Anyway I fear a country where people are given the constitutional right to own a firearm at the age of 12 but if you're caught smoking a harmless joint you'll go to jail.
Or where a gang of white police offers can be caught red handed on video tape beating a black man with billy clubs but they're set free to go.
Or where a forieng programmer can be thrown in jail for 5 months without a trial for writing a program that may cost a rich company a few dollars.
That's not freedom and I won't pretend that it is. I refuse to be ignorant and complacent. In fact, what I fear even more than the country itself is it's ignorant and complacent citizens that let it be that way.
Actually english is my first language and for the most part, I'm a great speller.
My problem in this case is that the word "tried" is derived from the word "trial" and not "try". Therefore I wasn't sure if "tried" (he was tried for murder) was spelt the same as "tried" (he tried to do something).
Also, even if Netscape did sue them previously (I don't think they did, to my knowledge they only testified for the DOJ), this is now AOL that's suing. Technically it's a different entity.
My logic was that AOL is Netscape. They bought them so logistically AOL can't sue MS for the same thing that NS did since it's the same company.
isn't it impossible to be triad (sp?) for the same crime twice? I thought Netscape already filed an anti-trust suit for the same reason years ago and lost.
If a large number of ex-Windows users get won over by AOL/RedHat Linux, have we really lost? It seems to me that a Linux user is a Linux user and that one more Linux user is one less customer for Bill and one less pocketbook supporting closed source.
But then how am I supposed to go about bragging to all to all the winblows userz about how 31337 I am to be that k3w1 L1nUx h4x0r?!
Shit if everyone's just as much a k3w1 L1nUx h4x0r as me then I may just have to switch to BSD so I can be a k3w1 B5D h4x0r! Oh the horror!
Your other reply had a very good point that level 0 would imply "not as good" as the competition. However, there is one other outcome that I saw before reading the replies.
It would be a lot easier and require a lot less money to just rate every single product level 0 and do a bit of standard MS-style marketing to convince people that the software is just as good as a level 1. If every single piece of software written by every single company was rated level 0 then no one would be any better off since everyone would be forced to buy level 0 products.
Free software would inevitably be level 1 in many cases but I can't believe that anyone would buy OSS/FS for the same reason that no one is doing it now. It would remain a niche market and the big dumb suits would still insist on using "brand name" products.
You're right but it would take away spammer's anonimity.
To further this the new protocol would also have to be better at authenticating as the parent poster said. But this can already be implemented to an extent with our current protocol by denying access to SMTP services from anyone who's host does not belong to certain domains.
That still won't elliminate spam all together since many companies spam using their own servers. But at least if you force spammers to do it in the open then at least you can prove that they were the ones who spammed you and can charge them with fraud, false advertising, sexual harrasment (if the add contains sexual material) etc.
It will reduce spam considerably and probably make it a lot less "annoying" since the adds will be more up to par with junk mail. It will still be a problem but it won't be nearly as big of one and then we can use the litigation to regulate it and if there is a God elliminate it:O)
I completely agree. I relate SMTP to TCP/IP. It's very simple which is why it caught on but it just doesn't live up to today's standards.
All of this litigation, while a worthwhile cause, is like security through obscurity. While it may be a deterrent for some people, lots will do it anyway.
So what we need is a new e-mail protocol that will make forgeing at least non-trivial but attempt to make it 100% impossible.
Ideally it would even be backwards compatible with SMTP so that older e-mail clients would work with newer servers.
The thing is that I would never dream of using a 486 to surf the net, send/receive e-mail, play games etc. But I DO use a 486 as the router for my network.
Why would I want to put a fairly modern machine in charge of something that doesn't require it?
I love the fact that I can install slackware on my old 486 and have it forward packets for me. If Linux didn't run on it I would have to have used one of my celeron boxes that I instead gave my kid. What a waste that would have been!
Evidentally everyone on Slashdot makes "hard earned cash" without creating anything they value.
I'm actually a musician. And a free software developer. I would like to think that what I create is "of value".
I agree with you that the words of the author are the property of the author. But the book as a whole that I payed for is mine and no one is going to tell me what I can and can not do with that book.
Similarly, the same applies to a cd. If I want to rip a cd that I own I have every right to do so. I may not have the right to re-distribute the songs that I ripped since I don't own the songs themselves - just the cd. But I can do whatever I want with the cd. I can give it to a friend; I can make copies of it; I can play it in my computer, car sterio, dvd player, mp3 player, toilet, microwave, vacuum or whatever else I may want to try and play a cd in etc. No one will take that right away from me because I payed for the damn thing.
...They will try though. I just hope for everyone's sake that they stop before they run out of money.
I understand it isn't our right to play the cd anywhere
Wha??!!!?? One of the reasons that I am completely against closed source software, cd copy "protection" , and the whole anti-DeCSS thing is because I believe that when I shell out my hard earned cash for something that means that I have the right to do whatever the hell I want with it because IT'S MINE!!!!!!
That's why whenever I am presented with a EULA I respectfully click "I do not agree". I will not enter into any "user agreement" with any company. If I buy something I reserve the right to do whatever the hell I want with it plain and simple...
With one minor exception: taking credit for the work.
I can not copy a book and say I wrote it. That's playgarism and is not fair to the author. But I can give that book to a friend when I'm done reading it because it's mine, I payed for it and I can do whatever I want with it.
I don't think Loki would want to use something like that. Sure it would speed up devel-time but it would still just be a wrapper (a huge ugly wrapper) to native linux libs which would make things slow and ugly.
Loki's philosophy has been 100% native linux software. They strip out all windows-specific code and replace it with linux-specific code. In the process they also fix and remove bugs in the windows version.
Actually, there's another reason not to use wrappers. Using wrappers means there will be large blocks of code that the developers will never know anything about. Porting 100% of the code means that the developers understand the code much better which results in more bugs (from the original code that doesn't get thrown out) getting fixed.
Yup. They aren't blocking NS 4.7. Anyone try NS 6.x? Does it send the same User-Agent: as Moz?
This doesn't really make sense to me. It's either that compiled a list of browsers that are either "known to work" or "we don't compete with them so it doesn't matter" and they block everything else.
Indeed, the US outlawing something is one thing. That's their business, if it turns out to hurt them too much they can always revert the law. It's a democratic country, isn't it ?
'Fraid not. The U.S is not a democracy. It's a Republic. And it's very rapidly turning into a Corporate Republic.
Voting and all this democracy talk is just masturbation. If people's votes actually mattered then you'd have much higher voter turnouts. If you could actually vote for your party instead of an "electoral college" then maybe you'd be closer to democracy as well.
And the most important distinction between a republic and a democracy is that you can't vote on laws and bills. Only the government can. In a true democracy 51% of the public can piss on the other 49%. But in the U.S the government pisses on everyone.
I don't really think he's preaching at all. I don't interpret this as making a point. I interpret it as he really is scared of the U.S and the DMCA and doesn't want to be held accountable in the future for any of his past actions.
I would also add artificial gravity to that list. Zero-g environments are huge problem.
A lot of first-time space travelors have to indure about a week of illness just to adjust to zero-g. You have extreme disorientation because there is no definite up/down/left/right. Plus the long term effects can be extremely hazardous to your health (returning to a positive-g environment can be very hard on your heart. Your bones get mis-aligned etc).
Until space ships are equiped with artificial gravity then space travel as a tourist option is out of the question.
I'm not sure that should necessarily be our next goal. Of course I'd like to see us go to mars but I'm not sure we should aim for that as our next "big thing."
I think what really needs to happen is we need to finish the IIS and start working as planet as oppose to a bunch of competing countries that are always going to war against each other.
I don't want to see the U.S flag on our space ships. Or Russian, Chinese Canadian or anything else. Instead I want to see either a picture of Earth, or a flag that symbolizes all of Earth.
Then we can explore as a unity. Because really, how the hell are we ever going to explore the "final frontier" and seek out new lifeforms and civilizations when we can't even get along with ourselves.
That should be our next big mission. Of course that's just my opinion.
Slashdot Mirror
I laugh whenever I'm in a situation where someone tells me "Hey! It's a free country".
No it isn't. You don't have the freedom to do a lot of things. Sure we're freer than a lot of other countries but that's changing.
I recently read a great essay called "The Rise of the Fourth Reich" which compares G.W Bush to Hitler.
Read it for yourself here
Anyway I fear a country where people are given the constitutional right to own a firearm at the age of 12 but if you're caught smoking a harmless joint you'll go to jail.
Or where a gang of white police offers can be caught red handed on video tape beating a black man with billy clubs but they're set free to go.
Or where a forieng programmer can be thrown in jail for 5 months without a trial for writing a program that may cost a rich company a few dollars.
That's not freedom and I won't pretend that it is. I refuse to be ignorant and complacent. In fact, what I fear even more than the country itself is it's ignorant and complacent citizens that let it be that way.
--
Garett
This post actually does a good job of answering your question.
Read the part about David Miller.
--
Garett
No one gets my humour. Oh well. I was hoping it would be modded as funny. Not interesting.
--
Garett
I always laugh when I hear someone say that Linux was not designed to play games (or that Linux is not a gaming/desktop OS or whatever.....)
:O)
Here's the thing:
Linux was created to be a UNIX-like OS on a 386 when the only option at the time was minix which was very sub-par.
UNIX was created by Ken Thompson to play games on his PDP-7
Therefore I would argue that Linux was, in fact, designed to play games. Just on a 386 not a PDP-7
--
Garett
Actually english is my first language and for the most part, I'm a great speller.
My problem in this case is that the word "tried" is derived from the word "trial" and not "try". Therefore I wasn't sure if "tried" (he was tried for murder) was spelt the same as "tried" (he tried to do something).
--
Garett
Also, even if Netscape did sue them previously (I don't think they did, to my knowledge they only testified for the DOJ), this is now AOL that's suing. Technically it's a different entity.
My logic was that AOL is Netscape. They bought them so logistically AOL can't sue MS for the same thing that NS did since it's the same company.
--
Garett
isn't it impossible to be triad (sp?) for the same crime twice? I thought Netscape already filed an anti-trust suit for the same reason years ago and lost.
--
Garett
If a large number of ex-Windows users get won over by AOL/RedHat Linux, have we really lost? It seems to me that a Linux user is a Linux user and that one more Linux user is one less customer for Bill and one less pocketbook supporting closed source.
But then how am I supposed to go about bragging to all to all the winblows userz about how 31337 I am to be that k3w1 L1nUx h4x0r?!
Shit if everyone's just as much a k3w1 L1nUx h4x0r as me then I may just have to switch to BSD so I can be a k3w1 B5D h4x0r! Oh the horror!
--
Garett
Your other reply had a very good point that level 0 would imply "not as good" as the competition. However, there is one other outcome that I saw before reading the replies.
It would be a lot easier and require a lot less money to just rate every single product level 0 and do a bit of standard MS-style marketing to convince people that the software is just as good as a level 1. If every single piece of software written by every single company was rated level 0 then no one would be any better off since everyone would be forced to buy level 0 products.
Free software would inevitably be level 1 in many cases but I can't believe that anyone would buy OSS/FS for the same reason that no one is doing it now. It would remain a niche market and the big dumb suits would still insist on using "brand name" products.
--
Garett
You're right but it would take away spammer's anonimity.
:O)
To further this the new protocol would also have to be better at authenticating as the parent poster said. But this can already be implemented to an extent with our current protocol by denying access to SMTP services from anyone who's host does not belong to certain domains.
That still won't elliminate spam all together since many companies spam using their own servers. But at least if you force spammers to do it in the open then at least you can prove that they were the ones who spammed you and can charge them with fraud, false advertising, sexual harrasment (if the add contains sexual material) etc.
It will reduce spam considerably and probably make it a lot less "annoying" since the adds will be more up to par with junk mail. It will still be a problem but it won't be nearly as big of one and then we can use the litigation to regulate it and if there is a God elliminate it
--
Garett
I completely agree. I relate SMTP to TCP/IP. It's very simple which is why it caught on but it just doesn't live up to today's standards.
All of this litigation, while a worthwhile cause, is like security through obscurity. While it may be a deterrent for some people, lots will do it anyway.
So what we need is a new e-mail protocol that will make forgeing at least non-trivial but attempt to make it 100% impossible.
Ideally it would even be backwards compatible with SMTP so that older e-mail clients would work with newer servers.
--
Garett
Man get with it!
The thing is that I would never dream of using a 486 to surf the net, send/receive e-mail, play games etc. But I DO use a 486 as the router for my network.
Why would I want to put a fairly modern machine in charge of something that doesn't require it?
I love the fact that I can install slackware on my old 486 and have it forward packets for me. If Linux didn't run on it I would have to have used one of my celeron boxes that I instead gave my kid. What a waste that would have been!
--
Garett
Interesting... It doesn't seem to matter much.
See for yourself
--
Garett
the abcdefghjklmnoqrstu and v Series?????
They don't get linux?
--
Garett
Evidentally everyone on Slashdot makes "hard earned cash" without creating anything they value.
I'm actually a musician. And a free software developer. I would like to think that what I create is "of value".
I agree with you that the words of the author are the property of the author. But the book as a whole that I payed for is mine and no one is going to tell me what I can and can not do with that book.
Similarly, the same applies to a cd. If I want to rip a cd that I own I have every right to do so. I may not have the right to re-distribute the songs that I ripped since I don't own the songs themselves - just the cd. But I can do whatever I want with the cd. I can give it to a friend; I can make copies of it; I can play it in my computer, car sterio, dvd player, mp3 player, toilet, microwave, vacuum or whatever else I may want to try and play a cd in etc. No one will take that right away from me because I payed for the damn thing.
...They will try though. I just hope for everyone's sake that they stop before they run out of money.
--
Garett
I understand it isn't our right to play the cd anywhere
Wha??!!!?? One of the reasons that I am completely against closed source software, cd copy "protection" , and the whole anti-DeCSS thing is because I believe that when I shell out my hard earned cash for something that means that I have the right to do whatever the hell I want with it because IT'S MINE!!!!!!
That's why whenever I am presented with a EULA I respectfully click "I do not agree". I will not enter into any "user agreement" with any company. If I buy something I reserve the right to do whatever the hell I want with it plain and simple...
With one minor exception: taking credit for the work.
I can not copy a book and say I wrote it. That's playgarism and is not fair to the author. But I can give that book to a friend when I'm done reading it because it's mine, I payed for it and I can do whatever I want with it.
--
Garett
I don't think Loki would want to use something like that. Sure it would speed up devel-time but it would still just be a wrapper (a huge ugly wrapper) to native linux libs which would make things slow and ugly.
Loki's philosophy has been 100% native linux software. They strip out all windows-specific code and replace it with linux-specific code. In the process they also fix and remove bugs in the windows version.
Actually, there's another reason not to use wrappers. Using wrappers means there will be large blocks of code that the developers will never know anything about. Porting 100% of the code means that the developers understand the code much better which results in more bugs (from the original code that doesn't get thrown out) getting fixed.
--
Garett
Usually they just check the User-Agent: HTTP field. This can be done using either CGI or a server-side scripting language like asp or php.
JavaScript may also be able to report on the browser but I'm not sure. It makes more sense IMO to do it server-side anyway.
Someone else's post already said that in this case they check User-Agent so you can configure Mozilla to report IE or NS6 and it will work.
--
Garett
Yup. They aren't blocking NS 4.7. Anyone try NS 6.x? Does it send the same User-Agent: as Moz?
This doesn't really make sense to me. It's either that compiled a list of browsers that are either "known to work" or "we don't compete with them so it doesn't matter" and they block everything else.
--
Garett
Indeed, the US outlawing something is one thing. That's their business, if it turns out to hurt them too much they can always revert the law. It's a democratic country, isn't it ?
'Fraid not. The U.S is not a democracy. It's a Republic. And it's very rapidly turning into a Corporate Republic.
Voting and all this democracy talk is just masturbation. If people's votes actually mattered then you'd have much higher voter turnouts. If you could actually vote for your party instead of an "electoral college" then maybe you'd be closer to democracy as well.
And the most important distinction between a republic and a democracy is that you can't vote on laws and bills. Only the government can. In a true democracy 51% of the public can piss on the other 49%. But in the U.S the government pisses on everyone.
--
Garett
I don't really think he's preaching at all. I don't interpret this as making a point. I interpret it as he really is scared of the U.S and the DMCA and doesn't want to be held accountable in the future for any of his past actions.
--
Garett
I would also add artificial gravity to that list. Zero-g environments are huge problem.
A lot of first-time space travelors have to indure about a week of illness just to adjust to zero-g. You have extreme disorientation because there is no definite up/down/left/right. Plus the long term effects can be extremely hazardous to your health (returning to a positive-g environment can be very hard on your heart. Your bones get mis-aligned etc).
Until space ships are equiped with artificial gravity then space travel as a tourist option is out of the question.
--
Garett
we need to finish the IIS
:O)
Heh... I think I've been reading a little too much Bugtraq lately. That should be ISS
--
Garett
I'm not sure that should necessarily be our next goal. Of course I'd like to see us go to mars but I'm not sure we should aim for that as our next "big thing."
I think what really needs to happen is we need to finish the IIS and start working as planet as oppose to a bunch of competing countries that are always going to war against each other.
I don't want to see the U.S flag on our space ships. Or Russian, Chinese Canadian or anything else. Instead I want to see either a picture of Earth, or a flag that symbolizes all of Earth.
Then we can explore as a unity. Because really, how the hell are we ever going to explore the "final frontier" and seek out new lifeforms and civilizations when we can't even get along with ourselves.
That should be our next big mission. Of course that's just my opinion.
--
Garett
Interesting. I live in Canada and I get those automated calls all the time.
Do have any resources related to that law that you wouldn't mind sharing?
--
Garett