If you don't blame the worm writers, then who is to blame? You say its like blaming the rain, but rain is natural. It occurs with or without us. If you want to compare them to something, compare them to people who maliciously release contaminents into the open air. Blaming Windows for these viruses would be like blaming Colt or Smith & Wesson when one of their firearms is used in a criminal act. It's just not logical.
I do not think that these script kiddies should be put into the same category as terrorists, but I do think that they should be persued and punished. It is a malicious, intentional act. That in itself constitutes a crime in my opinion.
There has been a lot of research done that shows that playing games not only improves critical thinking skills (like with games like Myst, etc), but also can improve hand-eye coordination with the fast paced shooter type games. (Quake3, etc).
The best part about the Live! in my opinion was the introduction of the Live! Drive. For those of you who don't know what that is, check into it. It's a module that fills a full-size drive bay on the front of your PC, and has controls like Volume, alternate inputs, bass/treble, etc. It (in my opinion) has revolutionized the sound card market. I was happy to hear that the Audigy came out, hoping now the Live! prices would drop, but as of yet, I haven't seen any decrease.
As far as the difference, a salesman (yes, a salesman!) told me that it just "has more power". I have to say that Ghost Recon sounds just as lifelike as I thought it could get on the Live! system, but I don't think that it lacks anything due to 'not enough power'. I guess we'll see.
After seeing this story here on/., I wanted to check out their site, http://www.kpmg.com to see more about their company. I was immediately taken to this page which said that the browser I was using (Netscape 6.1) was incompatible, and that I could go to the Netscape or IE site to "download the latest browser". Apparently KPMG isn't aware that I HAVE already downloaded the latest browser.
(NOTE: Others not using Netscape 6.1 might not see the error message I saw when they click on the above link. I haven't tested it, and am not sure how they have their site setup.)
I tend to be a bit technological-oriented when I look at a company, and how well their website is done gives me a good impression of:
How much they care about their website
How web-saavy their tech people are
The ability of the people in charge to think critically
Whether or not I would want to do business with them
It's bad enough they won't want people linking to their site. God forbid it should get them some new business! Watch out, nobody better send them a letter in the mail, or they might come and getcha!
He has listed a 'Free Music Philosophy', which (I think) has merit. I think as a community, there should be a much larger effort on this subject to help further the cause.
I know it will be a long, hard fight (which might be impossible to win, who knows) against the RIAA, but they've done so many things lately that make me hate them to no end (like the proprosal on Ashcroft's Anti-terrorism bill that would allow them to hack into our computers and spy on us), so I would love to see them go down in flames.
Any article about someone suing the RIAA would definitely be of interest to me, and hopefully to many of you.
More important than getting certified, is getting experience. Even if you wrote a shellscript for your neighbor, get experience. I've been a part of a LOT of interviews (from both sides), where certification means nothing. Some employers look at it, but it seems that most do not. Get experience. It makes all the difference in the world. Not only does it show that you know the material, it shows that you are interested in it. Certification shows (mainly) that you are a good test-taker.
I started my Unix experience while going to Ohio State as a Computer Science student (Arts and Sciences, not Engineering). There we used Sparc Stations (for the OS, long time ago), then upgraded to HP-UXs, now theyre back to Sparc, this time with the Ultra series. The basic programming classes were all required to be done on their system, which was a very good primer to the unix OS. (My first experience with it at that time.) The first couple classes in the program emphasized using most of the important commands to gain familiarity with the system, in addition to learning the goals of the course itself. It was a pretty good introduction to Unix.
From there, I got a job at the university tech center as a student, using only my experience in my classes with unix. I learned a ton there, due mostly to the fact that 1) I was interested in it, and 2) I was constantly surrounded by people who knew what was going on.
My experience just grew from there. With respect to being too old, you're never too old to start a new career, especially in the tech field. I know a lot of people who are in their 60s who perform just as good (if not better) than some of their younger counterparts. Whoever told you that was probably denied a unix admin job, and likes to use age as a reason for the denial. (It ain't just a river in Egypt anymore for them!)
Anyway, get a good *nix book, or a couple for that matter, sit down and start typing away. Get some books on basic security, stuff like that. When you've mastered something, put it on your resume. When the interviewer asks you what you've done at that big interview, don't tell them you have no professional experience. Call it 'freelance experience', and in-detail explain what you did. If they are interested, they won't care that you didn't get paid for the work. They want to know if you can do the work or not.
Once you finally do get a couple years experience as a sysadmin, the doors of opportunity will open to you a little more often than before. (Except for our crummy job market right now.)
Although the big corporations will probably get involved, I think that privatizing the shuttle system is a good idea. This will allow the rich corporations to start doing own business in space. Regardless of what they will be doing up there, (probably advertising... imaging looking through your telescope and seeing a Microsoft ad in space), it will inevitably lead to more discovery. The more people there are out there doing things, the more information we will get about our galaxy.
Maybe some mailroom guy at Microsoft actually knows how to build a warp drive, but since he was caught playing digdug at work, he's already hit the "glass ceiling". This might allow his idea to come to fruition... you never know!
I just hope that the space shuttles that carry people (or any for that matter) aren't using Windows. The BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) might actually cost lives then!
Re:I can't see these _not_ getting foxed.
on
Ultima Revived
·
· Score: 1
I don't think there will be a problem with the clearance, since Electronic Arts purchased Origin Systems a while back. Here is an excerpt from the Jones Multimedia Encyclopedia webpage:
"In 1992, it acquired Origin Systems Inc, a pubblisher of fantasy and action simulation games for CD-ROM,including Ultima and Wing Commander."
I won't even get into the argument as to whether or not the RIAA should be allowed to infiltrate people's computers in an effort to remove all copyright-infringed mp3s. What I want to know is, how the hell would they know what I have in my 'CD Case' and what I don't have. When I rip my CDs, I take the default settings, which usually includes leaving the copyright information blank. How would the RIAA know whether or not I actually have the CD, where the fair-use policy would allow me to have a digital 'copy' of that song.
You can walk into a Waterbeds N' Stuff store and buy a bong. Sure we all know who uses them, but they are allowed to sell them because there is a legal use for the item. You can smoke tobacco in it. I know most law-enforcement agencies will consider that to be drug paraphenilia, but would just the act of buying one allow the DEA to bust your door down and search your sugar jar for crack or marijuana?
There needs to be a line drawn between fair-use and probable cause. Just like it's illegal to shoot someone with a gun, it doesn't mean that I'm going to do that just because I own a gun.
Maybe we should crack into the RIAA's computer to make sure that some of the money that we spend on their $20 CDs are actually going to the artists. What proof do we have? None.
Does anyone out there have any relatively accurate statistics about how much (if at all) the RIAA's sales have dropped since the inception of services like Napster and Gnutella. Maybe if they would stop being such greedy bastards they would increase their sales. There's no way in hell I'm going to pay $15-$20 for a cd that has maybe 1 or 2 good songs on it.
No matter what the issue is, there will always be opposition. There will always be the wing extremists who oppose the view so strongly, that they won't even listen to reason. That part won't change. Neither will the government as long as its run by white, middle to upper aged men who were born in the same era as my grandparents, especially when none of them understand the technology that they're voting for or against.
The best way that we (as constituents) have to deal with this situation in a peaceful way, is 1) to vote. Vote for the candidate who supports the same issues that are important to you. 2) Write to your congressman/woman and let them know how you feel on certain issues. I know a lot of people think that their letters won't help, but if all the Slashdot-ers all wrote to their representative (granted it wouldn't be the same person, but you get my drift), I bet that it would at least be read, if not acted upon.
The government was created 'Of, by, and for the people'. Well if the people don't like whats going on, its the people's right AND responsibility to change those in the government.
In order to make an effective argument, letters like 'u suck, get outta office' aren't going to do much for the movement. Instead, it will only strengthen the opposition's arguement. What we need to do is write logical, coherent letters, explaining the situation (I bet that a lot of these representative types aren't fully briefed on how it really is), give alternatives, and best of all, give good reasons.
Laws can be repealed, however it takes action on behalf of the people to make those changes. People shouting that they hate [insert elected official's name here] doesn't make a difference. What they need to do instead is vote their mind.
And for those out there who are really ambitious (and with no criminal background!) run for representative yourself! Which state is it that has an 18 year old congressman? Delaware?
I would definitely like to see some kind of lobby group, and I would be a part of it, as long as its peaceful, legal, logical, and creative. I'm not going to help or support a group that has an '31337 d00d' in charge.
We need to find someone out there that is empathetic to the feelings of people like us Slashdoters, and go with it.
The uptimes that I listed were after fresh OS installs, meaning that the initial worm attack caught us off guard... (I'm a linux sysadmin who was told to manage a Win2k box)
Also, just because the server is running fine doesn't mean that you shouldn't reboot it once in a while. It frees up memory, clears bogus pointers, etc.
If your uptime is measured in months, maybe you should stop comparing uptimes like the jocks in the lockerrooms who compare the sizes of their 'equipment'. It makes sense to cycle any windows box (server or not) relatively frequently. Not doing so is just poor administration. (Only because Windows has poor memory management and garbage collecting.) My linux webserver has an uptime of going on 11 months, and that was only because I moved into a new office. Couldn't turn down the window.
In recent dealings with the latest worms, I found a tool from Microsoft called Hfnetchk that will, with a valid connection to the internet, tell you exactly what patches you do or do not have installed. They cross list them by article (eg Q123455) and also by another form (eg MS01-077).
We're running Windows 2000 Adv Server (yeah yeah, I know, but we don't have the Cold Fusion package for Linux) with IIS 5, and were having an average of 30-45 minutes uptime before getting blasted by the worm(s).
After using the hfnetchk and downloading quite a few patches (burn them to a CD, having to reload the system isn't out of the question, even if it is working now), we have had about 5 days uptime, and *knocks on wood* no infections, although the log says there have been attempts.
Even though I'm spoiled to the ease at which I can find Linux updates, I found that the tool was very useful, especially since Microsoft's site is so unorganized when it comes to downloading patches and updates (I want a list, not having to search for something, especially when it never works right) that this tool was a big time saver for me.
Excuse me, I called it a 'graphics board' I guess I should have said 'A motherboard with an integrated video adapter' for those of you who can't read anything in context.
A friend of mine got one of these recently, and although he said it was probably the best graphics board he's ever had, he had a bit of trouble getting all of his older stuff (mostly games, but some applications as well) and Xwindows on his linux partition to take full use of the new board.
It seems, that like most new hardware, that it will take some time for the driver community to catch up. Once that happens, it will be one hell of a board.
I heard from a co-worker late last week that Apple was laying off quite a few employees. Can anyone confirm this? It seems rather odd that a company that (according to some Mac/iMac users that I know) releases "such a great product" would be cutting their work force by so much.
I know a lot of Apple users, and I know a lot of Windows/Linux users, and each of them love their own systems, but the other thing that I can't understand is how Apple can stay in business when their computers cost a hell of a lot more than the Intel based PCs? I was pricing laptops a couple weeks ago, and for the money it would have cost me to buy a moderately loaded iMac, I could have gotten a Thinkpad for roughly half the cost, comparably equipped. Do Mac/iMac users have money to burn? If so, send me some. My wife says my daughter needs an exer-saucer.
As a programmer, I write a lot of code. Different platforms, different languages, etc. My style of programming varies somewhat slightly from project to project, because no two projects are similar. I've had people ask for a one-time program, to use for a specific purpose, then trash it. Am I supposed to make the code in it perfect, when its going to be used for 2 days, and its needed 'yesterday'? No. I'm going to get it working to the user's specs, and then deliver.
Sometimes people get lost in the idea of pretty code. The fact of the matter is, most people wouldn't think ANY code is pretty, because most people aren't programmers. Code is messy. It's like having a rock, coin, stamp, sports card, and (insert next innane collection here) collections kept in a huge cardboard box in your basement. It works. It's contained. It does what it's supposed to do. If you were moving, or planning on selling it all to someone at one time, is there a need to go through it and sort it out? No.
Maybe that was a bad analogy, but the fact of the matter is, the organization of the code, has very little to do with anything. I'm not saying people shouldn't write effcient code, because there are always reasons why code should be smaller and faster, but does it matter how pretty it is if it works? That's like complaining to the garbage man that his truck is dirty. It comes by once a week and helps me out a LOT. I don't question his activities or the condition of his equipment. He's there and he's dirty, and I love him for it!
How the hell do they know whether or not something that is downloaded is illegal? The fact of the matter is, they don't. Here's why:
I have the 'Metallica Black' CD. It's a legal, store-purchased CD. A while back, I wanted some MP3s of those songs. The copyright act says something to the effect of, if you have the rights to listen to that music, (ie you bought the CD), then you can download that music. Well, me downloading the songs that I already had the rights to listen to from the internet is not illegal. I personally found it easier to download the music than to tie my computer up for a few hours ripping it myself.
How do they know that I'm not downloading music that I am allowed to download, or even yet, what if my copy of 'The Sims' (I know, don't laugh!) stopped working. I should be able to download another copy off the net, and since I have the right to play it, then I should be able to get another working copy to replace the one that doesn't work. How would excite@home know this?
THEY DON'T, AND THEY CAN'T...
This type of action shouldn't be allowed for the same reason someone can walk into Waterbeds 'N Stuff and buy a bong. This is the reason: If it has a legal use, then it should be available to the public. Downloading software off the net (Including Napster, although the RIAA doesn't agree) shouldn't be any different.
This technology could be very useful... I have three words:
No more colonoscopy!
Seriously though, a while back I saw this bit on TV about this guy who implanted this little metal skeleton type thing on the outside of a cockroach. Then, by using electrical impulses to the fake skeleton, you could basically control the movement of the roach. At the size of a roach (which a lot of people know can get to anywhere) it would be extremely useful for exploring earthquake rubble and other disasters where search and rescue is inhibited by large chunks of wood and stone.
It's quite a step up from the Basic Stamp (http://www.parallaxinc.com), but unlike the Stamp, as far as usefulness goes, I think that it'll be a few more years before something really cool is born from this technology.
I am also an admin at OSU. We have no technology like that installed anywhere in our buildings, however all network closets in the two buildings that I work in are locked with an OSU key that requires special reason to request one from the key control. Unless someone negligently leaves the door open or unlocked, you cannot get into one of those closets without a key. Also, the locks that OSU uses have 7 tumblers instead of 3 or 5, making them extremely difficult (if not impossible) to pick. If that happened in my building, it would have to be the work of an insider.
Anyone who leaves a network closet unlocked or otherwise available to the general public doesn't deserve to be in that position in the first place.
Slashdot Mirror
If you don't blame the worm writers, then who is to blame? You say its like blaming the rain, but rain is natural. It occurs with or without us. If you want to compare them to something, compare them to people who maliciously release contaminents into the open air. Blaming Windows for these viruses would be like blaming Colt or Smith & Wesson when one of their firearms is used in a criminal act. It's just not logical.
I do not think that these script kiddies should be put into the same category as terrorists, but I do think that they should be persued and punished. It is a malicious, intentional act. That in itself constitutes a crime in my opinion.
There has been a lot of research done that shows that playing games not only improves critical thinking skills (like with games like Myst, etc), but also can improve hand-eye coordination with the fast paced shooter type games. (Quake3, etc).
The best part about the Live! in my opinion was the introduction of the Live! Drive. For those of you who don't know what that is, check into it. It's a module that fills a full-size drive bay on the front of your PC, and has controls like Volume, alternate inputs, bass/treble, etc. It (in my opinion) has revolutionized the sound card market. I was happy to hear that the Audigy came out, hoping now the Live! prices would drop, but as of yet, I haven't seen any decrease.
As far as the difference, a salesman (yes, a salesman!) told me that it just "has more power". I have to say that Ghost Recon sounds just as lifelike as I thought it could get on the Live! system, but I don't think that it lacks anything due to 'not enough power'. I guess we'll see.
(NOTE: Others not using Netscape 6.1 might not see the error message I saw when they click on the above link. I haven't tested it, and am not sure how they have their site setup.)
I tend to be a bit technological-oriented when I look at a company, and how well their website is done gives me a good impression of:
It's bad enough they won't want people linking to their site. God forbid it should get them some new business! Watch out, nobody better send them a letter in the mail, or they might come and getcha!
While perusing the net, I came across this site on Free Music by a guy named Ram Samudrala
He has listed a 'Free Music Philosophy', which (I think) has merit. I think as a community, there should be a much larger effort on this subject to help further the cause.
I know it will be a long, hard fight (which might be impossible to win, who knows) against the RIAA, but they've done so many things lately that make me hate them to no end (like the proprosal on Ashcroft's Anti-terrorism bill that would allow them to hack into our computers and spy on us), so I would love to see them go down in flames.
Any article about someone suing the RIAA would definitely be of interest to me, and hopefully to many of you.
For the sake of irony, I hope that the Electronic Abacus has calculators for the "beads".
Having an electronic abacus sounds as about as useful as an "electronic sliderule". Anyone else see the irony there?
More important than getting certified, is getting experience. Even if you wrote a shellscript for your neighbor, get experience. I've been a part of a LOT of interviews (from both sides), where certification means nothing. Some employers look at it, but it seems that most do not. Get experience. It makes all the difference in the world. Not only does it show that you know the material, it shows that you are interested in it. Certification shows (mainly) that you are a good test-taker.
I started my Unix experience while going to Ohio State as a Computer Science student (Arts and Sciences, not Engineering). There we used Sparc Stations (for the OS, long time ago), then upgraded to HP-UXs, now theyre back to Sparc, this time with the Ultra series. The basic programming classes were all required to be done on their system, which was a very good primer to the unix OS. (My first experience with it at that time.) The first couple classes in the program emphasized using most of the important commands to gain familiarity with the system, in addition to learning the goals of the course itself. It was a pretty good introduction to Unix.
From there, I got a job at the university tech center as a student, using only my experience in my classes with unix. I learned a ton there, due mostly to the fact that 1) I was interested in it, and 2) I was constantly surrounded by people who knew what was going on.
My experience just grew from there. With respect to being too old, you're never too old to start a new career, especially in the tech field. I know a lot of people who are in their 60s who perform just as good (if not better) than some of their younger counterparts. Whoever told you that was probably denied a unix admin job, and likes to use age as a reason for the denial. (It ain't just a river in Egypt anymore for them!)
Anyway, get a good *nix book, or a couple for that matter, sit down and start typing away. Get some books on basic security, stuff like that. When you've mastered something, put it on your resume. When the interviewer asks you what you've done at that big interview, don't tell them you have no professional experience. Call it 'freelance experience', and in-detail explain what you did. If they are interested, they won't care that you didn't get paid for the work. They want to know if you can do the work or not.
Once you finally do get a couple years experience as a sysadmin, the doors of opportunity will open to you a little more often than before. (Except for our crummy job market right now.)
Although the big corporations will probably get involved, I think that privatizing the shuttle system is a good idea. This will allow the rich corporations to start doing own business in space. Regardless of what they will be doing up there, (probably advertising... imaging looking through your telescope and seeing a Microsoft ad in space), it will inevitably lead to more discovery. The more people there are out there doing things, the more information we will get about our galaxy.
Maybe some mailroom guy at Microsoft actually knows how to build a warp drive, but since he was caught playing digdug at work, he's already hit the "glass ceiling". This might allow his idea to come to fruition... you never know!
I just hope that the space shuttles that carry people (or any for that matter) aren't using Windows. The BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) might actually cost lives then!
I don't think there will be a problem with the clearance, since Electronic Arts purchased Origin Systems a while back. Here is an excerpt from the Jones Multimedia Encyclopedia webpage:
"In 1992, it acquired Origin Systems Inc, a pubblisher of fantasy and action simulation games for CD-ROM,including Ultima and Wing Commander."
The above webpage can be found here.
I won't even get into the argument as to whether or not the RIAA should be allowed to infiltrate people's computers in an effort to remove all copyright-infringed mp3s. What I want to know is, how the hell would they know what I have in my 'CD Case' and what I don't have. When I rip my CDs, I take the default settings, which usually includes leaving the copyright information blank. How would the RIAA know whether or not I actually have the CD, where the fair-use policy would allow me to have a digital 'copy' of that song.
You can walk into a Waterbeds N' Stuff store and buy a bong. Sure we all know who uses them, but they are allowed to sell them because there is a legal use for the item. You can smoke tobacco in it. I know most law-enforcement agencies will consider that to be drug paraphenilia, but would just the act of buying one allow the DEA to bust your door down and search your sugar jar for crack or marijuana?
There needs to be a line drawn between fair-use and probable cause. Just like it's illegal to shoot someone with a gun, it doesn't mean that I'm going to do that just because I own a gun.
Maybe we should crack into the RIAA's computer to make sure that some of the money that we spend on their $20 CDs are actually going to the artists. What proof do we have? None.
Does anyone out there have any relatively accurate statistics about how much (if at all) the RIAA's sales have dropped since the inception of services like Napster and Gnutella. Maybe if they would stop being such greedy bastards they would increase their sales. There's no way in hell I'm going to pay $15-$20 for a cd that has maybe 1 or 2 good songs on it.
No matter what the issue is, there will always be opposition. There will always be the wing extremists who oppose the view so strongly, that they won't even listen to reason. That part won't change. Neither will the government as long as its run by white, middle to upper aged men who were born in the same era as my grandparents, especially when none of them understand the technology that they're voting for or against.
The best way that we (as constituents) have to deal with this situation in a peaceful way, is 1) to vote. Vote for the candidate who supports the same issues that are important to you. 2) Write to your congressman/woman and let them know how you feel on certain issues. I know a lot of people think that their letters won't help, but if all the Slashdot-ers all wrote to their representative (granted it wouldn't be the same person, but you get my drift), I bet that it would at least be read, if not acted upon.
The government was created 'Of, by, and for the people'. Well if the people don't like whats going on, its the people's right AND responsibility to change those in the government.
In order to make an effective argument, letters like 'u suck, get outta office' aren't going to do much for the movement. Instead, it will only strengthen the opposition's arguement. What we need to do is write logical, coherent letters, explaining the situation (I bet that a lot of these representative types aren't fully briefed on how it really is), give alternatives, and best of all, give good reasons.
Laws can be repealed, however it takes action on behalf of the people to make those changes. People shouting that they hate [insert elected official's name here] doesn't make a difference. What they need to do instead is vote their mind.
And for those out there who are really ambitious (and with no criminal background!) run for representative yourself! Which state is it that has an 18 year old congressman? Delaware?
I would definitely like to see some kind of lobby group, and I would be a part of it, as long as its peaceful, legal, logical, and creative. I'm not going to help or support a group that has an '31337 d00d' in charge.
We need to find someone out there that is empathetic to the feelings of people like us Slashdoters, and go with it.
The uptimes that I listed were after fresh OS installs, meaning that the initial worm attack caught us off guard... (I'm a linux sysadmin who was told to manage a Win2k box)
Also, just because the server is running fine doesn't mean that you shouldn't reboot it once in a while. It frees up memory, clears bogus pointers, etc.
If your uptime is measured in months, maybe you should stop comparing uptimes like the jocks in the lockerrooms who compare the sizes of their 'equipment'. It makes sense to cycle any windows box (server or not) relatively frequently. Not doing so is just poor administration. (Only because Windows has poor memory management and garbage collecting.) My linux webserver has an uptime of going on 11 months, and that was only because I moved into a new office. Couldn't turn down the window.
Working where he does (which I'm not going to say), he tends to get stuff a little earlier than the rest of the public...
In recent dealings with the latest worms, I found a tool from Microsoft called Hfnetchk that will, with a valid connection to the internet, tell you exactly what patches you do or do not have installed. They cross list them by article (eg Q123455) and also by another form (eg MS01-077).
We're running Windows 2000 Adv Server (yeah yeah, I know, but we don't have the Cold Fusion package for Linux) with IIS 5, and were having an average of 30-45 minutes uptime before getting blasted by the worm(s).
After using the hfnetchk and downloading quite a few patches (burn them to a CD, having to reload the system isn't out of the question, even if it is working now), we have had about 5 days uptime, and *knocks on wood* no infections, although the log says there have been attempts.
Even though I'm spoiled to the ease at which I can find Linux updates, I found that the tool was very useful, especially since Microsoft's site is so unorganized when it comes to downloading patches and updates (I want a list, not having to search for something, especially when it never works right) that this tool was a big time saver for me.
Excuse me, I called it a 'graphics board' I guess I should have said 'A motherboard with an integrated video adapter' for those of you who can't read anything in context.
A friend of mine got one of these recently, and although he said it was probably the best graphics board he's ever had, he had a bit of trouble getting all of his older stuff (mostly games, but some applications as well) and Xwindows on his linux partition to take full use of the new board.
It seems, that like most new hardware, that it will take some time for the driver community to catch up. Once that happens, it will be one hell of a board.
I heard from a co-worker late last week that Apple was laying off quite a few employees. Can anyone confirm this? It seems rather odd that a company that (according to some Mac/iMac users that I know) releases "such a great product" would be cutting their work force by so much.
I know a lot of Apple users, and I know a lot of Windows/Linux users, and each of them love their own systems, but the other thing that I can't understand is how Apple can stay in business when their computers cost a hell of a lot more than the Intel based PCs? I was pricing laptops a couple weeks ago, and for the money it would have cost me to buy a moderately loaded iMac, I could have gotten a Thinkpad for roughly half the cost, comparably equipped. Do Mac/iMac users have money to burn? If so, send me some. My wife says my daughter needs an exer-saucer.
Sometimes people get lost in the idea of pretty code. The fact of the matter is, most people wouldn't think ANY code is pretty, because most people aren't programmers. Code is messy. It's like having a rock, coin, stamp, sports card, and (insert next innane collection here) collections kept in a huge cardboard box in your basement. It works. It's contained. It does what it's supposed to do. If you were moving, or planning on selling it all to someone at one time, is there a need to go through it and sort it out? No.
Maybe that was a bad analogy, but the fact of the matter is, the organization of the code, has very little to do with anything. I'm not saying people shouldn't write effcient code, because there are always reasons why code should be smaller and faster, but does it matter how pretty it is if it works? That's like complaining to the garbage man that his truck is dirty. It comes by once a week and helps me out a LOT. I don't question his activities or the condition of his equipment. He's there and he's dirty, and I love him for it!
I have the 'Metallica Black' CD. It's a legal, store-purchased CD. A while back, I wanted some MP3s of those songs. The copyright act says something to the effect of, if you have the rights to listen to that music, (ie you bought the CD), then you can download that music. Well, me downloading the songs that I already had the rights to listen to from the internet is not illegal. I personally found it easier to download the music than to tie my computer up for a few hours ripping it myself.
How do they know that I'm not downloading music that I am allowed to download, or even yet, what if my copy of 'The Sims' (I know, don't laugh!) stopped working. I should be able to download another copy off the net, and since I have the right to play it, then I should be able to get another working copy to replace the one that doesn't work. How would excite@home know this?
THEY DON'T, AND THEY CAN'T...
This type of action shouldn't be allowed for the same reason someone can walk into Waterbeds 'N Stuff and buy a bong. This is the reason: If it has a legal use, then it should be available to the public. Downloading software off the net (Including Napster, although the RIAA doesn't agree) shouldn't be any different.
No more colonoscopy!
Seriously though, a while back I saw this bit on TV about this guy who implanted this little metal skeleton type thing on the outside of a cockroach. Then, by using electrical impulses to the fake skeleton, you could basically control the movement of the roach. At the size of a roach (which a lot of people know can get to anywhere) it would be extremely useful for exploring earthquake rubble and other disasters where search and rescue is inhibited by large chunks of wood and stone.
It's quite a step up from the Basic Stamp (http://www.parallaxinc.com), but unlike the Stamp, as far as usefulness goes, I think that it'll be a few more years before something really cool is born from this technology.
Anyone who leaves a network closet unlocked or otherwise available to the general public doesn't deserve to be in that position in the first place.