Actually I think most people will believe the computer records and think altering them is prohibively complex requiring advanced technical skills to acomplish. Where as pen and ink forgerys are pritty easy.
Most people who don't use computers assume all computers are complex and difficult to use. (This is the reason they don't own one themselfs)
Most users who use computers use Windows. With no due respect[1] Windows isn't usefriendly for most people. First Windows attempts to do everything for you that would be fine but computer technology has not reached a point where computers can do this reasonably well and often some tweeking is needed to fix mistakes. [2] Add Digital Rights Managment, Closed source, Security by obscurity solutions, the whole "Black box" design of Windows and the "Your not smart enough" adatude of Microsofts staff.... Most people think once recorded it's far to difficult for a manager who isn't also a computer expert to change.
However users who are familure with any other system (Linux, MacOs, PalmOs, Amiga Os, iPod, Commodore 64, computerised fridge, or a computerised time clock) would know it's actually very easy to modify data on a computer you have full control over.
The key here however is full control. Most users never experence it and have no idea what is possable when you have it.
It is easy enough to write any time you like in ink. With a computerised time clock you have to actually modify the data after it's recorded and you'll have to prove it's actually easyer to do that than make a fake entry in your pen and ink book.
However if your working with computers you could log your computer activity at work. It's one thing when it's records your boss controls but quite annother when you control the records. Keeping a copy on floppy or zip might be a good idea. Just in case.
That is not to say a logbook is a bad idea. If your compleately honnest in your log book you can compair with the office records to see if everything adds up. It's not proof but it will tip you off and you can move ahead to establish proof.
If working with computers have your computer log it. If your office has security ask the security guy to sign off your log book (he may not wish to do this but I think you'll have a fairly good chance of coperation). Make sure your seen on security tape entering and leaving the building.
I'm sure people will find a lot of good ways of creating an audit trail to prove your true hours.
Just start off with the log book becouse your preceptions could be off.
[1] Don't you hate it when people say "with all due respect" just before they trash someone? I think it's more honnest that I say "with no due respect" here. Microsoft Windows is NOT as bad as I'm making it out to be. There are quite a few users who really like Windows. If you can understand the Windows regestury it's a very nice system to work with. Also if your not a heavy user but want a desktop entertainment center and web browser all rolled into one nice reasonable pacage Windows is your dream come true.
[2] You'd think nobody would be more arrogent than Microsoft. Apparently even Microsoft thinks so. But that's not the case. One of the biggest problems I have is when applications hijack file formats during installation. Many applications just grab all file formats of a given type instead of sticking to files it recognises. One application grabs ALL file formats asigned to Windows media player. Some of those formats only work on WMP as a result there are many media files I can't access anymore.
A free Zip utility treats ALL archive file formats as zip files (as that is all it knows) and clames them ALL. I was rather annoyed to discovere it had clammed all my tar.gz files. That didn't need to be fixed but I did so anyone as I'm not the only one who uses this computer and other people probably wouldn't know better. (I have to presume the author hard coded this behavure as Windows would otherwise be unaware of what tar.gz files are)
It is as I've said from the start... They want to own Linux. They are pulling the same scam pulled many times before only with far more success that preveous partys.
They are not seeking the distruction of Linux but the ownership of it. I do not believe Microsoft is with them as Microsoft dose not wish Linux to continue even as a commertal product.
SCO also wishes to own the whole GNU code base. They wish to force RedHat and other Linux destros to liccens Linux from them.
I think they ultimatly believe the best thing that could happen to Linux is to become a commertal product. This of course being why they are supprised IBM is fighting back. They must have thought IBM felt the same way. (After all IBM holds a large amount of IP). They thought going in IBM would let them slide and just hand over Linux on a silver platter. But IBM fought back. They had no intention of working with SCO to defraud Linux. No doupt they were supprised to discovre Novel is also siding with the GPL.
Not showing.... Ok so THAT is what the whole "Nerd not getting laid" thing is about.
I started showing three or four times a day to get that "no sent" thing all the androids seam to have and every alien seams able to detect the sent on humans.
Last thing I want is an evil alien sniffing me out.
The idea of subliminal messages is to get a message slipped into your subconous with out filtering. There is in fact no proof they work. If you chant the message over and over you are effectivly reproducing the same effect that is clamed to have given you what ever problems that require the tape to begin with (or at least clamed to be the cause of your problems by the people who sell the tapes to start with).
The idea is people bombard you with negitive ideas all the time. "Your a failure" said like 1,000 times. The clame is a subliminal tape can undo the damage. However if it is possable to bombard you with a negitive message it is equally possable to bombard you with a positive one.
Also chanting is more likely to produce a pacebo effect IF it is in fact fake.
Exelent while you buy a pritty case and garbage guts I'll check out the capabilitys.
The pritty modled case etc costs money so eather your paying more just for a pritty box or paying for it with a loss in power.
I have a Zaurus 5500. It's nice. More importantly it actually works. Moms gone through a line of wireless Palms starting with the Palm 7. She had SOME problems but nothing sereous. Palm i705 would act up A LOT. The e-mail settings got mistereously screwed up A LOT often.
Her current PDA is the Tungston W. The picture viewer dosen't work, She can't send pictures (she takes them with her Kodak digital camra). About the only good thing is she can't open certen file attachments... You know they ones:) Seams only Microsoft thinks an e-mail client should be able to load and run applications.
Her Next PDA is a Zaurus. My next PDA is a Dragonix.
Why dose anyone trust April 1 announcments anymore?
This has GOT to be a joke. Unless Google has discovered some fantastic storage technology such as storing data in subspace this isn't going to be practical.
If Microsoft were behind this SCO wouldn't be going bizerk. It dose appear to be a deliberate attack on open souce but let me make this perfictly clear Microsoft is NOT the only company intrested in the failure of open source. In fact Microsoft is much less conserned about open souce and more about Linux. Attacking open souce and the GPL is a proxy attack for Microsoft like slamming the one button mouse or "all in one" systems is an indirect slam on the iMac and Mac Classic.
However a number of far less successful companys and programmers have discovred that the applications they create can easly be replicated in open source and public domain.
Also many programmers actually believe they have a right to use free code in commertal projects yet those same programmers would never extend the same consideration to anyone else.
Your probably a mad genous. Daril is more the typical pathetic psycopath. I once thought thies types made good henchmen but I soon discovered they more often use the destructo ray on themselfs declairing "I'm immune see".
Now I use brainwashed zombies. Someone suggested using brainwashed collage girls but I dismissed the idea as being to much like a porno plot and to full of possable abuses and distractions by the henchmen I've blackmailed from the very start.
However I still reserve the idea as having some potental when infiltrating rival man scientists HQs.
But if SCO agrees not to spread propaganda and then used proxies to spread propaganda didn't they just violate the agreement?
SCO seams to have a very... creative interpretation of laws as they apply to them and others.
I've recently had the opratunity to read vareous text files on how to steal, rip off, blow up, etc etc etc by the crooks that use and perficted those techniques. Very intresting read if you know how to read between the lines. Basicly they have very unusual/odd interpretations of the applicable laws.
For example one crook has a whole detailed thing on how to get out the door with stuff he didn't buy and create the illusion that he did. (Probably dosen't work anymore). The intresting part is how he views the applicable laws. He seems to believe that you need to get out the door before you can be stopped for theft. I've observed a few occasions where a crook was cought BEFORE leaving the store. Again IANAL but it sure as heck looks like he was cought dead to rights but I'd have to see how it played out in the corts before I'd know.
The diffrence between the typical crook and SCO is most of what the typical crook is doing is trying to NOT envoke the law no matter how much he believes its on his side. SCO however isn't making any such efforts.
or Stuffit@computer.labroom.building.government agentcy.gov
Etc...
The thought that domain names should be HUMAN readable came about as part of privitizing the Internet.
I believe the Internet yellow pages that was replaced by Yahoo was a subdomain hosted web server. The legacy www.server.com we have today comes from a day when web servers were a minnor thing added on to a more important system and the system admin didn't want the web server to disrupt the main service.
Sure, we all know about domains, but we're computer nerds That is like "Of course we know about lightbulbs, but we're electronics experts".
You can't get anywhere on the Internet with out knowing a little about domain names.
All they need to be is data mining experts. Byond that use the advanced equipment they already have to research each application.
Re:Why I won't use GPL software
on
Free Culture
·
· Score: 1
Let's be clear: Your saying you refuse to use GPLed software becouse the GPL requires the releace of source code to the public.. That requirement only kicks in if you modify an existing GPL application and distribute that same application.
Fine.. so you want to modify other peoples programs and distribute them. Any software that dosen't permit this you won't use.
Now.. What operating system do you use? What web browser do you use?
Becouse I'd like to know what web browser you can modify and distribute in binary only that runs under an operating system that also permits you to modify and distribute.
Open office lacks all the powerful features no user would ever need but is absolutly nessisary if your writing a document virus. Microsoft office has virus protection built in (of course that protection wouldn't be nessisary if they hadn't made it virus enabled in the first place).
I've said it before and I'll say it again.. Windows is NOT user friendly. Microsoft has inserted scripting and macro languages into every application. The only people who COULD use that feature are coders. However coders do just as well doing the whole task under perl, TCL/TK, C, Python or any other programming language. Back on the Commodore Vic 20 and 64 I always wrote unique database appications myself every time I needed one.
(With due respects to SQL DB coders... It's one thing when your database runs on one 6502 processor and can be no bigger than two Commodore format floppys. It's quite annother when your database has to be accessable by no less than 4 diffrent high end multitasking computers making thousands of requests a second each and the database is split accrost a 500gig RAID.)
I have access to Microsoft office at work. I have koffice and open office at home.
Microsoft office reminds me of those software applications you'd get on a public domain floppy you'd play around with but wouldn't even dream of trying to use for sereous productivity. Yes I'm compairing Microsoft Office to Commodore 64 public domain.
I actually prefer koffice...
On that note I'd like to point out that people are actually selling Open Office.org on eBay as a cheap alterntive to Microsoft Office and people are buying it... They also sell PDF creation tools becouse Microsoft Office dosen't do this alone... While open office dose.
If this were NOT a Microsoft artical you'd have someone posting "if this were a Microsoft artical" and getting mod 5 for it. Thies are starting to become no diffrent than your typical "First Post" and "Hot Gritz" posts.
Compair and contrast this with the Apple Patent story (only like 3 storys later I think). The summery dose a pritty good job attacking the patent. In the comments someone has posted an obigitory "If this were Microsoft" post. "If this were Microsoft the summery would be a long judgmental rant". Yet here we are... no less than 3 story before and... Long? No, Judgmental, Yes. But so is the Apple patent summery and the Slashdoters are ripping Apple for it. Well most are there are a fair amount of Apple defenders. And how is that diffrent from any Slashdot story where Microsoft is the focus? Nothing...
No joke the typical Slashdot user hates Microsoft with a purple passion but it's hardly as bad as the Microsoft defenders would have you believe.
SCO is probably the biggest example of IP fraud right now. Companys (and individuals) clame patents and copyrights for everything under the sun then harrass the general public untill the corts prove the clames are fraudulent at such time the company walks away with the only penalty being the loss of rights they should have never had.
At the same time stealing public domain is entirely legal.
When your paying for software your in fact paying for the time saved in not creating the CD yourself.
Programs like Microsoft Windows represent months or years of work. Time is money. It's well worth forking it over for the commertal title instead of writing a program of the same quality yourself.
Destros like Linux represent weeks or months asembling, testing and compiling the entire pacage in a (reasonably) easy to install pacage. The time and effort you save is worth it.
Free software colections CDs represent hours or days of downloading. This may very well be worth $10 for busy people.
When an individual or company steals public domain software they sell the application as if they are saving the user the time and effort of creating it when they only save him from needing to download it and as a result trick him into paying far more than it is worth.
Additionally the original author is scammed out of the recognition for his work that is due him.
This practace was rare enough but becomming more and more commen and many free programmers started including liccenses in order to prevent this abuse. (The most commen complants involved companys selling floppys of free software as commertal software leading to some pritty strange phone calls)
It would be nice if congress would start to recognise the theft is going both ways and start addressing the problems that have resulted in large companys needing "deffensive" patents.
The truth is while there is a way to regesture your technology as "free" it isn't going to be a sereous deturent from theft if the theff loses nothing more than rights he shouldn't have had to start with.
IP today is the perfict scam. All you can do to them is put an end to the scam. Untill then they can send of C&Ds, lawsutes and bills all they like. Nothing stopping them.
SCO has crossed the line and will be subjected to some harsh pentalitys and lawsutes once it's shown the clames they made are sans merrit.
However for all they have done they only just barely crossed line line. If SCO hadn't sold a binary only version of Linux and not attempted the C&D scam outside the US they'd face nothing more than a slap on the wrist for everything.
It'd be easier to believe you worked in corporate if you could actually spell it. No it isn't. A culture who's primary application of the dictionary is to missuse words.
On that note: Notice how of all the intelectual fields the only ones that are anal about spelling are the technical fields?
Oh sure good spelling is nessisary to be understood but the human brain is able to correct for minnor mistakes so it's hardly worth being anal over. Doctors prescriptions tend to be illegable. Scientists pay proof readers. For writers good spelling skills is a way to save money (As in NOT paying for a proof reader)
So why are techs so anal about spelling? Maybe the human brain can read mispelled words but the computer can not. Even the slightest spelling error will screw things up badly.
Corprate however only needs spelling so far as to be understood clearly. Byond that... proof readers.
Actually there is ONE other industry where spelling analness is the norm... Proof readers. However for a proof reader being anal about spelling is a job skill.
The above isn't far from the truth. Many businesses don't mind if you play games they are more conserned about the game console and TV eating desk space when it is time to be productive.
My boss is the same way. I don't do much of anything so it's not an issue if I play games or code or read during my non-productive hours(days?) as long as I'm able to drop everything the instant I'm needed. (I am not a System admin. Of course you System admin knew that but I'm tempted to wager tech support people might think that was an apt discription of the sysadmin job)
A video game console on the desk would trash productivity IF and WHEN something needs to get done. The boss however has no problems with portable game devices so long as I can clear them off the desk in a hurry.
IBM and S-100 in hardware and Unix in software. All the standards organisations were in place long before PC Dos hit the market. All becouse there has been a long proven need for standards organisations. (Reguardless of how slow they are to react.. The S-100 standard was published once the S-100 buss computer became obsolete... Posix came about long after many Unix forks came into existence.)
An interesting side note.... About the DOC file format... Visit <a href="http://www.totse.com/">TOTSE</a> they have an archive of BBS age documents many under the file extention.doc and none of them have anything to do with Microsoft word..doc and.txt were long used for text documents untill Microsoft desided to save Word documents under the extention.doc using Word format not ASCII the preveouls standard.
Microsofts better for pushing aside standards than folowing them. Even when they create it themselfs.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually I think most people will believe the computer records and think altering them is prohibively complex requiring advanced technical skills to acomplish.
Where as pen and ink forgerys are pritty easy.
Most people who don't use computers assume all computers are complex and difficult to use.
(This is the reason they don't own one themselfs)
Most users who use computers use Windows.
With no due respect[1] Windows isn't usefriendly for most people.
First Windows attempts to do everything for you that would be fine but computer technology has not reached a point where computers can do this reasonably well and often some tweeking is needed to fix mistakes. [2]
Add Digital Rights Managment, Closed source, Security by obscurity solutions, the whole "Black box" design of Windows and the "Your not smart enough" adatude of Microsofts staff....
Most people think once recorded it's far to difficult for a manager who isn't also a computer expert to change.
However users who are familure with any other system (Linux, MacOs, PalmOs, Amiga Os, iPod, Commodore 64, computerised fridge, or a computerised time clock) would know it's actually very easy to modify data on a computer you have full control over.
The key here however is full control. Most users never experence it and have no idea what is possable when you have it.
It is easy enough to write any time you like in ink. With a computerised time clock you have to actually modify the data after it's recorded and you'll have to prove it's actually easyer to do that than make a fake entry in your pen and ink book.
However if your working with computers you could log your computer activity at work. It's one thing when it's records your boss controls but quite annother when you control the records.
Keeping a copy on floppy or zip might be a good idea. Just in case.
That is not to say a logbook is a bad idea. If your compleately honnest in your log book you can compair with the office records to see if everything adds up.
It's not proof but it will tip you off and you can move ahead to establish proof.
If working with computers have your computer log it.
If your office has security ask the security guy to sign off your log book (he may not wish to do this but I think you'll have a fairly good chance of coperation).
Make sure your seen on security tape entering and leaving the building.
I'm sure people will find a lot of good ways of creating an audit trail to prove your true hours.
Just start off with the log book becouse your preceptions could be off.
[1] Don't you hate it when people say "with all due respect" just before they trash someone?
I think it's more honnest that I say "with no due respect" here.
Microsoft Windows is NOT as bad as I'm making it out to be.
There are quite a few users who really like Windows.
If you can understand the Windows regestury it's a very nice system to work with.
Also if your not a heavy user but want a desktop entertainment center and web browser all rolled into one nice reasonable pacage Windows is your dream come true.
[2] You'd think nobody would be more arrogent than Microsoft. Apparently even Microsoft thinks so. But that's not the case.
One of the biggest problems I have is when applications hijack file formats during installation. Many applications just grab all file formats of a given type instead of sticking to files it recognises.
One application grabs ALL file formats asigned to Windows media player. Some of those formats only work on WMP as a result there are many media files I can't access anymore.
A free Zip utility treats ALL archive file formats as zip files (as that is all it knows) and clames them ALL.
I was rather annoyed to discovere it had clammed all my tar.gz files.
That didn't need to be fixed but I did so anyone as I'm not the only one who uses this computer and other people probably wouldn't know better.
(I have to presume the author hard coded this behavure as Windows would otherwise be unaware of what tar.gz files are)
It is as I've said from the start...
They want to own Linux. They are pulling the same scam pulled many times before only with far more success that preveous partys.
They are not seeking the distruction of Linux but the ownership of it. I do not believe Microsoft is with them as Microsoft dose not wish Linux to continue even as a commertal product.
SCO also wishes to own the whole GNU code base. They wish to force RedHat and other Linux destros to liccens Linux from them.
I think they ultimatly believe the best thing that could happen to Linux is to become a commertal product.
This of course being why they are supprised IBM is fighting back. They must have thought IBM felt the same way. (After all IBM holds a large amount of IP). They thought going in IBM would let them slide and just hand over Linux on a silver platter.
But IBM fought back. They had no intention of working with SCO to defraud Linux. No doupt they were supprised to discovre Novel is also siding with the GPL.
SCO now claim that Linux is a 'nonliteral implementation' of Unix, and compare their claim to those involving Harry Potter rip-offs
So he is clamming Unix is a work of fiction?
IANAL however I believe it's been established you can make workalike clones of software.
Anybody know about the time when IBM tried to sue over PC clone bios software?
Not showing....
Ok so THAT is what the whole "Nerd not getting laid" thing is about.
I started showing three or four times a day to get that "no sent" thing all the androids seam to have and every alien seams able to detect the sent on humans.
Last thing I want is an evil alien sniffing me out.
I think he's implying the guy would be VERY pissed and ohh random body cavaty search.
Anyway you don't stick a whole computer up your butt however some of the newest gadgets are very small.
A number of prono storys done with the basis of using a costume made subliminal tape.
The idea of subliminal messages is to get a message slipped into your subconous with out filtering.
There is in fact no proof they work.
If you chant the message over and over you are effectivly reproducing the same effect that is clamed to have given you what ever problems that require the tape to begin with (or at least clamed to be the cause of your problems by the people who sell the tapes to start with).
The idea is people bombard you with negitive ideas all the time. "Your a failure" said like 1,000 times. The clame is a subliminal tape can undo the damage. However if it is possable to bombard you with a negitive message it is equally possable to bombard you with a positive one.
Also chanting is more likely to produce a pacebo effect IF it is in fact fake.
Ignore him.
The "Insensitive Clod" joke wasn't funny the first time yet people keep doing it in hopes of actually being funny... just once.. sigh.
Exelent while you buy a pritty case and garbage guts I'll check out the capabilitys.
:) Seams only Microsoft thinks an e-mail client should be able to load and run applications.
The pritty modled case etc costs money so eather your paying more just for a pritty box or paying for it with a loss in power.
I have a Zaurus 5500. It's nice. More importantly it actually works.
Moms gone through a line of wireless Palms starting with the Palm 7. She had SOME problems but nothing sereous. Palm i705 would act up A LOT. The e-mail settings got mistereously screwed up A LOT often.
Her current PDA is the Tungston W. The picture viewer dosen't work, She can't send pictures (she takes them with her Kodak digital camra). About the only good thing is she can't open certen file attachments... You know they ones
Her Next PDA is a Zaurus. My next PDA is a Dragonix.
(\(\
('.')- Kill Anonymous Coward
(\"/)
(")(")
Back from the grave it's evil Zomby bunny.
Why dose anyone trust April 1 announcments anymore?
This has GOT to be a joke. Unless Google has discovered some fantastic storage technology such as storing data in subspace this isn't going to be practical.
If Microsoft were behind this SCO wouldn't be going bizerk.
It dose appear to be a deliberate attack on open souce but let me make this perfictly clear Microsoft is NOT the only company intrested in the failure of open source.
In fact Microsoft is much less conserned about open souce and more about Linux. Attacking open souce and the GPL is a proxy attack for Microsoft like slamming the one button mouse or "all in one" systems is an indirect slam on the iMac and Mac Classic.
However a number of far less successful companys and programmers have discovred that the applications they create can easly be replicated in open source and public domain.
Also many programmers actually believe they have a right to use free code in commertal projects yet those same programmers would never extend the same consideration to anyone else.
Your probably a mad genous.
Daril is more the typical pathetic psycopath.
I once thought thies types made good henchmen but I soon discovered they more often use the destructo ray on themselfs declairing "I'm immune see".
Now I use brainwashed zombies. Someone suggested using brainwashed collage girls but I dismissed the idea as being to much like a porno plot and to full of possable abuses and distractions by the henchmen I've blackmailed from the very start.
However I still reserve the idea as having some potental when infiltrating rival man scientists HQs.
There.. in the title and everything... IANAL
But if SCO agrees not to spread propaganda and then used proxies to spread propaganda didn't they just violate the agreement?
SCO seams to have a very... creative interpretation of laws as they apply to them and others.
I've recently had the opratunity to read vareous text files on how to steal, rip off, blow up, etc etc etc by the crooks that use and perficted those techniques.
Very intresting read if you know how to read between the lines. Basicly they have very unusual/odd interpretations of the applicable laws.
For example one crook has a whole detailed thing on how to get out the door with stuff he didn't buy and create the illusion that he did. (Probably dosen't work anymore).
The intresting part is how he views the applicable laws. He seems to believe that you need to get out the door before you can be stopped for theft. I've observed a few occasions where a crook was cought BEFORE leaving the store. Again IANAL but it sure as heck looks like he was cought dead to rights but I'd have to see how it played out in the corts before I'd know.
The diffrence between the typical crook and SCO is most of what the typical crook is doing is trying to NOT envoke the law no matter how much he believes its on his side. SCO however isn't making any such efforts.
Long before Yahoo.com was ever reged.
t agentcy.gov
Nearly every government agentcy made heavy use of subdomains. The idea behind domains was to make a machine readable marker.
Email addresses looked like:
user@office.department.school.edu
or
Stuffit@computer.labroom.building.governmen
Etc...
The thought that domain names should be HUMAN readable came about as part of privitizing the Internet.
I believe the Internet yellow pages that was replaced by Yahoo was a subdomain hosted web server.
The legacy www.server.com we have today comes from a day when web servers were a minnor thing added on to a more important system and the system admin didn't want the web server to disrupt the main service.
Sure, we all know about domains, but we're computer nerds
That is like "Of course we know about lightbulbs, but we're electronics experts".
You can't get anywhere on the Internet with out knowing a little about domain names.
All they need to be is data mining experts. Byond that use the advanced equipment they already have to research each application.
Let's be clear: Your saying you refuse to use GPLed software becouse the GPL requires the releace of source code to the public..
That requirement only kicks in if you modify an existing GPL application and distribute that same application.
Fine.. so you want to modify other peoples programs and distribute them. Any software that dosen't permit this you won't use.
Now..
What operating system do you use?
What web browser do you use?
Becouse I'd like to know what web browser you can modify and distribute in binary only that runs under an operating system that also permits you to modify and distribute.
Open office lacks all the powerful features no user would ever need but is absolutly nessisary if your writing a document virus.
Microsoft office has virus protection built in (of course that protection wouldn't be nessisary if they hadn't made it virus enabled in the first place).
I've said it before and I'll say it again.. Windows is NOT user friendly.
Microsoft has inserted scripting and macro languages into every application.
The only people who COULD use that feature are coders. However coders do just as well doing the whole task under perl, TCL/TK, C, Python or any other programming language.
Back on the Commodore Vic 20 and 64 I always wrote unique database appications myself every time I needed one.
(With due respects to SQL DB coders...
It's one thing when your database runs on one 6502 processor and can be no bigger than two Commodore format floppys.
It's quite annother when your database has to be accessable by no less than 4 diffrent high end multitasking computers making thousands of requests a second each and the database is split accrost a 500gig RAID.)
I have access to Microsoft office at work.
I have koffice and open office at home.
Microsoft office reminds me of those software applications you'd get on a public domain floppy you'd play around with but wouldn't even dream of trying to use for sereous productivity.
Yes I'm compairing Microsoft Office to Commodore 64 public domain.
I actually prefer koffice...
On that note I'd like to point out that people are actually selling Open Office.org on eBay as a cheap alterntive to Microsoft Office and people are buying it...
They also sell PDF creation tools becouse Microsoft Office dosen't do this alone... While open office dose.
If this were NOT a Microsoft artical you'd have someone posting "if this were a Microsoft artical" and getting mod 5 for it.
Thies are starting to become no diffrent than your typical "First Post" and "Hot Gritz" posts.
Compair and contrast this with the Apple Patent story (only like 3 storys later I think). The summery dose a pritty good job attacking the patent.
In the comments someone has posted an obigitory "If this were Microsoft" post.
"If this were Microsoft the summery would be a long judgmental rant".
Yet here we are... no less than 3 story before and... Long? No, Judgmental, Yes. But so is the Apple patent summery and the Slashdoters are ripping Apple for it. Well most are there are a fair amount of Apple defenders.
And how is that diffrent from any Slashdot story where Microsoft is the focus?
Nothing...
No joke the typical Slashdot user hates Microsoft with a purple passion but it's hardly as bad as the Microsoft defenders would have you believe.
So the slashdot crowd roots for IBM because IBM's the 'underdog' in the case of SCO vs. IBM?
No the Slashdot crowd roots for IBM becouse the code SCO is clamming actually belongs to the Slashdot crowd.
If it was Microsoft doing this, we'd have seen a long judgemental rant with a biased link at the end.
No if this was Microsoft doing this we'd have gotten exactly what we got...
A short judgmental summery.
I realise the tin foil hats are in fassion for Slashdot it really is out of place when your defending Microsoft.
SCO is probably the biggest example of IP fraud right now.
Companys (and individuals) clame patents and copyrights for everything under the sun then harrass the general public untill the corts prove the clames are fraudulent at such time the company walks away with the only penalty being the loss of rights they should have never had.
At the same time stealing public domain is entirely legal.
When your paying for software your in fact paying for the time saved in not creating the CD yourself.
Programs like Microsoft Windows represent months or years of work. Time is money. It's well worth forking it over for the commertal title instead of writing a program of the same quality yourself.
Destros like Linux represent weeks or months asembling, testing and compiling the entire pacage in a (reasonably) easy to install pacage. The time and effort you save is worth it.
Free software colections CDs represent hours or days of downloading. This may very well be worth $10 for busy people.
When an individual or company steals public domain software they sell the application as if they are saving the user the time and effort of creating it when they only save him from needing to download it and as a result trick him into paying far more than it is worth.
Additionally the original author is scammed out of the recognition for his work that is due him.
This practace was rare enough but becomming more and more commen and many free programmers started including liccenses in order to prevent this abuse.
(The most commen complants involved companys selling floppys of free software as commertal software leading to some pritty strange phone calls)
It would be nice if congress would start to recognise the theft is going both ways and start addressing the problems that have resulted in large companys needing "deffensive" patents.
The truth is while there is a way to regesture your technology as "free" it isn't going to be a sereous deturent from theft if the theff loses nothing more than rights he shouldn't have had to start with.
IP today is the perfict scam. All you can do to them is put an end to the scam. Untill then they can send of C&Ds, lawsutes and bills all they like. Nothing stopping them.
SCO has crossed the line and will be subjected to some harsh pentalitys and lawsutes once it's shown the clames they made are sans merrit.
However for all they have done they only just barely crossed line line.
If SCO hadn't sold a binary only version of Linux and not attempted the C&D scam outside the US they'd face nothing more than a slap on the wrist for everything.
It'd be easier to believe you worked in corporate if you could actually spell it.
No it isn't. A culture who's primary application of the dictionary is to missuse words.
On that note: Notice how of all the intelectual fields the only ones that are anal about spelling are the technical fields?
Oh sure good spelling is nessisary to be understood but the human brain is able to correct for minnor mistakes so it's hardly worth being anal over.
Doctors prescriptions tend to be illegable.
Scientists pay proof readers.
For writers good spelling skills is a way to save money (As in NOT paying for a proof reader)
So why are techs so anal about spelling?
Maybe the human brain can read mispelled words but the computer can not. Even the slightest spelling error will screw things up badly.
Corprate however only needs spelling so far as to be understood clearly. Byond that... proof readers.
Actually there is ONE other industry where spelling analness is the norm...
Proof readers. However for a proof reader being anal about spelling is a job skill.
The above isn't far from the truth.
Many businesses don't mind if you play games they are more conserned about the game console and TV eating desk space when it is time to be productive.
My boss is the same way. I don't do much of anything so it's not an issue if I play games or code or read during my non-productive hours(days?) as long as I'm able to drop everything the instant I'm needed.
(I am not a System admin. Of course you System admin knew that but I'm tempted to wager tech support people might think that was an apt discription of the sysadmin job)
A video game console on the desk would trash productivity IF and WHEN something needs to get done.
The boss however has no problems with portable game devices so long as I can clear them off the desk in a hurry.
IBM and S-100 in hardware and Unix in software.
.doc and none of them have anything to do with Microsoft word. .doc and .txt were long used for text documents untill Microsoft desided to save Word documents under the extention .doc using Word format not ASCII the preveouls standard.
All the standards organisations were in place long before PC Dos hit the market. All becouse there has been a long proven need for standards organisations.
(Reguardless of how slow they are to react.. The S-100 standard was published once the S-100 buss computer became obsolete... Posix came about long after many Unix forks came into existence.)
An interesting side note....
About the DOC file format... Visit <a href="http://www.totse.com/">TOTSE</a> they have an archive of BBS age documents many under the file extention
Microsofts better for pushing aside standards than folowing them. Even when they create it themselfs.