I didn't bother with the +R/-R DVD war, I just bought a writer to do both formats. The only catch is for the players to support both. I suspect about 3 years after release, 70% of players will be happy with either format and most (not all) players will accept the consumer grade recordable media (just like today with DVD). Considering how many times the industry shoot themselves in the foot, I think they enjoy this process. History may not repeat itself, but this part sounds like a broken record.
I'm surprised EA hasn't brought the world's oldest profession to the virtual world of The Sims. I think they are running out of expansion pack ideas, I'm wondering how far they will take it. Perhaps we'll be able to outfit our Sims with flaming pink large hats, aquerium shoes, and ungodly amounts of gold chains.
Personally, I think 2003 had more sequel or expansion pack as good games. I'm still playing Age of Mythology and now with the Titans add on, it re-invents the game again. As with Sequels, SimCity 4 was great. I'm looking forward to Railroad Tycoon 3 (not yet played, on order from Amazon). C&C: Generals was kick butt once I got it actually playing on my system -- sorta had to upgrade a few things first (I hate games that *require* the latest brand X video card to work).
I just got BF 1942 Deluxe after seeing my cousin playing it online over the holidays.
I hear folks rave about GTA3 and even more so with the addons.
Seems like there is an expansion pack of the month for The Sims. I'm sure several got released on '03.
I'm sorta having a difficult time thinking of some "good==cool" original games for this year. Of course, I don't have a console system so all my references are PC games at this point.
Personally, I'm a bit pissed at the game industry for forcing me to play with the CD even after I installed the darn game (what the hell was the 1.2 GB required harddrive space for if I still need the CD!). I don't like "hacking" the game just to enforce my fair use.
What wonderful news! I couldn't hope for a better Christmas gift than news of SCO beginning the descent into bankruptcy. Way to go SCO! Keep up the negative cash flow!
Next, copyright * and / and various combinations like/* and */ and sue every C, C++, Java, Perl, and PHP programers out there. Why hold back now? Bring it on!
/*
* I'm a DMCA violation waiting to happen. SO SUE ME!
*/
Well, I don't think so. Linus doesn't work for Microsoft so I don't think he would allow such an oversight creep in to 2.6.0. Of course, if you're really worried, run a 64bit optiumized distribution (Fedora Core 2 should have native support for Atholon 64 and other x86-64 chips -- yummy).
Dell has a phone support center in Philippines. Americans can usually live quite well on their economy. Gas is half the price, taxis are dirt cheap, and eating out is a bargin (although stay away from western-style places). Although, you'll probably only be paid that standard rate for that country -- so you won't be ahead that much. Now if you could secure an American income stream but live overseas... that could be nice (but that's offtopic).
Of course, most folks won't go for that. Most of the world lives in a constant state that the American poor couldn't tolerate. I'm wondering how much time will pass before folks start considering jobs in India, Philippines, China, or anywhere else that actually has prospects of employment.
Personally, I don't have a problem with moving overseas as long as the population in general wasn't into killing or kidnapping Americans for sport. Unfortunately, that rules out many countries that are getting the outsourced jobs.
Did you wonder why companies are outsourcing to China or other Asian countries? Mexico is too expensive.
Sometimes the Global economy thing sucks, but it looks like we must adapt one way or another. Americans/Westerners can't keep their head in the sand on this issue.
What can I say, I complain when I get cheated. No, the upgrade is not an option because I don't consider it an upgrade. RHE is RH9 with a few tweaks and more testing -- why would I want to pay more for something I already have? What has happened is they want more for their subscriptions. Also, according to RH, the WS version is not for anything besides small desktop/small server applications -- and does not include/support certain very needed server applications -- which means you need the ES version -- oh, and if you actually want *support* for your OS -- well that will cost too. And the prices are yearly -- which makes it more expensive than Windows by far.
I'm not sure when EOL will occur with WS or ES of RHEL. I'm not in a position to trust them anymore.
Newsgroups, chat, email, countless websites -- Debian support is fine for me. I'm guessing free support via website and/or newsgroups will start to drop now that RedHat charges. I've never called RedHat tech support -- I've only used RHN to keep current on errata patches.
Also, I don't see Fedora being as strong as Debian anytime soon. Perhaps in a few years (if they keep their name). Also, Debian has gained a bit of solid reliability over the years of the project which Fedora doesn't have yet. Eventually, I'm sure that will change.
And, yes, if you have bit of Wensleydale, that would be just smashing.
GNU Lic. restrictions say they must provide their distribution for free -- what they are charging for is the RHN yearly service and a really expensive installer program.:-) They never provided ISOs or RPMs for free just for the heck of it...
I guess technically, as long as you purchase on copy of the install disc, then you can install on as many systems as you want as long as you don't use their RHN for updates. But most folks willing to pay $$$ for RHEL are going to want the updates -- which is what RH is banking on -- provided their brand name doesn't get trashed in the process. Remember -- you are paying for a "service" not a "license".
Can't wait for FreshRPMs to carry the RHEL RPMs too.
What can I say.... I loved RedHat but then RH said go take a flying leap! Basically, Fedora is the same as Debian, but Deb as been around for years and successfully community driven. RH keeps changing their tune every so often. I paid for RHN and now I get robbed of my money -- upgrade offer isn't good enough for me. I honestly don't think WS or ES will be around -- eventually they will also be EOLed which forces everyone to pay $$$ for AS.
Why shoot a profitable business? Even if it doesn't greatly grow your business -- at least you have name recognition -- other distributions would do ANYTHING to have the RH name recongition. You can't buy Good Will!
Re:The story of how this will end (spoiler!)
on
SCO News Roundup
·
· Score: 1
Fairly obvious what Microsoft's interests are in this case -- we saw this coming when M$ "invested" in SCO. They also paid lisc fees that SCO wanted.
As far as your political statements, I personally like our pres. right now, he's done a good job under the circumstances (in my opinion). Personally I don't like glowing in the dark or being blown up in airplanes because a few nut cases think the US is the Great Satan. But either way, all that has nothing to do with computing.
As far as a technological stand -- these folks (politicians) usually are computer illiterate and technologically backwards. US law requires a US president to be at least 36 years old to qualify and most are professional politicians that are former lawyers or the like. I don't think folks like that are aware of technological needs or issues. The fact that this administration extended the net-tax ban a few years ago (which is now expired) is a wonderful surprise (I was certain Congress would allow the states to plunder the consumers). My point is regardless of what type of political persuation is currently in power in the US -- stuff usually remains the same (which is both a good and bad thing).
In certain respects the US legal system has been broken before this administration and will continue that way for several administrations afterwards. Although, when you consider what types of legal systems other countries have to endure, it could be a lot worse. At least I can complain about it without fear of getting shot. There may be a few coutries with less broken legal systems, but the vast majority still trampel their citizens more often than the USA. No legal system is perfect or ever will be. Legal systems, in my opinion, can only be described in terms of "the lesser evil" or "this one sucks less than most others".
The story of how this will end (spoiler!)
on
SCO News Roundup
·
· Score: 3, Funny
SCO and IBM fight for years. Eventaully, SCO wins a few battles but by then most of the linux community has moved to kernel 3.0 which removed any offending code years ago.
IBM has merged the AIX stuff to Linux without any offending code (of course, they're still running old 2.8 stuff).
SCO lingers with a few large companies paying the lisc demanded of them (typical scare tatics apply).
Eventually, SCO stock dips to penny stock levels and the lawyers cash out for nickles on the dollar and the lawyers start asking for "real money" instead of stock.
SCO goes bankrupt (re-org). Flownders around for a few years trying to re-organize until they finally give up the ghost. SCO will eventually die but perhaps take half the computing industry with it.
Windows becomes the unquestioned king of desktop AND server operating systems. Bill Gates declares himself God of IT and all systems must authenticate with the Master Server in Redmond. The world is cursed with rampant hacking, script kiddies, worms, viruses, and the like (someone thought trust-based security was a good idea).
This all leads to a massive breakdown in society and the end of the world as we know it.
I'm familiar with SEAware. The point still stands -- regardless of how big your company is. SEAware was certainly bigger and more stable than the shareware author and college student Phil Katz. Phil eventually had to settle out of court.
I know it was re-implemented in assembly which was much faster. And PKARC was much more reliable, which is why so many people stopped using SEAware's programs and started using PKARC instead. And ultimately the reason SEA sued Phil Katz. Just like the SCO vs Linux -- the details are sketchy, some of it bogus, and most of it marketing hype. Certainly not the exact same reason SCO is sueing everyone remotely attached to Linux, but the idea and eventual outcome are the same.
Obviously this isn't a 1-for-1 comparison. But SEAware ticked off the industry by going after Phil Katz and even the USERS of PKARC (sound familiar?) -- even labeling his softare as piracy.
Again. Like I said. Even if SCO has a good case and wins, ultimately EVERYONE loses (except for Microsoft). SCO will be banished from legit business in the computer industry and will either be bought for IP rights and stripped other assets OR will go bankrupt. If SCO wins, Linux will die -- but something else will take its place, and perhaps be even better.
Personally, I don't think SCO has much to stand on. Hopefully SCO will be put in its place. Of course, either way SCO is dead -- the only question is: will they kill Linux in the process?
Anyone knows any survey, research, or the like that is funded by Microsoft is going to biased in favor of -- guess who -- Microsoft. Run this through the "BS filter" (a well written perl script), you get a M$ advertising document slamming anything non-M$.
I don't think the report took into account time taken to recover a system that got own3d because of poor security.
Gosh, this is sounding like PkArc vs SEAware. Anyone remember ARC or SEAware? Nope. You know why? SEAware sued the pants out of the creator of PKARC (later PkPAK). Remember ARC was the defacto compression standard on PCs, but SEAware's software sucked but PkARC was great. SEAware forced the death of PKARC/PkPAK. A few months later, entire BBSs were converted over night to a new, cool format known as "Zip" -- by the maker of PKARC -- we have PKZIP.
My point, even if SCO is right, they are dead. They have already alienated themselves from the industry. People truly HATE SCO. Also, interesting. SCO is using Linux on their web site because SCO Unix sucks. Linux is better and has a future -- while SCO Unix is basically extinct. Notice how SCO's revenew stream is no longer software based, but letigation based.
Almost scary how much history repeats itself. SCO is the next SEAware. Don't by their stock, don't buy their licenses, don't by anything from them. Your purchase is only as good as the company you buy it from. What are your F*ckedCompany estimates for SCO?
I would vote for the two years of actual, practical workforce C++ than to more years of theory getting another degree. I still think getting an higher degree is a good goal, but folks shouldn't do it for the possible pay increase or other mythical promises. Other fields benefit more from the PhD than CS/CIS/MIS. Perhaps PhD in CE would be nice.
Of course, with the economy, it might be a good time to invest in your education. Either way, your going to be underpaid and/or overqualified. I know a few PhDs flipping hamburgers at McDonalds until they can get a "real job".
Anyways, the effect of the PhD or even Masters becomes less important with time, as your workplace experience increases. The lasting part of the degree is more of a sense of accomplishment and having enjoyed the process of obtaining such a degree.
I feel that way about my BS. It was nice to get my first job or so, but after that, the employers really didn't care as long as I had *some* type of degree. I never had anyone ask what grades I made in my CS course work.:-)
Simply put, that when a person wants to steal your identity, they will probably do it easily. So, since you really cannot effectively prevent this from happening, you need to do the following:
If you have credit cards, read your terms and conditions, to see what you will be liable for if ID Theft happens to you.
Opt-out of as many things you can. Although, mostly for annoyances, you probably won't have very private info shared -- just Phone number, name, etc. By law, there are restrictions on what can be shared without your permission. If someone does get your information without your permission, you may have grounds for a lawsuit.
Contact the credit reporting agencies and put an inquery freeze on your account or make it so they have to contact you first before getting credit information about you. The first moment you notice possible ID theft, issue a Fraud Alert on your file (as well with your bank and CC accounts too).
Know the laws in your state about credit reporting -- in my state, GA, we are allowed 2 free credit reports per year per agency. I get mine every 6 months. TransUnion will do the free ones online where as Equifax will not. I'm not sure about Experian.
Clerical mistakes are common, although I'm in my 20's Equifax says I was born in 1956. Also, I had a few items on my file because of a married identity -- someone with the same name as me with only a minor difference (middle initial was off by one letter). I tracked down the problems, called the offeneded companies (collection agencies), and disputed the charges on my file. Within 2 months, all charges on my file were dropped.
Realize you can do all this yourself, until things become really serious and involve the FBI or police (an actual ID theft occurs).
Of course, monitor your bank and CC statements for any unusual activity. I try to go with banks or CC companies that allow immediate, continuous access to my accounts online -- that way, I spot fraud as soon as it happens (which I have used a few times).
A problem with ID theft is that employees with the authority to pull your credit (police, court clerks, bank employees) may not be ethical and use their authority access to get your personal info.
In short, you cannot entirely prevent it, but you can take a few steps to reduce your risk and educate yourself for when/if it happens to you. I'm averaging 1 case per year, but with these tools, I have managed to keep my liability to 0. Of course, your experiences may be different.
Think about it, how many original texts do we have from 2100 years ago? Thanks to the DMCA and the evils of copy protection, the RIAA and MPAA have make it so the media cannot be copied (legally) from one media to another. So, even then the songs currently in question goes public domain, no one can transfer it to other media to preserve the evidence.
Of course, that is beside the point that everyone that is a part of the current lawsuits would be DEAD by then.
And, of course, the damages seeked would be chump change by then (probably won't keep up with inflation).
I wonder if a lawyer could get disbarred for spamming the court system?
Gosh, you can't even go on vacation without your server calling you! What?! You want me to fix sendmail from Bora-Bora? I can see my cell phone skipping across the water now.:)
yeap, a lot of Canadians buy goods, including CDs in America because the exchange rate sometimes allows Canadians to get a good deal. I used to live near the Mexico boarder and my family would always do similar things.
Oh, I can see the paddy wagon now! They're coming to take me away, oh my!
I wonder if this new -- Lawsuit spam. Just sue the entire country, hoping enough people will settle our of court to pay the laywers and make a nice profit too. Welcome to a Sue-happy America!
What can I say. I like my games -- which is the one of the primary reasons I have a Winblows box. Also, I have a rather large investment in PC/Windows based software. When I can, I just into Linux.
As far as the Mac review. I seen no problems here. He makes some good points, some arguments could be refined and other points are not brought to light. What is the fastest desktop anyways? How many Teraflops can it do? It's all a bunch a numbers anyways and there doesn't seem to be a great to definatively measure the difference in performance between a Mac and PC -- fundamentally you are comparing Apples and Oranges (he, he). I don't think he was down on the Mac, just wanted to shed light on some misleading info by the Apple marketing crew. There are a lot of good things about Macs, raw speed has never been a major part of it. Really, how long did it take Apple to make it to 1Ghtz? The whole theology of Mac, is "speed isn't everything" -- which tends to be THE Intel way of thinking.
Personally, I don't own a Mac and don't plan to right now. However, I can see their use -- especially in certain niche markets. For general consumer use -- it depends. If you do standard stuff and not much gaming then a Mac is good for that. Especially if you gravitate to the geeky *nix side of OS X. For heavy gamers, I just don't see it. Yeah, there are more games out for Mac than there ever was, but typically *if* there is a Mac version coming it tends to be at least 6 months after the PC version. Works for other types of software too.
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I didn't bother with the +R/-R DVD war, I just bought a writer to do both formats. The only catch is for the players to support both. I suspect about 3 years after release, 70% of players will be happy with either format and most (not all) players will accept the consumer grade recordable media (just like today with DVD). Considering how many times the industry shoot themselves in the foot, I think they enjoy this process. History may not repeat itself, but this part sounds like a broken record.
Karma: Really Nasty Bad
I just got BF 1942 Deluxe after seeing my cousin playing it online over the holidays.
I hear folks rave about GTA3 and even more so with the addons.
Seems like there is an expansion pack of the month for The Sims. I'm sure several got released on '03.
I'm sorta having a difficult time thinking of some "good==cool" original games for this year. Of course, I don't have a console system so all my references are PC games at this point.
Personally, I'm a bit pissed at the game industry for forcing me to play with the CD even after I installed the darn game (what the hell was the 1.2 GB required harddrive space for if I still need the CD!). I don't like "hacking" the game just to enforce my fair use.
Oh, I forgot. I work in so many languages I forget what are comments in what languages. * and / are still used in Perl, just not as comments.
Next, copyright * and / and various combinations like /* and */ and sue every C, C++, Java, Perl, and PHP programers out there. Why hold back now? Bring it on!
* I'm a DMCA violation waiting to happen. SO SUE ME!
*/
Well, I don't think so. Linus doesn't work for Microsoft so I don't think he would allow such an oversight creep in to 2.6.0. Of course, if you're really worried, run a 64bit optiumized distribution (Fedora Core 2 should have native support for Atholon 64 and other x86-64 chips -- yummy).
Of course, most folks won't go for that. Most of the world lives in a constant state that the American poor couldn't tolerate. I'm wondering how much time will pass before folks start considering jobs in India, Philippines, China, or anywhere else that actually has prospects of employment.
Personally, I don't have a problem with moving overseas as long as the population in general wasn't into killing or kidnapping Americans for sport. Unfortunately, that rules out many countries that are getting the outsourced jobs.
Did you wonder why companies are outsourcing to China or other Asian countries? Mexico is too expensive.
Sometimes the Global economy thing sucks, but it looks like we must adapt one way or another. Americans/Westerners can't keep their head in the sand on this issue.
What can I say, I complain when I get cheated. No, the upgrade is not an option because I don't consider it an upgrade. RHE is RH9 with a few tweaks and more testing -- why would I want to pay more for something I already have? What has happened is they want more for their subscriptions. Also, according to RH, the WS version is not for anything besides small desktop/small server applications -- and does not include/support certain very needed server applications -- which means you need the ES version -- oh, and if you actually want *support* for your OS -- well that will cost too. And the prices are yearly -- which makes it more expensive than Windows by far. I'm not sure when EOL will occur with WS or ES of RHEL. I'm not in a position to trust them anymore. Newsgroups, chat, email, countless websites -- Debian support is fine for me. I'm guessing free support via website and/or newsgroups will start to drop now that RedHat charges. I've never called RedHat tech support -- I've only used RHN to keep current on errata patches. Also, I don't see Fedora being as strong as Debian anytime soon. Perhaps in a few years (if they keep their name). Also, Debian has gained a bit of solid reliability over the years of the project which Fedora doesn't have yet. Eventually, I'm sure that will change. And, yes, if you have bit of Wensleydale, that would be just smashing.
I guess technically, as long as you purchase on copy of the install disc, then you can install on as many systems as you want as long as you don't use their RHN for updates. But most folks willing to pay $$$ for RHEL are going to want the updates -- which is what RH is banking on -- provided their brand name doesn't get trashed in the process. Remember -- you are paying for a "service" not a "license".
Can't wait for FreshRPMs to carry the RHEL RPMs too.
What can I say.... I loved RedHat but then RH said go take a flying leap! Basically, Fedora is the same as Debian, but Deb as been around for years and successfully community driven. RH keeps changing their tune every so often. I paid for RHN and now I get robbed of my money -- upgrade offer isn't good enough for me. I honestly don't think WS or ES will be around -- eventually they will also be EOLed which forces everyone to pay $$$ for AS. Why shoot a profitable business? Even if it doesn't greatly grow your business -- at least you have name recognition -- other distributions would do ANYTHING to have the RH name recongition. You can't buy Good Will!
Fairly obvious what Microsoft's interests are in this case -- we saw this coming when M$ "invested" in SCO. They also paid lisc fees that SCO wanted. As far as your political statements, I personally like our pres. right now, he's done a good job under the circumstances (in my opinion). Personally I don't like glowing in the dark or being blown up in airplanes because a few nut cases think the US is the Great Satan. But either way, all that has nothing to do with computing. As far as a technological stand -- these folks (politicians) usually are computer illiterate and technologically backwards. US law requires a US president to be at least 36 years old to qualify and most are professional politicians that are former lawyers or the like. I don't think folks like that are aware of technological needs or issues. The fact that this administration extended the net-tax ban a few years ago (which is now expired) is a wonderful surprise (I was certain Congress would allow the states to plunder the consumers). My point is regardless of what type of political persuation is currently in power in the US -- stuff usually remains the same (which is both a good and bad thing). In certain respects the US legal system has been broken before this administration and will continue that way for several administrations afterwards. Although, when you consider what types of legal systems other countries have to endure, it could be a lot worse. At least I can complain about it without fear of getting shot. There may be a few coutries with less broken legal systems, but the vast majority still trampel their citizens more often than the USA. No legal system is perfect or ever will be. Legal systems, in my opinion, can only be described in terms of "the lesser evil" or "this one sucks less than most others".
SCO and IBM fight for years. Eventaully, SCO wins a few battles but by then most of the linux community has moved to kernel 3.0 which removed any offending code years ago. IBM has merged the AIX stuff to Linux without any offending code (of course, they're still running old 2.8 stuff). SCO lingers with a few large companies paying the lisc demanded of them (typical scare tatics apply). Eventually, SCO stock dips to penny stock levels and the lawyers cash out for nickles on the dollar and the lawyers start asking for "real money" instead of stock. SCO goes bankrupt (re-org). Flownders around for a few years trying to re-organize until they finally give up the ghost. SCO will eventually die but perhaps take half the computing industry with it. Windows becomes the unquestioned king of desktop AND server operating systems. Bill Gates declares himself God of IT and all systems must authenticate with the Master Server in Redmond. The world is cursed with rampant hacking, script kiddies, worms, viruses, and the like (someone thought trust-based security was a good idea). This all leads to a massive breakdown in society and the end of the world as we know it.
Next model comes with voice support to make smart ass remarks about your big ass.
I know it was re-implemented in assembly which was much faster. And PKARC was much more reliable, which is why so many people stopped using SEAware's programs and started using PKARC instead. And ultimately the reason SEA sued Phil Katz. Just like the SCO vs Linux -- the details are sketchy, some of it bogus, and most of it marketing hype. Certainly not the exact same reason SCO is sueing everyone remotely attached to Linux, but the idea and eventual outcome are the same.
Obviously this isn't a 1-for-1 comparison. But SEAware ticked off the industry by going after Phil Katz and even the USERS of PKARC (sound familiar?) -- even labeling his softare as piracy.
Again. Like I said. Even if SCO has a good case and wins, ultimately EVERYONE loses (except for Microsoft). SCO will be banished from legit business in the computer industry and will either be bought for IP rights and stripped other assets OR will go bankrupt. If SCO wins, Linux will die -- but something else will take its place, and perhaps be even better.
Personally, I don't think SCO has much to stand on. Hopefully SCO will be put in its place. Of course, either way SCO is dead -- the only question is: will they kill Linux in the process?
I don't think the report took into account time taken to recover a system that got own3d because of poor security.
99% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
My point, even if SCO is right, they are dead. They have already alienated themselves from the industry. People truly HATE SCO. Also, interesting. SCO is using Linux on their web site because SCO Unix sucks. Linux is better and has a future -- while SCO Unix is basically extinct. Notice how SCO's revenew stream is no longer software based, but letigation based.
Almost scary how much history repeats itself. SCO is the next SEAware. Don't by their stock, don't buy their licenses, don't by anything from them. Your purchase is only as good as the company you buy it from. What are your F*ckedCompany estimates for SCO?
Of course, with the economy, it might be a good time to invest in your education. Either way, your going to be underpaid and/or overqualified. I know a few PhDs flipping hamburgers at McDonalds until they can get a "real job".
Anyways, the effect of the PhD or even Masters becomes less important with time, as your workplace experience increases. The lasting part of the degree is more of a sense of accomplishment and having enjoyed the process of obtaining such a degree.
I feel that way about my BS. It was nice to get my first job or so, but after that, the employers really didn't care as long as I had *some* type of degree. I never had anyone ask what grades I made in my CS course work. :-)
now, if it were only invisible....
(anyone remember the classic movie?).
- If you have credit cards, read your terms and conditions, to see what you will be liable for if ID Theft happens to you.
- Opt-out of as many things you can. Although, mostly for annoyances, you probably won't have very private info shared -- just Phone number, name, etc. By law, there are restrictions on what can be shared without your permission. If someone does get your information without your permission, you may have grounds for a lawsuit.
- Contact the credit reporting agencies and put an inquery freeze on your account or make it so they have to contact you first before getting credit information about you. The first moment you notice possible ID theft, issue a Fraud Alert on your file (as well with your bank and CC accounts too).
- Know the laws in your state about credit reporting -- in my state, GA, we are allowed 2 free credit reports per year per agency. I get mine every 6 months. TransUnion will do the free ones online where as Equifax will not. I'm not sure about Experian.
- Clerical mistakes are common, although I'm in my 20's Equifax says I was born in 1956. Also, I had a few items on my file because of a married identity -- someone with the same name as me with only a minor difference (middle initial was off by one letter). I tracked down the problems, called the offeneded companies (collection agencies), and disputed the charges on my file. Within 2 months, all charges on my file were dropped.
- Realize you can do all this yourself, until things become really serious and involve the FBI or police (an actual ID theft occurs).
- Of course, monitor your bank and CC statements for any unusual activity. I try to go with banks or CC companies that allow immediate, continuous access to my accounts online -- that way, I spot fraud as soon as it happens (which I have used a few times).
A problem with ID theft is that employees with the authority to pull your credit (police, court clerks, bank employees) may not be ethical and use their authority access to get your personal info.In short, you cannot entirely prevent it, but you can take a few steps to reduce your risk and educate yourself for when/if it happens to you. I'm averaging 1 case per year, but with these tools, I have managed to keep my liability to 0. Of course, your experiences may be different.
Disallow: *
Of course, they'll probably sue for use of DMCAbot in my robots.txt file and sharing it with the Slashdot community.
Too bad there's not a:
User-Agent: DMCAbot
Action: kill -s 9
in the robots.txt spec., could be helpful.
Of course, that is beside the point that everyone that is a part of the current lawsuits would be DEAD by then.
And, of course, the damages seeked would be chump change by then (probably won't keep up with inflation).
I wonder if a lawyer could get disbarred for spamming the court system?
Gosh, you can't even go on vacation without your server calling you! What?! You want me to fix sendmail from Bora-Bora? I can see my cell phone skipping across the water now. :)
yeap, a lot of Canadians buy goods, including CDs in America because the exchange rate sometimes allows Canadians to get a good deal. I used to live near the Mexico boarder and my family would always do similar things.
Oh, I can see the paddy wagon now!
They're coming to take me away, oh my!
I wonder if this new -- Lawsuit spam. Just sue the entire country, hoping enough people will settle our of court to pay the laywers and make a nice profit too. Welcome to a Sue-happy America!
What can I say. I like my games -- which is the one of the primary reasons I have a Winblows box. Also, I have a rather large investment in PC/Windows based software. When I can, I just into Linux. As far as the Mac review. I seen no problems here. He makes some good points, some arguments could be refined and other points are not brought to light. What is the fastest desktop anyways? How many Teraflops can it do? It's all a bunch a numbers anyways and there doesn't seem to be a great to definatively measure the difference in performance between a Mac and PC -- fundamentally you are comparing Apples and Oranges (he, he). I don't think he was down on the Mac, just wanted to shed light on some misleading info by the Apple marketing crew. There are a lot of good things about Macs, raw speed has never been a major part of it. Really, how long did it take Apple to make it to 1Ghtz? The whole theology of Mac, is "speed isn't everything" -- which tends to be THE Intel way of thinking. Personally, I don't own a Mac and don't plan to right now. However, I can see their use -- especially in certain niche markets. For general consumer use -- it depends. If you do standard stuff and not much gaming then a Mac is good for that. Especially if you gravitate to the geeky *nix side of OS X. For heavy gamers, I just don't see it. Yeah, there are more games out for Mac than there ever was, but typically *if* there is a Mac version coming it tends to be at least 6 months after the PC version. Works for other types of software too.