I have to agree. My posting did not show any insight! I'm shocked that it got moderated up to three (+1 for insightful, and +1 for interesting). I think perhaps it deserved the interesting vote, but frankly it was just a random thought that crossed my mind.
If you dislike what the moderators do, please meta-moderate. I meta-moderate every day. Hopefully the meta-moderation system has some effect and in the long run bad moderators won't have much effect. The more moderators we have the better, and the more meta-moderators we have the better.
I am beginning to think that some new way to choose, or educate moderators is in order. Only comments made early in the life of a thread are likely to get moderated, and previously moderated (up) comments are more likely to get further moderated. I think we see a lot mis-use of "insightful" and "informative" as well, but meta-moderation should take care of that in the long wrong. A good question is, "Do moderators get informed when they are meta-moderated?" I'd certainly like to know when someone has officially meta-moderated my moderations.
Suppose you get into an accident on the highway at night in your high-tech automobile. Imagine the insurance adjuster claims visibility was a factor, would you get penalized for having this high-tech device. Technology is often demonized in court.
Netscape Communications Corporation is owned by AOL (so wouldn't AOL or the Sun-Netscape Alliance be the one granted approval?). And SuiteSpot is now called iPlanet isn't it?.
Can any provide any supporting documentation that shows that something new has happened with respect to Netscape Communicator and encryption export restrictions?
CNN is the Corporate News Network. Their target audience are businesses and business people. It is not suprising to see them publish a story that critizes alternatives to the corporate music world. Its not much different than TV stations carrying lots of news and fictional programs that paint the Internet is a bad light. They are critizing their competitors in any way they can.
To some extent this argument is weakened by the fact that the story is from an on-line (and MP3s are an on-line phenonmenon) publication of CNN, however I doubt CNN's website's managers are mature enough in the positions to see themselves as part of the on-line revolution and not part of the 'broadcasting' revolution.
Ask yourself this: "How much money doesn't Sony pay CNN each year?" and this: "How much of CNN does Sony own?" I leave it as an excerise to the reader to answer these questions.
It seems to me that the FBI is challenging the authorities and laws that may impinge upon their (anti-cryptography) activities by trying to intimidate William Simpson for 'challenging authorities and laws that may impinge upon his activities'
Its funny seeing this story run this week. Over the weekend I was trying to clear up space on my hard drive and while removing some applications I noticed that something called "Comet Cursor" was installed on my Windows 95 box. I had never heard of this and don't recall installing it.
Some tricky peice of software must have installed it for me. The applications I've recently installed are Real Jukebox (registered version), and Real Player 7(registered version). These MAY not be the culprits but they look really suspicous.
Can anyone else confirm that Comet Cursor got 'secretly' installed on their system or as part of a bundle with other software.
It was Slashdot who enabled the readers to blow this out of proportion. No different than stories posted in the National Enquirer.
The story really didn't have any substance (in fact Bruce's comment wasn't even available on the mailing list archive when the Slashdot story went live). The story had just enough "clues" to cause a stir. Pure sensationalism.
I hope we don't see any more of this sensationalism here. Regarless of "intentions", sensationalism means more readers, and that means more revenue.
I can't help but wonder if the posting of this article is a troll by those who view Linux as a commercial competitor.
Mr. Peren's mailing-list posting doesn't sound to me like the threat of a lawsuit. If fact it doesn't sound like "News for Nerds: Stuff that Matters" either. He posted a few sentences to a mailing list and some Anonymous Coward decided the whole world should read about it.
Even if the coward was genuine it makes me wonder how many people are employed to read Linux mailing lists and misinterpret them publicly. Anyone care to admit to being a muckraker and identify themself and their employer?
I'm especially suspicous because one of the more popular anti-Linux memes is "the Linux community is weak because it is fragmented" which is just a purposeful misinterpretation of "The Linux community is strong because it is diverse."
I really think the editorial staff of Slashdot were way to quick to post this story especially when the "supporting evidence" links were didn't exist. Perhaps they should have emailed Bruce Perens and actually asked him if the Anonymous Coward's report were true.
But did you support embargoes as protests against apartheid? Human rights violations? Environmental, health and safety concerns?
From what I can tell results of embargoes enforced by the USA are a human rights violation.
Trade sanctions only sound good when compared as an alternative to war. However the current trend seems to be, "Bomb 'em, starve 'em, and then send them a bill for the cost of the operation."
I'd hate to see countries lose their right to impose tariffs on foreign trade. These tariffs are a tool to regulate trade imbalances that could hurt their economies. However I think that preserving the USA/WTO's assumed right to "starve countries into submission" is the wrong reason to opposing the ban on Internet tariffs.
I think that "Internet Taxes" would be collected in much the same way as corporate taxes are collected presently. Companies would keep records and their accountants would file reports quarterly. The government would audit as they see fit.
I know nothing about how tariffs are collected so I can't say that this would be a likely model for tariff collection (tariffs are the actual topic of this discussion I believe).
Just because a technology is being taxed or tariff doens't mean they'll use that same technology to implement the tax or tariff system.
I've been very fortunate in that I've been working with "Virtual Schools" for well over three years now. I've been directly exposed to the problem of teachers trying to keep up with technology.
While I cannot claim that I know the entire solution, I believe one small part of the problem is that teachers prefer (in my experience they insist) on learning about technology through short inservices/workshops rather than through self-study. I would also make the observation that classroom teachers won't do homework between and won't do preperation before taking inservices or workshops.
Of course these are general observations, but they are based on diverse and extensive experiences that I've had. Specifically I've worked with nearly one hundred teachers over three years and been the primary person responsible for keeping them up-to-date (amoung other things).
I think that if teachers could break free of the classroom learning model for their own personal needs they could keep up-to-date with less time and effort. And better still it might encourage them to develop new models for their teaching practices.
I don't like MS Mice. I much prefer the three button logitech mouse. Under Linux three buttons are very handy. Under Windows even the second button is rarely useful. I have on occaision taken the heavy, metal-centered, ball from a MS mouse and put it in a nice three button mouse. MS mice are radically overpriced though they do seem to be well manufactured (in my limited experience). I bought one once. I won't again.
I don't think the assumption that people want pretty graphics is entirely sound. While my own experience would tell that new Internet users are impressed my magazine-style websites, it also tells me that new Internet users slowly replace their appreciation for flashy sites with appreciation for functional ones.
The popular portals give users, to a limited extent, convienient access to information. Portals also clutter the user's interface with 'noise'. I believe many users dislike this and would prefer more functional designs.
The question then becomes are there any websites('portals') that provide users with convienient access to diverse information with little 'noise' (lets define this as unwanted, distracting visual elements)? I can't find any.
Slashdot is good since you can configure the interface greatly to both simplify and eliminate various visual elements. You still can't remove the advertisments (that I'm aware of) which are very 'noisy'.
Slashdot Mirror
I have to agree. My posting did not show any insight! I'm shocked that it got moderated up to three (+1 for insightful, and +1 for interesting). I think perhaps it deserved the interesting vote, but frankly it was just a random thought that crossed my mind.
If you dislike what the moderators do, please meta-moderate. I meta-moderate every day. Hopefully the meta-moderation system has some effect and in the long run bad moderators won't have much effect. The more moderators we have the better, and the more meta-moderators we have the better.
I am beginning to think that some new way to choose, or educate moderators is in order. Only comments made early in the life of a thread are likely to get moderated, and previously moderated (up) comments are more likely to get further moderated. I think we see a lot mis-use of "insightful" and "informative" as well, but meta-moderation should take care of that in the long wrong. A good question is, "Do moderators get informed when they are meta-moderated?" I'd certainly like to know when someone has officially meta-moderated my moderations.
Suppose you get into an accident on the highway at night in your high-tech automobile. Imagine the insurance adjuster claims visibility was a factor, would you get penalized for having this high-tech device. Technology is often demonized in court.
Can any provide any supporting documentation that shows that something new has happened with respect to Netscape Communicator and encryption export restrictions?
To some extent this argument is weakened by the fact that the story is from an on-line (and MP3s are an on-line phenonmenon) publication of CNN, however I doubt CNN's website's managers are mature enough in the positions to see themselves as part of the on-line revolution and not part of the 'broadcasting' revolution.
Ask yourself this: "How much money doesn't Sony pay CNN each year?" and this: "How much of CNN does Sony own?" I leave it as an excerise to the reader to answer these questions.
It seems to me that the FBI is challenging the authorities and laws that may impinge upon their (anti-cryptography) activities by trying to intimidate William Simpson for 'challenging authorities and laws that may impinge upon his activities'
Some tricky peice of software must have installed it for me. The applications I've recently installed are Real Jukebox (registered version), and Real Player 7(registered version). These MAY not be the culprits but they look really suspicous.
Can anyone else confirm that Comet Cursor got 'secretly' installed on their system or as part of a bundle with other software.
The story really didn't have any substance (in fact Bruce's comment wasn't even available on the mailing list archive when the Slashdot story went live). The story had just enough "clues" to cause a stir. Pure sensationalism.
I hope we don't see any more of this sensationalism here. Regarless of "intentions", sensationalism means more readers, and that means more revenue.
Mr. Peren's mailing-list posting doesn't sound to me like the threat of a lawsuit. If fact it doesn't sound like "News for Nerds: Stuff that Matters" either. He posted a few sentences to a mailing list and some Anonymous Coward decided the whole world should read about it.
Even if the coward was genuine it makes me wonder how many people are employed to read Linux mailing lists and misinterpret them publicly. Anyone care to admit to being a muckraker and identify themself and their employer?
I'm especially suspicous because one of the more popular anti-Linux memes is "the Linux community is weak because it is fragmented" which is just a purposeful misinterpretation of "The Linux community is strong because it is diverse."
I really think the editorial staff of Slashdot were way to quick to post this story especially when the "supporting evidence" links were didn't exist. Perhaps they should have emailed Bruce Perens and actually asked him if the Anonymous Coward's report were true.
From what I can tell results of embargoes enforced by the USA are a human rights violation.
Trade sanctions only sound good when compared as an alternative to war. However the current trend seems to be, "Bomb 'em, starve 'em, and then send them a bill for the cost of the operation."
I'd hate to see countries lose their right to impose tariffs on foreign trade. These tariffs are a tool to regulate trade imbalances that could hurt their economies. However I think that preserving the USA/WTO's assumed right to "starve countries into submission" is the wrong reason to opposing the ban on Internet tariffs.
I know nothing about how tariffs are collected so I can't say that this would be a likely model for tariff collection (tariffs are the actual topic of this discussion I believe).
Just because a technology is being taxed or tariff doens't mean they'll use that same technology to implement the tax or tariff system.
While I cannot claim that I know the entire solution, I believe one small part of the problem is that teachers prefer (in my experience they insist) on learning about technology through short inservices/workshops rather than through self-study. I would also make the observation that classroom teachers won't do homework between and won't do preperation before taking inservices or workshops.
Of course these are general observations, but they are based on diverse and extensive experiences that I've had. Specifically I've worked with nearly one hundred teachers over three years and been the primary person responsible for keeping them up-to-date (amoung other things).
I think that if teachers could break free of the classroom learning model for their own personal needs they could keep up-to-date with less time and effort. And better still it might encourage them to develop new models for their teaching practices.
I don't like MS Mice. I much prefer the three button logitech mouse. Under Linux three buttons are very handy. Under Windows even the second button is rarely useful. I have on occaision taken the heavy, metal-centered, ball from a MS mouse and put it in a nice three button mouse. MS mice are radically overpriced though they do seem to be well manufactured (in my limited experience). I bought one once. I won't again.
Assuming that The Portaloo uses RSS/RDF to get its headlines they should be able to use many more existing channels (including /.).
The popular portals give users, to a limited extent, convienient access to information. Portals also clutter the user's interface with 'noise'. I believe many users dislike this and would prefer more functional designs.
The question then becomes are there any websites('portals') that provide users with convienient access to diverse information with little 'noise' (lets define this as unwanted, distracting visual elements)? I can't find any.
Slashdot is good since you can configure the interface greatly to both simplify and eliminate various visual elements. You still can't remove the advertisments (that I'm aware of) which are very 'noisy'.