Re:reverse engineering
on
EULA In Games
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· Score: 3
What this ignores is that reverse engineering falls within the bounds of fair use. The publishers of a game can retain ownership all they want, but reverse engineering is supported under U.S. law (and others too, I'm sure). Thus many EULAs are misrepresenting the law (at worst) or attempting to get you to agree to give up rights which you would normally have (at best).
No, that's not right.
What you're ignoring is that agreeing to the contract supercedes your legal right to reverse engineer. To make this more plain; take a standard NDA for an example. You are (typically) allowed, under the first amendment (for the USians here) to tell others about your experiences, etc. If you sign an NDA when hiring into a company, you're agreeing *NOT* to speak about certain things, under threat of legal penalties.
What I do disagree with is the fact that you can't really help but agree with the contract. If you read the EULA and actually agree, that's just fine. What recourse do you have if you disagree? MS has already refused to honor their own EULA by offering a refund if you disagree (and their new EULAs say to go to the vendor only, not MS). Most vendors won't return your money. This is the real problem with the EULA. A EULA, in concept, isn't a bad thing. A EULA, in practice, should be illegal as hell.
Unless he had someone else check FOR him, there is no way for the person with the censored access to know what they are missing, and whether and what to ask for access to. Anything censored may as well not exist.
Forgive my apparent ignorance, but isn't the WWW run using a good deal of linked material? For example, couldn't another site about similar subject matter (but with a less unfortunate name string) have a link to this harmless site, that would be locked to all filtered comers?
Actually, I hate to admin the truth to this one, and I wish I had some moderator points to up this one some.
What makes this worse though isn't just the MCSE process. It's the age discrimination that does occur to a great degree on 30-35 year old IT workers. You take your most experienced group and disregard them as "too old" or "too expensive" in favor of the more hours-flexible, inexpensive (generally), and inexperienced. Of course we're going to have these problems. This just doesn't happen in most other job arenas.
Oh well, enough ranting for me, these problems should resolve themselves somewhat when the job market corrects itself to some extent.
Okay, thanks for clearing that up for me...you're not a troll...*shrug*
So, because, as you put it, "Some people are offended by these words", they indicate a lack of innate intelligence? That's the most absurd logic I've heard in quite some time. It's too absurd to even respond to, so I'll move on to the rest of your "winning" post.
You should look up 'aculturation [sic]'. The word you are bandying about is 'acculturation' and you're using it poorly. Acculturation isn't a verb, it's a noun. Your sentence is devoid of actual content, and I can only assume you were simply interested in getting your new big word in there somewhere.
French/Latin v. Obscenity: I wasn't referring to the entire French or Latin language in this example, but people who use pseudo French or Latin phrases in English (i.e. Vice Versa, ad nauseam, etc). Saying that cursing indicated a lack of intellect is the same as saying that using any other language within English is unintelligent, and is perversely wrong.
So let's see...all of my examples are relevant, the behavior accomplishes much, and the fact that it can be done by a 2 year old has little to do with anything. Personally, I find people that swear worthy of no undue attention, but people who misuse $10 words to sound impressive are complete imbeciles; so no, you're not a troll, you're an imbecile. I apologize for the confusion.
Am I the only one who HATES the button size in NS6? I mean, in 4.7x, you could opt to do away with the icon part of the Back,Forward,Home, etc. buttons, but I can't find a way to do so with 6. I have valuable screen real-estate taken up by pretty pictures that I don't want.
Damn, I'm making myself blind with resolution so tiny I'm lucky to see what I'm typing for the extra few pixels, and they pull this crap?
My point is vulnerable to proof by counterexample. I ask again: please name me one way to use offensive language that has redeeming social importance.
Doubt you can.
I'll bite. I'm judging by you absolutionist view of "swearing" or profanity that you've never served in the military in any capacity, so I'll enlighten you.
Obscene language plays an important role among the enlisted (most notably junior enlisted) in the military (US-centric here). First, profanity is how you tell "us" from "them". The more genteel officers speak "eloquently", the rest curse. Second, until you've been in Basic training, A-school, or what have you, you just don't understand how thoroughly a DS can make his/her point with the most imaginative (and seemingly endless) string of obsceneties.
Now, I'm sure you'll complain about a lack of "concrete" examples (showing your utter lack of exposure to the world and imagination) so I'll help you out some there. Obscenity has little impact when used constantly; however, if you take your average, clean-cut, polite individual (my grandmother in this particular example) from whom you don't remember EVER hearing an obscenity, and from that person you hear the phrase "Don't you EVER fucking say that again!", it has a SERIOUS impact.
It's not the word, it's the use..and frankly, it's become rather commonplace in the English language at this point, saying that use of profanity indicates ignorance is alot like saying that use of French or Latin indicates ignorance, as you're too "stupid" to know the appropriate English equivalent.
I just can't tell if you're a troll or an idiot (make that a fucking idiot, for consistancy's sake).
That was about the worst piece of writing I've ever seen.
I've read the stupid article about 5 times now, and much of it STILL makes no sense. Why did they do all of these seemingly pointless things to get it back? What was the point? The entire article read like a gigantic run-on sentence with no point displayed anywhere in there.
Hint for moderators: It's neither a flame nor a troll, nor baiting for flames, so -1 Flamebait or -1 Troll wouldn't be appropriate; however, -1 Offtopic or -1 Overrated would both apply.
These "deals" should be illegal, they target the non-tech savvy and those with the least amount of money.
So now the government should get involved and outlaw bad deals? So, if I want to charge more than my neighbor for similar service, I should be able to be held legally liable? How about we simply expect that people will take personal responsibility for themselves and do a little price shopping? Jesus, how far do we go to protect the 'lowest common denominator'?
Hint - the USA is supposedly a DEMOCRACY, Mr Coward, which means that they can vote for who the hell they want, not who YOU tell them to. Neat, huh?
(Not being from the USA, I personally couldn't care which way the vote goes, mind you:) )
Ahh, since you're not from the US, I'll excuse your ignorance of the fact that we're a Repulic (or Representative Democracy) NOT a Democracy. Subtle difference, but a huge one. Most notably, we don't elect our president, we elect the people that elect our president. In the future, it's better to wait until a topic you understand comes up to get sarcastic about it.
don't believe that being poor means being lazy, but I believe here in America that there is one HELL of a correlation.
Wow, welcome to the land of stereotypes. Poor people are lazy. Lemme guess? Black people are stupid? Women are weak? Japanese people are very smart? Germans are war-like? People that make sweeping generalizations are complete jackasses?
My father was doing 80+ hour weeks and my mother was doing 40 so that they could put us in a 2 bedroom hovel in the projects. Do you work 80 hours per week? Do you work 70? This poor person certainly had more work ethic than anyone I've ever met. He did all of this, and I was able to get an education and a good job...now I can provide for my family. You argument proves you're in the upper-middle class.
If what you said was relevant, then we would see people who want to make a living wage and support their family would join the military.
Let's just break this down. The military has to travel, frequently to places that don't allow families. People in the military sometimes *gasp* die. You have to pass educational and physical tests to join the military. Malnourished family-men tend not to be physically fit. Undereducated, street-living folks tend to lack the education to join. Gee...you have the answer to everything...too bad it's short-sited, generalized, and wrong.
I'm actually rather surprised by the content of many fan reviews (and some of the comments here). Many are along the lines of "PS2 will kill DC" or "DC won't let PS2 take off". How ridiculous is this?
You'd think, now that we've seen how one company holding a lock on a market (Microsoft?) is such a detrimental force against the consumer, we'd all be praying that all the consoles do reasonably well, to force competition to create better and better games and consoles.
I own a DC, and when the price comes down will own a PS2. I don't get to play games alot, but when I want to, I'll not be locked into a console to determine what I play. Sega has more original games than any other console maker out there. Period (Jet Grind Radio or Seaman to name two examples). Sony has some of the stronger sports games (Madden for example) and a few other genres. Sega and Sony both have great RPGs.
Hardware-wise, I've been skeptical for some time that the PS2 would appear significantly more advanced than any other new console. In comparing Madden to NFL2K (not the new, I prefer to compare first gen to first gen) or TTT to Soul Calibre, I don't see any amazing advance.
Of course this article is biased, but it's no more biased than the same FUD we've seen on PS2 sources for a year now.
To some extent, I agree with you, save for one point. In this particular instance, I personally would have done the same thing.
I think when the security problem is on something like online banking (where a great many people can be screwed thoroughly), more exposure is better. Send this info to everyplace that'll broadcast it for you. It's the only way that businesses and the government will see that security is a very real issue.
Quietly allowing a bank to fix patches like this obscures something very important from the general populus...online banking isn't safe yet, and should DEFINATELY be regulated.
I truly don't believe this particular person falls into your over-generalized 'leed kiddie' catagory, I call him civic-minded with his own political agenda.
Regardless of the temperature, I find it ridiculous that McDs lost the suit. It's friggin coffee. If you put coffee (HOT) in your crotch and drive, you SHOULD get burned, and probably be beaten to death for the rest of your life for being a risk to other drivers.
Personally, I far prefer to use the instance of a boat enthusiast on Lake Michigan suing Weather24.com for the cost of his boat + pain and suffering for failing to mention a storm in the area that ended up sinking his boat. It's a much better example of litigous idiocy.
Actually, there's an easy option. Open an X.com bank account (and, at least a short while ago, get $20 free), and give that number to pay-pal. They have an account, albiet one I don't use, and I have no spending limit. Works out well for me.
Actually, I both followed this story in rapt fascination when it was happening, and have a rather large library of literature at my disposal about the case.
In reality, it was a seriously frivilous lawsuite gone badly awry. McD's lawyer was inept, and this poor imbeciles ambulance chaser was on the ball.
She suffered 1 approximately DIME SIZED spot of 3rd degree burn, and there's absolutely no way to prove how long the hot coffee was on her to cause said DIME SIZED spot of burn. The remaining burn was scattered burns "akin to a sunburn" according to the observing doctor.
The statement that McD's "showed that they knew they were putting people at risk" is also taken slightly out of context. When one of the witnesses for McD's was asked "Where you aware that the coffee might have been hot enough to burn patrons", the employee respondes (exact quote)..."It's coffee...". When the lawyer demanded clarification, the employee said "Yes, coffee is hot, if it were cold, it would have been returned". Yes, McD's knew the coffee was hot, the same way us thinking folks know it's hot...that's the way it works. Nobody sues Dow Corning (the makers of my heating elements on my stove) for making something they KNOW could burn people. Both are hot by design.
The fact is, that lawsuit is a beautiful example of all that's wrong with out litigous society.
By the same token, it's be nice to see someone find SOME use for this. I mean, it just seems wasteful get this far, and surely someone can find a good use.
Re:He definately doesn't know what an OS is...
on
Is UNIX An OS?
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· Score: 1
Ahh, because you, in your infinite wisdom, don't see it, it's not there. Forgive me, I stand corrected.
Wired Magazine is also advertising a way to get the same Cue Cat devices for use with their advertising. What other handy uses might these be put to? When I read the article in Wired, I assumed it was proprietary, but from the sounds of it, they might not be.
He definately doesn't know what an OS is...
on
Is UNIX An OS?
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· Score: 2
Easy to use is *NOT* a requirement for something to be an OS. Admittedly, "today's OSes" tend to have GUIs and other amenities. That doesn't change the definition of an OS.
The line that really annoys me is "The OS is all the stuff that companies like Sun or Apple add to make a computer usable." when referring to things like web browsers and media players. He implies that, due to a lack of integrated GUI, media players, and web browser, Unix is unusable.
Why don't we all pick up a crappy Windows box and place it, un-firewalled with all of it's directories shared, on cable modem connection. The only thing you store on this? Your MP3s and a list of every other open PC you know of. Why should we do this?
When the RIAA finds our new file sharing scheme, they'll have to sue MS. Do we think there's a chance of MS losing? If they do, so what, no real loss. Chances are good, however, that MS will win, setting a good precedent for file sharing software. It's win-win!!
Actually, this could be a good movie, so long as they don't do what they did in "Batman & Robin". Batman Beyond is a cartoon that even I like, it keeps a bit of sarcasm for amusement value, and has a more gothic flavor (i.e. the first Batman movie). Done right, this movie could rock...here's hoping.
Apples to oranges. You're saying "copy", I'm saying "traffic". No, Joe User still copies his buddy's MS Office CD for his use. No, Joe User wouldn't distribute said copies via mail-order for fear of prosecution.
Napster isn't a way of copying, it's a distribution media, so you have to use metaphores that are similar, not random. Joe User doesn't post his CD image of MS Office on his personal web site for anyone to download....fear of prosecution. Joe User does go download, and make available for download, MP3s on Napster...no fear of prosecution.
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No, that's not right.
What you're ignoring is that agreeing to the contract supercedes your legal right to reverse engineer. To make this more plain; take a standard NDA for an example. You are (typically) allowed, under the first amendment (for the USians here) to tell others about your experiences, etc. If you sign an NDA when hiring into a company, you're agreeing *NOT* to speak about certain things, under threat of legal penalties.
What I do disagree with is the fact that you can't really help but agree with the contract. If you read the EULA and actually agree, that's just fine. What recourse do you have if you disagree? MS has already refused to honor their own EULA by offering a refund if you disagree (and their new EULAs say to go to the vendor only, not MS). Most vendors won't return your money. This is the real problem with the EULA. A EULA, in concept, isn't a bad thing. A EULA, in practice, should be illegal as hell.
Forgive my apparent ignorance, but isn't the WWW run using a good deal of linked material? For example, couldn't another site about similar subject matter (but with a less unfortunate name string) have a link to this harmless site, that would be locked to all filtered comers?
Probably a good idea. When valid arguments run out, bow out as if for some reason aside from being proven wrong.
Actually, I hate to admin the truth to this one, and I wish I had some moderator points to up this one some.
What makes this worse though isn't just the MCSE process. It's the age discrimination that does occur to a great degree on 30-35 year old IT workers. You take your most experienced group and disregard them as "too old" or "too expensive" in favor of the more hours-flexible, inexpensive (generally), and inexperienced. Of course we're going to have these problems. This just doesn't happen in most other job arenas.
Oh well, enough ranting for me, these problems should resolve themselves somewhat when the job market corrects itself to some extent.
Okay, thanks for clearing that up for me...you're not a troll...*shrug*
So, because, as you put it, "Some people are offended by these words", they indicate a lack of innate intelligence? That's the most absurd logic I've heard in quite some time. It's too absurd to even respond to, so I'll move on to the rest of your "winning" post.
You should look up 'aculturation [sic]'. The word you are bandying about is 'acculturation' and you're using it poorly. Acculturation isn't a verb, it's a noun. Your sentence is devoid of actual content, and I can only assume you were simply interested in getting your new big word in there somewhere.
French/Latin v. Obscenity: I wasn't referring to the entire French or Latin language in this example, but people who use pseudo French or Latin phrases in English (i.e. Vice Versa, ad nauseam, etc). Saying that cursing indicated a lack of intellect is the same as saying that using any other language within English is unintelligent, and is perversely wrong.
So let's see...all of my examples are relevant, the behavior accomplishes much, and the fact that it can be done by a 2 year old has little to do with anything. Personally, I find people that swear worthy of no undue attention, but people who misuse $10 words to sound impressive are complete imbeciles; so no, you're not a troll, you're an imbecile. I apologize for the confusion.
Aren't sweeping generalizations fun?
Am I the only one who HATES the button size in NS6? I mean, in 4.7x, you could opt to do away with the icon part of the Back,Forward,Home, etc. buttons, but I can't find a way to do so with 6. I have valuable screen real-estate taken up by pretty pictures that I don't want.
Damn, I'm making myself blind with resolution so tiny I'm lucky to see what I'm typing for the extra few pixels, and they pull this crap?
I'll bite. I'm judging by you absolutionist view of "swearing" or profanity that you've never served in the military in any capacity, so I'll enlighten you.
Obscene language plays an important role among the enlisted (most notably junior enlisted) in the military (US-centric here). First, profanity is how you tell "us" from "them". The more genteel officers speak "eloquently", the rest curse. Second, until you've been in Basic training, A-school, or what have you, you just don't understand how thoroughly a DS can make his/her point with the most imaginative (and seemingly endless) string of obsceneties.
Now, I'm sure you'll complain about a lack of "concrete" examples (showing your utter lack of exposure to the world and imagination) so I'll help you out some there. Obscenity has little impact when used constantly; however, if you take your average, clean-cut, polite individual (my grandmother in this particular example) from whom you don't remember EVER hearing an obscenity, and from that person you hear the phrase "Don't you EVER fucking say that again!", it has a SERIOUS impact.
It's not the word, it's the use..and frankly, it's become rather commonplace in the English language at this point, saying that use of profanity indicates ignorance is alot like saying that use of French or Latin indicates ignorance, as you're too "stupid" to know the appropriate English equivalent.
I just can't tell if you're a troll or an idiot (make that a fucking idiot, for consistancy's sake).
That was about the worst piece of writing I've ever seen.
I've read the stupid article about 5 times now, and much of it STILL makes no sense. Why did they do all of these seemingly pointless things to get it back? What was the point? The entire article read like a gigantic run-on sentence with no point displayed anywhere in there.
Hint for moderators: It's neither a flame nor a troll, nor baiting for flames, so -1 Flamebait or -1 Troll wouldn't be appropriate; however, -1 Offtopic or -1 Overrated would both apply.
These "deals" should be illegal, they target the non-tech savvy and those with the least amount of money.
So now the government should get involved and outlaw bad deals? So, if I want to charge more than my neighbor for similar service, I should be able to be held legally liable? How about we simply expect that people will take personal responsibility for themselves and do a little price shopping? Jesus, how far do we go to protect the 'lowest common denominator'?
Ahh, since you're not from the US, I'll excuse your ignorance of the fact that we're a Repulic (or Representative Democracy) NOT a Democracy. Subtle difference, but a huge one. Most notably, we don't elect our president, we elect the people that elect our president. In the future, it's better to wait until a topic you understand comes up to get sarcastic about it.
don't believe that being poor means being lazy, but I believe here in America that there is one HELL of a correlation.
Wow, welcome to the land of stereotypes. Poor people are lazy. Lemme guess? Black people are stupid? Women are weak? Japanese people are very smart? Germans are war-like? People that make sweeping generalizations are complete jackasses?
My father was doing 80+ hour weeks and my mother was doing 40 so that they could put us in a 2 bedroom hovel in the projects. Do you work 80 hours per week? Do you work 70? This poor person certainly had more work ethic than anyone I've ever met. He did all of this, and I was able to get an education and a good job...now I can provide for my family. You argument proves you're in the upper-middle class.
If what you said was relevant, then we would see people who want to make a living wage and support their family would join the military.
Let's just break this down. The military has to travel, frequently to places that don't allow families. People in the military sometimes *gasp* die. You have to pass educational and physical tests to join the military. Malnourished family-men tend not to be physically fit. Undereducated, street-living folks tend to lack the education to join. Gee...you have the answer to everything...too bad it's short-sited, generalized, and wrong.
No. The MP3 player was cancelled for the US, however the zip drive has been delayed for potential added functionality.
I'm actually rather surprised by the content of many fan reviews (and some of the comments here). Many are along the lines of "PS2 will kill DC" or "DC won't let PS2 take off". How ridiculous is this?
You'd think, now that we've seen how one company holding a lock on a market (Microsoft?) is such a detrimental force against the consumer, we'd all be praying that all the consoles do reasonably well, to force competition to create better and better games and consoles.
I own a DC, and when the price comes down will own a PS2. I don't get to play games alot, but when I want to, I'll not be locked into a console to determine what I play. Sega has more original games than any other console maker out there. Period (Jet Grind Radio or Seaman to name two examples). Sony has some of the stronger sports games (Madden for example) and a few other genres. Sega and Sony both have great RPGs.
Hardware-wise, I've been skeptical for some time that the PS2 would appear significantly more advanced than any other new console. In comparing Madden to NFL2K (not the new, I prefer to compare first gen to first gen) or TTT to Soul Calibre, I don't see any amazing advance.
Of course this article is biased, but it's no more biased than the same FUD we've seen on PS2 sources for a year now.
To some extent, I agree with you, save for one point. In this particular instance, I personally would have done the same thing.
I think when the security problem is on something like online banking (where a great many people can be screwed thoroughly), more exposure is better. Send this info to everyplace that'll broadcast it for you. It's the only way that businesses and the government will see that security is a very real issue.
Quietly allowing a bank to fix patches like this obscures something very important from the general populus...online banking isn't safe yet, and should DEFINATELY be regulated.
I truly don't believe this particular person falls into your over-generalized 'leed kiddie' catagory, I call him civic-minded with his own political agenda.
Regardless of the temperature, I find it ridiculous that McDs lost the suit. It's friggin coffee. If you put coffee (HOT) in your crotch and drive, you SHOULD get burned, and probably be beaten to death for the rest of your life for being a risk to other drivers.
Personally, I far prefer to use the instance of a boat enthusiast on Lake Michigan suing Weather24.com for the cost of his boat + pain and suffering for failing to mention a storm in the area that ended up sinking his boat. It's a much better example of litigous idiocy.
Actually, there's an easy option. Open an X.com bank account (and, at least a short while ago, get $20 free), and give that number to pay-pal. They have an account, albiet one I don't use, and I have no spending limit. Works out well for me.
Actually, I both followed this story in rapt fascination when it was happening, and have a rather large library of literature at my disposal about the case.
In reality, it was a seriously frivilous lawsuite gone badly awry. McD's lawyer was inept, and this poor imbeciles ambulance chaser was on the ball.
She suffered 1 approximately DIME SIZED spot of 3rd degree burn, and there's absolutely no way to prove how long the hot coffee was on her to cause said DIME SIZED spot of burn. The remaining burn was scattered burns "akin to a sunburn" according to the observing doctor.
The statement that McD's "showed that they knew they were putting people at risk" is also taken slightly out of context. When one of the witnesses for McD's was asked "Where you aware that the coffee might have been hot enough to burn patrons", the employee respondes (exact quote)..."It's coffee...". When the lawyer demanded clarification, the employee said "Yes, coffee is hot, if it were cold, it would have been returned". Yes, McD's knew the coffee was hot, the same way us thinking folks know it's hot...that's the way it works. Nobody sues Dow Corning (the makers of my heating elements on my stove) for making something they KNOW could burn people. Both are hot by design.
The fact is, that lawsuit is a beautiful example of all that's wrong with out litigous society.
By the same token, it's be nice to see someone find SOME use for this. I mean, it just seems wasteful get this far, and surely someone can find a good use.
Ahh, because you, in your infinite wisdom, don't see it, it's not there. Forgive me, I stand corrected.
Wired Magazine is also advertising a way to get the same Cue Cat devices for use with their advertising. What other handy uses might these be put to? When I read the article in Wired, I assumed it was proprietary, but from the sounds of it, they might not be.
Easy to use is *NOT* a requirement for something to be an OS. Admittedly, "today's OSes" tend to have GUIs and other amenities. That doesn't change the definition of an OS.
The line that really annoys me is "The OS is all the stuff that companies like Sun or Apple add to make a computer usable." when referring to things like web browsers and media players. He implies that, due to a lack of integrated GUI, media players, and web browser, Unix is unusable.
FUD?
Signal 11, I want my vote back...
Why don't we all pick up a crappy Windows box and place it, un-firewalled with all of it's directories shared, on cable modem connection. The only thing you store on this? Your MP3s and a list of every other open PC you know of. Why should we do this?
When the RIAA finds our new file sharing scheme, they'll have to sue MS. Do we think there's a chance of MS losing? If they do, so what, no real loss. Chances are good, however, that MS will win, setting a good precedent for file sharing software. It's win-win!!
Actually, this could be a good movie, so long as they don't do what they did in "Batman & Robin". Batman Beyond is a cartoon that even I like, it keeps a bit of sarcasm for amusement value, and has a more gothic flavor (i.e. the first Batman movie). Done right, this movie could rock...here's hoping.
Apples to oranges. You're saying "copy", I'm saying "traffic". No, Joe User still copies his buddy's MS Office CD for his use. No, Joe User wouldn't distribute said copies via mail-order for fear of prosecution.
Napster isn't a way of copying, it's a distribution media, so you have to use metaphores that are similar, not random. Joe User doesn't post his CD image of MS Office on his personal web site for anyone to download....fear of prosecution. Joe User does go download, and make available for download, MP3s on Napster...no fear of prosecution.