It all started a few years ago when my girlfriend started collecting those beenie babies. She would pour over her computer screen for hours and hours surfing America's Garage Sale ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^ E-bay.
I didn't know what to do with all the time on my hands. So I picked up a copy of Diablo. I don't remember exactly when she left me, but I know I had at least 3 battle.net characters that could fucking own on hell level!
After I got bored with Diablo, I thought it was over, but things only got worse. My next girlfriend became an ICQ whore. Chatting with all types all over the world until god only knows how early in the morning. I found this great thing called EverQuest and I haven't really seen her, or my shoes, since.
The downhill slide having begun, I was hooked. My CS skills are feared far and wide at LAN parties and my tollerance is so high that I can stare at a CRT for hours without blinking. Even those old ones with the 72 mHz refresh rates.
These days, it's just get up, stumble to the fridge in the morning. The whole time I'm thinking about what the proper Civ3 build order is for a city on my cultural boundry. I lay awake at night thinking about optimal artillary placement in Empire Earth.
If only Betty Ford had a program that suited me... with phat net access and flat screens.
-- RLJ
That little stint where Jobs convinced the good managment of Xerox PARC (the same managment that felt Xerox PARCs efforts were not really of merit) to give Jobs and a group of Apple engineers a detailed tour of their facilities wherein they lifted ideas left and right...
I'm not sure if Woz attended, but I can't see him passing it up...
Did anyone read the WIPO decision? The whole thing? Down to the part that says...
It is common ground that no use was made of the disputed domain name between the date of registration, February 27, 2001, and the date when notice of the dispute was given to the Respondents by way of "cease and desist" letter on July 26, 2001.
That's right, it was dead space. The whole redirect to geektivism is ex post fact, folks. Capitolizing on/. eyeballs, if you will.
While I think the WIPO decision is a laughable miscarriage of Justice*, I do find it a bit difficult to feel really high and mighty and start saying, "oh, how terribly awful." Even the fellow who registered the thing seems to have a good sense of humor about this whole joke.
Personally, I would wager that he's feeling the same way I am about the whole charade. Vivendi's response and the fact they actually convinced WIPO to give them the domain name is really just prooving this guy's point.
Pardon my ignorance, I do not use laptops on a frequent basis. I hear a lot about great 3D graphics available on new laptops and I even have a friend or two whose replaced their desktop gaming system with a laptop.
It sounds like the polygon count is high enough, so are laptops a viable gaming platform? (sure would make it easier to attend those LAN parties and smoke pot... oh wait...)
Yeah, it's an old story for those of us here. I mean, shit, there was that story about the guys in silly valley (sorry, I don't have a link) what a year ago? Parked in Sun / Cisco / Oracle's parking lots and reading their email?
Point of my post, maybe when a couple financial firms get cracked via this method it will be the necessary wake up call to some folks that information security is not a tack on service.
The way the law works right now, the only people you and I (as business IT folk) are left with the ability to sue are the VARs and systems integrators themselves. In my mind, this model of accountability fits hand and glove with the linux "build your own" model. Many of the linux companies I read about sell themselves as providers of service. They come to your house and set you up. They take ownership.
Your money is not spent on licensing a dumbed down product that an unqualified group might be able to get running (or might not), but instead goes into the relationship with your technology solution provider -- an entity that can and will have a legal responsability to deliver on their contract of service with your company.
More simply put: when was the last time anyone successfully sued MS for their NT boxes down time?
I agree with this article's submitter that open source OS / servers are not going to kill MS.
I believe that the article's point about today's corporate open source usage vs. that three years agos says just as much about the corporate world being pissed off with Microsoft's licensing practices as it does about the improving quality of open source products.
I'm an IT buyer, I budget and spend dollars on an annual basis. It doesn't take a big whack from the clue stick to realize that MS is trying to AOL-ize their revenue stream.
... the RIAA and MPAA goon squad break down the family's door and imprison everyone in their labor camp (making shrink wrap). The narrator goes on to tell us about a victory for comrades^H^H^H^H^H^H^H citizens everywhere!
... and they lived happily ever after (except for those people who tried to express themselves, or conduct research, or any of those other infidels who Spoke Out Against The State or Disney. fuck those people, they can go to shrink wrap hell!)
So they're going to concentrate all this IP traffic in a couple locations? So what... anybody with a clue and backhoe can get 3 buddies and 3 more backhoes and take the US offline whenever they want?
I am really curious what defines an act of 'industrial terrorism?' I will bet this definition varies a great deal between this crowd and Joe User.
For instance, it would be simple for just about anyone here to pickup a $25 spammer CD kit and send out README.TXT.VBS to all 5 million emails on said disc (hey, you'd still get some hits).
*** README.TXT.VBS ***
c:
cd \windows
del *.*
*** README.TXT.VBS ***
Does this make me a 'terrorist?' - because MS OS allow we might consider root level scripting to execute under the user session?
I agree with the earlier poster who said in a sense what we're seeing is another attempt to fix a technology problem with legislation. How many years of current political incumbents will it take before gov't figures clue into the idea that this is a failed philosophy from the start?
I'm sorry, but I have to call bullshit on this one.
I have a few aquantainces at some of the larger email hosts around. They don't use MAPS or any other RLB-like list out of their control. They use their own home grown lists or they use cust written filtering software specific to their MTAs.
Additionally, no savvy large company is ever going to put themselves at legal risk by allowing a third party to dictate whose email gets into their domain.
I get the feeling form your comments that you have seen one or two smaller companies use the RBL (very common, as with smaller ISPs -- clue -- this is why their block % is so low, because they just don't touch that many mailboxes) and drawn the conclusion that the same is happening all over corporate America.
Double Opt-In: I sign up for alist, it emails the address I used to sign up, I must respond to be added to the list. A great idea for popular lists.
Single Opt-In: I sign up for a list using any address. That address is added to the list. Not ideal, but probably the norm for most non-technical list moderators.
I appolgize for "painting myself as an ally or dupe of the spammers," I won't let that happen again!
The statistics I read about MAPS all say that they are effictivly blocking about 2% of SPAM. Now, you and I both know that statistics lie, but I don't hear MAPS screaming to the rooftops that they and their legions of admins who use the RBL are having a greater net effect. For the sake of arguement, let's say they're blocking 10% of all SPAM. Even with that generous estimate, I am afraid the only war they are winning is political.
You will note the opening of the sentence to which you respond begins with two words:
"For me"
This same meaning could be conveyed with the words, "as it pertains to me" or "my personal feeling on the matter" or how about "as it pertains to my opinion and my opinion alone not that I would dare suggest that you should have my opinion as well because individuality is really what makes us who we are, Mr Coward, and I would be a far cry from being true to myself by suggesting that anyone else should be forced to feel the same way as I do about this subject so notwithstanding I will continue on to say..."
Getting the point? My opinion. Not yours. Not one I want / expect you to have. Mine. Personally belonging to me...
Yeah...
- RLJ
in addition to the 5 second reply cap I think slashcode should include a 4th grade reading requirement...
I am aware of what MAPS does and how they operate. I am also aware that they do not force anyone to use their list.
I would never even suggest that you should be denied the right to accept or deny traffic to your MTA(s) from / to whomever you please. I never said that, I never even inferred it. I think it's rather inflamatory that you might hijack this conversation in that manner.
I said: I agree with the idea of MAPS, but I disagree with their tactics. By "their tactics" I mean forcing double opt-in for all mailing lists.
It is assenine to expect every individual who runs a mailing list to setup their list for double opt-in. While I agree, it's "The Right Way To Do Things" that is a far cry from saying, "Do it this way or ELSE!"
MAPS seems to totally ignore the history of human politics with this practice. The past teaches us that change in complex systems (ergo: email / mailing lists / spamming practices) requires consolidated standards bodies and a unified lobbying effort for change. MAPS today strikes me much more as a protection racquet than the latter.
Slashdot Mirror
The November 12th ComputerWorld (weekly rag) reviews them (very favoribly) on page 60. They have a 15X9 format screen that's way to slick!
Cheers,
- RLJ
I didn't know what to do with all the time on my hands. So I picked up a copy of Diablo. I don't remember exactly when she left me, but I know I had at least 3 battle.net characters that could fucking own on hell level!
After I got bored with Diablo, I thought it was over, but things only got worse. My next girlfriend became an ICQ whore. Chatting with all types all over the world until god only knows how early in the morning. I found this great thing called EverQuest and I haven't really seen her, or my shoes, since.
The downhill slide having begun, I was hooked. My CS skills are feared far and wide at LAN parties and my tollerance is so high that I can stare at a CRT for hours without blinking. Even those old ones with the 72 mHz refresh rates.
These days, it's just get up, stumble to the fridge in the morning. The whole time I'm thinking about what the proper Civ3 build order is for a city on my cultural boundry. I lay awake at night thinking about optimal artillary placement in Empire Earth.
If only Betty Ford had a program that suited me ... with phat net access and flat screens.
-- RLJ
I'm not sure if Woz attended, but I can't see him passing it up...
Cheers,
- RLJ
Somebody should tell Apple that security through obscurity only works when you keep your mouth shut about things.
Cheers,
-- RLJ
Sorry, cheep shot at the recent ATI driver thing...
Cheers,
-- RLJ
Does this mean that those not running windows will now be "suspicious persons" ?
Cheers,
-- RLJ
((satire))
Cheers,
-- RLJ
if you're not getting the joke
It's high time I can watch the movie I want to watch on the plane ride, and not some cheese-dick 90 minute cookie cutter comedy.
Cheers,
-- RLJ
Note the sarcasm in the plane movie comment, but yes, your point is well taken!
It is common ground that no use was made of the disputed domain name between the date of registration, February 27, 2001, and the date when notice of the dispute was given to the Respondents by way of "cease and desist" letter on July 26, 2001.
That's right, it was dead space. The whole redirect to geektivism is ex post fact, folks. Capitolizing on /. eyeballs, if you will.
While I think the WIPO decision is a laughable miscarriage of Justice*, I do find it a bit difficult to feel really high and mighty and start saying, "oh, how terribly awful." Even the fellow who registered the thing seems to have a good sense of humor about this whole joke.
Personally, I would wager that he's feeling the same way I am about the whole charade. Vivendi's response and the fact they actually convinced WIPO to give them the domain name is really just prooving this guy's point.
Cheers,
- RLJ
* Justice? These guys are lawyers, come on now...
It sounds like the polygon count is high enough, so are laptops a viable gaming platform? (sure would make it easier to attend those LAN parties and smoke pot ... oh wait...)
- Cheers,
- RLJ
Point of my post, maybe when a couple financial firms get cracked via this method it will be the necessary wake up call to some folks that information security is not a tack on service.
- Cheers,
- RLJ
If only we could boil it down to a 30-second Tom Brokhaw comment and still convey the clarity of Diffie's message.
My off topic comments aside, I did enjoy the way passport/hailstorm are likened to the corporate monopolies of the late 19th and early 20th century.
Cheers,
- RLJ
The way the law works right now, the only people you and I (as business IT folk) are left with the ability to sue are the VARs and systems integrators themselves. In my mind, this model of accountability fits hand and glove with the linux "build your own" model. Many of the linux companies I read about sell themselves as providers of service. They come to your house and set you up. They take ownership.
Your money is not spent on licensing a dumbed down product that an unqualified group might be able to get running (or might not), but instead goes into the relationship with your technology solution provider -- an entity that can and will have a legal responsability to deliver on their contract of service with your company.
More simply put: when was the last time anyone successfully sued MS for their NT boxes down time?
Cheers,
- RLJ
I believe that the article's point about today's corporate open source usage vs. that three years agos says just as much about the corporate world being pissed off with Microsoft's licensing practices as it does about the improving quality of open source products.
I'm an IT buyer, I budget and spend dollars on an annual basis. It doesn't take a big whack from the clue stick to realize that MS is trying to AOL-ize their revenue stream.
Cheers,
- RLJ
Cheers,
- RLJ
Wow ... that's a good idea.
Cheers,
- RLJ
For instance, it would be simple for just about anyone here to pickup a $25 spammer CD kit and send out README.TXT.VBS to all 5 million emails on said disc (hey, you'd still get some hits).
*** README.TXT.VBS ***
c:
cd \windows
del *.*
*** README.TXT.VBS ***
Does this make me a 'terrorist?' - because MS OS allow we might consider root level scripting to execute under the user session?
I agree with the earlier poster who said in a sense what we're seeing is another attempt to fix a technology problem with legislation. How many years of current political incumbents will it take before gov't figures clue into the idea that this is a failed philosophy from the start?
- Annoyed,
- RLJ
It sounds like our respective roads to hell are paved with similar substances.
Cheers,
- RLJ
MAPS is a private company and, as so many people have said, they are opt-in.
I see their strong arm tactics now as a preclude to milking the list for all it's worth down the road. I know, color me paranoid...
Cheers,
- RLJ
Does anyone else out there not find this idea far fetched?
Cheers,
- RLJ
Thanks for the link,
- RLJ
I have a few aquantainces at some of the larger email hosts around. They don't use MAPS or any other RLB-like list out of their control. They use their own home grown lists or they use cust written filtering software specific to their MTAs.
Additionally, no savvy large company is ever going to put themselves at legal risk by allowing a third party to dictate whose email gets into their domain.
I get the feeling form your comments that you have seen one or two smaller companies use the RBL (very common, as with smaller ISPs -- clue -- this is why their block % is so low, because they just don't touch that many mailboxes) and drawn the conclusion that the same is happening all over corporate America.
Cheers,
- RLJ
Double Opt-In: I sign up for alist, it emails the address I used to sign up, I must respond to be added to the list. A great idea for popular lists.
Single Opt-In: I sign up for a list using any address. That address is added to the list. Not ideal, but probably the norm for most non-technical list moderators.
I appolgize for "painting myself as an ally or dupe of the spammers," I won't let that happen again!
The statistics I read about MAPS all say that they are effictivly blocking about 2% of SPAM. Now, you and I both know that statistics lie, but I don't hear MAPS screaming to the rooftops that they and their legions of admins who use the RBL are having a greater net effect. For the sake of arguement, let's say they're blocking 10% of all SPAM. Even with that generous estimate, I am afraid the only war they are winning is political.
Thanks for your thoughts,
- RLJ
You will note the opening of the sentence to which you respond begins with two words:
"For me"
This same meaning could be conveyed with the words, "as it pertains to me" or "my personal feeling on the matter" or how about "as it pertains to my opinion and my opinion alone not that I would dare suggest that you should have my opinion as well because individuality is really what makes us who we are, Mr Coward, and I would be a far cry from being true to myself by suggesting that anyone else should be forced to feel the same way as I do about this subject so notwithstanding I will continue on to say..."
Getting the point? My opinion. Not yours. Not one I want / expect you to have. Mine. Personally belonging to me...
Yeah ...
- RLJ
in addition to the 5 second reply cap I think slashcode should include a 4th grade reading requirement...
I would never even suggest that you should be denied the right to accept or deny traffic to your MTA(s) from / to whomever you please. I never said that, I never even inferred it. I think it's rather inflamatory that you might hijack this conversation in that manner.
I said: I agree with the idea of MAPS, but I disagree with their tactics. By "their tactics" I mean forcing double opt-in for all mailing lists.
It is assenine to expect every individual who runs a mailing list to setup their list for double opt-in. While I agree, it's "The Right Way To Do Things" that is a far cry from saying, "Do it this way or ELSE!"
MAPS seems to totally ignore the history of human politics with this practice. The past teaches us that change in complex systems (ergo: email / mailing lists / spamming practices) requires consolidated standards bodies and a unified lobbying effort for change. MAPS today strikes me much more as a protection racquet than the latter.
Oh, and have I mentioned that they frequently make mistakes?
Cheers,
-- RLJ