Mozilla is suffering from feature bloat to the Nth degree
Yep, it is, because Mozilla is trying to be all things to all people, just like the IE/Outlook Express combo has done. However, you notice the stunning availability of the IE/OE combo on any platform other than 'dows. Mozilla is attempting to bridge the gap between Windows and Linux/*nix usage so that the "average" user can understand it.
And a mail client is a useless addition too -- everyone just uses web-based e-mail like HoTMaiL or Yahoo! Mail these days.
I'm not entirely sure what rock you've been living under, but, at least for me, I still use my "old fashioned" e-mail client (helloooo IMAP4!), as well as my "old fashioned" Usenet reader. Most of my non-technical friends prefer a regular e-mail client, as their web browser combined with a modem keep giving them "500 Internal Server" errors, especially when the silly thing disconnects during a mail session.
A post like this is indicative of how elitist some in this community have become, even moreso than the old-timers who already do it well enough for us. Remember: not everyone has the technical savvy to do what you do on a regular basis, nor do many of them have the patience. If our holy grail of an OS is to survive, it will definitely need to climb out of the hotly contested business server market, and extend beyond the "oo this is a neat geek toy" range.
Their TV shows are better than ZDNet's too. I've actually talked to people who have seen CNet's, but I have yet to meet one who has seen ZDTV. This is far from scientific, but it has been my experience.
Just for reference, ZDTV can be found on Dish Network on channel 191. I'm the exact opposite: I used to watch their channel a lot of the time (freeking apartment complex.. just had to build that new hi-rise right there, eh?), but I've yet to see a C|Net (anyone besides me remember when the pipe symbol was part of their name?) program anywhere, even on (admittedly crappy) cable.
at what point does a journo HAVE to reveal his sources?
If I remember correctly, there has been a push in several states to get so-called "shield laws" passed so that reporters wouldn't have to reveal their sources. However, last I checked, most of those measured either failed or were struck down.
As far as the question of "What should/. do?" I'd say that has to be decided on an individual basis. But if you promised anonymity to your source, then you'd better give it, otherwise none will talk to you again. Part of "journalistic integrity" means standing up for what you say, regardless of who you say it to.
I am part of a community which uses.org address, and we are definately NOT a charity
You're darn right I'm no charity, and neither is this person. Just so happens we have.org addresses since none of the names we wanted were in.com or.net. Matter of fact, I tend to register.org addys when I'm doing a project or something, since they're almost always available.
I've noticed this trend in almost every business-heavy area I've been to, especially the place I live in. Currently I live in Lewisville TX, about 25 minutes north of Dallas, and have done so all of my life. Much like those of you who say that the towns in and around Silicon Valley have lost much of their charm and, God help us, open space, so have they done here.
Used to be you never heard of cities/towns like Lewisville, Flower Mound, Highland Village, Denton, Plano or Frisco on the evening news (hell, even Lake Dallas [no relation] and Hickory Creek, two of the smallest ones around), now it's all about "new development [here]", "new shopping center [there]," etc. The first four cities on that list are in severe danger of being built out in the next 3 years. True, Silicon Valley already is, but this is news in North Texas, since there's just always happened to be land.
In Lewisville, some of the fields I would ride bikes through when younger are now huge parking lots with shopping centers (shockingly enough, all looking the same) on them. There are 2-3 gas stations on every major street corner, and even on some minor ones.
Expansion has occured so rapidly that street infrastructure cannot keep up, and local mass-transit is far worse than a joke. To give an idea: The main road linking Flower Mound to Lewisville and Interstate 35E is a two-lane blacktop road. Forget using it during rush hour at all... hell, we used to not even have a rush hour.
*sigh* Wish my grandmother hadn't sold her house in East Texas (Berryville/Frankston/Lake Palestine area)... I'd buy it and move out there.
And what about.arpa (yes a couple of sites still exist).
Not according to the InterNIC's zone file, which is easily downloaded from ftp://rs.internic.net/domain. A summarized version:
; The use of the Data contained in Network Solutions' aggregated ;.com,.org, and.net top-level domain zone files (including the checksum ; files) is subject to the restrictions described in the access Agreement ; with Network Solutions.
ARPA. IN SOA A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. hostmaster.internic.net. ( (snip SOA) ARPA. 518400 IN NS A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. (snip 8 root-servers.net entries, B-I in order of H, C, G, F, B, I, E, D) A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 518400 IN A 198.41.0.4 (snip the above root-servers.net entries' IP addresses) IN-ADDR.ARPA. 172800 IN NS A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. (snip again, same order) ;End of file.
Hey now! I care about.org... all of us poor, underprivleged sites out here (except the big boy,/.), left out of the dot-coms and dot-nets of the world. we're important, too! why, some of my favourite domains are under.org... tmb.org, wesm.org and wyvern.org.
Heh, you wish.:) I have a Fujitsu Speedport sitting right here, and it doesna do anything except bridge packets from Ethernet to the DSL line. GTE and my provider (august.net, great folks: let you run servers, anything you like) have both told me there are no "smarts" in the box, it just relays back and forth and blinks lights at you when something goes wrong.
GTE told me my install date would be 08/11, so I spent most of 08/10 wiring, adjusting, setting up and "make-ready"ing everything I knew I'd need. He shows up bright and early on the 11th (I know, shocking, isn't it?) and rings my doorbell. I open the door, ask him kindly for the equipment, assure him I know what I'm doing, and he wanders off chirping happily about something relating to an hour break.
I had my DSL, complete with outside splitter, running in about a half hour or so, and I'll never go back to dial-up.:)
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Re:Money talks.. take it to their competition!
on
Pirate DNS?
·
· Score: 2
If you register a name through a competing registrar, you are still dealing with NSI, just once removed. Since NSI manages the a root server and the technical goodies that make the shared registration system work, they get a cut of your fees (+/- $9 per year, I believe). Also, since ICANN theoretically sets the policies for this sort of thing, you have to abide by ICANN's rules, as well as your registrar's, as well as NSI's, since all three are involved in the transaction.
The point here is not that you can or cannot register domains with different people. The point is that the NSI/ICANN/other-large-corporate-entities have determined that the Internet is a Good Way To Make Money(tm), so they're going to make damn sure it stays that way. Since they also like trademarks, they're gonna want to enforce those rules as well. Since new TLDs would allow others to possibly register their precious trademarks, they either want to not have or severly abridge the ability to register names under this space.
Ergo, in the opinion of a lot here, a totally unbiased third party (who is capable of telling Monied Interests to shove off) is needed to run the central list of names and ccTLD delegations.
We intend to provide access to researchers, scholars, historians, etc. Research proposals can be submitted here.
That, to me at least, begs the question of why do people need to apply for access at all? Let everybody have a crack at it... after all, for many of them, it is their data you archived.
I'm going to get flamed miserably for this, but so be it.
For me, development has always come down to the best tools for the job or hobby or project or whatever. In Programming Holy Wars on my web site, someone roasts me for using ASP instead of PHP.
99.89% of my development job involves writing applications that are designed for either in-house use or for technically savvy customers. They also needed this tool yesterday, before the huge clusterfuck that just occured. What will it most likely get written in? You guessed it... Visual Basic. Instead of wading through VC++ code, assembing everything from the ground up, I write it the fastest way possible.
It's all about getting the job done in a way that works and that you can still mess with in the end. There is no "right" answer to this Ask/. question, as the "right" answer will always depend on the individual situation.
Only problem with EZ Pass (or the North Texas Tollway Authority's TollTag) and the like is that they're a huge invasion of privacy. For one, there's nothing saying the time between toll booths won't be used against you ("Hmm, car #201930 went from Spring Valley to LBJ Freeway in 18 seconds. Should take 22 seconds." *calculate speeding ticket*)
Or, deciding to get cute and put up other tolltag readers in "strategic" locations to find out who goes by there everyday, or even just looking to see who goes the same stretch of road every day.
Then again, I'm biased against toll roads anyway. At least in Texas, they were designed to be toll until paid off. Only IH-30 (Old DFW Turnpike) has actually done this. Dallas North Tollway (s/b paid up to at least LBJ, if not Spring Valley), Sam Houston Beltway, etc are all still toll, and the tolls are used to finance new portions of road that many of the "regular" users may not even use.
No matter what is in the service agreement, I would think that the provider (once notified of the offense) holds some legal responsibility if it refuses to pull the plug.
That would stand to reason, and would be expected. What I was concerned with is my connection suddenly being cut without any warning, simply because my ISP got notice of my actions by someone else.
In addition, I have trouble believing that your DSL agreement says that the line is yours and you are free to do with it anything you want. I don't think I've ever seen a service agreement of any kind that doesn't include clauses that 1) stipulate that you will not use the service in any of a whole list of inappropriate fashions, and 2) allow the provider to immediately disconnect the service if you violate any part of the agreement. Also, most residential agreements specifically prohibit running servers, although that clause is rarely enforced.
You agree not to make any Public Contribution which violates or infringes the rights of any other person...
This, according to my lawyer, means that if a court finds you are violating the rights of someone else, you are liable under this section and can have your access terminated. However, if your use is found to be legal, then your connection can't be axed.
Also, about the "no residential servers" limit... Unlike most ISPs who'd like to see the Internet turned into one-way style (ala TV, but that's another posting), my ISP has no restrictions on servers and so forth. In fact, they actively encourage technical users to run their own e-mail and so forth to cut down their costs for servers. See this snippet:
You may access OnLine Services through Remote Access Software supplied by You. You may also use third party software that meets the compatibility requirements from time to time published by Service Provider.
Thanks for the info, though, you make some valid points.
But, as Declan McCullagh wrote in an unrelated DMCA story yesterday, we are moving toward a two-tier copyright system on the internet -- at least in this country. If you don't host your own content, the DMCA's censor-first, ask-questions-later mandate effectively strips you of your rights.
What qualifies as hosting your own content? I.E. Say I run a web server on my DSL line (which is true), and I do something like host a mirror of controversial material. Who is the service provider in this case, me or my ISP? It would seem to me I am, and that my ISP wouldn't come into the picture, because my agreement with them says it's my line and I can do with it what I want, and anything that says 'lawyer' on it will be forwarded in my general direction.
So, in short, is the content provider the person/entity who runs the web site or server or wherever you're accessing the information from?
"Unless you are actually running your own legitimate server (no not a pirated or other server off you cable modem or DSL or ISDN connection) you can't make calls like that."
I'm sorry? My company's mail and web servers that run off of a 2mbps SDSL line are pirate or not legitimate? The mail and "do everything" linux box I have on my 768k ADSL line is pirate or not legitimate? Gee, that's funny. I rather thought anything that could fling packets via TCP/IP was a "legitimate" server.
This will be of great interest to my users, both at home and at work. 752 people (as of this morning) will be happy to know the services they reliably access, and have accessed for almost 2 years now, are provided by an illegitimate server.
Oh, and before posting, please learn to spell. It's an "impediment" to accurate communication.
I'm doing research on the music industry, specifically the legal side of it, and this subject of payment is along the lines of what I'm researching. I have a big favour to ask of the Slashdot community:
If any of you out there either have, or know someone who has, a contract from a "major" record label, with filled-in information on payment, royalties, etc (or heck, blank, even, I'll take what I can get), I'd be most grateful if you could send me a copy of it. You are quite welcome to black out any identifying information, just leave the bits about payment, terms, etc, intact (unless they specifically are secret). Your contract information will be kept absolutely confidential, and I will not reveal to anyone that I got my information specifically from you.
If you can help me, please either scan in and e-mail it to me at wesmills@wyvern.org, or e-mail me for my mailing address. If you mail it to me, you will be compensated for the postage and so forth.
Actually, no they don't. There are several addresses in New York City that neither FedEx or UPS will touch, because the areas are too rough. While they won't admit to it, I used to work for a "major cosmetics company" where we had "consultants" with two shipping addresses, one for letters, and another for packages.
Also, UPS won't deliver to addresses which are very far out in rural areas, such as the middle of Wyoming where USPS only goes once a week itself.
I have no experience with FedEx, and even with UPS, YMMV.
Slashdot Mirror
Chances are, if i knew you in high school, you stand about as much a chance as Bill Gates of getting tech support from me ...
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Yep, it is, because Mozilla is trying to be all things to all people, just like the IE/Outlook Express combo has done. However, you notice the stunning availability of the IE/OE combo on any platform other than 'dows. Mozilla is attempting to bridge the gap between Windows and Linux/*nix usage so that the "average" user can understand it.
And a mail client is a useless addition too -- everyone just uses web-based e-mail like HoTMaiL or Yahoo! Mail these days.
I'm not entirely sure what rock you've been living under, but, at least for me, I still use my "old fashioned" e-mail client (helloooo IMAP4!), as well as my "old fashioned" Usenet reader. Most of my non-technical friends prefer a regular e-mail client, as their web browser combined with a modem keep giving them "500 Internal Server" errors, especially when the silly thing disconnects during a mail session.
A post like this is indicative of how elitist some in this community have become, even moreso than the old-timers who already do it well enough for us. Remember: not everyone has the technical savvy to do what you do on a regular basis, nor do many of them have the patience. If our holy grail of an OS is to survive, it will definitely need to climb out of the hotly contested business server market, and extend beyond the "oo this is a neat geek toy" range.
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http://www.thinkgeek.com/rsa-dolphin.html
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But that's kinda a moot point if you click on this link. Complete source for your reading pleasure. :)
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There's also a 403 Forbidden instead of the front page. Oops, oh well, guess the l33t hax0rz got to it before most others did ... or the ISP :)
wyvern.org
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Just for reference, ZDTV can be found on Dish Network on channel 191. I'm the exact opposite: I used to watch their channel a lot of the time (freeking apartment complex .. just had to build that new hi-rise right there, eh?), but I've yet to see a C|Net (anyone besides me remember when the pipe symbol was part of their name?) program anywhere, even on (admittedly crappy) cable.
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If I remember correctly, there has been a push in several states to get so-called "shield laws" passed so that reporters wouldn't have to reveal their sources. However, last I checked, most of those measured either failed or were struck down.
As far as the question of "What should /. do?" I'd say that has to be decided on an individual basis. But if you promised anonymity to your source, then you'd better give it, otherwise none will talk to you again. Part of "journalistic integrity" means standing up for what you say, regardless of who you say it to.
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You're darn right I'm no charity, and neither is this person. Just so happens we have .org addresses since none of the names we wanted were in .com or .net. Matter of fact, I tend to register .org addys when I'm doing a project or something, since they're almost always available.
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Used to be you never heard of cities/towns like Lewisville, Flower Mound, Highland Village, Denton, Plano or Frisco on the evening news (hell, even Lake Dallas [no relation] and Hickory Creek, two of the smallest ones around), now it's all about "new development [here]", "new shopping center [there]," etc. The first four cities on that list are in severe danger of being built out in the next 3 years. True, Silicon Valley already is, but this is news in North Texas, since there's just always happened to be land.
In Lewisville, some of the fields I would ride bikes through when younger are now huge parking lots with shopping centers (shockingly enough, all looking the same) on them. There are 2-3 gas stations on every major street corner, and even on some minor ones.
Expansion has occured so rapidly that street infrastructure cannot keep up, and local mass-transit is far worse than a joke. To give an idea: The main road linking Flower Mound to Lewisville and Interstate 35E is a two-lane blacktop road. Forget using it during rush hour at all ... hell, we used to not even have a rush hour.
*sigh* Wish my grandmother hadn't sold her house in East Texas (Berryville/Frankston/Lake Palestine area) ... I'd buy it and move out there.
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Not according to the InterNIC's zone file, which is easily downloaded from ftp://rs.internic.net/domain. A summarized version:
; The use of the Data contained in Network Solutions' aggregated .com, .org, and .net top-level domain zone files (including the checksum
;
; files) is subject to the restrictions described in the access Agreement
; with Network Solutions.
ARPA. IN SOA A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. hostmaster.internic.net. (
;End of file.
(snip SOA)
ARPA. 518400 IN NS A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
(snip 8 root-servers.net entries, B-I in order of H, C, G, F, B, I, E, D)
A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 518400 IN A 198.41.0.4
(snip the above root-servers.net entries' IP addresses)
IN-ADDR.ARPA. 172800 IN NS A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
(snip again, same order)
So there are no sites under .arpa, just in-addr :)
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ok, so it was lame humour .. oh well.
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Heh, you wish. :) I have a Fujitsu Speedport sitting right here, and it doesna do anything except bridge packets from Ethernet to the DSL line. GTE and my provider (august.net, great folks: let you run servers, anything you like) have both told me there are no "smarts" in the box, it just relays back and forth and blinks lights at you when something goes wrong.
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I had my DSL, complete with outside splitter, running in about a half hour or so, and I'll never go back to dial-up. :)
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The point here is not that you can or cannot register domains with different people. The point is that the NSI/ICANN/other-large-corporate-entities have determined that the Internet is a Good Way To Make Money(tm), so they're going to make damn sure it stays that way. Since they also like trademarks, they're gonna want to enforce those rules as well. Since new TLDs would allow others to possibly register their precious trademarks, they either want to not have or severly abridge the ability to register names under this space.
Ergo, in the opinion of a lot here, a totally unbiased third party (who is capable of telling Monied Interests to shove off) is needed to run the central list of names and ccTLD delegations.
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That, to me at least, begs the question of why do people need to apply for access at all? Let everybody have a crack at it ... after all, for many of them, it is their data you archived.
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Pardon my ignorance, but what is CALEA's full name (I assume it to be an acronym), or where could I find more information on it?
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Hemos: *silence*
Minister: "Yo, HEMOS? Doya or doncha?"
Hemos: "Oh, yeah, sure. Sounds great to me." *returns to coding*
Ahh yes, a good enough story to invite lame humour, that most people will still laugh at.
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For me, development has always come down to the best tools for the job or hobby or project or whatever. In Programming Holy Wars on my web site, someone roasts me for using ASP instead of PHP.
99.89% of my development job involves writing applications that are designed for either in-house use or for technically savvy customers. They also needed this tool yesterday, before the huge clusterfuck that just occured. What will it most likely get written in? You guessed it ... Visual Basic. Instead of wading through VC++ code, assembing everything from the ground up, I write it the fastest way possible.
It's all about getting the job done in a way that works and that you can still mess with in the end. There is no "right" answer to this Ask /. question, as the "right" answer will always depend on the individual situation.
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Or, deciding to get cute and put up other tolltag readers in "strategic" locations to find out who goes by there everyday, or even just looking to see who goes the same stretch of road every day.
Then again, I'm biased against toll roads anyway. At least in Texas, they were designed to be toll until paid off. Only IH-30 (Old DFW Turnpike) has actually done this. Dallas North Tollway (s/b paid up to at least LBJ, if not Spring Valley), Sam Houston Beltway, etc are all still toll, and the tolls are used to finance new portions of road that many of the "regular" users may not even use.
- wes
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That would stand to reason, and would be expected. What I was concerned with is my connection suddenly being cut without any warning, simply because my ISP got notice of my actions by someone else.
In addition, I have trouble believing that your DSL agreement says that the line is yours and you are free to do with it anything you want. I don't think I've ever seen a service agreement of any kind that doesn't include clauses that 1) stipulate that you will not use the service in any of a whole list of inappropriate fashions, and 2) allow the provider to immediately disconnect the service if you violate any part of the agreement. Also, most residential agreements specifically prohibit running servers, although that clause is rarely enforced.
My service provider is August.Net, LLC (http://www.august.net), and their AUP says, in part:
You agree not to make any Public Contribution which violates or infringes the rights of any other person...
This, according to my lawyer, means that if a court finds you are violating the rights of someone else, you are liable under this section and can have your access terminated. However, if your use is found to be legal, then your connection can't be axed.
Also, about the "no residential servers" limit... Unlike most ISPs who'd like to see the Internet turned into one-way style (ala TV, but that's another posting), my ISP has no restrictions on servers and so forth. In fact, they actively encourage technical users to run their own e-mail and so forth to cut down their costs for servers. See this snippet:
You may access OnLine Services through Remote Access Software supplied by You. You may also use third party software that meets the compatibility requirements from time to time published by Service Provider.
Thanks for the info, though, you make some valid points.
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What qualifies as hosting your own content? I.E. Say I run a web server on my DSL line (which is true), and I do something like host a mirror of controversial material. Who is the service provider in this case, me or my ISP? It would seem to me I am, and that my ISP wouldn't come into the picture, because my agreement with them says it's my line and I can do with it what I want, and anything that says 'lawyer' on it will be forwarded in my general direction.
So, in short, is the content provider the person/entity who runs the web site or server or wherever you're accessing the information from?
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Actually, Jon, I rather like your stories. They're troll-bait because they are thought provoking, and few people like to think.
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I'm sorry? My company's mail and web servers that run off of a 2mbps SDSL line are pirate or not legitimate? The mail and "do everything" linux box I have on my 768k ADSL line is pirate or not legitimate? Gee, that's funny. I rather thought anything that could fling packets via TCP/IP was a "legitimate" server.
This will be of great interest to my users, both at home and at work. 752 people (as of this morning) will be happy to know the services they reliably access, and have accessed for almost 2 years now, are provided by an illegitimate server.
Oh, and before posting, please learn to spell. It's an "impediment" to accurate communication.
--------------------
If any of you out there either have, or know someone who has, a contract from a "major" record label, with filled-in information on payment, royalties, etc (or heck, blank, even, I'll take what I can get), I'd be most grateful if you could send me a copy of it. You are quite welcome to black out any identifying information, just leave the bits about payment, terms, etc, intact (unless they specifically are secret). Your contract information will be kept absolutely confidential, and I will not reveal to anyone that I got my information specifically from you.
If you can help me, please either scan in and e-mail it to me at wesmills@wyvern.org, or e-mail me for my mailing address. If you mail it to me, you will be compensated for the postage and so forth.
Thanks in advance!
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Also, UPS won't deliver to addresses which are very far out in rural areas, such as the middle of Wyoming where USPS only goes once a week itself.
I have no experience with FedEx, and even with UPS, YMMV.
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