Re:Does it Answer the Important Questions?
on
Cybernauts Awake!
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· Score: 1
OK, let's deal with the most important of these points: Shopping. If it's not OK for me to go online shopping on the Sabbath, is it OK for me to allow my software shopping agent to be active on the Sabbath?
Regards, Ralph.
Does it Answer the Important Questions?
on
Cybernauts Awake!
·
· Score: 2
Should I surf/online-shop on the Sabbath?
Are spammers going to hell?
Are internet marriages recognised by CofE?
Is pulling the plug on an AI machine breaking the 6th commandment?
Is Bill Gates breaking the other 9?
Is it possible to drive the evil spirits out of Slashdot?
Where do programs go when they die?
Is there life after BSoD?
Does the CoE recognise the CoSub-Genius (and if Microsoft created Bob, does this make Bill Gates God?)
Please tell me weather is public domain. If it's otherwise, I'm going to kill myself now.:-)
Why shouldn't a weather forecast be copyright? Whether it's making involved a lowly clerk looking out of the window, or a battery of supercomputers, the weather forecast has a copyrightable form of words - just like a work of fiction. (And most forecasts are little more than that.)
Of course, if it's USGov-sourced then it may be public domain but any further editing/processing/creativity applied to it by an intermediary might make it copyrightable.
However, you really needn't kill yourself over this.
The current situation on trivial software patents is absurd. And I have great respect for Stallman and his work.
However, I'm afraid I'm not going to boycott Amazon for this. They're just playing by the rules of the jungle - just like all the other hi-tech firms out there. Campaign to change the rules (please!) but Amazon aren't to blame here.
I'm a Brit living in Switzerland and this year I've done most of my Xmas shopping with Amazon and they've done a darn good job. And my family have been generous enough to buy me a lot of the DVD titles I put on my Wish List (no doubt petent pending) at Amazon US. It all worked beautifully. I'm only sorry their UK branch doesn't (yet) stock the range that they have in the US. By comparison with Amazon the UK web efforts (www.pcworld.co.uk, www.jungle.com, etc.) are shambolic.
I didn't mean this post to become an Amazon testimonial... but, really, a boycott!? Better to boycott the firms that can't make a working web site, or "lose" orders, or rip off credit cards.
As it happens, I have joined the eToys boycott - because I don't like how they handled eToy. (Compare and contrast the amicable settlement reached by Amazon with that bookshop). This has caused me some extra cost and inconvenience to me - even to the extent of me having to pick up a telephone and talk to someone.:-)
If you've ever seen "The Iron Giant" you'll know that when a robot's eyes turn red you better run for cover. And throw away anything that even looks a little bit like a gun.
DC06 Sales Line: "Don't mess with a Dyson, unless you want to die, son!"
They also make ClearCase - an industrial strength source control system for NT and Unix - and DDTS - defect tracking software. Both tools are used on a Big scale by very Big companies.
Funny old world ain't it? When Apple talk about dropping their Easter Eggs we get all dewy eyed... but when the subject is Micro$oft's Easter Eggs then the talk is of software bloat.
Only stupid businessmen would ever enter such an loosely defined address as www.business.com. Businessmen have money. Stupid businessmen can easily have their money removed from them. Stupid businessmen are therefore a very profitable market. Thus www.business.com is well worth $7.5m.
I am completely with you on this Morgaine. Violence and rioting are the undocumented part of the constitution of all states.
In the UK the unfair and unpopular Community Charge (or Poll Tax) wasn't beaten (just) by peaceful argument, democratic vote, or even civil disobedience - it was only dropped after rioters trashed a large part of the City of London. Then the politicos finally got the message.
The WTO and their attempts to allow business to (further) abuse the patent process by allowing genetic patents (I mean, what better example of Prior Art do you need?) and to deny labour rights to the 3rd World (thus allowing business both exploit cheap/child labour and further erode pay & social conditions in the West). Ditto the environmental standards.
The WTO's denial of the rights of democratic states to refuse import of goods on safety or ethical grounds is not about Free Trade it's about exploitation.
Of course, you can't blame Big Business. Ethics are expensive, and if you don't do the bad but profitable thing then the other business will. The WTO is doing a dangerous job here because it's underming the democratic control of such bad business practices.
As Morgaine says, the feedback mechanism is now kicking in. Kicking and shouting and throwing bricks in. Ultimately this is how we preserve our democracy and our social standards. All we hold dear.
The WTO, big business and their pet polititions can take the warning or not. They can step back and start acting in a more socially and environmentally responsible fashion... or they can push on and take the consequences.
I can see it now... before being allowed out on the Information Superhighway (TM) proper, it will be compulsory for all newbies to learn on Slashdot first (right now it just seems that way.) They'll have to be good citizens, make their contributions, avoid being a potty mouth, etc. Once they've developed a Karma of, say, 25 they'll be allowed out on their own. Another fine product of CmdrTaco's Academy!
(We're talking about this post in case your threshold is set too high for the Parent link to work. (This is called a Bug, Rob).)
Well, 60% of your heat is lost through your head, so they say (which is why you must wear a hat in winter boys!). A lobotomised brain would be an less active brain and thus a less prolific producer of heat energy, and those poor malevolent cyber-intelligences would be down on their quotas and have hell to pay.
Of course, The Matrix is a fictional work and so the multi-user VR system described therein is thus not qualified to be regarded as one of the greates hacks of all time. However, interestingly, if it should turn out that The Matrix is not a work of fiction - but, say, a 1st wake-up call from Neo and crew - then all the other hacks described here become fictional works.
Well, I was making a comparison with Star Wars (which is basically The Hobbit plus flashing lights). I'm more a fan of Science Fiction than Science Fantasy so I prefer my "metaphysics" to be fairly "straightforward".
For example, if I ever found myself in a Universe where I meet a guy in a tank who can bend space with his mind to enable faster-than-light transport (as in Dune) then I think I am more likely to believe myself in a computer generated virtual reality (as in The Matrix) where such things could be made to appear possible. Occam's razor isn't it?
(As an exercise, let's see if I can offer a view dissenting from the mainstream without getting moderated down to oblivion.)
I with you on this, Infojack. These prequels are over-hyped and over-commercialised. I'd rather see Lucas exercise his considerable talents on something truly creative (like The Matrix) rather than warming over this old pot-boiler. Yet again.
(BTW, Infojack, I am *genuinely* impressed by your Karma of -29! That's some going. Do you post at -1 by default? Has anyone a more negative Karma?)
Spammers will be able to send their email to all possible addresses simultaneously. You'll open a new account and your mailbox will already be full. You'll also get spam from spammers in parallel universes trying to get you to visit porn sites featuring improbable alien teenage life-forms in hot steamy action. Forward this message to an infinity of other life-forms and receive good luck forever. Send this message to Microsoft and receive more $$$s than there are atoms in the Universe. Hit Reply to be removed from future mailings.
"In fact, such a remedy would force compatibility because companies, even while technically competing in the Windows marketplace, would have an incentive to make their products work together. If they did not, consumers would have the option to simply buy a different version of Windows."
It doesn't necessarily work like that. In the effort to "differentiate" their product in the marketplace they might well decide to build in incompatibilities - so that their customers are tied in the their OS and their apps.
To the enlightened this might appear to be an unwise and primitive way of operating but it still happens. Ericsson has a PDA based on the Psion Series 5 and they've fixed so that their version of the apps only work on their machines.
Guess the marketplace will decide if this was a good idea.
Not sure about our experts replies to question 6 on the vertical breakup of MS (OS, apps, online)...
Richard Hawkins response included: "There is no honor among thieves." Why would these companies help each other?
Surely the answer to this is that they would have a common set of shareholders? Bill Gates and co. could set the individual companies' policies to cooperate with each other - to the shareholders' mutual financial gain. And why not?
Any settlement would surely have address this somehow. Would the existing MSFT shareholders have to decide which new Baby-Bill they get shares in? (If I had any MSFT shares (and I don't) I don't think I'd be happy to get them exchanged for shares in the Online Services company.)
I can recommend the Open University too (moderate this up someone).
Only problem I see is they have exam centres in Europe only. The USA and rest-of-world is handled by "affiliates". I'll try and find out who these are.
Slashdot Mirror
OK, let's deal with the most important of these points: Shopping. If it's not OK for me to go online shopping on the Sabbath, is it OK for me to allow my software shopping agent to be active on the Sabbath?
Regards, Ralph.
Regards, Ralph
Why shouldn't a weather forecast be copyright? Whether it's making involved a lowly clerk looking out of the window, or a battery of supercomputers, the weather forecast has a copyrightable form of words - just like a work of fiction. (And most forecasts are little more than that.)
Of course, if it's USGov-sourced then it may be public domain but any further editing/processing/creativity applied to it by an intermediary might make it copyrightable.
However, you really needn't kill yourself over this.
Regards, Ralph.
... only 20% of Americans are crazy?!?!
Regards, Ralph.
The current situation on trivial software patents is absurd. And I have great respect for Stallman and his work.
... but, really, a boycott!? Better to boycott the firms that can't make a working web site, or "lose" orders, or rip off credit cards.
:-)
However, I'm afraid I'm not going to boycott Amazon for this. They're just playing by the rules of the jungle - just like all the other hi-tech firms out there. Campaign to change the rules (please!) but Amazon aren't to blame here.
I'm a Brit living in Switzerland and this year I've done most of my Xmas shopping with Amazon and they've done a darn good job. And my family have been generous enough to buy me a lot of the DVD titles I put on my Wish List (no doubt petent pending) at Amazon US. It all worked beautifully. I'm only sorry their UK branch doesn't (yet) stock the range that they have in the US. By comparison with Amazon the UK web efforts (www.pcworld.co.uk, www.jungle.com, etc.) are shambolic.
I didn't mean this post to become an Amazon testimonial
As it happens, I have joined the eToys boycott - because I don't like how they handled eToy. (Compare and contrast the amicable settlement reached by Amazon with that bookshop). This has caused me some extra cost and inconvenience to me - even to the extent of me having to pick up a telephone and talk to someone.
Happy Holidays everyone. Stallman & Amazon included.
Regards, Ralph.
If you've ever seen "The Iron Giant" you'll know that when a robot's eyes turn red you better run for cover. And throw away anything that even looks a little bit like a gun.
DC06 Sales Line: "Don't mess with a Dyson, unless you want to die, son!"
Regards, Ralph.
They also make ClearCase - an industrial strength source control system for NT and Unix - and DDTS - defect tracking software. Both tools are used on a Big scale by very Big companies.
Regards, Ralph.
Anyway, more of this stupidity can be found at The Easter Egg Archive.
Regards, Ralph.
Only stupid businessmen would ever enter such an loosely defined address as www.business.com. Businessmen have money. Stupid businessmen can easily have their money removed from them. Stupid businessmen are therefore a very profitable market. Thus www.business.com is well worth $7.5m.
QED
Regards, Ralph.
I am completely with you on this Morgaine. Violence and rioting are the undocumented part of the constitution of all states.
... or they can push on and take the consequences.
In the UK the unfair and unpopular Community Charge (or Poll Tax) wasn't beaten (just) by peaceful argument, democratic vote, or even civil disobedience - it was only dropped after rioters trashed a large part of the City of London. Then the politicos finally got the message.
The WTO and their attempts to allow business to (further) abuse the patent process by allowing genetic patents (I mean, what better example of Prior Art do you need?) and to deny labour rights to the 3rd World (thus allowing business both exploit cheap/child labour and further erode pay & social conditions in the West). Ditto the environmental standards.
The WTO's denial of the rights of democratic states to refuse import of goods on safety or ethical grounds is not about Free Trade it's about exploitation.
Of course, you can't blame Big Business. Ethics are expensive, and if you don't do the bad but profitable thing then the other business will. The WTO is doing a dangerous job here because it's underming the democratic control of such bad business practices.
As Morgaine says, the feedback mechanism is now kicking in. Kicking and shouting and throwing bricks in. Ultimately this is how we preserve our democracy and our social standards. All we hold dear.
The WTO, big business and their pet polititions can take the warning or not. They can step back and start acting in a more socially and environmentally responsible fashion
Regards, Ralph.
I can see it now ... before being allowed out on the Information Superhighway (TM) proper, it will be compulsory for all newbies to learn on Slashdot first (right now it just seems that way.) They'll have to be good citizens, make their contributions, avoid being a potty mouth, etc. Once they've developed a Karma of, say, 25 they'll be allowed out on their own. Another fine product of CmdrTaco's Academy!
Regards, Ralph.
No.
Regards, Ralph.
Regards, Ralph.
Well, 60% of your heat is lost through your head, so they say (which is why you must wear a hat in winter boys!). A lobotomised brain would be an less active brain and thus a less prolific producer of heat energy, and those poor malevolent cyber-intelligences would be down on their quotas and have hell to pay.
Of course, The Matrix is a fictional work and so the multi-user VR system described therein is thus not qualified to be regarded as one of the greates hacks of all time. However, interestingly, if it should turn out that The Matrix is not a work of fiction - but, say, a 1st wake-up call from Neo and crew - then all the other hacks described here become fictional works.
Makes you think, doesn't it?
Or not.
Regards, Ralph.
> The Matrix? Truly creative?
Well, I was making a comparison with Star Wars (which is basically The Hobbit plus flashing lights). I'm more a fan of Science Fiction than Science Fantasy so I prefer my "metaphysics" to be fairly "straightforward".
For example, if I ever found myself in a Universe where I meet a guy in a tank who can bend space with his mind to enable faster-than-light transport (as in Dune) then I think I am more likely to believe myself in a computer generated virtual reality (as in The Matrix) where such things could be made to appear possible. Occam's razor isn't it?
Regards, Ralph.
(As an exercise, let's see if I can offer a view dissenting from the mainstream without getting moderated down to oblivion.)
I with you on this, Infojack. These prequels are over-hyped and over-commercialised. I'd rather see Lucas exercise his considerable talents on something truly creative (like The Matrix) rather than warming over this old pot-boiler. Yet again.
(BTW, Infojack, I am *genuinely* impressed by your Karma of -29! That's some going. Do you post at -1 by default? Has anyone a more negative Karma?)
Regards, Ralph.
Spammers will be able to send their email to all possible addresses simultaneously. You'll open a new account and your mailbox will already be full. You'll also get spam from spammers in parallel universes trying to get you to visit porn sites featuring improbable alien teenage life-forms in hot steamy action. Forward this message to an infinity of other life-forms and receive good luck forever. Send this message to Microsoft and receive more $$$s than there are atoms in the Universe. Hit Reply to be removed from future mailings.
(I'll go lie down now.)
Regards, Ralph.
> if SGI are flogging Cray off cheap, I'm offering $10!
And I bet you'd be buying a bloody big debt with your $10. SGI wouldn't be selling if they were making money with Cray.
Regards, Ralph.
Regards, Ralph.
It doesn't necessarily work like that. In the effort to "differentiate" their product in the marketplace they might well decide to build in incompatibilities - so that their customers are tied in the their OS and their apps.
To the enlightened this might appear to be an unwise and primitive way of operating but it still happens. Ericsson has a PDA based on the Psion Series 5 and they've fixed so that their version of the apps only work on their machines.
Guess the marketplace will decide if this was a good idea.
Regards, Ralph.
Richard Hawkins response included: "There is no honor among thieves." Why would these companies help each other?
Surely the answer to this is that they would have a common set of shareholders? Bill Gates and co. could set the individual companies' policies to cooperate with each other - to the shareholders' mutual financial gain. And why not?
Any settlement would surely have address this somehow. Would the existing MSFT shareholders have to decide which new Baby-Bill they get shares in? (If I had any MSFT shares (and I don't) I don't think I'd be happy to get them exchanged for shares in the Online Services company.)
Any other ideas?
Regards, Ralph.
Regards, Ralph.
Only problem I see is they have exam centres in Europe only. The USA and rest-of-world is handled by "affiliates". I'll try and find out who these are.
Regards, Ralph.
The EFF did start up the TrustE program! See here.
Regards, Ralph.
Interestingly, an Anonynmous Coward post would get scored 1 (or 2 if /. loves you) as it is not an Anonymous Coward post (Score:0).
You really have to be Anonymous to be Anonymous.
Regards, Ralph.