Of course it doesn't "count." That's the whole point MIT is making -- just reading the course material is NOT an education, and it's a world different than actually being in class.
If it WERE the same thing, then putting this information out there would instantly put MIT out of business.
Hrm. When I read about giFT, I immediately downloaded it. I've been a Limewire addict and this sounded even better.
Disclaimer: I'm far from being a clueful Linux user. I have much to learn.
I found it nearly impossible to get installed. In particular, the scripts they provide you with to perform the actual downloads have no documentation and the guts of the system has very poor documentation.
One I eventually got it running, it took me even longer to coax it to doanload something. But once I got to that point (and managed to figure out what directore it was downloading to!) it was bliss. Downloading from multiple sources at once is incredibly fast.
the bad thing is, the provided tools don't do a good job of removing duplicate files from the list, nor making a easily searchable list of files to download. This could be easily fixed by whipping up my own Perl script to handle it, and I intend to do that when I have time.
Overall -- the price of admission is currently high for Linux users, but well worth it once you get to the show.
Excuse me for saying so, but it *IS* 'nifty.' I believe if you reread carefully, you'll see he's referring to the technology being used to help aid in the cleanup of this disaster, not the disaster itself. No one thinks the attack ont he WTC was 'nifty.' But I can think of all kinds of fun, upbeat words for the people and technologies being used in the cleanup effort.
My Dad ws one of the owners of TCBY, and I mean the chain, not just a couple of stores. So I've never heard this story and doubt it's validity, particularly considering that TCBY always did stand for "THE COUNTRY'S BEST YOGURT" and has nothing to do with the question of whether or not the product is actually a yogurt-derivative.
Proving I am more than just a computer geek; I am an accumulator (8-bit!) of useless information!
Seriously, waaaay off-topic, I think you meant pennsylvania 6-5000, and that was actually the phone number for, IIRC, a hotel in New York. I could look up the name for it, if anyone cares; I read this interesting tidbit on James Lileks' site. (http://www.lileks.com)
All right, I don't really mean to respond to your post if it was just flamebait. But you're knocking technology that's not even developed yet. That cracks me up! It's going to be slow! You can't use FAT on anything that big! Okay, slow down here, guy. This technology doesn't exist yet, and according to the scientists, won't be in commercial use for at least ten years.
Hopefully, by then, FAT will be obsolete. But regardless, I'm positive that the scientists involved here aren't going to bring to market an unusable technology. If it's too slow, it won't sell. They'll have to make it faster. End of story.
You sound like someone asking about sending people to the moon... "You can't send people to the moon! There's no oxygen! They'll die!" No they won't, silly... we'll solve that problem long before we get there.
In my opinion, the biggest problem with this technology is what several other insightful people have pointed out -- it's PRIVATEly held. That means there's an extremely finite amount of resources being put into it. If they'd share the science all around, we could have this stuff better, cheaper, and faster.
Why does it all have to be about money these days? Doesn't anyone still care about progress?
I even used preview. I must be really tired. I'm not even going to bother posting corrections; just please read the parent message with some generosity of heart. I think the point is a good one.
Disclaimer: I need sleep. Excuse me for referring to the wonderful poster of this topic as "this kid" and excuse me for anything else I say that is nutty. I have great respect for "this kid" and how he's helped us all see the light.
...About this, when something occured to me. Now, people here have alredy suggested suing this kid under the DCMA, but it seems so appropriate an analogy to the MPAA case, it's scary.
Allow me to explain:
In the MPAA vs 2600 case, it's the same thing. 2600 didn't do anything, just reported it, like this kid. Yet they are successfully sued. Not only that, but this security hole that's being pointed out in PGP was clearly found (or at least researched) by the decompiling of the PGP source and reverse-engineering it's storage specs, right?
Even if some of those specs are public, certainly the fact that PGP works this way is not published anywhere (previously) and someone had to "hack" this system to get the info. Clearly illegal behaviour under the DCMA under any circumstance.
It's making me wonder whether we'll ever be able to report bugs that involve anything more than cursory examination. This kid went all the way, decompiled the program, posted every detail about how to determine if your system is vulnerable, how to fix it, etc, etc... and although he's doing EVERYONE a service, it's illegal to have helped like that. No one's going to sue him, I'm sure, but the point is, he broke the law.
"Life's gunna' suck when you grow up -- it sucks pretty bad right now."
I can't wait till Microsoft sues someone for revealing a security hole in Windows...
Well, IANACT (Conspiracy Theorist) but you certainly seem to be correct. I can't imagine a situation where anyone is trapped in those conditions and their government would say, "We don't need any help; no, really... the guys are going ot be fine. GO AWAY!"
I definately think there's more to this than meets the eye.
Granted, I don't understand everythign involved. IANADSD (Deep Sea Diver) but I do play one on TV. (j/k!)
Now, my point is, if it were that easy to send some folks down to have a look-see, wouldn't it have been much easier to rescue the survivors of the initial explosion?
While you seem to have a valid point, may I point out in response that you must have a "computer historian" to generate teh webapges you're supposedly going to hit in your query. Someone, somewhere, has to be intimately interestedin this stuff.
Personally, I find it fascinating, but I wouldn't want to devote all my time to it.
Cigarettes do too serve a useful purpose... several, in fact. For smokers, anyhow. I know I'm much calmer after a good smoke. Of course, I'm an addict, and I wish I weren't, but that's life.
I forget who said, "Of course I smoke cigarettes! I'd hate to die of nothing at all!"
I am here to talk to you as the Vice-President of S.O.S., an important environmentalist movement.
Our enviornment is now facing the worst challenge to its continuing well-being to come since the creation of the Atom Bomb. This new threat is masquerading as a harmless device in most people's homes, schools, offices -- you just can't escape!
That's right, I'm talking about the Solar Panel. Sure, they may seem like handy things to have. They can power your calculator, your car, even your webpage hosting company.
But we of SOS (Save Our Sun!) know better. Studies show conclusively that the billions of hand-held calculators, wristwatches, and more using solar power are DESTROYING OUR PLANET!
Thousands of acres of previously vibrant rainforest are dying because they cannot get the sun they so deseprately need to flourish. Many third-world countries are suffering from a complete lack of sunlight now, and actually have to have it piped in from neighboring countries.
How will you feel in twenty years when you have to tell your child he'll never see the Sun because your generation used it all up on useless handheld calculators!?
We MUST put a stop to the wanton abuse of solar power immediately! Write your congressman. Write the president. Write the president of Texas Instruments! SMASH YOUR CALCULATOR! We must SAVE OUR SUN!
Well, if you check the last few paragraphs of the article, you'll see that the author claims Linux is used primarily for Websites, but not for much else. This is supposed to be an attempt to show that Linux can handle "More powerful applications."
Now I ask, who considers their wristwatch to be a more powerful application than your average webserver? Maybe IIS, but not Apache, not Linux, not us!
I don't meant o sound like I'm trying to flame here. I'd just like to point out to all of you who didn't rad the (addmittedly annoying).PDF file that they address this, and decide that it's still illegal, because it's not non-commercial!
Granted, that sounds funny, but there is legal precedent (also mentioned in the.PDF) that states that the fact that people are avoiding paying for the actual product makes it a commercial use.
Actually, that makes sense, in a twisted, legaleese way.
Excuse me for using the word "pirate" in the previous post. I understand it rings harshly in some people's ears (terminals?). It's just the first word that came to mind, having gone through my own "script kiddie" phase in the 80's.
Okay, don't flame me, but I don't understand the panic in this post. I do think it's an excellent article, well written, if not completely thought out. Perhaps it's intended to light a fire under our collective asses, whichI'm sure it's accomplished.
I would post the following corrections, however. First off, there has been no ruling against Napster. The case hasn't even gone to trial, folks. This is a preliminary injunction, thich admittedly sets a bad tone for the trial to come, but doesn't mean ANYTHING legally, except that Napster has to stop running until the trial.
Secondly, even if Napster DOES die (god frobid), it won't be the end of the world. Anyone who wants to pirate MP3s will still be able to, just not with Napster. You can use the quasi-napster servers (what are they called, OpenNap?) or a whole different tool, like Gnutella. The courts can't take away thi technology -- it's just plain impossible. They could make it illegal, which would be a terrible shame, but they'll never be able to enforce that illegality.
So everyone take a deep breath, don't panic, and then do the responsible thing: write letters. Participate in protests. Let people know how you want this trial to end before it does end! We all need to do our part to let these empty-headed judicial types know the Truth!
(Speaking of truth: offtopic here's a great Gnutella ad / Matrix parody) Kid: Only try to realize the Truth. Neo: The Truth? Kid: There is no server.
I remember there was another one that just said "you typed Slashdot wrong, moron." And then linked you back to the real thing, but I can't remember what it was. -CJ
Well, I don't know about the rioting, but the Cubs here in Chicago have a "Disco night" every year, to help inspire ticket sales.
Personally, I'd rather see them play baseball to inspire ticket sales, but they haven't been able to do that in years.
I went to one of the Disco Nights because I was working at a Disco at the time, as a dance instructor. I got to dance out on the field, on TV. And I have to say, I don't look half-bad in an afro wig.
Now I'm a programmer. But I still don't look half-bad in an afro wig.
Shooting "things" is not illegal. Shooting people is, and despite your claim, I strongly doubt any large percentage of sold handguns are used to shoot people.
There's no question that 99% or more of the traffic generated by Napster is illegal. I LOVE the previous analogy about 99% of people buying chainsaws using them to hack people up.:)
Slashdot Mirror
Wow, I'd hate to see you put it impolitely.
If it WERE the same thing, then putting this information out there would instantly put MIT out of business.
Disclaimer: I'm far from being a clueful Linux user. I have much to learn.
I found it nearly impossible to get installed. In particular, the scripts they provide you with to perform the actual downloads have no documentation and the guts of the system has very poor documentation.
One I eventually got it running, it took me even longer to coax it to doanload something. But once I got to that point (and managed to figure out what directore it was downloading to!) it was bliss. Downloading from multiple sources at once is incredibly fast.
the bad thing is, the provided tools don't do a good job of removing duplicate files from the list, nor making a easily searchable list of files to download. This could be easily fixed by whipping up my own Perl script to handle it, and I intend to do that when I have time.
Overall -- the price of admission is currently high for Linux users, but well worth it once you get to the show.
-CJ
-CJ
Uh... so XWindows is out, then? Damn... gunna' have to talk to someone about changing that name.
My Dad ws one of the owners of TCBY, and I mean the chain, not just a couple of stores. So I've never heard this story and doubt it's validity, particularly considering that TCBY always did stand for "THE COUNTRY'S BEST YOGURT" and has nothing to do with the question of whether or not the product is actually a yogurt-derivative.
So there you have it.
Seriously, waaaay off-topic, I think you meant pennsylvania 6-5000, and that was actually the phone number for, IIRC, a hotel in New York. I could look up the name for it, if anyone cares; I read this interesting tidbit on James Lileks' site. (http://www.lileks.com)
Hopefully, by then, FAT will be obsolete. But regardless, I'm positive that the scientists involved here aren't going to bring to market an unusable technology. If it's too slow, it won't sell. They'll have to make it faster. End of story.
You sound like someone asking about sending people to the moon... "You can't send people to the moon! There's no oxygen! They'll die!" No they won't, silly... we'll solve that problem long before we get there.
In my opinion, the biggest problem with this technology is what several other insightful people have pointed out -- it's PRIVATEly held. That means there's an extremely finite amount of resources being put into it. If they'd share the science all around, we could have this stuff better, cheaper, and faster.
Why does it all have to be about money these days? Doesn't anyone still care about progress?
Disclaimer: I need sleep. Excuse me for referring to the wonderful poster of this topic as "this kid" and excuse me for anything else I say that is nutty. I have great respect for "this kid" and how he's helped us all see the light.
...About this, when something occured to me. Now, people here have alredy suggested suing this kid under the DCMA, but it seems so appropriate an analogy to the MPAA case, it's scary.
Allow me to explain:
In the MPAA vs 2600 case, it's the same thing. 2600 didn't do anything, just reported it, like this kid. Yet they are successfully sued. Not only that, but this security hole that's being pointed out in PGP was clearly found (or at least researched) by the decompiling of the PGP source and reverse-engineering it's storage specs, right?
Even if some of those specs are public, certainly the fact that PGP works this way is not published anywhere (previously) and someone had to "hack" this system to get the info. Clearly illegal behaviour under the DCMA under any circumstance.
It's making me wonder whether we'll ever be able to report bugs that involve anything more than cursory examination. This kid went all the way, decompiled the program, posted every detail about how to determine if your system is vulnerable, how to fix it, etc, etc... and although he's doing EVERYONE a service, it's illegal to have helped like that. No one's going to sue him, I'm sure, but the point is, he broke the law.
"Life's gunna' suck when you grow up -- it sucks pretty bad right now."
I can't wait till Microsoft sues someone for revealing a security hole in Windows...
I definately think there's more to this than meets the eye.
Now, my point is, if it were that easy to send some folks down to have a look-see, wouldn't it have been much easier to rescue the survivors of the initial explosion?
That's funny as heck!
Personally, I find it fascinating, but I wouldn't want to devote all my time to it.
I forget who said, "Of course I smoke cigarettes! I'd hate to die of nothing at all!"
I am here to talk to you as the Vice-President of S.O.S., an important environmentalist movement.
Our enviornment is now facing the worst challenge to its continuing well-being to come since the creation of the Atom Bomb. This new threat is masquerading as a harmless device in most people's homes, schools, offices -- you just can't escape!
That's right, I'm talking about the Solar Panel. Sure, they may seem like handy things to have. They can power your calculator, your car, even your webpage hosting company.
But we of SOS (Save Our Sun!) know better. Studies show conclusively that the billions of hand-held calculators, wristwatches, and more using solar power are DESTROYING OUR PLANET!
Thousands of acres of previously vibrant rainforest are dying because they cannot get the sun they so deseprately need to flourish. Many third-world countries are suffering from a complete lack of sunlight now, and actually have to have it piped in from neighboring countries.
How will you feel in twenty years when you have to tell your child he'll never see the Sun because your generation used it all up on useless handheld calculators!?
We MUST put a stop to the wanton abuse of solar power immediately! Write your congressman. Write the president. Write the president of Texas Instruments! SMASH YOUR CALCULATOR! We must SAVE OUR SUN!
TAKE ACTION TODAY!
Now I ask, who considers their wristwatch to be a more powerful application than your average webserver? Maybe IIS, but not Apache, not Linux, not us!
Granted, that sounds funny, but there is legal precedent (also mentioned in the .PDF) that states that the fact that people are avoiding paying for the actual product makes it a commercial use.
Actually, that makes sense, in a twisted, legaleese way.
Excuse me for using the word "pirate" in the previous post. I understand it rings harshly in some people's ears (terminals?). It's just the first word that came to mind, having gone through my own "script kiddie" phase in the 80's.
I would post the following corrections, however. First off, there has been no ruling against Napster. The case hasn't even gone to trial, folks. This is a preliminary injunction, thich admittedly sets a bad tone for the trial to come, but doesn't mean ANYTHING legally, except that Napster has to stop running until the trial.
Secondly, even if Napster DOES die (god frobid), it won't be the end of the world. Anyone who wants to pirate MP3s will still be able to, just not with Napster. You can use the quasi-napster servers (what are they called, OpenNap?) or a whole different tool, like Gnutella. The courts can't take away thi technology -- it's just plain impossible. They could make it illegal, which would be a terrible shame, but they'll never be able to enforce that illegality.
So everyone take a deep breath, don't panic, and then do the responsible thing: write letters. Participate in protests. Let people know how you want this trial to end before it does end! We all need to do our part to let these empty-headed judicial types know the Truth!
(Speaking of truth: offtopic here's a great Gnutella ad / Matrix parody)
Kid: Only try to realize the Truth. Neo: The Truth? Kid: There is no server.
Well, I thought it was funny. :P
I remember there was another one that just said "you typed Slashdot wrong, moron." And then linked you back to the real thing, but I can't remember what it was. -CJ
Personally, I'd rather see them play baseball to inspire ticket sales, but they haven't been able to do that in years.
I went to one of the Disco Nights because I was working at a Disco at the time, as a dance instructor. I got to dance out on the field, on TV. And I have to say, I don't look half-bad in an afro wig.
Now I'm a programmer. But I still don't look half-bad in an afro wig.
There's no question that 99% or more of the traffic generated by Napster is illegal. I LOVE the previous analogy about 99% of people buying chainsaws using them to hack people up. :)