One analyst Stowell cited was Laura DiDio, of the Yankee Group. DiDio, a personable woman who has been covering technology for decades, first as a journalist and then as an analyst, says that one of her strengths is that "I call it as I see it -- I have no qualms about criticizing any vendor, especially when their competition are the one's paying my bills." And when it comes to companies who have bet their fortunes on Linux and other open-source software, Didio says she sees much to criticize.
And here's my "analysis".
"I call it as I see it -- I have no qualms about criticizing any analyst. And when it comes to companies who have bet their fortunes on the Yankee Group and Ms Didio, or any other group (yes, you in the back there Gartner), I see much to criticize.
IMHO, the best option would be to have it enabled by default on machines, with the option of disabling it for power users.
This means that the computer illiterate of this world will be automatically protected (some people I know have never heard of windows update before, let alone visited it).
For people who actually have some knowledge of what they are doing, well, they can just turn it off and complete upgrades in the normal manner...everybody wins.
Ogg Vorbis is pronouncable. Even so, it's mindshare is WAY less than that of MP3s.
Not only have you introduced a contradiction into your argument, you are trying to look at the market share of two competing products released many years apart.
Vorbis has been in the market place for a much shorter time than mp3 and as such hasn't made as many inroads.
And how can you possibly think that the name "mp3" is intuitive enough that a new user would go "ooohhh, that must be a music file!".
Even if we expand the confusing (for new users) acronym into its actual fuller name "MPEG Layer 3" or the complete form "Motion Picture Experts Group Layer 3". Now, pretend you're a newb, you'd think that it's for a movie file, wouldn't you?
However, what if the virus checks home to see if it should enter a new value into the registry?
Now, you may say that "Well, their host would just shut down the site"...but now comes the interesting part, what if the virus includes some peer-to-peer code that allows the payload to be updated on one node, and then be sent to the others.
A virus that could always stay one step ahead of the opposition. Virus scanners detecting it? No problem, send out an update that totally changes the files signature, gets rid of suspect registry entries etc.
What you would then have here is the ability to release new payloads or even new viruses without needing to get them up to the critical mass of infections where it starts to snowball, that critical mass is already out there.
Not wanting to be pedantic...but...it's a gif ffs, it can go a whole load smaller than 25k espacially with all that single colour area at the top and bottom.
The reason it was so big in the first place was because it used the standard 256 colour palette for some reason.
By reducing it to 4 colours I managed to get the whole thing down to 4.9k without any noticeable difference in quality.
You've made a great point there. I wonder if people ever add up the total cost of Microsoft security glitches in terms such as total bandwidth costs used to download said patches, man-hours at large companies to install on compromised systems.
I bet that number is huge...
If you can't shout fire in a crowded theatre...
on
Linking Dangerously
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· Score: 1
can you shout bomb instead? Or what if the theatre's only half full? Or three quarters, I really don't think a three quarters full theatre could be considered crowded. Hell, with these new fangled multiplexes where each seat has 8 metres of leg room even if the oversold seats by a factor of two it still wouldn't be crowded.;o)
(5) he cannot associate with any person or group that seeks to change the government in any way (be that environmental, social justice, political, economic, etc.)
That to me sounds like they're encroaching on rights to freedom of political expression, without fear of reprisal by those in power (going back to federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison).
It's in the same ballpark as some corrupt african states where people either support the government, live as a political exile or face the prospect of being torured and/or killed.
Ok, so nobody is being tortured or killed in the USA (that's what happens in Cuba at Guantanamo, and a whole other kettle of fish), but this man's right to change the government should still be respected. We all have that right, whether we know it or not, we get to vote in another government if the current one makes a right pig's ear of the job.
The right to political activism and peaceful protest should be a given in any country that truly deems itself "free".
to go along with his memorable raisethefist.com domain name, he could now also have "federal-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison.com" (still available) which could contain links to, and information on, methods for not dropping the soap in the shower. Large section also for how not to become "bubba's" bitch.;o)
I have to take point with this. I know it's been mentioned in other parts of this thread, but here it is again.
(after all, if they did want an alternative, they'd have downloaded it - which is what we all did)
So many people don't know that there is even anything else available. So many people don't know what the heck a browser is, or how to install anything other than active-x spyware (they click yes because it looks authorative). Hell, I bet some people don't even know how to download something.
Please don't make the mistake of assuming "if I can do it, anyone can.", it's what gives geeks their aloof status and doesn't help to educate people any better.
Not trying to flame, just looking at all sides, that's all!
I wonder if they can still
on
Opengroupware
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· Score: 2, Funny
check their e-mail/calendar/appointments even though their site is slashdotted?;o)
Lunch is on us, however, you may not publish in any form anything that could ever possibly be constued to be a review, without our express written consent, or you'll get no desert!
I don't agree, one good reason is that these things are fairly powerful, small and also fairly quiet. You will soon be able to pick up used xboxes for £50.00 on ebay (I would expect). Now, imagine buying loads (they've got 100Mbit ethernet too remember) to make a low-cost and compact server farm, all running GNU/Linux with Apache, MySQL, mod_perl, mod_php...you get lots of power in lots of machines for not a lot of money...and it would look really cool too!
(Insert obligatory...imagine a beowulf cluster joke here if you must).
Hehe,
I think those hackers have been having a little test run...and hacked/. look...what's going on with that new nav-bar...why, it's almost easy to use, well laid out...and looks nicer than the "text hump" b4.;o)
IANAL, but IIRC ignorance (in this case not knowing that there was copyrighted code in the product) is not a defence that will stand up well in court.
SCHoes lawyers will probably argue that if you're going to release a product based on an open source codebase as opposed to developing a proprietary solution, you should still have to evaluate every single piece of code to make sure that it doesn't violate anyone's rights.
Which of course is complete an utter crap, but there you go!
The only problem I foresee with the removing code scenario is that every single linux install with the offending code will need to be patched...not a small task at all.:o(
No, it's a game engine, which allows you to play both the original and the free game files that have been dev'd for it. Hell, it's more akin to a mod for unreal or the like...wanna make those illegal too?
Refer also to ScummVM, which allows people to play old lucasarts adventure games on modern PC's (try running those on 2k or xp). Lucasarts have been on at them...but last time I checked it was still available, plus theres a PocketPC version so I can play it on my GF's iPaq;o). Hey...wait a minute...iPaq, iMac...hmmm...blatant trademark infingment there. And don't give me the shit about running 98 then instead of 2k or XP, I run XP because Cubase XS requires 2k or XP, and 2k sucks doggy doodoo with the amount of time it requires to boot up.
Well, that's my $0.02...use it and go buy a clue.
Slashdot Mirror
One analyst Stowell cited was Laura DiDio, of the Yankee Group. DiDio, a personable woman who has been covering technology for decades, first as a journalist and then as an analyst, says that one of her strengths is that "I call it as I see it -- I have no qualms about criticizing any vendor, especially when their competition are the one's paying my bills." And when it comes to companies who have bet their fortunes on Linux and other open-source software, Didio says she sees much to criticize.
And here's my "analysis".
"I call it as I see it -- I have no qualms about criticizing any analyst. And when it comes to companies who have bet their fortunes on the Yankee Group and Ms Didio, or any other group (yes, you in the back there Gartner), I see much to criticize.
IMHO, the best option would be to have it enabled by default on machines, with the option of disabling it for power users.
This means that the computer illiterate of this world will be automatically protected (some people I know have never heard of windows update before, let alone visited it).
For people who actually have some knowledge of what they are doing, well, they can just turn it off and complete upgrades in the normal manner...everybody wins.
Ogg Vorbis is pronouncable. Even so, it's mindshare is WAY less than that of MP3s.
Not only have you introduced a contradiction into your argument, you are trying to look at the market share of two competing products released many years apart.
Vorbis has been in the market place for a much shorter time than mp3 and as such hasn't made as many inroads.
And how can you possibly think that the name "mp3" is intuitive enough that a new user would go "ooohhh, that must be a music file!".
Even if we expand the confusing (for new users) acronym into its actual fuller name "MPEG Layer 3" or the complete form "Motion Picture Experts Group Layer 3". Now, pretend you're a newb, you'd think that it's for a movie file, wouldn't you?
However, what if the virus checks home to see if it should enter a new value into the registry?
Now, you may say that "Well, their host would just shut down the site"...but now comes the interesting part, what if the virus includes some peer-to-peer code that allows the payload to be updated on one node, and then be sent to the others.
A virus that could always stay one step ahead of the opposition. Virus scanners detecting it? No problem, send out an update that totally changes the files signature, gets rid of suspect registry entries etc.
What you would then have here is the ability to release new payloads or even new viruses without needing to get them up to the critical mass of infections where it starts to snowball, that critical mass is already out there.
Not wanting to be pedantic...but...it's a gif ffs, it can go a whole load smaller than 25k espacially with all that single colour area at the top and bottom.
;o)
The reason it was so big in the first place was because it used the standard 256 colour palette for some reason.
By reducing it to 4 colours I managed to get the whole thing down to 4.9k without any noticeable difference in quality.
Yes, I'm bored
Wow, that must have been cramped... (*rimshot*)
;o)
Thanks, I'll be here all week, try the steak!
slashdot.net ... (*ducks*) ;o)
You've made a great point there. I wonder if people ever add up the total cost of Microsoft security glitches in terms such as total bandwidth costs used to download said patches, man-hours at large companies to install on compromised systems.
I bet that number is huge...
can you shout bomb instead? Or what if the theatre's only half full? Or three quarters, I really don't think a three quarters full theatre could be considered crowded. Hell, with these new fangled multiplexes where each seat has 8 metres of leg room even if the oversold seats by a factor of two it still wouldn't be crowded. ;o)
(5) he cannot associate with any person or group that seeks to change the government in any way (be that environmental, social justice, political, economic, etc.)
That to me sounds like they're encroaching on rights to freedom of political expression, without fear of reprisal by those in power (going back to federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison).
It's in the same ballpark as some corrupt african states where people either support the government, live as a political exile or face the prospect of being torured and/or killed.
Ok, so nobody is being tortured or killed in the USA (that's what happens in Cuba at Guantanamo, and a whole other kettle of fish), but this man's right to change the government should still be respected. We all have that right, whether we know it or not, we get to vote in another government if the current one makes a right pig's ear of the job.
The right to political activism and peaceful protest should be a given in any country that truly deems itself "free".
to go along with his memorable raisethefist.com domain name, he could now also have "federal-pound-me-in-the-ass-prison.com" (still available) which could contain links to, and information on, methods for not dropping the soap in the shower. Large section also for how not to become "bubba's" bitch. ;o)
I hear that it works for Ron Jeremy... ;o)
hmmm...that's almost verbatim what happens in a BOFH article over on el reg...perhaps your mistaking your reality for what you've been reading. ;o)
I think I'll try it out quickly, hang on a sec.
$%£$%$£%$CVASg...NO CARRIER
Police execute YOU!
oh...wait, nevermind.
Thinkpad 570, Debian unstable
;o)
D'uh! Of course Debian will not be stable on a Thinkpad...hell, QNX would prolly crash all the time too...oh, wait...nevermind.
Vous êtes une baiseur de mère pedantique. ;o)
I have to take point with this. I know it's been mentioned in other parts of this thread, but here it is again.
(after all, if they did want an alternative, they'd have downloaded it - which is what we all did)
So many people don't know that there is even anything else available. So many people don't know what the heck a browser is, or how to install anything other than active-x spyware (they click yes because it looks authorative). Hell, I bet some people don't even know how to download something.
Please don't make the mistake of assuming "if I can do it, anyone can.", it's what gives geeks their aloof status and doesn't help to educate people any better.
Not trying to flame, just looking at all sides, that's all!
check their e-mail/calendar/appointments even though their site is slashdotted? ;o)
Section 4, paragraph 6:
Lunch is on us, however, you may not publish in any form anything that could ever possibly be constued to be a review, without our express written consent, or you'll get no desert!
I don't agree, one good reason is that these things are fairly powerful, small and also fairly quiet. You will soon be able to pick up used xboxes for £50.00 on ebay (I would expect). Now, imagine buying loads (they've got 100Mbit ethernet too remember) to make a low-cost and compact server farm, all running GNU/Linux with Apache, MySQL, mod_perl, mod_php...you get lots of power in lots of machines for not a lot of money...and it would look really cool too!
(Insert obligatory...imagine a beowulf cluster joke here if you must).
Hehe, I think those hackers have been having a little test run...and hacked /. look...what's going on with that new nav-bar...why, it's almost easy to use, well laid out...and looks nicer than the "text hump" b4. ;o)
IANAL, but IIRC ignorance (in this case not knowing that there was copyrighted code in the product) is not a defence that will stand up well in court.
:o(
SCHoes lawyers will probably argue that if you're going to release a product based on an open source codebase as opposed to developing a proprietary solution, you should still have to evaluate every single piece of code to make sure that it doesn't violate anyone's rights.
Which of course is complete an utter crap, but there you go!
The only problem I foresee with the removing code scenario is that every single linux install with the offending code will need to be patched...not a small task at all.
No, it's a game engine, which allows you to play both the original and the free game files that have been dev'd for it. Hell, it's more akin to a mod for unreal or the like...wanna make those illegal too? Refer also to ScummVM, which allows people to play old lucasarts adventure games on modern PC's (try running those on 2k or xp). Lucasarts have been on at them...but last time I checked it was still available, plus theres a PocketPC version so I can play it on my GF's iPaq ;o). Hey...wait a minute...iPaq, iMac...hmmm...blatant trademark infingment there. And don't give me the shit about running 98 then instead of 2k or XP, I run XP because Cubase XS requires 2k or XP, and 2k sucks doggy doodoo with the amount of time it requires to boot up.
Well, that's my $0.02...use it and go buy a clue.
This isn't even meant to be a stable release.
to be honest, if you can't even manage to compile the source you shouldn't be bothering with a non-stable release anyway.