The real fun is that the obfuscation may be contra-productive. I can see it now:
"Oh look! A blur on Google Earth" "Gosh, never knew something sensitive was out there" "Let's drive past it and find out"
You may think that's ridiculous, but three blocks away from where I was born there's something they want to keep a secret. If it were not for the blur on Google Earth I would never have known.
.. They contributed "WIRETAP.DLL" and "TERRORSCAN.EXE" which are required components to pass the new-and-improved Windows Genuine Advantage test, right?!?
You show exactly why morse code should not be a requirement. It sure is an interesting mode, for those who want to explore limited bandwidth modes and long distances. It has zero use to those interested in UHF/SHF experiments, digital modes etc. The requirement to learn Morse code to access HF would be as justified as requiring people to decode AX.25 packets from memory just to allow them access to their local UHF repeater chatbox.
There's nothing wrong with morse code, it's just no longer a requirement to master morse code in order to take part in all sorts of other communication modes. Anyone who wants/likes to practice morse code is free to do so, it's just no longer an obstacle for people who do want to become a HAM operator but have no interest in this single mode of operations.
The requirement to do morse code was to enable HAM's to interact with official emergency crew. Since they abandoned Morse code from operations, there's no need to have this requirement anymore.
No-one forbids anyone from using Morse code. Those who master it will be able to use it as much as they want, and there's specific frequency ranges set aside for morse code communications. It's just that newcomers are not forced to learn one specific, outdated form of communication to take part in all those other forms, including Amateur TV, digital modes, PSK-31, moonbounce, meteor/rain scatter etc. Those who are interested in communication with minimal hardware requirements will continue to explore morse code.
That's all fine, dandy and understandable. But for countries taking place in this project, wouldn't you think they'd be scared about the features that *are* enabled in the code version they get, such as EjectPilotOnSignOfUSTrouble(), or ChangeMissileTargetFromOvalOfficeDesk().
You may think this is funny, but not in the least by your current president I think the world has turned into an uglier place over the past 6 years. Who's not to say an even more lunatic guy gets elected/bribed/bought/wiggled into the White House and he happens to have a feature to turn our JSF's against us by the flip of a switch??
I'm building a RANS S6S Coyote airplane, together with a friend. We're six years and counting, with just a single evening each week. Yes, it takes *forever*, but it's truely amazing to see this pile of aluminum, steel and pop rivets slowly transform into a real plane that I can take for a spin. 2007 should be the year...
Microsoft is trying to slip poison pills into projects that endanger their cash cows... Be very, very careful!
I'm truely amazed that Novell is co-operating to let them do this. How can they benefit from Linux being threatened when their entire business is revolving around Linux these days??
I think there a very strong argument to call the entire content of the DVD a computer program. It contains instruction for the DVD player to assemble a menu and possibly some options, and instructions on how to reproduce images and sound.
The actual 'work of art' isn't on the DVD. On the DVD is a bitstream which describes how to reproduce the work of art. The interpretation of the bitstream is done by a chipset or a piece of software inside the DVD player. This once again makes the bitstream a computer program.
His wish to be able to cure people and eradicate diseases is noble, but saving every sick person will not save the Earth. In fact, it will make the Earth's population grow way out of control.
So instead of dying from cancer, HIV or bird flu, we'll starve for lack of food and water.
In other words, dying is a necessary evil fact of life. If we can make it happen without pain and suffering, so much the better. But trying to prolongue it forever is foolish.
Maybe an additional step could be used. The voter makes an electronic choise, the e-voting machine prints it out. The print contains the choise in clear text and in machine readable code (something like the two-dimentional barcode on AMD CPU's), with timestamp and checksum.
The paper is fed into a scanner that collects the actual counts and afterwards you get to take the paper with you for an eventual recount. The scanner *must* be from a different manufacturer than the e-voting machine. At the end of the day, if more than 1% difference exists between the e-voting machine and the scanner, a recount by hand is required.
The problem is that when MS set out to develop Vista, they publicly mentioned a whole range of new features that could benefit their customers. Many of these features (WinFS could have been a big business help) have been withdraw since then.
Now, after more than five years, Vista looks like Windows-XP with a shiny new theme, some 'whoopy' features such as Glass, and a lot of hurdles for power users to do what used to be easy and now is hard. Many features require more mouseclicks to get to, cause annoying 'boy-I'm-so-secure-do-you-really-want-to-do-this' popups, and keep you from using fair use rights by tilting toward the entertainment industries everlasting deathgrip on 'their Holy IP'.
Now after more than five years you'd expect a rock-solid OS that has a new, well designed foundation. Not so. I'm speaking from experience when I say that the stability is so-so, the system requirements are ludicrous, and the driver support is mediocre. On that last one, MS blaims the hardware vendors. Maybe so, but appearently those vendors either think it's too hard to write proper Vista drivers, or they are not too convinced that the development investment will help in higher sales...
What I don't onderstand is that this is merged into the 2.6 kernel tree today. What has happened to the concept of -stable (2.6) and -experimental (2.7) trees? This would be aperfect opportunity to open the next experimental branche..
Further delay aint happening. Vista will be out the door, regardless of the remaining bugs. They still have 'patch tuesday' to make updates, and the installation sequence itself already includes an initial update phase. So any really big bugs that remain present in the RTM build can still be fixed later.
Don't you think that with this as public knowledge, people with bad intentions will make sure they order their ticket including return flight from a reputable travel agency (who couldn't care less who they sell their ticket to), using a pristine 'John Smith' passport showing no irregularities whatsoever? It's pretty easy to hijack the identity of any John Smith so the passport and records would be just peachy. No problem traveling with well-known airlines either, and I'm sure they won't tick the 'kosjer' box in the food selection box either. They may be scary backward folks, but they are *not* stupid.
Following your logic, the best tactic would be to set up an open WiFi access point "by mistake". If you then get an inquiry, it's easy to show that anyone in a 250m radius could have accessed a P2P network through your IP address...
And how long will it take the next Windows virus / spyware program to infest you still-attached backup harddisk with the same sh*t that you need your restore for?
Try a technology that has been along for a lot longer. Get a decent tape drive. USB or Firewire makes it easy to attach, and backup of 150+ GB are simple. So far I have yet to see a virus that attacks tape devices.
This happened to a collegue who did field service on DEC PDP and VAX stuff..
One site had continuous problems with one of their VT100 serial terminals. It generated random characters during normal work, and it had been replaced six times already. The replaced terminal always checked out fine.
So my collegue decides to take an afternoon and observe the terminal in action... He quickly discovered the problem.. The secretary who uses the terminal is kinda 'big'... And she also has bad vision. So every once in a while, she leans over reeeal close to the screen to read it...
Just imagine the hard time my collegue had putting the root cause on his worksheet;-)
Microsoft offered $30 Million in *SOFTWARE* license. That's not money. That's advertising. It's the same principle as drug dealers on the corner of the street offering free shots. Once the kids are hooked, they have nowhere else to go.
The schools can keep their $30 Million in the pocket when they use Open Source software just as well. The difference being that in a year from now they can get the next version for free too...
.. then they should do away with the propulsion system. This way, when some guy decides to push the button after all, you'll save the energy to fly the thing across the planet, be a lot safer because the engine can't fail, and also make the same savings for the folkes at the receiving end. They can then also detonate their own nuke locally, again reaping the benefits of saving.
Last but not least, you also save the 1 hour waiting time before total destruction...
Slashdot Mirror
The real fun is that the obfuscation may be contra-productive. I can see it now:
"Oh look! A blur on Google Earth"
"Gosh, never knew something sensitive was out there"
"Let's drive past it and find out"
You may think that's ridiculous, but three blocks away from where I was born there's something they want to keep a secret. If it were not for the blur on Google Earth I would never have known.
.. They contributed "WIRETAP.DLL" and "TERRORSCAN.EXE" which are required components to pass the new-and-improved Windows Genuine Advantage test, right?!?
You show exactly why morse code should not be a requirement. It sure is an interesting mode, for those who want to explore limited bandwidth modes and long distances. It has zero use to those interested in UHF/SHF experiments, digital modes etc. The requirement to learn Morse code to access HF would be as justified as requiring people to decode AX.25 packets from memory just to allow them access to their local UHF repeater chatbox.
There's nothing wrong with morse code, it's just no longer a requirement to master morse code in order to take part in all sorts of other communication modes. Anyone who wants/likes to practice morse code is free to do so, it's just no longer an obstacle for people who do want to become a HAM operator but have no interest in this single mode of operations.
The requirement to do morse code was to enable HAM's to interact with official emergency crew. Since they abandoned Morse code from operations, there's no need to have this requirement anymore.
No-one forbids anyone from using Morse code. Those who master it will be able to use it as much as they want, and there's specific frequency ranges set aside for morse code communications. It's just that newcomers are not forced to learn one specific, outdated form of communication to take part in all those other forms, including Amateur TV, digital modes, PSK-31, moonbounce, meteor/rain scatter etc. Those who are interested in communication with minimal hardware requirements will continue to explore morse code.
Just float your mouse over the picture and he will tell you what the IPv6 version looks like.
;-)
Even more clever, and sooooo right
That's all fine, dandy and understandable. But for countries taking place in this project, wouldn't you think they'd be scared about the features that *are* enabled in the code version they get, such as EjectPilotOnSignOfUSTrouble(), or ChangeMissileTargetFromOvalOfficeDesk().
You may think this is funny, but not in the least by your current president I think the world has turned into an uglier place over the past 6 years. Who's not to say an even more lunatic guy gets elected/bribed/bought/wiggled into the White House and he happens to have a feature to turn our JSF's against us by the flip of a switch??
I'm building a RANS S6S Coyote airplane, together with a friend. We're six years and counting, with just a single evening each week. Yes, it takes *forever*, but it's truely amazing to see this pile of aluminum, steel and pop rivets slowly transform into a real plane that I can take for a spin. 2007 should be the year...
Microsoft is trying to slip poison pills into projects that endanger their cash cows... Be very, very careful!
I'm truely amazed that Novell is co-operating to let them do this. How can they benefit from Linux being threatened when their entire business is revolving around Linux these days??
I think there a very strong argument to call the entire content of the DVD a computer program. It contains instruction for the DVD player to assemble a menu and possibly some options, and instructions on how to reproduce images and sound.
The actual 'work of art' isn't on the DVD. On the DVD is a bitstream which describes how to reproduce the work of art. The interpretation of the bitstream is done by a chipset or a piece of software inside the DVD player. This once again makes the bitstream a computer program.
His wish to be able to cure people and eradicate diseases is noble, but saving every sick person will not save the Earth. In fact, it will make the Earth's population grow way out of control.
So instead of dying from cancer, HIV or bird flu, we'll starve for lack of food and water.
In other words, dying is a necessary evil fact of life. If we can make it happen without pain and suffering, so much the better. But trying to prolongue it forever is foolish.
Maybe an additional step could be used. The voter makes an electronic choise, the e-voting machine prints it out. The print contains the choise in clear text and in machine readable code (something like the two-dimentional barcode on AMD CPU's), with timestamp and checksum.
The paper is fed into a scanner that collects the actual counts and afterwards you get to take the paper with you for an eventual recount. The scanner *must* be from a different manufacturer than the e-voting machine. At the end of the day, if more than 1% difference exists between the e-voting machine and the scanner, a recount by hand is required.
The problem is that when MS set out to develop Vista, they publicly mentioned a whole range of new features that could benefit their customers. Many of these features (WinFS could have been a big business help) have been withdraw since then.
Now, after more than five years, Vista looks like Windows-XP with a shiny new theme, some 'whoopy' features such as Glass, and a lot of hurdles for power users to do what used to be easy and now is hard. Many features require more mouseclicks to get to, cause annoying 'boy-I'm-so-secure-do-you-really-want-to-do-this' popups, and keep you from using fair use rights by tilting toward the entertainment industries everlasting deathgrip on 'their Holy IP'.
Now after more than five years you'd expect a rock-solid OS that has a new, well designed foundation. Not so. I'm speaking from experience when I say that the stability is so-so, the system requirements are ludicrous, and the driver support is mediocre. On that last one, MS blaims the hardware vendors. Maybe so, but appearently those vendors either think it's too hard to write proper Vista drivers, or they are not too convinced that the development investment will help in higher sales...
What I don't onderstand is that this is merged into the 2.6 kernel tree today. What has happened to the concept of -stable (2.6) and -experimental (2.7) trees? This would be aperfect opportunity to open the next experimental branche..
Further delay aint happening. Vista will be out the door, regardless of the remaining bugs. They still have 'patch tuesday' to make updates, and the installation sequence itself already includes an initial update phase. So any really big bugs that remain present in the RTM build can still be fixed later.
Well, hi there, Aaron.
Don't you think that with this as public knowledge, people with bad intentions will make sure they order their ticket including return flight from a reputable travel agency (who couldn't care less who they sell their ticket to), using a pristine 'John Smith' passport showing no irregularities whatsoever? It's pretty easy to hijack the identity of any John Smith so the passport and records would be just peachy. No problem traveling with well-known airlines either, and I'm sure they won't tick the 'kosjer' box in the food selection box either. They may be scary backward folks, but they are *not* stupid.
.. Ehhhmm. Nope, it's not 1984. I'm confused.
So, may I ask what you will do with all your legally purchased PlaysforSure tracks once the player you use dies, and no new players are available?
Thank you for flushing your money down the drain... PlaysforSure?? Pay For Sure.
Following your logic, the best tactic would be to set up an open WiFi access point "by mistake". If you then get an inquiry, it's easy to show that anyone in a 250m radius could have accessed a P2P network through your IP address...
And how long will it take the next Windows virus / spyware program to infest you still-attached backup harddisk with the same sh*t that you need your restore for?
Try a technology that has been along for a lot longer. Get a decent tape drive. USB or Firewire makes it easy to attach, and backup of 150+ GB are simple. So far I have yet to see a virus that attacks tape devices.
This happened to a collegue who did field service on DEC PDP and VAX stuff..
;-)
One site had continuous problems with one of their VT100 serial terminals. It generated random characters during normal work, and it had been replaced six times already. The replaced terminal always checked out fine.
So my collegue decides to take an afternoon and observe the terminal in action... He quickly discovered the problem.. The secretary who uses the terminal is kinda 'big'... And she also has bad vision. So every once in a while, she leans over reeeal close to the screen to read it...
Just imagine the hard time my collegue had putting the root cause on his worksheet
Sheez.. Thanks for changing the headlines afterwards... It said MICE in the headline and RATS in the text.
Look! They turned paralized *MICE* into walking *RATS*..
Microsoft offered $30 Million in *SOFTWARE* license. That's not money. That's advertising. It's the same principle as drug dealers on the corner of the street offering free shots. Once the kids are hooked, they have nowhere else to go.
The schools can keep their $30 Million in the pocket when they use Open Source software just as well. The difference being that in a year from now they can get the next version for free too...
.. then they should do away with the propulsion system. This way, when some guy decides to push the button after all, you'll save the energy to fly the thing across the planet, be a lot safer because the engine can't fail, and also make the same savings for the folkes at the receiving end. They can then also detonate their own nuke locally, again reaping the benefits of saving.
Last but not least, you also save the 1 hour waiting time before total destruction...