I have no mod points, but this comment deserves them....
In this case, the facts would be well documented and verifiable, a strong libel defense.
However, the substantive possible fallout could be that other companies might be leery of working with you. They could be afraid you would publicize all the bugs in the code you produced for them, etc. Just something to think about.
Look I know it is trendy to treat any relationship as a partnership but (speaking as an attorney) it just isn't.
While it is true that response is explicitly labeled as legal advice (see the "speaking as an attorney" part) it would be prudent to treat this as just another dubious post on Slashdot. If this poster is, in fact, an attorney, I would be inclined to avoid accepting his or her services based on this uninformed advice.
When you have a problem with Piquepaille's posts ; Just don't read them, thus not giving him any ad-revenues.
That's a fair comment; though this is the first click I've ever made to his blog.
However, I wasn't entirely joking about the suggestion of formally adding him to the Slashdot staff. He actually does a better job of exactly what the Slashdot editors are supposed to do.
Various posts have appeared recently concerning the frequent appearance of articles like this one, submitted by Roland Piquepaille, containing links to what appears to be sparsely annotated collection text and images copied from other sources.
It appears that Roland is successfully using Slashdot to generate advertising revenue for this "blog" (which sadly seems to have marginally higher editing standards than Slashdot itself). Perhaps he should be formally added to the Slashdot staff and made an editor instead of paying him informally in this way.
The result might be improved Slashdot editing, and fewer links to a mediocre blog.
Yes, sue. Take us for all we're worth. That should amount to slightly less than nothing...;-P
A word of caution:
Don't taunt the animals. If you have ever been involved in or observed divorce proceedings, you should already be aware that the legal process is frequently used by its participants as a means of punishment, rather than a source of revenue. The fact that you don't currently have money doesn't protect you from being the victim of some well-funded person or lawyer with a desire for retribution.
If you're dealing with someone who has the foresight to use an EMP pulse, and has the equipment necessary to do it, you have bigger things to worry about.
On the other hand, if you think the person who believes his enemy will be so equipped might worry about bigger things, you don't understand the person in question.
That's one of the biggest differences between man and man-made machines. People can be injured and keep going (watch any Arnold movie). A machine, on the other hand, is pretty much all or nothing (except in Arnold movies).
After I learn all about biology by watching Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Total Recall", I plan to learn all about space travel by watching Bruce Willis in "Armageddon".
As the parent post implies, hardware that could manage your workload a year ago will still be able to manage the same load next year. Most servers are far overpowered for their workloads in various respects.
However, if the demands on your system increase, you may find that buying yesteryear's hardware on eBay to replace the used hardware you bought a year ago can be more costly in both time and money than buying new kit and keeping it for a few years.
Okay, let's get back on topic. I fed the parent post into Diebold's equivalent of IBM's fancy technology and asked it to provide an appropriate response. Here's what I got:
------------------
There are other countries besides America. Their parties are usually not called "Republicans" and "Democrats" - and don't even necessarily correspond to those American parties. The non-American countries also hold views about Iraq. Many also write in English (UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, also India, the largest democracy in the world...)
What a pile of pinko, left-wing, pansy-assed, New York propaganda. Everyone knows the Good Ol' US of A is the only real country. Don't try to pull that "there are other countries" crap or we'll kick your sorry nation's ass just like we did back in 'Nam. Oh, and Iraq, too; we really kicked some major terrorist ass there. And your anti-Republican propaganda means you're definitely a terrorist.
Also remember: the US accounts for just 5% of the world's population. The rest of us are 95%. You are outnumbered. Even the Internet is becoming less American day by day. And as for the web, it wasn't even invented by Americans or in America (it is a European invention).
Now, that's right out of the Democrats party thing where they say what they say about stuff. Damn, Democrats are stupid; Everyone knows that the US is, like, the third biggest country. That means the US is AT LEAST a third of the world's population. Except Africa, but they don't count, 'cuz they all live in huts and eat dried camel poo.
Oh, and I wouldn't be bragging about the web being a European invention, because it wasn't. Besides, if it was, the web sucks anyway, so why are you bragging about it? -----------------
Take CSI: although I can't let a show go by without SOME remark about the ridiculous hollywood technology, the characters are all intelligent individuals with complex personalities and motivations.
Just an aside: In every episode I have seen (though I am not an obsessive watcher) the technology on CSI is real-world, not Hollywood. The application in the show may at times be unrealistic, and some stuff may be done solely because it looks cool, but it is not made-up technology.
In any case, I agree with your assessment of the characters; the writing for CSI is excellent.
Al Gore, who claimed to have unearthed the Love Canal scandal, has ties to Ocidental Petroleum. Hooker Chemical Co., the firm that paid millions of dollars in fines for polluting Love Canal was a subsidiary of Occidental, purchased in 1969. At that time, insider Al Gore Sr. took advantage of a stock offer, well below market value, and scarfed up thousands of shares of Hooker Chemical.
Occidental bought Hooker chem, the Gore's are neck deep in Occidental stock. Then Gore "found" love canal.
According to your logic, IF Dow is responsible, it could be said that Gore is responsible for Love Canal.
Actually, in spite of the failure to apply logic in this argument, this raises an interesting point. Although corporations are held to some semblance of accountability, stockholders in those companies who knowingly benefit from their illegal behaviour are rarely (if ever) held accountable at all.
The true accountability for which this post appears to argue would require attention to the major stockholders in addition to occupants of the boardroom.
The cards only work from a max of 20cm away. If you put a square of aluminum foil behind the card in the holder, you have to actually rub the card on the reader to get it to work. If you put aluminum foil on both sides (even if it's not totally sealed) it won't read at all even if you rub it around on the reader.
Now you tell me. Just after I used up all my aluminum foil making hats.
I know an examiner who has a graduate degree in both nuclear physics and electrical engineering, and I wouldn't even bother asking what undergrad degrees he has - and this guy doesn't even have the authority to issue a patent. I hold two BS degrees, and if I advance as fast as possible, it will be over half a decade before I can issue a patent myself.
Hmmm.... Well, based on your description, "half a decade" sounds like: 1) only five years, and 2) not long enough.
If I understand you correctly, people who do have the authority to issue patents have the choice of either: 1) issuing many patents that will not stand up under scrutiny of somebody who actually is knowledgable in the relevant area, or 2) trying to get a possibly less secure academic or private sector job for which there is considerably more competition.
I do understand that with two BS degrees one might consider oneself especially qualified to BS.
So, I return to my previous point. IBM isn't serious about open source not matter how much unprofitable junk they release.
If we understand the essence of your comment, Mr. Schwartz, you believe that a product that is release under a Free Software license is by definition "unprofitable junk". Opinion noted. Thank you, and have a nice day.
How is this any different from the posting just a few short hours ago about this exact same thing ?
Only a complete N00B wouldn't understand this. Well, I'm a nice guy, so I'll explain the obvious and profound difference:
The previous article was posted by CmdrTaco, whereas this article was posted by michael. Isn't that enough?
I know, this may make it seem as if these aren't really different stories, and the Slashdot "editors" are just a bunch of buffoons. Well, if you're going to believe that, I'm not sure I'm up to the task of disillusioning you. Otherwise, you will understand the clear difference I'm talking about, and respect the editorial decisions made by these seasoned and professional journalists.
Bottom line: HL2 is going to be delayed until this is resolved.
Recent history anyone?
SCO: IBM must immediately stop shipping AIX, because it is in violation of our contract.
IBM: Err... whatever. We're still selling AIX.
In reality, even if VUG wins their counterclaims, the release of HL 2 will almost certainly not be affected; at worst (for Valve) they'd have to compensate VUG for lost retail sales.
Absolutely correct. We really need to get the message out that all people who want to get rid of George W. Bush should vote for Michael "Not Bush" Badnarik, the freedom candidate.
Likewise, we really need to get the message out that all the people who want to avoid the presidency of John Kerry should vote for Ralph "Not Kerry" Nader, the true freedom candidate.
My name is George Bush and I approvify this message
[snip]...but I think the simple fact that being a professional author, programmer, musician or artist would be near impossible otherwise is a fairly compelling argument.
Pathetic. Three false out of four:
1. Many programmers make a living by providing software as a service, not a product. 2. The vast majority of musicians make their living by performance, not recording (I don't know what kind of "every musician is a rock star with a big record label contract" fantasy world you live in.) 3. Most art considered valuable by collectors is original (sorry, if your "art" sucks so much that nobody considers it collectible, you don't deserve to make a living selling a buttload of copies of it.)
It is a fact that professional authors need copyright to protect their ability to make money.
Quite insightful, generally, but overlooking two of the major aspects of the discussion of "Liberals" and "Conservatives" in the US (and, I expect, elsewhere):
1. As idiotic as it may sound, in the US, "Liberal" is a synonym for "Democrat" and "Conservative" is a synonym for "Republican". (Elsewhere, I understand, the party names are differenct, but the effect is the same.) This means that those labeled as "Liberal" are frequently not at all what a dictionary would discribe as liberal, and those who are labeled "Conservative" are usually completely opposed to conservative approaches to government.
2. People view the "Liberals" and "Conservatives" as if they were football teams. If you are a fan of the "Liberals", you root for the Democrats in every contest. If you are a "Conservative", any ongoing productive relationship with a Democrat will have you branded a traitor to the Republican party. In either case, if you don't follow the party leader's guidance exactly, you will be shunned, even if you continue to wear your team's logo merchandise and participate in team events (see John McCain and Joe Lieberman).
The only thing more detestable to either a "Conser vative"/Republican or a "Liberal"/Democrat than the opposing party is a another party altogether (e.g. Libertarian, Green, etc.) Those are considered "outsiders" and "losers" who "don't understand/belong in the [so-called] two-party system".
In short, most people are neither aware of, nor interested in, the issues affect them most. They are simply concerned with whether their "team" gets to take home the trophy at the end of the season.
If you read this entire post, there may be an extremely small chance that this does not describe your behaviour.
a company back in profit, with billions of financial assets: SUNW Earnings Per Share: -0.119
4Q Earnings after $1.9 billion from MS: $795 million
Regarding 4Q profit: "Excluding one-time items, the network-computer and software company lost $169 million, or 5 cents a share" - CBS MarketWatch
Java, which is now the most widely requested used development language My understanding is that Visual Basic is still the most widely used development language. Unless... perhaps you are confusing Java with C#?
Linux is a superb system, and deservedly successful, but its hardly revolutionary.... just a damn good implementation of Unix. Linux is not an "implementation of UNIX(TM)" according to The Open Group, who owns the UNIX(TM) trademark and certification.
You politically-correct idiot! From EnglishPlus.com - In standard written English the possessive pronoun his is used to refer to a singular indefinite pronoun...
If you don't like English, choose another language. But don't bastardize my language with your silly PC-speak.
Perhaps, my reactionary friend, you should consider that the poster may have been referring to an undefined female user. Furthermore, your complaint implies that you would prefer that the English language be static, not permitting the "bastardization" of the language by introduction of such non-words as "PC-speak". (Or were you intentionally being funny? If so, I apologize; my ability to detect humour sometimes fails me in my old age.)
Coronas and bloom can be seen through human eyes easily, the former in a foggy area and the latter on very bright lights.
Is this a joke? That couldn't be farther from the truth!
Everyone knows that Coronas can most easily be seen in clear weather at supermarkets, beaches, and bars all across the Southwestern United States. Bloom, however, can frequently be seen in dark theaters showing the "Lord of the Rings", "Pirates of the Caribbean", and "Troy".
Slashdot Mirror
It's not libel if it's true, it's news.
I have no mod points, but this comment deserves them....
In this case, the facts would be well documented and verifiable, a strong libel defense.
However, the substantive possible fallout could be that other companies might be leery of working with you. They could be afraid you would publicize all the bugs in the code you produced for them, etc. Just something to think about.
Look I know it is trendy to treat any relationship as a partnership but (speaking as an attorney) it just isn't.
While it is true that response is explicitly labeled as legal advice (see the "speaking as an attorney" part) it would be prudent to treat this as just another dubious post on Slashdot. If this poster is, in fact, an attorney, I would be inclined to avoid accepting his or her services based on this uninformed advice.
When you have a problem with Piquepaille's posts ; Just don't read them, thus not giving him any ad-revenues.
That's a fair comment; though this is the first click I've ever made to his blog.
However, I wasn't entirely joking about the suggestion of formally adding him to the Slashdot staff. He actually does a better job of exactly what the Slashdot editors are supposed to do.
Perhaps this is a bit off-topic, but...
Various posts have appeared recently concerning the frequent appearance of articles like this one, submitted by Roland Piquepaille, containing links to what appears to be sparsely annotated collection text and images copied from other sources.
It appears that Roland is successfully using Slashdot to generate advertising revenue for this "blog" (which sadly seems to have marginally higher editing standards than Slashdot itself). Perhaps he should be formally added to the Slashdot staff and made an editor instead of paying him informally in this way.
The result might be improved Slashdot editing, and fewer links to a mediocre blog.
Yes, sue. Take us for all we're worth. That should amount to slightly less than nothing... ;-P
A word of caution:
Don't taunt the animals. If you have ever been involved in or observed divorce proceedings, you should already be aware that the legal process is frequently used by its participants as a means of punishment, rather than a source of revenue. The fact that you don't currently have money doesn't protect you from being the victim of some well-funded person or lawyer with a desire for retribution.
If you're dealing with someone who has the foresight to use an EMP pulse, and has the equipment necessary to do it, you have bigger things to worry about.
On the other hand, if you think the person who believes his enemy will be so equipped might worry about bigger things, you don't understand the person in question.
That's one of the biggest differences between man and man-made machines. People can be injured and keep going (watch any Arnold movie). A machine, on the other hand, is pretty much all or nothing (except in Arnold movies).
After I learn all about biology by watching Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Total Recall", I plan to learn all about space travel by watching Bruce Willis in "Armageddon".
As the parent post implies, hardware that could manage your workload a year ago will still be able to manage the same load next year. Most servers are far overpowered for their workloads in various respects.
However, if the demands on your system increase, you may find that buying yesteryear's hardware on eBay to replace the used hardware you bought a year ago can be more costly in both time and money than buying new kit and keeping it for a few years.
Okay, let's get back on topic. I fed the parent post into Diebold's equivalent of IBM's fancy technology and asked it to provide an appropriate response. Here's what I got:
...)
------------------
There are other countries besides America. Their parties are usually not called "Republicans" and "Democrats" - and don't even necessarily correspond to those American parties. The non-American countries also hold views about Iraq. Many also write in English (UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, also India, the largest democracy in the world
What a pile of pinko, left-wing, pansy-assed, New York propaganda. Everyone knows the Good Ol' US of A is the only real country. Don't try to pull that "there are other countries" crap or we'll kick your sorry nation's ass just like we did back in 'Nam. Oh, and Iraq, too; we really kicked some major terrorist ass there. And your anti-Republican propaganda means you're definitely a terrorist.
Also remember: the US accounts for just 5% of the world's population. The rest of us are 95%. You are outnumbered. Even the Internet is becoming less American day by day. And as for the web, it wasn't even invented by Americans or in America (it is a European invention).
Now, that's right out of the Democrats party thing where they say what they say about stuff. Damn, Democrats are stupid; Everyone knows that the US is, like, the third biggest country. That means the US is AT LEAST a third of the world's population. Except Africa, but they don't count, 'cuz they all live in huts and eat dried camel poo.
Oh, and I wouldn't be bragging about the web being a European invention, because it wasn't. Besides, if it was, the web sucks anyway, so why are you bragging about it?
-----------------
Take CSI: although I can't let a show go by without SOME remark about the ridiculous hollywood technology, the characters are all intelligent individuals with complex personalities and motivations.
Just an aside: In every episode I have seen (though I am not an obsessive watcher) the technology on CSI is real-world, not Hollywood. The application in the show may at times be unrealistic, and some stuff may be done solely because it looks cool, but it is not made-up technology.
In any case, I agree with your assessment of the characters; the writing for CSI is excellent.
Okay, this is off-topic; my apologies.
Their car reviews, for example, weigh reliability so high that someone with a preference for performance might not get much out of their reviews....
Excellent point; I totally agree. We have an excellent publication in "Consumer Reports". Anyone willing to start up "Enthusiast Reports"?
Al Gore, who claimed to have unearthed the Love Canal scandal, has ties to Ocidental Petroleum. Hooker Chemical Co., the firm that paid millions of dollars in fines for polluting Love Canal was a subsidiary of Occidental, purchased in 1969. At that time, insider Al Gore Sr. took advantage of a stock offer, well below market value, and scarfed up thousands of shares of Hooker Chemical.
Occidental bought Hooker chem, the Gore's are neck deep in Occidental stock. Then Gore "found" love canal.
According to your logic, IF Dow is responsible, it could be said that Gore is responsible for Love Canal.
Actually, in spite of the failure to apply logic in this argument, this raises an interesting point. Although corporations are held to some semblance of accountability, stockholders in those companies who knowingly benefit from their illegal behaviour are rarely (if ever) held accountable at all.
The true accountability for which this post appears to argue would require attention to the major stockholders in addition to occupants of the boardroom.
The cards only work from a max of 20cm away. If you put a square of aluminum foil behind the card in the holder, you have to actually rub the card on the reader to get it to work. If you put aluminum foil on both sides (even if it's not totally sealed) it won't read at all even if you rub it around on the reader.
Now you tell me. Just after I used up all my aluminum foil making hats.
I know an examiner who has a graduate degree in both nuclear physics and electrical engineering, and I wouldn't even bother asking what undergrad degrees he has - and this guy doesn't even have the authority to issue a patent. I hold two BS degrees, and if I advance as fast as possible, it will be over half a decade before I can issue a patent myself.
Hmmm.... Well, based on your description, "half a decade" sounds like:
1) only five years, and
2) not long enough.
If I understand you correctly, people who do have the authority to issue patents have the choice of either:
1) issuing many patents that will not stand up under scrutiny of somebody who actually is knowledgable in the relevant area, or
2) trying to get a possibly less secure academic or private sector job for which there is considerably more competition.
I do understand that with two BS degrees one might consider oneself especially qualified to BS.
So, I return to my previous point. IBM isn't serious about open source not matter how much unprofitable junk they release.
If we understand the essence of your comment, Mr. Schwartz, you believe that a product that is release under a Free Software license is by definition "unprofitable junk". Opinion noted. Thank you, and have a nice day.
How is this any different from the posting just a few short hours ago about this exact same thing ?
Only a complete N00B wouldn't understand this. Well, I'm a nice guy, so I'll explain the obvious and profound difference:
The previous article was posted by CmdrTaco, whereas this article was posted by michael. Isn't that enough?
I know, this may make it seem as if these aren't really different stories, and the Slashdot "editors" are just a bunch of buffoons. Well, if you're going to believe that, I'm not sure I'm up to the task of disillusioning you. Otherwise, you will understand the clear difference I'm talking about, and respect the editorial decisions made by these seasoned and professional journalists.
Bottom line: HL2 is going to be delayed until this is resolved.
Recent history anyone?
SCO: IBM must immediately stop shipping AIX, because it is in violation of our contract.
IBM: Err... whatever. We're still selling AIX.
In reality, even if VUG wins their counterclaims, the release of HL 2 will almost certainly not be affected; at worst (for Valve) they'd have to compensate VUG for lost retail sales.
Absolutely correct. We really need to get the message out that all people who want to get rid of George W. Bush should vote for Michael "Not Bush" Badnarik, the freedom candidate.
Likewise, we really need to get the message out that all the people who want to avoid the presidency of John Kerry should vote for Ralph "Not Kerry" Nader, the true freedom candidate.
My name is George Bush and I approvify this message
[snip] ...but I think the simple fact that being a professional author, programmer, musician or artist would be near impossible otherwise is a fairly compelling argument.
Pathetic. Three false out of four:
1. Many programmers make a living by providing software as a service, not a product.
2. The vast majority of musicians make their living by performance, not recording (I don't know what kind of "every musician is a rock star with a big record label contract" fantasy world you live in.)
3. Most art considered valuable by collectors is original (sorry, if your "art" sucks so much that nobody considers it collectible, you don't deserve to make a living selling a buttload of copies of it.)
It is a fact that professional authors need copyright to protect their ability to make money.
Quite insightful, generally, but overlooking two of the major aspects of the discussion of "Liberals" and "Conservatives" in the US (and, I expect, elsewhere):
1. As idiotic as it may sound, in the US, "Liberal" is a synonym for "Democrat" and "Conservative" is a synonym for "Republican". (Elsewhere, I understand, the party names are differenct, but the effect is the same.) This means that those labeled as "Liberal" are frequently not at all what a dictionary would discribe as liberal, and those who are labeled "Conservative" are usually completely opposed to conservative approaches to government.
2. People view the "Liberals" and "Conservatives" as if they were football teams. If you are a fan of the "Liberals", you root for the Democrats in every contest. If you are a "Conservative", any ongoing productive relationship with a Democrat will have you branded a traitor to the Republican party. In either case, if you don't follow the party leader's guidance exactly, you will be shunned, even if you continue to wear your team's logo merchandise and participate in team events (see John McCain and Joe Lieberman).
The only thing more detestable to either a "Conser vative"/Republican or a "Liberal"/Democrat than the opposing party is a another party altogether (e.g. Libertarian, Green, etc.) Those are considered "outsiders" and "losers" who "don't understand/belong in the [so-called] two-party system".
In short, most people are neither aware of, nor interested in, the issues affect them most. They are simply concerned with whether their "team" gets to take home the trophy at the end of the season.
If you read this entire post, there may be an extremely small chance that this does not describe your behaviour.
a company back in profit, with billions of financial assets:
SUNW Earnings Per Share: -0.119
4Q Earnings after $1.9 billion from MS: $795 million
Regarding 4Q profit:
"Excluding one-time items, the network-computer and software company lost $169 million, or 5 cents a share" - CBS MarketWatch
Java, which is now the most widely requested used development language
My understanding is that Visual Basic is still the most widely used development language. Unless... perhaps you are confusing Java with C#?
Linux is a superb system, and deservedly successful, but its hardly revolutionary.... just a damn good implementation of Unix.
Linux is not an "implementation of UNIX(TM)" according to The Open Group, who owns the UNIX(TM) trademark and certification.
Not Nerds...Slashdotters
Right, "Slashdotters", or in common parlance, "huge nerds".
You politically-correct idiot! ...
From EnglishPlus.com - In standard written English the possessive pronoun his is used to refer to a singular indefinite pronoun
If you don't like English, choose another language. But don't bastardize my language with your silly PC-speak.
Perhaps, my reactionary friend, you should consider that the poster may have been referring to an undefined female user. Furthermore, your complaint implies that you would prefer that the English language be static, not permitting the "bastardization" of the language by introduction of such non-words as "PC-speak".
(Or were you intentionally being funny? If so, I apologize; my ability to detect humour sometimes fails me in my old age.)
Coronas and bloom can be seen through human eyes easily, the former in a foggy area and the latter on very bright lights.
Is this a joke? That couldn't be farther from the truth!
Everyone knows that Coronas can most easily be seen in clear weather at supermarkets, beaches, and bars all across the Southwestern United States. Bloom, however, can frequently be seen in dark theaters showing the "Lord of the Rings", "Pirates of the Caribbean", and "Troy".
The codec source code is licensed under dual MPL/GPL licenses.
Actually, it appears to be triple licensed, under GPL, LGPL, and MPL.
At least, that's what it says on its Sourceforge site.