Open-Source is not about making big bucks. I would even go so far to say that open-source is not as capable of monopoly-building as closed-source, which is probably the reason we'll never gonna see the Windows source code unless the gov't enforces it. Both is probably a good thing.
To say that it will go nowhere because it cannot compare in terms of revenues is not very far-sighted. The only relevant question is how many people use Linux and other alternatives to Windows. And this number is steadily increasing.
It will increase even more when more PC vendors bundle their PCs with Linux instead of or alternatively to Windows (and making the Linux-PCs cheaper, too), as some have already done.
There's light at the end of the tunnel, and we're getting nearer.
--
Re:Not according to Human developement report 2000
on
Hacker Crackdown?
·
· Score: 1
Trouble is, the HDI doesn't take inequality into account, and thus, a country where some people fare extremely well and others rather badly might come out as good or very good in average. Such is the case for the US, where large parts of the population (~15% for adults, ~20% for juveniles) live beneath the poverty line, many don't have health insurance coverage, many are homeless, many are in prison, minorities are disadvantaged.
There are other measures, such as the ISEW, that try to define sustainable development and also take disparity into account. Of course they are not widely used as they make the "world leaders" look much different, especially in retrospect (development has become less and less sustainable in the past decades).
So as someone else said, if you're black and live in LA, the US are pretty far down at the scale, if you're a dot-communist in Silicon Valley, things might look different until your shares go down.
But hey, what's that gotta do with the subject at hand? Mommy, the troll got me!
Microsoft is a for-profit company. In order to increase their market share, they need to crush the competition, and they can do that nicely by making access to core parts of the system harder. That's why the DOC format is so poorly documented that not a single third party I know of as been able to write fully compatible import filters, that's why Microsoft adds shitloads of proprietary crap to HTML documents exported from MS Word, that's why the Windows API and the MFCs are such a mess, that's why Windows doesn't come with free compilers, that's why Internet Explorer tried to introduce ActiveX for web applications etc.
Also, hiding DOS gives them the ability to spin the media nicely: "The first Windows without DOS." I bet that works very well.
By doing all this, however, MS becomes more and more inferior to open-source alternatives. By locking their users in, they will eventually lock them out. I know many who would like to leave Windows if they could, but who would come back to it?
The transition to open alternatives is the difficult part, you literally have to walk through walls. That's why projects like KDE and KOffice are so important: To break the barriers. Linux people should concentrate their efforts on defining open standards, especially in mainstream applications, and making Linux easy-to-use (without dumbing down the user).
You're right in that DeCSS should be safe to use and distribute. However, in the US legal system (and most others, AFAICS), with a lot of money and PR you can usually twist the law in an extreme fashion. Consider cases of corporate misconduct. You can dump your toxic sludge anywhere if you spin the media sufficiently and are ready to fight in court. Of course, this gets more and more difficult the higher you get in the court system, as there's more and more media to spin and the bribes get higher and higher. (Also, the Internet is much harder to spin than traditional media.)
So Damien Cave is right on when he notes that it depends largely on how much cash the content industries are willing to spend. And I tell ya, they'll spend their last buck if necessary. Of course, it also depends on how much money, time and effort, we, the people, are willing to spend, and how good we can organize (Class Action, legal defense funds etc.). And it depends on the other indutries and their interest groups: Don't forget that the EFF, for example, is also an interest group for parts of the IT industry. That's where their money comes from. And the same industry is lobbying Congress against stricter laws for content control.
I believe we can win, but not if we just watch in phlegmatism as these century-defining legal battles rage on.
Of course, there is already pretty good anonymity on the Net (mixmaster remailers, for example) which can be used to code anonymously or pseudonymously. Ian Clarke & Co. however have their identity revealed and are open to legal threats.
Of course, suing them couldn't have any success -- the programs are usually open-source, and users will hardly accept modified versions that don't do what they want them to do. However, the industry might sue anway, just to make an example and to prevent others from developing similar schemes. A totally useless effort, obviously, as this would only drive developers underground.
At all times in history, interest groups of a religious, economic or political nature have tried to prevent technological progress to protect their own health and wealth. Every time, though change also created victims, it was for the better of all of us. When the forces of regression and stagnation dominate, you can call that a Dark Age. This has happened several times in history, the last time after the downfall of the Roman Empire.
That is exactly why we need anonymous and redundant information storage systems: To protect any kind of speech from censorship (and the speakers from persecution), be it hacking instructions, drug information or political analysis. This is an opportunity we have never had before in history. If we win now, we might not only win one battle between "good" and "evil". We might actually win the war.
Join FreeNet now. How often do you get the opportunity to save mankind?
Wohoo, another file-sharing debate. First, Swapoo is pretty uninteresting in that it is centralized à la Napster - and thus open to the same legal threats. I also wonder why these people don't simply use Gnotella to build a private sharing network? That would be much safer.
OTOH, nowadays you just have to shout "Napster" to get 120,000 hits in 12 days. Slashdotted two times, CNET two times, CNBC TV, USA Today front page -- if you have some TCP/IP programming skills and want to be famous, you should work on.. well, perhaps Stitchster for sharing those needlepoint patters?
With regard to browsers, there are three different security layers:
ActiveX: no security, can do anything
if permitted, permission has been
overriden by exploits.
(MS operating systems only)
Java: "sandbox" security model, should
be secure, but numerous exploits in the
past have shown that it's not.
JavaScript/VBSCript/JScript: primitive scripting
languages (VBS/JScript=MS proprietary),
have been used for more exploits than Java,
but usually more benign.
Exploits have been reported in all these areas. The first thing you should do is turn off Java. It hardly ever does anything good on webpages and is not so widely used that turning it off could be a nuisance.
Next, if you're using Windows, download Proxomitron. It will allow you to selectively filter JavaScript, per site or per user request. I don't know of similar solutions for Linux.
Turn off JavaScript by default and only turn it on if a site doesn't work anymore (chances are, there isn't much content there to be missed anyway).
By deactivating Java and filtering JavaScript, I have been able to greatly increase the stability of Netscape on my NT4 system. It hardly ever crashes (about once a week), although I have lots of windows open (right now, it's 14). That's Netscape Communicator 4.7. I have heard that Navigator alone is even more stable, but haven't tested that one.
Now you're safe from exploits like the one reported above. If you use IE, you are vulnerable to many other exploits (like the recent JavaScript bug that allowed sites to spy on your cookies and thus determine top-secret user ID data that can be used to compromise credit card numbers and much more). If you think that IE is the better browser, you should at least deactivate or filter the insecure layers mentioned above.
Oh, and you might also use Opera. You pay a few bucks once (and I urge you to pay, as they need your money to continue development) and get a rock stable browser with all the essential features, super high speed and high security. If you think IE is better coz Bill Gates gives it away for free, that's your decision.
This is not just about accidental cases of sometimes funny overblocking. The companies that sell censorware usually encrypt their filter lists so that nobody can see what is actually censored. And some of this companies, like Focus on the Family, have a clearly conservative agenda. We also know that nearly all censorware packages, for example, have been blocking Peacefire's website in the past or are still blocking it, and have been blocking gay and women's right organizations directly via URL filters (not via keyword filters), so they knew what they were doing.
We're talking about absolute control here. Right now, the Internet is not as important as TV, but it will be much more important in the near future, and if there's a single company (or an oligarchy of companies) that's in control of what children can see, without public scrutiny, they can do whatever they want. And they will probably get away with it.
That's why the censorware issue is so extremely important, and that's why Mattel went after the guys who cracked the Cyber Petrol filter list. It's not because of accidental overblocking, it's because of the power of intentional censorship by conservative organizations. In schools and libraries, imagine that!
King compensates this by promising that at least the first two parts will be released in any case, no matter how few people pay. So even if everyone "steals" his book, he still releases the first two parts.
A variation of the SPP proposal, but I would still put it under the same umbrella. It's quite clever considering that King came up with the idea all by himself.
The interesting question is whether, how and why the actual creators of "intellectual property" will get paid. It's OK if service providers get a piece of the pie, but this piece should be the smallest of all.
I prefer a model like the "Street Performer Protocol" recently utilized by Stephen King. I'm also fond of voluntary contributions to artists and other creators. What I would not like to see is a huge bazaar where Joe Average gets 5 bucks for trading the latest Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling gets nothing for writing it.
The NSA is certainly the largest, the most expensive and the most advanced computer-using agency world-wide (and in history). Still, in January of this year an "unprecedented failure" in the history of US intelligence processing was reported when a four day computer collapse occured in the Fort Meade NSA headquarters.
Which consequences have resulted from this dramatic computer crash? It was reported that it was the result of an overload and a "software anomaly". The Washington Post quoted the chairman of the House Select Committe of Intelligence as saying that
the failure was not in "super-secret" equipment, but in the ordinary "wires and switches that transmit data from computer to computer and office to office." He described it as "the sort of modern, off-the-shelf technologies any . . . company would be buying to link its computers."
(Feb. 2 2000, p. A19)
(That sounds like we're talking about normal network cards.) What have you learned from the incident and how do you plan to prevent something like this from happening in the future? Have you considered that the reasons behind the decisions that have led to the failure might be on a human level (social and psychological factors)?
I'm no big SF reader, but here's some classics you won't want to miss:
George R. Stewart: Earth Abides: A melancholic, but neither explicit nor scary story about the last human survivors of a disease. The grandfather of many post-apocalyptic stories. Very readable.
Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (all parts): An incredibly funny story about life, the universe, and everything. The book begins with earth being destroyed to make way for a hyperspatial express route. Don't panic -- it's only the beginning.. You can find all parts on the net for previewing.
George Orwell: 1984: Not much to say about that. Tell her about DoubleClick after she's finished reading it. You'll also find this one on the net.
If you're also interested in the science part of science fiction, get some of Carl Sagan's books, especially Cosmos and Pale Blue Dot (great space pictures in both). Many kids have become scientists after reading Sagan. He writes in a way that even clever 11-year-olds can easily understand, which is why so many Americans like his books;-).
Slashdot Mirror
To say that it will go nowhere because it cannot compare in terms of revenues is not very far-sighted. The only relevant question is how many people use Linux and other alternatives to Windows. And this number is steadily increasing.
It will increase even more when more PC vendors bundle their PCs with Linux instead of or alternatively to Windows (and making the Linux-PCs cheaper, too), as some have already done.
There's light at the end of the tunnel, and we're getting nearer.
--
There are other measures, such as the ISEW, that try to define sustainable development and also take disparity into account. Of course they are not widely used as they make the "world leaders" look much different, especially in retrospect (development has become less and less sustainable in the past decades).
So as someone else said, if you're black and live in LA, the US are pretty far down at the scale, if you're a dot-communist in Silicon Valley, things might look different until your shares go down.
But hey, what's that gotta do with the subject at hand? Mommy, the troll got me!
--
Has Netscape ever asked license fees for the implementation of JavaScript in competitors' browsers? If they did, they deserve to be spanked.
--
Also, hiding DOS gives them the ability to spin the media nicely: "The first Windows without DOS." I bet that works very well.
By doing all this, however, MS becomes more and more inferior to open-source alternatives. By locking their users in, they will eventually lock them out. I know many who would like to leave Windows if they could, but who would come back to it?
The transition to open alternatives is the difficult part, you literally have to walk through walls. That's why projects like KDE and KOffice are so important: To break the barriers. Linux people should concentrate their efforts on defining open standards, especially in mainstream applications, and making Linux easy-to-use (without dumbing down the user).
--
So Damien Cave is right on when he notes that it depends largely on how much cash the content industries are willing to spend. And I tell ya, they'll spend their last buck if necessary. Of course, it also depends on how much money, time and effort, we, the people, are willing to spend, and how good we can organize (Class Action, legal defense funds etc.). And it depends on the other indutries and their interest groups: Don't forget that the EFF, for example, is also an interest group for parts of the IT industry. That's where their money comes from. And the same industry is lobbying Congress against stricter laws for content control.
I believe we can win, but not if we just watch in phlegmatism as these century-defining legal battles rage on.
--
Of course, suing them couldn't have any success -- the programs are usually open-source, and users will hardly accept modified versions that don't do what they want them to do. However, the industry might sue anway, just to make an example and to prevent others from developing similar schemes. A totally useless effort, obviously, as this would only drive developers underground.
At all times in history, interest groups of a religious, economic or political nature have tried to prevent technological progress to protect their own health and wealth. Every time, though change also created victims, it was for the better of all of us. When the forces of regression and stagnation dominate, you can call that a Dark Age. This has happened several times in history, the last time after the downfall of the Roman Empire.
That is exactly why we need anonymous and redundant information storage systems: To protect any kind of speech from censorship (and the speakers from persecution), be it hacking instructions, drug information or political analysis. This is an opportunity we have never had before in history. If we win now, we might not only win one battle between "good" and "evil". We might actually win the war.
Join FreeNet now. How often do you get the opportunity to save mankind?
--
OTOH, nowadays you just have to shout "Napster" to get 120,000 hits in 12 days. Slashdotted two times, CNET two times, CNBC TV, USA Today front page -- if you have some TCP/IP programming skills and want to be famous, you should work on .. well, perhaps Stitchster for sharing those needlepoint patters?
--
- ActiveX: no security, can do anything
if permitted, permission has been
overriden by exploits.
(MS operating systems only)
- Java: "sandbox" security model, should
be secure, but numerous exploits in the
past have shown that it's not.
- JavaScript/VBSCript/JScript: primitive scripting
languages (VBS/JScript=MS proprietary),
have been used for more exploits than Java,
but usually more benign.
Exploits have been reported in all these areas. The first thing you should do is turn off Java. It hardly ever does anything good on webpages and is not so widely used that turning it off could be a nuisance.Next, if you're using Windows, download Proxomitron. It will allow you to selectively filter JavaScript, per site or per user request. I don't know of similar solutions for Linux.
Turn off JavaScript by default and only turn it on if a site doesn't work anymore (chances are, there isn't much content there to be missed anyway).
By deactivating Java and filtering JavaScript, I have been able to greatly increase the stability of Netscape on my NT4 system. It hardly ever crashes (about once a week), although I have lots of windows open (right now, it's 14). That's Netscape Communicator 4.7. I have heard that Navigator alone is even more stable, but haven't tested that one.
Now you're safe from exploits like the one reported above. If you use IE, you are vulnerable to many other exploits (like the recent JavaScript bug that allowed sites to spy on your cookies and thus determine top-secret user ID data that can be used to compromise credit card numbers and much more). If you think that IE is the better browser, you should at least deactivate or filter the insecure layers mentioned above.
Oh, and you might also use Opera. You pay a few bucks once (and I urge you to pay, as they need your money to continue development) and get a rock stable browser with all the essential features, super high speed and high security. If you think IE is better coz Bill Gates gives it away for free, that's your decision.
--
We're talking about absolute control here. Right now, the Internet is not as important as TV, but it will be much more important in the near future, and if there's a single company (or an oligarchy of companies) that's in control of what children can see, without public scrutiny, they can do whatever they want. And they will probably get away with it.
That's why the censorware issue is so extremely important, and that's why Mattel went after the guys who cracked the Cyber Petrol filter list. It's not because of accidental overblocking, it's because of the power of intentional censorship by conservative organizations. In schools and libraries, imagine that!
--
--
A variation of the SPP proposal, but I would still put it under the same umbrella. It's quite clever considering that King came up with the idea all by himself.
--
I prefer a model like the "Street Performer Protocol" recently utilized by Stephen King. I'm also fond of voluntary contributions to artists and other creators. What I would not like to see is a huge bazaar where Joe Average gets 5 bucks for trading the latest Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling gets nothing for writing it.
--
Which consequences have resulted from this dramatic computer crash? It was reported that it was the result of an overload and a "software anomaly". The Washington Post quoted the chairman of the House Select Committe of Intelligence as saying that
(Feb. 2 2000, p. A19)(That sounds like we're talking about normal network cards.) What have you learned from the incident and how do you plan to prevent something like this from happening in the future? Have you considered that the reasons behind the decisions that have led to the failure might be on a human level (social and psychological factors)?
--
- George R. Stewart: Earth Abides: A melancholic, but neither explicit nor scary story about the last human survivors of a disease. The grandfather of many post-apocalyptic stories. Very readable.
- Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (all parts): An incredibly funny story about life, the universe, and everything. The book begins with earth being destroyed to make way for a hyperspatial express route. Don't panic -- it's only the beginning
.. You can find all parts on the net for previewing. - George Orwell: 1984: Not much to say about that. Tell her about DoubleClick after she's finished reading it. You'll also find this one on the net.
If you're also interested in the science part of science fiction, get some of Carl Sagan's books, especially Cosmos and Pale Blue Dot (great space pictures in both). Many kids have become scientists after reading Sagan. He writes in a way that even clever 11-year-olds can easily understand, which is why so many Americans like his books--
Origins of Violence
--