And as for confusion, how confused can people be? If slashdotters can wrap their heads around SIMM, DIMM, SODIMM, SDRAM, RDRAM, HTML, XML, XHTML, MathML, XSL, and so on, what's so hard about researching a couple of recordable DVD formats?
Let's see, DVD-R works, DVD+R, DVD+RW and some others that look esentially the same, DO NOT work with the set top box that 99% of people who buy one of these things wants to use. I just read the article and I'm going to try to remember that "minus works". If I can't tell by looking at the box exactly what I'm getting, I don't want it.
That's news but it's also wrong. The Russians have twice as many warheads as the US.
It is one of the few countries that have a habit of nosing into others affairs, and has shown the tendency to use force at the slighest pretext. It funded the mujahedeen in Afganistan, then funded the taliban, it masscared the vietnamese, it has put a stranglehold on Iraq, leading to shortage of food and medicines.
I'm an isolationist and would rather let the rest of the world beat itself to death, so your view is a little odd to me. The mujahdeen were grateful for the funding when the Soviet Union was busy killing the Afgans like rats and leaving their children explosive toys. Without US funding, they would be with their makers or athiests by now as are the Vietnamese. Our abandoment of the Vietnamese and their fate, I'm sure, did much for the Mujadene's self reliance and fanaticism. The US never funded the Taliban, unless you count drug purchases, perhaps it should have. Oh yeah, perhapse that idiot Bill Clinton should have forced the Palestinian/Israeli treaties to a conclusion and we'de have two stable friendly states instead of Israeli "occupation".
Those items you mention are all social and political issues, there're not really technological issues.
Gee, thanks troll. I thought I was talking about eavesdropping, and that the parent post was trying to tell me not to worry, that no one was really interested in insignificant little me especially with hard to use toys like optical tempest. The things I pointed to make blue light chasing unneeded but also show intent to look into everyone's life strong enough to use optical tempest. Of course the article said that optical tempest was good from 200 feet, so it would work from a van on the curb or a house next to yours. Sleep well.
Even India and Pakistan testing their nuclear stuff was of less concern to me than this situation. They're developing countries, trying to posture against each other, and at least with them, you figure they're just using the weapons to compete and deter each other.
Is there some reason you are less appaled by the intent of the Pakistan and India to vaporize each other over Kashmir than someone else doing the same? Make no mistake, people at war target stratigic assets like highly populations of factory workers. An exchange of modern nuclear weapons in such densly popluated cities would be unimaginably horrific. Don't think they have not planned it.
I'd be real concerned if pros like you were not keeping my data safe . I will also sleep well at night knowing that the government has no interst in my personal letters and phone calls or my company's records. I will continue to use my high speed internet access without fear of eavesdropping. The constituion and people like you protect me!
Well, a prayer might be useful ...
on
Penguin2Apple
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· Score: 2
He says he worships the Devil:
I played a little Dungeons and Dragons with my friends (until my parents, certain I would become a Satan worshiping pervert, brought an end to that one. Ha! Jokes on them - I became a Satan worshipper anyway.)
and he blames Linux for problems that hardware makers have created for His CTO, Bill Gates. Calling Linux hard to get close to while also talking about tits. What a strange... what is it? Ah yes, a perversion! That's it channeling your urges to inaproprate places.
It is right that you suffer, for your sins are great. Your punishment shall be to make my ATI video board work with my Soyo Dragon. It never did work right under windows 98. You may use the 30 pieces of silver, paid to write that article, if you would hire a real programer to do the work.
Never get you? Sounds like they already got you. How else were you able to make this post? Obviously the thing is filling some need or desire you have.
It's too bad they made up all that wierd junk instead of using normal utilities, but that's just the suck of propriatory software for you. You know, goofey little aps that you have to learn again every two years. Think about how many different "assholes in the middle" you have to pay just to easily make a freaking home movie. If you can't figure out how to do this with free tools, you have to:
1. Buy some sucky OS, comes with a new computer that costs about $1000 too much.
2. Buy some kind of card or other device to capture the video.
3. Buy some software to make movies that replaces the software that came with the device that did not work.
4. Buy some CD's (which the RIAA/MPAA want to tax).
5. Go through parts of this or all of it every two years.
Or you could buy a Mac and use it for what it's advertised for. It will change too, and they have their own little upgrade train, but it's not so bad unless you make the mistake of putting that "office" stuff from Microsoft on it.
Yep, the software makers have bullied hardware vendors into bizarre, ever changing interfaces. All attempts at standardization and sanity are firmly smacked down. So there you have it. Enjoy your Mac. It's not a real unix, but it will see devices.
The AJ article had an estimate of 750 years of run time for a good home computer to do the same thing. So, how long would it take for a few thousand home computers, good, bad and ugly? Do you know what that cute little screen saver is really doing? Bwa-ha-ha-haaa!
Sure, MS deserves it, but it's not like Sun wouldn't be doing the same thing, should they be in MS's position.
Hmmm, it's hard to imagine anyone being as rude as MicroShaft. Can you imagine that Sun is not in Microsoft's possition becuase they did not act like Microsoft? Ever heard of a BSA raid on Solaris software? No? That would be because Sun is not a member of BSA
Funny how people are saying that Sun is being abusive for asking for redress of wrongs that M$ has been found guilty of. The trial will be as short and sweet as Microsoft desires. In fact, they could settle out of court for their wrongs, but they won't. Microsoft brought themselves to this by refusing to co-operate with anyone. Java is a small piece of the damage Micorsoft has done to the world with their silly little tricks to break other people's software. Sun managed to survive Microsoft's abuse because they had their own hardware and platform. Other companies were not so lucky, and their employees lost their jobs while M$ pushed their inferior garbage on people. Sun will, we can be sure, put together some reasonable costs they suffered from Microsoft not living up to their word. It is right that Microsoft pay, but they won't. They are going to spend all sorts of money on defending their wrongs and then complain that all the lawsuits are bankrupting them.
Gee, thanks PBS. I can't believe my tax dollars fund Mr. Cringley's bizare rant.
Mr. Cringley recomends that the US government further reward Bill Gates by purchasing all of Bill's M$ stock for about $50,000,000,000. Is it my imagination, of did a PBS spokeman just compete with Hollywood exaduration in suggesting that tax payers give up one half of Doctor Evil's "one hundred billion dollars" extrotion? Wow, you would think that old Bill was sitting on top of a nuclear device at the world's core rather than a maker of second rate, insecure, invasive software. I've ranted that M$ was aiming for regulated monopoly status and is just another piece of evidence that the government might like it.
No thanks, Mr. Cringley. I don't need M$ and I don't think it's worth the price you suggest. Microsoft deserves to be punished for it's bad business practices and lawsuits like this will do it. Software itself is something the government should stay out of.
Propaganda like this is part of any empire's claim on the world. We found it, we own it, right? Oh yeah, the party invented the helocopter. There is a reason communist countries try to claim all ideas and discoveries. It is to legitimize their ownership of all things. Even if true exploratory rants should cause apprehension. I expect the Chinese government to pick this up and produce, "evidence" that they knew it all along.
Who shall stop the Chinese if they do want to conquer? No one bothered as they crushed Tibet. China is one of the largest best armed countries in the world, and it's under horrific central control. Make no mistake few are willing to stand in their way.
Thank you very much Stright Times for presenting this information as you did. I imagine your Royal Navy sources are not pleased. No thank you, for the offer of an active X advert.
Hasn't the public's side gotten 'heavier' as well? Back in the analog cassette days it wasn't possible to produce an exact copy of an album; even the best equipment could only get really close. Now not only can a person produce exact copies using cheap equipment but he or she can distribute them to everyone in the world without the constraints of physical media.
Wow, you know that's true. So how come there are only five music publishers in the world? How is it that they are the only online music publishers as well? Why is it that only thier shit ever gets played on traditional broadcasts? It's because they are a cartel that uses fiere and illegal anti-competitive measures to stifle any and all competition.
The future can become worse and laws may be needed to assure free publication. Microsoft has showed the world how to use broken standards to keep competition out. If legislative means are not taken to prevent further abuse, the music industry will make up it's own standards for players. Oh yeah, you won't be able to write to those players. Only "authorized" publishers will have the keys to publish music and other digital media for distribution. All that will be available to others is second rate means that may or may not work.
Think it's silly? Combine DCMA, SSSCA, Microsoft's patented Digital Rights Denial OS, Enertainment and telco industry ownership of the internet, and what you have is nothing at all. PC becomes a TV, VCRs go away at last. Then publishers quit printing on paper as it becomes too expensive. Poof, there you are in RMS's nightmare future. Sure, demand would fall but it would not be the first golden egg laying goose publishers have killed.
I suppost that's why they are using free software.
Well, other needs drew me to it. I bought a comercial FORTRAN compiler to run on M$ junk. M$ no longer made a FORTRAN compiler at the time or I might have been dumb enough to have bought it to replace the ancient thing I "borrowed" from a friend. The comercial compiler was slick, had a nice GUI IDE and VI for windows! It worked great until my CFD teacher handed me an ancient program that did not work with it. Though the compiler documentation was good, I did not think I had time to track the problem down.
G77 saved me. It worked when it would have been very difficult to rework the entire program. I made one of my computers dual boot and well, Linux won me fast. It did what I needed it to. The price was a $30 "Linux Unleashed" book and just a little time with a Red Hat CD. The code worked, with a SAVE statement or two added. It's gotten easier since then.
Those computers still work well, though I've moved them to Debian. Windoze died on them, and I never put it back. I'll be lending them out to anyone interested at work and at my former University.
In my spare time, I rebuild computers other people throw away. The GPL is not a virus, I AM.
So what if mobo makers all cave to this sort of thing? This creates a whole new catagory of hardware that sucks, like winmodems. Microsoft only, dispose of in two years. It makes it just that much harder to put any other OS on a computer other than the current version of Windoze. Even if they only get a fraction of board makers to cave on some of their boards, the world will be a mine field in a year or two.
What they did do was three entirely good things. They have forced many hardware vendors to fix their broken ass ACPI standards by eliminating the fall back APM support from WinXP; they forced hardware vendors to fix thier broken ACIPI implementation by holding the "Certified" titled over there head; and now it looks like they are having a stimulating effect on getting ACPI into Linux and BSD.
What stellar insight, too bad you missed the entire point: Microsoft has forced a hardware vendor to eliminate user control in it's bios in a way that harms other OS. The merits of the "technnology", the size of the company forced and the merrits of Soyo in general are irrelevant. The same "standard" will be forced on all mobo makers, as the XP page linked to shows. If you repeat this patern, ALL COMODITY HARDWARE WILL BECOME M$ ONLY, STUPID. Now to address the points you and other microsoft troll appologists are shouting so fiercly.
ACIPI is a MicroShit "standard". Regardless of how open they pretend it is, they control it and can change it at will. If they don't tell anyone else how they are going to change it and force NDA on mobo makers, no one else's software is going to work. Duh. If it's as well published as other microshit standards like RTF, no one else will be able to make it work at all. Bang, free software becomes usable only on second best equipment. From what I read here ACIPI sucks anyway. If it was so great you would think motherboard makers would move towards it on their own.
I happen to like Soyo motherboards. I've owned four and all worked well, and had very configurable bios. Everyone of them has gotten good reviews and been price competitive. There have been certian additions, like a virus checker that detects lilo and halts, that have sucked but I could always turn them off. If they are popular with me, I imagine they are popular with many people who build their own systems. It's really shitty of M$ to foce changes on them that would make thier boards under other OS. I've noticed some latency problems with my Soyo Dragon, and I'll bet this is it. No, I'm not going to blame them for caving in to an extortionist I'm going to blame the extortionist.
Thanks MicroShit. Breaking other people's work is the only way you have to make your garbage competitive. What a pattern. Break software that runs on your OS, now break software that runs anywhere.
"The reason the non-settling states have proposed relief that is significantly broader than the [settlement agreement] . . . is no secret," Microsoft attorneys wrote. "They seek to advance the commercial interests of Microsoft's competitors."
Nine seperate states out to aid Microsoft's competitors? Who would that be, the rest of the computer industry and anyone who's ever dreamed of programing so much as a digital watch? Pathetic paranoia, or rampant propaganda. It's almost as good as today's earlier anouncement that the US government would fail, Universities would stop researching, and the world would end if M$'s software model failed to earn lots of money hawking the same old shit forever to a gullible clientel. From Mr. Mundi's Zdnet quotations:
If there is not commercialization there (because the big bad GPL supposedly denies this, bzzt - wrong!) , a company can only exist based on ancillary manufacturing or services. If commercialization was cut down, investors would not support research and development in the IT sector, less projects would be developed, less taxes paid and the government would have less money to run universities, and all the other things that governments do," said Mundie.
They really are afraid, but why? What do they know that we don't? I've read that M$ is a kind of ponzi scheme with the emloyees being paid in stock options, that pay no dividens, instead of cash... Could the Enron disaster be hitting home?
Blah, enough irresponsible speculation tonight. As I sit here at a Debian powered 486 with a big 24 megs of ram and a 420MB hard disk used as an Xterminal to a more reasonable computer, I know it just does not matter. Microsoft can dissapear tomorow and I would not notice. If I can do it, anyone can. Really.
Go away Micro$haft, you have earned your beatings and are begging for new ones with the new XP licensing system, SSSCA, DCMA and other unAmerican activites.
Why not do it on Tursday morning, or some other time that allows the nitwit that made the change to fix it immediately when the customer calls in a trouble ticket? (Because all the skilled telco employees were "downsized", and only the retards are left?)
Downsizing can make anyone look retarded. When there are not enough people to do the work, the work does not get done.
Downsizing is only half the problem anyway. There are whole industries where the average age of engineers and craftsmen is around 50. Those companies have not hired waves of new people for 20 years or so, and fired many of those that were lucky enough to get on. Think that 60 year old overworked survivor really cares about training sucessors? Nope, they are looking for a package and will give the job to you the way they got it, learn as you burn. Many great mistakes will be repeated.
I believe that this really boils down to a single factor. Does the person in question really give a shit about the consequences of his or her actions?
You are entitled to your opinion. Most normal people quit jobs where things are starting to fail. The lucky ones find good alternatives. The loyal ones get stuck with a job that much more difficult. How many years of your life are you willing to give up to hopeless causes? Everyone knows the general rules. Some are lucky enough to put the big changes off as good practice, sometimes the law, demands.
I feel awful for people who do real work at the telcos. Change sucks, and they are getting plenty of it. Imagine starting your career there before deregulation. Off you whent to serve the regulated monopoly and the public. You accepted low salaries in exchange for stability and pride of serving one of the best and cheapest telco services in the world. You also put up with the more inane political nonsense and tried to just do your job.
You're right, Linux doesn't support AOL or winmodems, and because of this I can't use Linux as my primary operating system. I'd love to get a real modem and a real ISP, but I don't have the cash for it. I can't believe how thickheaded and self-righteous you are. I can still learn to use a Unix system without Internet access under that system. I can know that my hardware is shit without being a "troll". Unfortunately, YOU can not see beyond your own small-minded pettiness.
Hmmm, I thought you were a liar. Strange that you can afford the hard drive space for two operating systems and AOL, but not a second modem or a more reasonable ISP. After all, with a $5 used hayes modem and for what you pay AOL you could find a more normal ISP that would provide non propriatory communications and connect under Linux. I'm also unaware of any Xchat clients for windoze. Looked rather trollish. Suppose I could be wrong though, the windows concerns are far away and long ago. Excuse granted. Appology offered under excuse: there are too many fucking trolls wrecking this site.
My petty concern is that everyone, even you, can serve your own message board, mail and whatnot. Slashdot is a nice news site and place to meet, but we should expect more. The internet was largly built with tax money and companies that were protected by government sactioned exclusive contracts. It belongs to us, not ATT, M$, AOL, or even VA Linux. Consider your ability to express yourself with your own equipment on the pull media that the internet a right.
Can you tell me how you manage to use AOL on a winmodem if your homepage statement is true?
My boyfriend gave me a Linux CD for our anniversary in a vain attempt to get me interested in computers. I'm sorry to say, it worked; I'm hooked on IRC, Usenet, and hopefully now Slashdot.
What a fucking troll. AOL does not have a linux dial up client and no one can use winmodems under linux. That you call the Winmodem crappy and shit on everything free software stands for shows that you know what you say is as false as your pretended ignorance. Go away! Hopefully, Slashdot's new toll system will charge for all but anonymous posts and trolls like you will no longer be able to crap up Slashdot pages with self moderated blither like this.
Broadband, used properly has the potential to make all of us publishers, eliminate long distance bills, and share our lives and work with the world. One huge interconnected network of indepent peers, it's what the internets inventors dreamed of. The applications are now available for free in binary and source code distributions easy enough for a bone headed engineer like me to use.
The current take over of the net by ATT, AOL/Time Warner, Microsoft and friends will destroy it. That will make all them happy. I will serve untill they turn my connection off.
A new net must be built, but it looks like new and better laws will destroy that.
what makes you think that the government won't use it's little business partners as a means of control? you know, give someone to boo and hiss at while simultaneously sucking everyone dry? You don't have to nationalize to have franchises. In such a world the government is always the strong party, but it sets up it's agents to oppress.
Tobacco is a good example. If the government really wanted to kill tobaco, they would not subsidise farmers. The settlement against the tobacoo companies did not stop people from ruining their lungs and the money extorted will not go to their health care. Tobacoo companies will continue to make lots of money exporting poison to the world. It is a taxed evil.
The RIAA/MPAA is seen as a revenue sorce as well. The government takes it's cut on all sales and exports, and radio fees as well as income taxes. If people decided tomorow that they needed no more shit from hollywood, the US government would loose a considerable source of income. Oh yeah, it also would loose the ability to push propaganda through three or four easily manipulated channels.
Tellcos? More of the same.
The government has seen that people need things and is bussy building exlcusive francises to provide them. The Regan Era of free markets died hard under Clinton and these are the results: publicly built resources are being sold to the highest bidder to rape the public.
Last night NPR connived with and giggled at the prospect of the City of New York selling the Brooklyn Bridge and tolls being established by the likely bidder, the Metro Transport Agency. Need anyone say more? It's all very unamerican.
My post, AC did not mention the cost of Winzoze to the big looser PC companies.
A $350 computer more than likely cost the retailer about half that. $26 is a large percentage of $175. Viewed from that perspective, ESR's argument looks right. Dell and Gateway can not survive selling $500 computers as it is. Their costs are too great. One of their costs is the $26 bucks or so they have to pay for EACH computer they build and sell, regardless of OS installed. Costs like that will break them and Microsoft as smaller outlets start offering cheaper PCs that do what people want. Remember that Dell got started in a dorm room. Someone else will eat their lunch soon.
I misread it as, "aluminum can case". Well, why not? People live in bear can houses, and I've got can shelves. Crush space is one way to make something rugged. Stop me now! Someone stop me please....
Now before you flame MS, Real, Netscape and AOL all do the same thing - the product is free, but one has to do quite a great deal of cleanup after the installation.
AOL IM and Netscape - Delete QuickLaunch, Delete IE toolbar button, delete Favorite, delete Try AOL shortcuts
Real - Unassociate it with all the media types, get rid of "notifications", delete Favorites and QuickLaunch
Clean? When I find a computer with IE on it, have to rebuild the computer with a real operating system. When I don't I leave myself open to Outlook, PNP, IE and other just don't work security risks. Please see ha-ha f for the end result of much bad judgement, that startsy by trusting your clean machine.
When you are angry about many things in the world, it is time for you to re-evaluate your priorities. Wife good, child good, me free, life is AOK.
What Raymond said is that the M$ model of revenue generation fails when the price of PCs hit $350. That's because their model cost too much for the vendor to pay, so the vendor will switch to more affordable alternatives. Tiger Direct is selling PC's for less than $500. My company is offering employees PC's (500MHz PIIIs with 128MB RAM 10GB Hard Disks) for $400. In an environment like that, M$ will have a hard time sqeezing money from vendors. Their cut will have to rise to an unviable percentage of the retail price for them to keep their revenue stream up. It's not like they are able to sell many $1000 SDKs these days, ha ha ha.
People who build their own PCs have seen how large the M$ tax is for a while. Dell, Gateway, whatnot, who are essential for the M$ monopoly can not sell a PC for much less than $1000. I can build one that spanks them all for less than $400.
They are an absolute necessity for the corporate environment because without them, larger companies cannot move the information in sufficient quantity or speed, nor can the process the inforamtion fast enough to remain competitive in today's environment.
What makes you think Microsoft has anything to do with that? Moving information quickly and easily conflicts with several Microsoft goals which are a direct result of their distribution and marketing model. Companies that rely on M$ in the future will be at a huge disadvantage as their competitors gain softare that costs less and works better. All this stuff should be as taken for granted as manilla folders and file cabinets.
The real problem is that hardware is progressing much faster than software, and this leads to a couple of very bad scenarios for Dell, Compaq, HP, etc. and also by extension Microsoft. If hardware is more powerful than necessary, it stays around a bit longer.
That's no much of a problem, except to M$. The software I use (Debian) is acutally using fewer resources as time goes on, not more. I'm also seeing real new features in user interface, programs available and software concepts in general. M$ blows and they will suffer for it, so will Dell and Gateway as their cusotmers are constantly dissapointed by stuff that looks the same as it did ten years ago while working no faster or better.
The one and only thing that can save M$ from collapse is Digital Rights Denial Legislation. They have many other failing giant industries to back them up on that: Telcos, Holywood and traditional publishers who will fail in the real internet world. Proping these companies up by denying constitutional rights is completely unamerican. The time to fight the stupids is now.
Been to the library or a copy shop lately? Books get coppied, but it's not generally worth it. You see, people made libraries for books so that the intelectual property there could be indexed and shared. Part of sharing that IP is a fair use of the copy machine for parts you think are worth having and quoting. A vastly different law and philosopy must be operating there, eh? NOPE, the publishers are going after libraries too. Looks like they learned a few things from such classy operators as RIAA/MPAA/Micro$oft. Electronic publication with limits like this threatens society's ability to archive and transfer knowledge.
Slashdot Mirror
Let's see, DVD-R works, DVD+R, DVD+RW and some others that look esentially the same, DO NOT work with the set top box that 99% of people who buy one of these things wants to use. I just read the article and I'm going to try to remember that "minus works". If I can't tell by looking at the box exactly what I'm getting, I don't want it.
That's news but it's also wrong. The Russians have twice as many warheads as the US.
It is one of the few countries that have a habit of nosing into others affairs, and has shown the tendency to use force at the slighest pretext. It funded the mujahedeen in Afganistan, then funded the taliban, it masscared the vietnamese, it has put a stranglehold on Iraq, leading to shortage of food and medicines.
I'm an isolationist and would rather let the rest of the world beat itself to death, so your view is a little odd to me. The mujahdeen were grateful for the funding when the Soviet Union was busy killing the Afgans like rats and leaving their children explosive toys. Without US funding, they would be with their makers or athiests by now as are the Vietnamese. Our abandoment of the Vietnamese and their fate, I'm sure, did much for the Mujadene's self reliance and fanaticism. The US never funded the Taliban, unless you count drug purchases, perhaps it should have. Oh yeah, perhapse that idiot Bill Clinton should have forced the Palestinian/Israeli treaties to a conclusion and we'de have two stable friendly states instead of Israeli "occupation".
Gee, thanks troll. I thought I was talking about eavesdropping, and that the parent post was trying to tell me not to worry, that no one was really interested in insignificant little me especially with hard to use toys like optical tempest. The things I pointed to make blue light chasing unneeded but also show intent to look into everyone's life strong enough to use optical tempest. Of course the article said that optical tempest was good from 200 feet, so it would work from a van on the curb or a house next to yours. Sleep well.
Is there some reason you are less appaled by the intent of the Pakistan and India to vaporize each other over Kashmir than someone else doing the same? Make no mistake, people at war target stratigic assets like highly populations of factory workers. An exchange of modern nuclear weapons in such densly popluated cities would be unimaginably horrific. Don't think they have not planned it.
I'd be real concerned if pros like you were not keeping my data safe . I will also sleep well at night knowing that the government has no interst in my personal letters and phone calls or my company's records. I will continue to use my high speed internet access without fear of eavesdropping. The constituion and people like you protect me!
I played a little Dungeons and Dragons with my friends (until my parents, certain I would become a Satan worshiping pervert, brought an end to that one. Ha! Jokes on them - I became a Satan worshipper anyway.)
and he blames Linux for problems that hardware makers have created for His CTO, Bill Gates. Calling Linux hard to get close to while also talking about tits. What a strange... what is it? Ah yes, a perversion! That's it channeling your urges to inaproprate places.
It is right that you suffer, for your sins are great. Your punishment shall be to make my ATI video board work with my Soyo Dragon. It never did work right under windows 98. You may use the 30 pieces of silver, paid to write that article, if you would hire a real programer to do the work.
It's too bad they made up all that wierd junk instead of using normal utilities, but that's just the suck of propriatory software for you. You know, goofey little aps that you have to learn again every two years. Think about how many different "assholes in the middle" you have to pay just to easily make a freaking home movie. If you can't figure out how to do this with free tools, you have to:
1. Buy some sucky OS, comes with a new computer that costs about $1000 too much.
2. Buy some kind of card or other device to capture the video.
3. Buy some software to make movies that replaces the software that came with the device that did not work.
4. Buy some CD's (which the RIAA/MPAA want to tax).
5. Go through parts of this or all of it every two years.
Or you could buy a Mac and use it for what it's advertised for. It will change too, and they have their own little upgrade train, but it's not so bad unless you make the mistake of putting that "office" stuff from Microsoft on it.
Yep, the software makers have bullied hardware vendors into bizarre, ever changing interfaces. All attempts at standardization and sanity are firmly smacked down. So there you have it. Enjoy your Mac. It's not a real unix, but it will see devices.
The AJ article had an estimate of 750 years of run time for a good home computer to do the same thing. So, how long would it take for a few thousand home computers, good, bad and ugly? Do you know what that cute little screen saver is really doing? Bwa-ha-ha-haaa!
Hmmm, it's hard to imagine anyone being as rude as MicroShaft. Can you imagine that Sun is not in Microsoft's possition becuase they did not act like Microsoft? Ever heard of a BSA raid on Solaris software? No? That would be because Sun is not a member of BSA
Funny how people are saying that Sun is being abusive for asking for redress of wrongs that M$ has been found guilty of. The trial will be as short and sweet as Microsoft desires. In fact, they could settle out of court for their wrongs, but they won't. Microsoft brought themselves to this by refusing to co-operate with anyone. Java is a small piece of the damage Micorsoft has done to the world with their silly little tricks to break other people's software. Sun managed to survive Microsoft's abuse because they had their own hardware and platform. Other companies were not so lucky, and their employees lost their jobs while M$ pushed their inferior garbage on people. Sun will, we can be sure, put together some reasonable costs they suffered from Microsoft not living up to their word. It is right that Microsoft pay, but they won't. They are going to spend all sorts of money on defending their wrongs and then complain that all the lawsuits are bankrupting them.
Mr. Cringley recomends that the US government further reward Bill Gates by purchasing all of Bill's M$ stock for about $50,000,000,000. Is it my imagination, of did a PBS spokeman just compete with Hollywood exaduration in suggesting that tax payers give up one half of Doctor Evil's "one hundred billion dollars" extrotion? Wow, you would think that old Bill was sitting on top of a nuclear device at the world's core rather than a maker of second rate, insecure, invasive software. I've ranted that M$ was aiming for regulated monopoly status and is just another piece of evidence that the government might like it.
No thanks, Mr. Cringley. I don't need M$ and I don't think it's worth the price you suggest. Microsoft deserves to be punished for it's bad business practices and lawsuits like this will do it. Software itself is something the government should stay out of.
Propaganda like this is part of any empire's claim on the world. We found it, we own it, right? Oh yeah, the party invented the helocopter. There is a reason communist countries try to claim all ideas and discoveries. It is to legitimize their ownership of all things. Even if true exploratory rants should cause apprehension. I expect the Chinese government to pick this up and produce, "evidence" that they knew it all along.
Who shall stop the Chinese if they do want to conquer? No one bothered as they crushed Tibet. China is one of the largest best armed countries in the world, and it's under horrific central control. Make no mistake few are willing to stand in their way.
Thank you very much Stright Times for presenting this information as you did. I imagine your Royal Navy sources are not pleased. No thank you, for the offer of an active X advert.
Wow, you know that's true. So how come there are only five music publishers in the world? How is it that they are the only online music publishers as well? Why is it that only thier shit ever gets played on traditional broadcasts? It's because they are a cartel that uses fiere and illegal anti-competitive measures to stifle any and all competition.
The future can become worse and laws may be needed to assure free publication. Microsoft has showed the world how to use broken standards to keep competition out. If legislative means are not taken to prevent further abuse, the music industry will make up it's own standards for players. Oh yeah, you won't be able to write to those players. Only "authorized" publishers will have the keys to publish music and other digital media for distribution. All that will be available to others is second rate means that may or may not work.
Think it's silly? Combine DCMA, SSSCA, Microsoft's patented Digital Rights Denial OS, Enertainment and telco industry ownership of the internet, and what you have is nothing at all. PC becomes a TV, VCRs go away at last. Then publishers quit printing on paper as it becomes too expensive. Poof, there you are in RMS's nightmare future. Sure, demand would fall but it would not be the first golden egg laying goose publishers have killed.
Well, other needs drew me to it. I bought a comercial FORTRAN compiler to run on M$ junk. M$ no longer made a FORTRAN compiler at the time or I might have been dumb enough to have bought it to replace the ancient thing I "borrowed" from a friend. The comercial compiler was slick, had a nice GUI IDE and VI for windows! It worked great until my CFD teacher handed me an ancient program that did not work with it. Though the compiler documentation was good, I did not think I had time to track the problem down.
G77 saved me. It worked when it would have been very difficult to rework the entire program. I made one of my computers dual boot and well, Linux won me fast. It did what I needed it to. The price was a $30 "Linux Unleashed" book and just a little time with a Red Hat CD. The code worked, with a SAVE statement or two added. It's gotten easier since then.
Those computers still work well, though I've moved them to Debian. Windoze died on them, and I never put it back. I'll be lending them out to anyone interested at work and at my former University.
In my spare time, I rebuild computers other people throw away. The GPL is not a virus, I AM.
So what if mobo makers all cave to this sort of thing? This creates a whole new catagory of hardware that sucks, like winmodems. Microsoft only, dispose of in two years. It makes it just that much harder to put any other OS on a computer other than the current version of Windoze. Even if they only get a fraction of board makers to cave on some of their boards, the world will be a mine field in a year or two.
What stellar insight, too bad you missed the entire point: Microsoft has forced a hardware vendor to eliminate user control in it's bios in a way that harms other OS. The merits of the "technnology", the size of the company forced and the merrits of Soyo in general are irrelevant. The same "standard" will be forced on all mobo makers, as the XP page linked to shows. If you repeat this patern, ALL COMODITY HARDWARE WILL BECOME M$ ONLY, STUPID. Now to address the points you and other microsoft troll appologists are shouting so fiercly.
ACIPI is a MicroShit "standard". Regardless of how open they pretend it is, they control it and can change it at will. If they don't tell anyone else how they are going to change it and force NDA on mobo makers, no one else's software is going to work. Duh. If it's as well published as other microshit standards like RTF, no one else will be able to make it work at all. Bang, free software becomes usable only on second best equipment. From what I read here ACIPI sucks anyway. If it was so great you would think motherboard makers would move towards it on their own.
I happen to like Soyo motherboards. I've owned four and all worked well, and had very configurable bios. Everyone of them has gotten good reviews and been price competitive. There have been certian additions, like a virus checker that detects lilo and halts, that have sucked but I could always turn them off. If they are popular with me, I imagine they are popular with many people who build their own systems. It's really shitty of M$ to foce changes on them that would make thier boards under other OS. I've noticed some latency problems with my Soyo Dragon, and I'll bet this is it. No, I'm not going to blame them for caving in to an extortionist I'm going to blame the extortionist.
Thanks MicroShit. Breaking other people's work is the only way you have to make your garbage competitive. What a pattern. Break software that runs on your OS, now break software that runs anywhere.
"The reason the non-settling states have proposed relief that is significantly broader than the [settlement agreement] . . . is no secret," Microsoft attorneys wrote. "They seek to advance the commercial interests of Microsoft's competitors."
Nine seperate states out to aid Microsoft's competitors? Who would that be, the rest of the computer industry and anyone who's ever dreamed of programing so much as a digital watch? Pathetic paranoia, or rampant propaganda. It's almost as good as today's earlier anouncement that the US government would fail, Universities would stop researching, and the world would end if M$'s software model failed to earn lots of money hawking the same old shit forever to a gullible clientel. From Mr. Mundi's Zdnet quotations:
If there is not commercialization there (because the big bad GPL supposedly denies this, bzzt - wrong!) , a company can only exist based on ancillary manufacturing or services. If commercialization was cut down, investors would not support research and development in the IT sector, less projects would be developed, less taxes paid and the government would have less money to run universities, and all the other things that governments do," said Mundie.
They really are afraid, but why? What do they know that we don't? I've read that M$ is a kind of ponzi scheme with the emloyees being paid in stock options, that pay no dividens, instead of cash... Could the Enron disaster be hitting home?
Blah, enough irresponsible speculation tonight. As I sit here at a Debian powered 486 with a big 24 megs of ram and a 420MB hard disk used as an Xterminal to a more reasonable computer, I know it just does not matter. Microsoft can dissapear tomorow and I would not notice. If I can do it, anyone can. Really.
Go away Micro$haft, you have earned your beatings and are begging for new ones with the new XP licensing system, SSSCA, DCMA and other unAmerican activites.
Downsizing can make anyone look retarded. When there are not enough people to do the work, the work does not get done.
Downsizing is only half the problem anyway. There are whole industries where the average age of engineers and craftsmen is around 50. Those companies have not hired waves of new people for 20 years or so, and fired many of those that were lucky enough to get on. Think that 60 year old overworked survivor really cares about training sucessors? Nope, they are looking for a package and will give the job to you the way they got it, learn as you burn. Many great mistakes will be repeated. I believe that this really boils down to a single factor. Does the person in question really give a shit about the consequences of his or her actions?
You are entitled to your opinion. Most normal people quit jobs where things are starting to fail. The lucky ones find good alternatives. The loyal ones get stuck with a job that much more difficult. How many years of your life are you willing to give up to hopeless causes? Everyone knows the general rules. Some are lucky enough to put the big changes off as good practice, sometimes the law, demands.
I feel awful for people who do real work at the telcos. Change sucks, and they are getting plenty of it. Imagine starting your career there before deregulation. Off you whent to serve the regulated monopoly and the public. You accepted low salaries in exchange for stability and pride of serving one of the best and cheapest telco services in the world. You also put up with the more inane political nonsense and tried to just do your job.
Hmmm, I thought you were a liar. Strange that you can afford the hard drive space for two operating systems and AOL, but not a second modem or a more reasonable ISP. After all, with a $5 used hayes modem and for what you pay AOL you could find a more normal ISP that would provide non propriatory communications and connect under Linux. I'm also unaware of any Xchat clients for windoze. Looked rather trollish. Suppose I could be wrong though, the windows concerns are far away and long ago. Excuse granted. Appology offered under excuse: there are too many fucking trolls wrecking this site.
My petty concern is that everyone, even you, can serve your own message board, mail and whatnot. Slashdot is a nice news site and place to meet, but we should expect more. The internet was largly built with tax money and companies that were protected by government sactioned exclusive contracts. It belongs to us, not ATT, M$, AOL, or even VA Linux. Consider your ability to express yourself with your own equipment on the pull media that the internet a right.
My boyfriend gave me a Linux CD for our anniversary in a vain attempt to get me interested in computers. I'm sorry to say, it worked; I'm hooked on IRC, Usenet, and hopefully now Slashdot.
What a fucking troll. AOL does not have a linux dial up client and no one can use winmodems under linux. That you call the Winmodem crappy and shit on everything free software stands for shows that you know what you say is as false as your pretended ignorance. Go away! Hopefully, Slashdot's new toll system will charge for all but anonymous posts and trolls like you will no longer be able to crap up Slashdot pages with self moderated blither like this.
Broadband, used properly has the potential to make all of us publishers, eliminate long distance bills, and share our lives and work with the world. One huge interconnected network of indepent peers, it's what the internets inventors dreamed of. The applications are now available for free in binary and source code distributions easy enough for a bone headed engineer like me to use.
The current take over of the net by ATT, AOL/Time Warner, Microsoft and friends will destroy it. That will make all them happy. I will serve untill they turn my connection off.
A new net must be built, but it looks like new and better laws will destroy that.
Tobacco is a good example. If the government really wanted to kill tobaco, they would not subsidise farmers. The settlement against the tobacoo companies did not stop people from ruining their lungs and the money extorted will not go to their health care. Tobacoo companies will continue to make lots of money exporting poison to the world. It is a taxed evil.
The RIAA/MPAA is seen as a revenue sorce as well. The government takes it's cut on all sales and exports, and radio fees as well as income taxes. If people decided tomorow that they needed no more shit from hollywood, the US government would loose a considerable source of income. Oh yeah, it also would loose the ability to push propaganda through three or four easily manipulated channels.
Tellcos? More of the same.
The government has seen that people need things and is bussy building exlcusive francises to provide them. The Regan Era of free markets died hard under Clinton and these are the results: publicly built resources are being sold to the highest bidder to rape the public.
Last night NPR connived with and giggled at the prospect of the City of New York selling the Brooklyn Bridge and tolls being established by the likely bidder, the Metro Transport Agency. Need anyone say more? It's all very unamerican.
A $350 computer more than likely cost the retailer about half that. $26 is a large percentage of $175. Viewed from that perspective, ESR's argument looks right. Dell and Gateway can not survive selling $500 computers as it is. Their costs are too great. One of their costs is the $26 bucks or so they have to pay for EACH computer they build and sell, regardless of OS installed. Costs like that will break them and Microsoft as smaller outlets start offering cheaper PCs that do what people want. Remember that Dell got started in a dorm room. Someone else will eat their lunch soon.
I misread it as, "aluminum can case". Well, why not? People live in bear can houses, and I've got can shelves. Crush space is one way to make something rugged. Stop me now! Someone stop me please....
AOL IM and Netscape - Delete QuickLaunch, Delete IE toolbar button, delete Favorite, delete Try AOL shortcuts
Real - Unassociate it with all the media types, get rid of "notifications", delete Favorites and QuickLaunch
Clean? When I find a computer with IE on it, have to rebuild the computer with a real operating system. When I don't I leave myself open to Outlook, PNP, IE and other just don't work security risks. Please see ha-ha f for the end result of much bad judgement, that startsy by trusting your clean machine.
When you are angry about many things in the world, it is time for you to re-evaluate your priorities. Wife good, child good, me free, life is AOK.
People who build their own PCs have seen how large the M$ tax is for a while. Dell, Gateway, whatnot, who are essential for the M$ monopoly can not sell a PC for much less than $1000. I can build one that spanks them all for less than $400.
They are an absolute necessity for the corporate environment because without them, larger companies cannot move the information in sufficient quantity or speed, nor can the process the inforamtion fast enough to remain competitive in today's environment.
What makes you think Microsoft has anything to do with that? Moving information quickly and easily conflicts with several Microsoft goals which are a direct result of their distribution and marketing model. Companies that rely on M$ in the future will be at a huge disadvantage as their competitors gain softare that costs less and works better. All this stuff should be as taken for granted as manilla folders and file cabinets.
The real problem is that hardware is progressing much faster than software, and this leads to a couple of very bad scenarios for Dell, Compaq, HP, etc. and also by extension Microsoft. If hardware is more powerful than necessary, it stays around a bit longer.
That's no much of a problem, except to M$. The software I use (Debian) is acutally using fewer resources as time goes on, not more. I'm also seeing real new features in user interface, programs available and software concepts in general. M$ blows and they will suffer for it, so will Dell and Gateway as their cusotmers are constantly dissapointed by stuff that looks the same as it did ten years ago while working no faster or better.
The one and only thing that can save M$ from collapse is Digital Rights Denial Legislation. They have many other failing giant industries to back them up on that: Telcos, Holywood and traditional publishers who will fail in the real internet world. Proping these companies up by denying constitutional rights is completely unamerican. The time to fight the stupids is now.
Been to the library or a copy shop lately? Books get coppied, but it's not generally worth it. You see, people made libraries for books so that the intelectual property there could be indexed and shared. Part of sharing that IP is a fair use of the copy machine for parts you think are worth having and quoting. A vastly different law and philosopy must be operating there, eh? NOPE, the publishers are going after libraries too. Looks like they learned a few things from such classy operators as RIAA/MPAA/Micro$oft. Electronic publication with limits like this threatens society's ability to archive and transfer knowledge.