I am aware of the licensing, blah blah blah, on the HURD, but can someone summarize the technical advantage of HURD or Linux or Darwin? Are there any comparisons between this kernel and other POSIX-standard OSes?
In short, aside from licensing and feeling good about themselves, why should one use this?
I missed that article. I was aware that the states were dealing with MS competitors, but had not read this as being "TOLD" to do something.
The implications of this are rather staggering in that MS may have a case to go after it's competitors once the DOJ case is concluded. If I were in charge of MS, I would requesting discovery on exactly how the states arrived at their requests for relief (and prepping contingency lawsuits against those states).
I saw something similar in 1997 when a Japanese tour group came through our college. I was showing them the multimedia lab I worked in and one of them hauled out a combination email-camera-word processor that was about the size of a large cellphone.
Needless to say, the whole demo of the lab came to a complete and rather embarassing end. I just didn't have the heart to tout our supposed high-technology against something like that.
It really sucks that all we get over here are the hand-me-downs of Japanese technology. I guess it's payback for giving them the hand-me-downs of our culture.
If these computer systems are so critical, then why are they attached to networks in such a way that intruders could get at them remotely in the first place?
So does this mean that various racist organizations are gonna be complaining about living in a "mud" universe?
Color coordination is a bitch with beige. What should I wear to the next Big Bang?
Beige is such a bland color. How is our universe ever gonna attract another universe if it's such a bland color. Now, universe X14, that's a universe with a sense of color.
Did they account for the color shift caused by the atmosphere? Remember, these are the same type of guys who used metric instead of English measurements on Mars.
Why aren't there any other color universes? This is a beige conspiracy against universes of color.
Actually, I'm considering suing Sun for forcing Microsoft to include a Java VM, when I don't want or need one.
The harm: excessive anxiety over the amount of diskspace taken up by Sun's VM and worry about compatibility issues.
The remedy: about $250 in real damages, and $500 million in mental anguish, lost time, depression etc.
The terms of this suit are way more reasonable than Sun's wishy-washy attitude on shipping their VM. The thing is available for download if you need it, and if you don't, then you don't have to download it.
This is the equivalent of suing every Linux release for not including Jahshaka (a Linux-based video editing/effects package).
I agree. Sun already sued them once, forced Microsoft to stop development on their own VM, and forced them to include Sun's version of the Java VM on distributed releases.
Now, they're suing to what? Undo the previous agreement? I thought they had already settled that issue.
Frankly, I think Microsoft might have a case for malicious prosecution in this instance.
That's a new one to me (I don't keep up with every law that goes through), but if it's on the books, can we press to have him prosecuted?
He admits paying students to commit illegal acts, which falls under the RICO acts, and since one of them was a minor, there's probably several other laws he can be nailed under.
I wonder if the Maryland AG's office has heard about this.
Since my previous response doesn't satisfy our Naderite faction, I would suggest some gentle prodding while you wait.
Public opinion is not going to change overnight, nor should you expect it to. Keep up pressure for a while, but remember that we have a very pro-business administration and a president from a state known for it's friendly attitude toward big business.
Add that to the current conflagration, and I think they think they've got other fish to fry.
Can there be legal repercussions for them in doing that?
Only if the courts are willing to prosecute - you can't remove someone from elected office at any time just because you don't like their policies; you have to wait for an election.
You would have to prove that there was actual malfeasance or dereliction of duty and provide concrete evidence in order to get any charges to stick. The burden of proof is on the accuser in our court system, so you would need the equivalent of Holy Writ and the Hand of God to get any of our current administration on those kind of charges.
Basically, it's a no-win situation if you want to go up against Bush and Ashcroft - they can do no wrong right now in the public view. The political tide has turned in favor of corporations and PACs for the time being.
Stand back for a while and resume the fight when the tide is more favorable.
According to WIRED: Elcomsoft had presence on a US server, had a US billing service, and marketed to US citizens. If that doesn't constitute doing business in this country, then what does?
If you do business in this country, you are expected to obey the laws. One of the preconditions for doing business in any locale is to find out what the law is before you begin doing business (ie., sales, manufacture, etc.).
IF Elcomsoft tried to sell their product to U.S. citizens and the product was illegal under the provisions of the DMCA, then they broke the law, plain and simple.
You may sneer at our laws all you want, but that still does not give you the right to break them here without expectation of reprisal, regardless of intent.
Actually, I think term papers and whatnot are considered property of the university. Check your university's academic policy (I'm quite possibly wrong, but that was the policy when I graduated a couple of years ago).
Yeah, I'm pretty much a Macromedia and Adobe type person (as I say this, I can hear the flames rising). Since I have to work in two worlds, one with pretty strict standards, they are the only ones that product the tools that bridge that gap.
If she is incapable of maintaining her system, or hiring someone to do so, then she can't afford to be in the game.
What about small margin companies - those whose profit margin pays the utilities, salary, etc., but doesn't leave the $100 per hour to hire a programmer? While it is possible to ship the work out to the third-world for $10 an hour, she couldn't afford to hire a first-world programmer under any circumstance.
So you would automatically put her out of business because of that? Only the rich and technically elite would be able to stay in business.
The answer to that question depends on whether or not IE would still be free. If so, I'm guessing that there would be some rise in sales of Opera, but it probably wouldn't reach a statistically significant marketshare for quite some time.
If people has to pay for IE, then the number of Opera user would rise more, and might reach statistical significance.
IE is a pretty entrenched market for now. Don't look for major change inside of five years or so.
Netscape was giving away their product for free in the beginning to educational users - but there was no verifiable method of proving that one was or wasn't a student, so it was essentially free for all comers. This was before Explorer.
AOL has given away their software pretty much since the beginning - but they sell the service it connects to.
Opera is the only one that has had a for-profit model since the beginning. But we're used to free browsers so it's probably doomed in the end.
Nothing stops people being able to acquire the skills or employing someone to make changes.
Been a member of the human race for long, bub? There are plenty of factors involved - education and experience are two of them. Many people are perfectly logical thinkers and quite competent computer users, but unable to form the mental associations necessary for programming.
Maybe they shouldn't be using it, in the same way that a car driver shouldn't be taking an inadeqatly maintained vehicle on the road...
Ah, the elitist view - only those capable of maintaining a computer should be allowed to have one. And tell me, do you burn your own chips - etch your own CPU, apply the magnetic substrate to your own hard drive? Following the logical trend of your argument - it would expand the control of commercial software because very few people would be licensed to have Open Source software for lack of coding skills.
Now, let examine a hypothetical situation where all software is Open Source (no commercial closed-source vendors) and all users have to be licensed to use the software. If you can't code, no license, therefore software is restricted to a small percentage of the population, but subject to regulation by a large percentage of the population. Doesn't sound too good, does it? Historically speaking, just what happened to elitist societies (France, England)?
And how do you handle the user who cannot make those modifications to Open Source code. Bringing out the example of my dear old mother, who wouldn't know gcc if it showed up at the door with a sign saying "gcc", would she have a valid lawsuit if a software bug allowed hackers to run rampant through her storage management software? By placing the onus on the end-user, you transfer responsibility to people who are not capable of maintaining their own software and who cannot afford to hire out for repair.
Now, one has to consider - does mere notification to the developer constitute due diligence? What happens if the developer doesn't acknowledge that there is a problem (Microsoft)? What happens if a product has such a complex management that fixes are routinely overlooked (Linux)? What happens if a project is abandoned (half of Sourceforge)? What happens if the sole developer dies (no example given)?
What may be necessary is a form of limited tort liability, similar to what law enforcement in my home state has. There is a limit on the damages that can be collected from any lawsuit against law enforcement, regardless of actual damage caused.
Which of course leads to the situation where someone sustains a billion dollars of economic hardship, but is limited to only a million in lawsuit damages. It isn't justice, and the money won't come near recovery for the damages, so... what?
Get feedback from the people who actually visit your site, they're the ones who are going to staring at it. Beyond that, a good sense of graphic design to enhance your message is important.
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I am aware of the licensing, blah blah blah, on the HURD, but can someone summarize the technical advantage of HURD or Linux or Darwin? Are there any comparisons between this kernel and other POSIX-standard OSes?
In short, aside from licensing and feeling good about themselves, why should one use this?
I missed that article. I was aware that the states were dealing with MS competitors, but had not read this as being "TOLD" to do something.
The implications of this are rather staggering in that MS may have a case to go after it's competitors once the DOJ case is concluded. If I were in charge of MS, I would requesting discovery on exactly how the states arrived at their requests for relief (and prepping contingency lawsuits against those states).
I saw something similar in 1997 when a Japanese tour group came through our college. I was showing them the multimedia lab I worked in and one of them hauled out a combination email-camera-word processor that was about the size of a large cellphone.
Needless to say, the whole demo of the lab came to a complete and rather embarassing end. I just didn't have the heart to tout our supposed high-technology against something like that.
It really sucks that all we get over here are the hand-me-downs of Japanese technology. I guess it's payback for giving them the hand-me-downs of our culture.
If these computer systems are so critical, then why are they attached to networks in such a way that intruders could get at them remotely in the first place?
The non-settling states were TOLD by Sun, etc., etc.? I've been following this case and I don't remember ever seeing anything about that.
Could you provide a link to the relevant proof?
I don't doubt it, yet, but I'd like to see your evidence on that.
So does this mean that various racist organizations are gonna be complaining about living in a "mud" universe?
Color coordination is a bitch with beige. What should I wear to the next Big Bang?
Beige is such a bland color. How is our universe ever gonna attract another universe if it's such a bland color. Now, universe X14, that's a universe with a sense of color.
Did they account for the color shift caused by the atmosphere? Remember, these are the same type of guys who used metric instead of English measurements on Mars.
Why aren't there any other color universes? This is a beige conspiracy against universes of color.
I'll stop now.
Actually, I'm considering suing Sun for forcing Microsoft to include a Java VM, when I don't want or need one.
The harm: excessive anxiety over the amount of diskspace taken up by Sun's VM and worry about compatibility issues.
The remedy: about $250 in real damages, and $500 million in mental anguish, lost time, depression etc.
The terms of this suit are way more reasonable than Sun's wishy-washy attitude on shipping their VM. The thing is available for download if you need it, and if you don't, then you don't have to download it.
This is the equivalent of suing every Linux release for not including Jahshaka (a Linux-based video editing/effects package).
It's stupid and it sucks.
I agree. Sun already sued them once, forced Microsoft to stop development on their own VM, and forced them to include Sun's version of the Java VM on distributed releases.
Now, they're suing to what? Undo the previous agreement? I thought they had already settled that issue.
Frankly, I think Microsoft might have a case for malicious prosecution in this instance.
I think the thief maps out to people who would use the IP without paying for it, hmmm?
That's a new one to me (I don't keep up with every law that goes through), but if it's on the books, can we press to have him prosecuted?
He admits paying students to commit illegal acts, which falls under the RICO acts, and since one of them was a minor, there's probably several other laws he can be nailed under.
I wonder if the Maryland AG's office has heard about this.
A bit problematic when each distro of Linux is a potential competitor for Windows - whether it is in the 0.0.1 stage or not.
Should you count only for-profit ventures? Or companies that actually have written the bulk of their own code?
What happens to the employees? Do they get sold off as well? Or just chucked out in the street?
Next, what happens to the companies that have built up business based on DeadCompanyWalking, Inc.? Do you just shut them down as well?
Stock markets?
Investors?
Let me guess - you use Linux, so you don't really care.
Since my previous response doesn't satisfy our Naderite faction, I would suggest some gentle prodding while you wait.
Public opinion is not going to change overnight, nor should you expect it to. Keep up pressure for a while, but remember that we have a very pro-business administration and a president from a state known for it's friendly attitude toward big business.
Add that to the current conflagration, and I think they think they've got other fish to fry.
Can there be legal repercussions for them in doing that?
Only if the courts are willing to prosecute - you can't remove someone from elected office at any time just because you don't like their policies; you have to wait for an election.
You would have to prove that there was actual malfeasance or dereliction of duty and provide concrete evidence in order to get any charges to stick. The burden of proof is on the accuser in our court system, so you would need the equivalent of Holy Writ and the Hand of God to get any of our current administration on those kind of charges.
Basically, it's a no-win situation if you want to go up against Bush and Ashcroft - they can do no wrong right now in the public view. The political tide has turned in favor of corporations and PACs for the time being.
Stand back for a while and resume the fight when the tide is more favorable.
According to WIRED: Elcomsoft had presence on a US server, had a US billing service, and marketed to US citizens. If that doesn't constitute doing business in this country, then what does?
If you do business in this country, you are expected to obey the laws. One of the preconditions for doing business in any locale is to find out what the law is before you begin doing business (ie., sales, manufacture, etc.).
IF Elcomsoft tried to sell their product to U.S. citizens and the product was illegal under the provisions of the DMCA, then they broke the law, plain and simple.
You may sneer at our laws all you want, but that still does not give you the right to break them here without expectation of reprisal, regardless of intent.
Actually, I think term papers and whatnot are considered property of the university. Check your university's academic policy (I'm quite possibly wrong, but that was the policy when I graduated a couple of years ago).
Yeah, I'm pretty much a Macromedia and Adobe type person (as I say this, I can hear the flames rising). Since I have to work in two worlds, one with pretty strict standards, they are the only ones that product the tools that bridge that gap.
Hey, a quick search on Google turned this up as the first link: http://www.openswf.org/
Gee, imagine that - a company released the details of their proprietary format just so other people could write tools.
The only product that I have ever seen produce SVG files is Illustrator. Show me some other tools (Windows based, please) and I might think about it.
Yeah, just wait until the the geek next to you starts yelling "VAMPIRE! VAMPIRE! BOGEY AT 3:30 CLOSING AT 5 KNOTS! ARM ALL TORPEDOES".
Then see how fast you pretend they're just reading glasses.
Personally, I wanna be that guy in the IBM commercial sitting in the middle of a Venecian square scaring all the pigeons.
If she is incapable of maintaining her system, or hiring someone to do so, then she can't afford to be in the game.
What about small margin companies - those whose profit margin pays the utilities, salary, etc., but doesn't leave the $100 per hour to hire a programmer? While it is possible to ship the work out to the third-world for $10 an hour, she couldn't afford to hire a first-world programmer under any circumstance.
So you would automatically put her out of business because of that? Only the rich and technically elite would be able to stay in business.
The answer to that question depends on whether or not IE would still be free. If so, I'm guessing that there would be some rise in sales of Opera, but it probably wouldn't reach a statistically significant marketshare for quite some time.
If people has to pay for IE, then the number of Opera user would rise more, and might reach statistical significance.
IE is a pretty entrenched market for now. Don't look for major change inside of five years or so.
Because they are forced not to sell it.
Not true.
Netscape was giving away their product for free in the beginning to educational users - but there was no verifiable method of proving that one was or wasn't a student, so it was essentially free for all comers. This was before Explorer.
AOL has given away their software pretty much since the beginning - but they sell the service it connects to.
Opera is the only one that has had a for-profit model since the beginning. But we're used to free browsers so it's probably doomed in the end.
Nothing stops people being able to acquire the skills or employing someone to make changes.
Been a member of the human race for long, bub? There are plenty of factors involved - education and experience are two of them. Many people are perfectly logical thinkers and quite competent computer users, but unable to form the mental associations necessary for programming.
Maybe they shouldn't be using it, in the same way that a car driver shouldn't be taking an inadeqatly maintained vehicle on the road...
Ah, the elitist view - only those capable of maintaining a computer should be allowed to have one. And tell me, do you burn your own chips - etch your own CPU, apply the magnetic substrate to your own hard drive? Following the logical trend of your argument - it would expand the control of commercial software because very few people would be licensed to have Open Source software for lack of coding skills.
Now, let examine a hypothetical situation where all software is Open Source (no commercial closed-source vendors) and all users have to be licensed to use the software. If you can't code, no license, therefore software is restricted to a small percentage of the population, but subject to regulation by a large percentage of the population. Doesn't sound too good, does it? Historically speaking, just what happened to elitist societies (France, England)?
Have a nice day, you arrogant prig.
And how do you handle the user who cannot make those modifications to Open Source code. Bringing out the example of my dear old mother, who wouldn't know gcc if it showed up at the door with a sign saying "gcc", would she have a valid lawsuit if a software bug allowed hackers to run rampant through her storage management software? By placing the onus on the end-user, you transfer responsibility to people who are not capable of maintaining their own software and who cannot afford to hire out for repair.
... what?
Now, one has to consider - does mere notification to the developer constitute due diligence? What happens if the developer doesn't acknowledge that there is a problem (Microsoft)? What happens if a product has such a complex management that fixes are routinely overlooked (Linux)? What happens if a project is abandoned (half of Sourceforge)? What happens if the sole developer dies (no example given)?
What may be necessary is a form of limited tort liability, similar to what law enforcement in my home state has. There is a limit on the damages that can be collected from any lawsuit against law enforcement, regardless of actual damage caused.
Which of course leads to the situation where someone sustains a billion dollars of economic hardship, but is limited to only a million in lawsuit damages. It isn't justice, and the money won't come near recovery for the damages, so
This is one ugly situation.
Get feedback from the people who actually visit your site, they're the ones who are going to staring at it. Beyond that, a good sense of graphic design to enhance your message is important.