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  1. Completely Unenforceable on New 'No Military Use' GPL For GPU · · Score: 1
    The license patch sates the program and its derivative work will neither be modified or executed to harm any human being nor through inaction permit any human being to be harmed.

    Computers use power.

    For a variety of reasons, use of any type of power can cause humans to come to harm, either directly (accidental electrocution, short in electronics causes fire, etc.) or indirectly (coal mining accident when mining coal destined for a power plant, nuclear power plant accident, sliver in finger from broken solar panel, possible global warming, etc.)

    Thus any use of GPU whatsoever is illegal under the license "patch."

  2. One person's "abandonware" is not another's... on Internet Archive Loses Copyright Fight · · Score: 2, Insightful

    One good example of this is old 1980's video game code.

    It's no longer available in its native form, and many of the companies involved no longer exist.

    Under "abandonware" thinking, those programs should be free to distribute.

    However, thanks to the recent retrogaming craze, a lot of company's successors are seeing a good revenue stream from those once "abandoned" titles. (For example, who ever thought we'd see Atari 2600 titles for sale again, but there they are, built into a joystick at Toys R Us.)

    As far as "old movies of little value," certainly there are those who think "It's A Wonderful Life" should still be Public Domain; the current copyright holders would disagree vehemently.

  3. Don't let the door hit you in the butt... on Kerry Concedes Election To Bush · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    Enjoy Canada, I'm sure they will welcome your tax dollars.

    Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of people across the world continue to immigrate to America annually, both legally and illegally. People are literally dying to get into America.

    If you want to leave because you don't like the policies of the government, feel free, or just continue to voice your dissatisfaction.

    Either of which, by the way, you would be prevented from doing, by force, in a religious police state...

  4. This isn't at all hard to figure out... on EWeek Details Linux to Windows Migration · · Score: 1

    If you're a company, your thinking usually involves having your ISV call and find out which commercial databases are available on Linux.

    Most companies aren't going to want to trust their business to MySQL any more than they will want to trust Linux without a LOT of handholding first; if they have a problem they want a vendor they can call that has a 24 hour hotline, and that will get them back up to speed quickly (not to mention one that they can sue if things go horribly wrong and cost them money.)

    Add the fact that their IT dept. probably has a bunch of MSCEs already who know how to click the right buttons to run their Windows boxes and the fact they don't want to hire someone who knows how to edit all those funny text files, and the "Windows is better!" argument can easily be made from their point of view...

  5. Re:My age range never did care on Is The Public Stuck With The Broadcast Flag? · · Score: 1

    Yeah right... I'd believe you if it weren't for the fact that the majority of people I see in line for the release of the week at my local cineplex each week are in your exact demographic.

    Generalizations are best to avoid on either side of an issue; what you and those you know may do does not represent the marketplace as a whole...

  6. What was sliced bread the greatest thing since? on Sony Develops TVs That Zoom in for True Close-ups · · Score: 1

    No one ever knows the answer to that one...

  7. Re:Well... on Philadelphia Considers Free Citywide Wireless Access · · Score: 1

    The money is best spent by taxpayers in the private sector for the services they require.

    The government "pooling money" and then spending it has never provided the best bang for the buck, ever.

    Let's not forget there are also an awful lot of people who would theoretically have to pay for this who would never even use it, and I'm sure they will have a thing or two to say.

    Unless Philadelphia plans to start taxing computers, at which time people start buying them mail order or out of the city, so then they have to institute a computer "usage tax" of $X per year...

  8. Why does everyone assume this is a big deal? on Caller ID Falsification Service · · Score: 1
    Caller ID was never meant to be secure; rather it has always been meant as a "convenience service" not a secure service like ANI information is.

    (ANI is much more secure, as that's how the phone companies generate billing data and how those with toll-free numbers know who is calling them. This is also how E-911 services work.)

    Anyone with a PBX and a trunk line can spoof CLID all day long and always has been able to; the idea being say, if you're a large company all your outgoing phone calls show as if they're coming from your main switchboard number rather than the individual extension the call is being placed from.

    This has been covered ad nauseum in comp.risks...

  9. Still nothing, AFAIK, to address isochronicity... on VoIP Questioned · · Score: 1

    AFAIK, there's also still nothing to address the issue of isochronicity with VOIP, or, if the network is slow, you will be saying "Hello? Hello?" into your phone when sound from the other end drops out, only to arrive later.

    People have a hard enough time dealing with the fact that their cordless phones don't work in a power outage; it's hardly FUD to point out that with VOIP their corded phones won't either unless their provider has installed UPSs throughout the network the provide the same backup capabilities that go along with POTS lines...

  10. Once again, this is not really a hack or exploit. on Clever Caller ID Tricks With VoIP · · Score: 4, Informative

    CID information was never designed nor intended to be in any way secure.

    PBXs have always had the ability to set outgoing CID information - so, for example, all outgoing calls would appear on the receiver's CID box as coming from a company's main switchboard rather than whatever extension they were actually originating from.

    It always frightens me to see press accounts of CID information being used as "proof" of something, say the violation of a restraining order or proof of harassment when it is absolutely trivial to spoof. Newer VOIP devices just make it easier to do without the need for a PBX and trunk line to do so.

    ANI information, the calling number information provided when you call an 800 number, is an entirely different matter. Since it is used for billing information, it IS secure, the only way to spoof it to be to call a provider who then turns around and reroutes your calls from their exchange. But whether you have CID blocking or not, the ANI number is ALWAYS passed because, frankly, they're paying for the call and they have a right to see who's calling them.

  11. Imagine what they'll charge... on SBC Planning 15-25Mbps DSL Networks · · Score: 1

    Given what the RBOCs charge now for DSL, you can expect this new, faster service to be priced at at least $450-$500/month...

  12. They're called pagers... on RF-Blocking Wallpaper · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Most doctors still even carry them.

    They vibrate and let the owner know they need to contact someone without annoying the other few hundred people around them...

  13. Somehow parents have managed for millennia... on RF-Blocking Wallpaper · · Score: 1

    I suspect your parents and even your parents' parents were able to go to movies on occasion without needing to be instantly reachable...

  14. Re:Heard about this on Rush Limbaugh yesterday... on School Internet Program Audit Shows Fraud and Waste · · Score: 1

    It's STILL a horrendous waste of money and could have been done much, much, MUCH less expensively with COTS components and in conjunction with a local ISP.

  15. Too bad digital projection looks horrid... on Brazil Takes Lead in All-Digital Cinema Projection · · Score: 1

    Too bad digital projection is nowhere near replacing film quality-wise. All digital projectors available today crush blacks horribly, resulting in the complete loss of shadow detail and other tangible features.

    Let's hope digital projection doesn't follow the same path as fixed pixel TVs have, taking the market as something "cool," ignoring the fact that it of course is of lesser quality than what it is replacing (LCD, DLP and plasma have yet to attain the picture quality of the best CRTs...)

  16. Re:Walmart = sleaze on Walmart to Push RFID · · Score: 1

    Thank you for bringing this up. When a Home Depot opened in my town there were many complaints about the downtown hardware store being "forced" out of business by the Home Depot.

    Oh, the downtown hardware store with NO PARKING? The downtown hardware store that was open 9-5, 9-3 on Saturday and closed Sunday and Monday? The downtown hardware store that charged 2x the price of anyone else for tools?

    A better question is how the heck anyone ever bought hardware there before, especially anyone with a normal job. Between 9-3 Saturdays?!?!

  17. I'd be much happier if they didn't "fix" things... on XFree86 10 Years Old · · Score: 1

    I love the XFree86 servers, but I'd be much happier if they didn't decide they had to "fix" things.

    A good example of this is the XFree86 Xaw widget library. They broke some functionality ("auto" scroll bars appearing when a text widget was smaller than the size needed) and changed other bits of it with the net result that an Xaw application that's been around forever not only doesn't work right when compiled with their libraries, it also dumps core.

    The same app, of course, works wonderfully when compiled with the official X11R6 version of Xaw from x.org.

    The funny thing is, XFree86.org still ships xmh with their distribution, despite the fact that it no longer works after their changes to their version of Xaw...

  18. Re:what's the point of this? on Linux on the iMac G4 · · Score: 1

    I agree.

    It's nice to know it could be done, but it's really of no practical use since the iMac runs MacOS X and Darwin...

  19. ALL DivX players play DVDs as well... on Limited-Use DVD Technology · · Score: 1

    DivX was seen as an "add on" to DVD, thus all exisiting DivX players play regular DVDs as well, so your uncle's player is, in fact, not useless.

    Circuit City never made/sold a "DivX ONLY" player...

  20. Studio Line from Loreal! on Product Placement in Video Games · · Score: 1

    Fixing Gel, Strong Hold, Behold!

    Love that album, love the ads...

  21. I'm a kernel hacker... on Breaking Into The World Of Kernel Hacking? · · Score: 1

    AND I listen to guys in Rome with pointy hats, religiously you might say. ;-)

  22. Alas, I don't think this will help... on Philips Says Compact Discs Can't be Copyprotected · · Score: 1

    So Philips demands that labels stop using the CD logo and can't call their discs "Compact Discs."

    Does anyone really CARE? Sheeple will go to the renamed "Music" section and buy those little silver discs that go in their player, even if they now are called, say, DMCs (Digital Music Carriers.)

    This is like what happened a few years ago - some company came up with a very cheap, very generic version of the VHS cassette used to send out promotional tapes. JVC said that the tape did not meet the standards required to be called a VHS tape and thus the company could not use the VHS logo.

    Did this matter? Nope - the tapes were the right size, and when you put them in a VHS deck and press play, you get sound and video out...

  23. This is BS - Broadband is slowed due to cost. on What's Holding Up Broadband in the U.S.? · · Score: 1

    The simple fact is, most people I know will not pay $50/month for broadband (which is what "base" DSL goes for around here.)

    In fact, most I know wouldn't pay much more than $20/month for it.

    It's not content providers, it's cost.

    Add the economy of late and you've got the double whammy. I've read any number of articles that have said when folks get laid off, the $50/month DSL is the first to go, and Qwest has said they are not going to be expanding the areas in which DSL is available due to (guess what?) the economy and their lies about not wanting to have to subsidize the last mile for other carriers.

    In short, until DSL or cable modem service is $20/month, broadband penetration in the U.S. is going to stay low, no matter what the pundits think...

  24. Perhaps RG6QS offers YOU nothing... on 3Com's 10/100 Switching... Wallplate · · Score: 1

    But it is definitely more immune to RF interference than non-QS. Try living near an old paging system transmitter sometime and see what they do to cable channel 8; it's not pretty without quad shield...

  25. Re:Dear Website Owner on Apple Cease-And-Desists Stupidity Leak · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I guess the fact that rm -rf /* does bad things as root means all Unices are stupid as well...