You work at the British equivalent of a Fortune 500. Your mission-critical Linux database server has crashed overnight. At first you aren't sure what to do but finally you remember a post on Slashdot saying that all you would ever need in situations like these is something called LDP. You spend hours reading through all sorts of how-to's and man pages but alas, this supposed tome of all Linux knowledge provides no solution to your problems.
Meanwhile the company PBX has gone down as well - it could not take the load of the hundreds of panicking salesmen calling from your offices around the world to ask you why none of the high-priority orders they filed yesterday have been delivered yet. According to the guys down at storage they never received the orders.
Your boss calls you to his office. "A group consisting of the companies that didn't receive the mission-critical parts that they had ordered from us have gone together and sued us for negligence" he says. "They seek damages of more than 10 million pounds. On behalf of the board I am to inform you that, in the lack of a support contractor to blame, the company intend to hold you responsible for this whole affair. I hope you have a good insurance arrangement."
Back in your office you slowly open your top desk drawer. Underneath stacks of paper and old post-it notes you find what you are looking for. "Why didn't I just go with a platform with support" you ask youself, staring across your empty office. Finally you pull the trigger and everything blurs out, then goes black.
If their Windows release had the same issues as the Linux version, they'd get the same criticism and more. You wouldn't have people saying "we should all buy this despite how rough it is... after all, they could have just made a version for the PS2 and ignored Windows."
No, obviously, since something like 90% of all gamers are on a Windows platform. They could not have ignored Windows. But they certainly could have ignored Linux.
Choosing to make a cross-platform product is not a small decision. If you've read some of the things Bioware have said about the development of Aurora, the engine Neverwinter Nights is based on, you will understand how big an impact the compatibility considerations have had on the design process.
With a petty 10% increase in sales at best, it must have been pretty difficult to get the corporate mandate for something giving an at least 10% increase in expenses, especially with all the post-release development time that has gone into it.
So, some of us are asking ourselves, why did they make a Linux version at all? Perhaps the suits figured it would make the company look cooler - think John Carmack. But if all it got them was bad publicity, will they (and other developers watching them) ever try walking that road again?
Lets say I'm going to buy a computer today. Just for the sake of getting the best available technology, I want a computer with the real USB 2 (as in, not USB 1.1). What should I ask the salesperson?
Obviously I can't ask for USB 2 as he'll just hand me a USB 1.1 machine.
No, we should not. The music industry perhaps but not Adobe. Adobe did something "corporately unique" by admitting their mistake. If you have read the strongly worded statement that appeared briefly on adobe.com (it was withdrawn shortly before it was announced that they backed down), you know how a painful mental U-turn it must have been for those whose rage is expressed in that statement. The suits should get the lesson that "hey, if we actually listen to these hippies they will stop spreading that profit-burning bad publicity". Remember that this is about freeing a man who was wrongfully accused, not about lynching a company that had no idea what an outrage their foolish actions would cause.
There is no more to get from Adobe. Next in line is the prosecutors, move along.
Well, obviously not as they are not the prosectuors. The Feds will still be taking this case to court, no matter how Adobe feel about it. In my opinion, the looming threat of very bad publicity sounds like a more viable explanation for their sudden change of heart. In essence, a victory for grassroots at large (yes, you can change the world by prostesting against what's wrong).
In Denmark we have a tank station company, Q8, that switched to Linux and StarOffice a year ago. Savings? 1,5 million Danish kroner (~175.000 USD).
Same goes for the Danish Consumer Information, a governmental agency. Quite good for something that, according to Microsoft, cost 37 procent more than Windows NT, don't you think? How pathetic can you get, Bill.
Ahh, finally! Microsoft's first bad move. This is but the beginning of The Big Fall. Historicly, prententious decisions like this one are known to set off the first in a series of events that eventually will cause an empire to fall apart. Just take IBM, for example: "Bah, personal computers. People want mainframes. We know because we own this market".
People of the open-source world, unite! And lobby for Bluetooth like you never have lobbied before. Bluetooth support for Linux is already in place, now use it.
This is the US patent system in a nutshell. Allow me to quote Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution:
"To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to author and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries"
Explain to me Mr. Godici, how in the world can the extension an already documented and wide-spread system with a couple of extra characters qualify as an discovery!? Ahh, yes, "the land of opportunity".
This is so stupid. Read this comment in the Wired article:
"The existence of the network has become a hot issue in Europe, where it has helped engender anti-American sentiment".
Bullshit. No matter how much American media like to sell that impression, the vast majority of Europeans does not have anything against the US at all. And why the hell should they. I'm sorry America. We don't hate you.
"Only teaching your kids what you think about such actions will influence them, cutting them off just throws up a barrier they will find a way around."
Exactly! Censorware isn't for parents that care about their kids. Censorware is for parents that don't want to take the time it takes to raise a child.
"Firstly, that you yourself didn't come to any harm - do we have any evidence supporting this?"
Let's toss that one around and ask: do we have any evidence supporting the opposite? No. We must take his word for it. Most, if not all, adult men have at some time been exposed to pornographic material (this is a fact). Of these men, only a fraction so small that it can barely be represented with numbers have turned into these psychopathic monsters you so colorfully describe (thisis also a fact). How in the world did you get the idea that there exist a relation between the two?
"How do we know you're not now a psychopathic misogynist rapist who stalks innocent teenage girls, hoping to live out scenes depicted in hardcore pornography which shaped your adolescence?"
But why? Why would somebody want to go do something just because they saw a picture of somebody else doing it? If you show your son a picture of somebode mowing their lawn does that mean he will go do the same with your lawn? Oh boy, you really have stumpled upon something here. "Photographic mind-control". Try selling it to the military.
"Secondly, you only consider the harm which porn may have caused you, without considering the harm that may have been caused to the people involved in producing the pornography."
Considering the harm that may have been caused to the people involved in producing automobiles, does this mean that you never drive a car or ride the bus?
"Also, you don't consider the harm that may have been caused to other people exposed to this porn. The sum total of these groups could have experienced significant harm.
"
Wonderful argumentation. How can you use the point that you are trying to prove as an argument for that very point? "2+2=5, because 2+2=5" anyone?
This is very exciting. Imagine, some time in the future, having your own Internet server hoovering hundreds of miles above your head, way out of reach of RIP bills, cybercrime conventions etc. Boy, I can't wait till more companies enters the market for "personal satellites" and prices drop.
Slashdot Mirror
You work at the British equivalent of a Fortune 500. Your mission-critical Linux database server has crashed overnight. At first you aren't sure what to do but finally you remember a post on Slashdot saying that all you would ever need in situations like these is something called LDP. You spend hours reading through all sorts of how-to's and man pages but alas, this supposed tome of all Linux knowledge provides no solution to your problems.
Meanwhile the company PBX has gone down as well - it could not take the load of the hundreds of panicking salesmen calling from your offices around the world to ask you why none of the high-priority orders they filed yesterday have been delivered yet. According to the guys down at storage they never received the orders.
Your boss calls you to his office. "A group consisting of the companies that didn't receive the mission-critical parts that they had ordered from us have gone together and sued us for negligence" he says. "They seek damages of more than 10 million pounds. On behalf of the board I am to inform you that, in the lack of a support contractor to blame, the company intend to hold you responsible for this whole affair. I hope you have a good insurance arrangement."
Back in your office you slowly open your top desk drawer. Underneath stacks of paper and old post-it notes you find what you are looking for. "Why didn't I just go with a platform with support" you ask youself, staring across your empty office. Finally you pull the trigger and everything blurs out, then goes black.
If their Windows release had the same issues as the Linux version, they'd get the same criticism and more. You wouldn't have people saying "we should all buy this despite how rough it is... after all, they could have just made a version for the PS2 and ignored Windows."
No, obviously, since something like 90% of all gamers are on a Windows platform. They could not have ignored Windows. But they certainly could have ignored Linux.
Choosing to make a cross-platform product is not a small decision. If you've read some of the things Bioware have said about the development of Aurora, the engine Neverwinter Nights is based on, you will understand how big an impact the compatibility considerations have had on the design process.
With a petty 10% increase in sales at best, it must have been pretty difficult to get the corporate mandate for something giving an at least 10% increase in expenses, especially with all the post-release development time that has gone into it.
So, some of us are asking ourselves, why did they make a Linux version at all? Perhaps the suits figured it would make the company look cooler - think John Carmack. But if all it got them was bad publicity, will they (and other developers watching them) ever try walking that road again?
Lets say I'm going to buy a computer today. Just for the sake of getting the best available technology, I want a computer with the real USB 2 (as in, not USB 1.1). What should I ask the salesperson?
Obviously I can't ask for USB 2 as he'll just hand me a USB 1.1 machine.
This is strange. How can the intended recipient know what state is if the hacker can't?
No, we should not. The music industry perhaps but not Adobe. Adobe did something "corporately unique" by admitting their mistake. If you have read the strongly worded statement that appeared briefly on adobe.com (it was withdrawn shortly before it was announced that they backed down), you know how a painful mental U-turn it must have been for those whose rage is expressed in that statement. The suits should get the lesson that "hey, if we actually listen to these hippies they will stop spreading that profit-burning bad publicity". Remember that this is about freeing a man who was wrongfully accused, not about lynching a company that had no idea what an outrage their foolish actions would cause.
There is no more to get from Adobe. Next in line is the prosecutors, move along.
Well, obviously not as they are not the prosectuors. The Feds will still be taking this case to court, no matter how Adobe feel about it. In my opinion, the looming threat of very bad publicity sounds like a more viable explanation for their sudden change of heart. In essence, a victory for grassroots at large (yes, you can change the world by prostesting against what's wrong).
First Bluetooth,then USB 2.0 and now MP3's!? Oh boy, oh boy. Microsoft has finally begun digging their own grave.
In Denmark we have a tank station company, Q8, that switched to Linux and StarOffice a year ago. Savings? 1,5 million Danish kroner (~175.000 USD). Same goes for the Danish Consumer Information, a governmental agency. Quite good for something that, according to Microsoft, cost 37 procent more than Windows NT, don't you think? How pathetic can you get, Bill.
Ahh, finally! Microsoft's first bad move. This is but the beginning of The Big Fall. Historicly, prententious decisions like this one are known to set off the first in a series of events that eventually will cause an empire to fall apart. Just take IBM, for example: "Bah, personal computers. People want mainframes. We know because we own this market".
People of the open-source world, unite! And lobby for Bluetooth like you never have lobbied before. Bluetooth support for Linux is already in place, now use it.
This is the US patent system in a nutshell. Allow me to quote Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution:
"To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to author and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries"
Explain to me Mr. Godici, how in the world can the extension an already documented and wide-spread system with a couple of extra characters qualify as an discovery!? Ahh, yes, "the land of opportunity".
The US Patent & Trademark Office is such wimps.
This is so stupid. Read this comment in the Wired article:
"The existence of the network has become a hot issue in Europe, where it has helped engender anti-American sentiment".
Bullshit. No matter how much American media like to sell that impression, the vast majority of Europeans does not have anything against the US at all. And why the hell should they. I'm sorry America. We don't hate you.
"Only teaching your kids what you think about such actions will influence them, cutting them off just throws up a barrier they will find a way around."
Exactly! Censorware isn't for parents that care about their kids. Censorware is for parents that don't want to take the time it takes to raise a child.
"Firstly, that you yourself didn't come to any harm - do we have any evidence supporting this?"
Let's toss that one around and ask: do we have any evidence supporting the opposite? No. We must take his word for it. Most, if not all, adult men have at some time been exposed to pornographic material (this is a fact). Of these men, only a fraction so small that it can barely be represented with numbers have turned into these psychopathic monsters you so colorfully describe (thisis also a fact). How in the world did you get the idea that there exist a relation between the two?
"How do we know you're not now a psychopathic misogynist rapist who stalks innocent teenage girls, hoping to live out scenes depicted in hardcore pornography which shaped your adolescence?"
But why? Why would somebody want to go do something just because they saw a picture of somebody else doing it? If you show your son a picture of somebode mowing their lawn does that mean he will go do the same with your lawn? Oh boy, you really have stumpled upon something here. "Photographic mind-control". Try selling it to the military.
"Secondly, you only consider the harm which porn may have caused you, without considering the harm that may have been caused to the people involved in producing the pornography."
Considering the harm that may have been caused to the people involved in producing automobiles, does this mean that you never drive a car or ride the bus?
"Also, you don't consider the harm that may have been caused to other people exposed to this porn. The sum total of these groups could have experienced significant harm. "
Wonderful argumentation. How can you use the point that you are trying to prove as an argument for that very point? "2+2=5, because 2+2=5" anyone?
This is very exciting. Imagine, some time in the future, having your own Internet server hoovering hundreds of miles above your head, way out of reach of RIP bills, cybercrime conventions etc. Boy, I can't wait till more companies enters the market for "personal satellites" and prices drop.
Wow, this is sick - a perfect example of biological warfare. Doesn't bacteria have any ethics?