There are a few things that are scary about this guy, beyond the trite lawyer comments:
He's actually advocating for someone to create a game that represents the opposite viewpoint he stands for (why not advocate someone to create a game that agrees with his mentality? Seems more productive to me...)
He can afford to piss away $10,000 -- regardless of his reneg, he probably has the funds, and money buys friends in political circles
IOW, he's a loose cannon with money to burn towards his tilted view of the world. This is not a good thing.
This is a targetted DoS as it denies Firefox the ability to function. We're just conditioned to a DoS being a major outage type of event where all communication to or from a system on a network is blocked, while this specifically affects a single application's ability to communicate (so far).
I had thought the same thing...my understanding was that Nigeria was a front for organized crime from around the world. Nigeria themselves just plays a part as a remote location with little protection should one be stupid enough to travel there to "collect" the carrot being dangled in front of them -- sort of like, "Now, that you're here, good luck getting out. But I can help you for, say, the sum of $10,000..."
I'd love to see a more recent compilation like this, but if true, then the US is increasing their share of websites, while those in EU states are decreasing. If still trending this way, the EU will effectively lock themselves out of the majority of the Internet if this does occur and subsequently fails.
ObDisclaimer: I am not a radio engineer or even terribly knowledgable in this field, but I did stay...eh nevermind....
Radio broadcasts are analog transmissions and are therefore subject to signal degradation. Satellite broadcasts are digital and although you may get a loss of signal from time to time, the signal integrity should be maintained otherwise. Therefore, SatRadio has the potential to deliver near perfect quality transmissions, and that's what has the RIAA concerned.
Data stored on your home computer is no less protected, as seen by recent lawsuits and search & seizures by the parties you mention. Perhaps there's the issue of a lock and key to get past, but encrypted data on a local system is no more secure than the same data on a remote server. The difference is the means for external protection. In that respect, if an ASP can provide the level of data security and integrity to me that banks do for money, I'd be inclined to take advantage of it.
I do echo your concerns over Google's privacy policies though -- that would have to be one of the areas that would have to improve before I'd follow through on this modus operandi.
True, yet even this vaporware statement sows the seeds of having such a product in the minds of a very large audience. Kudos to Google/Sun for taking a page out of Microsoft's playbook and running it to perfection.
Perhaps not in the article reference in this post, but CNN has a blurb that states this.
Sun and Google also said they would jointly promote Sun's Java Desktop operating system and its Open Office productivity software system, a free, open-source productivity software suite. The partnership could mark a shift away from the traditional method of distributing software through the Microsoft Windows system and bring greater visibility to such Java-based programs as OpenOffice.org.
entirely web based and saved on somebody else's machine?
Consider a related scenario -- banking. We keep our money in banks instead of under the mattress nowadays because it's far safer to keep it there. If that same level of security is afforded to web-based content storage, I see no reason as to why this should be any different.
I will admit that we're probably not at that point yet where Average Joe ComputerUser can do this securely and reliably, but the technologies already exist to get us there -- implementation, education, and acceptance will get us the rest of the way there.
Which brings us to why products like Firefox and SO/OOo aren't getting widespread adoption outside of tech circles -- there is zero mass media marketing. Google may be the only tech company that can get mind-share from viral marketing, the rest are just not going to make it into Joe Average ComputerUser's head. This is primarily (aside from bullying tactics employed on PC makers) why Windows became so popular originally in the 90's when superior alternatives existed -- while the product was average at best, their marketing was incredible, and still is today. They so entrenched themselves into people's minds as the ONLY operating system worth using that today, the average user won't even try something else -- even if Microsoft puts out a new product that has a steep learning curve.
Surely, Sun will offer SO8 for Solaris, Windows, and Linux, and although the article referenced is a review of the new product on Linux, this seems misaligned.
Perhaps the article should have considered a broader perspective of the new application than on a single platform.
If the Chinese gov't isn't willing to enforce the preservation of US intellectual property rights, then the US ought not have to export machinery and machine parts, integrated circuits, or soybeans to them -- oh wait -- that's much of the raw materials needed by their entire economy.
It's called a squeeze play. Develop the technology yourself, and it's yours, but steal it from others, regardless of national boundaries, and be prepared to suffer the consequences of a global economic market.
History says that if you build an app for Solaris first and that gains marketshare, then maybe it might be worthwhile to port it to other Unices if the development and porting costs can be recouped with sales and support. Linux has been changing that somewhat, but I'd still wager that most development houses that write for a Unix market almost always have Solaris as a primary platform.
As to why you'd do this (and to some extent, this is still valid), it's because Unices provide a stable, well-mature platform for apps and are capable of more processing power than your typical Windows system -- all desirable traits for an application that people are going to depend on. People use Windows because the time-to-market for development is typically shorter than that of Unix development, mostly due to the fact that 95% of the world can write an app on their Windows desktop and copy it to a Windows server platform without modification. Doesn't mean it's good code or a well-thought out development strategy, but it's an enabling technique that keeps Windows development prevalent in IT.
The other reason is that the grandparent assumes that the average person will become more informed about using computers smartly and correctly in the next 10 years or so. Given the first 10 years of widespread home computer usage, I have yet to see that occur.
Microsoft definitely thrives off a "let them let cake" attitude. They want average Joe to be in the dark with respect to computers because it allows them to maintain their monopoly.
Reading, viewing, or listening of various art forms can all be free is some cases, whether it's reading a book, looking at art in a museum, listening to music on the radio, or doing all of the above via the Internet.
Reproducing those works is another matter entirely, and is what begs the question here.
You have a Spotlight Fallacy here. Just because W gets to speak on TV a lot doesn't mean that he speaks for everyone in the US, nor that everyone in the US agrees with him.
Not to pick nits, but have you tried contacting your local Sun rep to see if he/she can help? You might just get what you need by asking.
Also, those products are supported and info is available online, but you do have to have a support contract. I'm wondering if their $99/year deal is still valid that they advertised about a year ago or so.
There's an old saying that goes something like "Perfection is achieved not when nothing else can be added but when nothing else can be taken away." With respect to the OpenDoc format, making it as simple and generic as possible allows others to use it as a baseline towards interoperability, while simultaneously allowing them to build upon it for their own proprietary formats, which seems like the best of both worlds.
If I were her, I would have made another lunch the following day with a nice topping of salmonella. Then find out who isn't in the office the following day.
Slashdot Mirror
IOW, he's a loose cannon with money to burn towards his tilted view of the world. This is not a good thing.
Not quite -- Sun have certified that their Opteron systems can run Windows, but they do not support the OS whatsoever.
This is a targetted DoS as it denies Firefox the ability to function. We're just conditioned to a DoS being a major outage type of event where all communication to or from a system on a network is blocked, while this specifically affects a single application's ability to communicate (so far).
I had thought the same thing...my understanding was that Nigeria was a front for organized crime from around the world. Nigeria themselves just plays a part as a remote location with little protection should one be stupid enough to travel there to "collect" the carrot being dangled in front of them -- sort of like, "Now, that you're here, good luck getting out. But I can help you for, say, the sum of $10,000..."
OCLC's breakout of webservers per country as of 2002
I'd love to see a more recent compilation like this, but if true, then the US is increasing their share of websites, while those in EU states are decreasing. If still trending this way, the EU will effectively lock themselves out of the majority of the Internet if this does occur and subsequently fails.
ObDisclaimer: I am not a radio engineer or even terribly knowledgable in this field, but I did stay...eh nevermind....
Radio broadcasts are analog transmissions and are therefore subject to signal degradation. Satellite broadcasts are digital and although you may get a loss of signal from time to time, the signal integrity should be maintained otherwise. Therefore, SatRadio has the potential to deliver near perfect quality transmissions, and that's what has the RIAA concerned.
Or more succinctly, getting support for it in Corporate America would be the trick.
Data stored on your home computer is no less protected, as seen by recent lawsuits and search & seizures by the parties you mention. Perhaps there's the issue of a lock and key to get past, but encrypted data on a local system is no more secure than the same data on a remote server. The difference is the means for external protection. In that respect, if an ASP can provide the level of data security and integrity to me that banks do for money, I'd be inclined to take advantage of it.
I do echo your concerns over Google's privacy policies though -- that would have to be one of the areas that would have to improve before I'd follow through on this modus operandi.
True, yet even this vaporware statement sows the seeds of having such a product in the minds of a very large audience. Kudos to Google/Sun for taking a page out of Microsoft's playbook and running it to perfection.
entirely web based and saved on somebody else's machine?
Consider a related scenario -- banking. We keep our money in banks instead of under the mattress nowadays because it's far safer to keep it there. If that same level of security is afforded to web-based content storage, I see no reason as to why this should be any different.
I will admit that we're probably not at that point yet where Average Joe ComputerUser can do this securely and reliably, but the technologies already exist to get us there -- implementation, education, and acceptance will get us the rest of the way there.
Which brings us to why products like Firefox and SO/OOo aren't getting widespread adoption outside of tech circles -- there is zero mass media marketing. Google may be the only tech company that can get mind-share from viral marketing, the rest are just not going to make it into Joe Average ComputerUser's head. This is primarily (aside from bullying tactics employed on PC makers) why Windows became so popular originally in the 90's when superior alternatives existed -- while the product was average at best, their marketing was incredible, and still is today. They so entrenched themselves into people's minds as the ONLY operating system worth using that today, the average user won't even try something else -- even if Microsoft puts out a new product that has a steep learning curve.
Surely, Sun will offer SO8 for Solaris, Windows, and Linux, and although the article referenced is a review of the new product on Linux, this seems misaligned.
Perhaps the article should have considered a broader perspective of the new application than on a single platform.
If the Chinese gov't isn't willing to enforce the preservation of US intellectual property rights, then the US ought not have to export machinery and machine parts, integrated circuits, or soybeans to them -- oh wait -- that's much of the raw materials needed by their entire economy.
It's called a squeeze play. Develop the technology yourself, and it's yours, but steal it from others, regardless of national boundaries, and be prepared to suffer the consequences of a global economic market.
Well, golly, one of the RIAA members just happens to produce CD players as well -- Sony.
Something about a monopoly is ringing in the back of my head...not sure what that's all about....
History says that if you build an app for Solaris first and that gains marketshare, then maybe it might be worthwhile to port it to other Unices if the development and porting costs can be recouped with sales and support. Linux has been changing that somewhat, but I'd still wager that most development houses that write for a Unix market almost always have Solaris as a primary platform.
As to why you'd do this (and to some extent, this is still valid), it's because Unices provide a stable, well-mature platform for apps and are capable of more processing power than your typical Windows system -- all desirable traits for an application that people are going to depend on. People use Windows because the time-to-market for development is typically shorter than that of Unix development, mostly due to the fact that 95% of the world can write an app on their Windows desktop and copy it to a Windows server platform without modification. Doesn't mean it's good code or a well-thought out development strategy, but it's an enabling technique that keeps Windows development prevalent in IT.
The other reason is that the grandparent assumes that the average person will become more informed about using computers smartly and correctly in the next 10 years or so. Given the first 10 years of widespread home computer usage, I have yet to see that occur.
Microsoft definitely thrives off a "let them let cake" attitude. They want average Joe to be in the dark with respect to computers because it allows them to maintain their monopoly.
Reading, viewing, or listening of various art forms can all be free is some cases, whether it's reading a book, looking at art in a museum, listening to music on the radio, or doing all of the above via the Internet.
Reproducing those works is another matter entirely, and is what begs the question here.
You have a Spotlight Fallacy here. Just because W gets to speak on TV a lot doesn't mean that he speaks for everyone in the US, nor that everyone in the US agrees with him.
Not to pick nits, but have you tried contacting your local Sun rep to see if he/she can help? You might just get what you need by asking.
Also, those products are supported and info is available online, but you do have to have a support contract. I'm wondering if their $99/year deal is still valid that they advertised about a year ago or so.
There's an old saying that goes something like "Perfection is achieved not when nothing else can be added but when nothing else can be taken away." With respect to the OpenDoc format, making it as simple and generic as possible allows others to use it as a baseline towards interoperability, while simultaneously allowing them to build upon it for their own proprietary formats, which seems like the best of both worlds.
Guess that means that Sesame Street is going to have to start paying royalties....
If I were her, I would have made another lunch the following day with a nice topping of salmonella. Then find out who isn't in the office the following day.
Solution pays for itself several times over.
And the cruel irony of the looting is that food, water, and clothing is now worth far more in NO than Rolex's, jewelry, and DVD players.