I think it should be criminal to create a program which resists being uninstalled by the owner of the hardware on which it was installed, regardless of whether or not the owner accepted it EULA.
Why would a coporation be worried about it being dropped? If anything, Open Source projects seem to be a haven for ancient code where it can linger on forever and ever, continually being tweeked and improved over the ages.
On the other hand, I suppose if some huge IT company wanted to give me money for something I did for free in the community-based support forums alredy availiable, I'd take it too.
But this is the real world: he set up a Limited Liability Company. That means that in the real world: should it all go to hell, the money's long gone, and we can't sue the owners for the money their LLC owes. Anyone who does sue for their liscense fees back will probably spend more on court fees than they will reciece from the lawsuit. As I said, this guy either knows what he's doing, or has laywers who know what they're doing. This corporation is designed to be a financial black hole: Money checks in, but it doesn't check out.
OK, this guy got the patent, and yes, someone probably has prior art, and the courts will probably throw it out as long as the President doesn't interfere with the judicial system to help this guy. But there's still a problem: Who want's to be the first poor SOB to have to defend himself in a lawsuit? I'm sure this guy isn't stupid enough to make his "liscensing fee" more expensive than defending one's self in a courtroom, which means he can use those firms who choose the cheaper option of paying the liscense, to legitimize his claims against those who do fight.
Me? I say to hell with Iraq, we need a regime change at the USPTO!
Just looking at those things, they look like they're horribly topeheavy. I don't need a degree in physics to know whats gonna happen when I try to corner with one of those things... They don't even try to compensate by having a wide base. I would _NOT_ want to be one of the guys riding these things.
Am I running a bank with millions of dollars, and do I want the reformed hacker to secure the database with all the money in it?
Come on, this is common sense:
1: If the reformed hacker was doing it for personal profit, don't hire the hacker. If the hacker was just bored and causing trouble, maybe hire the hacker.
2: If you want to secure the aforementioned bank's financial DB, don't hire a hacker, and have someone looking over the shoulder of the guy you do hire. =)
3: If the reformed hacker writes all of his memos in 1337$p34|{, make sure you aren't hiring a reformed script-kiddie.
I keep hearing this rumors that their software disables/screws with Linux?!? I admit some amout of scepticism, but does anyone have any non-anecdotal evidence of this?
(On the other hand, maybe they're scared I'm going to do something like drop to shell and type 'dd if=/dev/cdrom of=turbotax.iso':P )
So, basically I can buy a car that is perfectly legal to leave in my garage and never take out. Wicked, I can see it now: "Dad, can I have the keys to the skycar?" "No, son, we're not sure yet whether or not it will blow up."... I say if someone has the extra money to buy this thing, he can give it to me instead, I'll put it to better use.
Let me guess:
Step 1: Open a portal for comments from the public
Step 2: Get massive amounts of Pr0n come-ons
Step 3: Determine that the public wants viagra.
Step 4: Get censored by Ashcroft.
Step 5: Cat everything to/dev/null
-+- SIGSEGV -+-
Slashdot Mirror
I think it should be criminal to create a program which resists being uninstalled by the owner of the hardware on which it was installed, regardless of whether or not the owner accepted it EULA.
Why would a coporation be worried about it being dropped? If anything, Open Source projects seem to be a haven for ancient code where it can linger on forever and ever, continually being tweeked and improved over the ages.
On the other hand, I suppose if some huge IT company wanted to give me money for something I did for free in the community-based support forums alredy availiable, I'd take it too.
You mean you dont use FVWM95???
In a Perfect world ... Yes.
But this is the real world: he set up a Limited Liability Company. That means that in the real world: should it all go to hell, the money's long gone, and we can't sue the owners for the money their LLC owes. Anyone who does sue for their liscense fees back will probably spend more on court fees than they will reciece from the lawsuit. As I said, this guy either knows what he's doing, or has laywers who know what they're doing. This corporation is designed to be a financial black hole: Money checks in, but it doesn't check out.
OK, this guy got the patent, and yes, someone probably has prior art, and the courts will probably throw it out as long as the President doesn't interfere with the judicial system to help this guy. But there's still a problem: Who want's to be the first poor SOB to have to defend himself in a lawsuit? I'm sure this guy isn't stupid enough to make his "liscensing fee" more expensive than defending one's self in a courtroom, which means he can use those firms who choose the cheaper option of paying the liscense, to legitimize his claims against those who do fight.
Me? I say to hell with Iraq, we need a regime change at the USPTO!
Just looking at those things, they look like they're horribly topeheavy. I don't need a degree in physics to know whats gonna happen when I try to corner with one of those things... They don't even try to compensate by having a wide base. I would _NOT_ want to be one of the guys riding these things.
Am I running a bank with millions of dollars, and do I want the reformed hacker to secure the database with all the money in it?
Come on, this is common sense:
1: If the reformed hacker was doing it for personal profit, don't hire the hacker. If the hacker was just bored and causing trouble, maybe hire the hacker.
2: If you want to secure the aforementioned bank's financial DB, don't hire a hacker, and have someone looking over the shoulder of the guy you do hire. =)
3: If the reformed hacker writes all of his memos in 1337$p34|{, make sure you aren't hiring a reformed script-kiddie.
Like I said, simple, sensible rules...
(On the other hand, maybe they're scared I'm going to do something like drop to shell and type 'dd if=/dev/cdrom of=turbotax.iso' :P )
they have these little, thin Plastic things called 'Compact Disks'...
Oh, wait...
So, basically I can buy a car that is perfectly legal to leave in my garage and never take out. Wicked, I can see it now: "Dad, can I have the keys to the skycar?" "No, son, we're not sure yet whether or not it will blow up." ... I say if someone has the extra money to buy this thing, he can give it to me instead, I'll put it to better use.
Let me guess: Step 1: Open a portal for comments from the public Step 2: Get massive amounts of Pr0n come-ons Step 3: Determine that the public wants viagra. Step 4: Get censored by Ashcroft. Step 5: Cat everything to /dev/null
-+- SIGSEGV -+-
I think Uncle Sam should tax whining about IP. Seriously.