashdot.org" would give them news on things like this...does that mean that they should change this domain to "newsfornerds-stuffthatmatters.org"? Or, would you want to have to tell that domain to someone over the phone? In the domain world, shorter is better...
Slashdot Mirror
I got burned bad by this myself. In the interest of not having to retype a LOT, here's the complaint I sent to Maine's PUC, which got forwarded to someone high up at Fairpoint:
We initially contacted Fairpoint to establish DSL service near the end of January, 2009. We were informed that because of the computer system changeover, that someone would be contacting me in early February to complete our order and give us our install date, which was predicted to be roughly mid-February. After not hearing from a Fairpoint representative by mid-February, I called to follow up, and after several phone calls where I was basically told "we're still transitioning, and can't get to your order," our original order was found, and we were given an install date of March 3. On March 2, having not yet received the equipment for our DSL service, I called again, and after being on hold for roughly 5-10 min while the customer service rep was "checking on our order," I was told that we were still scheduled to have service turned on for March 3, and our equipment would most likely be recieved that same day.
After not receiving anything on March 3, I called Fairpoint again that afternoon. At that point, I was told that the computer was showing that the order was never completed because it was showing that service was not available. At this point, the rep offered to have a technician come out and check our area to see if this was actually the case. I was told that we would be called with the results of this check, and to expect a 7-10 day wait before hearing back. We were never called back with the results of this check.
In mid-March, I called to follow up on the supposed check that was done. They were not able to find our previous order anywhere in the computer system. After repeatedly being put on hold so they could try and find the previous order, eventually a new order was placed. At this point, we decided to sign up for both telephone and DSL service, as we were offered a bundle package at that time. This order was given the order number mentioned above, with the phone service date of April 2, and DSL service as of April 6.
As we had to go and purchase a phone, we were not able to test the telephone service until April 3. When the service was tested, it was not yet working. I placed another call to Fairpoint, where I was told that there was still an account from a previous tenant at our address in the system when our order was placed, and this placed a hold on our order. Note that we had lived at the service address since late January of '09, and in none of my previous calls had I been told about any existing account at this address. This hold was supposedly cleared, and they said that the phone should be working within a few days, and the DSL a few days after that.
A week later, we still had no service of any sort. I placed yet another call to Fairpoint, and was told this time that there were multiple orders in our name for our address, including one for another telephone number, but all of our information. I was also told that there was showing a problem with the third-party verification that Fairpoint uses, and this is now why our order was on hold. This issue was supposedly cleared, and again I was told to give the phone a few days, and to watch for the DSL equipment to arrive.
On April 17, we still had no service. I called Fairpoint yet again, and was again told that the previous account that was at our address was the source of the problem. After being put on hold for at least 10 minutes while the rep called to another department to try and get things worked out, I was told that everything was taken care of, and I should have a working phone by Monday or Tuesday of this week, and the DSL service would take a few days longer.
As of today, the "Tuesday of Next week" mentioned above, we still have no service. Multiple calls to the "Installation Service" telephone number since 8am today of 866-980-0642 that the last Fairpoint rep I spoke to provided me with only get me a recor
One recommendation if you want a really nice looking label: Get a copy of Zebra's software(maybe given out with the printer?) and design your label there. When you're done, tell it to print to a virtual serial port(google it for the details) that you have looping back into [insert favorite terminal emulator here]. Save the dump of what their design software tried sending, and learn from that instead of just reading through the ZPL spec.
So, while those of us here may know all about how common false positives, etc. are with AV software, reading through the now 20+ pages on Apple's site shows that the majority of iTunes users don't have the knowledge that we do.
I'd heard mixed reports on this one...with iTunes running already, I was only getting the error in itunesregistry.dll. However, when I shut down and restarted iTunes, I had about 200 warnings in a matter of seconds...
I actually submitted this yesterday...updates in the Apple discussion thread make it sound like everything is back to normal.
I think this is the key part...nothing says they legally HAVE to sell you a Pre, so the answer to all of the bullets you pointed out would be:
Why is number needed: for credit check
How will be used: for credit check
What happens if you refuse: can not open account
Which law: none, company policy
If they are actually successful in doing anything about this, what next? Car manufacturers complaining because they don't get a "cut" of used car sales, because used car dealers are providing an "easy alternative" to buying new?
Either that, or game publishers will be the next on the bailout list...
This is slashdot, so it's safe to assume that you didn't read the article, however, if the summary can be trusted, the security of the storage area isn't the issue...when I read the summary, I got the impression that it was legitimately removed from the secure storage and basically taken to someone's desk to be worked on. While it was out of storage is when it disappeared. Hence the "area where 100 badge holders had access" comment at the end of the summary.
As one involved with FIRST for the last 10+ years, as well as following the buzz leading up to the debut of the Segway, both the parent and GP post have brought up a common misconception. Dean himself was not alone in the hype machine that was the Segway. Rather, he showed it to his well-known friends(Jeff Bezos as just one example), as well as the author who leaked information while writing a book on the invention, and it was their comments to a large degree that generated a lot of the hype that Dean was criticized for after the Segway failed to live up to the expectations that the hype had created in everyone. If it had been Dean's quotes alone(of which a few can be found), it would have had much less of an effect. Every inventor thinks their project will change the world, but when other people start saying the same thing, that's when people stand up and take notice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segway
When I first saw this thread, I was reminded of an arcade robot game that a few friends of mine designed and put out onto the market...and before anyone says anything, yes I know the dates are a little old on the site, but I know that they're still working on it...being a small player in the arcade gaming business makes it hard to really get started...
Robotic Amusements - Creators of Robo-Basho
I think TW just found the missing step...
1. Announce "test" of potentially controversial policy change.
2. Wait and see what the response is to your announcement.
3. Make a decision based on the response - thereby saving the $$$ that actual market research would have cost.
4. Profit!
We had a flash drive where I used to work a few years ago that for whatever reason(don't remember why any more), the plastic housing had broken off. We were able to use the unprotected chip as a working drive for at least another 3-4 months before it eventually decided it couldn't take any more abuse.
I don't believe that DLL sharing was ever really a space issue, but rather a situation where developers did not want to reinvent the wheel. For example, look at Firefox's "IE Tab" extension. This is possible because the MSHTML rendering engine that IE uses is also available for other programs to connect into as well. Without DLL sharing, there would be no real way to create something like this...
I believe it depends on the order of the install...since the modifications are made by the installer of the "new" program, it's my understanding that Acrobat Reader would have registered itself with Windows Indexing Service, not the other way around. So, the uninstall of Acrobat should have fixed the issue.
Unfortunately, the practice of leaving DLLs behind is not an easy one to solve. The problem lies in the fact that there are many installers that don't play nicely, either installing a DLL without properly registering its use with Windows, or making use of an existing DLL without doing the same. A "proper" Windows installer is supposed to update the registry(at least the last time I checked, haven't really taken the time to read the most recent guidelines) with a list of shared DLLs that it uses, so that Windows essentially has a count of the number of programs that use each DLL. The uninstaller is only supposed to remove a DLL if that count is at zero after removing the program being uninstalled from the count. But because of the many simple install/uninstall programs that don't properly handle this, you get either an uninstaller that leaves anything that is not in the app directory itself(i.e. anything in %windir%\system32), or one that asks you for what to do about each DLL that may be shared.
This being /. and all, I understand people not RTFA. However, I would think it would still be assumed that if someone posted a link supporting their comment. From the parent post's link text..."These solutions provide protection for games as they are played and shared across wireless links between Nintendo DS devices." So, the RSA protection only applies to games and connections over the DS wireless capabilities, i.e. the "single cartridge" multiplayer or the download stations available at Gamestop, Toys 'R Us, etc...
And before anyone says it, yes I know that those demos are available for download online just as much as the regular game images. However, once the game is on the DS, it is only protected as much as any other game in the system, as it needs to be decrypted to be played. So, essentially, the RSA protection is only for "over-the-air" situations, and most likely for in-game communications such as playing multiplayer online, to prevent hacking the wireless connection to cheat.
Their server got killed with everyone trying to download the info on the new game yesterday...it should be back to normal operation shortly...
They did, but not for digital cable, but rather digital OTA broadcasting (the whole "get this box before Feb 19. or your TV won't work" campaign you're seeing all over the TV right now).
I've been involved with FIRST since '98, and actually work for FIRST now, and think that the GP post sums things up nicely...eccentric might be another fitting word to describe Dean...Yes, there may have been better ways to do some things(like the segway), but I'm guessing the whole discussion went something like this..."OK, we just got the balancing to work(with the iBOT wheelchair), now what can we use this in that's FUN?"
While I won't get into the debate over whether or not we elected the right person(for that matter, or the one about if we elected them), but in the President-Elect's defense, he has no authority to do anything except for pick his staff until the inauguration in January, so you're at least going to be waiting until then...
Not to mention his "invention" of a way to actually get students to want to go to school for what are commonly referred to as the STEM professions...
The problem isn't that he is or isn't Muslim, but rather that it appears by all accounts that he was at least for a time raised Muslim, and then turned his back on the religion - an apostate, and the worst kind, according to the Christian Science Monitor, because he was "gifted by Allah" to be born a Muslim, and then renounced the religion. I think the real fear with if he is/was Muslim at any point during his life is if the Muslim community considers him an apostate, it could give them another reason to attack the U.S. if Obama is elected.
Most areas have a "no-campaigning" zone a certain distance from voting sites. I know here in Maine, you see a bunch of "vote for me" signs leading up to the voting sites, then they all end right by the sign that says "no campaigning beyond this point." I tried finding a good article about it, but this was the best i could find quickly...http://dallassouthblog.com/2008/09/23/no-campaign-t-shirts-or-buttons-inside-texas-new-york-new-jersey-and-other-polling-places/
Convenience - there's nothing that says the domain has to be a summary of what goes there... For example, for someone new to the internet, they would not know that a site called "slashdot.org" would give them news on things like this...does that mean that they should change this domain to "newsfornerds-stuffthatmatters.org"? Or, would you want to have to tell that domain to someone over the phone? In the domain world, shorter is better...