Yeah, throw out all the dull minds. Replace them with radiation hardened Z80's. You did intend the meaning there, right?
I suspect that you are trolling, but I get this a lot from educators who don't really understand how to use the technology, so I'll dignify it with a response.
teachers still train their students in punching little buttons on the keyboard
Yeah, right. Most teachers can't use a 4-function calculator, let alone something that has percentages and square roots on it. How the hell do figure they're teaching their students something they don't know themselves?
No wonder the US is falling behind.
This is laughable. The US has always been behind! The scary thing is that it has taken people like you so long to realize it.
You don't learn how to take derivatives by punching an equation into your HP48GX, and you don't learn advanced calculus by playing Tetris on your TI-86.
This is what lead to my "don't understand the tech" remark. With programmable calculators, you're talking about programming, not math. Push button derivatives? It doesn't even get interesting until you start doing integrals.
Remember when you had to fill up a couple sheets of paper to figure out how many digits of accuracy were affeted in you answer by the value of the quantum? Remember how pleased you were when you programmed your... whatever it was... to do that in seconds, at the push of a button, instead of taking hours with pencil and paper?
You don't, do you. You don't understand the tech.
I still remember writing these kinds of little mini-programs back before those functions were available on a calculator. When the instructor said "Show your work," I printed the program. He got pissed because he couldn't read it, of course... but he damn well couldn't claim I didn't know the material.
The fact that the instructor didn't think of it, and doesn't know how to do it doesn't invalidate the educational value of the execise.
And you don't learn anything by storing notes in your calculator's memory.
Do you also assert that somehow the student learns more by storing notes in wire-bound wads of pressed, bleached, and dried vegatable matter? Explain.
How about this: how to let machines do all your thinking for you. Your calculator does your math. Your word processor corrects your spelling and grammar.
Not a bad idea. In fact, I had every intention of doing just that, until I found that the average grammer checker is pathetically inadequate, to the point that I can correct my own grammer quicker and easier "manually". That type of tech is still very primitive. I had hoped to have generative programs the write my essays for me, by this time, but... well, that's a separate rant.
Pretty soon, schools will stop teaching everything but typing because computers will handle the rest.
Well, you're partially correct. In case you haven't noticed, schools have already stopped teaching everything except political correctness. They don't even teach typing; besides typing as a computer skill is already obsolescent.
I think humans being replaced by machines may not be such a bad idea. Goddess knows, the humans have totally fsck'd things up for long enough. If machines become intelligent enough to survive as humans drive themselves extinct, hey, more power to 'em.
I mean really, what does the human race have to reccomend itself, objectively? From a perspective that encompasses humanity, rather than being contained within humanity, not much. And the contained perspective is about as valid as a circular definition...
It starts with "1+1=" and ends with your death.
It doesn't end. Death just introduces complex numbers.
Of course, it'd probably be easier to just have a revolution in the US. There will be sooner or later anyway...
Yes. Going offshore is just changing the venue of what will ultimately be a shooting war. Not enough of the posters here seem to realize where this is ultimately going.
To go offshore at this point would make you a refugee; no one is going to take you in, because no one can afford to take on the US militarily.
It's got to be revolution from within for simple financial reasons. However, you might look into getting the support of foreign nations in exchange for giving them favored (information) trading status when you win. The analogy would be French support for Patriots during the First American Revolution.
OSS projects have been able to gain a foothold in many server applications because of the wide utility of highly commoditized, simple protocols. By extending these protocols and developing new protocols, we can deny OSS projects entry into the market.
... I guess everyone already knew about the above quote (from Halloween 1) except me. I know you True Believers all have that stuff memorized, but it would probably help the legal eagles, judges, etc who are are trying to gain insight into exactly WTF M$ are doing if these documents were referenced more often...
Anyone know if the Halloween Documents have been introduced into evidence? Were they allowed?
Please don't blame the UN for the dirty work of your own government.
What is it going to take to get the UN to intervene in the US to stop the massive abuses of against the human rights of the citizens, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights published by the UN?
So, it seems that the US is infringing upon each nation's sovereignity....
This needs to be nipped in the bud before it ever really gets started (the snowball effect)!
The US has been doing this for a long time. It is called "Imperialism" (as in "Imperialist Yankee Running Dogs"). They are now trying to formalize the practice.
It will be interesting to see if any soveriegn nation will agree to this claptrap.
The "Global Economy" is an implementation of Yankee Imperialism.
Oh, you mean the Filipinos should have just said: "Ha-ha! Serves right these rich stupid imperialist Yankees! Let's give these students a scholarship and tell them to write more viruses."?
Something like that, yeah. You have a problem with that? Why shouldn't the idiot, arrogant M$ ('Yankees' is inaccurate in this case) users get what's coming to them?
Why should the Philippine government persecute their own citizens on the word of some yankee spooks? Especially when...
I have no clue what computer-crime laws are there in the Philippines, but I would assume that virus-writing breaks at least some.
...your assumption is incorrect. You didn't read the news stories, did you (not that they made this point explicity, the spin doctors were already at work when the 1st reports hit stands)?
Seems there is (was) no Philippine law against writing or releasing virii. The creator had every reason to believe he would not be prosecuted. Perhaps he/she didn't realize how quickly the Philippine gov would cave to the US demands that they enforce our law against their citizens.
The Philippine authorities had to "adapt" a law that didn't really apply in order to make the arrest, in order to pacify the enraged M$ users -- I mean, victims... I mean the FBI...
Short version: National borders are no defense against M$
Sounds like civil disobedience at its best to me... except the target is a corporation instead of a government. Why shouldn't it apply? The Boston Tea Party was the beginning of the end for the British oppressors... perhaps the Kerberos De-Licensing Party could be the beginning of the end for Microsoft. Hey, we had to sit through World History in school; might as well get SOME use out of it.
This idea seems basically sound, to me, and you may as well skip the rest of this if you don't agree... I think it is time to make a statement of total dissatisfaction with the situation.... however...
Seriously. What if every Slashdot reader put up a web site with the M$ Kerbero$ spec on it? Or any of their other "trade secrets" that are designed to keep us all under their thumb so they can continue to dictate to us what we're allowed to consider "innovative?" Would they sue ALL of us?
I think posting the K spec would be a bit like what would have happened if the participants in the Tea Party had each taken home a crate of tea and displayed in front of their house. The tea was destroyed as a demonstration of contempt for unfair laws. The participants remained anonymous to the authorities until the shooting started. A boycott of tea was also part of the plan, if iirc.
If you talk about boycotting the K spec, you have played into M$ game, since they don't want you using it anyway. If you you could assure a corporate boycott of kerebros, that would be a bit different, since that would disrupt the M$ plan to destroy the unix server market. Unfortunately, individual users cannot assure a corporate boycott of any M$ product.
I think this is important to remember. M$ is basically amused about individual users. To M$ the user is a regrettable necesity. They don't give a shit if you run Linux, as long as you are forced to use M$ at work. If you want to do any damage in an attack on M$, the corporate market has to be the field.
I do want to point out, though, that if the corporate servers do succumb, there will be an impact on private users that I have not seen mentioned yet. I.e. logon authentication/authorization to ISP/telco servers running M$ may no longer be available to *nix users, legally. I am not enough of an expert in the field to say with certainty that this would be the case. Could someone with more expertise in the field comment?
It occurs to me that, with M$ ongoing effort to control telcos and service providers world-wide, there will be move en masse to M$ servers in that industry. We're already starting to see this. If *nix can't authenticate/authorize, access is denied, and the platform dies.
That's the brilliance and the power of Civil Disobedience: so many people are acting up that they can't possibly control them all and eventually the "troublemakers" change popular opinion 180 degrees. All it takes is to get everyone to listen to your point of view long enough to change theirs. Sure, some people do get martyred along the way, just like in all wars, but to minimize the losses we could even put a copy of the EULA at the top of the page;
Casualties. The Boston Tea Party took place before the actual start of the war, iirc, and is considered a seminal event leading up to the "Shot heard round the world." Before shots were fired at Concord Bridge (I'm doing this from decades old memories, btw, feel free to correct my Amerikan history) a militia was formed, trained, armed, and readied to act at a moments notice.
I think the concept of a militia is important. I see no reason to believe that M$ is not already fully prepared militarily for eventualities such as this. Once shots are fired, retaliation will be immeadiate and probably devastatingly strong from the POV of an individual or community of individuals.
Use your imagination. Push button DDoS attacks. They certainly have the resources. Databases of known dissidents. Backdoor access to government and corporate data. You will be able to rely on neither anonymity nor accuracy of the information about you in public or private databases. Any thing running M$ software could be corrupted.
Remeber, we are talking about a multinational corporation with resources unmatched by any world governent. They have nothing better to do with those resources than to spend a few $100k per individual wiping a few thousand dissidents off the face of the net. It's chump change to M$ if they feel their market share is threatened.
You won't have legal recourse once GW is elected, either. M$ will have the feds in their pocket to a substantially greater extent than they already do. I suspect that it is currently only a few black-budget special-ops agencies, right now (think Waco), along with some portion of the legislative branch. After November, they will have the Executive branch, as well.
Expect to see the rise of a "Brown Shirt" movement as well. I expect that they will have a significant political agenda aside from computer networking issues, but I don't expect "pinko-commie-hacker-faggot Linux users" will be very popular with them either (Finland is a "furrin cuntry", after all).
My crystal ball also tells me that the Brown Shirts will be a populist movement, probably fronted by a popular right-wing media figure, probably Rush Limbaugh or somebody of his ilk, who will, in passing, defend the oppressed amerikan capitalist corporation as an institution. These activities, while not eliminating more than a few of the non-Microsofties, will lend popular media support to the idea that the *nix community are undesirables, and should be made to wear pictures of Penguins on their forheads, or something. This will give rise to legislation that will make using "Open" operating systems (servers), illegal for private individuals, since non-M$ boxen will be "known centers of anti-social/illegal activities".
Expect that creation of virii will be definitively tied to the open source community in the public's mind before the end of the summer of 2000.
"Don't read below this line unless you agree with this license!" Wouldn't that keep them happy? It's just as much "protection" as they gave it themselves... which is, after all, all the EULA asks of you; if a freely-downloadable self-extracting ZIP file is "reasonable security precautions," an adult porn site type of disclaimer should be as well. If I had more than just a T1, I'd use my own site... but alas, a single T1 cannot withstand the full fury of the Slashdot Effect. If someone wants to donate a nice OC-3 line to the cause...
Face it, we've been set up. Nothing is going to satisfy M$ at this point.
Civil Disobedience is the reason America exists today. It ain't a perfect country, but it ain't all that bad either; it's just Big Busine$$ and the Government that are screwing it up for all of us. There are some damn nice, considerate, freedom-loving people living here... it's just that most of them have grown so complacent living in their big homes with the couch in front of the TV and the refrigerator and the well-worn path in the carpet connecting the two that they don't think it's worth it to cause trouble because it'll lead to a lessening of their personal comfort and safety. "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Ben Franklin. A very wise man.
There is another key difference between this revolution and the first amerikan revolution: The British were not a fascist people. The monarchy may have been corrupt, the tea companies huge and powerful, but there were ethical limits to the atrocities which they could stomach. M$ knows no such limits.
M$ has been practicing fascism for fun and profit. They like it so much, they are financing a fascist movement within the US Federal Gov, much as GW Bush's ancestor's did in Germany before and during WWII. The new regime will favor the M$ model of "business as a cult" in both the economic and social sense. Linux users and Open Sourcers who think they are "geeks" now, will learn the meaning of the word "ostracized".
So what's it going to be? Put corporations in their places and keep MICROS~1 from doing things like this to us for all eternity, or just keep wearing that path in the carpet thinner and thinner until we're too old and tired to do anything about it and leave it for our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc to deal with?
A very austute question. Wish I had a good answer. One thing I know is, to win, you will need a way to threaten M$ with significant damage. That means a serious threat to their cash flow. Furthermore, you will be going up against the feds over it after Nov 2000. That can be nasty, as any veteran of the 1960's can tell you, and frankly, I don't see a snowball's chance in hell of winning it. We are watching the rise of the Fourth Reich (sp?).
WE are the people who give the government its power; we pay to keep it in operation, and we expect it to work in our best interest. Hence the phrase "...of the people, by the people, for the people." Who here still thinks the government is for people? Nope; not unless the definition of "the people" is "big business".
I don't think any thinking person at this point could legitimately claim that the amerikan government has any use for the citizens except as cannon fodder and/or a source of revenue. The purpose of government at this point is to maintain order so that revenue continues to flow. Anything that disrupts that will be dealt with harshly. The amerikan people no longer own their government, the coroporations do.
WE are the people who contribute vast portions of our income to Big Business in this country; without our support, they wouldn't exist. Are we "contributing," or is it being "contributed" for us?
I think when the selection of goods upon which we spend our incomes is limited to the point where choices are premade for us, money ceases to be a value. We are simply machines producing an output. This is symptomatic of totalitarianism. The economy is an artificial construct....
How many of you think Windows 2000 is worth $1,000? $500? $100? $1.79? [etc]
It has been said that information is the currency of the day. How much information are you willing to give up to run M$ products? Note that M$ has gone into content production for encyclopedias, etc, the traditional repositories of information. Does the phrase "re-write history" signify? Our losses stand to be significantly more serious than dollars and cents, especially with the book-burning mentality so popular with the right-wing fundies.
So here we are, paying the Government and Microsoft to screw us over. They're both doing it, trust me. And why? WHY? Why do people keep buying into the bullshit? Why can't they just open their eyes, look at their Blue Screens of Death, and realize that the automotive industry is only ONE place where Lemon Laws should apply? The fact that they all think there are no other options (something all of US know is patently ludicrous), that's why.
[truly eloquent rant snipped for space; this is really terribly long]
I think it is critically important to realize that M$ goal is not wealth per se, it is power. Recall, M$ is a cult. Wealth is only a means to an end. Computers and networking are evolving into what the power brokers can only see as the ultimate propaganda machine, complete with full feedback loop.
This whole scenario is the stuff of nightmare, imo. I am curious about what sort of international support the US Open Source movement will be able to garner. What sort of trade sanctions would other nations be willing to endure to see us get our country back? The WTO has already threatened Germany with sanctions if they do not open their telcos to foreign (M$) investment...
What elements of government and industry within the US are willing to contibute to the return to a free society? It has to be obvious to the US military at this point that our national security has been compromised my the absorption of M$ products into the operations of federal and state governments. M$, not the government, controls the computers that are used to perform the day-to-day tasks of governing.
These are questions are critical to survival of the movement.
How much of the bombing in the balkans took place in order to open markets to "upgraded" systems and software? Can linux-freindly countries that may be willing to accept refugees during the coming conflict expect to have to engage in actual military war in order to protect their freedom to choose?
The counter-culture of the 1960's folded on the question of "you say you want a revolution?" If anyone now chooses to answer in the affirmative, understand that you are going up against an entrenched establishment that a previous generation back away from. This establishment has had 40 years to develop the tech and the psych techniques to make certain they are not threatened in the same manner again. They are willing to kill you to make their point: Obey.
All they want is the entire output of your productive labour for the duration of your life. Money is irrelevant as long as you keep producing. M$ has gained power by providing a channel for that work. Sure, you can program, but only within the M$ paradigm if you want to make a living at it. Otherwise you might produce something dagerous to the status quo. Something that will show their money for the lie that it is. Something that will point out in no uncertain terms that we are all just slaves to the system, expendable at some precalculated limit.
Finally, note that if conflict is eliminated, the need for a centralized power structure goes away. We will be served up heapin' helpin's of tailor-made opportunities to spend our energy on trivial issues which dissapate our power. All such will be made much of in the media, in order to assure us that it is important, while the real issues pass us by unnoticed.
So, the short answer is no, I don't think posting the K spec anywhere will do any good. In fact the K spec itself is probably irrelevent. We should look around, find out what they're doing with their other hand, and try to do some real damage.
...and if you made it this far, you probably understand what I am going to say next, to wit...
This entire post is a pack of lies. I made it up out of whole cloth, and anyone who believes any of it is probably a sociopath who should carefully consider what is meant by the term "satire".
Paranoia: How much of VA Linux stock is owned by M$ proxy corps?
No doubt the CAB library is illegal, as well. Now that you've mentioned it in public, they'll be after that as well.
M$ wants to be able to scan your filesystem for "illegal" software and data. Do you think they'll skip your system just because you're running Linux?
The GNU Document License idea is a nice idea. If M$ picks up on it, they'll be due some slack from the Open Source community, but I have small hope that will happen. The Open Source community as a whole still has no idea just how serious Gates & Compnay really are about Total World Dominion.
When legal and governmental processes depend on your systems, you don't need PR. M$ demands that you obey, not that you like it.
Is the M$ monoculture an example of inbreeding or replication by division?
You seem to be comparing Microsoft executives to murderers, or have I taken that paragraph wrongly? Companies like Microsoft do whatever they can get away with to make money because that is their only measure of success.
As I have stated previously (in a letter to my congressman), when the 1st american service man or woman dies due to a glitch in the M$ software aboard a US Navy ship, M$ will be guilty of murder.
M$ knows that their software is inferior; they know that NT has no business as a critical wartime system, yet they "brought political pressure to bear" in order to make sure that NT was used (quoting navy personnel quoted in the government news agency story).
This is the result of M$ doing "whatever it can get away with to make money".
Wake up people, these are your childrens' lives your selling to Gates, here....
Note that M$ is trying to get CE and NT into avionics systems in commercial and military aircraft, as well.
Sorry about being OT, but I thought this bore repeating.
Rather that it should be are irreedom of speedom, Microsoft should give up going Microsoft should but those who do talk about methods of do it KNOW that that it should bedience is arguy who posted that posting the law, and freedom of speech, criming thing thods of dom of doing things; it should be up going aft should be should expect repercussions?
Therefore percussions.
Therefore, rather the law, and that posting Microsoft it should be are irrelevane. And they should expectivities, criminalism and freedom
All right... I know I may just be an Anonymous Coward, and thus my opinions mean about as much as a festering bowl of dog$#!+ to the/. community...
Don't be so hard on yourself.
but, even so, this "0x000000" person has riled me to the point where I feel I need to respond.
I'm flattered. It's so rarely that anyone takes me seriously...
Mr. Hexadecimal-Color-Code-For-Black, you seem to imply that anyone working for Microsoft, or in any way associated with the company, is by definition as guilty of MS's sins as Bill Gates himself.
Actually, I think I did more than just imply. I believe I was quite clear on that point. Moreover, I don't believe I fell to moralizing about it. I was talking about crimes, not sins. But, in general, I think you've got the jist of it...
Using this same logic, can we then also say that everyone who uses Linux (or GNU/Linux, if you will) is - by the same fact of association - a subscriber to the borderline-lunatic-fringe beliefs of RMS (whose heart may well be in the right place, but someone who is beginning to seem unsettlingly like a Christ-figure to the Open Source community) and the GNU movement?
You're losing me here. RMS? Root Mean Square? As in the measurement of AC electrical potential? RMS is a mathematical function, I believe, and as such, it doesn't make a lot of sense to refer to it as a 'christ-figure'.... Is the above a typo?
Can we then also say that everyone who uses Linux (GNU/Linux, whatever... I respect the right of the GNU movement to insist it be called that, but I'll just say "Linux" from this point, it's just easier to type) sees him- or herself as a foot soldier in the Grand and Glorious Jihad against the Evil Empire?
... wars are not "grand and glorious"; they are hateful, nasty, things. See "The Art of War" for more on this topic. Also note that, as even you appear to admit, below, the action against M$ is a defensive action, not, as you and some others here seem to believe, a war of aggression. M$ started this. We'll see if they have the stomach to see it through.
I would point out that I object your characterization of the battle against M$ as a 'jihad'. The implication of an association (real or spiritual) with a bunch of nut-case fundies out do destroy the world is onerous. People like you continue to attempt to relegate this very serious matter to the 'fringe'....
Oh, no... I'm not done yet.
...I see that... 'sokay, neither am I...
Using this same logic, we can then say that all Democrats are evil, adultering pigs like Bill Clinton...
...yes, I'd say that's about accurate...
or that all Republicans are greedy, closed-minded idiots like George W. Bush...
...spot on...
or that all Christians subscribe blindly to the Gospel of Intolerance as preached by the Robertsons and Buchanans of the world...
...very true, though most of them try to hide it...
or that all Pagans are evil worshippers of Satan...
... well, in order to believe in Satan, they'd have to be christians, now, wouldn't they?
...do you see my point now, Mr. 0x000000?
...Uhm, that you have an acute understanding of the socio-political landscape in the US of A during the primitive electronic age? Sure, I'll go along with that.
Generalties suck. Generally speaking.
Generally speaking, I can't agree. I find generalization a useful technique, especially when dealing with aggregate problems. M$, I think qualifies as an aggregate problem.
In a *truly* free society - which you seem to support - then your rights have to end where the next person's begin.
Why thank-you. You are correct. I usually state it thus: "Your right to swing you fist ends where my nose begins."
I don't recall the source of that quote, but I think it is especially apt in the case of M$. M$ seems to demand that 'rights' be a one way street. They want to have protection for themselves, yet expect everyone to remain silent as they trample the rights of others. They also seem to think that "might makes right", which is usually only true in the short term for any given evil....
True freedom is NOT "I'll say whatever the hell I want to say, and be damned how anyone else feels about it". That's anarchy, not freedom. If I read the GPL correctly, even the GNU folks side with me on this issue of freedom. They don't restrict your rights to use the software at all... all they ask in return is that you give the next user the same benefits you recieved.
So we've established that the Gnus are not anarchists. That's good, because anarhist beliefs are probably illegal in the US under the current regime.
However, you, and others of your ilk,
My ilk? LOL. Okay, maybe there are some others like me... Thanks for the link, btw. "Fuck the skull of Microsoft!"... I love it. I was thinking more along the lines of "Mutilate the corpse", but it doesn't have the same ring to it...
seem to think that concepts such as "freedom of expression" and "right to choice" do not apply to members of the so-called "Evil Empire".
Sorry if I gave that impression. Actually, attempts by M$ to suppress "freedom of expression" and "right to choice" are exactly the types of accusations I would bring against M$, so these issues are very germaine.
And you wonder why Microsoft targets the Linux/OSS people so harshly...
Actually, no, I never wondered about that. I have known from the beginning. In fact, it's interesting that you would admit to the phenomena, since M$ has repeatedly denied targetting anyone, let alone open source.
Can you supply specifics? I'm sure the DOJ would be interested.
I guess what I'm really trying to say here is - as corny as it may sound - practice what you preach. You cannot take someone to trial based on guilt by association...
Well, I resent that your accuse me of preaching. And I have never advocated conviction based on association. Let me be clear: M$ could not do what they do without employees, therefor, the employees are in the position of accomplices to a crime, which is prosecutable. As in war crimes trials, the common foot soldier is generally not formally tried, but certainly exceptions are made in the cases of atrocities, etc.
And yes, I will continue to cast M$ as a hostile, totalitarian nation. I consider it an apt analogy, since M$ has declared what amounts to economic war on the IT world.
You are falling for the M$ propaganda if you allow them to convince you to view their threats against slashdot as an isolated, unimportant incident.
M$'s assault on slashdot, has been well organized, and is part of a much broader strategy for control of the net at large...
the same should apply when criticizing others.
Nah.
If not - if you continue to insist that all Microsoft employees are brainwashed Borg that don't deserve a voice on this forum - then, fundamentally, that makes you no better than Microsoft itself.
I didn't claim to be better than m$. I am absolutely antagonistic to them. I am the anti-Gates. Sure. No problem. You can tell him I said so... Fight fire with fire, you know?
(And no, saying "Because I am right and they are wrong" is *not* a valid excuse.
If it's true, it's not an 'excuse'. And I hardly need to take your judgement of validity, under the circumstances.
It wouldn't wash in court; it certainly should not here. "Right" and "wrong" are just subjective enough to be in contention.)
And contend them I will.
For the record, I use Linux and I love it. I wouldn't go back to the Microsoft world... but that's only because I think *nix is *better*.
uh-huh. M$ doesn't agree. If you don't fight them, you will obey them, eventually. They are seeing to it.
I don't see myself as being at *war* with Microsoft, nor is there any reason why I should.
You don't see the reasons yet. You'll get over it. Give it time.
Please think before replying; I have better things to do with my time than be flamed.
Sorry, bub, this one was a no-brainer.
I am not Anonymous. My name is Devin de Gruyl. My e-mail address is . Iam not a Microsoft employee. I am not a Microsoft basher.
Okay. Whatever. Good luck devin. You should probably apply to M$. You can get paid writing stuff like that, and for taking this kind of abuse, you know? I mean, as long as you're willing to spout the M$ party line....
Was cyberturfing usenet a M$ innovation, or had it been done before?
"Wake up to the harsh realities of capitalism, and stop being fooled by right-wing propagandists like Ayn Rand!"
Funny you should mention it - I can't stand Ayn Rand. I may have a few things wrong, I'm sure I do, but I didn't get them from Ayn Rand.
I believe I am the one who dragged Ayn Rand into it (sorry)...
I'd like to state, for the record, that I don't consider M$ a capitalist effort, nor do I consider Ayn Rand a right-wing propagandist. I do not consider that M$ represents capitalism as described in Rand's work (and yes, I know that Rand's philosophy was egoism, not capitalism, per se). In fact, I see strong parallels between the real-life Bill Gates and the characterisations of some of the anti-heros in Rand's fictional work. Of course, I also see strong parallels between Gates and the anti-hero (666) of Revelations (new testament of the xtian bible)....
imo, The right wing in the US represents fascist, not capitalist, values. M$ is a shining example of their socio-economic paradigm.
I also agree with the various posters who have pointed out that/. is more true to capitalistic goals (as I understand them) than M$.
I am in agreement with FreeUser for the post which states, in part:
I suspect that ongoing attempts to extend the capitalist paradigm beyond its functional parameters and create synthetic scarcity at the point of a gun in areas such as ideas and digital information will result in laws and public policy which will make communist Russia appear liberal in comparison.
I think "extend the capitalist paradigm beyond its functional parameters at the point of a gun" is a very accurate description of what has been going on in the US for some time. M$ is part of it.
IMO, this activity should be as abhorent to capitalsists as to anyone else. Totalitarianism is not a healthy climate for enterprise. Freedom is more valuable than gold.
It's not Microsoft per se - it's Bill himself, and a small cabal of top managers. How many here would be prepared to bury the hatchet if Bill and his henchmen were really-gone, and not just pretend-gone?
I think that would depend on the behavior of the corporation once they were gone. An awful lot of the personnel have bought heavily into the party line espoused by Gates, and not enough of them understand what is required to produce quality software. The products would still be shit.
Altogether, I don't think it would hurt, but I doubt that it would help, much. I doubt that Gates' (and henchmens') departure would be sufficient to allow the company could survive in a truly competitive marketplace. I don't think will be able to ramp up production of usefable software quickly enough.
I am a Microsoft employee, and more than that, I am a shareholder in said corporation.
Pleased to meet you. Tough break about those stock prices, eh?
I stongly support the actions that the corporation has taken to protect our intellectual property.
Surprise, surprise. *sigh*
and that rest of the creeps here
Let me clear this up for you. I'm not just a creep, I am hellspawn. I am the World Devourer, the Soul Eater. I am the Beast of the Pit... There is more, but I don't think you're ready for it.
are acting like a bunch of spoiled and petulant children. There is no issue of free speech here; there is merely an issue of gross theft and corporate malfeasance.
Yes, M$ in general, and Bill Gates in particular are guilty of both. Some of us do consider malfeasance a speech issue...
What you're arguing about is not all that important.
Obviously somebody there at M$ doesn't agree. They were the ones to call out the Suits. I guess if it's not important, they'll just drop it, eh?
It is not a first amendment issue. You are not being censored. Nobody has tried to blacklist you.
How the fuck would you know, drone? You're just mouthing what your masters feed you...
Go look at what happened to the Weavers, or to other Communists who were blacklisted during the McCarthy era -- you don't have a clue what they really faced, and it is disgusting to see spoiled little children like you trying to pretend you are going through the same thing. Go look at what Martin Luther King did and faced. Hell -- have crosses burned on your own front yard, as I HAVE, and then come back and tell me about how you're being "censored".
First, don't drag Dr. King's name into the gutter inhabitted by yourself and the other corporate drones that inhabit the sewer that is M$ corp. MLK believed in Freedom. Something you obviously have no concept of. Bill Gates' dream of mind control devices in every home being a real cash cow is not quite in the same league with King. You might want to check with the King Foundation on this. I doubt they will view your attempts at exploitation with kindness.
I commend to you, in your evident search for a heritage, the work of Frederik Douglass. I find it particularly appropriate in this context, you being a wage slave to the Man, denying that this is an issue of fundamental freedomms, constitutionality, and all.
Second, I am not a child. In fact, if you work at M$, I'm probably old enough to be your daddy, or even grand-daddy. Respect your elders.
Third, while I have never claimed to have experienced the particular hell that MLK experienced, you sicken me with your pathetic attempts to divert the discussion into "my repression is more oppressive than your repression" nonsense. That's basic playground politics, and from what you have posted here, you are way out of line talking down to anyone in that regard.
That said, I am probably on more black lists right now than you can believe exist. You are so PC you can't see the forest for the trees. You don't have a clue what this is about. You are the spiritual progenitor of those who will, at some point in the future, refer to "the Slashdotters and Open Sourcers who we blacklisted in the Micorsoft Era" in much the same way you have tried to ride on the legacy of those you mention.
Your masters will not stop with silencing a single post on slashdot, or with silencing slashdot. They will not stop with veiled threats against the government (am I the only one who caught that, btw -- Bill Gates promising Congress that the Love Bug was only the beginning?). You are on the road to Hell, buddy, and you don't even see it. Or perhaps you do, and choose to worship Gates anyway... *shrug*
I have broken the law in acts of civil disobedience in the past, and I fully expect to do it again in the future. I have faced down the Man, and I know why and where and what for. But the consequence of that is this, Robin: I know what is worth fighting for, because I have genuinely fought for those things.
Bullshit. You are now fighting on the side of corruption and oppression. You bring shame on every single individual who has ever stood up for what is right and good in human nature.
Well I suppose there would be idiots who would hold on to a sliding stock long enough to go broke but I don't think that would be the majority of stock holders.
Gates, Ballmers, and company have been quietly but systematically divesting themselves of M$ stock for over a year now. I presume the others are aware of that...?
The question is, how do we decide when companies or people are behaving in a predatory manner with intellectual property or business practices? I believe that Microsoft and the Music Cartels are predators; how do you formulate in law ways to deal with such organizations while protecting copyright protection?
I agree, and I think the question you pose is a valid one. Perhaps it would be reasonable to allow copyrights to be held by individuals, but not by corporations?
Rigorous review procedures before allowance of a copyright might help, but that would no doubt be quite expensive from a governmental standpoint...
I really don't see any way a reasonable person could allow M$'s claim of copyright on the kerebros spec to stand, given the known origin of the work.
In the music industry, the individual artist would have to own the copyrights, and would not be put in the position of fighting a corporation for them.
... that was too easy. What's wrong with those ideas?
A software programmer for Microsoft is no different to a software programmer for any other company.
Your statement is demonstrably false. Taking youreself for an example, M$ software programmers are obviously lacking in basic reasoning skills....
Why the fuck should they quit a job in which they get good pay, great benefits and job security because some other wing of their HUGE corporation is doing something they don't agree with.>
... you had to ask...
Reasons to quit prostituting your ethics to M$ (by your own admission above, that's what you are doing):
because if you don't you are every bit as morally repugnant as the filth that employs you?
Becuase your are prostituting yourself and your ethics?
Because helping M$ screw the consumer out of their hard-earned cash is not less morally repugnant than drawing a welfare check (it's coming out of my pocket either way)?
Because you are afraid that serving the M$ Reich in any way could ultimately lead to your porosecution and conviction?
Because if you're worth a shit at whatever it is you do, you don't have to put up with that shit and can get a job anywhere?
Because your attitude of riding the gravy train could get you fired since it's M$ yuo're talking about and not the federal government? I could go on...
if I did that every time I didn't agree with a management decision I would be collecting your tax dollars on welfare for life
So you admit that that you are pathetic at what you do and couldn't possibly be employed in a position of your own choosing? That's why you're a whore? Well, I guess you've answered your own questions...
Maybe you should consider that with the power and money they have, Microsoft would probabely be THE BEST environment in which to work in.
Money and power to not equate to quality of life or a good work environment. Perhaps you should consider that, at some point in the near future, you will probably lose your job to a software engineer on the Indian sub-continent who is willing to work for one-third of what you are.
Like it or not kids, there's laws we have to follow, no matter how much they suck.
I dislike your patronizing tone here, bubba, and I'm really sick of all the tired parrotting of the same sentiment. You should be making your point to your "we-were-only-folowing-orders" pals at M$. Their repeated attempts to criminalize and otherwise denigrate the Open Source community are becoming more blatant, more heavy handed, and are certain to generate a serious backlash among netizens enamored of liberty.
M$ is the criminal here, not/. The simple fact that you get on socially with the employess doesn't make them any less guilty of the crimes of their employer.
Your sort of "but they're nice guys, they couldn't possibly be helping fuck over the entire free world" attitude doesn't wash with me, and your attempt to grab moral high-ground by implying that anyone here is unwilling to abide the laws of the land is insidious.
Of all the various posters to/., none has ever demonstrated the complete lack of respect for the law of the land that M$ has repeatedly shown over the last several decades. M$ is a criminal entity, and should be treated as such. M$ employees are knowing accomplices in a criminal endeavour.
At worst, the posters of the kerebos material could be considered vigilantes, having had to take the law into their own hands to defend themselves against a criminal organization. That, in and of itself, can not be considered reprehensible, imo.
I, too, have read many of the comments, and I have to disagree with the idea that M$ owns the documents in question.
If I download the linux kernel source, add some code, then repost it to the net with my own copyrights and EULA plastered all over it, I still do not own the code.
Perhaps you skipped the posts concerning the origins of the document M$ claims to own?
The remainder of M$'s allegations are obvious bullshit [see: freedom of speech, and united states of america].
In this instance, M$ are thieves trying use the law against their victims to cover up their crime.
"How many assertions does it take to make a fact?"
Slashdot Mirror
I suspect that you are trolling, but I get this a lot from educators who don't really understand how to use the technology, so I'll dignify it with a response.
Yeah, right. Most teachers can't use a 4-function calculator, let alone something that has percentages and square roots on it. How the hell do figure they're teaching their students something they don't know themselves? This is laughable. The US has always been behind! The scary thing is that it has taken people like you so long to realize it. This is what lead to my "don't understand the tech" remark. With programmable calculators, you're talking about programming, not math. Push button derivatives? It doesn't even get interesting until you start doing integrals.Remember when you had to fill up a couple sheets of paper to figure out how many digits of accuracy were affeted in you answer by the value of the quantum? Remember how pleased you were when you programmed your ... whatever it was ... to do that in seconds, at the push of a button, instead of taking hours with pencil and paper?
You don't, do you. You don't understand the tech.
I still remember writing these kinds of little mini-programs back before those functions were available on a calculator. When the instructor said "Show your work," I printed the program. He got pissed because he couldn't read it, of course... but he damn well couldn't claim I didn't know the material.
The fact that the instructor didn't think of it, and doesn't know how to do it doesn't invalidate the educational value of the execise.
Do you also assert that somehow the student learns more by storing notes in wire-bound wads of pressed, bleached, and dried vegatable matter? Explain. Not a bad idea. In fact, I had every intention of doing just that, until I found that the average grammer checker is pathetically inadequate, to the point that I can correct my own grammer quicker and easier "manually". That type of tech is still very primitive. I had hoped to have generative programs the write my essays for me, by this time, but... well, that's a separate rant. Well, you're partially correct. In case you haven't noticed, schools have already stopped teaching everything except political correctness. They don't even teach typing; besides typing as a computer skill is already obsolescent.I think humans being replaced by machines may not be such a bad idea. Goddess knows, the humans have totally fsck'd things up for long enough. If machines become intelligent enough to survive as humans drive themselves extinct, hey, more power to 'em.
I mean really, what does the human race have to reccomend itself, objectively? From a perspective that encompasses humanity, rather than being contained within humanity, not much. And the contained perspective is about as valid as a circular definition...
It doesn't end. Death just introduces complex numbers.
"Life: Nothing gets out alive."
To go offshore at this point would make you a refugee; no one is going to take you in, because no one can afford to take on the US militarily.
It's got to be revolution from within for simple financial reasons. However, you might look into getting the support of foreign nations in exchange for giving them favored (information) trading status when you win. The analogy would be French support for Patriots during the First American Revolution.
Waco: What was on the LAN?
Anyone know if the Halloween Documents have been introduced into evidence? Were they allowed?
It will be interesting to see if any soveriegn nation will agree to this claptrap.
The "Global Economy" is an implementation of Yankee Imperialism.
Why should the Philippine government persecute their own citizens on the word of some yankee spooks? Especially when...
Seems there is (was) no Philippine law against writing or releasing virii. The creator had every reason to believe he would not be prosecuted. Perhaps he/she didn't realize how quickly the Philippine gov would cave to the US demands that they enforce our law against their citizens.
The Philippine authorities had to "adapt" a law that didn't really apply in order to make the arrest, in order to pacify the enraged M$ users -- I mean, victims... I mean the FBI...
Short version: National borders are no defense against M$
If you talk about boycotting the K spec, you have played into M$ game, since they don't want you using it anyway. If you you could assure a corporate boycott of kerebros, that would be a bit different, since that would disrupt the M$ plan to destroy the unix server market. Unfortunately, individual users cannot assure a corporate boycott of any M$ product.
I think this is important to remember. M$ is basically amused about individual users. To M$ the user is a regrettable necesity. They don't give a shit if you run Linux, as long as you are forced to use M$ at work. If you want to do any damage in an attack on M$, the corporate market has to be the field.
I do want to point out, though, that if the corporate servers do succumb, there will be an impact on private users that I have not seen mentioned yet. I.e. logon authentication/authorization to ISP/telco servers running M$ may no longer be available to *nix users, legally. I am not enough of an expert in the field to say with certainty that this would be the case. Could someone with more expertise in the field comment?
It occurs to me that, with M$ ongoing effort to control telcos and service providers world-wide, there will be move en masse to M$ servers in that industry. We're already starting to see this. If *nix can't authenticate/authorize, access is denied, and the platform dies.
Casualties. The Boston Tea Party took place before the actual start of the war, iirc, and is considered a seminal event leading up to the "Shot heard round the world." Before shots were fired at Concord Bridge (I'm doing this from decades old memories, btw, feel free to correct my Amerikan history) a militia was formed, trained, armed, and readied to act at a moments notice.I think the concept of a militia is important. I see no reason to believe that M$ is not already fully prepared militarily for eventualities such as this. Once shots are fired, retaliation will be immeadiate and probably devastatingly strong from the POV of an individual or community of individuals.
Use your imagination. Push button DDoS attacks. They certainly have the resources. Databases of known dissidents. Backdoor access to government and corporate data. You will be able to rely on neither anonymity nor accuracy of the information about you in public or private databases. Any thing running M$ software could be corrupted.
Remeber, we are talking about a multinational corporation with resources unmatched by any world governent. They have nothing better to do with those resources than to spend a few $100k per individual wiping a few thousand dissidents off the face of the net. It's chump change to M$ if they feel their market share is threatened.
You won't have legal recourse once GW is elected, either. M$ will have the feds in their pocket to a substantially greater extent than they already do. I suspect that it is currently only a few black-budget special-ops agencies, right now (think Waco), along with some portion of the legislative branch. After November, they will have the Executive branch, as well.
Expect to see the rise of a "Brown Shirt" movement as well. I expect that they will have a significant political agenda aside from computer networking issues, but I don't expect "pinko-commie-hacker-faggot Linux users" will be very popular with them either (Finland is a "furrin cuntry", after all).
My crystal ball also tells me that the Brown Shirts will be a populist movement, probably fronted by a popular right-wing media figure, probably Rush Limbaugh or somebody of his ilk, who will, in passing, defend the oppressed amerikan capitalist corporation as an institution. These activities, while not eliminating more than a few of the non-Microsofties, will lend popular media support to the idea that the *nix community are undesirables, and should be made to wear pictures of Penguins on their forheads, or something. This will give rise to legislation that will make using "Open" operating systems (servers), illegal for private individuals, since non-M$ boxen will be "known centers of anti-social/illegal activities".
Expect that creation of virii will be definitively tied to the open source community in the public's mind before the end of the summer of 2000.
Face it, we've been set up. Nothing is going to satisfy M$ at this point.
There is another key difference between this revolution and the first amerikan revolution: The British were not a fascist people. The monarchy may have been corrupt, the tea companies huge and powerful, but there were ethical limits to the atrocities which they could stomach. M$ knows no such limits.M$ has been practicing fascism for fun and profit. They like it so much, they are financing a fascist movement within the US Federal Gov, much as GW Bush's ancestor's did in Germany before and during WWII. The new regime will favor the M$ model of "business as a cult" in both the economic and social sense. Linux users and Open Sourcers who think they are "geeks" now, will learn the meaning of the word "ostracized".
A very austute question. Wish I had a good answer. One thing I know is, to win, you will need a way to threaten M$ with significant damage. That means a serious threat to their cash flow. Furthermore, you will be going up against the feds over it after Nov 2000. That can be nasty, as any veteran of the 1960's can tell you, and frankly, I don't see a snowball's chance in hell of winning it. We are watching the rise of the Fourth Reich (sp?). I don't think any thinking person at this point could legitimately claim that the amerikan government has any use for the citizens except as cannon fodder and/or a source of revenue. The purpose of government at this point is to maintain order so that revenue continues to flow. Anything that disrupts that will be dealt with harshly. The amerikan people no longer own their government, the coroporations do. I think when the selection of goods upon which we spend our incomes is limited to the point where choices are premade for us, money ceases to be a value. We are simply machines producing an output. This is symptomatic of totalitarianism. The economy is an artificial construct.... It has been said that information is the currency of the day. How much information are you willing to give up to run M$ products? Note that M$ has gone into content production for encyclopedias, etc, the traditional repositories of information. Does the phrase "re-write history" signify? Our losses stand to be significantly more serious than dollars and cents, especially with the book-burning mentality so popular with the right-wing fundies. I think it is critically important to realize that M$ goal is not wealth per se, it is power. Recall, M$ is a cult. Wealth is only a means to an end. Computers and networking are evolving into what the power brokers can only see as the ultimate propaganda machine, complete with full feedback loop.This whole scenario is the stuff of nightmare, imo. I am curious about what sort of international support the US Open Source movement will be able to garner. What sort of trade sanctions would other nations be willing to endure to see us get our country back? The WTO has already threatened Germany with sanctions if they do not open their telcos to foreign (M$) investment...
What elements of government and industry within the US are willing to contibute to the return to a free society? It has to be obvious to the US military at this point that our national security has been compromised my the absorption of M$ products into the operations of federal and state governments. M$, not the government, controls the computers that are used to perform the day-to-day tasks of governing.
These are questions are critical to survival of the movement.
How much of the bombing in the balkans took place in order to open markets to "upgraded" systems and software? Can linux-freindly countries that may be willing to accept refugees during the coming conflict expect to have to engage in actual military war in order to protect their freedom to choose?
The counter-culture of the 1960's folded on the question of "you say you want a revolution?" If anyone now chooses to answer in the affirmative, understand that you are going up against an entrenched establishment that a previous generation back away from. This establishment has had 40 years to develop the tech and the psych techniques to make certain they are not threatened in the same manner again. They are willing to kill you to make their point: Obey.
All they want is the entire output of your productive labour for the duration of your life. Money is irrelevant as long as you keep producing. M$ has gained power by providing a channel for that work. Sure, you can program, but only within the M$ paradigm if you want to make a living at it. Otherwise you might produce something dagerous to the status quo. Something that will show their money for the lie that it is. Something that will point out in no uncertain terms that we are all just slaves to the system, expendable at some precalculated limit.
Finally, note that if conflict is eliminated, the need for a centralized power structure goes away. We will be served up heapin' helpin's of tailor-made opportunities to spend our energy on trivial issues which dissapate our power. All such will be made much of in the media, in order to assure us that it is important, while the real issues pass us by unnoticed.
So, the short answer is no, I don't think posting the K spec anywhere will do any good. In fact the K spec itself is probably irrelevent. We should look around, find out what they're doing with their other hand, and try to do some real damage.
This entire post is a pack of lies. I made it up out of whole cloth, and anyone who believes any of it is probably a sociopath who should carefully consider what is meant by the term "satire".
Paranoia: How much of VA Linux stock is owned by M$ proxy corps?
M$ wants to be able to scan your filesystem for "illegal" software and data. Do you think they'll skip your system just because you're running Linux?
The GNU Document License idea is a nice idea. If M$ picks up on it, they'll be due some slack from the Open Source community, but I have small hope that will happen. The Open Source community as a whole still has no idea just how serious Gates & Compnay really are about Total World Dominion.
When legal and governmental processes depend on your systems, you don't need PR. M$ demands that you obey, not that you like it.
Is the M$ monoculture an example of inbreeding or replication by division?
- DOC - Word Document
- DOT - Word Template
- MAM - Access Macro
- XLS - Excel Spread Sheet
- XLT - Excel Template
- XLA - Excel Addin
I'm sure there are others.It's a good thing there aren't any programmers working at M$, they might design a virus to install Windoze on Linux systems via email....
M$ knows that their software is inferior; they know that NT has no business as a critical wartime system, yet they "brought political pressure to bear" in order to make sure that NT was used (quoting navy personnel quoted in the government news agency story).
This is the result of M$ doing "whatever it can get away with to make money".
Wake up people, these are your childrens' lives your selling to Gates, here....
Note that M$ is trying to get CE and NT into avionics systems in commercial and military aircraft, as well.
Sorry about being OT, but I thought this bore repeating.
Rather that it should be are irreedom of speedom, Microsoft should give up going Microsoft should but those who do talk about methods of do it KNOW that that it should bedience is arguy who posted that posting the law, and freedom of speech, criming thing thods of dom of doing things; it should be up going aft should be should expect repercussions?
Therefore percussions.
Therefore, rather the law, and that posting Microsoft it should be are irrelevane. And they should expectivities, criminalism and freedom
And I mean it!
I would point out that I object your characterization of the battle against M$ as a 'jihad'. The implication of an association (real or spiritual) with a bunch of nut-case fundies out do destroy the world is onerous. People like you continue to attempt to relegate this very serious matter to the 'fringe'....
I don't recall the source of that quote, but I think it is especially apt in the case of M$. M$ seems to demand that 'rights' be a one way street. They want to have protection for themselves, yet expect everyone to remain silent as they trample the rights of others. They also seem to think that "might makes right", which is usually only true in the short term for any given evil....
So we've established that the Gnus are not anarchists. That's good, because anarhist beliefs are probably illegal in the US under the current regime. My ilk? LOL. Okay, maybe there are some others like me... Thanks for the link, btw. "Fuck the skull of Microsoft!"... I love it. I was thinking more along the lines of "Mutilate the corpse", but it doesn't have the same ring to it... Sorry if I gave that impression. Actually, attempts by M$ to suppress "freedom of expression" and "right to choice" are exactly the types of accusations I would bring against M$, so these issues are very germaine. Actually, no, I never wondered about that. I have known from the beginning. In fact, it's interesting that you would admit to the phenomena, since M$ has repeatedly denied targetting anyone, let alone open source.Can you supply specifics? I'm sure the DOJ would be interested.
Well, I resent that your accuse me of preaching. And I have never advocated conviction based on association. Let me be clear: M$ could not do what they do without employees, therefor, the employees are in the position of accomplices to a crime, which is prosecutable. As in war crimes trials, the common foot soldier is generally not formally tried, but certainly exceptions are made in the cases of atrocities, etc.And yes, I will continue to cast M$ as a hostile, totalitarian nation. I consider it an apt analogy, since M$ has declared what amounts to economic war on the IT world.
You are falling for the M$ propaganda if you allow them to convince you to view their threats against slashdot as an isolated, unimportant incident.
M$'s assault on slashdot, has been well organized, and is part of a much broader strategy for control of the net at large...
Nah. I didn't claim to be better than m$. I am absolutely antagonistic to them. I am the anti-Gates. Sure. No problem. You can tell him I said so... Fight fire with fire, you know? If it's true, it's not an 'excuse'. And I hardly need to take your judgement of validity, under the circumstances. And contend them I will. uh-huh. M$ doesn't agree. If you don't fight them, you will obey them, eventually. They are seeing to it. You don't see the reasons yet. You'll get over it. Give it time. Sorry, bub, this one was a no-brainer. Okay. Whatever. Good luck devin. You should probably apply to M$. You can get paid writing stuff like that, and for taking this kind of abuse, you know? I mean, as long as you're willing to spout the M$ party line....Was cyberturfing usenet a M$ innovation, or had it been done before?
"The first one is always free"
I'd like to state, for the record, that I don't consider M$ a capitalist effort, nor do I consider Ayn Rand a right-wing propagandist. I do not consider that M$ represents capitalism as described in Rand's work (and yes, I know that Rand's philosophy was egoism, not capitalism, per se). In fact, I see strong parallels between the real-life Bill Gates and the characterisations of some of the anti-heros in Rand's fictional work. Of course, I also see strong parallels between Gates and the anti-hero (666) of Revelations (new testament of the xtian bible) ....
imo, The right wing in the US represents fascist, not capitalist, values. M$ is a shining example of their socio-economic paradigm.
I also agree with the various posters who have pointed out that /. is more true to capitalistic goals (as I understand them) than M$.
I am in agreement with FreeUser for the post which states, in part:
I think "extend the capitalist paradigm beyond its functional parameters at the point of a gun" is a very accurate description of what has been going on in the US for some time. M$ is part of it.IMO, this activity should be as abhorent to capitalsists as to anyone else. Totalitarianism is not a healthy climate for enterprise. Freedom is more valuable than gold.
Altogether, I don't think it would hurt, but I doubt that it would help, much. I doubt that Gates' (and henchmens') departure would be sufficient to allow the company could survive in a truly competitive marketplace. I don't think will be able to ramp up production of usefable software quickly enough.
$0.02
"Be afraid. Be very afraid"
First, don't drag Dr. King's name into the gutter inhabitted by yourself and the other corporate drones that inhabit the sewer that is M$ corp. MLK believed in Freedom. Something you obviously have no concept of. Bill Gates' dream of mind control devices in every home being a real cash cow is not quite in the same league with King. You might want to check with the King Foundation on this. I doubt they will view your attempts at exploitation with kindness.
I commend to you, in your evident search for a heritage, the work of Frederik Douglass. I find it particularly appropriate in this context, you being a wage slave to the Man, denying that this is an issue of fundamental freedomms, constitutionality, and all.
Second, I am not a child. In fact, if you work at M$, I'm probably old enough to be your daddy, or even grand-daddy. Respect your elders.
Third, while I have never claimed to have experienced the particular hell that MLK experienced, you sicken me with your pathetic attempts to divert the discussion into "my repression is more oppressive than your repression" nonsense. That's basic playground politics, and from what you have posted here, you are way out of line talking down to anyone in that regard.
That said, I am probably on more black lists right now than you can believe exist. You are so PC you can't see the forest for the trees. You don't have a clue what this is about. You are the spiritual progenitor of those who will, at some point in the future, refer to "the Slashdotters and Open Sourcers who we blacklisted in the Micorsoft Era" in much the same way you have tried to ride on the legacy of those you mention.
Your masters will not stop with silencing a single post on slashdot, or with silencing slashdot. They will not stop with veiled threats against the government (am I the only one who caught that, btw -- Bill Gates promising Congress that the Love Bug was only the beginning?). You are on the road to Hell, buddy, and you don't even see it. Or perhaps you do, and choose to worship Gates anyway... *shrug*
Bullshit. You are now fighting on the side of corruption and oppression. You bring shame on every single individual who has ever stood up for what is right and good in human nature. Fsck you.Try this: Go back and read The Fountainhead a few more times. When you read the parts about E. Toohey, think about Bill Gates.
Now quit your whining.
Rigorous review procedures before allowance of a copyright might help, but that would no doubt be quite expensive from a governmental standpoint...
I really don't see any way a reasonable person could allow M$'s claim of copyright on the kerebros spec to stand, given the known origin of the work.
In the music industry, the individual artist would have to own the copyrights, and would not be put in the position of fighting a corporation for them.
Reasons to quit prostituting your ethics to M$ (by your own admission above, that's what you are doing):
because if you don't you are every bit as morally repugnant as the filth that employs you?
Becuase your are prostituting yourself and your ethics?
Because helping M$ screw the consumer out of their hard-earned cash is not less morally repugnant than drawing a welfare check (it's coming out of my pocket either way)?
Because you are afraid that serving the M$ Reich in any way could ultimately lead to your porosecution and conviction?
Because if you're worth a shit at whatever it is you do, you don't have to put up with that shit and can get a job anywhere?
Because your attitude of riding the gravy train could get you fired since it's M$ yuo're talking about and not the federal government? I could go on...
So you admit that that you are pathetic at what you do and couldn't possibly be employed in a position of your own choosing? That's why you're a whore? Well, I guess you've answered your own questions... Money and power to not equate to quality of life or a good work environment. Perhaps you should consider that, at some point in the near future, you will probably lose your job to a software engineer on the Indian sub-continent who is willing to work for one-third of what you are.M$ is the criminal here, not /. The simple fact that you get on socially with the employess doesn't make them any less guilty of the crimes of their employer.
Your sort of "but they're nice guys, they couldn't possibly be helping fuck over the entire free world" attitude doesn't wash with me, and your attempt to grab moral high-ground by implying that anyone here is unwilling to abide the laws of the land is insidious.
Of all the various posters to /., none has ever demonstrated the complete lack of respect for the law of the land that M$ has repeatedly shown over the last several decades. M$ is a criminal entity, and should be treated as such. M$ employees are knowing accomplices in a criminal endeavour.
At worst, the posters of the kerebos material could be considered vigilantes, having had to take the law into their own hands to defend themselves against a criminal organization. That, in and of itself, can not be considered reprehensible, imo.
"What goes around, comes around."
If I download the linux kernel source, add some code, then repost it to the net with my own copyrights and EULA plastered all over it, I still do not own the code.
Perhaps you skipped the posts concerning the origins of the document M$ claims to own?
The remainder of M$'s allegations are obvious bullshit [see: freedom of speech, and united states of america].
In this instance, M$ are thieves trying use the law against their victims to cover up their crime.
"How many assertions does it take to make a fact?"