Nah, that's no use either. What you do is monkey up something to run it in a linux system running inside VMWare or Bochs... the rest is left as an exercise for the reader.:)
Mathematically, though... the question is, how much money *right now* is worth all your future profits? So, if you're currently clearing $5k a year, and we figure we expect a return on investment of 8%, that's worth $62,500 (net present value).
Now, I didn't factor in inflation or expected growth... you can crank through different assumptions with a spreadsheet. $250k might not be insane if you're showing big growth in revenue.
Umm... the whole point of running in a chrooted environment is to insulate security on the web server from the security of the system. If you're punching a hole in that barrier, why bother chrooting at all?
The sawmill WM and most of the configuration tools for it (and the dotfiles!) are written in rep, which is Yet Another LISP. Architecturally, sawmill is much like Emacs; whether this is a good or bad thing is left to the reader.
IANAL, but trade secrets and patents are mutually exclusive. It has to be described well enough to implement for the patent to be valid, and that pretty much rules secrecy out.
I suppose the specific *keys* used in a patented algorythm could be trade secrets...
It isn't so much the DVD licence fees (well, for CCA, maybe it is...); it's about maintaining the region codes, killing off CDs and therefore those pesky MP3s with DVD-Audio, and eventually the ressurection of DIVX!
But yeah, this is the key. The CCA might be Keystone Cops, but the MPAA knows very well they can't squash pirating; what they want to prevent is a *legal* challenge to control of the distribution channels.
On the other hand, if DeCSS infringes their copyright its copyright (and therefore the GPL on it) may be void. Although I guess this isn't the copyright case... what a mess.
An open Letter to Hobbysts --------------------------
To me, the most critical thing in the hobby market right now is the lack of good software courses, books and software itself. Without good software and an owner who understands programming, a hobby computer is wasted. Will quality software be written for the hobby market?
Almost a year ago, Paul Allen and myself, expecting the hobby market to expand, hired Monte Davidoff and developed Altair BASIC. Though the initial work took only two months, the three of us have spent most of the last year documenting, improving and adding fea- tures to BASIC. Now we have 4K, 8K, EXTENDED, ROM and DISK BASIC. The values of the computer time we have used exceeds $40,000.
The feedback we have gotten from the hundreds of people who say they are using BASIC has all been positive. Two surprising things are apparent, however. 1) Most of these "users" never bought BASIC (less than 10% of all Altair owners have bought BASIC), and 2) the amount of royalties we have received from sales to hobbysts make the time spent of Altair BASIC worth less than $2 an hour.
Why is this? As the majority of hobbysts must be aware, most of you steal your software. Hardware must be paid for, but soft- ware is something to share. Who cares if the people who worked on it get paid?
Is this fair? One thing you don't do by stealing software is get back at MITS for some problem you may have had. MITS doesn't make money selling software. The royalty paid to us, the manual, the tape and the overhead make it a break-even operation. One thing you do do is prevent good software from being written. Who can af- ford to do proffesional work for nothing? What hobbist can put 3-man years into programming, finding all bugs, documenting his pro- duct and distribute for free? The fact is, no one besides us has invested a lot of money in hobby software. We have written 6800 BASIC, and are writing 8080 APL and 6800 APL, but there is very lit- tle incentive to make this software available to hobbists. Most directly, the thing you do is theft.
What about the guys who re-sell Altair BASIC, aren't they mak- ing money on hobby software? Yes, but those who have been reported to us may lose in the end. They are the ones who give hobbysts a bad name, and should be kicked out of any club meeting they show up at.
I would appreciate letters from any one who wants to pay up, or has a suggestion ot comment. Just write me at 1180 Alvarado SE, #114, Alburquerque, New Mexico, 87108. Nothing would please me more than being able to hire ten programmers and deluge the hobby market with good software.
"To control the message to these audiences, Edelman applies Convergence, a new model of supportive persuasion, where message dissemination involves the simultaneous influencing of opinion leaders and consumers."
If you can't trust the client, you can't trust the client. It's hopeless.
I mean, I suppose you could obfuscutate a secret return string in the code, and only use that one when connecting to your site... note that something like Mozilla is *required* for this, since each site has to have it's own hacked web-broswer (ick). It could still be defeated by reverse-engineering, and maybe even by a proxy unless you do some cryto hacks (not sure if SSL is sufficient, or if certificates will do it).
DeCSS or the like is also useful, more even, in reverse; to put your own material on a DVD that's readable on a normal DVD player. With DVD-writers coming soon, they're trying to make it so that nobody can make a video (home movies? South Park premiere?) without permission from the DVD Cabal.
And of course, it's also a hardware JIT for Java, which fits the oldest rumours about Transmeta... that may have been their original plan before they decided that Java wasn't taking off fast enough to bet the company on.
Slashdot Mirror
LinuxOne is another company; perhaps you have confused LinuxCare with them?
LinuxCare has done some genuine useful work.
Nah, that's no use either. What you do is monkey up something to run it in a linux system running inside VMWare or Bochs... the rest is left as an exercise for the reader. :)
Well, it's worth whatever somebody will pay.
Mathematically, though... the question is, how much money *right now* is worth all your future profits? So, if you're currently clearing $5k a year, and we figure we expect a return on investment of 8%, that's worth $62,500 (net present value).
Now, I didn't factor in inflation or expected growth... you can crank through different assumptions with a spreadsheet. $250k might not be insane if you're showing big growth in revenue.
And a linux port is planned. OTOH, it's commercial and expensive. But if you've gotta have it...
Umm... the whole point of running in a chrooted environment is to insulate security on the web server from the security of the system. If you're punching a hole in that barrier, why bother chrooting at all?
The sawmill WM and most of the configuration tools for it (and the dotfiles!) are written in rep, which is Yet Another LISP. Architecturally, sawmill is much like Emacs; whether this is a good or bad thing is left to the reader.
JFS is not a Veritas derivative.
In fact, no Veritas products are available on AIX, IIRC.
The Kingdoms sequel was better singleplayer, as was Starcraft, but multiplayer TA is IMNSHO the best.
btw: anybody looked at the FreeCraft game lately? I hear it's sort-of playable now...
IANAL, but trade secrets and patents are mutually exclusive. It has to be described well enough to implement for the patent to be valid, and that pretty much rules secrecy out.
I suppose the specific *keys* used in a patented algorythm could be trade secrets...
It isn't so much the DVD licence fees (well, for CCA, maybe it is...); it's about maintaining the region codes, killing off CDs and therefore those pesky MP3s with DVD-Audio, and eventually the ressurection of DIVX!
But yeah, this is the key. The CCA might be Keystone Cops, but the MPAA knows very well they can't squash pirating; what they want to prevent is a *legal* challenge to control of the distribution channels.
How about a boat in international waters? A nice surplus aircraft carrier would be dandy.
'course, then you're pretty much stuck with wireless bandwidth, unless you anchor permanantly...
Well, they could *ask*, but not require...
On the other hand, if DeCSS infringes their copyright its copyright (and therefore the GPL on it) may be void. Although I guess this isn't the copyright case... what a mess.
IANAL. YMMV. TLA.
"You will be copylefted, and your technological distinctiveness will be added to our own."
February 3, 1976
An open Letter to Hobbysts
--------------------------
To me, the most critical thing in the hobby market right now
is the lack of good software courses, books and software itself.
Without good software and an owner who understands programming, a
hobby computer is wasted. Will quality software be written for the
hobby market?
Almost a year ago, Paul Allen and myself, expecting the hobby
market to expand, hired Monte Davidoff and developed Altair BASIC.
Though the initial work took only two months, the three of us have
spent most of the last year documenting, improving and adding fea-
tures to BASIC. Now we have 4K, 8K, EXTENDED, ROM and DISK BASIC.
The values of the computer time we have used exceeds $40,000.
The feedback we have gotten from the hundreds of people who
say they are using BASIC has all been positive. Two surprising
things are apparent, however. 1) Most of these "users" never bought
BASIC (less than 10% of all Altair owners have bought BASIC), and
2) the amount of royalties we have received from sales to hobbysts
make the time spent of Altair BASIC worth less than $2 an hour.
Why is this? As the majority of hobbysts must be aware, most
of you steal your software. Hardware must be paid for, but soft-
ware is something to share. Who cares if the people who worked
on it get paid?
Is this fair? One thing you don't do by stealing software is
get back at MITS for some problem you may have had. MITS doesn't
make money selling software. The royalty paid to us, the manual,
the tape and the overhead make it a break-even operation. One thing
you do do is prevent good software from being written. Who can af-
ford to do proffesional work for nothing? What hobbist can put
3-man years into programming, finding all bugs, documenting his pro-
duct and distribute for free? The fact is, no one besides us has
invested a lot of money in hobby software. We have written 6800
BASIC, and are writing 8080 APL and 6800 APL, but there is very lit-
tle incentive to make this software available to hobbists. Most
directly, the thing you do is theft.
What about the guys who re-sell Altair BASIC, aren't they mak-
ing money on hobby software? Yes, but those who have been reported
to us may lose in the end. They are the ones who give hobbysts a
bad name, and should be kicked out of any club meeting they show up
at.
I would appreciate letters from any one who wants to pay up, or
has a suggestion ot comment. Just write me at 1180 Alvarado SE, #114,
Alburquerque, New Mexico, 87108. Nothing would please me more than
being able to hire ten programmers and deluge the hobby market with
good software.
Bill Gates
General Partner, Micro-Soft
Wow, that's Microsoft's PR firm.
h y.asp#top
"To control the message to these audiences, Edelman applies Convergence, a new model of supportive persuasion, where message dissemination involves the simultaneous influencing of opinion leaders and consumers."
http://www.edelman.com/company_profile/philosop
'nuff said.
If you can't trust the client, you can't trust the client. It's hopeless.
I mean, I suppose you could obfuscutate a secret return string in the code, and only use that one when connecting to your site... note that something like Mozilla is *required* for this, since each site has to have it's own hacked web-broswer (ick). It could still be defeated by reverse-engineering, and maybe even by a proxy unless you do some cryto hacks (not sure if SSL is sufficient, or if certificates will do it).
And Javascript, btw, is the Work Of The Devil.
DeCSS or the like is also useful, more even, in reverse; to put your own material on a DVD that's
readable on a normal DVD player. With DVD-writers coming soon, they're trying to make it so that nobody can make a video (home movies? South Park premiere?) without permission from the DVD Cabal.
And of course, it's also a hardware JIT for Java, which fits the oldest rumours about Transmeta... that may have been their original plan before they decided that Java wasn't taking off fast enough to bet the company on.