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User: st1d

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  1. Re:The benefits of Linux on Is That Pirated Software? · · Score: 1

    I'll try another tact, and try not to go off on a tangent too far. Linux is better for hackers, especially if they are younger hackers, in several ways. First, in order to do similar things in Windows, you need to find and download a number of items off the internet. One of the issues with this is simply knowing that there are programs to do what you need. Linux, having a good number of programs included on the cds, offers you a chance to explore something you might otherwise not be so inclined to try.

    Second, if you're younger and/or don't have the budget, your list of Windows options can be pretty meager. Either you download something risky from someone you're not familiar with, or you grab shareware/demoware, and use that, and reinstall it each time the demo time is up, or suffer with limited features. In Linux, you can find plenty of "mainstream" software, without having to go to offbeat internet sites, or P2P. Even cheap store bought software can be far more than the average kid can talk his parents into buying.

    Third, there is a community. The OSS community (in general, though every group has it's bad apples) is friendly, helpful, and ethical. All in all, it's a great bunch of people to work with while you hone your skills and explore new things. For one thing, pirating is severely looked down on. Most of the Windows users I know (not the regular joes, but the ones who consider themselves hackers) have several peices of wrongly licensed software (often the OS itself) on their computers,.and MS itself is no hotbed of ethical activity. Most of the Linux users I know have no pirated software on their systems. This extends beyond piracy. Breaking into another person's/company's/government's system isn't nearly as interesting or captivating as being able to test your skills against your own system (and self), something you can readily do with a Linux box. All in all, I think growing up with Linux/OSS ethics is a much better bet than developing MS ethics. Granted, there are plenty of good, honest Windows users, but I'd say the field is tilted far more in favor of Linux/OSS.

    Fourth, Linux feeds the hacker's needs. What I mean is simply that Linux caters and encourages hacking (as opposed to cracking), because it is so open and free. There is little, if nothing, on the average Linux system that you can't play with tinker, and horribly corrupt, if you so desire. More importantly, as you gain skill, you can gain something that's likely the reason you tried hacking in the first place. Respect. With Linux, when you do or build something interesting, chances are you'll receive some form of credit or pat on the back for it. The more popular the item is, the more credit you'll likely recieve, perhaps one day becoming one of the well known members of the community. With windows, popular ideas are taken, patented, and not only will you not get any credit for the idea, but if you mention that you had the idea first, you might end up in court with some greedy company that accuses you of IP theft.

    Lastly, with Linux, you can run a dual boot system, or a number of systems. This means you can have a regular working system on one partition, and an experimental one on another. While you can do this in Windows, you don't have nearly the amount of granular control over how those systems interact. Most Windows users (even hacker-types) aren't sure what "partition" means. More importantly for younger hackers, you don't have to worry so much about killing your parents computer because you wanted to try something. Of course, it might take some convincing to get permission to add the new system, but then again (if you were anything like me as a kid, and I'm not encouraging this), they might not even realize it's there. Of course, when mom or dad get a bad email, and dad needs to send an email for work, having a "backup" OS there in a pinch can be a very good thing.

    There are plenty more reasons, especially if you narrow down the types of hackers, but that should suffice for now.

  2. Re:Why is $ the terminator in int 21h, function 9? on Is That Pirated Software? · · Score: 1

    Well, I was there, and it wasn't about being "stupid enough". It was about money, as an extra 5-1/4 floppy drive was a good chunk of change, the same reason many people didn't have the 10meg HD in the first place. While you dreamed about having that extra drive, it wasn't that big of a deal to work, unless you were copying floppies.
    You'd pop in the original, start the copy program, the program would read enough to fill up whatever meager amount of ram you had, prompt you to insert the disk you intended to copy to, write what was in memory, prompt for the original again, and repeat until the floppy was copied over.

    Back then we were so happy to even have a computer, that hassles like this weren't hassles at all. God, now I'm starting to sound like my grandfather... :)

  3. Re:Hmm on Report Claims SCO Intends to Charge IBM with Fraud · · Score: 1

    I think you're right on target. SCO has done this since the beginning. The problem for them now is simply that good news organizations have also heard of Groklaw, and now have somewhere to check SCO's comments against those of the court and community. As such, SCO's getting pummeled in the press as well as the courtroom. Now I think they hope that if they make a Groklaw-style site, they might be able to confuse the media a little, or at least get it mentioned in articles.

    Not likely, simply because there just isn't that much SCO has to say. "We need more", "It's not fair", and "We meant this, not what we said" don't make for very good copy over the long haul, IMHO.

  4. Re:california most active/pro OSS ? on Microsoft faces Monopoly Lawsuit (again) · · Score: 1

    All joking aside. I agree, I am not sure why OSS hasn't taken off like a shot, considering that Open Office has 100%, of the 10% of the features that actually get used in Microsoft Office.

    It's a mindset. Many people simply don't like change, whether it's better for them or not. I've introduced a number of people to Mozilla/Netscape/Firebird over the last couple years, and about half like it, the other half switch back to bug-ridden IE. The overriding reason? The buttons are in different spots, the menus are arranged differently, it doesn't do things the exact same way IE does (if you hit ctrl-l, no box pops up), etc. It's not so much a reasonable fault with the browser, there's simply a desire to get back in that comfort zone. At the same time, someone who doesn't really know how to use a computer or the internet has no problem learning and using M/F/N.

    The techie types like it, the constantly hassled (virus/spyware/cracker targets) like it, the sick-of-MS folks like it. Joe average, that only uses his computer for playing one or two favorite games (who usually likes to believe he's an IT expert), can't get rid of it soon enough. God forbid, if one of their favorite sites is IE-only, it's because M/F/N is loaded with bugs, too.

    Gotta love evolution...

  5. Re:Californian Justice... on Microsoft faces Monopoly Lawsuit (again) · · Score: 1

    The law has been set up so that one side benefits. These Corps are robbing us, and Congress is providing the getaway car.

    Gee, you mean by electing well off and rich politicians (on both sides of the aisle, mind you), there is a chance that they may be looking out for themselves and their buddies, and ignoring the less well off? Imagine that. Oh well, enjoy the election between millionaires. I'm sure this fall will Really Change Things(TM).

  6. Re:Once again we've got Capitalism -vs- Free Marke on Microsoft faces Monopoly Lawsuit (again) · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I believe he means in relation to a captialistic system where investors are important as well to a nation. While outsourcing may help companies, not having employees (who use their money to reinvest in the system) will eventually hurt those same companies. Of course, this is as long as those outsourced employees don't feel like investing (which they may not be able to do, depending on how cheap the labor is).

  7. MS 64-bit trouble(rehash) on Windows XP To Get Longhorn Technologies · · Score: 1
    Okay, I posted this on OSNews.com, but I think it's something /.ers can tear to shreds as well. Enjoy. :)

    I hate to say it, because it's already 90+ degrees (F) outside and a flame war won't help any, but I have a funny feeling MS's Longhorn problems are due more to a difficulty in migrating to 64-bit processors than anything else. This is understandable, because that area simply hasn't standardized enough for MS's "one size fits all" approach to computing. (Yes, MS has "HPC" ambitions, but that's a different market than the home/S-M-Business arena.)

    Linux (yes I'm biased) has an advantage in this regard, simply because the OSS development model tends to be quite faster on it's toes. Even inside MS, only a handful of developers understand the majority of Windows architecture (by necessity, having too many people know the entire system's internals is dangerous to MS's way of doing business), so bug stomping is necessarily more limited.

    If MS releases too early (in this case, before there is a clear consensus on processor style), they would have to do massive development to adapt, and major spin control as to why MS is falling behind in the market, or at least not selling their new OS at expected rates. While the items in the posts above no doubt have their effect, I think this is the more problematic item for MS.

    It's easier, if more dangerous, to wait until this sorts itself out, then release accordingly. I also think this is why MS is trying to play AMD and Intel against each other (every couple months, one is "favored" over the other by MS execs), in order to force some kind of agreement earlier than it might develop otherwise.

    Just my opinion.
  8. Re:Analog copying on European DRM News · · Score: 1

    We will never see audiophiles agreeing to replace their multi-thousand dollar speakers.

    Nope, but these people aren't the targets, either. Real audiophiles (the psychotic ones, not the ones that are wannabes) buy masters, not CDs.

    There's no such thing as a digital speaker. They are, by their very nature, an analog device. An analog waveform causes the cone to move. Therefore, at the point where the signal enters the speaker's voice coil, it must, by necessity, be an analog signal. It takes a dollar's worth of hardware to adapt an 8 ohm impedance speaker signal into a line level input.

    Sure, now, but there are most certainly digital speakers and microphones, and you can bet your tail Sony and so on aren't going to leave a loophole like this open for too long. Once people adapt to DRM, analog speakers and mics will start to disappear from the market, as they'll simply remove the analog jacks from equiptment (in the name of "quality"). Before long, it will be too much of a hassle to try and go around it, so either the encryption needs to be broken (illegal under DMCA-type laws), or people just need to accept it.

  9. Re:If people would just stop stealing... on European DRM News · · Score: 1

    I certainly don't rationalize theft, but I agree to a point. A good example would be companies that slap their label on an otherwise cheaply available product, then charge a premium for it. While demand may be there, it's an artificial demand created under false assumptions and lack of knowledge. Hopefully we'll outgrow that kind of ignorance some day, at least until people can learn to balance their wants and their income.

    I do remember all the talk about how we all needed to ditch our tape players, because CDs lasted longer, and would eventually become far cheaper than tapes. Now they cost twice as much, and if you do buy one, it won't play in a player a couple years from now. Beautiful.

  10. Re:Well.... on European DRM News · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Very true, but there's a gamble there as well. For instance, if MS and T-W were to come up with one system, and other groups came up with their own, there would be the temptation to break the other guy's system, to drive artists to your "better" DRM system (DMCA items aside). Especially if MS has desktop dominance and an interest in promoting one system over another, seeing as they're the only folks that know how their OS interacts with the software.

    DRM is actually a beautiful catch-22 for MS. They can cash out any way you build it, because all they need to do is break/leak competing software, and competitors are screwed. (And as history shows, MS has no problem doing this when the situation calls.) So, MS builds a system, IP's it to death, and gets to call the shots on who gets to do what. Even if someone were to do the same for another OS (not that OSS folks are real big on the DRM idea), they're risking MS's ire.

    So, in one smooth "righteous" move, MS automatically sweeps up the competition. Thanks to the DMCA and other fine laws, reverse engineering and so on means that no other OS users will be able to listen to music on their PCs. Then, while sales fall, those laws will get tightened even more , until using another OS is all but illegal.

    It kind of reminds me of school. Someone would screw things up for everybody else, because the boneheads in charge (in this case, congress), can't see that they need to deal with the real problem (putzes that load 500 CDs onto the internet). Instead, they want to "protect" everybody, so we all have to sit back and allow our computers to be loaded down with stuff to protect us from what we MIGHT be tempted to do.

    Meanwhile, the majority of people respond with, "Baaa. I just want to listen to music. Baaa!" People often can't believe that the Inquisition happened without more people standing up against it, yet we're watching it unfold right in front of her eyes. Gotta love how history repeats itself.

  11. Re:"Home" before "Pro"? on XP2 Spotted In The Wild · · Score: 1
    A "power user" using Windows Update is NOT a power user, they're a luser...
    IMHO, "Power Users" are the most likely to have this thing on. Power User is a term used by marketing droids to make inept users with a little knowledge feel more important and push them into buying one (typically bad) product over another. Power Users are the same folks that will delete the "useless" programs in their System32 directories, because somebody at work told them their hard drive runs faster if there are less files on it. (In these situations, they typically have 100+GB hard drives, and are not using more than a couple percent of that.) They're also the ones who tend to hit cancel on their anti-virus checks/updates, because it's interfering with whatever "important work" they're doing.

    Power Users scare me... :)
  12. Re:Its not that bad on XP2 Spotted In The Wild · · Score: 1
    IE is actually usable for the first time since, err, ever. The extra nag dialogs and the pop-up blocker go a long way towards keeping spyware off your machine.
    Until they turn off the annoying nag boxes...
  13. Re:Wooohooo! on Windows Laptops Ship With Linux Media Player · · Score: 1

    Well, MCE isn't going much of anywhere, either. For example, Tivo run Linux, and as more of these asian companies move in Linux's direction, MS is being moved out. No doubt MS will offer an "upgrade" to "help" users remove "and inferior player". I'd also expect a few updates that crash the player to come out soon after these ship.

  14. Re:I hereby patent on Microsoft Patents sudo · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately, your time machine is running the newest, bestest version of Windows, and you're now trapped in a half-second "reboot", where you end up in the wrong time, just a half second before you leave....

  15. Re:So what can we do? on Microsoft Patents sudo · · Score: 1

    You don't need to win the lottery. Time, effort, and of course donations can be of any size to help fight this garbage.

    http://www.eff.org/patent/

  16. Re:And tomorrow on Microsoft Patents sudo · · Score: 1

    Actually, I think they've already done that one. I don't know exactly where, but I read something similar not too long ago.

  17. Re:My Theory on Microsoft Patents sudo · · Score: 1

    I'm thinking that their status as a business is getting so weak, that this is just a medium-term item to prop up their stock price when the FUD doesn't work anymore. "Hey, we still have billions of patents (99% of which are bogus), keep our stock price high till all us execs can cash out, would ya?"

    Personally, when a company has to resort to legal games, the end is near.

  18. Re:A dangerous precedent... on Microsoft Patents sudo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Oh, not just men, there are "agreements" in place with a number of countries to accept US patents, copyrights, trademarks as law. In fact, that's one of the more endearing items in the EU patent attempts. Similar to extradition agreements, many countries might as well just consider themselves "Lesser States of the Union".

  19. Re:I hope they keep it up - both of them... on Microsoft Patents sudo · · Score: 1

    Gotta love that DOJ, keeping on top of things as usual...

  20. Re:You know something... on Microsoft Patents sudo · · Score: 1

    That is actually quite a good idea. Simply do not allow companies to own patents. If they truly want to "invest" in patents, then force them to hire a real person who filed the patent. Certainly there will be some filtering there, and the bar will be pushed up till we reach real innovation, because no company would spend a buck hiring someone for this joke of a patent. (Well, maybe SCO). No doubt this would be abused as well, but it's a whole different situation when somebody's own butt is on the line if they piss off too many people, especially Friday night lonely, crazed slashdotters. :)

  21. Re:Guys with a boner for dress socks... on Microsoft Patents sudo · · Score: 1

    Seems like, in addition to the requirement that patents not be evident to an average practioner of the art, they need a law that instantly (no appeals, no technicalities, similar to some drug laws) punishes companies that cannot help but know better than file patents like this.

  22. Re:Hmmm, 1980 was a good year... on Microsoft Patents sudo · · Score: 1

    Makes you wonder if anyone at the USPTO actually uses a computer. Maybe the problem is that they're still doing things the way they did back in Einstein's day...

  23. Re:perhaps my evil genius hat isn't working on Microsoft Patents sudo · · Score: 1

    longer than 20 years. Maybe MS is just taking that extra step to prove they have the most secure OS on the planet. If nobody else has the ability to separate users from admins, that might do it.

    Honestly though, they should have patented giving all users complete admin priviledges. That would be a sure lock for MS. :)

  24. Re:Quick! Send in your prior art! on Microsoft Patents sudo · · Score: 1

    Should be: shred -fuz /dev/uspto

  25. Re:Good for them... on Sony Endorsing Open Graphics Format For PS3 · · Score: 1

    >>But the days when a guy sitting in his basement could produce a major computer game hit is simply over.
    .
    Every few years, the industry seems to consolidate, and people begin to believe that only the "professionals" can write good games. Then a couple geeks working in spare time come out with something that pushes the whole industry up to a new level. ID Software is probably the best known example of this. They rewrote the entire industry in just a few years, simply because they were sick of the games all being the same, so they wrote a new kind of engine.
    .
    I've seen that "professionals only" argument rise and fall several times. In fact, about the time most people believe it, you might want to start looking around the shareware/freeware arena, because chances are good that somebody's already producing something that will prove you wrong. (I'd love to give an example, but I'm not a gamer.)