Electronics, shmoronics...
Train a dog to watch and recognize her facial expressions.
Train dog to jump on husband, bark and lick face.
Theoretically, a normal husband wakes up to this.
Modify dog response behavior until reliable husband awaking sequence found.
Ok, some electronics allowed. Teach dog to paw actuator that makes sounds or dials 911.
Dog will be nice companion as well.
May be able to fetch things when needed.
But in order to make it possible to have an environment where a programmer writes that simple 10 lines of code in a VB dot Net application, it requires a number of Microsoft workstation and server software packages and servers working collaboratively, and properly configured.
To create that illusion of a graceful swan easily sailing across the Visual Studio pond, one must look under the surface to see all the mad paddling done to configure and deploy the many servers and services required to make the magic happen, as well as to create the special Microsoft pond of network services in which this environment works. There's enough back-end work to set up the dot Net environment, securely and reliably, that can rival or exceed the work necessary for similar J2EE applications. Your VB dot net developer needs a platoon of MCSE's, DBAs, XML wizards, plus a barge load of dot net compatible servers and services to carry off the magic. It's certainly not just simple point, click, type a few lines of code, and deploy the magic. Adding in the proper security, performance design considerations, and proper object design takes weeks, just like with other good web service design tools.
The key is understanding pools is understanding insurance actuaries, and how groups are defined.
Raters can be persuaded to consider all EBay merchants earning $1,000/month as 'full-time' active employees.
This defines a group that can be deemed eligible for the group employer rates like any large employer could get. The actuaries want to separate the casual, sporadic EBay user from the 'fulltime' active people. It is the 'fulltime' category which can be priced as a 'gainfully' employed group of a determinable kind.
The great unwashed masses of undefined 'users' can be anybody, presumably 18 to 99 years old. In the view of an actuary, such people are likely to be those for whom health insurance should be more expensive. The raters generally assume that 'healthy' hardworking, fulltime people experience less health problems than the general populace. The general masses are those who may be hocking their last piece of furniture, their 1979 Ford Pinto, or a CD of photos of a family member, or their 'unused' Microsoft software.
Perhaps Slashdot could offer Term Life? Make it a mutual plan so dividends (earnings after benefts are paid out) are split amongst members and Slashdot. To qualify one must login in with a compliant browser more than 7 hours a day, and be between age 18 and 80, with positive Karma, and who metamoderate. Failure to log in or logging in with a noncompliant (IE) browser terminates coverage. We can call this group professional posters!
Slashdot could offer a Health program as a nonprofit, but not fund it. Determine a way to define an associate relationship with an interest, like creating a very large board of directors. Everybody pays the actual premium cost, but at a group rate. Since individual family insurance runs $9,000 to $15,000 a year, depending on region, this might be desirable.
Shall we demand that Cowboy Neal offer a Slashdot poll on benefit plans most desirable to readers?
Might as well rate that MSDN page once you get bounced there. Feel free to give a rating based on general applicability, validity outside MSFT domain, for non-MS browsers, etc. I wonder what a Slashdot effect on the rating might be like...and if it might get re-adjusted by MSDN?:)
I am concerned your comment may be more reflective of your ability to try than it is of Linux's capabilities. You don't give any particulars regarding distribution of Linux or the monitor type.
Linux not understanding the monitor doesn't mean Linux wouldn't work at some level on it. It is highly likely that there are adjustments that could easily made to make it behave optimally.
If you are saying you wished you had help, describe the problem, people will voluntarily give help or point to an informative resource.
Next time your Windows misbehaves, or welcomes in a new virus, try getting help from Gates without paying for the time. However, you might find people here who could point you to good help.
Since you chose to remain under Bill Gate's rules, I presume you are duly diligent in conforming to all his software EULAs, and have all your software receipts, original media, proofs of purchase, and keep that check book open for upcoming upgrades. If so, you are fully ready to respond to the BSA in case of a software audit and have a lawyer on stand by.
We could work with a cereal company and distribute OSS CDs on cereal boxes! Junior takes the CD, drops it in, installs, OSS replaces/removes spyware, etc., replacing it with good OSS products! Make sure your computer gets its daily dose of vitamins GPL and OSS! Perhaps working with IBM for funding. Hey kids! Be the first on your block to run DB2 and Websphere! It makes your MP3's fly off your website!
We could advertise doing loops with Fruit Loops, shred your license costs with Shredded Wheat, crunch your software costs with Captain Crunch...ok, that might pique curiosity....but I am somewhat hesitant to associate OSS software with cereals that snap, crackle and pop.
The CD should hold two or three solid good choices for each major software category: Office Suites, Web Browser, Games as well as include easy to use Media software to handle MP3s and VCD, CD libraries, net phone/video, secure IRC, email, personal finance and tax software, dictionary, encyclopedias. It should have a greeting card making program, music editing MIDI, MP3, etc. As well as core internet tools allowing one to host websites, run firewalls, XTerm, VNC, FTP, SAMBA, security and system utilities, etc.
Perhaps using Peanut Linux or other smaller GUI-based Linux distribution that easily loads in along side MSFT Windows and plays games, DOS games and WINE.
Of course, for real fun, we could put hacking and cracking mini-CD's in Cracker Jacks...
What about Happy Meals with OSS Golden Archives mini-CDs? OSS Collections of the week? Collect cute little penguins with the mini-CDs?
Ask AOL, AT&T, or Earthlink to include a bundle of OSS software along with Mozilla? Imagine AT&T promoting OSS unix with it's broadband malings!! AT&T promoting unix again...such an odd come around that would be! Remember when...sigh.
Well, we could have Red Hat 7 at the 7/11 store?
CD design might be important. A boot CD that only has OSS OS and software on it that can run live, using a C: or A: drive for temporary files and data, could provide proof of concept for many folks.
Maybe we could get OSS software CDs included with cheap little hand scanners that look like pets or with CD/DVD burners.
Yep, it's time for my meds again. I'll check in again after demagnetizing the storage drums and flipping the core rings to zero. I know I left that Hollerith code book somewhere. Anybody else out there know the feel of the speed to hand spin reels of 9 track tape for data recovery?
Milk carton 'have you seen this missing OSS CD' ads?
Hostess cupcakes with web hosting CDs?
Bubble gum trading OSS mini-CDs?
Amazon books offering OSS mini-CDs with free shipping, mini-CDs which can be used as bookmarks or pocket mirrors too!
Phone cards printed on mini-CDs filled with OSS software.
Hallmark Christmas Star Trek ornaments made of OSS mini-CDs, collect all 64! Merry Christmas and hey, what's this ELF format OS stuff?
Umm...wait just a sec. Weren't these Waco "nuts" the recipients of a significant amount of government assistance towards their deaths? If the government, under the auspices of the head FBI newbie, Janet Reno, hadn't made this into a huge stand off, and perhaps just used water cannon, the whole thing might have ended very differently instead of as a massacre. They didn't fare any better than many other people seeking libery to lead a religious way of life, or just live, like say American Indians. Mormons may have been treated better.
History records their deaths as largely due to the assault of SWAT, BATF, FBI teams, along with tanks. It was the type of tear gas (flammable) and amunition (tracer bullets) that kicked off the hottest fires, and the fire fighting equipment ringing the area was restrained from doing anything to protect the children. Suppose it was your family that was surrounded by forces intent on your destruction, how would you handle that? Wouldn't that make you nuts?
American weapons, military and police training, Amercian intelligence, and billions in aid goes into several armies in the Middle East. The poor Arabs routinely end up viewing these things from the wrong end. There is no innocent party in the region. The blood revenge ethic goes back generations and millenia on all sides.
Something stronger than either Israel or Palestinians would have to occupy the entire area in order to stop the cycle of retribution.
Perhaps a very forceful dictatorship impsed by the U.N. One that would support religious freedom of worship, liberation of women, freedom of speech, freedome of assembly, etc. It would have to force Israel and Palestinians to share the land together, as a global spiritual resource. It would have to totally disarm all citizens of the resulting area. There would have to be international disavowing of retribution and blood revenge forever.
The XP Home license seems to only allow a few special Microsoft applications to remotely access and run software on the PC. A plain reading of the EULA seems to preclude using applications like Citrix or VNC to make a Windows session aviable outside the licensed box.
How about a FUD topic where comments from Sun, IBM, MSFT, Oracle, etc. are kept? Add a user moderation/voting system to allow readers to rank comments by a set of criteria, perhaps judging effectiveness of forum, rhetorical effect, arguments and tactics, effectivness as sound-bite, and relationship to verifiable facts. And then have Slashdot seek comment from the vendor's representatives regarding the FUD and Slashdot appraisal?
Whoo Hoo! I was pleased to see my rant (comment) made it to Comments That Express a View of the Revised Proposed Final Judgment and Offer Some Analysis. At least it wasn't dumped into the lot with porn and spam.
Please stand by for 6 to 9 months, and watch for the end of year rewarding of all those DOJ attorney's (James, et al) with cushy legal consulting jobs in Microsoft and it's well-behaved affiliates, and their tidy bundles of MSFT stock options just for signing on.
I'm sure they'll be responsible for keeping the rest of the states in line and locking up all available anti-trust litigation legal teams for years to come.
Bill Gates is selling 1 million shares today. Any coincidence?
I've noticed a significant increase in the amount of spam received on the Yahoo accounts of friends since January, 2002. Personally, I believe that when various free Groups were bought and merged with Yahoo groups, some came with email address security weaknesses spammers are exploiting. I added one filter that seems to kill most of the internal Yahoo spam. If the header says it originate's from within Yahoo but doesn't have the typical Yahoo! trailer, it is spam.
With press access to deposition testimony, evidence of patent grabbing agreements with the 20 top PC vendors, Tunney Act comments showing overwhelming opposition, Media Player bundling with that special feature of client-server user media access logging, does amy other last ditch legal manuever makes sense to a corporation perceiving itself on the ropes?
How can wireless data transfer of any specific type of data be patentable when we've had wireless digital transmission for decades? Perhaps starting with Aloha wireless ethernet in Hawaii done with university, state and federal cooperation? This seems patently absurd!
If your spreadsheet simply contained tables of static data, it would be hard consider that file as software.
However, the spreadsheet described contains formulas and/or macros, so it seems correct to consider it software. Some sort of processing occurs against the data according to rules which you programmed via these formulas, macros, and/or VBA code.
The Excel application features a programmable interface, a BASIC interpreter. Excel (like Word, Access, Power Point, Visio, and Internet Explorer) features a Visual Basic for Applications interpreter as an Office Automation feature. A spreadsheet file can contain executable code which the VBA interpreter processes. These 'macros' can be protected, 'compiled', and delivered in a 'binary' format, and even function as an add-in.
This programmability feature is not unique to Microsoft. Star Office supports a similar macro programming language for all it's cooperating applications.
Programmable office suites existed well before Microsoft Office. Anyone recall Ashton-Tate's Framework? Recall Borland's Sprint word processor with that macro language that resembled C or perhaps C-Sharp??!! Many other office software packages and suites have macro features like this and even programmer software development kits.
Many will argue there is a fine line between office automation and programming. I think it's a shame that government regulators would pursue this instance. It's sort of like the old Visicalc files that did IRS Form 1040 calculations. But they were free downloads. Were they programs? I suspect they might be. Did the government regulate them? Nope, they were basically ignored.
If you are presenting these files as providing automation/functionality appropriate for a business, you seem to have crossed the line into being a developer. So, I would conclude you should pay up. Consider another type of legal business not requiring this sort of regulation and continual governmental probing. Your spreadsheets will probably have to pass some sort of audit regulation in the future.
Death? Well, at least paranoia can certainly be fostered on this point.
These days it's possible for corporations to simply handle a person uniquely if they are in a teensy little 30,000 name database, cross-referenced with whatever else they want on you. That small list could fit on a Palm or Pocket PC.
So when you visit MSN, you might lack a gold star by your name and perhaps you may be given content differently than others might see, or perhaps just prioritized differently. When you visit a MSN affliate that is using an IIS server you might also have a unique experience.
You might receive unusual offers in the mail or phone,...or perhaps as you get in or out of your car:)
Or maybe some of this list of 30,000 might be esteemed differently in the future. You might be deemed a hero for the public interest. You might be deemed the recalcitrant obstructionist standing in the way of corporate progress. Or both.
Last paragraph suggests the court intends to distill the essence of the public's 15,000 anti-settlement, 7,500 pro-settlement, and 7,000 insubstantiated rants in a one day hearing the week of March 4th:
In light of the extensive comments and briefing that the Court will have before it, the parties believe that a hearing of one day in length will be sufficient to address any issues or areas of concern identified by the Court as appropriate for oral argument, even if a limited number of third parties are included. The United States believes that there is a substantial public interest in prompt resolution of the Tunney Act issues and entry of the RPFJ. Accordingly, the parties request that the Court conduct any Tunney Act hearing as soon as possible following submission of the public comments, the United States' response, and additional written materials, which will be filed by February 27, 2002. Specifically, the parties respectfully request that the Court hold the hearing, its calendar permitting, during the week of March 4, 2002.
So, what we learned from this is, that if too many people comment, the court can't pick any representative voices, and invite them for the oral arguments.
Perhaps Slashdotters might be able to propose to the court a suitable automated comment moderation system wherein volunteers or AI can sort out the mess. Then we'd just need to add a distiller to summarize the highly scored comments.
Instead of buying Red Hat, AOL could buy Lindows. Then they could get in on a unique litigation action and hold onto something Microsoft recognizes as a threat worthy of stomping out!
Just consider how much fun T/W could have rolling out AOLindows, capable of running AOL, Outlook, Office or Star Office, and MSN Messenger!
Everytime they pushed out an AOLindows, Microsoft loses an upgrade option. Everytime a PC maker preloads AOLindows, Microsoft loses an OEM license. That could be quite a coup!
There is the chilling possibility that should be considered, assuming widespred adoption of XP in industrial control and embedded functions, that manufactoring functions could be subverted.
Suppose Al Qaeda could gain control over manufactoring plants by hacking into the XP controlled factory automation systems?
Boeing airplanes could be created with hacks built in, so next time no terrorists are required on board.
Publishing systems might be hacked resulting in the purging of all books not meeting suitability criteria!
Microsoft Phone or CE Pocket Computers disrupt networks on command, or convey user information to a terrorist homebase.
<TONGUE IN CHEEK>
A butcher's freezer with embedded XP controller might refuse to keep pork frozen.
Automated diaper machines might be hacked resulting in the a national supply of mass produced disposable Burkies!
</TONGUE IN CHEEK>
Hold up guys. Just keep in mind all that shocking Microsoft XP is better than Linux propaganda is followed by this classic Microcruft waffle: This document is provided for informational purposes only, and Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to this document or the information contained in it. So their lawyers don't want their marketing folks to stand by their words, even if they publish them like they are fact. Just wait until we'll have a new Mindcraft comparison at the embedded level.
News release on media's recount of presidential vote swamped off the radar by the stories on NYC air plane crash.
Other stories crushed by it include war news like nukes and bio/chemical weapons in Afghanistan.
On the other hand, it's a great time to buy cheap stocks.
Gosh, here's the perfect topic for Ye Olde Curmudgeon!
Weren't the old drum storage systems used in the 1960's a ceramic structure coated with magentic surface? And that was an improvement on those birch bark 80 column cards.
But now we have advanced ceramics used in various other electronic media. And we measure our mean time between failure in hours.
So, how far have we really come in the last 5,000 years? They had fire and clay and their data remains readable after 5,000 years. We have lightening and clay and can't read data from 15 years ago and hard drives can fail in a flash.
Why aren't we planning storage and retrieval systems that can last thousands of years? Is it because our technical culture only values the last 2 to 3 years? How will we answer to our children when they can't figure out what we did 25 or 50 years from now? And I don't think we can blame it all as a planned obsolescence feature of Microsoft...well, maybe not all of it!
WINDOJ version 2, the Bush/Ashcroft approved legal experience for our infamous convicted monopolist Microsoft seems to say it's ok to make the client whatever you want, as long as you allow other middleware and serverware work with it.
NO $$$$$$$$$ PENALTIE$? Doesn't our government deserve a couple billion in fines? How are we going to pay for all those cruise missiles and keep those aircraft carriers running?
What does this leave states with? No wonder they're cranky. They wanted/need big cash like with big tobacco! Looks like Microsoft smoked 'em. I suppose even the states voting Republican will want a better deal. All they get is a piece of paper that says, "Don't worry, Microsoft will behave better starting in January, 2002 and we've got of 3 guys watching 'em for 5 years." The only economy this is good for is Microsoft stockholders. Sounds like a single beneficiary solution.
Was the IBM settlement anything like this? Was the US so concerned about the effect on the economy and IBM stock when that was settled?
These things could become a great source for funding OSS. Dual tones are used in most train, auto and truck horns...so that could also be treated similarly. But let's think bigger!
1) There is so many sounds to capture under copyright! A virtual waterfall! Perhaps a John Cage (R) type of musical composition can be made of computer keyboard clicks, clacks, chirps, POST beeps, computer fan sounds, startup and shutdown noices, noises associated with insertion and removal of various media, all manner of power switches, battery compartment opening and closings, stylus scratchings, changes in power levels, brown out and black out and power restore noises, microphone/speaker feedback noises, pops and whistles, touch screen manipulation sounds like finger tip dragging, monitor voltage pops, various plug insertions & removal, printer warm up sounds, printer printing sounds, paper jams, and of course the swishing of mice balls rolling on pads, all manner of static discharges, along with the visuals for LED flashes. Let's not overlook the sound of vacuum cleaners going over computer cables and eating small screws and little lumps of solder, and of fingers caught in crimpers. This should result in a much quieter world and prevent lawyers from ever using computers again.
2) Now I was reluctant to share this next idea, but I can't control myself anymore. Would someone friendly to OSS please patent the 'cursor' and 'scrolling' and assign it to Richard Stallman for GPL? That should cause all computer systems to fall under GPL...and we can start planning for a Happy Halloween! By Microsoft's legal theory, this should make all software coded via a cursor enabled program fall under GPL.
3. This takes really big thinking, bigger than the thoughts behind the above. Patent, Trademark and Copyright "Copy as Original Performance". Normally playback is assumed to be a copy, unless (heh, heh, heh!) we can get this construed as performance art in and of itself. We merely have to show a playback differs from original and the added component of additional human expression and creativity introduced makes it original...not derivative. Somehow we'd need to make the backdrop under which mimicry is performed stand out as creative and evolutionarily significant, like the deceptive bugs and animals in the world that mimic much deadlier or more nasty tasting critters.
4) If time permits, copyright sounds of water falling on rocks, sand, leaves, etc., snow landing on ice, heavy breathing, noises human bodies make solo and in groups of two or more,...all sounds of nature...that way ads can't use them without paying royalties.
5) Slashdot should be able to copyright or trademark 'Slashdotted', 'Moderated up/down', 'Post Comment', 'Slashdot effect'....
Slashdot Mirror
Electronics, shmoronics... Train a dog to watch and recognize her facial expressions. Train dog to jump on husband, bark and lick face. Theoretically, a normal husband wakes up to this. Modify dog response behavior until reliable husband awaking sequence found. Ok, some electronics allowed. Teach dog to paw actuator that makes sounds or dials 911. Dog will be nice companion as well. May be able to fetch things when needed.
But in order to make it possible to have an environment where a programmer writes that simple 10 lines of code in a VB dot Net application, it requires a number of Microsoft workstation and server software packages and servers working collaboratively, and properly configured. To create that illusion of a graceful swan easily sailing across the Visual Studio pond, one must look under the surface to see all the mad paddling done to configure and deploy the many servers and services required to make the magic happen, as well as to create the special Microsoft pond of network services in which this environment works. There's enough back-end work to set up the dot Net environment, securely and reliably, that can rival or exceed the work necessary for similar J2EE applications. Your VB dot net developer needs a platoon of MCSE's, DBAs, XML wizards, plus a barge load of dot net compatible servers and services to carry off the magic. It's certainly not just simple point, click, type a few lines of code, and deploy the magic. Adding in the proper security, performance design considerations, and proper object design takes weeks, just like with other good web service design tools.
Raters can be persuaded to consider all EBay merchants earning $1,000/month as 'full-time' active employees.
This defines a group that can be deemed eligible for the group employer rates like any large employer could get. The actuaries want to separate the casual, sporadic EBay user from the 'fulltime' active people. It is the 'fulltime' category which can be priced as a 'gainfully' employed group of a determinable kind.
The great unwashed masses of undefined 'users' can be anybody, presumably 18 to 99 years old. In the view of an actuary, such people are likely to be those for whom health insurance should be more expensive. The raters generally assume that 'healthy' hardworking, fulltime people experience less health problems than the general populace. The general masses are those who may be hocking their last piece of furniture, their 1979 Ford Pinto, or a CD of photos of a family member, or their 'unused' Microsoft software.
Perhaps Slashdot could offer Term Life? Make it a mutual plan so dividends (earnings after benefts are paid out) are split amongst members and Slashdot. To qualify one must login in with a compliant browser more than 7 hours a day, and be between age 18 and 80, with positive Karma, and who metamoderate. Failure to log in or logging in with a noncompliant (IE) browser terminates coverage. We can call this group professional posters!
Slashdot could offer a Health program as a nonprofit, but not fund it. Determine a way to define an associate relationship with an interest, like creating a very large board of directors. Everybody pays the actual premium cost, but at a group rate. Since individual family insurance runs $9,000 to $15,000 a year, depending on region, this might be desirable.
Shall we demand that Cowboy Neal offer a Slashdot poll on benefit plans most desirable to readers?
Might as well rate that MSDN page once you get bounced there. Feel free to give a rating based on general applicability, validity outside MSFT domain, for non-MS browsers, etc. I wonder what a Slashdot effect on the rating might be like...and if it might get re-adjusted by MSDN? :)
Perhaps Red Hat taking out patents makes more sense after this announcement. Red Hat may need to protect itself from United Linux.
I am concerned your comment may be more reflective of your ability to try than it is of Linux's capabilities. You don't give any particulars regarding distribution of Linux or the monitor type. Linux not understanding the monitor doesn't mean Linux wouldn't work at some level on it. It is highly likely that there are adjustments that could easily made to make it behave optimally. If you are saying you wished you had help, describe the problem, people will voluntarily give help or point to an informative resource. Next time your Windows misbehaves, or welcomes in a new virus, try getting help from Gates without paying for the time. However, you might find people here who could point you to good help. Since you chose to remain under Bill Gate's rules, I presume you are duly diligent in conforming to all his software EULAs, and have all your software receipts, original media, proofs of purchase, and keep that check book open for upcoming upgrades. If so, you are fully ready to respond to the BSA in case of a software audit and have a lawyer on stand by.
We could work with a cereal company and distribute OSS CDs on cereal boxes! Junior takes the CD, drops it in, installs, OSS replaces/removes spyware, etc., replacing it with good OSS products! Make sure your computer gets its daily dose of vitamins GPL and OSS! Perhaps working with IBM for funding. Hey kids! Be the first on your block to run DB2 and Websphere! It makes your MP3's fly off your website! We could advertise doing loops with Fruit Loops, shred your license costs with Shredded Wheat, crunch your software costs with Captain Crunch...ok, that might pique curiosity. ...but I am somewhat hesitant to associate OSS software with cereals that snap, crackle and pop.
The CD should hold two or three solid good choices for each major software category: Office Suites, Web Browser, Games as well as include easy to use Media software to handle MP3s and VCD, CD libraries, net phone/video, secure IRC, email, personal finance and tax software, dictionary, encyclopedias. It should have a greeting card making program, music editing MIDI, MP3, etc. As well as core internet tools allowing one to host websites, run firewalls, XTerm, VNC, FTP, SAMBA, security and system utilities, etc.
Perhaps using Peanut Linux or other smaller GUI-based Linux distribution that easily loads in along side MSFT Windows and plays games, DOS games and WINE.
Of course, for real fun, we could put hacking and cracking mini-CD's in Cracker Jacks...
What about Happy Meals with OSS Golden Archives mini-CDs? OSS Collections of the week? Collect cute little penguins with the mini-CDs?
Ask AOL, AT&T, or Earthlink to include a bundle of OSS software along with Mozilla? Imagine AT&T promoting OSS unix with it's broadband malings!! AT&T promoting unix again...such an odd come around that would be! Remember when...sigh.
Well, we could have Red Hat 7 at the 7/11 store?
CD design might be important. A boot CD that only has OSS OS and software on it that can run live, using a C: or A: drive for temporary files and data, could provide proof of concept for many folks.
Maybe we could get OSS software CDs included with cheap little hand scanners that look like pets or with CD/DVD burners.
Yep, it's time for my meds again. I'll check in again after demagnetizing the storage drums and flipping the core rings to zero. I know I left that Hollerith code book somewhere. Anybody else out there know the feel of the speed to hand spin reels of 9 track tape for data recovery?
Milk carton 'have you seen this missing OSS CD' ads?
Hostess cupcakes with web hosting CDs?
Bubble gum trading OSS mini-CDs?
Amazon books offering OSS mini-CDs with free shipping, mini-CDs which can be used as bookmarks or pocket mirrors too!
Phone cards printed on mini-CDs filled with OSS software.
Hallmark Christmas Star Trek ornaments made of OSS mini-CDs, collect all 64! Merry Christmas and hey, what's this ELF format OS stuff?
History records their deaths as largely due to the assault of SWAT, BATF, FBI teams, along with tanks. It was the type of tear gas (flammable) and amunition (tracer bullets) that kicked off the hottest fires, and the fire fighting equipment ringing the area was restrained from doing anything to protect the children. Suppose it was your family that was surrounded by forces intent on your destruction, how would you handle that? Wouldn't that make you nuts?
American weapons, military and police training, Amercian intelligence, and billions in aid goes into several armies in the Middle East. The poor Arabs routinely end up viewing these things from the wrong end. There is no innocent party in the region. The blood revenge ethic goes back generations and millenia on all sides.
Something stronger than either Israel or Palestinians would have to occupy the entire area in order to stop the cycle of retribution. Perhaps a very forceful dictatorship impsed by the U.N. One that would support religious freedom of worship, liberation of women, freedom of speech, freedome of assembly, etc. It would have to force Israel and Palestinians to share the land together, as a global spiritual resource. It would have to totally disarm all citizens of the resulting area. There would have to be international disavowing of retribution and blood revenge forever.
For details: MS: Keep Your Filthy VNC Off Our XP
How about a FUD topic where comments from Sun, IBM, MSFT, Oracle, etc. are kept? Add a user moderation/voting system to allow readers to rank comments by a set of criteria, perhaps judging effectiveness of forum, rhetorical effect, arguments and tactics, effectivness as sound-bite, and relationship to verifiable facts. And then have Slashdot seek comment from the vendor's representatives regarding the FUD and Slashdot appraisal?
Please stand by for 6 to 9 months, and watch for the end of year rewarding of all those DOJ attorney's (James, et al) with cushy legal consulting jobs in Microsoft and it's well-behaved affiliates, and their tidy bundles of MSFT stock options just for signing on.
I'm sure they'll be responsible for keeping the rest of the states in line and locking up all available anti-trust litigation legal teams for years to come.
Bill Gates is selling 1 million shares today. Any coincidence?
I've noticed a significant increase in the amount of spam received on the Yahoo accounts of friends since January, 2002. Personally, I believe that when various free Groups were bought and merged with Yahoo groups, some came with email address security weaknesses spammers are exploiting. I added one filter that seems to kill most of the internal Yahoo spam. If the header says it originate's from within Yahoo but doesn't have the typical Yahoo! trailer, it is spam.
With press access to deposition testimony, evidence of patent grabbing agreements with the 20 top PC vendors, Tunney Act comments showing overwhelming opposition, Media Player bundling with that special feature of client-server user media access logging, does amy other last ditch legal manuever makes sense to a corporation perceiving itself on the ropes?
How can wireless data transfer of any specific type of data be patentable when we've had wireless digital transmission for decades? Perhaps starting with Aloha wireless ethernet in Hawaii done with university, state and federal cooperation? This seems patently absurd!
Ok, count to 15...just do it! It seems ambiguous like a typical /. poll question.
However, the spreadsheet described contains formulas and/or macros, so it seems correct to consider it software. Some sort of processing occurs against the data according to rules which you programmed via these formulas, macros, and/or VBA code.
The Excel application features a programmable interface, a BASIC interpreter. Excel (like Word, Access, Power Point, Visio, and Internet Explorer) features a Visual Basic for Applications interpreter as an Office Automation feature. A spreadsheet file can contain executable code which the VBA interpreter processes. These 'macros' can be protected, 'compiled', and delivered in a 'binary' format, and even function as an add-in.
This programmability feature is not unique to Microsoft. Star Office supports a similar macro programming language for all it's cooperating applications.
Programmable office suites existed well before Microsoft Office. Anyone recall Ashton-Tate's Framework? Recall Borland's Sprint word processor with that macro language that resembled C or perhaps C-Sharp??!! Many other office software packages and suites have macro features like this and even programmer software development kits.
Many will argue there is a fine line between office automation and programming. I think it's a shame that government regulators would pursue this instance. It's sort of like the old Visicalc files that did IRS Form 1040 calculations. But they were free downloads. Were they programs? I suspect they might be. Did the government regulate them? Nope, they were basically ignored.
If you are presenting these files as providing automation/functionality appropriate for a business, you seem to have crossed the line into being a developer. So, I would conclude you should pay up. Consider another type of legal business not requiring this sort of regulation and continual governmental probing. Your spreadsheets will probably have to pass some sort of audit regulation in the future.
These days it's possible for corporations to simply handle a person uniquely if they are in a teensy little 30,000 name database, cross-referenced with whatever else they want on you. That small list could fit on a Palm or Pocket PC.
So when you visit MSN, you might lack a gold star by your name and perhaps you may be given content differently than others might see, or perhaps just prioritized differently. When you visit a MSN affliate that is using an IIS server you might also have a unique experience.
You might receive unusual offers in the mail or phone, ...or perhaps as you get in or out of your car:)
Or maybe some of this list of 30,000 might be esteemed differently in the future. You might be deemed a hero for the public interest. You might be deemed the recalcitrant obstructionist standing in the way of corporate progress. Or both.
Last paragraph suggests the court intends to distill the essence of the public's 15,000 anti-settlement, 7,500 pro-settlement, and 7,000 insubstantiated rants in a one day hearing the week of March 4th:
In light of the extensive comments and briefing that the Court will have before it, the parties believe that a hearing of one day in length will be sufficient to address any issues or areas of concern identified by the Court as appropriate for oral argument, even if a limited number of third parties are included. The United States believes that there is a substantial public interest in prompt resolution of the Tunney Act issues and entry of the RPFJ. Accordingly, the parties request that the Court conduct any Tunney Act hearing as soon as possible following submission of the public comments, the United States' response, and additional written materials, which will be filed by February 27, 2002. Specifically, the parties respectfully request that the Court hold the hearing, its calendar permitting, during the week of March 4, 2002.
So, what we learned from this is, that if too many people comment, the court can't pick any representative voices, and invite them for the oral arguments.
Perhaps Slashdotters might be able to propose to the court a suitable automated comment moderation system wherein volunteers or AI can sort out the mess. Then we'd just need to add a distiller to summarize the highly scored comments.
Capitalistic day dreams.
Instead of buying Red Hat, AOL could buy Lindows. Then they could get in on a unique litigation action and hold onto something Microsoft recognizes as a threat worthy of stomping out!
Just consider how much fun T/W could have rolling out AOLindows, capable of running AOL, Outlook, Office or Star Office, and MSN Messenger!
Everytime they pushed out an AOLindows, Microsoft loses an upgrade option. Everytime a PC maker preloads AOLindows, Microsoft loses an OEM license. That could be quite a coup!
Suppose Al Qaeda could gain control over manufactoring plants by hacking into the XP controlled factory automation systems?
Boeing airplanes could be created with hacks built in, so next time no terrorists are required on board.
Publishing systems might be hacked resulting in the purging of all books not meeting suitability criteria!
Microsoft Phone or CE Pocket Computers disrupt networks on command, or convey user information to a terrorist homebase.
<TONGUE IN CHEEK>
A butcher's freezer with embedded XP controller might refuse to keep pork frozen.
Automated diaper machines might be hacked resulting in the a national supply of mass produced disposable Burkies!
</TONGUE IN CHEEK>
Hold up guys. Just keep in mind all that shocking Microsoft XP is better than Linux propaganda is followed by this classic Microcruft waffle: This document is provided for informational purposes only, and Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to this document or the information contained in it. So their lawyers don't want their marketing folks to stand by their words, even if they publish them like they are fact. Just wait until we'll have a new Mindcraft comparison at the embedded level.
News release on media's recount of presidential vote swamped off the radar by the stories on NYC air plane crash.
Other stories crushed by it include war news like nukes and bio/chemical weapons in Afghanistan.
On the other hand, it's a great time to buy cheap stocks.
Weren't the old drum storage systems used in the 1960's a ceramic structure coated with magentic surface? And that was an improvement on those birch bark 80 column cards.
But now we have advanced ceramics used in various other electronic media. And we measure our mean time between failure in hours.
So, how far have we really come in the last 5,000 years? They had fire and clay and their data remains readable after 5,000 years. We have lightening and clay and can't read data from 15 years ago and hard drives can fail in a flash.
Why aren't we planning storage and retrieval systems that can last thousands of years? Is it because our technical culture only values the last 2 to 3 years? How will we answer to our children when they can't figure out what we did 25 or 50 years from now? And I don't think we can blame it all as a planned obsolescence feature of Microsoft...well, maybe not all of it!
NO $$$$$$$$$ PENALTIE$? Doesn't our government deserve a couple billion in fines? How are we going to pay for all those cruise missiles and keep those aircraft carriers running?
What does this leave states with? No wonder they're cranky. They wanted/need big cash like with big tobacco! Looks like Microsoft smoked 'em. I suppose even the states voting Republican will want a better deal. All they get is a piece of paper that says, "Don't worry, Microsoft will behave better starting in January, 2002 and we've got of 3 guys watching 'em for 5 years." The only economy this is good for is Microsoft stockholders. Sounds like a single beneficiary solution.
Was the IBM settlement anything like this? Was the US so concerned about the effect on the economy and IBM stock when that was settled?
1) There is so many sounds to capture under copyright! A virtual waterfall! Perhaps a John Cage (R) type of musical composition can be made of computer keyboard clicks, clacks, chirps, POST beeps, computer fan sounds, startup and shutdown noices, noises associated with insertion and removal of various media, all manner of power switches, battery compartment opening and closings, stylus scratchings, changes in power levels, brown out and black out and power restore noises, microphone/speaker feedback noises, pops and whistles, touch screen manipulation sounds like finger tip dragging, monitor voltage pops, various plug insertions & removal, printer warm up sounds, printer printing sounds, paper jams, and of course the swishing of mice balls rolling on pads, all manner of static discharges, along with the visuals for LED flashes. Let's not overlook the sound of vacuum cleaners going over computer cables and eating small screws and little lumps of solder, and of fingers caught in crimpers. This should result in a much quieter world and prevent lawyers from ever using computers again.
2) Now I was reluctant to share this next idea, but I can't control myself anymore. Would someone friendly to OSS please patent the 'cursor' and 'scrolling' and assign it to Richard Stallman for GPL? That should cause all computer systems to fall under GPL...and we can start planning for a Happy Halloween! By Microsoft's legal theory, this should make all software coded via a cursor enabled program fall under GPL.
3. This takes really big thinking, bigger than the thoughts behind the above. Patent, Trademark and Copyright "Copy as Original Performance". Normally playback is assumed to be a copy, unless (heh, heh, heh!) we can get this construed as performance art in and of itself. We merely have to show a playback differs from original and the added component of additional human expression and creativity introduced makes it original...not derivative. Somehow we'd need to make the backdrop under which mimicry is performed stand out as creative and evolutionarily significant, like the deceptive bugs and animals in the world that mimic much deadlier or more nasty tasting critters.
4) If time permits, copyright sounds of water falling on rocks, sand, leaves, etc., snow landing on ice, heavy breathing, noises human bodies make solo and in groups of two or more, ...all sounds of nature...that way ads can't use them without paying royalties.
5) Slashdot should be able to copyright or trademark 'Slashdotted', 'Moderated up/down', 'Post Comment', 'Slashdot effect'....
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