"Government Computer News" is a not-very-funny attempt at a satire news site, usually for the purpose of fooling weblogs into posting to their 'interesting' stories.
This is not intended as a troll/flame, but I think it's pretty hypocritical of michael to criticize media for getting suckered in by this when I can think of at least a half dozen times Slashdot has been hoaxed.
You're absolutely right. The same thing happened at the spawn of the industrial revolution -- in an effort to hop on the bandwagon, there were tons of illegal goings-on.
Now, with the technology/computer/internet revolution, history repeats itself. However, I am faithful that just like the industrial revolution, these companies will triumph over the people who were willing to overlook the law just to make a profit.
Actually I don't think this is any laughing matter. Being a lawyer, I can say from first hand experience that legal troubles, especially financial ones, are nothing to be laughing about. Especially when they involve the shady financing of businesses like VA Linux, which, if you're like me, you have your retirement savings invested in.
In short, this is a pretty grave manner and I can only hope that the companies who were involved with this one are not tainted or hurt by their under-the-table doings. It could be a fatal blow to an already hurting technology industry.
I was especially proud of that one. The best part is, my username is "gayrod", but no one seems to notice. I'm kind of disappointed with my troll on this Borland post though. Usually I get shot up to +4 or +5 pretty quick when the Linux fucks get all drippy at the thought of a real layer having interest in their pointless causes.
Borland is making a smart move with this license. License violation costs software companies BILLIONS of dollars every year. For example, I visited a graphic/design outfit that my friend worked for, and the entire 20 person staff was working with 1 license of Adobe Photoshop, and the only copies I saw were on burned CD-Rs.
Think logically for a moment. Let's say I owned a rent-to-own business, and someone refused to return a TV. I have the right to enter their home and reclaim my equipment if I hire a licensed Material Reposesser (Repo Man for simple folk). This is the exact same situation.
Borland's license is neither ridiculous nor outrageous. It's exactly what all software companies should be looking into. It's legal and moral in this lawyer's eyes.
I doubt your claim to be one of the co-authors of the release notes, as your e-mail address isn't even valid. I wonder what the Mozilla people would think if they knew some troll was impersonating one of their team.
I'm sure they hardly care about FreeBSD users, who make up such a small minority that compiling anything for them is wasting time / resources.
It's like offering a compiled version for Microsoft Bob users - no one will download it, and if they did, they'd just be laughed at.
Get a real OS, then you can be entitled to bitch about lack of binaries for your backwater, unsecure, amateur operating system that'll never be anything more than a train wreck of code that lifeless hobbyists twiddle with.
If it's ever going to topple MSIE, they need to slow their development rate. The fact that Microsoft goes from IE4->IE5->IE6 confuses enough newbie users, going from 0.0093->0.0094->0.00103 every 2 weeks is beyond most people.
Great browser, ridiculously fast development rate. Slow it down guys, release every.1
When I was in Law School, we were presented with an age-old issue similar to this. Way back when, a printing company accused another of stealing their "shorthand" language that they used in technical manuals. (Basically it was a simple method of printing manuals for machines. If you were a worker who repaired these machines, you would be familiar with the shorthand).
Anyways, the company that originated the shorthand sued another because they began printing manuals with a similar technology. The judge decided (I believe he was right) that it did constitute an infringement and the defendant company was required to pay royalities.
Sure is neat to see how things can change, but the same lawsuits pop up again;)
No, not yet. I just recently signed up to Slashdot, and put it as my info, as it will very soon be my home on the web. It will be soon (and in the meantime it sure prevents spam!;)
- Dave Brennins
I've seen a lot of "IANAL"s discussing issues like this, but, for once, IAAL. (maybe IAAAL? I am actually a lawyer;).
Anyways, Microsoft's claim is entirely legitimate. 'Lindows' is in the same "industry" as 'Windows', and is intentionally abusing the popularity of Windows for its own benefit.
This is the same as coming up with an electronics company called Panasoanic -- there is the potential for legitimate consumer confusion.
I know it's unpopular to side with Microsoft on something, but for once they're in the right here.
As a copyright/trademark lawyer, I'm hoping the courts make the right decision and force Lindows into a name change.
If everyone ran Linux, this worm outbreak would be much worse.
1) "Legitimate"-looking Subject line.
Many Linux users are members of mailing lists (bugtraq, etc). All the worm would have to do is emulate one of these groups' subjects. 2) Legitimate-looking warning message straight out of Outlook.
Same thing. If it was Linux, because of the number of Linux users who are involved with mailing lists, the e-mail could simply appear as a bug report / kernel update notification / etc. 3) Good social engineering
Again, Linux users have been lulled into a false sense of security. No one writes worms that infect Linux systems because, well, not that many people run Linux. If this targeted Linux, the naive Linux users who haven't had to deal with this kind of stuff would be easy targets. 4) Own SMTP engine, so an Outlook script to warn that there's mail w/ attachments going out is useless.
Linux is the perfect environment for a rouge program to set up its own little SMTP server and start spamming out copies of itself. The system is much more open to this kind of infection than a Windows-based machine. 5) New "method" of hiding file extension which is harder to see even if extensions are displayed.
Again, for example, the worm writer could just make the file with a . in front of it and it would be hidden on most people's displays.
Just be glad this doesn't attack Linux machines, or the internet would be dying right now because of the severity of infection. For once, be glad people run Windows.
Linux will continue to be an afterthought in the OS world without a solid bundle of games that come pre-installed. Hearts, Solitaire, Minesweeper, etc. have all become classics and are many users' introduction to computers. Can you think of one Linux game as imaginative or innovative as Minesweeper or Freecell? I sure can't.
Until Linux distros wake up and realize that packaging high quality games with their installations will guarantee their success, Linux will remain a minor thorn in Microsoft's side.
Microsoft knows what's important when bundling their OS: games and entertainment. Redhat, Debian, etc. just need to wake up and follow their lead.
ANOTHER 802.11b Device? Gimme a break...
on
802.11b Space Suits
·
· Score: 1
The problem with 802.11b has always been, and will continue to be, its lack of general acceptance in the IT community. With everyone running in different directions, 802.11b gets lost in the dust. It's a weaker technology and will never be widely accepted as the standard.
Slashdot Mirror
"Government Computer News" is a not-very-funny attempt at a satire news site, usually for the purpose of fooling weblogs into posting to their 'interesting' stories.
For example, "NATO uses Windows 3.11 for Operations Centre" has been around for a while.
-D.B.
This is not intended as a troll/flame, but I think it's pretty hypocritical of michael to criticize media for getting suckered in by this when I can think of at least a half dozen times Slashdot has been hoaxed.
The pot's calling the kettle black.
- Dave B.
I still got +2 interesting, sucka.
:-(
Don't ruin my fun
BTW, autpr0n rocks.
We'll see who's laughing (or more likely, crying) when VA Linux turns profit in a few years. You know it's going to happen. Sourceforge is tha shit.
- D.B. 2K2.
You're absolutely right. The same thing happened at the spawn of the industrial revolution -- in an effort to hop on the bandwagon, there were tons of illegal goings-on.
Now, with the technology/computer/internet revolution, history repeats itself. However, I am faithful that just like the industrial revolution, these companies will triumph over the people who were willing to overlook the law just to make a profit.
- Dave Brennins
Actually I don't think this is any laughing matter. Being a lawyer, I can say from first hand experience that legal troubles, especially financial ones, are nothing to be laughing about. Especially when they involve the shady financing of businesses like VA Linux, which, if you're like me, you have your retirement savings invested in.
In short, this is a pretty grave manner and I can only hope that the companies who were involved with this one are not tainted or hurt by their under-the-table doings. It could be a fatal blow to an already hurting technology industry.
- Dave Brennins
Usually these lawsuits are a David vs Goliath type of situation... but this one is more Goliath vs Goliath.
Come on, +5 Funny me!
- Dave B.
I was especially proud of that one. The best part is, my username is "gayrod", but no one seems to notice. I'm kind of disappointed with my troll on this Borland post though. Usually I get shot up to +4 or +5 pretty quick when the Linux fucks get all drippy at the thought of a real layer having interest in their pointless causes.
Borland is making a smart move with this license. License violation costs software companies BILLIONS of dollars every year. For example, I visited a graphic/design outfit that my friend worked for, and the entire 20 person staff was working with 1 license of Adobe Photoshop, and the only copies I saw were on burned CD-Rs.
Think logically for a moment. Let's say I owned a rent-to-own business, and someone refused to return a TV. I have the right to enter their home and reclaim my equipment if I hire a licensed Material Reposesser (Repo Man for simple folk). This is the exact same situation.
Borland's license is neither ridiculous nor outrageous. It's exactly what all software companies should be looking into. It's legal and moral in this lawyer's eyes.
- Dave B.
I doubt your claim to be one of the co-authors of the release notes, as your e-mail address isn't even valid. I wonder what the Mozilla people would think if they knew some troll was impersonating one of their team.
I'm sure they hardly care about FreeBSD users, who make up such a small minority that compiling anything for them is wasting time / resources.
It's like offering a compiled version for Microsoft Bob users - no one will download it, and if they did, they'd just be laughed at.
Get a real OS, then you can be entitled to bitch about lack of binaries for your backwater, unsecure, amateur operating system that'll never be anything more than a train wreck of code that lifeless hobbyists twiddle with.
Peace.
- Dave Brennins
If it's ever going to topple MSIE, they need to slow their development rate. The fact that Microsoft goes from IE4->IE5->IE6 confuses enough newbie users, going from 0.0093->0.0094->0.00103 every 2 weeks is beyond most people.
.1
Great browser, ridiculously fast development rate. Slow it down guys, release every
My two cents.
- Dave Brennins
When I was in Law School, we were presented with an age-old issue similar to this. Way back when, a printing company accused another of stealing their "shorthand" language that they used in technical manuals. (Basically it was a simple method of printing manuals for machines. If you were a worker who repaired these machines, you would be familiar with the shorthand).
;)
Anyways, the company that originated the shorthand sued another because they began printing manuals with a similar technology. The judge decided (I believe he was right) that it did constitute an infringement and the defendant company was required to pay royalities.
Sure is neat to see how things can change, but the same lawsuits pop up again
- Dave Brennins
No, not yet. I just recently signed up to Slashdot, and put it as my info, as it will very soon be my home on the web. It will be soon (and in the meantime it sure prevents spam! ;)
- Dave Brennins
I've seen a lot of "IANAL"s discussing issues like this, but, for once, IAAL. (maybe IAAAL? I am actually a lawyer ;).
Anyways, Microsoft's claim is entirely legitimate. 'Lindows' is in the same "industry" as 'Windows', and is intentionally abusing the popularity of Windows for its own benefit.
This is the same as coming up with an electronics company called Panasoanic -- there is the potential for legitimate consumer confusion.
I know it's unpopular to side with Microsoft on something, but for once they're in the right here.
As a copyright/trademark lawyer, I'm hoping the courts make the right decision and force Lindows into a name change.
- Dave Brennins
If everyone ran Linux, this worm outbreak would be much worse.
1) "Legitimate"-looking Subject line.
Many Linux users are members of mailing lists (bugtraq, etc). All the worm would have to do is emulate one of these groups' subjects.
2) Legitimate-looking warning message straight out of Outlook.
Same thing. If it was Linux, because of the number of Linux users who are involved with mailing lists, the e-mail could simply appear as a bug report / kernel update notification / etc.
3) Good social engineering
Again, Linux users have been lulled into a false sense of security. No one writes worms that infect Linux systems because, well, not that many people run Linux. If this targeted Linux, the naive Linux users who haven't had to deal with this kind of stuff would be easy targets.
4) Own SMTP engine, so an Outlook script to warn that there's mail w/ attachments going out is useless.
Linux is the perfect environment for a rouge program to set up its own little SMTP server and start spamming out copies of itself. The system is much more open to this kind of infection than a Windows-based machine.
5) New "method" of hiding file extension which is harder to see even if extensions are displayed.
Again, for example, the worm writer could just make the file with a . in front of it and it would be hidden on most people's displays.
Just be glad this doesn't attack Linux machines, or the internet would be dying right now because of the severity of infection. For once, be glad people run Windows.
Linux will continue to be an afterthought in the OS world without a solid bundle of games that come pre-installed. Hearts, Solitaire, Minesweeper, etc. have all become classics and are many users' introduction to computers. Can you think of one Linux game as imaginative or innovative as Minesweeper or Freecell? I sure can't.
Until Linux distros wake up and realize that packaging high quality games with their installations will guarantee their success, Linux will remain a minor thorn in Microsoft's side.
Microsoft knows what's important when bundling their OS: games and entertainment. Redhat, Debian, etc. just need to wake up and follow their lead.
The problem with 802.11b has always been, and will continue to be, its lack of general acceptance in the IT community. With everyone running in different directions, 802.11b gets lost in the dust. It's a weaker technology and will never be widely accepted as the standard.