A couple years ago I had a job interview to be the webmaster at the Detroit Public Library. Part of the interview process was a skills test of the candidates' coding (scripting) skills. The task was simple enough: Parse through a flat-file database and remove all lines that contained a particular string of characters.
Before I started, since the test had a time limit, I checked the size of the other scripts in the directory I was to save mine to (to get a rough idea of how much code I'd be writing - I hadn't been given the test question yet). Well, that proved particularly useless as the scripts were of such a variance of sizes that none could be used as an accurate reference (gotta love perl, no?). The other scripts ranged in size from 3k to 16k(!? I still can't figure out how someone could take THAT much code to do that..I just hope THEY didn't get the job). Well, my code was 3 functional lines (counting the shebang. 6 lines including comments) long.
What we see here is that one concept can be expressed in a myriad of different ways. The very fact that this concept can be expressed at all, no less in so many different ways says that this isn't just 30 people banging out code to do this because that's the code that does it and there's no two ways about it. It's common knowledge among geeks that each person codes with their own "style". The rest of the world may not understand that, but compare it to artwork. If you tell 100 people to paint an apple for you, you're going to get 100 different paintings - each of which is unique, each of which is art, and each of which would quite easily be defended in the same manner as free speech should the farmer that grew the apple come along to try and charge them a fee for painting it. The same goes for code.
That said, allow me to express my distaste for the manner in which the defense lawyers have handled EVERY step of this case. If you want to prove DeCSS doesn't exist solely to pirate, why not point out some other uses, hmm?? Why not point out that the MPAA hasn't (until recently) allowed (via licensing of CSS or whatever means) any successful development of DVD playing software on a non-windows non-mac platform? Why not point out that linux has however many million (I haven't checked since it was 14) users, and that those of them that have purchased DVD players have the right to be able to use them. FAIR USE REQUIRES THE ABILITY TO USE SOMETHING.
}
else { DIE; }
feh...You're just afraid of the people in those cities. The reason you feel so unwelcome is mostly due to that. If you don't walk around with the general paranoia that you're going to get mugged by everyone you see, you'd notice that a good deal of people in places such as Detroit (where I am from, and where I (even as a white male) feel quite comfortable, even walking around at 4am in Detroit's "infamous" (ooh!) Cass Corridor) are actually just normal people like you and I that are doing what they can to make ends meet.
The plain fact of the matter is, no matter where you go, someone is going to make you feel uncomfortable - so long as you LET them.
I've been laughed at, sneered at, called racial slurs, and yes - even shot at in Detroit. Aside from the bullets I took each one laughing, and in each case whoever it was that instigated the conflict ended up laughing right along with me.
Course...it helps that I'm a total freak.
You speak of Pinkerton as if it's some secret society or an illuminati..Pinkerton Security is nothing of the sort. They're, for all intents and purposes, a rent-a-cop company (I worked for them when I was 18...I don't recommend security work...I REALLY don't). (now to address the general audience) Aside from that, I'm glad to see someone who's not tossing this piece aside because the author is passionate about it...Anyone who was a geek in highschool remembers what the jocks and bullies did to them. Everyone of you still has the scars, inside or out. It truly amazes me that people would say "Oh, maybe it's not that bad." Remember when you couldn't do anything against the people doing that? Take that situation and add, in addition to the normal tauntings, beatings and harassment that geeks/outcasts go through add a healthy dash of ruining someone's life for fun and profit, and you've not only not solved the situation - you've made it worse. Three words: nineteen eighty four. Anyone who's read it can do the math and see where WAVE could lead us..(Big Brother is now watching your kids). While I'm not going to spout on about conspiracies and political ramifications, there is one MAJOR point that I'd like to make...Take these kids, harassed all the time, beat up, and add the paranoia of being reported to WAVE, as well as the anger they'll feel when (it's not an if...we all know the crazy and stupid stuff we used to do to get even with people..reporting someone to WAVE for social and financial gain is going to happen) they're pulled aside by a guidance counselor, a shrink and a cop, and you're actually making the situation WORSE. While a large portion of the kids reported to WAVE are going to be well-centered, balanced, highly gifted individuals who just happened to get on someone's bad side, there will be those that have the unrealized potential to be dangerous, and putting them through that isn't going to help them, it's going to send them over the edge. Humans are a rash, defensive lot, and if you push them too far, they're more than willing to give you what you wanted all along. I just hope that when the first shooting happens because some kid got reported to WAVE and decided to take revenge on those who put him through that calamity, that noone will forget WHY.
The point behind it is - if you keep things at the level they're at just because "They work just fine for you", you're holding back possible advances that could take us far beyond where we're currently at. 386s worked fine, you don't see me using one - technology, both in hardware and in software has a NEED to progress and evolve. If we're not progressing, changing and adapting, we might as well be dead.
As far as the Cable/DSL ISPs go, that's an easy one to remedy. Simply point out to the ISP that they're trying to force you to use windows, and that Microsoft just lost this arguement. If you have to point out that you read and post on slashdot...and ask if they've ever heard of the slashdot effect.. Plain and simple, it's been proven by the DOJ that they CAN'T require you to run windows anymore. I use an @home cablemodem now..about a year ago the rules and restrictions were a mile long as far as what you could and couldn't do/run on their lines...now it consists of "Please don't hack from your cablemodem".. Hardware support isn't too bad...it's not that the userbase is the problem - it's the hardware industry's fault. How long has it taken for nVidia to give out specs for their Riva chipsets? What? they STILL haven't? USB - How long did it take to reach an agreement on a standard? DVD - c'mon...we've seen what happens when someone tries to opensource THAT code... Laptops are the same issue...go ahead and try and ask IBM for specs on the MWave devices...their response will make you laugh.. The problem isnt' the userbase..The userbase does one thing and one thing only in terms of industry relations - they get the name of the product known. When it was reported that Linux had a reported userbase over 12 million stong, that got the name known. Since then it's merely been companies wanting to keep their technology for themselves so they don't have to worry about someone making their hardware cheaper and better. It's all about profit. In time that will change, over the next few months as we see what the DOJ has in store for Microsoft (interesting move by Bill, btw...now even after the split he'll still be in charge of the software), and as we see how well the more commercial distros fair in the real world, we will reach a point at which hardware manufacturers CANNOT ignore the linux and OpenSource community, and most (if not all) the walls will drop. Fascinating times....Fascinating...
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A couple years ago I had a job interview to be the webmaster at the Detroit Public Library. Part of the interview process was a skills test of the candidates' coding (scripting) skills. The task was simple enough: Parse through a flat-file database and remove all lines that contained a particular string of characters. Before I started, since the test had a time limit, I checked the size of the other scripts in the directory I was to save mine to (to get a rough idea of how much code I'd be writing - I hadn't been given the test question yet). Well, that proved particularly useless as the scripts were of such a variance of sizes that none could be used as an accurate reference (gotta love perl, no?). The other scripts ranged in size from 3k to 16k(!? I still can't figure out how someone could take THAT much code to do that..I just hope THEY didn't get the job). Well, my code was 3 functional lines (counting the shebang. 6 lines including comments) long. What we see here is that one concept can be expressed in a myriad of different ways. The very fact that this concept can be expressed at all, no less in so many different ways says that this isn't just 30 people banging out code to do this because that's the code that does it and there's no two ways about it. It's common knowledge among geeks that each person codes with their own "style". The rest of the world may not understand that, but compare it to artwork. If you tell 100 people to paint an apple for you, you're going to get 100 different paintings - each of which is unique, each of which is art, and each of which would quite easily be defended in the same manner as free speech should the farmer that grew the apple come along to try and charge them a fee for painting it. The same goes for code. That said, allow me to express my distaste for the manner in which the defense lawyers have handled EVERY step of this case. If you want to prove DeCSS doesn't exist solely to pirate, why not point out some other uses, hmm?? Why not point out that the MPAA hasn't (until recently) allowed (via licensing of CSS or whatever means) any successful development of DVD playing software on a non-windows non-mac platform? Why not point out that linux has however many million (I haven't checked since it was 14) users, and that those of them that have purchased DVD players have the right to be able to use them. FAIR USE REQUIRES THE ABILITY TO USE SOMETHING.
}
else { DIE; }
feh...You're just afraid of the people in those cities. The reason you feel so unwelcome is mostly due to that. If you don't walk around with the general paranoia that you're going to get mugged by everyone you see, you'd notice that a good deal of people in places such as Detroit (where I am from, and where I (even as a white male) feel quite comfortable, even walking around at 4am in Detroit's "infamous" (ooh!) Cass Corridor) are actually just normal people like you and I that are doing what they can to make ends meet. The plain fact of the matter is, no matter where you go, someone is going to make you feel uncomfortable - so long as you LET them. I've been laughed at, sneered at, called racial slurs, and yes - even shot at in Detroit. Aside from the bullets I took each one laughing, and in each case whoever it was that instigated the conflict ended up laughing right along with me. Course...it helps that I'm a total freak.
You speak of Pinkerton as if it's some secret society or an illuminati..Pinkerton Security is nothing of the sort. They're, for all intents and purposes, a rent-a-cop company (I worked for them when I was 18...I don't recommend security work...I REALLY don't). (now to address the general audience) Aside from that, I'm glad to see someone who's not tossing this piece aside because the author is passionate about it...Anyone who was a geek in highschool remembers what the jocks and bullies did to them. Everyone of you still has the scars, inside or out. It truly amazes me that people would say "Oh, maybe it's not that bad." Remember when you couldn't do anything against the people doing that? Take that situation and add, in addition to the normal tauntings, beatings and harassment that geeks/outcasts go through add a healthy dash of ruining someone's life for fun and profit, and you've not only not solved the situation - you've made it worse. Three words: nineteen eighty four. Anyone who's read it can do the math and see where WAVE could lead us..(Big Brother is now watching your kids). While I'm not going to spout on about conspiracies and political ramifications, there is one MAJOR point that I'd like to make...Take these kids, harassed all the time, beat up, and add the paranoia of being reported to WAVE, as well as the anger they'll feel when (it's not an if...we all know the crazy and stupid stuff we used to do to get even with people..reporting someone to WAVE for social and financial gain is going to happen) they're pulled aside by a guidance counselor, a shrink and a cop, and you're actually making the situation WORSE. While a large portion of the kids reported to WAVE are going to be well-centered, balanced, highly gifted individuals who just happened to get on someone's bad side, there will be those that have the unrealized potential to be dangerous, and putting them through that isn't going to help them, it's going to send them over the edge. Humans are a rash, defensive lot, and if you push them too far, they're more than willing to give you what you wanted all along. I just hope that when the first shooting happens because some kid got reported to WAVE and decided to take revenge on those who put him through that calamity, that noone will forget WHY.
The point behind it is - if you keep things at the level they're at just because "They work just fine for you", you're holding back possible advances that could take us far beyond where we're currently at. 386s worked fine, you don't see me using one - technology, both in hardware and in software has a NEED to progress and evolve. If we're not progressing, changing and adapting, we might as well be dead.
As far as the Cable/DSL ISPs go, that's an easy one to remedy. Simply point out to the ISP that they're trying to force you to use windows, and that Microsoft just lost this arguement. If you have to point out that you read and post on slashdot...and ask if they've ever heard of the slashdot effect.. Plain and simple, it's been proven by the DOJ that they CAN'T require you to run windows anymore. I use an @home cablemodem now..about a year ago the rules and restrictions were a mile long as far as what you could and couldn't do/run on their lines...now it consists of "Please don't hack from your cablemodem".. Hardware support isn't too bad...it's not that the userbase is the problem - it's the hardware industry's fault. How long has it taken for nVidia to give out specs for their Riva chipsets? What? they STILL haven't? USB - How long did it take to reach an agreement on a standard? DVD - c'mon...we've seen what happens when someone tries to opensource THAT code... Laptops are the same issue...go ahead and try and ask IBM for specs on the MWave devices...their response will make you laugh.. The problem isnt' the userbase..The userbase does one thing and one thing only in terms of industry relations - they get the name of the product known. When it was reported that Linux had a reported userbase over 12 million stong, that got the name known. Since then it's merely been companies wanting to keep their technology for themselves so they don't have to worry about someone making their hardware cheaper and better. It's all about profit. In time that will change, over the next few months as we see what the DOJ has in store for Microsoft (interesting move by Bill, btw...now even after the split he'll still be in charge of the software), and as we see how well the more commercial distros fair in the real world, we will reach a point at which hardware manufacturers CANNOT ignore the linux and OpenSource community, and most (if not all) the walls will drop. Fascinating times....Fascinating...