Agreed. No 'regular' user should be getting.exe's in a work environment. But I think it's relatively common for 'IT' folk to email.exe's around. It's just easier to pass a small tool to a peer at another office by email rather than FTP, or a link to a web site. Fortunately, IT folk are also the ones who know how to send zipped files if.exe's are blocked. And if zips get blocked... just rename the file I suppose...
Forget missiles and bombs, just lob big rocks. Gravity will do the rest, once you give it a small push. A moon base could be a powerful weapon in the future... let's hope our first colonies on the moon are for peaceful purposes.
Exactly. What would be next? No phone access for people who don't need it for their work? Microphones to listen in on employee conversations to make sure they are work related?
At some point it's in the companies best interests to give a little. Bad moral is bad for productivity. Also, a large percentage of fraud is from internal sources, at least keep employees semi-happy - then they'll have to deal with at least a little bit of guilt...
Well, yes, more features are good for consumers; but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the more profitable thing to do! By using a non standard format Nintendo gets an extra level of protection against software pirates. Certainly there were other factors like more tightly integrated security in the chips, but the form factor counts too. It prevents pretty much all off-the-shelf DVD burners, and more importantly, the "professional" presses from being able to churn out perfect digital copies of games.
The result is that of the 3 major consoles, Nintendo's is the only one whose games are NOT pirated. Well, AFAIK anyway, if not, it definitely has lasted longer without large scale copying than XBox and PS2.
The final result, is that Nintendo has a nice profit. Plus the GC's are physically tiny (relatively).
Star Control II was an awesome game. I even ended up replaying it with "The Ur-Quan Masters" a few months ago. BUT, I'll always remember it for the in-game story line rather than the ending. Actually I had pretty much forgotten the ending. So I ended up hitting Google for it. Here's the 3DO StarCon 2 ending. Many people have said that the PC version is better, but this one seems ok to me.
once you factor out the BIG subsidies phone companies give out on phones to entice new customers, the price doesn't sound too too bad. If down the line wireless co's offer similar discounts in some sort of 'kids' bundle the net cost to the consumer would be comparable to a Gameboy - with the benefits of having less stuff to carry around (than a phone + GBA).
Yeah, I agree. It sounds like a lot of dough, but UbiSoft gets a reasonably recognized brand and the code to the old games. There's a good chance they'll be able to repackage and sell the games in the future. Collectors editions? Handhelds? Mobile phones? Online versions? Who knows.
Nintendo has done this a lot in the past. It seems to work for them.
Similar story here. WB's site dropped my connection a couple times. So I tried the BT link. It took a couple minutes to ramp up, and I eventually got the file in less than 10 minutes. Probably would have been a lot faster if
1)I didn't read this article so soon (to give more time for the BT... cluster(?)... to develop) and
2) My upstream wasn't a relatively measly 40KBps.
Now that I think about it, is BT legal in this case? We're probably commiting copywrite infringment by distributing this trailer. Not that anyone's likely to sue... or complain in this case.
So a company can spend millions of dollars developing software and protocols, running servers, paying for bandwidth and then they have the gall to claim that every Joe Blow can't piggy back off of their service!! How dare they!
Sheesh... another Slashdot MS is evil rant fest. Let me know when there's a free Jabber server for public logins...
Well, chips could be designed to accept a few defects. Massively parallel designs internally, if a defect is found, disable a particular unit. Tough, but not inconceivable. It's already done to a certain extent to salvage CPU's with some defective L2 cache and in the past (well, rumoured anyway) to salvage 486's with defective floating point units to make 486sx's.
similar to what others have pointed out, this isn't necesarily for nefarious purposes. It's rather similar to what search engines, well, at least Google, do to try and figure out what the most valuable websites. Google puts a strong weighting on incoming links from other reputable sources. Instead, for newsgroups, the only constants between posts are email addresses. Makes sense to me. I've often wished that Google Groups' results were as revolutionary as Google's were when it first arrived.
I admit it, you're right. And probably deserving of a few more mod points.
In my post, I was primarily thinking about the parent post's implication that simply blocking port 135 would be sufficient protection. As you point out, systems should have been patched and critical systems fenced off better.
As an aside, I suspect that a lot of the problems were of the DOS type. It wouldn't take many infected PC's (e.g. laptops) to flood a thin pipe. And I wouldn't be surprised if the connections to remote airports (in the case of Air Canada) were 128K ISDN. Which then leads to questions about QOS configuration on routers...
Or maybe some people actually have a local network that uses port 135! As much as I like to knock the things that go on at Air Canada, I can't really blame this one on them.
You can't usually block port 135 to all local traffic, because it has legitimate uses on MS networks. So, if a brand new worm or virus comes out, few if any anti-virus programs will detect it. Virus scanners, by-and-large are reactionary. They can't (usually) scan for what they don't know exist. It sounds like this particular worm was written to spread extremely quickly, and few had a chance to develop or update their virus definitions.
Given this environment, all it takes is one machine to get infected before the entire network gets hit.
I totally agree. The old 7 volt trick does wonders for CPU fans. I'm very tempted to do the same for the power supply fan, but I've never worked up the courage to tear into that warranty sticker. =) Besides, I'm guessing the nearest 12V and 5V lines would be rather awkward to route to the PSU fan.
Really, how indicitive is this of the market at large? Sure sales are up at GAME SPOT (being Canadian, perhaps I don't realize how large they are...). Couldn't it also be that Game Spot is growing? If they opened 30% more stores, the numbers wouldn't seem so promising...
And get rid of all communication tools. TV, Radio, Phone, Email... we'll get all our news by watching the weekly news reels at the theatre! Good plan. =)
Same here. On my home machine, I've had this stupid critical update for "Catalog Database Corruption" for months now. It won't install, and it stops other updates from downloading. I don't know what happened, and can't be bothered to debug it. I suspect a registry key, or errant file. Manually running the Windows Update program works, so I just do that when I'm bored.
Maybe Microsoft should release a "Windows Update Double-Checker" every few months to fix broken setups...
I wonder if one of the reasons is to give Microsoft some time to work in 64 bit extensions. I think 64 bit upgrades are scheduled for an upcoming Windows 2003 Server service pack. It would make sense to do a widespread public test with the code on DESKTOP PC's before letting it loose on servers...
"Hurray for advanced socialist societies that care! First health care, then the software industry."
"Good for them! Anything to reduce Microsoft's power."
"Those Europeans are smart, they'll save a lot of money this way."
Ah well. At least not all of the comments in this thread were completely negative.
Ouch... sorry, not really funny for folks from BC. I couldn't help but think about the charges laid against Robert Pickton. A local farmer (including a few pigs) who is accused of killing several prostitutes from Vancouver. A reference for the interested.
I'm not certain, but I think the long term plan is to spin off the hardware side completely. I.e. separate controlling entities, stock, and everything else. Rumours are out there that one (or both) of the business groups will be bought out rather than distributed as stock... which would clean up the whole situation even more easily.
As an aside, I think both halves of the business are comparable in size, so maybe we should refer to it as a 'split' when possible...
I agree. I suspect in most parts of the US solar panels will become the norm - particularly the further south you go. I was recently in Hawaii, and I was quite surprised to see a whole subdivision (I think it was military housing) with a few solar panels on every rooftop.
It just makes sense, especially as costs go down from newer materials and economies of scale. Solar also has the nice benefit of being at maximum output just when it's needed - on a hot sunny day when the air con is at max.
Slashdot Mirror
Agreed. No 'regular' user should be getting .exe's in a work environment. But I think it's relatively common for 'IT' folk to email .exe's around. It's just easier to pass a small tool to a peer at another office by email rather than FTP, or a link to a web site. Fortunately, IT folk are also the ones who know how to send zipped files if .exe's are blocked. And if zips get blocked... just rename the file I suppose...
Forget missiles and bombs, just lob big rocks. Gravity will do the rest, once you give it a small push. A moon base could be a powerful weapon in the future... let's hope our first colonies on the moon are for peaceful purposes.
Exactly. What would be next? No phone access for people who don't need it for their work? Microphones to listen in on employee conversations to make sure they are work related?
At some point it's in the companies best interests to give a little. Bad moral is bad for productivity. Also, a large percentage of fraud is from internal sources, at least keep employees semi-happy - then they'll have to deal with at least a little bit of guilt...
Well, yes, more features are good for consumers; but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the more profitable thing to do! By using a non standard format Nintendo gets an extra level of protection against software pirates. Certainly there were other factors like more tightly integrated security in the chips, but the form factor counts too. It prevents pretty much all off-the-shelf DVD burners, and more importantly, the "professional" presses from being able to churn out perfect digital copies of games.
The result is that of the 3 major consoles, Nintendo's is the only one whose games are NOT pirated. Well, AFAIK anyway, if not, it definitely has lasted longer without large scale copying than XBox and PS2.
The final result, is that Nintendo has a nice profit. Plus the GC's are physically tiny (relatively).
Star Control II was an awesome game. I even ended up replaying it with "The Ur-Quan Masters" a few months ago. BUT, I'll always remember it for the in-game story line rather than the ending. Actually I had pretty much forgotten the ending. So I ended up hitting Google for it. Here's the 3DO StarCon 2 ending. Many people have said that the PC version is better, but this one seems ok to me.
once you factor out the BIG subsidies phone companies give out on phones to entice new customers, the price doesn't sound too too bad. If down the line wireless co's offer similar discounts in some sort of 'kids' bundle the net cost to the consumer would be comparable to a Gameboy - with the benefits of having less stuff to carry around (than a phone + GBA).
Yeah, I agree. It sounds like a lot of dough, but UbiSoft gets a reasonably recognized brand and the code to the old games. There's a good chance they'll be able to repackage and sell the games in the future. Collectors editions? Handhelds? Mobile phones? Online versions? Who knows.
Nintendo has done this a lot in the past. It seems to work for them.
Similar story here. WB's site dropped my connection a couple times. So I tried the BT link. It took a couple minutes to ramp up, and I eventually got the file in less than 10 minutes. Probably would have been a lot faster if ... cluster(?)... to develop) and
1)I didn't read this article so soon (to give more time for the BT
2) My upstream wasn't a relatively measly 40KBps.
Now that I think about it, is BT legal in this case? We're probably commiting copywrite infringment by distributing this trailer. Not that anyone's likely to sue... or complain in this case.
So a company can spend millions of dollars developing software and protocols, running servers, paying for bandwidth and then they have the gall to claim that every Joe Blow can't piggy back off of their service!! How dare they!
Sheesh... another Slashdot MS is evil rant fest. Let me know when there's a free Jabber server for public logins...
... then the only thing holding them back is whatever ethics we ingrain into them.
Yeah, I've been reading Asimov's Robot series lately...
Well, chips could be designed to accept a few defects. Massively parallel designs internally, if a defect is found, disable a particular unit. Tough, but not inconceivable. It's already done to a certain extent to salvage CPU's with some defective L2 cache and in the past (well, rumoured anyway) to salvage 486's with defective floating point units to make 486sx's.
Simple. It gives bored geeks something to rant about for a while... until the next SCO story comes up.
similar to what others have pointed out, this isn't necesarily for nefarious purposes. It's rather similar to what search engines, well, at least Google, do to try and figure out what the most valuable websites. Google puts a strong weighting on incoming links from other reputable sources. Instead, for newsgroups, the only constants between posts are email addresses. Makes sense to me. I've often wished that Google Groups' results were as revolutionary as Google's were when it first arrived.
I admit it, you're right. And probably deserving of a few more mod points.
In my post, I was primarily thinking about the parent post's implication that simply blocking port 135 would be sufficient protection. As you point out, systems should have been patched and critical systems fenced off better.
As an aside, I suspect that a lot of the problems were of the DOS type. It wouldn't take many infected PC's (e.g. laptops) to flood a thin pipe. And I wouldn't be surprised if the connections to remote airports (in the case of Air Canada) were 128K ISDN. Which then leads to questions about QOS configuration on routers...
Or maybe some people actually have a local network that uses port 135! As much as I like to knock the things that go on at Air Canada, I can't really blame this one on them.
You can't usually block port 135 to all local traffic, because it has legitimate uses on MS networks. So, if a brand new worm or virus comes out, few if any anti-virus programs will detect it. Virus scanners, by-and-large are reactionary. They can't (usually) scan for what they don't know exist. It sounds like this particular worm was written to spread extremely quickly, and few had a chance to develop or update their virus definitions.
Given this environment, all it takes is one machine to get infected before the entire network gets hit.
I totally agree. The old 7 volt trick does wonders for CPU fans. I'm very tempted to do the same for the power supply fan, but I've never worked up the courage to tear into that warranty sticker. =) Besides, I'm guessing the nearest 12V and 5V lines would be rather awkward to route to the PSU fan.
Really, how indicitive is this of the market at large? Sure sales are up at GAME SPOT (being Canadian, perhaps I don't realize how large they are...). Couldn't it also be that Game Spot is growing? If they opened 30% more stores, the numbers wouldn't seem so promising...
And get rid of all communication tools. TV, Radio, Phone, Email... we'll get all our news by watching the weekly news reels at the theatre! Good plan. =)
Recently watched Chicago again, while on a plane... couldn't help but here that little song while reading all of this...
Same here. On my home machine, I've had this stupid critical update for "Catalog Database Corruption" for months now. It won't install, and it stops other updates from downloading. I don't know what happened, and can't be bothered to debug it. I suspect a registry key, or errant file. Manually running the Windows Update program works, so I just do that when I'm bored.
Maybe Microsoft should release a "Windows Update Double-Checker" every few months to fix broken setups...
I wonder if one of the reasons is to give Microsoft some time to work in 64 bit extensions. I think 64 bit upgrades are scheduled for an upcoming Windows 2003 Server service pack. It would make sense to do a widespread public test with the code on DESKTOP PC's before letting it loose on servers...
what would Slashdot say?
"Hurray for advanced socialist societies that care! First health care, then the software industry."
"Good for them! Anything to reduce Microsoft's power."
"Those Europeans are smart, they'll save a lot of money this way."
Ah well. At least not all of the comments in this thread were completely negative.
Ouch... sorry, not really funny for folks from BC. I couldn't help but think about the charges laid against Robert Pickton. A local farmer (including a few pigs) who is accused of killing several prostitutes from Vancouver. A reference for the interested.
I'm not certain, but I think the long term plan is to spin off the hardware side completely. I.e. separate controlling entities, stock, and everything else. Rumours are out there that one (or both) of the business groups will be bought out rather than distributed as stock... which would clean up the whole situation even more easily.
As an aside, I think both halves of the business are comparable in size, so maybe we should refer to it as a 'split' when possible...
I agree. I suspect in most parts of the US solar panels will become the norm - particularly the further south you go. I was recently in Hawaii, and I was quite surprised to see a whole subdivision (I think it was military housing) with a few solar panels on every rooftop.
It just makes sense, especially as costs go down from newer materials and economies of scale. Solar also has the nice benefit of being at maximum output just when it's needed - on a hot sunny day when the air con is at max.