In this case, defense was especially expensive because only a limited number of lawyers are allowed to practice in front of this court, AND it's in one of the most expensive areas of the country.
It was between six and eight months between filing and settling, nothing "quick" about it. I know people did try to contact the EFF, ACLU and maybe others, but none had any interest in it.
Check out www.chillingeffects.org; they have some great FAQs on the subject. In a nutshell, companies have to prove you both intentionally lied and did so with malice.
Unfortunately, The Plaintiff only has to file his suit to drain your pockets.
Basically, The Plaintiff's goal is to cost the defendants as much money as possible while spending the least possible. He represents himself (something he may not be able to do), and lives five miles from the court house; the defendants (mostly) live in other states and have to hire an attorney who's able to represent them in that specific court.
The suit hasn't gotten far enough along to challenge, and The Plaintiff hasn't served anyone who lives in California (ie, those who could file an anti-SLAPP counter-suit).
BTW -- I posted three entries about the case in my blog, and received a cease-and-desist letter from the guy. So, I avoid using his name. Everyone knows who I'm talking about, right?
He was never blocked -- he posted attachments to a list that forbids attachments. There is no active moderation of the list, just someone who warns when off-topic discussions have gone on too long.
I've been happily using MySQL for three years; it saved our asses when one an outside vendor implemented something using mSQL. Their program worked, but took two or three minutes to run, and our client was freaking out. I discovered MySQL, ported the program over, and the MySQL system took two or three seconds to run.
I kinda miss subselects, but not much; they're scheduled for a point release in the near future. I think the word from Monty is "September", but don't hold me to that.
I've never missed transactions. The one time they would have been nice I was able to catch the exception and delete the incomplete information.
MySQL's license is pretty simple -- as long as you don't sell a product that can only function with MySQL, you don't need a license. If you provide a MySQL adaptor, a PostgreSQL adaptor, and an Oracle adaptor, I don't think you need one.
There is a company that specializes in this. Yes, a company that charges people to hype on Usenet.
A quote from one of their pages:
> Using our proprietary database as a starting > point, we constantly monitor the public access > areas of the Internet (newsgroups, listservs, > and forums) looking for discussion or comments > about your competitors. Wherever we find such > mentions, we use an extremely subtle approach to > incorporate positive information about your > business into the discussion. We never > denigrate or criticize the competition; instead > we add to the discussion by "whispering" useful > reminders about your company or product.
Sorry, I prefer to negotiate on my own merits, not that of the bung-hole cash grabbers who, after six years of college, still can't figure out that they shouldn't return a pointer into the stack.
Personally, I think there should be a place to vent steam and get advice.
I think realistic expectations would work as well. Most people expect 24/7 for freaking brochure sites, never realizing that they don't _loose_ anything.
The Right Way is to have fail-over machines that take the load when the primary can't. The Even Better Way is to have those machines at another site; preferably one in another time zone.
None of this will happen, though. It all costs money, and, fer crissakes, if people can't get a "world-class e-commerce" site for $50k, they get pissy.
Yourdon wrote "Death March", and the title won't be uncommon -- most cow-orkers mistake it for a book on the Bataan Death March.
"No, really, it's about programming projects like this one."
The death of bio-diversity
on
Gene Leakage
·
· Score: 1
Guess what? Most seeds used today are sterile hybrids. They sprout, grow, and produce sterile seeds. Rarely -- very rarely -- a hybrid will produce viable seed, but it's the exception more than the rule.
I wouldn't be surprised to find out the real motivation behind the "terminator" (nice loaded word there) gene is to allay fears of bio-engineered crops "escaping".
I don't think it will happen. In all likelihood, the genetically engineered rape-seed will be sterile, either because it's a hybrid naturally or as an effort at copyright protection. I lived for 18 years on a farm that grew lots of hybrids (corn, soybeans, occasionally a winter wheat crop), and there was no noticeable "leakage" into surrounding areas.
Jones may not have a hard time finding a grant because he's saying what some people want to hear...
As with all free software, you have to read the manuals and make sure you've got the right environment first. Compilers, libraries, and the like can make a big difference.
I've moved two RedHat 5.0 machines to KDE, and while grabbing all the RPMs that need to be updated is slow over a 28.8, it's not at all difficult.
So it's bad if someone takes money to do someone else's work? It's a "slippery slope" if Joe Hacker takes $10,000 to write a device driver for Linux? Why? What if Joe Hacker uses that $10,000 to live for a few months while he adds some super-neat feature he always wanted to implement?
The basic problem is that managers don't care. They want the results they've promised at the widest possible profit margin. They don't care if it's possible, or if it's the best long term solution.
Look at most IDEs -- they're focused on getting clickable GUI controls on the screen. Testing? HAH! Testing is for those "ivory tower academics", right? No one cares if the code works.
It also doesn't help that most managers haven't heard of titles like TPOCP, MMM, and Peopleware. They are under the impression that managing a team of programmers is like managing a McDonald's.
Slashdot Mirror
In this case, defense was especially expensive because only a limited number of lawyers are allowed to practice in front of this court, AND it's in one of the most expensive areas of the country.
It was between six and eight months between filing and settling, nothing "quick" about it. I know people did try to contact the EFF, ACLU and maybe others, but none had any interest in it.
Unfortunately, The Plaintiff only has to file his suit to drain your pockets.
The New York anti-SLAPP law is limited to cases involving interference with access to government. It's not a real anti-SLAPP law like California has.
Basically, The Plaintiff's goal is to cost the defendants as much money as possible while spending the least possible. He represents himself (something he may not be able to do), and lives five miles from the court house; the defendants (mostly) live in other states and have to hire an attorney who's able to represent them in that specific court.
The suit hasn't gotten far enough along to challenge, and The Plaintiff hasn't served anyone who lives in California (ie, those who could file an anti-SLAPP counter-suit).
BTW -- I posted three entries about the case in my blog, and received a cease-and-desist letter from the guy. So, I avoid using his name. Everyone knows who I'm talking about, right?
He was never blocked -- he posted attachments to a list that forbids attachments. There is no active moderation of the list, just someone who warns when off-topic discussions have gone on too long.
What a load of crap.
Why don't you go to NYC, visit a firestation, and explain to the (surviving) firemen how the US doesn't face any serious external threats.
I've been happily using MySQL for three years; it saved our asses when one an outside vendor implemented something using mSQL. Their program worked, but took two or three minutes to run, and our client was freaking out. I discovered MySQL, ported the program over, and the MySQL system took two or three seconds to run.
I kinda miss subselects, but not much; they're scheduled for a point release in the near future. I think the word from Monty is "September", but don't hold me to that.
I've never missed transactions. The one time they would have been nice I was able to catch the exception and delete the incomplete information.
MySQL's license is pretty simple -- as long as you don't sell a product that can only function with MySQL, you don't need a license. If you provide a MySQL adaptor, a PostgreSQL adaptor, and an Oracle adaptor, I don't think you need one.
Idiot anonymous coward.
DOS, in this context, means "Denial of Service".
There is a company that specializes in this. Yes,
a company that charges people to hype on Usenet.
A quote from one of their pages:
> Using our proprietary database as a starting
> point, we constantly monitor the public access
> areas of the Internet (newsgroups, listservs,
> and forums) looking for discussion or comments
> about your competitors. Wherever we find such
> mentions, we use an extremely subtle approach to
> incorporate positive information about your
> business into the discussion. We never
> denigrate or criticize the competition; instead
> we add to the discussion by "whispering" useful
> reminders about your company or product.
http://www.newgate.com/online_pr/whisper.html
That's what it sounds like. Besides, the "terabyte of storage" for "90 days" of Usenet doesn't sound right. How much storage does Dejanews need?
Kids, this smells like a reporter didn't use his critical facilities...
NO.
Sorry, I prefer to negotiate on my own merits, not that of the bung-hole cash grabbers who, after six years of college, still can't figure out that they shouldn't return a pointer into the stack.
Personally, I think there should be a place to vent steam and get advice.
I think realistic expectations would work as well. Most people expect 24/7 for freaking brochure sites, never realizing that they don't _loose_ anything.
The Right Way is to have fail-over machines that
take the load when the primary can't. The Even Better Way is to have those machines at another site; preferably one in another time zone.
None of this will happen, though. It all costs money, and, fer crissakes, if people can't get a "world-class e-commerce" site for $50k, they get pissy.
Did you, or someone you work with, attend Bradley University?
Yourdon wrote "Death March", and the title won't be uncommon -- most cow-orkers mistake it for a book on the Bataan Death March.
"No, really, it's about programming projects like this one."
Guess what? Most seeds used today are sterile hybrids. They sprout, grow, and produce sterile seeds. Rarely -- very rarely -- a hybrid will produce viable seed, but it's the exception more than the rule.
I wouldn't be surprised to find out the real motivation behind the "terminator" (nice loaded
word there) gene is to allay fears of bio-engineered crops "escaping".
I don't think it will happen. In all likelihood, the genetically engineered rape-seed will be sterile, either because it's a hybrid naturally or as an effort at copyright protection. I lived for 18 years on a farm that grew lots of hybrids (corn, soybeans, occasionally a winter wheat crop), and there was no noticeable "leakage" into surrounding areas.
Jones may not have a hard time finding a grant because he's saying what some people want to hear...
As with all free software, you have to read the
manuals and make sure you've got the right environment first. Compilers, libraries, and the like can make a big difference.
I've moved two RedHat 5.0 machines to KDE, and while grabbing all the RPMs that need to be updated is slow over a 28.8, it's not at all difficult.
So it's bad if someone takes money to do someone else's work? It's a "slippery slope" if Joe Hacker takes $10,000 to write a device driver for Linux? Why? What if Joe Hacker uses that $10,000 to live for a few months while he adds some super-neat feature he always wanted to implement?
The basic problem is that managers don't care. They want the results they've promised at the widest possible profit margin. They don't care if it's possible, or if it's the best long term solution.
Look at most IDEs -- they're focused on getting clickable GUI controls on the screen. Testing? HAH! Testing is for those "ivory tower academics", right? No one cares if the code works.
It also doesn't help that most managers haven't heard of titles like TPOCP, MMM, and Peopleware. They are under the impression that managing a team of programmers is like managing a McDonald's.
[Bitter? Me? No!]
A file I wrote is in there, though it doesn't date back to BBS days.
I sent a response to Computer the day the
issue arrived in the mail. I've already received word that it will be published, if they have space.
I have a copy of my letter on my home machine; maybe I can dig it out and post it.