But it's the FSF that's changing the rules, not the authors! How many more people with good ideas are they going to drive away from GNU with petty, trivial issues like this?
They're getting downright fickle and biting the hands that feed them in a lot of ways. True, GPL software can exist without GNU projects, but the GNU projects "collect" the various projects under a single banner for maximum visibility by the public. If your going to have free software, it's going to have to be under a "TV" type model where companies release code for older versions as "advertizement" for their newer versions or services. RMS & Co is becomming as over-reactive as BillyG and StevieB.
On another note, after 10 years of GPL, there's a rewrite going on. With the current heavy-handed tactics, what's really going to be in it? How many more developers are they going to alienate with GPL 3.0? How hard is the FSF going to push for everyone to adopt the "new rules" or be "cenured"?
This isn't the image that the corperate world needs to see! There's finally some successful companies that live off GPL works, that businesses can look up to. Any messing with the rules now throws 10 years of businesses experience with the GPL out the window and guts the whole OSS thing!
I recently have been learning Visual Basic for work [yeah, we're ms slaves!] I also deal with the companies web site, and have been working to learn PHP.
I ran accross PHP-GTK which is really, really cool! It lets you write VB-style apps as PHP scripts. What I haven't been able to find are any good tutorials that relate more directly to VB users. I've been playing with Dev-PHP editor, and it's almost a drop-in replacement [not code-wise silly, but exactly matches features for the task!] It runs with windows and linux, too!
Lack of any point of reference is really making things difficult. As I'm finding typical with Linux apps, a good tutorial on the basics of any given app are really hard to find! For the "bigger" stuff, I've given up online and surf the asiles of my local book shop for O'reilly books, but the coolest stuff out there suffers from a serious lack of understanding by anyone who didn't write it! Heck, I may even have to get off by but and write some docs myself, but I wouldn't have a clue where to start learning enough not to look stupid.
I have a better question, how can you prevent, or strongly discourage, people from doing this, and also , how would you clean up the mess in a manner that removes blame from yourself and the company.
Part #1 does anyone know of really good site blocking, proxy tools to keep this stuff out? If someone was to get something on a machine, how would I find it [temp files, caches, etc]. Are there any prgrams that can search for the stuff?
Part #2 how would you get rid of "it" and by "it" I mean generally any illegal files, mp3, porn, programs, grocery lists, etc. For reasons everyone else mentioned, I'd prefer not to know someone had "kiddie porn" I just want to know if they've got dirty pics and delete the lot of them automatically, If they don't like it, tell the boss. Yeah, right. p.
I suppose the best way is to use LTSP or Knoppix, then you don't have to worry about PCs. You can then require files to be in approperiate places and restrict the heck out of everything else! Do away with private folders all together. If everyone can see everyone's stuff, then there's not alot of room to go wrong. Maybe lock=down could be a really good Linux selling point?
Someone rich should buy up entire planes for innocent people [and lots of people with similar names] on the "list" for the Christmas busy season! If several key planes were "flooded" with passangers, air travel would slow to a crawl, and the airlines would suffer for being so stupid to allow something like this in the first place! Because of the smeading system they use, the key is to get a lot of people "near" the list, with misspellings, alternates, similar names to the computer filing system, etc. They wouldn't set off the bells when the tickets were ordered, only at the gate. You could even dilute the groups with friends and family not on the list, but traveling with people who are, who of course won't board the flight without their pals! You would have to buy full-fare tickets, so the people who get hassled and their pals can demand refunds for not being able to fly--airlines worship full-fare travelers. That would make it even worse!
If someone setup a website for all these people to log on, it shouldn't take more that a month or two to figure out the list.
The real goal is to kill off rental altogether! They pick one or two big rental chains to sponser and the rest die off. The movie houses can sell them thru anyone with this tech--netflix would be killer for them because they could keep all the profit! And they get a pay-per-view customer base. Video rental and return is a anomaly they've been trying to kill for years.
Make sure you re-use it, publish it to others, share it with others in your line-of-business. Because eventually, MS won't be able to beat it! The can't give out "free" to everybody for very long. And all these people are doing is making Linux better for the rest of us!
Isn't that tactic of bundeling everything into one package/price that made users move to windows in the first place? It wasn't about better. It was always about not getting bleed to death!
It's kinda funny that while fighting a trial for the right to bundle stuff, that the have been making plans to start selling the stuff seperately all along! Kinda makes you wonder why they added all those features for "free" if they knew they would be charging for them later. If they added them to add "value" to the product, then where is that "value" going now? Why are they purposefully taking it away?
Or was the whole thing just a shame to "dump" software on the market for free to shut out potential comptetitors by using their vast "monopoly money" to subsidize the below cost software. Cause they're telling us it costs them lots of money to develop now. And we gotta pay up!
from the Garter group at the end of the article about switching to OSS: Without it, the investments [Linux] could lead to higher, unanticipated costs." Gee! like the B-slap from having to re-buy MS monopoly-priced stuff! Just make sure you never go back to MS!
Anybody "grown up" after about '91 doesn't really know what we're talking about. Kids used to get up early on Saturday just to watch cartoons! Usually, flipping between the 3 channels to be sure not to miss any! Most houses still didn't have cable either, so Saturday morning was all most kids got. Everybody watched them! Quite often it was the only day most kids watched that much TV all week. While the marketing is more extensive now, the mania for items was more then--it was much more important to have the "right" lunchbox than it is now.
It was a Saturday morning ritual for kids of that time. I've found kids after then really don't have much in common anymore. I think kids today are much more responsible and careful about what they do than we ever were, but I'm not sure if that's because they have so many more demands, or because they really aren't given the chance to figure things out for themselves anymore!
As much as I like the 80's stuff, I never took to most of it.
Transformers was awsome, GI Joe better, and smurfs, flintstones, & Bugs were good too. But, watching many of the other shows, they really are shallow!
honestly, I think there are several cartoons that are leaps ahead of anything from the 80's. Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Lab, and Rugrats will be around for a long time to come. They strike the balance of being funny without being overly PC. Even Pokemon is light years ahead of Smurfs [its 80's equivelent] most people don't give it enough credit. That said, most of the current stuff is junk --of course if you watch cartoon nework late, you'd see that most of the 70's & 80's stuff really was junk too!
But hey, we were kids and would like anything. I mean my kids actually like Ed, Edd and Eddy? That didn't come from my side of the family!
Where's the "Reality TV" people when you need um?
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ScavHunt211
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· Score: 2, Insightful
This would make a wicked "reality TV" special! Of course it would have to be Nickeloden or Discovery channel, but it would do wonders to actually show something "useful" like this on Kids TV. [edited for content of course, but anymore that's not a big deal!]
The kids out of school don't have any experience "working" and there's lots, so they don't want to hire them. On the other hand, the older programmers want bucks and sane hours.
What they want is someone with lots of experience still willing to work Salary with lots of OT! Kids may be willing and cheap, but they can't do the analysis needed, often on their own to figure out why and what needs programmed--and the older people who can want the pay to match and the freedom to do "their Job" and not what everyone "thinks" they should be doing.
Which leads to the whole problem with manangement [computers in particular]. Nobody wants to plan more than 24 months ahead for anything anymore. Younger kids will work hard and long hours only to have the boss change his mind and tell um to start over. Older people won't stand for that! That management wastes programmers' time is the biggest reason for this problem. Computers allow managers to make bad decisions faster, so older people that want to do right the first time are frowned upon and younger kids are abused--after all, how often is the front office working late vs. the computer staff? Why is that not acceptable for them, but OK for programmers?
A good share of that 15B goes back into Texas, California, and Florida--to fund their Hi-Tech sectors! A good chunck goes to wages [both Nasa and contractor] so the money's going right back to taxpayers pockets.
only it's more like going to a retail shop, where you have the expectation to be allowed to enter, but without an Open/Closed sign on the door.
A server on the internet is like a retail shop at the mall, It's there to be entered! Now, at the mall, sometimes, stores open before the "offical" hours. Hence, if the door is open, you can't get in trouble for going in--often there isn't a "sign" to say open or closed.
Also, there's lots of doors at the mall that are marked "Authorized Personel Only" and sometimes doors that aren't marked are still locked. In a very small case, of unlocked, unmarked doors but if you enter, the security guard will let you know to leave and someone ELSES ass will fry. Trying to pry a lock or enter a marked door will quickly get you scolded, maybe arrested if you don't comply--but there is a strong legal precedent for diligence of locking and marking in a public place. This isn't at all like entering your house.
What you have right now are old, loud-mouthed, corperate executives that want to have "internet" access to be "cool" but don't want to be responsible to understand how to use it--and too cheap to pay someone to do it properly! They immediately are getting the law involved instead of following a few simple instructions. And, unfortunately, the Law is all to ready to get it's fingers in our business! Looking at the ridiculous claims that prosecutors have been filing, it looks to be more of the "old Boy" network rather than working to make the systems work better and with more understanding of the rules. It's the typical selfish, egotistical mess [like the *IAA,and like] accelerated at internet speed!
When the govt realizes that locking "some" people up is too much work and just drugs us "all"!
Just wait for this to go from "voulantary" to "you're un-bushian" to "mandatory". Wait until the drug companies find a "anti-terrorist" drug [really just "pot" in a pill!] to give us all. Then we can drug everyone-terrorists will be those thinking [different is terrorism because we're scared!] Then at last, When the biotech companies find the "terrorist" gene we'll all be in luck. Only the rich, powerful, or non-us citizens will have it! [but we'll have our bio-engineered, cloned, & brainwashed soilders to defend us!]
It's basicly a extend-o-monitor. It monopolizes your whole XP computer which is stupid. I mean come on guys, these things are like 700-1000$ and they can't license it to share. I have heard of a new Windows "home server" specificly for these. I think that was in the info at the CompUSA stand?
What's the point though? Without the PC, they're useless! It's not like you can use them as a "super" PDA either--the "specialized" WinCE only connects to a base computer making them useless for anyone like students, kids that just want a quick pad to carry around for notes. Now it was a larger version of the Zarus with Linux and X it would be a killer App!
Speaking of killer apps, why hasn't transmeta built an actual Linux workpad device? A huge chunk of the processing power of that tiny chip goes to code emulation. I'm sure Linus has got to have a native linux for that chip that would kick ass! The smaller Miras are exactly what I'm looking for in a PDA, I just can't stand the tiny screens of the rest of the bunch as much as I like the Clie and Zaurus. Maybe Apple is the key to Linux growing. Yes, it sounds silly, but they are based in BSD so designing cross-OS apps like this for an OSX box would be already built in!
Realistically, I'm surprised the small chip players haven't used Linux to gang up on MS with smaller, cheaper, devices that run linux. If you could get over the cross-compiling issues [java, ANSI C, etc is badly needed here!] you could have a pure software world where hardware didn't matter. Transmeta is a company that would benifit greatly from this!
How many of you are up-to-date on your recall notices for other stuff? Cars, toasters, appiances, tvs, child car seats, etc...
yet if your car was to suddenly veer off the road from a known defect you'd expect the auto company to deal with it! Driving the car down the road doesn't generally cause the wheels to just 'fall-off'! That is the issue with MS.
Maytag repair guys are what 100,000-to-1 with their insalled base? even doctors are about 100-200-to-1. yet PCs are supposed to be 10 or 20-to-1 for admins. It's a crock! If any other business system was this terrible, it would be bankrupt in a year! And MS only answer is that the admin should run around and babysit the system? They offer automated updates, then again blame the admin for not "testing". You all check the gas quality going in your car before you fill up right. Or, you consult medical texts after going to the doctor just to be sure he called your illness right.
I'm sorry, this stuff should just work. Compaies have invested 10 years and billions of dollars into windows and it still doesn't just work! Billy designed the system so that MS had 'plausable deniability' After all, they don't make hardware [not their fault], or drivers [not their fault], or systems [oems didn't test, not our fault], or software [sure we have Secret APIs but not their fault], they pretend to train admins [but not their fault if admin shamans don't dance right], and of course users because they make the computer do "stuff" MS might not have planned! [if MS did plan it, they'd charge more!] They have no techincal support without outrageous fees [Linux cost is mostly support--and you can afford to use it!] Well, it's basicly like OSS only costs more. They offer the same package of benifits!
That said, I don't think a lawsuit is the way to go either. We're trying to get rid of stupid IP laws, not tie ourselves to them more! If the liability cost of software goes up, then free software will die a horrible death. We're not sophisticated enough to have software "building codes" yet and license "Software Accountants" to set them up. Even then without 100% control of a system, you just can't have that kind of liability...Then again, maybe that's what MS wants [OK we know they want it] total control of the systems and your wallets!
In your case, you were on feds juristiction [DC is directly a fed "territory", and the court was federal. But that doesn't really matter. [other than you need to follow the rules! In my state, they'd have towed your car just to make you walk & pay $$ to get it back for that stunt!]
All police are "executive" branch of whatever locality [US] that you're in; They "execute" the points of the law. The Prosecutor/DA is also an executive branch appointee [sometimes elected]...But anyway, that's not the point...
My point is that anti-BOR comments have been made and documented publicly by "all levels" of law enforcement in just about "all" 50 states. It's a huge problem. They manapulate the courts and the laws to use "justice" as a punishment al by itself. They don't feel the need to follow the laws we already have! And we keep wanting to give theses guys "more" power?
Doesn't Knoppix already do this? This is just a variation with wireless. You load up version 3.2 with personal home on a 256MB usb fob and off you go. Any PC with a bootable CD and USB port is yours! Setup just how you want it [within hardware limits] Your data is yours, always save from prying eyes too. The only difference I see is that this uses Bluetooth, but I think Linux has that in the near future or already.
I've said it before that we need to keep the feds out of controlling email! They are horribly irresponsible right now. Taxes are not the way!
What AOL is doing IS the way. By seting a fairly decent criteria for restrictions then internally blocking the hell out of people. Granted, they could abuse it, but their customers wouldn't allow it to get out-of-hand, or go elsewhere; they're business people after all!
I still think there's a technical way to throttle spam. Maybe we need a "White" Hole List that good ISPs can sign, or tie into BIND to tie spammer domains to DNS. What needs to happen is that the Local ISPs need to take responsibility for what gets IN thru THEIR pipes! It would seem that things like DDOS and spam would have recognizable signatures on a network connection that ISPs could deal with. Much like the recent DNS missue, why the root servers are [should] only be accessable by ISPs; if they are, why are they still sending 90% junk to them. Same with spam! If you tied each email to a network-time-connection cost, then that would throttle spammers without hurting us normal users.
What ever happens DO NOT EXPECT THE GOVERNMENT TO MAKE IT BETTER. NEVER HAVE NEVER WILL!
If your're teaching your class proper formatting and naming conventions, then the code should look more-or-less the same. If the code's written on the spot at exam time, the chances of cheating really are minimal--or you're not doing "your" job of properly monitoring the exam.
Granted, I haven't taken that many programming courses, but the whole "students cheat" thing seems to be way overrated in universities. Working together and learning from each other is the whole point of university. Otherwise, forget your tenure and high pay--I'll just get a mail-order diploma--it would mean the same thing!
Can some one more experienced do a source-code level study into the history of the offending OSes?
You'd need to look at the history of several distros, Red Hat, SuSe, Debian, kernel.org, and of course Caldera and the new SCO. It would seem like a trivial, but time consuming, exercise. Just get several of the last 4-5 versions of each distro and compare it against the Caldera/SCO versions! Particularly differences from the most recent SCO version should shed the best light on what they're "really" trying to argue!
My thinking is that the current SCO Linux is heavily sanitized, but the Caldera from just after the buyout would be the most accurate to nail them with because Caldera bought SCO [NOT the other way around!] so their behavior "is" important here. One would also have to mark the parts of the new SCO that are not currently GPL, as well as to note what parts of the previous distro they replaced!
Like someone else mentioned, the beauty of OSS is that it's been in the open the entire time! The evidence to at least support Linux is already out in the open. That and the OSS community has much more cheap freetime than SCO can afford for Lawyers! They've already tipped their hand, it would just take some time to find it.
UPDATE: Perhaps this could be put into a distributed computing client! It would compare source snippets from each of the distros and return the results to a central database. Then EVERYONE, even non-programmers, could help out!!
Yes, that's exactly the point. Police officers are not nice people! They are every bit as selfish and crooked as Bill G or Steve B that we like to pick on--and there are a lot more of them! Ashcroft has got them way too much power and we the people need to call them on it every chance we get!
Who's to say you won't bop some FBI guys GF & he'd try to get back at you by compiling your/. posts to make you look like a terrorist! These people have openly stated time and again at all levels that your Constitutional rights get in there way--for 'all' criminal offences, not just terrorism! They're not afraid to say that in public--that should scare you! Officers routinely use their position and the legal system as 'weapons' against people who piss them off. It's considered a "job perk"!
In this case they had already arrested the guy's buddies. I'm along with you, they should have arrested him too! But using the MW rules in this case is WRONG. Either they didn't have a legaly grounded case against him, they're basicly 'tourching' him, or they're lying to the court for the sake of it [because they can] Clasifying him a MW requires them to SWEAR to a Judge that he's NOT a suspect but must be kept as a hostile witness. Who knows what rights this guy gave up while in custody as a MW that will now be illegally admited in court as evidence against him?
They basicly lied for the sake of it! That's what I'm calling out here. If you think that that end justifies the means in this manner, then you've got a rude awakening coming soon!
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They're getting downright fickle and biting the hands that feed them in a lot of ways. True, GPL software can exist without GNU projects, but the GNU projects "collect" the various projects under a single banner for maximum visibility by the public. If your going to have free software, it's going to have to be under a "TV" type model where companies release code for older versions as "advertizement" for their newer versions or services. RMS & Co is becomming as over-reactive as BillyG and StevieB.
On another note, after 10 years of GPL, there's a rewrite going on. With the current heavy-handed tactics, what's really going to be in it? How many more developers are they going to alienate with GPL 3.0? How hard is the FSF going to push for everyone to adopt the "new rules" or be "cenured"?
This isn't the image that the corperate world needs to see! There's finally some successful companies that live off GPL works, that businesses can look up to. Any messing with the rules now throws 10 years of businesses experience with the GPL out the window and guts the whole OSS thing!
I ran accross PHP-GTK which is really, really cool! It lets you write VB-style apps as PHP scripts. What I haven't been able to find are any good tutorials that relate more directly to VB users. I've been playing with Dev-PHP editor, and it's almost a drop-in replacement [not code-wise silly, but exactly matches features for the task!] It runs with windows and linux, too!
Lack of any point of reference is really making things difficult. As I'm finding typical with Linux apps, a good tutorial on the basics of any given app are really hard to find! For the "bigger" stuff, I've given up online and surf the asiles of my local book shop for O'reilly books, but the coolest stuff out there suffers from a serious lack of understanding by anyone who didn't write it! Heck, I may even have to get off by but and write some docs myself, but I wouldn't have a clue where to start learning enough not to look stupid.
Part #1 does anyone know of really good site blocking, proxy tools to keep this stuff out? If someone was to get something on a machine, how would I find it [temp files, caches, etc]. Are there any prgrams that can search for the stuff?
Part #2 how would you get rid of "it" and by "it" I mean generally any illegal files, mp3, porn, programs, grocery lists, etc. For reasons everyone else mentioned, I'd prefer not to know someone had "kiddie porn" I just want to know if they've got dirty pics and delete the lot of them automatically, If they don't like it, tell the boss. Yeah, right. p. I suppose the best way is to use LTSP or Knoppix, then you don't have to worry about PCs. You can then require files to be in approperiate places and restrict the heck out of everything else! Do away with private folders all together. If everyone can see everyone's stuff, then there's not alot of room to go wrong. Maybe lock=down could be a really good Linux selling point?
If someone setup a website for all these people to log on, it shouldn't take more that a month or two to figure out the list.
The real goal is to kill off rental altogether! They pick one or two big rental chains to sponser and the rest die off. The movie houses can sell them thru anyone with this tech--netflix would be killer for them because they could keep all the profit! And they get a pay-per-view customer base. Video rental and return is a anomaly they've been trying to kill for years.
Make sure you re-use it, publish it to others, share it with others in your line-of-business. Because eventually, MS won't be able to beat it! The can't give out "free" to everybody for very long. And all these people are doing is making Linux better for the rest of us!
It's kinda funny that while fighting a trial for the right to bundle stuff, that the have been making plans to start selling the stuff seperately all along! Kinda makes you wonder why they added all those features for "free" if they knew they would be charging for them later. If they added them to add "value" to the product, then where is that "value" going now? Why are they purposefully taking it away?
Or was the whole thing just a shame to "dump" software on the market for free to shut out potential comptetitors by using their vast "monopoly money" to subsidize the below cost software. Cause they're telling us it costs them lots of money to develop now. And we gotta pay up!
from the Garter group at the end of the article about switching to OSS:
Without it, the investments [Linux] could lead to higher, unanticipated costs."
Gee! like the B-slap from having to re-buy MS monopoly-priced stuff! Just make sure you never go back to MS!
Anybody "grown up" after about '91 doesn't really know what we're talking about. Kids used to get up early on Saturday just to watch cartoons! Usually, flipping between the 3 channels to be sure not to miss any! Most houses still didn't have cable either, so Saturday morning was all most kids got. Everybody watched them! Quite often it was the only day most kids watched that much TV all week. While the marketing is more extensive now, the mania for items was more then--it was much more important to have the "right" lunchbox than it is now.
It was a Saturday morning ritual for kids of that time. I've found kids after then really don't have much in common anymore. I think kids today are much more responsible and careful about what they do than we ever were, but I'm not sure if that's because they have so many more demands, or because they really aren't given the chance to figure things out for themselves anymore!
Transformers was awsome, GI Joe better, and smurfs, flintstones, & Bugs were good too. But, watching many of the other shows, they really are shallow!
honestly, I think there are several cartoons that are leaps ahead of anything from the 80's. Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Lab, and Rugrats will be around for a long time to come. They strike the balance of being funny without being overly PC. Even Pokemon is light years ahead of Smurfs [its 80's equivelent] most people don't give it enough credit. That said, most of the current stuff is junk --of course if you watch cartoon nework late, you'd see that most of the 70's & 80's stuff really was junk too!
But hey, we were kids and would like anything. I mean my kids actually like Ed, Edd and Eddy? That didn't come from my side of the family!
This would make a wicked "reality TV" special! Of course it would have to be Nickeloden or Discovery channel, but it would do wonders to actually show something "useful" like this on Kids TV. [edited for content of course, but anymore that's not a big deal!]
The kids out of school don't have any experience "working" and there's lots, so they don't want to hire them. On the other hand, the older programmers want bucks and sane hours.
What they want is someone with lots of experience still willing to work Salary with lots of OT! Kids may be willing and cheap, but they can't do the analysis needed, often on their own to figure out why and what needs programmed--and the older people who can want the pay to match and the freedom to do "their Job" and not what everyone "thinks" they should be doing.
Which leads to the whole problem with manangement [computers in particular]. Nobody wants to plan more than 24 months ahead for anything anymore. Younger kids will work hard and long hours only to have the boss change his mind and tell um to start over. Older people won't stand for that! That management wastes programmers' time is the biggest reason for this problem. Computers allow managers to make bad decisions faster, so older people that want to do right the first time are frowned upon and younger kids are abused--after all, how often is the front office working late vs. the computer staff? Why is that not acceptable for them, but OK for programmers?
A good share of that 15B goes back into Texas, California, and Florida--to fund their Hi-Tech sectors! A good chunck goes to wages [both Nasa and contractor] so the money's going right back to taxpayers pockets.
These same congresscritters approved $75B to depose a minor dictator! and they might need more.
A server on the internet is like a retail shop at the mall, It's there to be entered! Now, at the mall, sometimes, stores open before the "offical" hours. Hence, if the door is open, you can't get in trouble for going in--often there isn't a "sign" to say open or closed.
Also, there's lots of doors at the mall that are marked "Authorized Personel Only" and sometimes doors that aren't marked are still locked. In a very small case, of unlocked, unmarked doors but if you enter, the security guard will let you know to leave and someone ELSES ass will fry. Trying to pry a lock or enter a marked door will quickly get you scolded, maybe arrested if you don't comply--but there is a strong legal precedent for diligence of locking and marking in a public place. This isn't at all like entering your house.
What you have right now are old, loud-mouthed, corperate executives that want to have "internet" access to be "cool" but don't want to be responsible to understand how to use it--and too cheap to pay someone to do it properly! They immediately are getting the law involved instead of following a few simple instructions. And, unfortunately, the Law is all to ready to get it's fingers in our business! Looking at the ridiculous claims that prosecutors have been filing, it looks to be more of the "old Boy" network rather than working to make the systems work better and with more understanding of the rules. It's the typical selfish, egotistical mess [like the *IAA,and like] accelerated at internet speed!
Just wait for this to go from "voulantary" to "you're un-bushian" to "mandatory". Wait until the drug companies find a "anti-terrorist" drug [really just "pot" in a pill!] to give us all. Then we can drug everyone-terrorists will be those thinking [different is terrorism because we're scared!] Then at last, When the biotech companies find the "terrorist" gene we'll all be in luck. Only the rich, powerful, or non-us citizens will have it! [but we'll have our bio-engineered, cloned, & brainwashed soilders to defend us!]
What's the point though? Without the PC, they're useless! It's not like you can use them as a "super" PDA either--the "specialized" WinCE only connects to a base computer making them useless for anyone like students, kids that just want a quick pad to carry around for notes. Now it was a larger version of the Zarus with Linux and X it would be a killer App!
Speaking of killer apps, why hasn't transmeta built an actual Linux workpad device? A huge chunk of the processing power of that tiny chip goes to code emulation. I'm sure Linus has got to have a native linux for that chip that would kick ass! The smaller Miras are exactly what I'm looking for in a PDA, I just can't stand the tiny screens of the rest of the bunch as much as I like the Clie and Zaurus. Maybe Apple is the key to Linux growing. Yes, it sounds silly, but they are based in BSD so designing cross-OS apps like this for an OSX box would be already built in!
Realistically, I'm surprised the small chip players haven't used Linux to gang up on MS with smaller, cheaper, devices that run linux. If you could get over the cross-compiling issues [java, ANSI C, etc is badly needed here!] you could have a pure software world where hardware didn't matter. Transmeta is a company that would benifit greatly from this!
yet if your car was to suddenly veer off the road from a known defect you'd expect the auto company to deal with it! Driving the car down the road doesn't generally cause the wheels to just 'fall-off'! That is the issue with MS.
Maytag repair guys are what 100,000-to-1 with their insalled base? even doctors are about 100-200-to-1. yet PCs are supposed to be 10 or 20-to-1 for admins. It's a crock! If any other business system was this terrible, it would be bankrupt in a year! And MS only answer is that the admin should run around and babysit the system? They offer automated updates, then again blame the admin for not "testing". You all check the gas quality going in your car before you fill up right. Or, you consult medical texts after going to the doctor just to be sure he called your illness right.
I'm sorry, this stuff should just work. Compaies have invested 10 years and billions of dollars into windows and it still doesn't just work! Billy designed the system so that MS had 'plausable deniability' After all, they don't make hardware [not their fault], or drivers [not their fault], or systems [oems didn't test, not our fault], or software [sure we have Secret APIs but not their fault], they pretend to train admins [but not their fault if admin shamans don't dance right], and of course users because they make the computer do "stuff" MS might not have planned! [if MS did plan it, they'd charge more!] They have no techincal support without outrageous fees [Linux cost is mostly support--and you can afford to use it!] Well, it's basicly like OSS only costs more. They offer the same package of benifits!
That said, I don't think a lawsuit is the way to go either. We're trying to get rid of stupid IP laws, not tie ourselves to them more! If the liability cost of software goes up, then free software will die a horrible death. We're not sophisticated enough to have software "building codes" yet and license "Software Accountants" to set them up. Even then without 100% control of a system, you just can't have that kind of liability...Then again, maybe that's what MS wants [OK we know they want it] total control of the systems and your wallets!
All police are "executive" branch of whatever locality [US] that you're in; They "execute" the points of the law. The Prosecutor/DA is also an executive branch appointee [sometimes elected]...But anyway, that's not the point...
My point is that anti-BOR comments have been made and documented publicly by "all levels" of law enforcement in just about "all" 50 states. It's a huge problem. They manapulate the courts and the laws to use "justice" as a punishment al by itself. They don't feel the need to follow the laws we already have! And we keep wanting to give theses guys "more" power?
Doesn't Knoppix already do this? This is just a variation with wireless. You load up version 3.2 with personal home on a 256MB usb fob and off you go. Any PC with a bootable CD and USB port is yours! Setup just how you want it [within hardware limits] Your data is yours, always save from prying eyes too. The only difference I see is that this uses Bluetooth, but I think Linux has that in the near future or already.
What AOL is doing IS the way. By seting a fairly decent criteria for restrictions then internally blocking the hell out of people. Granted, they could abuse it, but their customers wouldn't allow it to get out-of-hand, or go elsewhere; they're business people after all!
I still think there's a technical way to throttle spam. Maybe we need a "White" Hole List that good ISPs can sign, or tie into BIND to tie spammer domains to DNS. What needs to happen is that the Local ISPs need to take responsibility for what gets IN thru THEIR pipes! It would seem that things like DDOS and spam would have recognizable signatures on a network connection that ISPs could deal with. Much like the recent DNS missue, why the root servers are [should] only be accessable by ISPs; if they are, why are they still sending 90% junk to them. Same with spam! If you tied each email to a network-time-connection cost, then that would throttle spammers without hurting us normal users.
What ever happens DO NOT EXPECT THE GOVERNMENT TO MAKE IT BETTER. NEVER HAVE NEVER WILL!
Wow! Times have changed!
But hey, the Navy's already working on the trained dolphins over in Iraq!
Granted, I haven't taken that many programming courses, but the whole "students cheat" thing seems to be way overrated in universities. Working together and learning from each other is the whole point of university. Otherwise, forget your tenure and high pay--I'll just get a mail-order diploma--it would mean the same thing!
You'd need to look at the history of several distros, Red Hat, SuSe, Debian, kernel.org, and of course Caldera and the new SCO. It would seem like a trivial, but time consuming, exercise. Just get several of the last 4-5 versions of each distro and compare it against the Caldera/SCO versions! Particularly differences from the most recent SCO version should shed the best light on what they're "really" trying to argue!
My thinking is that the current SCO Linux is heavily sanitized, but the Caldera from just after the buyout would be the most accurate to nail them with because Caldera bought SCO [NOT the other way around!] so their behavior "is" important here. One would also have to mark the parts of the new SCO that are not currently GPL, as well as to note what parts of the previous distro they replaced!
Like someone else mentioned, the beauty of OSS is that it's been in the open the entire time! The evidence to at least support Linux is already out in the open. That and the OSS community has much more cheap freetime than SCO can afford for Lawyers! They've already tipped their hand, it would just take some time to find it.
UPDATE: Perhaps this could be put into a distributed computing client! It would compare source snippets from each of the distros and return the results to a central database. Then EVERYONE, even non-programmers, could help out!!
Who's to say you won't bop some FBI guys GF & he'd try to get back at you by compiling your /. posts to make you look like a terrorist! These people have openly stated time and again at all levels that your Constitutional rights get in there way--for 'all' criminal offences, not just terrorism! They're not afraid to say that in public--that should scare you! Officers routinely use their position and the legal system as 'weapons' against people who piss them off. It's considered a "job perk"!
In this case they had already arrested the guy's buddies. I'm along with you, they should have arrested him too! But using the MW rules in this case is WRONG. Either they didn't have a legaly grounded case against him, they're basicly 'tourching' him, or they're lying to the court for the sake of it [because they can] Clasifying him a MW requires them to SWEAR to a Judge that he's NOT a suspect but must be kept as a hostile witness. Who knows what rights this guy gave up while in custody as a MW that will now be illegally admited in court as evidence against him?
They basicly lied for the sake of it! That's what I'm calling out here. If you think that that end justifies the means in this manner, then you've got a rude awakening coming soon!