If you think you're qualified and that's what you came up with, perform a self-abortion.
Cheating is cheating. Attack it as cheating. There are ToS that let them kick anyone off of the MMO if they violate any rule, even incorrectly naming a character. That's how cheating should be approached.
To approach it as a copyright issue is wrong. Factually, usefully, and morally. (Though, the closer you are to "qualified" the less meaning that last word will have for you.) 17-117a1 clearly does not say anything about the intended use of the software, merely that the copying not be for any non-execution use.
But, the biggest laugh is that this is only going to stop WoWGlider for a day or two, any copy he had made, is now going to be done through remapping memory or something, not actually duplicating a single byte. Glider will come back, leaving only a stupid broken precedent to clog the sewers/drinking fountains of our legal system.
The judge is a retard. I can show him a receipt for WoW. Money was taken for the game. That means that unless Blizzard and Walmart are conspiring to defraud gamers that Blizzard sells the game.
If he's paid *any* attention to law he'd realize that EULAs, which are the only thing here purporting to keep the software in Blizzard's control, aren't binding because they're post-sale modifications to a contract.
Someone needs to find this judge. Follow him. Slip into a store he frequents and sell him a box of food. Then jump out with a bull-horn and denounce him as a thief when he eats it, in clear violation of the EULA in the box.
Blizzard controlled what happened with their code - they put it in a box and sold me a copy, that comes with an implied license to use the code (or course) or selling it would be fraud.
Controlling access to their servers they can do, but not to your property. If they don't like that they shouldn't sell things.
It looks as if the judge simple doesn't understand 17-117a1. It says "essential part of utilizing", and not "... as the author wished".
I'm sure JK Rowling didn't intend people to read HP upside down looking for satanic messages, but she couldn't prevent that.
Neither, really, can Blizzard. That some people use their software an an MMO client doesn't change that I see it and feel I can write a sysadmin tool with it. (See Doom Sysadmin Tool http://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/flake/doom/). Or, a cheat tool. (Has anyone pointed this out to the lawyers involved?)
Selling software has always implicitly included the right to use that software. Like ALL other sales. Can you imagine buying a pizza and then being told you'd have to pay extra eating fees?
Sorry Pizza/Software sellers, if you put something up for sale, you implicitly license all standard behavior (eating, executing, etc) because it'd be fraud to sell something you knew was unusable in its current state.
That you can buy WoW at Walmart proves that it needs no license - otherwise they'd have given you one before taking your money. Obviously they couldn't be selling a product you couldn't use, so that they complete the sale (as agents of Blizzard via the software distributors) so you can be sure Blizzard knows what they're doing and consents.
Or those who want to create a compatible server so they can use their legally purchased WoW disks elsewhere...
USC 17-117a1 "... created as an essential step in the utilization of the computer program in conjunction with a machine..."
I don't see "... as the author intended..." in there. It's not the use Blizzard intended, but then they *sell* software without any contracts or preconditions, so they aren't allowed to have any restrictions.
Retarded judge. It's the easiest answer. He probably believes in EULAs.
Irresponsible? They contacted you using your bandwidth and Slashdot's. I think that's a pretty clear invitation. No language in the invite indicated that there were rules to follow or that you were expected to purchase anything.
In fact, they told us about their web. If it's anything like the other (WW)web then there's a ton of stuff there, including porn, if only we did deeply enough. We can't disappoint them by not playing with it.
BTW How long until people buy crappy ads for the competition (anonymously, like spam must be paid for) just to make them look bad?
That's totally unrelated to security - that's it being trained to hide in the damp forest leaves without making a sound so that the big bad animals don't eat it. Like a fawn.
Real security is when a machine can be pinged without compromising whatever else it's doing.
The reality is that you're buying software. Can you think of any proof that you don't buy software, other than the EULA in the box?
Ask a Walmart sales associate - they'll tell you the sale is final and no returns are allowed. That doesn't sound like licensing speak. No discussion of the limitations, how it'll be audited, etc, etc... Unfortunately for the corporate lawyers, that Walmart person is the final authority. They're where the majority of the software sells and if it quacks like a sale, it is a sale.
The problem, like usual, is a judge with stunningly little intellect. Copyright is meant to stop creation of new copies, to stop competition with the creator. Temporary copies in ram are not copyright violations. Software, in normal use, gets loaded into the computer, copyright law itself gives a full exemption from copying restrictions for the purpose of duplicating software in ram, for the purposes of running it.
While loading a strange portion of the game outside of normal execution order may be strange, it is no more illegal than reading the end of the book first.
Nobody is asking for Windows-esque spyware, just for the easy ability to run a program in the background if they want to - without unreasonable hoops.
Jailbreaking is called that because it's a jail - presumably one where escape attempts are noted and fixes made. If this was a simple advanced-mode toggle that would be one thing. Without the cooperation of the device creator it's not something that can be relied upon.
It's funny how people downplay the importance of a feature that they can't have. Sour grapes...
So show the cumulative CPU totals by program, titled "Battery Usage" and let customers disable those battery-hogging apps. Highlight this dialog when usage goes over 150% of "normal".
Problem solved.
The iPhone is locked down to control access to the wallet (customer). If you could run 3rd party apps you wouldn't be locked into paying Apple.
Your sig is broken. You think it refers to the GPL, but it does not.
As for art, you got it in one - people want what other people can't have. If they love something and someone else gets one they'll love their thing just a bit less. If everyone has one, they'll hate it.
This is why art collecting is so big - with originals there's only ever one, it's the ultimate scarcity. Anything with any actual use is going to be duplicated, which is why useless people can only collect useless things.
As for originals/duplicates, the item wasn't a "witness" to anything. That's just a masturbatory explanation to justify the lust for scarcity. Snobs merely want things other people don't have.
As long as you're an employee, you're only worth as little as they can possibly pay you. Employees just aren't equated with the value of their production in the way that you don't thank your screwdriver for 25% of your wages, even if you open a lot of PC cases...
Figure out how much time you save on regular duties (relative to a 'normal' person in that role) and the value of the special projects you've been able to complete for the company.
Get recommendations from coworkers and bosses that reflects this.
Shop around for a better job as a consultant, with wages based on your expected savings, using your new recommendations as proof.
Nobody is being taken in except the employee who thinks he's putting something over on his boss. By playing along with the system he is their ideal employee, despite his dislike for the system. They don't need or want his approval, just his function.
You can't guarantee happy workers, or non-saboteurs, so you create a process (document the requirement) for independent verification of results.
Happy employees have extra value, but for most companies a steady 30% output is preferable to a temperamental genius. Especially companies who have figured out a formula for something simple (low-mid range IT) and just need zombies to check that things are plugged in and basic admin tasks.
If that journal entry wasn't partly NSFW it wouldn't have been funny. What do people expect when it says "Guide to getting laid", a how-to make the bed guide, or a misspelled guide to Hawaiian greeting customs, or what?
btw, what is it with the NSFW paranoia? Is Slashdot really work-safe, or just easier to lie about? If you're a geek, can't you tunnel home and browse over a proxy if you're willing to break the rules? If all you browse is NSFW, shouldn't you get a new W (or a life)? Maybe at a net-porn company. I've hate to think what's NSF-there.
If it's free software it'll be useless, and you'll be stupid for talking about it, unless it's perfect. Not just working, but looking.
On the other hand, if it's commercial software... I have Canon CD (printer stuff I think) that installs 4 apps and drivers, with multiple popup windows, different progress bars, etc. Anyways - a train wreck. And it's not that uncommon.
What we need to do is charge, a lot, for KOffice. Then people will love it. At $100 each they'll warm to it. At $500/seat they'll love it, at $2500/seat they'll swear by it!
I should borrow the audiophile trick... KOffice, $76,000 - makes your documents more readable by removing invisible hostilities, removes unwanted sarcasm, words flow more easily, alliteration alleviates, increases likelihood of bid acceptance, project timelines are more accurate, etc.
Eh, whatever. You're probably one of those people who runs the pointer back and forth over the dock to watch the icons throb.
Who "looks" at software? It's got spaces, you click there and type things.
Seriously, looks!? Are you a teenage girl?
Can you imagine if people who actually did things (you know, useful things, that people would miss if they stopped being done) were whiny about the look of their tools?
"I can't use this table saw, it's scratched! And this drill, it's green! Hello!? My pants are blue, it'll clash!"
"I can't code this web stuff, my desktop theme is too ugly. I'm going to go read Slashdot."
It's a good idea, but just needs to be under your control. At that you could have it apply negative weights to votes from people who voted those articles up. They'd then push those down, out of your way.
This is only less than useful because it'll be a one-size-fits-all solution and, if YouTube comments are any gauge, most people aren't as discerning as you.
P.S. Yes, Gothic 3 stunk. Unplayable at release, barely playable weeks later with patches. 2+ minute load times (quick-load, hah!) on modern hardware, constant stun-locks when fighting boars/etc, broken quests... Ugh. Not to mention that it's Gothic 3(!!). You've saved the world twice before. So why are you level 1 at the start, having to suck up to itinerant villagers and hunt wildlife? Slight continuity fault...
People keep saying this, as if the non-Mac users have never seen one and have no idea how a computer would work without razor blades and Clockwork-Orange-esque eye clamps. At some point, bouncy animated icons stop "helping".
Change the termcap in the console. Make iTunes show you my music library (ogg vorbis) over the network, integrated with yours. Buy music for me and copy an unencrypted song to my SD card, without having to burn/rip it first. Make a bootable CD with memtest86 on it.
Do those "just work"?
Enjoy your Mac, but try to understand that most...er, many... of our computers "just work" too.
This is funny. Imagine going to your boss and telling him that some Office bug would cause small rendering errors in 10% of your documents, mandating fixes in up to 1% of old documents that needed re-use. He'd be very slightly concerned.
Now tell him that it'll cost a few thousand dollars to remedy this, you'll have to accept vendor lock-in to prevent it, and that even that version has errors, just fewer, with your documents. You'd need to hire a portability expert to check all the documents for problems and even then, there'd be no guarantee of correctness, or warranty on the software.
See if he cares once he hears about the price tag.
If you present this as "I could save thousands by installing untested new software" they'll laugh. But if you question the wisdom of buying all-new software for thousands of dollars, they'll ask why the old version needs updating. If you explain about the possibility of layout glitches they'll probably explain that they used to survive just fine with carbon-paper copies and not to worry about looks.
The decision to switch away from MS is dangerous - they're liable if anything goes wrong. So just phrase the question as one of upgrading to new MS software, so they'd be liable for all the costs and problems and the only real benefit is layout compatibility with some documents. They just don't see that side. And they see MS saying that if you don't upgrade your documents will come to life and eat people. They have no real understanding and it's up to you to present problems in a realistic way.
Slashdot Mirror
If you think you're qualified and that's what you came up with, perform a self-abortion.
Cheating is cheating. Attack it as cheating. There are ToS that let them kick anyone off of the MMO if they violate any rule, even incorrectly naming a character. That's how cheating should be approached.
To approach it as a copyright issue is wrong. Factually, usefully, and morally. (Though, the closer you are to "qualified" the less meaning that last word will have for you.) 17-117a1 clearly does not say anything about the intended use of the software, merely that the copying not be for any non-execution use.
But, the biggest laugh is that this is only going to stop WoWGlider for a day or two, any copy he had made, is now going to be done through remapping memory or something, not actually duplicating a single byte. Glider will come back, leaving only a stupid broken precedent to clog the sewers/drinking fountains of our legal system.
You missed where Blizzard sold the game, in Walmart and other uncontrolled outlets, without any description of how the game *should* be played.
They had the chance to post pre-sale conditions and restrictions, but decided not to. That means there aren't any.
Implied contract of sale, it's not compatible with EULAs.
The judge is a retard. I can show him a receipt for WoW. Money was taken for the game. That means that unless Blizzard and Walmart are conspiring to defraud gamers that Blizzard sells the game.
If he's paid *any* attention to law he'd realize that EULAs, which are the only thing here purporting to keep the software in Blizzard's control, aren't binding because they're post-sale modifications to a contract.
Someone needs to find this judge. Follow him. Slip into a store he frequents and sell him a box of food. Then jump out with a bull-horn and denounce him as a thief when he eats it, in clear violation of the EULA in the box.
Where does 17-117a1 say anything about the manufacturer's intent? Nowhere.
Blizzard controlled what happened with their code - they put it in a box and sold me a copy, that comes with an implied license to use the code (or course) or selling it would be fraud.
Controlling access to their servers they can do, but not to your property. If they don't like that they shouldn't sell things.
Right.
It looks as if the judge simple doesn't understand 17-117a1. It says "essential part of utilizing", and not "... as the author wished".
I'm sure JK Rowling didn't intend people to read HP upside down looking for satanic messages, but she couldn't prevent that.
Neither, really, can Blizzard. That some people use their software an an MMO client doesn't change that I see it and feel I can write a sysadmin tool with it. (See Doom Sysadmin Tool http://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/flake/doom/). Or, a cheat tool. (Has anyone pointed this out to the lawyers involved?)
Selling software has always implicitly included the right to use that software. Like ALL other sales. Can you imagine buying a pizza and then being told you'd have to pay extra eating fees?
Sorry Pizza/Software sellers, if you put something up for sale, you implicitly license all standard behavior (eating, executing, etc) because it'd be fraud to sell something you knew was unusable in its current state.
That you can buy WoW at Walmart proves that it needs no license - otherwise they'd have given you one before taking your money. Obviously they couldn't be selling a product you couldn't use, so that they complete the sale (as agents of Blizzard via the software distributors) so you can be sure Blizzard knows what they're doing and consents.
Here's the specific exemption. http://www.bitlaw.com/source/17usc/117.html
Or those who want to create a compatible server so they can use their legally purchased WoW disks elsewhere...
USC 17-117a1 "... created as an essential step in the utilization of the computer program in conjunction with a machine ..."
I don't see "... as the author intended ..." in there. It's not the use Blizzard intended, but then they *sell* software without any contracts or preconditions, so they aren't allowed to have any restrictions.
Retarded judge. It's the easiest answer. He probably believes in EULAs.
Irresponsible? They contacted you using your bandwidth and Slashdot's. I think that's a pretty clear invitation. No language in the invite indicated that there were rules to follow or that you were expected to purchase anything.
In fact, they told us about their web. If it's anything like the other (WW)web then there's a ton of stuff there, including porn, if only we did deeply enough. We can't disappoint them by not playing with it.
BTW How long until people buy crappy ads for the competition (anonymously, like spam must be paid for) just to make them look bad?
That's totally unrelated to security - that's it being trained to hide in the damp forest leaves without making a sound so that the big bad animals don't eat it. Like a fawn.
Real security is when a machine can be pinged without compromising whatever else it's doing.
The reality is that you're buying software. Can you think of any proof that you don't buy software, other than the EULA in the box?
Ask a Walmart sales associate - they'll tell you the sale is final and no returns are allowed. That doesn't sound like licensing speak. No discussion of the limitations, how it'll be audited, etc, etc... Unfortunately for the corporate lawyers, that Walmart person is the final authority. They're where the majority of the software sells and if it quacks like a sale, it is a sale.
The problem, like usual, is a judge with stunningly little intellect. Copyright is meant to stop creation of new copies, to stop competition with the creator. Temporary copies in ram are not copyright violations. Software, in normal use, gets loaded into the computer, copyright law itself gives a full exemption from copying restrictions for the purpose of duplicating software in ram, for the purposes of running it.
While loading a strange portion of the game outside of normal execution order may be strange, it is no more illegal than reading the end of the book first.
"people like you"... Spoken like a true nutter.
Nobody is asking for Windows-esque spyware, just for the easy ability to run a program in the background if they want to - without unreasonable hoops.
Jailbreaking is called that because it's a jail - presumably one where escape attempts are noted and fixes made. If this was a simple advanced-mode toggle that would be one thing. Without the cooperation of the device creator it's not something that can be relied upon.
It's funny how people downplay the importance of a feature that they can't have. Sour grapes...
So show the cumulative CPU totals by program, titled "Battery Usage" and let customers disable those battery-hogging apps. Highlight this dialog when usage goes over 150% of "normal".
Problem solved.
The iPhone is locked down to control access to the wallet (customer). If you could run 3rd party apps you wouldn't be locked into paying Apple.
Your sig is broken. You think it refers to the GPL, but it does not.
As for art, you got it in one - people want what other people can't have. If they love something and someone else gets one they'll love their thing just a bit less. If everyone has one, they'll hate it.
This is why art collecting is so big - with originals there's only ever one, it's the ultimate scarcity. Anything with any actual use is going to be duplicated, which is why useless people can only collect useless things.
As for originals/duplicates, the item wasn't a "witness" to anything. That's just a masturbatory explanation to justify the lust for scarcity. Snobs merely want things other people don't have.
And yet, if the first 1000 people to hear about it all boo the judge, it very well might mean something.
Objecting without being able to explain your actual problem is nigh unto useless.
As long as you're an employee, you're only worth as little as they can possibly pay you. Employees just aren't equated with the value of their production in the way that you don't thank your screwdriver for 25% of your wages, even if you open a lot of PC cases...
Figure out how much time you save on regular duties (relative to a 'normal' person in that role) and the value of the special projects you've been able to complete for the company.
Get recommendations from coworkers and bosses that reflects this.
Shop around for a better job as a consultant, with wages based on your expected savings, using your new recommendations as proof.
Nobody is being taken in except the employee who thinks he's putting something over on his boss. By playing along with the system he is their ideal employee, despite his dislike for the system. They don't need or want his approval, just his function.
You can't guarantee happy workers, or non-saboteurs, so you create a process (document the requirement) for independent verification of results.
Happy employees have extra value, but for most companies a steady 30% output is preferable to a temperamental genius. Especially companies who have figured out a formula for something simple (low-mid range IT) and just need zombies to check that things are plugged in and basic admin tasks.
Home theatre? You mean like a monitor and earbuds, with surround-virtualization tech.
Home-theatre gear is just for the people who want to pay more for lower-res devices with less capabilities.
Look at Croquet, based on Squeak. It's free, open source, and written in Smalltalk.
It's not the finished product you mention, but it's got the interaction you desire.
If that journal entry wasn't partly NSFW it wouldn't have been funny. What do people expect when it says "Guide to getting laid", a how-to make the bed guide, or a misspelled guide to Hawaiian greeting customs, or what?
btw, what is it with the NSFW paranoia? Is Slashdot really work-safe, or just easier to lie about? If you're a geek, can't you tunnel home and browse over a proxy if you're willing to break the rules? If all you browse is NSFW, shouldn't you get a new W (or a life)? Maybe at a net-porn company. I've hate to think what's NSF-there.
If it's free software it'll be useless, and you'll be stupid for talking about it, unless it's perfect. Not just working, but looking.
On the other hand, if it's commercial software... I have Canon CD (printer stuff I think) that installs 4 apps and drivers, with multiple popup windows, different progress bars, etc. Anyways - a train wreck. And it's not that uncommon.
What we need to do is charge, a lot, for KOffice. Then people will love it. At $100 each they'll warm to it. At $500/seat they'll love it, at $2500/seat they'll swear by it!
I should borrow the audiophile trick... KOffice, $76,000 - makes your documents more readable by removing invisible hostilities, removes unwanted sarcasm, words flow more easily, alliteration alleviates, increases likelihood of bid acceptance, project timelines are more accurate, etc.
Eh, whatever. You're probably one of those people who runs the pointer back and forth over the dock to watch the icons throb.
Who "looks" at software? It's got spaces, you click there and type things.
Seriously, looks!? Are you a teenage girl?
Can you imagine if people who actually did things (you know, useful things, that people would miss if they stopped being done) were whiny about the look of their tools?
"I can't use this table saw, it's scratched! And this drill, it's green! Hello!? My pants are blue, it'll clash!"
"I can't code this web stuff, my desktop theme is too ugly. I'm going to go read Slashdot."
It's a good idea, but just needs to be under your control. At that you could have it apply negative weights to votes from people who voted those articles up. They'd then push those down, out of your way.
This is only less than useful because it'll be a one-size-fits-all solution and, if YouTube comments are any gauge, most people aren't as discerning as you.
P.S. Yes, Gothic 3 stunk. Unplayable at release, barely playable weeks later with patches. 2+ minute load times (quick-load, hah!) on modern hardware, constant stun-locks when fighting boars/etc, broken quests... Ugh. Not to mention that it's Gothic 3(!!). You've saved the world twice before. So why are you level 1 at the start, having to suck up to itinerant villagers and hunt wildlife? Slight continuity fault...
People keep saying this, as if the non-Mac users have never seen one and have no idea how a computer would work without razor blades and Clockwork-Orange-esque eye clamps. At some point, bouncy animated icons stop "helping".
Change the termcap in the console. Make iTunes show you my music library (ogg vorbis) over the network, integrated with yours. Buy music for me and copy an unencrypted song to my SD card, without having to burn/rip it first. Make a bootable CD with memtest86 on it.
Do those "just work"?
Enjoy your Mac, but try to understand that most...er, many... of our computers "just work" too.
This is funny. Imagine going to your boss and telling him that some Office bug would cause small rendering errors in 10% of your documents, mandating fixes in up to 1% of old documents that needed re-use. He'd be very slightly concerned.
Now tell him that it'll cost a few thousand dollars to remedy this, you'll have to accept vendor lock-in to prevent it, and that even that version has errors, just fewer, with your documents. You'd need to hire a portability expert to check all the documents for problems and even then, there'd be no guarantee of correctness, or warranty on the software.
See if he cares once he hears about the price tag.
If you present this as "I could save thousands by installing untested new software" they'll laugh. But if you question the wisdom of buying all-new software for thousands of dollars, they'll ask why the old version needs updating. If you explain about the possibility of layout glitches they'll probably explain that they used to survive just fine with carbon-paper copies and not to worry about looks.
The decision to switch away from MS is dangerous - they're liable if anything goes wrong. So just phrase the question as one of upgrading to new MS software, so they'd be liable for all the costs and problems and the only real benefit is layout compatibility with some documents. They just don't see that side. And they see MS saying that if you don't upgrade your documents will come to life and eat people. They have no real understanding and it's up to you to present problems in a realistic way.