Sites blocked by realtime black list may be unreachable by much of the net because a backbone provider is dropping all the packets from that site. This would make the site invisible past the backbone provider subscribing to the blacklist. Thank goodness someone has the gumption to prevent network degradation from sites that spew massive junk and bandwidth on the net.
Counter intelegence sometimes decodes a codeword about a target is and creats an event to see if it gets reported. An example I remember vagely but don't remember the details is:
An attack was planned on our military in which we intercepted some messages. We were not sure of the target because it was referred to by a code word. We had the suspected target send a plain text message indicating the water desalination plant failed and needed parts. When the oposition reported the failure, we confirmed the codeword as equating to that base. Does anybody have the details on that incident? I think it was WW2 and one of the small Pacific Islands.
Bandwidth of the dishes is going to be a problem. Much of the search is in the 150 MHZ and up spectrum. The smaller dishes can not focus a signal much larger than 10 cM. They are limited mostly to the microwave band above 1GHZ. They will not work well in the 100 Mhz to 1GHZ band. Phasing an array for a large effective apature is not childs play at these frequencies. Temprature changes change the geometry of the feedlines. Microwaves have a very high attenuation in coax. To get past just these limitations would almost require downconverting. To maintain signal phase, the downconversion would have to be done with very low jitter phase locked downconverters tied to a master clock. Last time I checked a phase locked downconverter was >$1200.00 US. (I installed one for a radio station to receive a subscription CANA feed on C-band)
This could be a great way to give geocaching hints. When you get close, you could get a message "look in the roots of the tree with the broken top". Since it would have a GPS and phone, the geocaching easly could be combined. For info on geocaching, visit www.geocaching.com. How close are you to a hidden cache?
Many companies see old software as competition to the new product. Example, how can Autodesk sell the new version if many people figure the old version does everything they need for free. Without the alternative out there, there should be more sales to those who need a drafting program.
As I said in another post about the upgrade treadmill. You do have a choice. Keep the old box running. Only retire it when all it's functionality has been replaced. If you don't like the way XP and Ez CD Creator work, don't fall into the trap. Simply use the old hardware and make them come to your terms. You will buy when they have something new and useful, not same funcitonality but with pretty new interface for new OS. That is why I have a LAN. None of my machines run the same OS. None of my machines do everything. One machine is a Web Browser. One machine is a server (SAMBA). One machine is for Music (MIDI & MP3). One machine is the MS Office box (wife requries it and it's fun to layout photos in Powerpoint for printing) Photo printer comes with MS drivers only) and Digital camera workstation (WIN98 SE with USB). The older laptop for homework runs Win 95 OEM with Office because it only has 24 Meg memory and a 1 G hard drive. There isn't room for bloatware uprgrades on it. There is a reason to use different versions of an OS. No OS is one size fits all. Therefore there is no reason to standardize all your machines. The only place to standardize hardware is at the office where everybody's application is IE and Office and IT needs to be effecient. However if you do gaming, music editing, photo editing, CD burning, etc. you may want to look at OS'es best sutited to the task. Buggy ole WIN 95 upgrade comes without IE and will not run VBS scripts if Office isn't installed. Linux also makes a great browser machine.
Some of the best examples I can see for software that need upgrades are software that has data that becomes outdated. Examples are phone books on CD, Map programs, Tax programs, anti virus signature files and such. Software that does not need upgraded are good text editors, (except the usual MS that need to upgrade so they can talk to each other) browsers (plugins to take care of new services, flash etc.) Old software that still works well is dumb terminal programs, LAN sniffers, POP mailers, etc. Manytimes lots of software needs upgraded just because the OS changed and for no other reason. Save some money. Run an older box also until it's functionality has been completely replaced without spending a ton of money. Look for bundled software. My new camera came with a photo editor that replaced my old one. I didn't need to buy a new photo editor for my new machine. Thanks ArcSoft.
I'm still running a copy of Windows 95 and PC DOS 5.0. The DOS machine is the best serial and LAN port sniffer debugger I have. I got tired of the install DOS, then Windows 3.1, then Windows 95 upgrade, SR patch 1 and 2 each time I needed to reformat the hardrive. I also stuck to it on one machine for my favorite older software. It also came without IE! It is my main web browser machine. It does not run VBS scripts! I decided not to upgrade, but see if they ever would get it fixed. They didn't. I do not buy OS upgrades from MS anymore. The only new OS I get is when I get new hardware. Due to the never buy the first version rule, I have never tried Windows ME, 2000, XP, etc. (I know 2000 is a rework of NT, don't flame. I use NT at work) None of these are to the 3rd gen yet. I do have Win CE ver 3.0 in a hand held PC and it has a bug (feature). I want to use at as a protable diagnostic dumb terminal using the serial port. It insists on dialing your external modem using the terminal program! It will not proceed without you filling in the dialog box for the phone number you wish to dial. No option to change it. I had to get another terminal program to get past this and disable the always in the way active sync. Even 3rd gen leaves a lot to be desired. I have no idea if the 4th gen (Pocket PC) has fixed any of this. I'm hoping Linux will get ported to the HP Jornada 680 hand held PC. That would fix lots of the problems. I know not to buy XP due to the forced upgrade cycle. Buying the first version was a huge mistake with Windows 95. I installed it from the CD. After install it couldn't find the sound card, modem, and of all things, the CD drive it was installed from. It will not work on new hardware. It will not work with USB at all. (OSR 2 required) and will not work with AGP video. (unless you prefer 16 color (not million color, 16 color) at a max resolution of 640 X 480) My machine which I was going to use to replace the WIN 95 machine got Linux instead. It recognised all the hardware except the sound on the first try. On new hardware with a new OS, I work with the dealer to get all the bugs worked out. I don't buy an OS upgrade and put it on old hardware. This takes care of BSA risks and hardware problems. I do not buy software with any expiration date on the box other than the usual tax and anti virus stuff that needs kept up to date for external reasons.
If you have any doubts, check www.geocaching.com and search the Low Medium High geocache. Part of the search involves the use of a time machine that is open to the public.
When I retire and spend most of my time traveling in a moterhome, I need a computer that will work while not connected to MS servers. I am too much of a minority to bother MS, so I don't expect too much here. However in planning for the future, I do look at all my software for dependance on the outside. Anything that does not work unconnected (except web browser and E-mail) is not considered for purchase. One time I bought a piece of hardware and it came with a demo CD. I tried it on an unconnected PC and NONE of the demo's worked. All the demos were linked to some website. I liked the demo CD. It clearly showed a list of products not to buy. (the CD came with a intel CPU a few years ago)
I noticed on several of the what's inside sites that the X box has an Intel CPU, but it is always listed as "custom". I'm beginning to think the custom part is more than just how it is attached to the motherboard. MS is big enough to submit a custom CPU order to Intel and get it made. Let's hope it can't break the chicken and egg syndrone.
No content for lack of users / No subscriptions due to lack of content choices May it die the Circuit City cripled DVD format death.
That's all it takes is a mailbox that doesn't bounce that isn't a business address like microsoft.com. I joined an ISP when they broke ground and got the easy to remember randy@ on the domain. I guarded the address, but after about 2 years of a clean box, it became discovered and made someones list. Getting on a list is all it takes. Try it. Due to overload it is about impossible to get a randy@msn/yahoo/hotmail etc. box now. Look for a new local ISP in your area and sign up trying to get a guessable box. Don't ever use it, but check it often. Guess what, when the domain gets discovered, the guessable boxes get spammed.
The TDS 220 for a lot less money has automation capability with an inexpensive option module. (this was not a company purchase, but a personal one.) I have nothing else with HPGPIB, so I opeted for the communications / print module. It can be used to do all the automated stuff but over a atandard RS-232 port and includes a centronics port. I can upload and download scope setups for automated testing and capturing results. For my low volume requirements, I skip the automation and use the screen captures and hard copy to document resultes. The scope will save and recall a couple setups internally. The 3 modules you can get are, serial only, serial & centronics, and HPGPIB module. The module comes with very little useful software and a demo of a $400.00 program, however the book includes the commands so it is easy to roll your own with pearl. The important software, that is blaringly missing, was the ability to export a screen capture to a PC. (you can print OK Gotta have a reason you have to buy that $400.00 software). A quick search on Google found a freeware capture utility. (DOS and very minimal, but works)
I second the suggestion of using a scope card. Many times you can run into an unexpected voltage that will quickly fry an input not designed for it. A good example is a simple 2 line LCD display module with an EL backlight has more than 90 volts. Probing the wrong spot while checking a logic signal quickly spells any any savings just became more expense. Having captured wave forms is very useful in many fields. Just like deciding on what computer you need, you need to evaluate your requirements. You may not like the price, but not meeting your requirements is a waste of time and money. My requirements lead to the purchase of a "real" scope. It is protected up to 1000 volts at any setting and has memory. It can directly print to an HP laser printer, or export screenshots directly to a PC. The screen shots include all the important stuff like voltage scales, time scales, curser measurements, etc. Not to do a plug, but I am using a Tektronix TDS 200 series scope I have had for several years.
Having experianced full factory downtimes where I work, I can say they are very expensive. However, the level of automation used is a vast improvement over ANYTHING manual. To properly manufacture a part, over 500 individual steps must be performed. Data collection is automated and used in stastical process control. This means that at measurement steps, if the range is trending large, then the tool needs service before any manufactured parts are out of tolerance causing expensive scrapped parts. If measurements trend low or high, a tool adjustment may be needed instead of tool downtime. Data is associated with each tool and each product. With this data we even were able to find our tools in one case were fine, but a batch of raw material was not. In high volume manufacturing, the slide rule people simply could not keep up. There are too many variables. Automation also keeps track of each part so nothing gets double processed or miss a step. The tool will not start a wrong part because the lotfile will be at the wrong step and therefore will not provide the parameters to the tool to process it. This alone prevents millions in losses from human mistakes. Grabbing the wrong part and starting it no longer happenes. It's lot tag barcode is read as part of the start process. No match = no go. There is nothing in the dead tree media that uses a person with this accuracy. I have made the mistake beofore of missreading I's L's 1's O's 0's Q's etc. The barcode is never fooled.
I know Oregon information was way too easy to get by tele-spamers and and the traditional snail mail spammers. I registered a car and my title came with a typo. My middle initial was wrong. I was going to get it fixed as it was a legal document, but before I could, I got a bunch of junk mail with the same error. I decided not to fix it just to see how far it went. It was the source of about 1/2 my junk mail and 1/3 of the telephone calls. Before this happened, I had no idea this was available for commercial purposes. I am an advocate now for government to provide an opt out or opt in clause. You have no choice in providing the information to dirve. It should be kept private.
Before you tag this as flaimbait for the title, consider this. Without any blocking, there may be no access at all. With blocking, stuff will leak. To see what I mean, think MP3 file trading. No access at all will kill trading. (think computer with no modem or NIC) Blocked access is not 100%. Stuff will get in. (think cyber patrol) Don't expect the leaders to freely open the doors just because it is there. There is lots of stuff out there to be afraid of. Getting a foot in the door is a step in the right direction.
Slashdot loves hardware that somebody is helping pay for.. It includes everything from hackable bar code scanners (thanks Digital Convergance), pre programmed internet terminals (thanks I-Opener) and now hackable PC hardware (thanks Bill).
I don't know... Have you seen the amount of stuff seriously hacked in the sat TV industry? They don't give the smart cards away and a few were destroyed figuring out how the defeat the read only bit so the software could be cloned. When I was in the Cayman Islands where you can't legaly subscribe to satelite TV, I saw lots of hacked C-band TV stuff. (it's true, it's out of their market. It's either pirate, subscribe using US address, or go without.) They don't give away General Instruments video cypher II boxes. Then again at the rates they charge for TV service, the rewards are much greater making the payoff for the risk much greater.
How soon before someone says "NICE HARDWARE" like the I-Opener or Cue Cat and replaces the OS for something useful? Anybody up to hacking this geek box? I would love to see a new OS for it listed online.
Be sure the read the full document of the Finding of Fact. Most of it is understandable, clear and not clogged with technobable. It is broken down into individual infractions with examples and an expination. Very convincing good read with lots of facts lined up in a neat row. If you read any John Grisham novels and enjoyed them, you won't have any trouble reading Finding of Facts from front to back. It's like reading the first 15 chapters of a Grisham novel.
Those disks are about to become as useless as AOL CD's. Office is to become a subscription service, not a product. You will need a subscription to use it. Then again, maybe the older versions will still have value as they run stand alone.
This goes back to the problem Microsoft has.. Is the software a product that is sold like a toaster, licensed like a compact disk or videotape, or a service that is licensed like a concert ticket or tape rental?
If it is sold like a toaster, then the judge is correct. That is pretty cut and dried. If you buy a car, you are free to pull the engine and sell it to someone else. The other two are still in the air. It's like getting satelite TV, and getting a package deal where the 1st year of subscription is cheap on the condition of purchase of the dish, getting the dish and reselling the service without the dish to someone else. Is the software a service? Can a service be tied to a hardware sale? Can the software/service be resold seprate from the hardware?
Slashdot Mirror
Excellent Link, Thanks! I was in crypto 25 years ago and forgot the details of that incident.
Sites blocked by realtime black list may be unreachable by much of the net because a backbone provider is dropping all the packets from that site. This would make the site invisible past the backbone provider subscribing to the blacklist. Thank goodness someone has the gumption to prevent network degradation from sites that spew massive junk and bandwidth on the net.
An attack was planned on our military in which we intercepted some messages. We were not sure of the target because it was referred to by a code word. We had the suspected target send a plain text message indicating the water desalination plant failed and needed parts. When the oposition reported the failure, we confirmed the codeword as equating to that base. Does anybody have the details on that incident? I think it was WW2 and one of the small Pacific Islands.
Bandwidth of the dishes is going to be a problem. Much of the search is in the 150 MHZ and up spectrum. The smaller dishes can not focus a signal much larger than 10 cM. They are limited mostly to the microwave band above 1GHZ. They will not work well in the 100 Mhz to 1GHZ band. Phasing an array for a large effective apature is not childs play at these frequencies. Temprature changes change the geometry of the feedlines. Microwaves have a very high attenuation in coax. To get past just these limitations would almost require downconverting. To maintain signal phase, the downconversion would have to be done with very low jitter phase locked downconverters tied to a master clock. Last time I checked a phase locked downconverter was >$1200.00 US. (I installed one for a radio station to receive a subscription CANA feed on C-band)
This could be a great way to give geocaching hints. When you get close, you could get a message "look in the roots of the tree with the broken top". Since it would have a GPS and phone, the geocaching easly could be combined. For info on geocaching, visit www.geocaching.com. How close are you to a hidden cache?
Many companies see old software as competition to the new product. Example, how can Autodesk sell the new version if many people figure the old version does everything they need for free. Without the alternative out there, there should be more sales to those who need a drafting program.
As I said in another post about the upgrade treadmill. You do have a choice. Keep the old box running. Only retire it when all it's functionality has been replaced. If you don't like the way XP and Ez CD Creator work, don't fall into the trap. Simply use the old hardware and make them come to your terms. You will buy when they have something new and useful, not same funcitonality but with pretty new interface for new OS. That is why I have a LAN. None of my machines run the same OS. None of my machines do everything. One machine is a Web Browser. One machine is a server (SAMBA). One machine is for Music (MIDI & MP3). One machine is the MS Office box (wife requries it and it's fun to layout photos in Powerpoint for printing) Photo printer comes with MS drivers only) and Digital camera workstation (WIN98 SE with USB). The older laptop for homework runs Win 95 OEM with Office because it only has 24 Meg memory and a 1 G hard drive. There isn't room for bloatware uprgrades on it. There is a reason to use different versions of an OS. No OS is one size fits all. Therefore there is no reason to standardize all your machines. The only place to standardize hardware is at the office where everybody's application is IE and Office and IT needs to be effecient. However if you do gaming, music editing, photo editing, CD burning, etc. you may want to look at OS'es best sutited to the task. Buggy ole WIN 95 upgrade comes without IE and will not run VBS scripts if Office isn't installed. Linux also makes a great browser machine.
Some of the best examples I can see for software that need upgrades are software that has data that becomes outdated. Examples are phone books on CD, Map programs, Tax programs, anti virus signature files and such. Software that does not need upgraded are good text editors, (except the usual MS that need to upgrade so they can talk to each other) browsers (plugins to take care of new services, flash etc.) Old software that still works well is dumb terminal programs, LAN sniffers, POP mailers, etc. Manytimes lots of software needs upgraded just because the OS changed and for no other reason. Save some money. Run an older box also until it's functionality has been completely replaced without spending a ton of money. Look for bundled software. My new camera came with a photo editor that replaced my old one. I didn't need to buy a new photo editor for my new machine. Thanks ArcSoft.
I'm still running a copy of Windows 95 and PC DOS 5.0. The DOS machine is the best serial and LAN port sniffer debugger I have. I got tired of the install DOS, then Windows 3.1, then Windows 95 upgrade, SR patch 1 and 2 each time I needed to reformat the hardrive. I also stuck to it on one machine for my favorite older software. It also came without IE! It is my main web browser machine. It does not run VBS scripts! I decided not to upgrade, but see if they ever would get it fixed. They didn't. I do not buy OS upgrades from MS anymore. The only new OS I get is when I get new hardware. Due to the never buy the first version rule, I have never tried Windows ME, 2000, XP, etc. (I know 2000 is a rework of NT, don't flame. I use NT at work) None of these are to the 3rd gen yet. I do have Win CE ver 3.0 in a hand held PC and it has a bug (feature). I want to use at as a protable diagnostic dumb terminal using the serial port. It insists on dialing your external modem using the terminal program! It will not proceed without you filling in the dialog box for the phone number you wish to dial. No option to change it. I had to get another terminal program to get past this and disable the always in the way active sync. Even 3rd gen leaves a lot to be desired. I have no idea if the 4th gen (Pocket PC) has fixed any of this. I'm hoping Linux will get ported to the HP Jornada 680 hand held PC. That would fix lots of the problems. I know not to buy XP due to the forced upgrade cycle. Buying the first version was a huge mistake with Windows 95. I installed it from the CD. After install it couldn't find the sound card, modem, and of all things, the CD drive it was installed from. It will not work on new hardware. It will not work with USB at all. (OSR 2 required) and will not work with AGP video. (unless you prefer 16 color (not million color, 16 color) at a max resolution of 640 X 480) My machine which I was going to use to replace the WIN 95 machine got Linux instead. It recognised all the hardware except the sound on the first try. On new hardware with a new OS, I work with the dealer to get all the bugs worked out. I don't buy an OS upgrade and put it on old hardware. This takes care of BSA risks and hardware problems. I do not buy software with any expiration date on the box other than the usual tax and anti virus stuff that needs kept up to date for external reasons.
If you have any doubts, check www.geocaching.com and search the Low Medium High geocache. Part of the search involves the use of a time machine that is open to the public.
When I retire and spend most of my time traveling in a moterhome, I need a computer that will work while not connected to MS servers. I am too much of a minority to bother MS, so I don't expect too much here. However in planning for the future, I do look at all my software for dependance on the outside. Anything that does not work unconnected (except web browser and E-mail) is not considered for purchase. One time I bought a piece of hardware and it came with a demo CD. I tried it on an unconnected PC and NONE of the demo's worked. All the demos were linked to some website. I liked the demo CD. It clearly showed a list of products not to buy. (the CD came with a intel CPU a few years ago)
No content for lack of users / No subscriptions due to lack of content choices May it die the Circuit City cripled DVD format death.
1 I opened a mailbox with a guessable name.
2 Didn't abandon it after 2 years.
That's all it takes is a mailbox that doesn't bounce that isn't a business address like microsoft.com. I joined an ISP when they broke ground and got the easy to remember randy@ on the domain. I guarded the address, but after about 2 years of a clean box, it became discovered and made someones list. Getting on a list is all it takes. Try it. Due to overload it is about impossible to get a randy@msn/yahoo/hotmail etc. box now. Look for a new local ISP in your area and sign up trying to get a guessable box. Don't ever use it, but check it often. Guess what, when the domain gets discovered, the guessable boxes get spammed.
The TDS 220 for a lot less money has automation capability with an inexpensive option module. (this was not a company purchase, but a personal one.) I have nothing else with HPGPIB, so I opeted for the communications / print module. It can be used to do all the automated stuff but over a atandard RS-232 port and includes a centronics port. I can upload and download scope setups for automated testing and capturing results. For my low volume requirements, I skip the automation and use the screen captures and hard copy to document resultes. The scope will save and recall a couple setups internally. The 3 modules you can get are, serial only, serial & centronics, and HPGPIB module. The module comes with very little useful software and a demo of a $400.00 program, however the book includes the commands so it is easy to roll your own with pearl. The important software, that is blaringly missing, was the ability to export a screen capture to a PC. (you can print OK Gotta have a reason you have to buy that $400.00 software). A quick search on Google found a freeware capture utility. (DOS and very minimal, but works)
This would not solve my problems. My wife when jealous is an even bigger problem!
I second the suggestion of using a scope card. Many times you can run into an unexpected voltage that will quickly fry an input not designed for it. A good example is a simple 2 line LCD display module with an EL backlight has more than 90 volts. Probing the wrong spot while checking a logic signal quickly spells any any savings just became more expense. Having captured wave forms is very useful in many fields. Just like deciding on what computer you need, you need to evaluate your requirements. You may not like the price, but not meeting your requirements is a waste of time and money. My requirements lead to the purchase of a "real" scope. It is protected up to 1000 volts at any setting and has memory. It can directly print to an HP laser printer, or export screenshots directly to a PC. The screen shots include all the important stuff like voltage scales, time scales, curser measurements, etc. Not to do a plug, but I am using a Tektronix TDS 200 series scope I have had for several years.
Having experianced full factory downtimes where I work, I can say they are very expensive. However, the level of automation used is a vast improvement over ANYTHING manual. To properly manufacture a part, over 500 individual steps must be performed. Data collection is automated and used in stastical process control. This means that at measurement steps, if the range is trending large, then the tool needs service before any manufactured parts are out of tolerance causing expensive scrapped parts. If measurements trend low or high, a tool adjustment may be needed instead of tool downtime. Data is associated with each tool and each product. With this data we even were able to find our tools in one case were fine, but a batch of raw material was not. In high volume manufacturing, the slide rule people simply could not keep up. There are too many variables. Automation also keeps track of each part so nothing gets double processed or miss a step. The tool will not start a wrong part because the lotfile will be at the wrong step and therefore will not provide the parameters to the tool to process it. This alone prevents millions in losses from human mistakes. Grabbing the wrong part and starting it no longer happenes. It's lot tag barcode is read as part of the start process. No match = no go. There is nothing in the dead tree media that uses a person with this accuracy. I have made the mistake beofore of missreading I's L's 1's O's 0's Q's etc. The barcode is never fooled.
I know Oregon information was way too easy to get by tele-spamers and and the traditional snail mail spammers. I registered a car and my title came with a typo. My middle initial was wrong. I was going to get it fixed as it was a legal document, but before I could, I got a bunch of junk mail with the same error. I decided not to fix it just to see how far it went. It was the source of about 1/2 my junk mail and 1/3 of the telephone calls. Before this happened, I had no idea this was available for commercial purposes. I am an advocate now for government to provide an opt out or opt in clause. You have no choice in providing the information to dirve. It should be kept private.
Before you tag this as flaimbait for the title, consider this. Without any blocking, there may be no access at all. With blocking, stuff will leak. To see what I mean, think MP3 file trading. No access at all will kill trading. (think computer with no modem or NIC) Blocked access is not 100%. Stuff will get in. (think cyber patrol) Don't expect the leaders to freely open the doors just because it is there. There is lots of stuff out there to be afraid of. Getting a foot in the door is a step in the right direction.
Slashdot loves hardware that somebody is helping pay for.. It includes everything from hackable bar code scanners (thanks Digital Convergance), pre programmed internet terminals (thanks I-Opener) and now hackable PC hardware (thanks Bill).
I don't know... Have you seen the amount of stuff seriously hacked in the sat TV industry? They don't give the smart cards away and a few were destroyed figuring out how the defeat the read only bit so the software could be cloned. When I was in the Cayman Islands where you can't legaly subscribe to satelite TV, I saw lots of hacked C-band TV stuff. (it's true, it's out of their market. It's either pirate, subscribe using US address, or go without.) They don't give away General Instruments video cypher II boxes. Then again at the rates they charge for TV service, the rewards are much greater making the payoff for the risk much greater.
How soon before someone says "NICE HARDWARE" like the I-Opener or Cue Cat and replaces the OS for something useful? Anybody up to hacking this geek box? I would love to see a new OS for it listed online.
Be sure the read the full document of the Finding of Fact. Most of it is understandable, clear and not clogged with technobable. It is broken down into individual infractions with examples and an expination. Very convincing good read with lots of facts lined up in a neat row. If you read any John Grisham novels and enjoyed them, you won't have any trouble reading Finding of Facts from front to back. It's like reading the first 15 chapters of a Grisham novel.
Those disks are about to become as useless as AOL CD's. Office is to become a subscription service, not a product. You will need a subscription to use it. Then again, maybe the older versions will still have value as they run stand alone.
If it is sold like a toaster, then the judge is correct. That is pretty cut and dried. If you buy a car, you are free to pull the engine and sell it to someone else. The other two are still in the air. It's like getting satelite TV, and getting a package deal where the 1st year of subscription is cheap on the condition of purchase of the dish, getting the dish and reselling the service without the dish to someone else. Is the software a service? Can a service be tied to a hardware sale? Can the software/service be resold seprate from the hardware?