As long as Microsoft wants to enjoy the lucrative benefits of being a singular part of society's information infrastructure, society ought to have a say in how Microsoft is run. You might argue that imposing such restrictions is "punishing success"
You could also argue that society's choices - it's collective decisions - made Microsoft and Windows what they are today.
A computer should be separate from the software; as such a customer should never be compelled to buy a computer conditional on also buying the software on the device.
Bare bones sells to the enthusiast and the IT pro.
To everyone else a PC is purchased as an appliance like a stove or a refrigerator - and costs about the same.
It arrives as a properly configured and fully functional bundle of hardware and software or it is returned for refund or exchange under warranty.
Heathkit is thirty years dead.
You can't sell tech as a kit of parts and make it mass market.
This may be a petty complaint on my part, but if I click the red X, I expect the application to stop. Maybe that's Windows/GNOME/KDE conditioning, but that's the way it is
It's conditioning that begins before you are taught to obey the stop sign and traffic light.
Blood red in Western culture is a warning that you are about to make a dangerous and irreversible mistake.
As a user of Linux, OS X and Windows, Windows is still the worst. Unfortunately a lot of Linux flavours take their queue from Windows where they should be taking them from OS X.
I believe the word you are looking for is "cue." That said:
The latest client OS webstats from Net Applications, W3Schools, and others, should be out early next week. There have been some surprises posted already: Windows 7 eclipses Vista on Steam, 64-bit dominating 32-bit 1 in 5 Windows PC gamers running 64 Bit Win 7.
The one certainty is that Linux will be bringing up the rear.
The Apple OSX model is a tightly integrated - tightly controlled - bundle of OS, UI, hardware, apps and marketing. That targets a profitable upscale niche market little changed in 33 years.
It's not a comfortable fit for a geek.
Windows is shamelessly middle class and commercial.
It is good, serviceable, tech that is available in every form factor and at every price point. The "protected path" is there for the user who thinks Netflix and Blu-Ray offer something of value.
Windows doesn't compell you to buy Corel Draw and MS Publisher when Inkscape and Scribus are available. But neither does it give the GIMP a free ride because of its ideological purity or political correctness.
Somebody rings you up or corners you in the street and asks you if you support internet filtering and you say yes so you don't look like a creep but when you get into the polling booth it might be an entirely different situation.
Might be.
But probably won't be.
This how the issues were framed by an ABC poll:
The exact questions asked of the 1,000 people [in a telephone poll] were:
Would you say you are in favour or not in favour of having a mandatory Government Internet filter that would automatically block all access in Australia, to overseas websites containing material that is Refused Classification?
This question followed a definition of 'refused classification' material, as images and information about one or more of the following:
* child sexual abuse; * bestiality; * sexual violence; * gratuitous, exploitative or offensive sexual fetishes; and * detailed instructions on or promotion of crime, violence or use of illegal drugs.
If a mandatory Internet Filter is established, are you in favour or not in favour of the community being advised which websites have been Refused Classification and the reason why they have been refused classification?
Google is neither anonymous, nor does it use hidden cameras... and they'll take down or blur the photos if you ask. Not really the same as what you're implying there.
I really don't see the philosophical or policy basis for seeing this as something which privacy laws should prohibit. What is visible in public should be photographable to the public.
The neighborhood street was home to a kind of extended family.
It was a place for kids and dogs. The elderly who were no longer as agile or clear-headed as they once were. You see this thought idealized in the paintings of Norman Rockwell: Homecoming
The anonymous intruder with his hidden camera has never received such a welcome.
This is not from Microsoft and it works Just out of the box. You do not need to struggle like how you do with Windows
February 23 Microsoft released a little noticed compatibility update for 32 and 64 bit Vista and Windows 7. It makes an interesting read - and the list is by no means exhaustive.
I like to point out that in fact the vast majority of child abuse in this country has been carried out by members of the clergy, particularly the Catholic church.
I am not willing to let this one fly on by without a show of proof.
Most child abuse occurs within the family. Risk factors include parental depression or other mental health issues, a parental history of childhood abuse, and domestic violence. Child neglect and mistreatment is also more common in families living in poverty and among parents who are teenagers or are drug or alcohol abusers. Although it is certainly true that child abuse occurs outside the home, most often children are abused by a caregiver or someone they know, not a stranger.What do I need to know about child abuse?
Your argument is a good one and largely I agree with it. Aside from this one glaring error: Copyright infringement is not theft, stealing or any other term related to deprivation of property!
The decade-old NET Act - No Electronic Theft - framed the issues otherwise.
Does it really matter so very much how the charge is worded or where the offense is placed in the statute books? Probably not to your room mates at Club Fed.
Copyright under the US Constitution creates an exclusive right to control distribution - unmistakably a property right to any eighteenth century mind.
The corporations use bribes to buy politicians. The politicians write the laws the corporations wants. And the laws the corporations want are protective laws which discourage independent businesses (programmers or otherwise). It doesn't matter whether we're talling about RIAA, Hollywood, Comcast, or Microsoft. It's all the same operating procedure. Corporations should have their free speech rights taken away (lobbyists/bribes). They have no more rights than a Tree or a rock. They are not THINGS not people.
Limited liability meant that you did not have to go to the king or pope or landed aristocrat for funding. The royal "We" who could not be sued or the man so rich and powerful that no mere commercial failure could ever break him.
Such men had free speech.
They were the government - and they could be bribed.
The modern business corporation represents the interests and efforts of a great many people. In union there is strength - and voice.
Microsoft employs 40,000 people in the Puget Sound region.
It owns or leases 15 million square feet of office space - and it helped drive the median family income in Redmond to $97,000 a year - and the median value of a single family residence in Redmond to $496,000.
This is what the lobbyist takes to a politician - and it is more effective than any bribe. [FWIW the number of Congressmen tried for bribery since 1905 is no more than 12 or so. List of Public Corruption Cases
The FSF is also a corporation. It lobbies - it campaigns.
With an adolescent ineptness, to be sure. Think "Windows 7 Sins"
Without free speech rights, it would be even more confined and helpless.
The publishers who spend their lives lying about the quality of the content they 'publish', who produce (not create) some of the worst content imaginable...where they pay peanuts to the best performing casting couch specialists, the endless parade of one hit drunken drug addled performance artists. What does this work or those people actually contribute to society, is their work to be considered a useful art, or should their narcissist sociopathic behaviour become a part of shameful history. Their willingness to corrupt everything they touch, law, politics, society, and even children.....
It is lame to argue that what you steal has no value. It is lamer still to argue that you are less corrupt than those you steal from.
2008 was particularly rich in movies with impeccable geek cred:
The Dark Knight. Iron Man. Wall-E...
These were the torrents the geek relentlessly sought out and sucked down.
The geek knows what it costs to produce and market these films. The geek knows that there is only one Pixar and only one Andrew Stanton.
Credibility? You must be new here. Slashdot isn't about credibility, it's about discussion. Individual slashdot posters have or don't have credibility. Slashdot editors have never earned their titles.
It's about hits to the Slashdot front page.
Slashdot's editors select the stories to be published and frame the debate through their headlines and comments. It tilts the machine.
The Borg icon and stained glass window work the same magic.
This would reduce gas/energy consumption by at least 28% (as per Mythbusters 2007 , episode 80, drafting 2 ft behind a big rig reduced gas consumption by 28%
All large business attempts to minimize their tax burdens via legal means.
Funding: $17.5 million Microsoft. Redmond $5.4 million. Other: $7.1 million. NE 36th/31st Street Bridge "The bridge includes pedestrian access and bike connections across the SR 520 freeway and to the SR 520 Bike Trail."
The median household income in Redmond, population 49,000, is $88,000. [2008] The median value of a Redmond house or condo is $496,000. Redmond, Washington
It's fair to suggest that most employers of 40,000 whose workers take-home pay generates numbers like these would probably get the campus bridge for free.
Translation: We don't want you spying on students, we want you to pay us to do it for you!!!
Absolute is de-activating the cameras:
Calling LANRev a "legacy" product, Midgley also said that Absolute would ship an update in the next several weeks that will permanently disable Theft Track, the name of the feature that lets administrators switch on a laptop's camera to take photographs of a potential thief after the computer is reported stolen. "It really doesn't serve any purpose," said Midgley of Theft Track.
All its theft-recovery software relies on a different model than the former LANRev, said Midgley. "We give no theft recovery tools to our [LoJack and Computrace] customers," he said. "The only truly proven model is a managed service model."
To kick off the recovery of a stolen or lost laptop, customers first must file a police report -- not a requirement of LANRev -- and only then contact Absolute, which in turn tracks the location of the missing machine via its IP address when the system goes online. Absolute employs a team of former law enforcement professionals who reach out to local police, provide them with the location information and then get out of the way. Software maker blasts 'vigilantism' in Pa. school sying case
Slashdot Mirror
As long as Microsoft wants to enjoy the lucrative benefits of being a singular part of society's information infrastructure, society ought to have a say in how Microsoft is run.
You might argue that imposing such restrictions is "punishing success"
You could also argue that society's choices - it's collective decisions - made Microsoft and Windows what they are today.
When was the last time you bought a new computer?
December 18th, 2009.
This is a lunatic waste of a court's time and resources.
A computer should be separate from the software; as such a customer should never be compelled to buy a computer conditional on also buying the software on the device.
Bare bones sells to the enthusiast and the IT pro.
To everyone else a PC is purchased as an appliance like a stove or a refrigerator - and costs about the same.
It arrives as a properly configured and fully functional bundle of hardware and software or it is returned for refund or exchange under warranty.
Heathkit is thirty years dead.
You can't sell tech as a kit of parts and make it mass market.
This may be a petty complaint on my part, but if I click the red X, I expect the application to stop. Maybe that's Windows/GNOME/KDE conditioning, but that's the way it is
It's conditioning that begins before you are taught to obey the stop sign and traffic light.
Blood red in Western culture is a warning that you are about to make a dangerous and irreversible mistake.
As a user of Linux, OS X and Windows, Windows is still the worst. Unfortunately a lot of Linux flavours take their queue from Windows where they should be taking them from OS X.
I believe the word you are looking for is "cue." That said:
The latest client OS webstats from Net Applications, W3Schools, and others, should be out early next week. There have been some surprises posted already: Windows 7 eclipses Vista on Steam, 64-bit dominating 32-bit 1 in 5 Windows PC gamers running 64 Bit Win 7.
The one certainty is that Linux will be bringing up the rear.
The Apple OSX model is a tightly integrated - tightly controlled - bundle of OS, UI, hardware, apps and marketing. That targets a profitable upscale niche market little changed in 33 years.
It's not a comfortable fit for a geek.
Windows is shamelessly middle class and commercial.
It is good, serviceable, tech that is available in every form factor and at every price point. The "protected path" is there for the user who thinks Netflix and Blu-Ray offer something of value.
Windows doesn't compell you to buy Corel Draw and MS Publisher when Inkscape and Scribus are available. But neither does it give the GIMP a free ride because of its ideological purity or political correctness.
That seems to be what most folks want.
Somebody rings you up or corners you in the street and asks you if you support internet filtering and you say yes so you don't look like a creep but when you get into the polling booth it might be an entirely different situation.
Might be.
But probably won't be.
This how the issues were framed by an ABC poll:
The exact questions asked of the 1,000 people [in a telephone poll] were:
Would you say you are in favour or not in favour of having a mandatory Government Internet filter that would automatically block all access in Australia, to overseas websites containing material that is Refused Classification?
This question followed a definition of 'refused classification' material, as images and information about one or more of the following:
* child sexual abuse;
* bestiality;
* sexual violence;
* gratuitous, exploitative or offensive sexual fetishes; and
* detailed instructions on or promotion of crime, violence or use of illegal drugs.
If a mandatory Internet Filter is established, are you in favour or not in favour of the community being advised which websites have been Refused Classification and the reason why they have been refused classification?
81% favored a mandatory government filter.
91% wanted to see any government black list made public. 80% of Aussies support filter
That strikes me as a reasonably nuanced response. Though not what the geek wanted to hear.
Google is neither anonymous, nor does it use hidden cameras... and they'll take down or blur the photos if you ask. Not really the same as what you're implying there.
The cars aren't all that visible. Google Street View Car
It would be pure chance to see one coming.
The larger question is why you should have to ask for a take-down - rather than demanding that Google ask for your permission.
I really don't see the philosophical or policy basis for seeing this as something which privacy laws should prohibit. What is visible in public should be photographable to the public.
The neighborhood street was home to a kind of extended family.
It was a place for kids and dogs. The elderly who were no longer as agile or clear-headed as they once were. You see this thought idealized in the paintings of Norman Rockwell: Homecoming
The anonymous intruder with his hidden camera has never received such a welcome.
This is not from Microsoft and it works Just out of the box. You do not need to struggle like how you do with Windows
February 23 Microsoft released a little noticed compatibility update for 32 and 64 bit Vista and Windows 7. It makes an interesting read - and the list is by no means exhaustive.
KOTOR now runs like a fine-tuned watch.
Application Compatibility Update for Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2: February 2010
The Windows user is not a geek.
The programs he runs - the programs he buys - are shaped by an entirely different set of needs and expectations.
Windows for him makes a very comfortable fit.
I like to point out that in fact the vast majority of child abuse in this country has been carried out by members of the clergy, particularly the Catholic church.
I am not willing to let this one fly on by without a show of proof.
Most child abuse occurs within the family. Risk factors include parental depression or other mental health issues, a parental history of childhood abuse, and domestic violence. Child neglect and mistreatment is also more common in families living in poverty and among parents who are teenagers or are drug or alcohol abusers. Although it is certainly true that child abuse occurs outside the home, most often children are abused by a caregiver or someone they know, not a stranger. What do I need to know about child abuse?
But what about open source games? They're mediocre at best, almost always unfinished, and otherwise pretty much shitty.
The game is more than code. More than the game engine.
When you look at the classic Lucas Arts adventures, what you see is a strong sense of story.
Art design and animation. Music. Dialog and vocal performance.
Half-Life brought a strong sense of place to the FPS. Black Mesa felt real as you were moving through it.
Not a dark house ride like Doom.
Your argument is a good one and largely I agree with it. Aside from this one glaring error: Copyright infringement is not theft, stealing or any other term related to deprivation of property!
The decade-old NET Act - No Electronic Theft - framed the issues otherwise.
Does it really matter so very much how the charge is worded or where the offense is placed in the statute books? Probably not to your room mates at Club Fed.
Copyright under the US Constitution creates an exclusive right to control distribution - unmistakably a property right to any eighteenth century mind.
The corporations use bribes to buy politicians. The politicians write the laws the corporations wants. And the laws the corporations want are protective laws which discourage independent businesses (programmers or otherwise). It doesn't matter whether we're talling about RIAA, Hollywood, Comcast, or Microsoft. It's all the same operating procedure. Corporations should have their free speech rights taken away (lobbyists/bribes). They have no more rights than a Tree or a rock. They are not THINGS not people.
Limited liability meant that you did not have to go to the king or pope or landed aristocrat for funding. The royal "We" who could not be sued or the man so rich and powerful that no mere commercial failure could ever break him.
Such men had free speech.
They were the government - and they could be bribed.
The modern business corporation represents the interests and efforts of a great many people. In union there is strength - and voice.
Microsoft employs 40,000 people in the Puget Sound region.
It owns or leases 15 million square feet of office space - and it helped drive the median family income in Redmond to $97,000 a year - and the median value of a single family residence in Redmond to $496,000.
This is what the lobbyist takes to a politician - and it is more effective than any bribe. [FWIW the number of Congressmen tried for bribery since 1905 is no more than 12 or so. List of Public Corruption Cases
The FSF is also a corporation. It lobbies - it campaigns.
With an adolescent ineptness, to be sure. Think "Windows 7 Sins"
Without free speech rights, it would be even more confined and helpless.
Why not just use one big-ass flatscreen TV?
That's a fair question.
HDMI 1.4 delivers a single cable solution for 4Kx2K video, Ethernet over HDMI, 3D over HDMI, etc.
The tech for affordable 4Kx2K projection isn't that far off. Epson Develops World's First 4K Compatible HTPS TFT Liquid Crystal Panel for 3LCD Projectors
The publishers who spend their lives lying about the quality of the content they 'publish', who produce (not create) some of the worst content imaginable...where they pay peanuts to the best performing casting couch specialists, the endless parade of one hit drunken drug addled performance artists.
What does this work or those people actually contribute to society, is their work to be considered a useful art, or should their narcissist sociopathic behaviour become a part of shameful history. Their willingness to corrupt everything they touch, law, politics, society, and even children.....
It is lame to argue that what you steal has no value. It is lamer still to argue that you are less corrupt than those you steal from.
2008 was particularly rich in movies with impeccable geek cred:
The Dark Knight. Iron Man. Wall-E...
These were the torrents the geek relentlessly sought out and sucked down.
The geek knows what it costs to produce and market these films. The geek knows that there is only one Pixar and only one Andrew Stanton.
Journalists report shock not stories. They have always been willing to bend the truth to get more readers.
You are paint with too broad a brush - and get the predictable mod-up to Insightful. That is how the "shock jock" gets his start.
Credibility? You must be new here. Slashdot isn't about credibility, it's about discussion. Individual slashdot posters have or don't have credibility. Slashdot editors have never earned their titles.
It's about hits to the Slashdot front page.
Slashdot's editors select the stories to be published and frame the debate through their headlines and comments. It tilts the machine.
The Borg icon and stained glass window work the same magic.
A "crime" is not necessarily "bad".
But a conviction still puts you behind bars.
This would reduce gas/energy consumption by at least 28% (as per Mythbusters 2007 , episode 80, drafting 2 ft behind a big rig reduced gas consumption by 28%
How much fuel was the big rig consuming?
Clippy is a perfect example. If one is really dumb (no offense), one will find Clippy useful. But every normal human being will loathe that thing.
Did they really? I sometimes wonder.
Because I can't recall ever hearing a Clippy joke in the real world.
The right person to ask whether Clippy was useful was the office worker or the office manager. Not the geek.
How can someone create something for the web and choose a Windows-only technology instead of OpenGL?
Because Windows is the dominant PC gaming platform? Because the move to Win 7 is already well-advanced? Windows usage on Steam
All large business attempts to minimize their tax burdens via legal means.
Funding: $17.5 million Microsoft. Redmond $5.4 million. Other: $7.1 million. NE 36th/31st Street Bridge "The bridge includes pedestrian access and bike connections across the SR 520 freeway and to the SR 520 Bike Trail."
The median household income in Redmond, population 49,000, is $88,000. [2008] The median value of a Redmond house or condo is $496,000. Redmond, Washington
It's fair to suggest that most employers of 40,000 whose workers take-home pay generates numbers like these would probably get the campus bridge for free.
The proposed 4.5 mile bike and pedestrian trail across the 520 pontoon bridge is worth a look: A new way across Lake Washington for cyclists and walkers
The graphic may also give you some sense of how much adding a rail link now would add to the cost and complexity of the project.
Who doesn't understand that once the lawyers get involved, you shut the Hell up? What is wrong with these people?
The lions are already loose and a few more won't matter.
The lawyers should have been involved from the moment the school began considering purchase of the laptops.
Absolute is de-activating the cameras:
Calling LANRev a "legacy" product, Midgley also said that Absolute would ship an update in the next several weeks that will permanently disable Theft Track, the name of the feature that lets administrators switch on a laptop's camera to take photographs of a potential thief after the computer is reported stolen. "It really doesn't serve any purpose," said Midgley of Theft Track.
All its theft-recovery software relies on a different model than the former LANRev, said Midgley. "We give no theft recovery tools to our [LoJack and Computrace] customers," he said. "The only truly proven model is a managed service model."
To kick off the recovery of a stolen or lost laptop, customers first must file a police report -- not a requirement of LANRev -- and only then contact Absolute, which in turn tracks the location of the missing machine via its IP address when the system goes online. Absolute employs a team of former law enforcement professionals who reach out to local police, provide them with the location information and then get out of the way. Software maker blasts 'vigilantism' in Pa. school sying case