I'd be interested to hear what the Lee Tydalska has to say about secure deletion of data (i.e. how can you be sure you have destroyed data on a harddrive/cd-rom/floppy/etc). Peter Gutmann wrote a paper on how to destroy data. In the paper, he argues that by overwriting your harddrive multiple times with highly sophisticated patterns, it will be almost impossible to recover the data. I wonder if industry people agree with him.
Honor codes are the classic case of the old-time Reverend preaching a hell-fire and brimstone sermon to a congregation. The upright and decent get all scared and uptight, whereas the immoral daydream and laugh.
What would really be great is having every book ever written on the internet in full-text (not just a summary), stored in a database (like google does for webpages.). Just imagine being able to type in a search phrase and being able to search the text of every book that was ever printed.
I wonder about the possibility of this based on:
1. storage space
2. database efficiency for all that information
3. most importantly: copyright laws.
I would love to know where people get the idea that record labels would allow songs to be downloaded for $1 and under. I guess people assume that a song is worth the CD ($15) divided by 15 songs. This is not the case at all. Typically music companies expect you to pay for a "favorite" song, maybe a few favorites, while the rest of the CD is songs you don't want. Anyway I don't see how anyone can claim that songs will ever be $1 each in the US. Reminder: How much are record labels charging for singles?
an industry which has killed most of the real talent
Are you kidding, NetRanger? If not for the record industry we would not have such talent as Britney Spears and N'Sync. Record companies spend an insane amount of money promoting these bands, hence why CD prices are so high. If you don't consider today's pop-music talented, then I really don't know what to tell you.
Disclaimer: I hope you detected a hint of sarcasm here, because I'm really laying it on.
he half implies that AOL picking Mozilla as the default browser automatically puts 35 million users in the Netscape camp
When ever has a MAJOR company been successful in pushing a product on users?
They wanted to be absolutely sure of what they had found, given that the news is almost mythological. People expect everything in the news to be gospel, and resending a report would greatly undermine reader's faith.
I wonder about the value of user-information on the internet. I find it hard to believe that 20% of the people in the world are named John Doe, have a phone number with more than six 5's in it, have an email address blow_me@nomail.com, and live in quiet town of Schenectady, NY in zip code 12345.
Now that Dell, Gateway, and others have started issuing cd-burners as standard equipment, you will start to see the 55 year old casual user burning CDs. For a long time, email was only used by tech-savvy people, until computer-manufacturers like Compaq started making computers "internet ready". What's going to happen when the manufacturers start making computers "cd-burning ready"?
Before the crash of the Dot Coms, startup-companies were the ones paying the great salaries and thus forcing the government to reluctantly match them. Now, with all the new government contracts stemming from the war on terrorism, the reverse has occurred.
The second MP3 wave has yet to hit. How many of us can say our parents are actively downloading MP3's and burning them onto CD's? Answer: Very few. How many people do you know who have never burned an audio CD? Answer: Plenty.
The first MP3 wave hit hard. Most technical savvy people have a large MP3 collection. When the second wave hits and MOST OF AMERICA uses MP3s, the US population will believe it's their *RIGHT* to download free music, and the MP3 revolution will be complete. Until that time, the MP3 revolution is vulnerable. Bottom line: Don't get too happy about the rejection of this copyright bill.
What a shame that Richard Stallman et al have used the GPL to cut businesses and corporations out of the Open Source movement. Red Hat is finding it extremely difficult to make profits off of Linux, and Red Hat is one of the *most successful* Linux companies. It's one thing for a license to require open-source, but it's quite another for a license to require one to give up almost all methods of generating revenue.
Imagine how much further Open Source would have come if a more business-friendly license were used. Most of us can say we use Linux, but how many can say we never use Windows? Alternative to windows? No, it isn't. How much more time and effort is required to use Linux than windows? Is it 'free software'? Not if time equals money. Open Source systems have a VERY long way too go, and cutting people's abilities to make profits is KILLING ITS TRUE POTENTIAL.
Keep in mind that Red Hat Linux has released several versions where the default installation settings had practically everything turned on. This is not a windows-only problem.
Unfortunately I don't believe record companies could produce a music-buying model that is better than the one we have right now. We can get practically any song we want for free. How can they beat that? Internet music trading has come a long way, and it really doesn't have that much farther to go.
Everybody says they're willing to pay to download mp3's but
(1) what's the highest price you'd pay per song? People talk all the time about $1 per song, but I think you are dreaming if you think it'll be that low.
(2) You can honestly say you'd pay for something when it's completely free somewhere else?
IIS is getting more secure/stable every day (as windows is in general). Although Apache is number one right now, the day apache falls, UNIX is going to take a big hit.
Napster served a point at one time to show the world that mass-user file swapping technology is possible, but it's obsolete technology. It's like wanting to buy Windows 3.1. File-swapping software has evolved.
We're only as subject to bad advertising as our browsers want us to be. If Internet Explorer, Netscape, or Mozilla ever made it a major priority to make web browsing ad-free, we'd see the end of the horrible advertising methods that are starting to surface on the web. (Actually what would probably happen is a cat and mouse game, where advertisers would always be trying to get around the techniques that the browser employ to get rid of advertisements.)
Security experts always say:
1.passwords should be 8+ characters
2.passwords should look like they were randomly generated (esp. no English words)
3.never write your passwords down (WHICH INCLUDES USING A PASSWORD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM).
Personally, I usually follow rules #1 and #2, but there is no way I can memorize a 10+ randomly generated strings. Aren't security experts being a little hypercritical?
Lineo's best bet for the future would be to change its name to CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet. That would make it even more difficult for people to figure out what they do. (Lineo gives a hint the company does something with Linux, although no one can tell you exactly what.) By making their products/services even more obscure, they could attract more investors.
It's interesting how people on both sides of this issue agree that the record companies are still making profits. The RIAA cites lots of reasons why profits won't last with internet piracy; but the real reason profits won't last is because some day the people who keep buying $20 CDs will realize that making their own is VERY EASY. Just as Dell and others started making computers "internet-ready", they are now making them "cd-burning-ready". The internet took a while for everyone to use, and the same goes for audio cd burning.
Slashdot Mirror
I'd be interested to hear what the Lee Tydalska has to say about secure deletion of data (i.e. how can you be sure you have destroyed data on a harddrive/cd-rom/floppy/etc). Peter Gutmann wrote a paper on how to destroy data. In the paper, he argues that by overwriting your harddrive multiple times with highly sophisticated patterns, it will be almost impossible to recover the data. I wonder if industry people agree with him.
Honor codes are the classic case of the old-time Reverend preaching a hell-fire and brimstone sermon to a congregation. The upright and decent get all scared and uptight, whereas the immoral daydream and laugh.
What would really be great is having every book ever written on the internet in full-text (not just a summary), stored in a database (like google does for webpages.). Just imagine being able to type in a search phrase and being able to search the text of every book that was ever printed.
I wonder about the possibility of this based on:1. storage space
2. database efficiency for all that information
3. most importantly: copyright laws.
I would love to know where people get the idea that record labels would allow songs to be downloaded for $1 and under. I guess people assume that a song is worth the CD ($15) divided by 15 songs. This is not the case at all. Typically music companies expect you to pay for a "favorite" song, maybe a few favorites, while the rest of the CD is songs you don't want. Anyway I don't see how anyone can claim that songs will ever be $1 each in the US. Reminder: How much are record labels charging for singles?
an industry which has killed most of the real talent
Are you kidding, NetRanger? If not for the record industry we would not have such talent as Britney Spears and N'Sync. Record companies spend an insane amount of money promoting these bands, hence why CD prices are so high. If you don't consider today's pop-music talented, then I really don't know what to tell you.
Disclaimer: I hope you detected a hint of sarcasm here, because I'm really laying it on.
It's our constitutional right, but it should be illegal?
he half implies that AOL picking Mozilla as the default browser automatically puts 35 million users in the Netscape camp When ever has a MAJOR company been successful in pushing a product on users?
They wanted to be absolutely sure of what they had found, given that the news is almost mythological. People expect everything in the news to be gospel, and resending a report would greatly undermine reader's faith.
I wonder about the value of user-information on the internet. I find it hard to believe that 20% of the people in the world are named John Doe, have a phone number with more than six 5's in it, have an email address blow_me@nomail.com, and live in quiet town of Schenectady, NY in zip code 12345.
Now that Dell, Gateway, and others have started issuing cd-burners as standard equipment, you will start to see the 55 year old casual user burning CDs. For a long time, email was only used by tech-savvy people, until computer-manufacturers like Compaq started making computers "internet ready". What's going to happen when the manufacturers start making computers "cd-burning ready"?
Before the crash of the Dot Coms, startup-companies were the ones paying the great salaries and thus forcing the government to reluctantly match them. Now, with all the new government contracts stemming from the war on terrorism, the reverse has occurred.
The second MP3 wave has yet to hit. How many of us can say our parents are actively downloading MP3's and burning them onto CD's? Answer: Very few. How many people do you know who have never burned an audio CD? Answer: Plenty.
The first MP3 wave hit hard. Most technical savvy people have a large MP3 collection. When the second wave hits and MOST OF AMERICA uses MP3s, the US population will believe it's their *RIGHT* to download free music, and the MP3 revolution will be complete. Until that time, the MP3 revolution is vulnerable. Bottom line: Don't get too happy about the rejection of this copyright bill.
What a shame that Richard Stallman et al have used the GPL to cut businesses and corporations out of the Open Source movement. Red Hat is finding it extremely difficult to make profits off of Linux, and Red Hat is one of the *most successful* Linux companies. It's one thing for a license to require open-source, but it's quite another for a license to require one to give up almost all methods of generating revenue.
Imagine how much further Open Source would have come if a more business-friendly license were used. Most of us can say we use Linux, but how many can say we never use Windows? Alternative to windows? No, it isn't. How much more time and effort is required to use Linux than windows? Is it 'free software'? Not if time equals money. Open Source systems have a VERY long way too go, and cutting people's abilities to make profits is KILLING ITS TRUE POTENTIAL.
There are plenty of laws that restrict people's cyber-freedoms for the benefit of corporations. Why can't the reverse be done?
Keep in mind that Red Hat Linux has released several versions where the default installation settings had practically everything turned on. This is not a windows-only problem.
That article is not a review. A review is a critical report of something. The reviewer should tell us everything good and bad about the product.
That article was 20% advertisement and 80% technical support on installation. The article belongs in a README.TXT, not in a "review".
Unfortunately I don't believe record companies could produce a music-buying model that is better than the one we have right now. We can get practically any song we want for free. How can they beat that? Internet music trading has come a long way, and it really doesn't have that much farther to go.
Everybody says they're willing to pay to download mp3's but(1) what's the highest price you'd pay per song? People talk all the time about $1 per song, but I think you are dreaming if you think it'll be that low.
(2) You can honestly say you'd pay for something when it's completely free somewhere else?
IIS is getting more secure/stable every day (as windows is in general). Although Apache is number one right now, the day apache falls, UNIX is going to take a big hit.
Napster served a point at one time to show the world that mass-user file swapping technology is possible, but it's obsolete technology. It's like wanting to buy Windows 3.1. File-swapping software has evolved.
We're only as subject to bad advertising as our browsers want us to be. If Internet Explorer, Netscape, or Mozilla ever made it a major priority to make web browsing ad-free, we'd see the end of the horrible advertising methods that are starting to surface on the web. (Actually what would probably happen is a cat and mouse game, where advertisers would always be trying to get around the techniques that the browser employ to get rid of advertisements.)
Security experts always say: 1.passwords should be 8+ characters 2.passwords should look like they were randomly generated (esp. no English words) 3.never write your passwords down (WHICH INCLUDES USING A PASSWORD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM). Personally, I usually follow rules #1 and #2, but there is no way I can memorize a 10+ randomly generated strings. Aren't security experts being a little hypercritical?
Lineo's best bet for the future would be to change its name to CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet. That would make it even more difficult for people to figure out what they do. (Lineo gives a hint the company does something with Linux, although no one can tell you exactly what.) By making their products/services even more obscure, they could attract more investors.
It's interesting how people on both sides of this issue agree that the record companies are still making profits. The RIAA cites lots of reasons why profits won't last with internet piracy; but the real reason profits won't last is because some day the people who keep buying $20 CDs will realize that making their own is VERY EASY. Just as Dell and others started making computers "internet-ready", they are now making them "cd-burning-ready". The internet took a while for everyone to use, and the same goes for audio cd burning.
We have to think of the children. Won't someone please think of the children?!!!!