I was thinking the same thing. It's like the concept of 'prior art', the legal system should just laugh at these clowns for trying to register something that's been used by someone else for the past 22 years worldwide. The way I see it, this company trying to do this to PSF, is akin to a patent troll.
People still use 8 character passwords? Heh. I wish sites would allow us to log in using GnuGP encryption keys. Seems then you could have 1 password that's not really breakable. You'd only have to keep safe a couple files (the public & private key), like physical keys to your house or car. I think most people could handle that.... and it would really simplify password management.
Oh, interesting! I couldn't find anything about this year-end fundraiser being an extention of an older fundraiser from months ago. I guess it was FreeBSD that was misleading then? That is, if this is just making extending an older campaign to make it sound like a new one.
A quick Google reveals that FreeBSD's "Year-End Fundraising Campaign" was only recently announced, on December 5th. So, naturally, they won't be all that close to their goal by December 9th.
For the past year or two, I really haven't seen anyone use a calculator that wasn't on their phone. Most people don't even wear watches anymore, 'cause their phone shows the time. Until now, I had no clue that any companies were still doing serious business of calculators. I think they've seen their time, and fewer will be sold. I'm sure watch makers see their time is coming too. They may sell, but I can't think that it'll be a large market, or even half the market it was 5-10 years ago.
I was 1st exposed to computers in 3rd grade, which started in September '82 for me. We had Commodore's, with two big floppy drives. They even gave each of us students a disc to keep stuff on. We were taught a little BASIC, but not enough to actually make anything useful. Beyond that, I remember us playing a "Where in The World Is Carman Sandiego?" game a lot. That was about it.
After 3rd grade, I don't remember touching another computer 'til 1986 when my parents bought a TRS-80 from Radio Shack. I was more interested in the games then (Downland, Megabug, Pyramid, etc). We might've used computers between those two times, but if we did then it wasn't anything memorable.
Next time I remember using one in school, was in late '89 (10th grade). when I took a typing class and our English teacher had us using some MS-DOS programs for something. I was so clueless about how to use those programs and a computer for anything other than games, that it made me hate computers. At the time, I was into guitar & alternative music (which was still referred to as College Rock and Modern Rock at the time).
That was about it. I don't remember any other instances of the school trying to get us accustomed to computers. Although, they kept drilling it into us that we need to learn to use them 'cause they'll be very important in the future and for getting jobs.
Sounds to me like it causes a bigger problem than it would solve. The problem with using a built-in graphics card, is that all your online accounts would suddenly be tied to the ONE device with that graphics card. You wouldn't be able to login from any other device, and that includes any new devices you buy to replace old ones. I hope I'm misunderstanding something 'cause that sounds like a useless technique in a networked world.
You have no idea how ignorant you are. Check out the TIOBE index, Python is currently #8 and has never been lower than #13. Pascal is currently #16, and hasn't ever been higher than #14. Python's actually more popular than Javascript, and quite useful for real world programming. You can easily find software made in Python for a variety of uses. There's also a couple good web frameworks for it - Django & Cherrypy. Cherrypy even supports Python3.
In mid-August, Django had a blog post 'Experimental Python 3 Support' (https://www.djangoproject.com/weblog/2012/aug/19/experimental-python-3-support/), which talked about the progress they've made so far towards porting the system to Python 3 and how it's coming along well. It's to be considered pre-alpha at the moment, but there's been a lot of progress over this summer.
I really like Ubuntu/Unity. It's simple, efficient, and not bad looking. I can get all my GUI stuff done just as easy as on Windows, while having the power of the commandline that Windows doesn't have. Unity is a large part of the reason I got back to Linux as a desktop.
1999 - Slackware (desktop),
2000 - Mandrake,
2000-2001 - FreeBSD (laptop),
2002-2011 - Only used Linux via SSH and it was usually Debian,
2011-current - Ubuntu.
That trick might work on Windows users, who don't know much about their computers.... but I think 99% of Ubuntu users will just right click "unlock from launcher" as one of the first things they do. Most of those who'll do that, will probably also purge the system of these Amazon invaders. I know I will. Linux Mint doesn't sound so bad now. In fact, this might be a good time for me to try FreeBSD 9....
Have had Ubuntu 12.04 on my Acer laptop since late April, and I haven't come across this bug once yet. Altho, I never close my laptop without suspending it first, so maybe that's an easy workaround for anyone who's affected.
Yeah, 'cause, you know... pointing to where something is, is the same thing as making a copy of it. Don't you all know that by now? This is why, when someone asks you where the nearest McDonald's is, and you tell them to take a left at the 3rd light, you're making a copy of McDonald's without their permission.
In legality though, the clause "As long as we exist." means they can't cut off the service before the company goes out of business, not the lifetime of the service the company offered. Maybe Joyent could get around it if they folded the company & then started up again under a new name.... but they're not even doing that, so they're forced to keep the contract that was made when these customers signed up for accounts that would last as long as the company itself.
Slashdot Mirror
I was thinking the same thing. It's like the concept of 'prior art', the legal system should just laugh at these clowns for trying to register something that's been used by someone else for the past 22 years worldwide. The way I see it, this company trying to do this to PSF, is akin to a patent troll.
People still use 8 character passwords? Heh. I wish sites would allow us to log in using GnuGP encryption keys. Seems then you could have 1 password that's not really breakable. You'd only have to keep safe a couple files (the public & private key), like physical keys to your house or car. I think most people could handle that.... and it would really simplify password management.
if these webmaster really believe that most people don't know about 'right click' & "save image as...", then they are living in lala-land.
Oh, interesting! I couldn't find anything about this year-end fundraiser being an extention of an older fundraiser from months ago. I guess it was FreeBSD that was misleading then? That is, if this is just making extending an older campaign to make it sound like a new one.
A quick Google reveals that FreeBSD's "Year-End Fundraising Campaign" was only recently announced, on December 5th. So, naturally, they won't be all that close to their goal by December 9th.
Napoleon, gimme some of your tots!
For the past year or two, I really haven't seen anyone use a calculator that wasn't on their phone. Most people don't even wear watches anymore, 'cause their phone shows the time. Until now, I had no clue that any companies were still doing serious business of calculators. I think they've seen their time, and fewer will be sold. I'm sure watch makers see their time is coming too. They may sell, but I can't think that it'll be a large market, or even half the market it was 5-10 years ago.
That must be why the DOJ's too busy to go after all the habitual patent troll companies.
Because I like Unity.
Thanks /., I've now added `sudo apt-get remove unity-lens-shopping` to my to do list.
Most non-techy people I know, seem to think "Windows" is a synonym for "Computer".
I was 1st exposed to computers in 3rd grade, which started in September '82 for me. We had Commodore's, with two big floppy drives. They even gave each of us students a disc to keep stuff on. We were taught a little BASIC, but not enough to actually make anything useful. Beyond that, I remember us playing a "Where in The World Is Carman Sandiego?" game a lot. That was about it.
After 3rd grade, I don't remember touching another computer 'til 1986 when my parents bought a TRS-80 from Radio Shack. I was more interested in the games then (Downland, Megabug, Pyramid, etc). We might've used computers between those two times, but if we did then it wasn't anything memorable.
Next time I remember using one in school, was in late '89 (10th grade). when I took a typing class and our English teacher had us using some MS-DOS programs for something. I was so clueless about how to use those programs and a computer for anything other than games, that it made me hate computers. At the time, I was into guitar & alternative music (which was still referred to as College Rock and Modern Rock at the time).
That was about it. I don't remember any other instances of the school trying to get us accustomed to computers. Although, they kept drilling it into us that we need to learn to use them 'cause they'll be very important in the future and for getting jobs.
I should've thought of that. It's brilliant, tho obvious to some, it's still brilliant. Kudos!
Sounds to me like it causes a bigger problem than it would solve. The problem with using a built-in graphics card, is that all your online accounts would suddenly be tied to the ONE device with that graphics card. You wouldn't be able to login from any other device, and that includes any new devices you buy to replace old ones. I hope I'm misunderstanding something 'cause that sounds like a useless technique in a networked world.
You have no idea how ignorant you are. Check out the TIOBE index, Python is currently #8 and has never been lower than #13. Pascal is currently #16, and hasn't ever been higher than #14. Python's actually more popular than Javascript, and quite useful for real world programming. You can easily find software made in Python for a variety of uses. There's also a couple good web frameworks for it - Django & Cherrypy. Cherrypy even supports Python3.
In mid-August, Django had a blog post 'Experimental Python 3 Support' (https://www.djangoproject.com/weblog/2012/aug/19/experimental-python-3-support/), which talked about the progress they've made so far towards porting the system to Python 3 and how it's coming along well. It's to be considered pre-alpha at the moment, but there's been a lot of progress over this summer.
I really like Ubuntu/Unity. It's simple, efficient, and not bad looking. I can get all my GUI stuff done just as easy as on Windows, while having the power of the commandline that Windows doesn't have. Unity is a large part of the reason I got back to Linux as a desktop.
1999 - Slackware (desktop), 2000 - Mandrake, 2000-2001 - FreeBSD (laptop), 2002-2011 - Only used Linux via SSH and it was usually Debian, 2011-current - Ubuntu.
So if I come out of the grocery store and my car's not there, it might not be stolen?
That trick might work on Windows users, who don't know much about their computers.... but I think 99% of Ubuntu users will just right click "unlock from launcher" as one of the first things they do. Most of those who'll do that, will probably also purge the system of these Amazon invaders. I know I will. Linux Mint doesn't sound so bad now. In fact, this might be a good time for me to try FreeBSD 9....
And people act like I'm crazy when I say I don't ever want to try Facebook again.
Have had Ubuntu 12.04 on my Acer laptop since late April, and I haven't come across this bug once yet. Altho, I never close my laptop without suspending it first, so maybe that's an easy workaround for anyone who's affected.
Yeah, 'cause, you know... pointing to where something is, is the same thing as making a copy of it. Don't you all know that by now? This is why, when someone asks you where the nearest McDonald's is, and you tell them to take a left at the 3rd light, you're making a copy of McDonald's without their permission.
In legality though, the clause "As long as we exist." means they can't cut off the service before the company goes out of business, not the lifetime of the service the company offered. Maybe Joyent could get around it if they folded the company & then started up again under a new name.... but they're not even doing that, so they're forced to keep the contract that was made when these customers signed up for accounts that would last as long as the company itself.