If they think it's OK to sue the game company for making a violent game, then shouldn't the parents be sued for allowing their "minor" shildren to purchase and play such a violent game.
As parents, don't we assume some sort of responsibility for our children's actions?
"O'Donnell (MS X-Box Spokeswoman)declined to specify the specific changes but said they include measures intended to boost security. "They (Microsoft's Xbox hardware team) know the hacker stuff that's out there, and they're always trying to increase security," she said. "
With that in mind it is easy to see that MS does not want anyone but MS makeing changes to the Xbox. Sounds like more closed source to me.
Call Bellsouth DSL or Dial up, Cox Cable Internet, At&T Broadband, Time Warner Cable Internet and ask for support in getting your "Linux" computer to connect to their Internet. They'll tell you the same thing they told me. "We don't support Linux on the customers computer. Our setup program doesn't run on Linux and we don't officially support it."
It's not a matter of whether there are techs that know how to do it. It all comes down to the company policy and the above providers do not officially support Linux.
There's a difference between finding a "Linux consultant" and being able to take your computer to the local computer store and get it fixed. Consultants are normally used for bussineses, not for a home computer. Many users would take their computer to "Local PC repair stores". Go to your local Best Buy computer upgrades counter and ask if they'll upgrade your Linux system. I don't live in a metropolis but it is a medium sized city and I can tell you that the main computer repair stores in Pensacola Florida do not support Linux.
OK, so an Unknowning customer buys this Linux machine and takes it home.
Problem 1. Connect to the Internet. The customer calls his local internet provider, Cable, DSL, or dial-up and says he want's to setup his system to connect to the net. The Internet provider sends him the software. Hmmm, where's the Linux install. Call back the provider. The provider asks what Operating system he's running. Customer repsonds "Linux". Click!
Problem 2. Swapping files. The customer's best friend just downloaded this cool program and wants him to try it. Hmmm, just stick the disk in and and run setup?
Problem 3. U.S. Federal Income Tax Software, Quicken for Linux, MS Office for Linux, Wheel of Fortune for Linux? While there are alternatives, they aren't mainstream.
Problem 4. Computer crashes. No problem take it to the local computer repair center. Ooops, they don't support Linux.
Problem 5. Ohhh, there's a new cool USB 2.0 gadget out for the computer at my local store. I'll buy it and connect it to my system. Hmmm, Linux doesn't recognize the new hardware and there's no Linux install software included with the gadget.
The point is, that Linux, at this time, is only for people that want to download it/buy it, install it, and spend alot of time learning Linux. It's not for people that just want to use it as part of their computer and don't really care what's running in the background as long as they can e-mail, surf, do finances, play games, etc. We Linux zealots often forget that the majority of the population could care less if they're running Wndoze, Linux, or Mac, as long as they can do what they need to do with their computer.
It seems that microsoft.org is owned by a very large company (Microsoft) and isn't even being used. Could they be holding out to sell it to the highest bidder? Or, is this just another example of Cybersquatting?
As a user I wouldn't mind a 5 or 10 second Ad when I first boot my OS as it states in the article. Much beyond that, I'd have to switch OSes.
As a developer it would depend on whether I really needed funding or not. If this development was being done purely as a hobby, I can't see that I'd need the funding. Of course the users would have to understand it is only a hobby.
If I was programming OSS without any suplimental income I would consider it.
The question is, would advertisors pay for a 5 or 10 second splash when a user first starts their desktop. Most people I know only boot the system once and it stays up and running 24/7 unless there's a crash. (Not very often in Linux) So, would the advertising really pay off for the advertisors?
Does anyone have any other Links to this story? While I'm sure the site for the main Link is reputable, I'd like to see it elseware. I checked Loki's site and there's no mention about closing the doors in 1 week. You'd think that a company would give it's customers at least a weeks notice that they are going away.
I'd just like to see it on more than one reputable Web site....
"businesses would still need custom software written for their specific needs"
Custom software is a very small market when compared to commercial development. Walk into your local software store and look around. The shelves are full of commercial software. It doesn't matter whether they are games, office apps, OS's, personal finance, etc. I don't know of any company that will budget to pay for custom programming of that type of software. If all that was available to programmers for income was custom programming then the programmer market would shrink to the point that you wouldn't have enough programmers interested in writing the "free" generic stuff.
The thing people forget is that most programmers started learning programming as means to an income. If that income market doesn't exist we won't have future programmers. What kid is going to want to spend 4 years in a University learning a carreer that has almost no availablity except for the few companies paying for custom programmers?
The availablity of GPL and free software is very dependant on the size of the comercial software industry. The two "feed" off each other.
I just read the article. Now that is out right wishful thinking. Let's see, if I was to reply with his examples to messages containing Word attachments my boss would tell me to find another company to work for:)
A couple of points:
1. There are plenty of Office Suites out there that understand the Word Format. (StarOffice and Koffice to name two.)
2. Microsoft has already stated they are switching to the non-proprietary XML format for their standard document format.
3. While I do like GPL and Freeware I also believe that we need to have comercialware. Let's see, if all software was free then why would anyone in their right mind want to spend money to study programming at a an instituion? Why get a degree in software engineering?
One thing that I don't think is taken into account is that some Linux Browsers will actually look like another Browser on the net. For instance, I believe that Opera can be configured to look like IE to a web site. This may give false readings when it comes to surveys based on information gathered from surfers.
"If the service goes out for ten minutes and you are on the phone right away screaming at them to restore your service RIGHT NOW because every minute that goes by you are losing money, then you are a business customer."
Actually that would be son while playing his on-line games. So, by this reasoning, my son playing on-line games is classified as business use.
"But in the case where you ARE using the service as a business but want to only get charged the residential rate:
Quit your whining and stop being cheap "
What exactly classifies as business use? If I'm researching work projects at home is that bussiness use? If I'm a network administrator and read slashdot, lwn, and freshmeat at home to keep up on the latest in the Linux world, does that make me a bussiness user?
I have always taken the VPN for bussiness wording in the TOS to mean you can't setup a multi-office distributed bussiness across your cable companies network without paying for it. Just because someone has a VPN connection with their main office downtown doesn't mean they should be paying exhorbitent rates.
I agree with the article. While we're at it let's take a trip back in time and list some past toys that should have been on the Diryt Dozen.
1. GI Joe - As an Army action figure it is GI Joe's job to wipe out nations.
2. Cowboys and Indians - Anybody remember playing this as a kid. Let's see, Cap guns designed to blow away the enemy indians. Rope to tie them up. Oh, btw, didn't caps include gun powder or some sort of explosive as part of their makeup?
3. Magnifieing glasses. Hmm, Take some sunshine mix it with a Magnifying glass and some brown leaves and you have the start of the large forest fires on the west coast. Of course these are marketed to children only for scientific research.
4. Operation - Ever play that game? The object is to go into and remove body parts, using tweezers, without touching the sides. Hey, let's go into the kitchen drawer, get a knife and try this for real.
5. Army men - See #1
So in essence those of us that are in our thirties and forties should be compltely out of control. Maybe we are and no one's told us......
This is funny you posted this today, as I just got back frrom wiring a house that's being built for me. Some things to keep in mind.
1. Make sure you do your wireing after the electrical inspector has been through and before the walls go up. This should give you probably one weekend to do it.
2. Buy a can of the spray filler for the holes.
3. You can use the holes your contractors have drilled for your current phone and cable runs. The foam stuff punches out easily.
4. I ran a cat5 cable to every cable box and phone box in the house. I also ran two cat5 cables to the phone and cable boxes in my study.
5. Make sure you have in mind how you're going to connect everything when you're done. In my case, I did it the cheap way and ran all of wires to the closet in my study. I put in a double wide box. This is enough for my 12 connections.
6. When you run the wires, use wire tacs to tac them down. This will keep contractors from screwing up your cable runs when they are doing their work.
7. It shouldn't cause that much of a problem in a home to cross electrical wires as long as you don't run them parallel along the electrical wires for a very long distance. Shoot, most network cables running in a house, even to the hub is going to run close to an electrical wire at some point.
These were just some pointer I learned this morning while running my network cable in my new house.
So if I'm reading the article correctly, it also means that if I buy a paper copy of the Washington Post in Washington and take it to Australia then they can sue from Australia because it ended up over there?
I must be missing something. The Barons Journal was published on a US server and viewed in Australia. What's the difference between that and my first statement?
Publications have been crossing borders for years and now they want to change the rules just because it's electronic?
It sounds like any lawyer worth a hill of beans should be able to shoot that one down.
I never said I dind't like "Heavy Metal". I said Movie animation has come a long way since "Heavy Metal" was released. I liked "Heavy Metal" all 100+ times I went to see it.
I saw the movie the other night with my son. I've never played the game, in fact I don't normally play video games. Anyway, I thought the movie was very good. It's a great improvement over what I grew up with, "Heavy Metal". I think the sync problems were with your theater as I didn't notice any problems with the voices. Of course, I didn't go to the movie to critique it. I went to get some enertertainment. That's what this movie is, entertaining.
The "Perpetual" license only would affect large companies that are currently using Micro$ofts "Enterprise License Agreement".
The "Enterprise agreement" allows companies with over 500 PC's the oportunity to use a M$ product on all of the systems while paying for the product over a period of three years. The product is substantually discounted. At the end of the three years the company owns the licenses it has paid for.
However, most companies don't remain on a single solution for much longer than three years. They upgrade. This article explains a licensing technique that would allow the companies to move into the upgrade product very easily.
Finally, read the last half of the article. This is just rumor and speculation at this time. Nothing is official yet. Again, this is the media jumping on a headline that hasn't been confirmed yet.
Slashdot Mirror
Anyone want to estimate how long before the site gets /.'ed?
Ooops, too late....
Just the fact that you're running a 64 bit system gives you the sense that everything is faster.
Besides, 64 being twice 32 justifies the upgrade cost...
The question is: Do they do Windows?
If they think it's OK to sue the game company for making a violent game, then shouldn't the parents be sued for allowing their "minor" shildren to purchase and play such a violent game.
As parents, don't we assume some sort of responsibility for our children's actions?
Don't forget about the hundreds of Pizzas consumed during R&D...
From news.com:
"O'Donnell (MS X-Box Spokeswoman)declined to specify the specific changes but said they include measures intended to boost security. "They (Microsoft's Xbox hardware team) know the hacker stuff that's out there, and they're always trying to increase security," she said. "
With that in mind it is easy to see that MS does not want anyone but MS makeing changes to the Xbox. Sounds like more closed source to me.
1. I didn't know MS included Volvo drivers in Windows 98. I thought they weren't included until XP.
2. So does this mean that all service stations will have to sign a non-disclosure agreement with MS in order to work on this car?
3. Will patches be available at the pump or do you get them from behind the register?
Call Bellsouth DSL or Dial up, Cox Cable Internet, At&T Broadband, Time Warner Cable Internet and ask for support in getting your "Linux" computer to connect to their Internet. They'll tell you the same thing they told me. "We don't support Linux on the customers computer. Our setup program doesn't run on Linux and we don't officially support it."
It's not a matter of whether there are techs that know how to do it. It all comes down to the company policy and the above providers do not officially support Linux.
There's a difference between finding a "Linux consultant" and being able to take your computer to the local computer store and get it fixed. Consultants are normally used for bussineses, not for a home computer. Many users would take their computer to "Local PC repair stores". Go to your local Best Buy computer upgrades counter and ask if they'll upgrade your Linux system. I don't live in a metropolis but it is a medium sized city and I can tell you that the main computer repair stores in Pensacola Florida do not support Linux.
OK, so an Unknowning customer buys this Linux machine and takes it home.
Problem 1. Connect to the Internet. The customer calls his local internet provider, Cable, DSL, or dial-up and says he want's to setup his system to connect to the net. The Internet provider sends him the software. Hmmm, where's the Linux install. Call back the provider. The provider asks what Operating system he's running. Customer repsonds "Linux". Click!
Problem 2. Swapping files. The customer's best friend just downloaded this cool program and wants him to try it. Hmmm, just stick the disk in and and run setup?
Problem 3. U.S. Federal Income Tax Software, Quicken for Linux, MS Office for Linux, Wheel of Fortune for Linux? While there are alternatives, they aren't mainstream.
Problem 4. Computer crashes. No problem take it to the local computer repair center. Ooops, they don't support Linux.
Problem 5. Ohhh, there's a new cool USB 2.0 gadget out for the computer at my local store. I'll buy it and connect it to my system. Hmmm, Linux doesn't recognize the new hardware and there's no Linux install software included with the gadget.
The point is, that Linux, at this time, is only for people that want to download it/buy it, install it, and spend alot of time learning Linux. It's not for people that just want to use it as part of their computer and don't really care what's running in the background as long as they can e-mail, surf, do finances, play games, etc. We Linux zealots often forget that the majority of the population could care less if they're running Wndoze, Linux, or Mac, as long as they can do what they need to do with their computer.
It seems that microsoft.org is owned by a very large company (Microsoft) and isn't even being used. Could they be holding out to sell it to the highest bidder? Or, is this just another example of Cybersquatting?
As a user I wouldn't mind a 5 or 10 second Ad when I first boot my OS as it states in the article. Much beyond that, I'd have to switch OSes.
As a developer it would depend on whether I really needed funding or not. If this development was being done purely as a hobby, I can't see that I'd need the funding. Of course the users would have to understand it is only a hobby.
If I was programming OSS without any suplimental income I would consider it.
The question is, would advertisors pay for a 5 or 10 second splash when a user first starts their desktop. Most people I know only boot the system once and it stays up and running 24/7 unless there's a crash. (Not very often in Linux) So, would the advertising really pay off for the advertisors?
Here's the Link to the old story.
Does anyone have any other Links to this story? While I'm sure the site for the main Link is reputable, I'd like to see it elseware. I checked Loki's site and there's no mention about closing the doors in 1 week. You'd think that a company would give it's customers at least a weeks notice that they are going away.
I'd just like to see it on more than one reputable Web site....
"businesses would still need custom software written for their specific needs"
Custom software is a very small market when compared to commercial development. Walk into your local software store and look around. The shelves are full of commercial software. It doesn't matter whether they are games, office apps, OS's, personal finance, etc. I don't know of any company that will budget to pay for custom programming of that type of software. If all that was available to programmers for income was custom programming then the programmer market would shrink to the point that you wouldn't have enough programmers interested in writing the "free" generic stuff.
The thing people forget is that most programmers started learning programming as means to an income. If that income market doesn't exist we won't have future programmers. What kid is going to want to spend 4 years in a University learning a carreer that has almost no availablity except for the few companies paying for custom programmers?
The availablity of GPL and free software is very dependant on the size of the comercial software industry. The two "feed" off each other.
I just read the article. Now that is out right wishful thinking. Let's see, if I was to reply with his examples to messages containing Word attachments my boss would tell me to find another company to work for:)
A couple of points:
1. There are plenty of Office Suites out there that understand the Word Format. (StarOffice and Koffice to name two.)
2. Microsoft has already stated they are switching to the non-proprietary XML format for their standard document format.
3. While I do like GPL and Freeware I also believe that we need to have comercialware. Let's see, if all software was free then why would anyone in their right mind want to spend money to study programming at a an instituion? Why get a degree in software engineering?
One thing that I don't think is taken into account is that some Linux Browsers will actually look like another Browser on the net. For instance, I believe that Opera can be configured to look like IE to a web site. This may give false readings when it comes to surveys based on information gathered from surfers.
"If the service goes out for ten minutes and you are on the phone right away screaming at them to restore your service RIGHT NOW because every minute that goes by you are losing money, then you are a business customer."
Actually that would be son while playing his on-line games. So, by this reasoning, my son playing on-line games is classified as business use.
Steve
"But in the case where you ARE using the service as a business but want to only get charged the residential rate:
Quit your whining and stop being cheap "
What exactly classifies as business use? If I'm researching work projects at home is that bussiness use? If I'm a network administrator and read slashdot, lwn, and freshmeat at home to keep up on the latest in the Linux world, does that make me a bussiness user?
I have always taken the VPN for bussiness wording in the TOS to mean you can't setup a multi-office distributed bussiness across your cable companies network without paying for it. Just because someone has a VPN connection with their main office downtown doesn't mean they should be paying exhorbitent rates.
Steve
I agree with the article. While we're at it let's take a trip back in time and list some past toys that should have been on the Diryt Dozen.
1. GI Joe - As an Army action figure it is GI Joe's job to wipe out nations.
2. Cowboys and Indians - Anybody remember playing this as a kid. Let's see, Cap guns designed to blow away the enemy indians. Rope to tie them up. Oh, btw, didn't caps include gun powder or some sort of explosive as part of their makeup?
3. Magnifieing glasses. Hmm, Take some sunshine mix it with a Magnifying glass and some brown leaves and you have the start of the large forest fires on the west coast. Of course these are marketed to children only for scientific research.
4. Operation - Ever play that game? The object is to go into and remove body parts, using tweezers, without touching the sides. Hey, let's go into the kitchen drawer, get a knife and try this for real.
5. Army men - See #1
So in essence those of us that are in our thirties and forties should be compltely out of control. Maybe we are and no one's told us......
This is funny you posted this today, as I just got back frrom wiring a house that's being built for me. Some things to keep in mind.
1. Make sure you do your wireing after the electrical inspector has been through and before the walls go up. This should give you probably one weekend to do it.
2. Buy a can of the spray filler for the holes.
3. You can use the holes your contractors have drilled for your current phone and cable runs. The foam stuff punches out easily.
4. I ran a cat5 cable to every cable box and phone box in the house. I also ran two cat5 cables to the phone and cable boxes in my study.
5. Make sure you have in mind how you're going to connect everything when you're done. In my case, I did it the cheap way and ran all of wires to the closet in my study. I put in a double wide box. This is enough for my 12 connections.
6. When you run the wires, use wire tacs to tac them down. This will keep contractors from screwing up your cable runs when they are doing their work.
7. It shouldn't cause that much of a problem in a home to cross electrical wires as long as you don't run them parallel along the electrical wires for a very long distance. Shoot, most network cables running in a house, even to the hub is going to run close to an electrical wire at some point.
These were just some pointer I learned this morning while running my network cable in my new house.
So if I'm reading the article correctly, it also means that if I buy a paper copy of the Washington Post in Washington and take it to Australia then they can sue from Australia because it ended up over there?
I must be missing something. The Barons Journal was published on a US server and viewed in Australia. What's the difference between that and my first statement?
Publications have been crossing borders for years and now they want to change the rules just because it's electronic?
It sounds like any lawyer worth a hill of beans should be able to shoot that one down.
Steve
I never said I dind't like "Heavy Metal". I said Movie animation has come a long way since "Heavy Metal" was released. I liked "Heavy Metal" all 100+ times I went to see it.
Steve
I saw the movie the other night with my son. I've never played the game, in fact I don't normally play video games. Anyway, I thought the movie was very good. It's a great improvement over what I grew up with, "Heavy Metal". I think the sync problems were with your theater as I didn't notice any problems with the voices. Of course, I didn't go to the movie to critique it. I went to get some enertertainment. That's what this movie is, entertaining.
Steve
I think the new name should be KImaging. After all, it goes right along with "KOffice, KWord, KChart, Kivio"
If there is an owner to the copyrights of those names, they don't seem to care. :)
The "Perpetual" license only would affect large companies that are currently using Micro$ofts "Enterprise License Agreement".
The "Enterprise agreement" allows companies with over 500 PC's the oportunity to use a M$ product on all of the systems while paying for the product over a period of three years. The product is substantually discounted. At the end of the three years the company owns the licenses it has paid for.
However, most companies don't remain on a single solution for much longer than three years. They upgrade. This article explains a licensing technique that would allow the companies to move into the upgrade product very easily.
Finally, read the last half of the article. This is just rumor and speculation at this time. Nothing is official yet. Again, this is the media jumping on a headline that hasn't been confirmed yet.