Microsoft in particular has made it very easy to "pirate" their software. Why? Because Microsoft understands your point, that most of these people don't have the money to purchase "pirated" software, thus the total loss to Microsoft is $0.00 . But you're mistaken about the effect on monetary intake. Microsoft seems to understand very well that "pirating" *enriches* Microsoft monetarily. Yes, Microsoft puts a lot of effort into stopping counterfeit copies of MS software, but that's to protect the public. If you pay for MS software, then you should be getting MS software. But Microsoft understands its wealth is inextricably tied to its market share, thus "pirated" copies of MS products do in fact enhance the Microsoft bottom line. To put it another way, Microsoft wants you using their products no matter what. If you're going to "pirate" software, they want it to be Microsoft software.
Some of us geeks rose to become suits. The problem isn't that the suits have taken over, it's that there aren't enough of us "geek suits".
It's the lawyers and the WIPO that want to ruin the Internet with their self-serving agendas.
Geeks are going to have to reconsider their attitude about this. It's really easy for outsiders to move in when geeks refuse to step up into those suits.
It's only nuts if you don't realize what's driving this sort of nonsense. Money. Companies like 800-FLOWERS will end up owning eight toll-free numbers. Good for the people selling phone numbers.
This is the unfortunate future we face on the Internet with the TLDs. What's even worse, is the WIPO and other trademark interests are determined to meddle in things as well, protecting themselves, and making a mess of things for the rest of us.
There is *no* improper use of.org anymore. You're incorrect about its use being reserved for non-profit organizations. While I would have personally preferred.org remain reserved for non-profits, the policy of the registry makes clear, that.net and.org are *exactly* the same as.com, which is *not* reserved exclusively for commercial enterprises.
All of which leads me to wonder what the point of new TLDs would be. All of the proposals I see create new domains that are supposed to categorize these domains. This clearly goes against the trend, which is that all TLDs have become generic.
Since I'm here right next to New York City, let me assure you, your credit card is far *less* safe on the Internet than you are on the streets of Manhattan. Crime is down. I believe this is true in most large cities in the US.
Slashdot is correctly using.org . The time when.org was "officially" different from.com has long since past. Go check it out at the Registry (Network Solutions). Same goes for.net . You got $70, you've got a name. They no longer care what you do with it.
No argument from me there. I happen to think it's a "bad thing", but it's not an "abuse" of the Niue namespace. It's a legitimate use of the namespace, but I'd completely agree that at least on paper it's probably not a good thing for the people of Niue.
I suspect however, that at some point, Niue will either get a new namespace if the current system gets scrapped, or that Niue will be assigned a new country code. Same with Tonga.
This was never really abuse at the country code level, and although.org used to mean non-profit, that's no longer the case. Network Solutions makes names from registrations and has declared all TLDs open, except those under special restrictions, like.EDU . Mind you, I've seen organizations with an.EDU that they're not entitled to by the rules.
In any case,.nu is the part of the domain name space delegated to Niue. Niue was/is free to do with it as they please, including selling registrations to others outside Niue. So there's no abuse there.
I just hope the people of Tonga got something for their.to namespace. From what I've read, I'm still not clear on how a company got their hands on the entire.to namespace.
Never mind RFCs. The days of reason are long past. The Evil Empire of the Internet (Network Solutions) has deemed that.com,.net, and.org are all equal, and meaningless in distinction..org is no longer for non-profits. In fact, Network Solutions encourages everyone to register a name in all three TLDs. (obviously to increase their revenue)
No one is paying for it. Microsoft knows what it's doing. They didn't get to be the most valuable company in the history of the world by being stupid.
They're certainly not penalizing developers, but in they're also not passing it on to customers either. I remember a time not long ago just about every item in the Office suite used to cost what the entire suite costs now. They make lots and lots of money, money's not even part of the equation for them. It's all about control.
This sounds like a shame. It should go without saying that it would have been much better if they could've gotten along and found a way to either work together, or fork peacefully. But I've read a lot of naive posts in here insisting that there had to be a happy solution. I would think anyone whose worked as a professional programmer has run into just the sort of irrationally difficult, combative person described in the post. Although these people are frequently *very* talented, they can be impossible to work with, and they REFUSE to be ignored. I worked one company where the entire programming department actually quit over one miserable human being. (They started their own company) I worked in another where one such person had left and then wanted to come back, and all the programmers begged the CEO not to let him return. Sadly, such people exist, and there's plenty of them. No amount of programming skill excuses taking up a personal war against another programmer. JQH should have let Mr. J take the project over, because he had more time and resources to devote to it, as JQH seems to admit. But when JQH refused, Mr. J should have forked like a civilized person.
Actually, the Linux kernel is *not* a GNU project. If they use Amiga utilites rather than the GNU utilities, then Amiga/Linux *is* correct, and it does indeed look like Stallman is correct in his naming system for the GNU/Linux we commonly think of as simply "Linux". In light of this it sounds like Stallman's convention is the right way to go, as it clearly spells out what you're getting.
Perhaps I missed something, but isn't NSI nothing more than a federal contractor? They don't "own" anything if that's the case, it's not theirs to say what can be done with the database.
Re:Has anyone tried this "netomat" out?
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Yeah, sort of. It causes a system halt when I try to install it.
Hehehe. This is cute. They're collecting results from this over at http://www.darkstaff.com/discus under Star Wars Discussion Forum: Star Wars Links Of Interest: Other: I'm C-3P0. Who are you?
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Neither. It's simple economics and good business sense.
Microsoft in particular has made it very easy to "pirate" their software. Why? Because Microsoft understands your point, that most of these people don't have the money to purchase "pirated" software, thus the total loss to Microsoft is $0.00 . But you're mistaken about the effect on monetary intake. Microsoft seems to understand very well that "pirating" *enriches* Microsoft monetarily. Yes, Microsoft puts a lot of effort into stopping counterfeit copies of MS software, but that's to protect the public. If you pay for MS software, then you should be getting MS software. But Microsoft understands its wealth is inextricably tied to its market share, thus "pirated" copies of MS products do in fact enhance the Microsoft bottom line. To put it another way, Microsoft wants you using their products no matter what. If you're going to "pirate" software, they want it to be Microsoft software.
Some of us geeks rose to become suits. The problem isn't that the suits have taken over, it's that there aren't enough of us "geek suits".
It's the lawyers and the WIPO that want to ruin the Internet with their self-serving agendas.
Geeks are going to have to reconsider their attitude about this. It's really easy for outsiders to move in when geeks refuse to step up into those suits.
It's only nuts if you don't realize what's driving this sort of nonsense. Money. Companies like 800-FLOWERS will end up owning eight toll-free numbers. Good for the people selling phone numbers.
This is the unfortunate future we face on the Internet with the TLDs. What's even worse, is the WIPO and other trademark interests are determined to meddle in things as well, protecting themselves, and making a mess of things for the rest of us.
There is *no* improper use of .org anymore. You're incorrect about its use being reserved for non-profit organizations. While I would have personally preferred .org remain reserved for non-profits, the policy of the registry makes clear, that .net and .org are *exactly* the same as .com, which is *not* reserved exclusively for commercial enterprises.
All of which leads me to wonder what the point of new TLDs would be. All of the proposals I see create new domains that are supposed to categorize these domains. This clearly goes against the trend, which is that all TLDs have become generic.
Since I'm here right next to New York City, let me assure you, your credit card is far *less* safe on the Internet than you are on the streets of Manhattan. Crime is down. I believe this is true in most large cities in the US.
Slashdot is correctly using .org . The time when .org was "officially" different from .com has long since past. Go check it out at the Registry (Network Solutions). Same goes for .net . You got $70, you've got a name. They no longer care what you do with it.
Yes. The US Patent Office. ;)
No argument from me there. I happen to think it's a "bad thing", but it's not an "abuse" of the Niue namespace. It's a legitimate use of the namespace, but I'd completely agree that at least on paper it's probably not a good thing for the people of Niue.
I suspect however, that at some point, Niue will either get a new namespace if the current system gets scrapped, or that Niue will be assigned a new country code. Same with Tonga.
Perhaps it starts with a knighthood. ;)
This was never really abuse at the country code level, and although .org used to mean non-profit, that's no longer the case. Network Solutions makes names from registrations and has declared all TLDs open, except those under special restrictions, like .EDU . Mind you, I've seen organizations with an .EDU that they're not entitled to by the rules.
.nu is the part of the domain name space delegated to Niue. Niue was/is free to do with it as they please, including selling registrations to others outside Niue. So there's no abuse there.
.to namespace. From what I've read, I'm still not clear on how a company got their hands on the entire .to namespace.
In any case,
I just hope the people of Tonga got something for their
Never mind RFCs. The days of reason are long past. The Evil Empire of the Internet (Network Solutions) has deemed that .com, .net, and .org are all equal, and meaningless in distinction. .org is no longer for non-profits. In fact, Network Solutions encourages everyone to register a name in all three TLDs. (obviously to increase their revenue)
No one is paying for it. Microsoft knows what it's doing. They didn't get to be the most valuable company in the history of the world by being stupid.
They're certainly not penalizing developers, but in they're also not passing it on to customers either. I remember a time not long ago just about every item in the Office suite used to cost what the entire suite costs now. They make lots and lots of money, money's not even part of the equation for them. It's all about control.
This sounds like a shame. It should go without saying that it would have been much better if they could've gotten along and found a way to either work together, or fork peacefully. But I've read a lot of naive posts in here insisting that there had to be a happy solution. I would think anyone whose worked as a professional programmer has run into just the sort of irrationally difficult, combative person described in the post. Although these people are frequently *very* talented, they can be impossible to work with, and they REFUSE to be ignored. I worked one company where the entire programming department actually quit over one miserable human being. (They started their own company) I worked in another where one such person had left and then wanted to come back, and all the programmers begged the CEO not to let him return. Sadly, such people exist, and there's plenty of them. No amount of programming skill excuses taking up a personal war against another programmer. JQH should have let Mr. J take the project over, because he had more time and resources to devote to it, as JQH seems to admit. But when JQH refused, Mr. J should have forked like a civilized person.
Actually, the Linux kernel is *not* a GNU project. If they use Amiga utilites rather than the GNU utilities, then Amiga/Linux *is* correct, and it does indeed look like Stallman is correct in his naming system for the GNU/Linux we commonly think of as simply "Linux".
In light of this it sounds like Stallman's convention is the right way to go, as it clearly spells out what you're getting.
Perhaps I missed something, but isn't NSI nothing more than a federal contractor? They don't "own" anything if that's the case, it's not theirs to say what can be done with the database.
Yeah, sort of. It causes a system halt when I try to install it.
Hehehe. This is cute. They're collecting results from this over at http://www.darkstaff.com/discus under Star Wars Discussion Forum: Star Wars Links Of Interest: Other: I'm C-3P0. Who are you?