"Dubai certainly has no taxation system, as AKAIK do the other Emitates, Saudia Arabia and Kuwait"
Well that's only because they're so rich because of their vast oil reserves, isn't it ? Not exactly a normal situation. Nothing to do with being absolute monarchies (unless you count the fact that the wealth of those countries helps prevent large-scale political discontent from overthrowing the monarchy).
And if you look back in history, I think you'll find that absolute monarchies have been rather keen on raising taxes.
"What exactly am I getting on a plate, and why should I give whoever reckons they're giving it to me any more than "fuck all""
What about the education that taught you to read and write ? What about the healthcare system which provided for you and your parents when you were born and grew up ? And so on and so on.....
Technology gives - and technology takes away
on
Instant Concert CDs?
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
It's only thanks to technology that there is a "recording" industry in the first place. Before performances could be recorded, musicians had to make money through performing their works. Technology, and the ability to record music, created the recording industry.
Is it too surprising, then, if technology might take it away again ?
In my personal opinion, music is about many things.......creation, art, emotion, enjoyment, life. If there is one word which doesn't belong next to the word "music", it's the word "business".
Mandrake packages who's legal or licencing status is uncertain are not supplied in the distribution.
However, many are available (including mplayer) in Mandrake RPM format via PLF (the embarrassingly-named Penguin Liberation Front).
Instructions are even included for setting that site up as a URPMI repository ('urpmi' being Mandrake's equivalent to 'apt-get' - installation of packages, automatically resolving and installing dependencies). Note however, that some PLF packages require packages from Mandrake contrib repositories.
Re:And this is relevant because?
on
Copyright Rumblings
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
This is relevant because its an article in a magazine written for important business people which is talking about the issue, and telling them that there is a serious problem here. This is much more significant it terms of publicising the issue to the world at large than a bunch of people on a techies-only website wingeing amongst themselves and (with a small handful of exceptions) not doing anything significant about it.
Part of the point of the article was that the DDOS attacks mean that ISPs are becoming less and less likely to allow IRC servers on their networks.
The attacks on DALnet have apparently been over 3GB/s of traffic for periods, and attacks have lasted for days. The attacks have been so large that they don't just overwhelm a single IRC server, but they have a serious impact on whole ISPs.
ISPs are doing IRC-ers a favour by letting IRC servers use their networks as a free service, but if these DDOS idiots start affecting those ISPs' ability to function, the easiest thing for the ISPs to do is to stop hosting IRC servers.
DALnet, or any other large IRC network, can always get a few servers sorted out easily enough. But what if all the large ISPs won't let them use their connections ?
This is why the article is saying there's a threat to IRC.
"4) With a microphone I can effectively call people anywhere in the world for no interntaional call charges. Or I can chat to them online in chat rooms, instant messaging and so on." : : "4)I pay less money to my phone operators and as I'm on a flat rate for my internet connection anyway I don't care how many people I call."
I take your point here, but this is as nothing compared to the ability to chat directly with people from all over the world you would not otherwise have been able to communicate with.
And when you can do that, you can find out about their lives and cultures, and find out that people are basically the same the whole world over.
You may find that most people from certain countries you have heard a lot about are, in fact, human beings, and not an unthinking part of some "evil society" that other media sources may have been trying to portray them as.
Alternatively, you may find the opposite is the case.
Apart from your first sentence, I agree with everything you said. I was just pointing out that the reason many corporations act as they do is above all because of money, rather than anything else.
I'm not saying this isn't bad.
The human beings who run those corporations, the governments who can control them (after a fashion), and financial investors in them should realise they have a moral, as well as financial, responsibility.
This should especially be the case in the USA if its government wants to be the world's policeman and tell other countries how to behave.
Because management training schemes teach managers that "it's easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission". They're taught to try it on and to see what they can get away with.
Too many people here think there's just something "evil" about big corporations in general. They're not evil as such. The reason they act as they do is all about making money. They'll try and get away with whatever they can to make money until they're told they can't (the same way certain dictators will try things on until threatened with force).
But then money, as they say, is the root of all evil.
"It's a bloated company based on free software that cannot."
That bloated company was Mandrake under the previous management team - the one who tried to turn it into some sort of e-Learning company, and increased its operating expenses by 400%, dot.com-style.
Mandrake sacked that management team, and cut costs drastically, but obviously not soon enough. During 2001-2002 their revenue increased 31% while reducing operating expenses by 42% - see here.
The current Mandrake may not be bloated any more, but they have a huge financial debt around their necks (not to mention long-term contracts entered into by the previous management team). Chapter-11 proceedings should help them cope with this, and if their customers don't desert them in the mean-time, they have a strong chance of survival. Ironically, this may be because they are end-user oriented more than corporate oriented - corporations will take fright from a company seen as failing, whereas end-users, I think, are more prepared to pay money simply for something they like that works.
"MandrakeSoft is going the way of the dodo because they haven't successfully created a way to make money. End of story."
MandrakeSoft is in the current financial situation because of their former management team (now sacked) who tried to turn them into some sort of e-Education dot.com company - increasing their operating expenses 400% in the process.
They've sorted out the worst of the mess, and they're doing much better now, but they have a big financial hole they can't fill. This is the reason for the Chapter 11-like filing. Without huge debts to service, I believe they can easily be profitable (although they might have to be a little less generous with how much they give away for free).
If you're going to say "End of story", make sure you've read the book, not just the covers.
"If there were no patents in place, than innovation would be halted."
Yeah, because as we all know, absolutely nothing at all, no sirree, was ever invented before we had patents....... The very word "innovation" cannot have existed before then, since it had no meaning.
Come to think of it, how was the idea of patents ever invented in the first place ?
Hmmmm, does this in turn prove that the idea of patents cannot, by definition, be a useful innovation ?
".....gradually the more efficient nations munch their way up the food chain."
I don't think they are any more efficient. There is simply no reason why us in advanced countries should be paid higher salaries than people doing the same jobs in poorer countries. People in third-world / developing countries are no less intelligent, capable or hard-working than people in more advanced countries - other than their standard of education (which is, admittedly, a significant factor).
What is happening is that improved communication and transport infrastructures are removing more and more of the physical barriers that have kept rich and poor countries, and their people (or "labour forces" if you prefer) apart. Rather ironically, it appears to be the very greed of the largest multi-national companies in the richest countries (and their search for cheaper labour) which is causing most of it.
This is what is happening - the differences between advanced and "developing" countries are being evened out.
Personally, I think it's a good thing if the differences in wealth between different countries is reduced, and the earth's resources (financial and otherwise) are more evenly distributed between them. And in doing so, I hope it helps reduce the tensions between different parts of the world.
I also think a large motivation behind the current push on intellectual property (particularly patents) from the rich, developed world is a mechanism by which the status quo is to be preserved (i.e. the rich countries stay rich, and the poor stay poor). Of course more developed countries are going to "invent" more technology than less advanced countries. Patents are a means by which we can say: "We don't care if you've had lots of good ideas and innovations - we're more advanced, we thought of them first, and we've made the laws which say for years to come you must pay us money just to use those ideas".
"Scanners out there can easily identify and infect 1000 home user's machines, and these attacks come from them. The actual perpetrator is long gone. All they do is momentarily log in and "fire it off", then they immediately log out, and they are gone."
But an ISP (or some body such as the FBI) may be able to identify all the packets travelling to an infected machine on its network, and perhaps trace which machine is connecting to it to co-ordinate the attacks - or at least the first machine in a chain.
Or perhaps other means of dealing with the problem could be investigated (routing protocols, or whatever). Also, the ISPs which allow outgoing source IP addresses to be spoofed could be identified. If spoofed source IP addresses become a huge problem to significant parts of the internet, those ISPs could be asked, pressurised (or legislated against) in order to stop this - if technically feasible (sorry, but I'm no networking expert).
OK, people may not think it worth doing just to save a single IRC network, but it's not a problem that can be ignored for ever while it gets worse and worse (due to the reasons you give in your post) and becomes a threat to more and more of the internet.
"That is like saying Seymore's geek-mobile 1977 Honda Accord isn't too far removed from a TVR Tuscan 6."
Well they're both motor vehicles which take you from A to B, powered by an internal combustion engine, travelling on the non-internet super-highway.
"Here's why no one in the FBI cares about DalNET or their DDoS attacks: No one outside of DalNET gives a shit."
Please read the post. The third and fourth paragraphs give a few reasons why it might be useful if they did.
"It's pretty damn offtopic. Yes, it deal with DDoS attacks but in no way is it remotely relevant to DNS root servers."
The title of the article is "More Info on the October 2002 DNS Attacks". Personally I think a comment about another large-scale internet attack, carried out in the same way, is pretty on-topic.
The Dalnet IRC network has been crippled for months due to continuing DDOS attacks. Now Dalnet is based on a small number of central IRC servers (20-30 I believe) so it isn't too far removed from the core DNS infrastructure (i.e. the root DNS servers).
Why don't Dalnet and the FBI (or whoever) get together to solve a mutual problem ?
Dalnet could get some much-needed help, and the FBI could get some much-needed experience into investigating this sort of attack. They would also be dealing with someone (or some people) who could move on to attacking bigger things.
Also if they caught the attackers, they would get some useful publicity, some justification for an increased spend on cyber-deterrence, and the deterrent effect of having the perpetrators suitably punished - as well as putting a genuine menace behind bars.
Slashdot Mirror
"Dubai certainly has no taxation system, as AKAIK do the other Emitates, Saudia Arabia and Kuwait"
Well that's only because they're so rich because of their vast oil reserves, isn't it ? Not exactly a normal situation. Nothing to do with being absolute monarchies (unless you count the fact that the wealth of those countries helps prevent large-scale political discontent from overthrowing the monarchy).
And if you look back in history, I think you'll find that absolute monarchies have been rather keen on raising taxes.
"What exactly am I getting on a plate, and why should I give whoever reckons they're giving it to me any more than "fuck all""
What about the education that taught you to read and write ? What about the healthcare system which provided for you and your parents when you were born and grew up ? And so on and so on.....
It's only thanks to technology that there is a "recording" industry in the first place. Before performances could be recorded, musicians had to make money through performing their works. Technology, and the ability to record music, created the recording industry.
Is it too surprising, then, if technology might take it away again ?
In my personal opinion, music is about many things.......creation, art, emotion, enjoyment, life. If there is one word which doesn't belong next to the word "music", it's the word "business".
"It takes its money from people who live there by force. So what if the government where you live is elected - I didn't vote for them"
Find one country on this planet that doesn't tax its population.
Jesus, some people want everything handed to them on a plate, while giving fuck all in return.
George Goble's home page.
"Your 333 MHz box may be fine for simple Web browsing and email, but for the latest.....Instant Messaging clients, you should upgrade."
Wow. How fast do you type ?
As a happy user of MPlayer on Mandrake, thanks for your work on this.
Mandrake packages who's legal or licencing status is uncertain are not supplied in the distribution.
However, many are available (including mplayer) in Mandrake RPM format via PLF (the embarrassingly-named Penguin Liberation Front).
Instructions are even included for setting that site up as a URPMI repository ('urpmi' being Mandrake's equivalent to 'apt-get' - installation of packages, automatically resolving and installing dependencies). Note however, that some PLF packages require packages from Mandrake contrib repositories.
This is relevant because its an article in a magazine written for important business people which is talking about the issue, and telling them that there is a serious problem here. This is much more significant it terms of publicising the issue to the world at large than a bunch of people on a techies-only website wingeing amongst themselves and (with a small handful of exceptions) not doing anything significant about it.
And the amazing thing is, everyone else seems to be taking it seriously.
Is it just me, or is Slashdot getting much less informed as the user count continues to increase ?
But I said he was Shiny White, not a Whiny Sh...
Part of the point of the article was that the DDOS attacks mean that ISPs are becoming less and less likely to allow IRC servers on their networks.
The attacks on DALnet have apparently been over 3GB/s of traffic for periods, and attacks have lasted for days. The attacks have been so large that they don't just overwhelm a single IRC server, but they have a serious impact on whole ISPs.
ISPs are doing IRC-ers a favour by letting IRC servers use their networks as a free service, but if these DDOS idiots start affecting those ISPs' ability to function, the easiest thing for the ISPs to do is to stop hosting IRC servers.
DALnet, or any other large IRC network, can always get a few servers sorted out easily enough. But what if all the large ISPs won't let them use their connections ?
This is why the article is saying there's a threat to IRC.
"4) With a microphone I can effectively call people anywhere in the world for no interntaional call charges. Or I can chat to them online in chat rooms, instant messaging and so on."
:
:
"4)I pay less money to my phone operators and as I'm on a flat rate for my internet connection anyway I don't care how many people I call."
I take your point here, but this is as nothing compared to the ability to chat directly with people from all over the world you would not otherwise have been able to communicate with.
And when you can do that, you can find out about their lives and cultures, and find out that people are basically the same the whole world over.
You may find that most people from certain countries you have heard a lot about are, in fact, human beings, and not an unthinking part of some "evil society" that other media sources may have been trying to portray them as.
Alternatively, you may find the opposite is the case.
But the point is - you can find out for yourself.
...but they'll need to roll a cool troll toll tool.
Apart from your first sentence, I agree with everything you said. I was just pointing out that the reason many corporations act as they do is above all because of money, rather than anything else.
I'm not saying this isn't bad.
The human beings who run those corporations, the governments who can control them (after a fashion), and financial investors in them should realise they have a moral, as well as financial, responsibility.
This should especially be the case in the USA if its government wants to be the world's policeman and tell other countries how to behave.
Because management training schemes teach managers that "it's easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission". They're taught to try it on and to see what they can get away with.
Too many people here think there's just something "evil" about big corporations in general. They're not evil as such. The reason they act as they do is all about making money. They'll try and get away with whatever they can to make money until they're told they can't (the same way certain dictators will try things on until threatened with force).
But then money, as they say, is the root of all evil.
"It's a bloated company based on free software that cannot."
That bloated company was Mandrake under the previous management team - the one who tried to turn it into some sort of e-Learning company, and increased its operating expenses by 400%, dot.com-style.
Mandrake sacked that management team, and cut costs drastically, but obviously not soon enough. During 2001-2002 their revenue increased 31% while reducing operating expenses by 42% - see here.
The current Mandrake may not be bloated any more, but they have a huge financial debt around their necks (not to mention long-term contracts entered into by the previous management team). Chapter-11 proceedings should help them cope with this, and if their customers don't desert them in the mean-time, they have a strong chance of survival. Ironically, this may be because they are end-user oriented more than corporate oriented - corporations will take fright from a company seen as failing, whereas end-users, I think, are more prepared to pay money simply for something they like that works.
"MandrakeSoft is going the way of the dodo because they haven't successfully created a way to make money. End of story."
MandrakeSoft is in the current financial situation because of their former management team (now sacked) who tried to turn them into some sort of e-Education dot.com company - increasing their operating expenses 400% in the process.
They've sorted out the worst of the mess, and they're doing much better now, but they have a big financial hole they can't fill. This is the reason for the Chapter 11-like filing. Without huge debts to service, I believe they can easily be profitable (although they might have to be a little less generous with how much they give away for free).
If you're going to say "End of story", make sure you've read the book, not just the covers.
But surely they wouldn't do anything against their very bestest friends SuSE, Conectiva and TurboLinux ?
After all, they are United, right ?
"If there were no patents in place, than innovation would be halted."
Yeah, because as we all know, absolutely nothing at all, no sirree, was ever invented before we had patents....... The very word "innovation" cannot have existed before then, since it had no meaning.
Come to think of it, how was the idea of patents ever invented in the first place ?
Hmmmm, does this in turn prove that the idea of patents cannot, by definition, be a useful innovation ?
".....gradually the more efficient nations munch their way up the food chain."
I don't think they are any more efficient. There is simply no reason why us in advanced countries should be paid higher salaries than people doing the same jobs in poorer countries. People in third-world / developing countries are no less intelligent, capable or hard-working than people in more advanced countries - other than their standard of education (which is, admittedly, a significant factor).
What is happening is that improved communication and transport infrastructures are removing more and more of the physical barriers that have kept rich and poor countries, and their people (or "labour forces" if you prefer) apart. Rather ironically, it appears to be the very greed of the largest multi-national companies in the richest countries (and their search for cheaper labour) which is causing most of it.
This is what is happening - the differences between advanced and "developing" countries are being evened out.
Personally, I think it's a good thing if the differences in wealth between different countries is reduced, and the earth's resources (financial and otherwise) are more evenly distributed between them. And in doing so, I hope it helps reduce the tensions between different parts of the world.
I also think a large motivation behind the current push on intellectual property (particularly patents) from the rich, developed world is a mechanism by which the status quo is to be preserved (i.e. the rich countries stay rich, and the poor stay poor). Of course more developed countries are going to "invent" more technology than less advanced countries. Patents are a means by which we can say: "We don't care if you've had lots of good ideas and innovations - we're more advanced, we thought of them first, and we've made the laws which say for years to come you must pay us money just to use those ideas".
"Scanners out there can easily identify and infect 1000 home user's machines, and these attacks come from them. The actual perpetrator is long gone. All they do is momentarily log in and "fire it off", then they immediately log out, and they are gone."
But an ISP (or some body such as the FBI) may be able to identify all the packets travelling to an infected machine on its network, and perhaps trace which machine is connecting to it to co-ordinate the attacks - or at least the first machine in a chain.
Or perhaps other means of dealing with the problem could be investigated (routing protocols, or whatever). Also, the ISPs which allow outgoing source IP addresses to be spoofed could be identified. If spoofed source IP addresses become a huge problem to significant parts of the internet, those ISPs could be asked, pressurised (or legislated against) in order to stop this - if technically feasible (sorry, but I'm no networking expert).
OK, people may not think it worth doing just to save a single IRC network, but it's not a problem that can be ignored for ever while it gets worse and worse (due to the reasons you give in your post) and becomes a threat to more and more of the internet.
"That is like saying Seymore's geek-mobile 1977 Honda Accord isn't too far removed from a TVR Tuscan 6."
Well they're both motor vehicles which take you from A to B, powered by an internal combustion engine, travelling on the non-internet super-highway.
"Here's why no one in the FBI cares about DalNET or their DDoS attacks: No one outside of DalNET gives a shit."
Please read the post. The third and fourth paragraphs give a few reasons why it might be useful if they did.
"It's pretty damn offtopic. Yes, it deal with DDoS attacks but in no way is it remotely relevant to DNS root servers."
The title of the article is "More Info on the October 2002 DNS Attacks". Personally I think a comment about another large-scale internet attack, carried out in the same way, is pretty on-topic.
The Dalnet IRC network has been crippled for months due to continuing DDOS attacks. Now Dalnet is based on a small number of central IRC servers (20-30 I believe) so it isn't too far removed from the core DNS infrastructure (i.e. the root DNS servers).
Why don't Dalnet and the FBI (or whoever) get together to solve a mutual problem ?
Dalnet could get some much-needed help, and the FBI could get some much-needed experience into investigating this sort of attack. They would also be dealing with someone (or some people) who could move on to attacking bigger things.
Also if they caught the attackers, they would get some useful publicity, some justification for an increased spend on cyber-deterrence, and the deterrent effect of having the perpetrators suitably punished - as well as putting a genuine menace behind bars.
Good point.
;)
But until Mandrake's financial situation becomes healthier, I think it's more a case of he who pays the piper calls the tune.
I think there's also a concern about important but less glamourous, behind-the-scenes packages not being voted for.
Or maybe that's just the worries of a less-than-glamourous, behind-the-scenes techie
Just because Mandrake comes on 3 CDs in the download edition (and more in the boxed sets) doesn't mean you have to install all the CDs.
You can install Mandrake 9.0 from a single CD, and still end up with a very useable system. Or just use two CDs, or just three.......or all of them.
But since you've been using Mandrake for four years now, you knew that, didn't you ?