ah... the novell password cracker disguised as a virus scanner.
adding DOS games to the user menus of whoever wanted them...
Actually, when Doom was introduced to the network it was actually sanctioned by the computer lab head, because it was not advertised on the network, you had to know where it was to use it. It was officially banned after A) someone let the secret slip B) the resulting traffic of EVERYONE playing doom clogged up the improperly zoned network. poot.
But there were still the Marathon installs hidden in the appleshare server, who knows when you might have a spare moment for a deathmatch?
All right, we've established that the patent system is not bad in and of itself (it encourages manufacturing investment in a situation where information is temporarily vulnerable) but simply that there are people who abuse it, like any other system.
I wonder what the judges would think if many of these cases went to court? Surely the fact that the companies suing have never involved themselves in the manufacture or design of any product would weigh against them. Certainly, their track record would show that these people aren't inventors trying to win back the right to produce the fruits of their labors, but pirates who board a company and wave swords around until someone brings up the doubloons from the hold. Their case rests not on the strength of their position, but on the money it will take to pay someone to swim the legal moat to push it over.
A clever bit of roguery, my congratulations. After all, everything worthwhile in the world was built through backstabbing and piracy.
You forget that Napster could still make him some RIAA cash. Regardless of whether it's worth a shit or not after it re-launches, it's certain that some labels are going to dump some money into Napster for an extra marketing attempt. This money will simply supply Napster, Inc. until it crashes horribly.
So why not milk as much money as you can while people are willing to give it to you? Who gives a damn what it creates. You shouldn't.
Essentially, your car CD player reads at a faster speed than 1x, buffers the data, then plays it back. The buffer isn't mechanical and therefore won't skip unless it underruns due to excessive skipping such that the player can't read properly to fill the buffer.
Microsoft is the market leader right now. Nothing to do about that currently... This isn't 1985, people won't happily be incompatible with their fellows because all this here computer stuff is so durned highfalutin new. So, if Linux doesn't have MS.NET equality, open operating systems might have to continue to fight the same backward struggle that they've been fighting with so many sorts of applications.
It sounds like giving up, it sounds like rolling over for MS- My first impression was that before I really thought about it. But now that I've considered it a bit more, it's not an outright drawing of battle lines, it's just shoring up the good old Victor Charlie tunnels for some more guerrilla warfare.
That is, until they have smashed everything else, and driven webhosting costs into the stratosphere (who knows, maybe even along with a Information Homeland Security Act disallowing server usage by unlicensed individuals, they've bought larger things...)
They have a corporate tit to suckle. What can a small site do?
You still have the buyer's anxiety, and with an even more heightened mode of frustration as the thing clicks off before you got past the table of contents to see if there was anything there.
The internet is at its best as a universal library... please don't smash it for the sake of the Idiot Goes to China model of doing business (i.e. If I can get a quarter from each of just a million Chinese, I'll be a rich man!!!)
...as the quality of such devices increases (along with a concomitant increase in the quality of recording devices) it is likely that the loss in such a "low-tech" copy scheme will be quite low, certainly within viewable levels. Unless, of course, they decide to fit us all with cyber-eyes...
Let's run all this like the Reds would, it's obvious that there aren't enough PC buyers out there to supply bok choy to all the hungry PC workers of the world.
All right, first of all, all hardware will have a 2-year life. This will be enforced by built-in firmware disablers, and if necessary, small thermite rods to dispense the power of the People's Hammer on those ungrateful running dogs.
Second, no piece of software will be developed that does not run hash computations in the background to pull CPU utilization to full. If you aren't using those CPU cycles, you are stealing from the People!
Third, your chocolate ration will be increased this week, to 20 grams, from last week's 25.
If the copy protection scheme doesn't stop half the people out there who want to copy it, someone in that half is going to put their copy up on Napster and everyone who doesn't want to buy it won't have to. They won't even know that there is a copy protection system.
Bottom line: A major percentage of people will never buy the CD. They never bought the records when tapes were the way of copying because someone could just tape them, and they never bought the CDs for the same reason. And they use Napster to fill that bill now. They still don't buy any CDs. Never will. Their musical taste runs to single songs, which they listen to and discard after their 5 minutes of fame abate.
The RIAA will never reach these people, because they never have.
Well, if they can succeed where every other highly intelligent music industry shill has failed, well bully for them.
If I were a music industry executive, I'd be questioning them REALLY closely about how they are different than every other worthless protection scheme out there...
(Come to think of it, this may be something for consumer music CD recorders. If it is, then it affects me not at all.)
I can't wait until it's at a good level- this will allow me to easily test out Linux graphics apps as they develop, and perhaps, one day, find some that are worthy enough to make a switch...
"On Thursday, the committee gave the go-ahead for Phoenix to further develop its outlined plan for a way of accessing restricted parts of removable media, in which ID numbers, encryption keys, or other codes could be recorded. The new method would be used for copy protection, but could also serve other purposes, such as enhancing security on removable media such as flash memory cards."
Sounds like more Commodore 64-style copy protection.
"Yes, we will hide some crap in a weird area of the disk."
But, to be verified, it must be decoded!
"Oh, so we will make the hardware do it."
Oh, so we crack this like we crack any other program- remove the checking, and the problem is solved.
Why is so much money being spent on this, when it could easily be spent on more useful things that aren't being actively attacked?
I took care of a friend's cockatiel for a while, and he ate the cables on my gamepad, destroyed a couple pairs of headphones, as well as gnawing the buttons off of my cable TV remote (!)
Slashdot Mirror
...for a bowl of hot grits.
Yes indeed.
ah... the novell password cracker disguised as a virus scanner.
adding DOS games to the user menus of whoever wanted them...
Actually, when Doom was introduced to the network it was actually sanctioned by the computer lab head, because it was not advertised on the network, you had to know where it was to use it. It was officially banned after A) someone let the secret slip B) the resulting traffic of EVERYONE playing doom clogged up the improperly zoned network. poot.
But there were still the Marathon installs hidden in the appleshare server, who knows when you might have a spare moment for a deathmatch?
All right, we've established that the patent system is not bad in and of itself (it encourages manufacturing investment in a situation where information is temporarily vulnerable) but simply that there are people who abuse it, like any other system.
I wonder what the judges would think if many of these cases went to court? Surely the fact that the companies suing have never involved themselves in the manufacture or design of any product would weigh against them. Certainly, their track record would show that these people aren't inventors trying to win back the right to produce the fruits of their labors, but pirates who board a company and wave swords around until someone brings up the doubloons from the hold. Their case rests not on the strength of their position, but on the money it will take to pay someone to swim the legal moat to push it over.
A clever bit of roguery, my congratulations. After all, everything worthwhile in the world was built through backstabbing and piracy.
You forget that Napster could still make him some RIAA cash. Regardless of whether it's worth a shit or not after it re-launches, it's certain that some labels are going to dump some money into Napster for an extra marketing attempt. This money will simply supply Napster, Inc. until it crashes horribly.
So why not milk as much money as you can while people are willing to give it to you? Who gives a damn what it creates. You shouldn't.
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
Essentially, your car CD player reads at a faster speed than 1x, buffers the data, then plays it back. The buffer isn't mechanical and therefore won't skip unless it underruns due to excessive skipping such that the player can't read properly to fill the buffer.
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
Most private folks in Afghanistan who can afford net access use out of country ISPs anyway. I think they just don't want internet cafes.
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
Microsoft is the market leader right now. Nothing to do about that currently... This isn't 1985, people won't happily be incompatible with their fellows because all this here computer stuff is so durned highfalutin new. So, if Linux doesn't have MS.NET equality, open operating systems might have to continue to fight the same backward struggle that they've been fighting with so many sorts of applications.
It sounds like giving up, it sounds like rolling over for MS- My first impression was that before I really thought about it. But now that I've considered it a bit more, it's not an outright drawing of battle lines, it's just shoring up the good old Victor Charlie tunnels for some more guerrilla warfare.
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
That is, until they have smashed everything else, and driven webhosting costs into the stratosphere (who knows, maybe even along with a Information Homeland Security Act disallowing server usage by unlicensed individuals, they've bought larger things...)
They have a corporate tit to suckle. What can a small site do?
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
You still have the buyer's anxiety, and with an even more heightened mode of frustration as the thing clicks off before you got past the table of contents to see if there was anything there.
The internet is at its best as a universal library... please don't smash it for the sake of the Idiot Goes to China model of doing business (i.e. If I can get a quarter from each of just a million Chinese, I'll be a rich man!!!)
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
...are actually location-specific, or pretty close to it.
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
...as the quality of such devices increases (along with a concomitant increase in the quality of recording devices) it is likely that the loss in such a "low-tech" copy scheme will be quite low, certainly within viewable levels. Unless, of course, they decide to fit us all with cyber-eyes...
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
Let's run all this like the Reds would, it's obvious that there aren't enough PC buyers out there to supply bok choy to all the hungry PC workers of the world.
All right, first of all, all hardware will have a 2-year life. This will be enforced by built-in firmware disablers, and if necessary, small thermite rods to dispense the power of the People's Hammer on those ungrateful running dogs.
Second, no piece of software will be developed that does not run hash computations in the background to pull CPU utilization to full. If you aren't using those CPU cycles, you are stealing from the People!
Third, your chocolate ration will be increased this week, to 20 grams, from last week's 25.
Forward Revolution!
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
The phrase "killer app" gets tossed around too lightly. Killer apps? Try spreadsheets. Try desktop publishing. Try e-mail. Those are revolutions.
The PC market will just have to get used to growth margins that are the same as every other business.
BOO HOO, my heart pumps purple piss for them.
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
Here's what I find ridiculous:
If the copy protection scheme doesn't stop half the people out there who want to copy it, someone in that half is going to put their copy up on Napster and everyone who doesn't want to buy it won't have to. They won't even know that there is a copy protection system.
Bottom line: A major percentage of people will never buy the CD. They never bought the records when tapes were the way of copying because someone could just tape them, and they never bought the CDs for the same reason. And they use Napster to fill that bill now. They still don't buy any CDs. Never will. Their musical taste runs to single songs, which they listen to and discard after their 5 minutes of fame abate.
The RIAA will never reach these people, because they never have.
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
Almost perfect, you are.
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
...it'll be a hoot.
I doubt they will, though.
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
...try reading Finnegan's Wake.
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
They'll bust anything in hardware we Americans care to throw at them.
So I can just go over there and get h4x0r3d versions of whatever audio gear I care to use.
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
Well, if they can succeed where every other highly intelligent music industry shill has failed, well bully for them.
If I were a music industry executive, I'd be questioning them REALLY closely about how they are different than every other worthless protection scheme out there...
(Come to think of it, this may be something for consumer music CD recorders. If it is, then it affects me not at all.)
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
I can't wait until it's at a good level- this will allow me to easily test out Linux graphics apps as they develop, and perhaps, one day, find some that are worthy enough to make a switch...
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
What's bad is if he ate it afterwards to compensate for malnutrition from being in the shop too long.
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
So, what happens to those of us who've lived by the permissive current rules?
.org names go up for.... AUCTION!
I suppose our
So that's the motivation.
Verisign is ALL LOVE >_
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
"CATS" and you live in "ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US", I guess I just gave away your user information.
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
"On Thursday, the committee gave the go-ahead for Phoenix to further develop its outlined plan for a way of accessing restricted parts of removable media, in which ID numbers, encryption keys, or other codes could be recorded. The new method would be used for copy protection, but could also serve other purposes, such as enhancing security on removable media such as flash memory cards."
Sounds like more Commodore 64-style copy protection.
"Yes, we will hide some crap in a weird area of the disk."
But, to be verified, it must be decoded!
"Oh, so we will make the hardware do it."
Oh, so we crack this like we crack any other program- remove the checking, and the problem is solved.
Why is so much money being spent on this, when it could easily be spent on more useful things that aren't being actively attacked?
--Perianwyr Stormcrow
I took care of a friend's cockatiel for a while, and he ate the cables on my gamepad, destroyed a couple pairs of headphones, as well as gnawing the buttons off of my cable TV remote (!)
--Perianwyr Stormcrow