Say you have a chain of lemonade stands and are selling weak, unsweetened lemonade for $199 a glass. The lemonade stand is your only source of income, so you want to protect it. You forbid anyone from sharing the lemonade they drink and if they drink your lemonade you forbid them from drinking anything else to slake their thirst.
The community deploys water fountains, a few people put down fruit trees and a few start selling different kinds of fruit juices.
You bribe public officials with "campaign contributions" to pull the water fountains and send hired goons to intimidate, buy out, or otherwise break up your competition.
That's a better analogy of what Microsoft is doing with regard to Linux.
And no, I wouldn't hire goons, grab an axe, or bribe officials. I'd start offering what people were asking for rather than crush the life out of them like an asshole.
I'm not really sure I'd be able to concentrate on the movie after the fighter/bomber pilots are scrambled...
LOL. You deserve a +1, Funny.
Believe it or not, you get used to it. I lived next to the flight line and would be lulled to sleep by the roar of engines being tested, planes taking off. When they were gone (bombing the shit out of someone overseas) I couldn't sleep - I needed the noise.
As a military brat, my friends and I never really worried about WWIII. I mean, we were #3 or so on the Soviet target list. You would never know. The base would get locked down like any alert/exercise, the planes would take off and then - poof. We'd all be dead in a microsecond, so it wasn't really worth worrying about. We were pretty fatalistic.
Worst case: after the alert crews took off, we'd probably have time to finish watching the movie before the nukes struck.
I understand she's a health care provider and she (along with firefighters, doctors, etc.) need to stay in communication. Put it on vibrate and carry it on your person, not in your purse. Duh. Even better, get someone to cover for you for a couple of hours.
In any case, when you get such a call in the theater, step into the lobby and call the back. Don't fucking answer your phone in the theater. Sheesh.
On military bases, there are alert crews that are on standby to bomb the shit out of Russia or Iraq or whoever. They go to the arcade, movie theatre, and whatnot when they're on standby. In the theatre there are flashing alert lights that come on in case of an alert. They get up and run to the nearest exit. Interruption in movie is maybe 15-30 seconds.
M'kay, lots of "it'll suck because..." and some fawning praise. It's still being put together. Finishing touches, but still - none of us have seen it. It's pointless to discuss the merits or shortfalls of a film until you've seen it.
It sucks for Wil that he got cut, but hey - them's the breaks. He's cool by it and kudos to him. Hopefully Berman will throw him a bone, put in a word, or perform some other cliche. Wheaton's an under-rated talent - hopefully a mainstream director will agree.
But what the crap do I know? I'm a programmer.
I.R.A., IRA, English terrorism
on
First Man To Mars?
·
· Score: 0, Offtopic
Excuse me, many Englishmen have been killed by Irish terrorists.
Read the story - he was (probably) talking about Ira, the guy from this urban legend tale. If anyone did do something like that - put ashes (or anything else) on a spacecraft without authorisation then they should be canned - hell, perhaps prosecuted. Yeah, his motives were good, but it's intolerable to risk a $100 million mission so your buddy's ashes can (sort of) go to Mars.
And since you brought it up - many Irishmen have been killed by English 'terrorists' too. Let's not forget - England invaded and subjugated Ireland, and began colonising it. When you occupy a country, don't be surprised when their people revolt.
And it disingenuous to call the IRA terrorists. Yeah, some have committed atrocities. I don't consider targeting civilians legitimate resistance. But politicians and troops - yes, they are legitimate targets in revolt. And English troops aren't exactly spotless, now are they? Shooting unarmed kids isn't kosher (for either side).
The solution to this problem is pretty clear - England needs to get the hell out of Ireland and Ireland needs to be reunified. The Protestants can either (a) move back to England, or (b) discover what it's like to be a minority.
At this moment in history, New York is the kernel of Western civilization, and the nihilists who despise our culture, as unholy as they are, inch daily toward the means of unleashing biblical fury.
Sheesh - sounds like a game blurb.:)
Anyway, a real-time CAD map of a city is sweet for a lot of reasons. Not just civic. Virtual tourism, interactive maps, and the obligatory Quake levels.
id was forced to hand over the code to their 3D engine. Even so, Softdisk never did anything with the code. I got the T-Shirt. I won't sign anything that claims ownership of off-work non-company-related projects. I've been "asked" to before, but didn't and didn't encounter a fuss.
I just won't allow companies to suck the life out of me. I give them 1/3 (too frequently 1/2) of my professional time. I'll be damned if they take my personal projects and make me foot the bill.
Hey, I understand where you're coming from. The job market is tight and most big companies have a huge cudgel in their contract. Most say 'take it or leave it' and most people grudgingly sign. However, I'm single with no family and am stubborn/lucky enough to hold out for a place that's geek friendly.
I just absolutely will not sign a contract that has an intellectual property clause that claims ownership of code I develop for non-company-related projects on my own time. I've invested years learning my trade because I enjoy what I do and I won't allow that enjoyment to be crushed out of me.
Arguably such clauses mean that you cannot participate in open source projects or hell - can't develop for fun at all without your efforts being assigned to XYZ Corp. Hell, arguably you're required to give notice of any such projects or could find yourself being sued b/c the company lost a market window...blah...blah...blah.
Unsubstantiated company rumor on the Duke thing, I guess.:)
I remember Al talking about the lawsuit and the source code. One poker night (which I played badly) Dan Tobias went on a long rant (suprise) about the whole ordeal. I share his opinion that moonlight code belonged to the programmer, not the company.
Absolutely nothing came of the source code. It sat in Jim's office unused.
It was Greed. We got a good laugh with the ASSCam - it was an acronym (a forced one that that), but it was cool. Very useful for those behind you. You could also cloak yourself as different objects.
A little known fact - our archivist put a build on a server for some of our testers and 'oops' - he mis-set permissions. There were loads of people continuously scanning our site for a demo and 'viola'. The game got passed around - it wasn't done, but it was getting there - and we got a LOT of unsolicited feedback. Our guys also scoured message boards for opinions, etc. The feedback was 'bad, keep working' - and we did. However, the game was a disappointment in my book - good idea, some really cool features, but...it wasn't all that.
I joined Softdisk in 1995, a few years after the id guys left. The company was stunned by the success of Wolfenstein and Doom, and by Duke Nukem - also born of Softdisk alumni. It was basically a subscription software company, selling a package (card games, screen savers, etc.) on disk monthly. It was a good model for the 80's.
Softdisk tried to produce a couple of games, one called Greed (later In Pursuit of Greed) which was basically a 3D Doom-clone shooter. There was some neat technology (e.g. curved surfaces), but the art was...uh, well weak. The gameplay was decent, but there were some bugs to stomp and the ship date slipped...and slipped...and slipped. It was released, but didn't live up to the hype. The game was torn to shreds in the reviews. There was a second 3D shooter - developed totally in house, though it was basically a one-man project. The lead (only) programmer left, so it was shelved.
Softdisk finally shut down its on-disk-monthly subscription software and became an ISP/web development company. It was a necessary move, but sad since the company kicked a lot of ass in the 80's with LoadStar and Big Blue Disk.
For those interested, I ran Softdisk's online download software stores on CompuServe, Prodigy, AOL while another dude took care of eWorld. We were selling Commander Keen, Dangerous Dave, and a host of other early games the id guys produced at Softdisk. Last I checked, they were still being sold (at $19.95 a pop, even).
I was goin' for the Pioneer, on my XMas wish list upgrade. But strolling through Wal-Mart one day, I came across a coupla Philips DVD+RW drives for $78.84 apiece. It isn't the most compatible drive in the world, but it works on my stuff. <shrug>
It disturbs me that the industry can't settle on a single standard, like BluRay or whatever, and lets get on with it. Competing formats aren't good for anyone.
Every day by around 2PM Eastern (US), DemocracyNow.Org - a progressive news show - posts their hour-long broadcast in mp3 format and keeps several days of shows. WebActive.com - a venture funded in part by Real.com - has a lot of progressive shows but they're all in Real format. Check out these progressive news sources; you'll be suprised to hear "the other side" of the story and a well balanced news broadcast unlike the goverment warhawk mouthpiece drivel you hear on Fox News and CNN.
IMHO, this is too little, too late. Yeah, they're backpedaling after a justifiably furious outcry. However, the fact that one of their VPs sent this letter in the first place goes to show you how the HP/Compaq top brass think about security: keep it quiet.
It doesn't generally seem to occur to anyone that ICANN's records may have material in them that legitimately should be kept confidential. Everyone would far rather assume that the only possible motive for confidentiality here is for ICANN staff to conceal wrongdoing.
Bullshit. There are no records they possess that should be held confidential and I'm not talking root passwords and such. They've made ludicrous dispute decisions that clearly favor corporations. Remember canadian.net? The only possible reason ICANN would refuse to allow him access to these records AND disseminate them is to conceal wrongdoing. They should be public records anyway.
That said, the parent post was an insightful and outstanding rebuttal against ICANN naysayers like myself. But it's still bullshit.
Well, then. This clearly demonstrates why *not* to use HP's Unix in your shop; I won't use it in mine. Nor will I use their software or services - you can't trust them. This stupid insular policy against public disclosure only ensures that (a) exploits aren't known, and (b) aren't patched, and (c) cannot be defended against.
Don't say it...don't say it...I'm warning you...
Use Linux.
Damn, I said it.
Why the fuck don't people want exploits fully disclosed? Sure, I don't have a problem with waiting a week or so to give a team/vendor (yes, even Microsoft) a chance to roll out a patch before making it public. It's a courtesy, not a necessity.
<rant/> Clearly some sort of political action is required. I suggest:
1. The DMCA needs to be repealed or ruled unconstitutional. Hopefully the ACLU or the EFF will take a case that'll get us there. Or some rich philanthropist geek could 'violate' it by exercising their constitutional rights. But the best ploy is for every one of *us* to contact (visit,snailmail,fax,call,email) 'our' reps in the House and Senate, rationally outline our objections, and protest like hell if they don't. Civil disobedience, etc.
2. Abolish corporate personhood (same methods).
3. Abolish the lobby industry.
4. Abolish campaign finance. Make it publicly funded, free TV-radio spots (public airwaves) equally distributed among ballot-qualified candidates.
We've let corporations have far too much swing. I'm all for making a buck, but Jesus F***ing Christ...
Actually, 'old' school would be a teletype. But hey - your mileage may vary, but I feel pretty comfortable calling myself old school. I've been a geek since I was 11 - way back in 1981. I think 21+ years of geekhood qualifies as old school, but there are those who've been geeks since waaay further back. So I guess it's relative.
My first computer was an old Sinclair with 4k of RAM (add-on) and a B&W monitor. I spent many an hour playing, then hacking, Lunar Lander and fiddling with my tape drive. I soon upgraded to an Apple, then on to an Atari 800, a Tandy Coco, Commodore 64 - and on and on. Had to peek & poke my way to better graphics on my Coco. Enjoyed using a Tandy Model 4 to hack CompuServe and a trusty old Apple II to poke around AT&T.
Ahhh - the good ole days, playing Mule and BBSing. I miss it. (sniff)
Out of the hundreds of floppies that I have gone through, I have only had a few go bad, unlike CD's which I have had several turn into coasters while writing, and almost the same amount get scratched.
I've had the exact opposite experience. I find tons of bad floppies in ostensibly new packs. However, I can't remember the last time I burned a coaster (thanks, Plextor!). BTW, you can prevent those CDs from getting scratched to hell an back with the simple expedient of using a CD case to protect them. You can't just toss them around - they're sensitive.
Uh, yes they are. Floppies are designed such because of the floppy medium inside the hard plastic shell. Back in the day floppies were so inside and out (floppy medium, floppy shell). Like most old-school geeks I saved considerable sums by turning my single-sided double-density 5 1/4" floppies into double-sided with the simple employment of a hole puncher.
I RMAed my power supply directly to shuttle and they sent it back. I duct-taped an ATX power supply to the SV24 until the new one came in, then just swapped them out. Contact them and see if they'll replace just the power supply. If not, ask them if you can just buy a power supply. They've been very accomodating with me so far and components do fail, so they should be more than willing to sell you one - even if they won't replace it.
(note - I'm not affiliated with Shuttle in any way, shape, or form)
Rather, I have a bunch of SV24's, not 50's as I wrote before. We have about 10 or so of these and they're great little office boxen. Only had to RMA one bad power supply. Rest are hummin' (literally) along.
It's not that I object to paying based on usage - I think that'll be a fairer method of charging for insurance - not that I expect insurance companies will be fair about it.
What I'm concerned about is privacy. I don't want to be tracked every place I go.
This is what I've been waiting for. Assuming the mobo problem was just a glitch, I'll be getting one of these shortly. I've got a bunch of 50's (the original version) for work and while they're not exactly stealth-quiet, they're great little machines and look quite nice. Space is a premium, since each desk has to have 2 computers (w/KVM switch).
This is gonna be my main box at home and primary LAN party box. My old box is gonna be relegated to the role of an Apache server. I'll put up a review of how well the SS51 runs my favorite distro when I get the thing in.
...or charge different rates based on your driving habits. Say you drive X over the speed limit, 80 miles a day. Your rate might be US$X^2 higher than Mom, who might drive 20 miles a week at or a shade below the limit.
Or, you frequently visit a friend just over the Mississippi border, a state that doesn't require auto insurance. Each time you do that, $bing.
I'm sure there are plenty of other (and better) paranoid posts.
Slashdot Mirror
A better analogy:
Say you have a chain of lemonade stands and are selling weak, unsweetened lemonade for $199 a glass. The lemonade stand is your only source of income, so you want to protect it. You forbid anyone from sharing the lemonade they drink and if they drink your lemonade you forbid them from drinking anything else to slake their thirst.
The community deploys water fountains, a few people put down fruit trees and a few start selling different kinds of fruit juices.
You bribe public officials with "campaign contributions" to pull the water fountains and send hired goons to intimidate, buy out, or otherwise break up your competition.
That's a better analogy of what Microsoft is doing with regard to Linux.
And no, I wouldn't hire goons, grab an axe, or bribe officials. I'd start offering what people were asking for rather than crush the life out of them like an asshole.
LOL. You deserve a +1, Funny.
Believe it or not, you get used to it. I lived next to the flight line and would be lulled to sleep by the roar of engines being tested, planes taking off. When they were gone (bombing the shit out of someone overseas) I couldn't sleep - I needed the noise.
As a military brat, my friends and I never really worried about WWIII. I mean, we were #3 or so on the Soviet target list. You would never know. The base would get locked down like any alert/exercise, the planes would take off and then - poof. We'd all be dead in a microsecond, so it wasn't really worth worrying about. We were pretty fatalistic.
Worst case: after the alert crews took off, we'd probably have time to finish watching the movie before the nukes struck.
I understand she's a health care provider and she (along with firefighters, doctors, etc.) need to stay in communication. Put it on vibrate and carry it on your person, not in your purse. Duh. Even better, get someone to cover for you for a couple of hours.
In any case, when you get such a call in the theater, step into the lobby and call the back. Don't fucking answer your phone in the theater. Sheesh.
On military bases, there are alert crews that are on standby to bomb the shit out of Russia or Iraq or whoever. They go to the arcade, movie theatre, and whatnot when they're on standby. In the theatre there are flashing alert lights that come on in case of an alert. They get up and run to the nearest exit. Interruption in movie is maybe 15-30 seconds.
It sucks for Wil that he got cut, but hey - them's the breaks. He's cool by it and kudos to him. Hopefully Berman will throw him a bone, put in a word, or perform some other cliche. Wheaton's an under-rated talent - hopefully a mainstream director will agree.
But what the crap do I know? I'm a programmer.
Read the story - he was (probably) talking about Ira, the guy from this urban legend tale. If anyone did do something like that - put ashes (or anything else) on a spacecraft without authorisation then they should be canned - hell, perhaps prosecuted. Yeah, his motives were good, but it's intolerable to risk a $100 million mission so your buddy's ashes can (sort of) go to Mars.
And since you brought it up - many Irishmen have been killed by English 'terrorists' too. Let's not forget - England invaded and subjugated Ireland, and began colonising it. When you occupy a country, don't be surprised when their people revolt.
And it disingenuous to call the IRA terrorists. Yeah, some have committed atrocities. I don't consider targeting civilians legitimate resistance. But politicians and troops - yes, they are legitimate targets in revolt. And English troops aren't exactly spotless, now are they? Shooting unarmed kids isn't kosher (for either side).
The solution to this problem is pretty clear - England needs to get the hell out of Ireland and Ireland needs to be reunified. The Protestants can either (a) move back to England, or (b) discover what it's like to be a minority.
Sheesh - sounds like a game blurb. :)
Anyway, a real-time CAD map of a city is sweet for a lot of reasons. Not just civic. Virtual tourism, interactive maps, and the obligatory Quake levels.
I just won't allow companies to suck the life out of me. I give them 1/3 (too frequently 1/2) of my professional time. I'll be damned if they take my personal projects and make me foot the bill.
I just absolutely will not sign a contract that has an intellectual property clause that claims ownership of code I develop for non-company-related projects on my own time. I've invested years learning my trade because I enjoy what I do and I won't allow that enjoyment to be crushed out of me.
Arguably such clauses mean that you cannot participate in open source projects or hell - can't develop for fun at all without your efforts being assigned to XYZ Corp. Hell, arguably you're required to give notice of any such projects or could find yourself being sued b/c the company lost a market window...blah...blah...blah.
I remember Al talking about the lawsuit and the source code. One poker night (which I played badly) Dan Tobias went on a long rant (suprise) about the whole ordeal. I share his opinion that moonlight code belonged to the programmer, not the company.
Absolutely nothing came of the source code. It sat in Jim's office unused.
A little known fact - our archivist put a build on a server for some of our testers and 'oops' - he mis-set permissions. There were loads of people continuously scanning our site for a demo and 'viola'. The game got passed around - it wasn't done, but it was getting there - and we got a LOT of unsolicited feedback. Our guys also scoured message boards for opinions, etc. The feedback was 'bad, keep working' - and we did. However, the game was a disappointment in my book - good idea, some really cool features, but...it wasn't all that.
I joined Softdisk in 1995, a few years after the id guys left. The company was stunned by the success of Wolfenstein and Doom, and by Duke Nukem - also born of Softdisk alumni. It was basically a subscription software company, selling a package (card games, screen savers, etc.) on disk monthly. It was a good model for the 80's.
Softdisk tried to produce a couple of games, one called Greed (later In Pursuit of Greed) which was basically a 3D Doom-clone shooter. There was some neat technology (e.g. curved surfaces), but the art was...uh, well weak. The gameplay was decent, but there were some bugs to stomp and the ship date slipped...and slipped...and slipped. It was released, but didn't live up to the hype. The game was torn to shreds in the reviews. There was a second 3D shooter - developed totally in house, though it was basically a one-man project. The lead (only) programmer left, so it was shelved.
Softdisk finally shut down its on-disk-monthly subscription software and became an ISP/web development company. It was a necessary move, but sad since the company kicked a lot of ass in the 80's with LoadStar and Big Blue Disk.
For those interested, I ran Softdisk's online download software stores on CompuServe, Prodigy, AOL while another dude took care of eWorld. We were selling Commander Keen, Dangerous Dave, and a host of other early games the id guys produced at Softdisk. Last I checked, they were still being sold (at $19.95 a pop, even).
All the more reason for distros on DVD.
<shrug>
It disturbs me that the industry can't settle on a single standard, like BluRay or whatever, and lets get on with it. Competing formats aren't good for anyone.
Every day by around 2PM Eastern (US), DemocracyNow.Org - a progressive news show - posts their hour-long broadcast in mp3 format and keeps several days of shows. WebActive.com - a venture funded in part by Real.com - has a lot of progressive shows but they're all in Real format. Check out these progressive news sources; you'll be suprised to hear "the other side" of the story and a well balanced news broadcast unlike the goverment warhawk mouthpiece drivel you hear on Fox News and CNN.
IMHO, this is too little, too late. Yeah, they're backpedaling after a justifiably furious outcry. However, the fact that one of their VPs sent this letter in the first place goes to show you how the HP/Compaq top brass think about security: keep it quiet.
Bullshit. There are no records they possess that should be held confidential and I'm not talking root passwords and such. They've made ludicrous dispute decisions that clearly favor corporations. Remember canadian.net? The only possible reason ICANN would refuse to allow him access to these records AND disseminate them is to conceal wrongdoing. They should be public records anyway.
That said, the parent post was an insightful and outstanding rebuttal against ICANN naysayers like myself. But it's still bullshit.
Don't say it...don't say it...I'm warning you...
Use Linux.
Damn, I said it.
Why the fuck don't people want exploits fully disclosed? Sure, I don't have a problem with waiting a week or so to give a team/vendor (yes, even Microsoft) a chance to roll out a patch before making it public. It's a courtesy, not a necessity.
<rant />
Clearly some sort of political action is required. I suggest:
1. The DMCA needs to be repealed or ruled unconstitutional. Hopefully the ACLU or the EFF will take a case that'll get us there. Or some rich philanthropist geek could 'violate' it by exercising their constitutional rights. But the best ploy is for every one of *us* to contact (visit,snailmail,fax,call,email) 'our' reps in the House and Senate, rationally outline our objections, and protest like hell if they don't. Civil disobedience, etc.
2. Abolish corporate personhood (same methods).
3. Abolish the lobby industry.
4. Abolish campaign finance. Make it publicly funded, free TV-radio spots (public airwaves) equally distributed among ballot-qualified candidates.
We've let corporations have far too much swing. I'm all for making a buck, but Jesus F***ing Christ...
My first computer was an old Sinclair with 4k of RAM (add-on) and a B&W monitor. I spent many an hour playing, then hacking, Lunar Lander and fiddling with my tape drive. I soon upgraded to an Apple, then on to an Atari 800, a Tandy Coco, Commodore 64 - and on and on. Had to peek & poke my way to better graphics on my Coco. Enjoyed using a Tandy Model 4 to hack CompuServe and a trusty old Apple II to poke around AT&T.
Ahhh - the good ole days, playing Mule and BBSing. I miss it. (sniff)
I've had the exact opposite experience. I find tons of bad floppies in ostensibly new packs. However, I can't remember the last time I burned a coaster (thanks, Plextor!). BTW, you can prevent those CDs from getting scratched to hell an back with the simple expedient of using a CD case to protect them. You can't just toss them around - they're sensitive.
Uh, yes they are. Floppies are designed such because of the floppy medium inside the hard plastic shell. Back in the day floppies were so inside and out (floppy medium, floppy shell). Like most old-school geeks I saved considerable sums by turning my single-sided double-density 5 1/4" floppies into double-sided with the simple employment of a hole puncher.
(note - I'm not affiliated with Shuttle in any way, shape, or form)
Rather, I have a bunch of SV24's, not 50's as I wrote before. We have about 10 or so of these and they're great little office boxen. Only had to RMA one bad power supply. Rest are hummin' (literally) along.
What I'm concerned about is privacy. I don't want to be tracked every place I go.
This is gonna be my main box at home and primary LAN party box. My old box is gonna be relegated to the role of an Apache server. I'll put up a review of how well the SS51 runs my favorite distro when I get the thing in.
Or, you frequently visit a friend just over the Mississippi border, a state that doesn't require auto insurance. Each time you do that, $bing.
I'm sure there are plenty of other (and better) paranoid posts.