The Slashdot pages loaded quickly. You guys did a great job.
Where I saw problems was when sites were trying to load ads. There are lots of Internet sites, but most of the ads on the internet come from a comparatively few sites. So, while you guys felt it necessary to add another server, the folks serving ads needed an additional server or two for each of the high volume sites they deal with.
You might try to negotiate a contract clause permitting you to temporarily remove ads in future emergency situations, when the ad servers are significantly slowing down the site. I know they liked the hits, but sometimes...
News at Yahoo Australia
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More WTC News
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· Score: 1
Sorry to have to post off topic, but there seems to be a bug in the Slashdot / SourceForge Bug Reporting software.
Even though I am logged on, Bug Reporting does not recognize that I am. It asks me to log on again. When I try to do so, it fails to recognize my User ID / Password.
"SourceForge Site Login
Invalid Password or User Name
Internet Explorer users need to upgrade to IE 5.01 or higher, preferably with 128-bit SSL or use Netscape 4.7 or higher
Cookies must be enabled past this point."
I am currently on a machine running IE.5.5 with cookies enabled (company policy).
If I remember my History correctly, the Statue of Liberty was built in France and given to the US as a gift. So this does tie several stories together, reminding us not to expect consistency from mere mortals.
It's been a long time since I've used it, but my Osborne 1 used to boot from a floppy in about 5 seconds. Of course, there was no network, no raid, no scsi, no hard drive and only 64KB of memory to check.
If you want stability in your database or in your OS, you have to follow the same principles.
First, you have to define/document the core functionality. Then you have to define/document your data structure. Next you have to define/document the modules that will provide that functionality, including all the interfaces. Only then do you start to write anything other than throw-away, proof-of-concept code.
Does the Open Source community have the patience to go through three rounds of development without any code? I don't know.
I do know that this technique works. I've used it repeatedly. Many years ago I was asked to produce the first ISAM (Index Sequential Access Method) for a PDP 11 that only had sequential & relative I/O. I delivered a self-maintaining ISAM in about 6 weeks, having had no previous exposure to the issues, but following this approach.
I've used the same approach to produce enterprise-wide MRP & CRM systems.
I've also used it to produce package software for manufacturing firms that my company successfully delivered, with a full, money back guarantee -- and none of our customers ever asked for a refund.
So I know the technique works with projects of great complexity. Complexity is not the issue. Discipline, to achieve functionality, compatability and completeness, that's the issue.
If you read the CERT advisory really carefully, you can use it to deal with the hardest part (in my opinion) of getting rid of SirCam.
1. Start by disconnecting from the Internet and any network you are on.
2. Disable file sharing if it is enabled.
3. Clean up the registry, as they tell you, but NOT in the order they list. First, get rid of the setting that restarts SirCam whenever anything executes. Next, get rid of the setting that restarts it whenever you reboot. Then correct the rest of the settings. They are not real helpful about what the correct settings should be. It helps a lot to have a clean machine you can refer to for reference.
4. Do a FIND for the various file names that they mention. Use wild cards, because not all file names are specified in the CERT advisory.
5. Move those files to the recycle bin. Then empty the recycle bin.
6. Shutdown. Reboot.
7. Do the FINDs again. If nothing turns up, you have a clean system. If not, figure out what you missed last time. Then start over at step 1.
8. Hopefully, you have a firewall that will notify you if anything tries to get in or out that shouldn't. I use ZoneAlarm. That's how I found out that SirCam had landed.
I removed SirC32 manually from a computer last week, based upon information made available by the folks at CERT.
In the process I found a few things that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else. One is that SirC seems to create it's own password file. Another is that it writes a file that may be a log file (or, possibly a data file...)
This latter file was: c:\windows\applog\sirc32.lgc
Here's an excerpt from that file. Anyone care to speculate?
o c9383000 23000 "C:\RECYCLED\SIRC32.EXE"
R c9383000 0 40
R c9383000 100 f8
R c9383000 100 238
R c9383000 20000 1000
R c9383000 1ca00 1000
o c15f0240 92110 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\OLEAUT32.DLL"
R c15f0240 82000 1000
R c15f0240 82000 1000
R c15f0240 2000 1000
R c15f0240 2000 1000
R c15f0240 83000 e00
R c9383000 1da00 200
R c15f0240 33000 1000
R c15f0240 34000 1000
R c15f0240 35000 1000
R c9383000 1dc00 200
o c929b640 26ff "C:\WINDOWS\WIN.INI"
R c929b640 0 26ff
C c929b640
o c15a65f0 c0000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\OLE32.DLL"
R c15a65f0 ad000 1000
R c15a65f0 b2000 1000
R c15a65f0 b1000 1000
R c15f0240 e000 1000
R c15f0240 84000 1000
R c15f0240 13000 1000
R c15f0240 85000 1000
R c15f0240 86000 1000
R c15f0240 87000 1000
R c15f0240 32000 1000
R c15f0240 17000 1000
R c15f0240 14000 1000
R c15f0240 88000 1000
R c15f0240 29000 1000
o c1526230 862e0 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\USER.EXE"
R c1526230 1844 225e
o c1574000 e000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MPR.DLL"
R c1574000 a000 400
o c15a3650 156000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SHELL32.DLL"
R c15a3650 88000 a00
o c15a3680 a000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WSOCK32.DLL"
R c15a3680 6000 a00
o c15b1990 12000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WS2_32.DLL"
R c15b1990 f000 a00
o c15a2590 41035 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSVCRT.DLL"
R c15a2590 35000 e00
R c15a2590 35000 1000
R c15a2590 2f000 1000
R c15a2590 2f000 1000
R c15b1990 f000 1000
R c15a2590 31000 1000
R c15a2590 32000 1000
R c15a2590 34000 1000
R c15a2590 33000 1000
R c15a2590 36000 1000
R c9383000 0 400
R c15a2590 37000 1000
R c15a2590 38000 1000
R c15a2590 30000 1000
R c15a2590 39000 1000
R c15b1990 d000 1000
R c15b1990 e000 600
o c15c6a70 19000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\URL.DLL"
R c15c6a70 10000 200
o c15e7c10 15000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSWSOCK.DLL"
R c15e7c10 f000 1000
R c15e7c10 e000 1000
R c15e7c10 10000 400
o c15b3df0 5d000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WININET.DLL"
R c15b3df0 4c000 1000
R c15b3df0 4d000 1000
R c9383000 19400 1000
R c9383000 4400 1000
R c9383000 1ac00 1000
R c9383000 3400 1000
R c9383000 400 1000
R c9383000 2400 1000
R c9383000 1400 1000
R c9383000 a400 1000
R c9383000 5400 1000
R c9383000 9400 1000
R c9383000 1bc00 e00
R c9383000 21000 1000
R c9383000 8400 1000
R c9383000 7400 1000
R c9383000 6400 1000
R c9383000 d400 1000
R c9383000 b400 1000
R c9383000 e400 1000
R c9383000 f400 1000
R c9383000 10400 1000
R c9383000 11400 1000
R c9383000 12400 1000
R c9383000 14400 1000
R c9383000 13400 1000
R c9383000 17400 1000
R c9383000 1a400 800
R c9383000 15400 1000
o c9383300 d000 "C:\WINDOWS\NOTEPAD.EXE"
R c9383300 0 800
R c9383300 1000 400
R c9383300 5800 200
R c9383300 a00 200
R c9383300 800 200
C c9383300
o c929b640 d000 "C:\WINDOWS\NOTEPAD.EXE"
R c929b640 0 40
R c929b640 80 f8
C c929b640
o c906a340 1e000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\TAPI32.DLL"
R c906a340 1a000 1000
R c906a340 1a000 1000
o c15a7ac0 4f000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RPCRT4.DLL"
R c15a7ac0 49000 800
R c906a340 19000 e00
R c906a340 18000 1000
o c900ed20 8000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SVRAPI.DLL"
R c900ed20 5000 200
o c15a5630 13000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSNET32.DLL"
R c15a5630 e000 1000
o c906e920 43000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSVCRT20.DLL"
R c906e920 2f000 1000
R c906e920 31000 1000
R c906e920 30000 1000
R c906e920 35000 1000
R c906e920 36000 400
R c906e920 32000 1000
o c9063930 a000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SECUR32.DLL"
R c9063930 6000 800
R c9383000 c400 1000
North America has the poorest performance, but the major routers all over the world are slowing down.
If you click on any region, you will see detailed stats for the major backbone machines, plus performance graphs for the region.
Sorry, but it's not looking good.
ps. I just clicked the link in preview and, while the performance indicies have not changed much in the past few minutes, the trends have all flipped from down to up. So who knows...
You are, of course, technically correct. Raw materials of one sort or another will continue to be needed.
But most types of raw materials are quite widely available. So most products can be made in many places. It has already been many years since not all Ford cars were made in Detroit.
If a product is only made in one (or a few) places (because few people know how to make it, or are allowed to make it), but purchased all over the world, then distribution is the bottleneck and those who control distribution (not production) can charge whatever margin they want. This is what the DCMA is really about -- control of distribution channels.
But, if many people in many parts of the world can easily make the item, then no producer and no distributor can restrict the availability of the item. Hence there is no significant margin in production and there is no significant margin in distribution.
In the process of removing this virus from a computer, I noticed something that I've not read about on any of the virus monitoring sites.
The worm wrote what seems to be a log file to:
c:\windows\applog\sirc32.lgc
This is a plain text file that looks innocent enough when opened with notepad. But it includes a column of numbers that just might be dangerous if processed as input by the wrong program...
I recently had some problems with emails not getting through to everyone on a small list, so I contacted the ISP where I had the perl script running against a MySQL database.
After some hesitation, tech support informed me that they had been put on the Black Hole list because their email server had an open relay. He also told me it would take 4 to 6 weeks to fix the problem. Something about not wanting to disrupt service to their customers.
Now this is not some fly-by-night organization. I picked them a couple of years ago because I was looking for a professional hosting service, and everything about them seemed to indicate that they were one.
Anyone out there know how to close an open relay? Maybe they'll hire you.
The smart folks have recognized that the 21st century will be even more unsettling than the 20th century. Computer controlled extraction of natural resources and production (including nanotechnology) can drive manufacturing costs to almost zero. (Go read 'A for Anything' , by Damon Knight) With the Internet, we will be able to distribute the knowledge of how to produce. This will eliminate the challenges associated with distribution, so there will be no money to be made there.
This is why there's such a fight for intellectual property rights. Only by controlling the knowledge of how and what to produce can power be maintained by those who value it. By the middle of the 21st century, the major cost of any material item will be the 'intellectual property' charge. With production automated, almost everyone who is employed will be working in service jobs by 2050. And then it gets more interesting.
I think you'll find that a more insightful perspective comes from replacing the word "Internet" with the words "radio and TV".
The electromagnetic spectrum used to 'belong' to geeks (called amateurs), before business decided there was money to be made there.
I think there's a lot we can learn from how those geeks of yesterday fought for, and won, not control, but continuing use of portions of the electromanetic spectrum. Those "amateur bands" are free of commercial use, while the rest of the radio spectrum is (largely) free of amateurs.
One reason the commercial interests agreed to leave the amateur bands alone is that, like today, those geeks were employed by those commercial interests and much of what those geeks figured out (on their own time and at their own expense) was used by their commercial employers. Open Source is not a new idea. Radio amateurs (HAMS) have been doing it for more than a century.
We may need to adopt the use of a communications protocol not supported by commercial browsers. We may have to give up 'WWW', in exchange for 'GEEK'. Or maybe we'll give up.com,.org,.net in exchange for.???
But if you want to know what's really going on, follow this link for the bigger picture.
You are right. There is a power struggle going on.
Until 100 years ago, almost everyone on earth lived with shortages. While a few were rich, most people never even had enough to eat. The 20th century has been incredable. We acquired the ability to produce food and goods to satisfy the needs of everyone on earth.
We have had two major power struggles during the 20th century. At the beginning, production was 'difficult', so those who could produce were able to 'call the shots'. WW II was a war of production and it was won by the side that was able to produce the most bombs and bullets.
Since then, productivity has continued to improve. Production is no longer the 'hard part'. The challenge during the past few decades has been to convince people to buy. Hence marketing has become king. Between 3rd world labor and automation, production costs have fallen dramatically. For most products, the major costs are marketing & distribution and R&D.
But the smart folks have recognized that the 21st century will be even more unsettling than the 20th century. Computer controled extraction of natural resources and production (including nanotechnology) can drive manufacturing costs to almost zero. (Go read 'A is for Anything') With the Internet, we will be able to distribute the knowledge of how to produce. This will eliminate the challenges associated with distribution, so there will be no money to be made there.
This is why there's such a fight for intellectual property rights. Only by controling the knowledge of how and what to produce can those who value power maintain any. By the middle of the 21st century, the major cost of any material item will be the 'intellectual property' charge. With production automated, most people will be working in service jobs by 2050. And then it gets more interesting.
As AI research progresses, we will be able to build robots capable of doing service jobs. The health care crisis will be 'solved' during the second half of the 21st century. Robots will replace, not only orderlies and nurses, but physicians and surgeons, too. The cost of producing these robots will be minimal. The valuable commodity will be the knowledge of how to program them to do what you want them to do.
By the end of the 21st century, creativity, the creation of intellectual property, will be the only currently known role that will still be the domain of us humans. And the control of that creativity is what is being fought for now.
That's the power struggle going on now. It's just started.
One more thing. By the end of the 21st century, molecular genetics will have progressed to the point that most people will be able to live almost forever. Imagine living forever in a world where production and services basically cost nothing. The only thing of value will be control of the intellectual property behind it all. Imagine a world where material items sell for ten cents each and services are provided for ten cents an hour. It's paradise if you have the money to pay for what you want. But if you don't, how do you compete with such prices?
The challenge as we approach the 22nd century will be to rethink the issues of access. How do we reward innovation while making it possible for most people to survive and live reasonably good lives? Because, if most people cannot pay for those goods and services, there will be a revolution. If it succeeds, those who were on top will be gone. If the revolution fails, the whole economic system will collapse from lack of customers.
Content production is becoming easier all the time. It also does not have to be expensive.
The key to financial success in any mass market product category is, and always has been, control of the channels of distribution. Once you have that, you don't have to compete on product quality. You don't have to compete on price. You don't have to compete at all, because the 'competition' can't be heard.
That's what this has been about. That's the only thing this has been about.
The reason the internet is so significant is not because it's "cool", but rather because it offers a new channel, bypassing the ones already in place. That is it's revolutionary aspect.
I have a painting on my wall, done in 1982, depicting a space station in the shape of a Benzine ring - six truncated icosahedrons (soccer balls) connected by tubes. It's double walled inflated Kevlar, foam-in-place sandwich construction with aluminized coatings inside and out. Total usable volue is about 95,000 cubic feet.
It was designed so that the entire structure could be transported to orbit as a single Space Shuttle payload. A second Space Shuttle mission would be needed to bring up the 'internal furnishings'.
The prooof-of-concept was supposed to be a Get-Away-Special (Payload #271). But the software firm I was using to fund the project became a money sink. In addition, officials at NASA asked that the project be delayed because it involved too many technologies that were new to them.
Yes, inflatables hold great promise for use in space where all you want to do is maintain a comfortable shirtsleeve environment. There are significant challenges to be overcome, but that's what makes things interesting.
Now for a prediction. Serious space endevours will be Open Source projects. Some might call it life under a microscope, but imagine the specification and design of a space project as open documents. Then the construction and testing being a streaming video feed. And of course the software would all be Open Source. You wouldn't want to vacation in an orbital hotel where a failure in closed source software could deprive you of oxygen.
ConsumerRevolution will be a site where you can read about other people's experiences (not opinions) with a 'Brand Name Product' or a 'Provider of Goods or Services'. You will also be able to post your own experiences, good, bad or otherwise.
"there should be preventative legislation that creates an environment which discourages the formation of monopolies, but like everything in life, need will find a way"
If your corporate income tax rate was set equal to your market share... There would still be loopholes, but it's a start.
Slashdot Mirror
The Slashdot pages loaded quickly. You guys did a great job.
Where I saw problems was when sites were trying to load ads. There are lots of Internet sites, but most of the ads on the internet come from a comparatively few sites. So, while you guys felt it necessary to add another server, the folks serving ads needed an additional server or two for each of the high volume sites they deal with.
You might try to negotiate a contract clause permitting you to temporarily remove ads in future emergency situations, when the ad servers are significantly slowing down the site. I know they liked the hits, but sometimes...
Yahoo Australia
This is an update to one they appearantly ran earlier, so they presumably had time to do some checking. Do't know if they actually did any.
Pure speculation. Two planes were sent to the World Trade Centre in New York. It would seem reasonable that two were sent to the Pentagon in DC.
Even though I am logged on, Bug Reporting does not recognize that I am. It asks me to log on again. When I try to do so, it fails to recognize my User ID / Password.
"SourceForge Site Login
Invalid Password or User Name
Internet Explorer users need to upgrade to IE 5.01 or higher, preferably with 128-bit SSL or use Netscape 4.7 or higher
Cookies must be enabled past this point."
I am currently on a machine running IE.5.5 with cookies enabled (company policy).
Morris
If I remember my History correctly, the Statue of Liberty was built in France and given to the US as a gift. So this does tie several stories together, reminding us not to expect consistency from mere mortals.
Working on it...
It's been a long time since I've used it, but my Osborne 1 used to boot from a floppy in about 5 seconds. Of course, there was no network, no raid, no scsi, no hard drive and only 64KB of memory to check.
Elections require transparency and computerized voting with secret ballot does not lend itself to transparency. It's that simple.
First, you have to define/document the core functionality. Then you have to define/document your data structure. Next you have to define/document the modules that will provide that functionality, including all the interfaces. Only then do you start to write anything other than throw-away, proof-of-concept code.
Does the Open Source community have the patience to go through three rounds of development without any code? I don't know.
I do know that this technique works. I've used it repeatedly. Many years ago I was asked to produce the first ISAM (Index Sequential Access Method) for a PDP 11 that only had sequential & relative I/O. I delivered a self-maintaining ISAM in about 6 weeks, having had no previous exposure to the issues, but following this approach.
I've used the same approach to produce enterprise-wide MRP & CRM systems.
I've also used it to produce package software for manufacturing firms that my company successfully delivered, with a full, money back guarantee -- and none of our customers ever asked for a refund.
So I know the technique works with projects of great complexity. Complexity is not the issue. Discipline, to achieve functionality, compatability and completeness, that's the issue.
1. Start by disconnecting from the Internet and any network you are on.
2. Disable file sharing if it is enabled.
3. Clean up the registry, as they tell you, but NOT in the order they list. First, get rid of the setting that restarts SirCam whenever anything executes. Next, get rid of the setting that restarts it whenever you reboot. Then correct the rest of the settings. They are not real helpful about what the correct settings should be. It helps a lot to have a clean machine you can refer to for reference.
4. Do a FIND for the various file names that they mention. Use wild cards, because not all file names are specified in the CERT advisory.
5. Move those files to the recycle bin. Then empty the recycle bin. 6. Shutdown. Reboot.
7. Do the FINDs again. If nothing turns up, you have a clean system. If not, figure out what you missed last time. Then start over at step 1.
8. Hopefully, you have a firewall that will notify you if anything tries to get in or out that shouldn't. I use ZoneAlarm. That's how I found out that SirCam had landed.
In the process I found a few things that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else. One is that SirC seems to create it's own password file. Another is that it writes a file that may be a log file (or, possibly a data file...)
This latter file was: c:\windows\applog\sirc32.lgc
Here's an excerpt from that file. Anyone care to speculate?
o c9383000 23000 "C:\RECYCLED\SIRC32.EXE"
R c9383000 0 40
R c9383000 100 f8
R c9383000 100 238
R c9383000 20000 1000
R c9383000 1ca00 1000
o c15f0240 92110 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\OLEAUT32.DLL"
R c15f0240 82000 1000
R c15f0240 82000 1000
R c15f0240 2000 1000
R c15f0240 2000 1000
R c15f0240 83000 e00
R c9383000 1da00 200
R c15f0240 33000 1000
R c15f0240 34000 1000
R c15f0240 35000 1000
R c9383000 1dc00 200
o c929b640 26ff "C:\WINDOWS\WIN.INI"
R c929b640 0 26ff
C c929b640
o c15a65f0 c0000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\OLE32.DLL"
R c15a65f0 ad000 1000
R c15a65f0 b2000 1000
R c15a65f0 b1000 1000
R c15f0240 e000 1000
R c15f0240 84000 1000
R c15f0240 13000 1000
R c15f0240 85000 1000
R c15f0240 86000 1000
R c15f0240 87000 1000
R c15f0240 32000 1000
R c15f0240 17000 1000
R c15f0240 14000 1000
R c15f0240 88000 1000
R c15f0240 29000 1000
o c1526230 862e0 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\USER.EXE"
R c1526230 1844 225e
o c1574000 e000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MPR.DLL"
R c1574000 a000 400
o c15a3650 156000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SHELL32.DLL"
R c15a3650 88000 a00
o c15a3680 a000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WSOCK32.DLL"
R c15a3680 6000 a00
o c15b1990 12000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WS2_32.DLL"
R c15b1990 f000 a00
o c15a2590 41035 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSVCRT.DLL"
R c15a2590 35000 e00
R c15a2590 35000 1000
R c15a2590 2f000 1000
R c15a2590 2f000 1000
R c15b1990 f000 1000
R c15a2590 31000 1000
R c15a2590 32000 1000
R c15a2590 34000 1000
R c15a2590 33000 1000
R c15a2590 36000 1000
R c9383000 0 400
R c15a2590 37000 1000
R c15a2590 38000 1000
R c15a2590 30000 1000
R c15a2590 39000 1000
R c15b1990 d000 1000
R c15b1990 e000 600
o c15c6a70 19000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\URL.DLL"
R c15c6a70 10000 200
o c15e7c10 15000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSWSOCK.DLL"
R c15e7c10 f000 1000
R c15e7c10 e000 1000
R c15e7c10 10000 400
o c15b3df0 5d000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WININET.DLL"
R c15b3df0 4c000 1000
R c15b3df0 4d000 1000
R c9383000 19400 1000
R c9383000 4400 1000
R c9383000 1ac00 1000
R c9383000 3400 1000
R c9383000 400 1000
R c9383000 2400 1000
R c9383000 1400 1000
R c9383000 a400 1000
R c9383000 5400 1000
R c9383000 9400 1000
R c9383000 1bc00 e00
R c9383000 21000 1000
R c9383000 8400 1000
R c9383000 7400 1000
R c9383000 6400 1000
R c9383000 d400 1000
R c9383000 b400 1000
R c9383000 e400 1000
R c9383000 f400 1000
R c9383000 10400 1000
R c9383000 11400 1000
R c9383000 12400 1000
R c9383000 14400 1000
R c9383000 13400 1000
R c9383000 17400 1000
R c9383000 1a400 800
R c9383000 15400 1000
o c9383300 d000 "C:\WINDOWS\NOTEPAD.EXE"
R c9383300 0 800
R c9383300 1000 400
R c9383300 5800 200
R c9383300 a00 200
R c9383300 800 200
C c9383300
o c929b640 d000 "C:\WINDOWS\NOTEPAD.EXE"
R c929b640 0 40
R c929b640 80 f8
C c929b640
o c906a340 1e000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\TAPI32.DLL"
R c906a340 1a000 1000
R c906a340 1a000 1000
o c15a7ac0 4f000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RPCRT4.DLL"
R c15a7ac0 49000 800
R c906a340 19000 e00
R c906a340 18000 1000
o c900ed20 8000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SVRAPI.DLL"
R c900ed20 5000 200
o c15a5630 13000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSNET32.DLL"
R c15a5630 e000 1000
o c906e920 43000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSVCRT20.DLL"
R c906e920 2f000 1000
R c906e920 31000 1000
R c906e920 30000 1000
R c906e920 35000 1000
R c906e920 36000 400
R c906e920 32000 1000
o c9063930 a000 "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SECUR32.DLL"
R c9063930 6000 800
R c9383000 c400 1000
If you click on any region, you will see detailed stats for the major backbone machines, plus performance graphs for the region.
Sorry, but it's not looking good.
ps. I just clicked the link in preview and, while the performance indicies have not changed much in the past few minutes, the trends have all flipped from down to up. So who knows...
But most types of raw materials are quite widely available. So most products can be made in many places. It has already been many years since not all Ford cars were made in Detroit.
If a product is only made in one (or a few) places (because few people know how to make it, or are allowed to make it), but purchased all over the world, then distribution is the bottleneck and those who control distribution (not production) can charge whatever margin they want. This is what the DCMA is really about -- control of distribution channels.
But, if many people in many parts of the world can easily make the item, then no producer and no distributor can restrict the availability of the item. Hence there is no significant margin in production and there is no significant margin in distribution.
The worm wrote what seems to be a log file to:
c:\windows\applog\sirc32.lgc
This is a plain text file that looks innocent enough when opened with notepad. But it includes a column of numbers that just might be dangerous if processed as input by the wrong program...
After some hesitation, tech support informed me that they had been put on the Black Hole list because their email server had an open relay. He also told me it would take 4 to 6 weeks to fix the problem. Something about not wanting to disrupt service to their customers.
Now this is not some fly-by-night organization. I picked them a couple of years ago because I was looking for a professional hosting service, and everything about them seemed to indicate that they were one.
Anyone out there know how to close an open relay? Maybe they'll hire you.
This is why there's such a fight for intellectual property rights. Only by controlling the knowledge of how and what to produce can power be maintained by those who value it. By the middle of the 21st century, the major cost of any material item will be the 'intellectual property' charge. With production automated, almost everyone who is employed will be working in service jobs by 2050. And then it gets more interesting.
For all the gory details, http://www.consumerrevolution.com/IPR.html
Since pi predates the DMCA and everything 'protected' under it, pi must count as 'prior art', invalidating ALL copyright and patent claims.
I think you'll find that a more insightful perspective comes from replacing the word "Internet" with the words "radio and TV".
.com, .org, .net in exchange for .???
The electromagnetic spectrum used to 'belong' to geeks (called amateurs), before business decided there was money to be made there.
I think there's a lot we can learn from how those geeks of yesterday fought for, and won, not control, but continuing use of portions of the electromanetic spectrum. Those "amateur bands" are free of commercial use, while the rest of the radio spectrum is (largely) free of amateurs.
One reason the commercial interests agreed to leave the amateur bands alone is that, like today, those geeks were employed by those commercial interests and much of what those geeks figured out (on their own time and at their own expense) was used by their commercial employers. Open Source is not a new idea. Radio amateurs (HAMS) have been doing it for more than a century.
We may need to adopt the use of a communications protocol not supported by commercial browsers. We may have to give up 'WWW', in exchange for 'GEEK'. Or maybe we'll give up
But if you want to know what's really going on, follow this link for the bigger picture.
Morris
You are right. There is a power struggle going on.
Until 100 years ago, almost everyone on earth lived with shortages. While a few were rich, most people never even had enough to eat. The 20th century has been incredable. We acquired the ability to produce food and goods to satisfy the needs of everyone on earth.
We have had two major power struggles during the 20th century. At the beginning, production was 'difficult', so those who could produce were able to 'call the shots'. WW II was a war of production and it was won by the side that was able to produce the most bombs and bullets.
Since then, productivity has continued to improve. Production is no longer the 'hard part'. The challenge during the past few decades has been to convince people to buy. Hence marketing has become king. Between 3rd world labor and automation, production costs have fallen dramatically. For most products, the major costs are marketing & distribution and R&D.
But the smart folks have recognized that the 21st century will be even more unsettling than the 20th century. Computer controled extraction of natural resources and production (including nanotechnology) can drive manufacturing costs to almost zero. (Go read 'A is for Anything') With the Internet, we will be able to distribute the knowledge of how to produce. This will eliminate the challenges associated with distribution, so there will be no money to be made there.
This is why there's such a fight for intellectual property rights. Only by controling the knowledge of how and what to produce can those who value power maintain any. By the middle of the 21st century, the major cost of any material item will be the 'intellectual property' charge. With production automated, most people will be working in service jobs by 2050. And then it gets more interesting.
As AI research progresses, we will be able to build robots capable of doing service jobs. The health care crisis will be 'solved' during the second half of the 21st century. Robots will replace, not only orderlies and nurses, but physicians and surgeons, too. The cost of producing these robots will be minimal. The valuable commodity will be the knowledge of how to program them to do what you want them to do.
By the end of the 21st century, creativity, the creation of intellectual property, will be the only currently known role that will still be the domain of us humans. And the control of that creativity is what is being fought for now.
That's the power struggle going on now. It's just started.
One more thing. By the end of the 21st century, molecular genetics will have progressed to the point that most people will be able to live almost forever. Imagine living forever in a world where production and services basically cost nothing. The only thing of value will be control of the intellectual property behind it all. Imagine a world where material items sell for ten cents each and services are provided for ten cents an hour. It's paradise if you have the money to pay for what you want. But if you don't, how do you compete with such prices?
The challenge as we approach the 22nd century will be to rethink the issues of access. How do we reward innovation while making it possible for most people to survive and live reasonably good lives? Because, if most people cannot pay for those goods and services, there will be a revolution. If it succeeds, those who were on top will be gone. If the revolution fails, the whole economic system will collapse from lack of customers.
Hang onto your hat. It's going to be a wild ride.
Morris Schneiderman
Content production is becoming easier all the time. It also does not have to be expensive.
The key to financial success in any mass market product category is, and always has been, control of the channels of distribution. Once you have that, you don't have to compete on product quality. You don't have to compete on price. You don't have to compete at all, because the 'competition' can't be heard.
That's what this has been about. That's the only thing this has been about.
The reason the internet is so significant is not because it's "cool", but rather because it offers a new channel, bypassing the ones already in place. That is it's revolutionary aspect.
Guess what, they all are accessable and they all loaded faster than slashdot. So, where is this story coming from?
I have a painting on my wall, done in 1982, depicting a space station in the shape of a Benzine ring - six truncated icosahedrons (soccer balls) connected by tubes. It's double walled inflated Kevlar, foam-in-place sandwich construction with aluminized coatings inside and out. Total usable volue is about 95,000 cubic feet.
It was designed so that the entire structure could be transported to orbit as a single Space Shuttle payload. A second Space Shuttle mission would be needed to bring up the 'internal furnishings'.
The prooof-of-concept was supposed to be a Get-Away-Special (Payload #271). But the software firm I was using to fund the project became a money sink. In addition, officials at NASA asked that the project be delayed because it involved too many technologies that were new to them.
Yes, inflatables hold great promise for use in space where all you want to do is maintain a comfortable shirtsleeve environment. There are significant challenges to be overcome, but that's what makes things interesting.
Now for a prediction. Serious space endevours will be Open Source projects. Some might call it life under a microscope, but imagine the specification and design of a space project as open documents. Then the construction and testing being a streaming video feed. And of course the software would all be Open Source. You wouldn't want to vacation in an orbital hotel where a failure in closed source software could deprive you of oxygen.
I don't think so.
ConsumerRevolution will be a site where you can read about other people's experiences (not opinions) with a 'Brand Name Product' or a 'Provider of Goods or Services'. You will also be able to post your own experiences, good, bad or otherwise.
Morris Schneiderman
You will kown you have a good book when you get it down to 100 pages.
You will be idolized as a great author / editor when you get it down to 10 pages.
"there should be preventative legislation that creates an environment which discourages the formation of monopolies, but like everything in life, need will find a way"
If your corporate income tax rate was set equal to your market share... There would still be loopholes, but it's a start.