I fail to see the connection between myths about heavy Internet users (which now includes just about everybody) and a crappy show slagging off their crappiest bits on the web.
Could it be that we are struggling to see ourselves as victims in an era when the memory of earlier successes fade?
The Katz Argument: The media seeks to perpetuate the idea that hackers/crackers are thugs- but what do they know because they are just low-level pornographers.
It does not take a pollster to tell you that users of a "free as in beer" operating system are on the whole not interested in buying new hardware every few years. We may be cheap, but we have incredibly high standards as well. These don't tend to mix well.
This is also a matter of web culture. You can get so much for free these days that we immediately suspect anything with a digital price tag on it. Reluctant consumers make for a crappy demographic when you're trying to sell ad space. If it weren't for t-shirts, the independent Internet as we know it would cease to exist.
Let me get this straight: you can now get arrested for what would otherwise be a civil action?
If I were part of a company screwing over someone else's copyright or exploiting their crappy code, my company would be subject to a law suit. I can't imagine we'd all be hauled off in the paddy wagon. But an individual doing this can be jailed?
I'm not being sarcastic [this once]. I seriously don't get this.
But the greater evil here is clear to see. In the graphics world Adobe = Microsoft, a single company holding the reigns on all of the industry's mission-critical tools. Time to get a better text tool for GIMP and get it to the people.
I can't imagine this being anything other than a hoax. Charging a licensing fee for every download on the Internet? Without a means of charging that fee or a plan for it, a court would have little choice but to throw the case out.
Besides, companies have to defend patents in a timely manner to keep them. [Or at least that's the excuse some companies use for raking smaller companies over the coals] If this 80's era patent was not used against Compuserve, how can they get away with using it now?
Because the whole thing is a hoax meant to illustrate the ridiculous state of software patent law.
It could be decades before the efficiency and safety of such a means of power generation become practical.
In the meantime, why are we wasting time drilling for oil and chasing cold fusion pipe dreams when we should be pushing forward in the direction of the infinite improbability drive.
Paladium fuel is incredibly expensive and rare. But all you need for the IID is a bit of fairie cake and a cup of tea.
It seems that a year ago, the article would have appeared here to show how greedy some people were; how dare they charge us for content that "wants to be free."
But today, with the content market collapsing and ad revenue dissipating, the article makes/. as a possible solution to our collective content provider woes.
That's the kind of irony that tickles me.
Besides, what kind of freaky porn site could get away with such a tactic?
Two cases in point: Dr. Dre couldn't give away coppies of Chronic 2000. Metallica, unable to get airtime on MTV any more, is on VH-1 with Sting, et al.
If it weren't for Napster, they might have to do some soul searching. Maybe people just aren't as interested in my music as they once were.
Nobody believes Microsoft will (or even can) be broken up. The suit itself, with a long-dead browser war at its core and free of the stickier issuse of monopoly, was a bit of fluffy fantasy- here and gone.
If it makes you feel any better, I've put together a Microsoft retrospective for y'all:
For years, I've been doing this at Kinkos. I built a leaf-style print of my book
(The Narcoleptic Dialectic) and had Kinko's copy & perfect bind five or so at a time. Add a glossy coper with 2-sided carpet tape and voilla! You have a book-like product. Of course, it costs me $12 or so per book, so my margins are crap.
The machine seems like it would be great for circumventing the publishing industry. But remember, publishing is much more than just printing. The Baltimore Sun even serialized this book (on SunSpot) back in 1997 and still very few people found out about it.
The 9x OS is a bit of a commodity, something consumers think they cannot do without, something with only one source. Perhaps only a psychological monopoly, but real enough.
And with the growth of the industry stagnant, the Baron has ordered Raban to sqeeze all he can from Arakis, SQUEEZE!
[New slogan = "Through Windows I set my mind in motion."]
I'm less worried about what the move does for school budgets as much as what it will do to kids. "Dad, when I grow up I want to be a robber barron."
The education squeeze is nothing compared to the hurt they're putting on the suits. The new Software Assurance program may increase software operations costs for some businesses as much as 40%.
Yikes. I have so much of my career invested with these business school drop-outs it isn't even funny.
It just goes to show you that full-service customer support will only get you in trouble. "Treat your customers like crap," I told them years ago. "They'll respect you more that way." But they wouldn't listen. You have a $15k graphics board go hinky on you? They'll drop ship it with a moment's notice.
My hat is off to the beautiful people at sgi. They did the support thing right and are paying the price for it.
When I die, I hope to go to the place most like sgi tech support.
I won't even install a 1.0 video card for fear that my computer will explode. Can you imagine what the beta testers notes would look like?
On several occasions, when I use a cell phone on my left side, I black out. This is unfortunate as I tend to use my phone when I can't get to a land line- i.e. when I'm driving. Have someone look into that.
How long will the old man have to hold on before he can get ahold of one of these babies? A bionic heart sounds like just the thing for America's favorite bacon lover.
Everyone seems to want anonymity for themselves and public accountability for everyone else. We want free speech with no personal cost- free speech for free.
Saying something unpopular is protected by the Constitution, death threats are not. It really isn't all that complicated from the outside.
Deadcom Hall of Fame?
on
Net Cemetery
·
· Score: 3
Who are some of these sites? Other posts have noticed this as well. If they were pickier about it, only choosing the most ghastly of hubris-fueled web companies, it could become quite a nice Deadcom Hall of Fame (pronounced "shame").
In twenty years, I'll tell my daughter all about people pouring all of their cash into pets.com and she won't believe me. How long until the world forgets about boo.com? We need a place to wander the halls and say "remember them? I was so glad when they went under."
Of course, it's the semi-pro non-profit sites that will survive this collapse with cockroach-like aplomb.
It is reprehensible that Microsoft would "force someone to work on something they don't want to work on." Dammit, Microsoft! This whole work full time and get paid weekly thing has got to stop! What's next? Demanding that people meet deadlines and check their work?
Until I read this, I had no idea that Microsoft was evil.
If we can't get the government to split them up, we must find a way to keep consumers from making computer/OS buying decisions that fit their needs.
Slashdot Mirror
Could it be that we are struggling to see ourselves as victims in an era when the memory of earlier successes fade?
The Katz Argument: The media seeks to perpetuate the idea that hackers/crackers are thugs- but what do they know because they are just low-level pornographers.
I'm glad to see the level of logical argument on /. raised to the next level. It may be time to retire the notion that we have anything interesting to say anymore.
"What was wrong with it?"
"I can't rip mp3's from it and exchange it with people I don't really know for music I don't want to pay for."
"I see. That does qualify as a 'defective' disc. Do you have your receipt?"
"No. Receipts are hard to come by when shoplifting."
My question is, will Napster get a Webby?
This is also a matter of web culture. You can get so much for free these days that we immediately suspect anything with a digital price tag on it. Reluctant consumers make for a crappy demographic when you're trying to sell ad space. If it weren't for t-shirts, the independent Internet as we know it would cease to exist.
If I were part of a company screwing over someone else's copyright or exploiting their crappy code, my company would be subject to a law suit. I can't imagine we'd all be hauled off in the paddy wagon. But an individual doing this can be jailed?
I'm not being sarcastic [this once]. I seriously don't get this.
[For my money, you should be subject to arrest for giving your conference such an overly-dramatic title. Hacking for human rights, my arse.]
But the greater evil here is clear to see. In the graphics world Adobe = Microsoft, a single company holding the reigns on all of the industry's mission-critical tools. Time to get a better text tool for GIMP and get it to the people.
Besides, companies have to defend patents in a timely manner to keep them. [Or at least that's the excuse some companies use for raking smaller companies over the coals] If this 80's era patent was not used against Compuserve, how can they get away with using it now?
Because the whole thing is a hoax meant to illustrate the ridiculous state of software patent law.
Ack! The horror!
In the meantime, why are we wasting time drilling for oil and chasing cold fusion pipe dreams when we should be pushing forward in the direction of the infinite improbability drive.
Paladium fuel is incredibly expensive and rare. But all you need for the IID is a bit of fairie cake and a cup of tea.
Wait- you're turning into a pengin. Stop it.
We all know what this really is: a new way to make it even harder to talk to a real person on tech support.
IBM: His advice is real...but he is not.
But today, with the content market collapsing and ad revenue dissipating, the article makes /. as a possible solution to our collective content provider woes.
That's the kind of irony that tickles me.
Besides, what kind of freaky porn site could get away with such a tactic?
If it weren't for Napster, they might have to do some soul searching. Maybe people just aren't as interested in my music as they once were.
My guess is that the secret agreement is that the two artists drop their suits in exchange for a small sum of money and a promise to take the blame for their poor sales figures.
If it makes you feel any better, I've put together a Microsoft retrospective for y'all:
The machine seems like it would be great for circumventing the publishing industry. But remember, publishing is much more than just printing. The Baltimore Sun even serialized this book (on SunSpot) back in 1997 and still very few people found out about it.
And with the growth of the industry stagnant, the Baron has ordered Raban to sqeeze all he can from Arakis, SQUEEZE!
[New slogan = "Through Windows I set my mind in motion."]
I'm less worried about what the move does for school budgets as much as what it will do to kids. "Dad, when I grow up I want to be a robber barron."
The education squeeze is nothing compared to the hurt they're putting on the suits. The new Software Assurance program may increase software operations costs for some businesses as much as 40%.
The deadline delay is supposed to make them look magnanimous: Kinder, Genter Microsoft Delays Buggery of Corporate America
Ridiculopathy Premium Launched (6.19.01)
Ridiculopathy Premium Goes Bankrupt (6.20.01)
It just goes to show you that full-service customer support will only get you in trouble. "Treat your customers like crap," I told them years ago. "They'll respect you more that way." But they wouldn't listen. You have a $15k graphics board go hinky on you? They'll drop ship it with a moment's notice.
My hat is off to the beautiful people at sgi. They did the support thing right and are paying the price for it.
When I die, I hope to go to the place most like sgi tech support.
Today: "The Smartest Man In America Fixes Education System"
An enormous bolder could roll down and smash their Cupertino offices, destroying all their code, forcing them into bankruptcy and I would get 50 e-mails saying it was "good news for Mac users."
OSX was delayed so many times, it was almost renamed WindowsXP. But every delay was "good news for Mac users."
What's next? iMacs begin exploding on startup- but it's good news for Mac users.
On several occasions, when I use a cell phone on my left side, I black out. This is unfortunate as I tend to use my phone when I can't get to a land line- i.e. when I'm driving. Have someone look into that.
So, it's not for me. However, Dick Cheney coud use one of these.
Dick Cheney Sees Wizard, Recieves Heart
Saying something unpopular is protected by the Constitution, death threats are not. It really isn't all that complicated from the outside.
Personally, I'd be thrilled if I got enough traffic to warrant the occasional death threat.
In twenty years, I'll tell my daughter all about people pouring all of their cash into pets.com and she won't believe me. How long until the world forgets about boo.com? We need a place to wander the halls and say "remember them? I was so glad when they went under."
Of course, it's the semi-pro non-profit sites that will survive this collapse with cockroach-like aplomb.
Until I read this, I had no idea that Microsoft was evil.
If we can't get the government to split them up, we must find a way to keep consumers from making computer/OS buying decisions that fit their needs.
There must be a way.
See the world. Meet interesting people.
And frag them.
How exactly are they extracting that DNA sample again? And how are they getting it into space? I think I saw a Ron Jeremy movie like this years ago.
You may find it interesting: Sucked: A Fish, a Barrel, and a Rubber Check.