"How long until we are required to show chain of custody documetns & receipts for every single object we own"
Right. A worrying trend, especially in software. "That software isn't yours unless you can prove it is" as Microsoft is so fond of telling schools in retaliation against the states which are suing them.
Actually, it is. Someone wants to stop me using software, they first have to prove that I have no right to use it. Innocent until proven guilty and all that. And don't forget you can't search without reasonable suspicion (unless you signed a microsoft licence, and how do you tell that without making a search?)
"Windows Only + No source + one guy = Killable by RIAA. I'm not impressed."
Works on the most popular operating system for music-lovers. Works on the same operating system as kazaa, audiogalaxy, morpheus, limewire, napster, and almost all of the IM software.
Full source, licensed under the GNU/GPL
One guy, the same way GCC and EMACS was written by one guy. In fact, the same as most of the best software is written by one person, and all the dross is written by huge teams.
Killable by RIAA to the same extent that any other GPL-licensed server application is killable by the RIAA, i.e. not at all
And to top it all off, a great idea which looks to be immensely popular, and is applealing to a huge fanbase, if stats for kazaa installs are anything to go by.
I'll be linking to this, and it won't surprise me to see it installed on every student's computer within a few months (or the start of term, rather.)
"Sounds like you've had a NASTY installation experience... Seriously I would suggest you try again with another distro (Mandrake)"
Okay, I'll put in a reply to this thread (despite flaming from the zealot who suggests that I'm not qualified to use linux because Debian doesn't work out-of-the-box, and I don't know enough about XFree86-config options to get X working... try explaining explaining to your grandparents how to edit XConfig, pr0t3uS, before you suggest that gnu/linux is 'ready for the desktop')
Bluntly as possible, I am using mandrake, and X didn't work on that either... after lots of emails with mandrake support, they told me how to fix it, and it worked. But I'm going to have to give this CD-set to the PC shop building my sister's PC in a month or so, and do we want their first experience of the legendary stable operating system to be "X is respawning too fast and has been killed"?
As to the dependancies: try installing evolution 1 on a standard Mandrake-8.1 install. about 7 dependancies, each of which has average 8 dependancies of its own, recursively. After filling/home/downloads with tens of packages (at considerable connection time on a modem), I was still no closer to getting the latest version of everything.
A week ago, I decided that I wanted (a) completely free software, (b) the latest versions of everything, (c) apt-get, so solve dependancy hell. So I got Debian-woody for £13 and tried that.
Right. So with the latest version of the most stable operating system which is ready for desktop users, windows refugees, and grandparents, how did Debian fare?
How about X didn't start, X didn't configure (none of the screens were suitable, apparently), the X-configure program (a) didn't work, and (b) crashed the computer, my mouse was never detected, so I had to use a keyboard on the graphical X-config, Debian could't read the windows partition where I store all my files, Debian deleted, or did not install, Lilo, so I had to start it from a boot floppy-disk, and my system crashed whenever I tried to boot from the hard-disk.
Remember, this was a default install of a very stable operating system.
By comparaison, I've just reinstalled the Windows98 partition: I put the CD in, selected my locale, had a bath, and when I got back it was working perfectly, complete with all my old files, device-drivers, and settings.
As the head-up-ass pr0t3uS says, it's all my fault, being a "windoze user", everyone is "... right to blame YOU" when things like this happen. After all, linux is ready for the desktop
"i'm waiting for someone to do a dns hijack of update.microsost.com"
Damn right. Ideally one which remotely installs linux whenever someone connects for an update.
But seriously, there must be better ways of pushing such updates. Even appreciating that hijacking the domain-name is more difficult still (and will have limited effect), then anyone who owns an ISP, cache, or internet backbone can force their own upgrades on microsoft customers, simply by repsonding to packets intended for microsoft.
Perhaps the great firewall of China could at last be used to effect;-) (think about the effects of that one, for anyone running windows in china)
You also need to find out how to deal with 300 broken dependancies for each bit of software you try to install, and how to edit XFree86-config before you can even install the damn thing.
Oh, and if linux breaks after you install it for someone, it's all your fault, and they'll bitch forever about how crap linux is. When windows breaks they just reboot and carry on.
"Perhaps that is why this is news? eg. Man bites Dog, MS Fixes Security Flaw in Time?"
Right. And the kind of people to buy Tiny/PcWorld PCs know all about the Media Player vulnerabilities, and they all visit microsoft daily for patches, right? And what about all your friends. Did they patch windows again last night? Or are they still vulnerable to the gopher bugs of a month ago?
People who run apache generally know a fair bit about security. People who run MediaPlayer and Internet Explorer don't (by definition) so what excuse is it to say that microsoft "released a patch"???
"AdSubtract kills ALL advertisements (even the annoying flying ones. -- How much is your sanity worth?"
Somehow, I don't think my sanity will be helped by running Windows so that I can get AdSubtract working!
Besides, windows browsers suck!
Re:how to avoid getting on The Map
on
Mapping the Spam
·
· Score: 2, Informative
If a spammer's just using your email in the "From" field of an email, there's not much you can do to technically stop them. There are great laws against it (forgery, fraud, misrepresentation, etc.) if you can find out who they are (try to get an IP address, then ask the police for help finding whose it is) but more often than not, you'll get nowhere.
See the linux.org's site for a description of their similar problem (people using *@linux.org as a From address, and people complaining to linux)
If people really do think emails are from you, get into a habit of PGP-signing emails. Let people know that if it's not signed, it's not from you.
Perhaps you might also find a way to autoreply to the people who vent off at you about how evil spammers are. If you get an email with "Re: (your standard spam regexp filter here)", delete it and reply with an explanation. Kmail is good at this, and The Bat on windows (30-day trial) is even better.
So, sign emails. Pity there's not more that you can do.
Do you (or does anybody) know how to filter out flash adverts in mozilla? Even if you block animations, more and more sites are just displaying the annoyance as a Flash script.
Presumably they are trying to dispute the "Clock speed is the only measure of computer performance worth quoting" claim that Intel keep bashing on about.
If AMD at low clock frequency plays chess faster than pentium at high clock frequency, that would be interesting. However, both are beaten by the human brain with a 10Hz clock frequency.
Re:I know, it's a feature.
on
Pet Bugs?
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Pet bug? Try sending an ASCII-zero '\0' to the serial port using MS Visual C++
Yes, it needs a string. Yes, zero is the end of the string. No, you can't send arbitary files to the serial port. Duh!
ceil() or ceiling() round up towards positive infinity
floor() round down towards negative infinity
int() or parseInt() rounds 'down' towards zero
round() 'rounds off' towards the nearest integer, or if there is no nearest integer ( x%1 = 0.5), then towards positive infinity. (i.e. 3.5 rounds to 4, whereas -3.5 rounds to -3)
Hence it's not weighted, as you'll see from a graph of x against round(x) from -10 to 10
"If your boss sends you a Word Doc that you can't open, what can you do? Use Windows."
And if your boss sends you a Gnumeric document???
I can't believe that MsOffice has even a hope of surviving the next few years. Why would people pay for it, when you can get better software for less money?
Last time my supervisor sent out a.doc attachment to his 40 students, I (with AbiWord) was one of the few people who could read it. Go figure.
"In both cases, your intent is to disrupt the service."
...which is illegal, and if their disruption reaches Britain, the perpetrators ("copyright holders") can be jailed, see the computer misuse act for details.
"What's wrong with taking everyone's good ideas and implementing them into one product?"
Because that would require a public domain, and recent copyright laws have destroyed the public domain. It's a great idea, but let the protectionists reap what they sow. They can have infinite copyright, or innovation, but not both.
Slashdot Mirror
"How long until we are required to show chain of custody documetns & receipts for every single object we own"
Right. A worrying trend, especially in software. "That software isn't yours unless you can prove it is" as Microsoft is so fond of telling schools in retaliation against the states which are suing them.
Actually, it is. Someone wants to stop me using software, they first have to prove that I have no right to use it. Innocent until proven guilty and all that. And don't forget you can't search without reasonable suspicion (unless you signed a microsoft licence, and how do you tell that without making a search?)
"Windows Only + No source + one guy = Killable by RIAA. I'm not impressed."
Works on the most popular operating system for music-lovers. Works on the same operating system as kazaa, audiogalaxy, morpheus, limewire, napster, and almost all of the IM software.
Full source, licensed under the GNU/GPL
One guy, the same way GCC and EMACS was written by one guy. In fact, the same as most of the best software is written by one person, and all the dross is written by huge teams.
Killable by RIAA to the same extent that any other GPL-licensed server application is killable by the RIAA, i.e. not at all
And to top it all off, a great idea which looks to be immensely popular, and is applealing to a huge fanbase, if stats for kazaa installs are anything to go by.
I'll be linking to this, and it won't surprise me to see it installed on every student's computer within a few months (or the start of term, rather.)
Well done to the guy. Freenet for music.
"Sounds like you've had a NASTY installation experience... Seriously I would suggest you try again with another distro (Mandrake)"
/home/downloads with tens of packages (at considerable connection time on a modem), I was still no closer to getting the latest version of everything.
Okay, I'll put in a reply to this thread (despite flaming from the zealot who suggests that I'm not qualified to use linux because Debian doesn't work out-of-the-box, and I don't know enough about XFree86-config options to get X working... try explaining explaining to your grandparents how to edit XConfig, pr0t3uS, before you suggest that gnu/linux is 'ready for the desktop')
Bluntly as possible, I am using mandrake, and X didn't work on that either... after lots of emails with mandrake support, they told me how to fix it, and it worked. But I'm going to have to give this CD-set to the PC shop building my sister's PC in a month or so, and do we want their first experience of the legendary stable operating system to be "X is respawning too fast and has been killed"?
As to the dependancies: try installing evolution 1 on a standard Mandrake-8.1 install. about 7 dependancies, each of which has average 8 dependancies of its own, recursively. After filling
A week ago, I decided that I wanted (a) completely free software, (b) the latest versions of everything, (c) apt-get, so solve dependancy hell. So I got Debian-woody for £13 and tried that.
Right. So with the latest version of the most stable operating system which is ready for desktop users, windows refugees, and grandparents, how did Debian fare?
How about
X didn't start,
X didn't configure (none of the screens were suitable, apparently),
the X-configure program (a) didn't work, and (b) crashed the computer,
my mouse was never detected, so I had to use a keyboard on the graphical X-config,
Debian could't read the windows partition where I store all my files,
Debian deleted, or did not install, Lilo, so I had to start it from a boot floppy-disk, and
my system crashed whenever I tried to boot from the hard-disk.
Remember, this was a default install of a very stable operating system.
By comparaison, I've just reinstalled the Windows98 partition: I put the CD in, selected my locale, had a bath, and when I got back it was working perfectly, complete with all my old files, device-drivers, and settings.
As the head-up-ass pr0t3uS says, it's all my fault, being a "windoze user", everyone is "... right to blame YOU" when things like this happen. After all, linux is ready for the desktop
Yeah right. Debian isn't.
People don't normally translate trademarks, as it would square the number of trademark registrations you need if you do business in lots of countries.
"I think I make my point."
Yes. Admirably. Nurse! Get the straitjacket!
"i'm waiting for someone to do a dns hijack of update.microsost.com"
;-) (think about the effects of that one, for anyone running windows in china)
Damn right. Ideally one which remotely installs linux whenever someone connects for an update.
But seriously, there must be better ways of pushing such updates. Even appreciating that hijacking the domain-name is more difficult still (and will have limited effect), then anyone who owns an ISP, cache, or internet backbone can force their own upgrades on microsoft customers, simply by repsonding to packets intended for microsoft.
Perhaps the great firewall of China could at last be used to effect
"Linux ... you just have to get over being lazy"
You also need to find out how to deal with 300 broken dependancies for each bit of software you try to install, and how to edit XFree86-config before you can even install the damn thing.
Oh, and if linux breaks after you install it for someone, it's all your fault, and they'll bitch forever about how crap linux is. When windows breaks they just reboot and carry on.
"Perhaps that is why this is news? eg. Man bites Dog, MS Fixes Security Flaw in Time?"
Right. And the kind of people to buy Tiny/PcWorld PCs know all about the Media Player vulnerabilities, and they all visit microsoft daily for patches, right? And what about all your friends. Did they patch windows again last night? Or are they still vulnerable to the gopher bugs of a month ago?
People who run apache generally know a fair bit about security. People who run MediaPlayer and Internet Explorer don't (by definition) so what excuse is it to say that microsoft "released a patch"???
"AdSubtract kills ALL advertisements (even the annoying flying ones. -- How much is your sanity worth?"
Somehow, I don't think my sanity will be helped by running Windows so that I can get AdSubtract working!
Besides, windows browsers suck!
If a spammer's just using your email in the "From" field of an email, there's not much you can do to technically stop them. There are great laws against it (forgery, fraud, misrepresentation, etc.) if you can find out who they are (try to get an IP address, then ask the police for help finding whose it is) but more often than not, you'll get nowhere.
See the linux.org's site for a description of their similar problem (people using *@linux.org as a From address, and people complaining to linux)
If people really do think emails are from you, get into a habit of PGP-signing emails. Let people know that if it's not signed, it's not from you.
Perhaps you might also find a way to autoreply to the people who vent off at you about how evil spammers are. If you get an email with "Re: (your standard spam regexp filter here)", delete it and reply with an explanation. Kmail is good at this, and The Bat on windows (30-day trial) is even better.
So, sign emails. Pity there's not more that you can do.
Do you (or does anybody) know how to filter out flash adverts in mozilla? Even if you block animations, more and more sites are just displaying the annoyance as a Flash script.
Cheers
Presumably they are trying to dispute the "Clock speed is the only measure of computer performance worth quoting" claim that Intel keep bashing on about.
If AMD at low clock frequency plays chess faster than pentium at high clock frequency, that would be interesting. However, both are beaten by the human brain with a 10Hz clock frequency.
Pet bug? Try sending an ASCII-zero '\0' to the serial port using MS Visual C++
Yes, it needs a string. Yes, zero is the end of the string. No, you can't send arbitary files to the serial port. Duh!
ceil() or ceiling() round up towards positive infinity
floor() round down towards negative infinity
int() or parseInt() rounds 'down' towards zero
round() 'rounds off' towards the nearest integer, or if there is no nearest integer ( x%1 = 0.5), then towards positive infinity. (i.e. 3.5 rounds to 4, whereas -3.5 rounds to -3)
Hence it's not weighted, as you'll see from a graph of x against round(x) from -10 to 10
"If your boss sends you a Word Doc that you can't open, what can you do? Use Windows."
.doc attachment to his 40 students, I (with AbiWord) was one of the few people who could read it. Go figure.
And if your boss sends you a Gnumeric document???
I can't believe that MsOffice has even a hope of surviving the next few years. Why would people pay for it, when you can get better software for less money?
Last time my supervisor sent out a
http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Stonewall/3 731/evans.htm
"In The Minority Report..."
The UK already tried to imprison people 'likely to commit a crime' -- based on histories of violent behaviour, mental illness, etc.
So don't assume a democratic society isn't capable of doing such things. Eternal vigilance and all that...
"Simple solution. Totally black list any riaa sites from the rest of the net."
Yeah! Let's do this anyway. Nevermind about the P2P issues, let's see how they cope with a realtime blacklist on their emails.
"In both cases, your intent is to disrupt the service."
...which is illegal, and if their disruption reaches Britain, the perpetrators ("copyright holders") can be jailed, see the computer misuse act for details.
Gandalf does die, that's why he comes back as the white. It's all based on nordic/gaelic mythology, so look up the legends there.
"0.01% of 1,000,000 views is still 10,000 customers"
Right, and in related news 1 = 1000, and war is peace.
Almost makes me want a wireless network just to get the cool rune...
Anyone know what the 1.5 is? Signal strength? Channel number?
"Really, if my computer could figure out that I don't need to MAKE MONEY FAST, that might be worth something!"
Does not the 0.01% response rate to such adverts make it clear enough?
"I would suspect that the Open-Source troops can beat 2005 for something similiar... "
Okay, let's open the challenge for real innovation then:
What will we, the free software community, have available prior to 2005, which is better (for us as well as business) than microsoft's alternative?
Or do we still rely on OpenBSD?
"What's wrong with taking everyone's good ideas and implementing them into one product?"
Because that would require a public domain, and recent copyright laws have destroyed the public domain. It's a great idea, but let the protectionists reap what they sow. They can have infinite copyright, or innovation, but not both.