Interesting how they do not go into details how this product works.. I wonder if it will work through a secure connection (SSL-encrypted)? It doesn't even seem to mention if the product is a trojan horse-like program on the client computer or a firewall-like intercepting device.
Anyway, if the boss wants to read all of your SPAM, maybe you should just sign him/her up for all the SPAM lists your hotmail account is on. This way you don't even have to purchase the software to view all correspondence.
Unfortunately, no politicians, either Republican or Democrat or anything else, know the underlying problems here. I am sure they are not familiar with underlying aspects of computing, and instead of learning themselves, they are handed agendas by large organizations (corporations, foundations, etc).
I doubt we will ever get many sensible laws dealing with computers any time in the forseeable future, especially since techies are too busy doing their own thing to worry about politics. I know that personally I see politics as illogical anyway, so why not spend my time on something that makes sens and where I can get something done.
It can be seen that the companies controlling the infrastructure definitely can push out other players by offering their own services, and this seems all too familiar. There needs to be new laws to govern networks and infrastructure, since this is a prime example of a natural monopoly. Although I dislike the government interfering (or being stupid) when it's not necessary, in this case it actually is.
These networks should either be owned by the public (like the roads) and can be used by a number of carriers, or should be owned by a company that is only committed to infrastructure. Currently the companies that operate this infrastructure also offer services that use the infrastructure, which should not occur since they can easily drown out competition.
This lines up almost perfectly with Microsoft's position in the operating systems industry; they have what has been acknowledged to be a monopoly and they continue to abuse that monopoly by driving out competition in other sectors, such as web browsers, office suites, etc.
This is just another case of how there need to be open standards to give competition a chance on a uniform platform and not letting one company take control of all aspects of the industry.
I would imagine this "disclosing source code" thing could be a confusion partially started by Microsoft. Just like their "Freedom of Choice" campaign (where you get to "choose" Microsoft), they misrepresent things that they are actually doing in order to get more attention and make them sound like they are doing something "good."
I think that this situation is parallel to the free software / open source naming and definition quirks. When people see this they automatically think it must be free -- free as in free beer. This is just one of many things that the general public needs to be informed about, and not by acting like we, as techies, know everything but by being informative and helpful.
Like others have said, vending machines have been huge in Japan for a while now. I doubt, though, that the US will go in the same direction since we have plenty of people that are willing to work in a store that sells the same items. Right now it appears as though the cost of operation is too high compared to your classical convenient store.
And you'll need someone to keep the vending machines stocked anyway, especially when there is a snowstorm coming and everyone rushes the store for bread and milk (anyone from the Southern US knows what I'm talking about). Also, will the vending machine have to be over 21 to sell alcohol?
I'm still waiting for the next big breakthrough in quantum computing, but this new optical technology will give way to some really fast stuff. Just imagine having a quantum computer cpu with optical connections to a solid-state hard drive. At least there is something to look forward to in computing nowadays.
Browsing around the licensing website for a bit it appears as though a number of companies (Nullsoft -- makers of winamp) are already licensed, although it makes no mention of whether or not they will retain their license under the new scheme.
Although Thomson does not sell the mp3 libraries for non windows/mac operating systems they do offer their SDK for linux and other operating systems (for a price).
It is also interesting that winamp has plans to come out with a version for linux soon.
Although many windows mp3 players are licensed, I would guess that no open source players/encoders are. Therefore those who will get shafted will be linux users who rely upon these. I sincerely doubt win users will have any obstacles.
Slashdot Mirror
Here's the link
Interesting how they do not go into details how this product works.. I wonder if it will work through a secure connection (SSL-encrypted)? It doesn't even seem to mention if the product is a trojan horse-like program on the client computer or a firewall-like intercepting device.
Anyway, if the boss wants to read all of your SPAM, maybe you should just sign him/her up for all the SPAM lists your hotmail account is on. This way you don't even have to purchase the software to view all correspondence.
Unfortunately, no politicians, either Republican or Democrat or anything else, know the underlying problems here. I am sure they are not familiar with underlying aspects of computing, and instead of learning themselves, they are handed agendas by large organizations (corporations, foundations, etc).
I doubt we will ever get many sensible laws dealing with computers any time in the forseeable future, especially since techies are too busy doing their own thing to worry about politics. I know that personally I see politics as illogical anyway, so why not spend my time on something that makes sens and where I can get something done.
It can be seen that the companies controlling the infrastructure definitely can push out other players by offering their own services, and this seems all too familiar. There needs to be new laws to govern networks and infrastructure, since this is a prime example of a natural monopoly. Although I dislike the government interfering (or being stupid) when it's not necessary, in this case it actually is.
These networks should either be owned by the public (like the roads) and can be used by a number of carriers, or should be owned by a company that is only committed to infrastructure. Currently the companies that operate this infrastructure also offer services that use the infrastructure, which should not occur since they can easily drown out competition.
This lines up almost perfectly with Microsoft's position in the operating systems industry; they have what has been acknowledged to be a monopoly and they continue to abuse that monopoly by driving out competition in other sectors, such as web browsers, office suites, etc.
This is just another case of how there need to be open standards to give competition a chance on a uniform platform and not letting one company take control of all aspects of the industry.
I would imagine this "disclosing source code" thing could be a confusion partially started by Microsoft. Just like their "Freedom of Choice" campaign (where you get to "choose" Microsoft), they misrepresent things that they are actually doing in order to get more attention and make them sound like they are doing something "good."
I think that this situation is parallel to the free software / open source naming and definition quirks. When people see this they automatically think it must be free -- free as in free beer. This is just one of many things that the general public needs to be informed about, and not by acting like we, as techies, know everything but by being informative and helpful.
Like others have said, vending machines have been huge in Japan for a while now. I doubt, though, that the US will go in the same direction since we have plenty of people that are willing to work in a store that sells the same items. Right now it appears as though the cost of operation is too high compared to your classical convenient store.
And you'll need someone to keep the vending machines stocked anyway, especially when there is a snowstorm coming and everyone rushes the store for bread and milk (anyone from the Southern US knows what I'm talking about). Also, will the vending machine have to be over 21 to sell alcohol?
I'm still waiting for the next big breakthrough in quantum computing, but this new optical technology will give way to some really fast stuff. Just imagine having a quantum computer cpu with optical connections to a solid-state hard drive. At least there is something to look forward to in computing nowadays.
Browsing around the licensing website for a bit it appears as though a number of companies (Nullsoft -- makers of winamp) are already licensed, although it makes no mention of whether or not they will retain their license under the new scheme. Although Thomson does not sell the mp3 libraries for non windows/mac operating systems they do offer their SDK for linux and other operating systems (for a price). It is also interesting that winamp has plans to come out with a version for linux soon. Although many windows mp3 players are licensed, I would guess that no open source players/encoders are. Therefore those who will get shafted will be linux users who rely upon these. I sincerely doubt win users will have any obstacles.
I just took SmarterChild off my buddy list. Not much loss, whenever I insulted him he just told me that was not very nice.