From The Slashbox To The Right: Welcome to the interviews section - this is place to come to read the assorted conversations that Slashdot and the readers have had with various people involved in the Internet, computers, or anything of interest.
Someones Spent Too Much Time With The All Your base Pages... --------------------
What ever happened to the peer to peer idea of searching? I remember when Napster and GNUtella started, people were talking about how this might actually alter the way searching was happening on the web. By having each server tell us what they have, we are assured that when someone searches for how to replace a broken window, they won't get what they don't want. --------------------
I don't know if I'm confirming or dening this, but in my area, there started out a small time, local ISP called Nauticom. When it started, there were a few modems, a few techs, and a shell service we could all IRC from. Since then, they've grown, been bought, had their parent company bought, and eventually became the internet arm of the local Tellco. Since then, they've hired lots of the original IRCers for tech support, added DSL, and grown considerable (My login was a four digit assigned login, now they are up to the upper 8 digits). I still get good service when needed, and I still recommend them when someone asks me for advice on an ISP.
In otherwords, there are less small time ISPs, because someone of them have simply grown into the larger ones. I'm sure AOL at one time was only a local ISP with four or five techs to support it. --------------------
My local group of friends also had the same recent nostalgia. Thus we have Tradewars, Legend Of The Red Dragon (LORD), and even a whole BBS, complete with his original computer specs (bragging about his 28.8 modem.)
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Personally, I struggled for a while with the entire belief question (what to believe in). As an answer to "Is there a god?" I came to the conclusion that if there wasn't a god, then everything happened pretty much by random chance. I don't believe that random chance can be responsible for so many beautiful things, like a sunrize, the feeling you get from hugging someone you love, or just how beautiful the human form can be.
Personally, that all told me that there must be something else out there with that created (and that it was quite the artist). From there, I went on to form a pretty fringe pagan belief structure, but no matter what else, I don't even think it's possible for there not to be some higher power, be it the christian god, mother nature, the elements, or even Bob, the subgenius.
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I, a bonafied IRC Addict (on the undernet, I'm there now), seriously think that not enough companies are taking advantage of IRC. How much easier would it be for large companies to put a tech support channel on one of the 'nets instead of a phone line, thus being able to send software as well, and have on tech support a few people at once? By the same token, advertisers could throw a bot in the channels to explain what new products are coming out. Game channels (like #acro) could toss a one line ad into the game and probably make a fortune.
IRC seems like one of the most untapped resources of the internet.
Then again, it would be very easy to annoy/ruin/nullify any channel set up by a company you don't like (poor #Microsoft) with the usual assortment of clonebots, chatterbots, and efnet lamers, and that's probably what stops them.
It seems to me that while there may not be a hope of totally securing anything, that doesn't mean that the act of breaking in will be worth it. Right now, I'm sure that the FBI's headquarters isn't totally secure, but the effort to break in isn't worth it to the average individual who would do it just for the novelty of it.
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I just wanted to complain that, though this looks like a fasinating article, I can't read it because while at work, Salon.com is blocked, and deemed Non-business related, though every other technical magazine is fine (Notice I'm reading/.) --------------------
Speaking as one of the serious addicts
on
Caffeine Vault
·
· Score: 1
My intake probably hovers around 2 grams a day, or roughly one pot of good coffee. I can tell you that those details seem geared more towards the average caffeine user, as in maybe two colas, or one cup of coffee. Odds are decent that the average/.er is off that chart.
I know the effects of not having caffeine for one day do not qualify as mild, unless mono also qualifies as mild. --------------------
Personally, I feel that an artist should get paid for performing, as in a live concert. If they want to get more people into their concerts, then they should release the music for people to hear, whether it be to eMpTyV, the radio, or as an MP3. That way, if the performance isn't any good, because the person doesn't have talent (see any of the top bands on eMpTyV), then they will go under, and those with the loyal fan base that goes to the shows year after year (Greatful Dead and Phish come to mind) will do well. Greatful Dead did quiet well and were very popular, dispite the fact that the entire amount of the popularity was based on trading bootlegged concerts. Obviously, producing some CD and cassettes, or a concert video here and there could bring in some of the proceeds, but I don't think it should be considered the main stream of income. The Recording Industry Association of America should be more like The Screen Actors Guild, simply pimping out the artists, letting the artists make money for actually working. --------------------
According to a Wired story the father was evidently involved in some illegal activities of his own. Sounds to me like they decided to charge the kid with some stuff so they could tap the phone, search the house, etc. and find some details on the father's crimes. The dad was the real target, they just went after the kid so that they had a legal excuse to raid the dad.
Personally, I can't write code worth anything. However, if I were to try to use open sourced projects, I would attempt to contribute to them simply as a way to give something back, to "pay" for the software and do my part so that others can use the same good system as me and maybe contribute something themselves.
Odds are against Micro$oft allowing Linux users anywhere near these modems. If luck is on the open source side, someone at these hardware vendors will also be on the open source side, and "reverse engineer" it to the same standards he wrote while at work, and release the software for everyone.
Wouldn't It Be A Bit More Helpful To Have Some Benchmarks That No One Knew What Instructions Were Used To Make Them? This Way, You Could Optimize Hardware For The Benchmarks At The Expense Of The Rest Of The Workload. And an Open Source Benchmark Would Be Constantly Improving, Thus A REading From One Year Could Be Compeletely Different Than One From The Next Year, Making It Tough To Compare New Technology To What You Would Already Have.
Actually, That Makes Sense, It Explains How "Support" Software like PC Anywhere And NetOp Work So Well (And How Programs Like NetBus And Back Orifice Were So Easily Created). My guess Is That There Is A Bug In It Though That Would Prevent The CIA From Taking Advantage Of It Annonymously.
Slashdot Mirror
He Didn't Type The Text, Because It Was In The Slashbox On The Right, It Wasn't Part Of The Interview.
--------------------
Welcome to the interviews section - this is place to come to read the assorted conversations that Slashdot and the readers have had with various people involved in the Internet, computers, or anything of interest.
Someones Spent Too Much Time With The All Your base Pages...
--------------------
What ever happened to the peer to peer idea of searching? I remember when Napster and GNUtella started, people were talking about how this might actually alter the way searching was happening on the web. By having each server tell us what they have, we are assured that when someone searches for how to replace a broken window, they won't get what they don't want.
--------------------
If I bought a disc, aren't I the owner?
--------------------
In otherwords, there are less small time ISPs, because someone of them have simply grown into the larger ones. I'm sure AOL at one time was only a local ISP with four or five techs to support it.
--------------------
>I'll hack hardware, but I don't have a burning desire to redesign furniture.
Doesn't Hacker Originally Mean One Who Works With Furniture?
--------------------
I Forgot, Nuke's Web Based LORD.
--------------------
My local group of friends also had the same recent nostalgia. Thus we have Tradewars, Legend Of The Red Dragon (LORD), and even a whole BBS, complete with his original computer specs (bragging about his 28.8 modem.)
--------------------
Matt Oppenheimer, Senior Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs for the Recording Industry Association of America.
Is he a relative of the one whose "favorite toy" destroyed millions of people?
--------------------
Personally, that all told me that there must be something else out there with that created (and that it was quite the artist). From there, I went on to form a pretty fringe pagan belief structure, but no matter what else, I don't even think it's possible for there not to be some higher power, be it the christian god, mother nature, the elements, or even Bob, the subgenius.
--------------------
IRC seems like one of the most untapped resources of the internet.
Then again, it would be very easy to annoy/ruin/nullify any channel set up by a company you don't like (poor #Microsoft) with the usual assortment of clonebots, chatterbots, and efnet lamers, and that's probably what stops them.
--------------------
It seems to me that while there may not be a hope of totally securing anything, that doesn't mean that the act of breaking in will be worth it. Right now, I'm sure that the FBI's headquarters isn't totally secure, but the effort to break in isn't worth it to the average individual who would do it just for the novelty of it.
--------------------
I just wanted to complain that, though this looks like a fasinating article, I can't read it because while at work, Salon.com is blocked, and deemed Non-business related, though every other technical magazine is fine (Notice I'm reading /.)
--------------------
I know the effects of not having caffeine for one day do not qualify as mild, unless mono also qualifies as mild.
--------------------
Personally, I feel that an artist should get paid for performing, as in a live concert. If they want to get more people into their concerts, then they should release the music for people to hear, whether it be to eMpTyV, the radio, or as an MP3. That way, if the performance isn't any good, because the person doesn't have talent (see any of the top bands on eMpTyV), then they will go under, and those with the loyal fan base that goes to the shows year after year (Greatful Dead and Phish come to mind) will do well. Greatful Dead did quiet well and were very popular, dispite the fact that the entire amount of the popularity was based on trading bootlegged concerts. Obviously, producing some CD and cassettes, or a concert video here and there could bring in some of the proceeds, but I don't think it should be considered the main stream of income. The Recording Industry Association of America should be more like The Screen Actors Guild, simply pimping out the artists, letting the artists make money for actually working.
--------------------
According to a Wired story the father was evidently involved in some illegal activities of his own. Sounds to me like they decided to charge the kid with some stuff so they could tap the phone, search the house, etc. and find some details on the father's crimes. The dad was the real target, they just went after the kid so that they had a legal excuse to raid the dad.
Personally, I can't write code worth anything. However, if I were to try to use open sourced projects, I would attempt to contribute to them simply as a way to give something back, to "pay" for the software and do my part so that others can use the same good system as me and maybe contribute something themselves.
Odds are against Micro$oft allowing Linux users anywhere near these modems. If luck is on the open source side, someone at these hardware vendors will also be on the open source side, and "reverse engineer" it to the same standards he wrote while at work, and release the software for everyone.
Correct Me If I'm Wrong, But Isn't It something Similar that Linux Fans Dislike About "The Darkside?"
Wouldn't It Be A Bit More Helpful To Have Some Benchmarks That No One Knew What Instructions Were Used To Make Them? This Way, You Could Optimize Hardware For The Benchmarks At The Expense Of The Rest Of The Workload. And an Open Source Benchmark Would Be Constantly Improving, Thus A REading From One Year Could Be Compeletely Different Than One From The Next Year, Making It Tough To Compare New Technology To What You Would Already Have.
Actually, That Makes Sense, It Explains How "Support" Software like PC Anywhere And NetOp Work So Well (And How Programs Like NetBus And Back Orifice Were So Easily Created). My guess Is That There Is A Bug In It Though That Would Prevent The CIA From Taking Advantage Of It Annonymously.
Wouldn't You Go Blind If You Had Sex With Your Clone?
And When Does The Whole Gattaca Senario Set In? are Just How Useful Is One Person's Gene's? Does That Mean That They have 599,999,999,999 People Left?