and don't publish your e-mail address, it's hardly noticeable.
This might be true for you, as a private entity. For me, running a business this is no option. I do have a website and the whole idea is to publish my contact information, with as little hassle as possible for prospects.
Do I publish my cell-phone # ? Sure as hell, no! But I make damn sure, that if you dial the business # published on the site is routed to my cell phone, if nobody is in the office with the caller not even noticing.
This is not so easy with an e-mail address: customer.FUCKOFFDIMMWITT.care@YESTHATMEANSYOUdomai n.ASSHOLE.com, doesn't really sound too professional, now does it ?
On a larger scale, EFF supports combatting spam by providing end-users with adequate tools to filter unwanted messages on the receiving end.
This is all fine and nice. It is a bit of a US centric view though, since (virtually) the rest of the world pays for their internet connection by the second.
So if I filter on my end, I still pay for the downloaded crap, despite the fact that I never (want to) see it. A powerful -, end user configurable filter directly at my ISP would be a different story.
I read a story in an economy mag about a small/medium company with a gegraphically limited scope, but an attractive product: In essence they have 90% of the Swiss POS card reader market.
During the dot.boom banks approached the CEO and tried to convince him to go public and to distribute the product in the whole European market.
All was ready and set, then after lots of talks and virtually in the last minute, the guy pulled out, because he figured that instead leading his small, but profitable business, he would be dealing in business lunches with share holders and invstors and that didn't appeal to him.
Needless to say that while the bank in question wasn't too happy, he's more then thrilled now, after everything crashed.
To the best of my knowledge that wasn't about the EULA per se, but about the right, to sell those pesky OEM copies of Windows for the right price.
The German supreme court decided, that MS has no right, to distinguish into retail- and OEM-copies, regardless how often they stamp Only for sale with a new computer on the package.
Might be one of the reasons, why MS introduced those wretched recovery CD's (yeah right, recovery)
However, the cartel comission is quite blind when it gets to nationality. Companies that where fined where all European. You could argue about Daimler-Chrysler, but their fine is not yet final.
The American merger they prevented was GE with Honeywell. This, because that would have a major impact on aircraft turbines.
Although such measures should be handled very carefully, and never as a market protective measure, it's nice to see that it's more difficult to buy EU politicians. Albeit they are lobbied of course.
They (the major labels) might be in rather hot water, if they circumvent such a decision, by distributing the content from, say, Sealand.
All majors either have major subsidiaries in Europe, or are European in the fisrst place.
The EU is quite powerfull in terms of monopolies (I think rightfully so). Ask companies like Volkswagen, Mercedes or Tetra Pack. They where all fined dozens of millions for abusing monopoly powers.
I don't think, that Mario Monti would consider this to be a funny prank if major companies just stick out their tongue on EU laws.
To me, this is one of the most objectionable parts of this sordid little tale. All the guff about "pre-loaded software" sounds very nice, but where on earth do I go to get a pre-built PC without pre-loaded software?!?
What irks me even more, then the software shoved down your throat, is the invention of the "recovery disk".
Now, I buy a fairly expensive Dell laptop, which gives me exactly two OS options:
Windoze 98 (or ME or SE, or whatthefuck) &
Windoze 2000
Now, being the corporate type with my own business, I orderer and paied for Windoze 2000, given that I might have to edit customer documentation. Now, you don't get what you pay for you get a pre-installed OS and a recovery-CD, which is rather binary, since it has two options:
Don't use it at all, or
Repartition the whole 20gig hard disk and install that damn sucker excatly the way it has been (without drivers, etc)
Since I absolutely need a dual boot, the CD I paied for is essentially worthless. So, I have to go out an buy a full retail copy of an OS, which I paied for already.
Nowadays Dell states in their ads, that its a recovery CD. They did not at that time.
The postscriptum is, that this is my very last Dell computer. I wrote them a letter, politely pointing out why I think this is a bad policy. They never bothered to even answer with a standard reply.
Since I think it's rude not to reply to a customer, who just invested $5'000.00 (yeah I know, small fish but nevertheless) Dell automatically goes to my "do-not-buy" list. This is also applicable if my business grows and I am a potentially interesting customer.
I know, that it's M$s bulk license requirements. But I still think OEMs are dead wrong to cheat their customers by providing useless OS medias for which the customer pays, just to save them a few bucks on the OS license.
Yes, I know that. However that doesn't exempt a corporation from illegal actions. Hacking my computer and potentially destroying data is an illegal act (just ask Mr. Ashcroft)
Officers of a corporation definitely can be held responsible to a certain degree. (It probably gets trickyer if some CORPORATE underling commitS a criminal act. But I'm no lawyer and we probably have different laws here anyway.
Hypothetical question: If the CEO of MediaMegacorp is held directly responsible if the Anti-Piracy unit hacks and destroys a compuiter of an innocent person (no naughty media files) and the CEO risks going to jail (life, no parol if ol' John has his way), would that CEO support snooping/hacking ?
A guy (guy1) is dragging two obviously heavy suitcases through a trainstation, puffing heavily. Another guy (guy2) stops him and the following dialogue evolves:
guy2: Excuse me sir, do you have the time
guy1: (dropping suitcases) Sure, it's 10:25am
guy2: Hey, that's a great watch. Seems to have some fancy stuff.
guy1: Yeah it does. It has a built in phone, the ability to send faxes and it can encrypt any communication with a 124000 bit key
guy2: (impressed) Wow, I'd like to buy that
guy1: that's not all. it also has built in gps and you can display any map, anywhere in the world with your current position on the display.
guy2: I really have to have this watch
guy1: It further has the built in time tables of any public transportation anywhere in the world. Also, it manages your investments, calms down your spouse and boils a perfect tea, warns you of earthquakes and wins the lottery. I also plan to implement beaming capabilities, you know, like in Startrek.
guy2: OK, I give you 1'000$
guy1: This is impossible sir, it's a prototype. Building it cost me well over 10'000$.
And so they haggle for quite some time until they finally agree on a price of 25'000$. Guy2 hands over the money, wears the watch, has a proud smile on his face and walks away.
The seller with obvious effort lifts the two suitcases and yells:
I reply to you, but include the whole lot that jumped in with advise.
What I guess happened, is that the initial success of upgrading from 2.2.x to 2.4.x somehow steamed into my head. And after I had 2.4.x successfully running, I never really bothered to go through all the config options again.
Obviously that works fine to a point, but only to a point.
So, I'll do it with the make oldconfig from scratch.
Thanks to everybody who contributed, you live and learn...
BTW: The compelling reason is the HP82xx CD writer, which apparently has to either be patched in, or is hopefully supported in 2.4.12 without too much pain.
While up and including 2.4.9 everything appeared to be really hunky-dory, compilation of 2.4.10 /.11 can only be described as a miserable failure to some degree.
I'm aware that this is not the KernelCrisis hotline; however, since it doesn't appear to be offtopic and it really bugs me and there's a heap of wizzards in here, I'd like to find out more.
Usually, when a new kernel is out, I download the patch, apply it, use the most recent config file, which I go through some, but not necessary through all umpteen options and this usually worked just fine. It doesn't anymore since 2.4.10. From aborting compilations for strange missing files, up to USB race conditions and kernels which if they boot at all, sputter all sorts of gibberish, I've seen it all.
Any suggestions where to look ? Could it be that gcc 2.95.x is really too buggy and why suddenly.
I don't really have the expertise to up/downgrade the compiler and the related libraries. So, I'd be really thankful for each and every hint.
how do you expect to get customers to keep coming to your store if you can't track them?
How about this for a novel concept: Sell things for an everyday low price.
There where I live, some shops have an even more revolutionary concept. It's called service and quality.
See, there's the cheese speciality store around the corner. It's not huge in terms of choice, but the products they have are mind blowing. This is because the owner knows his suppliers for decades and he knows and loves the produce he sells. Since it's a speciality store, prices are (rightfully) ~30% higher then for a comparable (but not equal) product in a supermarket.
Then there's the butcher in walking distance. The guy knows about his stuff and he knows his suppliers. You can be reasonably sure, not to get hormone infested meat (illegal anyway in Europe), or meat from anymals fed with GM grain at his store. You can even be reasonably sure, that the chickens where free roaming and the beef is not factory meat. This comes at a price of course, but is well worth it.
It's not always about getting a 30 oz' coke for just 30 cents, or stuffing more, more, more into yourself. Price is not always the issue (admitted, when you have a family to feed on a mediocre income, attitudes might change). I still rather eat less eggs, but they are real eggs, then stuffing industrial crap into my body, just because it's cheap.
Oh, and of course those merchants don't accept any cards, let alone distribute them...
It's even worse, when those marketing geezers working for big companies are convinced, that their 4.8 Mb PowerPoint presentation about the new and revolutionary Realtime Widget Deployer, is of great interest to half the company.
When you're on the road a lot and your only access is 28.8k modem via a crappy phone line, you could kill those fscking morons; literally.
At any point that I am walking down a public street, a salesman could approach me and launch right into a sales pitch. I can dodge around him, turn, say no, something like that...but it's still going to change my initial plan of walking uninhibited down the street.
Yeah, you can dodge around him; after parting with 10 $ to make him go away.
Probably most worldwide internet users use a PPP connection and pay a per minute charge to be informed about herbal viagra, penis extension pills, or Britney Spears nudie pics.
You sir, have quite an egoistic me-me view on the subject.
Slashdot Mirror
Not in Europe. Thankfully nobody gets billed for receiving calls here (some pre-payed card operators might, but it's not the rule).
Thanks for the offer, but it's probably just too much hassle in that specific case.
You might consider poting it anyway, just in case it does some good to another fellow /.er.
This might be true for you, as a private entity. For me, running a business this is no option. I do have a website and the whole idea is to publish my contact information, with as little hassle as possible for prospects.
Do I publish my cell-phone # ? Sure as hell, no! But I make damn sure, that if you dial the business # published on the site is routed to my cell phone, if nobody is in the office with the caller not even noticing.
This is not so easy with an e-mail address: customer.FUCKOFFDIMMWITT.care@YESTHATMEANSYOUdomai n.ASSHOLE.com, doesn't really sound too professional, now does it ?
Does that mean then, that I can finally smoke a spliff, when visiting America ?
I mean, there's hardly anything more peaceful, then Marijuana and it sure as hell is a biological agent...
This is all fine and nice. It is a bit of a US centric view though, since (virtually) the rest of the world pays for their internet connection by the second.
So if I filter on my end, I still pay for the downloaded crap, despite the fact that I never (want to) see it. A powerful -, end user configurable filter directly at my ISP would be a different story.
They are probably referring to their own bloa^H^H^H^H er! feature packed products.
During the dot.boom banks approached the CEO and tried to convince him to go public and to distribute the product in the whole European market.
All was ready and set, then after lots of talks and virtually in the last minute, the guy pulled out, because he figured that instead leading his small, but profitable business, he would be dealing in business lunches with share holders and invstors and that didn't appeal to him.
Needless to say that while the bank in question wasn't too happy, he's more then thrilled now, after everything crashed.
Good for him and his employees, I thinkg.
The German supreme court decided, that MS has no right, to distinguish into retail- and OEM-copies, regardless how often they stamp Only for sale with a new computer on the package.
Might be one of the reasons, why MS introduced those wretched recovery CD's (yeah right, recovery)
Sure have to agree with that.
However, the cartel comission is quite blind when it gets to nationality. Companies that where fined where all European. You could argue about Daimler-Chrysler, but their fine is not yet final.
The American merger they prevented was GE with Honeywell. This, because that would have a major impact on aircraft turbines.
Although such measures should be handled very carefully, and never as a market protective measure, it's nice to see that it's more difficult to buy EU politicians. Albeit they are lobbied of course.
All majors either have major subsidiaries in Europe, or are European in the fisrst place.
The EU is quite powerfull in terms of monopolies (I think rightfully so). Ask companies like Volkswagen, Mercedes or Tetra Pack. They where all fined dozens of millions for abusing monopoly powers.
I don't think, that Mario Monti would consider this to be a funny prank if major companies just stick out their tongue on EU laws.
What irks me even more, then the software shoved down your throat, is the invention of the "recovery disk".
Now, I buy a fairly expensive Dell laptop, which gives me exactly two OS options:
Windoze 98 (or ME or SE, or whatthefuck) &
Windoze 2000
Now, being the corporate type with my own business, I orderer and paied for Windoze 2000, given that I might have to edit customer documentation. Now, you don't get what you pay for you get a pre-installed OS and a recovery-CD, which is rather binary, since it has two options:
Don't use it at all, or
Repartition the whole 20gig hard disk and install that damn sucker excatly the way it has been (without drivers, etc)
Since I absolutely need a dual boot, the CD I paied for is essentially worthless. So, I have to go out an buy a full retail copy of an OS, which I paied for already.
Nowadays Dell states in their ads, that its a recovery CD. They did not at that time.
The postscriptum is, that this is my very last Dell computer. I wrote them a letter, politely pointing out why I think this is a bad policy. They never bothered to even answer with a standard reply.
Since I think it's rude not to reply to a customer, who just invested $5'000.00 (yeah I know, small fish but nevertheless) Dell automatically goes to my "do-not-buy" list. This is also applicable if my business grows and I am a potentially interesting customer.
I know, that it's M$s bulk license requirements. But I still think OEMs are dead wrong to cheat their customers by providing useless OS medias for which the customer pays, just to save them a few bucks on the OS license.
It's usually quite effective to advise such folks to fuck off. But then I don't get that much of their attention.
Officers of a corporation definitely can be held responsible to a certain degree. (It probably gets trickyer if some CORPORATE underling commitS a criminal act. But I'm no lawyer and we probably have different laws here anyway.
Hypothetical question: If the CEO of MediaMegacorp is held directly responsible if the Anti-Piracy unit hacks and destroys a compuiter of an innocent person (no naughty media files) and the CEO risks going to jail (life, no parol if ol' John has his way), would that CEO support snooping/hacking ?
What is most disturbing however, is that those folks are not responsible for consequential damage, according to the article.
Uuups, sorry we trashed your hard disk. Here's a 3$ off voucher for the new Britney Spears CD.
If a web site defacer could wind up in jail for life, then the same measures should apply to corporate entities.
guy2: Excuse me sir, do you have the time
guy1: (dropping suitcases) Sure, it's 10:25am guy2: Hey, that's a great watch. Seems to have some fancy stuff. guy1: Yeah it does. It has a built in phone, the ability to send faxes and it can encrypt any communication with a 124000 bit key guy2: (impressed) Wow, I'd like to buy that guy1: that's not all. it also has built in gps and you can display any map, anywhere in the world with your current position on the display. guy2: I really have to have this watch guy1: It further has the built in time tables of any public transportation anywhere in the world. Also, it manages your investments, calms down your spouse and boils a perfect tea, warns you of earthquakes and wins the lottery. I also plan to implement beaming capabilities, you know, like in Startrek. guy2: OK, I give you 1'000$ guy1: This is impossible sir, it's a prototype. Building it cost me well over 10'000$.And so they haggle for quite some time until they finally agree on a price of 25'000$. Guy2 hands over the money, wears the watch, has a proud smile on his face and walks away.
The seller with obvious effort lifts the two suitcases and yells:
Hey man, don't forget the batteries...
CREATE TABLE id (
card_id CHAR(255),CREATE TABLE crime_tab (
card_id CHAR(255),No need to thank me for this public service to the american people and the oracle corporation.
The card use option. (30k per pocket)
The internet option (250000k, if you want to show the card to a representative of an entity that runs a website)
A backup license for your card data (it's hefty with 490k, but you need it. Since you're a terrorist, when you lose your data)
documentation (10k, per pocket + 25 k flat for the internet option) and
maintenance fee 220k per year, flat.
If yoy want the card in a color of choice, that's $15 extra...
What I guess happened, is that the initial success of upgrading from 2.2.x to 2.4.x somehow steamed into my head. And after I had 2.4.x successfully running, I never really bothered to go through all the config options again.
Obviously that works fine to a point, but only to a point.
So, I'll do it with the make oldconfig from scratch.
Thanks to everybody who contributed, you live and learn...
BTW: The compelling reason is the HP82xx CD writer, which apparently has to either be patched in, or is hopefully supported in 2.4.12 without too much pain.
I'm aware that this is not the KernelCrisis hotline; however, since it doesn't appear to be offtopic and it really bugs me and there's a heap of wizzards in here, I'd like to find out more.
Usually, when a new kernel is out, I download the patch, apply it, use the most recent config file, which I go through some, but not necessary through all umpteen options and this usually worked just fine. It doesn't anymore since 2.4.10. From aborting compilations for strange missing files, up to USB race conditions and kernels which if they boot at all, sputter all sorts of gibberish, I've seen it all.
Any suggestions where to look ? Could it be that gcc 2.95.x is really too buggy and why suddenly.
I don't really have the expertise to up/downgrade the compiler and the related libraries. So, I'd be really thankful for each and every hint.
As long you adhered to the calling standards, you could mix and match languages to your hearts desire.
Oh, and some of the programming tools at that time (LSE, SCA, CMS, symbolic debugger, etc...) would still kick ass nowadays.
Of course the world wasn't that GUI focused then
There where I live, some shops have an even more revolutionary concept. It's called service and quality.
See, there's the cheese speciality store around the corner. It's not huge in terms of choice, but the products they have are mind blowing. This is because the owner knows his suppliers for decades and he knows and loves the produce he sells. Since it's a speciality store, prices are (rightfully) ~30% higher then for a comparable (but not equal) product in a supermarket.
Then there's the butcher in walking distance. The guy knows about his stuff and he knows his suppliers. You can be reasonably sure, not to get hormone infested meat (illegal anyway in Europe), or meat from anymals fed with GM grain at his store. You can even be reasonably sure, that the chickens where free roaming and the beef is not factory meat. This comes at a price of course, but is well worth it.
It's not always about getting a 30 oz' coke for just 30 cents, or stuffing more, more, more into yourself. Price is not always the issue (admitted, when you have a family to feed on a mediocre income, attitudes might change). I still rather eat less eggs, but they are real eggs, then stuffing industrial crap into my body, just because it's cheap.
Oh, and of course those merchants don't accept any cards, let alone distribute them...
When you're on the road a lot and your only access is 28.8k modem via a crappy phone line, you could kill those fscking morons; literally.
Yeah, you can dodge around him; after parting with 10 $ to make him go away.
Probably most worldwide internet users use a PPP connection and pay a per minute charge to be informed about herbal viagra, penis extension pills, or Britney Spears nudie pics.
You sir, have quite an egoistic me-me view on the subject.
No need to thank me...
I wonder if VoiceStream is conspiring with those marketing type geezers that send 8 Mb PowerPoint(tm) presentations to half the company...
They are in the process of switching their desktops from SGI to Linux right now. Timescale: A few month (and a lot of work beforehand).
Source: The Dreamworks CTO at a presentation at San Franciscos LinuxWorld