The MR814 (the one that everybody's had rebates on for the past few months) pretty much just uses the time to stamp it's blocked site logs (When the kids tried to access sex.com), and when to lift the restrictions on blocked site (it's 5AM, now Daddy can get to sex.com). I think it can also queue up the block logs, and email them to you at specified times (Dad can check if the kids have been checking sex.com while he's on his lunchbreak at work).
Nothing fancy, like providing an NTP server to clients. You're pretty much dead on with the "cute features" guess.
Netgear mentioned this problem over two months ago, though. I've got an MR814 (otherwise, a great wireless router for home users) and saw a notice about this in late June. They basically said they'd screwed up, and had been hammering public NTP servers. Users strongly adivised to upgrade. Fixed MR814 firmware would be available in early July.... late July... August
Ever since the initial announcement, I've been checking Netgear's support site for the MR814 about once a week. The release date on the firmware is the 20th, two days ago. They've known about this for two months (probably a lot longer; they just publically admited it two months ago). It seems to me that if they'd hardcoded an NTP server, it would take about an hour to set up their own NTP server and change the one dinky string in the firmware, and upload it. Granted, their NTP server would then be getting hammered, but they're also the ones who pulled the boner.
It's good they've (finally) got the fixed firmware up, but it seems like they could have handled this much faster, at least in a temporary manner.
If they DO manage to find a judge that dumb, you've pretty much spelled the end of the software industry in general. If one company can take someone else's code, get sued for it, and come out with ownership and damages to boot, the entire view of software ownership would get turned on it's ass.
Even if they did find a judge that stupid, I have a feeling that there would be appeals out the wazoo until they got someone that knew one end from the other. A ruling like that wouldn't be taken lightly by the community, IBM or anyone with a vested intrest in the linux codebase.
If they truely belived their own FUD they'd sue the companies that manufacture this equipment
From what I understand, they already have. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that's how they got the lists of clients who purchased the smartcard readers.
The company either lost the suit or settled, one of the provisions being to provide DirecTV the customer lists.
In older contracts, Microsoft agreed to pay all legal fees for volume license customers who got sued because of Microsoft, but only up to the value of the software they bought.
Under the new provision, which took effect March 1, Microsoft removed the liability cap in intellectual property suits...
I think the article makes it pretty clear that Microsoft USED to only pay up to the full price of the software. They key change is that they will now pay over that.
No, that's what would have happened under the old system. Under the new system (the point of the article), they've removed that purchase price cap, so you can blab to the lawyer for however long.
It doesn't sound like SCO is planning on distributing the kernel code, just licensing it. Yeah, it's silly, but it could free them from a lot of legal problems. If they don't distribute the binary, they don't have to distribute the source.
If you roll your own kernel from the commonly available source, SCO says you're violating it's IP UNLESS you pay them this licensing fee. They're not supplying the kernel at all. Sounds a lot like me making a batch of fried chicken and KFC knocking down my door saying I need to pay up before dinner time.
Once again, I have no proof that this is what SCO has in mind, but I haven't heard them explicitly mentioning distributing thier own kernel yet. SCO seems to be concentating more on using the kernel, rather than distributing it. It makes sense from the standpoint of a comercial company selling propriatart software.
My guess is that yes, they'd go for whoever has their name on the ISP's bill. That person is the official contact point, and if you're supplying network access to your roomates, you're responsable for making sure they uphold whatever laws or contracts go along with said access.
When you signed up for the DSL connection, you agreed to their terms of service. Just because you're sharing that connection out doesn't mean you're exempt. I know it's a shitty way of looking at things, but the DSL company is gunna want somebody's ass, and saying "well, it could have been any one of us" isn't going to make is go away.
Actually, the DSL company would probably start by kicking your ass for sharing it out, anyway. I know around here, at least, most of the TOS contracts forbid stuff like that unless you pay ANOTHER surcharge...
The sad thing is, Microsoft's Shared Source inititive seems even crazier than that.
"we'll give you some of the source code... but you can't actually compile it, and if you make any changes, send them to us so we can sue you"
It seems like there's a higher compatability with earlier models. Most of the Palms listed as working on the proget's site use DragonballEZ processors (IIIx and later) although they do mention a modified Palm Pro (Dragonball processor) working. If nothing else, you should be able to slap a Palm Pro or Palm III upgrade card in and give it a whirl. It's not exactly standard hardware, but I'm sure the project would apreciate some feedback on if it works.
Once the RIAA settled, they reliquished all rights to sue him. Part of the contract was that RIAA agreed the kid never did anything wrong, so they're bound to this decision unless he violated the contract.
Bottom line: they can't sue him again.
I have to admit that as a student, the practicality of carying around a laptop causes it to pale compared to carrying a PDA (or nothing at all). I don't know about everyone else, but when I have to walk for 20 minutes to get to my first class, a laptop gets HEAVY. Granted, my Toshiba Satellite is pretty chunky compared to most newer, miniturized laptops, but either way it's a lot more cumbersome than my Sharp Zaurus.
On my girlfriend's campus they've been trying to roll out a program where students buy laptops through the IT department. They've put up a fairly extensive WiFi network, but every time they audit the program (mostly through access point usage) they're finding utilization is way below expectations. They finally asked some of the students why they weren't bringing the laptops to class, going to the library with them, and all the things they expected. Almost every one responded that the laptops were just too heavy to lug around for most of the day, when lab machines available around campus. Integrating technology into schools is great, but it has to be usable first. In this case, portability is the first step toward useability.
I know plenty of places where programs like Mathmatica and Matlab are required course material. At UMD (College Park) Matlab is used for plotting direction fields in Differential Equations as well as evaluating multistep aproximations. I belive Hood College uses Mathmatica for similar purposes. There are a lot of valuble methods out there that just can't be done with any degree of accuracy by hand.
In both cases, these applications are available in the labs, but the convenience of doing it on your own machine (and not having to deal with the %*$#@&$ lab printers) shouldn't be discounted.
It's definitly been an issue with the Netgear wireless router I installed in my dorm room (model MR814) and my 2.4 Ghz phone. While the router is idle, I get a constant soft clicking in the background, not too bad. If I'm on my laptop downloading or doing heavy browsing when someone calls, there's a good bit of static-like interference.
My roomate and I both have the same model of phone (he has the same problem, BTW), so I'm not sure if some brands of phones interface better with some brands of access points or what. Thanks to the heavy concrete walls of the dorm, the signal doesn't go much further than three doors down, though, so nobody complained.
On a different note, doesn't my DVD player necessarily decrypt the data when it displays the picture on the screen? Are all DVD players therefore illegal? Or am I missing something else, too?
I think this is taking things beyond the realm of rationality, if not the law. Encryption without some means of decryption just doesn't make too much sense. Otherwise I could just write some random characters down, and say it the encrypted version of Moby Dick.
Encryption, in this case, is what makes sure you don't get at the raw form of the data. Your DVD player doesn't *break* the encryption, it decrypts. Sure, you can watch your movie, as you are licensed to do, but you are not licensed to modify it in any way, or use it as a portion of your own work. No anime music videos....
It seems fairly analogous to binary applications, in a way. You may be licensed to use the application, but not modify/look at the source code. If you see an application feature in Word, you can't just grab the code for it, even though you and use the feature to your hearts content (or until the OS dies, either way).
I was able to get to it now, at May 12 7:52 EST (or EDT, never really sure when the change occurs). I don't know if the color scheme changed or what, but I seem to be getting a fairly standard white background with black text with Phoenix.5.
And I reload... nope. Must have just rebooted it or something. Well, at least we know it wasn't a hardware failure and that the color scheme changed. I'd take a look at the page source to verify, but now that it's gone....
The most impressive use of AAlib I've seen thusfar is the xine output plugin (included with the xine-ui tarball). It's one hell of an effect that you've got to see to belive. Any video source xine can play, including DVDs and nearly any file format you can get your hands on can be displayed entirely in ASCII.
There's nothing like watching the Kung-Fu scene in the Matrix in pure text. Make sure you stand back a couple feet from the monitor for the full effect, though.
Yeah, I noticed that too. Is there any chance this article is slated to appear in the May issue of Forbes magazine or something, so they post dated it? The article does have _print tacked on the end...
Yeah, if you look at the "Forbes Magazine," section, they seem to indicate the next issue seems to be dated May 12. All the articles linked to from there are post-dated on the 12th.
Well, the big problem with places like Monster, CareerBuilder and any other number of job posting services is that they don't generally carry entry level jobs. If the company has to pay a posting fee, they're not going to bother mentioning entry level jobs when they're already swamped with applications. Job posting services cator to mid-upper experience levels, where they're actually looking for specific skillsets.
Maybe, but who would be determining which users frequent said file-swapping services? Is there going to be a little checkbox when I sign up for a new AOL account that says "Do you wish to depsit $2 a month directly into Hilary Rosen's bank account"?
I have a feeling Joe Sysadmin at Foolink isn't really going to want to add a whole new billing dimension, as well as enforcing P2P restrictions on some clinets but not others, so I can't see most ISPs supporting or enforcing a fee like this for individual users. If the do end up paying this RIAA fee, I have a feeling they're going to blanket up everyone's rates.
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The MR814 (the one that everybody's had rebates on for the past few months) pretty much just uses the time to stamp it's blocked site logs (When the kids tried to access sex.com), and when to lift the restrictions on blocked site (it's 5AM, now Daddy can get to sex.com). I think it can also queue up the block logs, and email them to you at specified times (Dad can check if the kids have been checking sex.com while he's on his lunchbreak at work).
Nothing fancy, like providing an NTP server to clients. You're pretty much dead on with the "cute features" guess.
Netgear mentioned this problem over two months ago, though. I've got an MR814 (otherwise, a great wireless router for home users) and saw a notice about this in late June. They basically said they'd screwed up, and had been hammering public NTP servers. Users strongly adivised to upgrade. Fixed MR814 firmware would be available in early July. ... late July ... August
Ever since the initial announcement, I've been checking Netgear's support site for the MR814 about once a week. The release date on the firmware is the 20th, two days ago. They've known about this for two months (probably a lot longer; they just publically admited it two months ago). It seems to me that if they'd hardcoded an NTP server, it would take about an hour to set up their own NTP server and change the one dinky string in the firmware, and upload it. Granted, their NTP server would then be getting hammered, but they're also the ones who pulled the boner.
It's good they've (finally) got the fixed firmware up, but it seems like they could have handled this much faster, at least in a temporary manner.
If they DO manage to find a judge that dumb, you've pretty much spelled the end of the software industry in general. If one company can take someone else's code, get sued for it, and come out with ownership and damages to boot, the entire view of software ownership would get turned on it's ass. Even if they did find a judge that stupid, I have a feeling that there would be appeals out the wazoo until they got someone that knew one end from the other. A ruling like that wouldn't be taken lightly by the community, IBM or anyone with a vested intrest in the linux codebase.
From what I understand, they already have. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that's how they got the lists of clients who purchased the smartcard readers.
The company either lost the suit or settled, one of the provisions being to provide DirecTV the customer lists.
In older contracts, Microsoft agreed to pay all legal fees for volume license customers who got sued because of Microsoft, but only up to the value of the software they bought.
Under the new provision, which took effect March 1, Microsoft removed the liability cap in intellectual property suits...
I think the article makes it pretty clear that Microsoft USED to only pay up to the full price of the software. They key change is that they will now pay over that.
No, that's what would have happened under the old system. Under the new system (the point of the article), they've removed that purchase price cap, so you can blab to the lawyer for however long.
It doesn't sound like SCO is planning on distributing the kernel code, just licensing it. Yeah, it's silly, but it could free them from a lot of legal problems. If they don't distribute the binary, they don't have to distribute the source.
If you roll your own kernel from the commonly available source, SCO says you're violating it's IP UNLESS you pay them this licensing fee. They're not supplying the kernel at all. Sounds a lot like me making a batch of fried chicken and KFC knocking down my door saying I need to pay up before dinner time.
Once again, I have no proof that this is what SCO has in mind, but I haven't heard them explicitly mentioning distributing thier own kernel yet. SCO seems to be concentating more on using the kernel, rather than distributing it. It makes sense from the standpoint of a comercial company selling propriatart software.
My guess is that yes, they'd go for whoever has their name on the ISP's bill. That person is the official contact point, and if you're supplying network access to your roomates, you're responsable for making sure they uphold whatever laws or contracts go along with said access. When you signed up for the DSL connection, you agreed to their terms of service. Just because you're sharing that connection out doesn't mean you're exempt. I know it's a shitty way of looking at things, but the DSL company is gunna want somebody's ass, and saying "well, it could have been any one of us" isn't going to make is go away. Actually, the DSL company would probably start by kicking your ass for sharing it out, anyway. I know around here, at least, most of the TOS contracts forbid stuff like that unless you pay ANOTHER surcharge...
The sad thing is, Microsoft's Shared Source inititive seems even crazier than that. "we'll give you some of the source code... but you can't actually compile it, and if you make any changes, send them to us so we can sue you"
It seems like there's a higher compatability with earlier models. Most of the Palms listed as working on the proget's site use DragonballEZ processors (IIIx and later) although they do mention a modified Palm Pro (Dragonball processor) working. If nothing else, you should be able to slap a Palm Pro or Palm III upgrade card in and give it a whirl. It's not exactly standard hardware, but I'm sure the project would apreciate some feedback on if it works.
Once the RIAA settled, they reliquished all rights to sue him. Part of the contract was that RIAA agreed the kid never did anything wrong, so they're bound to this decision unless he violated the contract. Bottom line: they can't sue him again.
On my girlfriend's campus they've been trying to roll out a program where students buy laptops through the IT department. They've put up a fairly extensive WiFi network, but every time they audit the program (mostly through access point usage) they're finding utilization is way below expectations. They finally asked some of the students why they weren't bringing the laptops to class, going to the library with them, and all the things they expected. Almost every one responded that the laptops were just too heavy to lug around for most of the day, when lab machines available around campus. Integrating technology into schools is great, but it has to be usable first. In this case, portability is the first step toward useability.
I know plenty of places where programs like Mathmatica and Matlab are required course material. At UMD (College Park) Matlab is used for plotting direction fields in Differential Equations as well as evaluating multistep aproximations. I belive Hood College uses Mathmatica for similar purposes. There are a lot of valuble methods out there that just can't be done with any degree of accuracy by hand. In both cases, these applications are available in the labs, but the convenience of doing it on your own machine (and not having to deal with the %*$#@&$ lab printers) shouldn't be discounted.
It's definitly been an issue with the Netgear wireless router I installed in my dorm room (model MR814) and my 2.4 Ghz phone. While the router is idle, I get a constant soft clicking in the background, not too bad. If I'm on my laptop downloading or doing heavy browsing when someone calls, there's a good bit of static-like interference.
My roomate and I both have the same model of phone (he has the same problem, BTW), so I'm not sure if some brands of phones interface better with some brands of access points or what. Thanks to the heavy concrete walls of the dorm, the signal doesn't go much further than three doors down, though, so nobody complained.
I think this is taking things beyond the realm of rationality, if not the law. Encryption without some means of decryption just doesn't make too much sense. Otherwise I could just write some random characters down, and say it the encrypted version of Moby Dick.
Encryption, in this case, is what makes sure you don't get at the raw form of the data. Your DVD player doesn't *break* the encryption, it decrypts. Sure, you can watch your movie, as you are licensed to do, but you are not licensed to modify it in any way, or use it as a portion of your own work. No anime music videos....
It seems fairly analogous to binary applications, in a way. You may be licensed to use the application, but not modify/look at the source code. If you see an application feature in Word, you can't just grab the code for it, even though you and use the feature to your hearts content (or until the OS dies, either way).
I was able to get to it now, at May 12 7:52 EST (or EDT, never really sure when the change occurs). I don't know if the color scheme changed or what, but I seem to be getting a fairly standard white background with black text with Phoenix .5.
And I reload... nope. Must have just rebooted it or something. Well, at least we know it wasn't a hardware failure and that the color scheme changed. I'd take a look at the page source to verify, but now that it's gone....
The most impressive use of AAlib I've seen thusfar is the xine output plugin (included with the xine-ui tarball). It's one hell of an effect that you've got to see to belive. Any video source xine can play, including DVDs and nearly any file format you can get your hands on can be displayed entirely in ASCII.
There's nothing like watching the Kung-Fu scene in the Matrix in pure text. Make sure you stand back a couple feet from the monitor for the full effect, though.
Yeah, I noticed that too. Is there any chance this article is slated to appear in the May issue of Forbes magazine or something, so they post dated it? The article does have _print tacked on the end... Yeah, if you look at the "Forbes Magazine," section, they seem to indicate the next issue seems to be dated May 12. All the articles linked to from there are post-dated on the 12th.
Well, the big problem with places like Monster, CareerBuilder and any other number of job posting services is that they don't generally carry entry level jobs. If the company has to pay a posting fee, they're not going to bother mentioning entry level jobs when they're already swamped with applications. Job posting services cator to mid-upper experience levels, where they're actually looking for specific skillsets.
Maybe, but who would be determining which users frequent said file-swapping services? Is there going to be a little checkbox when I sign up for a new AOL account that says "Do you wish to depsit $2 a month directly into Hilary Rosen's bank account"? I have a feeling Joe Sysadmin at Foolink isn't really going to want to add a whole new billing dimension, as well as enforcing P2P restrictions on some clinets but not others, so I can't see most ISPs supporting or enforcing a fee like this for individual users. If the do end up paying this RIAA fee, I have a feeling they're going to blanket up everyone's rates.