Reading the bug debate is rather annoying. You've got the sensible "Either fix this or make it public so someone else can" guys, and then the "No, we must come up with a perfectly-engineered 100% solution or just hide the bug forever" guys all kind of duking it out, and the "let's just hide it forever" guys finally win, because they're in charge.
And I love the "nothing to worry about here" posers like the 5-rated comment (who moderated that up to 5?) that says this is like a screenshot of a toolbar at the top of your window.
Uh, excuse me? It can turn off the existing chrome and the replacement chrome has functional menu items, toolbars, and everything. This is not a screenshot. This is actual "fool hardcore UI experts" territory. This bug should have been public years ago. The type of "Nothing to be alarmed about, let's just keep it secret" attitude displayed in the bug comments really should be reserved for Microsoft. We at least expect it of them.
Awesome idea. Fix your webform.
on
IT, Be Free!
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I agreed wholeheartedly with the declaration. I tried to "sign" the declaration, but it consistently rejected my (multiple attempts at) entering an email address. It said "the email addresses do not match."
Don't be surprised if not too many people with qmail-destined email addresses sign up. (I'm using the "myname-organisation@domain.tld" format email address).
Shouldn't we demand the same when a businesses server poisons our computer.
Have you heard about the latest virus. It silently converts all question marks (.) into periods (.). How did this happen. It is unknown.
The Spanish variant is worse. It turns those funckey upside-down question-marks at the beginnings of the sentence into little Microsoft MSN butterfly-man icons.
For my part, I left Windows almost a decade ago, and never looked back. I have control. It is actually something that belongs to *US*, the community that uses Linux. I can run web servers and databases and GUIs and IM and email and... everything I care to do. True, I don't game, but I do multimedia (sound/graphics work) and I'm not unhappy in Linux.
Then I married a Taiwanese woman. Now Windows is back in my house, and it looks like it's here to stay despite all the worms, viruses, and other crap that makes Windows a huge pain in my ass (I reinstall it on a monthly basis it seems).
Multilanguage support is crap in Linux, and passable in Windows. She can type in her native language on Windows, and all the myriad Chinese input programs in Linux have thus far eluded me. (The English documentation doesn't work). I'm a sysadmin sort, so I'm not without clue when it comes to setting up complex pieces of software. The documentation is just bad, bad, bad.
I think that as Mainland China keeps migrating more and more toward Linux, and Taiwan follows, Linux Chinese support will get better, but for now... Microsoft is in my home, and I feel dirty.
There's magic in acting: controling your every emotion to become someone you're not, and then making other people believe it. That's art man. What they're trying to do sounds to me like trying to replace a Picasso with a fractal image. No magic.
I think you underestimate the magic of Fractals as well as you underestimate the magic of computer-generated 'acting.'
I have spent literally weeks of my life staring at fractal images. Pulling them apart. Wondering. Mentally applying to 3D landscapes. Imagining universes and strange creatures never seen.
If I've spent a week of my life looking at Picasso's works, it's only because he's so prevalent in our society that I can't block his horrific visages from my sight. And this goes for about 90% of what is considered fine art.
That isn't to say I can't appreciate the amount of work and precise skill that went into creating such works. I can. But then, on the other hand, there's a lot of work that went into each image at my own fractal galleries. Sometimes as little as five minutes, but sometimes as much as 45 minutes. Combine that with the original amount of time that was put into the filters and algorithms in the program that created those images, and you have a collaborative work of art that is easily as precise and complex as a Picasso (assuming you don't attribute super-human abilities to Picasso and his ilk -- and I hear some scoffing "real art takes hours, days, weeks!" -- I'm no stranger to spending a month perfecting a song or a piece of artwork -- browse my site, you'll see what I mean).
I fully believe that creators of fully-artificial works (movies) will be able to produce films that I would rather watch than the current slew of Hollywood dreck I have to contend with. Jerry Bruckheimer is no artist, and even if Ben Affleck tries his hardest, when he's in a Bruckheimer film, the generic blandness of his setting (the film) overrides whatever talent he can bring to his character.
Those guys are geniuses. Hardware will be free. Software will cost money.
Because making hardware is as simple as typing "cp SunE450 SunE450.2" and making new software requires factories, tooling up, shipping, and maintenance.
I disagree. I think both Microsoft and Sun will become obsolete and useless as they continue to try to trap people into their DRM and obsolete-by-design software while manufacturers of good hardware will continue to make some money, and software will become more and more Libre ("free").
I think that the only money that will come in from software will be from developers and coders that maintain existing Open Source software, and create novel new Open Source software for contract (hourly wages).
But I'm just a lowly DBA, not a forward-thinking visionary overpaid stuffed-shirt like these guys, so by all means, bank your future on their brilliance.
DVDs have so much storage space, that every movie will have three soundtracks of your choice, seventeen language selections, and every key scene will be shot at six angles and you can choose which angle you want to watch it in!
Meanwhile, back in the Real World, DVDs still come with a single soundtrack, two or three languages (if you're lucky -- my Mandarin Chinese-speaking wife must get DVDs from Taiwan, *NOT* from Wal-Mart down the street), and sometimes a deleted scene or two, but *NEVER* alternate-angle scenes or anything like it.
Now we find out they don't last very long, and you gotta keep buying the same movies, CDs, etc every decade because they only last for a few years?
Surprise! You've been had. Again.
But don't worry. You can believe them when they say DRM won't lock you out of your media. And they won't change the terms of service on their DRM after you've already purchased the media, like Apple did.
so are they giving all the money they've received to the authors/performers of the music? How do they decide who gets what and what's the money used for.
It is decided using a complex formula, but I'll give you an example, using eg Counting Crows:
99% -- Record Industry Execs
0.05% -- Band manager
0.03% -- Hookers and blow
0.01% -- Flowers for the receptionist
0.005% -- A couple of beers for the record execs' buds
0.004% -- The Anti-Slashdot lobby
0.001% -- The band, Counting Crows. They can divvy it up however they want between themselves.
Heh. I used to know this guy named "Joe Blank" (well actually it wasn't Joe, but the last name was truly that) and all sorts of web forms would reject his applications because, well, "Blank" isn't a valid last name.
I've had literally three companies go out of business on me, and one company I ethically could not work for (owner was trying to bilk millionaires out of investment cash) in the last 3.5 years. So 3.5 years, 4 companies.
One recruiter I talked to started the conversation saying "I know the job market recently is what's to blame for your spotty employment" and then only ten minutes later said "My client is looking for someone who doesn't jump from job to job so much," so even someone who acknowledges the reason for your problems can very quickly forget it and start thinking you're a job jumper.
So how did I solve this problem? I simply grouped all the jobs I worked for in the past 3.5 years as bullet items under a single 3.5-year job of Database Architect Consultant.
This helps a lot, because consultants are supposed to have multiple employers (it doesn't hurt that I've also done some consulting work during this time).
The problem then is that when you talk to companies, they assume you want to continue consulting. So begin the interview with "I've been doing W-2 consulting, and I really want the stability and long-term relationships I can get with a full-time job."
It's really an interesting perception that people get when they look at a resume with many short-term jobs on it. They just can't get over the fact that it may be completely not your fault and they still somehow blame you.
You need to understand this psychology and then mask that fact from them (for their own good!). Otherwise they will end up hiring some lamer who happened to work for a company that lasted a lot longer than your companies even though said lamer isn't as qualified as you.
The word "nu" (depending on the nuance) in Mandarin Chinese (ie: that spoken in Mainland China and Taiwan, ROC) is "woman" (or, more generally, Female).
We're worried that these things might end up in the mother's milk.
O, the humanity.
Pray tell, if it ends up in the mother's milk, then don't you think it'll get into the baby without going through the mother's breast first?
That's like saying: "Aha. Look. That woman is on fire. We need to figure out a way to keep her from burning her child."
Odds are, the child is going to catch fire, and it won't be from the mother. Maybe you should figure out why she's on fire. It ain't spontaneous combustion. Whatever caused her to combust is going to cause the baby to combust, too. Get her (and the baby) out of the burning house.
All the BAD GUYS hide their safes behind pictures? Is the metaphor you're trying to paint that BAD GUYS use steganography? The government propaganda wars are working. Newspeak is ingrained.
Every citizen of these modern times is a criminal, and because everyone is a criminal, everyone should use steganography. Most criminals are not BAD GUYS, but instead, good loving parents, patriots, and friends to society. It no longer makes sense to equate criminal to BAD.
This type of travesty could never happen in the United States. We don't just keep re-trying someone until we can finally prove they are guilty. We just stick 'em in Guantanimo Bay.
The fitness test for who would enjoy There is not whether or not they have "half a brain." It's whether or not they enjoy creating things.
If you innately enjoy building, creating, and making new things, then you will enjoy There. If you like blowing things up, running over people with your car, or in general being an obstinate bastard, then There will leave you feeling empty.
You can recommend this for your wife or children if they are the creative sort, irregardless of how much brain they have.
When we get a supercomputer like this and the end of the article isn't "Some company will use this to find newer more efficient ways of killing people" but instead "Some university will use this to find ways of improving society at large."
This scheme will last as long as it takes for one of the Brand New Spam Viruses to infect a billion computers across the internet that use these whitelisted servers.
As long as our governments are only willing to enforce the laws that make them money, the problems that plague our society will continue.
Seriously. Call up your local police office and report the 50 spams you got. Call the FBI. The FCC. The FTC. Call as many government offices as you care to until you're blue in the face. They all have some law that they should be enforcing that Spam breaks, but they're not interested.
Fix the problem, people, not the symptom. If you elect some leaders that will actually enforce laws that make the average citizen's life better, Spam will go away, along with a litany of other problems just like it.
That, or just keep voting for the same politicians that are in the pockets of the corporations, and these problems will persist.
Nothing like a story involving Microsoft to bring out the haters.
And the Microsoft apologists, apparently...
So before anyone flames Microsoft, have you read claims 11-20?
I took you up on your challenge. Claims 11-20 seem to limit this patent to HTML. Thank God. Now we know they won't be suing us over customising all of our non-HTML documents, since no server utilised by the Open Source community ever serves up customised HTML documents.
I guess since Microsoft has a long history of obeying the law and using its influence to better the world, we don't have to fear anything. This is probably just a defensive patent. Right? In case RMS or the FSF decide to sue Microsoft over something in their own extensive patent portfolios, Microsoft can just turn around and sue them right back!
I started my career in a Sybase/Microsoft shop, where we deployed (among other things) Microsoft solutions, like SQL Server on NT.
The straw for me was when I called Microsoft because SQL server was crashing, spending the ONE ENTIRE DAY on the phone with their support, to finally learn that it was a bug in their product.
Solution? Upgrade your server.
No, not "admittedly, it's a bug, we'll fix it," but "give us more money to get the latest version, with its own bugs, and oh, by the way, enjoy the migration from one RDBMS to another, because we like to watch you squirm."
I, like the parent, started out my life liking Microsoft, because they had such a cool OS (NT) that gave me so many opportunities for work, but then I stopped being a selfish person and realised that everytime I advocated a Microsoft solution, I was advocating burning money for the client. I was asking them to waste valuable resources, lay off other workers, all in favour of sending Microsoft some undeserved cash.
Now I'm "anti-Microsoft." Because I like people to keep their jobs, and I like software that works, and I don't like being embarassed when the multi-million dollar project I rolled out runs like an amateur wrote it.
OMFG, if they think Anachronix is competition for real movies, they're in for a biiiig surprise. Watch more than 5 minutes of it sometime.
The direction is utter, if I might be so bold, s--t. The camerawork is dizzying for no real cinematic effect. The plot is nearly nonexistant. The mood is dull and always dark.
If you want to talk about real Machinima competition for hollywood, the only thing I've seen that comes close is the Reds vs. Blues Halo-rendered comedy, which even then is only funny the first two or three episodes. Then it starts to drag on in the way that amateur comedy tends to do.
I'm afraid we've got a long, long time before the techniques get smoothed out and we stop focussing on technology and start focussing a little on story, direction, editing, and foley art.
Slashdot Mirror
Reading the bug debate is rather annoying. You've got the sensible "Either fix this or make it public so someone else can" guys, and then the "No, we must come up with a perfectly-engineered 100% solution or just hide the bug forever" guys all kind of duking it out, and the "let's just hide it forever" guys finally win, because they're in charge.
And I love the "nothing to worry about here" posers like the 5-rated comment (who moderated that up to 5?) that says this is like a screenshot of a toolbar at the top of your window.
Uh, excuse me? It can turn off the existing chrome and the replacement chrome has functional menu items, toolbars, and everything. This is not a screenshot. This is actual "fool hardcore UI experts" territory. This bug should have been public years ago. The type of "Nothing to be alarmed about, let's just keep it secret" attitude displayed in the bug comments really should be reserved for Microsoft. We at least expect it of them.
I agreed wholeheartedly with the declaration. I tried to "sign" the declaration, but it consistently rejected my (multiple attempts at) entering an email address. It said "the email addresses do not match."
Don't be surprised if not too many people with qmail-destined email addresses sign up. (I'm using the "myname-organisation@domain.tld" format email address).
The Spanish variant is worse. It turns those funckey upside-down question-marks at the beginnings of the sentence into little Microsoft MSN butterfly-man icons.
Can you imagine that. I know it makes me fearful.
For my part, I left Windows almost a decade ago, and never looked back. I have control. It is actually something that belongs to *US*, the community that uses Linux. I can run web servers and databases and GUIs and IM and email and... everything I care to do. True, I don't game, but I do multimedia (sound/graphics work) and I'm not unhappy in Linux.
Then I married a Taiwanese woman. Now Windows is back in my house, and it looks like it's here to stay despite all the worms, viruses, and other crap that makes Windows a huge pain in my ass (I reinstall it on a monthly basis it seems).
Multilanguage support is crap in Linux, and passable in Windows. She can type in her native language on Windows, and all the myriad Chinese input programs in Linux have thus far eluded me. (The English documentation doesn't work). I'm a sysadmin sort, so I'm not without clue when it comes to setting up complex pieces of software. The documentation is just bad, bad, bad.
I think that as Mainland China keeps migrating more and more toward Linux, and Taiwan follows, Linux Chinese support will get better, but for now... Microsoft is in my home, and I feel dirty.
I think you underestimate the magic of Fractals as well as you underestimate the magic of computer-generated 'acting.'
I have spent literally weeks of my life staring at fractal images. Pulling them apart. Wondering. Mentally applying to 3D landscapes. Imagining universes and strange creatures never seen.
If I've spent a week of my life looking at Picasso's works, it's only because he's so prevalent in our society that I can't block his horrific visages from my sight. And this goes for about 90% of what is considered fine art.
That isn't to say I can't appreciate the amount of work and precise skill that went into creating such works. I can. But then, on the other hand, there's a lot of work that went into each image at my own fractal galleries. Sometimes as little as five minutes, but sometimes as much as 45 minutes. Combine that with the original amount of time that was put into the filters and algorithms in the program that created those images, and you have a collaborative work of art that is easily as precise and complex as a Picasso (assuming you don't attribute super-human abilities to Picasso and his ilk -- and I hear some scoffing "real art takes hours, days, weeks!" -- I'm no stranger to spending a month perfecting a song or a piece of artwork -- browse my site, you'll see what I mean).
I fully believe that creators of fully-artificial works (movies) will be able to produce films that I would rather watch than the current slew of Hollywood dreck I have to contend with. Jerry Bruckheimer is no artist, and even if Ben Affleck tries his hardest, when he's in a Bruckheimer film, the generic blandness of his setting (the film) overrides whatever talent he can bring to his character.
Those guys are geniuses. Hardware will be free. Software will cost money.
Because making hardware is as simple as typing "cp SunE450 SunE450.2" and making new software requires factories, tooling up, shipping, and maintenance.
I disagree. I think both Microsoft and Sun will become obsolete and useless as they continue to try to trap people into their DRM and obsolete-by-design software while manufacturers of good hardware will continue to make some money, and software will become more and more Libre ("free").
I think that the only money that will come in from software will be from developers and coders that maintain existing Open Source software, and create novel new Open Source software for contract (hourly wages).
But I'm just a lowly DBA, not a forward-thinking visionary overpaid stuffed-shirt like these guys, so by all means, bank your future on their brilliance.
Be all that you can be. In the Army.
Never! Remember when DVDs came out?
DVDs have so much storage space, that every movie will have three soundtracks of your choice, seventeen language selections, and every key scene will be shot at six angles and you can choose which angle you want to watch it in!
Meanwhile, back in the Real World, DVDs still come with a single soundtrack, two or three languages (if you're lucky -- my Mandarin Chinese-speaking wife must get DVDs from Taiwan, *NOT* from Wal-Mart down the street), and sometimes a deleted scene or two, but *NEVER* alternate-angle scenes or anything like it.
Now we find out they don't last very long, and you gotta keep buying the same movies, CDs, etc every decade because they only last for a few years?
Surprise! You've been had. Again.
But don't worry. You can believe them when they say DRM won't lock you out of your media. And they won't change the terms of service on their DRM after you've already purchased the media, like Apple did.
Trust them.
- 99% -- Record Industry Execs
- 0.05% -- Band manager
- 0.03% -- Hookers and blow
- 0.01% -- Flowers for the receptionist
- 0.005% -- A couple of beers for the record execs' buds
- 0.004% -- The Anti-Slashdot lobby
- 0.001% -- The band, Counting Crows. They can divvy it up however they want between themselves.
Is it clear now?Hey, Honey, I know the FBI is listening in right now, but I'm stuck in the middle of a steganographic stampede! There are stegonographers everywhere!
Heh. I used to know this guy named "Joe Blank" (well actually it wasn't Joe, but the last name was truly that) and all sorts of web forms would reject his applications because, well, "Blank" isn't a valid last name.
I've had literally three companies go out of business on me, and one company I ethically could not work for (owner was trying to bilk millionaires out of investment cash) in the last 3.5 years. So 3.5 years, 4 companies.
One recruiter I talked to started the conversation saying "I know the job market recently is what's to blame for your spotty employment" and then only ten minutes later said "My client is looking for someone who doesn't jump from job to job so much," so even someone who acknowledges the reason for your problems can very quickly forget it and start thinking you're a job jumper.
So how did I solve this problem? I simply grouped all the jobs I worked for in the past 3.5 years as bullet items under a single 3.5-year job of Database Architect Consultant.
This helps a lot, because consultants are supposed to have multiple employers (it doesn't hurt that I've also done some consulting work during this time).
The problem then is that when you talk to companies, they assume you want to continue consulting. So begin the interview with "I've been doing W-2 consulting, and I really want the stability and long-term relationships I can get with a full-time job."
It's really an interesting perception that people get when they look at a resume with many short-term jobs on it. They just can't get over the fact that it may be completely not your fault and they still somehow blame you.
You need to understand this psychology and then mask that fact from them (for their own good!). Otherwise they will end up hiring some lamer who happened to work for a company that lasted a lot longer than your companies even though said lamer isn't as qualified as you.
The word "nu" (depending on the nuance) in Mandarin Chinese (ie: that spoken in Mainland China and Taiwan, ROC) is "woman" (or, more generally, Female).
Nu.
We're worried that these things might end up in the mother's milk.
O, the humanity.
Pray tell, if it ends up in the mother's milk, then don't you think it'll get into the baby without going through the mother's breast first?
That's like saying: "Aha. Look. That woman is on fire. We need to figure out a way to keep her from burning her child."
Odds are, the child is going to catch fire, and it won't be from the mother. Maybe you should figure out why she's on fire. It ain't spontaneous combustion. Whatever caused her to combust is going to cause the baby to combust, too. Get her (and the baby) out of the burning house.
You know. Solve the problem, not the symptom.
All the BAD GUYS hide their safes behind pictures? Is the metaphor you're trying to paint that BAD GUYS use steganography? The government propaganda wars are working. Newspeak is ingrained.
Every citizen of these modern times is a criminal, and because everyone is a criminal, everyone should use steganography. Most criminals are not BAD GUYS, but instead, good loving parents, patriots, and friends to society. It no longer makes sense to equate criminal to BAD.
This type of travesty could never happen in the United States. We don't just keep re-trying someone until we can finally prove they are guilty. We just stick 'em in Guantanimo Bay.
The fitness test for who would enjoy There is not whether or not they have "half a brain." It's whether or not they enjoy creating things.
If you innately enjoy building, creating, and making new things, then you will enjoy There. If you like blowing things up, running over people with your car, or in general being an obstinate bastard, then There will leave you feeling empty.
You can recommend this for your wife or children if they are the creative sort, irregardless of how much brain they have.
When we get a supercomputer like this and the end of the article isn't "Some company will use this to find newer more efficient ways of killing people" but instead "Some university will use this to find ways of improving society at large."
I'm dreaming. I know.
Humm. Is this anything like SCO declaring copyright is illegal?
This scheme will last as long as it takes for one of the Brand New Spam Viruses to infect a billion computers across the internet that use these whitelisted servers.
As long as our governments are only willing to enforce the laws that make them money, the problems that plague our society will continue.
Seriously. Call up your local police office and report the 50 spams you got. Call the FBI. The FCC. The FTC. Call as many government offices as you care to until you're blue in the face. They all have some law that they should be enforcing that Spam breaks, but they're not interested.
Fix the problem, people, not the symptom. If you elect some leaders that will actually enforce laws that make the average citizen's life better, Spam will go away, along with a litany of other problems just like it.
That, or just keep voting for the same politicians that are in the pockets of the corporations, and these problems will persist.
I guess since Microsoft has a long history of obeying the law and using its influence to better the world, we don't have to fear anything. This is probably just a defensive patent. Right? In case RMS or the FSF decide to sue Microsoft over something in their own extensive patent portfolios, Microsoft can just turn around and sue them right back!
I started my career in a Sybase/Microsoft shop, where we deployed (among other things) Microsoft solutions, like SQL Server on NT.
The straw for me was when I called Microsoft because SQL server was crashing, spending the ONE ENTIRE DAY on the phone with their support, to finally learn that it was a bug in their product.
Solution? Upgrade your server.
No, not "admittedly, it's a bug, we'll fix it," but "give us more money to get the latest version, with its own bugs, and oh, by the way, enjoy the migration from one RDBMS to another, because we like to watch you squirm."
I, like the parent, started out my life liking Microsoft, because they had such a cool OS (NT) that gave me so many opportunities for work, but then I stopped being a selfish person and realised that everytime I advocated a Microsoft solution, I was advocating burning money for the client. I was asking them to waste valuable resources, lay off other workers, all in favour of sending Microsoft some undeserved cash.
Now I'm "anti-Microsoft." Because I like people to keep their jobs, and I like software that works, and I don't like being embarassed when the multi-million dollar project I rolled out runs like an amateur wrote it.
It should work right and all the time.
OMFG, if they think Anachronix is competition for real movies, they're in for a biiiig surprise. Watch more than 5 minutes of it sometime.
The direction is utter, if I might be so bold, s--t. The camerawork is dizzying for no real cinematic effect. The plot is nearly nonexistant. The mood is dull and always dark.
If you want to talk about real Machinima competition for hollywood, the only thing I've seen that comes close is the Reds vs. Blues Halo-rendered comedy, which even then is only funny the first two or three episodes. Then it starts to drag on in the way that amateur comedy tends to do.
I'm afraid we've got a long, long time before the techniques get smoothed out and we stop focussing on technology and start focussing a little on story, direction, editing, and foley art.
I am feeling so cyberterrorised lately, and this is the exact response I was looking for the government to make.
It isn't like we have more important issues with Disney, RIAA, and MPAA buying legislation or anything.
It was just your school. The University of Kansas (eg) required CS majors to sit through an ethics course.