Thanks very much for your explanation. It helped me understand what the issues are from a non-fanatical point of view. I appreciate the time you took in putting your answer together.
The GPL ensures that no one has more (or less) control over the the code than the author.
All licences, by definition, are issued by the controlling party (i.e. author or legal rights holder) to the users.
I appreciate your comment; however, this still doesn't answer the original question: How is the GPL superior to other licences?
And no, this was not intended as a troll nor as flamebait. I really want to understand how the GPL is better than other Open Source licences. I understand why some people consider Open Source licences superior to commercial licences (I release software under both types of licences depending on business objectives). This is about understanding why people get so hot and bothered about the GPL.
I love Python. I thought the previous licences were more than adequate. I never saw the need for Python to be "GPL-compatible", nor do I think the GPL is a particularly good licence to begin with.
This isn't intended as a flame. I would like to know why many people in the community are so hung up on the GPL. How is it better than the Apache, BSD, Mozilla, Artistic or other licences? As we know, the GPL hasn't been challenged in court anyway, and it does appear to be unnecessarily wordy and extremely adverse to business. Instead of flaming me, please explain what is so good about the GPL. Thanks in advance!
When I read of events like this I can't stop but think this is analogous to a marketing pressure in the business world. "Look," the licensors might say, "those guys released their software as GPL; we must do it too!"
With all due respect to the author, I think he's being extremely sensitive to a negative review. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
The symbolism in 2001 has been a source of extensive interpretation by anyone who has bothered to see the movie at least once. The sources of inspiration as well as the creative process behind the film and novel are discussed in detail in Arthur C. Clarke's The Lost Worlds of 2001. The book is entertaining and informational, and, for those looking for symbolism and the motivation to have it in the movie, pay particular attention to chapter 4. Clarke discusses there the goals Kubrick had set even before they teamed up to write the movie.
For what is worth,
The Lost Worlds of 2001
Arthur C. Clarke
Signet Books (possibly out of print)
ISBN 0-451-12536-3
I've been a user of Brightmail for a long time. Brightmail produces a spam filtering mechanism that works at the ISP level. I love their product! Unfortunately they are discontinuing their Free Brightmail program and are asking their users to move to one of many ISPs (Excite, Earthlink, etc.) who are already implementing their software. Free Brightmail will be No More after 1.June, and they have no plans at this time to sell the service to individuals and/or small companies (our case). Check out http://www.brightmail.com for details.
The way I understand it, Brightmail's filtering works with context heuristics rather than lame IP address blocking. It's been very efficient for us, and it had the option to turn filtering on/off in case a legitimate message got caught by mistake. You could define the heuristics for such messages to get through. Their operational model was similar to the anti-virus services out there: It relied to a degree on spam being reported by the Brightmail users. They have other mechanisms that I can't discuss now (NDA) but you get the idea.
Does anyone in this forum know of a similar service (free or paid) that will provide filtering?
In 1992 - 1993 I was involved in an ergonomics experiment sponsored by the Bank of America New Technology Centre. The experiment gauged, among other things, how much time it took for people to reach for the mouse from their keyboard.
The results were very surprising: Right-handed people who train themselves to use the mouse with their left hand were 40% faster at completing tasks under Windows and OS/2. This had to do with the following:
The Presentation Manager guidelines allowed for some strange mappings of keys and mouse movements
On a standard PC keyboard, cursor movement, insert/delete/home/end/pgup/pgdn keys, and the numeric pad are on the right
For those of you too young to remember this, Presentation Manager was the user interface standard proposed by IBM and implemented by OS/2 and Windows 3.x. Many of its ugly recommendations are still enforced in Microsoft systems.
It was measured that many tasks were accomplished faster by navigating with the mouse (left hand) to a given screen area, then using the cursor, Enter, or control keys to perform an action, or use the numeric keys for data capture, etc.
I still use my mouse with the left hand. You may wish to try it! It only takes about a day or so to get used to the new position. No, I didn't change the buttons' configuration. Left button is still left button even though I use the mouse with the left hand. It's a lot easier to move the mouse to the left of the keyboard on a system that doesn't belong to you than to re-map the buttons::wink::.
I will ask if they ever published this research; if they did, I'll post back a follow up comment with the link to it.
Cheers!
E
Digital projection in San Francisco
on
Reviews:Shrek
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· Score: 5
Greetings!
For those of you who live in San Francisco or close by in the Bay Area, Shreck is playing in full digital projection format at the AMC 1000 Van Ness theatres. I saw it there last night. Watching the film so clearly was awesome.
What about: any large-scale application where performance and stability matter?
That is exactly my point. "Any" is not meaningful. "Any" sounds like snake oil to the person who is first exposed to your technology (blame the hordes of marketeers that preceded you). Finding a specific problem where you can empirically demonstrate that LX and Mozart outperform other means (in uptime, cost, stability, development time, etc.) will focus your efforts and your PR. That will bring people to use your technology, and they, in turn, can discover that the technology is excellent for other applications.
Mirror the success of others. Java started in the applet space. It's now used for developing everything from web to embedded to hard real-time applications. It took some time, but people eventually came around to realize the many uses of the technology.
Congratulations on your development of LX. It seems like you've made excellent progress so far, and the language definition and examples are useful for understanding the language itself. It looks cool.
Rather than commenting on the language and its features, I'd suggest that you identify a problem domain where your language (and Mozart) are a better solution than any other options out there. This will allow users to identify your language more quickly and bring more users to it. When people think of Java they think "the language of the web." PERL? "The duct tape of the Internet." I'm sure you get the idea.
I'm an occasional Napster user. I mostly download tracks for old 70's and 80's music for which I own the vinyl records but that I didn't bring with me to the US. I also download current music not available in the US because the recordings are in Russian, French, Spanish, or some other foreign language.
I realized that tracking the IP address down was probably the next step by recording companies. What I do now (Napster and Gnutella) is simple: I don't share directories for longer than it takes me to download a track or two. I also purge my music directories periodically, moving the downloaded files to a non-public part of the disk. This reduces the risk of someone downloading files from my system, thus my IP address is less exposed.
Purging the public directories also has a nice side effect: Most of the time you can kill your Napster session without having to worry about "uploads in progress."
Before you start flaming: I make "music collections" available once per week by sharing additional directories for several hours over a dial-up IP independent of my high-speed connection. That way I can make some of those files available to others.
There are a couple of cultures that dispute the invention of zero: The Mayans and the Indians. The Mayans came up with the concept of zero sometime around two thousand five hundred years ago, and used it in their calculations and other symbolic representations. For example, the Mayan origin of time is at 31.August, 3114 BC. This was expressed in Mayan as: 13-0-0-0-0, and could be read as 13 cycles of 400 years ago. This cycle ends on 27.December.2012, where the Mayan calendar will roll back to 1-0-0-0-0.
Unlike our numeric system, the Mayan system was base 20 (does that mean they began counting with their fingers and toes? Those sandals sure are useful in tropical climates...). Zero is used to express "the beginning before the count".
It is argued that the number zero was also invented in India and adopted by the Arabs around 1000 AD. Archeological findings (AFAIK -- AINAA), however, place the invention of zero in the hands of the Mayans at least 500 years before.
Re:Question to all( 'lawyers as a necessary evil')
on
One-Click Reprise
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· Score: 1
Anonymous Coward wrote:
on the other hand, it will also
make sure you cannot create any software without violating someone elses patent. Small companies cannot afford to hire lawyers to
check everything they thing up against all the patents issued worldwide
First of all, patents are only searched in the area of your jurisdiction. Since the largest, most important market in the world is the US, that's where you start. Patent law varies from country to country, and you pursue patents based on your business plan, i.e. you tend to patent things in Europe and the EU, for example. The search is not a worldwide wild chase. Also, getting a second patent in a different country might be easier if you can prove that there was "prior art" already patented elsewhere.
I've been very lucky to have participated in three different startups. The first was very successful, the second one tanked, this is my third one. What I learned during the second experience is simple: One of the first steps is that you must hire the most competent law firm you can find.
The cost of your counsel, when compared with the cost of not having it, is actually negligible. We're going through a patent search process now, and while it is expensive, it is cheaper for us to have the law firm do it than to assign someone from our staff to take care of it. And, unlike what you mentioned in your comment, we can't afford not having the knowledge.
Patents do not offer any competitive advantage. The slightest improvement on your work opens up the playing field.
I disagree with you on this point. Having a patent can help you collect royalties from third parties using your idea, which in turn you can use for expanding your R&D and/or your company's presence. A patent may also be used as a barrier to entry against competitors. From a business point of view, I want to either make it as hard as possible for my competitors to get a leg up on me, or turn them into partners by licencing my technology to them.
I found the other points in your posting thought-provoking and on-target. Thank you.
Actually, if you read the entire article (but i think you got confused), the benefits of free software (being able to modify, and redistribute said
modifications) is part of the features that the interview mentions.
The web article was more focused on the economic benefits of using Linux (i.e. no license cost) than on Open Source issues. There were only one or two sentences on free software (libre y gratis).
I do not know if that is on the web version, but it was definetly in the printed version (which also included a mini-FAQ on the whole Linux
thing).
There wasn't a mini-FAQ in the on-line version I read. Perhaps it was a URL? I couldn't find it, though.
En dónde encontraste copias impresas del periódico "Reforma" de hoy?
I tried, I really tried to translate this but the reporter's writing is horrible. Even if you're not a Spanish speaker you can tell that she writes these loooong sentences without punctuation. She also has lots incomplete sentences. The article is very hard to read, even in Spanish. Don't blame babelfish for the weird sentences.
Rather than translating this whole aberration, I will try to summarize the important points, below.
This applies to the government of Mexico City only, i.e. Mexico D.F. Think of it as the government of the District of Columbia in the US.
The replacement is application driven; apparently some database is in existence and will be replaced with Linux and an unmention database.
The saved monies will be allocated instead to the poverty programmes in Mexico City.
They have a pilot program that begain in September 2000 and will go full speed beginning 2Q 2001.
The pilot programmes were implemented at various DMV offices throughout Mexico City.
The rest of the article is an interview with the chief coordinator of the project, Mr. Jose Barberan. It rehashes all the usual points: Monetary cost, risk factors, etc. He mentions that they are planning to replace Windows and other operating systems currently in use, possibly mid-range and mainframes, with Linux.
Other than the tentative start date, they haven't finished planning the implementation and roll-out.
The highest priority in the agenda is system security during roll-out.
Ideológically, they don't care if they use Linux or Windows. The decision is driven strictly by monetary cost.
The rest of the article talks about operational issues, such as how will the new system interface with other government agencies (local, state, federal), and how it will help in specific circumstances such as tracking stolen cars.
You can read the partial translation at: http://gala.cime.net:8080/~ciurana/linux_in_df.htm l. I added some comments to the partial translation where they would help clarify context (i.e. what's the current peso-dollar exchange rate).
I'm asking this question because it seems like there are two major groups of/. members: The ones who think "all software patents are bad" and a few (like me) who think "this software patent is bad".
Please understand that this isn't flamebait. I'm very interested in understanding why so many people in the/. community think that patents are wrong.
As an entrepreneur and systems architect I advocate the approval of patents because that will give us one or more of the following:
A competitive advantage
The ability to raise more capital from investors
A potential marketing edge
Having said that, I can see why awarding the one-click patent to Amazon might rub people the wrong way. There isn't a substantially new discovery or technique in their claim. In fact, it looks more like the machinations of their IP attorneys.
This is an excellent article. Whereas the layoffs are sad, sad news (and happening all over), there are reasons to keep plowing ahead.
Dan Gillmor wrote in his article:
I've decided to give Linux and Nautilus the acid test. I'm going to load them on a laptop before my next trip and see if I can survive on the road without Windows. Stay tuned.
We routinely travel all over the world with our Linux-based laptops. We configured them with Gnome and KDE, and they all have StarOffice 5.2. We're thus able to open all the Microsoft Office documents from Linux in case it's necessary.
Besides, counterintelligence is the FBI's job, [not] the CIA's.
Counterintelligence is both the CIA's and the FBI's job. The CIA has the power to investigate any leaks within its walls, among its staff, etc. It's only after they find evidence that they turn matters over to the FBI, who build the case for prosecution and add to the evidence gathering efforts beyond the CIA's walls.
As for Ames and Howard, it was shown during congressional hearings that there had been plenty of warnings (i.e. alcoholism, spending beyond the officer's means, etc.) way before they were discovered (or caught in the case of Ames), and evidence of either incompetence or plain sabotage, yet their supervising officers did nothing but file a report that nobody looked at until it was too late.
Again, the most important part of CI work is the human element, not the fancy gizmos.
Another intelligence official, on condition of anonymity, said: "If they have this kind of technology to plumb the depths of open sources, you can imagine what kind of technologies they have to track down spies."
All this technology wasn't good enough to track down Aldrich Ames, Edward Lee Howard, or the FBI's Hannsen, who together are probably the biggest moles in the history of espionage. People forget that tools are useful/automatic, but they aren't intelligent. Someone must be at the controls to interpret and act on the data. This tool sounds great, and there could be potential civilian uses beyond CI, but people must remember it's only a tool.
Some of my friends occasionally invited my girlfriend and me to gatherings at the San Francisco Yacht Club and one of the better golf clubs in the peninsula. My girlfriend discovered that mobile phones don't work inside the club houses at either location. They have a sign where they politely ask people to turn off their cell phones, and obviously have something blocking the signal going in or out of the building.
I don't believe, though, that either place is using active jammers. I think they use some kind of passive technology, such as RF reflective material covering the walls and roof of the building. The RF silence, however, is total. Cell phones don't light up until you are well outside the club house, where you won't disturb others.
Personally I think this is a good idea. It's always annoying having to deal with someone with a cell phone at the next table in a restaurant or during a movie or (worse!) during a play or ballet. As my brother says: "If you're so important that you can't miss a call, you usually have a chauffer waiting for you outside answering the phone in your limo." I haven't personally carried a mobile phone since 1997 (I was addicted to them before), and realized that there is no call so important that it can't wait. The best strategy for closing important business is good planning, not your ability to answer a phone 24 hours a day.
I was involved with the people who first put forth the concept of nonlethals. I worked with them between 1993 and 1998. I think that this is a good development overall because it helps to enforce what Janet Morris (nonlethal doctrine proposer) and Marine Sgt. Robert Walsh [ret.] described as the force continuum.
The force continuum is the application of different techniques to deterr an attacker or to stop a mob. At the lowest end you have visual and auditory cues, such as "no trespassing". At the high end you have to face lethal force, such as an M-16 or a rocket launcher. Nonlethal doctrine establishes this force continuum so that you have a greater number of options to apply between those two extremes. The idea is that in a confrontation, you will first warn. If that fails, use a deterrent. If that fails, use a stronger deterrent, and so on.
The V-MADS system talked about in the article is one more option for deterring an attacker, and it should not be taken in its own context. Nonlethal weapons and doctrine were created in response to geopolitical changes that metamorphosed the US armed forces from a military to a global quasi-police force. Political, diplomatic, legal and humanitarian pressures make it undesirable or impractical to blast an enemy to the Stone Age or to indiscriminately attack (and kill) a horde armed with sticks, stones, and Molotovs because our forces have better lethal alternatives. The force continuum gives you a wide range of options between diplomacy and military obliteration.
La palabra diablo significa 'devil' en español. Si alguna de las partes ganan esta demanda, la Iglesia Católica en España e Hiberoamérica pudiera ser atacada legalmente por utilizar esta palabra.
The word diablo means 'devil' in Spanish. If either party winds this dispute, the Catholic church in Spain and all Latinamerican countries might be legally attacked for using this word.
What's next? Some jerk-offs trademarking every-day use words? Wait... it's already happening...
I have been very fortunate in having had the chance of living in several different countries. So far I can say that, based on experience, privacy is better safeguarded in European countries.
I think the two countries where I lived and where privacy was part of the national agenda were Leichtenstein and Switzerland. I have become very disillusioned with the state of affairs in the US when it comes to this fundamental right. The Americans could learn a lot from the Swiss.
As for privacy on-line, we must all be proactive in protecting it. Some things I routinely do:
Install JunkBuster and keep your blocking files up to date.
Use bogus information whenever you are asked to register to a site (the guys from the nyt.com must be wondering why so many Salvadoreans read the Film section on Fridays)
If you're purchasing something, and have the option to do it on-line or over the phone, go over the phone. Check if the call desk uses a different entry system than the web-based system. If so, chances are better that your payment infos are a bit more protected.
Sign up with someone like BrightMail to filter all unwanted spam. It's free and it *works*
In the real world: Refuse to give your social security number or other identifying information unless it's clearly stated by the person asking what they'll use it for. My HMO wanted the infos; I sent them to hell. I still got my medical care.
If you have the stomach for it, get a or make a good fake ID. There are several titles from the Paladin Press that can guide you on that one. Make sure that you use this for non-official business only.
I think that, bottom line, being street smart about your wanderings on- and off-line is the best protection for your privacy. Don't disclose any information that isn't compulsory.
Slashdot Mirror
Dear proxima,
Thanks very much for your explanation. It helped me understand what the issues are from a non-fanatical point of view. I appreciate the time you took in putting your answer together.
Best wishes,
Erfsayre wrote:
The GPL ensures that no one has more (or less) control over the the code than the author.
All licences, by definition, are issued by the controlling party (i.e. author or legal rights holder) to the users.
I appreciate your comment; however, this still doesn't answer the original question: How is the GPL superior to other licences?
And no, this was not intended as a troll nor as flamebait. I really want to understand how the GPL is better than other Open Source licences. I understand why some people consider Open Source licences superior to commercial licences (I release software under both types of licences depending on business objectives). This is about understanding why people get so hot and bothered about the GPL.
Thanks,
EI love Python. I thought the previous licences were more than adequate. I never saw the need for Python to be "GPL-compatible", nor do I think the GPL is a particularly good licence to begin with.
This isn't intended as a flame. I would like to know why many people in the community are so hung up on the GPL. How is it better than the Apache, BSD, Mozilla, Artistic or other licences? As we know, the GPL hasn't been challenged in court anyway, and it does appear to be unnecessarily wordy and extremely adverse to business. Instead of flaming me, please explain what is so good about the GPL. Thanks in advance!
When I read of events like this I can't stop but think this is analogous to a marketing pressure in the business world. "Look," the licensors might say, "those guys released their software as GPL; we must do it too!"
Take care,
EWith all due respect to the author, I think he's being extremely sensitive to a negative review. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
The symbolism in 2001 has been a source of extensive interpretation by anyone who has bothered to see the movie at least once. The sources of inspiration as well as the creative process behind the film and novel are discussed in detail in Arthur C. Clarke's The Lost Worlds of 2001. The book is entertaining and informational, and, for those looking for symbolism and the motivation to have it in the movie, pay particular attention to chapter 4. Clarke discusses there the goals Kubrick had set even before they teamed up to write the movie.
For what is worth,
The Lost Worlds of 2001
Arthur C. Clarke
Signet Books (possibly out of print)
ISBN 0-451-12536-3
Cheers!
EI've been a user of Brightmail for a long time. Brightmail produces a spam filtering mechanism that works at the ISP level. I love their product! Unfortunately they are discontinuing their Free Brightmail program and are asking their users to move to one of many ISPs (Excite, Earthlink, etc.) who are already implementing their software. Free Brightmail will be No More after 1.June, and they have no plans at this time to sell the service to individuals and/or small companies (our case). Check out http://www.brightmail.com for details.
The way I understand it, Brightmail's filtering works with context heuristics rather than lame IP address blocking. It's been very efficient for us, and it had the option to turn filtering on/off in case a legitimate message got caught by mistake. You could define the heuristics for such messages to get through. Their operational model was similar to the anti-virus services out there: It relied to a degree on spam being reported by the Brightmail users. They have other mechanisms that I can't discuss now (NDA) but you get the idea.
Does anyone in this forum know of a similar service (free or paid) that will provide filtering?
Thanks in advance,
EIn 1992 - 1993 I was involved in an ergonomics experiment sponsored by the Bank of America New Technology Centre. The experiment gauged, among other things, how much time it took for people to reach for the mouse from their keyboard.
The results were very surprising: Right-handed people who train themselves to use the mouse with their left hand were 40% faster at completing tasks under Windows and OS/2. This had to do with the following:
For those of you too young to remember this, Presentation Manager was the user interface standard proposed by IBM and implemented by OS/2 and Windows 3.x. Many of its ugly recommendations are still enforced in Microsoft systems.
It was measured that many tasks were accomplished faster by navigating with the mouse (left hand) to a given screen area, then using the cursor, Enter, or control keys to perform an action, or use the numeric keys for data capture, etc.
I still use my mouse with the left hand. You may wish to try it! It only takes about a day or so to get used to the new position. No, I didn't change the buttons' configuration. Left button is still left button even though I use the mouse with the left hand. It's a lot easier to move the mouse to the left of the keyboard on a system that doesn't belong to you than to re-map the buttons ::wink::.
I will ask if they ever published this research; if they did, I'll post back a follow up comment with the link to it.
Cheers!
EGreetings!
For those of you who live in San Francisco or close by in the Bay Area, Shreck is playing in full digital projection format at the AMC 1000 Van Ness theatres. I saw it there last night. Watching the film so clearly was awesome.
Cheers!
EGreetings!
In your comments you wrote:
What about: any large-scale application where performance and stability matter?
That is exactly my point. "Any" is not meaningful. "Any" sounds like snake oil to the person who is first exposed to your technology (blame the hordes of marketeers that preceded you). Finding a specific problem where you can empirically demonstrate that LX and Mozart outperform other means (in uptime, cost, stability, development time, etc.) will focus your efforts and your PR. That will bring people to use your technology, and they, in turn, can discover that the technology is excellent for other applications.
Mirror the success of others. Java started in the applet space. It's now used for developing everything from web to embedded to hard real-time applications. It took some time, but people eventually came around to realize the many uses of the technology.
Good luck,
ECongratulations on your development of LX. It seems like you've made excellent progress so far, and the language definition and examples are useful for understanding the language itself. It looks cool.
Rather than commenting on the language and its features, I'd suggest that you identify a problem domain where your language (and Mozart) are a better solution than any other options out there. This will allow users to identify your language more quickly and bring more users to it. When people think of Java they think "the language of the web." PERL? "The duct tape of the Internet." I'm sure you get the idea.
Cheers!
EI'm an occasional Napster user. I mostly download tracks for old 70's and 80's music for which I own the vinyl records but that I didn't bring with me to the US. I also download current music not available in the US because the recordings are in Russian, French, Spanish, or some other foreign language.
I realized that tracking the IP address down was probably the next step by recording companies. What I do now (Napster and Gnutella) is simple: I don't share directories for longer than it takes me to download a track or two. I also purge my music directories periodically, moving the downloaded files to a non-public part of the disk. This reduces the risk of someone downloading files from my system, thus my IP address is less exposed.
Purging the public directories also has a nice side effect: Most of the time you can kill your Napster session without having to worry about "uploads in progress."
Before you start flaming: I make "music collections" available once per week by sharing additional directories for several hours over a dial-up IP independent of my high-speed connection. That way I can make some of those files available to others.
Comments?
Ew00ly mammoth wrote:
Who invented the zero?
There are a couple of cultures that dispute the invention of zero: The Mayans and the Indians. The Mayans came up with the concept of zero sometime around two thousand five hundred years ago, and used it in their calculations and other symbolic representations. For example, the Mayan origin of time is at 31.August, 3114 BC. This was expressed in Mayan as: 13-0-0-0-0, and could be read as 13 cycles of 400 years ago. This cycle ends on 27.December.2012, where the Mayan calendar will roll back to 1-0-0-0-0.
Unlike our numeric system, the Mayan system was base 20 (does that mean they began counting with their fingers and toes? Those sandals sure are useful in tropical climates...). Zero is used to express "the beginning before the count".
It is argued that the number zero was also invented in India and adopted by the Arabs around 1000 AD. Archeological findings (AFAIK -- AINAA), however, place the invention of zero in the hands of the Mayans at least 500 years before.
Please feel free to correct my ignorance.
Cheers!
EI set a mirror up with the following titles:
Both movies require QuickTime.
Cheers!
EI meant in Europe and the US, above.
EAnonymous Coward wrote:
on the other hand, it will also make sure you cannot create any software without violating someone elses patent. Small companies cannot afford to hire lawyers to check everything they thing up against all the patents issued worldwide
First of all, patents are only searched in the area of your jurisdiction. Since the largest, most important market in the world is the US, that's where you start. Patent law varies from country to country, and you pursue patents based on your business plan, i.e. you tend to patent things in Europe and the EU, for example. The search is not a worldwide wild chase. Also, getting a second patent in a different country might be easier if you can prove that there was "prior art" already patented elsewhere.
I've been very lucky to have participated in three different startups. The first was very successful, the second one tanked, this is my third one. What I learned during the second experience is simple: One of the first steps is that you must hire the most competent law firm you can find.
The cost of your counsel, when compared with the cost of not having it, is actually negligible. We're going through a patent search process now, and while it is expensive, it is cheaper for us to have the law firm do it than to assign someone from our staff to take care of it. And, unlike what you mentioned in your comment, we can't afford not having the knowledge.
Cheers!
ERares Marian wrote:
Patents do not offer any competitive advantage. The slightest improvement on your work opens up the playing field.
I disagree with you on this point. Having a patent can help you collect royalties from third parties using your idea, which in turn you can use for expanding your R&D and/or your company's presence. A patent may also be used as a barrier to entry against competitors. From a business point of view, I want to either make it as hard as possible for my competitors to get a leg up on me, or turn them into partners by licencing my technology to them.
I found the other points in your posting thought-provoking and on-target. Thank you.
Regards,
Emiguel wrote:
Actually, if you read the entire article (but i think you got confused), the benefits of free software (being able to modify, and redistribute said modifications) is part of the features that the interview mentions.
The web article was more focused on the economic benefits of using Linux (i.e. no license cost) than on Open Source issues. There were only one or two sentences on free software (libre y gratis).
I do not know if that is on the web version, but it was definetly in the printed version (which also included a mini-FAQ on the whole Linux thing).
There wasn't a mini-FAQ in the on-line version I read. Perhaps it was a URL? I couldn't find it, though.
En dónde encontraste copias impresas del periódico "Reforma" de hoy?
Cheers!
EugenioI tried, I really tried to translate this but the reporter's writing is horrible. Even if you're not a Spanish speaker you can tell that she writes these loooong sentences without punctuation. She also has lots incomplete sentences. The article is very hard to read, even in Spanish. Don't blame babelfish for the weird sentences.
Rather than translating this whole aberration, I will try to summarize the important points, below.
You can read the partial translation at: http://gala.cime.net:8080/~ciurana/linux_in_df.htm l. I added some comments to the partial translation where they would help clarify context (i.e. what's the current peso-dollar exchange rate).
Take care and cheers!
EI'm asking this question because it seems like there are two major groups of /. members: The ones who think "all software patents are bad" and a few (like me) who think " this software patent is bad".
Please understand that this isn't flamebait. I'm very interested in understanding why so many people in the /. community think that patents are wrong.
As an entrepreneur and systems architect I advocate the approval of patents because that will give us one or more of the following:
Having said that, I can see why awarding the one-click patent to Amazon might rub people the wrong way. There isn't a substantially new discovery or technique in their claim. In fact, it looks more like the machinations of their IP attorneys.
Please share your thoughts. Thanks,
EThis is an excellent article. Whereas the layoffs are sad, sad news (and happening all over), there are reasons to keep plowing ahead.
Dan Gillmor wrote in his article:
I've decided to give Linux and Nautilus the acid test. I'm going to load them on a laptop before my next trip and see if I can survive on the road without Windows. Stay tuned.
We routinely travel all over the world with our Linux-based laptops. We configured them with Gnome and KDE, and they all have StarOffice 5.2. We're thus able to open all the Microsoft Office documents from Linux in case it's necessary.
Cheers!
Edeeznutsclan wrote:
Besides, counterintelligence is the FBI's job, [not] the CIA's.
Counterintelligence is both the CIA's and the FBI's job. The CIA has the power to investigate any leaks within its walls, among its staff, etc. It's only after they find evidence that they turn matters over to the FBI, who build the case for prosecution and add to the evidence gathering efforts beyond the CIA's walls.
As for Ames and Howard, it was shown during congressional hearings that there had been plenty of warnings (i.e. alcoholism, spending beyond the officer's means, etc.) way before they were discovered (or caught in the case of Ames), and evidence of either incompetence or plain sabotage, yet their supervising officers did nothing but file a report that nobody looked at until it was too late.
Again, the most important part of CI work is the human element, not the fancy gizmos.
Cheers!
EFrom the last sentence in the article:
Another intelligence official, on condition of anonymity, said: "If they have this kind of technology to plumb the depths of open sources, you can imagine what kind of technologies they have to track down spies."
All this technology wasn't good enough to track down Aldrich Ames, Edward Lee Howard, or the FBI's Hannsen, who together are probably the biggest moles in the history of espionage. People forget that tools are useful/automatic, but they aren't intelligent. Someone must be at the controls to interpret and act on the data. This tool sounds great, and there could be potential civilian uses beyond CI, but people must remember it's only a tool.
Cheers!
ESome of my friends occasionally invited my girlfriend and me to gatherings at the San Francisco Yacht Club and one of the better golf clubs in the peninsula. My girlfriend discovered that mobile phones don't work inside the club houses at either location. They have a sign where they politely ask people to turn off their cell phones, and obviously have something blocking the signal going in or out of the building.
I don't believe, though, that either place is using active jammers. I think they use some kind of passive technology, such as RF reflective material covering the walls and roof of the building. The RF silence, however, is total. Cell phones don't light up until you are well outside the club house, where you won't disturb others.
Personally I think this is a good idea. It's always annoying having to deal with someone with a cell phone at the next table in a restaurant or during a movie or (worse!) during a play or ballet. As my brother says: "If you're so important that you can't miss a call, you usually have a chauffer waiting for you outside answering the phone in your limo." I haven't personally carried a mobile phone since 1997 (I was addicted to them before), and realized that there is no call so important that it can't wait. The best strategy for closing important business is good planning, not your ability to answer a phone 24 hours a day.
Cheers!
EI was involved with the people who first put forth the concept of nonlethals. I worked with them between 1993 and 1998. I think that this is a good development overall because it helps to enforce what Janet Morris (nonlethal doctrine proposer) and Marine Sgt. Robert Walsh [ret.] described as the force continuum.
The force continuum is the application of different techniques to deterr an attacker or to stop a mob. At the lowest end you have visual and auditory cues, such as "no trespassing". At the high end you have to face lethal force, such as an M-16 or a rocket launcher. Nonlethal doctrine establishes this force continuum so that you have a greater number of options to apply between those two extremes. The idea is that in a confrontation, you will first warn. If that fails, use a deterrent. If that fails, use a stronger deterrent, and so on.
The V-MADS system talked about in the article is one more option for deterring an attacker, and it should not be taken in its own context. Nonlethal weapons and doctrine were created in response to geopolitical changes that metamorphosed the US armed forces from a military to a global quasi-police force. Political, diplomatic, legal and humanitarian pressures make it undesirable or impractical to blast an enemy to the Stone Age or to indiscriminately attack (and kill) a horde armed with sticks, stones, and Molotovs because our forces have better lethal alternatives. The force continuum gives you a wide range of options between diplomacy and military obliteration.
For more information on nonlethals, including a whole section on gadgets (R&D and production) available as of 1997, check out The Nonlethal Weapons Catalog. For gadgets only, check out The Gentle Soldier's Shopping Cart.
Cheers!
ELa palabra diablo significa 'devil' en español. Si alguna de las partes ganan esta demanda, la Iglesia Católica en España e Hiberoamérica pudiera ser atacada legalmente por utilizar esta palabra.
The word diablo means 'devil' in Spanish. If either party winds this dispute, the Catholic church in Spain and all Latinamerican countries might be legally attacked for using this word.
What's next? Some jerk-offs trademarking every-day use words? Wait... it's already happening...
Saludos,
EI have been very fortunate in having had the chance of living in several different countries. So far I can say that, based on experience, privacy is better safeguarded in European countries.
I think the two countries where I lived and where privacy was part of the national agenda were Leichtenstein and Switzerland. I have become very disillusioned with the state of affairs in the US when it comes to this fundamental right. The Americans could learn a lot from the Swiss.
As for privacy on-line, we must all be proactive in protecting it. Some things I routinely do:
I think that, bottom line, being street smart about your wanderings on- and off-line is the best protection for your privacy. Don't disclose any information that isn't compulsory.
Cheers!
E