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with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
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MICROSOFT.COM.WILL.LIVE.FOREVER.BUT.LUNIX.SUCKS-BY BIRTH.ARTISTICCHEESE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.SHOULD.GIVE.UP.BECAUSE.LINUXISGOD.CO M
MICROSOFT.COM.SE.FAIT.HAX0RIZER.PAR.TOUT.LE.ZOY.OR G
MICROSOFT.COM.OWNED.BY.MAT.HACKSWARE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.N-AIME.BILL.QUE.QUAND.IL.N-EST.PAS.N U
MICROSOFT.COM.MUST.STOP.TAKEDRUGS.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.SOON.GOING.TO.THE.DEATHCORPORATIO N.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.SECRETLY.RUN.BY.ILLUMINATI.TERROR ISTS.NET
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.NOTHING.BUT.A.MONSTER.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.NO.MATCH.FOR.THE.UEBER-GEEKS.AT.J IMPHILLIPS.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.GOD.BUT.LINUX.SUCKS-FOREVER.ARTIS TICCHEESE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.BORING.COMPARED.TO.TEENEXTREME.CO M
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.AT.THE.MERCY.OF.DETRIMENT.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.INSPIRES.COPYCAT.WANNABE.SUBVERSIVES.NET
MICROSOFT.COM.HAS.NO.LINUXCLUE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.HACKED.BY.PSYKOJOKO.ON.A.ROOT-NETWOR K.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.HACKED.BY.HACKSWARE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.GUTS.NL
MICROSOFT.COM.FAIT.VRAIMENT.DES.LOGICIELS.A.TROIS. FRANCS.DOUZE.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.ER.IKKE.NO.I.FORHOLD.TIL.LATHANS.NET
MICROSOFT.COM.AINT.WORTH.SHIT.KLUGE.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM
To single out one record, look it up with "xxx", where xxx is one of the
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with "=xxx" to receive a full display for each record.
>>> Last update of whois database: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 10:55:29 EST
The Registry database contains ONLY.COM,.NET,.ORG,.EDU domains and
Registrars.
---
Re:if you want to see just HOW down their dns is..
on
Microsoft's DNS Down
·
· Score: 1
Do
whois microsoft.com
you see:
[whois.crsnic.net]
Whois Server Version 1.3
Domain names in the.com,.net, and.org domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
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MICROSOFT.COM.WILL.LIVE.FOREVER.BUT.LUNIX.SUCKS-BY BIRTH.ARTISTICCHEESE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.SHOULD.GIVE.UP.BECAUSE.LINUXISGOD.CO M
MICROSOFT.COM.SE.FAIT.HAX0RIZER.PAR.TOUT.LE.ZOY.OR G
MICROSOFT.COM.OWNED.BY.MAT.HACKSWARE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.N-AIME.BILL.QUE.QUAND.IL.N-EST.PAS.N U
MICROSOFT.COM.MUST.STOP.TAKEDRUGS.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.SOON.GOING.TO.THE.DEATHCORPORATIO N.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.SECRETLY.RUN.BY.ILLUMINATI.TERROR ISTS.NET
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MICROSOFT.COM.IS.NO.MATCH.FOR.THE.UEBER-GEEKS.AT.J IMPHILLIPS.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.GOD.BUT.LINUX.SUCKS-FOREVER.ARTIS TICCHEESE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.BORING.COMPARED.TO.TEENEXTREME.CO M
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.AT.THE.MERCY.OF.DETRIMENT.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.INSPIRES.COPYCAT.WANNABE.SUBVERSIVES.NET
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MICROSOFT.COM.HACKED.BY.HACKSWARE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.GUTS.NL
MICROSOFT.COM.FAIT.VRAIMENT.DES.LOGICIELS.A.TROIS. FRANCS.DOUZE.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.ER.IKKE.NO.I.FORHOLD.TIL.LATHANS.NET
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>>> Last update of whois database: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 10:55:29 EST
The Registry database contains ONLY.COM,.NET,.ORG,.EDU domains and
Registrars.
---
I hate to agree and sound alarmist, but I am alarmed. The arguments used by the Brits, who used to be the most liberal nation in Europe when I lived there 25 years ago, are scary. "If you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear" - so presumably, a strip search whenever you enter work or school would be OK too, " to stop crime" (which it certainly would).
The situation seems to me to be similar to that in Germany in 1930, when "alarmists" warned against the same type of arguments used by the Nazis. Most Germans, however, and the Hearst papers (which paid Adolf Hitler for 3 columns!), waived off these objections as, yes, alarmists. Hitler would never use these powers for evil purposes. Well, we saw where that lead.
Dig this. My company has not set up its co-locate in the UK, preferring the greater Internet freedom in the "Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China" for its greater Internet freedom, after the "RIP" act.
But rather than just criticising: I'm critical too, but would like to know what legal problems they refer to? They say "due to legal concerns with the freedom of information act" - I thought this act was supposed to give MORE info, not less?
---
Hope you are right, but two good examples of technology that already affects ordinary people are:
- DVD region coding
- Windows "upgrade" installs that need older versions to be present before you can re-install.
People accept both without question. Today's consumers are innocent compared to yesterday's pioneering PC-users.
---
Scary, but inevitable. Sure, I too use Linux for that reason, but you can't run you rentire life on open source. There is no escaping this trend to screw the customer for the vendor's convenience. Rehgionalised DVDs, non-copyable future MP3's, possible hard disk copy prevention, 'upgrade-only versions': this is just another logical step.
(One thing many here forget is that this trend is a UNIX trend. PC's gave up copy-protection., dongels, and the like a dozen years ago, but UNIX apps and tools are always like this. The UNIX world has always accepted this stuff without questions. License keys tied to the CPU are a UNIX idea, and has been normal there for years.)
The idea of copy prevention failed on PCs because consumers were clever enough to protest and to copy, come ahat may. Also, vendors saw it was in their interest. I have a feeling that this trend has ended: Blind greed seems to be the order of the day. Add to this that today's consumers will not be quite that clever or assertive. Looks grim.
But a patent is supposed to be for something new, which you can be said to "own". And to have "developed. Evolution developed this gene, not this company.
Patenting a gene is silly. We all have genes. How about I patent the "nose" gene, and then I demand you hand in your nose to me, or pay me commission on it? I mean, really. The process of decoding the gene should be patented, not the gene itself.
I'd say, with many here, that there is very real danger of ever decreasing freedom. This corporate control of what we see if only one small part of a larger trend.
Paranoid? I don't think so. We have already given up a lot of freedoms in the last century. How many people are even aware that until the 19th century there were no passports? That there were no fingerprints? In fact, that there was no police at all until the 19th century? That high taxes and duties are a relatively new invention? That copyright is new too (Was Bach afraid he'd lose income due to people copying his music? Don't think so.) Was skinny-sipping illegal in 1900? No, it was the norm. Etc.
The danger here is that this is an unstoppable progress 'in small increments'. I see that my kids already accept restrictions I stil find horrifying. In 1960, we'd have been horrified if our bosses or our government had had the right to read all our private mail at will. Now, we accept it as "neccesary to stop law infringement". In Toronto, the police just announced daily routine roadblocks from now on (allegedly to catch drink-drivers). Read Michel Foucault's "Punish and Discipline" to see how society has moved along this trend for hundreds of years, and it is not stopping as far as I can see.
My fear is, since we have been reducing freedom for hundreds of years, we will unable to stop it now. For most people, "socialisation" means accepting ever-reducing freedom. The corporate "thou shalt not use our technology in ways we do not like" is only a small part of this.
At the same time, there is also some hope. Technology has been the driving force behind much of this reduction of our freedom to move. Now, it can also be our hope. MP3, PGP, Free email, Fax, are all examples of technology increasing freedom. The Interfax news agency played a large role in bringing down communism in Russia. Informatio rules.
So what can we do? Tough question but I would say:
Do not give personal data unless required by law.
Use cash when you can.
Use freedom-enhancing technologies, like MP3:)
Question the need for restrictions on free speech, and other reductions of freedom.
Point out the fallacy of the "if you haven't done anything wrong you have nothing to fear" argument. A society full of daily roadblocks is horrible, even for a non-drinker.
Refuse to adopt new technologies that are more restrictive than the old (I did not buy a DVD player until I recently found a hacked all-region one in Hong Kong).
It may not be much, but we only get the restrictions we accept.
Ah, but a LOT of the software out there was in-house developed by corporations, and that happens in Italy (etc) as much as anywhere else. Imho, the commercial apps were not the problem: the badly documented in-house stuff was.
Mm... we may want to think before jumping to the conclusion that De Jager did such a good job. May I sound a note of caution?
It is good that people sound alarm bells. But the benefits of precuations do come at a cost. And I, and more importantly leading publications like The Economist, believe the cost of Y2K (billions worldwide) was way higher than the benefit.
In the event, there was very little discernable difference in impact between countries that spent billions (like the US) and countries that spent much less either in real $$ or as a percentage of GDP, like Italy. No airplanes crashed, even in Russia. Society did not break down, either in India or in Indiana. The objective evidence seems to suggest that this was an overhyped scare.
And the cost was certainly great. De Jager is personally responsible for slowing down software development for 6-12 months before the Y2K. Companies stopped buying, slowing down the industry.
Next time we all believe a scaremonger, we may want to calculate the risks and expected benefits a bit more. It's like anything else, from airplane crashes to virus dangers or maximum speeds on our highway: we should carefully weigh the costs and benefits, not just look at the risks and spend regardless of cost. There was too much hysteria in all this Y2K thing for my liking, and not enough science.
(Also, it's personal sour grapes: this Y2K thing was responsible for me rebooting my ham radio server for Y2K testing... unnecessarily as it turned out... it had been up for a couple hundred days when I did this. It's back to 425 days now, but still!:-)
"The article simply makes the point that it is the entire industry that should determine an open standard in preference to a single company determining a proprietary one."
I make the point that while it SHOULD do that. it matters not one hoot what it SHOULD do as long as people do not do that. I.e. I agree with you, we should not have MS version XYZ be the syabdard du jour. But like it or not, we do.
If knowledge is power, the american consumer is fairly defenseless against Big Business. Very few even know about thew region encoding, and very few have a problem with the way Win apps work (badly), because they 'belieev there is no better way'. I fear it will be the same with this. DO hope that I am wrong and you are right.
You may want to read my post again: I included the words "de facto": that means "NOT FORMALLY DEFINED but made the standard by widespread use".
A standard is many things. Among those, simply "the most widely used measure". If the gold ducat is the standard way of paying people, it matters not a hoot whether the king, or anyone else, has defined it exactly. In that sense, standard means average. And that is the sense I mean.
If 9,993 of 10,000 business docs are in Word format, then Word format is the "De Facto Standard".
Hey, I don't like it any more than you do, but we are stuck with it for now. Try to send 100 business contacts a WordPerfect file and see how many return it to you as unreadable.
The sad thing is, Microsoft is standards. It's the only reason they are big. De facto standards are still standards, however many committees would like us to believe otherwise.
I have been using PCs since the early 80s - the CP/M days and even before. The major drag then was 'no standards'. You could not transfer a document from one OS to another - forget it, you could not even move a floppy from one machine to another. Or a casette tape. Or address a serial port in the same way on two machines. Etc.
When Wintel appeared and became popular, this changed - big time. Suddenly we could all share commands, floppies, documents, code... it was great.
And this is still the case. At work, all our tech guys use Linux machines. But they run VMWARE on top, because everything you do in a business environment involves MS.
When someone sends you a resume, it is in Word format. A spreadsheet, in Excel. A presentation, in powerpoint. A database, in access format. I work with people all over the world and it's simple, this is the standard.
People want standards. Me too. Sure, I can accept a Wordperfect resume, and spend an hour cursing trying to convert it to some other format - inevitably this takes and hour and only partially works. So do I want to keep life simple, or spend that hour? The former: all resumes must be in Word or ASCII format.
In Linux too: do I want to stick with RedHat or use a 'better' distri? Go to deja and ask a question and 7/10 answers are about RH. So that is my Linux standard.
What I am saying is, standards are good, becasue they enable faster growth - and they are made 'de facto', not by committeees. Don't knock it: people will always take the easiest way.
Quite so... I have my own equivalent: I spent the first months of my Linux time making a list of just this stuff.. common commands, seen from an experienced DOS user. In random order, for RedHat Linux it is something like:
Useful utilities:
Editor: pico
Terminal: minicom
Mail reader: pine
Web "browser": lynx
clock synch: xntpd (look in/etc/rc.d/init.d)
last - shows last users logged in
nmap - shows ports eg "nmap localhost"
vmstat shows cpu etc status over time, eg: "vmstat 2 5" (=5x at 2s intervals)
cat/proc/cpuinfo tells you your cpu details:)
cat/proc/interrupts - tells you your interrupts
pstree [-a][-G] - see process tree
dnsquery - better nslookup:)
Config tools:
Linux configure (x) linuxconf
Print configurator (x) printtool
configure network netconf
Commands, general Linux:
Type a file cat
Type a file: more
Type a file (better): less
See file details: stat
Make a directory: mkdir
Allow all to r/w: chmod 666
Allow all to r/w/x: chmod 777
find a file: locate
refresh locate database: updatedb
See all processes: ps xa
See free memory: free:
Help on a command: man
Login as other: su
Create user:/usr/sbin/useradd
Set password: passwd []
See disk status: df
Rotate logs: rotatelogs
Write clock to cmos:/sbin/clock -w
see environment sets: printenv
display tty settings: stty -a
see linux version: uname -r
make a tar.gz file: tar -czf
mail quick msg: echo 'message' | mail mvw@fido.ca
See text contents of an exe: strings |grep
cookie:/usr/games/fortune
Network commands:
configure network netconf
network status (live) netstat
IP configuration ifconfig
dns lookup nslookup
dns lookup, full nslookup, then "ls -d "
There's a lot more. And I carry this with me wherever I go...:)
---
"What I take away from your argument is that there will probably need to be a combination of universal health care and premium for pay health care."
And I entirely agree. No one is arguing with basics being covered. But on top of that, of you want to buy premium care, why should that be forbidden as it is in Canada? Makes no sense to me.
Plus, in the UK I used to see that private medicine actually forces the government system to compete by being somewhat effective.
---
I think I'll try to contact it with my ham radio equipment - I haven't worked MIR for over a year, but for all I know the packet digipeater might still be up.
If so, you can hear it with a simple Radio Shack scanner: MIR passes overhead just less than once an hour for about a 10 minute period. Tune your radio to 145.985 MHz (FM) and listen for packet radio beeps.
"Mind you, I suppose in America average consumers would think less about the world outside their Region One box"
Exxactly. How would people know if no-one tells them? And so really, they don't. And, unfortunately, as a marlket force, 250 million Americans easily win, when compared with 10 million (?) Irish people.
"they'll all have heard of Region Encoding and will shy away from any DVD models which don't have some easy circumvention"
...is not true! Try it yourself: I have told at least 10 non-technical people about this in the last 6 months and not ONE knew about this. Worse, at least 3 or 4 of them still do not believe me. They think nothing could possobly be so brain-dead. Half of these people had already invested in DVD equipment when I told them about the regions!
Agreed. Here in Canada we have a socialized system. Only, at least here in Ontario it does not cover medicine. get anything "expensive" (cancer, aids, etc) and whammo, you're broke.
Also, if you get anything serious there's a waiting list for anything. If my doctor told me today I needed a brain/heart/whatever scan and the wait is 5 months, what would I do? Drive immediately to Buffalo NY, have it done the same day (and forego restaurant meals that quarter).
Socialised (=socialist) medicine is not the solution.
Many of these types of proposal will not fly. Bu this one, I think, may. For a couple or reasons.
One is the 'non sequitur' nature of the argument "if you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear". This is like saying "if you don't want our kids raped you must condone compulsory castration of males". No-one wants kids raped, hence no-one dares speak out agains the latter. Similarly, as no-one wants to condone illegal copying, no-one will speak out against this.
The other one is the ignorance of the public. I have seen highly trained programmers who do not know about the DVD regions. Yet DVD has been destroyed by this region thing.
The third is the sheer power of the corporations concerned. Media are hot, and media moguls seem to get increadible deals through (AOL/Time Warner beign the most recent example).
Actually, the 99% have no choice. They, like me, are employed by companies. They exchange files with the world. They receive Word docs and have to make Powerpoint presentations. Sure, I;d like to use my Linux boxes for everything too but that just ain't practical. What, you want me to get fired for the cause?:)
That is indeed insightful: there is the "reasonable" aspect of these areements.
The thing is, while "do not use on Sunday" is neyond that, the "you wil not make copies" clause might well be interpreted by a judge as reasonable. Weirder things have been held reasonable by judges. Prohibition of marijuana, internment of intellectuals, many come to mind:)
Slashdot Mirror
Whois Server Version 1.3
Domain names in the .com, .net, and .org domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.
MICROSOFT.COM.WILL.LIVE.FOREVER.BUT.LUNIX.SUCKS-BY BIRTH.ARTISTICCHEESE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.SHOULD.GIVE.UP.BECAUSE.LINUXISGOD.CO M
MICROSOFT.COM.SE.FAIT.HAX0RIZER.PAR.TOUT.LE.ZOY.OR G
MICROSOFT.COM.OWNED.BY.MAT.HACKSWARE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.N-AIME.BILL.QUE.QUAND.IL.N-EST.PAS.N U
MICROSOFT.COM.MUST.STOP.TAKEDRUGS.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.SOON.GOING.TO.THE.DEATHCORPORATIO N.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.SECRETLY.RUN.BY.ILLUMINATI.TERROR ISTS.NET
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.NOTHING.BUT.A.MONSTER.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.NO.MATCH.FOR.THE.UEBER-GEEKS.AT.J IMPHILLIPS.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.GOD.BUT.LINUX.SUCKS-FOREVER.ARTIS TICCHEESE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.BORING.COMPARED.TO.TEENEXTREME.CO M
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.AT.THE.MERCY.OF.DETRIMENT.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.INSPIRES.COPYCAT.WANNABE.SUBVERSIVES .NET
MICROSOFT.COM.HAS.NO.LINUXCLUE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.HACKED.BY.PSYKOJOKO.ON.A.ROOT-NETWOR K.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.HACKED.BY.HACKSWARE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.GUTS.NL
MICROSOFT.COM.FAIT.VRAIMENT.DES.LOGICIELS.A.TROIS. FRANCS.DOUZE.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.ER.IKKE.NO.I.FORHOLD.TIL.LATHANS.NET
MICROSOFT.COM.AINT.WORTH.SHIT.KLUGE.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM
To single out one record, look it up with "xxx", where xxx is one of the
of the records displayed above. If the records are the same, look them up
with "=xxx" to receive a full display for each record.
>>> Last update of whois database: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 10:55:29 EST
The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .ORG, .EDU domains and
Registrars.
---
[whois.crsnic.net] Whois Server Version 1.3 Domain names in the .com, .net, and .org domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.
MICROSOFT.COM.WILL.LIVE.FOREVER.BUT.LUNIX.SUCKS-BY BIRTH.ARTISTICCHEESE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.SHOULD.GIVE.UP.BECAUSE.LINUXISGOD.CO M
MICROSOFT.COM.SE.FAIT.HAX0RIZER.PAR.TOUT.LE.ZOY.OR G
MICROSOFT.COM.OWNED.BY.MAT.HACKSWARE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.N-AIME.BILL.QUE.QUAND.IL.N-EST.PAS.N U
MICROSOFT.COM.MUST.STOP.TAKEDRUGS.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.SOON.GOING.TO.THE.DEATHCORPORATIO N.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.SECRETLY.RUN.BY.ILLUMINATI.TERROR ISTS.NET
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.NOTHING.BUT.A.MONSTER.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.NO.MATCH.FOR.THE.UEBER-GEEKS.AT.J IMPHILLIPS.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.GOD.BUT.LINUX.SUCKS-FOREVER.ARTIS TICCHEESE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.BORING.COMPARED.TO.TEENEXTREME.CO M
MICROSOFT.COM.IS.AT.THE.MERCY.OF.DETRIMENT.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.INSPIRES.COPYCAT.WANNABE.SUBVERSIVES .NET
MICROSOFT.COM.HAS.NO.LINUXCLUE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.HACKED.BY.PSYKOJOKO.ON.A.ROOT-NETWOR K.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.HACKED.BY.HACKSWARE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM.GUTS.NL
MICROSOFT.COM.FAIT.VRAIMENT.DES.LOGICIELS.A.TROIS. FRANCS.DOUZE.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM.ER.IKKE.NO.I.FORHOLD.TIL.LATHANS.NET
MICROSOFT.COM.AINT.WORTH.SHIT.KLUGE.ORG
MICROSOFT.COM
To single out one record, look it up with "xxx", where xxx is one of the
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with "=xxx" to receive a full display for each record.
>>> Last update of whois database: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 10:55:29 EST
The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .ORG, .EDU domains and
Registrars.
---
The situation seems to me to be similar to that in Germany in 1930, when "alarmists" warned against the same type of arguments used by the Nazis. Most Germans, however, and the Hearst papers (which paid Adolf Hitler for 3 columns!), waived off these objections as, yes, alarmists. Hitler would never use these powers for evil purposes. Well, we saw where that lead.
Dig this. My company has not set up its co-locate in the UK, preferring the greater Internet freedom in the "Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China" for its greater Internet freedom, after the "RIP" act.
Now that is scary.
---
But rather than just criticising: I'm critical too, but would like to know what legal problems they refer to? They say "due to legal concerns with the freedom of information act" - I thought this act was supposed to give MORE info, not less?
---
Hope you are right, but two good examples of technology that already affects ordinary people are: - DVD region coding - Windows "upgrade" installs that need older versions to be present before you can re-install. People accept both without question. Today's consumers are innocent compared to yesterday's pioneering PC-users.
---
(One thing many here forget is that this trend is a UNIX trend. PC's gave up copy-protection., dongels, and the like a dozen years ago, but UNIX apps and tools are always like this. The UNIX world has always accepted this stuff without questions. License keys tied to the CPU are a UNIX idea, and has been normal there for years.)
The idea of copy prevention failed on PCs because consumers were clever enough to protest and to copy, come ahat may. Also, vendors saw it was in their interest. I have a feeling that this trend has ended: Blind greed seems to be the order of the day. Add to this that today's consumers will not be quite that clever or assertive. Looks grim.
---
Patenting a gene is silly. We all have genes. How about I patent the "nose" gene, and then I demand you hand in your nose to me, or pay me commission on it? I mean, really. The process of decoding the gene should be patented, not the gene itself.
---
Paranoid? I don't think so. We have already given up a lot of freedoms in the last century. How many people are even aware that until the 19th century there were no passports? That there were no fingerprints? In fact, that there was no police at all until the 19th century? That high taxes and duties are a relatively new invention? That copyright is new too (Was Bach afraid he'd lose income due to people copying his music? Don't think so.) Was skinny-sipping illegal in 1900? No, it was the norm. Etc.
The danger here is that this is an unstoppable progress 'in small increments'. I see that my kids already accept restrictions I stil find horrifying. In 1960, we'd have been horrified if our bosses or our government had had the right to read all our private mail at will. Now, we accept it as "neccesary to stop law infringement". In Toronto, the police just announced daily routine roadblocks from now on (allegedly to catch drink-drivers). Read Michel Foucault's "Punish and Discipline" to see how society has moved along this trend for hundreds of years, and it is not stopping as far as I can see.
My fear is, since we have been reducing freedom for hundreds of years, we will unable to stop it now. For most people, "socialisation" means accepting ever-reducing freedom. The corporate "thou shalt not use our technology in ways we do not like" is only a small part of this.
At the same time, there is also some hope. Technology has been the driving force behind much of this reduction of our freedom to move. Now, it can also be our hope. MP3, PGP, Free email, Fax, are all examples of technology increasing freedom. The Interfax news agency played a large role in bringing down communism in Russia. Informatio rules.
So what can we do? Tough question but I would say:
It may not be much, but we only get the restrictions we accept.
---
But indisputably, it is grammAr. Not "grammEr".
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It is good that people sound alarm bells. But the benefits of precuations do come at a cost. And I, and more importantly leading publications like The Economist, believe the cost of Y2K (billions worldwide) was way higher than the benefit.
In the event, there was very little discernable difference in impact between countries that spent billions (like the US) and countries that spent much less either in real $$ or as a percentage of GDP, like Italy. No airplanes crashed, even in Russia. Society did not break down, either in India or in Indiana. The objective evidence seems to suggest that this was an overhyped scare.
And the cost was certainly great. De Jager is personally responsible for slowing down software development for 6-12 months before the Y2K. Companies stopped buying, slowing down the industry.
Next time we all believe a scaremonger, we may want to calculate the risks and expected benefits a bit more. It's like anything else, from airplane crashes to virus dangers or maximum speeds on our highway: we should carefully weigh the costs and benefits, not just look at the risks and spend regardless of cost. There was too much hysteria in all this Y2K thing for my liking, and not enough science.
(Also, it's personal sour grapes: this Y2K thing was responsible for me rebooting my ham radio server for Y2K testing... unnecessarily as it turned out... it had been up for a couple hundred days when I did this. It's back to 425 days now, but still! :-)
Anyway: hope we're ready for Y10K.
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"The article simply makes the point that it is the entire industry that should determine an open standard in preference to a single company determining a proprietary one."
I make the point that while it SHOULD do that. it matters not one hoot what it SHOULD do as long as people do not do that. I.e. I agree with you, we should not have MS version XYZ be the syabdard du jour. But like it or not, we do.
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If knowledge is power, the american consumer is fairly defenseless against Big Business. Very few even know about thew region encoding, and very few have a problem with the way Win apps work (badly), because they 'belieev there is no better way'. I fear it will be the same with this. DO hope that I am wrong and you are right.
Michael
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A standard is many things. Among those, simply "the most widely used measure". If the gold ducat is the standard way of paying people, it matters not a hoot whether the king, or anyone else, has defined it exactly. In that sense, standard means average. And that is the sense I mean.
If 9,993 of 10,000 business docs are in Word format, then Word format is the "De Facto Standard".
Hey, I don't like it any more than you do, but we are stuck with it for now. Try to send 100 business contacts a WordPerfect file and see how many return it to you as unreadable.
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I have been using PCs since the early 80s - the CP/M days and even before. The major drag then was 'no standards'. You could not transfer a document from one OS to another - forget it, you could not even move a floppy from one machine to another. Or a casette tape. Or address a serial port in the same way on two machines. Etc.
When Wintel appeared and became popular, this changed - big time. Suddenly we could all share commands, floppies, documents, code... it was great.
And this is still the case. At work, all our tech guys use Linux machines. But they run VMWARE on top, because everything you do in a business environment involves MS.
When someone sends you a resume, it is in Word format. A spreadsheet, in Excel. A presentation, in powerpoint. A database, in access format. I work with people all over the world and it's simple, this is the standard.
People want standards. Me too. Sure, I can accept a Wordperfect resume, and spend an hour cursing trying to convert it to some other format - inevitably this takes and hour and only partially works. So do I want to keep life simple, or spend that hour? The former: all resumes must be in Word or ASCII format.
In Linux too: do I want to stick with RedHat or use a 'better' distri? Go to deja and ask a question and 7/10 answers are about RH. So that is my Linux standard.
What I am saying is, standards are good, becasue they enable faster growth - and they are made 'de facto', not by committeees. Don't knock it: people will always take the easiest way.
Michael
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I know. My phrase was meant to mean, less than once every hour. Sorry for the confusion.
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Useful utilities:
Editor: pico
Terminal: minicom
Mail reader: pine
Web "browser": lynx
clock synch: xntpd (look in /etc/rc.d/init.d)
last - shows last users logged in
nmap - shows ports eg "nmap localhost"
vmstat shows cpu etc status over time, eg: "vmstat 2 5" (=5x at 2s intervals)
cat /proc/cpuinfo tells you your cpu details :)
cat /proc/interrupts - tells you your interrupts
pstree [-a][-G] - see process tree
dnsquery - better nslookup :)
Config tools:
Linux configure (x) linuxconf
Print configurator (x) printtool
configure network netconf
Commands, general Linux:
Type a file cat
Type a file: more
Type a file (better): less
See file details: stat
Make a directory: mkdir
Allow all to r/w: chmod 666
Allow all to r/w/x: chmod 777
find a file: locate
refresh locate database: updatedb
See all processes: ps xa See free memory: free:
Help on a command: man
Login as other: su
Create user: /usr/sbin/useradd
Set password: passwd []
See disk status: df
Rotate logs: rotatelogs
Write clock to cmos: /sbin/clock -w
see environment sets: printenv
display tty settings: stty -a
see linux version: uname -r
make a tar.gz file: tar -czf
mail quick msg: echo 'message' | mail mvw@fido.ca
See text contents of an exe: strings |grep
cookie: /usr/games/fortune
Network commands:
configure network netconf
network status (live) netstat
IP configuration ifconfig
dns lookup nslookup
dns lookup, full nslookup, then "ls -d "
There's a lot more. And I carry this with me wherever I go... :)
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And I entirely agree. No one is arguing with basics being covered. But on top of that, of you want to buy premium care, why should that be forbidden as it is in Canada? Makes no sense to me.
Plus, in the UK I used to see that private medicine actually forces the government system to compete by being somewhat effective.
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If so, you can hear it with a simple Radio Shack scanner: MIR passes overhead just less than once an hour for about a 10 minute period. Tune your radio to 145.985 MHz (FM) and listen for packet radio beeps.
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"Mind you, I suppose in America average consumers would think less about the world outside their Region One box"
Exxactly. How would people know if no-one tells them? And so really, they don't. And, unfortunately, as a marlket force, 250 million Americans easily win, when compared with 10 million (?) Irish people.
Michael
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"they'll all have heard of Region Encoding and will shy away from any DVD models which don't have some easy circumvention"
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Also, if you get anything serious there's a waiting list for anything. If my doctor told me today I needed a brain/heart/whatever scan and the wait is 5 months, what would I do? Drive immediately to Buffalo NY, have it done the same day (and forego restaurant meals that quarter).
Socialised (=socialist) medicine is not the solution.
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Many of these types of proposal will not fly. Bu this one, I think, may. For a couple or reasons.
- One is the 'non sequitur' nature of the argument "if you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear". This is like saying "if you don't want our kids raped you must condone compulsory castration of males". No-one wants kids raped, hence no-one dares speak out agains the latter. Similarly, as no-one wants to condone illegal copying, no-one will speak out against this.
- The other one is the ignorance of the public. I have seen highly trained programmers who do not know about the DVD regions. Yet DVD has been destroyed by this region thing.
- The third is the sheer power of the corporations concerned. Media are hot, and media moguls seem to get increadible deals through (AOL/Time Warner beign the most recent example).
We need to be worried, I think.---
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The thing is, while "do not use on Sunday" is neyond that, the "you wil not make copies" clause might well be interpreted by a judge as reasonable. Weirder things have been held reasonable by judges. Prohibition of marijuana, internment of intellectuals, many come to mind :)
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