I know that some BBC hacks seem to read/. (they don't mention it but there are too many story coincidences), maybe something will get passed back. Whether the current BBC could undertake such a major project now is debatable (also whether Microsoft would let them - they have far to much influence with the current government, and such a project needs govt support as well).
Funny no, actually kind of a +5 Insightful if you think of a distro backed by an educational program which runs on a relatively standard PC.
The BBC never produced a single computer, they just held a competition which was won by something that was extremely powerful at the time. However, once they had selected their system from the competing designs, they produced a series of programs which were linked to a UK govt initiative to get computers into schools.
It was far from perfect, but it worked and it was quite successful. Now they don't need to worry about a platform. They don't have to worry about the software (or even the packaging - think of Knoppix or the more configurable Morphix). All they need to do is to select a basic minimum system to present and to help out with broadcast material.
What you're describing is known as insider trading - it's a very serious offense and typically involves prison time. Ask Martha Stewart if you don't believe me.
Board members are obliged to reveal all their dealings in their company stock. Who says that the board member has the shares? It could be a relative. Insider trading is a specialised form of fraud and is exceptionally hard to prove in court.
Many years ago, I worked at a place that tried to monitor accident blackspots to allow simulations to be run as to what the vehicles would see and do. The end result was a CGI animation which was delivered to road research units.
The problem was that we could only get data when it was visible to the cameras and sensors and it cost a lot to equip a location. Putting the monitoring into a car would help.
Many people have noted that one application of road limits is safety but another, significant one is revenue generation.
In some places, there are part-time speed limits so it gets kind of complicated to know how fast you can go and when. I'm not happy about it being made even easier to secure convictions in these cases.
Sure allow the use of the information by the police, but only in the case of an accident.
The advantage of making and rendering the films in this way is that Weta's budget for adding effects has been scaled up as the dollars have rolled in from parts 1 and 2.
As for hardware, I guess they get a seriously good deal. Not only are they busing in *serious* bulk but a lot of vendors would like to be associated with the production (and maybe a credit line).
While they wouldn't be hip to shorter copyrights for software, microsoft could stand to benifit as well. Most of my believe in promoting inovation deals with products which lost their comercial value. Most microsoft products still have comercial value.
The thing is that MS would rather sell XP at $300 than 98 at $50. The older products would interfere with the revenue strem for the newer ones. Then there would be the legal support obligations.
The thing is that even the Pocket PC software is overkill for many applications. I haven't build embedded stuff since DOS days, but we could wrap DOS up with an extender (flat memory model is always easier to program in) and it was adequate for the job. Now people have either gone toward free-DOS or specialst RTOS systems.
Exactly, you have to be very careful as to how the software can be protected. Secure hardware makes it easier (non-executable stack and separate I and D spaces) but that isn't always possible (however Linux can ron on an x86 with non-exeutable stack).
The real key is designing so as small a part as possible of the system must be secured and then hand checking and testing of the critical code. MS isn't really good at either of these.
It really depends on how the VM is configured. If it is correctly setup then there is remarkably little that can be done. If you remember the so-called' "Orange" book standards for computer security, the only implementations for the highest level were virtual machines running under control of security refence monitor which had been extensively checked and tested.
The clever bit is keeping the code that needs verification relatively small, which is why I believe Microsoft will fail with Palladium. Knowing them, the trusted base will be too large to thoroughly check.
There are two issues here. Straight copyright and then release of source code. Would you believe that MS would really hate it if you could Win95 source code? If they had th rights only to the binaries, then source code could be extracted from the binaries. Although the specific implementation may be old, particular techniques tend to get reused over the years. Sometimes, core elements of software ten years or more old may reappear in current software.
That is their worry. At the same time, think how much it would do for the public good to have these old apps knocking around. Linux is one of the few places where you can see source code of large systems now. In former times, I saw the source code to OpenVMS (they used to give listings away with the licensed binaries) and I learned a lot from it.
I agree with you and so would many/. readers. Unfortunately the corps don't. OTOH, they have money but we (and the rest of the public) have the votes.
Actually in most cases, we were talking about five copies and more than one holding location.
One copy is better than none, it may survive for a while.
In ancient times when people used mag tapes for backup, it was the tape librarians job to check media periodically for correctable defects. If the defect count became noticeable, then the media would be transcribed and corrected. If the media was becoming outdated, i.e. 6250BPI against 800BPI, it would be transcribed.
With digital information, the media isn't the message. The message can be preserved. And to read 'the message', well that is why emulators are interesting.
In all of the original countries behind the Berne convention, there was a designated copyright repository, such as the Brirish Museum in the UK (more recently the National Library), Bibliotheke Nationale in France and so on.
In some countries, you were obliged to send your work in for registration on publication, whether or not copyright was being claimed.
In this digital age, it is easy to generate a copy. However, documents, whether books, music or software may go out of 'print' copmparitively early in the lifetime of their copyright and then be lost before the copyright expires.
DRM is just one application of a trusted platform. The others are benign, ensuring that only software that you trust can take certain actions like intercepting keystrokes or sending Email.
The problem is that the trusted layer *must* be small so that it can be completely verified. Applications can't be so easily verified and it would still be possible to compromise Outlook, for example to send unwanted EMail. All the signature does is to say that the software hasn't been modified, but we know that applications don't need bad code to misbehave, they only need the right kind of bad data. Once the code has been signed, it must be signed again verey time it is patched. A far from simple logistical problem.
OTOH, smaller code may be more easily verified - so a driver for a Smart Card reader could be protected, as could SSL. However a programmer can still make a mistake and allow the code to be compromised.
A VM is small, with limited functionality, so that it can be easily verified. Any OS is much larger and thus much more difficult to verify that it is working correctly and maintaining integrity.
A secure VM implementation allows an untrusted system to be run on the same platform as trusted code. Just say I was running Windows with that new nasty little worm/trojan that does keyboard interception. I can have one instance of Windows for home-banking and another for Email. If the executable code for each instance was kept separate, the instance where I received it may be toasted but the one used for banking access would have no problem.
In theory, every copyright protected book and journal has to be lodged with a designated library in each country. How on earth is it possible that Software does not? The principle of copyright was limited protection in return for disclosure (explicitly including the official library copies).
IIRC, SA just diddled with the accuracy of the clock signal. However, the errors would average out over a period of time, in the same way that propagation delays will. A relative of mine was using these devices in the eighties for generating reference points for surveys.
Rumour has it that SA can be enabled to deny accuracy across specified regions (rumour has it that this was used in the most recent Iraq conflict). However, you could always wait.
No contract can prevent you from disclosing information in court. No contract can oblige you to do anything against the law. This is about as basic a contract law as you can get. An NDA that didn't give an execption about testimony is in itself on dubious legal grounds which is why it is explictly permitted.
From what I remember that after fueling and before the shuttle starts moving, there tends to be condensation forming on the exterior of the external tank (even with the foam insulation. The condensation tends to freeze.
I don't know how fast the air friction melts this, but wouldn't foam laden with ice be even worse?
My apologies, I thought I was replying to Acidic_Diarrhea's post. I agree with you, seatbelts do help protect against a lot of injuries and it is a valid area for government intervention (as are data formats).
First of all, now that Selective Availability has been disabled, stationary GPS can easily give accuracy down to a couple of metres or better. However, even when SA was enabled, surveyors could always get cm level data out of a GPS simply because they could leave the station sitting and let it average out the passes. If you are building a road, you normally want to fix it down to the cm level, because it is embarrassing when a bridge, for example, doesn't fit. Any major construction project has at least one well known point from which the land survey is based. This point connects the survey coordinate system with a general coordinate system (such as latitude and longitude from WGS84). This used to be done optically but over the last 15 years or so, GPS has been used and has performed well.
For continental drift, they need mm level data. I guess, they just leave the station for a longer time to get even more passes.
Whether you like or you don't like restrictions on the individual, restrictions on the government are evry important. Otherwise, business can just bribe their way into contracts and regulations can formulated so that your competitors suffer.
Actually as an aside, I've alway wondered that, given the fact that corruption is almost unescapable, wouldn't it just be better to have an open market for politicians and officials with an auction process? When we know how much they can make, then they can bid for their own positions.
Anyway, back to the matter in hand. It is to the advantage of the people if the government isn't tied to a particular vendor by their data formats? Even within an organisation, data formats can be annoying, which is why many organisations license at least MS Word and Excel to everyone except the cleaners so data can propagate
As regards the ability to use anything for temporary work, this sounds reasonable. However, this can be a problem because information may not be availÃable in an open format until a project is finished. Once it is finished, it may not be possible to reopen a project.
For example, I can edit with MS Word and then I can use Distiller to produce pdfs, which sounds fine. However, must I buy Acrobat to reopen the project? Where are the original MS Word documents?
Nice troll and almost completely incorrect. You can still suffer from major internal bleeding with a seatbelt and in any case, you are still prone to decelleration injuries on major organs in a seat belt. However, by not flying around, you are *still* less likely to cause injuries to yourself or others.
Slashdot Mirror
I know that some BBC hacks seem to read /. (they don't mention it but there are too many story coincidences), maybe something will get passed back. Whether the current BBC could undertake such a major project now is debatable (also whether Microsoft would let them - they have far to much influence with the current government, and such a project needs govt support as well).
MS don't give you a language other than Windows Scripting sHell anymore. However, a Perl/Tk or Python/Tk installation is easy to make on Win or Linux.
The BBC never produced a single computer, they just held a competition which was won by something that was extremely powerful at the time. However, once they had selected their system from the competing designs, they produced a series of programs which were linked to a UK govt initiative to get computers into schools.
It was far from perfect, but it worked and it was quite successful. Now they don't need to worry about a platform. They don't have to worry about the software (or even the packaging - think of Knoppix or the more configurable Morphix). All they need to do is to select a basic minimum system to present and to help out with broadcast material.
The problem was that we could only get data when it was visible to the cameras and sensors and it cost a lot to equip a location. Putting the monitoring into a car would help.
In some places, there are part-time speed limits so it gets kind of complicated to know how fast you can go and when. I'm not happy about it being made even easier to secure convictions in these cases.
Sure allow the use of the information by the police, but only in the case of an accident.
As for hardware, I guess they get a seriously good deal. Not only are they busing in *serious* bulk but a lot of vendors would like to be associated with the production (and maybe a credit line).
The real key is designing so as small a part as possible of the system must be secured and then hand checking and testing of the critical code. MS isn't really good at either of these.
The clever bit is keeping the code that needs verification relatively small, which is why I believe Microsoft will fail with Palladium. Knowing them, the trusted base will be too large to thoroughly check.
That is their worry. At the same time, think how much it would do for the public good to have these old apps knocking around. Linux is one of the few places where you can see source code of large systems now. In former times, I saw the source code to OpenVMS (they used to give listings away with the licensed binaries) and I learned a lot from it.
I agree with you and so would many /. readers. Unfortunately the corps don't. OTOH, they have money but we (and the rest of the public) have the votes.
One copy is better than none, it may survive for a while.
In ancient times when people used mag tapes for backup, it was the tape librarians job to check media periodically for correctable defects. If the defect count became noticeable, then the media would be transcribed and corrected. If the media was becoming outdated, i.e. 6250BPI against 800BPI, it would be transcribed.
With digital information, the media isn't the message. The message can be preserved. And to read 'the message', well that is why emulators are interesting.
In some countries, you were obliged to send your work in for registration on publication, whether or not copyright was being claimed.
In this digital age, it is easy to generate a copy. However, documents, whether books, music or software may go out of 'print' copmparitively early in the lifetime of their copyright and then be lost before the copyright expires.
The problem is that the trusted layer *must* be small so that it can be completely verified. Applications can't be so easily verified and it would still be possible to compromise Outlook, for example to send unwanted EMail. All the signature does is to say that the software hasn't been modified, but we know that applications don't need bad code to misbehave, they only need the right kind of bad data. Once the code has been signed, it must be signed again verey time it is patched. A far from simple logistical problem.
OTOH, smaller code may be more easily verified - so a driver for a Smart Card reader could be protected, as could SSL. However a programmer can still make a mistake and allow the code to be compromised.
A secure VM implementation allows an untrusted system to be run on the same platform as trusted code. Just say I was running Windows with that new nasty little worm/trojan that does keyboard interception. I can have one instance of Windows for home-banking and another for Email. If the executable code for each instance was kept separate, the instance where I received it may be toasted but the one used for banking access would have no problem.
In theory, every copyright protected book and journal has to be lodged with a designated library in each country. How on earth is it possible that Software does not? The principle of copyright was limited protection in return for disclosure (explicitly including the official library copies).
Just don't connect it to a modem or LAN.....
Rumour has it that SA can be enabled to deny accuracy across specified regions (rumour has it that this was used in the most recent Iraq conflict). However, you could always wait.
Militarily, this isn't much use, because mostly you wouldn't want to wait a few hours for the fix to complete, standing in one position.
No contract can prevent you from disclosing information in court. No contract can oblige you to do anything against the law. This is about as basic a contract law as you can get. An NDA that didn't give an execption about testimony is in itself on dubious legal grounds which is why it is explictly permitted.
I don't know how fast the air friction melts this, but wouldn't foam laden with ice be even worse?
My apologies, I thought I was replying to Acidic_Diarrhea's post. I agree with you, seatbelts do help protect against a lot of injuries and it is a valid area for government intervention (as are data formats).
For continental drift, they need mm level data. I guess, they just leave the station for a longer time to get even more passes.
Actually as an aside, I've alway wondered that, given the fact that corruption is almost unescapable, wouldn't it just be better to have an open market for politicians and officials with an auction process? When we know how much they can make, then they can bid for their own positions.
Anyway, back to the matter in hand. It is to the advantage of the people if the government isn't tied to a particular vendor by their data formats? Even within an organisation, data formats can be annoying, which is why many organisations license at least MS Word and Excel to everyone except the cleaners so data can propagate
As regards the ability to use anything for temporary work, this sounds reasonable. However, this can be a problem because information may not be availÃable in an open format until a project is finished. Once it is finished, it may not be possible to reopen a project.
For example, I can edit with MS Word and then I can use Distiller to produce pdfs, which sounds fine. However, must I buy Acrobat to reopen the project? Where are the original MS Word documents?
Nice troll and almost completely incorrect. You can still suffer from major internal bleeding with a seatbelt and in any case, you are still prone to decelleration injuries on major organs in a seat belt. However, by not flying around, you are *still* less likely to cause injuries to yourself or others.