Now, most IT guys aren't irreplaceable -- hard to admit but it's true, especially in a company for which IT is a core/strategic area.
You seem to be implying that anyone but the 'creme de la creme' of IT workers doesn't deserve job security, reasonable income, or a decent standard of living. I don't wanna live in your world.
nd no authorisation is needed! No signature, pin etc...
This is really weird. I noticed it for the 'Pay at Pump' system too. You can fill up your tank with petrol and pay at the pump, and NO AUTHORIZATION is needed. IOW, if I steal someone's card, I can go around filling up my tank for free. I don't really understand how this it's legal for Tesco to allow this.
Did you see the Bush 'bullhorn' speech he gave in NY post-9/11? The one where he said "I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people - and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!"? You can see it here.
I know it was given a few days after 9/11 and feelings were running extremely high, but for me, that chanting that took place after he said that (USA! USA! USA! USA!) kind of epitomizes the reason why the US is having civil liberties problems now - there was and is still this kind of communal feeling that this is the US vs 'some evil enemy', it doesn't matter who it is; and to feed their anger they have to attack someone. It almost soudned like they were at a football match, unquestioning supporters of their 'team'. How often do you ge that kind of reaction to words from a president? An unscrupulous administration could, and to some extent did, use that anger to push through illiberal reforms, amongst other things. I think that reaction to Bush's words is a useful way to see how many US citizens take this stuff.
This is in opposition to the principals set forth in the Bill of Rights and the forth amendment:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
This is an interesting point and as a non-USian, I'm not sure why all these ludicrous airport body searches, etc, haven't been ruled unconstitutional by the a court. Anyone care to explain? Is it because literally NOBODY is prepared to stands up against being searched (surely one of the 200 million citizens must have the wealth and determination to take it to court), or because the supreme court is sympathetic to overzealous Big-Brotherism?
Perhaps because, in the olden days, you didn't have huge software corporations (Adobe, MS, Apple, Google, etc) that were able to take a look at your implementation and implement it themselves? They don't even need to swallow you up - they have so many skilled programmers they can literally re-implement it, stealing your customer base with superior marketing and brand recognition and leaving you high and dry. It's a sad thing, but if you don't want megacorps being the only ones able to produce profitable products, maybe software patents are in order. Or maybe software itself (as opposed to associated services) should largely become an opensource commodity, although with hardware DRM coming along, we'll need to do something quick to make that happen.
I really can't understand how the US still retains big, popular corporations. I swear that one day it's gonna wake up and have none, or very few, left. Sure, there are relatively low taxes, but that's about it. This feivolous litigation is so utterly ludicrous that who'd wanna put up with it now?
We have NTP, who seem to produce nothing but a few crappy organizational policy products, suing the makers of Blackberry, a very popular device that has helped millions of people. The makers of Blackberry have been punished here - admittedly by paying it voluntarily, but also by the fact that that this bullshit patent was accepted by the USPTO, and the court case wasn't thrown out immediately. I rather doubt that RIM bothered to look at NTP's patent before creating the Blackberry, they created it independently; but in the wacky, broken US legal system, they still lose over $600 million.
If I were a head of a corp, I'd be looking to relocate right now until some of your very broken laws, including patent law, are changed. Serious litigation is in order.
Solicitors do indeed speak in the civil courts, I think you mean they don't speak in the criminal courts; you can get some nasty litigation happening just with civil cases. Isn't copyright infringement a civil offence?
I was never very impressed with Lite-ON. Their website is crap, their optical drives sound like vacuum cleaners, and they're not *that* cheap. Go for LG, much better. Really, Lite-ON drives are the noisiest i've heard, by far.
Of course don't consumers want DRM (even though you can ram it down their throats by offering content exclusively available with DRM), but they'd silently ignore that some people wouldn't have bought the DRM version.
So what you're saying is that the artist needs not to be stupid enough to fall for their pro-DRM propoganda?
WS: On a similar topic, Vsion asks: "Are there currently any efforts being undertaken by the Foundation to address the People's Republic of China's blocking of Wikipedia or to alleviate its effect?"
JW: Beijing-area Wikipedians are working to have the block lifted. Our position is that the block is in error, even given China's normal policies. Wikipedia is not propaganda, it is basic information. We expect that the block will be lifted.
Huh? Doesn't he understand the nature of Chinese censorship?
Yeah, we've heard that comment a lot in the UK. I'd still say there's a difference of degree; if you published that WWJD joke in a big newspaper or national TV station in the US, there might be some people writing in with criticism, or whatever, but would there be violent riots? Many thousands of people marching around with placards such as 'behead the infedels', 'I love the prophet/lord/saviour more than my life', etc? I seriously doubt it. The degree to which Muslims want to impose their culture and morality on the rest of society seems to be significantly stronger than other cultures.
Disclaimer: There are exceptions, not all Muslims can be classified as one group, yes I'm generalizing, you may be an exception, etc.
And how exactly are they gonna produce compatible motherboards when they don't have non-DRMed CPUs to go in em (assuming the supply of old CPUs runs out)? The biggest problem here is the CPUs. You can probably find some manufacturer of other components that will avoid building in DRM but CPUs are incredibly complicated to manufacture and the barrier to entry to the market is so high that if the 2 big players jump into bed with DRM, we're fucked... surely.:-( Please feel free to prove me wrong.
Oh, and by the way. Even flying half-blind, I got 9 out of 10 of those correct. And the 1 I got wrong I thought was a phish and it was legit, so that was OK.
That's a silly quiz. Give me the whole.eml file for each phish candidate, please, as the first thing I'd probably do is glean lots of useful info from the header and have a look at what SpamAssassin had to say about it.
Most people don't do that? Well, they should, otherwise they're flying semi-blind.
I'm guessing you really mean the USA's free market system.
The problem with that system is that it's reactive, not proactive. Now that's ok with the large majority of things; widget A gets very expensive for a while, until manufacturer Y comes along and manufacturers a similar widget cheaper. It's a bit of an annoyance for the consumer but not too bad. This is what the free-market capitalist system was designed for.
Where it fails spectacularly, though, is for problems that NEED proactive action; like slow but sure, and unchangeable, climate change. The free market system chugs along until things (like extreme temperatures, hurricanes, tornados) become so bad that it's actually disrupting industry a lot. Unfortunately by that time, it's too late and the human race faces its planet becoming largely uninhabitable.
Proactive action is needed. 30MPG is very mediocre. Petroleum is a pollutant!
Yeah but my point is that many features, such as the one I described, is a very simple addition that people like your mom COULD understand, and indeed leave at default (as it is now) if they didn't.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe they don't want too many 'wardrobe malfunctions'?
What's the difference? It's still non-invasive free speech being quashed.
Now, most IT guys aren't irreplaceable -- hard to admit but it's true, especially in a company for which IT is a core/strategic area.
You seem to be implying that anyone but the 'creme de la creme' of IT workers doesn't deserve job security, reasonable income, or a decent standard of living. I don't wanna live in your world.
nd no authorisation is needed! No signature, pin etc...
This is really weird. I noticed it for the 'Pay at Pump' system too. You can fill up your tank with petrol and pay at the pump, and NO AUTHORIZATION is needed. IOW, if I steal someone's card, I can go around filling up my tank for free. I don't really understand how this it's legal for Tesco to allow this.
Yeah? I'm still using Paint Shop Pro 6.00. :-) Does everything I need and is rock solid stable. But then I don't do complex graphics creation.
But why hasn't this stuff been challenged, by anyone, in court??
Did you see the Bush 'bullhorn' speech he gave in NY post-9/11? The one where he said "I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people - and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!"? You can see it here.
I know it was given a few days after 9/11 and feelings were running extremely high, but for me, that chanting that took place after he said that (USA! USA! USA! USA!) kind of epitomizes the reason why the US is having civil liberties problems now - there was and is still this kind of communal feeling that this is the US vs 'some evil enemy', it doesn't matter who it is; and to feed their anger they have to attack someone. It almost soudned like they were at a football match, unquestioning supporters of their 'team'. How often do you ge that kind of reaction to words from a president? An unscrupulous administration could, and to some extent did, use that anger to push through illiberal reforms, amongst other things. I think that reaction to Bush's words is a useful way to see how many US citizens take this stuff.
This is in opposition to the principals set forth in the Bill of Rights and the forth amendment:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
This is an interesting point and as a non-USian, I'm not sure why all these ludicrous airport body searches, etc, haven't been ruled unconstitutional by the a court. Anyone care to explain? Is it because literally NOBODY is prepared to stands up against being searched (surely one of the 200 million citizens must have the wealth and determination to take it to court), or because the supreme court is sympathetic to overzealous Big-Brotherism?
Perhaps because, in the olden days, you didn't have huge software corporations (Adobe, MS, Apple, Google, etc) that were able to take a look at your implementation and implement it themselves? They don't even need to swallow you up - they have so many skilled programmers they can literally re-implement it, stealing your customer base with superior marketing and brand recognition and leaving you high and dry. It's a sad thing, but if you don't want megacorps being the only ones able to produce profitable products, maybe software patents are in order. Or maybe software itself (as opposed to associated services) should largely become an opensource commodity, although with hardware DRM coming along, we'll need to do something quick to make that happen.
Serious litigation is in order.
:-)
And of course I meant legislation. Freudian slip.
I really can't understand how the US still retains big, popular corporations. I swear that one day it's gonna wake up and have none, or very few, left. Sure, there are relatively low taxes, but that's about it. This feivolous litigation is so utterly ludicrous that who'd wanna put up with it now?
We have NTP, who seem to produce nothing but a few crappy organizational policy products, suing the makers of Blackberry, a very popular device that has helped millions of people. The makers of Blackberry have been punished here - admittedly by paying it voluntarily, but also by the fact that that this bullshit patent was accepted by the USPTO, and the court case wasn't thrown out immediately. I rather doubt that RIM bothered to look at NTP's patent before creating the Blackberry, they created it independently; but in the wacky, broken US legal system, they still lose over $600 million.
If I were a head of a corp, I'd be looking to relocate right now until some of your very broken laws, including patent law, are changed. Serious litigation is in order.
Solicitors do indeed speak in the civil courts, I think you mean they don't speak in the criminal courts; you can get some nasty litigation happening just with civil cases. Isn't copyright infringement a civil offence?
I was never very impressed with Lite-ON. Their website is crap, their optical drives sound like vacuum cleaners, and they're not *that* cheap. Go for LG, much better. Really, Lite-ON drives are the noisiest i've heard, by far.
Honest question - what do you mean by saying that SWT is 'nonstandard'?
Of course don't consumers want DRM (even though you can ram it down their throats by offering content exclusively available with DRM), but they'd silently ignore that some people wouldn't have bought the DRM version.
So what you're saying is that the artist needs not to be stupid enough to fall for their pro-DRM propoganda?
WS: On a similar topic, Vsion asks: "Are there currently any efforts being undertaken by the Foundation to address the People's Republic of China's blocking of Wikipedia or to alleviate its effect?"
JW: Beijing-area Wikipedians are working to have the block lifted. Our position is that the block is in error, even given China's normal policies. Wikipedia is not propaganda, it is basic information. We expect that the block will be lifted.
Huh? Doesn't he understand the nature of Chinese censorship?
Peter Griffin: Hey, China? I've got something you want, but it's gonna cost ya. That's right... all the tea.
Yeah, we've heard that comment a lot in the UK. I'd still say there's a difference of degree; if you published that WWJD joke in a big newspaper or national TV station in the US, there might be some people writing in with criticism, or whatever, but would there be violent riots? Many thousands of people marching around with placards such as 'behead the infedels', 'I love the prophet/lord/saviour more than my life', etc? I seriously doubt it. The degree to which Muslims want to impose their culture and morality on the rest of society seems to be significantly stronger than other cultures.
Disclaimer: There are exceptions, not all Muslims can be classified as one group, yes I'm generalizing, you may be an exception, etc.
And how exactly are they gonna produce compatible motherboards when they don't have non-DRMed CPUs to go in em (assuming the supply of old CPUs runs out)? The biggest problem here is the CPUs. You can probably find some manufacturer of other components that will avoid building in DRM but CPUs are incredibly complicated to manufacture and the barrier to entry to the market is so high that if the 2 big players jump into bed with DRM, we're fucked... surely. :-( Please feel free to prove me wrong.
Uhm... they're not saying they don't like it, they're saying it's illegal. Slight difference.
Oh, and by the way. Even flying half-blind, I got 9 out of 10 of those correct. And the 1 I got wrong I thought was a phish and it was legit, so that was OK.
That's a silly quiz. Give me the whole .eml file for each phish candidate, please, as the first thing I'd probably do is glean lots of useful info from the header and have a look at what SpamAssassin had to say about it.
Most people don't do that? Well, they should, otherwise they're flying semi-blind.
Sorry, for the above post, s/unchangeable/irreversible/
The USA is real good at solving these problems.
I'm guessing you really mean the USA's free market system.
The problem with that system is that it's reactive, not proactive. Now that's ok with the large majority of things; widget A gets very expensive for a while, until manufacturer Y comes along and manufacturers a similar widget cheaper. It's a bit of an annoyance for the consumer but not too bad. This is what the free-market capitalist system was designed for.
Where it fails spectacularly, though, is for problems that NEED proactive action; like slow but sure, and unchangeable, climate change. The free market system chugs along until things (like extreme temperatures, hurricanes, tornados) become so bad that it's actually disrupting industry a lot. Unfortunately by that time, it's too late and the human race faces its planet becoming largely uninhabitable.
Proactive action is needed. 30MPG is very mediocre. Petroleum is a pollutant!
Yeah but my point is that many features, such as the one I described, is a very simple addition that people like your mom COULD understand, and indeed leave at default (as it is now) if they didn't.