Well, it looks like they even have a provision to provide for "spotty enforcement":
10.4 Sprint's failure to enforce strict performance of any provision of this Agreement will not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right. Neither the course of conduct between parties nor trade practice will act to modify any provision of this Agreement.
Which means that "if we get a complaint, we're gonna come down on you."
So, the best solution is to start complaining about people hosting Sprint-based servers, regardless of content. "My Dog Spot's Home Page (you are visitor # 000003)" running out of a Sprint network? Complain under section 7.1.21. Someone from a Sprint address sent you an e-mail? Complain under section 7.1.9. Flood the complaint department with bogus complaints, and get Sprint users all pissed off about Sprint's AUPping them. Raise the noise level so high that they have no choice but to raise the bar.
I suppose just posting this is be a violation of sections 7.1.1 and 7.1.13, or would be if I were a Sprint customer.
I, too, spent a lot of time trying to guess why they didn't include Advent (Colossal Cave, Adventure, whatever name you want to give it) and all I can assume is that it was a list of "PC" games. By the time the PC had arrived, graphical games were already possible on other platforms.
All that said, however, Advent/Zork was still far more influential than Diablo ( a mere graphic derivative ), IMHO. That reflects the biggest problem with "Top X Important Things" lists: they're always VERY subjective. I find myself wasting too much time worrying about other people's misguided opinions. (Slashdot included:-)
The trouble with your analysis is that you're looking at it from a cell-phone-junkie perspective. I'm looking at it from a PDA-junkie perspective. I carry a PDA because I can't function without it. I carry a pager because my job causes me to. I do not carry a cell phone because I don't want to have another device drooping my pants pocket or hanging around my belt like some high-tech albatross.
Would I like a cell phone? Yes. Do I use a cell phone when my on-call rotation week comes up? Yes. Is it annoying to carry a cell phone? Hell yes!
I'm not a cell phone junkie, nor a constant traveller -- if I were, I'd want the tiniest little triple-band tri-mode phone out there. The VisorPhone will give me the opportunity to carry a cell phone for the few occassions when I need one, without the hassle of physically carrying a separate cell phone. It has the added benefit of wirelessly networking my Visor.
If you need both a high performance cell phone AND a PDA, you already own both, and don't need VisorPhone. But, if you need a modest usage cell phone and already own a Visor, it fits the niche perfectly. And I suspect more than ten of us are waiting in this niche.
I like to think of a "Three Strikes" provision: if you vote in favor of three laws that are later found unconstitutional, you are jailed for a minimum of 25 years.
There's your "checks and balances."
It wouldn't even have a "chilling effect" on discussion: you can talk about all the wrong-headed bills and provisions you want, but God help you if you are so stupid as to vote for one.
John
Re:I still like the pdQ Smartphone better...
on
Visor Phone Released
·
· Score: 2
Well, the pdQ looked like a phone, worked like a phone, weighed like a brick.
They were missing the old "human factors testing" that went into the original Palm (and made it such a success) like carrying around a chunk of wood in a shirt pocket, determining max weight and size empirically. A friend of mine who owns one carries it around in his briefcase! Hardly usable.
They angled the speaker at a 45 bevel from the top of the device. It's an attempt to get you to try to "stick it in your ear," which (theory says) will make you want to hold it away from your face.
The Visor continues to function normally while the phone conversation continues. So, the question then is: do you continue your hand-held phone conversation while Graffitiing notes, or looking up addresses, or do you set the phone down while you trot out the memopad?
Yes, it's a compromise, but it may not be as bad as you're thinking.
You get a modem -- think internet connection from your pocket. It's at least as useful as the OmniSky or Palm VII, both of which are very cool (my coworkers use them almost every lunch hour.)
You get a phone, while adding only 2.9 oz to your pocket (and that includes the LIon battery.) And you get the full functionality of dialing straight out of the address book application.
The three reasons I don't have a cell phone on me 24x7 are the weight, size and subsequent wrangling of an additional device. I'm thinking I can even ditch my alphanumeric pager if the SMS thing pans out. (Of course, that won't happen until GSM coverage becomes more widespread around here.) The only drawback I can see is it won't do analog dual-mode (for those times when GSM just ain't gonna happen.)
The Proxomitron is far and away the best filtering proxy I've ever used so far. Easy configuration (for those of us who speak regexp, anyway), and a very very effective set of filters is included. You also can modify the filter set dynamically, and test before you accept.
It kills: pop-ups, browser-resizing, web-bugs, cookies, and in general mucks around with the HTML just as much as you please.
DISCLAIMER: I have no relationship to the Proxomitron other than that of a satisfied customer. It was even worth suffering through a Shonen Knife disc (don't ask.)
Jeez, how many people can I offend by offering a GENERALIZATION (a la Katz)? Get a grip, people: you are NOT personally at the tip of the center of the bell curve. You are a unique person, you have your own abilities, and you will either make the most of them or shovel fast food out the window of a McDonalds for the rest of your life.
Did I say I didn't grow up enjoying video games more than was good for me, or become a successful consultant? No. Do I know people who devoted their lives to a game or two, to the exclusion of all else, who now pack groceries? Yes.
Be yourself. Don't worry about the bell curve: it's a measurement of the world, not of you.
Like I said: "Sure, these are rather extreme viewpoints. Certainly there are good, smart kids who play video games" What part of that did you miss? Are you a statistic or a person? Are you a "generic kid", or do you actually exist?
I even said "other than in the extreme cases, I suspect that video game experience doesn't relate to real life at all." So, do you consider yourself an extreme case? I believe you implied you were a 1*x-2*x game player: do I need to go back and write a general case that doesn't exclude you, too?
<SARCASM>Quit spending your time worrying about people making meaningless generalizations on Slashdot that don't even apply to you, and get back to work.</SARCASM>:-)
The "average" kid spends x minutes playing these games. That means you have some kids spending x*6 minutes, and some kids spending x*0 minutes playing them.
The kids who spend 0 minutes playing them are usually motivated by other things, such as reality. THESE are the kids who will run the world. They're the ones who have learned the necessary social and leadership skills. The kids who spend x*6 minutes playing the games will spend the next 40 years of their lives shoveling the 21st century equivalent of coal, mad at the unfairness of the world that lets "suits" who make all the money.
Sure, these are rather extreme viewpoints. Certainly there are good, smart kids who play video games, and there are also slugs who probably aren't smart enough to figure out video games. As a matter of fact, other than in the extreme cases, I suspect that video game experience doesn't relate to real life at all. But the kids who get no exposure to life outside of a PlayStation are quite ill prepared to be kicked out of Mommy & Daddy's basement. Don't raise them up on some kind of virtual pedestal -- you're looking in the wrong direction.
As a user, I find Google's AdWords much less heinous than DoubleClick advertising.
Speaking of which, DoubleClick made the news today: in this article, DoubleClick is cutting their workforce by 10% and this article mentions their stock being downgraded from "buy" to "hold".
DISCLAIMER: This is not investment advice, blah blah blah, it's just gloating over watching web-spam.com fail.
Please add this number to your do-not-call list and never call this number again, thank you.
Politeness helps -- I almost always get a polite "OK, sir" reply from them, I'm off the phone in ten seconds, and I really don't hear from them again. My phone spam has dropped dramatically, to maybe two or three calls a week from a high of about three calls per night.
Oops, forgot to mention that there's an article in Information Week describing Musicland Group and Home Depot's plans for Linux POS, including the money saved. (I submitted the story to Slashdot before I saw the current artcle.)
The company I work for is (unfortunately) going to roll our POS platform out on eNT. We get to give Microsoft at least $1*10e7 for the privilege, and they still have no idea how we're going to cram this whole monolithic Win32 app into these pathetically small 120MHz 586s with only 16MB RAM and 1.2GB.
And nobody wanted to hear Linux when it was suggested, offered, and screamed. "It's just not Microsoft, and our corporate direction is Microsoft." and the ever popular "Well, we have a lot of resources we can tap into for Windows support." Never mind that the AMOUNT of support required drops exponentially...
If that's our corporate direction, we need a new corporate compass. Sheesh.
It was definitely a problem for quite a while after the 651 split. It improved, but I seem to remember a few problems right when the 952 split started, also.
I imagine the problem was older switching equipment not being upgraded as quickly as needed.
Slashdot Mirror
10.4 Sprint's failure to enforce strict performance of any provision of this Agreement will not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right. Neither the course of conduct between parties nor trade practice will act to modify any provision of this Agreement.
Which means that "if we get a complaint, we're gonna come down on you."
So, the best solution is to start complaining about people hosting Sprint-based servers, regardless of content. "My Dog Spot's Home Page (you are visitor # 000003)" running out of a Sprint network? Complain under section 7.1.21. Someone from a Sprint address sent you an e-mail? Complain under section 7.1.9. Flood the complaint department with bogus complaints, and get Sprint users all pissed off about Sprint's AUPping them. Raise the noise level so high that they have no choice but to raise the bar.
I suppose just posting this is be a violation of sections 7.1.1 and 7.1.13, or would be if I were a Sprint customer.
John
All that said, however, Advent/Zork was still far more influential than Diablo ( a mere graphic derivative ), IMHO. That reflects the biggest problem with "Top X Important Things" lists: they're always VERY subjective. I find myself wasting too much time worrying about other people's misguided opinions. (Slashdot included :-)
John
The trouble with your analysis is that you're looking at it from a cell-phone-junkie perspective. I'm looking at it from a PDA-junkie perspective. I carry a PDA because I can't function without it. I carry a pager because my job causes me to. I do not carry a cell phone because I don't want to have another device drooping my pants pocket or hanging around my belt like some high-tech albatross.
Would I like a cell phone? Yes. Do I use a cell phone when my on-call rotation week comes up? Yes. Is it annoying to carry a cell phone? Hell yes!
I'm not a cell phone junkie, nor a constant traveller -- if I were, I'd want the tiniest little triple-band tri-mode phone out there. The VisorPhone will give me the opportunity to carry a cell phone for the few occassions when I need one, without the hassle of physically carrying a separate cell phone. It has the added benefit of wirelessly networking my Visor.
If you need both a high performance cell phone AND a PDA, you already own both, and don't need VisorPhone. But, if you need a modest usage cell phone and already own a Visor, it fits the niche perfectly. And I suspect more than ten of us are waiting in this niche.
John
There's your "checks and balances."
It wouldn't even have a "chilling effect" on discussion: you can talk about all the wrong-headed bills and provisions you want, but God help you if you are so stupid as to vote for one.
John
They were missing the old "human factors testing" that went into the original Palm (and made it such a success) like carrying around a chunk of wood in a shirt pocket, determining max weight and size empirically. A friend of mine who owns one carries it around in his briefcase! Hardly usable.
John
John
Yes, it's a compromise, but it may not be as bad as you're thinking.
John
John
Pardon, is my obsession showing?
You get a phone, while adding only 2.9 oz to your pocket (and that includes the LIon battery.) And you get the full functionality of dialing straight out of the address book application.
The three reasons I don't have a cell phone on me 24x7 are the weight, size and subsequent wrangling of an additional device. I'm thinking I can even ditch my alphanumeric pager if the SMS thing pans out. (Of course, that won't happen until GSM coverage becomes more widespread around here.) The only drawback I can see is it won't do analog dual-mode (for those times when GSM just ain't gonna happen.)
John
John
and I can't wait to see it under the tree!
John
I just wish Wordstar had died BEFORE I thought to try that.
John
P.S. Col. Klink (ret.) DIED the 7th of December...
The rest, I miss.
John
It kills: pop-ups, browser-resizing, web-bugs, cookies, and in general mucks around with the HTML just as much as you please.
DISCLAIMER: I have no relationship to the Proxomitron other than that of a satisfied customer. It was even worth suffering through a Shonen Knife disc (don't ask.)
John
Did I say I didn't grow up enjoying video games more than was good for me, or become a successful consultant? No. Do I know people who devoted their lives to a game or two, to the exclusion of all else, who now pack groceries? Yes.
Be yourself. Don't worry about the bell curve: it's a measurement of the world, not of you.
John
I even said " other than in the extreme cases, I suspect that video game experience doesn't relate to real life at all." So, do you consider yourself an extreme case? I believe you implied you were a 1*x-2*x game player: do I need to go back and write a general case that doesn't exclude you, too?
<SARCASM>Quit spending your time worrying about people making meaningless generalizations on Slashdot that don't even apply to you, and get back to work.</SARCASM> :-)
John
The kids who spend 0 minutes playing them are usually motivated by other things, such as reality. THESE are the kids who will run the world. They're the ones who have learned the necessary social and leadership skills. The kids who spend x*6 minutes playing the games will spend the next 40 years of their lives shoveling the 21st century equivalent of coal, mad at the unfairness of the world that lets "suits" who make all the money.
Sure, these are rather extreme viewpoints. Certainly there are good, smart kids who play video games, and there are also slugs who probably aren't smart enough to figure out video games. As a matter of fact, other than in the extreme cases, I suspect that video game experience doesn't relate to real life at all. But the kids who get no exposure to life outside of a PlayStation are quite ill prepared to be kicked out of Mommy & Daddy's basement. Don't raise them up on some kind of virtual pedestal -- you're looking in the wrong direction.
John
He offered no useful vision, only a whining lament that accomplishes nothing. A waste of time.
John
Speaking of which, DoubleClick made the news today: in this article, DoubleClick is cutting their workforce by 10% and this article mentions their stock being downgraded from "buy" to "hold".
DISCLAIMER: This is not investment advice, blah blah blah, it's just gloating over watching web-spam.com fail.
John
Please add this number to your do-not-call list and never call this number again, thank you.
Politeness helps -- I almost always get a polite "OK, sir" reply from them, I'm off the phone in ten seconds, and I really don't hear from them again. My phone spam has dropped dramatically, to maybe two or three calls a week from a high of about three calls per night.
John
John
The company I work for is (unfortunately) going to roll our POS platform out on eNT. We get to give Microsoft at least $1*10e7 for the privilege, and they still have no idea how we're going to cram this whole monolithic Win32 app into these pathetically small 120MHz 586s with only 16MB RAM and 1.2GB.
And nobody wanted to hear Linux when it was suggested, offered, and screamed. "It's just not Microsoft, and our corporate direction is Microsoft." and the ever popular "Well, we have a lot of resources we can tap into for Windows support." Never mind that the AMOUNT of support required drops exponentially...
If that's our corporate direction, we need a new corporate compass. Sheesh.
John
P.S. Mozilla 0.6 rocks!
I imagine the problem was older switching equipment not being upgraded as quickly as needed.
John
John
(that's {985209B0-CBCC-11d4-991D-00A0C029468C} to you...)