-and only 221,043 to go! That's a lot of worthless paper for when SCO really tanks, as he can only unload so much at one time/during a certain length of time without drawing the SEC's scrutiny.
Though, I hafta admit, $76K (minus various fees) ain't bad in one day, for tossing around FUD and threats of lawyers... Bastard......
Well, Darl's not doing so hot right now, then. With the press releases and claims made in the past few days, SCOX stock value is down to what it was 3 weeks ago.
Who knows, maybe SCO's finally pushed the BS so much that all these investors are actually starting to think "WTF...?" for themselves. At least we can hope...
Then there's the rest of us, company networks who have things nicely fire-walled, techies who configure their friend's computers to never contact M$ with 'quality assurance crash reports', installations for people who don't have 'net access (they -do- exist), etc...
System administration isn't easy, that's why they make big dollars.
Tell that to my IT manager, my wallet sure doesn't agree...;)
So long as everything's going well, you're 'not doing anything productive' by searching around the web checking said mailing lists and newsgroups, so you get pulled off to work on Pet Project Y for Manager T. Then, when the shit hits the fan, suddenly it's 'Well, why weren't we prepared for each and everything that could possibly happen??' Go fig'.
But hey, at least I don't have to do end-user tech support any more...
Spot has left the yard. Activate shock collar? Yes/No You have chosen Yes. Spot has returned to the yard.
Your son Scott has driven the car to a remote location with Susie L. (Ref. # 1098345723) and has entered the back seat with her, probably to screw her brains out. Administer punishment? Yes/"HELL yes!"
something like this in your own home. I mean, you could have something hooked up to your computer, where all you would need to do is swipe a reader over a product bar-code, and pull up a webpage for more information about that product. Wouldn't that be neat?? After all, everyone wants even more marketing hype than they're already exposed to, right?
Hell, you could shape it like some animal so it'd look cute next to your mouse; say... a cat.
-let me assure you, the maps you are able to get your hands on are hardly EVER good enough to actually use.
I worked at a company that takes paper maps of major telcom companies' (ie. AT&T, ComCast) fiber runs, and puts them in a proprietary computerized form. Some of the maps, only one person at the telcom regional office knows what the various symbols mean, and/or what parts or the run do/do not actually follow the mapped routes.
Record keeping during the 'boom' of fiber optic installation was generally pretty poor. I mean, if the companies themselves don't know what the hell some of these maps mean, how's 'Al Terrorist?';) Besides, it's not like most anyone can easily splice into a fiber line to 'listen in.' Simply cut lines, yes, but most companies that own fiber run monitoring tools to watch for physical breaks and signal strength/quality, so spliced 'taps' most likely -will- be seen.
This thread has been tossed around for the past few days, and you can check the archives for past discussions of various anti-virus suites for Linux email servers.
"Your mind is like a parachute. If it don't work, you're screwed"
-for the teacher involved as well. Not only can the teacer gain more knowledge about tools and methods, but the teacher also has the oppurtunity gain the RESPECT of the local script kiddies/hackers, if he/she plays his/her cards right. Most script kiddies/hackers start out with local targets, and considering the age of the kids involved, their current school becomes one of the prime targets.
Most likely, the teacher involved with a program like this is the defacto 'resident tech' of the school, being the one-person network admin/troubleshooter/etc. Having a face and personality assosciated with 'The Admin, my Enemy' can give a whole new perspective to the 'up-and-coming' hacker. This can be good or bad ('y'know, X isn't so bad, maybe I shouldn't target the school' vs. 'Oh, I -hate- that fscker, time to bring on the hurt'), but at least it can bring up the point that there's a real PERSON behind that box they're hacking. If done right, clubs like this can help cultivate the 'old-school hacker mentality' by having in-depth discussions of ethics, legalities, etc.
We live in a world where 'morals' are generally defined by social groups. If a kid getting his feet wet is exposed to nothing but script kiddies and their sites, just guess which way he's most likely to turn out...
Some people want to play evil characters. That's all well and fine, but realize that most people DO NOT. We're faced with all sorts of 'evil' in real life, so when given the option, most people want to be the Hero. If you play an evil character, you'll be outnumbered. Most people play to have fun, and for most people, that 'fun' does -not- involve being on the receiving end of a sword, spell, whatever. If you play a character who's annoying, don't be surprised if most people shun your character -because- he/she's annoying. If you play a character who goes off and kills others, don't be surprised if others want to kill you.
Problem with most evil characters, it that they want to be 'above the law.' They go with the arguement 'Well, you -need- us evil types.' Remember though, the 'need' of the Hero can involve the DEATH of the evil character if the case is severe enough (ie. murder, rape).
I've found there are generally two viable types of evil characters: the re-spawner (when the heroes get pissed off enough and hunt you down and kill you, you simply start over with a new evil character, as nasty as you want to be because, hey, it's disposable) and the rare 'evil l337' (the character who's evil, the heroes -know- is evil, but doesn't do evil the heroes can actually prove, and is cool enough that the heroes don't mind being around, rubbing elbows or 'verbally fencing' with (most often, they tend to be 'lawful evil')).
If you want to be nasty, annoying, blood-thirsty, whathaveyou and a general 'buzz-kill' for others, and yet be ABOVE the law at the same time, you're just as misguided as those 'strolling around the bunny-grounds holding hands and singing kumba-ya.'
-and here are some of my thoughts and observations on the matter. Granted, the MUCKs and MUDs I've been on have been subscription-less, but I think many of the concepts still apply.
1. Ownership. The person who 'owns' a MUCK, MOO, MUD, MUX, or MMRPG, is the person who owns the physical machine hosting it. It's just that simple. They can turn it on, and they can turn it off. Your 'avatar' is nothing but a collection of 1's and 0's that reside on/in the owner's hardware. Of course, paid susbscriptions would fall under contract law I'd imagine, but outside of that, the owner could simply turn off/move/disconnect/wipe the machine and that's that.
Next level is the wizcore/admin/staff/whatever. Generally speaking, they are given administrative domain of those 1's and 0's on the machine, and as such, have some limited legal responsibility. Hence why servers carry AUPs (Acceptable Use Policies), most of which basically say 'As someone physically owns this machine and can be held responsible for it's contents, you WILL play by these rules or you will be removed from this server. We're just following the rules of CYA. If you don't like it, go somewhere else.'
2. The ownership of 'areas.' I've seen this issue wrangled over before and have the following to say: -PLAYERS- make an area, not just the physical setting. Someone may have developed the background, feel, and descriptions of an area, but once you let players run amok in an area, it becomes a collective work-in-progress between everyone involved. You may have designed the area and 'own' that design (more on this later), but you do not own an area AS IT IS NOW.
3. You can always disconnect. I hear tales of character rape, abuse, any number of things where people make the claim 'I was forced to do X.' Bullshit. At any time, you can disconnect from the machine, or even turn off your computer. You can say 'Sorry, nope, not gonna be a part of this,' get out of the situation, and report it. Where your 'avatar' may be a collection of 1's and 0's bound by the laws of the server programming, YOU are not. IMNSHO, if someone can manipulate you mentally/emotionally that easily, you shouldn't be on the 'net to begin with. For the most part, yes, in character actions have in character consequences (ie. you killed someone and the local authorities are gonna execute you for it), but if there are things not in accordance with the AUP (ie. someone's got psionic control over you, drags you off into a dark alley and is going to rape you), you DON'T have to RP it out. Staying pretty much equals consent, as 99.99% of the time you can EASILY get out of it through out of character means.
4. Develop areas/characters/items -outside- of a game first. If you ever want to use a character/area/whatever outside of a game (ie. a novel), make sure you develop it -outside- of a game before moving it into the game, so you have at least some form of 'prior art' available to you.
Most of all, remember, it's only a game. If you make real-world contracts for the transfer of characters/property, that's all well and fine, you have a real-world contract. If you play on a server with an AUP, the administration has full rights to boot you for non-compliance.
In conclusion, most of the time the administration -wants- to keep the players happy. Wether it's a pay service or the 'reward' for the staff is simply the game itself, a server is nothing without a player base. There many more servers out there, if you don't like how one is going, you can always pick up all your marbles and go play somewhere else...
I'm a tabletop gamer, both WH40K and Battlefleet Gothic, though I wasn't always. My first exposure to GW products came when my friend dragged me along to a local gaming store that happened to carry the GW line. A few people at the store were playing 40K, so we stopped for a while to watch. I liked it, began my own army, and the rest is history.
One thing many of you don't seem to consider, is that most gamers (cards, tabletop, etc) spread information by word of mouth. When it comes to gaming stores, word of mouth can keep you alive or kill you off, pure and simple. Also from my experience, most gamers like to experience a game 'hands on' (by either borrowing an army and playing, or just watching) before getting involved and seriously investing their money.
All GW qualms aside, look at it like this: online stores undercut local stores -> local stores start going out of business -> less people get exposure to the games (and experienced players) -> your target market doesn't get "new blood".
I frequent a local store and have seen it time and time again: younger people (Yu-gi-oh players, as the trend is now) playing card games, see the 40K gamers and think "Hey, that's pretty cool. Maybe I should try that sometime..."
There is something to be said for 'the in-store experience' when it comes to future players of games like these. Seeing products online doesn't get you interested in a game quite like watching a few people hash out a 2000 point game of Chaos versus Necrons...;)
-we get some good voice recognition systems, dammit...
I mean, really, have you heard of an 'end-all/be-all' voice recognition system? When voice recognition systems can match the speed of typing and be accurate, -then- we can mess with all these concepts such as avatars.
Sure, some day we may be assaulted by commercial avatars that refer to me by name, but dammit, I want to be able to say "Fuck off" and have them understand it!
What most fans are not twigging on, is the fact that the 'Tolkien icon' is the REAL hoax here. Think we could get Slashdot to really keep and use it? Hah!
Games such as Doom, Quake, Unreal, etc all utilize the basic maze strategy...albeit you have to frag your way through the maze, but it is still just a maze.
Sweet Jesus, how could you name these games, but not mention the Heretic/Hexen family!? I haven't seen a more involved version of 'Hit the button here, something happens -way- the hell back there and heaven help you remember where' since the Hexen days. I still cringe when I hear the sound of Dark Bishops swishing around...
All that the FCC said, in regards to dsl service, is that the incumbants no longer have to provide UNE-P's, or in slightly more laymans terms, they no long have to allow line-sharing of their phone servuced loops to ISPs. They still HAVE TO PROVIDE unbundled loop access (unless it's a fiber loop), for dedicated line services.
From the FCC ruling, the 'Attachment' to the press release: "Line Sharing - The high frequency portion of the loop (HFPL) is not an unbundled network element. Although the Order finds general impairment in providing broadband services without local loops, access to the entire stand-alone copper loop is sufficient to overcome impairment. During a three year period, competitive LECs must transition their existing customer base served via the HFPL to new arrangements. New customers may be acquired only during the first year of this transition. In addition, during each year of the transition, the price for the high-frequency portion of the loop will increase incrementally towards the cost of a loop in the relevant market."
Okay, standard IANAL disclaimer aside, this certainly does NOT sound like a 'things will be just fine' arrangement. HFPL is 'not an unbundled element' of the loop, so ILECs don't have to sell it separate to the rest of the loop. CLECs -must- transition users of HFPL (guess who -that- is) to 'new arrangements' within three years, during which time ILECs crank up rates to the price of the FULL loops, not just the HFPL.
As for Qwest, I live in UT, and I have DSL (ISP a small company who's been GREAT for me, Qwest billing me for usage of HFPL). Qworst doesn't provide DSL ISP services, because they don't WANT to. And gee, who becomes the 'default' ISP? Why, it happens to be MSN, from our lovely friends in Redmond...
Now, let's see where that leads us. Qwest doesn't have to let other DSL providing ISPs use the high-frequency portion of the copper loops. Period. I'm sure they'll 'let' them, provided they pay the price for the FULL loop, not just the high frequency portion (and how many independant ISPs will be willing/able to abide by that?). And with as much money as our friends in Redmond can throw around... do the math on who might be the ONLY ISP on Qwest infrastructure.
I can see the future, and it involves a fat man in a damn butterfly suit......
Slashdot Mirror
Though, I hafta admit, $76K (minus various fees) ain't bad in one day, for tossing around FUD and threats of lawyers... Bastard......
Who knows, maybe SCO's finally pushed the BS so much that all these investors are actually starting to think "WTF...?" for themselves. At least we can hope...
Then there's the rest of us, company networks who have things nicely fire-walled, techies who configure their friend's computers to never contact M$ with 'quality assurance crash reports', installations for people who don't have 'net access (they -do- exist), etc...
Tell that to my IT manager, my wallet sure doesn't agree... ;)
So long as everything's going well, you're 'not doing anything productive' by searching around the web checking said mailing lists and newsgroups, so you get pulled off to work on Pet Project Y for Manager T. Then, when the shit hits the fan, suddenly it's 'Well, why weren't we prepared for each and everything that could possibly happen??' Go fig'.
But hey, at least I don't have to do end-user tech support any more...
Activate shock collar? Yes/No
You have chosen Yes. Spot has returned to the yard.
Your son Scott has driven the car to a remote location with Susie L. (Ref. # 1098345723) and has entered the back seat with her, probably to screw her brains out.
Administer punishment? Yes/"HELL yes!"
"Remember, Big Woz is watching... and wants you to buy a Segway."
A kind reminder from the Ministry of Love...
-that's my "off-site backup"... ;)
Hell, you could shape it like some animal so it'd look cute next to your mouse; say... a cat.
Hey, wait a minute......
I worked at a company that takes paper maps of major telcom companies' (ie. AT&T, ComCast) fiber runs, and puts them in a proprietary computerized form. Some of the maps, only one person at the telcom regional office knows what the various symbols mean, and/or what parts or the run do/do not actually follow the mapped routes.
Record keeping during the 'boom' of fiber optic installation was generally pretty poor. I mean, if the companies themselves don't know what the hell some of these maps mean, how's 'Al Terrorist?' ;) Besides, it's not like most anyone can easily splice into a fiber line to 'listen in.' Simply cut lines, yes, but most companies that own fiber run monitoring tools to watch for physical breaks and signal strength/quality, so spliced 'taps' most likely -will- be seen.
Now I can look down at my watch and see "1 H4X0r'd U! YuR 5P0+ iz m4 b17c|-| N0w!"
Swing low, sweet NASA slingshot,
Comin' for to launch me to Mars;
Swing low, sweet NASA slingshot,
Comin' for to launch me to Mars.
I looked over low orbit,
And WHAT did I see,
Comin' for to launch me to Mars,
A band of "Hoytether" comin' after me,
Comin' for to launch me to Mars.
Swing low, sweet NASA slingshot,
Comin' for to launch me to Mars;
Swing low, sweet NASA slingshot,
Comin' for to launch me to Mars.
If you get there before I do,
Comin' for to launch me to Mars,
Tell all my friends I'm being slung too,
Comin' for to launch me to Mars.
Wise man say: "Do not taunt the sumo..."
is watching you, so turn around so he can get a better look, sister...
"Oh yeah... Cindy, ride that big ol'-"
*zot!*
"AaaaAAAAhhhhh, who the hell's THAT ugly bastard, and what's that in his hand?!?"
This thread has been tossed around for the past few days, and you can check the archives for past discussions of various anti-virus suites for Linux email servers.
"Your mind is like a parachute. If it don't work, you're screwed"
Most likely, the teacher involved with a program like this is the defacto 'resident tech' of the school, being the one-person network admin/troubleshooter/etc. Having a face and personality assosciated with 'The Admin, my Enemy' can give a whole new perspective to the 'up-and-coming' hacker. This can be good or bad ('y'know, X isn't so bad, maybe I shouldn't target the school' vs. 'Oh, I -hate- that fscker, time to bring on the hurt'), but at least it can bring up the point that there's a real PERSON behind that box they're hacking. If done right, clubs like this can help cultivate the 'old-school hacker mentality' by having in-depth discussions of ethics, legalities, etc.
We live in a world where 'morals' are generally defined by social groups. If a kid getting his feet wet is exposed to nothing but script kiddies and their sites, just guess which way he's most likely to turn out...
Problem with most evil characters, it that they want to be 'above the law.' They go with the arguement 'Well, you -need- us evil types.' Remember though, the 'need' of the Hero can involve the DEATH of the evil character if the case is severe enough (ie. murder, rape).
I've found there are generally two viable types of evil characters: the re-spawner (when the heroes get pissed off enough and hunt you down and kill you, you simply start over with a new evil character, as nasty as you want to be because, hey, it's disposable) and the rare 'evil l337' (the character who's evil, the heroes -know- is evil, but doesn't do evil the heroes can actually prove, and is cool enough that the heroes don't mind being around, rubbing elbows or 'verbally fencing' with (most often, they tend to be 'lawful evil')).
If you want to be nasty, annoying, blood-thirsty, whathaveyou and a general 'buzz-kill' for others, and yet be ABOVE the law at the same time, you're just as misguided as those 'strolling around the bunny-grounds holding hands and singing kumba-ya.'
1. Ownership. The person who 'owns' a MUCK, MOO, MUD, MUX, or MMRPG, is the person who owns the physical machine hosting it. It's just that simple. They can turn it on, and they can turn it off. Your 'avatar' is nothing but a collection of 1's and 0's that reside on/in the owner's hardware. Of course, paid susbscriptions would fall under contract law I'd imagine, but outside of that, the owner could simply turn off/move/disconnect/wipe the machine and that's that.
Next level is the wizcore/admin/staff/whatever. Generally speaking, they are given administrative domain of those 1's and 0's on the machine, and as such, have some limited legal responsibility. Hence why servers carry AUPs (Acceptable Use Policies), most of which basically say 'As someone physically owns this machine and can be held responsible for it's contents, you WILL play by these rules or you will be removed from this server. We're just following the rules of CYA. If you don't like it, go somewhere else.'
2. The ownership of 'areas.' I've seen this issue wrangled over before and have the following to say: -PLAYERS- make an area, not just the physical setting. Someone may have developed the background, feel, and descriptions of an area, but once you let players run amok in an area, it becomes a collective work-in-progress between everyone involved. You may have designed the area and 'own' that design (more on this later), but you do not own an area AS IT IS NOW.
3. You can always disconnect. I hear tales of character rape, abuse, any number of things where people make the claim 'I was forced to do X.' Bullshit. At any time, you can disconnect from the machine, or even turn off your computer. You can say 'Sorry, nope, not gonna be a part of this,' get out of the situation, and report it. Where your 'avatar' may be a collection of 1's and 0's bound by the laws of the server programming, YOU are not. IMNSHO, if someone can manipulate you mentally/emotionally that easily, you shouldn't be on the 'net to begin with. For the most part, yes, in character actions have in character consequences (ie. you killed someone and the local authorities are gonna execute you for it), but if there are things not in accordance with the AUP (ie. someone's got psionic control over you, drags you off into a dark alley and is going to rape you), you DON'T have to RP it out. Staying pretty much equals consent, as 99.99% of the time you can EASILY get out of it through out of character means.
4. Develop areas/characters/items -outside- of a game first. If you ever want to use a character/area/whatever outside of a game (ie. a novel), make sure you develop it -outside- of a game before moving it into the game, so you have at least some form of 'prior art' available to you.
Most of all, remember, it's only a game. If you make real-world contracts for the transfer of characters/property, that's all well and fine, you have a real-world contract. If you play on a server with an AUP, the administration has full rights to boot you for non-compliance.
In conclusion, most of the time the administration -wants- to keep the players happy. Wether it's a pay service or the 'reward' for the staff is simply the game itself, a server is nothing without a player base. There many more servers out there, if you don't like how one is going, you can always pick up all your marbles and go play somewhere else...
-you can see almost all of the moon's 'BUSH' tonight..."
One thing many of you don't seem to consider, is that most gamers (cards, tabletop, etc) spread information by word of mouth. When it comes to gaming stores, word of mouth can keep you alive or kill you off, pure and simple. Also from my experience, most gamers like to experience a game 'hands on' (by either borrowing an army and playing, or just watching) before getting involved and seriously investing their money.
All GW qualms aside, look at it like this: online stores undercut local stores -> local stores start going out of business -> less people get exposure to the games (and experienced players) -> your target market doesn't get "new blood".
I frequent a local store and have seen it time and time again: younger people (Yu-gi-oh players, as the trend is now) playing card games, see the 40K gamers and think "Hey, that's pretty cool. Maybe I should try that sometime..."
There is something to be said for 'the in-store experience' when it comes to future players of games like these. Seeing products online doesn't get you interested in a game quite like watching a few people hash out a 2000 point game of Chaos versus Necrons... ;)
I mean, really, have you heard of an 'end-all/be-all' voice recognition system? When voice recognition systems can match the speed of typing and be accurate, -then- we can mess with all these concepts such as avatars.
Sure, some day we may be assaulted by commercial avatars that refer to me by name, but dammit, I want to be able to say "Fuck off" and have them understand it!
What most fans are not twigging on, is the fact that the 'Tolkien icon' is the REAL hoax here. Think we could get Slashdot to really keep and use it? Hah!
Sweet Jesus, how could you name these games, but not mention the Heretic/Hexen family!? I haven't seen a more involved version of 'Hit the button here, something happens -way- the hell back there and heaven help you remember where' since the Hexen days. I still cringe when I hear the sound of Dark Bishops swishing around...
From the FCC ruling, the 'Attachment' to the press release: "Line Sharing - The high frequency portion of the loop (HFPL) is not an unbundled network element. Although the Order finds general impairment in providing broadband services without local loops, access to the entire stand-alone copper loop is sufficient to overcome impairment. During a three year period, competitive LECs must transition their existing customer base served via the HFPL to new arrangements. New customers may be acquired only during the first year of this transition. In addition, during each year of the transition, the price for the high-frequency portion of the loop will increase incrementally towards the cost of a loop in the relevant market."
Okay, standard IANAL disclaimer aside, this certainly does NOT sound like a 'things will be just fine' arrangement. HFPL is 'not an unbundled element' of the loop, so ILECs don't have to sell it separate to the rest of the loop. CLECs -must- transition users of HFPL (guess who -that- is) to 'new arrangements' within three years, during which time ILECs crank up rates to the price of the FULL loops, not just the HFPL.
As for Qwest, I live in UT, and I have DSL (ISP a small company who's been GREAT for me, Qwest billing me for usage of HFPL). Qworst doesn't provide DSL ISP services, because they don't WANT to. And gee, who becomes the 'default' ISP? Why, it happens to be MSN, from our lovely friends in Redmond...
Now, let's see where that leads us. Qwest doesn't have to let other DSL providing ISPs use the high-frequency portion of the copper loops. Period. I'm sure they'll 'let' them, provided they pay the price for the FULL loop, not just the high frequency portion (and how many independant ISPs will be willing/able to abide by that?). And with as much money as our friends in Redmond can throw around... do the math on who might be the ONLY ISP on Qwest infrastructure.
I can see the future, and it involves a fat man in a damn butterfly suit......