Sagan DID actually say something about the danger of earth's runaway climate between bong-hits.
Oh yeah, it was NUCLEAR WINTER - that was Sagan's baby. Drop enough bombs, kick up enough dust into the atmosphere, block out the sun for a period of a year, long enough to kill all life on the planet.
It's a shame he didn't live to see The Matrix.
yeah, Jesus Christ, for the amount of money the programmers got paid, and the amount of money the CONSUMERS paid for Office, you'd think they'd put a little more effort into fixing bugs. Or at least providing accurate and timely documentation on the file-format to ensure interoperability.
It will be an expensive lesson for SDMI to learn, but it is a basic fact of information theory, that you cannot securely deliver information to an individual, who does not want that information to be secure.
This is why SDMI will fail, and their "hacker challenge" is merely a cynical attempt at hyping the technology; selling it to people who don't understand these basic facts. There apparently are engineers out there - the guys who invented SDMI, and they have to SELL this technology to the RIAA, and in order to do that, they have to prove that it's secure. The real dopes here are the RIAA.
So if some hacker goes and wins the prize, you know that SDMI will not ever make it to the marketplace. Nipped in the bud. Either some new technology will come along and take it's place, and similarly fail, because the whole concept is an impossibility, OR, the RIAA will finally learn this lesson. However, greed will probably continue to be a powerful motivator, and maybe they'll figure out that "good enough" copy protection will still work to increase their profits. While they cannot 100% lock down the signal, and prevent unauthorized copying, they can make it hard enough to do, (and risky enough, by lobbying for stupidities like the DMCA), that a maximal profit curve can be obtained.
Now, if nobody comes forward, and hacks SMDI, then the RIAA suckers buy-into it, and the manufacturers buy-into it, and enormous sums of money will be invested in pushing this technology onto consumers. And we know, this will ultimately fail. Not because we hackers are proud of ourselves, not because we are commie-idealists and believe that we should be able to copy the music and that the RIAA companies shouldn't be able to control stuff and get so stinkin rich exploiting the creative spirits of our species. But because it is a fundamental fact of information theory that it just can't work. I think that most of us will derive pleasure in watching the RIAA buy into SDMI, invest in pushing the products, and watch it flop in the marketplace - and likely try again, expensively, with something else, until they give up.
Unfortunately, they wont give up. Because eventually, they're going to find a technology that, while it can be broken, it will either be prohibitively expensive (equipment, time) or risky (jail) to do so. So much so that such a small minority of people will copy, that it will not impact their profits adversely. The music distribution system will eventually reach this equilibrium point. It's an arms-race, as many have pointed out. But someday, the music just wont be worth the risk or effort. I know this, because I have copied a buttload of MP3's, but I haven't taken the time or effort to burn CDs, or buy a separate MP3 player for my car. And this is under a system where there currently is NO copy protection enforcement at all. I'm still buying CDs. A large proportion of people out there aren't anymore, I guess, but as soon as you get SDMI (or something else) out there, and start busting people for trading in unprotected copies, and copyright violations, the majority of these people will stop copying and start buying, and an equilibrium point will be reached. Two things affect this ratio of copiers-to-non-copiers, advancement of copy-protection technologies and legal enforcements, and advancements in hacking technologies. Both are going to happen. But I think what's going to work in the RIAA's favor, ultimately, is the laws they have bought. Circumvention technologies will have to compensate for that, but ultimately, it's going to probably come down to preserving the right to be anonymous on the internet (lest the FBI track you down and bust your Metallica-copying asses). If we lose that right, it's back to burning CD's and sneakernetting them with your friends. The mass-distribution element Napster brought into the game will go back out, and this is why anonymity is such an important thing for RIAA (and other "authorities") to eliminate. It will dramatically reduce the network-effects of the black-market.
So, while we concentrate on the hacking and circumvention technologies, the RIAA is using the law as a club to eliminate freedoms. My conclusion is that maybe we ought to spend some time paying a visit to the EFF website.
Yes, but the DMCA forbids reverse-engineering, or copy-protection disabling. Hmmm, I wonder whose idea that was, and how much it cost to get it into law. ..
Shit! If Bill Gates were threatening to commit suicide, I'd buy him a gun, with a laser sight, loaded with IR-seeking bullets programmed to 98.6 F, and a hair-trigger.
Then I'd give him a TV tuned permanently into the LIFETIME channel, or TNN, or anything that will encourage suicidal thoughts.
They didn't have any control over the course Apple was and is taking, yet Steve Jobs WAS thankful enough to make IE the default browser on the Mac, AND state publicly that it was the BEST browser choice available.
As much as I stand for the flaming of Microsoft, supposedly, the Word format IS supposedly available on their web site. But I've heard it's documented lamely enough as to be completely unusable, but I guess this is how the Star Office people got the information they needed to implement it.
I've been saying this for YEARS, but unfortunatley, I lack the intestinal fortitude and drive to actually do it.
We need a web site, that works like fuckedcompany.com that tracks all product announcements from major industry players, and charts how well they do or do not stay on schedule, - a betting pool could even be done around this.
To make things precise, statements like "It will ship in the 3rd quarter of 2001" will be interpreted as the LAST SECOND of the last minute of the last business-day of that quarter. Especially if that preceeds a 3-day weekend, where you KNOW the QA dept will be putting in heavy overtime.
This way, there would be a PUBLIC place where all businesses could establish their reputation, and their mistakes will not be forgotten. In this manner, vapor will be actually discouraged, and there will then be negative incentives to BS product release schedules and roadmaps - and perhaps some reality will be injected into the picture. Schedules should be set by engineers. Not Marketeers.
Click on word doc on desktop (other apps open, Outlook, Netscape-6 windows, Palm Desktop, Task Manager).
Word launches in 2 seconds, BUT word doc takes 15-seconds to open and render! Close window; Word takes a FULL 35 SECONDS to close, during which time the window is completely unresponsive to ANY commands. Will not move, resize, or minimize.
MS software is a peice of poo, to be sure, but I really need a 2 GHz P4 NOW!
1. Steal book.
2. Take home, open CD envelope.
3. Burn 100 copies of the CD.
4. Print stickers that say "do not open the CD envelope, this copy of the CD in the envelope was provided so that you may retain your Constitutionally guaranteed right to return this book if you are unsatisfied with the contents, for a full refund"
5. Stick stickers to your CDs.
6. Sneak CDs into the bookstore, slip one CD into each copy of the book, maybe use a little edge of the sticker overlapping the CD to affix it to the inside of the cover.
7. Visit every bookstore in town, make sure every copy of the book you find has YOUR CD in it as well.
8. Sleep soundly, knowing that you are a SUPERHERO, and a Defender of Freedom and Justice in America.
9. Each time you drive past the offices of the publisher (if they're on your way to work or the grocery store or something), roll down your window, extend your fist, raise middle finger, scream "FUCK YOU! YOU FACSIST BITCHES!".
10. Spend hours reading Slasdot, posting more ideas on how to "fight the power".
Yeah, I used to think that hardware glitches were the cause of the majority of my Mac OS 7,8,9 crashes, because a lot of them were total system freezes, - but I haven't had a single one with OS X.
running Mac OS X PB at home. I installed it on Saturday, I haven't rebooted since. Even running my kids' games, MS Office 98, IE, Netscape, OmniWeb Beta, I can't make this fucker crash! (although several minor bugs have manifested). My ancient G3 beige desktop actually goes to sleep and wakes up correctly!
If OS X were $999, and Windows $1000, People would still buy OS X, because it rocks baby!
But it's not as simple as leaving your car-door unlocked. It requires the skill, determination, and expertise of a hacker to figure out that you have a security hole.
They *are* providing a very valuable and free service. Who cares if they're having fun, and sharpening their skills as "payment" for the service? Would you rather they sent you a bill for $50,000? Or would you rather they NOT be ethical and sell your information for $100,000? I think we all ought to be thankful for the hackers out there, the ones that ARE ethical, the ones that do this sort of WORK, for fun, and provide this service for free, and especially when they SHARE the information they learn with the rest of us; ESPECIALLY when it's regarding security holes in closed proprietary corporate-IP software that otherwise would have gone on obscured until an UNethical hacker figured it out.
In other words, were VERY lucky these guys are on our side. Be thankful. Moron. If you don't want these guys wandering around on your site without your permission, then use secure products, hire a security consultant and get your sh1t buttoned up. Then you don't have to worry about it.
Leaving a note on someone's door is equated in this analogy to hacking someone's website and telling them they have a security hole.
Of course, when it's a corporate web site lawyers and managment types get a bit bent out of shape. Sort of like when someone walks onto my porch and my dog barks at them. Maybe we should keep the lawyers and management types in the back yard where they can poop on the grass.
Slashdot Mirror
Sagan DID actually say something about the danger of earth's runaway climate between bong-hits.
Oh yeah, it was NUCLEAR WINTER - that was Sagan's baby. Drop enough bombs, kick up enough dust into the atmosphere, block out the sun for a period of a year, long enough to kill all life on the planet.
It's a shame he didn't live to see The Matrix.
. . . I guess I'd better lie about my vasectomy on the application, then.
yeah, Jesus Christ, for the amount of money the programmers got paid, and the amount of money the CONSUMERS paid for Office, you'd think they'd put a little more effort into fixing bugs. Or at least providing accurate and timely documentation on the file-format to ensure interoperability.
It will be an expensive lesson for SDMI to learn, but it is a basic fact of information theory, that you cannot securely deliver information to an individual, who does not want that information to be secure.
This is why SDMI will fail, and their "hacker challenge" is merely a cynical attempt at hyping the technology; selling it to people who don't understand these basic facts. There apparently are engineers out there - the guys who invented SDMI, and they have to SELL this technology to the RIAA, and in order to do that, they have to prove that it's secure. The real dopes here are the RIAA.
So if some hacker goes and wins the prize, you know that SDMI will not ever make it to the marketplace. Nipped in the bud. Either some new technology will come along and take it's place, and similarly fail, because the whole concept is an impossibility, OR, the RIAA will finally learn this lesson. However, greed will probably continue to be a powerful motivator, and maybe they'll figure out that "good enough" copy protection will still work to increase their profits. While they cannot 100% lock down the signal, and prevent unauthorized copying, they can make it hard enough to do, (and risky enough, by lobbying for stupidities like the DMCA), that a maximal profit curve can be obtained.
Now, if nobody comes forward, and hacks SMDI, then the RIAA suckers buy-into it, and the manufacturers buy-into it, and enormous sums of money will be invested in pushing this technology onto consumers. And we know, this will ultimately fail. Not because we hackers are proud of ourselves, not because we are commie-idealists and believe that we should be able to copy the music and that the RIAA companies shouldn't be able to control stuff and get so stinkin rich exploiting the creative spirits of our species. But because it is a fundamental fact of information theory that it just can't work. I think that most of us will derive pleasure in watching the RIAA buy into SDMI, invest in pushing the products, and watch it flop in the marketplace - and likely try again, expensively, with something else, until they give up.
Unfortunately, they wont give up. Because eventually, they're going to find a technology that, while it can be broken, it will either be prohibitively expensive (equipment, time) or risky (jail) to do so. So much so that such a small minority of people will copy, that it will not impact their profits adversely. The music distribution system will eventually reach this equilibrium point. It's an arms-race, as many have pointed out. But someday, the music just wont be worth the risk or effort. I know this, because I have copied a buttload of MP3's, but I haven't taken the time or effort to burn CDs, or buy a separate MP3 player for my car. And this is under a system where there currently is NO copy protection enforcement at all. I'm still buying CDs. A large proportion of people out there aren't anymore, I guess, but as soon as you get SDMI (or something else) out there, and start busting people for trading in unprotected copies, and copyright violations, the majority of these people will stop copying and start buying, and an equilibrium point will be reached. Two things affect this ratio of copiers-to-non-copiers, advancement of copy-protection technologies and legal enforcements, and advancements in hacking technologies. Both are going to happen. But I think what's going to work in the RIAA's favor, ultimately, is the laws they have bought. Circumvention technologies will have to compensate for that, but ultimately, it's going to probably come down to preserving the right to be anonymous on the internet (lest the FBI track you down and bust your Metallica-copying asses). If we lose that right, it's back to burning CD's and sneakernetting them with your friends. The mass-distribution element Napster brought into the game will go back out, and this is why anonymity is such an important thing for RIAA (and other "authorities") to eliminate. It will dramatically reduce the network-effects of the black-market.
So, while we concentrate on the hacking and circumvention technologies, the RIAA is using the law as a club to eliminate freedoms. My conclusion is that maybe we ought to spend some time paying a visit to the EFF website.
Yes, but the DMCA forbids reverse-engineering, or copy-protection disabling. Hmmm, I wonder whose idea that was, and how much it cost to get it into law. . .
Shit! If Bill Gates were threatening to commit suicide, I'd buy him a gun, with a laser sight, loaded with IR-seeking bullets programmed to 98.6 F, and a hair-trigger.
Then I'd give him a TV tuned permanently into the LIFETIME channel, or TNN, or anything that will encourage suicidal thoughts.
I think Mainframe entertainment ought to sue Microsoft for the attempted use of the name "Bob".
um.
What exactly is brief about a document that takes 5 months to prepare, and is twice as long as normally allowed?
wasting my time? Yours was about the most pertainant comment of the whole discussion.
It means that Reinquist is in AOL's pockets, as well as Microsofts.
Soylent Green is people!
They didn't have any control over the course Apple was and is taking, yet Steve Jobs WAS thankful enough to make IE the default browser on the Mac, AND state publicly that it was the BEST browser choice available.
(thank goodness we now have OmniWeb!)
Soylent Green is people!
Presidential debates?
I hope they do some fucking drug-testing there!
Soylent Green is people!
As much as I stand for the flaming of Microsoft, supposedly, the Word format IS supposedly available on their web site. But I've heard it's documented lamely enough as to be completely unusable, but I guess this is how the Star Office people got the information they needed to implement it.
Soylent Green is people!
It's just an expression.
Soylent Green is people!
Judge Jackson!
You GO girl!
Soylent Green is people!
Testing and promoting US Military technical advancements was not the reasoning the voices in his head used to convince him to attack Kuwait.
Soylent Green is people!
I've been saying this for YEARS, but unfortunatley, I lack the intestinal fortitude and drive to actually do it.
We need a web site, that works like fuckedcompany.com that tracks all product announcements from major industry players, and charts how well they do or do not stay on schedule, - a betting pool could even be done around this.
To make things precise, statements like "It will ship in the 3rd quarter of 2001" will be interpreted as the LAST SECOND of the last minute of the last business-day of that quarter. Especially if that preceeds a 3-day weekend, where you KNOW the QA dept will be putting in heavy overtime.
This way, there would be a PUBLIC place where all businesses could establish their reputation, and their mistakes will not be forgotten. In this manner, vapor will be actually discouraged, and there will then be negative incentives to BS product release schedules and roadmaps - and perhaps some reality will be injected into the picture. Schedules should be set by engineers. Not Marketeers.
Soylent Green is people!
an experiment:
P3 600, 256 megs RAM, NT 4.0 sp6a, Word 2000.
Click on word doc on desktop (other apps open, Outlook, Netscape-6 windows, Palm Desktop, Task Manager).
Word launches in 2 seconds, BUT word doc takes 15-seconds to open and render! Close window; Word takes a FULL 35 SECONDS to close, during which time the window is completely unresponsive to ANY commands. Will not move, resize, or minimize.
MS software is a peice of poo, to be sure, but I really need a 2 GHz P4 NOW!
Soylent Green is people!
You jest, but I'm still waiting for CM's to pop up in NT.
2Ghz still ain't fast enough for Windows.
Soylent Green is people!
1. Steal book.
2. Take home, open CD envelope.
3. Burn 100 copies of the CD.
4. Print stickers that say "do not open the CD envelope, this copy of the CD in the envelope was provided so that you may retain your Constitutionally guaranteed right to return this book if you are unsatisfied with the contents, for a full refund"
5. Stick stickers to your CDs.
6. Sneak CDs into the bookstore, slip one CD into each copy of the book, maybe use a little edge of the sticker overlapping the CD to affix it to the inside of the cover.
7. Visit every bookstore in town, make sure every copy of the book you find has YOUR CD in it as well.
8. Sleep soundly, knowing that you are a SUPERHERO, and a Defender of Freedom and Justice in America.
9. Each time you drive past the offices of the publisher (if they're on your way to work or the grocery store or something), roll down your window, extend your fist, raise middle finger, scream "FUCK YOU! YOU FACSIST BITCHES!".
10. Spend hours reading Slasdot, posting more ideas on how to "fight the power".
Soylent Green is people!
Screw public libraries. I think "eliminate public libraries" is probably next on the International Book Publishers Conspiracy's list of Things To Do.
Soylent Green is people!
Yeah, I used to think that hardware glitches were the cause of the majority of my Mac OS 7,8,9 crashes, because a lot of them were total system freezes, - but I haven't had a single one with OS X.
Soylent Green is people!
running Mac OS X PB at home. I installed it on Saturday, I haven't rebooted since. Even running my kids' games, MS Office 98, IE, Netscape, OmniWeb Beta, I can't make this fucker crash! (although several minor bugs have manifested). My ancient G3 beige desktop actually goes to sleep and wakes up correctly!
If OS X were $999, and Windows $1000, People would still buy OS X, because it rocks baby!
Soylent Green is people!
But it's not as simple as leaving your car-door unlocked. It requires the skill, determination, and expertise of a hacker to figure out that you have a security hole.
They *are* providing a very valuable and free service. Who cares if they're having fun, and sharpening their skills as "payment" for the service? Would you rather they sent you a bill for $50,000? Or would you rather they NOT be ethical and sell your information for $100,000? I think we all ought to be thankful for the hackers out there, the ones that ARE ethical, the ones that do this sort of WORK, for fun, and provide this service for free, and especially when they SHARE the information they learn with the rest of us; ESPECIALLY when it's regarding security holes in closed proprietary corporate-IP software that otherwise would have gone on obscured until an UNethical hacker figured it out.
In other words, were VERY lucky these guys are on our side. Be thankful. Moron. If you don't want these guys wandering around on your site without your permission, then use secure products, hire a security consultant and get your sh1t buttoned up. Then you don't have to worry about it.
Soylent Green is people!
Leaving a note on someone's door is equated in this analogy to hacking someone's website and telling them they have a security hole.
Of course, when it's a corporate web site lawyers and managment types get a bit bent out of shape. Sort of like when someone walks onto my porch and my dog barks at them. Maybe we should keep the lawyers and management types in the back yard where they can poop on the grass.
Soylent Green is people!