>>It allows the tension to build for an hour, because the human body really needs that much time for the adrenaline to kick in and power the "fight or flight" response. Uhh if it really took that long, I think there'd be alot of dead cavemen (our proud predecessors) and I don't think any of us would be here. Adrenalin takes about 5 seconds to hit your CNS and jack you up. I guess you've never been in a fight before.
Since when has Chris Cunningham become the screenwriter? Did you even visit neuromancer.org? Man... He's just on hand to capture the feel of the story, from a visual standpoint. Storyboarding involves selecting scenes that will convey pieces of the story to give you an overall feeling (from a visual standpoint) of the entire story. I just hope to god Gibson cares enough about an accurate portrayal of Case and his world to help select the actors, review the script, etc. Keanu wouldn't make a good Case. I think it'd be better for someone like Iggy Pop or someone equally fuxored to play. A true drug addict, strung out looking person would be perfect.
I'm pretty sure it takes the Sophistry chip to get off the desert island. I can't believe I remember that if it's right but I loved that game too. Played it first on my trusty C-64 (complete with digitized Devo intro music), then on a friend's Apple ][GS, then on Amiga. I really, really want some geniuses to remake this for Linux and other powerful pc's with 3d cards and the like. I even went so far as to install an Amiga emulator just to get to play this but alas, the emulation world is fraught with woes. And I forgot what to type at a CLI prompt.:(
This is just like pirating anything else. Nobody's making money off the piracy (well with the exception of a few lamerz and YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE), it's all about collecting baseball cards in the 90's. I've got this, I've got that, watch it once then burn it to a cd which will soon be dust-covered and forgotten. Lucasfilm isn't losing any quantifiable amount of cash from this because as someone said earlier, anyone who takes the trouble to download it has probably already paid the dough to see it in the theatre. And who in their right mind would pay to see it twice? At any rate, art shouldn't be so expensive. Not even bad art at that. Eventually, will people have their memories erased after seeing a movie? Because once you watch something, you remember it, which means you have an illegal offsite copy of something that's copyrighted! I can hear the thought police lawyers now...
Why is it that every time the government gleefully steals our rights it's done under the moniker of Anti-terrorism? I remember that following the Murrah building bombing here in OKC, the Pres was in a big rush to pass the newest anti-terrorist legislation. Couldn't have timed it better, because all the sheeple in this country were having their heart-strings tugged at by the media spin. Why didn't they feel the same sense of loss for the children of Waco? Were they not equally innocent? Because it didn't fit in with the government agenda, of course. Waco was okay, because those people were terrorists waiting to happen. Ruby Ridge was okay too. Just a little dust under the rug, media-wise. The point I'm trying to make is, think very carefully about things of this nature. It's your right to be a private, law abiding citizen. It's your right to not be snooped on every corner, every phonecall or every email. Terrorism is a bullshit excuse that our government needs to deal with in other ways. Ever stop to think why terrorists hate America? A good start would be effective foreign policy. And stronger networks, not riddled with weak NT web servers that skript kiddies feel the need to hack at. Just after reading the NYT story, I wrote an intelligent, coherent letter to my congressman in response to this. I hope you all do the same. Keep in mind that there's nothing an oppressive government values more than apathy and disinterest. If you don't care about losing your freedom, they don't care about taking it. ..expecting echelon to start watching me any minute now:)
Re:I can't run under RH 6.0, could run under RH5.2
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If I had a nickel for each time I've responded to this question on 3dfx.glide.linux..heheh. If you've downloaded and installed Darryl Strauss' libraries for the V2, then all you need to change is your q3config.cfg file. There's a line in it which says seta_indga bla bla=1. Change the one to a zero, save, and start it up again. Should work. Also double check to make sure your resolutions/color bit depths are defined for whatever you want to game at. If your X11 config doesn't have modelines for 1024 and that's what you're gaming at, you'll have a big problem.
Yeah, who needs a POS 486 box that's shielded? I'd much rather have a mid-tower or server box that's beefed up like this thing purports to be. Looks like someone got bored with their old-skool packard bell case and spray painted the ugly thing black. Sucks.
Yeah it's a bunch of dirty chicago bastards walking around with ugly sticks, swearing and giving beat downs. And the people look really weird the way they shimmer and twist, freaks me out to play that game. I think it's more hype than anything and I can't really see the deathmatch aspect being any fun either. If you like Quake2, Quake3 and Half Life, give it a shot, otherwise leave this one on the server.
Yes you should expect a more refined OS and interface to perform better, as long as Microsoft isn't making it. I prefer Irix and KDE to Windoze myself because they're easy to use and intuitive. And the MacOS made learning Photoshop (I used to be an imaging professional) simple and elegant. I never had to worry about filename extensions or what program could open what file. Everything was integrated and truly plug and play. At the risk of this whole thread turning into some redundant mac vs. pc thing, I think I'll stop here. I wonder what "Mr. Ethernet" would have to say about stability between some "has been" OS's like Unix and MacOS which are more mature compared to relatively new OS's like Windoze. That guy HAD to be joking. Either that or blindly spouting some 'newer is better' rhetoric.
"From the dawn of computers we have been trying to make interfaces more intuitive and easy for their operators to use." Precisely. Which is why Apple hooked up with Xerox to borrow pieces of their GUI originally. And why Microsoft went on to completely and blantantly rip off the MacOS GUI. Anything that's easier to use for the average moron (I'd say any american's iq hovers around 83) is better and will be more productive. Regardless of it's actual quality level.
"Not everybody needs to learn assembler...they should at least read the manuals though." I agree with this statement aswell. However, if software is truly easy to use and intuitive (which are the twin hallmarks of excellence in GUI design), then you shouldn't even have to touch a manual. There are many programs on Macintosh that you can pick up and start playing with, after throwing the manual aside. Some Windoze programs are the same, as are a rare few Linux programs. But this is totally off topic and I think should be reserved for another day...
Part of design is color, in this particular case it's also translucent color and not solid. That's one of the earmarks of iMac design. Also it's clear that it's a total ripoff, from the keyboard to the all-in-one case design. This goes much deeper than 'chevy and ford' colors. Let me put it another way. Say that you designed something revolutionary, and part of it's success was the fact that it took many separate parts and combined them into one easy to use package. Your product gets a reputation and a good deal of mindshare for it's advantages. Then Company Fong comes along and makes an exact replica. What will consumers think? Hey, this looks like the other product, it must be as easy to use as the original. Some people wouldn't even know there was a difference. So your company starts losing money because you're being undercut by a look alike with poorer quality. What would you do? Take them to court of course, because you spent megabucks researching, designing, and marketing your product and you're not about to let a cheap knockoff take your tiny share of the vast market. To sum it all up, there's much more at stake here than just another pretty case.
"..that kde isnt nearly attractive as the windows gui (let E mature)." Looks like I've found yet another person who's not sure what the word Theme means. Have you seen the Twilight Effect theme for kde? Or the Drawing Board? Or hundreds of others? Good god man, KDE is thousands of times better looking than Windows (even with the POS Plus pack). And much more functional (love that windowshade). Think before you make declarations, please.
Oh ye gods of slashdot, let me moderate this troll and give his post flamebait status.. The US has a halfway decent human rights reputation, especially considering the relative youth of this country. Some of our government agencies, such as the CIA or NSA, don't have such a sparkling history and don't reflect very well on our collective image in South American countries (Chomsky fans know what I'm talking about). However, you can't even fool yourself for a minute by believing that we don't have slave labor here. Ever done the math on how much you'd make a year at minimum wage? Minimum wage was originally started to provide a mean baseline, an economic level at which you could survive. However, the poverty level stands at around $13k-15k per year. Making minimum wage (5.35 is it?) will net you $10,272 before taxes. Take into consideration sales tax, income tax, social security, car tags (if you're that lucky when you're that poor), insurance, and other necessities and you'll be lucky to be left with $5k for the year. Tell me that's above the poverty level. Tell me that's not a wage slave. "Accept the fact that not every country in the world has the same value system that the US is founded on. This country is based on the universality of human rights." That sounds very eloquent and idealistic, but the fact is this country was founded on capitalism. Money is all that counts. Don't fool yourself into thinking otherwise. Nearly every military action the US performs has an underlying economic force. The Gulf War was a good example. Why should we give a shit what some people in the sand do? Oh yeah, they supply us with cheap and plentiful fuel. And they allow us to control the flow in exchange for exclusive protection. I believe around 80% of Japan's oil flows through the gulf, and what would happen if they decided to attack us again? I think it's very obvious. That last paragraph is such a heap of baloney, I don't know if I can counterpoint all of it. Suffice to say that the US economy has switched to a service-based industry standard. A complacent, consumerist society eager to spend money drives the need for services. Manufacturing isn't worth what it used to be in this country due to NAFTA and Chinese imports. NAFTA was a wonderful plan for many companies; hell, in the US they have environmental restrictions and labor laws. Think of how much more cash companies make building their goods in Mexico where there are virtually no standards. I'm sure it's quite significant. For my final thought, I'd have to say that except for cars and computers, I try to buy things made here. I don't mind paying extra because it's another american that's benefitting from my pseudo-patriotic purchase. And it's a silent protest against companies such as Nike that charge outrageous amounts of money for cheap shoes made with child slave labor. Fsck Nike and all companies using their 'business model'.
I remember the first time I picked up a Redhat distro from Compusa. There was Redhat Linux 5.2 (official) sitting next to Macmillan Publishing's Redhat 5.2. The first had a price tag of $50 and the second $30. I could see little or no difference in the software either box was offering; however, the redhat official box had a mousepad. Big fscking deal. So being the cheap bastard which I am, I bought the macmillan distro. I ended up installing it that night then passing it around to all my friends for them to try it. Someone offered to buy it, I insisted they just copy it and pass it on... In my mind, that's part of the concept of free software. Even though I paid money for it, I didn't care about recouping my costs, because I believe that each person who uses *nix rather than Windows is worth my thirty measly bucks. I'm glad Macmillan has done it again, this new distro is just the treat I've been waiting for, and I applaud them for using Mandrake. What could be better than a more-up-to-date distro of Redhat 6 than Redhat themselves offer, complete with Partition Magic and KDE for the default desktop? I don't want to go into the Gnome vs. KDE vs. Cardboard box wms, but I personally like KDE and find it very productive. Back to my cheap bastardness. When I casually stroll into Compusa and pick up my new distro, I'll get Deja-vu. There will be the super expensive Redhat 6 official box sitting next to the Macmillan box. Only this time the savings will be greater and the distro will be more valuable. And before anyone starts the asinine arguement of 'well you can just download it for free SNORD', let me just say this. I live in a painful world of 56k modems and no cd burners. So downloading something that big just isn't an option.
"I leave about 20 windows open on a given desktop sometimes..." Doesn't this defeat the purpose of having about 8 virtual desktops available to you? ..and I really, really want to try the SGI 3d interface, that looks tight.
I think this whole phenomenon is fed by the fools who will execute anything. "Oh what's this file? I have no idea what it is or what it's supposed to do but I'll try it." That's not good thinking. Consider this biological metaphor (since talking about virii takes you in that direction to begin with): Your computer represents your body. Applications are food. Would you try eating something that you haven't seen before with no guidance? Doubtful. What if you smell it (sniff it with a virus scanner) and it smells okay, but you're still unsure. Let's say your friend left it on your doorstep with a shady-looking note. I really doubt anyone with an ounce of sense would eat this mystery food. For some reason, when people get near computers, and don't have much experience with them, they do one of two things. They turn into the paranoid freak (oooh don't click on anything computers are dangerous) or the gluttonous downloader/tinkerer. I promise you the people who are afraid of computers didn't get this virus. Just the clueless individuals (millions of them right?) whose curiousity got the best of them. Things like this just reaffirm my notion that common sense isn't so common anymore.
Yeah, by what you've told everyone here you are a developer whore. The open source movement isn't all about students with alot of time and computing power on their hands. It's also about those of us who have 9-5 jobs that we get paid at, then come home and give a little back to the community FOR FREE. Darryl Strauss is a shining example of one such individual. I'm sure others can think of hundreds more that code to support themselves and to support the Linux community. I think your attitude is representative of alot of Americans now. The 'what's in it for me' and 'I'd better get paid for this' attitude. I'm sure in your earlier days you jumped on IRC to ask someone a quick question or to help solve a problem you were having. Did they bill your VISA? No. Why not? It's tech support after all, and that costs money these days. The US economy has shifted from a wartime post-industrial manufacturing base to a service-base, but that doesn't mean everyone needs to buy into it's mentality, 24 hours a day. Some things continue to be free, as long as the spirit is there. After all, most of us started out as nerdy hobbyists, typing in code from the back of a Commodore 64 owner's manual to watch a crappy balloon sprite float across the screen. Without getting any more nostalgic, I just wanted to remind you where you probably came from. It wasn't all about money then and it shouldn't be now. Computing...is fun. ..{end rant}..
>Ranum claims an underground figure known as >"ReDragon" was an ISS employee while > co-editing the popular hacker zine Phrack. Isn't there a frequent poster here named ReDragon? Hmmmm..but then again, that's about as original as calling yourself 31337 HaX0r. "running around jamming fingers in dykes" lol Schmack, that's not a common term in English, there's a lot of room for misunderstanding if taken out of context! Overall, the article was sorta informative. I liked the fact that they got the hacker/cracker distinction right for once, and the reference to script kiddies was cool. Although I have to agree, they're more annoying than dangerous. Crackers are a valuable resource to people who want to keep their networks secure. If I were a highly paid admin for a major corporation or military installment, I'd find the best crackers and pay them handsomely to find holes. What better way to find your security weaknesses than to pay someone to break in?
Well everyone knows what bunnies do all the time, that might have some gayness to it. I bet the fools who jumped into those suits demanded they have tinted face masks on. Who on god's green earth would want to be seen in one of these dorky suits? Intel really needs some help in the marketing department. Hell, for that matter, they need help in every department.
I'm starting to wonder if anyone actually read through the entire article. The cable networks will recoup what little cash they've spent on fiber upgrades through nominal fees they'll charge to ISP's borrowing their network. Maybe the Telecom Act of 19xx is coming to everyone's mind when they think about open networks. The Telecom Act forced Bell and other local telcos to open their networks to competitors for free. Did this fuel competition? You bet. Was it a bonus for us, the consumers (or end user as I prefer)? Absolutely, and the phone companies who owned the networks weren't hit too hard. You see, dinosaur monopolies like Bell South/East/Mountain/Whatever are fat slow companies who are loathe to upgrade anything. They have very little cost to recoup because they don't spend much. Once their network is in place, they rake in the cash. That was the reasoning behind the government forcing their lines open without charging a fee to those who used their network. Cable companies, on the other hand, actually DO spend a heap of money and ARE upgrading their infrastructure. They have to in order to provide 'the next generation of IP based services' or whatever the hell you want to call cable modem access and other digital services. They are able to charge fees to ISP's and others who share their network. I imagine there's a cap on this charge but nevertheless, their ability to recoup their costs is part of the bargain. After this is understood, you can see that opening their networks was a huge plus for you and I. One of @Home users' biggest complaints is lack of choice, and this will ensure that everyone gets a choice of ISP's. @Home pissing you off with packet loss and bad ping times? That's cool, switch providers. It's the same in the DSL world I believe. The cable company is still making their money and you are afforded greater choice. What better situation for us? It's a good time to own a computer.
A few months ago Macworld had an article on piracy. It didn't advocate it or have a condescending tone (like so many people here have had). I believe David Pogue was the author, and the article basically told the story of some random War3z kid. At the end of the article, he made a very good point. Most of the warez traded on the net are traded by teenage boys. They open private FTP and Hotline servers. They trade Flash4 before it's available for sale. So what. What do these kids do with them? Burn a CD. What happens to it after that? Not a damn thing in most cases. Pogue made the brilliant observation that for war3z kiddies, it's a hobby like baseball cards. You trade software worth hundreds of dollars and never even use the app. Bragging rights for dorks basically. For a company to say that they're losing money to these kids, which arguably make up 90% of the pirated software world, is utter bullshit and should be treated as such. Take this example: you happen to get the blueprints and the parts to build an Acura NSX. Everything sits in your garage boxed up and you never put it together. In fact, one day you throw it all out. Did Acura lose money on this little clandestine act? No. Did it hurt their company overall? No. If a thousand people did the exact same thing, they still wouldn't be losing money. The point is, to me, most applications are made to accomplish a specific task. 3dsMax renders animations. If you buy the program, use it in your 3d shop, and sell the animation you've accomplished a money-making task. If you pirate the software, install it, say 'goddamn this is crazy and complicated' and delete it, who cares. NOBODY LOSES MONEY. Of course, there are exceptions, like the Glamour Shots lab in Oklahoma City where I used to work. Pirated software all over the place, man oh man if they ever get audited.. That's the cases in which piracy really is wrong.
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I think this is a step in the right direction. He's been maintaining Wine for so long now and it's paying off. Hats off to Open Source.
It's silly, it's ludicrous, and Pepsi's marketing department is full of idiots. At least, that's one way of looking at it.
The other way of looking at it is this. Pepsi advertised a jet, however unrealistically, to whomever comes up with a certain number of Pepsi Points. The short sighted moron who came up with this aspect of the contest was at fault. Since he was working for Pepsi (under contract or whatever the hell), Pepsi then becomes responsible. Breach of contract. False advertising. And a slew of other things I'll never have to fight in court.
This is going to sound hick-ish, but bear with me. When I was young my dad warned me about not being able to bite off more than you could chew. Don't pick fights with bullies much larger than yourself. And don't make promises you can't or don't intend on keeping. These are all good lessons, common sense tidbits of knowledge, but I guess an army of Super Lawyers© change all that. Bottom line, Pepsi made a promise with their ad campaign, and they owe this nimrod SOMETHING.
>>It allows the tension to build for an hour, because the human body really needs that much time for the adrenaline to kick in and power the "fight or flight" response.
Uhh if it really took that long, I think there'd be alot of dead cavemen (our proud predecessors) and I don't think any of us would be here. Adrenalin takes about 5 seconds to hit your CNS and jack you up. I guess you've never been in a fight before.
Since when has Chris Cunningham become the screenwriter? Did you even visit neuromancer.org? Man... He's just on hand to capture the feel of the story, from a visual standpoint. Storyboarding involves selecting scenes that will convey pieces of the story to give you an overall feeling (from a visual standpoint) of the entire story. I just hope to god Gibson cares enough about an accurate portrayal of Case and his world to help select the actors, review the script, etc. Keanu wouldn't make a good Case. I think it'd be better for someone like Iggy Pop or someone equally fuxored to play. A true drug addict, strung out looking person would be perfect.
I'm pretty sure it takes the Sophistry chip to get off the desert island. I can't believe I remember that if it's right but I loved that game too. Played it first on my trusty C-64 (complete with digitized Devo intro music), then on a friend's Apple ][GS, then on Amiga. I really, really want some geniuses to remake this for Linux and other powerful pc's with 3d cards and the like. I even went so far as to install an Amiga emulator just to get to play this but alas, the emulation world is fraught with woes. And I forgot what to type at a CLI prompt. :(
This is just like pirating anything else. Nobody's making money off the piracy (well with the exception of a few lamerz and YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE), it's all about collecting baseball cards in the 90's. I've got this, I've got that, watch it once then burn it to a cd which will soon be dust-covered and forgotten. Lucasfilm isn't losing any quantifiable amount of cash from this because as someone said earlier, anyone who takes the trouble to download it has probably already paid the dough to see it in the theatre. And who in their right mind would pay to see it twice?
At any rate, art shouldn't be so expensive. Not even bad art at that. Eventually, will people have their memories erased after seeing a movie? Because once you watch something, you remember it, which means you have an illegal offsite copy of something that's copyrighted! I can hear the thought police lawyers now...
Why is it that every time the government gleefully steals our rights it's done under the moniker of Anti-terrorism? I remember that following the Murrah building bombing here in OKC, the Pres was in a big rush to pass the newest anti-terrorist legislation. Couldn't have timed it better, because all the sheeple in this country were having their heart-strings tugged at by the media spin. Why didn't they feel the same sense of loss for the children of Waco? Were they not equally innocent? Because it didn't fit in with the government agenda, of course. Waco was okay, because those people were terrorists waiting to happen. Ruby Ridge was okay too. Just a little dust under the rug, media-wise.
..expecting echelon to start watching me any minute now :)
The point I'm trying to make is, think very carefully about things of this nature. It's your right to be a private, law abiding citizen. It's your right to not be snooped on every corner, every phonecall or every email. Terrorism is a bullshit excuse that our government needs to deal with in other ways. Ever stop to think why terrorists hate America?
A good start would be effective foreign policy. And stronger networks, not riddled with weak NT web servers that skript kiddies feel the need to hack at.
Just after reading the NYT story, I wrote an intelligent, coherent letter to my congressman in response to this. I hope you all do the same. Keep in mind that there's nothing an oppressive government values more than apathy and disinterest. If you don't care about losing your freedom, they don't care about taking it.
If I had a nickel for each time I've responded to this question on 3dfx.glide.linux..heheh. If you've downloaded and installed Darryl Strauss' libraries for the V2, then all you need to change is your q3config.cfg file. There's a line in it which says seta_indga bla bla=1. Change the one to a zero, save, and start it up again. Should work. Also double check to make sure your resolutions/color bit depths are defined for whatever you want to game at. If your X11 config doesn't have modelines for 1024 and that's what you're gaming at, you'll have a big problem.
Yeah, who needs a POS 486 box that's shielded? I'd much rather have a mid-tower or server box that's beefed up like this thing purports to be. Looks like someone got bored with their old-skool packard bell case and spray painted the ugly thing black. Sucks.
Yeah it's a bunch of dirty chicago bastards walking around with ugly sticks, swearing and giving beat downs. And the people look really weird the way they shimmer and twist, freaks me out to play that game. I think it's more hype than anything and I can't really see the deathmatch aspect being any fun either. If you like Quake2, Quake3 and Half Life, give it a shot, otherwise leave this one on the server.
Um, what commands do you start Half Life with? I tried # wine -nodga -console hl.exe but it freezes my SVGA server every time. Damn Banshee.
Yes you should expect a more refined OS and interface to perform better, as long as Microsoft isn't making it. I prefer Irix and KDE to Windoze myself because they're easy to use and intuitive. And the MacOS made learning Photoshop (I used to be an imaging professional) simple and elegant. I never had to worry about filename extensions or what program could open what file. Everything was integrated and truly plug and play. At the risk of this whole thread turning into some redundant mac vs. pc thing, I think I'll stop here.
I wonder what "Mr. Ethernet" would have to say about stability between some "has been" OS's like Unix and MacOS which are more mature compared to relatively new OS's like Windoze. That guy HAD to be joking. Either that or blindly spouting some 'newer is better' rhetoric.
"From the dawn of computers we have been trying to make interfaces more intuitive and easy for their operators to use." Precisely. Which is why Apple hooked up with Xerox to borrow pieces of their GUI originally. And why Microsoft went on to completely and blantantly rip off the MacOS GUI. Anything that's easier to use for the average moron (I'd say any american's iq hovers around 83) is better and will be more productive. Regardless of it's actual quality level.
"Not everybody needs to learn assembler...they should at least read the manuals though."
I agree with this statement aswell. However, if software is truly easy to use and intuitive (which are the twin hallmarks of excellence in GUI design), then you shouldn't even have to touch a manual. There are many programs on Macintosh that you can pick up and start playing with, after throwing the manual aside. Some Windoze programs are the same, as are a rare few Linux programs. But this is totally off topic and I think should be reserved for another day...
Part of design is color, in this particular case it's also translucent color and not solid. That's one of the earmarks of iMac design. Also it's clear that it's a total ripoff, from the keyboard to the all-in-one case design. This goes much deeper than 'chevy and ford' colors.
Let me put it another way. Say that you designed something revolutionary, and part of it's success was the fact that it took many separate parts and combined them into one easy to use package. Your product gets a reputation and a good deal of mindshare for it's advantages. Then Company Fong comes along and makes an exact replica. What will consumers think? Hey, this looks like the other product, it must be as easy to use as the original. Some people wouldn't even know there was a difference. So your company starts losing money because you're being undercut by a look alike with poorer quality. What would you do? Take them to court of course, because you spent megabucks researching, designing, and marketing your product and you're not about to let a cheap knockoff take your tiny share of the vast market.
To sum it all up, there's much more at stake here than just another pretty case.
"..that kde isnt nearly attractive as the windows gui (let E mature)." Looks like I've found yet another person who's not sure what the word Theme means. Have you seen the Twilight Effect theme for kde? Or the Drawing Board? Or hundreds of others? Good god man, KDE is thousands of times better looking than Windows (even with the POS Plus pack). And much more functional (love that windowshade). Think before you make declarations, please.
Oh ye gods of slashdot, let me moderate this troll and give his post flamebait status.. The US has a halfway decent human rights reputation, especially considering the relative youth of this country. Some of our government agencies, such as the CIA or NSA, don't have such a sparkling history and don't reflect very well on our collective image in South American countries (Chomsky fans know what I'm talking about). However, you can't even fool yourself for a minute by believing that we don't have slave labor here. Ever done the math on how much you'd make a year at minimum wage? Minimum wage was originally started to provide a mean baseline, an economic level at which you could survive. However, the poverty level stands at around $13k-15k per year. Making minimum wage (5.35 is it?) will net you $10,272 before taxes. Take into consideration sales tax, income tax, social security, car tags (if you're that lucky when you're that poor), insurance, and other necessities and you'll be lucky to be left with $5k for the year. Tell me that's above the poverty level. Tell me that's not a wage slave.
"Accept the fact that not every country in the world has the same value system that the US is founded on. This country is based on the universality of human rights."
That sounds very eloquent and idealistic, but the fact is this country was founded on capitalism. Money is all that counts. Don't fool yourself into thinking otherwise. Nearly every military action the US performs has an underlying economic force. The Gulf War was a good example. Why should we give a shit what some people in the sand do? Oh yeah, they supply us with cheap and plentiful fuel. And they allow us to control the flow in exchange for exclusive protection. I believe around 80% of Japan's oil flows through the gulf, and what would happen if they decided to attack us again? I think it's very obvious.
That last paragraph is such a heap of baloney, I don't know if I can counterpoint all of it. Suffice to say that the US economy has switched to a service-based industry standard. A complacent, consumerist society eager to spend money drives the need for services. Manufacturing isn't worth what it used to be in this country due to NAFTA and Chinese imports. NAFTA was a wonderful plan for many companies; hell, in the US they have environmental restrictions and labor laws. Think of how much more cash companies make building their goods in Mexico where there are virtually no standards. I'm sure it's quite significant.
For my final thought, I'd have to say that except for cars and computers, I try to buy things made here. I don't mind paying extra because it's another american that's benefitting from my pseudo-patriotic purchase. And it's a silent protest against companies such as Nike that charge outrageous amounts of money for cheap shoes made with child slave labor. Fsck Nike and all companies using their 'business model'.
Remember, AMD took the lead with around 51-52% of all new CPU sales for the first quarter of this year. Search for it, I'm sure I read it here.
I remember the first time I picked up a Redhat distro from Compusa. There was Redhat Linux 5.2 (official) sitting next to Macmillan Publishing's Redhat 5.2. The first had a price tag of $50 and the second $30. I could see little or no difference in the software either box was offering; however, the redhat official box had a mousepad. Big fscking deal. So being the cheap bastard which I am, I bought the macmillan distro. I ended up installing it that night then passing it around to all my friends for them to try it. Someone offered to buy it, I insisted they just copy it and pass it on... In my mind, that's part of the concept of free software. Even though I paid money for it, I didn't care about recouping my costs, because I believe that each person who uses *nix rather than Windows is worth my thirty measly bucks.
I'm glad Macmillan has done it again, this new distro is just the treat I've been waiting for, and I applaud them for using Mandrake. What could be better than a more-up-to-date distro of Redhat 6 than Redhat themselves offer, complete with Partition Magic and KDE for the default desktop? I don't want to go into the Gnome vs. KDE vs. Cardboard box wms, but I personally like KDE and find it very productive.
Back to my cheap bastardness. When I casually stroll into Compusa and pick up my new distro, I'll get Deja-vu. There will be the super expensive Redhat 6 official box sitting next to the Macmillan box. Only this time the savings will be greater and the distro will be more valuable.
And before anyone starts the asinine arguement of 'well you can just download it for free SNORD', let me just say this. I live in a painful world of 56k modems and no cd burners. So downloading something that big just isn't an option.
"I leave about 20 windows open on a given desktop sometimes..."
..and I really, really want to try the SGI 3d interface, that looks tight.
Doesn't this defeat the purpose of having about 8 virtual desktops available to you?
I think this whole phenomenon is fed by the fools who will execute anything. "Oh what's this file? I have no idea what it is or what it's supposed to do but I'll try it." That's not good thinking. Consider this biological metaphor (since talking about virii takes you in that direction to begin with): Your computer represents your body. Applications are food. Would you try eating something that you haven't seen before with no guidance? Doubtful. What if you smell it (sniff it with a virus scanner) and it smells okay, but you're still unsure. Let's say your friend left it on your doorstep with a shady-looking note. I really doubt anyone with an ounce of sense would eat this mystery food.
For some reason, when people get near computers, and don't have much experience with them, they do one of two things. They turn into the paranoid freak (oooh don't click on anything computers are dangerous) or the gluttonous downloader/tinkerer. I promise you the people who are afraid of computers didn't get this virus. Just the clueless individuals (millions of them right?) whose curiousity got the best of them.
Things like this just reaffirm my notion that common sense isn't so common anymore.
Yeah, by what you've told everyone here you are a developer whore. The open source movement isn't all about students with alot of time and computing power on their hands. It's also about those of us who have 9-5 jobs that we get paid at, then come home and give a little back to the community FOR FREE. Darryl Strauss is a shining example of one such individual. I'm sure others can think of hundreds more that code to support themselves and to support the Linux community.
..{end rant}..
I think your attitude is representative of alot of Americans now. The 'what's in it for me' and 'I'd better get paid for this' attitude. I'm sure in your earlier days you jumped on IRC to ask someone a quick question or to help solve a problem you were having. Did they bill your VISA? No. Why not? It's tech support after all, and that costs money these days. The US economy has shifted from a wartime post-industrial manufacturing base to a service-base, but that doesn't mean everyone needs to buy into it's mentality, 24 hours a day. Some things continue to be free, as long as the spirit is there.
After all, most of us started out as nerdy hobbyists, typing in code from the back of a Commodore 64 owner's manual to watch a crappy balloon sprite float across the screen. Without getting any more nostalgic, I just wanted to remind you where you probably came from. It wasn't all about money then and it shouldn't be now. Computing...is fun.
>Ranum claims an underground figure known as >"ReDragon" was an ISS employee while > co-editing the popular hacker zine Phrack.
Isn't there a frequent poster here named ReDragon? Hmmmm..but then again, that's about as original as calling yourself 31337 HaX0r.
"running around jamming fingers in dykes"
lol Schmack, that's not a common term in English, there's a lot of room for misunderstanding if taken out of context!
Overall, the article was sorta informative. I liked the fact that they got the hacker/cracker distinction right for once, and the reference to script kiddies was cool. Although I have to agree, they're more annoying than dangerous. Crackers are a valuable resource to people who want to keep their networks secure. If I were a highly paid admin for a major corporation or military installment, I'd find the best crackers and pay them handsomely to find holes. What better way to find your security weaknesses than to pay someone to break in?
Well everyone knows what bunnies do all the time, that might have some gayness to it.
I bet the fools who jumped into those suits demanded they have tinted face masks on. Who on god's green earth would want to be seen in one of these dorky suits? Intel really needs some help in the marketing department. Hell, for that matter, they need help in every department.
I'm starting to wonder if anyone actually read through the entire article. The cable networks will recoup what little cash they've spent on fiber upgrades through nominal fees they'll charge to ISP's borrowing their network.
Maybe the Telecom Act of 19xx is coming to everyone's mind when they think about open networks. The Telecom Act forced Bell and other local telcos to open their networks to competitors for free. Did this fuel competition? You bet. Was it a bonus for us, the consumers (or end user as I prefer)? Absolutely, and the phone companies who owned the networks weren't hit too hard. You see, dinosaur monopolies like Bell South/East/Mountain/Whatever are fat slow companies who are loathe to upgrade anything. They have very little cost to recoup because they don't spend much. Once their network is in place, they rake in the cash. That was the reasoning behind the government forcing their lines open without charging a fee to those who used their network.
Cable companies, on the other hand, actually DO spend a heap of money and ARE upgrading their infrastructure. They have to in order to provide 'the next generation of IP based services' or whatever the hell you want to call cable modem access and other digital services. They are able to charge fees to ISP's and others who share their network. I imagine there's a cap on this charge but nevertheless, their ability to recoup their costs is part of the bargain.
After this is understood, you can see that opening their networks was a huge plus for you and I. One of @Home users' biggest complaints is lack of choice, and this will ensure that everyone gets a choice of ISP's. @Home pissing you off with packet loss and bad ping times? That's cool, switch providers. It's the same in the DSL world I believe. The cable company is still making their money and you are afforded greater choice. What better situation for us? It's a good time to own a computer.
A few months ago Macworld had an article on piracy. It didn't advocate it or have a condescending tone (like so many people here have had). I believe David Pogue was the author, and the article basically told the story of some random War3z kid.
At the end of the article, he made a very good point. Most of the warez traded on the net are traded by teenage boys. They open private FTP and Hotline servers. They trade Flash4 before it's available for sale. So what. What do these kids do with them? Burn a CD. What happens to it after that? Not a damn thing in most cases. Pogue made the brilliant observation that for war3z kiddies, it's a hobby like baseball cards. You trade software worth hundreds of dollars and never even use the app. Bragging rights for dorks basically.
For a company to say that they're losing money to these kids, which arguably make up 90% of the pirated software world, is utter bullshit and should be treated as such. Take this example: you happen to get the blueprints and the parts to build an Acura NSX. Everything sits in your garage boxed up and you never put it together. In fact, one day you throw it all out. Did Acura lose money on this little clandestine act? No. Did it hurt their company overall? No. If a thousand people did the exact same thing, they still wouldn't be losing money.
The point is, to me, most applications are made to accomplish a specific task. 3dsMax renders animations. If you buy the program, use it in your 3d shop, and sell the animation you've accomplished a money-making task. If you pirate the software, install it, say 'goddamn this is crazy and complicated' and delete it, who cares. NOBODY LOSES MONEY.
Of course, there are exceptions, like the Glamour Shots lab in Oklahoma City where I used to work. Pirated software all over the place, man oh man if they ever get audited.. That's the cases in which piracy really is wrong.