Okay, I know it's a crappy site, but we have arcades and LANs (in the same building!) in four different cities: Portland, ME, Danvers, MA (near Boston), Burlington, VT, and Dartmouth, MA.
"Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., wants to implant copy-protection technology in software and hardware devices, and Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., hopes to let copyright holders hack into and disrupt peer-to-peer networks."
Those are *their* networks. Verizon and the other telecoms operate those networks, regardless of the stuff that goes on within them. Who's to say that the 'copyright holders' wouldn't cause serious damage to the Verizon network in the name of security?
It's a bit troubling to think that Verizon would be absolutely forced by the government to allow *hacking* (illegal) by a large media corporation. Why wouldn't the Senator simply order Verizon to police their own networks? Isn't it a bit absurd to allow someone else to gain unauthorized (sorta) access to do it for them?
And the point is, humans have been allowed to patent standardized tools.
"Now I need a monopolist's permission to view my own creations? The audacity is mind-boggling, and that the Justice Department is permitting it is simply astounding."
This is something like patenting keys and locks. Obviously, if Microsoft ever tried to say something like: "No, you can't view your documents", I think the justice department would immediately step in and cry foul, much as if the person who invented the key demanded that all people who owned and used keys for operating locks pay him a surcharge or discontinue their use.
"But I can't get into my house!", people would cry. They'd use the key anyway, and popular demand would win; much the same in the Microsoft case. The point is: someone allowed Microsoft to patent a key and license it, and now they're trying to figure out ways around this.
Why does buying a new computer mandate that you've got to license a new product from microsoft?
If I've already got a windows machine, in theory, why can't I just install the same OS license on the new box and throw away the old one? (I know, scary, but it's what most people do).
Seems like extortion and product bundling to me. It's like mandating that every time boeing sells a plane, they bundle 500 million gallons of jet fuel and charges an extra 15%, even though most airports just don't need that surplus.
This isn't so much about being a monopoly as it is being absurd.
Sure, the business model seems to work fine.
Microsoft says: "If everyone is using our operating system, we make lots of money".
Dell says: "We sell a lot of computers using the microsoft operating system *anyway* - and in fact, they make up 90% of our business - so why argue? Let's just switch to 100% microsoft!"
See, here's the problem. If Microsoft is the only company supplying operating systems to home users, we have no growth in the operating system market. People are content to see their system crash, people are content to pay 200 dollars more with their PC for an intangible piece of software which claims to be better than everything else.
Sure, I like WindowsXP. I use it often, my machine dualboots XP and Redhat. But I like the option of booting redhat, and I like the option that Dell had previously given their customers.
I wish dell would just say no. Dell, Gateway, the rest of them should form the same trust that microsoft has. If all the computer manufacturers got together and said, "You know what? We're not going to take this. From now on, you're slashing the price of your OS or no one is going to use it, because it wont be available for any systems." Microsoft would listen quick, or would call lawyers against the same type of bullying that they themselves do.
I think most people would be rather SimGolfing than locked up managing some city, no matter how posh their office was.
Re:What I find truly amazing
on
Future Computers
·
· Score: 3, Informative
This sort of stuff bothers me.
We don't have a 3-5 pound computer sitting in our heads. We have a 3-5 pound brain emulator sitting on our desk.
The point of the computer (originally) was to do complex tasks that took the human brain too much time. It does slave-like replication. It's an emulation of something we can already do, in theory.
Furthermore, the human brain is far from puny. We have 10^15th synapses, which is far more connections than there are genes in our genome, or even stars in the galaxy. 10^15th synapses is an incredibly large number to imagine. A synapse is a neuronal connection. A data transfer point.
I urge the above poster to consider the fact that life and thought have been debated for thousands of years. We *can* be so difficult to figure out.
"It's interesting to see someone on *this* side of the political fence (an ally or 'strategic partner' of the U.S.) pull a stunt like this."
This isn't about silencing free speech, It's about protection of minors. Does anyone think that it's fair use that computers in public places ought to be able to have some guy jacking off while the kid next to him is playing counterstrike? Especially in that type of (primarily) unstable environment?
The US does this too. I worked in a Cybercafe for a year and a half, and we were paid a visit by the police on two seperate occasions about minors having access to inappropriate material.
Trust me, this has nothing to do with "free speech".
"The product Edison sells is basically just the front end. Someone needs to add a code generator, libraries, support tools, etc. to produce a complete compiler package. (We use the Edison front end for our compiler product at Concurrent, so hopefully we'll have all these nifty features someday - but everyone should be sure they don't interpret this casual comment as an official promise - I don't even work on the compiler:-)."
I dont know how right this guy is, and I have no expertise in the area myself... but isn't this exactly what we're doing with this slash story? Interpretting this comment as an official promise?
In fact, I know a group of upcoming juniors who decided to not live off campus because of the internet connection - it's god aweful and hideously expensive.
I'm not saying that the school should provide internet access to everyone, but really, some of the cases are ridiculous. Houses that have cabling running underneath and above them should be wired - if the house isn't rented to a Tufts student, charge a small fee for the service that you could work out with the provider of our lines, and if it is, provide free access.
The 'net is Huge at schools now. Everyone's on it, even if computer literacy is still very below "techie". I think the schools really ought to do more to bring the net to their surrounding communities, especially in the case of off campus living.
Sure, people do "play for the spreadsheet, filling in points", etc, but the real draw of a good game is it's roleplaying value - at least for me.
I've been playing a Text MUD for quite a long time - Dragonrealms (http://www.play.net/dr) - and it's evolved into quite a large player base where anyone can make a mark on the community by roleplaying a character correctly.
Hundreds of addicts, or just hundreds of satisfied people? Not sure, but the Roleplaying Genre needs to focus more on roleplaying, least we end up instead with the "experience-game-in-which-players-gain-levels genre".
-Ximian Connector 1.0 Available -Neverwinter Nights Coming in June -Developers: Designing Good Linux Applications -O'Reilly Showcases PS2 Linux Gear -Apple Cuts Off Under-18 Darwin Developer -Red Hat CTO Testifies at MS trial -Sizing Up StarOffice 6.0 -(Almost) I-mode Service Coming in April -Verisign Sending Deceptive Domain Renewal Mail? -LoTR Takes 4 Oscars
Biologists and Psychologists Abuse this...
on
Digital Biology
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
To the worst extent possible.
My psych professor explained our language lecture using layman's computer terminology, instead of psychology. I wanted to strangle him the entire time. "So... you've got this memory stuff... and it get accessed - that is - processed, by this other bit over here, right, this area of the brain... let's just call that the "software"."
It was enough to make any techie of any note sick. He actually used Microsoft as a language. Talk about wanting to shoot someone.
But what can we do? Everyone thinks they're a programmer or a techie these days, and everyone thinks that because kids use IM they must have some other association with the grey box.
Sorry fellers, that's wrong. Most kids today don't know jack about computing, much less are able to relate better when you babble incessantly about things in your half-tech, half-psychologist manner. Stick to the psychology or the biology, instead of using computer terms to explain simple concepts. It's just more confusing and more hellish.:(
What happens to journal articles relating to specific content? How do I find information for biology class?
Currently, I can search google and find things on the destruction of Balsam Fir in Newfoundland by Alces Alces (Moose), with this type of search engine, the journals wouldn't be listed because they themselves don't have links to anywhere (most of them are straight magazine to html conversions or PDF).
It'd be difficult as hell to find pertinent information above the level of "3y3 4m Johnny, And Dis 1s Mai W3bsite, 4nd H3r3 Ar3 Mai LinkZorz!"
"What students learn in school is key to what they go on to do."
I hate to break a bad bubble, but this isn't really true. This is more true of engineers than it is Liberal Arts majors, but even so, it isn't a great rule of thumb. Most kids go to college and get "educated", not neccessary trained to participate in a trade.
That's a big misconception. People view college as trade school, and it isn't. Most International Relations Majors don't go on to do things involving international relations; most history majors don't go on to do things involving history.
Granted, a lot of Computer Science majors go on to do computer science stuff, but tons of them go on to the business world as well.
I'm rather concerned by some of the statements these guys made, before we put too much credibility in his findings.
"If the mouse and human genomes were so similar, we would be mice," says Shoemaker.
Well, Mr. Shoemaker, to be quite honest, we're not that far off, evolutionary speaking. We share the same classification as mammals, have hundreds of bodily functions that are nothing short of the same, share very complex behavioral patterns, and study the guys in an attempt to find out how our own brains work (go ask a research neurologist). If the man who says this is the director of anything, we need to push him off of his pedestal and teach him some biology.
"Before you count genes, you really need to define what a gene is," says Daniel Shoemaker.
Basically, it seems like the guy is "trolling". "Nuh uh, Taco!", he's saying. "The Theory of Graviity must be wrong because you mis-spelled gravity!" Really, he's saying that people are wrong, and then saying he's right, and then saying that the criteria he's used to make this sort of judgement doesn't exist in the first place.
No definition for a gene? "A unit of heredity. The unit of genetic function which carries the information for a single polypeptide."
Slashdot Mirror
What about chairs that scream alerts when we've been sitting in them for too long?
...etc, etc. =P
"GO OUT AND DO SOMETHING USEFUL INSTEAD OF SITTING IN AND READING SLASHDOT!"
"HOW WOULD YOU LIKE IT IF A 300 POUND GUY SAT ON YOU ALL DAY."
www.dreammachineonline.com
:)
Okay, I know it's a crappy site, but we have arcades and LANs (in the same building!) in four different cities: Portland, ME, Danvers, MA (near Boston), Burlington, VT, and Dartmouth, MA.
Come check it out!
"Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., wants to implant copy-protection technology in software and hardware devices, and Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., hopes to let copyright holders hack into and disrupt peer-to-peer networks."
Those are *their* networks. Verizon and the other telecoms operate those networks, regardless of the stuff that goes on within them. Who's to say that the 'copyright holders' wouldn't cause serious damage to the Verizon network in the name of security?
It's a bit troubling to think that Verizon would be absolutely forced by the government to allow *hacking* (illegal) by a large media corporation. Why wouldn't the Senator simply order Verizon to police their own networks? Isn't it a bit absurd to allow someone else to gain unauthorized (sorta) access to do it for them?
And the point is, humans have been allowed to patent standardized tools.
"Now I need a monopolist's permission to view my own creations? The audacity is mind-boggling, and that the Justice Department is permitting it is simply astounding."
This is something like patenting keys and locks. Obviously, if Microsoft ever tried to say something like: "No, you can't view your documents", I think the justice department would immediately step in and cry foul, much as if the person who invented the key demanded that all people who owned and used keys for operating locks pay him a surcharge or discontinue their use.
"But I can't get into my house!", people would cry. They'd use the key anyway, and popular demand would win; much the same in the Microsoft case. The point is: someone allowed Microsoft to patent a key and license it, and now they're trying to figure out ways around this.
Hm.
(marked up 200 dollars because of windows XP installation - sorry :()
Why does buying a new computer mandate that you've got to license a new product from microsoft?
If I've already got a windows machine, in theory, why can't I just install the same OS license on the new box and throw away the old one? (I know, scary, but it's what most people do).
Seems like extortion and product bundling to me. It's like mandating that every time boeing sells a plane, they bundle 500 million gallons of jet fuel and charges an extra 15%, even though most airports just don't need that surplus.
This isn't so much about being a monopoly as it is being absurd.
Sure, the business model seems to work fine.
Microsoft says: "If everyone is using our operating system, we make lots of money".
Dell says: "We sell a lot of computers using the microsoft operating system *anyway* - and in fact, they make up 90% of our business - so why argue? Let's just switch to 100% microsoft!"
See, here's the problem. If Microsoft is the only company supplying operating systems to home users, we have no growth in the operating system market. People are content to see their system crash, people are content to pay 200 dollars more with their PC for an intangible piece of software which claims to be better than everything else.
Sure, I like WindowsXP. I use it often, my machine dualboots XP and Redhat. But I like the option of booting redhat, and I like the option that Dell had previously given their customers.
I wish dell would just say no. Dell, Gateway, the rest of them should form the same trust that microsoft has. If all the computer manufacturers got together and said, "You know what? We're not going to take this. From now on, you're slashing the price of your OS or no one is going to use it, because it wont be available for any systems." Microsoft would listen quick, or would call lawyers against the same type of bullying that they themselves do.
Oh well. Another one bites the dust.
Possible Headline:
Kathleen Fent, do NOT read this story
from the oh-no-our-porn-tapes-are-public-domain dept.
Posted by CmdrTaco
Unfortunately, he must of have forgot the Laden:
/bin/laden
/bin.
rm -rf
We all know he just typed:
rm -rf
At around the same time we see reasonably tough nerds to use them. :)
I think most people would be rather SimGolfing than locked up managing some city, no matter how posh their office was.
This sort of stuff bothers me.
We don't have a 3-5 pound computer sitting in our heads. We have a 3-5 pound brain emulator sitting on our desk.
The point of the computer (originally) was to do complex tasks that took the human brain too much time. It does slave-like replication. It's an emulation of something we can already do, in theory.
Furthermore, the human brain is far from puny. We have 10^15th synapses, which is far more connections than there are genes in our genome, or even stars in the galaxy. 10^15th synapses is an incredibly large number to imagine. A synapse is a neuronal connection. A data transfer point.
I urge the above poster to consider the fact that life and thought have been debated for thousands of years. We *can* be so difficult to figure out.
12212012... if the 2s are converted to 0s, is 10010010, which happens to be the letter A.
Now if only Scully had finished her binary classes, clearly she'd have realized that all the aliens were after was a little ass.
"It's interesting to see someone on *this* side of the political fence (an ally or 'strategic partner' of the U.S.) pull a stunt like this."
This isn't about silencing free speech, It's about protection of minors. Does anyone think that it's fair use that computers in public places ought to be able to have some guy jacking off while the kid next to him is playing counterstrike? Especially in that type of (primarily) unstable environment?
The US does this too. I worked in a Cybercafe for a year and a half, and we were paid a visit by the police on two seperate occasions about minors having access to inappropriate material.
Trust me, this has nothing to do with "free speech".
"The product Edison sells is basically just the front end. Someone needs :-)."
to add a code generator, libraries, support tools, etc. to produce
a complete compiler package. (We use the Edison front end for our
compiler product at Concurrent, so hopefully we'll have all these
nifty features someday - but everyone should be sure they don't
interpret this casual comment as an official promise - I don't even
work on the compiler
I dont know how right this guy is, and I have no expertise in the area myself... but isn't this exactly what we're doing with this slash story? Interpretting this comment as an official promise?
...are faced with the same problem.
In fact, I know a group of upcoming juniors who decided to not live off campus because of the internet connection - it's god aweful and hideously expensive.
I'm not saying that the school should provide internet access to everyone, but really, some of the cases are ridiculous. Houses that have cabling running underneath and above them should be wired - if the house isn't rented to a Tufts student, charge a small fee for the service that you could work out with the provider of our lines, and if it is, provide free access.
The 'net is Huge at schools now. Everyone's on it, even if computer literacy is still very below "techie". I think the schools really ought to do more to bring the net to their surrounding communities, especially in the case of off campus living.
Really? And we all thought we were joking originally when we said the universe was flesh-toned. Or... was that the internet?
Zairius - any chance I could get email/AIM? :)
Sure, people do "play for the spreadsheet, filling in points", etc, but the real draw of a good game is it's roleplaying value - at least for me.
I've been playing a Text MUD for quite a long time - Dragonrealms (http://www.play.net/dr) - and it's evolved into quite a large player base where anyone can make a mark on the community by roleplaying a character correctly.
Hundreds of addicts, or just hundreds of satisfied people? Not sure, but the Roleplaying Genre needs to focus more on roleplaying, least we end up instead with the "experience-game-in-which-players-gain-levels genre".
-Ximian Connector 1.0 Available
-Neverwinter Nights Coming in June
-Developers: Designing Good Linux Applications
-O'Reilly Showcases PS2 Linux Gear
-Apple Cuts Off Under-18 Darwin Developer
-Red Hat CTO Testifies at MS trial
-Sizing Up StarOffice 6.0
-(Almost) I-mode Service Coming in April
-Verisign Sending Deceptive Domain Renewal Mail?
-LoTR Takes 4 Oscars
To the worst extent possible.
:(
My psych professor explained our language lecture using layman's computer terminology, instead of psychology. I wanted to strangle him the entire time. "So... you've got this memory stuff... and it get accessed - that is - processed, by this other bit over here, right, this area of the brain... let's just call that the "software"."
It was enough to make any techie of any note sick. He actually used Microsoft as a language. Talk about wanting to shoot someone.
But what can we do? Everyone thinks they're a programmer or a techie these days, and everyone thinks that because kids use IM they must have some other association with the grey box.
Sorry fellers, that's wrong. Most kids today don't know jack about computing, much less are able to relate better when you babble incessantly about things in your half-tech, half-psychologist manner. Stick to the psychology or the biology, instead of using computer terms to explain simple concepts. It's just more confusing and more hellish.
What happens to journal articles relating to specific content? How do I find information for biology class?
Currently, I can search google and find things on the destruction of Balsam Fir in Newfoundland by Alces Alces (Moose), with this type of search engine, the journals wouldn't be listed because they themselves don't have links to anywhere (most of them are straight magazine to html conversions or PDF).
It'd be difficult as hell to find pertinent information above the level of "3y3 4m Johnny, And Dis 1s Mai W3bsite, 4nd H3r3 Ar3 Mai LinkZorz!"
"What students learn in school is key to what they go on to do."
I hate to break a bad bubble, but this isn't really true. This is more true of engineers than it is Liberal Arts majors, but even so, it isn't a great rule of thumb. Most kids go to college and get "educated", not neccessary trained to participate in a trade.
That's a big misconception. People view college as trade school, and it isn't. Most International Relations Majors don't go on to do things involving international relations; most history majors don't go on to do things involving history.
Granted, a lot of Computer Science majors go on to do computer science stuff, but tons of them go on to the business world as well.
Epecially when you get a toms-hardware-esque explosion after fan removal. =P
I'm rather concerned by some of the statements these guys made, before we put too much credibility in his findings.
"If the mouse and human genomes were so similar, we would be mice," says Shoemaker.
Well, Mr. Shoemaker, to be quite honest, we're not that far off, evolutionary speaking. We share the same classification as mammals, have hundreds of bodily functions that are nothing short of the same, share very complex behavioral patterns, and study the guys in an attempt to find out how our own brains work (go ask a research neurologist). If the man who says this is the director of anything, we need to push him off of his pedestal and teach him some biology.
"Before you count genes, you really need to define what a gene is," says Daniel Shoemaker.
Basically, it seems like the guy is "trolling". "Nuh uh, Taco!", he's saying. "The Theory of Graviity must be wrong because you mis-spelled gravity!" Really, he's saying that people are wrong, and then saying he's right, and then saying that the criteria he's used to make this sort of judgement doesn't exist in the first place.
No definition for a gene? "A unit of heredity. The unit of genetic function which carries the information for a single polypeptide."