This is completely different than skinning, as it is a way of running a dynamic, HTML-based application locally without a web server.
Without a Web server, perhaps, but it's still a server. Except, instead of writing <A HREF="http://foobar.org/"> you'd probably write <A HREF="dcom://0923787821-02773-398216756512/wxProce ssDeleteApp"> or some such rot.
If true, it sounds like you can basically get Windows to do anything if you cobble up the right URL and send it to the RPC port that's normally used for HTAs. Sounds like a new opportunity for viruses to me...
However, I don't know jack about Windoze programming or HTAs, so this is entirely speculation on my part.
That would be a disgrace to the title/rank of Darth. One is awarded the rank of Darth only when one has indisputably distinguished oneself as a master not only of the Force, but also of political and social intrigue, and can wield them all with devastating results.
Darl, on the other hand, is a green Stormtrooper with delusions of grandeur who, like all Stormtroopers, couldn't hit anything even if he knew what to aim for. He is a noisy distraction; a tool of the Darths, never to be one himself.
Schwab
Stupidest Management Advice Book Ever
on
In Search of Stupidity
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
The stupidest management/leadership advice book ever: Make It So, by Wess Roberts and Bill Ross.
Assuming I'm reading the press release correctly, it looks as if Micros~1 has finally admitted that DirectPlay was a complete and utter disaster, never worked right, and never was going to work right.
...So expect GameSpy 3D to get renamed DirectPlay 2,0 and get released in Longhorn.
Do you have any idea the sort of environmental impact spraying around that much rayon, gabardine, and Brylcream would have? The EPA would be all over you like a rash...
"Hot stuff can burn you." Duh. However, there are three things to keep in mind about the infamous McDonald's coffee lawsuit:
The burns were very serious, requiring skin grafts, because,
McDonald's coffee was really fscking hot at 190 degrees Fahrenheit -- 22 degrees shy of boiling -- because they claimed it tasted better that way; and,
Many other people had experienced and reported the same problem to McDonald's in the past, and they did nothing about it.
It was principally those factors that led the jury to find against McDonald's. McDonald's now serves their coffee at a cooler temperature.
The tactic employed is probably the same as employed by the BSA/SIAA. They sent you a notice of suspected infringement, then sit down to "negotiate" with you:
Allow us free reign to audit your premises, and we'll hammer out a deal based on what we say we find,
We'll come in with law enforcement, shut down your company, press criminal charges, and slap you with the maximum fine per infringing copy.
Given that you're a CEO of a company whose first responsibility is to shareholders, which choice would you make?
GNUCash's back-end is configurable. By default, it stores to its own XML file format, but it can also be set up to talk to an SQL database. I believe this configuration needs to be done at compile time; it's not a simple setup option.
Homeowners can be jailed when trespassers drown in their pool, because the pool falls under the heading of, "Attractive Nuisance." It thus falls to the homeowner to properly secure access to the pool, or risk getting sued when some vagrant wanders in and gets hurt.
I can see this concept being extended to the Internet: By placing an unsecured box on the network, you have introduced an Attractive Nuisance, and it can be argued that the machine's owner bear responsibility for collateral damage.
Trouble is, can the machine's owner really be held responsible for such consequences when the OS vendor willfully misrepresented the concordant hazards and responsibilities of placing their product on the open Internet?
This very same story was posted to Kuro5hin's queue about a week ago -- right down to the ridiculous "social networking has evolved" meme -- and voted down as a blatant advertising plug. Below is a copy of my post to the topic while it was still in the voting queue; it's still appropriate today:
From Huminity's site:
Contacts are notified by a one-time e-mail notification about their inclusion in the Huminity network. We see it as our obligation to notify contacts of their inclusion in the network and allow them at their own will to be delisted. Though this item is sometimes considered wrongly as SPAM by users and contacts, we think that it would be inconceivable NOT to notify contacts about their inclusion, even by their friends.
"It's inconceivable to us that people wouldn't want to know about our valuable service!" How very self-serving. Couple this with the fact that:
You have to download a custom application whose behavior and security implications are unknown, and,
You must provide contact data for five people before you're allowed to browse the network.
And you begin to see why I'm seriously disinterested in trying it out.
When evaluating services like this, I want to see who's already there. I want to do this without calling attention to myself or anyone else. If I like what I see, then I'll participate further -- fill out a profile, hook up to already-registered friends, tell other people about it, etc. Forcing me to offer up five contacts as tribute violates this principle.
Friendster gets this part right: You can participate as much or as little as you want, and Friendster contacts your unregistered friends only when you explicitly direct it to. In this respect, Friendster operates as a service, whereas Huminity has the patina of yet another email harvesting operation, in the same light as those someone-has-a-crush-on-you sites.
I have a feeling that the makers of these cameras will start to spin how the computer community is to blame for hacking every consumer product and making it do things that the manufacturer never intended. They can say stuff like "We can't make any good products because when we do, someone finds a way to hack and ruin it!"
Pardon my French, but that's just tough shit for them.
Invention and innovation (the real kind, not the Microsoft kind) is the American Way -- one of the cornerstones of America's economic and cultural success over the past century. People poking around with stuff and wondering, "What else can I do with this?" is an activity that has been encouraged, and no one has yet presented a compelling reason why that should change.
There is no reason why a digital device should be treated any different from any other device. If you find a way to take apart a Maytag washer and turn it into a industrial-sized salad shooter, that's inventive and imaginative -- a good thing -- and Maytag has no basis for complaint, even if they sell their own salad shooter.
Computer hardware and software companies don't get to unilaterally re-write the rules of the retail marketplace. If you sell something in the open market, it will be used for purposes you didn't intend, and you're a complete moron if you expect otherwise.
No, the copyrighted work being "violated" here is the camera firmware.
Lawyers will argue that, in order to use the copyrighted firmware in the camera, you must be licensed to do so. (This is false, but that hasn't stopped them so far.) Thus, by cracking open the camera and pulling the data out, you have made use of the camera firmware in an unlicensed manner. This constitutes copyright infringement.
Also, since the protection racket... er, mechanism in place to keep you from yanking the photos out is probably also the same mechanism that protects the firmware itself. Thus, by circumventing the method that "protects" your photos, you have also circumvented the method that protects the firmware. This is illegal under the DMCA.
Note that it is in no way whatsoever immoral, unethical, harmful, or wrong. It's merely illegal.
Call me weird ("You're weird!") but one of the things I was most looking forward to was the confrontation between Gandalf and Saruman at Isengard/Orthanc. It's here where Saruman is shown just how badly he underestimated Gandalf. Gandalf reveals himself to now be Gandalf The White, shatters Saruman's staff, and sends him away. A subdued but fitting retribution for Saruman's misdeeds. I thought it was a great scene in the book.
Also, this is the scene where Merry/Pippin get hold of the Palantir (Wormtongue throws it at them). If that's not going to happen, then there's a whole bunch of resulting stuff that's going to get dropped.
This is as silly as if Microsoft sued everyone with TCP/IP since their copy of the standard etc/hosts file differs from it's *nix predecessors by only the Microsoft copyright statement.
The campaign reveals just how much extra cash Microsoft has lying around and is willing to put up to make the buying public think it gives two shits about security.
I know how much cash Micros~1 has on hand, and what they did to the industry, their competitors, and their customers to get it. Before I would even think about lifting a finger to help that company, they would have to increase their bounty by at least two orders of magnitude, minimum.
Yes, but the game can't legally be used on a PS2 without Sony's approval, [... ]
This is fiction. No manufacturer can restrict you from using third-party add-ons, including those not "approved" by the manufacturer. They try to throw roadblocks in your way, by attempting to require the use of certain patented techniques or copyrighted code sequences, but these can almost always be gotten around. Moreover, this issue has been fought in court with large players, with the result being that manufacturers can't use copyright to prevent the independent development of compatible software. If you can get the code in there and get it to run (and you didn't steal any trade secrets to do it), you're fine.
Just as you can put any compatible gas you want in your car, just as you can put any compatible soap you want in your clothes washer, so also you have every right to load whatever software you want on your PS2 and, at the end of the day, Sony doesn't get to say anything about it. Period.
Is the New Business Model Guaranteed to Reap Massive Profits From The Internet one where you sell the hardware at a loss (Nintendo, PS2, 3DO, etc.), then make it up by charging a premium for the software?
I wish these Captains Of Industry would make up their minds on how to best fleece the public; it's getting troublesome keeping track.
The point is that geeks are to blame for this. The marketroids may come up with some stupid ideas, but who actually implements them?
Let me explain what might have happened at Belkin:
Middle Manager: "Hey, Geek-boy. Marketing have come up with a new feature they want in the wireless router."
SWEng: [reading Powerpoint slides] "An ad every eight hours? That's not what a router is for!"
Middle Manager: "I admit it's unusual, but Marketing really wants this, and legal says there's nothing in the law that prevents us from doing this."
SWEng: "You can't be serious. It's an affront to civilized behavior! It's a very bad idea."
Middle Manager: "Do it or you're fired."
At this point, the room becomes very quiet. The engineer thinks very carefully about this ultimatum. The economy is in a shambles, especially the tech sector. There is no shortage of people who would take his job in an instant. And he has a new wife with a child on the way.
Assuming the above scenario, and assuming the engineer capitulated, he has perhaps unwittingly caused the loss of his own job, anyway, once the full force of market backlash hits Belkin's revenue.
I agree that techs should stand up for what they see as ethical behavior, and refuse to perform work that violates it. But not all of them have the same degree of flexibility in enforcing their sense of ethics.
It's not a router but, as I'm an avid gamer, I bought one of these a while back. Belkin has now firmly established that it won't provide trustworthy firmware/driver software, not just for their routers, but for any product.
Even though I don't use the Belkin Speedpad anymore (I've since migrated to this), I'll be yanking it out of my machine when I get home tonight.
So, instead of turning on the FM radio and listening to pre-programmed top-40 tripe, now you can turn on your copy-protection-riddled Napster app and listen to pre-programmed top-40 tripe?
The only real difference I can see here is that the radio is "free", whereas the Napster deal costs the school money.
I regret to say that I must agree with you: This case is going to be a tough one for the EFF.
The primary problem is that past court cases have already "settled" the question of public interest vs. copyright. Sadly, the courts decided that copyright trumps compelling public interest, and that copyright holders can silence any critics who attempt to use their own words against them in the theater of public debate. These decisions were sought and obtained by the Scientology cult.
Not long after the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer came out, we started designing the next-generation platform. The machine was to be PowerPC-based with true 3D rendering capabilities (triangle engine, MIP-mapping, perspective-correct textures, 32-bit rendering, etc.).
The CPU was supplied by IBM. What we ended up with was the PowerPC 602, which was essentially a 603 (?) with a smaller cache and single-precision floating point operations that executed in a single cycle, which were essential for 3D gaming. The part ran at 66MHz.
It was a really nice machine. Sadly, it essentially died on the vine, as Matsushita chose not to exploit its gaming potential, relegating it instead to "kiosk" activities.
IBM also manufactured the triangle engine. It was a five layer chip -- at that time, a rather sophisticated process -- occupying 144 square millimetres.
Slashdot Mirror
Without a Web server, perhaps, but it's still a server. Except, instead of writing <A HREF="http://foobar.org/"> you'd probably write <A HREF="dcom://0923787821-02773-398216756512/wxProce ssDeleteApp"> or some such rot.
If true, it sounds like you can basically get Windows to do anything if you cobble up the right URL and send it to the RPC port that's normally used for HTAs. Sounds like a new opportunity for viruses to me...
However, I don't know jack about Windoze programming or HTAs, so this is entirely speculation on my part.
Schwab
That would be a disgrace to the title/rank of Darth. One is awarded the rank of Darth only when one has indisputably distinguished oneself as a master not only of the Force, but also of political and social intrigue, and can wield them all with devastating results.
Darl, on the other hand, is a green Stormtrooper with delusions of grandeur who, like all Stormtroopers, couldn't hit anything even if he knew what to aim for. He is a noisy distraction; a tool of the Darths, never to be one himself.
Schwab
The stupidest management/leadership advice book ever: Make It So, by Wess Roberts and Bill Ross.
And I say this as a Trek fan.
Schwab
Assuming I'm reading the press release correctly, it looks as if Micros~1 has finally admitted that DirectPlay was a complete and utter disaster, never worked right, and never was going to work right.
...So expect GameSpy 3D to get renamed DirectPlay 2,0 and get released in Longhorn.
Schwab
Do you have any idea the sort of environmental impact spraying around that much rayon, gabardine, and Brylcream would have? The EPA would be all over you like a rash...
Schwab
"Hot stuff can burn you." Duh. However, there are three things to keep in mind about the infamous McDonald's coffee lawsuit:
It was principally those factors that led the jury to find against McDonald's. McDonald's now serves their coffee at a cooler temperature.
Schwab
The tactic employed is probably the same as employed by the BSA/SIAA. They sent you a notice of suspected infringement, then sit down to "negotiate" with you:
Given that you're a CEO of a company whose first responsibility is to shareholders, which choice would you make?
Schwab
GNUCash's back-end is configurable. By default, it stores to its own XML file format, but it can also be set up to talk to an SQL database. I believe this configuration needs to be done at compile time; it's not a simple setup option.
Schwab
Homeowners can be jailed when trespassers drown in their pool, because the pool falls under the heading of, "Attractive Nuisance." It thus falls to the homeowner to properly secure access to the pool, or risk getting sued when some vagrant wanders in and gets hurt.
I can see this concept being extended to the Internet: By placing an unsecured box on the network, you have introduced an Attractive Nuisance, and it can be argued that the machine's owner bear responsibility for collateral damage.
Trouble is, can the machine's owner really be held responsible for such consequences when the OS vendor willfully misrepresented the concordant hazards and responsibilities of placing their product on the open Internet?
Schwab
This very same story was posted to Kuro5hin's queue about a week ago -- right down to the ridiculous "social networking has evolved" meme -- and voted down as a blatant advertising plug. Below is a copy of my post to the topic while it was still in the voting queue; it's still appropriate today:
Schwab
Do you sign a rental agreement? Is there any paperwork in evidence to suggest that the transaction is anything other than a normal retail sale?
No? Then it's not stealing. It using your lawfully purchased property in the manner you see fit.
Schwab
Pardon my French, but that's just tough shit for them.
Invention and innovation (the real kind, not the Microsoft kind) is the American Way -- one of the cornerstones of America's economic and cultural success over the past century. People poking around with stuff and wondering, "What else can I do with this?" is an activity that has been encouraged, and no one has yet presented a compelling reason why that should change.
There is no reason why a digital device should be treated any different from any other device. If you find a way to take apart a Maytag washer and turn it into a industrial-sized salad shooter, that's inventive and imaginative -- a good thing -- and Maytag has no basis for complaint, even if they sell their own salad shooter.
Computer hardware and software companies don't get to unilaterally re-write the rules of the retail marketplace. If you sell something in the open market, it will be used for purposes you didn't intend, and you're a complete moron if you expect otherwise.
Schwab
No, the copyrighted work being "violated" here is the camera firmware.
Lawyers will argue that, in order to use the copyrighted firmware in the camera, you must be licensed to do so. (This is false, but that hasn't stopped them so far.) Thus, by cracking open the camera and pulling the data out, you have made use of the camera firmware in an unlicensed manner. This constitutes copyright infringement.
Also, since the protection racket... er, mechanism in place to keep you from yanking the photos out is probably also the same mechanism that protects the firmware itself. Thus, by circumventing the method that "protects" your photos, you have also circumvented the method that protects the firmware. This is illegal under the DMCA.
Note that it is in no way whatsoever immoral, unethical, harmful, or wrong. It's merely illegal.
Schwab
Call me weird ("You're weird!") but one of the things I was most looking forward to was the confrontation between Gandalf and Saruman at Isengard/Orthanc. It's here where Saruman is shown just how badly he underestimated Gandalf. Gandalf reveals himself to now be Gandalf The White, shatters Saruman's staff, and sends him away. A subdued but fitting retribution for Saruman's misdeeds. I thought it was a great scene in the book.
Also, this is the scene where Merry/Pippin get hold of the Palantir (Wormtongue throws it at them). If that's not going to happen, then there's a whole bunch of resulting stuff that's going to get dropped.
Drat...
Schwab
Don't forget the newline format...
Schwab
I know how much cash Micros~1 has on hand, and what they did to the industry, their competitors, and their customers to get it. Before I would even think about lifting a finger to help that company, they would have to increase their bounty by at least two orders of magnitude, minimum.
Schwab
This is fiction. No manufacturer can restrict you from using third-party add-ons, including those not "approved" by the manufacturer. They try to throw roadblocks in your way, by attempting to require the use of certain patented techniques or copyrighted code sequences, but these can almost always be gotten around. Moreover, this issue has been fought in court with large players, with the result being that manufacturers can't use copyright to prevent the independent development of compatible software. If you can get the code in there and get it to run (and you didn't steal any trade secrets to do it), you're fine.
Just as you can put any compatible gas you want in your car, just as you can put any compatible soap you want in your clothes washer, so also you have every right to load whatever software you want on your PS2 and, at the end of the day, Sony doesn't get to say anything about it. Period.
Schwab
Yeah, and all Sony are is a middleman, stamping, "Approved by Sony," on the PS2 discs.
Schwab
Is the New Business Model Guaranteed to Reap Massive Profits From The Internet one where you sell the hardware at a loss (Nintendo, PS2, 3DO, etc.), then make it up by charging a premium for the software?
I wish these Captains Of Industry would make up their minds on how to best fleece the public; it's getting troublesome keeping track.
Schwab
Let me explain what might have happened at Belkin:
Middle Manager: "Hey, Geek-boy. Marketing have come up with a new feature they want in the wireless router."
SWEng: [reading Powerpoint slides] "An ad every eight hours? That's not what a router is for!"
Middle Manager: "I admit it's unusual, but Marketing really wants this, and legal says there's nothing in the law that prevents us from doing this."
SWEng: "You can't be serious. It's an affront to civilized behavior! It's a very bad idea."
Middle Manager: "Do it or you're fired."
At this point, the room becomes very quiet. The engineer thinks very carefully about this ultimatum. The economy is in a shambles, especially the tech sector. There is no shortage of people who would take his job in an instant. And he has a new wife with a child on the way.
Assuming the above scenario, and assuming the engineer capitulated, he has perhaps unwittingly caused the loss of his own job, anyway, once the full force of market backlash hits Belkin's revenue.
I agree that techs should stand up for what they see as ethical behavior, and refuse to perform work that violates it. But not all of them have the same degree of flexibility in enforcing their sense of ethics.
Schwab
It's not a router but, as I'm an avid gamer, I bought one of these a while back. Belkin has now firmly established that it won't provide trustworthy firmware/driver software, not just for their routers, but for any product.
Even though I don't use the Belkin Speedpad anymore (I've since migrated to this), I'll be yanking it out of my machine when I get home tonight.
Absolutely inexcusable.
Schwab
So, instead of turning on the FM radio and listening to pre-programmed top-40 tripe, now you can turn on your copy-protection-riddled Napster app and listen to pre-programmed top-40 tripe?
The only real difference I can see here is that the radio is "free", whereas the Napster deal costs the school money.
Schwab
In a curmudgeonly mood today.
I regret to say that I must agree with you: This case is going to be a tough one for the EFF.
The primary problem is that past court cases have already "settled" the question of public interest vs. copyright. Sadly, the courts decided that copyright trumps compelling public interest, and that copyright holders can silence any critics who attempt to use their own words against them in the theater of public debate. These decisions were sought and obtained by the Scientology cult.
Schwab
Not long after the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer came out, we started designing the next-generation platform. The machine was to be PowerPC-based with true 3D rendering capabilities (triangle engine, MIP-mapping, perspective-correct textures, 32-bit rendering, etc.).
The CPU was supplied by IBM. What we ended up with was the PowerPC 602, which was essentially a 603 (?) with a smaller cache and single-precision floating point operations that executed in a single cycle, which were essential for 3D gaming. The part ran at 66MHz.
It was a really nice machine. Sadly, it essentially died on the vine, as Matsushita chose not to exploit its gaming potential, relegating it instead to "kiosk" activities.
IBM also manufactured the triangle engine. It was a five layer chip -- at that time, a rather sophisticated process -- occupying 144 square millimetres.
Schwab
A little of both.
...Though I don't own the TNG manual, just the TOS manual and the Franz Joseph blueprints.
Schwab