I plan to release a new free product that will be easily obtained over the Internet. For the sake of discussion, I have included relevant portions of the EULA that are (of course) tucked away in pages of legalese.
1) By using this software, you give EvilCorp permission to send a copy of this software to all of your Outlook Express contacts.
2) By allowing EvilCorp to distribute its software in the aforementioned manner, you are indicating your willingness to be responsible for all incidental costs (including bandwidth/storage/etc.) that result from this distribution.
3) Any damage caused to files on your computer as a result of using our software is not the responsibility of EvilCorp.
The problem with the persistant universe games is that the only server is centrally managed by the company that makes the game. As a result, you cannot simply join another server if you do not like some of the players that you find there. The advantage of standard games is that they genrally do not require the time commitment that the persistant universe games do, and you can join different servers, each with a distinct personality and flavor.
I may try Terminus "just for the heck of it" but I am unwilling to sacrifice the flexibility of being able to set up my own server if I so desire. Even if you could set up your own server, with persistant universe games, people would get REALLY pissed off if they encounter downtime and/or lose game-related information. After hearing about the craziness surrounding Everquest (as far as obtaining items, etc.) it seems that only the players willing to dedicate inordinate amounts of time to it will completely dominate in the one game-world that you can possibly play in. No, thanks.
You are ignorant if you think that these e-mail viruses will only use VBA/Outlook Express as a distribution mechanism. They could just as easily be distributed as an.exe file that searches the hard disk for the text file that contains the Netscape Inbox messages. It could then extract all e-mail addresses (not just "Contacts") and intelligently concoct a reply based on the content of the message it found the address in. While they are likely to only effect the Windows platform, it would be just as easy to write a Linux version.
I think that we have only seen the tip of the iceberg as far as intelligent viruses are concerned. It would be very easy to target a particular organization by only deleting users' files if the user identifies himself within a particular domain (i.e. aol.com) and otherwise just replicating. People need to learn not to open e-mail attachments that they do not expect to receive.
We need to ensure that this gets the same attention that caused DoubleClick shares to drop over 25% in a week. Only when they realize that their shareholders will not stand for this assault on consumer privacy will they alter their policy.
It is all a matter of publicity; most consumers have the impression that what they do not know--or take the time to read in the license agreement--cannot hurt them. With the passage of UCITA in various states, it has become clear that the terms of the license agreement should be compared in the same way as price when making an informed buying decision. Until people realize this, the only hope we have of avoiding agreements like Real's is to use the media to inform consumers.
It is far more important to conjure up bad publicity for Microsoft. The fact is that Andover.net has far fewer legal resources and would want to avoid a prolonged legal battle if at all possible. At the same time, Microsoft is probably unwilling to risk even more bad publicity (Wired has already ran a story about Microsoft's letter) while they are running an expensive PR campaign to bolster support for them in the anti-trust trial.
If other media outlets begin to carry the story, and portray Microsoft as heavy-handed, then we will have succeeded in diminishing the effect of MS's brainwashing. Write letters to media companies with links to the articles on Wired and Slashdot.
I suspected that they would back out of the Slashdot interview because I "attended" the Yahoo Chat and saw the type of questions that they would respond to. When even the slightest hint of criticism emerged, it was either blatantly ignored by the moderator or dodged by the band member answering the question. I honestly do not think that Metallica expected the backlash that would result from their actions. In the Yahoo chat, they stated that it was their manager's idea to file against Napster and their responses gave me the impression that they were not familiar with the intricacies of the service. Now, they are caught between a rock (no pun intended) and hard place. They cannot undo the damage to their image at this point. Even backing down would make it seem that they were simply vying for publicity instead of raising a legitimate complaint against another company. Metallica is hopefully learning an important lesson: when you take on the Internet community--you will lose!
While I, too, am looking forward to the release of a Crusoe-based product, I do not think that they will be initially offering devices that can offer the level of performance as standard notebooks. If you only need a PIM, than the Palm or Windows CE devices will offer long battery lives, instant on (which Crusoe is not likely to offer) and limited application support at a fraction of the price that Crusoe is likely to be offered at.
However, I know that there is no substitute for a high-end laptop for typing reports or development. The screen is responsible for a lot of the power consumption and I do not want to have a miniscule screen and an equally miniscule keyboard when I want to be productive. Sure, it would be nice to have outrageously long battery lives, but I (and I'm sure many of you) will not be willing to give up the high-performance, feature-rich laptops that you have come to enjoy.
Have you tested the setup under a variety of loads? Approximately what was its capacity? After the recent group of DDOS attacks, have you installed any safeguards to revent similar attacks in the future.
Hopefully this setup will be able to handle Slashdot's growth and end the insufferable page loading delays that have become all too common. Kudos to the IT staff for successfully migrating to the new system.
This is only the beginning of what will prove to be a large trend. Most e-commerce startups will bever become profitable. In many cases, their margin on each item sold is negative. I do not believe that the purpose of many of these companies is to build a profitable business--they just want to be around long enough to sell stock--the one "product" whose sale does bring money to the company and its founders. 1 down, many more to go.
One of the reasons console manufacturers are hesitant to use Linux (or any other open OS, for that matter) is because of what happened with the I-Opener fiasco. The business plan for console manufacturers enables them to license developers kits, compilers, and other software to developers--benefiting greatly from a proprietary, closed system. They have to release the system as a loss leader to compete and profit primarily from the proprietary nature of their systems. Unless the embedded Linux used in one of these consoles is created with an API that is SIGNIFICANTLY different from the standard distribution, these revenue streams will be inaccessible and the console prices will increase dramatically.
If a console manufacturer is forced to go out of his way to close an open system to profit, he will be discouraged. Besides, if you need to learn another API to program for their system than who cares whether its Linux powered? We need to see more native Linux 3D desktop games first and improve the performance and driver support for 3D cards under Linux. Then, we can worry about creating embedded Linux distros for consoles.
If you want a Linux gaming machine, install Linux on your desktop.
I was not too impressed with the site that went down, but I am concerned about the implications that this has for translation sites (Babelfish) as well as Metasearch engines that present modified content as their own, without the original sites consent.
This should be considered fair use. While the site whose content is being taken may claim that it is simply a derivative work, it would seem to add addition functionality while only using the original site's content as a springboard for innovation. Whatever happens with this type of site will set important Internet precedent.
They are not concerned with whether you distribute your source files; they just do not want you distributing the source code to the Borland header files and libraries with your code. This is reasonable, as iostream.h on one compiler should offer the same funtion as iostream.h on another, so compiling your source will just entail finding a compiler that has the header file you need. The only time I see you getting into problems is if you use proprietary Borland libraries/headers in your code. Then, they want whoever compiles it to have a copy of the Borland software.
It would be even funnier to have the Office Assistant explain why he is doing bad things to the system as the malicious code runs--let the user think that the clip is sick of being his secretary and that he will rebel against the glass cieling that prevents him from getting promoted by closing each document the user creates, without saving, after he has it open for 15 minutes.
As long as there is continuing international disagreement about how the Net should be policed, no major actions will be taken by the countries involved. The difficulty inherent in extradition and international enforcement in the absence of cooperation will make it impossible, in practice, to enforce any legislation that is passed. We must try to preserve this state of confusion and disagreement if we want a free Internet.
Hopefully LinuxPPC on SMP macs will enable the Mac to perform well as a workgroup or web server. I wonder how pronounced the performance difference will be in standard desktop apps and whether it will justify what will probably an outrageous price difference.
There is no doubt that the importance of BSD to the free software movement has been vastly understated. What is disappointig about the article is that it focuses as much on Joy's personality rather than the incredible accomplishment that BSD was.
It proved that software projects could be distributed yet centrally managed--a fact that needed to be established before telecommuting could become mainstream. Sure, Joy is interesting, but the fact that a culture beyond open-source owes its existance to BSD is completely understated.
If Napster bans the 3XX,XXX users that you have named, will you continue to seek monitary damages? You realize, of course, that doing so would make it blatantly obvious that your primary motivation is not "protecting your music" but pursuing the almighty dollar...
Are you aware of the irony inherent in trying to control the actions of fans to whom you sing about resisting authority? Do you expect your fans to perceive you differently after this fiasco? How will you react if they do?
How do you respond to allegations that you are only trying to use your superior financial backing to force Napster (who is simply providing an open forum) into an unfair settlement instead of going after those who are actually breaking copyright law--the named users? Or is it just your recognition that it would not be worth the effort to *actually* protect your copyright instead of trying to milk this for as much $ as you can?
The reason people were flocking to buy the I-opener is because of its form factor and price. A slightly pricier version that offers a hard drive and basic terminal emulation will be worth significantly more to technology savvy consumers than the current version. As a result, they would happily pay $300-$400 each--after all, the labor and parts required to perform the published mods are probably worth at least $200 on top of the cost of the I-Opener. Since Netpliance has already performed almost all of the development needed to produce a new version, they could effectively release a second product offering (that, admittedly, looks a lot like the first) that would allow it to expand into the thin-client marketlpace. The flat-panel screen and cool-looking hardware, cobined with its low $300-$500 price would make it very enticing to those interested in thin clients--after all, Javastations or WinTerminals cannot run standard operating systems locally while the I-Opener can.
As far as the units on back order and the retroactive charges for Internet service are concerned, Netpliance must contact its customers to ensure their compliance with the modified terms of the agreement and offer an immediate credit to those who do not. I have already contacted the Texas BBB and informed them about Netpliance's questionable charges--if they are cought using these retroactive charges without explicit customer consent to pad their revenue for this quarter (and make it appear as if they did not lose as much from the mods as they did), nobody will take them seriously again and their stock value will plummet.
Slashdot Mirror
I plan to release a new free product that will be easily obtained over the Internet. For the sake of discussion, I have included relevant portions of the EULA that are (of course) tucked away in pages of legalese.
1) By using this software, you give EvilCorp permission to send a copy of this software to all of your Outlook Express contacts.
2) By allowing EvilCorp to distribute its software in the aforementioned manner, you are indicating your willingness to be responsible for all incidental costs (including bandwidth/storage/etc.) that result from this distribution.
3) Any damage caused to files on your computer as a result of using our software is not the responsibility of EvilCorp.
4) ILOVEYOU!
What do you think?
The problem with the persistant universe games is that the only server is centrally managed by the company that makes the game. As a result, you cannot simply join another server if you do not like some of the players that you find there. The advantage of standard games is that they genrally do not require the time commitment that the persistant universe games do, and you can join different servers, each with a distinct personality and flavor.
I may try Terminus "just for the heck of it" but I am unwilling to sacrifice the flexibility of being able to set up my own server if I so desire. Even if you could set up your own server, with persistant universe games, people would get REALLY pissed off if they encounter downtime and/or lose game-related information. After hearing about the craziness surrounding Everquest (as far as obtaining items, etc.) it seems that only the players willing to dedicate inordinate amounts of time to it will completely dominate in the one game-world that you can possibly play in. No, thanks.
You are ignorant if you think that these e-mail viruses will only use VBA/Outlook Express as a distribution mechanism. They could just as easily be distributed as an .exe file that searches the hard disk for the text file that contains the Netscape Inbox messages. It could then extract all e-mail addresses (not just "Contacts") and intelligently concoct a reply based on the content of the message it found the address in. While they are likely to only effect the Windows platform, it would be just as easy to write a Linux version.
I think that we have only seen the tip of the iceberg as far as intelligent viruses are concerned. It would be very easy to target a particular organization by only deleting users' files if the user identifies himself within a particular domain (i.e. aol.com) and otherwise just replicating. People need to learn not to open e-mail attachments that they do not expect to receive.
We need to ensure that this gets the same attention that caused DoubleClick shares to drop over 25% in a week. Only when they realize that their shareholders will not stand for this assault on consumer privacy will they alter their policy.
It is all a matter of publicity; most consumers have the impression that what they do not know--or take the time to read in the license agreement--cannot hurt them. With the passage of UCITA in various states, it has become clear that the terms of the license agreement should be compared in the same way as price when making an informed buying decision. Until people realize this, the only hope we have of avoiding agreements like Real's is to use the media to inform consumers.
It is far more important to conjure up bad publicity for Microsoft. The fact is that Andover.net has far fewer legal resources and would want to avoid a prolonged legal battle if at all possible. At the same time, Microsoft is probably unwilling to risk even more bad publicity (Wired has already ran a story about Microsoft's letter) while they are running an expensive PR campaign to bolster support for them in the anti-trust trial.
If other media outlets begin to carry the story, and portray Microsoft as heavy-handed, then we will have succeeded in diminishing the effect of MS's brainwashing. Write letters to media companies with links to the articles on Wired and Slashdot.
I suspected that they would back out of the Slashdot interview because I "attended" the Yahoo Chat and saw the type of questions that they would respond to. When even the slightest hint of criticism emerged, it was either blatantly ignored by the moderator or dodged by the band member answering the question. I honestly do not think that Metallica expected the backlash that would result from their actions. In the Yahoo chat, they stated that it was their manager's idea to file against Napster and their responses gave me the impression that they were not familiar with the intricacies of the service. Now, they are caught between a rock (no pun intended) and hard place. They cannot undo the damage to their image at this point. Even backing down would make it seem that they were simply vying for publicity instead of raising a legitimate complaint against another company. Metallica is hopefully learning an important lesson: when you take on the Internet community--you will lose!
While I, too, am looking forward to the release of a Crusoe-based product, I do not think that they will be initially offering devices that can offer the level of performance as standard notebooks. If you only need a PIM, than the Palm or Windows CE devices will offer long battery lives, instant on (which Crusoe is not likely to offer) and limited application support at a fraction of the price that Crusoe is likely to be offered at.
However, I know that there is no substitute for a high-end laptop for typing reports or development. The screen is responsible for a lot of the power consumption and I do not want to have a miniscule screen and an equally miniscule keyboard when I want to be productive. Sure, it would be nice to have outrageously long battery lives, but I (and I'm sure many of you) will not be willing to give up the high-performance, feature-rich laptops that you have come to enjoy.
Have you tested the setup under a variety of loads? Approximately what was its capacity? After the recent group of DDOS attacks, have you installed any safeguards to revent similar attacks in the future.
Hopefully this setup will be able to handle Slashdot's growth and end the insufferable page loading delays that have become all too common. Kudos to the IT staff for successfully migrating to the new system.
This is only the beginning of what will prove to be a large trend. Most e-commerce startups will bever become profitable. In many cases, their margin on each item sold is negative. I do not believe that the purpose of many of these companies is to build a profitable business--they just want to be around long enough to sell stock--the one "product" whose sale does bring money to the company and its founders. 1 down, many more to go.
One of the reasons console manufacturers are hesitant to use Linux (or any other open OS, for that matter) is because of what happened with the I-Opener fiasco. The business plan for console manufacturers enables them to license developers kits, compilers, and other software to developers--benefiting greatly from a proprietary, closed system. They have to release the system as a loss leader to compete and profit primarily from the proprietary nature of their systems. Unless the embedded Linux used in one of these consoles is created with an API that is SIGNIFICANTLY different from the standard distribution, these revenue streams will be inaccessible and the console prices will increase dramatically.
If a console manufacturer is forced to go out of his way to close an open system to profit, he will be discouraged. Besides, if you need to learn another API to program for their system than who cares whether its Linux powered? We need to see more native Linux 3D desktop games first and improve the performance and driver support for 3D cards under Linux. Then, we can worry about creating embedded Linux distros for consoles.
If you want a Linux gaming machine, install Linux on your desktop.
I was not too impressed with the site that went down, but I am concerned about the implications that this has for translation sites (Babelfish) as well as Metasearch engines that present modified content as their own, without the original sites consent.
This should be considered fair use. While the site whose content is being taken may claim that it is simply a derivative work, it would seem to add addition functionality while only using the original site's content as a springboard for innovation. Whatever happens with this type of site will set important Internet precedent.
They are not concerned with whether you distribute your source files; they just do not want you distributing the source code to the Borland header files and libraries with your code. This is reasonable, as iostream.h on one compiler should offer the same funtion as iostream.h on another, so compiling your source will just entail finding a compiler that has the header file you need. The only time I see you getting into problems is if you use proprietary Borland libraries/headers in your code. Then, they want whoever compiles it to have a copy of the Borland software.
It would be even funnier to have the Office Assistant explain why he is doing bad things to the system as the malicious code runs--let the user think that the clip is sick of being his secretary and that he will rebel against the glass cieling that prevents him from getting promoted by closing each document the user creates, without saving, after he has it open for 15 minutes.
As long as there is continuing international disagreement about how the Net should be policed, no major actions will be taken by the countries involved. The difficulty inherent in extradition and international enforcement in the absence of cooperation will make it impossible, in practice, to enforce any legislation that is passed. We must try to preserve this state of confusion and disagreement if we want a free Internet.
Hopefully LinuxPPC on SMP macs will enable the Mac to perform well as a workgroup or web server. I wonder how pronounced the performance difference will be in standard desktop apps and whether it will justify what will probably an outrageous price difference.
There is no doubt that the importance of BSD to the free software movement has been vastly understated. What is disappointig about the article is that it focuses as much on Joy's personality rather than the incredible accomplishment that BSD was.
It proved that software projects could be distributed yet centrally managed--a fact that needed to be established before telecommuting could become mainstream. Sure, Joy is interesting, but the fact that a culture beyond open-source owes its existance to BSD is completely understated.
It is "executed by people with very" little computer experience who cannot even form one complete and coherent English sentence.
If Napster bans the 3XX,XXX users that you have named, will you continue to seek monitary damages? You realize, of course, that doing so would make it blatantly obvious that your primary motivation is not "protecting your music" but pursuing the almighty dollar...
Are you aware of the irony inherent in trying to control the actions of fans to whom you sing about resisting authority? Do you expect your fans to perceive you differently after this fiasco? How will you react if they do?
How do you respond to allegations that you are only trying to use your superior financial backing to force Napster (who is simply providing an open forum) into an unfair settlement instead of going after those who are actually breaking copyright law--the named users? Or is it just your recognition that it would not be worth the effort to *actually* protect your copyright instead of trying to milk this for as much $ as you can?
The reason people were flocking to buy the I-opener is because of its form factor and price. A slightly pricier version that offers a hard drive and basic terminal emulation will be worth significantly more to technology savvy consumers than the current version. As a result, they would happily pay $300-$400 each--after all, the labor and parts required to perform the published mods are probably worth at least $200 on top of the cost of the I-Opener. Since Netpliance has already performed almost all of the development needed to produce a new version, they could effectively release a second product offering (that, admittedly, looks a lot like the first) that would allow it to expand into the thin-client marketlpace. The flat-panel screen and cool-looking hardware, cobined with its low $300-$500 price would make it very enticing to those interested in thin clients--after all, Javastations or WinTerminals cannot run standard operating systems locally while the I-Opener can.
As far as the units on back order and the retroactive charges for Internet service are concerned, Netpliance must contact its customers to ensure their compliance with the modified terms of the agreement and offer an immediate credit to those who do not. I have already contacted the Texas BBB and informed them about Netpliance's questionable charges--if they are cought using these retroactive charges without explicit customer consent to pad their revenue for this quarter (and make it appear as if they did not lose as much from the mods as they did), nobody will take them seriously again and their stock value will plummet.