"Yep - there's no denying the fact that microsoft's only strong suit has been marketing - the products ALWAYS suck"
Maybe Windows 'sucked', but at least it sucked in such a way that millions of non-computer geeks were able to pick it up and use it comfortably. Is it so hard to acknowledge the idea that Microsoft's focus on the end user experience actually had something to do with their success?
"No, I don't expect my little djrpg project programmed in vbdos 1.0 and given away for free to be held to the same standard as the 500 dollar USD Microsoft Visual Studio."
If your carelessness leaves my computer open to the world to exploit, you bet your ass you're responsible. If MS can be busted for it, then you should too. Otherwise, yes, you are a hypocrite.
Free seems like a great rebuttal until you realize that the security of your computer is at stake either way. If only commercial apps can be held liable for creative flaws executed by somebody with malicious intent, then it's a ding against FOSS. Who'd want to put their business on a platform that holds no liability?
Anyhoo, I've drifted off my point. You guys gotta be fair when you want MS to be punished. Promoting the singling out of MS is working against Slashdot's reputation. Who's going to take any of you guys seriously when it's always MS Bad Linux Good?
"Mozilla offers a free piece of addon software. I think it's a little unfair to hold them to the same standard of financial responsibility..."
Price is irellevent. If Mozilla's product is creating a risk to one's computer, money changing hands isn't going to be a factor in it. If that answer's not good enough for you, consider this: Internet Explorer is free. You're not buying IE, you're buying Windows. The DoJ made a big stinking deal about how seperate IE is from Windows.
I think it's unfair to hold Microsoft to financial responsibility but not anybody else.
Okay, this comment suggesting that somebody should sue Microsoft for an exploit like this was modded to +4, Interesting.
So I'd like to suggest that whoever was in charge of that part of the code in Mozilla should be sued. If that's offensive, then maybe a re-evaluation of the original post is in order?
"and neither of these are linux, linux is the kernel. "
I like how this argument comes up like it settles the whole thing, even though we all know what is meant. If MS can be sued, then the programmers working on Linux distros should be vulnerable, too.
Because Microsoft didn't commit the crime. The criminal who used the exploit did. It's fun to suggest things that would get MS in trouble, but if they were sue'able for this, every other product in the world that you like would be in danger, including Linux.
"Go for it George Lucas. Ruin all of your movies. "
Empire Strikes back, despite being 'special', is still entertaining.
Though I agree with the sentiment, we've been around this block a million times. Don't buy it. Let the people who do enjoy it. In the mean time, let's talk about something a little more up-beat:
- Lots of people were employed to work on this. - The technology and experience will help ILM make better effects for upcoming movies.
- SW in HD will hopefully make broad adoption of higher-resolution DVD players an easier transition.
- Just the number '378 Terabytes' is enough to cause underwear tents to rise all over the Slashdot population.
"Over the course of a couple years, it's a roll of the dice whether each new/old hardware/software will still/yet be supported for their platform."
Can't say I've had to worry about that yet. I'm not trying to destroy your point, but I do have a LOT of experience to draw from here. Frankly, I don't see how other OS's are immune from this. Better position? Sure: *If* somebody with the ability and the interest in that particular product puts forth the effort.
I don't see this being an issue all that much longer. Remember when hooking up a digital camera involved a driver install? Not anymore. There's a standard for pushing/pulling data from the memory card. Same with firewire drives or digital video cameras. The farther we go down this path, the less we rely on custom drivers. Heck, today's ONE NVidia driver will run old TNT2 cards. Good forethought on Nvidia's part, eh?
Are we really that far away from devices becoming so standardized that drivers are a thing of the past?
"From what I've seen working with several generations (and flavors) of *nix, Windows, and Macs, Windows has extremely little reason to crow about support."
Go buy 50 peripherals from CompUSA and get them running on Windows and *nix.
"A rise in piracy has accompanied the explosion of digital video players. Crafty programmers have discovered ways to crack into DVD players, for example, to make copies of Hollywood movies quickly and cheaply."
Heh yeah, that's why that industry is on the decline.
I really hate how they fly around how 'easy' it is to copy whilst ignoring the problem of distribution. Keep the prices reasonable, make the experience worthwhile, and the customers will come.
"They call it piracy because, just like the traditional pirates people think of, the people who insist on stealing movies and music have the same general disdain for other people's property and rights as the pirates"
Pity they're not that specific. What the *AA is doing is akin to calling anybody who sails the seas a pirate.
"Wow...after five huge revisions, and countless years of work, MS has an operating system that doesn't crash (often)! What a great reason to like them. "
When you get all the benefits of Windows and you don't have to worry about stability, yes it is a reason to like them. Crack all the jokes you want, but Windows users never have to worry if their OS will be supported when it comes to hardware or software. The occasional crash, to a lot of people out there, really isn't the big deal that Slashdot has sensationalized it to be.
"..the RIAA and MPAA announced the number of people probably stealing their precious intellectual property has probably tripled since 2001."
In other news, the RIAA and the MPAA have posted record sales for the year, the increase is expected to... hey, I told you to put the United Way blurb between those.
"this thread is dead, ok? DEAD, shut the fuck up and move along. "
Heh. In other words, you at least want to get the final word. That it? Try to save at least some face here?
Must have stung worse than I originally thought. You have some growing up to do, my friend. If y u had been a bigger man in the first place, you wouldn't have found yourself in this position now. Now all you have left is name calling and begging me to drop it.
Slashdot Mirror
"Yep - there's no denying the fact that microsoft's only strong suit has been marketing - the products ALWAYS suck"
Maybe Windows 'sucked', but at least it sucked in such a way that millions of non-computer geeks were able to pick it up and use it comfortably. Is it so hard to acknowledge the idea that Microsoft's focus on the end user experience actually had something to do with their success?
" I don't think he himself has contributed much to the field of computer science."
I agree, but I'm ignoring the fact that PCs running Windows are now in 10s of millions of homes, thus making computers a common household appliance.
"The new penguin building is expected shortly after the MS building. "
Shortly? It'll take 4 years for the tenants to finish building it!
"The president should get Graham Russel and Clive Davis dispatched to ISS ASAP!"
I don't know who those guys are, but I am interested in sending Lance Bass up there right about now.
"FreeBeer is dying..."
:(
MSBeer's EULA prevents you from driving after you drink it.
"No, I don't expect my little djrpg project programmed in vbdos 1.0 and given away for free to be held to the same standard as the 500 dollar USD Microsoft Visual Studio."
If your carelessness leaves my computer open to the world to exploit, you bet your ass you're responsible. If MS can be busted for it, then you should too. Otherwise, yes, you are a hypocrite.
Free seems like a great rebuttal until you realize that the security of your computer is at stake either way. If only commercial apps can be held liable for creative flaws executed by somebody with malicious intent, then it's a ding against FOSS. Who'd want to put their business on a platform that holds no liability?
Anyhoo, I've drifted off my point. You guys gotta be fair when you want MS to be punished. Promoting the singling out of MS is working against Slashdot's reputation. Who's going to take any of you guys seriously when it's always MS Bad Linux Good?
"I think I speak for intelligent people when I say "Who funded this study?""
I think I speak for N.O.M.A.A.M when I say STFU.
"Mozilla offers a free piece of addon software. I think it's a little unfair to hold them to the same standard of financial responsibility..."
Price is irellevent. If Mozilla's product is creating a risk to one's computer, money changing hands isn't going to be a factor in it. If that answer's not good enough for you, consider this: Internet Explorer is free. You're not buying IE, you're buying Windows. The DoJ made a big stinking deal about how seperate IE is from Windows.
I think it's unfair to hold Microsoft to financial responsibility but not anybody else.
Okay, this comment suggesting that somebody should sue Microsoft for an exploit like this was modded to +4, Interesting.
So I'd like to suggest that whoever was in charge of that part of the code in Mozilla should be sued. If that's offensive, then maybe a re-evaluation of the original post is in order?
"Even after all these years, CRT is still the standard. Amazing..."
I used to think that LCDs were steadily growing in number, until I read your post...
"So why than can you sue Gun makers when someone gets shot? "
A.) What use is a gun for other than killing?
B.) Who has been murdered due to a flaw in Windows?
C.) There has to be some room for mistakes, or any company can be sued because some twisted person abuses an obscure flaw.
"and neither of these are linux, linux is the kernel. "
I like how this argument comes up like it settles the whole thing, even though we all know what is meant. If MS can be sued, then the programmers working on Linux distros should be vulnerable, too.
"On the other hand Microsoft spent years conditioning people to belive that computers just randomly shred your files. "
Unlike Linux or OSX, which are completely immune to hard drive failures and pilot error.
"Why doesn't someone sue Microsoft? "
Because Microsoft didn't commit the crime. The criminal who used the exploit did. It's fun to suggest things that would get MS in trouble, but if they were sue'able for this, every other product in the world that you like would be in danger, including Linux.
"What the hell is goatse? "
Ever see a photo of Jack Valenti or Michael Eisner? It's sorta like that.
"Go for it George Lucas. Ruin all of your movies. "
Empire Strikes back, despite being 'special', is still entertaining.
Though I agree with the sentiment, we've been around this block a million times. Don't buy it. Let the people who do enjoy it. In the mean time, let's talk about something a little more up-beat:
- Lots of people were employed to work on this.
- The technology and experience will help ILM make better effects for upcoming movies.
- SW in HD will hopefully make broad adoption of higher-resolution DVD players an easier transition.
- Just the number '378 Terabytes' is enough to cause underwear tents to rise all over the Slashdot population.
"Over the course of a couple years, it's a roll of the dice whether each new/old hardware/software will still/yet be supported for their platform."
Can't say I've had to worry about that yet. I'm not trying to destroy your point, but I do have a LOT of experience to draw from here. Frankly, I don't see how other OS's are immune from this. Better position? Sure: *If* somebody with the ability and the interest in that particular product puts forth the effort.
I don't see this being an issue all that much longer. Remember when hooking up a digital camera involved a driver install? Not anymore. There's a standard for pushing/pulling data from the memory card. Same with firewire drives or digital video cameras. The farther we go down this path, the less we rely on custom drivers. Heck, today's ONE NVidia driver will run old TNT2 cards. Good forethought on Nvidia's part, eh?
Are we really that far away from devices becoming so standardized that drivers are a thing of the past?
"From what I've seen working with several generations (and flavors) of *nix, Windows, and Macs, Windows has extremely little reason to crow about support."
Go buy 50 peripherals from CompUSA and get them running on Windows and *nix.
"A rise in piracy has accompanied the explosion of digital video players. Crafty programmers have discovered ways to crack into DVD players, for example, to make copies of Hollywood movies quickly and cheaply."
Heh yeah, that's why that industry is on the decline.
I really hate how they fly around how 'easy' it is to copy whilst ignoring the problem of distribution. Keep the prices reasonable, make the experience worthwhile, and the customers will come.
"They call it piracy because, just like the traditional pirates people think of, the people who insist on stealing movies and music have the same general disdain for other people's property and rights as the pirates"
Pity they're not that specific. What the *AA is doing is akin to calling anybody who sails the seas a pirate.
"Why not something like, "Copyright Control Device/Software"
Some years ago, somebody on Slashdot coined the term "Copy restriction". That's what I've been using.
"Wow...after five huge revisions, and countless years of work, MS has an operating system that doesn't crash (often)! What a great reason to like them. "
When you get all the benefits of Windows and you don't have to worry about stability, yes it is a reason to like them. Crack all the jokes you want, but Windows users never have to worry if their OS will be supported when it comes to hardware or software. The occasional crash, to a lot of people out there, really isn't the big deal that Slashdot has sensationalized it to be.
"Hardware Abstraction Layer cos we all know how well that worked in Windows NT "
Yeah, all my hardware works.
"..the RIAA and MPAA announced the number of people probably stealing their precious intellectual property has probably tripled since 2001."
In other news, the RIAA and the MPAA have posted record sales for the year, the increase is expected to... hey, I told you to put the United Way blurb between those.
" It's what the game console's *case*, a bit of molded plastic, might be made to look like. To be blunt, why does this matter? "
Because I'm curious. I don't need a better reason than that.
"this thread is dead, ok? DEAD, shut the fuck up and move along. "
Heh. In other words, you at least want to get the final word. That it? Try to save at least some face here?
Must have stung worse than I originally thought. You have some growing up to do, my friend. If y u had been a bigger man in the first place, you wouldn't have found yourself in this position now. Now all you have left is name calling and begging me to drop it.