> I love you apple zealots. Apple addicts is the closest thing to a secular > cult I have ever seen. > > Um wait I take that back, apple addicts think Steve Jobs is god.
The beautiful, protecting, heroic, wonder-working deity Mothra is the great Goddess that resurrected Apple from the dead (and parted the Pacific for good measure).
Toho is her prophet.
Steve Jobs is her servant and messenger.
Apple is her champion to put right the wrongs of Microsoft, the RIAA, and the MPAA.
Homage to King Shisa (mistranslated as Seesar or Caesar), Guardian of Okinawa and Friend of the Mac, on the occasion of his 38th birthday. ("Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla" 1974, "Mothra 2" 1997)
> Why are everybody worried about these asteroids? The last asteroid > big enough to kill people so it counts hit earth something like 65 > million years ago... Those smaller asteroids keep dropping down a bit > more often, but who cares? If it don't hit a major city (very unlikely, > compared to the unihabited part of earth) it won't do anything...
65 million years ago? How about less than six thousand? Current theories have an asteroid or comet smashing into Iraq and destroying several bronze age cultures (http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/planetearth/comet_bronzeage_011113-1.html). If the event in Siberia had happened in a heavily populated area, you bet people would have been killed. As recently as 1994 a comet broke apart and hit a planet (in this case Jupiter), causing multiple impacts. You could fit the entire planet Earth into some of the dents (since healed because Jupiter is a gas planet and cloud craters aren't as long lived as ones in rock). In fact last July a small asteroid (smaller than a car) hit a corn field in Pennsylvania. Supposedly it made popcorn.;)
> Oh yeah.. a few thounsand people might get killed, but doesn't people > die in larger quantities in wars and stuff like that?
Oh, show some compassion! Most of the Earth is water, drop a big enough asteroid in the water and Mr. Tsunami will come calling, with a huge wall of water that can be quite devastating. If the asteroid hits on land, and is in the nuclear range of impact, you are going to get a nice little nuclear winter, sans radiation. You get drought, dark days, cold nights, and all that dirt in the sky has to go somewhere. The one that killed the dinos 65 million years ago killed 70% of the life on this planet along with them (and guess what, those kind of asteroids come around about once every 100 million years).
We've had five major mass extinctions (including the most recent one involving the dinos), but 251 million years ago the granddaddy of them all, the Permian Extinction, wiped out 90% of all life on this planet. It may well have been caused by an asteroid or comet (http://www.cosmiverse.com/space08300105.html).
The time to think about what to do to protect ourselves (if we even can) is not four days before an asteroid is due to hit, and certainly not four days after. That time is now. Of course, it is also high time to put an end to war and terrorism.
"Lola, kindness is not enough, look for the reason of hatred and anger. When you find and understand that, love becomes the strongest power; stronger than courage or wisdom." Belabera, "Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks"
> Microsoft should not get special treatment. Microsoft has broken the > law. Multiple times. They have been convicted multiple times, despite > doing everything they could to worm out of responsibility including: > > 1) Lying (IE couldn't possibbly be unbundled) > 2) Buying off the Bush administration > 3) Buying off much of Congress
You forgot:
4) Buying off the head of the Department of Justice
John Ashcroft ran for a Missouri Senate seat (in the US Senate) in the 2000 election. He received campaign contributions from Microsoft. He lost the election, even though his opponent died before the election (his opponent's wife is our Senator now). He was then picked by our/Florida's/Supreme Court's President to be the head of the Department of Justice. Presumably he still feels that he owes Microsoft for the campaign contributions.
The DoJ is so into acting like they are *owned* by Microsoft that they even defended Microsoft in court once in recent weeks! It would be nice if someone would please reeducate them on the meanings of the words "prosecutor" and "justice". They seem to have forgotten them.
Otherwise, great post!:)
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have got to pay! New Kirk calling Mothra, "We need you today!"
> Pulling from the quote above: "...unless the Device has a separate > license for the Product."
> I assume that by "Device" it is including software. So, would GPL'ed > (General Public Licensed) software satisfy the "separate license" > requirement?
IANAL, but I read "Product" to be Windows XP. It might not have to be installed, but at least you'd have to have one XP license (at least on paper and paid for) per machine to use a third party remote product between them. Of course, if the machine to be accessed remotely is on the internet and open to anyone who wants to use it, I don't see how a person can possibly be expected to have XP licenses for the entire computer population of the world!
This EULA section forces more license sales, encourages (for fear of accidently breaking the EULA) the use of all-Microsoft servers, and scares people away from competing products. Can you say antitrust?
It's getting to the point where one must take a lawyer to the store when buying software. After all, EULAs are trying to be contracts, and you are supposed to haul your contracts in to your lawyer before you sign them.
What happens when you embrace and extend Godzilla? Nuclear heartburn! See "Godzilla 2000" (released in Japan as "Godzilla 2000 Millenium") for details.
> Sure, punish success. That'll inspire people to create!
Microsoft has broken the law and been found guilty. That is a matter of public record (verified by an Appeals court). Breaking the law carries a penalty.
Allowing Microsoft to break the same laws over and over (like they are doing now) and to let them successfully get away with it only inspires them and others to continue breaking the law. Microsoft needs to be punished so they and others will take the law seriously.
Take this case for example. The EULA of XP is forbidding the use of an entire category of software if it comes from a third party. If XP does catch on to become the version of Windows used the most, then everybody else making that category of software is immediately out of business, regardless of how successful or good their product is. How exactly does that situation inspire people to create? It doesn't, it punishes them for trying to create. Microsoft is wrecking their businesses just because Microsoft is greedy and wants people to buy more licenses.
Maybe you don't care about Microsoft's victims. When Microsoft starts charging you for every time you turn your computer on, will you care then?
Then it will be too late.
What happens when you embrace and extend Godzilla? Nuclear heartburn! See "Godzilla 2000" (released in Japan as "Godzilla 2000 Millenium") for details.
> Can't we end this now. Hasn't Mr. Gates suffered enough already?
Microsoft was found to have broken the law. We are now in the penalty phase of the trial. There is no longer any question as to how guilty MS is, only how much they will pay for breaking the law.
Problem is, we can't get Microsoft and their lawyers (both those who are employees of Microsoft and those who supposedly work for the Department of Justice) to clam up and get penalized already. It would really help if the so called "Department of Justice" would quit defending Microsoft and start prosecuting them like they are supposed to be doing. Then we wouldn't have a settlement that MS is using to repeat their illegal activities, and 9 states off on their own because they seem to be the only ones who care about doing their job.
The 25 states will help here, even if they don't formally join in with the nine states. State governments are important, and they have rights, even in this "War on Terror" era. It's high time they stood up and let people know that.
.Net, DRMOS, using the Settlement like a rolled up newspaper to smack their OEMs around... It is plainly clear that Microsoft has not suffered enough, because it obviously has no intention of mending its ways. Until justice is done, until Microsoft mends its ways, until huge corporations respect the law of the land, this isn't over. We have a choice. Either the computer industry becomes vibrant, prosperous, innovative, and free (as in liberty), or we have the Microsoft Millenium. Choose!
"The path of peace is yours to discover for eternity." "Mosura", 1961
> Its a classic Bait and Switch. Apple will always charge money for > video compression deliverred stock in their normal Quicktime, and > will never offer source to the compressors.
Apple doesn't have the rights or the ability to give you the source to the compressors of others that they license to use in QuickTime. Good Grief! The whole reason they are not releasing QT6 is because the MPEG-4 people are demanding that content creators pay them a tax to use it, over and above the $2 million Apple will be paying them to license it. Apple is going to bat for its users here, and you have the gall to blame them for not giving you someone else's source code!
> Apple charges (GOUGES) its dwindling developer base.
Oh yeah, right! A whole twenty bucks to get a CD of their developers tools FedExed to your doorstep. Wow, that's highway robbery!
The old Apple was greedy and stupid, sure. Their greed nearly killed them. The new Apple, born in December 1996, is on the whole, wiser and more compassionate. This is the Apple that:
- Based the core of their new OS on open source (and gave back the source, which was not required by the license).
- Slashed the price of their Web Objects from $50,000 to $699.
- Gave away their OS X developer's tools for free download ($20 for CD).
- Went to bat for their users to avoid extra end user charges (for MPEG-4 content creation) for Quick Time Pro users.
- Opened the source of their Darwin Streaming server.
- and a lot more.
> Developers have priciples... and the number one priciple is that they > HATE being exploited.
No, you just hate having to pay to get anything in life.;) Microsoft's developers don't seem to mind the sky high cost of Visual Studio.Net. Lets see Microsoft give that away for free!
> They expect Apple to PAY THEM to read new manuals, not the other > way around. > > They expect Apple to PAY THEM to adapt and ebrace new proprietary > system technologies, not the other way around.
Actually, that is what your *employer* pays you for, and expects you to do if you want your salary to continue going up. If you are programming as a hobby, it is its own reward.
> They always give long marketing-speak excuses why they wanted 895 > dollars for newton programming manuals > > They use excuses such as : default IBM OS/2 programming manuals > from IBM cost 5000 dollars in March 1987. > > Sigh....... > > OS/2 is dead, Apple.
So's Newton, so why are you expecting to be able to get programming manuals for it, at any price? Anyway, IBM OS/2 didn't die due to the price of the programming manuals (actually, last I heard, another company was still developing versions of OS/2).
> Offer some video compression source code (pay your consulting > suppliers if you need to) or shut the hell up.
It's two million dollars (plus content creating costs) just to put MPEG-4 in QuickTime. Do you really want Apple to go broke to give you free source code?
If you want the source that badly, go gripe at the MPEG-4 people.
> I hope Darwin crap dies as well as slow buggy MAc OS X. > (Mac-O-Sux)
Oh, go argue point with Aqua Mothra! Grrr...
On December 14, 1996, Mothra resurrected an apple tree. On December 14, 2001, she returned to see its fruit: OS X, the Apple of Mothra's Aqua eye.
> Refreshing to see an MS news item that has no bashing in it > what-so-ever.
That's because the facts reported in the article are damning enough by themselves:
1) Microsoft intends to implement this new file system by incorporating SQL Server into the operating system.
2) It will replace all file formats. No more mp3's, QuickTime movies, jpeg graphics files, etc.
3) It is anti-competitive in that it will break all file compatibility on other platforms that the other platforms need for their survival. Massive amounts of time and effort will have to be spent trying to reachieve that compatibility, and the DMCA may even make that effort illegal (IANAL).
4) Microsoft plans to shoehorn acceptance of this file system and its next OS by using its Windows monopoly. This is illegal, see the antitrust suit findings of fact.
Just last fall, the Russians tried to warn the US government that using SQL Server to keep inventory of nuclear materials could result in information being lost. Do you really want to use the exact same thing as the basis of your file system for your mission critical applications? Or even to track your favorite recipes?
"It'll soak up every last bit of data." Miasaka, Godzilla 2000 Millenium
Re:So that's what he meant
on
SSSCA Editorials
·
· Score: 4, Informative
An AC wrote:
> Umm I hate to tell you this, Microsoft actually is against this as a law. > Maybe you should read the press releases more.
Maybe you should read up on Microsoft's patents more. Here's one that might interest you: Patent # 6,330,670; "Digital rights management operating system"; dated December 11, 2001. You can read all the gory details at:
Really, Microsoft would have to come out publicly opposing SSSCA. The first time round (last fall), they didn't have the above patent. This second time round, they have the patent, but Enron happened. Microsoft has paid out two to three times the campaign contributions as Enron, and probably can't afford to be caught paying for and then embracing and extending SSSCA into its total and eternal dominion of the operating system market for all devices.
So Microsoft quietly grumbles and complains, all the while letting the MPAA and RIAA do its dirty work. When SSSCA passes, Microsoft brings out its DRMOS patent, and forces its competitors (Linux, OS X, etc.) to license it (and embrace IE,.Net, their Media Player, etc.) or break either patent law or the SSSCA. If anyone tries to charge them with buying the law, Microsoft can just pull out a pile of press releases and say they are just obeying a law they protested against. Welcome to the Microsoft Millenium, now mandated by law!
We've got 12 to 18 months to stop SSSCA. That's how long Senator Hollings is giving the industry to comply voluntarily (as if an already wounded industry should further cripple itself to serve the fat sharks of Hollywood!). Fight it! Writing your congress critters is good. Telling all your friends and family, writing letters and press releases to your local papers, writing articles for news sites, etc. is better. Get the word out to ordinary folks in a way they can understand. That way, both you and all of them can write their congress critters. With enough public outcry, this nightmare of a law might be stopped for good!
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have got to pay! New Kirk calling Mothra, "We need you today!"
Re:"so MacPerl is the most advanced release of per
on
MacPerl 5.6.1 Released
·
· Score: 1
An AC wrote:
> "so MacPerl is the most advanced release of perl ever " > > Why do Apple zealots always need to pomp and boast and stuff?
Hey, don't blame us Apple zealots for the words of the MacPerl zealots. Proper Apple zealots know that if they wanted to claim "most advanced release", they should have carbonized it.;)
As for the rest of us, maybe we boast because we finally have something worth shouting about. OS X is beautiful and powerful, yet still compassionate towards the user. It inspires happiness and hope, maybe even excitement. We finally have a viable modern alternative to hordes of beige boxes dominated by an evil monopoly.
> I remember there was an interval of time when IE for the Mac was the > 'best ever version'. I remember when the version of Microsoft Office > happened to be the 'newest version available.'
Um, that "Apple zealot" was Microsoft. We are not responsible for the mutterings of the Evil Empire's marketing department.
> The only reason I remember crap like this is Mac Zealots are SO > intent on wheezing on whenever there is any slight, largely > irrelevant 'lead' that they have taken.
So I guess this means hearing that the new iMac is the top selling computer on Amazon ever is not going to really impress you, huh?
> Is there a particular class of zealot drawn especially to the Apple line > of computers? What disorder draws them so heartily?
You'll have to ask my friend. He's been involved with Macs for a lot longer (since 1993's "Godzilla vs. Mecha Godzilla 2"), and is much larger...
Windows: "Go talk to my friend, an 800 pound monopoly-abusing gorilla!" Mac: "And here's my good buddy, the 66,000 ton Godzilla!" Godzilla: Stomp!;)
> It's blatantly unconstitutional as a limitation on speech. Money is > speech, just like code is speech.
Wrong. Code may be speech, because it is saying something in a real (machine) language. Money is not speech, it is property.
The constitution gives you a nice form of speech that you are to use to have your voice in government. It comes in two parts: first you elect someone by voting, then you let them know via some form of speech (letters, email, phone, fax) what you want from your representative. This is your right as a US citizen, and it is how the government of the people, by the people, for the people is supposed to work. This even provides for companies, since they are made up of individual employees who are citizens of a given area.
Money is the unconstitutional wrecker of our representative form of government. Big, evil, nasty corporations come in and kindly offer to help pay the candidate's election expenses. Of course, the payback comes when the candidate is elected. They warp our representatives so they no longer represent us, the citizens, but them, the nasty corporations, who might not even be located in the representative's area or even this country. This isn't speech, this is bribery. And it impairs the ability of the government to protect our constitutional rights, including speech (just ask anyone who has been silenced by the DMCA).
The SSSCA is a cruel joke. A small sector of industry is expecting to get a law to force a much larger sector (and every citizen who buys the products of either sector) to bend to their will. Just to further their greed. And they plan to succeed because they have paid more in bribes.
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming." From the song "Infant Girl" in the Japanese version of "Mothra" (1961).
> So this would involve... what? Small asteroids? In Redmond?
Maybe, but I doubt it. King Ghidora (kaiju deity of killer asteroids) doesn't strike me as that interested in Microsoft. Mothra is having too much fun sicking her Apple on Microsoft, the RIAA and the MPAA to bother with personal divine retribution at the moment (though I wouldn't completely discount the appearance of one of her typhoons).
Nope, there is only one deity who hates Microsoft with a truly fiery passion. Only one deity, who when in a bad mood, really doesn't care how many innocents he stomps to get to what he is mad at. Only one deity whose sacred nuclear materials may have been lost due to a bug in MS SQL Server:
Godzilla, the Dreaded God of Nuclear Fire, God of Destruction, King of Monsters!
Don't think he can attack in the real world? Just ask the folks in Tokai - they can tell you all about his 1999 visit (the worst nuclear plant accident in Japan's history). Or watch "Godzilla 2000" (filmed before the accident, released after).
What happens when you embrace and extend Godzilla? Nuclear heartburn! See "Godzilla 2000" (released in Japan as "Godzilla 2000 Millenium") for details.
Don't be too sure. The top selling computer (iMac 2) on Amazon for all time doesn't run Windows. 10 (Macs) of the 25 top selling computers on Amazon don't run Windows. The Windows PC market is in the dumpster right now. The higher priced Macs running OS X are selling just fine.;)
Don't worry Linux, OS X is ready for the desktop *now* and has joined the fray. You little penguins have time to get your act together.
"Heart can reach where hand cannot. Climb over any wall..." Mothra (via Moll) "Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks"
The first round for SSSCA ended in October of 2001 with it being postponed indefinately. Microsoft actually came out (mildly) against it. On December 11, 2001, Microsoft was granted patent 6,330,670 for the "Digital rights management operating system". (Microsoft also has 19 other patents on the subject of DRM.)
One of the initial concerns over SSSCA had to do with the fact that Windows XP already had DRM built in, and so the law would give it an unfair advantage. "Unfair advantage" has now become a gross understatement. Microsoft has patented what the SSSCA would require of every OS. This leaves Apple, Linux, etc. with only three options:
1) Try to license DRMOS from Microsoft, and MS refuses: your OS is history.
2) Try to license DRMOS from Microsoft, and MS lets you. Be prepared to pay through the nose. Also, realize that MS is going to throw all kinds of things into the agreement, from IE to.Net and everything in between.
3) Try to break their patent. Good luck.
I would strongly suggest fighting SSSCA tooth and nail, now while we still can. Give Apple and the various corporate allies of Linux a heads-up, they can help. Raise the alarm in the world outside Slashdot.
If we don't stop this, Microsoft (and the MPAA and RIAA) will have their Millenium (thousand year rule).
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have got to pay! New Kirk calling Mothra: "We need you today!"
Re:Bleak days, bitter nights, for *BSD
on
Understanding NFS
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
An AC writes:
> We all know *BSD keeps losing market share but why?
Um, because it is gaining market share?
Apple, in their last quarter report, announced the sale of one million boxes of OS X (a *BSD OS) and two million systems with it on the hard drive.
The new iMac, booting OS X by default, had 150,000 preorders.
The new iMac is the top selling computer for all time at Amazon. It is outselling every XP PC on Amazon.
Out of the top 25 bestselling computers on Amazon, 10 were Macs, and all Macs are now shipping OS X as the default booting OS.
ZDNet ran this (http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/ma in/0,14179,2659085,00.html) article about how the number of *BSD users will soon exceed the number of Linux users, largely thanks to OS X and Darwin. *BSD already has three times the number of Linux desktop users. (And if the Linux users aren't happy about this, they can just run out and make more Linux users and make Linux more successful on the desktop. Then we can have a fun race with them.;)
> An unremitting gloom hangs like a death shround over a once hopeful > *BSD community. The hope is gone; a mournful nostalgia has > settled in. Now is the end time for *BSD.
Sorry to burst your tragic bubble (not really;) but *BSD is currently in no danger of death.
*BSD is in serious danger of growth!
Oh, there is a doomed OS alright. It is an evil empire, built on a foundation that now crumbles and groans under its weight. This empire doesn't see the danger. It never will, until it is too late. A hero thrice thought dead (Apple, Next, *BSD), now reborn, arises to shatter its foundations.
Beyond time, beyond terror, beyond death, Mothra: Your heart can reach...Life!
Re:What IS the fucking deal with Apple?
on
Linux and Mac OS X
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
An AC wrote:
> you're claiming that >>OSX has "a large application base"? ROFL!!! > What are you smoking?
Okay, you asked for it;):
1) Most Mac applications ever written. I've found very few that don't run well under the Classic environment. This includes popular commercial packages and tons of shareware and freeware.
2) New and ported Carbon and Cocoa Mac OS X applications. This is increasing in number daily, especially since the development tools are free. Again, this includes popular commercial packages and tons of shareware and freeware.
3) Most Java J2SE applications, and J2EE applications if you obtain the necessary libraries. The first Airport utilities that were in use on OS X were Java apps originally created for Windows. OS X has the best Java 2 on the desktop.
4) Various Unix applications, many Open Source or GNU, ported for OS X/Darwin. Some of these beloved programs come with OS X, such as the Apache web server and Emacs. Others (like an X server or postgresSQL) are available for the download.
5) If you care to plunk down around $200 (ranges from about $99 for DOS to $249 for Windows NT, per operating system) for Virtual PC 5.0, you can run most any Windows, DOS, or Linux application.
6) Go to "http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/index.shtml" and search for "emulator". I found about 29 entries for different computers and video game consoles.
In short, OS X can pretty much run whatever you want it to run. I've been using it for nearly a year now. It is great, and getting better all the time.
> After getting a copyright, or an intellectual property, a company must > defend it tooth and nail from ANY kind of predatory or even harmless > knockoffs.
This applies only to trademarks. You can actually grant others non-exclusive rights to copy your work and still retain your copyright. You can license your patented technology to others. You can even share trade secrets with someone who has signed a non-disclosure agreement. But you better not let trademark infringements slide, or you loose them. (Which is why if Lindows really has hundreds of examples of Microsoft not defending the "Windows" trademark, they might actually be able to get it taken away from Microsoft.)
> If Apple doesn't and someone stole an appearance to make a commercial > product, the courts may see Apple's inaction as abandonment of their > IP obligation.
Look and feel follows its own rules, established by the look and feel case between Apple and Microsoft. I don't remember all of them off hand. Themes that use the Apple logo as part of the theme to make it look legit, and that exactly reproduce the look and feel of OS X are going to get cease-and-desist letters. Slashdot using glassy looking header bars that don't remotely look like OS X and no apple logo in the upper left corner are not likely to hear from Apple. (If you view the page using an OS X native browser, you can see just how unlike OS X it is.) IANAL, but I doubt even using the OS X trademark to denote a story about OS X is going to be a problem, since you are using the trademark to identify the company and product, which is what it is for.
It's a shame, but even a company that does a pretty good job of following Mothra's path of peace has to have a legal department.
"The path of peace is yours to discover for eternity." "Mosura", 1961
> Please give me one legit reason to use these devices that is believable > other than pirating GBA games. You and I both know your reason will > be complete BS.
One legit use? I can think of several:
1) Uploading games that you wrote. This is the purpose of the device according to the manufacturer's web site.
2) Backing up your saved game data (if this is illegal, then so are memory cards).
3) Backing up the games that you bought. Legal under pre-DMCA copyright laws. This would allow you to be able to continue playing your game, even after your little brother ran the cartridge through your little sister's EasyBake oven.
4) Playing a game that your friend wrote for the GBA using this device. With your friend's permission, of course, since they own copyright to the games they wrote.
> This isn't like MP3s where people can make backups > of their music and move it around to different systems.
5) Writing an mp3 player (assuming the hardware would support one) on the GBA and playing mp3's ripped off the CD you just bought.
> This is to trade and pirate the software.
That would be use #6, the only one that is illegal. You have a similar mix of legal and illegal uses of a CD burner. So do you plan to run around to all the distributors of CD burners, slap them with the DMCA, and confiscate their products?
What ever happened to the good old days of "innocent until proven guilty" and using the police to enforce the law?
> Saying otherwise insults us all.
Well, if you are so worried about being insulted, why don't you register instead of posting as an "Anonymous Coward". Certainly that is more insulting than the truth.;)
(BTW, that's why I always write "An AC wrote:" instead of insulting the people I'm replying to.)
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have got to pay! New Kirk calling Mothra, "We need you today!"
Re:This is not news. Doesn't ANYONE study history
on
.NETly News
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Maury Markowitz wrote:
> Once again I find myself ashamed to be a part of an industry that can't
> remember anything five years into the past..NET has been done
> before, many times. The only news here is the hype, as always.
>
> Let's see, unified runtime, libraries of code with multiple versions,
> simplified networked object support, standardized metadata...
>
> OpenStep circa 1995.
You can go back even farther than that. OpenStep was based on NeXT, which was created by Steve Jobs in 1989. In 1990, it was used to create the world's first web server and client. NeXT was the cradle of the web itself! (http://www.netvalley.com/intvalnext.html)
> And years later no one is using OS (mostly), whereas I'm sure five
> years from now.net will be one of the most used systems out there.
> That's the power of marketting. Look how well it worked on the droid
> on Salon.
The plists are in XML now, but NeXT lives on in its beautiful child: Mac OS X. In fact, the new G4 iMacs running OS X are the only desktop computers on the planet that can be said to be "selling like hotcakes".
Apple is still selling WebObjects, only at $699 instead of $50,000. OS X ships with the Apache web server included. OS X is the best Java 2 desktop, with a full set of J2SE development tools in the OS X boxed version or as a free download or for $20 FedEx shipping. J2EE tools are readily available in open source or commercial form. If you don't care about portability, you can rapidly create a Cocoa front end on your application, and use any J2SE or J2EE classes on the back end to create a native compiled application with all the power of Java. If you are careful to separate the GUI classes from the rest, you can use the RAD Cocoa front end for prototyping, and replace it with a Swing front end after the back end is tested.
Apple's big goal in life right now is 10% of the market (probably with 20% coming after that;) and happy customers that come back for more. That is a far cry from Microsoft's bid for world domination: Millenium.Net. Apple gives me hope that the computer industry can have a bright future.;)
Microsoft? Well they mostly give me the urge to loose my lunch.:b
On December 14, 1996, Mothra resurrected an apple tree.
On December 14, 2001, she returned to see its fruit:
OS X, the Apple of Mothra's Aqua eye.
> The Justice system is so bogged down that Congress can pass laws that
> they know will not be repealed by the Justice Department for years
> (when they can claim it was their predecessors who passed it in the
> first place).
The Department of Justice is part of the Executive branch. The man in charge, Attorney General John Ashcroft, was in the senate race in 2000. His opponent died during the election, but still won (his wife holds his seat -- and yes, there were jokes about other famous dead people who were going to run next term). According to http://www.opensecrets.org/pressreleases/microsoft/microsoft.htm, John Ashcroft got $9,250 in contributions from Microsoft during that election campaign, and $10,000 in soft money. Since he's been a senator before, Ashcroft might feel obligated to represent their interests in his new position as Attorney General. Of course, that would be wrong.
Windows XP: "Go talk to my friend, an 800 pound monopoly-abusing gorilla!"
New iMac: "And here's my good buddy, the 66,000 ton Godzilla!"
Godzilla: Stomp!;)
> Heh, I'm not that old (19), but my first computer was a Tandy 1000
> from radio shack, I think it had about 8 MB of ram, and I had to boot
> DOS 3.x from a disk to be able to play games like Flight Simulator and
> write programs in GWBASIC.
>
> It does amaze me when I meet people my age or just slightly younger
> that have never used a computer without a GUI. Especially when they
> are computer science students.
I'm not exactly in my dotage (38) but I've seen and worked with punch cards. In the summer (1980) between my junior and senior year in high school, I got to go on a student research trainee program at a university. They had a Burroughs (sp?) mainframe that ran on cards, which was how my professor ran his Fortran programs back then. They also had a Honeywell system that had terminals, only they had just a printer for a display, and a keyboard for input. By the end of the summer, the new IBM 370 mainframe came in, and I saw CRT terminals for the first time. During some of my free time, I spent hours on the system playing StarTrek (it was the first computer game I ever played).
By my senior year at that university (1985) the future had really arrived. There in the university book store, sitting on the counter, was the very first Apple Macintosh, complete with mouse!
"Lightning shines on wavey beach, and all clouds are made right:
Happiness Appears!"
From the song "Infant Girl" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
> We can get the benefits of the technology and ignore the strategy. Even
> if microsoft decides to change it's api or use patented processes it
> cannot prevent oss-community from essentially getting a free lunch
> on microsoft's expense because it is impossible to patent something as
> broad as.net framework. They might be able to lock up some minor
> details but it is the concept that matters.
Put it this way: A rich shark invites you to come swim with him in his new, high-tech pool. You think "even if the shark decides to go swimming in one of his other pools, I still get to keep this one. Cool!".
You are forgetting that this is a huge man-eating shark, the technology is bait and trap, and *you* are *his* free lunch.
At least go to http://www.uspto.gov/patft/ and do a quick patent check on obvious things they could use against you.
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have got to pay!
New Kirk calling Mothra, "We need you today!"
> It's time that Linux people realize that hating MS is going no where
> and is completely unproductive.
MS has been convicted of crimes, and yet looks like it is going to get off scott free. MS has destroyed businesses unfairly, made their users miserable for years, stiffled an entire industry, and even engaged in terror marketing (last summer). I'm sorry, but I hate that. They have to be stopped and made to change their ways, before they do even more damage.
> All too often they fail to realize that MS is on to a good thing just for
> the sake of always putting down MS.
.Net is no good thing..Net has one ultimate goal: a distributed computing system (worldwide super cluster), under Microsoft's total control, which will be used to constantly milk everyone who uses it of our hard earned money for every second we use it..Net is based on Microsoft's Millenium research project. Do you think a thousand years of absolute rule by Microsoft over every computer on this planet is a "good thing"?
> I think it's a great move on behalf of GNOME.
I think it is an insane move on behalf of GNOME. If GNOME wanted to integrate application services, there are existing open source tools and a really nice language (Java) they could use. If they have to support some company, at least support Sun's Liberty Alliance.
BTW, publicly uttering the words ".Net" in conjunction with one's product without some prior agreement and license from Microsoft is just begging for a letter from Microsoft Legal.
What happens when you embrace and extend Godzilla? Nuclear heartburn!
See "Godzilla 2000" (released in Japan as "Godzilla 2000 Millenium") for details.
> Can anybody add anything to my list? I haven't heard of many other
> graphical OS X browsers. I figured that OS X would have plenty of
> great web browsers since the web designers tend to use it.
There's iCab. It is a Mac only browser (has an OS X native version), kind of shareware ($29 once it is released) that is currently under developement and nearing its first release. http://www.icab.de/info.html lists some of the features. It seems to work fine at Amazon and other eCommerce sites. It's a champ at stopping pop ups, pop unders, and other advertising nasties. It has a kiosk mode, the ability to read (aloud with voice synthesis) web pages to you, and can check web sites for errors. I used to love its printing capabilities because I could make it print pages the way I wanted them printed. Now it mostly just crashes instead of printing. Still, it is a pretty good browser, considering it is about where Mozilla is (pre-first release), only it is based on all new code, not on a browser that has been released before.
Please make sure that if you get iCab, you get Preview 2.7.1 or later. Preview 2.7 has a nasty habbit of chowing down on your bookmarks (and hiding them in other folders deeper in the tree). Preview 2.7.1 doesn't seem to have that problem.
BTW, is Mozilla fully OS X native (ie. Carbon or Cocoa), or are they just displaying an aquafied look in Classic?
> " Describing TrustE as a privacy organization in "TrustE Launches
> Trusted Spammer Program" is a joke. The "privacy statements" that
> I've seen from their affiliates amount to "bend over and pread your
> cheeks."
Two of TrustE's major sponsors are Microsoft (the Evil Empire) and AOL/TW (member of both the MPAA and the RIAA). Doubleclick is a web advertising company (can you say spammer?). The ePrivacy Group is the consulting firm that came up with the technology (if it works, I bet you Microsoft will be buying them fairly quickly). None of these entities have our best interests at heart.
> This is just another maneuver to lend a patina of legitimacy to spam.
True, but that is only part of what is going on. Expect to see the word "trust" a lot from here on out, especially as the various pieces of.Net come out. "Trusted" email will be spam sent by a Microsoft partner. "Trusted" device drivers and programs already exist in Windows XP (complete with the ability for Microsoft to disable "untrusted" drivers).
Microsoft's new patent for a digital rights management operating system (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/23387.html ) relies heavily on such concepts as "trusted" identities and "trusted" applications.
"Trust" is also a key component of Microsoft's new top priority: security. But in this case, Microsoft is "trusting" us to do the "responsible" thing and keep our mouths shut about bugs and security problems.
The only warm and fuzzy thing about this sort of "trust" is the wool pulled over our eyes. The "trust" thing is a PR stunt, fixing the publics perception of security problems rather than the real thing. And for those who are being fooled: No, you can't trust Microsoft. Or the MPAA. Or the RIAA. Or spammers.
All of the false kinds of "trust" above can be described by one word: "GreedE"!
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have gotta pay!
New Kirk calling Mothra, we need you today!
Slashdot Mirror
An AC wrote:
> I love you apple zealots. Apple addicts is the closest thing to a secular
> cult I have ever seen.
>
> Um wait I take that back, apple addicts think Steve Jobs is god.
The beautiful, protecting, heroic, wonder-working deity Mothra is the great Goddess that resurrected Apple from the dead (and parted the Pacific for good measure).
Toho is her prophet.
Steve Jobs is her servant and messenger.
Apple is her champion to put right the wrongs of Microsoft, the RIAA, and the MPAA.
Homage to King Shisa (mistranslated as Seesar or Caesar),
Guardian of Okinawa and Friend of the Mac,
on the occasion of his 38th birthday.
("Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla" 1974, "Mothra 2" 1997)
Blue Archon writes:
h /comet_bronzeage_011113-1.html). If the event in Siberia had happened in a heavily populated area, you bet people would have been killed. As recently as 1994 a comet broke apart and hit a planet (in this case Jupiter), causing multiple impacts. You could fit the entire planet Earth into some of the dents (since healed because Jupiter is a gas planet and cloud craters aren't as long lived as ones in rock). In fact last July a small asteroid (smaller than a car) hit a corn field in Pennsylvania. Supposedly it made popcorn. ;)
> Why are everybody worried about these asteroids? The last asteroid
> big enough to kill people so it counts hit earth something like 65
> million years ago... Those smaller asteroids keep dropping down a bit
> more often, but who cares? If it don't hit a major city (very unlikely,
> compared to the unihabited part of earth) it won't do anything...
65 million years ago? How about less than six thousand? Current theories have an asteroid or comet smashing into Iraq and destroying several bronze age cultures (http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/planeteart
> Oh yeah.. a few thounsand people might get killed, but doesn't people
> die in larger quantities in wars and stuff like that?
Oh, show some compassion! Most of the Earth is water, drop a big enough asteroid in the water and Mr. Tsunami will come calling, with a huge wall of water that can be quite devastating. If the asteroid hits on land, and is in the nuclear range of impact, you are going to get a nice little nuclear winter, sans radiation. You get drought, dark days, cold nights, and all that dirt in the sky has to go somewhere. The one that killed the dinos 65 million years ago killed 70% of the life on this planet along with them (and guess what, those kind of asteroids come around about once every 100 million years).
We've had five major mass extinctions (including the most recent one involving the dinos), but 251 million years ago the granddaddy of them all, the Permian Extinction, wiped out 90% of all life on this planet. It may well have been caused by an asteroid or comet (http://www.cosmiverse.com/space08300105.html).
The time to think about what to do to protect ourselves (if we even can) is not four days before an asteroid is due to hit, and certainly not four days after. That time is now. Of course, it is also high time to put an end to war and terrorism.
"Lola, kindness is not enough, look for the reason of hatred and anger. When you find and understand that, love becomes the strongest power; stronger than courage or wisdom."
Belabera, "Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks"
Karl Cocknozzle wrote:
:)
> Microsoft should not get special treatment. Microsoft has broken the
> law. Multiple times. They have been convicted multiple times, despite
> doing everything they could to worm out of responsibility including:
>
> 1) Lying (IE couldn't possibbly be unbundled)
> 2) Buying off the Bush administration
> 3) Buying off much of Congress
You forgot:
4) Buying off the head of the Department of Justice
John Ashcroft ran for a Missouri Senate seat (in the US Senate) in the 2000 election. He received campaign contributions from Microsoft. He lost the election, even though his opponent died before the election (his opponent's wife is our Senator now). He was then picked by our/Florida's/Supreme Court's President to be the head of the Department of Justice. Presumably he still feels that he owes Microsoft for the campaign contributions.
The DoJ is so into acting like they are *owned* by Microsoft that they even defended Microsoft in court once in recent weeks! It would be nice if someone would please reeducate them on the meanings of the words "prosecutor" and "justice". They seem to have forgotten them.
Otherwise, great post!
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have got to pay!
New Kirk calling Mothra, "We need you today!"
Indras wrote:
> Pulling from the quote above: "...unless the Device has a separate
> license for the Product."
> I assume that by "Device" it is including software. So, would GPL'ed
> (General Public Licensed) software satisfy the "separate license"
> requirement?
IANAL, but I read "Product" to be Windows XP. It might not have to be installed, but at least you'd have to have one XP license (at least on paper and paid for) per machine to use a third party remote product between them. Of course, if the machine to be accessed remotely is on the internet and open to anyone who wants to use it, I don't see how a person can possibly be expected to have XP licenses for the entire computer population of the world!
This EULA section forces more license sales, encourages (for fear of accidently breaking the EULA) the use of all-Microsoft servers, and scares people away from competing products. Can you say antitrust?
It's getting to the point where one must take a lawyer to the store when buying software. After all, EULAs are trying to be contracts, and you are supposed to haul your contracts in to your lawyer before you sign them.
What happens when you embrace and extend Godzilla? Nuclear heartburn!
See "Godzilla 2000" (released in Japan as "Godzilla 2000 Millenium") for details.
An AC wrote:
> Sure, punish success. That'll inspire people to create!
Microsoft has broken the law and been found guilty. That is a matter of public record (verified by an Appeals court). Breaking the law carries a penalty.
Allowing Microsoft to break the same laws over and over (like they are doing now) and to let them successfully get away with it only inspires them and others to continue breaking the law. Microsoft needs to be punished so they and others will take the law seriously.
Take this case for example. The EULA of XP is forbidding the use of an entire category of software if it comes from a third party. If XP does catch on to become the version of Windows used the most, then everybody else making that category of software is immediately out of business, regardless of how successful or good their product is. How exactly does that situation inspire people to create? It doesn't, it punishes them for trying to create. Microsoft is wrecking their businesses just because Microsoft is greedy and wants people to buy more licenses.
Maybe you don't care about Microsoft's victims. When Microsoft starts charging you for every time you turn your computer on, will you care then?
Then it will be too late.
What happens when you embrace and extend Godzilla? Nuclear heartburn!
See "Godzilla 2000" (released in Japan as "Godzilla 2000 Millenium") for details.
An AC wrote:
> Can't we end this now. Hasn't Mr. Gates suffered enough already?
Microsoft was found to have broken the law. We are now in the penalty phase of the trial. There is no longer any question as to how guilty MS is, only how much they will pay for breaking the law.
Problem is, we can't get Microsoft and their lawyers (both those who are employees of Microsoft and those who supposedly work for the Department of Justice) to clam up and get penalized already. It would really help if the so called "Department of Justice" would quit defending Microsoft and start prosecuting them like they are supposed to be doing. Then we wouldn't have a settlement that MS is using to repeat their illegal activities, and 9 states off on their own because they seem to be the only ones who care about doing their job.
The 25 states will help here, even if they don't formally join in with the nine states. State governments are important, and they have rights, even in this "War on Terror" era. It's high time they stood up and let people know that.
.Net, DRMOS, using the Settlement like a rolled up newspaper to smack their OEMs around... It is plainly clear that Microsoft has not suffered enough, because it obviously has no intention of mending its ways. Until justice is done, until Microsoft mends its ways, until huge corporations respect the law of the land, this isn't over. We have a choice. Either the computer industry becomes vibrant, prosperous, innovative, and free (as in liberty), or we have the Microsoft Millenium. Choose!
"The path of peace is yours to discover for eternity."
"Mosura", 1961
An AC wrote:
;) Microsoft's developers don't seem to mind the sky high cost of Visual Studio.Net. Lets see Microsoft give that away for free!
> Its a classic Bait and Switch. Apple will always charge money for
> video compression deliverred stock in their normal Quicktime, and
> will never offer source to the compressors.
Apple doesn't have the rights or the ability to give you the source to the compressors of others that they license to use in QuickTime. Good Grief! The whole reason they are not releasing QT6 is because the MPEG-4 people are demanding that content creators pay them a tax to use it, over and above the $2 million Apple will be paying them to license it. Apple is going to bat for its users here, and you have the gall to blame them for not giving you someone else's source code!
> Apple charges (GOUGES) its dwindling developer base.
Oh yeah, right! A whole twenty bucks to get a CD of their developers tools FedExed to your doorstep. Wow, that's highway robbery!
The old Apple was greedy and stupid, sure. Their greed nearly killed them. The new Apple, born in December 1996, is on the whole, wiser and more compassionate. This is the Apple that:
- Based the core of their new OS on open source (and gave back the source, which was not required by the license).
- Slashed the price of their Web Objects from $50,000 to $699.
- Gave away their OS X developer's tools for free download ($20 for CD).
- Went to bat for their users to avoid extra end user charges (for MPEG-4 content creation) for Quick Time Pro users.
- Opened the source of their Darwin Streaming server.
- and a lot more.
> Developers have priciples... and the number one priciple is that they
> HATE being exploited.
No, you just hate having to pay to get anything in life.
> They expect Apple to PAY THEM to read new manuals, not the other
> way around.
>
> They expect Apple to PAY THEM to adapt and ebrace new proprietary
> system technologies, not the other way around.
Actually, that is what your *employer* pays you for, and expects you to do if you want your salary to continue going up. If you are programming as a hobby, it is its own reward.
> They always give long marketing-speak excuses why they wanted 895
> dollars for newton programming manuals
>
> They use excuses such as : default IBM OS/2 programming manuals
> from IBM cost 5000 dollars in March 1987.
>
> Sigh.......
>
> OS/2 is dead, Apple.
So's Newton, so why are you expecting to be able to get programming manuals for it, at any price? Anyway, IBM OS/2 didn't die due to the price of the programming manuals (actually, last I heard, another company was still developing versions of OS/2).
> Offer some video compression source code (pay your consulting
> suppliers if you need to) or shut the hell up.
It's two million dollars (plus content creating costs) just to put MPEG-4 in QuickTime. Do you really want Apple to go broke to give you free source code?
If you want the source that badly, go gripe at the MPEG-4 people.
> I hope Darwin crap dies as well as slow buggy MAc OS X.
> (Mac-O-Sux)
Oh, go argue point with Aqua Mothra! Grrr...
On December 14, 1996, Mothra resurrected an apple tree.
On December 14, 2001, she returned to see its fruit:
OS X, the Apple of Mothra's Aqua eye.
FortKnox wrote:
> Refreshing to see an MS news item that has no bashing in it
> what-so-ever.
That's because the facts reported in the article are damning enough by themselves:
1) Microsoft intends to implement this new file system by incorporating SQL Server into the operating system.
2) It will replace all file formats. No more mp3's, QuickTime movies, jpeg graphics files, etc.
3) It is anti-competitive in that it will break all file compatibility on other platforms that the other platforms need for their survival. Massive amounts of time and effort will have to be spent trying to reachieve that compatibility, and the DMCA may even make that effort illegal (IANAL).
4) Microsoft plans to shoehorn acceptance of this file system and its next OS by using its Windows monopoly. This is illegal, see the antitrust suit findings of fact.
Just last fall, the Russians tried to warn the US government that using SQL Server to keep inventory of nuclear materials could result in information being lost. Do you really want to use the exact same thing as the basis of your file system for your mission critical applications? Or even to track your favorite recipes?
"It'll soak up every last bit of data." Miasaka, Godzilla 2000 Millenium
An AC wrote:
= PT O1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm &r=1&f=G&l=50&s1='6,330,670'.WKU.&OS=PN/6,330,670& RS=PN/6,330,670
.Net, their Media Player, etc.) or break either patent law or the SSSCA. If anyone tries to charge them with buying the law, Microsoft can just pull out a pile of press releases and say they are just obeying a law they protested against. Welcome to the Microsoft Millenium, now mandated by law!
> Umm I hate to tell you this, Microsoft actually is against this as a law.
> Maybe you should read the press releases more.
Maybe you should read up on Microsoft's patents more. Here's one that might interest you: Patent # 6,330,670; "Digital rights management operating system"; dated December 11, 2001. You can read all the gory details at:
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1
Really, Microsoft would have to come out publicly opposing SSSCA. The first time round (last fall), they didn't have the above patent. This second time round, they have the patent, but Enron happened. Microsoft has paid out two to three times the campaign contributions as Enron, and probably can't afford to be caught paying for and then embracing and extending SSSCA into its total and eternal dominion of the operating system market for all devices.
So Microsoft quietly grumbles and complains, all the while letting the MPAA and RIAA do its dirty work. When SSSCA passes, Microsoft brings out its DRMOS patent, and forces its competitors (Linux, OS X, etc.) to license it (and embrace IE,
We've got 12 to 18 months to stop SSSCA. That's how long Senator Hollings is giving the industry to comply voluntarily (as if an already wounded industry should further cripple itself to serve the fat sharks of Hollywood!). Fight it! Writing your congress critters is good. Telling all your friends and family, writing letters and press releases to your local papers, writing articles for news sites, etc. is better. Get the word out to ordinary folks in a way they can understand. That way, both you and all of them can write their congress critters. With enough public outcry, this nightmare of a law might be stopped for good!
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have got to pay!
New Kirk calling Mothra, "We need you today!"
An AC wrote:
;)
;)
> "so MacPerl is the most advanced release of perl ever "
>
> Why do Apple zealots always need to pomp and boast and stuff?
Hey, don't blame us Apple zealots for the words of the MacPerl zealots. Proper Apple zealots know that if they wanted to claim "most advanced release", they should have carbonized it.
As for the rest of us, maybe we boast because we finally have something worth shouting about. OS X is beautiful and powerful, yet still compassionate towards the user. It inspires happiness and hope, maybe even excitement. We finally have a viable modern alternative to hordes of beige boxes dominated by an evil monopoly.
> I remember there was an interval of time when IE for the Mac was the
> 'best ever version'. I remember when the version of Microsoft Office
> happened to be the 'newest version available.'
Um, that "Apple zealot" was Microsoft. We are not responsible for the mutterings of the Evil Empire's marketing department.
> The only reason I remember crap like this is Mac Zealots are SO
> intent on wheezing on whenever there is any slight, largely
> irrelevant 'lead' that they have taken.
So I guess this means hearing that the new iMac is the top selling computer on Amazon ever is not going to really impress you, huh?
> Is there a particular class of zealot drawn especially to the Apple line
> of computers? What disorder draws them so heartily?
You'll have to ask my friend. He's been involved with Macs for a lot longer (since 1993's "Godzilla vs. Mecha Godzilla 2"), and is much larger...
Windows: "Go talk to my friend, an 800 pound monopoly-abusing gorilla!"
Mac: "And here's my good buddy, the 66,000 ton Godzilla!"
Godzilla: Stomp!
garyrich writes:
> It's blatantly unconstitutional as a limitation on speech. Money is
> speech, just like code is speech.
Wrong. Code may be speech, because it is saying something in a real (machine) language. Money is not speech, it is property.
The constitution gives you a nice form of speech that you are to use to have your voice in government. It comes in two parts: first you elect someone by voting, then you let them know via some form of speech (letters, email, phone, fax) what you want from your representative. This is your right as a US citizen, and it is how the government of the people, by the people, for the people is supposed to work. This even provides for companies, since they are made up of individual employees who are citizens of a given area.
Money is the unconstitutional wrecker of our representative form of government. Big, evil, nasty corporations come in and kindly offer to help pay the candidate's election expenses. Of course, the payback comes when the candidate is elected. They warp our representatives so they no longer represent us, the citizens, but them, the nasty corporations, who might not even be located in the representative's area or even this country. This isn't speech, this is bribery. And it impairs the ability of the government to protect our constitutional rights, including speech (just ask anyone who has been silenced by the DMCA).
The SSSCA is a cruel joke. A small sector of industry is expecting to get a law to force a much larger sector (and every citizen who buys the products of either sector) to bend to their will. Just to further their greed. And they plan to succeed because they have paid more in bribes.
"They bind our hearts: 'Let's sell them again and again!'
Our plan understands the sea; we can wait for her coming."
From the song "Infant Girl" in the Japanese version of "Mothra" (1961).
An AC wrote:
> So this would involve... what? Small asteroids? In Redmond?
Maybe, but I doubt it. King Ghidora (kaiju deity of killer asteroids) doesn't strike me as that interested in Microsoft. Mothra is having too much fun sicking her Apple on Microsoft, the RIAA and the MPAA to bother with personal divine retribution at the moment (though I wouldn't completely discount the appearance of one of her typhoons).
Nope, there is only one deity who hates Microsoft with a truly fiery passion. Only one deity, who when in a bad mood, really doesn't care how many innocents he stomps to get to what he is mad at. Only one deity whose sacred nuclear materials may have been lost due to a bug in MS SQL Server:
Godzilla, the Dreaded God of Nuclear Fire, God of Destruction, King of Monsters!
Don't think he can attack in the real world? Just ask the folks in Tokai - they can tell you all about his 1999 visit (the worst nuclear plant accident in Japan's history). Or watch "Godzilla 2000" (filmed before the accident, released after).
What happens when you embrace and extend Godzilla? Nuclear heartburn!
See "Godzilla 2000" (released in Japan as "Godzilla 2000 Millenium") for details.
OverDrive33 wrote:
;)
> People would buy it and use it for five bucks.
Don't be too sure. The top selling computer (iMac 2) on Amazon for all time doesn't run Windows. 10 (Macs) of the 25 top selling computers on Amazon don't run Windows. The Windows PC market is in the dumpster right now. The higher priced Macs running OS X are selling just fine.
Don't worry Linux, OS X is ready for the desktop *now* and has joined the fray. You little penguins have time to get your act together.
"Heart can reach where hand cannot. Climb over any wall..." Mothra (via Moll) "Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks"
The first round for SSSCA ended in October of 2001 with it being postponed indefinately. Microsoft actually came out (mildly) against it. On December 11, 2001, Microsoft was granted patent 6,330,670 for the "Digital rights management operating system". (Microsoft also has 19 other patents on the subject of DRM.)
.Net and everything in between.
One of the initial concerns over SSSCA had to do with the fact that Windows XP already had DRM built in, and so the law would give it an unfair advantage. "Unfair advantage" has now become a gross understatement. Microsoft has patented what the SSSCA would require of every OS. This leaves Apple, Linux, etc. with only three options:
1) Try to license DRMOS from Microsoft, and MS refuses: your OS is history.
2) Try to license DRMOS from Microsoft, and MS lets you. Be prepared to pay through the nose. Also, realize that MS is going to throw all kinds of things into the agreement, from IE to
3) Try to break their patent. Good luck.
I would strongly suggest fighting SSSCA tooth and nail, now while we still can. Give Apple and the various corporate allies of Linux a heads-up, they can help. Raise the alarm in the world outside Slashdot.
If we don't stop this, Microsoft (and the MPAA and RIAA) will have their Millenium (thousand year rule).
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have got to pay!
New Kirk calling Mothra: "We need you today!"
An AC writes:
a in/0,14179,2659085,00.html) article about how the number of *BSD users will soon exceed the number of Linux users, largely thanks to OS X and Darwin. *BSD already has three times the number of Linux desktop users. (And if the Linux users aren't happy about this, they can just run out and make more Linux users and make Linux more successful on the desktop. Then we can have a fun race with them. ;)
;) but *BSD is currently in no danger of death.
> We all know *BSD keeps losing market share but why?
Um, because it is gaining market share?
Apple, in their last quarter report, announced the sale of one million boxes of OS X (a *BSD OS) and two million systems with it on the hard drive.
The new iMac, booting OS X by default, had 150,000 preorders.
The new iMac is the top selling computer for all time at Amazon. It is outselling every XP PC on Amazon.
Out of the top 25 bestselling computers on Amazon, 10 were Macs, and all Macs are now shipping OS X as the default booting OS.
ZDNet ran this (http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/m
> An unremitting gloom hangs like a death shround over a once hopeful
> *BSD community. The hope is gone; a mournful nostalgia has
> settled in. Now is the end time for *BSD.
Sorry to burst your tragic bubble (not really
*BSD is in serious danger of growth!
Oh, there is a doomed OS alright. It is an evil empire, built on a foundation that now crumbles and groans under its weight. This empire doesn't see the danger. It never will, until it is too late. A hero thrice thought dead (Apple, Next, *BSD), now reborn, arises to shatter its foundations.
Beyond time, beyond terror, beyond death, Mothra:
Your heart can reach...Life!
An AC wrote:
;):
" and search for "emulator". I found about 29 entries for different computers and video game consoles.
> you're claiming that >>OSX has "a large application base"? ROFL!!!
> What are you smoking?
Okay, you asked for it
1) Most Mac applications ever written. I've found very few that don't run well under the Classic environment. This includes popular commercial packages and tons of shareware and freeware.
2) New and ported Carbon and Cocoa Mac OS X applications. This is increasing in number daily, especially since the development tools are free. Again, this includes popular commercial packages and tons of shareware and freeware.
3) Most Java J2SE applications, and J2EE applications if you obtain the necessary libraries. The first Airport utilities that were in use on OS X were Java apps originally created for Windows. OS X has the best Java 2 on the desktop.
4) Various Unix applications, many Open Source or GNU, ported for OS X/Darwin. Some of these beloved programs come with OS X, such as the Apache web server and Emacs. Others (like an X server or postgresSQL) are available for the download.
5) If you care to plunk down around $200 (ranges from about $99 for DOS to $249 for Windows NT, per operating system) for Virtual PC 5.0, you can run most any Windows, DOS, or Linux application.
6) Go to "http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/index.shtml
In short, OS X can pretty much run whatever you want it to run. I've been using it for nearly a year now. It is great, and getting better all the time.
OS X: the Apple of Mothra's Aqua eye.
Spencerian wrote:
> After getting a copyright, or an intellectual property, a company must
> defend it tooth and nail from ANY kind of predatory or even harmless
> knockoffs.
This applies only to trademarks. You can actually grant others non-exclusive rights to copy your work and still retain your copyright. You can license your patented technology to others. You can even share trade secrets with someone who has signed a non-disclosure agreement. But you better not let trademark infringements slide, or you loose them. (Which is why if Lindows really has hundreds of examples of Microsoft not defending the "Windows" trademark, they might actually be able to get it taken away from Microsoft.)
> If Apple doesn't and someone stole an appearance to make a commercial
> product, the courts may see Apple's inaction as abandonment of their
> IP obligation.
Look and feel follows its own rules, established by the look and feel case between Apple and Microsoft. I don't remember all of them off hand. Themes that use the Apple logo as part of the theme to make it look legit, and that exactly reproduce the look and feel of OS X are going to get cease-and-desist letters. Slashdot using glassy looking header bars that don't remotely look like OS X and no apple logo in the upper left corner are not likely to hear from Apple. (If you view the page using an OS X native browser, you can see just how unlike OS X it is.) IANAL, but I doubt even using the OS X trademark to denote a story about OS X is going to be a problem, since you are using the trademark to identify the company and product, which is what it is for.
It's a shame, but even a company that does a pretty good job of following Mothra's path of peace has to have a legal department.
"The path of peace is yours to discover for eternity." "Mosura", 1961
An AC wrote:
;)
> Please give me one legit reason to use these devices that is believable
> other than pirating GBA games. You and I both know your reason will
> be complete BS.
One legit use? I can think of several:
1) Uploading games that you wrote. This is the purpose of the device according to the manufacturer's web site.
2) Backing up your saved game data (if this is illegal, then so are memory cards).
3) Backing up the games that you bought. Legal under pre-DMCA copyright laws. This would allow you to be able to continue playing your game, even after your little brother ran the cartridge through your little sister's EasyBake oven.
4) Playing a game that your friend wrote for the GBA using this device. With your friend's permission, of course, since they own copyright to the games they wrote.
> This isn't like MP3s where people can make backups
> of their music and move it around to different systems.
5) Writing an mp3 player (assuming the hardware would support one) on the GBA and playing mp3's ripped off the CD you just bought.
> This is to trade and pirate the software.
That would be use #6, the only one that is illegal. You have a similar mix of legal and illegal uses of a CD burner. So do you plan to run around to all the distributors of CD burners, slap them with the DMCA, and confiscate their products?
What ever happened to the good old days of "innocent until proven guilty" and using the police to enforce the law?
> Saying otherwise insults us all.
Well, if you are so worried about being insulted, why don't you register instead of posting as an "Anonymous Coward". Certainly that is more insulting than the truth.
(BTW, that's why I always write "An AC wrote:" instead of insulting the people I'm replying to.)
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have got to pay!
New Kirk calling Mothra, "We need you today!"
Maury Markowitz wrote:
.NET has been done
.net will be one of the most used systems out there.
;) and happy customers that come back for more. That is a far cry from Microsoft's bid for world domination: Millenium.Net. Apple gives me hope that the computer industry can have a bright future. ;)
:b
> Once again I find myself ashamed to be a part of an industry that can't
> remember anything five years into the past.
> before, many times. The only news here is the hype, as always.
>
> Let's see, unified runtime, libraries of code with multiple versions,
> simplified networked object support, standardized metadata...
>
> OpenStep circa 1995.
You can go back even farther than that. OpenStep was based on NeXT, which was created by Steve Jobs in 1989. In 1990, it was used to create the world's first web server and client. NeXT was the cradle of the web itself! (http://www.netvalley.com/intvalnext.html)
> And years later no one is using OS (mostly), whereas I'm sure five
> years from now
> That's the power of marketting. Look how well it worked on the droid
> on Salon.
The plists are in XML now, but NeXT lives on in its beautiful child: Mac OS X. In fact, the new G4 iMacs running OS X are the only desktop computers on the planet that can be said to be "selling like hotcakes".
Apple is still selling WebObjects, only at $699 instead of $50,000. OS X ships with the Apache web server included. OS X is the best Java 2 desktop, with a full set of J2SE development tools in the OS X boxed version or as a free download or for $20 FedEx shipping. J2EE tools are readily available in open source or commercial form. If you don't care about portability, you can rapidly create a Cocoa front end on your application, and use any J2SE or J2EE classes on the back end to create a native compiled application with all the power of Java. If you are careful to separate the GUI classes from the rest, you can use the RAD Cocoa front end for prototyping, and replace it with a Swing front end after the back end is tested.
Apple's big goal in life right now is 10% of the market (probably with 20% coming after that
Microsoft? Well they mostly give me the urge to loose my lunch.
On December 14, 1996, Mothra resurrected an apple tree.
On December 14, 2001, she returned to see its fruit:
OS X, the Apple of Mothra's Aqua eye.
RazzleFrog writes:
t /microsoft.htm, John Ashcroft got $9,250 in contributions from Microsoft during that election campaign, and $10,000 in soft money. Since he's been a senator before, Ashcroft might feel obligated to represent their interests in his new position as Attorney General. Of course, that would be wrong.
;)
> The Justice system is so bogged down that Congress can pass laws that
> they know will not be repealed by the Justice Department for years
> (when they can claim it was their predecessors who passed it in the
> first place).
The Department of Justice is part of the Executive branch. The man in charge, Attorney General John Ashcroft, was in the senate race in 2000. His opponent died during the election, but still won (his wife holds his seat -- and yes, there were jokes about other famous dead people who were going to run next term). According to http://www.opensecrets.org/pressreleases/microsof
Windows XP: "Go talk to my friend, an 800 pound monopoly-abusing gorilla!"
New iMac: "And here's my good buddy, the 66,000 ton Godzilla!"
Godzilla: Stomp!
Peyna wrote:
> Heh, I'm not that old (19), but my first computer was a Tandy 1000
> from radio shack, I think it had about 8 MB of ram, and I had to boot
> DOS 3.x from a disk to be able to play games like Flight Simulator and
> write programs in GWBASIC.
>
> It does amaze me when I meet people my age or just slightly younger
> that have never used a computer without a GUI. Especially when they
> are computer science students.
I'm not exactly in my dotage (38) but I've seen and worked with punch cards. In the summer (1980) between my junior and senior year in high school, I got to go on a student research trainee program at a university. They had a Burroughs (sp?) mainframe that ran on cards, which was how my professor ran his Fortran programs back then. They also had a Honeywell system that had terminals, only they had just a printer for a display, and a keyboard for input. By the end of the summer, the new IBM 370 mainframe came in, and I saw CRT terminals for the first time. During some of my free time, I spent hours on the system playing StarTrek (it was the first computer game I ever played).
By my senior year at that university (1985) the future had really arrived. There in the university book store, sitting on the counter, was the very first Apple Macintosh, complete with mouse!
"Lightning shines on wavey beach, and all clouds are made right:
Happiness Appears!"
From the song "Infant Girl" in the Japanese version of Mothra (1961).
inburito writes:
.net framework. They might be able to lock up some minor
> We can get the benefits of the technology and ignore the strategy. Even
> if microsoft decides to change it's api or use patented processes it
> cannot prevent oss-community from essentially getting a free lunch
> on microsoft's expense because it is impossible to patent something as
> broad as
> details but it is the concept that matters.
Put it this way: A rich shark invites you to come swim with him in his new, high-tech pool. You think "even if the shark decides to go swimming in one of his other pools, I still get to keep this one. Cool!".
You are forgetting that this is a huge man-eating shark, the technology is bait and trap, and *you* are *his* free lunch.
At least go to http://www.uspto.gov/patft/ and do a quick patent check on obvious things they could use against you.
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have got to pay!
New Kirk calling Mothra, "We need you today!"
essdodson wrote:
.Net has one ultimate goal: a distributed computing system (worldwide super cluster), under Microsoft's total control, which will be used to constantly milk everyone who uses it of our hard earned money for every second we use it. .Net is based on Microsoft's Millenium research project. Do you think a thousand years of absolute rule by Microsoft over every computer on this planet is a "good thing"?
> It's time that Linux people realize that hating MS is going no where
> and is completely unproductive.
MS has been convicted of crimes, and yet looks like it is going to get off scott free. MS has destroyed businesses unfairly, made their users miserable for years, stiffled an entire industry, and even engaged in terror marketing (last summer). I'm sorry, but I hate that. They have to be stopped and made to change their ways, before they do even more damage.
> All too often they fail to realize that MS is on to a good thing just for
> the sake of always putting down MS.
.Net is no good thing.
> I think it's a great move on behalf of GNOME.
I think it is an insane move on behalf of GNOME. If GNOME wanted to integrate application services, there are existing open source tools and a really nice language (Java) they could use. If they have to support some company, at least support Sun's Liberty Alliance.
BTW, publicly uttering the words ".Net" in conjunction with one's product without some prior agreement and license from Microsoft is just begging for a letter from Microsoft Legal.
What happens when you embrace and extend Godzilla? Nuclear heartburn!
See "Godzilla 2000" (released in Japan as "Godzilla 2000 Millenium") for details.
irony_nazi wrote:
> Can anybody add anything to my list? I haven't heard of many other
> graphical OS X browsers. I figured that OS X would have plenty of
> great web browsers since the web designers tend to use it.
There's iCab. It is a Mac only browser (has an OS X native version), kind of shareware ($29 once it is released) that is currently under developement and nearing its first release. http://www.icab.de/info.html lists some of the features. It seems to work fine at Amazon and other eCommerce sites. It's a champ at stopping pop ups, pop unders, and other advertising nasties. It has a kiosk mode, the ability to read (aloud with voice synthesis) web pages to you, and can check web sites for errors. I used to love its printing capabilities because I could make it print pages the way I wanted them printed. Now it mostly just crashes instead of printing. Still, it is a pretty good browser, considering it is about where Mozilla is (pre-first release), only it is based on all new code, not on a browser that has been released before.
Please make sure that if you get iCab, you get Preview 2.7.1 or later. Preview 2.7 has a nasty habbit of chowing down on your bookmarks (and hiding them in other folders deeper in the tree). Preview 2.7.1 doesn't seem to have that problem.
BTW, is Mozilla fully OS X native (ie. Carbon or Cocoa), or are they just displaying an aquafied look in Classic?
OS X: the Apple of Mothra's Aqua eye.
An AC wrote:
.Net come out. "Trusted" email will be spam sent by a Microsoft partner. "Trusted" device drivers and programs already exist in Windows XP (complete with the ability for Microsoft to disable "untrusted" drivers).
l ) relies heavily on such concepts as "trusted" identities and "trusted" applications.
> " Describing TrustE as a privacy organization in "TrustE Launches
> Trusted Spammer Program" is a joke. The "privacy statements" that
> I've seen from their affiliates amount to "bend over and pread your
> cheeks."
Two of TrustE's major sponsors are Microsoft (the Evil Empire) and AOL/TW (member of both the MPAA and the RIAA). Doubleclick is a web advertising company (can you say spammer?). The ePrivacy Group is the consulting firm that came up with the technology (if it works, I bet you Microsoft will be buying them fairly quickly). None of these entities have our best interests at heart.
> This is just another maneuver to lend a patina of legitimacy to spam.
True, but that is only part of what is going on. Expect to see the word "trust" a lot from here on out, especially as the various pieces of
Microsoft's new patent for a digital rights management operating system (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/23387.htm
"Trust" is also a key component of Microsoft's new top priority: security. But in this case, Microsoft is "trusting" us to do the "responsible" thing and keep our mouths shut about bugs and security problems.
The only warm and fuzzy thing about this sort of "trust" is the wool pulled over our eyes. The "trust" thing is a PR stunt, fixing the publics perception of security problems rather than the real thing. And for those who are being fooled: No, you can't trust Microsoft. Or the MPAA. Or the RIAA. Or spammers.
All of the false kinds of "trust" above can be described by one word: "GreedE"!
Come on, Tok Wira, these sharks have gotta pay!
New Kirk calling Mothra, we need you today!