I really hope people will have their data managed, and they'll be checked, double-checked, controlled, sniffed, parsed, re-checked and managed again. I really hope The System will know who you have talked to, and when, and what you said. I really hope all the website someone checks will be saved.
Then I want that everything blows up. I want every website, every file, every private information made public by a flaw in the system.
Since such a system is TOO complex not to have flaws (that's Chaos Theory, plain), even the smallest flaw could be exploited and will eventually crush the system.
And I want to see that. Being a lawyer in that time will be like being a VC during the dot-com boom..
and the best part will be...? that microsoft windows 'longhorn' will be made illegal by the DMCA:)
..that's an interesting article. Next time what's going to come up? "Geek forced to install Windows XP after bein Abducted by Aliens"?
Come on please.. what are thos kind of "intelligent" robots?
A google search doesn't tell me anything interesting about that.. unless it's the "magna adventure center" which the author is talking about. Or whatever.
Could anyone provide more details about those bots? How are they programmed, how do they "think" (bah..) or anything else more interesting than a gossip? Thanks.
Yes someone else said the same before, and I agreed. I still agree, the only thing I could add is that broadband doesn't necessarily mean better ping performances. Especially DSLs are known to be kinda bad in establishing connections, because of the encapsulation and stuff. But still, this is something I *heard*, and that barely noticed. I don't own DSL yet, my area is not covered at all, so I'm stuck with friend's DSL.
Perhaps that's the reason because I posted my first comment;)
However, yes, you're right. Gaming is a huge thing that I didn't consider. But does a gamer really need a 12.2 Gigs connection? Wouldn't s/he better have a lower ping latency?
Here's an example:
1. ping from a CDN 64k (symmetric)
PING 151.1.2.1 (151.1.2.1): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 151.1.2.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=58 time=66.8 ms
2. ping from a HDSL 2M (symmetric)
PING 151.1.2.1 (151.1.2.1): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 151.1.2.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=55 time=22.8 ms
I know, those are 2 different providers, it depends on a LOT of things, et cetera. But still a 2M is way more than a 64k, but the ping latency is just three times.
My point, again: broader bandwidth won't improve pings.
thanks, it's always good to see a constructive reply. Given the number of people who replied in a 'serious' way to my comment, following your logic I should think that
1. either they are all morons (doesn't matter if it was a majority who answered like that - in fact, if we had to follow a majority, we all should eat shit. zillions of flies cannot be wrong) 2. or you didn't quite get it
but since my logic is broken, I won't tell you what I thik.
those who need to move scientific/medical data already have their own broadband connections, wether you call it 'internet2' or anything else. let us not forget that the internet was invented for them, more or less. so they still have a big priority at least on the government.
and no, I chose to ignore pr0n because it IS such a big part of the spread of broadband that can be considered a constant on the whole equation. I'm talking about things that will make a difference AND are targeted as 'reasons' by the market.
[I also think that if a DSL company will provide you a fat pipe "To download all the pr0n you want", they're gonna make a LOT of money. Perhaps they could even host their own pr0n sites, and check for the age by using their user database.. but I digress]
and for the internet gaming... you're right. I admit, I haven't thought of that. Good point.
Ok.. I agree with what you're saying. But my point is that *now* none of your points really justify broadband. VOIP is for few geeks around, Internet TV will probably fail (what a./ effect would be if even 10% of the people watching the Superbowl will connect to the website AND wants to receive live high-quality broadcasting of the show!), internet radio works even with slow modem connections, and the downloads... ok I agree but I don't think that daily you download a whole ISO. Unless you apt-get upgrade, of course, but that's a consequence, not a need:)
also, working from home is not a big issue with a modem: for example, windows 2k terminal service is usable at 1024x768 on a 64k link, and for the virtual apps.... hmmmm... nah, do you really use them?:)
This is a good one. They want to stop mp3 sharing BUT wants to provide customers with larger bandwidth.
Let's face it - what is broadband used for? You can download a webpage on an isdn line (64/128k) almost as fast as you can on a DSL line (640k) due to the fact that by the time the traffic flow has got to its peek, all of the data has been transfered.
So, what about digital video and streaming? Cool. DSL could easily be used for that. But what is the percentage of people using broadband to see video streaming (except pr0n) compared to those who download 'piracy' music/movies with it?
It's ok if they provide businesses with broadband (they have lot of users, plus mail must have a reliable link). Ok for VPNs. Ok for websites.
But the whole purpose of giving broadband with dynamic IP address (and sometimes not allowing the customer to put on its own service, like mail, www, ftp...) could be nothing else than giving users a way to download files. Nothing else.
It's like giving citizens a REALLY fast car and REALLY good freeways for a REALLY cheap price, and telling them not to go fast. Why not? You don't even got hurt if you download music!
This looks just like another contradiction of Capitalism, to me. [and yes, after this sentence, this comment will be modded down to -6]
and on every pc make that directory point to a shared folder on a server like
\\servername\sharename\%username
and then make on the server into the sharenamed folder a folder with full control only for that user.
%username is an environment variable in microsoft windows (it's %username on all different language versions of windows). You can manage the 'my documents' folder from the domain controller if you have win2k and active directory to point automatically to that dir, but on the win98 machines you have to do it yourself.
then tell users to use their 'my document' folder (easy - many microsoft programs already do it themselves by default).
Then do another shared for everybody, and with a logon script make every user mount it as, say, unit 'X:'. Tell them that everyone's documents are on unit X: and they'll be happy.
...instead of some expensive video-cd player. Plus you can play on it. I can imagine the scene:
CEO: "What is that toy?"
me: "Sir, it is a new prototype to show customers our marketing ads in standard format. See? You can carry them around like regular CDs, plus they can be made at a very low cost, thus increasing our productivity, lowering our expenses, and making our company look like we are constantly hitting the technology cutting edge while taking care of our customers. And it has been made by Microsoft, it is a Very Reliable thing."
CEO: "Good good. Keep researching."
me: "Yes sir. I'm gonna borrow the TV in the main hall to test it in the server room for the presentation of tomorrow, if You wouldn't mind."
What if the equivalent of the RIAA and the MPAA in the book industry (what's that, the BIAA?) starts suing those who sell used books? The reason? Those who buy used books aren't paying a dime to the author of the books. It must be stealing. Right?
If not, what's the difference between music sharing and used books selling? That I'm giving you a *copy* of a song, and not the original one, right? But who prevents me from deleting the "original" song once you downloaded it from my pc?
...if 'original' and 'copy' has a meaning in a digital world..
ok this was joking. Obviously selling used books isn't a crime....yet:)
...until I won't see it built and working, and I will hear a committee of engineers stating that it's safe, I won't believe it. And the committee must be independent from any sort of government, expecially the Italian one.
Sorry, but being an Italian makes me quite used to that bloated political stuff... plus, for what I've heard [nothing official, I'm asking what do you engineers think about it], it will be built using outdated techniques. Could it be true?
Anyway, I hope it won't just suck the (little) Italian government money, as so many of those projects did for the last 50 years (corruption, et cetera).
well here in Italy many IP addresses remains the same until the connection drops (due to power outage, and such). didn't know those ISP were putting so much effort in making their customers avoid setting up their websites.. are they afraid their customers will do e-commerce and make money from it? damn....
oh well, therefore yours is another issue I haven't thought about. great.
true. but since those attacks come from many countries, and mostly all of those countries have pay-for-use internet connection, customers will notice if their pc will hang up and redial the ISP number. also, if those customers have broadband, their IP is unlikely to change so quickly to fool a router update..
...using no "software" but, say, any standard routing protocol.
my idea (anyone wants to discuss? mail me: kipple at muug dot it) goes like that:
- once a traffic sensor (bandwidth sensor? Mtrg?) detects an abnormal increase of traffic coming from a particular source route, it contacts the first router it knows on that path to the flooding source; this first-hop router detects the next-hop router, until the source of the flood itself is found and either shaped (good) or blocked for a while (bad but necessary some times).
- all other legitimate connections can still pass through and reach the original service (being it a webpage or anything else), and only the flooders are blocked
- in today's anti-flood systems, it is only prevented for the server to crash under high load, but still the packets are coming down the wire. using the routers won't clog the wire of the victim
- also, there is no possibility to spoof those 'router communications', as there isn't today a way to fake OSPF or other protocols to fool routers. also cryptographically signed communications between routers could be implemented
- Plus, if a source route is spoofed, the router won't care (we're talking about low-level routing, not just IP based). So, no DNS spoofing and flooding (and therefore the site will still be able to access basic services - no blocking as in some misdesigned "active" firewalls).
I think that using this technique it will be possible to avoid many DOS-based attacks, but still not all: what if a LOT of zombies are requesting services from a particular website at a 'normal' rate? I fear thit has no solution: it resembles too much a normal user activity, and it is a problem of designing the services (or providing enough bandwidth, or splitting the service among different sites on different uplinks), and not a routing problem.
just wondering.. if I am sued for something I have said on a website I own, will they come to pick me up and bring be in the US to be judged?
Also.. it would be funny if, say, the Chinese Government will sue the US government for "talking about illegal things such as freedom", because those pages can be seen from China.
Or will this lead to country-based firewalls?
isn't anyone curious to know HOW was that done?
on
California Hax0red
·
· Score: 2
I mean, which OS were the servers running? How did they got such information? Did they social engineer someone, or portscanned the network and then bruteforced the weakest point, or sent an e-mail virus which opened the LAN from within, or paid a janitor to bring them the post-it in the Server Room, those with the word "root" written on it?:)
Seriously, though.. 'til I will see some details about that, I'm more propense to believe that it is only an excuse to *sell* some software, or to *enforce* some other measure, or even to *crackdown* someone in the wild and bring him in front of a Military Court (I think the Bush Military Court thing is still valid....), thus breaking those "free thinker" of California who don't like Wars, and so on. Paranoia? Go check my.sig..
However, I do truly hope that those hackers will use their information only to strike back on politicians, and scare them. Just scare, no harm done - maybe they'll spend more money on security?
with the coming of usb-size hard drives, passwords will not survive the next generation of communication systems. a public/private key system will take its way, with those USB small hard drives containing the keys to access the system. No need to change passwords either; it can be completely automated, and the keys will be long enough to be safely uncrackable.
also, a usb hard disk will become what a metal key is now: a fundamental piece of our daily job.
the other side of the medal is that those keys can be given easily, or even stolen. True, but how many times did you hear your users tell their passwords each other (can you check my e-mail while I'm away? thanks) for whatever obviously stupid reason?
and also - you can force users to use long, difficult passwords. but how long can you screw your CEO patience off?
excuse me, but didn't those companies first sold their console at.. what, 600$? As a non-customer, I repeat to myself that they probably wanted to screw me up - because they wanted to make me pay for something that today has a value of 1/3 or less.
So they were screwing me 3 times.
No way I'm gonna trust them. If someone screws you once, it can do it again.
Oh well, probably this is easier to me since I don't like consoles. But still, does anyone else with a brain noticed that?
that's because consoles allow better control...
on
XBox Live Network
·
· Score: 2
...over customers. Basically, as somewhere else in a slashdot thread has been stated, "major media companies don't want users to own a pc". This will lead towards a more fine-grained control on what an end-user can do.
Right now PCs are too powerful. With small effort they can copy, rip, encode, spread and download (all that uncontrolled) forms of copyrighted media. And this is leading media companies to loose profit (but still to GAIN profit, which they don't want us to know. But I digress).
Anyway, this move will obviously be the first of a serie, which will end with customers being so used to do what they are allowed to do, that PCs and hacking will be confined to geeks and similar creatures.
What will be next? Who knows? We can only speculate about - a world where hardware hacking and unauthorized software coding is finally declared illegal (this because the 'geek' component of the society will be expendable) - a world where PCs are used only in few geeks bunkers and in a lot of software companies, which by EULA will be forced to use only authorized software under certain restrictions - a world where third word countries will end up being forced to use and develop their free software, either because they don't want to pay for the proprietary and authorized one, and because...well they are not probably allowed to use it (export restrictions from the Great Software Coalition and such..)
or this may just be pure, absurd, senseless speculation. It's up to you, but I'm making backup copies of the knowledge base required to develop useful code, just in case I might decide to retire in Tibet and become a Perl Monk Zen;)
you can check here an interesting review between Microsoft and generic Open Source software in a business environment.
Here is a quote:
This review focused on Red Hat Linux 7.1 from a business user's view and attempted to answer my client's question "Can Linux be used as a replacement for Windows 2000". After an intensive hands-on Linux project lasting several months, I was able to provide my client with a pertinent answer to this question.
Based on a solid Linux business plan, my client decided that Linux was a good investment for most of the company's employees, but will retain a few key Windows computers in the office for specific applications. Connecting Linux and Windows computers on the same network, and sharing Office 97/2000 files between the different OSs, is easy and works well, thanks to Red Hat Linux and Star Office. The primary reason for this decision was a $10,000 saving on his IT budget! For support reasons, he decided to use a local Linux supplier for installation and configuration work. View the Summary and the Details.
For other business users, here is my advice:
* For whatever reason, if you want to get started with Linux, or implement an office network of Linux and Windows clients, Red Hat Linux 7.1 is very much the way to go. Red Hat Linux 7.1 can be used as an alternative to Windows 2000! You will be stunned by the bang for the buck that Linux bundled free "open source" software offers. Red Hat Linux is a complete server (LAN, Web, SQL) and offers excellent desktop applications for corporate users. Each business user will need to look at the benefits of using Linux (no software licensing fees, fewer hardware upgrades, many good applications) and the costs (installation, configuration, upgrades, training, support). If the benefits outweigh the costs, then you have an affordable viable desktop alternative to Windows.
*Red Hat Linux 7.1 is a great package: it provides a smooth installation, has many good applications and is an especially attractive option for small to medium-size offices. However, many business users will want to purchase a computer with Linux pre-installed, or at least use a Linux support professional for post-installation configurations, maintenance and upgrades, just as you currently do for Windows.
Still, in my opinion, the great majority of end-users is still too dumb and this will cause you greater troubles, at least with all the time you will waste trying to explain'em that No, You Can'T Have A Dancing Lady On Your Desktop, And Even If You Were In A Windows Environment You Just Cannot Install It And Later Complain Because You Got a Virus!
Slashdot Mirror
I really hope people will have their data managed, and they'll be checked, double-checked, controlled, sniffed, parsed, re-checked and managed again. I really hope The System will know who you have talked to, and when, and what you said. I really hope all the website someone checks will be saved.
:)
Then I want that everything blows up. I want every website, every file, every private information made public by a flaw in the system.
Since such a system is TOO complex not to have flaws (that's Chaos Theory, plain), even the smallest flaw could be exploited and will eventually crush the system.
And I want to see that.
Being a lawyer in that time will be like being a VC during the dot-com boom..
and the best part will be...? that microsoft windows 'longhorn' will be made illegal by the DMCA
have fun!
...did you know that the next windows release will have the 'close encounters' theme as the Windows Startup Sound? ;)
Come on please.. what are thos kind of "intelligent" robots?
A google search doesn't tell me anything interesting about that.. unless it's the "magna adventure center" which the author is talking about. Or whatever.
Could anyone provide more details about those bots? How are they programmed, how do they "think" (bah..) or anything else more interesting than a gossip? Thanks.
Yes someone else said the same before, and I agreed. I still agree, the only thing I could add is that broadband doesn't necessarily mean better ping performances. Especially DSLs are known to be kinda bad in establishing connections, because of the encapsulation and stuff.
;)
But still, this is something I *heard*, and that barely noticed. I don't own DSL yet, my area is not covered at all, so I'm stuck with friend's DSL.
Perhaps that's the reason because I posted my first comment
However, yes, you're right. Gaming is a huge thing that I didn't consider. But does a gamer really need a 12.2 Gigs connection? Wouldn't s/he better have a lower ping latency?
Here's an example:
1. ping from a CDN 64k (symmetric)
PING 151.1.2.1 (151.1.2.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 151.1.2.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=58 time=66.8 ms
2. ping from a HDSL 2M (symmetric)
PING 151.1.2.1 (151.1.2.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 151.1.2.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=55 time=22.8 ms
I know, those are 2 different providers, it depends on a LOT of things, et cetera. But still a 2M is way more than a 64k, but the ping latency is just three times.
My point, again: broader bandwidth won't improve pings.
cheers
thanks, it's always good to see a constructive reply. Given the number of people who replied in a 'serious' way to my comment, following your logic I should think that
:)
1. either they are all morons (doesn't matter if it was a majority who answered like that - in fact, if we had to follow a majority, we all should eat shit. zillions of flies cannot be wrong)
2. or you didn't quite get it
but since my logic is broken, I won't tell you what I thik.
Cheers
those who need to move scientific/medical data already have their own broadband connections, wether you call it 'internet2' or anything else. let us not forget that the internet was invented for them, more or less. so they still have a big priority at least on the government.
and no, I chose to ignore pr0n because it IS such a big part of the spread of broadband that can be considered a constant on the whole equation. I'm talking about things that will make a difference AND are targeted as 'reasons' by the market.
[I also think that if a DSL company will provide you a fat pipe "To download all the pr0n you want", they're gonna make a LOT of money. Perhaps they could even host their own pr0n sites, and check for the age by using their user database.. but I digress]
and for the internet gaming... you're right. I admit, I haven't thought of that.
Good point.
Ok.. I agree with what you're saying. But my point is that *now* none of your points really justify broadband. VOIP is for few geeks around, Internet TV will probably fail (what a ./ effect would be if even 10% of the people watching the Superbowl will connect to the website AND wants to receive live high-quality broadcasting of the show!), internet radio works even with slow modem connections, and the downloads... ok I agree but I don't think that daily you download a whole ISO. :)
:)
Unless you apt-get upgrade, of course, but that's a consequence, not a need
also, working from home is not a big issue with a modem: for example, windows 2k terminal service is usable at 1024x768 on a 64k link, and for the virtual apps.... hmmmm... nah, do you really use them?
true. The fun part is that I got modded up Interesting (+1), then Insightful (+1), then Overrated (-1), then Troll (-1) :)
but I didn't get your comment. Where do I say that I want to be different?
This is a good one. They want to stop mp3 sharing BUT wants to provide customers with larger bandwidth.
.2 euros
Let's face it - what is broadband used for? You can download a webpage on an isdn line (64/128k) almost as fast as you can on a DSL line (640k) due to the fact that by the time the traffic flow has got to its peek, all of the data has been transfered.
So, what about digital video and streaming? Cool. DSL could easily be used for that. But what is the percentage of people using broadband to see video streaming (except pr0n) compared to those who download 'piracy' music/movies with it?
It's ok if they provide businesses with broadband (they have lot of users, plus mail must have a reliable link). Ok for VPNs. Ok for websites.
But the whole purpose of giving broadband with dynamic IP address (and sometimes not allowing the customer to put on its own service, like mail, www, ftp...) could be nothing else than giving users a way to download files. Nothing else.
It's like giving citizens a REALLY fast car and REALLY good freeways for a REALLY cheap price, and telling them not to go fast. Why not? You don't even got hurt if you download music!
This looks just like another contradiction of Capitalism, to me. [and yes, after this sentence, this comment will be modded down to -6]
just my
cheers
....what is that, some kind of sense of humour? I mean... it is MicroSoft NBC, right? Are they facing reality or what?
and on every pc make that directory point to a shared folder on a server like
\\servername\sharename\%username
and then make on the server into the sharenamed folder a folder with full control only for that user.
%username is an environment variable in microsoft windows (it's %username on all different language versions of windows). You can manage the 'my documents' folder from the domain controller if you have win2k and active directory to point automatically to that dir, but on the win98 machines you have to do it yourself.
then tell users to use their 'my document' folder (easy - many microsoft programs already do it themselves by default).
Then do another shared for everybody, and with a logon script make every user mount it as, say, unit 'X:'. Tell them that everyone's documents are on unit X: and they'll be happy.
have fun.
CEO: "What is that toy?"
me: "Sir, it is a new prototype to show customers our marketing ads in standard format. See? You can carry them around like regular CDs, plus they can be made at a very low cost, thus increasing our productivity, lowering our expenses, and making our company look like we are constantly hitting the technology cutting edge while taking care of our customers. And it has been made by Microsoft, it is a Very Reliable thing."
CEO: "Good good. Keep researching."
me: "Yes sir. I'm gonna borrow the TV in the main hall to test it in the server room for the presentation of tomorrow, if You wouldn't mind."
What if the equivalent of the RIAA and the MPAA in the book industry (what's that, the BIAA?) starts suing those who sell used books? The reason? Those who buy used books aren't paying a dime to the author of the books. It must be stealing. Right?
...yet :)
If not, what's the difference between music sharing and used books selling? That I'm giving you a *copy* of a song, and not the original one, right? But who prevents me from deleting the "original" song once you downloaded it from my pc?
...if 'original' and 'copy' has a meaning in a digital world..
ok this was joking. Obviously selling used books isn't a crime.
cheers
...until I won't see it built and working, and I will hear a committee of engineers stating that it's safe, I won't believe it. And the committee must be independent from any sort of government, expecially the Italian one.
Sorry, but being an Italian makes me quite used to that bloated political stuff... plus, for what I've heard [nothing official, I'm asking what do you engineers think about it], it will be built using outdated techniques. Could it be true?
Anyway, I hope it won't just suck the (little) Italian government money, as so many of those projects did for the last 50 years (corruption, et cetera).
well here in Italy many IP addresses remains the same until the connection drops (due to power outage, and such). didn't know those ISP were putting so much effort in making their customers avoid setting up their websites.. are they afraid their customers will do e-commerce and make money from it? damn....
oh well, therefore yours is another issue I haven't thought about. great.
true. but since those attacks come from many countries, and mostly all of those countries have pay-for-use internet connection, customers will notice if their pc will hang up and redial the ISP number.
also, if those customers have broadband, their IP is unlikely to change so quickly to fool a router update..
my idea (anyone wants to discuss? mail me: kipple at muug dot it) goes like that:
- once a traffic sensor (bandwidth sensor? Mtrg?) detects an abnormal increase of traffic coming from a particular source route, it contacts the first router it knows on that path to the flooding source; this first-hop router detects the next-hop router, until the source of the flood itself is found and either shaped (good) or blocked for a while (bad but necessary some times).
- all other legitimate connections can still pass through and reach the original service (being it a webpage or anything else), and only the flooders are blocked
- in today's anti-flood systems, it is only prevented for the server to crash under high load, but still the packets are coming down the wire. using the routers won't clog the wire of the victim
- also, there is no possibility to spoof those 'router communications', as there isn't today a way to fake OSPF or other protocols to fool routers. also cryptographically signed communications between routers could be implemented
- Plus, if a source route is spoofed, the router won't care (we're talking about low-level routing, not just IP based). So, no DNS spoofing and flooding (and therefore the site will still be able to access basic services - no blocking as in some misdesigned "active" firewalls).
I think that using this technique it will be possible to avoid many DOS-based attacks, but still not all: what if a LOT of zombies are requesting services from a particular website at a 'normal' rate? I fear thit has no solution: it resembles too much a normal user activity, and it is a problem of designing the services (or providing enough bandwidth, or splitting the service among different sites on different uplinks), and not a routing problem.
so, thoughts, suggestions?I know that China already has a national firewall... it would be fun, though, to see those 'regulations' act against the US itself :)
just wondering.. if I am sued for something I have said on a website I own, will they come to pick me up and bring be in the US to be judged?
Also.. it would be funny if, say, the Chinese Government will sue the US government for "talking about illegal things such as freedom", because those pages can be seen from China.
Or will this lead to country-based firewalls?
I mean, which OS were the servers running? How did they got such information? Did they social engineer someone, or portscanned the network and then bruteforced the weakest point, or sent an e-mail virus which opened the LAN from within, or paid a janitor to bring them the post-it in the Server Room, those with the word "root" written on it? :)
.sig..
Seriously, though.. 'til I will see some details about that, I'm more propense to believe that it is only an excuse to *sell* some software, or to *enforce* some other measure, or even to *crackdown* someone in the wild and bring him in front of a Military Court (I think the Bush Military Court thing is still valid....), thus breaking those "free thinker" of California who don't like Wars, and so on.
Paranoia? Go check my
However, I do truly hope that those hackers will use their information only to strike back on politicians, and scare them. Just scare, no harm done - maybe they'll spend more money on security?
bah. sad.
with the coming of usb-size hard drives, passwords will not survive the next generation of communication systems. a public/private key system will take its way, with those USB small hard drives containing the keys to access the system. No need to change passwords either; it can be completely automated, and the keys will be long enough to be safely uncrackable.
also, a usb hard disk will become what a metal key is now: a fundamental piece of our daily job.
the other side of the medal is that those keys can be given easily, or even stolen. True, but how many times did you hear your users tell their passwords each other (can you check my e-mail while I'm away? thanks) for whatever obviously stupid reason?
and also - you can force users to use long, difficult passwords. but how long can you screw your CEO patience off?
cheers
excuse me, but didn't those companies first sold their console at .. what, 600$? As a non-customer, I repeat to myself that they probably wanted to screw me up - because they wanted to make me pay for something that today has a value of 1/3 or less.
So they were screwing me 3 times.
No way I'm gonna trust them. If someone screws you once, it can do it again.
Oh well, probably this is easier to me since I don't like consoles. But still, does anyone else with a brain noticed that?
...over customers. Basically, as somewhere else in a slashdot thread has been stated, "major media companies don't want users to own a pc". This will lead towards a more fine-grained control on what an end-user can do.
...well they are not probably allowed to use it (export restrictions from the Great Software Coalition and such..)
;)
Right now PCs are too powerful. With small effort they can copy, rip, encode, spread and download (all that uncontrolled) forms of copyrighted media. And this is leading media companies to loose profit (but still to GAIN profit, which they don't want us to know. But I digress).
Anyway, this move will obviously be the first of a serie, which will end with customers being so used to do what they are allowed to do, that PCs and hacking will be confined to geeks and similar creatures.
What will be next? Who knows? We can only speculate about
- a world where hardware hacking and unauthorized software coding is finally declared illegal (this because the 'geek' component of the society will be expendable)
- a world where PCs are used only in few geeks bunkers and in a lot of software companies, which by EULA will be forced to use only authorized software under certain restrictions
- a world where third word countries will end up being forced to use and develop their free software, either because they don't want to pay for the proprietary and authorized one, and because
or this may just be pure, absurd, senseless speculation. It's up to you, but I'm making backup copies of the knowledge base required to develop useful code, just in case I might decide to retire in Tibet and become a Perl Monk Zen
cheers
Here is a quote:
Still, in my opinion, the great majority of end-users is still too dumb and this will cause you greater troubles, at least with all the time you will waste trying to explain'em that No, You Can'T Have A Dancing Lady On Your Desktop, And Even If You Were In A Windows Environment You Just Cannot Install It And Later Complain Because You Got a Virus!
However, have fun.I'm sure that if there was a national ID card system they would have been caught immediately.