I remember that! You had to collect a bunch of different passes to get past security guards (and a uniform, I think). And if you didn't have it, you could sometimes bribe the guard.
I was always partial to Swordthrust, though. I wonder if there's an abandonware site somewhere that still has all that stuff.
I remember this book. It was upon reading it that I finally realized that the only thing stopping me from writing professional* quality software was a matter of time and patience (access to a "real" language helps, too). My parents only saw the back of my head for months after that.
*"Professional" in this case is defined as the various shareware games I managed to acquire, most of which easily impressed the likes of me at the time.
I did some telephone soliciting one summer about ten years ago. I just wanted to point out that wasting the telemarketer's time also hurts the telemarketer. We got graded on average call length, and if it was above a certain level for two weeks in a row, you'd get canned.
I don't have a good answer to how you should handle it; I wasn't cut out for that kind of work (thank $DEITY). I would suggest ending the call as fast as possible. And remember to use the phrase, "Put me on your do-not-call list.";
Further, it is not an absolute monopoly on the desktop.
If by this statement you mean that their market share is not 100%, then it is correct, but irrelevant. The law doesn't demand 100% market share to define a monopoly. The standard used is that the market share is so high that the average customer believes there to be no viable alternative.
the reason the system is broken is because it has been obfuscated by members of the legal profession to the point where you have to be a lawyer just to go to court in any meaningful way
Every occupation tends toward specialization. That's why (in software design) asking users for requirements is such a pain: they don't know how to precisely define what they want. the same is true with the law; if you don't use the specialized lingo, how will the judge know if your argument is sound?
If the laws can be ignored by a judge, they are not law.
I don't think you understand how case law works. Judges don't ignore the law, they interpret it. Sometimes the wording is vague, so a judge somewhere decides, this is what that law means, then other judges follow that lead. Generally speaking, only appeals courts (and higher) can set precedent in this way. This is a good thing, as it guarantees that the law is applied consistently everywhere.
This isn't so much copyright infringement so much as it is plain old fashioned plagarism.
Plagiarism is a form of copyright infringement. In any event, the whole point you seem to be missing is that without a copyright on the work, it is free to be used by any person for any reason. That's the whole point of letting copyrights expire.
It used to be, prior to 1976. The copyright laws used to be that copyright could only be granted to items you registered, and there were two terms. When the first one was about to expire, you could apply for an extension, which was pretty much always granted. It basically was a way to make sure you actually cared enough about exploiting a work to bother renewing it. Nowadays, there isn't a renewal term.
Typical disclaimers: IANAL, this only applies to U.S. copyright law, yada yada yada.
This marketing decision was doubly foolish when you consider that it hit theaters only six months after Columbine.
I, too, had refused to watch it based on the advertising. My SO came home from work one day with a copy of it, saying that a co-worker insisted we watch it. I practically begged not to see it, but now it's my all-time favorite movie.
To me, it ends up sounding like pubescent mental masturbation.
All reading is mental masturbation. I'll grant you that Heinlein and his ilk are definitely pubescent, though. It seemed fascinating when I was young, but now I'm mostly ashamed to admit I ever read that sort of stuff.
Ah, but by buying an XBox, you help to artificially inflate Microsoft's customer base. If a developer has a choice of which platform to develop for (XBox, GameCube, PS2), s/he will probably take installed base into consideration. Sure, you won't be buying the game, but the developer doesn't know this. You can hurt Microsoft's efforts more by making their customer base look as small as possible.
I did NOT give them permission to access my network.
Your network? You're the one accessing Sprint's network. Does the modem even belong to you? I was under the impression that DSL customers leased modems.
It would have been suficient to take Sprint's word for it and post the story. There was no need to go snooping where they don't belong.
Um, are you familiar with the phrase "investigative journalism"? If they had heard about this default passowrd from some other source, and Sprint had issued a denial, would it have been sufficient to take Sprint's word for it?
Yeah, I've been very lucky up to this point, especially considering some of the people who have it. I'm tempted to declare forwarded jokes as another form of spam and blackhole my own father.;-)
You can no longer expect to use an email address for very long without it getting spammed.
"Expect" is the operative word. I certainly didn't expect this, but my primary email address hasn't received a single piece of spam since I got it in March of last year (my Yahoo! addresses are, of course, worthless).
Slashdot Mirror
I stand corrected.
Not really. Fair use is restricted to non-commercial works.
IANAL
dialup, dude, dialup!!!
I remember that! You had to collect a bunch of different passes to get past security guards (and a uniform, I think). And if you didn't have it, you could sometimes bribe the guard.
I was always partial to Swordthrust, though. I wonder if there's an abandonware site somewhere that still has all that stuff.
So, you're saying I can have tabbed browsing in IE for only $109 US? Pass.
I remember this book. It was upon reading it that I finally realized that the only thing stopping me from writing professional* quality software was a matter of time and patience (access to a "real" language helps, too). My parents only saw the back of my head for months after that.
*"Professional" in this case is defined as the various shareware games I managed to acquire, most of which easily impressed the likes of me at the time.
They have to be an ancient Greek geometer?
I did some telephone soliciting one summer about ten years ago. I just wanted to point out that wasting the telemarketer's time also hurts the telemarketer. We got graded on average call length, and if it was above a certain level for two weeks in a row, you'd get canned.
I don't have a good answer to how you should handle it; I wasn't cut out for that kind of work (thank $DEITY). I would suggest ending the call as fast as possible. And remember to use the phrase, "Put me on your do-not-call list.";
If by this statement you mean that their market share is not 100%, then it is correct, but irrelevant. The law doesn't demand 100% market share to define a monopoly. The standard used is that the market share is so high that the average customer believes there to be no viable alternative.
Every occupation tends toward specialization. That's why (in software design) asking users for requirements is such a pain: they don't know how to precisely define what they want. the same is true with the law; if you don't use the specialized lingo, how will the judge know if your argument is sound?
I don't think you understand how case law works. Judges don't ignore the law, they interpret it. Sometimes the wording is vague, so a judge somewhere decides, this is what that law means, then other judges follow that lead. Generally speaking, only appeals courts (and higher) can set precedent in this way. This is a good thing, as it guarantees that the law is applied consistently everywhere.
IANAL.
Not to mention that GE was the result of a merger between Edison's company and its biggest competitor.
Plagiarism is a form of copyright infringement. In any event, the whole point you seem to be missing is that without a copyright on the work, it is free to be used by any person for any reason. That's the whole point of letting copyrights expire.
It used to be, prior to 1976. The copyright laws used to be that copyright could only be granted to items you registered, and there were two terms. When the first one was about to expire, you could apply for an extension, which was pretty much always granted. It basically was a way to make sure you actually cared enough about exploiting a work to bother renewing it. Nowadays, there isn't a renewal term.
Typical disclaimers: IANAL, this only applies to U.S. copyright law, yada yada yada.
This is a reference to the fact that cell phones in the U.S. use up their minutes whether the cell phone is used to initiate or receive the call.
This marketing decision was doubly foolish when you consider that it hit theaters only six months after Columbine.
I, too, had refused to watch it based on the advertising. My SO came home from work one day with a copy of it, saying that a co-worker insisted we watch it. I practically begged not to see it, but now it's my all-time favorite movie.
Case in point: it's spelled "grammar."
Star Trek X. IMHO it was on par with II (Wrath o' Kahn)
That's because it was The Wrath of Khan. To wit:
Less spam. Duh.
To me, it ends up sounding like pubescent mental masturbation.
All reading is mental masturbation. I'll grant you that Heinlein and his ilk are definitely pubescent, though. It seemed fascinating when I was young, but now I'm mostly ashamed to admit I ever read that sort of stuff.
Ah, but by buying an XBox, you help to artificially inflate Microsoft's customer base. If a developer has a choice of which platform to develop for (XBox, GameCube, PS2), s/he will probably take installed base into consideration. Sure, you won't be buying the game, but the developer doesn't know this. You can hurt Microsoft's efforts more by making their customer base look as small as possible.
I did NOT give them permission to access my network.
Your network? You're the one accessing Sprint's network. Does the modem even belong to you? I was under the impression that DSL customers leased modems.
It would have been suficient to take Sprint's word for it and post the story. There was no need to go snooping where they don't belong.
Um, are you familiar with the phrase "investigative journalism"? If they had heard about this default passowrd from some other source, and Sprint had issued a denial, would it have been sufficient to take Sprint's word for it?
"...[Hitler] made the trains run on time,..."
No, that was Moussolini. (Well, he didn't make the trains run on time, either, but he was the one who supposedly did such a thing.)
Yeah, I've been very lucky up to this point, especially considering some of the people who have it. I'm tempted to declare forwarded jokes as another form of spam and blackhole my own father. ;-)
You can no longer expect to use an email address for very long without it getting spammed.
"Expect" is the operative word. I certainly didn't expect this, but my primary email address hasn't received a single piece of spam since I got it in March of last year (my Yahoo! addresses are, of course, worthless).
Is this illegal, or just annoying?
Okay, I'll offer myself up as the sacrificial lamb and ask the obvious: Why would this be illegal?