My laptop came with 512 MB of RAM, a 15" screen, a DVD player, and Windows XP Home Edition preinstalled, for $450 less than a comparable iBook. My recommendation is to go straight to Windows XP Professional; the extra features for mobile users are worth it. See Which Edition is Right for You? for more information.
Last time I checked, real user testimonials rarely had hyperlinks to the product comparisons seamlessly stuck in the middle of their benefits touting....
So you're the guy leaving me all that feedback on ebay.... Thanks!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA++++++++++++++++ (Just kidding...all in fun.):)
of course you never consider the fact that _you're_ technologically ignorant too? most people are, even the people that think they're not. if you're running a PEECEE, you're guarenteed to be.
Eh, maybe you're right.... Not to split hairs (again), but strictly speaking, I don't think my TiVo even falls into the colloquial definition of a PEECEE (which typically denotes a (W)Intel-based microcomputer architecture of some sort). It uses a PowerPC 403GCX embedded controller (offering several distinct advantages over a 403GA or 403GC including increased cache size and support for EDO RAM, while maintaining a compatible initialization state with those models; it should be noted however that the 401 series PowerPC is more forgiving about misaligned data: the 401 core has hardware support for misaligned half-word and word-sized loads and stores, whereas misaligned accesses on the the 403 series causes an alignment interrupt; yes, relying on this behavior of the 401 did get me into portability trouble when I was a Comp. Sci. student; but hey, live and learn, right?). It also runs a multi-user-capable, time-sharing kernel (Linux).
But what would I know? I'm just a technologically ignorant PEECEE user.
Federal copyright regulators are opening the door for new exceptions to a controversial copyright law that has landed one publisher in court and a Russian programmer in jail.
We locked the guy up for fsck's sake. He didn't kill or rape or hurt anybody. He wasn't selling methamphetamines to unsuspecting school kids. What kind of message are we trying to send here? It's okay to embezzle bazillions of dollars as the head of a corporation with not so much as a slap on the wrist, but if we publish information a la those "How It Works" children's books, we can be thrown in jail with a complimentary ass pounding.
It makes me sick to know my tax dollars are supporting this kind bassackwards bullshit.
[T]he Librarian of Congress is required by law...to see if there are any specific types of works which should be exempted from part of the DMCA.
How about everything? The law is flawed and Unconstitutional. There shouldn't be any exceptions because the law shouldn't exist in the first place. Holding a public forum to try to placate the public is not an acceptable method of creating Consitutional laws.
Sorry but reverse engineering is pretty well established....
Here, here! (Of course it's not legal anymore, but that's splitting hairs....)
Whatever happened to legitimate forms of deterrance? If I crack open my TiVo, I void the warranty. I can dick around all I want, but if I screw something up, I have to pay to have it fixed. This is enough to deter most of the technology-ignorant public from screwing with their hardware, and it's a method which has been around for years. Has everyone forgotten about this?
Microsoft would avoid the embarrassment by including a Linux CD with each Xbox.
Yeah, but they'd call it "MS Unix" or "MS OpenSource" something. I had no idea Microsoft invented HTML until I saw the file type for.htm docs in Windows....
The chroot jail looks like a tinkerer's paradise. My only question is how is software installation done for non trivial programs?
From the site:
Now, we are going to install the 'awk' program into the chrooted environment. We need to call the addjailsw script with the -P argument:
/usr/local/bin/addjailsw/var/chroot -P awk
The output for the script will be something like this:
addjailsw A component of Jail http://www.gsyc.inf.uc3m.es/~assman/jail/ J uan M. Casillas
Guessing awk args(0) creating/var/chroot//lib/libc.so.6 Warning: file/var/chroot/lib/libc.so.6 exists. \ Overwritting it creating/var/chroot//usr/bin/awk creating/var/chroot//etc/ld.so.cache Warning: file/var/chroot/etc/ld.so.cache exists. \ Overwritting it creating/var/chroot//lib/libm.so.6 creating/var/chroot//lib/ld-linux.so.2 Warning: file/var/chroot/lib/ld-linux.so.2 exists. \ Overwritting it
Done.
Again, not to minimize the outstanding work here, but what if I want to create chroot jails for the LAMP class I'm teaching (I'm not really, but this seems like a cool application) so they can all have their own Apache installations? It sounds like chroot will know to move the httpd binary and the required shared libraries, but what about the rest of the admin shell scripts, server root, shared icons dir, mime types file, etc.?
Then what happens if I want to upgrade? My guess is a fair amount of bootstrapping needs to be done in the new root....
What might be really cool is for addjailsw to be RPM-aware so I could do a addjailsw mod_ssl-2.8.7-6 which would get a list of necessary files and package dependencies and install them in the new root and update the RPM DB in the new root as well.
Copyright was designed to give the creators of some kind of intellectual property a reasonable amount of time to profit from their creation before opening it to the rest of society for use in derivative works, not to tightly control use of one's works, even long after they may have been dead.
As long as corporations are allowed to own copyrights (and otherwise enjoy rights of ownership), then copyright (and domain name) extension will be indefinite (or at least as long as the lifetime of the company, any of its subsidiaries, or to whomever its assets are sold in Chapter 7 liquidation).
I'm not complaining, I'm just saying it like it is: once something is owned by a corporation, it will most likely be owned as long as possible.
Of course they rejected it. 70 years is essentially an entire lifetime. 50 years gives the other people a chance.
Actually this is more true than you realize:
[P]eople on the island [of Taiwan] enjoy a longer average lifespan than other Asian peoples.... 1
70 years is anywhere from 2 to 10 years shy of the average Taiwan lifespan. This is significant because the US and Taiwan have pretty similar average lifespans. This rejection is about freedom of knowledge, not picking a magic number for copyrights to outlive most of their holders.
Empathy (a prerequisite to politeness) is one of the few abilities that distinguishes (arguably) a select few species on this earth. You're assuming that most humans possess this ability and are proficient enough at it to apply it.
My anecdotal research shows differently.
I'm currently debating whether or not to encourage the ability in my (yet to be born) children. While it is a noble and admirable quality, because it is so rare, it is rarely rewarding (i.e., due to the "it takes one to know one" effect, so few people recognize empathy when they see it, much less acknowledge it, that it yeilds more frustration than anything else).
Could I run out and patent the idea of 128 bit parallel chip?
Application for patent: method by which an individual may suggest/ask feedback regarding (un)patentable ideas in an Internet-based group discussion forum.
Somehow, I'm guessing there's probably some prior art here....
Remember, though, that a patent differs fundamentally from a copyright in that it you can selectively enforce a patent without compromising it.
In other words, if a huge corporation steals your patented algorithm, you don't have to sue them the instant the violation occurs (or even at all if you want). You can wait until you've got enough cash (or investors, or a really good lawyer that will work without a retainer).
I really wish it didn't work that way, and there was a time when people actually worked their problems out WITHOUT calling in a lawyer, but everybody these days is greedy, and they want to sue and get $millions in damages.
Even if people don't want to sue, lawyers do (they directly benefit), and can heavily influence that decision. That's why there needs to be mandated caps on what the compensatory payout of any lawsuit is. Lawyers should be required by law to disclose their hourly fees up front (before any work is done) and it should be illegal for them to accept a percentage of the judgement.
Punitive damages should not be rewarded to the victim(s) or lawyer(s), but instead given to poor countries the US molested (or some other third party, but I haven't figured out a way to ensure noncorruption).
No one ever talks about any of this as a serious political issue. Legal insurance should be as big a topic as health insurance, and no citizen should be without legal representation (not just in criminal prosecution, but in their day-to-day lives). Of course I doubt law makers are going to kill off their own cash cows...the whole thing seems rigged from the core.
As far as coming up with the $20,000, find a lawyer that will draw up a rock solid non disclosure agreement and then shop it around to rich businessmen and patent lawyers after you get a signed NDA.
I agree, patent the algorithm. Some useful things to remember:
US$20,000 is the initial cost of patenting your algorithm. It may cost upwards of US$1 million to defend it in courts if people piss all over you.
Also, NDA's are hardly ever enforceable. It's best to use a trusted friend or family member if available (we should all be so lucky).
The angel investing approach to funding the patent may work, but you'll probably have to give up a percentage of the proceeds.
Yeah, this guy looks pretty mean. Incidentally, unless it's been recently changed, 66.37.138.99 points to spatula.aclue.com: Decisionism Inc. (ACLUE2-DOM)
4260 E. Evans Ave.
Denver, CO 80222
US
Domain Name: ACLUE.COM
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
Klein, Eli (NCMGTMOSXI) elijah@firstlink.com
4260 E. Evans Ave.
Denver, CO 80222
US
no phone no fax
Record expires on 17-Dec-2003.
Record created on 17-Dec-1998.
Database last updated on 8-Oct-2002 23:09:51 EDT.
Any chance this isn't the guy responsible (i.e., Eli had his machine h4x0r3d)? Talk about an ironic choice of domain names.... At least he's running Apache.
I've preferred qmail for quite some time, but I don't use it at home because it's a pain to install (relative to just tweaking my existing sendmail setup which I've grown to understand). I'd love it see it move into more major acceptance, but the problem is that sendmail is the default for many distros. RedHat doesn't even have a qmail RPM to install.
AT least I hope thats what their link is all about. I suppose we shall see if it disappears later or not.
Why be so passive about it? Do your part. News.com will most definitely be informed of the link. It's better that we start writing the editor to support the site's choice to do so, rather than them being contacted first by a lawyer or "the authorities".
I would like to congratulate Declan McCullagh for including links to DeCCS in his articles, "Congress asked to unpick copy lock laws" (10/03) and "Perspective: Coming to terms with copyright" (10/07).
Other sites (e.g., cnn.com) have bowed to overt industry & legal pressure to remove similar links from their sites, despite the obvious unconstitutional and frighteningly silencing nature of the DCMA. I commend your writers and your publication for this bold statement and support you 100% in your efforts to maintain the principles of the Freedom of the Press in this great country.
Slashdot Mirror
My laptop came with 512 MB of RAM, a 15" screen, a DVD player, and Windows XP Home Edition preinstalled, for $450 less than a comparable iBook. My recommendation is to go straight to Windows XP Professional; the extra features for mobile users are worth it. See Which Edition is Right for You? for more information.
Last time I checked, real user testimonials rarely had hyperlinks to the product comparisons seamlessly stuck in the middle of their benefits touting....
...company??????? ...under!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ... Recue!!!!
:)
So you're the guy leaving me all that feedback on ebay.... Thanks!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA++++++++++++++++
(Just kidding...all in fun.)
of course you never consider the fact that _you're_ technologically ignorant too? most people are, even the people that think they're not. if you're running a PEECEE, you're guarenteed to be.
Eh, maybe you're right.... Not to split hairs (again), but strictly speaking, I don't think my TiVo even falls into the colloquial definition of a PEECEE (which typically denotes a (W)Intel-based microcomputer architecture of some sort). It uses a PowerPC 403GCX embedded controller (offering several distinct advantages over a 403GA or 403GC including increased cache size and support for EDO RAM, while maintaining a compatible initialization state with those models; it should be noted however that the 401 series PowerPC is more forgiving about misaligned data: the 401 core has hardware support for misaligned half-word and word-sized loads and stores, whereas misaligned accesses on the the 403 series causes an alignment interrupt; yes, relying on this behavior of the 401 did get me into portability trouble when I was a Comp. Sci. student; but hey, live and learn, right?). It also runs a multi-user-capable, time-sharing kernel (Linux).
But what would I know? I'm just a technologically ignorant PEECEE user.
The latest release of Transgaming's WineX (details available here) now supports EverQuest.
In other news, Transgaming has announced future plans to support bulk heroin distribution and high-margin cocaine resale.
From the article:
Federal copyright regulators are opening the door for new exceptions to a controversial copyright law that has landed one publisher in court and a Russian programmer in jail.
We locked the guy up for fsck's sake. He didn't kill or rape or hurt anybody. He wasn't selling methamphetamines to unsuspecting school kids. What kind of message are we trying to send here? It's okay to embezzle bazillions of dollars as the head of a corporation with not so much as a slap on the wrist, but if we publish information a la those "How It Works" children's books, we can be thrown in jail with a complimentary ass pounding.
It makes me sick to know my tax dollars are supporting this kind bassackwards bullshit.
[T]he Librarian of Congress is required by law...to see if there are any specific types of works which should be exempted from part of the DMCA.
How about everything? The law is flawed and Unconstitutional. There shouldn't be any exceptions because the law shouldn't exist in the first place. Holding a public forum to try to placate the public is not an acceptable method of creating Consitutional laws.
Sorry but reverse engineering is pretty well established....
Here, here! (Of course it's not legal anymore, but that's splitting hairs....)
Whatever happened to legitimate forms of deterrance? If I crack open my TiVo, I void the warranty. I can dick around all I want, but if I screw something up, I have to pay to have it fixed. This is enough to deter most of the technology-ignorant public from screwing with their hardware, and it's a method which has been around for years. Has everyone forgotten about this?
Microsoft would avoid the embarrassment by including a Linux CD with each Xbox.
.htm docs in Windows....
Yeah, but they'd call it "MS Unix" or "MS OpenSource" something. I had no idea Microsoft invented HTML until I saw the file type for
From the site:
Again, not to minimize the outstanding work here, but what if I want to create chroot jails for the LAMP class I'm teaching (I'm not really, but this seems like a cool application) so they can all have their own Apache installations? It sounds like chroot will know to move the httpd binary and the required shared libraries, but what about the rest of the admin shell scripts, server root, shared icons dir, mime types file, etc.?
Then what happens if I want to upgrade? My guess is a fair amount of bootstrapping needs to be done in the new root....
What might be really cool is for addjailsw to be RPM-aware so I could do a addjailsw mod_ssl-2.8.7-6 which would get a list of necessary files and package dependencies and install them in the new root and update the RPM DB in the new root as well.
Maybe just wishful thinking....
Copyright was designed to give the creators of some kind of intellectual property a reasonable amount of time to profit from their creation before opening it to the rest of society for use in derivative works, not to tightly control use of one's works, even long after they may have been dead.
As long as corporations are allowed to own copyrights (and otherwise enjoy rights of ownership), then copyright (and domain name) extension will be indefinite (or at least as long as the lifetime of the company, any of its subsidiaries, or to whomever its assets are sold in Chapter 7 liquidation).
I'm not complaining, I'm just saying it like it is: once something is owned by a corporation, it will most likely be owned as long as possible.
Perhaps they'll serve as inspiration to other countries.
Yeah, like maybe the U.S.
Actually this is more true than you realize:
70 years is anywhere from 2 to 10 years shy of the average Taiwan lifespan. This is significant because the US and Taiwan have pretty similar average lifespans. This rejection is about freedom of knowledge, not picking a magic number for copyrights to outlive most of their holders.
Dammit, people, it's not that hard to be polite.
Empathy (a prerequisite to politeness) is one of the few abilities that distinguishes (arguably) a select few species on this earth. You're assuming that most humans possess this ability and are proficient enough at it to apply it.
My anecdotal research shows differently.
I'm currently debating whether or not to encourage the ability in my (yet to be born) children. While it is a noble and admirable quality, because it is so rare, it is rarely rewarding (i.e., due to the "it takes one to know one" effect, so few people recognize empathy when they see it, much less acknowledge it, that it yeilds more frustration than anything else).
Does this qualify me as a cynic?
Could I run out and patent the idea of 128 bit parallel chip?
Application for patent: method by which an individual may suggest/ask feedback regarding (un)patentable ideas in an Internet-based group discussion forum.
Somehow, I'm guessing there's probably some prior art here....
Remember, though, that a patent differs fundamentally from a copyright in that it you can selectively enforce a patent without compromising it.
In other words, if a huge corporation steals your patented algorithm, you don't have to sue them the instant the violation occurs (or even at all if you want). You can wait until you've got enough cash (or investors, or a really good lawyer that will work without a retainer).
I really wish it didn't work that way, and there was a time when people actually worked their problems out WITHOUT calling in a lawyer, but everybody these days is greedy, and they want to sue and get $millions in damages.
Even if people don't want to sue, lawyers do (they directly benefit), and can heavily influence that decision. That's why there needs to be mandated caps on what the compensatory payout of any lawsuit is. Lawyers should be required by law to disclose their hourly fees up front (before any work is done) and it should be illegal for them to accept a percentage of the judgement.
Punitive damages should not be rewarded to the victim(s) or lawyer(s), but instead given to poor countries the US molested (or some other third party, but I haven't figured out a way to ensure noncorruption).
No one ever talks about any of this as a serious political issue. Legal insurance should be as big a topic as health insurance, and no citizen should be without legal representation (not just in criminal prosecution, but in their day-to-day lives). Of course I doubt law makers are going to kill off their own cash cows...the whole thing seems rigged from the core.
If you look closely at his desktop, you will see that he is running the Xitami webserver, not Apache.
Xitami has a web server?! (Ha-ha...just kidding.)
[pause; grin fades to puzzled look]
By the way, who's Xitami?
Microsoft did something in the best interests of the consumer. Isn't that a sign of the apocalypse?
No, it's a sign that:
a.) the consumer was wrong
b.) MS has found another way to do the same thing without the consumer finding out
c.) all of the above
Seriously, though, this has happened before. Just keep an eye out in the future.
As far as coming up with the $20,000, find a lawyer that will draw up a rock solid non disclosure agreement and then shop it around to rich businessmen and patent lawyers after you get a signed NDA.
I agree, patent the algorithm. Some useful things to remember:
US$20,000 is the initial cost of patenting your algorithm. It may cost upwards of US$1 million to defend it in courts if people piss all over you.
Also, NDA's are hardly ever enforceable. It's best to use a trusted friend or family member if available (we should all be so lucky).
The angel investing approach to funding the patent may work, but you'll probably have to give up a percentage of the proceeds.
Good luck. I hope you're successful!
Yeah, this guy looks pretty mean. Incidentally, unless it's been recently changed, 66.37.138.99 points to spatula.aclue.com:
Decisionism Inc. (ACLUE2-DOM)
4260 E. Evans Ave.
Denver, CO 80222
US
Domain Name: ACLUE.COM
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
Klein, Eli (NCMGTMOSXI) elijah@firstlink.com
4260 E. Evans Ave.
Denver, CO 80222
US
no phone no fax
Record expires on 17-Dec-2003.
Record created on 17-Dec-1998.
Database last updated on 8-Oct-2002 23:09:51 EDT.
Domain servers in listed order:
NS3.FIRSTLINK.COM 66.37.141.4
DENVER.FIRSTLINK.COM 66.37.143.67
Any chance this isn't the guy responsible (i.e., Eli had his machine h4x0r3d)? Talk about an ironic choice of domain names.... At least he's running Apache.
I've preferred qmail for quite some time, but I don't use it at home because it's a pain to install (relative to just tweaking my existing sendmail setup which I've grown to understand). I'd love it see it move into more major acceptance, but the problem is that sendmail is the default for many distros. RedHat doesn't even have a qmail RPM to install.
How far does the long arm of US copyright law reach?
As far as the money will take it.
In keeping with the Roman god thing, how about:
Bacchus (God of W[h]ine)
- or -
Vulcan (The Smith God) -- so what if Gene Roddenberry says they came from somewhere else?
Why be so passive about it? Do your part. News.com will most definitely be informed of the link. It's better that we start writing the editor to support the site's choice to do so, rather than them being contacted first by a lawyer or "the authorities".
Write to letters@news.com. Here's an example letter I sent:
This letter offered under the MIT License
Slashdot seems to be the Gray Hat QA engineer in testing concurrent site capacity. Maybe it should get a salary and benefits....