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User: Lurking+Grue

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Comments · 168

  1. Re:Bush is not wrong here. on Bush Administration Stops Microsoft Breakup · · Score: 1

    I'm with you there. Somehow the decision to not pursue a breakup (which the appeals court indicated was unlikely anyway) is being translated into "Bush is letting M$ off easy." Focusing on a practical, effective remedy for the conduct that the appeals court found illegal would seem to be a prudent legal strategy.

    But I still believe that the most effective remedy would be to prevent M$ from placing configuration restrictions upon OEMs. Once the software is purchased, the OEMs should be able to configure it however they want. If it's a sucky configuration, they will lose sales. If it's a brilliant configuration, they will increase sales. That is their incentive to give customers what they want. (M$ has no such incentive.) By taking this unusual weapon away from M$ the OEMs are free to come up with creative solutions that should help them boost sales.

    It's funny to watch the herd mentality at work here.

  2. Farscape, because... on Best Sci Fi Currently On Television? · · Score: 1

    any show featuring an alien race that farts helium has got to go to the top of the sci-fi list.

    Lots of other reasons too, but the other sci-fi shows are just too sissy to do fart jokes.

  3. irony on @Home Cuts Newsgroups Due to DMCA Complaints · · Score: 1

    I just checked that list against the groups I can see, and so far only the hustler group is gone. I'm using Cox@home, so I suppose that by definition the playgirl group will probably remain.

  4. TechMobile test-drive results on Gadget-Heavy Trucks For Fun And Mayhem · · Score: 2

    Due to "unspecified" distractions, the results of the first test drive left a bit to be desired.

  5. where's the harm? on 2600 v. Ford Motors · · Score: 1
    "But what he cannot do, Lee said, is lead consumers to believe that Ford is the author of the criticism."

    How exactly are consumers going to be confused? The domain is not registered to Ford. Wait a minute...I think I understand. Consumers would not see the humor, and would fail to make an effort to look up the owner of a domain that quite clearly would not be registered by Ford.

  6. Re:Hey, wait on Skirting AOL Checksumming -- Legally? · · Score: 1

    So then I can use an opensource, free AIM client to chat with a paying AOL user and AOL won't complain? (The AOL user is paying them money.) Not likely.

    AOL's behavior does not indicate that they are interested in being reasonable. They are interested in absolute control. It should be no surprise that they are being met with much resistance.

  7. Re:Hey, wait on Skirting AOL Checksumming -- Legally? · · Score: 2

    AOL's problem seems to be their desire for absolute control over IM. If I send an e-mail to an AOL user, I am using resources on their servers. But they don't complain about the cost of maintaining e-mail servers. Somehow the cost of maintaining an IM server is made out to be a big friggin' deal, though it appears to be no different than any other Internet access component.

    They should really reconsider their approach before this gets way too ugly. They have absolutely nothing to gain (and plenty to lose) by going down this path.

  8. Re:Difference in medium on Supremes Hear Case of Publisher Piracy · · Score: 1

    And don't forget about the radio station that got in trouble recently for broadcasting over the Internet without paying additional royalties. Same material, different distribution mechanism, additional royalty payment.

  9. I agree on Baseball Fans Must Pay To Listen Online · · Score: 1
    No word on whether you will be forced to pay $29.95 for a registered copy of RealNetworks' software.

    Not sure where that one came from, as I can't see how anyone can force me to pay $29.95 for a registered copy of RealNetworks' software. Of course, if I choose to use the software then I'll expect to pay for it. But if I choose not to use it, I won't be forced to pay for it.

    I am a longtime baseball fan, but I had no problem boycotting the game for 4 years following the last strike. There are other things in life that are important, and if MLB makes business decisions that are not in my best interest as a fan then I'll act accordingly. Offering a full season for $9.95 hardly seems like such a big deal.

    Baseball has bigger problems than this, such as the lack of pension benefits for old-timers. My heroes are mostly gone these days, and it seems like such a long time ago that I had any degree of respect for a professional athlete. I find it kinda sad when I relate more to the coaches and managers than to the guys my own age (the players).

    So MLB charges $9.95 to listen to a seasons' worth of broadcasts online. BFD. It's not like they're cancelling the World Series or initiating a work stoppage. Those, in my not-so-humble opinion, are issues worth raising a stink over.

  10. Re:injustice is served on Appeals Court Puts Amazon 1-Click Patent in Question · · Score: 1

    I shopped electronically through both GEnie and CompuServe online services back in '91 or '92. Amazon certainly did not create the "online shopping cart." Their definition of innovation closely resembles Microsoft's.

    This patent should never have been granted. It deserves to be overturned.

  11. Never thought I'd say it, but... on Appeals Court Puts Amazon 1-Click Patent in Question · · Score: 2

    Congratulations to a big, faceless corporation! (That would be aimed at B&N, not Amazon.)

    B&N had resources to fight this obviously undeserving patent. And now we all stand to benefit if the case is ruled in their favor. Question is: will they "pull an Amazon" in the future and do something equally offensive to consumers? Or will they show that they give a $hit and conduct business in a consumer-friendly way?

    Only time will tell. But at least we have now witnessed one rational ruling from an appellate court. To B&N and the court: thank you for your efforts. It's sad to be thanking a company and a court for doing the right thing. But it is well-deserved.

  12. Re:Dreamcast/N64 on Sega Confirms Death of Dreamcast · · Score: 1

    At $99/ea. you'd do well to buy them both. Stuff I've got on the 64 includes Super Mario64, Super Mario Karts, both Zeldas, Donkey Kong 64, and a couple of other misc. games.

    My Dreamcast games include Sonic Adventure, Looney Tunes Racing, MLB2K1, and Tomb Raider.

    I can't vouch for the "quality" of FPS games because they don't interest me. But for simple action games that require puzzle-solving skills, I like the games on both N64 and Dreamcast.

  13. If only it were that simple... on Virginia Beach Pays Microsoft $129,000 · · Score: 1

    I work for a municipality with much fewer employees than Virginia Beach (around 2000). License tracking is not a simple exercise. All of the PCs that our city orders come pre-burdened with some version of windows. But as a time-saving measure, each of our PCs is reloaded from an image CD so that it has the configuration that the particular department requires. But putting on a different configuration of a (possibly) different version of windows can throw a monkey wrench into the licensing machine. We do attempt to follow licensing requirements, but on a good day they are confusing. And it can only get worse as the number of affected PCs increases.

    Unfortunately, due to twisted licensing practices by many industry players license tracking can be a time-consuming pain-in-the-arse. (Microsoft does seem to be an industry leader in confusing license agreements.) And this article relates only to Microsoft licenses. Municipalities run a variety of applications that Microsoft does not provide. (Water systems control, computer-aided dispatch for police, emergency services tracking for fire, parks and recreation resource mamagement, and utility billing are a few.) And having a mixture of software is certainly not unique to government

    While there are certainly plenty of questions to go around regarding this city's acquisition of technology without involving IT, the fact that software licensing has become as awful as Vogon Poetry should not be ignored. And as far as the councilwoman's comments about "simple record keeping," I wonder what she would have said if IT had asked council for an FTE to track software licensing for 6000 users? We make an effort to ensure compliance with software licenses, but I'd be surprised if most businesses or governments are completely compliant with all license agreements of all software in use.

  14. dulux spam on What Do You Think Of The Delux DVD? · · Score: 1

    Over the past few weeks I've received quite a few spams from dulux regarding this player. I've deleted each one. When a company resorts to multiple spams in order to promote their product, I become a bit suspicious.

    Perhaps it is a legitimately good product that has had absolutely no independent reviews. Or perhaps they're spamming /. in an attempt to stir up interest within the geek community. I'm not sure, but I am definitely staying away from them.

  15. A couple of more points: on Statistics, Elections, Frustration · · Score: 1

    1. Both the Democratic and Republican parties reviewed and approved the ballots. If a different party complained of the layout, I could understand. But for a member of either of these two parties to cry foul is irresponsible.

    2. RTFB before you punch a hole. If there is ANY question, ask somebody. Perhaps the ballot design needs to be addressed. Perhaps not.

    A friend of mine from Florida indicated that she had no problem figuring it out. That does not mean that there is no problem with the ballot layout. But neither does the fact that some people were confused mean it IS a problem. If it does need to be addressed, it will be for a future election.

  16. Wait...I know this one! on What Will Happen to Sega? · · Score: 2

    They will be sold to a guy and his son. These two will try to reshape Sega into a home computer company. They will send the company spiraling downward, and eventually sell out to a hard disk manufacturer. The HD manufacturer will sit on the Sega name for about a year, and then sell the "home system" name to Hasbro.

  17. novell dead? on Is Novell Doomed? · · Score: 3
    Novell admits that it is trying to reduce its dependence on Netware sales. NDS is solid, and by definition LDAP will not displace NDS. (The "L" in LDAP stands for lightweight. There is nothing lightweight about NDS.) They are trying to find ways to leverage their expertise, such as the ASP area.

    If you think Novell is sitting still, or even deteriorating, check out this link. It's just another example of Novell continuing to find ways to extend their technologies.

    I'm not claiming that Novell is preparing for world domination. But Novell's death has been rumored for years. If anything, I'd bet that they would be bought-out by a big player. (Oracle, IBM, AOL?)

  18. game resource links on Old Atari Design Docs Online · · Score: 2
    One link for secondary market game resources is here. (Note that many of the vendors sell more than just pinball machines.)

    I'm still debating what my first one will be. Probably Star Castle or Pong, while they're still available.

  19. contact tivo on Where are the "Internet" Appliances with Ethernet Cards? · · Score: 1

    I wrote them late last year regarding an ethernet interface. I was curious about when they would add one, being careful to politely explain the benefits. They indicated that they had no current plans to incorporate ethernet, but that they were keeping the option open for future development. Please e-mail them regarding your desire for ethernet. Hopefully they can be persuaded to incorporate it.

  20. Re:slightly OT--Cable dynamic IPs on @Home Stops Allowing VPNs · · Score: 1

    My "dynamic" IP did not change until I moved. (This was about a year after installation.) I have never had a problem with the IP address lease expiring.

  21. Moody math? on Fred Moody Says Linux Worst Operating System Ever · · Score: 1
    In 1999, the year it took over the server market in earnest, Windows NT totaled 99 new vulnerabilities on the BugTraq list.

    AND

    This looks like an alarmingly high number in comparison with Solaris' 34 or NetBSD's 10, but it is significantly less than the 122 racked up by Red Hat and the other Linuxes.

    Hmmm. So a single vendor's implementation of Windows NT has 99 vulnerabilities in 1999. And all vendors' implementations of Linux combined totals 122. Either separate out the bugs by distro, or divide the total bugs by total distros. Apples and oranges, Fred. Do you know the difference between apples and oranges?

  22. Since Microsoft Bob failed... on Attention Sensitive User Interface · · Score: 1
    they could call it Microsoft Timmy.

    TIMMAHHH!!!

  23. Sweet irony... on Sen. Hatch Warns Labels: Don't Make Me Come Spank You · · Score: 1
    Rosen of the RIAA and Erlich of Sony rapidly responded that legislation was not needed, because the market would work out what was needed.

    So legislation is not necessary, because the market works. But lawsuits are necessary, because the market doesn't work. This is getting fun!

  24. Missing the Point on MP3: On Artist Protection And Copy Protection · · Score: 1

    People already take it for free. Providing an option to pay is what musicians/studios should do. Screw the copy protection. Put the music up and offer a fair price and a payment method. Those who don't want to pay won't. But those who do want to pay will have an option. $1 > $0.

  25. Re:Linux LVM on IBM Promises Logical Volume Management For Linux · · Score: 1

    If you use Online JFS 3.3 (requires HP-UX 11) you can supposedly shrink LVs also without much risk of data loss. (I'm not interested in finding out how true their claim is.) Yeah, SAM is horrible for extending volumes (it tries to unmount the volume to extend it). lvextend still reigns supreme. And you're right, it is licensed from Veritas. (Takes quite awhile to wait for an unlock code to arrive after registering. HP says they have to send the license info to Veritas in order to retrieve the code.)

    Bureaucracy aside, I love Online JFS. Now if they could only get it to work on system partitions...