2000mg Guarana and hot chocolate (The real stuff made with unsweatened cocoa and a shit load of sugar, plus some chilly powder for power). Beats percolated coffee by a long shot...
What happens if I don't consider the product as software? What if its just a plesant arrangment of bits that creates intersting patterns when I force it into memeory of a computer kinda thing I bought for entertainment purposes?
When I click with the entertainment control thingy sometimes it makes different patterns... sometimes not. Thats whats so much fun about it.
Sometimes I try changing the bits to see what happens. Its even more fun.
Since its all pleasant patterns anyway, this EULA thing you keep refering to is just one of the many plesant patterns I guess.
I love the fact that companies spend all that time and effort making all these plesant patterns for me to enjoy and I appreciate the fact that they sell them to me as entertainment products. Which I can do with as I see fit.
The whole copyright argument seems totaly moot to me because they canot control how I perceive my world and what I choose to do.
If they want to think of it as some magical "software" that is perhaps a service or a product depending on what phase of the moon they are in does not bother me. I just want to frollic in the binary soup that I buy. Bet it would really piss them off to know that I dont use their product the way they intended. But then again no one has ever really defined that either... Must be a really confusing world being in "software manufacturing". Stuck between hardware and nowhere.
Brings to mind some of the arguments in "No Logo" by Naomi Klein.
On the other hand there is the law of deminishing returns. That translates to something like... "Sooner or later the structure will choak itself to death". Now not being a pessimist, but the US seems to be getting pretty inefficient. A great amount of the per capita production has been outsourced. The govening bodies and communities seem to be trying to regulate all the citizens out of the picture, and the larger companies are killing themselves to up the ante and make the market place even more difficult to operate in.
There has got to be a breaking point somewhere!
Saw an article on Nash's Equilibrium point a few nights ago. Could be a really nice solution there. Otherwise there is always darwinism.
Congratulations. Since this is a rather late post... Belatedly.
I am thinking that to post on slashdot is about the best way to get rapid congratulation messages in bulk. Good plan!
Make it good.
Just a thought. Without verifiable exploit code whats to stop bogus reports?
Bet everyone would get real sick of responding to fictitious security holes everytime someone got pissed at microsoft and started a rumor about an exploit in microsofts newest toy. (Of course there are so few people that engage in malicious microsoft bashing that this would be a tiny problem anyway)
I think that these worms are doing some things that no-one has touched on yet... in a more abstract sense.
1)Firstly they are keeping microsoft software at the top of the news in just about every country where it counts.. (Can you say mindshare?).
2)They are testing the software. In biological terms... an organism has to out evolve its preditors... or it gets wiped out. So far microsoft is winning.
3)They are testing the infrastucture and personel. Quite a few systems admins in microsoft shops will be getting a lot of disaster managment experience out of this. And I am sure they will be getting to know the inner working and configuration options a lot better.
Linux could learn a lot from this.
As I see it... the organism with the most potential preditors is going to be the strongest!
Where is the stable of linux viruses?
Obviously there are reasons.. lack of market share being a major one...
So here are a few ideas for linux...
Rather than closing linux up and putting more firewalls inplace... open it up and allow any weak software to be exploited...
Start competitions to write Linux viruses
Remember.. free testing by serious geeks!
Start a page where all the distros are rated for their tolerance to virus and worm attack.
Build a server that runs every know virus for linux and set it so people can submit their box to it for testing... Should make sure all the older software is replaced and patched!
We have to remember that the internet and any network in general must be considered a hostile place... there is no point building a firewall between the company intranet and the "wild" internet. Then pretending you can trust everyone inside the firewall and thus relaxing your standards...
Firewalls are a red herring!
If there are no disaster management procdures and no regular testing of both system and personel... you are kidding yourself.
So think about some of the value in using worms and viri as a system test tool... shame there are more for windows than linux isnt it.
First up I enjoy a good game thats challenging and seems fair as much as anyone else. Mainly becuse I have some skill. But when it gets unrealistic to win.. why would I play?
I agree with the sentiment that creating cheats and hacking/patching games or whatever develops valuable skills.
Using them to beat others in the game starts to get questionable. Distributing them to idiots is totaly pointless.
If you create a secret wepon(cheat..whatever) then why would you distribute it? Well apart from the open source/bragging rights issues...
My main point though is about genetic selection. Without some contention to weed out the weak and lazy there is no way that a population can improve.
The population that I am refering too in this case is the games industy. While I am sad to see a game that is popular and fun die becuse of weak security code and bad architecture. This does make for a stronger industry over all.
The game companies that are whinging that they dont have enough coders to regulate cheating and can't admin the servers are.. to put it bluntly.. obviously not doing whats needed to survive in the industry as it stands.
Making things easier by making a few rules to stop cheating is not going to force them to improve their situation.
Employ some more coders. Employ some of the lost dot commers. Admin your servers. Stop being cheapskates and then whinging when it bites you in the ass.
Or get the fuck out of the business!
On the other hand cheating is only so in the eyes of the defeated. Unless it makes it less fun.. then you are cheating yourself.
But seriously, you are playing a war based game and someone has developed a better wepon than you have. Hello? I know this is getting a little unreal and people dont play these games for that sort of reason.. still.. with a little restructuring cheating can become a valuable part of the whole game experience for everyone.
There have been some excelent ideas posted here to allow cheating to continue for those who want to use it. And to remove it for those who dont. Now its up to the game companies to actualy pay attention, stop whining and build some better business models that actualy take reality into account.
I think the subject of this thread is just a few whiners trying to live in a perfect world and then complaining when it doesn't work.
While I like the idea of free software and open source, I think this argument is heading off at a tangent.
Its not the client that matters, Its the file format. If you have an open file format that can be read by any client, and can be supported by future versions, open or closed, then you have a lot more value. You are not dependant on any one company. You have no problems with version inconsistancy, and any time you dont like the current client, you can make or acuire another. Without haveing to convert your records and archives.
The second point about open file formats is in archiving. The whole digital darkage argument is based on closed file formats that go out of fashion and thus doom the data held in them to death. If the whole of argentinias data is in open formats that stand the needs of time, they will have a much more reliable historical record than contries that depend on data in closed formats.
So my argument is that argentinas govenment should standardise and open the file formats first and worry about the software to handle it second. Everyone knows how fast software changes... open software has alot of benefits. But open storage formats and especialy open exchange formats will be the most valuable gifts that anyone can give to future generations.
Think XML, or any of the other open exchange formats. If they are not good enough then make them so...
Delor
Slashdot Mirror
2000mg Guarana and hot chocolate (The real stuff made with unsweatened cocoa and a shit load of sugar, plus some chilly powder for power). Beats percolated coffee by a long shot...
What happens if I don't consider the product as software? What if its just a plesant arrangment of bits that creates intersting patterns when I force it into memeory of a computer kinda thing I bought for entertainment purposes?
When I click with the entertainment control thingy sometimes it makes different patterns... sometimes not. Thats whats so much fun about it.
Sometimes I try changing the bits to see what happens. Its even more fun.
Since its all pleasant patterns anyway, this EULA thing you keep refering to is just one of the many plesant patterns I guess.
I love the fact that companies spend all that time and effort making all these plesant patterns for me to enjoy and I appreciate the fact that they sell them to me as entertainment products. Which I can do with as I see fit.
The whole copyright argument seems totaly moot to me because they canot control how I perceive my world and what I choose to do.
If they want to think of it as some magical "software" that is perhaps a service or a product depending on what phase of the moon they are in does not bother me.
I just want to frollic in the binary soup that I buy.
Bet it would really piss them off to know that I dont use their product the way they intended. But then again no one has ever really defined that either...
Must be a really confusing world being in "software manufacturing". Stuck between hardware and nowhere.
D
Brings to mind some of the arguments in "No Logo" by Naomi Klein.
On the other hand there is the law of deminishing returns. That translates to something like... "Sooner or later the structure will choak itself to death". Now not being a pessimist, but the US seems to be getting pretty inefficient. A great amount of the per capita production has been outsourced. The govening bodies and communities seem to be trying to regulate all the citizens out of the picture, and the larger companies are killing themselves to up the ante and make the market place even more difficult to operate in.
There has got to be a breaking point somewhere!
Saw an article on Nash's Equilibrium point a few nights ago. Could be a really nice solution there.
Otherwise there is always darwinism.
Congratulations. Since this is a rather late post... Belatedly.
I am thinking that to post on slashdot is about the best way to get rapid congratulation messages in bulk. Good plan!
Make it good.
Just a thought. Without verifiable exploit code whats to stop bogus reports?
Bet everyone would get real sick of responding to fictitious security holes everytime someone got pissed at microsoft and started a rumor about an exploit in microsofts newest toy. (Of course there are so few people that engage in malicious microsoft bashing that this would be a tiny problem anyway)
D
Just a few thoughts..
.. free testing by serious geeks!
I think that these worms are doing some things that no-one has touched on yet... in a more abstract sense.
1)Firstly they are keeping microsoft software at the top of the news in just about every country where it counts.. (Can you say mindshare?).
2)They are testing the software. In biological terms... an organism has to out evolve its preditors... or it gets wiped out. So far microsoft is winning.
3)They are testing the infrastucture and personel. Quite a few systems admins in microsoft shops will be getting a lot of disaster managment experience out of this. And I am sure they will be getting to know the inner working and configuration options a lot better.
Linux could learn a lot from this.
As I see it... the organism with the most potential preditors is going to be the strongest!
Where is the stable of linux viruses?
Obviously there are reasons.. lack of market share being a major one...
So here are a few ideas for linux...
Rather than closing linux up and putting more firewalls inplace... open it up and allow any weak software to be exploited...
Start competitions to write Linux viruses
Remember
Start a page where all the distros are rated for their tolerance to virus and worm attack.
Build a server that runs every know virus for linux and set it so people can submit their box to it for testing... Should make sure all the older software is replaced and patched!
We have to remember that the internet and any network in general must be considered a hostile place... there is no point building a firewall between the company intranet and the "wild" internet. Then pretending you can trust everyone inside the firewall and thus relaxing your standards...
Firewalls are a red herring!
If there are no disaster management procdures and no regular testing of both system and personel... you are kidding yourself.
So think about some of the value in using worms and viri as a system test tool... shame there are more for windows than linux isnt it.
But most of all make the system stronger!
First up I enjoy a good game thats challenging and seems fair as much as anyone else. Mainly becuse I have some skill. But when it gets unrealistic to win.. why would I play?
I agree with the sentiment that creating cheats and hacking/patching games or whatever develops valuable skills.
Using them to beat others in the game starts to get questionable. Distributing them to idiots is totaly pointless.
If you create a secret wepon(cheat..whatever) then why would you distribute it?
Well apart from the open source/bragging rights issues...
My main point though is about genetic selection. Without some contention to weed out the weak and lazy there is no way that a population can improve.
The population that I am refering too in this case is the games industy. While I am sad to see a game that is popular and fun die becuse of weak security code and bad architecture. This does make for a stronger industry over all.
The game companies that are whinging that they dont have enough coders to regulate cheating and can't admin the servers are.. to put it bluntly.. obviously not doing whats needed to survive in the industry as it stands.
Making things easier by making a few rules to stop cheating is not going to force them to improve their situation.
Employ some more coders. Employ some of the lost dot commers. Admin your servers. Stop being cheapskates and then whinging when it bites you in the ass.
Or get the fuck out of the business!
On the other hand cheating is only so in the eyes of the defeated. Unless it makes it less fun.. then you are cheating yourself.
But seriously, you are playing a war based game and someone has developed a better wepon than you have. Hello? I know this is getting a little unreal and people dont play these games for that sort of reason.. still.. with a little restructuring cheating can become a valuable part of the whole game experience for everyone.
There have been some excelent ideas posted here to allow cheating to continue for those who want to use it. And to remove it for those who dont.
Now its up to the game companies to actualy pay attention, stop whining and build some better business models that actualy take reality into account.
I think the subject of this thread is just a few whiners trying to live in a perfect world and then complaining when it doesn't work.
While I like the idea of free software and open source, I think this argument is heading off at a tangent. Its not the client that matters, Its the file format. If you have an open file format that can be read by any client, and can be supported by future versions, open or closed, then you have a lot more value. You are not dependant on any one company. You have no problems with version inconsistancy, and any time you dont like the current client, you can make or acuire another. Without haveing to convert your records and archives. The second point about open file formats is in archiving. The whole digital darkage argument is based on closed file formats that go out of fashion and thus doom the data held in them to death. If the whole of argentinias data is in open formats that stand the needs of time, they will have a much more reliable historical record than contries that depend on data in closed formats. So my argument is that argentinas govenment should standardise and open the file formats first and worry about the software to handle it second. Everyone knows how fast software changes... open software has alot of benefits. But open storage formats and especialy open exchange formats will be the most valuable gifts that anyone can give to future generations. Think XML, or any of the other open exchange formats. If they are not good enough then make them so... Delor