Scratch.mit.edu
Scratch isn't bad for learning all of the "primitives" necessary for anyone to learn programming.
Like 90% of anything involving learning, it's mostly up to individuals--their motivations and their goals.
And if you would like your kids to learn programming remove any/all computer games from the house except for "Scratch" and see what happens.
From my experience Scratch can teach:
Encapsulation, variable scoping, event-handling, boolean logic, and almost any concept someone would like to pursue ( science, math, physics, chemistry, and the basics of computer science too) if they're really interested in doing so.
Scratch can also use real-world inputs via a Pico board (which contains a variety of analog-to-digital inputs) and that presents an incredible opportunity for a student to connect programming to physical inputs.
For most programmers our interaction with A2D is keyboards, joysticks and mice. Scratch opens that up constructively by supporting something like the PICO boards.
Most of the time it's not the unsuitability of programs we want people to learn with--we have amazing operating systems and computer hardware to support anything. There are things out there like Scratch, (ALICE for example) which offer different things. I would say the real barrier to people learning programming (or anything) is people-based. Whether that is a lack of inspiring teachers, or students distracted by very polished software or overly complex "learning environments", or someone realizing that they will never, ever be able to remake their favorite video game so they don't bother learning how to program; ultimately it's up to people to learn how to learn and to motivate themselves. I say this as a parent who provided their kids with video games along with every possible opportunity to learn anything (programming/administration/development with any and all available programming languages and environments). If you want someone to learn programming you will need to sabotage every other digital joymaker and provide them with an opportunity to entertain themselves by making things digitally. It's no different than leaving a crying baby in the crib with a bunch of toys instead of rushing in to pick them up--they will either learn to entertain themselves or cry themselves to sleep until they learn.
Looks like those of us who have already played at autonomous tank warfare are in the minority.:-)
Long after I played O.G.R.E. I also enlisted as a 19E10. If staying in had been my goal (instead of college) I would have had a great time in DESERT STORM.
Watched 60 Minutes last night. Watched Craig Barrett lie and look bemused at the notion of quashing a non-WINTEL system in 3rd world nations. It made me upset. I think it's going to upset many people who will not forget this predatory manuver to destroy the noble altruistic endeavor of giving children in 3rd world countries a chance to uplift themselves. And you stink for not supporting Negroponte and his vision. It would have garnered you more good will than this brutish Windows support project. Windows is worthless for education. If anything, it's a disabler--it creates helplessness and dependence; it's a broken product that feeds all the predatory dross (like Geek Squad) who survive by living off the engineered ignorance of others and the vulnerabilities of a terrible product created by a criminal corporation. What an insipid offering you make to the dirt poor. What's next, smallpox blankets and a line of credit to buy Monsanto GM seeds?
1) How much of a fingerprint does the first owner leave and how does that impact the person who buys the console used? Many games with online aspects are unplayable by second-hand owners, and it wouldn't surprise me if it's the same issues with both the games AND the console once someone has signed up for the full "Home" package. And wouldn't it be a wonderful bonus to buy someone's PS3 second-hand only to find you've got a perfectly functioning point-of-sale with their Credit-card?
2)What kind of privacy/monitoring/logging/moderation is going to be taking place, and is their new front-door little more than a "Call-home" opportunity?
3)Will their system still work when it's talking through a proxy server that doesn't allow any of the ads to be downloaded?
3)What kind of financial pass-through/oversight does the system have in order to keep Junior from going on a shopping spree? It better be something more than a "pin".
Until these interesting details are presented none of the public-relations cake-and-circuses crap really matters.
Humanity, as a sentient species needs to redirect resources wasted on terrestrial wars to ever-escalating space battles and arms-races which will foster the space-faring civilization-destroying armadas we all know humanity is capable of;then and only then will they really have a chance of playing with the other galactic kids.
If someone decides to pay Humanity a visit they need something better than just nukes..pfft, nobody's going to want to know about Humans unless they come up with some novel way to destroy entire clusters of galaxies. Until Human weapon-tests create a local nebula they're nothing more than annoying pets.
Broken Java, IE HTML incompatibility, their refusal to create an OS that is secure, M$ ME, XP SP2 were acts of impunity,. If I used Microsoft software I'm sure I could provide a better laundry list.
EULA's are fluid and ultimately M$ is responsible for nothing, while the customer by clicking "yes" is supposed to indemnify and not hold M$ responsible for the crapware that they, the customer, has been dorked into using. It's sick.
As for the Cable/Satellite providers. If one of them do something profitable, they will all do it. The same applies to the Networks, which would utilize the Cable/Satellite providers infrastructure to facillitate the whole mess. Microsoft is a platform with a media server product that's already in use by international pr0n to distribute movies which are only playable on M$ desktops and certain cellphones. The client checks in with the media server and the DRM on the client is permitted a license to view the product on that machine for a proscribed period of time. This technology has been out there for over 5 years. It takes time for this kind of technology to penetrate popular entertainment, even when it's been proven for the adult market.
If Microsoft makes the impression validator technology, patents it, encapsulates it in servers and desktop components, licenses it to the networks in conjunction with their rotten DRM then they're going to make it possible for entertainment networks have a nose-to-tail solution for giving networks the leverage to charge more by being able to show just how many impressions are being served. Microsoft stands to make billions facilitating the tens of billions the networks stand to make.
Ahhhh, one big happy reach-around that will come back to roost on M$ operating systems because the people who use windows aren't really M$'s customers, companies like Dell, and HP are, and with new technology the entertainment industry will become M$ customers. And to make adoption easier they'll provide people hardware implementations, like HD-TV's with built-in impression validator technology, bonus features and lower rates until a tipping point is met will guarantee market up-take. It's no secret that M$ has wanted to be involved in the entertainment industry. If they can't buy Adobe they don't mind being on everything else.
Microsoft is giving us more valid reasons to successfully argue that they have no place in the classroom.
They're making is very clear that they are achieving the kind of critical mass where they will act with impunity.
It isn't enough that they make an OS that exploits people at home, now they're seeking to patent a way to enforce it on students.
So how long before this kind of thinking migrates to television?
"We're sorry _Survivor_ is withheld for (countdown)min. until the next commercial break because you muted three or more commercials. In order to ensure an uninterrupted broadcast you must maintain at least a 25 db. audio output and not avoid the screen. Thank you."
Or better yet, Ben checks his online bills and sees a slightly larger cable bill. "Hey, honey. Why is the cable bill $20 more...oh crap, it says there's a fee for _Subsidy-Avoidance_ WTF is that?" "Remember when I told you that if we removed that feedback box they'd tag on a fee?" "I don't get it..." He scratches his head and looks at the TV. "Remember how our subscription rates for Office went up because we didn't agree to run an ad validator? It's the same thing." She says as Ben looks for something to kick and starts wondering where he put that extra cable box.
At least they aren't trying to tell us that this will keep us safe...yet.
Argh, I hates when my brain moves faster than my fingers.
In the second paragraph what I really meant to say was,
"It would be an exciting change of pace to see the vote for the two highest offices in the land sacked and instead random citizens of the continental United States would receive notice in the mail that they've been entered into a lottery for President, or the Vice-President, of the United States."
Every citizen should hate professional politicians. If for no other reason than their experience as lawyers.
It would be a refreshing change of pace to see the vote for the highest office in the land sacked and one person per state randomly selected to be run in a lottery where they would just recieve a notice in the mail that they've been elected as President of the United States,or the Vice-President of the United States.
"For the office of President of the United States the Winning number is 893123! If you have this number please report in person to your nearest Post Office, or call the number on the screen and enter the privacy key on your ticket, followed by your SSN..."
That would rock! I wonder if anyone's written a book on this yet? If not, then this is a great opportunity. All an author(s) would have to do is just come up with 48 potential candidate names (keep it in the CONUS) and elaborate on what happens to the two lucky winners.
Instead of one single writer stepping up to write the whole thing one person from each state could write a chapter based on someone they admired--even if it's a carricature of themselves. And then we could have one controlling author/editor who would serve as the glue. It could be an open-source book with a creative-commons license. There could be a version written every 4 years. It would serve as a memetic quilt of ideas and interests.
Imagine who they'd pardon, what they'd say to the normally elected jackals, how they'd be recieved based on race, religion (or lack thereof), marital status, sexual orientation...damn.
Sounds like the next great American novel, it could be on helluva wiki and a powerful addition to any writing portfolio.
If I wasn't already up to my ears in a long-running effort I'd set it up.
I wouldn't call it "The Lottery" though, that's already a nice story.
Personally, I don't trust any organization with three or more people in it. As much as I would like to believe in all the national history of US Space flight I'm really not a "believer" in anything except my ability to waste my own time.
Despite all the advances in technology if we had a serious space program we'd stop throwing away money on on orbital trailer parks and create genuine spacefaring technologies and exo-orbital structures which would make hull-building a seamless process outside any gravity well. We have the tech to start this based on the automated extrusion/molding/manufacturing processes which take place everyday in creating commodity and specialized products in factories.
All it would take is 30 years of the United States not being a rotten player in international politics, namely false-flag ops, economic arm-twisting, and military aggression for resources. These things have made us the enemy of every poor country on the planet, the buddy of corporate and fascist bullies, and our own worst enemy when it comes to any serious exo-orbital industry.
The Chinese are going to spank us in space, and rightly so. They even hold our future in the form of trillions in promisary notes and loans. The sleeping Dragon of the East is waking up and our short-lived glory as a superpower is already eaten from within.
Sucks to national pride. There's nothing to be proud of any longer. The US is a sham democracy, the robber barons have returned.
"This sounds exciting... I've always wanted a filesystem that would act like CVS with each save. I don't know if this is doing quite that, but it's intriguing at least."
Yes, I once thought this way, granted 10 MB hard-drives were better than sex back then.
Of course the FBI/CIA/NSA/DHS all feel the same way, that the typical user OS should never, ever forget something completely.
There's nothing like the look on an end-user's face when you show them a 2 year history of everything on and off their hard-drive; maybe not the complete files, but enough to incriminate them.
'The Democracy "Skinner box" is just as rotten as every other form of government "Skinner box". They're all assembled with the same corrupt intentions.'
I wasn't talking about all government. Mostly just referencing the parts which comprise the "Skinner box".
No contradictions there I hope.
Where once upon a time law-enforcement watched out for the people, now law-enforcement watches the people.
Secret laws are just one aspect of our "New American Century".
These new laws are like "Freedom feature-grabs", where the developer realizes that the customer can gain some unintended benefit or where there's something that allows the user to do too much.
In the case of citizens these "feature-grabs" can result in some very disturbing encounters with investigation and humiliation.
Cheers everyone, right now someone is trying to pass a new law to take away some of your freedom.
This case was a challenge to the government to disclose secret laws. Of course it's not in the interest of any government to disclose secret laws. Any government. Any secret law.
With secret laws, and non-disclosure/denial of legal representation, the goal is to foster and achieve an environment of terror for the citizenry.
The best system is one that works randomly (or in the least fosters that impression) in the perception of the subjects.
Every Government is a "Skinner Box" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinner_box), where the rats behave the way they're supposed to more often with a minimal amount of enforcement and other controls.
The Democracy "Skinner box" is just as rotten as every other form of government "Skinner box". They're all assembled with the same corrupt intentions.
As a programmer I value myself based on what the end-users think of my work. When someone uses something I've made and I don't hear anything back, I feel great because they often have a direct line to me and they know I listen. When I hear great things and see the planned-for results of my systems working, there's nothing like the feeling of having something you've helped create make millions of dollars and keep people happy and fed. I've made personal sacrifices in order to see my concepts and proposals come to life. A toolsmith must be judged by the suitability of his tools to those who use them. I'll admit that when I saw "TRON", back in my 8-bit days, it influenced me. I want my works to represent me, and I don't need accolades, or lots of money. I just want to feel like what I've done hasn't been a waste of time. Every good programmer feels the same way. If they don't then they're really managers, they just don't know it yet.
What more does there need to be than for a group of patriotic citizens at every polling place to do what they must?
We are supposed to have a proud history of resistance in this country to injustice and control.
As always, the number of citizens greatly outnumbers the forces of control in government.
The citizens are ultimately responsible for how much their country resembles a prison camp.
Statistically, the United States is the largest prison camp in the world.
If people can challenge other voters in the line then the people should and must challenge the voting apparatus.
Of course authority and the need to protect the property of the state will be enforced, it's what they enjoy doing, stepping on necks is good training.
In wresting control back from the monied and corrupt people will be hurt.
That's the promise of authority.
It's the nature of power to hurt people.
It's the expectation and role of protestors to suffer at the hands of the state in order to right institutionalized injustice.
In this country we have a growing underclass with nothing to loose, married or not, who should see that the manipulation of the vote as a license to use them and their children for wars and cheap labor.
This isn't some manifesto written by someone in a van down-by-the-river, it's just stating the obvious.
When enough people wake up to do what must be done, it will happen faster than the ponderous lumbering beast of government can react.
If the machines and their code are still obfuscated by the next election then the machines should be destroyed.
If the government and it's anointed tools aren't up to the job then it's the duty of the citizens to take care of the problem. It's why we have the right to bear arms. It's why Thomas Jefferson's memorial has such pithy inscriptions. We sadly, currently, live in exactly the situation the founding fathers foresaw.
If the only effective protest is the destruction of the tools of misrepresentation, and if people are willing to die for their freedom and to protect their country and their constitution there shouldn't be any problem. We should fight the threats at home before exporting our expertise to damage others abroad at the behest of corrupt industries. Our politicians have been funded/emplaced by the very companies who seek to profit the most from a muddled vote. If voting is our one sure way of getting a message across then it needs the same kind of protection that the Constitution requires. It requires and demands the right of the citizenry to implement deadly force to secure it's own voice.
With the long lines and the availability of floors and blunt objects in polling places it shouldn't take more than an hour after polling facilities open to accomplish the task nation-wide.
And to all those citizens who think this isn't the solution, please reply with one that's rooted in reality, and not some "hugs and tea" fascimilie of reality.
Want to make "Space" exciting? Put the military up there. We already give the military billions of dollars, they could wrangle it out internally. Imagine the bump in recruiting if the Military was a real vector to spaceflight?
Our government needs to throw-away the baby-steps, like the ISS trailer-park, and set to creating large durable protective long-term space habitats.
The United States needs to park their butts at a LaGrange point, run up a flag, and set up camp.
The two careerist services (Airforce and Navy) could push every damn envelope NASA has ever wanted to.
NASA/private space-interests would gain skilled people once these military personal leave active service.
Technology is a ratchet. Police are the bullies who reap the greatest benefits from it, and this ratchet shows no sign of being turned in the other direction. They are charged with protecting the wealthy, the holdings of the wealthy, and the interests of the wealthy by presenting a hostile front against citizens who would protest the actions of the wealthy. When Police think they're not being watched they punish through physical force. When Police are being watched they are cruel by indifference. When Police think they're right they act with impunity. Television has been used to lionize and justify these actions to the citizenry.
All Police perform in a psychological role which socially justifies their views.
Anyone who attempts to protect themselves or their property in the United States is viewed through the same lens as a career criminal because crime is the new profit-center/industry in the United States.
If there's one thing Aldous Huxley did get right with "Brave New World", it was the attitude of authority in that society where technology was so prevalent that it guided and controlled people from the womb to the tomb; if you're not an infant, you're a criminal and a danger to the state.
To the Police there are Rich/powerful controlling people (the boss), citizen-criminals and criminal citizens (default criminals). Even the Romans understood this.
Anyone here who has ever been cuffed 'n stuffed for defending themselves and their family w/o causing any harm to the perpetrators understands this reality.
Agreed, gameplay is more important than graphics...however, I'm a virtual fossil.
So many gamers have grown up playing 3D games that the simplicity and efficiency of a 2D game doesn't excite them, it's not where the market has taken gamers because it's comical to model "breast jiggle" in a 2D game. And most people are too uptight to laugh and still be turned on (it's probably just an American thing).
So many people would be happy if $omeone would take Mr. Philip Price by the hand and explain how "Alternate Reality" doesn't need to be re-invented, it just needs to exist in all of it's glory, with all of it's parts w/in a single game. It's been possible for over 10 years, but he's just been busy.
A while back he wanted to go MMORPG with it but that went vapour before it really got started.
It could exist on cell phones, or even the NDS. Having it on the NDS would damn exciting. Having it on a PC would potentially underwhelm pc-gamers because the emphasis for PC games hasn't been innovation in games, it's been over-the-top utilization of 3D and pushing the envelope and driving hardware/GPU sales. Such a place would be an empty-home for an innovative 2D game, even with the complexity of "Alternate-Reality" and it's open-ended gameplay (something hearalded as innovative in games such as GTA).
For those who haven't heard of this game here's a good page to start with to learn more about one the most interesting 2D rpg's ever made.
And in keeping with the spirit of the T.M.B.G. song, Mr. Negorponte can't shake the devil's hand and say he's only kidding.
If Mr. Gates was a genuine philanthropist, rather than the lord and master of greed, he wouldn't have disparaged the project and instead would have bankrolled production without any hooks for his toy OS long before any of this crap hit the press.
Now, it's nothing more than another public relations kiss on the wrist and the OLPC becomes a vector for locking poor countries into the web of proprietary licensed software. Don't we already export enough of our technical garbage to some of these countries?!
They need Windows as much as they need Monsanto's GM seeds.
If you can't grow crops from the harvest then you're always going back to Monsanto.
If you can't own the software then you're always going back to Microsoft for every possible browser start and update.
Why does Microsoft want to feed the Anti-Ware lampreys who live off the inability of Microsoft's crappy OS in order to gain a toe-hold in developing countries? This is just another blatant example of the fat-cats co-opting something.
Why curse people in poor countries with a crop of laptops which can be made useless with viruses and malware, legitimate or otherwise?
Kids don't need Microsoft, Microsoft needs kids and mindshare and they'll do whatever it takes in the short-term to lock in the future, even if it means OLPC's become nothing more than plastic bricks when some jackass horks an update, or a virus/worm exploits their wireless networks.
The legitimacy and altruism of the OLPC project has been squandered with the inclusion of Microsoft, if altruism was ever a genuine goal.
OLPC just became another fat rubber cock in the schweaty hands of big business and government, aimed squarely at children. What's up with the rich and powerful wanting to exploit children?!
Traditionally big business does some pretty terrible things in developing countries because the governments involved like money and control more than they will ever appreciate freedom or empowerment for their people.
Maybe the project should be renamed "One Key-logger Per Child" after Microsoft has had its way with things. "OKPC" sounds like a marketing dream, doesn't it? The kind of dream you can sell to government and the military in developing countries.
It doesn't surprise me that someone like Allard, who is all about velocity in the article, would want a computer which doesn't require an anti-ware stack stepping all over the CPU in order to safeguard the computer he's working on.
I'll continue to buy used games and consoles. Of course I'm part of the disappearing middle-class so I'm really not eroding their bottom line any but if a majority of consumers opted to wait for used consoles I'm SONY would feel the love.
Agreed, all old OS's are weak somewhere. But what happens to grandma when her doting son hands her his old boxen with XP with expired "Anti-" ware on it? Grandma entertains keyloggers with insights into the wicked subterfuge of bridge groups, quilting, what happened at the store checkout queue, or just how awful the last family gathering was; and all the while her machine is merrily testing basic-auth at a pornsite somewhere while she wonders why everything seems so slow on the Internet.
The article illustrated that Windows machines are constantly under attack. Everything else is give and take, but the fact that there's so many vectors of attack should be what people understand; most of them are squarely aimed at Windows operating systems.
I think the Microsoft userbase is exploited by legit and illegitimate businesses. Buying a new machine with a new Microsoft OS doesn't solve the problem. How is someone supposed to feel when they've bought a product, then they have to register the software online or over the phone, and repeat that process if they've added/removed/or changed the hardware config, and then they suffer the indiginity of having terms and conditions changed arbitrarily by the software developer (SP2,WGA anyone?) in order to receive further updates and then they still get exploited by some IRC bot-masters?
I know how I'd feel which is why I don't bother playing that game.
What is the true cost advantage of an operating system which requires 3rd party bolt-on security solutions, many of them with secret blocking lists and other interesting features the user can't modify or maintain without a subscription?
I can't really say, because I stopped using Microsoft a long time ago. I wish more people would wake up and stop being exploited.
Slashdot Mirror
Scratch.mit.edu Scratch isn't bad for learning all of the "primitives" necessary for anyone to learn programming. Like 90% of anything involving learning, it's mostly up to individuals--their motivations and their goals. And if you would like your kids to learn programming remove any/all computer games from the house except for "Scratch" and see what happens. From my experience Scratch can teach: Encapsulation, variable scoping, event-handling, boolean logic, and almost any concept someone would like to pursue ( science, math, physics, chemistry, and the basics of computer science too) if they're really interested in doing so. Scratch can also use real-world inputs via a Pico board (which contains a variety of analog-to-digital inputs) and that presents an incredible opportunity for a student to connect programming to physical inputs. For most programmers our interaction with A2D is keyboards, joysticks and mice. Scratch opens that up constructively by supporting something like the PICO boards. Most of the time it's not the unsuitability of programs we want people to learn with--we have amazing operating systems and computer hardware to support anything. There are things out there like Scratch, (ALICE for example) which offer different things. I would say the real barrier to people learning programming (or anything) is people-based. Whether that is a lack of inspiring teachers, or students distracted by very polished software or overly complex "learning environments", or someone realizing that they will never, ever be able to remake their favorite video game so they don't bother learning how to program; ultimately it's up to people to learn how to learn and to motivate themselves. I say this as a parent who provided their kids with video games along with every possible opportunity to learn anything (programming/administration/development with any and all available programming languages and environments). If you want someone to learn programming you will need to sabotage every other digital joymaker and provide them with an opportunity to entertain themselves by making things digitally. It's no different than leaving a crying baby in the crib with a bunch of toys instead of rushing in to pick them up--they will either learn to entertain themselves or cry themselves to sleep until they learn.
http://www.sjgames.com/ogre/
:-)
:-)
Looks like those of us who have already played at autonomous tank warfare are in the minority.
Long after I played O.G.R.E. I also enlisted as a 19E10.
If staying in had been my goal (instead of college) I would have had a great time in DESERT STORM.
Tanks for the memories.
Here's what I sent to them at their form:
Watched 60 Minutes last night. Watched Craig Barrett lie and look bemused at the notion of quashing a non-WINTEL system in 3rd world nations. It made me upset. I think it's going to upset many people who will not forget this predatory manuver to destroy the noble altruistic endeavor of giving children in 3rd world countries a chance to uplift themselves. And you stink for not supporting Negroponte and his vision. It would have garnered you more good will than this brutish Windows support project. Windows is worthless for education. If anything, it's a disabler--it creates helplessness and dependence; it's a broken product that feeds all the predatory dross (like Geek Squad) who survive by living off the engineered ignorance of others and the vulnerabilities of a terrible product created by a criminal corporation. What an insipid offering you make to the dirt poor. What's next, smallpox blankets and a line of credit to buy Monsanto GM seeds?
Maybe what people should be asking is:
1) How much of a fingerprint does the first owner leave and how does that impact the person who buys the console used?
Many games with online aspects are unplayable by second-hand owners, and it wouldn't surprise me if it's the same issues with both the games AND the console once someone has signed up for the full "Home" package. And wouldn't it be a wonderful bonus to buy someone's PS3 second-hand only to find you've got a perfectly functioning point-of-sale with their Credit-card?
2)What kind of privacy/monitoring/logging/moderation is going to be taking place, and is their new front-door little more than a "Call-home" opportunity?
3)Will their system still work when it's talking through a proxy server that doesn't allow any of the ads to be downloaded?
3)What kind of financial pass-through/oversight does the system have in order to keep Junior from going on a shopping spree? It better be something more than a "pin".
Until these interesting details are presented none of the public-relations cake-and-circuses crap really matters.
Humanity, as a sentient species needs to redirect resources wasted on terrestrial wars to ever-escalating space battles and arms-races which will foster the space-faring civilization-destroying armadas we all know humanity is capable of;then and only then will they really have a chance of playing with the other galactic kids.
If someone decides to pay Humanity a visit they need something better than just nukes..pfft, nobody's going to want to know about Humans unless they come up with some novel way to destroy entire clusters of galaxies. Until Human weapon-tests create a local nebula they're nothing more than annoying pets.
Broken Java, IE HTML incompatibility, their refusal to create an OS that is secure, M$ ME, XP SP2 were acts of impunity,. If I used Microsoft software I'm sure I could provide a better laundry list.
EULA's are fluid and ultimately M$ is responsible for nothing, while the customer by clicking "yes" is supposed to indemnify and not hold M$ responsible for the crapware that they, the customer, has been dorked into using. It's sick.
As for the Cable/Satellite providers. If one of them do something profitable, they will all do it.
The same applies to the Networks, which would utilize the Cable/Satellite providers infrastructure to facillitate the whole mess.
Microsoft is a platform with a media server product that's already in use by international pr0n to distribute movies which are only playable on M$ desktops and certain cellphones. The client checks in with the media server and the DRM on the client is permitted a license to view the product on that machine for a proscribed period of time.
This technology has been out there for over 5 years. It takes time for this kind of technology to penetrate popular entertainment, even when it's been proven for the adult market.
If Microsoft makes the impression validator technology, patents it, encapsulates it in servers and desktop components, licenses it to the networks in conjunction with their rotten DRM then they're going to make it possible for entertainment networks have a nose-to-tail solution for giving networks the leverage to charge more by being able to show just how many impressions are being served. Microsoft stands to make billions facilitating the tens of billions the networks stand to make.
Ahhhh, one big happy reach-around that will come back to roost on M$ operating systems because the people who use windows aren't really M$'s customers, companies like Dell, and HP are, and with new technology the entertainment industry will become M$ customers. And to make adoption easier they'll provide people hardware implementations, like HD-TV's with built-in impression validator technology, bonus features and lower rates until a tipping point is met will guarantee market up-take. It's no secret that M$ has wanted to be involved in the entertainment industry. If they can't buy Adobe they don't mind being on everything else.
Microsoft is giving us more valid reasons to successfully argue that they have no place in the classroom.
They're making is very clear that they are achieving the kind of critical mass where they will act with impunity.
It isn't enough that they make an OS that exploits people at home, now they're seeking to patent a way to enforce it on students.
So how long before this kind of thinking migrates to television?
"We're sorry _Survivor_ is withheld for (countdown)min. until the next commercial break because you muted three or more commercials. In order to ensure an uninterrupted broadcast you must maintain at least a 25 db. audio output and not avoid the screen. Thank you."
Or better yet,
Ben checks his online bills and sees a slightly larger cable bill.
"Hey, honey. Why is the cable bill $20 more...oh crap, it says there's a fee for _Subsidy-Avoidance_ WTF is that?"
"Remember when I told you that if we removed that feedback box they'd tag on a fee?"
"I don't get it..." He scratches his head and looks at the TV.
"Remember how our subscription rates for Office went up because we didn't agree to run an ad validator? It's the same thing." She says as Ben looks for something to kick and starts wondering where he put that extra cable box.
At least they aren't trying to tell us that this will keep us safe...yet.
Argh, I hates when my brain moves faster than my fingers.
In the second paragraph what I really meant to say was,
"It would be an exciting change of pace to see the vote for the two highest offices in the land sacked and instead random citizens of the continental United States would receive notice in the mail that they've been entered into a lottery for President, or the Vice-President, of the United States."
Whew, that's sounds a little better.
Every citizen should hate professional politicians. If for no other reason than their experience as lawyers.
:-)
It would be a refreshing change of pace to see the vote for the highest office in the land sacked and one person per state randomly selected to be run in a lottery where they would just recieve a notice in the mail that they've been elected as President of the United States,or the Vice-President of the United States.
"For the office of President of the United States the Winning number is 893123! If you have this number please report in person to your nearest Post Office, or call the number on the screen and enter the privacy key on your ticket, followed by your SSN..."
That would rock! I wonder if anyone's written a book on this yet?
If not, then this is a great opportunity. All an author(s) would have to do is just come up with 48 potential candidate names (keep it in the CONUS) and elaborate on what happens to the two lucky winners.
Instead of one single writer stepping up to write the whole thing one person from each state could write a chapter based on someone they admired--even if it's a carricature of themselves. And then we could have one controlling author/editor who would serve as the glue. It could be an open-source book with a creative-commons license. There could be a version written every 4 years. It would serve as a memetic quilt of ideas and interests.
Imagine who they'd pardon, what they'd say to the normally elected jackals, how they'd be recieved based on race, religion (or lack thereof), marital status, sexual orientation...damn.
Sounds like the next great American novel, it could be on helluva wiki and a powerful addition to any writing portfolio.
If I wasn't already up to my ears in a long-running effort I'd set it up.
I wouldn't call it "The Lottery" though, that's already a nice story.
How about "The Vottery"?
No domain squatting please.
I suppose a better quantifer would be,
"Personally I don't trust any organization trying to sell anything."
I don't mind organizations when they're altruisic and informative, it's when they're trying to sell something that things get trampled.
I guess that makes me "unamerican". It goes well with being an unbeliever.
Of course I'm not immune to the antics of the P.T.Barnum club, at least any more than most.
I tend to think that anyone who has a mortage and realizes the illusion of home ownership fits that description.
So I'm another pixel in that circle on the great Venn diagram of existence.
Trust the Government?
Hell no!
Nobody should.
Personally, I don't trust any organization with three or more people in it.
As much as I would like to believe in all the national history of US Space flight I'm really not a "believer" in anything except my ability to waste my own time.
Despite all the advances in technology if we had a serious space program we'd stop throwing away money on on orbital trailer parks and create genuine spacefaring technologies and exo-orbital structures which would make hull-building a seamless process outside any gravity well. We have the tech to start this based on the automated extrusion/molding/manufacturing processes which take place everyday in creating commodity and specialized products in factories.
All it would take is 30 years of the United States not being a rotten player in international politics, namely false-flag ops, economic arm-twisting, and military aggression for resources. These things have made us the enemy of every poor country on the planet, the buddy of corporate and fascist bullies, and our own worst enemy when it comes to any serious exo-orbital industry.
The Chinese are going to spank us in space, and rightly so.
They even hold our future in the form of trillions in promisary notes and loans.
The sleeping Dragon of the East is waking up and our short-lived glory as a superpower is already eaten from within.
Sucks to national pride. There's nothing to be proud of any longer. The US is a sham democracy, the robber barons have returned.
"This sounds exciting... I've always wanted a filesystem that would act like CVS with each save. I don't know if this is doing quite that, but it's intriguing at least."
Yes, I once thought this way, granted 10 MB hard-drives were better than sex back then.
Of course the FBI/CIA/NSA/DHS all feel the same way, that the typical user OS should never, ever forget something completely.
There's nothing like the look on an end-user's face when you show them a 2 year history of everything on and off their hard-drive; maybe not the complete files, but enough to incriminate them.
When I wrote,
'The Democracy "Skinner box" is just as rotten as every other form of government "Skinner box". They're all assembled with the same corrupt intentions.'
I wasn't talking about all government. Mostly just referencing the parts which comprise the "Skinner box".
No contradictions there I hope.
Where once upon a time law-enforcement watched out for the people, now law-enforcement watches the people.
Secret laws are just one aspect of our "New American Century".
These new laws are like "Freedom feature-grabs", where the developer realizes that the customer can gain some unintended benefit or where there's something that allows the user to do too much.
In the case of citizens these "feature-grabs" can result in some very disturbing encounters with investigation and humiliation.
Cheers everyone, right now someone is trying to pass a new law to take away some of your freedom.
This case was a challenge to the government to disclose secret laws.
Of course it's not in the interest of any government to disclose secret laws.
Any government. Any secret law.
With secret laws, and non-disclosure/denial of legal representation, the goal is to foster and achieve an environment of terror for the citizenry.
The best system is one that works randomly (or in the least fosters that impression) in the perception of the subjects.
Every Government is a "Skinner Box" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinner_box), where the rats behave the way they're supposed to more often with a minimal amount of enforcement and other controls.
The Democracy "Skinner box" is just as rotten as every other form of government "Skinner box". They're all assembled with the same corrupt intentions.
Cheers.
As a programmer I value myself based on what the end-users think of my work.
When someone uses something I've made and I don't hear anything back, I feel great because they often have a direct line to me and they know I listen.
When I hear great things and see the planned-for results of my systems working, there's nothing like the feeling of having something you've helped create make millions of dollars and keep people happy and fed.
I've made personal sacrifices in order to see my concepts and proposals come to life.
A toolsmith must be judged by the suitability of his tools to those who use them.
I'll admit that when I saw "TRON", back in my 8-bit days, it influenced me.
I want my works to represent me, and I don't need accolades, or lots of money.
I just want to feel like what I've done hasn't been a waste of time.
Every good programmer feels the same way.
If they don't then they're really managers, they just don't know it yet.
What more does there need to be than for a group of patriotic citizens at every polling place to do what they must?
We are supposed to have a proud history of resistance in this country to injustice and control.
As always, the number of citizens greatly outnumbers the forces of control in government.
The citizens are ultimately responsible for how much their country resembles a prison camp.
Statistically, the United States is the largest prison camp in the world.
If people can challenge other voters in the line then the people should and must challenge the voting apparatus.
Of course authority and the need to protect the property of the state will be enforced, it's what they enjoy doing, stepping on necks is good training.
In wresting control back from the monied and corrupt people will be hurt.
That's the promise of authority.
It's the nature of power to hurt people.
It's the expectation and role of protestors to suffer at the hands of the state in order to right institutionalized injustice.
In this country we have a growing underclass with nothing to loose, married or not, who should see that the manipulation of the vote as a license to use them and their children for wars and cheap labor.
This isn't some manifesto written by someone in a van down-by-the-river, it's just stating the obvious.
When enough people wake up to do what must be done, it will happen faster than the ponderous lumbering beast of government can react.
If the machines and their code are still obfuscated by the next election then the machines should be destroyed.
If the government and it's anointed tools aren't up to the job then it's the duty of the citizens to take care of the problem. It's why we have the right to bear arms. It's why Thomas Jefferson's memorial has such pithy inscriptions. We sadly, currently, live in exactly the situation the founding fathers foresaw.
If the only effective protest is the destruction of the tools of misrepresentation, and if people are willing to die for their freedom and to protect their country and their constitution there shouldn't be any problem. We should fight the threats at home before exporting our expertise to damage others abroad at the behest of corrupt industries. Our politicians have been funded/emplaced by the very companies who seek to profit the most from a muddled vote. If voting is our one sure way of getting a message across then it needs the same kind of protection that the Constitution requires. It requires and demands the right of the citizenry to implement deadly force to secure it's own voice.
With the long lines and the availability of floors and blunt objects in polling places it shouldn't take more than an hour after polling facilities open to accomplish the task nation-wide.
And to all those citizens who think this isn't the solution, please reply with one that's rooted in reality, and not some "hugs and tea" fascimilie of reality.
Cheers.
Want to make "Space" exciting?
Put the military up there. We already give the military billions of dollars, they could wrangle it out internally.
Imagine the bump in recruiting if the Military was a real vector to spaceflight?
Our government needs to throw-away the baby-steps, like the ISS trailer-park, and set to creating large durable protective long-term space habitats.
The United States needs to park their butts at a LaGrange point, run up a flag, and set up camp.
The two careerist services (Airforce and Navy) could push every damn envelope NASA has ever wanted to.
NASA/private space-interests would gain skilled people once these military personal leave active service.
Technology is a ratchet.
Police are the bullies who reap the greatest benefits from it, and this ratchet shows no sign of being turned in the other direction. They are charged with protecting the wealthy, the holdings of the wealthy, and the interests of the wealthy by presenting a hostile front against citizens who would protest the actions of the wealthy.
When Police think they're not being watched they punish through physical force.
When Police are being watched they are cruel by indifference.
When Police think they're right they act with impunity.
Television has been used to lionize and justify these actions to the citizenry.
All Police perform in a psychological role which socially justifies their views.
Anyone who attempts to protect themselves or their property in the United States is viewed through the same lens as a career criminal because crime is the new profit-center/industry in the United States.
If there's one thing Aldous Huxley did get right with "Brave New World", it was the attitude of authority in that society where technology was so prevalent that it guided and controlled people from the womb to the tomb; if you're not an infant, you're a criminal and a danger to the state.
To the Police there are Rich/powerful controlling people (the boss), citizen-criminals and criminal citizens (default criminals). Even the Romans understood this.
Anyone here who has ever been cuffed 'n stuffed for defending themselves and their family w/o causing any harm to the perpetrators understands this reality.
Agreed, gameplay is more important than graphics...however, I'm a virtual fossil.
So many gamers have grown up playing 3D games that the simplicity and efficiency of a 2D game doesn't excite them, it's not where the market has taken gamers because it's comical to model "breast jiggle" in a 2D game. And most people are too uptight to laugh and still be turned on (it's probably just an American thing).
So many people would be happy if $omeone would take Mr. Philip Price by the hand and explain how "Alternate Reality" doesn't need to be re-invented, it just needs to exist in all of it's glory, with all of it's parts w/in a single game. It's been possible for over 10 years, but he's just been busy.
A while back he wanted to go MMORPG with it but that went vapour before it really got started.
It could exist on cell phones, or even the NDS. Having it on the NDS would damn exciting. Having it on a PC would potentially underwhelm pc-gamers because the emphasis for PC games hasn't been innovation in games, it's been over-the-top utilization of 3D and pushing the envelope and driving hardware/GPU sales. Such a place would be an empty-home for an innovative 2D game, even with the complexity of "Alternate-Reality" and it's open-ended gameplay (something hearalded as innovative in games such as GTA).
For those who haven't heard of this game here's a good page to start with to learn more about one the most interesting 2D rpg's ever made.
http://www.eobet.com/alternate-reality/
And in keeping with the spirit of the T.M.B.G. song, Mr. Negorponte can't shake the devil's hand and say he's only kidding.
If Mr. Gates was a genuine philanthropist, rather than the lord and master of greed, he wouldn't have disparaged the project and instead would have bankrolled production without any hooks for his toy OS long before any of this crap hit the press.
Now, it's nothing more than another public relations kiss on the wrist and the OLPC becomes a vector for locking poor countries into the web of proprietary licensed software. Don't we already export enough of our technical garbage to some of these countries?!
They need Windows as much as they need Monsanto's GM seeds.
If you can't grow crops from the harvest then you're always going back to Monsanto.
If you can't own the software then you're always going back to Microsoft for every possible browser start and update.
Why does Microsoft want to feed the Anti-Ware lampreys who live off the inability of Microsoft's crappy OS in order to gain a toe-hold in developing countries? This is just another blatant example of the fat-cats co-opting something.
Why curse people in poor countries with a crop of laptops which can be made useless with viruses and malware, legitimate or otherwise?
Kids don't need Microsoft, Microsoft needs kids and mindshare and they'll do whatever it takes in the short-term to lock in the future, even if it means OLPC's become nothing more than plastic bricks when some jackass horks an update, or a virus/worm exploits their wireless networks.
The legitimacy and altruism of the OLPC project has been squandered with the inclusion of Microsoft, if altruism was ever a genuine goal.
OLPC just became another fat rubber cock in the schweaty hands of big business and government, aimed squarely at children.
What's up with the rich and powerful wanting to exploit children?!
Traditionally big business does some pretty terrible things in developing countries because the governments involved like money and control more than they will ever appreciate freedom or empowerment for their people.
Maybe the project should be renamed "One Key-logger Per Child" after Microsoft has had its way with things.
"OKPC" sounds like a marketing dream, doesn't it?
The kind of dream you can sell to government and the military in developing countries.
Cheers.
It doesn't surprise me that someone like Allard, who is all about velocity in the article, would want a computer which doesn't require an anti-ware stack stepping all over the CPU in order to safeguard the computer he's working on.
Black metallic sex toys, piercings, and rings.
Bright and shiny just doesn't do it.
Of course this means the price is going to go waaaay up. Grrr.
Cheers.
I'll continue to buy used games and consoles.
Of course I'm part of the disappearing middle-class so I'm really not eroding their bottom line any
but if a majority of consumers opted to wait for used consoles I'm SONY would feel the love.
Cheers
Hey, it's not a high-horse...it's a soapbox. :-)
Agreed, all old OS's are weak somewhere. But what happens to grandma when her doting son hands her his old boxen with XP with expired "Anti-" ware on it? Grandma entertains keyloggers with insights into the wicked subterfuge of bridge groups, quilting, what happened at the store checkout queue, or just how awful the last family gathering was; and all the while her machine is merrily testing basic-auth at a pornsite somewhere while she wonders why everything seems so slow on the Internet.
The article illustrated that Windows machines are constantly under attack. Everything else is give and take, but the fact that there's so many vectors of attack should be what people understand; most of them are squarely aimed at Windows operating systems.
I think the Microsoft userbase is exploited by legit and illegitimate businesses. Buying a new machine with a new Microsoft OS doesn't solve the problem. How is someone supposed to feel when they've bought a product, then they have to register the software online or over the phone, and repeat that process if they've added/removed/or changed the hardware config, and then they suffer the indiginity of having terms and conditions changed arbitrarily by the software developer (SP2,WGA anyone?) in order to receive further updates and then they still get exploited by some IRC bot-masters?
I know how I'd feel which is why I don't bother playing that game.
What is the true cost advantage of an operating system which requires 3rd party bolt-on security solutions, many of them with secret blocking lists and other interesting features the user can't modify or maintain without a subscription?
I can't really say, because I stopped using Microsoft a long time ago.
I wish more people would wake up and stop being exploited.