So, Symantec, the BAD BOY company which opted to lock the world out of the Optasm source code than releasing it to the world - since Symantec has no use for it anyway - has been granted the patent on incremental anti-virus update.
Think of it - if there isn't any INCREMENTAL UPDATE OF VIRUSES itself, would there be any need for Symantec's latest patent?
So, has anyone applied for the patent which covers the INCREMENTAL UPDATE (or UPGRADE) of VIRUSES?
I remember that the 2600 magazine once had an article about "upgrading" viruses - by changing the register calls and such, and with the possibility of making the "upgrade routine" automatic.
If anyone has such a patent, that might even supercede Symantec's latest patent - and even become a "prior art" example which may render Symantec's patent invalid !
The latest news from INTELLIGENT SOURCE is that the terrorist Osama Bin Laden breathe OXYGEN !
Yes, the SAME OXYGEN that all the NON-terrorists breathe !
Sources from the INTELLIGENCE also said that they will lobby the congress to support their proposal to BAN OXYGEN, for that is ONE VERY EFFICIENT WAY to KILL Osama Bin Laden !
For ONCE, the United States Of America, the ONLY FREE COUNTRY in the world, must take the lead to WIPE OUT ALL THE TERRORISTS, and we can start by taking out Osama Bin Laden.
I don't understand the need for FSF to appeal to US court over a decision by a US judge.
I mean, what we are talking about is the NET, right? And, the NET is supposed to be LARGER than US, right?
So, what's the need to appeal to the US court over a stupid decision by a myopic US judge, when what we can do is to post whatever "offending" (according to that myopic US judge anyway) content on the Web anyway, and HOST that web OUTSIDE the U. S. of A. where the US jurisdiction does NOT apply?
Up until now, as far as I understand, the USA still don't have the power to RULE OVER OTHER COUNTRIES, right?
So, if I were t opost that "offending" content on my own website that is being hosted by someone in, let's say, Australia, what the heck can that myopic US judge do to me?
As I said, I don't understand. So, please educate me.
Killer App Divice - Digital Oogling
on
Digital Doodling
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· Score: 1
Now that all types of digital killer-app wannabe divices are coming out, trying to capture a piece of the action, methinks the _real_ killer app digital device is yet to be invented, and that is, a digital device capable of either doing the digital oogling itself, or let the user of the device do all types of digital oogling on it.
Reading the stuffs on NASA gets me into thinking along the line of the last/. item - is the benefit of technology waning ? - and the way I see it, from evidences obtain from many places, and from the NASA site, is that things like "benefits from science" are like tidal waves - it waxes and wanes, kinda like a pendulum swing, it goes one way and when it reaches its peak, it goes the opposite way.
Looking at the effort by NASA, if we take a micro view, we can talk about "new propulsion" and stuffs like that, BUT, if we take the macro view, we'd see that it's the accumulation of the micro-stuffs like new propulsion systems that will propel us beyond the existing frontiers, and when that is reach, we will see that the pendulum swings back again, and there'd be many more new things to explore, and it'd be kinda like the "Columbus discover New Continent" thing all over again.
May I know, which year was that when the MPAA took their case to the Supreme Court against the VCR manufacturers?
You gotta remember that the time may have changed - as witnessed the willingness of the Justices of the Supreme Court to intervene in the Bush vs.Gore presidential bid and there lies a GREAT possibilities that the Supreme Court of today may have VERY DIFFERENT thought on many matters.
Lest we forget, many recent Justice appointed to the Supreme Court are not necessarily of the Top Quality kind, and when the "peer-level" of the Supreme Court Justices is lowered, who know what kind of decision they will make on many other cases.
I am not watching the US Supreme Court close enough to render the truthfulness or falsity of my own thesis, they're all based on my personal hunch, that's all.
T'is the Christmas festive season, and you gotta count yer blessings, man !
THose of us who are NOT fortunate enough to live in the States, don't even get to DREAM OF cable modem at all !
In fact, there is NO CABLE-anything where I live, and I'm stuck with the SUPER-ARCHAID 52K dialup to get on the Net.
Man, you guys get all the fun stuffs, and we got NOTHING !
Now.... if there's a way to get someone in the States who have SURPLUSS cable modem to SHARE their fortunes with those of us who NEED 'em, but can't get them anywhere in the country of our residence... it would be just that much more meaningful.
I dunno 'bout the other places, but in many place I've been through, even if you've got cable hooked up, there's still a lot of hurdles to go through before one can locate a cable modem that would work with the service provided. Urrrggghh... how come when it comes to the one who provide the utlities (such as power, water, gas, cable, etc.) how come they are almost universally BAD ?!
Yes, they can "copy protect" anything they want, and yes, they can patent any silly idea they want, but THAT WILL NOT stop us who are determined to preserve OUR OWN RIGHTS to find ways in BREAKING their copy protection.
This world function on the basis on SUPPLY AND DEMAND, and if there is ENOUGH DEMAND for a product which BREAKS the so-called "copy protection", there WILL BE people supplying the gadgets to do it.
Nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING is unbreakable.
Law? Legality?
Hey, who cares about legality when the law itself is UNJUST?
Peole who will argue for "obey the law" ought to take a GOOD LOOK at the "Declaration of Independence" signed by the founding fathers of the United States of America, in which, there is - am I am paraphrasing here - something akin to "if the government turns tyrannic, it's the DUTY for the people to TOPPLE it".
So, if the LAW itself is TYRANNICAL, then, it's the DUTY for us, the FREEDOM LOVING PEOPLE, to DO SOMETHING to make that LAW invalid.
If not through legal means, then, by hell, through ILLEGAL MENAS.
After all, the American people who revolt against the British rule over them were deemed by the British as "illegals", and see how America has regain her LEGALITY today?
Everything is relative, LEGALITY is also relative. Something that onces were "LEGAL" may not be legal anymore at another era - things such as slavery were once legal, but now, do you think slavery is legal?
Same thing with the "copy protection" and the "patent" thing - they (the hollywood bigshots) can say that they have the "legal backing" right now, but then, a year, 2 years, 5 years or 10 years from now, who can say if their "current stand" can still be valid or not?
Keep on fighting for our freedom, and DO NOT STOP FIGHTING !
If they want to put stuffs INTO our hard drives, in order to BLOCK US from record something, then, they have infringed on OUR RIGHT TO DO WHATEVER WE WANT with the things WE HAVE SPENT MONEY TO PURCHASE !
THis is THE CRUX of the matter - if we don't stand up for our rights now, sooner or later, those power-hungry monsters will tag on with some other LOUSY SCHEME to further limit our freedom, and who knows what else they will come up with next?
The reason why Symantec bought the company which produced the Optasm is NOT for Optasm, rather, it is for ANOTHER product that the company produces, a disk utility (the features were eventually included in the Norton Utilities).
Optasm ended up in the list of the product the author sold along with his company.
Symantec never produces, and NEVER DID, any compiler of any kind, and the Optasm is only good for one thing only, and that is, compile Assmbly Language Very Efficiently.
The reason for Symantec's refusal to release Optasm's source code is unclear, but it probably is linked to the legal stuffs or something like that (copyright matters) but that should not provent a company like Symantec to do so.
After all, Sun DID release the source code of StarOffice under GPL, and if Sun can do so, why can't Symantec?
I know, I know, not everyone is fond of Sun, but at least, with the release of StarOffice's source code under GPL, Sun has gained quite a coup in the goodwill department, and THAT is the most important thing we gotta acknowledge.
I hope that in the future, other companies will end up be also "enlightened" to the fact that hording source code for a product that IS NOT GOING TO MAKE ANY MONEY will not make them any richer, but releasing that souce code to the public WILL MAKE THEM A LOT OF FRIENDS !
It's nice to hear that Shell is using Linux to run that SuperComputer.
But to me, my own experience with Shell is HORRIBLE, ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE !
Shell seems to like to build petrol stations RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO SCHOOLS ! In Malaysia, for instance, Shell constructed a gas station RIGHT NEXT DOOR to a primary school with a student body over ONE THOUSAND CHILDREN !
Let's not talk about the danger of EXPLOSION which will LEVELED the FOUR-STOREY BUILDING which houses the OVER ONE THOUSAND SCHOOL CHILDREN - even if we talk about the DANGER POSED BY DEADLY CHEMICALS SUCH AS BENZENE AND TOULENE, and the effect these chemicals will have on the CHILDREN, for the children have to ENDURE THE EXPOSURE TO THESE DEADLY CHEMICALS FOR A PERIOD OF SIX FULL YEARS !!
Malaysia is a THIRD WORLD COUNTRY, a country whereby there is NO LAW preventing construction of potentially DANGEROUS gas station right next to high-density buildings like Office Towers or Hotel or Hospital or Shopping Malls or Schools.
It happens that Malaysia is situated in the TROPICS, with the temperature CONSTANTLY ABOVE 85 degrees F, which is WAY ABOVE THE BOILING POINT of Benzene, which is 82 degrees F.
That means, the BENZENE (and other toxic chemicals) would be VAPORIZED into the air in such a hot climate, and the VAPORS will get into the lungs of the school children right NEXT DOOR !
There were a group of people opposing the building of the gas station right next door to the school building, but Shell DOES NOT CARE and they continue that construction.
I have NO PROBLEM with Shell making a buck selling gasoline, but I DO HAVE MUCH PROBLEMS when someone, including Shell, want to make bucks WHILE HARMING THE HEALTH AND LIVES OF OVER ONE THOUSAND INNOCENT LITTLE CHILDREN !
Here's where Shell is constructing the gas station in Malaysia which harms the lives of over one thousand children - It is situated at the Farlim District, in the State Of Penang, Malaysia.
I have emailed Shell's HQ, and Shell's subsidiary in Malaysia concerning the danger, I've called the Shell's Malaysian officies, I've faxed them, I've written them letters, I've even paid visit trying to meet with Shell's officers in Malaysia, but they JUST DO NOT CARE !
If there is anyone here know what to do next, I'm all ears. If you have any suggestion, please write to me at knive@newmail.net.
For crying out loud, when the users pay money to purchase the programs you wrote, the did it because of their trust in you.
I am not a warez user, nor will I ever be. I respect the goodworks and time and effort you've put into your software product, but if you ever decide to ABANDON the product you have written, please consider the users who have PAID THEIR MONEY to purchase the product! Please, don't leave them holding the empty bag.
The VERY LEAST you can do is to let the users have the SOURCE CODE of the ABANDONWARE, and let them decide what they (the users) gonna do with it.
I am speaking from experience, both as a user and an author of an already abandon software. I feel very sad that after I have paid good money for something - which I thought might have SOME MORE MILAGE TO GO, for years to come - and wake up to find that the software I use can no longer be used on newer OS environments, and the original author has decided to abandon the product altogether !
One example I can point to is Optasm, an excellent Assembly Language compiler. After the author sold his company (along with all the copyrights of his software) to Symantec corp, Symantec decided to DISCONTINUE the development of Optasm, and YET, they (the folks at Symantec) steadfastly refused to release the source code for Optasm, and we, the users who have appreciated the way Optasm compile the assembly code, are now facing NO OPTION but giving up our favorite assembly language compiler altogether.
Had Symantec releases the source code to Optasm, I bet someone (even perhaps moi!) may try to modify it to run on other OS environment, including the Open-Source ones, such as Linux or FreeBSD !
Now, I am not saying that the assembler language utilities for LInux or FreeBSD is not good, but if you compare the way Optasm did the compilation to those currently available for Linux and FreeBSD, there's just NO comparison at all!
Hopefully, one day, Symantec will come to the conclusion that releasing the source code for products that they have decided to TOTALLY ABANDON may generate goodwills for the company, goodwills that may reap MORE BENEFITS in the future, in term of support and sales of future products.
Let me re-iterate my point again, I am NOT interested in Warez, but please give me the source code of the product if you the author decides to abandon it.
So the report says that the bacterium was trapped in salt, buried somewhere deep in the ground.
Well.. don't we eat rock-salts?
I mean, millions of us have taken plenty of rock salt in our lives, and who knows how many millions of ancient bacteria which were "revived" in our tummies ?
Reverse Engineering is NOT theft. Stealing is.
on
Obfuscated Circuitry?
·
· Score: 1
Reverse Engineering - the "learning" you mention - is not theft.
But direct copying the product of others and profit by it without the producer's consent is theft !
And in the hardware sense, obfuscating the circuits with "sweetpots" (or "honeypots") has been practiced for a long-long time. The way the "sweetpots" work is to provide a place where the hacker (or whoever tried to poke into the circuit) can (not so easily) find, and in that "sweetpot", there are some semblence of coherent "secrets" and the role of the sweetpot is to fool the hackers to think that they have hit the "jackpot" but in actualities, the real mccoy is elsewhere.
There are a lot of developments into polymers, and most of the time we do not realize that many types of polymers _are_ plastics, and many of them can burn easily !
While in lab condition, the polymer batteries may have indicated the capacity of being recharged at a certain level of power, and can be recharged for umpteen times, but in the real world, especially if we are talking about applying these polymer batteries into cars, there are lots of fire hazzards we need to be taking care of.
While the polymer batteries can be safely used for non-volatile situation, cars which run on the road, in extremely punishing weather condition, are not necessarily suitable for these easily burning polymer batteries.
I am glad that someone had the foresights to keep warehouse full of the Sinclair computer. There are things that are old but still VERY INTRIGUINGLY USEFUL, and that Sinclair computer is just one of them.
I dunno if it is practical or not to get Linux to run on the Sinclair, but as you know, there are zealots amongst us that will get Linux to run on anything !:)
In another note: Apple hauled out all their LISA stockpile to the dump site !! Yes, BRAND NEW, NEVER USED computer, warehouse-load, straight to the dump site !
My only wish is that someone is still keeping a warehouse (or two, or three...) full of the LISA computer.
I think someone will get Linux to run on LISA too, if someone is keeping a warehouse fill with LISA.
Ever since the beginning, when Eve gave the forbidden apple to Adam, and that guy took that proverbial bite, human beings have left many kinds of "human touch" - or to put it more bluntly, human follies, - to many natural and man-made things around them.
I can still remember the time people pin their diskettes to the fridge-doors with magnets, stapled their diskettes with their documents, ask support personnels "Where the heck is the _any_ key?!" and in the world of encryption and security, I will not be surprise that _some_ more novel forms of "human touchs" will emerge.
Bruce is correct in his accessment, that the human element is THE WEAKEST link in the whole chain of security.
"The law already says that obvious stuff
is not patentable."
The above sentence makes lots of sense to you and me, but to a lawyer or any person who are in the legal profession, words like "obvious" is not enough.
You have to be as specific as possible, detailing exactly what you mean by "obvious", in the legal arena, in order to make your case.
Therefore, the question here now lies on what "OBVIOUS" really means.
Let me take an example:
The way the "one-click" amazon.com patent works
is OBVIOUS to many of us, but to the legal staff
amazon.com has hired, they could argue the
contrary.
I do share you view that a new bill is not needed, but some EXPLAINATIONS (in the form of amendment to the existing patent laws) are urgently in need.
We have seen the effects (many of them negative) of not having EXACT EXPLAINATIONS on many terms, and people who have axes to grind can manipulate the whole notion to their advantage, and that is what has given us so much miseries - not only about the patents, but also copyrights and issues regarding free speech and stuffs.
In the article, words like "aggressive fungus" and "eat plastics" are used.
And... We have too much plastic waste right here in this gravity well that we don't know what to do with.
So? The obvious thing to do is to put 1 and 1 together, somehow figuring out a way to let those "agressive fungus" meet their "food", - and by G*d we have too much of those "food" here, - in such a way that it won't introduce harmful things to the living things on earth, and walla, one of our modern day's headache is solved !
I think this is the best time to buy stocks in NASA and Waste Management.
Slashdot Mirror
So, Symantec, the BAD BOY company which opted to lock the world out of the Optasm source code than releasing it to the world - since Symantec has no use for it anyway - has been granted the patent on incremental anti-virus update.
Think of it - if there isn't any INCREMENTAL UPDATE OF VIRUSES itself, would there be any need for Symantec's latest patent?
So, has anyone applied for the patent which covers the INCREMENTAL UPDATE (or UPGRADE) of VIRUSES?
I remember that the 2600 magazine once had an article about "upgrading" viruses - by changing the register calls and such, and with the possibility of making the "upgrade routine" automatic.
If anyone has such a patent, that might even supercede Symantec's latest patent - and even become a "prior art" example which may render Symantec's patent invalid !
*** NERWSFLASH ***
The latest news from INTELLIGENT SOURCE is that the terrorist Osama Bin Laden breathe OXYGEN !
Yes, the SAME OXYGEN that all the NON-terrorists breathe !
Sources from the INTELLIGENCE also said that they will lobby the congress to support their proposal to BAN OXYGEN, for that is ONE VERY EFFICIENT WAY to KILL Osama Bin Laden !
For ONCE, the United States Of America, the ONLY FREE COUNTRY in the world, must take the lead to WIPE OUT ALL THE TERRORISTS, and we can start by taking out Osama Bin Laden.
I don't understand.
I don't understand the need for FSF to appeal to US court over a decision by a US judge.
I mean, what we are talking about is the NET, right? And, the NET is supposed to be LARGER than US, right?
So, what's the need to appeal to the US court over a stupid decision by a myopic US judge, when what we can do is to post whatever "offending" (according to that myopic US judge anyway) content on the Web anyway, and HOST that web OUTSIDE the U. S. of A. where the US jurisdiction does NOT apply?
Up until now, as far as I understand, the USA still don't have the power to RULE OVER OTHER COUNTRIES, right?
So, if I were t opost that "offending" content on my own website that is being hosted by someone in, let's say, Australia, what the heck can that myopic US judge do to me?
As I said, I don't understand. So, please educate me.
Now that all types of digital killer-app wannabe divices are coming out, trying to capture a piece of the action, methinks the _real_ killer app digital device is yet to be invented, and that is, a digital device capable of either doing the digital oogling itself, or let the user of the device do all types of digital oogling on it.
What da ya think?
Will it be "Turbo Linux Care"?
Will it be "Linux Turbo Care"?
Or "Care Linux Turbo"?
How about "Turbo Care Linux"?
All I get is a whole long list of java error messages !
I think there's a server crash somewhere !
Reading the stuffs on NASA gets me into thinking along the line of the last
Looking at the effort by NASA, if we take a micro view, we can talk about "new propulsion" and stuffs like that, BUT, if we take the macro view, we'd see that it's the accumulation of the micro-stuffs like new propulsion systems that will propel us beyond the existing frontiers, and when that is reach, we will see that the pendulum swings back again, and there'd be many more new things to explore, and it'd be kinda like the "Columbus discover New Continent" thing all over again.
May I know, which year was that when the MPAA took their case to the Supreme Court against the VCR manufacturers?
You gotta remember that the time may have changed - as witnessed the willingness of the Justices of the Supreme Court to intervene in the Bush vs.Gore presidential bid and there lies a GREAT possibilities that the Supreme Court of today may have VERY DIFFERENT thought on many matters.
Lest we forget, many recent Justice appointed to the Supreme Court are not necessarily of the Top Quality kind, and when the "peer-level" of the Supreme Court Justices is lowered, who know what kind of decision they will make on many other cases.
I am not watching the US Supreme Court close enough to render the truthfulness or falsity of my own thesis, they're all based on my personal hunch, that's all.
T'is the Christmas festive season, and you gotta count yer blessings, man !
THose of us who are NOT fortunate enough to live in the States, don't even get to DREAM OF cable modem at all !
In fact, there is NO CABLE-anything where I live, and I'm stuck with the SUPER-ARCHAID 52K dialup to get on the Net.
Man, you guys get all the fun stuffs, and we got NOTHING !
Now.... if there's a way to get someone in the States who have SURPLUSS cable modem to SHARE their fortunes with those of us who NEED 'em, but can't get them anywhere in the country of our residence
I dunno 'bout the other places, but in many place I've been through, even if you've got cable hooked up, there's still a lot of hurdles to go through before one can locate a cable modem that would work with the service provided. Urrrggghh... how come when it comes to the one who provide the utlities (such as power, water, gas, cable, etc.) how come they are almost universally BAD ?!
Yes, they can "copy protect" anything they want, and yes, they can patent any silly idea they want, but THAT WILL NOT stop us who are determined to preserve OUR OWN RIGHTS to find ways in BREAKING their copy protection.
This world function on the basis on SUPPLY AND DEMAND, and if there is ENOUGH DEMAND for a product which BREAKS the so-called "copy protection", there WILL BE people supplying the gadgets to do it.
Nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING is unbreakable.
Law? Legality?
Hey, who cares about legality when the law itself is UNJUST?
Peole who will argue for "obey the law" ought to take a GOOD LOOK at the "Declaration of Independence" signed by the founding fathers of the United States of America, in which, there is - am I am paraphrasing here - something akin to "if the government turns tyrannic, it's the DUTY for the people to TOPPLE it".
So, if the LAW itself is TYRANNICAL, then, it's the DUTY for us, the FREEDOM LOVING PEOPLE, to DO SOMETHING to make that LAW invalid.
If not through legal means, then, by hell, through ILLEGAL MENAS.
After all, the American people who revolt against the British rule over them were deemed by the British as "illegals", and see how America has regain her LEGALITY today?
Everything is relative, LEGALITY is also relative. Something that onces were "LEGAL" may not be legal anymore at another era - things such as slavery were once legal, but now, do you think slavery is legal?
Same thing with the "copy protection" and the "patent" thing - they (the hollywood bigshots) can say that they have the "legal backing" right now, but then, a year, 2 years, 5 years or 10 years from now, who can say if their "current stand" can still be valid or not?
Keep on fighting for our freedom, and DO NOT STOP FIGHTING !
If they want to put stuffs INTO our hard drives, in order to BLOCK US from record something, then, they have infringed on OUR RIGHT TO DO WHATEVER WE WANT with the things WE HAVE SPENT MONEY TO PURCHASE !
THis is THE CRUX of the matter - if we don't stand up for our rights now, sooner or later, those power-hungry monsters will tag on with some other LOUSY SCHEME to further limit our freedom, and who knows what else they will come up with next?
Dear sir,
The reason why Symantec bought the company which produced the Optasm is NOT for Optasm, rather, it is for ANOTHER product that the company produces, a disk utility (the features were eventually included in the Norton Utilities).
Optasm ended up in the list of the product the author sold along with his company.
Symantec never produces, and NEVER DID, any compiler of any kind, and the Optasm is only good for one thing only, and that is, compile Assmbly Language Very Efficiently.
The reason for Symantec's refusal to release Optasm's source code is unclear, but it probably is linked to the legal stuffs or something like that (copyright matters) but that should not provent a company like Symantec to do so.
After all, Sun DID release the source code of StarOffice under GPL, and if Sun can do so, why can't Symantec?
I know, I know, not everyone is fond of Sun, but at least, with the release of StarOffice's source code under GPL, Sun has gained quite a coup in the goodwill department, and THAT is the most important thing we gotta acknowledge.
I hope that in the future, other companies will end up be also "enlightened" to the fact that hording source code for a product that IS NOT GOING TO MAKE ANY MONEY will not make them any richer, but releasing that souce code to the public WILL MAKE THEM A LOT OF FRIENDS !
It's nice to hear that Shell is using Linux to run that SuperComputer.
But to me, my own experience with Shell is HORRIBLE, ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE !
Shell seems to like to build petrol stations RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO SCHOOLS ! In Malaysia, for instance, Shell constructed a gas station RIGHT NEXT DOOR to a primary school with a student body over ONE THOUSAND CHILDREN !
Let's not talk about the danger of EXPLOSION which will LEVELED the FOUR-STOREY BUILDING which houses the OVER ONE THOUSAND SCHOOL CHILDREN - even if we talk about the DANGER POSED BY DEADLY CHEMICALS SUCH AS BENZENE AND TOULENE, and the effect these chemicals will have on the CHILDREN, for the children have to ENDURE THE EXPOSURE TO THESE DEADLY CHEMICALS FOR A PERIOD OF SIX FULL YEARS !!
Malaysia is a THIRD WORLD COUNTRY, a country whereby there is NO LAW preventing construction of potentially DANGEROUS gas station right next to high-density buildings like Office Towers or Hotel or Hospital or Shopping Malls or Schools.
It happens that Malaysia is situated in the TROPICS, with the temperature CONSTANTLY ABOVE 85 degrees F, which is WAY ABOVE THE BOILING POINT of Benzene, which is 82 degrees F.
That means, the BENZENE (and other toxic chemicals) would be VAPORIZED into the air in such a hot climate, and the VAPORS will get into the lungs of the school children right NEXT DOOR !
There were a group of people opposing the building of the gas station right next door to the school building, but Shell DOES NOT CARE and they continue that construction.
I have NO PROBLEM with Shell making a buck selling gasoline, but I DO HAVE MUCH PROBLEMS when someone, including Shell, want to make bucks WHILE HARMING THE HEALTH AND LIVES OF OVER ONE THOUSAND INNOCENT LITTLE CHILDREN !
Here's where Shell is constructing the gas station in Malaysia which harms the lives of over one thousand children - It is situated at the Farlim District, in the State Of Penang, Malaysia.
I have emailed Shell's HQ, and Shell's subsidiary in Malaysia concerning the danger, I've called the Shell's Malaysian officies, I've faxed them, I've written them letters, I've even paid visit trying to meet with Shell's officers in Malaysia, but they JUST DO NOT CARE !
If there is anyone here know what to do next, I'm all ears. If you have any suggestion, please write to me at knive@newmail.net.
Thank you.
To all software authors,
For crying out loud, when the users pay money to purchase the programs you wrote, the did it because of their trust in you.
I am not a warez user, nor will I ever be. I respect the goodworks and time and effort you've put into your software product, but if you ever decide to ABANDON the product you have written, please consider the users who have PAID THEIR MONEY to purchase the product! Please, don't leave them holding the empty bag.
The VERY LEAST you can do is to let the users have the SOURCE CODE of the ABANDONWARE, and let them decide what they (the users) gonna do with it.
I am speaking from experience, both as a user and an author of an already abandon software. I feel very sad that after I have paid good money for something - which I thought might have SOME MORE MILAGE TO GO, for years to come - and wake up to find that the software I use can no longer be used on newer OS environments, and the original author has decided to abandon the product altogether !
One example I can point to is Optasm, an excellent Assembly Language compiler. After the author sold his company (along with all the copyrights of his software) to Symantec corp, Symantec decided to DISCONTINUE the development of Optasm, and YET, they (the folks at Symantec) steadfastly refused to release the source code for Optasm, and we, the users who have appreciated the way Optasm compile the assembly code, are now facing NO OPTION but giving up our favorite assembly language compiler altogether.
Had Symantec releases the source code to Optasm, I bet someone (even perhaps moi!) may try to modify it to run on other OS environment, including the Open-Source ones, such as Linux or FreeBSD !
Now, I am not saying that the assembler language utilities for LInux or FreeBSD is not good, but if you compare the way Optasm did the compilation to those currently available for Linux and FreeBSD, there's just NO comparison at all!
Hopefully, one day, Symantec will come to the conclusion that releasing the source code for products that they have decided to TOTALLY ABANDON may generate goodwills for the company, goodwills that may reap MORE BENEFITS in the future, in term of support and sales of future products.
Let me re-iterate my point again, I am NOT interested in Warez, but please give me the source code of the product if you the author decides to abandon it.
Thank you again for reading.
I don't live in Europe, and I bet there are a lot slashdotters who don't reside in Europe too.
So, what can we do to help?
So the report says that the bacterium was trapped in salt, buried somewhere deep in the ground.
Well.. don't we eat rock-salts?
I mean, millions of us have taken plenty of rock salt in our lives, and who knows how many millions of ancient bacteria which were "revived" in our tummies ?
Reverse Engineering - the "learning" you mention - is not theft.
But direct copying the product of others and profit by it without the producer's consent is theft !
And in the hardware sense, obfuscating the circuits with "sweetpots" (or "honeypots") has been practiced for a long-long time. The way the "sweetpots" work is to provide a place where the hacker (or whoever tried to poke into the circuit) can (not so easily) find, and in that "sweetpot", there are some semblence of coherent "secrets" and the role of the sweetpot is to fool the hackers to think that they have hit the "jackpot" but in actualities, the real mccoy is elsewhere.
There are a lot of developments into polymers, and most of the time we do not realize that many types of polymers _are_ plastics, and many of them can burn easily !
While in lab condition, the polymer batteries may have indicated the capacity of being recharged at a certain level of power, and can be recharged for umpteen times, but in the real world, especially if we are talking about applying these polymer batteries into cars, there are lots of fire hazzards we need to be taking care of.
While the polymer batteries can be safely used for non-volatile situation, cars which run on the road, in extremely punishing weather condition, are not necessarily suitable for these easily burning polymer batteries.
Can it use the old celeron chips?
At U$ 39.00 per shot, the Opera browser is surely pricier than mozilla.
Lots of people here are for a brand new comparison of Linux vs. Windows.
The real question is, is there a need for such comparison, no matter if it is static pages or whatever benchmark.
After all, all we need to do is to make Linux better. Comparing Linux with brand-x of OS will not yield an ounce of performance boost at all.
Yes, bragging rights for the Linux folks if Linux wins, but so what? Is bragging rights so important?
If M$ wants to brag, let it brags until the cows come home. What Linux needs is to become even better by the second.
That's my $ 0.02
I did not ask Dell, but I wonder if you did.
I am glad that someone had the foresights to keep warehouse full of the Sinclair computer. There are things that are old but still VERY INTRIGUINGLY USEFUL, and that Sinclair computer is just one of them.
I dunno if it is practical or not to get Linux to run on the Sinclair, but as you know, there are zealots amongst us that will get Linux to run on anything !
In another note: Apple hauled out all their LISA stockpile to the dump site !! Yes, BRAND NEW, NEVER USED computer, warehouse-load, straight to the dump site !
My only wish is that someone is still keeping a warehouse (or two, or three...) full of the LISA computer.
I think someone will get Linux to run on LISA too, if someone is keeping a warehouse fill with LISA.
Ever since the beginning, when Eve gave the forbidden apple to Adam, and that guy took that proverbial bite, human beings have left many kinds of "human touch" - or to put it more bluntly, human follies, - to many natural and man-made things around them.
I can still remember the time people pin their diskettes to the fridge-doors with magnets, stapled their diskettes with their documents, ask support personnels "Where the heck is the _any_ key?!" and in the world of encryption and security, I will not be surprise that _some_ more novel forms of "human touchs" will emerge.
Bruce is correct in his accessment, that the human element is THE WEAKEST link in the whole chain of security.
You said:
"The law already says that obvious stuff
is not patentable."
The above sentence makes lots of sense to you and me, but to a lawyer or any person who are in the legal profession, words like "obvious" is not enough.
You have to be as specific as possible, detailing exactly what you mean by "obvious", in the legal arena, in order to make your case.
Therefore, the question here now lies on what "OBVIOUS" really means.
Let me take an example:
The way the "one-click" amazon.com patent works
is OBVIOUS to many of us, but to the legal staff
amazon.com has hired, they could argue the
contrary.
I do share you view that a new bill is not needed, but some EXPLAINATIONS (in the form of amendment to the existing patent laws) are urgently in need.
We have seen the effects (many of them negative) of not having EXACT EXPLAINATIONS on many terms, and people who have axes to grind can manipulate the whole notion to their advantage, and that is what has given us so much miseries - not only about the patents, but also copyrights and issues regarding free speech and stuffs.
In the article, words like "aggressive fungus" and "eat plastics" are used.
And... We have too much plastic waste right here in this gravity well that we don't know what to do with.
So? The obvious thing to do is to put 1 and 1 together, somehow figuring out a way to let those "agressive fungus" meet their "food", - and by G*d we have too much of those "food" here, - in such a way that it won't introduce harmful things to the living things on earth, and walla, one of our modern day's headache is solved !
I think this is the best time to buy stocks in NASA and Waste Management.