Joe Sixpack -- four digit Slashdot id -- the cognitive dissonance is too much, I can't survi
Ok, so I didn't mean that *I'm* Joe Sixpack, I meant something along the lines of "Explain to me how Linux or OS X can prevent me from screwing my machine over. While doing so, assume that I have the root password and am Joe Sixpack..."
*I* am actually a developer with 7 years commercial experience who's been using a variety of different computer systems over the last 23 years, from my humble little Sinclair ZX Spectrum with 16KB of RAM, through various Amigas, VAXes, Unix workstations, etc to my current mix of Windows desktops and Linux, Windows and Solaris servers.
*I* don't screw my machines over (well, apart from that one time I tried to mod my Spectrum +2 by replacing the built-in tape deck...), but I'm of the opinion that $randomUserWithAdminAccess does and will, regardless of OS.
Re:probably on Microsoft's list of next important
on
Apache down, IIS up
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I cringe just a little when I hear reassurances like (from the slashdot summary): "but note that Apache's marketshare is approximately 30% higher than IIS's at the moment..."
Personally, I cringe when I see editors making comments like that up there on the summary, rather than down here with the rest of us.
Apart from that, I agree with you; if one is serious about trying to keep IIS out of the web server business (for whatever reason), then the time to be complacent is when it no longer exists.
more secure alternatives like *nix and MacOS, which have a chance of actually fixing the underlying problem.
How so? When replying, please consider that I'm Joe Sixpack, armed with the root password, just enough smarts to install stuff and not enough smarts to not install bad stuff.
Agreed. I read that far and stopped reading. Maybe I'm being overly harsh and judgemental, but I'm busy, and don't have time to waste on the sort of article that that gave me the impression this was going to be.
Sure, it's an opinion piece, but name-calling isn't called for.
Just because a contract says something and I sign my name to it, doesn't necessarily mean that it's binding. For example, a contract cannot compell you to break the law. That's even assuming that EULAs and contracts are the same, which is doubtful at best.
In short, even if my employment contract contained a clause giving my employer my daughter if I left their employ, doesn't mean that they'd get her when I quit. Even if they took it to court the clause would be ruled unenforceable.
so we just slapped windows from anothe source and pressed on.
See, that was your mistake right there. You have slightly more sympathy from me - at least you actually had a licenced copy of Windows. However, you weren't using it. You *should* have contacted Dell and requested a valid restore disk set, or failing that, just stored your own one in a safe place.
Bottom line though is that you knowingly used an unlicensed copy of Windows and are now paying the price for it. In fact, I can only assume that you installed a version you weren't licenced to use (eg Pro rather than Home); or had the coa sticker come off the laptop too?
If you don't want to run the Beta, fine, don't run it. However, to my mind you lose all rights to complain about misfeatures and bugs if you had an opportunity to find and report them, and didn't.
It's kind of like politics; if you can vote and don't, don't expect any sympathy from me if you bitch about the state of your government.
At least when you beta test an OSS OS you then get rewarded with a stable OS that you can freely install as you choose
Actually in both cases you get exactly the same reward - absolutely nothing. You get nothing that isn't available to everyone who *doesn't* help in the testing. At best you get your name on a list of participants, and the warm glow inside of having helped with something.
I heard horror stories of people with 'acquired' versions of Windows XP who went to the 'new' 'Windows Update' service and ended up with an annoying tray icon constantly reminding them that their version of XP is pirated.
Horror stories? I'm sorry, but really I feel as much sympathy for those who pirate software as I do for a company the size of MS whose software is pirated.
You don't want to have to put up with the systray icon? Pay for your damn software. Don't want to pay for it? Don't use it. That not acceptable to you? Fine, but stop whining about MS deciding that actually, they don't like piracy after all.
So does this allow you to "install" programs into the ISO file
Yes, that's exactly what it's for. I did this when I last upgraded my PC, because I was going SATA RAID, knew that the drivers wouldn't be available on my XP Pro CD (it predates SP1), and couldn't be bothered to buy a floppy drive (I've not had one for years). I integrated the drivers, Service Pack 2 and a few other hotfixes.
Have a look at this article, which details using nLite to perform the slipstreaming (note that the link in the article is dead for me).
It took me a couple of goes to get right, but ultimately that was my fault for not paying proper attention. The tool itself is pretty cool, and lets you integrate pretty-much anything appropriate into the installation CD, as well as allowing you to set defaults, including the product key; if you wish, you can make a completely unattended setup disk - literally allowing you to boot off the CD and walk away.
It could even bring it down, if for example you didn't know to switch off logging (or switch on a script to clear the logs out occasionally), a partition filled up, and an essential service choked because of it.
an official violated policy by taking the detailed personal information of thousands of active and reserve troops to his personal home
[Emphasis mine]
He wasn't allowed to do it, he simply wasn't caught in the act and prevented. Reading the article, I see nothing about him having sought or received permission. Just because one is able to do something does not mean that one is allowed to do it.
you obviously have some strange ideas about what a good player should be
Or perhaps he just appreciates the ease that keyboard shortcuts bring? With a media player that understands the media keys on my keyboard, I can pause/stop/start/etc my music no matter what app has focus. That might not be useful to you, but it certainly is to me.
Look up mplayer. You won't like it: but I do.
You're right, I don't like mplayer. I used to use xmms a lot, but have since switched to WMP.
But that's beside the point; thanks to the proprietary "mpq" format, it doesn't matter what player you like, or he likes or I like - we can't use it.
More to the point, I can't listen to the music on my iRiver. That's a big enough deal to make this a complete non-starter for me.
That's FUD, pure and simple - the source is available for download right on the same page as the rest of the JDK download links. You have to agree to one of two licences and have a (free) Sun Download Center account to get it, but it *is* available.
Actually, your government effectively signed just such a contract on your behalf when it enacted your country's copyright laws. Your only legal options are to pay for their products or not use them.
Indeed, in the UK, the seemingly innocent act of format-shifting (i.e. ripping one's vinyl to the computer and burning a CD, or ripping one's CDs to the computer and putting them on the iPod) is, the record companies and royalties collection organisations would certainly like to have you believe, illegal.
Well, IANAL, but I did once take the time to read our copyright law, and unfortunately they're correct. While there is a specific exemption for time-shifting broadcasts (and an explicit statement that you're not allowed to keep them to form part of a "home library" of recordings), there is nothing in there for format-shifting. As it clearly involves making a copy, and there's no exception, the blanket "only the copyright holder can make copies" bit covers it.
In reality, no-one cares but them.
Absolutely. Having said the above, I have about 15GBs worth of music ripped from CDs on my PC at hime and my iRiver. The fact that it's technically illegal doesn't worry me in the slightest.
it is the great expanse of grey in which we find the "rights" to which we believe we are entitled, and which we have been afforded because it is rare that the law is followed to the letter
I can't believe that any case brought against someone for format-shifting their music would ever make it to court, and even if it did, I'd be amazed if the outcome was anything other than a token victory for the plaintiff. I believe that the jury in a civil case can award token damages (right down to a single penny), and would expect that to be the case in this situation.
Yes, we have - yesterday. While the link to the report is new, the BBC news link is identical.
If only posted stories were held in some sort of storage system that allowed easy searching over the text, perhaps this sort of thing could be detected...
Ie that making a copy when you install the software, and another when (portions of) it is loaded into RAM to be executed is disallowed by copyright law, and so an additional agreement (the EULA) is required to allow you to do so. Sounds like a music biz lawyer has suddenly woken up and had one of those "Hang on..!" moments.
(Note that I'm not saying that it's right, or that even if it is required it justifies some of the terms that end up in EULAs, just that that's the justification I've always seen used)
Slashdot Mirror
I'll be 32 in September; way to make me feel even older.
Joe Sixpack -- four digit Slashdot id -- the cognitive dissonance is too much, I can't survi
Ok, so I didn't mean that *I'm* Joe Sixpack, I meant something along the lines of "Explain to me how Linux or OS X can prevent me from screwing my machine over. While doing so, assume that I have the root password and am Joe Sixpack..."
*I* am actually a developer with 7 years commercial experience who's been using a variety of different computer systems over the last 23 years, from my humble little Sinclair ZX Spectrum with 16KB of RAM, through various Amigas, VAXes, Unix workstations, etc to my current mix of Windows desktops and Linux, Windows and Solaris servers.
*I* don't screw my machines over (well, apart from that one time I tried to mod my Spectrum +2 by replacing the built-in tape deck...), but I'm of the opinion that $randomUserWithAdminAccess does and will, regardless of OS.
I cringe just a little when I hear reassurances like (from the slashdot summary): "but note that Apache's marketshare is approximately 30% higher than IIS's at the moment..."
Personally, I cringe when I see editors making comments like that up there on the summary, rather than down here with the rest of us.
Apart from that, I agree with you; if one is serious about trying to keep IIS out of the web server business (for whatever reason), then the time to be complacent is when it no longer exists.
more secure alternatives like *nix and MacOS, which have a chance of actually fixing the underlying problem.
How so? When replying, please consider that I'm Joe Sixpack, armed with the root password, just enough smarts to install stuff and not enough smarts to not install bad stuff.
Agreed. I read that far and stopped reading. Maybe I'm being overly harsh and judgemental, but I'm busy, and don't have time to waste on the sort of article that that gave me the impression this was going to be.
Sure, it's an opinion piece, but name-calling isn't called for.
Congratulations on using quite possibly the most inappropriate, out-of-proportion analogy I've seen on slashdot so far this year.
Just because a contract says something and I sign my name to it, doesn't necessarily mean that it's binding. For example, a contract cannot compell you to break the law. That's even assuming that EULAs and contracts are the same, which is doubtful at best.
In short, even if my employment contract contained a clause giving my employer my daughter if I left their employ, doesn't mean that they'd get her when I quit. Even if they took it to court the clause would be ruled unenforceable.
A better title would then be "Windows 9x Support Dropped", as presimably versions prior to Windows 95 were never supported in the first place.
In related news, 100% of people walking past my front door can see it...
And *you* talk as though Aero is the only thing Vista offers...
so we just slapped windows from anothe source and pressed on.
See, that was your mistake right there. You have slightly more sympathy from me - at least you actually had a licenced copy of Windows. However, you weren't using it. You *should* have contacted Dell and requested a valid restore disk set, or failing that, just stored your own one in a safe place.
Bottom line though is that you knowingly used an unlicensed copy of Windows and are now paying the price for it. In fact, I can only assume that you installed a version you weren't licenced to use (eg Pro rather than Home); or had the coa sticker come off the laptop too?
Hell, even IBM doesn't seem to want Vista.
What?! Arguably the single largest corporate sponsor of Linux and assorted OSS projects doesn't seem too interested in Vista?
Say it ain't so!
there's a balance I seek such that my hardware isn't stressed just to open a text editor yet the design is simple & friendly to the eye.
So set the theme to Windows Classic. Sheesh; you make it sound like Aero Glass is the only option...
If you don't want to run the Beta, fine, don't run it. However, to my mind you lose all rights to complain about misfeatures and bugs if you had an opportunity to find and report them, and didn't.
It's kind of like politics; if you can vote and don't, don't expect any sympathy from me if you bitch about the state of your government.
At least when you beta test an OSS OS you then get rewarded with a stable OS that you can freely install as you choose
Actually in both cases you get exactly the same reward - absolutely nothing. You get nothing that isn't available to everyone who *doesn't* help in the testing. At best you get your name on a list of participants, and the warm glow inside of having helped with something.
I heard horror stories of people with 'acquired' versions of Windows XP who went to the 'new' 'Windows Update' service and ended up with an annoying tray icon constantly reminding them that their version of XP is pirated.
Horror stories? I'm sorry, but really I feel as much sympathy for those who pirate software as I do for a company the size of MS whose software is pirated.
You don't want to have to put up with the systray icon? Pay for your damn software. Don't want to pay for it? Don't use it. That not acceptable to you? Fine, but stop whining about MS deciding that actually, they don't like piracy after all.
So does this allow you to "install" programs into the ISO file
Yes, that's exactly what it's for. I did this when I last upgraded my PC, because I was going SATA RAID, knew that the drivers wouldn't be available on my XP Pro CD (it predates SP1), and couldn't be bothered to buy a floppy drive (I've not had one for years). I integrated the drivers, Service Pack 2 and a few other hotfixes.
Have a look at this article, which details using nLite to perform the slipstreaming (note that the link in the article is dead for me).
It took me a couple of goes to get right, but ultimately that was my fault for not paying proper attention. The tool itself is pretty cool, and lets you integrate pretty-much anything appropriate into the installation CD, as well as allowing you to set defaults, including the product key; if you wish, you can make a completely unattended setup disk - literally allowing you to boot off the CD and walk away.
It could even bring it down, if for example you didn't know to switch off logging (or switch on a script to clear the logs out occasionally), a partition filled up, and an essential service choked because of it.
[Emphasis mine]
He wasn't allowed to do it, he simply wasn't caught in the act and prevented. Reading the article, I see nothing about him having sought or received permission. Just because one is able to do something does not mean that one is allowed to do it.
Lawsuit? On what grounds? Unfortunately it's not yet possible to sue someone purely for stupidity.
you obviously have some strange ideas about what a good player should be
Or perhaps he just appreciates the ease that keyboard shortcuts bring? With a media player that understands the media keys on my keyboard, I can pause/stop/start/etc my music no matter what app has focus. That might not be useful to you, but it certainly is to me.
Look up mplayer. You won't like it: but I do.
You're right, I don't like mplayer. I used to use xmms a lot, but have since switched to WMP.
But that's beside the point; thanks to the proprietary "mpq" format, it doesn't matter what player you like, or he likes or I like - we can't use it.
More to the point, I can't listen to the music on my iRiver. That's a big enough deal to make this a complete non-starter for me.
But Sun doesn't even publish source
That's FUD, pure and simple - the source is available for download right on the same page as the rest of the JDK download links. You have to agree to one of two licences and have a (free) Sun Download Center account to get it, but it *is* available.
Actually, your government effectively signed just such a contract on your behalf when it enacted your country's copyright laws. Your only legal options are to pay for their products or not use them.
Indeed, in the UK, the seemingly innocent act of format-shifting (i.e. ripping one's vinyl to the computer and burning a CD, or ripping one's CDs to the computer and putting them on the iPod) is, the record companies and royalties collection organisations would certainly like to have you believe, illegal.
Well, IANAL, but I did once take the time to read our copyright law, and unfortunately they're correct. While there is a specific exemption for time-shifting broadcasts (and an explicit statement that you're not allowed to keep them to form part of a "home library" of recordings), there is nothing in there for format-shifting. As it clearly involves making a copy, and there's no exception, the blanket "only the copyright holder can make copies" bit covers it.
In reality, no-one cares but them.
Absolutely. Having said the above, I have about 15GBs worth of music ripped from CDs on my PC at hime and my iRiver. The fact that it's technically illegal doesn't worry me in the slightest.
it is the great expanse of grey in which we find the "rights" to which we believe we are entitled, and which we have been afforded because it is rare that the law is followed to the letter
I can't believe that any case brought against someone for format-shifting their music would ever make it to court, and even if it did, I'd be amazed if the outcome was anything other than a token victory for the plaintiff. I believe that the jury in a civil case can award token damages (right down to a single penny), and would expect that to be the case in this situation.
Yes, we have - yesterday. While the link to the report is new, the BBC news link is identical.
If only posted stories were held in some sort of storage system that allowed easy searching over the text, perhaps this sort of thing could be detected...
bbc.co.uk - a GIANT site supplied with continuous news and audio. Runs on perl. Nothing else could cope.
Do you have anything to back up that claim of "nothing else could cope", or is it simply baseless speculation?
Ie that making a copy when you install the software, and another when (portions of) it is loaded into RAM to be executed is disallowed by copyright law, and so an additional agreement (the EULA) is required to allow you to do so. Sounds like a music biz lawyer has suddenly woken up and had one of those "Hang on..!" moments.
(Note that I'm not saying that it's right, or that even if it is required it justifies some of the terms that end up in EULAs, just that that's the justification I've always seen used)