This is what I find infuriating about the anti-vaccination crowd; their "risk assessment" that decides to avoid protecting their children relies on the rest of us taking said risk for ours and providing "herd immunity" on behalf of their offspring. The recent, needless pop-ups of preventable diseases is a result of not enough parents feeling the need to protect their own children because "everyone else's kids are immunized, mine don't need to be".
Which lines right up with Ballmer's Linux-patent-infringement whinge, where they've implied hundreds of patents are infringed, but is much more willing to settle with TomTom, Renault, etc., in return for some money and not having said patents actually challenged in court for obviousness, etc.
Seems this is a bit of karma coming back to bite MS in the backside...
If you're determined to resurrect this hardware, for $15 you could add a 128 Mb stick of PC100 memory from Newegg, then any of a number of compact distros mentioned above become straightforward to support.
I know that IBM got an written opinion from Brian Kernighan that he found no code in Linux that met the legal qualifications of infringement. I'm not aware of any opinions from any of them about the overall case.
I know that having worked at AT&T for twelve years myself as a UNIX admin, seeing these bottom-feeders using the codebase as an tool to try and keep their failed business afloat steams *me* up to no end. What the original authors think can only be speculated on...
Since this looks like an upgrade of the existing N800/810 tablets to include GSM phone capability, YES you can get shell access, SSH to/from other boxes, etc.
Check this link for the "official" catalog of Maemo apps, most/all of which I'd assume will work on this new unit, and this one for additional projects in various stages of development.
While it is a requirement of a corporation to maximize the shareholders' value, Ballmer is simply grandstanding and expecting the government to roll over for MS' benefit. The current administration is much less submissive to corporate political desires.
The Administration should VERY publicly call them out and recommend government offices immediately develop a schedule for converting as much of the IT infrastructure as possible away from MS software.
Sure a couple of bands make it from word of mouth and internet activity, youtube etc but the vast majority dont.
Give me a big marketing budget and some pluggers any day.
(a) Even given the "big marketing budget and some pluggers", the vast majority of bands don't make it anyway....
(b) Given the typical RIAA-member contract, you're probably clearing more money from the Amazon/Tunecore arrangement, and you haven't mortgaged your souls for a decade in the process.
This alone would have killed off SCOX as the Golden Arches were their single biggest customer.
Other than this, there's a few auto-service point-of-sale packages on SCO UNIX (ex. the Goodyear/Gemini franchisees), though I gather these are migrating as quickly as possible.
The way the contract to the old Santa Cruz Operation read (which Caldera -> SCO Group inherited), there was a list of transferred products, and another of products NOT being transferred. "All copyrights" were in the NOT list. Novell also dug up the *outside* lawyer involved in drafting the contract, whose notes confirm the copyrights were to be left with Novell, and their board minutes immediately following the sale, where the retention of the copyrights is stated. The concern at the time was apparently that Santa Cruz didn't have that much money, and Novell was worried about the company failing and the copyrights falling into some random company's hands. [Hindsight in *this* case definitely 20/20]
There was a follow-up document which said copyrights needed for business operation WOULD be transferred, but no documentation of any such transfer (required by the Copyright Act) to Santa Cruz has appeared. Obviously if they never transferred to the old Santa Cruz, Caldera couldn't have acquired them afterward.
There's also letters from McBride to Novell management asking for transfer right about the time the lawsuits were starting, which suggests they knew very well their position was shaky.
When Caldera (a failing Linux vendor, and part of the Canopy Group as you mention), acquired the UNIX business from Santa Cruz Operation (the remains of which became Tarantella and was acquired by Sun), they renamed themselves "The SCO Group".
IBM announced they were uninterested in continuing the Monterey work under the new management, which was in their rights. "Scaldera", after continuing to fail as a Linux vendor, chose to sue IBM, apparently for their deep pockets. Despite years of discovery, they failed to find any UNIX code in Linux; their claims of "viral ownership" of JFS and NUMA, which AT&T had disavowed back in the day, were dismissed; and finally the Novell suit showed they hadn't in fact acquired any UNIX copyrights from Novell to begin with, only a licensing operation. It's all been duck-and-weave since then trying to avoid the final smackdown, and it looks like they've run out of places to hide.
>> To hell with Zales' POS systems. McDonalds is a MAJOR user of SCO Unix, and they just keep growing.
IIRC, SCOX was unable to update the POS software (I'll skip the obvious joke...) to deal with McD's stored-value "ArchCard", and as a result they're migrating to some embedded-Windows platform. I also recall seeing somewhere that McD's German subsidiary was looking at replacing the back-office server for the sales terminals with SuSE some time back. I don't know the status on either of these, but losing the McDonalds account would likely have been a deathblow to SCOX irregardless of the lawsuits.
The Novell case ruled SCOX doesn't own the UNIX copyrights (such as they are...), whatever they have copyright on are their additions; not very useful. AFAIK they hold no patents.
My guess is that Novell starts a short-term consultancy to migrate the SCOX stragglers over to SuSE once the rubble stops bouncing in Lindon.
There's two data points the surveys are likely to miss, though one is VERY small and unlikely to skew the results.
I rolled my own desktop system by purchasing the various components (mobo/CPU/RAM/...) and assembling; said box has been through three versions of Linux and never seen an MS install disk. Is this somehow being tallied in? Doubt it.
The "scrub the pre-installed Windows and reload" scenario is probably more prevalent, but still unlikely to be in the counts. I'm looking at a netbook, and probably one with an internal HD vs. flash storage. Most of those come preloaded with XP. If I get one, the first action is plugging in an external optical drive and reloading with some netbook-friendly distro. Do they count the preloaded XP I was sold, or the Linux I'm actually running with?
Author of TFA said his original intent was to highlight using Linux to simulate network crapfulness, but enough folks have asked your question that he's planning a followup with the actual caching results.
Check this comment above; you get enough of an unimmunized pool to provide a breeding ground, and create the potential for mutations the vaccine no longer protects for. Obvious example is the influenza virus, which gets numerous variants and requires new shots annually.
The basis for H-1B visas is to bring in offshore labor for either specific specialized work or to meet an position they could not find a US worker to fill.
Given the current economic conditions, with thousands of US workers being laid off, especially in the banking/financial sector, the idea that there is a lack of available domestic candidates to draw from is doubtful. That they are looking for a higher base wage than an offshore worker is, however, likely, though even this is likely to change depending on how long the current downturn lasts. The premise that the domestic market is unable to provide workers and therefore companies need to draw in foreign talent is getting harder and harder to justify, and especially when companies are taking government funds to stay solvent, there should be some preference given to boosting domestic hiring.
First, thank you for (a) your work on behalf of the RIAA's targets (b) your explanations to those of us not legally trained on the details of these suits.
That said, with the RIAA walking away, what is the likelihood of recovering costs? And if this is a de-facto dismissal-with-prejudice, does this set any sort of precedence for the other active cases?
MS has managed to report steady earnings for years despite market downturns, etc. For them to lay off in the numbers being rumored to meet the stock analysts' projections suggest deeper problems.
With the Vista debacle, the rising share of OSX in the consumer space, the continuing also-ran status of Xbox vs. the other gaming consoles, they're facing pushback on more fronts than ever, and the economic cycle's not on their side just now. And the likelihood of reclaiming customers once they go elsewhere is pretty slim. Not promising.
Seeing Asus EEE's and Acer Aspire One's on the shelf at Best Buy & Target, seeing billboards on the way to work from Amazon for the OLPC Give-One-Get-One deal, all the hype around the T-Mobile "GPhone", on top of all the existing embedded usage in SOHO routers, etc., and I'd say we're already here.
That MS hasn't imploded from it all isn't an issue, however desirable it may be. They appear to have shot themselves in the corporate foot quite thoroughly with Vista, there appears to be no salvation in sight from their next version, so one could expect a slow but steady increase, especially given the economic situation, of individuals and businesses looking at Linux as an alternative. We're visible and becoming more so.
There's the general opinion of Vista's unsuitability, the rise in Macs, the netbook phenomenon, the economic downturn slowing hardware turnover, all leading to fewer Windows boxes out there. The question is whether MS has any chance of reclaiming them with their even-fatter Windows 7, or accelerate the downturn.
Now if some Large Visible Company decided to jump off the Microsoft Upgrade Treadmill in favor of Some Other OS, *THAT* would be a story...
Kurzweil uses the word "soul" to get everyone's attention, then shifts the discussion to "consciousness". He *does* seem a bit obsessed with the idea of machine intelligence and its consequences.
At some point, though, we *are* likely to end up with self-aware machines, and the discussion of what that entitles them to will become relevant. Especially in the case of machines, where the consciousness could be transferable to fresh hardware as the original wears down.
Slashdot Mirror
This is what I find infuriating about the anti-vaccination crowd; their "risk assessment" that decides to avoid protecting their children relies on the rest of us taking said risk for ours and providing "herd immunity" on behalf of their offspring. The recent, needless pop-ups of preventable diseases is a result of not enough parents feeling the need to protect their own children because "everyone else's kids are immunized, mine don't need to be".
Selfish gits.
SCOX(Q) DELENDA EST!!
Which lines right up with Ballmer's Linux-patent-infringement whinge, where they've implied hundreds of patents are infringed, but is much more willing to settle with TomTom, Renault, etc., in return for some money and not having said patents actually challenged in court for obviousness, etc.
Seems this is a bit of karma coming back to bite MS in the backside...
SCOX(Q) DELENDA EST!!!
If you're determined to resurrect this hardware, for $15 you could add a 128 Mb stick of PC100 memory from Newegg, then any of a number of compact distros mentioned above become straightforward to support.
Given this looks like a major upgrade from the existing Nokia tablets, this link might fill in the gap
I know that IBM got an written opinion from Brian Kernighan that he found no code in Linux that met the legal qualifications of infringement. I'm not aware of any opinions from any of them about the overall case.
I know that having worked at AT&T for twelve years myself as a UNIX admin, seeing these bottom-feeders using the codebase as an tool to try and keep their failed business afloat steams *me* up to no end. What the original authors think can only be speculated on...
SCOX(Q) DELENDA EST!!
Since this looks like an upgrade of the existing N800/810 tablets to include GSM phone capability, YES you can get shell access, SSH to/from other boxes, etc.
Check this link for the "official" catalog of Maemo apps, most/all of which I'd assume will work on this new unit, and this one for additional projects in various stages of development.
While it is a requirement of a corporation to maximize the shareholders' value, Ballmer is simply grandstanding and expecting the government to roll over for MS' benefit. The current administration is much less submissive to corporate political desires.
The Administration should VERY publicly call them out and recommend government offices immediately develop a schedule for converting as much of the IT infrastructure as possible away from MS software.
Sure a couple of bands make it from word of mouth and internet activity, youtube etc but the vast majority dont.
Give me a big marketing budget and some pluggers any day.
(a) Even given the "big marketing budget and some pluggers", the vast majority of bands don't make it anyway....
(b) Given the typical RIAA-member contract, you're probably clearing more money from the Amazon/Tunecore arrangement, and you haven't mortgaged your souls for a decade in the process.
Turns up some software company that does POS for auto service shops is promoting a "bailout program" from UNIX to Linux .
Those two would cover most of the existing base.
SCOX(Q) DELENDA EST
McD's announced about three years back they were moving their point-of-sale platform to Windows .
This alone would have killed off SCOX as the Golden Arches were their single biggest customer.
Other than this, there's a few auto-service point-of-sale packages on SCO UNIX (ex. the Goodyear/Gemini franchisees), though I gather these are migrating as quickly as possible.
SCOX(Q) DELENDA EST!!
s/Nortel/Novell/g ...
The way the contract to the old Santa Cruz Operation read (which Caldera -> SCO Group inherited), there was a list of transferred products, and another of products NOT being transferred. "All copyrights" were in the NOT list. Novell also dug up the *outside* lawyer involved in drafting the contract, whose notes confirm the copyrights were to be left with Novell, and their board minutes immediately following the sale, where the retention of the copyrights is stated. The concern at the time was apparently that Santa Cruz didn't have that much money, and Novell was worried about the company failing and the copyrights falling into some random company's hands. [Hindsight in *this* case definitely 20/20]
There was a follow-up document which said copyrights needed for business operation WOULD be transferred, but no documentation of any such transfer (required by the Copyright Act) to Santa Cruz has appeared. Obviously if they never transferred to the old Santa Cruz, Caldera couldn't have acquired them afterward.
There's also letters from McBride to Novell management asking for transfer right about the time the lawsuits were starting, which suggests they knew very well their position was shaky.
SCOX(Q) DELENDA EST!!
>> And a technology company starts taking on the appearance of a patent troll operation.
Would have helped their case if they'd checked before starting that they actually *owned* the copyrights they were trying to leverage.
SCOX(Q) DELENDA EST!!
When Caldera (a failing Linux vendor, and part of the Canopy Group as you mention), acquired the UNIX business from Santa Cruz Operation (the remains of which became Tarantella and was acquired by Sun), they renamed themselves "The SCO Group".
IBM announced they were uninterested in continuing the Monterey work under the new management, which was in their rights. "Scaldera", after continuing to fail as a Linux vendor, chose to sue IBM, apparently for their deep pockets. Despite years of discovery, they failed to find any UNIX code in Linux; their claims of "viral ownership" of JFS and NUMA, which AT&T had disavowed back in the day, were dismissed; and finally the Novell suit showed they hadn't in fact acquired any UNIX copyrights from Novell to begin with, only a licensing operation. It's all been duck-and-weave since then trying to avoid the final smackdown, and it looks like they've run out of places to hide.
SCOX(Q) DELENDA EST!!
>> To hell with Zales' POS systems. McDonalds is a MAJOR user of SCO Unix, and they just keep growing.
IIRC, SCOX was unable to update the POS software (I'll skip the obvious joke...) to deal with McD's stored-value "ArchCard", and as a result they're migrating to some embedded-Windows platform. I also recall seeing somewhere that McD's German subsidiary was looking at replacing the back-office server for the sales terminals with SuSE some time back. I don't know the status on either of these, but losing the McDonalds account would likely have been a deathblow to SCOX irregardless of the lawsuits.
The Novell case ruled SCOX doesn't own the UNIX copyrights (such as they are...), whatever they have copyright on are their additions; not very useful. AFAIK they hold no patents.
My guess is that Novell starts a short-term consultancy to migrate the SCOX stragglers over to SuSE once the rubble stops bouncing in Lindon.
SCOX(Q) DELENDA EST!!
There's two data points the surveys are likely to miss, though one is VERY small and unlikely to skew the results.
I rolled my own desktop system by purchasing the various components (mobo/CPU/RAM/...) and assembling; said box has been through three versions of Linux and never seen an MS install disk. Is this somehow being tallied in? Doubt it.
The "scrub the pre-installed Windows and reload" scenario is probably more prevalent, but still unlikely to be in the counts. I'm looking at a netbook, and probably one with an internal HD vs. flash storage. Most of those come preloaded with XP. If I get one, the first action is plugging in an external optical drive and reloading with some netbook-friendly distro. Do they count the preloaded XP I was sold, or the Linux I'm actually running with?
SCOX(Q) DELENDA EST!!
Author of TFA said his original intent was to highlight using Linux to simulate network crapfulness, but enough folks have asked your question that he's planning a followup with the actual caching results.
SCOX(Q) DELENDA EST!!
Given the 80's style animation, this is probably just the sort of thing he feared happening.....
Check this comment above; you get enough of an unimmunized pool to provide a breeding ground, and create the potential for mutations the vaccine no longer protects for. Obvious example is the influenza virus, which gets numerous variants and requires new shots annually.
The basis for H-1B visas is to bring in offshore labor for either specific specialized work or to meet an position they could not find a US worker to fill.
Given the current economic conditions, with thousands of US workers being laid off, especially in the banking/financial sector, the idea that there is a lack of available domestic candidates to draw from is doubtful. That they are looking for a higher base wage than an offshore worker is, however, likely, though even this is likely to change depending on how long the current downturn lasts. The premise that the domestic market is unable to provide workers and therefore companies need to draw in foreign talent is getting harder and harder to justify, and especially when companies are taking government funds to stay solvent, there should be some preference given to boosting domestic hiring.
SCOX(Q) DELENDA EST!!
Ray,
First, thank you for (a) your work on behalf of the RIAA's targets (b) your explanations to those of us not legally trained on the details of these suits.
That said, with the RIAA walking away, what is the likelihood of recovering costs? And if this is a de-facto dismissal-with-prejudice, does this set any sort of precedence for the other active cases?
SCOX(Q) DELENDA EST!!
MS has managed to report steady earnings for years despite market downturns, etc. For them to lay off in the numbers being rumored to meet the stock analysts' projections suggest deeper problems.
With the Vista debacle, the rising share of OSX in the consumer space, the continuing also-ran status of Xbox vs. the other gaming consoles, they're facing pushback on more fronts than ever, and the economic cycle's not on their side just now. And the likelihood of reclaiming customers once they go elsewhere is pretty slim. Not promising.
SCOX(Q) DELENDA EST!!
Seeing Asus EEE's and Acer Aspire One's on the shelf at Best Buy & Target, seeing billboards on the way to work from Amazon for the OLPC Give-One-Get-One deal, all the hype around the T-Mobile "GPhone", on top of all the existing embedded usage in SOHO routers, etc., and I'd say we're already here.
That MS hasn't imploded from it all isn't an issue, however desirable it may be. They appear to have shot themselves in the corporate foot quite thoroughly with Vista, there appears to be no salvation in sight from their next version, so one could expect a slow but steady increase, especially given the economic situation, of individuals and businesses looking at Linux as an alternative. We're visible and becoming more so.
There's the general opinion of Vista's unsuitability, the rise in Macs, the netbook phenomenon, the economic downturn slowing hardware turnover, all leading to fewer Windows boxes out there. The question is whether MS has any chance of reclaiming them with their even-fatter Windows 7, or accelerate the downturn.
Now if some Large Visible Company decided to jump off the Microsoft Upgrade Treadmill in favor of Some Other OS, *THAT* would be a story...
SCOX(Q) DELENDA EST!!
Kurzweil uses the word "soul" to get everyone's attention, then shifts the discussion to "consciousness". He *does* seem a bit obsessed with the idea of machine intelligence and its consequences.
At some point, though, we *are* likely to end up with self-aware machines, and the discussion of what that entitles them to will become relevant. Especially in the case of machines, where the consciousness could be transferable to fresh hardware as the original wears down.
SCOX(Q) DELENDA EST!!