You have one strange definition of "reasonable person" there. I know Americans aren't the most literate people on this Earth, but I think most of them can tell the difference between MikeRoweSoft and the Microsoft logo and brand name that gets shoved in their face everywhere they turn.
If they're genuinely concerned about spending the money on educating him in technological matters rather than just giving him cash to spend how he wants, then how about a scholarship at a University where he'll get a real, unbiased education? If they'd done that, I'd applaud them, but it seems that Microsoft can't give away anything without the assurance of getting ten times as much back for it long term.
Stop playing armchair lawyering here, esp considering what you don't know what the hell you're talking about. If this actually went to court the kid would lose.
Even if you sell software, if your name is Mike Rowe, and you haven't obviously changed it to that by deed poll just to piss off Microsoft, then there is legal precedent (at least in Commonwealth countries, I don't know about the US) that you are allowed to use your own name for your business, followed by a common abbreviation for what your business is. As MS hasn't gone after companies like ArcSoft, it can hardly lay claim to the abbreviated form of "software".
I'm glad that Funny moderation has gone, because I was dead serious. I'm especially concerned about the moving the existing domain to a new Web site wording. Its not entirely clear what that means, but my interpretation given the rest of the "gifts" is that they want to get him off the Red Hat Enterprise server where his site is currently hosted and onto a Mikerowesoft platform.
Exactly what should they have done to satisfy both parties?
Leave him the fuck alone.
They knew full well that Microsoft(TM) do not have a legal leg to stand on in trying to get Mike Rowe to stop using his own name. If Microsoft thought they were right, do you think they would have caved like this? That would just be inviting domain squatters to taunt them.
That said, the US Gov't has traded in "hard" metric for some time now; the "average Joe" on the street (such as myself) still uses Imperial for day-to-day life.
That must be because they use metric in Columbia. But to be honest, it isn't just the Govt that buys their recreational substance of choice by the gram instead of the ounce. Just depends what you're into.
No, you don't need to "look them up" with metric. How many inches in a mile. Yes I would need to look that one up, or at least calculate it if I could remember the number of feet or yards in a mile. How many millimetres in a kilometre? Easy, a million no looking up or calculation required.
Body temperature varies, and wouldn't make a good reference point. The other story I have heard is that he deliberately chose a 180 degree gap between the freezing point and boiling point of water to come up with the increments.
Should we throw away everything with an English thread away?
It would make life much simplier if you did. When I was working on the shop floor of a factory, all the engineers had to keep two sets of everything. One set for working on the US and older British machines, and another set for working on European and Japanese machines. It'll take a while to phase out all the old equipment, but I wish the US would just hurry up and start phasing it out already.
Cyberknights is another company that we know has made an "enquiry", so we're up to 15 already! Perhaps SCO missed a few of Rupert's newspapers in their counting.
If you send an email to SCO demanding evidence of their claims, what do you think they file it under? My bet is "enquiries about SCOsource licensing plan".
SCO actually is legally required to put disclaimers like this in
Notice though, that they've only started putting them in since they issued the revised SEC filing last week. Something tells me that someone is watching them very closely, and they've already had their wrists slapped.
The Kiwi govt is small enough that they could not afford a law suit brought on by people from other countries
Oh come on, its not Niue we're talking about here. What difference does it make where the people bringing on the law suit are from anyway? Court costs are court costs, they may vary according to where the court is, but they don't vary according to where the complainant is from.
It is not hidden in Windows Calculator. It has an icon that looks like Windows Calculator, and it launches Windows Calculator as it installs itself, but it does not contain any calculator code itself.
Yesterday morning when I received a copy and started researching it, all those servers were reachable, but were giving 404 errors (403 in some cases) for/1.php. As noted in Symantec's page on the virus, the fact they are doing that now does not mean they will not suddenly start serving up the payload tomorrow when everyone has already decided that the risk is low because of the 404's.
If you read the google cache of the website, you'll see that the word "copyright" comes from Mike Rowe's statement on the story. I seriously doubt Microsoft's lawyers made the mistake, if they did they need to be sacked and sent back to law school immediately. I'd still expect the Register and Slashdot editors to pick up the mistake.
As far as sending the notice by email, initially he did get informal requests to hand it over by email, but the official notice came in the form of a book and accompanying 25 page letter. I suspect the volume of information is intended to intimidate him and any small-time lawyer thinking of taking his case. The legal system really needs an overhaul to make it easier to throw this sort of garbage back at lawyers, as IBM did with SCO's initial discovery consisting of ALL of the Linux source code without being specific.
Don't be offended. Nobody is taken seriously by tech support.
I find that to be true too. Tech support people do not tend to be experts. They read from a script and that script is taylored for the average person who knows nothing about what is wrong. If you know what you're talking about, it confuses them. Often they'll get defensive because they know they're supposed to be the ones that know the answers, but don't.
But the OP's experiences with getting her boyfriend to do the talking demonstrates that women have it even worse.
For my part, I prefer dealing with women, both as a customer and as tech support. Men tend to let their ego get in the way, whereas women will tell you when they're in over their head, and follow your instructions to the letter.
Slashdot Mirror
If those trolls were capable of writing "Hello World", they wouldn't be so busy posting to Slashdot. Bruce is right.
You have one strange definition of "reasonable person" there. I know Americans aren't the most literate people on this Earth, but I think most of them can tell the difference between MikeRoweSoft and the Microsoft logo and brand name that gets shoved in their face everywhere they turn.
If they're genuinely concerned about spending the money on educating him in technological matters rather than just giving him cash to spend how he wants, then how about a scholarship at a University where he'll get a real, unbiased education? If they'd done that, I'd applaud them, but it seems that Microsoft can't give away anything without the assurance of getting ten times as much back for it long term.
Sorry? Who's doing the armchair lawyering?
Even if you sell software, if your name is Mike Rowe, and you haven't obviously changed it to that by deed poll just to piss off Microsoft, then there is legal precedent (at least in Commonwealth countries, I don't know about the US) that you are allowed to use your own name for your business, followed by a common abbreviation for what your business is. As MS hasn't gone after companies like ArcSoft, it can hardly lay claim to the abbreviated form of "software".
I'm glad that Funny moderation has gone, because I was dead serious. I'm especially concerned about the moving the existing domain to a new Web site wording. Its not entirely clear what that means, but my interpretation given the rest of the "gifts" is that they want to get him off the Red Hat Enterprise server where his site is currently hosted and onto a Mikerowesoft platform.
Leave him the fuck alone.
They knew full well that Microsoft(TM) do not have a legal leg to stand on in trying to get Mike Rowe to stop using his own name. If Microsoft thought they were right, do you think they would have caved like this? That would just be inviting domain squatters to taunt them.
Shouldn't that be foster his interest in Microsoft?
I mean come on, an X-box? An MCSE course? And I bet the migration to another webserver has to be to IIS and all.
Interesting. I always wondered why there were 14 pounds in a stone. Or 142.857143 stones in a ton.
Maybe when they're marketing to the US market, but for the rest of the world they use kW.
That must be because they use metric in Columbia. But to be honest, it isn't just the Govt that buys their recreational substance of choice by the gram instead of the ounce. Just depends what you're into.
No, you don't need to "look them up" with metric. How many inches in a mile. Yes I would need to look that one up, or at least calculate it if I could remember the number of feet or yards in a mile. How many millimetres in a kilometre? Easy, a million no looking up or calculation required.
Body temperature varies, and wouldn't make a good reference point. The other story I have heard is that he deliberately chose a 180 degree gap between the freezing point and boiling point of water to come up with the increments.
It would make life much simplier if you did. When I was working on the shop floor of a factory, all the engineers had to keep two sets of everything. One set for working on the US and older British machines, and another set for working on European and Japanese machines. It'll take a while to phase out all the old equipment, but I wish the US would just hurry up and start phasing it out already.
Cyberknights is another company that we know has made an "enquiry", so we're up to 15 already! Perhaps SCO missed a few of Rupert's newspapers in their counting.
If you send an email to SCO demanding evidence of their claims, what do you think they file it under? My bet is "enquiries about SCOsource licensing plan".
Notice though, that they've only started putting them in since they issued the revised SEC filing last week. Something tells me that someone is watching them very closely, and they've already had their wrists slapped.
Oh come on, its not Niue we're talking about here. What difference does it make where the people bringing on the law suit are from anyway? Court costs are court costs, they may vary according to where the court is, but they don't vary according to where the complainant is from.
It is not hidden in Windows Calculator. It has an icon that looks like Windows Calculator, and it launches Windows Calculator as it installs itself, but it does not contain any calculator code itself.
Yesterday morning when I received a copy and started researching it, all those servers were reachable, but were giving 404 errors (403 in some cases) for /1.php. As noted in Symantec's page on the virus, the fact they are doing that now does not mean they will not suddenly start serving up the payload tomorrow when everyone has already decided that the risk is low because of the 404's.
I think the key to the theory of unbiased news via the internet is the multiple sources that are available.
I'm sure Microsoft and their lawyers would like them to be seen as "informal discovery". I'm more inclined to view them as entrapment.
As far as sending the notice by email, initially he did get informal requests to hand it over by email, but the official notice came in the form of a book and accompanying 25 page letter. I suspect the volume of information is intended to intimidate him and any small-time lawyer thinking of taking his case. The legal system really needs an overhaul to make it easier to throw this sort of garbage back at lawyers, as IBM did with SCO's initial discovery consisting of ALL of the Linux source code without being specific.
The Register should know better.
I find that to be true too. Tech support people do not tend to be experts. They read from a script and that script is taylored for the average person who knows nothing about what is wrong. If you know what you're talking about, it confuses them. Often they'll get defensive because they know they're supposed to be the ones that know the answers, but don't.
But the OP's experiences with getting her boyfriend to do the talking demonstrates that women have it even worse.
For my part, I prefer dealing with women, both as a customer and as tech support. Men tend to let their ego get in the way, whereas women will tell you when they're in over their head, and follow your instructions to the letter.