It's obvious to me that the most important line of this article is:
Excite@Home lost $1.5 billion on sales of $337 million
Eventually, IT isn't going to be able to sustain itself on the grace of massive, undeserved investment capital. Eventually, some of these firms are going to have to start turning a profit to survive.
This may be a Bad Thing for the internet, but let's face it, enterprises that start out idealistic eventually have to consider their bottom line. I'm sure that the first Tower Records and Starbucks weren't evil, either.
I don't have any Moderator Points, But...
on
Gnutella VBS Worm
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· Score: 1
Good post, man.
Re:Gnutella is closed source, hence not secure
on
Gnutella VBS Worm
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· Score: 1
I just don't think the open source movement has much to do with this. Sorry, *nix guys.
An environment where people anonymously share executable files is almost by definition insecure. I guess there are still people out there that figure if it says "Starcraft_Crack.CRACK.VBS", it's a Starcraft crack.
Personally, I think using Gnutella is a little bit like sailing from port to port and having unprotected sex with all the native prostitutes.
but also providing with a convinient hyperlink which actually takes them there
There's the key point. Telling someone where to buy crack is not a crime. Driving someone to a dealer's house to buy crime is.
So, travel over physical distance used to be the standard for distinguishing free speech and aiding and abbetting. On the Internet, physical distance is almost a non-factor. Clearly, this points to the need for an entirely new constitution, and we should overthrow the government.
You know, a lot of this Napster legislation is probably setting precedents for that "nanotechnology age" they keep promising us in the next 40-50 years.
For those of you that aren't familiar with it, nanotechnology as I understand it is treating matter like data - instead of sending an MP3 which is essentially a song represented by a bunch of 1's and 0's, we'll be able to send the code for, for example, an apple, and watch it built by tiny nanoscopic robots, atom by atom.
Apparently, this is totally feasible, and a lot of scientists think it's only 40-50 years out.
So, whatever law applies to the_unforgiven.mp3 today might apply to 2040_Honda_Accord.xxx or Kraft_hot_grits.xxx in the future. Look at the Sherman Antitrust Act - legislation tends to stick around a lot longer than the technology it was created for.
Sure. God knows it's easier to get probable cause for MP3s than dealing marijuana. So, a suspected dealer downloads Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 and #35", and they storm his house, searching for secret wall panels that he might have "Bob Dylan CDs" hidden behind.
They might have to search his car, too, and all his clothes, but, hey, this isn't draconian, they're just very carefully trying to establish his innocence by finding a CD that would exonerate him!
Metallica has already said (numerous times) that their suit is mostly driven by their personal managers (who apparently have been with them almost since day 1 and who they consider the "fifth and sixth members of Metallica."
Further, Dr. Dre hardly seems to be being "manipulated" by "various suits". He's made it clear that the thing that he's most concerned about, above any artistic integrity or idealism, is his paycheck.
Re:Just being pedantic...
on
Virtual War
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· Score: 1
How hard could it possibly be to invent a longbow?? The bow has been around since prehistory. Why the heck did it take us nearly three centuries to consider the possiblity that it might shoot farther if it were taller??
I wonder what other obvious things we're missing right now...
Is it linking when you post a phone number where people can listen to an answering machine telling you the link ?
I think my grandmother would be really confused if she got my answering machine, and it said, "Hi, http colon slash slash www dot plankensteiner dot com... BEEP"
Another neat trick would be to go into a crowded theater with little slips of paper with my phone number... and when people called it, the answering machine said, "FIRE!!!"
PC-BASIC was in early IBM systems' ROM. BASICA came bundled with PC-DOS, but was not an integral part of the system. GWBASIC came bundled with MS-DOS.
I have to say, GWBASIC was really a pretty neat little language, even if it was more or less worthless. PC-BASIC *sucked*. In fact, if it booted from the PC-XT's ROM, for some reason, it wouldn't be able to find any of your drives, so you couldn't even save your program.
I've gone ahead and renamed them to "Formerly WSCRIPT.EXE" etc.
Can anyone think of a legitimate reason to keep VBScripting on their box? (Hopefully I'll get at least one response that doesn't just say "Why would you have Winders on your box in the first place?" and then makes fun of me for not exclusively using Linux)
It's ridiculous to say these problems have NOTHING to do with Windows, since only Windows users with insecure mail programs have been hit.
It might be more accurate to say that a good administrator can make up for some of the problems of a bad OS.
Personally, I don't like having every security hazard MS could think of enabled by default as a "feature". It's kind of like buying a house with no front door and being told it's a "feature" so that if the contractor decides to drop in to "update" your master bedroom, he won't have to knock.
I'm sure there are a lot of sites with no possible access points. If some kid buys 10 megs of web space for $5 a month and sticks four pictures of himself and a message saying he's l33t, unless he personally hands you the link, you'll probably never find it.
Personally, I think if you use something I wrote, you ought to give me 5 or 6 Karma points.
I know Karma doesn't actually have an international exchange rate, but it does make me feel interesting, and sometimes, well, downright insightful.
And if someone won't give you their post for Karma alone, you could always try sending them a free AdultCheck password, or maybe a big steaming bowl of...
The movie has a few good points to make about individualism, though. Tammy was the true individualist - she was able to truly see that so many of a school's policies and customs were ridiculous - i.e. school elections that boil down to popularity contests, suspension as a punishment for not going to school... and almost unquestionably, she was the smartest character in the book/film.
Meanwhile, Tracy, with her obscene fixation on "accomplishment", decided to play "the game" to its fullest... and we all came to detest and fear her.
The movie tried to make the point that Tammy was actually happier in the end, since she got to smoke pot all day and hang around with hot girls (she was a lesbian for those of you haven't seen it)... but I'm not sure I buy it. Notwithstanding any intellectual or moral superiority Tammy might have, she's probably going to end up a pot-smoking, universally detested waitress, and Tracy's probably going to have access to a lot of money, power, and respect.
It's one of the best movies of the decade... and, to me, one of its strongest points is that, sadly, sticking to your own principles pretty much lands you in the middle of nowhere.
This is the worst./ discussion ever. At the point that I'm posting this, the topic has been up for almost an hour, there are 36 comments, and the only one moderated above +1 is the first post!
People! Does no one care about giant killer robots?
I've been using the Perl Black Book for a couple months now. There are a lot of things that are handled well, but a few annoyances.
I agree with the review that object-oriented and CGI programming are undercovered. Also, it doesn't give a single example of CGI which isn't object-oriented - and I don't always want to use that method in my scripts.
Also, regular expressions are almost impossible to understand with this text alone. For example, the first example of a regex in this book is:
if ($text =~/[\w\s.]+/i) {print "Found an image or anchor";}
Call me crazy, but that sounds like something I want to work up to, not start with.
Also, the little text blerbs about the Programming Correctness Czar are really pretty funny and occasionally helpful. The reviewer is clearly a humorless bastard.
I've had exactly the same problem. I write a great deal of MIDI, and everyone comments that it sounds "like video game music".
Of course, the old 8-bit Nintendo had a lot of limitations - there were only four tracks (square wave, triangle wave, percussion, and "voice") so essentially you were limited to two instruments, a drum track, and sound effects. But I think that what's really striking is that most people can remember the catchy Nintendo tunes as well or better than most radio singles of the same era. I think the simplicity of two-and-a-half track MIDI can somehow burn itself into our minds better than three overlaid vocal tracks, two guitars, a bass, drums, and a keyboard.
And I want to go on record as saying that "Legacy of the Wizard" contained some of the best music ever. Ever written in the history of mankind.
Lars - After reading some of your quotes, I'm not confident that your lawsuit is based on your desire to profit. You seem to be conveying some kind of technophobia and resentment towards people who use technology.
For example, I saw a quote this morning that, paraphrased, read: "If you want to steal our music, why don't you go out and steal it from Tower Records instead of being a coward and downloading it from home?"
I've also heard it said that you've made statements condoning physical shoplifting, and it's common knowledge that you don't know much about technology or the web.
If this were a group of 300,000 physical shoplifters, would you sue them, or applaud them? Is it the act you're upset about, or the character of the people performing the act?
In fact, I'd like to run him over with a semi... and then mow down every journalist keeping the story alive with a machine gun... and then hit that 21-year-old Cuban chick with braces with a flamethrower.
Anyway, Slashdot's boring. I'm going to play Grand Theft Auto 2 for a couple more hours.
Slashdot Mirror
This Anonymous Coward is my kind of scum. Cheerful and blindly optimistic.
It's obvious to me that the most important line of this article is:
Excite@Home lost $1.5 billion on sales of $337 million
Eventually, IT isn't going to be able to sustain itself on the grace of massive, undeserved investment capital. Eventually, some of these firms are going to have to start turning a profit to survive.
This may be a Bad Thing for the internet, but let's face it, enterprises that start out idealistic eventually have to consider their bottom line. I'm sure that the first Tower Records and Starbucks weren't evil, either.
Good post, man.
I just don't think the open source movement has much to do with this. Sorry, *nix guys.
An environment where people anonymously share executable files is almost by definition insecure. I guess there are still people out there that figure if it says "Starcraft_Crack.CRACK.VBS", it's a Starcraft crack.
Personally, I think using Gnutella is a little bit like sailing from port to port and having unprotected sex with all the native prostitutes.
but also providing with a convinient hyperlink which actually takes them there
There's the key point. Telling someone where to buy crack is not a crime. Driving someone to a dealer's house to buy crime is.
So, travel over physical distance used to be the standard for distinguishing free speech and aiding and abbetting. On the Internet, physical distance is almost a non-factor. Clearly, this points to the need for an entirely new constitution, and we should overthrow the government.
and then some dummies will moderate it up.
Uh-oh.
a news on lawsuit should be posted at once
Bad news for you, buddy... I hope I got here in time.
You know, a lot of this Napster legislation is probably setting precedents for that "nanotechnology age" they keep promising us in the next 40-50 years.
For those of you that aren't familiar with it, nanotechnology as I understand it is treating matter like data - instead of sending an MP3 which is essentially a song represented by a bunch of 1's and 0's, we'll be able to send the code for, for example, an apple, and watch it built by tiny nanoscopic robots, atom by atom.
Apparently, this is totally feasible, and a lot of scientists think it's only 40-50 years out.
So, whatever law applies to the_unforgiven.mp3 today might apply to 2040_Honda_Accord.xxx or Kraft_hot_grits.xxx in the future. Look at the Sherman Antitrust Act - legislation tends to stick around a lot longer than the technology it was created for.
Sure. God knows it's easier to get probable cause for MP3s than dealing marijuana. So, a suspected dealer downloads Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 and #35", and they storm his house, searching for secret wall panels that he might have "Bob Dylan CDs" hidden behind.
They might have to search his car, too, and all his clothes, but, hey, this isn't draconian, they're just very carefully trying to establish his innocence by finding a CD that would exonerate him!
This is a little bit redundant, man.
Metallica has already said (numerous times) that their suit is mostly driven by their personal managers (who apparently have been with them almost since day 1 and who they consider the "fifth and sixth members of Metallica."
Further, Dr. Dre hardly seems to be being "manipulated" by "various suits". He's made it clear that the thing that he's most concerned about, above any artistic integrity or idealism, is his paycheck.
How hard could it possibly be to invent a longbow?? The bow has been around since prehistory. Why the heck did it take us nearly three centuries to consider the possiblity that it might shoot farther if it were taller??
I wonder what other obvious things we're missing right now...
Is it linking when you post a phone number where people can listen to an answering machine telling you the link ?
I think my grandmother would be really confused if she got my answering machine, and it said, "Hi, http colon slash slash www dot plankensteiner dot com... BEEP"
Another neat trick would be to go into a crowded theater with little slips of paper with my phone number... and when people called it, the answering machine said, "FIRE!!!"
A few corrections - but correct me if I'm wrong.
PC-BASIC was in early IBM systems' ROM.
BASICA came bundled with PC-DOS, but was not an integral part of the system.
GWBASIC came bundled with MS-DOS.
I have to say, GWBASIC was really a pretty neat little language, even if it was more or less worthless. PC-BASIC *sucked*. In fact, if it booted from the PC-XT's ROM, for some reason, it wouldn't be able to find any of your drives, so you couldn't even save your program.
Both of mine were in c:\windows.
I've gone ahead and renamed them to "Formerly WSCRIPT.EXE" etc.
Can anyone think of a legitimate reason to keep VBScripting on their box? (Hopefully I'll get at least one response that doesn't just say "Why would you have Winders on your box in the first place?" and then makes fun of me for not exclusively using Linux)
It's ridiculous to say these problems have NOTHING to do with Windows, since only Windows users with insecure mail programs have been hit.
It might be more accurate to say that a good administrator can make up for some of the problems of a bad OS.
Personally, I don't like having every security hazard MS could think of enabled by default as a "feature". It's kind of like buying a house with no front door and being told it's a "feature" so that if the contractor decides to drop in to "update" your master bedroom, he won't have to knock.
I'm sure there are a lot of sites with no possible access points. If some kid buys 10 megs of web space for $5 a month and sticks four pictures of himself and a message saying he's l33t, unless he personally hands you the link, you'll probably never find it.
I didn't say that was bad.
Personally, I think if you use something I wrote, you ought to give me 5 or 6 Karma points.
I know Karma doesn't actually have an international exchange rate, but it does make me feel interesting, and sometimes, well, downright insightful.
And if someone won't give you their post for Karma alone, you could always try sending them a free AdultCheck password, or maybe a big steaming bowl of...
That wasn't Tracy, man. That was Tammy Metzler.
The movie has a few good points to make about individualism, though. Tammy was the true individualist - she was able to truly see that so many of a school's policies and customs were ridiculous - i.e. school elections that boil down to popularity contests, suspension as a punishment for not going to school... and almost unquestionably, she was the smartest character in the book/film.
Meanwhile, Tracy, with her obscene fixation on "accomplishment", decided to play "the game" to its fullest... and we all came to detest and fear her.
The movie tried to make the point that Tammy was actually happier in the end, since she got to smoke pot all day and hang around with hot girls (she was a lesbian for those of you haven't seen it)... but I'm not sure I buy it. Notwithstanding any intellectual or moral superiority Tammy might have, she's probably going to end up a pot-smoking, universally detested waitress, and Tracy's probably going to have access to a lot of money, power, and respect.
It's one of the best movies of the decade... and, to me, one of its strongest points is that, sadly, sticking to your own principles pretty much lands you in the middle of nowhere.
No... chart-topping music CDs will never be free (as in beer), nor will they be free, (as in speech).
They may, however, be free (as in love)... or free (as in Willy)... or free (as in fifth CD with the purchase of four).
Fortunately, right now, they seem to be free. As in, plundered.
WOW!! How ironic that lowering prices would increase demand!
This is the worst ./ discussion ever.
At the point that I'm posting this, the topic has been up for almost an hour, there are 36 comments, and the only one moderated above +1 is the first post!
People! Does no one care about giant killer robots?
Arrgh.
/<(IMG|A)>[\w\s.]+<\/\1>/i) {print "Found an image or anchor tag.";}
That example was:
if ($text =~
I've been using the Perl Black Book for a couple months now. There are a lot of things that are handled well, but a few annoyances.
/[\w\s.]+/i) {print "Found an image or anchor";}
I agree with the review that object-oriented and CGI programming are undercovered. Also, it doesn't give a single example of CGI which isn't object-oriented - and I don't always want to use that method in my scripts.
Also, regular expressions are almost impossible to understand with this text alone. For example, the first example of a regex in this book is:
if ($text =~
Call me crazy, but that sounds like something I want to work up to, not start with.
Also, the little text blerbs about the Programming Correctness Czar are really pretty funny and occasionally helpful. The reviewer is clearly a humorless bastard.
I've had exactly the same problem. I write a great deal of MIDI, and everyone comments that it sounds "like video game music".
Of course, the old 8-bit Nintendo had a lot of limitations - there were only four tracks (square wave, triangle wave, percussion, and "voice") so essentially you were limited to two instruments, a drum track, and sound effects. But I think that what's really striking is that most people can remember the catchy Nintendo tunes as well or better than most radio singles of the same era. I think the simplicity of two-and-a-half track MIDI can somehow burn itself into our minds better than three overlaid vocal tracks, two guitars, a bass, drums, and a keyboard.
And I want to go on record as saying that "Legacy of the Wizard" contained some of the best music ever. Ever written in the history of mankind.
Lars -
After reading some of your quotes, I'm not confident that your lawsuit is based on your desire to profit. You seem to be conveying some kind of technophobia and resentment towards people who use technology.
For example, I saw a quote this morning that, paraphrased, read: "If you want to steal our music, why don't you go out and steal it from Tower Records instead of being a coward and downloading it from home?"
I've also heard it said that you've made statements condoning physical shoplifting, and it's common knowledge that you don't know much about technology or the web.
If this were a group of 300,000 physical shoplifters, would you sue them, or applaud them? Is it the act you're upset about, or the character of the people performing the act?
Yeah, I'm pretty sick of hearing about him, too.
In fact, I'd like to run him over with a semi... and then mow down every journalist keeping the story alive with a machine gun... and then hit that 21-year-old Cuban chick with braces with a flamethrower.
Anyway, Slashdot's boring. I'm going to play Grand Theft Auto 2 for a couple more hours.