Something else that IE (as of last time I looked anyway) and possibly other browsers get wrong is that they try to "guess" the content of the file instead of trusting that what the web server says the file is, the file actually is. If the web server says it is text/plain, it should be rendered as plain text even if it may happen to look like HTML. If the web server says it is image/gif, it should be fed to the gif image decoder. RFC 2161 (HTTP 1.1) section 7.2.1 clearly says that it is ok for a client to use the filename or content of a file to identify what file type it is (and therefore what to do with it) if and ONLY IF the server does not provide a Content-Type header. There have actually been security flaws in the past (and may still be even now) caused because different parts of IE have a different idea of what type the file is (in particular whether the file is executable or not)
Then again, considering how many other standards Intercrap Exploder doesn't correctly follow (RFCs and otherwise), its hardly surprising that IE doesn't get this right.
I do wonder if Gecko gets it right (and treats the Content-Type header as gospel) or if violates the RFC too.
IANAL but a clean room reverse engineering of the exchange protocol (e.g. by sniffing the network traffic) built following whatever "clean room" guidelines the SAMBA team follow should be legal unless it violates a Microsoft patent. (whether Microsoft has patents that cover exchange or parts thereof I haven't a clue) DMCA doesn't apply since the exchange protocol isn't protecting access to copyrighted works and even then, a 3rd party exchange client would probably fall under the "interoperability exemption" of the DMCA (IANAL so I cant say for sure).
Plus, the Microsoft dominance of the corporate email space (including Exchange Server on servers, Outlook on clients, Outlook Web Access, Exchange email on Windows Mobile devices and 3rd party clients that have paid the huge MS fees and licensed the exchange protocol under NDA) is high on the hit-list for the various governments looking at MS for anti-trust violations.
The US government (or the state governments if this is a state responsibility) should basically make it illegal to sell an event ticket (concert, sporting match etc) for more than what was originally paid to the event organizer/promoter/the company legally allowed to sell the tickets (so in this case it would be illegal to resell the tickets for a higher price than was paid to ticketmaster to purchase the tickets)
The payouts they can get for one copy of a given film or TV show being shared over BitTorrent are higher than the payouts they can get for many illegal DVDs of the same film or TV show.
Actually, there IS a plugin that lets you host an ActiveX control inside Mozilla/Firefox/Gecko. It was written (AFAIK) specifically to host the Windows Media Player ActiveX so that Gecko browsers on windows could play Windows Media content. However, with WMP11, there is now a proper gecko-friendly plugin available I believe.
With the exception of Windows Update, I have yet to see any part of the Microsoft owned websites fail to run in SeaMonkey. Thanks to genuinecheck.exe from MS, I can even download all the WGA protected stuff without the need to install the WGA ActiveX crap and use IE.
Actually, given how many ATMs I see around that say "diebold" on them (and how many people I see using said ATMs) I think they are clearly able to compete in that sector. And, unlike their paperless voting machines, their ATMs will happily give me a piece of paper telling me how much money is left in my account.
Then the MPAA wouldn't be able to force them to turn on logging and capture the information (unless they are able to force changes in German privacy law that is)
Interesting to see how things have developed since those stories.
DES has been well and truly cracked. Countries are STILL investigating Microsoft for "monopolistic practices" and Microsoft STILL has done almost nothing about it. Johnny Mnemonic style implantable computers are STILL many years away (despite all the research) Netscape DID open source their browser and Microsoft beat the pants off them anyway (because of the aforementioned dirty tricks MS pulled)
One big problem is the number of OSS licenses created by companies who open source previously commercial software. (or to write new software themselves and open it up) Examples: Netscape Public License OpenWatcom Public License Sun CDDL IBM CPL QT QPL Apple Public Source License
The files in question are signed with Microsoft's own digital signature. Ergo (assuming no-one has stolen the signing files somehow and assuming no-one has been able to install a fake certificate by stealth) the files are genuine and are not viruses.
1.Which features of the cards ATI will never document (will we see documentation for the TV out functionality in these cards for example?) and 2.Which features are going to take the longest to document (because of patents/3rd party code)
Another thing to remember is that tweaking for desktop vs server performance is not an either-or option. You can have one set of kernel options for "tweak for servers" and another set for "tweak for desktops".
Can you get BSD drivers for or or whatever other hardware the phone has? Most likely its simply the case that linux has better support right now for the hardware todays phones actually have. And it has commercial support from several vendors (MontaVista for example) for running on various ARM based CPUs and platforms including those used by the cellphone companies.
Does this mean that Microsoft has to let free software use its network protocols and data formats? Or can Microsoft continue with the status quo and lock free software out? (i.e. the "Microsoft Communications Protocol Program" which is great if you are IBM wanting to make your mainframes talk to the Windows machines in the network but not so great if you are Samba wanting to make a solution that lets you replace a Windows active directory server with a linux machine)
Playing an audio file from your phone through speakers requires different permissions than playing the same audio file from the same phone through the same speakers in response to a phone call event... How screwed up is that?
And if Microsoft paid bribes to the Cubans to get their vote, doesn't that mean Microsoft is in violation of the export embargo (which makes it illegal for Americans or American companies to give money to Cuba)
Here is an idea that might help stop the medical spam.
Lets assume that these spammers actually have some kind of product (whether it works/does what is claimed or not is irrelevant, what matters is that they have a product) and are actually sending it out to people who buy from their crappy.biz website.
If the place where the pills are coming from is located outside of the US, the drugs can be stopped in the mail (I believe mailing drugs into the US from outside of the US is illegal). If the place where the pills are coming from is located inside the US then the places they are being sent from could be shut down for not having a license or something. If enough people bought these "generic drugs" and didnt actually get them, they might care enough to complain to the supplier.
Also, maybe an advertising campaign funded by the FDA and/or the big drug companies (remember, people who are spending money to try and get "Generic Viagra" or "Herbal Viagra" or whatever are depriving companies like Pfizer of income plus in some cases people mistakenly associate the crappy "generic" drugs with the companies that make the real thing and that would be bad.
The ad campaign would basically be TV ads/letterbox drop/whatever that would warn people of the risks/dangers (e.g. receiving wrong product, receiving product that hasn't been fully tested etc) of using these "generic medications" (although the danger is that it could backfire with people thinking its just a way for the drug companies to shut out the competition and keep prices high)
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Something else that IE (as of last time I looked anyway) and possibly other browsers get wrong is that they try to "guess" the content of the file instead of trusting that what the web server says the file is, the file actually is. If the web server says it is text/plain, it should be rendered as plain text even if it may happen to look like HTML. If the web server says it is image/gif, it should be fed to the gif image decoder.
RFC 2161 (HTTP 1.1) section 7.2.1 clearly says that it is ok for a client to use the filename or content of a file to identify what file type it is (and therefore what to do with it) if and ONLY IF the server does not provide a Content-Type header.
There have actually been security flaws in the past (and may still be even now) caused because different parts of IE have a different idea of what type the file is (in particular whether the file is executable or not)
Then again, considering how many other standards Intercrap Exploder doesn't correctly follow (RFCs and otherwise), its hardly surprising that IE doesn't get this right.
I do wonder if Gecko gets it right (and treats the Content-Type header as gospel) or if violates the RFC too.
IANAL but a clean room reverse engineering of the exchange protocol (e.g. by sniffing the network traffic) built following whatever "clean room" guidelines the SAMBA team follow should be legal unless it violates a Microsoft patent. (whether Microsoft has patents that cover exchange or parts thereof I haven't a clue) DMCA doesn't apply since the exchange protocol isn't protecting access to copyrighted works and even then, a 3rd party exchange client would probably fall under the "interoperability exemption" of the DMCA (IANAL so I cant say for sure).
Plus, the Microsoft dominance of the corporate email space (including Exchange Server on servers, Outlook on clients, Outlook Web Access, Exchange email on Windows Mobile devices and 3rd party clients that have paid the huge MS fees and licensed the exchange protocol under NDA) is high on the hit-list for the various governments looking at MS for anti-trust violations.
The US government (or the state governments if this is a state responsibility) should basically make it illegal to sell an event ticket (concert, sporting match etc) for more than what was originally paid to the event organizer/promoter/the company legally allowed to sell the tickets (so in this case it would be illegal to resell the tickets for a higher price than was paid to ticketmaster to purchase the tickets)
Problem solved.
The payouts they can get for one copy of a given film or TV show being shared over BitTorrent are higher than the payouts they can get for many illegal DVDs of the same film or TV show.
Actually, there IS a plugin that lets you host an ActiveX control inside Mozilla/Firefox/Gecko. It was written (AFAIK) specifically to host the Windows Media Player ActiveX so that Gecko browsers on windows could play Windows Media content. However, with WMP11, there is now a proper gecko-friendly plugin available I believe.
With the exception of Windows Update, I have yet to see any part of the Microsoft owned websites fail to run in SeaMonkey. Thanks to genuinecheck.exe from MS, I can even download all the WGA protected stuff without the need to install the WGA ActiveX crap and use IE.
Freenet? The only thing that Freenet needs is better searching IMO.
Actually, given how many ATMs I see around that say "diebold" on them (and how many people I see using said ATMs) I think they are clearly able to compete in that sector. And, unlike their paperless voting machines, their ATMs will happily give me a piece of paper telling me how much money is left in my account.
Then the MPAA wouldn't be able to force them to turn on logging and capture the information (unless they are able to force changes in German privacy law that is)
And if you are unlucky enough to own an I-Mode phone, you have DoJa instead of J2ME which is totally different again.
Interesting to see how things have developed since those stories.
DES has been well and truly cracked.
Countries are STILL investigating Microsoft for "monopolistic practices" and Microsoft STILL has done almost nothing about it.
Johnny Mnemonic style implantable computers are STILL many years away (despite all the research)
Netscape DID open source their browser and Microsoft beat the pants off them anyway (because of the aforementioned dirty tricks MS pulled)
Tivoization clearly infringes on the first freedom as it prevents you from running the program for certain purposes.
One big problem is the number of OSS licenses created by companies who open source previously commercial software. (or to write new software themselves and open it up) Examples:
Netscape Public License
OpenWatcom Public License
Sun CDDL
IBM CPL
QT QPL
Apple Public Source License
PS3 has OpenGL actually.
The files in question are signed with Microsoft's own digital signature. Ergo (assuming no-one has stolen the signing files somehow and assuming no-one has been able to install a fake certificate by stealth) the files are genuine and are not viruses.
1.Which features of the cards ATI will never document (will we see documentation for the TV out functionality in these cards for example?)
and 2.Which features are going to take the longest to document (because of patents/3rd party code)
Another thing to remember is that tweaking for desktop vs server performance is not an either-or option. You can have one set of kernel options for "tweak for servers" and another set for "tweak for desktops".
You forgot Darth Vader from that list. Must include the heavy breathing mask sound :)
Can you get BSD drivers for or or whatever other hardware the phone has? Most likely its simply the case that linux has better support right now for the hardware todays phones actually have.
And it has commercial support from several vendors (MontaVista for example) for running on various ARM based CPUs and platforms including those used by the cellphone companies.
Does this mean that Microsoft has to let free software use its network protocols and data formats?
Or can Microsoft continue with the status quo and lock free software out? (i.e. the "Microsoft Communications Protocol Program" which is great if you are IBM wanting to make your mainframes talk to the Windows machines in the network but not so great if you are Samba wanting to make a solution that lets you replace a Windows active directory server with a linux machine)
Playing an audio file from your phone through speakers requires different permissions than playing the same audio file from the same phone through the same speakers in response to a phone call event... How screwed up is that?
And if Microsoft paid bribes to the Cubans to get their vote, doesn't that mean Microsoft is in violation of the export embargo (which makes it illegal for Americans or American companies to give money to Cuba)
You could always buy one from the USA and unlock it with the new software unlock.
Just wait for the hackers to find a way to copy the apps from the iPhone to the iPod Touch.
Here is an idea that might help stop the medical spam.
.biz website.
Lets assume that these spammers actually have some kind of product (whether it works/does what is claimed or not is irrelevant, what matters is that they have a product) and are actually sending it out to people who buy from their crappy
If the place where the pills are coming from is located outside of the US, the drugs can be stopped in the mail (I believe mailing drugs into the US from outside of the US is illegal). If the place where the pills are coming from is located inside the US then the places they are being sent from could be shut down for not having a license or something. If enough people bought these "generic drugs" and didnt actually get them, they might care enough to complain to the supplier.
Also, maybe an advertising campaign funded by the FDA and/or the big drug companies (remember, people who are spending money to try and get "Generic Viagra" or "Herbal Viagra" or whatever are depriving companies like Pfizer of income plus in some cases people mistakenly associate the crappy "generic" drugs with the companies that make the real thing and that would be bad.
The ad campaign would basically be TV ads/letterbox drop/whatever that would warn people of the risks/dangers (e.g. receiving wrong product, receiving product that hasn't been fully tested etc) of using these "generic medications" (although the danger is that it could backfire with people thinking its just a way for the drug companies to shut out the competition and keep prices high)