As far as I can see, the whole problem is because of the fact that proprietary programs can't be reviewed by anyone. While this may seem totally obvious, the fact remains that if I employ people to write a program, there is no way I can tell whether or not any portions of code are plagiarized until I get a chance to review every ilne of every program written by every company in the world. If a writer steals a paragraph from a book and calls it his own, any literate person can verify whether that is the case or not. But claiming IP theft of closed secret code is stretching credibility when no one can see your closed code.
Apart from that, the liability would naturally fall upon the code bandit himself, not the company who innocently distributed it. For example if Cathy Codequeen stole code from Company X and inserted it into the new version of ssh, her name would be listed on the changelogs and when Company X wanted to sue Company Y for IP infringement, their liability would be zero as would the liability of SuSE or Redhat or whomever was the distributor. They would have to sue the thief, Ms Codequeen.
Excuse my ignorance, but would it not be possible to write a low-level program to intercept calls to a chip like this and reply to such calls with whatever answers you would like? I'm not a programmer nor software engineer but it seems to me that software calls to a hardware address could be redirected to a routine preloaded into RAM automatically and since the hardware address would be "hard-coded" it would be trivial to spoof the replying address if that were needed. If such is the case, all we would need is a software solution to overcome the "trusted computer" hardware handcuffs. Or no?
To heck with the p2p file transfers. Think of each PDA receiving and sending out a carrier signal then a non-ISP "wireless ethernet" type of network could be accessed. P2P could be worked out whether the host is 2 feet or 200 miles away provided there were enough PDA's between it and the client. I'm certainly not an electronic engineer but seems to me once a link was established, TCP could be used to create a free "sub-ethernet," no?
I'm a Linux user in Mexico. The depth of Linux user is probably less here than in the blessed US of A. But who cares? I changed my computer, that of my wife and that of my son (age 4) from Windows to Linux and guess what? WE'RE ALL HAPPY AS CLAMS BECAUSE OF THE CHANGE! No more BSOD's, no more viruses (NOT virii, by the way, you dumbasses) and no more strange undiagnosable crashes. Yes, I still support Windows the same as I have for the past 15 years. But the hell with the rest of the world. They're not operating our family's computers. Are we included in this survey? Most probably not. BUT I DON'T CARE!! I'll (we'll) use Linux until something better comes along. If MS decides to produce a better OS, then "come on down." But until then, we'll stick with the penguin, thank you very much.
I can't say I hate to see Microsoft getting a bit of a challenge nor that I hate to see Linux moving forward. But in the final analysis of the L vs W battle, I truly don't care. I made my decision to install SuSE 7.1 on my family's machines and we're all totally pleased with the results. I have installed the same on a couple friend's machines and they are pleased, too. Fight all you want, MS. After years of Window-ing, I found something that I think is better. I didn't marry MS and don't feel bad about abandoning it. Certainly I would like to see Linux become the no. 1 OS but if it doesn't, who cares? I like Linux and have NO plans to change and will continue to quietly recommend it to all those who deserve it. Keep in mind that there ARE people who deserve nothing better than MS Windows and AOL. God bless 'em. Linux can't die because it's not a company or a commercial entity - it's a movement of people just looking for a better way of making their computers work the way THEY want them to. Do what you want, Microsoft, but be professional about it. If you can't compete on quality, look for popularity. All I ask is that you leave me and my family alone to enjoy OUR system of choice.
I seem to remember back in my old Tandy CoCo days that there was such a device commercially available. I don't remember much about it but maybe someone still has some ancient copies of Rainbow magazine around. Gee how time flies - but remember the golden days of the early 80's when a 20 MB Seagate cost almost $300? sigh.
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As far as I can see, the whole problem is because of the fact that proprietary programs can't be reviewed by anyone. While this may seem totally obvious, the fact remains that if I employ people to write a program, there is no way I can tell whether or not any portions of code are plagiarized until I get a chance to review every ilne of every program written by every company in the world. If a writer steals a paragraph from a book and calls it his own, any literate person can verify whether that is the case or not. But claiming IP theft of closed secret code is stretching credibility when no one can see your closed code.
Apart from that, the liability would naturally fall upon the code bandit himself, not the company who innocently distributed it. For example if Cathy Codequeen stole code from Company X and inserted it into the new version of ssh, her name would be listed on the changelogs and when Company X wanted to sue Company Y for IP infringement, their liability would be zero as would the liability of SuSE or Redhat or whomever was the distributor. They would have to sue the thief, Ms Codequeen.
Bahgdad Bob has resurfaced! He's been hired by SCO to head up the PR Department!
Excuse my ignorance, but would it not be possible to write a low-level program to intercept calls to a chip like this and reply to such calls with whatever answers you would like? I'm not a programmer nor software engineer but it seems to me that software calls to a hardware address could be redirected to a routine preloaded into RAM automatically and since the hardware address would be "hard-coded" it would be trivial to spoof the replying address if that were needed. If such is the case, all we would need is a software solution to overcome the "trusted computer" hardware handcuffs. Or no?
To heck with the p2p file transfers. Think of each PDA receiving and sending out a carrier signal then a non-ISP "wireless ethernet" type of network could be accessed. P2P could be worked out whether the host is 2 feet or 200 miles away provided there were enough PDA's between it and the client. I'm certainly not an electronic engineer but seems to me once a link was established, TCP could be used to create a free "sub-ethernet," no?
I'm a Linux user in Mexico. The depth of Linux user is probably less here than in the blessed US of A. But who cares? I changed my computer, that of my wife and that of my son (age 4) from Windows to Linux and guess what? WE'RE ALL HAPPY AS CLAMS BECAUSE OF THE CHANGE! No more BSOD's, no more viruses (NOT virii, by the way, you dumbasses) and no more strange undiagnosable crashes. Yes, I still support Windows the same as I have for the past 15 years. But the hell with the rest of the world. They're not operating our family's computers. Are we included in this survey? Most probably not. BUT I DON'T CARE!! I'll (we'll) use Linux until something better comes along. If MS decides to produce a better OS, then "come on down." But until then, we'll stick with the penguin, thank you very much.
I can't say I hate to see Microsoft getting a bit of a challenge nor that I hate to see Linux moving forward. But in the final analysis of the L vs W battle, I truly don't care. I made my decision to install SuSE 7.1 on my family's machines and we're all totally pleased with the results. I have installed the same on a couple friend's machines and they are pleased, too. Fight all you want, MS. After years of Window-ing, I found something that I think is better. I didn't marry MS and don't feel bad about abandoning it. Certainly I would like to see Linux become the no. 1 OS but if it doesn't, who cares? I like Linux and have NO plans to change and will continue to quietly recommend it to all those who deserve it. Keep in mind that there ARE people who deserve nothing better than MS Windows and AOL. God bless 'em. Linux can't die because it's not a company or a commercial entity - it's a movement of people just looking for a better way of making their computers work the way THEY want them to. Do what you want, Microsoft, but be professional about it. If you can't compete on quality, look for popularity. All I ask is that you leave me and my family alone to enjoy OUR system of choice.
I seem to remember back in my old Tandy CoCo days that there was such a device commercially available. I don't remember much about it but maybe someone still has some ancient copies of Rainbow magazine around. Gee how time flies - but remember the golden days of the early 80's when a 20 MB Seagate cost almost $300? sigh.