You don't need to talk at all. Most servers run on automatic; you trade by sending files and get a ratio back on the bytes of complete programs received. In other words, if you want something you have to give something, which puts you both in a position of liability - a form of protection.
Well, this definitely needs to be boosted into the airy ranks of '2' comments. Banned for posting code that blocks slashdot ads! Geez, given the editorial fairness we've seen up to this point who would've thought?
A.S.'s, original comment, moved up the firing line to keep it from languishing in the ranks of '0' comments. Yes, I know, redundant, but this is also a test to see if I can still post later on today:
Unfortunately, "Starship Trooper" has been banned from posting after this incident, so I was forced to used "Astral Traveller" (the similarities should be obvious) in order to reply to jamie (after which A.T. was banned from posting too). So, yes, I was fully aware that I was using multiple accounts while referring to myself. And let this be a lesson -- don't post anything that threatens VA Software's new business model!
-S.Trooper/A.Traveller
Perl is as good as the programmer, just like C, C++, Python, Java, whatever. I've programmed in Perl for years and have no problem with getting it to do what I want, with a minimum of hassle. The same for C and Python. I'm sure any competent Java programmer can claim the same for Java.
Yeah, I can get porn without the possibility of someone tracking my kinky habits.
I can put up web sites criticizing certain companies and government bodies without fear of being SLAPP'd.
And in my current job if some of my personal habits or views were know I'd most likely be fired. Freenet is good for protecting my status as 'employed'.
Microsoft didn't commit perjury. Microsoft, Inc., isn't a person and can't think, speak, or act. It's nothing more than a legal abstraction for an actual body of workers and equipment bound together in a commercial endeavor.
No, Microsoft didn't commit perjury. But folks who work for Microsoft did. Now, if *I* were to commit perjury in a court of law *I'd* go to jail. Why, then, are you protected from punishment when you commit felonies while working for a corporation?
If, however, your browser checked out *all* of the roots and then presented you with the results when more than one identical name came up (e.g., "there are three identically named web sites, the first for root x, etc."), you could then link to the site and change the name in your bookmarks to reflect which was which according to your own method of organization.
In the case of a conflict this would provide an extra step to finding out which of the sites you wanted (unless, of course, you got the name from a search engine or a friend, which is what I would guess most people do), but it really wouldn't be a "disaster". In fact, it might add another minute or two to your browsing, assuming that a) there was a conflict, and b) you didn't get the URL from a search engine, friend, or another site that correctly identified the root.
(IAAP)I am a psychologist and unlike the armchair pundits can state with certainty that there are, indeed, antisocial disorders that a child is born with. In nearly all of these cases parental influence and drugs can help modify the behavior; but in the case of sociopathy it's clearly genetic and there is no known successful treatment for the condition. In the terms of the layman, the sociopath *simply doesn't give a shit and never will*.
It's a cherished notion of our society that everything is treatable. I agree, everything probably is treatable - but it isn't treatable *today*. Sociopathy is one of those things.
The thing is, I doubt the kids were sociopaths. Real sociopathy is rather rare - having two sociopaths run into each other at the same elementary school beggars the imagination (although it has happened before, at an older age). But it is possible and can't be ruled out until the children have been thoroughly examined. Which I assume took place some time ago.
Well, no shit. After playing DOOM 50 or 60 times during the last ten years I have to admit that every time I run into an asshole I have an almost overwhelming urge to whip out a chainsaw and let the son of a bitch have it. Of course, the same urge hits me every time I run into a zombie, too.
Yes, lets. Of course, a great many people *do* run open ftp servers, they just don't advertise the fact to keep the hordes at bay.
If you know where to go, however, your days of desperately scanning the file sharing networks for decent porn are over! Which, of course, is why they don't advertise to the hordes of point-'n-click college boys....
By "grown past" I assume you mean do they have servers that'll allow you to rip off whatever you want without returning anything whatsoever to the group, as programs like Bearshare, KaZaa, and Morpheus do? Depends on where you go; in some places yes, and in others the loser slacker types aren't welcome.
Amen, brother. The worst part about the whole affair - other than the fact that we became a banana republic in the 2000 election, with the guy who *lost* seizing the presidency for his own - is that most of my fellow Americans don't give a fuck. They either think everything is a-ok, "who needs a Bill of Rights", or they bitch a bit, moan a bit, and then go home and spend their time watching an episode of Seinfeld they've already seen 8 times.
I talk of activism and people either call me a "traitor!" or look at me funny, as in, "why the hell would you want to draw the government's attention to you?". Um, perhaps because it pays less and less attention to the Constitution with each passing year? Maybe because my 'choices' at the polls consist of 'six of this or a half-dozen of the other', since the laws are explicitly written to make the formation of a viable third party nearly impossible? Excuse me, but where's my "they all suck - none of the above" option?
Do these people even give a shit what kind of country their kids are going to grow up in? Apparently not; 'el presidente' is neck-deep in the Enron scandal and nobody cares.
My wife urges me to consider moving to Canada. She doesn't want our kids growing up in a country that only gives lip-service to freedom. And she, like me, wonders if there will even be an election come 2004, if it looks like Bush will lose. Perhaps a convenient crisis will come along, 'forcing' the administration to suspend elections until 'everything is back to normal'? Will anyone even care? Maybe the majority will decide that a democracy is just as unnecessary as a Bill of Rights.
Oooookay, enough ranting. Maybe I should pack the U-Haul now before the NSA decides that my outspoken ways constitute a security risk and arrange for the Los Angeles PD to kick in my door, guns blazing, after receiving an 'anonymous tip' that I'm actually a meth dealer....
The U.S. won't be a superpower for long if it passes laws like the SSSCA. Other countries, unfettered by this tripe, will speed right into the 21st century while we continue to try to pull everyone back into the 20th. It's a sure-fire recipe for becoming the 'superpower that was', the 2nd-rate backwater that used to be great but now is largely ignored by anyone who wants to live in the present and look to the future.
So let them take it away. Proof positive that they hold the monopoly position they've been convicted of building through illegal means. After that there'll be no doubt in anyone's mind (except for the BillyG-fanboys, of course) that they're guilty as sin.
Not that any of this matters. Kotar-Kelly is well aware of what happened to the previous two judges on the MS case and isn't about to sacrifice her career to fight a rigged game. MS will get a slap on the wrist and continue on its merry way, fucking over anyone who dares to defy it. And the Bush administration, along with the corporate whores in Congress, will provide MS with whatever aid it needs to retain its monopoly and avoid any punishment for its actions.
It'd be nice to try actual capitalism for once. You know, that idea of free, unimpeded markets where the laws applied equally to all players. Just my personal crack-pipe dream.
But hey! If the SSSCA passes it's all moot anyway. MS will be the only player in town in the U.S. Forever.
The Internet Browser shouldn't be a product bought and sold in the marketplace. It's a very basic product at its heart, and should be included with PCs to begin with.
Your personal opinion on the subject being more important than the findings of the court. Of course.
We have no idea if MS is a "natural" monopoly, as you put it. MS engaged in illegal behavior to destroy all possible competition - this is a fact of evidence. Without competition MS took a monopoly position. Not a "natural" monopoly position but one based upon mafia-style tactics.
It could be that MS would *still* occupy this position even if it had played fair the entire time. But we don't know that, since it has never played fair. It's been anything but fair. This was an indisputable conclusion of the trial which led to its conviction.
There's simply no way to know what the outcome would've been had MS acted differently.
Although I am a "white-boy", I was hardly privileged growing up.
Being white is in and of itself a privilege. I realize is this generally a hard thing for white folks to grasp, but it happens to be very real. Just as being male - that fact alone - delivers considerable privilege that isn't enjoyed when one is female, regardless of race.
No serious social scientist would argue the point. If you're white, you have opportunities that aren't available if you aren't white. If you're male, you have opportunities that aren't available if you're female. This is how our system works. If you want but one real-life example, take a look at how many CEOs are white and how many are black, how many are male and how many are female. Then tell me again that all those white boys got there through hard work and determination - or that blacks and women don't hold as many positions simply because they "don't have what it takes".
So what? "Millions" is only 1-2%.
I guess so long as you aren't one of those millions everything is okay, eh? Here you tacitly accept that some people will never make it no matter how hard they try or how smart they are, but since they represent only "1-2%" of the population it doesn't matter.
Of course random chance has something to do with your level of success, but it ONLY determines the time line.
This sort of thinking boils down to that stupid line "you get what you deserve". People often don't get anything like what they deserve. The world isn't fair. Think on it for a second - there is no fate, no karma, no higher power dishing out economic, political, or social rewards dependent upon your effort or beliefs. The world doesn't have an 'order' which rewards everyone, if only they work hard enough long enough. People rarely get what they deserve, and timeline has nothing to do with it.
If you think luck is the sole determiner or even the major determiner of success
Yep, I do believe that luck - along with privilege - is a major determinant of success. The people who insist otherwise are the ones who've already "got theirs" and think that they deserve it in some sort of vague karmic fashion because they, obviously, are smart and hard-working. Everyone who hasn't made it, by definition, isn't smart and hard-working.
Well, except for those millions whom you admitted earlier on won't ever make it, but since they amount to only "1-2%"....
But in no case do I blame anyone but myself, even in the cases where I was clearly screwed by another party. Because I chose to let myself be screwed
In other words, if something bad happens to someone they "chose" to let themselves be screwed. Are you honestly going to back this as a position? Because I can rip you a new asshole in record time if you decide to support this kind of stupidity with example after example of people who got the short end when they clearly didn't deserve it.
The "American Dream" is a myth, a lie. Not everyone can make it - any economist can tell you that. The system inherently requires that a certain percentage of folks always be losers, that the exploitable exist to support capitalism. That's a basic precept of economic theory. I didn't say this was a 'bad' thing in a moral sense, only that people who claim that 'anyone can make' it were painfully naive. It's one thing to support capitalism as the best system that we know of and quite another to spout a recycled version of personal Manifest Destiny, an idea laughed out of serious scientific circles more than a century ago.
Ah, yes, so no matter what the circumstances all you have to do is work the system, and work hard, and you too can be successful! Luck has nothing to do with it.
Uh huh. Typical privileged white-boy tripe.
Hate to break it to ya, pal, but there are millions of Americans who will work their asses off this year, harder than you will, smarter than you will, certainly more deserving than you - and because of luck they simply *will not* succeed.
If you honestly think that luck has nothing to do with it then you're a first-class fool.
There has never been a modern country with anything like true capitalism. All capitalist countries are ruled by governments which work to *interfere* with market forces, generally in favor of monopolies or oligopolies. It's axiomatic that large corporations can buy government protection, and that protection is inherently anti-capitalist.
While the criticisms of the socialists are somewhat off-base (because there aren't any truly capitalistic countries in the First World), anyone who argues that 'capitalism works' is talking out of his ass. There's no example of true capitalism to point to; all such examples, *every single one*, have had heavy government interference in the market. *We don't know* if real capitalism works because we've never tried it - just as we don't know if real socialism works, because *there's never been a truly socialistic country*. The labels 'socialism' and 'capitalism' don't describe anything close to the actual economic models in use world-wide.
Yes, and this is the primary reason my wife and download songs for preview, but buy the cds if we like what we hear. The stuff you get off of the Gnutella network or elsewhere is often low-quality mp3s at 128 bps. We rip our music so we can mix 'n match, but do so at 320 bps - a clear difference on good speakers. The only way to get this kind of quality is to buy the cd and do the ripping ourselves.
If the music industry were to offer the ability to download high-quality singles at, say, $0.50/track we'd jump at the opportunity. There are a lot of 'one-hit wonders' that we'd like to get, but we aren't about to pay $15 for a cd for just one song. In the end they'd get *alot more money from us than they already do*.
Slashdot Mirror
Communications students!? So what are they doing - learning how to use flash to cover their inability to effectively master the language?
Max
You don't need to talk at all. Most servers run on automatic; you trade by sending files and get a ratio back on the bytes of complete programs received. In other words, if you want something you have to give something, which puts you both in a position of liability - a form of protection.
Max
Well, this definitely needs to be boosted into the airy ranks of '2' comments. Banned for posting code that blocks slashdot ads! Geez, given the editorial fairness we've seen up to this point who would've thought?
A.S.'s, original comment, moved up the firing line to keep it from languishing in the ranks of '0' comments. Yes, I know, redundant, but this is also a test to see if I can still post later on today:
Unfortunately, "Starship Trooper" has been banned from posting after this incident, so I was forced to used "Astral Traveller" (the similarities should be obvious) in order to reply to jamie (after which A.T. was banned from posting too). So, yes, I was fully aware that I was using multiple accounts while referring to myself. And let this be a lesson -- don't post anything that threatens VA Software's new business model! -S.Trooper/A.Traveller
Max
Perl is as good as the programmer, just like C, C++, Python, Java, whatever. I've programmed in Perl for years and have no problem with getting it to do what I want, with a minimum of hassle. The same for C and Python. I'm sure any competent Java programmer can claim the same for Java.
Max
Yeah, I can get porn without the possibility of someone tracking my kinky habits.
I can put up web sites criticizing certain companies and government bodies without fear of being SLAPP'd.
And in my current job if some of my personal habits or views were know I'd most likely be fired. Freenet is good for protecting my status as 'employed'.
Max
Microsoft didn't commit perjury. Microsoft, Inc., isn't a person and can't think, speak, or act. It's nothing more than a legal abstraction for an actual body of workers and equipment bound together in a commercial endeavor.
No, Microsoft didn't commit perjury. But folks who work for Microsoft did. Now, if *I* were to commit perjury in a court of law *I'd* go to jail. Why, then, are you protected from punishment when you commit felonies while working for a corporation?
Max
If, however, your browser checked out *all* of the roots and then presented you with the results when more than one identical name came up (e.g., "there are three identically named web sites, the first for root x, etc."), you could then link to the site and change the name in your bookmarks to reflect which was which according to your own method of organization.
In the case of a conflict this would provide an extra step to finding out which of the sites you wanted (unless, of course, you got the name from a search engine or a friend, which is what I would guess most people do), but it really wouldn't be a "disaster". In fact, it might add another minute or two to your browsing, assuming that a) there was a conflict, and b) you didn't get the URL from a search engine, friend, or another site that correctly identified the root.
I'd prefer this system to what we have now.
Max
(IAAP)I am a psychologist and unlike the armchair pundits can state with certainty that there are, indeed, antisocial disorders that a child is born with. In nearly all of these cases parental influence and drugs can help modify the behavior; but in the case of sociopathy it's clearly genetic and there is no known successful treatment for the condition. In the terms of the layman, the sociopath *simply doesn't give a shit and never will*.
It's a cherished notion of our society that everything is treatable. I agree, everything probably is treatable - but it isn't treatable *today*. Sociopathy is one of those things.
The thing is, I doubt the kids were sociopaths. Real sociopathy is rather rare - having two sociopaths run into each other at the same elementary school beggars the imagination (although it has happened before, at an older age). But it is possible and can't be ruled out until the children have been thoroughly examined. Which I assume took place some time ago.
Max
Well, no shit. After playing DOOM 50 or 60 times during the last ten years I have to admit that every time I run into an asshole I have an almost overwhelming urge to whip out a chainsaw and let the son of a bitch have it. Of course, the same urge hits me every time I run into a zombie, too.
Max
I felt the same way after getting a ticket. Ban tickets and I bet I won't feel the urge to run down traffic cops any more....
Max
A single empirical study published in an accredited, peer-reviewed scientific journal would do much to support your position. Just one paper.
Keep in mind the words "empirical", "accredited", and "peer-reviewed" when publishing a link to such a paper.
Max
Yes, lets. Of course, a great many people *do* run open ftp servers, they just don't advertise the fact to keep the hordes at bay.
If you know where to go, however, your days of desperately scanning the file sharing networks for decent porn are over! Which, of course, is why they don't advertise to the hordes of point-'n-click college boys....
Max
By "grown past" I assume you mean do they have servers that'll allow you to rip off whatever you want without returning anything whatsoever to the group, as programs like Bearshare, KaZaa, and Morpheus do? Depends on where you go; in some places yes, and in others the loser slacker types aren't welcome.
Max
Amen, brother. The worst part about the whole affair - other than the fact that we became a banana republic in the 2000 election, with the guy who *lost* seizing the presidency for his own - is that most of my fellow Americans don't give a fuck. They either think everything is a-ok, "who needs a Bill of Rights", or they bitch a bit, moan a bit, and then go home and spend their time watching an episode of Seinfeld they've already seen 8 times.
I talk of activism and people either call me a "traitor!" or look at me funny, as in, "why the hell would you want to draw the government's attention to you?". Um, perhaps because it pays less and less attention to the Constitution with each passing year? Maybe because my 'choices' at the polls consist of 'six of this or a half-dozen of the other', since the laws are explicitly written to make the formation of a viable third party nearly impossible? Excuse me, but where's my "they all suck - none of the above" option?
Do these people even give a shit what kind of country their kids are going to grow up in? Apparently not; 'el presidente' is neck-deep in the Enron scandal and nobody cares.
My wife urges me to consider moving to Canada. She doesn't want our kids growing up in a country that only gives lip-service to freedom. And she, like me, wonders if there will even be an election come 2004, if it looks like Bush will lose. Perhaps a convenient crisis will come along, 'forcing' the administration to suspend elections until 'everything is back to normal'? Will anyone even care? Maybe the majority will decide that a democracy is just as unnecessary as a Bill of Rights.
Oooookay, enough ranting. Maybe I should pack the U-Haul now before the NSA decides that my outspoken ways constitute a security risk and arrange for the Los Angeles PD to kick in my door, guns blazing, after receiving an 'anonymous tip' that I'm actually a meth dealer....
Max
The U.S. won't be a superpower for long if it passes laws like the SSSCA. Other countries, unfettered by this tripe, will speed right into the 21st century while we continue to try to pull everyone back into the 20th. It's a sure-fire recipe for becoming the 'superpower that was', the 2nd-rate backwater that used to be great but now is largely ignored by anyone who wants to live in the present and look to the future.
Max
So let them take it away. Proof positive that they hold the monopoly position they've been convicted of building through illegal means. After that there'll be no doubt in anyone's mind (except for the BillyG-fanboys, of course) that they're guilty as sin.
Not that any of this matters. Kotar-Kelly is well aware of what happened to the previous two judges on the MS case and isn't about to sacrifice her career to fight a rigged game. MS will get a slap on the wrist and continue on its merry way, fucking over anyone who dares to defy it. And the Bush administration, along with the corporate whores in Congress, will provide MS with whatever aid it needs to retain its monopoly and avoid any punishment for its actions.
It'd be nice to try actual capitalism for once. You know, that idea of free, unimpeded markets where the laws applied equally to all players. Just my personal crack-pipe dream.
But hey! If the SSSCA passes it's all moot anyway. MS will be the only player in town in the U.S. Forever.
Max
The Internet Browser shouldn't be a product bought and sold in the marketplace. It's a very basic product at its heart, and should be included with PCs to begin with.
Your personal opinion on the subject being more important than the findings of the court. Of course.
Max
We have no idea if MS is a "natural" monopoly, as you put it. MS engaged in illegal behavior to destroy all possible competition - this is a fact of evidence. Without competition MS took a monopoly position. Not a "natural" monopoly position but one based upon mafia-style tactics.
It could be that MS would *still* occupy this position even if it had played fair the entire time. But we don't know that, since it has never played fair. It's been anything but fair. This was an indisputable conclusion of the trial which led to its conviction.
There's simply no way to know what the outcome would've been had MS acted differently.
Max
Although I am a "white-boy", I was hardly privileged growing up.
Being white is in and of itself a privilege. I realize is this generally a hard thing for white folks to grasp, but it happens to be very real. Just as being male - that fact alone - delivers considerable privilege that isn't enjoyed when one is female, regardless of race.
No serious social scientist would argue the point. If you're white, you have opportunities that aren't available if you aren't white. If you're male, you have opportunities that aren't available if you're female. This is how our system works. If you want but one real-life example, take a look at how many CEOs are white and how many are black, how many are male and how many are female. Then tell me again that all those white boys got there through hard work and determination - or that blacks and women don't hold as many positions simply because they "don't have what it takes".
So what? "Millions" is only 1-2%.
I guess so long as you aren't one of those millions everything is okay, eh? Here you tacitly accept that some people will never make it no matter how hard they try or how smart they are, but since they represent only "1-2%" of the population it doesn't matter.
Of course random chance has something to do with your level of success, but it ONLY determines the time line.
This sort of thinking boils down to that stupid line "you get what you deserve". People often don't get anything like what they deserve. The world isn't fair. Think on it for a second - there is no fate, no karma, no higher power dishing out economic, political, or social rewards dependent upon your effort or beliefs. The world doesn't have an 'order' which rewards everyone, if only they work hard enough long enough. People rarely get what they deserve, and timeline has nothing to do with it.
If you think luck is the sole determiner or even the major determiner of success
Yep, I do believe that luck - along with privilege - is a major determinant of success. The people who insist otherwise are the ones who've already "got theirs" and think that they deserve it in some sort of vague karmic fashion because they, obviously, are smart and hard-working. Everyone who hasn't made it, by definition, isn't smart and hard-working.
Well, except for those millions whom you admitted earlier on won't ever make it, but since they amount to only "1-2%"....
But in no case do I blame anyone but myself, even in the cases where I was clearly screwed by another party. Because I chose to let myself be screwed
In other words, if something bad happens to someone they "chose" to let themselves be screwed. Are you honestly going to back this as a position? Because I can rip you a new asshole in record time if you decide to support this kind of stupidity with example after example of people who got the short end when they clearly didn't deserve it.
The "American Dream" is a myth, a lie. Not everyone can make it - any economist can tell you that. The system inherently requires that a certain percentage of folks always be losers, that the exploitable exist to support capitalism. That's a basic precept of economic theory. I didn't say this was a 'bad' thing in a moral sense, only that people who claim that 'anyone can make' it were painfully naive. It's one thing to support capitalism as the best system that we know of and quite another to spout a recycled version of personal Manifest Destiny, an idea laughed out of serious scientific circles more than a century ago.
Max
Ah, yes, so no matter what the circumstances all you have to do is work the system, and work hard, and you too can be successful! Luck has nothing to do with it.
Uh huh. Typical privileged white-boy tripe.
Hate to break it to ya, pal, but there are millions of Americans who will work their asses off this year, harder than you will, smarter than you will, certainly more deserving than you - and because of luck they simply *will not* succeed.
If you honestly think that luck has nothing to do with it then you're a first-class fool.
Max
I've taught at the middle school level and my students, although often under protest, worked their butts off.
Can't speak for college wankers. Maybe it's a fratboy thing....
Max
as it reflects badly on them if a bunch of cheaters (thus, uneducated idiots) graduate from their institution,
But an idiot did graduate from Yale and Harvard, and he went on to become president....
Max
Clearly you're a white boy. Only a white boy would say something that stupid.
Max
There has never been a modern country with anything like true capitalism. All capitalist countries are ruled by governments which work to *interfere* with market forces, generally in favor of monopolies or oligopolies. It's axiomatic that large corporations can buy government protection, and that protection is inherently anti-capitalist.
While the criticisms of the socialists are somewhat off-base (because there aren't any truly capitalistic countries in the First World), anyone who argues that 'capitalism works' is talking out of his ass. There's no example of true capitalism to point to; all such examples, *every single one*, have had heavy government interference in the market. *We don't know* if real capitalism works because we've never tried it - just as we don't know if real socialism works, because *there's never been a truly socialistic country*. The labels 'socialism' and 'capitalism' don't describe anything close to the actual economic models in use world-wide.
Max
Yes, and this is the primary reason my wife and download songs for preview, but buy the cds if we like what we hear. The stuff you get off of the Gnutella network or elsewhere is often low-quality mp3s at 128 bps. We rip our music so we can mix 'n match, but do so at 320 bps - a clear difference on good speakers. The only way to get this kind of quality is to buy the cd and do the ripping ourselves.
If the music industry were to offer the ability to download high-quality singles at, say, $0.50/track we'd jump at the opportunity. There are a lot of 'one-hit wonders' that we'd like to get, but we aren't about to pay $15 for a cd for just one song. In the end they'd get *alot more money from us than they already do*.
Max