Now that you work somewhere that will pay for your education, why don't you go get your degree? And, to make it more of a challenge or more interesting, get it in a field completely unrelated to what you currently do. Try Economics, History, or anything else that piques your interest.
For the record, I am going back to school starting in the fall of 2002, now that work pays for it--I'm going for Philosophy as well, since it is something I'm interested in.
For me, it was a better decision to work and go part time, than spend 4 years in school full time.
Also, as for what another comment said on here--I tested out into the higher-level courses, and was not challenged by those either. Perhaps a better school would have yielded different results with me.
Ignore the people that are sure to be posting ignorant crap about how "I wouldn't want to work at a place that values degrees!! Its just a piece of paper!" Those are, in all likelihood, people that couldn't hack it in college due to a serious lack of social skills, motivation, work ethic, whatever. The basic fact is that in order to advance in the majority of the organizations out there, you have to have some sort of degree.
For me, it was never a problem with motivation or social skills. It was a problem that the university I attended (LaSalle University) offered NO challenge to me on any level, in any course. English, Math, CS, Philosophy. I was bored out of my mind, but pulled A's without a problem. So, instead of blowing my savings to learn NOTHING, I quit and started working. And you know what? It was the best decision I ever made.
In the place that I work, several people who used to work here had college degrees in CS from respectable colleges. And you know what? They couldn't cut it AT ALL on the job. Sure, they knew the fundamentals, but they didn't know how to apply those to their work. Which makes them pretty much worthless on the job.
A degree will only help to:
1) Get your foot in the door.
2) Back up the skills you actually have.
A degree without real knowledge is much more worthless than real knowledge without a degree. And in my opinion, a nice long interview can easily seperate the people without degrees who can cut it on the job from people without degrees who can't.
Reg. Bypassed URLs for those articles:
on
Pictorial Passwords
·
· Score: 5, Funny
AOL won't make any significant number of people move from Windows to Linux. 99% of the people on AOL are there because they don't know a lot about computers, and they don't care to. Sure, there are exceptions to the rule, but how many average AOL users could you see understanding "./configure, make, make install"?
Linux is still very much a geek OS, and since most geeks want broadband or real PPP dialup, I wouldn't see AOL making a huge dent if they did release software for Linux.
BUT: I don't see it as a linux win. It'll be a Red Hat win
Would that really be so bad though? If you give Red Hat the market share that MS has right now, do you really think they would be as bad as MS?? The code is still open, and you are welcome to do whatever you want with it. IMHO, Linux is Linux is Linux, regardless of what company manages to push it out.
Red Hat will continue to increase market share, sales and profits, leading the ragtag band of open source survivors out of the wilderness of the recession to the land of black bottom lines.
Linux desktop will appear in public places
The Linux desktop will achieve a measurable market share on consumer machines and an even larger share of desktops for business and government. The growth will be fueled by both continuing refinement and improvement of the desktop, the growing dissatisfaction with Windows performance, security, and pricing, and the easing of Microsoft licensing restrictions.
Linux preloads will follow suit
Both pure Linux and dual-boot Linux/Windows machines from top-tier OEMs will start to appear in the marketplace as Microsoft ever so slightly begins to loosen its death-grip on the preload marketplace.
Landmark antitrust case will drag on
The Microsoft/DOJ "settlement" will be tossed out by the judge as being completely one-sided and the court will compromise between the demands of the holdout states and the DOJ. Microsoft will appeal the new finding to the Supreme Court since it would -- unlike the terms of the current "settlement" -- actually prevent them from continuing many of their illegal business practices.
U.S. spy-secrets will be revealed
A major three-letter intelligence agency will suffer a public and catastrophic breach of classified data because of exploits in Windows XP and ban its use completely. Previous security incidents involving the loss of classified data will also be revealed. Eyes (and heads) will roll.
Microsoft will be expelled, Linux will be installed
At least one global megacorp will announce a complete migration away from all Microsoft Windows platforms to an interoperable mix of Unix, Mac and Linux platforms.
Linux in prime time slot
TechTV will add a pure Linux show to its lineup. Hey, it couldn't hurt. They laid off 135 employees in November, some say as the result of losing touch with their geek side. Leo Laporte has been Linux friendly for years, to the point of having Linus Torvalds as a guest. In 2002, Linux earns its own spot in the lineup.
You have (secure) mail
AOL will stun the world by releasing a beta AOL client for Linux. This event will be marked by both howls of protest and celebration. Command-line interface (CLI) diehards will proclaim it to be the death of Linux. Most will simply acknowledge its growing popularity.
Darker Image PR firm to debut
Theo de Raadt of OpenBSD fame, Arpad Gereoffy of the MPlayer project, and Brett Glass will team up to form a new PR firm called Darker Image. The concept is simple, like reverse psychology. For a fee, the team will act as advocates for your competition. Rumors have it that the dynamic trio is already in discussions with Redmond about championing the Free Software Foundation.
The revolution will continue as scheduled
Just like last year, my final prediction drives home a simple point. Whether any of the previous predictions come true or not, it's going to be another banner year for GNU/Linux. It's popularity in the server, desktop, and embedded spaces will continue to grow.
I'm so glad they included a picture of it in the Top 10. Absolutely amazing to look at it.
Around here (Philadelphia), there was a lot of coverage of the storm, and the Franklin Institute (a "knowledgeum", for you Simpsons fans) had special exhibits all about it. Unfortunately, that coverage stopped completely a few days later when the attacks on 9/11 happened.
Glad to see I'm not the only who remembers that storm! And I thought sandstorms in the desert were bad...
``Of course, we will do this,'' said Saffo of the Silicon Valley-based Institute for the Future ``And it won't be just for the functionality. It will also be for fashion. You've got a generation that's already piercing themselves. Of course, they're going to put electronics under their skin.''
I certainly hope that Mr. Paul Saffo is dead wrong on this subject.
First off, body piercing is NOT a new trend. It has roots in almost every other culture, and dates back hundreds of years. Just because it is a recent movement in Western Culture does not mean that every person who likes piercings is going to like having a tracking device in their skin. Not to mention that the large majority of people in Western Culture do NOT like body piercing. There is not direct link between the two.
Second, isn't anyone worried about the health risks of something like this?! Electronics are a LOT different than an inert, non-reactive metal or ink in the skin. Pacemakers cause enough problems with people in certain situations (microwaves, magnets, etc.) I for one don't EVER want electronics under my skin. I guess if it ever progressed to where you had to get an implant, some Rare Earth Magnets would take care of that problem pretty quickly.
Lastly, is this something we as humans really want to do for fashion??? If its entirely under the skin, how exactly would it be a fashion accesory? What, would they make the chips come in different colors?? "You cant see it, but mine is leopard-spotted!!" Unless they make them into actual shapes that stick up from under the skin like real implants do, they won't be a fashion accessory.
I'm slowly beginning to think the Luddites were right; technology could easily be the end of us. The last thing we need as a species right now is the ability to track everyone. Here's to hoping things like this NEVER get widely adopted.
Actually, Microsoft offered to INVEST $5 Billion into AT&T Broadband if AT&T kept their service independent. Then they agreed to convert $5 Billion worth of securities into shares of the new AT&T Comcast.
Nothing's stopping you setting up an OEM business and then not signing an agreement with MS. That's what the free market is all about. If you don't, well, you automatically lose the right to complain about it.
And if you aren't wealthy enough to do that, you can't voice your opinion about injustices?? You should NEVER lose your right to voice an opinion on unfair practices in any industry just because you aren't "made of money".
There is in fact quite a bit stopping most people from setting up an OEM of their own. If someone asks me to build them a computer, I would try to convince them to use Linux. But I know I couldn't, without some serious capital, form my own Linux-based OEM. Karma be damned--that kind of logic is just as hurtful as doing NOTHING, including remaining silent. When you just scrape by from paycheck to paycheck, your voice is often the only defense you have.
Although I read through the whole article, the headline was enough to comment on:
Linux has comparable programs and it's free. So why does nobody offer it on PCs?
What the article fails to address is that fact that OEMs CAN'T bundle Linux with Windows, or else it violates their Agreement with Microsoft.
Most OEMs are afraid to even offer anything but Windows, for fear that MS will cut them off, which would immediately cripple their business. It's not that Linux is a hard sell, its that it just isn't sold by OEMs for standard desktops, period.
Red Carpet CorporateConnect provides centralized Red Carpet updating to corporations and workgroups, including special features which allow system administrators to distribute their own in-house applications to their users - quickly and securely - through the Red Carpet interface.
Ximian's business service actually offers ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY. I think the main gripe for most people in regards to the cable companies trying to charge more for VPN usage is that their business accounts don't have any features that justify the money spent on it. No faster upstream or downstream, no static or additional IPs, in short, NOTHING that makes it any different from the standard home package.
Also, in this case, if you don't want to use Ximian's Red Carpet, you don't have to. You can switch distros, switch GUIs, or just use the version of Gnome that comes with Red Hat. No one is forcing you to pay for it, and they aren't suspending free downloads. In the case of the cable companies, if they could limit VPN usage to only business accounts, they would. And where else could you turn? DSL isnt available everywhere, and its not like you have more than one cable company to pick from either.
In Short, its comes down to this:
You buy a pipe from the cable companies, they shouldn't tell you what your needs supposedly are. On the other hand, if you tell THEM you need a business connection, you'll get one. And its the same with Ximian. They aren't telling you what you need, but they have the service available if you need/want it.
For the record, I don't agree with Taco's comment, you can most certainly fault a company for trying to make money.
The Simpsons, albeit a cartoon show, often offers social commentary and true philosophical views. A book that I recently read is The Simpsons and Philosophy, which goes into great detail about how different philosophers would interpret the characters of OFF (Our Favorite Family--abbreviation used a lot in alt.tv.simpsons).
For example, maybe Maggie is just being silent to be silent, or maybe that silence could be interpreted as a social protest. Sartre would certainly think so, anyway.
My point is simply that this show goes far beyond what it appears to be on the surface. Plain & Simple, anything that stimulates your mind and provokes positive thoughtstreams is not waste; to call it that shows how much you truly still have to learn.
What in the world does this have to do about News for Nerds?
Since when can't nerds be interested in movies?!
Just because this is a site for geeks doesn't mean every article has to be about BIOS revisions, Kernel patches, and medical science breakthroughs. Yes, that makes up the bulk of what we want to see here, and it is the bulk of what we DO see here, but geeks do have interests outside of those fields.
Frankly, if/. refused to carry articles about things like this, I would be quite saddened. We aren't all a bunch of shut-ins who can't appreciate a good laugh every once in a while...
Ok, so that's probably not all that funny, but I enjoyed it. In all seriousness, I am glad to see this though, and that they have their mailing list up and running.
No VPN. I suspect that there would be problems with the dynamic IP address anyway.
Nothing that remotely resembles a server is allowed.
No "business usage" of any kind. It's worded so that it applies to checking office mail from home.
They have the usual clause "we reserve the right to change the Terms of Service at any time, in any way, with no notice."
(The real kicker) They explicitly claim ownership of all intellectual property that you generate and that passes through their network.
I suspect that you could get away with practically anything as long as nobody complained and you didn't generate too much traffic.
FYI, I do use Comcast Broadband, I do run servers, I do use VPN. They don't enforce those rules at all.
BTW, when I signed up, they didn't have any clause about ownership of IP. That needs to be looked into. Chances are it will disappear as soon as someone tries to sue them for ownership of IP.
Let me get this straight, the company pays you enough that you can in turn pay $X for the service but they "can't afford" to additionally pay $X themselves (to make up the difference to the $2X price of business-class)? BS. Either you are exaggerating or the company is lying to you--they just don't want to pay for it.
I work for a large (3000+ people) company in the Philadelphia region. The company currently supports telecommuting with broadband through VPN. Currently, they pay $39.95 per month for connectivity, plus $30 per month for outsourced broadband routers/firewalls. (The latter part I think is stupid, but I digress.) So for each person telecommuting, they pay roughly $70 per month
Now, increase that highspeed access from $39.95 to $95.00, and they would have to pay roughly $125 per month per person. If only 300 out of the 3000 people here telecommute, that's a cost of $37,500 a month, or $450,000 a year just for broadband users. At the previous price, it would be roughly $252,000 per year. Almost 200k more. That's a lot of money to just "find" in your budget. So what happens? Comcast loses money because my company suspends all high-speed telecommuting. So now instead of getting their extra 200k a year, they get nothing, and the people who benefited from telecommuting no longer can.
You know, if Comcast wanted all these people/companies to shell out $50 more per month, the LEAST they could do is remove that 128kbps upstream cap they enforce for business accounts. Its really annoying to transfer large files to work or VPN to a server when you can't send out over 15K/sec, peak.
Why do you need defense against "Magic Lantern" if you're not doing anything illegal?
I don't know if this is a Troll or not, but I'll bite.
This is NOT a valid argument. First off, think about what you said for a minute. It may come as a huge shock to you, but people who are not guilty are and have been arrested. And that won't be changing any time soon. Plain & simple, there is nothing written anywhere that says this will ONLY be used on criminals. All it would take is one person having a suspicion about you, and presto, they are trying to keylog your system. If you want to just let the FBI into your computer and allow them to monitor you, go right ahead, but I most certainly do not.
I could go on, but I won't. All I'm going to say is that this is a stepping stone, and if we don't try to resist it now, we may not have the option to do so in the future.
Slashdot Mirror
Now that you work somewhere that will pay for your education, why don't you go get your degree? And, to make it more of a challenge or more interesting, get it in a field completely unrelated to what you currently do. Try Economics, History, or anything else that piques your interest.
For the record, I am going back to school starting in the fall of 2002, now that work pays for it--I'm going for Philosophy as well, since it is something I'm interested in.
For me, it was a better decision to work and go part time, than spend 4 years in school full time.
Also, as for what another comment said on here--I tested out into the higher-level courses, and was not challenged by those either. Perhaps a better school would have yielded different results with me.
Ignore the people that are sure to be posting ignorant crap about how "I wouldn't want to work at a place that values degrees!! Its just a piece of paper!" Those are, in all likelihood, people that couldn't hack it in college due to a serious lack of social skills, motivation, work ethic, whatever. The basic fact is that in order to advance in the majority of the organizations out there, you have to have some sort of degree.
For me, it was never a problem with motivation or social skills. It was a problem that the university I attended (LaSalle University) offered NO challenge to me on any level, in any course. English, Math, CS, Philosophy. I was bored out of my mind, but pulled A's without a problem. So, instead of blowing my savings to learn NOTHING, I quit and started working. And you know what? It was the best decision I ever made.
In the place that I work, several people who used to work here had college degrees in CS from respectable colleges. And you know what? They couldn't cut it AT ALL on the job. Sure, they knew the fundamentals, but they didn't know how to apply those to their work. Which makes them pretty much worthless on the job.
A degree will only help to:
1) Get your foot in the door.
2) Back up the skills you actually have.
A degree without real knowledge is much more worthless than real knowledge without a degree. And in my opinion, a nice long interview can easily seperate the people without degrees who can cut it on the job from people without degrees who can't.
First Link: http://college.nytimes.com/2001/12/27/technology/c ircuits/27PBOX.html
c ircuits/27PASS.html
Second Link: http://college.nytimes.com/2001/12/27/technology/
AOL won't make any significant number of people move from Windows to Linux. 99% of the people on AOL are there because they don't know a lot about computers, and they don't care to. Sure, there are exceptions to the rule, but how many average AOL users could you see understanding "./configure, make, make install"?
Linux is still very much a geek OS, and since most geeks want broadband or real PPP dialup, I wouldn't see AOL making a huge dent if they did release software for Linux.
BUT: I don't see it as a linux win. It'll be a Red Hat win
Would that really be so bad though? If you give Red Hat the market share that MS has right now, do you really think they would be as bad as MS?? The code is still open, and you are welcome to do whatever you want with it. IMHO, Linux is Linux is Linux, regardless of what company manages to push it out.
Red Hat will continue to increase market share, sales and profits, leading the ragtag band of open source survivors out of the wilderness of the recession to the land of black bottom lines.
The Linux desktop will achieve a measurable market share on consumer machines and an even larger share of desktops for business and government. The growth will be fueled by both continuing refinement and improvement of the desktop, the growing dissatisfaction with Windows performance, security, and pricing, and the easing of Microsoft licensing restrictions.
Both pure Linux and dual-boot Linux/Windows machines from top-tier OEMs will start to appear in the marketplace as Microsoft ever so slightly begins to loosen its death-grip on the preload marketplace.
The Microsoft/DOJ "settlement" will be tossed out by the judge as being completely one-sided and the court will compromise between the demands of the holdout states and the DOJ. Microsoft will appeal the new finding to the Supreme Court since it would -- unlike the terms of the current "settlement" -- actually prevent them from continuing many of their illegal business practices.
A major three-letter intelligence agency will suffer a public and catastrophic breach of classified data because of exploits in Windows XP and ban its use completely. Previous security incidents involving the loss of classified data will also be revealed. Eyes (and heads) will roll.
At least one global megacorp will announce a complete migration away from all Microsoft Windows platforms to an interoperable mix of Unix, Mac and Linux platforms.
TechTV will add a pure Linux show to its lineup. Hey, it couldn't hurt. They laid off 135 employees in November, some say as the result of losing touch with their geek side. Leo Laporte has been Linux friendly for years, to the point of having Linus Torvalds as a guest. In 2002, Linux earns its own spot in the lineup.
AOL will stun the world by releasing a beta AOL client for Linux. This event will be marked by both howls of protest and celebration. Command-line interface (CLI) diehards will proclaim it to be the death of Linux. Most will simply acknowledge its growing popularity.
Theo de Raadt of OpenBSD fame, Arpad Gereoffy of the MPlayer project, and Brett Glass will team up to form a new PR firm called Darker Image. The concept is simple, like reverse psychology. For a fee, the team will act as advocates for your competition. Rumors have it that the dynamic trio is already in discussions with Redmond about championing the Free Software Foundation.
Just like last year, my final prediction drives home a simple point. Whether any of the previous predictions come true or not, it's going to be another banner year for GNU/Linux. It's popularity in the server, desktop, and embedded spaces will continue to grow.
by going to:
/ www.nytimes.com/2001/12/25/technology/25HACK.html
2 5HACK.html
http://archives.nytimes.com/auth/login?URI=http:/
OR
http://college.nytimes.com/2001/12/25/technology/
Editors: please start putting in these links in the stories--you know this crowd is big on privacy.
All the images I've seen so far are really small
You can of course enlarge them. I personally think ~500x800 is big enough for a decent desktop picture...
I'm so glad they included a picture of it in the Top 10. Absolutely amazing to look at it.
Around here (Philadelphia), there was a lot of coverage of the storm, and the Franklin Institute (a "knowledgeum", for you Simpsons fans) had special exhibits all about it. Unfortunately, that coverage stopped completely a few days later when the attacks on 9/11 happened.
Glad to see I'm not the only who remembers that storm! And I thought sandstorms in the desert were bad...
``Of course, we will do this,'' said Saffo of the Silicon Valley-based Institute for the Future ``And it won't be just for the functionality. It will also be for fashion. You've got a generation that's already piercing themselves. Of course, they're going to put electronics under their skin.''
I certainly hope that Mr. Paul Saffo is dead wrong on this subject.
First off, body piercing is NOT a new trend. It has roots in almost every other culture, and dates back hundreds of years. Just because it is a recent movement in Western Culture does not mean that every person who likes piercings is going to like having a tracking device in their skin. Not to mention that the large majority of people in Western Culture do NOT like body piercing. There is not direct link between the two.
Second, isn't anyone worried about the health risks of something like this?! Electronics are a LOT different than an inert, non-reactive metal or ink in the skin. Pacemakers cause enough problems with people in certain situations (microwaves, magnets, etc.) I for one don't EVER want electronics under my skin. I guess if it ever progressed to where you had to get an implant, some Rare Earth Magnets would take care of that problem pretty quickly.
Lastly, is this something we as humans really want to do for fashion??? If its entirely under the skin, how exactly would it be a fashion accesory? What, would they make the chips come in different colors?? "You cant see it, but mine is leopard-spotted!!" Unless they make them into actual shapes that stick up from under the skin like real implants do, they won't be a fashion accessory.
I'm slowly beginning to think the Luddites were right; technology could easily be the end of us. The last thing we need as a species right now is the ability to track everyone. Here's to hoping things like this NEVER get widely adopted.
Go to either of these sites to bypass the reg screen:
1 9PIRA.html
/ www.nytimes.com/2001/12/19/technology/19PIRA.html
http://college.nytimes.com/2001/12/19/technology/
http://archives.nytimes.com/auth/login?URI=http:/
That's almost twice as many as AOL.
;)
So does this mean AOL will finally change their f!@#ing "No Wonder It's Number 1!!" Slogan?!
If so, that makes this merger fine by me
Actually, Microsoft offered to INVEST $5 Billion into AT&T Broadband if AT&T kept their service independent. Then they agreed to convert $5 Billion worth of securities into shares of the new AT&T Comcast.
Is there any possibility that ThinkGeek would give bulk pricing on their Anti-RIAA stickers??
I for one would love to slap these everywhere I could, but at $1.50 a pop, that not feasible for my budget.
Nothing's stopping you setting up an OEM business and then not signing an agreement with MS. That's what the free market is all about. If you don't, well, you automatically lose the right to complain about it.
And if you aren't wealthy enough to do that, you can't voice your opinion about injustices?? You should NEVER lose your right to voice an opinion on unfair practices in any industry just because you aren't "made of money".
There is in fact quite a bit stopping most people from setting up an OEM of their own. If someone asks me to build them a computer, I would try to convince them to use Linux. But I know I couldn't, without some serious capital, form my own Linux-based OEM. Karma be damned--that kind of logic is just as hurtful as doing NOTHING, including remaining silent. When you just scrape by from paycheck to paycheck, your voice is often the only defense you have.
Although I read through the whole article, the headline was enough to comment on:
Linux has comparable programs and it's free. So why does nobody offer it on PCs?
What the article fails to address is that fact that OEMs CAN'T bundle Linux with Windows, or else it violates their Agreement with Microsoft.
Most OEMs are afraid to even offer anything but Windows, for fear that MS will cut them off, which would immediately cripple their business. It's not that Linux is a hard sell, its that it just isn't sold by OEMs for standard desktops, period.
The difference being this:
Red Carpet CorporateConnect provides centralized Red Carpet updating to corporations and workgroups, including special features which allow system administrators to distribute their own in-house applications to their users - quickly and securely - through the Red Carpet interface.
Ximian's business service actually offers ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY. I think the main gripe for most people in regards to the cable companies trying to charge more for VPN usage is that their business accounts don't have any features that justify the money spent on it. No faster upstream or downstream, no static or additional IPs, in short, NOTHING that makes it any different from the standard home package.
Also, in this case, if you don't want to use Ximian's Red Carpet, you don't have to. You can switch distros, switch GUIs, or just use the version of Gnome that comes with Red Hat. No one is forcing you to pay for it, and they aren't suspending free downloads. In the case of the cable companies, if they could limit VPN usage to only business accounts, they would. And where else could you turn? DSL isnt available everywhere, and its not like you have more than one cable company to pick from either.
In Short, its comes down to this:
You buy a pipe from the cable companies, they shouldn't tell you what your needs supposedly are. On the other hand, if you tell THEM you need a business connection, you'll get one. And its the same with Ximian. They aren't telling you what you need, but they have the service available if you need/want it.
For the record, I don't agree with Taco's comment, you can most certainly fault a company for trying to make money.
Or read the NYT article without registration by going to:/ www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-tech-sonic blue.html w ww.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-tech-sonicb lue.html
http://archives.nytimes.com/auth/login?URI=http:/
OR
http://college.nytimes.com/auth/login?URI=http://
The editors should be changing the links, in my opinion, to bypass that reg. screen.
The Simpsons, albeit a cartoon show, often offers social commentary and true philosophical views. A book that I recently read is The Simpsons and Philosophy, which goes into great detail about how different philosophers would interpret the characters of OFF (Our Favorite Family--abbreviation used a lot in alt.tv.simpsons).
For example, maybe Maggie is just being silent to be silent, or maybe that silence could be interpreted as a social protest. Sartre would certainly think so, anyway.
My point is simply that this show goes far beyond what it appears to be on the surface. Plain & Simple, anything that stimulates your mind and provokes positive thoughtstreams is not waste; to call it that shows how much you truly still have to learn.
What in the world does this have to do about News for Nerds?
/. refused to carry articles about things like this, I would be quite saddened. We aren't all a bunch of shut-ins who can't appreciate a good laugh every once in a while...
Since when can't nerds be interested in movies?!
Just because this is a site for geeks doesn't mean every article has to be about BIOS revisions, Kernel patches, and medical science breakthroughs. Yes, that makes up the bulk of what we want to see here, and it is the bulk of what we DO see here, but geeks do have interests outside of those fields.
Frankly, if
- One chosen by Microsoft
- One chosen by the DOJ/US Government
Considering how on the side of MS the DOJ is, isn't that actually 2 chosen by Microsoft?
- One chosen by the above two people
Correction, make that three.
Guten Tag, TAG! ;)
Ok, so that's probably not all that funny, but I enjoyed it. In all seriousness, I am glad to see this though, and that they have their mailing list up and running.
No VPN. I suspect that there would be problems with the dynamic IP address anyway. Nothing that remotely resembles a server is allowed. No "business usage" of any kind. It's worded so that it applies to checking office mail from home. They have the usual clause "we reserve the right to change the Terms of Service at any time, in any way, with no notice." (The real kicker) They explicitly claim ownership of all intellectual property that you generate and that passes through their network. I suspect that you could get away with practically anything as long as nobody complained and you didn't generate too much traffic.
FYI, I do use Comcast Broadband, I do run servers, I do use VPN. They don't enforce those rules at all.
BTW, when I signed up, they didn't have any clause about ownership of IP. That needs to be looked into. Chances are it will disappear as soon as someone tries to sue them for ownership of IP.
Let me get this straight, the company pays you enough that you can in turn pay $X for the service but they "can't afford" to additionally pay $X themselves (to make up the difference to the $2X price of business-class)? BS. Either you are exaggerating or the company is lying to you--they just don't want to pay for it.
I work for a large (3000+ people) company in the Philadelphia region. The company currently supports telecommuting with broadband through VPN. Currently, they pay $39.95 per month for connectivity, plus $30 per month for outsourced broadband routers/firewalls. (The latter part I think is stupid, but I digress.) So for each person telecommuting, they pay roughly $70 per month
Now, increase that highspeed access from $39.95 to $95.00, and they would have to pay roughly $125 per month per person. If only 300 out of the 3000 people here telecommute, that's a cost of $37,500 a month, or $450,000 a year just for broadband users. At the previous price, it would be roughly $252,000 per year. Almost 200k more. That's a lot of money to just "find" in your budget. So what happens? Comcast loses money because my company suspends all high-speed telecommuting. So now instead of getting their extra 200k a year, they get nothing, and the people who benefited from telecommuting no longer can.
You know, if Comcast wanted all these people/companies to shell out $50 more per month, the LEAST they could do is remove that 128kbps upstream cap they enforce for business accounts. Its really annoying to transfer large files to work or VPN to a server when you can't send out over 15K/sec, peak.
Why do you need defense against "Magic Lantern" if you're not doing anything illegal?
I don't know if this is a Troll or not, but I'll bite.
This is NOT a valid argument. First off, think about what you said for a minute. It may come as a huge shock to you, but people who are not guilty are and have been arrested. And that won't be changing any time soon. Plain & simple, there is nothing written anywhere that says this will ONLY be used on criminals. All it would take is one person having a suspicion about you, and presto, they are trying to keylog your system. If you want to just let the FBI into your computer and allow them to monitor you, go right ahead, but I most certainly do not.
I could go on, but I won't. All I'm going to say is that this is a stepping stone, and if we don't try to resist it now, we may not have the option to do so in the future.