Ah, yes. The unauthorized copying of digital content is clearly exactly equivalent to breaking and entering, assault and battery, and attempted homocide. Wow, what a flat moral Universe you inhabit.
It's so entertaining that one would take my analogy out of context. Either you're not so bright or you're doing so on purpose to win an argument at any cost.
I brought up that example to illustrate the ridiculous arguments used by the crackers/leechers, when all the evidence point squarely to the fact that it's being used for no other purpose than massive piracy.
What dampens innovations is people who gather up on the internet and swap mp3's, warez, and crack other people's software. All this is used primarily to steal and cheat what took lots of time and energy for someone else to create.
But of course these thieves only make up one excuse after another to justify their actions. First RIAA is too greedy and is taking advantage of the small artists. So then Metallica the "artist" sue. Now suddenly artists are bastards who should be content at earning as much as you do and not a penny more?
And then there are the various cracking groups on the net posting keygens and cracks on astalavista.box.sk. Guys like Skylorov reverse-engineer software protections created by Adobe and tries to sell it.
"Oh this software isn't for people to illegally crack and steal ebooks. It's just an 'educational' tool for the masses."
Come on people. Who are we fooling here? You buy a gun, put bullets in it, drive to my house, break down my door, threaten me, then point the loaded gun right in front of my face and cock it. Then you tell me you were just kidding around with me and expect me to believe you? Hey you didn't actually fire the gun right?
The thing that really kills innovation is this total lack of respect for creativity and enginuity. As long as it's someone else who creates it, you feel you can take it by force and use it for yourself, without any gratuity nor thanks.
And you wonder why innovation is going down the drain?
Which person is so bored they'd gotta spend time not only building this useless piece of crap, but also writing an entire article about it?
Whoever did such a thing is someone I call a "True Dork with no life".
Instead of doing such a ridiculous and useless thing why not save all the money you've lost to build this thing and spend it on a health gym membership and get your flabby pink stomach down to size?
Why did the customs agent say she got rid of Lee and Carter when she really sent them to find the plates?
Because she knew she was being monitored and so had to make that call to make the cia get off Carter/Lee's case.
I actually saw the film twice. The first time I thought it was disappointing because the story line seemed wacked. But the second time around everything made sense for me. I guess the only bad thing is the producing. They could have made this movie better had they worked a bit more on getting these details in the plot to the audience better.
The answer to this question all depends on what you use the os for. If you're running it as a server, then I'd say it costs way less to run Linux over M$. Here's a breakdown:
Pros:
- Linux is way more stable than M$. I can't count the number of times ASP 4.0 just didn't work right unless I rebooted the machine.
- You can customize it however you like because the source code is available. I've already modified Bind and Apache so much just in the last 3 months alone!
- Less resources needed because you don't need all that fluff.
Cons:
- Less product support from other companies. However, since mine is serving only web traffic, most of what I need is already out there.
- There's no MSDN of Linux, unless you consider usenet to be it.
- More learning curve needed. With Windows you just point, click, install, and you're done. With Linux often you'd have to muck around with text configuration files and cryptic directives.
Now for those running Linux as a desktop os, I'd say the cost is higher than if you're just running windows. The reason is simple: product support. Without software support, no matter how great the os is, it's useless. Kind of like going to a dance club. It's not the decorations that matter, it's how many hot chicks that show up that counts.
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Let the free market place dictate decide is what I say... Unless in a few years we find out M$ once again is twisting their arms with threats of higher oem costs of windows.
On another note, I've bought 2 dell servers and had them both bundled with Redhat. To me, Redhat is excellent for running a server, but useless as a desktop os. I mean, I can't even play Counter-Strike with it.:(
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If you don't like popups then DON'T ever visit those sites again! They don't have to waste their time, bandwidth, management, cpu cycles, nor ram to support your leeching, and you don't have to put up with any of their annoying ads. Now how fair is that?
So instead of trying to find ways to cheat them and leech leech leech, just say "no".
And stop blaming x10. If it weren't for yahoo, msn, and a bunch of other sites that allowed for this type of advertising, you wouldn't get ANY of these popups and popunders. So get mad at yahoo, msn, hotmail, etc.. and stop going there forever and ever. Add that to your hosts file if it'll make you happy:
yahoo.com 127.0.0.1
Deal???
Or are you going to let your personal selfishness get the best of you? You know, that attitude where you don't give a crap about anybody but yourself, make 'em pay as much as possible while YOU pay zero gratitude in return, make up any excuse to justify your personal greed, that spoiled "I deserve everything for nothing" thinking...
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Instead of letting msn and yahoo set up their own clients, aol is setting up a new system where ONLY the server end can be distributed and NOT the client. That is one smart move by Aol.
Seriously, if you think about it, the only reason M$ wants in is so they can hijack the client, stick their own ads, and then embrace and "extend" their little extensions, eventually kidnapping the entire IM market away from aol.
So instead of letting M$ do that, Aol has found a way to both comply with the courts and still protect its own interests. They're now going to distribute instead the server.
And you can bet in their agreement clause to other isp's such as M$ they'll be using DMCA to put a handcuff on M$'s sneaky little hands.
When all is said and done, Aol will still have total control of future IM apps as well as keeping out the antitrust courts.
Damn Steve Case is one smart MF and I'm all in favor of him. The last thing I want is for M$ to slaughter them too (like they did with Netscape), because then M$ will really have ruled the world.
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Its clear you're a troll. Your ID# proves it along with your conformist rebel sophistry.
No rebuttal to any of my points? What you can't win an argument with logic so instead you resort to brainless name-calling? Thanks man you just proved how truly idiotic you really are. When you grow some IQ points come back and give me a rebuttal ok? I'll be waiting haha... NOT
Oh yeah, we're not a democracy; we're a Constitutional Republic.
Here we go again. Half a dozen or 6 eggs? Smoke and mirrors my friend, is not a talent you have.
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Ever heard of something called the Tet Offensive? All the VC troops were killed at that point. The only North Vietnamese soldiers left were the regular infantry and they were nothing compared to the VC. We could have won easily if it wasn't for all those hippies and pinko anchors.
Again, we lost the war because our lovely government didn't have the support of the people. You just admitted it yourself. I never said our firepower couldn't overwhelm the VCs, Einstein. Go take first grade English again. Hey I didn't want to resort to personal insults, but with your last paragraph you basically invited me.
Yes there is such a thing as true evil. Ever heard of Stalin? Pol Pot? Hitler? Mao? Castro? Dahmer?
Ahhh so I see you're trying to associate Dahmer with China right? You are obviously part of the brainwashed citizen joe blow who gives not a crap about anybody but the American agenda. You're probably against the Kyoto Treaty to clean up the environment too no? And by the way, Dahmer was an American citizen.
Look, Communism isn't pure evil. It was born out of another ideal, philosophy, and time. Back in the 1930-40's Japan had basically destroyed China's economy. Factories were broken and schools were closed. There were massive famines. This was why Mao was able to take over China and turn it into Comunism. And when he did he banished the serfdom system and gave everybody a piece of land to live in. He helped the people greatly during that period of chaos. If such a thing had occurred in the U.S., our people would do the same and overturn democracy. But of course you won't think so because you've never seen true suffering.
The system, though, had a flaw. Although Karl Marx's ideals were to create a class-less society, the very fact that everything was controlled by the state led those who ran it to control pretty much everything. This was a negative consequence, that's true. But that doesn't mean Communism is "pure evil". So put down your smoke and mirrors and put a little more fairness in your thoughts will you?
Funny, but it wasn't a spy plane. It was a reconnasance plane. Totally different there boy. It was over international waters, the commi pilot was known for getting as close as possible to all types of planes in the area (commercial and cargo included) and had been reprimanded several times in the past for it. We radio'd telling what the commi pilot did and asked for permission to land then said we had to make an emergency landing. We offered to recover the chinese pilot who died in the horseshit but of course the commies refused. Oh yeah, and I got news for you, other countries run reconnasance flights against us!
Again here you go again spinning the truth. "Reconnaissance" is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as:
a preliminary survey to gain information; especially : an exploratory military survey of enemy territory
We were attempting to gain information on a rival country. Was that NOT the same as "spying"?
And yet you haven't answered my question, or perhaps you're afraid to let me win a point. Exactly HOW differently do you think our government would have treated the situation had it been their plane on our soil?
NATO is nothing. NATO is obsolete. It has been for decades now. The US is secondary to the Europeans in NATO. We shouldn't even be in NATO or the UN. Its clear you mean the UN but you obviously don't know the difference.
Yes I was mistaken. I mean the UN, not Nato. Just like you couldn't spell "reconnaissance" I'm not perfect either.
Yeah we might not be perfect, but then why have millions of people fled Eastern Europe, China and Cuba to escape communist oppression to live in the US? We're still better than communism.
What the U.S. is engaging in is no better than what M$ is doing to Linux: FUD. Why is this so?
China is the only country left standing that's just as big, if not bigger, than the U.S.A. Therefore the U.S. government is afraid of competition and rivalry. Remember yesteryear when Russia was the big bad wolf? Where was China on the radar back then? Didn't exist did it?
Well now that USSR has been disolved, the only target left is China. To make our people be on the side of the government, they have engaged in a barrage of media scare tactics, namely in the form of FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt). All this is done to brainwash our citizens so nobody is in disagreement with our lovely government.
Remember the Vietnam war? Wasn't it president Johnson who engaged in some fake boat sinking incident to kick-start it? (forgot the exact details) Why did we lose the war against the North, who were so little in numbers compared to that of ours? Because the American people OPPOSED it that's why. So to prevent such a thing from happening again Uncle Sam has decided that it's in our best interest to brainwash the average Joe Blow to hate China as much as possible.
Another way to get a better understanding of this FUD against China is through the movies. In movies you see the good guys being very very good, and the bad guys very very bad. Why is this? It's so the audience can like the good guys to the max and hate the bad guys to the max. So when the ending comes the audience is totally on the good guy's side and clap when the bad guy is terminated.
But in real life there is no true "good guy" or "bad guy". Everybody looks out for their own interests and think they are doing the right thing. We all have our points of view. What you see from your backyard is not the same as what I see in my own backyard.
Good case in point: the U.S. spyplane crash in China. Suppose it had been a Chinese spyplane flying over the coast of California. Suppose they had landed at LAX without getting permission from us. How do you think Mr. Bush would have reacted?
So what does the U.S. really want out of China? I'll tell you. Our government would love it if China suffers the same fate of USSR: break up into many tiny pieces. When that happens the goold ol' US of A will have become the only standing world super-power. We'd have majority voting power in Nato, and thus we will have controlled basically the entire planet. We will have elevated from "Big Brother" to "Pimp Daddy" with nobody to challenge us. Absolute Power my friends is what the U.S. is after.
Just don't forget the quote "absolute power corrupts absolutely".
/. users are good at questioning authority and the status quo. Think about what I've said the next time ABC news brings up another China incident and ask yourself, "Do American people really give a shit about the lack of freedom of speech in China? Do we really?"
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Last year during the NBA playoffs (Netzero at the Half) they had this commercial with a guy going before congress saying that the internet should be FREE. Everyone cheered.
Now this year everything is "charge per month" and they call it Netzero Platinum, no banner ads, $9.95 a month.
How can a company go back on their word and do deceptive things like this? Lamers...
DIE NETZERO!
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The net has turned every Joe, Dick, and Hairy into leeches. We've become spoiled by the dot com mania where everything was free for the taking, as much as you can eat.
Well, within a year's time things have turned 180 degrees. Nobody wanted to click on ads. They filtered out all cookies and used programs to ignore ads. Finally, left with no other choice, many sites are now beginning to charge money for content (or will be soon in the future).
So what's the excuse now? That these sites are too greedy? Grow up people. Why don't YOU put up your own money, time, and knowledge to maintain a server, router, bandwidth, and then write all the well-researched articles yourself and publish them on the net for everyone to look at for FREE?
* Note: The above wasn't an attack on everybody nor was it specified at one person. Rather, it's a harsh slap in the face for the "mentality" that's taken hold here in the hypnotic trance of cyberspace.
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Once a blue moon I had an idea. Here where I live casinos aren't allowed to play as the bank (win people's money), so they have to let the people be the bank, rotating every few turns. These casinos make $ by taking in a "collection fee" of $1 per hand.
Anyways, some of the games definitely gave the "bank" an advantage. Pan-9 because you could see if people are hitting or not. If they're not, and you have a low-scoring hand, you'll know to hit. I'm too lazy to get into the details, but trust me, there's an advantage for the bank.
Then there was Pai Gow. Here the bank has this "copy advantage". If a player has equal rank with the upper 2-card hand as the bank, the bank will win that set. Blah blah...
One more thing. You'd also have to factor in the collection fee into your chances. You'd need to put in enough money per hand to offset the disadvantage created by this fee or you'll lose. Also, I made a vow to NEVER tip those greedy-ass, good-for-nothing, I'll-sell-your-mom-just-to-make-a-dime dealers.
Anyways, I wrote this program to simulate playing the game from beginning to finish. I ran in on an Apple II GS. Yeah very primitive heh? That's all I had at the time. I did this just to prove that I was right that the bank did have an advantage.
Since that computer was slow and lame and didn't have a hard drive, I had to have everything printed out to me for record-keeping.
So day and night this Apple ran. A few days go by so I decided to analyze the results.
What do you know? There were distinct patterns repeating over and over again. Then it occurred to me, the damn computer's random number generator wasn't really random after all! I had wasted my time with that cheap computer.
So anyways, off I went to the casino to test my theory out. With $3000 in my pocket I started gambling away day after day... Up, down, up, down.
I was actually up $5000 for a while (and this was after I'd logged over 150 hours of gambling), but then I got greedy and started betting too big. This proved to be my fatal mistake. Wham in one night it was all gone. Just like that... After a month of hard work it all disappeared. >(
Anyways, I'd gotten sick and tired of the constant smoking and rude atmosphere. Besides, I wasn't learning anything and it was a HELL of a job (if I can call it that). So I quit cold turkey and went back to school.
To this day I'm sure there's an advantage there. Maybe one day when I'm really really bored or really really rich I'll try that again.
What a life.
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Think about it, if you were China, the sworn enemy of the U.S.A., would you trust closed-source software from the U.S.(windowz)? How easy it'd be for the CIA to embed SubSeven (or the likes) into it and spy on China...
So thus it's no wonder China is so forwardly using Linux and other Open Source software.
Thus it shouldn't be a big surprise that M$'s biggest enemy now is not Linux, but China.
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What? The capitalist Redhat can't penetrate the Chinese market effectively so now they're resorting to mis-LEADING accusations and FUD? I read the whole article and saw ZERO evidence of wrong doings. All I read was name-calling and finger pointing.
Next they're gonna be calling Chinese Linux "viral" and "cancerous". Tzzzzzzzzzzz...
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Can you imagine what would happen if some online merchant tried to do the same on the internet? They'd be sued and harassed and forced to back down. This is what basically happened with Doubleclick.
And yet this is the very reason why the net is a very unfavorable place for commerce. This is what caused the internet bubble to pop, and future internet innavation to go downhill rather than uphill.
Take it from me, if you all want the internet to be as rich a playing field as that of the offline world, we'll have to be willing to give up some in return.
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I think it's more of a situation where/. generally favors the "little guy" who, more often than not, is being taken advantage of by large monied corporate interests.
But do you think THAT is more important than the principle of CONSISTENCY? Which is of higher priority?
In this case, it's freelance writers who want to keep control of their works and not be taken advantage of by large publishing houses, who want to sell more ads and thus make more money, by using the freelance writer's work without their permission (note that these are *not* mainly for current freelancers, whose contracts most probably include permissions for digital distribution - they're mainly for older publications whose contracts didn't forsee, and thus didn't include, rights for digital distribution)
Are you saying the creator of some work (writing, music, etc...) should be able to control how his work is distributed instead of having it put online without his PERMISSION nor COMPENSATION? Does Metallica sound familiar?
In the case of Napster et al. - it's a case of the consumer *and* the artist getting monetarily raped by the music industry. The general consensus on/. seems to be that paying *the artist who made the music* is the right thing to do - paying a huge megalomaniacal corporation $20 for a CD, of which the artist only gets a few pennies is fundamentally wrong somehow.
Really? And yet/.ers routinely insult Metallica for not wanting their works be FORCIBLY placed on the Napster network. So which is it?
The above argument would've been more convincing if PRIOR to Napster there had been a massive consumer outrage/protest already going on. But since there was no such thing, that argument would appear more like an EXCUSE than anything else.
FYI: Most thieves/robbers use that same excuse to justify their actions. From robbing homes to stealing cars to holding up banks... Should they all go free? Or should we all go to jail?
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I think/. is just anti-money-corporation everything. Principles and consistency don't matter, they just put forth the one-sided selfish point of view of the consumer, and the consumer only.
It's ok to attempt to make tons of money if you're a little guy (freelance writer) but it's not ok if you're a corporation (aol).
What did they teach you in kindergarden and in the bible (if you believe that sort of thing)? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Don't be using words to spin your version of the truth. It's almost like politics were the Republicans/Democrats will defend EVERYTHING that goes on in that party, even though it might be totally wrong and/or inconsistent.
/. I'm losing respect for you guys real fast. This is NOT how writers should write.
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Why didn't George Luca$ release the DVD long ago when the VHS version came out? I can only guess that this bastard wanted to force the fans to buy the movie TWICE, first the vhs since they have no choice, and then the DVD for the cherry on top.
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Haha that's very funny and true. I've known so many people who know jacksh*t and bs'ed on their resumes, using fake references such as "administrator for Rainbow Tech Inc." and then have their friends lie for them.
Once the HR started catching on, it backfired not only on the liars, but on the real pros who know what they're doing.
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I colocate my servers at a local ISP. They grew from 10 employees to over 200 employees in 2 year's time. A month ago 80% of them were laid off. They don't even have a support staff 24/7 anymore. They've cut off peering with many other isps in order to generate a profit.
Now I'm scared like hell and am thinking of moving my servers elsewhere where there's more stability.
Out of the 150+ people that were laid off, not ONE person has found a job in the past month.
This isn't surprising to me though, considering the amound of dumb paper mcse's that were hired during their heyday. There were idiot support guys that would answer my calls and not know what a netmask or a traceroute was. I mean, they are IDIOTS!
So it's no wonder so many former dotcomers are having a tough time finding a job elsewhere in the high-tech industry. They were just bandwagon dotcomers to begin with, and aren't worth much in real life. Perhaps they should switch their careers BACK to what they were doing before. They could find lots more luck there.
I think this time of turmoil is a really telling time where the weak are weeded out and the strong stay on board.
But of course I think the economy will pick back up again and the future will definitely be a bit brighter. Until then, those unfit for competition will have to eat Charles Darwin's theory of "survival of the fittest". It's a cruel world, but that's capitalism. Oh well...
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Slashdot Mirror
Ah, yes. The unauthorized copying of digital content is clearly exactly equivalent to breaking and entering, assault and battery, and attempted homocide. Wow, what a flat moral Universe you inhabit.
It's so entertaining that one would take my analogy out of context. Either you're not so bright or you're doing so on purpose to win an argument at any cost.
I brought up that example to illustrate the ridiculous arguments used by the crackers/leechers, when all the evidence point squarely to the fact that it's being used for no other purpose than massive piracy.
What dampens innovations is people who gather up on the internet and swap mp3's, warez, and crack other people's software. All this is used primarily to steal and cheat what took lots of time and energy for someone else to create.
But of course these thieves only make up one excuse after another to justify their actions. First RIAA is too greedy and is taking advantage of the small artists. So then Metallica the "artist" sue. Now suddenly artists are bastards who should be content at earning as much as you do and not a penny more?
And then there are the various cracking groups on the net posting keygens and cracks on astalavista.box.sk. Guys like Skylorov reverse-engineer software protections created by Adobe and tries to sell it.
"Oh this software isn't for people to illegally crack and steal ebooks. It's just an 'educational' tool for the masses."
Come on people. Who are we fooling here? You buy a gun, put bullets in it, drive to my house, break down my door, threaten me, then point the loaded gun right in front of my face and cock it. Then you tell me you were just kidding around with me and expect me to believe you? Hey you didn't actually fire the gun right?
The thing that really kills innovation is this total lack of respect for creativity and enginuity. As long as it's someone else who creates it, you feel you can take it by force and use it for yourself, without any gratuity nor thanks.
And you wonder why innovation is going down the drain?
Which person is so bored they'd gotta spend time not only building this useless piece of crap, but also writing an entire article about it?
Whoever did such a thing is someone I call a "True Dork with no life".
Instead of doing such a ridiculous and useless thing why not save all the money you've lost to build this thing and spend it on a health gym membership and get your flabby pink stomach down to size?
Damn people really have no life. Pathetic.
OJ goes free and Skylarov goes to jail. How ironic can our Justice system get? And yet Bush pushes for more death penalties in Texas.
Why did the customs agent say she got rid of Lee and Carter when she really sent them to find the plates?
Because she knew she was being monitored and so had to make that call to make the cia get off Carter/Lee's case.
I actually saw the film twice. The first time I thought it was disappointing because the story line seemed wacked. But the second time around everything made sense for me. I guess the only bad thing is the producing. They could have made this movie better had they worked a bit more on getting these details in the plot to the audience better.
The answer to this question all depends on what you use the os for. If you're running it as a server, then I'd say it costs way less to run Linux over M$. Here's a breakdown:
Pros:
- Linux is way more stable than M$. I can't count the number of times ASP 4.0 just didn't work right unless I rebooted the machine.
- You can customize it however you like because the source code is available. I've already modified Bind and Apache so much just in the last 3 months alone!
- Less resources needed because you don't need all that fluff.
Cons:
- Less product support from other companies. However, since mine is serving only web traffic, most of what I need is already out there.
- There's no MSDN of Linux, unless you consider usenet to be it.
- More learning curve needed. With Windows you just point, click, install, and you're done. With Linux often you'd have to muck around with text configuration files and cryptic directives.
Now for those running Linux as a desktop os, I'd say the cost is higher than if you're just running windows. The reason is simple: product support. Without software support, no matter how great the os is, it's useless. Kind of like going to a dance club. It's not the decorations that matter, it's how many hot chicks that show up that counts.
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Let the free market place dictate decide is what I say... Unless in a few years we find out M$ once again is twisting their arms with threats of higher oem costs of windows.
:(
On another note, I've bought 2 dell servers and had them both bundled with Redhat. To me, Redhat is excellent for running a server, but useless as a desktop os. I mean, I can't even play Counter-Strike with it.
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If you don't like popups then DON'T ever visit those sites again! They don't have to waste their time, bandwidth, management, cpu cycles, nor ram to support your leeching, and you don't have to put up with any of their annoying ads. Now how fair is that?
So instead of trying to find ways to cheat them and leech leech leech, just say "no".
And stop blaming x10. If it weren't for yahoo, msn, and a bunch of other sites that allowed for this type of advertising, you wouldn't get ANY of these popups and popunders. So get mad at yahoo, msn, hotmail, etc.. and stop going there forever and ever. Add that to your hosts file if it'll make you happy:
yahoo.com 127.0.0.1
Deal???
Or are you going to let your personal selfishness get the best of you? You know, that attitude where you don't give a crap about anybody but yourself, make 'em pay as much as possible while YOU pay zero gratitude in return, make up any excuse to justify your personal greed, that spoiled "I deserve everything for nothing" thinking...
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And Where did the TREES come from??
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Instead of letting msn and yahoo set up their own clients, aol is setting up a new system where ONLY the server end can be distributed and NOT the client. That is one smart move by Aol.
Seriously, if you think about it, the only reason M$ wants in is so they can hijack the client, stick their own ads, and then embrace and "extend" their little extensions, eventually kidnapping the entire IM market away from aol.
So instead of letting M$ do that, Aol has found a way to both comply with the courts and still protect its own interests. They're now going to distribute instead the server.
And you can bet in their agreement clause to other isp's such as M$ they'll be using DMCA to put a handcuff on M$'s sneaky little hands.
When all is said and done, Aol will still have total control of future IM apps as well as keeping out the antitrust courts.
Damn Steve Case is one smart MF and I'm all in favor of him. The last thing I want is for M$ to slaughter them too (like they did with Netscape), because then M$ will really have ruled the world.
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Its clear you're a troll. Your ID# proves it along with your conformist rebel sophistry.
No rebuttal to any of my points? What you can't win an argument with logic so instead you resort to brainless name-calling? Thanks man you just proved how truly idiotic you really are. When you grow some IQ points come back and give me a rebuttal ok? I'll be waiting haha... NOT
Oh yeah, we're not a democracy; we're a Constitutional Republic.
Here we go again. Half a dozen or 6 eggs? Smoke and mirrors my friend, is not a talent you have.
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Security through obscenity? Hey that'll work too. Throw up that goatsecx picture every time they fail to login.
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Ever heard of something called the Tet Offensive? All the VC troops were killed at that point. The only North Vietnamese soldiers left were the regular infantry and they were nothing compared to the VC. We could have won easily if it wasn't for all those hippies and pinko anchors.
Again, we lost the war because our lovely government didn't have the support of the people. You just admitted it yourself. I never said our firepower couldn't overwhelm the VCs, Einstein. Go take first grade English again. Hey I didn't want to resort to personal insults, but with your last paragraph you basically invited me.
Yes there is such a thing as true evil. Ever heard of Stalin? Pol Pot? Hitler? Mao? Castro? Dahmer?
Ahhh so I see you're trying to associate Dahmer with China right? You are obviously part of the brainwashed citizen joe blow who gives not a crap about anybody but the American agenda. You're probably against the Kyoto Treaty to clean up the environment too no? And by the way, Dahmer was an American citizen.
Look, Communism isn't pure evil. It was born out of another ideal, philosophy, and time. Back in the 1930-40's Japan had basically destroyed China's economy. Factories were broken and schools were closed. There were massive famines. This was why Mao was able to take over China and turn it into Comunism. And when he did he banished the serfdom system and gave everybody a piece of land to live in. He helped the people greatly during that period of chaos. If such a thing had occurred in the U.S., our people would do the same and overturn democracy. But of course you won't think so because you've never seen true suffering.
The system, though, had a flaw. Although Karl Marx's ideals were to create a class-less society, the very fact that everything was controlled by the state led those who ran it to control pretty much everything. This was a negative consequence, that's true. But that doesn't mean Communism is "pure evil". So put down your smoke and mirrors and put a little more fairness in your thoughts will you?
Funny, but it wasn't a spy plane. It was a reconnasance plane. Totally different there boy. It was over international waters, the commi pilot was known for getting as close as possible to all types of planes in the area (commercial and cargo included) and had been reprimanded several times in the past for it. We radio'd telling what the commi pilot did and asked for permission to land then said we had to make an emergency landing. We offered to recover the chinese pilot who died in the horseshit but of course the commies refused. Oh yeah, and I got news for you, other countries run reconnasance flights against us!
Again here you go again spinning the truth. "Reconnaissance" is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as:
a preliminary survey to gain information; especially : an exploratory military survey of enemy territory
We were attempting to gain information on a rival country. Was that NOT the same as "spying"?
And yet you haven't answered my question, or perhaps you're afraid to let me win a point. Exactly HOW differently do you think our government would have treated the situation had it been their plane on our soil?
NATO is nothing. NATO is obsolete. It has been for decades now. The US is secondary to the Europeans in NATO. We shouldn't even be in NATO or the UN. Its clear you mean the UN but you obviously don't know the difference.
Yes I was mistaken. I mean the UN, not Nato. Just like you couldn't spell "reconnaissance" I'm not perfect either.
Yeah we might not be perfect, but then why have millions of people fled Eastern Europe, China and Cuba to escape communist oppression to live in the US? We're still better than communism.
What the U.S. is engaging in is no better than what M$ is doing to Linux: FUD. Why is this so?
China is the only country left standing that's just as big, if not bigger, than the U.S.A. Therefore the U.S. government is afraid of competition and rivalry. Remember yesteryear when Russia was the big bad wolf? Where was China on the radar back then? Didn't exist did it?
Well now that USSR has been disolved, the only target left is China. To make our people be on the side of the government, they have engaged in a barrage of media scare tactics, namely in the form of FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt). All this is done to brainwash our citizens so nobody is in disagreement with our lovely government.
Remember the Vietnam war? Wasn't it president Johnson who engaged in some fake boat sinking incident to kick-start it? (forgot the exact details) Why did we lose the war against the North, who were so little in numbers compared to that of ours? Because the American people OPPOSED it that's why. So to prevent such a thing from happening again Uncle Sam has decided that it's in our best interest to brainwash the average Joe Blow to hate China as much as possible.
Another way to get a better understanding of this FUD against China is through the movies. In movies you see the good guys being very very good, and the bad guys very very bad. Why is this? It's so the audience can like the good guys to the max and hate the bad guys to the max. So when the ending comes the audience is totally on the good guy's side and clap when the bad guy is terminated.
But in real life there is no true "good guy" or "bad guy". Everybody looks out for their own interests and think they are doing the right thing. We all have our points of view. What you see from your backyard is not the same as what I see in my own backyard.
Good case in point: the U.S. spyplane crash in China. Suppose it had been a Chinese spyplane flying over the coast of California. Suppose they had landed at LAX without getting permission from us. How do you think Mr. Bush would have reacted?
So what does the U.S. really want out of China? I'll tell you. Our government would love it if China suffers the same fate of USSR: break up into many tiny pieces. When that happens the goold ol' US of A will have become the only standing world super-power. We'd have majority voting power in Nato, and thus we will have controlled basically the entire planet. We will have elevated from "Big Brother" to "Pimp Daddy" with nobody to challenge us. Absolute Power my friends is what the U.S. is after.
Just don't forget the quote "absolute power corrupts absolutely".
/. users are good at questioning authority and the status quo. Think about what I've said the next time ABC news brings up another China incident and ask yourself, "Do American people really give a shit about the lack of freedom of speech in China? Do we really?"
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Last year during the NBA playoffs (Netzero at the Half) they had this commercial with a guy going before congress saying that the internet should be FREE. Everyone cheered.
Now this year everything is "charge per month" and they call it Netzero Platinum, no banner ads, $9.95 a month.
How can a company go back on their word and do deceptive things like this? Lamers...
DIE NETZERO!
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The net has turned every Joe, Dick, and Hairy into leeches. We've become spoiled by the dot com mania where everything was free for the taking, as much as you can eat.
Well, within a year's time things have turned 180 degrees. Nobody wanted to click on ads. They filtered out all cookies and used programs to ignore ads. Finally, left with no other choice, many sites are now beginning to charge money for content (or will be soon in the future).
So what's the excuse now? That these sites are too greedy? Grow up people. Why don't YOU put up your own money, time, and knowledge to maintain a server, router, bandwidth, and then write all the well-researched articles yourself and publish them on the net for everyone to look at for FREE?
* Note: The above wasn't an attack on everybody nor was it specified at one person. Rather, it's a harsh slap in the face for the "mentality" that's taken hold here in the hypnotic trance of cyberspace.
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Once a blue moon I had an idea. Here where I live casinos aren't allowed to play as the bank (win people's money), so they have to let the people be the bank, rotating every few turns. These casinos make $ by taking in a "collection fee" of $1 per hand.
Anyways, some of the games definitely gave the "bank" an advantage. Pan-9 because you could see if people are hitting or not. If they're not, and you have a low-scoring hand, you'll know to hit. I'm too lazy to get into the details, but trust me, there's an advantage for the bank.
Then there was Pai Gow. Here the bank has this "copy advantage". If a player has equal rank with the upper 2-card hand as the bank, the bank will win that set. Blah blah...
One more thing. You'd also have to factor in the collection fee into your chances. You'd need to put in enough money per hand to offset the disadvantage created by this fee or you'll lose. Also, I made a vow to NEVER tip those greedy-ass, good-for-nothing, I'll-sell-your-mom-just-to-make-a-dime dealers.
Anyways, I wrote this program to simulate playing the game from beginning to finish. I ran in on an Apple II GS. Yeah very primitive heh? That's all I had at the time. I did this just to prove that I was right that the bank did have an advantage.
Since that computer was slow and lame and didn't have a hard drive, I had to have everything printed out to me for record-keeping.
So day and night this Apple ran. A few days go by so I decided to analyze the results.
What do you know? There were distinct patterns repeating over and over again. Then it occurred to me, the damn computer's random number generator wasn't really random after all! I had wasted my time with that cheap computer.
So anyways, off I went to the casino to test my theory out. With $3000 in my pocket I started gambling away day after day... Up, down, up, down.
I was actually up $5000 for a while (and this was after I'd logged over 150 hours of gambling), but then I got greedy and started betting too big. This proved to be my fatal mistake. Wham in one night it was all gone. Just like that... After a month of hard work it all disappeared. >(
Anyways, I'd gotten sick and tired of the constant smoking and rude atmosphere. Besides, I wasn't learning anything and it was a HELL of a job (if I can call it that). So I quit cold turkey and went back to school.
To this day I'm sure there's an advantage there. Maybe one day when I'm really really bored or really really rich I'll try that again.
What a life.
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Think about it, if you were China, the sworn enemy of the U.S.A., would you trust closed-source software from the U.S.(windowz)? How easy it'd be for the CIA to embed SubSeven (or the likes) into it and spy on China...
So thus it's no wonder China is so forwardly using Linux and other Open Source software.
Thus it shouldn't be a big surprise that M$'s biggest enemy now is not Linux, but China.
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What? The capitalist Redhat can't penetrate the Chinese market effectively so now they're resorting to mis-LEADING accusations and FUD? I read the whole article and saw ZERO evidence of wrong doings. All I read was name-calling and finger pointing.
Next they're gonna be calling Chinese Linux "viral" and "cancerous". Tzzzzzzzzzzz...
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Can you imagine what would happen if some online merchant tried to do the same on the internet? They'd be sued and harassed and forced to back down. This is what basically happened with Doubleclick.
And yet this is the very reason why the net is a very unfavorable place for commerce. This is what caused the internet bubble to pop, and future internet innavation to go downhill rather than uphill.
Take it from me, if you all want the internet to be as rich a playing field as that of the offline world, we'll have to be willing to give up some in return.
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I think it's more of a situation where /. generally favors the "little guy" who, more often than not, is being taken advantage of by large monied corporate interests.
/. seems to be that paying *the artist who made the music* is the right thing to do - paying a huge megalomaniacal corporation $20 for a CD, of which the artist only gets a few pennies is fundamentally wrong somehow.
/.ers routinely insult Metallica for not wanting their works be FORCIBLY placed on the Napster network. So which is it?
But do you think THAT is more important than the principle of CONSISTENCY? Which is of higher priority?
In this case, it's freelance writers who want to keep control of their works and not be taken advantage of by large publishing houses, who want to sell more ads and thus make more money, by using the freelance writer's work without their permission (note that these are *not* mainly for current freelancers, whose contracts most probably include permissions for digital distribution - they're mainly for older publications whose contracts didn't forsee, and thus didn't include, rights for digital distribution)
Are you saying the creator of some work (writing, music, etc...) should be able to control how his work is distributed instead of having it put online without his PERMISSION nor COMPENSATION? Does Metallica sound familiar?
In the case of Napster et al. - it's a case of the consumer *and* the artist getting monetarily raped by the music industry. The general consensus on
Really? And yet
The above argument would've been more convincing if PRIOR to Napster there had been a massive consumer outrage/protest already going on. But since there was no such thing, that argument would appear more like an EXCUSE than anything else.
FYI: Most thieves/robbers use that same excuse to justify their actions. From robbing homes to stealing cars to holding up banks... Should they all go free? Or should we all go to jail?
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I think /. is just anti-money-corporation everything. Principles and consistency don't matter, they just put forth the one-sided selfish point of view of the consumer, and the consumer only.
It's ok to attempt to make tons of money if you're a little guy (freelance writer) but it's not ok if you're a corporation (aol).
What did they teach you in kindergarden and in the bible (if you believe that sort of thing)? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Don't be using words to spin your version of the truth. It's almost like politics were the Republicans/Democrats will defend EVERYTHING that goes on in that party, even though it might be totally wrong and/or inconsistent.
/. I'm losing respect for you guys real fast. This is NOT how writers should write.
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Why didn't George Luca$ release the DVD long ago when the VHS version came out? I can only guess that this bastard wanted to force the fans to buy the movie TWICE, first the vhs since they have no choice, and then the DVD for the cherry on top.
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Haha that's very funny and true. I've known so many people who know jacksh*t and bs'ed on their resumes, using fake references such as "administrator for Rainbow Tech Inc." and then have their friends lie for them.
Once the HR started catching on, it backfired not only on the liars, but on the real pros who know what they're doing.
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I colocate my servers at a local ISP. They grew from 10 employees to over 200 employees in 2 year's time. A month ago 80% of them were laid off. They don't even have a support staff 24/7 anymore. They've cut off peering with many other isps in order to generate a profit.
Now I'm scared like hell and am thinking of moving my servers elsewhere where there's more stability.
Out of the 150+ people that were laid off, not ONE person has found a job in the past month.
This isn't surprising to me though, considering the amound of dumb paper mcse's that were hired during their heyday. There were idiot support guys that would answer my calls and not know what a netmask or a traceroute was. I mean, they are IDIOTS!
So it's no wonder so many former dotcomers are having a tough time finding a job elsewhere in the high-tech industry. They were just bandwagon dotcomers to begin with, and aren't worth much in real life. Perhaps they should switch their careers BACK to what they were doing before. They could find lots more luck there.
I think this time of turmoil is a really telling time where the weak are weeded out and the strong stay on board.
But of course I think the economy will pick back up again and the future will definitely be a bit brighter. Until then, those unfit for competition will have to eat Charles Darwin's theory of "survival of the fittest". It's a cruel world, but that's capitalism. Oh well...
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