Might be useful to have the facts before we start ripping into MS -
Xbox Live's security is probably a signed key (Kerberos?) infrastructure (served by MS) that encrypts and authenticates all traffic at the stack level, whether games are peer-to-peer or server centric. But it still just runs over the 'net, the only 'closed' part is that keys are only given to Xbox subscribers. For $50/yr you get 'security', that's what you're really paying for.
Given that you can already network Xboxes w/o Xbox live (Halo parties), we know that an Xbox can talk in unencrypted TCP/IP... maybe the install disc for Xbox Live will turn this off tho? Anyone know if LAN-connected Xboxes use encryption?
Otherwise yes I agree, there's got to be some holes in it!
1) So long as anyone can register a domain name and write HTML code, the internet provides the ultimate means of exercising free speech.
2) 'Free speech' has never, and will never, entitle one to a popular forum. Warping freedom of expression into an entitlement to others' attention spans is a fascist notion.
3) Suggesting that the 'service' which slashdot.org filtering provides is somehow a detriment to our 'citizenry' is a load. School libraries are a different beast - they ask us if we should censor what our spawn should be exposed to. I've yet to hear of someone being held at gunpoint to level 5 threshold.
Leave it to a left wing nut to transform the single invention bringing the world one giant step closer to ubiquitous free speech, into a solvent for our precious 'social glue'.
Taking his ideas further (as he no doubt does in the book?) we are left with the plauge that is destroying our great colleges and universities, and turning academians into babbling socialists -- that exposure to divergent ideas itself should not be a choice, but a requirement to be placed upon citizens for the good of 'democracy'.
Mad ravings such as this only remind me that even something as wonderful as the internet can be perverted into liberal FUD.
Speaking as a 'technology-minded folk', I would say that the drinking laws are the least of the unattractive attributes of living in Utah. Religious reasons aside, I for one think it is close minded, unhealthy, and downright boring to live in such a homogeneous place (+90% majority). Unless I was a mormon myself, why in the world would I want to live in such an undiverse environment?
I won't go so far as to call the idea unAmerican, but to geographically insulate yourself from different opinions and mores, that's just not for me. They're welcome to stay out there, I'd rather find a nice warm melting pot thank you. I've always found having such a large country to be the best asset of the USA - don't like it here, move on somewhere else. There's country to spare. That's always been my philosophy.
If you're stupid enough to open a factory in the desert (with only Mormons for 1000 miles), eat some sand.
to stop them from doing what? With what product do they pose a threat? SQL server? Visual Studio? Lets face it, Microsoft had it's day in the sun. They won the OS battle. The bigger question is, can they do anything else very well?
You tell me, but I don't see the possibilities for another Windows/IE-style monopoly on some other front. Microsoft just isn't that smart to do it again in some other area.
Slashdot Mirror
Might be useful to have the facts before we start ripping into MS -
Xbox Live's security is probably a signed key (Kerberos?) infrastructure (served by MS) that encrypts and authenticates all traffic at the stack level, whether games are peer-to-peer or server centric. But it still just runs over the 'net, the only 'closed' part is that keys are only given to Xbox subscribers. For $50/yr you get 'security', that's what you're really paying for.
Given that you can already network Xboxes w/o Xbox live (Halo parties), we know that an Xbox can talk in unencrypted TCP/IP... maybe the install disc for Xbox Live will turn this off tho? Anyone know if LAN-connected Xboxes use encryption?
Otherwise yes I agree, there's got to be some holes in it!
1) So long as anyone can register a domain name and write HTML code, the internet provides the ultimate means of exercising free speech.
2) 'Free speech' has never, and will never, entitle one to a popular forum. Warping freedom of expression into an entitlement to others' attention spans is a fascist notion.
3) Suggesting that the 'service' which slashdot.org filtering provides is somehow a detriment to our 'citizenry' is a load. School libraries are a different beast - they ask us if we should censor what our spawn should be exposed to. I've yet to hear of someone being held at gunpoint to level 5 threshold.
Leave it to a left wing nut to transform the single invention bringing the world one giant step closer to ubiquitous free speech, into a solvent for our precious 'social glue'.
Taking his ideas further (as he no doubt does in the book?) we are left with the plauge that is destroying our great colleges and universities, and turning academians into babbling socialists -- that exposure to divergent ideas itself should not be a choice, but a requirement to be placed upon citizens for the good of 'democracy'.
Mad ravings such as this only remind me that even something as wonderful as the internet can be perverted into liberal FUD.
I won't go so far as to call the idea unAmerican, but to geographically insulate yourself from different opinions and mores, that's just not for me. They're welcome to stay out there, I'd rather find a nice warm melting pot thank you. I've always found having such a large country to be the best asset of the USA - don't like it here, move on somewhere else. There's country to spare. That's always been my philosophy.
If you're stupid enough to open a factory in the desert (with only Mormons for 1000 miles), eat some sand.
to stop them from doing what? With what product do they pose a threat? SQL server? Visual Studio? Lets face it, Microsoft had it's day in the sun. They won the OS battle. The bigger question is, can they do anything else very well? You tell me, but I don't see the possibilities for another Windows/IE-style monopoly on some other front. Microsoft just isn't that smart to do it again in some other area.