No one checked the documentation in three years, so it was a shock that it was written in the DOS / Win95 era. (What was the original thought when you bought the software and saw that the documentation was written for systems 10+ years older than current OSes?)
No one followed up with the vendor, perhaps to keep current on support contracts, over the course of the past three years? (Do you even *have* a support contract?)
Only a year into the use of this "critical program", database backups ceased to be performed by your company.
And it's the vendor's fault, and the vendor who offers a crappy product??? Riiiight....!
To be precise, they "believe" this since the First Vatican Council in 1870.
Actually, to be more precise:
a pronouncement on a matter of faith which is binding on the faithful, doesn't infer that they began to believe it at the time it was promulgated. Instead, that's just when it was officially declared.
Your statement is as precise as saying "Humans have been affected by gravity since the apple hit Newton on the noggin!"
Hint: He's the "K" in "AWK". He helped Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie invent UNIX at Bell Labs. He co-authored "The C Programming Language", the very first book on programming in C, and widely considered by most to be the bible of modern programming.
You felt the need to explain who Kernighan is? On Slashdot...?!?!
Either I'm old, or this place ain't what it used to be...
Oh god, no... are you insane? The Silmarillion was like the Old Testament "Numbers"
Umm... have you actually read the Book of Numbers? Yeah, I didn't think so.
There's tons of action in Numbers -- the Jews celebrate the first Passover since Egypt; they leave Mt Sinai organized in battle formation like an army; there are rebellions against Moses and the Lord; they threaten revolt over lack of water and experience a miracle; the Jews scout out the Promised Land; there are battles and victories as the Jews start conquering the Promised Land; there's a rebellion that sees the people worshiping Baal; and there are more military victories.
Sure, there's some stuff that can be skimmed over, and wouldn't translate well to the big screen, but... even LotR has its Bombadil, songs, and sequences that don't advance the storyline!
TFA mentions an edit to the page of Gerry Adams that came from a computer with a.va address: "Wikiscanner's roster indicates a Vatican computer was used to remove references to evidence linking Ireland's Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams to a decades-old double murder."
Taking a look at the Wiki page on Adams, I see that not only the reference to evidence is gone, but also, any reference to the murder as well. Gee... a change that has stood up to public scrutiny within Wiki... hmm -- think that means that there was some basis to the edit?
Meantime, the edit is placed aside others which change W's name to "Wanker", a description of Rush Limbaugh and his audience to insults, and other juvenile character attacks.
you know, this guy is a real asshat. When he tries to come up with an example that resonates with his listeners, he picks a comic strip that originated in the 30's and was in its heyday in the 50's. his target demographic's great-grandparents are likely the only ones to remember the Shmoo!
Better yet, this quote: " Instead of figuring out a way to exploit the new medium, they alternated between ignoring it and launching lawsuits against the free file-sharing networks that cropped up to fill the void. Morris insists there wasn't a thing he or anyone else could have done differently. 'There's no one in the record company that's a technologist,' Morris explains. 'That's a misconception writers make all the time, that the record industry missed this. They didn't. They just didn't know what to do. It's like if you were suddenly asked to operate on your dog to remove his kidney. What would you do?' Personally, I would hire a vet. But to Morris, even that wasn't an option. 'We didn't know who to hire,' he says, becoming more agitated. 'I wouldn't be able to recognize a good technology person -- anyone with a good bullshit story would have gotten past me.' Morris' almost willful cluelessness is telling."
Yup, there you have it. A CEO who couldn't hire a technical person -- or worse yet, doesn't seem to realize that he should have asked for help finding one. Or maybe, just maybe, if we look beyond his "good bullshit story", we see a guy who didn't want to embrace the change, and as a result, wants us to think of him as some good-natured Mr. Bill, getting stomped on unjustly.
Yeah, cry me a river, Pops. And when you're done, go back to your Yahoo-streaming grandson, and ask him how to run your company.
Oh, and by the way -- pick a better example next time. The Shmoo was a selfless, tirelessly self-giving animal. People didn't mold and slice it against its will -- it wanted to be of service! According to the L'il Abner site http://www.lil-abner.com/shmoo.html/, "The Shmoo believed that the only way to happiness was to bring happiness to others... ironically, the lovable and selfless Shmoos ultimately brought misery to humankind because people with a limitless supply of self-sacrificing Shmoos stopped working and society broke down. Seen at first as a boon to humankind, they were ultimately hunted down and exterminated to preserve the status quo. " What an interesting example for Morris to give, eh? The Shmoo brought misery to people because it was so self-sacrificing; Morris's UMG Shmoo brings misery because it's so self-serving. Turn yourself into a DRM-free MP3, Shmoo-boy; that's what your adoring public wants to consume. (It'll taste more like steak than the shit you're shoveling today, too...!)
Does that mean that if the record companies want to keep making money, they need to produce albums with a bunch of good songs instead of a $16 album with one good song?
I'm sure they're sitting in board rooms right now, wondering if they can get away with pricing the one hit at $12, and the remaining tracks at $0.99 each...
If they're making more than they're selling, why is it so hard to find a console?
Check your units of measure. They're making 1.4 million a month, but they sold 350K last week.
Assuming that the two figures are representative, then you have a point. Otherwise, you're comparing apples and oranges (or, more to the point, the author handing you apples and oranges, and either not realizing it or not caring...).
Of course the real question is how Maureen O'Gara spins this to favor SCO.
"We're happy that we'll be able to demonstrate that we owe nothing to Novell, put this speculation to rest, and get on with the daily tasks of maintaining 'business-as-usual' here at SCO."
Offer a solid damn service and let people fight Motorola, Samsung, Sanyo, etc over device issues. It's like expecting the gas station attendant to fix your tranny after he tops you off.
Right... the attendant should only have to fix your tranny if s/he is unable to top you and get you off...
IANAL, but nonetheless, I think you're got the wrong idea here...
A subpoena for an IP trace ("tell me who owned this internet access account on this date") is not normally a burden. If the subpoena instead requested the school "identify who was using this computer at this time", the school's response fits.
From the fine document:
On September 17, 2007, Plaintiffs served the University of Oregon ("University") with a subpoena under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45, commanding the University to produce "[i]nformation, including names, current and permanent addresses, and telephone numbers, sufficient to identify the alleged infringers of copyrighted sound recordings" for the seventeen IP addresses attached to the subpoena.
The school was asked to provide identifying info sufficient to identify the alleged infringers, based on IP address. They showed that they're unable to do so. At best, they might provide dorm room numbers, for a portion of those IPs, but even so, they wouldn't be able to provide info that's "sufficient to identify alleged infringers". Therefore, they're asking the subpoena to be tossed.
The subpoena requires the school investigate, not just disgorge a few records.
No, that's not what subpoenas do. Subpoenas don't compel people to embark on investigations; that's the duty of the plaintiffs in this case. Instead, this ex parte subpoena simply says, "we've uncovered proof that a particular individual infringed; all we need now is their name, and you can provide it to us". A subpoena'ed individual is not required to go investigate, but rather, simply provide the records and information that is in their possession.
What's newsworthy here is that the U of O is finally standing up to the RIAA's fishing expeditions and saying, "sorry... we're not going to do your investigative work for you."
The generation that advanced science (arguably) more than any other, the generation that gave us computers and space travel, didn't get its panties in a bunch over evolution or religion.
What seems to have happened is that some creationists decided to make evolution their litmus test. They decided to make it a big controvery. They decided to tell people that "omfg we have to oppose this with every fiber of our being" and I really haven't a clue why they did that (other than being stupid).
If I understand the situation correctly, the reason that "some creationists decided to make evolution their litmus test" wasn't "stupidity", but rather, a later addendum to the idea of evolution -- the philosophical assertion that, if evolution were true, then there's no such thing as God (or, at least, proof that there's no "hand of God" in the creation of the universe).
Whereas Darwin's introduction of the theory was met by folks who were offended by the idea that we evolved from apes (rather than created "on the sixth day"), the current crop of ID'ers are offended, essentially, that a scientific theory has been twisted to draw philosophical (/theological) conclusions about the existence of God. In order to undermine the philosophical conclusions, then, they're attacking the underlying scientific theory.
IMHO, it's a more effective strategy to say "evolution is science, not philosophy. show me where evolution proves there's no God, and I'll listen. otherwise, go back to your dogmatic corner, and I'll stay in mine...";^)
I think it's great that adult stem cell research has been so successful. Also, according to this story: http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070604/full/447618 a.html they can now take skin cells and turn them into embryonic stem cells.
Soon there will be no need to use embryos for stem cell research.
Somehow, we've so completely bought into the notion that embryonic stem cells are the only ones with promise, that when -- time and again -- we see that the breakthroughs are occurring with adult stem cells, we still want to ignore them and use embryonic stem cells nonetheless.
This really shouldn't be much of a surprise. If a government essentially makes your business illegal, you've got three options. Close shop, move, or go underground.
Agreed. However...
I have empathy for the Germans, but, let it happen.... Then pay attention as crime doesn't go down, as youths don't magically become better adjusted, as tax receipts go down due to industry lost.
Ahh, yeah, right. Tax receipts will go down over this? Not likely, at least not in any measureable way.
Look how long it took for Prohibition in the US to be tossed out the window. Look at what the War on Drugs STILL hasn't managed to succeed in. And, compared to gaming, these two examples are MUCH more important.
Prohibition got tossed 'cause mainstream, voting Americans made it happen. The "war on drugs" isn't getting anywhere 'cause mainstream, voting Americans... don't really care about it. Gaming? Not even on the radar...
Hmm... this doesn't sound like a valid analogy. In the OP's case, this would be a matter of academic freedom -- s/he's an employee of the uni, and taking part in work activities.
In the case of the students, they're neither employees, nor doing work related to the academic mission of the uni. Big difference, there...
Now, do I agree with UW's decision? No... but that doesn't imply that it's a question of academic freedom!
A botnet is a collection of compromised computers under the remote command and control of a criminal "botherder." Most owners of the compromised computers are unknowing and unwitting victims. They have unintentionally allowed unauthorized access and use of their computers as a vehicle to facilitate other crimes, such as identity theft, denial of service attacks, phishing, click fraud, and the mass distribution of spam and spyware.
Hmm... I didn't realize that the FBI was investigating the RIAA and their anti-P2P tactics!
what they are saying is people are only generous because it feels good. That is, if it did not give them that feel good feeling, they would not be generous. Thus, everyone is generous for their own selfish purposes. Ergo, everyone is 100% selfish.
Hmm... logic isn't your strong point, is it?
"if generosity didn't feel good, then people wouldn't be generous" doesn't follow from "generosity feels good".
Even so, there's nothing in the definition of "generous" that precludes the idea that it's OK to get those warm fuzzies after doing something good -- that feeling doesn't "trump" the generosity.
moreover, you've got a basic definition problem -- "unselfish" is defined as "generous". So, you can't say that generosity == selfishness without changing the definition of the words!
hmm... i think you're confusing evolution with natural selection.
It's not that humanity evolves into a more loving, caring society; it's just that those social groups who are more generous are preferred in getting their genes passed on to future generations...
TFA states that having the "Made for iPod" seal on these devices ensures that these deviuces will work on current and future iPod versions.
If I was Apple, I wouldn't want some third-rate speaker system to be designed for the current generations of the iPod, then not work on all future versions
Right. Ask a Tivo owner how happy they were that their remote control, which worked just peachy prior to the TivoToGo software release, suddenly turned into a piece of crap...
What? You think the average consumer will distinguish between an Apple accessory and a third-party one? Yeah... riiiiiight....
on the other hand, having Mom and Dad find out that you've been surfing for pr0n on your shared cable-internet connection is gonna suck big time, when the Google search page comes up for them with "would you like to see 'Nerdy Hoes' again, Professor Falken?"...
So now they aren't even going to be limiting patents to software and "business methods"? In another 5 years we're all going to have to pay license fees to take a crap without being sued for violating a patent for "method of voiding bowels into a porcelain fixture while seated."
Nah... it won't really be bad until Amazon patents their "1-click" method for taking a dump...
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, but you'll be paying 800 $Aus (just for the phone) to do so, won't you?
at $880 (which is about $840 USD), that's a heck of a difference from the AT&T price!
No one checked the documentation in three years, so it was a shock that it was written in the DOS / Win95 era. (What was the original thought when you bought the software and saw that the documentation was written for systems 10+ years older than current OSes?)
No one followed up with the vendor, perhaps to keep current on support contracts, over the course of the past three years? (Do you even *have* a support contract?)
Only a year into the use of this "critical program", database backups ceased to be performed by your company.
And it's the vendor's fault, and the vendor who offers a crappy product??? Riiiight....!
Actually, to be more precise:
a pronouncement on a matter of faith which is binding on the faithful, doesn't infer that they began to believe it at the time it was promulgated. Instead, that's just when it was officially declared.
Your statement is as precise as saying "Humans have been affected by gravity since the apple hit Newton on the noggin!"
Yes... ask any of the companies who bought licenses from SCO...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Kernighan
Hint: He's the "K" in "AWK". He helped Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie invent UNIX at Bell Labs. He co-authored "The C Programming Language", the very first book on programming in C, and widely considered by most to be the bible of modern programming.
You felt the need to explain who Kernighan is? On Slashdot...?!?!
Either I'm old, or this place ain't what it used to be...
Now that is a brilliant idea.
Oh god, no... are you insane? The Silmarillion was like the Old Testament "Numbers"
Umm... have you actually read the Book of Numbers? Yeah, I didn't think so.
There's tons of action in Numbers -- the Jews celebrate the first Passover since Egypt; they leave Mt Sinai organized in battle formation like an army; there are rebellions against Moses and the Lord; they threaten revolt over lack of water and experience a miracle; the Jews scout out the Promised Land; there are battles and victories as the Jews start conquering the Promised Land; there's a rebellion that sees the people worshiping Baal; and there are more military victories.
Sure, there's some stuff that can be skimmed over, and wouldn't translate well to the big screen, but... even LotR has its Bombadil, songs, and sequences that don't advance the storyline!
Taking a look at the Wiki page on Adams, I see that not only the reference to evidence is gone, but also, any reference to the murder as well. Gee... a change that has stood up to public scrutiny within Wiki... hmm -- think that means that there was some basis to the edit?
Meantime, the edit is placed aside others which change W's name to "Wanker", a description of Rush Limbaugh and his audience to insults, and other juvenile character attacks.
Nice anti-Catholic hatchet job, there, dude...
Better yet, this quote: " Instead of figuring out a way to exploit the new medium, they alternated between ignoring it and launching lawsuits against the free file-sharing networks that cropped up to fill the void. Morris insists there wasn't a thing he or anyone else could have done differently. 'There's no one in the record company that's a technologist,' Morris explains. 'That's a misconception writers make all the time, that the record industry missed this. They didn't. They just didn't know what to do. It's like if you were suddenly asked to operate on your dog to remove his kidney. What would you do?' Personally, I would hire a vet. But to Morris, even that wasn't an option. 'We didn't know who to hire,' he says, becoming more agitated. 'I wouldn't be able to recognize a good technology person -- anyone with a good bullshit story would have gotten past me.' Morris' almost willful cluelessness is telling."
Yup, there you have it. A CEO who couldn't hire a technical person -- or worse yet, doesn't seem to realize that he should have asked for help finding one. Or maybe, just maybe, if we look beyond his "good bullshit story", we see a guy who didn't want to embrace the change, and as a result, wants us to think of him as some good-natured Mr. Bill, getting stomped on unjustly.
Yeah, cry me a river, Pops. And when you're done, go back to your Yahoo-streaming grandson, and ask him how to run your company.
Oh, and by the way -- pick a better example next time. The Shmoo was a selfless, tirelessly self-giving animal. People didn't mold and slice it against its will -- it wanted to be of service! According to the L'il Abner site http://www.lil-abner.com/shmoo.html/, "The Shmoo believed that the only way to happiness was to bring happiness to others... ironically, the lovable and selfless Shmoos ultimately brought misery to humankind because people with a limitless supply of self-sacrificing Shmoos stopped working and society broke down. Seen at first as a boon to humankind, they were ultimately hunted down and exterminated to preserve the status quo. " What an interesting example for Morris to give, eh? The Shmoo brought misery to people because it was so self-sacrificing; Morris's UMG Shmoo brings misery because it's so self-serving. Turn yourself into a DRM-free MP3, Shmoo-boy; that's what your adoring public wants to consume. (It'll taste more like steak than the shit you're shoveling today, too...!)
I'm sure they're sitting in board rooms right now, wondering if they can get away with pricing the one hit at $12, and the remaining tracks at $0.99 each...
Check your units of measure. They're making 1.4 million a month, but they sold 350K last week.
Assuming that the two figures are representative, then you have a point. Otherwise, you're comparing apples and oranges (or, more to the point, the author handing you apples and oranges, and either not realizing it or not caring...).
"We're happy that we'll be able to demonstrate that we owe nothing to Novell, put this speculation to rest, and get on with the daily tasks of maintaining 'business-as-usual' here at SCO."
Right ... the attendant should only have to fix your tranny if s/he is unable to top you and get you off...
A subpoena for an IP trace ("tell me who owned this internet access account on this date") is not normally a burden. If the subpoena instead requested the school "identify who was using this computer at this time", the school's response fits.
From the fine document:
On September 17, 2007, Plaintiffs served the University of Oregon ("University") with a subpoena under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45, commanding the University to produce "[i]nformation, including names, current and permanent addresses, and telephone numbers, sufficient to identify the alleged infringers of copyrighted sound recordings" for the seventeen IP addresses attached to the subpoena.
The school was asked to provide identifying info sufficient to identify the alleged infringers, based on IP address. They showed that they're unable to do so. At best, they might provide dorm room numbers, for a portion of those IPs, but even so, they wouldn't be able to provide info that's "sufficient to identify alleged infringers". Therefore, they're asking the subpoena to be tossed.
The subpoena requires the school investigate, not just disgorge a few records.
No, that's not what subpoenas do. Subpoenas don't compel people to embark on investigations; that's the duty of the plaintiffs in this case. Instead, this ex parte subpoena simply says, "we've uncovered proof that a particular individual infringed; all we need now is their name, and you can provide it to us". A subpoena'ed individual is not required to go investigate, but rather, simply provide the records and information that is in their possession.
What's newsworthy here is that the U of O is finally standing up to the RIAA's fishing expeditions and saying, "sorry ... we're not going to do your investigative work for you."
What seems to have happened is that some creationists decided to make evolution their litmus test. They decided to make it a big controvery. They decided to tell people that "omfg we have to oppose this with every fiber of our being" and I really haven't a clue why they did that (other than being stupid).
If I understand the situation correctly, the reason that "some creationists decided to make evolution their litmus test" wasn't "stupidity", but rather, a later addendum to the idea of evolution -- the philosophical assertion that, if evolution were true, then there's no such thing as God (or, at least, proof that there's no "hand of God" in the creation of the universe).
Whereas Darwin's introduction of the theory was met by folks who were offended by the idea that we evolved from apes (rather than created "on the sixth day"), the current crop of ID'ers are offended, essentially, that a scientific theory has been twisted to draw philosophical (/theological) conclusions about the existence of God. In order to undermine the philosophical conclusions, then, they're attacking the underlying scientific theory.
IMHO, it's a more effective strategy to say "evolution is science, not philosophy. show me where evolution proves there's no God, and I'll listen. otherwise, go back to your dogmatic corner, and I'll stay in mine..." ;^)
Somehow, we've so completely bought into the notion that embryonic stem cells are the only ones with promise, that when -- time and again -- we see that the breakthroughs are occurring with adult stem cells, we still want to ignore them and use embryonic stem cells nonetheless.
Here's another link for you: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/07090 4114446.htm Researchers at the Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh have found adult stem cells that can repair muscle.
That proves it! We need to open up federal funding for embryonic stem cell research!!!
Agreed. However...
I have empathy for the Germans, but, let it happen. ... Then pay attention as crime doesn't go down, as youths don't magically become better adjusted, as tax receipts go down due to industry lost.
Ahh, yeah, right. Tax receipts will go down over this? Not likely, at least not in any measureable way.
Look how long it took for Prohibition in the US to be tossed out the window. Look at what the War on Drugs STILL hasn't managed to succeed in. And, compared to gaming, these two examples are MUCH more important.
Prohibition got tossed 'cause mainstream, voting Americans made it happen. The "war on drugs" isn't getting anywhere 'cause mainstream, voting Americans... don't really care about it. Gaming? Not even on the radar...
In the case of the students, they're neither employees, nor doing work related to the academic mission of the uni. Big difference, there...
Now, do I agree with UW's decision? No ... but that doesn't imply that it's a question of academic freedom!
A botnet is a collection of compromised computers under the remote command and control of a criminal "botherder." Most owners of the compromised computers are unknowing and unwitting victims. They have unintentionally allowed unauthorized access and use of their computers as a vehicle to facilitate other crimes, such as identity theft, denial of service attacks, phishing, click fraud, and the mass distribution of spam and spyware.
Hmm... I didn't realize that the FBI was investigating the RIAA and their anti-P2P tactics!
Hmm... logic isn't your strong point, is it?
"if generosity didn't feel good, then people wouldn't be generous" doesn't follow from "generosity feels good".
Even so, there's nothing in the definition of "generous" that precludes the idea that it's OK to get those warm fuzzies after doing something good -- that feeling doesn't "trump" the generosity.
moreover, you've got a basic definition problem -- "unselfish" is defined as "generous". So, you can't say that generosity == selfishness without changing the definition of the words!
It's not that humanity evolves into a more loving, caring society; it's just that those social groups who are more generous are preferred in getting their genes passed on to future generations...
Actually, it's Hempfield, not Hempstead. Insert your favorite cannibis joke here...
better yet... if the home should just happen to burn down, collect the insurance on its assessed value...
If I was Apple, I wouldn't want some third-rate speaker system to be designed for the current generations of the iPod, then not work on all future versions
Right. Ask a Tivo owner how happy they were that their remote control, which worked just peachy prior to the TivoToGo software release, suddenly turned into a piece of crap...
What? You think the average consumer will distinguish between an Apple accessory and a third-party one? Yeah... riiiiiight....
on the other hand, having Mom and Dad find out that you've been surfing for pr0n on your shared cable-internet connection is gonna suck big time, when the Google search page comes up for them with "would you like to see 'Nerdy Hoes' again, Professor Falken?"...
Nah... it won't really be bad until Amazon patents their "1-click" method for taking a dump...