Oooh, Mozilla released another minor revision to Thuderbird. Big deal. No new features, just improovements on the same theme.
I'm sorry, but items like Vermont Yankee's missing fuel rodes or NASA using Hollywood stuntmen to catch falling space probes or even news about the world's earliest known BBQ seem a lot more like 'news for nerds' than a minor revision to an already well-known (in the OSS community) application.
At my previous job, I was required to use Windows 2000. Because of this simple fact, I was vulnerable. It didn't matter if I never opened my email in Outlook Express (I ssh'ed to my mail server and used mutt). My worst enemy was the idiot in the cubicle next to me. His inbox was always being thrashed with forwards, and the dork opened every one of them. So about weekly, he would get infected by some worm that started making its rounds in the company.
If I had my way, he would be fired as a security threat (or get rid of windows on my work system). However, even if he were to leave, another loser would replace his sorry ass.
My point: I'm vulnerable more from my co-workers than from my OS or my email habbits. I need the anti-virus software to protect me fro them. I can get infected (thanks MS) just by being on the same network as these ID10T's.
Besides, I have MIPs to spare. I can waist them on NAV.
My concern is the legal ramifications of this case. If email were to become legally binding as a form of contract negotiation and agreement, will we begin to see many e-mails begin with legalese that's as complicated as a Microsoft EULA? I can see it now... Overnight, e-mail from lawyers would multiply in length by over 300%, making email servers perform double duty. Maybe an exaggeration, but lawyers are a cautious bunch.
Here is a question for you: How can email be legally binding by adding your full name to the end of the email, but I still can't fax contracts with a clearly legible signature? At least, last I heard, you could do that for intent, but the actual document had to still be snail-mailed. Here's another good question: Don't most contracts have to be signed by a public notary or a witness? Maybe this isn't the case for realestate purchases.
One final question: If the plaintiff wins, does that mean that all the "super" deals I can get from those who spam me would now be legally binding? If so, great! I've always wanted to "Be Debtfree at no cost to you..."or "Be in a positive cash flow in 48 hours", or even "Add 3-6 inches to your penis with this miracle pill."
Thanks for the info. I could do that, that's for sure. I think I'll just use my actual DVD player instead. I more mentioned it out of idle curriousity than anything else.
The only big downside to the DVD is the fact that after about halfway through the showing, it gets "blocky". In other words, the screen is filled with green blocks of color, making it impossible to watch the film. This is not an issue in the XBox or computer DVD drives. *(It however may be an issue with this single PS2 system, as I have yet to find someone else with one to test it out on.) It is at the same spot in the film, and is recreated with multiple DVD disks. If you have had the same experience, I would be interested in hearing about it. My next attempt will be to see if a little "tinkering" with the PS2 internals will correct the problem. I suppose this is something I should have expected as the PS2 is rather limited as part of a home entertainment system. You can't even watch VCD's for crying out loud.
From what I have read on their site, the service is directed more towards reports. The site itself is not laid out in a helpful manner, so I can't be sure. So, if Turnitin services do not include code, I can't see how the GPL would apply. If I write a report for class, the contents of that report, its writing style, and the conclusions made remain my intellectual property. This is clearly outlined in our school's student constitution. (I understand that each school has a different policy, so your rights may differ). However, should a third party license agreed to by the school seek to change the ownership of said report, consent of the student must be sought. Therefore, if the teacher who has subscribed to such a service has not solicited your consent, any contract the teacher engages in prior to that consent is null and void.
However, this again only applies to schools who clearly outline the property rights of the student. There are institutions (especially private and / or unaccredited education institutions) that clearly state that work produced while a part of the student body becomes the intellectual property of the school or institution. Though the morality of this is questionable, no major court cases have overturned the right of the educational institutional to make such a claim. This become a gray area if the work produced was created using resources provided by the educational institution. While this applies less to literary works and program code, this does apply to students of chemistry, electronics and robotics. Say for instance a student created a new polymer using supplies provided by the university. Said polymer would be the legal property of the university. It is true that the student will often get credit for the initial discovery, but any subsequent sale of the polymer would be between the buyer and the school with the profits being pocketed by the institution.
I would suggest that any student who has questions regarding their ownership rights should speak with the human relations department of their school. Most schools are not trying to find way to violate the property rights of the student, but are instead trying to decrease their own liability. If you feel that your rights have been violated, contact an attorney - most attorneys are willing to do a free consultation (at least for the first hour). Just be honest with whoever you do speak with, and quite often they will return the favor. If you do not trust the professor in a class, or you want to guarantee the ownership of your intellectual property, simply place a copyright notice at the beginning to the document and mail yourself a copy of the document before turning it in. There are legal cases that uphold the "poor-inventor" form of copyright protection.
I did put my money where my mouth is. I bit the bullet and used paypal. Now I'm so pissed off at PayPal that my furry has exetended to/. The anoyance has removed any joy I could possibly have for removing the ads. This is just as bad as when WinDrivers.com went pay ('cept I still see the @#!$ banner ads!).
Just another quick note. I find this anouncement by/. to go pay rather ironic as they just finished praising Piro over at Mega Tokyo for an insiteful rant on pay sites. Now I do understand that he was talking more about "pay for use / content", but I still think it applies. The key principle is that the net isn't free, but would be better if it is. Good karma (and I mean the real deal, not this/. crap) does come from giving some of your own time and energy to produce something _FOR FREE_ and giving it away to others (on the net or in real life). With the bad karma produced by this move, I do predict that/. will become even more troll infested and flamer scarred. It really is too bad, because I real have always liked this site.
RIP/.
Slashdot Mirror
So what is the big deal?
Oooh, Mozilla released another minor revision to Thuderbird. Big deal. No new features, just improovements on the same theme.
I'm sorry, but items like Vermont Yankee's missing fuel rodes or NASA using Hollywood stuntmen to catch falling space probes or even news about the world's earliest known BBQ seem a lot more like 'news for nerds' than a minor revision to an already well-known (in the OSS community) application.
At my previous job, I was required to use Windows 2000. Because of this simple fact, I was vulnerable. It didn't matter if I never opened my email in Outlook Express (I ssh'ed to my mail server and used mutt). My worst enemy was the idiot in the cubicle next to me. His inbox was always being thrashed with forwards, and the dork opened every one of them. So about weekly, he would get infected by some worm that started making its rounds in the company.
If I had my way, he would be fired as a security threat (or get rid of windows on my work system). However, even if he were to leave, another loser would replace his sorry ass.
My point: I'm vulnerable more from my co-workers than from my OS or my email habbits. I need the anti-virus software to protect me fro them. I can get infected (thanks MS) just by being on the same network as these ID10T's.
Besides, I have MIPs to spare. I can waist them on NAV.
My concern is the legal ramifications of this case. If email were to become legally binding as a form of contract negotiation and agreement, will we begin to see many e-mails begin with legalese that's as complicated as a Microsoft EULA? I can see it now... Overnight, e-mail from lawyers would multiply in length by over 300%, making email servers perform double duty. Maybe an exaggeration, but lawyers are a cautious bunch.
Here is a question for you: How can email be legally binding by adding your full name to the end of the email, but I still can't fax contracts with a clearly legible signature? At least, last I heard, you could do that for intent, but the actual document had to still be snail-mailed. Here's another good question: Don't most contracts have to be signed by a public notary or a witness? Maybe this isn't the case for realestate purchases.
One final question: If the plaintiff wins, does that mean that all the "super" deals I can get from those who spam me would now be legally binding? If so, great! I've always wanted to "Be Debtfree at no cost to you..."or "Be in a positive cash flow in 48 hours", or even "Add 3-6 inches to your penis with this miracle pill."
Thanks for the info. I could do that, that's for sure. I think I'll just use my actual DVD player instead. I more mentioned it out of idle curriousity than anything else.
The only big downside to the DVD is the fact that after about halfway through the showing, it gets "blocky". In other words, the screen is filled with green blocks of color, making it impossible to watch the film. This is not an issue in the XBox or computer DVD drives. *(It however may be an issue with this single PS2 system, as I have yet to find someone else with one to test it out on.) It is at the same spot in the film, and is recreated with multiple DVD disks. If you have had the same experience, I would be interested in hearing about it. My next attempt will be to see if a little "tinkering" with the PS2 internals will correct the problem. I suppose this is something I should have expected as the PS2 is rather limited as part of a home entertainment system. You can't even watch VCD's for crying out loud.
From what I have read on their site, the service is directed more towards reports. The site itself is not laid out in a helpful manner, so I can't be sure. So, if Turnitin services do not include code, I can't see how the GPL would apply. If I write a report for class, the contents of that report, its writing style, and the conclusions made remain my intellectual property. This is clearly outlined in our school's student constitution. (I understand that each school has a different policy, so your rights may differ). However, should a third party license agreed to by the school seek to change the ownership of said report, consent of the student must be sought. Therefore, if the teacher who has subscribed to such a service has not solicited your consent, any contract the teacher engages in prior to that consent is null and void.
However, this again only applies to schools who clearly outline the property rights of the student. There are institutions (especially private and / or unaccredited education institutions) that clearly state that work produced while a part of the student body becomes the intellectual property of the school or institution. Though the morality of this is questionable, no major court cases have overturned the right of the educational institutional to make such a claim. This become a gray area if the work produced was created using resources provided by the educational institution. While this applies less to literary works and program code, this does apply to students of chemistry, electronics and robotics. Say for instance a student created a new polymer using supplies provided by the university. Said polymer would be the legal property of the university. It is true that the student will often get credit for the initial discovery, but any subsequent sale of the polymer would be between the buyer and the school with the profits being pocketed by the institution.
I would suggest that any student who has questions regarding their ownership rights should speak with the human relations department of their school. Most schools are not trying to find way to violate the property rights of the student, but are instead trying to decrease their own liability. If you feel that your rights have been violated, contact an attorney - most attorneys are willing to do a free consultation (at least for the first hour). Just be honest with whoever you do speak with, and quite often they will return the favor. If you do not trust the professor in a class, or you want to guarantee the ownership of your intellectual property, simply place a copyright notice at the beginning to the document and mail yourself a copy of the document before turning it in. There are legal cases that uphold the "poor-inventor" form of copyright protection.
I did put my money where my mouth is. I bit the bullet and used paypal. Now I'm so pissed off at PayPal that my furry has exetended to /. The anoyance has removed any joy I could possibly have for removing the ads. This is just as bad as when WinDrivers.com went pay ('cept I still see the @#!$ banner ads!).
Just another quick note. I find this anouncement by /. to go pay rather ironic as they just finished praising Piro over at Mega Tokyo for an insiteful rant on pay sites. Now I do understand that he was talking more about "pay for use / content", but I still think it applies. The key principle is that the net isn't free, but would be better if it is. Good karma (and I mean the real deal, not this /. crap) does come from giving some of your own time and energy to produce something _FOR FREE_ and giving it away to others (on the net or in real life). With the bad karma produced by this move, I do predict that /. will become even more troll infested and flamer scarred. It really is too bad, because I real have always liked this site.
RIP /.