The obvious example is that genuine platform agnostic web apps are becoming ever more important now. Yet this was the very vision that Netscape had back in 1994, and Microsoft deliberately it held back for years by buying a browser of their own, giving it away for free, bundling it with their monopoly OS, making sure it didn't follow standards, and had other non-standard features that could not be cross platform.
Oh, please. You can lay blame for that firmly at the foot of the web industry. Did Microsoft have a hand in it? Certainly. But there simply were not workable standards to make rich web applications viable until recently.
How long has something like CSS3 been "in development"? How long has HTML5 been in development? How much longer will it be in development? (Hint, they're not talking about ratifying it for another 10 years).
Netscape may have "envisioned" web middleware taking over, but it could have only made it happen through more proprietary crap. The standards bodies are slow, lumbering beasts that take decades to make decisions, and that's where the problem lies.
I would call the harassment that Anonymous conducts at physical scientology locations to border on terrorizing people. They taunt, annoy, and scare them, throwing things at them, scaring off potential members, etc.. That's a powerder keg waiting to errupt in something more violent.
My concern is that someone is going to take things too far. I liken Anonymous to the right to lifers that protest abortion clinics. Both think they're right, and that their opinion is the only correct one. But things have gone horribly violent with the latter group.
If you don't like that comparision.. think about it.. There is a lot of similarity.
The difference between Anonymous and The **AA's is that the **AA's (mostly) work within the framework of the law. Anonymous works almost entirely outside the law.
Yes, there have been times the **AA's have done something shady, but then they should be held liable for that in court. (and in most cases, they have been).
There's a difference between standing up to a bully in a legal manner, and doing illegal activities to get back at the bully.
What's more, the advice to stand up to bullies has lead to incidents such as Columbine. It's all too easy to feel that you are a victim and the only way out is to destroy everyone around you.
Also, the advice to stand up to bullies is based on the theory that bullies will go pick on someone else that is an easier target. The **AA's aren't going anywhere, and ther are no easier targets. They are also protecting their own rights, and therefore will dig in just as much as Anonymous will. It's a case of Mutually assurred destruction.
And yes, people have been sued for millions of dollars, but nobody is ever going to pay that.. In most cases, they will simply file bankruptcy and be done with it. It's *NOT* a life threatening situation.
Anonymous is a problem because it believes itself to be the Judge, Jury, and Executioner. It has no oversight, and there are no checks and balances. It can, and will, do whatever it wants.. and that is a recipe for terrorism.
At least terrorists have the excuse that they've been brainwashed. What's anonymous's excuse?
People have been *wrongly* held for violating the DMCA. Dmitry and Elcomsoft were Acquitted of any wrongdoing.
I don't like the DMCA either, but the blame for that situation was with the FBI, not the DMCA (although certainly it gave them a reason to wrongly hold him).
The fact is, if you have something that belongs to me and you didn't pay me for it then either I gave it to you for free or you stole it.
Wow, you have a very narrow field of focus. I can think of many other possible ways something you consider to be yours came into my possesion without my having stolen it from you.
1) You dropped it, and I found it. 2) Someone else took it from you, and I found it. 3) I was awarded it as a judgement against you etc.. etc.. etc..
There is a reason it's legally called "infringement" and not "theft". Copyright infringement is more akin to trespassing, in that as a land owner you have the right to say who can and can't use your property. But, just because i walked on your grass doesn't mean I stole your property from you.
Theft is depriving someone of property, which copyright infringement doesn't do. It violates your right to control who can make copies of the material, a right you can grant to someone else for a fee... just like You can charge someone rent to use your property, or to use it for hunting or whatever.
Not to get all godwin or anything, but i'm sure Nazi's thought the ends justified the means as well. The problem is, very few people can honestly say that without being self-serving.
In most cases, there are better, and more legal ways to achieve the end. The end only justifies the means when there is absolutely no other way to achive "the greater good". And, in the case of Operation Payback, i do not believe for one second that there isn't any other way. Even the name is a very important clue as to the motivation... "Payback".. aka "Vengence". In other words, a very greedy, self-serving, and selfish way to deal with the problem.
Anonymous's major problem is that it feels it is justified in deciding what's right and wrong. They feel they can impose their beliefs on others. And they feel completely justified in doing illegal things to get their way. If this wasn't the only such incident, it might be chalked up to poor judgement, but it seems that "vengence" is the only thing Anonymous wants to do. Even the choice of "V for Vendetta" masks shows that they're more in love with the wrath bringing than solving the problem.
While I too think Scientology is a sham, i also don't believe it's my place to pass judgement over anyones religious beliefs. Doing so is a very slippery slope. Again, Nazi's though Judaism was some kind of cult and evil.. where do you draw the line? I am seriously expecting an Anonymous member to blow up someones car soon. I hope i'm wrong.
Violence begets more violence. And many people get a rush from doing the things they do (even been to an Anonymous rally? They're having a ton of fun at someone elses expense).
Radical behavior is a last resort. It's not like someone is imprisoning anyone for file sharing, but Anonymous seems to be acting like it's a life or death situation.
I hate when people bring up Rosa Parks (and linking to her, no less.. as if you are bestowing upon us some fact nobody is in the slightest bit aware of) in regards to copyright laws.
Rosa was not breaking any law by refusing to give up her seat. In fact, the law was on her side, as recent case law had sided with others in her position. She was merely violating bus company rules. Not that her stance wasn't important, but please.. don't equate disobeying a bus driver with breaking federal law that can land you in federal prison.
Where the hell is bad analogy man when you need him?
Actually, no.. it was *released* in 2002. There were 2 years of very public previews and betas (that most people ignored because MS was so intent on marketing web services).
Well, there is still some logic to it. It typically takes 2-3 years to build an aircraft carrier, while airplanes can be built within 6 months in most cases. So you want the aircraft carrier to be ready when you're ready to buy the planes, otherwise you have planes without an aircraft carrier.
Further, one would assume they already have airplanes that could use the carrier if it was needed.
I agree with you. Apart from the fact that the public has no way of knowing if items are needed or not, there is also the fact that one person has a different idea of what "waste" is vs another. To me, it's wasteful that we spend billions on the war against drugs, but hey.. others feel differently.
I'm a little confused about your aircraft carrier comment. One doesn't typically buy warships from the same company that makes aircraft, so why would an aircraft carrier come with aircraft? That's like complaining because the garbage truck you just bought isn't filled with garbage.
OH, yeah.. and Unix hasn't had it's share of insecurities. Telnet is still included in virtually every distro, for example. Just because stuff is included for legacy support doesn't mean anything. NFS was highly insecure until just recently, for example.
Botnets do use Linux.. as a distribution and command and control system. Many linux servers have been compromised and set to feed botnets to unsuspecting windows clients.
Further, "using" open source does not mean "only" using open source. They may have a single linux server and 200 Windows servers.
Linux gets attacked and compromised a lot. There are various archives that count this informaiton, such as Zone-h.
Don't confuse botnets, which target desktop users with malware in general on the internet.
Windows NT was released in 1993, 2 years before Windows 9x. So it's not really possible for it to have been a port of 9x. In reality, the guys that wrote the 9x UI were NT guys who were on loan to the 9x team. They had intended to write the UI for NT (then code named Cairo) but 9x got higher priority due to the need to bridge the dos/nt barrier with app and driver compatibility.
I always laugh when i hear comments like yours.. that Microsoft somehow held back computing for decades...
If that were true, why aren't open source developers decades ahead of them? Why isn't the Mac decades ahead of them? I mean, serously.. If Microsoft did nothing for 20 years, why isn't every other platform miles ahead? Microsoft has no control over what open source or mac developers do.
It's so ridiculous as to make one question your association with reality if you truly believe this.
It's like saying the space shuttle is responsible for holding back the development of space development.
It sounds more like you're judging people on how well they interview, and not how skilled they are. I know lots of people that interview poorly, and lock up when someone asks them on the spot to code something, but are very good developers.
If you want to hire someone based only on how well they perform in an interview, you're passing up a lot of good candidates.
You have to take that with a huge grain of salt. A large number of job postings are from consulting companies doing general carpet bombing. They don't actually have jobs available for those, but are looking for people to put in their "file" to call up should they get one. I know of no good way to get a good read on actual jobs.
You're really comparing apples and oranges. The VC++ 6 IDE was indeed faster, and it did indeed have features that were lost in VS.net, but VS.net also got a ton of features that were NOT in VS6. VS6 was very difficult to use without addon's like whole tomatoes Visual Assist, and let's not forget that VS5 and GA release of VS6 had huge problems with Intellisense speed (they were fixed in later service packs). Also, if you were around in those days you know that there was a huge clamor over help subsystem speed.
People look back on VS6 with rose glasses.. there were lots of problems in those days as well.
The biggest loss was for C++ which lost a lot of UI integration. And of course the people that complained about lack of upgradeability in VB.
Visual Studio itself, Microsoft Expression, Sharepoint, Groove, Major parts of SQL Server (Apart from integration, things like Reporting services and SSIS), Microsoft CRM, Microsoft Accounting... I could keep going if you like.
Yes, if you're very good at your job, you will probably always have one. However, it may not be the job you actually want. Consider if you're a really good COBOL programmer. You can probably still find jobs, but would you want most of them?
As languages decline in popularity, that means your choice in jobs also declines.
Yes, there is a reason for that. It's called Legacy code. It's expensive to rewrite working legacy code, and it's just not worth it in most cases. However, Microsoft writes a lot of new code in.NET. Stuff like Visual Studio itself, Microsoft Expression, etc..
But.. how does he know he despises it if he's never used it?
I know of very few people that dislike.net for anything other than ideological reasons. I know people that switched from jsp and php and were quite surprised at how much they liked it, especially things like linq, which one guy told me "is worth the price of admission alone".
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Oh, please. You can lay blame for that firmly at the foot of the web industry. Did Microsoft have a hand in it? Certainly. But there simply were not workable standards to make rich web applications viable until recently.
How long has something like CSS3 been "in development"? How long has HTML5 been in development? How much longer will it be in development? (Hint, they're not talking about ratifying it for another 10 years).
Netscape may have "envisioned" web middleware taking over, but it could have only made it happen through more proprietary crap. The standards bodies are slow, lumbering beasts that take decades to make decisions, and that's where the problem lies.
I would call the harassment that Anonymous conducts at physical scientology locations to border on terrorizing people. They taunt, annoy, and scare them, throwing things at them, scaring off potential members, etc.. That's a powerder keg waiting to errupt in something more violent.
My concern is that someone is going to take things too far. I liken Anonymous to the right to lifers that protest abortion clinics. Both think they're right, and that their opinion is the only correct one. But things have gone horribly violent with the latter group.
If you don't like that comparision.. think about it.. There is a lot of similarity.
The difference between Anonymous and The **AA's is that the **AA's (mostly) work within the framework of the law. Anonymous works almost entirely outside the law.
Yes, there have been times the **AA's have done something shady, but then they should be held liable for that in court. (and in most cases, they have been).
There's a difference between standing up to a bully in a legal manner, and doing illegal activities to get back at the bully.
What's more, the advice to stand up to bullies has lead to incidents such as Columbine. It's all too easy to feel that you are a victim and the only way out is to destroy everyone around you.
Also, the advice to stand up to bullies is based on the theory that bullies will go pick on someone else that is an easier target. The **AA's aren't going anywhere, and ther are no easier targets. They are also protecting their own rights, and therefore will dig in just as much as Anonymous will. It's a case of Mutually assurred destruction.
And yes, people have been sued for millions of dollars, but nobody is ever going to pay that.. In most cases, they will simply file bankruptcy and be done with it. It's *NOT* a life threatening situation.
Anonymous is a problem because it believes itself to be the Judge, Jury, and Executioner. It has no oversight, and there are no checks and balances. It can, and will, do whatever it wants.. and that is a recipe for terrorism.
At least terrorists have the excuse that they've been brainwashed. What's anonymous's excuse?
People have been *wrongly* held for violating the DMCA. Dmitry and Elcomsoft were Acquitted of any wrongdoing.
I don't like the DMCA either, but the blame for that situation was with the FBI, not the DMCA (although certainly it gave them a reason to wrongly hold him).
Wow, you have a very narrow field of focus. I can think of many other possible ways something you consider to be yours came into my possesion without my having stolen it from you.
1) You dropped it, and I found it.
2) Someone else took it from you, and I found it.
3) I was awarded it as a judgement against you
etc.. etc.. etc..
There is a reason it's legally called "infringement" and not "theft". Copyright infringement is more akin to trespassing, in that as a land owner you have the right to say who can and can't use your property. But, just because i walked on your grass doesn't mean I stole your property from you.
Theft is depriving someone of property, which copyright infringement doesn't do. It violates your right to control who can make copies of the material, a right you can grant to someone else for a fee... just like You can charge someone rent to use your property, or to use it for hunting or whatever.
Not to get all godwin or anything, but i'm sure Nazi's thought the ends justified the means as well. The problem is, very few people can honestly say that without being self-serving.
In most cases, there are better, and more legal ways to achieve the end. The end only justifies the means when there is absolutely no other way to achive "the greater good". And, in the case of Operation Payback, i do not believe for one second that there isn't any other way. Even the name is a very important clue as to the motivation... "Payback".. aka "Vengence". In other words, a very greedy, self-serving, and selfish way to deal with the problem.
Anonymous's major problem is that it feels it is justified in deciding what's right and wrong. They feel they can impose their beliefs on others. And they feel completely justified in doing illegal things to get their way. If this wasn't the only such incident, it might be chalked up to poor judgement, but it seems that "vengence" is the only thing Anonymous wants to do. Even the choice of "V for Vendetta" masks shows that they're more in love with the wrath bringing than solving the problem.
While I too think Scientology is a sham, i also don't believe it's my place to pass judgement over anyones religious beliefs. Doing so is a very slippery slope. Again, Nazi's though Judaism was some kind of cult and evil.. where do you draw the line? I am seriously expecting an Anonymous member to blow up someones car soon. I hope i'm wrong.
Violence begets more violence. And many people get a rush from doing the things they do (even been to an Anonymous rally? They're having a ton of fun at someone elses expense).
Radical behavior is a last resort. It's not like someone is imprisoning anyone for file sharing, but Anonymous seems to be acting like it's a life or death situation.
I hate when people bring up Rosa Parks (and linking to her, no less.. as if you are bestowing upon us some fact nobody is in the slightest bit aware of) in regards to copyright laws.
Rosa was not breaking any law by refusing to give up her seat. In fact, the law was on her side, as recent case law had sided with others in her position. She was merely violating bus company rules. Not that her stance wasn't important, but please.. don't equate disobeying a bus driver with breaking federal law that can land you in federal prison.
Where the hell is bad analogy man when you need him?
By using it, R-tard.
Actually, no.. it was *released* in 2002. There were 2 years of very public previews and betas (that most people ignored because MS was so intent on marketing web services).
Well, there is still some logic to it. It typically takes 2-3 years to build an aircraft carrier, while airplanes can be built within 6 months in most cases. So you want the aircraft carrier to be ready when you're ready to buy the planes, otherwise you have planes without an aircraft carrier.
Further, one would assume they already have airplanes that could use the carrier if it was needed.
I agree with you. Apart from the fact that the public has no way of knowing if items are needed or not, there is also the fact that one person has a different idea of what "waste" is vs another. To me, it's wasteful that we spend billions on the war against drugs, but hey.. others feel differently.
I'm a little confused about your aircraft carrier comment. One doesn't typically buy warships from the same company that makes aircraft, so why would an aircraft carrier come with aircraft? That's like complaining because the garbage truck you just bought isn't filled with garbage.
OH, yeah.. and Unix hasn't had it's share of insecurities. Telnet is still included in virtually every distro, for example. Just because stuff is included for legacy support doesn't mean anything. NFS was highly insecure until just recently, for example.
Botnets do use Linux.. as a distribution and command and control system. Many linux servers have been compromised and set to feed botnets to unsuspecting windows clients.
Further, "using" open source does not mean "only" using open source. They may have a single linux server and 200 Windows servers.
Linux gets attacked and compromised a lot. There are various archives that count this informaiton, such as Zone-h.
Don't confuse botnets, which target desktop users with malware in general on the internet.
Umm.. no.
Windows NT was released in 1993, 2 years before Windows 9x. So it's not really possible for it to have been a port of 9x. In reality, the guys that wrote the 9x UI were NT guys who were on loan to the 9x team. They had intended to write the UI for NT (then code named Cairo) but 9x got higher priority due to the need to bridge the dos/nt barrier with app and driver compatibility.
Not all contracts need to be signed. The school enters into a contract by offering the syllabus, and the student accepts by paying tuition.
Since when is accounting software and crm software "a few dev tools"?
I always laugh when i hear comments like yours.. that Microsoft somehow held back computing for decades...
If that were true, why aren't open source developers decades ahead of them? Why isn't the Mac decades ahead of them? I mean, serously.. If Microsoft did nothing for 20 years, why isn't every other platform miles ahead? Microsoft has no control over what open source or mac developers do.
It's so ridiculous as to make one question your association with reality if you truly believe this.
It's like saying the space shuttle is responsible for holding back the development of space development.
It sounds more like you're judging people on how well they interview, and not how skilled they are. I know lots of people that interview poorly, and lock up when someone asks them on the spot to code something, but are very good developers.
If you want to hire someone based only on how well they perform in an interview, you're passing up a lot of good candidates.
You have to take that with a huge grain of salt. A large number of job postings are from consulting companies doing general carpet bombing. They don't actually have jobs available for those, but are looking for people to put in their "file" to call up should they get one. I know of no good way to get a good read on actual jobs.
You're really comparing apples and oranges. The VC++ 6 IDE was indeed faster, and it did indeed have features that were lost in VS.net, but VS.net also got a ton of features that were NOT in VS6. VS6 was very difficult to use without addon's like whole tomatoes Visual Assist, and let's not forget that VS5 and GA release of VS6 had huge problems with Intellisense speed (they were fixed in later service packs). Also, if you were around in those days you know that there was a huge clamor over help subsystem speed.
People look back on VS6 with rose glasses.. there were lots of problems in those days as well.
The biggest loss was for C++ which lost a lot of UI integration. And of course the people that complained about lack of upgradeability in VB.
C# is an ISO ratified language. That's about as non-proprietary as you can get. Java doesn't have that distinction.
Visual Studio itself, Microsoft Expression, Sharepoint, Groove, Major parts of SQL Server (Apart from integration, things like Reporting services and SSIS), Microsoft CRM, Microsoft Accounting... I could keep going if you like.
Yes, if you're very good at your job, you will probably always have one. However, it may not be the job you actually want. Consider if you're a really good COBOL programmer. You can probably still find jobs, but would you want most of them?
As languages decline in popularity, that means your choice in jobs also declines.
Yes, there is a reason for that. It's called Legacy code. It's expensive to rewrite working legacy code, and it's just not worth it in most cases. However, Microsoft writes a lot of new code in .NET. Stuff like Visual Studio itself, Microsoft Expression, etc..
But.. how does he know he despises it if he's never used it?
I know of very few people that dislike .net for anything other than ideological reasons. I know people that switched from jsp and php and were quite surprised at how much they liked it, especially things like linq, which one guy told me "is worth the price of admission alone".