Think about it; are you going to walk around the with this high-tech eyepatch on? And do you really need to be viewing/. in full color while away from your computer? I just can't see any practicality in these type of devices. Sure, they look cool, but I won't be buying one anytime soon. Besides, I would probably have to stop paying rent
just to afford it anyway... I'd be kicked out of my apartment, but at least I can browse the internet with a headset!
I think it would be better if the view screen were paper thin and transparent. This way I could focus through it to the outside world if need be, and it would be less intrusive. Maybe something like a double blink to turn on/off the display.
Then it can used as a heads up targeting display, etc. In that kind of mode, a GUI is possibly the wrong angle, or else would have to be redesigned on rather different principles.
well, just physically count the total number of computers out there. Granted the servers from sun, etc. - but do these run into the tens of millions? hardly. While you have many other niche companies, even a large company like Apple only holds 5% of the volume market. and Linux is far behind. Servers are a niche market. The physical numbers speak for themselves.\, pr and hopes aside.
And let's face it, many companies are terrified of MS even hinting at coming into a market. It is enough to shatter any hope of venture capital. They are in mortal fear. The best many people can do, once that happens, is pick over the bones.
I hate the New York Yankees because they try, and succeed, in beating other baseball teams -- like my favorite team. I have heard their players say with glee, "We are going to kill the competition". They will trade and recruit players to better their team while hurting all the other teams.
if the NY Yankees not only competed in the game of baseball, but also acted so that they would always win the world series because they were literally the only team around, having bought out all the others, leveled the stadiums, then you would have an argument.
But The Yankess do not have a monopoly on baseball. If the Yankees had a monopoly on baseball, and wanted to extend it to football, or into other sports, then the analogy would fit. They don't, and it doesn't.
Your logic is fundamentally flawed due to the inappropriateness of the example.
Khadaffi | Saddam | Osama Bin Laden | Joe Militia just needs a unit from Garmin | Magellan | Trimble, and they can pick off anything in range. This has been the case for quite a while, as even with SA in use, the accuracy was about 100 FT. A good large bomb/missile has a blast radius larger than that.
One Minor Point:
a Small to Medium Nuke blast a km or two away is survivable, even if in a mine shaft or a moderately deep underground bunker. Much closer, especially a bomb dropped into the mine shaft where someone is hiding is much nastier. Even with a long mine shaft.
That being said, what are the odds of someone like saddam or khadaffi being able to have super accurate missiles? there is a lot more to it than it first appears.
The OS/COMET source code could be used by terrorists to disturb computer systems guiding various space programs or it could have been stolen in industrial espionage for commercial
advantage, the Swedish tabloid Expressen reported.
Looks like you would still have to be a rocket scientist, or more exactly, a satellite scientist, to know how to precisely use it.
but of course, they could do a rewrite of the protocols, but that could take a while.
My dorm room's port was activated "with restrictions" yesterday, and they now want me to e-mail them a list of every program I want to download so that they can verify it. Was this even legal? What can I do to stop something like this from happening in the future?
Get everyone you know to send you a list of files/urls they want, and make you the download king. make sure these are all not well known, or are from secondary sources and archives. Make the list really long, and in random order. For example, program downloads not in archive format, but exploded in some directory someplace, and undocumented.
Of Course, I expect Microsofties to be outraged by this.
But is it just the picture of Companies that offer interesting technologies, or possible future competition to MS being bought out, with the technology dis-appearing (consumed, if you will) or otherwise killed off.
It is one thing to compete in the market place to make sure your product does well. It is another thing to want to kill off the competition.
Thus we get to the analogy of murder in the corporate sphere, where one company plans to kill off and destroy another; and deliberately plans to loot and otherwise consume the resources of the other.
The record of MS in this regard is less than stellar, in my opinion. Yes, there have been other companies that are also not so pure. and there certainly is no law against it.
But this does not stop me from stating my opinion regarding the aptness of the similarity in my eyes. This is in fact, in my opinion, Hannibal Like Behavior. We should discourage it. But how do we discourage hannibal from his ways?
This opens up a whole new view on corporate behavior, where virtual persons like corporations have the same responsibilities regarding other real and virtual persons, and are held to the same standards of behavior that ordinary citizens of the world are expected to maintain regarding themselves and others.
of course, the reaction on the other side of the fence is going to be panic, outrage, and smack this down NOW! Because to do otherwise requires recognizing some of the possible truth in the analogy in the first place.
In the recent comments on the Microsoft trial , I came to the conclusion that Microsoft is the corporate equivalent of Hannibal Lecter. In my opinion.
Now I've calmed down abit since then, but I must say that there is a certain truth to it as far as their behavior in the market place. In my opinion. In any case, they display the behaviors that are very similar to a serial killer. In my opinion. This of course, does not make what they do illegal. I am sure they only have the good of mankind in mind, as far as they understand it.
The question I see here in this context is if Microsoft can be trusted, given their corporate culture, etc to do the right thing with SOAP. or will they somehow continue to try to make it an exclusive MS thing in the process, even if it breaks it?
Let's face it, a Microsoft *only* Internet is a broken Internet. In my opinion.
And besides, how much would you trust having someone like Hannibal Lecter in your life?
The following is interesting, as the author makes interesting points re: the x33 and x34 cancellation:
I expect a number of people will be distressed at this. I am not. The Space Station was an ill-designed nightmare. The US space program desperately needs on-orbit assembly capability. To do that we need space suits that don't require pre-breathing before use. NASA has known this for 20 years, and has had such suit designs available since
1980. I have a signature in my log book of a NASA test subject in a 12 psi above ambient suit, signed after about 6 hours in it, attesting to general comfort. Of course he was a 22 year old rigger not a 45 year old Ph.D. which is what NASA sends up. The whole manned space program is a shambles because we don't have decent suits.
Without on orbit assembly capability -- I mean real work in space done by riggers who can do a day's work -- things have to be pre-assembled and taken up in big chunks, which means shuttle which means a BILLION DOLLARS A FLIGHT for 50,000 pounds or so. What we need is 20 million a flight for 10,000 pounds and that would be achievable but "there is no urgent need for that" because -- well because the stupid space station ate it all. The shuttle and the space station ate the dream. Make no mistake about that. Those monsters need to GO and be replaced by smaller, operations driven, flexible re-usable designs.
- - -
In 1989 Gen. Daniel Graham, Max Hunter, and Jerry Pournelle went to then Chairman of the National Space Council VP Dan Quayle and persuaded him to start a small reusable rocket program. That became the DC/X and the concept was proved with 11 successful USAF flights before NASA took it over and destroyed in on the first flight, thus eliminating any threat to the Shuttle.
A fuller discussion of all of this by the same author is found here, entitled "Why Have NASA?"
But the bottom line is that NASA has gone the way of the boondoggle, and may in fact be committed to a body of technology that is in fact stopping us from getting the show on the road.
Gee, but this sounds very familiar in a slightly different context.
Understand, I want them to get going, and do it right. But are they going about it all wrong?
I'm not all that worried about the connection of MS to web bugs, etc. I am not even that sure that they are the largest benefactor, although this makes sense.
After all, they give me plenty else to worry about. (My thoughts here)
Don't worry, just a bad case of caffiene deficiency syndrome.
You realise that all that hardware that has all of that copy protection built in goes right buy the boards when anyone can create and print out un-authorized devices to do unauthorized things.
Come to think of it, this moves computer technolgy, such as creating machines to do "x, y, or z" into a freedom of the press realm.
The petty little potentates pop paranoia and profiteering must be trembling in hooror at this, once they figure it out and see it coming down the road.
The Slash dot story Ask Slashdot: Fair Compensation For Non-Compete Clauses? is fascinating and very relevant to this discussion. It cites the interaction between MS and a startup called Crosshair. You can read the story here.
Ths Section from the story is fascinating. It shows how MS not only uses non-compete clauses to stop people from leaving, but how they use it to enforce their monoply.
My initial reaction is not printable in a family oriented medium.
There's a saying in techdom about Microsoft: Don't moon the giant. Crossgain mooned Microsoft every which way. First, the ex-Microsofties poached some of their former colleagues to join them at the startup. Then they raised $10 million from investors, including The Barksdale Group, a venture firm run by Microsoft's chief nemesis at the antitrust trial, former Netscape Communications Corp. (AOL) CEO James Barksdale. A few months later, Crossgain named Mitchell Kertzman, an outspoken critic of Microsoft's business practices, a director. Kertzman is CEO of Liberate Technologies (LBRT), an interactive-TV software maker that competes fiercely with Microsoft interactive-TV technology
The last straw was Crossgain's decision to base its technology on non-Microsoft software. Instead of using such Microsoft products as the Windows 2000 operating system and SQL Server 2000 database package to develop its service, Crossgain opted for software made by rivals. ''It doesn't look very good for Microsoft if a company run by its former vice-president of developer relations is using software made by Oracle,'' says a former Microsoft executive.
With a potential lawsuit looming, Microsoft offered a deal, according to Crossgain and Microsoft. If Crossgain committed to building its service with Microsoft products, the company wouldn't pursue the noncompete claims. Crossgain sources say Microsoft specifically wanted to preclude the company from using Oracle database software. Microsoft sources deny that. Switching to Microsoft technologies meant huge delays and the loss of months of work for Crossgain, which hopes to launch its first service in March. But the deal also meant avoiding months, or perhaps years, of litigation with one of the wealthiest companies in the world. Crossgain execs thought they could win the litigation, but the time and expense to do it would be a huge drain.
[RANT]
It looks like what MS is doing my not be illegal, but that is only saying that the corporate equivalent of being a serial killer is not illegal. MS can intimidate, kill off, and consume their opposition because there is no law against being a monster. And the nicely legalistic judges say sorry, but they have to go free. Year after year the carnage goes on.
It is starting to look like MS is the Corporate Equivalent of Hannibal Lecter, in my opinion. And being rich, with all the lawyers, can make sure that such mass corporate murder and cannibalization is never made illegal. Again, in my opinion.
[/RANT]
Thank You for Your Support
Sounds like a good idea for a site, given the freshness of the movie in the minds of the public
Ths Section from the story is fascinating. It shows how MS not only uses Non-ompete clauses to stop people from leaving, but how they use it to enforce their monoply.
my reaction is not printable in a family oriented medium.
There's a saying in techdom about Microsoft: Don't moon the giant. Crossgain mooned Microsoft every which way. First, the ex-Microsofties poached some of their former colleagues to join them at the startup. Then they raised $10 million from investors, including The Barksdale Group, a venture firm run by Microsoft's chief nemesis at the antitrust trial, former Netscape Communications Corp. (AOL) CEO James Barksdale. A few months later, Crossgain named Mitchell Kertzman, an outspoken critic of Microsoft's business practices, a director. Kertzman is CEO of Liberate Technologies (LBRT), an interactive-TV software maker that competes fiercely with Microsoft interactive-TV technology
The last straw was Crossgain's decision to base its technology on non-Microsoft software. Instead of using such Microsoft products as the Windows 2000 operating system and SQL Server 2000 database package to develop its service, Crossgain opted for software made by rivals. ''It doesn't look very good for Microsoft if a company run by its former vice-president of developer relations is using software made by Oracle,'' says a former Microsoft executive.
With a potential lawsuit looming, Microsoft offered a deal, according to Crossgain and Microsoft. If Crossgain committed to building its service with Microsoft products, the company wouldn't pursue the noncompete claims. Crossgain sources say Microsoft specifically wanted to preclude the company from using Oracle database software. Microsoft sources deny that. Switching to Microsoft technologies meant huge delays and the loss of months of work for Crossgain, which hopes to launch its first service in March. But the deal also meant avoiding months, or perhaps years, of litigation with one of the wealthiest companies in the world. Crossgain execs thought they could win the litigation, but the time and expense to do it would be a huge drain.
The system is obviously open to abuse, and I am going to have to think long and hard on how best to sort this out.
Van Gogh just randomly placed Venus in some Absinth induced stupor a week after what was predicted.
What probably makes the painting communicate is that it rings true with one's own experience of a star filled night. Although these days, for most city folk, you need to get a hundred or so miles from the nearest large town. Many folks have never seen a star filled sky where everything is so bright that your mind boggles.
I mean, it was there when I saw it, and it was then when I posted to it on the front page, and now I can't find it any place in the system except by the direct link.
I thought my Meds were kinking in, but there it is.
1) The data stored in electronic format would disappear according to this scenario. The only thing that would survive would be in hard harcopy. Anything printed on non-=acid free papaer would fall apart in 50 to 100 years.
2) Aside from Survival, The first step is to transcribe what we know to none perishable media. Suddenly ship skins, copper plates, and the like become very interesting. We all become monks.
3) Basic industries such as engines, etc go back to their earlier mechanical basis. Things based on embedded computing break down.(??) Note that the MIR space fungus has very based effects on plastics. If this variety should become both muscular and viable on earth it could be a big headache, since it does BAD things to plastic.
4) Major Political upheavals as the consequences of Global warming kick in with moderate sea level rise (say 12 - 15 feet, or 4 meters), combined with population explosions, failure of computer control containment systems for biothreats, etc.
These and the collapse of the food distribution system means that populations drops (due to side effects) to at least half of what it was. Carnage all over the place - Being a computer geek monk in the hills suddenly becomes very appealing.
5) Watch out for the asteroids, while we are at it. Pick up Ham Radio, if possible.
Yes, Yes, Yes, I know the term "Prior Art" is used in the field of Patents to void applications for a patent, etc.
But it seems to me that this has some application here as well. Since the title Diablo does apply to something that is previously existing, and is arguably a work of art. Prior Art, if you will.
In a totally unrelated example, I recall reading someplace that someone in Moscow was marketing "Windows 98 Vodka" for a while. Now agreed, it had nothing to do with MS, it had nothing to do with software, etc. But why was that name chosen? to take advantadge of the free publicity of the software product. or something like that.
So it is just slightly conceivable that one company wants to take advantadge of the prior marketing efforts of another company in another field. Thank god we haven't seen a tv show called "Windows 2000". What would that be like? (I will pause for a moment while you let that trickle through your minds.)
In any case, I can see some company either innocently getting the movie mark, in which case, there is a conflict due to prior art. Or someone choosing to use the name, hoping to cash in on the name, but saying all along that they were innocent.
In an unrelated situation, Microsoft had to settle a case with some other company because that other company had the prior ownership of the name "Internet Explorer" and a product on the market before Microsoft did. They still had to settle it.
And there are a few other situations where trade marks had to be settled, never mind the situation with cybersquatters. For Example, there is that whole fiasco between EToys (NEWS FLASH -soon to be Bankrupt!) and the Artist collective EToy.
So there is alot to say about "prior art" when it comes to trademarks, and possible marketable ideas.
Re:Tech Supporters Have tried this....
on
Anticryptography
·
· Score: 2
No matter how simply i try to put things (I even managed to relate the different between RAM and HDD space to a board game)Someone can't make sense of it./me learns brain ASM to try to communicate with all the universally illiterate people.
Several thoughts off the top of my head, from when I used to do TS:
1) It seems you have to be much more expert to communicate something easily, instaed of just know how to do it. 2) You have to have a common reality to use as a communication medium. If you are not on the same wavelength, you will not connect. 3) You need to use analogies that are real, and easy to confront. My favorite is Your Computer is your Information Factory. Things, come in, things go out. Ram = The Workshop. HDD = The Ware House (This is even better in Windows because you can have building C, building D, etc)Why is Ram faster than HDD, because the Warehouse is on the other side of town. 4) when giving directions, always use precise directions, using the menus exclusivly, and never using shortscuts, do not use drag and drop. menus are your friend. Also, make them find it first, then tell them what to do. (Hands off the mouse please, and in your lap. Ok? good! Yes, NOW find that icon. Did you find it? Great! Take your right hand out of your Lap. OK? locate the mouse arrow so the point of the arrow is exactly in the middle of the picture, and do nothing else. Great! Now find the left mouse button. Ok? Great. Press slowly and gently on the left mouse button one time gently. Good!) The secret on this technique is to do one thing, and only one thing , with each intruction. NEVER COMBINE INSTRUCTIONS into a step. One thing at a time! 5) I have actually done this: Taken the person on a guided tour of their Keyboard, making THEM find the stuff not you. Of Course, the Computer is OFF at the time. Speeds things up tremendously ("Now find the key with the word enter on it, sir. Got it? Good!, now press it a couple of times. very good. Now find the Key with the letters ESC on it... [etc.]) The routine is like talking with a very very bright child. have them do it until their confidence improves.(!important point! no rushing it too much!) 6) Item #3 above aligns with the purpose of a computer, to get things done. And it is oversized, and easy to picture in the current culture. And your can visualize things like their letter to the editor as a giant slab that the workers have to weld letters onto. or whatever, make it a dramatic picture. Defragmentation is cleaning up the warehouse, and organizing it. Virtual ram is borrowing warehouse space, but it is much slower because the trucks keep going back and forth, etc. 7) Bottom line is to get into the head of the user and use images that are real to them. The image that I have used above is fairly workable for most folks.
The following two stories were found on the Computer Stupidities Webpage. Look under Hardware Abuse.
Note: These may be Urban Legends. But given my experience both in Tech Support, and Repair, I doubt it.
Story One
A friend of mine asked me to take a look at her computer. She said the computer was unusually "quiet" and would reboot itself on occasion. I surmised correctly that the fan on her power supply was faulty. She was a chain smoker and apparently smoked a lot while working on the computer; not only was the power supply fan gummed up with revolting tar and nicotine, but the CPU's cooling fan was clogged beyond use, and the cdrom drive drawer would not open. This is the only computer I have ever worked on that died from smoking.
Story Two
In reply to the above anecdote of stupidity, a reader sent in the following:
I've seen a computer die from smoking, too.
A customer came in with a dead computer, claimed it was under warranty, and asked if we could fix it. We had look at it, and before we even laid eyes on it, we could smell it. Imagine the stench of an overused ashtray times ten.
We looked at the yellow case (it was supposed to be beige) and the date of purchase (3-4 months previous) and goggled in disbelief that she actually had any lungs left.
"What are you doing with this computer?" I asked in total disbelief.
It was at a taxi service. She smoked, the cabbies smoked, and the room was apparently only about eight by twelve. Smoking took place 24/7 in this place, and her fingers and the computer bore witness. We opened the case, and there were visible deposits of brown tar everywhere. The whole thing was gummy and slimy inside.
We had to tell her she was on her own. Naturally, she countered with the "it's under warranty" argument, but the computer was well beyond that. She left quite mad. We insisted she take her computer with her when she left.
Final Note: Computers are not designed to be an airfilter for the entire smoking room. But they'll do, for a while.
Well, the major difficulty I see here is that they will have subtle problems trying to making it commercially viable, since they are robbing peter to pay paul, so to speak. They would never really get off the ground. They would have major hassles licensing it to a major player, for example.
Shannon was renowned for his eclectic interests and capabilities. A favorite story describes him juggling while riding a unicycle down the halls of Bell Labs.
And we wonder where people get the ideas to do things like this.
Obviously this sort of thing has a long standing tradition.
Well, if you look at the very end of the WSJ article, there is a table of thetop dozen or so companies in the field. Too bad they didn't provide links.
So it looks like it is growing, but not so much that we have to be worried about standards. YET.
Standards are going to be important. I would hate to imagine what would happen if you had multiple receptors from multiple companies that were not highly directional (like lasers, etc). The problems of crosstalk or interferance from competing systems in the same space would be rather bad.
heck, I wonder if they would be vulnerable to jamming?
Slashdot Mirror
I think it would be better if the view screen were paper thin and transparent. This way I could focus through it to the outside world if need be, and it would be less intrusive. Maybe something like a double blink to turn on/off the display.
Then it can used as a heads up targeting display, etc. In that kind of mode, a GUI is possibly the wrong angle, or else would have to be redesigned on rather different principles.
And let's face it, many companies are terrified of MS even hinting at coming into a market. It is enough to shatter any hope of venture capital. They are in mortal fear. The best many people can do, once that happens, is pick over the bones.
They will be in Pig latin, or some rot variant
if the NY Yankees not only competed in the game of baseball, but also acted so that they would always win the world series because they were literally the only team around, having bought out all the others, leveled the stadiums, then you would have an argument.
But The Yankess do not have a monopoly on baseball. If the Yankees had a monopoly on baseball, and wanted to extend it to football, or into other sports, then the analogy would fit. They don't, and it doesn't.
Your logic is fundamentally flawed due to the inappropriateness of the example.
But MS does have a monopoly on the OS market.
One Minor Point:
a Small to Medium Nuke blast a km or two away is survivable, even if in a mine shaft or a moderately deep underground bunker. Much closer, especially a bomb dropped into the mine shaft where someone is hiding is much nastier. Even with a long mine shaft.
That being said, what are the odds of someone like saddam or khadaffi being able to have super accurate missiles? there is a lot more to it than it first appears.
Looks like you would still have to be a rocket scientist, or more exactly, a satellite scientist, to know how to precisely use it.
but of course, they could do a rewrite of the protocols, but that could take a while.
Get everyone you know to send you a list of files/urls they want, and make you the download king. make sure these are all not well known, or are from secondary sources and archives. Make the list really long, and in random order. For example, program downloads not in archive format, but exploded in some directory someplace, and undocumented.
Then explain it as Research.
But is it just the picture of Companies that offer interesting technologies, or possible future competition to MS being bought out, with the technology dis-appearing (consumed, if you will) or otherwise killed off.
It is one thing to compete in the market place to make sure your product does well. It is another thing to want to kill off the competition.
Thus we get to the analogy of murder in the corporate sphere, where one company plans to kill off and destroy another; and deliberately plans to loot and otherwise consume the resources of the other.
The record of MS in this regard is less than stellar, in my opinion. Yes, there have been other companies that are also not so pure. and there certainly is no law against it.
But this does not stop me from stating my opinion regarding the aptness of the similarity in my eyes. This is in fact, in my opinion, Hannibal Like Behavior. We should discourage it. But how do we discourage hannibal from his ways?
This opens up a whole new view on corporate behavior, where virtual persons like corporations have the same responsibilities regarding other real and virtual persons, and are held to the same standards of behavior that ordinary citizens of the world are expected to maintain regarding themselves and others.
of course, the reaction on the other side of the fence is going to be panic, outrage, and smack this down NOW! Because to do otherwise requires recognizing some of the possible truth in the analogy in the first place.
Now I've calmed down abit since then, but I must say that there is a certain truth to it as far as their behavior in the market place. In my opinion. In any case, they display the behaviors that are very similar to a serial killer. In my opinion. This of course, does not make what they do illegal. I am sure they only have the good of mankind in mind, as far as they understand it.
The question I see here in this context is if Microsoft can be trusted, given their corporate culture, etc to do the right thing with SOAP. or will they somehow continue to try to make it an exclusive MS thing in the process, even if it breaks it?
Let's face it, a Microsoft *only* Internet is a broken Internet. In my opinion.
And besides, how much would you trust having someone like Hannibal Lecter in your life?
I expect a number of people will be distressed at this. I am not. The Space Station was an ill-designed nightmare. The US space program desperately needs on-orbit assembly capability. To do that we need space suits that don't require pre-breathing before use. NASA has known this for 20 years, and has had such suit designs available since 1980. I have a signature in my log book of a NASA test subject in a 12 psi above ambient suit, signed after about 6 hours in it, attesting to general comfort. Of course he was a 22 year old rigger not a 45 year old Ph.D. which is what NASA sends up. The whole manned space program is a shambles because we don't have decent suits.
Without on orbit assembly capability -- I mean real work in space done by riggers who can do a day's work -- things have to be pre-assembled and taken up in big chunks, which means shuttle which means a BILLION DOLLARS A FLIGHT for 50,000 pounds or so. What we need is 20 million a flight for 10,000 pounds and that would be achievable but "there is no urgent need for that" because -- well because the stupid space station ate it all. The shuttle and the space station ate the dream. Make no mistake about that. Those monsters need to GO and be replaced by smaller, operations driven, flexible re-usable designs.
- - -
In 1989 Gen. Daniel Graham, Max Hunter, and Jerry Pournelle went to then Chairman of the National Space Council VP Dan Quayle and persuaded him to start a small reusable rocket program. That became the DC/X and the concept was proved with 11 successful USAF flights before NASA took it over and destroyed in on the first flight, thus eliminating any threat to the Shuttle.
A fuller discussion of all of this by the same author is found here, entitled "Why Have NASA?"
But the bottom line is that NASA has gone the way of the boondoggle, and may in fact be committed to a body of technology that is in fact stopping us from getting the show on the road.
Gee, but this sounds very familiar in a slightly different context.
Understand, I want them to get going, and do it right. But are they going about it all wrong?
After all, they give me plenty else to worry about. (My thoughts here)
Don't worry, just a bad case of caffiene deficiency syndrome.
Come to think of it, this moves computer technolgy, such as creating machines to do "x, y, or z" into a freedom of the press realm.
The petty little potentates pop paranoia and profiteering must be trembling in hooror at this, once they figure it out and see it coming down the road.
This could be fun!
My initial reaction is not printable in a family oriented medium.
There's a saying in techdom about Microsoft: Don't moon the giant. Crossgain mooned Microsoft every which way. First, the ex-Microsofties poached some of their former colleagues to join them at the startup. Then they raised $10 million from investors, including The Barksdale Group, a venture firm run by Microsoft's chief nemesis at the antitrust trial, former Netscape Communications Corp. (AOL) CEO James Barksdale. A few months later, Crossgain named Mitchell Kertzman, an outspoken critic of Microsoft's business practices, a director. Kertzman is CEO of Liberate Technologies (LBRT), an interactive-TV software maker that competes fiercely with Microsoft interactive-TV technology
The last straw was Crossgain's decision to base its technology on non-Microsoft software. Instead of using such Microsoft products as the Windows 2000 operating system and SQL Server 2000 database package to develop its service, Crossgain opted for software made by rivals. ''It doesn't look very good for Microsoft if a company run by its former vice-president of developer relations is using software made by Oracle,'' says a former Microsoft executive.
With a potential lawsuit looming, Microsoft offered a deal, according to Crossgain and Microsoft. If Crossgain committed to building its service with Microsoft products, the company wouldn't pursue the noncompete claims. Crossgain sources say Microsoft specifically wanted to preclude the company from using Oracle database software. Microsoft sources deny that. Switching to Microsoft technologies meant huge delays and the loss of months of work for Crossgain, which hopes to launch its first service in March. But the deal also meant avoiding months, or perhaps years, of litigation with one of the wealthiest companies in the world. Crossgain execs thought they could win the litigation, but the time and expense to do it would be a huge drain.
[RANT]
It looks like what MS is doing my not be illegal, but that is only saying that the corporate equivalent of being a serial killer is not illegal. MS can intimidate, kill off, and consume their opposition because there is no law against being a monster. And the nicely legalistic judges say sorry, but they have to go free. Year after year the carnage goes on.
It is starting to look like MS is the Corporate Equivalent of Hannibal Lecter, in my opinion. And being rich, with all the lawyers, can make sure that such mass corporate murder and cannibalization is never made illegal. Again, in my opinion.
[/RANT]
Thank You for Your Support
Sounds like a good idea for a site, given the freshness of the movie in the minds of the public
my reaction is not printable in a family oriented medium.
There's a saying in techdom about Microsoft: Don't moon the giant. Crossgain mooned Microsoft every which way. First, the ex-Microsofties poached some of their former colleagues to join them at the startup. Then they raised $10 million from investors, including The Barksdale Group, a venture firm run by Microsoft's chief nemesis at the antitrust trial, former Netscape Communications Corp. (AOL) CEO James Barksdale. A few months later, Crossgain named Mitchell Kertzman, an outspoken critic of Microsoft's business practices, a director. Kertzman is CEO of Liberate Technologies (LBRT), an interactive-TV software maker that competes fiercely with Microsoft interactive-TV technology
The last straw was Crossgain's decision to base its technology on non-Microsoft software. Instead of using such Microsoft products as the Windows 2000 operating system and SQL Server 2000 database package to develop its service, Crossgain opted for software made by rivals. ''It doesn't look very good for Microsoft if a company run by its former vice-president of developer relations is using software made by Oracle,'' says a former Microsoft executive.
With a potential lawsuit looming, Microsoft offered a deal, according to Crossgain and Microsoft. If Crossgain committed to building its service with Microsoft products, the company wouldn't pursue the noncompete claims. Crossgain sources say Microsoft specifically wanted to preclude the company from using Oracle database software. Microsoft sources deny that. Switching to Microsoft technologies meant huge delays and the loss of months of work for Crossgain, which hopes to launch its first service in March. But the deal also meant avoiding months, or perhaps years, of litigation with one of the wealthiest companies in the world. Crossgain execs thought they could win the litigation, but the time and expense to do it would be a huge drain.
The system is obviously open to abuse, and I am going to have to think long and hard on how best to sort this out.
What probably makes the painting communicate is that it rings true with one's own experience of a star filled night. Although these days, for most city folk, you need to get a hundred or so miles from the nearest large town. Many folks have never seen a star filled sky where everything is so bright that your mind boggles.
But what I'm clueless about this time is about what happened to this article from earlier today:
Anti-Napster: What Will Happen Now?
I mean, it was there when I saw it, and it was then when I posted to it on the front page, and now I can't find it any place in the system except by the direct link.
I thought my Meds were kinking in, but there it is.
Ideas? (besides changing the drugs)
2) Aside from Survival, The first step is to transcribe what we know to none perishable media. Suddenly ship skins, copper plates, and the like become very interesting. We all become monks.
3) Basic industries such as engines, etc go back to their earlier mechanical basis. Things based on embedded computing break down.(??) Note that the MIR space fungus has very based effects on plastics. If this variety should become both muscular and viable on earth it could be a big headache, since it does BAD things to plastic.
4) Major Political upheavals as the consequences of Global warming kick in with moderate sea level rise (say 12 - 15 feet, or 4 meters), combined with population explosions, failure of computer control containment systems for biothreats, etc. These and the collapse of the food distribution system means that populations drops (due to side effects) to at least half of what it was. Carnage all over the place - Being a computer geek monk in the hills suddenly becomes very appealing.
5) Watch out for the asteroids, while we are at it. Pick up Ham Radio, if possible.
But it seems to me that this has some application here as well. Since the title Diablo does apply to something that is previously existing, and is arguably a work of art. Prior Art, if you will.
In a totally unrelated example, I recall reading someplace that someone in Moscow was marketing "Windows 98 Vodka" for a while. Now agreed, it had nothing to do with MS, it had nothing to do with software, etc. But why was that name chosen? to take advantadge of the free publicity of the software product. or something like that.
So it is just slightly conceivable that one company wants to take advantadge of the prior marketing efforts of another company in another field. Thank god we haven't seen a tv show called "Windows 2000". What would that be like? (I will pause for a moment while you let that trickle through your minds.)
In any case, I can see some company either innocently getting the movie mark, in which case, there is a conflict due to prior art. Or someone choosing to use the name, hoping to cash in on the name, but saying all along that they were innocent.
In an unrelated situation, Microsoft had to settle a case with some other company because that other company had the prior ownership of the name "Internet Explorer" and a product on the market before Microsoft did. They still had to settle it.
And there are a few other situations where trade marks had to be settled, never mind the situation with cybersquatters. For Example, there is that whole fiasco between EToys (NEWS FLASH -soon to be Bankrupt!) and the Artist collective EToy.
So there is alot to say about "prior art" when it comes to trademarks, and possible marketable ideas.
Several thoughts off the top of my head, from when I used to do TS:
1) It seems you have to be much more expert to communicate something easily, instaed of just know how to do it. ... [etc.]) The routine is like talking with a very very bright child. have them do it until their confidence improves.(!important point! no rushing it too much!)
2) You have to have a common reality to use as a communication medium. If you are not on the same wavelength, you will not connect.
3) You need to use analogies that are real, and easy to confront. My favorite is Your Computer is your Information Factory. Things, come in, things go out. Ram = The Workshop. HDD = The Ware House (This is even better in Windows because you can have building C, building D, etc)Why is Ram faster than HDD, because the Warehouse is on the other side of town.
4) when giving directions, always use precise directions, using the menus exclusivly, and never using shortscuts, do not use drag and drop. menus are your friend. Also, make them find it first, then tell them what to do. (Hands off the mouse please, and in your lap. Ok? good! Yes, NOW find that icon. Did you find it? Great! Take your right hand out of your Lap. OK? locate the mouse arrow so the point of the arrow is exactly in the middle of the picture, and do nothing else. Great! Now find the left mouse button. Ok? Great. Press slowly and gently on the left mouse button one time gently. Good!) The secret on this technique is to do one thing, and only one thing , with each intruction. NEVER COMBINE INSTRUCTIONS into a step. One thing at a time!
5) I have actually done this: Taken the person on a guided tour of their Keyboard, making THEM find the stuff not you. Of Course, the Computer is OFF at the time. Speeds things up tremendously ("Now find the key with the word enter on it, sir. Got it? Good!, now press it a couple of times. very good. Now find the Key with the letters ESC on it
6) Item #3 above aligns with the purpose of a computer, to get things done. And it is oversized, and easy to picture in the current culture. And your can visualize things like their letter to the editor as a giant slab that the workers have to weld letters onto. or whatever, make it a dramatic picture. Defragmentation is cleaning up the warehouse, and organizing it. Virtual ram is borrowing warehouse space, but it is much slower because the trucks keep going back and forth, etc.
7) Bottom line is to get into the head of the user and use images that are real to them. The image that I have used above is fairly workable for most folks.
Note: These may be Urban Legends. But given my experience both in Tech Support, and Repair, I doubt it.
Story One
A friend of mine asked me to take a look at her computer. She said the computer was unusually "quiet" and would reboot itself on occasion. I surmised correctly that the fan on her power supply was faulty. She was a chain smoker and apparently smoked a lot while working on the computer; not only was the power supply fan gummed up with revolting tar and nicotine, but the CPU's cooling fan was clogged beyond use, and the cdrom drive drawer would not open. This is the only computer I have ever worked on that died from smoking.
Story Two
In reply to the above anecdote of stupidity, a reader sent in the following:
I've seen a computer die from smoking, too.
A customer came in with a dead computer, claimed it was under warranty, and asked if we could fix it. We had look at it, and before we even laid eyes on it, we could smell it. Imagine the stench of an overused ashtray times ten.
We looked at the yellow case (it was supposed to be beige) and the date of purchase (3-4 months previous) and goggled in disbelief that she actually had any lungs left.
"What are you doing with this computer?" I asked in total disbelief.
It was at a taxi service. She smoked, the cabbies smoked, and the room was apparently only about eight by twelve. Smoking took place 24/7 in this place, and her fingers and the computer bore witness. We opened the case, and there were visible deposits of brown tar everywhere. The whole thing was gummy and slimy inside.
We had to tell her she was on her own. Naturally, she countered with the "it's under warranty" argument, but the computer was well beyond that. She left quite mad. We insisted she take her computer with her when she left.
Final Note: Computers are not designed to be an airfilter for the entire smoking room. But they'll do, for a while.
NB - Related Pages here and here
Well, the major difficulty I see here is that they will have subtle problems trying to making it commercially viable, since they are robbing peter to pay paul, so to speak. They would never really get off the ground. They would have major hassles licensing it to a major player, for example.
Moral/legal considerations aside.
And we wonder where people get the ideas to do things like this.
Obviously this sort of thing has a long standing tradition.
So it looks like it is growing, but not so much that we have to be worried about standards. YET.
Standards are going to be important. I would hate to imagine what would happen if you had multiple receptors from multiple companies that were not highly directional (like lasers, etc). The problems of crosstalk or interferance from competing systems in the same space would be rather bad.
heck, I wonder if they would be vulnerable to jamming?
Well here they are, including the original shockwave movie.
After that, you are on your own.
All Your Base Movie
http://www.thefever.com/AYB2.swf
Start
http://www.overclocked.org/OCzerowing.htm
Stillsh tml
http://www.planetstarseige.com/allyourbase/index.
Game FAQr o_ wing.txt
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/genesis/file/ze
Now please go away. [smile]