I know I do, but using the Matrix as a jumping off point is a bad idea. The movie is so rife with logical errors and plot holes that without the pretty girl in a latex outfit and lots of guns and fighting the movie would be utter nonsense. In fact, it is utter nonsense, but at least it's fun to watch.
Wow, did you ever miss the poster's point. A stock buyback would be an excellent move, since that would increase demand for the stock, thereby increasing the market price, thereby allowing you to sell the stock at a gain, thus providing the source of income you are hoping for. If MS doesn't provide dividends (which is not entirely unusual) and you don't like that, then don't invest in MS.
The problem with this whole "first sale" nonsense is that with Free Software, there really is no "first sale", but in the event that Richard Stallman sells you a CD with a binary-only version of emacs on it, nothing in the GPL prevents you from selling that CD. First sale applies to a physical instantiation of a creation, not the theoretical component which allows us to recognize various instantions as all being separate instantiations of the same theoretical thing.
And for the rest of us, we are also covered under first if we buy a full set of Red Hat CDs and then later sell only the binary CDs from that set (having never used the SRPM discs we threw them away, right?). We have not (to quote the GPL) "copied, modified, sublicensed, or distributed" anything. You might think such an act qualifies as "distribution" but I'd say it does not since the number of copies in the world is not increased. It is Red Hat under these circumstances, not us, who must offer the source, since they are the makers of the CDs (hence the distributors). The GPL binds them to offer the source for a reasonable fee to pretty much everyone for three years (I don't recall the exact wording for this clause).
But if proprietary software vendors are able to restrict users with EULAs, yeah, the GPL might eventually be reinterpreted to restrict first sale as well. But how hard is it to keep your original media that included the source on it? Is there really a huge after-market for used Free Software that doesn't include source code? Why even worry about this?
It must be one of the "hate AOL/TW" days, since there are no new movie releases on DVD and no new.0001 milestone build of Mozilla, today is one of the days we sit back and castigate AOL/TW instead of fawning and drooling.:)
The individual program may have to wait, but what about the other programs that now won't have to wait for the CPU to free up from doing some other program's I/O stuff?
Because Wal-Mart is not selling these to push Linux. They are selling these because some people who already own computers (and have install CDs for Windows of some variety) would like to save a few bucks on newer hardware without having to rebuy their OS. That much is obvious from their choice of modems.
Oh give up with this poor, poor persecuted companies nonsense!
Companies have the ability to lay off huge segments of their workforce (they call this a "layoff") and they often announce this in the papers (this is called a "press release") and they often watch their stock price increase (this is called "the rich get richer"). If XYZ, Inc. can lay off 3,000 people on a whim, why can't they fire one problem employee? Answer: they can.
But even the guy posting to Slashdot 39 hours a week might be easier to cope with than having to fire that guy, find a replacement, hire replacement, teach replacement new stuff, and cross fingers hoping that net increase work done is actually higher with the new guy. The lazy guy knows the company, has contacts at the company, knows the routine, and doesn't need any new time to adapt. The lazy guy may even be cheaper than current market price, but not understand his value to other prospective employers. If he's too lazy to work, he's probably also too lazy to spend much effort on advancing his career.
Of course some employees will work harder than other employees. And some employees will work smarter than other employees. But generally promoting a positive attitude will be more encouraging to the lesser performers than a negative attitude will keep the productive folks happy. I mean, treat these people like adults. Because for the most part that's what they are.
Either way, both of us are slinging fairly unfounded assumptions around quite a bit-- even if we do back our biases up with anecdotal evidence. It would be nice to see more scientific inquiry into what works and what doesn't.
Please don't be so nitpicky! I assert that in the absence of the GPL, those of us who wanted to share code would resort to public domain releases. I was responding to someone who seemed to be equating the GPL with "redistribution... however [he] damn well please[s]". The GPL is there to offer users the freedom to share (like public domain, we want to promote code sharing), but with restrictions (as we've both stated now).
I MIND when they stop me from redistributing GPL based code however I damn well please.
Hmmm. The GPL itself is there to prevent you from redistributing GPL based code however you damn well please. Otherwise the code would be released as public domain.
Sweet! Actually it's even easier (in cmd.com): just select the text, press enter, then go to the other application and ctrl-v it into place. But before your post I had no clue. What I don't understand is why MS doesn't simply bring their normal interface into play for the command line window... but whatever, I'm finally done cursing the Prompt.
ctrl-e ctrl-e under lynx to launch a browser? Isn't lynx already a browser?:)
That said, I have less trouble cutting and pasting (raw text) on X Windows than I do on Win2. Hard to beat drag-select and middle-click.
And what's the original complaint, that text editing is more fun in emacs than in a graphical browser? Why not run the browser in emacs too then? Or find another text editor temporarily... here's a Perl text editor (requires the Tk module) that should make copying/pasting in X Windows a breeze:
Old people can adapt just as well as anyone. There are plenty of old people that know more about computers than many young people, too. Blanket characterizations based on age are pointless.
Your narrow view of what constitutes a "correct" education is scarier for its myopia than its overarching optimism. String theory? The reason they don't teach this in school is because no one cares, and even if they did they would never have time for it! There is too much to learn if it is all to be done at that level.
Right now our inner city schools face much larger problems than whether to teach "simple" science or "overly simple" science. Most of these schools are lucky if their students can read, or will even show up for school. Our suburbs are thankfully a different story. But either way, just because you think science is important doesn't mean it is. And your notion that a textbook that is 30 years old is outdated is just plain wrong, okay? There's no knowledge over 30 years old that anyone should learn?
I wasn't comparing sexual assault to the DMCA. I was comparing the laws. And upon reflection the DMCA is worse than laws against rape and murder because it does attempt to regulate the technology proactively. But so what? Your suggestion that the technology should somehow legitimize stuff like Napster even though the activity is clearly illegal is ludicrous. That's not adaptation. That's recognization that cultural mores have shifted. Which they haven't. Hence the complete lack of serious outcry against the DMCA.
Contrary to your assertion, most people are not against the DMCA. If they even know what it is, they don't care! Ranting about old people not being able to adapt to your illegal behavior probably won't convince them the DMCA is bad either.
Old people running this country dont understand change, they dont know how to adapt, thats the problem with having all old people in the government.
Sorry, but that's the lamest thing I've heard today. I seriously doubt the problem you claim exists has anything to do with their age. Many of the world's greatest achievements and contributions to progress were the work of "old" people-- even in the arenas of government and science.
Can't teach kids from text books that are 30 years old or older? Not so say the ever-present Christians of America. They're teaching their children how to live their lives according to a "textbook" that's over 2000 years old (average). Ditto the Jews (3000+ years old) and the Muslims (1200 years old) and the Native Americans (traditions several hundred years old). Not that I agree with these practices, but the people doing this are your neighbors, and on some level you need to respect their choices in life if you want to get along with them and maybe even convince them to make some changes.
if people want to share music via napster, you cant hold back the technology, the best thing you can do is change the laws to adapt to it.
Been there, done that. It's called the DMCA. It is an attempt to start making it more difficult to share files by increasing the likelihood that sharing is an offense, and by increasing the potential penalties attached to violations. Most laws are similar. Check the statutes against sexual assault or murder. They are 100% reactive-- only useful for defining acts as crimes and laying out a punishment, not for prevention. Otherwise rape and murder laws would require chastity belts and the confiscation of every potential weapon (including plastic forks).
By the way, as an educated computer programmer, you should know that "virii" is not a word. Just call them "viruses" like a grown person, okay?
We aren't missing a damn thing. If your other writing is as bad as the stuff you post to Slashdot, it's no wonder your books don't sell. And no, I'm not normally this mean about it, but your article was nothing except a long-winded advertisement for your book. The few tidbits you chucked in about "bottoms-up" marketing on the net have nothing to do with "open source" anything, and everything to do with changes in the face of telecommunications and media, especially as linked to demographic niches.
If you want to write an insightful article on the impact of the 'net, why not focus on something interesting like the 2001 election of RT Rybak to the office of Mayor in Minneapolis. His campaign grew out of his participation in a Minneapolis-issues politics mailing list and continues to use the list to communicate with constituents.
The list itself is notable for trumping some other forms of communication and media sources when it comes to "being in touch" with politics and news in Minneapolis. As an example, a recent Critical Mass bike ride in downtown Minneapolis was subject to a fairly brutal police crackdown, and while the main papers and (apparently) evening news slid right over the story, the list was a primary source of communication on the incident (the other great source being IndyMedia's web site).
I realize you've written many articles over the time I've read Slashdot focused on how the web/net democratize society and the economy as well, but this particular article is just plain shoddy. Especially since you throw in a lot of jargon, but don't really connect the dots between a dog book and net marketing. You haven't shown the rest of us how this really works (a key piece of what "open source" is all about), and you haven't shown how it has really helped you. Did you do a cost-benefit analysis detailing how much time you spent hyping your book in various online forums versus the revenue those presumably additional sales produced? Did you check to see if your online efforts were truly the source of the increase by using appropriate statistical sampling methods? Have you provided any part of the book online, or just a lame link to Amazon which any right-thinking moral netizen is boycotting?
The odds of these schools having computers and not running either Windows or Mac OS or both are so extremely low as to make your point completely irrelevant. If the school district were running all Sun or Linux machines, then you'd have to wonder about their sanity in accepting this offer from MS. You'd also have to wonder how they got to be so enlightened in the first place, but now suddenly are kow-towing to Microsoft.
Yes, this is what happens when drug wars, open-ended wars in the Middle East, and corporate bailouts/handouts/tax-breaks take priority over education spending. Schools end up squeezed and have to go begging.
Simply requiring Internet Explorer seems odd, but since it's the default browser on both Windows and Mac OS I don't see the problem. It's not like the schools had to go out and *buy* the darn thing.
I agree, it's odious that students are being polled about their consumer behavior. I'm surprised this action is not illegal (not saying it is or isn't, but it seems like something normally proscribed). And I'm not sure I see the value in demographic information collected this way, it wouldn't seem to be very complete or reliable.
School time is wasted on millions of non-education related tasks, many wholeheartedly endorsed by taxpayers. Pledging allegiance to a piece of colored cloth. Disinformation about drug use. Abstinence pledges. Etc. In many cases the education value of the material is highly questionable, but the social agenda is clear.
$16 million may seem insignificant to Microsoft, but to a school district that's huge. My local school district (I'm a parent, not a student) is short about $30 million right now. Given the low impact IT decisions have on schools overall (except maybe as an expense item), I wouldn't be too opposed to some sort of quid pro quo in my own district. I'm not so worried about Microsoft products in the schools, the schools canoot be the vanguard in the fight for a new OS-- especially since that's traditional Apple territory. Frankly, I think it would be cheaper for Microsoft to obtain this demographic data by simply paying adults to participate in a good survey or two (or buying it from company's whose main business is demographic data-- since when is market research a core competency over at Microsoft?).
The worst aspect of this is the consultant role you mention. That seems to be a lock on Microsoft making sure that as much of that $16 million gets spent on Microsoft products.
Have I heard of this in my area? No. The schools here use Macs and if my daughter said they were using school time to take consumer surveys, everyone from the teacher to the school board would hear about it. That would be front-page news in one of the states taking the hardline against Microsoft in the anti-trust suits.
I like SpamAssassin myself. It's pretty accurate in tagging spam. I agree, obscuring your address gets to be a pain. And it's usually not going to keep your more common addresses from getting passed around at some point. I get most of my spam as a result of shopping online, eBay, or just plain having a registered domain name.
As to web browsers, wouldn't it be a great plugin that could transform a text field into a mini-WP, complete with a limited function spell-checker, and minimal HTML-compliant formatting (for sites like Slashdot where it would be nice not to have to compose HTML to do things like bold or italics or blockquoting)? You know, you select the word you want bold, hit the bold tool in the toolbar, and on submit the correct tags are added? No more forgetting to close tags!
Occurs to me that you meant to type "nor". I'd say the bill is not going to be passed anytime soon. When the Judicial committee recieves 3500 comments, all negative, that's a pretty good indication that Hollings has an uphill battle ahead. Key industry players like the CEO of Intel are not behind this bill. And at least one congressperson is on record opposing the bill. Yes, it's too early to declare victory, but this bill's chances of getting to a floor vote and passing seem fairly slim with this sort of report.
I'm not sure I recall any major opposition to USAPATRIOT. Yes, a lot of bills find themselves criticized heavily but pass anyway. But so far all you're really offering is defeatism. What is it you'd like us to do differently?
Slashdot Mirror
I know I do, but using the Matrix as a jumping off point is a bad idea. The movie is so rife with logical errors and plot holes that without the pretty girl in a latex outfit and lots of guns and fighting the movie would be utter nonsense. In fact, it is utter nonsense, but at least it's fun to watch.
Wow, did you ever miss the poster's point. A stock buyback would be an excellent move, since that would increase demand for the stock, thereby increasing the market price, thereby allowing you to sell the stock at a gain, thus providing the source of income you are hoping for. If MS doesn't provide dividends (which is not entirely unusual) and you don't like that, then don't invest in MS.
The problem with this whole "first sale" nonsense is that with Free Software, there really is no "first sale", but in the event that Richard Stallman sells you a CD with a binary-only version of emacs on it, nothing in the GPL prevents you from selling that CD. First sale applies to a physical instantiation of a creation, not the theoretical component which allows us to recognize various instantions as all being separate instantiations of the same theoretical thing.
And for the rest of us, we are also covered under first if we buy a full set of Red Hat CDs and then later sell only the binary CDs from that set (having never used the SRPM discs we threw them away, right?). We have not (to quote the GPL) "copied, modified, sublicensed, or distributed" anything. You might think such an act qualifies as "distribution" but I'd say it does not since the number of copies in the world is not increased. It is Red Hat under these circumstances, not us, who must offer the source, since they are the makers of the CDs (hence the distributors). The GPL binds them to offer the source for a reasonable fee to pretty much everyone for three years (I don't recall the exact wording for this clause).
But if proprietary software vendors are able to restrict users with EULAs, yeah, the GPL might eventually be reinterpreted to restrict first sale as well. But how hard is it to keep your original media that included the source on it? Is there really a huge after-market for used Free Software that doesn't include source code? Why even worry about this?
It must be one of the "hate AOL/TW" days, since there are no new movie releases on DVD and no new .0001 milestone build of Mozilla, today is one of the days we sit back and castigate AOL/TW instead of fawning and drooling. :)
The individual program may have to wait, but what about the other programs that now won't have to wait for the CPU to free up from doing some other program's I/O stuff?
timothy didn't recommend anything. He approved a story. Get a life.
Because Wal-Mart is not selling these to push Linux. They are selling these because some people who already own computers (and have install CDs for Windows of some variety) would like to save a few bucks on newer hardware without having to rebuy their OS. That much is obvious from their choice of modems.
telnet? ouch. all the cool kids are using ssh these days. get with it! ;)
Oh give up with this poor, poor persecuted companies nonsense!
Companies have the ability to lay off huge segments of their workforce (they call this a "layoff") and they often announce this in the papers (this is called a "press release") and they often watch their stock price increase (this is called "the rich get richer"). If XYZ, Inc. can lay off 3,000 people on a whim, why can't they fire one problem employee? Answer: they can.
But even the guy posting to Slashdot 39 hours a week might be easier to cope with than having to fire that guy, find a replacement, hire replacement, teach replacement new stuff, and cross fingers hoping that net increase work done is actually higher with the new guy. The lazy guy knows the company, has contacts at the company, knows the routine, and doesn't need any new time to adapt. The lazy guy may even be cheaper than current market price, but not understand his value to other prospective employers. If he's too lazy to work, he's probably also too lazy to spend much effort on advancing his career.
Of course some employees will work harder than other employees. And some employees will work smarter than other employees. But generally promoting a positive attitude will be more encouraging to the lesser performers than a negative attitude will keep the productive folks happy. I mean, treat these people like adults. Because for the most part that's what they are.
Either way, both of us are slinging fairly unfounded assumptions around quite a bit-- even if we do back our biases up with anecdotal evidence. It would be nice to see more scientific inquiry into what works and what doesn't.
Please don't be so nitpicky! I assert that in the absence of the GPL, those of us who wanted to share code would resort to public domain releases. I was responding to someone who seemed to be equating the GPL with "redistribution ... however [he] damn well please[s]". The GPL is there to offer users the freedom to share (like public domain, we want to promote code sharing), but with restrictions (as we've both stated now).
I MIND when they stop me from redistributing GPL based code however I damn well please.
Hmmm. The GPL itself is there to prevent you from redistributing GPL based code however you damn well please. Otherwise the code would be released as public domain.
Sweet! Actually it's even easier (in cmd.com): just select the text, press enter, then go to the other application and ctrl-v it into place. But before your post I had no clue. What I don't understand is why MS doesn't simply bring their normal interface into play for the command line window... but whatever, I'm finally done cursing the Prompt.
Apparently I am using cmd.com. I did try command.com, but no change.
Cool hint about Lynx, wonder if that's the same on Links (which is better, imho).
ctrl-e ctrl-e under lynx to launch a browser? Isn't lynx already a browser? :)
... here's a Perl text editor (requires the Tk module) that should make copying/pasting in X Windows a breeze:
That said, I have less trouble cutting and pasting (raw text) on X Windows than I do on Win2. Hard to beat drag-select and middle-click.
And what's the original complaint, that text editing is more fun in emacs than in a graphical browser? Why not run the browser in emacs too then? Or find another text editor temporarily
perl -MTk -e "$W=Tk::MainWindow->new;$t=$W->Scrolled( 'Text' )->pack;MainLoop;"
Won't save your document, but right-clicking in the text field gives you a range of other handy text functions.
(Note: I tested this on Windows2000, where it was seemingly impossible to copy from the command window to paste to any other window)
You're hilarious. You know that?
Old people can adapt just as well as anyone. There are plenty of old people that know more about computers than many young people, too. Blanket characterizations based on age are pointless.
Your narrow view of what constitutes a "correct" education is scarier for its myopia than its overarching optimism. String theory? The reason they don't teach this in school is because no one cares, and even if they did they would never have time for it! There is too much to learn if it is all to be done at that level.
Right now our inner city schools face much larger problems than whether to teach "simple" science or "overly simple" science. Most of these schools are lucky if their students can read, or will even show up for school. Our suburbs are thankfully a different story. But either way, just because you think science is important doesn't mean it is. And your notion that a textbook that is 30 years old is outdated is just plain wrong, okay? There's no knowledge over 30 years old that anyone should learn?
I wasn't comparing sexual assault to the DMCA. I was comparing the laws. And upon reflection the DMCA is worse than laws against rape and murder because it does attempt to regulate the technology proactively. But so what? Your suggestion that the technology should somehow legitimize stuff like Napster even though the activity is clearly illegal is ludicrous. That's not adaptation. That's recognization that cultural mores have shifted. Which they haven't. Hence the complete lack of serious outcry against the DMCA.
Contrary to your assertion, most people are not against the DMCA. If they even know what it is, they don't care! Ranting about old people not being able to adapt to your illegal behavior probably won't convince them the DMCA is bad either.
Old people running this country dont understand change, they dont know how to adapt, thats the problem with having all old people in the government.
Sorry, but that's the lamest thing I've heard today. I seriously doubt the problem you claim exists has anything to do with their age. Many of the world's greatest achievements and contributions to progress were the work of "old" people-- even in the arenas of government and science.
Can't teach kids from text books that are 30 years old or older? Not so say the ever-present Christians of America. They're teaching their children how to live their lives according to a "textbook" that's over 2000 years old (average). Ditto the Jews (3000+ years old) and the Muslims (1200 years old) and the Native Americans (traditions several hundred years old). Not that I agree with these practices, but the people doing this are your neighbors, and on some level you need to respect their choices in life if you want to get along with them and maybe even convince them to make some changes.
if people want to share music via napster, you cant hold back the technology, the best thing you can do is change the laws to adapt to it.
Been there, done that. It's called the DMCA. It is an attempt to start making it more difficult to share files by increasing the likelihood that sharing is an offense, and by increasing the potential penalties attached to violations. Most laws are similar. Check the statutes against sexual assault or murder. They are 100% reactive-- only useful for defining acts as crimes and laying out a punishment, not for prevention. Otherwise rape and murder laws would require chastity belts and the confiscation of every potential weapon (including plastic forks).
By the way, as an educated computer programmer, you should know that "virii" is not a word. Just call them "viruses" like a grown person, okay?
Now if only we could legally play the DVDs of these movies on Linux machines!
(well, maybe we can, but not without some fear of lawsuits for using decss or using proprietary software)
We aren't missing a damn thing. If your other writing is as bad as the stuff you post to Slashdot, it's no wonder your books don't sell. And no, I'm not normally this mean about it, but your article was nothing except a long-winded advertisement for your book. The few tidbits you chucked in about "bottoms-up" marketing on the net have nothing to do with "open source" anything, and everything to do with changes in the face of telecommunications and media, especially as linked to demographic niches.
If you want to write an insightful article on the impact of the 'net, why not focus on something interesting like the 2001 election of RT Rybak to the office of Mayor in Minneapolis. His campaign grew out of his participation in a Minneapolis-issues politics mailing list and continues to use the list to communicate with constituents.
The list itself is notable for trumping some other forms of communication and media sources when it comes to "being in touch" with politics and news in Minneapolis. As an example, a recent Critical Mass bike ride in downtown Minneapolis was subject to a fairly brutal police crackdown, and while the main papers and (apparently) evening news slid right over the story, the list was a primary source of communication on the incident (the other great source being IndyMedia's web site).
I realize you've written many articles over the time I've read Slashdot focused on how the web/net democratize society and the economy as well, but this particular article is just plain shoddy. Especially since you throw in a lot of jargon, but don't really connect the dots between a dog book and net marketing. You haven't shown the rest of us how this really works (a key piece of what "open source" is all about), and you haven't shown how it has really helped you. Did you do a cost-benefit analysis detailing how much time you spent hyping your book in various online forums versus the revenue those presumably additional sales produced? Did you check to see if your online efforts were truly the source of the increase by using appropriate statistical sampling methods? Have you provided any part of the book online, or just a lame link to Amazon which any right-thinking moral netizen is boycotting?
So how does that square with Carlin's whole "There are no bombs and airport security is totally [expletive deleted] pointless" routine? :)
That said, Carlin is the funniest man alive.
Hmm, shut up.
The odds of these schools having computers and not running either Windows or Mac OS or both are so extremely low as to make your point completely irrelevant. If the school district were running all Sun or Linux machines, then you'd have to wonder about their sanity in accepting this offer from MS. You'd also have to wonder how they got to be so enlightened in the first place, but now suddenly are kow-towing to Microsoft.
Yes, this is what happens when drug wars, open-ended wars in the Middle East, and corporate bailouts/handouts/tax-breaks take priority over education spending. Schools end up squeezed and have to go begging.
Simply requiring Internet Explorer seems odd, but since it's the default browser on both Windows and Mac OS I don't see the problem. It's not like the schools had to go out and *buy* the darn thing.
I agree, it's odious that students are being polled about their consumer behavior. I'm surprised this action is not illegal (not saying it is or isn't, but it seems like something normally proscribed). And I'm not sure I see the value in demographic information collected this way, it wouldn't seem to be very complete or reliable.
School time is wasted on millions of non-education related tasks, many wholeheartedly endorsed by taxpayers. Pledging allegiance to a piece of colored cloth. Disinformation about drug use. Abstinence pledges. Etc. In many cases the education value of the material is highly questionable, but the social agenda is clear.
$16 million may seem insignificant to Microsoft, but to a school district that's huge. My local school district (I'm a parent, not a student) is short about $30 million right now. Given the low impact IT decisions have on schools overall (except maybe as an expense item), I wouldn't be too opposed to some sort of quid pro quo in my own district. I'm not so worried about Microsoft products in the schools, the schools canoot be the vanguard in the fight for a new OS-- especially since that's traditional Apple territory. Frankly, I think it would be cheaper for Microsoft to obtain this demographic data by simply paying adults to participate in a good survey or two (or buying it from company's whose main business is demographic data-- since when is market research a core competency over at Microsoft?).
The worst aspect of this is the consultant role you mention. That seems to be a lock on Microsoft making sure that as much of that $16 million gets spent on Microsoft products.
Have I heard of this in my area? No. The schools here use Macs and if my daughter said they were using school time to take consumer surveys, everyone from the teacher to the school board would hear about it. That would be front-page news in one of the states taking the hardline against Microsoft in the anti-trust suits.
Unless we vastly miscalculate how long it takes plastic to degrade, we'll be very well remember in 10,000 years.
I like SpamAssassin myself. It's pretty accurate in tagging spam. I agree, obscuring your address gets to be a pain. And it's usually not going to keep your more common addresses from getting passed around at some point. I get most of my spam as a result of shopping online, eBay, or just plain having a registered domain name.
As to web browsers, wouldn't it be a great plugin that could transform a text field into a mini-WP, complete with a limited function spell-checker, and minimal HTML-compliant formatting (for sites like Slashdot where it would be nice not to have to compose HTML to do things like bold or italics or blockquoting)? You know, you select the word you want bold, hit the bold tool in the toolbar, and on submit the correct tags are added? No more forgetting to close tags!
I think Gateway is trying to get some goodwill among geeks, along with educating the public and of course advertising their warez? ;)
They'd better be careful, or the BSA/MPAA/RIAA/FBI will have someone to pick on besides college kids!
Occurs to me that you meant to type "nor". I'd say the bill is not going to be passed anytime soon. When the Judicial committee recieves 3500 comments, all negative, that's a pretty good indication that Hollings has an uphill battle ahead. Key industry players like the CEO of Intel are not behind this bill. And at least one congressperson is on record opposing the bill. Yes, it's too early to declare victory, but this bill's chances of getting to a floor vote and passing seem fairly slim with this sort of report.
I'm not sure I recall any major opposition to USAPATRIOT. Yes, a lot of bills find themselves criticized heavily but pass anyway. But so far all you're really offering is defeatism. What is it you'd like us to do differently?